Wahlburgers: Season 1: DVD Review

Wahlburgers: Season 1: DVD Review

Rating: PG
Released by Vendetta Films

Whoever knew there was a Wahlberg dynasty?

In this reality series from A&E (the people who brought you Storage Wars), the focus is on the lesser know brother of Mark and Donnie, the Boston based chef Paul Wahlberg.

Dubbed the most talented sibling by Mark, Paul's a chef whose dreams of getting his burger restaurants to work as a Boston based franchise clash directly with the family ambitions of Mark to get it global. That of course causes friction as Paul's very focussed on ensuring the business stays local so as not to lose the special touch he has with it.

Over the course of 9 episodes, we follow the Wahlberg family - and the matriarch - as they deal with Paul catering for Mark's movie premieres, scouting new venues around America, and generally japing around. Eminently watchable for the first 5 or so episodes, this series is an interesting look into the Wahlberg world. It's light and fluffy easy viewing that doesn't challenge, but like any meal, after a while, you start to feel somewhat bloated and a little sick.

Wahlburgers works best when it focuses on Paul's ideas, because Mark emerges as being slightly bratty and selfish as the series progresses.

Fun and forgettable, Wahlburgers is a tantalising look at the Boston family, conveyed under the usual A&E reality (ie occasionally feels scripted) trappings.

Extras: Featurettes and bits and pieces

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The Lunchbox: DVD Review

The Lunchbox: DVD Review

Rating: PG
Released by Madman Home Ent

It's to the crowded streets of Mumbai we go for this latest, which charmed audiences at the New Zealand International Film Festival.

Nimrat Kaur stars as Ila, an isolated wife who dutifully believes the way to her distant husband's heart is through his stomach. So, every day, she prepares a lunchbox which is duly shipped to his work for him to savour and enjoy
But, the lunchbox ends up going to the wrong place and lands on the desk of soon-to-be-retired and widowed claims worker Saajan (Life of Pi star Irrfan Khan) who's entranced by the flavours within. (He believes it's from a lunch delivery firm he's signed up to).

The pair begin sending notes to each other as each collectively reach the end of the road of their current life incarnation.

Melancholy and sad, The Lunchbox is a reserved romantic drama that pierces the pungent food preparation with occasional laughs and maudlin moments.

Never has so much been said by leads who deliver so little vocally; Khan himself is a masterclass in restrained body language, with his precise routine and concise movements conveying all the sadness you need. Kaur is initially a little more lively, cooking with the help of an unseen but vocal auntie who lives above them - but gradually, the sadness imbues her nuanced performance with a heart that's hard to deny in places.

As the story unfolds slowly, the layers peel back and the characters gradually come to life as the counselling letters fire back and forth within the chapatis and cooked offerings. The sad and reflective tone thrives on the subtlety of the actors and Batra's concentrated direction; the juxtaposition of Mumbai's bustling streets a stark contrast to the alienation of this duo.

There's a heart to this which will easily find an audience, ready to drown in the romance and the optimism that a few simple moments can make a lifetime's difference to anyone.

Quite simply, this Lunchbox is to be devoured and savoured.

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Clockwork game announced

Clockwork game announced

Time-bending puzzles coming to PC, Xbox One, PS4 and mobile devices later this year.

Gamesoft, a brand new Australian development studio based in Sydney, today announces its debut game, Clockwork, published by Appsquare. A beautiful, atmospheric 2D platform adventure, Clockwork promises a touching, melancholy narrative experience supported by challenging time-manipulation puzzles.

Says Vishal Gumber, CEO of Gamesoft, "Tucked away in the busy lanes of Sydney's oldest suburb, the talented team at Gamesoft has worked tirelessly for the last eight months on this mind-boggling game.

"Clockwork is by no means an indie game, even though it is Gamesoft's debut. Our young team is ready to take on the best of AAA when Clockwork releases later this year."

Clockwork is set in the great mechanical city of Watchtower, where the last survivors of a great plague have found shelter within metal walls and metal bodies. Watchtower is divided by poverty and technology; the glittering spires of its upper tiers towering over the thrumming power plants and smoking factories of the industrial slums.

