The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey World Premiere in Wellington - Red Carpet Live

The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey World Premiere in Wellington - Red Carpet Live

Here we have it then.

READ THE HOBBIT AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY MOVIE REVIEW HERE!

The World Premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington. And I'm fortunate enough to be down in the capital to take in the atmosphere, build up to it and be involved.

I'll be live tweeting as much as I can from the event, the red carpet and various events - so follow me at http://www.twitter.com/geekboy73 or keep up with my latest tweets below!

(Make sure you keep refreshing the page to keep it all upto date!)

Largest Hobbit graphic unveiled

Largest Hobbit graphic unveiled

Air New Zealand's started The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ball rolling this morning with a new graphic on the side of a 73 metre Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

It's the longest aircraft in their fleet and took six days and nearly 400 man-hours to install and at 830 square metres it’s the largest ever graphic to be applied to an aircraft.

The graphic is part of the activities for the world premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey which takes place in Wellington on Wednesday November 28th.

Don't forget to join me on Twitter for the latest from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey world premiere!

Picture of Air NZ graphic from Weta Workshop Facebook page

Snow White and The Huntsman: Blu Ray Review

Snow White and The Huntsman: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Entertainment

Earlier this year, we had a more family friendly (some would even say lighter comic) version of the Snow White story - with Julia Roberts and Lily Collins starring in Mirror, Mirror. (Get my take on this version with the Mirror Mirror movie review here).

And of course, this film is now notorious for the whole Kristen Stewart cheating on Robert Pattinson with Rupert Sanders scandal which rocked it after its release....

In this somewhat darker version, teen fave Kristen Stewart takes on the role of the fairest in the land, who's imprisoned in a dark tower when the Evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) kills the King and takes control.

When the mirror tells the Queen that Snow White poses a threat to her, she decides to have her killed and promises Chris Hemsworth's Huntsman his dead wife back if he kills her.

But the huntsman is betrayed and the pair team up to rid the land of the Evil Queen once and for all...

So the question is - is this version of Snow white better than the earlier effort this year?

Well, the answer is: sort of.

This latest is a more adult, gritty and medieval take on the fairy tale with its opening portentous voiceover and is blessed with some stunning visuals and some impressive performances.

Charlize Theron's evil queen Ravenna is certainly impressive.  Despite bellowing a lot of lines, she gives us a damaged Queen, a Queen ravaged by the darkness of the magic she was exposed to as a child. Prone to menace in all of her scenes, Theron is certainly the star performance of the piece without straying too far over the top. It's interesting though that Hollywood doesn't just go for completely evil characters any more, preferring to give them a back story and history which prevents them from being down and out baddies.

Unfortunately, Kristen Stewart seems a little miscast as Snow White and in between her acting through half closed eyes most of the time and channelling that teen awkwardness that made her popular, her Snow is a little weedy and weak, spending a lot of her scenes looking pained and almost constipated.

Hemsworth is fine as the Huntsman (apart from an accent which is all over the place) - he's all boyish bravado despite a vulnerability and sadness lurking beneath the exterior - but the chemistry between him and Kristen Stewart is sadly lacking. And when they show, the digitally shrunken dwarves are a welcome respite from the long slow paced thematic darkness which precedes their entrance.

One major problem is that there's no real passion in this; it's curiously flat at times - in dialogue, story and emotion -and is lacking a central love story which is really the heart of this fairy tale.

Despite Sanders bringing some mightily impressive visuals to the screen (a sojourn to the Fairy Kingdom is beautifully realized with its lush verdant greens and colours in comparison to the nightmarish dark forest with its twisted trees and ghoulish spectres), he has a tendency to not rise above his commercials directing background. His over-reliance on slow-mo shots proves too much and his lack at propelling the narrative along in places is all too evident.

All in all, this version is to be commended for bringing some of the nightmares back into fables but it's hardly the fairest of them all.

