Brand new Iron Man 3 still released

Brand new Iron Man 3 still released 

We've already had a heap of new Iron Man 3 images with Robert Downey Jr (see below) and today's there's a new image of a somewhat battered Tony Stark in Iron Man 3.

Previously -  Marvel.com's released four new images of Iron Man 3 for you to look at - including a shiny Iron Patriot, Rebecca Hall as Maya Hansen, a broody looking Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark and a rather bloodied Iron Man.

Iron Man 3 will feature Tony Stark aka Iron Man trying to pick up his life after his world is shattered by Sir Ben Kingsley's terrorist, The Mandarin....

Sightseers: Movie Review

Sightseers: Movie Review

Cast: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram
Director: Ben Wheatley

Sightseers is the best black comedy you will see this year.

As an ex-pat Midlander who's been forced to endure some caravan holidays, I can perfectly attest to what Ben Wheatley's brought to this killer film.

Steve Oram and Alice Lowe play Chris and Tina, a pair of recent lovers who decide to escape Tina's stifling mother by heading away on a caravanning trip around the Yorkshire dales in the UK. But Chris is a veritable powder keg of anger, waiting to boil over...and as the mundane turns to murderous, the very dark humour is ratcheted up to 11.

The thing is combined with Tina's slightly creepy attitude (scarred after her mum's dog died in a knitting needle accident that she caused) and Chris's bristling ginger beard of pure rage, SightSeers manages to be a spectacle which heartily amuses and equally horrifies.

A radical dosage of ultra violence complements (and yet never overshadows) this apparently occasionally improvised mix; throw in some great banter (one scene sees Tina's mum shouting that her daughter was an accident) as well as a whole heap of phrases which are destined to become quotable (brown lipstick anyone?) and this is the perfect concoction of horror and humour.

But what Wheatley's also managed to capture is the various personalities who inhabit caravan holidays - be they the annoying pedants, noisy neighbours or new age nutjobs, it's a perfect dichotomy of lives lived in middle England.

Replete with great shots of the countryside and a cup so filled with black darkness that it runneth over, Sightseers is to be wholeheartedly recommended if you've got a slightly warped view of life.

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Brand new Great Gatsby trailer

Brand new Great Gatsby trailer

A brand new trailer for The Great Gatsby has arrived...

Parental Guidance: Movie Review

Parental Guidance: Movie Review

Cast: Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, Marisa Tomei, Tom Everett Scott
Director: Andy Fickman

It's been a decade since Billy Crystal graced the screen with Analyze That and now he's back in this family comedy for the holiday season.

Crystal plays Artie Decker, an ageing baseball announcer, whose time on the side of the field is called out by his bosses. When his estranged daughter Alice (Tomei) calls asking Artie and wife Diane (Midler) to babysit the kids for a week while she heads out of town, chaos ensues.

The reason? Alice is a strict parent who has rules and boundaries for her three children and whose political correctness version of parenting clashes directly with Artie and Diane's somewhat more liberal and relaxed approach to letting them do what they want....

Parental Guidance is predictable family fare which will amuse the younger end of the audience more than the older.

Certainly, with its fart gags and obvious humour and situations, it's going for low hanging fruit - and yet, its target will definitely love parts of it despite the fact we've seen it all before. And while it's great to see Crystal back on the screen, he's constrained by a film script which aims low and then manages to dig deeper everytime.

The scenes where Crystal flies are the scenes bookending the film where he's commentating because he brings some of that trademark quick fire patter that works so well for him and genuinely engages the funny bone. Elsewhere, a sequence where he ends up at a symphony with fluorescent highlighter on his face is visually amusing but stark on follow through laughs.

Somewhere in among all the misfires is a social commentary, waiting to rise to the surface; a look at how parenting values have changed over the years and how in some ways, the old methods of a sharp slap and rebuke are the best rather than having your child "use their words" to express their anger.

But these oft-unspoken truths are lost among the deeply uninspiring and highly unoriginal story we've all seen before. Don't get me wrong, as a piece of holiday entertainment, families with young kids will be amused by the antics and the occasional slapstick.

However, on a personal level, Parental Guidance remains a disappointment for the return of Billy Crystal - how he could waste himself in such a cliched movie and deliver a performance which offers up more than the material given to him is a real headscratcher.

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PlayStation Plus reveals its January hand

PlayStation Plus reveals its January hand

It's coming to that time of year - Christmas and also time for the sales.

PlayStation's getting in on the act too, with the reveal of the PSPlus line up for January and news of discounts...

Official release says:

Kick off the New Year with Action Packed Line-up Coming to PlayStation^®Plus 

PlayStation^®Plus celebrates the start of 2013 with an outstanding collection of new games including the highly anticipated sequel Bioshock 2

Auckland, December 20 2012: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has today announced the hot January line-up for PlayStation^®Plus (PS Plus) including the critically acclaimed sequel to Bioshock, Bioshock 2. The new titles will be available starting from 2^nd January and from today fans can enjoy a 25% discount off the 1 year Plus membership from the 19th December 2012 to the 9^th January 2013!  Fans who are already PS Plus subscribers can also take advantage of the discount by extending their current membership.

