The Lady In The Van: Film Review

The Lady In The Van: Film Review

Cast: Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings, Jim Broadbent, Roger Allam
Director: Nicholas Hytner

Based on renowned English writer Alan Bennett's play and reuniting the star with the director of the Olivier Award original play, it is, as the title card suggests, a mostly true story.

The one woman acting tornado that is Maggie Smith returns to the role she made famous in London's West End as Miss Mary Shepherd, a homeless woman who lived in a van in Camden around the 1970s when Bennett inhabited the region.

With all the neighbourhood turning their back on Mary and seeing her as an eyesore and a beggar, Bennett (an uncanny impression and nuanced performance by Alex Jennings) allows her to park her van in his driveway. However, rather than this sojourn being a brief one, and much to Bennett's endless chagrin, Mary ends up staying some 15 years - and despite all of Alan's desires, becomes a part of her life.

Simply put, those who don't know Alan Bennett and won't be able to appreciate Jennings' spot-on enunciation and diction of the playwright whose Talking Heads made him famous, Maggie Smith will be the star attraction.

With her sheer force of presence and quirkiness that's a softer Downton approach, this Dowager of the driveway is pretty much going to strike a chord with anyone who's got a soft spot for cheeky irascibility. She's not loved by the inhabitants of the road and doesn't fit in with their middle class aspirations and judgements (the neighbours are wonderfully headed up by the ever solid presence of Roger Allam and Frances De La Tour), but there's a parallel with Bennett's mother and his terribly English guilt at leaving her alone up north.

Hytner employs a steady hand with the direction and the gentle story, which is as parked as the van in the driveway. Splitting Jennings in two to show the conflict and the consciences is a nifty touch and Jennings brings an edge and an empathy to both sides of Bennett the conflicted do-gooder and Bennett the writer looking for inspiration.

But it's Smith whom the film favours, as the layers of reason for her condition gently peel back. And while the emotion of these reveals never quite hits a crescendo or catharsis worthy of the journey, there is plenty of humour on the whimsical way. (No wonder given she's reprising a role she's already made famous on the stage).

Nobody emerges as a fully formed character and there is an odd touch with the real life Bennett being inserted into the narrative towards the end, but you can't deny The Lady In The Van has an amiability and an affability that makes it a gently easy watch, guaranteed to do well with an older audience.

Rating:

Newstalk ZB Review - Ride Along 2, The Lady in the Van and Black Mass

Newstalk ZB Review - Ride Along 2, The Lady in the Van and Black Mass

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-mornings-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-ride-along-2-the-lady-in-the-van-black-mass/

The Martian: Blu Ray Review

The Martian: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by 20th Century Fox Home Ent

Ridley Scott's latest film, The Martian, is a heartfelt paean to the time when NASA missions and the space race held the world in its thrall.

Based on Andy Weir's novel, Matt Damon stars as NASA astronaut Mark Watney, who's part of an ARES mission on Mars. When a storm hits the base, the crew's forced to flee the planet - but just before they leave, Watney's struck and believed dead. With a split-second decision to make, the commander of the team (Chastain) decides they must leave....

When Watney comes around on the red planet, he realises that he's on a foreign alien world, abandoned, with limited rations and with no way to contact NASA....

The Martian is, for the most part, really the Matt Damon show.

Channeling once again his affable everyman appeal to great dramatic effect, Damon manages to do much with little to interact with. Thanks to a narrative trick of having to record logs for back on Earth, Damon finds his Wilson and we, the audience, find some kind of semblance and route into what he's actually thinking, why he's doing it and how he's doing it as well (it's not hard to think of this film as Ridley Scott's audition for a NASA recruitment video).

Though one suspects there may be issues with some of the science (I'm not 100% sure that duct tape can fully seal a cracked spacesuit, or congealed blood), the fact that The Martian becomes a problem solving film is inherently one of its pluses, as it swings back and forth between Earth-bound efforts to save him and Watney's (occasionally convenient) efforts to survive on the surface of Mars.

It's back on earth that the ensemble cast really opens up to dramatic effect as the usual tropes of time and supplies threaten to run out and tough decisions have to be made. Daniels deserves mention for his relatively impassive head of NASA, the kind of guy you want to have make the tough decisions - and his stoic approach is counter-balanced by Bean's humane touch as the head of the crews of NASA. Equally, the politics of the situation are calmly thrown into the mix, rather than used as dramatic sounding posts.

It's fair to say The Martian lacks the urgency of the likes of Gravity, the hard science ofInterstellar and channels more of Apollo 13's collaborative approach to humans being human and tackling problems. Wisely shorn of the hysterics that ramped up Gravity's stress-levels and avoiding any kind of mention of whether Watney has family waiting for him  (a bold dramatic move), Scott's insistence on getting on with the job, celebrating humanity's approach to dealing with problems and general resilience when the chips are down serve the story well. By bringing in bouts of unexpectedly humour on Watney's behalf, Scott and Damon make him a character to easily identify with even if his plight will be alien to many.

Mixing in disco songs and a prepping montage to David Bowie's Starman bring a level of cheesiness to the ever-so slightly overlong proceedings too, but not once does it truly threaten to derail Ridley Scott's latest space opus. His opening sequence continues his ethos that space is all well and good but can go to hell in a handcart in but seconds; and there are little signs of Watney losing the plot after so much time alone and being forced to "science the shit" out of his predicament. (Though Damon's facials when faced with the tantalising prospect of rescue say more than any dialogue could)

However, ultimately, The Martian is a heartfelt ode to NASA, a salutation to its dreams and dreamers among the stars and a rising chorus of support for humanity's place in the universe, both literally and metaphorically; it's sci-fi at its most stripped down and simplistic, but it's a film that is as aspirational as it is entertaining.

