Tenet: Film Review

Cast: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh, Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Director: Christopher Nolan

Christopher Nolan's high-concept action-filled Tenet is a blockbuster to see on the big screen.

That's not an exhortation given worries over Covid-19, social distancing and movie releases - more that the film's been primarily made for the big screen experience, and certainly for the IMAX screen with extended action sequences filling every inch of what is on offer.

Nolan's been sparse with details of the plot, but Washington plays an unnamed CIA agent who is called upon to stop a Russian oligarch Andrei Sator (played with devilishly dead eyes by Kenneth Branagh) from ending the world. 

So far, so run-of-the-mill spy thriller.

But Nolan then peppers the script with talk of entropy, backwards-moving bullets and time-shifting scenes and further muddies the water with a never-ending series of set pieces that each try to outdo each other with visuals and action.

The thing is with Tenet is that it's muddled in exposition serving as a bridge in between each action sequence.

Early on, one character says to John David Washington's The Protagonist "Don't try and understand it."

To be frank, it's a missive from Nolan that could also apply to the audience as the movie spools out.

On an emotional level, Tenet is less interested in providing something to grab onto. Whereas Elizabeth Debicki's gangster moll Kat appears to exist purely to service an abused wife storyline, there are hints of attraction between The Protagonist and her, but they exist only in passing.

More effective is the relationship between the Protagonist and Robert Pattinson's initially mysterious Neil. Pattinson delights in delivering one of the strongest performances he's mustered in a while, slipping into the intrigue and action with ease. Washington and he gel well, whereas solo, Washington's Protagonist is left to spout reams of exposition and supposition of what lies ahead. It's in the verbiage that Tenet gains its pomposity.

But at the end of the day, Tenet is all about the action.

Nolan delivers overly choreographed sequences of utter jaw-dropping consequence that are heavily scored by a bombastic and edge-of-the-seat score. An opening sequence inside a concert hall sets the tense atmosphere in motion, and the film very rarely lets up from then on.

It's here that Tenet more than delivers, shifting its pieces around the cinematic table with masterful ease - it's easy to understand why Nolan refused to compromise on his delivery of Tenet into the multiplex and it's easy to let the action wash over you.

There are hints at the end of a potential sequel, but it's hard to see how Nolan could top himself in terms of visual thrills and action sequences.

There's no doubt Tenet is a spectacle, and an at times extremely entertaining one. Just don't scratch below the surface, because emotionally Tenet is lacking. And while that may not be a key factor for those seeking out blockbuster entertainment, for all of its top notch bells and whistles, it does have you leaving the cinema feeling a touch confused and wondering if that was it.

Bill & Ted: Face The Music: Film Review

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Samara Weaving, Bridget Lundy-Paine, William Sadler

Director: Dean Parisot

More uneven than a fully formed coherent journey, Bill & Ted: Face The Music sees Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves reprise their William S Preston and Theodore Logan roles, nearly 30 years since we last saw them.

It's 2020, and Bill and Ted are still living in the shadow and fear of their legacy. But the airheads are just about still married to their wives and have two daughters (Weaving and Lundy-Paine, a great source of vacant-headed energy throughout and the breakout stars of this, potentially setting up a new franchise) as the world starts to fall apart.

Unable to write the prophesied song that will unite the world, and with reality collapsing in on themselves, Bill and Ted are visited by Kelly, Rufus' daughter and told they have a deadline to sort the music or it's all over.

So, the boys decide to go into the future to steal the song from themselves...

It may start off a little ropy, thanks to the feeling that Reeves is struggling a bit to recapture some of the lunk-headed nature of his younger self, but once Bill & Ted: Face The Music settles in, there's a great deal of charisma to be had from seeing this duo back together and interacting with various future versions of themselves.

There's a lack of comedy throughout, and it misses the knockabout charm of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (a reunion with William Sadler's never-not-funny Death happens too late in the piece); a sub-plot sees Bill and Ted's daughters Billie and Thea essentially doing a musical journey a la Excellent Adventure's history quest, and there is a general feeling that it could have used a more knockabout approach to a fan service script.

Whereas Reeves seems to be struggling to get the tone and intonation of the wholesomely goofy and enthusiastic Ted (he even says at one point to Bill that he's "tired, dude"), Winter effortlessly slips back into Bill and even offers a few subtle spins on the character as the story pans out. It's here Bill & Ted Face The Music finds its emotional core, and even dances lightly around the nostalgia of its franchise - there's a sweetness (and sadness) to these two friends never quite growing up and reaching their potential, and the script rightly recognises that fact.

Generally, Bill & Ted: Face The Music is more adequate than excellent, but when it comes together in the last 20 minutes, it really does leave an undeniably goofy grin on your face. But it also does demonstrate that given a tighter script polish, and a bit more of a humorous edge, Bill & Ted: Face The Music could have been another time-travel cult classic.

As it is, it's perhaps the film 2020 needs right now - but thanks to the unevenness not quite the one we were expecting from the dudes.

Marvel's Avengers | Out Now Across Australia & New Zealand

MARVEL’S AVENGERS LAUNCHES TODAY REASSEMBLING AUSTRALIA’S GOLD MEDAL WINNING MEN’S FREESTYLE RELAY TEAM FOR THE 20^TH ANNIVERSARY

More Than Six Million Players Spent Over 28 Million Hours Playing as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes During August Beta – It’s Time to Assemble!

 

SYDNEY, 4^th September 2020 - Today, SQUARE ENIX® announced that Marvel’s Avengers is now available across Australia & New Zealand for the PlayStation®4, Xbox One, and PC, and they have recruited Olympic Champion’s Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim, Chris Fydler and Ashley Callus to celebrate the launch.

These four Aussie legends were part of one of the greatest team efforts in Australian sporting history, smashing their US rivals ‘like guitars’ to claim Gold in the Men’s 4x100m Freestyle relay 20 years ago. The team is reassembling to mark the milestone and this time they are swapping swimsuits for gaming consoles and taking on a new mission – defending Earth in the new Marvel’s Avengers game

Our mightiest heroes aren’t letting COVID-19 travel restrictions prevent them from getting together, reuniting online in the game through its four-player co-op function to commemorate the anniversary. 

Olympian Ian Thorpe says having the opportunity to celebrate the anniversary through the game is serendipitous, “Going into that race, we knew it was going to take superhuman strength from all of us to win Gold. Now, 20 years later, having the opportunity to actually play a superhero in Marvel’s Avengers alongside the team, it’s a nice tribute to that moment and a chance for us to relive some memories.

Unfortunately, due to the current travel restrictions Ashley can’t join us but being able to play Marvel’s Avengers and compete in a different way through the game is special way for us to honour the win,” added Thorpe.

Marvel’s Avengers offers players a truly rich experience and combines the single player focused Reassemble story campaign with the ongoing Avengers Initiative’s War Zone missions, which take the Avengers around the world and beyond. Each mission in the Reassemble campaign is designed to showcase one or more hero’s unique abilities, while the Avengers Initiative missions can be played solo with your own custom AI team or with a group of up to four players* as any Hero in the player’s roster.

 

“At its heart, Marvel’s Avengers is a game about hope in a modern Super Hero setting,” said Shaun Escayg, creative director for Marvel’s Avengers at developer Crystal Dynamics. “Our original story campaign features Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, as the point-of-view focus who is unflappably optimistic, and she uses her passion, natural curiosity, gifted intellect, and emerging powers to expose a conspiracy, leading her on an adventure to re-assemble and re-build the Avengers to their former glory.”

 

To ensure a continuing heroic experience for all players, the narrative of Marvel’s Avengers will expand over time, with the addition of new stories featuring new heroes, villains, mission types, regions, items, and more delivered to players at no additional cost once they own the core game. These stories move the entire Marvel’s Avengers narrative world forward on a multi-year arc, and all new missions are accessible to the entire roster of playable heroes.

 

Fans won’t have to wait long for this new content, either. The game’s first post-launch content season, focused on the recently announced Kate Bishop and her iconic mentor Hawkeye, Clint Barton, begins just weeks after launch with mysterious new Tachyon missions. Kate’s Operation, “Taking AIM,” kicks off in late October featuring a new villain and new mystery. Kate, an Olympic-calibre gymnast and master archer, comes with her own distinct set of Skills, Gear, and moves to unlock and master just like the core launch Heroes.

 

“Taking AIM” begins shortly after the conclusion of the game’s Reassemble campaign and is just the first half of the two Hawkeyes’ Story Arc. Clint Barton’s Hawkeye takes the stage in November to complete the double-feature arc and set the stage for what’s next. All of these new missions are playable with the entire roster of heroes, and all of this content, including heroes, villains, game modes, missions, gear, and more will be made available at no cost to all owners of the Marvel’s Avengers core game.

 

Players in Marvel’s Avengers are also able to customise Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in a number of ways. While each Super Hero plays true to their unique power sets, each has the flexibility to play differently based on the gear players equip and the skills they enable, so no two player’s heroes play in exactly the same way. Each hero has dynamic combo systems, heroic moves,  intrinsic abilities, and signature move sets to unlock and customise – many inspired by classic moves from over 80 years of Marvel history across all media, while others are crafted as originals just for the game.
 
Players can also dress the iconic Super Heroes with classic, fan-favourite, and all-new original outfits, including Iron Man’s suit from the 2014 Original Sin storyline, or Thor’s Donald Blake identity, which is a nod to an alias of Thor’s who first appeared in 1962’s Journey into Mystery issue #83.

Marvel’s Avengers will be available on PlayStation®5 and Xbox Series X when the consoles launch in 2020. Players who own the current-gen version of the game will be able to upgrade to the next-gen version at no additional cost, regardless if players are moving from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5 or Xbox One to Xbox Series X. Those moving their saves to next-gen will transfer their player profiles and progression so they can pick up right where they left off. In addition, cross-gen play will be supported so PS5™ players will be able to play with their friends on PS4™ and Xbox Series X players can connect with their friends on Xbox One.

 *Internet connection required. Your platform’s online multiplayer requirements will apply.

James Bond: No Time to Die new trailer

A brand new trailer for 007's final Daniel Craig outing has been released.

About No Time To Die

Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica.  

His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. 

The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.

Directed by: Cary Joji Fukunaga (Beasts of No Nation)

Returning Cast: Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Rory Kinnear, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Jeffrey Wright

Debuting Cast Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), Ana de Armas (Bladerunner 2049, Knives Out), David Dencik (Chernobyl), Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel), Billy Magnussen (Aladdin)

No Time To Die releases in cinemas November 12

The Boys: Season 2 review

Released by Amazon Prime Video

New episodes released weekly from September 4, with three episodes arriving on Friday September 4

The Boys' first season was a kick in the balls of superhero worship movies and TV shows.

Opening with Erin Moriarty's superhero newcomer Starlight and her induction into the famed world of The Seven, a group of superheroes adored by the public, the show kicked off the idea that you should never meet your heroes.

Especially after one of them tries to molest you within moments of meeting. 

Coinciding with Starlight's journey was that of Jack Quaid's Hughie, whose world was destroyed when speedy superhero A-Train ploughed literally through his fiancee as they held hands - and then ran off with nary an apology.

The first season did a great job of tearing down expectations of superheroes, delivering them as flawed and dangerous narcissistic individuals, whose power delivered them delusions of grandeur, complete with the backing of a multi-conglomerate named Vought that abused them for their own economic ends.

Central to proceedings is Antony Starr's Homelander, a deluded and dangerous version of Superman who's adored by the public, but feared within the Seven due to his unpredictability, toxic masculinity and frail ego. Butting heads with Homelander and heading up a ragtag group determined to take the Seven down was Karl Urban's Billy Butcher, whose hatred of the so-called Supes was his sole driving force.

It was a potent and refreshing mix that Eric Kripke (Supernatural) had created - and its anti-hero worship was a welcome antidote to the cutesy superhero world fuelled by the likes of Marvel and its Avengers' franchise.

But where the first season fell down was in its portrayal of women. Thankfully, the first three episodes alone of season 2 do much to counter that and reverse the trend.

In the second, the answers to the first season's cliffhanger where Butcher was reunited with his long-believed dead wife and apparent son are not immediately forthcoming.

In fact, first up the second season of The Boys is a slower, less flashy opening than the first - almost a stiflingly glacial pace in its opening moments as the themes for the upcoming year are set out.

Yet, they begin to manifest in ways that are both dramatically and narratively thrilling, offering a mix of drama and machiavellian plots that are too compelling to miss. However, while there are moments of gore, The Boys S2 is a bit more of a psychological thriller, delivering up slices and ruminations on the fragility of family and the individual.

Jack Quaid's Hughie is suffering from a loss of his place in the world; elsewhere Homelander feels usurped by the new arrival to the Seven of Aya Cash's social-media loving and manipulating Storm Front.

It all culminates in a shocking denouement in episode 3, the last 10 minutes of which show various hands being finally played out, and which set ups the season's bigger picture nicely.

The creative team have wisely retooled a few of the characters behind the scenes this year - and early on, it appears to be paying off.

Worried that Karen Fukuhara's Kimiko was being sidelined as an Asian stereotype of a quiet woman, The Boys' team have taken great steps to ensure she's got more to do and say - and even Maeve of The Seven has more of an arc.

And add in Aya Cash's blistering turn as Storm Front, the cat among the pigeons that Antony Starr's Homelander needs to feel threatened. Starr reacts strongly to the challenge, and delivers some of his finest work in the opening episodes - as does Quaid as Hughie, as he teeters on a precipice.

The Boys works best when it plays with morality and imperils the characters with decisions that they really have no control over - certainly the first three episodes show the cost of victory and how easy it is to go sideways quickly in this universe.

In a world where superheroes never usually die and where everyone usually survives, the frisson of danger that's lurking at the start of Season 2 seems to hint in a cataclysm of catastrophe for everyone as episodes go on.

That makes it both a delight and a rate thing these days - it works better because of its unpredictability and a less showy feel than season 1 gives this sophomore outing a greater urgency and an essential sense of unease.

The Boys Season 2 launches on Amazon Prime Video on September 4. Episodes 1-3 were reviewed as part of this preview, and were offered up for review by Amazon Prime Video.

Win a copy of Flash Gordon Classics Remastered on Blu Ray 

To celebrate the release of the classic Flash Gordon on Blu Ray, thanks to Sony Home Entertainment, you can win a copy.

About Flash Gordon: Classics Remastered

Get ready to kick some Flash

A football player and his friends travel to the planet Mongo and find themselves fighting the tyranny of Ming the Merciless to save Earth.

Flash Gordon: Classics Remastered is in shops now.

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

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

Win The Boys S1 on Blu Ray

To celebrate the release of The Boys Season 1 on DVD and Blu Ray now, and ahead of the launch of season 2 on Friday September 4 on Amazon Prime Video, you can win a copy.

Thanks to Sony Home Entertainment, you can nab yourself a copy of The Boys Season 1 starring Antony Starr and Karl Urban.

About The Boys

The Boys, is an irreverent take on what happens when superheroes--as popular as celebrities, as influential as politicians and as revered as gods--abuse their superpowers rather than use them for good. 

It is the powerless against the super-powerful as The Boys embark on a heroic quest to exposed the truth about "The Seven" and their formidable Vought backing.

The Boys is out now on DVD and Blu Ray

All you have to do is email your details and the word BOYS! Competition ends September 15th.

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