Star Trek: Into Darkness clip

Star Trek: Into Darkness clip

Here's your first look at a clip from Star Trek: Into Darkness starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

It comes with just a few weeks to go until Zoe Saldana, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood and Peter Weller all report for duty as Star Trek Into Darkness lands here on May 9

Thor - Dark World First Look

Thor - Dark World First Look

We've got a first look at Thor- Dark World with the launch of the new Thor Dark World poster.

Set one year after Avengers, the sequel sees Asgard battered by war after invasion from the Marauders. But an even worse threat shows up in the form of Christopher Ecclestone's Malkeith and his Dark Elves who are out for vengeance against the whole of Asgard.

New trailer for R.I.P.D is here

New trailer for R.I.P.D is here

Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds headline the 3D supernatural action-adventure R.I.P.D. as two cops dispatched by the otherworldly Rest In Peace Department to protect and serve the living from an increasingly destructive array of souls who refuse to move peacefully to the other side. 

Veteran sheriff Roy Pulsifer (Bridges) has spent his career with the legendary police force known as R.I.P.D. tracking monstrous spirits who are cleverly disguised as ordinary people.  His mission?  To arrest and bring to justice a special brand of criminals trying to escape final judgment by hiding among the unsuspecting on Earth.

Once the wise-cracking Roy is assigned former rising-star detective Nick Walker (Reynolds) as his junior officer, the new partners have to turn grudging respect into top-notch teamwork.  When they uncover a plot that could end life as we know it, two of R.I.P.D.’s finest must miraculously restore the cosmic balance...or watch the tunnel to the afterlife begin sending angry souls the very wrong way.

R.I.P.D. is directed by Robert Schwentke (Red) and produced by Neal H. Moritz (Fast & Furious series, I Am Legend), Mike Richardson (Hellboy, Hellboy II: The Golden Army) and Michael Fottrell (Fast & Furious series, Live Free or Die Hard).  

Autumn Events are here

Autumn Events are here

With the much vaunted end to the rain drought due to hit this weekend in Auckland and Wellington, those involved in the planning of the Autumn Events 2013 series must be rubbing their hands in glee.

The replacement for the World Cinema Showcase is open now and is offering up film lovers a pre-Film Festival treat to satiate their appetites until the main event comes along a little later this year.

With the Civic in Auckland opening up its doors and proffering forth its massive screen, as well as the Embassy in Wellington offering a bit of class, there's really a lot of cinematic sophistication on show with the programme which offers up a fair few treats and a retrospective to engage with too. You can also see films on the Paramount's screen in the capital and the Academy in Auckland.

Guys and Dolls and Lawrence of Arabia are the big drawcards on the big screen with restorations of the prints giving you the chance to completely wallow within the film-makers' intentions and simply lap up these movies which haven't been on the screen elsewhere in a very long time.

There are also premieres afoot as well - from the horror portmanteau of The ABCs of Death, where a range of filmmakers are given a short time to dispatch people in grisly ways according to the letter they've been given from the alphabet, to the NZ premiere of Kon-Tiki, an exploration of Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl's trip  across the Pacific on a balsawood raft. With stunning visuals and a captivating story, this is a film which works best on the big screen.

Elsewhere, a series of films from Asghar Farhadi offer a peek into Iranian film-making, as do three Jean-Luc Godard titles. It shows once again the determination of the organisers to offer us insights into worlds so often neglected outside the arthouse circuits.

Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters showcases the talents of the American photographer, best known for creating scenes of American vistas and gives us a tantalising look into what fuels the artist into creating cinematic landscapes which at times, even David Lynch would use. Looking like Jon Lovitz's brother and with blonde tips to his dark hair, this doco may well have a broader appeal than just the art students.

The House I Live In is a searing look at the US drug policy, how it's not working as you may believe and its implications for all those caught in its web.  Led by a diatribe from The Wire creator, David Simon, the film takes a long hard look at what is not going well. The late Roger Ebert said the film "made a shattering case against the War on Drugs" and it's compellingly put together and tautly directed, making it one of the must sees of the Autumn events.

David Cronenberg's son, Brandon ventures into horror with Antiviral, a flick about a worker who injects diseases from celebrities into paying clients and his descent into the black market. With the trademark Cronenberg flair for the grotesque, it's clear the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

And there's also another chance to catch festival favourite From Up on Poppy Hill, Miyazaki's ode to 1960s post-war Japan - and the much vaunted doco, The Queen of Versailles.

All in all, my advice is bring on the rain and head down to get some culture from the eclectic offerings of the Autumn Events programme.

The Sessions: DVD Review

The Sessions: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Martha Marcy May Marlene's cult leader John Hawkes takes the lead in this film which broke out at the Sundance festival this year and is based on a true story. Hawkes plays journalist and writer Mark O'Brien, who's been paralysed from the neck down due to contracting polio when he was younger. O'Brien lives his days in an iron lung, and one day after falling in love and being rejected by his carer, and when researching an article on Sex and the Disabled at an editor's request, he decides he wants to lose his virginity after 38 years of life.

