STACK #153 Jul 2017

REVIEWS CINEMA

CARS 3

ALSO SCREENING IN JULY

RELEASED: June 22 DIRECTOR: Brian Fee CAST: Owen Wilson, Armie Hammer, Nathan Fillion RATING: G

Lightning McQueen and Pixar face stiff competition.

Pixar are having a midlife crisis – and they’ve decided to share it with us. Well, the plot of the visually unsurpassed Cars 3 could easily be taken that way. Lightning McQueen (Wilson) is busy doing his thing – winning races – until, well, he isn’t. There’s a new breed of racer in town, using technology and crunched numbers to gain an advantage and win those shiny cups. Jackson Storm (Hammer) is fast (literally) becoming the new king of the racing ring, and McQueen isn’t sure how to deal. His sponsors have a plan though, selling out to mudflap money man (and number 95 fan) Sterling (Fillion), who builds an institute to train up-and-

coming racers – and (ostensibly) help Lightning McQueen regain a competitive edge. It’s here that our fave red racer is allotted a trainer in Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo). They do the initial rub- each-other-the-wrong-way thing, eventually bond after a few drives along the beach, and go on to inspire each other to reach greater heights. In particular, Cruz dreamed of being a racer, not a trainer. Can she find some dream fulfilment? Essentially Cars 3 is a Rocky movie, just with more stickers. The ageing champ is on his way out, a new breed is coming through, the older guy doesn’t want to quit, but he needs to find a way to compete... Should he continue on, or realise that his competitive days are over and mentor the next generation? The allegory with Pixar’s situation should be obvious – other studios such as Illumination and Blue Sky are invading their formerly unique kid/ adult space, and claiming it for their own with some truly superb animated fare. With several emotionally-resonant adult themes running through its fuel lines, Cars 3 is a very good movie. We’re just not sure it’s necessarily a very good kids’ movie. Amy Flower arrests. With his bling growing in proportion to his success, Tupac emerges as a young man driven by a resolute desire to change the world, imbued at an early age by a stepfather with revolutionary ideals. It's a life story related to a journalist while Tupac is doing time in '95, but this superfluous framing device is dispensed with following his release and subsequent signing with the portentously named Death Row Records – an association that would propel him to superstardom and music immortality. Committed newcomer Demetrius Shipp Jr. attempts to give us Tupac and not a performance, but it's more his physical resemblance that sells it. The standout here is Danai Gurira as his volatile, activist mother, channelling Viola Davis, Alfre Woodard, and her Walking Dead character Miccone into a fiery combination. At two hours and twenty minutes, All Eyez on Me is certainly thorough in presenting the facts surrounding this hip hop icon, but it never truly gets under the skin of its subject. When Tupac is sentenced to 18 months for sexual assault, he berates the judge for not once looking him in the eye and seeing the person, the man, behind the lyrics and gangsta lifestyle. It's an accusation that can also be levelled at this film. Scott Hocking

Following his introduction in Captain America: Civil War , young Peter Parker (Tom Holland) balances school and learning the superheroic ropes from his mentor, Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr). Then there's bad guy The Vulture (Michael Keaton), who's scavenging old Avengers bits and bobs to create new weapons. The good news is we won't see Uncle Ben die... again! Slinging webs on July 6 . (See page 8) SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

The latest from Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright embroils talented young getaway driver Ansel Elgort in a doomed heist. Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm and Kevin Spacey are also along for the ride on July 13 . (See page 12) BABY DRIVER

ALL EYEZ ON ME

RELEASED: June 15 DIRECTOR: Benny Boom CAST: Demetrius Shipp Jr., Danai Gurira, Kat Graham RATING: MA15+

Just the facts on 2Pac.

Tupac Shakur – or 2Pac – was one of the prime exponents of hip hop during the 1990s, enjoying phenomenal success and multi-platinum album sales before his death in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, aged 25. Taking its title from Tupac's fourth studio album, this sprawling biopic from director Benny Boom charts the rapper and sometime actor's rise from his turbulent youth and formative years performing with Digital Underground, to a controversial solo career full of incendiary lyrics, accusations of misogyny, and multiple

Interstellar director Christopher Nolan returns to earth for the story of the 1940 evacuation of Allied soldiers from the titular French city by the British. Spitfires take flight on July 20 . DUNKIRK

"I did not start this war. I fight only to protect apes." It's Caesar vs. Woody Harrelson's crazed Colonel in the third (and possibly final) chapter in the new Apes saga. Will it all end with the Statue of Liberty buried in the sand and some Chuck Heston-like rage? Find out on July 27 . WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES

017