Win a double pass to see Disney•Pixar's FINDING DORY!

Win a double pass to see Disney•Pixar's FINDING DORY!

To celebrate the release of FINDING DORY in cinemas, I've got passes to giveaway to the movie!

About Finding Dory

Disney•Pixar's “Finding Dory” reunites everyone’s favorite forgetful blue tang, Dory, with her friends Nemo and Marlin on a search for answers about her past.

What can she remember? Who are her parents?

And where did she learn to speak Whale?

Directed by Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo,” “WALL•E”) and produced by Lindsey Collins (co-producer “WALL•E”), the film features the voices of Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O'Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell, Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton. “Finding Dory” swims into theaters June 17, 2016.

Disney•Pixar's “Finding Dory” reunites everyone’s favorite forgetful blue tang, Dory, with her friends Nemo and Marlin on a search for answers about her past.

Disney•Pixar's FINDING DORY is rated G and in cinemas now!

To enter simply email to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com  and in the subject line put DORY. 

Please include your name and address and good luck!

Competition closes June 30th.

Independence Day Resurgence: Film Review

Independence Day Resurgence: Film Review

Cast: Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Maika Monroe, Brent Spiner
Director: Roland Emmerich

20 years after director Roland Emmerich audaciously blew apart the White House in one of cinema's enduring images, the aliens are back.

(Even if some of the original cast is not).

On the 20th anniversary of the 4th July invasions, and with the world living in harmony since the incursion, thanks to a large weapon and space defence force, things look pretty good.  But those involved in the original battle are haunted by visions of a return...

Independence Day Resurgence is everything you'd expect.

And so much less.

Clouded in gloomy dark visuals and with a cast that's way too big to service decently, it's a disaster movie that revels in its special FX, its cornball lines ("It's July 4th, let's show them some fireworks!") and feels like a desperate attempt to recapture some of that lightning in a bottle that struck so brilliantly some 20 years ago.

It's also dour too as it tries to shift the balance of power to the next generation of heroes, who are given the piecemeal tokenistic broadbrush character onceover and hope that the audience engages with them. It's a hard ask, even for Liam Hemsworth as a cocksure salt-of-the-earth pilot whose heart is in the right place. Worryingly, once again, it's the guys who save the day, even though we have a woman president (Sela Ward) and women scattered through power positions.

Fortunately, Goldblum and Spiner have a blast re-inhabiting their old roles as David Levison and Dr Okun respectively and enlighten proceedings in only the ways they can. Goldblum excels at rattling off wry one liners, remarking at one point in the destruction that the aliens "like to get the landmarks". Even Pullman pulls off crazy haunted well, before delivering a speech of unity to a hangar full of a handful of pilots, with a rousing OST building and swelling beneath him.

Emmerich once again displays an eye for destruction, but there's nothing as iconic as the original White House shot - and if anything, he's taking the mickey by delivering a barrage of destruction that simply knocks a US flag on its side atop a building. Only London Bridge gets a battering. That said, as the rote CGI destruction tears apart cities and countless lives that we once again don't care about, the carefully measured and clinically executed FX look the business on the big screen.

But it's ultimately soulless; a disaster film that juggles too many characters, throws in a bus load of kids just because it can and serves none of them brilliantly. Everyone's a cypher to the proceedings as the mash up of Aliens, Top Gun, Star Wars dog-fights and the first film plays out and consequently, despite being a film about humanity's unity (a fascinating concept), it's left to the Americans (and a couple of token Chinese) to band together to save the world.

The end hints at a "We're coming for you" third part, but really, this thinly veiled tantalising tease of America invading the cosmos just fills with dread - there's no need for more nostalgia; this latest has moments of fun and an original cast that's back for the ride, but this aiming-for-guilty-pleasure sequel isn't necessarily proof that bigger is always better.

The Visit: DVD Review

The Visit: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

Another film by the king of twists, M Night Shyamalan.

And teaming up with Blumhouse, the studio that makes sleepers hits for low amounts of cash seems to have been a reasonable formula for success too.

In this latest, it's the story of two kids, Becca and Tyler, who head to their grandparents having never visited them before. Dropped at the station by their mum, the duo decide to film a doco about it. Which all sounds perfectly reasonable until the pair get to the house and find their grandma acting strangely in the night. As they investigate further, things take a creepier turn...

