The Lady In the Van: Blu Ray Review

The Lady In the Van: Blu Ray Review

Rating:M
Released by Sony Home Ent

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.

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DangerMouse: DVD Review

DangerMouse: DVD Review

Rating: PG
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

There's a special place in my heart for Danger Mouse, the cartoon that was part of my formative youth.

With its terrible line in puns, great voiceover work from the likes of David Jason as DM and the late Terry Scott as Penfold, along with some silly storylines, it was a cartoon about a secret agent that revelled in the silliness and farce of the late 70s vaudeville but updated it with 80s sensibilities.

So there's trepidation about the update of the Cosgrove Hall animation - and one that's not initially allayed by the awful update of the iconic theme tune.

But the show itself is actually nothing short of brilliant.

Updated with a fresher look that's more in line with the Nickleodeon sensibilities, the show's lost none of its sheen, preferring to stick to the overall hilarity and DNA that made the original such a hit.

With a voiceover from Come Dine With Me's Dave Lamb, great work from Kevin Eldon as Penfold and a brilliant turn by Alexander Armstrong as DM (who sounds like a younger David Jason) - not to mention Stephen Fry as Colonel K, the show's as nutty as it ever was. Concentrating on the puns and over the top silliness, Danger Mouse is great fun.

The only bum note is the update of Baron Greenback who is a little left behind due to a different take on the villain.

That said, overall, the 7 episodes in the updated DangerMouse are great yarns. Clocking in at only 11 minutes they zip by and with their meta touches, never outstay their welcome.

The Revenant: DVD Review

The Revenant: DVD Review

Released by 20th Century Fox

The savagery of survival is just one of the elements explored in the adaptation of the 2002 novel by Michael Punke, The Revenant brought to the screen by Alejandro G Innaritu, the award-winning director of Birdman.

Already nominated in the Golden Globes for both its lead actor and director, the film’s about Leonardo Di Caprio’s Hugh Glass , an 1820s frontiersman in uncharted America. When the group he’s working with are attacked by Pawnee Indians, they’re forced to flee. And things get even worse when Glass is mauled by a bear and is left for dead by those charged with his care….

While The Revenant is essentially a spiritual piece about rebirth and revenge, Innaritu’s created a film that’s visually rich. Working with his cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, Innaritu’s made a great fist of the backgrounds on offer in the wilds as well as ensuring the fight for survival is intensely personally shot. A final shot is surprising and ensures The Revenant is burned into your brain as it leaves.

The story’s not exactly original, given the themes of vengeance and the rape of the land from Native Indians and while it’s adapted from a book, it’s not entirely successful in making the transition.

Narratively, the Indians provide the impetus at the start only to disappear as the story progresses and then re-appear when it suits (a thread about a chief’s abducted daughter seems to dawdle and lose steam as it circles the main thread) before re-appearing on the scene at the end. Equally, the French elements in the hills who seem so instrumental in Glass' group's demise are tossed casually to one side.

But perhaps in many ways, this is the way to structure the at times viscerally raw story of this fur trapper because it's Leo's film through and through.

After the intensity of the savage CGI bear attack (a sequence which only shows a few animated cracks as the bear protects its cubs in the most vicious way possible), Glass is left physically shattered and with a slashed throat and therefore our actor without a mouthpiece.

But Di Caprio manages to seethe and struggle through, with a physical performance that is both commanding and watchable. It's helped by a few surprising moments of breaking the fourth wall - notably in the very last shot - but not in the way we've become accustomed to. Fuelled by revenge and a desire to survive instilled in him by his slaughtered wife, Glass's journey, both spiritual and physical is a compelling one. By depriving him of a background and injecting him with a raw primordial push to live, Inarritu almost makes him mythical like Clint Eastwood's Man with No name (even if Di Caprio's throaty whisper is Dirty Harry like towards the end)

Poulter, Gleeson and Hardy deserve mention too as supporting players in this wilderness tale. Perhaps Hardy as the antagonist of the piece Fitzgerald is the one who emerges with a bit more of a rounded character as he expands on his own past and his scalping at the hands of the Pawnee Indians is a subtle tale, showing the horrors of colonialism and the anger of the natives. But his nagging self-preservation starts to strike a chord and make a lot of sense as he compels others to leave Glass behind.

