STACK NZ Oct #67

DVD & BD

REVIEWS

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Their here... again POLTERGEIST

The future isn't just something that happens ALOHA

Release Date: 21/10/15

Release Date: 07/10/15

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It's a bold move revisiting Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper's 1982 house of horrors, but this remake more closely resembles the likes of Insidious and The Conjuring than the classic original. It's also surprisingly restrained in its use of CGI to reimagine the original's big FX set pieces. The plot remains the same: family move into a new house in the 'burbs that's built on a (supposedly) relocated cemetery, their youngest daughter communes with the spirit world through the television and gets abducted to the other side, and there's a creepy

Aloha is Bradley Cooper's second stint in the military this year, albeit less traumatic than the events of American Sniper . It's a Cameron Crowe film, which means loads of whimsy and a great soundtrack. Cooper plays a former pilot turned defence contractor who returns to Hawaii, where his past is waiting in the form of an old girlfriend (Rachel McAdams – is there a movie she isn't in nowadays?). The other woman in his life is his air force liaison (Emma Stone), who reminds us of Kelly McGillis in Top Gun , only cuter. This isn't the love

clown doll. This time, however, it's a TV ghost hunter who's called in to help and declare "this house is clean", and the original's sense of fun has been replaced with a more serious tone. But the overall message remains the same: don't go into the light.

triangle it sounds like, however, as Cooper is kept busy negotiating with a Hawaiian leader over the launch of a satellite from Oahu. Crowe has assembled a great cast – that also includes Bill Murray and a blustering Alec Baldwin – which alone makes Aloha worth a look.

THE GUEST

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HOT PURSUIT

LOVE & MERCY

Release Date: 14/10/15 Format:

Release Date: 21/10/15 Format:

Release Date: 21/10/15 Format:

Release Date: 28/10/15 Format:

Director AdamWingard and writer Simon Barnett follow up their terrific chiller You're Next with another gripping and tongue-in- cheek tribute to the trashy style of '80s horror cinema, meshing the 'houseguest from hell' with The Terminator . The Peterson family welcome discharged soldier David (Dan Stevens) into their home in the belief that he's a friend of their late son, who was killed in action. But when this polite war veteran's hidden agenda is revealed, the bodycount begins. Bathed in neon colours and driven by a propulsive, Carpenter-esque synth score, The Guest is both an homage to and a pisstake of the genre clichés it lovingly embraces.

As a British soldier separated from his unit and trapped in enemy territory – a wartorn Belfast neighbourhood controlled by the IRA – Jack O'Connell once again shows us why he's one of today's most exciting young stars. Kudos must also go to first-time feature director Yann Demange, who conjures a volatile atmosphere where sudden death can result from turning a street corner. Set during the most turbulent year of the conflict and sidelining the politics that usually drive films about the IRA, this cracking thriller is an extended game of cat and mouse, with O'Connell attempting to stay one step ahead of the enemy. Gripping stuff.

An uptight cop (Reese Witherspoon) and a drug lord's wife (Sofia Vergara) are the mismatched pair on a road trip to Texas, where the latter will enter the Witness Protection Program after testifying against the cartel. The title gives resulting in ample histrionics (and gender-specific gags) from the girls, as they fend off redneck locals and crooked cops. Thelma and Louise this ain't, but the film gets by on Witherspoon's cute Southern charm and Vergara's exotic appeal. Part buddy movie, part road movie and all chick flick, Hot Pursuit delivers three popular genres for the price of one disc. away the fact that Vergara's husband isn't too far behind,

The erratic genius and heartbreaking suffering of a musical iconoclast are brought to life in equally astonishing performances from John Cusack and Paul Dano, in this sentimental but quietly courageous biopic. The actors play older and younger versions of Brian Wilson, at two very different junctures in the Beach Boys’ frontman’s life; in the mid-‘60s, young Wilson (Dano) finds himself thrust into international stardom after the release of Pet Sounds ), while a middle-aged Wilson (Cusack) struggles to deal with his mental illness and depression while in the questionable care of Dr. Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti).

OCTOBER 2015

38

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