Mission Impossible Rogue Nation trailer drops

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation trailer drops

The first trailer for Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible Rogue Nation has just dropped.

Get On Up: Blu Ray Review

Get On Up: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

The godfather of Soul cast a long shadow over the musical world – and this musical biopic aims to do the same.

Charting James Brown’s life and times, from his childhood traumas to the rise to the top of the charts, the latest from The Help director Tate Taylor is a splintered affair, that revels in the funk, but scats over the darker side and nature of the man.

Choosing to bounce around the timelines of his life more than the sex machine did on stage, Taylor’s attempts at a non-linear, non-conventional biopic is a choppy affair, stripped of any narrative cohesion and exercise in not joining the dots and pandering to its audience. Glossing over any social context and history means that the film feels removed from the times (which so mired parts of Taylor’s last the award-winning The Help) and serves to lift the audience out of Brown’s story.

Starting with Brown walking out to the stage and reflecting on his abused past, the tone of the film is set with Taylor taking in three different time-jumps in as many moments, giving the viewer nary a chance to settle in and begin to connect. Plus, with Brown breaking the fourth wall occasionally and talking in the third person, the tonal shifts actually end up taking you out of the film that shows some warts (fleetingly) of its subject.

Thankfully, it's Boseman's commanding portrayal of Brown - along with some blisteringly electric live performances and a soulful OST - that really elevates Get On Up to the heights that it deserves to scale. Boseman is never anything less than compelling as The Godfather of Soul throughout – from the man moved by gospel to the soulless tyrannical monster who causes wedges in his own band through their mistreatment; from channeling Brown's slitheringly funky dance moves to his vocal intonations, this is as chameleonic and watchable a turn as you're likely to see this year.

Boseman breathes real life livewire energy into Brown from beginning to end (in the way that Joaquin Phoenix did in Walk The Line and Jamie Foxx did in Ray) – as well as giving some life to the monstrously paranoid and uglier side of the man (even though the script cheats as it skirts around the edgier moments and offers glimpses rather than full on dives into the man’s psyche).

Equally as impressive is True Blood star Nelsan Ellis as Bobby Byrd, the man who recognised Brown's talent and did all he could to bolster that. Scenes between the pair give the film a warmth that's needed and a heart that’s necessary - and is lacking in other parts due to the compulsion to jump around narratively more than Brown would ever do on stage. Likewise, Dan Ackroyd seems to get some of the vim and vigour he had in the Blues Brothers as Ben Bart, the manager who aided Brown’s ascent – a fact that’s glossed over in this flick in favour of Brown apparently displaying business acumen.

But it's Taylor's insistence on presenting the James Brown story without the darkness that's the most cloying aspect of the film – and a touch that sanitises this tale of rock and roll; a moment of domestic violence hits off screen and is then followed by Boseman directly looking into the lens, a jarring touch that seems to prefer to skirt over the more tormented side of Brown. Equally, there's hardly any time spent on his youth to explain why Brown ended up as driven as he did and as insecure of others, other than brief snapshots here and there. It's the lack of this that stops Get On Up from really getting you into the mind of the man. Perhaps, a decision to give the film more of a focus would have prevented such a cinematic and narrative discord.

That said, Get On Up is worth the price of admission alone because of Boseman's star-making performance as the troubled singer. He brings the funk to the James Brown story and stops the large part of this movie from lapsing into a funk of its own.

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Kratos comes to PS4

Kratos comes to PS4

One of the most critically acclaimed games of the last generation, God of War® III, has been remastered for the PlayStation®4 (PS4™) system, marking the debut of Kratos on PS4. God of War III Remastered brings the epic battles and carnage to life with stunning graphics, 1080p gameplay and an elaborate plot that once again sees Kratos at the center of destruction as he seeks revenge against the Gods who have betrayed him. 

Set in the realm of brutal Greek mythology, God of War III Remastered allows players to take on the role of the fearless ex-Spartan warrior, Kratos, as he rises from the depths of Hades to the heights of Mt. Olympus in order to seek his bloody revenge on those who have betrayed him. Armed with double-chained blades and an array of weapons and magic, Kratos must take on mythology’s deadliest creatures while solving intricate puzzles throughout his merciless quest to destroy Olympus. 

Doctor Who Legacy - interviewing Lee and Susan of Tiny Rebel Games

Doctor Who Legacy - interviewing Lee and Susan of Tiny Rebel Games

Doctor Who Legacy is a free gem-matching game that has a strong emphasis on the show's history, and uses RPG elements to take on teams of baddies while letting you play a team of your own making.

Fiendishly addictive and eminently playable, the game's been on my portable player for a while (to my wife's continued annoyance) and I was lucky enough to be granted a Q&A with the Tiny Rebel Games' team of Lee and Susan about their past, the game's past and future and the imminent launch of Bigger on the Inside (March 25th!).

First off, just a thanks for making a game that’s really taken off with the community . I’m keen to know how the idea of the game actually came to fruition?
We decided we wanted to design and produce our first mobile game, and to publish it at the same time. For two people this sounded like (and indeed was) a massive undertaking, so we decided that we wouldn’t make the whole project riskier by trying to create our own intellectual property at the same time. Instead we would find something we loved, something we would happily build a game around, even at the expense of having a chance of creating our own universe. We watch a lot of BBC shows, and at the time we had just finished watching the 2nd series of Sherlock (which we loved, huge fans of all of Moffatt’s work) so we approached BBC Worldwide about a Sherlock, which they said no to, but they wanted to work with us and were curious whether we wanted to make a Doctor Who game. We’ve watched so much Doctor Who in our lives that later that same day we pitched the Legacy project to them.

I know both of you had a background in gaming – can you tell us a little more about what you were doing?
Lee started in QA at Sony, before moving to Rockstar Games where he ended up producing on the Grand Theft Auto series, as well as working on many other projects there. At the same time, Susan was doing deals for Rockstar, then she co-founded 2K games, signing their launch slate of titles including gems like Bioshock and Borderlands. After they both left they founded several games companies together, launching projects such as the critically acclaimed Order Up Wii game, and War of the Worlds.

Was a Doctor Who game like this always on your mind to create?
This was the first idea we discussed after we found out that there was a chance we could work on a Doctor Who game, and we loved it so much that it’s changed very little from that first conversation. We love to play gem games in our spare time, and designed / produced a game together years ago, Puzzle Kingdoms, as a collaboration with Steve Fawkner, who created Puzzle Quest.

How much did your love of the show permeate the fact you were creating a game for it – did that make it harder?
It makes certain things harder. It would be better if we had a narrower knowledge of the show, since it becomes overwhelming trying to pick between so many amazing episodes, so many amazing characters. The game has heavily impacted our viewing of the show as well since we need to have a certain amount of spoiler filled information before an episode ends in order to create content which is launched alongside (such as the season 8 episodes, and the Christmas episode this year). As a couple who really love to watch new episodes together, having that impacted makes everything a bit harder.

I know the BBC has been supportive of what you’re doing with Legacy, that must make a real difference?
This game wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the amazing, unrelenting support from the brand team at the BBC and the Doctor Who team in Cardiff. We have over 100 allies and companions, the actors behind each need to give us approval to use their likeness, and every enemy we add has to be signed off by the person who created them. It’s a colossal amount of work behind the scenes, and work which is vital to the continuation of the game. We talk to our producer at the BBC almost daily (and he frequently joins in for our weekly Twitch chats) because, if we didn’t have that level of constant communication, we could never dream of launching the amount of content that we do.

The game’s over a year old now, with something like 1.5 million players and it’s ever evolving, does it surprise you how far you’ve come in a year?
It’s shocked us. Before launch, rumours of a gem based Doctor Who game leaked out and the first response was very negative. The game launched, and reviews were amazing, but we weren’t sure if our grand experiment, a continually updated, live mobile game, running alongside a TV show, would make it to the end of the first month. We’re amazed every day by what the community which has sprung up around the game has allowed us to do. We launched new content day and date alongside an episode of the show many times, which is unprecedented in the mobile space. We’ve updated the game almost weekly (on average, easily weekly) for the last 15 months, which is almost unprecedented. Last year a new mobile game was launched something like every 9 minutes, the chances of the project failing (especially given the long, uneven history of Doctor Who games) were high. We’re eternally grateful to the fans who support the game, who trust us to be the caretakers of this project.

Partnerships with Big Finish characters, Titan Comics, Pixel Who - what else do you want to explore in the Who-niverse? And how much deeper into the worlds I’ve just mentioned will you go?
We definitely want to explore all those worlds in much greater detail. This morning we’ve been working on new levels to go out alongside the new 9th Doctor comic book series coming soon, and we’re talking to Big Finish about how to continue our relationship. Pixel Who have been amazing, and we’re less than a week from the launch of the Bigger on the Inside prologue, which we’re incredibly excited about. Our work with BBC’s books group led to the inclusion of Cinder from Engines of War, the War Doctor’s only companion, which is great to see in the game – these allies from the extended universe who finally get to go on adventures with the whole cast.

It feels to me like the game and your approach to it is one of fluidity and community (with your constant email support and also Sharee’s work on the FaceBook page, Adi’s weekly Twitch stream) – you’re always adapting to your community, creating levels like Anna’s Playground for the younger end, being shaped by feedback as well, is that why you believe your free-to-play game has been so successful?
We believe that the industry’s first attempt at creating a free to play space missed the mark a bit and created a space where users were forced into paying through hard paywalls, horrible ideas like energy meters and utilized exploitative social networking. Sadly this worked, which left a space where players felt exploited, and businesses face a choice of doing what is proven to make money, or try to create something new which could fail. We believe that there is another way, something more fair. Legacy is our first attempt at making a free to play game, and the game has been praised as “the most moral free to play game”, but we still think there are other ways the industry should be heading. People seem to appreciate this, and it seems to have gone a long way to us maintaining high ratings on the app stores. When you combine this mentality with a fierce love of Doctor Who, it becomes pretty powerful stuff if you’re a gamer interested in that specific space. For new users, especially fans of Doctor Who, that’s a pretty happy and awesome community to be welcomed into if you do love what Legacy offers, which is the real success of the game.

You’ve got Bigger on the Inside coming out on 25th March to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the new series; the artwork looks fun and the game is again evolving (some may say regenerating perhaps) – what are you excited for people to see with this release?
This is our first story which starts with all 13 Doctors present, which is an amazing opportunity. The full Bigger on the Inside story is over 120 levels, which is almost as big as the game was when we launched. The story is epic – many of the Doctors get their own story arcs, and it’s all set inside the TARDIS, which allows us to dive into some of her rooms you haven’t seen for decades. We’ve been working on this for many months now, we’re just thrilled that everyone gets to see the first level =)

Also, you’re rolling out the next season of the game too (you must be exhausted with all of this work), but I’ve heard the release of this is going to be different – is it true it’ll be more episodic and weekly? If so, why?
Our goal from the very start of the project was to have an ongoing, live story. Up until now this has meant that big chunks of content come out every few months, however with our super efficient content pipeline, and our ability to push new levels out on demand, we’ve always wanted a story which fans can “tune in” to play every week. Just like the Saturday morning cartoons we grew up on – once a week 3 or 4 new levels will be released, all driven by story.

To play Doctor Who Legacy for free and get into the game that's got Whovians buzzing, click on the various formats below:

Ori and the Blind Forest: XBox One Review

Ori and the Blind Forest: XBox One Review

Platform: Xbox One
Developed by Moon Studio

I won’t lie.

The opening moments of Ori damn well brought me to tears.

Mixing the very best of Studio Ghibli hand drawn visuals, hauntingly beautiful music and exceptional platforming mechanics, this tale of a white guardian forest sprite called Ori is pretty close to gaming perfection.

The game starts with Ori falling from the spirit tree and adopted by a creature called Naru (wearing a kabuki style mask) – but tragedy befalls this friendship and soon Ori finds it’s time to trek deep into the forest on his own. But, after an initial look around, Ori befriends Sein a blue floating light who helps on the journey by attacking creatures from the forest and keeping Ori safe (through the use of the X button)

So, Ori’s quest begins…

To say too much about Ori and The Blind Forest is to rob you , the player, of the experience and rich deep emotional immersion.

In terms of gaming, it’s nothing short of immersive and eye-wateringly gorgeous, thanks to hand-painted backgrounds that are reminiscent of the artwork of Rayman Legends. Lush greens, blues and nicely lit 2D graphics make it stand out beyond belief; it’s a game that’s using the best of the Xbox’s mechanics to present a visual feast.

Game play itself is relatively easy to start with, but grows progressively harder as time goes on with puzzles requiring a bit of intelligence to conquer as well as a lot of excellent timing on the keypad. 

The difficulty can at times be frustrating, but a continual save mechanic that’s in the game means you get to restart the tougher moments when you die when and where you want, rather than at a checkpoint. These are enabled in-game by the collection of energy which create “soul links” for you to utilise; the catch though is everything after the soul link’s use is lost if once you die, so you have to collect it all again. It takes time to gather the soul links, so you will be able to utilise them, but you’ll need to know when to activate them.

Progressions come through the ability tree mechanic which help you build up your skills and those of Sein too – they’re easy enough to instigate and require collections, so you’ve got to stomp the creatures and ensure you collect all you can to get to the top of this particular tree.

I think it’s safe to say that Ori and The Blind Forest is a classic game for its genre and for the XBox One exclusives; it’s got the storytelling down to a fine art, the platforming down to perfection and the graphics to grab you wholeheartedly from beginning to end. It may take a little time for this forest to envelop you, but trust me, when it does, you won’t want to leave.

Rating:

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1: Blu Ray Review

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

So, here it is - the beginning of the end of Suzanne Collins' trilogy.

Last time, you'll remember that The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ended with Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) being wrenched out of the Games of the Quarter Quell but finding that Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) was left behind, and that District 12 where she used to live had been razed as the rebellion began to take effect.

In this latest, President Snow (Donald Sutherland bringing a degree of absentee menace as the white-clad bad guy from afar) ramps up his campaign against the symbol of the revolution, Katniss, by decreeing all out war against the rebels and districts who have turned upon the Capitol.

Trapped in District 13 with her family, and finding herself part of the media war against the Capitol as Julianne Moore's president and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman's Plutarch push her to ignite the simmering embers of revolution. But Katniss finds that being the spearhead comes at a price - and her concern for Peeta trapped within the Capitol could threaten those plans...

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part 1 follows up the relative action of the first two films with many deep (and occasionally powerful) philosophical discussions and demonstrations about the propaganda of war and the symbolic (and literal) weaponisation of revolutionary figure-heads.

Granted, there is very much the feeling that this funereal almost dirge-like movie is a dragged-out set-up for the final resolution and second chapter of Mockingjay as it negotiates the horrors of war and the post-traumatic effects on the survivors (our first re-introduction to the damaged Katniss sees her rocking back and forth, trying desperately to remind herself who she is and what's happened, scrabbling to retain some grip on a reality).

In among the rubble, and the strewn corpses of District 12's warzone, Jennifer Lawrence once again excels as Everdeen, as she frantically fights to try and keep the human cost front of her mind during the ongoing war and her assimilation into a revolutionary hero. Viewed in (almost) completion, this Everdeen has come far and Lawrence is able to harness the horrors as the debates take precedence over the action. (Perhaps, this almost depressing feel may prove too much for some). There's a harrowing quality to the ongoing plight, an acknowledgement that being the symbol can be overwhelming and an almost humanity to help through the overly demonstrated horrors of war - and Lawrence encapsulates those qualities of reluctance perfectly even channeling extremely dead eyes in several scenes as she becomes numbed to the reality of the world around her.

