STACK #151 May 2017

YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CINEMA, DVDs, GAMES & MUSIC

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Contributors

Founder Nic Short Editor-in-Chief Paul Jones Film & DVD Editor Scott Hocking

Music Editor Zoë Radas StaffWriter Alesha Kolbe Creative Directors Justin Buxton, Michelle Black DVD Consultant Kerrie Taylor Games Consultant Andre Eivik Music Consultants Mike Glynn, Fleur Parker Contributors Savannah Douglas, Graham Reid, Gill Pringle, John Ferguson, Michael Dwyer, Jeff Jenkins, Simon Lukic, Chris Murray, Billy Pinnell, Denise Hylands, Simon Winkler, Adam Colby, Tim Lambert, Jake Cleland, Holly Pereira Social Media Manager Sally Carlier-Hull Production Manager Craig Patterson Accounts Coordinator Tracy Kingman Chief Contributors Bob Jones , Amy Flower

Issue 151 MAY 2017

WELCOME Over the summer, my family visited from the UK. While we only catch up once every two years, my Father and I always set aside time to lock ourselves away and watch a handful of classic movies together. Shane and The Wild Bunch are traditionally the first two on the list before we sift through the shelves for other suggestions. A conversation drifted on to John Ford’s The Searchers ; a film I mistakenly thought I owned. One trip to Melbourne’s Elizabeth Street JB Hi-Fi later, and I was walking out with it on Blu-ray. I’m regularly astounded at how comprehensive JB’s catalogue selection is and whenever I’ve needed to add a classic film to the home collection, I’ve generally been able to. While I accept that not everyone shares a similar passion for the classics, it’s heartening to know that they are readily available and easily accessible for those who do. In a market that’s now primarily driven by blockbuster new releases and TV box sets, classic catalogue titles tend to be marginalised. But let’s not forget there are generations of viewers out there who have yet to discover the majesty of a John Ford western, the visual par excellence of Lawrence of Arabia, and the charm of Casablanca . It’s important that these films remain vital and relevant, and continue to be handed down. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a home where viewing the classics ranked alongside enjoying contemporary cinema – a tradition I’ve carried over to my family today. Paul Jones, Editor-in-Chief

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Issue 151

MAy 2017

10-12 NEWS The top selling DVDs and Blu-rays for 2016 revealed. Universal Horror classics on Blu-ray – exclusively at JB Hi-Fi! And Goldie Hawn is back, after more than a decade’s absence – all it took was a special invitation from comedy superstar Amy Schumer. 22-23 BOB J. A new golden age of Hollywood dawns. Change is in the air, and in the Age of Aquarius, new movies for a new audience encounter resistance from Hollywood’s strict production code. 42 GIVEAWAYS Your chance to win Baywatch movie passes, Lion and La La Land prize-packs, and more. Extras Pages 10, 12, 22, 23, 42

Cinema Pages 14–20

DVD & BD Pages 24–41

Music (From back) Pages 1–23

Games Pages 43-60

5-12 NEWS + INTERVIEWS We spoke to Pond, Bad// Dreems, Sheryl Crow, Amy Shark, L.A. Takedown and MadcDeMarco about their brand new releases, plus we look at the fresh work of Gorillaz, Diana Krall and Paul Weller. 14-15 SAN CISCO The third album from childhood friends San Cisco has emerged from the ocean, and she’s a shiny pop beauty. We spoke to frontman Jordi Davieson about how the ten- track release came together. 17 VINYL REVIVAL Michael Dwyer looks at Lovely Creatures , the new triple LP which casts its eye over 30 years of greatness from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. 18-22 REVIEWS Pond take our Album of the Month crown, but we also have feelings about Feist, Bliss N Eso, Kendrick Lamar, Strangers, Blondie, Tim Rogers, Allday, Gorillaz, Wavves, Aldous Harding, Arch Enemy, Thrupence, She-Devils, Perfume Genius, Ruthie Foster, Kasabian and many more.

14-15 Free Fire STACK caught up with British writer-director Ben Wheatley, whose new film pays homage to John Carpenter while enlisting the services of Martin Scorsese. 16 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES Aussie rising star Brenton Thwaites joins the crew as Orlando Bloom’s son in the fifth installment of Disney’s buccaneering, blockbuster franchise. 18-20 REVIEWS Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Raw, Free Fire, The Fate of the Furious, Get Out.

24-25 LION Australian director Garth Davis’s remarkable debut

48-49 prey From the studio that brought us the Dishonored series comes Prey – an action/adventure game set aboard a space station overrun by aliens. 50 e3 E3 is coming faster than you may think. While we look forward to it every year, there are a few things we’d like to see change... 52-53 tekken 7 The world’s best-selling fighting franchise is back – and this time it’s personal. 54 nolan north The prolific voice actor was in town for Supanova, and we were lucky enough to catch up for a AVANT GARDE’s Rohan Bruce takes Corsair’s K95 for a spin. 58 esports round-up We check in with the Junglist for the latest in esports, and review Plantronics’ RIG800HS headset. 60 previews Injustice 2, Prey, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Farpoint VR quick word. 56 corsair

feature was nominated for five Academy Awards. He speaks to STACK about the real-life inspiration, as well as the challenges of shooting in India. 26-27 LA LA LAND Writer-director Damien Chazelle on the long journey of making an old fashioned musical for a modern audience, and how writing Whiplash played a part. 28-29 BLACK SAILS Adelaide-born actor Luke Arnold speaks to STACK about his rewarding four years on the acclaimed pirate series. Not bad for a role he didn’t even read for. 30 BLEED FOR THIS Miles Teller’s boxing movie features one of his finest performances – not to mention a lot of hard physical training. 36-41 REVIEWS Lion, La La Land, Patriots Day, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Live By Night, Split, Manchester By the Sea, Fences, Fifty Shades Darker, Black Sails: S4, Broadchurch: S3 and more.

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educational group for children examining different ways of learning. At the same time she began a spiritual quest, travelling extensively around India and meeting with Buddhist teachers. Over the years she rejected countless movie proposals, although she believes she “manifested” her role with Schumer. “When Amy came up to me, I had already started to think: Am I done? Should I go back? Is there going to be something? Because after you wait 14 years, you don’t know,” muses the dancer-turned- actress. Hawn and Schumer’s chemistry is clearly genuine; bringing their mother-

PURE GOLDIE After taking a 14-year break from the world of film, Goldie Hawn returns in the mother-daughter comedy Snatched , penned by her co-star Amy Schumer. Words Gill Pringle

When Amy came up to me, I had already started to think: Am I done? Should I go back?

and-daughter schtick to the

CinemaCon stage in Las Vegas last month, they explained the premise of Snatched : Schumer,

G oldie Hawn, 71, tells STACK she never expected to leave show business for quite so long after completing her last movie, The Banger Sisters with Susan Sarandon, in 2002. And – 14 years later – you’d have to be living beneath a rock to be unaware of her much-heralded return to the screen, starring as Amy Schumer’s hippy mum in road trip comedy Snatched . “I was doing other things that fascinated me, to tell you the truth. I took a break, which was something I hadn’t done in a long time. It made sense to me that I took a part of my life and made it different,” reflects Hawn, whose

freshly dumped, is forced to enlist her

mother on a South American vacation she’s already paid for. Schumer had already written the script for Hawn to read, and Hawn pretended she’d never heard of the raunchy Trainwreck comedienne. When Schumer handed the on-stage storytelling over to her co-star, the veteran actress wouldn't play ball, going completely off-topic and mushily informing her: “You’re my girl, you are my baby – you can’t come back after 14 years and just do anything.”

actor Kurt Russell since 1983. A few months after completing The Banger Sisters , the Oscar-winner founded The Hawn Foundation, a non-profit

career spans more than half a century; she's also the mother of actors Kate Hudson, Olivier Hudson and Wyatt Russell, and has been in a relationship with

Snatched is in cinemas on May 11

“I think this is a great definitive Twin Peaks Gold Set…” - DAVID LYNCH

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I n this new collection of boxed sets highlighting outstanding actresses of contemporary and classic cinema, you're sure to find one that will make the perfect gift for Mother's Day on May 14. The Natalie Portman Collection of Films features the indie comedy Garden State (co-starring Scrubs star Zach Braff), Beautiful Girls , a comedy about unexpected STAR FOR ANY MUM two stories of loss and grief featuring dramatic performances by Portman. These specially-packaged sets also offer collections starring Scarlett Johansson ( Girl with a Pearl Earing , The Black Dahlia , In Good Company and Don Jon ), Sandra Bullock ( Lake House , Miss Congeniality , Two Weeks Notice and Practical Magic ), Nicole Kidman ( Cold Mountain , The Hours , The Others and Trespass ), Jennifer Aniston ( Rumour Has It , Management , Friends With Money and Love Happens ), and Kate Winslet ( Finding Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Little Children ). The Golden Years of Hollywood haven't been forgotten: The Bette Davis Collection of Films includes Kid Galahad , Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? , Bride Came C.O.D. and All This and Heaven Too , and there's no denying the classics on offer in the Elizabeth Taylor collection, too, with Giant , Father of the Bride , Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? . Neverland , Holy Smoke , Eternal A PERFECT happenings at a 10-year high school reunion, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits and Brothers –

Australians love DVD & Blu-ray

Despite the advent of streaming services, DVD and Blu-ray sales remain strong, according to figures released by the Australian Home Entertainment Distributors Association (AHEDA).

T he video rental store might be a thing of the past but the physical disc format is alive and well, with new release titles and television series driving sales of both DVD and Blu-ray. The physical disc market remains one of the largest individual categories in Australia, generating more value than categories such as tablets or wearables. AHEDA data reveals that Australians are among the largest purchasers of DVD and Blu-ray discs globally. The physical disc retail channel sold 44 million discs in 2016, with a total value of $806 million.

ray Steelbooks and special editions regularly offered by JB Hi-Fi. “The physical disc market is incredibly resilient in Australia, and with the amazing theatrical slate in 2016 continuing into 2017, I expect new release DVD and Blu-ray disc sales to grow again in 2017,” said Simon Bush, CEO of AHEDA.

While a decrease in the purchase of older catalogue films on DVD saw the market decline by 11% in 2016, sales of new release titles increased by 4%, with Blu-ray new release films up by 14% and Blu-ray TV series sales up by 17%. Improving shares in the new release film and TV series categories, both of which have higher average prices than the overall market, boosted Blu-ray’s 2016 share increase. Over a quarter of all new release movies are now purchased on Blu-ray. The format remains highly desirable for collectors, bolstered by exclusive releases featuring bonus discs and VAM, like the Blu-

The Top 5 combined DVD and Blu-ray sellers in 2016 by volume were: 1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 2 Deadpool 3 Game of Thrones: Season 5

4 Zootopia 5 Spectre

MONSTER CLASSICS ONLY AT JB C alling all fans of the ghoulish! Beginning in the 1920s and through to the 1950s, Universal Studios made a series of iconic classics which helped establish the horror genre as we know it today. Now, exclusive to JB Hi-Fi, they've been unleashed on Blu- ray for your chilling, high-def edification. Absolute essentials are 1931's Frankenstein as well as the even creepier 1935 follow-up, Bride of Frankenstein featuring Boris Karloff as 'The Monster', a symbol of fear, but one that also (in the hands of underrated director James Whale) demands our sympathy. Karloff also appears in 1932's The Mummy ; the Karl Freund-directed film captures an isolation and yearning in the central figure that elevates the film beyond cheap thrills. TheWolf Man was released in 1941,

less than a week after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and reminded audiences of the evil within every man – sending cinemagoers' already heightened

anxiety levels through the roof. Other Universal classics in this range include Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) starring Richard Carlson, and two titles featuring four-time Oscar nominee Claude Rains: The Invisible Man (1933) and The Phantom of the Opera (1943). This exclusive, distinctively-packaged range is complemented by latter-day monster classics including John Carpenter's TheThing (1982), John Landis's An AmericanWerewolf in London (1981), cult favourite Tremors (1990) and many more. Make sure you drop into JB Hi-Fi to catch them all while stocks last!

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CINEMA FEATURE

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FIREFIGHT IR REFIGHT IR F GH E ssex-born Ben Wheatley is part of a select group of British filmmakers – and it was a script I’d been thinking about for years.” That’s not to say making Free Fire didn’t British writer-director Ben Wheatley’s new film, the action-thriller Free Fire , pays homage to John Carpenter and enlists the services of Martin Scorsese. He spoke with Scott Hocking.

response. “I did a similar tour with High-Rise and the end of the screenings were always good, and also a bit ‘what the f–k was that?’ But with Free Fire there was a lot more cheering and everyone was happy, so that was a relief,” he tells STACK . After the tough job of adapting Ballard, was he looking for something a little less complicated for his next project? “I wanted to do

come with its own set of challenges, not least creating the protracted firefight that occupies most of the movie. “It has to be really specifically written because it’s not just people shooting, it’s a tight structure of mini-missions and objectives," he explains. "Also the way people

which includes Edgar Wright, Neil Jordan and Peter Strickland – whose distinctive, offbeat films are defined by a love of genre and attract a strong cult following. Wheatley’s trademark is the absurd

perspective and black humour he brings to the most serious of subjects, from serial killers in his 2012 feature Sightseers to the breakdown of social order in his recent adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise . His latest film, Free Fire , is an absurdist take on the siege movie set within the confines of a seedy Boston warehouse, where a botched arms deal erupts into a sustained shootout between a high calibre cast that includes Cillian Murphy, Brie Larson, Sharlto Copley and Armie Hammer. Wheatley took Free Fire on a tour of the UK prior to its release to gauge audience

something action-related that was more straight visuals,” he says. “ High- Rise had the heavy weight of dealing with lots of characters and lots of weird geography – it was a hard film to make and Free Fire was a bit more genre. I always have a lot of scripts on the go at any one time,

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FEATURE CINEMA

WHEATLEY'S WEIRD WORLDS

Down Terrace 2009 Wheatley brings social realism and deadpan humour to the British gangster film in his assured debut feature. Fresh out of prison, a small-time crime family patriarch and his son attempt to entrap a rat in their ranks.

continues. “Looking at that movie and thinking, why is it so exciting when you’ve got a scene with just one woman with a pistol shooting people coming down a corridor, and various characters hiding under a table while the windows get shot in.” Setting Free Fire in the 1970s also freed Wheatley of the storytelling constraints imposed by today’s technology. “The mobile phone has sort of screwed the thriller,” he notes. “Certainly this movie wouldn’t last 10 seconds with a mobile phone in it. It’s a real problem for filmmakers. A contemporary version of Free

are betraying each other – all that has to be plotted carefully, where they all are in the room is very specific. There was a lot of planning that went into it.” Part of that planning involved Wheatley constructing a version of the set using Minecraft. “That was really helpful because you can walk around inside it and see how long people take to move from area to area, how big a space you really need, and time out shots.” Sound design was also an important

Kill List 2011 A contract killer's latest assignment becomes a literal descent into hell in this unholy union of hitman thriller and occult horror. Wheatley's brilliant second film is arguably his best work to date.

aspect of the production. “We wanted to put the audience absolutely inside it. We listened to other films and realised that the sound of a gun has been made quieter and quieter over time until the loudness of a gun is the same as a punch. There are movies with dialogue scenes over the top of people firing guns and it doesn’t make any

Fire would have to have a lot of scenes talking about mobile coverage and all that bullsh–t. When you think about Assault on Precinct 13 , they cut the telephone lines and that’s it – they’re stuck.” As well as featuring his most star-powered cast to date,

It’s more Carpenter through Howard Hawks

Sightseers 2012 Like a bonkers blend of Mike Leigh and The League of Gentlemen , Wheatley adds a liberal dash of the mad and macabre to this pitch black comedy about a holidaying couple with a taste for murder.

Martin Scorsese is credited as an executive producer on Free Fire and Wheatley enthusiastically recounts how the legendary filmmaker became involved. “I read an interview where he said he’d seen Kill List , a film I made in 2011, and he’d enjoyed it. I thought if he liked it, maybe I could get to chat with him. My agent spoke to his agent and they organised a meeting. “For me it was incredible. As a film fan, to meet Martin Scorsese was just unbelievable. He’s an elder statesman filmmaker – the greatest living filmmaker as far as I’m concerned. He was just very generous to meet me. When he first went to Hollywood in the ‘70s, he met all the older generation from the ‘40s, so I guess he knew why I was so starry eyed when I met him. We got on really well.”

sense, because when you fire a gun it’s so loud it hurts your ears,” Wheatley notes. “Martin Pavey, the sound designer, and Bob Entwistle, the sound mixer, spent a lot of time recording the sound of real guns firing bullets, not blanks, so we’d get the actual, proper noise of it.” Free Fire has already been favourably compared to Reservoir Dogs but actually has its roots in the crime films of the seventies, with Wheatley citing John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) as a major influence. “It’s more Carpenter through Howard Hawks, that’s the world,” he says. “ Reservoir Dogs sits in that tradition anyway, doesn’t it – Dogs is Kubrick’s The Killing through City on Fire . “The way of using smaller

A Field in England 2013 A group of Civil War soldiers search for treasure in the titular location. Taking its cues from El Topo and Witchfinder General , Wheatley's trippy, black and white period piece practically defies categorisation.

High-Rise 2015 Wheatley's off-kilter brand of filmmaking proved a perfect fit for the "unfilmable" work of author J.G. Ballard – in this case the breakdown of social order in a 1970s apartment block.

• Free Fire is in cinemas on April 27

environments and scale was taken from Assault on Precinct 13 ,” he

15

CINEMA INTERVIEW

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DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN Aussie rising star Brenton Thwaites joins the crew of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales . Words Gill Pringle

A ustralia’s Brenton Thwaites has an ongoing gag about his thwarted Hollywood dream. “I’ve been doing this for seven years and every time I move to Hollywood, I get a movie back in Australia,” grins the Cairns native who turns up as Orlando Bloom’s son in the fifth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Dead Men Tell No Tales . “The last time I moved to Los Angeles was just before Pirates was about to shoot, and I found out the studio was 20 minutes from my house, so I moved back home again for six months,” he says, referring to Village Roadshow Studios in Oxenford, Queensland; although, Pirates also shot in locations in Moreton Bay, Helensvale, Maudsland, Southport, Tamborine Mountain, and the Whitsunday Islands. “One of these days I will move to Hollywood. Right now, it’s a work in progress,” laughs Thwaites, 27, whose other recent films Gods of Egypt, Son of a Gun, and Ruben Guthrie all necessitated a move back home. Today, Thwaites’s Henry Turner is introduced to the Pirates franchise alongside fellow newcomer Javier Bardem, opposite Pirate veterans Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush. Turner is a former officer with the Royal Navy, although his insistence on seeking out a mythological treasure – which can bring the dead back to life – lands him in jail. “I hope the movie will help connect

I've been doing this for seven years and every time I move to Hollywood, I get a movie back in Australia

My goal is to continue to work and have a great team around me. My dream is to play Hamlet on stage.” Growing up, Thwaites says it was his movie-loving mother Fiona who really helped develop his passion for film. “As a teenager, we watched hundreds of films together. I was inspired by Good Will Hunting, Dante’s Peak, Romeo + Juliet and Titanic . Heath Ledger was my idol. “Cairns is a diving and tourist town, between the mountains, the tropics, and the reef, so I was exposed to people from all over the world from different cultures, which intrigued me and gave me a desire to travel from a very young age, long before I thought to pursue acting. When I was 16 I was messing around with plays, and I joined the theatre company, and then went to acting school. It made sense that I would travel for the rest of my life.”

Many of Thwaites’ fans have remarked on his resemblance to a young Brad Pitt, and the Aussie doesn’t deny the similarity. “It’s funny that people should say that. I was looking forward to playing Brad Pitt’s son in a movie which recently fell apart,” he told STACK at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, where he was honoured with Breakthrough Performer of the Year, before catching a flight back to Europe where he’s filming World War II thriller Ghosts of War . “To be honest, I’m not ready for fame. I don’t think anyone is ready for it. I think it's just one of those things that, if I’m lucky enough, it could be a part of my life and hopefully I will

tell great stories which will inspire the world,” says the actor, whose other films include Maleficent, Oculus and The Giver .

young men with their fathers, but talking about my own father and our relationship is a little touchy, certainly more touchy than I would care to share,” says the former Home and Away star, who has a 14-month- old daughter with girlfriend Chloe Pacey.

“Personal life aside, the safety and security of my family – that’s a different story, and it gets scary when you think about that stuff.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is in cinemas on May 25

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BrentonThwaites with STACK 's Gill Pringle

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RAW

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Julia Ducournau CAST: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Laurent Lucas RATING: R18+ As the Hollywood horror factory continues to churn out generic jump scares and Conjuring spin-offs, the French remain at the forefront of the genre, as anyone who's been traumatised by the likes of Inside , Martyrs and High Tension will attest. Euro-horror isn't afraid to tackle taboos with unflinching gusto, and writer- director Julia Ducournau's arthouse cannibal film is an appetising feast of coming-of-age themes and Cronenbergian body horror. Justine (Garance Marillier) is a reserved first-year student at a veterinary school, who undergoes a frightening transformation following a hazing ritual that involves being drenched in animal blood and consuming a raw rabbit kidney. It's the latter that proves problematic – she's a strict vegetarian and her first taste of forbidden flesh has nightmarish consequences for Justine, her older sister (who's also a student at the school) and her gay roommate. What begins as a nasty skin-peeling rash quickly develops into a hunger for human flesh as well as an increased sexual appetite, transforming the virginal Justine into a predator. Raw arrives with a lot of buzz following reports of audience members fainting during its TIFF premiere. Perhaps they were drunk – despite its grisly subject, it's not an overly gruesome film by French standards. A haunting rites-of-passage story that's as much about fitting in and family ties as it is about cannibalism, Raw won't make you faint but it will make you think. It might even make you hungry for a rare steak. Scott Hocking FREE FIRE RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Ben Wheatley CAST: Cillian Murphy, Brie Larson, Armie Hammer RATING: MA15+ A stand-off between mobsters following a dodgy deal invariably ends in guns being drawn and few left standing. It also usually lasts a matter of minutes. But not in Ben Wheatley's new film, Free Fire . The British writer-director whose offbeat resume includes occult thriller Kill List , serial killer comedy Sightseers and bonkers J.G. Ballard adaptation High-Rise , sustains the firefight for a majority of the film's running time. And in true Wheatley style, the result is a wonderfully absurd siege movie that ricochets with snappy dialogue, misfit characters, and masterful sound design. An arms deal between a pair of Irish business partners (Cillian Murphy and Michael Smiley) and an "international asshole" (Sharlto Copley) in a seedy Boston warehouse goes totally Pete Tong when the wrong kind of weapons are offered and a sexual indiscretion involving a cousin the night before leads to the first shot being fired. Then it's duck and cover for all and sundry in a prolonged shootout that would be all over quickly if everyone wasn't such a lousy shot. Setting the action during the 1970s lets Wheatley pay homage to some of his favourite films of the period – namely Assault on Precinct 13 and Mean Streets (indeed, Martin Scorsese is credited as an executive producer) – and while Free Fire might be light on plot (the shootout is the plot), it hits the bullseye as a hugely entertaining, technically savvy and blackly comic take on the crime genre. Scott Hocking

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: James Gunn CAST: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista RATING: M

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2

Gunning for 2/2 in Marvel moviemaking.

M arvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy are back to save the universe – again. First introduced on-screen in 2014, Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (David Bautista), Rocket (voice of Bradley Cooper) and Baby Groot (voice of Vin Diesel) have returned with a new Awesome Mix to back their badass space battles. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opens with Quill and the gang taking on an interdimensional monster for a bounty offered by a woman known as Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki). Ayesha promised a reward to the Guardians for protecting the city’s batteries, which turns out to be Gamora’s captive sister, Nebula (Karen Gillan). With their trophy secured, the Guardians depart, but not before a parting inquiry from Ayesha regarding Quill’s ancestry. This question serves as the

emphasis on relationships and an artistic style that improves upon the production design of the first film, but also its character development. Drax, in particular, has come a long way in his perception of emotions, and Baby Groot predictably steals the show with his adorable naivety. There is also the addition of newcomer Mantis (Pom Klementieff), more screen time for the vastly under-appreciated Yondu (Michael Rooker), and a couple of other noteworthy characters we’ll let you discover for yourselves. Throw in more than a few pop culture references – everything from Cheers to Pac-Man – and you’ve got a fantastic sequel that's truly worthy of the original behemoth. With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ,

RATING KEY: Wow! Good Not bad Meh Woof!

Marvel Studios raises the bar for its third phase of MCU movies, seeding

connections and planting Easter eggs fans will be eager to hunt down – and, of course, including a gratuitous cameo. The MCU has taken another step towards the new, post-Infinity War universe – which is coming sooner than you may think. As always, don’t forget to

basis for the rest of the film. Quill struggles with the true identity of his family, Gamora and Nebula come to terms with how their father Thanos treated them, we find out more about Yondu’s journey into the Ravagers, and Groot makes his way through the terrible twos. GotG Vol. 2 shines not only in its

stick around after the credits. Alesha Kolbe

MAY 2017

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CINEMA REVIEWS

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THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS

ALSO SCREENING IN MAY

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: F. Gary Gray CAST: Vin Diesel, Charlize Theron, Dwayne Johnson RATING: M

Can the FF franchise maintain speed without Paul Walker?

the main players in an agency working to help Letty and her team reunite with Dom, find out what went wrong, and quash Cipher's plan for worldwide fear-mongering. Longtime fans of the franchise raised their eyebrows at this film's trailers – Dom would never betray his family, surely? – but in true F&F fashion there's one hell of a reason behind it, and it's gonna take plenty of beautiful cars and absolutely ridiculous stunts to get to the bottom of it. Yeah, we're talking more insane than the runway scene in Fast 6 . Expect a few appearances from extended family members past and present, too. For the first film without Paul Walker as beloved buster Brian O'Conner, F8 does a wonderful job of maintaining the established family dynamic, and doesn't completely write him out of the plot, which is a nice touch. Throw in a henchman role for Game of Thrones ' Kristofer Hivju, an amusing cameo by the one and only Helen Mirren, and some impossibly unbelievable action, and this winds up a full- fledged Fast and Furious film that rates among the best of the lot. Alesha Kolbe Questions that shouldn't need to be asked, but from the moment Chris meets Allison's eager-to-please wealthy liberal folks (Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener), her creepy brother, and their seemingly zombified hired help, his anxiety is justified. During an annual party the following day, where the guests appear to hail from Twin Peaks and behave awkwardly in the presence of a black person, Chris receives the titular warning from a fellow "brother" and the scene is set for a chilling and thrilling third act full of big reveals and bouts of cathartic violence. Combining cringe-comedy and creepiness, Get Out showcases the most demented family gathering since You're Next , as well as that film's mischievous mix of humour and horror. Daniel Kaluuya is great as the perpetually paranoid protagonist, and LilRel Howery, as his TSA officer buddy, provides some hilarious – and frequently welcome – comic relief. Horror films have a long history of reflecting cultural anxieties amidst the scares and Peele's smart, racially-charged satire couldn't be more timely. To say more would spoil the fun – just get out and see this bold and brilliant little gem. Scott Hocking

F8 opens with Dom (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) on their honeymoon in Cuba, and things quickly spiral out of control when Dom meets Charlize Theron's Cipher – the world's most powerful hacker. She's got a motive that will force Dom to join her team and leave behind the one thing that matters most to him – his family. Naturally, Dom's clan don't take kindly to his betrayal, and when he steals an EMP the team worked together to retrieve, they set about hunting him down. Newcomers to the series are buddy cops Kurt Russell and Scott Eastwood;

ALIEN: COVENANT

The wait is almost over. Will Ridley Scott's second return to the Alien universe make amends for the disappointing Prometheus ? The signs are good – Fassbender playing dual droids, Katherine Waterson as a Ripley substitute, and most importantly, the familiar projectile-jawed xenomorphs are back! No one will hear you scream on May 11 .

Since when did the Arthur legend feature giant elephants and a streetwise geezer as the king of Camelot? When it's directed by Guy Ritchie. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels meets Excalibur on May 18 . KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD

GET OUT

RELEASED: May 4 DIRECTOR: Jordan Peele CAST: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener RATING: MA15+

Race relations go to hell in Jordan Peele's satirical scary movie.

Who would have thunk that one of the best horror thrillers of the year would come from the mind of Jordan Peele, one half of sketch comedy duo Key and Peele. Adding a nightmarish twist to Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? , Peele's first feature as writer-director is both a biting satire on race relations in the US and an unpredictable ride into Stepford Wives territory. When white girl Rose (Allison Williams) takes her new African-American boyfriend, Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), to meet the parents over a weekend at their country estate, he's a little nervous. "Do they know I'm black?" he asks. "Should they?" she replies.

Goldie Hawn and Amy Schumer are nicely cast as mismatched mother and daughter in this action- comedy that sees them abducted while vacationing in South America. Hit the holiday road on May 11 . SNATCHED

Jack's back! Captain Sparrow must get his hands on Poseidon's legendary trident in order to defeat old nemesis Armando Salazar, in the fifth instalment in Disney's buccaneering blockbuster franchise. Setting sail on May 25 . PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES

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The inspirational story of World Champion Boxer Vinny Pazienza who, after a near fatal car crash which left him not knowing if he’d ever walk again, made one of sport’s most incredible comebacks. Releasedate: 3 May Cast: Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhart, Katey Sagal Rating: M - Mature themes, violence, coarse language and nudity InthemoodforKNOCKOUT DRAMA

In the not so distant future, society is controlled by the powerful dictator. After a reunion with someone thought dead, a hitman for the State is forced to consider who his enemies really are. Releasedate: 10 May Cast: Steven Seagal, Johnny Messner, Sasha Jackson Rating: MA15+ Strong violence InthemoodforACTIONTHRILLS

A moving and life-affirming true story of the unlikely friendship between a young homeless busker, James Bowen, and the stray ginger cat named Bob who changed his life. Releasedate: 10 May Cast: Luke Treadaway, Bob the Cat, Anthony Head Rating: PG - Mild themes of drug

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EXTRAS FEATURE

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was no way a formulaic and frothy Doris Day and Rock Hudson Hollywood movie was going to attract them to a cinema. Instead, these college-educated youngsters found the vibrant realism of European new wave films with a sociopolitical commentary more relevant and more to their taste. Jean-Luc Godard’s French gangster movie Breathless was still drawing in New York audiences two years after its US debut, as were the British “kitchen sink” dramas. Look Back in Anger , Room at the Top, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and A Taste of Honey  offered detailed examinations of controversial subjects like pre-marital sex, abortion, and homosexuality. As far as young American moviegoers were concerned, Hollywood’s answer to these realistic European films throughout that decade appeared to be the likes of pretty little Debbie Reynolds singing Tammy and Rex Harrison talking to the animals. Even when Hollywood adapted adult novels for the screen, such as From Here to Eternity and Butterfield 8, the “adult content” had to be totally sanitised; all American films were subjected to the censorious standards of the Motion Picture Production Code. Consequently, the films were stripped of the real meaning contained in the books that the American public had been reading for years. To counteract the rigid code, a few of Hollywood’s old guard directors had become creative in disguising the act of sex onscreen, such as moving the camera from a couple’s clinch to a log fire that suddenly flares up. More inventive was the final scene from Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, where Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint are seen embracing on the upper berth of a train compartment that then swiftly cuts to the train entering a tunnel. This was Hitchcock’s unique way of depicting that the couple’s relationship had actually been consummated and was, of course, completely missed by the censor. The wealth of realistic new wave European films – that were attracting large audiences into the US urban arthouses – triggered a one-man rebellion against the strict production code that impeded all Hollywood filmmakers from producing similarly themed

