GTA Online - Ill Gotten Gains are on the way

Grand Theft Auto Online: Ill-Gotten Gains Part 1 Coming Next Week

Due to a surge in high-end crime across southern San Andreas, demand for luxury goods and services is at an all-time high. Upscale merchants of all kinds are scrambling to fill their inventories to serve the newly wealthy. The first of two major deliveries this winter will be hitting the showrooms of luxury car dealerships, the shelves of top arms suppliers and other prestigious retailers in June. Here are a few new screenshots featuring some of the new rides and accessories coming to GTA Online next week – and be on the lookout for another big shipment coming this winter.

Dress the new Enus Windsor with eight vehicle wraps inspired by the high-end designers of Rockford Hills.

For a subtle way to travel, contact your Elitas agent about the solid gold Buckingham Swift Deluxe.


The Combat PDW (Personal Defense Weapon) coming soon to Ammu-Nation.

The classic lines of the new Albany Virgo add style to any garage.

Just like the Benefactor Stirling GT, the Pegassi Osiris features gull-wing doors.

The solid gold Buckingham Luxor Deluxe shines in the Los Santos skies.

Hundreds of new clothing items and accessories are arriving to exclusive clothiers.

Coming soon to Legendary Motorsport, the Pegassi Osiris.

Rise of the Tomb Raider - new trailer

Rise of the Tomb Raider - new trailer

Some great news for Lara Croft fans - a brand new trailer has dropped for Rise of the Tomb Raider - as well as the box art.

Offering a glimpse of Lara Croft’s drive and motivation as she embarks on a new adventure throughout the most treacherous and remote regions of the world and embraces her destiny as the Tomb Raider. Featuring legendary explorers who dared to push past their boundaries and achieve what others have not, the trailer showcases the spirit of adventure and discovery that drives Lara in this next chapter of her journey, launching exclusively on Xbox in 2015.

In addition to the debut of the trailer, Xbox and Crystal Dynamics revealed the box art for “Rise of the Tomb Raider.” Featuring Lara Croft holding a flare at the edge of an ancient secret tomb, the artwork draws on the sense of adventure, exploration and discovery that fans have come to expect from the legendary franchise.

The Water Diviner: Blu Ray Review

The Water Diviner: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

Set four years after the devastation of Gallipoli in Turkey in World War I, Aussie farmer Connor (a bearded, understated and relatively muted Russell Crowe) is struggling to cope with the loss of his three MIA sons. When his wife succumbs to her grief, Connor decides enough is enough and packs up to head to Turkey to try and find out once and for all what happened to them and to fulfill her dying wish they all be buried together.

Initially rejected by the army (including Dan Wyllie's stereotyped straight down the middle-chocks-away general), but with a cause taken on by Jai Courtney's moustachioed and stoic Lt-Colonel, Connor ignores the rebuttal and heads to Istanbul regardless - forging a relationship with Ayshe, a Turkish woman whose husband is also missing post- Gallipoli.

The Water Diviner is a heady mix of the creative and the occasionally cheesy.

Crowe's peppered his pictorial premiere behind the lens with a preponderance of war flashbacks and slow mo shots that somewhat pile on the emotion and manipulation as this bond of brothers story and overwrought melodrama plays out.

Olga Kurylenko feels a little wooden initially as Ayshe, taking time to settle in and awkwardly feeling like a potential romance / friendship was shoe-horned into proceedings that are based on true events, and their interactions slow down the piece. Equally, a scene where Connor uses that most Aussie of icons (currently), the cricket bat to take out a squadron of Greeks about to execute some Turkish soldiers rankles rather than triumphs. And Connor's ability to divine where his children have fallen (interlaced as it is with flashbacks to the sons at war) causes more head-scratching than actual emotional heft.

And yet, there are some flourishes in among the crowd-pleasing which really do mark The Water Diviner out as something a little different.

Crowe starts the film from behind the Turkish lines, wrong-footing you into believing we're watching Aussies; sequences in the actual trenches are visceral and like repeated blows to the stomach as they show the true horror of hand-to-hand combat; and throwaway shots like a mountain of bones clutch at more disgust than any lingering shot could ever achieve.

It's the understated moments which are the more moving and powerful within The Water Diviner.

