Emma: Neon NZ 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.

Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge On the Run: Film Review 

Cast: Spongebob, Patrick, Squidward, Plankton, Mr Krabs, Keanu Reeves, Matt Berry, Danny Trejo, Snoop Dogg
Director: Tim Hill

That the latest Spongebob Squarepants movie is a Covid-casualty and has ended up on streaming site Netflix is a crying shame.

Especially given how colourful, vibrant and joyous the whole experience is.

Tom Kenny returns as the voice of Spongebob Squarepants, resident of Bikini Bottom. This time around, Spongebob has to head out to rescue his pet snail Gary, when he's kidnapped by king Poseidon (Matt Berry) and taken to the lost city of Atlantic City.

Packed with anarchy, zany edges and a colourful sheen that's highly eye-catching and visually satisfying, Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge On the Run won't win any awards for reinventing the animated wheel.

But it does provide a truly entertaining 90 minutes of pure escapism, as Spongebob and his pals push on through a road trip movie - as ever, Spongebob and Patrick prove good bedfellows, and the journey's amiable enough as the CGI-led insanity spools itself out.

Keanu Reeves is the standout here, a Sage offering in the madness that ensues, and proving more than game as the voice of a ball of sage helping Patrick and Spongebob out. Essentially a head within a ball of sticks and twine, Reeves is clearly having a ball.

There's a fun for all the family vibe here, and while the film starts to run out of steam as it enters its final third, for the most part, Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge On the Run is a zany road trip worth checking in for, and for simply enjoying the ride.

Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge On the Run is streaming now on Netflix in some global territories.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette?: DVD Review

With a haughty Cate Blanchett and a meandering script, Where'd You Go, Bernadette? feels like an opportunity weirdly squandered.

Blanchett is former superstar architect Bernadette Fox, who disappeared after having potential to turn the designing world upside down. Settled in with her husband Elgin, (Crudup, amiable and occasionally over-looked) and their daughter Bee (Nelson in a standout performance for a newcomer), Bernadette is overwhelmed when her daughter requests a trip to Antarctica as a reward.

Already brittle and disinterested in any connection with neighbours or friends, Bernadette is disaffected by the "banality of life". With a work-obsessed husband and a fussing daughter, things reach a crescendo and she disappears when the FBI shows up after she inadvertently floods a neighbour's house with mud....

Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a film that would be nothing without Blanchett's penchant for haughtiness. She's the best thing in the somewhat muddled narrative that veers through indifference to everyone's condition to a screwball farce that clearly aims to bring down some of the more WASPish neighbours and concerns.

There are moments of humour as Blanchett's growing weariness with everyone becomes acerbic and fraught, but Linklater's meandering approach to the story means the audience becomes as disaffected as Bernadette herself.

Equally, a series of cameos from a YouTube video should have been left on the cutting room floor, or beefed up to be more amusing and ludicrous as Bernadette rediscovers her passion.

Unable to decide upon a tone, and stuck with an indifference in the plot, Where'd Do You Go, Bernadette? really only thrives on Blanchett and her alone - other characters have little to no resolution in their arcs as the plot goes toward lunacy and relatively unearned heartwarming sentiment.

Wendy: DVD Review

Released by Madman Home Entertainment

Wendy has pedigree in its director, the creator of the wondrous Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Blessed with a prodigious lead in Devin France as Wendy, Benh Zeitlin's take on the Peter Pan story is a film that's more in love with the land and its leads than in its actual storytelling.

When Wendy tires of her life in a railwayside diner, she is startled to see another kid atop a train. Jumping on the train with two friends, she finds herself transported to Neverland and into the life of Peter Pan.

JM Barrie's tale is gifted an environmental feel in among Zeitlin's eye for the wild. 

Through the deltas and over the lands of the heartland of America to the lost island, Zeitlin's freewheeling camera makes a great fist of the landscape, and recalls many of the shots of Beasts of the Southern Wild.

While not every child actor hits the necessary straps, and while the older section of the actors feel too ragtaggle to be complete, the exuberance and wide-eyed nature of France makes for a great companion on this journey.

"The more you grow up, the less you get to do the things you want" may be a fair adage espoused at one point, but thanks to a haunting score, talent when it's needed and a sense of adventure, this is a Peter Pan story like you've never seen before.