Rating:

Resident Evil Zero: PS4 Review

Resident Evil Zero: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Released by Capcom

Initially released on the Gamecube way back in 2002, Resident Evil Zero wins the award for being the first remaster out of the 2016 box.

Uncovering the truth around Umbrella and the origins of the T Virus, this prequel to the series is the first to introduce dual protagonists to the game. Those leads are Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen; Chambers is a medic and Coen is an escaped death row convict who broke out during the zombie outbreak.

Switching between the characters makes the game a bit more atmospheric and helps keep things fresh and it's fair to say the shocks keep coming in the game in a way that you'd expect with jumps and jolts. There's a few frustrations with camera angles and also with the save points in the game which are so few and far between that mar Resident Evil Zero from being a brilliant experience.

But to be fair, it has been adapted from a game way back in 2002 and therefore, the whole genre and expectation has evolved in the 14 years since then.

The switch between Billy and Rebecca is a little ahead of its time and set the trend for interchangeable protagonists; it's a shame that you can't co-op play with them given their skills ad abilities appear to work in tandem. You still get to order them about and even though those commands are limited, the game certainly feels like more of an experience than a companion to AI.

Exploration and puzzle-solving are the aims of the game really and the first section inside the train certainly brings those to the fore; even if it is occasionally too dark to really delve around. Even if that portion of the game is marred by extraordinarily long loading screens.

Fans of Resident Evil will love the game and the fact the final part of the puzzle's been brought into the current generation of consoles; but casual gamers may find the fact it's stuck to its 2002 ethos and MO a little jarring and prevent them from fully diving into the game that appears to have come back from the dead.

Just Cause 3 - Sky Fortress DLC Trailer

Just Cause 3 - Sky Fortress DLC Trailer

AIR, LAND & SEA EXPANSION PASS DETAILS REVEALED

AIR PACK ‘SKY FORTRESS’ LAUNCHING MARCH 2016 - TRAILER AVAILABLE NOW

SYDNEY, 19^TH February 2016 - The first JUST CAUSE 3 content pack entitled SKY FORTRESS is launching March 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and high end PC and holders of the AIR, LAND & SEA Expansion Pass will be able to play it a week before is goes on sale as a standalone download.

The new JUST CAUSE 3 SKY FORTRESS trailer is now available to view from: https://youtu.be/AiEWucmjdRQ

“If Just Cause 3 is over-the-top action then the Air, Land and Sea Expansion pass aims to stand on its shoulders and reach even higher,” said Tobias Andersson, Senior Producer at AvalancheStudios. “An incredible amount of time has been spent ensuring every new item is fully integrated into the main game and can be used during existing missions. Rico’s new Bavarium Wingsuit will fundamentally alter the core gameplay of Just Cause 3 and we can’t wait to see the crazy stunts that players perform with it.”

SKY FORTRESS contains a brand new set of missions that introduce a new threat – a huge and terrifying Sky Fortress and an army of deadly robotic drones. To tackle his deadly new adversary, Rico Rodriguez will use a new upgradeable, rocket-powered, weaponised ‘Bavarium Wingsuit’ fitted with shoulder mounted machine guns and auto targeting missiles - alongside his new ‘Eviction’ personal defence drone and ‘Bavarium Splitter’ assault rifle.

The second pack in the Expansion Pass entitled LAND MECH ASSAULT will contain another new series of missions that introduce a unique new vehicle that can be carried over into the main game; a heavily armoured mech armed with a gravity gun that allows objects to be picked up and powerfully thrown in any direction. Although the mech is as strong as a tank, it is highly manoeuvrable and agile and behaves unlike anything else in the game.

The AIR, LAND & SEA Expansion Pass concludes with the BAVARIUM SEA HEIST - details of which will be revealed in the following months. All three content packs will be available before the end of 2016 and released one week early to Expansion Pass holders.

 

Tales from the Borderlands gets a physical release

Tales from the Borderlands gets a physical release

Gearbox Software, Telltale Games and 2K are excited to announce that they will be bringing the critically acclaimed Tales from the Borderlands to disc format starting April 21^st, 2016. NamedIGN’s Adventure Game of 2015, the Tales from the Borderlands disc will include all five episodes and will be playable on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. 

Hunt For The Wilderpeople Trailer is launched

First look - Hunt For The Wilderpeople Trailer

The full theatrical trailer for Taika Waititi’s adventure comedy ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ has been released today ahead of the film's nationwide cinema release on March 31, 2016.

Starring Sam Neill and Julian Dennison, 'Hunt for the Wilderpeople' received rave reviews when it premiered in January at the Sundance International Film Festival. Trade bible Screen Daily touted the film as "warm, funny and deeply delightful", while The Hollywood Reporter described it as "a deliciously good time at the movies".

Alongside the release of the film, a special re-release of the novel ‘Wild Pork and Watercress’ by legendary author Barry Crump - which the film is based on – will be released by Penguin Random House (NZ). Featuring Neill and Dennison on the cover, this classic Kiwi yarn will be available in all good bookstores from February 29.