Let Him Go: Movie Review

Cast: Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Jeffrey Donovan, Lesley Manville

Director: Thomas Bezucha

Thomas Bezucha's neo-Western, based on the book of the same name by Larry Watson, is a taut and suffocating film to watch.

But it's even more compelling because of the fact - and because Diane Lane delivers a career-best performance as a troubled mother.

Lane and Costner star as Margaret and George Blackledge, a grieving mother and mother whose son is killed early on in a freak accident on their farm as they're bathing their grandson. When their daughter-in-law remarries one of the feared Weboy family, Margaret is unsettled to see her beloved grandson and his mother hit in the streets by her new husband.

Distraught at the news they've left town, and fearful for their grandson's life, Margaret decides to set out across the heartland of the US to rescue them, and bring him home. But her husband, a former sheriff, isn't sure the move is the best one - and things are further complicated when the pair clash with the Weboy matriarch (played with steely coldness by Manville).

Let Him Go is a searing film that builds simmering tension throughout.

It helps that Costner and Lane have mature chemistry and deliver performances that are stunning to watch, mired as they are in subtlety and solemnity. Neither deliver pretentious turns, but both convince they are lived in people whose lives have led to this awful point.

Equally Manville, in few scenes, delivers a matriarch for the ages. Scenes with her facing off as the head of the family crackle with electricity and uncertainty, and revel in their awfulness. It helps Donovan gives an ambivalent performance as the male head of the family, cowed in the presence and power of Manville's Blanche Weboy. It's the kind of stuff nightmares are made of, and Manville's performance is on a par with Jackie Weaver's fire-breathing dragon in Animal Kingdom.

But Let Him Go - with a truly upsetting and tightly ratcheted tense sequence inside a motel - belongs to Lane and Costner's mature double act. 

Their reserved performance accentuates Blanche's nastiness and cruel veneer, and Bezucha's restrained direction helps build the firecracker and powderkeg to Let Him Go's conclusion that's as explosive as it is stunning.

Patience is a reward with Let Him Go - it's emotionally draining and yet at the same time, it's the kind of drama you can't tear your eyes away from.

Six60: Till The Lights Go Out: Film Review 

Director: Julia Parnell

There is a certain section of New Zealand that utterly adores Six60.

Beloved by the heartland, despised by sections of the musical mainstream and yet phenomenally popular, the Dunedin lads have cracked the big time selling out Auckland's Western Springs stadium and being the first to do so.

But as it stands, Julia Parnell's doco dips dangerously close to hagiography, thanks to a desire to not delve deeper into the issues that have plagued Six60 or to detract from their clearly mapped out redemption arc that anchors most of this piece.

The beautifully shot film is one of two halves, as the first leads to plenty of inspiration from Matiu Walters, Eli Paewai, Chris Mac, Ji Fraser and Marlon Gerbes and their family history. From being raised on the rugby field via drinking issues, via Gerbes' escape from gang life to Eli being raised by grandparents, the unconventional route is both a salute to the boys' work ethics as much as it is a tribute to New Zealand living in all its different paradigms - and triumphing.

Parnell knows how to make great fist out of this side of things, using archive footage of the younger lads, choice soundbites, down-to-earth talking heads and a generally loving vibe, she crafts an underdog story that's truly hard to resist.

It all works well in Six60: Till The Lights Go Out until it doesn't.

From grandiose statements made by others and backed up by none, it becomes clear Parnell isn't interested in digging deeper below the surface and scratching into the issues that have plagued the band through the years. From the binge drinking to conflict between Walters and co-founder Fraser (the clash of which is choreographed in of all places a boxing ring), Parnell's less keen to move away from the largely positive vibe she's after presenting.

It culminates in the collapse of a balcony at a Dunedin gig in March 2016, which left teen Bailley Unahi paralysed. While the band talks of their guilt at her fate, Parnell uses footage of Bailley but she doesn't speak. It's an odd moment that stands out, and while producers say Unahi was happy to be featured, but didn't wish to take from the band, it feels jarring and difficult to watch - especially given how the accident impacted the band and nearly caused them to implode.

You may gain respect for Six60 through the piece, as the aforementioned wobble is of the director's making, and you may understand their triumph at the end, but you may also be surprised how emotionally hollow it feels thanks to the somewhat shallow approach to the subject.

In some ways, Six60: Till The Lights Go Out may be the doco 2020 needs - a feelgood celebration of one of our own and a salutation to the ordinary New Zealander and the can do attitude. But long term, this lack of fleshing the meat on the bones prevents Six60: Till The Lights Go Out from excelling into the stratosphere it could have so easily ascended to.

Cyberpunk 2077 PlayStation Gameplay Released! 

Cyberpunk 2077 PlayStation Gameplay Released!

 

CD PROJEKT RED today revealed a Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay video, captured on PlayStation 4 Pro and PlayStation 5.

 

The video showcases Cyberpunk 2077 running on both PlayStation 4 Pro, and PlayStation 5 via backwards compatibility. 

The gameplay is taken from the Nomad lifepath, one of the three playable backstories players can choose to jump into when they begin their adventure. 

Featuring action from the Badlands — the desert area which surrounds Night City — as well as from the streets of Night City itself, the PlayStation footage is available to watch on Cyberpunk 2077’s YouTube channel right now.

 

Cyberpunk 2077 will release December 10th, 2020, for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. The game will also be playable on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 consoles. 

At a later date, a free upgrade to Cyberpunk 2077, taking full advantage of next-gen hardware, will become available for owners of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions respectively.

 

For more information regarding the game, follow Facebook, Twitter, and visit cyberpunk.net.

The Good Liar: Neon NZ Review

Based on Nicholas Searle's book, The Good Liar's thrills mainly arrive in the form of watching Sir Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren interact, rather than the central so-called mystery of what's unfolding.

McKellen is Roy Courtnay, a con artist, who thinks he's found his latest mark in the form of Mirren's well-to-do widow Betty McLeish. Ingratiating himself in her life, Courtnay's swindle is under threat thanks to the uncertainty of Betty's grandson, played by Being Human's Russell Tovey.

Will Courtnay get away with a multi-million pound con?

The Good Liar has obvious twists that are relatively signposted from the start.

Not simply content to follow a fairly formulaic and perfunctory story, Condon rarely elevates Searle's story beyond an 80's UK TV thriller, with gradual revelations building to the kind of crescendo a finale would cover, and audiences would lap up.

However, times have changed now, and while the whole thing is nicely presented, the story's crippled by some flashbacks and a final act that feels flat and emotionally lacking, as the puzzle pieces slot neatly into place.

Thankfully, Mirren and McKellen make a masterful pair (and it's good to see Downton Abbey's Jim Carter playing a more contemporary role as Courtnay's partner in crime), but the film's script doesn't quite live up to their brilliance.

It's rare to see a film that relies so heavily on more mature leads, and it greatly deserves to be applauded; every scene with McKellen soars, and the film suffers in comparison when neither are on screen.

But ultimately, The Good Liar doesn't deliver a compelling enough twist or reveal to render any of what's happened previously potent; its final shots may be shocking in some ways, but that's only because of the actors' work.

Far better suited to a short run TV miniseries, The Good Liar may be masterfully shot, perfunctorily plotted and well-acted, but the truth of the matter is it lacks the gut punch to give the mystery the chance to soar, and the audience the chance to be utterly shocked and absorbed.

Scoob!: DVD Review

The Hanna Barbera cinematic universe fires its opening salvo with the reimagining of Scooby Doo for a 2020 audience - mixing in some Avengers' style elements with some old school nostalgia sure to delight fans.

In this latest, Norville "Shaggy" Rogers befriends lonely mutt, Scooby, founding a friendship on food and hijinks. After a casual Halloween meeting with Fred, Velma and Daphne and an unmasking of a ghost, the gang forms Mystery Inc, deadset on solving mysteries.

However, when Scooby and Shaggy are ostracised after a business deal from Simon Cowell excludes them, they find themselves caught up in Dick Dastardly's quest to open the Underworld...

While Scoob has some great nostalgia for those brought up on the show, it does move massively away from its mystery roots in favour of an Avengers-style adventure.

At times, that's no bad thing, but given that Cervone's peppered the film with hints of the past - from a pitch perfect recreation of the original titles to cameos from other Hanna Barbera characters - there's an occasionally disjointed feel to the proceedings.

Younger fans may be more amused by the animated antics than older ones, given the film's propensity for silliness and catchphrase moments. Some of the clearly winking jokes about Avengers fall a little flat, if truth be told.

Odd pop culture references feel a little out of place, and will age quickly, but there's no denying Scoob! wants to be a good shaggy dog film - whether that's enough for this origin tale to guarantee its future is questionable at best.

However, for a blast of fun during the school holidays and indoors thanks to Covid-19, Scoob! proves diverting enough for the younger end of the audience.

The Painter and The Thief: Movie Review

Director: Benjamin Ree

Director Benjamin Ree's The Painter and The Thief has a delicious premise.

When Czech painter Barbora Kysilkova has two of her paintings stolen in an apparently random crime, CCTV leads police to track down the thieves and put them on trial.

But despite the pieces being two of her most important works, Barbora finds herself fascinated by the man who stole them and approaches him in court, wanting to learn why. Soon-to-be-convicted thief and drug addict Karl-Bertil has a simple answer - and one that proves to be as devastating and enticing as it could be - "Because they were beautiful."

An unlikely friendship forms between the pair, leading Barbora deep into places she'd believed forgotten and delivering Karl-Bertil a redemption he believed he'd always been denied.

Ree's The Painter and the Thief is a compelling dalliance with darkness.

Delivered a third act twist, the movie is as much about the artist muse relationship as it is a tale of humanity and obsession. And in one early sequence alone, the film delivers a powerful emotionally raw moment that no actor could easily bring to the surface.

If perhaps Ree is to be faulted, it's in the lack of exploration over the consequences of Barbora's friendship on her current relationship, and Ree doesn't seem interested as much in anyone other than the central pair.

However, there are touching moments as each are sucked into their respective orbits, and two apparently damaged people collide. It's a fascinating and electric journey, that delivers a powerful emotional catharsis just as the energy levels begin to massively flag.

The unexpected friendship is the reason to tag along for this ride, and while a lack of any definitive conclusion proves frustrating for what's transpired, Ree's The Painter and the Thief concerns itself more about the realities of friendships, the ups and downs of life and the highs and lows of consequences.

The Painter and the Thief will have its New Zealand premiere as part of Sunday’s Doc Edge at the Civic event in Auckland on November 22.

The Man On The Island: Movie Review

Director: Simon Mark-Brown

Director Simon Mark-Brown's documentary concerns itself with its subject - but it's sometimes to the detriment of what should be a wider lens.

Taking in the island of Rakino, in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf, with its population of 20 people, Brown decides the focus of his piece should be the pontifications of Colin Maclaren, a 77-year old former mainlander who moved to the island some 30 years ago.

Dismissive of Auckland's hum and drum of life, yet shackled to the need to use the shops there, Maclaren is less an enigma to be frank, and more a man taking every opportunity to grandstand on subjects without any challenging from its director.

That's not to say that Maclaren is not a man without merit, more that the focus of this documentary appears to be less interested in pursuing a fully-rounded picture of its subject, and more in the thrall of one man and his opinions.

Not once does Brown refer - or defer - to others to explain why Maclaren requires such time in the spotlight; his story is of interest, but it's up to others to provide colour into the quirk and the man who's become the island's recluse.

Impressive drone shots and cinematography capture the beauty of Rakino and entice viewers into understanding why an island paradise would leave so many so enamoured. It's here Brown's eye for simplicity shines.

But in Maclaren, he's found a subject whose philosophies aren't out of place with a Covid-infected world, but whose raison d'etre is nothing more than self-imposed. Many moments find insights into Maclaren wanting - from no clue over where he gains money from for trips to Auckland to an apparent fight with Auckland council over weeds going unexplored.

There's much to be made of The Man On The Island - but this documentary, while stunning to view, is shallow in its examinations and frustrating as a viewing experience.

The Man on the Island will have its world premiere as part of Sunday’s Doc Edge at the Civic event in Auckland before embarking on a limited run nationwide from November 26.

Win a Six60 Till The Lights Go Out Prize pack 

To celebrate the release of Six60 Till The Lights Go Out in cinemas November 26, you can win a prize pack thanks to StudioCanal NZ!

Each prize pack includes 1x SIX60 T-shirt, 1x SIX60 CD and 1x Double Pass to see  Six60 Till The Lights Go Out in cinemas!

About Six60 Till The Lights Go Out 

In 2019, SIX60 defied all convention when they attempted to be the first-ever New Zealand band to headline a concert at Western Springs Stadium. 

