Wake In Fright Dual Format Short Review

5 stars of awesome acting and directing in the Outback.

Wake In Fright is fantastically screen written (Evan Jones, Funeral in Berlin) by a person that had never set foot on Australian soil and directed (Ted Kotcheff, First Blood) by someone who knew very little of the continent until he set foot on it to shoot the film.

It is taken from the critically-acclaimed best-selling novel by Kenneth Cook, written in 1961.

The opening shot of this film shows the desolation of the outback.

With only the train track, the school room and the pub/hotel in the whole 360 degree pan, with the blue sky and the constant buzz of flies, you can feel the oppression of the sun and this is a thread all the way through the film.

The camera pans into the smallest building, the school house, filled with all ages and at the front is the clock watching teacher John Grant,(Gary Bond, Zulu).

School finishes for the six week Christmas break and Grant can't wait to get to his girl in Sydney. He checks out of the small hotel as the train whistle blows, announcing Johns escape from slavery, for six weeks anyway. Being English he believes this and his education separates him from those that aren't from the city. He loathes his job and he wants out, as he is stuck in a government-enforced teaching post and it will take a thousand dollars to buy out his bond. Once on the train and having avoided the other travelers he relaxes and dreams of what the city has to offer.

Read the rest of the review over at Road Rash Reviews

The Machine DVD and Blu-ray Short Review

4 stars for this stylish British sci-fi film.

The Machine is written and directed by Caradog W. James (Little White lies) and is set in Britain in the near future.

With Britain still gripped by recession and caught up in a cold war with China, tensions are running high and the Ministry Of Defence are looking to create artificial life. What they want are humanoid robots which are intelligent enough to not only fight, but also help out in negotiations and peace-keeping missions and to understand which is appropriate.

As the film opens we see our lead scientist Vincent McCarthy (Toby Stephens - Die Another Day, Severance) with his latest creation, another war veteran who has been fixed using an artificial brain.

However, the technology is still unstable and results are decidedly disappointing (especially for those who die during the subsequent rampage). Forced to look further afield for help, he finally meets and teams up with Ava (Caity Lotz - The Pact, Battle Of The Year), a beautiful and brilliant young American scientist, whose research provides the missing piece of the puzzle. Vincent is desperately trying to advance the project so that he can give his seriously ill daughter a better chance at life and sees Ava as the perfect tool to accomplish this.

Read the rest of our review over at Road Rash Reviews

Fire In The Blood DVD Short Review

4 stars for this revelation packed documentary.

Fire In The Blood is an in depth look at the Western pharmaceutical industry and the way in which it manipulates global availability and costs of life saving drugs to further it's own interests.

As narrator William Hurt (The Host, The Incredible Hulk) so neatly states, "If it is true that one death is a tragedy and a million deaths is a statistic, this is a story about statistics."

In 1996, with millions of people all over the world afflicted with and dying from HIV and AIDS, finally a light appeared at the end of the tunnel, when a new combination of three drugs, known collectively as anti-retro virals (HIV is a retro virus) was introduced.

However, there was a catch. As explained by Justice Cameron, a South African judge who was himself suffering from the disease, the cost of the drugs was equivalent to one third of his judicial salary, therefore well out of the reach of the majority of those in need of treatment.

Read about the ensuing battle and the rest of our review over at Road Rash Reviews

A Year In Provence Short Review

5 stars of Charming antics in the south of France.

A Year In Provence is based on the fantastic best selling novel by Peter Mayle (A Good Year) and was adapted for TV by the BBC in 1993. This DVD contains the original broadcast version of the mini-series.

It tells the story of Peter Mayle (John Thaw - The Sweeney, Inspector Morse) and his wife Annie Mayle (Lindsay Duncan - Le Week-End, Under The Tuscan Sun), who both give up their jobs in the big city in favour of the sunny and romantic climes of Provence. There, they intend to settle down together in their solid French farmhouse, while Peter writes his novel.

A Year In Provence takes the form of 12 episodes, each one representing a month of their first year in a strange country.

They first arrive in Provence at the end of December, just in time for the new year, but quickly discover that everything is going to be more complicated than they expected.

Read the rest of our review over at Road Rash Reviews.

Sword Art Online Part 4 Short Release Review

4 Star conclusion for Kirito and the lost 300 souls.

A great end to a great series as Kirito shows us his determined side as he will stop at nothing to log Asuna out of the game, before she is all but married to Sugou; time is running out.

Kirito has to save Asuna from Sugou who has trapped her in a gilded cage at the top of the World Tree in the centre of Alfheim. After deciding not to ally himself with the Salamanders Kirito drags Leafa out of the cave to warn the Sylphs and Cait Siths that General Eugene and his Salamander cohorts are going to try and stop them forming an alliance.

General Eugene is considered the strongest player in all Alfheim along with his sword that can phase ethereally therefore bypassing any defences.

For the full Review please Click Road Rash Reviews

Available to Buy on DVD and Blu-ray on 31st March.

Black Water Vampire DVD Short Review

1 star for this predictable found footage horror film.

Written, directed and edited by Evan Tramel, Black Water Vampire follows in the footsteps of films such as The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, using the actors carrying hand held cameras instead of employing camera men.

"Dec 17th 2012, Danielle Mason led a documentary film crew to investigate a string of murders known as 'The Black Water Killings' and interview Raymond Banks, the man convicted of the crimes. The following footage was recovered a year later."

Danielle Mason (Danielle Lozeau - Legion, The Eye), grew up in the area near to Fawnskin, the small town near to Black Water Creek where the bodies were discovered, drained of blood and with bite marks on their necks and strange symbols on their skin.

She assembles an unlikely group of individuals, Andrea Adams, the producer (Andrea Monier - Death Connection, Homesick), Anthony Russell, the camera man (Anthony Fanelli - The Next Steps) and Rob Allen, the sound guy (Robin Steffen - Phase 2, The Deadlines).

Read what we thought of the film over at Road Rash Reviews.

Eureka Seven AO Part 2 Short Review

4 stars for the conclusion to this beautiful time travelling adventure.

Eureka Seven Astral Ocean tells the story of Ao Fukai and the battle to save the Earth from the Scub Corals and the Secrets.

Still working as a member of the Pied Piper Team, a mecha unit of Generation Bleu, Ao is rocked by the surprise reappearance of his long lost mother, Eureka and the potential complications this could cause.

It begins to become apparent that no-one is who they first appeared to be, as revelations abound. Truth and Naru seem to develop an unexpected bond, and as the Scub Coral plants begin to reactivate all over the world, the stakes are raised ever higher.

Public opinion sways against Generation Bleu as it emerges that they have been stock-piling quartz without anyone's knowledge or permission. And when it turns out that the quartz can in fact operate as a weapon which can change history, hostilities between Generation Bleu and the Allies reach an all time high, the race is on to gain control of the Quartz Gun and it is up to the children of Pied Piper to deal with the situation.

Read the rest of the review over at Road Rash Reviews.