DiRT 4 New Rallycross Trailer & Screens

DiRT 4 New Rallycross Trailer & Screens

EXPERIENCE THE THRILL OF RALLYCROSS IN DiRT® 4™

NEW GAMEPLAY TRAILER SHOWCASES DiRT 4’S AMAZING RALLYCROSS CONTENT

SYDNEY, 24^th May 2017 – Codemasters today released the latest DiRT® 4™ trailer showcasing the game’s incredible rallycross content across various classes and circuits. You can view the new action-packed, wheel to wheel trailer on the official DiRT YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/_UHaiKIsw0s

DiRT 4 is the official game of the FIA World Rallycross championship and the new gameplay trailer shows Supercars racing at Lohéac Bretagne, Montalegre, Lydden Hill, Hell and Holjes. In addition to the Supercar class, DiRT 4 also has rallycross racing in RX2, Super 1600s, Group B classics and crosskarts making it a fully-fledged rallycross experience.

Developed in consultation from two time FIA World Rallycross Champion, Petter Solberg, the rallycross handling in DiRT 4 has undergone a complete overhaul to ensure it is as close to the real thing as possible.

Rallycross is thrilling multicar, circuit racing on mixed surfaces made up of both dirt and asphalt. The short, quick-fire races take four to six laps and each car must complete at least one ‘Joker Lap’ which is longer than the traditional lap leading to tactical, enthralling wheel-to-wheel racing. Drivers compete in four qualifying races before the top drivers make the semi-finals and final. The supercar class in the FIA World Rallycross Championship are 600bhp beasts that accelerate from 0-60mph in under 2 seconds – faster than a Formula One car.

Launching on PlayStation® 4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One and Steam on 9^th June 2017. DiRT 4 challenges you to Be Fearless as you take the wheel of the world’s most iconic and powerful off-road vehicles.Featuring two different handling models, Gamer and Simulation, DiRT 4 offers both depth and accessibility for players old and new to the franchise. The game’s innovative Your Stage system allows you to produce a near infinite number of unique rally stages at the touch of a button.

Key Features:

• OVER 50 OF THE MOST BREATH-TAKING OFF-ROAD CARS EVER BUILT – Including the Ford Fiesta R5, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI, Subaru WRX STI NR4 and Audi Sport quattro S1 E2
• 5 INCREDIBLE RALLY LOCATIONS WITH MILLIONS OF ROUTES – Australia, Spain, Michigan, Sweden & Wales
• THE OFFICIAL GAME OF THE FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP – Race at Montalegre, Lohéac Bretagne, Hell, Holjes & Lydden Hill in a multitude of different series
• LANDRUSH – Short-course dirt track racing in Pro Buggies, Pro-2 Trucks, Pro-4 Trucks and Crosskart vehicles in California, Nevada and Mexico
• DiRT ACADEMY – Taking place at the DirtFish Rally School in Washington, USA, learn the skills, techniques and practice to become the best
• JOYRIDE - DirtFish becomes your personal playground for time attack challenges, smash attack challenges and a free roam area
• CAREER MODE – create your driver, compete across the disciplines, gain sponsors and build your team with clear goals and rewards
• COMPETITIVE GAMING – Daily, weekly and month-long challenges against fellow players from around the world
• NEXT GENERATION OF RACENET – Live ladder, tournaments and cross-platform leaderboards
• TUNING – Tweak your set-up based on vehicle, track and weather conditions to best suit your racing style
• DAMAGE & REPAIRS – Wear and tear is faithfully recreated with an improved and realistic damage model. Damage can be repaired by hiring Engineers to work in the team’s Service Area between stages but with a finite amount of time available.

Pork Pie: DVD Review

Pork Pie: DVD Review

Cast: Dean O'Gorman, James Rolleston, Ashleigh Cummings, Antonia Prebble, Siobhan Marshall, Mat Whelan
Director: Mark Murphy

An unabashed slice of Kiwi nostalgia writ large some 36 years after the 1981 film become a bona fide hit and cemented itself into the national consciousness, the 2017 version of Goodbye Pork Pie is very much a Top Gear meets Top Town hybrid road trip that's unashamedly feel-good but shallow as it aims for the Kiwiana audience washing over the Waitangi weekend.

O'Gorman is Jon, a broken man who's determined to meet up with Prebble's Susie after a split - spurred into action by an upcoming wedding, he sets out to recapture his love. But that nearly ends fatally, after Rolleston's Luke nearly bowls him in a yellow mini that he's stolen as the film starts. Offering Jon a ride, the pair soon find themselves caught up in a country-wide pursuit when Luke's boy-racing skills come to the fore. And with Ashleigh Cummings' vegan protestor in tow, the gang heads south.

Starting with a chase on-foot before transitioning to a chase in a car with Dave Dobbyn's Language blasting out, the chase movie's ethos comes to the fore, giving the start of the film a breakneck pace that's brisk and adrenaline-fuelled as the pedal to the metal antics kick into gear.

With Rolleston's restrained and hardly talkative Luke sandwiched with O'Gorman's cocksure wise cracking Jon, the Odd Couple vibe is there from the start, as the broader comedy elements set in.

Complete with countryside cutaways that capture the beauty of New Zealand's open roads (at times, it resembles some kind of subtle tourism campaign masquerading as a film) and a soundtrack that's inherently Kiwi, this Bonnie and Clyde road trip wannabe is bound to find an audience who remember the original and want to wallow in the 2017's easy-going nature.

But as the increasing farce grows (the original was compared to the Keystone Kops), some of the broader character elements don't quite gel as they should.

It's mainly due to less rounding and the thinly drawn characters of the trio as well as the occasional side-lining of them as Jon continues his road trip to find love. But it's a shame because Rolleston and Cummings make an endearing and easy couple, destined to be road trip lovers and simultaneously ships passing in the night.

All three of them have an ease of presence on screen and work reasonably well within the script's severely limited confines. After the uproarious opening, the film needs to slow to deliver the exposition and back-ground needed and unfortunately, proceedings hit a minor narrative bump when they do so.

But the action's never too far away as the infamous yellow mini continues to speed, slide and handbrake turn away from the clumsy cops and the confluence of coincidence that's in the story.

It's clear that Pork Pie is an homage to the film that spawned it - from the director being the son of the original man who made it Geoff Murphy, the whole thing is bathed in a love for its story and the faithful updating of it. However, it remains inessential in many ways, with its more shallower edges becoming more evident as the film powers to its end.

It's a shame that the underwritten central characters push Pork Pie into a more average footing and stop it from truly soaring. Because at its core, Pork Pie is about a car chase, a rambunctious road trip of revelling; this 2017 version of Pork Pie doesn't quite have the grunt of an engine to push it over the edge and that, ultimately, is a disappointment. 

Doc Edge Fest Winners unveiled

Doc Edge Fest Winners unveiled

The 12th annual Doc Edge International Film Festival Opening Gala Evening brought international guests from around the world to join New Zealanders to celebrate all things documentary! The Festival award-winners were announced last night (24 May), officially opening the Auckland season of the festival which will run until 5 June at Q Theatre, Queen Street.

A documentary by Wellington based filmmaker Fiona Apanui-Kupenga, Making Good Men, scooped up several awards including Best New Zealand Feature Documentary. The film sees two high profile men, ex All Black Norm Hewitt and Actor Manu Bennett, reconcile to discuss bullying with unprecedented honesty. Another kiwi making a splash is Kevin Double from Whanganui with his film about the restoration of a statue of a Māori soldier, Set In Stone. Double was named as the Best New Zealand Emerging Filmmaker.

Excitingly, in the short films category, both After Life, winner of Best New Zealand Short, and the Polish film Close Ties, winner of Best International Short Award, are now eligible for consideration in the Documentary Short Subject category of the Academy Awards®. Doc Edge was selected by the Academy Award® as a qualifying festival for short documentaries in early 2016.

The judging panel commended the international filmmakers, noting, “We were moved by the truth of the films and the way their intimate personal stories reflected real global issues with complexity and heart.” However, one film stood out - Plastic China – for which filmmaker Jiu-Liang Wang won the highly contested Best International Feature Documentary Award.

The panel commented, “Plastic China stood out with its astutely observed characters and singular location. The struggle and heartbreak of the film were particularly poignant because of our relationship to the situation. The wider resonance of the story, the fact that China is recycling plastic waste for much of the western world, was a stark reminder of the interconnectedness of humanity.”

This year, the Festival recognised Leanne Pooley (ONZM) for her immense contribution to the documentary world, presenting her with the Doc Edge Superhero Award. A Canada-born filmmaker based in Auckland, Pooley’s career spans more than 20 years and she has documented the incredible stories of New Zealanders in award winning films including 25 April, Beyond The Edge, Topp Twins – Untouchable Girls, Hunting Douglas and Shackleton's Captain.

After a successful season in Wellington, Auckland audiences will now be treated to a stellar season of 69 fascinating documentaries.

Full list of Winners Doc Edge Awards 2017:
New Zealand Competition– Feature Documentary
Best New Zealand Feature Documentary – Making Good Men
Special Mention: Set In Stone

Best New Zealand Director – Fiona Apanui-Kupenga, Making Good Men
Best New Zealand Editing - Making Good Men
Best New Zealand Cinematography – On An Unknown Beach

New Zealand Competition – Short Documentary
Best New Zealand Short Documentary - After Life*
*Now eligible for consideration in the Documentary Short Subject category of the Academy Awards®
Special Mention: Meet Peter
Special Mention: Moko: A Film About A Maori Poet
Special Mention: Stickman

International Competition – Feature Documentary
Best International Feature Documentary – Plastic China
Special Mention: Last Men in Aleppo
Special Mention: For Ahkeem

Best International Director – Yonatan Nir, My Hero Brother
Special Mention: Shirley Abraham, Amit Madheshiya - The Cinema Travellers

International Competition – Short Documentary
Best International Short Documentary - Close Ties* 

Best New Zealand Emerging Filmmaker – Kevin Double, Set In Stone

Doc Edge Superhero Award– Leanne Pooley

Five more NZIFF films unveiled - and a new Auckland venue

Five more NZIFF films unveiled - and a new Auckland venue

This morning brings more news from the New Zealand International Film Festival - see below for details of more NZIFF films and also a new Auckland venue!

You Asked for Them You asked if we’d be showing them, and we're telling you YOU BET! Five of this year’s most requested films join our early announcements today. Remember the Oscars? Two of these films made the final round and one of them most definitely should have. CGI fans have been on our case for A Monster Calls, while Call Me by Your Name arrives on a wave of justified hype after debuting in Sundance and Berlin. Now we wait with bated breath to hear which Cannes gems our Paris-based programmer Sandra Reid will be going to bat for. Don’t call us. We’ll call her. Today we also announce acclaimed filmmaker Gaylene Preston as our guest selector for the 2017 New Zealand's Best Short Film competition. Preston will be selecting six shorts from a shortlist of 12 chosen by NZIFF programmers from 83 entries. Gaylene’s choice will screen as part of NZIFF and compete for three prizes: the Madman Entertainment Best Short Film Award, the Wallace Friends of the Civic Award, and the Audience Choice Award. Read on for details. We expand into the Wynyard Quarter this year with the ASB Waterfront Theatre becoming our new CBD venue. Not quite so handy as SKYCITY, it’s true, but a stunning facility totally worth the added distance. Plan for a quick jaunt from The Civic, Academy Cinema or Event Cinemas Queen St, and we’ll look forward to seeing you at our new waterfront venue from 20 July to 6 August.

A New Waterfront Venue for NZIFF We expand to the Wynyard Quarter in 2017 with the ASB Waterfront Theatre now equipped for our annual screenings. The 668-seat theatre will be the first venue in New Zealand to be using Digital Laser Cinema Projector Technology, supplied by NEC NZ. Audio will be delivered using a bespoke 5.1 cinema surround sound system which has been designed, supplied and installed by Bartons Sound Systems, in collaboration with NEC NZ. The venue is one of four venues in the CBD, and one of seven across Auckland that will screen NZIFF films from 20 July to 6 August. We’re excited to join Auckland’s innovation hub at the Wynyard Quarter. The theatre will be a superb place to watch a movie and we’re sure the bar, café and restaurant will prove super-attractive to festival-goers. NZIFF is totally at home in the CBD and committed to keeping our entire programme available to patrons there. This new location stays close to our other three CBD venues: it is on the City Link bus route, and only a brisk walk down the hill from The Civic, Event Cinemas and the Academy Cinemas. Read more about the ASB Waterfront Theatre on our website.

Gaylene Preston to Select NZ's Best Gaylene Preston will be our Guest Selector for the 2017 New Zealand’s Best short film competition. Five to six selected New Zealand shorts will premiere in Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch where audiences are encouraged to vote for their favourite short from Preston’s shortlist. Previous Guest Selectors have included Lee Tamahori (2016), Christine Jeffs (2015), Andrew Adamson (2014), Alison Maclean (2013), and Roger Donaldson (2012). Gaylene Preston is one of New Zealand’s most recognised and valued filmmakers, with a screen career spanning four decades and writer, director and producer credits covering feature films, documentaries and TV drama series. Preston’s latest film My Year with Helen will screen at NZIFF 2017. Read more about this year's New Zealand's Best competition on our website.

20th Century Women Annette Bening captivates as a single mother enlisting Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning to help raise her 15-year-old son in this funny, nuanced memoir of late 70s lifestyles from director Mike Mills (Beginners). Watch the trailer

Call Me by Your Name This gorgeous and moving adaptation of André Aciman’s acclaimed novel, directed by Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love), stars Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet as lovers in sun-kissed northern Italy.

My Life As a Courgette This soulful and subversive Oscar-nominated feature uses stop-motion animation to tell the story of an orphan named Courgette. From the key animator on Fantastic Mr Fox, and adapted for the screen by Girlhood’s Céline Sciamma. Watch the trailer

I Am Not Your Negro This Oscar-nominated documentary draws an astonishing, challenging and utterly contemporary examination of race in the United States entirely from the writings and interview footage of civil rights icon James Baldwin. Watch the trailer

A Monster Calls A story-telling monster (voiced by Liam Neeson) helps a sleeping boy with his waking-life nightmares in this adaptation of Patrick Ness’ novel, spectacularly realised with lavish CGI and painterly animations. Watch the trailer

ESO: Morrowind | June 6 Launch Timing Detailed, Updated

ESO: Morrowind | June 6 Launch Timing Detailed, Updated

The upcoming launch for The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind is a global event, with servers going live worldwide simultaneously to allow players everywhere to jump on the boat to Vvardenfell and begin their adventures together.

 

Today ZeniMax Online Studios revealed that on June 6, ESO: Morrowind servers go live globally at 19:00AEST/21:00NZST. The launch will follow a maintenance period during which servers will be down while they are updated to support new adventures in Vvardenfell.

Retailers worldwide will allow players to purchase the game and pick-up pre-orders in advance to allow for pre-loading. 

We look forward to welcoming players from around the world to Vvardenfell. 

A map showing the live times across the globe can be found on the Bethesda Pressvault at press.bethsoft.com

Project Cars 2 is here!

Project Cars 2 is here!

PROJECT CARS 2 TO GET A SERIES OF 6 AUTOMOTIVE ACTION FILMS “BUILT BY DRIVERS”

This must-watch series for 2017 begins Now!

Patrick Long, Chris Goodwin, Tommy Milner, and Vaughn Gittin Jr. are just some of the racing stars and test-drivers that will feature in a series of 6 films designed to showcase how “Built by Drivers” underpins the development of every car in the Project CARS franchise

  

Slightly Mad Studios and Bandai Namco today revealed a series of 6 live-action films that will showcase the “Built by Drivers” philosophy that underpins the development and authenticity of the Project CARS racing game franchise.

These 6 new films, to be released throughout 2017, will reveal intimate behind-the-scenes looks at how world-renowned race and test-drivers develop the in-game handling and feel of the vehicles in Project CARS 2

The first film —‘Project CARS 2: BUILT BY DRIVERS – “As Close As It Gets” Featuring Chris Goodwin’—showcases the development of the new McLaren 720S. The film charts the painstaking process behind the supercar’s in-game development by McLaren’s chief test-driver, Chris Goodwin. Ultimately, it is only Goodwin who can sign-off on the in-game handling of the 720S, and that means technicians from around the world flying in for one final, crunch test-session: Will Goodwin sign-off on “his” car?

‘Project CARS 2: BUILT BY DRIVERS – “As Close As It Gets” Featuring Chris Goodwin’ was filmed in location in London and at McLaren’s Technology Centre by Outrun Films, specialists in automotive and action features, and the makers of “McLaren 720S Reveal”, and the brutal “Nürburgring & Bentley Racing”.

These 6 live-action films document the close relationship between the Project CARS franchise and racing stars such as Corvette Racing’s Tommy Milner, drifting legend Vaughn Gittin Jr, as well as with automakers such as Mercedes-Benz.

“Scanning cars down to the last bolt, and inserting their unique builds into our state-of-the-art physics model is just phase one in making our racing games,” said Stephen Viljoen, Game Director on Project CARS. “In the end, we can get the ‘numbers’ right, but the feel and balance of a car—that intangible thing that brings a car to life—can only be measured by drivers; drivers who have spent their careers around those very cars, pushing them to their limits. Our relationship with drivers isn’t about ‘brand ambassadors’: it’s about how we engineer cars to feel right. ‘Built by drivers’ is how we go about ensuring authenticity.”

Combining in-game footage, intimate looks at the star drivers, and the unique story-telling gifts of film-makers Donut Media and Outrun Films, these 6 films will be must-watch automotive content for 2017.

Project CARS 2 will be released in late 2017 for the PlayStation 4 system, Xbox One, and PC. Find out more and keep up-to-date at the official Project CARS 2website: http://www.projectcarsgame.com/ To learn more about BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe’s other products please go to:http://www.bandainamcoent.com or follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BandaiNamcoEU or join the conversation at https://twitter.com/BandaiNamcoEU.   

Fifty Shades Darker: DVD Review

Fifty Shades Darker: DVD Review

To be fair, no-one is expecting cinematic mastery of the celluloid domain with the erotic flick Fifty Shades Darker.

The adaptation of the first Fifty Shades of Grey mummy porn movie wasn't exactly thrilling and rendered the dangerous world of BDSM and talk thereof rather dull and flaccid.

But to say the sequel, which centres on a wounded Christian Grey determined to get Anastasia Steele back in his life, has a bit more life and a lot more kinky fuckery (to quote Ana) is to damn it with feint praise.

Sure, the terrible dialogue is ever-present, every touch leads to near orgasm and the leering gaze of the camera lingers a little too often on Dakota Johnson's shapelier assets. There are obligatory moments of Jamie Dornan sans shirt and giving that slightly constipated and pained squirrel look that he did in the first; but let's face it, that's what most of the audience coming to this weak 80s softcore rip-off are looking for.

From lingering looks, talk of nipple clamps, romps to endless changing soundtracks, and discussions of renegotiating terms, the second film is very much about The Domestication of Christian Grey, where he has to consider serious issues like trust and allowing a girl to move in, rather than deciding which blindfold and which sub to master that night.

And yet, around the edges of this creaky wannabe psychological push and pull, there are elements of a psycho-sexual thriller lurking and failing to garner enough light.

However, the tension that's supposed to be built with hints of Grey's dangerous past teased out are laughably dispatched in a piecemeal fashion that's irritating.

Two sequences that threaten danger to our protagonist are over and resolved within moments, robbing the film of any kind of drama as the duo weave their way through the sheen of masquerade balls and flirting over the coring of a capsicum. A sub-plot about Ana working for a publisher with a seedy boss feels strongly like set-up, but it's all so summarily dismissed that the episodic nature of the film fails to fire.

Ana's constant "I want you but I don't want you" flip-flopping grates on the screen as she debates and then hops into another romp - though one suspects that is sorely down to EL James' source material and her controlling desire to write the screenplay. However, Johnson brings some light to the role, and sells the continual uncertainty and actually gives a bit more to the one dimensional Ana. Even if you're still troubled by how much she refuses the sub lifestyle and then demands it before rejecting it once again...

Dornan's confined to the sidelines a little more this time around, going from a more playful Grey to a Horny looking Kato at the ball. There's a softer edge to him in the latest, which renders the stalking message and one-spanking-away-from-an-injunction Christian Grey a little more palatable in the second film.

Ultimately, a lot of Fifty Shades Darker lurches from one ludicrous moment to another, saddled with some
laugh out loud dialogue (none of it intentional), and there's no disputing the fact it's dull in parts. And there's still a shocking disparity over the amount of male / female nudity within.

Yet, bizarrely, there's also a clarity of vision here, with the sex ramped up as that's clearly what the audience wants. First time around, all the discussion of contracts and sexual fantasies robbed the film of the lusty edge - here, it's all on, with the between the sheets action being left to do the talking. There's no denying that Foley delivers it all in a manner which will titillate parts of the audience and leave them breathless as this saga of the love affair plays out.

But there's no hint of suggestion, no delicious tease of sexiness and while there's one Johnson that more than rises to the occasion this time around, giving her Ana a little more than the one dimensions set down on the page, Fifty Shades Darker remains still a damp cinematic squib.