Upcoming Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Beta for PlayStation®4 and Xbox One Offers Four Quests, Including the Elder Dragon Velkhana

Upcoming Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Beta for PlayStation®4 and Xbox One Offers Four Quests, Including the Elder Dragon Velkhana

Upcoming Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Beta for PlayStation®4 and Xbox One

Offers Four Quests, Including the Elder Dragon Velkhana

Ahead of the Monster Hunter World: Iceborne massive expansion’s global console release on September 6, Capcom today confirmed details about upcoming beta sessions, which offer four quest options for players to try at home. The Monster Hunter World: Iceborne PlayStation®4 beta will be available for all PS4™ users from 5:00pm AEST on Friday, August 30 through 4:59pm AEST on Monday, September 2. Following that, a beta for Xbox One will be available from 5:00pm AEST on Monday, September 2 through 4:59pm AEST on Thursday, September 5. Preload options will be available a couple of days before each beta period begins. The Monster Hunter: World base game is not required to participate in the Iceborne beta sessions.

These pre-launch beta sessions for Monster Hunter World: Iceborne are cooler than ever with the addition of a frosty new challenge. Alongside the previously available Great Jagras (Beginner), Banbaro (Intermediate) and Tigrex (Expert) quests, players will be able to battle against the game’s mythical flagship monster Velkhana for the first time. Watch out though, this Elder Dragon’s icy breath is dangerous and offers a bone-chilling fight for even the fiercest of hunters.

Similar to previous beta sessions, hunters can test out all 14 weapon types in any of the four quests and the training area. The weapons include the new Iceborne features, plus the new Slinger tool options such as the Clutch Claw grapple mechanic.

Upon completing each quest for the first time, hunters can earn a total of four special commendation packs containing helpful consumable items that will be available to use in the full version of the Iceborne expansion when it releases. So, pack those Hot Drinks and join a hunting party to clear these quests!

Rocketman: Blu Ray Review

Rocketman: Blu Ray Review

The musical biopic is so hot right now.

On the coat-tails of Bohemian Rhapsody, its global success and its unexpected awards success, it's no surprise that Rocketman arrives in cinemas with a weight of expectation.

With its more verite approach thanks to singing actors, rather than a performer miming, Dexter Fletcher re-teams with his Eddie The Eagle co-star Taron Egerton to take on the story of one Reg Dwight.

Beginning with the neglect in his childhood from his father and distant mother, to the discovery of his piano skills through to the tales of excess and stardom, Fletcher weaves an interesting tapestry of Elton John's life from the early years.

It's crowd-pleasing, conventional, and in the latter stages, somewhat camp, but never anything less than a spectacle.

Fletcher knows what the tropes of the genre are (early childhood adversity, self-doubt, midlife adversity, lovers adversity and ultimately self-acceptance) and skirts through them with ease.

At times, this is both a good and a bad thing for Rocketman, with the film feeling very much like outside of Elton John himself, it  skirts over some character edges, which is much to its detriment. (The only female character of note is John's grandmother).

Even the darkness of Elton John's life are given a light touch, but are never shied away from, as Fletcher pulls what could easily be a stage show, framed as it is with John's AA group confessional, into something that becomes a jukebox piece tale of acceptance, dishing out the hits when the energy hits a lull (as it does in the final third).

In truth, Rocketman is never better than when it's a balls-to-the-wall brazen musical.

From the younger version of Elton John bursting through a pub and segueing into Egerton's look to Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting, to John's Troubador club appearance in the US where the music literally lifts the audience through euphoria, via Pinball Wizard's swirling piano as the film shuffles through numerous outfits and John's need to be his on-stage persona cycles through, Fletcher's smart enough to deploy some visual flourishes to keep the film engaging as the energy levels teeter dangerously high to exuberant.

It's less successful in some of the more human elements - but not because of Egerton's efforts as Elton John.

Moments when Elton interacts with his stifled father desperate for love are given a tremendous resonance in their brief outings. And while Richard Madden brings a dangerous smouldering to his manager-cum-lover, it's Egerton who sells the relationship with the most subtle of touches.

Ultimately, much like Bohemian Rhapsody, it won't matter what critics make of Rocketman.

In places, it soars, a spectacle of a tried-and-tested story of acceptance; elsewhere, it's grounded. But audiences will adore its commitment to being crowd-pleasing, its desire to entertain and its salutation to the early part of the Elton John legacy. 

Control: PS4 Review

Control: PS4 Review

Developed by Remedy and 505 Games
Platform: PS4

A game that keeps you mystified and bemused throughout, Remedy’s CONTROL is not your typical IP.

Meshing supernatural TV show Fringe with a shooter and wrapping the whole thing up in an enigmatic riddle, the game’s adherence to Nolan-esque shifting visuals and one location make it one of those games that almost makes you wish you mapped it as you go along - were it not for the fact that everything keeps shifting and changing.

You are Jesse, who heads into the Federal Bureau Of Control to find out what happened to your brother who went AWOL.

But upon entry, you’re thrown into a world of confusion and supernatural edges as you work your way through the levels.

Part of the joy of Control is the unknown, and it’s not this reviewer being coy to not reveal what the Hiss is, what the story is and where it lands - that’s simply respectful of Remedy’s efforts to bring something new to an ever saturated and easily spoilt gaming world. It's refreshing that it plays differently, and slowly reveals like an onion of excitement.

The game rewards you as it unfolds as it pushes its third person shooter and investigative MO to its limits. (Although at its heart, Control is a shooter and meshed with Infamous character abilities).

Astral planes are involved, strategy is needed and a non linear approach to the game will be rewarded - albeit in due course.

While there are some gaming similarities with their own Quantum Break and the aforementioned Infamous, the graphics work well to create an atmosphere of unease and uncertainty, as befits the story.

Occasionally there are some jarring overloads in the action on the screen but mostly it’s clear and unfussy workmanship that stands out to produce the structures and the cut scenes which add to the intrigue.

It also rewards the player for the effort they put in and the time that they enjoy trying to work out the head scratching sensibilities of the game itself.

While most of the cut scenes are of a static nature, the HD qualities of the characters themselves make them superlatives in their execution.

This is a game which takes its time to unfold unless all more and enticing because of it, simply put Control would not be the game it is not without Remedy's careful and meticulous touches and commitment to unnerving and atmospheric thrills.

Do yourself a favour and experience Control the way Remedy wanted you to - unspoiled and unsure what’s happening next; it’s the best way to evolve your experience within and get the most out of the shorter main story.

It is rare for a game to appear on the scene without any elements completely and spoiled.

Control offers a unique and edifying experience that is worth acclaiming - sure, its brevity and some of the load issues cause a few red flags, but all in all, this is Remedy firing at their cerebral best, and gaming at its most intriguing and rewarding.

The Hustle: DVD Review

The Hustle: DVD Review

Remaking Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with female leads isn't a bad idea, it's just that The Hustle doesn't really do much with its central conceit.

Meshing both the original through a prism of The Taming of The Shrew with This Means War mentalities and throwing in Rebel Wilson's freewheeling ways and Anne Hathaway's uptight English accent doesn't quite deliver the requisite goods, even if it does proffer a few belly laughs.

With their odd couple vibe (Wilson plays a low rent hustler, Hathaway a more society-obsessed scammer), the duo forge a bet against each other after Hathaway's Josephine's offended by the arrival of Wilson's Penny in her patch. Landing on a scam that's a winner takes all, the battle lines are drawn...

To be fair, the banter between Josephine and Penny makes part of the film worthwhile. From decrying Hathaway's Josephine to a "librarian's corpse, but less lively" to referring to Wilson as a "big titted Russell Crowe", there are some moments that really land in this continually flat and formulaic mess.

But they're outweighed by Wilson once again debasing herself in weight gags and the fact nobody can love her (relatively fresh in Pitch Perfect, but starting to depressingly stink in 2019) and a script that's nonsensical and keen to drop storylines for the hell of it, despite giving them weighting early on.

Hathaway's game for comedy proves fruitful once again, with a deft light touch benefiting proceedings.

While The Hustle doesn't outstay its welcome at a relatively tight 90 minutes, it can be summed up in one interaction between Wilson's Penny, who's pretending to be blind, and Sharp's benevolent tech guy who befriends her, unaware he's her mark.

"You've got hysterical blindness," he says; to which she remarks quickly "It's not that funny to me."

So say we all, Rebel Wilson, so say we all.

The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps: DVD Review

The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps: DVD Review

Director: Julia Parnell

A good documentary piques your interest in your subject, answers your questions and gives you insight; a great documentary makes you fall in love with your subject, makes you aware of something you never knew of before, and sends you scuttling to find out more.

Sadly, to those outside of New Zealand and never around for the key moments of the Chills, The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps is a documentary that falls into the slightly lacking if you don't already have pre-knowledge of your subject.

What director..... is aiming to do is at best, present a tale of someone who went through the musical machine and has hit the highs and the lows, and get them to reflect back on it. Throw in a medical character arc for Phillipps as well as the feeling there's a lot of unfinished business and it could, in all honesty, have been an intriguing meditation on the merits and perils of the industry and those who are chewed up and spit out.

But what The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps doesn't manage to do is fully convey the reasons why the band were so beloved, other than to show repeated amounts of concert footage attended by hardly anyone and have members of the band state they were so great. Earlier contributions from the likes of Neil Finn are quickly phased out, in lieu of spending time with Phillipps as he deals with the fallout from Hepatitis C and reflections back on some of his work.

It's here the humanity of the piece comes out; of a man who's lost his way a little, who's filled his house with inexorable amounts of junk masquerading as collections, and of a man whose desire to be arty sees him spray painting mummified cats. And it's here the most interesting kernels of the film emerge, only to be left - upon leaving this film, I still have no full idea why Phillipps is so alone in his darkest days, other than hints of how his behaviour pushed others away.

That's the prime gripe of The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps: it forces you to make assumptions about its enigmatic subject and proffers you hints of what artistry demands of you within the business.

Whilst it's nicely shot, conveys both the merits and perils of its Dunedin setting thanks to Phillipps' cluttered house and the pressure cooker weather elements, The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps is a frustratingly indecisive watch; by failing to take a stance on its subject, it's sadly too obtuse to be anything more than niche appeal. 

Win a double pass to see AMAZING GRACE

Win a double pass to see AMAZING GRACE

To celebrate the release of Amazing Grace, in cinemas September 5, you can win a double pass to see the concert film starring Aretha Franklin.

About Amazing Grace

In 1972, 29-year-old Aretha Franklin, ‘Queen of Soul’, wishing to return to her gospel roots, chose to record an album live at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church, a disused movie theatre, in Watts, Los Angeles. 

She was ably accompanied by the accomplished musicians of her regular touring band; the heavenly Southern California Community Choir, conducted by a rocking Alexander Hamilton; mighty Reverend James Cleveland, himself a gospel singer, songwriter and arranger, who taught Franklin piano; and her own father, the great preacher C.L. Franklin.

Warner Bros. brought in Sydney Pollack to shoot the recording, which took place over two nights and resulted in a double album that went on to become the highest-selling live gospel music album of all time.

To win a double pass, simply enter below!

Wolfenstein: Young Blood: PS4 Review

Wolfenstein: Young Blood: PS4 Review

Released by Bethesda
Developed by Machine Games, Arkane Studios
Platform: PS4

This Wolfenstein spin off is a co-op shooter that works best with your friends, not as well with the AI.

Assuming the role of either Jess or Soph Blazkowicz, the twin daughters of BJ Blazkowicz, it's up to you to do what the family's done for years - killing Nazis. When their father mysteriously disappears, the girls throw on power suits and start to try and track him down in Neu Paris, where he was last seen.

Wolfenstein Youngblood goes someway to keeping the hedonistic blasting of bad guys in tact, but most of the game relies on the second person to help you out to progress.

Which is fine for when a mate's playing along with you, but is occasionally more problematic when it comes to the computer side of things helping you out. It's perhaps pertinent the game is more committed to the gameplay rather than offering up new and surprising twists on the patented Wolfenstein formula.

That's not to say it's not playable - quite the opposite in fact.

The game's committed to its lunacy, but at its heart, Wolfenstein Youngblood is still just a simple run and gun game from the first person perspective. Stealth is a weaker element this time around, but in fairness, it's still playable enough.

It seems a crime to label Wolfenstein: Youngblood as fine, but that's all it really is. A simple levelling up system, a game whose core MO hasn't changed, and a plot that's not as outrageous as it should or could be with two protagonists who make the journey bearable (aside from annoying dance moves in lifts), Wolfenstein Youngblood is a solid spinoff, but an inessential one.

WWE 2K20 - Roman Reigns Towers Mode

WWE 2K20 - Roman Reigns Towers Mode

WWE 2K20 Cover Superstar Roman Reigns Featured in 2K Towers Mode

Now in its second year for the franchise, WWE 2K20’s 2K Towers invites players to take a WWE Superstar or created MyPLAYER into one of several different towers, each with a unique gauntlet of matches that boast different challenges, match stipulations and player modifications. 

WWE 2K20 will shine a spotlight on Roman Reigns, who shares the game cover with WWE Superstar Becky Lynch. In 2K Towers: Roman’s Reign, players will follow “The Big Dog” through his early days in WWE, including his time as a member of The Shield to his rivalries with Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Undertaker and more. Overall, players will compete in 16 matches and live out key chapters in Reigns’ impressive mark on WWE history, all while claiming championships and igniting the WWE Universe along the way. Every match includes a live action introduction from “The Big Dog” himself in exclusive, never-before-seen footage.

To view the trailer click the image below

Check out the complete list of matches in 2K Towers: Roman’s Reign:

·        Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins vs. Team Hell No

·        Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton

·        Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan

·        Roman Reigns vs. Big Show

·        Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt

·        Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus

·        Roman Reigns vs. Triple H

·        Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles

·        Roman Reigns vs. Rusev

·        Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman

·        Roman Reigns vs. Undertaker

·        Roman Reigns vs. John Cena

·        Roman Reigns vs. The Miz

·        Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe

·        Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar

·        Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre

Swimming With Men: DVD Review

Swimming With Men: DVD Review

Cast: Rob Brydon, Jane Horrocks, Daniel Mays, Jim Carter, Thomas Turgoose, Rupert Graves, Adeel Aktar, Charlotte Riley
Director: Oliver Parker

There's a kernel of a decent movie trying to rise to the surface in this tale about a male synchronised swimming team.

Easily dismissed as The Full Monty under water, Parker's take on the male midlife crisis movie is fairly middle of the road.

Brydon plays Eric, an accountant who's been in the job since forever. Tired and jaded of it all, and insecure after his wife (Horrocks, wasted in a minor role) finds her second wind as a local councillor.
His only reprieve from the tedium of spreadsheets and nondescript lift journeys is in the pool, where one day he finds a group of men practising their moves.

Asked to join by the members ('It's not just a club, it's an idea, a protest against who we've become" one says), Eric finds his second wind also.

Swimming With Men is the kind of film that works best on TV, rather than the big screen, offering as it does little that's not been seen before.

But it's also not above using a poo in a pool at a kids' event to promote some laughs.

Based on a true story it may be (about a Swedish male swim team), and while there's something about the indefatigable Brydon doing his everyman thing again, the film doesn't offer much of life outside the pool to really grab you.

Each of the fellow swimmers is fairly loosely sketched, with a little more afforded to Rupert Graves' character as he bonds with Eric (despite the warnings that lives outside stay private). It's not that that's a bad thing, but the speed bumps when they come, can be seen miles off as the relatively pedestrian comedy tries to hit its stride.

It's all about the feelgood factor, and midlife crisis of friendships - and while Swimming With Men doesn't exactly do anything sensational with those ideas, it does present them pleasantly, albeit occasionally in a pedestrian fashion.

It's almost as if Parker was afraid to do anything radical with this tale, and lumped for the basic approach rather than something memorable.

As it is, Swimming With Men doesn't exactly swim to the top, but it doesn't also sink to the bottom without a trace - it's probably safer in the shallow part of the pool, than the emotionally deeper quarters. 

Celia: DVD Review

Celia: DVD Review

"We ignore the yearning of our spirit."

These words, coupled with Harry Dean Stanton's "I'm scared", sum up the general feeling of many on their deathbeds, but often go ignored or long buried.

Such it is with director Amanda Millar's Celia, a documentary about the impassioned social advocate Celia Lashlie, known more colloquially as Ces to her friends.

And yet, despite some powerful touches within, Celia feels a little too drawn out to achieve the power it desperately wants - even though it is really a rallying cry for a change.

Some of the problem with Celia is that it assumes you know Celia Lashlie before you go in; and therefore fails as a doco in general about her for the uneducated masses - how would a foreign audience see this subject is one niggle worth pondering on viewing and after.