The Visit is a slow to get started kind of film, that's tonally a bit of a mix. With moments of comedy and horror as well as a reveal that in true M Night Shyamalan style will polarise (and can't be discussed without severe spoilers), it's a film that doesn't quite stack up once the reveal comes. While the atmosphere and the found footage ideas work reasonably well and a cast of relative unknowns help sell the story, you can't help but feel let down by the ending.

That said, the ride is reasonably executed and while it may not hit for some, it will hit for others.

The Visit ultimately shows Shyamalan is still a master builder of execution, even if the revelations at the end don't quite add up.

Anomalisa: DVD Review

Anomalisa: DVD Review

Released by Universal Home Ent

Both a eureka moment for stop motion animation and a musing and discourse on life, Anomalisa is a disturbing piece of cinema, that's now been recognised by the Academy and the awards season in general.

David Thewlis voices Michael Stone, a customer service whiz whose motivational speeches have seen him check into a hotel prior to giving a keynote speech in Cincinnati the next day.

With only the night to keep him company, Stone meets a couple of women who've travelled to attend his seminar and strikes up a friendship with Lisa (Jason Leigh) who suffers from low self-esteem.

Anomalisa is an exercise in bleakness, an allegory of loneliness and a tragedy of a film.

Kaufman's casual mixing of a Barton Fink atmos with a sprinkling of Lost In Translation, along with a miserabilist look at a life on the edge of a mental precipice, gives Anomalisa something of a slightly depressing vibe, all wrapped up in a swathe of melancholia.

But as in any business trip, Kaufman's managed to capture an atmosphere of crippling loneliness and apply it to a man whose outlook is directly contrasted to his perception within the world. Granted, it's not a new idea or story, but it is heartbreakingly transposed to the screen with a stop-motion look that's both a mesh of crash test dummies and Tintin-esque rendering.

Guaranteed to provoke debate and stir divisiveness, Anomalisa strengths lie in its execution.

Haunting and rhapsodic, its perverseness and its starters for conversations over its symbolism will be its appeal to some - and there won't be many who won't fail to be moved in some way by the events within. Or at the very least, recognise something in its melancholy tale. Its progression from a one time only theatre piece to the small screen is a debt owed to its Kickstarter nature and its head-scratching-once-you-dig-below-the-surface premise.

Thewlis uses his voice brilliantly to convey the frailty within this long dark night of the soul but his ultimate unravelling is psychologically distressing. There's an innate sadness and a frustration to Stone, a man whose introspection is a fertile and frequently familiar ground given the way the modern world is going. Wrapping alienation with loneliness is not a unique proposition, and both Kaufman and Johnson know the right tics to expand and expound their viewpoints. And Jennifer Jason Leigh brings an arc to Lisa, the woman with whom Stone connects (or grooms, depending on your take on it all) but whose ultimate destination gives the film the emotional edge it needs.

There's so much to discuss in Anomalisa (is the hotel Fregoli a major clue?) and to do so is to enter spoiler territory, but by throwing in moments of deeply wry humour among an examination and discourse of the human condition, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind scribe Charlie Kaufman has brought to life a reflection and a gradually disquieting essay that's both bizarrely distressing and weirdly enlightening.

Rating:

Win a Sing Street prize pack

Win a Sing Street prize pack

BOY MEETS GIRL.

GIRL UNIMPRESSED.

BOY STARTS BAND.

A boy growing up in Dublin during the 1980s escapes his strained family life by starting a band to impress the mysterious girl he likes.

Sing Street hits cinemas June 30th.

To celebrate the release of director John Carney's latest, I've got double passes and copies of Begin Again on DVD to giveaway!

To enter simply email to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com  and in the subject line put SING STREET. Please include your name and address and good luck!

The Last Witch Hunter: DVD Review

The Last Witch Hunter: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

Mixing up a bit of Harry Potter, some of Men In Black co-existence and Vin Diesel's trademark gruffness, The Last Witch Hunter is a CGI genre fest that could have set up an interesting universe.

Diesel is Kaulder, who managed to slay an all-powerful Queen Witch back in the Dark Ages and staved off the unleashing of the Black Death. But in doing so, the Witch cursed him to be immortal, preventing him from joining his slaughtered family.