The romance is dialled down in this drab character-study based outing (that's almost as dour as the overalls worn by the inhabitants of 12; a far cry from the vibrant excesses of life within the Capitol) and unfortunately, Liam Hemsworth doesn't quite gel as much as perhaps he should. Philip Seymour Hoffman's Plutarch proves to be a welcome driving force for the film (and proffers up the conundrum of how his missing presence will be handled in the final outing after the movie's dedicated to him); Elizabeth Banks' Effie appears to be some kind of Land Girl prisoner of war and lacks the sparkle and Julianne Moore is relatively straight as President Coin who operates in a POTUS style as the strategies are espoused from within the bunker as the war effort readies itself.

At its core, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part 1 is more a psychological tale of after-effects and the strategies of war. But there are patches which are doused with such a slow ponderous pace, you very nearly drift off before the Desert Storm style action sequence that sees the rebels trying to free the Tributes.

In among the exposition and expansion of the viewpoints, there's a good film lurking trying to break free of the embers, but there's not quite the urgency and perils of the prior outings (perhaps, in some ways, a blessing) in this almost mournful tale that works better as a completed first part than many other films split in two from their original tomes.

It remains to be seen if the closure is worth the build up; but in the words of famous polemic Tracey Chapman, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is an awful lot of Talking Bout a Revolution.

Rating:

Insurgent: Film Review

Insurgent: Film Review

Cast: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, Kate Winslet, Theo James
Director: Robert Schwentke

In the second of the trilogy (made as is Hollywood's wont, which will be made into four films), Shailene Woodley returns as Tris Prior.

Now on the run, with fellow fugitive and love interest Four (James), Tris finds herself hunted by Jeanine (Kate Winslet) who's determined to wipe out the Divergent strain. But Jeanine finds that the Divergents suddenly hold the key to opening a mysterious box that promises to deliver a message for all their futures.

So, with the net tightening around them, and with the guilt of the death of her family playing heavily on her, Tris finds the stakes are higher than ever.

There's an irony that the word Urgent is in the title Insurgent, given how lax and relatively flat the film is this time around, with the angst dialled up to 11 and the distinct lack of much happening sucking some of the life out of Veronica Roth's series which started off so promisingly.

The first film had an affable feel to it as it toyed with the unoriginal idea of trying to fit teenagers into factions and life with some discovering their alienation was a sign they didn't fit in to their assigned box.

In the first, Divergent, Woodley thrived as Tris; this time around, she's crippled by grief and hamstrung by an inability to hit the emotional pitches needed for the character's struggle in this dystopian YA outing. 

In a sign of Tris' growing angst, she cuts her hair off and it proves to be the only really defining moment for the character, as the teen posturing / moping and bloodless action begins to kick in. It's potentially more a fault of the writing, given there's little for her to do but even so she really doesn't quite convey the emotional weight needed (which is a real shame as she dealt with it brilliantly in The Spectactular Now) and those involved in the script prefer to hammer home the "Forgive yourself" message to the point of distraction. It doesn't help that Tris isn't really a character you'd root for in the latest; the weight of expectations and guilt weigh and wear her down, and the audience along with it.

Equally, the supporting cast suffer the indignity of having little to do; James is solid but unmemorable as the pretty boy Four, whose life is changed when he meets Evelyn (a bizarrely miscast and emo Naomi Watts) but who ends up merely moping; Elgort is wasted as Caleb, who's about as wet as they come and narratively an empty vessel and Teller suffers from a lack of screen time as his snarky and obsequious Peter is diverted due to story necessities. Winslet manages to channel some icy villainess as Jeanine preferring to go for effective menace rather than scene chewing.

Schwentke, who directed the likes of Red and RIPD pulls together some nicely executed VFX scenes that are a step up from what you'd have experienced in The Matrix and The Lawnmower Man, but they feel like expanded hangovers from music videos in part; visually impressive and diverting from how little is going on on screen.

The Insurgent trailer promised to deliver action and scope but what the second film actually does is fail to fully deliver to that premise and ramp up the action stakes.

In parts, a lot of Insurgent is one-note with consequences that aren't really that dramatic given how lightly sketched some of the supporting players are; it lacks the gritty conviction of its dystopian premise and thanks to its relatively dour execution, it's nowhere near as engaging as a second portion of a trilogy should be.

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