Need for Speed, Heat announced for November

Need for Speed, Heat announced for November

NEED FOR SPEED HEAT ARRIVES ON NOVEMBER 8TH, BURNING ALL LIMITS

Deep Customisation, Authentic Urban Car Culture, an Open World, and an Immersive Narrative All Fuel the New Need for Speed Game

Watch the Worldwide Gameplay Reveal August 19 at Gamescom Opening Night Live.

 Ghost Games™, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) studio, today announced Need for Speed™ Heat, the ultimate street racer versus cop fantasy. The game deepens and expands everything Need for Speed™ fans love – expressive customisation, authentic urban car culture, and an immersive narrative that pulls you into the game. Watch the announce trailer here.

Need for Speed Heat sends fans to Palm City, a brand-new open world where street racers have gathered to make their names known. By day, players compete in the Speedhunters Showdown, a sanctioned competition where they earn Bank to customise and upgrade their garage of high-performance cars. At night, players risk it all to build their Rep in underground races where a rogue police task force roams the streets, ready to take racers down and swipe all their earnings. The roads, the risks, and the rides never end in this street racer where a player can roll deep with their crew, build their garage full of hot cars, and make the city their nonstop playground.

“We’re delivering more options than ever before for players to be unique and make themselves known,” said Riley Cooper, Creative Director at Ghost Games. “Our fans have been clear that they want more cars, more customisation, and more challenges, and we’re tuning up on every aspect. From your character’s style to your car’s performance and your driving style, we’re fuelling everyone’s creativity with this new game.” 

Fans who pre-order the standard edition will get a K.S Edition styled Mitsubishi Evolution X. Pre-ordering the Deluxe Edition adds three K.S Edition styled cars (BMW i8 Coupe, Mercedes C63 AMG Coupe, Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport), access to exclusive deluxe edition character clothing, and increased earnings of in-game currencies Bank and Rep. Anyone who pre-orders Need for Speed Heat in-game from Need for Speed Payback on any format will also get a 10% discount as a Loyalty Reward1.*  

Need for Speed Heat launches November 8, 2019 for Xbox One, PlayStation® 4, and PC. Jump into the game first on November 5, 2019 with EA Access and Origin™ Access Basic to enjoy up to 10 hours of play time as part of the Play First Trial, or sign-up for Origin Access Premier to get full access on PC.**

To join the conversation, players can like Need for Speed page on Facebook, or follow the Need for Speed channels on Twitter®, Instagram and YouTube. 

The Aftermath: DVD Review

The Aftermath: DVD Review

"The butler did it. It's always the butler."

It's a line spoken to Keira Knightley's Rachel as her husband Lewis (Clarke) apologises for the destruction of the Agatha Christie novel she's been reading.

But, as this story of life in Hamburg after the end of World War II progresses, and the love affair between former houseowner and German Lubert (Skarsgard) and Knightley burns, it's an apt comparison.

The truth of The Aftermath, based on the book of the same name, is that it's a film that feels lacklustre in its execution, its passions muted when really they should burn fervently within. Which is a shame as this is a story so rarely told in its early act.

It's an intriguing tale - the aftermaths of the title refer to many things within the movie; the aftermath of the war, the aftermath of grief affecting Rachel and Lubert, the aftermath of growing up for Lubert's daughter, the aftermath of a regime fall - it's all potent stuff to be stirred up and to be used for dramatic effect.

But for all of Knightley's intentions, her Rachel is petulant, icy, angry and unlikeable, her situation not intolerable, but her attitude just quite repugnant. Knightley does shine in moments, but given the script services her with moments that are simply meant to happen rather than organically evolve, the film's crippled in many ways.

Most effective in all this is Clarke, whose restrained and gradually overwhelmed colonel trying to be a shining beacon of decency is a real highlight in the movie. Moments where his humanity rises to the top in the face of all they deal with in Hamburg are critical to the stark and stilted moments elsewhere.

Ultimately, The Aftermath may be a slickly delivered period piece, but it's one that falls into the bland category far too quickly, with plots feeling rote, underwritten and underdelivered. 

APEX LEGENDS: SOLO MODE NOW AVAILABLE

APEX LEGENDS: SOLO MODE NOW AVAILABLE

DECLARE YOUR RIGHT TO RULE IN APEX LEGENDS SOLO MODE

The Iron Crown Collection Event Brings a Limited-Time Solo Mode, an Octane Town Takeover, a Double XP Weekend, and Even More Skins To Apex Legends

Get ready to reign over the arena: the highly requested Solo game mode is now available for a limited time as part of Apex Legends Iron Crown Collection Event. 

Starting today, players will be able to drop into the arena alone and face off against 59 solitary enemies – in the end, only one Legend will be crowned victorious. 

The event will also feature an adrenaline-pumping town takeover designed by Octane himself. In addition, the Iron Crown Collection Event will introduce brand-new skins, fresh loot, and much more for players to unlock. Get a look at some of the new content in an all-new trailer here.

Once Upon A Time...... in Hollywood: Film Review

Once Upon A Time...... in Hollywood: Film Review

Cast: Leonardo di Caprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie
Director: Quentin Tarantino

The new Tarantino film, possibly his penultimate cinematic entry, is an odd beast.

Riddled with nods to his way of delivering film and saddled with his own tropes, Once Upon A Time...... in Hollywood is an elegaic and relaxed film, a hang out with buddies movie that's about the waxing and waning of the old Hollywood - before it erupts in another direction in the final 30 minutes.

Tarantino himself has asked for no spoilers, but suffice to say, the film zeroes in on Leonardo Di Caprio's Rick Dalton, a fading TV western star and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt, a simmering performance that lounges in casual charm and charisma but offers hints at more).

It's 1969 Los Angeles, and the tides of change are sweeping through Hollywood, and Dalton's trying to find his place in what's ahead - is the Golden Years over for them all?

Reflexive and reflective, Once Upon A Time...... in Hollywood is an intriguing proposition that may at times test your Tarantino love and frustrate the casual cinema viewer.

While there's no doubting that Tarantino's evocative recreations of 1969 Hollywood shine out (from his love of locations to period details), there's also a feeling in a lot of the film of padding and endless scenes of musical cues and scenes of driving simply being thrown into the mix, just for the sake of a soundtrack.

There's also a feeling of more of a meandering narrative than has ever been deployed before; it's never quite clear whose story exactly the film is thanks to intersecting lines that don't quite cross with thematic power as is usual with Tarantino.

And yet despite all of that, and a troublesome ending sequence which is true Tarantino, the film offers many pleasures, even if it's not one of Quentin's best. There's a buddy feeling throughout and the vibe between Pitt and DiCaprio is a good one throughout, making being in their company never a chore.

But without some expeditious editing, Tarantino's spinning a yarn that's a little too long in the tooth, no matter what allegories you pour on the relationship between Rick and Cliff and how it reflects real life.

It wallows when it doesn't need to and drifts as it crosses genres between revenge fantasy and period drama, and satire on the time and Tarantino's western fascinations.

All in all though Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood is a fairy tale, a rumination of times gone, all poured through a Tarantino prism; yet it's an intriguing and entertaining enigma that will have you talking and thinking long after the sun's set on 1969 Los Angeles.

Avengers: Endgame: Blu Ray Review

 Avengers: Endgame: Blu Ray Review

It's finally here.

The end of the road for the Marvel Cinematic Universe's current phase, and the conclusion of events after Thanos snapped his fingers, and wiped out half of the world in Avengers: Infinity War.

Avengers: Endgame arrives with such a weight of expectation one year after the tease of the end that it's hard to live upto what fans - and cinemagoers - want.

But simply put, if you're a fan of the MCU, Endgame delivers in spades - and as a casual cinema-goer there's also a lot to gain from a film that has dalliances with the epic, but never once forgets the intimate.

Avengers:Endgame is not a film the creators want spoiling.

The plot has been briefly hinted at in trailers but outside of the upcoming release, little is truly known of if Thanos is defeated, or how any attempts are made.

The interesting thing about the occasionally sprawling 181 minutes that unfolds is how much a lot of the payoffs from previous films are delivered and how all the threads of the other 20 plus films join together.

While it’s no condemnation to say Endgame contains an overload of fan service and crowd-pleasing moments, what it also contains is an emotional depth and exploration of sacrifice that’s confined to the core of original characters, that cinemagoers have spent a decade with.

There’s an elegiac feeling of its opening, the meditations on loss and if second chances are worth losing are heartbreakingly laid out; there’s a reaction to trauma that leaves you finally feeling Thanos’ actions in Infinity War had real consequences. Doubt, regret and angst are in order, and are deftly delivered by the human cast.

It's something the MCU has previously until now been somewhat flippant about, but this time around, there's a sense the remaining Avengers are truly broken and vulnerable.

