Controversial film heading to NZ Film Festival

Controversial film heading to NZ Film Festival

Details have just come in of a new addition to the NZ Film Festival which caused somewhat of a controversy this year at Sundance and lead to some heated Q&As and arguments.

Compliance, which is likely to provoke some people here too sounds like an interesting film. Festival director Bill Gosden says : "Craig Zobel’s polarising drama re-enacts and illuminates a vicious prank that took place repeatedly in a number of US fast-food chain stores. A middle-aged shop manager (Ann Dowd) takes a call from a police officer instructing her to detain a pretty young staff member accused of theft. During the course of a night various others are drawn into the methodical sexual humiliation of the young woman. As a study of the allure of fascism it’s akin to The Wave, but so disconcerting in its prolonged queasiness that it almost dares an audience to share the prankster’s view of his victims as fit subjects for manipulation - Chilling"

It's based on some true events in the States as well - so it should be an interesting addition to an already busy New Zealand International Film Festival for 2012

American Dad: Volume 7: DVD Review

American Dad: Volume 7: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by 20th Century Fox

A three disc set with an alien exposing himself on the cover - and from the creator of Family Guy.

That should tell you all you need to know about the latest American Dad release. Collecting together 19 episodes of the series with three and a half hours of special features, this latest release will certainly appeal to the fans of the slightly wacky animated comedy.

It centres around Stan Smith, a huge jawed CIA agent, who's immensely patriotic and ever involved in some lunatic tales thanks to his family's antics too. Collecting together such lunacy as Stan on jury duty, the 100th episode, titles like Fartbreak Hotel and I Am The Walrus, this series is every bit as silly and amusing as you'd expect.

IT's a slightly riskier season as well with some of the trademark edgy MacFarlane comedy creeping in to the mix - but that all adds to the feeling that American Dad is back on track and is a good solid cartoon with some outrageously silly moments.

Extras: I Love Patrick Stewart piece, American Dad at ComicCon, deleted scenes and audio commentaries on some episodes.

Rating:

Dexter: The Sixth Season DVD Review

Dexter: The Sixth Season DVD Review

Rating: R16
Released by Universal Home Entertainment

Finally, the season where Dexter is found out.

Only not until the very end.

This latest season of Michael C Hall's avenging angel killer sees Dexter facing off against the Doomsday Killer and finding religion to be a big part of the overall puzzle as a series of murders with a religious theme unfold.

As ever though, Dexter, at its heart is about the inner conflict of the main character - a guy who wants to be good but whose methods see him skirt ever deeper into the darkness.

It's all a bit gruesome but it's still very watchable and enjoyable thanks to Michael C Hall's acting - but it's at a cost as it does occasionally feel like it's treading water. A very impressive cast fleshes out an occasionally uneven storyline throughout the season but it's the final moments where Dexter's caught killing by his own sister which offers up a tantalising taste of what lies ahead and makes you remember why this series was so good and original when it began back in 2006.

Extras: Dissecting Dexter, guest stars and cast interviews


Rating:

Mad Riders: PS3 Review

Mad Riders: PS3 Review

Released by Ubisoft
Platform: PS3

Let's face it - we've all wanted to jump on an ATV quad bike and go blatting about without a care in the world, right?

Well, this latest racing title from Ubisoft certainly lets you do that by throwing you straight into the world of ATV racing and expecting you to keep up.

With just the bike and your wits, you're left against others to race away and hopefully win each course, building up points by hurtling through the air, collecting power ups, using the boost and performing a few stunts here and there.

And that's about it.

There are some 40 different races to take part in but there's little variation outside of that - sure, you build up points and experience by improving your position in the races and you also get access to other bikes, but there's little more on offer here than what you'd get in an arcade game simulator. You get to hurtle around tracks but only within the confines of the races - occasionally, hitting boundaries and vegetation stops you right in your tracks as well.

Don't get me wrong - it's graphically sound, playable and colourful but it's just lacking a little something in terms of long term engagement. There's quite the feel of the slog about this too - it takes a wee while to unlock the first alternative ATV bike and it may not seem like enough of a reward given the time you've put in to get enough XP to unlock it. Certainly, the same applies for the tracks too with it taking a lot to unlock each new race course.

Sadly, that hinders the fun of Mad Riders - while it's well presented, fast paced and requires relatively little thought, it does need a level of long term engagement which is out of kilter with what it proffers up in terms of reward.

Rating:

Babel Rising: PS3 Review

Babel Rising: PS3 Review

Released by Ubisoft
Platform: PS3

Ever wondered what kind of god you would be?

Sure, there's plenty of those kinds of games out there on the various formats where you help to build up worlds, create new lives and send an army off to war.

But what about one where you simply kill those trying to construct a tower using only the elements to pick off the would be heretics?

Well, that in a nutshell is what Babel Rising has to offer - a chance to kill everyone as they try and go about their daily business.

As the ant sized Babylonians try to build the tower, it's upto you to use earth, wind, fire and water to thwart their every attempt - and the more of them you kill, the closer you get to increasing your wrath-o-meter which then helps you unleash a super-powered version of the elemental takedowns.

It means you can unleash a massive boulder which then rolls from the top of the tower, squishing everything; or a major wind storm blowing everyone off their intended course of action - and it means you'll have some fun taking out the good guys for a change.

Babel Rising is quite a nice notion for a brief time waster - a series of mini games and challenges (such as killing 12 waves of workers or 40 priests) give it a brief endurability - but while it's fun initially to play and there's no more of a vicarious thrill than watching a whole horde of these little creatures being taken out by one massive blast, I'm not sure there's hours and hours of play with this title.

Graphically, it's nicely put together albeit very simplistic - but there are some troubles getting the camera to readjust and it can make for a tricky time trying to track down where all the builders have gone; particularly if they're over-running the ramparts with their rush to build.

Outside of the core MO of the game, there's a fair amount of repetition; a survival challenge is simply that and relies on you killing and destroying to stop the tower being built and a tournament challenge sees you performing different ways of killing the Babylonians without being overrun.

All in all, while Babel Rising is a nice concept, it seems to quickly run foul of itself by having nowhere else to go with the gameplay itself. Probably a short term title to play, it's good fun for a morning or so but anything long term may leave your god complex somewhat wanting.

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Iron Man 3 Concept art

Iron Man 3 Concept art

With Comic-Con nearly here, the geeks are certainly getting their fill of the cool stuff.

The latest is a sneak peek at the concept art of Iron Man 3 - which we've got here for you to take a look at.

Not quite sure what it means yet - there's rumours the latest Iron Man film with Tony Stark will see him taking on the mantle of nanotechnology - and maybe that's what this look at a new suit is doing?

We're also not sure whether the henchmen in the pic belong to the Mandarin, rumoured to be played by Ben Kingsley in the new film...

Either way, feast your eyes on the below:

Jack Reacher trailer hits

Jack Reacher trailer hits

Tom Cruise may be looking at divorce from Katie Holmes, but there's no sign yet he's about to split up with the movies.

See what I did there?

Just released is the new trailer for the Jack Reacher film - Cruise stars as Reacher and it's already been a controversial appointment for some.

So, what do you make of the trailer?