NZ's Show Me Shorts Film Festival announces second Oscar-qualifying award

NZ's Show Me Shorts Film Festival announces second Oscar-qualifying award

New Zealand’s Show Me Shorts Film Festival brings winning an Oscar® closer to short film makers across the world

Show Me Shorts Film Festival is proud to announce that they have been granted Oscar®-qualifying status for their Best International Film Award, in addition to their Lightbox Best Film Award.

For the last four years, Show Me Shorts has been the only film festival in New Zealand qualified to provide a pathway to the Academy Awards® for their top award winner - Lightbox Best Film Award. This coveted relationship with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is something granted to a small number of prestigious film festivals around the globe.

Festival Director of Show Me Shorts, Gina Dellabarca, says, “It’s big news for filmmakers as it means the reality of winning an Oscar® is potentially within reach.

“Winning one of these awards at Show Me Shorts removes the need for a standard theatrical run in a US cinema – something most short films are unable to achieve. Winning an Oscar®-qualifying festival is the main way that short films can become eligible for consideration for the Oscars®. We are thrilled with this development, which is likely to result in an increase in the number and quality of our submissions. Great news for local audiences as well as local and international filmmakers.”

One of the most popular shorts from the international selection of Show Me Shorts 2015, Stutterer by Benjamin Cleary, is nominated for the Best Live Action Short Film award at the Oscars® this year. Members of the Show Me Shorts community of festival-goers will be cheering on this film come Monday 29 February when the awards are announced.

The 2015 Lightbox Best Film Award at Show Me Shorts was won by Alyx Duncan for The Tide Keeper. Her film is now eligible to enter the 2017 Oscars®.

The Best Live Action Short Film award at the 2015 Oscars® was won by another film that had previously featured in Show Me Shorts, The Phone Call. “This demonstrates the calibre of short films in our programme,” Dellabarca says.

The 11^th annual Show Me Shorts Film Festival in 2016 will share their top local and international short films with thousands of New Zealanders from Dargaville to Stewart Island, who take part as audience members, attend professional development events, and by voting for their favourite films.

Show Me Shorts is now calling for entries from local and international short film makers. Short films can be from New Zealand or anywhere in the world, but must be between 2-20 minutes long and made within the last two years. New Zealand music videos can also qualify for selection if they are between 1-10 minutes long. Entry deadlines and fees for 2016 are:

·         Earlybird Deadline: 15 April 2016 (shorts US$25 / music videos US$10)

·         Regular Deadline: 15 May 2016 (shorts US$30 / music videos US$15)

·         Late Deadline: 15 June 2016 (shorts US$35 / music videos US$20)

·         Extended Deadline: 1 July 2016 (shorts US$40 / music videos US$25)

Full submission details for Show Me Shorts are available at www.showmeshorts.co.nz

Dark Souls III True Colours of Darkness

Dark Souls III True Colours of Darkness

DARK SOULS III – TRUE COLOURS OF DARKNESS TRAILER RELEASED!

Discover the True Colors of Darkness in our new Dark Souls 3 trailer! Are you ready to fight for your life in the Kingdom of Lothric?

With a release set for April 12^th, 2016, DARK SOULS III will take the fans through an apocalyptic and dark ride to unfold the last secrets of the unique universe create by Hidetaka Miyazaki, From Software and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment!

Hitman BETA returns

Hitman BETA returns

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NEW ‘LEGACY OPENING CINEMATIC’ 

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BETA OPEN TO PLAYSTATION PLUS MEMBERS ON MARCH 4^th 

SYDNEY, 25^TH February 2016 - Io-Interactive today releases a new trailer, the ‘Legacy Opening Cinematic’ bridges the twenty year gap in the new HITMAN game between the end of the Prologue and the Sanguine Fashion Show in Paris. The trailer takes viewers all the way back to the thermal baths of the Hotel Gallard in Budapest as seen in the original Codename: 47 and to the Chilean Delgado vineyard from Blood Money, as it charts a journey through some iconic Hitman moments.

