Win a double pass to see T2 - Trainspotting

Win a double pass to see T2 - Trainspotting

First there was an opportunity......then there was a betrayal.

Twenty years have gone by.

Much has changed but just as much remains the same.

Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) returns to the only place he can ever call home.

They are waiting for him: Spud (Ewen Bremner), Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), and Begbie (Robert Carlyle).

Other old friends are waiting too: sorrow, loss, joy, vengeance, hatred, friendship, love, longing, fear, regret, diamorphine, self-destruction and mortal danger, they are all lined up to welcome him, ready to join the dance.

T2 - Trainspotting hits cinemas February 23rd

We're giving away double passes to the movie - To enter simply email T2 to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Please ensure you include your name and address - competition closes February 24th 

Keeping up with the Joneses: DVD Review

Keeping up with the Joneses: DVD Review

Channeling suburban paranoia and envy to a tee, Keeping Up With The Joneses pushes for broad comedy and somehow manages to come up short.

A thinned down Galifianakis and Fisher are the Gaffneys, a suburban couple whose life has hit a rut. Packing their two kids off to camp for the summer, the pair realise their lives are empty; Jeff has his HR job at a defence company where everyone rides roughshod over him as he's the only one with internet access, and Karen is a frustrated stay at home mum whose summer job is sizing up urinals for their bathroom makeover.

When new neighbours move in in the form of Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot's superglamourous couple The Joneses, she channels her Rear Window tendencies into trying to find fault, believing that under this perfect veneer, Tim and Natalie are hiding something.

It's not long before this paranoia comes to fruition , but Jeff refuses to listen believing he's finally found a friend who wants to share the thrill of going indoor skydiving. However, it soon becomes clear that the Joneses are not what they seem and the Gaffneys are caught up in the whirlwind of international espionage...

Keeping Up With the Joneses purports to riff on the fear that the grass is always greener and the new neighbours lead more exciting lives than you do. And to a degree, the justified paranoia works well for the start of Mottola's film, but it soon becomes clear this is all there is going for it.

Weakly written material soon gives way to chase sequences and a large helping of slapstick as well as shots of Gal Gadot flaunting her perfect physique in lingerie, while delivering wooden dialogue. While the way the suburban awkwardness subsides into genuine suspicions is as broad as it comes, it soon becomes obvious that the comedy chops of Hamm and Galifianakis are being wasted in this under-written flaccid romp that lacks any brains.

As Galifianakis ramps up his panic-based schtick, and Hamm plays up the fact his spy is unhappy with his lot, Fisher goes overboard with her brand of paranoid hysteria writ large. It's a mess that isn't strong enough for farce and is too weak to endure its 100 minutes running time. While the elements of spy comedy are rightly channeled by a soundtrack that feels big band and brassy enough to get the vibe right, little else lands.

You may feel a desire to go Keeping up with the Joneses, but the simple truth is, it's really not worth the effort.

Hell or High Water: Blu Ray Review

Hell or High Water: Blu Ray Review

Released by Madman Home Ent

There's plenty of soul in the mournful Hell Or High Water.

Managing to cram in a hefty dose of socio-economic commentary in the ruins of towns riddled by foreclosure and debts, Hell Or High Water is the West Texas set tale of two brothers, Toby and Tanner (Pine and Foster) hell-bent on robbing banks for their own reasons.

Enter two Texas Rangers, one Alberto an Indian (Birmingham) whose rueful regret at the banks stealing their heritage and the other Marcus (Bridges), who's on the cusp of retirement, but not about to go lightly or willingly into the long night.

As the laconic game of cat and mouse plays out, there's a very real sense of roads colliding and personal stakes rising, but there's also a deep familial connection that makes itself known.

Depression rears its head all throughout Hell or High Water; from the cutaway shots of roads that are riddled with foreclosure or debt signs or to the long shots of fields dotted with oil wells pumping futilely away, this is a film that's got its condemnation of the financial crisis and the banks hard-wired into its execution.

Sicario writer Taylor Sheridan manages shots of dry humour and Fargo-esque idiosyncratic trappings of character within his taut screenplay that examines the relationships between the two brothers and the two rangers, and works best when it concentrates on those elements. Both have bits of brotherhood scattered through; from Marcus' continual plaguing of put-upon Alberto with racial slurs or being annoying, to Toby and Tanner's reunion after Tanner's time in jail and his black sheep status within the family.

But it's in the subtleties that this film works - the quieter moments, led by a hang-dog Pine who underplays to great effect, are infinitely more worthwhile than the continual quirks of some of the residents of West Texas. Sheridan captures the frailties of familial bonds with ease. And accentuated by a Warren Ellis / Nick Cave score, the whole thing bathes in a kind of timeless dread.

Equally worthy of recognition is a resigned but resilient Bridges as Marcus, a cantankerous man whose loneliness beckons in his twilight years. Bridges brings a gruffness and simplicity of execution to the film and gives it an edge that's as timeless as any cops and robbers chase film you've seen.

Ultimately, Hell or High Water is a wee ripper of a film; an eclectic and at times, eccentric old school Western that works on many levels. Swathed in contemplative elements and blessed with a stonking script and execution, it's proof there's life in the old dog yet and that when done properly, dialogue is king.

The Accountant: DVD Review

The Accountant: DVD Review

In an attempt to make accountants seem like more than just numbers guys, director Gavin O'Connor's movie with a dour faced Ben Affleck as the titular accountant aims for thrills, but on most occasions misses.

Affleck is Christian Wolff the accountant, a maths genius who is afflicted with high-functioning autism and whose social interactions are awkward at best. Called into a robotics company to try and work out where $70 million has gone AWOL, Christian solves the case overnight but his resolution causes a chain of events to unfold.

With a series of killers on his back and the Treasury Department closing in on Wolff after his links to cleaning dodgy books, Wolff's on the back foot - and with a nerdy fellow accountant from the robotics company in tow (Kendrick in usual preppy and perky mode), the chase is on.

Skipping some of the emotional beats needed to make this land proves fatal for The Accountant, which in parts feels perfunctory, drab and dour.
While a frowny Affleck manages to imbue Wolff with the social awkwardness needed, which allows for some comic interludes between him and Kendrick's Dayna, he's pretty much rendered relatively mute. And outside of action sequences, Affleck's got little to do except revel in the vulnerability and physicality- though admittedly, he does it well.

If anything's wrong with The Accountant, it's more a case of the threads not quite tying as tightly together as perhaps they should without characters indulging in serious amounts of exposition to help you through. Worst offender is JK Simmons' Treasury head, who's (cliche alert) determined to crack Wolff's identity before he retires - in one scene alone, he literally espouses the whole story in an attempt to get people up to speed. Thankfully, he's such a great actor that he just manages to lift the material higher than it deserves.

While there's something to be said for having an autism heavy hero on the screen (according to one character 1 in 68 US kids suffer) and there's a feeling that this is the launch of a Littlest Hobo style assassin franchise, The Accountant never quite fires on all cylinders as it trudges through its 2 hour run time, thanks largely to flashbacks that jolt proceedings and disparate multi-threads that aren't particularly engaging or original.

The final fight sequence is precise in its execution and brings a punch that's been lacking, but it's hard to fully invest in proceedings as they play out prior to this point, with some of the threads feeling not quite as well sketched out as they could be.

While relatively solid overall, thanks mainly to Affleck's performance, The Accountant ultimately and unfortunately doesn't quite add up.

Rating:

Nioh: PS4 Review

Nioh: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Released by Koei Tecmo

Based on original material by Akira Kurosawa, Team Ninja's latest has elements of Japanese samurai, dastardly mixed up with the bastard hard playability of Bloodborne and Dark Souls.

It's the story of William Adams, a western samurai who finds himself entangled in the Japanese civil war. As the war grows in stature, supernatural elements are inveigling their way into proceedings, adding further elements of chaos...

Nioh may have the aforementioned elements of Dark Souls with it, and it's very much a similar MO to these games.

From light to heavy attacks, dodging to picking up health and using inventories, this is something you've seen many times before. But once again, concentration and patience are needed to ensure that you get through what's going on in the combat front and come off relatively in tact.

Though in fairness, every attack is going to leave you gasping for life and hoping no surprise foes are waiting around the corner to pick you off. Readying yourself to combat and choosing the right stance also helps you deal with the combat, though to be frank that takes a little while to ready yourself for and to get into.

Cameras can be locked on to help dispatch the bad guys - it's all very familiar.

And yet the developers of Ninja Gaiden and the Dead or Alive series know exactly what players of this genre want - from simple combat that rewards learning to powering up and collection of loot, Nioh ticks all the relevant boxes.

From shrines to pay respect to and health to collect that looks like Jak and Daxter's way of powering up, the game's got what it needs in place to ensure that it plays well. There are epic elements within the sprawling world as well, and there's clearly an homage to the times settling in as the game carries on.

Missions are dictated through the map and take you through the history of Japan - it's a nice reverence that plays well as the game takes hold.

Occasionally, though, some glitches in the camera slow things down. From missing walls to circling cameras, sometimes, it's hard to focus the game onto the actual screen and to see what's going on.

And a lack of an idea of where you're going sometimes means you can spend a lot of time going back and forth down corridors you've already been down but only realised late in the day that that is what's happening.

Ultimately, from meleeing to simple combat, Nioh is a game to sink time into. It rewards long term investment and isn't for a simple 10 minute play. It's a solid, occasionally glitchy, RPG that surprises early on in the year.

New Resident Evil Biohazard DLC drops

Hi family,

Resident Evil 7 biohazard DLC Banned Footage Vol. 2 is available today on PlayStation 4  and will also be readily available for anyone who has purchased either the Deluxe Edition or Season Pass. This Vol. 2 pack includes "Daughters", which features a deeper look at the Baker family’s life before the tragic events of Resident Evil 7 biohazard. Also included is "21", where players will need to gamble with their own life in a deadly game with Lucas Baker. An extra gameplay mode titled "Jack's 55th Birthday" provides a race against the clock as players serve up the Daddy of the family, Jack Baker, with tons of treats for his special celebration. (Please note that PSVR is not supported in "Jack's 55th Birthday.")

Banned Footage Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 will be available to purchase for all other platforms on February 21st. Deluxe Edition and Season Pass owners will get the Banned Footage contents as they release per above and an additional story episode with more details to come. Finally, in winter 2017, all players will have access to the free "Not a Hero" content, introducing players to a new separate storyline away from Ethan’s saga in the main game.

The Great Wall: Film Review

The Great Wall: Film Review

Cast: Matt Damon, Tian Jing, Willem Dafoe, Andy Lau, Pedro Pascal
Director: Yimou Zhang

On paper, it's easy to see why The Great Wall exists.

A Chinese director (famed for The House of Flying Daggers and Hero), a Western star (Matt Damon) and a chance to concoct a Chinese - US co-production to rake in some of the take of a Chinese box office.

After all, xXx - The Return of Xander Cage tried to negotiate similar waters.

But on screen, the CGI creature-feature feels more like a gloriously costumed B-movie that never scales the emotional heights it could have easily achieved.

Damon is William, a mercenary who's part of a band of men after the black powder for its magic properties to turn air into fire. As the group's wittled slowly down, William and his fellow conspirator Tovar (Game of Thrones' Pedro Pascal, the film's comic relief) find themselves attacked by a mystical creature and captured by the armies on the Great Wall.

Led by the Nameless Order, the duo is let into confidences when they produce the slaughtered creature and discover an endless eternal war is being fought between the marauding relentless Tao Tei and the protectors of the Wall....

An emotionless bedraggled Damon as William, complete with mumbling bizarre Irish brogue, initially does little to dispel the feeling that The Great Wall is a a CGI fest that plays up its legends element and the fantastical edges.

Characters within the film aren't exactly well developed, and certainly William's behaviour sits at odds with any decisions he makes further on in the film (largely, due to a lack of back-grounding) that propel portions of the narrative.

While the white-wash debate has dogged the film, it's perhaps pertinent to note that most of the Western behaviour is that of rapscallions and skull-duggery. From Defoe's Mad Monk-esque wannabe thief to Tovar's plunder-them-and-run ethos, only William changes his MO due to exposure to the Chinese traits of honour and trust. Sure, there are moments when the white man saves the day, but largely it's due to a shift in mind-set and needs to be viewed as such.

However, despite some truly impressive costuming and eye to detail from WETA's props to the sumptuous colourful costumes to differentiate the wall-based fighters (though reminiscent of the Power Rangers' colourings), the Nameless Order is eye-poppingly gorgeous. And shonky CGI aside, the initial attack on the Wall and the subsequent holding off of the Tao Tei is solidly executed, a visual symphony of a Cirque du Soleil themed attack that benefits more from the human touch than the endless rows of creatures surging towards it.

It's just a shame that The Great Wall doesn't embrace enough of its lunacy and premise of aliens invading the Wall of China and the end effect is an undeniably B-movie film that's soulless on the human front.

With weaker Chinese characters propping up parts of proceedings (Jing's Commander Lin starts off promisingly before being confined to the ramparts' sidelines and sharing glances with Damon's William), the film needed either a stronger script and interactions to pull it through or less reliance on the slow-mo CGI critters flying through the air approach to keep the 100 minutes alive.

With its video game ethos, wannabe epic and questionable CGI, The Great Wall hides a kernel of an intriguing and entertaining film. It's just unfortunate that the severe under-cooking of many of the elements within mean this is one wall that's actually not really worth scaling.