Orange Is The New Black: Season 1 DVD Review

Orange is the New Black: Season 1 DVD Review

Rating: R16
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

The Netflix 13 part series makes its home screen debut and the dramedy is worth waiting for.

It's the story of Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) who's sent to Litchfield Women's prison after being involved in a money laundering ring over a decade ago. But thanks to the statute of limitations, she can still be prosecuted. So, bundled off to prison and completely naive about her surroundings and those who are around her, Piper tries to get by. Which is not as easy as she thinks.

Extremely well written and cleverly put together, Orange Is The New Black eeks out the back stories of the inmates, weaving together a rich tapestry of tales that are worthy of diving into. While midway through, the series feels like it hits a minor bump as a lull comes, but the writers pull out all the stops for the tale of this meek little mouse making her way through, dealing with her ex and antagonisms as the story goes on.

Orange Is The New Black marks a turning point for the web series genre and has set a benchmark for all that's to come.

Extras: Commentaries, gag reels, docos

Rating:

Unbroken Trailer rolls in

Unbroken Trailer rolls in

Academy Award® winner Angelina Jolie directs and produces Unbroken, an epic drama that follows the incredible life of Olympian and war hero Louis “Louie” Zamperini (Jack O’Connell) who, along with two other crewmen, survived in a raft for 47 days after a near-fatal plane crash in WWII—only to be caught by the Japanese Navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.  

Adapted from Laura Hillenbrand’s (“Seabiscuit: An American Legend”) enormously popular book, Unbroken brings to the big screen Zamperini’s unbelievable and inspiring true story about the resilient power of the human spirit.

Starring alongside O’Connell are Domhnall Gleeson and Finn Wittrock as Phil and Mac—the airmen with whom Zamperini endured perilous weeks adrift in the open Pacific—Garrett Hedlund and John Magaro as fellow POWs who find an unexpected camaraderie during their internment, Alex Russell as Zamperini’s brother, Pete, and in his English-language feature debut, Japanese actor Miyavi as the brutal camp guard known only to the men as “The Bird.”

The film is produced by Jolie, as well as Matthew Baer (City by the Sea), Erwin Stoff (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and Clayton Townsend (This Is 40).  Leading the accomplished behind-the-scenes crew is 10-time Oscar^®-nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins (Skyfall). 

Academy Award^® winners Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men) rewrote the screenplay from earlier drafts by William Nicholson (Les Misérables) and Richard LaGravenese (HBO’s Behind the Candelabra). 

Unbroken releases on 22^nd Jan 2015. 

Doctor Who: Peter Capaldi first look

Doctor Who: Peter Capaldi first look

With the brand new series of Doctor Who, starring Peter Capaldi and Jenna-Louise Coleman about to materialise on our screens, EW.com has the first look at the 12th Doctor in the opening episode Deep Breath.

Deep Breath also stars the Paternoster Gang and as you can see from the image, appears to be set in Victorian Times.

Doctor Who hits the UK on August 23rd at a rumoured time of 8pm for the feature length episode Deep Breath, directed by Ben Wheatley.

Take a first look at Peter Capaldi as the Doctor and Jenna Louise-Coleman as Clara.

Spin City Season 3 / 4 DVD Review

Spin City Season 3 / 4 DVD Review

Rating: PG
Released by Madman Home Ent

Another two collections of one of the most under-rated ensemble comedies and really this is your last chance to appreciate it before the winds of change swept through, leaving it in not so great shape.

Season 3 of Spin City, set in the New York mayor's office, sees Mike Flaherty (Michael J Fox) and the team seeking re-election. Season 4 is the turning point for the show, when Michael J Fox's health forced him to quit and while the writing remained as strong in future years, the show never really recovered.

In among the physical japes, classic screwball comedy moments and relationship heartbreaks, there is simply comedy gold. It's a series that knew how to hit all the right comedy highs without ever really losing sight of the emotional moments - particularly the poignancy of when Flaherty leaves.

