Australian Penthouse

Directors: Larry Charles
Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley, Jason Mantzoukas, Anna Faris
Paramount Pictures

SACHA Baron Cohen’s personalised brand of ‘love it or hate it’ humour has come a long way since the street-not-so-wise antics of his retired Ali G character. With The Dictator, the raw social-commentary humour offered by the likes of Borat and Brüno has been somewhat organised thanks to the presence of fully scripted events.

That’s not to say that Cohen’s General Aladeen character is always on script, though, with many lines that seem to come off the cuff; sometimes to the point where the supporting cast momentarily drop character along with their jaws.

If you thought that Borat or Brüno were offensive, nothing has changed to make Cohen’s in-your-face comedy antics more accessible. In fact, if anything, The Dictator has the most potential to offend out of any of Cohen’s previous clownish personas. The chances are good, though, that you’re reading this review to see if The Dictator can hold up to the consistent laughs of Borat or Brüno.

The answer is, yes and no. The Dictator falls flat in some of the sequences that come across as though Cohen and co have stuck too closely to what’s scripted and, thus, what doesn’t come naturally to this type of comedy. But when General Aladeen is firing on all naively offensive cylinders, The Dictator reaps some of the biggest laughs out of his films to date.

Plot is light in the form of General Aladeen attempting to keep the ‘scourge’ of democracy out of his beloved dictatorship in the fictional Republic of Wadiya. Aladeen is forced to travel to America to address rumours that he’s constructing a nuclear weapon. As would be imagined, the lens that Aladeen sees the world through doesn’t quite match up to the freedom-loving values of the US of A.

While there are several genuinely hilarious cameos that would be spoiled by calling out, it’s the main supporting characters—Tamir (Kingsley), Zoey (Faris) and Nadal (Mantzoukas )—that help keep the energy high and provide Cohen with plenty of complementary comedic strength to bounce off.

Faris does a solid job of playing Aladeen’s love interest Zoey, which includes the return of her patented wide-mouthed shock face. Mantzoukas offers solid comedic chemistry with Cohen that makes their shared scenes hilarious, but it’s Kingsley’s straight-man Tamir that takes the cake, if only because it’s so odd seeing him in such a ridiculous film and somehow managing to keep a straight face throughout the madness.

After the comedic dust settles, The Dictator stands as a film that will solidify your existing feelings towards Sacha Baron Cohen’s outlandish chracters. If you don’t find him funny, you’ll probably find him less funny after you leave the cinema. If you love his style of boundary-pushing humour, though, the chances are good that you’ll love The Dictator and should find more laughs in it than any other comedy released this year.

THE DICTATOR is in cinemas now.

Review: Nathan Lawrence

To celebrate the release of Call Me Fitz: The Complete First Season on DVD, we are giving you the chance to win a copy! Thanks to BBC Worldwide and Hopscotch Entertainment, Australian Penthouse is offering 10 readers the chance to win a copy of Call Me Fitz: The Complete First Season, valued at $39.95 RRP each.

CREATOR: Sheri Elwood
STARS: Jason Priestley, Ernie Grunwald, Donavon Stinson, Peter MacNeill, Tracy Dawson
Hopscotch Entertainment

THE SHOW
Set almost entirely in a used car dealership, Call Me Fitz is a show about a handsome substance abusing, low life (Jason Priestley: Beverly Hills, 90210) who torments his naive co-workers, sleeps with any woman who has a pulse and thinks his life is perfect. This is comedy. This is drama. This is a portrait of a guy who slept in the day they were handing out the conscience gene. Fitz makes us cringe; yet we can’t look away. Guys admire his bravado and women want to rescue him. But this time, Fitz has gone one step too far… In an attempt to secure his long standing hold on “Salesman of the Year” Fitz takes a potential customer for a test drive which puts her in a coma. The accident itself unleashes something in Fitz: the last unblemished corner of his damaged soul, Larry, Fitz’ ‘conscience’- or so he says when he shows up on the Fitzpatrick lot intent on rehabilitating Fitz’s battered psyche. Bleak, black, twisted, Call Me Fitz is an existential buddy comedy that follows a working stiff anti-hero who’s forced, each and every day, to battle hilariously with his inner conscience – then share a desk with him. At the heart of this show, lays the eternal question: can a man really change? But more importantly, do we really want him to?

(Check out the July issue of Australian Penthouse magazine for our review of Call Me Fitz: The Complete First Season.)

THE PRIZE
10 x Call Me Fitz: The Complete First Season DVDs ($39.95 RRP each, total prize value $399.50).

THE COMPETITION
To be in the running to win one of 10 x Call Me Fitz: The Complete First Season DVDs, answer the question, “What’s the most unethical thing you’ve ever thought up, and how did you stop yourself from doing it?” in 25 words or less.

Your Name
 

Your Email address
 

Your home address

Question “What’s the most unethical thing you’ve ever thought up, and how did you stop yourself from doing it?”

TERMS & CONDITIONS:

Game of Skill
Competition commences on 16/05/12 and concludes on 13/06/12 at 12:00pm. Entry is open to all residents of Australia and New Zealand, but excludes all employees of Australian Penthouse. Entrants must provide their name, address and contact details and an answer to the question, “What’s the most unethical thing you’ve ever thought up, and how did you stop yourself from doing it?” in 25 words or less. This is a Game of Skill which contains no element of chance, and which will be judged by members of the Australian Penthouse staff on 13/06/12. Ten winners will receive 1 x Call Me Fitz: The Complete First Season DVDs, as detailed above. The promoters take no responsibility for lost or misdirected entries, and no correspondence will be entered into.

To celebrate the theatrical release of That’s My Boy, we are giving you the chance to win tickets! Thanks to Sony Pictures, Australian Penthouse is offering 10 readers the chance to win a double pass to That’s My Boy, valued at $36 RRP each. Continue reading “WIN! Double passes to That’s My Boy” »

Thanks to BBC Home Entertainment, Australian Penthouse is offering 5 readers the chance to win a copy of Mad Dogs on DVD, valued at RRP $29.95 each.

Continue reading “WIN! Mad Dogs on DVD” »

Director: Boaz Yakin
Stars: Jason Statham, Catherin Chan, Robert John Burke, Chris Sarandon, James Hong
Icon Films

JASON Statham certainly has had a chequered career. For every memorable moment in The Bank Job, Snatch, The Italian Job or Rogue Assassin there are equally disappointing backslides such as In the Name of the King, Blitz and Killer Elite. It’s hard to find your groove as an action hero, but with The Expendables 2 looming on the horizon and an engaging and brutal performance in Boaz Yakin’s Safe Statham looks like he is on the comeback trail.

Writer/director Boaz Yakin returns to the director’s chair with an uncompromising and harsher take on street justice in Safe. Yakin is no stranger to the genre penning the Dolph Lundgren vehicle The Punisher, the Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen buddy cop team up The Rookie and more recently Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Safe may be his best offering yet.

Luke Wright (Statham) is an ex-special forces operative who ekes out a sorry existence. Haunted by a mistake that cost him everything he loved and hounded by the Russian Mob, he is forced to live on the streets with anyone who gets close to him paying a terrible price. Mei (Chan), a child prodigy and mathematical genius, suffers a similar fate. Her talent for recognising numerical patterns and uncanny memory has forced her into service as a living accounts record for the Triads.

When Triad boss Han Jiao (Hong) gives Mei a specific code to memorise, she realises it is actually the combination to a safe containing 30 million dollars. Fearing for her life she escapes and becomes the focal point of a citywide hunt with the Triads, the Russian Mob and a contingent of corrupt cops tearing apart New York to find her and claim the money for themselves. Crossing paths with Wright on the subway provides the catalyst to snap Wright into action as he protects the diminutive girl genius from the criminal elements hot on her trail.

