Dead Snow 2: Blu Ray Review

Dead Snow 2: Blu Ray Review

Rating: R18
Released by Madman Home Ent

Dead Snow was one of the freshest zombie films for a while.

With its potent mix of horror tropes and Nazi zombies, it was a clever and inventive take and a mash up of genres that made you wonder why it'd never been done before.

However, Dead Snow 2 pales into comparison with the first.

The sequel picks up from where the last film ended with sole survivor Martin escaping the hordes on the hill but finding his connection to Colonel Herzog, the leader of the undead Nazis, continues thanks to a surgeon who's sown the leader's zombie arm onto him.

After he escapes, Martin has to contend with the police trying to track him down for the murders on the hill - but things get more complicated when the zombie hordes reveal their true reason for being.

A completely unnecessary comedy sequel, Dead Snow 2 has more of the emphasis on the humour than the horror. The end result is that the film suffers because it fails to match the brilliance and horror of the first. This is splatter comedy of the silliest order, a trait none more apparent than when the Zombie Squad shows up (a trio of comedy nerds from America) and the script relies on lazy stereotypes and one-liners.

Granted, the comedy's clearly the push for the sequel, with plot-holes and sense going out the window in favour of some admittedly great sight gags (exploding mums with prams providing the zaniest) but director Tommy Wirkola's effectively killed this franchise by even expanding it in the first place.

Disappointing, patchy and taken with a large pinch of salt, this undead release doesn't really deserve the mantel of Dod Sno - while the comedy amuses in parts, the lack of coherency really does drag this movie down into mediocrity.

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Borderlands announced for Next Gen

Borderlands announced for Next Gen

Borderlands®: The Handsome Collection™ Coming to Next-Gen Consoles on March 26, 2015

Pre-order the very limited Claptrap-in-a-Box Edition today to secure a collectible remote controlled Claptrap

Join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #BorderlandsHC

Sydney, Australia - January 21, 2015 – 2K and Gearbox Software today announced Borderlands®: The Handsome Collection™, bringing the critically-acclaimed series to next-gen consoles for the first time and offering the complete story of the franchise’s most iconic villain, Handsome Jack. The Handsome Collection includes Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel along with all of the downloadable content for both titles* - over $300 of value on prior-gen consoles, but now with the high performance and graphical fidelity of next-gen consoles for only AUD$99.95. The Handsome Collection will launch in Australia and New Zealand on March 26, 2015, on PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft.

For the first time on a console, players can experience Borderlands 2 and/or Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel in HD - looking better than ever before. With The Handsome Collection, Borderlands fans can also continue their adventure right where they left off by transferring their saved files to the next-gen consoles with new cross-save functionality**. After hours of shooting-n-looting in Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel on prior gen consoles, players can carry their leveled-up characters and Badass Rank over to The Handsome Collection. Additionally, up to four players can play together on a single television with four-player split screen - another first for the franchise.

“The Handsome Collection gives players the opportunity to experience the full arc of Handsome Jack’s rise and fall, from his not-so-humble beginnings on Elpis to becoming the tyrannical Hyperion CEO on Pandora, all in one value-packed bundle,” said Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K. “This collection marks the Borderlands franchise’s official move to the next-gen platforms, and we’re proud to offer our fans the ability to continue playing with the characters they’ve built as they carry on adventuring in The Handsome Collection.”

2K and Gearbox Software also announced today a very limited collector’s edition, the Borderlands: The Handsome CollectionClaptrap-in-a-Box Edition, which will include everything in The Handsome Collection as well as a remote controlled Claptrap steward robot, a collectible steel case, and 12 exclusive lithographs. The Claptrap steward robot is controlled through a smartphone app and can move in all directions while balancing on one wheel. The Claptrap can also say lines in character and live stream video to a mobile device through his eye. The Claptrap-in-a-Box Edition is limited to only 5,000 units worldwide and is available to pre-order starting today at participating retailers for $499.95 For more details on the Claptrap-in-a-Box Edition as well as The Handsome Collection, please visit the official Borderlands blog here:

http://borderlandsthegame.com/index.php/news/borderlands-2-and-borderlands-the-pre-sequel-come-to-next-gen-in-borderland

Key features in The Handsome Collection include the following:

·         Two critically acclaimed Borderlands games in one package – Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Borderlands 2;

·         Over $300 in value and hundreds of hours of gameplay with all downloadable content* for Borderlands 2 andBorderlands: The Pre-Sequel;

·         Save transfers** from the Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, and PlayStation®Vita onto the next-gen consoles through cross-save functionality;

·         Four-player split screen allowing four friends to play together on a single television, a first for the Borderlandsfranchise.

