Forza Motorsport 5: X Box One Review

Forza Motorsport 5: X Box One Review

Platform: XBox One

Racing cars is one hell of a pastime.

From speeding around tracks to building up points and trading up cars, there's just something about sitting down and investing in the game. Or you can just take up the game, race a couple of times against your mates and move on.

Either way, Forza Motorsport 5 is one of the launch titles for the XBox One and I reckon one which will be on a lot of lists for the Christmas period. That's something to do with the fact that the series has been pretty strong all the way along from my understanding.

It's like any racing game in some ways - you have to head out on the track and finish first, to gain points and experience. However, unlike most racing games, it's the simulation and what's around it which gives Forza Motorsport 5 such an impact on the XBox One. Graphically, while the cars seem hyper-real, their look and shine ever so evident thanks to the next gen machine.  Landscapes and tracks are stunning to behold and even though they whiz by (if you've got the driving skills to do so rather than spin off the track) then you can see how awesome it actually all looks.

With over 200 cars from 50 manufacturers, there's plenty of driving experience to be had. It's all relatively good fun but it's the little moments in Forza Motorsport 5 which make it such an experience that drivers will love. After a few races around, the game tells you that the Drivatar is ready to go. This AI feature works off the cloud and gets you to race alongside your mates as an alternative to the computer generated stuff and it's a good fun if you've got a network of chums to race off against.

Integration with Top Gear means that this racing game has credibility - the emphasis is squarely on the simulation and with you needing a lot of time to generate the credits needed, you'll invest plenty of time and effort into it - and the reward pays off.

Forza Motorsport 5 is a rewarding experience and one which will be high on everyone's list if they're serious about simulation.

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White House Down: Blu Ray Review

White House Down: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Sony Home Ent

Roland Emmerich returns to the destruction of the White House in this second of two films this year, which showcase terrorists taking out the presidential seat (the first being Gerard Butler in Olympus Has Fallen). Channing Tatum stars as John Cale, a police officer assigned to looking after the speaker of the house (Richard Jenkin). He's a good guy, hoping for a break into the secret service and hoping to impress his estranged daughter in the process too.

But when the president James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) announces a Middle East peace plan which could see them leaving the area, it sets in motion a terrorist attack on the White House. Soon, Cale and his daughter are the only ones who can save the day as they find themselves in with the President when the attack happens...

Will John Cale be able to beat the bad guys with hardly any weapons and stop the President from being killed, as well as discover who's behind the attack - and re-connect with his daughter?

White House Down is actually a hell of a lot better than you'd be expecting for a film like this. With a pinch of self-awareness (a tour guide mentions early on that one building is the one destroyed inIndependence Day) and a few of the old action movie cliches, it's exactly what you'd expect from the film.

But it somehow manages to work with its self referential humour, silly moments and great chemistry between Tatum and Foxx. When the president tells a terrorist to "Get your hands off my Air Jordans" you know the script's not even taking itself seriously. Equally Tatum, complete with white tank top and glib comments (John McClane anyone?), is on solidly supportive form as the affable guy just trying to catch a break. James Woods gets the role of his life too, as the man whose son was killed in combat and whose life has been destroyed by it.

And yet, with some solid action pieces, replete with OTT explosions and gun fire, Emmerich manages to pull something entertaining together if you're prepared to leave your brain at the door.

White House Down is an entertaining diversion - nothing more, nothing less. And yes, once again, Emmerich manages the total destruction of the White House. Seriously, has he not satiated his vendetta yet?
Rating:

Philomena: Movie Review

Philomena: Movie Review

Cast: Steve Coogan, Judi Dench, Michelle Fairley
Director: Stephen Frears

Already picking up rave reviews in the UK and being tipped for much success at the next BAFTAs comes this film from Steve Coogan's production company.

Inspired by true events and based on a book, Philomena is the story of ex BBC journalist and disgraced civil servant Martin Sixsmith. World weary and cynical, and not coping with being out of work, Sixsmith is approached by a waitress at a party after she overhears him telling someone he's after a story.

This waitress' mother, Philomena Lee (Judi Dench in another of those turns where she can command a cinema audience with just one look) is racked with guilt at having seen her child snatched from her in Roscrea convent in Ireland by nuns punishing her for having had sex. Plagued by visions of him and unsure how his life panned out without her, the almost shrew-like Philomena wins over the cynicism of Sixsmith and they set out to try and find her son after 50 years.

But each have different motives - Sixsmith is being harangued into doing a "human interest" piece for a magazine which he's scornful of and she just wants to know if her son managed a life after being cruelly snatched away. So begins the Odd Couple style journey, with a clashing of religious ideology and differing worldly viewpoints...

Philomena is a dryly amusing story with an emotionally gooey centre which is, in equal terms, occasionally off-putting and deeply rewarding.

Plenty of sly laughs come from the culture clash between the two - one scene in an airport sees Philomena regaling a clearly uninterested Sixsmith with the finer details of a trashy romance novel and revelling in her own naivete over how the story plays out. And Philomena would rather watch Big Momma's House in a hotel than head out to see some local landmarks during their global jaunt.

The problem with that humour is that it soon becomes a crutch for the script to fall back on; and the initial amusement is lost as the comedy is repeated for effect, damaging some of the goodwill built up by the more gentle and funny moments from early on. It's a crowd-pleasing plan but what it ends up doing is affecting the feel and poignancy of the story as it continues.

Coogan is serious as Sixsmith, with some dry lines early on setting the scene, but it's a once over lightly which impresses; equally, Dench is on a winner as well as she revels in the slightly twee innocent nature of her character (who even at one point asks if Martin can change her name in the story he publishes - she wishes to be known as Anne Boleyn) which begins to grate, no matter how much truth it's based on.

While the weightier issues of the nuns' behaviour are explored, there's never really a dark undertone which rises to the surface, despite the inherent nastiness of their past actions or the consequences for Philomena; if anything, this crowd-pleaser of a film manages to contain the outrage in a kind of syrupy shock that's a little easier to swallow, though no less bitter.

Rating:

Newstalk ZB Movie Review - Anchorman 2, The Mortal Instruments and The World's End

Newstalk ZB Movie Review - Anchorman 2, The Mortal Instruments and The World's End

This week, it's the final NewsTalk ZB live cross with Jack Tame.

We talked about Christmas, new movie Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues; The Mortal Instruments and The World's End.

Take a listen below:

Doctor Who: Series 1-4 Blu Ray Review

Doctor Who: Series 1-4 Blu Ray Review

Rating: PG
Released by BBC And Roadshow Home Entertainment

The first 4 seasons of the relaunched Doctor Who get a Blu Ray Release in time for Christmas.

Each individual set collects together all 13 episodes from the tenures of Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant and remind you why the revamp of the show was so successful in 2005. It's Eccleston's era which has been longest neglected by this reviewer in the endless Tennant repeats, so heading back to the beginning again is a great reminder of why it worked so well - an actor who was so committed to the role, who brought austerity and heart and helped the show find another life.

From the final scenes when Eccleston's Doctor goes to the opening moments when he's full of life and freshly regenerated, there's a joie de vivre that's encased in the heavy heart of the last of the Timelords - something which is ramped up to a degree in David Tennant's time in the TARDIS. There's a carefree selfishness that manifests itself in his time and it certainly makes for a more lively time during the 3 series that are released here. Of these, School Reunion which reunites him with Sarah Jane Smith is just heart warmingly poignant and beautiful - a reminder of how old school Who can be effortlessly woven in.

Each set's packed with extras, Doctor Who Confidential (oh, how we miss you), behind the scenes stuff, deleted scenes and trailers - well worth diving into as there's some 60 hours of viewing here.

A must for any collector of Who - but no new material to speak of.

Rating:

RED 2: Blu Ray Review

RED 2: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Hopscotch Entertainment

RED (Retired and Extremely Dangerous) was a sleeper hit back in 2010.

Its infusion and mix of an older group of action heroes and the fact Helen Mirren got to shoot a very big gun (thus shattering a lot of stereotypes) meant that it was an unexpected worldwide box office hit.

So, perhaps a sequel was inevitable.

This time around, retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses (a broodier Bruce Willis) is back and forced into action once again. Which he's not happy about because he's enjoying the quieter life with beau Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) - even though she craves the more active life and has a taste for danger since the first outing.

When former colleague Marvin (Malkovich) is apparently assassinated, (minor spoiler - he wasn't) the group is sent on a global jaunt to try and track down a missing portable nuclear device...and that sends them right to Bailey (Anthony Hopkins) a scientist from Frank's path - and also into the sights of Frank's former flame Katja (Catherine Zeta-Jones). With RED2, it's a case, really, of repeating the successes of before - and adding in a few more ingredients of the older generation to get a wider audience. But with a few caveats.

