Latest movie reviews - The Wolverine and 21 And Over

Latest movie reviews - The Wolverine and 21 And Over

This week, talking movies and workouts with Jack Tame.

The reason - it's the new Wolverine movie starring Hugh Jackman and his rather buff body.

Also on DVD, 21 And Over, a new film about drinking.

Take a listen below.

Evan Katz gives us Cheap Thrills

Evan Katz gives us Cheap Thrills

We catch up with director Evan Katz, whose film Cheap Thrills is playing in the Incredibly Strange section of the New Zealand International Film Festival.

Tell us about Cheap Thrills It's a film about a desperate man who's flat broke, and ends up trying to escape his troubles at a bar - only to run into an especially troubled friend from his past. They end up partying with a rich couple who have no problem throwing their money around - initially for triivial bar bets, or dares. Things go from fun to fu**d pretty rapidly from there.

What was the filming of it like? And was it a smooth shoot? Shooting was incredibly difficult. It was during a heatwave, we had blackouts. Far worse, was we only had 14 days to shoot the damn thing, so sometimes we would only have time to get 1 or 2 takes of really important stuff - which reallly cranks up the addrenaline. When you're juggling stunts, gore fx, children, animals, and strippers on a tight, it can definitly get a little crazy.

The upshot was that the cast was so talented and hilarious, that I would have to fight to not bust up laughing when they'd be doing their thing. One thing I learned a long time ago was that, no matter what, it's going to be stressful and tough to shoot a film, so you better make damn well sure that you enjoy and care about what you're capturing, or else it's just miserable and a waste of time.

I have to ask, how far have you gone for some free money? There's no such thing as "free money", but I will say that I mooned the audience at Boston Underground for 80 bucks. No requests for an encore please, for everyone's sake!

What's the best reaction you've had to a film of yours from an audience member?
I had somebody get so sick from one of the more intense scenes that she had to lie down in the theatre lobby. As soon as she was able, she raced back into the theatre so she could catch the rest of the film.

Conversely, what's been the worst? At one of the earliest test screenings, one of the attendees passed out, and started snoring. I wanted to cave his head in, but that's not really okay, so I just had to sit there and listen to it. When he woke up, and was asked to give his comments on the film, he gave it a great review. You never know.

What's next for you? Taking Cheap Thrills to different festivals, waiting on my letter for ABC's of Death 2, and developing a couple projects with friends.

New Zealand International Film Festival Reviews - The Spectacular Now, The Crash Reel, UTU Redux

New Zealand International Film Festival Reviews - The Spectacular Now, The Crash Reel, UTU Redux

The NZ International Film Festival is now underway in Auckland and kicks off in Wellington as well this weekend.

There's plenty of cinematic entertainment to get your teeth into.

The Spectacular Now - High school romance is such a well-worn path. So it's with relief that The Spectacular Now heads into slightly different territory thanks to the charm of its two lead actors. Miles Teller plays Sutter Keely, the popular kid at school, who always knows where the beer is and the party. Splitting with his apparent sweetheart, Sutter ends up forming a friendship with Shailene Woodley's Aimee Finicky, the slightly dowdy girl who's never likely to know where the party is - or have anyone to go with. Yep, it's that ole nugget again, but thanks to warmth and whimsy, as well as some great central performances and some impressive moments from the likes of Andre Royo, Kyle Chandler and Bob Odenkirk, the film's a real delight. Sure, there are teen issues - growing up without a dad, turning to drink, prom, the horror of the college application - but sensitively acted, smartly scripted and charmingly performed, it's a winner. The chemistry between the duo is palpable and thanks to some smart skewing of the traditions, The Spectacular Now emerges with more charm and warmth than any of its recent school / coming of age fodder.

UTU Redux - Remastered for the NZ Film Festival and revamped ready for the opening night in Wellington, UTU Redux is a searing watch. Not having seen the original, it was all new to me. The massacre wars of the Maori Land Wars in many ways feels like a classic western with a delicious dollop of revenge thrown in for good measure. It's a racial culture clash as violence is dished out left right and centre, but it's never anything less than confronting thanks to the performances by Anzac Wallace and Bruno Lawrence. It's also painstakingly restored and looks stunning in parts - not just the usual New Zealand countryside jumping to the fore, but thanks to a clean up here and there, the film feels fresh and revitalised as it readies itself to head back to the big screen once again. Visceral and confrontational, the anti-hero's never been so in your face - the restoration work commands your attention at the cinema and it's good to see Kiwi cinema was in rude health some 30 years ago. Plus the work done to improve and clean up the print is just simply stunning - as it's touring the country right now, it'd be a great time to ensure you see it on the biggest screen possible.


The Crash Reel - Kevin Pearce is not a name known to me. But it turns out that he's a pretty big name in the snowboarding world. Or he was until an accident cruelly cut short a career destined for the Olympics. However, after an accident training on New Year's Eve 2009, a traumatic brain injury meant that Kevin had to refocus his view on life. But, what do you do when all you know is the thrill of the boarding, the pull of your peers and the world of extreme sport? For Kevin, though, it's a long road to recovery and the pressure on his family proves to be a little too much. 


