Don Jon: Movie Review

Don Jon: Movie Review

Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza
Director: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Joseph Gordon-Levitt writes and directs this piece about New Jersey guy Jon, a modern day Don Juan, who has an addiction to internet porn.

He's a serial objectifier, always talking about women in clubs with ratings - from a 1 to the perfect dime (a 10); he loves his car, his boys and his home. But the addiction to porn has left him unable to form a relationship with anyone other than one night stands, because the sex is not as good as he believes the porn to be.

However, this cocksure attitude takes a bit of a knock when he meets the "dime" Barbara Sugarman (a voluptuous Scarlett Johansson) in a club. When she fails to fall for his schtick and one night stand hopes, he ends up pursuing her, believing her to be the one. Their relationship blossoms - but not without pitfalls.

Sugarman's addicted to romantic comedies (as portrayed with good humour by Channing Tatum, Anne Hathaway, Cuba Gooding Jr and Meagan Good) and the ideal of the perfect man, which means she tries to start to change him.

And things get worse when Sugarman finds Jon using internet porn after their first night together...

Don Jon is a gratifyingly assured directorial debut from  Joseph Gordon-Levitt; its frenetic opening and statements on the objectification of women in life and the media today (from Phoebe Cates' iconic red bikini to the jiggling women of the Benny Benassi video, through to the antics of porn stars on screen) sets out the stall right away. With his dead eyes, slicked back hair and stoic dedication to serial masturbation, Joseph Gordon-Levitt fully commits to the role of the man addicted to the sound of the computer being turned on (in more ways than one).

The start of the film is extremely confident, as Jon and Barbara begin their relationship in amid the frustrated lust and humour of taking a girl to meet the parents (Who's The Boss' Tony Danza is the perfect dolt of a New Jersey father) and Gordon-Levitt's got a wry take on the Catholic church randomly dishing out Hail Marys at confessions, but mid way through the piece, it starts to falter a little, leaving it with the feeling of being two movies spliced quickly together as one.

The second half concentrates on Jon's relationship with Esther (played by Julianne Moore) that he meets at night classes and it's full of moments which feel forced and unnatural because there's been no time to build up and invest in the characters. Esther finds Jon watching porn on his mobile after Sugarman's ban - and the next time she sees him, she gives him a porn DVD; it just feels rushed and unreal in the world that  Joseph Gordon-Levitt has already created. It's a shame because the tonal shift is quite jarring and doesn't quite gel.

Sure, Don Jon is a stylish and impressive piece, but it falters in its overall mission. But as a mission statement for writer/ director Joseph Gordon-Levitt, it's a great start - and shows this guy is clearly on the up.

Rating:

Mr Pip: Movie Review

Mr Pip: Movie Review

Cast: Hugh Laurie, Xzannjah, Eka Darville
Director: Andrew Adamson

Based on Lloyd Jones' seminal novel, the film adaptation of Mr Pip arrives on the screen with Great Expectations heaped upon it.

Set against the backdrop of civil war in Bougainville as power struggle for the copper mines manifests itself, it's the story of young Mathilda (Xzannjah) who lives on the island. When all the whites abandon the island to ensure their safety, one stays behind.

That is the enigmatic Mr Watts (Hugh Laurie) who decides to take on the tutelage of the children by reading to them Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. For Mathilda, it's a revelation, a chance to find sanctuary in the world of Pip and her own imagination. But Watts' plan to fire up the children's imaginations brings him into conflict with some of the parents.

However, they find they all have to put their differences aside when the civil war comes abruptly and violently into their village.

Mr Pip is a surprisingly powerful piece given its rather small scale intimate feel.

Laurie, replete in crumpled white suit, brings a low-key nuanced presence and haunting subtle sadness to the last remaining white man on the island, trying to inspire the children and distract them from the horrors knocking at their very doorstep. There's a distracted melancholy to his performance which is only lifted when he brings some comic overtones to the acting out of Dickens' world.

First time actress Xzannjah also has a wide-eyed innocence to Mathilda, whose solace in her imaginary world with Pip is a stark contrast to the world around her. Thanks to bright, visually bold colourful costuming of Pip's world, the difference couldn't be more pointed or striking as the maudlin tone plays out. The first half of the film feels almost light, choppy and jaunty as the kids and the village adjust to Watts' ways and the community starts to fracture (and ultimately heal itself) amid the world around it.

And mark my words, Mr Pip packs a power that is hard to deny - and even harder not to be moved or horrified with as the realities and atrocities of civil war come painfully to Mathilda and Mr Watts' world. It's mournful to say the least and the wailing and gnashing which follows one incident is haunting, evocative and heart-in-mouth horrifying - despite somehow managing to be moving.

But it's the ending of Mr Pip which impresses - there's a dignified power, emotional punch and rich resonance offered by the dénouement which will move you more than you'd expect. Amid the harrowing and horrific, director Andrew Adamson has crafted something which has a quiet dignity and a way of creeping up on you, gnawing at your soul long after you've left the cinema.

Rating:

Brand new The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug movie trailer

Brand new The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug movie trailer

It's here - the brand new The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug movie trailer
Meanwhile, a brand new The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug banner has been unveiled...

GTA Online is here

GTA Online is here

Access to GTA Online

• Access to Grand Theft Auto Online is free with your copy of Grand Theft Auto V. On October 1st there will be a small downloadable Title Update released on PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE. Upon installation of that Title Update, direct access to begin GTA Online will be unlocked in your GTAV game menu. You will be able to jump right into GTA Online via the 4th (bottom) slot in your GTAV character wheel. We’ve received many questions asking for a specific confirmation of what exact time GTA Online will be available but of course this is contingent on both Title Updates becoming available on each console’s network. As a general timeframe, we do expect the Title Update to become available on PSN and Xbox LIVE starting around 9PM Eastern Australian time this evening (1^st October) , and your best bet is to stay tuned throughout the day here at the Rockstar Newswire and by following us on Twitter and Facebook where we will be keeping everyone updated.
   

When does GTA Online Take Place?

• Some people who’ve been playing through Grand Theft Auto V’s Story Mode have been inquiring how the narrative of GTA Online correlates or crosses over. Grand Theft Auto Online is set a few months prior to the events of Grand Theft Auto V’s single player story.
   

Home and Garage Security

• There’s plenty of havoc and treachery you can cause out in the open world of course, but in order to prevent some really annoying “griefing”, we’ve designed house party invitations specifically to be a friendly social affair where players can visit each other’s pads without fear of having them ruined or losing their hard-earned vehicles in the process. If someone invites you into their property, then it is considered a friendly visit and you will not be able to shoot up their place or steal their cars from their garage. By the way, in any given lobby, if you and another player own the same piece of property, you will each be able to enter your own personal instance of that property at any given time. You will also be able to enter each other’s instance of that property if you exchange and accept an invite. This way, multiple instances of ownership of the same property within a lobby can co-exist.
   

GTA$ and Fair Play

• To allay some concerns we’ve heard on this subject, we can assure you that the game is designed such that the option of purchasable GTA$ should not disrupt the playing field – and there are a few mechanics in place to help ensure that. All players still have to rank up with Reputation Points (RP) in order to get access to purchase high-end items.  No one can begin GTA Online and simply spend a lot of money out of the gate to get a leg up. You will have to earn your stripes and play to unlock access to the aspirational clothes, guns and other items. Please also remember that in GTA Online, hustling to afford the finer things by earning GTA$ doing robberies, stick-ups, winning races and other profitable activities is a fun gameplay experience rather than ever being a ‘grind’. As we mentioned on Wednesday, we will constantly tweak all areas of the game to make it play fairer and iron out any balancing problems (while fixing all the other problems we encounter!), but we really need your help in figuring out what those issues are. So please work with us on that!
   

An Ever-Growing Collection of Jobs

• Grand Theft Auto Online is a long-term GTA experience that you can expect to be built-upon, to grow and to evolve in many ways in the coming weeks, months and beyond. As part of that, there will be a massive amount of Jobs available to play over time as we will be regularly adding new ones for you to enjoy. Additionally, you will soon be helping to add content to the game world yourselves, by creating custom Race and Deathmatch Jobs through the Content Creator tool which we plan to release this fall. Grand Theft Auto Online is a collaborative project between Rockstar and all GTA players worldwide, so expect that we’ll effectively be working on it together from day one. As a very small example, the Crew Hierarchies feature that was introduced a few weeks back on Social Club was a direct result of popular fan feedback from last year – and we’ll be looking at the GTA Online community’s feedback, input and ideas constantly to help inform how the game itself will grow and evolve. As mentioned last week, we’ll be looking closely at your feedback emails sent toGTAOnline@rockstargames.com and in the GTA Online Suggestion Box board at the forthcoming Social Club Forums. We’re very much looking forward to welcoming you as active participants in the world of GTA Online starting tomorrow.
   

The Character Creation System

• The hereditary-based character creation system of Grand Theft Auto Online allows for a multitude of options to create your avatar that will then inhabit the online world of Los Santos & Blaine County.  Choose your gender then decide on your mother and father.  From there, you can choose to give one parent genetic dominance or leave them more evenly matched. The choice is yours. Next, you adjust a set of lifestyle variables which help determine your character’s appearance and starting stats. Decide how much sleep he/she gets, how much partying they indulge in, how much honest work versus illegal activity, and more. Essentially, you can adjust the genetics to wind up with a fresh faced lad or lass or a grizzled, haggard degenerate or anywhere in between! You’ll also be able to preview your end result in real time all throughout to ensure you’re satisfied before putting your character on a direct flight to LS. Of course, once you’re out and about in the open world, you can further customize your character with haircuts, clothing and accessories to suit your tastes.
   

