Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: Blu Ray Review

Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: Blu Ray Review

Rating: G
Released by SonyHome Ent/ Disney DVD

Disney fires off a school hols cannon shot in the form of Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, a safe, relatively inoffensive piece of family fare.

Predicated on the idea that Alexander (a lispy Aussie Oxenbould) is always having bad days, while his family's life is going to perfection.

His mom (an uptight And underused Jennifer Garner) is on the verge of scoring a VP role with a book launch, his stay-at-home dad is about to score a much-needed job interview, his brother Anthony (an Alan Ruckish Dylan Minnette) is about to take his driving test and take his girl to the prom and his sister is about to storm the stage as the star of Peter Pan.

Whereas the Aussie-obsessed Alexander is feeling neglected since a baby was born into the brood, rejected as his birthday party is happening at the same time as a popular kid and is struggling to vocalise his feelings to his school crush.

On his 12th birthday, he makes a wish they'd all have a bad day like him...

Which, of course, this being a Disney comedy about family and values, they subsequently do.

Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day does exactly what it sets out to do and makes the journey along the way a relatively pleasant one to endure.

With some silly laughs for the kids and a couple of adult-only zingers, as well as Dick van Dyke making a cameo, it's all fairly safe family fare that never deviates into dangerous territory or is in danger of having parents dive for to cover their children's ears.

Carell provides the laughs in his usual deadpan and nonsensical way and while the kids aren't overly cute moppets with perfection in range, they are perfectly relatable and watchable in this relatively toothless family comedy which doesn't outstay its welcome with a zippy run time.

Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day won't be the biggest Christmas hit here from the studio (that accolade's likely to go to the animated Big Hero 6) but it is a timely reminder as we head into the holidays of the power of family pulling together and the fact that no good, very bad, horrible days sometimes pan out quite well if you stay positive.

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Bloodborne: PS4 Review

Bloodborne: PS4 Review

Developed by From Software
Published exclusively by PlayStation

I'd already had a hands-on with Bloodborne and had been killed a lot.

So I'd expected the full game to be a little tougher. And I wasn't disappointed. In fact, the challenge of Bloodborne is one of perseverance to be honest - and given that it's from the same studio who brought the punishing Dark Souls into my life, I'd expected there to be some form of gaming challenge ahead.

Set in the fictional hamlet of Yharnam, you're an unnamed hunter, who has to discover what went on, why the inhabitants are suffering with a disease that's been transmitted through their blood, turning them into rabid killers with you in their sights.

But help is at hand, in the form of the Messengers, who equip you with weapons via trading to help you negotiate this Gothic Hell on Earth. A gun, an axe which can be extended out will become your go-to-weapons of choice, as you try to survive the streets. And you do need to survive because exploration will reveal many, many different ways to die and threats to deal with.

Self-preservation is a handy tool to have for Bloodborne; fighting a group of infected is not a great idea, given that they can easily overwhelm you and stop you dead in your tracks. Swinging an axe is a good way to despatch them, but you need time to re-engage the axe, gather your strength and hurtle it at them.

An early challenge sees you having to get past a wolf like dog creature that's hellbent on killing you. And given you have light weapons at that point, there's a choice - fight or flight. Sometimes, the decisions are simple, but other times, it's worth dying to visit the Hunter's Dream realm where clues unfold and tooling up happens. But it also pays to make sure you're aware of everything around you as you try to harvest extra Blood Echoes, the game's currency.

The Regain system works too - as you negotiate battles and use the chance to get back some of the health stolen from you in combat from your enemy. It takes a little time to master, but pays off in droves when it needs to.

The fun of Bloodborne (and there is fun in among all the dying and occasional frustration) is seeing how it unfolds before you.

Early stages require a patience of learning, a touch so often ignored these days as we head into games, with everything so sign-posted. A challenge is one thing these days on consoles but a lot of the time, the reward is negligible given what you go through. Like Dark Souls before it, the joy that you get for making the breakthrough is tangible and lets you feel like you've achieved something.

There is an online presence with Bloodborne too as fellow players can leave you notes to help - or hinder - you on your quest. It's a nice touch and it's up to you if you want to exploit it or use it for posterity. There are also Chalice dungeons which are randomly spawned which offer rewards (and which I have to confess, I've not had a load of time with yet) - there's already enough to do with the basics of the game, the tooling up and the exploration of it all rather than just to follow the more random elements.