So, to that end, via a friend and with the blessing of his priest (brilliantly played by a shaggy haired William H Macy) O'Brien contacts sex surrogate, Cheryl (Helen Hunt) to help out.

Cheryl begins a series of six sessions with O'Brien to help him achieve his goal....

The Sessions will knock you sideways.

John Hawkes is frankly a revelation in this film; it's a role which has little physical presence other than moving his head and speaking  but Hawkes imbues his O'Brien with a real strength of character, charm and humour and delivers such an affecting performance that you can't help but be moved by it. Don't get me wrong - this is no mawkish, dragged down into the mire piece - it's the very opposite in fact thanks to Hawkes' performance and a very sharp and witty script.

It's also a film about celebrating a full life whatever the limitations placed on you are - be they physical, mental or religious - and Hawkes delivers that conviction in spades thanks to some greatly amusing lines, a brilliantly warm, witty and real friendship between him and William H Macy's priest and a relationship between himself and his carer Vera (a supporting role played with sensitivity and heart by Moon Bloodgood).

Also Helen Hunt delivers a bravura performance as well - stripping down literally and metaphorically for the audience. Gently played and sensitively handled, Cheryl feels like a real character rather than a sleazy stereotype.

The Sessions is a deeply engaging and powerfully accessible film which has been carefully put together by Lewin, a former polio sufferer. But it's a film which stands or falls on the performance of its lead - and Hawkes delivers in spades despite the physical limitations of what's demanded of him. It's really one of the strongest performances of its ilk that I've seen on the screen in a long time.

Don't miss The Sessions - it may make you re-evaluate your life and will deliver you a film which is mature, thoughtful, funny and hauntingly good.

Extras: John Hawkes becomes, Helen Hunt interview and brief doco on the women

Rating:

Evil Dead: Movie Review

Evil Dead: Movie Review

Cast: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore
Director: Fede Alvarez

A cabin in the woods, a possessed person, plenty of gore and dismemberments, and a reboot of an iconic horror series.

It could only be Evil Dead, which was filmed in Auckland's Woodhill Forest.

Jane Levy (Suburgatory) stars as Mia in this reboot of the Evil Dead franchise, which of course was originally helmed some 32 years ago by Sam Raimi and starred Bruce Campbell. Along with four other friends (including her brother David - played by Shiloh Fernandez), Mia's holed up in a remote cabin as they try to help her kick her drug addiction.

But when one of the five discovers the Book of the Dead and reads out one of the incantations out of pure curiosity, all hell breaks loose as the demons are summoned and Mia is possessed....

Evil Dead starts with a bang and gore and doesn't really let up from there.

It's an old school horror in that it ramps up the tension, plies up the horror soundtrack and ratchets the uncomfortable feeling to 11 - and then some. The idea that Mia is in lockdown and detox adds a little something to the whole possession edge of the film and makes her initial strung-out behaviour a little easier to play on.

Add in tensions between David and Mia because of family and the concoction is there for a truly horrific showdown. And in many ways, that's what you get; buckets of blood, neck-cricking possessions (a la J horror movies) and some moments where you can't bear to look at the screen.

The Evil Dead movie is refreshingly old school; not self-aware, and true to its mythology. It's also the home of some great CGI technology, prosthetics and some stomach-churningly impressive FX work as the splatter-fest begins. It also makes moody work of the Woodhill Forest location and builds on the cabin's claustrophobia. Jane Levy impresses as she gives her all on screen as the shocks and jolts begin to build up.

I'm loathe to go into too many details of the ickiest moments as that's part of the thrill ride of the horror genre but suffice it to say, that if you love your horror movies bloody and gory, as well as taking themselves seriously, then Evil Dead is for you. It could perhaps have done with a touch of humour here and there as the relentless onslaught begins and the five are terrorised over 90 tense minutes, but Evil Dead's smart enough to not deter from what it sets out to do - simply shock and horrify.

Bloodthirsty and brutal, it will appeal to the original fans of the series. It's also bloody good fun in an old school horror way - and with a sequel planned and more films involving Bruce Campbell's Ash from the Evil Dead franchise, now is a good time to get possessed by the obsession which has been running for years.

Oh, and if you're a fan of the franchise, make sure you stick around for the credits for a very neat little surprise...

Rating:

Brand new Lone Ranger trailer is here

Brand new Lone Ranger trailer is here

The latest trailer for The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer has dropped this morning.


From producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski, the filmmaking team behind the blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, comes Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer Films' "The Lone Ranger," a thrilling adventure infused with action and humor, in which the famed masked hero is brought to life through new eyes.

 Native American spirit warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp) recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid (Armie Hammer), a man of the law, into a legend of justice—taking the audience on a runaway train of epic surprises and humorous friction as the two unlikely heroes must learn to work together and fight against greed and corruption.