Red Obsession: DVD Review

Red Obsession: DVD Review

Rating: PG
Released by Roadshow Home Entertainment

From Bordeaux to Beijing, this 74 minute doco takes a look at the wine industry and how it's globally changing.

It's also an exploration of wine-mania, and how the new obsession and money lies in the vintage, the reviews and the lengths chateaux can go to to secure their global position. But it's also a warning message over how consumerism is taking over and how the market's more in trouble due to crashes than before.

Simply narrated by Russell Crowe, this doco has some stunningly well put together images and shots - it captures the joy that a good bottle brings to many but it also drains a little of the life out of the subject. Numerous talking heads talk while saying very little and while the scope of the story is an intriguing premise as it sways towards the Chinese influence, the execution is a little overblown and the piece a little overlong.

It'll serve as porn to anyone with a hankering for a good plonk, but the doco could have done with losing some 20 minutes - it works as a TV piece for those interested but unlike a great doco, it doesn't really inspire those who have no interest or passion for the wine other than with a good meal.

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12 Years a Slave: Movie Review

12 Years A Slave: Movie Review

Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Lupita Nyong'o
Director: Steve McQueen

Lavished with Oscar nominations, SAG awards, PGA awards and Golden Globes, 12 Years A Slave arrives on our screens with expectations and in some quarters, a little dread over its subject matter.

Chiwetel Ejiofor (rightly nominated for glory and deserving of the win should Oscar come a-knocking) plays Solomon Northup, a talented violinist, living in Saratoga, New York in 1841 as a free man, with a wife and family. As his wife and family head away for an annual commitment, Solomon is offered work in Washington which he duly takes. However, after a night of partying with them, he awakes to find himself in chains, renamed and shipped off into slavery.

Northup's first master is a relatively benevolent one, William Ford (played with earnest by Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch) but thanks to the racism on the grounds, he ends up nearly hanged and is sold on to Michael Fassbender's Edwin Epps, a cruel and sadistic man who is prone to breaking his slaves.

Thus begins Northup's quest to survive, his attempts to maintain his dignity and his desperate fight to win back his freedom amid betrayal, unexpected kindness, utterly repugnant cruelty and horrifying attitudes toward fellow human beings.

12 Years A Slave is a totally brutal film - perhaps inevitably so given its true life subject matter and that within five minutes of beginning, our hero is beaten to within an inch of his life by a paddle wielded by a new master.

Its strength though lies in the relative restraint of its film-maker, Steve McQueen and its lead actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor. While McQueen does not flinch from showing every second of the horror with the camera holding firm and forcing you to confront the violence, he shows a remarkably masterful touch at telling a story which gets so dark and sickening, you will find it hard to stomach in places.

Unlike many of his ilk, McQueen does not turn this film into a worthy piece about one of humanity's darkest days, choosing instead to blend together a movie that doesn't flinch from its subject matter, but also doesn't seek to make light of it, dish out platitudes or beset it with sentimental moments in among the bleak story.

Throughout it all, Ejiofor commands the screen, imbuing the real life Northup with a dignity and grace as he tries to survive that is all the more heartbreaking given what he had to endure. A remarkable long shot where Northup is hung out on a plantation leaves nausea in the pit of your stomach, as he scrabbles for air, looks around him and faces a desolate inevitability; but every moment of that horror is understated by Ejiofor and as a result, the audience is in total sympathy with him, aghast that around Northup, people are going about their daily business, untroubled by the life slipping away next to them.

Among the betrayals, the heartfelt pleas from a fellow slave to show her some kindness and kill her, the hardships that Northup endured, Ejiofor remains a presence throughout amid close ups and thanks to the dignity of his portrayal. While you get little insight into his psychological state throughout, his final scenes will reduce you to tears, a cathartic testament to a 2 hour portrayal that has showcased the best of humanity when it's pitted against the very worst.

Juxtaposed to such grandeur is Fassbender's cruel and sadistic Epps, a man who rapes his favourite slave and whose towering monstrousness is a blight on those around him. It's an ugly and repugnant role, which Fassbender commands and taps into something within to leave you utterly hating the man. Thanks to that unrelenting spirit and McQueen's lingering camera which circles around during some whipping sequences, you will find yourself questioning humanity and what we've done, but never find yourself brushing it off with a trite dismissal or tricked by a naively blithe moment deployed by the director to counteract the darkness.

That's really the power of 12 Years A Slave - the sickeningly visceral period piece has a way of inveigling itself under your skin, but has such a pull that it's hard to deny - if there's a more perfect, more powerful and more harrowing or sobering film up for an Academy Award this year, I've yet to see it.

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Brand new The Raid 2 - Berandal trailer is here

Brand new trailer for The Raid 2 - Berandal is here 

Just launched is the brand new trailer for the Raid 2 - Berandal. Take a look below

The Raid 2 - Berandal launches in New Zealand on March 28th



The first The Raid 2 Berandal trailer is here... and it looks awesome

 
The first teaser art for Gareth Huw Evans' upcoming The Raid 2: Berandal is now here. 

With the film now in post production with an eye on a 2014 release and a teaser due in coming weeks, Evans has offered up a look at the first Indonesian teaser art for the film.

Take a look at the first The Raid 2: Berandal images here.

You're Next: Blu Ray Review

You're Next: Blu Ray Review

Rating: R18
Released by Icon and Roadshow Home Ent

Adam Wingard's You're Next is a gory treat. It centres on a family who've come together to celebrate the 35th wedding anniversary of their parents in a deserted country mansion. Partners are brought along for the weekend and tensions rise to the surface between brothers and threaten to bubble over.

But those have to go on the back burner when a group wearing animal masks start picking off their victims one by one. The only problem with their Extreme Makeover: Home Invasion plan is that one of them (played by Home and Away's Sharni Vinson) has a talent for fighting back....

You're Next is a delicious treat, delivering fresh and suspenseful thrills on the horror front, before also dishing out some laughs here and there. Overall though, it's a clever and bloody inventive look at the horror, with Wingard eeking out as much tension as he can here and there as the showdown goes on.

Crowd-pleasing and also jump out of your seat jolting are the order of the day - and You're Next delivers on the promise of thrills, twists and suspense. It's one of the freshest films in the horror genre this year and it's not to be missed.

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American Hustle: Movie Review

American Hustle: Movie Review

Cast: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner
Director: David O Russell

So, here comes the Oscar favourite - already laden with awards via the Golden Globes, the SAG awards and blessed with Oscar nominations, it clearly is the one to beat.

Director David O Russell re-teams with his actors from The Fighter (Bale and Adams) and his Silver Linings Playbook team (Cooper and Lawrence) to tell a story, some of which "actually happened", according to an onscreen caption at the start.

It's 1978 America and Bale is Irving Rosenfeld, a pot-bellied con artist with a garish comb-over, an affinity for Duke Ellington and an ability to get anything out of any situation. Teaming up with Amy Adams' Sydney Prosser (who's desperate to get out of her current life situation), the pair start a series of loan scams.

But, when they're busted by Bradley Cooper's curly haired, overly eager FBI Agent Richie DiMaso, they're offered a way out - if they can line up four further arrests. With no other option, Irving and Sydney (posing as a member of the English aristocracy) set out about their latest scam, but end up trying to bring down the mayor of New Jersey (played with big hair by Jeremy Renner), thanks to DiMaso's over-enthusiasm.

Soon, all of the players are in deeper than they expected....and not everyone is who they seem to be.

American Hustle is a good film with more comedy than perhaps you'd be expecting (though if you'd been expecting a shaggy dog style story, you could be right) - its over-the-top nature is evident in many places, and tonally, occasionally that wrongfoots the audience.

Lavished with Oscar nods for acting, it's fair to say that really Christian Bale and Amy Adams only deserve the nods, with their time on screen blowing everyone away. From the start, Bale convinces as the film opens with a slow long scene with his distended belly proving to be the focal point before he exerts massive effort to create the perfect comb-over. Equally Adams impresses with a character that's lost and desperate to get out of the con world but who appears to be even more lost the deeper in she gets and more determined.

Both Lawrence, as Irving's young wife and who behaves like a brat (and brings some very funny moments) and Cooper don't come close to matching the others; Cooper in particular seems to be OTT - and even Jeremy Renner puts them to shame with a quietly dignified turn as someone who's trying to do the best for his people underneath a massively coiffed do. When his fate is revealed, he looks like a wounded puppy dog in a quiff - perhaps it's more beneficial that he feels more downplayed than the rest of the cast.

Over-use of voiceovers initially leads to a feeling of dizziness and along with swooping, swirling cameras, American Hustle starts to feel like a scam on the audience, aimed at disorienting and confusing as the story unfolds; it's almost as if Russell is pulling the strings and will stop at nothing to stop you keeping up.

In fact, American Hustle is really a case of a simple story being put upon layer upon layer; at its heart, it's about the pursuit of the American dream, and dressed up with some of the worst wigs and cleavage you've ever seen. A vein of humour runs throughout this garish vision of the 70s (with its Mafia overtones) thanks to Louis CK's police boss who's trying to spin a story to Richie.

All in all, American Hustle is all about the spin; ultimately shallow and blessed with some great performances, it's an intriguing choice for such awards success, because whilst it's still a solidly showy film, it's not a totally superbly engrossing one, with costumes, scenery and era recreation taking centre-stage.

The Con is perhaps, on.

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Minecraft: PS3 Review

Minecraft: PS3 Review

Platform: PS3
Released by Sony Computer Entertainment

I'm a Minecraft novice.

Yes, the pixelated rather basic graphic game passed me by - I was aware of its appeal, given the millions of units it had shifted, but the basic concept and gameplay had gone way over my head. I had friends who were addicted to it, and who couldn't explain their addiction.

But basically, having spent time with this, I now understand.

Minecraft sees you thrown into the world of randomness and given the chance to create whatever you want. In a nutshell, the game grows by giving you the chance to build blocks and things around you, or dig down for the chance to experience the world below and mine.

Put even more simply, you get out of it what you want - there's no story, there's no level by level aim, there's simply the option for you to play solo or with others. In survival mode, you learn quickly that you need to build a shelter at night and ensure your own survival as skeletons, creepers and zombies head your way, determined to hobble your survival chances. If you get through the night by using daylight wisely to chop down trees and dig dirt to craft together blocks, then the world is your oyster.

The first real challenge with Minecraft is working out exactly what you have to do - unlike the PC version, you're given the info you need to craft the items you need (in the PC Version of Minecraft, you have to guess what's needed for all the stuff you need) and it makes life easier and the chances of survival increase. It also means you can concentrate on what you're doing and plan a strategy.

There's also a creation mode as well, where you can indulge your building fantasies and your desires to create worlds around you. This works well if you go online with friends and all work together to make your dreams of architectural bliss a reality.

Graphically, Minecraft is nothing sensational - it's basic, but a solid port over of the PC version - and it's faithful to the original. The comparison that's been made is one of LEGO sets - you own the world around you and the building blocks are there for you to use.

The only limit with Minecraft is your imagination - and perhaps, the numbers of hours in the day.

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The Railway Man: Movie Review

The Railway Man: Movie Review

Cast: Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgard, Jeremy Irvine, Hiroyuki Sanada
Director: Jonathan Teplitzky

The rather nasty side of war gets a face in this adaptation of the autobiography of Eric Lomax.

Colin Firth dons the glasses and takes the role of Lomax, a former British officer who suffered horrifically as a prisoner of war, forced to work on the construction of the Thai / Burma railway (the Death Railway) during the second World War.

Deeply traumatised by these events in 1942, Lomax is one of many Brits unable to open up over what happened; but his world is changed when he meets Nicole Kidman's Patti, on a train and their relationship blossoms into marriage. But the demons of the past come back to haunt Lomax and Patti's determined to help however she can.

The only one who can rid him of the psychological scars is Lomax himself - and when he finds out that his tormentor is still alive, he faces an awful decision - go back and face the past or live with the effects forever.

The Railway Man is haunting and harrowing, but incredibly powerful stuff despite its somewhat plodding nature.

Tonally, it starts off as a slightly quirky and humorous affair as Firth's Lomax meets Patti on the train, with the British humour present and correct as the flirty yet banal banter about England's greyer towns gets underway. But once the marriage is done, the demons, along with the bailiffs, come knocking at the door and the film shifts its focus to a more dour and darker tone as the horrific reality of the Death Railway is told.

Firth is mesmerising in this - going from lively soul to tortured sallow and sagging wreck as the PTSD kicks in; a younger version played by Jeremy Irvine embodies the stiff upper lip mentality so prevalent during the 40s but it's a hard watch seeing him gradually beaten down during the time on the Death Railway.

Teplitzky could have done with easing up on the score during the flashback sequences as the OST is overpowering and unnecessary as the anguished cries and beatings play out in front of you. The tension's built by a screeching soundtrack, rather than crafting together such powerful imagery from the shocking reality of what occurred. Equally, Kidman is empathetic to start with but her character soon becomes surplus to requirements and is there simply to service the narrative as Uncle (Stellan Skarsgard) tells Lomax's story.

But the moment when Lomax finally meets his torturer in modern day is utterly electrifying and you can hear a pin drop in the audience; sure, it's exactly what you'd expect, but it's not until that point that you realise how invested in these characters you are. And the confrontation isn't as clear cut as you'd believe with both Firth and Sanada giving such nuanced and downbeat performances that you simply can't tear your eyes away.

The Railway Man is one of those films which provides a harrowing insight into a world that none of us these days would ever come close to experiencing. It's just a shame that some minor mis-directions in the story telling rob it of the cathartic feel and tone of forgiveness that's required after nearly 2 hours of aching pain. There's no denying its power lies in Firth's portrayal but an easing back from Teplitzky could have given this piece a subtlety that was undeniable. Instead, it simply strives for obvious tonal choices and offers up something which is more fleetingly affecting than haunting you for long after you've left the cinema.

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