The Imposter: DVD Review

The Imposter: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Madman Home Entertainment

This documentary tore up the New Zealand Film Festival last year, with those who saw it raving about it. And now, those of us a bit slower on the hype bandwagon get to see what the fuss is all about.

Crikey, it's well worth a watch as well.

Director Bart Layton's taken the 1997 case of Frederic Bourdin, a serial chameleon, whose MO is to take on the lives of missing children. In 97, Bourdin decided to take on the persona of a missing teenager, Nicholas Barclay, who'd gone missing from his Texas home.

Only at the time, Bourdin was in Spain, and managed to persuade the authorities that Barclay had been kidnapped by the military and trafficked abroad....

Consequently, Barclay's family welcomed him into their home and believed him to be back in their lives....but that's when the alarm bells began to ring. The Imposter is a superlative documentary, a richly woven tale which grabs you from the minute you read the premise to how it spools out on screen.

Every twist and turn has you screaming "WTF" and "How is that even possible" for a 23 year old man to inveigle his way into a family's life and to tell such barefaced and outrageous lies to get into their lives. But the real kick in the piece comes as the documentary begins to truly show its hand - and to reveal any more of that is to totally destroy the experience.

Using recreations, re-enactments and interviews from Bourdin and Barclay's family, Layton's pulled together an utterly slick and compelling piece which grips you in its vice and doesn't let go throughout its 90 minutes duration. He's employed some clever narrative techniques as well which keep you engaged as the story is told.

But, here's the thing about The Imposter - it's jaw dropping in its execution as the mystery really starts to set in. Everything in you questions how the family could believe that it's their child, how the authorities could be taken in and how Bourdin had the audacity to get as far as he did. Even Bourdin himself confesses, he never thought he'd get as far as he did - given the missing boy was a blonde haired blue eyed all American kid - and he was a brown eyed, half Algerian/ French dark haired man. He's got Keyser Soze like tendencies as he looks around him, initially when found by authorities to absorb his surroundings to his own benefit.

Layton manages to provide some answers about why Bourdin does what he does and delves a little into the psyche of the chameleon, but even more than that, you don't quite get the resolution on why the family goes along with it all. There are suspicions as this Pandora's box is opened wide, but this slickly put together piece has the cumulative effect of picking you up, spinning you around in your seat and plonking you back down puzzled, incredulous and confused as to how it may end.

Placing into sharp focus the closed minds of some Americans (one family member when told Nicholas was in Spain says "Isn't that, like, across the country?") this tonally deft piece of film-making demands you see it. It's a contender for one of the films of the year - already - and it's an utter must see for its story alone, as well as its high production values.

Compelling, riveting and sensational, it's one of the smartest films of 2013 - narratively rich and technically impressive, it raises the bar for future documentaries by being simple, yet sleek and never losing focus of what it's doing.
Rating

Digital Nationz unveils speakers and plans

Digital Nationz unveils speakers and plans

Some good news for gamers in New Zealand, who'll get a chance to have an early peek and play on the PlayStation 4 and XBox One.

Thanks to Digital Nationz, that opportunity could come earlier than the rumoured December release for those consoles.

Full details follow:

Brace yourselves gamers, tech-heads and fans of great entertainment across all things digital. You’re about to launch into the future as DIGITAL NATIONZ, New Zealand’s first Digital Entertainment Expo, debuts in Auckland this September.  

DIGITAL NATIONZ is a 2 day expo held at Auckland’s Vector Arena, across the weekend of 28-29th September 2013.

DIGITAL NATIONZ will provide the first public opportunity for Kiwis to experience the next generation of consoles, Sony’s PlayStation®4 (PS4) and Microsoft’s Xbox One, due for release later this year. These industry giants will each have large stands at the event, not only showing off their latest consoles loaded with the newest titles for gamers to try, but also upcoming titles for PS3, PS VITA and XBOX 360.

The past, present and future of digital entertainment, from gaming to movies and music will be well represented; the expo features a History of Video Games Museum, a Digital Artz Gallery and sneak peeks into cutting edge technologies such as 3D printers, The Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Headset and other exciting innovations.

Exhibits and events such as Robot wars, speaker sessions featuring international game development experts, panel discussions, movie and games previews, and creative technology workshops mean plenty of opportunities for hands-on involvement.

DIGITAL NATIONZ also features a LAN gaming event for 200 participants playing simultaneously throughout the weekend.

The founding partners of the event include heavy hitting industry leaders ensuring a broad range of experiences and content at the event. (see further down for list of confirmed partners)

DIGITAL NATIONZ has been created by Vector Arena’s Business Development Manager, Peter Hall, who’s been an avid gamer and gadget guy since he fired up his Commodore 64 for the first time at the age of 6. He had the idea to launch DIGITAL NATIONZ when he saw a gap in the NZ creative/entertainment digital space.  “New Zealand is one of the few countries where a major electronic/digital expo doesn’t exist, the “extremes” are covered for the hard core fans of comic books and TV-series and for those who are developers and programmers, but mainstream New Zealand has nothing. I wanted to create an event heavy on content both international and Kiwi made.”