Now in the present day, an uneasy truce exists between witches and Kaulder, the Last (and only) Witch Hunter. However, when Kaulder's long time friend and watcher Dolan the 36th (played as the sole exposition deliverer by Michael Caine) is mysteriously offed, Kaulder uncovers a conspiracy to resurrect the Witch and her plans for world destruction.

With the usual Diesel acting flair, The Last Witch Hunter remains a film that could have been so much more, and one which proffers so much potential for a wider universe and tapestry.

Steeped in a mythology that has a depth but little breadth thanks to endless exposition, and touches of Supernatural the TV series, Eisner's managed to pull together a film that's not quite sure what it wants to be. Channeling a mismatched buddy cop vibe when Diesel's Kaulder teams up first with a new Dolan (Elijah Wood), who's clearly out of his depth when it comes to tackling matters and then a mortal enemy of a witch (played by Game of Thrones' Rose Leslie, who brings some light and spunkiness to the proceedings), the film struggles to balance its seriousness with its attempts to throw in some truly laughable dialogue and one-liners.

Shrouded in darkness, the action sequences never really deliver any real punch as this sub-parBuffy The Vampire Slayer rip-off continues - and not one set piece stands out. Although he struggles with the more emotive parts of the film, Diesel's watchable enough (and even the makers of the film are smart / silly enough to give him a fast car to prowl around in as a nod to his famed character) but wandering around like Blade and dipping into his own memories, complete with boggly eyes doesn't really further the plot at all.While the CGI is clearly where the money has been spent on this B-movie and the evocation of the witch's world is a relatively intriguing one that could have done with some more depth to flesh it out. Our very own Rena Owen makes a strong lead as the head of the Witch's council but has little to do except deflect Misfitsand This Is England star Joseph Gilgun's barb that they look like "a horrible band from the 80s". It's this kind of under-writing that plagues the film that aims for low-hanging fruit and succeeds; supporting characters are barely sketched so that when the emotional moments come, they fail to land properly.

All in all, The Last Witch Hunter is not campy enough to be a classic and not strong enough to resonate. It ends with the promise of more films to come, but one hopes that the only prophetic part of the title of The Last Witch Hunter proves to be the word "last".

Rating:

Concussion: Blu Ray Review

Concussion: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent


Based on the book Game Brain and a "True story", Concussion is a worthy but slightly overblown drama about the after effects of American football.

In Pittsburgh (all drab greys and dour palettes) Smith plays Nigerian pathologist Bennet Omalu who's on duty when Pittsburgh Steelers legend Mike Webster (a bloated David Morse) is brought in after apparently committing suicide.

But as the home-town hero is dissected, Omalu falls foul of the fact he's an outsider and that he doesn't watch or understand football. And when further NFL players end up in the mortuary, Omalu begins to feel he should speak for the dead with his proof that repeated collisions lead to life-altering brain injuries - despite the fact no one wants to listen.

Concussion is more a fumble than a touchdown to be frank.

Smith and fellow performer and love interest Mbatha-Raw are usually stars with immense charisma on screen and whose star-wattage usually brings an energetic level to the screen. Wisely dialled down, Smith is more of a dim bulb burning brightly in a film that's earnest but never quite manages to vault its ambitions of celebrating the American dream and overcoming the odds.

Despite a brilliant turn by Albert Brooks as Dr Cyril Wecht, Omalu's mentor who injects some life and some dry wit into the proceedings, this above the line TV movie never manages to fully get off the sideline. Baldwin also manages to give some life to an-off-the-page whistleblower but never soars.

A domestic storyline for Omalu in the form of his love feels shoe-horned in and is turned to when the drama demands a break rather than out of narrative necessity; equally brief glimpses of the players do little to build character before they end up on the slab where Omalu talks gently to them, leading the audience to feel nothing for their demise.

The true horror of the film is the fact these collisions continue to take place and that the NFL is apparently aware of them but refuse to warn players. It's here the dramatic meat of the story lies and the shock factor should have hit home, despite Concussion being over-stuffed with plot. Had it been streamlined and some of the drama benched, it could have been so much more.

But despite everything Smith does in a just above average performance, Concussion's desire to overly ram home the point with an overt over-use of head-crunching footy footage does nothing to further the cause and may have you leaving the cinema scratching your head before forgetting all that's passed.

Rating: