STACK NZ May #73

YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CINEMA, DVDs, GAMES &MUSIC

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ISSUE 73 MAY ’16

INSIDE

BEASTWARS • THE REVENANT • BATTLEBORN

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Issue 73 MAY 2016

EXTRAS

• The Jordan Luck Band's debut album. Pg 5 • Homefront gets a reboot. Pg 6 • Taron Egerton discovers his inner nerd in Eddie The Eagle. Pg 6 • Competition, quiz, STACK Social. Pg 10

FEATURES

DVD/Blu-ray The Hateful Eight: Exclusive interview with Quentin Tarantino! Pg 12-13 The Revenant : How an arduous nine months in extreme conditions resulted in an Oscar winner. Pg 14 Spotlight : Brian d'Arcy James on working with the real- life journalists who exposed a pedophile scandal. Pg 15 GAMES Battleborn: Gearbox's new first-person-shooter is a blast, says exec producer Randy Varnell. Pg 16 DOOM: Exec producer Marty Stratton talks about the game that shaped the first-person shooter. Pg 18-19 Uncharted 4: Will this be Nathan Blake's last great adventure? Pg 20 MUSIC Cheap Trick: Graham Reid revisits one of the great power-pop bands. Pg 22 Beastwars: Frontman Matt Hyde talks about stepping out of their comfort zone on their new LP. Pg 23 DVD/Blu-ray Sisters , Point Break , Fargo: Year Two , The Danish Girl , Carol , Mississippi Grind , Orange Is The New Black: Season Three , Brooklyn , and more Pg 24-29 GAMES DOOM , Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Total War: Warhammer, Fire Emblem Fates. Pg 30 MUSIC Pacific Heights, Motörhead, Melody Pool, Car Seat Headrest, the Mint Chicks. Pg 31-32 REVIEWS

ULTRA COOL IN BLU The Revenant and Deadpool among the first NZ 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray releases.

As STACK was going to press, there was no information available on other forthcoming 4K UHD releases, but in the US Lionsgate has already released a number of 4K titles, with Paramount to follow in June with the two most recent Star Trek movies. And Universal

A lthough there had been no official

announcements at press-time, the first package of titles from 20th Century Fox

(released here via Universal) on the brand new High Def format are due in-store on May 4 and include the first two Maze Runner movies, X-Men: Days Of Future Past , Life Of Pi , The Martian and Kingsman: The Secret Service . They will be followed on May 18 by the Oscar-winning epic The Revenant , which is set to be the first film to get a simultaneous release on DVD, Blu-ray and the new 4K Ultra HD format. A similar strategy is also planned for the smash hit Deadpool , which is due in-store on June 1. Also due on May 18 are the first three 4K BD releases from Roadshow: Mad Max: Fury Road , The LEGO Movie and San

EXTRAS

will kick off a progressive rollout of titles around the world in the northern hemisphere summer, with the line- up to include upcoming blockbusters like Warcraft and Jason Bourne . All told, there could be up to 100 4K titles available by the end of the year. However, the picture is less clear on the hardware front. STACK understands both Samsung and Panasonic will soon be launching dediciated Ultra HD Blu-ray players, but at press-time there had been no official announcements from either company.

Andreas. Sony, meanwhile, will enter the UHD market on June 8 with a 4K version of the recently released The 5th Wave , along with a selection of catalogue releases like Pineapple Express , The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Chappie .

RATINGS GUIDE

John Ferguson

WHAT IS 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY?

progressive frame rates. UHD Blu-ray will be available as a dual layer 66 gigabyte disc and a triple layer 100 gigabyte disc. To get the full value of the format, you will need

Ultra HD Blu-ray supports resolutions of up to 3840 x 2160 pixels. That's four times as many pixels as Full

HD televisions, and 27 times as many pixels as Standard Definition televisions.

All information believed correct at time of printing. All images used for promotional purposes only. Copyright of respective owners is acknowledged. © 2016 Scribal Custom Pty Ltd. No part of this magazine may be reprinted without the written permission of the publisher.

both a dedicated UHD player and an Ultra HD television

As well as producing vibrant colors and greater contrast on compatible displays, the format also enables smoother and more realistic action because of its superior

set. However, the hardware will be backwards compatible and will play your existing BD discs.

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NEWS EXTRAS

After the cannibal gore-fest The Green Inferno , Eli Roth is set to tackle a very different sort on man-eater in Meg . BEST OF LUCK Former Exponent Jordan Luck on the debut LP of his new band. A fixture on the live scene for years, the Jordan Luck Band have taken their time producing their debut album. Frontman Jordan Luck – formerly with Lonely , which was a single in 2013, all the lyrics were done in the last three months. I sort of had working