He continues,

“In short our goal is to let you engage, discuss and explore the digital world, by putting future products, prototypes and concepts in your hands right now.”

A promise DIGITAL NATIONZ is sure to deliver.

As part of our speaker sessions, panels and Q&A sessions we are bringing several local and international speakers to DIGITAL NATIONZ. Confirmed speakers include:

-         Benson Russell, Senior Designer at NAUGHTY DOG. Benson’s most recent title is critically acclaimed The Last Of Us (he also designed the well-known Uncharted series), and his original claim to fame was as the designer of the D-Day level in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for PC, a genre defining moment for game fans everywhere.

Dr Mark Sagar

-         Dr Mark Sagar, a two time Academy Award Winner, who won academy awards for his technical work on Avatar and for his early and continuing development of influential facial motion retargeting solutions. For the last 15 years has specialized in bringing computer generated faces to life in some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters including “Avatar”, “King Kong”, “Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes” and "Spiderman-2". Dr Sagar is the director of The Laboratory for Animate Technologies based at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute.

-         Tara Brannigan, Customer Relationship Manager at PikPok. Tara’s credits include Microsoft XBOX US, including a brief stint on the recently announced XBOX ONE title: Project Spark, and PopCap Games (responsible for the wildly popular casual titles Plants vs Zombies and Bejewelled).

Greg Broadmore

-         Dr Melanie Swalwell, Associate Professor of Screen and Media at Flinders University in Australia. Melanie has published a suite of projects on New Zealand’s unique games history, and was keynote speaker at the 1st International History of Games conference, held in June in Montreal.

Dr Melanie Swalwell

-         Jonathan Rogers, Technical Director of New Zealand company Grinding Gear Games, which is independently developing Online Action RPG game Path of Exile, one of the most anticpated games in New Zealand game development history with a global beta player base of over 2.9 million people and counting.

-         Greg Broadmore, Conceptual Designer & Artist for Weta Workshop. Greg was the lead concept designer on District 9 as well as being a designer on The Adventures of Tintin, Avatar, King Kong, and has through is own Dr. Grordbort series created a fantastical steampunk inspired world that has captured the creative communities imagination.

Newstalk ZB Movie Review - Pain and Gain, The Way Way Back and The Bling Ring

Newstalk ZB Movie Review - Pain and Gain, The Way Way Back and The Bling Ring

This week at the movies, we were talking Mark Wahlberg's latest, the Michael Bay film Pain and Gain, new comedy Pain and Gain and at the New Zealand Film Festival, The Bling Ring.

http://newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/player/ondemand/1598816347-darren-bevan-at-the-movies--august-10

Stoker: Movie Review

Stoker: Movie Review

Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Nicole Kidman, Jacki Weaver
Director: Park Chan-wook

This psychological piece draws influence from Hitchcock and is written by Wentworth Miller, who's better known for his lead role as Michael Scofield in Prison Break.

It's the story of India Stoker, who, on her 18th birthday finds her life thrown into turmoil by the death of her father. India's been close to her father for years, and the death forces her into spending time with her mother Evelyn (a haughtily distant Nicole Kidman).

Things are further shaken up for India, when her uncle Charlie (a charismatic but creepy Matthew Goode) shows up at the funeral and moves into the home. Evelyn becomes obsessed with him and begins a relationship, but India's unsure of the new arrival but finds her interest piqued when people from around the house start disappearing...

Eerie, uncomfortable, full of great close ups and terrifically atmospheric, the director of Oldboy, Park Chan-wook has created something incredibly riveting and stylish on the big screen with this coming of age thriller, which is distinctly reminiscent of a Hitchcock piece.

It's also unbelievably stylish as well, with India's heightened senses proving to be a major part of the soundscape of the film. Every single sound is amplified and the effect is mesmerising as Chan-wook's taut thriller plays out.

With unusual camera angles and point-of-view precision shots scattered throughout, Chan-wook's made something which is disorientating and engaging. The visual and the audio are expertly used to play to our senses. One shot sees Wasikowska brushing Kidman's orange tresses and that morphs into grass blowing in the breeze - it's an audacious shot which screams style and is bravura film-making.

Matthew Goode makes a charming and psychotic uncle, who mysteriously appears on the scene and who charms both Evelyn and eventually, India. Kidman is distant as the mother trying to reconnect with her daughter and her life; and Mia Wasikowska is withdrawn as the different-from-everyone-else India, who's waking up to the world around her. She's terrific as the lead, and her awakening is an uncomfortable experience which horrifically boils over at the end.

