Jake: Movie Review

Jake: Movie Review

Cast: Jason Fitch, Leighton Cardno, Anoushka Klaus
Director: Doug Dillaman

That this self-funded Kiwi film has made it into cinemas is in no part a small minor miracle and reflection on the passion of those involved.

It's the story of Jacob (Fitch), a feckless guy who's wasting his life. But that all changes one day, when he awakes to find he's been "recast" by a mysterious entity known as the Forge after they've decided he's squandering his life.

So, in his place, is Jake (Cardno), a more charismatic lively chap who seizes the opportunity he's been given and relegates the real Jacob into second place in his own life. To make matters worse, and to his own suffering, Jacob's friends and family don't recognise him. And Jacob becomes determined to spring into a life less lived when Jake makes a go of it with his girlfriend.

Can the man relegated to the sidelines of his own life rise to the challenge presented to him?

READ A Q&A WITH THE TEAM INVOLVED IN JAKE

Jake has an engaging dystopian idea at its lo-fi heart; a concept which sounds almost Tales of The Unexpected with parallels of NZ TV show This Is Not My Life thrown in for good measure. As the tale spins out, the passion of all involved shines through.

Fitch and Cardno make a great pair as the yin and yang of the concept of Jacob / Jake and manage to ground this idea in a reality that seems relatable in a world where many struggle with questions of identity / the grass is always greener on the other side as we go about our humdrum lives.

Occasional over-acting from some of the cast (Jacob's mother in particular) leads to meta-questions about whether they've been recast from within (and at times distracts from the story) as this offbeat, off-kilter drama heads inexorably to its dramatic conclusion.

All in all, the can-do attitude and self-funded nature of this film shouldn't be confused for cinematic chutzpah and token sympathy; Jake is an astonishingly assured long form debut from writer / director Dillaman and the team involved, a sign that Kiwi cinema is in rude health and that the budget is no confines for dreaming big in terms of ideas without ever losing sight of the emotional core needed to engage the audience.

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Tarzan: Movie Review

Tarzan: Movie Review

Cast: Kellan Lutz, Spencer Locke
Director: Richard Klooss

Another version of Tarzan swings in, this time a computer generated piece which aims to put a new twist on the legend.

Kellan Lutz stars as JJ Greystoke, a kid who finds himself alone after his parents die in a helicopter crash instigated by his dad affecting the balance of nature after taking a chunk out of a meteor (yep, seriously).

Raised in the jungle by a mother gorilla who had her child killed during the chaos caused by JJ's father, Tarzan, the hairless ape, grows. But when the CEO of Greystoke industries heads back to the jungle determined to find the meteor and with it, a new source of energy for the world, Tarzan finds his resolve tested and his loyalties torn.

The computer animated Tarzan is perhaps one of the bizarrest re-tellings of the story I've ever seen.

While Kellan Lutz gives his all to the human ape, the animation takes a while to get used to, thanks to a weird mix of Cloudy With Meatballs stule humans and very well defined other humans. But that's about as far as the definition goes in this piece, which lacks emotion, sees Tarzan using extremely dodgy ways to pick up Jane (stalking, rifling through her belongings) and has a terrible romantic montage soundtracked by Coldplay's Paradise.

With swirling cameras, swelling music, plenty of pointless voiceover and lots of animated scenes showing Tarzan flying through the air a la Spider-Man for no other reason than they can, this Tarzan has very little going for it. An additional plot about a meteor from the Jurassic ages feels like the kind of tosh more suited to a Transformers film than a push to protect the wild forests.

Ultimately, this Tarzan lacks definition, bite and a decent origin story that seems to flow - it really does need to be confined to the jungle, rather than inflicted on cinema audiences.

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The Volcano: Movie Review

The Volcano: Movie Review

Cast: Dany Boon, Valerie Bonneton
Director: Alexandre Coffre

Once more into the world of French farce for Dany Boon.

In this latest, also known as Eyjafjallajokull, he plays Alain, a divorced father trying to get to his daughter's wedding in Greece. Also on the flight is his ex, Valerie (Bonneton), and the pair simply can't stand to be near each other.

But when that Icelandic beast, Eyjafjallajokull erupts, the pair are forced to work together to get to the wedding in time - via whatever means necessary.

The Volcano - or Eyjafjallajokull - is a farcical piece that looks better than it actually is. Beautifully filmed parts of scenery stand out more in this than the petty squabbles and silliness within. The level of silliness occasionally becomes distracting from the idea of these two teaming up to get to where they need to. While it's definitely French in flavour, it's also incredibly slight and too difficult to really engage with the pair of them due to the growing irritation all around.

All in all, while The Volcano has good intentions, you have to be in the right mood for a farce. It's not as good as The Intouchables (the team's previous outing) because it doesn't have the heart within.

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Entwined: PS4 Review

Entwined: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4

A fish and a bird in love and inextricably linked in their journey?

Sounds a bit mad, but it's the premise of the truly gorgeous new title Entwined, a PSN release, launched in the wake of E3.

Using both sticks of the controller, you control a fish on one side, and a bird on the other, of a vortex of light that spirals in front of them. As they spiral through this light tunnel, you have to dual-control them to head to collect the coloured orbs that lie on their respective side of the tunnel (their paths never crossing). The fish collects orange orbs and the bird the blue, fuelling up dual colour meters ahead of them.

When both meters are full, the pair are linked via the L1 and R1 buttons and swirl together ending the level.

It's a simplistic idea, and is gorgeously executed but Entwined can be quite difficult and frustrating to play. The game occasionally freezes mid-action as it sorts a glitch out (this happened on every level of the story, and in some cases, two or three times) and it really prevents a flow from engrossing you within. Also the dual controls can, at times, prove difficult to fully master with you having to think in opposite ways sometimes and causing you no end of frustration.

A failure to match the controls to the patterns of the colours means the light bars above your players drops, making the intertwining part of the game occasionally hard to achieve. One simple mistake and you have to start all over again - which is fine, given the beautiful aesthetics of the game and the sound, but proves to be annoying if you're determined to try and beat it.

And the reason for doing all of this over a series of levels (nine to be precise) doesn't become clear until the end (it's a rather short piece) with each level's achievement seemingly being a chance to intertwine the fish and the bird into a dragon and to take it spiralling and sky write before heading into another vortex.

Granted, Entwined is easy to pick up, looks truly gorgeous and has a wonderful soundtrack, but its wispy premise and airy fairy aims do little to give you an in-depth experience when compared to the likes of Journey which was a truly minimal yet magical affair.

Lush neon colours aside, Entwined could have done with a simpler mechanic to play or perhaps a chance to bring in a second player if it was proving too frustrating. While it's pretty to look at, the beauty is soon marred, sadly, by a red mist of frustration that's difficult to see through.

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Le Week-End: DVD Review

Le Week-End: DVD Review

From writer Hanif Kureshi comes this tale of an English couple heading back to Paris to relive their honeymoon some 30 years ago.

Broadbent is Nick, and Duncan Meg - and it's clear from the moment they're on the Eurostar that there's a strain in this relationship. Meg clearly detests the man after years together, but Nick is wilfully oblivious, taking each barb as something to be mocked rather than viewed with caution.

Conflict is the raison d'etre of their marriage in later life and on most things, they appear to be opposed to all things the other proposes - but things take a turn when the pair bump into Jeff Goldblum's Morgan, who looked upto Nick during his time as a university lecturer.

Soon, Meg's finding herself part of a social swirl and Nick is finding himself a little confused as to what's going on.

Le Week-End showcases a marriage that some will find too familiar and others will be horrified by; Duncan plays the cruel cold wife with ease, and Broadbent's affability leads to the feeling that Nick's charm has worn off years ago. 90 minutes in their company seems to lead you to feel that you've been married to the pair of them as well - with little happening on screen other than bickering and sniping, it's hard to warm to either of them as they swan around Europe's most romantic city (the irony of which is not lost).

Thankfully, a change of pace comes with the arrival of Morgan, but it's a little too late to really fully save the day for the pair as the rot is setting in. Throw in some concerns about whether a son will return home to roost and the tensions are a-plenty; Michell makes a reasonable fist of Kureshi's slightly depressingly familiar screenplay and the actors give it their all in what feels more like a play than a movie.

All in all, Le Week-end has moments which feel like they're influenced by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy's characters in Linklater's films, but without quite the light deft writing; granted, there's a touch of something beneath the veneer but it's hidden by a typically grey British sheen that makes it hard to love, but easy to appreciate.

The NZFF is now live

The NZFF is now live

The Auckland NZIFF 2014 programme is now live on our website.  If you've signed up for My NZIFF, you can now add sessions to your Wishlist and start building your dream festival with the click of a button.

Printed programmes will be available from 9am outside the Civic Theatre.

Following delivery, programmes will also be available at Real Groovy, University of Auckland's bookshop, Maidment Theatre, Tapac, Allpress Espresso - Drake St and Ponsonby Rd cafes, Fingers – 2 Kitchener Street, Elliott Stables - 39 Elliott Street, Time Out Bookstore – 432 Mt Eden Rd, Mt Eden, The Womens Bookshop – 105 Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby, N.Z. Film Archives - Level 1
, 300 Karangahape Road and Unity Books - 19 High St, Auckland.

Tickets go on sale from 9am on Friday 27 June through our website and at the Civic Theatre Box Office.

And here are some shots from the Auckland launch of the New Zealand International Film Festival programme:

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones: Blu Ray Review

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones: Blu Ray Review

Rating: R16
Released by Universal Home Entertainment

So, here we go with a kind of spin off to the Paranormal Activity series, but one which has ties to the original franchise in ways you could never foresee.

It's 2012, and The Marked Ones opens with the high school graduation of Jesse, an 18 year old Latina student (played by Andrew Jacobs) about to embark on the summer break. Along with his friend Hector (Jorge Diaz) the duo amuse themselves filming each other doing Jackass-style stunts and following the spooky escapades of the witch who apparently lives in the basement flat of their block.

But when she's shot dead by another of Jesse's fellow students, the pair start investigating - and that's when things take a turn for the spooky as Jesse's whole demeanour starts to change.

Initially Jesse gains super-powers as he can throw people around and do gravity defying things, but soon the darkness is all-encompassing and Hector races to save his friend from a long time curse and a very familiar coven of witches....

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones is a distraction from the series and franchise, rather than an advancement of the mythology that's built up around Katie (Katie Featherston) and in the previous films. Though, that said, there are subtle nods to what's gone on, as well as the ongoing mythology.

Mixing in touches of Chronicle (teen gets new powers and revels in them before abusing them), a riff on the Exorcist - involving actual eggs (Eggs-orcist anyone?) and throwing in some of the usual jolts, as well as a psychic (and vaguely psychotic) Simon Says, there are a few clever touches thrown in here and there. But after the initial teen edge is dispensed (Kids chasing girls, doing pranks etc), the film settles into the usual routine of drawing out scenes, ramping up the soundtrack before the scare punchline. Some are effective bursts and give the edge that's needed whereas others are unoriginal and expected.

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones also suffers from a slightly muddier edge with time portals being thrown into the mix (and uncertainty over how they affect the ongoing story arc) and the found footage format ever so slightly creaks in places as Hector keeps the camera on all the time. Plus, at the end when they end up inside the house rather than running away, you find yourself shouting at the behaviour of the protagonists.

A couple of drip fed hints and allusions here and there to the mythology aren't really enough to sustain the interest in the Marked Ones and while there was a Japanese version of the film way back, you can see why the makers looked to extend the series in some ways.

Here's hoping that the upcoming Paranormal Activity 5 starring Katie Featherston will prove a satisfying end to the series, because the pay off now really needs to come before lovers of Oren Peli's original Paranormal Activity question their own loyalty.

Extras: Extended version, theatrical version, found footage

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