On Screen

Dod Sno

2008-10-03T13:18:00.001+13:00

Suburban Mayhem

2008-05-27T11:05:00.002+12:00

I've started a new blog, kinda like a personal diary but not. More a collection of found things and occasional bits and pieces that I've done. It will probably be rather kleptic, with what ever tickles my fancy. But I've got a good sense of humour, a great eye for design, so pop on over an leave a comment!

On-Screen is dead, Long Live FilmGuide!

2008-04-25T16:40:00.002+12:00

FilmGuide has been sucking up ALL my time, and now we have a brand new site with pretty much daily updates. Check it out now and subscribe to our feed!

On-Screen is dead, Long Live FilmGuide!

Sweeney Todd

2008-01-23T07:52:00.000+13:00

Dark, dirty, gothic London streets; tragic, bitter loss and revenge; a sliver of hope with the chance for redemption; strong male and female leads; high theatrical drama and spontaneous bursts of singing?! That’s right, welcome to the musical of the year! But don’t be put off; this is probably one of a select few musicals that could be stomached by even those who have an active dislike of the genre. Smart, deranged and compelling, Tim Burton’s adaptation of Broadway hit Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Sweeney) is a masterwork.

Does the above description bring to mind anything else? Say, most of Tim Burton’s film catalogue? Little wonder the master of gothic cinema leapt at the chance to direct this macabre musical when director Sam Mendes left it to pursue his recent film Jarhead. It turns out that Burton had expressed interest to Stephen Sondheim (writer of the music and lyrics from the original stage show) in adapting the 1979 Tony Award winning theatre piece as early as the 1980s.

A morose morality play Sweeny focuses on revenge and the bitter cycle it perpetuates. London Barber Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) is falsely charged by the crooked and powerful Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) and finds himself sentenced to transportation for life to Australia. The judge has his way with Barker’s wife then discards her, taking the couple’s baby daughter Johanna (Jayne Wisener) as his own ward and raises her as his own beautiful caged animal. Escaping into the sea 15 years later the now embittered Barker is rescued by some sea going vessel and befriended by a young sailor, Anthony Hope (Jamie Campbell Bower), whose fate intertwines with Barker’s alter ego – the soulless entity that is Sweeney Todd. Upon arriving back in London Todd goes back to his old house and begins a grisly partnership with impoverished neighbour and pie-maker Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham-Carter). Lovett dreams of their blossoming relationship but in her heart can see that Todd is a man possessed. Though offered an opportunity to redirect and transform his anger Todd cannot take it; his inability to let go of this all consuming rage sees him metaphorically apply the blade to his own throat and cause the very last drops of his humanity to drip lifelessly to the floor. [continue reading]

re:format

2008-01-23T07:45:00.000+13:00

Ok, so On Screen is back up and running.... sort of. Because of the time and effort put into Film Guide I just didn't have the time to keep posting my reviews over here as well, so On Screen was put to rest.

However, I've decided it won't take too much time just to post each weeks feature film from Film Guide, so that's what On Screen is to become, a weekly film review blog, linking back to it's own offspring, Film Guide.

Cloverfield

2008-01-21T19:19:00.001+13:00

Cloverfield is probably the most hyped movie of the summer, though most of the hype is probably just our own insane curiosity as to what the man behind Lost can do on the big screen with oodles of cash and presumably complete creative freedom.

Well, first things first, forget the hype and don’t assume you know anything about the movie. Cloverfield is a pure, unadulterated monster movie. It’s the Blair Witch project meets Godzilla, with a heap of JJ Abrams style thrown in for good measure.

More than anything, it’s the structure of Cloverfield that sets it apart from its predecessors. We are the YouTube generation and JJ has given us a movie that mimics our intense interest in getting up close and personal with complete strangers lives, a voyeuristic nature given free reign through the desire of others to be watched.

We’ve all seen the start of Cloverfield, the party scene with the hand held camera. It’s this style that runs through the whole movie, though somewhere along the way the quality switches from digital cam to high quality movie photography – just where I’m not sure, as I was glued to the screen. [continue reading]

Pan’s Labyrinth

2007-10-12T23:48:00.000+13:00

Pan's Labyrinth is a wonderfully mythical tale set against the backdrop of fascist Spain, where innocence must grow up, challenge authority and fulfil her destiny.

Ofelia is forced to journey with her pregnant mother to live with her new father, a man she does not know or trust. Set in the hills of rural Spain her new ‘father’ is determined to destroy the last vestments of the Spanish resistance and shows his true colours early on as he beats to death an innocent farm boy.

With harshness and cruelty abounding, Ofelia withdrawals to a world of fantasy that only she can see.

But is it fantasy? [more]

The Illusionist

2007-10-09T22:26:00.001+13:00

The problem with a movie like The Illusionist is that it was preceded by a movie called The Prestige. The Prestige entertained us with a fast moving story of two duelling magicians, trying to out do each other, whist paying each other back for a perceived wrong in their past.

Both The Prestige and The Illusionist are movies about magicians – showmen who use slight of hand and other optical tricks to wow the audience. But both movies are also very different.

Instead of a fast paced thriller, The Illusionist traveled the road of a character driven drama, where the viewer must be on the watch for signs of reality, because in essence, nothing is what it seems. [more]

Atonement

2007-10-07T21:38:00.000+13:00

Atonement starts off as an average period piece drama, with the well to do Tallis family living the highlife despite the looming spectre of a war with Germany. Thrown in the mix is garden hand and semi adopted son, Robbie, who incidently, is in love with the eldest Tallis daughter, Cecilia.

Trouble is, the younger Tallis daughter, Briony, has a childish crush on Robbie, and doesn’t understand why her older sister should be the one to receive his love.

To get revenge on Robbie for loving her sister she blames a heinous crime on him, not realising what the outcome would be, and the budding relations ship between Robbie and Cecilia is brought to a grinding halt as Robbie is taken away and put in prison. [more]

The Descent

2007-10-01T22:49:00.000+13:00

The Descent starts off looking like it’s going to be a very low budget affair, with some cheese and lots of predictability. But that’s just the start, a little bit of back history to set the scene.

Whilst not a big budget movie, The Descent’s director Neil Marshall has spent wisely putting the money into the most important shots, and crafting a tightly shot movie that manages to keep you freaked out and hugging the edge of your seat from the time things start to go wrong, right up until the credits roll.

Once we descend into the cave system, all thoughts of a budget slasher are gone, much like the hope of survival for the band of adventurous girls, who must now contend with more than just sub terrain dwelling creatures, but also paranoia, distrust and claustrophobia. [more]

Halo 3

2007-09-28T00:04:00.000+12:00

Master Chief is back. It’s been a while, and to be honest I’ve never been a huge Halo fan, so I’m pretty much coming at Halo 3 as a novice.

Apparently the Covenant controls Earth, the all-consuming Flood has been unleashed and the fate if the galaxy hangs in the balance. An ancient secret, buried under the sand of Africa may hold the key to our salvation or our doom. Spartan 117, the Master Chief must uncover that secret and stop the forces that threaten us for one and for all. He is the last of his kind, a warrior born for combat, bred for war… and humanity’s only hope.

Humanity’s only hope? Sheesh, I’m not sure I’m up for that job description, but I guess I’ll give it a go.

Coming off the back of a long line of World War II shooters, jumping into the world of Halo was a bit of a culture shock – it took a while to get re adjusted and get to grips with the various monsters and the huge assortment of weaponry available to kill them.

Once I got into the swing of things however, the fun kicked in. Halo 3 is, it has to be said, is simply a first person shooter. It doesn’t try and be anything else, it doesn’t try to be original, it just does what it does, really, really well. What it lacks in interesting moves, such as peering round corners, the ability to go prone, etc, it makes up in straight forward game play that keeps the intensity tight, and shooting near constant and the addictive fun ramped up way past ten. [more]

Conversations With My Gardener

2007-09-26T23:44:00.001+12:00

Going to a media screening at the Rialto is always a treat, you know that for a change you’re going to see a movie whose characters and storyline drive the experience and not the special effects budget. Conversations With My Gardener is no different.

A successful Parisian artist secedes to take time out from his hectic lifestyle and a marriage that is on the rocks by retreating to the home of his childhood. With his parents having died a few years ago, there is much work to do but he has little energy to do it. So the artist advertises for a gardener.

The gardener who takes the job turns out to be an old school buddy – back in the day they were best mates, but things didn’t work out when they got expelled at that was the last they saw of each other.

There lives took radically different paths, the artist finding success and experiences, the gardener finding contentment in the simple things of life. [more]

Over There

2007-09-23T21:25:00.000+12:00

When I read the synopsis for Over There I was thinking The Unit, but set in Iraq with a regular Army squad. Alas it was nothing like it.

Instead we get a series that is very hard to get into – the characters have no lovable traits to endear them to you until you’ve spent over half the season wondering why you’re still watching – had I been watching it weekly on TV, I wouldn’t have made it past week one or two. By the end of the season you do have an attachment to the characters, but even that isn’t enough to save the series from everything else that is wrong.

Unlike The Unit, where the wives left behind worked together as a team, looked after each other and made their own viable storyline, Over There’s spouses all have their own individual problems that create far too many differing stories lines and only creates a muddle of unnecessary distraction. [more]

Rally's Dead...

2007-09-19T22:49:00.000+12:00

Mere days after Rally legend Colin McRae dies in a helicopter accident and the GPStore puts up a headline proclaiming Rally's Dead, long live SEGA Rally.

Is it me, or is that totally thoughtless and verging on bad taste?

Hannibal Rising

2007-09-19T22:38:00.001+12:00

The real problem for Hannibal Rising is Silence of the Lambs, as with the sequel, Hannibal and the prequel, Red Dragon, all films that follow the screen character that is Hannibal Lecter will be compared to the 1991 original. As such, none have lived up to the Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins paring.

But Hannibal Rising has another problem, without Silence of the Lambs, it has no purpose. As a movie on it’s own it is a pointless waste of time. The viewer has to already know what Lecter will become.

As a study on the creation of a monster, it is of some interest, but the movie itself seems poorly executed, as if it is just a B-grade money grabber. One could almost assume that the studio that bank rolled the movie figured that they couldn’t compete with Silence, so why bother, just church out a quickie for profit and be done with it.

And that’s quite sad, because with a bit of refinement, more focus on certain scenes, and further exploration of the central themes and Rising could have rivaled even Silence. [more]

When Homicidal Gorillas Attack!

2007-09-18T12:30:00.001+12:00

Stranger Than Fiction

2007-09-11T22:43:00.000+12:00

Sheer genius. It’s been a while since a movie like this has come along, a movie that blows your mind in a kind of down to earth, matter of fact way. A comedy that isn’t laugh out loud funny, but very pleasing to watch, a comedy that makes you smile on the inside.

A story so outlandishly unique that most will call it stupid, but a select few will fall in love with it. A movie that will transport you back to other movies that have left you in a similar state of mind, such as the equally brilliant Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

But it is more than just a movie, it’s a timeless tale of mans desire to meet the person who is narrating his story, the person who created him. It’s about waking up to the possibility that there is another dimension to our lives, one in which the possibilities are endless. [more]

The Zombies Would Get Me, Apparently!

2007-09-10T19:18:00.001+12:00

48%

Sophie Scholl

2007-09-08T22:46:00.001+12:00

Sophie Scholl takes a look at the final days of White Rose activist Sophie Scholl. We don’t really get to see any background on who she is, and we don’t need to. Everything we need is shown to us over the last 6 days of her life.

With her fellow activists she strove to educate the German people of what was really going on around them, not just that Germany was going to loose the war, but that the atrocities propagated under nazism would bring world wide condemnation, and that the people needed to rise up and bring an end to the Nazi reign.

Of course, even the best-laid plans can go wrong, and Sophie and her brother are caught distributing pamphlets on campus, they are arrested and interrogated. It’s here that the movie really takes off, with a battle of whits between Sophie and her interrogator. Sophie is brave, sure of her convictions and able to stand firm with a passion that bewilders her captors.

With cunning use of simple music and a compelling script, the movie manages to keep the pace tight and the tension high. [more]

Pause.

2007-08-26T15:32:00.000+12:00

Ok, so I've been way too busy with FilmGuide and watching DVDs, playing on my 360, going to movies and being a family man, that this blog has suffered. In fact some might claim that this blog has died. I'd prefer the term Paused. Just like when you need to go to the toilet during a DVD, you hit the pause button and go and do your thing. Well I'm doing my thing elsewhere and I'm pausing this blog, but don't despair, you can still read all my reviews, and some reviews by other people over at www.filmguide.co.nz... it's not the best looking site at the moment, but I'm working with a great guy (whose wife is due to give birth any day now) to make the site a little more pleasing on the eye.

And if you want some light relief, head over to my mate Mike's new blog, What's Up Mike?

The Simpsons Movie

2007-07-29T09:45:00.000+12:00

Because of my role with FilmGuide I've been able to attend a number of media screenings of movies, the most recent of which was The Simpsons Movie.

The Simpsons Movie was an absolute ball, the funniest movie I have seen for some time. It starts off brilliantly, and keeps the odd ball laughs going for the entire movie, even throughout the closing credits. Yes, throughout. This isn't a lame movie like POTC that adds a cheesy scene at the end to 'reward' people who watch credits, it's a movie that continues through the entire credits. Go watch it today, and read Josh's review over at FilmGuide.

The down side with my working for FilmGuide of course is that I don't have as much time for this blog, but I promise to start regular posting again!

A Mighty Heart

2007-07-14T19:02:00.001+12:00

Rating:
Duration: 100 mins.
Genre: Drama.
Actors: Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman, Archie Panjabi, Will Patton, Irfan Khan, Sajid Hasan, Aly Khan, Denis O'Hare.
Director: Michael Winterbottom.
Release Date: Selected dates during the NZFF, general release 18 October 2007.

Synopsis
On January 23, 2002, Mariane Pearl's world changed forever. Her husband Daniel, South Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, was researching a story on shoe bomber Richard Reid. The story drew them to Karachi where a go-between had promised access to an elusive source. As Danny left for the meeting, he told Mariane he might be late for dinner. He never returned…

The Reality
Being the opening film for the 2007 New Zealand Film Festival, A Mighty Heart was never going to be an action spectacular, despite the lead role going to Hollywood darling, Angelina Jolie.

Rather it’s a taught drama, paced brilliantly by both Winterbottom’s directing and Jolie’s grasp on her characters strengths, stamina and emotional character.

In fact one could possibly say it’s Angelina Jolie’s best performance to date.

Of course without the story line and the ensemble of supporting cast Jolie’s acting would have been for nought.

Frustratingly confusing at times, the storyline becomes a jumble of flash backs, imaginations and repetitive actions by the Pakistani police, but rather than inhibit the story telling, it illuminates perfectly the tangled web of lies, confusion, pride and inability that plagued the various groups represented, in their dire attempts to find out who has kidnapped Daniel Pearl.

Visually the movie is a mishmash of authentic news footage, home video style flashbacks and on the run, shoot-from-the-hip filming. In any other movie, this would be jarringly unacceptable, but in A Mighty Heart it only adds to the realness and frustrations felt by Mariane Pearl as she struggles to keep her head above water.

A brilliant, powerful, through provoking movie.

Food for thought
In reality, it all boils down to religious conviction, if we got rid of religion, the world would be at peace, right?

Invincible

2007-07-12T22:43:00.000+12:00

Rating: PG - Contains Low Level Offensive Language.
Duration: 100 mins.
Genre: Drama, Sports.
Actors: Greg Kinnear, Kevin Conway, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Nouri, Michael Rispoli, Elizabeth Banks, Kirk Acevedo.
Director: Ericson Core.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
Inspiring sports movie starring Mark Wahlberg as a Philadelphia Eagles fan who lost his wife and his teaching job. He decides one day to show up for an open tryout for his favourite NFL team, only to see his wildest dreams come true…

The Reality
The first thing I noticed whilst watching Invincible was the colour. Everything seemed to be infused with the colour yellow. Yellow, normally associated with cowardice, was the flavour of this true story of an underdog who over came everything thrown at him, to live the dream.

But cowardice is not the theme of the movie, nor is it what yellow conjures up in this instance. Yellow is the colour of age, of authenticity. It’s used to make the film feel like you’re watching something from the 70’s. Of course the imagery and sound is crisp and clean, but the colour alone keeps you grounded in the 70’s and gives the story a genuine feel.

Being based on a true story, the feel is an important factor, and this alone turned the movie from a ‘oh well, lets watch this one’ to a ‘hey, this is looking interesting’ kind of movie that took my attention for the entire 100 minute run time.

Sure it’s predictable, and anyone with any knowledge of American Football probably knows the entire story, but it’s a great feel good movie that shows that nothing is impossible, so long as your give it your all, heart, body and soul.

It’s exactly what Mark Wahlberg seems to be doing as well as he creates a convincing figure in the role of Vince Papale, in what could have been just another play by the numbers Disney flick.

An inspirational tale for the whole family.

Food for thought
The only thing Vince’s wife left him was the phone and a note that proclaimed he’d never make anything of himself. It’s this note that Vince holds onto as he tries out, and makes the cut for the Eagles. But as well as spurring him on initially, it plays him like a cancerous disease, eating him alive on the inside. It’s not until he finally lets go of the note, and believes in himself that he is able to shine. Don’t hold on to cutting remarks from people who have no faith in you, instead focus on the one who created you, and believe in yourself.

Special Features (not reviewed)
• Becoming Invincible: The Story of Vince Papale
• Audio Commentaries

Shadowrun

2007-07-12T20:23:00.000+12:00

Rating: R16 - Restricted to persons 16 years and over.
Console: Xbox 360

Initial thoughts
Microsoft’s Shadowrun sought to unite Xbox 360 console gamers with Microsoft Vista computer gamers in the first game to be able to be played by both different pieces of hardware in the same game. This in itself is an interesting feat and worthy achievement all on it’s own. However one could argue that it’s only self serving as in only unties Microsoft controlled players with, um, well, Microsoft controlled players. One could also argue that with something in the region of 7 Million online players, Xbox live doesn’t really need computer gamers invading its turf.

So just what is Shadowrun? Apparently it’s based on a 1989 pen-and-paper RPG and essentially has been given a Counter Strike makeover to bring it into the 21st century.

Sadly that just about sums it up.

After some training levels, that help you come to grips with some of the unique attributes you can give your character (walking through walls anyone?) it’s onto the game-play.

What? No single player campaign? Just the ability to play against (and with) bots? Now that’s not a very deep concept. With the enticing subject of an ongoing battle for control of some magical artefacts, I was expecting a campaign where my magical abilities depended on gaining control of the artefacts as the game progressed.

Sadly what could have been a fast paced single player game with on-line playability, shrunk into an online only game.

Now that I’ve played it a bit more
Fortunately I’ve got a one month trial on Xbox Live and was able to play online. It certainly shows it’s true colours online, and as such is a strong game with many unique features.

Graphically it’s impressive, though parents be warned – this is an adult game, as there is blood galore. It is after all a first person shooter at heart, and the name of the game is to destroy your opponent’s team in any manner possible.

Longevity
Sadly Shadowrun just didn’t cut it for me personally in the long run. I’ve played a fair bit of Call of Duty 3 since getting Xbox Live, and the ability to re-spawn means that the games are longer and there is less waiting around watching the games finish. Of course to be honest, I’d always choose a World War Two FPS shooter over anything futuristic, so with that in mind, I’ll say that Shadowrun is a great game to keep your skills sharp whilst you wait fro Halo 3 to hit the stores.

Flags of our Fathers

2007-07-11T12:39:00.001+12:00

Rating: R15 - Depicts Graphic & Realistic War Scenes.
Duration: 132 mins.
Genre: War.
Actors: Jesse Bradford, Paul Walker, Ryan Phillippe, Neal McDonough, Jamie Bell, Robert Patrick, Adam Beach, John Benjamin Hickey, John Slattery.
Director: Clint Eastwood.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
Based on the book of the same name, Flags of our Fathers reconstructs the events that preceded and followed the infamous photograph taken on Iwo Jima that came to symbolize the U.S. troops' triumph and America's indestructible spirit.

The Reality
Flags of our Fathers is an interesting movie. Interesting as it does not sit happily in the standard war movie genre. In an approach that almost causes too much confusion for it’s own good, the story is told through a series of multi-level flash backs, from the training, to the assault on Iwo Jima, through the Seventh War Bond Tour right too the present day.

It’s certainly more of a movie for history buffs than straight out war movie fans, as a lot of the focus is on three individuals who are basically forced to become heroes and tour the US selling War Bonds.

We get to see just how these three men became the focus of the whole country, and how the war, combined with this instant hero-dom, along with their own value systems, plagued each of them in different ways.

The movie shows how a culture celebrates the heroes (living) whilst not wanting anything to do with those that payed the ultimate price.

By the end of the movie, the confusing layers of flashbacks have all but been forgotten as we have gotten used to the technique and realise their necessity. We are left now to dwell on the events that took place, and reflect on their meaning in the fresh light of what we have seen.

Visually Flags is spectacular, far better than Saving Private Ryan, and just as gruesomely realistic, whilst being desolate and uninspiring at the same time – though only because the landscape of Iwo Jima was desolate and moonscape like.

As a complete package, it has its flaws, but despite it’s very different approach, will sit amongst the top ten war movies of all time.

Food for thought
Do you fight for your life or for the truth?

Special Features (not reviewed)
• An Introduction by Clint Eastwood
• Words on the Page - Clint Eastwood along with screenwriters Paul Haggis, William Broyles and writer James Bradley discuss the creation of the book and the adaptation of the script, along with the challenges and victories each possessed.
• Six Brave Men - Clint Eastwood and the key cast members introduce us to the real- life characters portrayed in the film; including their roles in the historic events and their relationships to one another.
• The Making of an Epic - Led by Clint Eastwood, we take an inside look at the creation of the film with many of the key players involve d, including the production design with Henry Bumstead; the photography with Tom Stern; editorial with Joel Cox; and the rest of the team that brought this epic film together.
• Raising the Flag - Clint Eastwood and key cast members discuss reenacting the historic flag-raising on Iwo Jima.
• Visual Effects - The visual effects team (including visual effects supervisor Michael Owens, and Julian Levi and Mathew Butler of Digital Domain) discusses the approach and creation of the “invisible” digital effects in the film, including before and after examples, as well as the various steps taken to realize them.
• Looking into the Past - A documentary, real- life look at the battle, the two flag raisings at Iwo Jima and the resulting bond tour, using historical footage and newsreels.
• Theatrical Trailer

Life on Mars

2007-06-28T21:58:00.000+12:00

Rating: R16 - Contains Violence, Offensive Language & Sex Scenes.
Duration: 600 mins.
Genre: Television, Drama.
Actors: Philip Glenister, John Simm, Dean Andrews, Noreen Kershaw, Marshall Lancaster, Tony Marshall, Liz White.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
Remember the 1970s? Sam Tyler doesn't - he was only four at the time. Smart, savvy, sharp-suited detective Sam is at the top of his game. Then, after a near-fatal car accident, Sam finds himself mysteriously transported back to 1973…

The Reality
Trust the British to inject some much needed originality into the Television Cop Drama genre, and they’ve done it in style with Life On mars.

Struggling to accept that he has been mysteriously transported back to the early seventies, Sam quickly alienates himself to everyone but a lowly female cop. I say lowly because this is the seventies, and females were still relegated to the ‘nice bot of skirt’ mentality.

Figuring that he may as well get the job done while he figures out how to get back to his life in the naughties, Sam causes even more friction at work with his new fangled approach, and insistence on doing things right, for putting the truth ahead of forced confessions.

But his style, honesty and fresh approach starts to be seen as valuable to his new boss, who takes him under his wing, as they fight crime, the old fashioned way, finishing everyday at the local pub.

There’s much to love about Life on Mars, there’s the nostalgic look back at the seventies, a time when the PC brigade hadn’t sucked all the fun out of life, a time where there was still hope for the world. There are the lovable characters, an oddball assortment, that as individuals would drive you crazy, but together seem to just click.

Then there’s the storyline, as Sam’s old life keeps intersecting with his new life, and as he learns to accept where he is, and make the most of it.

Roll on season two.

Food for thought
It’s only through honest work that the truth comes to light.

Special Features (not reviewed)
• Take a Look at the Lawman: A 60-minute documentary covering the making of the programme
• Get Sykes: A 30-minute interview with the production designer
• Outtakes reel
• The Music of Life on Mars
• Audio commentaries on all episodes with cast and crew

Forza Motorsport 2

2007-06-23T19:15:00.000+12:00

Rating: G - Suitable for general audiences.

Initial thoughts
The original Forza re-defined driving games. It bought the shiny graphics and exotic cars of PlayStation’s GranTurismo, and added realism, edge of your set action, and fun.
Graphically it was the best of the best, and playability was unmatched.

It seemed that the only thing to make it perfect would be some V8 Supercars style damage. But alas, all you could do was scrape paint. A minor point considering the complexity of the game and what Microsoft had managed to do.

So now we have the next-gen X-Box 360, and Forza 2. Initially not a lot looks different. The graphics are as you expect them to be – more lush, more detail, but possibly not mindblowingly awesome – at least in comparison to what we were expecting. The graphics were nice, and the play smooth, and that’s what counts.

So pretty much the same game, the tacks (as with all sequels of any decent driving game) feel slightly different, but the cars handle much the same – bone crushingly realistic, especially when you try and take a corner too fast – and it’s at this point that you notice that Microsoft have added so ‘removable parts’ to you beautiful shiny car.

What you may not notice is the attention to detail, especially to the technical side of things, now whilst driving you can call up you HUD, and get the Telemetry. For me, this is a little too much information, but luckily they still have the simple damage indicator and tire temp icons.

So if not that much has changed, why bother? Because it’s the best driving game on any console, period. It’s been improved upon on so many little ways, but it feels just like the original, which is a great achievement, you’ll as comfortable in Forza 2 as you were in Forza, its just that if you take the time to look around you’ll see a lot more detail, like the smoke coming from your bonnet after rear ending that car on the hairpin. Or the dust cloud billowing out behind you as you get a wheel slightly off track.

There’s not really much else to say, if you’ve driven the original, then you’ll gonna love part 2, if you’ve never played Forza, then you’re in for a mind blowing treat.

Now that I’ve played it a bit more
I think any downplaying of the graphic of Forza 2 were un-warrented. On reflection there is a heck of a lot more going on, the tracks aren’t just grey, but a mixture of surfaces depending on the track, and a whole lot of rubber. The attention to detail off track is amazing as well, with the entire area modelled right down to trucks parked row upon row on the infield of an American oval circuit.

Why you might ask would you bother – well because you do notice, and its these little things that on reflection make you realise just how much better the graphical grunt is on the 360.

The other nice improvement is the AI. The computer cars are a lot more imperfect in their driving, and at time down right aggressive. From time to time you hear the distinctive noise of colliding metal and two cars behind you fight for the corner. Computer cars will continue racing on with smoke belching from their engines. No one is the perfect driver in Forza 2, and it’s refreshing.

Longevity
Forza is a huge game, with so many options in customisation of your cars alone, add to that the many different race options available and you have a challenging game that will take you a while to unlock everything on offer.

X-Box Live
The arrival of Forza 2 coincided with the arrival of broadband in my home, which meant one thing, I was going to hook up the 360 to Live and see how I fared against real people. I was worried that New Zealand’s under performing broadband speeds would make the game laggy and un-enjoyable. It didn’t. 95% of the time everything was smooth, with the only problem being the other players.

It could be the curse of our time zone but there were precious few options when it came to playing with other people online (No, I have no Live ‘friends’) and those who did want to play with me seemed intent on shunting me off the road at every opportunity.

A Scanner Darkly

2007-06-18T18:43:00.000+12:00

Rating: R13 - Contains Drug Use & Offensive Language.
Duration: 100 mins.
Genre: Animated, Sci-fi, Thriller.
Actors: Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson, Robert Downey, Rory Cochrane.
Director: Richard Linklater.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
Working as an undercover cop in a world where almost everyone is addicted to Substance D - which produces split personalities in its users - Fred Arctor (Reeves) sets up an elaborate sting to nab a notorious drug runner named Bob. But little does Fred know that "Bob" is… his alter ego.

The Reality
Richard Linklater might not be a familiar name for most people, but for anyone who recognises the genius of Before Sunset, Before Sunrise and TAPE, and the artistic merits of Waking Life, the name Linklater means only one thing; it’s going to be an interesting, thoughtfully and passionately made movie.

The choice to use Philip K. Dick’s book of the same name as the source for a movie is natural, his books always make for good cinema, the decision to go back and reinvent a better form of rotoscoping than was used for Waking Life is a little more interesting.

By going the rotoscoping road, it’s almost as if Linklater is saying ‘stuff you Hollywood’ as it’s not only going against the grain for the genre, but it’s also sentencing the movie to a niche audience and therefore less profit.

But for any Linklater fan, indeed for any movie going with an open mind and an eye for the creative, it’s pure genious.

Then of course there’s the subject matter.

Paranoia, greed and addiction are the main themes of this movie, and the trippy quality that rotoscoping adds to an animated movie help to increase the feeling that the viewer is held captive by the same drug infected world where the story takes place.

Substance D is the problem, at least on the surface. Everyone is addicted to it, and it’s major side effect – it gives the user a split personality – sets up the unique storyline. Fred Arctor is an undercover cop, determined to bring down a notorious drug runner known as Bob. The only problem is that unbeknownst to Fred, Bob is actually his alter ego. As I said, everyone is addicted to Substance D.

If that’s not enough of a twisted plot, then get ready for the greed and corruption, that bring about some major plot twists that I’m not about to mention here.

Suffice to say that A Scanner Darkly is a highly original anti-drug thriller. It’s not going to set the world on fire and help solve the problem. It will however make you think, keep you entertained for the whole 100 minute run time, and give you an appreciation for the non-Hollywood school of film making.

Food for thought
Which is worse, the cure or the disease?

Special Features:
• Commentary by screenwriter/director Richard Linklater, Keanu Reeves, Isa Dick Hackett (daughter of Phillip K. Dick), producer Tommy Pallotta and Phillip K. Dick historian Jonathan Lethem
• One Summer in Austin: The Story of Filming A Scanner Darkly
• The Weight of the Line: Animation Tales
• Theatrical Trailer

I watched enough of the commentary to know that A Scanner Darkly is staying on my shelf for a revisiting in the near future to watch gain with the commentary – it’s almost an essential with a movie such as this. The behind the scenes documentary looking at the process of making the movie, is also a must look.

All in all a tidy single disc package.

Bridge to Terabithia

2007-06-15T15:41:00.000+12:00

Bridge to Terabithia

2007-06-10T13:43:00.000+12:00

Rating: PG.
Duration: 95 mins.
Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy.
Actors: Josh Hutcherson, AnnaSophia Robb, Zooey Deschanel, Robert Patrick.
Director: Gabor Csupo.
Release Date: 14 June 2007.

Synopsis
Bullied school kid Jesse Aaron befriends new girl Leslie Burke. An attraction between outsiders, their friendship feeds on her words and his pictures; together they create an imaginary kingdom in the woods behind their homes …

The Reality
Bridge to Terabithia is based on the Katherine Paterson book. Filmed in Auckland with special effects by Weta Workshop, it’s certainly a children’s classic that should find a home in the hearts of many kiwis.

But a children’s movie it is, and going to children’s movies always fills me with the dread of bad acting and cheesy scripts. Fortunately Terabithia turned out to be an enjoyable, engrossing movie experience for my entire family.

Sure, it’s got a swag load of predictability and clichés, but the casting was great, acting believable and the special effects, well, they were done by Weta, what more needs to be said?

Terabithia’s strength is in that of children’s imaginations, and the film actively encourages the viewer to embrace that, which can only be found in dreams. In short it encourages kids to be kids. In one scene Leslie tells her teacher that she doesn’t have a television at home because her father believes that TV only makes you dumb. In lieu of television, Leslie has grown up having to rely on her own fantasy world to entertain herself.

So if you want an infusion of imagination into your life, take the family to the land of Terabithia, you won’t look back!

Food for thought
Imagination is a gift, if we don’t use it, we insult the giver of the gift.

Invisible Waves

2007-06-09T21:46:00.000+12:00

Rating: M - Contains Violence & Offensive Language.
Duration: 116 mins.
Genre: Foreign.
Actors: Eric Tsang, Gang Hye Jung, Asano Tadanobu, Maria Cordero, Toon Hiranyasup, Ken Mitsuishi.
Director: Pen-ek Ratanaruang.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
Kyoji is having an affair with Seiko, his boss’s wife. His boss, Wiwat, discovers the affair and forces Kyoji to kill his wife, and then sends him on a holiday to Thailand whilst everything at home settles down.…

The Reality
Ok, so totally weird movie that seems to keep you hooked by constantly making you think ‘what the?’

It starts off very intriguing with the boss’s wife coming over for a romantic dinner, and more. But the dinner doesn’t go as planned as Kyoji seems distracted, and we’re not sure why.

A few scenes later we find Kyoji dragging her lifeless body across the floor, but we’re not sure what has just transpired.

Move on to Kyoji being sent on a cruise to Thailand to hide out whilst everything settles down, but hold on, some one seems to be following him.

On the cruise ship nothing seems to be going right for Kyoji, and you start to think that maybe this is all a dream. Then we arrive in Thailand and things go from bad to worse for Kyoji.

As a movie there’s not much to praise about Making Waves, it seems to drift lifeless on and ocean, much like a stricken yacht. Its direction tussled by the waves beneath it.

But venture beneath the surface and you see the genius of the title; its all about cause and effect. Kyoji’s life is now controlled by the invisible waves of his actions, that all began with his illicite affair.

Kyoji soon begins to come to this realisation, and at one point if given the chance to take back control of his own destiny, but can Kyoji break free from the pull of the waves?

Food for thought
Our actions always have consequences beyond what we can initially see.

Special Features (not reviewed)
• Making of.
• Cast and crew interviews.
• Trailers.

A Good Year

2007-06-07T21:01:00.000+12:00

Rating: M - Contains Offensive Language.
Duration: 112 mins.
Genre: Drama.
Actors: Russell Crowe, Albert Finney, Tom Hollander, Abbie Cornish, Richard Coyle, Freddie Highmore, Archie Panjabi, Giannina Facio.
Director: Ridley Scott.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
Highly successful investment expert, Max Skinner, inherits the vineyard of his childhood when his estranged uncle dies. Intending to sell the vineyard as quickly as possible, he takes leave to visit and sort out the legal requirements, but along the way rediscovers the magic of his childhood…

The Reality
A Good Year in reality is light fluff, with no real substance. It’s a predictable if somewhat charming, occasionally funny drama.

Russell Crowe plays the part of Max Skinner, an investment expert who plays hard and fast and is at the top of his game. He likes to live in the fast lane, and settling down isn’t in his plans.

So when his estranged uncle dies and leaves him the French Villa and Vineyard where he spent most of his childhood, only one thing comes to mind: how much can I get for it.

Of course to sell it he has to take a – gasp – holiday and re-visit the Villa and sort through the legal procedures.

As predictable as they come, not everything goes according to plan and Max starts a gradual change in his outlook on life.

It’s pretty much movies – and acting – by the numbers, but does make for an easy, enjoyable night on the couch.

Food for thought
Is it time you re-visited your childhood?

Special Features
• Audio commentary with director Ridley Scott and Marc Klein
• Behind the scenes
• Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe Promo
• Music videos

There’s not much in the special features, the Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe Promo is nothing short of a cheesy infomercial for the movie, the commentary plays like two men discussing their conquests, and the music video’s are all of Russ and his band.

The West Wing Season Six

2007-06-03T12:00:00.001+12:00

Rating: PG - Contains Adult Themes.
Duration: 910 mins.
Genre: Television, Drama.
Actors: Allison Janney, Martin Sheen, Bradley Whitford, John Spencer, Richard Schiff, Stockard Channing, Joshua Malina.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
The West Wing provides a glimpse into presidential politics in the US capital as it tells the stories of the members of a fictional presidential administration. These interesting characters have humour and dedication that touches the heart while the politics that they discuss touch on everyday life…

The Reality
Season Six hits the ground running as we follow on from the Season Five cliff-hanger. Colin and Josh stay at Donna’s bedside, whist the Bartlet administration struggles over what kind of a response is appropriate.

But in reality this is all just high-tension candyfloss, a transition between the two seasons, just enough of a high octane hit to get you drawn back into the series.

Not that any long time fan would need an excuse to get back into the West Wing, especially as fans are only all too aware that Jed Bartlett has little over a year before he has to step down, and the series as a whole will have to face a serious dilemma.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Season Six is probably one of the most unique since the whole concept of the West Wing as thrust upon us many years ago. It’s time for massive change as new presidential hopefuls rise up, as the country gears up for a year of campaigning. Well known and loved members of the Bartlet team will have to make some tough choices as the focus gets split between Martin Sheen’s Jed Bartlet, and Presidential hopefuls played by Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda.

But as the Bartlet team fractures and changes, the President still has a country to run, and politics to play.

All in all, Season Six is probably one of the most diverse and interesting so far, and only sets fans up for a roller coaster ride in Season Seven.

But what is it that makes the West Wing so compelling. What gives it its legs to lead it into a seventh season? Possibly it’s the intrigue of the behind the doors working of the White House, the great story writing and lovable characters. Perhaps it’s also the fact that the writers never go down the usual TV series trap of rampant relationships and sex between the key characters, and this is something that I believe makes for series that resonates with authenticity.

Food for thought
Jed Bartlet is surrounded by advisors to keep him honest, who keeps you honest?

Special Features
None

Keane

2007-06-02T15:31:00.000+12:00

Rating: R16 - Contains Drug Use & Sex Scenes.
Duration: 90 mins.
Genre: Psychological, Thriller.
Actors: Damian Lewis, Abigail Breslin, Stephen Henderson, Tina Holmes, Amy Ryan.
Director: Lodge Kerrigan.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
After losing his daughter at a bus terminal, distraught New York father William Keane’s life spirals out of control. Using drugs and alcohol to numb the pain, Keane’s life is on a downward spiral into the darkness of mental instability. Then he befriends Lynn Bedik and her 7-year-old daughter, Kira and suddenly his life has purpose again…

The Reality
Damian Lewis, made famous through the Band of Brothers TV series, seems a little out of place. With my fanatical Band of Brothers viewings, I can only see him as Dick Winters.

But Lewis does an admirable job of Keane, a man who seems like he has mild autism, as well as a life spiralling out of control. As a vignette of mental instability following a traumatic loss, Keane does a great job. The movie is riveting.

Riveting up to a point. Unfortunately after a while, you’re left wondering if this is all the movie has to offer, and like the recent 2:37 the final scenes of the movie nearly save it from being an abysmal waste of time, but for most people this will be too little, way to late.

On one level it’s hard to say where the movie goes wrong, as subconsciously we know that this is true to life, this is what does happen, but then maybe that’s just it. Our voyeuristic tendencies want to be titillated, teased and entertained. Keane on the other hand wants to reveal the mundane life of one who has lost everything, and doesn’t seem to be able to find the way back.

Or possibly want to.

There’s a good chance that I’ve missed some subtle subplot, that further viewings would uncover, but Keane doesn’t really jump out and grab me, screaming ‘watch me again, fool!’ and as such, will just collect dust on my shelf.

Food for thought
Is loosing everything the end, or just a new beginning?

Special Features:
None.

Blood Diamond

2007-06-02T12:49:00.000+12:00

Rating: R16 - Depicts Graphic & Realistic War Scenes.
Duration: 143 mins.
Genre: Action & Adventure.
Actors: Michael Sheen, Jennifer Connelly, Arnold Vosloo, Djimon Hounsou, Jimi Mistry, Stephen Collins, Leonardo DiCaprio, Basil Wallace, Marius Weyers, Ato Essandoh, Kasigo Kuypers.
Director: Edward Zwick.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
Set during Sierra Leone's bloody civil war in 1999, the paths of Danny Archer, a diamond smuggler and Solomon, a local fisherman cross and Danny sees a quick way to early retirement…

The Reality
Blood Diamond is one of those rare movies that does three things. It entertains you, makes you think about what’s going on and challenges you to change the way you live.

Some people might come away from the movie and question how such a violent movie could ever be called entertainment, but they’d be missing the point; movies are entertainment, it’s up to us (primarily) or the directors (rarely) to make something more out of the movie experience.

With Blood Diamond even the most cynical movie goer will realise that something is wrong with the way the world operates after witnessing the brutality of this fictional tale of Solomon and his journey to find his son.

During Sierra Leone's civil war, the RUF (Revolution United Front, the rebel army) decided that because the Government was going to allow the people to use their right hand to vote, they would go from village to village, killing people or cutting off their right hands.

Solomon and his family are lucky, he manages to help his family escape but is captured himself, but because he is a fisherman, his strong physique makes him useful to the rebels, and they force him to work in a diamond mine.

One day he finds and incredibly rare and valuable blood diamond and miraculously manages to hide it.

What he doesn’t know however is that on their journey to the refugee camps, his wife and daughter get separated from their only son, who is grabbed by the rebels and inducted into their child army.

When government forces attack the mining camp, Solomon is captured and put in prison where he meets up with Danny, who promises to help him find his family in return for the location of the Blood Diamond.

The problem is its people like Danny who are helping the rebels, through smuggling arms for diamonds. The rebels use the diamonds to buy guns then steals the children to fight for their cause.

It’s a vicious circle, without the diamonds, the conflict may never have started, but Sierra Leone would be a poor country.

Blood Diamond manages to show with extreme clarity the destructive nature of greed, on all levels. Though without wanting to give away too much, the movie does offer up a decent serving of hope by the end of the story.

Food for thought
Who’s paying for your easy life?

Special Features:
• Director’s Commentary
• Theatrical Trailer
• Blood on the Stone (50m) – Follow the path of a diamond from the ground to the store.
• Becoming Archer – A profile of Leonardo DiCaprio and how he trained for the war.
• Journalism on the Front Line – Jennifer Connelly on Women Journalists at war.
• Inside the Siege of Freetown (– See how Ed Zwick tackled the pivotal scene.
• Music Video, “Shine On Em” by Nas

I’ve yet to watch all of the special features on this two disc special edition, but I can say that one you have to watch is Blood on the Stone, a budget documentary that goes to Sierra Leone to see if anything really has changed in the world of illegal diamonds.

Saw III

2007-05-31T22:27:00.000+12:00

Rating: R18 - Contains Sadistic Violence.
Duration: 109 mins.
Genre: Psychological, Thriller.
Actors: Donnie Wahlberg, Dina Meyer, Angus MacFadyen, Shawnee Smith, Barry Flatman, Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Lyriq Bent, Bahar Soomekh, Alan Van Sprang, Franky G.
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
After eluding the cops at the end of the second installment, Jigsaw sets up in an abandoned warehouse and with the help of his protégée Amanda kidnaps a doctor who's forced to keep him alive. Barely clinging to life, Jigsaw starts another chapter in his experiments on those he sees as already being dead…

The Reality
The Saw movies have always fascinated me. Here is a story about a serial killer, who has never killed anyone. Sure plenty of people have died in the devices he has set up, but they all had a chance at freedom.

More so, Jigsaw’s intention has always been to force them to actually live the life they have been given rather than squander it away. Of course not many of his – lets call them contestants – have managed to grasp the freedom that has been offered – or is that forced – upon them.

All three Saw movies are bloody and graphic, and definitely not for the squeamish. But one thing they don’t seem to be is gratuitous. Of course people will disagree with me on that point, but I’ve seen the other so called masterpiece of this genre, Hostel, and that is an exercise in the gratuitous.

Saw uses graphic scenes to make you uncomfortable, to force you to think hard about what is going on, to try and make it real. In a way the viewer is being forced to play one of Jigsaw’s mind games.

The real clincher for most fans I would have to say is the fact that the Saw movies are never dull, there are no fillers to make the movie longer and there is never any predictability in the plot. I don’t think anyone could come away from any of these movies and say; ‘I saw that coming a mile off.’

So what does the third instalment offer? It carries along a similar vein to the previous movies, but – and this is the part where I warn you there may be plot spoilers from now on – this is the one where a lot of questions are answered.

The movie starts off with the usual warm up victims, but this time something seems off, there doesn’t seem to be any real chance of escape for these victims, and this isn’t how the game is supposed to be played.

And then there’s the body count – it’s looking like its going to end up being a lot lower.

With less players you might start wondering if the pace is going to be slower than expected, but no, this is an edge of your seats ride as we follow Jeff, a man dying on the inside from the loss of his son, with the agony of un-forgiveness consuming him.

It’s this raging internal struggle that Jigsaw tries to set right by putting the lives of everyone involved in his sons death into Jeff’s hands. If he can help save their lives and at the same time let go of his dead son, Jeff will find the freedom that only forgiveness brings.

If he doesn’t, he’ll find himself permanently stuck in the hell of un-forgiveness for the rest of his life.

But it’s not all about the victims this time, as the creators seem to want to bring this franchise to a close, we find out a lot more about the back story of the entire series. We are given hints as to what may have influenced Jigsaw’s lust to be a brutal judge and jury. We discover how Amanda became his protégée, and ultimately despite looking like the final instalment of a trilogy, the creators of Saw seem to have set up for an entirely different incarnation of the franchise.

Saw 3 is probably the most brutal, twisted masterpiece to date.

Food for thought
If you’re not willing to let go of the pain, then you will never find freedom from the things that have hurt you.

Special Features (not reviewed):
• Never-before-seen deleted scenes
• 'The Traps of Saw III' - a behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of the movie
• 2 additional behind-the-scenes featurettes.

2:37

2007-05-12T21:58:00.000+12:00

Rating: R18 - Contains Violence, Suicide & Disturbing Content.
Duration: 97 mins.
Genre: Festival.
Actors: Gary Sweet, Joel Mackenzie, Frank Sweet, Clementine Mellor, Sam Harris, Marni Spillane, Sarah Hudson, Chris Olver, Xavier Samuel, Teresa Palmer.
Director: Murali K. Thalluri.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
Just your average Aussie high school day, with your average Aussie students, going about their lives, unique struggles and fears. Unlike every other normal day however, on this day, one student will take his or her own life.

The Reality
2:37 plays out like Gus Van Sant’s brilliant Elephant, though instead of the mundane countdown to a school shooting, 2:37 has us embroiled in a kind of macabre who dunnit.

As with Elephant we know what’s going to happen, the movie will finish with the suicide of one student, but instead of taking us through the school day watching to see what the killers are going to do, we get force fed one red herring after another, as director Murali K. Thalluri pushes the boundaries and breaks a few taboos.

2:37 has it all, the homophobic, but gay jock, his bulimic girlfriend, the rich kid nerd and the disabled freak, clichés are thrown left right and centre, all in a effort to make you believe one of them will top themselves before the day is out.

It’s not an easy movie to watch, in fact some of it turns out to be very uncomfortable viewing, but the biggest annoyance is the reliance of some kind of video diary confessional that punctuates the story at frustratingly all to frequent moments.

The movie’s most powerful moment is the actual suicide, and the person who believes that life is no longer worth living. The internal struggle that goes on during this scene almost redeems the movie as a whole, and the reasoning behind the desperation hits the teenage nail on the head.

If Murali had only taken a more subtle, well rounded course to this moment, 2:37 would have been an un-missable classic, but his heavy handedness and determination push the envelope of acceptability is his – and the movie’s – own undoing.

The Look
The actual look of the movie verges on the home handycam, not just in the follow behind the person perspective, but also in the subtle lack of quality of the film. Weather this was the director’s intention or just budgetary constraints I don’t know, but it was a little off putting at first.

Being set almost entirely in a high school we do get the perception of claustrophobia, as after a while everything starts to look the same, but it’s this sameness and forced conformity that is probably the root cuase of half the problems that the students believe they have.

Food for thought
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but you have to make it through the day to be able to see it!

Nacho Libre

2007-05-06T10:26:00.000+12:00

Rating: PG - Contains Medium Level Violence.
Duration: 92 mins.
Genre: Drama, Biography.
Actors: Peter Stormare, Jack Black, Hector Jiminez, Ana DeLa Reguera, Richard Montoya, Carla Jimenez.
Director: Jared Hess.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
After being cared for as an orphan in a Mexiacan monastry, Ignacio decides to stay on as their cook. But he has a dark secret that he keeps hidden; he secretly wants to become a professional wrestler…

The Reality
If you come to Nacho Libre wanting a laugh out loud comedy like Jack Black’s School of Rock, you’ll end up disappointed. Nacho is a more sedate outing that has more of a feel good storyline than the outrageous comedy that Black is known for.

Not that that’s a bad thing, and there are some wonderful moments of hilarity, it’s just that these moments seem too far apart, and the story as a whole seems patched together.

Essentially Nacho turned out to be light and fluffy, something more suited for your kids’ entertainment.

So I decided to put it on for the kids to watch the following night, and what a difference. The kids were laughing their faces off! Black has obviously found a calling as a children’s comedian, and possibly should focus more on these light and fluffy tales, but get Paramount to market them as kids movies…

The Look
The whole look and style of the movie suits the slapstick, children’s movie scenario very well. It’s not too flash, but a long way from cheesy. Ok, so Nacho’s many outfits are right on the money for cheesy, but that’s what’s expected.

Food for thought
In the immortal words of Sister Encarnación (Nacho’s infatuation) “If you fight for something noble, something right, only then will God bless you”.?

Jindabyne

2007-05-05T22:02:00.000+12:00

Rating: M - Contains Violence & Offensive Language.
Duration: 123 mins.
Genre: Festival & Foreign.
Actors: Gabriel Byrne, Laura Linney, Chris Haywood, John Howard, Leah Purcell, Deborra Lee-Furness, Eva Lazzaro, Stelios Yiakmis, Simon Stone.
Director: Ray Lawrence.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
Four men from a rural Australian town go on their annual fishing trip, at a remote location in the hills. It’s a fair hike to the campsite, so when they discover the dead body of an aboriginal girl in the river, they’re not sure what to do. In the end they decide there is nothing to be done an continue with there planned fishing.

The Reality
Jindabyne doesn’t start off as I was expecting it to. For some reason I was expecting an adult version of Mean Creek; but Jindabyne goes much deeper than that.

It starts off feeling more than Wolf Creek, but instead of gratuitous violence, we are treated to an electrifying performance of a small community coming to terms with the grave misjudgements of four of it’s men, along with the terrifying reality that they must all now face the hidden demons that have been lurking below the surface.

To say that Jindabyne is all about death would be a misrepresentation, but death permeates the entire movie, from the obvious to the subtler, there are signs of death everywhere.

Death however des not have the final say, as Jindabyne is a story of dealing with our own fears and losses, be they physical loss or emotional loss, the loss of dreams, the loss of love, the loss of community.

And it’s through dealing with our loss that we can find healing, not only for ourselves, but for the community as a whole.

The Look
As this was a screener, the quality is not intended to represent the final product. Such is life. But the great thing is that the quality wasn’t as issue for Jindabyne, as the story itself was plenty to keep you glued to the edge of your seat, and with some great acting and stunning natural backdrops, the whole feel of the movie was amazing.

Form time to time however, the thematic music seemed a little odd and out of place, but most of these was contained in the first part of the movie and was soon forgotten as the story get down to business.

Food for thought
If we don’t treat the dead with respect, what hope do we have of living?

The Queen

2007-05-05T15:36:00.000+12:00

Rating: M - Contains Low Level Offensive Language.
Duration: 97 mins.
Genre: Drama, Biography.
Actors: Helen Mirren, James Cromwell, Michael Sheen, Sylvia Syms, Helen McCrory, Alex Jennings, Roger Allam.
Director: Stephen Frears.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
The Queen attempts to go behind the scenes and portray the struggle that the British Monarchy had in the aftermath of the death of Princess Diana and the influence that the new Prime Minister, Tony Blair had during the brief time.

The Reality
The Queen is an interesting look at an emotional period of time in recent British history. In it’s portrayals of the behind doors life of both the Royal Family and that of the new British Prime Minister, it is quite fascinating.

It tries to show just what an influence this young Prime Minister had in ‘saving’ the Royal reputation, but without allowing Mr Blair to have his ego inflated too much.

The Royals for the most part are shown as pompous, spoilt little brats, which for the most part misses the point. The triumph of the movie is in it’s portrayal of the Queen, who is shown as down to earthy as possible, considering her upbringing, and paints her in quite a likeable light.

The biggest problem with the movie however is in its portrayal of Diana.

In an effort no doubt to please the prospective audience, Diana plays little part in the movie, other than that of the greatest loss England has ever had to endure.

There is a moment in the movie where mention is made of how difficult Diana was to deal with – outside of the limelight – but this is used to put shame on the Royal family, rather than to shed light on the reality of Diana.

It would have made a much more balanced and compelling movie I believe if this statement had been looked into a little more deeply, and possibly showing the viewer the reality of who Diana was when the press weren’t around would have given the move more of a credible foundation.

Other than that, The Queen turned out to be an enjoyable, moderately paced drama, and not the total bore I was expecting.

The Look
The affluence of the Royal Family is shown with great splendour, and makes a great backdrop to the Royal bashing that takes up a great part of the movie. The relative ease and comfort is easy to see, but fortunately there are a few scenes in the movie that do make the Royals out to be human.

The biggest issue I have with the whole affair is the over use of news footage from the time. This is fine for when the scene is of people watching the news, but when we are watching for the most part, re-enactments, the occasional news footage, with it’s grainy lack of quality distracts, especially the all too frequent clips of Diana doing stuff that has no bearing on the story.

Food for thought
If you’ve turned your back on your chosen family, should you expect them to be there to comfort you?

Ushpizin

2007-05-03T13:44:00.000+12:00

Rating: PG - Contains Coarse Language.
Duration: 90 mins.
Genre: Festival & Foreign.
Actors: Shuli Rand, Michal Bat-Sheva Rand, Shaul Mizrahi, Ilan Ganani, Avraham Abutboul, Yonathan Danino.
Director: Giddi Dar.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
Moshe and Mali are Orthodox Jews, and on the eve of Succoth they find themselves penniless and unable to fulfil their religious requirements. Desperate to please the Lord, so that His favour might bring them a child, they go there separate ways, praying fervently.

It seems like God is looking down on Moshe and Mali whose prayers are answered with two miracles, but here’s the rub, God also sends them a couple of guests, seemingly to test their already strained faith.

The Reality
The first thing that hit me when watching Ushpizin was Moshe and Mali’s total immersion in prayer and thanksgiving. Even in the midst of an argument they find time to praise God for the good, and petition him for their needs. It brought new light to the verse in Thessalonians; Never stop praying.

Not that their prayers have necessarily been answered before, it seems from a casual glance that they’ve been reading Pete Greig’s new book, God On Mute, as they keep a steadfast faith no matter how distant God seems.

They live you see in a religious neighbourhood, a simple life that borders dangerously on extreme poverty, but their most potent unanswered prayer is that of a child.

Now on the eve of Succoth they don’t even have the money to provide them with the elements required to observe this important festival.

But then two miracles happen, and God seems to bless them with over abundance.

Then comes the test. Two figures from Mali’s dubious past drop by unannounced, and because of the tradition of Succoth, Moshe and Mali cannot refuse them. OF course these men do not fear God, and cause all manner of troubles for the couple, causing Moshe to leave Mali.

Mali in his anguish literally runs through town to the wilderness and screams at God, with some unexpected results.

The Look
Ushpizin isn’t a movie about money or glamour, and as such doesn’t have an over exuberant budget. But it does show a neighbourhood where people exist, living a humble yet semi-content life.

Our more modern western outlook might call the entire ‘set’ rundown, but the characters would call it lived in, homely even. It’s real life and this is where Ushpizin gets a lot of its warmth and character.

There’s an honesty to the look of the movie, nothing has been overtly touched up, no one is trying to sell you anything. It’s a story about two people struggling with their faith and their day-to-day lives.

Food for thought
It’s only through being brutally honest with himself – and God – that Mali rediscovers his faith.

Spiderman 3

2007-05-02T19:01:00.000+12:00

Rating: M - Strong Fantasy Violence.
Duration: 139 mins.
Genre: Action, Adventure.
Actors: Kirsten Dunst, Tobey Maguire, James Franco, Dylan Baker, Topher Grace.
Director: Sam Raimi.
Release Date: 3 May 2007.

Spiderman 2 was one of the best sequels ever to grace the big screen. In fact the odds are that sequels are destined to be a let down. So when Spiderman 3 brought a new level of personal struggle to the character of Peter Parker, it brought a great sigh of relief.

So sitting in the theatre getting ready to experience the latest in the Spiderman Franchise I was genuinely on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would unfold.
Now the overall package of Spiderman 3 resulting in two and half hours of high impact action, spectacular effects and a collection of characters that balanced the story well. The thought of three villains in one movie kind of overpowers the imagination, but as the story unfolds we see the context for all three. Each has a story of what made them turn to the darkside... [more]

The Libertine

2007-04-29T12:08:00.000+12:00

Rating: R16 - Contains Offensive Language, Sexual Themes and Content That May Disturb.
Duration: 170 mins.
Genre: Drama, Biography.
Actors: John Malkovich, Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton.
Director: Laurence Dunmore.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
The Libertine follows the brief life of flamboyant 17th Century poet John Wilmot, focussing more on the period of his downfall, during a time when his sexually overt poetry was becoming an issue for his friend King Charles II, who himself was struggling to keep hold of his power…

The Reality
Any movie with Johnny Depp is bound to be an interesting one, and in The Libertine, Depp doesn’t disappoint.

But don’t be under any delusions, this is not the family friendly Pirates of the Caribbean, this is a movie that a lot of people will find hard to watch. It’s a movie that forces the viewer far outside of our comfort zone as we witness a character that cares only for his own enjoyments and the stroking of his ego.

Perhaps I’m being a little harsh, for if we look a little closer perhaps we will see in John Wilmot a man trapped in a prison of his own making. A man so addicted to sexuality that he gains little if any pleasure form it. Someone who’s addiction has lead him so far down that his life is not only consumed by it, but leads him into the darker folly of alcoholism. Indeed we are told during the closing stages that Wilmot hasn’t been sober for the last five years.

So what do we get from a movie that shows the debaucherous life of such a man?

We get to see several things. For one, John Wilmot was a man who broke out of the box, who lived a life of liberty, who refused to be moulded by societies constraints.

And yes, this is a good thing, if done with the respect and love to those around us. Sadly, John Wilmot did it only for himself, which brings us to another outstanding feature of The Libertine; it shows with no restraint the folly of such a life. It shows not only the evaporation of enjoyment through the ravages of addiction, but it also quite plainly portrays the physical result of a life lived without a though of the consequences.

Finally it shows in a powerful way that no man is beyond redemption. When confronted with his own mortality and the suffering that Christ endured, Wilmot conceded that there was a better way, and in his final days turned his life around.

The Look
Johnny Depp as you might expect seems to relish his role as John Wilmot, and plays it with a passion that sweeps the viewer effortlessly into his life. This is aided by some great period sets, with the murky, almost overbearing English climate pervading the entire movie with a subtle undertow of hopelessness.

The makeup department, used so subtly for the most part comes out in force as Wlimot’s life starts to degrade into the ruination of hill illness and disfigurement, leaving the viewer at times wondering if that is still Johnny Depp.

Of course with the subject matter at hand, and do take note of the censors warning, there are a number of gratuitous scenes that many viewers will find uncomfortable, but if you take time to think about the movie afterwards, these scenes will likely seem less gratuitous, rather just visual clues as to Wilmot’s true character.

Food for thought
Does a life of liberty only give freedom when love for others is the motivating force?

ANZAC Day + Maori TV = Priceless

2007-04-25T19:19:00.000+12:00

I don't really have much time for Maori Television - to be honest I thought it was a waste of money.

But today I was browsing the TV guide looking to see what ANZAC themed stuff was on tonight to watch and every channel bar one has there usual programs one. The only deviation from what they would normally show was a live broadcast of the dawn services.

The exception was Maori television. They had committed the entire day to ANZAC strories and programs.

Good on ya Maori Television.

Thank You For Smoking

2007-04-25T12:02:00.000+12:00

Rating: M - Contains Sex Scenes & Offensive Language.
Duration: 88 mins.
Genre: Political Comedy.
Actors: Robert Duvall, William H. Macy, Katie Holmes, Rob Lowe, Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Sam Elliott, J.K. Simmons, Adam Brody, Cameron Bright, David Koechner.
Director: Jason Reitman.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
Truth is a commodity, and Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is paid big money to spin the truth. He’s on a mission to make us forget the dangers of smoking, and there is no one better at it than Naylor.

Of course there are plenty of people out to get him, kill him or expose him, but Nick Naylor take it all in his stride.

Until he meets Heather Holloway, and lets his guard down…

The Reality
Thank You For Not Smoking makes the assumption that we already know that smoking is dangerous for your health, and uses this to its advantage. An over the top dark comedy that will have you laughing at the absurdity of the situations and characters, whilst at the same time wondering just how much of what you hear in real life is actually the truth.

Using humour, improbable situations and loveable characters, with no real assertion as to who is the real bad guy, Thank You is a wild ride that pokes fun (and points the finger) at big tobacco, liquor, gun manufacturers, obesity, politics, newspapers, talk shows, broken families, in fact no one is really safe.

Broadly based on Christopher Buckley’s book about the abuse of truth, Thank You is a timely classic that illuminates the role of truth in modern society and begs us to ask the question; how far should we control or distort the truth?

The Look
Thank You is a classy product. Possibly not a big budget Hollywood blockbuster in styling, but just look at the list of actors; It’s a solid and authentically memorable movie, not only for the message, but for the passionate acting of the key players.

The sets and locations run in harmony with the script, and everything looks normal. It looks just like you’d imagine it would.

It just feels right, believable, just like all the lies we believe every night at 6 O’clock.

Food for thought
If truth is a commodity, what can we do to place more value on authenticity?

Rent or buy?
Thank You is worth watching again, buy it!

Pulse

2007-04-23T08:31:00.000+12:00

Rating: M - Contains Horror Scenes.
Duration: 104 mins.
Genre: Supernatural Horror.
Actors: Ron Rifkin, Brad Dourif, Ian Somerhalder, Christina Milian, Kristen Bell, Kel O'Neill, Samm Levine, Rick Gonzalez.
Director: Jim Sonzero.
Release Date: Available Now.

Synopsis
This remake of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Japanese horror hit "Kairo", sees a troubling spate of suicides after students come face to face with a ghostly apparition. The female hero, Mattie, discovers a connection to a computer programme that her boyfriend (and the first to commit suicide) was working on. It’s a programme that is still sending out a signal even though the computer has long since been unplugged…

The Reality
What starts out as a pleasing by the numbers remake of a Japanese classic, soon falls into the teen scream realm, without the clichéd essentials to make it what it’s trying to be.

Essentially the movie tends to stumble around in the dark, much like the characters are doing as they feverously try and discover what’s going on with the world around them.

A door to another realm has been opened and ghostly menaces are infecting everyone that they come in contact with and causing them to commit suicide after a couple of days of neurotic behaviour.

Of course, consistency goes right out the window as one of the students (why do bad things always start with students?) gets sucked into the wall and disappears, instead of the usual suicide.
Then Mattie’s best friend who has been infected can’t take it anymore so just spontaneously combusts into a cloud of ash.

As if that’s not enough, in one scene where our heroes are trying to escape, the ghostly grim reapers suddenly take physical characteristics and attack with gripping, clawing hands.

Inconsistencies aplenty.

The Look
Having only a bad pre-release screener to watch, quality isn’t something I can accurately comment on, but one thing I will say is that there is a clever and very nice transformation as the infection spreads past the campus and into the city. The whole landscape starts to take on a darker, rundown look, and the colour even seems to be slowly sucked out of the film

Food for thought
This is a spiritual horror, which may account for the lack of ‘horror.’ Some people tend to find the spiritual more fearful, but for me I need a more earthly fear. So why is it that the spiritual side of horror is often the one that scares people?

Rent or buy?
Rent it.

Next Gen V8?

2007-04-20T11:11:00.000+12:00

Here's some news I've been wanting to hear ever since the release of the XBox 360...

Publisher and developer Codemasters would like the public to know that there is a new Motorsport video game currently in the works over at its studios. Expected to arrive in 2008 for PC and "leading consoles", the title will be known as Race Driver One.

But you see, this game is not entirely new. It is actually the third generation of the much-loved racing title from Codemasters. What we are talking about is the TOCA (DTM/V8 Supercars) Touring Car games that ran from 1997 to 2000. After that, it became known as TOCA (DTM/V8 Supercars) Race Driver series from 2002 to 2006.

If you want to have an idea how this game will look like, just take note that Race Driver One will be powered by middleware Neon. It is the same brilliant engine behind the soon to be released Colin McRae: DIRT. Codemasters Studios Executive Producer Gavin Raeburn said,

As each generation of gaming formats shifts up a gear, so does this series and Race Driver One is set to evolve the previously headlined TOCA (DTM/V8) titles as much as DIRT has the Colin McRae series. Combining our racing heritage with the Neon engine, Race Driver One will create a world that goes far beyond the traditional boundaries of Motorsport gaming.

Currently, information about this game is quite limited. We just know that the in-game circuits feature locations through Europe, U.S., Japan, as well as other popular areas. There is also a career mode where players can build their own team to rank number one in the world.

Codemasters added lastly that the Neon engine will be enhanced and expanded to deliver new level of visual detail, physics, and car damage system.

Sweet... 2008 can't come soon enough...

Lost Game? Groan.

2007-04-18T14:40:00.001+12:00

In their most recent official podcast, ABC's LOST producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse confirmed that the upcoming game adaptation will be arriving on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

Typically, adaptations cater to as many consoles as possible so as to guarantee they hit the same market as those who watch the TV show. Is this an indication that the PlayStation 2's time is coming to an end, or is developer Ubisoft Montreal focusing more time and effort on delivering a title whose graphics are on par with our expectations for the newest generation of console?

Said Cuse approximately 25 minutes into the podcast, "[Developer Ubisoft Montreal] came down here the other day and did a demo on some of the stuff," while Lindelof remarked, "very impressive," in response to what they were shown. We don't want to imply that television producers know what makes great games, but as fans of the show, we are comforted that progress is being made on the title. No release date has been mentioned.

Too Human Update

2007-04-18T14:37:00.000+12:00

If you're Denis Dyack and the crew over at Silicon Knights you've had a rough time since last year's E3. The company unleashed on the gaming press and attendees the stunningly awful demo for Too Human, which ran like a stuttering flip book and played like a poor man's God of War -- like cat food is all you've got left to eat poor. Dennis Dyack is now breaking the silence by plopping a big ol' exclusive over at IGN and saying Too Human is too different now. He just wants people to M.I.B. flashy-thingy last year's demo from their memory. The big shiny reveal for this too new Too Human is the very ambitious four-player cooperative mode that can be played over Xbox Live.

Dyack says, "With Too Human, we're trying to seamlessly integrate multiplayer with the single-player. If you're really going to do that, you should be able to jump in any time, anywhere and go on a 15-minute mission with friends or play five or six hours straight if you want to. In order to do that, the world has to be pretty open and hub-based so you can jump anywhere and come back very much like Diablo."

The cooperative mode will have players utilizing different character classes in a team structure. There are five initial classes to choose from and more will be available through downloadable content -- the talk of downloadable content in the piece smacks of trying to regain lost development revenue, otherwise why not just put it in the game upfront? Dyack says the single-player campaign is balanced differently from cooperative to keep players on an even playing field.

IGN talks about the game a bit saying, "It's functional, it's fun, but so far it lacks the graphic umph that we would like to see accompany the combat scenes, especially since they play such an integral role to the game ... the fluidity, which drops below 30 frames per second, should be locked." Dyack says they haven't optimized the frame rate yet (video after break) and that they're going "to hit a solid 30 frames per second." We hope so ... we really hope so. Last year's lashing will be nothing compared to what Silicon Nights will experience after an extra year of development and delivering another Too Human flip book simulator.

Eragon

2007-04-15T10:14:00.000+12:00

Rating: PG
Duration: 104 mins.
Genre: Action & Adventure, Fantasy.
Actors: Rachel Weisz, John Malkovich, Djimon Hounsou, Robert Carlyle, Jeremy Irons, Alun Armstrong, Sienna Guillory, Christopher Egan, Tamsin Egerton, Joss Stone, Edward Speleers.
Director: Stefen Fangmeier.
Release Date: Available Now.

The passion and creativity that went into creating the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy showed just how great fantasy could be. It also set a way to high benchmark for all other fantasy movies that might follow after it.

Now a few years after the passion and hype that surrounded Tolkien’s literacy masterpiece, we find ourselves in a galaxy far, far away, but in a land and time strangely familiar to Peter Jackson’s vision of Middle Earth.

But this time it’s not a small hobbit we slowly focus on, rather a young Skywalker, I mean, a young Eragon, whose life seems strangely familiar.

He’s a young boy who’s parents have left him, he’s being bought up by someone else who sees him as his son.

Destiny is suddenly thrust upon him, and because of this destiny, those he loves are slaughtered. Taken under the wing of a wise older man, Eragon has to learn how to use the skills that come with his destiny, but his arrogance, foolishness and immaturity means that his path to glory will be fraught with hard lessons.

It seems that young author Christopher Paolini was a tad influenced by George Lucas’s infamous trilogy.

Not that this is a bad thing, it’s just another stumbling block. Much like the casting of John Malkovich in the role of the evil king Galbatorix, a role totally mis-cast for Malkovich’s distinctive acting style.

What Eragon does have, and it has it is spades, thanks probably to the Star Wars influence is a great old fashioned good vs evil story line, with some great spiritual insight.

The evil wizard Durza, we are told is possessed by demons, and this is where he gets his power form. But to gain the good power that is due a Dragon Rider, Eragon must first understand the word.

Indeed as I mentioned before, it wasn’t even Aragon that sought out his destiny, but the Dragon sought him out. As if that’s not enough, when Eragon turns his back on the Dragon and sends her away. On calling her back, she proclaims that she never really left him.

Sadly however, spiritual insight doesn’t make a great movie, and the screenwriter and director have made this story into a disjointed journey that doesn’t flow as it needs to, and haven’t the passion for it that Jackson did for his opus.

It’s this mis-mash of styles and influences, without the proper love for an established classic that will make most people see Eragon as a cheap shoddy Tolkien rip-off.

Of course, had Lord of the Rings not been made into a movie yet, Eragon would probably be setting the benchmark.

Food for thought:
Do you let fear control you or use it to make yourself stronger?

Rent or buy?
Rent it, you'll be embarrassed to have this alongside Lord of the Rings in your DVD collection.

Footy Legends

2007-04-11T21:37:00.000+12:00

Rating: PG – Contains Low Level Offensive Language.
Duration: 93 mins.
Genre: Australian Drama.
Actors: Peter Phelps, Claudia Karvan, Jason McGoldrick, Shane McDonald, Emma Lung.
Director: Khoa Do.
Release Date: Available Now.

Footy Legends has a couple of sub plots running through it, but it’s main focus is all about never giving up, no matter how insurmountable the odds may seem.

It’s a film about seven guys from the worst suburb, in the worst city, in the worst country in the world. They’re a bunch of no-hopers.

Together however, on a field with a pigskin ball, they become something else.

Dysfunctional and downtrodden, with no body on their side these unlikely heroes decide to chase their dreams, and along they way, they manage to bring a community to life, and infuse everyone around them with the all to precious commodity of hope.

Food for thought:
Do you have a dream worth fighting for?

Rent or buy?
As uplifting as it is, Footy Legends is unlikely to warrant a second look, rent it.

It's Raining '300' Men

2007-04-11T07:45:00.000+12:00

It's funny when people can mock a movie in such a great way...

An Inconvenient Truth

2007-04-10T19:40:00.000+12:00

Rating: PG – No notes.
Duration: 93 mins.
Genre: Documentary.
Actors: Al Gore.
Director: Davis Guggenheim.
Release Date: Available Now.

Al Gore does something very clever in his documentary An Inconvenient Truth. He makes it a moral issue rather than a political one.

This is an important distinction, because nothing is going to happen unless Gore gets people motivated. Global warming will never make it onto the political agenda unless the majority of the voting populus puts it there.

Weather or not it disserves the attention it has been getting cannot be convincingly argued in a review, but An Inconvenient Truth has convinced me for the need to change.

Al Gore has the charisma of a Rob Bell Nooma, with the careful sarcasm of Michael Moore, albeit a lot more careful and polished. It’s this combination of approachability, humour and scary facts that make this scientific mumbo jumbo a compelling and interesting watch.

Whatever your views are of global warming or Al Gore, you should seriously put any negative preconceptions to one side and give this documentary a go; it will probably change the way you feel.

An interesting ingredient is the addition of some rather personal Gore family history, that helps to hit home the urgency of the situation, and gives a glimpse into the drive and passion behind this Inconvenient Truth.

Food for thought:
When you pray, move your feet.

Rent or buy?
Buy, once you've seen it you'll want to show it to everyone you know.

As It Is In Heaven

2007-04-07T22:29:00.000+12:00

Rating: M – Contains Adult Themes.
Duration: 132 mins.
Genre: Festival & Foreign.
Actors: Michael Nyqvist, Frida Hallgren, Lennart Jähkel, Ingela Olsson, Niklas Falk, Helen Sjöholm, Ylva Lööf, Per Morberg.
Director: Kay Pollak.
Release Date: 26th April, 2007.

A successful international conductor finds his career arriving abruptly at a fork in the proverbial road. He is on a life long search for perfection, the kind that can never be attained and his passion for this often overwhelms him.

At the end of yet another concert, where he has strived for perfection by giving it his all, Daniel collapses with a heart attack.

Fortunately for us, and this wonderful story, the heart attack isn’t fatal.

On the ride home form the hospital; Daniel Daréus confides in his manager that he can’t seem to find this perfection that he has set for his life’s goal. His manager brushes him off by saying the audience loves him, and then unintentionally sobers Daniel with the knowledge that his life is booked out for at least the next eight years.

Such is his dismay at the prospect of being unfulfilled in his current situation that he seeks solace in the anonymity of his small childhood town, a town that in reality holds no pleasant memories for him.

On his arrival he discovers two things, the first being; the child-like joy of being free – a feeling that he wasn’t allowed to feel as a child prodigy – and the realisation that anonymity would never be his.

Demands are bestowed on him by the small local populus, and in time he relents and agrees to help out with the small church choir.

What we perceive to be a rag-bag of a small village choir, Daniel sees as an opportunity. An opportunity at a new life, teaching people outside of his – and their – comfort zone.

However, by pushing the boundaries Daniel soon discovers all is not as it seems in this tranquil Swedish village.

Jealously rears it’s ugly head and causes all manner of problems, not least of which is with the local pastor who mistakes life for sin, and has no room in his heart or his church for grace to bloom.

There are many layers to this movie, but the overriding theme is that of grace. A grace that can transcend a village’s secrets, a grace that can bring healing to a community too afraid to speak up, a grace that can breathe new life into people who have all but forgotten what it is to love one another.

Through methods that are far from conventional, accepting all who come, Daniel not only shines as a somewhat socially inept beacon of hope, but also finds the inner transformation that will ultimately set himself free as well.

Though unintentionally, the movie, through its musical achievements by way of normal people, manages to achieve a passion that defies convention and causes the viewer to contemplate more than just the physical side of life.

A remarkably inspiring movie that will move you to tears and stay with you long after the credits have disappeared.

Food for thought:
Should love only show itself in a predictable form?

Rent or buy?
A delightful morsel such as this should be savoured many times.

World Trade Center

2007-04-07T09:14:00.000+12:00

Rating: M – Contains Low Level Offensive Language.
Duration: 124 mins.
Genre: Drama.
Actors: Nicolas Cage, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Stephen Dorff, Frank Whaley, Michael Pena, Donna Murphy, Patti D'Arbanville, Jude Ciccolella.
Director: Oliver Stone.
Release Date: Available Now.

Oliver Stone wisely chose to tell a story that took place in the September Eleven attack on New York, rather than trying to tell the whole story.

He also used restraint when it came to showing the first strike, forcing the viewer to feel the impact rather than see it, which proves to have far more punch than had he tried to re-create an image that we all have seared into our brain through the media’s over exposure on the day.

As with the recent Maria Full Of Grace, World Trade Center starts off as a routine day, that can only be described as slow and boring. This slow methodical pace draws the viewer into the lives of the two Port Authority Police Officers that Stone uses to tell his take on the 9/11 stroy.

There is absolutely nothing special about these two guys; John McLoughlin (played by Nicolas Cage) is a seasoned cop who has given far too much time to the force and not enough time to his family, and Will Jimeno (played by Michael Pena) is a young rookie who still sees the wonder around him.

Both start their day in the same way they always start their day, the same way most of us start our days. This is just an ordinary day, and Stone does a great job of portraying this right from the start.

Then the unbelievable happens, a commuter plane flies into the World Trade Center.

Misinformation becomes king as the Port Authority police are called back in, and then sent out to help.

No one really knows what is going on, but there is work to be done amongst the confusion and debris.

McLoughlin is in charge, and knows what he has to do. He asks for a team of volunteers to go with him and help evacuate the tower.

It is a scene that shocks and awes both the veteran McLoughlin and the rookie Jimeno as they and a few others start to gather equipment and head into the lobby.

Then all hell breaks lose as the tower collapses. McLoughlin and his small team rush for cover, not knowing that the whole building is collapsing onto of them.

McLoughlin’s knowledge of the building helps save his life and that of Jimeno, but no one else makes it alive.

It’s here; trapped in the rubble that Stone makes this story into a masterpiece of cinema.

Unable to move, with the rubble slowly squeezing the life out of them, Jimeno and McLoughlin have to rely on each other’s strengths to stay alive.

Relatively unknown to each other they trade stories of their personal lives to not only pass the time, but to keep each other awake, and to make sure the flicker of hope doesn’t go out.

The cinematography in these cramped locations is amazing. The use of light combined with the makeup and short focal lengths on the closely cropped faces brings a reality to their claustrophobic situation, and a nauseating knowledge that their lives literally hang in the balance.

Of course a movie that passes the bulk of its time focused on two men trapped in rubble trading stories would not hold anyone’s interest for very long. Nor would it tell the whole story.

Stone manages this my interweaving the scenes with a few flashbacks, but more importantly he trades focus to the wives and families of the two men.

We get to witness the emotional toil that comes with the pain of not knowing where your loved one is, then the misinformation and confusion, and ultimately the uncertainty of the future.

Then Stone suddenly shifts focus to an almost empty church, where a young man struggles briefly with his calling, he talks to his pastor and explains that God has called him to go to the World Trade Center and help.

Though what neither of them knows is how this ex-marine can help.

But time, and this movie, ultimately show that if you listen to the voice of God, and follow his direction, amazing things can happen.

A story within a story, World Trade Center takes a part of what happened on September 11th, 2001. A day when many of us just stared at our TV screen in disbelief, and draws an story so full of the emotion of that day, but a story so personal that it is much easier to relate to.

It’s a story where death and destruction don’t take center stage, but rather life, and the struggle for it, gets placed in crisp sharp focus.

It’s a place where politics is absent, replaced with faith and humanity.

It’s a story that resonates inside each of us, as we go about our daily lives. And it’s through this story that Stone delivers and enthralling cinematic masterpiece.

Food for thought:
Whose voice do you follow?

Rent or buy?
Definitely buy, it's one you'll want to watch again.

Maria Full Of Grace

2007-04-04T20:09:00.000+12:00

Rating: M – Contains Violence, Offensive Language & Drug Use.
Duration: 101 mins.
Genre: Festival & Foreign.
Actors: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Yenny Paola Vega, Guilied Lopez, John Alex Toro, Patricia Rae.
Director: Joshua Marston.
Release Date: Available Now.

Maria Full Of Grace claims to be based on 1,000 true stories.

What it is, is a compelling, if occasionally hard to watch, fictional tale of Maria and her journey to becoming a mule for drug traffickers.

Maria Alvarez is a 17 year old girl from Colombia working minimum wage in a flower packing factory, earning money to help support her mother, her sister and her sister’s baby.

At times it seems to Maria that she has nothing left for her self.

Then she discovers that she’s pregnant, breaks up with her boy friend and finds another.

It’s this new male figure in her life – her father is conspicuous in his absence, whether this is to indicate that he is not around, or just not important in Maria’s life, we don’t know – that knows how she can make a better life for herself; become a mule.

Of course he doesn’t know she’s pregnant, and when she discovers how much she can make, she doesn’t think to tell him.

Despite what it may sound like, Maria isn’t really in it for the money, and the movie goes to great lengths to set the scene of Maria’s life.

You see Maria is representing 1,000 true stories, and as such her life is average. Her happy poverty is real, and her daily routine is uneventful at best.

So whilst the escapism of becoming a mule – it comes with free holiday’s in America – is an obvious pull for Maria, the real reasons she decides to become a mule are based more along the theme of needing a strong male influence in her life, and looking towards the future and how she’s going to raise a child in a household already far too dependant on her merge income.

Maria’s normalcy and her wholesome nice girl from next door is at odds of course with her career path.

When we think of the drug trade, most people will have nothing nice to say about anyone in any part of the chain.

Mules you see are just in it for the money.

But as Maria’s story asserts, we comfortable Westerners have got the wrong picture of these mules.

We see as the movie progresses that these young women have been duped into an industry they have no way of escaping. That they are nothing more than disposable containers to the drug lords, who factor in acceptable loss for every consignment they send out.

The glamour that sucks these girls in, is gone the instance they finish swallowing their perilous cargo, when they are warned in no uncertain terms what will happen if they go AWOL with the product.

But Maria stays positive, confident in the belief that this is just a one off, that she can walk away with a little bonus to help when the baby comes.

But life seldom travels the road you think, it should, and Maria is no exception.

The overriding theme of the movie is summed up in one of the closing scenes; at the Airport as Maria is waiting her return trip to Columbia. On the wall in the background is a statement in large letters; “It’s what’s on the inside that counts”.

On reflection of the story you’ve just watched unfold, the statement can be viewed on many levels; for the Drug Lord, what’s on the inside is his income, for Maria what’s on the inside is her future, a human life growing.

And then there’s the spiritual side, where God looks past our outward appearances and looks inside of us to see whom we really are.

It’s Maria’s spiritual journey that is surprisingly missing from this movie. A movie whose title and cover imagery implies some rather overt religious overtones.

But alas, this key part of Maria’s life is left uncovered, and we the viewer are left no quite knowing what in the end was driving Maria on her journey of discovery.

Food for thought:
Who decides the true value of human life?

Rent or buy?
If subtitled dramas are your thing then this is a human drama worth having in your collection, if not, rent it and be enlightened!

Borat

2007-03-27T10:31:00.000+12:00

Rating: R16 – Contains Offensive Language, Sexual Material & Other Content May Offend.
Duration: 80 mins.
Genre: Comedy, Political Comedy, Spoof.
Actors: Sacha Baron Cohen.
Director: Larry Charles.
Release Date: Available Now.

"Kazakhstan greatest country in the world.
All other countries are run by little girls.
Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium.
Other countries have inferior potassium."

If the (full) title or the “lyrics” to the Kazakhstan national anthem (above) doesn’t make you even the slightest bit curious, then you’d best stay away from Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

You see it’s either the type of humour that has you doubled over in stiches, or it’s gonna offend you like nobody has before.

And that is I guess, where all the controversy comes from; people who just don’t get Sacha Baron Cohen’s sense of humour.

In reality this kind of humour has been around since the dawn of television, with Candid Camera. It’s all about seeing how far you can push people into accepting (or doing) the unbelievable, and along the way (especially in the case of Borat) uncovering bigoted attitudes.

It’s a Michael Moore documentary without the conspiracies, though the “fat guy” himself does appear in the special features.

So what is this movie all about?

The basic premise is a road trip, where by Kazakhstan’s most famous (probably only) television personality travels to America to see what he can learn form the wealthiest country in the world to help Kazakhstan, the poorest country in the world.

In documentary style, he interviews or interacts with numerous facets of American society, and in most cases the people he interacts with come away with egg on their collective faces.

Though it’s not all-poking fun at innocent people, Borat has a healthy attitude to poking fun at his own character as well.

Anti-sematic I hear you ask. Sure there is a fair bit of anti-Jewish comedy in Borat (the Kazakhstan population apparently hate the Jewish people with a rabid fear) but the humour is so clichéd and over the top as not to be taken seriously.

And then there’s the Pentecostal Church scene, that begins like a page out of Under The Overpass, and ends up giving Borat a slightly softer personality and a more philosophical outlook on life;

“If you chase a dream, especially those with a plastic chest, you can miss the real beauty in front of your eyes.” –Borat

The Jewish question even goes 180 degrees by the end of the movie.

Crass and sleazy in places, Borat does push the boundaries of what is deemed acceptable in popular culture, but fortunately sees the sense, and the additional humour, in using “black bars” to cover up the “naughty” bits in one particularly unbelievable and funny scene in a hotel.

Overall, if you push past the “I’m setting you up for a fall” style of humour, you can see that Borat is actually teaching us something about our own attitudes towards people who don’t belong to our own “group.”

There is almost no one in this movie that doesn’t exhibit some kind of disdain to one segment of society or another, and if we use this as a warning and take an honest look at ourselves in the mirror, we could actually come away from Borat a better person.

Food for thought:
Is Borat a bigot for showing us how bigoted we are?

Rent or Buy?
Tough decision, with Borat firmly in the you’re either gonna love it or hate it camp, renting might be the safest option, unless you saw it at the cinema and loved it, then you’re gonna want to buy it and convert all your friends to Borat’s way of life!

Sony’s Inferiority Complex?

2007-03-26T09:35:00.001+12:00

I had to pop into Harvey Noman in Manukau yesterday to look for a modem. I wasn’t really looking forward to going, as I knew they were having a PS3 day, with Mai FM broadcasting live, Spacifix performing and a PS3 give away.

I wasn’t looking forward to the crowds and all the hype and bull.

The first thing I noticed when I arrived was that they had blocked off a premium section of the car park for the Spacifix gig, but there didn’t seem to be too many people around.

On entering Harvey Norman, everything looked normal until I reached the entrance to the electronic section; almost blocking the entrance was a humongous PS3 IDU.

The thing was huge, so big in fact that it reminded me of the old saying about guys who drive big cars….. And it had one kid playing on it.

The modems proved to be overpriced, so I left, had some lunch down by K-Mart and by the time I got back to the car Spacifix were playing to an embarrassingly small crowd, which begs the question:

Have Spacifix had their day, or does Mai FM just not have the listener ship, or does the PS3 just suck big time?

Happy Birthday XBox 360

2007-03-24T16:51:00.000+12:00

Yesterday I got home to a lovingly, if somewhat small package from Microsoft. Inside was a yummie Xbox 360 chocolate cupcake with a single candle.

MMMmmmmmmm, Happy Birthday XBox 360.

The Departed

2007-03-24T15:07:00.000+12:00

Rating: R16 – Contains Graphic Violence & Offensive Language.
Duration: 145 mins.
Genre: Suspense & Thriller, Crime.
Actors: Anthony Anderson, Ray Winstone, Jack Nicholson, Alec Baldwin, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga, Mark Wahlberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kevin Corrigan.
Director: Martin Scorsese.
Release Date: Available Now.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking for sympathy here, I just want you to know that my views may be influenced by the quality of the DVD screener I was sent for review.

Most reviews I do are done on the finished product, a fully packaged DVD exactly the same as you would by from a retail shop.

Occasionally I’ll get sent screeners – advance copies of the DVD that only differ in the actual packaging.

Then there’s the poor quality screeners.

They come with a full screen presentation – so you miss half the action, the details, the subtlety. They also come with a big time-code running for the duration of the movie, along with the words ‘property of so and so, etc’ popping up at regular intervals.

What made The Departed particularly bad was it had all the features of a poor quality screener, and the actual video and in places, sound quality was worse than that of a bad pirated DVD.

Not the best start for a move hyped as it was, and the proud owner of four Oscars. You’d think WarnerBros would want to only have the best quality for reviewers on this one.

Never mind. I’ll say from the start, that despite everything that I’ve just moaned and complained about, The Departed was still very watch able.

Surprisingly so for a re-make.

And a re-make of one of my favourite Hong Kong action movies, Infernal Affairs.

So the basic plot; The mean streets of South Boston are owned by the Mob, and the police are all but powerless to control them. They decide to set up a special unit to combat the Mob, and a secret team to place a mole at the very heart of the Mob.

Of course, the Mob being the Mob, wants to stay one step ahead of the police, so send one of the own men into deep cover to infiltrate the police force.

Both sides realising after a while that they are both compromised, and thus begins the game of cat and mouse as each mole is tasked to find the other out.

If you’ve seen Infernal Affairs, you pretty much know what’s going to happen.

Scorsese does a fine job of bringing all the elements together, and doesn’t shy away from the graphic nature of the storyline, this may be too much for some to stomach, but in reality it’s the only way to tell such a story without losing credibility – or the audiences attention.

An interesting thing with The Departed is the number of a-Class actors that take part; Ray Winstone, Jack Nicholson, Alec Baldwin, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Wow.

But this is also part of the movies weakness. Well, not the actors them selves, they all do a fine job in their respective roles, but the sheer number of important players doesn’t give Scorsese enough time to aptly do each character justice, rather the main focus is just on the three key players, Jack, Matt and Leo.

So what do the mean streets of South Boston offer us in the form of a movie.

For one, they offer a very dark backdrop for an equally dark look at corruption.

Corruption permeates this movie in an insidious way. The undercover cop soon realises that he is going to have to compromise his moral standpoint, over and over again, until he starts to become the very thing he is fighting against.

Secretes and personal vendettas become the driving force behind many of the characters ultimate choices, and it seems that all notion of hope has escaped from this dark back alley of society.

These are all fine ingredients for a decent crime movie, add to that a plot that twists and turns, keeping the story on a knife edge and the viewers nerves in tatters. Scorsese does a brilliant job at translating what would have to be one of the best re-made movies I have seen in a while.

Food for thought:
Does the end always justify the means?

Rent or Buy?
Buy it, it’s an instant classic!

Crackdown

2007-03-22T19:01:00.000+12:00

Rating: R18 – Restricted to persons 18 years and over.
Genre: Third Person Shooter, Action Adventure.
Developer: Microsoft.
Release Date: Available Now.

OK, so Crackdown is gonna get called a GTA clone, but then that’s nothing new. GTA has become more than the name of a game, it’s become a genre in it’s own right.

Free-roaming, living city, crime style games are numerous enough to stop calling them all GTA clones.

They do however all have a commonality; free roaming gameplay, missions to complete in your own time, and plenty of people and vehicles and weapons to ‘interact’ with.

So, Crackdown is a game in the GTA genre, you know what to expect, well expect more. Expect to be totally blown away, because you will.

Crackdown is at the top of it’s genre, because it’s fun to play. It’s an absolute blast.

Let me explain.

You are a cybernetically-enhanced cop, who’s job it is, to rid Pacific City from its three gangs.

But be warned, just because you’re a cop, that doesn’t give you license to do what ever you want – kill too many ‘innocents’ and the cops will try and take you out – and not to dinner either.

So what does a cybernetically-enhanced cop cop bring to the genre?

The ability to leap tall buildings.

Sounds like Superman, but the way you land, and the way the pavement cracks under the impact, makes you feel more like Neo.

Of course, you don’t get to leap tall buildings right off, you have to build your skills by collecting the 500 agility orbs scattered around the city, mostly on the roofs of buildings.

Getting to them isn’t always easy, but it’s always challenging fun.

Along with up skilling your agility you’ll be able to increase your shooting and driving skills along the way.

All of which is essential if you’re going to take out the gang bosses.Graphically Crackdown just blows everything else out of the water, the whole thing looks so realistic, but it’s been given a cartoon makeover, making the whole experience more surreal.

You’ve definitely taken the red pill.

Spectacular explosions, bullets literally whizzing through the air, it’s an audio-visual overload.

Perfect Crackdown isn’t. but it definitely raises the bar to a considerable hight.

Rent or Buy?
Buy, you’ll be wanting to play this over and over again.

Halo: Welcome to the Third Place

2007-03-20T12:43:00.000+12:00

Just in from Microsoft:

The Legendary Edition ($199.95 RRP) will be released in limited quantities and arrive in a highly collectible Spartan helmet case that no hardcore Halo fan should be without! Included in the Legendary Edition are two bonus discs packed full of extra content.

The first disc provides exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage and videos and includes a high-definition* ‘Making Of Halo 3’ documentary that showcases the Bungie team and its effort to create the most anticipated title in the industry’s history.

And never before seen on a video game, the disc will also include an AV calibration tool. Custom designed by the Halo 3 graphics and audio team, this tool will make the most of fans’ high definition home theatres, for the ultimate Halo 3 and Xbox 360™ audio and video performance.

The second bonus disc, an exclusive to the Legendary Edition, includes completely re-mastered cinematic material from Halo®: Combat Evolved and Halo® 2, complete with developer commentaries, to provide a refresher course on the thrilling Halo story so far. This disc will also include a feature documenting a day in the life at Bungie and exclusive content from the creative minds of machinima artists Red vs. Blue and This Spartan Life.

Fans who purchase the Legendary Edition also receive an illuminating collection of original Halo 3 storyboard art from artist Lee Wilson, depicting key moments and pivotal scenes from Halo’s epic cinematic production.

The Limited Edition ($119.95 RRP) also includes a bounty of extras. Within a sleek metal collector’s case, gamers will receive the first bonus disc found in the Legendary Edition, as well as a special Halo fiction/art book. A must-have for Halo collectors and a source of invaluable and exclusive information, the piece is an elaborate and compelling guide to the species and factions that inhabit the worlds of the Halo universe. It includes never-before-seen art and story that expands and illustrates the depth of the Halo fiction.

And for those who crave nothing more than the highly anticipated third chapter to one of the greatest gaming trilogies of all time, the Standard Edition ($99.95) includes the Halo 3 game.

WOW, two hundred bucks for the Legendary Edition? Damn, better start saving...

Hope For Kids

2007-03-15T08:27:00.001+13:00

Check out her blog here.

Fuzion Frenzy 2

2007-03-14T21:47:00.000+13:00

Rating: PG – Mild Violence.
Genre: Party Game.
Developer: Microsoft.
Release Date: Available Now.

Having never played the original, comparisons can’t be made, so I’m looking at this from a purely genre ponit of view.

Fuzion Frenzy 2 is promoted as a non-stop party game, and this is where I believe its strength would lie.

As a single player game, its 40 mini games and campaign mode seem somewhat lacklustre, playing against 3 computer controlled competitors just isn’t that enthralling in this type of game.

But that’s exactly why it’s a party game. Playing with three of your mates would soon spice things up as there would be a real reason to be competitive.

Graphically Fuzion Frenzy doesn’t stand out as being anything special, but don’t blame the 360 or the developers, its just that this type of game has a certain flavour of graphics that doesn’t care whether its on a next gen console or not. But it’s graphics compliment game play, which is important.

Game play as I mentioned above really relies on having other people to play with, being that on line or split screen, as a single player game the fun is some what limited to a couple of goes.

What is good about Fuzion Frenzy 2 is that it shows that Microsoft are taking note that some people want their console for party games rather than hard core gaming.

Rent or Buy?
That depends, hardcore gamers will find it a waste of money, where as sociable people who like to have fun with other humans will find it a blast.

The Sentinel

2007-03-14T20:25:00.000+13:00

Rating: M – Contains Violence & Offensive Language.
Duration: 108 mins.
Genre: Teen Comedy.
Actors: Kiefer Sutherland, Kim Basinger, Michael Douglas, Martin Donovan, David Rasche, Eva Longoria, Ritchie Coster, Raynor Scheine.
Director: Clark Johnson.
Release Date: Available Now.

There's never been a traitor in the United States Secret Service...until now. Such is the premise of this solid little thriller.

It’s got everything you’d expect, thrills, twists, and action galore. It even has the pre-requisite sex appeal; that is if you like Eva Longoria.

It’s also surprisingly clean in the sex department, despite a subplot that could have been exploited by an easily distracted director.

Fortunately director Clark Johnson keeps things tight and focussed.

The only downside to the whole deal is some of the actors.

For one there’s a lot of TV stars in bit roles, which is kinda weird, the weirdest of all is Sledge Hammer’s David Rasche playing the President. The oddest being Kiefer Sutherland, who I used to love as an actor, but who now has become type cast as Jack Bauer and just can’t seem to be anyone else.

All in all though, and enjoyable night in front of the TV.

Food for thought:
Which is more reliable, the evidence or the heart?

Rent or Buy?
Buy it, it’s worth watching again, even is Jack Bauer looks out of place!

Stick It

2007-03-14T20:05:00.000+13:00

Rating: PG – Contains Coarse Language.
Duration: 105 mins.
Genre: Teen Comedy.
Actors: Jeff Bridges, Julie Warner, Polly Holliday, John Patrick Amedori, Kellan Lutz, Tarah Paige, Missy Peregrym, Nikki SooHoo, Maddy Curley.
Director: Jessica Bendinger.
Release Date: Available Now.

Stick It comes from the same stable as Bring It On, but with a little bit of street attitude.

Haley Graham, a rebellious teen, takes things too far and is landed with a choice; juvenile detention or gymnastics.

She choses gymnastics, mainly due to her belief that she can just breeze through. You see Haley has a history, and its one that she’s gonna have an uphill battle to overcome.

A few years back she walked out of the finals of the World Champs causing Team America to be disqualified.

Now she has to get back in with some of the same girls under the same trainer.

Of course this teen flick is predictable as anything, but it’s surprisingly not just about forgiveness and acceptance, it has a slightly deeper theme; standing up for what you believe in.

I won’t spill the beans and ruin the movie for you, suffice to say that the movie has some great lessons for young girls to empower them and help them feel good about what they do in life.

Food for thought:
If rules have been corrupted, who should make new ones?

Rent or Buy?
Depends, if you have young teen daughters, buy it, if not, rent it.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend

2007-03-13T10:53:00.000+13:00

Rating: M – Contains Sexual References.
Duration: 95 mins.
Genre: Romantic Comedy.
Actors: Luke Wilson, Uma Thurman, Eddie Izzard, Anna Faris, Wanda Sykes.
Director: Ivan Reitman.
Release Date: Available Now.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend is an interesting attempt at lampooning the recent rash of Super Hero movies. The Superman references are easy to spot, as well as a couple of Neo moments.

As a whole however, it seems to be lacking any real super powers in the humour department.

Basic plot: Matt Saunders is a lowly architect, who enjoys a flirtatious work relationship with a cute co-worker, who has a boyfriend so is off limits to anything serious. But serious is what Matt wants.

Not serious in a lets get married way, this is after all Hollywood.

Serious as in I need someone one to keep me company at nights, go out with and generally have fun.

Enter stage left Jenny Johnston, an attractive met her on the train but I have no idea what she does woman. Egged on by his best mate, Matt asks Jenny out, and she eventually says yes,

A couple of dates later and some possible co-habitation later, Jenny decides it’s time to let Matt know her secret identity; she’s G-Girl, New York’s resident crime fighting Superhero.

But G-Girl comes with a lot of baggage so the fun starts to wane, and Matt tries to politely dump her.

It’s around this time that cute co-worker finds out her boyfriend has been cheating on her and finds true love in the arms of Matt.

G-Girl isn’t happy, and she has superpowers that she’s not afraid to use!

Blah, blah, blah.

Predictable, yes. Funny, generally. The problem with My Super Ex-Girlfriend is that there is no on screen chemistry between Uma Thurman and Luke Wilson, and without out this Matt and Jenny seem to be just going through the motions.

It’s a shame as the movie starts off well, with the clichéd bank robbery and superhero foiling the heist scenario, and I love the little visual wake that follows the speeding G-Girl through the air – it’s a nice touch.

And Jenny shows an interesting side to the whole Superhero thing – she hasn’t got it together like every other superhero, in fact she is an absolute mess.

But the lack of chemistry makes you wonder how they ever hooked up past the first date, when it’s obvious as heck that the cute co-worker is the true love of Matt.

The humour generally falls into the sexual innuendo category that far too many comedies rely on these days, but climaxes in a scene involving a flying shark, that shows just what could have been done with the movie to lift it to the next level.

The main theme of this RomCom is unsurprisingly love. Love that requires you open your eyes to the people closest to you, rather than chasing a stranger who looks good, or is deemed suitable by your mate. It’s a love that is worth standing up for, and a love that is there for the long term. It’s about finding your true love.

Silly and forgettable, but if you watch it with that in mind, you’ll find yourself enjoying this low level comedy.

Food for thought:
If you had superpowers and somebody slighted you, would you seek super revenge?

Rent or Buy?
Definitely a rental.

No 360 Games Being Released on my Birthdate!

2007-03-09T14:32:00.000+13:00

I was browsing through the list of upcoming games at GPStore's website, when I decided to see just how far in the future they were listing games.

In the interest of making sure your website has the infrastructure to keep growing, the ability to list products at a future date is often built into the programming and thus it wouldn't be silly to be able to look up just what games are due for release five years from now.

Of course, there are no games scheduled yet.

But what about February 1971, by birth month.

Well, according to GPStore, there are no X-Box 360 games due for release then either. Maybe because the X-Box 360 wasn't even a consideration way back then.

I can understand a website being able to cater for the future, but way into the past seems a little kooky.

Commander in Chief S1

2007-03-09T13:22:00.000+13:00

Rating: M – Contains Medium Level Violence.
Duration: 737 mins.
Genre: Television Drama.
Actors: Geena Davis, Donald Sutherland, Kyle Secor, Caitlin Wachs, Harry J. Lennix.
Director: N/A.
Release Date: Available Now.

Geena Davis won a Golden Globe for her performance as President Mackenzie Allen in the first season of Commander in Chief, and well she should have as she makes a lovable President. A President that we would all love, and that can only exist in our dreams.

You see, Commander in Chief takes the success of The West Wing, but spices it up with a female President that has to deal with family issues, husbandry issues as well as being determined to elevate herself above the political-ness of politics.

But wait, there’s more. Donald Sutherland plays The Speaker of the House, a man whose political ambitions are far greater than Mackenzie Allen’s, and who will stop at nothing to get rid of her.

Sutherland plays a delightfully lovable dastardly evil enemy that gives the show it’s edge, it’s suspense, and lifts it far above what could have been a rather kitsch family drama.

Indeed without all the backroom, backstabbing, Commander in Chief would be quite the bore. It’s the politics we hate, suitably stirred with a mix of intriguing world and domestic issues, that make the show compelling.

But it’s too American I hear y’all scream. Not really, at least not anymore that most of the programmes you love to watch. Politically the politics of government are the same – on a base level – the world over. It’s all about using people to gain power.

Geena Davis does a great job portraying a person who struggles to stay above all the dirt that comes with the job, whilst refusing to back down on issues she’s convinced are for the best of the country.

A real peoples President.

And with a great supporting cast, a storyline that progresses – but doesn’t mind if you miss a week – and enduring themes, Commander in Chief makes for a great little drama.

Food for thought:
Does power corrupt, or does it just highlight your heart?

Rent or Buy?
At 737 minutes, it’s going to be tough to watch this one as a rental.

Rumour Mill

2007-03-06T09:58:00.000+13:00

Craig, Ledger, The Devil.
He’s been portrayed by Al Pacino, Viggo Mortensen and Gabriel Byrne, and now The Devil may be materializing in yet another movie soon… portrayed by either Daniel Craig or Heath Ledger.

Producer Vincent Newman has named both actors as front runners for the lead role of the fallen angel Satan, in an adaptation of Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost that he is currently working on.

Apparently Scott Derrickson has been signed on to direct and with a $100 million budget, it sounds like they’re going all out in the effects department. Paradise Lost is one of the primary sources cited in just about any movie that has to do with demons and witchcraft and dark Christian undertones.

I’m quite excited about this, but only with Derrickson directing and Craig being the Devil. I just can’t see Ledger pulling it off.

Mark Wahlberg: G.I.Joe
This next rumour is so funny it may just be real, but apparently Mark Wahlberg is the prime choice for a live action film of the 80’s cartoon G.I. Joe.

On second thoughts, lets hope it’s too funny to be real, cause it’s going to be bad if it gets made!

Summer is Terminator

2007-03-05T14:51:00.000+13:00

It was just a little under a month ago that there was news from The Terminator TV spin-off The Sarah Connor Chronicles. At the time, fans were asking what part Serenity's Summer Glau had signed on for. Sci Fi Wire recently spoke with Lena Headey (300), who plays the Terminator "matriarch" Sarah Connor and she confirmed that Glau was hired to play one of the Terminators for the show.

That's right, there's not one but two Terminators. Headey told Sci Fi Wire that Glau is playing one and Owain Yeoman will be playing the other. Sci Fi Wire also reported that during their chat with Headey she also told them "One is good and one is bad; she didn't say which is which."

The show picks up where the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day left off. Headey described the pilot, saying, "it's them basically running, hiding, trying to live, trying to carve out a normal life for themselves, but always being watched and trying to locate Skynet, trying to stop [it]. But there are many, many issues in their way." The pilot was scheduled for 2007, so since shooting has wrapped it won't be long before fans get to find out just what kind of Terminator Summer Glau is going to be.

Rumour Mill

2007-03-05T11:20:00.000+13:00

Danny Boyle’s Next
Danny Boyle might not see his Sunshine in theaters for a while but he's moved on to his next project; Ponte Tower, a film that will take place in South Africa's 54-story skyscraper.

Built in 1975, it was once one of the most desirable addresses in Johannesburg. Following the end of apartheid, gangs slowly crept into the building and it became one of the most dangerous places to live.

The film is loosely based on the novel Ponte City and will follow a young girl who moves to the tower and comes under the control of a drug lord.

The film will be shot at the Ponte City Apartments and will take place almost entirely within the tower.

Sounds like another solid, gritty movie from Mr. Boyle.

Crank 2?
Last year's action overdose Crank was so outrageously over-the-top that it nearly broke atmosphere and went hurtling into the cosmos. How could filmmakers Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor possibly exceed their debut's lunatic fusion of overkill?

Apparently they're gonna try anyway, as Variety says they "are in the early stages of a sequel" to the crazy Statham flick

Wow, and here I am waiting for Crank to come out on DVD so I can watch it!

BBC on YouTube
Clips from BBC programming are now available on YouTube, following a deal between the British broadcaster and the video website.

Under the deal, the material will be accompanied by "limited" advertising, except in the U.K.

Chris Maxey, partnership development director at YouTube, told Britain's Guardian: "We are interested in testing out this new medium. It is new for all of us and we have to see what the community likes or accepts in terms of advertising and what works for such a new medium."

Hhhhmmm, lets hope there’s plenty of Top Gear…

Just Because It's The Weekend!

2007-03-02T15:28:00.000+13:00

Meet Xbox 360-tan. She's got thigh-high boots, Xbox hairbuns, cable locks and a wireless arm, what some fan boys do is mind boggling...

The Closer S1

2007-03-02T13:14:00.000+13:00

Rating: M – Contains Medium Level Violence.
Duration: 577 mins.
Genre: Television Crime.
Actors: Jon Tenney, Robert Gossett, Kyra Sedgwick, G.W. Bailey, J.K. Simmons, Anthony John Denison.
Director: N/A.
Release Date: Available Now.

Not long after I got to enjoy Season 1 of Bones on DVD I get to enjoy an entirely different Police/Crime Drama series, The Closer.

Where as Bones focused on a very narrow field of crime solving, The Closer takes a far more encompassing route.

Basically it’s a little like Criminal Intent, where by the lead character, this time a Southern Gal, who’s personality won’t allow her to make polite talk – she often gets right to the point, politeness be dammed, is called in to head up the Priority Murder Squad, purely because she knows how to get a confession out of the criminals.

Of course being bought in means she’s an outsider and has upset a whole lot of people just by accepting the post. Not that that fazes her, as she just doesn’t notice that sort of thing.

So quirky is the new cool, and Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson encompasses that cool with a lovable charm that may take one or two episodes to get used too, but once you get familiar, she hooks you in and you’re a convert to her wryly charm.

But it’s not just the viewer she has to charm, Brenda has an uphill battle convincing her own team that she is suited to the job, and with the cases about to come her way, she’ll defiantly have the opportunity to prove her salt.

Diversity is the name of the game with modern crime dramas and The Closer has many diverse cases that manage to keep you guessing, watching and wanting more.

With quirkiness and character, The Closer brings some freshness to the over saturated crime genre.

Food for thought:
Do you judge before you have all the facts?

Rent or Buy?
Definitely a keeper.

The Great Raid

2007-03-01T12:44:00.000+13:00

Rating: R13 – Contains Violence & Content That May Disturb.
Duration: 127 mins.
Genre: War.
Actors: Joseph Fiennes, Marton Csokas, Benjamin Bratt, Dale Dye, James Franco, Natalie Mendoza, Robert Mammone, Max Martini.
Director: John Dahl.
Release Date: Available Now.

Saving Private Ryan this isn’t, but then it has something that Ryan didn’t, a solid foundation of actual events.

The Great Raid is a more grounded war movie; it’s a movie about the people and the events over the explosions and action.

It’s about trying to portray the realism of the situation.

And in this it succeeds.

Based on two written accounts of the Ranger lead rescue operation at the Cabanatuan POW, Great Raid on Cabanatuan and Ghost Soldiers, the film follows three main groups of people; The Rangers who undertook the five day rescue mission, the prisoners themselves and the local resistance.

The POW camp scenes are reminiscent of To End All Wars, and clearly show the Japanese contempt for soldiers who surrender, and are carried by an outstanding performance by Joseph Fiennes as malaria ridden Major Gibson, who attempts to hold the prisoners in order and give them hope of a future.

These scenes are possibly some of the most powerful of the movie.

The Rangers slow march to the campsite is just that, slow. Intermittently paced by cutting back and forth between the three main storylines, some viewers will struggle with a lack of ongoing action, but to moan about the pace would belittle the significance of what was done over these five days.

If, like me, you’ve read Ghost Soldiers, you may struggle with the movie more than others, secure in the knowledge of the outcome, but don’t let the slowness of pace, or the foreknowledge keep you from watching a well filmed true drama of World War Two.

Food for thought:
Does anyone have the right to force their views on others?

Rent or Buy?
Buy it only if you’re a WWII buff.

Another Reason To Hate The Oscars...

2007-03-01T11:03:00.000+13:00

I was surfing the net just now, looking through some of my favourite blogs, when I came across a post titled The Funniest Bit Of The Oscars 07, and best of all, it was in YouTube format.

Unfortunately however, when I clicked play the image changed to the one above, This video is no longer available.

Not to be deterred, I clicked through to the YouTube page.

This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

What the?

I know plenty of videos get pulled everyday, and I can understand TV channels not wanting the latest episode of Lost posted on YouTube, purely from a profit point of view.

But a 4 min clip of the Oscars? It's not like the Oscars ever get released on to DVD (do they?) or if they did, it's not like anyone would buy a DVD of Oscar Night 07 (would they?).

So what's the harm in a funny video clip making the rounds a couple of days after the live broadcast? I mean hell, it might make more people interested in watching next years Oscars, goodness knows you'd need a pretty good reason to want to endure a couple of hours of Hollywood self congratulation, and a funny clip on YouTube might just do that.

If it's not the whole show, why can't big corporations just let these things be, and see them for what they are, a little bit of free promotion.

You Can Never Have Too Many Zombies...

2007-03-01T10:35:00.000+13:00

Although a lot of recent flicks featuring the shambling undead deserved to be shot in the head and returned to the grave, the cinematic corpses will inevitably rise to consume a bit of raw human flesh. And people like Brad Pitt and BABYLON 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski will help tell the story of mankind’s full-blown chaotic conflict against deadly meat.

Paramount is getting the hungry horrors in gear (assisted by Pitt’s Plan B production company) with WORLD WAR Z. The superb novel (and even better audiobook) from Max Brooks (yes, son of Mel) is set in the aftermath of a war fought between humanity and a legion of flesh-eating zombies, and is told anthology-style through a series of “interviews” with survivors. Straczynski, a prolific comic writer, told the still-living masses at this past weekend’s New York Comic Con that he was adapting the book (subtitled An Oral History of the Zombie War), and faces the challenge of “creating” a main character – which may be played by Pitt himself. Bring on the zombie apocalypse!

Brooks has previous knowledge and devotion to the mobile deceased – he wrote “The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead”, an exhaustive reference manual on what to do in case of an infestation, from weapon and combat techniques to how to live in a world overrun by undead, plus a nifty summary on the myths and realities surround the living dead and a listing of zombie sightings throughout history.

SOURCE | Joblo

Huge Year For Microsoft Games…

2007-02-27T12:41:00.000+13:00

March sees Microsoft New Zealand celebrate the X-Box 360’s first birthday, and what better way to celebrate then to release a whole host of new games over the rest of the year…

Fuzion Frenzy 2 | 2nd March
Fuzion Frenzy 2 combines over 40 mini games with futuristic arcade action, custom tournaments, Xbox Live features and more to create the ultimate party game exclusively on Xbox 360. Play with your friends and family to find out who is the strongest among you.

Until four years ago, Fuzion Frenzy was the most popular tournament on Earth and was broadcast live to all corners of the world. However, due to the extreme competitiveness of the players, the leaders of Earth banned it, fearing its influence on the general population.

Recently, however, the world’s leaders have struggled with the problem of overpopulation, and have come up with a plan for the citizens of Earth to immigrate to space. To encourage immigration, the leaders have brought back the Fuzion Frenzy tournament, but with a change—they have set up game zones on various other planets. The people of Earth welcome this news, especially the announcement that the leaders have reinstated the six most famous players, who are returning with renewed enthusiasm!
Mass Effect | 3rd May (Estimated date.)
Mass Effect is a science fiction action-RPG created by BioWare Corp., the commercially and critically acclaimed RPG developer of "Jade Empire," "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic," "Neverwinter Nights," and the "Baldur's Gate" series. "Mass Effect" will deliver an immersive story driven gameplay experience with stunning visual fidelity. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, "Mass Effect" will be exclusively for the Xbox 360 video game system.

As the first human Specter – sworn defenders of galactic peace – your mission is to halt the advancing armies of a legendary agent gone rogue. But as you lead your elite team across hostile alien worlds, you will discover the true threat is far greater than anyone imagined.
Too Human | 1st June (Estimated Date)
Step into the world of “Too Human,” the next-generation third-person epic action game from renowned Canadian developer Silicon Knights. As the cybernetic god Baldur, you are thrust into the midst of an ongoing battle that threatens the existence of mankind. An ancient machine presence has forced the god’s hand. In the first part of a trilogy, Baldur is charged with defending humanity from an onslaught of monstrous war machines bent on the eradication of human life.

In “Too Human,” players are treated to a nonstop barrage of action powered by the seamless integration of melee and ranged firearms combat and fueled by breathtaking visuals enabled by the powerful combination of Xbox 360 and the Unreal Engine 3. Battles unfold in awesome scale as players engage with vast numbers of enemies. Gamers take it to the next level by playing the entire single-player campaign in multiplayer co-op mode via Xbox Live® or system link.

“Too Human” is produced by Silicon Knights, which brings a wealth of knowledge, story-based design and gameplay expertise to the next generation of video gaming.
Forza Motorsport 2 | 1st June (Estimated Date)
“Forza Motorsport 2,” the sequel to Microsoft Game Studios’ award-winning, fully customizable driving simulator “Forza Motorsport,” speeds its way onto Xbox 360 this holiday. With authentic simulation physics, bone-jarring damage, photo-realistic graphics, and licensed tuning and customization options, the franchise improves on the unprecedented features gamers enjoyed in its debut installment. Loaded with more than 300 of the world’s hottest cars for you to collect, personalize and tune, “Forza Motorsport 2” gives you a complete racing experience.
Shadowrun | 28th July (Estimated Date)
FASA Studio, the creative minds behind “MechWarrior” and “Crimson Skies,” are back with “Shadowrun,” the new multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) based on the much-beloved role-playing game (RPG) franchise. “Shadowrun” propels team-based combat into a new dimension with a revolutionary blend of modern weaponry and ancient magic. Up to 16 players can battle for control of this new world through Xbox 360-to-Windows Vista online compatibility. In “Shadowrun” players vie for supremacy in a constantly evolving battlefield where advanced technology and ancient magic provide an unprecedented and high-velocity tactical action experience.Alan Wake | 19th October (Estimated Date)
Alan Wake is a psychological action thriller, a unique new take in the world of gaming. The game is set in an idyllic all-American small town and its surroundings in the state of Washington. Alan Wake, the game's protagonist, is a bestselling horror writer, who writes a novel about his darkest nightmares. In the game, those nightmares come true.

The game features a massive, open world for the players to explore. The game design is mission based with the player as the driving force behind the action, and as with their previous games, Remedy again focuses completely on delivering the best possible single player experience.Halo 3 | 31st October (Estimated Date)
The epic saga continues with Halo 3, the hugely anticipated sequel to the highly successful and critically acclaimed Halo franchise. In this third chapter of the Halo trilogy, Master Chief returns to finish the fight, bringing the epic conflict between the Covenant, the Flood, and the entire human race to a dramatic, pulse-pounding climax.

Halo 3 represents the third chapter in the Halo trilogy—an international award-winning action series that grew into a global entertainment phenomenon, selling more than 14.5 million units worldwide, logging more than 650 million hours of multiplayer action on Xbox Live, and spawning action figures, books, a graphic novel, apparel, an upcoming film adaptation, and more.

Proof

2007-02-27T11:32:00.000+13:00

Rating: M – Contains Sex Scenes & Offensive Language.
Duration: 96 mins.
Genre: Drama.
Actors: Anthony Hopkins, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hope Davis, Jake Gyllenhaal, Roshan Seth, Gary Houston, Tobiasz Daszkiewicz.
Director: John Madden.
Release Date: Available Now.

Sheer brilliance. That’s how I would like to sum up Proof, but that in its self wouldn’t make for a very good review.

A film adaptation of David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winng play, Proof follows the downward slide into mental instability of Catherine, a 27 year old daughter of a brilliant mathematician, whose recent departure form this life has left her with an unfinished equation, both mathematical and emotional.

Her father’s life - played with consummate greatness by Anthony Hopkins through a series of flashbacks and imagined interactions - ended slowly, with his own decline into madness, leaving Catherine to carry on alone.

Throw in Hal, a student who was being mentored by Catherine’s father as the love interest, and things get even more interesting as Catherine’s paranoia kicks in as to what Hal’s motives are.

Further complications arise as Catherine seems to be losing grip on reality and starts to make outrageous claims about everyone around her, forcing her sister in New York to try and encourage her into a facility near where she lives.

Neither a huge action spectacular, nor an edge of your seats thriller, but what proof does have, it has in spades: A great story, and absolutely fantastic acting.

Jake Gyllenhaal is truly lovable as Hal, whose genuine love for Catherine offers the only real stability for the characters of the movie, and Gwyneth Paltrow as Catherine digs real deep into her abilities and pulls off a mesmerising performance that brings focus to the story and overriding theme of the inseparable closeness of insanity and genius.

Food for thought:
Are people really insane just because they don’t conform to societies acceptable norms?

Rent or Buy?
Buy it, it’s a true masterpiece.

Oscar, The Chosen Few

2007-02-26T19:12:00.000+13:00

Best Picture:
The Departed
Babel
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Director:
Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Babel
Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93

Actor:
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness

Actress
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

Film Editing:
The Departed
Babel
Blood Diamond
Children of Men
United 93

Original Song:
I Need to Wake Up from An Inconvenient Truth, Melissa Etheridge
Listen from Dreamgirls, Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler and Anne Preven
Love You I Do from Dreamgirls, Henry Krieger and Siedah Garrett
Our Town from Cars, Randy Newman
Patience from Dreamgirls, Henry Krieger and Willie Reale

Original Screenplay:
Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
Guillermo Arriaga, Babel
Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis, Letters From Iwo Jima
Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth
Peter Morgan, The Queen

Original Score:
Babel, Gustavo Santaolalla
The Good German, Thomas Newman
Notes on a Scandal, Philip Glass
Pan's Labyrinth, Javier Navarrete
The Queen, Alexandre Desplat

Documentary Feature:
An Inconvenient Truth
Deliver Us From Evil
Iraq in Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country

Documentary (short subject):
The Blood of Yingzhou District
Recycled Life
Rehearsing a Dream
Two Hands

Supporting Actress:
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Foreign Language Film:
The Lives of Others, Germany
After the Wedding, Denmark
Days of Glory (Indigenes), Algeria
Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico
Water, Canada

Visual Effects:
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns

Cinematography:
Pan's Labyrinth
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
The Prestige

Costume:
Marie Antoinette
Curse of the Golden Flower
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
The Queen

Adapted Screenplay:
William Monahan, The Departed
Sacha Baron Cohen and Anthony Hines and Peter Baynham and Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Alfonso Cuaron and Timothy J Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, Children of Men
Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, Little Children
Patrick Marber, Notes on a Scandal

Animated Feature Film:
Happy Feet
Cars
Monster House

Supporting Actor:
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Sound Mixing:
Dreamgirls
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Sound Editing:
Letters From Iwo Jima
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Live Action Short Film:
West Bank Story
Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)
Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)
Helmer & Son
The Saviour

Animated Short Film:
The Danish Poet
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl
Maestro
No Time for Nuts

Makeup:
Pan's Labyrinth
Apocalypto
Click

Art Direction:
Pan's Labyrinth
Dreamgirls
The Good Shepherd
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Prestige

Oscar, Apparently...

2007-02-26T13:51:00.000+13:00

The stars have started to trickle down the red carpet at the Kodak Theater, and pretty soon the awards will start to be given out, followed by big, boring speeches.

I'll try and keep y'all updated, but don't hold your breath, I'll probably go home before any of the big ones are announced and forget all about Oscar until I read about it tomorrow...

Happy Feet: Best Animated Feature Film.

Pan's Labyrinth: Best Art Direction and Best Make-up.

Alan Arkin: Best Supporting Actor for Little Miss Sunshine.

Letters from Iwo Jima: Best Sound Editing.

Dreamgirls: Best Sound Mixing.

West Bank Story: Best Live Action Short Film.

The Danish Poet: Best Animated Short Film.

And that's all folks, as I'm heading off home!

Snakes on a Plane

2007-02-22T11:59:00.000+13:00

Rating: M – Contains Violence, Offensive Language & Sex Scenes.
Duration: 105 mins.
Genre: Suspense & Thriller.
Actors: Samuel L. Jackson, Rachel Blanchard, Kenan Thompson, Byron Lawson, Flex Alexander.
Director: David R. Ellis.
Release Date: Available Now.

The people who complained about Snakes on a Plane obviously need to get their heads checked. I mean look at the title of the movie; Snakes on a Plane! What? You were expecting a take-me-seriously type of hight altitude thriller along the lines of Flightplan?

Forget it. This is a kick back to B-grade thrillers, back when Hollywood was all about fun. This is a movie along the lines of Slither, but with better actors.

Snakes on a Plane knows not to take it’s self seriously, It’s a movie about assassinating someone by filling the domestic flight that they are on with poisonous snakes.

If you don’t think the title and the concept is cool in a that’s-so-bad-it’s-bound-to-be-funny way, then stay away.

If you a slightly irreverent sense of humour and a brain that can be left behind when watching movies, then Snakes is for you!

Samuel L. Jackson switches between his bad-arse look, and trademark bellow with ease, driving this story with his sheer presence.

Yes, it’s a safe bet to say if you don’t like Mr Jackson, you won’t like this movie.

Other familiar faces, mainly from TV, manage to keep straight faces and compliment the deadpan humour that pervades the plane.

Cellular’s Director David R. Ellis keeps the action moving along at speed, never really relenting until the credits, and the special effects, whilst at times a little that’s-so-obviously-fake looking, are good enough to keep everything ticking, and the snake cam is sheer brilliance, especially as it is used with restraint.

Food for thought:
Is laughter really the best medicine?

Rent or Buy?
Buy it, it’s another Samuel L. Jackson classic.

Video Games Don't Make You Violent!

2007-02-20T12:29:00.000+13:00

According to a new study by a researcher at Texas A&M International University, studies that see a connection between video games and violent behavior usually suffer from shoddy research techniques. Dr. Christopher Ferguson studied the results of a number of recent studies linking violent video games to aggressive behavior with an eye not just to individual results, but also to overall trends in the studies as a whole.

Ferguson found that the connection between violence and gaming had more to do with publication bias than it did with any actual correlation. In other words, journals were more likely to publish studies that supported the hypothesis that playing violent games made a subject more prone to violent behavior. Nothing like scientific stacking the deck, eh? Ferguson sums it up nicely:

Thus it was concluded that there is little evidence from the current body of literature on violent video games that playing violent video games is either causally or correlationally associated with increases in aggressive behavior.

Wow, so playing violent video games isn't bad anymore?

SOURCE | Wired

Battlestations: Midway

2007-02-19T08:31:00.000+13:00

Rating: M - Suitable for mature audiences 16 years and over.
Contains violence.
Genre: World War Two, Action, Strategy.
Developer: Atari.
Release Date: February 22nd.

It’s December 7th, 1941 and you’re on a PT Boat heading through the peaceful harbour waters on your way to battleship row, peacefull that is until all hell breaks loose.

Caught in the middle of Japan’s surprise attack, you have to help fend off wave after wave of aerial attacks, and then, when it seems like you only just survived you spot the unmistakable signs of a submarine prowling the waters, looking for a target that the plans missed.

That’s right, it’s sub-hunting time, and after her you go, armed with a limited supply of depth charges.

A baptism of fire Pearl Harbour may have been, but its nothing compared to what awaits you in Battlestations Midway. This is no world war two themed arcade game, this is an all encompassing action/strategy campaign for domination of the Pacific.

The early missions are really only training – though they don’t fell like training, but in war, everything is training – for the later missions when you have to really engage your brain, reflexes and skills to win battles.

So treat these early missions with respect, because the skills you learn being in control of only one aircraft/ship/submarine at a time will be invaluable later on when you have to manage an entire carrier group at Midway.

So an all-encompassing game can only excel at one thing, and with something this big, that thing would have to be strategy, right?

Wrong.

Battlestations Midway seems to get everything right. The aircraft handle like you would expect aircraft to handle in a flight combat game, the surface vessels respond how you’d expect them to handle in a battleship game, and the subs handle, well you get the picture.

So on the one hand you could look at this as three games in one, and in fact the options you get at the start menu reflect this. You can opt to jump straight into the American Pacific campaign, or try you had and some flying missions, battleship missions or submarine missions.

But it’s the campaign mode that really gets the grey matter going, as the strategy is the glue that binds all the individual components together into one mammoth experience.

Graphically, with everything that’s going on, I was expecting a below par look to the game, but in true 360 style, the graphics are awesome, with beautiful explosions and smoke effects, right down to destructible buildings on the islands, through to the liquid oceans and the water splashes on the screen when you fly too close to the water.

It’s mind numbingly awesome.

Of course there is a down side. No game is ever going to be perfect, and Battlestation Midway’s best feature is also it’ achilles’ heel. The sheer amount of gameplay means that there is some steep learning curves, and this can take time to master.

Now to a lot of people this wont seem like much of an achilles’ heel, but if you’re looking for a quick game, that isn’t going to tax your brain much, and give you non-stop carnage, then you might w ant to look else where. If, however, you want to experience warfare it it’s realest form, then look no further.

Rent or buy?
Buy it, you’ll be playing this one for some time.

Slither

2007-02-12T12:07:00.000+13:00

Rating: R16 – Contains Violence, Offensive Language & Horror.
Duration: 96 mins.
Genre: Horror.
Actors: Gregg Henry, Michael Rooker, Elizabeth Banks, Nathan Fillion, Jenna Fischer, Don Thompson.
Director: James Gunn.
Release Date: Available Now.

Slither is one of those movies that you’ll either get, or you wont.

Classified as a horror, and from the penmanship of James Gunn who wrote the fantastic re-make of Dawn of the Dead, you might be expecting an edge of your seats thrill ride.

But Slither is more than just a horror. It’s a comedic homage to the over the top horrors of the ‘70s and ‘80s. It’s as much a horror movie as Shaun of the Dead was.

It’s a B-Grade masterpiece, with plenty of laughs, buckets of blood, unbelievably ridiculous mutated human/alien hybrids and a cast of so-bad-they’re-good actors.

The humour and homage’s are everywhere, but there’s something else about this movie that strikes the observant; there’s no Hollywood A-List actors here. Everyone looks normal, no one is striving for perfection – ok, so one or two might, but not the whole world – and there’s no gratuitous horror movie nudity.

In fact, in one scene a teenage girl is soaking in a bath when one of the alien slugs attack, and she wrestles with it, in and out of the bath. The perfect opportunity for the director to pleas legions of adolescent males, but he doesn’t. The scene is set up with a fanatical precision that not once to we see any of those often named ‘naughty’ parts of the body.

Clearly this is an exceptionally crafted movie, whose ability at mocking its own genre is carefully wrapped up in B-Grade packaging that not everyone will notice the genious.

The only thing I’m not sure of after watching Slither is Nathan Fillion’s ability to act, I might just have to re-watch Firefly and Serenity before I come to a conclusion. Either he sucks at acting, or he’s incredibly good at acting bad…

Food for thought:
Why do people in movies always do stupid things?

Rent or Buy?
Buy it, the its-so-bad-its-good factor will probably make Slither a cult classic.

Bones S1

2007-02-11T00:35:00.000+13:00

Rating: M – Contains Violence.
Duration: 43 mins/episode.
Genre: Crime, Television Series.
Actors: David Boreanaz, Emily Deschanel, Eric Millegan, Jonathan Adams, Michaela Conlin, T.J. Thyne.
Release Date: Available Now.

Bones never struck me as being a worthwhile watch on TV. The main channels were awash with some kind of forensic drama or another, what could one that focussed on looking at Bones really offer?

Especially when it stared that guy from Buffy!

Little did I know how ever that Bones had that near perfect mix of tight action, knife-edge suspense, humour and a huge dose of chemistry between the Buffy guy David Boreananz and the leading lady Emily Deschanel.

Oh, and a whole host of unique crimes to be solved, and an absolutely lovable supporting cast.

Of course you could be cynical and cut it back to it’s bare bones (pun intended) and say that it is the same as any other forensic drama; crime is committed, dead person is the only clue, experts figure out guilty party form said corpse.

But what sets Bones apart from every other show, is that whilst it does treat the crime and forensics seriously, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. David Boreananz looks like he’s having a whole heap of fun doing this show and it helps not only with the chemistry, but by offering a light relief to what could have been a very dark and brooding series.

Of course good television would be nothing without great source material, and Bones has that in spades too with the series being inspired by real-life forensic anthropologist and author Kathy Reichs.

All in all, television on DVD doesn’t come much better than Bones.

Food for thought:
Is there ever a perfect crime?

Rent or Buy?
Buy it, you’ll be hooked form episode 1.

The Break Up

2007-02-10T18:03:00.000+13:00

Rating: M – Contains Offensive Language & Sexual References.
Duration: 102 mins.
Genre: Romantic Comedy.
Actors: Cole Hauser, Joey Lauren Adams, Jennifer Aniston, Vince Vaughn, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman.
Director: Peyton Reed.
Release Date: Available Now.

Most romantic comedies end when the couple finally get together. The Break Up is slightly different. The first 5 minutes is basically a montage of the romance, honeymoon period, settling into the drudgery, and then the movie really starts when the niggling annoyances start to raise their head.

Of course, this being Hollywood, you can’t have a stable relationship, though I guess a movie call Stable, about a couple who managed to work through all their problems might not be so funny.

Not that I’m saying that The Break Up is funny. Sure it has its moments, but it’s a story about two people growing apart. Not really a solid plot line for a romantic comedy.

Vince Vaugh plays a great guy who still has to grow up and realise that it’s not all about him, Jennifer Aniston does an ok job at being Jennifer Aniston.

Then there’s the supporting cast. I always seem to enjoy Cole Hauser, even though he, like Aniston tends to play the same character no matter who his character is.

But it’s this supporting cast who really carry the film, with their sometimes miss-guided and often conflicting advice.

Sadly The Break Up never seems to manage to extract itself from the funk of having a depressing storyline, and if you’re really looking for a romantic comedy, you’d do a lot better with something like Just Like Heaven.

Food for thought:
Why do some people seem to put more energy fighting each other rather than fighting to improve their relationship?

Rent or Buy?
Rent it, you won’t get any additional mileage out of this one.

United 93

2007-02-09T22:16:00.000+13:00

Rating: M – Contains Violence & Offensive Language.
Duration: 110 mins.
Genre: Drama, Suspense & Thriller.
Actors: Polly Adams, Opal Alladin, Lewis Alsamari, Starla Benford, Gary Commock, Trish Gates, Cheyenne Jackson, J. J. Johnson, Nancy McDoniel.
Director: Paul Greengrass.
Release Date: Available Now.

To be honest, I wasn’t too fused about seeing United 93. I mean it’s a movie based mostly on conjecture. It’s also a movie about an incident that is so well known.

So conjecture and knowing what’s going to happen, what’s the point? It’s not going to have any tension, and it’s probably going to be overly patriotic.

Yawn.

But yawn it wasn’t, far from it. A gritty, edge of your seats human drama and suspense is what it turned out to be.

Paul Greengrass who’s only film of note prior to United 93 was the excellent The Bourne Ultimatum – not the type of movie you’d think would prepare him for United 93 – but rather than ramp up the action and glamorise the story, Greengrass treats the movie with a great deal of respect.

The film starts out following the terrorist from their hotel room to the boarding lounge.

Then we start flicking back and forth between air traffic control and the military, which is sheer brilliance. It’s amazing how much tension and pace Greengrass manages to squeeze out of a few rooms full of people, as they start to realise the scope of what is happening, and the confusion and desperation that follows.

It’s also amazingly emotional.

Then we switch to United 93 as the flight gets airborne and the terrorists get ready to move. The pace and emotion starts to abate at this point, but it’s the only real breather we get in the entire movie.

Once the terrorist do take control, your rest period is over as everything starts to tighten up again as the passengers talk to loved ones on their cell phones and start to discover and piece together what has been going on, and the realisation dawns on then that they are on a suicide flight.

Fear of death, and desperate to have a say in their destiny, the passengers decide to take action, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Relentless and gut wrenching, United 93 is as realistic portrayal as possible, whilst being down to earth. The cinematography is fantastic with a handheld feel it basically puts you right on the flight, amongst the passengers, and helps add to the emotional trauma.

Entertaining seems to be the wrong word for a movie like this, but it’s certainly not a movie that will afflict you with boredom.

One thing I will recommend is that you watch United 93: The Families and the Film, one of the special features. Here we get to see some of the interviews with the families of the passengers of United 93, and see some of the actors meeting family members and talking to them about the characters they are going to portray.

Food for thought:
Is it evil if you’re following what you believe to be right?

Rent or Buy?
Buy it, You’re sure to watch it again at some point.

Lady In The Water

2007-02-09T08:17:00.000+13:00

Rating: PG – Contains Supernatural Themes.
Duration: 105 mins.
Genre: Suspense & Thriller, Fantasy, Supernatural Thriller.
Actors: Bob Balaban, Mary Beth Hurt, Sarita Choudhury, Jeffrey Wright, Paul Giamatti, Jared Harris, Freddy Rodríguez, Bill Irwin, M. Night Shyamalan, Bryce Dallas Howard.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan.
Release Date: Available Now.

‘I see dead people.’

The Sixth Sense had one of the most unexpected twists in modern movies, and it made M. Night Shyamalan and overnight success.

The biggest problem of course, was how does one follow a movie as good that? Shyamalan followed it up with Unbreakabled, Signs, The Village and now Lady in the Water.

All in my view, good, solid movies. But alas, most movie critics, and movie goers decided that Shyamalan was loosing his touch, that his movies didn’t have the pre-requisite mind blowing twist any more.

The problem is that Shyamalan seems to be evolving, growing as a filmmaker. The Village had a great twist, in reality it had several, but it also introduced a social commentary, and had an aspect of fantasy and folklore.

So we come to Lady in the Water, a different direction for Shyamalan. Rather than a twist in the movie, he looks to creating a modern mythological tale. A tale that brings hope for humanity; a humanity that has lost touch with innocence.

It’s this search for the re-awakening of innocence that gives Lady in the Water it’s charm. Of course, if you’re a hardened cynic, you’re going to miss the point, and that’s the point.

Brilliant storytelling that is lost on most of us.

What shouldn’t be lost on anyone is the stellar performance by Paul Giamatti and the supporting cast. I’ve always enjoyed seeing Giamatti since American Splendour, and he has a knack for picking interesting roles.

Ok, so lady isn’t the perfect movie, but lets give the guy a break and enjoy his movies for what they can be, not what they have been. Don’t let yourself become the hardened movie critic that finds his demise in this movie, be the people who re-discover their true humanity.

Food for thought:
Can innocence lost ever be found again?

Rent or Buy?
Buy it, everyone should have a M. Night Shyamalan collection.

Arthur And The Invisibles

2007-02-08T14:24:00.000+13:00

Rating: G – Suitable for General Audiences.
Genre: Adventure.
Developer: Atari.
Release Date: 9th February.

Arthur and the Invisibles is the latest movie based kids game, though the action and controls of this particular game are more suited to slightly older kids, and fortunately the parents will be able to enjoy this a lot more than the brain numbing simplicity of the Cars movie game.

It’s your classic action adventure, where by your character has to fight his way through the main story of the movie, solving puzzles along the way, much in the same vein as Tomb Raider, but on a simpler level.

Another difference to Tomb Raider is the team aspect.

Your character is not alone on his quest. After a short training level, you’ll be introduced to two other characters that you can switch between, utilising each characters special abilities to progress further along in the game.

Fortunately these characters know how to handle them selves for the most part and greatly enhance the game play.

The thing that really got me with the game however was the graphics. I’d long put my PS2 to rest, only bringing it out for Guitar Hero sessions, or for the kids to play on. Whilst graphically challenged in comparison to the 360, I was pleasantly surprised at the loveliness of the visuals.

So if you’re looking for a fun game that the whole family can enjoy, you won’t get much better that Authur.

Rent or Buy?
Buy, it’ll keep the kids busy for a while.

It never rains but it pours.

2007-02-08T11:30:00.000+13:00

I've been away on holiday over the last couple of weeks, with little to no internet access, so I've got a bit of catching up to do with posting my reviews, so over the next few days, expects an abnormal amount of reviews to be posted, followed by a more sedate number of reviews as I settle down again!

Tsotsi

2007-02-08T11:11:00.000+13:00

Rating: M – Contains Violence & Offensive Language.
Duration: 90 mins.
Genre: Festival & Foreign.
Actors: Ian Roberts, Mothusi Magano, Zenzo Ngqobe, Kenneth Nkosi, Jerry Mofokeng, Terry Pheto, Presley Chweneyagae, Rapulana Seiphemo.
Director: Gavin Hood.
Release Date: Available Now.

Tsotsi is a story of redemption, a little too clean in places, but non-the-less, an emotional redemptive tale.

Survival in a Johannesburg shantytown is no easy feat, especially if you’re a male with an ego, as all males are, especially if you’re the leader of a small gang, as Tsotsi is.

Making their money by riding the train into town and mugging people, the stakes are raised when Tsotsi kills a man on the train for his money. His boys aren’t too happy about the increased level of their criminal path, and one in particular gets vocal with Tsotsi.

Tsotsi being the alpha male leader with an ego has no other choice but the smash his friend to a pulp, near killing him.

This fractures the gang and sends Tsotsi on a voyage of self-discovery and the need for more money. Taking cover from a storm - which is metaphoric for what his life is about to become – under a tree in a well to do suburb, he sees a woman arrive home to find her automatic gate opener isn’t working.

Seeing an opportunity, Tsotsi runs across the road when she gets out of her BMW, with the idea of car jacking. Things turn nasty when she puts up a fight and Tsotsi accidentally shoots her.

Panicked, Tsotsi takes the car and races off into the night, only to have an accident when he’s gets distracted by the reason the woman put up a fight; a baby in the back seat.

After an all too brief, what-the-hell-do-I-do-now scene, Tsotsi decides to take and care for the baby. He has found purpose in his life.

The only trouble is he has no idea how too look after the baby.

Now his journey to redemption can begin, as he starts to see people as humans, not just possible targets. Tsotsi’s path will also have to cross his past as he deals with where he came from so he can see where he has to go.

The film is filled with much emotion and some really good film work. The story as a whole is a good one, but the script and direction is a little to forced.

Having said that however, Tsotsi is a good watch, and gets you thinking on a number of levels.

Food for thought:
Can the darkest evils ever find redemption?

Rent or Buy?
Rent it, once you’ve seen how it plays out, you’ll likely not get anymore out of this film.

The Lake House

2007-02-08T09:52:00.000+13:00

Rating: PG – Contains Low Level Offensive Language.
Duration: 108 mins.
Genre: Romance.
Actors: Keanu Reeves, Christopher Plummer, Sandra Bullock, Dylan Walsh, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Ebon Moss-Bachrach.
Director: Alejandro Agresti.
Release Date: Available Now.

When you think of Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock together in a movie, you immediately think of Speed.

Speed was a great popcorn-for-the-brain action movie. But it was more, it had chemistry. That chemistry came by way of Reeves and Bullock.

Now I’m not a fan of Sandra Bullock, be it because she chooses bad movies or that she’s just a talent free zone, I don’t know. But I normally go out of my way not to see a movie with her in it.

The Lake House was different. My wife wanted to see the movie, so I got it for her. The storyline alone was a little too kooky for me to start with, add in the Sandra Bullock factor and no hope of any bullet-time action sequences and I was looking at a very boring night in front of the TV, albeit with a beautiful woman cuddled up to me.

But then something happened, my hard-arsed maleness disappeared as I started to enjoy this unlikely story of two lovers who just can’t seem to hook up, no matter how hard they try.

Why can’t they seem to hook up you ask, well that’s because of the storyline.

Alex Wyler (Reeves) moves into an unusual glass house on stilts on a lake front, he’s needing to chill out for a while, and sees the rundown, unique abode a suitable challenge.

Alex finds a note in the letterbox from the previous tenant, apologising for the dog’s footprints along the path, footprints that don’t exist, until later in the day.

Perplexed, Alex leaves a reply in the letter box, and thus begins a pen-pal relationship, that turns romantic and incidentally transcends time and space.

You see the previous tenant; Kate Forster is actually the tenant that moves in after Alex leaves. Whoa, there’s a Matrix moment for you. Alex is conversing through notes with someone living two years in the future.

Now you see what I mean about kooky.

But it’s not. It’s incredibly well done and it’ll hook you and pull you in.

I’m not going to say it’s a perfect romantic movie, it’s just a damn good one.

Its multiple storylines add some complexity without being complex. It’s pure fluff when you try and dissect it, but that’s the point.

Reeves and Bullock prove that they don’t need a maniacal terrorist and constant action scenes to keep a romantic subplot moving along.

Food for thought:
Can love really transcend time and space?

Rent or Buy?
Buy it, you’ll enjoy cuddling up and watching this movie more than once.

Rumour Mill

2007-02-07T08:28:00.000+13:00

Dark Horizons reports that production on Indiana Jones 4 has hit a bit of a snag with regards to safety regulations. It seems that insurance won’t cover Harrison Ford on the movie set if he has a real bull whip in his hands, and so the proposed alternative will be to insert a computer generated bull whip instead. Ford has rightfully called the situation “ridiculous” and has threatened to pull out of the film if he can’t use a real bull whip. Hollywood, we have a problem. Hhhhmmm, insurance for using a bull whip? Sure sounds like a load of, um, bull…

Warning signs came a couple of days ago when it was announced that Warner Bros. Pictures and Silver Pictures had bought a second Wonder Woman script from Matthew Jennison and Brent Strickland. At the time it was reported that this was just a precaution, “to protect itself against the possibility that any similarities between the scripts could be fodder for future legal action” (which, when you think about it, doesn’t really make too much sense). But now Whedon himself has confirmed that he has been cut loose by producer Joel Silver: “We just saw different movies, and at the price range this kind of movie hangs in, that’s never gonna work… The worst thing that can happen in this scenario is that the studio just keeps hammering out changes and the writer falls into a horrible limbo of development. These guys had the clarity and grace to skip that part. So I’m a free man.”

Zack Snyder is red hot in Hollywood right now. His latest film 300 hasn’t even hit theaters yet, and yet all the buzz surrounding it has studios taking notice. Warner Bros have been quite eager to keep working with him, and as a result they have just signed a two-year first look deal with Snyder’s production company, Cruel and Unusual Films.

Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2

2007-02-07T06:44:00.000+13:00

Rating: PG – Parental Guidance Recommended.
Genre: Sport?
Developer: Temco.
Release Date: Available Now.

Ok, so I’ve played one of the Dead or Alive fighting games, and I’ve seen the movie (on a recommendation of a girl friend!?), but this was my first experience of Dead or Alive Xtreme.

It seems that the game follows the same scantily clad girls from the fighting game and movie, though now they’re on holiday.

And what do scantily clad girls with abnormally large breasts do on holiday? Well they race Jet Skis, play Volleyball, sunbath, play pool games, running games, basically anything to show how well animated their independently - and slightly disturbing - bouncing breasts are.

Not only do you get to see these bouncing oddities in game play, but you’re also treated to re-plays in lovely hi-def video.

WOW. This is any 13 year old boys dream game.

Except that the game play isn’t all that. The Jet Ski racing is the most fun, and I must say, Team Ninja have done a great job of modelling the water, but it’s too easy to win.

The Volley Ball could have been another interesting segment, but the controls and camera problems make it more frustrating than fun.

Visually the game is a treat, though it’s easy to see that way too much time went into modelling and animating the breasts, as there are some enormously funny glitches in some of the animated scenes.

There is a sim-like element of game play whereby you have to try and be friends, and stay friends with the other girls on the island, and this involves spending time with them and buying them appropriate gifts, but I’m not sure wether this improves or distracts from the overall game play.

Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2 – Fun for a while, but the joy quickly fades.

Rent or Buy?
Rent. It has some fun value, and shows off the graphical grunt of your 360, but you may end up being embarrassed if someone finds it as a permanent part of your game collection.

Pure, Creative, Genius.

2007-01-25T13:45:00.000+13:00

Sean Meredith's super-elaborate puppet show, which premiered at Slamdance, features cardboard characters on strings and wires and wondrously detailed, deep-focus sets. The story: a modern-day Dante and Virgil take a whirlwind tour of the circles of Hell, where they see signs for fast food chains, baddies forever stuck in ice, Fox News reporters and Strom Thurmond in a Mrs. Buttersworth costume.

SOURCE: Wired

Battlestations: Midway

2007-01-24T11:00:00.000+13:00

I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure this title was originally scheduled for release on the original X-Box but kept getting pushed back. But pushed back no more, and with the grunt of the 360 running it, Battlestations: Midway is due to hit our shores just after valentines day.

Battlestations: Midway brings to life the epic naval battles of World War II from Pearl Harbour to the Battle of Midway itself. Featuring an innovative blend of action and real-time strategy gameplay, players can instantly switch between every vehicle under their command throughout the course of any battle.

The single player mode features 11 large-scale campaigns with 12 bonus challenge missions, while the online multi-player combat offers an entirely new online battle experience with head-to-head and co-operative style gameplay with battles boasting over 100 units.

2007 marks the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Midway, the single most decisive naval battle in US history, which served as a turning point of World War II.

Hard Candy

2007-01-22T12:22:00.000+13:00

Rating: R18 – Contains Sadistic Cruelty.
Duration: 98 mins.
Genre: Suspense & Thriller, Psychological.
Actors: Sandra Oh, Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, Jennifer Holmes.
Director: David Slade.
Release Date: Available Now.

Hard Candy isn’t an easy movie to watch. I’m not saying that its not a good movie, more the opposite, it’s brilliant. It’s just that the subject matter isn’t something that can be seen as entertaining.

Enthralling, engaging, darkly compelling, yes. Entertaining, no.

So lets look at the plot. 14 year old Hayley has been chatting with a 32 year old fashion photographer online for three weeks. Long enough in online terms to get to know someone.

The nest step is obvious; they have to meet. Somewhere safe, somewhere public. A café suits the bill perfectly.

Hayley gets her older sister to drop her off, and soon gets talking to Geoff, her photographer ‘friend.’ Geoff seems like a nice enough guy, but Haley on the other hand seems to be a bit of a rebellious wild child.

Soon enough Hayley basically invites herself back to Geoff’s place. Geoff who should know better plays along. There’s more to Geoff than meets the eye. But of course we know that, why else would a 32 year old male be chatting to a 14 year old online?

But Haley is looking for a bit of an adventure, so why not?

But things are not as they seem, a Geoff is about to get a rude awakening. Hayley is not the innocent 14 year old that we all think she is. Nope. She’s a cold, calculating homicidal maniac, looking to enforce her vigilante style of justice on a paedophile creep.

But is it a case of mistaken identity?

Ellen Page is in her element playing Hayley, turning from an innocent child like 14 year old, to a cold, calculating monster at her whim. She really drives the movie; with one of the most convincing characters I’ve seen. Comparatively, Patrick Wilson (Geoff) is almost downplaying his part, but as the intensity heats up, the two actors seem to work off each other bringing the viewer and emotionally charged performance that won’t be easily forgotten.

With the subject matter and the R18 rating, you might be expecting some degree of gratuitous nudity or extensive gore. Fortunately David Slade plays the psychological thriller card very well, and keeps everything psychological. It’s amazing what great sound effects can do better than actually seeing the event.

All in all a well shot, brilliantly acted, tight movie about a subject matter that needs to be discussed.

Still, Hard Candy isn’t for the faint hearted, and will leave a lasting impression.

Food for thought:
Should children have un-moderated access to the internet?

Rent or Buy?
I’m not sure you’ll want additional viewings of Hard Candy, so I’d go for renting.

Lost Boys 2 Gets Greenlight?

2007-01-16T11:50:00.000+13:00

Ever since Buffy The Vampire Slayer went off the air and Joss Whedon decided to turn his attention to space westerns and female superheroes, people just haven’t had a reliable source to get their vampire fix from anymore. Clearly there are a lot of fanboys jonesin’ for more from this genre, which explains why Warner Bros have just greenlit a sequel to the 1987 Joel Schumacher classic The Lost Boys.

But don't got getting exited just yet, this sequel will go direct to DVD, and will likely have no involvement from Schumacher or any of the original cast members. It won’t even move forward with any of the long-rumoured sequel concepts like “The Lost Girls”, or the Frog Brothers spin-off. Instead, it will take place in Southern California and focus on surfing vampires!

I wonder what the fanboys will think of that! Sure, Warner's will probably break even, or make a profit, but at what cost to the original or the goodwill of the fans?

Short But Sweet

2007-01-16T06:50:00.000+13:00

I've been quite busy at work lately, and my DVD watching has suffered, but heres a few quick reviews of some of my post Christmas viewing that I never got round to writing about...

On a Clear Day
Heartfelt British dramas don’t come any better than On a Clear Day. Middle-aged Glasgow shipbuilding finds himself redundant and in the middle of a mid life crises. His solution; he decides to swim the channel. Filled with warmth and plenty of humour, On A Clear Day is driven by its story of redemption and carried by a strong cast.

Fitness To Go
Fitness To Go presents 10 Weeks To A Better Body, an all-round get fit DVD. Aimed at people with a level of fitness, this comprehensive DVD features a range of workouts on DVD and an audio workout for your iPod, so you can pound the streets with encouragement and focus. Fitness To Go allows you to start at your own pace and work up to their 10 week programme.

Garfield 2
Garfield is back, and better than ever! This time the CGI fat cat is supported by an outstanding cast and a new location. It’s a case of mistaken identity and dastardly villains as John, Odie and Grafield journey to England in the name of love. With plenty of slapstick to keep both the kids and the adults amused, Garfield 2 brings new meaning to the romantic comedy genre!

Hoodwinked
Hoodwinked is like Shrek on drugs. It takes the basic plot of Little Red Riding Hood and rips it apart, dissects each characters motive and reassembles it as a more engrossing, hilarious, pop-culture referencing roller coaster. Fused together with console style graphics and comedic charm, Hoodwinked is a slightly more mature, but great for the kids, fairytale.