Murdered Soul Suspect: PS4 Review

Murdered Soul Suspect: PS4 Review

Released by Square Enix
Platform: PS4

Salem.

Famed for its witches and spooky goings on - and now in the latest game from Square Enix, famed for your death.

You play Detective Ronan O'Connor, whose day goes to very bad when he's thrown out of a window by the Bell Killer, a serial killer haunting the streets of Salem. On the cusp of surviving the fall, the killer shoots O'Connor point blank seven times, thus finishing him off.

Stuck between worlds and with unfinished business, O'Connor (who has a permanently ghostly cigarette attached to his lips) has to work out who did it, why and stop them, by investigating clues around Salem. Initially guided by a ghost called Abigail who gives you the chance to explore your abilities (walking through some walls, possession etc), the quest takes on a darker turn when various demons start appearing around Salem with the intent of sucking your soul dry.

Part of the mission of Murdered Soul Suspect is to avoid these, or to creep up behind them and exorcise them (a chillingly spooky experience all round) - avoiding them is done by leaping from one ghostly spirit trail to the next as they get closer; it's a freaky trip that's actually unsettling to watch and takes a wee bit of time to master.

A lot of the game though is spent examining crime scenes, possessing people at the scene to read their minds, get clues and further insights et al. It's this part which feels a little underdeveloped as you're relatively constrained with what you can and can't do at the scene - answers are needed to move on and in some ways, it feels like you're going through the motions to get there.

Possession can be relatively fun though - as you get to take on all manner of things to achieve your aims - but it's frustrating that you can walk through some doors, and not others. There's a lot of stealth needed in parts of the game and you require patience without always feeling like you're getting the reward at the end of it.

Graphically, the game is nicely put together, with the ghostly feeling evocatively done, and there are enough creepy moments to catch you out if you have the lights down and the sound up. Characters of the undead litter the world around you and give you side missions to be part of, such as trying to find where someone was killed etc, but it's the main narrative that will propel you along.

Murdered Soul Suspect has a great concept and is smarter title in terms of what it tries to achieve and how it brings it to life. In parts, it feels like this is slightly undercooked and could do with a bit more, but as a gaming alternative to the detective genre, it's a welcome - if not fully inspirational - addition.

Rating:

Grudge Match: Blu Ray Review

Grudge Match: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Warner Home Ent

It's a delicious idea - Rocky vs Raging Bull in the ring, mano a mano with only the bell to separate them.

It becomes a reality in this gentle comedy from the director of Get Smart and Anger Management.

Stallone is Henry "Razor" Sharp, a boxer who decided to retire when his nemesis, Billy "The Kid" McDonnen (De Niro in feisty frowny form) slept with his girlfriend Sally Rose (Basinger). Denied the final title fight, a rivalry's formed through the years - and when their former promoter's son, Dante Slate Jr (Kevin hart) comes to them to offer a chance of a rematch on the 30th anniversary, only The Kid is keen.

But when Razor loses his job, and has no money, he has no choice....

However, will their out of the ring rivalry cause the rematch train to come off the tracks?

Let's pull no punches here, Grudge Match is a comedy that's a little thin on laughs, but gets by on a relative charm as its old timers creak along, complete with predictable side plots - a son comes out of the woodwork, facilitating necessary bonding, an age old score over romance has to be settled and old timers set back on the path of redemption.

Seagal makes good fist of it all (from what there is to work with), as you wait for the inevitable match up at the end - Razor's home in Pittsburgh is beautifully shot against the mists and the bridge, evoking a man who's fallen on hard times.

The major annoyance of the piece is Kevin Hart as the promoter, whose delivery verges on the Chris Tucker / Eddie Murphy motormouth excesses but simply ends up shouting his lines as his scenes draw to a limp conclusion. It's excruciating in places and puts your teeth on edge.

Alan Arkin offers up his usual slice of deadpan mischievous sarcasm as Razor's dad and Basinger is bland enough as the love interest. There are the obligatory training montages and moments as you'd expect in most boxing movies - and there's even scenes of Stallone trying to emote. De Niro still packs a punch as he wrestles with an average script and some phone it in dialogue (and corny cheeseball moments)- but the scenes of him training remind you of the wiriness of Jake La Motta and his physicality is impressive also as he skips around.

The relative knock out blow comes with the fight at the end, drowned as it is with nostalgia, though it's still lacking the killer punch it really needs - but Stallone and De Niro are to be commended for slugging it out in the ring (though you do wonder how many takes it took to get in the can) but to be honest, at this stage, it just looks like two old guys going at it.

All in all, Grudge Matchdoes make you occasionally want to throw in the towel and has you leaving the cinema like you've been punched in the head - make sure you stick around for the credits as the promoter pitches another fight to two others who may have a score to settle; it delivers more of the laughs that you'd have expected from the film in the first place.

Extras: Alternate opening, alternate endings, legends of the ring feature, more with Kevin Hart

Rating:

NZ Documentary Edge Festival Review

NZ Documentary Edge Festival Review

Zombies and their effect on popular culture are explored in the fun and frivolous Doc of the Dead from Alexandre O Phillippe.

With politicians raising fears of a zombie apocalypse and the continuing success as the likes of the Walking Dead, it's clear they're everywhere - and this doco attempts to get to the heart of why they're so damn popular.

But with its tongue thrust in its cheek - the film uses the likes of Bruce Campbell and Simon Pegg as newsreaders, reporting on the onslaught, before delving into their cinematic past and their earlier appearance in the likes of White Zombie from the 1930s. It's an interesting watch as you see how the creatures evolved from a reflection of slavery and black people menacing white to when George Romero set them on a cultural ascent.

Bouncily put together and fun, this doco does fuel the fun of the zombie, though towards the end, it runs a little light on narrative material as it looks at survival. There's a lot covered here, so newbies will not feel left out, but there's certainly a sense that a more narrow perspective could have given this a greater insight instead of an entertaining all aspects covered once over lightly feel. Certainly, Phillippe needs to be praised for the amount of talent he dragged in from the genre - it's simply incredible.

Erebus Operation Overdue is following in the footsteps of the Emmy nominated The Golden Hour. Wisely following the docu-drama feel, this piece which swept the Documentary Festival awards is a powerful and hauntingly evocative piece that looks at the team tasked with going to Erebus to recover the bodies of the 257 people killed when an Air New Zealand flight crashed into the mountain in 1979.

Concentrating on the team rather than discussion of the crash (and its subsequent controversy) this mix of drama and interviews with the team today is incredibly hard to shake. While the recreations are impressive and certainly a shot of red flags (which symbolised bodies) on the white mountain is horrific, it's the interviews with the team shot recently that are the more powerful pieces. With the psychological effects still wearing heavy on some of them and showing, you can't help but be captivated by the true horror and admire the resolute determination they had to bring them all home. This doco has rightly swept the board - it's a powerful reminder of what excellent drama and careful research and interviewing can do to an audience. If you hear a pin drop in any screening of this, I'd be terribly surprised.

Life, Itself is a tribute to the US Film critic Roger Ebert.

It's an adaptation of Ebert's 2011 memoir and is put together by Hoop Dreams director Steve James, who had unprecedented access to Ebert during his treatment and ongoing cancer illness. Covering Ebert's time as a young journalist and examining his extraordinary drive and passion for language, that eventually saw him coming to film criticism and a long term partnership with Gene Siskel, a fellow Chicago newspaper critic.

What's extraordinary about this piece is the access that James got to Ebert - from seeing Ebert undergo painfully uncomfortable suction to his physio, this piece sensitively handles the illness but gives a warts and all approach that's rarely seen on the big screen.

Also surprising to some, will be the tussles that Ebert had with Siskel, with elements of a bully coming out. In one reel of a promo being shot, the numerous re-takes are forced because of the appearance of a monstrous side of Ebert that shows initially how little he respected him. With both feeling they were the definitive voice of film criticism, it was perhaps inevitable there would be clashes, but it may surprise some how deep it went.

But this isn't an assassination attempt by James - it's an insight that shows all sides of Ebert and in places it's devastating. Particularly as Ebert's emails to James during his rehab begin to drop off, the closer to his death he gets. One last email is troubling and haunting but completely understandable. And the fact James has shown that is a testament to the power of the piece. A final shot shows fans of Ebert stood united in an auditorium with his trademark thumbs up and left me crying. Admirable and a well rounded portrait of a man who's been so influential to so many on the other side of the camera, Life Itself is an essential watch to both film fans and non-film fans.

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom: Blu Ray Review

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

Nelson Mandela passed away last year, but this latest was always in the pipeline long before the death.

Based on the autobiography of the same name (Long Walk to Freedom), Luther star Idris Elbais Mandela, as we follow his journey from 1940s crusading lawyer to freedom fighter before his internment on Robben Island and subsequent release.

Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom is the man's story, rather than really being the story of the man.

While Elba manages to channel a lot of the man's charisma and the inflections of the voice - as well as the look of Mandela in later life - the film does little to really ignite the spark of passion of Mandela himself, preferring to follow a more leaden path in the story.

Sure, there are moments when the warts and all portrayal adds a layer that perhaps some have never seen before of Mandela, such as the womanising and disintegration of his first marriage, but even those occasional insights add little to a story that's already been told before.

One of the problems is the way so much ground is covered so quickly that it affects the narrative - for example, when Mandela is imprisoned on Robben Island, he and his fellow prisoners are told by their captors they must wear short trousers and that will never change. Cue the inevitable asking for long trousers, a request which is granted shortly after Mandela has a chat with the boss; no reason is given and viewers are left befuddled.

