Una: DVD Review

Una: DVD Review

Released by Madman Home Ent

Expanded out from the 2005 stage two hander Blackbird, Una is a complex and subtle portrait that may leave an uneasy taste in your mouth after viewing.

The Una of the title is played by Rooney Mara and who starts the film heading off for places unknown after a casual toilet tryst at a club. 

Clearly in a self-destructive mood, Una's quest leads her to turn up unannounced at a warehouse, and demanding to see Ray (played by Bloodlines Ben Mendelsohn) she has on a photograph.

The two share a past and while Ray may have chosen to leave that past behind, it's clearly still propelling Una on to a more uncertain psychological future. 

With the past flitting in and out of the narrative, director Benedict Andrews proves adept at slyly swinging the pendulum throughout with neither side seeming innocent as the clinical recollections are revisited.

While Una could easily have settled for sensationalist film-making, a degree of nuance from both Mendelsohn and Rooney makes this nothing short of searing - its portrait of abuse and PTSD is as fascinating as it is appalling.

A Ghost Story: DVD Review

A Ghost Story: DVD Review

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 double pass to see Call Me By Your Name at the cinema

Win a double pass to see Call Me By Your Name at the cinema

To celebrate the release of Call Me By Your Name, out Boxing Day, you can win a double pass!

About Call Me By Your Name

A romance between a seventeen year-old boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliffside mansion on the Italian Riviera.

Coming out on Boxing day.

Starring Armie Hammer.

To win a copy, 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 CALL ME BY YOUR NAME! Competition closes December 16th

Coco: Film Review

Coco: Film Review

Cast: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt
Director: Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina

It's no surprise that Pixar's latest Coco is being released on Thanksgiving in the US and Boxing Day in New Zealand.

With its themes of family, remembrance and multi-culturalism, Pixar's latest is a timely reminder of the things that matter, all wrapped up in some truly incredible naturalistic visuals and coming-of-age story-telling.

It's the tale of Gonzalez's Miguel, a musical dreamer who's part of a family that's banished all music from their lives after one of their relatives had a musician other half who deserted them. Shaking off his destiny as a family shoe-maker, Miguel decides to borrow a guitar from Ernesto de La Cruz, the former town crooning legend and his idol.

But breaking into his tomb on Dia de la Muertos (Day of the Dead), Miguel finds himself trapped in the Land of the Dead. Tracking down his relatives, he discovers there's a way back, but time is running out.

With its gorgeous autumn hues, oranges and purples, and with a hint of darkness in its heart, Coco is a truly emotional experience.

Settling more for a slightly adult experience a la Kubo and The Two Strings and 2014's much under-appreciated The Book Of Life, Coco's rich blend of resonance is deftly and smartly executed.

With deep reverence to the Day of the Dead festival and some drama and conflict ripped from the pages of a Spanish telenovela, Coco's message of 'Grab it tight and make it come true' is one for the ages - and for all ages.

It may be that some of the music, for such an integral part of the film, doesn't exactly shine like it should, but Coco's heart is purely and squarely on its sleeve. Tapping into the memory aspect of the Day of the Dead tradition as well as a beautiful representation of what it all means, why it's so important without turning into a cultural tolerance lecture is a great move for Pixar.

But wisely, they don't forget the slapstick - from a street dog with a giant flapping tongue called Dante to a colourful flying tiger beast that stalks Miguel in the Land of the Dead, Pixar dabbles with the darker side of the festival and proffers hints that satiate. It may be some of the darker edges do frighten younger members of the audience, however.

Maybe skewing a little older is no bad thing for Coco - certainly, the emotions are rife later in the piece when talk of being forgotten by generations on earth as the last link is severed is devastating; and Miguel's great-grandma appears to be afflicted with dementia, furthering the tragedy of forgetting. Equally one sequence within involving the last link being cut is truly emotive and yet also inspiring - this is the line Coco treads with ease and aplomb.

Ultimately, though Coco's coming-of-age tale of tolerance and embracing your roots is a joyous and rich experience; it's one that throws in a buddy tale as well as giving you a baddie to hate on. Pixar needs to be commended for creating something different once again, and while the perks of doing so may be slightly lost and harder to come by for those seeking traditional animated fare, those willing to invest more into proceedings will find their rich reward thanks to an animated universe that, ironically, teems with life in the land of the dead.

In short, go loco for the unconventional Coco.

Coco releases on Boxing Day in New Zealand

The Man Who Invented Christmas: Film Review

The Man Who Invented Christmas: Film Review

Cast: Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce, Miriam Margoyles
Director: Bharat Nalluri

The Christmas onslaught of movies is now upon us.

And while some titles will sleigh, sorry, slay your will to live, Bharat Nalluri's The Man Who Invented Christmas is actually a lively flick that meshes Dickens with elements of Doctor Who and the Muppets Christmas Carol.

A rather madcap Stevens plays the author Charles Dickens, who's touring America on the success of his books. But in October 1843, following three flops, his career was flatlining.
Deciding to self-publish his next release and despite the financial pressure of having to provide for his family, both near and estranged, as well as a generous nature which sees him giving those less well off than himself, Dickens may have bitten off more than he can chew.

With deadlines fast approaching and ideas barely forming due to interruptions, Dickens is facing disaster....

The Man Who Invented Christmas is the kind of knock-about drama fare that laces Christmas feelings with the much beloved story of A Christmas Carol.

At times, like an author's fever dream, the script and pace races through Les Standiford's The Man Who Invented Christmas with such aplomb you worry that it won't all hold together.

Channeling elements of both Doctor Who's Tom Baker, foppishness and boggling eyes, Stevens' hyperactive Dickens feels more like literary necromancer rather than fully-formed literary genius but the titular romp certainly breathes a great degree of life into a well-worn tale.

More successful are the moments which see Dickens proffering a peek into the formation of characters which then go on to haunt him until the book's done - much like Marley's ghost and the others stalk Scrooge.

Plummer, as Scrooge delivers a venerable turn, managing to pull in some earnest touches on the miser; equally, Susan Coyne's script is peppered with knowing winks and nods to other Dickens' material - at one point, he meets a policeman called Copperfield.
It's these touches and the general knockabout feel of The Man Who Invented Christmas that mean it never quite outstays its welcome.

While some of the flashbacks and the daddy issues feel a little trowelled on, most of The Man Who Invented Christmas is spiffingly amusing and deftly delivered.

There's a great feel of the familiar being given a fresh once-over and while most Christmas fare can be stifling with mawkishness, Nalluri (Spooks: The Greater Good) handles it all much better than any seasonal visit from the in-laws.

It Comes At Night: Blu Ray Review

It Comes At Night: Blu Ray Review

Balancing tension, claustrophobia and paranoia in equal measures, Trey Edward Shults' film It Comes At Night is a chamber piece for the doomsday preppers among you.

Opening with an old man struggling to breathe before he's put in a wheelbarrow and unceremoniously rolled out by gas-masked unknowns, accompanied by a red jerry can and a gun, It Comes At Night goes for the gut-wrenching right away, a veritable sucker punch to the "This could be any of you" ethos that punctuates its survivalist core.

Revealing the gas mask wearers to be a family, headed up by patriarch Paul (Joel Edgerton, bearded and downbeat), It Comes At Night zeroes in on their isolation in a house in the woods. With his wife (Ejogo) and son Travis (Harrison Jr) in tow, Paul's family unit is embedded into this post-apocalyptic world.

But when Christopher Abbot's desperate Will breaks in to their house one night, seemingly searching for supplies for his wife and child, a ticking time bomb of suspicion and mistrust is placed within this tight-knit unit.

And things are further exacerbated when Will brings his brood back to the house....

Less an outright horror, more a creeping insidious terror, It Comes At Night is perhaps more a psychological experience than a full-on fright fest.

It helps that surrendering to Shults' rhythms is the way to settle into this sedately-paced film that lies on soundtrack and palpable tension to ratchet things up. With claustrophobic close-ups and wide shots of corridors and an ominous red door in and out of the house, the dread is easily created early on.

Shults uses his weary-looking cast to ramp up an atmosphere of unease that's as menacing as it is frustrating, though an over-reliance on differently aspect-ratioed dream sequences involving Travis' night terrors punctuate way too much of this film as it unfolds.

Bleak and desolate it may be, while relying on the hoary trope of the unseen menace within the woods and that's always at arms-length, It Comes At Night uses its sparing sense of fear to reasonably terrifying effect. Dialogue propels great amounts of the implied ambiguity within as the survivalist nightmare reaches to a crescendo.

It's not exactly the kind of film which is going to leave many feeling bright and breezy, though with the reminder of a constant fear from the Doomsday Clock edging ever closer to midnight in these current climes maybe informing the NZIFF's desire to programme this, it does seem scarily prescient.
Abbott and Edgerton make for uneasy bedfellows as Will and Paul, and Travis' mixing of sexual awakening with a creeping sense of voyeurism at the new family (in particular, the wife played by The Girlfriend Experience's Riley Keough) proving to be a heady mix of uncertainty, there's more than enough to creep out those watching.

Fundamentally slow (despite its brevity and 90 minutes run time) and distinctly unsettling, It Comes At Night may prove to be a polarising film festival experience, but its quietly devastating voyage is deep-rooted in singularly human basic instincts - and is all the more terrifying for it. 

Star Wars Battlefront II : Review

Star Wars Battlefront II : Review

Platform: PlayStation 4
Released by EA

Back in 2015, there was a disturbance in the Force.

Like a billion voices screaming out at once both in agony and ecstasy as the next generation of Star Wars gaming was unleashed on the marketplace.

Star Wars: Battlefront was like a candy rush; a heady experience that evaporated into a haze after the initial excitement at its graphical beauty settled down.

Blasted for the lack of a single player campaign and with servers that seemed to disappear a few months later, the game was a victim of its own success, after its servers were deserted and match-making for its multiplayer was emptier than a Death Star's crew forced to evacuate when it's revealed a squadron of X-Wing fighters is headed its way.

Now, nearly a couple of years later, and with EA having promised to change things for the better and apparently listening to people's feedback, the sequel has arrived.

And once again, Electronic Arts is being likened to the Dark Side of the Force after earlier announcements proclaiming future DLCs for it would be free, but then showing in their BETA that progress could be bought with loot crates and in-game purchases.

It's no wonder that Lucasfilm stepped in, the internet went into meltdown and EA "took" the decision to suspend microtransactions - albeit it temporarily - for the game's launch.

In fact, the resulting furore has clouded the Force and its return more than it should have done and comes dangerously close to derailing the original intentions.

Because when it comes together, Star Wars Battlefront II offers the Star Wars fan exactly what they'd look for in a Star Wars game.

This time, a single player campaign has been included and is, to a degree, thrilling.

Put in the position as Iden Versio, a leader of an Imperial Special Forces group (and a female protagonist, natch), the single player campaign takes place between the destruction of the Empire in Return of the Jedi and their subsequent re-rise in The Force Awakens.

But despite a fully developed story, the campaign feels little more than a simple re-ordering of a series of sequences from the game's multiplayer and thrust into a narrative structure.

While it's done seamlessly and looks astonishingly pristine, there's still a feeling that this is a piecemeal episodic entry into Star Wars canon - and despite some excellent rendering of the in-game environments, coupled with some clunky dialogue and a feeling of deja vu, it's not quite the home run you'd have expected for a much-heralded and much-desired single player campaign.

A little more successful is the multiplayer - though even this feels hampered by some own goals that could have easily been prevented.

A raft of options and maps lie in wait, though none as thrilling as the X Wing VR mission that was released last year for the original game.

The 40 player Galactic Assault was already part of the game's beta, but remains nonetheless, a compelling multiplayer experience as you hurtle around the skies on either the good or the bad side.

Like any dog fight should feel, it's thrilling, chaotic and edge-of-your seat stuff. Coupled with the chance to get lost in simply settling some grudges or following the game's various missions, it's exactly how you'd imagine feeling if you were part of the Star Wars universe.

Handling of the craft is perfect and the FX and screeching of the engines as you soar through the skies is second-to-none.

It's almost as if you're in the skies, fighting for your life and being carried along by the adrenaline alone.

Not quite as successful in this though is the chance to be a squad, supposedly giving you the option to double your points if you team up together and achieve what's needed.

There's yet to be a team up event that's worked with other players simply heading off and doing their own thing, essentially making a mockery of what EA clearly had wanted.

And plenty of these games have an inevitable points-grabbing feel, rather than a cohesive aim that results in the grandiose feeling of a team victory.

With the "Plays of the Game" awards handed out after every match, it's hard to shake a feeling that people are simply after feathering their own nest and furthering their own collective gains.

Progression, star cards and the inevitable loot boxes all hamper Star Wars: Battlefront II from soaring. While EA says it's working on these issues after feedback, it still feels like more of a cash grab aimed at trying to get those who'd rather get a quick fix of skill than an earned reward from a well-trodden journey.

There's plenty of that feel of grind within the game and it does mar what could have been a truly exceptional experience.

That's the thing with Star Wars Battlefront II - it feels more like a disposable Star Wars experience, rather than a fully-formed Star Wars game.

It's an excellently rendered collection of curated content, scenarios and different modes of battle guaranteed to satiate any devotee of Lucasfilm.

But it never quite feels like the Force has fully aligned again this time around.