While this odyssey could have done with an expeditious trim of some 20 minutes, there's no denying the power of the visual execution of The Revenant. Doused in spiritual edges and executed with visual precision by Inarritu, this tale of man vs nature with lashings of personal vengeance sprinkled liberally throughout becomes a story of resilience and a film of bravado.

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Newstalk ZB Review - Tickled, The Nice Guys and Alice Through The Looking Glass

Newstalk ZB Review - Tickled, The Nice Guys and Alice Through The Looking Glass

This morning on Newstalk ZB, I took a look at Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe's buddy comedy The Nice Guys, as well as David Farrier and Dylan Reeve's doco Tickled. And Johnny Depp in Alice Through The Looking Glass.

Take a listen below:

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-mornings-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-the-nice-guys-tickled/

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands E3 material revealed

 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands E3 material revealed

 

UBISOFT® HEADING TO E3 2016

WITH A BRAND NEW TRAILER

FOR TOM CLANCY’S GHOST RECON^® WILDLANDS

Collector’s Editions Available for Pre-Order

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – May 26, 2016 – Ubisoft has kicked off its E3 festivities with a brand new trailer for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon^® Wildlands, the latest in the best-selling Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon franchise, and unveiled pre order details on Xbox One, PlayStation^®4 computer entertainment system and Windows PC.

To view the trailer click the image below

Developed by Ubisoft Paris, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands is the first military shooter set in a massive and responsive open world, entirely playable in single-player or up to four-player co-op. Players will discover Bolivia a few years from now, a country turned by the vicious Santa Blanca drug cartel into a narco-state.

Sent behind enemy lines, Ghosts will have to cripple the Santa Blanca cartel’s operation, breaking alliances between the drug lords and the corrupt government, and saving the Bolivian population from the cruelty of El Sueño, Santa Blanca’s ruthless leader. To do so, players will have a total freedom of choice to accomplish their missions how they want and watch as the world reacts to their actions.

“As a part of the Tom Clancy franchise, authenticity is one of our pillars. Our goal has been to build the Ghosts as credible Spec Ops that can face the roughness of the Bolivian multifaceted landscape,” said Eric Couzian, Creative Director on Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands. “Ghosts are survivors and hunters, they can blend in all sorts of environments, leaving no trace except in the heads of their terrified enemies. We want players to feel this power.”

Furthermore, Ubisoft has also announced that the following premium editions are available for pre-order now, in addition to the standard game:

·         The Deluxe Edition available for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands in retail and digital stores contains the Standard Edition and the digital Deluxe Pack which includes: the Huntsman rifle and motorbike, 3 emblems, 3 weapon camos, 3 character customization items and an XP booster. The physical version of this edition will also include 2 extra physical items: an in-game map of Bolivia and the original soundtrack of the game.

·         The Gold Edition available in retail and digital stores which includes the Season Pass, giving players access to two major expansions as well as exclusive digital content featuring equipment packs, an exclusive vehicle and epic weapons, and the digital Deluxe Pack.

·         The Calavera Collector’s Case, exclusive to Uplay Shop, comes with all the equipment to operate as a Ghost plunged deep dive into Bolivia to take down the vicious Santa Blanca cartel. This includes the Gold Edition alongside the Ghost’s Audio Headset replica, a fully functional headset for PlayStation 4, Xbox One* and PC. Last but not least, this Collector’s Case also contains a Santa Blanca Cartel Skull, an in-game map of Bolivia, the original soundtrack of the game, a Bolivian carrying pouch and 3 postcards of Bolivia.

