Prometheus video starring Charlize Theron is here

Prometheus video starring Charlize Theron is here

Is the mystique of Ridley Scott's Prometheus starting to falter?

There's been yet another video release from the film ahead of its June 7th launch in New Zealand cinemas.

This time, the video features Charlize Theron's character Vickers.

(Spoilers may lie ahead for people wishing to stay away)



Prometheus hits NZ cinemas on June 7th - though after all the recent marketing, let's hope Ridley Scott's got something spectacular up his sleeve for us to see....

Datura: PS3 Game Review

Datura: PS3 Game Review

Released by Sony
Platform: PS3

The world of downloadable adventures is getting incredibly good on the PlayStation.

Having set the bar incredibly high with the wonderfully mystical and magical Journey earlier this year, it's always interesting to see what comes next - and whether the experience is as good as what's come before.

Datura is another mystical game with little initial clue about what's expected of you.

As it begins, you're in the back of an ambulance with no clue how you got there and no real idea of what to do next; thankfully a floating disembodied hand becomes your guide on screen as you throw back the sheet, rip off the electrodes - and then find yourself in a forest.

It's a puzzling start to an intriguing journey ahead and one you'll often find yourself wondering what you're supposed to do next.

I think the push is more for a creative experience rather than a fully rewarding one because the controls can be difficult to grasp. You have a choice of either using the Move tech or the Siaxis controller and both have their issues in achieving the movement you're expecting. Taking control of the hand, you have to touch things around you, move levers, explore and examine - but sometimes, despite following what you think are the right instructions for the controller leaves you with little actual result. It's a frustrating touch which hampers this game's experience and borders on the obtuse and difficult rather than the creatively flowing touch the designers have clearly gone for.

That said, the world they've created and its dreamscape like appearance are mystical, magical and a bit bizarre. As you blunder about your atmospheric world, trying to work out what's expected of you it can be tricky to know what exactly to do but as with Journey, half of the fun of these titles is getting out what you put in and immersing yourself in the world around you.

All in all, while not quite as successful as it could be (thanks mainly to the technology issues), Datura is an intriguing title and proof that creativity moves in mysterious ways.

Rating:

Rhys Darby scoops top NZ Comedy award

Rhys Darby scoops top NZ Comedy award

The New Zealand International Comedy Festival has drawn to a close, with a clutch of awards being handed out at a starry do in Auckland.

During the Last Laughs ceremony hosted by Te Radar, the Billy T Award winner and Fred winners were unveiled.

Nominees for the Fred Award this year were Rhys Darby, Brendhan Lovegrove and The Boy With Tape on his Face .

Darby was given the Fred Award, an accolade which is named after Fred Dagg and symbolised by a gumboot and prize money. Darby said he was shocked to have won and thanked his wife on stage, before joking that he would "probably retire now". His show This Way To Spaceship played to packed audiences throughout the festival - and the book of the same name has been number one on the best seller list for 3 weeks in a row.

It's the first major New Zealand comedy award Rhys Darby's won, having previously lost out on the Billy T James award in 2002 when it was given to Dai Henwood.

The winner of the 2012 Billy T Award was also revealed - the nominees this year had been Rose Matafeo, Guy Williams , TJ MacDonald, Tom Furniss and Tevita Manukia.

The coveted yellow towel and prize money went to Guy Williams. In an ironic twist, he'd been competing against his girlfriend Rose Matafeo for the award.

Wilson Dixon - Comedy Festival Review

Wilson Dixon - Greatest Hits: Comedy Festival Review

The cowboy from Cripple Creek rolls into town one more time and you'd best saddle up and join for mirth and merriment are on the way.

If you've not succumbed to Wilson's charms before, then you need to make sure you check out this pony tailed country singer who regales his audience with a skewed eye on the world and a lyrical arsenal at his disposal.

These shows for the comedy festival from Wilson are a chance to catch one of our finest country songwriters at work and appreciate the issues he has dealing with family problems and relationships.

