First Divergent trailer released

First Divergent trailer released

The First Divergent trailer has been released.

From Veronica Roth's young adult novel, the film's star is Shailene Woodley. She plays a young woman dealing with life in a dsytopian take on Chicago.

Watch the first Divergent trailer here.

Here's your first look at Shailene Woodley as Tris Prior in upcoming film, Divergent.

 


DIVERGENT is a thrilling action-adventure film set in a future where people are divided into distinct factions based on their personalities. 

Tris Prior (Woodley) is warned she is Divergent and will never fit into any one group. 

When she discovers a conspiracy to destroy all Divergents, she must find out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it's too late. 

Based on the best-selling book series by Veronica Roth 

First Fifty Shades of Grey images released

First Fifty Shades of Grey images released

The first Fifty Shades of Grey images have been released, showing Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele.

Entertainment Weekly's got the first look images in their latest mag.

The Fifty Shades of Grey movie is due to release Valentine's Day 2015. So that's a few date nights sorted for you then, eh?

Take a look at the first look Fifty Shades of Grey images below:

The Internship: Blu Ray Review

The Internship: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Entertainment

Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn reunite after 2005 smash hit Wedding Crashers in this piece which is more squarely aimed at a wider audience.

This time the pair play Nick and Billy respectively, a pair of successful, gift of the gab watch salesmen who find their jobs gone after their company is shut down. So, with nowhere to go, Billy finds a chance for them to be part of an internship programme at Google. But as they are by far the oldest people on the course, they stick out like a sore thumb - and when they're teamed up with the less successful rejects to fight it out in a mental "Hunger Games"quest for a job at Google, it looks like they're out of their league....

The Internship movie is a perfectly affable piece, which flounders on charting a course through predictable and safe waters without delivering too many laughs at all. It just gets by on the charm, charisma and chemistry of its two leads but it offers nothing but pleasant life lessons as the two fish out of water, washed up ex-salesmen try to negotiate their internship at the corporate wonder that is Google. 

It's curiously flat though, proffering up only a few Lols here and there and most of them peddling the stereotypes and tropes you'd expect in a predictable piece like this. And yet, with the riffing of the relationship between Billy and Nick (and consequently Vaughn and Wilson), there's maybe enough good will to propel you through the overlong inevitable mush that's on the way. It's a walking ad for corporate Google, with every available opportunity taken to peddle the wonders of their services, the hipster like nature of their workplace and the general happiness (or "Googliness" as it's called in the film) of working for the web giant. Despite a few nods to geek culture and a sequence in a nightclub which brings a few laughs, The Internship movie is a schmaltzy and unchallenging solid feel-good "comedy" with an earnest heart but a lack of continual humour and without any real byte.

Extras: Behind the scenes, extended cut, deleted scenes

Rating:

Homeland Season2: Blu Ray Review

Homeland Season2: Blu Ray Review

Rating: R13
Released by Universal Home Entertainment

After winning six Emmy awards, you would always wonder what they would do next for Brodie and Carrie.

This time around, Damian Lewis' Brodie is now a US Congressman and Claire Danes' Carrie is a former CIA agent who find their paths crossing once again, when a new terrorist threat emerges from the woodwork in the form of Abu Nazir.

Twists aplenty and betrayals and shocks may be the order of the day in this latest season of the mystery thriller, but it's fair to say that there's not quite the zing about the series this time around, when compared with the brilliance of the first.

Lewis and Danes give it their all and it builds to a suitably shocking conclusion over 12 episodes. It's a masterclass in acting at times, even if there are moments which defy credibility and belief. A third series is underway now though with the ending to the second, you're not quite sure exactly how they will carry it off.

Extras: Series 3 prequel, deleted scenes and some mini docos.

Rating:

Official PS4 Unboxing video released

Official PS4 Unboxing video released

Not long to go now - and with just a couple of weeks until the new PS4 is revealed and given to the hands of gamers, PlayStation has released its official PS4 Unboxing video.