Players control a young boy named Atto who, thanks to his clockwork companion Milli, is able to duplicate himself and slip through time in order to overcome the obstacles heading his way.

Says Daniel McMahon, Clockwork's lead writer, "Clockwork is a story about unlikely friends coming together to try and fix an imperfect world in a time-bending puzzle-platforming adventure story. We want to ask players the question: What if you could go back in time, to before everything changed?"

Planned for a digital release on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and mobile platforms, Clockwork will launch later this year. 

Clockwork is being fully revealed at GDC 2015 in San Francisco on March 2-6. Media are invited to come experience Clockwork and interview the team at booth PL215.

Click to watch the Clockwork announcement trailer below:

Clockwork announcement trailer: http://youtu.be/jrEsr0OaSe0

Gone Girl: Blu Ray Review

Gone Girl: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by 20th Century Fox Home Ent

Based on Gillian Flynn's widely acclaimed  novel and directed by House of Cards director David Fincher, Gone Girl comes with the weight of expectation.

Ben Affleck is Nick Dunne, a former writer who becomes the focus of a nationwide obsession and police investigation when his perfect wife, Amy (a character and career best Rosamund Pike) goes missing. With the thrust of the media glare, public opinion and police scrutiny firmly on his shoulders, Nick's apparent innocence in this case comes heavily under question as the mystery begins to unfold...

To say anything more about this darkly twisted thriller (unless you're familiar with Flynn's book) would be unfair and would venture into spoiler territory. With the shifting narrative told in flashback from Amy's point of view and juxtaposed with the current police investigation into Nick, half the visceral thrill of this deliciously devious story comes in the playing out of the details.

A slickly cerebral and taut thriller,Gone Girl manages to inveigle its way under your skin in the most uncomfortable fashion you could imagine. As Fincher examines the facade behind Nick and Amy's marriage, unreliable narratives, questions and nagging doubts form in your mind, thanks largely in part to an understated and unshowy Affleck as Nick, the man for whom the spotlight never twists away as he veers from sympathetic to suspicious and from a career-redefining powerful turn from Pike as nice-as-pie one moment and ice-queen-the-next-Amy, the woman who seems too good to be true (and who would be suited to femme fatales, Hitchcock and one of Linda Fiorentino's finest).

Elsewhere, Neil Patrick Harris takes suave and cool to a new unexpected level - but in a twisted David Fincher way. Further solid support comes from Carrie Coon as Nick's twin sister and Tyler Perry as an all-too-familiar high profile hotshot lawyer to stir this potboiler into a seething mix.

Fincher's also brought an insidiously stylish charm to this almost pulpy movie, and as the paradigm shifts so quickly and around the halfway mark, the creepy atmosphere is almost too much to bear as the cracks beneath the suburban veneer begin to show. Quick cuts in scenes mean you're never given chance to take in the dizzy turns, but also, you're never left behind.

Not since Twin Peaks has there been a drama about love, marriage and suburbia that's been as dark and as disturbing as this and that's largely in part to Fincher overseeing it all and your descent into moral depravity, complete with an unsettling Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross OST as this perversion of perception heads towards its final shockingly repugnant stretch.

At its heart, Gone Girl is a skewed and daring take on the trust between couples, marriage and the psychology thereof, a sly view on an unwanted "celebrity" life within the media and justice system and a shocking mystery thriller that's as button-pushing and as riveting as you can ever hope for.

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The Order's Victorian London hits Ponsonby

The Order's Victorian London hits Ponsonby Uber transports guests back in time to launch  The Order: 1886™ on PlayStation®4

