NZIFF Review - Art and Craft

NZIFF Review - Art and Craft

Art And Craft is one of the stand out documentaries of the NZIFF programme.

Directors Sam Cullman and Jennifer Grausman have pulled together a piece about Mark Landis, aka one of the most prolific art forgers in US history - and who makes for a fascinating subject.

Landis has made his name crafting forgeries and fakes and then gifting them to museums around America on what he calls "philanthropic binges" (he's not in it for the money) but what the museums who are duped view as a legitimate threat.

It's the weirdest - yet most compelling - game of cat and mouse I've ever viewed as a growing number of museum professionals urge him to stop, culminating in the most bizarre meta art exhibition you've ever seen as Landis is invited to a collection of his own work, which is displayed in the hope of getting him to stop, but bizarrely seems to fuel his own desire to continue.

The film-makers are never anything but on Landis' side as they follow him from the scene of one crime to the next; they witness him knocking out forgeries with such a skill that you almost feel it's a waste of such a prodigious talent. Gradually, the layers of this onion peel back around Landis, a slumped and hunched man, who speaks so softly and with such precision, you'd almost think he has an ulterior motive for doing what he does.

Art and Craft - Mark Landis pictured

The directors tease out the details of Landis' past from scenes of him working in his bedroom with a small TV always playing - and giving us such insights into how his character was shaped; Landis admits to living by the code of The Saint at one point, that it always fascinating to get into the psyche of the man even if you're left none the wiser as to what the future holds for him at the end.

I'm loathe to reveal much as half of the hook of this movie is what actually is revealed in this relatively sympathetic portrait of a man whose own issues seem to fuel his questionable philanthropic desires.

Is he doing this to satiate an emptiness in his own life or is he doing it because the museums across America are so keen and willing to simply accept the forgeries for their own collections? Certainly, questions over the museums' inherent desires to readily accept these gifts with no follow up raises troubling issues of their own...

Equally as exciting is the peek into the yin to Landis' yang - a museum art curator Matthew Leininger who seems to have decided Landis' demise is his crusade. As his family crumbles around him, Leninger begins to become a casualty of his own war and even meeting Landis at the end at the exhibition proffers him no sign of bringing the closure he needs with no hint of any end to the caper in sight.

Art and Craft is a thrilling portrait of a forger, and a masterfully crafted picture of an eccentric man, whose caper-like urges seem to cause so much mirth, merriment and ultimately misery in the art world.

Art and Craft is a sign that this year's documentary section is in rude health - certainly, it's one of the most essential and surprising titles on this year's slate.



The New Zealand International Film Festival kicks off in Auckland on July 17th with the world premiere of The Dark Horse - full details of these films and others can be found at www.nziff.co.nz

NZIFF Review - E-Team, Point and Shoot, We Come As Friends

NZIFF Review - E-Team, Point and Shoot, We Come As Friends

A trio of documentaries from the New Zealand International Film Festival head into worlds some of us can only dream of being a part of - and will have others glad that some are willing to go where we dare not.

We Come As Friends has the distinction of being the one film that festival director Bill Gosden wants you to try above all else in this year's programme.

Billed in the prog as being a doco "that captures the forces at work in the world's newest country" aka South Sudan, it's a warts and all portrait of a nation that's under exploitation and exploration by neocolonisation. It starts with ants scurrying around and a terrifying blast of synthesiser and immediately sets the tone of those swarming around looking at ways to plunder the resources within. (Sauper constructed his own plane to fly over South Sudan to capture the contrasts from above)

We Come As Friends

A smiling naked child scurries with a water bottle and a picture of innocence but it shows that the nation is being born and growing into what lies within. The freeform narrative serves more to show what's going on and proffer a view into the world, rather than choosing to lecture us on what's happened, is happening and could potentially happen.

The end result is that We Come As Friends brings us terrifying shots of children screaming they want to be shown their guns on Skype at a time when innocence should prevail. Director Hubert Sauper's crafted together something that's different and original; presenting many contrasting images such as the film's closing montage which encompasses camera phone footage from soldiers in a oil field to shots of people lounging and laughing by a pool before a man walks carefully and emotionally through a village.

