STACK #147 Jan 2017

REVIEWS DVD&BD

Woody's latest serves up 1930's Hollywood. CAFé SOCIETY

Your life is not secure. I.T.

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Release Date: 18/01/17

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Release Date: 05/01/17

Prepare for fidelity, infidelity and low fidelity in Woody Allen’s latest romantic dramedy. Set in the 1930s, it revolves around young Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg, although you just know that he’d be played by Allen if he wasn’t now 81 years old). Tired of jewellery work for his father, he leaves the Big Apple for the glitziness of Hollywood. He’s given odd jobs by his uncle Phil (Steve Carell), who’s a big wheel down at the movie factory, and instantly falls for his pretty but unpretentious secretary, Vonnie (Kristen Stewart). She

As technology moves quicker than the Road Runner with one of Wile E Coyote’s rockets lodged firmly up its clacker, it can be difficult to keep up with associated security concerns. That’s why you need an IT guy (or, of course, gal). Aviation tycoon Mike Regan (Pierce Brosnan) knows this well, so when IT guru Ed Porter (Aussie James Frecheville) helps save an important business meeting from completely glitching out, he thinks he’s found his perfect geek. He even lets him check the internet in his super-connected smart home, which his daughter keeps whining about being

has a boyfriend, but they make for great pals. Naturally feelings grow and one heck of a bizarre love triangle soon comes into play. Very much a Woody Allen flick – jazz, neuroses, jazz, family dynamics, jazz – Café Society may not be Manhattan , but it’s definitely L.A. AF

slow. But when Ed subsequently tries to inveigle his way into the Regans’ personal lives, and Mike shuts him down, our computer-savvy boffin becomes anything but user friendly. A distracting techno-thriller, I.T. serves as a reminder to NEVER piss off your IT person. AF

BARBERSHOP: THE NEXT CUT

THE NEON DEMON

CARNAGE PARK

THE CONFIRMATION

Release Date: 04/01/17 Format:

Release Date: 18/01/17 Format:

Release Date: 18/01/17 Format:

Release Date: 11/01/17 Format:

12 years is a long time, and much has changed both inside and outside Calvin’s Barbershop since we last caught up. The titular proprietor (Ice Cube) has allowed the former man cave to go unisex, with Angie (Regina Hall) moving her salon right on in. But times in the ’hood are hard, so the cutting crew must band together to help save the shop and their community... With all the original major cast returning, plus the addition of names such as Common and Nicki Minaj, we could say that this long-awaited threequel is a cut above – and we will! Thought-provoking and genuinely funny, it’s worth making an appointment with. AF

Suspiria meets Mulholland Drive in Nicolas Winding Refn's über stylish slice of hipster horror. A fashion house giallo set in a sinister L.A., Elle Fanning stars as the doe-eyed ingenue who has "that thing" required to make it big in the cutthroat modelling business. That's if she can survive sleazy photographers, a scumbag hotel owner (Keanu Reeves), and her jealous peers (Jena Malone and Bella Heathcote) who want to devour her glamour – literally, given eating disorders include cannibalism. Refn assaults the viewer with hypnotic and surreal visuals at the expense of narrative and pacing, but at least it's a feast for the eyeballs. SH

Deliverance meets 1970s exploitation by way of Quentin Tarantino in this horror/thriller mash-up from Mickey Keating, the guy behind Pod and Darling . It all begins with a botched bank job, a gunshot wound and a hasty escape to the middle of nowhere. Or, more specifically, the middle of a property owned by one Wyatt Moss (Pat Healy), an ex-military sniper and certifiable yokel sicko. Bullets fly, blood spurts and our heroine, Vivian (Ashley Bell), appears, having been kidnapped and jammed in the boot by the wannabe bank robbers. So begins a cat and mouse game between Wyatt and Vivian with only one thing missing – banjos! AF

Alcoholic carpenter Walt (Clive Owen) is called upon to look after his eight-year-old son when his ex-wife and new beau are heading off on a Catholic retreat. Anthony’s a good kid who’s being indoctrinated in the ways of religion. Walt? Well, not so much. As their first day together careens from bad to worse – a broken down pickup, an eviction notice, a valuable toolbox required for a much- needed job stolen – something good actually happens, as hunting for the tools leads to much father and son bonding, even if the squeaky clean Anthony does pretty much break every commandment ever written along the way! AF

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