At Darren's World of Entertainment - a movie, DVD and game review blog.
The latest movie and DVD reviews - plus game reviews as well. And cool stuff thrown in when I see it.
We’re also excited to share the first gameplay footage of our newest Vault Hunter, FL4K the Beastmaster, who joins Zane the Operative, Moze the Gunner, and Amara the Siren in our new cast of badass, interplanetary treasure hunters.
Catch FL4K wasting bots and bandits across Pandora and new planet Eden-6 in two brand new gameplay clips, which you can download right here. You’ll also find two new screen shots of FL4K and their loyal pet companions at that same link.
If you’d like to learn more about today’s drop, you can find additional details about FL4Kand their skill trees right here, as well as more information on Eden-6 right here.
Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha announced for Nintendo Switch
PSIKYO SHOOTING STARS ALPHA & BRAVO ANNOUNCED
FOR NINTENDO SWITCH™ IN EARLY 2020!
NIS America is excited to announce that Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha and Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo will be available exclusively for Nintendo Switch™ as two separate collections that bring together Psikyo’s greatest hits! Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha will arrive first, followed by Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo soon after.
About Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha:
STRIKERS 1945 - The mysterious C.A.N.Y. organization seeks to conquer the world with powerful superweapons, and only the Strikers team can take them down and restore peace!
STRIKERS 1945 II - The Strikers team is called into action once again when a new threat appears in the form of the F.G.R. faction and their massive mecha technology!
STRIKERS 1945 III - A swarm of alien microbots known as "nanites" have infiltrated Earth's military bases, and the heroic Strikers must utilize powerful new vehicles and weapons to repel the invaders!
SOL DIVIDE - The evil emperor Ifter seeks to become a demon and take over the world. It is up to three powerful heroes to rise up and stop his nefarious campaign!
Dragon Blaze - Four dragon rider knights, each with their own goals, are on a quest to slay the Demon King. Will their quests end in triumph...or ruin?
ZERO GUNNER 2 - To free the world from the evil conglomerate Igem and their destructive ONI machine, the blazing guns of the Zero Gunner squadron are called in to take them down!
Key Features:
Pixel Perfect: Experience classic shooters beautifully rendered in high definition.
Play Your Way: Choose between horizontal mode and vertical “TATE” Mode, or hand a Joy-Con™ to a friend for some couch co-op fun!
Unlimited Quarters: Six shooters, six stories, and an infinite supply of ammo jam-packed in one game
About Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo:
Samurai Aces Episode I - The Shogun's daughter has been kidnapped by an evil cult, and it is up to six unlikely heroes to rescue her before she is sacrificed to resurrect a demon god!
GUNBARICH - A spin-off title of the "Gunbird" series, the young witch Marion and her anchor-wielding classmate Gurutan star in this charming game of colorful blocks.
Samurai Aces Episode II: TENGAI - The militaristic cult Shinrano has captured the Shogun's daughter in order to sacrifice her to their demon god. The only ones that can stop them are a group of misfits that must rise up to become heroes!
Samurai Aces Episode III: SENGOKU CANNON - The third installment marks the series' first venture outside of the arcade, bringing all the classic action and adventure to home consoles for the first time.
GUNBIRD - What do a witch girl, a robot, an adventurer with a jetpack, a martial artist, and a monkey warrior have in common? They all seek the pieces of a magic mirror in order to make a wish!
GUNBIRD2 - Seven quirky warriors face a mighty challenge: claim the legendary potion of a divine god in order to fulfill their grandest wishes!
Key Features:
Pixel Perfect: Experience classic shooters beautifully rendered in high definition.
Play Your Way: Choose between horizontal mode and vertical “TATE” Mode, or hand a Joy-Con™ to a friend for some couch co-op fun!
Unlimited Quarters: Six shooters, six stories, and an infinite supply of ammo jam-packed in one game.
Jim Cummings' extraordinary indie film about a US cop on the brink of breakdown is something to behold.
Expanded out from his 2016 12 minute award-winning short, the film opens with Cummings' Officer Jim Arnaud giving his mother's eulogy. With his face contorting with a mix of grief, unease and emotion after parts of his tribute fall apart, it's an exercise in awkwardness.
But unlike most of the mockumentaries that trade in such unease, Thunder Road bathes much of the proceedings in a level of pathos and humanity that's truly hard to ignore.
As Arnaud deals with the fallout from the funeral, he finds his relationship with his ex and his daughter punctuated by various problems, and various issues on the day-to-day front.
What Thunder Road juggles to marvellous effect is the mix of cringeworthy and the humane - Cummings owns every scene and the realistic writing aches with a reality that's at times, painfully close to the bone.
Drawing deep from the well of despair, Cummings' turn is the kind of performance that makes you wonder exactly where it is going to go next - and fearing for the worse. But what actually emerges is that Thunder Road swings from the sublime to the sad with contextual ease, and takes you along for the ride. Thunder Road from Jim Cummings on Vimeo.
There's a portrait of trauma that emerges from here, and perhaps that's why Thunder Road should hit such a chord with many. It may be the portrait of a broken man who's trying to be better, one that merges both comedy and tragedy but it is compelling from beginning to end.
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.
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.
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.
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.
