22 Jump Street: Blu Ray Review

22 Jump Street: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Sony Home Ent

A lot of time is spent in 22 Jump Street referencing the fact that 21 Jump Street was the success that nobody was expecting and that they're expected to do exactly the same thing second time around.

In fact, the meta is never really very far away with the whole opening sequence of 22 Jump Street seeing Jenko and Schmidt (Tatum and Hill reprising their roles) being warned that second time around, even with a bigger budget and better ideas, things are always worse.

It sets the tone for 22 Jump Street, which sees the duo sent to college (as they were told right at the end of 21 Jump Street) to try and bust a craze which is sweeping the campus in the form of new drug, WhyPhy. So, it's up to the two of them to blend in once again and bust the drug dealer, once again.

But for Jenko, college is a revelation - he gets to go having been denied the privilege earlier in life - and makes a connection with the jocks and the frats; whereas Schmidt finds he's alienated and unable to fully integrate, leading to sparks of friction within the bromance....

22 Jump Street is exactly the sequel you'd expect and is in some ways, the sequel you deserve.

It's really a case of the same again, with a few more stunts, the same comedy and very little else - other than endless self-referencing (which to be honest, starts to grate after a prolonged period of exposure). As mentioned above, the opening sequence amuses - right down to Tatum asking if their cops could go into the secret service and protect the White House - but the continual referencing becomes a really unnecessary crutch for the film-makers to fall back on, making parts of this at times overlong comedy appear bloated and lacklustre.

Thankfully, some (but not all) of that ill-will is left behind by the performances of Hill and Tatum. Once again, Tatum mines his dumb as a bag of spanners schtick for about as far as it can go as Jenko; his chemistry with Hill is easy and appealing, giving plenty of legs to their bromance. Equally, Hill pushes his own awkward comedy to its logical OTT end, producing some of the better moments of off the wall silliness as he heads into rejected partner territory.

The final set piece in Spring Break in Mexico feels like a bridge too far, an unnecessary addition to an already unnecessary second time around - but if you're prepared, like Channing Tatum's Jenko, to check your brain at the door, this is summer throwaway entertainment.

22 Jump Street tries to be too clever for its own good by continual self-referential commentary, but if you're willing to overlook that overcooking from the guys who brought you The Lego Movie, there are moments to amuse in among all the silliness.

And it's worth staying on for the credits, as the potential for 18 more sequels (I kid you not) is revealed....

Rating:

The Hobbit: Battle of The Five Armies final trailer released

The Hobbit: Battle of The Five Armies final trailer released

The final The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies trailer has dropped.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies releases in New Zealand on December 11th.

16 Free DLCs for The Witcher

16 Free DLCs for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

CD PROJEKT RED, creators of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the next-generation, open world fantasy RPG hitting stores February 24th, 2015, is excited to unveil their FREE DLC program for the game.

The FREE DLC program for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt consists of 16 entirely free DLCs, that will be available for every gamer owning a copy of Wild Hunt, for Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, PC, and PlayStation®4, and is applicable to all versions (digital or physical, standard or Collector’s).
On February 25th, CD PROJEKT RED will release the first bundle of DLCs (2 of the planned 16) -- the Temerian Armor Set (horse armor included) and a Beard and Hairstyle Set for Geralt, the game’s protagonist. After this date, a DLC bundle consisting of two DLCs will be published every week, entirely for free. Gamers are entitled to the free DLC regardless of obtaining the game via pre-order or after launch. Instructions on how to obtain DLCs on specific platforms will be provided at a later date. 
For additional details about the 16 FREE DLC program, please refer to the below Q&A and CDP RED’s co-founder Marcin Iwiński’s Open Letter.
Q: What do I have to do to receive the 16 free DLCs?
A: The only thing you need to do to receive the 16 DLCs is purchase The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. All of the DLCs will be available for free on every platform (i.e. Xbox One, PC, and PlayStation 4).

Q: Do I have to pre-order to get the free DLCs?
A: No, each piece of content will be available for download regardless of you buying the game before or after launch on February 24th, 2015.

Q: I have the standard version of the game (i.e. not the Collector’s Edition). Do I still get the free DLCs?
A: Yes. You get the 16 DLCs regardless of the version of the game you bought (i.e. standard or Collector's, digital or physical).

Q: What’s the plan? When can I expect the DLCs to be released?
A: The plan is to release a new DLC bundle (each bundle contains two DLCs) on a weekly basis, following the game’s launch February 24th, 2015. The first DLC bundle will be released the next day on February 25th. The next bundle will be available for download a week after that, on March 4th, the next on March 11th, and so on. The first bundle will contain the Temerian Armor Set and a Beard and Hairstyle Set for Geralt. The second bundle will contain an additional quest and an alternative look for one of the game’s main characters -- Yennefer of Vengerberg.

Q: Where can I find out more?
A: You can find more details on www.thewitcher.com. At this moment, four DLCs (two bundles) are revealed. The remaining DLCs will be unveiled each week after launch.

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a story-driven, next-generation open world role-playing game, set in a graphically stunning fantasy universe, full of meaningful choices and impactful consequences. In The Witcher, you play as Geralt of Rivia, one of a dying caste of monster hunters, and embark on an epic journey in a war-ravaged world that will inevitably lead you to confront a foe darker than anything humanity has faced so far—the Wild Hunt.
The game is scheduled to launch February 24th, 2015, on Xbox One, PC, and PlayStation®4

Show Me Shorts winners unveiled

Show Me Shorts winners unveiled

And the Oscar® accreditation goes to...

Show Me Shorts Film Festival kicked off last night with a glamorous pink-carpet awards bash at Auckland’s swankiest cinema, The Civic.

The top award went to Julia Parnell and Matthew Saville for their fantasy drama through the looking glass, Dive. This film is now eligible for entry into the 2016 Academy Awards®. Saville also took home the Final Draft Best Screenplay Award for Dive. The judges said “Matthew Saville's Dive is sweet­-souled, sharp­-witted and powerfully moving. It takes a simple idea and explores it with intelligence and excellent technique, and the results are not simple at all. Dive goes deep. It took our breath away.”

The Best International Film Award went to Swiss filmmaker Marcel Barelli for Vigia (Lookout), an animated tale narrated by a grandfather telling his grandson about the importance of bees.

Actor Jackie van Beek was acknowledged for her performance in Uphill, which she also wrote and directed. In awarding the StarNow Best Actor Award, the judges said “Painfully truthful, full of heart, restraint and intelligence, Jackie's performance in Uphill is a truly classy piece of work. She tells a story of grief and the internal movement through the grief without ego or signposts. She allows us to enter her emotional landscape and gently lets us closer as the film progresses. Mature, beautiful, raw work from a terrific actress.”

Hamish Bennett took away the DEGNZ Best Director Award, for his already award-winning popular country tale Ross & Beth.

The inaugural Best Music Video Award was won by Alix Whittaker and THUNDERLIPS for Glare by Sheep, Dog & Wolf. This highly cinematic video received strong praise from the judges, who were impressed with the storytelling and artistic vision.

Judges awarded the NZFC Special Jury Prize to ‘Queenie’, saying “This is a gorgeous piece of animation. We felt it deserved a Special Jury Prize because of the wit and delight which was equally present in the script, voice work and animation. The animation itself was a complete delight, original and innovative. The rhythm, design and textures of the animation suited perfectly the soft comic irony of the story. This should be a series!”

Award winners partied into the night alongside their supporters and short film fans at The Civic. “The new venue was a triumph. The short films looked glorious up on that epic screen,” says festival director Gina Dellabarca. “Now is the opportunity for New Zealanders to indulge in watching all of these wonderful short films. I encourage everyone to make the most of the festival over the next three weeks. Show Me Shorts is here for a good time, not a long time.”

The judges were writer/actress Sophie Henderson; award-winning journalist and film critic David Larsen; star of stage and screen Robyn Malcolm; and director/musician Joe Lonie.

The winners of the Show Me Shorts Best Film Award are now eligible to submit their film for the 2016 Oscars®. They also received $2,000 cash, $5,000 worth of gear rental from Rubber Monkey, a membership to StarNow and a copy of Final Draft screenwriting software as part of their prize package. A total prize pool valued at more than $25,000 was given out at the awards event.

Show Me Shorts now plays in 20 cinemas across New Zealand until 23 November. During the festival, audiences can also vote for their favourite film to win the Wendy’s People’s Choice Award by filling out the festival survey in cinemas or on the Show Me Shorts website.

Pick up a brochure with the full Show Me Shorts 2014 programme from cinemas, cafes and libraries, or visitwww.showmeshorts.co.nz.

Full list of award winners

Best Film Award: Julia Parnell and Matthew Saville, Dive

Best International Film Award: Marcel Barelli, Vigia (Lookout)

DEGNZ Best Director Award: Hamish Bennett, Ross & Beth

StarNow Best Actor Award: Jackie van Beek, Uphill

Final Draft Best Screenplay Award: Matthew Saville, Dive

Panavision Best Cinematographer Award: Ginny Loane, Helmut Makes a Quilt

Best Editor Award: Annie Collins, Eleven

Best Music Video: Alix Whittaker and THUNDERLIPS, Glare by Sheep, Dog & Wolf

NZFC Special Jury Prize: Paul Neason and Steffen Kreft, Queenie

Student Film, Notable Mention: Yarden Elyashiv, Bars and Tone

Wendy’s People’s Choice Award: Announced in December when audience votes are counted.

Maleficent: Blu Ray Review

Maleficent: Blu Ray Review

Rating: PG
Released by Disney DVD

Here it is -  Disney's latest Maleficent, a much anticipated dark fairytale, starring Angelina Jolie as the lead and the iconic faerie Maleficent, from the 1959 movie, Sleeping Beauty.

Maleficent lives in a world divided by two kingdoms; on one side, the magical creatures and on the other, the humans. Pure of heart and a protector of the land, Maleficent flies through the skies, ensuring harmony. One day, as a young girl, she meets the prince Stefan and falls for him. He promises to return as the budding romance grows; but as Stefan grows older, he faces another destiny; that of king and protector of his land.

Unfortunately though, that means bringing the humans into conflict with an older Maleficent (the gloriously cheek-boned Angelina Jolie) and a terrible betrayal. Slighted, Maleficent curses Stefan's first born Aurora (Fanning), signalling a darkness to rule the kingdom forever....
However, Maleficent begins to realise that she's made a dreadful mistake.....

Maleficent is an odd mix of things, a gruesome fairy tale that's extremely dark in some of its castration imagery and yet dabbles in the extremely slight and light with a plethora of CGI creatures, as well as a comedy trio of pixies.

While at times, feeling rushed, when the film stops to concentrate on its "villain", it gets pretty much most of it right. With her high angular cheekbones, piercing eyes and bright vibrant red lipstick in among the black, Jolie's whispered performance delivers the fine line between malevolent, misunderstood and mistreated. (Once it settles down from the simply shouting and wailing at the start) As she becomes more of a fairy Godmother figure to Aurora,there's bit more humour that's injected into proceedings that have been deliciously cynical so far and which feels detached from the rest of what's around. Certainly, it looks as if Jolie's been framed in every shot for a spread in a glossy magazine, with the posing and primping just right. While her arc is not exactly unpredictable, the Hollywood need to flesh out the character and their reasons is more symptomatic of the times we live in than a desire to simply leave a character black or white.

If anything, Jolie is the stand out of these proceedings, which fail to give sufficient character to those around her. Copley simply dials in a performance as Stefan, the king who becomes consumed with anger, Fanning is likeable but wishy-washy as Aurora, and the three pixies (Temple, Staunton and Manville are nothing short of comic relief brought in to keep the kids amused but which will rankle all others.)

In among this fantasy world, there's an over-reliance on the FX front with scenes of Maleficent swooping through the skies and shots of creatures feeling as if they're simply being used to show off what the designers can do, rather than adding to the world within or for the narrative. It's a shame because once again, the elements are there (even if there is yet another version of the Treebeard / Ents fight from Lord Of The Rings) - but it feels like the money was spent on the effects not on the character or story.

Maleficent is a deliberate perversion of what you may expect; an extension of Frozen's changing of the guard, a hint at the darkness behind the fairy tales and does appear to try to follow the path of the Wicked stage show and attempt to redeem one of the canon's most iconic villains (why do they always need redemption?), but, in among the sound and fury of the hollow and lacking FX-fest, it delivers a career best from Angelina Jolie. It may give us a Maleficent for the 21st century, but little else is delivered in an uneven cinematic outing.

Rating:

Grand Theft Auto V: PS3 to PS4 comparison

Grand Theft Auto V: PS3 to PS4 comparison

Hi all,

Please find below links to today’s video highlighting the extensive enhancements made to Grand Theft Auto V in its transition from the PlayStation 3 to the PlayStation 4. Grand Theft Auto V on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC has given us the chance to harness the power of these platforms to improve every aspect of the game. In addition to the all-new First Person Mode revealed yesterday, this means big technical changes like increasing the overall resolution and more than doubling the draw distance, as well as replacing every texture in the game and much more.

See more information on the new generation upgrades here

Grand Theft Auto V is available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on Nov 18, 2014 and for PC January 27, 2015.

Marvel's Agent Carter - Extended Look

Marvel's Agent Carter - Extended Look

Get your first look here at Marvel's Agent Carter, starring Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark.

And introducing JARVIS....

Marvel's Agent Carter will air in 2015.