DEAD OR ALIVE 6’s RELEASE DATE MOVED TO 1ST MARCH 2019

DEAD OR ALIVE 6’s RELEASE DATE MOVED TO 1ST MARCH 2019

DEAD OR ALIVE 6’s RELEASE DATE MOVED TO 1^ST MARCH 2019

Team NINJA Changes Worldwide Release Date In Order To Further Polish Upcoming Fighter

KOEI TECMO Europe and Team NINJA announced today that DEAD OR ALIVE 6 will now be released worldwide on the 1^st March 2019. The change in date, originally scheduled for a 15^th February 2019 release, is due to the developer’s desire to further enhance and balance the hotly-anticipated fighting game.

“The title's development is already near complete; however, we would like to take more time to further polish its balance, gameplay, and expressivity. In return for your patience, we commit to bringing you the best DEAD OR ALIVE gaming experience,” said Yohei Shimbori, the game’s Producer and Director. “I am truly sorry for the inconvenience caused by the release delay of DEAD OR ALIVE 6.”

DEAD OR ALIVE 6 is currently in development for the PlayStation®4 Computer Entertainment System, the Xbox One family of devices including the Xbox One X, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, and digitally on Windows PC via Steam®. For the latest information on the game, please visit our official website at https://www.teamninja-studio.com/doa6/. Also, be sure to Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DeadorAliveGame; and Follow us on Twitter @DOATEC_OFFICIAL.

A Limited Time “1-Shot Demo” Event for Resident Evil 2 is out now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC!

A Limited Time “1-Shot Demo” Event for Resident Evil 2 is out now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC!

A Limited Time “1-Shot Demo” Event for Resident Evil 2 is Coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC!

Horror fans around the world will get an intense sneak peek at Capcom’s hotly anticipated title Resident Evil 2 before its launch with a special demo event starting this week for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC players via Steam. Available to download for a limited time from Jan. 11 to Jan. 31, this will be the first opportunity for fans to experience the completely reimagined horror classic from home.

Aptly named the “1-Shot Demo,” players must take on the challenge of surviving the horrors of Raccoon City in just 30 minutes. If players complete the mission objective under 30 minutes, they can restart the mission until they use up their full time. If players succumb to the zombies during their 30 minutes, they can continue any number of times until the full 30 minutes have been reached.

The end of the demo reveals a brand new cinematic trailer exclusive to demo participants. While players cannot restart the playable demo after their time is up, there are no limitations on how many times the trailer can be viewed.

In the “1-Shot demo,” players step into the boots of rookie police officer Leon S. Kennedy as he arrives at Raccoon City Police Station in the ultimate worst first day on the job. Leon must survive vicious zombies and solve puzzles to find safe passage out of the station. With an entire building of flesh-eating nightmares lurking between Leon and his escape while the clock ticks down, players need to be sure they’re killing more than just time.

About Resident Evil 2

Using Capcom’s proprietary RE ENGINE, Resident Evil 2 offers a fresh take on the classic survival horror saga with breathtakingly realistic visuals, heart-poundingly immersive audio, a new over-the-shoulder camera, and modernized controls on top of gameplay modes from the original game. The classic action, tense exploration, and puzzle solving gameplay that defined the Resident Evil series returns. Players join rookie police officer Leon S. Kennedy and college student Claire Redfield, who are thrust together by a disastrous outbreak in Raccoon City that transformed its population into deadly zombies. Both Leon and Claire have their own separate playable campaigns, allowing players to see the story from both characters’ perspectives.

The full Resident Evil 2 game will be available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC on January 25, 2019.

Robin Hood: Film Review

Robin Hood: Film Review

Cast: Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Jamie Dornan, Ben Mendelsohn, Eve Hewson, Tim Minchin
Director: Otto Bathurst

This is not the story you know.

So intones the voiceover that bookends the 2018 version of Robin Hood, a quite frankly baffling piece of film that seems intent on making a Call Of Duty version of the myth, and setting it against a backdrop of 80s rock video pyrotechnics.

