The Fault In Our Stars: Movie Review

The Fault In Our Stars: Movie Review

Cast: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Sam Trammell
Director: Josh Boone

Stand by, because here comes a tear jerker based on a successful "sick-lit" novel.

Divergent star Shailene Woodley is Hazel Grace, a teenager, stricken with cancer and permanently strapped to an oxygen tank to help her breathe. Cynical and dismissive of the positivity around her, Hazel finds her life turned upside down when she meets a fellow survivor, Augustus (Elgort) at a support meeting.

The two form a bond and a flirtation leads to love - but as ever, with the story of star-crossed lovers, tragedy is waiting in the wings.

The Fault In the Stars is going to prove fatal to some audiences of a certain age and certain disposition, as it mixes heartbreak, heartache and first love - as well as loss.

It's got sardonic wit on its side too, as these teens live with the constant threat of death in their wings - which is remarkable when lines like "It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you" are espoused on the screen.

In amid the preppy, perky relationship of the book smart Hazel Grace and Augustus, there's a rich vein of non-exploitative cynicism running throughout that adds welcome touch of an adult feel to this movie. The world-weariness they both display is a refreshing touch and wavers more on the side of levity than wallowing - which is perhaps a blessing given the subject matter contained within.

Woodley sparkles as Hazel Grace, a girl for whom life has provided disappointment after disappointment and who carries around an oxygen tank as if it were the latest accessory; Elgort provides ample support and Dern and Trammell are functional as parents of Hazel Grace. Perhaps the only bum note really is Willem Dafoe, whose pyjama clad, booze soaked author, idolised by Hazel Grace, who tonally feels at odds with the film. And a final last act appearance from him really stretches the credibility of the movie.

Inevitably the weepy tone overtakes the final third of this movie and you're either all in or left unmoved by this - but either way, you can't fail to be impressed on what's put up on the screen for this bittersweet and endearing romance thanks to near faultless performances from the young leads.

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Super Time Force: XBox One Review

Super Time Force: XBox One Review

Platform: XBox One

Retro 8 Bit Games appear to be the rage at the moment.

What with Fez, Towerfall: Ascension, Mercenary Kings and now this, it appears the next gen is looking to the past for its gaming inspiration.

This latest side-scrolling shoot'em'up sees you taking on a role in an elite squad that's sent back in time by Colonel Repeatski to try and save the day. You've got 30 lives to get through each level and if that sounds a lot, well, there's a reason why. Each time you get killed, you get a chance to rewind time, play again and avoid the same mistakes. Or, you get to play as another character, with your own original character and fight on as two people to try and win through each level.

Glorbs through the level (as the Colonel calls them) give you extra time and others can be shot to give you extra repeats and rewinds. It's funny but you think you won't need either the time or the lives as you take on one of the four of the elite force, but before you know it, you're desperately rewinding time to see how you can improve on your last garbled attempt.

But as you rewind, you begin to realise the first characters you were playing are doing everything you did before - a sort of do-over but with extra fire power. It's here that Super Time Force starts to get a bit chaotic as bullets explode around you and you try desperately not to get lost in it all.

While not exactly frenetic of pace, it's very easy to lose track of exactly what's going on and once again, you have to start over. The retro look adds to the lunacy and the terrible puns from Colonel Repeatski bring you the groan factor as it goes on.

Super Time Force is a crazy shoot em up - and it's also horrendously addictive. Time and time again, this will have you laughing maniacally, it's that good.

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POP goes the NZIFF

POP goes the NZIFF

POP CULTURE TITLES ANNOUNCED FOR NZIFF 2014

The New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) today revealed seven films with a pop culture theme for the 2014 programme.

“Ari Folman follows his groundbreaking animated documentary Waltz with Bashir with an equally bold and brilliant movie. A meta-textual Hollywood satire starring the actress Robin Wright as herself, it morphs midway into a full blown sci-fi cartoon, but only to cut even closer to the philosophical bone in its investigation of femininity, fantasy and virtual reality.

Inspired by Stanislav Lem’s novel The Futurological Congress… Folman delves into a make believe world where a beautiful, talented, mature actress like Robin Wright (The Princess Bride; Forrest Gump) is considered all but washed up. Miramount studio head Danny Huston does have one last proposition for her though, a deal that will guarantee her riches for life and fame well beyond that. He wants to scan her, sample her, and take full rights to the virtual Robin Wright, the first true movie immortal. Only one condition: the actual Robin must never act again. It’s a Faustian bargain too good to turn down. But that’s only the beginning… A visionary film that takes its place alongside Brazil, Blade Runner and Solaris,

The Congress is a savagely funny and surprisingly moving commentary on our increasing reliance on screens – not just to watch, but to hide behind.” — Vancouver International Film

The Congress will play in Auckland and Wellington.

