Win a copy of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

Win a copy of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

It's your chance to win the final chapter of Resident Evil's latest iteration!

Evil comes home…

The final instalment in the franchise based on Capcom's massive video game series.

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 is out now on DVD and Blu Ray



To win a copy of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter 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 ALICE,WHAT'S THE MATTER?
Competition closes May 25th

Good luck!

First NZIFF 2017 film announcements

First NZIFF 2017 film announcements

Hot on the heels of the announcement of the full Sydney Film Festival program yesterday, New Zealand's not going to be outdone by the Aussies.

The first round of 8 early announcements for this year's New Zealand International Film festival have dropped.

Four documentaries are announced today, three from established New Zealand filmmakers: Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web from director Annie Goldson, Spookers by Florian Habicht, and My Year with Helen from director Gaylene Preston. The fourth title is a documentary about musician Bill Frisell, soon to perform at the Wellington Jazz Festival.

“It’s proving to be a great year for New Zealand documentaries and we’re very happy to lead off our announcements with three of the best. All three of these films will have made their international debuts before we have the pleasure of welcoming them home,” says NZIFF director Bill Gosden.
Four international features are also announced today: A Ghost Story starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck, UK period drama Lady Macbeth, The Lost City of Z starring Charlie Hunnam and Robert Pattinson, and Mexican bio-sci-fi horror The Untamed.

“We’re excited by the feature filmscape for this year’s programme. These four early confirmations provide a glimpse of the variety, grandeur and rich beauty of filmmaking we will be presenting. Casey Affleck’s star power is covered with a simple white sheet with cut out eyeholes yet his ghost manages to become a mesmerising character through time in David Lowery’s A Ghost Story. Inspiration from a Russian novella, rather than the Shakespearian femme fatale, smoulders in Lady Macbeth. The allure of the Amazonian jungle and the conflicting pressures on the British adventurer are beautifully captured in The Lost City of Z. And a love triangle takes a weird twist in Mexican mash-up The Untamed.” says Gosden.

A Ghost Story
A simple story told with the simplest means, A Ghost Story tracks the progress of a ghost who can’t let go of the woman he loved and the house they shared, evoking a profoundly moving sense of existential disquiet.

Bill Frisell: A Portrait
The perfect balance of talking heads and sustained performance, Emma Franz’s documentary delivers an entrancing two hours in the company of jazz guitarist Bill Frisell.

Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web
As Annie Goldson’s impressively detailed documentary clearly sets out the battle between Dotcom and the US Government and entertainment industry, it goes to the heart of ownership, privacy and piracy in the digital age.

Lady Macbeth
Florence Pugh is mesmerising as she transmutes from nervous bride to femme fatale in this bracing British period drama based on a 19th-century Russian classic.

The Lost City of Z
Charlie Hunnam makes a commanding flawed hero as British Amazon explorer Percy Fawcett in a sweeping giant screen epic, filmed with rare intelligence by writer/director James Gray. With Sienna Miller and Robert Pattinson.

My Year with Helen
With unique access to high-ranking candidate Helen Clark, award-winning filmmaker Gaylene Preston casts a wry eye on proceedings as the United Nations chooses a new Secretary General

Spookers
In this funny and improbably charming documentary Florian Habicht looks behind the curtain to show us the real lives of the frighteners at the infamous and hugely popular horror theme park at the old Kingseat Hospital

The Untamed 

Love triangle drama and erotic bio-sci-fi thrills meet in a truly bizarre exploration of oppressive machismo and liberating sexual abandon from Mexican director Amat Escalante.

NZIFF’s Autumn Events series is currently underway in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

NZIFF is run by a charitable trust and encourages lively interactions between films, filmmakers and New Zealand audiences in 13 towns and cities around the country. The full NZIFF programme will be available from Tuesday 27 June for Auckland, and Friday 30 June for Wellington. NZIFF starts in Auckland on 20 July and in Wellington from 28 July in 2016.

John Wick: Chapter 2: Film Review

John Wick: Chapter 2: Film Review

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Ruby Rose, Common, Laurence Fishburne, Bridget Moynahan
Director: Chad Stahelski

"Can a man like you ever know peace?"

It's a question posed to Keanu Reeves' titular hero midway through the latest adrenaline-fuelled sequel to the 2014 hit which saw wannabe retired assassin John Wick go on the rampage following the killing of his dog and stealing of his car.

In this second, which ramps up the action sequences by way of very little plot, Wick's looking forward to a quiet life after tying up all the loose ends and offering peace to former nemeses. But when Italian crime lord Santino D'Antonio looks to call in a favour that helped Wick out of the fighting game and Wick refuses, all hell's set loose.

With D'Antonio wanting his sister dispatched and having destroyed Wick's chance of peace, John Wick has no choice but to be pulled back in one last time...

John Wick: Chapter 2 carries quite a strong line of honour and rules in among the world of assassins.

It's a good strong levelling thread that runs throughout that builds to a level of tragedy for Reeves' eponymous hero; there's a tantalising sense of sadness in Reeves' relatively mute turn, as he struggles to leave the world behind he lived in. One scene even literally sees him burying the past before he's thrown back in by others.

If the film's 2 hour run time occasionally feels a little over-paced, it's at the expense of a rather minimalist plot of revenge and betrayal. Though, in many ways, that's exactly what many an action thriller has been fuelled on before.

Once again, the balletic dance of destruction and extremely choreographed fight sequences is well constructed. Unlike other action films of its ilk, this one is content to let long scenes of hand-to-hand combat play out, rather than relying on ADHD, frenetic, choppy editing to flesh it out.

The result is visually thrilling and what you'd expect from a film of this particular genre.

Setting action sequences in white museums or corridors that are splattered with blood sprays are viscerally thrilling this time around. And the final hall of mirrors set showdown crackles with neon and doubt as the action kicks in. But there are other scenes (a casual walkway being the best) which bring an inventiveness to the tired beat-em-up genre.

Equally, director Stahelski's used the visuals of the globe-trotting to expertly set the scenes and build the mythos of Wick and his world.

From smart montages of Wick heading to Italy to get suited up for combat in more ways than one, the script peppers large portions of what transpires with dry humour to make up for a lack of anything more narratively substantial.

As for Reeves, there's a weariness this time around that's relatively infectious and in keeping with Wick's desire to retire. That doesn't mean Reeves is tired in the action sequences, rather that his lack of dialogue gives way to more work behind the eyes to convey mood and state of mind. It's certainly a vicarious thrill to see him share scenes with Laurence Fishburne after so long since they were parted in The Matrix.

The rest of the cast are a strong, if occasionally mixed, bag.

Rose is simply there to kick ass and pout as D' Antonio's mute bodyguard, but she comes across as bland. Common makes a strong case as a foe for Wick early on, but D'Antonio is a hollow baddie used to set wheels in motion than really give a personal sense of Wick's quest for retribution (In fairness, it's the more personal edges that are sorely missed this time around, with betrayal not quite feeling as strong a motive to set the ball in motion). And McShane brings a certain charisma as the hotel head caught up once again in Wick's world.

Ultimately, John Wick: Chapter 2 sets out to kick ass and build on the lore of the assassin known as the Boogeyman - and does so with veritable ease.

It certainly provides the thrills and the action in among the tragedy, but the lack of a personal thrust this time around means at times, the whole thing, while excellently executed, feels a little stiff and starched as it kicks and punches its way through an occasionally over-long 2 hour run time.

Win a copy of LocoRoco Remastered for PS4

Win a copy of LocoRoco Remastered for PS4

Released in 2006 on PlayStation Portable, LocoRoco is a platformer where users control cute little round and puffy creatures called LocoRoco, rolling and bouncing them around to reach the end of the level using the L and R buttons. 

With its simple yet addictive controls, lovable characters, and popular soundtrack, LocoRoco became a hit and won multiple game awards from around the world.

This amazing creation is now available remastered on PS4! 

We’re all looking forward to going on another adventure with the cute and quirky LocoRocos in their refreshed and even more vibrant world.

To win a LocoRoco Remastered PS 4 Code 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 LOCOROCO!
Competition closes May 25th

Good luck!

Notes on Blindness: DVD Review

Notes on Blindness: DVD Review

If there's perhaps an irony that a film about blindness has committed some of the most beautiful and evocative imagery to celluloid, then Notes on Blindness would do well to embrace the irony.

After years of failing sight, Birmingham professor of theology John Hull became completely blind in 1983 and began keeping an audio diary. The ethos behind that was his singular belief that if he didn't understand blindness it would defeat him.

Using Hull's original tapes as well as interview material and with actors lip synching the tapes and taking part in re-enactments, the BBC Storyville strand documentary helmed by filmmakers Peter Middleton and James Spinney is simply put, eloquently mind-blowingly sensual (and has shades of the reflective nature of Terence Malick's Tree of Life).

It helps the source material from Hull is both insightful and honest, with aching admissions that he's begun to forget what his wife looked like, or places from his childhood are fading, as well as the ultimately depressing feeling of being unable to see his new-born children or hearing their cries of delight at Christmas without any visual context.

It's these tacit admissions that begin to give a view of Hull's mind's eye and the world within. But by using hauntingly lyrical imagery that serves as memory or snapshots thereof, what Spinney and Middleton have done in this eye opening film is to commit to celluloid something inspiring and in many ways, a visual representation of what you always imagine life will look like when it apparently flashes before your eyes before you pass.

Past recollections loop in and out, images of eyes close up and simple images of grass blowing in a field unencumbered by anything other than sound show an ingenuity in translating the material and helping inspire others. It's all held in by a wall of sound that emanates from the screen that breathes extra life to the world within.

While acceptance for Hull himself gradually brings clarity of vision and purpose, the filmmakers bring life to a world many of us would hope never to experience and an empathy to those who already do - it's bravura stuff, stylishly and simplistically set in motion.

In one scene, Hull reveals how standing by his home's front door and listening to the rain gives contours to the world around him and how he wishes there could be rain inside a house so he had ideas of depth and a sense of dimension. The following shots of rain pouring within are almost transcendant in their beauty and ingenious in their execution. (It helps the source material is so eloquent and thoughtful as you'd expect of a professor, but not once does it ever wallow in pity, offering a painfully intuitive view into the world of Hull and those around him).

Lyrical and insightful, honest and heart-aching in equal parts, Notes on Blindness is handled with sensitivity, with visual aplomb and with such shrewd astuteness that it's ultimately profoundly moving.

Yooka-Laylee: PS4 Review

Yooka-Laylee: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Developed by Playtonic Games

There's just something endearingly cute about the bright colours and simple aesthetics of Yooka-Laylee, the charmingly retro platformer unleashed by Playtonic Games.

Easily inspired by Banjo-Kazooie, right down to its camera frustrations, this story of a Lizard and his bat friend who set off to battle a baddie overlord who's stealing books is as silly as they come.

From your hub world to exploring others within in your fight against corporate baddie Capital B (who bears more than a passing reference to the Smurfs' eternal thorn in their side Gargamel), there's much to do of colourful inconsequence within.

From collecting golden quills to trade up skills from a nearby snake salesman to collecting pagies of a ripped out book to expand the world, the simplicity of this family game couldn't be more obvious. But blighted with a poor camera realisation, the game occasionally gets frustrating when you're trying to execute some precision moves.

As it swings wildly round and pivots in the most unlikely of places, it can make executing the simplest of moves a real bind and pain in the backside. But like most of Yooka-Laylee, the game's general enthusiasm and silly characters help overcome the downsides and failings of this retro piece.

From the collective way Yooka and Laylee work together to the interactions, this is a game that feels both retro and a little meta as it mocks the conventions of the newer games and collectibles. The duo amass a series of powers throughout and while nothing's fully devastating, the silliness of what transpires is patently obvious.

Spinning to fight creatures in the various worlds, opening up other worlds, collecting things - these are all archetypes and tropes of past games and while Yooka-Laylee doesn't exactly coat them all in a fresh coat of paint, it does manage to retain a great degree of playability.

Fun, family entertainment for all ages, Yooka-Laylee's bright breezy approach to everything will help you past its failings and its occasionally archaic gameplay. For all of that, it's actually a charmingly simple and stupidly silly blast of retro-nostalgia.

Alien: Covenant: Film Review

Alien: Covenant: Film Review

Cast: Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Danny McBride
Director: Ridley Scott

38 years after the original Alien film delivered the perfect blend of sci-fi and horror in space, director Ridley Scott continues to mine the world as he follows up the muddled pretensions of Prometheus, a film that looked to expand and explore the origins of the xenomorphs.

This time around, Scott tries to once again blend cod philosophy with abject moments of horror as he takes a new crew and plunges them against the perils of planetary exploration and the unknown.

Centring on the crew of the Covenant, an Ark-like project that's hurtling toward a new paradise home with 2000 colonists asleep on board, things start to go awry when the crew are awoken by the effects of a "random localised event."

With an uncertain newly-appointed captain at the helm (played by Crudup), the ship's taken off its course when it receives a transmission that hints at a better planet than the one they've had their sights on. Despite the protestations of Katherine Waterston's Daniels, the ship heads towards the potential new Eden - but on landing, survival becomes anything but certain.

Alien: Covenant mixes both the good and the bad as it tries to unspool its terror among the toe toe story.

But by shifting away from the claustrophobia of the likes of Alien and Aliens, the jump scares end up a little predictable (although nonetheless scary) and almost feeling like they're trying to hit beats and scenes we've seen before with more successful characters. It's a degree of fan service in the extreme, in some ways.

Continuing the prequel vibe that was so brilliantly realised in 2012's Prometheus, pristine white spaceship corridors and wondrous lighting give Alien: Covenant an inescapable sense of style while it's in space. But it's when the film shifts to the murky Milford Sounds that its darkness starts to come through, as large portions are swathed in muddied execution and lighting, as well as rote typical familial tropes.

It's also on the ground that the very familiar tropes of sensible people doing stupid things begins to manifest and the action, such as it is, takes a mind-dumbing turn. It's not massively helped by a a CGI alien that while modelled on HR Giger's original creatures, is less successful in its digital execution. (And subsequent scenes with the alien white make it look like a cross between Xenomorph and the Slenderman mythos, perhaps a nod to the internet sensation that's horrified many).

But to be fair, an early culling of relatively rote and underwritten crew members proves to be a blessing in disguise, an effective tonic to clear out the narrative chaff that would have undermined the story as went on. However, in doing so, the deaths prove to be inconsequential in terms of emotional heft, and serve only to showcase the body horror elements of the Alien's MO. There are nice apocalyptic touches (skeletal remains scatter the entrance to a city) that will fuel a lot of the fan debate after the lights have gone back up.

Elsewhere, while the cod-philosophical elements and talk of Byron/ Shelley/ Ozymandias et al continue to push the "Who am I, where do we all come from, playing God" debate that began in (and over-stuffed large parts of) Prometheus, it's Fassbender's continuing aloof and generally creepy synthetic that pushes a lot of the story forward (in ways that are many and spoilery here) as the story tries to build the myth of the Engineers and their place in Creation.

Fassbender works well as the nightmarish exploration vibe that's wrapped up in suspense and wilfully obtuse execution plays out, and Scott works his usual deft touches in the build-up of suspenseful moments that are peppered throughout. Waterston is initially quite fragile, a soul ripped apart by grief, but whose delicacy becomes hardened by the end, as she channels Ripley. (Though, this is also a problem, as there's really little else to do with the nuances of the character). And McBride does solid dramatic work as the pilot Tennessee, proving that Scott at least can turn expectations around of his actors - even if the script doesn't serve the characters as well.

By stripping out parts of the claustrophobia and trying to mesh parts of Aliens with Alien and mixing it with exposition, Alien:Covenant is a tonally jerky film. With moments of episodic action and sporadic exposition, it loses the primordial fear that the originals instilled, and while its technology and the execution thereof is second to none, the basics of what makes a solid Alien film feel lacking. The back half of it though, soars, with the confrontations that have been wanted and desired

While it's fair to say the Alien elements have teeth once again, the very essence of what made their virulence so terrifying is only slowly coming back to what makes the Alien franchise such a benchmark in sci-fi horror.

At the end of the day, it's simply a case of man versus the unknown that made the first films so iconic; by just adding layers of mythology and delusions of creators as well as their subsequent debate, is stopping the series from going back to its most terrifying basics.