Even though it's well-shot and the director's got the best of the single 90 minute interview she was able to achieve before life cruelly intervened and Celia Lashlie died, the film feels a little eclipsed by its own archive material and by its subject itself.

Stripped of too much of Celia's back story (one suspects further interviews could have added a lot more), the film relies a lot on the facts it deals with over social injustices in New Zealand, the mothers' place to raise children and prevent future criminals and an intriguingly didactic news doco.

Complete with shocking stats on a darkened background while slow mo reenactments follow after, the style of the doco is primarily one which feels suited to a TV news expose, rather than a fuller portrait of what the woman involved was.

It also relies way too much on nature shots for segues, and feels a little strung out in parts as the pieces are tied together.

And yet, when it uses the right material from the one 90 minute interview Millar got combined with archive footage, it shines fiercely and brightly; a towering beacon lit under our collective asses thanks to Lashlie's no prisoners taken approach to the truths society is sometimes too cowardly to face.

But there's humility in Celia's courage in the face of death and, much like Stanton's simply delivered line "I'm scared" in Lucky, her regrets so late in the day hit a level of poignancy that are powerful and undeniable.

Even through it all, Celia's humanity and the simplicity of her universal struggle is deeply affecting - Millar manages to capture that via moments of honesty rarely committed to screen and by non-intrusive interviewing.

Celia could be a useful as a change piece for government agencies and those looking to educate, as was Celia's vision for the film - an extension of her crusading work inside and outside the system.

Yet one can't help but side with the film commission and TV execs who advised doing it differently, even though I'm not privy to those discussions or director Amanda Millar's desire not to do so. (She divulged these early on in the pre-presentation of the film.)

One suspects, given the fullness of the auditorium and the fact extra screenings have been put on, Celia will find a life that it needs to - though potentially, its best life lies not on the big screen, but rather within the smaller screen within institutions.

Lashlie herself says near the end "If you're standing at my funeral, then my work is done" - and given the attendance at the festival, one quite easily can attest - and agree - to such thoughts.

But on reflection, Celia could have used an expeditious edit in parts, a trimming of some of the obvious stylings which become a narrative crutch.

It should also be said that a little more context to her own past and life would have fulfilled many of the questions foreigners may have.

Celia will have a life as a teaching document, but as a wider piece of cinema, a documentary to inform, it is unfortunately wanting - even though in parts, it easily and powerfully confers Celia Lashlie's ideals and attitudes for change.

Pokémon Detective Pikachu: Blu Ray Review

Pokémon Detective Pikachu: Blu Ray Review

How you feel about the family friendly Pokémon Detective Pikachu will depend largely on how you feel about the crazed cult of Pokémon.

The uninitiated may struggle with the film, which is set in a world where both Pokémon and humans co-exist, thanks to the benevolent Howard Clifford (Nighy) who believes co-existence and betterment is possible.

One who doesn't agree is 21-year-old Tim (an awkward Justice Smith) who resents the Pokémon and refuses to be paired up with them like others. When he discovers his dad is missing after a car accident, Tim goes to Ryme City, the hub of the human Pokémon harmony, and ends up working with Ryan Reynolds' Pikachu to try and solve the case.

If you're a Pokémon fan, you will adore this film, packed as it is with creatures from the cards and the TV series, and no doubt riddled with Easter eggs.

But, to be honest, for all others, it's kind of middling, narratively flat fare that's more about its nostalgia than a degree of coherence, and its plot is saddled with exposition for character development and sees a lurching plot stop and start while someone drops reams of necessary explanation.

There are elements of everything that's gone before here, with a Zootopia mesh, some Roger Rabbit hating of the opposites, X-Men, a film of fathers and sons and other all-too familiar sci-fi DNA tropes that can be seen a mile off. It unfortunately cripples part of the movie, as you can see what's coming before it hits, lacking weight and heft when it should.

In fairness, Ryme City is wonderfully realised, a kind of cartoony Blade Runner cityscape that shows the co-existence with ease. And Reynolds' trademark motormouth may be dialled down this time, but it still gives the over-caffeinated Pikachu some much needed laughs here and there. The buddy cop relationship between Pikachu and Tim makes for amiable fare as well.