Queenstown to become Greenstown for XBox Series S and X on Monday night 

To celebrate the launch of the new XBox Series S and XBox Series X on Tuesday November 10, Queenstown has become the centre of attention.

As part of a marketing push, a live showcase event called Greenstown will take place tonight for XBox ANZ, as we'll be the first in the world to get the new console.

It all kicks off at 11pm.

Fans can tune into the very special ‘Greenstown’ livestream on November 9 at 11:00pm NZDT across Xbox ANZ’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Twitch.

Featuring a first look at all new gameplay, the livestream will be a celebration of the Australian and New Zealand gaming community. 

Powered by the Xbox Series X, fans can tune in to see Eivor, a fierce Viking warrior, explore the dynamic and beautiful open world against the brutal backdrop of England’s dark ages in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed® Valhalla. 

Those who tune in will also see the icy frontier of Europa from Destiny 2: Beyond Light, which holds many lost secrets from the past, including the dark power of Stasis. Guardians will be able to embrace the darkness from November 11.

 

The hour-long live show will include guest appearances from Xbox Executives and some of Australia and New Zealand’s most recognisable content creators, and so much more.

This Town: DVD Review

Released by Madman Home Entertainment

The most frustrating thing about David White's dramedy about a killer who's trying to find love in a rural town is that it never quite leans into what exactly it wants to be.

Blending goofy romance a la Eagle vs Shark while ignoring the fact it's heavily based on the David Bain story (a family's found shot dead, one sole survivor and a lot of questions dogging them through the years), This Town had some real potential to launch New Zealand cinema after the onset of Coronavirus crippled the cinematic world.

But This Town doesn't own enough of its ingredients to get it out of the country of quirky characters mire it sets itself into.

It's the tale of Sean (White, a fairly solid and deadpan when needed lead), a suspected murderer who wants to simply find the one. Signing up to a dating app on the advice of mates, Sean meets Alice May Connolly's Casey, one of the few girls who's unaware of Sean's past...

However, in smalltown New Zealand, the past is always around the corner...

Initially, This Town proffers some solid laughs, thanks to the deadpan delivery of lines and actions of a man who's clearly socially at odds with what's expected of him - and some inspired sight gags.

Yet once Robyn Malcolm's determined-to-get-her-man former police officer Pam comes in, the film loses a bit of focus and goes slightly off the rails as the weaker material starts to flail in the wind. It's not to pour scorn on Malcolm's performance, as she shows some strong comedy chops when required - her pairing with Rima Te Wiata as a local crime writer is inspired, but there's not enough of it in the film.

Hints of the comedy potential arrive towards the end with some clearly improvised dialogue pointing frustratingly to what could have been. 

This Town never quite knows what it wants to be, and none more so than when the truth comes out, and the dramatic reveal is played too quickly to have the heft it needed. 

Despite some wonderfully realised bucolic shots, and some adroit capturing of the small-town vibe, some of the issue with This Town lies with the character who should be the lead in it is frequently sidelined, gradually robbing them of the screen time that's needed and emotional arc that's necessary.

Working better for character moments, rather than a cohesive whole, This Town feels more suited to a finely honed web series, rather than a full-length film. It's certainly not a Town you want to reside in long-term.

Monos: DVD Review

Released by Madman Home Entertainment

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.

Rams: Film Review

Cast: Sam Neill, Michael Caton, Miranda Richardson

Director: Jeremy Sims

A re-imagining of Grimur Hákonarson's Cannes Award-winning Icelandic movie, Australian director Jeremy Sims' latest offers more of a lighter tale than the bleak original.

Neill and Caton are Colin and Les, two estranged brothers who are at war with each other, and whose quarrels have divided the community. When Colin suspects Les' award-winning ram of having a rare disease, he has no choice but to tell the authorities, setting in motion a purge of the region's sheep and devastating livelihoods potentially for a generation....

The Australian version of Rams is less interested in providing the kind of bleakness that was so redolent of the Icelandic original. 

From broader strokes to an almost comedic performance from an OTT official, the film isn't wanting to wallow in the darkness of the first, that came with both an oppressive Icelandic setting and a grim outlook. But given its desire to reach a wider audience, this is perhaps understandable.