While Charlie Sheen came in the following year and the cast was as good as ever, these four seasons remain a pinnacle of comedy entertainment and a showcase of one of the best ensemble comedies of all time. You really can't afford not to invest the time in them.

NZIFF Review: Locke

NZIFF Review: Locke

One man, a car, (relatively) endless road, a bluetooth and a pile full of problems.

That's what's facing Tom Hardy in this one man movie debuting at the New Zealand International Film Festival.

Tom Hardy plays Ivan Locke, a foreman for a construction company, whose life is carefully built on very solid and precisely maintained foundations. Which are about to crumble around him in emotionally catastrophic terms.

Locke, at the NZIFF 2014

As the movie starts, Locke is leaving the site at the end of the day ahead of a major piece of work for the company he's with. Waiting at a traffic light at the start, he literally faces a fork in the road with either turning left or right determining his path through the oncoming storm.

And to say any more than that would be to betray some of the emotional beats and bombs which go off during the piece, which reeks of claustrophobia and a degree of unexpectedly mundane tension.

Tom Hardy is Locke

A soft spoken Welsh accented Hardy is eminently watchable in this piece and commands the screen for the 100 minutes of its run time - writer Steven Knight's crafted together something which may polarise some in terms of reaction and expectation over tension, but he's brought together a series of events that have long reaching consequences for all involved as Locke deals with many on the phone as the real time "thriller" plays out. Kudos also have to go to the voice acting talent - from the likes of Broadchurch star Olivia Colman, Luther star Ruth Wilson and Sherlock's Moriarty Andrew Scott, but it's Hardy who's the star of this piece. Occasionally the veneer and carefully constructed exterior starts to slip - notably with conversations to a passenger that only Locke sees in the back of his car but Hardy manages to sell all of these moments with an undying commitment to the one man show.

Like any piece of theatre that's confined to just one person, Locke rises or falls on the central performance and it's one which Hardy delivers with an unswerving devotion to the character; the only threats faced on this journey are occasional traffic and rain, but the personally devastating roadblocks which Locke faces are eminently relatable, occasionally amusing and utterly watchable.

This is one journey that you need to be a passenger on.



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 Movie Review: Frank

NZIFF Movie Review: Frank

Cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Michael Fassbender, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Scoot McNairy
Director: Lenny Abrahamson

Frank is one of the weirdest yet sanest pieces of cinema around with a great insight into what it means to be a musician and how the creative gene pool work.

Frank - Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Fassbender, Domnhall Gleeson

Gleeson plays Jon, a wannabe singer songwriter, who spends a lot of his time forcing creativity to come when there really is none. Stuck in a seaside town, in a dead-end job and with aspirations beyond his talent, his chance comes after a bizarre moment when he witnesses a keyboard player of a group trying to drown himself on a beach.

Striking up a conversation with the band's manager, Don (McNairy), Jon's asked to step in if he "can play C,F or G". Thrust onto the stage that night with stardom in his eyes, he discovers the lead singer of the band is Frank, a man whose sole tic is to wear a big giant papier mache head.

Thinking it's a stage thing only, Jon soon discovers that Frank lives inside the head and is a cypher for the rest of the band, pushing their creativity and frustrations - given the chance to record an album with the group, Jon soon finds himself ensconced in the lifestyle but frustrated none of his music is taken onboard. After 12 months writing, the band finally write their album and set out on a tour....which is when things start to not go according to plan.

Frank is based on the character Frank Sidebottom and is a piece that's inspired by an article written by Jon Ronson, who co-created the movie.

Part tribute to the character and also part documentary (if you read the article), there's something wilfully obscure and offbeat about Frank as it dances to the sound of its own beat.

Michael Fassbender is Frank 

From the hostility of Clara (Gyllenhaal) to the seeming mania of Frank himself (Fassbender in a tour de force performance), there's a whole range of emotions at play here. Initially, the seaside is evocative of the mundanity of suburbia with Jon longing for escape - but he soon swaps one mundane existence for another (albeit an offbeat one) as he spends a year recording with Frank.

