Emma: Blu Ray Review

Emma: Blu Ray Review

Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Miranda Hart, Bill Nighy, Mia Goth
Director: Autumn de Wilde

The latest take on Jane Austen's Emma is an admittedly starched and almost military execution of the overly familiar tale.

The VVitch star Anya Taylor-Joy delivers an initially icy take on Emma Woodhouse, the meddling socialite who dabbles in others' lives before realising she's hopelessly out of her own depth.

Guiding Mia Goth's Harriet Smith, Emma tries her best to matchmake for a local vicar. But she fails to notice the attentions of a neighbour (Flynn) until it's too late.

The overly-mannered Emma, delivered by Kiwi Eleanor Catton, is a prissy and primped affair, that teeters dangerously close to boredom levels early on.

Despite some truly sumptuous costuming and some vividly executed moments  such as red-caped women recalling The Handmaid's Tale (it's clear director de Wilde comes from a promo background), the film's warmth is severely lacking early on, despite the comedy of Woodhouse Sr (the ever-wonderful Bill Nighy).

It unfortunately leads to a detachment early in proceedings, which nearly proves fatal when the moments of heart are due to overtake matters, and Catton's writing really does make it difficult to sympathise for the precocious Emma when she realises she's gone too far. (The interaction with Miranda Hart proving to be the only breath-taking moment and deeply upsetting one of the entire film.)

While it skirts around social mores and hints at class divides, there's an aloofness to this Emma that robs it of its charm (Alicia Silverstone's Clueless still remains a market leader in terms of spiky adaptations) and deprives it of an enduring appeal.

Sure, this version of Emma has some stunning visuals, and despite Taylor-Joy coming to life toward the end of the film, it's a hard journey to go on - and one that sadly offers limited rewards when considered among the pantheon of other adaptations of Austen's work.

Bait: Film Review

Bait: Film Review

Director: Mark Jenkin

Experimental in form and conventional in narrative, Bait is a film that impresses once you succumb to its rhythms.

Written and directed by Jenkin, the English film looks at the simmering tensions in the south west of England, a tourist mecca inflamed by outside visitors moving in.

Martin Ward is a fisherman in a Cornish village, who struggles to make ends meet, while his brother uses their father's ship to ferry tourists around and make money.

Tensions are further enraged when Ward continually parks outside a holiday home owned by out-of-towners...

There's little in the way of plot of this 16mm monochromatic film but using inventive touches and flashes of directorial genius, Jenkin's Bait emerges as something truly original and challenging.

Expertly capturing how the powderkeg is lit with simmering intensity in seaside towns, Bait's clever bait-and-switch approach to the narrative, offering flash forwards here and there that seem out of place, proves an arresting take on a thin story.

Sure, some may feel the film has the touches of an experiment from an art student, but its approach is to be praised, and its meticulous touches commended. Gruff and emotional, Bait is a film that will hook you in, but perhaps in ways you'd never expected.

PlayStation 5: 38 games unveiled

PlayStation 5: 38 games unveiled

There may be no planned PlayStation 5 gaming reveal this Friday due to events in America surrounding the death of George Floyd, but Official PlayStation Magazine in the UK has unveiled 38 games for the PlayStation 5.

The issue went to print before issues arose in the US, and PlayStation cancelled its proposed stream for Thursday from the US.

However, the details of the games unveiled in Official PlayStation Magazine are as follows:

1) A Rat's Quest: The Way Back Home - ETA 2021
2) Assassin's Creed Valhalla - ETA 2020 (possible launch title)
3) Battlefield 6 - ETA 2021
4) Chorus - ETA 2021
5) Cygni: All Guns Blazing - ETA TBC
6) Dauntless - ETA TBC
7) Dirt 5 - ETA 2020 (possible launch title)
8) Dragon Age 4 - ETA TBC
9) Dying Light 2 - ETA TBC
10) FIFA 21 - ETA TBC (possible launch title)
11) Godfall - ETA TBC (possible launch title)
12) Gods and Monsters - ETA TBC
13) Gothic Remake - ETA TBC
14) Madden 21 - ETA 2020 (possible launch title)
15) Microman - ETA TBC
16) Moonray - ETA Summer 2021
17) NHL 21 - ETA 2020 (possible launch title)
18) Nth^0 Infinity Reborn - ETA Feb 2021
19) Observer: System Redux - ETA 2020 (possible launch title)
20) Outriders - ETA 2020 (possible launch title)
21) Path of Exile 2 - ETA 2020
22) PsyHotel - ETA TBC
23) Quantum Error - ETA 2020 (possible launch title)
24) Rainbow Six Quarantine - ETA TBC
25) Rainbow Six Siege - ETA TBC (possible launch title)
26) Redo! Enhanced Edition - ETA 2020 (possible launch title)
27) Scarlet Nexus - ETA TBC
28) Sniper Elite 5 - ETA TBC
29) Soulborn - ETA Late 2021
30) Starfield - ETA TBC
31) The Elder Scrolls 6 - ETA TBC
32) The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum - ETA 2021
33) The Sims 5 - ETA TBC
34) Ultimate Fishing Simulator 2 ETA 2020 (possible launch title)
35) Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 - ETA TBC
36) Warframe - ETA TBC (possible launch title)
37) Watch Dogs Legion - ETA TBC
38) WRC 9 - ETA 2020 (possible launch title)

Win a copy of Bombshell

Win a copy of Bombshell

To celebrate the release of Bombshell on DVD and Blu Ray, you can win a copy thanks to Sony Home Entertainment.

About Bombshell

A group of women take on Fox News head Roger Ailes and the toxic atmosphere he presided over at the network.

Bombshell is a revealing look inside the most powerful and controversial media empire of all time; and the explosive story of the women who brought down the infamous man who created it.

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

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

Win a copy of Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Win a copy of Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

To celebrate the release of Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, you can win a copy on DVD, thanks to Sony Home Entertainment.

About Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Based on the true story of a real-life friendship between Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod. 

An award-winning cynical journalist, Lloyd Vogel, begrudgingly accepts an assignment to write an Esquire profile piece on the beloved television icon Fred Rogers. 

After his encounter with Rogers, Vogel's perspective on life is transformed.

Starring Tom Hanks

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

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

Monos: Film Review

Monos: Film Review

Director: Alejandro Landes

With a visually arresting start and an intriguing opening, Columbian film Monos is an intensely taut drama that is as compelling as it is an examination of the feral spirit that lies within us all.

It's the story of a group of teenage troops, who inhabit a mountain top and who are training. Given a cow and a hostage to look after, the octet descend into a chaotic state when things go awry.

In the scheme of life, what happens is minor, but the ripples are wide-ranging and powerful.

Landes' film holds back many details of the wider world, preferring instead to place the viewer in a world of intensity and a powderkeg waiting to ignite. All that's proffered is about The Organisation and even that's scraps at best.

They could be training as child soldiers, and it could be a parable about loss of innocence in Columbia, but robbed of the wider perspective in parts, Monos makes a struggle of that side of its drama.

However, as an examination of a teenage mini society, Monos is life through a prism, a swirling cauldron of efficiency and terrifying consequence.

Thrillingly shot and nervously scored, Monos gets by largely on its visuals and its inherent sense of unease - there's something compelling afoot in these mountains, and thanks to Landes' power opening, Monos is a sickeningly unsettling drama.

PlayStation 5 unveiled

PlayStation 5 unveiled

PlayStation will finally unveil more details of its PlayStation 5 line up on Friday June 5 at 8am.

Join us Friday 5th June at 8am NZST for a look at the future of gaming on PlayStation 5: https://t.co/HrzO62uIYV #PS5 pic.twitter.com/8CegPLjxkR

— PlayStationNZ (@PlayStationNZ) May 29, 2020

Jim Ryan of Sony says: "With each generation, from the first PlayStation to PlayStation 4, we aim higher and we push the boundaries further, to try and deliver better experiences for our community. This has been the mission of the PlayStation brand for more than 25 years. A mission I have been a part of nearly since the beginning.  

There are few things as exciting as the launch of a new console. While this road to launch has been a bit…different, we are as thrilled as ever to bring you with us on this journey to redefine the future of videogames.

We’ve shared technical specifications and shown you the new DualSense wireless controller. But what is a launch without games? 

That’s why I’m excited to share that we will soon give you a first look at the games you’ll be playing after PlayStation 5 launches this holiday. The games coming to PS5 represent the best in the industry from innovative studios that span the globe. 

Studios, both larger and smaller, those newer and those more established, all have been hard at work developing games that will showcase the potential of the hardware. This digital showcase will run for a bit more than an hour and, for the first time, we will all be together virtually experiencing the excitement together.

A lack of physical events has given us an amazing opportunity to think differently and bring you on this journey with us, and hopefully, closer than ever before. 

This is part of our series of PS5 updates and, rest assured, after next week’s showcase, we will still have much to share with you.