STACK #123 Jan 2015

DVD&BD

ED’S DESK

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CHRISTINE DISC of the month:

H appy New Year. With Christmas festivities and NY Eve hangovers gradually diminishing, it’s time to head in to JB Hi-Fi to redeem all those gift vouchers that Santa brought you. With a plethora of blockbuster releases and collectible box sets already on the shelves, you’ll be spoiled for choice. And while January is traditionally a quieter month release-wise (hence this rather streamlined issue you’re holding), there are still a number of great titles being added to the summer range. Hell hath no fury like Brad Pitt’s ‘Wardaddy’, his band of brothers and a Sherman tank, as the Germans discover in the World War II action-thriller Fury . With a strong focus on character, period detail, and intense combat sequences that recall the verisimilitude of Saving Private Ryan , Fury is one of the must-see movies this month. The Maze Runner continues the trend of adapting young adult bestsellers into profitable film franchises, although this one’s more in the tradition of Lord of the Flies than the dystopian futures of The Hunger Games and Divergent . Then there is The Giver , a standalone YA adventure (and school reading list fixture) whose future society and manipulation of memory will remind many of The Matrix and Logan’s Run . And for pre-teens, The Boxtrolls is a quintessentially British, delightfully macabre and beautifully animated adventure from the studio who brought us Coraline and ParaNorman . Sin City: A Dame to Kill For delivers four more Frank Miller stories, and more eye candy – and I don’t just mean the dame of the title, played by Eva Green. The striking black and white cinematography and graphic novel aesthetic of the first film has been taken to a whole new level, thanks to the addition of 3D. There are some exciting new additions and changes planned for STACK in 2015, which will make your favourite magazine even better. Stay tuned...

An oldie bit a goodie this month. John Carpenter’s 1983 adaptation of Stephen King’s bestseller ranks amongst the best killer car movies, but it’s also a coming-of-age/

revenge tale in a similar mould to the author’s own Carrie . This time the bullied geek, Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon), makes his tormentors pay by turning them into roadkill with his possessed, driverless Plymouth Fury, which also has remarkable regenerative powers. And it looks great on Blu- ray for a film that’s now over 30 years old. I’ve always maintained that one of the best ways to judge a good HD transfer is to look for the finer details in facial features (pores, stubble, etc) and cars (colour, chrome). Needless to say Christine (the film and car) satisfies this criteria, and Carpenter’s signature synth score adds aural sting. Australia has been particularly lucky to get this cool catalogue title on Blu-ray: in the US it was only available as a limited edition of 3,000, which sold out via pre-orders in about an hour. You can find copies on eBay for the same price Arnie paid for the car in the movie, or you can pick it up from JB Hi-Fi for around $16, or as part of a 2 for $20 deal until 18 January 2015.

ON MY TO-WATCH STACK So much to view, so little time ... Gone Girl Saw this cracking

A Walk Among the Tombstones A hard-boiled detective noir with murder, drug trafficking, depravity,

Boyhood Richard Linklater’s coming-of-age tale, shot over 12 years, lets the viewer watch star Ellar Coltrane literally grow up in front of the camera.

Tusk Michael Parks turns Justin Long into a walrus in Kevin Smith’s new horror- comedy. WTF? An instant must-see.

thriller at the cinema, and can’t wait to watch it again. If you haven’t seen it yet, avoid any plot spoilers at all costs!

and Liam Neeson. Grave stuff indeed.

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