titles and things like songs with choruses but no verses or verses with no chorus, that kind of thing.” Although the sound of his old outfit The Exponents can be detected on a number of tracks – in particular the Beatle-esque East Of Suburbia – Not Only… But Also is for the most part a rockier beast, which Luck believes reflects the make-up of his current line-up: Bell was once with the Dead Flowers, while drummer Beaver and bassist Rich Mixture both previously played with D4, so it’s not surprising that JBL had a rawer, heavier feel. However, Luck says there is an Exponents connection to one of the songs Stevie , which is about one of the band's founding members who left the group soon after their first hit Victoria and died a few years later aged just 25. Luck says it was song he couldn’t have written 20 years ago, but it was always something that had been at the back of his mind. The inspiration for finishing the song came at the Tuis last year, where The Exponents received the Legacy Award. ”Stevie was the instigator of getting me and Brian Jones [Exponents co-founder] up to Christchurch – he was a real driving force, an inspirational guy,” Luck explains. “We flew Mrs Cowan and Stevie’s sister up for the ceremony and it was glorious. All the lines came beautifully after I had sat down with Mrs Cowan for a bit.” While Not Only… But Also is currently only available on CD, the band hope to bring out a vinyl edition later in the year. Luck says they deliberately set out to make an old-school album that would only run to around 18 minutes per side – regarded by luminaries such as Quincy Jones as the ideal running time for vinyl, because of the width of the grooves. However he also thinks the specially-commissioned Dick Frizzell-designed cover will look even better on vinyl. “Even if you don’t like the music, buy it for the artwork – a beautiful 12-inch you can get somebody for Christmas!” John Ferguson

THE RISE AND FALL OF A MUSIC GIANT A vailable exclusively at JB Hi-Fi, All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records is the directorial debut of actor Colin Hanks and charts the story of one of the best loved brands in music. Founded in 1960 by Russ Solomon, Tower grew to become one of the world’s best known retailers, with 200 stores in 30 countries across the globe. In 1999 it made more than $1 billion, yet seven years later the company filed for bankruptcy. As well as key Tower personnel, All Things Must Pass features interviews with music legends like Dave Grohl, Elton John and Bruce Springsteen, who open up about their memories of the chain and why it meant so much to so many. Hanks says Tower was a true haven for music lovers and left a void in the lives of so many when it closed down. “There is a great human story here that not a lot of people know,” he says. “We sort of get to know all the people who worked there, and get to hear stories from them about what that made the place special.” Producer Sean M Stuart adds: “Every person you bump into says ‘Oh yeah, Tower Records started in my

Kiwi icons The Exponents – acknowledges it’s been a while coming, but points out that once it was decided to go ahead with the record, they didn't waste any time getting it out. According to Luck, back in January JLB guitarist Joe Walsh informed the band that it was time for them to release their first album – he even went as far as to say it should come out on April 29 and be backed by a nation-wide tour to coincide with New Zealand Music Month. And that’s exactly what has happened. Not Only…But Also – the title chosen from suggestions submitted by fans during a pre-sale of the record – is in stores now, and JLB are on the road promoting it. “Essentially, it took three months, so it was quick,” Luck explains.“The album is pretty collaborative. Most of the chords were by Bryan [Bell, guitarist] and I would stick the melody lines over the top. Then in rehearsal we would go through the structure and give it the full band stuff. And apart from Only If You’re

EXTRAS

hometown'; Because it was so localised, people didn’t know that it was a global chain. It wasn’t a global chain – it was a chain of mom and pop stores.”

All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records is out on DVD on May 11.

Not Only... But Also by the Jordan Luck Band is out now.

AVAILABLE FROM MAY 25

03

EXTRAS NEWS

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TALKING ‘BOUT A REVOLUTION Homefront: The Revolution is an open world reboot with a whole new back story.

n many ways, the development cycle of Homefront: The Revolution mirrors the tumultuous events of the game itself: there’s no doubt that Dambuster Studios have truly weathered a storm getting the game to market. “The road has been a little bumpy," admits narrative designer Stephen Rhodes. "But it feels really good to finally have completed it and to soon get it out there for everyone to play and enjoy. That’s what any developer really wants; to see their hard work being enjoyed by gamers. It’s why we do what we do.” H:TR is billed as a reboot rather than a successor to Homefront , a game released back in 2011 and lambasted for its short campaign. Recognising an opportunity to impress its own vision on the game, the team at Dambuster rewrote the backstory in its entirety. “We knew that everyone was really into the concept of an occupied America and the alternate history angle of the narrative. These are themes that few games have explored; some have, like the Resistance series, but it’s still quite an unexplored space,” Rhodes explains. “Despite these two core themes being popular, the context and execution given in the first Homefront didn’t go down so well. “What we did for H:TR was go right back to these core ideas and rebuild from there. It doesn’t share characters or timelines, we ditched everything and rewrote the backstory and took our time creating a world stage where the USA being occupied by a Korean military force was plausible. The only real similarity I

BLOCK ROCKIN' BEATS? Beth Orton on exploring a more rhythmic vibe on her album LP Kidsticks .

A throwback to the classic road movies of the ‘70s, Mississippi Grind tells the story of Gerry (Ben Mendelsohn), a loser who is sure the next big score is right around the corner, and Curtis (Ryan Reynolds), a slick gambling pro who convinces him to join him for a crack at high stakes game. Mendelsohn says he played a considerable amount of poker to prepare for the role – at some personal expense. “We played many thousands of dollars worth of cards to get ready," he admits. “We played in a proper casino for proper money almost every night as we got ready, and a lot of nights during the shoot. I met some fascinating people-real-life, serious lose-all-the-money gamblers. I was doing really well at first, but I ended up taking a bath. And then I stopped.” Preparing for his role in Mississippi Grind Ben Mendelsohn had about as much luck at gambling as his character. ROLL THE DICE! A s one of the pioneers of folktronica, Beth Orton is no stranger to the world of electronics. But for her latest album Kidsticks , she was keen to return to return to more dance-oriented roots of her first recordings with producers such as William Orbit and Andrew Weatherall. Orton tells STACK she enjoyed going back to experimenting with electronic loops in the studio. “When Andy [Hung, co-producer] and I got in the studio I had no preconceived ideas of what would happen in there,” she says. “I played the synth and as I did so Andy would be on Massive going through presets. As he went through the sounds we would egg each other on. Sometimes my husband would pop by and he’d hear these insane, loud sounds coming from the garage we were working in, and then on

entering he’d find us giggling like kids whilst being all British and polite to each other at the same time: ‘I quite like that’ and so on. Kicksticks is also informed in part by the wide-open spaces of her new home in Los Angeles. “I was driven by the energy of the music and the energy of changing counties.