Unfortunately, some of the thrill of the first film was seeing Helen Mirren in action - she's largely sidelined in this piece and separated from the group, which is a real shame. Though, Mary-Louise Parker's character has come more alive in this and her need to fulfill a vicarious streak to her nature leads to some more comedic moments than perhaps you would initially have been expecting. The cattiness between Sarah and Katja is entertaining for a while but its lightweight nature threatens to topple RED 2 despite some average action sequences.

With a plot that closely follows that other uber-work of Bruce Willis, A Good Day to Die Hard, it's almost as if Bruce is suffering from deja vu here. And deja vu is present in many ways, with Neal McDonough taking on Karl Urban's role from the first, as the hard-as-nails pursuer - but there's way too much comedy in this piece to make it feel like the right mix. The problem is the characters do nothing new - with perhaps, the exception of Mary-Louise Parker who gets to be part of the spy world and get the action she so craves.

Distinctly average but fairly disposable entertainment, RED 2 is another outing for the Grey Team - and perhaps some will enjoy that. Others though will feel that they maybe need to actually stick to the concept of being Retired (but with a third installment planned, that could be a long shot).

Extras: Gag reel, deleted scenes, the cast, the weapons, the stunts

Rating

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Movie Review

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Movie Review

Cast: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Sean Penn, Adam Scott, Patton Oswalt
Director: Ben Stiller

Ben Stiller flexes his directorial muscles in this quirkily whimsical piece about a white collar worker who works for Life magazine.

That worker is Walter Mitty (played by Ben Stiller) - and his job is to process photos for inclusion in the magazine. Prone to daydreaming, Mitty's an unmitigated hopeless case; a man for whom fantasy is more reality than an escape from the anonymity of a boring daily routine.

But when the magazine is bought out by a conglomerate and the final issue's announced by management-speak spouting bearded boss (Adam Scott), Mitty's forced to take action - not just because the image they need from top photographer Sean O'Connell is missing.

So, bounding out of the door and finally coming to life, spurred on by LIFE Magazine colleague (and crush) Cheryl, Mitty embarks on the first and biggest adventure of his lifetime as he comes wildly to life.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a real curio of a film and a doozy served up by Ben Stiller. Based on James Thurber's 1939 short story and not a remake of the 1947 film, Stiller's committed something to celluloid which looks distinctly different to anything else witnessed this year.

Mitty's flights of fancy are visually incredible as they weave seamlessly into the ongoing narrative - from an opening sequence where he imagines himself leaping perilously through a building to save Cheryl's three-legged dog before the whole thing blows up to an imaginary fight with his boss which wrecks as much of Manhattan as the Avengers did and an adorably funny sequence where Mitty imagines his life with Cheryl in an homage to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, they capture the fantastical nature of a daydreamer. But, with so many of them coming so quickly, the technique threatens to jar and irritate rather than to help the film soar.

Thankfully, when Mitty springs into life to track down O'Connell, the film calms down a little as the real adventure doesn't need sprucing up with fantastical edges. Taking in Greenland and Iceland's wondrous scenery, Stiller's done an excellent job of letting the visuals set the tone for this incredulous journey of a quiet and reserved man finding his voice.

Sure, there are coincidences of quirk layered upon this travelogue and a nice side story involving an internet dating site continually calling Mitty to expand his profile and hobbies as he's out adventuring, but there's an earnestness and a zest for life that's fully exploited on the big screen.

Stiller doesn't entirely manage to fully convince as Mitty; while he's dialled down his propensity for slapstick (which comes to the fore in a couple of sequences), his default setting appears to be Blue Steel which can be occasionally off-putting. He has a good solid rapport with Wiig and their burgeoning relationship works well; likewise, the enigmatic Sean O'Connell is excellently portrayed by an earnest Penn.

Thoughtful, occasionally profound and always visually inventive, it's as a director that Ben Stiller excels in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - I've seen nothing else like this on the big screen this year. There are strong visuals which really resonate as they bounce onto your eyeballs - and Stiller's found a crafty way to write various parts of the script into the world around Mitty thanks to VFX.

All in all, there's a cinematic eccentricity and whimsy to The Secret Life of Walter Mitty which is hard to ignore; it's a flight of fancy and reflective piece to let wash over you as the excesses of Christmas subside.

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