The issues raised by The Crash Reel are fascinating for the industry of extreme sports - not exactly new ones, but there's devastating horror when it plays out on others - not just Kevin. The Crash Reel had a charm and easy accessibility which means the issue of injury will come to the fore. Not exactly a warts and all doco, but I'll admit I was devastated in some parts (even though I knew what happened to some of the players) and Kevin's brother is truly an open and impressive book as the family deals with what's going on. The fact Kevin was on hand and was so open afterwards at a Q&A (one of the finest things that the NZFF does is bring guests over), gave it another level - I won't look at a wipeout on the slopes in the same way ever again.

Remember Me: PS3 Game Review

Remember Me: PS3 Game Review

Released by Capcom
Platform: PS3


I'd had some time on a preview of Remember Me and had been struck by how visually cool it was, mixing in the aesthetics of futuristic fare such as Blade Runner and the Fifth Element with some funky fights during playing.

But before I get ahead of myself, here's a recap of what the game's about.

You take the role of Nilin, a memory hunter who's now living in a dystopian, Blade Runneresque world in 2084. When we first meet Nilin, it's after an infomercial for Sensen, where a series of talking heads discuss the benefits of having their memories stored in one place and shared.

But Nilin's not in a happy place - this streak haired heroine is getting her memory wiped at a medical facility and is screaming out in pain. That's because she's clearly formerly part of a freedom fighter unit, whose job is out to take out the company running Sensen and essentially enslaving the lives of all humanity. Staggering around corridors in a space warehouse type place, with its sleek white corridors and all manners of technology, Nilin's guided by a probe to an area where the wipe can successfully be completed. As she waits in line, a voice in her ear tells her to get ready to run, when a distraction is caused.

It's here that the game starts to get really interesting. While the initial scenes are well put together and the cut scenes demonstrate the cinematic edge of the game while espousing the credits, it's only when Nilin tries to break out from the centre on the word of the voice in her ear, that the game begins to reveal its central storyline.

The voice belongs to Edge, one of the city's resistance leaders, and he exhorts Nilin to escape the medical facility - despite the massive robot chasing after her. Diving through a chute (in something akin to a sequence from Star Wars) Nilin finds her chance to escape and ends up in Neo-Paris in 2084, where she begins the job of chasing down her memories and setting about bringing down the Sensen world.

Once you get to Neo-Paris, Nilin's job is to get to the Leaking Brain bar and meet up with Tommy - and it's here that the game play style starts to become more evident. Leaping around buildings, ledges and hanging off surfaces, it's akin to Uncharted in many ways - and it's certainly a hell of a lot of fun as it mixes combat with platforming. You get to jump around cityscapes, explore worlds and steal memories as you try to get your own powers back and your memories as time goes on and you delve deeper into the game.

It actually takes a while to fully embrace some of the nuances of the game though, which will require a fair degree of patience as it's playing out. Combat itself took a little time - but not in terms of button mashing, more than there's a sequence of putting things called Pressens in order.  It takes a little time to get to grips with these so called Pressens, which can be slotted around in your combat meter, depending on what you want to do with the bash you're unleashing. Build your own health, attack harder - they're all possible in the combo lab and it's a great way to mix things up and get to your goals quicker. Chained combos and the ability to glide from one baddie to the next without losing the combo means you're not constantly on the back foot.

Memory remixing also takes time to play out and get the hang of too. Basically, at some key moments you can influence the story by changing a turn of events and using the remixer to twist how the memory plays out - it can be a simple thing such as a doctor curing or killing a patient but it has a bearing on what the narrative takes and needs to be twisted for Nilin to propel the story onwards. 

I'm kind of disappointed that given the world that's been created in Neo-Paris and its surroundings, you can't veer off the beaten track and explore more. It's a real shame as a visually enticing world has been made, created and applied and for the chance not to be enjoying it seems a real mistake from the developers. There's also a little too much of simply fighting in the game. While the mechanics of doing so are great and the ideas contained within with the presens being a clever one, there's too much of a reliance of this to help move the game along and I felt a little cheated that that was all there is with Remember Me.

All in all, Remember Me is an enticing product, a game which is visually stunning, but ever so slightly flawed. I wanted a little more from the experience and while Nilin's a greatly realised character, some of the foibles make the experience of the game play slighter than it should be. A great storyline plays out and the game offers up a visual point of difference but I kind of left feeling a little flat and deflated from my time with Nilin - a strong heroine with so much story telling potential untapped into.

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The Wolverine: Movie Review

The Wolverine: Movie Review

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Fanke Janssen, Will Yun Lee, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Rila Fukushima, Tao Okamato
Director: James Mangold

He's back, bub.

With a sequel to X: Men: First Class waiting in the wings, it seemed a little odd to have another crack at telling a Wolverine story - but there's no doubting the cigar-chomping, wise-cracking, buffed up beefcake is an incredibly popular character and given that Hugh Jackman's been the Wolverine for years now, it's no surprise he's returned to this role.

