Monty Python Live Mostly: DVD review

Monty Python Live Mostly: DVD review

Rating: M
Released by Madman Home Ent

The Pythons' reunion tour was one of the stadia smashes of last year and this DVD captures the essence of the Pythons idiocy and surreality.

Over 10 nights, thousands saw them re-enact some of their most famous sketches from the parrot sketch to the Lumberjack song, to a nuns and all version of Every Sperm is Sacred.

Monty Python Live Mostly - One down Five To Go will offer no surprises to the fans and there's a real joie de vivre to seeing the faves being given a live outing - but it has to be said, those who are not fans of the Pythons won't be converted to their wacky outlook on life.

The stage show itself is fairly formulaic and there's very little anarchy on show with this polished performance and footage from the TV series. It's all very pleasant to watch and with guest appearances from the likes of Eddie Izzard, you can see why they're enduring to their fans, but if you're not a Python, don't expect this to convert you.

Project Almanac: Film Review

Project Almanac: Film Review

Cast: Jonny Weston, Sofia Black-D'Elia, Virginia Gardner
Director: Dean Israelite

What would you do if you were a teenager with a time machine?

The go-pro, handheld cam obsession of the selfie generation provides the backbone of the latest found footage movie, which mixes in the glee of recent superhero found footage movie Chronicle and the pure hedonism of Project X.

Centred around David Raskin (Jonny Weston), a high schooler science genius who's on the brink of being accepted into MIT but is short on cash for the required scholarship, Project Almanac posits the theory that time travel is possible.

After David and his gang of (largely) intelligent friends find a video of David's 7th birthday and spot him in the mirror, they gradually try to work out exactly how he got there. A series of clues lead them to the basement and the discovery of a machine that helps them travel in time - and could be the answer to their various problems.

Project Almanac wears its influences on its sleeve and actually proves quite successful within the confines of its genre. Citing Looper, Doctor Who, Groundhog Day, Timecop, Terminator, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and even Argo, the writers have grasped the pop culture mettle fully by the hand and run with it. Plus the fact the central character's a science pro (and a relatable everyday type who struggles with girls, not your typical geek) helps with the set up and kicks the story along (though admittedly, David has to keep explaining things to his sister aka the audience proxy).

In fact, it's the fact that these characters are everyday types and relatable (the guy with the secret unrequited crush, the goofball of the group et al) that helps Project Almanac work in the ways it does. There's a dizzy joy as the group heads to Lollapalooza with backstage passes purchased after the event on eBay and do all the kinds of things you imagine you would do again - if you could.

The inevitable Butterfly Effect which hits the group impacts into proceedings late in the day; granted the theory is the slightest ripple causes the biggest problem but the script doesn't call for this to come into until the final stretch, making the film feel a little rushed as it throws emotional weight at the wall hoping it'll stick (and don't get me started on some of the time travel - it's paradoxical at best in places) and leaving audiences a little dizzied as the denouement tries to pack the weight on.

Overall, Project Almanac works best as a hedonistic mash up that stays within the confines of the rules it lays down; sure, some of the found footage moments creak and feel shoe-horned in but for the large part, the occasionally self-aware referencing and play-it-straight-but-within-teen-concerns means that this time travel flick doesn't give the feeling of deja vu you may have expected.

Rating

Newstalk ZB Review - Unbroken

Newstalk ZB Review - Unbroken

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-mornings-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-wait-for-dvd-of-unbroken/

Mrs Brown's Boys D'Movie: Blu Ray Review

Mrs Brown's Boys D'Movie: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

Brendan O'Carroll's perenially popular Agnes Brown hits the big screen in this latest outing following series upon series of hits.

In this big screen spin-off, Mrs Brown has to do everything in her power to help protect the market stall she runs after a business-man reveals plans to knock it all down for a shopping centre.

I'll admit it - the Mrs Brown's Boys "comedy phenomenon" has somewhat passed me by.

I'm aware of the mass audience for the sitcom and those will be the fans who'll lap up this flick and its generally unfunny stylings. The jokes are predictable, can be seen a mile off and are distinctly unamusing. Sample line - a letter shows from the Tax office, which is in a brown envelope and cue Mrs Brown saying "at least it's the right colour for when I wipe my arse with it."

The problem is that you can rail all you want against this, but it'll find its viewers with its 1970s attitudes - it's a throwback in many ways, but you can't help but feel a little more effort in the scripts, its gags and a little less racism may have worked.

Rating:

The Giver: Blu Ray Review

The Giver: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

A canny cross between Utopia and Dystopia, The Giver is a slightly aloof adaptation of the 1993 Lois Lowry social sci-fi novel, where scratching the surface reveals something deeply nasty within.

It's the story of Jonas, a young man who lives the colourless community in the late 21st century. It's a world of conformity, order and seemingly perfect - and whose young citizens are given designated stations in life at the point of adulthood.

One of those is Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), who is given the role of Receiver of Memory, a title which forces him to meet Jeff Bridges' wizened The Giver, who helps bestow on Jonas a view into a life before the drab community came to life.

But with these visions of the horrors that mankind does, as well as the benefits, Jonas finds his outlook on life and those around him irrevocably changed.

The Giver deserves plaudits for covering some big meaty ideas - albeit within the trappings of parts of the Young Adult genre. The idea that a community could be washed clean of its emotions and life so sanitised isn't a bad one at all; and it certainly leads to one of the most emotionally horrific scenes ever committed to celluloid involving True Blood star Alexander Skarsgaard and a baby.