But as ever with Wilson, that's only half the story.

Smart, lyrical couplings, lashings of country styling and some faster than a bullet wit are all trademarks of his show - and after a couple of years of success, the man is smart enough to regale us with some new songs about his sister, as well as a truly amusing ditty about the quirks which begin to grate at the end of a relationship.

Throw in the ongoing problems with his violent horse, Andrew and you've got a show which drips with dry, laid back, laconic humour and a superior intellect, wise enough to know when to hold back to let the audience catch up with what's just been said. Ripples of warm loud laughter rock the audience during this show and to be honest, you've got no choice but to give in and bask in the comic genius at play.

Add into that already brilliant comic mix, the smart interplay of a quick wit and warmth to deal with anything the audience throws in (although to be fair, it's not heckling, so much as whistling and even a sneeze) and you're pretty much guaranteed a great night out. Part of the charm and charisma of this show comes from the unexpected wordplay and the tangents - it's unexpected pleasure at every turn.

But you have to admire Wilson; he's smart enough to not rest on his laurels after doing so well with a recent string of hits and shows off some new songs (like "That thing you do - please don't do it") as well as mixing in a few old favourites (such as the brilliantly reflective "The Mirror") into the show. It's a deft move and the new ditties show a lyrical charm and simplicity to render them extremely catchy and make them feel like new best friends by the time they're over.

Wilson ends the show by meeting his audience and giving them the chance to "experience the nostalgia of paying for music" in the foyer afterwards, ensuring that he is a comedy favourite and a welcome face on the annual scene.

Once again, this warm, charming and whimsically laugh out loud funny show is one of the best doing the rounds - here's hoping The Greatest Hits show becomes a nationwide tour and everyone gets to enjoy the Wilson Dixon experience.

Rose Matafeo: Comedy Festival review

Rose Matafeo: Comedy Festival review


Rose Matafeo - Scout's Honour

Were / Are you ever part of the in crowd?

If so, then move along, bucko, we don't want to talk about you here. Because this is the show from Rose Matafeo, the ever so slightly uncool yet totally inclusive stand up who makes the gawky look adorable and you feel like you were never not a part of it.

Starting with an endearingly sung foreign song with subtitles appearing on a screen for us all to follow (which rapidly get out of control), it's an Eurovision style starter with a hint of bizarre singalong about it.

Rose herself is a bundle of nerdy, nervy energy, as she takes us through the things that she's rubbish at. It's the sort of stuff most of us can identify with as we were growing up. But it's the engaging way that she reveals parts of her life that she sucked at that you begin to realise that you too had moments where you were the outcast, or a bit lost in it all.

I like Rose's awkwardness-mixed-with-confidence act on stage; it produces some truly unexpected laughs and some very funny comedy stylings from the most bizarre of topics and ideas.

From an impression of Liam Neeson to a section where she reads from her forthcoming book "Saddest tweets from NZ celebrities" (please let it be so - I predict a major best seller there based on the ones she read out), there's plenty of laugh out loud moments. Attempts at audience interaction - with the promise of cat badges lovingly made by Rose - work well; we're au fait with her easy going approach and despite the usual Kiwi reticence to get involved, it's all at the expense of Rose rather than the crowd.

(As an aside, I do wonder if she must have been the kind of kid who must have spent all their time sticking stuff together with glue and glitter, only to find most of it was on their face / fingers. Though she did reveal that she wasn't sure whether to use her best cat stickers on the crowd - and was tempted to keep those for a very special occasion.)

Scout's Honour is a celebration of a self confessed and self effacing peripheral character, someone who's been on the fringes of the cool crowd but who never really let it bother them despite their apparent dorkiness.

Rose is a rising comedy star on the scene and despite her belief that maybe she's a bit uncool and unhip because of her earlier years, I don't think she has anything to worry about.

