Lion: Film Review

Lion: Film Review

Cast: Dev Patel, Sunny Pawar, Rooney Mara, Nicole Kidman, Abhishek Bharate, David Wenham
Director: Garth Davis

The name Saroo Brierly may mean little to many.

But based on Garth Davis' soon to be bound for Awards season picture starring Slumdog's Dev Patel (adapted from Brierly's book A Long Way Home), this tale of the long term effects of adoption and self-worth is likely to change that.

The tale of a boy lost in India and adopted out to an Australian family won't leave a dry eye in the house, thanks to its simple ungarnishing of proceedings, and decision to hint at nastiness and to suggest mawkishness rather than revel in both things.

It starts in 1986 where the young Saroo (a stunningly sympathetic first turn from new actor Sunny Pawar, all big brown eyes and tousled hair) bullies his elder brother Guddu into letting him come with him to find work. Trapped in India's smaller outlying villages and with their mother toiling in a local quarry, the young pair are a financial life-line to staving the wolves from the door.

But when Guddu disappears having momentarily left his sleepy brother at a railway station, Saroo wakes to find himself all on his own. Inadvertently ending up on a decommissioned train that travels 1600 kilometres away from his home and forcing Saroo into a landscape where people speak only Bengali and not his native Hindi, the youngster becomes lost and in a fight for survival on the streets.

In among the cacophony of Calcutta, Saroo is literally lost, his tiny frame and pleas floating adrift in a sea of taller people and bustling bodies, all heading about their daily business and ignoring the plaintive cries of the child, abandoned, bedraggled and desperate to find his way home.

After time passes and the authorities fail to find his family (as Saroo simply knows his mother only as Mum), Saroo is adopted out into the arms of waiting Aussie family, the Brierlys (a taciturn and supportive Kidman and Wenham).

As Saroo grows, and becomes a man, (now in the form of Patel, who convincingly nails the Aussie accent) he finds his seemingly content existence is nagged by the ever-growing question of what happened to his family, and weighted by guilt that they must spend their everyday wondering about him.

A chance discussion at a party sends Saroo into a Google Earth filled psychological sink-hole as the desperation to reclaim his core essence takes hold and he searches the virtual world to find his home...

There are no 2 ways about it, the first half of Davis' Lion will break your heart.

Thanks largely to a simplicity of execution, the fact most of it is shot at Pawar's level, thus exacerbating the scale and distance he feels from the world around him and an eminently watchable turn from the youngster himself, the Slumdog Millionairesque trappings of the start immediately tug on the heart-strings, but wisely hold off from ripping them right out.

The emotion at the start is palpable and the tragedy of the situation plays out largely as expected, but does so tremendously affectingly.

Patel shoulders the greater burden of the film, trying to bring to life to the reality of a traumatised youth ripped from his past and denied a sense of self by circumstance. And he delivers in spades, thanks to a subtle and nuanced turn that says so much without words.

While some may critique the fact that the crippling tide of emotion creeps up with a degree of narrative convenience, Davis' sensitive script in the adult portion of Saroo's story is finely attuned to the reality and the qualities of those destined to be hit unexpectedly later in life by resurfacing trauma.

With haunting recollections of Guddu guiding him, Patel's navigation through slightly choppier personal waters is perhaps the strongest portrayal of the situation. It helps that the first half of the movie breathes in the right way, and when the necessary time jumps come, you're already completely invested in proceedings, characters and their arcs.

Kidman and Patel share some tremendously empathetic scenes that will destroy anyone invested in the story, as Saroo struggles with his guilt over his hiding of his obsession from the foster mother who's unconditionally loved him; there's a veracity in the smaller quieter moments of Davis' script that drop emotionally effective bombs throughout.

Granted, there will be some who will feel this is clearly Oscar bait from The Weinstein Company, the Google Earth dramatically convenient and the credits sequence milking it, but the truth of the movie Lion is the incredibly powerful way in which it portrays a hauntingly effective and emotionally resonant true-life tale that was 25 years in the making.

Make no mistake, this life-affirming tear-jerker is one of 2017's first essential film experiences - and an unashamed cinematic journey worth taking.

Captain Fantastic: DVD Review

Captain Fantastic: DVD Review

Revelling in as much quirk as is cinematically possible and throwing kids into the mix on a road trip film certainly worked well for Little Miss Sunshine.

And to a degree, large parts of it are reused in Captain Fantastic, screenplay and director Matt Ross' film.

Starring Viggo Mortensen as Ben, it's the story of how his brood, who live life off the grid in the woods are forced into the wilds of American civilisation when Ben's wife kills herself. Deciding to gather up the clan and go and rescue her from the horrors of a Christian funeral as per her own wishes, Ben throws his brood onto the bus (named Steve) and sets out on their mission.

Embracing its anarcho-survivalist and pseudo intellectual edges, Captain Fantastic manages to pack in a great deal of humour at the idea of kids trotting out offbeat mantras, from celebrating Noam Chomsky's birthday instead of Christmas and from just generally mining unexpected language from young children's mouthes.

And while Mortensen shines, imbuing Ben with both a sensitivity of belief and a deep love for wanting what he believes best for all, the script's over-reliance on reaction shots to those encountering Ben and his brood for the first time begins to ultimately grate as the road trip moves from point-to-point with nary any reality within.

It serves as a vehicle to pour commentary on America's current obsessions - and indeed a billboard with "Is it immigration or is it invasion" on it feels scarily timely as they rumble toward a Trump-fuelled election.

But when Captain Fantastic lays off the twee quirk and the indoctrination of a doomsday preppers type ethos, it tries desperately - and inevitably - to inject drama and conflict from Ben's beliefs and others' objections to them.

It doesn't always work, simply because the film's solely (and perhaps understandably) on Ben's side (and ultimately the audience as well) and never wants to offer any kind of alternative. The conflict in the last third of the film with Frank Langella's reasoned father in law seems shoe horned in and unable to allow any consequence to flow; loosely, the father in law wants custody of the children out of anger for what's happened and this narrative thread simply melts away out of convenience rather than from resolution.  And a thread over a son's desire to go to college or another's rebellion are given meat early on but don't amount to anything when faced with the love of their father.

It's maddening to say the least, given how wonderfully shot and crowd-pleasing the whole thing is - thankfully, it's helmed by Mortensen's turn as Ben, and when he delivers a eulogy and has his inevitable long dark night of the soul, there's a real poignancy to the moral struggle within - and that's solely testament to Mortensen's presence on the screen.

Otherwise, this culture clash dramedy feels like a hollow experience that revels in its absurdity and trades on a caricature of happy / sad to achieve its emotionally manipulative aims. 

Nier Automata: PS4 Demo Review

Nier Automata: PS4 Demo Review

Nier Automata may only be a 30 minute demo, but it has to be said that demo has done much to mean there's now a countdown on until its March release.

For those unfamiliar with the spin-off from the Drakengard series, this short and bittersweet demo's got everything that the game looks set to offer in its upcoming release.

Loosely, the plot is:

The distant future…

Invaders from another world attack without warning, unleashing a new type of threat: weapons known as “machine lifeforms.” In the face of this insurmountable threat, mankind is driven from Earth and takes refuge on the Moon.

The Council of Humanity organizes a resistance of android soldiers in an effort to take back their planet. To break the deadlock, the Resistance deploys a new unit of android infantry: YoRHa .
In the forsaken wasteland below, the war between the machines and the androids rages on. 

A war that is soon to unveil the long-forgotten truth of this world...

Playing as an automaton 2B in the demo is a thrill, and as you fight your way through an industrial complex, taking on hordes of robots left behind in a war that have been powered up, the game finds new ways to engage you in the button-mashing process.

With changing perspectives at the start of a fight (the game goes from 3D face-view to 2D over the top view), there's never a dull moment in a degree of the repetition of taking on the creatures. Platinum Games have imbued 2B with a robot sidekick that shoots a stream of bullets into the rampaging throngs and can unleash a super-weapon as well when necessary. But they've also given 2B some relatively sweet moves as well - from the traditional Devil May Cry hack and slash to the usual heavy attack, the fluidity of the action is mightily impressive and conversely not too distracting as the fights rage on.

But it's the emotional levels of Nier Automata that start to come through as the demo plays on. Through industrial vistas, spiralling 2D shots of twisted metal come to life and the world feels ruined and real.

However, it's the story and the ending that really make this demo stand out and mark it as something that's worth fighting through for 30 minutes. With Manga-esque cut scenes to book-end moments, there's a humanity and bizarrely a darkness which shine through Nier Automata's gob-smakcing conclusion. It's a smart and clever move by the developers who don't give anything away but offer such a jaw-dropping reveal in this post-apocalyptic world - and it's one best experienced by yourself in this demo.

Simultaneously serving as a massive tease and also proffering a good idea of what the industrial hack'n'slash may offer come March has served Nier Automata well - Square Enix will be salivating at the reaction to the game and it's certainly one that has shot the game to the top of the 2017 must list.

Nier Automata demo is available now for free download.

Win a double pass to see XXX - The Return of Xander Cage

Win a double pass to see XXX - The Return of Xander Cage

The third explosive chapter of the blockbuster franchise that redefined the spy thriller finds extreme athlete turned government operative Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) coming out of self-imposed exile and on a collision course with deadly alpha warrior Xiang and his team in a race to recover a sinister and seemingly unstoppable weapon known as Pandora’s Box.

Recruiting an all-new group of thrill-seeking cohorts, Xander finds himself enmeshed in a deadly conspiracy that points to collusion at the highest levels of world governments.

Packed with the series’ signature deadpan wit and bad-ass attitude, “xXx: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE” will raise the bar on extreme action with some of the most mind-blowing stunts to ever be caught on film

xXx: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE releases January 19th!
.
To stand a chance of winning a double pass, all you have to do is drop me a line with your name and address!

To enter simply email XXX - Xander Cage to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Please ensure you include your name and address - competition closes January 19th 

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: DVD Review

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: DVD Review

It should in theory work, as it has all the kooky elements of a Tim Burton caper – unusual kids, an unusual setting and some spooky bad guys.

But Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is mired in a lengthy set-up that takes forever to tie all its ends together and even get started, crippling it for the first hour.

For those unfamiliar with American author Ransom Riggs’ number 1 best selling novel and its Harry Potter-esque trappings, it’s the story of Jake (Enders’ Game Asa Butterfield who brings a degree of intensity even if his character is saddled with exposition) who heads to Wales after the grotesque death of his grandfather Abe (Terence Stamp).

Jake was close with his Grandpa, who used to regale him with night-time stories of the oddball children who’d live at a school under the watch of Eva Green’s Miss Peregrine. Believing the stories to be true, Jake stumbles into their world in Wales and marvels at the peculiarity of it all.

But what initially appears to be dream-like soon turns into a nightmare with something stalking the children and their charge to carry out a terrifying scheme…

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children mixes the macabre and the Burton vibe with a degree of visual aplomb as the allegory for Jewish persecution and child alienation is brought to the fore.

There’s eccentricity all over the place but thanks to a disjointed flow and some middling acting from some of the younger charges under Burton’s watch, the piece never quite achieves the levels of quirkiness it’s aspiring to.

Samuel L Jackson gives good scenery-chewing as the ultimate bad guy menacing the kids, Eva Green is barely there as the slightly plummy, stuffily British toothy pipe-smoking schoolmarm (Scary Poppins, anyone?) and Butterfield manages the awkward emotions of Jack quite well and is fine, but nothing more; it never fully gels in the way it should on the human front, thanks to a convoluted plot and a muddled attempt to get there.

Even Burton’s touches on this feel muted, almost as if a darker approach proved a little too out there for the audience it was aiming for.

It’s a shame the Beetlejuice vibe is played down as the Gothic gallows humour that appears in places is a welcome touch, and the more comic touches add to an air of oddity that's crying out to be set free, but which withers under such underwritten side characters.

Nowhere is this more evident than a brilliant showdown on Blackpool’s pier (of all places) with animated skeletons taking on stretched Slender-men style shadow creatures. It’s inventive, meshed with touches of both Burton and Harryhausen as the bony bodies bounce manically around. (A similar stop-motion scene with two doll puppets, a la Toy Story spider-babies, fighting to do the death is equally as welcome.)

It’s certainly dark, and the more nightmarish touches may explain why Burton had to reign it in for a more Addams Family vibe (but without the jokes) and an ongoing gag about why Florida is so horrific to so many.

The darker touches work well too – the inherent sadness of the war, the displacement of children, mental health problems and parents summarily dismissal of their child's illness, the impressive visuals as the Nazi bombs drop towards the house, the persecution of Jews by human monsters, they all lurk below the surface, but never fully bubble upto the top, almost as if there are fears the audience wouldn’t engage.

Ostensibly lashed with timey-wimey sensibilities and more confusing moments, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a fascinating could have been movie from Burton; the offbeat touches meshing with the more gruesome edges to form a queasy cinematic experience that frustrates rather than thrills. It could have done with more of its danse macabre ethos, and a little more ooky rather than just kooky to ensure this children's home is one you'd want to check into again.

Welcome Home’ Trailer Released For Resident Evil 7 biohazard

Welcome Home’ Trailer Released For Resident Evil 7 biohazard

Hello friend,

Come inside into the warm, friend. You’re late for supper, and it’s about time we introduced you to our little family…

About Resident Evil 7 biohazard

Players experience the terror directly from the first person perspective for the first time in the Resident Evil series. Embodying the iconic gameplay elements of exploration and tense atmosphere that first coined “survival horror” some twenty years ago, Resident Evil 7 biohazard delivers a disturbingly realistic experience that will define the next era in horror entertainment. Returning to the series roots, signature gameplay features including exploration, puzzles and a realistic tense atmosphere awaits players. The classic inventory system returns but with limited space meaning players must choose what they carry with them carefully, making sure they remember to pack their green herbs!

Resident Evil Biohazard releases January 24th!

Rams: DVD Review

Rams: DVD Review

Released by Madman Home Ent

Bucolic and fraternal, Scandi-drama Rams is a look at the devastation a blight can cause both in a relationship and also in a farming community.

Brothers Kiddi and Gummi (bearded grizzled types Sigurjonsson and Juliusson) live side by side and have done for years. But they don't talk, victims of a fall-out never explored but oft mentioned. Tensions are further exacerbated when Kiddi's rams beat Gummi's in a competition, sealing the deal and the drift between the pair.

However, when Gummi finds signs of fatal degenerative disease scrapie in Kiddi's flock, things boil over as the flocks in the valley have to be slaughtered to protect the spread. But Kiddi believes it's Gummi's jealousy that has hit the limit over their flock's lineage, even though vets back Gummi up.

So, with the valley's livelihood and the community ripped asunder by the cull, the battle lines are drawn.

Quietly unassuming and sensibly executed, Rams' power lies in the ramifications of actions, as well as the exploration of the bleakly wry humour of two scrapping for generations. Hakonarson uses the landscapes and bleak conditions to maximum effect - soon after the cull, winter arrives, a literal freezing of relationships between the brothers extrapolated on a larger canvas.

Where it's perhaps less successful is in the wider community. The consequences of a disease like scrapie (much like its UK equivalent BSE or Foot and Mouth disease) are that people buckle under the pressure and bow to darker moments, but Hakonarson is not interested in anyone outside of the central duo, whom he focusses on yet never fully explores their reasons for the rift. It's a frustration among the sedentary pace, and while it's understandable that there's no place for plot-convenient exposition, it's a factor that proves you to feel emotionally aloof and ultimately irritated by the conclusion, the emotional weight of which is somewhat lost.

There is a mournful sadness in Rams that could be mistaken by some for darker comedy, but it's the isolation within that proves to be Rams' strength and the ambiguity of other parts of it that proves to be its weakness.


dec 14th

Win a double pass to see HIDDEN FIGURES

Win a double pass to see HIDDEN FIGURES

HIDDEN FIGURES is the remarkable untold true story of three brilliant mathematicians who were the behind-the-scenes brains of America’s triumphant launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit in 1962. 

And yet, until now, their story has been hidden in history.

Katherine Johnson (Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominated Taraji P Henson Empire), Dorothy Vaughan (Oscar winner Octavia Spencer The Help) and Mary Jackson (Grammy nominated Janelle Monae in her film debut), worked as “computers” in the pre-IBM world of NASA during America’s Space Race against Russia.

Inspirational, emotional and highly entertaining, HIDDEN FIGURES is directed by Theodore Melfi (St Vincent), based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly and also stars Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons and Kirsten Dunst.

See Hidden Figures in cinemas from January 26.

Rated (PG)  contains coarse language

To stand a chance of winning a double pass, all you have to do is drop me a line with your name and address!

To enter simply email HIDDEN FIGURES to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Please ensure you include your name and address - competition closes January 25th 

 

Win a double pass to see Resident Evil: The Final Chapter!

Win a double pass to see Resident Evil: The Final Chapter!

Based on Capcom’s hugely popular video game series comes the final installment in the most successful video game film franchise ever, which has grossed over $1 billion worldwide to date.

Picking up immediately after the events in Resident Evil: Retribution, Alice (Milla Jovovich) is the only survivor of what was meant to be humanity’s final stand against the undead.

Now, she must return to where the nightmare began – The Hive in Raccoon City, where the Umbrella Corporation is gathering its forces for a final strike against the only remaining survivors of the apocalypse.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter hits cinemas January 26th!

To stand a chance of winning a double pass, all you have to do is drop me a line with your name and address!

To enter simply email your answer to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Please ensure you include your name and address - competition closes January 25th 

 

Why Him? Film Review

Why Him? Film Review

Cast: Bryan Cranston, James Franco, Zoey Deutch, Megan Mullally, Keegan-Michael Key
Director: John Hamburg

It's the eternal dilemma.

Your beloved brings home a better half that is less than desirable in your eyes.

This is the crux of the latest comedy from director John Hamburg (Along Came Polly, I Love You Man) with Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston as Ned the dad threatened by his daughter Stephanie's choice of beau.

Stephanie's fallen for Silicon Valley CEO Laird Mayhew (a fully committed James Franco), a tats and all stoner slacker whose infatuation with Zoey Deutch's Stephanie is evident from the start. When Stephanie diverts the family on their Christmas vacation to spend the break getting to know her new other half.

But this is the last thing on Ned's mind with his paper company facing extinction and now his beloved daughter shacked up with the wrong man, the scene is set for conflict as Laird tries to win Ned over...

Why Him? sets its stock out in its first scene - there's a hint of raunch, a liberal dose of foul language and a feeling that low hanging fruit is the easiest option to go for.

From the uptight Cranston to the free and easy Franco, each commit fully to their roles but are never asked to deliver much by the lazy script.
The sense of opposition isn't trowelled on and any conflict is tantamount to nothing more than a few forced in scenes and moments which fail to garner much drama or humour.

Fortunately, Keegan-Michael Key's estate manager Gustav delivers the lion's share of some gags with some strait laced deadpan performance moments giving the film the energy it needs and the laughs it so desperately craves.Along with one scene where Ned tries to fend off his stoned wife (Mullally), there are a few scenes that genuinely offer some laughs and unexpected pleasures.

And there are no scenes which offer any depth to the main characters - particularly Zoey Deutch's Stephanie whose apparent rift with her father is given no rhyme or reason, and therefore no dramatic weight.

But they're too few and far in between in this patchy comedy that underuses all of its team players. There's a nice side element of the old versus the new conflict as is demonstrated by Ned's being in paper, Laird's being in the internet and Ned rolling out a Pink Panther reference that's lost on the younger end, but there's not enough to give any meat to the relatively thin bones.

The young and old conflict may be there and is woefully under-exploited - Why Him? ends up being a lazy, unfunny comedy that misses the mark so often and drags that the only nagging thought you're left with as you leave the cinema, is a resounding "Why me?"

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie: DVD Review

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie: DVD Review

There is perhaps something commendable about the way the Ab Fab film arrives decades after the show finished.

And given it opened big in wake of the BREXIT decision at the UK Box Office, there's still clearly an audience desperate for the nostalgia, the light-hearted silliness and for the beehived Patsy and the deluded Edina.

Tottering around the semblance of a plot too thin to ultimately bother with (loosely, the duo go on the run after Jennifer Saunders' Edina knocks Kate Moss into the Thames, drowning her), the film's MO is to simply provide a nostalgic blast of Ab Fab, an extended episode of the TV show stuffed full of cameos (some of whom are too young to have remembered the original.)

It's fair to say the jokes are spread pretty thinly from the get go, but Joanna Lumley as Patsy utterly owns her time back on screen with every scene devoured by her snarling, smudged lipstick look. Her opening sequence where she's injecting Botox as part of a morning routine is everything you'd expect from the character

Saunders does her usual pratfalls and selfish antics as Edina, a monstrous mum clinging desperately to the ghost of PR past and unwilling to go into the dark of the night unless she has champagne and her hare-brained friend with her. There's the inevitable sappiness too that always hit parts of the sitcom with the relationship between her and daughter Saffy (Julia Sawalha).

There's no disputing the slapstick caper could do with a swathe more laughs as parts of it feel scrappy and underwhelming, but there's equally no denying that the film is faithful to the show's ethos of excess and no learning policy. 

It carries on wilfully and regardless in gloriously OTT fashion, and while the model cameos may feel reminiscent of Zoolander 2 given their volume, they serve little purpose other than to exist. Perhaps the best of them come towards the end at a swimming pool in Cannes, revelling in the anarchic sense the show used to have and embracing the zaniness of a Brit-com on the continent that fuelled so many 70s TV series' movie outings.

The catch with Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is that the film's broadness will appeal probably more to fans of the original show; its faithfulness and desire to resurface all the characters from the 90s sitcom is laudable, but its desire to wilfully ignore the satire it could hit in a world where we all do our own PR online is a minor disappointment. (There are several jabs at the UK media obsessions and 24 hours news which provoke a guffaw or two - a scathing admission from Saunders perhaps how times have changed.)

This tale of women behaving badly may be a film of indulgence and cameos, but it lacks the sparkle of a Bolly in many ways. That said though, fans of the original series will adore its reverence to the source material and think it's still Absolutely Fabulous. 

7th Dec

Bridget Jones' Baby: DVD Review

Bridget Jones' Baby: DVD Review

What to expect when Bridget is expecting is perhaps the greatest fear facing many fans of Helen Fielding's titular beloved singleton.

But based on Bridget Jones' Baby which comes some 12 years after The Edge of Reason, there's every need to keep calm and carry on.

In this broad but occasionally bloated crowd pleasing comedy, Renee Zellweger's Bridget Jones's back and negotiating life in her own inimitable fashion.

The world may have changed plenty since we've seen her last - Hugh Grant's caddish Daniel Cleaver is disappeared, Darcy and Bridget have split - but, on her 43rd birthday, Bridget's solo and celebrating all by herself. However, that changes when work colleague Miranda (a scene stealing Sarah Solemani) takes her to a music festival to get laid. 

Stumbling drunkenly into the wrong tent and a sordid tryst, Bridge hooks up with dating guru and dishy Jack (played by ole McDreamy himself Patrick Dempsey). Running off after, she ends up having another unexpected dalliance with Colin Firth's starched Mr Darcy at a christening a few days later.

Things get further complicated when she finds out she's pregnant but with no clue who the father is...

Swathed in an affectionate nostalgic glow for the character and playing up the usual neuroses and tics that made Bridget so relatable to so many, Zellweger steps back into the role - and its clipped English tones - with ease. 

(Let's not dwell on the slight cosmetic change as other media have been wont to do; this is still the same Bridget but slightly tweaked.) She's the perky comedy glue that holds this together and with some flippantly funny one liners, the film zings when she's around. (A line about glamping and Adolf Hitler garners unexpected laughs)

And even though it's not really much of a departure of a film from the usual choices of men that Bridget has to face as well as the predictable playing out of the klutzier edges and hitting a lull at about 80 mins in, the whole thing comes off as funny, warm and surprisingly familiar - and a potentially a saccharine riff on US and UK relations.

By making both males seem normal, the script wisely steers away from making Bridget's choice obvious or one of them kooky and nicely muddies the waters by playing with viewers' affections - even if the gloop and sentiment kicks in toward the end in this time honoured riff on the old trope two women/ one man.

Both Firth and Dempsey play their roles well, with Firth's humour coming off the more effective as he riffs on the social awkwardness that's always been at Darcy's core. Dempsey's a little blander, but still pleasant and helps sell the emotional quandary rather than over-egging it.

In a year that has already seen some middling 90s revivals (from Ab Fab to David Brent), it's refreshing to report that Bridget's latest (and hopefully last, even if a final scene pan teases something else) is both nostalgic and a little forward-looking. 

With its moments of honesty and its continuing depiction of one woman's messy life, Bridget Jones' Baby is no pregnant pause for the franchise. It's better than it could have been and consequently infinitely more enjoyable than you would have remotely expected. If you'll forgive the pun, this baby truly delivers in unexpected ways.

The Rehearsal: DVD Review

The Rehearsal: DVD Review

Eleanor Catton's first book gets the big screen treatment with this Emily Perkins/ Alison McLean cinematic outing, starring national treasure James Rolleston.

Rolleston is Stanley, a naive newcomer to the bright lights of the big city and who's got a desire to end up on the stage. In his innocence, Stanley falls for a 15 year old schoolgirl called Isolde (Ella Edward). But Isolde's sister is part of a national scandal having been seduced by her much older tennis coach.

However, this soon proves to be inspiration for the drama school he attends after they're all chopped up into groups and deconstructed as both actors and at times, human beings. Drawing on his beau's sister's predicament, Stanley finds himself treading a dangerous path. between what's right and what right for his career....

The Rehearsal is a stiffly starch kind of film.

Its coldness is at times, off putting, and there's certainly a lack of engagement with many of the characters around the peripheries. One key moment in the story is supposed to resonate but because it comes so far out of leftfield (and is even remarked on by the brute of the head of the school played by Kerry Fox as coming out of nowhere), you don't feel anything at all - which is somewhat of a fatal move.

While The Rehearsal's swathed in ambiguity, its aloofness at times makes it hard to guess what exactly is going on and why some relationships either flourish or continue.

Consequently, while the audience is made to work for parts of the film's rewards, some may feel the effort is not worth it. Secrets may abound, but in this Lolita in the suburbs story, the opaqueness is almost oppressive.

Fortunately, blessed with a James Rolleston performance that's at both ends of his character's spectrum, there is a slightly commanding presence on screen that makes the Rehearsal worthwhile. Rolleston has the power to know when to dial down the acting and equally when to ramp it back up and makes some of his scenes all the more delicious for it (certainly in one sequence with Kerry Fox's character).

But overall, The Rehearsal is a muddled film of execution and one that may lack the broader appeal despite its oh-so-familiar story. It's not a disaster by any stretch of the imagination, and perhaps its refusal to conform makes it laudable, but by the same token, it makes it less embraceable. 

Chasing Great: DVD Review

Chasing Great: DVD Review

Directors: Justin Pemberton, Michelle Walshe

The ultimate film about rugby in New Zealand has already been made - and that film is The Ground We Won about the team in the heartland of the Bay of Plenty.

But Chasing Great aims to be more a film about the one man some would believe to be New Zealand's greatest ever rugby player - Richie McCaw.

And it faces a major hurdle too - it's not as if Richie himself is not an unknown figure, blessed with enigma and living life in the shadows. Most of what is known about Richie is already there in the media, as he lived the rugby life in the spotlight and in the glare of the camera both on and off the field.

So this is the nature of the challenge facing Pemberton and Walshe who followed McCaw around for a year; and in the run up to the 2015 Rugby World Cup with the hope that the All Blacks would lift the Webb Ellis trophy for the second time in a row and Richie would call time on his career.

With over 700 hours of footage on hand, what emerges in Chasing Great is predominantly more a film about rugby than the man himself - and perhaps is indicative of the fact how synonymous with rugby Richie has become (though whether that makes a great doco is, in this case, extremely subjective).

While there's use of home video footage from the McCaw family, showing a young but big unit Richie on the Otago rugby fields, in the early part of the film, there is plenty of insight into the guy that may surprise and delight his already mountainous number of fans.

From doing exceptionally well at school to capturing the moment when his family sat huddled in the front room around a radio waiting to hear if Richie gets the call up to the All Blacks, there's a degree of personal intimacy that's welcomed and offers a newer side to the man so over-exposed in the media.

But there's no escaping the line uttered at one point  - "We're an unemotional bunch, the McCaws".

And it's a flaw which shatters the second half of the film as it becomes like a sporting autobiography writ large on the big screen, as we are forced to relive the fatal loss to France in 2007, and various other games including the ultimate win in 2015 (itself a foregone conclusion that is still quite recent in our memories).

It's understandable that these moments should feature as it goes some way to explaining McCaw's mindset and shift in mental fortitude with the involvement of psychologist Dr Ceri Evans (shadowy room meetings leading to feelings of a cult-like abduction), but it still feels like a sports highlights package, with edited game moments and pumping music puncturing the changing room scenes and sporting celebrations, as well as talking heads either praising his field performance or criticising it.

There's no further insight into the man, and it's not as if pre-game brief interviews are enough to give a greater reading of McCaw.

To their credit, the directors have committed some truly impressive imagery to celluloid - from shots high over the Otago hills as Richie cruises in his glider to scene setting slow mo track shots across stadia seats, every moment sings quality and aims for epic.

But equally, there are moments writ large from the cinematic sporting cliches shot book - slow mos on the field, slow mo running through corridors et al.

Frustratingly the film ends abruptly after the victory and with the very Kiwi "Yeah I'm done" as Richie flies off in his glider. This is already the story we knew, albeit fleshed out with some younger days Richie insights - and it's tantamount to feeling underwhelming in its denouement.

Ultimately, that is Chasing Great.

If you're after a film that celebrates and mythologises the man on the field as well as wanting to relive some of rugby's spectacular highs and lows, then this is that film for you, delivered just in time for Father's Day and with the release of Richie's book.

But unfortunately, if you're after a warts and all insight into the man who's been dubbed one of the nicest in sport, then you may feel it's somewhat wanting as a rounded picture. 

Ice Age 5: Collision Course: DVD Review

Ice Age 5: Collision Course: DVD Review

There's a moment in the fifth Ice Age movie (yup, not a typo) where woolly mammoth Manny asks "Did I hit my head? What's happening here?".

It's a question that many will face in this latest instalment of the admittedly gorgeously animated tale of the three friends Sid, Manny and Diego (Leguizamo, Romano and Leary respectively).

This time around, the gang's facing extinction after an asteroid meteor is set on a collision course with Earth by Scrat who's up in space still trying to get that elusive acorn. (This time around, Scrat is a propeller of opportunistic plot, rather than a great lunatic aside). With Buck (a brilliant Simon Pegg) along for the ride, the group tries to work on a plan to prevent the inevitable happening and stop them all being wiped out.

But for Manny, there's more terrifying prospect - losing his daughter to perky newcomer Julian (Pitch Perfect and Modern Family star Adam Devine) who's about to marry her....

It's churlish to suggest Ice Age: Collision Course adheres to the law of diminishing returns because to be frank, with its silly puns and zany antics of both Scrat and Buck, there's lots for the younger kids to engage with and keep amused during the upcoming school holidays.

However, any semblance of logic or consistency of narrative's been abandoned this time around for ACME style silliness that defies belief and throws everything at the screen to service anyone who's ever been in previous Ice Age movies.

Despite some clever insertions and throwaway references to 2001, Cocoon and The Planet of The Apes denouement, as well as Neil de Grasse Tyson, Ice Age Collision Course jettisons any kind of smarts for a series of loosely connected moments.

Chief offender among these is Scrat, whose antics up until now, have proven fertile ground for interludes that have been separate to the movie's actual goings on. This time, with Scrat in space, firing around beams that rocket into planets like snooker cues, the charm wears quickly thin. That's not to say that his shenanigans aren't amusing, more that they don't really do much except perfunctorily propel the narrative.

Back on Earth isn't much better either, with far too many characters to be serviced and a narrative that's too cluttered by far. Poor Diego gets badly sidelined with little to except a piecemeal plot involving kids, and even Manny's plight and enforced message of accepting growing up feels a little weary and hoary as the film goes on.

It's perhaps a good sign though the Blue Sky animation work is excellent, with sequences feeling fresher than the plot they're servicing and CGI work that brings depth to all elements of Manny et al's world.

Ultimately, the kids may enjoy the more out there elements of the story of Ice Age Collision Course, and the film was clearly never going to fulfil its potential extinction storyline, but Ice Age Collision Course's story is severely lacking.

If this is the cinematic extinction of the gang, its exit, based on this entry alone, won't be mourned.

Jackie: Film Review

Jackie: Film Review

Cast: Natalie Portman, Billy Crudup, Greta Gerwig, Peter Sarsgaard, John Hurt, Richard E Grant
Director: Pablo Larrain

Natalie Portman shines as Jackie Kennedy in this intriguing and at times, unconventional, biopic about the President's wife after the death of her husband JFK.

In an unusual move, it feels at times like a coming of age film as Jackie negotiates the treachery of life afterwards as people swarm around her suggesting what's best for both her and her husband's immediate legacy.

The film though, begins with Jackie welcoming a reporter (Billy Crudup, based on biographer Theodore H White) to her retreat and who's clearly there to get her side of the story (in perhaps a nod to the article which appeared a week after JFK's death in Life).

But flashbacks, and present day flashes mean that Jackie's also shown gaining her White House legs as well as her exposure to television by bringing cameras into the White House to demonstrate how their home is. In a move that simulates both the desire to be accepted by the public and into the history of the White House, Portman's Jackie tentatively begins a journey into our collective consciousness.

Mixing archival footage along with Portman's powerful vocal affectations (which, admittedly, take time to get accustomed to) as Kennedy proves to be a heady mix for Jackie. With its drained aesthetics and faded looks, Larrain's strength in the film comes from the subtleties of the scenes and the rhythmic feel of the prose played out on the screen.

From blood stains on Jackie's dress to the absolutely earth-shattering visceral sound of the bullet ringing out across the motorcade when the inevitable flashback occurs, everything about this film screams detail.

It's undoubtedly a classy affair, albeit one which takes a little time to adjust to as its groove begins to wash over you with its funereal feel.

As the ebbs and flows of post JFK life come into sharp focus, the initial portrait of a fragile and vulnerable First Lady drains away to present a figure borne of fire, and bereft initially of power but content once again to rise from the ashes.

Portman commits to this wholeheartedly as a mother struggling to tell her kids what's happened, as a stateswoman determined to not be undermined and as a newly crowned widow, fighting to ensure her husband is fairly farewelled (NB - a lot of time is spent on funeral arrangements).

But as she staggers out into the cinematic light and from the screen, Portman emerges as the character building her own myth; it's clear to see why she's been nominated for an award in this almost chameleonic turn.

While there are moments when it feels showy initially, once the bluster is stripped away, the ebbs and flows of the character portrayal are laid down and the bombastic OST silences itself, Jackie becomes a clear portrait of power, led by an utterly commanding turn.

Chilean director Pablo Larrain's film frees itself from the shackles of a conventional biopic and emerges as a hauntingly different and striking way to tell a story that's so familiar to so many. And with a central powerhouse of a performance, it lingers long in the mind after the lights have gone up.

Whisky Galore: Film Review

Whisky Galore: Film Review

Cast: Eddie Izzard, Gregor Fisher, Sean Biggerstaff, Ellie Kendrick
Director: Gillies MacKinnon

A remake of the 1949 Ealing classic of the same name, the 2017 version of Whisky Galore doesn't quite pack the same sweet punch.

At the height of the Second World War on the Scottish island of Eriskay, the islanders are shocked to find they've run dry. With no sign of any more rations of whisky on the way, the island begins to fall apart - but that all changes when a ship runs aground just off the coast. With the postmaster Macroon (Rab C Nesbitt star Gregor Fisher) discovering their cargo is whisky, a devious plot to steal the good stuff is put in place.

But the only thing standing in the islanders' way is the officious Captain Wagget (played by Eddie Izzard) as the battle of wits escalates.

Even though it's based on a true story, Whisky Galore is perhaps more suited to a home viewing than a big screen outing.

With its gentle broad slightly nostalgic humour and occasional am-dram performances, it does feel more like the blue rinse brigade will enjoy it more than a younger audience, who may feel some of its timings and pacings are a little slow at best.

Eddie Izzard's Wagget is extremely reminiscent of Dad's Army's Captain Mainwaring in terms of bumbling officiousness and self-pomposity but that's no bad thing.

There's a gentle calmness to proceedings but there's very little edge to what's happening - and some of the sub plot threads about Macroon's daughters getting married off aren't mined for the emotional depth and wistfulness they could provide.

All in all, Whisky Galore puts the dram in Am-dram, but it's not as intoxicating a shot of cinema to anyone other than an older audience, despite beautiful settings and an old school nostalgic vibe.

The Edge of Seventeen: Film Review

The Edge of Seventeen: Film Review

Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, Woody Harrelson, Blake Jenner, Haley Lu Richardson, Hayden Szeto
Director: Kelly Fremon

The pantheon of teen coming of age films is not one that is lacking in entrants.

From Clueless to Me and Earl and The Dying Girl, it's not like the chance to shake up the genre appears that often.

So it is with The Edge of Seventeen, a distinctly tween-ish drama that's not exactly new, nor one that proves to be a game-changer. It is however, competently trotted through the tropes, thanks largely to the story and engaging performances.

True Grit's break-out star Hailee Steinfeld is Nadine, a kid who's perpetually lived life on the outside of the school groups and permanently in the shadow of her good-looking brother Darien (Everybody Wants Some!!'s Blake Jenner).

Life's rough for Nadine, with her father dying unexpectedly and her butting of horns with her mother (Kyra Sedgwick) - it's the usual teen traumas all mixed up in the self involved drama that so consumes many a youth.

But in among the debris and detritus of high-school life, Nadine's world was changed when she met her pal Krista (Haley Lu Richardson).
BFFs forever, true blue buddies who bond over their outsider status, the duo becomes inseparable until one day, Krista ends up hooking up with Darien and Nadine's selfish world is shattered....

The Edge of Seventeen brings another precocious teen to the screen, and with it a feeling that kids these days don't actually speak like that in real life or realise that what's going on is part of the growing pains process.

Kelly Fremon Craig's flick sets out its store initially by having Nadine striding with purpose before staunchly informing her put upon teacher and surrogate father figure (a nicely sarcastic and laconic Woody Harrelson, echoing Jon Bernthal's role in Me and Earl and The Dying Girl) that she intends to kill herself. complete with self-absorbed voiceover and slightly off-kilter edges, the story back spools to present how we got to this point.

Thankfully, while Nadine verges on grating due to her incessant over-use of exaggeration, language and self-involved nature, Steinfeld makes a good fist of Nadine's petulance and lets the humanity and empathy come through in this fairly rote coming-of-age thriller. It'll speak volumes to its target market teen audience, but it lacks the levity of a Cher in Clueless approach and manufactures melodrama when simple drama will suffice.

There are moments that older age wisdom permeate, thanks largely to Sedgwick's beaten-around-the-track widow, and there are certainly more optimistic touches in a burgeoning relationship between Steinfeld's Nadine and the film's break-out star Szeto as nerdy awkward type Erwin (whom many may identify with).

Theirs is a romance that revels in its awkwardness and delights in its differences, and as a result, thanks largely to Szeto's on-the-nose performance, is one that feels the most real of the entire film.
Other relationships in the film (aside from the BFFs) feel greatly exaggerated for effect and push only to permeate the view that self-involvement is the only common thing we all share as teenagers.

The Edge of Seventeen may fail to offer up any trite or new insights into teen life, preferring more to stick to the tried and tested formula and oft invoked lessons, but thanks largely to its performers (and Szeto in particular) and occasionally off-kilter moments, it just about succeeds despite bordering nigh on irritating at times.