Aided by a strong performance from Crowe as the father-on-a-mission and interactions with Turkish actor Yilmaz Erdogen have a resonance that's lacking in scenes with Kurylenko and the bureaucratic Wyllie, The Water Diviner proves to be a solid directorial debut from the usually brash Crowe.

However, a dialling down of the more manipulative elements, a pulling back of the over-egging of the emotional pudding and an avoidance of the cheesier could have seen this Water Diviner strike cinematic gold - instead, we're left with a film that's occasionally evocative and moving but fails to fully soar as it quests to be a fitting and different piece for the 100th commemorations of the ANZAC involvement in Gallipoli.

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Race The Sun: PS4 Review

Race The Sun: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4

It's the simplest games which hook you in.

And indie title Race The Sun falls squarely into that camp, mixing simple graphics with great gameplay for a perfectly compelling experience.

Simply put, you control a craft that flies through landscapes, rushing to get to the end of each region before you run out of power. The reason you can lose power is simple - your craft is powered by the sun, and you need the rays to stay in the race.

But, it's not quite that easy - with various buildings around casting shadows and other structures that you can smash into, there are plenty of obstacles to negotiate to slow your progress. Collecting light orbs known as Tris (not the character from Insurgent) and completing various challenges within the levels give you access to various power ups which you need to further your progress.

From jumps to speed ups, to magnets to battery to install on your craft, there's plenty to aim for - and the fact the worlds change every 24 hours means, there's plenty of variety to get you well and truly hooked in; there's no way you can learn the short cuts because 24 hours later, that entire landscape is gone. 25 challenges litter the game with you aiming to achieve all of those for completion - which take maybe a day to do, depending on your play. It's now a game which is ripe for further DLC and more content, and given the game was a Kickstarter, we can but hope that is the case

Graphically, the game goes for minimal with greys washing the screen in a monochrome colour, but giving life to the coloured elements of power ups and the sun in the background.

Simple and eminently playable, Race The Sun is a great title that deserves to be in your account to wile away a fiendish amount of pleasurable fun.

Rating:

Unbroken: Blu Ray Review

Unbroken: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

The fact that after a gruelling 2 hours and 20 minutes director Angelina Jolie chose to endUnbroken with a Coldplay song (Miracles) speaks volumes to what she's trying (and just failing) to strive for here with this passion project.

Unbroken is the remarkably powerful (in parts) true story of Louis "Louie" Zamperini (Starred Up's Jack O'Connell) an immigrant whose fortunes changed for the worst when he was shot down during a 1943 bombing raid. With only two fellow survivors, the former Olympic athlete Zamperini survived 47 days lost at sea only to be rescued by the Japanese and thrown into a Prisoner of War camp and consequently brutalised by the guard's sneering commandant (Miyavi).

Aiming for inspirational but thanks to the over-use of bon mots such as "Forgive the sin, smile on the sinner" and "If I can take it, I can make it" (a couple of many sayings espoused rather thickly at the beginning), Unbroken is a curious beast, preferring to go for cliche and many war film tropes rather than demonstrate directorial flair.

The first half is unwisely consumed with Zamperini's running (something akin to Chariots of Fireas he pounds the track and trounces both the opposition and timings) and talking philosophy, cooking and religion while being lost at sea in a surreal spin on Life Of Pi. It's a move which nearly fatally derails the film; while the intention is clearly to demonstrate how Zamperini is a true survivor and was at his lowest when he was subjected to even more in the camps.

However, if Jolie had perhaps restrained that hour and peppered it more with flashbacks, it may have worked; particularly given how powerful and horrific some of the imagery she commands in the second half is, showing her eye for the gruesome detail.

It's ironic because the second half of Unbroken which focuses on Zamperini's internment is actually where the power of the film lies but the confines of the genre and the cliches come to the fore.

The real issue is the focus of the film - it's so squarely on Zamperini that nobody else gets a look in; the camp leader known as the Bird (played by Miyavi) is your dyed-in-the-wool bad guy and all those around Zamperini (colleagues, crew-members) are so lightly written and sketched that they barely register on the dramatic scale.

Thankfully, O'Connell continues to show why he's a fast rising star by giving Zamperini the pluck, resilience and humanity needed while enduring what he's had to. There's no denying that Louie suffered greatly and was denied the closure he needed as his war experiences accrued; and there's also no denying that O'Connell imbues his character with a much needed in point to help endure the occasionally over-wrought and lumpen drama.

