STACK NZ Aug #76

REVIEWS DVD & BD

The story before Snow White The Huntsman: WINTER'S WAR

Who do you think you're kidding Mr Hitler, if you think we're on the run... DAD'S ARMY

Release Date: 03/08/16

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Release Date: 24/08/16

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The Brothers Grimm’s Snow White and Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen collide in a fantasy fairy tale face-off that results in something akin to Frozen, albeit not so cute. A prequel to Snow White and the Huntsman , Kristen Stewart misses out, but with Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain joining returning stars Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth (looking abs-olutely smashing), that’s no cause for chagrin. The story? Eric (Hemsworth) and warrior mate Sara (Chastain) have to hide their love away, for Queen Freya (Blunt) has banned such mushy stuff from her ice

Given that the original BBC show is one of the best British sitcoms of all time, many fans were no doubt filled with trepidation about this big screen remake. The good news is that writer Hamish McColl and director Oliver Hardy have stayed true to the warm humour and gentle charm of the original series, and the result is a lovely walk down memory lane. Toby Jones is the equal of Arthur Lowe as the pompous, bumbling Captain Mainwaring, whose Home Guard unit are charged with an important mission on the eve of D-Day. The likes of Bill Nighy (Sergeant Wilson), Tom

palace while she’s warring with her sister, Ravenna (Theron). You won’t be seeing this adorning little kids’ lunchboxes, pencil cases, torsos, beds or anything else that you can slap marketing on. But Winter’s War nails what fairy tales were originally about – being dark, broody and disquieting. AF

Courtenay (Corporal Jones), Michael Gambon (Godfrey) Bill Patterson (Fraser) and Blake Harrison (Pike) are also note perfect, while Catherine Zeta Jones enjoys herself as the glamorous femme fatale who everyone in the platoon becomes besotted with. John Ferguson

DVD&BD

Watch your assets THE BOSS

Win or lose, always aim high EDDIE THE EAGLE

Release Date: 10/08/16

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Release Date: 24/08/16

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One day you’re the queen of the corporate world, with enough money to make Oprah green with envy. Then you’re done for insider trading, discover more about the inside via a prison stint, and re-enter the world with nothing – the result of stepping upon pretty much everybody on your rise to the top. This is the story of Michelle Darnell (Melissa McCarthy), who subsequently lumps herself upon her former assistant Claire (Kristen Bell) and young daughter while she endures a bout of self pity, before tasting her host’s brownies and plugging back into her entrepreneurial

Olympic glory is something that many kids crave – many adults too, even when they’re past their prime. Young Brit Michael Edwards was no different, despite being hamstrung by woeful eyesight and a rather stodgy figure. But he persevered, and became quite a good downhill skier – yet not good enough for the Olympics. So, he decided to take on the dangers of ski-jumping instead – the first such English Olympian since the 1920s to do so. Taron Egerton steps up as Eddie, while Hugh Jackman plays his (fictional) louche American coach Bronson Peary. From childhood through

streak. Here we learn the lengths Darnell will go to in order to succeed – again. An interesting mixture of gross-out humour with a little heart folded in, The Boss has many laughs, although much like if you’ve scarfed a whole plate of brownies, you may feel a bit guilty afterwards. AF

training and onto the big event, Eddie the Eagle is a fabulous feel-good family flick all the way, in a similar vein to 1993’s true tale of Jamaican bobsledders Cool Runnings – which, incidentally, happened at the same Olympics. There must have been something in that lovely Canadian air, eh? AF

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