To watch the HITMAN Legacy Opening Cinematic, please visit: https://youtu.be/01bYEelwwHc  

Plus, after a successful beta on PS4, Io-Interactive now invites all PlayStation Plus members to try out the HITMAN beta on March 4^th.

“Our initial beta was an extremely helpful moment for our new HITMAN game, as it gave us great insight into how the server game mechanics function under pressure. A lot of those pressure points are currently being strengthened for release,” said Hannes Seifert, Studio Head at Io-Interactive. “Now Sony have given us the opportunity to go even bigger to validate some of the initial things we saw. Therefore we are inviting everyone who is a PlayStation Plus member to try the same beta and you don’t have to pre-order the game. This will allow us to really stress test our server setup, which is a crucial element for us to get just right.”

Labelled “The Prologue”, the Beta takes place twenty years before the Paris Showstopper mission. Set in a secret ICA training facility, the Prologue features a pivotal moment in Agent 47’s life - his introduction to the ICA and very first meeting with his future handler Diana Burnwood. The Prologue features two free-form training hits, which will introduce players to the features and mechanics of the upcoming HITMAN game. The Prologue will also be available as part of the first episode of HITMAN.

HITMAN will launch on March 11^th for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system & Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft. The Windows PC version launch March 12^th (ANZ).

New Uncharted 4 Story Trailer drops

New Uncharted 4 Story Trailer drops

The New Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Story Trailer Is Here

With Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End launching just around the corner, on 27th April, whet your appetite for Drake’s return. Up until now we’ve dropped small hints about Nathan Drake’s final adventure. It’s time to finally pull the curtain back and give you the official story trailer! Before jumping into it, we have a little warning. We’re being careful not to reveal too much – but story trailers by their very nature contain some story spoilers. If you’re on a media blackout… look away now! For everyone else, we have what Naughty Dog consider to be the best trailer in their history. Still with us? Good. Enjoy:

Ride Along 2: Film Review

Ride Along 2: Film Review

Cast: Kevin Hart, Ice Cube, Olivia Munn, Benjamin Bratt, Tika Sumpter
Director: Tim Story

Following the massive success of 2014's Ride Along, it was inevitable the sequel would show.

In the latest to toy with the mismatched buddy cop dynamic, Hart's Ben Barber remains a cop on probation, despite his dream to make detective. When Ice Cube's James is asked by his sister, Ben's fiancee, to take him to Miami ahead of his wedding on a lead in a drug-ring case, James begrudgingly accepts.

Following leads in the party town brings the less-than-dynamic-duo to computer hacker AJ (Community and The Hangover star Ken Jeong) who reveals that a local businessman is behind the ring and corruption is rife.

Tagging along with Olivia Munn's no time-wasting homicide cop Maya, Ben and James soon find themselves knee deep in trouble...

Flat and lifeless (with a bizarrely suspense and action-free pre-credits sequence), Ride Along 2's script is muted; an almost bizarre juxtaposition to the flashy, trashy exterior shots in Miami that pepper most of the film. (Complete with writhing bikini bods for the more puerile members of the audience).

From banal bickering between the pair to banter so inane from the "comedy" motormouth Kevin Hart it makes you want to pull your brain out through your nose (in case you forgot to check it at the door), Ride Along 2 simply grates.


Trying to replicate the buddy cop genre and ripping off parts of a Lethal Weapon film with its protect the rat storyline, this tired film lacks any pizzazz thanks to its over-scripted dialogue.

Ice Cube strives for straight arrow to Hart's incessantly chatting; with all his scowling and talk of the Po-lease, the script fails to hit any beat, even when Hart's Ben is proved right and the incompetent foolish Ben is given a few moments here and there to shine.

The one time the film has some natural charm is toward the end during a wedding sequence that showcases the brother-in-law family vibe to better effect rather than the film's detriment and proves that a less strictly enforced script and looser attitude would have benefited it greatly.

Olivia Munn's fairly wasted as a ball-breaker cop whose pristine business veneer shatters when Cube's cop asks her to the wedding (cos you know, women just go weak for lurve stuff) and Bratt musters enough slime as the suave corrupt rat. But it's Jeong who shows a bit more range in the Joe Pesci role going for more dramatic before resorting to his trademark shrieking.