I had wanted to leave Unbroken with a sense of inspiration; what I left feeling is that it was more a conventional war film that I had to endure in parts rather than salute the spirit of a man who suffered more than any human ever should.

Rating:

The Imitation Game: Blu Ray Review

The Imitation Game: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

Perhaps it's fitting that a movie about the cracking of the Enigma code tries to serves up the cracking of a character who's an enigma himself to many.

Benedict Cumberbatch is Alan Turing in this biopic that never really scratches the surface of the character as it chooses to concentrate on Turing and his peers trying to save the day at Bletchley Park during World War II.

The film starts with Turing being investigated by police (headed up by sympathetic Rory Kinnear) after a burglary at his home - Turing's stand-offish behaviour and insistence that nothing's been stolen actually provokes the police to dig deeper into the case and his background.

While the kernel of the story focuses on Turing's initiation into the Bletchley Park world and his inability to work with others thanks to a sense of superiority, flashbacks to Turing's early days and love at a boarding school and flashforwards to the police investigation dizzy up the narrative, that's swamped with newsreel footage of the war effort and Hitler's relentless push towards dear old Blighty.

And that's the majority of the problem of The Imitation Game.

The first half of the film is formulaic, by-the-numbers Oscar-baiting period piece which lacks a frisson of excitement and a depth of character. While Cumberbatch soars as Turing (more on that in a moment), those who swirl around him are lazy stereotypes ripped from a Boys' Own novella.

There's the suave mysterious head of an unknown MI6 (Mark Strong), the suave cad that clashes with Turning (played by Matthew Goode), the military leader who answers to nobody but Churchill (Charles Dance) and the woman who's better than the men (Keira Knightley) - all of these are simply sketched dancers who pirouette around Turing's troubled genius and ultimately, end up dancing to the mad man's tune.

But amongst it all is a truly impressive character turn by the chameleonic Benedict Cumberbatch. To say that he inhabits the role and overtakes the screen is a massive understatement. Essentially playing a variant of Sherlock's intellectual superiority, inability to suffer those whom he perceives as fools and arrogance with a dash of A Beautiful Mind's genius thrown in, Cumberbatch's fiery genius Turing tears up the screen - but at the cost of those around him unfortunately, who thanks to formulaic underwriting fare less well.

And it is parts of the writing that really make the film suffer; the flashbacks to the youth and flashforwards narratively don't mesh and integrate as well as they could, leaving a dramatic frisson and depth unexplored. Equally, Turning's homosexuality is merely subtly hinted at which is fine for some but for a picture that aims to expunge history's view of him seems like a major oversight thanks to hints and broad brush strokes. The single moment of drama only comes with the cracking of the Enigma code - though you suspect here the drama is piled on for drama's sake and artistic licence.

The Imitation Game really feels like an imitation of a formulaic biopic; there are manipulative moments of swelling music that seek to orchestrate your feelings and the decision to hold off from truly delving deeply into its subject proves to be a crippling flaw. It's only thanks to Benedict Cumberbatch's dizzyingly mesmeric turn that the film rises out of a potential mire.

Rating:

Batman Arkham Knight - When We Go To War

Batman Arkham Knight - When We Go To War

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment today released a new gameplay video for Batman: Arkham Knight.  The Official Batman: Arkham Knight Gameplay Video – “Time To Go To War” is a continuation of the Official Batman: Arkham Knight Gameplay Video – “Officer Down.” See more of the Dark Knight in action in this extended gameplay walkthrough, as he pays a visit to Scarecrow’s safe house and battles the forces of the Arkham Knight’s militia. 

Batman: Arkham Knight is based on DC Comics’ core Batman license and will be available in New Zealand on June 24, 2015 exclusively for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system,Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, and Windows PC. 

Batman: Arkham Knight brings the award-winning Batman: Arkham trilogy from Rocksteady Studios to its epic conclusion. Developed exclusively for the new generation of consoles and PCs,Batman: Arkham Knight introduces Rocksteady's uniquely designed version of the Batmobile. The highly anticipated addition of this legendary vehicle, combined with the acclaimed gameplay of the Batman: Arkham series, offers gamers the ultimate and complete Batman experience as they tear through the streets and soar across the skyline of the entirety of Gotham City. In this explosive finale, Batman faces the ultimate threat against the city that he is sworn to protect, as Scarecrow returns to unite the super criminals of Gotham City and destroy the Batman forever.