Egerton is Robin of Loxley, a Lord of the manor of Nottingham, whose life is changed when he's drafted up to the crusades and torn from the love of his life Marian (Hewson, at times channelling a younger Emily Blunt). On returning injured from the Crusades, Robin (Rob to his mates, bizarrely) finds he's been declared dead - and teaming up with Foxx's John, he begins to rob from the Sheriff of Nottingham's war taxes to help.

But John advises him the best way to upset the apple cart, is to cosy up to the sheriff...

The 2018 version of Robin Hood is a film that's more about the fast cuts, and action than the subtlety and nuance of other versions.

Mixing comedy as well, Robin Hood feels like a hybrid of so many different elements from its Iraq war style Crusades opening through to its death-metal pyrotechnics; nothing quite gels as it should.

And while Egerton delivers a variant of his Kingsman character, and gives The Hood some vigilante justice elements that wouldn't feel out of place in a CW series, there's very much a feeling of Foxx playing Alfred to Egerton's Bruce Wayne in the start of Batman Begins.

There's a hint of Bathurst playing fast and loose with style here and trying to set up a sort of Robin Hood cinematic universe (implied by its end), but what transpires is a film that flounders for any identity of its own, other than a downpat action wannabe.

It's set up well as an idea, but Robin Hood fails to hit the mark as much as it should, making it feel like a splendid misfire more than anything else.

Eighth Grade: Film Review

Eighth Grade: Film Review

Cast: Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton
Director: Bo Burnham

Riddled with acne, and with the constant fluorescent glow of either her phone or her computer screen, Elsie Fisher's Kayla is on the cusp of high school.

Voted the "Most Quiet" in the end-of-school awards, Kayla is an aspiring vlogger, whose views are pitiful to non-existent, and whose existence goes largely unnoticed by others.

Pontificating on topics such as "being yourself" and signing off with a faux Gucci emblem, Kayla is lacking in confidence in real life, and embarrassed by others. But realising she's needs to come out of herself more as she readies herself for the move to a new school, Kayla's journey begins with herself making the first step.

Documentary in feel, and intimate yet universal in scope, Eighth Grade is adolescent awkwardness pushed through an excruciating prism.

Burnham intricately details the day-to-day routines of the teens obsessed by phones and Instagram culture; whether it's batting off the endless matey chat of her father at the dinner table when she'd rather be connected to the aspirational online life of others or trying to fit in around the teen cliques, there's much insight into the pressures of teen life nowadays.

Ennui laces high school shooting drills, and Fisher brings a degree of recognisable empathy to Kayla, grounded largely in the fact that we've all been there, and all done it.

Extended scenes feel like they pile on the awkwardness as teens try to connect to each other, scrabbling for conversations that mark them out as cool or worthy of interaction. This is a teen film for all ages, and does have humour in unexpected places, as well as themes that are more redolent in such a socially aware age.

But Burnham never makes Eighth Grade preachy. It feels in many ways, like a chronicling of what teens face - from pressures to conform to an endless parade of adult embarrassments; there's a deadpan touch to much of this, but it's verite rather than Napoleon Dynamite.

In fact, this is why Eighth Grade succeeds and doesn't outstay its welcome.

Restrained and grounded, the film's fine observations will ring true in audiences of all ages; it's a small intricate piece that is as fine a debut as you'd expect. It's not a film where anything major happens, but manages to get you into the mindset of how everything that happens is potentially devastating for Kayla's state of mind and place in the world.

Ultimately, Eighth Grade is about a quest for acceptance, and all the awkwardness that comes with it - it's a fairly haunting portrayal of growing up, and a quiet triumph of the pressures faced by teenagers everywhere.

The Nun: DVD Review

The Nun: DVD Review

The Conjuring universe gets its own Cloisters Encounters of the Interred Kind with this latest spin-off from the series, following on from the success of spooky doll Annabelle.

A priest with a haunted past (Bichir) and a novice (American Horror Story's Farmiga) on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate the apparent suicide of a young nun in Romania.

When they arrive, they hear tales from local delivery boy Frenchie (Bloquet) of what's happened, but are forced to confront a malevolent force in the form of a demonic nun. (Which will be familiar to those of James Wan's Conjuring films.)

You know what you're in for with The Nun.

Though in fairness, most of what transpires feels derivative and all-too familiar to really stand out on its own.

Essentially building a religious Mulder and Scully in the leads, and throwing in elements of The Exorcist, Buffy The Vampire Slayer's Hellmouth and spooky goings on in smoky cemeteries, The Nun does well to build an atmosphere of unease, and tensions with some sequences feeling like they've been dragged to the absolute edge of what suspense can do.

However, it becomes clear that what's being touted as "the darkest chapter of The Conjuring universe" doesn't quite believe in its own hype, with a series of corny dialogue moments mixed in with some truly awful comedy, which combine to puncture any kind of horror you may be feeling in your stomach.

It's a shame because the weighty issue of the sin of suicide at the start really sets a darker tone for the Transylvanian shot film - and it's a welcome one, but one sadly dispatched with for some jump scares and some horror punchlines which fall flat.

As the film progresses the wildly veering tone does more to unnerve than any horrors could do, and no amount of fleeting-out-of-the-corner-of-your-eye moments can rebuild what's being torn down.

Every horror works when the fear is primal, the boogeyman is lurking in the shadows to grab you - and it's here that Hardy works some cinematic magic, using corridors to great effect and pushing you as far as you can go.

But ultimately, The Nun doesn't quite capture its premise; its habit of providing some solid sequences (which look ripped from storyboards and writ large) don't quite gel together because of the sabotaging of its own narrative, and the film dissolves into a catacomb-set finale that's less climactic than it ought to be.

All in all, The Nun's penchant for unevenness is its undoing; it may offer a few moments of terror, but its proclivity for puncturing its own smarter edges make this one spinoff that doesn't quite prove to be as haunting or as much an atmospheric carny ride of terror as it ought to be. 

Ladies In Black: DVD Review

Ladies In Black: DVD Review

Pleasingly gentle and relentlessly pleasant, Bruce Beresford's period drama Ladies In Black is one of those cautionary films that feels contemporary with its message that refugees add much to the country mix.

Set in 1950s Sydney in a downtown department store, Goodes, it's the tale of Lesley (Rice, in bookish form, who takes up a summer job with the ladies working there.

On the cusp of moving away from being a child and into womanhood, Rice's Lesley yearns to be at university and a poet or actress, but her desire to embrace a new life is met with indifference from most of her uncultured co-workers and indignation from her father who's not sure he wants his daughter at uni.

But taken under the wing of Julia Ormond's refugee haute couture dresser Magda, Lesley begins to flourish...

Ladies In Black doesn't do conflict.

There are elements of it hinted within the kind of fluffiness that an older generation will enjoy, but its messages of female empowerment and of refugees adding much to the cultural mix come in easy to swallow doses, with nary a hint of major drama anywhere.

A side-plot involving one of the shop staff losing her husband is bizarre at best; but there are some nice touches throughout the frothiness that hint at more below. Shots of various members of staff at Christmas add a soupcon of something undisturbed and unexpanded, because Ladies In Black isn't interested in spinning anything other than a slightly rose-coloured tinted look at life in 50s Sydney.

It's not exactly a shame, and it's clear Beresford and his capable direction is not looking to rock the apple cart, but when a film is best described as gentle and pleasant, you can tell there is more that could have been done.

Ormond, Rice and Taylor give creditable performances, and the rest of the ensemble works well, but ultimately Ladies In Black isn't interested in doing much more than delivering a film that keeps an older generation amused.

