The Water Diviner: Film Review

The Water Diviner: Film Review

Cast: Russell Crowe, Olga Kurylenko, Jai Courtney, Yilmaz Erdogen
Director: Russell Crowe

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC involvement in Gallipoli, it's only natural that Aussie actor Russell Crowe would feel the pull of life behind the camera with this, his directorial debut.

Set four years after the devastation of Gallipoli in Turkey in World War I, Aussie farmer Connor (a bearded, understated and relatively muted Crowe) is struggling to cope with the loss of his three MIA sons. When his wife succumbs to her grief, Connor decides enough is enough and packs up to head to Turkey to try and find out once and for all what happened to them and to fulfill her dying wish they all be buried together.

Initially rejected by the army (including Dan Wyllie's stereotyped straight down the middle-chocks-away general), but with a cause taken on by Jai Courtney's moustachioed and stoic Lt-Colonel, Connor ignores the rebuttal and heads to Istanbul regardless - forging a relationship with Ayshe, a Turkish woman whose husband is also missing post- Gallipoli.

The Water Diviner is a heady mix of the creative and the occasionally cheesy.

Crowe's peppered his pictorial premiere behind the lens with a preponderance of war flashbacks and slow mo shots that somewhat pile on the emotion and manipulation as this bond of brothers story and overwrought melodrama plays out.

Olga Kurylenko feels a little wooden initially as Ayshe, taking time to settle in and awkwardly feeling like a potential romance / friendship was shoe-horned into proceedings that are based on true events, and their interactions slow down the piece. Equally, a scene where Connor uses that most Aussie of icons (currently), the cricket bat to take out a squadron of Greeks about to execute some Turkish soldiers rankles rather than triumphs. And Connor's ability to divine where his children have fallen (interlaced as it is with flashbacks to the sons at war) causes more head-scratching than actual emotional heft.

And yet, there are some flourishes in among the crowd-pleasing which really do mark The Water Diviner out as something a little different.

Crowe starts the film from behind the Turkish lines, wrong-footing you into believing we're watching Aussies; sequences in the actual trenches are visceral and like repeated blows to the stomach as they show the true horror of hand-to-hand combat; and throwaway shots like a mountain of bones clutch at more disgust than any lingering shot could ever achieve.

It's the understated moments which are the more moving and powerful within The Water Diviner.

Aided by a strong performance from Crowe as the father-on-a-mission and interactions with Turkish actor Yilmaz Erdogen have a resonance that's lacking in scenes with Kurylenko and the bureaucratic Wyllie, The Water Diviner proves to be a solid directorial debut from the usually brash Crowe.

However, a dialling down of the more manipulative elements, a pulling back of the over-egging of the emotional pudding and an avoidance of the cheesier could have seen this Water Diviner strike cinematic gold - instead, we're left with a film that's occasionally evocative and moving but fails to fully soar as it quests to be a fitting and different piece for the 100th commemorations of the ANZAC involvement in Gallipoli.

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ZB Movie Review - The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

ZB Movie Review - The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-mornings-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-at-the-flicks-december-13-2014/

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-mornings-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-at-the-flicks-december-13-2014/

Win a double to Big Hero 6

Win a double to Big Hero 6

To celebrate the release of the rather wonderful Big Hero 6, the big Christmas family movie, I'm giving you the chance to win 1 of 3 double passes to see the movie!

Disney’s Big Hero 6 – In Cinemas Boxing day. 

From Disney, the team behind “Frozen” and “Wreck-It Ralph,” comes “Big Hero 6,” an action-packed comedy-adventure about the special bond that develops between Baymax (voice of Scott Adsit), a plus-sized inflatable robot, and prodigy Hiro Hamada (voice of Ryan Potter). When a devastating event befalls the city of San Fransokyo and catapults Hiro into the midst of danger, he turns to Baymax and his close friends adrenaline junkie GoGo Tomago (voice of Jamie Chung), neatnik Wasabi (voice of Damon Wayans Jr.), chemistry whiz Honey Lemon (voice of Genesis Rodriguez) and fanboy Fred (voice of T.J. Miller). Determined to uncover the mystery, Hiro transforms his friends into a band of high-tech heroes called “Big Hero 6.”

Inspired by the Marvel comics of the same name, and featuring breathtaking action with all the heart and humor audiences expect from Walt Disney Animation Studios, “Big Hero 6” is directed by Don Hall (“Winnie the Pooh”) and Chris Williams (“Bolt”), and produced by Roy Conli (“Tangled”) 

We're giving you a chance to win a double to BIG HERO 6 - simply email to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com  and in the subject line put BAYMAX and then make sure you include your name and address! 

Competition will close December 18th - and editor's decision is final!

Golden Globe nominations are out

Golden Globe nominations are out

Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Theory Of Everything and Boyhood are the front-runners for this year's Golden Globe awards, all with a handful of nominations each.

For Best Actor (musical or comedy) Michael Keaton (Birdman) joins Ralph Fiennes (Grand Budapest Hotel) and Joaquin Phoenix (Inherent Vice) while in the Best Actor (drama) category Brit actors Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), Eddie Redmayne (Theory Of Everything) and David Oyelowo (Selma) all got a nod.

For a full list of nominees see below.

Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Birdman
Into the Woods
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Pride
St. Vincent

Best Motion Picture, Drama
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything

Best Animated Motion Picture
Big Hero 6
The Book of Life
The Boxtrolls
The Lego Movie
How to Train Your Dragon 2

Best Actor, Musical or Comedy
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Bill Murray, St. Vincent
Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice
Christoph Waltz, Big Eyes

Best Actress, Musical or Comedy
Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Emily Blunt, Into the Woods
Helen Mirren, The Hundred-Foot Journey
Julianne Moore, Maps to the Stars
Quvenzhané Wallis, Annie

Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Best Foreign Language Film
Force Majeure
Gett
Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines Mandarinid

Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television
Matt Bomer, The Normal Heart
Alan Cumming, The Good Wife
Colin Hanks, Fargo
Bill Murray, Olive Kitteridge
Jon Voight, Ray Donovan

Best Actress in a TV Series, Comedy or Musical
Lena Dunham, Girls
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Taylor Schilling, Orange is the New Black

Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television
Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black
Kathy Bates, American Horror Story: Freak Show
Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey
Allison Janney, Mom
Michelle Monaghan, True Detective

Best Original Score, Motion Picture
Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Gone Girl
Antonio Sanchez, Birdman
Hans Zimmer, Interstellar

Best TV Series, Musical or Comedy
Girls (HBO)
Orange is the New Black (Netflix)
Transparent (Amazon)
Silicon Valley (HBO)
Jane the Virgin (CW)

Best TV Movie or Mini-series
The Normal Heart (HBO)
True Detective (HBO)
Olive Kitteridge (HBO)
Fargo (FX)
The Missing (Starz)

Best Actor, Drama
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
David Oyelowo, Selma
Eddie Redmayne, Theory of Everything

Best Actress, Drama
Jennifer Aniston, Cake
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Jersey Boys: DVD Review

Jersey Boys: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Warner Home Video

It's the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons in case you've never heard of the phenomenally popular Jersey Boys stage show that charts their rise and fall and rise again.

The original star of the Broadway show, the Travolta / Fonz look-a-like Lloyd-Young is Valli, a youngster in 1951 New Jersey, who's on the wrong side of trouble thanks to his friendship with Tommy (Piazza). But one thing they have in common is music - and that puts them on a path for stardom as they try to break through with their sound.

As ever, fame costs - and that where these Noo Joisey boys have to start paying - as the clashes and personal squabbles come to the fore during their ascent to the Rock and Roll hall of fame in 1990.

Taking the smash hit stage play and transposing it to the big screen was always going to be a big ask - even for a director like Clint Eastwood. And while Eastwood's delved a little more into the relationships and tensions between Tommy and the rest of the band, for anyone who's seen the stage show, there's a distinct feeling that this jukebox musical has lost some of its fun and shine as it made its way to the big screen.

The first hour which charts the Goodfellas wannabe actions of Tommy and his interaction with the Mob (as rendered by Christopher Walken who phones it in and inadvertently causes sniggers as Valli's music brings him to tears) plods amid a sea of browns and beige, so deeply evocative of the era.

In fact, in among the characters breaking the fourth wall to spout exposition, there's a feeling that the film just isn't going anywhere that's not been clearly and obviously signposted. Even worse, it feels like you're watching a dour downbeat made for TV movie about gangsters that's as widely derivative as the Four Seasons' early attempts at songs.