Alongside jaw-dropping coverage of their record-breaking concert is never seen before archival footage of Matiu Walters, Ji Fraser, Eli Paewai, Marlon Gerbes and Chris Mac on the extraordinary road they’ve taken to achieve a power of an appeal unseen in Aotearoa.

In cinemas November 26!

HOW TO WIN

All you have to do is email your details and the word SIX60!

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

The British film festival is here - these are the best trailers to watch

Good news for Pommie film-loving fans.

The British film festival is here, starting in Auckland and heading around the country.

The event runs from 19 - 29 Nov in Auckland and Wellington,  from 2 - 13 Dec in Tauranga and from 26 Nov - 6 Dec around the rest of the country.

These are the best British Film festival trailers to watch of the event

A CHRISTMAS GIFT FROM BOB

MISBEHAVIOUR

SUMMERLAND

A CALL TO SPY

DATING AMBER

THE RACER

FLASH GORDON

The British Film Festival will run in 12 city centres and in 19 cinemas across the country. The following cinemas are part of the festival, so check your local and see if they're playing the films you want!

Auckland

 The Bridgeway Cinema, Monterey Howick, Monterey Takapuna, The Capitol, Lido

Auckland

Wellington

 The Penthouse, Light House Petone, Monterey Upper Hutt

Christchurch

 Academy Gold, Lumière Cinemas

Dunedin

 Rialto Dunedin

Kerikeri

 Cathay Cinemas

Tauranga

 Rialto Tauranga

Hamilton

 Lido Hamilton

Palmerston North

 EVENT Palmerston North, Focal Point Fielding

Hawke’s Bay

 EVENT Havelock North

New Plymouth

 EVENT New Plymouth

Nelson

 State Nelson

Blenheim

 EVENT Blenheim

New Night City Wire showcases Johnny Silverhand, gameplay, and featurettes for Cyberpunk 2077

New Night City Wire showcases Johnny Silverhand, gameplay, and featurettes for Cyberpunk 2077!

 

CD PROJEKT RED today released new videos for Cyberpunk 2077, including a new trailer focusing on the legendary rockerboy played by Keanu Reeves, as well as gameplay and behind the scenes footage, all part of the latest episode of Night City Wire.

 

Night City Wire : 

The show started with the reveal of an action-packed trailer focusing on Johnny Silverhand and the unique connection he shares with the game’s protagonist, V. This was followed up by a behind-the-scenes video with Keanu Reeves talking about his transformation into Night City’s iconic rebel rockerboy, with a look at voice and motion capture recording sessions.

 

JohnnySilverhand: 

 

In Score and Music, Marcin Przybyłowicz (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt), P.T. Adamczyk (GWENT: The Witcher Card Game, Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales), and Paul Leonard-Morgan (Dredd, Limitless, Battlefield: Hardline), together with collaborating musicians, talk about crafting atmospheric original music for the upcoming video game.

 

Score and Music

 

Gamers looking to get into the mood for Cyberpunk 2077 can now also check out the freshly released Original Score EP, featuring 6 tracks for a total of 22 minutes listening time. The EP is available now on a selection of popular digital music streaming and distribution platforms.

 

Next, with JALI the episode turned its focus to the innovative technological solution used in Cyberpunk 2077 to power facial expressions and lip sync for characters in the game. The video provides insight into how JALI makes performances immersively realistic across 11 fully localized languages.

 

Jali Trailer:

 

Just before the show ended, the Official Gameplay Trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 made its debut. Over 5 minutes long, the feature highlights an assortment of aspects of the open world, action-adventure story players will be engaging in upon launch, complimented with never-before-scene footage showcasing the experiences awaiting in the dark future.

 

Cyberpunk 2077 will release December 10th, 2020, for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. 

The game will also be playable on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 consoles. 

At a later date, a free upgrade to Cyberpunk 2077, taking full advantage of next-gen hardware, will become available for owners of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions respectively.

Gameplay trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 released

There are just weeks to go until Cyberpunk 2077 from CD Projekt Red is released.

And to celebrate the launch on December 10, a new gameplay trailer has dropped.

CD PROJEKT RED released today a new video for Cyberpunk 2077, offering gamers the latest look at gameplay and numerous aspects of the experience from the soon-to-be-released title.

 

The video features over 5 minutes of in-game footage thrusting gamers deep into the most dangerous megalopolis of the year 2077 — Night City. 

Never-before-seen interactions and action scenes are shown, revealing details about the story, as well as characters — including their backgrounds and motivations. In addition to discussing the primary objective of the game’s protagonist, the up and coming cyber-enhanced mercenary going by the name V, part of the trailer is also devoted to giving players a fresh glimpse into character development and some of the side activities they will be able to indulge in.

  

Cyberpunk 2077 will release December 10th, 2020, for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The game will also be playable on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 consoles. At a later date, a free upgrade to Cyberpunk 2077, taking full advantage of next-gen hardware, will become available for owners of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions respectively.

Palm Springs: Amazon Prime Video Review

Cast: Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, JK Simmons

Director: Max Barbakow

The time travel loop trope is given a fresh spin in this relatively entertaining  once it gets going dramedy about Andy Samberg's Nyles.

Seemingly carefree, Nyles meets up with reluctant maid of honour Sarah (How I Met Your Mother's Milioti) at a Palm Springs wedding. Both sickened by the whole wedding, the pair head off to the desert for a hook-up. However, just as things are going in Nyles' favour, he's hit by an arrow, and stumbles into a cave, warning Sarah not to follow him.

She doesn't heed the warning and goes in as well - waking up later to the apparently same day only earlier...

Picking up a malaise from the line "Today, tomorrow, yesterday, it's all the same," uttered by Nyles, Palm Springs builds on its timeloop raison d'etre and cuts loose with it - even if the resultant montages are familiar to anyone who's got even an inkling of what the genre offers.

More than a Groundhog Day, the film builds from an early pastiche of similar movies to reveal itself as somewhat of an earnest look at the reality of being stuck in a rut (something likely to resonate with many in 2020) and trying to get out of it.

It helps the leads are extremely personable.

Samberg brings some of the goofier and sombre edges to his Nyles, as the layers peel away and the reality of being condemned to repeat the same 24 hours starts to grate. Equally, Milioti delivers a fresh-facedness and dogged determination that anyone stuck in the loop would have as they tried to escape. The pair work incredibly well together and sell the fact this is a very familiar concept, given a slightly fresher edge.

Extremely affable once you get past the initially rough start, Palm Springs is a destination well worth checking into and sticking with.

Palm Springs is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.

The Secrets We Keep: Film Review

Cast: Noomi Rapace, Chris Messina, Joel Kinnaman
Director: Yuval Adler

The Secrets We Keep could have been a tense chamber piece of claustrophobia and nagging doubt - a story of identity, trauma and unreliable memory that kept audiences guessing.

But instead what emerges - aside from a twitchy whirling Rapace - is a film that doesn't really offer much tension, or opportunity to make you wonder who is right and who is wrong.

Rapace is Romanian gypsy Maja, a woman rebuilding her life in post World War II America with new husband, doctor Lewis (Messina, in a relatively straight and thankless role). One day when out with her son, she hears a whistle and her bubble is burst.

Obsessed that the whistle is from one of her former tormentors from her days in a camp, Maja stalks the man, kidnapping him and plunging him into the family basement.

Despite his protestations that he's not the man she remembers, and with a loosening grip on her own sanity, Maja is put on a path with her past that could permanently derail her future.

The Secrets We Keep is a lesson in patience.

But the almost chamber piece nature of the film doesn't really lend itself to any lingering doubts over who is right, who is wrong, and what has happened unfortunately. 

While Rapace turns in a nervy, edgy performance of a woman on the verge of losing everything, the cat and mouse game isn't nearly as strong as it could be - and the psychological elements don't grip as bitingly as they could.

The period detail and the use of beige and green palettes suggest much provocatively during the film, but the overall tone is one of indifference.

Kinnaman delivers a strong and emotionally wrenching performance in the one scene he's gifted as the captive, and Messina is solid but never spectacular. This is Rapace's film, and while she steals every moment she can, the script doesn't do enough to service the kind of range she delivered in the Dragon Tattoo series.

A lack of real tension proves fatal to The Secrets We Keep and the lack of intensity proves deflating to the overall mystery. There may be secrets in this film, but in honesty, the knowing of them doesn't sadly prove worth the journey.

Fatman: Movie Review

Cast: Mel Gibson, Walton Goggins, Marianne Jean Baptiste

Directors: Eshom Nelms, Ian Nelms

Less Bad Santa, more BadAss Santa in its denouement, the weirdly odd Fatman tries to give the Christmas story a different spin, much like Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale pushed its own darker agenda.

A heavily bearded and dour Gibson plays Chris Cringle, whose Santa business is slowly falling apart. Forced into a financial partnership with the military, Cringle's world is further complicated when a precocious scorned kid hires a hitman (Goggins) after he's left a lump of coal in his stocking.

There's a kernel of a good story here, and an idea that could have blossomed wonderfully, if it were to have been fully indulged.

But as it is, Fatman feels tonally like several movies all squashed into one, with none intertwined with any of the joy of their raison d'etre. 

Goggins, a hamster-obsessed hitman, just about manages the right tone of murderous intent as the killer scorned by Santa when he was younger and all too happy to even the score. In fact, he's one of the best things about the film, delivering lines about the Fatman with a deadly glee that's just the right side of hammy.

However, he's offset by Gibson's Cringle, who's more a businessman thwarted than a booming jolly presence. The dour edge and demeanour works and gives scenes with his wife Ruth (Baptiste) a kind of earnestness that's compelling to watch as the film plays out.

But too much of Fatman sees differing narratives being forced to crash into each other with minimum impact. 

And when the gun-led finale rolls around, and blood spills as heavily on the snow as it did in moments of Fargo make you yearn for a killer Santa film of cat-and-mouse that never was.

As they say, it's not over till the Fatman sings - but in this tonally confused cinematic slice, you just walk away wishing that the Nelms brothers had sung from another songsheet and given you the kickass Santa film you can see hiding in the distance.

Knives Out: Neon NZ Review 

Director Rian Johnson is no newcomer to the mystery genre.

His earliest Brick dabbled in similar territory, but for this latest, a slickly produced and polished piece of Poirot-esque fare, he heads to subvert some of the conventions while following others of the murder mystery.

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Plummer) is found dead the day after his 85th birthday, there's a house full of family suspects. Enter southern fried detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) who was given an anonymous envelope stuffed with cash to solve the case, and who always gets his man.

Knives Out comes out the door firing on all cylinders, like most murder mysteries do.

Flash editing, quick cuts, a series of suspects given a moment in the glare of the spotlight and a whodunnit to relish all pull you in to the whimsical world Johnson's set up.

Yet within moments Johnson plays a trump card, swiftly pulling the rug from under your cinematic feet, giving the film its heart and its emotional in, and signalling his intentions to subvert everything. To say more is to derail the film, but suffice to say the commitment to the story while playing with the genre tropes, and plying it with laugh-out-loud one liners makes a big difference. (An early Murder She Wrote moment is guffawable).

Slickly edited, exquisitely shot and reminiscent of Agatha Christie, Jonathan Creek and most other crime series, Johnson knows a quirky detective is the glue to hold the story together. On this charge, Daniel Craig makes for a watchable lead, a dogged investigator with a drawl.

Sure, there's the usual let's-get-everyone-together-in-one-room-to-reveal-it moment, and the multi-talented cast are too many and too sidelined in the back half of the movie, but for the large part Knives Out is a good time at the movies, a film that's not as clever as it initially thinks it is, but which commits to its premise and carries you along on a rollicking good ride.

Just Mercy: Neon NZ Review

That Just Mercy follows a conventional, cliched path for its tale of wronged black man seeking redemption is not a bad thing, but it lends the film a feeling of a lack of subtlety.

That it does it with Michael B Jordan leading the way, lends the film the agency it desperately wants from its beginning sequences to its obvious end, complete with its these are the people from the true story photos.

And yet in this quietly dignified story of Jordan's innocent lawyer, Bryan Stevenson, who, despite the exhortations of his mother who fears for his life, heads to Alabama to try and save Jamie Foxx's Walter McMillian from death row, every cliche and every dramatic beat lies in wait and is deployed when thematically necessary.

This may sound like a damnation of the film, but in truth, Just Mercy's strength derives from knowing the journey it's on, and being determined to tell it well, wrapping the whole thing up in an unshowy bow that gives it the kind of prestige sheen that won't attract awards praise, but will render its audience distraught with parts of its power.

Nuance is the order of the day with Just Mercy, and while Foxx is reduced to a side player thanks to his character's incarceration, Jordan's evident star power shines through. Sure, his lawyer doesn't resort to showmanship or tricks and ticks to get his result, but the story gifts Jordan with enough to ensure the overriding feeling is one of dignity in the face of overwhelming odds.

You've seen films like Just Mercy before - depressingly, these stories have been around from the John Grisham days to the Netflix contemporary series, and they've been told to varying degrees of success through the years. And sure, there are montages which show researching and lawyering at work, but Just Mercy does more than enough to justify its cliches, and exposes the horror of the Alabama state to the depressing maximum.

However, Just Mercy packs a powerful punch when it's needed.

An execution sequence is utterly heart-in-mouth horrifically burned into the screen, one of the few truly memorable moments from Just Mercy's overly bloated 2 hour run time that resolutely stands out and is deeply affecting. And Blake Nelson's performance as a witness in the original case gives the film a boost as it threatens to sag in its second hour.

Ultimately, Just Mercy and its depressingly familiar material is another of those has to be told tales that Hollywood occasionally does so well. What makes this one stand out though is a nuanced lead, a determination to showcase the grit under extreme pressure and the desire to lead with its earnestness.

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon: Neon NZ Review

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon: Neon NZ Review

Director: Will Becher, Richard Phelan

It's hard to explain why A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon works so well.

From its sci-fi easter eggs to its general desire to encapsulate timeless British silliness with throwaway gags (a bull in a china shop being the best), there's something about Aardman's work that just feels iconically English, yet universally funny.

While this latest may lack the heart of the first Shaun The Sheep movie, it's lost none of the madcap charm as we return to Mossingham. With a UFO sighting in the village, the farmer decides to cash in to try and make some money to upgrade his harvester.

However, Shaun's already met the alien, and in true buddy movie mentality, sets out to get the little critter home before the shady government agencies capture him first....

From slapstick silliness to pratfalls, scifi gags that include ET, Doctor Who, a wonderful Hitchhiker's nod and a truly brilliant 2001: A Space Odyssey pastiche, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon is family fare for everyone to enjoy.

Once again, Aardman's homed in what makes British humour so amusing, and shows once again this animation studio's spent more time than any other weaving in gags into every single frame.

Sure, under closer analysis, it does lacks the emotional edge of the 2015 debut, but it over-delivers the silliness and packs in more jokes than you can take in. A finale doesn't quite match up all the pieces, but all in all, Aardman's still delightful and determined to leave you grinning.

There's also an opening reminder of how Wallace and Gromit led the way with their Grand Day Out (even down to the robot's roots in Farmageddon), but while they may be benched due to the sad death of Peter Sallis, Shaun The Sheep has certainly got years to go - here's hoping we don't have to wait another 5 years for the next outing.

Reunion: Film Review

Cast: Julia Ormond, Emma Draper, Cohen Holloway, John Bach

Director: Jake Mahaffy

More a psychological chiller than an outright terror, Jake Mahaffy's Reunion is a tale of duality combined in a tale of the guilt of mothers and that relationship.

Emma Draper is Ellie, an abused mother-to-be, who returns to the family home and a strained relationship with her mother Ivy (an icy Ormond). As her mother readies the house for sale, Ellie's already fragile mental state takes a dive as she begins to see her dead sister...

Terrifically atmospheric and making great fist of its single location (an old, Gothically outfitted house), Reunion subverts the expectations of a horror film, and prefers instead to deal with the fact the greatest horrors are usually of the human variety, and more than often, part of the family dynamic.

Mahaffy, who wrote the film as well, goes for subtlety over overt use of tropes (until the last act where the visuals go into overload) to build the sense of creepiness and also dread. With a minimal soundtrack and some quick cuts overlayed, this chamber piece is more about the ideas within than what lies on the screen.

Early sequences make great use of the location, and imagery plays a lot into displaying two of everything (hinting at the dynamics ahead), giving an unsettling feel that builds to an upsetting crescendo as the tale of guilt unfolds.

The fractious two-hander between Ellie and Ivy is genuinely disturbing to watch, and flashbacks add another layer of claustrophobia that's hard to shake.

Essentially a tale of moving on (Ellie's struggling to let go of the past, accept the changes of her new life; Ivy refuses to move on from their relationship dynamic, despite trying to get rid of everything in the house) Reunion is a mature and excellently-executed entrant into the world of Kiwi horror. It does it differently, and for that, whole-heartedly deserves commendation.