Step back into the unforgettable world of Rapture in the next installment of the game that has won more than 50 Game of the year awards and sold more than 2.5 million units worldwide. BioShock 2 provides players with the perfect blend of explosive first person shooter combat, compelling storytelling and intense multiplayer.

On top of BioShock 2, PS Plus subscribers can also look forward to the arrival of the gritty fighter Mortal Kombat *and from the creators of the greatest fantasy epics of all time Lord of the Rings comes, Guardians of Middle Earth.  If that wasn’t enough, PS Plus members can dive into the colorful follow-up to the platformer-slash-game design engine Knytt Stories, Knytt Underground, which will be available to subscribers from the 21^st December to the 23^rd January 2013. Alternatively from the 16^th January, PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita) owners can express their artistic skills by tagging their way around Tokyo in the hit game Jet Set Radio. And,  lastly, Pinball Arcade will be available for PS Vita users to try out from the 23^rd January as part of their PS Plus membership. PS Plus users will be able to download these blockbuster titles along with other great releases, directly from their PlayStation^®3 (PS3) and PS Vita system. 

PS Plus guarantees members access to a constant library of 14 games and at least five new games a month, which means over 65 games a year for PS3 and PS Vita. Gamers also have access to great PlayStation®Store discounts as part of their subscription package.

PS Plus subscribers receive an array of exclusive features and access, including 2GB cloud storage (1GB for PS3 & 1GB for PS Vita) for game saves which will be welcomed by members keen to take advantage of the Instant Game Collection. Automatic update and beta access, as well as a huge collection of exclusive dynamic themes and PlayStation®Network avatars, makes PS Plus the place to be in 2013.

PS Plus is now available on PS Vita, extending the service to two platforms for a single price of £39.99/€49.99 for a one-year subscription or £11.99/€14.99 for a 90 day subscription will give users the same fantastic features including exclusive access, special features and huge discounts.

Oz: Great and Powerful Wicked Witch Revealed

Oz: Great and Powerful Wicked Witch Revealed

Much speculation over the arrival of a new poster for Oz: Great and Powerful today, which has the  Wicked Witch revealed.

The speculation is over, who is playing the witch?

Disney won’t confirm which witch it is, whether Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz), or Glinda (Michelle Williams)....

Guess we'll have to wait and see next year...

Wreck It Ralph: Movie Review

Wreck It Ralph: Movie Review

Voice cast: John C Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch
Director: Rich Moore

Ever wondered what happens to the arcade games you play at night?

Well, in a well timed piece of nostalgia, computer animated film Wreck It Ralph provides an answer to a question nobody's ever really asked before.

Wreck It Ralph (Reilly) is the bad guy in an arcade game called Fix It Felix (30 Rock's McBrayer) - it's been 30 years since he first terrorised Felix in the tower block which he inhabits and smashes on a regular basis. But Ralph's had enough of being the bad guy in the game; tired of the lack of recognition for his service to the cause and generally neglected as well as a little jealous of Felix.

So,one day, determined to win himself a medal and redeem himself in the eyes of his colleagues within the games, Ralph decides to follow his dream to be a hero, and promptly absconds into a first person shooter called Heroes' Duty. It's here he meets up with tough as nails CGI sergeant Calhoun (Glee's Jane Lynch) and manages to get the medal he craves. But, even though he does, he accidentally sets in motion a chain of events which could wreck everything when he inadvertently brings a virus from the Heroes Duty game into another....

Wreck It Ralph is a colourful blast of video game nostalgia, which is smart, funny and bright and breezy.

Reilly is great as Ralph, the big outsider doofus who simply wants to no longer be the bad guy. And Sarah Silverman isn't annoyingly perky and endearingly cute as Vanellope, the rogue star of karting racing game, Sugar Rush. The two pair up as outsiders in a world which has rejected them because of their differences and inevitably form a loveable bond. Likewise, McBrayer and Lynch make a good mismatched duo as Fix it Felix and the Marine sergeant.

The idea (and major pull) is that it Wreck It Ralph looks at the psychological impact of being a baddie and explores the world of computer gaming which has never been done before. Wreck It Ralph never loses sight of its emotional core even as the gorgeously spot on animation swirls around the screen. Thanks to great vocal talent, a smart and respectful script which acknowledges the debt of the 80s video gaming world (and its myriad of characters), it's a virtual joy to behold.

Also, worth you heading to this on time is the gorgeous black and white animation, Paperman about a pair of office workers who meet one day on a train station. Magical and memorable, this is animation at its absolute best and a salute to simpler times.

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