Mahana: DVD Review

Mahana: DVD Review

Lee Tamahori returns to the New Zealand screen with a film that reunites him with his Once Were Warriors star Temuera Morrison.

Based on Witi Ihimaera's Bulibasha, and set in provincial Gisborne in the 1960s, it's the story of the Mahana family, who are ruled with an iron fist by grandfather Tamihana, a traditionalist (played by Temuera Morrison).  There's a long-standing rivalry between the Mahanas and their fellow sheep-shearing family, the Poatas and the vendetta runs deep even if no-one talks about it.

But for Akuhata Keefe's 14 year old Simeon Mahana, life is a drudge of continually doing chores and trying to get out from under the yoke of his grandfather and become his own man. However, that brings clashes and things take a turn for the worst when Simeon uncovers more about the deep-held family secret and the anguish that has bound the families inextricably together in resentment....

Mahana is a film of two pieces, wildly meshed together.

At times, it's a dark family drama that plays nicely on the rifts between families and the enmity within as well as hinting at pre-colonial lifestyles and practices. But then other parts of it veer wildly into more traditional lighter elements such as concluding the film with a sheep-shearing contest that's as predictable as the day is long.

And unfortunately, there's a wild mix of acting talents too; at times, Temuera teeters dangerously into over-acting and is not well served by the overly bombastic soundtrack of the film being cranked up at the moments of extreme drama to emphasise that bad things are about to happen. Yet, there are moments when he gives the monster some more human edges that soften his on-screen Tamihana.

If anything, Keefe's the star of the film, giving a turn that has the subtlety that's needed for Simeon, a boy on the cusp of being a man and the awkward teen struggles that come with age and the desire to become your own person.

Tamahori makes good fist of the Gisborne scenery and there are some moodily evocative shots that stand out of mist settling in the valleys and hinting at the discord ahead. But equally, there are puzzling directorial choices that frustrate. One offender is the swirling camera around the exterior of a house as the reason for the conflict is revealed. Granted, it's more about creating a mood and evoking horror, but tonally, it sits at odds with the moment it's revealed - during a shearing contest.

All in all, Mahana is at times, a muddled film which sits at odds with what it intends to do.

By mixing the light with the dark, the film's missed its chance to stamp itself irrevocably on the NZ cinematic landscape; had it been more daring, it could have been a bold and blistering film. As it is, it  sadly feels parochial and limited, when its scope should have been wider.

Just Cause 3: Bavarium Sea Heist DLC: PS4 Review

Just Cause 3: Bavarium Sea Heist DLC: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Developed by Avalanche Studios

So, the final part of the Just Cause 3 DLC has hit as part of the season pass offering.

Just Cause 3 has been the bomb; a game that revels in its absurdities and took its open world shooter to silly new heights while maintaining a level of challenge that made this nigh on addictive.

With Rico Rodrgiuez, the mercenary hell-bent on doing the right thing in the most destructively beautiful way possible, the game's anti-hero and anarchic vibe was the perfect combination. With the Air, Sea and Land expansion pass DLCs that have dropped, the game's barely moved away from such sentiments and gameplay mechanics.

In the final expansion though, it's more a case of routine chaos rather than saving the very best for last (though admittedly the reward is pretty damn destructive and would help with the rest of the game if you've not completed it).

At the end of the Land expansion pack, there was a hint that the DLC's Bad Guys, the Black Hand were threatening something big - and in the sea heist, Rico has to explore the western side of Medici and take out a sea installation called the Stingray. Fortunately, Rico's got access to a craft with some pretty impressive air weaponry in the form of rockets and speed in the form of nitro... So, under the guise of one last mission, Rodriguez is back to help Medici.

Just Cause 3: Bavarium Sea Heist DLC is fairly playable for what it is.

The Black Hand bad guys seem a little less easy to dispatch this time around and it may take a little longer in the early stages of the heist to kill them all off. But a lot of the challenge dissipates when Rodriguez gets the Loochador boat (as it's nicknamed) because everything can be taken out by the cluster of six rockets fired at once. And travelling through the seas from Rodriguez's cove to the Stingray is fairly tedious as it appears there's little life out there if you play the game in order (as this reviewer did).

But it's fair to say that once you've liberated the Stingray, the final challenge is meaty, but given that you have the Eden Spark weapon, a sort of lightning bolt from the sky piece of tech that has limitless energy, the game's hardness exponentially drops.

All in all, Just Cause 3: Bavarium Sea Heist DLC is fairly disposable and as part of a wider game pack, it's alright to play but aside from the earlier challenge, the DLC's not quite the bang you would expect to conclude the pack. But that said, if you were playing the game out of order, it would make finishing the initial storyline a real destructive doozy....

Zoolander 2: DVD Review

Zoolander 2: DVD Review

Released by Universal Home Ent

You're either in or out when it comes to fashion.

And unfortunately, in this sequel to the 2001 Zoolander, Ben Stiller's Derek Zoolander is woefully and painfully out.

Forced into reclusive ways ("I've become a hermit crab" Zoolander says) after a centre he built collapsed killing his wife, injuring his mate Hansel and ultimately leading to his son being taken by child services, the intellectually challenged Derek Zoolander is coaxed back out of retirement when offered a runway job.

However, at the same time, pop stars around the world are being assassinated and all die pouting one last look that appears to be connected to Zoolander's repertoire.

Contacted by Interpol (led with chutzpah by Penelope Cruz's Valentina), Zoolander's reunited with Owen Wilson's Phantom of the Opera-esque Hansel as a conspiracy unfurls and the pair are thrust into proceedings.

There are no two ways about this sequel.

To quote Zoolanderhimself, it's La-me.

It's an endless attempt at a joke without a punchline and a repetition of gags from the first film as well as an attempt to try and capture something that worked the first time around.

Even with four writers on board, this is nothing more than a flimsy excuse to gather a whole heap of celebrities for cameos and mixing a spy-esque caper (The Man From D.U.M.B.C.L.E anyone?) into a final product that is as lacklustre from the beginning as it is from the end. Scenes appear to have little coherence, little fluidity and little reason to exist. An ongoing gag about how the duo who were so hot in 2001 and are now so out of the loop with fashion and technology is handled with as much aplomb as a rock being tossed into an ocean.

Stiller just embarrasses himself in front of the camera as much as he does behind it with very little hitting the mark. It's almost as if the cameos are wheeled out to distract from the fact the jokes don't land and to surprise you with who they've managed to cajole into appearing (though to be fair, one of the highlights is Kiefer Sutherland's perfectly-timed comedic appearance as one of Hansel's lovers from his orgy - a sort of scowling sad Jack Bauer).

The problem with Zoolander 2 is just that it's not remotely funny enough.

Whereas the original passed into cult infamy with its skewering of modelling and conventions as well as blessing the vernacular with the "Blue Steel" look was down to the fact that it was actually funny. Zoolander No 2 is nothing in comparison to that - while Penelope Cruz seems to have a ball of a time as the Interpol agent and injects proceedings with some life, the rest of the film is as indulgent as it is try-hard. It seems in part content to try and coast on the nostalgia you'll feel for the leads - and it's not enough.

Zoolander 2 is as vacuous and as dumb as its male model leads; but whereas the first gave you leeway to laugh along and enjoy the journey, this cinematic catwalk, so devoid of atmosphere and humour, is easily one of the worst inflicted upon audiences this year.

Bound: PS4 Review

Bound: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Developed by Plastic
Released by Sony Santa Monica

Over the past few months, there have been teases of a game that showed off a dancer moving to the gameplay of a platformer.

As the silhouette pirouetted around the screen and in and out of structures, there seemed to be a liquid beauty on show and a sense of something different emerging.

Thus it is with Bound, the new platformer. It opens with a pregnant woman being dropped off and walking to a beach where she stares into the waves - and then it dissolves into another world where the initial creature we've seen on the teases is told her kingdom is under threat and she must fight the monster.

And that is all that should be said for story for Bound.

Wrapping visuals with a platformer work well for Bound, and the Journey comparisons seem fair given how the two games are pushing for an enigmatic vibe. But more specifically, and visually, imagine if Sound Shapes visual ethos had been melded with Journey and parts of Batman's fight against Scarecrow in his visions in Arkham Asylum had all been intertwined.

That in a nutshell is Bound, a game that's more about experience than about anything truly solid. There are themes explored in the game but to go into those too deeply is to spoil the game and how it plays out; but needless to say it's a tale of darkness in among it all.

However, there are occasional frustrations with Bound. And it's primarily to do with its camera views and its boundaries.

Occasionally, the camera can distort and even though walls disappear so you can see what's happening, the camera angles make the directions hard to follow and even harder to instigate.And from time to time, even though the game refuses to let you go off the edge no matter how hard you try, there are other occasions when you plummet to your death without any sense of rhyme or reason; it's a niggling inconsistency that makes the game unpredictable in its execution.

Ultimately though, there are some truly strong themes resonating in Bound and Santa Monica's execution of them deserves applause. It doesn't always all truly work but its geometric distortions and its colour palette actually come together in a hauntingly original way to give an emotional reaction to what's playing out on screen.

If that sounds like an obtuse recommendation, it kind of is in many ways. Bound is best experienced for yourself and its resolution as the pieces come together may hit you more than perhaps you had expected.

The Witch: Blu Ray Review

The Witch: Blu Ray Review

More a lesson in psychological horror than abject terror first time director Robert Eggers' The Witch is a spiralling descent into madness in the 17th century.

Subtitled a New England Folk Tale, it's the story of a family excommunicated from a Christian Puritan plantation in 1630, because of an unexplained sin of their father. Despite being given the chance to repent, he leads the family out into the wilderness and near to a woods, choosing to reflect on their sins and seek internal and eternal forgiveness first.

But when Thomasin (Taylor Joy) is playing peek-a-boo with the family's baby Sam one day, she closes her eyes to find the baby snatched before her and with no clue over where he's gone. As the family's crops begin to fail and there's no return from Sam, the internal conflicts grow with the rumour that Thomasin is a witch being seeded and growing viciously, threatening the very fabric of their family unit.

The Witch is in some ways, the horrifying coming-of-age story of Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy). Taylor-Joy is wonderful from the start as she looks down the barrel of the camera and begs for forgiveness while her expressive brown eyes poke out from wafts of blonde hair. Her conflict and struggle is inherent from the beginning and Taylor Joy's commitment to underplaying the role helps sell her own demons and those around her. There's a wonderful ambiguity to her performance that's as gripping as it is sickening.

Elsewhere, creepy is the order of the day, with psychological terror being the serving of Eggers' film rather than lazy jump scares and terrifying set pieces.

While this film is bathed in the language of the time and with time taken in prayer, and elements of religious fervour displayed, it's essentially the tried and tested story of the destructive power of rumour. Thanks to debut director Eggers' incredible set design and unswerving dedication to evocation, the long sweeping camera shots, an ominous soundscape and brooding soundtrack, The Witch is a classic case of unnerving.

All of the cast acquit themselves excellently; from Ineson's determined father to Dickie's gradually dismantling mother this is a family unit on the edge, a family one moment away from cracking and whose ultimate fate is partially of their own doing. Equally, the twins of the film are unsettling and creepiness personified.

While it could be argued the ambiguity which serves the majority of the film well is wrongfully discarded in the final moments of the end (leading to a feeling of a desire to satiate audiences who wanted more due to their own expectations), The Witch is a masterclass in brooding atmosphere and growing sinister dread.

But it's also a masterclass in humanity and human reaction, thanks to Taylor-Joy's relatably innocent performance; her Thomasin is a deer stuck in the headlights of superstition and spiralling doubts, and she delivers on every level in this cautionary tale whose universal themes will ring true long after the lights have gone up.

Newstalk ZB Review - Talking War Dogs, The Shallows and Kubo and The Two Strings

Newstalk ZB Review - Talking War Dogs, The Shallows and Kubo and The Two Strings

This week, with Jack Tame, talking War Dogs, The Shallows and Kubo and The Two Strings

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-morning-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-war-dogs-the-shallows/

Win The Boy and The Beast

Win The Boy and The Beast

When Kyuta, a young orphan living on the streets of Shibuya, stumbles into a fantastic world of beasts, he’s taken in by Kumatetsu, a gruff, rough-around-the-edges warrior beast who’s been searching for the perfect apprentice. 

Despite their constant bickering, Kyuta and Kumatetsu begin training together and slowly form a bond as surrogate father and son.

But when a deep darkness threatens to throw the human and beast worlds into chaos, the strong bond between this unlikely pair will be put to the ultimate test — a final showdown that will only be won if the two can finally work together using all of their combined strength and courage.

Special Features

• Making Of Documentary
• Cast Interviews
• Japanese Promotional Videos
• TV Spots
• Trailers

To enter simply email to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com  OR simply CLICK HERE darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com

In the subject line put BEAST

Please include your name and address and good luck!