First look at Peanuts Movie

First look at Peanuts Movie

Here's your very first look at the Peanuts movie coming in 2016.

PEANUTS

For the first time ever, Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang we know and love from Charles Schulz's timeless "Peanuts" comic strip will be making their big-screen debut; like they've never been seen before in a CG-Animated Feature film in 3D.

In NZ cinemas  January 1, 2016

Thief: PS3 Review

Thief: PS3 Review

Released by Square Enix
Platform: PS3

Sneak'em'ups have never fully been my forte when it comes to gaming.

You see, I'm more of a go-in-all-guns-blazing kind of guy, with no hint of strategy or subtlety - but for Thief, I had to radically reappraise that approach to get anywhere in the game.

Taking on the role of master thief Garrett, who disappeared after being out on a job, only to return a year later to an area known as The City and tries to piece together what exactly happened to him....

And cue lots of skulking about in shadows, picking pockets and generally thieving your way around as you travel through the city. During missions, it's easy to get distracted by the thievery and is clearly there to stop you from completing your goals. As you move around the dark, dimly lit city, you'll find there are less and less shadows about which makes it kind of hard to skulk around - but it forces you to refine your skills and also to work out exactly what you want to do.

It's here that Thief really kind of comes into its own, particularly in this world that has given us the likes of Dishonoured and trained us into thinking about how to reach a target or complete a mission. Throw into the mix a revolution as well and there's plenty for Garrett to get his teeth into. The game changes along with your choices and you get graded at the end of each level, so there's an incentive to do your best, rather than to simply hurtle through the level for completion.

Along with the ability to focus to heighten Garrett's chances of effecting his aims, there's plenty within to keep you entertained, particularly if you have the OCD tendencies to open every single cabinet and thieve as much as you can.

Overall, Thief looks striking and the definition within the dark environment is certainly worth praise in itself - there are certainly a fair few game play elements that seem familiar to other games of its ilk, but if you're willing to overlook those foibles, you can find yourself with time stolen away as you delve deep in to the world of Thief.

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ZB Review: Monuments Men, Gravity, Don Jon

ZB Review: Monuments Men, Gravity, Don Jon

This week on Newstalk ZB we take a look at new movie The Monuments Men starring George Clooney, Gravity, starring erm, George Clooney and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Don Jon

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/listen-on-demand/audio/1812612947-darren-bevan--the-monument-s-men

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2: Blu Ray Review

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2: Blu Ray Review

Rating: PG
Released by Sony Home Entertainment

Don't play with your food is a mantra dictated to children at meal times by parents, but based on the latest Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs outing, it's going to be awfully hard to enforce. This latest CGI outing sees Bill Hader return as inventor Flint Lockwood. Following the events of the last film where the gang managed to shut down his food producing machine, the FLDSMDFR, which was causing chaos in Swallow Falls. However, the machine's back alive and creating sentient food creatures which according to super inventor Chester V (Will Forte) threaten the whole world.

So, while working for Chester V's Live Corp (a company which thrives on inventions), Flint's given the job of going back to Swallow Falls to shut the machine down once and for all. Along with the gang from the first Cloudy, Flint sets out to save the day - but his ambitions to impress Chester could cause irreparable damage to his friends. 

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 is a case of good for the kids, less so for the adults.

With its bright vibrant colours,Jurassic Park world of food animals (Su-sheep, watermelophants, fla-mangoes, shrimpanzees et al) and occasional lunacy, there's enough to keep the young (and young at heart) amused throughout. The story's not exactly taxing and yep, as ever, there are lessons to be learned over choices you make as well as who you listen to in life when it comes to role models.

The animation is pleasantly done and a lot of work has gone into creating the world around it and the creatures within, with even the pre-credits claiming it's "another film by a lot of people", but there's a lack of real originality and smarts to keep the parents in the auditorium entertained throughout. There's a zaniness initially which is confined to the sidelines and to visual gags but is soon absent once the main story kicks in, preferring instead to revel in the well-realised creature world and predictable story, complete with cheesy puns which the youngsters will adore.

Energetic and colourful, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 does exactly what you'd expect it to - and don't be surprised if the kids love it for not playing with a winning but formulaic recipe.

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Pompeii: Movie Review

Pompeii: Movie Review

Cast: Kit Harrington, Emily Browning, Kiefer Sutherland, Carrie-Ann Moss, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jared Harris
Director: Paul W S Anderson

From the master of the CGI disaster Paul W S Anderson comes the latest epic - a historical tale of computer mayhem in the days running up to the eruption of Mt Vesuvius.

Game of Thrones star Kit Harrington (aka Jon Snow) stars as Milo, an enslaved gladiator, who has revenge on his mind after seeing his family slaughtered by the Romans.But his quest for justice is thwarted when he's placed in the arena to fight Atticus (Lost's Mr Eko, Akinnuoye-Agbaje) - to make matters worse, the woman he's fallen for, Cassia (Sucker Punch star Emily Browning) is out of his reach, being potentially palmed off to a villainous Senator Corvus (a British accented and lacking-a-moustache-to-twirl-while-doing-his-evil Kiefer Sutherland) as part of a deal to revamp the seaside town of Pompeii with Roman backers.