Take a look below - and don't forget to use the hashtag #4ThePlayers on Twitter to follow the latest news and info

World War Z: Blu Ray Review

World War Z: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Entertainment

Once again, the apocalypse is upon us.

This time, it's potentially down to Brad Pitt to save the day after a viral outbreak turns the global populace into the chomping undead in an adaptation of Max Brooks' World War Z. Pitt is Gerry Lane, a UN inspector brought in despite having left the organisation when the world's overcome - and he alone can help identify Patient Zero and potentially source a cure to save the human race. So, forced to leave his family with the military, off he sets on a global trip which takes him from Newark to South Korea via Jerusalem before finally ending up in Wales. (Yes, I just said Wales). But as he tries to track down what caused it all, at every turn it appears that the virus could be about to beat him..

World War Z is a tense, thrilling, nerve-shredding ride in places - and curiously lacking in logic and sense in others.

It's also frenzied, frenetic and intense during its set pieces, which get underway very quickly after the non- too subtle ramming home of the fact that Gerry's now a family man (he makes pancakes for the family while watching details of the outbreak out of the corner of his eye on the TV). A cross town journey turns into something hellish within the first 10 minutes of screen time and then doesn't let up for a burst of edge-of-your-seat tension. As scene-setting stuff goes, it's right up there with some of the best as it instantly tells you everything you need to know about this post-apocalyptic world coming directly after such calm start. Foreboding is everywhere with a distorted voice on the radio intoning that "Containment is a fail" and hinting that the worst is yet to come.

And yet, once the story actually kicks in, it's actually a little lacking on the human side as Lane's globe trotting gets underway; he's torn asunder from his family that he's spent the first 20 minutes trying to protect and it robs the film of the emotional pull and personal danger that it needs. Although there are hints of tensions with the military, they're never fully explored or dramatically exploited, which is to the screenplay's detriment.

Pitt's perfectly suited to the role but it's a series of video game style moments which are sparingly sown together and narratively weak - flee the city, escape to the roof of the tower block, follow the troops on a raid through Z infected territory (Zombie Dark Thirty anyone?) and so on - which make it difficult to fully engage with. But that said, the short and often brutal bursts of intense suspense and knuckle gripping terror during the terrific set pieces work quite effectively though.Pulling in the visual style of Steven Soderbergh's Contagion (drenched in yellows) and using 3D wisely to bolster the backgrounds (rather than relying on a zombie jumping out of the screen - of which there is but one shot), World War Z overall, is a success. It blends thrills, spills and suspense to form something which leaves the heart and adrenaline pumping even if occasionally, the action and consequently story, slow to a crawl once the chillingly effective set pieces have ended.

Extras

Rating:

Talking Show Me Shorts with festival director Gina Dellabarca

Talking Show Me Shorts with festival director Gina Dellabarca

The Show Me Shorts festival gets underway soon and is now Oscar accredited.

I caught up with Gina Dellabarca, the festival's director, who's been involved right from the get go to discuss this year's upcoming event.

            So, what’s the marketplace like at the moment for Short films?

Buzzing! The place of short films in the entertainment landscape is becoming increasingly central. Short films continue to become more accessible and more in demand. It’s exciting for those of us involved in this part of the industry.

How do you feel the creativity levels are currently?

Audiences are bored of derivative stories. They want something fresh and different. That gives short filmmakers a licence to unleash their imaginations to the full. And we are just starting to see the tip of that now. It’s only going to get better in the next couple of years. 

You’ve been with the festival since its inception – what changes have you seen?

Show Me Shorts has grown, and we’ve watched the careers of filmmakers take off. We’re still doing what we set out to do though, and that is connect New Zealanders with the very best short films. We’re just doing it in more ways now, like through our Yoobee Short Film Talks, and with the monthly online short films we post in our Screening Room (http://www.showmeshorts.co.nz/screeningroom/). 

What’s the one thing which surprises you annually?

