Richard Jewell: Film Review

Richard Jewell: Film Review

Cast: Paul Walter Hauser, Kathy Bates, Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde, Jon Hamm
Director: Clint Eastwood

If Richard Jewell achieves anything, it'll be proof that the best performances come from unshowy actors determined to fall into their roles and make the best subtle use of their time on screen.

Eastwood's tale of one man caught in a maelstrom is perfect for his ageing Libertarian views, as he aims a salvo at the media and pushes the old ways of the American dream.

Hauser plays Jewell, a vulnerable oaf caught in his belief of authority and his inability to see the system is out to get him and manipulate him when he's accused of bombing Centennial Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

With his profile fitting the FBI's suspicions he's not the hero he's hailed as after he saved many in the park, Jewell finds his life - and that of his mother's - caught in the headlights.

Richard Jewell benefits from terrific turns from Hauser as the wronged man, Rockwell as the lawyer who decides to take the case after years of friendship, and Bates' silently-stoic-but-ultimately-rising-to-the-occasion mother.

When it concentrates on this triumvirate, the film packs a power punch that's subtle, unshowy and ultimately engrossing.

Which is why it's a shame that those swirling around Jewell's escalating plight, and those plotting his downfall, are nothing more than once-over-lightly stereotypes and caricatures.

From Wilde's contentiously sleazy reporter Kathy Scruggs who's made to trade sex for scoops (something the film's been slammed for) to Hamm's just bad FBI agent who was caught off guard when Jewell discovered the bomb, the film's outer edges damage the relatively engrossing tale that ensues.

Throw in Confederate flags, a scene of the US flag being waved in full camera that Roland Emmerich would be proud of and the whole mix starts to feel a little queasy, a touch of retro jingoism of the worst order.

Ultimately, Richard Jewell deserves to be seen for Hauser and Rockwell's performances alone, their character moments dazzling quietly under the ensuing heavy-handedness that Eastwood and his writer deploy.

It may be following Eastwood's desire to laud the common man caught in the unstoppable force of
the Government crusade his latest films have pushed, but the more powerful moments of Jewell, thanks largely to Hauser's understated and overwhelming performance, soar high above some of the other misdeeds of the rest of the film.

Helen Kelly - Together: Film Review

Helen Kelly - Together: Film Review

Director: Tony Sutorius

Director Tony Sutorius' portrait of renowned union advocate Helen Kelly is deep on inspiration, but low on full details of its subject itself.

Pulling together elements of the last year of her life, Sutorius prefers to concentrate more on the ripple effects of Kelly's life, rather than an in depth look at what motivated her, her background etc.

There are elements of this mentioned early on, as Kelly details some of her family life, her father's advocacy and the fact she was determined to be following in his footsteps. But largely, Sutorius chooses to concentrate on her fight against bureaucracy, her fight for the families of Pike River, of logging accidents in Tokoroa, and generally on the elements that just saw her intrinsically fighting for the everyday worker.

It's a pleasant enough affair, put together with heart and sensitivity, but one which unless you're interested in the birth of union moments and butting heads with bureaucracy, one which feels like it's not quite as wide a portrait as it could be.

Where it is successful is in Sutorius' desire to show that everyday ordinary decency is still evident in the face of insurmountable odds. From getting inside Pike River via some astounding footage to capturing Kelly dealing with chemo and union quibbles, there's a sense here that inspirational was what was aimed for - and there's no denying a legacy.

It's just that Helen Kelly Together feels more like a rallying call for general humanity rather than a portrait of its person, and while that's no bad thing, it does feel like the spotlight deserved to be shone a little more on Kelly.

Street Fighter V: Champion Edition out now

Street Fighter V: Champion Edition out now

STREET FIGHTER™ V: CHAMPION EDITION NOW AVAILABLE IN AUSTRALIA;

SETH ADDED TO ROSTER AS 40^TH CHARACTER

New Version of Acclaimed Fighting Game Includes 40 Characters, 34 Stages, 200+ Costumes and More!