The storylines don't challenge, the threats don't mount up and the denouements can be predicted a mile off - but in terms of today's cinematic offerings, its desire to play safe and unswerving from predictable is possibly to be commended - as this is easily a film you can take your mum and your nan too, and not worry about a thing. 

Instant Family: Film Review

Instant Family: Film Review

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Rose Byrne, Isabella Moner, Octavia Spencer
Director: Sean Anders

It's easy to be cynical in the face of Instant Family, a Hollywood movie about fostering that ends up in a gloop of manufactured sentiment and predictability that underscores its premise.

And yet, much like The Big Sick drew deep from the well of personal experience for Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon, Instant Family's vein of veracity comes from director Sean Anders' autobiographical input into the script.

Byrne and Wahlberg and Ellie and Pete, a couple who decide fostering is the way to go to help them out of the rut of their lives. Believing their house flipping mentality will help with parenting (fix them up, move them on), the couple find themselves drawn to teen Lizzie (Dora The Explorer's Moner).

However, social workers warn them that Lizzie comes with two younger siblings and a mother who's a drug addict, and in and out of their lives.

But, Ellie and Pete are determined to press on with the adoption - no matter what it may bring.

Instant Family deserves kudos for putting a face on adoption, so rarely seen in movies of this type, where the kids are usually portrayed as kooky and the system is a breeze.

In the first third of the film, Instant Family's commitment to a heart-breaking truth is to be duly applauded, with much of the movie doing a lot to break stereotypes and introduce some kind of complexities to what actually transpires. Its honesty will resonate with those caught within, and will open eyes for others unaware of how the reality of the system can be.

It's largely due to the reality of what Anders went through, but by keeping the core cast of characters real and grounded, Instant Family may open a lot of doors to the idea of fostering, and provide some harsh truths that are often glossed over. It's rare to see such honesty in a broad studio product, and while Instant Family strays away from too much didacticism, its commitment to honesty, punctuated with humour, is extremely commendable.

It helps that Byrne - and believe it or not, Wahlberg - are genuinely likeable, with their neuroses and foibles feeling greatly relatable, and helping the audience through some of the more sentimental edges that creep in as the inevitabilities of going through the Hollywood machine mount up.

Broad as it needs to be (and not always to its credit, thanks to populating some of the outer characters as kooks), Instant Family's pleasantries make it a dramedy that's worth enduring, even if the ending can be seen a mile off.

It may be a touch manipulative, and be mocked for being so by those unaware of the complexities of being a part of the system, but Instant Family more than delivers on its promise to sell a message.

That's no bad thing, but given the film has laughs when it needs to and has a receptive audience onside because of it, this is actually a family worth hanging out with over the Christmas and New Year period.

The Wife: DVD Review

The Wife: DVD Review

Slow-burning and blessed with two powerhouse leads, the adaptation of Meg Wolitzer's 2003 novel, The Wife is definitely a film for those older in years looking to reflect.

Close and Pryce are husband and wife Joan and Joe Castleman, whose lives are irrevocably changed when Joe gets a call offering him a Nobel peace prize, to be awarded in Stockholm for his writing.

As they head off to the ceremony for the literary award, Joe's agog at what's ahead and Joan is the supportive long-suffering wife who sits in the background, happy to keep him on schedule and out of the limelight.

But as the ceremony nears, tensions rear between the two as their history is thrown into the spotlight.

The Wife is a perfectly fine piece of drama, that bogs itself down with its flashbacks and exposition.

The desire to explore this blowhard husband and the stoic wife stutters as it jump between the past and now, with the best part of the work coming in the present as the powderkeg nears explosion.

It helps that Close and Pryce spar well, and equally gel; their portrayal of a long marriage and of decisions made in the past help anchor the piece as it chops and changes. If Close is strong in her delivery, stoic and still in her building rage and regret, Pryce is equally dismissive and oblivious to what's around him.

Close is very much the patient glue which holds the drama together, a nuanced turn that anchors proceedings as the reflections play out. The wry delivery of some of the lines also provide plenty of barbs as well, with the screenplay built very much on the three-act play approach.

