Rview: entertainment news & reviews

2012 London Anime Con

London Anime Con is an epic 18+ anime and gaming event of over a thousand people taking place on February 11-12 in London at The Rocket Complex, Holloway Road. You can signup now for London Anime Con HERE. Pricing will be at a reduced £16 for two days or £9 for Saturday and just £7 for Sunday if you register and pre-pay now!

There will be anime screenings (showing all the latest anime!), Video Gaming (both modern, retro and tournaments with all the latest games such as Street Fighter IV, Smash and all the retro classics from the 70s, 80s and 90s), an artist alley and manga chillout area, a karaoke lounge, an anime bar/cinema, manga workshops, cosplay workshops, japanese culture talks, gaming talks, trading card gaming (Yu Gi Oh, MTG etc), eight awesome live-bands/singers, the top guests you want to meet from the internet, talks and far too many events to list, including staples such as the Cosplay Masquerade, DDR tournament, Cosplay Auction, Talent Show, Otaku Fashion Show, Pub Quiz, and massive night-time parties planned each night from 7pm till 1am!

EVENING PARTIES SPECIAL DEAL – Get in for just £1 after 8pm!

Saturday Night will see Area-11 playing live, followed by renowned J-Pop artist Jakazid Djing for the J-Pop/Rock party with DotDot3 and Djuhams as professional dancers and MCs. We will also be handing out free glowsticks and lollipops! (w00t!).

Sunday Night is very exciting, with clubnight Megabyte performing in London for the first time, with their DJs, and performers Zonic, B-Type and chiptunist Chipzel providing live-music, MCing and performances! Again, there will be free glowsticks and lollipops!

On BOTH EVENINGS will be a guest late-night panel (with our biggest guests, go grab a drink with them and chillout!) going on upstairs on Saturday and the Video Gaming Finals upstairs on the Sunday. If that was not enough, the Video Gaming, Artist Alley and Trading Card areas shall continue through the night, as well as Late-Night Karaoke taking over the panels room downstairs! MORE TO COME!

BASIC DETAILS
Opening Times: 11am to 1am.
Pricing: Reduced price entry if you pre-pay now. On the day entry is £10 per day. £1 Evening Entry.
London Anime Con Website: http://www.londonanimecon.com
Guests & Performers List: Here
Link To Pre-Pay: Here

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo ****/5

Directed by: David Fincher

Starring: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard

**spoiler alert! Warning!***

Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomqvist (Craig) races against time to find a girl missing for over 40 years, aided by the mysterious hacker Lisbeth Salander (Mara).

After massive critical acclaim with films such as Fight Club, Se7en and the more recent barnstorming Facebook biopic The Social Network,  Fincher can arguably be in the enviable position of getting to choose his projects. Nearly all his films have s visceral, violent edge and contain their fair share of drama. Following on from Niels Arden Oplev’s 2009 Swedish hit thriller based on Stieg Larsson’s massively successful trilogy (original title Maen som hatar kvinnor, literally “men who hate women”), Fincher pulls off his self styled “feel bad movie” of the year. Daniel Craig is Mikael Blomqvist, taking a break from Bond to portray Larsson’s discredited journo who, slapped with a lawsuit, seeks some time away from the limelight. He is soon hired by wealthy industrialist Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to forge a biography of his family and to solve the riddle of his missing niece whom he suspects was murdered at the hand of his Nazi  siblings some 40 years prior. Craig eases into the role of everyman hack Blomqvist, foresaking his action hero image (and strict diet) to look more like a normal bloke than the buff superspy we’re used to seeing. Indeed his craggy features and deadpan delivery resemble those of Michael Nyqvist, who took on the same role in Oplev’s adaptation. The odd thing about this film, though, is that whilst all the other actors, British or otherwise, sport Swedish accents, Craig does not,  which singles him out - perhaps for the best, after his awful American accent in Tomb Raider.

The film’s real star is of course Rooney Mara. She is positively electric as the punky goth Salander, who no doubt dropped a few pounds aswell as famously gained a few piercings to portray the edgy hacker. Salander had a troubled upbringing and, after a string of attacks and violent outbursts,  was made a Ward of the State and put in the care of the sadistic Bjurman (Yorik Van Wageningen). Salander also has some keen psychological skills and is drafted in to provide a profile of Blomqvist, putting them in direct contact as he profiles the increasingly dangerous Vanger clan. As they delve deeper and deeper into the family’s murky, Nazi related past (this film and indeed the books will tell you alot about Sweden’s social and political history), they face a race against time to reveal the film’s true villain.

In a year littered with remakes and comic book adaptations, whilst Fincher’s version is another interpretation of Larsson’s book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is defintely up there among 2011’s top films!

Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows ***.5/5

Directed by: Guy Ritchie

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Jared Harris, Noomi Rapace

Two years after their first major big screen outing, Holmes and Watson are drawn into a mysterious chase across Europe, leading the unconventional sleuth and his companion to the ultimate showdown with their most villainous nemesis, Professor James Moriarty.

When the Crown Prince of Austria is found dead, suicide is suspected. But when Holmes’ only lead seems to come from a mysterious gypsy named Sim (Noomi Rapace), he has no option but to call upon the help of his globe trotting brother Mycroft, (QI genius Stephen Fry), and becomes entangled into an epic game of wits as Moriarty finally reveals himself.

It’s hard to believe 2 years have passed since Guy Ritchie paired together Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man) and Jude Law (Hugo, Contagion) as the latest onscreen incarnation of the famous Baker Street detectives.  Downey Jr’s chequered past riddled with drugs and alcohol fits together well with Holmes’ favoured use of opium and other mind expanding pills, so the odd dropping of the cut glass accent is soon forgiven in place of bloody fisticuffs and a penchant for urban camoflage (read: disgusing yourself as the living room wallpaper).

With the main cast aside, Noomi Rapace (known to millions as hacker Lisbeth in Swedish hit thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) is woefully underused as Sim, the french gypsy who first assists Holmes. Her role is to essentially offer the occasional bit of advice albeit in a cryptic way; she is also often seen to be doing little other than eating and/or drinking. Stephen Fry is a choice piece of casting as Mycroft, and is a delight to watch despite what little screen time he has. Fry also provides some of the film’s comic relief,  often taking a pop at his brother’s odd name (“come along, Shirley..”). However, the real piece de resistance comes in the shape of Jared Harris as Holmes’ most famous nemesis, Moriarty. Since the release of the last film, there was intense speculation surrounding who would fill this role for the duo’s fabled defying fight at the Reichenbach Falls, and it turned out to be no less than the son of the late, great British actor Richard Harris.  

With a running time of 129 minutes, Ritchie can be forgiven in asking his audience to wait as he ups the ante in terms of action, explosions and slo-mo fight scenes. Whilst Steven Moffat reboots Holmes for the small screen this January on the BBC, Ritchie is well and truly in charge of the cinematic Holmes and Watson; here’s hoping they return for a third!

Fast Five *****

Starring Paul Walker, Dwayne Johson, Vin Diesel, Ludacris. Directed by Justin Lin

Former cop Brian O’Conner and ex-con Dominic Toretto are at it again, stealing cars and smashing speed limits but this time they’ve decided to head for Rio de Janeiro.

Dom (Vin Diesel) might have been bailed out of custody, but that doesn’t mean he’s totally free. The law are still on his tail and together with his sister, they face the constant threat of the heat breathing down their necks. Not that this bothers them much, mind, since their favela in a poky corner of Rio is teeming with hired guns protecting their pad.The Torettos have a little one in their midst, so what better way to secure their future than by raiding Rio’s rich and famous, conveniently also targeting a slimy businessmen who wants them dead.

Enter The Rock, who plays hardball fed Luke Hobbs and SWEATS in every scene he’s in. It must be 70 degree heat there but no other character in the film seems to SWEAT as much as the Rock. Cue tight teeshirts, sleeveless vests and a whole lot of testosterone as Hobbs follows hot on Toretto’s trail, as Dom and Brian assemble their tream of crack carjackers and fellow speedfreaks under Hobb’s watchful gaze. Then it’s a fight to the finish between Hobbs and the corrupt bankers in a race against time to see who can out-run whom and make off with the stash in what proves to be a surprisingly smart last minute twist.

This movie’s proper title, “Fast and Furious 5: Rio Heist” pretty much tells you all you need to know, even if you’re new to this adrenaline fuelled, petrol headed franchise (gotta get those puns in!); expect little else besides pimped out cars, thumping basslines, and outrageous stunts. Without doubt this is the stupidest film of the year so far but actually, it’s alot of fun. A complete no brainer, we guarantee you can enjoy this movie even if you’re not a petrolhead; plent of the series well known features are in this latest entry. For the guys there’s the cars (tick), scantily clad women (tick) and mind bogglingly mental stunts (tick). For the girls (like this reviewer), there’s Paul Walker (tick)..Paul Walker in a tight teeshirt… Paul Walker topless.. sorry. There’s also an excellent chase scene across the favelas of downtown Rio, with the fast paced chopsy action reminiscent of 2008’s James Bond offering, Quantum of Solace.

The action might be explosive and there’s a car chase at around every 30min interval, but when it comes to the pacing and the dialogue, whilsts peppered with some great comedic scenes, leaves alot to be desired. Vin Diesel practically channels Sly Stallone when speaking his lines, they’re so mangled and the script is littered with brainless one liners that make no sense, such as “are you hungry? ‘Cos you’re gonna be saying grace”, said in a menacing tone (for no reason) just as the gang sit down to eat.

Having said that, you don’t go into a Fast and Furious movie for the art. Fast cars, blistering action scenes and a heavy dose of motoring machismo is what this series is all about and this lastest installment dutifully delivers; this is a fun way to kick off the summer movie season.

Battle LA **.5

Directed by: Jonathan Liebsman

 Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Ne-Yo

From the trailers, you could be forgiven for thinking this was a fast paced alien invasion style sci-fi action thriller. R:View suggests you’d be sort of right…

Aaron Eckhart plays a retired Marine staff sergeant, who may or may not have led his last platoon to their deaths, but is pulled back to the front line when asked to lead a new squadron to fight the alien invasion of LA. Jonathan Liebesman is at the helm once again, whose biggest films to date have been horror prequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and Darkness Falls (so not that big, then) decides to have a pop at the sci-fi action genre, with varying results.

The casting is one of the weakest issues; Ne-Yo barely gets a look in and there are one or two talented actors, namely Michael Pena and Michelle Rodriguez who are woefully underused, almost marginalised. Stories have whirled around the internet, in the press and various interviews detailing how “method” Aaron Eckhart has been getting under the skin of his character, ie. being in character 24/7 during the shoot. This has worked in his favour as he essentially carries the entire film. Although the visual effects are up to standard for a film of this genre (a scene in which an alien invader is captured and then taken apart looks frighteningly real), the “shaky cam” zoom -in for a tight close up then quickly zoom out again - style of filming is nauseating at times. Coupled with that, the pacing, writing and dialogue are fairly bereft of any originality. Of course, the military live to fight another day which is fairly uplifting but still; this is such a jingoistic film, you feel that the US national anthem should be playing over the end credits (not that this reviewer is anti-American of course…). To be fair, there are some touching moments; a young boy who loses his father to one of the aliens proves to be very brave, it’s a solid portrayal of the modern US military and camaraderie in the face of near- overwhelming adversity, not to mention a parable for the US efforts in the Mid-East.

That said, Battle LA isn’t the riveting sci-fi action thriller as purported by the trailers, perhaps one to catch on blu-ray when it’s inevitably released in the next 4 months.