For one night only, Aucklanders can use the Uber app to transport themselves back to Victorian-Era 1886 with the long-awaited title, The Order: 1886, exclusive to PlayStation®4 (PS4™). To celebrate the launch of The Order: 1886, PlayStation has teamed up with Uber, the popular technology company, and will pick up people with a horse-drawn carriage, themed straight out of the game. The Order: 1886 carriage will be set up with a TV and PS4™, treating passengers to an exclusive experience of the filmic and immersive game during their ride around the Ponsonby area. Krister Robinson, Marketing Manager for Sony Computer Entertainment New Zealand, says that the horse-drawn carriage making appearances along busy Ponsonby Rd is a great way to bring the game to life. “This game is the perfect marriage of past, myth and modern technology. Everything in the game, from the characters, the enemy, the weapons, the setting and the technology has been crafted to bring this to life. We’re looking forward to offering some passengers a one-off travel experience that brings history – The Order: 1886 carriage – and today’s technology – Uber – together,” says Robinson. To take advantage of this one of a kind opportunity, interested travellers need to download the Uber app, and enter the promotion code 1886UBER before or on Wednesday 25 February.1 For a chance to ride, guests should locate themselves at 5 Rose Road in Ponsonby and request their ride between 7:00pm – 8:30pm.2 The highly anticipated The Order: 1886 is a major title for PlayStation in 2015.  The third person action-adventure game sees players assuming the role of Galahad, one of the most experienced Knights of the Order, to discover history’s darkest secret. Rewrite the past in this unique vision of Victorian London where advanced weaponry is used to battle a powerful and ancient foe. The Order: 1886 exclusively on PS4, is available now in store and on the PlayStation Network.3

The Oscars 2015: Winners

The Oscars 2015: Winners

The 87th Academy Awards have been doled out in Hollywood by  Neil Patrick Harris and his friends.

Best supporting actor: JK Simmons

Best supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette

Achievement in Costume Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Foreign Language film: Ida

Achievement in Visual Effects: Interstellar

Best Animated Short Film: Feast

Best Animated Feature Film: Big Hero 6

Best Live Action Short Film : The Phone Call

Best Documentary Short Subject : Crisis Hotline Veterans Press 1

Scientific and Technical Awards

Achievement in Sound Mixing: Whiplash

Achievement in Sound Editing: American Sniper

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Patricia Arquette

Best Foreign-Language Film IDA

Achievement in Production Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Achievement in Cinematography: Birdman

Achievement in Film Editing: Whiplash

Best Documentary Feature: CitizenFour

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) Glory

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Original Screenplay: Birdman

Best Adapted Screenplay The Imitation Game

Achievement in Directing: Birdman, Alejandro G Inarritu 

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Eddie Redmayne

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Julianne Moore

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Birdman

Apotheon: PS4 Review

Apotheon: PS4 Review

Developer: Alien Trap
Platform: PS4

It's no word of a lie that I'm a Greek mythology nerd.

Having lapped it up at Uni and then seen it come to fruition with the God Of War series, it was fair to say that I was relatively excited for Apotheon, the platformer/ killer game that's currently available free on PS4 if you're a PlayStation Plus subscriber.

Based on the Greek pottery look, the game sees you taking the role of Nikandreos, a Greek warrior ablaze in a world where the gods have forsaken those around them. But thankfully, armed with hubris ( a common Greek tragic element) and a killer eye for slaughter, Nikandreos won't take this lying down and deigns to take Zeus and his fellow gods to task over this abandonment.

And that vengeance quest isn't limited only to Earth either with Nikandreos completing a succession of tasks before being granted access to Mount Olympus to try and save the day.

Unique graphics give Apotheon a 2D edge that's simply never been seen before as the carnage begins. Using ancient weapons like knives and spears, as well as arrows, there's also crafting to be done to help Nikandreos achieve his goal. Collecting gold coins from the fallen, smashing urns to reveal treasures and helping you power up the achievement chain all pays dividends - as does learning to use your weapons properly.

The problem with Apotheon comes occasionally with the combat; with clubs and spears not hitting their targets when you're next to someone, there's an element of frustration to what you can and can't do in close proximity. It's particularly noticeable in fights with bosses as well, where precision is needed as you leap about. While I get that spears would be no use if you don't use them properly, the push to continually train you to get it right can lead to plentiful encounters with death.

Equally, interacting with objects and people has to be spot on as well, meaning that the controls can be fiddly at best and downright annoying at worst as you try to pull all the elements together to get it to click into place.

That said, Apotheon is a game to delve into; the blood spurts as it would be depicted on the pottery and the game actually sticks closely to Greek mythology which is pleasing to say the least. Sure, there's slaughter, but there are also Homeric odes to read on the way to the killing floor. For a free title with PS Plus, there's certainly much to be appreciated here; don't let the simplicity of the style (and the occasional niggles) put you off - this game is indeed worthy of the gods.

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