We love discovering new talent. I’m always surprised by the scale of some of the self-funded short films that come to us though. People pour their heart and soul into these films, not to mention their life savings! It’s amazing what can be achieved when you call in all your favours and set yourself an ambitious goal.

How difficult is it to select the films which appear?

Programming the festival is a huge undertaking, but one that the team and I relish. It’s a privilege to be able to view the work of so many hundreds of entries. We have huge respect for the time and energy that has gone into making every film entered. But ultimately we can only select 40 films, so we have to be hard and cull anything that we don’t absolutely love.

Talk us through the selection process

Entries open in February and close in July. The programming team consists of about eight of the volunteers on my team and I. All people who love film and have been a part of the festival for at least two or three years. We start watching the shorts as soon as the first ones arrive, and don’t stop until August when we have to lock off our programme choices in order to meet deadlines for print and collecting screening materials.

In the first round of watching, we cut out about two thirds of the films. Anything that doesn’t meet our minimum standards of high production values and an engaging, entertaining story. The second round is much harder and involves more of the team. A film basically needs to pick up an advocate from my team who loves it and will champion it through to the final short list stage. We do a lot of arguing at this point, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Once we have our very top picks in place, we examine those and try to look for gaps to make sure our programme is balanced in terms of types of story. We don’t want to leave audiences feeling flat or un-moved by screenings, so we look for films that we can connect together thematically and take people on a journey. It’s an art not a science and we’re always learning. Audience feedback is welcome through our surveys in cinemas or online at our website.

 Tell us about your favourite films this year – why have these made the cut?

I love actors. Some of the best films in the programme this year feature high profile acting talent such as Michael Richards (Seinfeld's Kramer), who stars in Walk the Light, as a man who works inside a ‘walk / don’t walk’ traffic signal box. A Cautionary Tail features is an award winning animation featuring the voices of Cate Blanchett and David Wenham, who tell the story of a little girl born with a tail that expresses her emotions. Closer to home, Andy Anderson gives a career highlight performance in Honk if You’re Horny, as a lascivious taxi driver telling a dirty story. Aidee Walker hits it out of the park in the award winning short film that she also directed – Friday Tigers. These films are all stand outs for me. It’s so great to see these performers nailing it. I’m proud to be presenting their work.  
Have you ever been part of a short film? If so, tell us more

I’ve worked for a film production company, film distributors, been a film publicist and a cinema manager/programmer. I learned early on how much hard work making films is. I love them, but you’ve got to play to your strengths. For me those are organisation and marketing, so I’m more of a film cheerleader than a filmmaker.

What’s your hope with the festival this year?

We’ve already had some big wins this year with our Academy Awards accreditation meaning our Rush Munro’s Best Film winner qualifies for entry to the Oscars. The announcement of our ambassadors was a highlight for me, especially having the iconic Sir Richard Taylor publicly endorse Show Me Shorts. I was also invited by the German Federal Foreign Office to attend the Berlin International Film Festival in February, which allowed me to also attend the largest short film festival in the world (Clermont-Ferrand). What a great year, right!

I can’t ask for anything more than for people to come along and check out the short films that my team and I have curated for you all.
How do you plan to evolve this festival in the ever-changing cinematic landscape for next year?

We have a million ideas for ways we can show more short films, in new and different ways. Next year we’re announcing an exciting new award category, that I can’t wait to share. But you’ll have to wait until February to find out about that. In the meantime, we are programming some of our back catalogue of great short films for Art in the Dark festival (7-9 November) and Silo Cinema outdoor screenings all summer long.
What’s the one short film nobody should miss this year – and why?

Ooh good question! If you like zombie movies (and I do) Here Be Monsters is frick-tastic. Simple film, great premise, well executed. A man returns home from the front fighting in the zombie wars, to his wife and child. He’s been bitten and has a timer ready to go off for when he will turn, but can spend his last few human hours with his family. This film is in the ‘Through the Looking Glass’ section. Don’t miss it!