Win a double pass to see Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie in cinemas

To celebrate the release of Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie, in cinemas September 17, thanks to Paramount Pictures New Zealand, you could win a double pass!

About Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie

After their ship gets caught in a mysterious storm, the PAW Patrol pups crash land on an uncharted tropical island filled with dinosaurs. They meet Rex, a pup who has been stranded on the island for years and has become an expert in all things dino-related. 

When the PAW Patrol's archrival, Mayor Humdinger, begins recklessly mining in hopes of exploiting the island for its natural resources, he inadvertently causes a huge, dormant volcano to erupt. The PAW Patrol pups are thrown into a series of high-stakes, dino-sized rescues bigger than anything they've done before, as they must stop Humdinger before everything on the island goes extinct.

Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie stars Carter Young, Mckenna Grace, Terry Crews, Meredith MacNeill, Ron Pardo, Jennifer Hudson, Hayden Chemberlen, Fortune Feimster, Jameela Jamil, Rain Janjua, Bill Nye, Paris Hilton, Lucien Duncan-Reid, William Desrosiers, Nylan Parthipan, and Snoop Dogg, introducing Henry Bolan

Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie is in cinemas September 17

Win a double pass to see Heart of the Beast in cinemas

To celebrate the release of the New Zealand-shot movie Heart of the Beast, in cinemas September 24, thanks to Paramount Pictures New Zealand, you can win a double pass!

About Heart of the Beast

After a harrowing plane crash, Special Forces officer James Belmont (Brad Pitt) and his combat dog, Odin, find themselves stranded deep in the Alaskan wilderness. 

Together, they are forced into a brutal fight for survival against the elements. From acclaimed filmmaker David Ayer, Heart of the Beast is an intense adventure thriller that explores the unbreakable bond between a man and his best friend as they face their greatest battle yet.

Heart of the Beast is in cinemas September 24!

The End of Oak Street: Movie Review

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery
Director: David Robert Mitchell

If you've ever wanted to see a dinosaur film where the dinos are rapacious, then It Follows director David Robert Mitchell has just the thing for you.

But be warned, while the execution follows the concept, the answers are not really forthcoming in a romp that has echoes of 1980s family films, pushed to the extreme edges of what's considered family friendly in a movie.

It's a very familiar set-up - in a seeming utopia, Denise and Greg Platt (Hathaway, all bangs and grit, and McGregor, wearing some of the shortest shorts you'll see) are a happy couple, with two kids (Sweet Tooth star Convery and Nashville's Stella) and a dog.

But under the surface, they hide their resentments from each other - Denise bashes away at a book in the basement at night while her husband delivers pizzas on top of his day job; and in the background, the two kids watch their silent squabbles with forlorn faces, full of fear of the possibility of divorce.

When a lightning storm knocks out all their power, the Platts find themselves ripped from suburbia and their entire neighborhood transported to someplace unknown. Things get worse when they go to find their errant dog Starbuck, only to discover their little corner is filled with dinosaurs waiting to get them.

As mentioned, the premise of The End of Oak Street works well.

It's in the smaller details that Mitchell creates a sense of horror and suspense in among the familiar romp which unfolds. Whether it's a flock of dinos picking at a fallen ginger cat or the Platts hiding from a dino stampede with a dead person in the front of their car they take solace in, Mitchell has an uncanny knack of making the everyday feel threatened - something he delivered to perfection in It Follows.

However, as the plot veers between escaping the dinos and slowing down to discuss what's next, the film finds a familiar rhythm that occasionally veers on repetitive, but somehow never manages to grate.

Whether it's a riff on the stalking Velociraptors from Jurassic Park in the shape of a slithering snake or Twilight Zone moments, The End of Oak Street has a way of sledgehammering through genres and turning the final result into something pleasantly watchable, but also simultaneously forgettable. (There's also one moment that genuinely does take your breath away, and feels daring for the genre.)

It may be that The End Of Oak Street is a suburban story that's padded out with too much drama and a lesbian sidestory, and one that could have stood to be more subversive in its Spielberg apeing, but as a romp through the dramas of family life, it's quite a doozy.

Mother Mary: HBO Max Movie Review

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, Sian Clifford, FKA Twigs, Alba Baptista
Director: David Lowery

Bizarre, bewildering and bewitching in equal measure, A Ghost Story's David Lowery turns his attention to a psychodrama between a pop star and her former stylist.

In search of a comeback outfit to relaunch her, Mother Mary (Hathaway, haunted and hesitant) ends up on the doorstep of Sam Anselm (Coel, blistering and mesmerising). However, before she arrives, Sam knows she's on her way, declaring her a "carcinogen, a tumour" - it's clear there's some malignant history between the pair. It's further exacerbated when a glacial Sam frostily takes on the job of the fashion emergency, picking at scabs of the past and the evident fallout.

But as the pair discuss their past and what future they may have, it soon becomes clear there's an unearthly connection between them which simply won't let go.

There's plenty of style abounding in this, with Lowery disclosing flashes of almost Strickland-esque level visual flair and channeling elements of Phantom Thread and Corsage for good measure. But while the film's first half is largely confined to an expansive two-hander set in Sam's designing barn ("I'm going through my Miss Havisham phase" she gleefully announces), the second transcends into something else entirely.