Champions will rise! Capcom, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, have announced Street Fighter™ V: Champion Edition, the most robust version of the acclaimed fighting game, is now available for PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and PC. Also announced over the weekend, Seth embodies a new physical form and joins the Champion Edition roster as the 40^th character for Street Fighter™ V players to add to their collection. A new Street Fighter V: Champion Edition launch trailer featuring Seth and other iconic fighters is available now.

Street Fighter V: Champion Edition includes all content (excluding Fighting Chance costumes, brand collaboration costumes and Capcom Pro Tour DLC) from both the original release and Street Fighter™ V: Arcade Edition. Champion Edition adds each character, stage and other content that released after Arcade Edition and through the launch of this new version, including Seth. In total, this robust edition of Street Fighter V features 40 characters, 34 stages and over 200 costumes. Fighters can select their character and battle their way through a variety of exciting single-player and multi-player modes designed for players of all skill levels, including Cinematic Story Mode, Arcade Mode, Team Battle, Ranked Match, Casual Match and more.

Also available from today, Seth has been added as the 40^th character to appear in Street Fighter V; this master move mimicker returns with a new physical form in Champion Edition. The boss character from Street Fighter™ IV, Seth’s biological brain has been paired with Doll Unit Zero as the intelligence continues to seek new data and install moves from the fiercest fighters in the world. New players can experience Seth now as part of Street Fighter V: Champion Edition and current players can acquire Seth separately, also for 100,000 Fight Money (in-game currency).

Street Fighter V: Champion Edition is available now physically and digitally on PlayStation®4 and as a digital download on Steam. Current owners of any version of Street Fighter V can purchase a digital Upgrade Kit, offering instant access to all unowned Champion Edition content.

The initial Street Fighter V purchase is still the only one that consumers need to make to ensure they always have the most up-to-date version of the title. All game mode additions and balance updates are free for owners of any Street Fighter V version. Additionally, all DLC characters remain earnable completely free of charge through completing various in-game challenges and receiving earned in-game currency, called Fight Money. For those who can’t wait, in-game content can be obtained instantly using real money. Certain additional content can only be acquired using Fight Money, which can be earned through normal gameplay.

Borderlands 3 - Broken Hearts Day

Borderlands 3 - Broken Hearts Day

Borderlands 3’s February Patch and ‘Broken Hearts Day’ Free Seasonal Event Are Now Live

A level cap increase, True Takedown Mode, and other fan-requested updates have arrived! Plus, Borderlands 3’s new time-limited seasonal event offers unique rewards for all players.

It’s a big day in the Borderlands, Vault Hunters! Many of the highly requested feature updates detailed in Tuesday’s Community Love Letter are now live for all Borderlands 3 players. In addition, Borderlands 3’s latest seasonal event – Broken Hearts Day – is on now and will continue to run through next Thursday, February 20. For the full rundown of all of today’s updates and additions, please refer to the full patch notes here.

To view the trailer click the image below

As part of the new seasonal event – which is free for all players – you’ll see a variety of hearts hovering around heartsick enemies all across the Borderlands. Shooting these hearts produces any of six different effects, from temporarily converting an enemy to an ally to simply exploding into a pile of loot. The more hearts you break, the more rewards you unlock, with five brand new items up for grabs – including special skins and Legendary weapons unique to this event.

You have one week to break some hearts before this event ends on Thursday, February 20 – though Broken Hearts Day can be toggled off and on at any time in the game’s main menu. For more details, check out this helpful Broken Hearts Day blog, and for Broken Hearts Day assets, just click right here.

Today also marks the launch of Borderlands 3’s first level cap increase! As part of today’s February Patch, the maximum Vault Hunter level will rise from 50 to 53, giving you three additional skill points to add to your skill trees. But that’s not all: today’s patch also adds several highly requested feature updates, including True Takedown Mode, Guardian Rank toggling, skippable cutscenes, and event toggling.

