Love, Simon: Film Review

Love, Simon: Film Review

Cast: Nick Robinson, Katherine Langford, Alexandra Shipp, Keiynan Lonsdale, Logan Miller, Tony Hale
Director: Greg Berlanti

The pantheon of rom-coms and coming-of-age films is fairly full.

But it's fair to say that the adaptation of Becky Albertalli's acclaimed book, packs the sort of punch and zing that John Hughes would have been proud of.

Even if it does inhabit a world where consequences are rarely explored, and everyone behaves in a slightly sanitised way.

Robinson is American teenager Simon Spier, who, by his own confession is "just like you."

He has a pretty normal life, with liberal parents and a solid bunch of friends as he negotiates his way through high school.

However, as he admits early on, he has a huge ass confession - he's gay and in the closet.

One day, through his school's shared internet, he spies a note from Blue, someone in the school who is also dealing with their sexuality. Simon decides to drop Blue a line and a friendship and connection begins to form - and Simon tries to find out who of his peers this potential love interest could be.

Genial and harmless, this teen film is perhaps as heartfelt as you'd expect, without delving too deeply into preaching.

In many ways, it normalises its central message, a touch which makes it worthwhile as Simon negotiates his way through a life that seems relatively perky, happy and overly caffeinated - it's a fantasy take on high school life and the lack of reality over the pains faced by many.

But that's no bad thing here, as the energy of the piece, coupled with the relative charisma of the lead, and the charm of the relationships manages to carry it all along.

Sure, there are some grounds for the whimsical dismissal of the whole blackmailing angle which plays out as Simon's forced to try and make one of his female friends like the nerd; and there are certainly issues when conflict arises and is treated in a very piecemeal, narratively necessary way later on.

Regardless of these minor speed bumps, Berlanti imbues a good 80 percent of this film with a winning formula that's likely to see it as successful in the mainstream as it wants to be.

It's still galling that a film like this has to be labelled as the "gay teen rom com a generation's been waiting for", but Love, Simon makes a genial case for a degree of timelessness, living in such a world of carefree verve that it's annoyingly compelling.

In the back third of the film, despite the real representation of Simon's parents when faced with the truth about their son, the film falters and stumbles, fumbling the pass it's been expecting the whole way through.

But ultimately, what emerges with Love, Simon is the kind of high school film and timeless romcom that's winning for the Insta-generation.

Friendships feel genuine, interactions (for the most part) feel truthful in a fantasy construct and Simon's arc proves to be rewarding enough.

Meshing 10 Things I Hate About You moments with solid dependable performances all round (even Veep star Hale's over-the-top principal can't bring it down), it provides the sort of endearing care-free  blandness that's rewarding and enjoyable enough to warrant the cost of a ticket.

Ferdinand: DVD Review

Ferdinand: DVD Review

Based on the Munro Leaf 1936 novel The Story of Ferdinand, Blue Sky's latest animated fare is squarely aimed at pushing an anti-conformist message to kids viewing.

Cena plays Ferdinand, a bull who'd rather smell the flowers than fight even though that goes against the grain of the farm where's he's being raised as a bull to take on a matador.

However, when Ferdinand's father is taken to the arena and doesn't return, Ferdy makes a break for it, finding a new owner in  a little girl and her flower-growing father. But one day when Ferdinand's stopped from going to the annual flower festival and despite the warnings from his owners, he makes his way into town.

Seen as a monster, captured and returned to the bull-rearing farm, it looks like destiny's taking its course - unless Ferdinand and his new goat friend Lupe (MacKinnon) can turn it around.

Lacking some of the zanier edges to keep the younger audiences amused, Ferdinand flirts with darkness as it explores some of the reality of what happens to animals and in particular, what happens in the bull-fighting ring.

While Cena makes for an affable big-lug of a character, complete with softer edges, Ferdinand's adventure never fully embraces the wacky until late in the day when it heads to Madrid, and a chase sequence which has vitality, joie de vivre and great sight gags.

But it's a long road to this point - and the filmmakers' desire to not go too dark (for obvious reasons, it's a kids' film) means they flirt with moments that consequently feel under-developed. There's a meat factory near to the bull-rearing farm, there's some shots of a matador threatening Ferdinand (in a badly edited final sequence that loses some coherency) and there's plenty of indication of how meat is murder.

Yet, despite that, Ferdinand never quite finds its feet - it knows that to keep the younger audience in check it needs some lunacy, which it gets with a bull/ horse dance-off, but it's few and far in between.

It's all perfectly affable and solidly animated, but Ferdinand lacks the wow factor, or a stronger emotional trajectory to carry it along.

Not exactly terri-bull, but a no-bull attempt at doing something worthy, Ferdinand's mixed approach to the subject means it never quite hits the marks it should do - but it will keep the kids amused, for some of its duration at least. 

