Win a copy of Spider-Man: Into The Spider Verse

Win a copy of Spider-Man: Into The Spider Verse

To celebrate the release of the utterly brilliant Spider-Man: Into The Spider Verse, you can win a copy of the Oscar-winning animated feature!

Academy Award® Winner for Best Animated Feature Film
Golden Globe® Winner for Best Animated Feature Film
Critics’ Choice® Winner for Best Animated Feature Film
Winner of Seven Annie® Awards Including Best Animated Feature

SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

The out-of-this-world voice cast includes Shameik Moore as Miles Morales alongside Jake Johnson (“New Girl”) as Peter B. Parker, Hailee Steinfeld (Bumblebee) as Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen, Mahershala Ali (Green Book) as Miles’ Uncle Aaron, Brian Tyree Henry (“Atlanta”) as Jefferson Davis, Lily Tomlin (“Grace and Frankie”) as Aunt May, Luna Lauren Velez (“How To Get Away with Murder”) as Rio Morales, Zoë Kravitz (“Big Little Lies”) as Mary Jane, John Mulaney (“Big Mouth”) as Spider-Ham, with Nicholas Cage (The Croods) as Spider-Man Noir, Kathryn Hahn (Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation) as Doc Ock and Liev Schreiber (“Ray Donovan”) as the villain Kingpin.

Thanks to Sony Home Entertainment, you can win a copy of  Spider-Man: Into The Spider Verse.

To win all you have to do is email your details and the word SPIDER-VERSE to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW  

Good luck!

Aquaman: Blu Ray Review

Aquaman: Blu Ray Review

The litany of DC movies is scattered with almost-rans.

For every Marvel success, there’s been a thudding DC failure, a reminder that tone and story still triumph in the comic book medium.

So it’s pleasing to reveal that Aquaman goes some way to addressing prior failures, by telling a story early on that packs heart and heft, before the usual rote destructive CGI chaos steps in to clean up in the final act.

At its heart, in terms of plot, Aquaman is DC’s take on the political in-fighting last seen in Marvel's Black Panther.

Momoa is Aquaman, aka Arthur Curry, a half-human, half Atlantian, who's keeping the seas safe from the likes of marauding pirates, when he finds himself hauled into a political coup after red-haired Mera (Heard) emerges from the waters of his long-lost home world.

Warning him that the war that's unfolding at the hands of King Orm (Wilson) will affect his beloved surface dwellers, Aquaman's thrown into a battle over the rights to the underwater throne and a birth right he doesn't potentially want...

Aquaman offers a Tron-like spectacle with an underwater world that's vibrant with life and teeming with visual creativity and depth. Atlantis looks like it's a lived in world, a world that breathes as it floats below, and as various sea creatures float by, with CGI in overdrive to showcase its very best.

Sadly, the same can't exactly be said about the more human elements of the film which are overwhelmed by the script's over-stuffed nature.

Momoa treads a thin line between knowing cheesy dialogue and performing endless action sequences while revelling in the OTT nature; but he has the charisma for Curry (and performs enough hair flips through water to look like he's advertising premium shampoo), and lends Aquaman the kind of reverence - and occasionally irreverence - the DC material affords him.

The problem is some of what is populated around him.

With one-note characters like Mera offering mainly exposition (and a clumsy attempt at romance that should have been drastically re-worked at the script level before being committed to screen) and Orm proffering petulance and discord, the film's tonal shifts are seismic in their execution and occasionally jarring as it swims between cornball and seriousness.

Meshing the myth of Excalibur, Karate Kid training, Splash's inter-species love story with a pro-environmental message, and the politics of power and squabbling brothers that we've seen in Thor and Black Panther, Aquaman never really lays any claim to originality - nor would it expect to with some of its utter po-faced dialogue and frankly creepy digital de-ageing of stars like Morrison and Dafoe.

What Aquaman does deliver is spectacle, and radically changes the game for what's to be expected of DC films - it still has the pomposity of the dialogue of Batman Vs Superman and ends up in an utterly messy CGI fight as its denoumenent, but those troubles are inherent to all comic book films, not just the long derided DC Universe.

There's a lack of emotional investment in Aquaman's central character, but there's plenty on show early on in Morrison's heartfelt turn (some of his best work yet) and pre-credits love story with Kidman's Queen of the sea. It's a welcome touch, before the continual shock and awe of the action overwhelms everything and builds to a deafening crescendo.

In terms of cache, there is no denying this is a major step up.

But Aquaman's over-reliance on CGI spectacle, bombast and underwhelming quest a-to-b type story, coupled with a lack of depth on its hero and his glistening abs, means that Aquaman is more a film that delivers on its outlandish promise, rather than holding back a little and running with what sticks to the wall. 

Red Joan: Film Review

Red Joan: Film Review

Cast: Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Alfie Allen, Stephen Campbell Moore
Director: Trevor Nunn

Inspired by a true story it may be, but Red Joan's insistence on miring everything in flashback means sadly it squanders its best asset - Judi Dench - as nothing more than a bookend to proceedings, with glimpses throughout.

However, while this story begins in a leafy English suburb with Dench's Joan Stanley being arrested as a suspected informant who leaked top secret information, its flashbacks soon reveal another equally strong presence in the form of young Kingsman actress, Sophie Cookson.

Ripping back to Cambridge and exploring how Joan became affiliated with the disaffected communist movement, Red Joan seeks to keep questions in place about whether she is a willing participant in a crime or had been manipulated via love (fake or otherwise) in the past.

It's an interesting proposition, and while the relatively formulaic, almost TV-movie like telling of the story feels flat, the central performances are not. Its open-endedness is also its strength, with a final shot and simple facial smirk from Dench offering to throw everything up in the air that you've already seen in a kind of Keyser Soze-esque tribute.

But where Red Joan falters is in some of the film's innate ability to play it safe.

Period details are nicely rendered, and the sense of atmosphere is palpable, but what transpires lacks some of the edge that say a pulpy thriller may have helped you get to the edge-of-your-seat and leave you questioning throughout.

Likewise, the almost minimal use of Judi Dench feels criminal; even the briefest of scenes in the present day, with her son's suspicions swirling around her, hint at a frustrating promise that narratively had to take place.

However, as mentioned Cookson's turn as the young questioning intellect caught up in the cold war and its machinations gives the film a welcome human edge. Hers is a performance that anchors the film and almost makes you forget about the bookending of its sidelined mammoth talent.

All in all, Red Joan's commitment to the straight storytelling serves it fine, but with a little more flair and more uncertainty, the sense of panache in this wartime tale of love and betrayal, both personally and at a country-wide level, could have helped it into some truly sterling stuff.

Missing Link: Film Review

Missing Link: Film Review

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zoe Saldana, Zach Galifianakis, Stephen Fry, Timothy Olyphant
Director: Chris Butler

Meshing a whole range of genres, Laika's latest sees them build on the work done with Kubo, Coraline and The Box Trolls to produce something that while it lacks as much heart as their previous work, it still raises the game in the animated front.

In a take on the new world versus the old world, Jackman plays Sir Lionel Frost, an explorer and monster hunter who longs to be accepted into the inner circle of explorers run by Stephen Fry's puffed up Lord Piggot-Dunceby.

When Frost receives a letter purportedly giving him the location of the Sasquatch, he sees this as his chance to cement his place and show the naysayers. But it turns out the Sasquatch is the one who got in touch with him to seek his help.

Dubbing his find Mr Link, Frost sets out to help...

Missing Link is a curious film.

It lacks the derring do of the kind of adventure films you'd potentially expect, eschewing that in favour of something that's old school in many ways.

There are elements of a western here as Frost rides into a deserted town with bar fights on the menu; and there are components of classic Laurel and Hardy as the Odd couple of Link and Frost go on their journey, thanks to Link's taking everything Frost says literally - and which delivers some of the biggest laughs of the film.

With his benign face and innocence, Galifianakis' softly spoken Link is a fragile character given a heart that's hard to deny. There's silliness at times, called for by the script, and it works nicely, thanks to Jackman's somewhat stiff delivery as the explorer who's lost his place in the world, in pursuit of what he feels matters to him. The duo make a good pair, and it's at the expense of Saldana, whose character feels a little shoehorned in and sadly sidelined.

While part of the problem with Missing Link is that the threats just tangibly disappear at times, Laika's animation does much to paper over those narrative cracks. It may not be the traditional stop motion, given it's run through a computer, but there are elements of Aardman Studios here and the kind of beauty that was part of Kubo and The Two Strings (one of the most underappreciated animations of past years).

Laika's commitment to indigenous faces also shines again in the latter part of the film, and subtle touches make this an animation fan's dream as the different cultures merge.

There may be moments when the younger kids will get restless, but Missing Link is not above a dismissive raspberry to punctuate proceedings, nor is it opposed to some silly wordplay and sight gags that will be adored and amuse.

All in all, Missing Link may at times feel like it has some links of its own missing, but the overall chain is tight and strong, proving that Laika's branching out into wider stories is only a good thing.

Spider-Man: Into The Spider Verse: Blu Ray Review

Spider-Man: Into The Spider Verse: Blu Ray Review

Another Spider-Man origin movie, I hear you cry?

Well, let's be honest, you've not seen a Spider-Man story like this slice of animation excellence.
Centring on Miles Morales, a mixed-race, relatively normal 13-year-old kid (voiced with heart by Shameik Moore) from Brooklyn, this computer animated tale spins a story when Morales is bit by a radioactive spider while underground with his uncle Aaron (Ali).

