Win a double pass to see Mission: Impossible: Fallout

Win a double pass to see Mission: Impossible - Fallout

To celebrate the release of  Mission: Impossible - Fallout  in cinemas August 2nd, we're giving you the chance to win one of five double passes.

About Mission: Impossible - Fallout

The best intentions often come back to haunt you. 

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT finds Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team (Alec Baldwin, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames) along with some familiar allies (Rebecca Ferguson, Michelle Monaghan) in a race against time after a mission gone wrong. 

Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett, and Vanessa Kirby also join the dynamic cast with filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie returning to the helm.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout is in cinemas August 2nd

KINGDOM HEARTS III Named E3 2018's Best RPG

KINGDOM HEARTS III Named E3 2018's Best RPG

KINGDOM HEARTS III NAMED “BEST RPG”

BY THE 2018 E3 GAME CRITICS

SYDNEY, 6^th July 2018 – At this year’s Game Critics Awards, KINGDOM HEARTS III was awarded Best RPG title. This continues the critical reception of the title most notably at the E3 convention where it received over 30 awards from American, European and Australasian media publications.

“The long-awaited third entry in the beloved KINGDOM HEARTS franchise brings together the magical worlds of Disney, Pixar and Square Enix,” said Ryan Lacina, Product Marketing Director at Square Enix. “Fans can expect an RPG adventure of a lifetime, with all new worlds and characters, epic battles and a storyline filled with Disney magic.”

KINGDOM HEARTS III will be available on January 29, 2019 for the Xbox One family of devices including the Xbox One X, and the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system.

KINGDOM HEARTS III tells the story of the power of friendship as Sora and his friends embark on a perilous adventure and support each other through difficult times. Set in a vast array of Disney worlds, KINGDOM HEARTS follows the journey of Sora, a young boy and unknowing heir to a spectacular power. Sora is joined by Donald Duck and Goofy, two emissaries sent by King Mickey from Disney Castle, to stop an evil force known as the Heartless from invading and overtaking the universe. Through the power of positivity and friendship, Sora, Donald and Goofy unite with iconic Disney and Pixar characters old and new to prevail tremendous challenges and persevere against the darkness threatening their worlds.

Peter Rabbit: DVD Review

Peter Rabbit: DVD Review

The 2018 Peter Rabbit is a rapscallion, a cocky self-aware bunny who believes he is entitled to plunder from old man McGregor's garden in whatever manner he chooses.

However when the old boy pops his clogs (Ta Ta then, gruff Sam Neill barely in it), Peter thinks he's won.

But, as they say Peter has another think coming, when young man McGregor (Gleeson, tremendously game) shows up on the land.

Will Gluck's Peter Rabbit has energy to spare early on with the bounding battle of wits in the garden a cleverly engaging opening.

But as the film goes on and ensconces itself in a coat of cuteness and sentiment, it seems to adhere to the rules of a jealous threesome as Peter becomes angered by young McGregor's pursuit of kindly neighbour Bea (Byrne in a sort of perky thankless role).

What emerges is a curious mix of Home Alone cum rom-com as a series of silly gags and pratfalls take the place of any winsome interplay. 

It works fine for those of a younger age with the charisma resorting solely to an over use of electrocution gags at one point to amuse.

But there's little beyond this for an older audience who may have been entranced by Potter's tales.

In fact as the animal anarchy rules supreme, it becomes clear that Peter Rabbit is more concerned with being here for a shallow amiable time rather than a reverence for its own material  - despite the wondrous and adept use of hand drawn illustrations throughout the CGI cartoonery..

It may be a Peter Rabbit for the times thanks to Corden's rambunctious tones and the script's fripperies, but sadly, it's not a Peter Rabbit for the ages. 

Early Man: DVD Review

Early Man: DVD Review

Aardman animations are a stellar bunch.