EXTRAS

Moving to LA had a propulsion and an excitement, and I needed to shake things up. I didn’t start the record with that expectation but looking back I needed to shift energy in my life and in my body.” Zo ë Radas

Kicksticks by Beth Orton is out on May 27; check out www.stack.net.nz for the full interview

that H:TR shares with the first game is that one core concept.” Paul Jones Homefront: The Revolution is out on PS4, Xbox One and PC on May 20. Visit www.stack.net.nz for the full feature.

One of the perks of the job was visiting the little-known towns along the river, in parts of the US that the Australian actor had only heard or read about. “She's so big, America,” he marvels. “I haven't scratched the surface yet. I wish I'd gotten to stay a bit longer.”

As well as Mississippi Grind , Mendelsohn stars in the TV series Bloodline , which is also out on DVD this month.

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After the cannibal gore-fest The Green Inferno , Eli Roth is set to tackle a very different sort on man-eater in Meg . LIVING AND LEARNING

Chris Cheney mined his personal travails for The Living End’s new album Shift . A lthough they don’t enjoy quite the same high profile on this of the Tasman, The Living End are one of Australia’s most popular groups and live acts. Since forming at high school and busking the streets of Melbourne, theiy have won six ARIA awards (the equivalent of our Tuis) plus APRA’s Australian Song of the Year and four platinum plus selling albums. Shift is their seventh LP and according to singer Chris Cheney, is no random collection of songs and is informed by his personal travails over the years – plus a little bit of internal friction between him and his long-time bandmates Scott Owen (bass) and Andy Strachan (drums). “I don’t know many bands that can just get in there and produce greatness without any kind of friction,” Cheney says. “We all butted heads. There were some doozies. We know each other far too well, and that’s the reason you can say, ‘No, you get f-cked.’” An adjudicator came in the form of Woody Annison, long-time friend and live engineer of the band’s shows. “He knows how we want to sound live, and that’s always the initial idea of going into a studio – to try and catch that common energy,” Cheney explains. “He

was going to be great at being able to say, ‘You’ve done enough takes for that,’ or ‘That part’s fine, don’t squash all the energy out of it by trying to perfect it.’ Because that’s the danger: that you can get it really, really good and then it’s boring. But the only time we were disagreeing on things was because we wanted to find the best result,” he asserts. “And that’s definitely what we got.” As befitting the title, Shift marks brand new territory

for the band, both sonically and thematically. “I felt like the more honest and real that the lyrics seemed to be, the better the song was going to be,” says s Cheney. “It just felt like it would be doing a disservice to the songs, I reckon, h ad we dumbed them down. It’s the warts and all and it can be a bit ugly, but that’s life, huh.” Zo ë Radas

EXTRAS

Swift by The Living End is out on May 13.

WHERE EAGLES DARE Rising star Taron Egerton embraces his inner nerd to play Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards, the real-life underdog English sporting hero who captivated the world at the 1988Winter Olympics.

T hat’s what being chubby with glasses will do for you!” laughs Welsh actor Taron Egerton, brushing off the fact he’s practically unrecognisable in his latest film, Eddie the Eagle . As a slick novice spy in the 2014 box office hit Kingsman: The Secret Service , Egerton achieved overnight fame and millions of adoring fans. Uncomfortable with his pin-up status, he happily adopted a jutting chin, bottle- glass specs and geeky persona for his role as Britain’s unlikely ski jumper Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards, who captivated the world at the 1988 Winter Olympics. “Nerdy people are likeable,” Egerton, 26, insists when STACK meets with him in Los Angeles. “It was always going to be a tightrope walk, making Eddie relatable and human and three-dimensional.” But the ice quickly melted after meeting with the real Edwards. “I just tried to imbibe and absorb a little bit of who he is. He’s a very different guy now. He looks nowhere near as characterful as he did back in the late

‘80s. But it was lovely to hear him talk about ski jumping because his passion for it is totally infectious and that was the whole key.” As much as Egerton wanted to please Edwards, his real mentor – both on and off screen – was Hugh Jackman, portraying a fictitious, hard-drinking former ski jumper who reluctantly takes Eddie under his wing. “Hugh is such an incredibly life-affirming, positive, enthusiastic person. He’s addictive to be around because he’s so wholly positive,” he says. “Hugh is a sickeningly good skier! How irritating is it, how good Hugh Jackman is at everything!? Absolutely everything!” Prior to shooting Eddie the Eagle on location in Germany, Egerton had never skied in his life. “I came out a couple of weeks earlier and tried to learn to ski and fell over an awful lot,” he admits. “It was really fun and then I ended up on a red slope, which was a source of pride for me. But when we started shooting, an email came through saying how nobody’s allowed to

ski – at all – for fear we might injure ourselves. “For sure, I won’t be doing the 90 meter jump in this lifetime. You have to do it every day from the age of four just for it to be safe. It’s why Eddie kept hurting himself. Gill Pringle Eddie The Eagle is in cinemas now

