Sharknado is coming to New Zealand

Sharknado is coming to New Zealand

Local film distributor Vendetta Films are bringing the movie phenomenon, SHARKNADO, to NZ cinemas for select one-off screenings next Friday, 23 August, at 9pm.

Sharknado, starring Ian Ziering (Beverly Hills 90210), Tara Reid (American Pie) and several hundred CGI sharks, tells of a freak hurricane swamping Los Angeles, resulting in ‘water tornadoes’ and thousands of sharks terrorising the waterlogged populace.

Typical of its crazy style, the film will not follow the traditional release plan of a cinema release, a 4 month wait for DVD and VOD, then another 3 – 6 months before its TV screening. Instead, following the cinema screenings, the film will screen on Prime TV in late August, before its DVD and VOD release in October.

In the USA, the film launched on SyFy TV channel, before releasing on VOD platforms, and is now receiving a theatrical release around the country as people rush to see it with large groups of friends. At its peak during the TV launch, the movie was generating 5,000 tweets a minute. With a total 387,000 social mentions, it came just under hitting the social mentions of Game of Thrones' "Red Wedding" episode.

Best known for their mockbusters such as Transmorphers, Snakes on a Train and the forthcoming Lord of the Elves and Atlantic Rim, producers The Asylum have achieved their biggest ever hit with Sharknado.

Vendetta Films’ Division Manager Jill Macnab says: “We are very excited to bring the cult of Sharknado to Kiwi audiences.  It makes Jaws look like Free Willy”.

The following cinemas are confirmed to screen SHARKNADO on Friday 23 August at 9pm:

Hoyts Sylvia Park (Auckland)

Event Queen St (Auckland)

Hoyts Te Awa (Hamilton)

Readings Courteney Place (Wellington)

Hoyts Riccarton (Christchurch)

We're The Millers: Movie Review

We're The Millers: Movie Review

Cast: Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Will Poulter, Emma Roberts, Ed Helms
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber

Back to the world of the road trip we go with this latest R-rated comedy to hit the multiplexes.

Former Saturday Night Live veteran Jason Sudeikis stars as veteran low-level pot dealer David. Ever since high school, he's been dealing dope and when he's robbed, he finds himself in debt to his dealer Brad (Hangover star Ed Helms).

In order to pay off the debt, David's asked to move a "smidge" of weed across the border of Mexico into the USA - but realising that he'd attract the attention of the police, he co-opts himself a fake family from within his building.

There's home alone kid Kenny (Will Poulter), stripper and potential love interest Rose (Jennifer Aniston) and street teen Casey (Emma Roberts) - and so off they go in the RV, on the American vacation and off to make some money.

Inevitably though, it doesn't quite go according to plan....

Road trip comedies are films done to death already.

However, We're The Millers proves to be a relatively entertaining, if occasionally uneven entry, into an already crowded genre.

It succeeds largely on the charm and affability of its leads; Sudeikis and Aniston have good comic chemistry together as the drug dealer and stripper who share a love / hate relationship. Will (Son of Rambow) Poulter gets a good share of the laughs as the slightly dumb, slightly awkward teen and Roberts is perhaps the only one who feels a little underwritten as the "daughter" of the group. Their feeling real makes the family bond work without feeling forced.

Of course, all they all want really is a family with each of them lacking it in their lives in some form or other - which is what leads to an inevitably mushy and rather sickly sentimental and utterly predictable ending that sticks in your craw.

The R-rated awkward laughs are sprinkled throughout and Thurber directs them with a taut eye that means they don't feel drawn out and pointless like some other recent entries of a similar ilk. Sure, there's gross out moments and an icky kiss-fest but they're peppered throughout and relatively snappy. It has to be said though that there could potentially be an argument for wanting more laughs or shortening the run time a little.