Able to shape gold from plasticine and clay models, the studio's been more than capable of turning out comedic perfection since the Vaudeville-inspired Wallace and Gromit came to prominence.
That their proclivity for ensuring the humour is universal, clever and crafty and has been recognised so, means that Early Man's inability to match up to previous highs is, frankly, disappointing.

Nick Park once again takes the helms of this flick, the story of caveman Dug (Eddie Redmayne) who lives with his tribe in a world after the meteor hit the Earth,

A charming pre-titles sequence sets the scene, with quippy subtitles like Neo-Pleistocene era, an actual time, but also a subtle blink-and-miss-it nod to Aardman's choice of animation materials perhaps?

Trapped in a kingdom with other lesser dreamers, Dug and his gang find their way of life threatened by the arrival of Lord Nooth, and the arrival of the Bronze Age.

When Dug finds himself in their world, he's offered a challenge by Nooth - win a game of football or he and his people must forever quit their forest...

So far, so sports underdog.

And this is perhaps the biggest surprise of Early Man - the fact that it's essentially a riff on England's World Cup continual failures post 1966 in the faces of foreign teams.
Nooth is given a French accent, a reminder of the sporting rivalries of yore.

It seems mean to knock Early Man, which in fairness, is very passable family fare.

But given this is the company that brought us the never-less-than-brilliant Wallace and Gromit, the wonderful Shaun the Sheep film, it does pale in comparison.
It's also perhaps no surprise that Dug resembles Wallace with his big overbite grin and Dug's constant pig--pal HogNob has the temperament and expressiveness of a Gromit style ancestor.

It seems in many ways that Park's chasing his own highs, as much as Early Man chases and evolves the idea that continual football losing nations can still win tournaments (as everyone in England nods repeatedly in agreement.)

The inventiveness is occasionally there - be it in replay puppets which channel Punch and Judy in their football replays - or in the odd one-liners and sight gags that pepper the film at certain points.
There's also a nod to sporting sexism as Maisie Williams' clearly gifted footballer is denied the chance because she's a girl, all washed up in elements of Escape To Victory.

Overall, Early Man lacks perhaps the loose zaniness and masterful touches that Aardman's gifted us with in the past.

It still entertains, but it's never quite as evolved or as clever as it aims to be - and while it's essentially a celebration of the beautiful game (and perhaps a sly commentary on how cavemen play it), it never quite manages a romping victory that you'd expect or hope for. 

Pacific Rim Uprising: DVD Review

Pacific Rim Uprising: DVD Review

It's not the easiest of tasks these days to unleash a sequel to a film that somewhat underwhelmed at the global box office.

However, that's not troubling Pacific Rim Uprising, a film that simply goes about the business of carrying on and moving on the series after an apparent conclusion of the threat facing humanity.

But it does it all without a great deal of emotional heft, heart and depth.

Star Wars' John Boyega is the roguish Jake Pentecost, son of Idris Elba's Pacific Rim hero Stacker and who seems to be trapped in his father's shadow, endowed with a legacy he neither wants nor can avoid.

Having abandoned the corp of Jaeger pilots, Jake is a raffish con-man, trading in the second hand business of illegal Jaeger parts. Stumbling across young kid Cailee Spaeny's Namani (a cross between spunkish sidekick, and questioning exposition deliverer), he finds himself dragged back into the corps, just around the time a new Kaiju threat begins to rise.

Pacific Rim: Uprising isn't surprising at all.

Director and Spartacus and Daredevil helmer DeKnight delivers crisp, clear and clean CGI action sequences with a degree of workmanlike aplomb, something which needs to be commended in the days of blurred action (something which dogged Del Toro's first Rim) and there's much to be said for the diversity of the cast on display.

But despite Boyega's considerable charisma and presence during the film (something which keeps large portions of it all afloat), there's little else round the edges to nourish the lulls between set pieces.

What there is feels hoary and rote.

A squabbling group of grunts (see Ender's Game, Starship Troopers) with little characterisation on show, a weakly written reason for doing it all again and a growing feeling of being underwhelmed don't do Pacific Rim: Uprising much to distinguish it from the soulless vapidity of the Transformers franchise.