So, with swords drawn, enemies made and paths crossed, they're all set for a showdown.

Until Mt Vesuvius steps in with other plans...

What would you expect from Pompeii, a B-movie with aspirations higher than an erupting mountain?

With a story completely lacking in anything other than character brush strokes, drawn out thanks to plenty of slow-motion fighting and posturing, and some over-acting (Step forward Kiefer Sutherland, who's chewing as much of the scenery as it crumbles around in as fireballs from the volcano take it down) all helmed by the guy who's done most of the Resident Evil movies, Pompeii is a disaster movie in more ways than one.

You're not expecting much, and after many aerial shots of the Mount and a bit of rumbling, the thing <Spoiler alert> finally explodes in an apocalyptic blast that's actually quite visually impressive (though darkened a little by the 3D glasses) but utterly OTT.

The problem comes that the script takes itself too seriously as the stakes are raised perilously high for the leads with all the cliched dialogue - and not all of them rise to the challenge. Harrington spends the majority of the film looking pained and uncomfortable; Browning is more or less a wet blank canvas, who's drawn only to the slave with the six pack and because he can talk to the animals (seriously, he's a horse whisperer), and Sutherland is the only one appearing to have some fun, while bordering on the edge of parody. It's left to Jessica Lucas as Cassia's slave and Akinnuoye-Agbaje's gladiator Atticus to save the day, with their solidly impressive and relatively dignified turns being the stand-outs of the piece. And it's surprisingly bloodless for a film that takes in some of the most brutal Roman tactics of the time.

As the destruction starts, you'll find yourself glad that the end is in sight, though the cheese can't be held off by the molten lava and some truly laughable moments emerge - particularly at the very last shot which tries for emotional and dramatic but ends up being clunky and laughable. I know it's supposed to be nothing more than a disaster movie, but in among the falling ash, there's no emotion, no hint of a connection and ultimately no relief as history plays out.

The FX don't add anything to this hollow spectacle and any attempts at pathos or putting the pomp into Pompeii by using a portentous quote from Pliny to start with merely adds up the feeling the melodrama is simply not worth it - and the tide of lava needs to come quicker to end this tale of doomed love.

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Get On up trailer released

Get On up trailer released

The first trailer for the James Brown biopic has been released.

Based on the incredible life story of the Godfather of Soul, the film will give a fearless look inside the music, moves and moods of Brown, taking audiences on the journey from his impoverished childhood to his evolution into one of the most influential figures of the 20^th century.

Get On Up hits cinemas on September 4th.

Machete Kills: Blu Ray Review

Machete Kills: Blu Ray Review

Rating: R18
Released by Icon and Roadshow

After breathing life into a character which appeared as part of the Planet Terror / Death Proof  faux trailers, and scoring box office gold with a spin off, Machete (Danny Trejo) returns once again.

This time around, after the death of his partner (Jessica Alba) at the hands of a masked killer, Machete is recruited by the US Government (aka POTUS Charlie Sheen) to take on an arms dealer in Mexico.

The rub? This arms dealer wants to fire a rocket on Washington and wipe out the government for doing little to wipe the scourge of the Mexican drug cartels from the planet. So, it's up to Machete, a big knife and some cojones to save the day....

Where the first Machete  had a degree of panache and self-awareness in terms of its exploitation, this latest Grindhouse / cult effort from director Robert Rodriguez  brings little to the table.

Amid a slew of killings, beheadings and general limb dismemberment, Danny Trejo, complete with his ruggedly lined face stumbles about as a dull Machete, looking tired, dazed and confused as to what exactly is going on. In amid his monosyllabic gruntings and one liners ("Machete don't tweet", "Machete don't smoke" to name but two of them), he seems lost at sea and confused as to what exactly is expected of him this time around.

Only Modern Family's buxom Sofia Vergara  seems to have a ball with her part, playing a whorehouse mistress whose main thrust is to avenge her dead daughter, killed when under Machete's charge. She fires the role with such aplomb that she's sorely missed when her brief time is over. And she brings new meaning to showing off her guns as well.

But that's half the problem with this latest Machete film - it feels sorely unfinished and under-cooked.

The first was a complete story whereas this latest seems to find Rodriguez suffused with the desire to build everything up to a climax that doesn't deliver and only teases a future installment, which appears to be set in space and is likely to be a grindhouse take on Star Wars, judging by the faux trailers which preface and bookend the piece. And the hints of a third film are terrifying, given the whole thing could have been epically wrapped up in this one alone.

Carlos Estevez (aka The winning Charlie Sheen) is wooden as the US President and Mel Gibson is utterly banal and unconvincing as the bad guy (with Rodriguez slyly hinting at Scientology but not bothering to go the full hog); even Demian Bichir hams it up as the OTT baddie initially, before he falls prey to the gory slaughter rained down upon the cast. A couple of gory kills will satisfy the adolescents in the audience, but there's little else here given how tame it all feels and how self-indulgent it becomes.

In short, the creatively limp Machete Kills does nothing except fire blanks.

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