Instead, by setting the film in the Aussie outback with its pristine paddocks and rolling hills, Sims' take on Rams is less nuanced, but nonetheless effective, thanks largely to a stellar performance by Neill as Colin. (Although the ending leaves a lot to be desired.)

Neill delivers a weathered and wearied performance that taps into the farming mindset of less said, more demonstrated - from occasional looks to the heart-rending viscerally numbing moments after he has to slaughter his sheep, Neill delivers a masterclass in understated and builds a character that's both loveable and questionable in some of his antics.

Caton has less to work with but manages to turn in a brother whose anger and resentment has gone beyond my brother's keeper ethos and is tinging on self-destruction. But when needed, he provides a more than adequate foil to interactions with Neill's Colin.

Ultimately, despite the bucolic background, there's still the elegaic feel of the original to Rams, and a slower pace gets to the heart of both the characters and the community affected by the outbreak of disease and the devastation of loss. It may have softer edges than the original, but it has an eye for the subtleties of farm life and those who dwell within it.

There's a rhythm adjustment needed for Rams, but work with it, and it offers a strongly rewarding experience that offers insight into how men behave later in life, and how rural life shapes a certain perspective and outlook.

It may be occasionally stymied by some of its broader comedy strokes, and its desire to err from the darkness blackish comedy within, but given its central performance from Neill, it's eminently watchable.

New Zealand's Queenstown to become 'Greenstown' as Xbox ANZ celebrates global launch of Xbox Series X | S

NEW ZEALAND’S QUEENSTOWN TO BECOME ‘GREENSTOWN’ AS XBOX ANZ CELEBRATES GLOBAL LAUNCH OF XBOX SERIES X|S

Midnight countdown livestream will usher in the next generation of gaming with the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S on November 10

 

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Friday, 6 November 2020: Today Xbox ANZ has announced a livestream countdown for its fans on both sides of the Tasman, and across the world, taking place on November 9 at 11:00pm NZDT to officially usher in the next generation of gaming. Set in glorious Queenstown, minutes before the clock strikes midnight, the livestream will culminate in an official Xbox takeover where Queenstown will be transformed into ‘Greenstown’.

 

Due to international time zones, New Zealand will be the first country in the world to see the launch of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. Queenstown, one of the only places in the world that matches the visual fidelity of the next generation of Xbox consoles, will host a dream-like ‘Greenstown’ reveal that will begin from dusk, all framed by The Remarkables mountain range.

 

Fans can tune into the very special ‘Greenstown’ livestream on November 9 at 11:00pm NZDT across Xbox ANZ’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Twitch.

 

Featuring a first look at all new gameplay, the livestream will be a celebration of the Australian and New Zealand gaming community. Powered by the Xbox Series X, fans can tune in to see Eivor, a fierce Viking warrior, explore the dynamic and beautiful open world against the brutal backdrop of England’s dark ages in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed® Valhalla. Those who tune in will also see the icy frontier of Europa from Destiny 2: Beyond Light, which holds many lost secrets from the past, including the dark power of Stasis. Guardians will be able to embrace the darkness from November 11.

 

The hour-long live show will include guest appearances from Xbox Executives and some of Australia and New Zealand’s most recognisable content creators, and so much more.

 

Dan Johnson, Xbox Lead for ANZ said: “We’re excited to be celebrating the launch of both the Xbox Series X and S. New Zealand and Australia will be the first in the world to bring our next-generation consoles to our fans. So, we want to celebrate this momentous event in style. I’d like to invite our Aussie and Kiwi fans to join us on an engaging livestream as we transform the adventure capital of the world into ‘Greenstown’ and broadcast it right into the comfort of their homes.”

 

With Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, they will provide unparalleled performance, speed and compatibility for the next generation of consoles and innovative new features that enable gamers to jump into more expansive, lifelike worlds even faster.

 

Xbox Series X ($799 NZD RRP) and Xbox Series S ($549 NZD RRP) both launch in Australia and New Zealand on November 10. Please check in with your local retailers directly for more details on availability in your area. 

 

New Zealand fans can also purchase a next-gen console via Xbox All Access through Xbox’s partnerships with Spark, offering monthly payment packages starting at $39/month over 24 months, interest free*.