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AVAILABLE MAY 12 ON DVD & BLU-RAY *

ALSO AVA I L ABLE

Limited Edition IP Man Trilogy DVD & Blu-ray

IP Man 1 DVD & Blu-ray

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ALSO AVAIL ABLE

HAS NEVER BEEN BETTER” -ROLLING STONE

AVAILABLE MAY 26 ON DVD & BLU-RAY*

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For details on how to enter all our competitions, head to www.stack.net.nz

EXTRAS SOCIAL / COMPETITIONS / QUIZ

competitions WIN A WICKED BATTLEBORN SKATE DECK Join the roster of Battleborn 's badass heroes when the game lands in JB Hi-Fi on May 3rd. You could be the lucky STACK reader who takes home the ultimate art piece cum raddest skate deck ever. Thanks to 2K

STACK SOCIAL Listening to you lot chatting and interacting with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram is all kinds of awesome! Make sure you get involved and follow us on: STACK Magazine NZ @STACKMag stackmagazine

THREE LIMITED EDITION COPIES OF THE HATEFUL EIGHT in-store on 25th May and to celebrate we have three limited edition Blu-rays with 30 page collector's booklet and alternate artwork (exclusive to JB Hi-Fi) to giveaway. Thanks to Roadshow The 8th film by Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight , will be arriving

If you fancy yourself as a writer, or want to share your thoughts on a DVD/Blu-ray, game or CD, then post your own reviews online for any title on the website. READER REVIEWS DVD | GAMES | MUSIC Got something to say?

What you've been loving on social this month:

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Head here for more shenanigans...

'Appy Birthday Adele May 5th 1988 #STACKBirthday Did you know? Adele’s album 21 reached number one in 26 different countries. STACK ’s Fave Movie Quote: Lance: If you're all right, then say something. Mia: Something. - Pulp Fiction (1994) #JokeOfTheDay Q: What’s the difference between a piano and a tuna? A: You can’t piano a tuna* *sorry

Q1 Which eponymous character is set to return to the big screen this July (2016) after a nine-year hiatus? Q2 Who won an Oscar for playing an Oscar loser? Q3 Which noir film begins with a three and a half minute tracking shot that ends with an exploding car? Q4 These two lead actors played a police officer and a villain, respectively, in a 1995 movie. In 2007 the same two actors played reversed roles in another movie. Name the actors and both movies. Q5 Name the 1955 movie whose theme song became a massive worldwide hit in 1965 and was featured again in a 1990 blockbuster movie.

Q6 This 1954 movie was based on Mark Twain's simple tale about the power of money. Title please. Q7 Which actor in a 2007 movie played a man obsessed with a particular number? Q8 Which film director was the son of a British Prime Minister? Q9 Who, after having bought a movie mogul's mansion in 1990, later discovered that the antique Chippendale furniture that had come with the property had in fact been made by the Warner Bros. studio carpenters? Q10 Name the director who, in his 2012 movie, brought a whole new spin to the serial killer and road trip genres.

QUIZ

EXTRAS

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A10. Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett in

Light of Day

performances.

A9. They all received Best Actor nominations for their first major film

(1965) A8. The Big Broadcast of 1938, where Bob Hope first sang "Thanks for the Memory"

. A7. Dr Terror's House of Horrors

Inside Moves

for his performance in  The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) but did not appear onscreen again until the 1980 movie

A6. Harold Russell won two Oscars

(1942) A5. The Deadly Trackers

(2013) A4. Mrs Miniver

A3. Now You See Me

(1944). He won Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

A2. Barry Fitzgerald for

A1. Arnold Schwarzenegger in

Going My Way

Red Heat directed by Walter Hill

Quiz Answers April 2016 (Issue 72) -

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Scott Hocking talks Jennifer Jason Leigh, 70mm and Ennio Morricone with THE HATEFUL EIGHT director QuentinTarantino.

Q uentin Tarantino’s flair for savvy casting has revived a number of dormant careers in Hollywood: Pulp Fiction (1994) heralded John Travolta’s comeback, while Jackie Brown (1997)

reminded moviegoers what they loved about Blaxploitation legend Pam Grier back in the seventies. The Hateful Eight ’s wildcard is Jennifer Jason Leigh, who was a prolific and prominent presence on cinema screens throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s in films like The Hitcher , Single White Female and Last Exit to Brooklyn . “I ended up having a Jennifer Jason Leigh film festival when I started thinking about casting her, so I literally watched those movies

DVD & BD

Quentin with STACK

his decision to cast her? “In the ‘90s, we all felt that

Jennifer Jason Leigh was the female Sean Penn,” Tarantino astutely offers. “She didn’t just give performances, she gave these huge performances that the entire movie was built around, and that’s what I needed for Daisy Domergue.” At the risk of this interview becoming a mutual appreciation of Jennifer Jason Leigh’s talents, the subject moves on to other Hateful Eight cast members, in particular Tim Roth’s Oswaldo Mobray – a role that could well have been written for Christoph Waltz. But Tarantino frowns at this suggestion. “People have been saying that about Tim and it actually disturbs me a little bit; it makes me feel bad about myself. “I think it’s possibly because I dressed him in grey,” he reflects. “I really think that’s part of it. To me, Tim is playing such a posh, British twit, and I would never cast Christoph Waltz in that role. But because I made him so visually like Christoph, he’s not getting the credit for what he’s done, and I almost think it’s my fault, frankly.”

you’re talking about, as well as Eyes of a Stranger , Heart of Midnight , Georgia and Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle ,” Tarantino recalls. As outlaw Daisy Domergue, “wanted dead or alive for murder”, Leigh is on the receiving end of some brutal abuse from her captor, ‘Hangman’ John Ruth (Kurt Russell), and Tarantino laughs when I suggest that she has made a career out of playing mistreated characters.