In the latest, Logan's living rough in the Canadian wilds, bedraggled and uninterested in life as a mutant or as Wolverine after the death of Famke Janssen's Jean Grey in X Men: Last Stand. But, years ago at Nagasaki, he saved the life of a man known as Yashida when the bomb's dropped and now as the ultra-rich Yashida nears the end of his life, he wants to repay the debt to Logan.

So, escorted to Japan by the red-haired Yukio (Fukushima), Logan meets with Yashida as requested. However, after he's asked to look after Yashida's grand-daughter Mariko (Okamato), things start to go awry - a scientist named Viper appears to attack him in his sleep and suddenly, the once invulnerable Logan is now facing mortality, questions about his own life and a very uncertain future.

Bound by his word, Logan's thrown into a war against the Yakuza, aimed at bringing down the Yashida empire and Mariko as he tries to work out what exactly is happening to him...

The Wolverine is a different X Men movie to any that have gone before it.

It's a more considered, more introspective piece which favours smarts and story over all action set pieces. It's by no means yet another origin story for Wolverine, but is in fact, an adventure of Logan's from 1982 and one of the first he had as a solo character which has been a much-heralded comic arc for Wolvy. Jackman is at his vulnerable best when Logan's trying to work out what's going on - both in modern day Japan and also in his own life. He brings an understated downplaying of the role this time around (no cigar-chomping here, bub) and it makes Wolverine a lot more realistic as he goes on his journey, faces his lack of immortality and takes on his demons.

Fuelling a feeling of a drifter film, a Ronin (samurai without a master), this Logan's a more melancholy and maudlin character in this latest outing - and while there are some incredible bursts of action (a sequence aboard a bullet train stands out), the overall feeling is muted and not what you'd expect from the sixth outing of the X Men favourite. Swathes of the film pass without any real action or spills and thrills, and it teeters precariously on the dull in places - but the story telling's key here and Mangold's certainly given that the time to breathe and depth to a character that you thought you already knew.

It's this side of the film which is infinitely more interesting than the rest of what transpires towards the end - because it forgoes its original path for a finale which is generic, boring and simply a "battle the boss" end. It's almost as if Hollywood's come in and commanded an action beat down ending to provide a blockbuster pay off.

Throw in Svetlana Khodchenkova's Viper, who appears to have come from the Joel Schumacher era of movie villainesses with her Poison Ivy-esque costume and MO and the conclusion is a muddled mix of the totally expected and utterly predictable in among the different setting and relatively mutant-free world.

All in all, The Wolverine's to be commended for not sticking ot the formula, offering something completely unexpected and providing a more downbeat blockbuster experience. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it's stylish, different and just about a success. It's a story of honour, family pride, greed, personal belief and exorcising demons - it's perfect fodder for the tortured hero and offers up many insights into a world of superheroes without dabbling too deeply within.

A fantastic final tease sequence sets up X Men: Days of Future Past thrillingly so make sure you stay on for the credits - it's a magnetic piece which concentrates on the three main players of the X Men movies and has got this geek salivating for the sequel.

Rating:

Ping Pong: Movie Review

Ping Pong: Movie Review

Director: Hugh Hartford

A documentary about the sport of table tennis with a central cast whose combined age hits nearly 703? I'd almost written it off as Young@Heart but with sport instead of singing to be honest.

In this British documentary, Hugh Hartford follows the trials and tribulations as well as charting the build up to the World Championship finals in China by tracking some of the global OAP competitors.

There's 81 year old Terry, a Brit who's been struck by a return of his prostate cancer issues; 89 year old Les is a fellow UK dweller and philosopher, who takes his training seriously and can be found at the gym doing weights to get in shape; 89 year old German Inge whose training's helped get her out of dementia ward - and the oldest competitor Dorothy from Australia, whose 100 years gives her celeb status at home and also at the championships.

Hartford tracks the lives of 9 of these but spends more time off the championship floor and manages to capture a spirit of fierce competitiveness as well as their tenacity for life as the end approaches. He builds their back stories so that you're invested in them as the competition nears; with moments and a style that's non-intrusive, Hartford manages to imbue the piece with heart, humour and pathos.

In a couple of sequences, he skirts around the sentimental path before deciding to concentrate on the characters rather than tugging on the heart-strings. It's a wise move which pays off once the final tournament takes place and then the sly humour kicks in as one competitor hopes she gets the opponent who can't move around the table so that she can win. As the crowds give their approval at the results among the pomp and pageantry of the ping pong world in China, it's something akin to a gladiator seeking the emperor's favour in an auditorium and it's intoxicating for both the competitors and the viewers.

With gallows humour, gentle tension and a typical deadpan Brit eye for detail and moments, Ping Pong is as much a celebration of life as it is an inspirational piece; a simply put together film which shows once the twilight comes you don't have to just give up, but celebrate the spirit that dwells within.

Rating:

Talking movies with Jack Tame - The World's End

Talking movies with Jack Tame - The World's End

This week, sickness and The World's End as well as Zero Dark Thirty.