 

Win a copy of Hard Kill on Blu Ray

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

About Hard Kill

The work of billionaire tech CEO Donovan Chalmers (Bruce Willis) is so valuable that he hires mercenaries to protect it, and a terrorist group kidnaps his daughter just to get it.

Hard Kill is out now on DVD and Blu Ray. 

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

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

Win Follow Me on Blu Ray

To celebrate the release of Follow Me, thanks to Sony Home Entertainment, you can win a copy.

About Follow Me

A social media personality travels with his friends to Moscow to capture new content for his successful VLOG. Always pushing the limits and catering to a growing audience, they enter a cold world of mystery, excess, and danger. When the lines between real life and social media are blurred, the group must fight to escape, and survive.

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

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

Win Radioactive on DVD

To celebrate the release of Radioactive on DVD, you can win a copy thanks to Sony Home Entertainment.

About Radioactive

Pioneer – Rebel – Genius. Radioactive is incredible, true-story of Marie Sklodowska-Curie and her Nobel Prize-winning work that changed the world.

Starring Rosamund Pike and Sam Riley.

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

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

Honest Thief: Film Review

Cast: Liam Neeson, Kate Walsh, Jai Courtney, Jeffrey Donovan, Robert Patrick

Director: Mark Williams

In Honest Thief, a fairly competent story is given plenty of heart and soul before falling into old action genre tropes, and fizzling when it should really be ramping up.

An earnest Liam Neeson delivers another variation of his Taken routine, this time performing as Tom, a former marine cum IED disposer turned bank robber with a conscience.

Following a meet-cute with Kate Walsh’s Annie at a storage depot, Tom decides to turn his back on bank robbing life to settle down.

So deciding to turn himself in, Tom calls in the FBI, and tries to convince them he’s their man. Initially Reticent, two of the FBI’s most disgruntled (for reasons never fully expanded upon) decide to rip Tom off, steal the cash and make off with the perfect crime.

But when Tom is crossed, he takes the fight to the FBI, using a variation on his set of special skills to get revenge.

Honest Thief starts by placing characters into its story, developing them before they deciding to throw them in the shackles of a relatively plodding typical action film.

Neeson gives good hangdog face and his burden is obvious, even when the script fails him. But by the time Jai Courtney’s maniacal glee enters the frame. The film eschews any desire to further service its characters, preferring merely to service a rote plot that neither fizzles nor burns in its final third.

There is a story of how middle management flounder in life, how males lose their direction and how guilt catches us all up, but Honest Thief is less interested in that and more interested in ensuring a happy ending for all, the baddies are caught and love will find a way.

An abrupt end doesn’t help things and serviceable action scenes exist only because they have to and not because they ramp up tension or push you to the edge of your seat.

Honest Thief is watchable enough fare, but unless Neeson does something new and fairly soon, the twilight of his career will be notable only for a long list of average actioners - that’s the honest truth, but also would be a crying shame.

Win Greed

To celebrate the release of Greed on DVD, thanks to Sony Home Entertainment, you can win a copy.

About Greed

Greed tells the story of self-made British billionaire Sir Richard McCreadie, whose retail empire is in crisis. 

For 30 years he has ruled the world of retail fashion, bringing the high street to the catwalk and the catwalk to the high street. 

But after a damaging public inquiry, his image is tarnished. 

To save his reputation, he decides to bounce back with a highly publicised and extravagant party celebrating his 60th birthday on the Greek island of Mykonos. 

Starring Steve Coogan

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

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

Win El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

To celebrate the release of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, thanks to Sony Home Entertainment, you can win a copy.

About El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

Finally free from torture and slavery at the hands of Tod's uncle Jack, and from Mr. White, Jesse must escape demons from his past.

He's on the run from a police manhunt, with his only hope of escape being Saul Goodman's hoover guy, Ed Galbraith. 

A man who for the right price, can give you a new identity and a fresh start. Jesse is racing against the clock, with help from his crew, avoiding capture to get enough money together to buy a ‘new dust filter for his Hoover MaxExtract PressurePro model’, a new life.

El Camino: A Breaking Bad movie is in stores now.

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

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

FINAL FANTASY XVI | New Site and Character details

 

FINAL FANTASY XVI LAUNCHES TEASER WEBSITE FEATURING KEY ARTWORK,

SETTING AND MAIN CHARACTERS

Today, Square Enix Ltd., launched the official teaser website for the latest standalone mainline title in the FINAL FANTASY series, FINAL FANTASY® XVI. 

The website showcases newly revealed key artwork for the ground-breaking, all-new action RPG, featuring the game’s protagonist, Clive Rosfield, as well as a set of character illustrations and vignettes that offer a glimpse of the connections between them. 

The website also presents a deeper look into the setting of FINAL FANTASY® XVI, the complex realm of Valisthea, a land blessed in the light of the Mothercrystals —glittering mountains of crystal that tower over the world below.

 

Artwork – FINAL FANTASY XVI protagonist, Clive Rosfield, on a dark and dangerous road to revenge

FINAL FANTASY XVI brings players into a world where Eikons are powerful and deadly creatures that reside within Dominants—a single man or woman who is blessed with the ability to call upon their dreaded power. The story follows Clive Rosfield, a young man dedicated to mastering the blade, who is dubbed the First Shield of Rosaria and tasked to guard his younger brother Joshua — the Dominant of the Phoenix. Unexpected events set Clive on a dark and dangerous road to revenge.

 

For more information on the world and characters of FINAL FANTASY XVI, visit the official teaser website at: http://eu.finalfantasyxvi.com

 

FINAL FANTASY XVI is a single player action-RPG being developed for the PlayStation®5 console (“PS5™”).

PlayStation 5 - Astro's Playroom and DualSense Controller experience review

PlayStation 5 - Astro's Playroom and Controller experience review

It's now just a matter of weeks until the PlayStation 5 makes its long-awaited arrival on the gaming scene.

And thanks to PlayStation New Zealand, time has been given on the machine in a demo of Astro's Playroom.

Specifically, access was given to allow use of the new controller, the DualSense, and the haptic feedback that has been made so much of.

While the PlayStation's UI and finer points of the console itself (such as the back etc) are still being kept massively under wraps for users, the controller is really where the feeling of the next generation starts to come to life.

It feels chunkier than the current PlayStation 4 controller, and more meaty in the hands. 

But that's not to say it's unwieldy in any shape or form - the controller itself has grips and sits comfortably in the hands which will be good for long gaming sessions. Equally, its sleek and simple design gives it a kind of pristine sheen and ice white feel that will be hard to beat in any new colour iterations PlayStation puts out.

Initially, it doesn't feel much different to a DualShock in many ways - the touch pad is there, the controller sticks are where they should be and the buttons and D-pad all work like they do in the current gen.

Yet, it's the much vaunted haptic feedback in the adaptive controllers that gives the DualSense the promise of a next gen piece of kit.

The R1 and R2 buttons adapt to their environments, and the grips on them change. In the Astro's Playroom demo, it becomes obvious the scope there is for the haptic feedback to shape the nature of any game and the immersiveness of it. (Though, admittedly, there are only a certain limited number of feelings for any developers to use the tech, so it'll be interesting to see where they go with it.)

Sequences where your Bot suits up to become a springy toy see the controller's back buttons become tighter like coils, and others where you fire a gun of balls at other bots or using a bow, you can feel the controller kicking back with the recoil. It's game-changing stuff - much like the touch pad was for Little Big Planet or in the inFamous series on the PlayStation 4.

But as is cautioned, developers will need to run with it for it to morph into something more than a launch gimmick. 

In Astro's Playroom, the Astrobot experience is extended out from the Astro Bot Rescue Mission - and the game comes installed in the PS5 for launch day.

In the one section that was allowed to be played, the game's clearly meant to get you in touch with what the controller does, and the speed and reactiveness of the next gen hardware.

It's undeniably cute and Sackboy is in danger of being usurped, as you hurtle around areas picking up PlayStation-labelled coins (for reasons as yet unknown) and tracking down pieces of a jigsaw that form a mural. Using the triggers and a combination of buttons to push and pull parts of the PlayStation Labo area in the game trigger different things - and demonstrate what the controller can do.