Yet, there’s also scope and depth here which is more than alluded to - old grievances are raised again and the culmination of years of foundation laying has an emotionally resonant payoff that’s mostly worthy of the three hour run time for fans of the franchise.

Brolin once again brings greater depth to his bad guy Thanos and makes you feel like everyone has collateral and damage after he pursued his utopia. His nuanced bad guy has been a real boon for the franchise, and certainly delivers the heft needed in this chapter capper. 

This film is predominantly about the relationship between Chris Evans' Captain America and Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man. But more than that, it's about Steve Rogers and Tony Stark - something which rewards when it needs to.

In among the pleasing set pieces and odd touches of humour, there are one or two stumbles, which were perhaps inevitable during the three hour run time, and with a farewell mentality in mind.

A final battle is a depressing return to the usual CGI throw-it-all-at-the-wall fare (though, in all honesty, it's hard to see what else there is that could be done). Coupled with one or two moments of excess (and one overblown statement of intent to address ongoing criticism), it's the denouement fans will want, but one that critics of the superhero genre will dismiss as once again, overcrowded and overdone. 

When it's confined within to just a few single actors, it's fair to say the denouement soars in its singular quieter moments. Even if foreshadowing robs some of the emotion from landing as it should. In truth, the moments are more about your familiarity with these characters, rather than what exactly the narrative of Avengers: Endgame delivers.

Equally, despite all the promise and fanfare of the previous Marvel outing, it's troubling that one character is effectively reduced solely to a deus ex machina device in proceedings. 

There are also a few emotional moments that feel a little rushed, and didn't quite hit the mark that perhaps should have been expected.

But there are plenty of character complexities and moments that ground this superhero film in the realm of the human and our various foibles.

Ultimately, this film belongs to the original Avengers - it may be the end of Phase 3, and the farewell they've been anticipating after some 20 plus films over a decade, but it's not hindered the Russo Brothers from delivering a movie that is crowd-pleasing in extremis, one that walks a tightrope between nostalgia (thanks to plot devices) and closing a chapter from a studio that's always had its eyes on its vision.

Hellboy: DVD Review

Hellboy: DVD Review

For many, Ron Perlman is the definitive Hellboy.

With gruff voice and wearied attitude, his Hellraiser, along with director Guillermo del Toro set the tone for the story of the demon here to protect us all. But that was back in 2004 when the film hit a high, and now 15 years later, there's a new attempt to bring Mike Mignola's comics back to life.

This time, Stranger Things David Harbour is old Red, and Dog Soldiers' director Neil Marshall helps helm the CGI creations as Hellboy tackles an ancient sorceress bent on revenge in the R-rated flick.

The road to Hellboy is paved with good intentions.

But unfortunately, this reboot is nothing more than a slightly polished stinker that does nothing for the legacy work created by del Toro.

A CGI creature feature that in parts looks like the bastard son of Jack The Giant Slayer, the creature work is so incredibly cheap-looking that it distracts mightily from what's transpiring on the screen.

Which isn't to say much, because the basic plot and piecemeal sewing together of various scenes in the film feels beyond rote, and borderline dull.

Harbour tries to deliver what he can under the prosthetics, but if you're after subtlety, this ain't it.

All the good character work done by Perlman and del Toro is distilled down and then thrown out, because all Harbour has to work with is what the script writers believe Hellboy is, a series of quips and some petulance, rather than a build up of emotional heft aimed at immersing you in his world, and buying into the torment he feels at his place in the world.

It just doesn't work though throughout, with a Scouser pig creature that's supposed to be Jovovich's character's sidekick feeling like an extra from a bad cartoon movie. Fight scenes aren't much better either, scored as they are to heavy metal tracks and distinctly looking cheap in their execution.

The cheapness affects the feel of the film and the script struggles for any kind of heft; even worse, the world-building feels less fantastical, more rushed, rote and utterly  lazy. There are precisely two good moments in Hellboy, and unfortunately, they come right at the end of the movie as Marshall demonstrates some directorial flair for action sequences, chopping and changing between slow-motion and speeded up ass kicking from Hellboy.

It only serves to show what's been missing in the Hellboy 2019 reboot, a film that chops around all over the place, uses terribly clunky exposition to anchor its hero, and delivers nothing short of a disappointment.

Simply put, Hellboy in its latest incarnation deserves its place in cinematic hell. 

Missing Link: DVD Review

Missing Link: DVD Review

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.