Apocalypse Now Final Cut: DVD Review

Apocalypse Now Final Cut: DVD Review

It's difficult to honestly appraise the differences of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now Final Cut given it's this reviewer's first exposure to the movie itself.

What is clear from the sprawling epic is this is the cut Coppola wanted to have as the definitive one, and the one which he's determined will be his last and ultimate take on the Vietnam movie.

For those uninitiated to the story, this is the tale of Martin Sheen's Captain Willard, who's given the job of assassinating Marlon Brando's Colonel Kurtz, who's gone wild within the confines of Cambodia and is seen as a threat by the US Military.

Assembling a small team, Willard ventures deep into territory of the forest and the unknown.

Coppola's greatest achievement is assembling the pieces early on in the first hour into action scenes which are a visual symphony that showcases CGI is not always best. As explosions rock the jungle, choppers head over, and the camera never sways from its leads, it's clear Coppola is in his element and assemblage.

But despite heightened colours and improved audio, the film's final hour descends into discord, an anti-climactic meh of epic proportions that does little to build on the promised showdown. (A pair of 21st century eyes would notice how all the characters of colour are dispatched before the final act concludes).

It's still an impressive epic, but its unwieldly sprawl does hit it quite badly in the final third of the run. However, fans of Apocalypse Now will want to witness the film in the way its creator envisioned. 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Beta has become the largest in Call of Duty history

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Beta has become the largest in Call of Duty history

CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE MULTIPLAYER BETA BIGGEST EVER IN FRANCHISE HISTORY

Highly-Anticipated Beta Delivers New Franchise Highs in Most Users, Hours Played, Peak Concurrents

Call of Duty Fans Overwhelmingly Respond to First Crossplay Beta;

Title Readies for Worldwide Release October 25^th

September 26, 2019 – Activision today confirmed that the recent Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® Beta has become the largest in Call of Duty history, delivering the most users, the most hours played and highest peak concurrent number of players across PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC combined.

Millions of gamers downloaded and played the Beta, which ran across two consecutive weekends, beginning Friday , Sept. 13, and ending Tuesday, Sept. 24. The Beta included crossplay, enabling gamers to play together across PS4, Xbox One, and PC for the first time in franchise history.

“We’re focused on delivering the best online experience possible and that includes bringing the community together with crossplay,” said Patrick Kelly, Creative Director and co-Studio Head, Infinity Ward. “We appreciate all of the players from around the world, who played and shared feedback.  Your support is not only a driving inspiration to the entire team, but also provides us with important data and feedback which helps us improve the experience for launch.”

“The response from fans for Modern Warfare’s release next month has been incredible,” said Byron Beede, executive vice president and general manager of Call of Duty, Activision. “From the beginning of development there has been extraordinary excitement for this game.  We thank Call of Duty players and the development teams led by Infinity Ward for making this a record-setting Beta.  We look forward to October 25 when players everywhere will experience the full amount of depth and gameplay Modern Warfare has to offer.”

The Beta showcased the unprecedented depth across Modern Warfare multiplayer, ranging from the close-quarter frenetic 2v2 Gunfight play, up to and including the world reveal of the epic large-scale Ground War mode supporting up to 64 players.  Call of Duty: Modern Warfare multiplayer is expected to support up to 100 players in select multiplayer experiences upon launch on October 25. Winner of the “Best Online Multiplayer” by Game Critics Best of E3 2019, Modern Warfare’s ultimate multiplayer playground delivers an action-packed online experience with best-in-class down the barrel gameplay, along with unprecedented depth and variety in gameplay.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is scheduled for release globally October 25, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The title features a fully-optimised PC version, developed in partnership with Beenox, which will be available exclusively on Battle.net^®, Blizzard Entertainment’s online gaming platform. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is published by Activision, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) with development led by award-winning developer, Infinity Ward, and additional development support from Beenox, High-Moon Studios and Raven Software.

Sometimes Always Never: DVD Review

Sometimes Always Never: DVD Review

Irritatingly quirky to start off before quickly cementing itself as something like a cross between Waiting for Godot and a rumination on fathers and sons, Sometimes Always Never is a low key delight.

Nighy plays tailor Alan, who starts the film by meeting up with his son Peter (a downbeat Riley) and clearly trying to repair their relationship. (The reasons why are too spoilery to discuss here, and while it's not a massive plot point, part of the vicarious thrill of Sometimes Always Never is seeing the tiny details teased out.)

When Alan moves in with Peter, the strained bond is pushed further, but as events transpire, the truth behind it all becomes apparent...

As mentioned, the initial quirk of Sometimes Always Never greatly irritates, as if director Hunter has nothing else to lean on, but what happens is that the combination of Nighy and Riley begins to tease something out that's utterly poignant, charmingly unexpected and utterly and unequivocally moving.

Dry in extremis, the delight comes in the wordplay (in more ways than one) and the subtle nuances of the relationship between father and son, entrenched as it is in the English ways of relationships, where less is said than should be.

Nighy and Riley excel in this piece which is effectively about communication, the lack thereof and what goes unsaid in relationships. It's surprisingly affecting in its little moments as Hunter assembles the pieces on the chess board of this bond, using drained colour palettes and terrible interior decor to illustrate various moments in their lives.

There's an intrinsically sad whimsical feeling to Sometimes Always Never, but it manages to leave you feeling uplifted as it skirts around David Lynch levels of obtuseness.

Sometimes Always Never is, without a doubt, one of the low-key highlights of the cinematic year.

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark: Film Review

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark: Film Review

Cast: Zoe Margaret Coletti, Michael Garza, Dean Norris, Gil Bellows
Director: André Øvredal

Delivering some occasionally solid jump scares and yet simultaneously seeming to flounder under necessary plot devices, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark is perhaps suitable more for the teen element looking to get the heebie-jeebies jolted out of them.

It's the story of raised-by-a-single-parent and town horror nerd Stella (Coletti) who, one Hallowe'en decides to join two friends to exact revenge on the local jocks led by 's Tommy. Ending up at a haunted house with mysterious newcomer Ramon (Garza), Stella and her pals find a book seemingly written by the town's local legend Sarah Bellows.

But the book appears to have murderous intent, as the tales begin to come true...

Meshing Final Destination with Goosebumps, and some effective chills, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark feels at times defanged from its gruesomeness thanks to its decision to try and tell a story that's clearly destined for a sequel.

That said, there are some moments that work very well, such as the Red Room sequence that seems to have del Toro's fingerprints all over it, and the upper echelons of any child's nightmare they can't escape.

Equally Harold the scarecrow appears to have potential to be one of the new horror icons, were it not for the fact the CGI team's desire to flourish it with bugs crawling out of orifices seems more corny than outright chilling.

While Coletti is effective as Stella, and Ramon's Garza adds stoic but undemanding support, the heroes of the piece feel like they've stepped in from an Amblin film via way of Stranger Things. They're not afforded enough time to build character and charisma before the necessities of the plot tears them in different directions, robbing them of flow that's needed as the rush to get through each episode kicks in.

Ultimately, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark isn't quite strong enough to bring Alvin Schwartz's darker edges to life or daring in its quest to get a wider audience. It's a shame because there truly could be the stuff of nightmares here - it's spooky and creepy, but that's not enough to turn this book into another series.

And that Achilles Heel's a crying shame.

The Last of Us Part II will release February 2020

The Last of Us Part II will release February 2020

A release date has finally been unveiled for The Last Of US Part II.

It will surface on February 21, 2020.

Watch the brand new The Last of Us Part II trailer below.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold: Film Review

Dora and the Lost City of Gold: Film Review

Cast: Isabela Moner, Eva Longoria, Michael Pena, Eugenio Derbez, Jeff Wahlberg, Temuera Morrison
Director: James Bobin

Can you say "Not quite sure what it wants to be?"

The Dora the Explorer film, with Muppets director James Bobin behind the helm, is a family friendly slice of Indiana Jones, coming of age, Tomb Raider-esque oddity.

Moner is Dora, prone to asking questions of nobody (something her father, the excellently cast Michael Pena, hopes she'll grow out of) and who has been brought up in the jungle.

When her parents decide to go on a quest to find the ancient city of Parapata, Dora is sent to the city to reunite with her cousin Diego (Wahlberg) and to experience the horrors of high school.

Roundly mocked by the cliques for her perkiness and odd precocious behaviour, Dora finds herself- along with her unwilling high school compadres - thrown into an adventure when she's kidnapped after her parents go missing...

Mixing a huge dollop of self-awareness, with an irritatingly winning ever-chipper performance from Moner, Dora and the Lost City of Gold will prove successful with its audience who've grown up with the animated explorer and her wily ways.

But Bobin injects a degree of magicality into the film, peppering it with silly songs that are supposed to inform and entertain ("Can you say severe neurotoxicity? ", Dora says at one point) and which nods to the show's MO.

There are messages of self-belief, and of staying true to yourself which will appeal to the outsiders among the viewers, and there are moments, particularly during the final exploration, that are a bit scarier for younger ends of the audience, but which pay homage to the Indiana Jones-esque elements.

Ultimately, Dora and the Lost City of Gold is a solid slice of family film - it's not too memorable in the wash, but with a winning Moner giving her all and keeping the energy up throughout, she's one explorer you're happy to tag along with for the adventure.

The Nightingale: Film Review

The Nightingale: Film Review

Jennifer Kent's latest after The Babadook follows similar themes.

The colonial-set Australian adventure has a fire that's hard to deny, but it also features a mother and an imperiled child, much like The Babadook did.

But that's where the similarities end.

In 1825 Tasmania, Aisling Franciosi is Clare, a thief who's in debt to Sam Claflin's Hawkins. With Hawkins abusing his power, and frustrated at his inability to progress postings in the army, Clare finds herself extremely abused and compromised at his hand.

When things go devastatingly wrong, Clare is forced out on a mission of extreme revenge, and in the company only of Aborigine Billy (Baykali Ganambarr) as her tracker.

It may be sadistic in its opening act, and prone to sickening moments of colonial cruelty as it reveals a necessary and honest reality, but The Nightingale presents moments of beauty in among its brutality.

Kent once again presents a story that's beautifully shot, with landscape vistas presenting both the power and terror of the uncharted outside world. Thankfully, it helps counterbalance some of the cruelty that white men do which is sadly prevalent in this piece.

It may be a Western in its approach in terms of a revenge story, however, there are moments of horror as well as Kent balances a nightmarish element of hauntings for Clare.

Franciosi delivers a powerhouse turn as a woman on a mission; whereas it could be a one dimensional role, she imbues Clare with both fragility and fire. Equally, Ganambarr gives an angry yet understated edge to the local man whose land has been attacked, raped and his family killed. There's a definite anti-colonial message here, as the evil of the English is explored (both the Irish and Aborigine abhor the English) in subtle ways.

There's no denying there are hardships early on, but stick with The Nightingale as it's both necessary and the rewards are well worth it, as the final message of personal redemption and choice burn through.