The horrific images are so beautifully captured that this portrait will stay with you for days to come - and the horror inflicted by men on earth in the name of selfish greed and self-serving will enrage you when the celebration of a nation born should be first and foremost.

E-Team's opening titles play like something from a sleek crime show as names of our investigators and images fly past - almost as if this were the latest installment from the CSI or Dick Wolf school of TV drama.

But the story of the Human Rights Watch Emergencies Team is a more urgent tale than one told in any TV procedural. Focussing on the work of four members of the team who investigate crimes in Syria and Libya, E-Team reveals a side to conflict many of us would have ignored but which is vital to humanity's very soul. That may sound grand and pompous, but the portrait just shows how far this team is willing to go and what they're willing to risk to ensure the downtrodden masses aren't cast aside.

E-Team

From the likes of Ole Sovang, who's first glimpsed playing keyboards in Paris, discussing weddings and then turns to viewing footage of the Syrian situation, the gamut and extremities of their lives is put under the microscope. Taking in interviews while planes fly over invoking real fear in their interview subjects after cluster bombs have been dropped in Syria just last year, the team's humanity and heart is never anything less than magnetic - but the immediacy of the doco is apparent from the beginning.

You'd expect a team like this to have tics or character traits that inure them from the world around them - or at the very least, a cynicism which is inherent in situations such as this. But they don't and that's what gives them a kind of geniality and levity in among the horrors that have transpired around them.

Offbeat humour occasionally permeates the piece - with one arms expert (Peter Bouckaert) from the team marvelling at how one weapon is labelled the "less lethal launcher", a fact that causes bemusement and seems at odds but is totally understandable when you see what they're confronted with.

Moments of the victims telling their stories to the team inadvertently make us their audience and the true victims of conflict are revealed in a style that's simple and non-showy; and because of that, all the more effective. The sobering footage speaks for itself and for the dead but the directors' desire to show the humans behind it all helps E-Team rise into a fascinating portrait of the normality of four individuals placed into the abnormally horrific aftermath of some of war's worst.

Point And Shoot is the story of Matt VanDyke, a timid 28-year-old with OCD who set off on a motorcycle trip and ended up as part of the rebels fighting Gadaffi in Libya. (It's an ironic choice of title, given its ambiguity - does it refer to a camera or a gun?)

But things went a little awry for VanDyke when he ended up in international headlines after becoming a prisoner.

Point and Shoot

VanDyke's laissez-faire attitude at some of the questions over his involvement at the start of this doco belie the reality of what's going on - when asked how he got involved, VanDyke just dismissively says "I don't know" and "It's a crash course in manhood" and that's that. But closer examination of his subject and replaying of travel videos show a man who's in need of a direction in his life; from the joy etched on his face at being in Gibraltar to the naivete of travelling alone, VanDyke's an intriguing subject whose choices aren't often obvious. Halfway through the journey, he's hit by horrendous OCD and it's shown in his interviews, leading to questions about how he got involved in the fighting in the first place.

About 30 mins into the doco, the tack switches quickly and it becomes a revolution film as the personal affect of the Libyan fight takes its toll on VanDyke; director Marshall Curry manages to choose moments from VanDyke's travelogue where the beleaguered silences say more than any trite voiceover could manage. From moments when he simply stares blank and expressionless as he's told to go home to occasional pauses in an interview back in America, there's a resolute sign that VanDyke wishes to fight on and can't appreciate or comprehend people's concerns for his safety - including his poor girlfriend Lauren.

Occasionally frustrating but eminently watchable, Point and Shoot doesn't always give you the answers you want or need after the journey; a lack of on screen titles at the end don't allow you to find out what happened next for VanDyke - is Lauren still with him? How is he continuing his crusade and friendship / bromance with Libyan fighter Nori? But overall, Point and Shoot is an astonishingly self-aware piece that has an intriguing subject at its centre.

The New Zealand International Film Festival kicks off in Auckland on July 17th with the world premiere of The Dark Horse - full details of these films and others can be found at www.nziff.co.nz

Last Vegas: Blu Ray Review

Last Vegas: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent 11th June

Forget the Rat Pack, here comes the OAP Pack

Billy (Douglas), Paddy (de Niro), Archie (Freeman) and Sam (Kline) are old friends since they were kids growing up in the Bronx.

Now in the later years of their life, and with old age causing them various ravages - except for Billy, whose permatanned look shows no signs of him growing up - they all lead separate and distant lives. Paddy is a widower, who refuses to leave his apartment after his sweetheart's death; Archie has been crippled by a minor stroke and his family insist he takes things easy and Sam is a man who's lost his mojo, living in Florida and being slowly killed by the retirement lifestyle.

So, when Billy proposes to his 30-something girlfriend while delivering a friend's eulogy, the group's reunited for the marriage and bachelor party in Vegas. For each of them, it's a chance to regain their youth and live again - but for Billy and Paddy, there's vitriol in the air as a long time simmering tension reaches a head...

Last Vegas is quite simply, The Hangover for the OAP generation - but without the gross out laughs or the extreme debauchery. In their place is a bikini contest and an ongoing gag about a condom and Viagra.

While the quartet have an easy chemistry and a great bond - with Douglas once again showing why he's such a permanent presence on screen, the writing is nothing short of predictable and the gags incredibly lame and easily gentle. And yet, one or two of them elicit laughs - from Kline's character's quick asides (calling Billy a hazelnut) to Freeman's incredible charisma and charm, there's nothing offensive about what transpires on screen.

Sure, the character arcs and predictable denouements can be seen a mile off - from Billy's inevitable realisation and acceptance of his age, to Paddy's gradual acquiescence over Billy's snub; from Sam's realisation that a chance to play away from home is nothing but a sham given he loves his wife to Archie's journey towards taking it easy, these characters will be appreciated by the older generation, looking for some easy and gentle laughs.

Last Vegas delivers every predictable laugh you'd expect, mocking age and the ravages of time and creaking as much as the actor's joints; there's nothing new and original here. In fact, if anything it feels a little old school in many ways - but you know what, this journey to Vegas is worth the trip if you fancy watching some old pros dial it in.

Extras: Shooting in Vegas, featurettes, commentary

Rating:

Destiny BETA dates unveiled - and limited editions revealed

Official Beta Dates for the PlayStation®4, PlayStation®3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360 Announced

Destiny ‘Ghost’ and ‘Limited’ Collector’s Editions Revealed 

Auckland, New Zealand – July 8, 2014 – Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), and Bungie today confirmed the calendar for the highly anticipated Destiny Beta, which will include a diverse sampling of major activities featured in the full game. Fans who pre-order Destiny at a participating retailer are guaranteed access into the Beta, which will commence as follows:

·         The Beta begins first for PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system (PlayStation Plus required for some features) and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system at 5:00am NZDT on July 18

·         The Beta begins for Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system and Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft (Xbox Live Gold required) at 5:00am NZDT on July 24

·         The Beta will be offline for scheduled maintenance on July 22 – July 23 and remain open for all platforms until 6:59pm NZDT on July 28

“As we prepare to launch our first Beta on multiple console platforms around the world, we are excited and eager to open the flood gates,” said Harold Ryan, Bungie’s president.  “We already love to play Destiny, and with your help we can be ready for our launch in September.”

Activision and Bungie also revealed today three epic collector’s edition versions of the game. The Destiny Ghost Edition and the Destiny Limited Edition both include the following:

·         Limited edition SteelBook™ Case and Game Disc

·         Guardian Folio:

o   Arms & Armament Field Guide

o   Postcards from the Golden Age 

o   Antique Star Chart

·         Collector’s Edition Digital Content Pack:

o   Unique Ghost Casing

o   Exclusive Player Emblem

o   Exclusive Player Ship Variant

·         Destiny Expansion Pass – expands the Destiny adventure post-launch with the following two expansions, which will include brand new story missions, cooperative activities and competitive multiplayer arenas, and a wealth of all new weapons, armour and gear to earn:

o   Expansion I: The Dark Below – Set deep beneath the surface of the Moon, fans will discover an ancient tomb that has been unsealed, and a dark god who has risen an evil army in the depths of the Hellmouth, the home of the Hive enemy race

o   Expansion II: House of Wolves – Details will be revealed later

o   PlayStation platforms will also include additional exclusive content with each expansion

