Umbrella Entertainment in association with Monster Pictures will release the most ambitious sci-fi film ever produced in Australia, OCCUPATION RAINFALL, to home entertainment on June 16.
Following a major theatrical release earlier this year that saw OCCUPATION RAINFALL play in over 200 cinemas across Australia, Luke Sparke’s highly anticipated follow-up to the 2018 feature OCCUPATION is finally headed home to Blu-ray, DVD & Digital.
A film of such epic scale as OCCUPATION RAINFALL is deserving of the deluxe treatment on home entertainment and Umbrella Entertainment & Monster Pictures answer the call with a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray. Loaded with Special Features, ranging from multiple Audio Commentary tracks to Deleted Scenes to Featurettes that take you behind-the-scenes of the film and much more, this is without a doubt the definitive release of OCCUPATION RAINFALL.
Blu-ray Special Features
• 2 x Audio Commentary Tracks –with writer/director Luke Sparke -with writer/director Luke Sparke, producers Carly Imrie & Carmel Imrie, actor Zac Garred and VFX Supervisor Alex Becconsall • 8 x Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by writer/director Luke Sparke -Montage/ Wessex & Amelia -Alien Spy in the Base -Wessex & Amelia Reunite -Haye’s Room -Wessex & Amelia -To the Lost -Matt Talks to Alison -Matt Hears Baby Alison • Behind-the-Scenes (Featurette) • Making The Music – Attack on Sydney (Featurette) • Red Carpet Premiere (Featurette) • TV Spots -15 Second Spot -30 Second Spot • Theatrical Trailer • Reversible Sleeve Artwork
The God of Mischief strikes again! Watch Tom Hiddleston’s video message announcing the new premiere date and weekly release day for Marvel Studios’ “Loki,” a brand-new, original series exclusively on Disney+.
Marvel Studios’ “Loki” features the God of Mischief as he steps out of his brother’s shadow in a new series that takes place after the events of “Avengers: Endgame.” Tom Hiddleston returns as the title character, joined by Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku and Richard E. Grant. Kate Herron directs “Loki,” and Michael Waldron is head writer.
Summary: MMA fighter Cole Young seeks out Earth’s greatest champions in order to stand against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe.
Year: 2021
Cinema Release Dates: 21st April 2021 (Australia), 8th April 2021 (Thailand)
VOD Release Dates: 23rd April 2021 (UK), 23rd April 2021 (USA)
Country: Australia, USA
Director: Simon McQuoid
Screenwriter: Dave Callaham, Greg Russo
Cast: Tadanbou Asano (Lord Raiden), Laura Brent (Allison), Mehcad Brooks (Jax), Elissa Cadwell (Nirara), Chin Han (Shang Tsung), Damon Herriman (Kabal (voice)), Max Huang (Kung Lao), Mel Jarson (Nitara), Nathan Jones (Reiko), Matilda Kimba (Emily), Josh Lawson (Kano), Ludi Lin (Liu Kang), Ren Miyagawa (Satoshi Jubei Hasashi), Jessica McNamee (Sonya Blade), Daniel Nelson (Kabal), Angus Sampson (Goro (voice)), Hiroyuki Sanada (Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion), Yukiko Shinohara (Harumi Hasashi), Ian Streetz (Ramirez), Sisi Stringer (Mileena), Lewis Tan (Cole Young), Joe Taslim (Bi-Han/Sub-Zero)
Running Time: 110 mins
Classification: R18+ (Australia), R (USA)
OUR MORTAL KOMBAT REVIEWS
David Griffiths’ Mortal Kombat Review:
There are plusses and negatives to a film studio deciding to make a film based on a popular video game. The plus is that you have a legion of fans that will be ready to watch the film, the negative is that the legion of fans are gamers… some of the harshest critics in the world.
Mortal Kombat is arguably one of the most popular video games in the world despite the fact that previous screen adaptations have been met with scorn by fans of the games. Still when Warner Bros. teamed up with producer James Wan (Aqua Man) to bring his life-long dream of creating a Mortal Kombat film to fruition those gamers immediately got excited mainly due to the fact that Wan rarely delivers a bad film.
But then things begun to change, the film which was originally believed to be directed by Wan suddenly landed in the hands of first time feature director Simon McQuoid and big names like Vin Diesel and Joel Edgerton who were originally linked to the film had fallen to the way-side. Then in a strange move it was revealed that while Wan had said the film would stay true to the games now the main character would be a fictitious character never even seen in the games.
That newly developed character is Cole Young (Lewis Tan – Deadpool 2) who toils away as a ‘fight club’ MMA fighter not knowing that he is the direct descendant of the legendary ninja Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada – The Wolverine) or the tale of the mystical world that surrounds him.
That all comes to light for him when one night he crosses paths with another fighter, named Jax (Mehcad Brooks – Supergirl), and the two suddenly find themselves under attack by the evil Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim – The Raid: Redemption) who is on a mission to wipe out all of the Earth Realm’s fighters before the next ‘Tournament.’
With Jax staying to fight against Sub-Zero Cole is sent to further his education with the rough and rugged former soldier, Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee – The Meg), and soon they find themselves all having to team up with the very, very Australian Kano (Josh Lawson – Long Story Short) in a bid to stop the evil that is now spilling into the Earth Realm.
The best way to describe Mortal Kombat is that it is a frustrating film. All the makings are there for a good action film and early on things look promising. However, the film falls away with the introduction of Cole and his family – they feel like unnecessary characters and while it feels like they were only introduced so that other characters had to explain the mystical world to someone (so the audience could be enlightened as well) it still feels like a lot of things go unsaid. This is not an easy film for those that haven’t played the games to pick up on although somehow it does still feel like a fun ride.
The fun side of this film is the character of Kano. He gets a majority of the jokes – and most are at the expense of Australians which may or may not work in markets right around the world. Luckily though characters such as Sonya, Liu Kang (Ludi Lin – Power Rangers) and Kung Lao (Max Huang – Time Raiders) are interesting enough… although to be perfectly honest all the characters are interesting other then Cole.
Visually the film looks great and pundits of the game will enjoy the fact that the director and his team pushed the boundaries when it came to the violence and gore but sadly the film trips itself up with a folklore that is really only accessible to fans of the franchise while the film seems to also forget what caused the increased suspense at the start of the film. The opening sequence of the film is clearly influenced by Japanese cinema but all the suspense and tension generated here seems to evaporate once the film becomes ‘Americanised’ and it soon starts to feel like you are actually watching a film from Marvel and DC.
Hopefully if more films are made in this franchise we may actually get to see Wan jump into the director’s chair because with his track record it is easy to see that he could make something very special, sadly though this film is just another mediocre attempt at bringing the games to the big screen.
One of the stars of the new sci-fi thriller Ascendant is actor Jonny Pasvolsky and this week he sat down and had a chat with HEAVY Cinema’s Dave Griffiths about his role in the film.
Ascendant is in cinemas now and you can take a listen to the interview below:
Director Antaine Furlong recently sat down and chatted to Subculture’s Dave Griffiths about his new sci-fi thriller Ascendant which is out in cinemas right now.
You can take a listen to the interview right here:
Watch Loki – the imperious God of Mischief – who, after absconding with the Tesseract, is a fish-out-of-water when he lands in a world of trouble with the bureaucratic TVA (Time Variance Authority) in the brand-new trailer for Marvel Studios’ “Loki.” The all-new, original series debuts exclusively on Disney+ on June 11, 2021.
Marvel Studios’ “Loki” features the God of Mischief as he steps out of his brother’s shadow in a new series that takes place after the events of “Avengers: Endgame.” Tom Hiddleston returns as the title character, joined by Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku and Richard E. Grant. Kate Herron directs “Loki,” and Michael Waldron is head writer.
Summary: Seven rogue soldiers launch a preemptive strike against a newly discovered alien civilization in the hopes of ending an interstellar war before it starts.
Year: 2021
Cinema Release Dates: 11th March 2021 (Australia)
VOD Release Dates: 1st March 2021 (UK), 12th March 2021 (USA)
Country: USA
Director: Edward Drake
Screenwriter: Edward Drake, Corey Large
Cast: Trevor Brotherton (Sam Nolan), Francis Cronin (Holo Sam), Eva De Deominici (Juda Saule), Trevor Gretzky (Felix Zand), Frank Grillo (General Ryle), Adelaide Kane (Fiona Ardene), Robert Laenen (Lt. West), Corey Large (Dash), Everly Large (Victoria), Brandon Thomas Lee (Braxton Ryle), Costas Mandylor (Marcus Bleck), Johnny Messner (Coco), Lochlyn Munro (Alex Locke), CJ Perry (Sol Cantos), Perrey Reeves (Dr. Lea Goss), Sarah May Sommers (Vezza/Lt. Hoyt), Bruce Willis (James Ford), Tabitha Woodman (Nicole (voice))
Summary: A dystopian world where there are no women and all living creatures can hear each other’s thoughts in a stream of images, words, and sounds called Noise.
