Suffragette: DVD Review

Suffragette: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

There's no disputing the Suffragette's movement was a vital one.

But in the hands of Gavron and writer Abi Morgan (The Hour, The Iron Lady), the film version of the growth of the movement feels didactic and as washed out as the grey palettes employed in the visual execution.

In 1912 London, Mulligan plays Maud Watts, one of the early foot soldiers of the movement, but who's more a soldier of chance than of deliberate stance. Working at a local laundry and duly handing in wages to her husband (Whishaw), Maud one day finds herself in the middle of the growing civil unrest instigated by Emmeline Pankhurst.

With her interest inadvertently piqued initially in the movement, Watts is dismissive of what's going on and remains a passive viewer. But when tensions begin to escalate at home, she becomes more involved in the fight for equal rights.

Suffragette is a misfire in many ways.

It fails to really get to the core of what makes the movement so powerful and gives us a lead that would rather view what's going on while all around lecture her. Equally, it doesn't help that Gavron's characters outside of the trio of women are so caricature. All men are bad and therefore badly portrayed with such a broad brush that the message threatens to be lost in the cinematic execution.

Conflict at Watts' home is so obviously signposted that it's never a surprise when it shows and the only real surprise is how dire it gets; this is a film which is never anywhere but in the women's corner, firmly entrenched in their camp and their fight.

In among the shaky cam and Mulligan's Watts' passive viewing of events (her character spends most of the film as an impassive viewer, rather than willing participant), there's also cliched dialogue rolled out over the law not being respectable to women; but there are moments that shine. Chiefly Brendan Gleeson's investigating copper brings a compassionate tone to proceedings, casting doubt over treatments and offering some hope for men at large.

Streep's appearance amounts to little more than a cameo as Pankhurst addressing a rally and Bonham-Carter seems to have wandered off the set of Sweeney Todd with her turn.

While Suffragette clearly wants to pass on a powerful message, its execution is muddled and mired in its intentions. It is perhaps telling the only moment to garner any emotion in the screening was when New Zealand appeared top of a list of nations that granted women the vote in 1893 - and the real footage is rolled out from events of the movement.

Sometimes, a true story needs only the simplest of executions to soar; sadly Suffragette misses with every moment and fails to add to the legacy of the suffragette movement.

Rating:

The Good Dinosaur: DVD Review

The Good Dinosaur: DVD Review

Rating: PG
Released by Sony Home Ent

A Pixar film is usually a treat, a piece of animation that touches the heart with its story and characters as well as impresses the eye with its sumptuous work.

So, it's a surprise to say that The Good Dinosaur isn't quite up to scratch in the story department.

Positing the idea that the meteors that hit the earth and wiped out the dinosaurs never actually struck but zoomed past, The Good Dinosaur concentrates on a family of Apatosaurus dinos who work the land. Into this family is born fearful dino Arlo, the runt of the litter who struggles to find his place.

When tragedy hits the family and the father's killed (so far, so Lion King), Arlo ends up accidentally getting lost. With only an orphaned cave boy, Spot, whose sole behaviour is like a dog, Arlo begins the long and arduous journey home. (A la Incredible Journey and Homeward Bound)

The Good Dinosaur merely hisses where perhaps it could roar.

Mixing in the entirely unoriginal story of a lost character making their way home and having a few adventures while undergoing some life lessons on the way with a Wild West story is an odd mix that doesn't quite hang together as it should.

Which is a shame as technically, the movie is excellent.

Backgrounds, dirt and prehistoric mountain ranges sizzle - the environments look incredibly realistic and feel like they've been filmed and the dinos and other creatures super-imposed over the top. It's perhaps just as well the backgrounds are so immersive that you're not as distracted by the lack of what's going on in the foreground.

Because simply put, the main story is somewhat of a damp squib, an under-developed journey that goes from A to B, with little time for any major characters and interactions - unless it's to ram home the message of earning your mark on the world by doing something big for something bigger than yourself.

That's not to say the leads don't interact well and their relationship doesn't work well. Both Arlo and Spot are given a few funny and touching moments together throughout, but more often than not, these feel like perfunctory ends to moments and wouldn't feel out of place within a short film (in fact, at times The Good Dinosaur feels like a short film that's been over-extended and not fleshed out). It's a shame because the truth that resonates within Spot and Arlo's bond will keep kids engaged throughout - and there's not enough of that within. But the other problem is there's not enough of a connection between Arlo and his family; roughly sketched over at the start of the flick, the film fails to find the centre and stretches the connection too far.

The Good Dinosaur may revel in some of the darkness of life but the unoriginal journey and poorly padded out story makes it feel like Pixar's hit a rare bum note; it's a rare mis-step of a film that doesn't quite do enough to keep the kids as engaged as they should and doesn't do enough to keep the adults on side either.

Rating:

Newstalk ZB Review - Jungle Book, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and The Force Awakens

Newstalk ZB Review - Jungle Book, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and The Force Awakens

This week on the Newstalk ZB Review I took a look at Jungle Book, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and The Force Awakens

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-mornings-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-the-jungle-book-whiskey-tango-foxtrot-the-force-awakens/

Cartel Land: DVD Review

Cartel Land: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Madman Home Ent


The insidious damage done by drugs is given the on the ground treatment in this doco.

It starts like something out of Breaking Bad with mysterious figures, bandanas over their mouths, brewing up crystal meth in the desert under the cover of dark. As the camera watches the swirls of the drug rise up above, a voice intones "We are the number one meth cooks in Mexico" and at once captures the conflict in a nutshell.

