At Darren's World of Entertainment

Tuesday, 24 January 2017

Split: Film Review

Cast: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, Betty Buckley, Jessica Sula
Director: M Night Shyamalan

Despite being burned by audiences who spurned his ongoing obsessions with twist endings, director M Night Shyamalan returns to his "classic" mode with this reasonably taut psychological thriller that's anchored by two stunning lead turns.

Abducted by James McAvoy's character and imprisoned underground (shades of potboiler thriller 10 Cloverfield Lane in more thematic ways than one), a trio of girls (The Witch star Taylor-Joy, Edge of Seventeen's Richardson and Skins actress Sula) try desperately to escape.

But it turns out that McAvoy's kidnapper is just one of 23 personalities trapped within his body, each acting on the machinations of the other but all serving a greater purpose - the coming of The Beast....

Less about the practicalities of a siege mentality and more about the mysterious journey and subsequent story, Shyamalan's new film is very much a return to form that's greatly enhanced by Taylor-Joy and McAvoy.

While Taylor-Joy's stoically passive and yet determined outsider Casey seizes the intellectual initiative of the situation and tries to bond with her captors, it's McAvoy's turn as the incarcerator that really stands out.

Anya Taylor-Joy stars in M Night Shyamalan's new film, Split

Easily flipping between the many personalities with the subtlest of touches and slightest nuancing of facial expressions, McAvoy's ferocious and fluid acting out of multiple personalities shifts Split away from feeling like a film that stigmatises mental illness and scoffs at its subject for cheap laughs.

From a slight re-arranging of his reactions or an altering of facial features to the use of accents makes his characters seem both distinct and unnerving as the claustrophobic atmosphere plays out.

Make no mistake, Split is McAvoy's film from start to finish.

Though he's well-supported by the impassive Taylor-Joy who conveys as much with a simple look as she managed during The VVitch.

Perhaps less successful are some of the other elements of the narrative.

At times, Shyamalan seems to lose focus on juggling the puzzle pieces in the air and more focussed on heading toward the end game. Certainly, a back story feels extraneous and using a therapist to convey medical exposition slows Split in the middle part.

And at times, some of the dialogue feels forced and unnatural. Equally, a final hurdle run into full horror territory removes Split of some of its relative freshness and more macabre edges, sullying the work done to get to this point.

Granted, it's not a Shyamalan film without an audacious final narrative gamble and there'll be plenty of debate once the curtain goes up, but to say more is to rob you of the experience.

Ultimately, Split avoids cliches and a large degree of risibility thanks to its superb two leads, imbuing what transpires with an emotional edge that's as tense and compelling as it is uncomfortable and suspenseful, and ensuring once again that Shyamalan has returned to a character piece and form that's not been witnessed since the denouement of The Sixth Sense.

Star Wars Episode VIII title is....

Hot off the press this morning the new title for Star Wars Episode VIII has been revealed.

And the new Star Wars Episode VIII title is....

Resident Evil 7 - biohazard: PS4 Review

Released by Capcom
Platform: PS4

Fear comes home in the latest much anticipated iteration of the Resident Evil series.

And it's clear that developers want this game to feel both as intimate as it can be and as terrifying as any horror game should be.

Both the Beginning Hour and Kitchen demos gave clues as to what to expect in biohazard, but to be honest, going in with a clean slate is perhaps one of the best ways to experience the latest Resident Evil game.

Set 4 years after the events of Resident Evil 6 (in 2017 believe it or not), you play civilian Ethan, whose entrance into the Resident Evil canon is precipitated by the disappearance of his wife Mia. Three years after she's gone AWOL, Ethan's contacted by her and sets out to discover what's happened.

His road trip leads him to a plantation farm in the middle of nowhere (unsurprisingly) and into a meeting with the Baker family, a twisted bunch that make the mutants of The X-Files' banned episode episode Home look relatively normal by comparison.

Inadvertently trapped in the house by the family, Ethan has to escape....

And really, that's all that deserves to be said about the plot, because to be frank, Resident Evil 7 - biohazard is best experienced with a cleansed gaming palette. Granted, its first person perspective and some of the design of the inside of the house may invite comparisons to Konami's cancelled nightmare P.T, but this game is truly its own beast.

Welcome home... Resident Evil 7 - Biohazard

And beastly it is - as well as fiendish, devilish and occasionally heart-stopping.

Employing jump scares and an immersive first player POV adds many levels to biohazard, giving it the feeling that every moment's been lifted from what makes a truly great horror movie work. Within the opening sequence alone, there's one moment that plays to the best part of a horror experience - the suggestion of what you may have seen out of the corner of your eye. When put within the context of the game, these are the moments which work best, because you have all the elements of a horror genre within - house in the woods, creepy goings on, long corridors with long pauses as you wait for something to happen, someone on your tail - it all adds up to an at times, tensely claustrophobic feeling.

However, there are ways that the game stops you feeling fully immersed - and to be honest, these barriers were never easily going to be overcome. It also has to be said, these jump scares are never cheap and thrown in for simple thrills or "We got you" moments - they're there to heighten the sense of terror that gnaws away at you as you play.

The fixed reliance on what objects you can interact with and which can be used frustrates. A truly open and immersive game would allow any object to be used in the quest to escape, but much like The Order did before it, only certain ones can be utilised, leading to a lack of logic and a nagging sense of irritation (and desperation when someone - or something - is on your tail).

Again, it leads to the perception that to a large degree, the path is chosen for you and how you get there is largely mapped out by the mechanics of the new RE Engine (hence why the statement, these barriers were always going to be difficult to overcome). There were also moments where arms would be trapped in closing doors leading to the feeling of a graphics patch needing to be deployed.

Despite these very minor niggles, Resident Evil 7 - biohazard is a punishing game, and an abjectly terrifying experience that preys on your feeling of suspense and revels in the suffocating tension it creates.

Unlike previous Resident Evils, there's no reliance on blasting your way through mutants and simply shooting to survive. The adoption of the tenets of the survival horror genre though are truly welcome. Much like The Last Of Us, supplies are to be savoured and not wasted and the game doesn't reward you with an excess of materials to make your life easier, for which it duly deserves plenty of praise as it adds to a heightened sense of reality.

Equally, the sense of detail which has gone into the Bakers' home is visually incredible. The game's HD creaks with nuances and comes alive in the most visceral of ways. You can almost feel the dust on your face as you head through the house's hidden areas; there's certainly something deeply atmospheric about Resident Evil - Biohazard and it works brilliantly well. Like any true house in the woods, the sense of isolation is palpable and as a result, the game's desire to suck you in is evident from the start.

And praise should go to the execution of the family and other human characters within - they look creepy as hell and there's a veritable stench of decay that leaps out of the screen at you as you play.

What works best about Resident Evil - biohazard is its tone. From its freaky atmospherics to its mystery and the terror with which it plays out, this is a horror game that gets it truly right. While some may protest the adoption of the POV player, this is a genius stroke from the developers that really gets to the heart of what makes the game the success. It throws you directly into the world of Ethan and gives you a simple yet very human reason to survive - to find your missing wife and escape. It's an embracing of the primal fears that lie within and the playing on this very basic of human tenets that helps it to achieve greatness.

One of 2017's essential gaming purchases is here.

To scare the living daylights out of you - and it's a great experience to kick off the new gaming year with and simply put, you're best off playing this in the dark. Both figuratively and literally.

NB -Resident Evil VII - Biohazard also has a VR component too for the entire game, which will be reviewed at a later stage.

Monday, 23 January 2017

Pete's Dragon Blu Ray Review

Pete's Dragon: Blu Ray Review

Disney continues its predilection for bringing live action versions of its cartoon back catalogue with this New Zealand shot version of 1977 cute fable, Pete's Dragon.

This time around, Oakes Fegley stars as Pete, the little kid who's orphaned this time around when a car crash in the woods kills his parents. As he's about to be set on by wolves, a kindly dragon scares them off...

Moving forward six years, and the town of Millhaven's grown up with tales of a dragon in the woods. Chief among the tall-tale-teller is Robert Redford's Meacham who claims to have seen the beast, but his daughter Grace (a pleasant Bryce Dallas Howard) who works as a park ranger. refutes his claims.

But one day, when she finds the feral Pete, a chain of events is set in motion that will change all their lives forever.

Perfectly pleasant but ultimately pedestrian, Pete's Dragon is a curious update.

With its furry dragon now resembling more a hybrid between snaggle-toothed dog, Scooby Doo and dragon, it's clear the CGI is the star of the film with plenty of earlier proceedings devoted to showcasing the beast soaring through the skies and in one bravura CGI piece that reeks of simplicity of complex execution, splashing through water.

Refreshingly old school in its execution and teetering closely on potentially being a little bland for current cinema tastes, Pete's Dragon takes about 70 minutes of its 100 minutes for anything seriously substantial to happen, relying on magic, darker moments and old school feels to get it through.

It's genial to be sure, but its veiled story about a damaged child and subsequent reintegration into society is the only thread that keeps things on the straight and narrow - even though a sideline about deforestation bubbles away in the background, never to be preached or discussed as the film progresses.

3D for the film proves pointless with the only moments that it works best being when the dragon disappears from sight on screen as its cloaking device kicks in - but otherwise, the 3D muddies and darkens proceedings more than it needs, denying the movie the lighter edges it so clearly embraces.

As the scrambling feral Pete, there's a distinctly Mowgli vibe about Oakes Fegley's scraggy kid and the sweetness of those around him makes proceedings saccharine enough but never boiling over into grating territory.

And while Redford and Dallas Howard are perfectly affable, Karl Urban's turn as a troublemaker feels a little stunted and comes up wanting in the final wash. It's an unfortunate touch given the whole family friendly proceedings need a degree of villainy to give it an edge.

Ultimately, Pete's Dragon is winningly old school with its simplicity of execution, but it takes a little too long for anything significant to happen - and whether impatient audiences will embrace that lax pace remains to be seen.

Sunday, 22 January 2017

Inferno: Blu Ray Review

The fourth Robert Langdon book heads to the screen courtesy of Dan Brown's paranoiaand Ron Howard's direction.

With Hanks once again reprising his role for a third time as Professor Langdon, it's a tale of amnesia, over-population concerns and a good old fashioned chase movie.

As the film starts, Langdon wakes in a hospital bed where a doctor Sienna (Felicity Jones) tells him he's been shot and has a head wound caused by a bullet grazing him.

Unable to work out what's going on, Langdon, along with Sienna (who turns out to be a fan of his) is on the run amid concerns a global virus is about to be unleashed thanks to a genius called Zobrist (Ben Foster).

With time against them, and a series of chasers closing in, can Langdon solve the puzzle and save the day?

If ever a film was so jammed with conspiratorial edges and paranoia, as well as po-faced portentous dialogue such as "Humanity is inhuman" and "The sixth extinction will be our own", Inferno is that film.

With allusions to Dante's Divine Comedy and inferno, black death imagery, hellish sights given life on the streets via Langdon's visions, flashes of kidnapping, the film's so chock full of stuff happening that it merely disguises the fact there's little going on beneath the surface.

It starts at breakneck speed under Howard's guidance and doesn't really let up or give you the chance to breathe and allow for the contrivances to be accepted as it hurtles through Europe and Italian streets and landmarks.

Hanks is solid as Langdon and Jones is intelligent as his acolyte aide (it's like Doctor Who given a new assistant each time these films come out as Langdon receives a new pretty exposition partner), but there's never really much of a vibe between the pair of them to propel the film through.

Far more successful is Hanks' pairing with Westworld's Babse Knudsen towards the end of the film. As the film slows and the pace drops, the scenes between the two of them develop a lilting humanity and bittersweet edge, lifting proceedings from what is a fairly ludicrous chase movie throughout. Equally welcome, though narratively brief is Khan's shadowy leader, who adds humour to the proceedings that grow increasingly dour and border on the stiffly dull.

With its schlocky edges and predictable twists and turns, it feels like it's a few years too late on the scene and while the book diverges from its own ending to something more sanitary and audience pleasing, it feels like it has no courage of its convictions.

Inferno is the cinematic equivalent of a pulpy paranoiac, writ large; an airport thriller riddled with holes and pretensions, perfect for a journey but forgotten the moment of touchdown.

In many ways, thanks to its dullness, it's the cinematic equivalent of Purgatory.

Saturday, 21 January 2017

Hidden Figures: Film Review

Cast: Taraji P Henson, Olivia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons, Kirsten Dunst
Director: Theodore Melfi

The space race and the fight against racism combine in this based on a true story wannabe feel-good flick from the director of St Vincent.

It's the story of Katherine G Johnson (Empire star Taraji P Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (The Help's Octavia Spencer) and feisty activist Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), three black women working in the predominantly white NASA space programme.

Johnson's a numbers genius (as an early flashback to her childhood heavily sign posts) and when she's assigned to the unit run by Al Harrison (Costner) she inadvertently puts the cat among the pigeons. Not least because of her colour, but also because The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons' sneery Paul Stafford is running the team and doubts the veracity of her maths.

Equally, Vaughn's desperate to be given the chance to become a supervisor and sassy Jackson's keen to become an engineer - but both face discrimination, prejudice and societal expectations as threats.

With Octavia Spencer already nominated for a Golden Globe award the film's trajectory is on the up, even if parts of its execution remain firmly grounded in mawkish predictable civil rights sentimentality.

Despite a relative career best turn from Kevin Costner as the boss of the unit charged with getting astronaut John Glenn into space to keep up with the Russians and the Sputnik space programme, most of the rest of the cast give solid performances that are dictated to unfortunately slide into stereotypes as the civil rights led story plays out.

From segregation to romance and racism within the workplace, all the tenets of this style of Lifetime dramas are here and everything orchestrates to an entirely predictable conclusion that wrings out every ounce of crowd-pleasing eyes weeping obviousness as you'd expect. The second half of the film aims for tearducts, but with the outside work elements not faring as well as the space race interest and story, they fall flat and fail to be fully moved.

There's no denying the story here and the struggle being real, but the TV movie style execution of it means Hidden Figures is more a case of a story that needs to be told, rather than one that needs to be told well.

It's an important distinction for this piece about the hidden struggle and breakthrough of the women and while the film may hold stratospheric aspirations, the race for the glass ceiling never quite reaches the heights of anything other than spectacularly solid and occasionally manipulative.

Friday, 20 January 2017

New redband Logan trailer is here

A brand new look at Hugh Jackman's Logan has arrived, just a month and a half out from the film's official release on March 2nd.

Jackman's already indicated this is the last outing for the X-Man that's so defined him - and fans are already a flutter to see if the film will follow the established comic book lore.

Take a look at the brand new redband Logan trailer below.

Greenband Logan Trailer -
About Logan -

In the near future, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X in a hide out on the Mexican border.
But Logan's attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are up-ended when a young mutant arrives, being pursued by dark forces.

Starring Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Boyd Holbrook as well as Dafne Keen as Laura Kinney / X-23, Logan hits March 2nd.

French Film Festival reveals opening and closing films

The Alliance Française French Film Festival announces Opening and Closing Night films and the 2017 Education Outreach Programme

Celebrating 11 years of bringing the best of French cinema to New Zealand, the Alliance Française French Film Festival is delighted to reveal the Opening and Closing Night titles for the 2017 Festival.

Launching in Wellington on 1 March, the Festival will open with Jérôme Salle’s breathtaking The Odyssey (L’Odyssée), starring Lambert Wilson, Audrey Tautou, and Pierre Niney.

Based on the life of oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, The Odyssey invites the audience to marvel at the magic that lies underwater. Combining elements of biopic and romantic fresco full of family drama, the film will take you on an adventurous journey.

In the spirit of celebrating French cinema, the Festival will close with Bertrand Tavernier’s magnificently epic documentary A Journey Through French Cinema (Voyage à travers le cinéma français).

A lifetime in the making, Tavernier explores the French films from the 30s through to the 70s that inspired him to start out as a director. From giants like Renoir, Godard, and Melville (for whom he worked as an assistant) to now overlooked figures like Edmond T. Gréville and Guy Gilles, he rediscovers and reassesses filmmakers, films, and composers, taking us on a voyage through time and stories.

The 2017 Alliance Française French Film Festival programme will showcase over 30 French-language feature films, offering audiences a chance to immerse themselves in one language, and a world of emotions.

The full 2017 programme will be available online and in print from Thursday 2 February 2017.

Education Outreach

The Education Outreach Programme is designed to engage, educate and inspire student audiences by exposing them to French language in context, and encouraging discussion in the classroom through comprehensive study guides, which are provided free of charge.

The 2017 Education Outreach films are:

My Mommy is in America and she met Buffalo Bill (Ma maman est en Amérique, elle a rencontré Buffalo Bill) by Marc Boreal and Thibaut Chatel, recommended for ages 6+

Adama by Simon Rouby, recommended for ages 8+

Fanny’s Journey (Le voyage de Fanny) by Lola Doillon, recommended for ages 10+

Standing Tall (La tête haute) by Emmanuelle Bercot, in cross section with the main programme, is recommended for ages 16+

French-language study guides will be available to download free of charge from the Festival website following the full programme launch on Thursday 2 February. For more information on the Education Outreach programme, visit www.frenchfilmfestival.co.nz/education-outreach

The Alliance Française French Film Festival will run from 1 March - 12 April 2017 in 12 cities across New Zealand. For dates and venues information, visit www.frenchfilmfestival.co.nz

Thursday, 19 January 2017

Trailer first look - Gary of the Pacific

Today sees the release of the trailer for their debut feature film Gary of the Pacific.

Staring Josh Thomson, Megan Stevenson, Dave Fane, Matt Whelan and Dominic Ona-Ariki, as well as new face Taofi Mose-Tuiloma, this brand new kiwi feature film tells the story of struggling real estate agent Gary (Thomson), who becomes the chief of a sinking Pacific Island.

Set to release in cinemas nationwide on March 16^th, audiences will be guaranteed a heart-warming and hilarious film full of thedownlowconcept’s
trademark humour as well as the chance to see a new side of actor and comedian Josh Thomson.

xXx - Return of Xander Cage: Film Review

Cast: Vin Diesel, Samuel L Jackson, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Kris Wu, Ruby Rose, Nina Dobrev, Rory McCann, Toni Collette
Director: DJ Caruso

"Save the world, kill the bad guys, get the girl and look dope doing it."

This is the mantra espoused to muscle man Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) at the end of the latest spy-jinks chapter of the xXx series after numerous sequences of action, shooting, and explosions.

And perhaps it's appropriate too, but really in this latest adrenaline-filled rote outing, do they all have to look quite so bored doing it?

Given the cartoony nature of the xXx film franchise (it's honestly closer in tone to ACME meets James Bond than anything serious), perhaps the film shouldn't be taken too seriously, but given the fact it aims for ludicrous and tries to be as serious as possible, it has to be judged on those terms.

After going off the grid, Xander Cage is brought back into the fold by pouty ice-queen, the bleached blonde NSA big-wig Jane Marke (a wasted Toni Collette, who frankly looks bored at times) after a terrorist group reveals it has the power to bring down any of the 30,000 satellites currently in orbit onto any target with fatal consequences - via a piece of kit called "Pandora's Box."

And when a group steals the McGuffin to do so, Cage recruits his own trusted team (including Game Of Thrones' The Hound aka Rory McCann) to try and save the day.

It seems pointless to rail against the terribly by the numbers xXx: Return of Xander Cage because its knowing tone and continual plot holes all form to make an experience that will leave any rational brain dribbling at the door. You could also rail at the laughably offensive stereotype of a computer genius (embodied by a nattering glasses-wearing Nina Dobrev from The Vampire Diaries) within as this aimed-at-15-year-old boys flick plays out.

But given it's assembled a cross cultural cast (potentially a cynical cash grab to include Indian and Chinese stars to attack multiple markets at the quieter time of the release year) it genuinely does deserve applause for such diversity - and giving Donnie Yen as much screen time as Diesel is a commendable touch from this otherwise lunatic and frankly absurd and occasionally dumb as a bag of spanners actioner.

xXx: Return of Xander Cage delivers only formulaic action sequences for the most part - though a freeway underpass fight and Donnie Yen's fists of fury on a plane sequence more than deliver enough to make up for it. It's a shame because the movie starts out with its tongue so far in its cheek thanks to onscreen subtitles and nods and winks (one potential xXx recruits profile proclaims he thought he was being recruited for the Avengers) that it almost seems worthwhile.

But it's then stymied by the fact the writers don't seem to care for their characters or the predicament, so consequently why should you? As a result, the mid-section feels bloated and saddled with two fresher and edgier book-ends, the tone of which would have been better to follow.

At the end of the day, xXx: Return of Xander Cage is a piece of mindless popcorn entertainment, that somehow manages to miss much of the low-hanging fruit it could aim for. If it had embraced more of the lunatic element into its own DNA, rather than plenty of Vin Diesel posturing and mumbling in between action scraps, it could have been a breath of fresh cinematic air.

Wednesday, 18 January 2017

HITMAN 101 Gameplay trailer

HITMAN 101 TRAILER NOW AVAILABLE

SYDNEY, 18^TH January 2017 - With two weeks until ‘HITMAN – The Complete First Season’ arrives on disc, IO Interactive have released the 101 Gameplay Trailer for gamers who may be new to HITMAN.

From an exhilarating spy-thriller story to time limited Elusive Targets, HITMAN truly delivers the fantasy of becoming a master assassin.

If you’re new to HITMAN, it might just take you a few attempts to get to the top of your game. This 101 Gameplay Trailer is a whistle-stop tour of what to expect and the skills you will need to craft an assassination in HITMAN.

HITMAN – The Complete First Season will release on disc on Jan 31^ston PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

About HITMAN™
HITMAN is the sixth game in the blockbuster series and is the culmination of a journey started by IO-Interactive more than 17 years ago. It builds on the critically acclaimed and commercially successful foundation of games like Silent Assassin, Blood Money and the recent Hitman: Absolution.

New Injustice 2 Story Trailer - "The Lines are Redrawn"

Witness the story set in motion in Injustice™: Gods Among Us as new DC characters join the fight and shape the actions that unfold in the upcoming sequel. Injustice™ 2 will release for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Xbox One beginning May 17, 2017

Injustice™ 2 is NetherRealm Studios' super-powered sequel to the hit game Injustice™: Gods Among Us that allows players to build and power up the ultimate version of their favorite DC characters. Featuring a massive selection of DC Super Heroes and Super-Villains, Injustice™ 2 continues the epic cinematic story introduced in Injustice™: Gods Among Us as Batman and his allies work towards putting the pieces of society back together while struggling against those who want to restore Superman’s™ regime. In the midst of the chaos, a new threat appears that will put Earth’s existence at risk.

For more information and to pre-order the game, visit www.injustice.com, and join the Injustice™ 2 conversation on Facebook (www.facebook.com/injusticegame) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/injusticegame).

LITTLE NIGHTMARES™ final release date, SIX edition and a new trailer revealed

LITTLE NIGHTMARES™ final release date, SIX edition and a new trailer revealed

Digital pre-purchases are now open for LITTLE NIGHTMARES coming out on April 28^th on PlayStation®4, Xbox One as well as STEAM® and GOG.com for PC. The Six Edition is also available for pre-orders at participating retailers.

BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe and Tarsier Studios are pleased to announce today that LITTLE NIGHTMARES will release on April, 28^th in digital and physical format on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

LITTLE NIGHTMARES can now be pre-purchased digitally on PlayStation 4, Xbox One as well as GOG.com and STEAM for PC. The Six Edition is also available for pre-orders as a collector’s edition at participating retailers while supplies last. The Six Edition includes a 10 cm high figurine trapped into a themed cage box as well as the original soundtrack composed by Tobias Lilja from Tarsier Studios, an exclusive A3 poster and a sticker board.

Trapped in The Maw with nothing but her wits and a lighter, Six must find light in the darkness and strength in her weakness to survive the attentions of its monstrous residents and escape to the world outside. Be careful as each room is a cell, each resident a threat, and both puzzles to untangle. Hide and sneak from danger, climb your way out and escape the chasing monsters as The Janitor, the new character revealed in The Nine Deaths of Six trailer.

Watch_Dogs 2 free trial is here

WATCH_DOGS^® 2 FREE TRIAL

NOW AVAILABLE FOR SONY PLAYSTATION^®4

New players will have three free hours of game time to join the DedSec hackers in the San Francisco Bay Area

Sydney, Australia - January 18, 2017 - Today, Ubisoft announced that a Free Trial for WATCH_DOGS 2 is now available for download on Sony PlayStation®4, and will be released on Microsoft Xbox One on January 25, 2017. On that same date, the first add-on content pack, the T-Bone Content Bundle, will also be available on Microsoft Xbox One and PC.

To watch the trailer click the image below

After racking up praise from press, critics and fans, the WATCH_DOGS 2 Free Trial will give both game enthusiasts and newcomers access to 3 hours of free content including seamless multiplayer with three online modes*, “Hacking Invasion”, “Bounty Hunter” and 2 players co-op, as well as story missions and side activities. Purchase is possible at any time without any additional download as all game progress is saved and carried over to the full game.

In WATCH_DOGS 2 Free Trial, players have the chance to freely explore the entirety of the San Francisco Bay Area open-world, using all gadgets, weapons and advanced hacking options available to shape the fate of the city. They can freely choose their path between stealthy infiltrations in restricted areas or wacky action-packed antics with friends. Picking from a wide variety of tools, drones, RC cars and weapons, players can take advantage from a fully hackable city and watch as the game environment reacts to their every move.

For more information about WATCH_DOGS 2, please visit watchdogs.ubisoft.com.

*Multiplayer access requires a Sony PlayStation Plus or Microsoft Xbox Live Gold membership.

About Watch_Dogs 2

In Watch_Dogs 2, players explore the birthplace of the tech revolution as Marcus Holloway, a brilliant young hacker who has fallen victim to ctOS 2.0’s predictive algorithms and accused of a crime he did not commit. In Marcus’s quest to shut down ctOS 2.0 for good, hacking is the ultimate weapon. Players can not only hack into the San Francisco Bay Area’s infrastructure but also every person and any connected device they possess to trigger unpredictable chains of events in this vast open world.

Win a double pass to see Manchester By The Sea

Manchester by the Sea tells the story of the Chandler family, a working class family from Massachusetts.

After Lee’s (Casey Affleck) older brother Joe (Kyle Chandler) suddenly passes away, he is made the legal guardian of his nephew (Lucas Hedges).

Lee is forced to deal with a tragic past that separated him from his wife Randi (Michelle Williams) and the community where he was born and raised.

Set in the North Shore of Massachusetts, Manchester by the Sea is the new film written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count on Me, Margaret).

Manchester By The Sea 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 MANCHESTER to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Please ensure you include your name and address - competition closes January 26th

Moonlight: Film Review

Cast: Mahershala Ali, Alex R Hibbert, Janelle Monae, Ashton Sanders, Trevante Rhodes
Director: Barry Jenkins

More is unsaid in Moonlight's triptych than is actually revealed and in parts, it's as intoxicating as it is tantalising.

Drawn unequivocally from its roots as a play and transposed on screen as such under a three act structure, Jenkins' film of the coming of age story of a black man growing up in Miami delivers subtly and with swathes of nuance as it plays out, relying heavily on the viewer to listen for minor details and to bring the tapestry threads together.

But not once does Moonlight ever shift the intimate scale or focus from its leads as we take in three stages of Chiron's life.

From badgered kid to bullied teen to ultimate manhood, Chiron's tale is finely balanced and precariously executed as the world swirls around.

A minimalist score and pared back soundtrack give Moonlight a resonance and a power that compel, but it's the personal moments which leap head and shoulders above anything else here.

This is never anything more than Chiron's journey pilgrimage through life from start to finish, and if that sounds like a trite dismissal of the film and its protagonist, it's not. Over 3 phases of Chiron's life, the struggle for his identity and his place in the world is carefully, quietly and powerfully positioned.

Whether it's bathed in the titular moonlight at the edge of the sea at the beach or swathed in the red glow of the room of his combusting addicted mother (Naomie Harris) as she rails against him, Jenkins' eye for visual detail predicates the story's journey.

But it's the raw and humane delivery of the story by the different age leads that build a dramatic powder-keg of a personal portrait in a (less successful and more obvious) wider tableaux of social commentary that's dripping with sub-text.

And while there's an argument that Jenkins' script shines a light on the continuing problems faced by black Americans, the truths espoused within are universal and yet intimately dispatched.

It's hard to resist Chiron's story or not empathise with his heartbreaking situations - from bullying at school, to violence from a mother, to seeking acceptance from and continually being rejected by his peers. There are universal truths within Moonlight that work as powerfully as they can because of the simplicity of the story's execution and the pared-back nature of the film's execution.

Ultimately, it's the stripped back almost play-like feel of Moonlight that helps it shine - even though there are abrupt cuts at times that are symptomatic of a dramatic curtain call, the emotion is never lost as the story unfurls. With a sparse OST and large periods of silence, Jenkins' builds a veritable atmosphere that ironically, helps it to speak volumes.

From Mahershala Ali's dealer surrogate father figure to the three iterations of Chiron, the vulnerable veracity and tale of acceptance seep through, be it in the dialogue or within the relatability of the story.

As a contemporary portrait of African-Americans, it's vital; and it's also easy to see why awards are being showered on this occasionally Oscar-bait piece; but as a piece of film alone, it's a strong cinematic experience that never once loses its focus and nuances to help it connect to global audiences.

MOONLIGHT is releasing January 19, exclusively at Rialto Cinema Newmarket and Lighthouse Cuba Street

Tuesday, 17 January 2017

Deepwater Horizon: DVD Review

Mixing both traditional disaster movie with damning indictment of BP's role in the April 20th 2010 Gulf Of Mexico oil slick proves to be a potent mix for director Peter Berg.

It seems natural that Berg, whose MO recently has become to champion the everyman (see Wahlberg in Lone Survivor) for their fight against the impossible or the powers that be, would be drawn to this true story that ultimately led to the tragic deaths of 11 men. And it makes sense to have him re-team with actor Wahlberg, whose heartland appeal and filmography is full of representing for the common man.

For those uninitiated with what's been dubbed one of the largest man-made disasters, Wahlberg plays Mike Williams in this biographical re-telling of that fateful night. Just about to start on a 3 week rotation on the rig some 48 nautical miles off land, Williams and rig head honcho Mr Jimmy Harrell (a wiry taut Russell) suspect that the project's being rushed by BP after it falls 43 days behind. With crucial safety tests being bucked and avoided, and pressure being piled on from the big wigs on site, including Malkovich's Vidrine, the seeds of disaster are sown when they refuse to listen to those who know the equipment and signs of what lies ahead...

Blessed with technical jargon and large dollops of good ole blue collar workers simply doing their jobs and disagreeing with the man, Deepwater Horizon is less a conversation about corporate negligence, more a full on slamming of the health and safety ignorances on display.

There's no way anyone from BP will be happy with this as the unethical practices they appear to push rise to the fore like mud from a bore well in a pipe under the Gulf of Mexico. To be fair to Berg, he simply lets the story tell itself in almost biographical fashion and lets the actions of those within be the condemnation he needs for the film to sit well with audiences.

While the first half of the film sets up its stall with a swirling heady mix of superstitions being presented ahead of a shift to the banality of daily routines from Wahlberg talking to his screen daughter about how the oil is a monster below the surface and Jane The Virgin star Rodriguezdealing with mechanical issues on cars at home, Berg manages to bring a kernel of life to a group of characters that barely get any more once they're on the rig. While Hudson's relegated to the sidelines once the inferno hits, she's the anchor the audience need to weigh in the emotion, because once the chaos takes over the rig, a lot happens and to be frank, a lot of the time, you're not entirely sure who it's happening to.

A brief note of praise must go to the sound design of Deepwater Horizon - it's simply as terrifying as any disaster film you've encountered before; from the creaking of the platform to the bubbling underwater, here is where Berg's film finds its menace and where audiences will cower.

However, like the seething oil beneath the surface bubbling to top, Berg can't help his own jingoism manifesting in the final third of the movie (a US flag flapping on its pole while the rig explodes and fireballs is up there with anything as subtle executed by Michael Bay) and it's to the detriment of all that's preceded. Choosing to end the film with pictures of the killed is a fairly salutary approach and tars proceedings with mawkish sentiment that really doesn't resonate. Though in Berg's defence, the whole coda of Deepwater Horizon would be tricky to negotiate.

Ultimately, Deepwater Horizon is a scathing film, a visceral take on a disaster and while some of the excesses could have done with being reined in a little, Berg's relative desire to play this balanced and straight down the middle and never talk down to its audience may actually see it succeed infinitely more than any biased polemic against BP ever could.

Monday, 16 January 2017

Win The Neon Demon

Beauty Isn't Everything. It's The Only Thing.

From provocative director Nicholas Winding Refn (DRIVE, ONLY GOD FORGIVES), THE NEON DEMON is an outrageous and sexy psychological horror.

Aspiring model Jesse (Elle Fanning) has just moved to LA.

Seeking refuge from the vampiric LA modeling scene in her new friendships with make up artist Ruby (Jena Malone) and fellow models Sarah (Abbey Lee) and Gigi (Bella Heathcote), Jesse soon finds herself victim to their envy and desire

Glittering: Look At All Those Stars! Elle Fanning, Bella Heathcote, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Keanu Reeves And Christina Hendricks. Studded.

From The Director: Of Drive, Bronson And Only God Forgives, Nicholas Winding Refn.

Sexy And Scary: A Psychological Horror Film With Skin And Suspense. Black Swan On Steroids,

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

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

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