The Destiny Ghost Edition will also include the following:

·         Ghost replica, featuring motion-activated lights and voice recordings from award-winning actor Peter Dinklage, voice of the Ghost character, the player’s personal companion in the game

·         Letter of Introduction

·         Golden Age Relics, which include a Photo, Patch, Sticker and two Chrome slides of the Traveler

For digital pre-order fans, the Destiny Digital Guardian Edition includes a digital download copy of the game, Destiny Expansion Pass and the Collector’s Edition Digital Content Pack.

The Destiny Ghost Edition available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One only, the Destiny Limited Edition, the Destiny Digital Guardian Edition and the Destiny Expansion Pass(RRP $42.99 for the pass, Expansion I and Expansion II are priced individually at RRP $27.99) are all available for pre-order now. All pre-orders on any sku will include access to the Vanguard Armoury that includes early access to weapons, gear and exclusive player emblem. Fans can visit:

·         http://www.destinythegame.com/au/en/wheretobuy to see a list of participating global retailers

For more information about the Beta and the Destiny collector’s editions, visit www.DestinyTheGame.com.  For exclusive updates, follow the official Destiny social channels at www.facebook.com/DestinyTheGame and @DestinyTheGame on Twitter, and interact directly with the developers at www.Bungie.net. 

About Destiny

Players are cast as Guardians of the last city on Earth, who will explore the ancient ruins of our solar system from the red dunes of Mars to the lush jungles of Venus. Able to wield incredible power, gamers must battle humanity’s enemies and reclaim all that was lost during the collapse of mankind’s Golden Age. In a story-driven universe,Destiny unfolds through grand tales and epic adventures by immersing players in a bold new universe filled with cooperative, competitive, public, and social activities, all seamlessly connected. Destiny has a pending rating of M (Fantasy Violence, online interactivity).

About Bungie

Bungie was founded in 1991 with two goals: develop kick ass games that combine state-of-the-art technology with uncompromising art, captivating storytelling, and deep gameplay, and then to sell enough copies to fund their ongoing quest for World Domination. Over the past twenty years, Bungie created a bunch of fun games, including the Halo Franchise, the Marathon Trilogy, and the first two Myth games. Now independent, employee-owned, and located in Bellevue, Washington, Bungie is preparing to unleash their newest creation, Destiny, upon the world.

More information about Bungie can be found at www.bungie.net.

About Activision Publishing, Inc.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.

Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, mainland China, Hong Kong and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website,www.activision.com. 

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark: PS4 Review

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Released by Activision

There's no denying the latest Transformers film is a noisy mess; Age of Extinction's certainly loud, brash and bloated excess.

So there was some hope that the game spin off, released to tie in with the Michael Bay helmed release would be a little dialled back for the small screen and the gaming world.

Tieing in with the movie in a prequel way and expanding the role of bounty hunter Lockdown, you are thrown into the battle for the Dark Spark, an ancient relic that gives as much power to its holder as they can possibly muster. But as Optimus Prime and his team of Autobots find out, when that falls into the wrong hands, then all manner of chaos can ensue as you try to seize the spark and save the day.

The game starts with you taking on Drift, negotiating your way through hordes of Lockdown's minions to try and get to the Spark first; using Drift's blade attack and pressing R1, you can smash the opposition in chains (which is quite cool) before transforming into a car and racing to your objective. It's here the problems begin, because while the combat's perfectly frenetic and serviceable with all the mentality of the Michael Bay film thrown in for good measure, and the transformation smooth and rendered well, the actual playability of the car is less than ideal, thanks to slow responsiveness and a lack of anything smooth.

The game also veers from Autobot to Decepticon points of view without any real warning. After Lockdown seizes the Spark, the game quickly cuts to Cyberton and the Decepticons as Megatron desperately scours the planet looking for the Spark, and trying to inject some mystery into the relatively humdrum proceedings.

There are 14 story missions to negotiate, meaning there's plenty of flipping back and forth, which really does interrupt the narrative in many ways. Inclusion of survival mode Escalation where hordes of enemies come your way give you a chance to simply put the brain on hold and blast away, which is a nice touch and a welcome addition to the proceedings.