Borderlands: The Handsome Collection will be available on March 24, 2015 in North America and on March 26, 2015 in Australia and New Zealand, for Xbox One and PlayStation®4 system. Borderlands: The Handsome Collection is rated MA15+ in Australia and R16 in New Zealand. For more information, please visit the official Borderlands web site, follow @borderlands and @2K_ANZ on twitter, become a fan of Borderlands on Facebook, and subscribe to theBorderlands channel on YouTube.

The Theory of Everything: Film Review

The Theory of Everything: Film Review

Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, David Thewlis
Director: James Marsh

The Theory of Everything (complete with Oscar nominations for Redmayne and writer and Kiwi Anthony McCarten) is the story of Stephen Hawking, an extraordinary life and the love between Hawking and his wife Jane (the also Oscar-nominated Felicity Jones).

Starting with Hawking's life at uni, the story weaves in love with Hawking's attraction to the apparently opposite Jane (she believes in a God, he doesn't) before threatening to derail this love story with the crippling diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease.

Fresh from Golden Globes success for Eddie Redmayne and now an Oscar nomination, The Theory of Everything is already starting to gain critical mass as it circles the front-runner for awards season.

It's easy to see why - the prestige biopic has an unbelievable lead who transcends and transforms into the role of Stephen Hawking so easily that you barely notice any more that it's Redmayne. (It's a similar transformation which Daniel Day Lewis achieved in My Left Foot way back when)

Which is a good - and bad - thing here.

From Redmayne's initial appearance as the Austin Powers-like Oxbridge boy through to the chair-bound Hawking, he's a commanding presence, pulling in some of the more mischievous elements of the physicist (a sly wit, an obsession with Penthouse) and giving more than he ever could with just a few facial twitches or movements. There's no denying the commitment to and transformation of the role here and no taking away from the fact that Redmayne's performance will be hard to beat this year.

Equally, Felicity Jones brings a subtlety as Hawking's wife Jane. Hers is a turn of quiet compassion, growing frustration and aching sympathy as Jane deals with every blow that comes her way during this relationship piece. In fact, it's really a film of two halves with the first half being Hawking's story and the second being all about Jane as she fights an attraction to a helper and a growing chasm in her marriage.

But curiously, the performances are perhaps the two elements that shine out in what really is a well-polished but incredibly ordinary movie; it has a warmth and heart but doesn't have the emotional pull that you'd expect or hope for when studying such an inspirational life as it goes through all the emotional moments like a checklist.

The beats of the story follow the well-worn and predictable path of telemovie fodder (there's good news and then the next shot sees something bad threaten to derail it all) as it treads the path of convention. This is not necessarily a bad thing given how beautifully shot and framed it all is, but in among all the loveliness and transcendant performances, the slavish mawkish elements of the script and storyline (replete with piano music here and there) unfortunately conspire to try and ground two stellar performances in tropes that you've seen all too often. (Though a sequence where Stephen's trying to talk to Jane at the end and be his most honest is heartbreaking given that it can only be done through a computer)

While not packing quite the emotional pull you'd come to expect, The Theory of Everything is buoyed by two terrific performances that helps elevate the prestige and beautifully shot flick from the predictably sentimental story.

Rating:

The Purge: Anarchy: Blu Ray Review

The Purge: Anarchy: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

After the success of the claustrophobic housebound set The Purge, it was inevitable there would be a sequel.

And here it is - this time, swapping the indoors for the outside world and a glimpse at an America where for 12 hours all crime is government sanctioned and approved. Within reason.

In this latest, the switch from the rich of Ethan Hawke's home to those struggling to make ends meet is a noticeably smart move; a chance to see how the other half live when the chips are down and to further a conspiracy that America does the purge to oppress the masses.

Unfortunately what transpires is a disparate group of three sets of unfortunates finds their lives thrown together when they encounter each other down town; there's the poor sisters whose father's disappeared, the middle class brats who are on the verge of splitting and a man who appears to be using the Purge to avenge a death.

