At Darren's World of Entertainment - a movie, DVD and game review blog.
The latest movie and DVD reviews - plus game reviews as well. And cool stuff thrown in when I see it.
Cast: Joe Pantoliano, Paula Brancati, Wendy Crewson
Director: Sean Cisterna
There's little to say about From The Vine that the words "genial" and "inconsequential" don't cover.
Joe Pantoliano stars in this gentle and somewhat pedestrian tale of Mark Gentile, an automotive boss who suffers a crisis of conscience and ethics, abandons his family, empties his retirement account and goes to his hometown of Acerenza in Italy to purchase an old family vineyard that's fallen into disrepute.
What happens is entirely predictable (though the talking vine leaves is a surprise, something guaranteed to shake you off of your stupor) and while the film's beautifully shot, as is befitting of any film that uses an idyll as its location, there's little in there to fully dramatically grab the throat.
In fairness, the usually brusque Pantoliano is a fairly affable bedfellow throughout, a man whose faults don't define him and whose actions, weirdly, don't alienate the audience. His journey is an acceptable one to many of the older audience who will be engaging with this piece.
But there's little context as to how Gentile's crisis of faith comes about, save for some brief and heavy exposition, and little reason to fully ever worry about any potential outcome.
Maybe in some ways, that's the point of Sean Cisterna's film - a gentle journey that's supposed to sooth the soul in troubling times, as well as to remind of the kindness and unending heart of strangers and family.
Inoffensive in many ways, but ultimately instantly forgettable, From The Vine is less a full bodied drop of cinema, more a taster about mid-life crisis that feels like there could have been more in the bottle to satiate viewers.
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa, Ron Perlman, Some CGI creatures, A lot of sand Director: Paul W S Anderson
Resident Evil director Paul W S Anderson gets his hands on another Capcom gaming franchise with the idea of turning it into a long-running cinema series.
Jovovich plays Lt Artemis, the leader of a team searching for another military team which went AWOL in the desert, leaving nothing behind. When Artemis and her team are swept up in an electrical storm, they find themselves transported to another dimension, where ships surf the sand and nasty creatures lurk at every moment waiting to take them out...
A lack of characterisation, some solidly executed CGI sequences, and some low key cultural racism masquerading as bonding permeate a large proportion of Monster Hunter, a film that narratively is merely the sum of its parts and nothing more.
Held together by the finest of narrative strands, the film basically delivers little on the character front, robbing of you feeling anything as various members are picked off early on. Thankfully, Jovovich proves to be a strong bedfellow for the action as it unfolds as she executes the video game script mentality that lurches from one set piece to the next.
At times, Monster Hunter feels like an extended VFX reel, complete with repetitive directorial choices such as cameras swirling and drone shots from up on high. Normally, these wouldn't be an issue for a film such as this, given basically, one knows what to expect from a solidly executed action cum leave your brain at the door piece.
But with character being stretched so thin, you can't help but pick up on the film's fallacies and shortcomings. There's little meat on the bones outside of some well-choreographed fight scenes and some nicely shot action.
Which is a shame because some of the early set pieces evoke some incredible atmospherics guaranteed to be nightmare fuel for some (even if they are Aliens rip-offs).
Jovovich is solid enough, and Jaa's part is almost culturally insensitive, a foreigner whose interaction with the white saviour is little more than grunting (even if this becomes largely redundant later on as the wider narrative reveals itself) - even if this is a Chinese co-production (or aimed to satiate the market), there's much to be done on the writing for the character - regardless of how many cool slow mo shots they get.
Ultimately, Monster Hunter may be a three star affair, but it's a disappointing one at that. Frustratingly hinting at a sequel that would be streaming bound, its narrative webs dangle by the slightest of threads, and even though it's solidly executed, there's a tantalising feeling that there could have been more to the Monster Hunter than a parade of video-game style cinematic levels.
To celebrate the release of Russell Crowe's Unhinged, the first movie released in New Zealand after the Covid-19 pandemic closed cinemas worldwide, you can win a copy, thanks to Sony Home Entertainment.
About Unhinged
He Can Happen to Anyone…
Academy Award winner Russell Crowe stars in a timely psychological thriller that explores the fragile balance of a society pushed to the edge, taking something we've all experienced road rage to an unpredictable and terrifying conclusion.
To celebrate the release of The New Mutants, you can win a copy, thanks to Sony Home Entertainment.
About The New Mutants
Five young mutants, just discovering their abilities while held in a secret facility against their will, fight to escape their past sins and save themselves.
To celebrate the release of The Secret Garden, you can win a copy, thanks to Sony Home Entertainment.
About The Secret Garden
An orphaned girl discovers a magical garden hidden at her strict uncle's estate. Mary Lennox is born in India to wealthy British parents who never wanted her.
When her parents suddenly die, she is sent back to England to live with her uncle.
She meets her sickly cousin, and the two children find a wondrous secret garden lost in the grounds of Misselthwaite Manor.
Is the drama Quiz A) a 3 part expose of the TV scandal that rocked the UK B) likely to floor you with Michael Sheen's turn as Chris Tarrant C) an entertaining watch to a story that's never really had a definitive conclusion D) All of the above.
(The answer's D, for those not paying attention.)
For some the Coughing Major may be an unfamiliar name, but that seems unlikely.
The 2001 scandal involving Major Charles Ingram (Spooks star Matthew MacFadyen) rocked the TV quiz world when it was alleged the major who scooped the 1 million pound jackpot had been aided by someone in the audience, coughing away at the correct answers.
The subsequent trial in 2003 saw the major, his wife (played by Fleabag's Sian Clifford) and audience member Tecwen Wittockall thrust into the spotlight, and vilified by the press and the public who believed they'd cheated their way to the top prize.
Yet, Stephen Frears' 3 part drama is less interested in the controversy and covering the matter in glory. Instead of florid details and embellishments, Frears uses Matthew MacFadyen's relative everyman look to tell a story that's both compelling and entertaining.
Detailing how the Who Wants To Be a Millionaire quiz show came to life as UK broadcaster ITV struggled in competition with its BBC counterpart, the drama paints a no-nonsense portrait of how appointment TV was a centrepiece in a world before streaming and Netflix.
Rather than being a stuffy industry piece, the three-parter knows the drama is in the show and its quizzing major who was apparently clueless to the basic questions and somehow wanted us to believe he'd fumbled his way to the top.
As a result, what director Frears and his top-notch cast bring to the table is a look inside a scandal that thrilled a nation. It's a fascinating watch that never once decides which side it's on, and simply presents the facts with an eye for the same kind of tension that an episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? used to generate.
While the third episode flounders a little as the focus shifts to a trial and talk of public persecution, MacFadyen and Clifford prove to be an eminently watchable duo, and one whose machinations are never quite clear if you believe what transpires in the final part.
There are insinuations that the wife was a driving force and Ingram was just a willing but clueless participant in this particularly British heist.
But what emerges from Quiz's 3 hour long episodes is a miniseries that's as thrilling as the drama of the quiz show itself - you may think you know the answers, but the show's uncertainties mean a definitive answer is never forthcoming, but is completely hellbent on having you flip back and forth between truth and the fiction.
There's definitely a feeling of deja vu in this New Year's special, the first outing for Doctor Who in 10 months.
As season 12 of the show ended, Jodie Whittaker's Doctor was imprisoned by the Judoon, cast asunder on a space rock that was clearly a prison. Jaz, Ryan and Graham (Mandip Gil, Tosin Cole and The Chase's Bradley Walsh) had been left on Earth, wondering where their friend had gone and if she'd survived her trip to Gallifrey with the Master.
But there's little to worry about for too long, with Chris Noth's oily businessman Jack Robertson returning and apparently aiding the UK government with the creation of some defence drones that look suspiciously like remodelled Daleks...
Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks has a nice book-end feel to it, as it's set up as a compendium piece to the first New Year's special Resolution. The decision to pick up the show moments after the original dispatch of the Dalek drone is a nice continuity touch that appears far too infrequently during the show, and delivers some implications of consequences for the Doctor and her fam's adventures.
John Barrowman adds a burst of energy to the return of Captain Jack, and nods to his past show why Barrowman's infectious enthusiasm give the show the edge it needs a little this time around. (Though his use at the hands of Chibnall's writing to help the Doctor break out is more Looney Tunes than strong concept and execution).
Special credit needs to go to Misfits star Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as Leo, Robertson's tech guy who inadvertently puts the world in danger. There's an empathy immediately with Leo, as he suffers a similar fate to some of those who encountered Daleks back in Resolution.
And here inherently is some of where the problem lies with Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks; there are familiar beats to the previous story, a feeling of a repetition of some showdowns from the David Tennant era Doomsday as well as Third Doctor Dalek stories and various comics where differing factions face off against each other. It's all nicely paced, but doesn't feel essential viewing for the return of such an iconic character and Jodie Whittaker.
If anything, show runner Chris Chibnall is more interested in the emotional implications for the reunited Fam, especially with the news that Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole are leaving the show.
An early scene where Cole's Ryan reiterates his reasons for thinking about moving on rehashes some of the moments of season 12 but the interaction of Cole and Whitaker demonstrates a warmth and emotional centre that's been the beating hearts of this show from the get go. Plus, as the Doctor delivers a speech about rewinding time and getting to spend more time with her Fam following her incarceration and isolation, one can't help but feel the double-edged connotations given the Covid-19 pandemic that befell the world post the filming of the show.
There is a feeling at times of over-stuffing the festive script, and so when the moment comes to farewell Graham and Ryan, they feel cheated as characters - certainly in Bradley Walsh's departure, the moment feels a touch ungainly and lacking the gravitas that maybe it could have had, had the special aired closer to the end of Series 12 - here it feels narrative necessity, rather than tear-jerking farewell.
Ultimately, Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks is a nice filler episode that moves along a-pace but doesn't really offer much new to the show other than a degree of affection for the characters and their journey. Technically, it's dazzling, but emotionally, while it draws a line under the show's current incarnation, it's not quite the Revolution the title promised.
(And the post-credits reveal of the new companion for the Doctor and Yaz as they carry on is either going to be the making or breaking of the show.)
