Spandau Ballet: Soul Boys of the Western World: DVD Review

Spandau Ballet: Soul Boys of the Western World: DVD Review

Released by Madman Home Ent

One of the best musical docos from last year, Spandau Ballet: Soul Boys of the Western World is essential home viewing material for anyone who experienced the 80s boom of the UK music scene.

New romanticism was at its heights but even more than that, Spandau Ballet: Soul Boys of the Western World is a look at the journey of five working lads from the UK who became global sensations thanks to songs like Gold and True, as well as anthem Through The Barricades.

Expertly weaving together a plethora of archive footage as well as commentary from Tony Hadley and the rest of the band, Spandau Ballet: Soul Boys of the Western World is a riveting watch.

Simply told, and with an energy that catches a music scene in gestation and a band in ultimate birth, this doco should have broader appeal than just what you will know about the group. The only time the film stumbles slightly is when it concentrates on the cracks and fall-out within the group over writing, but it's a brief falter before a final musical flourish.

Director George Hencken's to be commended for this - Spandau Ballet: Soul Boys of the Western World should have had a wider audience than it did. Now here's hoping a small screen release will prove as infectious to the masses as Spandau's greatest hits.

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Elder Scrolls Online launches for next gen consoles

Elder Scrolls Online launches for next gen consoles

BETHESDA SOFTWORKS ANNOUNCES

THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE®: TAMRIEL UNLIMITED™

 ARRIVING ON CONSOLES 9^TH JUNE

No Game Subscription Required for Console, PC or Mac

21^st January, 2015 (London, UK) – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax® Media company, today announced that its long awaited, award-winning multiplayer roleplaying game, The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, will release worldwide on 9^th June, 2015 for the PlayStation®4 system and Xbox One®, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft. For the first time in history, players will explore the legendary world of Tamriel with their friends on console. In the latest and biggest Elder Scrolls game ever made, players will be able to adventure alone, quest with friends, or join an army of hundreds in epic player vs. player battles as they explore and discover the secrets of a persistent Tamriel.

We are also pleased to announce that The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited players will no longer be required to pay a monthly game subscription for extended play. Players will make a one-time purchase of the game and can then enjoy hundreds of hours of content without the requirement of a monthly game subscription fee when The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited becomes available on console in June and beginning 17^th March for PC/Mac players.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited includes all the great gameplay from the original PC/Mac game, plus all the updates and content additions, including the exciting new Justice and Champion systems.  All existing PC/Mac game accounts, open or closed, will be updated to the Tamriel Unlimited edition in March and former players will be invited back to the game at that time to experience all that is new in the world. New players will make a one-time purchase of the game and play, without restrictions, for as long as they like – without game subscription fees. Tamriel Unlimited will be supported with special, optional downloadable content available for purchase and an in-game Crown Store for convenience and customization items. Regular updates and new gameplay will be offered to all players to enjoy free of additional charges.

In addition, Bethesda will offer ESO Plus™ to players who wish to pay a single monthly charge for  a premium membership service, providing exclusive in-game bonuses, a monthly allotment of crowns to use in the store and access to all DLC game packs while a member. PC/Mac players with active subscriptions on 17^th March will be automatically enrolled into ESO Plus and begin enjoying its membership privileges. 

“Our fans are our biggest inspiration, and we’ve listened to their feedback on the entertainment experience they want,” said Matt Firor, Game Director of The Elder Scrolls Online. “We know that Elder Scrolls fans want choice when it comes to how they play and how they pay, and that is what they will get. We have made numerous changes to the game over the past year, and are confident this is a game that Elder Scrolls fans will love to play. Players can explore Tamriel with friends, battle creatures, craft, fish, steal, or siege. The choice is theirs. The game offers hundreds of hours of gameplay with unlimited adventures with one single game purchase. We can’t wait for everyone, whether they’ve played before or will be experiencing it for the first time, to begin adventuring in The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited.”  

For more information on the different ways players will be able to experience The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, please visit: www.elderscrollsonline.com/faq.  

The Elder Scrolls Online, named Best Role Playing Game at E3 2013 by the Game Critics, was released for PC/Mac on 4^thApril, 2014. The previous chapter in this franchise was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim® which was released in November 2011 and enjoyed worldwide critical and commercial success. As the sequel to the 2002 Role-Playing Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind®, and the 2006 Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion®, Skyrim earned hundreds of ‘Game of the Year’ awards and sold over 20 million copies.

A Thousand Times Goodnight: Movie Review

A Thousand Times Goodnight: Movie Review

Cast: Juliette Binoche, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Director: Erik Poppe

Mixing melodrama with some visceral war imagery, A Thousand Times Goodnight stars Juliette Binoche as top photojournalist Rebecca whose life-long obsession is challenged by her job and her home-life.

As the film starts, Poppe throws Rebecca deep into the belly of the beast as she's embedded with a group of women in Kabul, one of whose number is about to martyr themselves for the cause. Persuading the women to take her along with them, Rebecca's suddenly hit with the true horror of what's about to transpire in the packed market place and panics, setting an explosive situation in motion.

Recovering at home, she suddenly finds her once-accepting husband Marcus (Game of Thrones' Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) isn't so keen for her to risk her life for her job, with a young family needing their mother.

But Rebecca's driven by the passion she feels for the subject, and finding her daughter's inherited some of that, soon faces an awful choice.

Blending autobiographical elements from his time as a photographer and journo, Poppe's pulled together some potent imagery in A Thousand Times Goodnight; none more so than the opening sequence in Kabul (which is nowhere near matched elsewhere in the film).

Once the dust settles on a truly horrifically gripping situation, Poppe settles more for a fraught domestic scene and a debate around the ethics and morals of those capturing war - and it's here that the film starts to lose some of its original trappings and becomes more a drama of consequence and some eloquence, thanks in large part to Binoche's earnest turn as Rebecca.

In fact, it's no small miracle that Binoche carries the banal domestic trappings and unsurprising homestead arguments with her performance; there are very real signs that Rebecca's inner conflict and initial detached nature are at war; they simmer away, raging and thanks to an understated turn, Binoche convinces.

Which is perhaps just as well, as A Thousand Times Goodnight really has nowhere original to go once the carnage and surprise of the opening has settled. It's a shame that the workmanlike pace keeps the predictable story rattling on but fails to really deliver an emotional gut punch which is called for.

Solid support come from Coster-Waldau and Lauryn Canny as the daughter, but A Thousand Times Goodnight is Binoche's film, first and foremost. It's just a shame that nothing really lives up to its bravura and tense opening.

New Ride trailer launches

New Ride trailer launches

Here's your latest look at Ride, the new game coming very soon on March 20th.

Made by Milestones development studio in Italy, the developers are tearing up the rulebook and bringing a
raft of new ideas to the table.

Created for the players and building on the experiences of the serried ranks of bike fans, the game features the most eminent manufacturers and their most famous and prestigious models, offering the players the chance to ride over 100 bikes in 4 different categories - Superbikes, Supersports, Naked and Historical Bikes.

In RIDE, the player will travel the world, visiting exclusive motorbike festivals and joining challenging race events. With every race, the players increasing reputation will allow them to challenge the best riders in the world, be invited to more Motorike Festivals and collect your favorite bikes

Official Call of Duty(r): Advanced Warfare - Exo Zombies Gameplay Trailer

 Official Call of Duty(r): Advanced Warfare - Exo Zombies Gameplay Trailer

Watch gameplay from the new Exo Zombies mode, starring John Malkovich, Bill Paxton, Rose McGowan, and Jon Bernthal. Exo Zombies is included with Havoc, the first DLC pack for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

Havoc, the first DLC pack for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, releases January 28th on Xbox LIVE with other platforms to follow.  Season Pass is also available and gives you access to all 4 map packs at a discounted rate

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.