It's not all positives; there's issues with loading times which have you waiting around twiddling your thumbs a lot as the game gets ready to off you again - and it's a niggling frustration that From Software is promising to fix.

The nightmarish touches of the game really give it a ghoulish edge, a fevered landscape to conquer and end of level bosses that are not easy to dispatch. It's a real feeling of satisfaction in the completion, a sense of achievement that's not been offered in quite as many titles on the PS4 since launch; everything's felt disposable to a degree and Bloodborne is not like that at all.

Bloodborne is mightily and scarily impressive.  Stick with it, immerse yourself in it and relish the challenges it presents - you'll feel something as you progress and that, in a game, is worth the hours that you pore into its ilk.

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Battlefield Hardline: PS4 Review

Battlefield Hardline: PS4 Review

Released by EA Games
Platform: PS4

Battlefield : Hardline feels like Cops: The Next Gen version.

It's refreshing to see Visceral Games moving away from the military aspects of the previous games and into the realm of Cops and Robbers with Hardline. And it feels like a franchise that's ready for the development should they wish to revisit it in future.

You get to play Officer Nick Mendoza, who finds himself in the middle of a gang war, cop corruption and a whole heap of trouble. That is if you choose to follow the story mode of the game which is split up into episodes and feels like a cop show from the 80s - right down to the cheesy dialogue that's not as distracting as you'd expect and if you're wanting to go with the flow.

But it feels authentic. There's no guns blazing approach here to get results; you need to use stealth, smarts and the occasional flashing of the police badge to ensure success. Any attempt to go gung-ho sees back up called in and your plans falling to pieces.

Story mode is relatively fun; a simple case of progression through the story and a nicely graphically executed campaign, that glistens with HD touches and looks hyper-real with its shiny cars and fast paced action.

However, with Battlefield, it's all about the online, given that that is what people love to indulge in.

With new modes, like Hotwire, a car-based time piece, and plenty of smash and grab speeding activity to be had, there's plenty to keep you engaged. Heists see criminals taking down vaults and you're despatched to stop them.

Overall, pulse-pounding adrenaline is mainly what you'll find in Battlefield Hardline; a nice reinvention of the franchise that really crackles with online creativity and fun.

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New Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer flies in

New Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer flies in

There's a brand new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer which has just dropped featuring an aged Han Solo and Chewie.

Watch the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer here.

Big Hero 6: Blu Ray Review

Big Hero 6: Blu Ray Review

Stand by for a new animated character to find its way into your hearts.

Following the success of Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph, Disney ventures into the animated world ofMarvel with Big Hero 6, a story about a boy and his robot.

Prodigy and robot wizz Hiro Hamada (voiced by Ryan Potter) is spending his young life in a Robot Wars style arena, clearly talented but wasted. His older brother Tadashi, though, pushes him into using those talents to work in the robotics world like he does.


But one small tragedy later and Hiro has lost all interest.

Until he discovers the robot that his brother built, Baymax - a big hulking white stay puft of a creature that's sole purpose is to cure Hiro. However, Hiro, along with Tadashi's co-workers, adapt Baymax to help track down the evil that's haunting San Fransokyo.

Big Hero 6 is perfect family animated fare for the Christmas holidays.

With gorgeous backgrounds (San Fransokyo mixes San Fran and Tokyo as you'd expect from the name to breathtakingly beautiful effect) and some truly joyous animation, the film is nothing short of fun, hilarity and heart.

For at least the first hour anyway.

Those initial 60 minutes or so concentrate of the mechanics of the burgeoning relationship between Hiro and Baymax and imbue the screen with a gooey warmth and humour that's infectious and reminds you why animation and visual gags can work best when stripped back to their basics. Their bond is beautiful and will touch your heart thanks to a simplicity of emotive moments and strong writing; Hiro with his big Japanese anime style eyes and Baymax with his simple two eyes joined by a line give everything you need to know with a minimum of exposition and with humour that's spot on.

So, it's a shame that the movie becomes a bland middle of the road superhero origin piece as Hiro puts together a team to track down the bad guy who's running amok in San Fransokyo wearing a Japanese kabuki mask with one of Hiro's inventions.