Based on Scout's Honour, this star's going stellar and thanks to her warm generousness, we're all along for the ride.

Jan Maree - comedy Festival Review

Jan Maree - comedy Festival Review

Jan Maree - Hairy Today, Gone Tomorrow

After winning last year's Fred Award, Jan Maree had the world as her oyster.

Which is probably a good thing given this half-caste Kiwi / Croatian lady had a sudden attack of the "Who am I?" and "Where am I from?" syndrome.

To be honest, a voyage of self-discovery is always a worry for a show - it's prone to self obsessed sentimentality rather than sharp insights; thankfully, Jan Maree is the complete opposite of what you'd expect from one of these trips in the vein of Who Do You Think You Are?

Caustically funny, raucously rude and yet surprisingly touching at the end, this journey is one you really do want to take.

From the quest to get a good waxing because of her hairy Croatian roots, to panic brought on by a teacher friend moving to Thailand, Jan gives this occasionally demented travelogue a freshness and live-wire feel that's eminently watchable.

Energetic and amusing, Jan has a penchant for story telling and a predilection for situations which bring out the bizarre which translates very well on stage. With an eye for a very funny one line quip here and there, she's also a great performer.

With a surprisingly moving ending as well as Jan celebrates her core Maree-ness, I left this show in a reflective mood, having been amused and also moved to thought.

There's something about this show that many of us will recognise deep within ourselves - a need later in life to understand our roots, to embrace our heritage and to celebrate what we've become (and why).

But it never becomes mawkish in Maree's hands - sure, it's a personal and moving trip, a confessional piece dripping with history and poignancy.

However, Hairy Today, Gone Tomorrow is never short of side-splittingly asides, punchlines or perfectly delivered moments as you are welcomed in on the journey - and for that reason, you should make sure you sign up to enjoy the ride.

Guy Williams Comedy Festival Review

Guy Williams in On the verge of Nothing

Low key is perhaps the best way to describe this gig for Guy.

I've seen his television stuff before and I've got an idea of how deadpan and dry he can be - but in a stand up situation for Guy, it's a completely different kettle of fish.

The evening kicks off with a longer than expected, ever so slightly rambling introduction which is self deprecating, dry and bemusing. An admission that he's going to thank all of us personally for coming actually translates to him carrying that out - and it's the unpredictable awkwardness which hangs in the air which sets the tone for the next hour.

With a style that could be best described as "hang dog" and "laconic", Guy tackles some truly odd topics with some great comic aplomb. Irony and pauses hang in the air and it takes a real talent to work out how to use these for comedic effect rather than coming off looking like he's bored.

You have to feel for Guy though - that kind of approach may lead some viewing this show to feel that he doesn't have a clue of where he's going or what to do. But it's a smart man who plays down the feel of the comedy and avoids a lot of punchlines to simply carry on an act.

Self-deprecating in the extreme - at one point, he tries talking to the audience before dismissing the idea quickly after two interviewees, muttering that it "was a disaster" before launching into something else.

It's this kind of rambling, random, a propos of nothing, lo-fi approach which truly works for him - the deadpan dispatching of dry comments and throwaway lines is actually so completely unexpected that it takes the funny bone by surprise. He's got some great one liners, some amusing stories and you can't help but feel that when he's name dropping New Zealand "celebrities", it's actually steeped so much in irony that he's mocking himself rather than bragging about who he's seen/ what he's done.

He's a relatively emotionless guy on stage, not once cracking a smile or laughing at his own smarts; he lets the audience do that for him. Sure you could argue that using some blown up pictures for "jokes" (actually, it's probably fairer to call them observations) is nothing new but you can't tell what Guy's about to say or do; it's that kind of refreshing randomness which really was a winner.

On the Verge of Nothing is Billy T nominated - it's a different show than anything else I've seen in the festival from a young comic who's clearly ploughing a totally different route to anyone else out there; it's a refreshing approach and I hope he reaps the rewards that he justly deserves.