Exclusive Social Club Features

• In Grand Theft Auto Online, Social Club members get access to weaponry and vehicular unlocks, a whole new suite of Crew features to represent and coordinate with your squad, and special tools to get the most out of Rockstar Jobs and user-created Jobs when the Content Creator tool launches this fall. Check out the updated www.rockstargames.com/V/socialclub for an overview of GTA Online Social Club features including new Crew customization possibilities like Crew colors and Emblem vehicle decals, Crew messaging options, and Open or Closed Crew Sessions. Plus unlocks like the Sawed-Off Shotgun, the Annis Elegy RH8 and the John Marston Parent option to do the Marston family proud in the modern day West. Also stay tuned for info later in October about the very first GTA Online Social Club Events which will have special Event Playlists curated by Rockstar, reserved in-game license plate awards for top players, and more. So, if you haven’t joined, we recommend doing so!

Breaking Bad finale DVD set details revealed

Breaking Bad finale DVD set details revealed

Luckily for NZ Fans, SONY Pictures Home Entertainment have cooked up a batch of Breaking Bad: The Complete Series to own on DVD and Blu-Ray. Releasing on Wednesday 27^thNovember, just in time for Christmas.  

The Breaking Bad: The Complete Series 16-disc Blu-Ray Barrel is this year’s must have gift, complete with all 62 episodes, more than 55 hours of special features and two hours of never-before-seen documentary footage.

The box set also contains a Los Pollos Hermanos apron and a collectible booklet, as well as a commemorative Breaking Bad challenge coin designed and created by Vince Gilligan exclusively for this set as a token of appreciation to fans for making the Breaking Bad journey.

A very limited quantity of this collector’s edition is available in NZ exclusively at JB Hi Fi. Fans can pre-order their set now at www.jbhifi.co.nz.

In addition to releasing the complete set on Blu-Ray, SPHE will release BREAKING BAD: THE FINAL SEASON on both Blu-ray and DVD with UltraViolet^™. The final season includes the series’ final eight episodes and is loaded with special features, including all-new featurettes, cast and crew commentaries, deleted scenes and more.

Synopsis:

BREAKING BAD follows protagonist Walter White (Cranston), a chemistry teacher who lives in New Mexico with his wife (Gunn) and teenage son (Mitte) who has cerebral palsy. White is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a slim chance to survive. With a new sense of fearlessness based on his medical prognosis, and a desire to secure his family's financial security, White chooses to enter a dangerous world of drugs and crime and ascends to power in this world. The series explores how this fatal diagnosis transforms Walt from mild family man to a kingpin of the drug trade.

BREAKING BAD: THE COMPLETE SERIES Barrel Set Special Features Include:

•  No Half Measures: Creating the Final Season of Breaking Bad - An all-new, exclusive two hour documentary that chronicles the filming of the final eight episodes.

Additional bonus features include all previously released featurettes and retail exclusives:

•   Bad Memories – Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul talk about the show ending and some of their favorite moments. 

•  Bryan Cranston: Director – Go on set with Bryan Cranston as he directs the first episode of the season entitled "Blood Money."    

•  Scene Envy – The Cast tell us which scene they wish they could have been in. 

•  Shocking Moments - The stars reveal the moments that shocked them most. 

• From Walt to Heisenberg – From high school teacher to deadly meth dealer, watch as Walter White quickly transforms into Heisenberg. 

• How Will It End? – At the beginning of the season, the cast was asked to give their thoughts on how they thought the show would end.   

• Avenging Agent: Dean Norris as Hank Schrader -- A look at the character Hank Schrader and the man who played him, Dean Norris. 

• Scene Stealer: Betsy Brandt as Marie Schrader – A look at the character Marie Schrader and the woman who plays her, Betsy Brandt.

• A Criminal Attorney: Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman –A look at the character Saul Goodman and the man who played him, Bob Odenkirk. 

• Jesse’s Journey:  Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman – A look at the character Jesse Pinkman and the man who played him, Aaron Paul.

• Skyler Breaks Bad:  Anna Gunn on Season Four – Actress Anna Gunn and series creator Vince Gilligan explore Skyler’s character evolution through the fourth season. 

• Growing Up in the White House:  RJ Mitte on Walter, Jr. – RJ Mitte, Anna Gunn, Bryan Cranston and series creator Vince Gilligan discuss the extraordinary dynamics of the White family, and Walter, Jr.’s unique role.   
  

• The Ultimate Chess Match – Members of the cast and crew discuss Walter White and Gus Fring’s extraordinary and complicated battle of wits and their struggle for Jesse’s allegiance. 

• Looking Back:  A Season Four Retrospective - Season Four’s most surprising and memorable moments. 

• Ted's Wipeout – In Episode 411, “Crawl Space,” Ted Beneke suffers a head injury while trying to escape from Saul’s goons.  In this featurette, Christopher Cousins (Ted) explains how this shocking stunt was accomplished.   

•  The Truck Attack Storyboard Comparison – A side-by-side comparison of the Los Pollos Hermanos truck attack and the brilliant shot-by-shot storyboards that were created for the episode “Bullet Points.” 

• Walt and the Challenger Storyboard Comparison – A side-by-side comparison of the sequence where Walt indulges in some crazy stunt driving in Walt Jr.’s Dodge Challenger and the storyboards that were created.   

Gravity: Movie Review

Gravity: Movie Review

Cast: George Clooney, Sandra Bullock
Director: Alfonso Cuaron

In space, no-one can hear you scream.

Which is kind of sad because this latest from the director of Children of Men makes you want to scream from the rooftops about how incredibly good and technically impressive it is.

George Clooney and Sandra Bullock star as two astronauts in space. Clooney is Matt Kowalski, a retiring astronaut; Bullock is Ryan Stone, a medical engineer working in space for the first time. When debris from a Russian satellite heads their way, the pair is thrust into a life and death battle to survive above Earth....

Gravity the movie is an incredible, utterly thrilling experience from the moment it begins.

It opens with a jaw-dropping shot of life above the Earth, which fills the screen and seriously impresses with the detail of the world below and captures the utter majesty of space. The opening shot tracks around the space station that Kowalski and Stone are working on and the world around it are completely awesome in the true sense of the word. It's a bravura start to an emotionally intense film which is more experience than traditional movie in many ways.

But as the relative peace of the skies and Ed Harris' mission controller voiceover begin to lull you into a false sense of security, Cuaron rips the rug from under you and ramps up the tension with a series of set pieces which assault the senses, both visually and aurally.As the empty skies fill with debris from the satellite and the OST builds perilously loud, the fear factor rises higher than you'd imagine possible and thanks to a rising crescendo of sound and visual FX, the tension forces you to the edge of your seat.

While Clooney's Kowalski relies on years of experience to relay a sense of calm to try and save the crew, Bullock's Stone realises how badly this fish is out of water and starts to panic causing untold problems for the pair of them. But rather than relying on traditional narrative to tell the story, Cuaron uses a series of incredibly clever visual tools to take you into the heat of the action within the vacuum of space.  One shot starts from the outside perspective of Stone before taking us inside her helmet and suit, with her every gulp of breath fogging up the view - it's a clever and visually audaciously adept way to get under the skin of the character and to take the audience right into the heat of the action.

And yes, there is action, which you may find startling for a story which is essentially two astronauts floating around the void of space, desperately pinballing from one hope of escape to the next. It comes in the form of intense bursts from Cuaron which are perfectly well-timed as the nightmare plays out. While there's certainly an argument that the ending is creatively weak and a little disappointing (a degree of ambiguity and an ending earlier on would have worked a lot better narratively even though there's an argument that some form of resolution is needed), Gravity is nothing short of nail-biting claustrophobia on the big screen.

Clooney impresses as Kowalski, the old timer whose knowledge of how to survive kicks in but it's arguably Bullock's film.

In among her flailing and falling into the dark expanses of space, Stone undergoes a metaphorical and spiritual journey as the reality of what she's facing kicks in. Coming to terms with the loss of a child, the loss of the space pilots around her and her impending death, she undergoes the gamut of emotions and takes you along for the ride too.

However, it's the film which is the real hero of the piece - a visual feast and terrifying symphony with plenty of head-scratching as to how exactly they achieved the final effect, Gravity is as close to being in space as many of us will ever achieve - it left me with goosebumps as I gorged on the wonderful FX (see it on IMAX in 3D with the loudest sound system around if possible) and at times, contemplative nature of the story.

Gravity is easily one of the films of the year - it's an utterly unmissable experience and a thrill-packed suspense-filled ride which will have you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. As the fear envelops you, it will leave you breathless.

Rating:

Brand new The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug banner

Brand new The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug banner

Ahead of the launch of the brand new The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug trailer tomorrow, we've got a look at the film.

A brand new The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug banner has been unveiled...

Stay tuned for the brand new The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug movie trailer tomorrow......