Year: 2021
Cinema Release Dates: 4th March 2021 (Australia), 11th March 2021 (Thailand), 5th March 2021 (USA)
VOD Release Dates: 2nd April 2021 (UK)
Country: USA, Canada, Hong Kong
Director: Doug Liman
Screenwriter: Christopher Ford, Patrick Ness
Cast: Olunike Adeliyi (Piper), Tyrone Benskin (Hammer), Claudia Besso (Gwen), Demian Bichir (Ben), Tomar Boyd (Farbranch), Bryce Buckbauer (Young Davy), Blane Crockarell (Young Todd), Mylene Dinh-Robic (Julie), Jazzy Ellis (Lilly), Cynthia Erivo (Hildy), Frank Fontaine (Mr Phelps), Patrick Garrow (Ivan), Francois Gauthier (Charlie), Isabelle Giroux (Jenny Hewitt), Bobby Hernandez (Captain Alvarez), Tom Holland (Todd), Oscar Jaenada (Wilf), Nick Jonas (Davy Prentiss Jnr.), Don Jordan (Tam), Vincent Leclerc (Daws), Bethany Anne Lind (Karyssa Hewitt), Ray McKinnon (Matthew), Mads Mikkelsen (Mayor Prentiss), Tara Nicodemo (Tara), Yadi Nieves (Jackie), David Oyelowo (Aaron), Petra Post (Sweet Julie), Julian Richings (Gault), Daisy Ridley (Viola), Peter Seaborn (Caleb), Kurt Sutter (Cillian)
Running Time: 109 mins
Classification: M (Australia), 15 (Thailand), 12-A (UK), PG-13 (USA)
OUR CHAOS WALKING REVIEWS
David Griffiths’ Chaos Walking Review:
Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley! When it comes to pop culture film stars you couldn’t get two bigger. She is the face and main star of the latest batch of Star Wars adventures and he… well he is Spider-Man. The fact that the pair of them have joined forced in a film that very few people know about despite the fact it is in cinemas now is deeply astounding.
With America’s cinemas still out of commission it feels like some films are being released into cinemas without much fanfare and sadly Chaos Walking is one of those. Not just sadly because it means pop culture fans are likely to miss out on two of their favourite stars on the big screen but also sadly because this is one teenage post-apocalyptic movie that is going to appeal to people of all ages.
Set on a planet called New World Chaos Walking finds Todd (Tom Holland – Spider-Man: Far From Home) living in a woman-less society. Raised by Ben (Demian Bichir – The Hateful Eight) and Cillian (Kurt Sutter – Sons Of Anarchy) Todd has been raised to believe that all woman on the planet were killed by an invading army of aliens. Now he spends the days working on the farm, trying to control his Noise (thoughts that can be heard by others) and trying to avoid a mad priest (David Oyelowo – Selma).
Todd’s fathers become worried though when he starts to find favour with the town’s fearless Mayor (Mads Mikkelsen – Another Round) but even that relationship is put to the test when Todd is the person that finds the crashed space-craft of a young woman named Viola (Daisy Ridley – Star Wars: The Force Awakens).
Directed by Doug Liman, the amazing filmmaker who has brought us films like The Bourne Identity and Edge Of Tomorrow, Chaos Walking goes far beyond your average teenage dystopian film and places itself in that elite side of the category that includes films like The Maze Runner and Divergent. Despite knowing the audience that this film is based at there is something edgy about the film. Todd doesn’t mind dropping the odd profanity and when the heroes do find themselves under the threat you know there is a good chance they may not get out of it alive.
The alternative nature of the film also seems to be embraced by the actors. Mads Mikkelsen brings his A-Game as he portrays a menacing Mayor with a world of secrets while the film also exposes a side of the acting of Ridley and Holland that few would have seen before. Many people have wondered whether or not Ridley has what it takes to make a career for herself outside of Star Wars and this is the film that suggests she certainly can.
The same can also be said for Holland. Unlike Ridley though Tom Holland had runs on the board before the franchise that made him a household name. Anyone who watched The Impossible, a film about the tragic Boxing Day tsunami, knew that Holland was going to become a star. Here in Chaos Walking he does what he did last year with The Current War and shows that he is going to be one of Hollywood’s best actors with or without the label of a superhero behind him.
Much of what there is to like about Chaos Walking also comes to the brilliant work of Doug Liman. Just like he did with The Bourne Identity Liman has audiences on the edge of their seat for a majority of the film and this is a film that he had to work hard to make. There were frequent re-writes and re-shoots throughout the film which of course caused major concerns with the busy schedules of the film’s stars so it really is a miracle that this film has ever made it cinemas. Those that love quality films though will be very thankful that it did.
Chaos Walking is one of the surprise hits of 2021. A step above most teenage sci-fi films this is the kind of film that will be embraced by people of all ages and once you have seen it you will be eagerly waiting to see if they decide to make more films in the franchise.
Dave’s rating Out Of 5
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Alex First, Greg King and Peter Krausz’s Chaos Walking Review
Summary: The epic next chapter in the cinematic Monsterverse pits two of the greatest icons in motion picture history against one another – the fearsome Godzilla and the mighty Kong – with humanity caught in the balance.
Year: 2021
Cinema Release Dates: 25th March 2021 (Australia), 25th March 2021 (Thailand), 31st March 2021 (USA)
VOD Release Dates: 1st April 2021 (UK), 31st March 2021 (USA)
Country: USA, Australia, Canada, India
Director: Adam Wingard
Screenwriter: Eric Pearson, Max Borenstein
Cast: Demian Bichir (Walter Simmons), Millie Bobby Brown (Madison Russell), Chris Chalk (Ben), Kyle Chandler (Mark Russell), Ronnie Chieng (Jay Wayne), Julian Dennison (Josh Valentine), Eia Gonzalez (Maya Simmons), Rebecca Hall (Ilene Andrews), Brian Tyree Henry (Bernie Hayes), Kaylee Hottle (Jia), Hakeen Kae-Kazim (Admiral Wilcox), Daniel Nielson (Hayworth), Shaun Oguri (Ren Serizawa), John Pirruccello (Horace), Lance Reddick (Guillerman), Alexsander Skargard (Nathan Lind)
Running Time: 113 mins
Classification: M (Australia), G (Thailand), 12-A (UK), PG-13 (USA)
OUR GODZILA VS KONG REVIEWS
David Griffiths’ Godzilla vs Kong Review:
There is perhaps no bigger way to announce that blockbusters are back in post-COVID cinemas then to let two titans like Godzilla and King Kong go head-to-head. The Godzilla/Kong franchise has bubbled along nicely for Warner Bros over the past seven years and now it roars back to life as the two titans come to some pretty impressive blows in Godzilla vs Kong.
Directed by Adam Wingard (Blair Witch) the film sees the giant creatures go to war after Kong expert Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall – The Town) and her adopted daughter Jia (newcomer Kaylee Hottle) are persuaded by scientist Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgard – The Legend Of Tarzan) to bring Kong out of his protected environment in a bid to help with a scientific discovery that could save humanity.
Meanwhile on the other side of the world the determined Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown – Stranger Things) and her friend Josh Valentine (Julian Dennison – Deadpool 2) have joined forces with conspiracy theorist Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry – Widows) to try and clear Godzilla’s name after it appears that he attacked a city for no apparent reason.
However, once Godzilla realises that Kong is out and in the open he proceeds to attack the giant beast in a bid to become the ‘alpha’ placing the lives of all on Earth at risk.
The plotline of Godzilla vs Kong is pretty thin but of course nobody is going into this film expecting an Oscar-worthy script – no this is a film that is designed to be a visual spectacular and that is certainly the case from start to finish. If you want action then you’ve come to the right place because Godzilla vs Kong delivers it in spades.
The one thing you do very quickly realise with this film is that it is very much a Kong film. The film is largely told through the eyes of those who surround Kong ie. Ilene Andrews, Nathan Lind and Jia, and for the most part Kong is the hero of the tale and Godzilla the villain. That also results in strong storylines developing around those characters and Kong while the interest in the team trying to ‘clear’ Godzilla at times wanes as it is mainly one dimensional.
What saves the film though is the brilliant action sequences that see the two kings of the Monsterverse go head-to-head. To the credit of the filmmakers they don’t hold back on those scenes and the two epic battles are more than enough to fulfil those who criticised Godzilla: King Of Monsters for its lack of action. And yes the rumours are true – both battles easily last longer than 10 minutes on screen each. With some amazing special effects and the brilliant eye of Wingard and cinematographer Ben Seresin (World War Z) these battle sequences come to life in a way that fans of the franchise could only dream they could. They also have the sense not to be cutting away to minor characters during the battles and instead just let the beasts host their own version of Smackdown.
When it comes to the acting side of things you get both good and bad with Godzilla vs Kong. The talented Kyle Chandler (Super 8) feels wasted with his limited screen-time but both Rebecca Hall and Kaylee Hottle shine as the carry most of the ‘human’ side of the film. You expect that someone with the experience of Hall could do that fairly easily but huge credit must be paid for Hottle for doing so. This is the first acting performance for the young hearing-impaired actress and her performance brings back memories of Drew Barrymore in E.T. or Kirsten Dunst in Interview With A Vampire. Like them she never seems to be over-awed by the scale of the film or by the experience of the actors around her and instead she makes her own mark as a star.
Godzilla vs Kong is the kind of film where you are willing to overlook some pretty obvious continuity errors and weak storyline simply because of the amazing special effects and action sequences. While the film is not likely to be an award winner it will certainly win over fans of this franchise with ease.
A new trailer for Marvel Studios’ long-awaited “Black Widow” is available now, showcasing Natasha Romanoff’s struggle to face her past and deal with unfinished business. The action-packed spy thriller will launch in cinemas July 9. Or Order It On Disney+ With Premier Access* July 9, 2021.
Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger. Scarlett Johansson reprises her role as Natasha/Black Widow, Florence Pugh stars as Yelena, David Harbour portrays Alexei/The Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz is Melina. “Black Widow” – the first film in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – is directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Kevin Feige.