Much of Astro's PlayRoom has a nostalgia theme to it, a love-letter to previous generations, thanks to artifacts that can be found (and which are based on previous software) and the design of a central area. It's a sweet little game, but one that shows off the console's potential.

And it's potential that matters here.

With the launch in New Zealand happening on November 12, it seems like Sony has some interesting ideas up their sleeve for the kind of use the controller can have in the games they're dropping near launch.

Imagine using the controller during the wacky gadgets of Ratchet and Clank's next outing, or for Sackboy's return. Long term prospects like the Horizon Zero Dawn sequel and a potential Spider-Man sequel will ensure the gaming is brought to your fingertips.

It's enticing, intriguing and a sign that the next generation of consoles has something to offer - and a world of possibilities for developers to embrace.

Sony PlayStation 5, the DualSense controller, and the demo of Astro's Playroom were given access to as part of a promotional campaign for the launch of the PlayStation 5 by PlayStation New Zealand.

Trailer released for Dawn Raid

DAWN RAID - THE UNTOLD STORY THAT INSPIRED A KIWI GENERATION HITS THE BIG SCREEN IN 2021

 

The songs you know. The story you don’t. Dawn Raid opens in cinemas January 21, 2021.

Dawn Raid Entertainment Founders, Andy Murnane and Brotha D

 

 

AUCKLAND, AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND, WEDNESDAY 28 OCTOBER 2020 – 387 Distribution is excited to release the first trailer for local feature film Dawn Raid ahead of its nationwide release on January 21, 2021.

 

Directed by Oscar Kightley and from the producers of McLaren and The Dead Lands, Dawn Raid is the extraordinary untold story of Dawn Raid Entertainment and its two founders Andy Murnane and Brotha D - the unlikely duo behind some of New Zealand’s biggest hip-hop and RnB artists including Savage, Mareko, Adeaze and Aaradhna.

 

The trailer release comes off the back of Savage’s Swing seeing a resurgence via a viral TikTok trend using a mash-up of the song and Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, leading to Swing going double platinum just this month in the US, more than a decade after its original release. The mash-up has seen over half a million user generated videos to date from some of TikToks biggest stars.

The film explores the incredible challenges and struggles that were buried deep beneath the glamour of chart-topping hits with the hottest local and international talent – rifts between artists, unpaid tax debts, feelings of failure and betrayal – and the immeasurable musical legacy that was created in spite of this.

 

“Dawn Raid is about two hustlers from South Auckland who decided to chart their own destiny. It’s a tale of achievement, community and cultural empowerment, and all of the glamour and glitz that comes with success in the global recording industry,” says Kightley. “It is also a narrative of failure, of crushing defeat and devastating loss. But most of all, it is a story of rebirth. Of a culture, a people, an art form. And of the legacy that rebirth has left behind.”

Featuring some of New Zealand’s top hip-hop and RnB artists including Savage, Mareko, Adeaze, Aaradhna, Scribe and P Money, Dawn Raid is an inspirational, heart-pounding, big screen celebration of local home-grown talent who not only gave a voice to their local community, but paved the way for a future generation of artists.

 

Dawn Raid was produced by Matthew Metcalfe (The Dead Lands, Capital in the Twenty-First Century) and Leela Menon (Orphans & Kingdoms, Born Racer), with Fraser Brown (Wayne, McLaren) as executive producer.

 

Dawn Raid hits cinemas nationwide on January 21, 2021.

 

Experimental Text Adventure ‘Stories Untold’ Out Now on PS4 & Xbox One

Experimental Text Adventure ‘Stories Untold’ Out Now on PS4 & Xbox One – Lights Off, Headphones On –

Independent developers and paranoid Glaswegians No Code (Observation) and conspiracy theorists Devolver Digital have announced the celebrated experimental thriller Stories Untold has launched today on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.  Combining a mix of classic text-adventure and point-and-click adventure in a modern presentation, four short stories are packaged together into a single mysterious anthology that earned widespread critical acclaim since its initial release.  “Stories Untold is so unbelievably intense it made me question why I got into video games in the first place,” noted Devolver Digital CFO Fork Parker. “It was money. Go buy Stories Untold on more consoles, nerds.” Follow @_NoCode and @DevolverDigital for more information about Stories Untold.