Midnight Special: NZIFF Review

Midnight Special: NZIFF Review

Michael Shannon and director Jeff Nichols were responsible for a formative film festival experience when Take Shelter aired in 2011.

This time around, after more earthly concerns with Tye Sheridan in Mud, Nichols and Shannon re-team for what's essentially a sci-fi Spielbergian earth set chase story.

Shannon is Roy, who, as the film begins, is on the run, sparking a manhunt when he takes his supposedly-blessed-with-super-powers young son Alton (Jaeden Liberher) from a cult compound. Aided by childhood friend Lucas (Animal Kingdom's Joel Edgerton), the search for the pair is frantic, especially when the FBI and National Security team up after some disturbing anomalies are brought to light...

There's an all pervading sense of mystery to Midnight Special that sustains large chunks of the proceedings.

Much like the brilliant Take Shelter, Midnight Special revels in ambiguity for the large part, teasing out moments and dripping out answers when least expected. But it's the human element of this chase flick that ground it so sensibly in a reality and these are excellently executed by the triumvirate of Shannon, Liberher and Nicholls.

However, the suspense is always evident and while the ultimate resolution may prove to be polarising, the relationship between father and son proves central to proceedings. Shannon is never less than watchable throughout and his love for son and reasons for doing what he does are never hard to understand.

Nicholls is also the star here, ratcheting up tension and playing with the sci-fi tropes and teases with remarkable ease. He's also got an incredible way of yanking the rug from under you, with a couple of moments smacking you upside the solar plexus.

While it's perhaps fair to say Nicholls is still chasing the high of the giddiness of Take Shelter's bravura edges, it's also fair to say that Midnight Special lacks some of the prowess of that film.

But in terms of furthering Nicholls' reputation and taking the M Night Shyamalan touches of the story and making them his own, Midnight Special is nothing short of a singular cinematic experience that revels in its tautness and never loses sight of its human edges.

Win a double pass to see Absolutely Fabulous the Movie

Win a double pass to see Absolutely Fabulous the Movie

To celebrate the release of Absolutely Fabulous the Movie on August 11th, here's your chance to win a double pass to see the movie!

Edina and Patsy are still oozing glitz and glamour, living the high life they are accustomed to; shopping, drinking and clubbing their way around London's trendiest hot-spots. 

Blamed for a major incident at an uber fashionable launch party, they become entangled in a media storm and are relentlessly pursued by the paparazzi. 

Fleeing penniless to the glamorous playground of the super-rich, the French Riviera, they hatch a plan to make their escape permanent and live the high life forever more!

Absolutely Fabulous the Movie is IN CINEMAS AUGUST 11

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

Please include your name and address and good luck!

Competition closes August 11th and is exclusive to New Zealand only!  

The Great Wall trailer is here

The Great Wall trailer is here

Starring global superstar Matt Damon and directed by one of the most breathtaking visual stylists of our time, Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers), Legendary’s The Great Wall tells the story of an elite force making a valiant stand for humanity on the world’s most iconic structure.  

The X Files: Season 10 Review

The X Files: Season 10 Review

Released by 20th Century Fox Home Ent

The latest season of The X Files comes 15 years after the last and represents a tour de force to those involved.

If you were ever touched by David Duchovny’s laconic FBI Agent Mulder and Gillian Anderson’s cooly detached FBI Agent Scully and their yin and yang partnership as they investigated all things unusual in the 90s, the 6 new episodes would practically have made you wet yourself in glee.

The hook with this season was never to dwell on the fine feeling generated by the nostalgia, but to bring a new generation of fans into the fold and to see it on its way to a new lease of life.

And to a degree, it manages that by saddling the delicate balance between using the show’s alien-centric mythology and stand alone eps in this 6 part outing. While the mythology eps remain a little murky and stuffed with their own self importance, (as well as an irritatingly open final ep that lands on a frustrating cliffhanger) the stand alone eps are equally as mixed too.

More effective is Kiwi Rhys Darby’s entering into the pantheon of the quirky X Files eps with Darin Morgan’s Were-monster ep that mixes both pathos and outlandish to good results. Home Again’s bizarre killer is a welcome diversion, but an ep that starts with 2 muslims bombing an art gallery feels oddly at evens with the show’s usual sensitivities.

But if anything, the limited event series benefits tremendously from Duchovny and Anderson’s chemistry and the show’s revitalised take on its own premise, which is both nostalgic and current.

The set comes with good solid extras that include a gag reel and a look back at the reboot, that further fuel the show’s love.

If there’s to be any criticism, it’s that 6 eps are too short in many ways – and that the 2 mythology eps would have been stronger over a longer run.

That said, the fact there’s even any extra episodes 15 years on from the end and 23 years after it first started is a small miracle.

The Truth is Still out there and it’s well worth diving back into.

Operation Avalanche: NZIFF Review

Operation Avalanche: NZIFF Review

A found footage film that proves the Moon Landing was fake may sound like a joke too far, but director / star Matt Johnson’s relentlessly inventive piece is nothing but a pure blast of cinephile love and an ode to the American space race.

In 1967, it’s the height of the Cold War, and there are concerns Russia’s going to beat America into space. At NASA, there’s an even deeper fear – that a mole has infiltrated their ranks and is stealing secrets.

Enter four undercover CIA agents (helmed by Matt Johnson’s goofball) who convince NASA to let them in under the pretense of filming a documentary about NASA – and who end up pitching the idea of a spoof Moon Landing film to ensure American interests win the day. To their surprise, the CIA says yes….

Endlessly clever and draped in 70s aesthetics with Super 8 footage and an infectious joie de vivre, Operation Avalanche is a film within a film conspiracy and it damn well knows it. But the meta doesn’t become so smart that it’s alienating – in fact, it’s anything but.

By taking the time to build character early on and set you a little off expectations by dishing out off-kilter moments and genuine laugh out loud moments at the geeky group as well as the premise that the CIA would allow a crew to blunder around filming, Operation Avalanche works incredibly well.

Unless you’re a diehard conspiracy theorist, you will love the flourishes in this gonzo film, and to be honest, nobody’s trying to convince you this found film footage is real but that’s not really the point of Operation Avalanche.

Effectively mining the special FX with ease and without obvious joins, there are authentic feeling moments which provoke marvel on a technical level – via Shepperton Studios and Stanley Kubrick. However, it’s not just these moments which stand out in Operation Avalanche.

Johnson’s created a group of likeable guys, spearheaded by his own giddy boy’s own chutzpah and it’s infectious. So much so that the final act of the film becomes a tensely filled nail biter of a finale creating as real a sense of terror as any decently done spinetingler of found footage horror can muster.

By never losing sight of the humanity in this space race shaggy dog story, Operation Avalanche is terribly evocative and effective. Clever and intelligently plotted within its layers within layers, it may be the smartest mass appeal found footage the New Zealand International Film Festival audience has seen.

Unless it proves to be true.

Jason Bourne: Film Review

Jason Bourne: Film Review

Cast: Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, Riz Ahmed, Julia Stiles, Vincent Cassel
Director: Paul Greengrass

Solid, yet formulaic and workman like, the latest Bourne is anything but spectacular.

In the latest non-essential part of the series, which unpicks all the neatly tied up threads of the series, Damon is a dogged Bourne, a machine-like automaton of assassination that's lacking any kind of real dialogue whatsoever.

When former comrade Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) finds Bourne and tells him there's more to his past than he actually realises, Jason Bourne is forced on to a quest to make those pay for the truth...

Nearly 10 years have passed since the The Bourne Ultimatum, and in a world where Wikileaks, Edward Snowden and security have become major issues, it feels like Jason Bourne does a token amount to address such things this time around.

Even with the apparently personal level of this mission this time around, Bourne himself may pull no punches (as a Greece-Albanian fight club sequence demonstrates) but the script is lacking in any kind of real elements of either mystery or urgency.

Throwing in Riz Ahmed as the head of a Facebook style company for little reason other than to facilitate the finale is a missed opportunity; it's a disposable plot thread which dangles undernourished on the narrative vine. 

And unfortunately, despite the re-teaming of Greengrass and Damon to the series, there's much of Jason Bourne which feels similarly wanting and in parts, and sees the film fall into an entirely predictable rut of action and flashbacks.

Despite getting things underway with a simmering riot bubbling out of hand and a hunt for Bourne in Greece at the start, the story loses its impetus soon after as Matt Damon's scarred Jason Bourne walks from place to place, avoiding the bad guys. It's repetitive and hardly builds tension at all as Vincent Cassel's Asset tries to hunt him down at the behest of Tommy Lee Jones' hang-faced CIA director.

The action sequences are assured and measured, but never fully thrilling (with the exception of the aforementioned Greece sequence). Greengrass is more than competent in their execution, with his shaky cam and quick cuts pervading proceedings, but never threatening to derail them. It's a shame that the Vegas finale feels like a rote chase, with car-nage aplenty and muted thrills, rather than edge of your seat stuff.

Fortunately, the addition of Alicia Vikander as Heather Lee, an analyst whose motives are questionable gives the film a bit of spark and stoicism that it needs (as well as a puncture through the old boys club mentality that pervades Bourne). And Damon himself, looking aged and still capable of taking the physical workload, does great things, giving his character a wearied edge of someone lost in the world and trying to find his place within it.

But that's the thing with Jason Bourne; in among the talk of assets, chases, betrayals, fake outs and action, nothing ever feels fresh or enticing in the self imposed sense of seriousness and the idea of solely providing a blast of Bourne nostalgia. 

Fans of the series may get a kick out of the franchise's return, but that's possibly about it. (Also, the fact these former CIA assets don't quite know how to disguise themselves in crowds simply beggars belief...)

Ironically, for a film about an amnesiac assassin, the whole thing about Jason Bourne is that it's instantly forgettable the minutes the lights go up - it's formulaic where it should be fresh, and in parts, flat where it should burst with energy.

Play 5 New GTA Online: Cunning Stunts Races Today + New Vehicles, Bonuses and More

Play 5 New GTA Online: Cunning Stunts Races Today + New Vehicles, Bonuses and More

Play 5 New GTA Online: Cunning Stunts Races Today + New Vehicles, Bonuses and More

Today, five new Stunt Races join the roster of GTA Online: Cunning Stunts, taking you and your appetite for high-flying, daring, stunting action everywhere from the peaks of Mount Chiliad to the shores of Vespucci. And next week, the official launch of the Stunt Race Creator tool will harness the talents of the amazing Creator community to usher in a whole new era of player-made mayhem. Check out a brief overview of this week's new Stunt Races below, and read on for details on three new vehicles, this week's bonuses and more.

Chiliad (Super)
Mount Chiliad has inspired artists, hippies and death cults for generations, but until now it's offered precious little for the key Los Santos demographic: reckless Super car enthusiasts. All that changes with this towering Stunt Race over the iconic peak of San Andreas.

H200 (Sport)
After a long day in the office hoping the IT guy won't check your search history, there's nothing more invigorating than the touch of the ocean breeze and the smell of salt water as it washes over a race track and floods your engine. Stunt Race for Sports cars. Pro tip: bring your bikini bottoms.

Over the Bridge (Bike)
Sure, 2000cc superbikes weren't designed to spend this much time flying through the air above industrial docklands, but every step of evolutionary progress is tough on the pioneers. Jump-heavy Point to Point Stunt Race.

Vespucci (Super)
The Los Santos coastline is about so much more than golden sand, contaminated water and steroid abuse. It's also a perfect backdrop for laps of a winding Stunt Race where any mistake will send you and your million dollar Super car to the bottom of the sea. Hey, it beats the Ferris wheel.

The Wave (Bike)
Who said you have to venture out into the middle of the Pacific in a force ten gale to feel so seasick you want to die? That special inside-out feeling is available right here on this coastal Stunt Race for Bikes.

NEW VEHICLES: BRAVADO SPRUNK BUFFALO, MTL DUNE & VAPID CONTENDER
Three new vehicles, the Bravado Sprunk Buffalo, MTL Dune and Vapid Contender, have also been added to GTA Online today. Tackle Stunt Races with Sprunk guzzling pride in the branded livery-clad Buffalo, or dial up your friends at Pegasus to motor through the Blaine County off-road in the MTL Dune. The Contender offers formidable size and balanced suspension to tackle a variety of terrains - an asset for active Executives and VIPs.

PREMIUM RACE: H200 (Friday 7/29 - Sunday 7/31)
This weekend's Premium Race is the new "H200" Stunt Race for Sports class cars. Ante up and try to take down all comers in a mad dash for that GTA$100,000 top prize.

BONUSES: DOUBLE GTA$ & RP PLAYLIST, FREE GOLD JUMPSUIT & MORE
From Wednesday July 27th through Friday July 29th, ALL Stunts Series Races will dish out Double GTA$ and RP. In addition to being accessible from the pink Stunt Series blips on the map, you can jump into the Stunt Series directly right on the GTAV loading screen. High rollers, keep an eye out for a Premium Race this weekend, where you can ante up and try to take down all comers in a mad dash for that GTA$100,000 top prize.

You can add to your racing wardrobe this week with the flamboyant Gold Jumpsuit, available just by logging in to GTA Online at any point between now and Monday, August 1st. Add some color to your fleet with 20% off all vehicle Resprays and Neons. And for those who like to grab sustained air-based transportation, the Buckingham Nimbus Jet and Volatus helicopter are both 30% off at Elitás Travel.