NZIFF Preview - Hotel Coolgardie, A War, Le Ride

NZIFF Preview - Hotel Coolgardie, A War, Le Ride

With the launch of the Auckland leg of the New Zealand International Film Festival not far away, it's all hands to the programme as cinephiles scour the world's selection of filmic treats.

Likely to do for Aussie outback pubs what Wolf Creek did for Australian outback tourism, doco Hotel Coolgardie follows two Finnish backpackers who wind up working at the titular pub after losing all their cash in Bali.

But much like Wolf Creek, it's no less hellish for the duo in Pete Gleeson's fly-on-the-wall piece that shows tolerance is always on the slide as these so called "fresh meat" take to life behind the bar in a baptism of fire that would see many an HR rep running for the hills, unable to sway those perpetuating the sexism and abuse within.

Hotel Coolgardie

And yet, despite the crassness of the Aussie locals, there's something eminently watchable about the proceedings as it reveals the reality of small towns, where everyone knows your business, where drunk patrons do their best to sleep over with the staff and where there's apparently no such thing as a free ride.

Horrifying on many fronts, Hotel Coolgardie's strengths are its honesty; none of what transpires feels less heart-in-mouth than a horror in many ways, but what Gleeson's managed to do is show the reality of a small town and the sociological traits that lie within; many of which will feel familiar to many in New Zealand no matter how much they may feel shame or deny it. No male in this piece comes off well at all - and the girls' saintliness is only further excelled by the way they deal with what goes on.

Though one suspects tourism to the Coolgardie area won't exactly be on the rise after this hits the circuit.

Equally calm and measured, though no less devastating is Krigen (A War).

Tobias Lindholm's drama takes a look at life in Afghanistan for the boys serving there and also back home where the families have to negotiate life.

While the men tackle the constant threats of IEDs and uncertainty in an Afghan province, the women are dealing with no less volatile situations back on the domestic front that include kids accidentally swallowing pills.

A War

While Lindholm carefully orchestrates events by gradually building up back story, the flesh on the bones of this tale is one of the moral ambiguity of conflict when Game Of Thrones star Pilou Asbaek is forced to make a heat-of-the-moment decision that lands him back in court. Switching from war zone to war court may have crippled any other drama, but due to the gradual drawing out of suspense and the grounding of actual reality, what transpires is no less gripping than previous film fest fave A Hijacking and The Hunt (to which Lindholm contributed a screenplay).

Le Ride sees Phil Keoghan take on his own Amazing Race.

Shorn of the majority of the glamorous trappings of the TV show, Keoghan's desire to demonstrate a little known Kiwi's achievements of the world stage is admirable in its intent.

For many, the name Harry Watson means nothing; but after Le Ride, Keoghan's hope of restoring his name to the annals of history may have taken a large leap. Mixing the Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman ethos of the Long Way Round with a road trip in France, Keoghan and his mate Ben Cornell are determind to follow Watson's path from the 1928 Tour De France.

Le Ride

With a bike that was from the 1928 ride (ie no real gears).

While some of those roads are long gone, this doesn't stop the duo from instigating "the story that has to be told" and setting out on the trail. Mixing archive footage, present day suffering (Keoghan even insisted on keeping to the 1928 diet of bread, cheese and wine) and plenty of lashings of camaraderie and good nature, Le Ride is a journey well worth taking.

With the typical Keoghan charm in the face of growing adversity (from cracks on the bikes to being outbiked by someone in their 60s who took part in the original race), this is never less than genial - and while less is known about Kiwi Harry Watson than any other of any of our more prolific sports exports on the world stage, Keoghan and Cornell ensure that his profile is raised considerably in this piece that quietly salutes his achievements.

Le Ride's greatest achievement will come from being on the NZIFF circuit - granted, Keoghan's high profile should see many more through the doors than simply those within the biking community, but a wider audience will leave feeling they've had access to a story they would normally have never glimpsed into.

Telltale Publishing brings the hit survival game '7 Days to Die' to PlayStation® 4 and Xbox One®

Telltale Publishing brings the hit survival game '7 Days to Die' to PlayStation® 4 and Xbox One®

'7 Days to Die' Crafts Its Undead Survival Phenomenon on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One   Telltale Publishing and The Fun Pimps Release the Hit Survival Horde Crafting Game on Consoles in North America and Europe for the First Time

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., and Dallas, TX, June 28th, 2016 -- Telltale Publishing today announced the release of hit survival horde crafting game 7 Days to Die on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One for the first time, as a digital, and a retail product in collaboration with the Dallas-based independent developer, The Fun Pimps.    7 Days to Die is now available in stores at retail and digitally in North America on the PlayStation®Network for PlayStation 4, the Xbox Games Store for Xbox One®. The game will also be available starting July 1st both digitally and at retail for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in Europe.   Set in a brutally unforgiving post-apocalyptic world overrun by the undead, 7 Days to Die is an open-world survival game that is a unique combination of first person shooter, survival horror, tower defense, and role-playing games. It presents combat, crafting, looting, mining, exploration, and character growth, in a way that has seen a rapturous response from fans worldwide, generating hundreds of thousands of hours of community content on YouTube and other streaming video platforms.   "7 Days to Die has already proven to be wildly popular with over 1.5 million PC users worldwide, and we're thrilled to be expanding this unique take on the survival genre to console players everywhere," said Steve Allison, SVP Publishing at Telltale, Inc. "The Fun Pimps have created something special with this title. The way the game seamlessly combines elements from disparate yet complementary genres, it all comes together in a challenging, terrifying, and above all, enormously fun experience - one that we're incredibly excited to bring to a whole new audience on consoles."   "We're still astounded and humbled by the amazingly positive reaction 7 Days to Die has received from Steam Early Access users on PC," said Rick Huenink, Co-Founder of The Fun Pimps. "Working with Telltale Publishing to bring the game to even more players on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 has been fantastic. We've added some special features just for this console release, and beyond launch, we have some exciting DLC already in the works that we hope console players are going to love."   The console version of 7 Days to Die adds a new multiplayer mode supporting local split-screen for couch play. The game will also be supported by exciting DLC content, beginning with a Walking Dead skin pack featuring characters from the Telltale series, set to release in the coming weeks.   7 Days to Die is rated is rated 'M' (Mature) for Blood and Gore, Strong Language, and Violence by the ESRB. The game is published by Telltale Publishing in partnership with The Fun Pimps.   7 Days to Die is also currently available for Windows, Mac OS X, and SteamOS and Linux in Early Access on the Steam platform. For more information on The Fun Pimps, visit  the official website, follow @7DaystoDie on Twitter, and like 7 Days to Die on Facebook .   For more information on Telltale Publishing, visit the official website, Facebook, and follow  @TelltalePublish on Twitter.

The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine DLC: PS4 Review

The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine DLC: PS4 Review

Released by CD Projekt Red
Platform: PS4

The Witcher 3 bids farewell in its final expansion DLC after what's been a tremendous release for the series, with critical acclaim ringing in its ears.

It's a fairly familiar premise for those who are already au fait with Geralt of Rivia - there's a beast terrorising the kingdom of Toussaint and it's up to Geralt to slay the beast, save the day and restore the world to safety.

It's Geralt's Witcher powers which make him able to track the Beast of Beauclair - and also which will help with some pretty tough boss fights. However, it's about an investigation, so it takes time naturally to come to a conclusion and that's no bad thing, given the way Toussaint's made up. From splits between worlds and those within, the society is excellently laid real and Geralt's place within is nicely explored as well.

Visually the game's mightily impressive once again, with Toussaint looking incredible in its execution as you explore the deaths of several knights within. Side quests are prevalent once again, but it's the in-depth nature of this DLC that makes it so worth diving into.

The Witcher series has always been about engagement and engrossing yourself in the kingdom and the world within and with some 30 hours of extra work to be done here, there's never any chance of feeling the expansion is a once over lightly style cash in; it's a living breathing final chapter of a series that's as satisfying as it is exciting.

Central Intelligence: Film Review

Central Intelligence: Film Review 

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Amy Ryan
Director: Rawson Marhsall Thurber

Mixing Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion with a spy caper sounds like a recipe for relative success, but Central Intelligence lacks the relative finesse to pull it all off.

That’s despite great chemistry between the two leads, Dwayne The Rock Johnson and everybody’s favourite screeching screen star Kevin Hart.

Johnson plays Bob Stone, who was in an obese high school student humiliated some 20 years ago. Hart is Calvin Joyner, a jock and high school popular guy (known as The Golden Jet) who helped Stone on his lowest day. But voted most likely to succeed, Joyner’s now hit middle age and works as an accountant.

On the eve of their high school reunion, Joyner’s contacted out of the blue by Stone, who’s now a fanny pack, unicorn T-shirt wearing beefcake. Intrigued Joyner goes along to meet him and finds himself thrust into a twisting cul-de-sac of espionage and potential lies.

There may be intelligence in the title, but there’s little intelligence on display throughout this broad buddy comedy.

Granted, the chemistry between the duo propels a lot of the nonsense of Central Intelligence along (before it simply lapses into guns being shot off and traditional action film fare). 

Dwayne Johnson has a blast playing goofy and a bit dorky as the muscle-head and clearly relishes the chance to be a bit broader than his usual action meat and potatoes action hero stance. Playing up the physicality and yet still professing mad love for Sixteen Candles works well for the slightly doofus approach that's taken. And Hart starts off well, winding down the usual squawking he's familiar for - but ultimately, falls back on this schtick of shrill screeching and flapping around.

Ultimately, Central Intelligence will rise and fall on how much you like these two because the plot itself is fairly non-existent and surplus to requirements.

It may sound disingenuous to dismiss Central Intelligence for its intentions, but there aren't enough laughs or more of a hook than the comedian being the straight guy and the action hero being the kook to carry it all the way through.

Fairly generic and formulaic in anything other than the leading duo's chemistry, Central Intelligence is nothing short of slightly punishingly predictable - with neither enough laughs nor enough flair to leave you feeling you've seen something special.

NZIFF Preview - Weiner, Wide Open Sky, Lo and Behold, Swiss Army Man

NZIFF Preview - Weiner, Wide Open Sky, Lo and Behold, Swiss Army Man

The annual cinematic smorgasbord that is the New Zealand International Film Festival has signalled its intentions with the release of the Auckland programme.

With a new Animation mini-season thrown in as well as a healthy selection from Cannes, there’s no sign the festival is in anything other than rude health.

From the Palme D’or winner I, Daniel Blake to the joyous looking Red Turtle (you should always make a beeline to the Civic for any animation), there’s more than enough to satiate the cinematic appetite.

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World

Much anticipated is Werner Herzog’s Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World, in which the German director takes a look at the internet and all that it entails. With his usual breezy voiceover and slightly unusual line of questioning, Herzog’s view of what electronically lies ahead is fascinating and engaging viewing. And his debate over whether the internet can dream of itself is both terrifying and curiously enticing – it’s much Herzog’s MO that makes this doco such an intriguing watch.

Equally enticing and with a title that both simultaneously describes your perception of its subject and names him, Weiner is perhaps one of the stand out docos of the festival.

Weiner

A fascinating look at New York mayoral hopeful and Democratic congressman who torpedoed his own chances by tweeting some less than helpful pictures, Weiner manages fly on the wall mixed with schadenfreude and hubris with equal aplomb. While the director never really gets to ask the central question of why Weiner did such a thing, the fact the cameras continue to roll both demonstrate director Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg’s raison d’etre. Much like the fascination of a burning fire, this threatens to explode everywhere and presents more questions than answers, but it’s a documentary that demands to be seen.

Aussie doco Wide Open Sky arrives at the festival with an audience award from Sydney in tow, and in this crowd-pleasing piece that mixes both Young@Heart with a School of Rock sensibility, the story of teacher Michelle Leonard’s desire to get youngsters in the poorer parts of NSW onto the stage and finding their voices is as uplifting as anything witnessed thus far at this year’s festival. Simply shot and doing exactly what you’d expect given its subject matter, Wide Open Sky is nothing short of joyous; a testament to those who do the right thing, and a platform for the under-appreciated, if it doesn’t leave you feeling like there’s dust in the cinema that’s attacking your eyes, there’s something clearly wrong with you.

Wide Open Sky

Talking of things wrong with you, Swiss Army Man should, in theory, be about as wrong as it can get.

Paul Dano’s Hank is washed up, all at sea, literally and figuratively. Abandoned on a desert island, and with no hope, he’s about to hang himself when Harry Potter’s corpse washes up on the beach. (There’s a delicious irony that the film festival is bringing us a dead Harry Potter when so many of their previous years have seen their runs plagued by the latest outing from the Boy Wizard hitting the box office).

Swiss Army Man

Believing this to be a sign, Hank’s despair rises when Daniel Radcliffe’s Manny offers only flatulence which Hank utilises to jetski off from the island.  Mixing what seems like a puerile idea with some wonderfully crafted moments of profundity, Swiss Army Man is tremendously affecting. There’s no denying it’ll be a polarising experience in many ways, but with some truly wonderful leaps of imagination from Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, it’s actually one of the most original films on the programme, both a simultaneous celebration of life itself and an examination of one man on the brink of life, Dano and Radcliffe make a truly wonderful odd couple on a wonderfully odd journey that’s one of a kind.

London Has Fallen: DVD Review

London Has Fallen: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent


Olympus Has Fallen was stodgy action at best.

The 2013 action flick was, in fairness, a film about a one man secret service against the masses on a quest to ensure his homo-erotic bromance with the Prez was safe from terrorist threats.

So it is with London Has Fallen, an action film brushed with such mind-numbing formulaic touches and flat action sequences that it somehow manages to make its 95 minute run time feel like something of an endurance.

This time around, Mike Banning (Gerard Butler in straight up form) is contemplating quitting POTUS' detail because of impending fatherhood. However, just before he hits send on the email, he's called in to mind Aaron Eckhart's President Benjamin Asher, who's about to be called away to London to attend the state funeral of the UK Prime Minister, who's died without warning.

In among the gathering of all the western heads of the state, Banning isn't happy; with just days to prep a full security detail, it's clear there's danger on every corner.

And it turns out, Banning is right as a major terrorist strike takes out several of the western leaders, leaving Banning and the President on the run....

The thing is with London Has Fallen, there's a kernel of some good ideas trying to raise their head to the cinematic light and trying to poke their way through.

Social commentary on drone strikes and those who perpetrate them from their high and mighty pedestals, terrorist executions on the internet and how budget cuts are forcing security services to compromise ultimately endangering us all are just two of them jostling for creative air to breathe.

Unfortunately, they're lambasted into obscurity and battered into submission by seriously sub-par FX (which would easily be bettered on any of the next gen consoles) and by a script that pushes racism and below par comments from Banning as he dispatches the bad guys amid a hail of bullets and never once copping any single flak a la The A Team.

The worst of these offending dispatches comes with Banning telling one that he needs to "go back to F**kheadistan" without any sense of irony and with every sense of lunk-headed racism. It's essentially, Team America: World Police but without any of the subtlety. (An oxymoron I am very aware of).

Half the problem is London Has Fallen takes itself so seriously that it has to be measured by the same standards, and finds itself wanting on so many levels.

Lacking any sense of fun or even any feel of urgency, London Has Fallen may pile in the rote action sequences but not one of them stands out from the crowd, feeling like it's been designed by committee and executed by no-one with any particular flair. Explosions taking out London landmarks have no emotional weight and don't carry any of the vicarious thrill or weight that seeing the likes of the White House vaporised by an alien spacecraft can muster.

By utilising a sprawling city, London has effectively traded some of the claustrophobia from the White House that was so well used and exploited in Olympus Has Fallen.

Equally, the final sections suddenly remember there are a few extraneous plot threads which need erroneously tying up with sudden urgency. (Don't even get me started on how this world is not one for women, the majority of whom are confined to either death, being sidelined with pregnancy and looking worried or forgotten about despite initially being part of the script).\

Depressingly, it'll no doubt do gang-busters as the box office, precipitating yet another sequel, with no doubt Butler reprising his woeful John McClane impression.

While it does require some commendation for mocking worldwide perceptions and stereotypes of the western leaders (the French premier decides to be 10 minutes late to the funeral, the Italian prime minister is lustily showing a 30 year around on a private tour), there's nothing clever about the rest of the execution of London Has Fallen, an un-PC, tedious and desperately below-par action film.

Rating:

Galaga / PacMan: PS4 Review

Galaga / PacMan: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Released by Bandai Namco

Galaga was a childhood obsession of mine.

The arcade game dropped in 1981 and was a simple concept; a top down static shooter that saw waves of bees and wasp like creatures bearing down on you.

Along with Pac-Man, a lot of my time was eaten up – along with my money – in arcades endlessly replaying these classic and simply executed games.

The Bandai Namco re-release along with Pac-Man and Dig Dug has formed a PSN pack to be downloaded onto the PS4 – and to ensure all that pain of the childhood is unleashed once again.

The ports are incredibly faithful and well executed; not one of them feels like the originals have been tinkered with and as a result, these games feel like a step back in time in terms of gameplay.

Within 2 minutes of Galaga being fired up, I was being killed in exactly the same way I was when I was 14.

And that was both a source of glee and frustration.

The PS4 controller works well for Galaga but doesn’t fare as well with the directional controls of both Pac-Man and Dig Dug, with deaths easily avoidable had the game simply been an old fashioned joystick.

But that’s a minor niggle for a pretty damn sweet set of reminiscences that look and play like the originals – in this day of tinkering and reversioning the classics that all of these games are exactly how you remember them is a welcome diversion.

Ultimately, you’ll lose the same amount of time you always did when you were younger and you’ll love every damn addictive last second of it.

Newstalk ZB Review - Talking Finding Dory, Independence Day Resurgence and looking at the NZIFF

Newstalk ZB Review - Talking Finding Dory, Independence Day Resurgence and looking at the NZIFF

Film critic Darren Bevan joins Jack Tame to discuss the latest film releases, including the fishy Finding Dory and soulless CGI-based action flick Independence Day: Resurgence.

Darren also suggests film fans get amongst the New Zealand International Film Festival, after the programme for this year was released. 

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-morning-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-finding-dory-independence-day-resurgence-and/

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-morning-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-finding-dory-independence-day-resurgence-and/

The Wonder Years: The Complete Collection: DVD Review

The Wonder Years: The Complete Collection: DVD Review

Rating: PG
Released by Madman Home Ent

There's just something nostalgic about The Wonder Years TV series.

Running over 5 years from 1988 to 1993, the show's 115 episodes encapsulated the family drama and showed a side of America that had started to break out on TV. Set in the 60s and 70s and focussing on the Arnold family (with Kevin the youngster being played by Fred Savage), the show looked at the family unit and the daily dramas.

With his best friend Paul (Josh Saviano) and potential love interest Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar) the show explored the things that mattered to the units - from the Vietnam war to what his dad did for work, this is a show that got it right thanks to writing and the chemistry.

It's held up surprisingly well through the years, in large part due to the universality of the issues raised and while 115 eps doesn't exactly make this a binge-worthy proposition, this collection is worth owning and gradually ploughing through. With an extra that boasts the first cast reunion in 16 years, newly produced featurettes and interviews, it's an exhaustive and impressive trip down nostalgia lane.

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:

Tale of Tales: Blu Ray Review

Tale of Tales: Blu Ray Review

Rating: R13
Released by Madman Home Ent

The director of Gomorrah and Reality, Matteo Garrone, constructs a Brothers Grimm style triptych with Tale of Tales, taken from a clutch of Neopolitan fairy tales written by Italian poet Giambattista Basile.

In a kingdom (possibly not too far from the visual neighbourhood of Westeros) where monsters, hags, ogres, kings and princesses live, we settle on the stories of a childless queen (Salma Hayek) who turns to magic to achieve her dream, a king (the wonderfully expressive Toby Jones) whose daughter wishes to be married and a randy king (Vincent Cassel) whose libido knows no boundaries.

Garishly gothic and slavishly baroque, Tale of Tales is not going to be everyone's taste.

As we plough through the portmanteau, there are perhaps hints that the stories don't intersect perhaps as well as Garrone would like (a thought borne out by the final shot) even if they do inhabit the same universe. And there are certainly threads that, even when pulled together in the final stages, snap and dangle unconvincingly rather than neatly tie together.

However, it's the visuals and the performances that keep Tale of Tales on a course of cinematic voyeurism.

Certainly the practical creature effects assign the film a credence that would make Guillermo del Toro happy and the locations are truly something to behold- and the human elements are equally as pleasing.

An obsequious Cassel brings thrust to the bacchanal leanings of his king, Hayek has a tragic touch that the barrenness of motherhood can only bring to life, and Toby Jones steals the piece with his superbly expressive king who is more concerned with the love of a tick than the happiness of his daughter (Jones alone deserves praise for the physical comedy he conveys with just a few cursive expressions).

But beneath the veneer of these fairy tales, the miasma of sadness and the thematic bond is a relatively strong one, a reminder that these stories have their heart in bloody tragedy; however, it's a touch that Garrone perhaps fudges in the ultimate execution. The majority of the stories hardly have a satisfying ending and the conclusion of the film feels arbitrary rather than resolute.

Perhaps one to savour for the darker delicious edges rather than the narrative execution, Tale of Tales proves to be a visual feast - albeit a hollow one.