Despite outcry over how old Thwaites was for the role, he manages to convey Jonas' dawning awareness of life before quite well; Katie Holmes is almost emotionless as the mother of the piece, urging her children to use "precision of language"; Skarsgaard is practically buck toothed and goofy as the unaware father whose job is horrific; and Taylor Swift is a smart piece of stunt casting as The Giver's former protege. Bridges seems to spend a lot of the movie as if he's got marbles in his mouth and appears to be sleep walking in parts - as does Streep as the austere leader of the community.

However, in among those dystopian trappings, there's also a great deal of mawkishness which proves a bit of a disconnect here and there. Noyce uses flashes of colour so brilliantly and so vividly as Jonas begins to explore the outside world (it's all so reminiscent of Pleasantville's colour interludes all those years ago) in a new light; but towards the end, as Jonas gets more of a feeling of the evil that men have done through the years, Noyce's mixture of swelling music and deliberately emotive imagery (Nelson Mandela, tanks in Tiananmen Square) over-eggs the pudding.

Add onto that an utterly ridiculous ending that's got a neat and simple resolution which defies belief and logic, and The Giver starts to fail its at times utterly haunting and morally complex philosophical premise.
Rating:

Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For: Blu Ray Review

Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

The original Sin City, which bowed in 2005, was a blast, a graphic novel brought to life on the screen and drenched in pastiche and noir.

So, it's a surprise to see that a sequel's taken nearly 10 years to be made; in this latest, there's another raft of adaptations from Frank Miller's books and a few new sequences written especially for the neo noir anthology film all interlaced into one piece.

The kernel of the movie centres around a flesh-baring Eva Green as femme fatale Ava Lord who manipulates her former lover and world weary Dwight (Josh Brolin) to help her out; fashioned around this tale of sex, lies and betrayal is a story about Joseph Gordon Levitt's card shark Johnny out for revenge on Powers Boothe's corrupt senator and Jessica Alba's Nancy seeking to finish off what started years ago with "That Yellow Bastard".

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For continues the cinematic trend laid down by the first flick a decade ago - through a sleazy world brought to life in all its monochrome glory, with splashes of colour - and even brings some welcome new additions in the form of a vampy and trampy Eva Green, who provides much needed life to this second outing which sags into tedium at times despite its shallowly stylistic exterior.

Green's perhaps one of the only reasons that the second works in places; her seductively exposed energy fizzles the black and white world with colour (particularly her green eyes) and sparkles in among the moody lurid stylings painted up on the screen. Noir has thrived on the femme fatale trope, and Green certainly earns her place in the pantheon of the past. But she's one of only two well written women in the piece (along with Alba's troubled exotic dancer Nancy) and the film feels bereft when it shifts its compromised morals to other targets and stories.

Stylistically, Rodriguez carries on the great work pioneered nearly a decade ago, with bold colors imbuing the cinematic palette with striking visuals; reds, greens and blues jump out of the monochrome world and give the eyes a dazzling feast to gorge upon. But it's nowhere near as visually bold as it was many years ago, and unfortunately leads to some of the feeling that Sin City : A Dame to Kill For is simply going through the motions.

The old timers from the first get varying degrees of success in their second outings with Rourke's Marv being the best served. But Willis' Hartigan is denied much time and as such, being a pivotal driving force for the narrative of the final serving, the emotional impetus is weakened by his relative absence.

Granted, there's some life in these streets (Eva Green, a cameo from Christopher Lloyd as a heroin using doctor, Gordon-Levitt as the card shark) but there's just not quite enough to breathe any kind of real cinematic colour into the stylishly created black and white world of Sin City.

Rating:

The Lost Lords release date unveiled

The Lost Lords release date unveiled

The second part of TellTale Games Game Of Thrones series will release on February 3rd.

Based on the award-winning HBO television drama series, Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series tells the story of House Forrester. Caught up in the events of The War of the Five Kings, they are placed in a precarious position where members of the household must do everything they can to prevent the house from meeting its doom. 

 "The Lost Lords," the second episode in the critically-acclaimed game series, will be available Tuesday, February 3rd on PC and Mac from the Telltale Online Store, Steam, and other digital distribution services, and on the PlayStation®Network for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. The episode will be available on Wednesday, February 4th on the Xbox Games Store for Xbox One® and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. The series will also be coming to compatible iOS devices via the App Store on Thursday, February 5th and to compatible Android-based devices. 

The game series is based on the world, characters and events seen in HBO's TV show, which in turn is based on George R. R. Martin's books (A Song of Ice and Fire). The events in the game series begin towards the end of Season Three of the series, and end right before the beginning of Season Five. Players will visit familiar locations such as King's Landing and The Wall, as well as unfamiliar locations such as Ironrath, the home of House Forrester.

House Forrester is a noble house from the Wolfswood in the north of Westeros. Bannermen to House Glover, they have always offered unswerving loyalty to the ruling great house of the North - the Starks. The Forresters are seated at Ironrath, an imposing stronghold surrounded by towering ironwood trees. Built over fifteen hundred years ago by Cedric Forrester and his triplet sons, Ironrath is a testament to the strength and endurance of ironwood. The Forrester house words are 'Iron from Ice', which echoes their belief that - like the ironwood itself - the adverse conditions and unforgiving landscape of the North only makes them stronger.

The game will be played from five different points of view. Each is a member of House Forrester; either a direct family member, or a person in service to the House. Scattered across Westeros and Essos, each will play their part in seeking to save House Forrester from destruction.

Playing as five characters not only reflects the epic scope of Game of Thrones, but is also something that the player needs to be mindful of. This is because the actions of one character can ripple out to affect the rest of House Forrester. Multiply the actions of one character by five, and you're truly playing the Game of Thrones... where you win, or you die.