At Darren's World of Entertainment

Thursday, 26 October 2017

Star Wars Battlefront II Beta: PS4 Review

Two years ago, around this time of the year, there was the sound of a billion voices crying out simultaneously.

This was not the destruction of Alderaan, but merely the collective excitement of Star Wars fans getting their hands on the Battlefront BETA and being excited at what lay ahead.

Now with Star Wars Battlefront II on the way, EA once again decided to unveil a Beta to give fans a taster of what lies ahead in the second iteration of the game, due in a few weeks' time.

And the general feeling is that it's much the same for the second one, but with plenty of little tweaks from the fans.

Admittedly, the new game comes with the much needed single player campaign, but other than a trailer, there was nothing much to see in this Beta. Which was a real shame, given that it feels like a missed opportunity to placate the fans who felt ripped off.
It looks fairly epic, but one suspects the proof will be in the playing, so time will tell.

Elsewhere, Star Wars Battlefront II beta gave you the chance to play the map of Theed from the Clone Wars and battle your way against clones. Shooting feels a lot more controlled than previously, but it has to be said at times, it's hard to tell if any damage is rapidly inflicted on your opponent or it's like flies being swatted away.

But the game does feel smoother, and graphically, it's gorgeous. Though not that you get time to take it all in - doing so puts you slap bang in the middle of respawn land.

And respawning is a lot quicker than previously, ensuring you can get a good game out of the time if you're prone to dying repeatedly.

The main pull of Star Wars Battlefront II was the Galactic Assault, a space-set battle that takes the best bit of the VR X Wing experience and gives you more control of your ship.

It's again been polished and made sure to stand a little better to those who are new to flying but without alienating the old guard.

The game also wisely has dispensed with tokens that spawn all manner of power ups, preferring now to let you gain points to meet your goals.

It's also generous with the points too, meaning that you can get there - with just 3 games, the maximum level was hit, showing the generosity and ease of the new system.

It's to be hoped that Star Wars Battlefront II doesn't become like its predecessor.

The servers to that game now barely register enough action to make it worth loading up, and while there was one game that had to be abandoned during the BETA because of a lack of players, it looks like this one, with its single player campaign will keep people engaged for longer.

It looks like the Force will be with us for a while longer.

Final Portrait: Film Review

Cast: Armie Hammer, Geoffrey Rush, Clemence Poesy
Director: Stanley Tucci

A sort of Waiting for Godot piece about a man getting a portrait painted by a master, Final Portrait requires a bit of patience and a lot of goodwill to see it through.

Hammer plays James Lord, who's been asked by Geoffrey Rush's Swiss painter and sculptor Alberto Giacometti if he can paint his portrait in 1964 Paris. Flattered by the offer and on holiday in France, Lord agrees expecting it to be a few days at most.

However, Giacometti's eccentric style and the fact he's distracted by muse and prostitute Caroline (Poesy) means nothing goes according to plan.

Final Portrait may appeal to those who appreciate the artist and what they go through, but with an occasionally stultifying pace, it's punishing at times for those expecting anything other than sedate.

Thankfully, both Hammer and Rush inhabit their characters well and while Hammer's Lord is a little prim and proper, he eventually gives way to some cracks later on in the film and you see his patience crumble.

More impressive is Rush who makes his eccentric maestro frustratingly approachable and a character worth watching. Gradual tics and dismissive doubts plague Giacometti and it's intriguing to watch it unspool, even if it is punishing to bear at times.

Ultimately, while Tucci's eye for the arts leads to some bizarre directorial choices (jerky cam movements seem at odds with the subject matter), his desire to present the artist and their method of work is actually canny in places.

Final Portrait isn't one for everyone, and while it's a frustrating experience at times thanks to its real depth of character study, those who appreciate the arts may appreciate some of the insights on show here.

Wednesday, 25 October 2017

Thor: Ragnarok: Film Review

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Tessa Thompson, Cate Blanchett, Anthony Hopkins, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Hiddleston, Karl Urban
Director: Taika Waititi

Increasingly, Marvel's cinematic universe appears to largely be abandoning its dramatic edges and opting for humour to wow the crowds.

In a trend majorly signalled and kick-started by Guardians of the Galaxy's first outing, humour has become a crutch for the last batch of films, and is threatening to overthrow any dramatic investment you may have in the ongoing series.

It's a leaning followed - perhaps to the very extremes of the spectrum - by Kiwi director Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok, the latest Marvel film to hit and the third stand-alone for Chris Hemsworth's golden-haired god.

Troubled by visions of Asgard falling and Ragnarok destroying all, Thor returns home to find Loki's Odin imposter ruling the roost (and allowing Anthony Hopkins to play fast and loose with the king of the gods).

But when the real Odin passes on, the true threat to Asgard rises, in the form of the missing Hela (Cate Blanchett, all emo and Maleficent style-costuming). Angry at being written out of the planet's history, Hela decides to re-ignite her appetite for destruction.

However, when Thor rises up to face the challenge, he finds himself stranded on the planet Sakaar, as a prisoner and forced to fight against The Hulk, gladiator-style at the whim of the Grandmaster (an obtusely eccentric Goldblum).

The day-glo blast of colour and 80s matinee style vibe of Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok is a colourful distraction.

Waititi continues to bring clarity and a distinctive edge to the dealing out of action scenes, handling CGI and clear-cut action as masterfully as he did Hunt For the Wilderpeople's final chase sequence.

And he's infused the trappings of the Marvel with a lighter touch, that, in all honesty, at times threatens to over-power the final mix. There's so much Kiwi humour in this that it feels, at times, more hokey-pokey than Marvel hokum.

Unfortunately, the dramatic edges are frayed under the strain of too much humour; stakes never feel woefully threatened enough and the eccentricities and lighter feel veer dangerously close to overwhelming.

Once again, the villain of the piece (in this case, Blanchett's Hela) never feels like too much of a threat, with the familial feeling all too familiar.

While Waititi's film manages to keep things intimate in some sense of scale and action, the price of the comedy for Thor: Ragnarok's dramatic raison d'etre is threatening.

It's easy to understand why Hemsworth found the latest Thor iteration appealing - essentially, it gives him a chance to showcase his comedic side (and also helps him to stray away from the po-faced Thor we've experienced before). Coupled with Ruffalo's Hulk, the pair form a buddy movie in the middle part of the film as they try to escape.

It's not that the 80s drenched, synth-scored and candy blast of colours Thor: Ragnarok isn't fun by any stretch of the imagination. And it certainly isn't that Waititi's not to be commended for his eye behind the camera.

As a scavenger, Tessa Thompson is perhaps the film's MVP - a booze-swilling swagger disguising a secret. Her turn gives the film a frisson of cool that's needed and grounds it in a slightly stronger edge.

Ultimately, it's the story-telling which lets Thor: Ragnarok down a little. With the drama not as strong as it could be, the fun elements are Waititi's trademark unlikely characters in mundane settings.
And while it's a comedic tour-de-force for Hemsworth, it's certainly a Marvel film that doesn't potentially quite stand up to repeated viewings.

Waititi deserves saluting for the crowd-pleasing elements of Thor: Ragnarok overall, and there will be many who feel the fun edges make it a cinematic night out worth taking, but in this mind, it feels like Marvel's reaching a crisis point as it's gone as far as it can on both fronts, and is in danger of humour being the constant crutch and hook.

With a plethora of more releases planned and scripts to be written, it almost feels like we're bordering on breaking point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

A new direction needs to be found quickly if the continued cinematic saturation isn't going to be too much for repeat viewers and audiences to bear, and those searching for dramatic nourishment don't go wanting.

Tuesday, 24 October 2017

Maudie: Film Review

Cast: Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke
Director: Aisling Taylor

Canadian artist Maud Lewis may be well known to some but not others.

However, if there's any justice, Sally Hawkins' portrayal of the cowed artist should see the film garner wider praise and Oscar nominations when the time is right.

Hawkins is Lewis, who starts the film cowed and knotted as she clasps desperately at a paint brush with ageing limbs. Rattled by her brother's insistence on selling the familial house, Maudie heads out to get a job after seeing an advert placed by Ethan Hawke's gruff and brutish Everett, a loner who works at the orphanage but has no tolerance for waifs outside of those walls.

Inevitably Maudie starts working there and the relationship develops. But as Maud discovers her own voice, the love story takes another twist.

Anchored in a stunning turn from Hawkins who imbues the physicality of Lewis with an underplaying and underpinning of her condition rather than overly relying on it a la Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything, Maudie is a slow, at times, sedate examination of the lives and love of two people.

Hawke's Everett may be a little impenetrable at times, but it's in the subtleties of the relationship that Maudie grows to life. Taylor uses some small touches to show the shift in between the pair, and throws in a touch of tender humour as well to reverse the roles.

Less successful is the passing of time, which is marked in the usual ways but feels muddled as their lives go on, leaving the viewer uncertain of the world and time zone they inhabit. Granted, their simple meagre existence settles them outside of such concerns and the spotlight of the story is purely on them, but odd touches from Taylor don't help add to the timelessness of a story, and merely do more to mark it out.

Ultimately, Maudie is a film which is a portrait of a woman and her curmudgeon; it's blessed by a distinctly human and subtle turn from its leading lady, and if there's any justice come awards season will be rightly recognised so.