Twisted tales of desperate lives are lethally intertwined in this wondrously detailed epic of American Gothic, the black comic masterwork of Chris Sullivan, who produced, wrote, directed, animated, photographed, edited, and worked on the music over a period of 15 years. “Dense like a detailed graphic novel in the Chris Ware or R. Crumb vein, but a real movie in every way, Consuming Spirits is a strange and wormy accomplishment, the sort of personal epic only the most obsessive of cinematic madmen undertake, let alone complete.” — M. J. Philips, Chicago Tribune.

Consuming Spirits will play in Auckland and Wellington.

Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?

“It’s a delightfully odd pairing—philosopher-activist Noam Chomsky sits down with filmmaker Michel Gondry for an extended conversation. What do the father of modern linguistics and the man best known for helming the Charlie Kaufman–penned romantic fantasy Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) have to talk about? Plenty, it turns out, much of it predictably heady (you wouldn’t expect the origins of human language to be an uncomplicated subject).” — Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York

Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? will play in Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, Christchurch, Nelson, Hamilton and Palmerston North.

“After the interstellar disorientations of Gravity, here’s an anime which mucks with up and down. Patema, a perky teen girl, lives in a post-disaster underground world. During her explorations, she falls into a chasm and ends up on the surface. The snag is, it’s an upside-down surface, with upside-down people, where she’s always in great danger of plunging into the sky. Luckily, Patema’s helped by a surface boy her age (confusingly called Age).

The adventures which follow will flip both their perspectives… Patema Inverted is a highly likeable mix of simplicity and sophistication, an SF “conceptual breakthrough” yarn where a boy can fall for an upside-down girl. — Andrew Osmond, SFX

Patema Inverted will play in Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya

“The co-founder of the legendary Studio Ghibli, director Isao Takahata, is perhaps not as well-known as his younger colleague, Hayao Miyazaki. His talents, however, are no less remarkable. In 1988, his animated masterpiece, Grave of the Fireflies, was released simultaneously with Miyazaki's much-loved My Neighbour Toroto. Twenty-seven years later, Miyazaki's reputed last film, The Wind Rises, is released alongside 78-year-old Takahata's The Tale of The Princess Kaguya. Takahata has always been considered the most realistic of the pair, but in his latest film he sheds that label. The story of a humble bamboo cutter who finds a miniature princess is Japan's oldest-known folk tale, dating back centuries. The princess and her elderly adoptive parents live a poor but idyllic life, until dreams of grandeur intervene. Takahata's exquisite animation renders this timeless tale in soft hues and delicate lines, like a beautifully illustrated fable complete with its requisite moral lesson.” — Sydney Film Festival 2014

The Tale of Princess Kaguya will play in all NZIFF centres.

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (3D)

A glorious storybook America of open prairies, cross-country railroads and zany inventions abounds with pictorial delights in this 3D extravaganza from Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie, Delicatessen). T.S. is a boy prodigy whose special scientific talents go unappreciated on the Montana ranch where he lives with his entomologist mother (Helena Bonham Carter), his Marlboro Man dad (Callum Keith Rennie) and his bored teenage sister. The accidental death of T.S.’s older brother is a sadness hovering in the background as each follows his or her pursuit – until T.S. is contacted about his perpetual motion machine by the Smithsonian Museum. Blissfully unaware that the brilliant inventor is only ten years old, they invite him to Washington. T.S. steals out one night to undertake the journey alone…

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet will play in all NZIFF centres.

Why Don’t You Play In Hell?

“There is something inherently satisfying in pairing gangsters and movie makers…Totally outrageous but surprisingly successful on its own terms, this wild melange of yakuza wars and student filmmaking marks Japanese veteran Sion Sono’s return to the Suicide Club genre, with farcical teenage rom com thrown in as an extra.” — Deborah Young, Hollywood

Why Don’t You Play in Hell? will play in Auckland and Wellington.

In 2014, NZIFF will screen from mid-July through to late September:

Auckland 17 July – 3 August

Wellington 25 July – 10 August

Dunedin (with Gore) 31 July – 17 August, Gore 13 – 24 August

Christchurch (with Nelson and Timaru) 7 – 24 August, Nelson 6 – 24 August, Timaru 14 – 24

Central North Island: 20 August – 14 September

(Napier 20 August – 7 September | Tauranga 21 August – 14 September | Hamilton 21 August – 14 September)

Lower North Island: 3 – 21 September

(Masterton 3 – 17 September | New Plymouth and Palmerston North 4 – 21 September)

The NZIFF programme for Auckland will be announced on Monday 23 June and for Wellington on Thursday 26 June. Tickets will be on sale in Auckland from Friday 27 June via Ticketmaster, and in Wellington from Tuesday 1 July via the NZIFF website

Newstalk ZB Movie - Talking A Million Ways To Die In The West, Maleficent, Grace of Monaco and American Hustle

Newstalk ZB Movie - Talking A Million Ways To Die In The West, Maleficent, Grace of Monaco and  American Hustle

This week, we're talking Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways To Die In The West, Angelina Jolie in Maleficent and Nicole Kidman in Grace of Monaco - and on DVD, American Hustle.

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/listen-on-demand/audio/780489587-darren-bevan--a-million-ways-to-die-in-the-west

VEEP: Season 2: DVD Review

VEEP: Season 2: DVD Review

Rating: R13
Released by Warner Home Video

Seinfeld star Julia Louis Dreyfus is the main drawcard in this second season of the political comedy based on the political musings of In The Loop writer Armando Iannucci.

She stars as Vice President Selina Meyer in this ten episode run, that looks at the comedy within the White House and the absurdity in politics. As the season begins the president's taking a battering in the mid-terms, but the Veep's approval rating is rising. However, as  she tries to leverage this to her benefit, she finds herself in even more trouble.

Iannucci's writing is commendable on this but it lacks the sharper edge sometimes witnessed on the The Thick Of It TV Series which is a real shame. That's not to say that the show doesn't lack bite, merely that the use of it isn't quite as savage as it could be. Louis-Dreyfus shines throughout as the Veep and delivers a comedy masterclass worth watching.

Extras: Audio commentaries, Deleted scenes.

Spin City S1 / S2: DVD Review

Spin City S1 / S2: DVD Review

Rating: PG
Released by Madman Home Ent

Michael J Fox's return to comedy after Family Ties remains one of the best and most underrated ensemble comedies of all time.

He plays the deputy mayor of New York, Mike Flaherty in this behind the scenes series looking at the world within the walls of power. But as ever, it's the people within which cause the problems - and the scrapes that this Spin doctor has to get them out of.

Collecting together a great ensemble of oddballs with personal issues was a masterstroke of Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence; but also giving them all room to breathe shows the ensemble comedy, when done properly can be an absolute blast.

These two seasons showcase physical and screwball comedy at its best, but also demonstrate a great heart within. And Spin City was a great show until Fox had to leave for health - Charlie Sheen's joining of the show never really kept the ball rolling and lacked the likeability of the lead.

A doco looking at the making of the series reveals how much love there was within and it's just a shame these are individual interviews rather than a collected cast reminiscence.

Frozen: Blu Ray Review

Frozen: Blu Ray Review

Rating: PG
Released by Disney Home Ent

Loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, The Snow Queen, Frozen's the latest animated film to be fired out of the Disney cannon for the Christmas market.

Idina Menzel and Veronica Mars' star Kristen Bell are sisters Elsa and Anna (respectively) who live in the kingdom of Arendelle. Elsa's distanced herself from Anna over the years after discovering she has the power to create ice and snow; and fearing she'll hurt those she loves the most, she reckons ice-olation (sorry) is best.

However, Anna's more of an outgoing type; desperate to love, be among people and be loved. When trade negotiations begin with the neighbouring town of Wesselton, an accident means Elsa sends the whole kingdom deep into winter. Believing her to be a witch and enchanted, the inhabitants drive her out - but it's upto Anna to try and save the day, restore summer and ensure the future of Arendelle...

Frozen is a Disney film from the creators of Tangled; so, like Tangled, it follows a simple formula, which proved to be effective before - a strong female lead, animals that are anthropomorphic, and big showtunes which can be belted out from a stage. Throw into that mix, this time around, a comedy snowman called Olaf (admirably voiced by Josh Gad, who will definitely appeal to the youngsters within) and you've got a winning mix, which will delight the crowd and will do the job it's supposed to do.

And yet, there are moments in Frozen where it doesn't quite feel like there's enough to propel it through. A perversion of the usual denouement of these films is distinctly welcomed as it's love but not in the traditional Disney way which saves the day, but the rest of it feels like it's ripped from a book of formula, mixed up and spat out onto the big screen.

It's admirable to see that the sisters are so central to the story - particularly Bell's headstrong and independent Anna, and the men who swirl around their orbit aren't as well realised, there for comic effect and little else. Even Sven, the reindeer is sidelined as Olaf's dumb good nature is mined for the comedy.

The tunes within are powerful enough fodder and have you tapping your toes throughout; though they are instantly forgettable the moment you walk out of the cinema. 

Overall though, Frozen sparkles in places and has a charm which is undeniable.

Personally, I'm frosty to its appeal - it does exactly what I'd expect, and does it admirably. It just has to be said though - it didn't thaw this critic's heart and leave me melting as I would have liked it to.

(But make sure you watch the extras, to enjoy a new Mickey Mouse cartoon that confidently blows the cobwebs out of 3D and is as inventive as it is charming)

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Extras: Mickey Mouse short, Making of, Deleted scenes, music video