It takes a while to adjust to the characters' distance at the start of the film, (there's nary a hint of humour throughout) but this aloof Addams Family psycho-drama chiller-thriller is unsettling, ethereal and artistic - and quite unmissable. 

Rating:

21 and Over: Blu Ray Review

21 and Over: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Entertainment

Following on from last year's Project X, and the slightly more adult Hangover series, it's clear that there's still plenty to be mined in the "One night out, deal with the regrets later" genre.

This latest focuses on two mates, Miller and Casey (Project X's Teller and Pitch Perfect's Skylar Astin) who head to their med-student friend Jeff Chang (Justin Chon) for an impromptu celebration of his 21st. But Jeff Chang doesn't want to party as he's got an important interview the next day. Still with friends like Miller, who says he will mess up his friend with alcohol (severely paraphrasing here), Jeff has no choice.

But, the night's antics spiral out of control - and soon, Miller and Casey are stuck on a college campus, with no idea of how to get their friend home - and with the threat of violence from Jeff's father facing them, are in a race against time.

21 And Over will clearly appeal to its target demographic - the kind of teen boys who like to party (or believe there's still a world out there made for partying and filled with beautiful college women who are there for the taking) and who are looking for nothing more than a dumb time at the movies. 

Heavily slanted towards the American college scene (with fraternities, hazing and debauchery aplenty), it may be a world which is slightly alien to others. But it's exactly what you'd expect from a film such as this - montages of slow mo drinking, dancing and puking, embarrassments and nudity, character stereotyping and casual racism - it's all in the chaotic mix of a night out. (And there's palpable relief it's not in 3D either, I can tell you).

The main trio are nothing spectacular - the situations they get into are fairly outrageous in a tame sort of way. But here's the thing with 21 And Over. It feels so old hat; there's no real stand out new entry into the genre; no defining moment which gives it the chance to stand out about the rest. It's not just a lot of loutish bad drunken behaviour though - there's a kernel of a nice story hidden within (which is rare in these types of films) as Miller and Casey realise they don't know much these days about their friend Jeff Chang (they call him that all the way through) after he went to college. Plus, Casey discovers there's more to life than a steady job and being reckless with a girl (Sarah Wright who looks uncannily like Alice Eve)

And it's a nice touch to demonstrate how friendships can wax and wane - before you see the guys naked in nothing but gym socks. So, to be honest, it's stuff we've all seen done time and time again - without the faintest whiff of originality or excess.

All in all, 21 And Over will fulfill a need in some - and I predict moderate success for it - it'll appeal to those who pine to be college drinking gods; everyone else will just be glad they grew up.

Rating:

Homeland Season 3 trailer is here

Homeland Season 3 trailer is here

The first official trailer for Homeland Season 3 has just dropped.

Returning to the show are Damian Lewis as Brody and Claire Danes as Carrie.

Watch the Homeland Season 3 preview here....

The Host: Blu Ray Review

The Host: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Sony Home Ent

Fresh from Twilight Saga writer Stephenie Meyer comes the film version of her novel The Host, her first foray into the world of sci-fi.

An unseen but benign alien invasion force has taken over the Earth - by forming parasitic relationships with humanity and inhabiting bodies while erasing their memories. But a small batch of humans is standing firm in the face of this invasion  by stealth and is determined to fight back. Among their number is Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan), a tough-willed fighter and sister to a younger brother after their father killed himself in the early stages of their coming. However, when she's cornered by the Seekers, she kills herself - only to awake to find a soul is now in her body.

But Melanie is a fighter - and soon there is a conflict within the body for control. And that conflict has implications for what's left of humanity....

So, is The Host movie any good? Well, if you can get past some of the soapy teen / slightly horrific love story contained inevitably within Host author Stephenie Meyer's writing, then there lies an interesting sci-fi movie cum meditation / philosophical piece on the soul and how we see our place in the world.

Kiwi Director Andrew Niccol's brought us a sterile world which is all starched whites, sheens, silvers and where the bad guys drive pristine silver Lotus while pursuing the bad guys. He's also managed to make some incredible use of the landscape scenery on offer - with the wilds of the countryside and the stark harshness of the buildings occupied by the invaders providing a nice contrast to each other.

But he's also managed to stick to some clunky dialogue, so redolent of Meyer's writing. Lines like "When you touch me, I don't want you to stop" litter parts of the movie and drag it down a little as it plays out. Why those couldn't be jettisoned I'm not too sure - even though it's young adult, and aimed at an audience, they still stand out a mile off. There's a haunting and elegaic feel to The Host movie, and it's certainly one which evokes feelings within as it ends - but there's also a bit of confusion over some of the characters' motives (even the final explanations still provide a touch of "Huh?") which nag during the film's quieter moments. This is not an alien invasion film with heaps of action and chases; in fact, it's the very opposite - a grown up meditation of the spiritual, which has moments of serenity within - despite a quite ludicrous love story being wrapped around an occasionally logic-lacking tale.

Rating: