At Darren's World of Entertainment - a movie, DVD and game review blog.
The latest movie and DVD reviews - plus game reviews as well. And cool stuff thrown in when I see it.
In Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Ragnarok,” Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok—the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization—at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela.
But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger—the Incredible Hulk!
“Thor: Ragnarok” is directed by Taika Waititi and returns Chris Hemsworth starring as Thor and Tom Hiddleston reprising his role as Loki. They are joined by Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson and Karl Urban, with Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Hopkins.
Kevin Feige is producing with Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Thomas M. Hammel and Stan Lee serving as executive producers. The screenplay is by Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost and Stephany Folsom and Eric Pearson.
Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Ragnarok” thunders into NZ cinemas on October 26, 2017.
Retired super-assassin John Wick's plans to resume a quiet civilian life are cut short when Italian gangster Santino D'Antonio shows up on his doorstep with a gold marker, compelling him to repay past favours.
Ordered by Winston, kingpin of secret assassin society The Continental, to respect the organization's ancient code, Wick reluctantly accepts the assignment to travel to Rome to take out D'Antonio's sister, the ruthless capo atop the Italian Camorra crime syndicate.
Starring Keanu Reeves, Ruby Rose, Common, and Ian McShane
John Wick: Chapter 2 is in cinemas May 18.
To win a double pass to John Wick: Chapter 2, all you have to do is enter simply email your details to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW! Include your name and address and title your email JOHN WICK 2! Competition closes May 18th Good luck!
Yooka-Laylee is an all-new open-world platformer from genre veterans Playtonic!
Explore huge, beautiful worlds, meet (and beat) an unforgettable cast of characters and horde a vault-load of collectibles as buddy-duo Yooka and Laylee embark on an epic adventure to thwart corporate creep Capital B!
Using their arsenal of special moves, our heroes will tackle a huge variety of challenges across stunning worlds, each jammed with oddball characters, hulking bosses and more!
Features:
INTRODUCING OUR NEW BUDDY DUO: Yooka and Laylee boast an awesome arsenal of abilities built for platforming fun and unlocked with added freedom from the serpent salesman Trowzer.
CARVE YOUR OWN PATH: Purchase and unlock moves with freedom, choose to expand your favourite worlds into even larger, more complex playgrounds and equip unique Tonic gameplay modifiers to customise your play style. Every player will have a unique experience.
A COLLECT-EM-UP FOR THE MODERN ERA: Seek out a roster of shiny collectibles with gameplay progression at their core (as well as other, more valuable materials), such as the dual action Butterfly Energy or tricky Ghost Writers!
A CAST TO LAST: Meet (or beat) a huge cast of memorable characters brought to life by the art and audio teams behind legendary platform games, and destined to endure in future adventures as part of Playtonic Universe. Expect all manner of grunts, squeaks and squawks.
A DREAM SOUNDTRACK: David Wise (Donkey Kong Country) and Grant Kirkhope (Banjo-Kazooie) combine for a melodic masterpiece! Seriously, clean out your ears – they’re in for a treat.
BUDDY UP: Establish your own buddy-duo and adventure through Yooka-Laylee in co-op mode! Taking control of a unique co-op character, a second player can assist Yooka and Laylee by stunning enemies and helping them tackle tricky challenges. No piggyback required.
AND A WHOLE LOT MORE: Discover unique boss fights, mine cart challenges, retro-tastic Arcade games, quiz shows and more than 8 unique multiplayer games!
Please note - this is a promotional copy, and as such, whilst it is the full game, doesn't come in the full packaging!
To win Yooka-Laylee, all you have to do is enter simply email your details to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW! Include your name and address and title your email YOOKA-LAYLEE! Competition closes April 25th Good luck!
Cast: Kristen Stewart, a mobile phone
Director: Olivier Assayas
Olivier Assayas reteams with Kristen Stewart after last year's NZIFF outing The Clouds of Sils Maria, a surprising film that won the erstwhile Twilight star a prestigious acting award.
This time, Stewart plays Maureen, a twin whose other half Lewis has died from a heart condition which she shares. However, Maureen is a medium too, who spends her night trying to contact her dead brother, believing his spirit still to be in the house.
By day, Maureen is a personal shopper for a model, who's never home and who exchanges notes with her charge. But Maureen's unhappy with her lot, decrying that spends her days "doing bullshit".
Her life changes though when she encounters a spirit in the house - and then starts to get anonymous texts...
Mixing a concoction of atmospheric ghost story (via the likes of The Others and The Orphanage) with a psychological sideline in stalking proves to be an intriguing proposition for Personal Shopper. It's a film that very much benefits from Stewart's performance and subtleties.
As the medium negotiating the spiritual world, she's very much a Ghostbuster, desperate to connect to ensure closure as she begins to give way at the edges. Spending nights alone and days equally alone in her haute couture job, her dissatisfied detachment from the world around her is well played by Stewart, who uses fraying mentality and fragility to beneficial effect. She conveys the degradation of her mental condition with the slightest of tics, twitching fingers et al.
Sequences in the home at the start of the film are well orchestrated by Assayas who creates a soundscape and atmosphere that's easy to buy into - even if occasionally frustratingly, he decides to cut a scene short by fading to black unexpectedly. But the unease and discord that's unleashed on Maureen early on is nothing compared to how suspenseful a text conversation becomes in Assayas' hands.
With the deftness of simply holding the camera on the phone as messages fly back and forth with various pauses, the whole thing becomes a bizarre masterclass in the art of suspense as this portrait of grief and yearning for more (both in this life and the next) unfolds.
Stewart's unease is palpable within the looping rhythms of tedium within her day and while some may feel in comparison to the broader emotional strokes that Assayas achieved in Clouds of Sils Maria this is lacking. But that's to dismiss Stewart's presence throughout and to do a disservice to Assayas' tale of disconnection.
It's essentially a spooker of a film, a film that builds to crescendo within its oeuvre and a film that defies convention or easy definition.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: DVD Review
There's certainly an appetite for more from author JK Rowling's Wizardly world.
The universe has been left bereft of a family friendly fantasy franchise since Voldemort bit the dust - as is evidenced by the stage appearance of the Cursed Child.
So it's perhaps inevitable that there's a degree of cynicism at the thought of 5 new films from a similar world of wizards, magic and commentary given how the Harry Potter series felt a little dragged out as it stumbled toward its denouement. (Can anyone say cash cow?)
But with a director of four of the Harry Potter films at the helm, it has to be said that Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them largely gets off to a reasonably magical start.
Set in 1926 New York, it's the story of nerdy, unsure and sheepish Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne, channeling shades of Matt Smith's 11th Doctor Who in parts) whose life has been spent collecting creatures, and storing them in a cavernous suitcase (a sort of leather bound portal into a Narnia / TARDIS style zoo of gigantic proportions).
But when Scamander accidentally loses one of the creatures, his hunt brings him into contact with genial wannabe baker and no-Maj / Muggle Jacob (played with doughy amiability by Fogler). Complicating matters further Scamander inadvertently swaps his suitcase with Jacob's, and plenty of the creatures get out - so begins Scamander's gotta-catch-em-allGhostbusters style quest before tensions between humans and wizards boil over...
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them works fine as a first film, even if there is a feeling that the main cast don't quite have the chemistry and back-story of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione.
Comparisons are perhaps unfortunately inevitable to Rowling's prior franchise and while they serve to show the characters and their supporting ilk aren't as well-rounded out as they could be, there's plenty to marvel at visually on screen as the various critters and creatures come to life. To its credit, it doesn't spend a great amount of time setting up a world we already know that exists and simply gets on with proceedings.
In the first sequence where Jacob is summoned into Scamander's suitcase, it's clear the MO is to show off an array of cutesy creatures that will elicit shrieks of awe and wonder from the audience - and there are times when it appears that the film teeters dangerously into only having this in its magic box to show off (and leaving some doubts about how a further four films could be filled out).
Rowling's obviously aiming to talk more to the audience that's grown up with her books and who are of the age to understand bigotry, intolerance and a degree of bleakness.
In Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, there is a puritanical woman determined to drive out witches and who wouldn't be out of place in Salem (played by Morton, who's given little time and little more to do other than glower), a clutch of adopted children who are clearly traumatised by events and there's a hint of an ongoing conspiracy, complete with albino cameo, to keep the adult side a little more engaged.
However, there is a nagging feeling that some of the humanity is a little lost in this first film and parts of the plot are muddled, which is a marvel of imagination and acute period detail, with elements of Men In Black thrown in.By far the most charming elements come from the slapstick and heart of loveable schlub Fogler, as he negotiates the wizarding world and finds himself under the spell of showgirl Queenie (Sudol), in an endearing romance that it's hard to not lose your heart to.
Redmayne's fine as the cowed and shy Scamander whose awkwardness is half parts endearing and half parts frustrating, and Waterston makes a strong start only to be subdued in the slightly laggy final third of the film which relies on the usual CGI -trashing-of-a-city trope.
Ultimately though, niggles aside, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them is at times a magical experience that swathes some of the fluffier more slapstick fun elements in a welcome darkness that's redolent of real-life and the usual Rowling plot machinations.
While it may use the CGI concoctions to disguise some of the less robust characters, it's likely to be enough fun to obfuscate audiences and separate them from their money, and with some more adult themes and some dark current allegories in play, it's clear this solid wizardly movie will magic up all the family box office money regardless of what any critics say as the new franchise begins.
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.
Finally, a film that will make you re-consider your opinion of Trolls.
Rather than the pain in the ass online lurkers, these Trolls are the Dreamworks film version of the Thomas Dam toys and quite frankly, this is going to be one of the summer family films.
The preternatural preppy Kendrick is Princess Poppy, the upbeat pink haired Troll whose life is all perpetual happiness. 20 years ago, she and her fellow Troll-kind escaped the clutches of the monsters of the Bergen town for good.
Believing the only way to happiness is to consume a Troll, the villagers of Bergen are furious but one day, their chef (Christine Baranski) stumbles across the Trolls' hideaway and snatches a couple of them. Setting out on a rescue mission due to their "No troll left behind" ethos, Poppy and pals - along with the grey stained and anti-Trolls happiness Branch (Timberlake) - try to save the day...
Make no mistake, the brightly coloured, utterly fluffy and energetic blast that is Trolls is a family film that will delight the youngsters and will keep the parents amused enough to paper over the fact there are shallow characters on screen and scant little story.
The film keeps on the right side of darkness (BFG style snatching, eating Trolls for happiness - it's all got a Grimm fairy tale element bubbling under) but even the three-year-old I was with was entranced from the get-go declaring that the Scary Lady (Baranski's marauding chef) was the best part of the film.
Mixing up CGI and some stop motion, Dreamworks' visual inventiveness for this one, keeps on the right side of upbeat as it trots out one retro tune after another. It's a visual candy coloured assault on the senses and while initially there may be elements of you sympathising with Doomsday Prepper Branch, the fun and frivolous nature of it all ultimately wears you down and wins you over.
While there's no real sense of an original film being rolled out here, and elements of The Odd Couple, Cinderella and Grimm Fairy Tales are all dusted into one overtly saccharine flick, the young kids will enjoy it and its message of happiness coming from within rather than being consumed.
Sometimes, subtlety is over-rated and Trolls is distinct proof of that - it's here for nothing other than a good time and running through its 90 minutes with exuberant energy and at a fair pace, it achieves that with ease.
In Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Ragnarok,” Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok—the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization—at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela.