Jennifer Jason Leigh as Daisy Domergue

In the '90s, we all felt that Jennifer Jason Leigh was the female Sean Penn

“Yeah, in The Hitcher she was ripped in half!” he grins. “Exactly the extent of what a trouper she was, I didn’t know, until we just started doing it. But she was just so happy with this character, she was up for anything.” So was it this fearlessness that influenced

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FEATURE DVD & BD

SHOOTING IN 70 MM

The Hateful Eight is Quentin Tarantino’s eighth film, but his first to be shot in 70mm, or more precisely Ultra Panavision 70 – a super widescreen process which provides a more detailed image. "It’s the widest image possible, 2.76:1,” the director explains. "We knew we were going to do it in 70. Bob Richardson, my cameraman, and his assistant went to Panavision to have a look at what was available in lenses for 70mm, and they saw these big, giant dinosaur lenses on a shelf, which were the Ultra Panavision 70 lenses that were used to shoot Ben-Hur , It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Battle of the Bulge . "They hadn’t been used since 1966, but they got the lenses and tested them out and they just needed a little readjustment." Tarantino notes that aside from the cumbersome nature of the lenses, shooting in 70mm proved no different than 35 or 16 as far as shot set-ups were concerned. "The frame is the frame," he says. "The only limitation that I could see was we didn’t have a zoom lens, so I used a crane as though it were a zoom for the most part. "If I'm staging a scene, I don't use a monitor. I describe what I want

but it was something he wanted to explore, too, and I ended up being completely gratified by both the experience of doing it, the end result,

For the record, Roth is great in the film, even if there are unavoidable similarities with the Iglourious Basterds and Django Unchained star. The Hateful Eight

DVD & BD

and the opportunity to get to know Ennio Morricone.” As far as filming in 70mm was concerned, Tarantino notes

represents a couple of firsts for Tarantino as a filmmaker. As well as being his first film shot in the 70mm

Tim Roth as Oswaldo Mobray

and Bob Richardson puts the camera there. I'm doing the same thing, just dealing with it as it goes on the day."

that aside from the weight of the camera, his shooting style didn’t change, and he credits the diligence of his camera crew in overcoming any problems. “I realised I wouldn’t be doing any Steadicam or handheld shots with that camera, so we basically used a crane like a Steadicam dolly.” The director confirms that The Hateful Eight will be presented in the ultra-widescreen 2.76 aspect ratio for its home entertainment release. “I do like on a Blu-ray or DVD, and even back in the old Laserdisc days, the black bars on the top and the bottom of the screen, because it emphasises the frame.” As a staunch supporter of film over digital cinematography, it isn’t surprising that when it comes to his own personal film collection, Tarantino prefers physical media to a digital download. “If I just have it on my DVR, I don’t feel that I have it!” he exclaims. “It’s just there. Until I transfer it to a videocassette or a DVD, it’s not mine. I’m all about my film archive, whether it’s 35mm or 16, DVD or Blu-ray, I need to physically have it. It’s not mine until I have it physically in my possession.”

widescreen format (see sidebar), it’s his first movie to feature an original music score – a masterful composition by the legendary Ennio Morricone, for which the veteran received an Academy Award earlier this year. “I love Ennio Morricone – he is amazing, and we’d flirted with the idea of working with each other before,” says Tarantino. “I’d never really wanted [an original score] before and I’d even resisted the idea, because I didn’t want to give anyone that sort of control over the tone of my movie. Film buffs will recognise music cues from numerous other movies throughout Tarantino’s work, from Twisted Nerve in Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Cat People in Inglourious Basterds , to Exorcist II: The Heretic and The Thing in The Hateful Eight (both Morricone scores, incidentally). “I’ve never considered the other movies I’ve done as having secondhand scores,” he should have its own music. “When you have that little voice… that’s your talent’s way of trying to communicate with you, so I thought it was worth exploring," he adds. “The maestro wasn’t 100 per cent sure, says, “but a little voice in my head was telling me [ The Hateful Eight ]

Ratio 1.85:1

Ratio 2.35:1

• The Hateful Eight is out May 25

Ratio 2.76:1

13

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HELL

APOCALYPSE NOW Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam War masterpiece still tops the list of the most chaotic and hellish productions. Star Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack, a typhoon destroyed the sets, and drug abuse and alcoholism were rampant. A six-week shoot became 68 weeks. "I felt like I had fought in the war," said Dennis Hopper.

In the quest for authenticity, the cast and crew of THE REVENANT endured an arduous nine-months in extreme conditions.

I t's been described as the

toughest shoot in film history, its temperamental director

was labelled a madman, and its vegetarian A-list star consumed a raw bison liver for the sake of authenticity. Give the man an Oscar. The fact that The Revenant was an endurance test for those involved begs the question: Does living the survival experience while making the film actually count as acting? "The great thing was that as actors, we were actually reacting to the elements," offersWill Poulter. "When you're scaling a mountain in minus 20-degrees, there's nothing better from an actor's perspective to get you fully in the moment." The Revenant is based on the real-life ordeal experienced by Hugh Glass (played by Leonardo Di Caprio), which also loosely inspired the 1971 film Man in the Wilderness , starring Richard Harris. Although a legend among mountain men and the perfect campfire story, scant historical facts are known about the real Glass. But what is known is that he joined an expedition to

THE ABYSS A problematic six-month shoot led the cast and crew of James Cameron's underwater sci-fi epic to dub the production "The Abuse". Ed Harris still refuses to discuss his experience making the film and even Cameron has admitted, "I knew this was going to be a hard shoot, but even I had no idea how hard. I don't ever want to go through this again."

DVD & BD

To make a film like this is the journey of a lifetime.

capturing the essence of the primal no man's land of the American West, prior to the arrival of settlers and covered wagons. Filming chronologically and eschewing CGI, greenscreens and artificial lighting in favour of sun and firelight and forbidding locations in Canada and Argentina, the nine-month production was a punishing experience for all involved, with hypothermia and the presence of bears a constant threat. On the final day of shooting, Iñárritu addressed his assembled cast and his crew thus: “To make a film like this is the journey of a lifetime. It’s been a journey of wonder with challenging moments and tough ones and beautiful ones. I feel honoured, thankful, humble, happy and sad that we achieved what we achieved. What we achieved is amazing. Every single day of the production was difficult, but I think this has been the most fulfilling artistic experience of my lifetime.”

explore the Missouri River in the early 19th century, where he was savaged by a grizzly bear and left by his two companions, who presumed him to be dead. Despite the severity of his injuries, the tenacious Glass alternately crawled and drifted on a makeshift raft for six weeks and 200 miles to reach the nearest human settlement, Fort Kiowa. "If you study the Rocky Mountain fur trade history, one of the first things you'll learn is Glass's story. It's that epic," notes The Revenant 's director, Alejandro G. Iñárritu. Revenant: A Novel of Revenge (2002), is considered to be the most accurate account and served as the basis for the film's screenplay. Iñárritu was determined to craft as authentic a Michael Punke's fictionalised account of Glass's story, The

FITZCARRALDO A crucial scene in Werner Herzog's jungle adventure involves a 30 ton steamship being manually hauled over a hill in the Amazon. So Herzog did it for real. That was the easy part; the director also had to contend with egomaniacal star Klaus Kinski, accusations of exploiting the local tribes, and a border war.

• The Revenant is out on May 18

representation of Glass's survival story as possible,

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REVIEWS DVD & BD

The real-life Boston Globe investigative team at the heart of SPOTLIGHT took some convincing that the film would honour their efforts, says actor Brian d'Arcy James.

what it takes to tell these stories. If you consider the fact that if this story didn’t have the resources and the support from The Boston Globe to give these journalists the time to do this, it wouldn’t have been told. “Tom McCarthy, our director, had a really interesting point – he said it’s a great time for graft in local politics, because no-one is covering the capitals. They don’t have the people, they don’t have the

definitely thought twice about it, and Sacha (Pfeiffer, played by Rachel McAdams) said, ‘no good can come of this,’” he laughs. “But I think after a while when they came around, especially with what Tom and Josh [Singer, screenwriter] had done with the creation of the script, which is the roadmap. “They could see very clearly that this wasn’t just some slapdash version of events. They were really taking the time to get it right. They went back again and again, much like the work that they did as journalists to get the story right. “I think they felt comforted and bolstered by that, but when we came into the mix, that’s another element of strangeness. For Matt, when we initially met we spent two hours together and we’d be talking and he would see me looking at him like this, and he’d start kind of moving back, like, ‘what is he computing?’ “But in all seriousness it’s a great debt of gratitude I have for his generosity and opening up himself to me. That is an asset for any actor to have.”

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that has such social and significant impact, it is quite a testament when they say, ‘thank you for getting it right.’ So I’m very proud of that.” He points out too, that investigative journalism takes time and money and that these days, resources on newspapers are being cut back. The Spotlight team on the Boston Globe started their investigation into child abuse in the Catholic Church back in 2001 – and over the following years the situation has only worsened. “I think another great take away from this film is the importance of

assuming this is an amazing experience,’” recalls d'Arcy James. “He goes, ‘yeah, this is crazy.’ I said, ‘It is. It’s an extraordinary moment.’ I think it was just as thrilling for me as it was for him, if I can put words in his mouth. He would choose much better words,” he laughs. “The journalists, including Matt, have said that they felt that we did a good job and I’m going to believe them. I think they honestly mean it. And that to me is the best review you can get. “Because you do what you love and when you have something like this

Amongst the rave reviews that Spotlight has received from playing film festivals around the world, there was one that Brian d’Arcy James treasured the most – the seal of approval from the man he plays in the film. Directed by Tom McCarthy, Spotlight brilliantly recounts the Boston Globe ’s Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé of the child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church with an ensemble cast playing the real journalists involved in the newspaper’s painstaking investigation, including d’Arcy James as Matt Carroll, a key member of the team. After the film played at the Toronto Film Festival, the journalists joined McCarthy and his cast on stage to a standing ovation. “There was a moment on stage at the end where we were just standing next to each other, and I looked at Matt and I said, ‘I’m

manpower to do it, so if you want to slide some money under the table, chances are you’re going to get away with it, because there are less and less people who are watching the store, from a journalistic point of view.” McCarthy insisted on getting the details of the investigation – and the way the reporters worked on it – as accurate as he possibly could. And essential to that process was consulting with the reporters themselves, even if, at first, they were a little wary of a ‘Hollywood’ re-telling of their story. “Matt has said he

Spotlight is out May 4

FAKE PAPERS, BIG STORIES The Daily Prophet Britain's

The Daily Bugle New York City tabloid with an anti-superhero leaning. Often

The Amity Gazette Local newspaper of New England resort town, Amity Island. Headlines may involve shark sightings, beaches being kept open, and the discovery of a woman's remains, believed to be a boating accident.

most read wizarding newspaper. More concerned with sales than factual accuracy. Claims exclusives that aren't exclusive, like Harry Potter's account of Voldemort's return.

launches smear campaigns against Spider-Man. Sources webslinger images from freelance photographer Peter Parker.

The Daily Planet Metropolis broadsheet whose headlines tend to involve Superman. Editor-in-Chief is Perry White, and its team of reporters includes Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen.

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or a game synonymous with guns, gore and carnage, the planetary setting of Mars, named after the God of War, The game that shaped the first-person shooter is storming into JB stores this month. Executive producer at id Software Marty Stratton talks DOOM and Mars. F off the Planet

has always been an inspired choice. DOOM needs no introduction, and neither does the studio behind it. It’s coming back this month, dressed for battle on the 21st century gaming platforms – and yes, it’s still set on Mars. “As for returning to Mars, it was a very early decision,” says executive producer at id Software, Marty Stratton. “ DOOM has always been set on or around (the moons) of Mars, so as we’ve set out to 'reboot' the brand with this game, it made a lot of sense to start there. It’s a great canvas that works well with the tone and themes of DOOM for a number of reasons." With the coordinates set for the Red Planet, the team at id set about shaping the lore of the game and defining the reason for being on Mars. “The origin of our setting on Mars is that a number of decades from now, and in the midst of quite a bit of exploration within the solar system, the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) discovered a mysterious source of energy on Mars – that (once processed) is seemingly infinite and clean – they call it Argent Energy,” explains Stratton. “Over the course of many years, the UAC constructs a massive installation on Mars to extract, process, study and exploit the power of Argent. What they don’t understand initially is that this energy is being drawn through a fracture between dimensions – our dimension and Hell. Through the course of the game you have the opportunity to discover some of the crazy secrets of the UAC, but more importantly, imagination of authors, composers, filmmakers and developers. Earth’s closest neighbour has inspired the likes of H.G. Wells, Gustav Holst, and more recently, Ridley Scott. But what is it about Mars that makes it the ideal location for DOOM ? “For DOOM, it’s the isolation and disconnection with humanity that makes it appealing as a setting for the UAC," Stratton offers. "For some of our more fantastical elements (like Hell), it’s also the fact that, with why you’re there to kill the demons.” Mars has consistently captured the

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DOOM obviously means a lot to everyone here.

represents nostalgia, a game that shaped a genre not through in-depth storytelling but rather unrelenting action. It helped lay the road to competitive multiplayer and put outraged parent groups right across the globe on the video game warpath. But how does the studio responsible for the game feel about returning to hallowed (or is that infernal?) ground? “ DOOM obviously means a lot to everyone here and to the company as a whole,” emphasises Stratton. “For some here, it’s how they got their start in the industry, or a driving reason why they came to work at id. For others it’s a defining or influential moment in their 'gaming life'. But for all of us, it’s simply a dream project and a rare opportunity.”

all of the ideas and conspiracies about alien life, past civilisations, possible current life, religious overtones, etc., Mars is just this big awesomely mysterious (but very real) place that almost anything is somewhat possible. “In DOOM ,” he continues, “we establish that an unexplained energy well, its location fixed and marked by an enigmatic symbol, is discovered on Mars and just happens to be a rift to Hell. Is that pretty outlandish and not at all based in reality? Absolutely. But, if tomorrow you pulled up the latest image from the Curiosity Rover and it revealed a discernible

glyph carved into the bedrock next to one of the rover's wheels, would you completely dismiss it, or would you want to see that next picture?” For many, the DOOM franchise

• DOOM is out May 13

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FEATURE GAMES

Id Software’s forthcoming DOOM is, of course, set on Mars. Why are humans so obsessed with the Red Planet? Is it possible to survive up there?What sort of weapons could you use on it? President of the Mars Society Australia, Jonathan Clarke, gives STACK all the answers.

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Y ou’re not bound for the Union Research Corporation’s research facility on Mars in DOOM , releasing this month, to cultivate a field of King Edwards under atypical growing conditions. No, there are demons to destroy, and you, Marine, will be doing just that. But just exactly what would life on Mars be like and what are the chances of surviving on the Red Planet? And why are Earthlings so fascinated by it? “I think the reason for the fascination is different for everybody,” explains Jonathan Clarke. “For some people, it’s the fact that it is the next destination we can reach after the Moon. We can go to Mars and live on Mars with either technology we already have or can easily develop, whereas going further afield to the moons of Jupiter or Saturn, Mercury, Venus, requires technology that is much harder to develop. “For centuries, Mars has been the only planet whose surface we can see through a telescope. We can see light and dark markings. It’s got clouds, weather, seasons, polar caps that come and go, and so people can imagine it as a place that’s a bit like Earth. A real place that you can walk on the surface. It might be inhabited; it might be a threat to Earth. We might be invading Martians one day. People have been fascinated by these reasons.” Clarke reveals that “going to Mars is controlled very much by the position of the planets”.

“Really, you can only go to Mars once every 26 months. How long it takes to get there and how long before we get back depends on how much power you have in your propulsion system. Different types of rockets can get you to Mars between six and four months at a minimum, up to eight months maximum.” So, what about the reality of existing on Mars for a long period of time? What support systems would be necessary?

“We know there is ice in the surface of Mars, so we can process that ice and process those minerals to extract water. We don’t need a lot of food. We only need about half a kilogram of food per day if it’s dry. For the first few expeditions, we would use either freeze-dried food or food that has been preserved via radiation, or vacuum sealing, or sealed containers. Eventually, perhaps, we’d be able to grow food on Mars either hydroponically or finding suitable soil – maybe we’ll even live on potatoes!” Finally, we ask Jonathan Clarke what weapons that are currently available could be effectively used on Mars, should we encounter any hostile Martians. “All the weapons we currently have would work on Mars. The physics of projectiles and sharp-edged weapons are going to be much the same. The lower gravity and the lower air resistance will have some effect: ranges of projectile weapons will be greater, the vulnerability of infrastructure on Mars, particularly pressurised infrastructure, might mean that people have to design weapons to minimise collateral damage. “The hostility of the Martian environment may mean a lot of external combat, if it were to even happen, like we have done through drones or robotic weapons, rather than people in space armour. But most weapons will unfortunately work on Mars, just like they do on Earth.”

All the weapons we currently have would work on Mars.

“The requirements for living in space, and you can consider Mars living in space, are first of all power,” Clarke says. “Without power, you die. We need oxygen to breathe. We need water to drink, food to eat. “Power we can supply by solar panels. On the surface of Mars, you could unroll a giant solar panel just like you would a carpet. [Oxygen] on Mars, you could manufacture it from the atmosphere, which is carbon dioxide. We could use simple, old-fashioned chemistry to extract the oxygen from that.

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GAMES FEATURE

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What do you get when Gearbox decides to introduce a new first-person-shooter IP with 25 badass heroes in a 5v5 fight to the death? If you were expecting a cheesy punchline, you can be assured Battleborn is no joke. RandyVarnell, creative director on the new title, offered some insight into what to expect from the studio's latest release. born to be wild

Where did the idea for the new IP originate? After Borderlands 2 , there were two big things we wanted to do next. First, make more characters, because we LOVE doing that! Second, find a way to bring the Gearbox “stuff” from Borderlands into a competitive multiplayer space. We also really wanted swords (really, melee in general). Multiplayer and melee aren’t quite a part of the Borderlands DNA, and some of our character ideas stretched beyond what we were currently doing in Borderlands. So, Battleborn was... born? We decided to embark on a new IP and create a game around those thoughts. Why was 25 heroes the soft spot? We love, love, love making characters. The core promise of Battleborn for us has always been crafting unique and cool characters who can blend together in a number of interesting teams. When developing the characters, we made an early choice to also invent five factions, to both help group up aesthetic and tone choices for players as well as to give our lore some teeth with philosophy and conflict. With game modes based on 5v5 multiplayer, the math speaks for itself: five factions and five player teams, with a “sweet spot” of 25 playable characters as a starting point. How important was it to implement a story mode in Battleborn ? Critical. We love team-games, but most of them focus solely on multiplayer. So, you end

up with a game that has a roster of awesome heroes, and the only thing you can do with them is punch other players on the internet. That excludes big groups of other players who either don’t like that kind of play, or don’t like it all the time. “I want to do more with my cool heroes!” So from the very beginning, we were dedicated to having a way to play Battleborn , through a narrative experience which helps establish this new cool setting we made, and gives players a chance to test themselves in different ways other than with PvP. Yes. Second only to the character play, Battleborn is a game about growth and accomplishment, whether you’re advancing characters, collecting gear, or completing achievements and challenges to earn titles. To maintain the integrity of that accomplishment, it’s important that we store and track that data online. This is especially important because the gear and credits you earn in a story episode is carried over to online play. If we didn’t authenticate that through an online account, we open up the ability for players to edit their local profile, giving themselves any item or advantage they wanted, regardless of what the game required for you to earn that. My favourite example of this is the Battleborn title “Pentastrike!”. You have to kill five enemy players within eight seconds to earn that title. Do you need to be connected to the net to play single player? Even local single player?

It’s very hard to do. If we made it easier for players to circumvent the challenge of earning that title, it loses its impact. That means it is a toothless reward. Ultimately, that begins to erode the integrity of the entire growth/reward loop of the game, which I believe is one of the most compelling things about Battleborn . Who is your demographic? This is an interesting and yet uncomfortable question for me to answer! We asked this question a lot in early Battleborn development, as we started blending genres together. At the end of the day, I always want to make a game that as many players as possible can enjoy. I also like making ‘new’ things, and not just rehashing ten-year-old ideas. Making something new always stretches the “demographic” question. Ultimately, I think Battleborn is for core gamers, maybe a bit mass market. It’s for people who like action games. It’s for people who like strong, fun characters. Battleborn is for shooter fans, but also for people who like to smash things with axes and swords. At its heart, Battleborn is a character action game, with strong offerings playing through challenging story episodes or against other players in our competitive modes. It’s a big game, with a lot of appeal to multiple player types. I hate to throw out the “something for everyone” phrase, but we did work very hard to offer substantial content for a wide group of players.

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