With a wildly eclectic soundtrack and a Jim Morrison style front man, there is poignancy with punchlines aplenty in Frank - and it's all a little bit out there, thanks to the bizarre premise. But there's also tragedy as the film takes a darker tone towards the end (which may cause some to feel shortchanged) as the bleakness creeps in

It's destined for cult status too - with scenes like Frank describing his mood underneath the mask forming part of the early laughs ("Welcoming smile" is likely to become a catchphrase) but perhaps the simplest statement comes from Don early on when he tells Jon, "You're just going to have to go with this".

It's a wise mantra for anyone going into the early parts of Frank where little is revealed about the whys or who Frank actually is - it's a clever touch by Abrahmson and Fassbender particularly that you care more about the character with the mask on. Gleeson's naive lost soul also makes a good impression as he grows from talentless to inspired, to full on manager of his destiny - but never before has one man's journey seemed so destined for despair.

Humour, tragedy and pathos are littered throughout this eccentric piece which explores creativity- Frank truly surprises in among the dry, deadpan humour- there's an inherent vein of sadness running throughout which imbues everything with a rock'n'roll richness that's hard to pigeonhole in this enigmatic treat.





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

Richard Dean Anderson Comes to Armageddon This October

Richard Dean Anderson Comes to Armageddon This October

New Zealand’s biggest pulp-culture event, the Armageddon Expo is proud to announce the
world’s most recognised DIY action hero will be attending the Auckland event at the ASB
Showgrounds from October 24th to 27th.

Richard Dean Anderson is known to kiwi audiences as Angus MacGyver, the ultimate Boy Scout
who used his brains over brawn to defeat the bad guys each week on the hugely popular TV
series from 1985 to 1994.

MacGyver was the non-typical, non-violent action hero of the time; renown for creating
inventive solutions to get out the most trickiest of situations, including a defibrillator made from
candlesticks, microphone cord and a rubber mat, or a 'rocket powered' harpoon gun from
cleaning fluid, moth balls, rope and a telescope.

Richard Dean Anderson then returned to our small screens in 1997 to take on the popular
recurring role of Colonel Jack O’Neill in the cult hit series Stargate: SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis
(2004) and SGU Stargate Universe (2009).

“We’re thrilled that Richard will be coming to Auckland in October,” says Beyond Reality Media Director William Geradts. “He is such an icon for so many people, from his role as MacGyver and then as the Jack O’Neil in Stargate - and we’re really looking forward to introducing him to his fans here” he says.

Of his trip to New Zealand, Richard Dean Anderson himself is looking forward to it.

“Never been to New Zealand!” he says. “Looking forward to rectifying that situation in October as I make my way westward, WAY westward in continuing my life-long search for Old Zealand. So if you see me on the side of the road, don't follow me because I'll be lost!” he said.

Other TV guests that will be appearing at the Auckland Armageddon Expo include Michael
Hogan (Battlestar Galactica / Teen Wolf), Jacqueline Samuda (Stargate SG-1), Graham McTavish
(Hobbit Films / Outlander), A J Buckley (Supernatural / CSI: NY), Travis Wester (Supernatural),
Kelly Hu (X-Men 2, Arrow, Vampire Diaries), David Hewlett (Stargate Atlantis), Suanne Braun
(Stargate SG-1), Peter Williams (Stargate SG-1), Helen Slater (Supergirl / Smallville), Cliff Simon
(Stargate SG-1), Matt Frewer (Max Headroom, Supernatural) and DJ Qualls (Supernatural /
Road Trip).

As well as the big names, huge exhibitors and the biggest display of costumed cult-fans that
gather in one place, its events like the infamous Kamehameha competition, Cosplay contest and
classic Fear Factor Challenge that keep the adrenalin flowing throughout the event.
From its inception in 1995, the Armageddon Expo has grown to become the largest fantasy
event in Australasia. With shows in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Melbourne and
Hamilton, the Armageddon Expo embodies the ever-growing pulp culture phenomenon.
To keep up with the list of stars and events happening at the Auckland Armageddon Expo go to
www.armageddonexpo.com

Tickets for the Auckland event are on-sale from August 1st from iTicket.co.nz