What follows though is a series of over-use of slow mo, lots of explosions and gunfire in among the relative incoherence of the story. It's the lulls which really cripple this Purge though - having set a large canvas in place, those in charge appear to be running scared from it.While the action is largely engaging the slower moments dull the momentum and ultimately, this Purge is less anarchic than its title would have promised.

Rating:

Big School: DVD Review

Big School: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by BBC and Roadshow Home Ent

David Walliams' return to sitcom feels like something from a bygone era.

Walliams stars as teacher Keith Church who falls for new school recruit, Sarah (played by Catherine Tate), the French teacher brought in after the previous one died. The six part series follows the fraught attempt at courtship and the inanities of teaching at a school. (Organising a talent contest, Ironman entries, trip to France just a few of the situations the pair find themselves in)

To apparent comic effect.

Which is odd because Big School hits hardly any of the comic heights it aspires to, thanks to a script and punchlines which wouldn't feel out of place in the 1970s pantheon of great British comedies.

Big School is tried and tested formulaic gentle sitcom and while Tate and Walliams give their all to these deluded characters, they unfortunately begin to grate in their naivete. Granted there's a heart in this piece, but as a big sitcom with some big names, it all appears to be unfortunately rather trying.

As a school report may say of this show- Must try harder.

Rating:

Newstalk ZB Review - American Sniper, Birdman, Into The Storm

Newstalk ZB Review - American Sniper, Birdman, Into The Storm

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-mornings-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-american-sniper-birdman-into-the-storm/

Into The Storm: Blu Ray Review

Into The Storm: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

The law of averages says a disaster film has to contain the following elements:

Nature in its full FX fury, people exclaiming they've never seen anything like it, people making extremely stupid decisions which are life-threatening in the face of danger - and a journey of redemption in the face of self-sacrifice.

Thankfully, Into The Storm contains all of those - and very little else.

Set in America (where else), in the city of Silverton, there are more than actual tornadoes going off over one day - there are emotional tornadoes lurking at every turn.

The action focuses on a group of storm chasers, headed up by Matt Walsh's Pete, whose number also includesThe Walking Dead star Sarah Wayne Callies'Allison. With the threat of funding being ripped from them after a miserable season, Pete's determined to get the money shot, putting the desire to succeed ahead of the feelings of his crew.

Elsewhere, Richard Armitage's school teacher Gary is trying to pull together the class for an outside graduation, while negotiating problems with his sons, Donny and Trey. And finally into that mix, there are a couple of Jackass loving, Youtube video creating daredevil idiots who are wandering around Silverton, filming.

All of this is the calm before the storm hits...

Into The Storm is exactly what you'd expect - as outlined above, it hits all the tropes and expectations of the genre but falls apart massively when it comes to the one-dimensional characters and their problems. Everyone's practically toting a hand-held camera in this as well, as the powers that be try and use the found footage genre to their advantage, but which slows the pace down as everybody stops to record every few minutes.

Visually, when the storms hit 30 minutes in, the FX work is stunningly well-realised and the destruction is calm and measured, rather than relying on overtly OTT shots (even if potentially some of the science may be a bit shonky). There's a relief when the storms finally hit, because the build up is slow, plodding and distinctly uninteresting. However, Quale (Final Destination 5) chooses to keep cutting away from the destruction (or it just peters out inexplicably) which frustrates, but keeps within the found footage genre. Additionally, the sound was incredibly under-utilized with the effects sounding like they were in a wind-tunnel rather than the fury of nature.

There are hints that sequels are planned (one scientist intones that these storms happen once every few years, rather than once every lifetime - and what could happen if it hits a city like LA or Chicago?) but it's possibly tele-event material ahead for this franchise, rather than long term accolades like with Twister. If the series could find some danger and an edge (it refuses steadfastly to kill off one character when the emotional weight of doing so would lift this much higher up) it could deliver more. (Kudos to the writer who penned the line delivered to Sarah Wayne Callies' character that it's like a zombie apocalypse out there...)

Ultimately, Into The Storm blows a lot of hot air, but delivers a washed-out fizzer rather than a weather-bomb.

Rating:


Extras: Tornado files, FX recreation, car break down