Sex Tape: Movie Review

Sex Tape: Movie Review

Cast: Cameron Diaz, Jason Segal, Ellie Kemper, Rob Corddry, Rob Lowe
Director: Jake Kasdan

Predicated around the idea that two people could record a sex tape, upload it to the eponymous cloud and then find it distributed around, Sex Tape, with Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz has the potential to bring some risque humour to the fore.

Segel and Diaz are Jay and Annie, who spent their youth fornicating at every possible juncture; now, with 2 kids, demands of life and scant time, the spark has dimmed a little. Jay's working in the music industry and Annie's a blogger, trying to sell her writing wares to a wholesome Mom and Pop company headed up by Rob Lowe's Hank.

On the spur of the moment, the duo decide to record a sex tape to rekindle and reignite some of the long dormant spark. However, when they discover the video's gone wider than expected, they race to recover the various iPads that Jay's distributed which houses the mucky moments within - before the damage is too great.

Sex Tape really does have promise; with Jason Segel's escalating penchant for nudity in his movies, and Cameron Diaz appearing naked (from behind) and as a Boogie Nights style Roller Girl, it appears that raunch is clearly on the cards.

But the initial bout of frolicking gives way to a rather tame piece that's neither fish nor fowl.

With copious placements for iPad at every opportune moment (including one where Segel's character, having dropped it out of a window comments on how versatile and well-constructed it is), and some rather limp raunch that barely raises a titter, let alone an eyebrow, the resulting piece is something that's more suited to a formulaic farce rather than delivering on the promise of outright hilarity.

Diaz and Segel make for a recognisable duo with the overly talkative Segel delivering the majority of the straight lines while facing ludicrously silly moments; Diaz keeps up and proves game, but there's no real bite here for anybody to latch onto, despite relatively consistent comedic chemistry that's been mined before.

The highlight of the piece is swiftly dispatched early on when Jay and Annie head to Hank's place to recover their material and end up in an escalating farcical situation which sees Jay taking on a guard dog and noticing Hank's propensity for having himself painted into various Disney movie scenes around the home.

It's the only area that proffers up something of a series of laughs in this distinctly unsalacious comedy that's more of a safe proposition and at ill odds with its title. Inevitably portions of the tape are viewed towards the end of the movie, but by then, the promise of potential laughter is thwarted by a lack of any real passion for all that's gone on - that's even with a tenacious cameo toward the end.

Ultimately, this Sex Tape could have done with a large hit of comedic Viagra.

Rating:

Digital Nationz returns

Digital Nationz returns

DIGITAL NATIONZ + GIZMOS, GADGETS & TECHNOLOGY SHOW JOIN FORCES

DIGITAL NATIONZ returns for a second year, with a new format as it joins forces with the Gizmos, Gadgets and Technology Show.

DIGITAL NATIONZ is not only returning for another year but has joined forces with the Gizmos, Gadgets and Technology Show, a new digital lifestyle expo, which was originally due to launch in 2015 and has been modelled on Las Vegas’s Consumer Electronics (CES) show. DIGITAL NATIONZ (DNZ) was launched in September last year as New Zealand’s first digital entertainment expo, influenced by America’s iconic E3 expo. The combined GGTS + DNZ show will be held at Auckland’s Vector Arena on the 27^th and 28^th of September 2014.

The joint show will bring together the thrilling previews of games, prototypes and an even bigger version of the incredibly popular ‘history of gaming’ museum from last year’s DNZ while adding never-before-seen lifestyle technology, helpful gadgets and creative, fun gizmos which are the cornerstones of the Gizmos, Gadgets and Technology Show.

Just like its international counterparts the show is full of vibrant and interactive elements with everything from fun, innovation-driven workshops through to visionary speakers enlightening and dazzling you with the endless possibilities of tomorrow’s technology.

DNZ was founded in response to there being no major electronic/digital expo in New Zealand. DNZ launched to an outstandingly positive response with close to 7000 attendees playing previews of games, joining the innovative workshops and listening to speaker sessions, over the two days packed with digital fun.

“I couldn’t be happier being able to announce this new joint show format which joins DNZ together with the Gizmos, Gadgets and Technology Show, and to give Kiwis the opportunity to take part in the kind of game and tech show they deserve,” says Peter Hall, founder of DNZ and event manager for the combined GGTS + DNZ show. We always wanted our show to be as much the attendees’ show as it is ours, we’ve listened to the feedback and will deliver more of the stuff you loved while making improvements and changes in areas that need to be even better.

“I don’t think you could ask for a better match of content with this joint announcement. Anyone even remotely interested in technology, gadgets and gizmos will have a blast, and if they are like me and love these kind of things, it’s guaranteed to be the highlight of the year.”

Ross Prevette, managing director of The Event Company Ltd which developed the Gizmos, Gadgets and Technology Show concept, says: “The idea for the Gizmos, Gadgets & Technology Show came from seeing the phenomenal popularity of The Gadget Show Live in the United Kingdom and the array of new products which are launched at the International Consumer Electronics Show in the United States.

“We wanted to create a similar show for New Zealanders, add a local flavour to a truly world-class line-up of the latest digital lifestyle products and technology, from computers, audio/visual and gaming through to software, telecommunications, electronics, home appliances, automotive technology and lifestyle solutions for Kiwis of all ages.

“By joining forces with DIGITAL NATIONZ, the combined show will feature an incredible array of entertaining, enlightening and innovative technology in all shapes and forms.”

-          The show will run over 2 days, 27-28^th of September 2014.

-          Tickets go on sale August 13^th 2014, as with last year, VIP tickets are expected to be sold out within the week.

-          DNZ attracted 7000 attendees in 2013.

-          DNZ 2013 was the first place Kiwis got to try the new Xbox One and PlayStation^®4.

-          DNZ was founded by Peter Hall, who’s been an avid gamer and gadget guy since he fired up his Commodore 64 for the first time at the age of 6.

-          GGTS was founded by Ross Prevette who previously owned a leading AV business and who is an avid gizmo and gadget enthusiast.

What to experience at the show?

Gaming – 2014 is the year of the ‘next gen game’, experience hands-on experience and demos of upcoming games before they are released.

History of Gaming Museum – Its back, The Expanded History of Gaming and Technology Interactive Experience. This year it is almost twice the size and adding even more tech and gaming nostalgia!

LG DIGITALKZ - Presented by LG, international and local top level game developer speakers.

Homegrown - Local indie game developers demonstrating their prototypes and demos.

LAN - New Zealand’s only Pro-Championship E-Sport and LAN event.

Weird Science – A science sensation including “How does it work?” and “Assemble It” workshops, The Kiwi Kids Science Fair, “Superman Science” stage show, Ask Us Anything Forum: Science Edition.

Time Out - The Kiwi family of the future will whizz through life with the aid of cutting-edge technology, with Home entertainment, virtual reality, augmented reality, home audio-visual, smart home technologies, lifestyle technologies for snow, sea, land and air adventures.

Lifehacks – Need to find the best way through rush hour traffic? Want to be greener without building your home from scratch? Keen to learn how to get fitter, smarter and improve your quantifiable self? Car automation / intelligence - Health technology - Green technology - Social technology.

Wild, Wacky & Wonderful - Not every gizmo or gadget is made for the purpose of saving mankind. Some might just want to help you scratch your back, store a banana or help you tie your shoelaces. Wacky whiteware -- fun and functional appliances for your home, Wonderful gadgets helping you solve problems that you didn’t even know you had Workshops, speakers and more

Out of this World - Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the bold, ingenious and visionary people who are going to put New Zealand on the map through their ideas, prototypes and products.  Space technology, Futuristic vehicle concepts, artificial intelligence and more!

Who is behind the show?

In February 2014, The Event Company Ltd -- the team behind the highly-successful annual automotive and motorsport expo, CRC Speedshow -- announced their development of a new digital lifestyle expo called the Gizmos, Gadgets and Technology Show (GGTS). The goal is to bring a CES-styled show to the people of New Zealand, packed to the rafters with cool gadgets, can’t-live-without gizmos, and social, health, green, smart home and personal technology.

The founder of GGTS, Ross Prevette and DNZ’s Peter Hall started discussions shortly after the GGTS announcement. Fueled by their common passion for technology, gadgets and digital entertainment, they worked to find a format that would allow Kiwis to enjoy a lifestyle technology, entertainment and video game show on a scale that they’d never seen before.

The Event Company Ltd, Vector Arena and TINT Group Ltd are the organisations joining forces to deliver this year’s Gizmos, Gadgets and Technology Show + DIGITAL NATIONZ.

Vector Arena is New Zealand’s premier venue for shows and since opening in March 2007, has become one of the busiest venues of its size in the world. Auckland has become a regular stop on the international tour circuit, with a wide variety of top-class acts entertaining audiences of up to 12,000 people.

TINT Group Ltd, together with Vector Arena, brought 2013’s DIGITAL NATIONZ to the public. Specialising in strategy, marketing and events, other TINT Group projects include the 2014 launch of BW Summer Festival / Rhythm and Vines, strategy work for NZ On Air’s “The Audience.co.nz”, and multiple business development projects at Vector Arena.

DNZ + GGTS will be at the CRC Speedshow this weekend the 19^th & 20^th of July to talk about the show. Stop by to find out more this year’s DNZ + GGTS and check out some 3D printing. 

Tickets on sale from 9am August 13^th, available from Ticketmaster

www.Ticketmaster.co.nz - 0800 111999

Broadchurch Season One: DVD Review

Broadchurch Season One: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

It's the Whodunnit series that took both England and New Zealand by storm.

Set in a small seaside town in the UK, this superior slice of drama, served up in 8 parts, it focuses on the death of a young boy, Danny Latimer, found dead on a beach.

Called in to investigate is Olivia Colman's DS Ellie Miller, who's been expecting a promotion but lost it to Doctor Who star David Tennant's DI Alec Hardy who's brought in to help her with the case. So, in between that awkwardness of being forced to work together, the duo has to delve into a tight knit community that's full of secrets and where everyone is not to be trusted.

Quiet, unassuming and quite emotionally deadly in parts, Broadchurch is a simply stunning piece of TV - a series that inveigles its way under your skin. Despite the premise that a community is so riddled with secrets , that side of it is not exploited for cheesy gain or cliched moments.

It's character that springs forth in this series and development that feels natural, realistic and works as a dynamic. The interaction between the two leads is great, from moments when Ellie invites Hardy round for a meal and there's awkwardness aplenty to final scenes that ache with pain and heartbreak.

To be devoured in one sitting, Broadchurch makes a great case for binge TV watching - a character piece where every person is vital to the puzzle, no writing feels extraneous or unnecessary and every moment is worth savouring.

Extras: Behind the scenes, photo gallery

Rating:

EA Sports UFC: PS4 Review

EA Sports UFC: PS4 Review

Released by EA Games
Platform: PS4

Mixed martial arts - or button mashing when it comes to the small platform - has always had a mixed bag when it comes to games, with others failing to capture the atmosphere and graphics of the game.

EA Sports UFC manages to look the part in a way that's almost pretty damn incredible. Stepping into the virtual Octagon, you really get the feeling that this game is the one when it comes to getting it right.

After firing up the game, and getting a fighter chosen, the game takes you through an 18 step tutorial, which to be honest, you'd best be paying attention to if you want to have any hope of progressing through the actual game itself and the bouts which come your way. The moves themselves are excellently executed but the problem is that there are so many of them to commit to memory.

Having got through the tutorial, it's on to the first match and a chance to get into the career side of the game. Despite choosing the easiest level around (being a UFC noob), I soon begin to realise that not making notes during the tutorial was not a wise move and find that forgetting the moves means I'm simply resorting to button mashing.

Quitting out of that fight before I get roundly and soundly beaten, I found heading back to the tutorial was perhaps the smartest thing I could do because I'm then able to head back into the actual Octagon with some more knowledge rather than just simply pressing every button and hoping for the best. Knowledge is power in this game to be frank and the more time you spend training, the better your game is for it.