·         The Fallen Angel Edition, includes the game, Fallen Angel figurine, the official soundtrack, game map of Bolivia and Season Pass giving you access to two major expansions as well as all the deluxe pack in game content.

·         The Limited Edition, includes the game, an exclusive steelbook and The Peruvian Connection mission set.

Additionally, fans who pre-order the game will also receive a bonus mission, “The Peruvian Connection”, in which they will embark on a perilous mission among the high mountains of Bolivia to break the alliance between the Santa Blanca and Peruvian Cartels.

The Big Short: DVD Review

The Big Short: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent


It seems like the housing crisis and crash is Hollywood's topic du jour.

With the searing 99 Homes not far behind in the cinematic window, the director of Anchorman brings us the true story of what happened when four outsiders predicted the housing bubble bursting in the mid-2000s and used it to their advantage and to expose the banks' stupidity.

The first to see the flaw is Dr Michael Burry (Christian Bale), a Mastodon loving, bare-footed analyst who works for Scion Capital; but his plan to bet against the banks provides a few ripples thanks to a wrong number call to Steve Carell's Mark Baum. His group begin to make some enquiries and start to see Burry's idea has some legs and decide to buy in as well.

Based on The Big Short: Inside The Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis, Adam McKay's film isn't afraid to engross you in the technical babble and the small print of the credit default swaps that precipitated the downfall.

It's also not afraid to realise that it's quite a dry and serious subject and so has its director use various conventions to shatter through the tedium. Chief among these is Ryan Gosling's character Jared Vennett whose breaking of the fourth wall invites an audience in and plays to the film's cocking a snook MO at the stuffiness of its material. Equally, when the story's about to get to some crucially excruciating techno-babble, McKay isn't afraid to cut away to the likes of Selena Gomez and Margot Robbie in a bubble-bath to provide the necessary explanations. It's a clever narrative touch that veers on being a little too smart early on and borders on treating its subject with irreverence, but McKay is fully aware that these moves ensure an audience pays attention to an ongoing issue that's still a problem.

Of the main cast, it's really only Carell as Mark Baum (who's based on Steve Eisman) who feels like they have an emotional connection for you to latch on to. Troubled by the suicide of his brother, and wrapped tighter than a coil in his anger and arrogance, Baum is the only one who feels like a real character and the only one to express an unease at the implications of their benefiting from the banks.

It's a fascinating edge that could have done with a little more exploration, given that the others are essentially anti-heroes who are truly more one dimensional cut-outs populating the picture.

There's an irony in the ever-so-slightly-overlong The Big Short over the way these guys rorted the system that was up for exposure and there are lessons to be learned, but perhaps the biggest message from this almost flashy stylish docu-drama is how much Adam McKay's underplayed his directorial hand. His execution of this film and its ensemble cast will ensure the message of concern over the banks and the housing bubble will get through to the masses - even if it occasionally teeters into didactic but well-needed territory.

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HITMAN - Next Sarajevo Six Target

HITMAN - Next Sarajevo Six Target

SYDNEY, 27^TH May 2016 - The third Sarajevo Six target will be available with HITMAN Episode 3: Marrakesh.

Your target is Walter Menard, a veteran of the paramilitary SIGMA UNIT active during the Yugoslav War of the 90s. Your target has currently been tasked with handling the evacuation of rogue banker Claus Strandberg in Marrakesh.

Watch the HITMAN – The Sarajevo Six (Target #3) trailer at: https://youtu.be/cbLUXwyiOtc

PS4 players get exclusive access to The Sarajevo Six. These are six bonus contracts that tell a self-contained side-story revolving around former members of a paramilitary unit called CICADA. Agent 47 will travel the world in pursuit of his targets, with one bonus contract available in each location from the game.

The launch date for HITMAN Episode 3: Marrakesh will be on May 31, 2016. Visit hitman.com for more information.