World of Final Fantasy Demo Out Now

World of Final Fantasy Demo Out Now

JUMP INTO THE WORLD OF FINAL FANTASY

WITH NEW PLAYABLE DEMO

SYDNEY, 18^th October 2016 – From today, adventurers can journey into the WORLD OF FINAL FANTASY® with the playable demo now available for PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®Vita from the PlayStation®Store. 

Players can get a feel for the unique evolution of the classic “active time battle” (ATB) system as they capture and raise companion monsters called Mirages, customizing a variety of stacks and upgrading Mirage Boards to unlock special skills and attacks. Additionally, legendary characters from the FINAL FANTASY® franchise, including Faris (FINAL FANTASY V) and Cloud (FINAL FANTASY VII) will appear. Players who complete the demo will unlock the ability to obtain “Magitek Armor P” in the Coliseum when playing the full version of the game.

WORLD OF FINAL FANTASY will be available for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and PlayStation®Vita system from 28^th October 2016.

Goodbye, Pork Pie: First Look

Goodbye, Pork Pie: First Look

Kiwis will get their first peek at the accidental outlaws better known as the Blondini Gang today, with the launch of the official trailer for the film.

PORK PIE is an action-packed reimagining of the iconic 1981 kiwi classic, Goodbye Pork Pie and stars Dean O’Gorman (The Hobbit, Trumbo, The Almighty Johnsons)James Rolleston (Boy, The Dark Horse) and Ashleigh Cummings (Puberty Blues, Tomorrow when the War Began).  The reboot is set to charge into cinemas around the country on Waitangi Weekend, February 2nd 2017, with the dating playing homage to original film (which was released on Waitangi Day in 1981).

Making remarkable progress from his recent injuries, James Rolleston, who plays Luke Anahera, is super-excited for kiwi audiences to see the finished product and is confident that it’s destined to create a whole new generation of PORK PIE fans.

“I had the most fun of my career making this film.” Says Rolleston. “It was great to be involved in a real kiwi comedy with Dean and Ash, and I reckon kiwis are going to love it!   I can’t wait to share it with my friends and family and the wider public of Aotearoa.”

Dean O’Gorman, who plays Jon, a failing writer desperate to win back the love of his life, describes being involved in the project a career highlight.

“I spent almost six weeks in a MINI Cooper with James Rolleston driving the length of the country and it was hands down one of the best filming experiences I have ever had” says O’Gorman. “It was incredible to meet a whole bunch of New Zealanders right across the country and hear their affection for the original and excitement for what we were going to do with it.”

True to its original roots, the 2016 production of PORK PIE was a family affair.  The film was written and directed by Matt Murphy, son of the director of the original film’s director, Geoff Murphy.  Adding to the family connection, Matt’s brother, Miles Murphy, was the second unit director; his sister Robin was the Location Manager; and his daughter, Saoirse was a costume assistant. with Bruno Lawrence’s daughters Veronique and Melissa were script supervisors and his granddaughter Lily worked in the art department.

Director Matt Murphy is thrilled with the finished product.

"I'm really proud of what we've achieved," says Murphy. "I think we've succeeded in harnessing the spirit of Dad's film while delivering some great entertainment for a new generation. We've made our own road to Invers with this film, but theres no mistaking it's from the same family as the original".

PORK PIE Producer Tom Hern, (The Dark Horse) is excited to show the film to audiences:

“It’s a cracker of a roadie!” Says Hern. “It’s got the thrills and spills of course, but it also has a big underdog heartbeat driving it forward. I can’t wait to share the film with audiences both at home and around the world.”

Cafe Society: Film Review

Cafe Society: Film Review

Cast: Steve Carell, Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively, Ken Stott, Carey Stoll
Director: Woody Allen

Woody Allen returns to Tinseltown in a film that's very much a case of two halves and which suffers because of it.

Eisenberg plays Bronx native Bobby, who heads to 1930s Los Angeles to see if he can make a go of life by checking in with his agent uncle Phil Stern (Carell). Falling in love with Phil's secretary Veronica (Stewart), Bobby pursues her even though she admits she's seeing a married man.

However, life doesn't go as planned for Bobby and he ends up heading back to New York to run a nightclub with his gangster brother (Stoll, who gets most of the Mafioso throwaway shots and gags). Swept up in the high society and notoriety of the times, Bobby's life carries on - until he's paid a visit from the past.

Allen's lightweight touches and Eisenberg's pure channeling of Allen and his words make the first half of Cafe Society a sumptuous zingy thrill.

Swathed in some truly evocative and brilliant costume detail, the film looks exquisite and is as rich as any of Allen's best work. With fresh one-liners, back and forth dialogue early on that's engaging and quirky (an exchange between Bobby and a lady of the night is as close to pure neurosis Allen heaven as you'll get), it's sad to see that the move back to New York mires the story.

Thankfully, the repartie between Stott and Jeannie Berlin as husband and wife gives the film the zing it needs, but the lift isn't enough to propel you through a saggy second half, riddled with half-baked side plots that are too disinteresting to care about.

It doesn't help that a new pivotal character's introduced briefly in the back half with barely enough time to care about her inclusion into the emotive equation and certainly, the conclusion of the film would have had greater heft were the dynamic introduced earlier on.

Ultimately, Cafe Society is as frothy an Allen piece as they come, with some side trappings of dreamers / what if life thrown in for good measure. It's not a bad Allen piece by far (and certainly, it's not as dire as Irrational Man was), but its lightweight and inconsequential nature means its ultimate pay-off lacks the heft and leaves you feeling unsatisfied.

Under The Shadow: Film Review

Under The Shadow: Film Review

Tapping into both childhood fears and mining a rich social setting proves to be fertile ground inBabak Anvari's psychological terror Under the Shadow.

Set in the Iran /Iraq war and using the genre conventions of a haunted house /superstitious myth, it's the story of Shideh (Narges Rashidi) and daughter Dorsa (Avin Manshadi). Shideh has been fighting against the patriarchal society to get back to her studies as a doctor, but losing the fight, she's forced to take control of the household when her doctor husband is posted at a facility near the front line on military service.

But as the shadow of the war creeps closer to Shideh's Tehran apartment and the bombings come closer, she refuses to move out. And things get worse when her young daughter starts to believe they're being haunted by a Djinn....

As a first foray into the horror genre, writer / director Babak Anvari's Under The Shadow both simultaneously embraces the tropes of the genre and gives them a new spin, creating something that feels fresh and exciting. The slow burn of the set up allows you to really engage with Shideh's struggle, and then when Dorsa starts to feel threatened, the atmospherics are simply ramped up another notch. (Granted the idea of a kid under threat is perhaps where the film's creepiness really begins to kick in).

Anvari's embracing of autobiographical elements has clearly enhanced the look and feel of the film, but it's Rashidi as the feminist hero and first time child actor Manshadi who really propel proceedings into the stratosphere. Their interaction and the sneaking feeling that Shideh is losing it are nicely set up and in the initial part of the film the seesawing between who is right and who is wrong veers so clearly back and forth that you're never quite sure if the Djinn concept is anything other than in both of their heads.

Mining the rich vein of paranoia and foreboding with the war in the background and the shredding of nerves works wonders for the audience participation and engagement with Under The Shadow. 

This is not a CGI driven shock fest, but an introduction of a new take on the genre that feels fresh, exciting and could potentially have legs for others to take over; it feels like even by saying so little, the mythology is deeply set up in this film - and the ending offers up the potential for more. The fact its societal setting says much gives a disquiet and insight that adds much to proceedings.

Original, slow burning and psychologically deft, the unsettling Under the Shadow is a clever take on its genre and it's one not to be missed.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: Blu Ray Review

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

That Tina Fey is the major revelation as an actor is perhaps the best takeaway of the slightly ramshackle Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

Based on The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan, the war memoirs of Kim Baker, and from the directors of Crazy, Stupid Love, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is all about subverting the norms and expectations of the conventional war pic.

And it works to varying degrees.

Fey stars as Baker, a dissatisfied reporter stuck in a dead-end job and determined to turn things around. On a whim, she signs up to cover the conflict in Afghanistan in 2002, full of journalistic bluster and self-doubt.

However, when she gets to Afghanistan, she finds the Kabul atmosphere somewhat hedonistic as the embedded journalists there live life to the large, stuck in the mundanity of war time gallows humour and of a conflict that's already on the wane in the news cycle.

Initially awkward, Baker strikes up a friendship with fellow female reporter Tanya Vanderpoel (Robbie) and the pair work their way through the daily routine. But, as ever in wartime, there are casualties - both of the heart and of the human kind.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is an odd affair, a kind of dramedy that relies more on wry writing and a powerhouse delivery from Fey to see it through, rather than a stereotypical war movie with a comedy actress inserted in.

If your perception of Fey is solely as a comedic performer, the more restrained edges she brings to Kim Baker will be a welcome shock to your system, proving she has more than the dramatic chops needed to pull off the nuances necessary.

If Fey is impressive though, Girls' star Christopher Abbott eclipses what she does as Fahim, the native helper and guide to Baker. His is a turn of rare complexity, of understatement and one of the stand-outs of the film. And in an ensemble cast that numbers Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina and Margot Robbie, that is quite the feat.

By necessity, as the story has to cover several years worth of material, it jumps around a lot. Consequently though and unfortunately, it means some of the emotional heft of life within the self-coined "Kabubble" doesn't quite hit as perhaps it should or indeed could.

Some scenes hang together and then disappear, which is a shame because the rough and ready nature of how it's shot gives this unconventional wartime tale the sheen and grit it needs. This is no typical war story and it doesn't play out like you'd expect from the likes of Good Morning, Vietnam. You know a dramatic event is coming at some point, and unfortunately, in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, when it does show, the rushed conflict and sudden tonal whiplash of the final act jars a little (a rivalry, a kidnapping), leaving a feeling of contrivance rather than a deeper emotional immersing in events.

A bit more focus in some places and some slightly more fleshed out dramatic seeding would have greatly improved the at times satirical Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

All that said though, this is a film where both Fey and Abbott rise high above the material; they deliver human performances and elevate the slightly rougher edges of the jumpy story to leave you feeling that this is a tale whose complexities would have been better served with a more singular focus, but whose journey has delivered up two of the strongest acting surprises of the year. 

X-Men Apocalypse: Blu Ray Review

X-Men Apocalypse: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by 20th Century Fox Home Ent


It's back into X-territory for the latest outing in the mutant franchise.

This time around, ten years after the events of Days of Future Past the mutants of Charles Xavier (MacAvoy) are forced into action when the First Mutant Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) is re-awakened. Intent on destroying the world and unleashing chaos, Xavier's problems are further compounded when Magneto (Fassbender) joins Apocalypse's team...

That the latest X Men film feels a misfire is more a script issue rather than any kind of fault in its execution.

Granted, there's plenty of at times impressive CGI destruction to behold as Apocalypse and Magneto join forces to raze civilisation, but the script's lack of singular focus or clear vision means parts feel muddled and overly saggy without any real reason.

It may be that part of the story's rehash of how a mutant comes to be (in this case, Scott Summers, played by Mud's Tye Sheridan) feels so familiar having been explored before. Other characters in the film such as Angel, Storm and Psylocke have good opening sequences and introductions before falling away into narrative obscurity.

It's symptomatic of so much being juggled but yet nothing being fully fleshed out in X Men Apocalypse, that it leaves the whole thing feeling relatively soulless and without any real sense of jeopardy.

It's a shame because the opening in Egypt feels like a mutant version of the start of The Mummybut gives the film a sense of scale and threat that's lacking elsewhere. 

The problem comes that Apocalypse is a bit of a weaker villain for the piece, preferring to be an enabler of those recruited to his Four Horsemen gang, rather than an actual menace worthy of the series and of the tease that was proffered up at the end of Days of Future Past. Isaac does as much as he can under the blue prosthetics but he's saddled with scenes that simply find him in the action scowling and grumbling, rather than bringing a level of fear that the so-called First Mutant should evoke.

For the sixth film in this revamped series, the latest X-Men curiously defers all the personal interplay that helped lift the previous films in favour of over-egging the pudding. 

Curiously, the best moments of Apocalypse involve Fassbender's sense of tragedy as Erik is forced to abandon his living under cover and working in a steel-works - but even this emotional resonance is ultimately undercut by the ongoing tedium of the ideological battle between Xavier and Erik over their philosophical outlook on life. It's a thread that's repeatedly been explored before and one which finds nothing new added this time around.

Of the younger generation, Evan Peters once again excels as Quicksilver, with his central action piece of rescuing everyone from an exploding building being a visual highlight (even if it is a riff on his previous cinematic appearance) and Game of Thrones' Sophie Turner presents an intriguingly subdued take on Jean Grey, with more pent-up yet somehow repressed psychological damage being the order of the day.

Unfortunately though, with the over-stuffing of the cast, the film's younger generation don't exactly excel - despite all their efforts (Kodi Smit-McPhee's Nightcrawler is a nice take on the Alan Cummings'  much loved mutant) the script confines them to the sidelines or to a pointless excursion to Stryker's hideout and Weapon X, purely for fan service.

Equally, the Apocalypse group (who look like a bad 80s rock band) fall away in the wash. The Newsroom's Olivia Munn makes an initial impression as Psylocke before narratively she is eclipsed. 

It's symptomatic of the wider issues of X-Men Apocalypse, a film which is more concerned with rote CGI destruction (which is visually impressive to start off with, before repeatedly used) than character. If this series needs anything urgently with a 90s set outing planned, it's an injection of heart, soul and humanity, rather than a reliance on FX. 

If it doesn't go back to basics, concentrates on the core elements of the series and delivers a genuinely threatening villain or situation that doesn't feel contrived very soon, the X-Men franchise runs a risk of becoming cinematically and thematically alienated.

NewsTalk ZB Review - Inferno, My Scientology Movie and The Conjuring 2

NewsTalk ZB Review - Inferno, My Scientology Movie and The Conjuring 2

This week on NewsTalk ZB with Jack Tame, I caught up with Jack Tame to discuss Tom Hanks in Inferno, Louis Theroux's My Scientology Movie and The Conjuring 2.

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-morning-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-inferno-my-scientology-movie/