It's not until the sounds of Sherry, Walk Like a Man and Big Girls Don't Cry are wheeled out once the group meets singer / songwriter Bob Gaudio and the outrageously flamboyant studio producer Bob Crewe (Mike Doyle) that Eastwood injects something resembling life into the proceedings. But having given a blast of energy as these hits are tossed into proceedings, the wind's taken out of the sails once again as Valli negotiates domestic issues and toxic Tommy brings the group crashing down.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly whereJersey Boys doesn't fully work - because the live singing, as used inLes Miserables, gives it a credibility and vitality it desperately needs. But in transitioning the stage show to the screen and being faithfully slavish to the source material, somehow all of the energy that you get from a live show, its set changes and audience reaction is sucked out by a 2 hour 10 minute run time that lacks a real joie de vivre. Throw into that narrative emotional beats which are missing - Tommy simply disappears off screen after a confrontation, Valli's daughter dies with no real emotion - and the issues that you'd have with a stage show are even more glaringly obvious up on the big screen.

While Eastwood's done a great job of recreating the era, and an end sequence medley offers a hint at what could have been as it crackles with vitality and energy, Clint Eastwood's Jersey Boysmay appeal to some determined to wallow in a haze of nostalgia and to diehard fans of the stage show alone.

Extras: Just the one as Clint and the gang hit the streets for the finale recording.

Rating:

Doctor Who Christmas special transmission revealed

Doctor Who Christmas special transmission revealed

Prime TV has today unveiled details of when you can see the Doctor Who 2014 Christmas Special - Last Christmas.

Read on for the announcement from the Facebook page and scroll down for some sneak peeks:

DOCTOR WHO!

Trapped on an Arctic base, under attack from terrifying creatures, who are you going to call? Why, Santa Claus, of course! Yes, it's that time of year again as the Doctor and Clara turn to the jolly man himself (special guest star Nick Frost) to save the day in the brand new 2014 Doctor Who Christmas Special!

Come Boxing Day evening tuck into your Christmas leftovers then find a comfy spot in front of the TV at 7.35pm for our evening screening of the Doctor and Clara’s ‘Last Christmas’. We also bring a little present for loyal Whovians on Boxing Day morning, a special speedy 9.00am transmission, airing in NZ just after it airs in the UK!

Assassin's Creed Unity: XBox One Review

Assassin's Creed Unity: XBox One Review

Platform: XBox One
Released by Ubisoft

The Assassin's franchise gets another outing with the first of two games being dropped this year.

It's to France this time though for the series as the Ubisoft open play world explores the French revolution with some trademark style and stealth as you'd come to expect from the series.

You take the lead role of Arno Dorian who becomes entangled in tracking down the truth of the Revolution as time goes on, taking on missions, assassinations and occasional stalking as well as some parkour to try and get to your aim.

It all begins with the apparent murder of your father in your early days (the first mission sees you stealing an apple before the death comes - a kind of innocence passage of rights) - but as ever with the Assassin's series, there is a shady organisation both in the past and in the present trying to shake things up.

There's plenty more stealth involved in this latest iteration of the game with you having to check places out before you go hurtling in-making the piece feel all the more considered rather than an ad hoc free world to explore. Emphasis is also on customisation of Arno as well, which is a nice progression for the series.

The core experience of the game is still there - hurtling across rooftops, surveying landscapes and scaling walls in an attempt to get away or just to kill the time. The world of Paris and the sumptuous luxury of the French revolution is beautifully rendered with Ubisoft crafting a landscape that's well worth stopping and admiring for all the little details and the size and scale certainly impresses.

However, it also provides a few glitches here and there from crowd issues to placing Arno in some precarious positions from time to time. Occasionally when on missions, I've walked into walls or when hiding, there's been parts of Arno's arms sticking out, which is somewhat odd to note. Ubisoft's promised a patch to deal to these issues, but early indications from the game are that these aren't just a few issues here and there. That said, it has the most realistic kissing scene witnessed so far in computer gaming technology - with tenderness and a graphical delivery that impresses.

If the storyline feels a little familiar with the usual tropes of the Assassins and the Templars thrown in, then that's fine and to be expected. This is the eighth game in the series and seems unlikely to change too radically from within. The storyline's relatively engrossing, but it's the world around that serves the best part of Assassin's Creed: Unity as that's where the sandbox open world potential opens up.

All in all, Assassin's Creed:Unity deserves to be praised for its scope, and its size with the developers clearly wanting to maximise the best potential for the next gen consoles. For that. it's unmissable. But for some small glitches with play and rendering, it merely fails to fully realise its potential.

Rating: