Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle :PS 3 Review

Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle :PS 3 Review

Released by Namco Bandai
Platform: PS3

There are some games where you're a little clueless as to what exactly is going on outside of what you can see on the screen.

Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle is one of those as far as I'm concerned.

Essentially, it's a Street Fighter style beat'em'up with anime overtones (and reading up on it, I see it's a massive anime fave in Japan) and around 32 characters, ripped from the comic's arcs. Like most fighting games, the aim is to simply beat the HP out of your opponent and progress to the next level with most of your health intact.

As ever, with these games, each character has their own extra special power which is fuelled by combo hits and can be unleashed when the meter's full to devastating effect. Opposition have powers too - from vampirism which drains you to others; there's certainly enough to keep you amused here if you're of that ilk. From story mode to campaign mode (which operates online), there are enough levels to power through if you're that way inclined - though it has to be said, the repeat value of this game is a little pondrous and lacking.

The thing with Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle is its extra elements which are powering on around the background that are so hard to comprehend and follow. During fights other characters occasionally float in and out and pages of a comic appear in the middle of the screen without any warning or for any reason. It's confusing and confounding - though I'm guessing if you're a fan of the arcs, then it's fine. Otherwise, casual gamers will be completely lost as to the subtleties of it all.

The big thing going for Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle is its look. The characters are visually stunning - 3D anime beasts ripped from the pages of a comic and thrust into a 2D world - they're gorgeous to look at and give the game a feel that's unique to the fight em up genre. Plus they fight fluidly - there's no jarring and no flickering of the animation as they power into each other.

Overall, Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle is an odd beast of a game. While it's left me a little lost as to the overall concept and some of the subtleties within, it's certainly a solid enough fighter for its genre.

Philomena: Blu Ray Review

Philomena: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

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 seesPhilomena 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.

Extras: Making of, Commentary with Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
Rating:

Latest Guardians of The Galaxy trailer is here

Latest Guardians of The Galaxy trailer is here

More Groot, more Rocket - it can only be the new Guardians of The Galaxy trailer....

Good news for Marvel fans - it's your first look at the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer!

The movie trailer for #GOTG Guardians of The Galaxy is the first full look from Marvel following the Collector's appearance at the end of Thor: The Dark World.


An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe.

To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits - Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Peter discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand - with the galaxy's fate in the balance.

Guardians of the Galaxy is due in August this year.

X-Men: Days of Future Past: Movie Review

X-Men: Days of Future Past: Movie Review

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Peter Dinklage, James MacAvoy, Michael Fassbender,Jennifer Lawrence
Director: Bryan Singer

After six previous X-Men movies, including a recent reboot of the series with a younger cast, X-Men: Days of Future Past arrives at a time-bending moment for the series, complete with a return from one of its most famous directors.

Set in dystopian future where the robot Sentinels are hunting down the mutants, eradicating them and any potential humans who could possess the mutant gene, the pressure's really on for Professor X (Stewart) and Magneto (McKellen). They've joined forces to try and prevent their kind being wiped out in a scheme which could only have come from the comic book 101 of time travel.

Deducing that if they go back in time to 1973 when Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) was about to assassinate Boliver Trask (the man responsible for the Sentinels programme), they can prevent this future from ever happening. So, Logan aka Wolverine (aka Hugh Jackman) is despatched back to the past to try and save the day - but Wolverine's got bigger problems on his hands because his trying to unite the younger Professor X (MacAvoy in self-loathing, drugged up phase) and Magneto (Fassbender) comes at a time where the pair couldn't have been more apart...

X-Men: Days of Future Past is the X-Men movie that many of the fans have been waiting for.

Stripped free of necessary exposition and explanation of the characters, Singer's deft and pacy return to the genre sees a return to the comic book action and rich emotion, which has appealed to so many (but may leave some non-fans feeling a little alienated this time around.)

Sly humour permeates parts of this action movie that teeters dangerously close to pompous sci-fi at the start. Singer brings all the players together well and adds in a few new elements to show he's still got the mutant sparkle that's needed - a dazzling sequence which shows off American Horror Story star Evan Peters' turn as Quiksilver is the pure highlight of the whole piece. Using the faster than light flippant kid to break out Magneto from under the Pentagon (where he's been imprisoned for assassinating JFK) is a master stroke of Singer's - during one brief sequence alone, Singer brings the joy back into the superhero genre which has wallowed in dour for so long. As Quiksilver takes on the prison guards in a light speed slow-mo sequence, there's slapstick, danger and amusement in high dosage. (Though the real headscratcher is why such a valuable asset be left behind on a key mission...) Also, Singer does a great job of introducing a stand out new character into a crowded ensemble.

Which is perhaps just as well, because the older versions of the X-Men themselves are a little sidelined in the piece, with the danger never quite reaching the high stakes you'd expect. It's curious because given they face extinction, there's very little for them to do after a high-octane opening. And it's a shame given the calibre of talent involved, but when the story is as stuffed as it is, something has to give. Equally, some kind of explanation as to why Trask is so opposed to mutant kind would be good - despite Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage playing him to perfection, a murky motive is never forthcoming. And the final end sequence becomes a little heavy handed and cluttered to have too much resonance for such an iconic comic book arc.

Thankfully, though, these niggles do not come at the cost of the action, which for 7 films in adds new set pieces to entice and impress throughout. Of the X-ensemble, McAvoy, Fassbender, Lawrence and Jackman more than deliver on their characters, with each adding to their past outings. Equally, the script gives nods to the fans but doesn't alienate those willing to work through the elements of past movies.

All in all, X-Men: Days of Future Past is an X-Men movie for fans to savour; while the stakes have never been higher for the series and its characters, director Bryan Singer doesn't lose sight of the smaller, more intimate moments to provide a blockbuster spectacle that's as spectacular a winter blockbuster as you'd hope for.

(Make sure you stay to the end of the credits, to witness the first look at X:Men - Apocalypse, and your first chance to see the original mutant, En Sabah Nur....)

Rating:

August Osage County: Blu Ray Review

August Osage County: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

If you think your family gathering at Christmas is bad, you ain't seen nothing compared to August: Osage County.

Based on the stage play of the same name, it stars Meryl Streep as Violet, the monstrous matriarch of the Weston family. Struck with mouth cancer and addicted to pills, she finds her world comes unstuck when her husband Beverly (played by Sam Shepard) disappears without warning one day.

As the disparate family gathers to help the search, tensions from the past simmer and boil over, causing more anguish than any normal family gathering would cause - and Violet revels in them, spewing forth toxic bile on her own family...

For Julia Roberts' Barbara, her return to the homestead brings into sharp focus her separation from her husband Charlie (McGregor) and her distance from her daughter (Breslin) as well as the resentment from her sister Ivy (Nicholson) who's been forced to stay home all these years. Equally her other sister Karen (Juliette Lewis) breezes in her with her latest squeeze (Dermot Mulroney) causing more divides within the group. Add into that mix, Violet's very own sister Mattie Fae, who detests her son Little Charles, much to the growing chagrin of her own husband Charles (Cooper), and you can see how the roof is ready to explode in this mid-Western American powderkeg.

August: Osage County is a battering experience, a difficult film to sympathise with, presided as it is by the towering monster that is Violet. In some scenes, Streep's character positively chews out the scenery on display (and veers dangerously close into over-acting when compared to others in this troupe); while in other moments, this drug-addled poisonous snake is possessed of such insights that she can destroy anyone else on the screen. And it's the slightly-over-the-top nature of her turn that makes August: Osage County such a polarising experience as it blisters through such an affliction of meanness from its lead - even if the familiarity of family gatherings and meal-times with relatives proves a little too close to the knuckle.

Against everyone else, Streep fully owns her time on screen; but Julia Roberts comes close to matching her with a growing frustration that anyone forced to confront a sick relative / frustrating family member can relate to. Of the men on show, Cumberbatch seems to be woefully miscast as the clumsy halfwit, suffering from awkward guilt, Mulroney is nothing short of a sleaze and only Cooper (and Shepard in his brief scenes at the start) find the backbone of character to shine. In particular, Cooper's moment to stand tall against Mattie Fae's continuing barbs is devastatingly well done as Charles decides enough is enough - with just a few words and some acting, he delivers a punch that carries more emotion and conveys more weight than Streep's juddering harpy presents all the way through.

That's the thing with August: Osage County; it's almost unrelenting in its dysfunctional vitriol that you completely understand why the characters gradually leave as the venomous barbs begin to hit home. There's no reason to support a monster and there's no feeling in the audience that doing so is a remotely rewarding experience.

But that also doesn't make for a comfortable experience as the vile Violet lashes out and there's little spark as the disparate cast come and go; the character arcs aren't as rewarding as perhaps they may be in their stage versions, with just leaving (Exeunt omnes) being the MO that's overused - the overall feeling in August: Osage County is more one of it being there to shock than anything else - despite there being sadness lurking in Violet's background, and despite Streep's at times OTT turn, there's little to care about as this family implodes.

Extras: An evening with, Deleted scenes, Audio commentary

Rating:

The Book Thief: Blu Ray Review

The Book Thief: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by 20th Century Fox Home Ent

Based on the book by Australian author, Markus Zusak, the movie version of The Book Thief aims to tug at the heartstrings.

It's the story of Liesel (a wonderful first time turn from Sophie Nelisse, who's rightfully getting awards), a young girl pushed onto a foster family in pre-war time Germany in the 1930s. There's the cold-hearted Rosa (Watson) and the more kindly, music loving and nurturing Hans (Rush). As the road to war escalates, the initially illiterate Liesel finds herself growing up in a world she understands less but discovering a love for literature.

When a young Jew, Max, comes to shelter with Rosa and Hans, the harsh realities of war and the fear of the Nazis becomes a reality for the family - and their lives will never be the same again.

The Book Thief is an emotionally flat piece, despite the deliberately emotive ideas and the potential for manipulation. Yet, despite Nelisse's beautifully fragile yet confident tone, it never fires on any real level, leaving you lamenting how empty the pay off is as the horror hits home.

It's a shame because the attention to period detail is impressive and initially oppressive, but the maudlin tones of the film never really lift or give you the push to connect and care about these characters as childhood innocence and naivete are shattered asunder.

The slow, solemn tone gives way to a feeling that The Book Thief is way too over-long and the narrative twists can be seen a mile off - the step-mother isn't actually a cruel harpie? While the friendship between Liesel and the boy next door Rudy (Liersch) is solid enough, the emotional pay off as their relationship reaches its tragedy is curiously lacking; and it's a shame. Rush delivers a strong performance and injects the war time mope with some much needed warmth and earnestness and Roger Allam's deliciously liquid tones work well as the narrator Death.

All in all The Book Thief delivers a competently told tale, but fails to find the emotion needed to turn you into a blubbering wreck as the tragedy kicks in.

Rating:

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Blu Ray Review

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by 20th Century Fox Home Ent

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 theAvengers 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

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