For more information about these updates, as well as a look ahead to some of Borderlands 3’s upcoming enhancements, please refer to this week’s Community Love Letter. For additional context and insights into the update process, check out this week’s episode of The Borderlands Show, which features an in-depth interview with Borderlands 3 Live Lead Graeme Timmins.

Finally, if you want to catch Borderlands 3’s next major content announcement, be sure to tune in to the Gearbox panel at PAX East on February 28! The panel will stream live on twitch.tv/borderlands starting at 6.30am. Expect a whole bunch of exciting content announcements, including the full reveal of Borderlands 3's second paid campaign expansion.

Last Christmas: Blu Ray Review

Last Christmas: Blu Ray Review

A contrived and loose retelling of a Christmas Carol, Last Christmas draws inspiration from the Wham! song of the same name.

A game Clarke pratfalls and perks her way through the story as Kate, a mess of a girl, dressed permanently as an Elf and awash in one night stands, homelessness and booze, following recovery from an illness.
Down on her luck in London, Kate spies the suave Tom (Crazy Rich Asians' Golding, who gets to be charming and pointlessly pirhouetting around London for no real reason) and the pair strike up an unlikely friendship.

She the cynic, he the optimist, encouraging her to look up at the sky - even though her first doing of this results in pigeon poo in the eye - much like the film for the audience, to be frank.

You can see where Last Christmas is going a mile off - it's the kind of candy covered schmaltz soaked affair that would work well in the festive season, when you're stranded with family, boozed up and don't want to talk to them.

Throwing in Brexit jabs via way of London patriotism, mocking the homeless for being quirky, and plastering the film with shots of London streets in the winter, it's a shock there's no Hugh Grant cameo or Love Actually crossover in among the syrupy sentiment.

And yet, were it not for a duly game Emilia Clarke, Last Christmas would be a real festive turkey.

(It's hard to credit Golding with anything other than being smooth or suave as that's what the script demands of him, and he delivers with warmth and ease, giving Tom and Kate's bond a nice glow.)

Clarke however is called on to shoulder the burden of a cloying script that continues to one-up itself for weak gags, goofy edges and generally being underwritten. And she delivers her hot mess with warmth, chutzpah, and the kind of commitment that's needed to sell the sentiment and holes. (Of which a lot emerge in the final act).

It's the latest film to be fashioned around music, from Blinded by the Light to Yesterday, and while they all suffer from the necessity of shoehorning the music in, Last Christmas does a little the same, but can be forgiven on some level, because of the time of year it's aiming for.

There's a cheesy cornball edge to Last Christmas, but it's sadly not enough one way or another to push this into so-bad-it's-good-territory. Instead, it just is, and were it not for Clarke, the film would have crumbled into a bad Christmas hangover.

Terminator: Dark Fate: Blu Ray Review

Terminator: Dark Fate: Blu Ray Review

Dwelling in the past while simultaneously dismissing everything which happened post 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator: Dark Fate wastes no time in steeling itself as homage to the films, and twisting and repurposing some of the best bits of Judgment Day.

In this latest, which sees the return of James Cameron, Reyes' Dani is the latest target of robots from the future, this time in the form of Gabriel Luna's Rev-9. Singled out for assassination, Dani finds her humdrum life in the hands of agile new saviour Grace (a strong Davis, easily the best addition to the series in a long time, androgynous, sympathetic and wearing similar gear to Sarah Connor's original white tank top) and Sarah Connor, whose life has been turned back to tragedy in the years after she and John averted Skynet's future.

Forced on the run, and with promise of help coming from a mysterious cabin in the woods, it's a fight for survival for the trio.

Terminator: Dark Fate isn't really content to go its own way.

It proffers up plenty of tantalising ideas, and gets into the action straight away with a factory-based fight and freeway chase with trucks.