Much will be made of Aniston's warehouse strip tease in which she grooves and gyrates in the manner of a woman striking a blow in Hollywood for those over 40. Sure, it's a bit saucy but it's also self referential too with Sudeikis looking down the barrel of the camera at that point, rather knowingly. Since Horrible Bosses, Aniston's been determined to permanently bench her good girl image, so this is perhaps another notch in that quest.

Outside of the Millers, most of the other characters are stereotypes - the Mexican drug dealer, the Mexican hoodlum and The Office and Hangover's Ed Helms playing a little OTT as the kingpin but it's due to the grounded characters and warmth of the leads that this doesn't tonally grate too much. Kathryn Hahn and Parks and Recreation's Nick Offerman add a bit as a fellow RV family along for the journey too.

All in all, like any road trips, you hit a few speed bumps along the way but the destination is worth taking the journey for. This all sounds like faint praise for the film, and while the story's a little thin and the gags a little blander than what you may be used to, We're The Millers generally succeeds as a piece of throwaway entertainment.

Oh, and don't leave your seat too quickly, as there's a gag reel with something very amusing directed at Jennifer Aniston...

Rating:

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger: Blu Ray Review

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Vendetta Films

Woody Allen's latest is set once again in London. Anthony Hopkins and Gemma Jones play Alfie and Helena, who are at the later stages of their life. When Alfie has an impeding old age crisis and splits from his wife Helena of many years, she starts seeing a psychic (Pauline Collins). Meanwhile, Alfie and Helena's daughter Sally (Naomi Watts) is just starting a new job at an art gallery with boss Antonio Banderas as her husband Roy (Josh Brolin) is waiting to hear about his latest book and if it will be published. But Roy's obsessed with the pretty woman in a neighbouring tower block (Pinto) and Alfie announces plans to marry a much younger woman, Charmaine (Punch) - it's all a tale of intersecting lives and desires in this portmanteau piece.

Basically, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger is not one of Allen's finest.

It's a great ensemble cast, but there's no real punch to the piece in any shape or form, with hardly any of the characters worthy of you latching onto and supporting in one way or another. While director Allen makes London look truly beautiful and does a brilliant job coralling his actors together, it's the script which lets him down, providing hardly any humour or sophistication as the tale plays out.

Sure, the voiceover claims it's all about insignificance but the whole thing is so slight, it never does more than irritate you at the end after you've invested time in these characters.

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger suffers having a lack of real identity; and while the cast is impressive, you can't help but feel they didn't have enough to work with in this. A shame, then, that a psychic couldn't have told Allen how to improve it.

Rating:

Liberal Arts: Blu Ray Review

Liberal Arts: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Icon and Roadshow Home Entertainment

Ah, college life.

The time when you thought anything was possible and everyone was interesting. Then, the realities of actual life intrude and it all goes a little bit south. Josh Radnor stars as Jesse, a 35-year-old admissions officer, who's invited back to his former college to farewell his favourite professor (Richard Jenkins). Leaping at the chance, he heads back there and ends up falling for student Zibby (Elisabeth Olsen) - a relationship which takes him by surprise and forces him to reconsider a few of life's big questions.

Warm, whimsical and sly, Liberal Arts is an unexpected treat.With witty dialogue, universal situations and a warmth between the two leads, it gets almost everything right. Add in yet another great character performance from Jenkins as the outgoing professor and it's something which flies in the face of traditional rom-coms. There's more of an emphasis on the romantic side rather than the outright comedy - in fact, if anything the comedy is more gentle with moments such as an ongoing spat between the pair over the Twilight book series indicative of the age differences rather than an outright ideological chasm.

Radnor and Olsen have an affable ease which ensures this film is watchable enough and pleasant enough to pass the time. Both have a connection and throw in some truly suburban leafy college surroundings and you've got the recipe for a fine time at the cinema. Anyone who's been to college will identify with the multitude of coda on display and the life lessons you learn - but more than that, it's a romantic tale which will appeal to all.

Rating:

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