Ultimately, The Wife soars when it deals its hand of the present day fallout of the past. And a clever examination of some of the final wording proves delicious in many ways as well.

But The Wife flounders in its execution of the past, and confuses the reasoning adopted by some of the lead characters; it remains enigmatic and like a stageplay in its execution - though overall, that's no bad thing. 

Cold War: Film Review

Cold War: Film Review

Cast: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot
Director: Pawel Pawlikoswki

Ending with a truly extraordinary final shot, Pawlikoswki's love story Cold War is a paean to the golden age of cinema and the universality of a romantic tale.

Shot in black and white and set in post-war Poland, it's the tale of composer Wiktor (Kot) and auditionee Zula (Kulig) who are attracted to each other, even though their fates should not be intertwined.

Landing a role in his troupe, Zula bewitches Wiktor, and as they cross Eastern Europe touring, their lines become more blurred, and their roles in each other's lives stronger than expected.

Cold War opens with local villagers singing and proceeds to let the cameras linger on the musical numbers and the committed performances of the singers. In fact, as it progresses, you could almost feel that Pawlikoski's more determined to archive local folk music and lore, before the story of Wiktor and Zula kicks in.

It is transcendantly shot; every frame oozes class as the black and white gives an eternal veneer to what plays out, but equally, the leads demand your attention to.

Kot channels inherent tragedy and frustration as Wiktor, the man for whom circumstance proves ruinous. Equally, Kulig has the kind of charm that lights up a love story throughout the years, and gives more than enough clout to the arc as it plays out.

Ultimately, Cold War will thaw even the most hardened of hearts as it dances the line between wondrously shot musical moments on stage and then veers toward the emotional intimacy of a relationship that shouldn't be.

Steeped in pathos, and riddled with seductive tones, Cold War is a luminous film that possesses a timelessness which is hard to deny.

A Simple Favor: DVD Review

A Simple Favor: DVD Review

Better known for his comedies like Ghostbusters, Paul Feig turns his directing eye to an adaptation of the 2017 novel from Darcey Bell.

Attempting to make it film-noir, but still imbuing it with comedic sensibilities and campy touches, A Simple Favor is the story of vlogger Stephanie Smothers (Kendrick, by far and away the best thing in this film) a nerdy widower and mother-of-one who strikes up an unlikely friendship with upmarket fellow Emily Nelson (Lively, suitably bitchy when needed, but unable to fulfill some of the film's requirements).

Entranced by Nelson's drink-during-the-day mentality, Smothers and Nelson become BFFs. One day, however, when Smothers is left to pick up Nelson's child, she doesn't return, prompting fears she's gone AWOL in the most sinister of fashions....

As Stephanie investigates, she begins to discover something sinister...

A Simple Favor works on some levels, and fails on some others.

The aforementioned comedy touches don't quite gel with the desire to go a bit darker here and there, and Kendrick's Nancy Drew type digging is sometimes foiled by an unevenness of tone, which, while not fatal to proceedings, can occasionally deliver a whiplash which is hard to shake.

Thankfully, Kendrick holds a lot of this together, going the full gamut from nerdish outsider caught up in the bitchiness of small-town school-gate gossip to empowered crusader, inspired by Emily's laissez-faire dismissal and attitude to life. Kendrick more than delivers, peppering her preppiness with the kind of touches employed in Pitch Perfect.

Lively isn't quite as strong, and while Emily's boozy detachment is a hard one to play, she doesn't quite hit the convictions needed late in the piece. Equally, Crazy Rich Asians' star Henry Golding delivers a too-nice-to-be-true turn that complements, but doesn't elevate what's going on.

Ultimately, the outlandish twists of the noir and the comedy slightly foil some of the final suspense, and there's a little too much garbled exposition at the end delivered without breath or pause.

These are minor niggles though, and there's much to be said for the stylish execution and the sassy French OST.