Granted, you don't expect Shakespeare from a B-movie about essentially, robots fighting monsters and smashing CGI cities to pieces, but there's a nagging feeling that more narrative heft could have added a great deal to Pacific Rim: Uprising, especially with the threat of a third franchise piece being teased pre-credits end.

It's supposed to be big dumb, pulpy and trashy, but Pacific Rim: Uprising manages to bestow a sense of tedium in the final round of proceedings, even though it's carried out its promise of robots vs monsters, thanks to a lack of emotional involvement.

Younger kids with parents will probably have a just-about-passable time at this - and that's to damn it with feint praise.

Boyega lends much credence and charisma to proceedings, and while daddy issues clearly appear to be the current crop of blockbusters' raison d'etre, (see Tomb Raider) the lack of emotional stakes is keenly felt as the script writers clearly desired their film to be about hitting a series of beats rather than deepening the engagement, widening the franchise and upending the scale.

At the end of the day, Pacific Rim: Uprising does what it says on the tin - and perhaps, just perhaps, we should be grateful said tin isn't a Hasbro branded one. Although, in truth, it isn't too far off it... 

Ready Player One: DVD Review

Ready Player One: DVD Review

It's perhaps no surprise that Steven Spielberg helmed the film version of the Ernest Cline book.

It's almost as if the director was given a toybox, chock-full of things from his own past and his cinematic loves, and told to make a family film that was a sugar rush of fun, nostalgia bingo and little else.

So it is then with the highly-anticipated Ready Player One, a film that's as superficial and hollow as one of the season's chocolate treats, but looks as shiny and welcoming.

In the year 2045, Tye Sheridan's Wade Watts lives in a VR world, as the real world is a none-too-welcoming place. Sectioned off in the Stacks, a series of vertical caravan park slums, the inhabitants spend their time in the Oasis, a VR-led world that's as much Second Life as Geek heaven.

Living off the "you can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone" ethos to avoid the fact "reality is a bummer", Wade is chasing a series of keys laid down by the departed Oasis founder Halliday (Rylance, a nicely pivoted turn of fragility and meekness).

With the promise that anyone who finds these could take over the empire, everyone's out to get it - including Ben Mendelsohn's corporate bigwig baddie Sorrento...

Ready Player One is a candy-filled flick, pumped full of sugary nostalgia and geeky Easter Eggs.

Certainly, the Oasis is a hive of activity and creativity - and bizarrely the real world is devoid of any colour and texture.

The resultant mix means that emotional attachment is enforced and attempted by voiceover and exposition, and Spielberg's desire to get to the first set piece, a CGI race that takes on King Kong, means the emotional beats are completely off immediately.
At least Pixels had the good grace to try and throw some character development before going hell for leather with its gameboy sensibilities.

It's not a crippling blow to Ready Player One, but it does render the emotional attachment little more than a shallow and hollow experience, one that sacrifices good dynamics for broadstrokes blandness from its leads - and subsequently squanders Sheridan's previously demonstrated depth.

There's no denying the set pieces, thrown repeatedly at your face, revel in their nostalgia blanket, with hundreds of easter eggs and gamer nods hurtling toward you on the screen.

It's here that Spielberg's eye for spectacle and desire to entertain in a family friendly setting come to the fore. But the tonal mix doesn't quite work - it's never fully kiddy enough to hit the straps, and hardly adult enough to warrant justice to some of the material.

Certainly a tribute sequence to The Shining and the Overlook Hotel is a great touch - but also, there's an element of Scooby Doo there, where there should be genuine fear and perhaps horror.

In many ways, this is the petard which hoists Ready Player One and foists it into forgettable fare.

Along with cheesy dialogue, brush strokes characters and a lack of a real villain (despite Mendelsohn's best attempts), Ready Player One emerges as perhaps a victim of its own zig-zag route to its denouement.
While the CGI delivers a spectacle to rival Avatar and banish the ghosts of the Polar Express, the story's refusal to adhere to any kind of emotional beats reduces it to a mere pixelated outing of a film.

In terms of spectacle, it delivers what you'd expect; but with its cartoony as hell ethos, Ready Player One squanders the chance to embrace a degree of profundity, thanks to a desire to satiate a quick fix.

Not exactly Game Over, but Ready Player One may have needed a little more development work to ensure it was a film that would be a welcome nostalgia treat when rolled out annually on the small screen.
It engages but the involvement is only brief; it provides vicarious engagement in its virtual world, but saddles its real world with nothing more than a fleeting investment.

Surrender to those rhythms and you'll be happy - go in expecting more, and you'll feel like you're watching someone play a video game, rather than experience it firsthand. 

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Film Review

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Film Review

Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michael Pena, Walton Goggins, Michelle Pfeiffer
Director: Peyton Reed

That Ant-Man and The Wasp manages to be a self-contained caper, much like the first outing three years ago, is both a credit and an albatross to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It's understandable that following the "heavier" material tackled in Avengers: Infinity War, Marvel would want to put something out which was a little more knockabout and which only very loosely fed in to the ongoing threads.

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Film Review

However, the danger is that Ant-Man (and, by extension, The Wasp) is becoming the outlier of the franchise, a film series where the stakes never quite feel high enough, and the levity is almost derailing.

As a self-contained piece, the return of Paul Rudd's comedic chops as Scott Lang is semi-welcome, but there's a feeling early on the film is trying a little too hard to flex said muscles.

In the latest, Lang is still under house arrest following his escapades in Civil War - and consequently, Hank Pym (Douglas, in a beefed up supporting role) and his daughter Hope (Lilly, easily this film's MVP) are on the run from the authorities.

But when Lang experiences visions of the Quantum Realm and somehow connects with Pym's long-lost wife Janet (Pfeiffer, in an ethereal role), the two's worlds collide once again. With Hope desperate to see her mother, and Pym keen to reunite with his wife, they team up to try and break on through to the other side.

However, their plans are thrown into jeopardy when a new threat (with echoes of the Winter Soldier) emerges...

It's interesting that Ant-Man and The Wasp demotes its titular hero to almost a supporting role in his own film, with Rudd definitively sidelined by Lilly's new heroine taking the lead.

And it's a most welcome touch in this cautionary tale of the Father / Daughter relationships, that even ties in with elements of the "Freak of the Week" early vibe of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Lilly leads most of the action scenes with such undeniable chutzpah that not even the overuse of deliberate pop-culture references to the 90s can derail. (Ant-Man and The Wasp perversely holds off from mentioning any time line to avoid the Infinity War question throughout).

It's a move Marvel have been too slow making, and Lilly seizes every opportunity to shine, imbuing her Hope with the fragility that's needed and the inspirational leading heroine that's been sorely lacking in the MCU for way too long.

Equally, the film's commitment to beefing up Douglas' role and giving Pym stakes is welcome, even if it comes at the cost of Rudd's own involvement in proceedings. IT's rare for older actors to be given such beefy roles, and Douglas (and to a lesser extent, Pfeiffer) grab them with gusto.

If Ant-Man and The Wasp is guilty of anything, it's that its central self-contained plot is entangled in sci-fi bunkum (one character even remarks that they're just throwing Quantum in front of everything) and feels slighter than anything proffered up before.

Sure, Ant-Man and The Wasp is solid enough, popcorn fare, gleefully executed by all and with crisp action sequences, but its charm only goes skin deep to feeling you're invested in the stakes. (And, whisper it, parts of it feel like a repetition of the origin story of the first in terms of antagonists, some action sequences.) It's slight, knockabout cinema, that shrinks its hero to a supporting role, but does wonders for female representation in a franchise that's been woefully short of taking the lead.

Marvel need to handle Scott Lang carefully in future, because otherwise, they risk turning Ant-Man into the minute character of its namesake - and that genuinely would be a crying shame.