But Pokémon Detective Pikachu lacks the noir edges it's clearly aspiring to, saddling everything with heavy flashbacks early on to paint the portraits and relying on audience love and nostalgia to forego the repetitive simplicities of the plot. And that could be fatal, seeing as newer audiences are what will continue this series.

In truth, Pokémon Detective Pikachu is less gumshoe, more candy coloured gum stuck to your cinematic shoe. The series' refrain may be that you "gotta catch them all", but if you're not in the in-crowd, you should be happy to let this one go free. 

Angel Has Fallen: Film Review

Angel Has Fallen: Film Review

Cast: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Danny Huston, Nick Nolte
Director: Ric Roman Waugh

It was inevitable, really.

Given he'd saved the President, saved London and had a happyish ending, it should be no surprise that Presidential lucky charm Mike Banning (Butler) would be in the firing line.

And given three years has passed in each of the release cycles of Olympus Has Fallen (2013) and London Has Fallen (2016), it's time for Angel Has Fallen.

Bruised, battered and addicted to pills after the rollercoasters of the job of the Secret Service in the previous two outings, Banning is starting to feel mortal. Tempted by the possibility of the top job at the Secret Service, his world's turned upside down when the entire Presidential secret service team is wiped out - leaving him as the sole survivor.

Framed for the attempted murder of the US President, Banning goes on the run, determined to prove his innocence...

Reviving cold war politics, throwing in some "timely" barbs about Russian collusion, and dumping some machismo on the idea of private contractors benefiting from war, Angel Has Fallen does little to build on its surprise success of the first film.

Choosing instead to go for elements of The Fugitive and a bad episode of 24, Butler deals with lots of pained close ups to show his ailing state, and deals out plenty of killshots as sense and sensibilities go out the window.

Beginning with what seems like a gun porn secret service recruitment Call of Duty style video and ending with an extremely passable and well-executed finale, Angel Has Fallen has glimpses of something beyond the C-grade action banal genre it's clearly pitching for.

Butler's Banning looks shabby, like he may not make it (though really, there's never any true doubt) but yet in his interactions with Danny Huston's quietly calm mate-turned-bad-guy, there's a feeling of two veterans lost in a world that no longer needs them in the way they were needed first time around.

The action sequences are, in truth, executed in a fairly workmanlike way; there's nothing special or spectacular in the explosion porn that's on display - complete with slowmo. And yet, in its finale, Angel Has Fallen delivers a sequence that may be familiar in many ways, but is nonetheless compelling to enjoy.

And then there's Nick Nolte.

As Banning's dad, and at his shaggiest, this doomsday prepper off-the-grid paranoic is one of Nolte's most grizzled and begotten roles. But it's worth it alone for some of the lines he dishes out, which have to be seen to be heard.

Ultimately, Angel Has Fallen isn't smart enough to be taken seriously, and never really rises against its rote execution. It's flabby too, with its 120 minutes run time being the longest of the trilogy and also the most needlessly long.

Angel Has Fallen may wrap up the surprise trilogy, but in truth, this series was done with the first one - it may try to be contemporary here, but you've seen it all before. It's time this Angel had its wings clipped.

Blinded by the Light: Film Review

Blinded by the Light: Film Review

Cast: Viveik Cara, Kulvinder Ghir, Nell Williams, Hayley Atwell
Director: Gurinder Chadha

You've seen Blinded by the Light many times before, and in many different iterations.

The very familiar coming of age tale, set in Luton in England in 1987 centres around Cara's Javed, a young Pakistani man who yearns to be his own person, but who's stuck at a crossroads.

When Javed ends up going to college, he finds his world is irrevocably changed when he's gifted two Bruce Springsteen tapes, and being at the age of discovery, the doors of his perception are blown wide open by the Boss' music and lyrics.

But in the background of Javed's life lurk the National Front, the possibility of love, and the inevitability of a showdown over his desires and his dad's directives...

Blinded by the Light has an energy that bursts through the bubbling cheesiness which seeps in almost immediately.

Chadha is less interested in reinventing the wheel in this music-inspired movie, and more interested in perhaps showcasing a story that was prevalent in 1980s UK life, but rarely recorded. The indolence and ugliness of racism lurks casually in Javed's life, and while Chadha's only interested in occasionally using it for drama, the evocative montage of 80s Britain under Thatcher which begins the film serves only to showcase the good and the bad of the era.

Elsewhere, the film's cornball and corny dialogue sags a little in the excessive 2 hour run time - an expeditious edit could have given the film a pep and zap that it needed in parts as it spins its all-too-familiar tale.

There's a heart here, but rather than leading with the drama, the film hits every dramatic cliche and and services its leads ahead of the script; yet there are moments when the film excels, such as Chadha's reveal of a daytime club, and the heady thrill of youth within. These are the moments that Blinded by the Light could have had more of, not ones which feel rote and almost ridiculous.

It may be sweet, and crowd-pleasing at times, but Blinded by the Light does little exciting with the musical genre except to pillage someone else's back catalogue to sell nostalgia and probably Spotify soundtracks (in this case, the Boss) .

However, don't be surprised that in the year Rocketman soared to audience success and Bohemian Rhapsody won big, Blinded by the Light will have your heart tapping away in your seat, even if your head is warning you repeatedly against doing so.

2040: Film Review

2040: Film Review

Director: Damon Gameau

Idealism seeps through the veins of That Sugar Film's follow up.

Damon Gameau returns with a self-professed optimistic piece of what life could be like in 2040 that's squarely aimed at showing his 4-year-old daughter Velvet that there is hope among the doom and gloom of climate change reporting and global concerns over the planet's future.

The tone for this film is set in the opening moments as a title board reveals that carbon credits used in making this film have been offset.

It's genially put together, and should be commended for its eternal optimism, but despite Gameau deploying visual tactics such as shrinking down commentators and experts to wee tiny levels so they can be dwarfed on the screen, the film's really only interested in presenting a utopian side of the argument.

"We have everything we need right now to make it happen," Gameau intones at one point.

And as he demonstrates how farming can do its bit, how self-driving cars will provide transport peace and how energy can be shared with others, it's easy to buy into. But Gameau shies away from getting any of the critical answers why this isn't happening yet or won't in future - whether it's out of a desire to make the film so positive that it doesn't make you want to scream at politicians and their global politicking or whether it's through lack of trying, it's never really clear.

The end result is that frustrations bubble up - despite the cutesy use of kids' vox pops talking about what they want to see in 2040. Sure, it's amusing in parts, and is as hollow as a once over lightly global approach, but much like the director's predilection in That Sugar Film, it's all about shallow rushes to the head.

In truth, the narrative naivete cloys, and while it's understandable that Gameau's trying to inspire rather than put obstacles up, its occasional head in the sands' approach does nothing to dispel a nagging sense of frustration and a feeling that everyone in the film is living in Fantasyland.

Crowd-pleasing it may be; inspiring it may also be, but based on any kind of reality and giving any steps forward to making it a reality, it is not.

Don't let the politics get in the way of a good dream, eh.

Vai: DVD Review

Vai: DVD Review

Kiel McNaughton and Kerry Warkia's powerhouse film Waru, about abuse, was a movie that blazed a trail on the local scene.

Using eight separate stories and eight directors, the film signified something different for film-making and its critical success allowed other wahine to be inspired for the future.

Their follow up treads a similar path of approach, with nine female directors taking on the story of Vai, in different stages of her life. Set across various Pacific islands, the portmanteau approach once again has highs and lows, with the overall film feeling more like a spiritual piece, than a fully fleshed out feature.

However, what emerges from Vai is a strong eye and connection for stories related to the lands, and within the lands they are set. Excellent camera work from those involved give the film a sense of place, and a sense of timing with shots blending into the land, and with set ups being kept within a close frame than would be offered by the likes of drones and so on.

The non-freewheeling camera approach gives the film an intimacy that's seized on by some of the storytelling and that proves to be greatly beneficial. Certainly the short vignette set within school as Vai's reality of existence comes to the fore, and family matters bubble under is one of the more powerful of the portmanteau.

Ultimately, while Vai has less of the power of Waru, it certainly has more of the spirituality with restrained camera work and direction capturing some traditions for posterity that are wondrous to behold, and which have resonance as they play out.

There may not be a familiar narrative thread running throughout allowing for an easy follow, but there's a familiar theme in Vai of the power of the female, and of the indigenous connection to the land.

It's sparsely stirring stuff when it needs to be, and while overall, Vai may not find a wider audience or stir up as much emotion as Waru did, its commitment to giving a platform for different voices to tell one longer form story in chunks is more than commendable. 

Pokémon Detective Pikachu: Blu Ray Review

Pokémon Detective Pikachu: Blu Ray Review 

How you feel about the family friendly Pokémon Detective Pikachu will depend largely on how you feel about the crazed cult of Pokémon.

The uninitiated may struggle with the film, which is set in a world where both Pokémon and humans co-exist, thanks to the benevolent Howard Clifford (Nighy) who believes co-existence and betterment is possible.

One who doesn't agree is 21-year-old Tim (an awkward Justice Smith) who resents the Pokémon and refuses to be paired up with them like others. When he discovers his dad is missing after a car accident, Tim goes to Ryme City, the hub of the human Pokémon harmony, and ends up working with Ryan Reynolds' Pikachu to try and solve the case.

If you're a Pokémon fan, you will adore this film, packed as it is with creatures from the cards and the TV series, and no doubt riddled with Easter eggs.

But, to be honest, for all others, it's kind of middling, narratively flat fare that's more about its nostalgia than a degree of coherence, and its plot is saddled with exposition for character development and sees a lurching plot stop and start while someone drops reams of necessary explanation.

There are elements of everything that's gone before here, with a Zootopia mesh, some Roger Rabbit hating of the opposites, X-Men, a film of fathers and sons and other all-too familiar sci-fi DNA tropes that can be seen a mile off. It unfortunately cripples part of the movie, as you can see what's coming before it hits, lacking weight and heft when it should.

In fairness, Ryme City is wonderfully realised, a kind of cartoony Blade Runner cityscape that shows the co-existence with ease. And Reynolds' trademark motormouth may be dialled down this time, but it still gives the over-caffeinated Pikachu some much needed laughs here and there. The buddy cop relationship between Pikachu and Tim makes for amiable fare as well.

But Pokémon Detective Pikachu lacks the noir edges it's clearly aspiring to, saddling everything with heavy flashbacks early on to paint the portraits and relying on audience love and nostalgia to forego the repetitive simplicities of the plot. And that could be fatal, seeing as newer audiences are what will continue this series.

In truth, Pokémon Detective Pikachu is less gumshoe, more candy coloured gum stuck to your cinematic shoe. The series' refrain may be that you "gotta catch them all", but if you're not in the in-crowd, you should be happy to let this one go free. 

The Kindergarten Teacher: DVD Review

The Kindergarten Teacher: DVD Review

Based on the film Haganenet by Nadav Lapid, Maggie Gyllenhaal stars as Lisa Spinelli, an adrift kindergarten teacher in this rather odd piece that veers creepily into territory that's unsettling.

Unhappy with her kids refusing to eat dinner as family, with one who would rather use Instagram to further her once burgeoning photo career and flailing in her poetry class, Spinelli finds her life changed one day thanks to five-year-old Joe (Parker Sevak).

Joe appears to spontaneously erupt into poetry, and Spinelli, sensing there's more here, decides to nurture him after taking one of his poems, reciting it in class and receiving accolades.

But she spirals further into pursuing his talent, what emerges is dangerously close to obsession.

The Kindergarten Teacher is an odd watch at times, with Spinelli's behaviour seeming borderline unsettling in its naivete and its execution.

And while there are definitely questions over Spinelli's actions, there are no questions over Gyllenhaal's performance as she descends. Committed, human and with subtle changes as the film goes on, Gyllenhaal imbues her character with the signs of some kind of breakdown and innate sadness.

It's hard to keep a film like this ambiguous without the audience becoming ambivalent, and while some moments border very closely to steering the film in a direction where you don't want it to go, Gyllenhaal and to a lesser extent, Sevak, manage to keep it just on the right side of uncertain.

"This world is going to erase you" is just heartbreaking to hear and when the frustration behind this is expanded further, Gyllenhaal gives Spinelli soul and a reason for her growing insanity - sadly, it's all too reflected in the modern world and in Spinelli's children.

In a weird way, The Kindergarten Teacher does feel like a psychological horror wrapped up in a drama, as the edges and lines become blurred - but as a subtle portrait of a breakdown and potentially, abuse, it perhaps works better.