Watch Dogs: Legion: PS4 Review

Developed by

Published by Ubisoft

Platform: PS4

Mixing Grand Theft Auto's sandbox world and gameplay with the physics and sensibilities of a Saints Row game, Watch Dogs Legion is as much of a game of input as it is output.

Surrender to its world, and the yield is more than satisfactory; resist, and the shallowness of the play and similarity of the game becomes evident.

Set in dystopian London, where drones fly the skies and the disaffected are everywhere, Watch Dogs: Legion centres once again around hacktivist group DedSec.

When DedSec is framed for a series of bombings in London, the revolution goes to the people as civilians rise up to take the place of the group in the aftermath of a power grab by a private security firm.

Centred on taking down Zero Day, the game isn’t slow in allowing you into the action and letting you run with it, pitting you front and centre of a race against time to prevent London being obliterated. 

But that's also its strength - and its weakness.

Watch Dogs: Legion is quite keen to keep things moving, and does so with little depth for character. The fact you can play anyone once they've been recruited to the Dedsec cause via a short side mission makes the game as open as it needs to be, but as an in-depth experience for the amount of hours that are thrown in, it's lacking.

Some of the truly laughable mockney dialogue gives the game a feel of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels: the game experience, and while it does represent in part some of the English capital's vernacular, it does sound odd from characters you've barely seen for very long. (Several phrases are repeated, a kind of limitation of the everyone can be a playable character, one guesses).

Missions are fairly straightforward; go here, do something, hack your way in, use the tech against those who would use it against you - there's not much new here that Watch Dogs hasn't done before. 

That said, it's actually immeasurably fun, if you want to dive into the world for a brief dalliance.

Matching NPCs to their skills and using them against their enemies is amusing - there's much to be said for flying through the air atop a construction drone after you've unlocked that worker and recruited them to your cause. (Paired with more depth, this could make Watch Dogs: Legion a real groundbreaker).

The continually chatty and somewhat sarcastic AI Bagley (played with brilliance by Pascal Langdale) hams up his script, but makes a great companion as you're careering round London. And talking of London, the streets are very well realised, and give the capital the life it needs. From the back streets to the main landmarks, it feels real and lived in.

All in all, Watch Dogs: Legion is a fun title to spend time; it doesn't reinvent the wheel of what's gone prior, nor does it fully move it on. But it proves to be more than a good bedfellow to wile away the gaming hours.

Freaky: Film Review

Cast: Vince Vaughn, Kathryn Newton, Alan Ruck

Director: Christopher Landon

Happy Death Day's Christopher Landon is less interested in providing the frights in the comedy horror Freaky, and more interested in pursuing the humour and occasional scares.

In this Freaky Friday the 13th version of The Change Up, Newton stars as Millie Kessler, a bullied and withdrawn high schooler who's trying to get past the death of her father. Looking to escape her mother and go to college, Millie's life is changed when she's attacked by the Blissfield Butcher (Vaughn, initially in Michael Myers mode before switching to usual comedic edges).

The pair swap places (due to reasons way too vague and unexplained in the film's fumbles) after his attempts to murder her go awry - and Millie discovers she has just 24 hours to swap back before the change is made permanent.

Freaky does offer a clever - and relatively enjoyable - twist on the horror genre.

Opening with an extended stalk and kill sequence, the film's clearly got designs on the horror ouevre, but is less interested in pursuing that and more interested in a gender switch take on proceedings.

Newton shifts easily from awkward and shy to steely determination, channeling the unswerving gait of a killer stalking their victims. She's largely made redundant once the swap happens, confined to the background and given little else to do in favour of Vaughn.

Vaughn meanwhile, shifts focus from the early behaviour of a killer described as a "never underestimate a single white man's propensity for violence" to a teen girl trapped in a male body; an idea made famous by Rob Schneider's Hot Chick, and used to reasonable and surprising effect here.

Freaky doesn't outstay its welcome and does mess a little with the genre but never fully explores the depth it could have achieved. That's not to say the Freaky Friday body swap doesn't hold back from some of the more inventive kills - merely that it services the genre rather than overly shaping it and diving deeply into the meta world of horror films.

Ultimately, Freaky is a popcorn blockbuster of a horror movie - it's more interested in giving you jolts and scares, along with laughs and a good time in your seat, rather than sending you to the edge of it in pure fear.