HOLLYWOOD'S SECOND GOLDEN AGE 1960-1967

Part 2: The Beginnings of a New Hollywood

F rench Nouvelle Vague  director, François Truffaut, had previously described the traditional French film industry’s productions as le cinema du papa (Grandad’s cinema); outdated and outmoded. Truffaut’s blunt criticism could also equally apply to a large section of Hollywood’s post-war movie output. Although the Hollywood studio system of manufacturing movies and stars was now defunct, the day to day operation of the film studios was still in the hands of the old regime who had founded the system in the late 1920s. The likes of Adolph Zukor, Jack Warner and Darryl F. Zanuck were now well into their seventies and eighties and many of the films they now independently financed and distributed reflected their age. By the early 1960s, family audiences, which for decades had provided the bread and butter for the so called “Mom & Pop” neighbourhood theatres, had practically disappeared – mainly due to the popularity of television. Subsequently, family audiences were now the minority audience, yet over 60 per cent of Hollywood movies with their ageing stars and recycled plots were still primarily family- friendly and pitched at an audience that rarely came anywhere near a movie theatre. Massive social upheavals during this era – such as the Red (Communist) scare, Cold War tensions, nuclear paranoia, the assassination of JFK, the birth control pill and

Poster for the British “kitchen sink drama” Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)

consequent sexual revolution, the increasing recreational use of marijuana, women’s liberation, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam war – shook the foundations of American society. This was now the Age of Aquarius, the era of the post-war baby boomers who had come of age, and there

Hitchcock’s “phallic scene” from North By Northwest (1959)

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FEATURE EXTRAS

movies. Otto Preminger’s The Moon is Blue (1953) was refused a production seal of approval by the US censors because he refused to excise the word “virgin” from the dialogue. Six years later he made Anatomy of a Murder (1959), which created controversy and was banned in a number of US cities because the dialogue contained the words panties, rape and penetration. Both of Preminger’s films – and his The Man with the Golden Arm, which dealt with another Hollywood taboo: drug addiction – were direct assaults on the Production Code. The media picked up on this and the Motion Picture Association of America began to be ridiculed in the press as the last will and testament of a bygone age and consequently, completely out of touch with modern society. This adverse publicity and subsequent public curiosity made Preminger’s movies big hits at the box-office; in fact, bigger hits than they deserved to be. But then in 1960, Alfred Hitchcock, who had also been impressed with the French style of filmmaking, especially the 1955 production  Les Diaboliques, imitated the style and similar plot line for his movie Psycho . Paramount gave Hitchcock a very small budget to work with, because of their distaste with the source material. They also deferred most of the net profits to Hitchcock, believing the film would fail by being refused the production code’s seal of approval. Psycho didn’t fail – it made Hitchcock a fortune. The huge success of Psycho – with its

Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty as Bonnie & Clyde (1967)

The brutal final scene from Bonnie & Clyde

film and thousands of young people showed up at cinemas clamouring for tickets, it was better promoted, given a nationwide release, and went on to gross over $22 million in domestic rentals.  A similar reception was given to the release of the independent Embassy Pictures production The Graduate (1967), starring newcomer Dustin Hoffman. The film presented a candid look at sex in the American suburbs, where a nervous young graduate (Hoffman) is seduced by the older and rapacious Mrs. Robinson – brilliantly played by Anne Bancroft. When these two movies received a combined 17 Academy Award nominations on top of their huge box- office returns, the Hollywood establishment finally came out of its ten-year coma.  Bonnie & Clyde and The Graduate,  having shrewdly tapped into the American counterculture of the late 1960s, conjointly heralded what would become known as the Hollywood Renaissance of the 1970s.

million budget. The story treatment of the Depression-era gangster couple, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker – who went on a killing spree, holding up banks in the Midwest – was given an effectively glamorised and extremely violent treatment, very much in the style of the French Nouvelle Vague . Warner Bros. had so little faith in the film that initially, they gave Bonnie & Clyde a limited B-movie- type release, sending it to drive-ins and lesser theatres. When critics began raving about the

violence and provocative sexual content, combined with it being the first American film ever to show a toilet being flushed onscreen – fatally weakened the authority of the MPAA Production Code and paved the way for the eventual introduction of the film rating system, still in use today. The following years saw a marked increase in the production of relatively low budget films that would appeal to a younger audience, by essentially featuring characters rebelling against any form of authority. Actor Warren Beatty – turned producer – persuaded Warner Bros. to finance his 1967 film Bonnie & Clyde with a mere $2.5 The banned "panties scene" from Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft in The Graduate (1967)

To be continued...

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