Graphically, there's plenty of attention to detail that leaps out of the screen at you - from the expertly crafted fighters to the crowds around, a lot of effort has clearly gone into ensuring this game looks the part. It's also a veritable who's who of the martial arts world and shows that EA has really put the leg work into making this one of their more impressive sports sims.

Blocking and smacking as well as grappling and rounding down on your opponent is the only way to wear them down. And you have to keep an eye on your stamina as you try and beat the opponent, because a lack of strategy will wear you out quicker and see you taking the beating you were looking to dish out - rather than vice versa.

Training and competitions make up the game, but the gruelling number of combos that you have to try and remember may see you questioning why you're doing this - die hard fans of MMA will be very impressed at the lengths EA has gone to to deliver a great sim - but casual fans, like myself, may find this learning curve a little too steep to fully engage with - and given the off Octagon efforts that have been engaged in the game, that's a real shame.

Rating:

Assassin's Creed Unity Revolution Trailer

Assassin's Creed Unity Revolution Trailer

Assassin's Creed Unity. 
Paris, 1793. Paris is plunged into chaos. In this dark era, one man will give commoners the courage to take up arms against the oppressors. Discover Arno as he fights for justice and raises people's hope for freedom and unity. 

Robocop: Blu Ray Review

Robocop: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by 20th Century Fox Home Ent on June 11th

Amid the cries of the fanboys whose very youthful existence was enhanced by the original Paul Verhoeven Robocop, comes the 2014 reboot / remake.

In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the centre of robot technology.  Overseas, their drones have been used by the military for years, but have been forbidden for law enforcement in America.  Now OmniCorp wants to bring their controversial technology to the home front, and they see a golden opportunity to do it.  

When Alex Murphy (The Killing star Joel Kinnaman) – a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit – is critically injured, OmniCorp sees their chance to build a part-man, part-robot police officer.  OmniCorp envisions a RoboCop in every city and even more billions for their shareholders, but they never counted on one thing: there is still a man inside the machine....

The Robocop 2014 movie is to be frank, a mixed noisy beast of a film.

Starting with robots patrolling Tehran and clearing the streets, while the stereotyped Iranian suicide bombers plot their attacks on live TV before switching to political machinations within Detroit, it's a queasy journey. The nub is that the American robots can do this abroad, but pesky legislation prevents them from protecting their own on the streets. In fact, if anything, this remake is more concerned with the ethical and moral dilemmas than the kill despatching cop in a suit, hell bent on revenge.

But it's the personal which becomes the most muddled mix in this ultra-violent, yet somehow wholly bloodless cacophony of gun fire style blockbuster. TV's The Killing's Joel Kinnaman's Alex Murphy is essentially trying to solve his own murder when a local kingpin and gun runner blows him up for getting too close to nabbing him; but he's left to do it in an emotionless robotic way that very rarely connects with the audience (despite him being a robot, there's still a chance for him to showcase the human side in a way Peter Weller did).

Attempts to ground this Robocop in a family - complete with moppet haired kid and doting blonde wife Clara (Abbie Cornish who never really gets enough dramatic meat to get to grips with) - are a mixed blessing, with the director choosing to lean on them as a dramatic crutch when it suits the story, rather than utilising them in a way that explores rather than exploits the situation. The scenes where Alex is reunited with his family ground the film but it's almost as if they don't know what to do with it (even though the son isn't sure of his dad, who's now a walking Transformer!) And in fact, they cut away before Alex and Clara spend time together, frustrating you as to how the relationship will go (even though Alex says "Daddy's suit needs some special handling"....the mind boggles) and how it can even progress or see the pair reconnect. It's an emotional misfire that's indicative of moments of the film and which means it stays disconnected from its audience.