The problem is the story is very much by the numbers and does exactly what you'd expect while trying to cover way too much ground; while the earnest Elba and the softer Naomie Harris do a lot to carry this with grace, pose and dignity, the issue is that the film never really stirs more within you than you'd expect. Perhaps, if those involved had decided to potentially focus on one point of time and one story untold, it may have been stronger, rather than feeling like it's gone through a checklist of moments to cover.

I'm disappointed to say that I also never felt inspired by the story (though some may leave this feeling that they have been) as Mandela preaches his message of strength through unity as he was galvanised into action. It's certainly not Elba's fault at all - and there's an occasional vein of humour running throughout as well as  some real life scenes and footage being folded into the mix.

But it's curious to note that as the Oscar nominated U2 song plays over a montage of photos of Mandela, those alone do more to stir some passion within than what's passed in the previous 140 minutes. Perhaps some times, the truth itself is stronger than a fiction created on screen.

Extras: Behind the scenes, tributes

Rating:

Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika Shorts Programme Announced for NZIFF

Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika Shorts Programme Announced for NZIFF

The New Zealand International Film Festival today announced seven Māori and Pasifika short films have been selected for the Ngā Whanaunga shorts programme for 2014.

The Ngā Whanaunga Māori Pasifika Shorts 2014 is a collection of Māori and Pasifika short films curated by Leo Koziol (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rakaipaaka), Director of the Wairoa Māori Film Festival, with guest curator Craig Fasi (Niue), Pollywood Film Festival Director.

“This year’s expression of ‘Ngā Whanaunga’, which means relatedness and connectedness between peoples, is once again realised with films from Aotearoa and the Pacific – stunning works made by big screen storytellers at the cutting edge,” says Leo Koziol, Wairoa Māori Film Festival Director.

“This is the third year that NZIFF has handed over programming duties to the Wairoa Film Festival. And this year the filmmakers have provided the ingredients for the best Ngā Whanaunga shorts collection yet. We are proud to host the nationwide screenings of such terrific short films,” says Bill Gosden, NZIFF Director.

The short films, with curators’ comments in italics, are:

In the Rubbish Tin

NZ 2014 | 4 mins

Director: Riwia Brown (Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui)

Abandoned on her birthday, Pippa escapes into an imaginary world with her best friend Chubby.
A well told story with a sharp pace enforces the significance of the epidemic of neglect. — Craig Fasi

Footsteps

NZ/Cook Islands 2014 | 14 mins

Director: Lennie Hill (Ngāpuhi)

A father’s sacrifice, a young boy’s promise. The colours and hues of a Pacific Island shine through in this fable of fatherly love. — Leo Koziol

Pūmanawa: The Gift

NZ 2013 | 13 mins

Director: Poata Eruera (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua, Te Aupōuri) | Festival: imagineNATIVE 2013

A mother shares her own tragic past to stop her daughter repeating the same mistake. A dramatic and haunting depiction of Māori spiritualism. — Craig Fasi

Tohunga

NZ 2013 | 8 mins

Director: Rebecca Collins (Te Rarawa [Ngāti Te Reinga])

When a young boy falls ill, a family turns to a tohunga for help. Unknowingly, a young girl bears witness to a world never meant for her. Meditative moments of painterly imagery disguise a serious message. — Leo Koziol

Ahi Kā

NZ 2014 | 15 mins

Director: Richard Curtis (Te Arawa) | Best Actress (Audience Award), Wairoa Māori Film Festival 2014

Left alone with just her spiritual guides, a young girl upholds the prestige of the tribe in order to protect the land for generations to come. Due to her brave deeds she is immortalised. A meditative exploration of kaitiakitanga (protectiveness); as the people protect the land, so the land – and the birds upon it – are kaitiaki of the people. — Leo Koziol

Rising Dust

NZ 2014 | 15 mins

Director: Jack Woon

A hip-hop dance drama taken out of the city streets and into the historical, isolated, rural land of the Hokianga. With the help of his ancestors, a teenager on the cusp of adulthood stands up to his father and defends his place in his home. The Hokianga landscape shimmers as a dusty hip-hop epic explodes all around. — Leo Koziol

INC’d

NZ 2014 | 15 mins

Director: Darren Simmonds | Audience Award, Best Actor (Audience Award), Te Nati Prize, Wairoa Māori Film Festival 2014.

A Māori man enjoying the corporate life he has carved for himself in Sydney returns home for his father’s funeral. Amidst the mourning, a challenge is laid before him. Māori walk in many worlds, but must we compromise tradition to modern commerce? — Leo Koziol

NZIFF will begin in Auckland (17 July – 3 August), open in Wellington one week later (25 July – 10 August), then Christchurch and Nelson (6 – 24 August) and Dunedin (31 July – 17 August) before continuing to travel around New Zealand screening in Timaru, Gore, Hawke’s Bay, Hamilton, Tauranga, Palmerston North, Masterton, and New Plymouth.

Festival programmes will be available online and around town from June 24 in Auckland, and June 27 in Wellington. For Festival updates visit www.nziff.co.nz and register to receive e-newsletters.

The Trip To Italy: Movie Review

The Trip To Italy: Movie Review

Cast: Rob Brydon, Steve Coogan
Director: Michael Winterbottom

The Trip was such a phenomenal success that it was inevitable there would be a second serving of Coogan and Brydon's improvisational schtick.

Whereas the first was set in the relatively glum surroundings of the North of England, this latest sees the pair transplanted to Italy after Rob is asked to do a series of reviews of restaurants - in comparison to Coogan being the the writer of the first outing.

So once again, the duo with all their foibles and insecurities are heading out, trying to one up each other amid whimsy and reflection.

The Trip was a great film, a culinary travelogue that got to the heart of what made Coogan and Brydon tick, in amongst improvisational segments that felt natural and part of the banter of this duo.

Unfortunately, while The Trip to Italy is still a good film, it loses some of that freshness this time around with the impersonations and general misbehaviour feeling forced and a little shoehorned in in places. When the duo start their Michael Caine impressions, there's a feeling of deja vu that can't be shaken this time around.

Alanis Morrisette is the background music to this outing, and forms the backbone of a series of running gags but there's no escaping the fact this feels like a recycling of what's gone before. Maybe this time around, with Coogan seeming more melancholy after the show he was on in America is placed on hiatus and with Brydon's star in the ascent, there's a manoeuvring of Rob losing his way while Steve finds his heart again.

The scenery stands out and the splendrous nature of their jaunts are lost upon them, giving you the feeling they're a pair of spoilt brats in many ways. But the whole feeling overall of The Trip To Italy is a trip too far; with the ending hinting that a third outing could be on the way as the duo appear to be at a crossroads, you'd have to hope all concerned stand back and re-evaluate what made the first time around such a clever touch; because this trip is in danger of losing its passage to its final destination.

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Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit: Blu Ray Review

Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

It's a reboot for Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan character, made so famous by Harrison Ford's portrayal in films like Patriot Games.

This time around, the film's given a contemporary once over as Chris Pine's Jack Ryan goes from enlisting after the horrors of 9/11, being injured and scoring a role within the CIA as a covert analyst. (All within the space of the film's opening 10 minutes)

Ryan's skill? He's a PHD analyst who crunches the data but having worked on Wall Street, Ryan's managed to find a scheme concocted by Russia to bring down the U.S economy and wreak global chaos.

With his handler Harper (Kevin Costner in a quietly restrained and impressive turn), Jack's thrust into the world of being an active agent after an attempt on his life - and in direct conflict with Victor Cheverin (Kenneth Branagh, also on directorial duties complete with emotionless Russian robotic accent). But saving the world isn't just the biggest problem Ryan's facing - he's also got to try and keep his relationship with his in-the-dark other half Kathy (Keira Knightley) alive as well....

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is apparently Tom Clancy's last film as a writer before his death in October last year and it's not a bad attempt at a sophisticated thriller, but a bit of a misfire in terms of an action-packed thriller.

Though it has to be said, some of the film cripples itself quite badly with its typical pulpy touches which are more suited to the page than screaming originality on the big screen.

The film jumps around global hopping style in its opening moments as the geo-politic thriller gets underway, and rather than being dizzying and exciting, it's sort of limp and unexciting, despite establishing Pine's Ryan as a man of the people (he cares for his colleagues, his fallen brothers).

There are your typical cinematic big sweeping bon mots too that you'd expect of a global thriller of its ilk - including "It's an act of economic war" and "We're on a godamned luxury boat here, don't rock it"- which are all uttered with straight faces and from under very worried brows that it's vexing rather than suspenseful.

Pine and Costner are impressive as the leads; Costner delivers a low key understated turn as the handler and Pine brings his stoic talents to the fore as Ryan. But neither of them can really lift the perfunctory almost workmanlike tone of the film, which is pulled together with varying degrees of success by Branagh. While some of his pared back action scenes are tautly impressive, none really stand out as original unfortunately and the directorial flair is lacking - even though his Russian backdrops serve him well.

The worst part of the east vs west vibe of the film though is the narrative that allows Keira Knightley's Cathy into the spy world. Initially clueless at Ryan's duplicitousness, she's brought in to take part in the sting that could decide the fate of the world - it's this turn of events which throws any limited credibility out of the window from what was a relatively intelligent premise into a spy trope you've seen millions of times before.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit lacks a little of the killer instinct needed; those hoping for high blockbuster thrills and action scenes all over the place will be underwhelmed.

Extras: Deleted scenes, Commentary, Featurettes

Rating: