STACK #250 August 2025

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The Accountant 2 is out on physical media this month, and with director Gavin O’Connor back at the wheel, this is no simple by-the numbers affair, but rather a clever and gripping action thriller with underlying themes of family, reconciliation, and neurodiversity. Let’s take a look at three of O’Connor’s distinct trademarks. Fractured family Sibling-hood and themes of fractured families are recurring motifs in O’Connor’s work. Before The Accountant , he told powerful stories of family ties and broken relationships in his films Warrior , The Way Back and Tumbleweeds , depicting emotional trauma with powerful earnestness. Naturalistic style O’Connor isn’t big on flashy visuals. His style leans towards a more natural and grounded aesthetic. Think muted colour palettes, handheld camerawork that gets up close during the heavier emotional moments, and tight, intense fight scenes (the final act of Warrior is a prime example). Masculinity and emotional repression O’Connor’s stories usually centre on men dealing with some kind of emotional baggage, be it alcoholism in The Way Back , childhood trauma in Warrior , or PTSD in The Accountant . These characters are often carrying the weight of something they can’t quite talk about, and that struggle with vulnerability sits right at the heart of their journey. GAVIN O’CONNOR

AUGUST

The Land Before Time . I used to watch that all the time, and I recently rewatched it. That movie is far too sad at times for a kids’ movie, though it explains why I like the movies I do now. What’s one of your all-time favourite movies, and why? Aftersun . It’s such a beautifully shot, directed, and acted movie about a father and daughter on vacation. It’s a slow movie, but it captures something I’ve not seen in anything else. It’s a deeply empathetic movie for both children and parents, I think. What’s one of your all-time favourite TV series, and why? The Haunting of Hill House . I’m a huge fan of anything Mike Flanagan does, and how he manages to combine horror and heart so well. It’s also one of the scariest shows I’ve watched. What have you been watching lately that you’d recommend? I recently re-watched Children of Men . It’s a movie with several sequences that might be some of the best-shot in cinema. Beautiful cinematography throughout.

’ s ROVING REPORTER

CAMERON BOYS @ JB Narellea, NSW

What’s the best thing about working at JB? Getting to share my passion for movies and music with customers. There’s nothing better than recommending a movie to a customer then having them come back to chat about it!

FUN FACT

What’s a movie you saw as a child that has left a lasting impression on you?

The movies E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Poltergeist originated from the same original script before Steven Spielberg developed them into two separate stories.

QUIZ

Q3 Name the Academy Award winning short in which Laurel and Hardy struggle getting a piano up a flight of steps. Q4 Ava Gardner was one of the wives of which eight times married movie actor? Q5 Whose first film as a bona-fide director was titled The Pleasure Garden ? Q6 Francis Ford Coppola cast his daughter Sofia as Michael Corleone’s

daughter in The Godfather Part III, but what role did she play in The Godfather ? Q7 Which war drama was the first movie to win an Academy Award for ‘Best Picture’? Q8 Who played Achilles in the 2004 movie Troy ? Q9 In the movie Casablanca, what was the name of the pianist? Q10 Who played the title role in William Wellman’s 1944 biopic Buffalo Bill ?

Enid Blyton’s beloved children’s book The Magic Faraway Tree is being brought to life on the big screen by the creative team behind Paddington 2 and Wonka . Starring Claire Foy and Andrew Garfield, the story follows a family who relocate to the British countryside, only to discover an enchanted tree that leads IN DEVELOPMENT to strange and wonderful worlds. With its mix of whimsy and wonder, the adaptation promises to charm audiences of all ages. And if successful, it could open the door to film versions of the remaining four books in Blyton’s classic series.

Q1 Which two actresses tied for the ‘Best Actress’ Oscar for the very first time in the history of the Academy Awards? Q2 Who was the first non human to win an Academy Award?

JULY 2025 (Issue 249) ANSWERS - A1. 8 in number. Frontier Marshall (1939), Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die (1942), My Darling Clementine (1946), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Hour of the Gun (1967), Doc (1971), Tombstone (1993) , Wyatt Earp (1994) A2. Pinocchio A3. Diana Ross A4. Crazy Heart A5. Leslie A6. Morgan Freeman A7. Cabaret (1972) A8. Keanu Reeves A9. The Carpet Baggers (1968) A10. Gone with the Wind (1939)

24 AUGUST 2025

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