Story keeps proceedings on the straight and narrow with only one sign of directorial flair - the chase sequence in Miami, which is brought to life through Ben's Grand Theft Auto game obsession and becomes a race of pixels rather than the tired usual tropes of cars thudding into each other.

In one sequence, Ice Cube's James intones to Hart's Ben "Do you even listen to some of the sh*t that comes out of your mouth?" and somehow manages to encapsulate how the audience will feel as this tired unoriginal sequel plays out. Equally, when AJ forces Ben to eat food from a trashcan, again there's a feeling that the audience will associate with this regurgitated fare that sticks in your craw.

Sure, Ride Along 2 ain't exactly striving for Shakespearean heights, but in its quest to provide something formulaic, it ends up unlikely to stand out from the masses. Depressingly, this is the film which beat Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the US Box office, so a third outing seems more than likely - but frankly, this is one ride that deserves stopping so we can all get off.

Rating:



 

Downton Abbey: S6 Blu Ray Review

Downton Abbey: S6 Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

The last full final season of Downton Abbey is upon us and with it the expectation that the series will be closed off with both the style and finality that is needed.

As the world begins to change around them, there are signs that the Downton reign is coming to an end, and in many ways, this is reflected in the scripts which start to feel a little tired and going through the motions rather than providing the boost that's needed for the end.

But quite frankly, fans of the show won't care about the plot's machinations and weaker edges at times, as it heads towards the conclusion. Cost cutting, arguments over hospitals and a scene at a dinner table that's like something from Alien all figure in the mix and are all solidly executed.

Annoyingly this release doesn't include the final ever episode, the Christmas special (released as it was pre- screening) and so the sense of completion is much like the finale itself - anti climactic.

The Intern: Blu Ray Review

The Intern: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

Director Nancy Meyers (It's Complicated, Something's Gotta Give) is back in familiar territory in The Intern.

70-year old widower Ben (played by Robert De Niro) has lived in Brooklyn all his life, and worked there all his life. So without a wife, and in retirement, he's found it all a bit of a shock. On a whim he decides to apply for a senior internship at Anne Hathaway's Jules Ostin's online fashion business. Accepted into the programme, and allocated to Jules, Ben tries to settle back into the groove - but the hyper-controlling Jules isn't willing to accept him without a fight - and matters get more complicated when Ben's made Jules' intern...

Generation gap comedy The Intern is a veritable fluffy jumper of a movie, a flick that revels in its cosiness as it espouses tritely veiled bon mots about experience being more vital in this day and age but oft overlooked.

Following a meta-thread that seems to hint at the once ferocious De Niro's place in the acting world and throws to the notion the man must take a succession of comedic roles that call on him to produce a series of gurning moments, its vanilla sensibilities threaten to over-season this gentle dish, best served to an audience seeking easy and predictably recognisable laughs.

Going from The Devil Wears Prada's put-upon assistant to now top dog, Hathaway's self-aggrandisement begins to falter as the script calls upon her to crumble, destroying the earlier set out notion that career women can have it all in this modern day world. Clearly according to Meyer's film, that's not actually the case when push comes to shove.

And yet with a degree of affability on the parts of both leads, this soufflé of a film begins to rise in parts above its conceit and belief that hey an older person in the workplace can have its benefits. But only once they master turning on a computer or the vagueries of joining the Facebook. Be still, my compromised and patronised sides.

In fact, the lightly once over script may just win over some people - even with a moment shoehorned in that sees Ben and the other interns forced to break into Jules' mom's house to retrieve a wrongly sent email. Meyers knows when to mix the farce into the frothy niceness on show and does so with reasonable aplomb, even if the element of the story feels bolted on and at odds with Ben's insistence on guiding Jules through life.

Ultimately, The Intern is no place for cynicism, no place for thinly veiled  sarcasm - it's one of those films which is pleasantly made, wholly predictable and utterly the sum of its parts. It does exactly what it says on the tin, celebrates the nice guy mentality of Ben and perfectly services an audience not wanting to be challenged on a night out.

Rating: