STACK #150 Apr 2017

DVD&BD REVIEWS

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An English wizard in New York. FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

Release Date: OUT NOW Format:

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DVD & BD EXTRAS

Characters: The Magizoologist Meet the Fantastic Beasts

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Before Harry Potter: A New Era of Magic Begins! Meet the Creatures Featurettes

- Bowtruckle - Demiguise - Erumpent - Niffler - Occamy - Thunderbird Design Featurettes - Shaping the World of Fantastic Beasts - New York City - Newt’s Magical Case - The Shaw Banquet - The Blind Pig

Try to cast your mind back to when Harry Potter wasn’t a household name. That may be challenging for us, but back in the mid-1920s it was simple, for the bespectacled wiz kid wasn’t even a glint in his parents’ eyes, as they too didn’t exist. Anyway, attentive HP fans will recognise the title of J.K. Rowling’s screenwriting debut, for it was a Hogwarts

textbook. Now we meet its author, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). He’s a British magizoologist who’s visiting New York on his way to Arizona. He spends much more time in the Big Apple than intended, however, when a shiny thing-obsessed Niffler – a sort of echidna/duck remix – escapes his clutches. But bigger things are afoot as a darkness tears up the town. With disgraced auror Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), her

Legilimens (at the risk of upsetting Snape, that’s mind- reading) sister Queenie and No-Maj (that’s American for ‘Muggle’) wannabe baker Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) in tow, Newt becomes embroiled in a gathering storm between the magical and non-magical worlds... and baked goods! Potterphiles will love this wild, fantastical adventure, as will anybody else in possession of a vivid imagination and lust for escapism. AF (See page 24)

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Limited Edition Steelbook

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone FURTHER VIEWING

Rebellions are built on hope. ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY

Release Date: 05/04/17

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A Rogue Idea Jyn: The Rebel Cassian: The Spy Baze & Chirrut: Guardians of the Whills Bodhi & Saw: The Pilot & The Revolutionary The Empire Visions of Hope: The Look of Rogue One The Princess & The Governor Epilogue: The Story Continues Limited Edition Steelbook with Bonus DVD containing extra material: - Inside the Creature Shop - Digital Storytelling

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Expanding five lines from A New Hope ’s crawl into a spin-off feature (and you thought The Hobbit Trilogy was ambitious), Rogue One tells a Star Wars story we sort of know already – the theft of the Death Star plans by the Rebel Alliance. It all hinges on info imparted by the Imperial battle station’s designer, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), whose daughter Jyn (Felicity Jones)

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discovers her father has built an inherent weakness into the Death Star which the Rebels can exploit. Leading a mission to the planet Scarif, where the Empire’s archives are kept, Jyn and the Rebels face opposition from the Death Star’s head of security, Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), who answers to a certain Imperial Governor we’ve met before... Closer in tone to WWII films like The Guns of Navarone than A New Hope ,

Rogue One is undeniably grim for a Star Wars film – even more so than The Empire Strikes Back . Director Gareth Edwards ensures the look matches the 1977 original and shoots the relentless battle scenes – AT-AT ground assaults and TIE fighter/X-wing dogfights – with the undisguised glee of a fanboy in his dream job. The Force Awakens was a worthy Star Wars sequel, and Rogue One is the first worthy prequel. SH (See page 26)

FURTHER VIEWING

Star Wars: A New Hope

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APRIL 2017

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