So, it's down to the sharp bursts of combat violence and impressive FX for director Padihla to show off his skills; and in places, he does so admirably. Shots of the reality of what's left of Alex when the suit comes off are shocking - and are perfectly played by Kinnaman and Gary Oldman's Doctor. Equally, a first action montage demonstrating the full capability of the suit in action against a series of Cylon like robots from Omnicorp are akin to a video game (despite the attempts to derail it with some incredibly OTT music) but the initial goodwill is lost as other sequences creak under CGI constraints.

Of the human element of Robocop, Keaton is all mad gesticulations as the Steve Jobs type founder of Omnicorp who's more interested in political and corporate machinations and keeping his product launch on track than the ethical reality of the man in the machine; Samuel L Jackson is great as a Fox News style extreme TV news presenter, whose political views and diatribes are there solely to provoke; and Gary Oldman has a near thankless role as the morally grey doctor trying to keep the man in the Robocop suit alive, despite slipping once or twice to achieve his aims.

Ultimately, Robocop delivers a fairly hollow, emotionless, incredibly loud and noisy blockbuster experience that will potentially irritate fans of the original violence drenched Paul Verhoeven Robocop; with a lower style rating, it's clearly aimed at a wider audience. While that doesn't exactly make it a Roboflop, it does feel more of a sanitised experience than perhaps it should have been, lacking in emotional byte.

Extras: Deleted scenes, product announcement, featurettes

Rating:

Paolo Rotondo talks Orphans and Kingdoms for the NZIFF

Writer/ Director Paolo Rotondo talks Orphans and Kingdoms for the NZIFF

Tell us your film

Orphans & Kingdoms is a poignant drama about how adults need kids as much as kids need adults. Set on stunning Waiheke Island, it's about three teenagers on the run, who break into an empty holiday home to hide out. It's party time for the siblings until the owner unexpectedly arrives home, is knocked unconscious, and one of them is seriously injured. The best night of their lives takes a massive turn as they discover the man is harbouring his own dark secrets. Over the course of a tense night an unlikely bond begins to form. The next morning the law comes calling and the owner must decide their fate.

Where did the idea come from?

I lived on Waiheke Island for 10 years. Pushing the pram with my new baby, I literally began to look around me and see the world a bit differently. I was blown away by the massive disparity between people’s wealth and lifestyles that is even more pronounced on the Island and I wondered about those kids who weren’t as lucky as mine.

What was the easiest part of putting this together?

The actual creative work of writing, directing, having a vision, communicating, expressing something, choosing locations or lenses or people was challenging but it gives back to you, so it was easy even if it was hard.

What was the hardest part?

Sustaining my family financially and sustaining personal energy for 3 quick years.

What’s the one moment in your film that you’re impressed you got on celluloid and why?

I shit you not, every frame is a miracle on a micro-budget film. We made a film whose quality is worth 10 times its budget.  Pushing your resources that much is a dangerous adventure.

What’s the one moment you were devastated you had to leave out and why?

There is a story thread of the film that I cut out entirely because the film’s narrative drive forward is faster and without it is more exciting. These few moments contain some themes that I would have loved to explore further, life, death and infidelity were all tied up in there, so they were quite juicy.

What will it feel like to have it play / premiere at the NZIFF in 2014?

I can’t wait for an audience to experience it. For us this screening is a big THANK YOU to heaps of supporters before we do a full release next year. We also want to get people excited. There is a touch of butterflies in there if I’m honest.

What would you hope audiences would get from your movie?

If audiences walk out having had a little chuckle, shed a tear, been nailed to the screen and feel satisfied. I’m sure they will think about the film’s themes in the days beyond.

What’s the one other film at  the NZIFF you’re wanting to see and why?

Can’t wait to see ‘The Dark Horse’ - it looks amazing. Cliff Curtis’ performance looks outstanding and I love the creative team behind the film.

Finally, tell us why NZers should go to see your movie

I think Kiwis will be surprised by this film. It is distinctly Aotearoa but it has a totally different feel from many other kiwi films. I know that people will connect to the story in a profound way, it's not a shy story, it's proud and has something really beautiful to say.

Orphans and Kingdoms premieres in Auckland on July 20th.
Get more information on the NZIFF website.