A Simple Favor is a smart watch in places, but the tonal mixes, while never fatal, do make the overall effect less powerful than it could have been - and it's saved solely by an exceptional Anna Kendrick. 

Crazy Rich Asians: DVD Review

Crazy Rich Asians: DVD Review

In truth, Crazy Rich Asians is a masterpiece of staging and hollow spectacle.

It's a tale as old as time itself, one which dabbles in fairy tales, and enigmatically weaves some very familiar threads in among opulent gaudiness. It's almost satirical in ways, if it wasn't such a blatant  and shallow piece at heart.

It's your classic girl (Wu) meets boy (Golding), girl dates boy for a year, blissfully unaware that said boy is part of a mega-rich family and who tries to introduce girl to her snooty mother (Yeoh), who's dismissive of the differences between the two.

Along the way, throw in some very familiar and very obvious cultural issues and jealousies, stir it all up et voila, Crazy Rich Asians.

And yet, if the tale is an all too hoary rote one, the rom com greatly benefits from some truly globally impressive cinematography (it's like a tourism board advert for Singapore at times) and some directorial flourishes from Chu himself.

Whether it's showing off the excess, drowning the screen in swathes of local culture (hello, extended street vendors montage) or thrusting to prominence the Asian way of life and actors, it's clear why Crazy Rich Asians is having a moment to shine.

Like the subject matter, it's a little indulgent and overlong, and certainly, some of the sequences feel like they could have been excised from the 2 hour run time, and in parts, it has to be said that some of the narrative feels weaker than it ought to be, an excuse to join together the dots of its paper thin characters, and kill some time prior to the next luxurious sequence.

But Wu shines, as does Yeoh, with what little they have; and Humans star Gemma Chan brings more than enough to the table as the subject of potential sequels.

In this obvious tale of family clashes and of tradition, Crazy Rich Asians rightly deserves the applause it's getting for bringing the culture to a wider audience, and by telling a very familiar story complete with broad brush strokes in what will be to many, unfamiliar surroundings. It's the very essence of representation and is also somehow the epitome of where 2018 has marked the turning point.

But for cinema purists, looking for a little more perhaps, Crazy Rich Asians could do with an expeditious trim, a plumping of some of the elements of its Jane Austen edges and a bit more of a killer hook. Here's hoping the sequels manage this - and more.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

2019 is upon us, and here's wishing you all a 2019 that's practically perfect in every way possible!

Happy New Year, and all the best to you and yours for 2019!

Thanks for your support in 2018

Thanks for your support in 2018

As we hurtle toward the end of 2018, it's time to reflect.

So, thanks everyone, distributors of film, games and home entertainment for all your support in 2018.

Here's hoping 2019 is as great too!

Bird Box: Film Review

Bird Box: Netflix Film Review

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, Sarah Paulson, John Malkovich, Tom Hollander, BD Wong
Director: Susanne Bier

Netflix's latest, the post apocalyptic Bird Box, based on Josh Malerman's book, triumphs greatly early on in terms of unease and atmosphere.

However, as the story of the epidemic goes on, and regardless of how it's supposed to be a parable for motherhood, it begins to lose its way with logic falling quickly by the way side.

Bullock delivers a strong performance of survival as Malorie, a mother-to-be, whose life is changed when the first signs of an unseen epidemic land. This epidemic is so terrifying those who see it commit suicide, but as Malorie tries to survive and find a path to a safe house down a river, she finds the terrors within are as bad as those on the outside.

Flashing between timelines, Bird Box makes great fist of its premise, bringing chaos and terror in its opening gripping 20 minutes. Bier wonderfully realises the chaos and the horror of the unknown and unnamed unseen threat. Plausible, hysterical and genuinely unsettling the fear is palpable and Bullock's Malorie's sense of survival as a heroine is admirable.

But as the film goes on, the slipping between narratives starts to expose some of the cracks in logic of the events around as inconsistencies begin to cripple the narrative. And an underwhelming finale doesn't help matters either. Add in the fact the future timelines more or less reveal what has happened to everyone doesn't help do anything unfortunately but rob the film of its tension.

However, Bullock's resilience as an actress comes to the fore, and she impresses throughout, imbing Malorie with a strength that's obvious from the beginning. Rhodes and Malkovich also deliver strong performances, and Hollander's unctuous turn is stunning in its calm and execution.

Ultimately, Bird Box is a claustrophobic dystopian mixed bag; it delivers on atmosphere, falls on its own sword with logic and world-building, but delivers a thrill ride that is both up and down, rather than a consistent tone throughout.

The House With a Clock in Its Walls: DVD Review

The House With a Clock in Its Walls: DVD Review

From horror and torture-porn-meister Eli Roth comes a family horror film, produced within the stable of Amblin Entertainment, and based on the 1973 book by John Bellairs.

Vaccaro is newly-orphaned Lewis, who goes to live with his uncle Jonathan (Black, in usual OTT mode, and perhaps one of the film's little disappointments) after a car accident claimed his parents.

Upon discovering his uncle is a warlock, and struggling to fit in at school, Lewis turns his attention to the world of sorcery and magic. But when Lewis raises a former wizard from the dead, hell threatens to break loose - and it's further exacerbated by Jonathan's desire to find an endlessly clicking clock within the walls of his house.

In truth, The House With a Clock in Its Walls feels like a mesh of Goosebumps and a carnival haunted house rollercoaster ride.

There are some genuinely unsettling sequences set to celluloid from Roth, with the dread of the atmosphere cranked up for maximum effect. But like all of the biggest scares at a fairground, this is only material for show in a time and tested formula of good versus evil.

Partially ignoring the deeper thread of the post-traumatic stress syndrome of war (a wonderfully evocative piece hints at the turmoil facing one character, but is unexplored) in favour of more kiddy-friendly fare, The House With a Clock in Its Walls is content to avoid the issues of dealing with loss, and grief within 1950s America.

But that's no bad thing - and for a large part, the film is surprisingly entertaining, thanks to a wonderfully tart and emotionally nuanced turn from Blanchett as a witch with a tragic past. Black delivers his usual goggling eyes routine, which in truth becomes tiring midway through, and the script chooses to layer on some fart gags for puerile pleasure, which detracts from the wondrousness of what's to pass.

However, moments such as a pumpkin attack, and an evocation of the light of the universe are truly exciting to behold, and show that Roth, as a child film director, has enough smarts to deliver as much heart as the horrors needed to keep the tension ratcheted up.

All in all, The House With a Clock in Its Walls is a pleasantly surprising piece of family fare, that offers a tautly delivered set of purpose within its 100 minutes' run time. There's more it could have explored, and some deeper themes merely hinted at rather than fully fleshed out, but the fun parlour tricks it deploys manage to distract from the moments and themes that could have given more than just chills, thrills and silliness. 

Land of The Giants: Complete Collection: DVD Review

Land of The Giants: Complete Collection: DVD Review

Released by Madman Home Entertainment

There's just something about Irwin Allen's early 1960s TV series that appeals.

From Lost In Space to The Time Tunnel, Allen had a way of capturing the world of fantasy with imagination, never letting FX budget constraints hold him back and ensuring the shows' key push was their narratives.

So it is with Land Of the Giants, a show that essentially has all the elements of an Allen serial and that very occasionally looks dated, in the way that old episodes of Doctor Who have lost a little of their sheen.

In this 14 disc set, over 51 remastered episodes, we follow the crew of the commercial spaceship The Spindrift, after it crashes on a remote planet similar to Earth, but where everything is 12 times larger.

Cue the over-sized props, and menacing animals that are insignificant in this day and age.

Escapism is what Land of The Giants is about as the crew are separated, captured and have to survive in this series that ran from 1968. The remastering is solid, but the special features are exceptional on this with things ranging from unaired pilot to interviews with the actors, through to stills galleries; It's as complete as it can be - though a longer documentary would be nice.

A blast of 60s nostalgia and imagination, Land of The Giants: Complete Collection is for fantasy fans only really - but that audience will be satiated by this nice complete collection.

Worst films of 2018

Worst films of 2018

2018 is nearly done, and it's been a cinematic year of relative averageness at best.

In honesty, the middling path that many films have pursued as meant they've largely been experiences of "meh" than boiling all out rage.

That said, there are some real stinkers which rise to the top of the worst of 2018, from everything which has been viewed.

Here are in no particular order, the Worst films of 2018

Second Act

Second Act

The Happytime Murders

Fantastic Beasts 2: Crimes of Grindelwald

The Breaker Upperers

The Breaker Upperers

Occupation

Venom

Night School

Night School

The Predator

Winchester

Fifty Shades Freed

Death Wish

Death Wish

Here's hoping 2019 is better.

Best films of 2018

Best films of 2018

2018 has in all honesty, been a cinematic year that very much stuck to the middle of the road, and resolutely stayed there.

Most of what's screened this year has been average at best, and horrendous at worst.

Though, that said, there have been some brilliant movie moments this year, and aside from Mission: Impossible, it's great to see all of the best list is original material.

Here are, in no particular order, the best films of 2018.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Widows
The Favourite
The Guilty
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
American Animals
First Man
Beast

Beast

Hereditary
McQueen
Lucky
Leave No Trace

Leave No Trace

Three Identical Strangers

First Reformed

First Reformed

Lean On Pete

Lady Bird

A Quiet Place

The Death of Stalin

Ghost Stories

Johnny English Strikes Again: DVD Review

Johnny English Strikes Again: DVD Review

How you will feel about Johnny English Strikes Again largely relies on how you feel about Rowan Atkinson's inept spy.

Because, to be frank, this latest which sees English pulled out of retirement after a series of cyber attacks exposes all England's current secret agents, doesn't exactly do much to shake up the Johnny English franchise at all.

But what it does do, is allow Atkinson once again to showcase his rubber-faced propensity for physical comedy, like some kind of clown from a bygone era channeling Mr Bean and a James Bond cross.

However, much as it may pain some with its corny execution and its entirely predictable turn of plot and surprise, Johnny English Strikes Again is actually refreshingly retro in its delivery of sight gags, and silliness, both of which are dispatched by director Kerr and lead star with relative unflappable aplomb.

The resurgence of the old school is apparent throughout, both from the physical prop based humour served up by Atkinson to a series of running gags about English being out of touch from the rest of the world - from the advent of iPhones to EVs, to gags about having to sign a health and safety release for use of a gun to a brilliantly written sequence using VR and real life, there's a real feeling of 60s Get Smart mentality about this, rather than the self-knowing, self-referential Austin Powers.

Even Harry Potter gets a nod, with English now serving as a teacher in a spy school, awarding house points for to the best little would-be spies.

And largely, thanks to the quick pace, it works - though in parts, it does feel like a series of sketches thinly pulled together by some overall plot. But you can't deny the childish glee of what transpires in Johnny English Strikes Again, only the hardest of hearts would fail to be moved by the goofy unending silliness of it all, even if it does feel like the world's moved on since the 2011 sequel, Johnny English Reborn.

It may be a bit beneath those who can't see past their own snideness, but to be frank, Johnny English Strikes Again doesn't care for your snobbishness, or for a strong script or for the world which has turned repeatedly in its wake. In many ways, it's the antithesis of Mission: Impossible - Fallout, but ironically, both can co-exist at opposite ends of the spectrum.

It exists purely to amuse, not to score Oscars, and while it's affable and forgettable, its nostalgia for an England of yesteryear and a spy world of inherent silliness rather than Bond-style pomposity means that it feels like a cinematic cuddly jumper, well-executed and comforting - even if it does feel like an 80s TV sketch show throwback. 

Merry Christmas

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