Frozen II: Film Review

Frozen II: Film Review

Cast: Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, Jonathan Groff
Director: Jennifer Lee, Chris Buck

How do you solve a problem like Frozen 2?

The first film was such a mega hit, and resolved all of its issues, that making a sequel complete with earworm songs like Let It Go was always going to be a fool's game.

But six years on from when Frozen melted our collective cinema-going hearts, Elsa and Anna return to life in Arendelle.

In this latest, Elsa (Menzel) finds herself lost, compelled to answer a song she keeps hearing from an ancient forest in an enchanted land she remembers from her childhood...

So the gang ventures into the woods to save their kingdom and Elsa's soul.

More emotionally resonant and darker than the first film, Frozen II offers vicarious delights that may well be lost on some of the younger end of the audience.

Yet, both Lee and Buck may well be banking on the fact their initial audience has grown up more and is more willing to tackle the darker themes of maturity and what life's about - and yet they're still willing to throw in Olaf goofing around to keep the younger ones entertained, and to show Elsa busting out superpowers like an animated Captain Marvel.

The film this time throws up some truly gorgeous animation, some scenes which technically excel - from a dancing darting water horse to an almost electric light-led power ballad from Menzel (Into The Unknown, one of the film's best), the animators aren't keen to rest on their laurels, even if some
of it may be lost on their audience.

While the songs have more of a Broadway feel this time, and are less interested in becoming the stuff of nightmares on car journeys, it's fair to note they're not as instantly memorable, even if they are enjoyably presented onscreen.

The film skirts with plenty of themes; it builds on the sisterhood from the first's subversion of true love, dabbles with climate change, and touches on colonialism.

However, its biggest disappointment is with the flirtation with giving Elsa a girlfriend - her only solid interaction outside of the core group is with a native female from within the enchanted forest, and there are hints of more. But it's frustratingly left on the vine, and only for the subtleties to be picked up on.

Ultimately Frozen II may leave those expecting a redo of the first a little cold. But for those wanting something more epic, something that moves on from the whimsicality of the first, Frozen II more than meets the expectation and delivers.

Square Enix Releases Marvel's Avengers Official A-Day Gameplay Footage

Square Enix Releases Marvel's Avengers Official A-Day Gameplay Footage

SQUARE ENIX RELEASES MARVEL’S AVENGERS OFFICIAL A-DAY GAMEPLAY FOOTAGE

Opening Level Features Earth’s Mightiest Heroes
in an Epic Battle on the Golden Gate Bridge

Marvel Entertainment and Square Enix® released the first official gameplay video for Marvel’s Avengers. Watch as Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, and Thor battle Taskmaster and his army of mercenaries in the opening level - a Hero tutorial where players learn the unique powers of the Avengers. 

Marvel’s Avengers is a story-driven, third-person action-adventure game. Players will reassemble and rebuild their Avengers roster in an original, cinematic single-player campaign, then battle solo or online alongside friends in new missions around the globe. They can also customize Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and harness their unique powers to defend the world from escalating threats for years to come.

Marvel’s Avengers begins at A-Day, where Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, and Thor are unveiling a hi-tech Avengers Headquarters in San Francisco — including the reveal of their own helicarrier powered by an experimental energy source. The celebration turns deadly when a catastrophic accident results in massive devastation. Blamed for the tragedy, the Avengers disband. Five years later, with all Super Heroes outlawed and the world in peril, the only hope is to reassemble Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

Marvel’s Avengers will release simultaneously for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, the Xbox One family of devices including Xbox One X, and PC on May 15, 2020.

Doctor Who Series 12 new trailer

Doctor Who Series 12 new trailer

Here it is, the brand new Doctor Who Series 12 trailer.

Starring Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill, and Tosin Cole, the new series is rumoured to begin on New Year's Day 2020.

Take a look at the brand new Doctor Who Series 12 new trailer below.

Borderlands 3 - Free content update available now

Borderlands 3 - Free content update available now

Borderlands 3’s Next Free Content Update Available Now.

Play for Free on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 This Weekend

Takedown at the Maliwan Blacksite, Mayhem 4, expanded bank space, and other exciting updates arrive as part of the game’s latest patch

Hey Vault Hunters! Whether you’re a hardened veteran or a total newcomer, Borderlands 3 has something for everyone this week.

For vets, the game’s November patch is now live. This patch addresses multiple community requests and provides new free content for all players, including the raid-like Takedown at Maliwan’s Blacksite and a new twist on late-game challenge content with Mayhem 4. For newcomers, Borderlands 3 will be free to play on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this weekend. Plus, all versions of Borderlands 3 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and the Epic Games store will be on sale for Black Friday (full details below).

In Takedown at the Maliwan Blacksite, Lorelei has recruited the Vault Hunters to destroy a top-secret weapon Maliwan has been developing at its blacksite. This new permanent addition to Borderlands 3 is designed for squads of players who’ve completed the main story campaign, so expect a serious challenge. Respawning is disabled, though you can still save yourself with Second Wind or be revived later by your teammates if certain conditions are met. 

Mayhem 4 is the new highest level in Mayhem Mode and provides an even tougher challenge by further increasing enemy health, though it also increases loot drop chances and adds a brand new set of Legendaries that can only be obtained while playing with Mayhem 4 activated. Mayhem 4 also slightly adjusts the random modifier system, randomly rolling just one positive modifier for players and one positive modifier for enemies. Note that Mayhem levels 1-3 are unchanged.

In addition to adding new playable content, today’s patch also addresses multiple community requests. Today’s update includes:

·       Bank Expansion: All characters now begin the game with 20 bank slots instead of 10. By acquiring additional Storage Deck Upgrades from Marcus’s shop on Sanctuary III, players can expand the storage bank to 300 total slots;

·       Dedicated Loot Pools for Bosses: All bosses have been updated with new loot pools that give them dedicated Legendary items to drop. Players can now discover which bosses drop their favorite gear and more easily farm for those specific items;

·       Additional Vending Machines: New vending machines have been placed across multiple maps;

·       Target Dummy: A target dummy now appears in Sanctuary III’s firing range, allowing players to safely test their weapons;

·       Thank You Weapons: Two free “thank you” weapons – one for lower-level players and one for Level 50 players – are available through the in-game mail system.

Beyond new content, this patch also adjusts end-game character balance and addresses a number of concerns reported by the community. For a comprehensive look at the adjustments made by today’s patch, please refer to the full patch notes here.

For players who haven’t yet experienced any of this content, now’s the perfect time to dive in. Across Europe and Australia, the Standard Edition, Deluxe Edition, and Super Deluxe Edition of Borderlands 3 will be available for up to 40% off for a limited time on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and the Epic Games store. Sales pricing starts on November 22 (PlayStation 4, Epic Games store) and runs through December 2, though the exact timing varies by platform and region. Please check with participating retailers for more details.

Additionally, Borderlands 3 is free to play this weekend on both Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

For additional Borderlands 3 assets and information, please visit newsroom.2k.com or borderlands.com.

2K is a wholly owned publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).

Knives Out: Film Review

Knives Out: Film Review

Cast: Daniel Craig, LaKeith Stanfield, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Christopher Plummer, Toni Collette, Jaden Martell, Katherine Langford, Don Johnson
Director: Rian Johnson

Director Rian Johnson is no newcomer to the mystery genre.

His earliest Brick dabbled in similar territory, but for this latest, a slickly produced and polished piece of Poirot-esque fare, he heads to subvert some of the conventions while following others of the murder mystery.

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Plummer) is found dead the day after his 85th birthday, there's a house full of family suspects. Enter southern fried detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) who was given an anonymous envelope stuffed with cash to solve the case, and who always gets his man.

Knives Out comes out the door firing on all cylinders, like most murder mysteries do.

Flash editing, quick cuts, a series of suspects given a moment in the glare of the spotlight and a whodunnit to relish all pull you in to the whimsical world Johnson's set up.

Yet within moments Johnson plays a trump card, swiftly pulling the rug from under your cinematic feet, giving the film its heart and its emotional in, and signalling his intentions to subvert everything. To say more is to derail the film, but suffice to say the commitment to the story while playing with the genre tropes, and plying it with laugh-out-loud one liners makes a big difference. (An early Murder She Wrote moment is guffawable).

Slickly edited, exquisitely shot and reminiscent of Agatha Christie, Jonathan Creek and most other crime series, Johnson knows a quirky detective is the glue to hold the story together. On this charge, Daniel Craig makes for a watchable lead, a dogged investigator with a drawl.

Sure, there's the usual let's-get-everyone-together-in-one-room-to-reveal-it moment, and the multi-talented cast are too many and too sidelined in the back half of the movie, but for the large part Knives Out is a good time at the movies, a film that's not as clever as it initially thinks it is, but which commits to its premise and carries you along on a rollicking good ride.

Win a double pass to see Knives Out

Win a double pass to see Knives Out

To celebrate the release of Rian Johnson's new movie Knives Out, you can win a double pass to see the movie in cinemas from November 28.

About Knives Out

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is mysteriously enlisted to investigate.

From Harlan's dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan's untimely death.

With an all-star cast that includes Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Christopher Plummer and Katherine Langford, Knives Out releases on November 28

 
All you have to do is email your details and the word KNIVES!
Competition ends December 2nd.

Email now to  darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com 
Or CLICK HERE NOW  

Farming: Film Review

Farming: Film Review

Cast: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kate Beckinsale, Gug Mbatha-Raw, Damson Idris, John Dagleish
Director: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Bleak it may be, but equally sickening and compelling, former Lost and Oz actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje lays out a coming-of-age drama that grips as much as it occasionally frustrates.

Based on the true story of Nigerian Enitan (Idris) who was placed in the care of a British family by his parents, "farmed out" for the hope of finding a better start to life in a UK divided by Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speeches. But thrust into the home run by Kate Beckinsale's Ingrid (one note, and relatively stereotyped and underdeveloped), Eni begins to feel alienated and is broken by the lack of love and care afforded him.

Pushed to the edge, and into a pit of self-loathing, Eni falls into rejecting his culture, his heritage and his identity, and falls in with a group of skinheads, the Tilbury Skins, headed by Dagleish's Levi (easily one of the best villains of the year, dead-eyed, ominous and terrifying).

Rote in parts, with some awful Lahndon accents, as well as jumping back and forth to Eni's mother,

Farming's sociopathic edges take time to show through.

But when they do, and the skinheads arrive and our totally broken lead falls apart, Farming genuinely shocks in the same way American History X did..

Akinnuoye-Agbaje doesn't scrimp from the details of the horror, or allow you an easy escape in terms of viewing, filling the screen with 80s UK nihilism, a mirror to a society tearing itself apart with hate and violence.

It's here that Farming makes its viewing as compelling as it is sickening, as in other parts of the movie, the generic tropes and hollow descent into eventual redemption don't quite measure up to what's proffered at the end - a rushed reality check.

Characters such as Beckinsale's mother and Mbatha-Raw's teacher feel less than real, ripped from the pages of a book, giving Farming a feel of stereotyped TV movie fare. It's no This Is England, or the TV spinoff, but it does have moments of pure dread and evil seeping in.

Thankfully, the stunning pairing of Dagleish and Idris as the tormentor and the victim gives Farming a sharpness of focus that is worth hanging onto, a thread that spins a tightly sickening web around the viewer, and makes the emotional beats land as they truly should.

It is not to detract from the story Akinnuoye-Agbaje is looking to tell, but if parts had been beefed up this would have been a searing drama, a white knuckle ride to hell and back. But a lack of some character depth robs the insights and horror of some of the heft they should carry. It's not to say they don't, because when they land, the moments are utterly repugnant and disgusting, as they should be.

Ultimately Farming is unrelenting, its redemption feels too briefly mentioned, and the rawness of the central actors a little too numbing to fully embrace and only endure.