Downton Abbey: the Movie: DVD Review

Downton Abbey: the Movie: DVD Review

Nigh on impenetrable for those with only a passing knowledge of the Crawley family, the Downton Abbey movie meshes social mores with a kind of Carry on Downstairs flimsy plot to relatively middling effect.

Set in 1927, the Crawley household is honoured to hear that the King and Queen will be sojourning with them as they tour the north of England.

But the downstairs staff are riled when they hear the royal butlers and staff will be taking over their premises, and rendering their desire to serve King and country redundant during the visit...

To be honest, unless you're a fan of this, there's little to pull you back into their world. It's one that's not exactly unwelcoming of strangers, but more one that's got no time to provide you with backstory and the nuances of the show which ran from 2010 to 2015.

To fans of Julian Fellowes' soapy period piece, there's more than enough service, and the thrill of seeing the characters back on the screen will suffice. Which is a good thing, because with the cast as large as it is, most are rendered redundant by a script that has little time to do anything except tick its stereotyped characters' motivation boxes - quips from Maggie Smith's Dowager, tick; haughtiness from Hugh Bonneville's Lord Grantham, tick. It's a nostalgia trip tried and true.

Yet, in the film's pacing, the script falters.

It zips along, dismissing its various attempts at "drama" in relative TV bitesize chunks. In fact, in parts it could be accused of wrapping elements up before a prescribed TV ad break would be slotted in.

But yet in among the unchallenging story, unshakeable feel of a series of vignettes alien to newcomers and period prestige sheen, there are some elements that hint at a little more below - Republicanism is thrown in, the reality of repressed homosexuality, the weight of carrying on a dynasty is ruminated on, and the class wars manifest themselves in breaches of protocol (which admittedly seem slight, but in this world, are earth-shattering).

Downton Abbey is a salute to England that was, and the film retains that nostalgia - but as a standalone aimed at enticing future episodes or growing its fan base beyond that it already has, it's a consummate but polite failure.

Win The Angry Birds Movie 2 on Blu Ray

Win The Angry Birds Movie 2 on Blu Ray

To celebrate the release of The Angry Birds Movie 2 on December 11, and thanks to Sony Home Entertainment, you can win a copy

About The Angry Birds Movie 2

The flightless angry birds and the scheming green piggies take their beef to the next level in
THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE 2!

When a new threat emerges that puts both Bird and Pig Island in danger, Red (Jason Sudeikis),
Chuck (Josh Gad), Bomb (Danny McBride), and Mighty Eagle (Peter Dinklage) recruit Chuck’s sister
Silver (Rachel Bloom) and team up with pigs Leonard (Bill Hader), his assistant, Courtney
(Awkwafina), and techpig, Garry (Sterling K. Brown), to forge an unsteady truce and form an
unlikely super team to save their homes.  

Bonus materials for THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE 2 include an all-new mini movie “Live Stream” and six adorable Hatchling shorts, three Family Fun DIY activities inspired by the film, a collection of behind-the-scenes featurettes with cast and crew, an exciting visit to the LA Zoo to meet some amazing feathered friends, a holiday themed sing along and much more!


All you have to do is email your details and the word BIRDS!

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

Win Once Upon a Time In... Hollywood on Blu Ray

Win Once Upon a Time In... Hollywood on Blu Ray

To celebrate the release of Once Upon a Time In... Hollywood on December 11, thanks to Sony Home Entertainment, you can win a copy.

About Once Upon a Time In... Hollywood

The 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and digital releases come loaded with even more sights and sounds of the ‘60s, featuring over twenty additional minutes of footage that delves deeper into world of Rick Dalton’s Hollywood.

The 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and digital include an additional behind-the-scenes look at the film’s production design, cinematography, costume design, cars and more. 


Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, as TV star Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore.

The ninth film from the writer-director features “one of the greatest casts of all time”—including Robbie, Julia Butters, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant, Luke Perry, Austin Butler, Dakota Fanning, Emile Hirsch, Bruce Dern and Al Pacino—and multiple storylines in a tribute to the final moments of Hollywood’s golden age.

All you have to do is email your details and the word HOLLYWOOD!

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

Ghostbusters: Afterlife Trailer arrives

Ghostbusters: Afterlife Trailer arrives

The new trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife has arrived.

From director Jason Reitman and producer Ivan Reitman, comes the next chapter in the original Ghostbusters universe. 

In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, when a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town, they begin to discover their connection to the original ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind. 

The film is written by Jason Reitman & Gil Kenan.

Starring Carrie Coon, McKenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard and Paul Rudd.

Directed by Jason Reitman

IN CINEMAS JULY 2, 2020

Amazing Grace: DVD Review

Amazing Grace: DVD Review

There's one reason to see Amazing Grace - and it's simply staring quietly and unassumingly in the background at you throughout.

It seems woefully stupid to say Aretha Franklin is the reason to see the finally released documentary which captures the recording of a live album in the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church, a disused movie theatre, in Watts, Los Angeles.

But the power of the voice lives on and is captured easily in the doco from Sydney Pollack which has been stuck in legal and digital hell for some 45 years. (Bizarrely, also due to Franklin claiming there were no rights to use her image.)

However, it's the sheer power of Franklin's voice which carries Amazing Grace, and lest it simply become a concert recording, side characters give the film a bit more life.

As well as a couple of members of the choir who are either moved by the power of the church or Franklin's voice, the energy brought by an essentially live commentary given by the Reverend James Cleveland is central to the film's tactile success. Providing links to the tracks and to the proceedings, Cleveland's energy is what carries the film, given how silent Franklin is in between songs.

If anything, Pollack's Amazing Grace captures the vibe of being in the moment like nothing else.

Whether it's panning to the crowd, and capturing Mick Jagger grooving on the second night of recording, or simply capturing the everyday African American moved by the gospel sounds, the feeling of the extraordinary in the mundanity of the church is inescapable.

Technically, the film looks as good as it could, and the sounds are simultaneously stripped back and incredible.

Ultimately, Amazing Grace offers a timeless snapshot of a talent in ascendance. Placed in among the everyday setting, the meshing of the music and the people is transcendant. 

Wonder Woman 1984: First Trailer

Wonder Woman 1984: First Trailer

The first look at Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman 1984 has dropped.

A new era of wonder begins. #WW84 in theaters June 5.

Apollo 11: DVD Review

Apollo 11: DVD Review

There's no way you don't know how this story goes.

And on the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing, with timing that can only be described as fortuitous in extremis, the film festival is playing the Apollo 11 doco on the day the moon landing happened.

The film is of the kind of calibre you'd expect from those like CNN who are involved, but director Todd Douglas Miller manages to create a kind of unfussy portrait of the hours of the build up to the launch and the days after.

It's intriguing in that, despite some over-produced moments of the bombast of a score intruding and trying to provoke drama, a film takes you directly back to the era, and the ordinary everyday "heroes" of NASA, who were not called Buzz or Neil.

Camera footage early on chooses to focus on the scale of the gantry by shooting from the ground up, sets the tone by focussing the cameras on those inside the control centre, and the gathered crowds who look like they're there to be part of a rock-n'roll event; it's here Miller pitches the actual event as something that everyone aspired to be part of, and which was monumental at the time, but has slowly been dwarfed by the extraordinary times we live in, and the naysayers who try to detract from its happening or its relevance.

CCTV footage, and footage shot within the craft, along with some Asteroids-level graphics build a portrait that's selective in the imagery it presents, but one which builds a tapestry of our greatest achievement.

Apollo 11 uses footage only of the moment, archives of the time and sights and sounds to create something that is never heart-stopping but is always awe-inducing. It's a time capsule, definitely, but it's a film of its time, and also one that showcases the fearlessness of man's occasionally indomitable spirit.