With shades of Luc Besson’s Leon, Safe is a wild and often incredibly violent ride with an economy of dialogue and in your face viscerally shot sequences. Statham is at his best here brooding menacingly, delivering bone crunching fight scenes, classic one-liners and even the occasional convincing emotional moment on his road to redemption. Chan provides a softer counterpoint showing maturity far beyond her years and the two work surprisingly well together. Chris Sarandon (Fright Night) and James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China) are perfectly cast foils and while neither break a sweat in their roles they do play their parts rather well with an air of menace and detached indifference.

Safe is entertaining, excessively violent, has a solid extended cast and some beautifully unexpected poignant moments. Statham’s brutality evokes images of a young Steven Seagal to leave the action junkies thoroughly satisfied, while the softer moments between Statham and Chan give the film balance and broader appeal. Safe is a great return to form for Statham and bodes extremely well for his future in the action genre.

SAFE is in cinemas 10 May, 2012.

Review: Dave Kozicki

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS:

M. Gillies, Salisbury Downs SA
C. Ward, Morwell Vic
S. Pech, Port Lincoln SA
M. Barclay, Ringwood Vic
N. Rock, Morphett Vale SA

Continue reading “WINNERS! An Idiot Abroad 2 on DVD” »

Thanks to Warner Home Entertainment, Australian Penthouse is offering 10 readers the chance to win a copy of True Blood: The Complete Fourth Season on Blu-ray or DVD, valued at RRP $69.95 and $59.95, respectively.

True Blood: The Complete Fourth Season
Cast: Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgård, Sam Trammell
Director: various
Warner Home Entertainment

True Blood: The Complete Fourth Season reveals a new supernatural force in Bon Temps and a fresh pot of trouble for Sookie and the town’s residents. Sookie becomes embroiled in a love triangle and tangles with a charismatic witch; Lafayette, Tara and Jesus are tempted by otherworldly powers; Jessica attempts to adjust to domestic life, while Jason finds himself alone in werepanther territory, and Alcide becomes ensnared by an old flame. As alliances crumble and new relationships form, nobody is safe when there’s magic in the air.

Blu-ray and DVD editions include the full 12-episode season plus extensive bonus materials, including exclusive interviews and never-before-seen content.

Special Features include: True Blood Enhanced Viewing: Dive deeper into the world of Bon Temps with True Blood. Enhanced Viewing (Blu-ray only). 14 Character Perspectives: Find out the backstory of what happened in Bon Temps while Sookie was missing in Faerielan, and get the scoop on characters including: Andy, Arlene, Crysta, Debbie, Don Bartolo, Godric, Jason, Lafayette, Luna, Maxine, Melinda, Nan, Pam, Tara (Blu-ray only). Character Bios, Vampire Histories, Hints, FYIs, Flashback, Flash Forward (Blu-ray only). True Blood Lines: Uncover secrets from relationships past and present in this engaging, fully interactive guide and archive (Blu-ray only).  Seamless Play: A disc-to-disc seamless menu system that provides a complete season viewing experience (Blu-ray only). Inside The Episodes: Get the backstories on every episode with revealing interviews with the show writers. True Blood: The Final Touches: Alan Ball reveals an exclusive, never-before seen glimpse into the post production process of True Blood. Audio Commentaries: Six Audio Commentaries with cast and crew, including Alan Ball, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgård, Deborah Ann Woll, Sam Trammell, Fiona Shaw, and many more.

True Blood: The Complete Fourth Season is available on Blu-ray or DVD from May 23, 2012.

THE COMPETITION

To be in the running to win one of 10 copies of Warner Home Entertainment’s True Blood: The Complete Fourth Season on Blu-ray or DVD, answer the following question: “Tell us where you draw the line when it comes to ethics, and why,” in 25 words or less.

Your Name
 

Your Email address
 

Your home address

Question “Other than vampires who are society’s biggest blood-suckers, and why,”

TERMS & CONDITIONS:

Game of Skill

Competition commences on 09/05/12 and concludes on 06/06/12 at 12:00pm. Entry is open to all residents of Australia aged 18 and over, but excludes all employees of Australian Penthouse. Entrants must provide their contact details, proof of age (driver’s license or passport), preferred prize format, and an answer to the question “Other than vampires who are society’s biggest blood-suckers, and why,” in 25 words or less.  This is a Game of Skill which contains no element of chance, and which will be judged by members of the Australian Penthouse staff on 06/06/12. Ten winners will receive one copy of True Blood: The Complete Fourth Season on Blu-ray or DVD, as detailed above. Prizes will be mailed to winners at the address nominated in their entries. The promoters take no responsibility for lost or misdirected entries, and no correspondence will be entered into.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS!

A. McCarthy, Melbourne VIC
R. Jordan, Melbourne VIC
F. Reynolds, Tingalpa QLD
C. Clarke, Diddillibah QLD
L. Tugwell, Murray Bridge SA

Thanks to BBC Worldwide/Roadshow Home Entertainment, Australian Penthouse is offering five readers the chance to win a Season Two DVD prize pack of original British TV detective series, Luther, valued at $39.95 each. Continue reading “WINNERS! Luther Series 2 on DVD” »

Thanks to BBC Home Entertainment, Australian Penthouse is offering five readers the chance to win a copy of gritty British crime series The Shadow Line on DVD, valued at RRP $49.95 each.

The Shadow Line
Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Christopher Eccleston, Rafe Spall, Antony Sher, Stephen Rea
Director: Hugo Blick
BBC Home Entertainment

The Shadow Line is a seven-part British television drama series about the investigation of a gangland murder by both sides of the law, the enforcers and the perpetrators, and the methods each utilises to solve it.

However the real shadow line is one of ethics, morality and honour and the decision each man must make about who he is.

The series begins with police discovering the body of recently released drug boss Harvey Wratten shot to death in the back of a car. Just hours earlier, Wratten had been released from jail via a royal pardon for undisclosed reasons.

Investigating the murder is DI Jonah Gabriel (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a Scotland Yard detective recently returned to active duty following the death of his partner, who was killed in action, and Jonah’s recuperation from what should have been a fatal head injury.

Wratten’s assassination results in Joseph Bede (Christopher Eccleston) thrust into the role of boss of the drug smuggling operation. Bede begins an investigation into Wratten’s death and the whereabouts of the cartel’s money man, the mysterious Glickman (Antony Sher), while also having to contend with Wratten’s psychotic nephew, Jay (Rafe Spall).

THE COMPETITION

To be in the running to win one of five copies of BBC series The Shadow Line on DVD, answer the following question: “Tell us where you draw the line when it comes to ethics, and why,” in 25 words or less.

Your Name
 

Your Email address
 

Your home address

Question “Tell us where you draw the line when it comes to ethics, and why,”

TERMS & CONDITIONS:

Game of Skill

Competition commences on 03/05/12 and concludes on 31/05/12 at 12:00pm. Entry is open to all residents of Australia, but excludes all employees of Australian Penthouse. Entrants must provide their contact details and an answer to the question “Tell us where you draw the line when it comes to ethics, and why,” in 25 words or less. This is a Game of Skill which contains no element of chance, and which will be judged by members of the Australian Penthouse staff on 31/05/12. Five winners will receive one copy of The Shadow Line on DVD, as detailed above. Prizes will be mailed to winners at the address nominated in their entries. The promoters take no responsibility for lost or misdirected entries, and no correspondence will be entered into.

To celebrate the release of Knuckle on DVD, we are giving you the chance to win a copy! Thanks to Hopscotch Entertainment, Australian Penthouse is offering 10 readers the chance to win a copy of the Irish bare-knuckle-fighting documentary, Knuckle, valued at $29.95 RRP each. Continue reading “WIN! Knuckle on DVD” »