Lady Gaga-esque performances, a stock Ouija board horror moment, elements of body horror and possession all contort into something entrancing, albeit not entirely coherent. Yet there's no denying you can't ever take your eyes off the screen, even if it's because they're agog in incredulity at what's playing out.

Coel is exceptional here, taking charge of the piece and delivering a commanding performance that is swathed in contempt, scorn, bitterness and seething with anger at how she was treated for the looks she initially created for Hathaway's Mother Mary. It's a powerhouse act that's counterbalanced by a more meek and understated Hathaway who delivers the extravagant pop spectacle scenes with almost choreographed stiltedness, but is watchable nonetheless.

It's never entirely clear what Mother Mary is trying to say though. Is it a supernatural piece? Is it about birthing the creation from within? Is it about the bonds creatives and their artists share?

Lowery's not saying and it may all be dismissed as utterly preposterous. But while it's enigmatic edges frustrate, there's no denying this Mother Mary, no matter how contrary, is unlike anything you've seen on the big screen. 

JBL Live 780NC headphones: Review

There's no denying the headphone industry is swamped and customers are staying loyal to brands and manufacturers, rather than venturing into newer waters.

So what are companies to do that push out regular headsets or rely on them to bring new users in the market into their brand?

Well, if you're JBL, it seems the key is to simply keep doing what you do well, update only minor touches and plough on regardless hoping good word of mouth will spread the word.

The latest set, the JBL Live 780NC, continues to offer the kind of quality JBL has become known for, while ensuring that users get what they want and need out of headsets - chiefly, comfort, battery life and sound quality. Though for every user, that basic list will be ordered differently. 

But it does feel like some of the basics are being sacrificed for these sets.

While this over-the-ear set does feel a little like it relies more on a clamp to deliver comfort (and can occasionally irritate after hours of use), the bass does seem a little heavier than usual, and that's likely to be something that will annoy some users - especially the audiophiles out there.

But given the set looks minimalist in terms of design and seems sleek enough, there's certainly a vicarious amount of pleasure to be had from wearing them. The cups fit nicely and clamping aside, don't resonate too much on the side of your head when listening to music. All the control buttons are on the left-hand earcup and while that takes a little time to get used to, īt means that podgier fingers will need to be better trained to avoid accidents. 

However, it's in terms of the battery where the JBL Live 780NC rate. 

The company gives it around 50 hours of playback with ANC switched on and that rockets upto about 80 hours without the ANC on. Essentially, a two-week buffer of use is an incredible offering, something which is market-leading in many ways and which will be the deciding factor for many. Add in the fact that a 5-minute charge will allow for another 4 hours of sound life and you can see why this set has the edge over some of its competition.

Call quality impresses too, with an array of microphones helping to block out extraneous noise - again, this is a set that can be used for everything and intends to be so.

All in all, the JBL Live 780NC headphones do continue the pursuit of quality that JBL wants to achieve - it's a major disappointment that they don't come with a bag to protect them and that a USB-C charging cable is not included (something which, e-waste policies aside, feels criminal and money-grabbing), but for battery life and decent sound quality alone, these are the kind of mid-price range headsets we should have more of.

Michael: Blu Ray Review

Cast: Jafaar Jackson, Nia Long, Colman Domingo, Laura Harrier
Director: Antoine Fuqua

After much anticipation and amid rumours of substantial reshoots and accusations of fairytale storytelling, the drama of Michael Jackson's life is finally here.

Played by his nephew Jaafar Jackson, the film focuses on Michael's time in the Jackson 5, his relationship with his father (Domingo) and his attempts to break out to become a solo star.

It's perhaps befitting the film starts by blasting out 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'' given the controversy and extensive third act reshoots, before racing breakneck speed through Jackson's life from humble beginnings and belt-whuppings from his dad in Gary, Indiana to his own emancipation from the yokel of the tyranny of his father.

In between it all are a plethora of favourite songs from the Jackson oeuvre, performed with gusto by Jafaar and which will no doubt leave fans in ecstasy at their faithfulness.

But here's the rub of the film - not once does it stop to give anything close to depth throughout. It's hagiography, with a splash of biography.

Unless it's to Jackson himself. 

Witness his full-frame close ups as he pines for freedom; take in his Princess Diana-like visiting to other burns victims after the Pepsi commercial leaves him on fire. The list of propaganda-led moments for the little lost boy is endless and yet never quite engaging enough to those looking for depth.

It's perhaps no real surprise that there's puddle-level depth here. At a time when a jukebox musical of his life has gone great guns on Broadway, there's obviously a desire to cash in on the nostalgia and that's what this film does.

But leaping from song to song, while scattering imagery of him reading Peter Pan, fawning over Bubbles and watching Chaplin and cartoons does not great insight provide.

And barely anyone except for Domingo's Joseph and Michael himself get any substantial time in a cursory screenplay that's more perfunctory than enlightening.

Depressingly, Michael will be massive and its penchant for avoiding the later controversies in his life smacks of woeful family intervention shaping his legacy.

The film ends with three words: His story continues. It's a James Bond-style coda (or threat) that promises more to come, but unless the full story is told (which is unlikely given legal documents and decisions), this shaping and distorting of the truth by the Jackson estate leaves a sour taste - no matter how impressive Jackson and Domingo's performances are.