The Divergent Series: Allegiant: DVD Review

The Divergent Series: Allegiant: DVD Review

Released by Universal Home Ent

The latest young adult cum dystopian cum split finale in two a la Hunger Games / Harry Potterfilm has nary a hiss nor a roar as it beats onward to the end.

In Allegiant, Shailene Woodley's rather bland Tris Pryor sleepwalks her way through the story as she and pouty love interest Four (the always pursed lipped Theo James) make a break for freedom.

At the end of the lacklustre Insurgent, the gang found out that everything they had been told was a lie and there was life outside the ruins of Chicago. 

Setting out to scale the wall and break free into the beyond, Tris and her troupe encounter a group of geneticists and a shadowy cabal who reveal she is the key to the future... and that only Tris can save the world from factions and the fractures within. Can they be trusted?

Allegiant feels like a reboot of the series and once again packs some pretty impressive space age visuals and some great visualisations of a world just beyond our own. (A building that houses the geneticists is a DNA helix)  But this futuristic sheen comes at a price - and that cost is the caring about any of the characters or giving them enough to do.

While the action is ramped up in parts with Schwentke giving life to clear-cut sequences, the continual muddling and muddying of obtuse concepts like The Damaged, The Pure, The Fringe and eugenics themselves in po-faced dialogue spouted by the cast does little to breathe life into proceedings.

In fact, it does the opposite.

The dramatic cypher Tris seems devoid of any punch this time around, and Woodley works with what she has on offer, but it's scant pickings. She's not well served by symbolism either with her purity seeing her clothed in white while everyone else has varying degrees of washed out pastels.  While James gets to run around a little and bust out some gung-ho action sequences, these choreographed pieces are more a momentary indulgence, rather than a full narrative necessity.

Unfortunately, opening up the world has ironically robbed The Divergent Series of any real life - the conflicts between Octavia Spencer and Naomi Watts' warring factions is touched on only too briefly and any tension there feels manufactured and under-explored.

Daniels makes a reasonable fist of ambiguity with the presence of a benevolent leader, but there's little for him to really do as the film heads to a much underwhelming ending. Perhaps the desire to split the film has robbed it of any kind of urgency from the book and undercut the drama that was due to unfurl. 

When compared to the work done by The Hunger Games franchise, Woodley's Tris is a heroine that's found wanting and whose very definition is weaker. Considering both series explore similar themes, they couldn't really be much farther apart with their executions and central characters.

Ultimately, The Divergent Series will end with Ascendant - but whether it will garner a place in the pantheon of YA films is very much up for debate.

Rating:

Newstalk ZB Review - discussing Blair Witch, Pete's Dragon and The Secret Life Of Pets

Newstalk ZB Review - discussing Blair Witch, Pete's Dragon and The Secret Life Of Pets

This week, it was the frightening Blair Witch, the updated Pete's Dragon and the zany Secret Life Of Pets.

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-morning-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-blair-witch-petes-dragon/

Don't Breathe: Film Review

Don't Breathe: Film Review

Cast: Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Stephen Lang, Daniel Zovatto
Director: Fede Alvarez

"There is nothing a man cannot do once he accepts the fact there is no God."

After splattering up the woods with blood in the Evil Dead remake, Fede Alvarez turns his twisted attention to a siege thriller, that's more about suspense than outright horror.

Desperation haunts Don't Breathe's characters in more ways than one.

Minnette, Levy and Zovatto play a trio of teens casually robbing houses and searching for a pay-off. Determined that one last raid will help them out of the Detroit hell-hole they inhabit, the trio of Rocky, Alex and Money decide to hit the house of a Gulf War vet (Lang), who is apparently sitting on a fortune in his house after a pay-out from the death of his daughter.

But the trio finds the break-in is far from what's expected - and soon, the tables are turned on the crims...

To say Don't Breathe is a taut thriller that grabs you by the throat and sends you to the edge of your seat is perhaps an understatement. (As Marge Gunderson once said "All this for a little bit of money" - it's quite appropriate in this case).

Best viewed fresh and without any of the twists spoiled, the film subverts your expectations and turns it on its head - while Minnette  spends a lot of the film wide-eyed and looking shocked, it's Levy and Lang's underplaying of their roles that speak volumes.

Coupled with Alvarez's smart directorial touches (low camera shots and swooping cameras add to the sense of claustrophobia and tension), there's plenty to dive into in this film. A bravura basement sequence early on is fiendishly unfurled and smartly executed and perhaps one of the high points of this suspense thriller.

Using the briefest touches of character (Levy's Alex is afforded the most hints of a life outside of the house) proves to be wise, giving a sparing yet simple reason to sympathise with the gang. But, Alvarez is also clever enough to use some brief moments to make you re-think your loyalties with Stephen Lang's dweller. (Though one final sequence may seem a tad too far).

Ultimately visceral and quite suspenseful, Don't Breathe is a thrill-ride worth strapping in for.

Taut and lean, its 90 minutes run time seems just about right, and with a slightly warped viewpoint, the genre flick is insidiously clever in its growing ever tighter grip of suspense.

25 April: DVD Review

25 April: DVD Review

Rating: M

Released in the 101st year of the ANZAC Commemorations and to all intents and purposes feeling like a learning tool rather than a cinematic experience, 25 April is a World War One curio.

Using the style of animation reserved for the pages of graphic novels or Telltale Games' style of console gaming, 25 April is a documentary aimed at bringing the story of the NZ experiences at Gallipoli vividly to life.

There's no disputing these six people's real-life tales are vividly realised and transposed to the big screen. From a soldier to a nurse, these are stories we've heard time and time before but which lose none of the power as the true horror of war is unveiled.

The problem with 25 April though is that it sticks so rigidly to the point of view of the ANZACs that it makes the rest of the campaign look like no-one else was involved. With a once over lightly approach to proceedings, and the ANZAC experience, it was very much a day in the life of and gives the ultimate result that the over-arching campaign itself was rather extraneous to proceedings. 

There is an argument that because it was being done from the diaries of those involved, the over-arching aim wouldn't have been there for them to see, but the narrow focus actually causes the scope to feel very much from a tunnel vision.

Thankfully the animation is nothing short of astounding.

Vivid reds swamp the screen as the theatre of war is expunged.

And one sequence where the reds turn into poppies is heart-breakingly well done and stirring. Equally, a scene where a soldier is shot and the wound appears on him, turning into a poppy as it bleeds out is tremendously haunting and equally inventive.

With some excellent voice-work and some richly tragic and evocative source material to work from, 25 April certainly has its moments where it hits home. 

As a piece of a wider puzzle and a deeper conflict, these stories are neither new and are extremely commonplace, leaving the nagging feel the reason for 25 April may be a little too late - it would have been well served in the 100th commemorations and would have reached a level that would have transcended need.

One can't help but shake the feeling this is not a film that actually needs to exist in a cinema; it's a tale to be told, granted, but it's more suited to a centre piece of a wider discussion, best housed in a museum  and ANZAC context.

Midnight Special: DVD Review

Midnight Special: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

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'sbravura 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. 

Nocturnal Animals - Official Trailer

Nocturnal Animals - Official Trailer

From writer/director Tom Ford comes a haunting romantic thriller of shocking intimacy and gripping tension that explores the thin lines between love and cruelty, and revenge and redemption. Academy Award nominees Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal star as a divorced couple discovering dark truths about each other and themselves in “Nocturnal Animals.”

Susan Morrow, a Los Angeles art dealer (portrayed by Ms. Adams), lives an incredibly privileged yet unfulfilled life with her husband Hutton Morrow (Armie Hammer). One weekend, as Hutton departs on one of his too-frequent business trips, Susan receives an unsolicited package that has been left in her mailbox. It is a novel, Nocturnal Animals, written by her ex-husband Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal), with whom she has had no contact for years. Edward’s note accompanying the manuscript encourages Susan to read the work and then to contact him during his visit to the city. Alone at night, in bed, Susan begins reading. The novel is dedicated to her…

…but its content is violent and devastating. While Susan reads, she is deeply moved by Edward’s writing and cannot help but reminisce over the most private moments from her own love story with the author. Trying to look within herself and beyond the glossy surface of the life and career that she has made, Susan increasingly interprets the book as a tale of revenge, a tale that forces her to re-evaluate the choices that she has made, and re-awakens a love that she feared was lost – as the story builds to a reckoning that will define both the novel’s hero and her own.  

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week: Film Review

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week: Film Review

Cast: John, Paul, George, Ringo, The screaming masses
Director: Ron Howard

Beatlemania lives on some 50 years after the Fab Four hung up their touring boots with the one week only release of this documentary from former Happy Days actor Ron Howard.

Covering the period between 1963 and 1966, Howard's affectionate documentary about the life on the road may not prove much of a surprise to those who already know their Beatles lore, but he gets great cinematic truck out of displaying the lads' Liverpudlian cheeky charm to full comic effect as well as concert footage and screaming masses to relive the Beatlemania and its resultant euphoria.

With the ethos that they embodied the idea of how it would be to hang out with your mates, The Beatles' rise to fame is fairly reasonably charted with commentary from the boys themselves, as well as a few choice people from their inner circle - though tales of life on the road from those who accompanied them are limited only to journalist Larry Kane who offers a peek at life in the inner sanctum.

The thing is the documentary itself doesn't really provide any new ground and some of its choices of talking heads are perhaps bizarre and tenuous at best.

While Sigourney Weaver's attendance at the Beatles' Hollywood Bowl and companion footage give her credence, and Whooopi Goldberg's love for the mop-tops and attendance of their Shea Stadium show how inter-racial their appeal was, Eddie Izzard and Red Dwarf composer Howard Goodall are included for scant reason.

Using archival interviews for Harrison and Lennon are inevitable, but even interviews with McCartney and Starr add little to proceedings to be honest, given there's already so much out there about the group. It's all here again though - the screaming kids, the Bigger than Jesus controversy; almost as if another rote greatest hits package has been rolled out for a newer generation.

However, where Howard's more successful in breaking out of the workmanlike trappings of the genre is in the subtler touches. Whether it's painting a racial and more global picture of life when the Beatles hit America to demonstrate why their fame was so surprising abroad to animating cigarette smoke on stills, there are moments that impress greatly, even if the racial edges slow the verve of the film considerably down.

But there's no denying the blistering joy of some of their songs - it's hard to defy tapping along to the likes of I Saw Her Standing There and Help! as the live footage kicks in. With a fully restored 4K version of their Shea Stadium concert being presented after the film as a companion piece, there's no question that the Beatles phenomenon continues to live on in great style - and the film ends on an artistic high with some glimpses into the making of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Ultimately, The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years is a greatest hits of the band and a compilation of their finest moments. It may not speak more to fans who are already immersed in their world and is as such a fanboy piece rather than a probing documentary.- it's more a brief Hello, Goodbye rather than an in depth Day in the Life Of.