If that sounds familiar it is - later on the film chooses to use a chase sequence involving a helicopter and a Terminator pouring its liquid form through its window. It's essentially Terminator 2: Judgment Day writ large for the 2019 audience. Much of it feels familiar, in the same way that any sci-fi robot-chasing-you-to-death film is going to - there's little room for nuance character work in between fits and bursts of popcorn baiting action.

Hamilton hovers between spitting, snarling and chewing the scenery with her damaged Connor; a few quieter moments allow her some depth, hinting at the ongoing effects of being caught in this eternal hunting game and are all the better for it. Schwarzenegger dabbles in some usual humour and nostalgia moments, but is largely there for set-dressing; and Reyes' Dani oscillates wildly between being terrified to becoming her destiny. Luna has little to do other than appear relentless, and be the subject of some occasionally iffy CGI.

Thankfully, Davis as the augmented super soldier, makes a valuable case of a vital new addition to the franchise, meshing both robotic like steeliness to the cause, and moments of humanity as reality sets in. It's no shock she radiates a younger Sarah Connor's determination, and even echoes her wardrobe.

Some of the action set pieces creak from obvious CGI, and Deadpool's Miller is competent enough at rolling them out, even if occasionally they feel perfunctory and all too familiar. (No one needs to ever see a Dunkirk style Terminators rising sequence ever again) That said, some of the live action ones are never less than thrilling, and offer a strong case for the Terminator's continuing popcorn appeal.

But the urgency of the dread fear of an unstoppable hunter on your tail has gone in this latest - and even echoes of contemporary themes such as detainee centres, electronic surveillance and immigrants try to add some urgency, they're not enough to detract from a film that pursues its core objective with dread precision, yet proffers no real reason to keep going back to a universe that seems destined to repeat itself ad infinitum.

Sonic The Hedgehog: Movie Review

Sonic The Hedgehog: Movie Review

Cast: Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, James Marsden
Director: Jeff Fowler

After the initial outcry over Sonic The Hedgehog having human teeth, those involved in the latest family film to hit our screens must be relieved at what's been achieved.

The second look at Sonic proved to be more popular, with the Sega fave living and breathing the blue-shaped blur many nostalgia fans wanted.

So, with a flimsy plot, Sonic The Hedgehog has raced in to try and prove a box office fave and possibly relaunch a franchise - after all, console companion Tails is lurking about ready to be utilised.

In terms of plot, Sonic's simple - when small-town police officer Tom Wachowski (X-Men's Marsden) discovers the small blue hedgehog (voiced with energy by Schwartz), he's thrown into a fight with the Evil Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey, back to his manic self).

Sonic the Hedgehog is not the disaster you would have expected.

Featuring a performance from Jim Carrey that could be characterised as vintage Ace Ventura gone mad and a bit bad, his Robotnik is the highlight of a kiddy film that feels bitsy, yet is entertaining enough to speed by as quickly (especially through some lulls later on) as Sonic powering through the glens.

Marsden is affable enough as Wachowski the small town cop who wants out but who realised that home is where his heart enough. And his partnership with Schwartz gels nicely but is never overplayed for easy laughs. Schwartz treads a fine line between irritating, cute and heartfelt, and negotiates it with veritable aplomb, proving an engaging enough road trip buddy as the film plays out. 

Though jarringly, some scenes feel shoe-horned in to expand proceedings - notably a bar detour that exists purely to fill time, and to show off some VFX work.

Sure there are elements of Spider-Man: Far From Home with a drones denouement and some of the FX feel ripped from Evan Peters' Quiksilver from the X-Men films, but thanks to some nostalgia bursts and some moments which constitute spoilers, Sonic fans will be happy enough.

Sonic the Hedgehog’s never quite strong enough to standalone as a film franchise launcher, and a Sonic vs Robotnik series would be worryingly too repetitive, but this has a bounce and flimsy flounce that’s just enough to amuse both the younger ends of the audience, and the nostalgia-dripped older end, desperate to capture that SEGA vibe from some 30 years ago.