Win Military Wives

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

About Military Wives

Faced with their loved ones serving in Afghanistan, women from different backgrounds come together to form the very first military wives choir, helping each other through some of life's most difficult moments on an international sta­ge.

“Even when it's straining towards notes to make us feel good, Military Wives is recognising the uneasiness that at the centre of life during war time cutting through the sentiment with clarity and incisiveness.” - Stabroek News

“What makes this textbook set-up sing is the pitch-perfect casting of Four Weddings and a Funeral star Kristin Scott Thomas and having her charge head on at Catastrophe lead Sharon Horgan as Lisa, her fiery co-choir leader” - The New Daily (Australia)

HOW TO WIN 

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

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

Win The Crown Season 3

To celebrate the release of The Crown season 3 on DVD and Blu Ray, thanks to Sony Home Entertainment, you can win a copy.

About The Crown season 3

The Crown traces the life of Queen Elizabeth II from her wedding in 1947 through to the early part of the twenty-first century. Season Three covers the time period between 1964 and 1977 and introduces an outstanding new ensemble cast led by Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies. Beginning with Harold Wilson's election as the Queens first Labour prime minister and ending with the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II, it follows pivotal moments such as the death and state funeral of Winston Churchill, the Aberfan disaster, the Apollo 11 moon landing and the Investiture of Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales.

“This Elizabeth is, unsurprisingly, every bit as good as her Emmy-winning predecessor, and the rest of the new regime either meets or bests their counterparts.” -RogerEbert.com

“If you have previously enjoyed curling up on a cold winter weekend with this series, it will, again, keep you warm.” - Slate

HOW TO WIN

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

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

The Witches: Movie Review

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci, Chris Rock

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Roald Dahl's The Witches is fairly iconic among kids.

The 2020 version delivers something that's a nice reinvention for the times, but also sadly, isn't iconic enough to last forever.

Relocating the action into the deep South in the 1960s and pitching it as an Us vs Them story with the black people vs the mainly white witches and coating it all with a case of Southern race relations issues give the Robert Zemeckis take on the film a nice contemporary yet timeless edge. The divide of the rich versus poor pull of the tale has never been more in evidence from the opulent costuming of the coven to the treatment of Octavia Spencer's more dowdy clothes.

It helps that Anne Hathaway delivers a truly screen-hogging performance from the get-go.

From her vampy vocals that sound like a bad Russian accent to an extremely physical and lithe performance, the film comes alive when the Grand High Witch is on screen. She exudes menace, never willingly goes over the top, but throws herself 100% into the role - and early scenes with her will deliver some of the CGI nightmarish edges that the film desperately needs and were worthy of with the Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron production touches.

Spencer has an earnestness to her grandma and healer, thrust unexpectedly into a fight and prone to exposition early on to set the scene. But she unwisely becomes sidelined in favour of the CGI animations as the witchified mice take centre stage, after her grandson (Jazhir Bruno) is transformed.

But Zemeckis doesn't seem content to try and push the boat out, opting instead for something sadly generic.

It's here The Witches fails to cast much of a spell as it becomes a formulaic CGI-driven tale of shenanigans.

It's not that Zemeckis fails to deliver on that side of things or made something inherently unwatchable, more that it becomes less of the tale that Roald Dahl made famous.

The wordplay and delicious darkness of the originals, complete with the Quentin Blake illustrations, made the books so famous and so beloved with kids, who were happy to get a scare in among the elegant prose.

Zemeckis instead weaves a short-lived spell after a superlative opening (a snowstorm scene is typical of the kind of promise that's teased early on) sets a tone that's deliciously dark and dangerously close to nightmarish. Hathaway's head witch, complete with Heath Ledger Joker-faced scars, is the sole driver of that, and as mentioned, she seizes and relishes the opportunity gifted to her.

While the 2020 version of The Witches is likely to entrance some of the younger end of the audience - and even frighten them witless - the latest deserves only the success it gets from Hathaway's stunning performance. It may scare up some decent box office numbers, but the spell is far from long-lasting, even if it does bewitch you while the lights are down.

WWE 2K: Battlegrounds: PS4 Review

Developed by Saber Interactive

Published by 2K Sports

Every year 2K releases a WWE game, and the wrestling world watches on.

But the past few iterations of the game have been less than desirable and less than effective. So 2020 being 2020, 2K Sports decided to release a different version of their annual outing.

In its places comes a more arcade-like game, one that feels more in keeping with the coin op ways of the good ole Saturday afternoons - but at the end of the day, it's not exactly the WWE franchise you would want.

And at the end of it all, wrestling is already cartoon-like in many ways; its absurdities come from the level of its performers, so by over-hyping this element and over-exaggerating it, some of the thrill is lost a little in translation.

It works as a party game, but microtransactions mar some of the gameplay within - and as a result, WWE 2K Battlegrounds feels like a detour, but a less important one than should be.

In parts, with its over the top elements, it feels like a wrestling game mixed with Mortal Kombat.

It's disposable enough fun, but all in all, it's not quite the KO it could or should be.

eFootball PES 2021 Season Update: PS4 Review

Developed by Konami / PES Productions

Released by Konami

Platform: PS4

The Pro-Evo football soccer simulator was one of the first sports simulators this reviewer ever experienced on the PlayStation console.

So to say there is an affection, is somewhat of an understatement.

The 2021 Season update pulls together the content of the 2019 release that scored game merits and plaudit from all over the place - and makes the title accessible enough to newcomers, but also worth investing in for those who already have the 2019 version of the game.

The thing with the Pro-Evo series is that it always has been about the gameplay.

Whereas the FIFA franchise was one which became more obsessed with story-led antics off the pitch and for gameplay to become secondary, the ProEvo series has never abandoned the basics. It may lack the sparkle of its rival, but it's still in the same league, even if more words are spent on the Fifa series.

Additions of big name players give the game the sheen it needs, and the pitch polish it deserves.

The game's AI feels human and the result means matches are a little more evenly led - they make for good playing and prove that when Pro Evo is solid, it remains a force to be reckoned with.

Depressingly Pro Evo Soccer simulators will always be drowned out by FIFA's more showy antics - but for the casual sports sim player, this solid update is more than worthy of a place in the gaming premiership.

Parasite: Neon NZ Movie Review

A searing cross-genre look at the chasms between the classes, Bong Joon-Ho's latest, which took top honours at Cannes this year, is, for the great majority of its run time, an edge-of-your-seat piece, that slightly loses it in the last 15 minutes.

Centring on a family of four who live under the line (in this case, literally, the family lives below the street and often look up to people urinating near their one solitary window), Parasite follows Ki-woo, who's offered a well-paid tutoring job, proffering the family hope of escape from their hand-to-mouth routine.

Inveigling his way into the Park household, Ki-woo manages to seize an opportunity for his sister to become a fellow tutor to the youngest of the household...

To say more about Parasite is to go against director Bong Joon-Ho's wishes in terms of spoilers, but suffice it to say that Parasite dances an extremely fine line between edge-of-your-seat suspense, utter revulsion and horror, and excoriating commentary on the classes that has become the norm for his other films.

There's much to unpack in Parasite - and much of it can't be debated without spoilers.
Whether it's the way the rich refer to and interact with the poor, or the subtleties of microcosms of society which are laid bare, there's a tapestry here to explore that's brilliantly writ large on the big screen.

In all honesty, at times, it's depressing stuff if you're clued into the social mores laid bare, and laid thick with the blackest humour one could find for such an outing.

But it deserves commendation for the way the director and scriptwriters pivot the film roughly half-way through. What seems obvious is given a gut-punch and turned into something that becomes not what you expected.

All of that said, and a coda ending aside which seems like a tonal mismatch from what's transpired, Parasite is a thrilling ride at the cinema, and easily one of the best films of the year.

It's a subversive, subtle and subliminal ride that's as rewarding as it is compelling.

With its subtle genre changes, and its dancing neatly on the taut tightrope of thrills and suspense, it's a game-changer in terms of subverting expectations, and yet delivering a wide broad film that's begging for a Hollywood remake, but which will be all the better if they don't. 

Stories Untold: PS4 Review

Developed by No Code
Published by Devolver Digital

Platform: PS4

The episodic horror Stories Untold knows what it wants to do.

And it's relatively effective, even if occasionally, it's relatively frustrating trying to work out what's what. Using a template that's not really been seen since the 80s, the game relies on lateral and logical thinking from the player to try and get through various scenarios.

Most effective is the first level, which digs deep in the nostalgia of the text adventure, as you sit in front of a computer and sees you type out directions. It's something not witnessed since the Hobbit adventure game which consumed many gamers' hours before the ZX Spectrum kicked playing into gear.

There is a nice creepy vibe that's unsettling to the start of the game, but there are frustrations too, given that gamers not versed in the genre may find there's little to engage in to begin with. Patience is its own reward, but Stories Untold doesn't make it easy to start with.

From its Stranger Things font to its use of sound, there's much of the feeling of homage in this game, and it does pay off well. The enigmatic touches are nicely received and executed, but this really is a game for people who are willing to invest their all in, not the casual gamer.