Things are further complicated for Morales when he sees Spider-Man killed by Kingpin (Schreiber) as an out-of-control experiment threatens Manhattan. As if that wasn't bad enough, Morales finds himself landed with another group of Spider-Men from different universes pulled into the conflict by Kingpin's quest...

If the multi-verse aspect of this film looks confusing, it's not. And to be frank, it's the least enticing part of Spider-Man: Into The SpiderVerse, a film which smashes the visual medium to pieces with originality and flair.

Using 3D animation on 2D backgrounds takes a little to get used to, but to anyone who's played anything from the Telltale Games back catalogue, the format and concept is very familiar.

Except what the directors also do is use the visuals and the tenets of comic books to induce a kind of sensory overload throughout. Visually, this film has style, and really does much to redefine the comic book animated movie genre, much like Batman: Mask of the Phantasm did years ago.

It starts with a voiceover saying "Let's do this one last time," a tacit nod to how often we've heard this story, but with clever twists, that same voiceover is given a thrilling new spin.

With meta touches and cheeky nods, as well as a heartfelt ode to Stan Lee, Spider-Man: Into The SpiderVerse may lose some of its emotional way in the final run, and may be a little long, but it's a thrilling reinvigoration of a story told a multiple amount of times, and a positively dazzling reinvention of how comic book movies should be translated to the big screen. 

Can You Ever Forgive Me?: DVD Review

Can You Ever Forgive Me?: DVD Review

Lee Israel won't be a name familiar to many.

But thanks to an exceptional turn from a downbeat Melissa McCarthy, a few more people will be aware of what the literary faker did.

A failing writer facing extremely hard times and needled by Tom Clancy's success, Israel's unable to sell her agent (a tart Curtin) any ideas, but hits on an apparent goldmine when she discovers a letter from a subject she's researching.

Trying to sell it, but upon being told she can get more for more personal letters, Israel hatches a plot from desperation and begins faking literary letters. Enjoying the spoils of her lucrative market, and finding her voice for the first time in years, Israel ends up enlisting Jack Hock (Grant, in flamboyant mode) to help with her scam.

However, the authorities are edging closer to being onto her game.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a great reminder that McCarthy can do more than simply broad comedy; in this one, there are signs of repressed anger and frustration that she channels well by underplaying, rather than her usual modus operandi of broad comedy laughs and easy hits.

As a result, Israel is a deeply empathetic character, even though what she's doing is so obviously criminal; along with Nicole Holofcener's script, which gives scenes the zing they need, lots of Can You Ever Forgive Me? works well.

Grant's never been better - imbuing his rascally coke-dealing flamboyant with flourishes that mean every single scene he's in is a joy to behold; and he spars well with McCarthy.

But this is McCarthy's film without a shadow of a doubt; her quietly frustrated take on it all lends the film an edge of engagement and a warmth to undercut the prickliness that lies within. There's an outsider vibe to both Lee and Hock, but rather than make them victims, the actors and script embed them in proceedings and give them a life beyond the text.

There's a delicious irony that McCarthy brings her best work to someone channelling someone else, but Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a surprising film that enchants, amuses and engages - it's some of McCarthy's best work yet. 

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part: Film Review

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part: Film Review

Vocal cast: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Tiffany Haddish, Richard Ayoade
Director: Mike Mitchell

Everything's not quite as awesome in the latest LEGO Movie.

And quite frankly, that's a disappointment.

Five years since everything worked out for Emmet and the gang in Bricksburg, there's trouble ahead - with DUPLO invaders from outer space hitting them, and stealing everything. When Lucy (Banks) is kidnapped, along with Batman, Unikitty and Benny, it's up to Emmet once again.

Feeling flat and less inspired than the first, with more of the gags feeling laboured and distinctly lacking, the film starts with an extended riff on Mad Max: Fury Road, and barely takes off from there.

It doesn't help that the film seems to lack the energy and anarchy of the first, being content to flit in and out of the real world that was set up in the first film. It's a tonal disaster on that front, as whereas the original twist was inspired and creative, this reeks of feeling like a narrative crutch, and delivers a weaker emotional heft than first time around.

That's not to say there aren't some bonuses. Certainly, Haddish adds some sparkle as Queen Wat'evra Wa'nabi and Banks builds on the great character from before. But the punchlines and obvious nature of what's going on spoil the feel of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.

What sparkled the first time around as a tale of play, friendship and freeform anarchy, disappointingly feels pointless, dull and with musical numbers that don't stay in your head long after the film's done.

Ultimately, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is several bricks short of a cinematic picnic; it lacks the inspiration and while passable enough fare under pressure, it feels like just a LEGO Movie, and one that doesn't build on the brilliance of the first.