FAR CRY® 5 IS NOW AVAILABLE

 FAR CRY® 5 IS NOW AVAILABLE

UBISOFT^® ANNOUNCES FAR CRY^® 5 IS NOW AVAILABLE

Join the Resistance Against a Fanatical Doomsday Cult As Far Cry ^® Comes To America

Sydney, Australia— March 27, 2018 — Today, Ubisoft^® announced that Far Cry^® 5, the latest instalment of the critically acclaimed Far Cry franchise is available on the PlayStation^®4 Pro computer entertainment system, PlayStation^®4, the Xbox One family of devices and Windows PC.

To watch the launch trailer click the image below

Set in America, a first for the franchise, Far Cry 5 offers players total freedom to navigate a serene-looking yet deeply twisted world as the new junior deputy of fictional Hope County, Montana. Players will find that their arrival accelerates a years-long silent coup by a fanatical doomsday cult, the Project at Eden's Gate, igniting a violent takeover of the county. Under siege and cut off from the rest of the world, players will join forces with residents of Hope County and form the Resistance.

Far Cry 5, developed by Ubisoft Montreal in collaboration with other studios*, is a first person shooter set in a completely open world. Players will have the freedom of choice, wrapped in an immersive story with memorable characters, where they can experience Far Cry Moments: unpredictable and unforgettable moments in the game. Players can play any way they want, including recruiting Guns for Hire, Fangs for Hire, and a Friend for Hire, which allows players to play the entire game in co-op, a franchise first.

Far Cry 5 also includes Far Cry Arcade, the biggest and most versatile map editor mode for the Far Cry series. In Far Cry Arcade, players can create new scenarios by utilizing assets from other titles in the series as well as other Ubisoft franchises, including Assassin’s Creed^® IV Black Flag, Assassin’s Creed Unity, or Watch Dogs^®, for solo, co-op or competitive experiences.

Players can also purchase the Gold Edition of Far Cry 5, which includes the base game, season pass and bonus content. The Far Cry 5 season pass transports players to uncanny adventures across three unique settings with the upcoming DLCs - Hours of Darkness, Dead Living Zombies and Lost on Mars - and more. On top of that, players who purchase the season pass for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One get Far Cry 3^® Classic Edition at no additional cost.

For more information about Far Cry 5, please visit farcry.com and follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/farcry.usa and on Twitter at twitter.com/farcrygame or hashtag #FarCry5.

For the latest on Far Cry 5 and other Ubisoft games, please visit news.ubisoft.com.

Ingrid Goes West: DVD Review

Ingrid Goes West: DVD Review

A satire on the social media loving generation and a dark drama as well, Ingrid Goes West is the cautionary yet all too familiar tale of Ingrid (Parks and Rec star Aubrey Plaza).

Obsessed with a woman she's never met other than through Instagram, Ingrid's institutionalised after pepper spraying the woman at her wedding because she never received an invite. Upon release and with the spectre of her mother's death licking away at her background, Ingrid forms a new obsession with Elizabeth Olsen's Taylor, an Insta-celebrity whose life appears perfect.

Ingratiating her way in, Ingrid becomes firm friends with Taylor after moving out west to be near her....

In many ways, Ingrid Goes West is a Single White Female for the Insta-generational millennial on the go.

For those opposed to social media, it's a satire on the reality behind the filters, and while it loses its bite later on (bar its last scene), the film's desire to showcase the vacuousness of Taylor's life with Ingrid's borderline depression is a strong step for the Hollywood game to take (particularly in this ongoing war of Influencers and strategies).

As the soulless and lost Ingrid, Plaza is perfect, both encapsulating he dizzying highs of the social recognition and the gnawing desperation of the ignorance; she pulls off this indie with veritable aplomb and makes Ingrid both a nuanced, empathetic and yet obscene human being as well.

A breezy Olsen makes Taylor both empty enough and appealing, and while Russell gets some good lines as her beleaguered husband, who wants the earlier version of his wife back before she was an internet celeb, Straight Outta Compton star O'Shea Jackson Jr brings subtle life to the neighbour who's got an attraction to Ingrid.

While Spicer makes the film quite dark at times, this BFF dramedy has some serious bite and commentary to the social media generation and the divides within. A warning perhaps to the vacuous generation and the phone-obsessed millennials, it may fall short in its final 20 minutes, but all in all, Ingrid Goes West deserves to get more than just a social media thumbs up. 

Daddy's Home 2: DVD Review

Daddy's Home 2: DVD Review

There's a moment in the ill-conceived and pathetically executed sequel to Daddy's Home where Linda Cardellini's character says she'll "leave you two morons" to it.

That's a general feeling as the lack of laughter malaise falls over you like soft snow in the weak sequel to the already pushing it first film from a couple of years back.

In this latest, it's coming up to Christmas time (much like Bad Moms Christmas) and Ferrell's baby Brad and his co-father Dusty (Wahlberg, initially sneery but eventually lost) decide the kids are suffering being buffered between parents.

So in the spirit of the holiday season, they decide to hold a together Christmas - which is then scuppered by the arrival of Dusty's absentee macho father Kurt, who's apparently a NASA shuttle pilot. When Kurt mocks Dusty for his softer approach to parenting and scoffs at Brad's wimpier father (John Lithgow), the rivalries between the pair are stirred up again.

Daddy's Home Two is a weak, unfunny film that provides zero laughs unless you're completely off your face on seasonal cheer. It's a family feud that lacks passion.

It has a truly bizarre finale, which tries to celebrate the joy of going to the movies and has everyone singing Band Aid's ode to famine, Do They Know It's Christmas, in a foyer.

In between that, there are barely any laughs to fill even the worst Christmas crackers on sale.

Standard, formulaic and in parts a retread of the first, the film's got nothing of a heart and very little in terms of memorable. Firing slapstick at Ferrell seems to be lazy this time around, and the moments that are supposed to see you spluttering merely see you end up yawning.

Gibson adds a bit of energy to this, but even his presence can't add much to Wahlberg and Ferrell's apparent coasting through the script.

There's a bizarre pro-NRA gun moment in the film too which seems desperately at odds given America's record with shootings this year and feels ill-conceived and executed.

All in all, Daddy's Home Two is a series of episodic psychological battles which give you little and feel like they've been contrived by committee rather than anything else.

It's a very average, very middle-of-the-road fare, that depressingly may amuse some.
But in many ways, Daddy's Home Two is one hell of a turkey that sticks in your throat like other leftovers at this time of the year. 

Geostorm: DVD Review

Geostorm: DVD Review

It's not that you expect much from a film like Geostorm.

A film with definitive B-movie ambitions, born of the chaos and cash cow created by the likes of Sharknado, Geostorm has potential for CGI silliness with a modicum of emotional stakes - if done correctly.

And yet, it's so determined to squander that for something average that would barely get top billing on a very bad day on TV.

Loosely, the plot goes a little something like this - in 2019, against a backdrop of undeniable climate change, the world's united to build a series of space satellites called Dutch Boy to control the weather. But when a series of errors causes concern and threatens the world, the original creator Jake Lawson (Butler, all smirk and side-talking) is sent to the stars to sort it out. 

However, a conspiracy that threatens the globe is gradually being unveiled.

Geostorm blew most of its cinematic wad in its trailers, where it revealed most of the admittedly poor CGI and showcased some of the dull edges of the dialogue.

But this wannabe Armageddon rip-off and family squabble / rift healer piece fails to fully entertain or embrace any of its inherent silliness to great effect.

Sure, Harris and Garcia play it with earnestness and sincerity, but Butler's C-movie aspirations do little to help as Devlin moves the pieces around the board in a typically formulaic and unoriginal manner.

A massive conspiracy that seems made over-complicated to carry off scuppers any logic and soon the holes in the plot are as big as the holes in the sky as the clouds form.

With weather FX that look like they're left over from Into The Storm and a cast of people who espouse wooden dialogue and barely emote, Geostorm's hampered by even a basic failure to carry out its ambitions.

When the end comes, it's a relief because this cinematic Geostorm's done little but blow a lot of hot air, and delivered nothing more than an inane fizzer that not even your hardied storm chaser would bother getting out of bed for. 

PENNY-PUNCHING PRINCESS ARRIVING ON APRIL 13 FOR NINTENDO SWITCH

PENNY-PUNCHING PRINCESS ARRIVING ON APRIL 13 FOR NINTENDO SWITCH

PENNY-PUNCHING PRINCESS ARRIVING ON APRIL 13 FOR NINTENDO SWITCH

NIS America is happy to announce that Penny-Punching Princess will arrive for the Nintendo Switch™ and PlayStation®Vita (digitally only) in on April 13 for Australia and New Zealand.

Click here to watch the new ‘Character’ YouTube Trailer:  https://youtu.be/LN86xPn20DU

About the story:

In a world ruled by capitalism, cash is king!

Use the money you gather to bribe enemies to fight for you, activate deadly traps with your dough, and when all else fails, smash all that stand against you with your fists! Fight your way from nothing and amass treasures to take on the mighty Dragoloan family and reclaim your kingdom!

Key features:

Cash Rules Everything Around Me –Fight smarter, not harder! Bribe your enemies to fight for you, or activate deadly traps to turn the tide of battle in this fast-paced brawler.

Who Says You Can’t Buy Popularity –Recruit/Buy flunkies to your cause to unlock stronger equipment and master over 70 special moves based on weapons you craft!

A Madcap Romp of Dollars & Dragons –Embark on a wildly funny adventure as Princess, a girl robbed of her royal heritage in a world obsessed with money.