Extras:  A few behind the scenes pieces, commentary, dwarves- feature commentary and 360 Degree set views

Rating:

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey World Premiere

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey World Premiere

READ THE HOBBIT AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY MOVIE REVIEW HERE!

It's almost time.

Wednesday November 28th will see the world premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington, New Zealand.

I will be attending the events leading up to the premiere and on the red carpet itself - and you can follow all of the action right here on this blog.

But, because, sometimes it takes a little longer to write these blog posts, I will be posting via Twitter - and you can keep up with my tweets from everything to do with the Hobbit premiere below:

So, join the world premiere for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey right here!

Tweets by @geekboy73

E.T. Blu Ray Review

E.T. Blu Ray Review

Rating: PG
Released by Universal Home Entertainment

So, 100 years of Universal and their classics are making it into the re-release territory.

If you lived under the rock in the 1980s, this is the story of a young boy Elliott (Henry Thomas) who is visited by an alien ET. While ET just wants to head home, the pair form a beautiful friendship. But the government's coming looking for ET and soon, the friendship is threatened.

ET on Blu Ray looks stunning - with its crystal clear  high definition, some of its iconic scenes stand out - from the BMX Bikes in the sky to the final sequence, it's as memorable and as sentimental as it ever was.
Spielberg's tale of youngsters and wonder is still as exciting an experience as it always was.

Complete with a 44 page collector's book, and a wealth of extras including Steven Spielberg reflecting back on what his experience of making the film was like, this is a set which is bursting with love; deleted scenes, production footage, the reunion, the music of ET and a few others make this a must own set for fans of the magical.

ET the Blu Ray is definitely worth phoning home about.

Rating:

Undefeated: DVD Review

Undefeated: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Madman Home Entertainment

Undefeated was the winner of the best doco at the Oscars this year

And it could be simply described as a doco version of TV show Friday Night Lights in that it follows a college American football team who are the  underdogs and not likely to do big things. 

But one year, under the tutelage of Bill Courtney, a man who gives his all to the mainly black team (running them from place to place, offering sage advice on women - and aftershave to one - and helping them with school), everything came right for this team.  

It's about the team rather than the games and the film-makers wisely confine any of the on-field action until crucial games at the end of the season by which point you're totally invested. 

Sure, you could argue that you can see what's coming as Bill looks after two of them in particular but what gets you out of the blind side is just how much you end up damn well caring towards the end.

Extras: Trailer

Rating:

Beasts of the Southern Wild: Movie Review

Beasts of the Southern Wild: Movie Review

Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry and Levy Easterly
Director: Benh Zeitlin

A heady, visceral and tender tale of life, love and our connection to the world, Beasts of The Southern Wild took the New Zealand International Film Festival by storm when it opened there in July.

It's the tale of six year old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis), who lives with her father in the Bathtub, a southern New Orleans delta continually threatened by rising flood waters. But, so in love with the land around her, she doesn't want to leave and her father refuses to evacuate them. 

When a storm comes though, and devastates their community, the pair trawl through the Bathtub trying to find survivors as they negotiate their way out of the Bathtub. But, events are conspiring against Hushpuppy and soon, her father's health is a major issue.

Replete with an impressive lively OST and anchored by one of the strongest child performances seen on celluloid for a long time, Beasts of The Southern Wild  is a unique vision of life and a joyous celebration of what binds us to the land and each other. 

But it all rises on the central performances of the child and her father - and thankfully by looking at life from the eyes of a kid, it's an insightful view which offers up a truly rewarding experience. When Hushpuppy accidentally starts a fire, she hides in a box, figuring that if she can't see the flames, then they don't exist. It's this magical kind of innocence which pervades Beasts of The Southern Wild throughout and proves majorly beneficial to this fable, which has echoes of Katrina etched throughout.

Thanks to mystical creatures known as the Aurochs and stunning cinematography, this vision of life may not be for everyone, but in terms of offering something new and riveting on the big screen, it more than delivers.

Rating: