Win a double pass to see Flatliners

Win a double pass to see Flatliners

In Flatliners, five medical students, obsessed by the mystery of what lies beyond the confines of life, embark on a daring and dangerous experiment: by stopping their hearts for short periods of time, each triggers a near-death experience – giving them a first hand account of the afterlife.

But as their experiments become increasingly dangerous, they are each haunted by the sins of their pasts, brought on by the paranormal consequences of trespassing to the other side.

Starring Ellen Page and Diego Luna.

Flatliners hits cinemas September 28th

To win the double pass thanks to Sony Pictures, all you have to do is email  your details to this  address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Include your name and address and title your email FLATLINERS!
Competition closes Sept 28th

Good luck!

Win a double pass to see Blade Runner 2049

Win a double pass to see Blade Runner 2049

To celebrate the release of Blade Runner 2049 on October 5th, you can win a double pass to see the film!

About Blade Runner 2049

From the brilliant mind of Ridley Scott and the director of Arrival comes the long awaited follow up to the groundbreaking 1982 film.

Blade Runner 2049 is a stunningly gorgeous, futuristic action event film. A profound and dangerous discovery threatens to forever blur the line separating humans and non-humans.

Discover the secret this October.

To win a double pass of 10 thanks to Sony Pictures, all you have to do is email  your details to this  address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Include your name and address and title your email BLADE!
Competition closes October 4th

Good luck!

It: Film Review

It: Film Review

Cast: Bill Skarsgard, Jaden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis
Director: Andy Muschietti

Abuse in all its forms predicates the 2017 retooling of Stephen King's celebrated It.

Channeling into the 1980s vibe set down by Netflix series Stranger Things and also reminiscent of the horror comedy of The Goonies, the re-telling of mid-town America's outsider kids (the self-styled Loser Club) and their fight against evil is a genuinely chilling creep-fest that perhaps overplays some of its hand toward the end.

For those unfamiliar with the book and the mini series which starred Tim Curry, the remake centres on the tragedy of Bill (Midnight Special's Jaeden Lieberher) whose younger brother disappears one night in a storm. As the family struggles to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives, Bill and his other friends get ready for the end of school and subsequent summer vacation.

But the ensuing freedom is anything but for the friends, who find summer days riddled with bullies and the on-set of adolescence.

Things are further exacerbated when they all begin to experience horrific visions and all share the fact that a clown is front and centre of their collective mania...

It works well as a set piece rollercoaster ride of jump scares and psychotic thrills, guaranteed to make you jolt out of your seat whether you're coulrophobic or not.

But as the film goes on, the reliance on jump scares and the inevitable Stephen King silliness sets in, fatiguing the final strait of this over-long, but largely terrific and atmospheric piece.

A chilling pre-credits sequence sets the stall out well - a sense of uneasiness pervades with menace as Bill's younger brother meets Pennywise the clown as he tries to retrieve something from a drain. It's here that Skarsgard earns his stripes as the sinister clown, bouncing from mirth to downright nastiness on the turn of a coin. Director Muschietti (Mama) wisely uses the clown sparingly throughout giving the film the edge it needs to be unsettling - and Skarsgard makes the best of every single scene the demented and cracked-painted monster appears in.

Perhaps equally successful are the smaller details that ooze through It.

There's an effective damning of adults in mid-town Americas, where kids are raised in the shadow of implied incest, abuse, poverty and continual neglect and bullying. There's the skating of the line between innocence of childhood and the oncoming terror of adolescence and menstruation. There's the innate tragedy of trauma affecting both families of loss and the children of abuse; in short, there's a lot from the King novel which is laced within to terrific use.

It may feel very familiar because of how the cinematic world's been shaped by such tropes ever since, but given how deliberate the pacing of Muschietti's first It film is and how much time is spent with the kids' group and within their own dynamics, even the stereotyped and familiar feels largely fresh and thrillingly frightening. In the quieter moments and the internal relationships fare the best, with Lieberher and Amy Adams-lookalike Lillis adding heart to the proceedings and universal recognition to teen awkwardness.

Ultimately though, It is a nightmarish yet somehow episodic meshing of phobias and primal premises wrapped up into one effectively retro package, guaranteed to haunt you.

A Ghost Story: Film Review

A Ghost Story: Film Review

Cast: Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara
Director: David Lowery

Director David Lowery's A Ghost Story is a very simple story, and yet, in parts, can be equated to Terrence Malick's Voyage Of Time.

Centring on Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara's unnamed duo, the film is the story of Casey Affleck's man who is killed in a car crash near his house. Bid farewell by Mara's character at the morgue, the white sheet drawn stiffly and quickly back onto the body, Affleck's character sits starkly up and heads back home.

Still covered in the white sheet, but with two eye holes now adorning it (akin at times to looking like an elephant as the drapes hang), the ghost stays around the house, watching Mara's character, and then when she moves on, ultimately observing those who head to their former home.

Stretched on a micro-budget and with the eeriness factor high, A Ghost Story is laced with atmosphere and a mournful tone that drags into the existential. As the Ghost wanders around, the stripped back visuals are blatantly hypnotic. Essentially just a sheet, it's somewhat intriguing to note that you end up projecting your own internal expressions onto the Ghost and there are times where you almost imagine there are tears flowing under the sheet.

Granted, there's a slow lyrical touch to the rhythms of A Ghost Story, which won't be for everyone, and a long shot of Rooney Mara's character simply eating a pie that's been delivered to her bereft home may push the limits somewhat of those who feel its artful folly.

But it's in the execution of the existential, the way it plays with structure and in its pursuit of the poignancy of loss that A Ghost Story manages to thrive, and ultimately soar. As the Ghost watches the world around him, the elegaic score and the incredible use of sound help the film to transgress its.physical limitations and budgetary constraints.

There will be some who dismiss the mood piece for its ambitions, its 1:33:1 aspect ratio and on whom the subtleties will be lost, but the brooding and ponderous piece is a singular experience. Its use of time and its execution thereof make for interesting bedfellows and provide much debate after the film's gone and finished.

If anything, A Ghost Story captures the futility and inevitability of loss, the sadness of those left behind and posits that a house is not a home without those who live within. It's an incalculably beautiful film that aches as well as it plays out, and it's utterly mesmerising.

Win a Destiny 2 prize pack

Win a Destiny 2 prize pack

It's here - Destiny 2 has arrived!

And to celebrate the release of the latest from Bungie and Activision, you can win a neat little prize pack including a PS4 copy of the game, Cayde figurine and a poster!

About Destiny 2

From the makers of the acclaimed hit game Destiny, comes the much-anticipated sequel. An action shooter that takes you on an epic journey across the solar system.

Humanity’s last safe city has fallen to an overwhelming invasion force, led by Ghaul, the imposing commander of the brutal Red Legion. 

He has stripped the city’s Guardians of their power, and forced the survivors to flee. 

You will venture to mysterious, unexplored worlds of our solar system to discover an arsenal of weapons and devastating new combat abilities. 

To defeat the Red Legion and confront Ghaul, you must reunite humanity’s scattered heroes, stand together, and fight back to reclaim our home.

  To win the pack thanks to Activision, Bungie and Total Interactive, all you have to do is email  your details to this  address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Include your name and address and title your email DESTINY2!
Competition closes Sept 14th

Good luck!

Snatched: DVD Review

Snatched: DVD Review

Luring Goldie Hawn out of retirement 15 years after her last appearance would appear to be a coup for Amy Schumer's particular brand of comedy.

But Snatched squanders both Hawn and Schumer with a script and story that feels a little too haphazard to bring many laughs to the fore.

Schumer is self-absorbed Emily, who, as the film starts, is dumped by her fella (Randall Park, in an all-too brief cameo) on the eve of a trip to Ecuador. Fleeing home with her tail between her legs, Emily feels a pang of remorse for her once globe-trotting, now stay-at-home catsitter mother Linda (Hawn) after she discovers a photo album filled with people and places she's been.

On the spur of the moment, Emily invites her now cautious mother along in an attempt to re-connect.
However, it all goes to hell in a hand-cart when Emily and her mother are kidnapped and they set about trying to escape.

It's fair to say that Snatched has moments of comic bravura within.

Schumer once again proves adept at nailing the cruder and grosser elements of the female comedy that's been long ignored in mainstream media and comedy. From "Did she really just say that?" one-liners to scenes where she makes herself the butt of the joke in the worst possible way, Schumer's strength lies in the ability to shock.

And it's used to get some good solid laughs early on - particularly when Emily is trying to pull a bloke who's interested in her. Despite her continuing obnoxiousness and vacuously weak personality, Schumer's strength lies in giving the character of Emily the sort of vibe that many of the female audience will feel great empathy with.

Less successful though is the script, which feels piecemeal, under-developed and generally squanders its characters for no real impact.

Hawn is largely wasted, and the potential for a story-line that looked at how the Instagram loving Emily can't connect, whereas Linda used to connect with humanity while abroad and now largely feels sidelined by a digitally obsessed vacuous world goes wanting after tantalisingly being teased early on.

It doesn't help that the script bounces from one sequence to the next, with vague threads trying to pull them together - and while the episodic nature of it all proffers a few guffaws here and there, there's a general nagging feeling that it could have been more.

Christopher Meloni's OTT performance feels like something out of an 80s romance adventure film and wildly out of place, but the script by Ghostbusters' scribe Kate Dippold can't really seem to nail a thread and follow it through, despite the potential dream comedic team on the screen.

Ultimately, while Snatched is a shade over 85 minutes, it feels a lot longer, thanks in large parts due to a script that doesn't bring enough funny and criminally under-uses its leads.
If it had a stronger script and perhaps a bit more depth as well as some more screwball, this could have had great potential. Instead, it feels like a lot of the potential wins it could have traded on have been used to help defeat be snatched from the jaws of victory.

Alien Covenant: Blu Ray Review

Alien Covenant: Blu Ray Review

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. 

Win a double pass to see Victoria and Abdul

Win a double pass to see Victoria and Abdul

The extraordinary true story of an unexpected friendship in the later years of Queen Victoria’s (Academy Award winner Judi Dench) remarkable rule. 

When Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal), a young clerk, travels from India to participate in the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, he is surprised to find favor with the Queen herself. 

As the Queen questions the constrictions of her long-held position, the two forge an unlikely and devoted alliance with a loyalty to one another that her household and inner circle all attempt to destroy. 

As the friendship deepens, the Queen begins to see a changing world through new eyes and joyfully reclaims her humanity. 

Victoria And Abdul releases in New Zealand on September 14.

To win a double pass, all you have to do is email your details to this  address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Include your name and address and title your email VICTORIA!
Competition closes Sept 14th

Good luck!

Win a double pass to see Mother!

Win a double pass to see Mother!

To celebrate the release of Mother! from Darren Aronosfky on September 14th, you can win a double pass to see the movie at the cinemas!

About Mother!
A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer.

To win the double pass thanks to Paramount Pictures, all you have to do is email  your details to this  address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Include your name and address and title your email MOTHER!
Competition closes Sept 14th

Good luck!

A Dog's Purpose: Blu Ray Review

A Dog's Purpose: Blu Ray Review


Mixing sappy family film and a fluffy dog tail should be movie kryptonite, but A Dog's Purpose feels like it slightly misses the mark.

Adapted from the 2010 W. Bruce Cameron novel of the same name, the Amblin Entertainment flick follows the story of a dog that's reincarnated several times, before discovering what his reason for life is.

Starting in the 1950s, Josh Gad is the voice of the dog in this live-action fare that feels like a Saturday morning TV-movie writ large.

After a very brief and shockingly terminated life, Gad's dog is reborn as a golden retriever named Bailey who's saved from a hot car in 1961 by Ethan. As the pair bond, Bailey discovers Ethan is his soul-mate and the pair get into the sort of scrapes you'd expect from a fluffy story of its ilk.

From romancing a girl (played by Britt Robertson) to dealing with an abusive father, the 1960s set story is perhaps the more successful of the film, but also the one which showcases the most of what to expect of this film.

Tugging on heart-strings, touching on well-worn tropes of animal films and the familiar scrapes the plucky pair find themselves in, the Nicholas Sparks for animal lovers flick, A Dog's Purpose is likely to find favour with audiences looking to get their quota of sappiness filled.

And while Lasse Halstrom's film may have been dogged with some negative pre-publicity over the apparent treatment of its animal leads in one sequence that's since been debunked, it's more than likely to curry a great deal of favour with anyone who's ever owned a pet or shared a bond with said animal.

This is not a film that skirts over the heartache and heartbreak of losing a pet, and it's here the film takes great strides to really avoid milking the sentiment and hitting some of the emotional moments more successfully than many would want to admit to.

The reincarnation angle of the film is handled without fuss, and while its edges could have made for Nicholas Sparks' style tear-jerker territory, it simply gets on with it happening and lets the poignancy of the moment drown the work. But the rest of the film is predominantly every other film you've ever seen of its kind - coming of age mixed with family tension, all nicely brought to life in the world that's been created.

At least one of the dog's lives, the one with a police partner, is over so briefly, its inclusion seems relatively pointless, other than to showcase another relationship with a dog. But such is the film's MO; it simply passes over the middle part of the film to skip back to Ethan and Bailey's bond.

It's here that the heart of this film lies deep within the connection that's shared with a canine; and while Gad's occasionally childish narration distracts, the sentiment is clearly there from the beginning.

A Dog's Purpose is not a movie for critics, nor a movie that goes deeper or tries to do anything other than push a fuzzy, feel-good agenda.

It'll give comfort to many a pet owner who's believed their current furry charge has similarities to their previous ones, but the human elements of the film will remain infinitely more forgettable than the doggy goings on long after the lights of the front room have gone up.

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2: Blu Ray Review

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2: Blu Ray Review

It's a tough ask to discern how exactly you follow up one of the freshest films in an ever-expanding Mavel Cinematic Universe catalogue of superheroes, fantastical figures and weighty mythology.

The 2014 worldwide $773 million smash hit Guardians of the Galaxy's riposte by way of its first outing was to largely confine a lot of what had become Marvel's stuffy staple to the sidelines and present a bright blast of technicolour goofiness, set it all in space and against a backdrop of 70s music tunes.

Loud, brash and above all fun, Guardians Volume 1 was the perfect tonic to the growing tedium of the MCU, injecting humour into a ragtag bunch of reprobates who quickly became family.

So, how do you follow that up?

Like that tricky second album syndrome that blights so many artists, James Gunn and Marvel's answer is - let's do it all again and throw more music and more humour at it.

But, disappointingly in parts, that sadly doesn't quite make this sequel quite as spectacular.

With the central themes of family and familial conflicts thrust largely to the fore, the sequel concentrates on two simple storylines. When Rocket rips off the group's latest employers, they're forced to go on the run.

Stranded on the planet Berhart after their betrayal's discovered and the Milano, their ship, crippled, the issue of Chris Pratt's Starlord's parentage comes to the fore when his father (played with 80s style gusto by Kurt Russell) mysteriously shows up....

It's not that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 is a bad film, it's simply that it feels like it's squandered some of the promise and good will of the first.

Visually, Gunn and his team have assembled a truly vibrant universe. From its opening moments where a squid-like creature takes on the gang spewing out all the colours of the rainbow from its mouth, to the gold-covered race The Sovereign, via planet vistas adorned with hues of reds, blues and greens, there's plenty visually to admire and wallow in. And once again, music is the sixth Guardians character, with sounds from the 70s and 80s providing a proliferation of grooves and moves among the CGI.

But the film too often falls back on its humour as a constant crutch to punctuate scenes, and it becomes repetitive and irritating. 

Whether it's the constant bickering between the Guardians, or Bautista's literal Drax saying inappropriate and initially amusing things or members of the Ravagers making comments, there's way too much of this throughout to do anything other than a) feel lazy and b) set your teeth-grinding. And whilst it was part of the fun of the first, the sequel adds much more than is necessary.

Equally, if it's not the humour, it's the reliance on the Baby Groot ex Machina to help with the story. Though, admittedly, Groot's cuteness and abject tendency towards adorable are initially very appealing and amusing. (The aforementioned fight is brilliant in its execution thanks to a combination of ELO's Mr Blue Sky, an out-of-focus battle in the background and a shimmying couple of inches tall tree character).

As the film goes on, the over-use of the humour tends to scupper the more obvious emotional edges of what transpires. If everything's a joke to everyone all the time, it really does make it hard to care about what happens to these self-professed a*holes and the various predicaments they face.

More successful are the quieter moments of the film.

There's a distinct profoundness to some of the more humane scenes involving the ongoing conflict between Saldana's Gamorra and Gillan's Nebula, as well as Pratt's portrayal of a man who just desperately wants to know who his father is. Add in a nuanced turn from Rooker's Yondu, seeking redemption, and there's more than enough meat to keep the narrative running and just enough to provide distraction from the incessant hilarity that's injected at every turn.

It's here that Gunn excels and imbues some love for the wise-cracking characters we came to care about in the first film. He achieves the required poignancy with ease, and masterfully delivers it. 

But in among the day-glo colours, superb visuals from the WETA Digital team and 80s references (The Blob, Journey To The Centre of the Earth, arcade games and other Easter Eggs too fun to spoil et al), it's these kernels of emotional truths which resonate in Guardians Vol 2 and which give it the heart it so desperately needs and so perfectly achieved in its first outing, setting them above the usual smash and grab CGI world destructions that have become the Marvel denouement norm.

But they're nearly overwhelmed by everything else that transpires on screen; and while it felt fresh the first time around, the over-insistence on a "More, more, more" ethos means it comes dangerously close to destroying the good-will it had previously generated.

With a third outing for the Guardians of the Galaxy already signed up, it's no stretch to say that this latest, with its flaws and occasional bloat, is a good time at the movies, and a cut above the usual blockbuster fare.

However, all of that candy-blast and sugar-coated reliance on humour prove sufficiently corrosive to Gunn's stated intentions of going deeper with the characters; and, worryingly, if they don't ease up on those elements in the third outing, it could end up inducing a diabetic cinematic coma to audiences. 

Get Out: Blu Ray Review

Get Out: Blu Ray Review

White liberal guilt plays a big part in the smart satirical take on social mores from debut director Jordan Peele's box-office bashing, genre-mashing thriller.

Essentially riffing on the Meet The Parents story and the Stepford Wives, Brit actor Kaluulya plays Chris, a young African-American, whose girlfriend Rose (Girls star Alison Williams) takes him to the family estate for a weekend.

Already nervous about what may lie ahead, Chris' unease is further heightened when he arrives on the estate and finds an African-American groundskeeper and an African-American housekeeper. Despite his prospective father-in-law's reassurances that he's aware how it looks, but it's not what it seems, it sets the tone for Chris' weekend.

However, things get more mysterious when an annual event on the estate sees out-of-towners arrive....

To say more about the dread-laced atmospherics of Get Out is to rob the film of the freshness that unfolds along with the unease of atmosphere accompanying it.

There's a reason Peele's subversive and sinister Blumhouse-produced debut has received such acclaim - and it's largely due to the satirical elements within, as well as the clear commentary on the times we live in and how African-Americans are treated both within society and perhaps to a lesser extent, within the Hollywood system.

Tapping into the unease that's currently in America, where movements like Black Lives Matter continue and where tensions continue to grow, despite calls of progression, proves to be fertile ground for Peele, and gives the film a feeling of something more below the surface.

Cultural appropriation is wrapped up within as well - and much like Scream 2's meta take on how African-American actors are treated within Hollywood's horror factory (hint - easily and quickly dispatched by the killer within the opening act), Get Out plays with perceptions with as much ease as it plays with the tropes of the thriller / horror genre.

Unlike most horrors, Get Out deftly manages to spin both a web of unease and atmospherics simultaneously without ever losing sight of what it sets out to do. Along with a modicum of jump scares, as well as some sly humour, Get Out never threatens to topple the house of cards once the reveal comes in - many horrors tease and tantalise, but when the ultimate reveal comes of either who the killer is or what's afoot, the web collapses into a dirth of plot-holes; Get Out never once falls into that trap (even though there are a few narrative conveniences in the final moments).

With an appropriation of one of the mystical elements of Stranger Things to his own twisting, Peele, who wrote and directed Get Out, has created a film that feels both contemporary, satirically smart and timeless. Whether that's more a sad indictment and damnation of what the film has to say about the treatment of African-Americans is certainly up for debate.

But what's not really up for debate is how inherently smart and devilishly taut, the clever Get Out is.

From its whip-smart writing (Bradley Whitford's patriarch more than adds creepiness into the idea that he would have voted for Obama for a third time if he could and adds unease into revealing his feelings that owning African-American house workers "is such a cliche"), to its incredible sound-scape, Peele's debut captures and subverts the conventions terrifically as the story plays out.

It's best to know little about this film going on, as the less you know, the more it grabs you in its vice-like grip - and its take on 21st century liberalism may leave you a little rocked and disturbed when the lights ultimately go up. Awkwardness and avant-garde approaches to the genre and the general terror of the story's unspooling make Get Out an at times, queasily paranoid watch.

However, you'd do wisely to believe the hype, as this is one of 2017's best and smartest films - and as such, it's more than worth at least one visit to the cinema - if not more. 

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy: PS4 Review

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy: PS4 Review

Developed by Naughty Dog
Platform: PS4

Much more than a female spin-off of Uncharted, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy stands alone as a great title, even if it does pilfer some of the dynamics from the previous games.

You get to take on the role of Chloe Frazer in her latest escapade, and are dropped into the middle of India and an escalating situation. Teaming up with Nadine Ross as the civil war starts to unfold, it's upto you two to try and retrieve the the tusk of Ganesh as a baddie Asav tries to beat you to it.

Relatively short in run-time and perhaps relinquishing its chance to do something innovative with its core gameplay mechanics, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is nonetheless a good solid title that adds a bit of depth to the Uncharted universe.

It's great to have two solid female leads in this world of traditionally male driven heroes and the relationship between the pair grows as well as it should. There's a scale to Uncharted: The Lost Legacy that's obvious from the start when Chloe witnesses the bombing of an Indian city from the rooftops, and the arena glows orange.

Equally with the scrambling and scurrying over rooftops and buildings a very familiar move for the Uncharted games, there's still a sense of a real world being fleshed out here rather than a simple spin-off being done for financial gain.

Whilst the latest Uncharted isn't as long as Nathan Drake's prior outings and feels like The Last Of Us' spinoff in terms of story and execution (ie female leads, same mechanics), it does still prove that Naughty Dog's on top of its game - and if they were willing to maybe try something a little different for future titles,  there's clearly plenty of life left in the series to explore and enjoy.

Agents of Mayhem: PS4 Review

Agents of Mayhem: PS4 Review

Developed by
Platform: PS4

Meshing cartoon graphics and cut scenes with the Saints Row style of gameplay, Agents of Mayhem is a frivolous game that doesn't take itself too seriously at all.

Blending the team up mentality of superheroes and mixing it with a post global hostile takeover by the forces of LEGION, you are one of the Agents of Mayhem who are based in Seoul and are leading the fight back.

Story is very much by the wayside in this, and the simplistic shoot stuff and destroy hordes of creatures heading your way is the MO of the game. Split across episodes, the game goes for a kind of amusing self-knowing approach which pays off in terms of your engagement.

It's fairly disposable stuff and fairly simple to play each level too.

Tasked with various things to complete and do, the map world stretches out ahead of you as you negotiate as one of the Agents (who seem ripped from the cliches of comic books and action films). Swapping between agents is easy, and really, if you just want to put your brain in neutral and deal with the waves of bd guys, there's not really anything better.

It helps that Agents of Mayhem is quite playable, but there's no real urgency to get everything done and move on to the next problem which presents itself.

Each agent has their own special power - from teleporting enemies to in front of your agent to shoot them dead to unleashing mines, there's enough to keep the cartoon silliness on the go. Coupled with special episodes which concentrate on the singular agents, Agents of Mayhem's commitment to the genre it's come from is commendable.

Its silliness is reminiscent of Saint's Row but without the profanity, and its playable episodic nature means it's good for a blat about and a few hours of fun. There's a degree of repetition as the game goes on, but all in all Agents of Mayhem gives good homage to its ilk.

Matterfall: PS4 Review

Matterfall: PS4 Review

Developed by Housemarque
Platform: PS4

Side-scrolling has always been Housemarque's raison d'etre.

After the weekly thrills of Resogun and its continually addictive ways, the studio's been constantly pursuing another such vicarious and entertaining game to help cement its name.

Matterfall is not that game.

Not that there's really anything wrong with this rushing about and shooting things game in any way, shape or form, more that repeat value is a little lacking.

Essentially in Matterfall, you get to take on hordes of robots and things shooting at you in various buildings under the guise of being a freelancer who simply goes in to tidy things up, free a few people and fire off a few rounds.

It's as slick as you'd expect from the studio but it is missing the edge that promotes replayability.

It does also rely on your using multi buttons at several different times to ensure that you're taking advantage of all the skills you have at your disposal. From a dash move that can wipe out bullets and stop you from being attacked, to using a matter gun to fill in platforms or power lifts, the key to Matterfall is a degree of ambi-dexterity.

It's very much a game that throws a lot in your path and expects you to cope, so sometimes, the deaths seem unnecessary and particularly vindictive. But each level (of the 12 around) is achievable with a modicum of smarts and timing.

Ultimately, Matterfall is a slice of arcade shoot'em'up that really does work for its basics and its slick looking gameplay - but under the hood, it's lacking the hyper-kinetic addictiveness that other titles have offered up. If there were to be some newer elements dripped out, it could prove to be a title that's essential.

As it is, it's currently visually impressive and enjoyable but nothing more, nothing less.

Wind River: Film Review

Wind River: Film Review

Cast: Jeremy Renner, Elisabeth Olsen
Director: Taylor Sheridan

After astounding with scripts for Sicario and the much appreciated Hell or High Water, Taylor Sheridan slips into the directing chair for the helming of his own script for Wind River.

Centring on an Indian Reservation where the bloodied body of a raped woman is found 6 miles from anywhere and in the middle of the frozen wastes of Wyoming, Wind River follows the investigation into the crime.

With a rookie FBI agent Jane Banner (Elisabeth Olsen) called in from Vegas, and a US fish and wildlife marksman Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) deputised into help, the case finds the intricacies of Native American problems and guilt from the past all intertwined...

Inspired by actual events, Wind River has some truly astonishing visuals in among the white-outs of the snow.
From Lambert's snowmobile making its way through the wastelands like an insignificant speck to blood on the ice, Sheridan's eye for scale and shocking is clearly evident.

It's essentially a tale of the evil men do and at times, Olsen's vulnerable agent is clearly out of her depth. Thrown into a case in an area she's ill-equipped for (from experience and even down to clothes), she barely gathers speed as the agent in charge, deferring to Lambert's prior skills. It's perhaps here that Sheridan's script revels more in the intricacies of the gender politics and the gender divide that's clearly at play elsewhere in the film, but it does occasionally make Olsen's character seem woefully clueless and ultimately, a bit wasted.

A little richer perhaps is Renner's Lambert, a mournful man whose mopiness masks a past tragedy. Renner makes great fist of the melancholia and feels restrained in parts as Lambert tries to fit into a community that is occasionally willing to accept him and is other times willing to cast him out. It's no surprise that he's camouflaged in the wilderness; Sheridan wastes no allusions in his script.

Underpinning all of this is a thinly veiled diatribe against treatment of Native Americans (one line asks "Why is it when you people try to help, it starts with insults") and a searing but not excoriating commentary on the social ills of such a reservation. And it's perhaps here why Sheridan's script feels lacking in power compared to the likes of Hell Or High Water that felt more precise in their barbs and more subtle in their treatment.

Wind River is unfortunately a minor disappointment from Sheridan.

Stretched out over 2 hours, the film's final reveal and treatment of its perpetrator is nothing more than the unveiling of a raving lunatic steeped in ugliness, and given the steps and themes taken through the snow-laden film to set out an icy veneer and a sliver of gender issues and native concerns, its desire to plump for the shocking yet stereotype feels like a cheap squandering of promise.

More a lilting ode than the searing story Sheridan's set out before, this icy Western does hit the spot, but Wind River never quite reaches the highs you'd expect, and despite solid work from its leads and Longmire's Graham Greene as the tribal sheriff, it's not as spectacular as you'd hope. 

McLaren: DVD Review

McLaren: DVD Review

To Formula 1 fans, there's no disputing the dominance of the McLaren racing team.

Time after time, the team's taken countless victories and launched many a driver into pole position on the track and in fans' hearts.

Matthew Metcalfe's documentary about New Zealander Bruce McLaren though may find it a slightly more taxing ask to push past the critical acclaim of Senna, perhaps the ultimate racing documentary ever committed to celluloid.

But for those not really in the know, McLaren's thrill of the race really does still lie in what happens on the track, rather than what goes on off it.

Unfortunately, it's here that this brisk and pacy doco ever so slightly comes up wanting.

Focussing on Bruce McLaren's early years initially, Metcalfe's movie lines up plenty of work colleagues and grease monkey buddies to extol his virtues. And they do an admirable job of passionately explaining why McLaren's attitude and ethos saw so much success on the track.

With drivers referred to as "the Spitfire pilots of the 50s and 60s", Metcalfe cleverly assembles archive footage and stages recreations of the era to create a tapestry of a man who went from the crippled kid with Perthes disease to trailblazer behind the wheel.

There's a great fist to be had from the recollections and recreations, but, at times, this doco doesn't give the more personal moments the chance to breathe and take on their own life during the story. It probably doesn't help that this covers a lot in its 90 minute run-time, and perhaps a more distinct focus on either the man or the team's evolution may have proved slightly more thrilling.

McLaren: Film Review

It's the personal side of McLaren that feels sadly wanting.

Granted, excerpts of letters back home from McLaren to his parents while he was away in the UK in the late 50s give tantalising glimpses into his psyche, and McLaren's wife (Miss Caroline Bay from Timaru) fills in some of the blanks, but there is clearly more to be gleaned from the man's personal history. A great amount of footage lingers on the daughter that was born to the racing legacy, but nothing is heard from her, a glaring omission from a voice that could have breathed life into how the family felt with Bruce always being away from home or workaholic.

And McLaren's initial health issues which saw him confined to a gurney, with weights strapped on his legs to deal with a hip issue are simply glossed over after being laid bare. It's a bit of a leap to see this and then a few frames later, McLaren's behind the wheel of a car, racing away. There's no doubting his passion, but sometimes the journey doesn't quite hit all the relevant destinations.

More successful though is the life on the track ethos and story which the film-makers are clearly more interested in bringing to light. With a frenetic speed and some in cockpit camera work, the thrill of the race-track and the adrenaline of the driving is brought vividly to life, and the breakneck danger cleverly realised.

But McLaren never fully glorifies the racing, and the solemnity of one driver's death, before McLaren's own untimely passing, are given the space needed to lend this movie some of the emotional heft that is lacking earlier on. Much like Senna's awful and unnecessary death that happens with a simple crunching sound in the original doco, the tragic demise of McLaren packs a powerful wallop later on. And certainly, as the engineers of the team recount the moments after his fatal crash at Goodwood Circuit in June 1970 weigh heavy with such openness and raw recollections that it almost feels intrusive to see them suffer still.

McLaren is by no means a disaster - it's a solid tale of the Kiwi mentality and pluck behind the wheel that gives voice to one of perhaps our lesser known stories and heroes. But by making this doco gloss over the moments that would more fully define the man at the centre, the film still leaves you feeling he's a nice guy, but an enigma to anyone other than those who knew him.