Director Matthew Heineman had unprecedented access to both sides of the conflict in this; and it shows through an electrifying doco that very calmly plants itself in the middle of the drug cartel issue and never sways.

Following both Tim "Nailer" Foley, an American who runs the Arizona Border Recon and Dr Jose Mireles, a Mexican based physician who leads the Autodefensas, a vigilante style group determined to wrest control back from the cartels and the government itself.

It's not a film that flinches from the horror the cartels inflict on those around them either; shots of a trio of heads, the victims of crossing the cartel are gruesome in the extreme, a reminder that this war is very real and this justice is disgustingly shocking. Posing questions of what would you do if the drug lords came for your town, the cameras follow the self-appointed Autodefensas and its Lee Marvin-esque leader Mireles as the townships embrace him, his group's position and the chance to claw back power.

Heineman is thick in the fray of the conflict; when the bullets fly, his cameras are there; when the Autodefensas believe they've tracked down two men who are responsible for a series of atrocities, they are there on the raid - and they're also there to capture the raw emotion of the victims of the cartel, and the anger that threatens to bubble up as justice catches up to the wrong doers.

In many ways, Cartel Land is an electrifying modern day portrait of a Wild West scenario, with sides squaring up to each other; rather than using talking heads, Heineman's insistence on filming a live document makes it all the more powerful. If it weren't a documentary, you can imagine Hollywood coming a-calling as this explosive piece of film-making leads to its shocking denouement.

Along the way, there's corruption, surprises and pathos; while it's probably fair to say that Cartel Land works better when it follows the Mireles story rather than Foley's patrolling the borders, it's only because Mireles' tale is set in the heartland of the conflict. It's a place where retribution and revenge are insidious and strike when least expected, leading the viewer to wonder who is actually winning this never-ending war. No-one appears right, and the innocent soon crumble to the daily pressure of experience, and the growing power of revolution.

Plus the final scenes of the doco are incredible, sending everything you've just watched into a tailspin and give you an urgency to experience it all again through new eyes.

The Elder Scrolls: Legends Beta Launches Today

The Elder Scrolls: Legends Beta Launches Today

THE ELDER SCROLLS: LEGENDS BETA LAUNCHES TODAY

Players Can Now Sign Up at Bethesda.net
for a Chance to Join the Closed PC Beta Starting Today

April, 21, 2016 (London, UK) – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax® Media company, today announced that worldwide beta registration is now open for The Elder Scrolls®: Legends, the first free-to-play strategy card game based on the award-winning Elder Scrolls series. Beginning today, selected registrants will have the opportunity to begin playing in the game’s first closed PC beta. Additional players will be invited to play over the next few months – allowing more and more registered players the chance to experience The Elder Scrolls: Legends.

Legends will be playable in the Bethesda booth (#8021) at PAX East, taking place in Boston from April 22-24. Demonstrations of the game will also take place in the booth each day of the show at 11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:00pm and 5:00pm. For those not able to attend PAX East, tune into Twitch.tv’s official PAX stream on Saturday, April 23 at Noon to see Bethesda’s Pete Hines show off the first official gameplay and provide a brief overview of the game.

Legends is a strategy card game that explores the series’ characters, creatures, deities, and lore. Whether you have 10 minutes or ten hours, Legends provides a variety of gameplay modes and challenges that are easy-to-learn but difficult to master. Built with all levels of players in mind, Legends offers accessible gameplay for beginners who want to jump in and get started quickly, and the game’s depth keeps expert players engaged. With a wide variety of deck types and strategies, no two games are ever the same.

“As a fan of digital strategy card games, I’m especially excited about having people play Legends,” said Pete Hines, Vice President of PR and Marketing at Bethesda Softworks. “We’re looking forward to hearing their feedback and having them help us shape the future of the game. “

Previous chapters in this award-winning franchise include the Best Role-Playing Game at E3 2013 -The Elder Scrolls® Online: Tamriel Unlimited, 2011 Game of the Year - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim®, the 2006 Game of the Year - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion®, and the 2002 Role-Playing Game of the Year - The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind®.

The Elder Scrolls: Legends is being developed in conjunction with Dire Wolf Digital for PC and iPad – with additional platforms to be announced.

For the latest updates on additional betas and game information, please visit https://legends.bethesda.net/ and follow the game on Facebook and Twitter.

 

The Girl on the Train Trailer drops

The Girl on the Train Trailer drops

Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Allison Janney, Edgar Ramirez, Lisa Kudrow and Laura Prepon star in The Girl on the Train, from director Tate Taylor (The Help, Get on Up).

In the thriller, Rachel (Blunt), who is devastated by her recent divorce, spends her daily commute fantasizing about the seemingly perfect couple who live in a house that her train passes every day, until one morning she sees something shocking happen there and becomes entangled in the mystery that unfolds.

Based on Paula Hawkins’ bestselling novel, The Girl on the Train is in cinemas this October. 

Jason Bourne trailer

Jason Bourne trailer

Matt Damon returns to his most iconic role in Jason Bourne.  Paul Greengrass, the director of The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, once again joins Damon for the next chapter of Universal Pictures’ Bourne franchise, which finds the CIA’s most lethal former operative drawn out of the shadows.

For Jason Bourne, Damon is joined by Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel and Tommy Lee Jones, while Julia Stiles reprises her role in the series.  Frank Marshall again produces alongside Jeffrey Weiner for Captivate Entertainment, and Greengrass, Damon, Gregory Goodman and Ben Smith also produce.  Based on characters created by Robert Ludlum, the film is written by Greengrass and Christopher Rouse.

The film is set to reach NZ screens this year on July 28