Starlink: Battle for Atlas: PS4 Review

Starlink: Battle for Atlas: PS4 Review

Released by Ubisoft
Platform: PS4

Starlink: Battle for Atlas feels like a kiddy version of No Mans Sky, Destiny and toy games like LEGO Dimensions and Skylanders with hints of trading and grinding thrown in for good measure.

If this sounds like damning it with feint praise it’s actually not as it’s a perfectly pleasant and pleasurable way to spend a few hours, thanks to some beautiful graphics to help through the repetition.

The story itself is nothing too original - a case of crashed spaceship, lost captain and quest to recover them before hyper threat of The Legion kicks in. So far so overly familiar but what Starlink does do is to turn the generic third person space shooter into the kind of family game missing from the market this year.

It has to be said the toys feel bogus and surplus to requirements - a nice bit not essential to have. 

And it’s puzzling because they offer nothing the likes of defunct Disney Infinity et al have offered before - but kids can play while others take turns.

In terms of gameplay it’s the usual quest based stuff with a collection of elements and parts to build upgrades, which are all easily accessible

In many ways Starlink: Battle for Atlas is the computer equivalent of the space style matinee shows like Flash Gordon - disposable fun and enjoyable it may be, but essential in a crowded release window for anyone but the younger end of the market it is not. 

That said, thanks to some wonderful graphics, and some nice deep hues the worlds feel lush and worthy of exploration; and the comic banter between groups, as well as a Fortnite cartoon feel, means you know exactly who Starlink: Battle For Atlas is going for.

However, don't be surprised if it sucks more time from you than you'd been expecting.

Second Act: Film Review

Second Act: Film Review

Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Leah Remini, Vanessa Hudgens, Milo Ventimiglia
Director: Peter Segal

Presumably rejected by Hallmark and Lifetime for its utterly insane twist, Second Act is a film that is crippled by its storyline, which comes straight out of 1950s America.

J-Lo is Maria Vargas, a long-suffering assistant supermarket manager in downtown New York. On her birthday, Maria is trying to secure a promotion, having spent 15 years working as the manager's right hand and set in motion some changes that would benefit the business.

But rejected for promotion, and with her relationship with her toyboy baseball coach crumbling over her desire to not have kids, she finds herself offered a job at a major cosmetics company, thanks to her street-talking friend (Remini) faking her CV and getting her an interview.

It gets worse for Vargas when she gets the job and isn't sure how long to continue the lie - setting her on a collision course with the younger elements of the firm, including the firm's founder's daughter Zoe (Hudgens).

To explain why Second Act is such a bizarro trip into 1960s world where women can have anything they want, as long as men sanction it, is to reveal its twist. Which is to rob you of a genuine "Are you kidding me" moment that cinema so rarely offers. Suffice to say, that will not happen here.

But it's enough to say that despite Lopez's earnestness and innate likeability as the everyday woman who wants it all, the film's utter unswerving adherence to something that would have been part of a Twilight Zone episode of I Love Lucy is not to its credit.

Added to this the level of mansplaining going on as well throughout, this tale of so-called women's empowerment is lacking the balls (sorry) it needs to heartily succeed and carry past an insane twist that defies logic and belief.

Lopez does what she can with the material on offer, and maybe the credibility is stretched as far as it can - but giving its lead a power me moment to be crippled by a pratfall seems like something from decades ago, and is as weak as it is inexcusable.

In a fantasy world context, Second Act's continual stereotyping and conforming makes it almost unbelievable to behold, and its central message of You Can Have It All, Ladies seem like something from decades long since buried, and much deliberately maligned in a more woke 2018. It's even more of a crime how it fails to execute its own concept and collapses into a pile of sentimental mush than is barely worthy of a girls-night-out film.

Fahrenheit 11/9: Film Review

Fahrenheit 11/9: Film Review

Director: Michael Moore

In a case of it's unclear whether the world has got so crazy that it matches Michael Moore's sense of craziness, Fahrenheit 11/9 is an odd film that is wildly missold by its poster image.

With the figure of Donald Trump swinging on the golf course as the White House explodes in the background, you'd be pushed into thinking that the documentary is a takedown of Trump. And rightly so, as Moore's seething anger has been on show for all to see.

But what Moore does with Fahrenheit 11/9 is more to build a case for how America was leading to this already and the dire state of the US political scene, and citizens' landscape.

While drawing some lazy comparisons to Trump as Hitler, the large portion of Moore's latest is more about exposing the continuing devastation of Flint, as initially chronicled in Roger and Me. Returning to the story of how the contaminated water is killing the inhabitants there, Moore tries a stunt as well with the powers that be.

But much like portions of this documentary, it feels wildly off base, as Moore rambles through his own past, through America's disillusionments, and his quest to push back against the current - and past - regimes; even Obama doesn't get off lightly.

If anything, Fahrenheit 11/9 is more a rallying cry for the end of democracy, with a speech at the end intoning "If this is the America we're trying to save, maybe ask yourself why. It didn't need to end up like this - and it still doesn't. Evil is a slow moving organism. We didn't need comfort, we needed action. Sometimes it takes a Donald Trump to wake up and realise."

All in all, Fahrenheit 11/9 suffers from the fact reality is too devastating for Moore's formerly incisive eyes; someone more in control of their critical abilities could have shaped this occasionally overlong piece into something more lean and more damning.

As it is, Fahrenheit 11/9 flounders a little, and merely blows hot air, when perhaps it should seethe with rage.

Mortal Engines: Film Review

Mortal Engines: Film Review

Cast: Hugo Weaving, Hera Hilmar, Nathan Sheehan, Jihae
Director: Christian Rivers

It may appear a Brexit parable written before the leave Europe campaign gathered steam, but Mortal Engines' pace is there from the get go - even if the subtleties of this revenge-driven tale are not.

Set in a future world after a 60-minute war, and where capitals now roam the world as moving cities hell-bent on devouring each other and resources, Mortal Engines is the tale of scarred orphan heroine Hester Shaw (Hilmar, who makes good fist of her softening from angry teen arc).

Driven by a thirst for revenge against Thaddeus Valentine (Weaving, in a growling, little else role), Shaw finds herself teaming up with Tom Natsworthy (Misfits star Sheehan, pushing for big screen charm) to try and prevent another all-out war.

Meshing steampunk aesthetics, a Terminator vibe, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and pushing it all through a prism of Mad Max Fury Road, games Bioshock and We Happy Few and young adult, Mortal Engines' commitment is to on screen action, rather than in depth character.

And on that front, Rivers and his visual team deliver in spades. The film starts at a rip-snorting pace, with an oversize steam driven "predator city" trying to snare its smaller victim. The cameras pan up and around, delivering a sense of scale that's second to none, and showing the incredible detail of the visual work done on Mortal Engines.

The world-building is also brilliantly visualised with it being clear that plenty of effort has gone into the details of the predator cities and their inhabitants.

Unfortunately, the same can't quite be said about the human characters who are largely underdeveloped and simply exist to shout "Run" or deliver exposition-heavy background dialogue or some of the usual Young Adult clangers. It's a stop/start/stop/start mentality that doesn't quite pay off for the film, especially if you're trying to be made to care about the characters within.

Hilmar delivers a solid turn, showcasing both the anger and suffering of her troubled past, but equally softening; and Sheehan makes a good bid for big screen stardom, even if some of the charisma of the character is underwritten, and saddled with the companion-asking-a-lot-of-questions trope.

Ultimately, on a narrative front, Mortal Engines doesn't do anything you wouldn't expect; at its heart, its core commitment is to action and nothing deeper, and sadly, it suffers a little because of it, feeling like pieces are being pushed together without the ease of a story to propel it along. It achieves the visual style with ease and offers much of the same chase ethic as Mad Max: Fury Road delivered.

More about spectacle than substance, Mortal Engines is sound and fury from the beginning - with just a hint more depth, it could have been the start of a new franchise rather than just some vicarious visuals.

Ghost Stories: Film Review

Ghost Stories: Film Review

Cast: Andy Nyman, Martin Freeman, Paul Whitehouse, Alex Lawther
Director: Andy Nyman, Jeremy Dyson

Based on the stage play of the same name, and released just in time for Hallowe'en, erm Christmas ??), Ghost Stories' triptych of supernatural tales is nothing short of unsettling - even if some of the twists can be seen from far off, and the jump scares are a little heavy handed.

Nyman plays psychic debunker Professor Phillip Goodman, whose world is turned upside down when he's contacted by long-presumed lost paranormal investigator and inspiration Charles Cameron.

Asked to investigate three cases of real ghost sightings, Goodman starts to look into them - but what he finds could change his world...

Steeped in an atmosphere of unease, Ghost Stories is actually unsettling fare which plays to some of the darker edges showcased in director Jeremy Dyson's other well-known TV project, The League of Gentlemen.

The trio of tales benefit from some terrific build-up, but shy away from resolution within them, initially leading to a flat feeling and unkempt edges. It's best not to know what most are about to be frank, as it robs something of the suspense, but they're suitably long enough in their execution to ensure that, ending aside, the tension laid out is actually gripping (even if a lot of the onscreen action is shrouded in more dark than you've ever seen in an episode of The X-Files.)

Playing with the tropes of the genre, shifting expectations, and offering twists as tantalising bits come together or clues are dropped, Ghost Stories works well, even if its final resolution almost derails the entire house of cards.

Nyman's performance delivers an arc that takes in a kind of cock-sure foundation that gradually becomes unstable as the maudlin melancholy sets in. Drained of colour, the drab Britain which unfolds on screen adds greatly to the overall feeling, and the stories are helped by some wonderfully off-kilter character work from the likes of Whitehouse, Lawther and Freeman.

Much like anthology series like Tales Of The Unexpected, Ghost Stories' apparent loose threads come together in ways that are easy to determine in hindsight.

Ultimately, this is perhaps one of the most psychologically perturbing and unsettling films of the year.

It's not a straight horror in many ways, and much like Hereditary's denouement proved polarising, Ghost Stories' portmanteau has a way of inveigling itself under your skin and unnverving you.

Win a double pass to see Instant Family

Win a double pass to see Instant Family

To celebrate the release of Instant Family, in cinemas January 10, 2019, you can win a double pass!

About Instant Family

When Pete (Mark Wahlberg) and Ellie (Rose Byrne) decide to start a family, they stumble into the world of adoption.  

When they meet a trio of siblings, including a rebellious 15-year-old girl (Isabela Moner), they find themselves unexpectedly speeding from zero to three kids overnight.  

Now, Pete and Ellie must hilariously try to learn the ropes of instant parenthood in the hopes of becoming a family.  

INSTANT FAMILY is inspired by the real events from the life of writer/director/producer Sean Anders, also starring Octavia Spencer, Tig Notaro and Margo Martindale, Julie Hagerty and Michael O’Keefe.
 

Win a double pass to see MARVEL's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Win a double pass to see MARVEL's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

To celebrate the release of MARVEL's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, in cinemas January 3, you can win a double pass.

About MARVEL's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the creative minds behind The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street, bring their unique talents to a fresh vision of a different Spider-Man Universe, with a groundbreaking visual style that’s the first of its kind.

Spider-Man™: Into the Spider-Verse introduces Brooklyn teen Miles Morales, and the limitless possibilities of the Spider-Verse, where more than one can wear the mask.

Directed by:

Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman

Screenplay by:

Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman

Story by:

Phil Lord

Based on:

The Marvel Comics

Produced by:

Avi Arad, Amy Pascal, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Christina Steinberg

MARVEL and all related character names: © & ™ 2019 MARVEL. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the Movie ©2018 SPAI. All Rights Reserved.