While this section of the movie is perfectly fine and is gorgeously animated, it lacks the emotional feast that's been served up prior to the standard visuals and plot machinations. As it veers away from the fun and unique, Big Hero 6 becomes formulaic (even derivative of the Avengers and its conclusion) and forgettable.  Further examination provides discrepancies in the plot and the villain's raison d'etre and reveal is muddily handled, with a final showdown feeling like something we've seen a million times before in the genre.

At its heart, Big Hero 6 is a movie about loss, dealing with it and moving on - and it's here that it truly triumphs (even with some Stan Lee visual gags). While the formulaic nature of its denouement and origins story may rankle, the first adaptation of this Marvel comic still impresses even if it doesn't feel as fresh as it should.


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Broadchurch Season 2: DVD Review

Broadchurch Season 2: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

How do you follow a success story like Broadchurch Season One?

With a drama that was on everyone's lips and a murder of a child that was consuming TV fans' fervent speculation, it's fair to say that when the title screen came up promising Broadchurch's return, there was a certain amount of shock.

So, with no early clues as to what season 2 would offer in the ongoing story of Danny Latimer and the inhabitants of Broadchurch, there was, it's fair to say, a chance of disappointment.

Season 2 deals with the trial of Joe Miller, the man accused of Danny's murder and the husband of the Olivia Colman's DC Miller -- as well as the re-opening of the Sandbrook case investigated by Hardy prior to his arrival in Broadchurch.

And this is where the story starts to go slightly awry.

It's still wonderfully acted (though a little too many shots of the beach and picture postcard scenery pepper the show) and is full of frustrations rather than edge of the seat moments. The problem is the drama focuses on others than the residents of the town and that was the hook of the first. Equally, Hardy and Miller, the great dynamic that propelled the first are too sidelined.

Broadchurch Season 2 is simply good drama, but when compared to the brilliance of season one, that means it's slightly lacking. Worryingly though, Broadchurch season 3 is coming.... so who knows what that could mean....

The Age of Adaline: Film Review

The Age of Adaline: Film Review

Cast: Blake Lively, Harrison Ford, Michiel Huisman, Ellen Burstyn, Amanda Crew
Director: Lee Toland Krieger

It feels like a Nicholas Sparks mash up with A Curious Case Of Benjamin Button elements thrown in, but yet portions of The Age of Adaline manage to transcend the syrupy conventions of romantic fantasy.

One time Gossip Girl star Blake Lively is Adaline, a woman who was born at the turn of the century and who has not aged a day; she's seen San Francisco come and go, its major landmarks ravaged by time and earthquakes but yet she's weathered them all.

Fearing that she's become isolated from all around her and with her chance for a normal life and love fading as every year springs eternal, a meeting with a philanthropist Ellis (Huisman) on the stroke of midnight at a New Year's Eve party sets Adaline on a course she could never have predicted.

The Age Of Adaline is a sumptuous feast for the eyes - but not really for the brain unless you like romantic tosh.

It's thanks in no part to Blake Lively who revels in the chance to tout some beautiful costumes and cut a swathe through period locations.

Revelling in its Nicholas Sparks' style trappings, this romantic fantasy has a portentous voiceover that spouts aphorism and pomposity with ease, leading the film down a holier-than-thou approach and lending the supernatural trappings a self-referential feeling as it struggles through its exposition heavy opening.

The elegaic piece packs a twist halfway through proceedings which will be polarising, as the film of coincidence heads to its final denouement and phrases like "You've lived, but never had a life" peppering the at times corny dialogue.

But it's exquisitely shot, with the ruminations on life beautifully sign-posted throughout.

The film's never better than when it lets Lively take the stage; her radiance shines through and enlivens proceedings, stopping them from becoming a wallowing piece of pulpy romantic trash. Game of Thrones star Huisman barely registers a pulse as the love interest, and even Harrison Ford who crops up midway through seems a little lost in parts as he navigates the conventions of the genre under the guidance of Celeste and Jesse Forever's director Krieger.

Ultimately, despite the romantic trappings and despite a strong pathos filled turn from Lively, The Age of Adaline is a movie of two halves; its divisive twist proves the tipping point into absurdity for me personally, and its final scenes creak with ridicule due to a lack of actual resolution rather than a glow that the sombre piece elicits early on.

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