EDITOR’S NOTE
IN THIS ISSUE: FEATURES:
Hey Novastreamers, Thoughts on the new contents page? Trying something new. Let us know @NovastreamAU - we love to hear your feedback. PAX held its third ever gaming convention in Australia to showcase some cool new tech and titles for all the Melbournians. It seems virtual reality games have finally left the crazy thinktanks of Google and now in the hands of real game designers, which is an interesting turn of events. Up in Sydney our DC Domination host Brittany Howarth spent a day with the wonderful crew of Sons of Obi-Wan to learn how to properly weild a real light saber. So cool! The Hunger Games Saga comes to a conclusion (for now) with Mockingjay Part 2, a vast improvement on it’s predecessor. Mr Boaden reviews Mr Bond’s latest and after a few choice comments from it’s star in the press we decide who would be the right choice to fill his very expensive shoes. Three Oscar winners act serious for The Secret in Their Eyes but has nothing on the potency of He Named Me Malala, one of the better documentaries of recent times. The biggest release off the big screen is Jessica Jones, the new Marvel show for Netflix starring a pretty extraordinary cast. Aziz Ansari’s show also hits the small screen, Sam Raimi resurrects Evil Dead in some capacity for TV and we FINALLY find out “Who Shot Annaleise” in the How To Get Away With Murder mid-season review. Back to Marvel for a second - you’ve all surely seen the Captain America: Civil War trailer by now? Good. What about the fifty-ish seconds of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice? No? Jump on the facebook page and check that out. Thanks for reading!
MARK HALYDAY, EDITOR
4. SONS OF OBI-WAN LIGHT SABER TRAINING
MOVIES: 8. HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 2 12. SPECTRE 16. WHO SHOULD BE THE NEXT BOND? 18. HE NAMED ME MALALA 20. THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES
22. THE LAST WITCH HUNTER
THE TEAM: RYAN BETSON, DYLAN BOADEN, DAVID CHATTAWAY, JAY COOK, ZAHRA EMILY, BRITTANY HOWARTH, STEPHANIE PANECASIO & DANIEL PRIMAN.
TELEVISION & STREAMING: 24. JESSICA JONES PILOT
GAMING: 41. 10 THINGS I CAN’T STOP DOING IN FALLOUT 4
26. MASTERS OF NONE EPISODES 1-4 42. RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER 28. ASH VS EVIL DEAD PILOT 44. GUTAIR HERO LIVE 32. HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER MIDSEASON FINALE
46. LEGENDS OF ZELDA: TRI-FORCE HEROES
36. RECAPS
40. NEW TO NETFLIX
48. PAX AUS
Ever wanted to learn how to wield a light saber with a little bit of grace and/or skill? The fine folks at Sons of Obiwan Saber Academy taught Britt Howarth just that, and the chat inevitably turned to Star Wars Episode VII.
On Saturday 21st, I was given the opportunity to learn how to use a light sabre. I thought ‘Hell yeah!”, bought a ticket to Sydney and, in my excitement, told my friends. No one believed me. It’s such an inconceivable idea. In fact, I was worried who my teachers might be. Would they be like the Star Wars Kid, swinging broom sticks in a dark room? Or would they be super hipsters trying something new while knowing nothing about the genre? It’s funny how completely wrong I was on both counts. Luke, along with the Sons of Obi Wan, rocked up in the best truck I had even seen. A small R5-D4 whistled from the dash, his number plates read 37 YODA (the number being Kevin Smith related), and a sticker of Mr Miyagi gave a wise look on the back window. We said our hellos, and Jackie (my camera lady) and I followed them into the Jedi training temple. The space is amazing; signed photos of Star Wars and Star Trek actors fill glass cabinets; a child Anakin with his shadowy future is stretched across another wall; and a life size Darth Maul watches the proceedings. Behind a row of mirrors hides a glorious amount of blue and green light sabres, from which Chad (one of the Sons) grabbed me one. Blue was my colour to start with, and Chad quickly took me through the stance, and the basic eight attacks (beginning with a plough guard) and eight defences (beginning with a fool guard). The stance threw me at first. From volleyball and my brief stint in kickboxing, my right foot was always behind my left. However, the stance for light sabring was opposite.
Slowly, ever so slowly, I practiced the eight attacks and defences with Chad. I swung the sabre tentatively, even though I knew they could take a beating. But the Sons were very patient and encouraging, and soon it was my turn to learn spinning. By this stage, my right shoulder and hand were already sore. But after seeing Chad do a Mace Windu technique, I wasn’t going to put down the sabre. It is a deceptive attack where the first swing is an intentional miss and, after swinging back around to the attack’s waist, the sabre twirls out in a quick motion. After a few failed attempts, Chad swapped my blue sabre for a pink and my spinning immediately improved. I’d like to say it was the colour, but some of the sabres have different shaped, and weighted, handles. The pink handle had an indent halfway between the pummel and the hilt which allowed for optimal spinning between the forefinger and thumb. My favourite spin that lesson was the Anakin Plum Blossom; although, if it were a real sabre I would have lost a leg, dissected my right shoulder blade, and given myself a haircut. The horror! To start this move, the sabre starts out to the side and rotates forward. Although directed by the Jedi, the sabre turns with its own momentum and completes a full rotation before spinning behind the back. The hardest part was letting the sabre fall forward from behind you, under your elbow, to in front of you. It was also the coolest part. As I write this, I’m trying to recreate the move with an invisible sabre. All it achieved was my coffee spilt across my desk!
Midway through my training session I got to have a chat with Luke, owner and founder of the Sons of Obi Wan. Here’s how it went:
Supanova; Ozcomicon; and that’s in the last three months. That’s hectic! It’s been chaos.
But what about you, on a personal level. Are you excited for the new film? Haha! In all honesty I haven’t thought about it yet ‘cause I’m so buried here. If you open a shop, you’ve just got to get the staff, get the product, and sell it. But here we do so many different things. We do light sabre customisation; we’re doing training; we do What are some of the groups you have in? We saw some demonstrations; we do all sorts of stuff. So it’s been a on the video, could you talk about who comes into this? very full on experiences. I’m starting to get excited but We’ve got special needs groups; Life Without Barriers. it’ll probably be after we’ve done the demo before the We have two autism specific classes because I’m a movie, then I’ll get excited as I step into the theatre. behavioural learning support teacher by trade. Next year we’re going into schools with welfare programs, I’m pretty excited for it. I’m thinking of that new light school sport, and we’re doing teacher education sabre. The cross guard. programs as well. How long have you been doing this light sabre business? Four months. It’s been a challenge. Like, the way I explain it is if you want to be a plumber you go and ask another plumber what to do. I don’t have a plumber; I’ve sort of been making it up as we’ve been going. It’s been rewarding, but very challenging.
Awesome! Is everything picking up; are you getting more customers with this new film? It’s just exploding. Like, the funniest thing with this, you understand it’s the right timing but now that it’s actually started it’s chaos. Like, we’ve done two demonstrations today before this. We’ve done Battle Front midnight launch in Sydney; we’ve done the international rugby world sevens; EB Games;
Yeah! Have you started working with that light sabre? Yeah! You can use it. It’s a little awkward but once you get used to it, it’s the same as using a standard sabre. But it’s a very smart thing to have because everyone loses their hands in Star Wars. Luke lost one; Anakin lost three; Grievous lost a couple; everyone loses their hands! So it’s quite a smart adaptation, actually.
But, could you do the Anakin Plum Blossom with this sort if light sabre? Absolutely! We can show you, man. It’s all about how you start your hand position when you do the movement. If you have your hand position right you can do exactly the same thing. You have to be very conscious of hand position before you actually do it. Apart from the Star Wars movies, are there any other Star Wars media that you would recommend for the audience to get into? Oooo! That’s a very good question, actually. I mean, the comics. Some of the older comics. I haven’t gotten into the new stuff yet but some of the old Crimson Guard; The Dark Empire’s excellent; the games. I’m a bit old school, you know? I like all my old original Battle Front, Knights of the old Republic, that sort of stuff. Knights of the Old Republic, not the MMORPG, there was a really good background of the Jedi and all that sort of thing. Knights of the Old Republic would probably be the best one. And the books. I’m a reader. I’m an ex-English teacher, I’m all about the books. All of the old books, Timothy Zahn books, all of the original ones are excellent. They got a bit silly towards the end.
We’ve got our own characters. Chad wears a kilt; I’m like an Urban Desert Jedi so I’ve got combat boots and a big coat. Goes with the hat! That’s why! It’s a Tatooine hat. Tuscan Raiders. There we go! That’s cool! Everyone dresses Star Wars when they do this. We want to have our own look and our own style. We’re hoping to do a web series soon, as well. A ten part web series. We want to have our own… I know it sounds weird but a bit like Firefly, where it’s spacy but still, sort of Earthy. Perhaps, would you set it on Naboo? Cause Naboo sort of looked Earthy. It did have different creatures in the herd. It’s a big universe. Why does everything have to happen on six planets?
True! Naboo is mentioned a lot. You think about it: Naboo, Tatooine, Hoth, Bespin, Endor, Mustafar, and Coruscant. That’s it. There’s a billion planets in the universe; why does everything have to be on those six? Let’s go somewhere different Across all the media then, what would be you favourite? and explore something new. What would you be able to just pick up and just leave this world for a little while? That’s exciting! Well, you heard it here first! I’m excited Dude, Empire. Empire Strikes Back. I’m a movie man for that. That could be some of the media that some through and through. people can get into. Definitely! When you go to Supanova and those different events do you dress up as certain characters or do you make your Fantastic! Thank you so much. own? Thank you for your time! Look after yourselves guys and may the force be with you.
The end of an era. Yes, it’s here; the dark conclusion to a series that has proven time and time again to have reinvigorated the dystopian genre in its complexity. Jennifer Lawrence was always going to be a star. In 2010 she was the second-youngest person ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2011 she signed as Mystique the X-Men prequel trilogy, which concludes next year with Apocolypse. But it was the Hunger Games phenomenon that made her a household name. And in 2012 she got that Oscar. It also saved Josh Hutcherson from any more kids films. Before Hunger Games it was Bridge to Teribithia, Firehouse Dog and Journey to the Centre of the Earth. And it propelled a second Hemsworth to international superstar status. Liam’s lovey flick The Last Song with Hunger Games real-life ex Miley Cyrus proved he could do angst. After all, he started on Neighbours. And now the three can’t walk down the street without a mob of papparazzi following them everywhere. Stephanie Panecasio takes a look at the final installment of the Hunger Games mega-franchise.
Directed by Francis Lawrence, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 is not only entertaining in a conventional sense, but also functions as a multifaceted critique on the shrewd reality of war, diving in exactly where we left off with Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen. The time for brinkmanship is over, as Capitol and rebel forces are in the throes of full-scale conflict. When the lines of right and wrong are blurred in the context of war, Katniss finds herself struggling to reconcile the scale of sacrifice deemed necessary to win. Packed with heartbreaking choices and painful goodbyes, the film has a true sense of finality in its farewell to the citizens of Panem. As the figurehead of the rebellion, Katniss joins some familiar faces to form a star squad of President Coin’s creation – a team of highly trained soldiers broadcasted across Panem in a livestream ‘propo’ designed to show Capitol loyalists that the Mockingjay is stronger than ever. Facing down danger and snares on a greater scale than ever before, the team navigate their way through a real life Hunger Games where casualties are commonplace and fear is a constant. Without a doubt, the film is at its best when the characters face their gut-wrenching worst. The battle scenes are chaotic and darker than you’d expect for an M rating, and the coldness of both Julianne Moore’s President Coin and Donald Sutherland’s President Snow are spectacularly portrayed, painting Katniss as the dangerously frayed rope in a political tugof-war of extraordinary means. The film even seamlessly weaves elements of science fiction into its dystopian story, with obvious influence from blockbusters like Star Wars and Alien leading to the depiction of a truly horrifying world.
sneering drug-addicted Johanna (Jena Malone) devastatingly beautiful moments of sorrow from the previous films, along with a sense of pace that provides a harder, pessimistic force. would have helped the film escalate more smoothly. I won’t deny however, that some of the most poignant moments did come from Katniss’ leading The special effects team deserve accolade, with their counterpart, the post-brainwashed Peeta Mellark deft control of CGI resulting in one of the most (Josh Hutcherson), who seeks help from Katniss to frightening scenes the franchise has faced. Jaws figure out what’s real and not real as his brain can no around the cinema dropped and stayed hanging longer delineate between the two. The obvious inner for its duration, with many viewers jumping in conflict and deep self-loathing the Peeta experiences their seats – more than once. The mark of a good over this confusion is portrayed convincingly, and is suspense scene is that upon exiting the room, testament to Hutcherson’s growing acting gravitas. viewers talk about it with an involuntary shudder. This was achieved in spades, and it was a relief to me If there’s one major concern I had for the film, that the scene was done well as it involved one of the it’s that there were times when the reactions more memorable aspects of Suzanne Collins’ book. were underplayed. Perhaps it was intended as an exploration of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or Ultimately, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 even simply a reflection of a losing so much that is clever in its exposition and pushes the envelope you feel only numbness. Nonetheless, at one critical with its interplay between political strategy and juncture a flat delivery from Lawrence underscores the reality of battle. The four-part saga is at a close, one of the most intense scenes, and in another more and with an epilogue that echoed Harry Potter and crucial point the audience isn’t given time to process the Deathly Hallows Part Two, we are assured that what they are seeing before moving on to the next no matter what, there is always something good to emotional tug. As a huge fan of Jennifer Lawrence, hold on to. her performance left me questioning how a brilliant Academy Award-winning actress playing an expert Real or not real? Real. huntress could have missed the mark. Gone are the
Dylan Boaden talks Bond, James Bond. Can the longest 007 story ever live up to the billion dollar Skyfall?
6
Is James Bond still relevant in this day and age? It was an interesting question posed, examined and answered in 007’s last outing; the critically and financially acclaimed Skyfall. Directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes and starring Daniel Craig’s steely eyed, stoic version of our titular hero the answer was a clear yes. He proved that even while pursued by a mysterious enemy with links to his past he was more than licensed to take on an ever evolving world of cyber criminals and modern spy surveillance. By the final strum of John Barry’s infamous theme all the chess pieces were placed on the board, new incarnations of mainstays M, Q and Moneypenny were set up; now all we needed was a player worthy to oppose them and who better than Bonds greatest foe. Enter Spectre; the series’ most iconic international terrorist network returns to the screen run by a shadowy figure puppeting Bond’s life from behind the scenes. This organisation has their people everywhere and there is no one that Bond can’t trust against these seemingly insurmountable odds. Spectre see’s the return of Director Mendes and Craig’s Bond and the movie kicks off with a promising start. Opening amongst the day of the dead parade in Mexico we follow Bond, clad in his best Karate Kid cosplay, on a long and astonishingly executed tracking shot. From street level, through hotel lobby, up an elevator, in to a hotel bedroom out a window and then across multiple rooftops we follow Bond as he sets up an ideal spot for his sniper rifle. Blasting a building open the whole front wall crumbles falling towards him and the unseen innocent bystanders below, his first blatant disregard for human life begins, landing plump on a couch and invoking the first of many nods to classic Bond.
What follows is foot chase through a crowd leading to an attempted helicopter escape that has Bond strangling the pilot while the helicopter dives and drops towards the crowd of thousands below. It starts out as tense and exciting and then goes on far too long. Even after the fight is over it takes a ridiculous amount of time lingering on Bond flying the helicopter away in to the sunset. This was the second telltale sign. After a painful Sam Smith theme song, we find that Bond has gone rogue following Judi Dench’s final wish of bringing this secret organisation down. At the same time the government is looking closing MI6 all together in favour of ultimate surveillance. What you’d assume would be thrilling international intrigue using the greatest of British intelligence instead amounts to nothing more than Bond going from one place to the next, finding the person or thing he needs there straight away then moving to the next place and so on without any clue as to where he’s going or what he’s doing. Everything just falls in to place.
audiences want, a big, dumb, explosion filled action movie, scantily clad Bond girls and exotic locales then it may work for them but with the talent involved and the sheer wow of their last effort I was expecting so much more.
It’s as though Mendes, who seriously considered not coming back to the franchise, had no ideas left. Instead this movie plays like a greatest hits of old Bond movies re-imagining iconic scenes or characters rather than exploring something new. Paying homage is one thing there are so many things that are just scene for scene updates. There are all the fun trademark lines which are staples now and these are done in fun little twists on the clichés but then there’s everything else. The much hyped return of Dave Bautista to the big screen after his scene stealing turn as Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy is nothing more than Odd job 2.0. It’s not his fault though, he works with what he’s given but I would hear day in and day out about the elusive Mr Hinx and his name is never even spoken Eventually he’s lead to the meeting place of on screen, he’s just a bland grunt villain. At least give the title organisation and we are introduced to him a gimmick other than squeezing heads which Christoph Waltz’s villain Franz Oberhauser. It is an seems to be his only reoccurring trait. understandably slow burn tension filled scene as shrouded by shadow we discover the reach and the From there the past movie recreations come hard enormity of this terrorist group. But again the scene and fast. There’s a close quarter’s train fight is lifted goes for way too long only to directly transition in straight out of From Russia with Love. When Bond to a high speed chase through the streets of Rome. is inexplicably invited to stay at the villains base of Exciting right? But that too manages to go on for far operations/desert retreat it’s straight from Quantum too long. Even an exciting sounding plane pursuit in of Solace right down to its fiery demise. Buildings the Alps is drawn out with no real plan and ends up in the facility have the same interior decorator from with Bond just randomly happening to crash in to Moonraker, there’s a remote research facility in the the bad guys Jeep by sheer chance as the score blares Alps comes from Her Majesty’s Secret Service and the like he’s achieved an incredible hero moment. Mendes famous Goldfinger scene of Bond strapped down with could have walked away as the director of one of the an impending torture device is again done here. But best Bond movies of all time without running the the biggest crime of all is not only having Christoph risk of failure or repeating himself; but unfortunately Waltz, one of the most delicious villain actors, alive that’s what has happened here. With Skyfall he had barely in the movie; but taking a page from the Star something to say, something fresh, his own take on a Trek in to Darkness play book revealing him to be James Bond film, what he’s doing here though is just of Bond’s greatest classic foe of all time Ernst Stavro making a James Bond film. While that may be all some Blofeld and still barely hacing him in the film. 7
It felt like they a had a basic idea for a script but needed to pad it out by copying and pasting old scenes because the deadline to start shooting was nearing and there was no time for a second draft.
they’re needed nowhere, NOWHERE ! It’s just Bond versus Blofeld and a couple of pilots. Spectre is the longest 007 movie ever made and it feels like it, not just during the exposition scenes but even during the action, a few more tweaks in the editing room could This movie also tries the bold move of attempting a have made it leaner and move better. People in my type of Marvel style multiple movie build up, making screening were audibly fidgeting in their seats several it appear that Blofeld was behind everything bad in times throughout, myself included. Bond’s life. Every woman, every mission, every enemy he had been behind it. But then there’s no mind blowing As for the rest of the cast, Léa Seydoux plays the revelation to back it up. They want it to appear like daughter of an old enemy and the only one who can they are wrapping up all four previous Craig movies shed light on Spectre. She fills the role of the typical in this ultimate climax but it fails dismally because Bond girl and though she does nothing different she there were no bread crumbs there. The best they can wins Bond’s heart and he leaves the business for her. do is have Waltz post up photocopies of past villains Unlike the incredible Vespa Lynd from Casino Royale taking claim for their feats which in a way taints and there is no chemistry and no sense to this relationship. lessens the movies that have come before and the Among the returning cast members Fiennes is fine impact they were supposed to have. I’m sure there’s dishing out some great polite British insults, Ben a smart and interesting way to link them all together; Whishaw as Q has some great banter with Bond “I maybe if they brought back all the past villain actors asked you to bring it back in one piece not bring back for flashbacks or inserted Waltz in to past iconic one piece” but Naomi’s Harris as Ms Moneypenny moments that defined Bond in past movies then it didn’t get a hero moment, in fact I don’t remember could have worked. It was something that could have her doing anything of any significance in the last half felt epic and united but that’s not what they ended up which is a shame because she is such a strong female doing here at all and instead it falls completely flat. character. It’s easy to forget that the Craig series are prequels to the other Bonds despite era logic and it’s been a highlight to see his journey to becoming the spy we all know and love while still bringing his own flavour. One of the shining aspects that set the Craig era apart was a continuing story, he actually had character development, while still maintaining single adventure fare. At the end of the day this movie could have been about him learning how to trust, humanising him more, but there’s just no substance here. The movie really starts to unravel by the last act, feeling the need to bring in another helicopter sequence, an elaborately stupid fun house that felt more at home in a Riddler plot from an old 1960’s Batman episode and after all the build up there’s no real confrontation with the organisation Spectre themselves and the threat it promised. You see the reach of this organisation and the dread of overcoming it as insurmountable, they are everywhere, EVERYWHERE warns a returning Mr White and yet by the end of the movie when
4
If you’re a Bond mainstay you’ll already be familiar with the ebbs and flows of the franchise but if you’re a a newcomer sold on the promise of Casino Royale and Skyfall then expect a Quantim of Solace standard of movie and it might just meet expectations. It’s not all bad though, highlights include some genuinely funny lines, gorgeous cinematography and the casting of Monica Bellucci, the first Bond girl to be older than Bond himself at age 51 but you’d never know it, she’s absolutely stunning. In the end what is the latest instalment of the fifty year franchise asking us? Is Bond still relevant in this day and age again as he is pursued by a mysterious enemy with links to his past only to overcome an ever evolving world of cyber criminals and modern spy surveillance. If you’d asked me at the end of Skyfall I would have said hell yes, but after seeing Spectre I am once again uncertain about the franchises future, there’s no doubt it will continue on but when will get the quality back again.
Q
RECOMMENDS
FASTER NEWS. TRAILERS AS THEY HAPPEN. QUALITY-TESTED REVIEWS. FUNNY THINGS. 5
IDRIS ELBA
TOM HARDY
DAMIEN LEWIS
WHO
SHOULD
BE
Aaaand roll credits. This is the point in the article where you move on, you realise that there couldn’t be a better choice than Idris Elba and there couldn’t be a better combination than Idris Elba and James Bond. It’s like cookies and cream, strawberries and cream, in fact it’s even more obvious than that, it’s like cream and cream. Let’s look at the stats shall we? Bond must be suave, tick. He must be intelligent, tick. Generally he’s middle aged, sorry Idris but that’s another tick. Funny and cool are the last two and unfortunately, these are the two that not all of the previous Bond’s have managed to pull off, not going to name any names because those names will probably already be swimming around your head. Elba on the other hand, oozes cool. This is the man that didn’t beat up perpetual teenager Liam Gallagher when he threw his hat across the room and if it’s funny you are after, just look up any of his interviews online. Idris Elba is an incredible actor and apart from Luther, I don’t think he has really had a role that utilizes all of his skills. It’s nice that he is in the Marvel Universe but they should have given him a much bigger role than a pathetic doorman, unless that was a reference to his past job as a doorman, in which case great joke Marvel. As if you need any more proof that Elba is perfect for this role, just Google his name and see what the first autocorrect is to pop up.
No matter how much you want someone to fill a certain role, Hollywood never chooses them anyway and that is why we’ve got four more completely capable choices. Why Tom Hardy? Because I’m bias. Tom Hardy is one of my favourite actors right now, for good reason, he’s bloody brilliant. Any reviewer will have to agree that Tom Hardy is one of the prime show stealers in the business. Thinking the name, Tom Hardy and instantly two defining roles stick out, Bane and Mad Max and this is a man that deserving of at least one more to add to that list, if for nothing more than a more aesthetically pleasing number than two. Acting aside, Tom Hardy is pretty damn hardy. There is something very interesting about the juxtaposition created by a giant muscle man that has some brains. Bautista tried to fool us into thinking his character was going to be intelligent in Spectre but in the end he was nothing more than just another giant lackey. Bane was the perfect mixture of the two and it would be interesting to see Hardy flip that coin over to the good side. Fifty years of womanising and I’d say it’s about time Bond settle down, it would nice to see Bond in a stable relationship for once and it would also bring a whole new aspect and struggle to the character’s life, the balance between work and home life. Oh, I only mention this because we’ve already got his wife cast, Tom Hardy’s real life wife and brilliant actor in her own right, Charlotte Riley.
In this ever-progressing world, it’s nice to give every minority a chance in life and it’s 2015 now, so it’s about time we get a ginger in the role of Bond. Damien Lewis is that ginger. Damien Lewis I hear you say, isn’t he American? Well no, I thought that too until recently and every role I have ever seen him in, he has played an American. That doesn’t necessarily mean every role he has had is American but it definitely feels that way. So it would be a nice twist to see him actually get you use his natural accent for a change. Like everyone else in this list, Damien Lewis fits all the criteria and trumps all in the suave department. Damien Lewis is the kind of person that seems like he was born to wear a suit. Given the fact that each actor must sign away their rights to wear a suit when they sign up for Bond (true fact), you would think that Eon would be raring to snap up Lewis. There is something about Damien Lewis that is reminiscent of the Bond’s of yesteryear. His face is very 1970s spy film and he looks like he could keep a secret or two behind those eyes. Now whether, Bond is moving forward or not is still up for debate but what isn’t up for debate is that Daniel Craig is very replaceable and with the way he is acting at the moment, Eon could be looking to do a bit of recycling at any second now.
WORDS BY DANIEL PRIMAN
MARK RUFFALO
THE Mark Ruffalo I hear you say, isn’t he American? Well yes Mark Ruffalo is American but no matter how much you think all James Bonds should be played by British actors, I will always have my George Lazenby trump card to play. Mark Ruffalo is so very charming that he almost could be British himself. Now I don’t know if this is quite true or that he just seems so delightful when held up next to all of his other male Avengers coworkers. Reality aside and he is an actor after all, so we know he can play charm. I feel like it’s about time we finally get a nice Bond for once and no matter how much the characters are written to say Bond is a good man, it never really comes across that way. Having Mark Ruffalo as Bond would go a fair way to softening the blow. Aside from the nice guy image, Ruffalo has got all the other Bond characteristics down pat, suaveness, humor, maturity and above all intelligence. Of course, I understand that no matter how much I mention the Australian Bond, no one now is going to be up for replacing the quintessential British spy with an American actor but I stand by my decision. If not Bond, maybe they should have another go at replacing Bourne. Damon’s fairly sick of it and Renner didn’t work out well so why not Ruffalo? Alright, this article isn’t about Bourne but you have to remember that Ruffalo will always have his secret, angry weapon.
JONATHON BAILEY
NICOLAS HOULT
NEXT
BOND?
I am nothing, if not a contrary bastard. You can probably tell from this list and while I would love nothing more than to see a Jane Bond, I very much do not see that happening any time soon. So my next step of attack is to whittle down two of the other key aspects that make up the character of 007, age and stature. It would be very interesting to see a young, skinny Bond for a change. Jonathan Bailey is also the least recognisable face on this list and while he is an amazing actor, not many people outside the UK would recognise his name. His most famous roles extend to Broadchurch and Doctor Who, where he proved that he has a wide range of acting skills. In Broadchurch, Bailey was the young, ambitious journalist and as Psi in Doctor Who, he was the cool and collected professional hacker/ thief. Age aside, Bailey’s acting style encompasses all of the requirements for Bond, he’s funny, cool and intelligence. Age back on side and at twenty-seven he just nudges out the youngest Bond ever, Lazenby by two years. There is something about seventies film that makes every single person on the screen seem at least ten years older than they actually are and in the present day, the reverse is true. That could be film or that could be Botox but the fact is, most actors now look younger than their age. The moral of the story, hire Idris Elba for Bond.
EDITOR’S PICK: Fan-casting is just too much fun, I had to hijack this article with an option Dan may not have considered. It’s easy to agree that Idris Elba would be a new and fresh direction for the series and potentially fix a few of the dilemmas that have weighed the recent quartet of Bond films. He’s everybody’s first pick. I also recognise the value of a young bond. Jonathon Bailey is a rising star but he’d be more suited for the new string of Harry Potter films than wham-bam thank you ma’am Bond. Enter Nicolas Hoult. His first massive film was with Hugh Grant in About A Boy. He was the boy. British enough? [I nearly suggested Billy Elliot/Jamie Bell but after the disaster of Fantastic Four he would never be hired] Hoult’s done two seasons of Skins (with Dev Patel) and a couple of indies. In 2011 he debuted as Beast in X-Men: First Class opposite Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and reallife ex Jennifer Lawrence. He’ll wrap the trilogy with Apocolypse next year. Elsewhere he did the zombie rom-com Warm Bodies and the critically and commercially applauded Max Mad: Fury Road. Right now he’s working on a sci-fi produced by Ridley Scott. If Nicolas Hoult were Bond it would be something new. He can do the action and the sex and the angst easily. It’s the charm and the intelligence I would look foward to. All we need is a cracking soundtrack to accompany him. Adele? 9
Nobel Peace Prize recepient Malala Yousafzai is by all acounts an incredible woman. Daniel Priman shares some thoughts on the film about her profound struggles and achievements.
Generally for Novastream I write a bunch of silly, sarcastic and often pointless opinions in relation to popular culture but there are sometimes when this style of writing is not appropriate. Serious topics like feminism, the Taliban and human rights deserve sincerity, whether it come from a negative or positive place. So when Novastream asked me to review “He Named Me Malala”, I was genuinely excited and a little bit nervous. I had already planned to see this movie anyway but to share my love for this film takes that excitement to another level. As a feminist and a male, I always feel a little bit under qualified speaking unreservedly on the topic considering that I will never fully understand all the issues. For that reason, I have enlisted the help of my sister, a young woman who is incredibly mature, intelligent and well versed in the topic. So I plan to build on the three opinions that she has gracefully shared with me.
“If anyone walks out of this film feeling anything but inspired and speechless, there is something not right about that.” Going into this movie I was already aware of most aspects of Malala’s life in spotlight. I knew that as a young girl she had written for the BBC, she had been targeted by the Taliban when she publicly spoke out for the right for education and that in 2014 she shared the Nobel Peace prize. So I wasn’t expecting to be blown away by the stories that I already knew. Of course I was wrong, reading up on a person’s life on Wikipedia is very different from hearing the emotion in their voice, seeing the lights in their eyes flicker through all the different memories and being faced with the brutal images of pointless violence. For a person so young to be campaigning on such a large scale is always going to be impressive and inspiring. The other side of this film is Malala’s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, the clue is in the title, “He Named Me Malala”. Unlike the book, “I Am Malala” which Malala tells a few stories of her father through her own experiences, “He Named Me Malala” is half Ziauddin’s story as well. From growing up in Pakistan, to overcoming his stutter, his own struggle for equality and his work as a teacher and an activist, Ziauddin is a hero in his own 14
13
has managed to brainwash a large amount of the Swat Valley community from which Malala and her family hale. He manages to amplify the outdated ideas of how women should be treated and clings to the knowledge that he is the only source of information available to some of the illiterate citizens. What feels like it should be obvious now to most people is that it is not the fault of the religion as a whole but more the ideologies presented by these people. Impressively Malala has no hate for her attackers, not even an atom, not even a “As a young female growing up in a nucleus of an atom, not even a proton and not even a quark of hatred. That is one of the aspects that makes world very different to that of Malala’s, here a hero in my mind and it’s quite hard not to get it makes you open your eyes to what angry on her behalf. right. There is a little part of me that worries that this film is preaching to the converted, the only people that plan on seeing it will already be open to the ideas that are being represented. My concern is dampened somewhat by the fact that this film is available for free as a guide to secondary schools and college discussions which regarding the context of the story is hopefully going to be utilised by a multitude of schools around the world.
seems a whole different world. It makes you feel empowered to stand up not “There’s something in it for everyone, only for education but women’s rights whether it be Malala’s strength and as well.” perseverance or her little brother’s innocence and cheekiness. It’s just a As a young male, I tend to agree. It’s terrible that these kind of injustices are still going on in the world but feel good film which also addresses this is the reality of our pale blue dot and even the the issues far bigger than those smallest amount of change that you can provide makes happening in western society.” a difference. Now I know that sounds like a massive cliché but clichés are clichés for a reason. “Cliché” to me means, over prominent truth and it is worrying that sometimes these clichés get ignored because they are written off as a boring phrase heard everyday. It may not be much but “He Named Me Malala” inspired me to donate to the Malala Fund and maybe it will also inspire you.
More than anything, I want to make it very clear that “He Named Me Malala” is not a serious, dull, tearjerker. This film does an amazing job of highlighting the other aspects of Malala’s life. After all, she is still a teenager, with the same hopes and wishes of any other teenager hidden beneath her struggle for equality. Malala describes her new home life in Birmingham and the audience gets a unique look into her everyday life. Fighting with her two brothers, the stresses of exams and even talking about boys. It’s not only eye-opening but quite heartwarming and funny in certain places. Aside from that, the stories told about their lives in Pakistan are beautifully animated in a watercolour style that has a mystical and magical feel that will leave you spellbounded.
Throughout the film we are treated with little glimpses into the Malala Fund’s work. Both Malala and Ziauddin travel all over the world, talking to young girls in schools and help building much needed resources for these schools. There is a very steep learning curve built into “He Named Me Malala”. With all the talk of ISIS, sometimes we can forget about the Taliban and while that can be a good thing in some ways, in other’s it is not. The man responsible for Malala’s People often list their heroes as people within the shooting, does not even deserve a name check and he cultural sphere who are doing nothing more than their job. Actors, singers, writers, while I feel it’s fair to list them as heroes of their general fields, none of these people could be classed a real heroes. Malala is the only public figure since Steve Irwin that I think could be classed as a modern day hero. A person that fights for what they believe in for nothing more than their beliefs and hopes to one day see their beliefs become a reality. I would say it’s fairly obvious that I think this film is an all round five out of five and I not only recommend but urge you to see the wonderful, “He Named Me Malala”. 15
Post 9/11 and America is on high alert with all resources are invested into the war against terror. Deals are being made and sources are being kept safe at any cost for their information. Even when the source is the possible suspect of a murder, which just so happens to be the daughter of the Detective investigating the source himself. And that is basically the premise for the American remake of the Argentinian 2009 film ‘Secret in Their Eyes’. An Argentinian film that won the Academy Award for Foreign Language Film of the year in 2010. Which is surprising as the opening weekend for the American version was rather poor, coming in at number 5 worldwide at the Box Office.
If the changing between 2002 and 2015 wasn’t a hard enough story to tell, there was the confusing relationship between Ray and Claire (Kidman). It was obvious there was some sort of chemistry, but the story never went into any detail to explain what happened, if anything at all or why it didn’t happen. Walking away from the film you would almost fell it was an afterthought in post-production.
Billy Ray had his hands full with the all-star cast. The biggest let down was that of Julia Roberts whose performance was either that she wasn’t interested in or didn’t have enough direction to be able to bring the character to life. Robert’s character Jess opened with great promise, but post dead daughter, Robert’s struggled to find any motivation to convey how the It’s 2002 and a fresh-faced team is investigating a character would be feeling, even at the big reveal. mosque in New York with ties to a terrorist network when the country is of full alert post 9/11. Ray played Chiwetel Ejiofor, known for 12 Years a Slave, seemed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, has been brought in from LA to to be a little lost in this role. His journey through the help investigate along side Jess played by Julia Roberts. emotions from new kid on the block to his consumed But when they investigate a body found in a dumpster obsession to find the killer was all but lost in blank next to the mosque, they story takes a turn when the looks and bland line delivery. It’s as if his direction body is the daughter of Jess. from Billy Ray was to just deliver the lines and see what happens. But any good director would realise Eventually the killer is identified but it’s not long until when nothing is happening. the team has to let him go. Forced by the legalities of the new Attorney on the scene, Clair, played by Nicole It’s a tricky film to pinpoint where the problem started. Kidman. For the most part it became confusing to know where it was and what it was the story was trying to tell you. The movie continues to weave in and out of a 13-year At some points you forget that you are looking for a gap to 2015 where Ray finds the killer again and gets killer and it was more about the politics and quest to the old team back together to help Jess find peace and bring down any terrorist living in the USA. bring justice to the tragic murder. Or so it seams. The film also attempted to tell a story of the corruption Relatively new-on-the-scene director Billy Ray - within the Police Forces and what they were willing to Breach, 2007, and Shattered Glass, 2003 - tries his do to protect someone who was leaking information hand at a fifth feature and disappoints. to the police. He’s the man behind the screenplays for some hit films, more recently The Hunger Games. Though his biggest efforts to date would be Captain Phillips, which he was nominated for an Oscar for. He also wrote the screenplay for Secrets in Their Eyes. But that didn’t quite give him the vision he needed to do the original Argentinian film justice.
You were never introduced to the characters, there was never a strong connection built with them. Nor was there a strong connection built with the squad, which later came together to help each other out unofficially. This made is harder to connect with the storyline.
All in all the film never made the connection with the audience and never made the connection within itself As the film swayed between the two different decades to be something more. Instead of leaving its viewers the viewer would be excused if they didn’t quite with something compelling to think about the film understand which year they were in. Sure there was just lets you move on to thinking about what’s for the slightly greying hair on Ray and the majority of dinner tonight. the rest of the male cast being bald. But there were points where the story itself felt confused what year it was.
Oscar winners Julia Roberts, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Nicole Kidman unite to remake an award-winning Argentinian film. Jay Cook tells us if they should have left well enough alone.
Vin Diesel would ike to add a supernatural series to his roster. He stars and produces The Last Witch Hunter, which is far better than expected. Mark Halyday explores. 8
It would be remiss to talk about The Last Witch Hunter without talking about the star power of its lead Vin Diesel. After breaking out in Xxx and the Riddick films he masterminded the rejuvenation of the Fast and Furious franchise – a multi-billion dollar franchise properly kickstarting with Diesel’s cameo at the end of Tokyo Drift. And he’s also the voice of universally-loved Groot, which doesn’t hurt.
Transplanting the medieval man into a the greatest city in the world is a massive shift in dynamics and really drives home the immortal man complex that science fiction, especially Torchwood, explore endlessly for content.
Somewhat surprisingly, it rises. It’s no tentpole franchise or critical darling but the solid casting choices and above-average script took it to the same quality as the original Underworld movie. In the supporting roles are Elijah Wood and Michael Caine. Wood is his typical self, channelling a very Daniel Radcliffe-like performance, and is a suitably dweeby foil to Vin Diesel’s hero. Since The Lord of the Rings he’s been doing a lot of indie work so it was odd to see him back in a by-thenumbers CGI-intensive flick.
The script is better than it needs to be and makes a big effort to make each of these characters three-dimensional. At times the dialogue can be a little hammy, especially the “big moment” with Elijah Wood at the end, but there’s no time it’s unforgivably. In fact by the third act the episode is running like a really-really-big budget episode of Supernatural.
There’s a few false starts after that for Vin to find a companion – first Caine, then Wood, before finally resting on newcomer Rose Lesie. She joins the myriad of Game of Thrones stars heading to His success is a major reason Lionsgate’s smaller- the big screen and also turned her hand to half budget brother Summit Entertainment backed The a season of Downton Abbey. Here she’s a witch Last Witch Hunter. Vin sells movies. But its smaller Kaulder hesitantly visits to access some repressed budget, minimal marketing and genre choice were memories, and she hesitantly agrees, and so begins strikes against and left many sceptic of the quality. their extraordinarily tense relationship.
The makeup and special effects team deserve a lot of credit. The look of the Witch Queen was above and beyond anything in the supernatural genre for Michael Caine is Michael Caine, pardon the a very long time. Every time the film looked like it redundancy. His long and illustrious career is could cut a corner or do something cheaper it went tremendous but post-The Dark Knight Rises his down the more difficult route and made a better popularity across all demographics has skyrocketed film because of it. and he can now swagger into any movie and perform a Morgan Freeman-esque narration to It’s very clear this was the birth of a franchise, a boost the film’s credibility and swan out with a side project for Vin to star and produce alongside large paycheque in hand, regardless of the actual his other enterprises. And that’s why they treated quality of the film. It worked in Now You See Me Michael Caine’s character the way they did. and it works here. But credit where credit is due – they weren’t presumptuous about it. There’s no post-credits The story follows Diesel’s character Kaulder, a sting, overtly dangling plot thread or blatant middle ages swordsman cursed with immortality subtitle. There’s just the option to reunite with after murdering the villainous Witch Queen. The a two/three piece Scooby gang to track down opening sequence is lengthy and relies heavily on witches. the special effects team to bring the old fashioned exaggerated magic to life. It’s part-Deltora Quest, The Last Witch Hunter is a fun jaunt that finds its part-Charmed for a while and there’s a real chance niche in the supernatural world by taking itself of things getting stale very quickly. a little more seriously than others and placing Then we flash forward eight hundred years it’s medieval hero in the modern world. A solid to current day New York City. What a relief! supporting cast and excellent behind the scene There’s a great scene on a plane with Arrow/ work elevates what could have easily been a sloppy Scream’s Bex Taylor-Klaus that shows despite his mess into a fun night out and the probable birth of encounter Kaulder has more compassion and a franchise. mercy than ninety percent of his genre colleagues.
Meet Jessica Jones; she’s an independent thirty-something living in the big smoke just trying to make ends meet by working as a freelance private investigator. Oh and she can also lift cars off the ground, leap up tall buildings in a single bound and throw grown men across the room with one hand. Netflix and Marvel reunite to bring us the second entry in their shared television universe and yet another complex lead character. Jessica is hard edged and tough as nails. Everything she says is laced with venomous sarcasm as she battles her personal demons with hard drinking, but there are signs of a kind spirit deep inside that’s been beaten down over the years. But by what or more appropriately who? The dark secret she’s harbouring and the secret whispers that haunt her mind are at the heart of the series and as it goes on I’m sure it will be a thrilling revelation. Working through the night she profits from the seedy side of New York, taking pictures of extra marital affairs for suspicious partners which has recently lead her to a womanising dive bar owner named Luke Cage. But her curious fascination for him seems to run a little deeper. When she’s not working for herself she’s taking subpoena issuing work from cut throat lawyer associate Jeri Hogarth, dealing with kooky neighbours Ruben, Robyn and drug addict Malcolm and avoiding her estranged celebrity sister Trish. Her latest case has brought concerned small town parents Bob and Barbara Shlottman from Omaha looking for their daughter Hope who has shacked up with a new boyfriend and abandoned her college education and prosperous athletic career. What at first seems like a cut and dry case begins to get personal as Jones starts to see parallels between Hope’s relationship with this influential mystery man and her own. Slowly she comes to the revelation that they are one in the same, a man known only as Kilgrave. Krysten Ritter is gorgeous yet rough, her battered leather jacket, baggy hoodies and ripped jeans project a tough exterior yet her sorrowful doe eyes and pouty lips can’t hide years of pain. She’s also smart and resourceful whether it’s playing it up as a bimbo over the phone or threatening to use her “laser eyes” to melt a man from the inside. 16
Mike Coulter as Cage is calm and collected a centred voice of reason in Jessica’s chaotic life and their relationship comes hard and fast with intense and graphic sex scenes. This isn’t your light hearted Ant-Man style Marvel, this show has one foot firmly in grounded reality and the other somewhere between Scorcese’s Mean Streets and Fincher’s Seven with sudden bursts of ultra-violence and seedy green and brown hue cinematography. Daredevil was a hard act to follow, but so Jessica Jones is a different beast all together more psychological thriller than superhero action adventure. I hear the word ground breaking thrown around but I’m not quite jumping the gun just yet, it’s not the first TV series with a strong female lead and not even Marvel’s first with Agent Carter on ABC already representing but so far it is a great addition. Following this Kilgrave’s person’s pattern she manages to track down Hope in his penthouse suit. She lies across the bed forced against her will to stay there until his return all from just his powers of persuasion. This is the first sign of his mysterious hold over people he wills that he wields but the second is far more frightening. Reunited with her parents a happy ending turns to horror when while leaving the apartment with her Mum and Dad, Hope brandishes a gun in the elevator. Jessica races to stop her but as the doors slowly shut gun fire rings out, meeting them at the ground floor to find the parents gunned down and Hope catatonic clicking away on the trigger of the emptied gun until the realization of what she’s just done kicks in and she cowers in the corner screaming in regret. Kilgrave’s power of persuasion proves fatal and clearly too much for Jones to handle. As Jessica walks away from the crime scene dazed she’s tries to run away from it all, something she seems to have been doing for a long time but she comes to a crossroads. As she says herself “knowing it’s real means you gotta make a decision, one keep denying it or two do something about it” and with that she, even in the face of greatest fears she sucks it and walks straight back in to take do whatever needs to be done to make this right and in this moment Marvel’s next hero is born.
Marvel and Netflix move into the second chapter of their Defenders collaboration with Jessica Jones, starring heavyweights Krysten Ritter and David Tennant. Better than Daredevil? Dylan Boaden investigates. 17
Aziz Amsari was the first person hired for Parks and Recreation, hosted the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, had a recurring role in Scrubs and oddly appeared in the Jay Z/Kanye West music video Otis.
Netflix believes in Ansari. After the success of his stand-up special the pair have committed to ten episodes of scripted comedy. But is Masters of None any good? Mark Halyday has the answer.
18
Well yes. The pilot is Netflix at its best – quick, smart, modern, a little brash and instantly able to hook its audience. Ansari shines as the everyman. He’s relatable in a lot of ways but could never make it as a lead on a syndicated television comedy.
Speaking of which, the forth episode tackles this head on. It’s a commentary on the entertainment business and makes a lot of valid points about racism. It also is the point the show becomes its own. The pilot was deliberately in-your-face. The second episode extrapolates a lot of points but lacks any tension or speed. The third episode is smarter and more enjoyable but lacks substance. The forth episode every piston is firing and all the elements line up for a really cool, comedic half hour.
Which is a shame, because Masters of None is ripe for syndication. The episodes are self-contained, the appeal is broad and the characters are still cookiecutter enough for everyone to follow. This is not a magnum opus. It’s hearty and defined and permeated with thought and care for the characters and the The only mark against the series is that it is extremely show but it is not the explosion that a viewer might Dev-centric. Ensembles are a big part of television now accidentally expect. and to return to a single character each week is an odd feeling. It gives us a chance to understand every facet The protagonist Dev is a twenty-something navigating of Dev, but with knowing little to nothing about his life in New York City with his friends. Looking at friends. As the series matures it may remedy this but you Friends, How I Met Your Mother, Sex at the right now the only synopsis on offer is a stereotype. City, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and one million Which is strange considering the show’s outspokenness other shows. Masters of None skews this. Its plots are against stereotypes. extremely relatable and really truthful, usually with a bite, leaving Dev and the audience with the ‘Aw fuck’ On the whole Masters of None is new engaging content. feeling. Which, depending on the twenty-something It’s binge-worthy, interesting, concise and intelligent. you talk to today, is a really legitimate feeling. Ansari delivers formidable work and Netflix would be smart to add this to their 2016 slate. There’s the condom breaking (which is universally understood as the worst of times), the wanting to Masters of None is better than 99% of what is currently have kids/not wanting to have kids/hating spending on your television. It’s better than MasterChef. time with kids threeway, the guilt of not visiting your It’s better than that stupid barbecue spinoff of My parents, the not-fun experience of looking for jobs, Kitchen Rules. It’s better than the fearmongering the godawful date, when a person doesn’t reply and news bulletins, the repeats of hammy 90s shows, the anything else the world can throw at you. lifestyle shows and the infomercial-saturated chit-chat nonsense. It looks unassuming but it has something That sounds like a bad time, but Ansari charms his to say. way out of every situation. Because everybody has experienced most of these things. And they’re not And its chagrin has charm. There are two sides exclusive feelings – they all intersect and compound to everything. Any good DC fan will tell you that everything else. So it’s easier to empathise with Dev Superman is the day and Batman is the night. Perhaps than it is with Ted Mosby or Ross Gellar. in the realm of Netflix comedies set in New York City Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is the day and And it is great to see diversity in entertainment. It’s Masters of None is the night. clear as day when a show does not cast based on race. Masters of None is one of those shows. Which is a really geeky metaphor. 19
All right, who wants some? Starz Network has finally brought us mere mortals what many thought would never happen, the fourth official instalment of the Evil Dead saga (sort of). For those who don’t know – first of all, shame on you – the Evil Dead series is an indie pop cultural phenomenon. In 1981 budding film-makers; writer director Sam Raimi, producer Robert Tapert and actor Bruce Campbell borrowed enough money from friends, family, lawyers and dentists to make their own independent horror movie titled The Evil Dead.
wisecracking reluctant hero Ash.
In 1993 the trilogy was rounded out with Army of Darkness Evil Dead III. Ash still in the middle ages becomes a unlikely saviour while battling an evil doppelgänger version of himself with the help of a Merlin type magician. After destroying the evil forces seemingly once and for all he drinks a magical potion allowing him to go in to a deep sleep and supposedly return to his own time; depending on what country you lived in. In one ending released in the United States It was your traditional cliché set up, five teenagers drive Ash returns to present day working as a store clerk to an isolated cabin in the woods and find an ancient and still battling zombies in his S-Mart supermarket book, the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, roughly translated however in an alternate ending released in the United as “the book of the dead”. After reading passages aloud Kingdom Ash over sleeps only to wake up alone in a they are stalked by an evil presence that turns each of post apocalyptic future. them in to zombies like monsters named deadites one by one. The lone survivor Ashley has no choice but to Again due to rights issues the opening of the film – a kill his now evil dead friends before turning in to one brief recap – is a remake of the second film but by this himself. The movie was a straight horror, but featured stage the horror elements were almost completely gone innovative camera work, modest special effects and in favour of more slapstick humour, catchphrases and tons of blood and gore. Making 2.6 million dollars fish out of water action adventure. Bruce Campbell as on a shoe string budget of $400 thousand it found a Ash Williams though, had become the ultimate wise cult following of VHS, was controversially banned in cracking smart ass. He was an arrogant but endearing certain countries and paved the way for a sequel. jerk who thinks he’s all that but is always way out of his depth, the king of cool. Due to rights issues, Evil Dead 2 released in 1987 was part remake, part sequel and saw Ash return to the For over 20 years without a movie the character of Ash cabin this time with only his girlfriend Linda. Again Williams continued to grow in popularity with several reading the book of the dead aloud they are stalked figurines, three video games, a musical and even went by an evil presence turning Linda in to a zombie and toe to toe against many other icons in several comic forcing him to kill her. Succumbing to cabin fever he’s book series including Jason Voorhes, Freddy Kreuger, slowly driven mad battling himself and in the process Dracula, Spider-man and even Barack Obama. In 2013 lopping his hand off at the wrist. With nothing but a a remake movie simply titled Evil Dead was produced double barrel shot gun and a chainsaw in place of his by Raimi, Tapert and Cambpell and directed by Fede arm, he takes on the evil forces unleashed before being Alvarez. Serving as a very loose quasi-sequel featuring sucked in to a portal and finding himself stranded a different set of teenagers going to the same cabin in in the middle ages. The sequel added a layer of dark the woods but not featuring the Ash character (other humour and slapstick comedy while still being able to than a two second end credits cameo) it instead focused supply genuine atmosphere and scares, one of the rare on female protagonist Mia. horror comedies that balances both and birthed the 20
Sam Raimi, the man who brought the original Spiderman series to the big screen, began his career with cult horror Evil Dead. Thirty-four years later a sequel series is airing and Dylan Boaden is pumped! 21
During all this time the three creative minds teased of one day making a proper Evil Dead 4 but got busy going their own ways. Raimi most famously went on to massive blockbuster success directing Sony’s Spider-man franchise’s first three instalments keeping him busy for the good part of a decade. But finally the day is upon us, or at the very least as close as we will ever get as they’ve gone back to their roots (and no old I don’t mean that kind of Evil Dead root, tree or otherwise, there’s none of that here).
worker. The classic 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 is still Ash’s ride of choice being used in all four Evil Dead films and every single Sam Raimi directed movie less his 90’s western The Quick and the Dead. The lurking evil force is still represented by a POV shot racing through car parks while pursuing its prey. When Campbell is wrestling with a tiny possessed doll, smashing himself in the face with clay pots to get it off it brings back memories of him fighting off tiny Ash clones in the third Evil Dead. Raimi’s trademark Dutch tilts and crash zooms are in full force and of course The first episode of “Ash vs the Evil Dead” a 10 part what the Evil Dead be without the return of deadites TV series is written and directed by Sam Raimi, themselves with their pupil less eyes, wrinkled faces produced again by Robert Tapert and see’s the return and synthesised taunts. of Bruce Campbell in the iconic role. Still working in a dead end supermarket job at age 57 Ash continues But enough about the old (Ash included now with to be a smarmy and delusional wise ass living alone in corset and false teeth) lets talk about the new. Working a trailer park with no one but his pet lizard. Well that alongside him at the Value Stop are Pablo and Kelly and the occasional naive woman he manages to seduce who get caught up in the adventure and appear to every now and then from the local bar by his wooden become his new sidekicks against the oncoming army hand as a sympathy pick up. He’s managed to avoid of darkness. Sullen moody Kelly and aloof childlike responsibility for 30 years that is until strange things Pablo don’t just feel like caricatures or cannon fodder, begin to go down. People are randomly changing in to there are some genuine back stories alluded to here deadites and warning him of something bad coming yet to be fully explored. There’s also a state trooper for him only to change back to their normal selves Amanda Fisher pursuing the case of a missing person again in the blink do the eye. This makes for some who stumbles across the deadites and has to kill her creepy moments and fun jump scares. He decides own partner turned evil with disastrous results. She’s that’s his cue to skip town and that’s where the story left questioning her sanity and seemingly the only kicks off. other person aware of the oncoming threat, that is until a mysterious Xena warrior princess herself, Lucy While Campbell may be the only returning cast Lawless gives her some cryptic advise. Who she is member there are still a lot of familiar motifs for fans and what her intentions are are yet to be seen but I’m of the franchise to recognise. There’s an awesome certain she’ll play a big part in upcoming episodes. montage recap of the first two films projected artfully on cardboard storage boxes as Campbell repeats Shifting between slow creepy scenes, action filled almost verbatim his opening monologue from Army face-off ’s and situation comedy each element blends of Darkness describing his life story to a fellow co- well together never feeling out of place. Whether it’s
an artfully edited sequence where Fisher drops a flash light in a dark room while battling the undead. The spinning torch revealing glimpses of the action with each rotation or when Ash is assigned the simple task of putting a box of light bulbs out the back its met with hilarious results and comic timing showing just how useless he really is. The show isn’t afraid to go for genuine scares and genuine laughs. When I saw Campbell during a comic con panel earlier in the year he was boasting practical effects but there is also an equal amount of CGI, and dodgy CGI at that. Whether intentionally B-movie quality or not some of the decapitations and the the little dolls quality stuck out like sore severed thumbs. But also kinda added to the charm. It appears the undead aren’t the only thing pursuing them after all these years though. Rights issues still continue to haunt the team and the new television series is no exception. There is no reference to the events or characters from Army of Darkness so again the story is a reboot of sorts, that’s not to so they won’t at a later date but just not yet which again makes for a muddled continuity. No “shop smart shop S-Mart” quotes or metallic hands here. The character of Ash has developed over time from a naive wide eyed teen, to a wise cracking, gun toting, chainsaw wielding bad ass and now to an ageing flat out arrogant jerk but he still remains oh so loveable. He really does begin the episode as a completely unsympathetic character, but when the fear kicks in and the bravado drops we see hints of scared little Ashley Williams again and by the end of the episode as he finally embraces his inner hero his attitude shifts and everyone see’s it. There’s only one man that can pull it off and it’s great to see there’s none of that passing of the torch to the next generation crap on display. There’s only one king and I hail to him baby because he’s back and just as good as ever. For those who don’t know the story, it’s easy enough to jump in and play catch up and it’s clear to see the series is a labour of love rather than a soulless cash in. With Raimi stepping away after this pilot though I don’t know how the series will fair without his unique style, but show runner Craig DiGregorio (Reaper, Chuck, Workaholics) is in charge and I’m looking forward to some fresh takes on the long running franchise. Hopefully Raimi will return for an episode here or there like a season finale or the already announced season 2 opener. But so far this show is groovy, very groovy indeed. Tune in and come get some too.
luck on either front she leaked that Asher’s estranged father covered up a gang rape on their property. This was the catalyst for Asher’s father’s suicide. And Emily St Claire, the loudmouth bitch she is, tells a distraught and lonely Asher that his father had it coming. Asher snaps and reverses his car very quickly into the up-and-coming lawyer, killing her instantly. It parallels neatly with Sam’s murder in season one. It wasn’t supposed to happen. It was a confrontation that got out of hand.
Mark Halyday reports on another fantastic bloodsoaked episode of HTGAWM. And being a mid-season finale we also get some answers, including the mystery of Who Shot Annaleise? Well that was fantastic. Every member of the main cast shined. Viola Davis – Emmy, People’s Choice, Satellite, SAG, Tony winner, Academy Award nominee – played a very reserved performance early on in the episode. Then, as each problem mounted on top of the others, she slowly began to break. As Wes noted at the three quarter mark of the episode she is not thinking clearly at all. Wes is back off the bench after providing the link between Catherine, one of their clients, and Phillip, near-confirmed psycho-murderer. He also rats her out to Nate, continuing the theme of rebellion rife within Annaliese’s ranks. Otherwise he’s pretty quiet til the big reveal. The same can be said for Connor, Michaela and Laurel. It’s a regular day at the office until Annaliese drops another corpse at their feet. Whose corpse was it? Emily St Claire – the prosecutor that extorted a testimony from Asher to take down Annaliese and also dabbles in trying to send Nate to jail for killing Sam (which he did not do). After no 20
How To Get Away With Murder has been spending a long time building up Asher’s character this season. As the only person not clued in on Sam’s murder he missed some of the meatier plot in season one but the cover-up of the gang-rape and his blossoming romance with Bonnie have strengthened the character dramatically. He’s certainly in Annaliese’s secretkeeping circle, even if the series goes out of its way to highlight how little the other Keating Five members have to do with him. Someone Asher has a lot to do with is Bonnie, one of the most interesting characters of the season. As Connor squirms under Annaliese’s thumb she actively rebels with conviction. Her asking a disenfranchised Frank whether he’s sick of her pawn was one of the best character moments of the episode. The show loves to play around with Annaliese’s maternal relationship to almost every character. With Bonnie it’s a coming-of-age story and this is the moment she got out of her depth. She puts aside her pride and calls Annaliese. Fences mended? Maybe not, because notice how Annaliese gets Bonnie away from the mansion before begging someone to shoot her to really sell the chaos of the staged crime scene. Why? Nate hates Emily St Claire with a passion, breaking in a shouting rage when she spoke the name of his recently-deceased wife. His fingerprints are in her car after an impromptu rendezvous. She filed charges against him and Nate looks guilty as sin. But Asher did it, so Annaliese is doing this as much if not more for Nate than she is for Asher.
At the half way point the flashforwards start to play out. There’s the debate between Connor and Wes whether or not to follow Annaliese’s plan to stage a crime scene to cover for Asher, Frank abducting Catherine and Bonnie throwing the corpse of Emily St Claire off a balcony. A couple are clever twists and a couple play it straight. It’s the right balance.
And Phillip is driving about town, reading to meet up with his apparent co-conspirator Catherine.
Only Annaliese, Wes, Laurel, Michaela and Connor remain. She thrusts the gun at each of them, begging for them to shoot her in the leg. It’s gripping, edge-ofyour-seat drama that could go in any direction. Leg. She never meant to be in the situation we saw her in It didn’t play out as expected, which was a great thanks. the premiere. It was odd to see Asher as the source of the conflict. It First at Connor, the most likely. She taunts him for still left a lot of questions floating around before we get what she has done to him and threatens to hurt to the big finish. Firstly, will they get away with it? They his boyfriend, and he looks almost willing before certainly sold the chaos but Asher is correct that her Michaela dives in front. It jolts him back to his sense. injuries will be consistent of two attacks. Will any of If he pulls the trigger he becomes the thing he hates. them confess? Probably not, though Asher’s statement He throws the gun on the ground and walks away, and in the flashforward presents some problems. while Annaliese tries to reason with her we all know it was never going to be her. One more point before we talk about the final scene: How easily Annaliese snitched on Wes, Laurel, Next up is Laurel, a character who is still very light on Michaela and Connor for Sam’s murder? Connor has backstory. She’s been developed very similarly to her been extremely critical of Annaliese all season and beau Frank with a few choice words, quips and digs. when he and Michaela refuse to cover up a second Laurel’s from money and has experienced personal murder she tells Asher exactly what they did. It was trauma and/or tragedy. The series seems to be leaning brutal and unexpected, though part in parcel when to her being the heiress of a crime family but How To dealing with Prof. Annaliese Keating. Get Away With Murder hasn’t quite got the foundation to spring that one yet. We’ll have to spend some more And finally we reach the climax of the episode and of time with Frank first. the season. In truth the material was so rich it could have been extrapolated over an entire episode. Oliver Annaliese knows she is losing but still does not want and Eve are elsewhere with their lives. Levi is in jail. to ask Wes. So she prods Laurel, insisting “You’ve been Frank is abducting Catherine. Caleb is at Michaela’s through worse with your father” and Laurel doesn’t apartment. Bonnie and Asher are wordlessly rolling recoil. She seems to agree with Annaleise. Then she through a carwash. Nate is en route, but we know succumbs to her moral compass, leaving the gun with form the flashforwards he will not make it in time. Wes.
Wes is the male lead of the show and has certain character traits that are not becoming of a protagonist. The good outweigh the bad – we’re not talking Walter White here – but he’s ethically ambiguous enough to contrast with the lawyers he spends so much time around. On the other hand he’s a by-the-numbers good guy looking out for everybody, including his troubled neighbour.
should be taken on face value.
There is no mincing Wes’ intentions here though. Despite Laurel as his witness Wes approaches Annaliese and points the gun at her head. Defenceless and desperate, the ruthless Annaleises produces another ace. “Christoph” she breathes, and he does not here her through all his rage. So she repeats herself, and Wes is left dumbfounded by hearing his Mmmhmm, forgot about Rebecca? How could you? birthname. She was the whole point of the first season and the massive cliffhanger moment of the first finale. Reliving How To Get Away With Murder would never be her death was the most shocking part of this season’s content solving one mystery without producing premiere as we all knew despite what the situation another. The first season hinted at a mysterious and looked like How To Get Away With Murder would dark past for Wes but the second season has made an never, ever part with Viola Davis. active point of pursuing it. Is Annaliese Wes’ birth mother? Judging by that flashback, probably not, but Rebecca has punctuated so many of Wes’ action this her true relation to him and the whereabouts of his season. She’s the reason he made allies with Levi and nearly-definitely not dead mother should come to began to mistrust Annaliese. So when the pragmatic fruition by the end of the season. side of Wes decided against shooting Annaliese in the leg she knew she lost the argument, resulting in the And after two whole episodes without Famke Jessen crime scene being determined a hoax and their fragile it is delightful to see her standing beside a version of house of cards crashing down. Annaliese that rocked cornrows. She’s a massive asset to the show and will certainly lend some credibility to Only Annaliese doesn’t lose. Ever. She pulled out a tumultuous set of reveals to come. the ace she’s been holding since last year’s finale to trigger the emotional response from Wes she needed. How To Get Away With Murder is one of the best “REBECCA’S DEAD”. shows on television or streaming right now. It boasts a powerful ensemble lead by the magnificent Viola Only Annaliese underestimated how emotional Wes Davis and a scripting team that find the perfect balance would get. He raises the gun to her chest and she of murder, mystery and love triangles that make this screams for him to stop but he pulls the trigger. Did addictive viewing. At a time when people are turning that make you gasp? It shouldn’t have. The flashfowards off their television in droves Murder reminds us what have Wes fleeing the scene with gun in hand. He was old-fashioned original programming can bring to the the one with the motive that made the most sense. table. Yet the show twists and weaves so often that nothing
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
1. Annaleise is dying from a gunshot wound in Caleb 2. Wes unites with Laurel and Michaela, then re-enters and Catherine Hapstall’s manion. Wes races away from the mansion to convince Connor to leave. As the four the mansion, gun in hand. exit they pass the corpse of Emily St Claire.
3. Nate calls Annaleise and recieves no answer. He 4. Paramedics arrive and Annaleise is placed in an rushes towards the mansion and sees Wes, Michaela, ambulance. Nate drops Michaela at the apartment Laurel and Connor fleeing the scene. Caleb is staying at. Connor offers everyone a drink.
5. Bonnie sprints from the mansion to Asher and drives to a nearby petrol station. While Bonnie is disposing of her incriminating blouse Asher makes a statement to the police.
6. Frank creates an alibi by checking on Annaleise in hospital before dumping Catherine unconscious in the wooods. The next morning a search and rescue team finds her perfectly healthy.
7. Wes and Laurel try to stop Connor and Michaela 8. Wes, Laurel, Michaela and Connor meet Bonnie in from heading to the police when Emily St Claire’s body the foyer. She rips into Connor for trying to abandon flies from the balcony. Bonnie pushed her. the plan and demands the gun from Wes. 23
At the beginning of the season it was interesting to watch the smaller, Coulson-directed SHIELD team each following different lines of inquiry. Daisy was recruiting Inhumans, Fitz was searching for Simmons, May was on holidays, Bobbi in rehab, Hunter hell bent on killing the new head of Hydra (Ward) and the director himself taking on new government frenemies A.C.T.U. The episodes were paced very carefully to ensure the audience could keep up. May, Simmons and Bobbi were brought back into play very slowly to keep the expansive cast from feeling overcrowded. And now in the second half of this chapter of episodes the plots are beginning to converge. After Fitz retrieves Simmons from an alien planet the pair begin to dig deeper into the history of the monolith that teleported her there. They discover it has links to rival organisation Hydra, now run by ex-SHIELD agent Grant Ward. Elsewhere a villainous Inhuman named Lash is murdering any possible candidates for Daisy’s new plan, causing S.H.I.E.L.D. and the A.C.T.U to begin a dialogue. They discover a mole within the A.C.T.U. is an old member of HYDRA that has begun to mentor Ward. The mentor figure is played by veteran actor Powers Boothe, essentially the Alan Dale of America, and his presence lends some credibility to proceedings as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fully commits from the transition from spy show to paranormal investigators. There’s still a few plot threads yet to tie back together. Good guy Inhuman Lincoln has been on the run from all the major players but has found himself in the base alongside one or two other potential candidates for Daisy’s team. After Lash is revealed to be May’s exhusband he is subdued and transferred to Ward’s prison without the team’s knowledge, intended to be used as a weapon further down the line. And the man that Simmons met on her interplanetary vacation is still waiting for her return. One arc that has finally been addressed is the Fitz/ Simmons relationship. After the intitial approach came across a little hamfisted the team decided to step back, crutching on Fitz’s disability for plot for a while. Finally the pair were in a place to act and they did - only for Simmons to be stolen away by an astronaut on another planet. Now both Fitz and Simmons are single, healthy and in the same solar system that have united, at least for the mid-season finale. The first season of S.H.I.E.L.D. will always baffle me. After a strong pilot penned by Joss Whedon the series immediately slumped to... just no, before coming back with a bang for the Captain America: The Winter Solider tie-in. Ever since it’s gone from strength to strength and this season is no exception.
Four episodes down, and Supergirl is starting to find its rhythm. From evil aunties, to living energy, Kara has had some epic battles and is beginning to uncover some dark secrets. The biggest fear many held with after the trailer and the pilot was the heavy rom com feel the show carried. The experience is definitely poles from The Flash and Arrow, but the rom com atmosphere makes sense. Supergirl is a show for all ages and it creates superhero entertainment that young girls can enjoy. But the episodes aren’t always light and quirky. Episode two produced one of the creepiest villains across superhero TV. The creature, called a Hellgramite, can open his mouth in four ways and is described as an insect-like humanoid that feeds on chlorine and can morph its shape. The visuals are a great translation from the comics to TV as they have removed the obvious traits of bug eyes and a tail. Another villain that stands out is Livewire. Once a radio host working for Cat Grant, Leslie Wilis is struck by lightning while being rescued by Supergirl. With Supergirl acting as a conductor, Leslie is physically changed and becomes Livewire. The villain has the ability to “wire jump” by turning herself into an electrical current and phasing into nearby appliances. The visual effects here were fantastic especially with Livewire “wire jumping” after being thrown into a row of monitors. It would have been easy for the writers to create the typical rom com characters of a quirky, young woman; a horrible boss; and an over achieving sister. However, by episode four, the characters have broken these moulds and have become their own people. The depth of Kara, jumping from awkward, to heroic, to a lost daughter of Krypton, is a great testament to Melissa Benoist’s acting. But she isn’t alone. Episode four is where Alex and Cat Grant shine as it’s revealed the first is shaky in her self-worth and the latter shows a great moral code in journalism. The show is fantastic at addressing many social issues, from those emotional and external. One in particular is the attacking nature of the media towards celebrities. Cat Grant puts a stop Leslie Willis’s radio show because of her crude comments toward Supergirl. She also cuts celebrity-shaming columns from her print. Cat attributes this swap to the change of tone in the city. Supergirl has brought hope to the city, and she wants her magazine to reflect that. Corny, yeah, but the intrusion of celebrities’ privacy always infuriates me and the fact that Supergirl is trying to highlight the real news at Catco is awesome. It’s easy to see that Supergirl is on the right track. The graphics do waver, but the development of characters has been amazing. I’m excited as to what villains might come next.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a show I recommend to my friends for simple, constant giggles. It stars a strong ensemble and seems more committed to continuity than most comedies and as a superhero dork I appreciate that. After the tumultuous few opening episodes the status quo is reset and BB99 finds itself as a fully-developed, mature show. Weird. The show continues to realistically explore Jake and Amy’s relationship by underlining their first case back together with a lover’s quarrell over a mattress. It’s still committed to making them stand on their own elsewhere - a plot where Amy recruits Gina to market her product contrasts the two characters for perhaps the first time ever, while Jake, Boyle and Terry on a boy’s weekend is a little by-the-numbers, even if they do change up the regular sets. And kudos to teaming up teacher’s pets Amy and Boyle with a paperwork fiasco. Sounds boring, actually hilarious. Stephanie Beatriz carries a couple of plots by herself again, rising to any challenge the writers throw at her. She bonds with fellow emotional cripple Cpt Holt over her breakup with less than twenty words, showing all the care and empathy of R2D2. In another episode she makes a rare show of mercy after a bitchy ballet instructor intrudes on her life, which is both the perfect set up for some witty lines and interestingly explores her back story. The other standout plot is the subservient Boyle dinting Cpt Holt’s car. It presents a lot of problems for Boyle and in the end Gina comes and resolves the issue with her signature wit. Go Gina. And finally it wouldn’t be a 22-episode comedy without some holiday specials. After the epic Halloween episode Thanksgiving forfeits any mystery for the birth of Terry’s child at the station without Terry, presenting a few cliches and a sweet finish. One of the cliches is putting aside old squabbles (for the moment) to assist a friend. Despite some choice comments Cpt Holt goes out of his way to recruit his ex (Parks and Recreation’s Nick Offerman, who is also the voice of the Fremulon stinger) to assist with the labour. The cameo endears a less savvy episode and makes me think of a big Brooklyn Nine Nine/Parks and Recreation/ 30 Rock/ Saturday Night Live megaparties that must go on. And if anyone cares, Scully ate a fish and Hitchcock got his hand caught in a mail tube.
This season feels like it has just been racing by, in the space of only three episodes Barry has been blinded, paralysed and heartbroken. But don’t fret, if you haven’t had the time to watch every episode Novastream is here to help you get up to speed with The Flash. Season two has built up the super villain Zoom as a menacing mastermind lurking in the wings while meta-humans do his bidding but finally it’s his time in the spotlight and who better to herald his coming than new Meta Dr Light. CW brings us yet another strong female character, torn straight from the comic book page male super-villain Arthur Light is re-imagined as Earth 2’s Linda Park but she’s here to reign nothing but darkness. The interplay here between the good and evil versions of the same character was a great chance to showcase actress Malese Jow’s talent. Standing back to look at the series now as a whole rather than episode by episode shows just how much The Flash embraces strong women in a positive light. To much surprise Harrison Wells has a daughter and just like her father she’s quick on the uptake, maybe even quicker than we’ve yet to see. Jessie Chambers Wells, as comic book fans will know, becomes a speedster in her own right named Jessie Quick. So another much welcome super-heroine may soon be added to the roster and finally Paddy Spivott has proven to be a smart and resourceful ally and her infectious positivity seems to be spreading out to our heroes as darker times loom, or should I say Zoom. In a horrific showdown Barry finally came face to face with this terrifying enemy and being underprepared it left him battered and beaten at this mercy. Dragging our hero through the city streets like a rag doll, Barry awoke to find he was paralysed from the waist down. Luckily he made a fast recovery. Nothing is by chance in this series, the show runners freely dig from the comic book well putting their own spin on things as their grand plan unfolds. In fact The Flash is great for its nods to the comics without being bound by them and nothing could say that more than our first look at Gorilla City. Even if this storyline never furthers just their acknowledging its existence and teasing us with a brief glimpse is a pure delight. Sure a certain female driven Netflix show brings a gritty realism but for bright, honest comic book style fun that still plays it straight and never makes fun or talks down to its audience The Flash flawlessly gives other shows a run for their money. Leaps and bounds ahead of the race if you have the slightest interest in superhero TV this is the one to check out.
It’s been a fun packed few episodes with Arrow over the past few weeks. Sarah was resurrected, Diggle’s brother never died, and John Constantine (exorcist, demonologist, and master… dabbler in the mystic arts) is revealed to be a long-time friend of Oliver. To kick things off with episode five, Oliver learns that Sarah has been resurrected and calls upon Constantine to help save Sarah’s soul. The episode was massively anticipated with fans of the cancelled Constantine television show eager to get another dose of Matt Ryan. He was everything he was before (cheeky, lady magnet, bizarre) and although the episode was great, it did fall short in some areas. The introduction of Constantine was fantastic and his character easily fell in step with his DC comrades. And it’s because of this that I can ignore the rushed feeling of the episode. No doubt this episode had other plans but the writers and actors of Arrow thought it was important to save a brother hero. In fact, if they already did have an episode before inviting Constantine over, the writers have done an amazing job seamlessly adding the master of dark arts. It was a truly artful piece of writing for Sarah to want Thea’s death due to the Lazarus Pit’s lingering effects. As opposed to the usually beautifully choreographed fights, this episode of Arrow has Thea scrambling away for her life. And although not what Arrow usually gives us, the first confrontation is now up there with one of my favourites. Brutal and painful.Although the women had one of the best scenes that episode, they also had the worse. Thea, Laurel, and Sarah discuss the bloodlust that Sarah has been experiencing in a way that could only be described as a soap opera. Sarah’s movements felt very blocked and rehearsed and did not portray the emotion intended. Episode six pulls Kurtis Holt closer to the team and returns Ray Palmer to the living (even though he wasn’t actually dead). We even get to see The Atom atom sized! Then there’s episode 7 where the audience gets the opportunity to delve deeper into who Diggle is. Soldier, body guard, and father, Diggle finally releases his tension to Lila and Laurel. It’s amazing difficult for an actor to cry on demand and even harder to try hold those tears back. Although my dead arrow counter has gone off the charts (even Felicity has noticed), Arrow has continued to produce great entertainment. Their fights scenes are amazing, the incorporation of Constantine into the story was a stroke of genius, and the emotional acting performed by each character has been beautiful.
It’s been a mixed bag of Doctor Who this month. The two-part Zygon episode was the standout of the series and one of the best Doctor Who episodes ever, carrying a lot of gravitas over from the tremendous 2013 fiftieth anniversary special. It saw the return of fan-favourites Kate Stewart (Jemma Hardgrave) and Osgood (Ingrid Oliver) in UNIT and the introduction of a really cool three-dimensional villian in Bonnie (played by Jenna Coleman, as the villian was impersonating Clara). It’s a tightly scripted adventure that underscores all of Doctor Who’s strengths and solidifies the Zygons’ role in the modern era. You’ll also struggle to find a Whovian that wasn’t moved by the amazing monologue towards the end of the second Zygon episode. Capaldi is a dream. But not even he could save the limp, underdeveloped script from Steven Moffat’s Sherlock co-writer Mark Gatiss, who is widely credited for some of the worst Doctor Who episodes ever. He takes the idea of a person’s necessity to sleep and overbakes it, mashing together with a plot too similar to Under the Lake/ Before the Flood for my liking. It just seemed every element has been done better in a different episode. And while the ending showed off a cool prosthetic it was essentially a middle finger to anybody that watched the episode, leading many to believe it is worse than universally-agreed “Worst Episode of New Who” Love and Monsters. Game of Thrones Maisie Williams returns the following episode with the best plot of her threeepisode guest stint. She’s the mayor of a refugee camp and ‘they’ are holding something over her. Riggsy, of the excellent episode Flatline, also returns. The episode kicks off the journey to the finale with the first legitament death of a companion in decades. Clara Oswald started shaky in season 7B but rebalanced to become one of the most compelling companions ever. Her goodbye was apt and somewhat expected, capping off the first piece of this new three-piece arc with a heavy heart. The general theory is that the Time Lords will be back. It’s very exciting. And it makes sense that the Doctor’s companion cannot be there for that, as was the case with Sarah Jane Smith in the classic series. So the Doctor seems to take Clara’s advice to skip the fury and the moping and just get on with the mystery. There will be time for mourning, but right now he’s still in the middle of a trap with no idea who/what/ when/how/why. Is it a Silent? Will Michelle Gomez be back? Has Gallifrey returned and where is Omega? There’s only two episodes to find out.
LIKE WHO?
WE BUILT A PODCAST FOR YOUR EARS. AVALIABLE ON ITUNES OR NOVASTREAM.
ORIGINALS:
A VERY MURRAY CHRISTMAS - 4TH DEC ADVENTURES OF PUSS N BOOTS SEASON 2 - 11TH DEC F IS FOR FAMILY SEASON 1 - 18TH DEC GLITTER FORCE SASON 1 - 18TH DEC I’M BRETT MORIN - 1ST DEC MAKING A MURDERER SEASON 1 - 18TH DEC MIKE EPPS - DON’T TAKE IT PERSONAL - 18TH DEC THE RIDICULOUS SIX - 11TH DEC THE TRAILER PARK BOYS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL - 9TH DEC
TV:
BLACK MIRROR SEASON 1 - 1ST DEC HOMELAND SEASON 4 - 1ST DEC MYTH HUNTERS - 14TH DEC REAL ROB SEASON 1 - 1ST DEC ROCK THIS BLOCK: NKTOB SEASON 1 - 1ST DEC SING IT ON SEASON 1 - 1ST DEC ZOO SEASON 1 - 24TH DEC
MOVIES:
ALOHA - 10TH DEC ARE WE OFFICIALLY DATING? - 13TH DEC BRAVE - 20TH DEC HOT TUB TIME MACHINE 2 - 2ND DEC NON-STOP - 27TH DEC RAISE YOUR VOICE - 1ST DEC
10
IN THE
FIRST TEN DAYS OF
THINGS I CAN’T
STOP DOING
BY ZAHRA EMILY
#1 HANGING OUT WITH THE CRAZY CAT LADY #3 CATCHING UP ON THE LORE
WAY
#4 GETTING TOO INTO THE TUNES ON DIAMOND CITY RADIO #7 EXPLAINING THE REAL PURPOSE OF BASEBALL TO CRAZIES
#2 SPENDING WAY TOO LONG CUSTOMISING SANCTUARY #5 NOT GETTING GLITCHES, DESPITE WHAT PEOPLE SAY #6 LOSING MY COMPANIONS
#8 RESTARTING THE GAME TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON’T GO IN THE VAULT
#9 ENJOYING POWER ARMOUR #10 DOING THE RIGHT THING I know, I know. Most people are busy being sarcastic,
asking for money for their services and being a badass, ‘look out for yourself ’ vault dweller. I like the idea of making the world a better place, spreading hope and helping because I want to. I’ve finished a lot of minuteman settlements across the Commonwealth and I think Preston Garvey has the hots for me. I’m okay with this.
Lara Croft’s next-gen debut went tremendously well and a sequel was greenlight. David Chattaway checks if it does the icon justice.
The bridge explodes underneath her and she plummets toward the icy water below. Falling rubble narrowly misses her as she hits the surface of the water; shocked by the fall, her body sinks lifeless into the dark as she watches the last glimmer of light disappear from above the water’s surface. True to Croft’s formidable courage, the scene quickly develops into a literal sink or swim scenario, leaving me desperately searching across my screen for a light to guide her out of the darkness. After what felt like a lifetime, I spot a small glimmer of light and push on toward it, navigating between countless obstructions which threaten to drag her to Davy Jones’ locker. The intensity of the music builds as does her struggle, but she reaches the surface just before the screen goes black. Climbing out of the freezing water she coughs and sucks in gasps of air. It’s then I realise that I too had been holding my breath. She’s only given a second to regain her composure before the distant sound of a helicopter is heard and she turns toward me. She’s exhausted, bruised and battered. For a short moment she looks like there’s nothing left in her; like, perhaps, it’s finally the end … but then she turns around, pulls herself up and puts one leg ahead of the other and once again we’re off, trudging into the brilliant unknown that is Tomb Raider. What follows is a nail-biting sequence of free-running which tests your agility as a player by forcing Croft to navigate treacherous obstacles as the helicopter rains bullets and missiles down around you. This is just one of the incredible sequences you’ll come across in Rise of the Tomb Raider, the sequel to the successful reboot – Tomb Raider – which was released in 2013. This game is set twelve months after the events of the first and we find that despite surviving a life-changing experience, Lara has been discredited as part of a
cover up. After uncovering an ancient mystery, she must explore the most treacherous and remote regions of Siberia to find the secret of immortality before a ruthless organisation known as Trinity find her. Similar to its predecessor, the game casts you out into the wilderness; alone and unarmed. For better or worse this game feels and plays very similar to the original, the early portion of the game – when you have only axes and a bow – are arguably the most challenging, forcing you to be patient and think through a strategy to clear the area of enemies. The introduction of larger weapons and the task of crafting arrows throughout the second half of the game, speed up the gameplay considerably. However, the first 90 minutes of the game – although boasting incredible cinematics and nail biting exchanges with both human and beast alike – feel quite linear, forcing you to follow a narrow path. It’s only when you reach the ‘Soviet Installation’ hub that the game really starts to open up and offer different player options. It’s at this point you can start exploring for collectables; take on missions from the local remnants and search for challenge Tombs. The ‘Soviet Installation’ hub has enough side tasks included that it’s easy to invest hours into exploring it. In the interest of completing the game I initially spent very little time in that area, finding the skills and experience points I had already acquired to be enough to progress the story forward. With the main story taking roughly 9-10 hours – excluding any non-essential exploration or achievement hunting – the game offers a robust and enjoyable experience. The theatrical cut scenes have been beefed up, both graphically and in their sheer quantity and duration. I estimate at least 45 minutes of my play-through was spent watching well-crafted interactions between current events and flashbacks from Croft’s childhood. 25
WHAT ABOUT THE TOMBS? Crystal Dynamics were transparent in the lead up to this game’s release, sharing that a focus on crafting challenging tombs would be implemented in this game. Similar to the original game however, there’s still no need to find or complete any of the Tombs or Crypts to advance the main story forward. Crypts are small, hidden dungeons that are packed with treasure, offering little challenge. You won’t find any enemies to fight or tough puzzles to solve. You can simply explore, get the treasure and move on. Tombs on the other hand, are much more involved. Each have complex puzzles, plenty of collectible items and you’ll learn more about the ruins and environment you’re in as you explore them. The developers have put a lot of thought and effort in – each one has its own history – which you’ll learn as you discover the relics and documents inside it.
AFTER THE CREDITS ROLE... If you like a bit of variety and add-on content with your games you’ll be pleased to know that at launch there’s four additional game modes called Expeditions, which include Chapter Replay, Chapter Replay Elite, Score Attack and Remnant Resistance. The first two modes are essentially a replay of specific chapters from the campaign, while the Elite mode has you playing with the gear from your latest profile data and the other has you starting with a pre-determined inventory and skills. Score Attack is all about finishing the level as
quickly as possible and chaining scores together to build your combat meter. The last Expedition mode – Remnant Resistance – is an objective-based challenge mode that is played in the game’s large “hub” spaces, such as the Soviet Installation. You can choose to play existing Remnant Resistance missions made by your friends and the Tomb Raider community, or create your own. A Remnant Resistance mission is composed of 5 objectives, which can involve things like taking down a high value target, collecting intel documents, hunting animals, and more. Difficulty can vary from objective to objective. For example, a normal difficulty objective might be to rescue hostages, compared with a high difficulty objective like taking down a bear. Players familiar with Hitman: Absolutions’ Contracts Mode should feel right at home in Remnant Resistance.
THE FINAL VERDICT Fans of the 2013 reboot will find themselves right at home with the gameplay mechanics and people new to the experience won’t feel too overwhelmed as the game starts with basic gameplay, before the difficulty curve intensifies after the first hour. Visually stunning, with a beautiful soundtrack complementing the action, it’s hard not to be drawn into the world with Croft. The pacing of the story is good also with periods of desperate escape being balanced by evenly spaced base camp locations. With larger areas to explore and more challenging tombs to raid Rise of the Tomb Raider does a great job delivering what long term fans of the franchise want, while giving them something new to come back for.
Last month Ryan Betson reviewed Rock Band 4. This month it’s their biggest rival.
So which one is better?
After eleven games in five years no one argues that Guitar Hero hit an oversaturation point. Even diehard fans were starting to just not to feel it anymore. So if you plan on bringing that brand back after a public announced cancellation, you have two options: Innovate. Or Die. Thankfully with Guitar Hero Live they picked the right one. Guitar Hero Live is the sixth game in the series, fifteen if all expansions and spin-offs are included, and it feels as every bit brand new as when you played the original game for the first time. The first big thing that jumps out is the new guitar. Gone is the five coloured buttons of the past, now replaced with six buttons; three black on top of three whites. Sounds so simple right? Well yes and no. Having the 3×2 buttons keeps your hands located at the top of the neck, no need for the pinky stretching of the past, except now there is basic chord structure to deal with. This is by far the greatest improvement to the series. As I mentioned in my Rock Band 4 review, it is all well and good to continue to use the tried and tested instruments but what happens when you master it? This added an invaluable learning curve for me. I had to completely rethink how I hold the controller and how my fingers moved, simply put, how I played the game. It was nothing but utter enjoyment, and frustration in the best possible way, to change that muscle memory. I continuously found myself reaching for buttons that weren’t there or moving my hand around unnecessarily shortly followed by out loud cursing, to the dissatisfaction of my fiancé. Easily one of the greatest delights in this game. I really wanted to spend some time with this new guitar. I really didn’t want to use it for a couple hours and smash out a
review, hence why this took a little longer to come out. So with this new mechanic comes the new interface. Overall it is pretty much the same but simplified. The note highway is still front and centre but there is less clutter around the sides with the removal of score multipliers and a smaller “hero power” notifier. The only thing that can be a little visually jarring (apart from the background video, but I’ll get to that) is the note counter. It is all well and good to see how many notes you can successfully hit in succession but it takes up a big hunk of space in the middle of the screen. With the new change in controller the notes also appear differently on the highway. On screen the black notes appear as a black tear drop and the white an upside down tear drop. So when put together the points of the tear drop are facing out. This really felt counter intuitive for me. Initially I would constantly hit incorrect notes because in my head it would have made more sense to have the tips point inwards. Making some sort of hourglass shape. That was difficult to explain. Short answer how I imagined the shape of the notes to appear didn’t work with how my brain would make sense of it. I tried to get around this by focusing on the colour, but subconsciously the shape kept coming into play. When I think of full motion video (FMV) I think of the garbage games from back in the day. Oh and I mean absolute garbage. So it really makes me wonder why Guitar Hero Live felt the need to make the entire campaign FMV. For those unaware, the single player campaign (or LIVE) is shot in a first person camera at real concerts, with real crowds, with real actors, with real campiness. Initially this idea seems straight up spectacular. Standing only a couple meters from my
television as the camera rolls on stage and looks out into the massive crowd, or at the pub show that is filled to the brim, and this sense of awe and wonder hits me in the chest. For that very second FMV had won me over. I instantly demanded it in all upcoming video games! But then. Then the camera turns around and focuses on the actors sharing the stage with me. I say actors, not musicians, because they guys and girls are clearly actors and bad ones at that! Every look, every movement is just so painfully cheesy. The thumbs up from the roadies. The winks from the singer. It’s all just so crazy lame. Also that is just when you are playing well and they love you. Miss a handful of notes and they turn on you like you farted on their sandwich. There is absolutely no middle ground. Either they all think you are the second coming of rock ‘n’ roll Christ or you are the guy that just punched a Nanna on stage. One thing that really stands out is how each show has its own unique style and that’s reflected in the setlist. An example being this indie/hippy show had an amazing vibe with girls jumping around like little pixies and a dude with an afro pounding a giant drum all to songs that I know have been on Triple J. It was great.
I love this song!” and repeat. While you play you increase in levels and collect in-game credits, which allow for multiplier boosts, modifications, and not so helpful player cards. These credits can also be used to purchase Plays, tokens that allow for an on demand play of any song. You can earn a play from about 5-10 songs in the channels. Initially I used a handful of plays to get my hands on what I considered must play songs like In Due Time by Killswitch Engage or anything from Rage Against The Machine, but the more I played the less I seemed to use them. I really enjoyed the not-so-random shuffle of the channels as it allowed me to play songs I love and discover ones I didn’t know I loved. I do miss being able to continuously hammer a song until I mastered it but if I did feel the need I could fork out some real world money for a handful of plays (or buy the Party Pack giving me 24 hours of unlimited play), ever so sneaky microtransaction. The only real downer with GHTV is that there is no real way to tell what each channel will play until you jump in. You could continually miss “Master’s of Rock” because you can only play at certain times, forcing you to deal with “Pop Workout”. Although there is one thing that does have me concerned. Like movie and tv streaming services most things tend to be on there for a set period of time therefore I won’t be able to enjoy it forever. So that one song I love to play every time may not always be there. Guess that was the positive to the old ways.
The tracklist for LIVE is a little on the lacklustre with mostly newer, more radio friendly bands, but there were some notable stand outs of course. It was surprisingly fun to play Skrillex’s Bangarang and to discover new grand songs like Jack White’s Lazaretto, that song has earwormed me hard! At the same time the classics are there in full swing! Nothing is as rewarding as The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again. That song is just amazing. The biggest past time of Guitar Hero was playing with your friends. You on lead, them on rhythm/bass, or Second to the guitar the biggest edition to the Guitar vice versa. Although Guitar Hero Live does support Hero franchise is GHTV. GHTV is essentially an multiplayer it might as well not even be there. Yeah, online only streaming service that throws away the you can have two guitars playing at once but you can DLC tracks of the old days. It focuses on two channels only play in GHTV and you will play the exact same (with a third on the way allegedly) that has scheduled thing. No joint campaign. That collaboration feeling blocks dedicated to specific genres or themes of songs. is all but gone. Similar to what you would see on VH1, Channel V, or MAX. Unlike LIVE, while you play the music video I simply cannot praise Guitar Hero for having the guts plays in the background, which can give a nice dose to scrap everything it has done before and revamp the of feels for old songs, but at the same time look pretty series, and in my opinion it’s been a success. The new grainy and bad on newer televisions. I see a number controller gave me a new challenge that I craved and of benefits by using this method, most prominently will keep me coming back for more and with GHTV bands and labels being more willing to provide rights I will be doing just that. The campaign looks great on to tracks seeing as they will be promoting the music paper but came out average on execution with actors video. Also with the developers no longer being giving poor performances and lacking the ability to required to animate for each song, this only means provide that stage presence every time. This game is quicker turn around and more songs for us to enjoy! certainly a step in the right direction to bring plastic And boy do I enjoy it. GHTV is insanely addictive. It instruments back into the home. gave me many moments of “think I’ll go to bed… OH
The Legend of Zelda and Link are very dear to a lot of people. Pat Braithwaite looks into the latest release, exclusive to 3DS. It’s no secret that I love me some Zelda. From the tattoo on my chest to the shrine in my room and all the framed posters in between, I am a hardcore fanboy. As such I have to get myself into a certain mindframe in order to review a game like this, and approach the title as though I am a new player. Thankfully, The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes strikes a fantastic balance of new and old culminating in a fun experience for both returning fans like me and new players, like I was pretending to be. Unlike most Zelda games which start with an artistic rendering of lore describing battles of the past and our hero in green conquering the forces of darkness, Tri Force Heroes does away with that. While bearing the “Legend of Zelda” title and adorning the “Toon” graphics of the wind waker timeline, this is very much a spinoff. Albeit, a spinoff full of Zelda-y easter eggs and witty humor. Taking place in Hytopia, a city obsessed with fashion, an evil witch named simply The Lady has taken Princess Styla’s sense of fashion and forcing her into a un-removable bland black bodysuit she wouldn’t want to be caught dead in. After meeting the hilarious criteria of a Tri Force Hero (Pointy Ears, Side Burns and Side-Parted Hair), you’re enlisted by King Tuft to set out into the Drablands in a team of three and conquer The Lady, restoring his daughter to her stylish self. Tri Force Heroes centres around two key mechanics, both of which are new to the series. The first is Totem Time, in which you and your companion links stack on top of one another to solve puzzles or reach certain areas. This mechanic works quite well as it requires coordination between all players to build a totem high enough, aim in the correct direction, time which link throws who and which link is on top (as their special weapon will be the totem’s primary). This adds a new dimension to not only puzzle solving but boss fights as well, with each foe generally designed to be combated with the level specific items and variations of totems.
26
The second mechanic is Fashion. Given the overall theme of the city and story, this comes as no surprise. You will eventually be given the chance to order new outfits for your hero by providing certain materials, with each fashion piece granting it’s wearer special abilities to aid in your quest to save the princess and gather more materials. This could be the Legendary Dress, a garb not unlike that of a princess which grants it’s wearer more frequent heart drops, or the Bomb suit which lets you make bigger bombs. They can also ramp up the difficulty, with some outfits granting you less life or taking double damage to give you a new challenge. Each level is split in four with the final usually being a swarm of enemies or a boss. Once you complete the temple at the end of each level, you will unlock bonus stages to complete for each previous area. These add to the game’s replay value and also allow you to obtain rarer materials for your outfits, some of which cannot be obtained outside of this gameplay. After trying all different configurations of play style on Tri Force Heroes I can tell you the best way to play is locally with two friends. This ensures a consistently smooth gameplay and gives you an easy means of communicating with your companions to solve puzzles in the drablands and unlock materials for new outfits. To help accommodate this, a full download play is made available. This is in my opinion an underused feature nowerdays for the 3ds but a welcome addition as it allows players without the game to join in on the frantic fun. Venturing outside of local play is when things get a little annoying. Online multiplayer is a welcome addition but it was in most part a very laggy experience. Also without voice chat capabilities, you must rely on small emotes to relay information to your companions which, while cute, are difficult to use as a means to communicate the execution of a complex zelda puzzle.
Then there is the single player mode which adds both challenge and frustration to the mix. You set out into battle with soul-less “Doppels”, which you can chop and change between on the fly. However in my game time, I don’t believe this gameplay is as balanced as it could be. Instead of streamlining the switching between Doppels to a button, the developers have opted to use the touch screen. This means having to constantly avert your sight from combat to ensure you are switching to the right Doppel. I often found myself playing as much as possible with one link then having everyone else play catchup. It’s also unfortunate you cannot dress the Doppels in outfits as well so as to help make up for the lack of human input at all times. Finally, the soundtrack is a beautifully orchestrated medley of Zelda scores new and old, with little Easter Eggs planted in the world to trigger even more songs from the Zelda history of music. As with most titles in the Legend of Zelda series, it’s easy to lose yourself in the instrumental magic of the score. Awkward gameplay twitching aside, Tri Force Heroes is a quirky fun addition to the Legend of Zelda family. If you are a lover of sift challenging puzzles and adoreable, over-the-top fashion puns and tropes, this game is right up your alley. And if not, well it’s a great game regardless. I’d still give it a go.
After three very long, exciting days finally PAX AUS 2015 has drawn to a close. For me, this was my first PAX and I went in not really knowing what to expect. Obviously I knew there zwere going to be plenty of games showcased – I had done some research prior to the opening day and thought I knew what I was excited to see and where I would be spending my time. Although I did eventually wander around and spend some time playing the games I had planned to – Rise of the Tomb Raider – as an example, for me, the biggest surprise was how much fun I had with some of the smaller, less known Indie games.
INDIES ARE AWESOME At Novastream we’re always keen to explore new, original games and it quickly became apparent to me that Indie games fit that bill. Over the three days Ryan Betson, Josh Saunders and I got a chance to play some amazing games and meet some inspiring developers. It’s rare that you get to meet and speak with the people who are responsible for making the games you love playing. The Novastream team played a magnitude of titles, each game naturally differed significantly from the next but one consistent theme was the developers’ passion, as well as the sheer time and effort put into each game, which was evident in its finish. Most of the young studios were made up of less than five people, requiring every member to have a broad set of skills. We spoke with Patrick Corriero from Dry Cactus Games who was attending PAX to promote his forthcoming title Poly Bridge. While we were busy playing his game Patrick spoke to us about how his game had built traction, leveraging from people’s inherent desire to share what they create with others. It was really interesting to hear how social media and platforms like Reddit and Imgur 32
helped build awareness of his product. You can find our chat with him onwards in the magazine. So – to get back to talking about actually playing Indie games – we had a tonne of fun with many different games but one which the entire team felt was incredibly polished and just beautiful in both its design and story telling was Hollow Knight. The game centers around an underground and forgotten world known as Hollownest and has you playing as a mysterious knight, tasked with solving ancient puzzles, fighting deadly creatures and avoiding intricate traps. The artwork is reminiscent of Tim Burton’s and, quite frankly, it was a dream to play. For fans of Ori and the Blind Forest and Child of Light, be sure to keep an eye on this one!
THE DEEP VR The demo ended and it was my turn to be transported somewhere terrifying. After being hooked up and assisted onto a stool The London Heist demo started. Sitting a few feet in front of me was a huge, tough guy. The first thing which made me feel uncomfortable (besides the creepy basement in which I appeared to be a prisoner in) was his unblinking stare. He wasn’t looking at a character; he was looking directly into my eyes. I felt a flutter of real fear rise up and without even a word or gesture from him I made assumptions about my safety and quickly scanned the room for weapons or an escape route. The guard eventually stood and commenced threatening me with both his aggressive tone and the blow torch he held inches from my face. Thankfully, I was saved by the bell (so to speak) when his phone rang and he handed it to me. Without any instructions to do so, I reached out and took the phone from him and raised it to my ear. A very real action and one I didn’t even have to think about doing when he held it out to me.
The current scene ended and the next began … I was standing in a large, empty room with a mezzanine floor above and an old desk with multiple drawers in front of me. The only instruction I was given was that it was worth seeing if I can open said drawers … turns out I could and inside one was a handgun and a few loaded clips. Without sparing a second thought I pulled everything out, laying it on top of the desk neatly, before quickly shutting the drawer. It was at this point that I heard Ryan Betson’s bellowing laugh filter past the headphones I was wearing. I learnt something about myself during the demo … even when I may be required to have a shoot-out with people, I will still take the time to organise my weaponry and close the drawer afterward. Like a gentleman. The doors of the mezzanine floor burst open and henchmen filtered in, opening fire and spraying the desk I had been calmly standing behind. I ducked as low as I could and the room and view of my enemies disappeared. It was instant, my breathing quickened as I carefully peered over the desk and lined up my first target. It was then I realised I had made a fatal error: I had picked up the pistol with my non-preferred hand. I then recalled you couldn’t drop the weapon once you had picked it up. I wasted precious ammo failing to hit a stationary target and was annoyed and a little embarrassed, although I’m sure the virtual-henchmen were only too happy with my efforts. After setting a record for the most ammo used and redecorating the room with scattered bullet holes the last enemy dropped and the demo came to an end. If you haven’t had a chance to check out Virtual Reality, whether it be PlayStation’s VR or the Oculus Rift and you’re wondering whether VR will be commercially successful, listen up. It doesn’t matter what PlayStation charge for this technology, I will be preordering it; standing in line and thrashing any game they release on it. The immersion is incredible and isn’t something you’ve likely experienced before. Start saving those pennies and get excited, 2016 will be the year Virtual Reality arrives in your household!
VR IS A REALITY If you haven’t already had a chance to check out our thoughts and opinions of PlayStation VR, do yourself a favour and do so here. We were lucky enough to try out PlayStation’s VR first thing Friday morning and we were let loose on both playable demo’s – The Deep and The London Heist. Josh had a play of the former and after the visor and headphones went on he descended into the dark, deep below. We watched on as he calmly took in everything around as the beautiful and strange deep sea creatures slowly drifted by the steel cage he was in. To quote Josh, he described the five minutes down below the surface as “the most serene and immersive gaming experience” of his life. The ambiance was but a passing moment however, as just before the end of his demo a massive (and I mean MASSIVE) Shark crashed nose-first
into the steel bars, seemingly inches from his face. We had a good chuckle watching Josh throw his head backward, in an attempt to distance himself from the monstrous predator.
RETRO GAMING Retro-gaming also made an appearance at AUS PAX. We stopped by and said hello to the guys at Retro Domination who, along with Ausretrogamer, Weird and Retro and Bartronica, donated dozens of arcade and retro-consoles. Some old classics such as the original PlayStation, Game Cube, Mega Drive, Xbox and even the Atari 2600 and Commodore 64. Scott Kellett (pinball tournament organiser) arranged the pinball tables with the help of Bayside Pinball club, Pinmem and Amusement Machine Distributors. I felt nostalgia pumping through my veins as I watched people playing some of my favourite games on old-fashioned CRT monitors. Pinball machines and arcade classics like Donkey Kong were getting plenty of love from gamers old and young, especially competitive players wanting to win the DK high score challenge which ran all weekend long.
PANELS, PANELS & MORE PANELS PAX isn’t just about playing games, it’s also about interacting with game developers and experts in the industry. We spent some time on the second and third days attending discussions about the future of gaming, becoming a Let’s Player (YouTube/Twitch) and a presentation from Arne Meyer, the Community Strategist from Naughty Dog. The Future of Gaming panel was made up of industry experts from the likes of Microsoft, Twitch and Alienware. The panelists discussed virtual and augmented reality and its commercial viability and even the types of applications it will be used in. After seeing first-hand the sheer number of games in development utilising the VR platform it’s obvious the hardware will be adequately supported by developers and, if the smiling faces are anything to go by, the general public will be happy to hand over their dollars and quickly adopt it too. The So you want to be a Let’s Player panel spiked our team’s interest, with promises of providing clear direction on how to acquire the skills to become a successful Let’s player. I had hoped that the panelists would be able to provide detailed direction and specific examples for the large crowd of eager people attending, but sadly this wasn’t the case. The experience level of the panelists varied greatly and it became apparent very early into the presentation that – at best – the panelists only understood how to be personally successful, instead of having a clear template they could pass onto others. After an hour of Q&A the message was essentially – broadcast what interests you and make sure you have a schedule and you stick to it. 33
The final panel we attended was on Sunday morning in the Main Theatre where Arne Meyer from Naughty Dog had a surprise in store for everyone in attendance in the form of some of the Multiplayer footage shown the week prior at the Paris Games Week. Arne discussed some of the new inclusions for the multiplayer, including Mystical abilities which give you competitive edge for a short period of time. We also got to see some footage of the Sidekicks in action, including medics, snipers and brutes to provide a tactical advantage. When asked about the multiplayer resolution Arne responded by saying that it would be at 900p and that the decision was made to reduce the resolution in order to maintain a good frame rate. Slipped into the conversation was also a quick mention of the games inclusion of microtransactions, which will enable players to purchase various weapons, tools and upgrades. Arne was asked plenty of questions about the games main campaign, but naturally remained tight-lipped.
OUR FAVOURITE EXPERIENCE & GAME OF SHOW ‘ Three days of unbridled frivolity at the Melbourne Exhibition centre was never going to be enough and there was plenty the team wished we had time to play or spend more time on, but of all the experiences we did have, what were the standouts and what was our game of show?
RYAN BETSON GAME OF SHOW: Ryan’s game of show was Unravel, an upcoming PlayStation 4 title by a company named Coldwood. FAVOURITE EXPERIENCE: His favourite experience was with a Virtual Reality game named Earthlight. The demo tasks the player with the rather terrifying job of making their way around the exterior of a space station using the handles spread across each section. If you’ve seen the movie Gravity, imagine the scene where Sandra Bullock is torn away from the safety of the station and is spinning rapidly into space. Ryan explained the emotional roller coaster in detail, check it out here.
JOSH SAUNDERS GAME OF SHOW: Josh’s game of show was also Unravel, the boys were lucky enough to get a lengthy play early on the second day and described it as “charming,” FAVOURITE EXPERIENCE: His favourite experience was PlayStation VR and his time rolling in the deep (without Adele). To hear Josh enthusiastically describe his experience meeting Jaws check the video out here.
DAVID CHATTAWAY (AKA ME) GAME OF SHOW: Although I didn’t play the game I would have to agree with the boys and say Unravel was my game of show. It’s beautiful design and subject matter pulls at the heart strings (see what I did there), in twenty short minutes of watching Yarny – the little character made entirely of a single thread of yarn – the game was able to make you emotionally invested in his journey. That’s without understanding why he’s alive, where he’s headed or to what end. That’s how incredible this game is. It looks like the next Journey. FAVOURITE EXPERIENCE: Again, echoing Josh’s favourite I would have to say the PlayStation VR experience completely blew me away. It made me feel real emotions … I’m definitely ready to be immersed to that level in a game again, as soon as possible! So that’s about it, PAX AUS 2015 was a truly incredible experience! Be sure to stay locked to Novastream for all things gaming. Over and out.