But the story isn't as powerful as you'd expect (if you're even expecting a story) and detracts from the overall experience of Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark. There are moments when the game really comes together (such as the aforementioned Transforming and the powering up of weapons via unlockable gear boxes) but as an overall product, it's a disappointment for the franchise.

All in all, Transformers Rise of the Dark Spark may be serviceable if you're a fan of the franchise; but as a gaming proposition, it just doesn't have the fun flow to carry you through level by level as the missions unwind. While the multiplayer extension of Escalation means you can have a little more fun and brainless activity, the lack of that within the main game is sorely missed - and this latest Transformers franchise may need to go back to basics to ensure the fight between the Autobots and the Decepticons doesn't end up extinct on the console front.

Rating:

ZB Review - talking Jersey Boys, How To Train Your Dragon 2 and The LEGO Movie

ZB Review - talking Jersey Boys, How To Train Your Dragon 2 and The LEGO Movie

This week on Newstalk ZB with Jack Tame, it was Clint Eastwood's take on Jersey Boys, the school holiday film How to Train Your Dragon 2 and The LEGO Movie.

Take a listen below:

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/listen-on-demand/audio/629988244-darren-bevan--at-the-movies

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Movie Review

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Movie Review

Cast: Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Jason Clarke, Toby Kebbell, Kirk Acevedo
Director: Matt Reeves

The latest Planet of the Apes outing sees the film continuing from the end of the 2011 Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which concluded with a viral plague starting to sweep the planet.

Picking up ten years on with most of the earth's population wiped out by this plague of virulence, the Apes are now the dominant species, thanks to their genetic development in the first film. But when Caesar (an utterly incredible Andy Serkis) and his tribe inadvertently meet a band of human survivors, the fragile agreement they reach is shattered by a lack of trust.

With factions of the Apes not trusting the humans, and with Caesar urging them to give the humans a chance, division is imminent - and could threaten all species...

Dawn Of The Planet of The Apes had such ape expectations piled upon it after the intelligent and digitally impressive first film - and boy, does it deliver in spades.

Starting a close up of Caesar's eyes (an image which book-ends both the beginning and end of the movie), the film is gripping and tense from start to finish. The opening sequence sets everything up - but subverts expectations as the apes hunt for food; relationships between father and son are defined as are tensions between Caesar and Koba (Kemmell) - both of which threaten to boil over when the humans arrive.

It's a testament done to Joe Letteri and his digital team at WETA, that when in fact they do show up, the live action creatures are the lesser on screen species in more ways than one. While the underwritten Clarke and Russell relatively impress in this Last of Us style world that's evolved from the plague and Oldman hams it up beyond belief, they can't hold a candle to the digital apes who, not only visually impress and feel natural, but deliver emotion in great heaps and more expression than some actors ever muster. In fact, it's even more intelligent this time around, as we dizzy from leader to leader's viewpoint in a film about prejudices, the choices faced by those in power and a timeless story of power struggles and betrayal. It's a universal tale which has been told many times before - and even echoes some of what happened to the real Caesar from within.

There's plenty of action on hand as well - from all out war (with gun-toting apes on horseback turning on the humans) through to birth of new ape life, every gamut is explored and every emotion exploited to maximum effect.

Quietly and patiently, Reeves weaves a tale of such power and impressiveness that you can't help but be swept along with it all.

Once again though, it's the digital team at WETA and Andy Serkis who are the stars, giving us creatures that we care for and characters that we side with as the tensions rise and the factions split with horrific consequence; subtle differences in faces and eyes give us more than we need to hang onto and the creation of the world within (from Ape Commandments no less) a place we can identify with. It all feels natural and not one digital moment has been thrown in to simply show off. Serkis, if anything, deserves to get some kind of award for his ongoing impressiveness in expression and emotion for the work done on Caesar.

Dawn Of The Planet of the Apes is a sequel which surpasses the intelligence and action stakes of the first; it's an excellent and masterful movie that deserves to be seen.

All hail Caesar and his Apes of Wrath - long may they reign.

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