STACK #144 Oct 2016

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CINEMA REVIEWS

STORKS

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTORS: Nicholas Stoller, Doug Sweetland CAST: Andy Samberg, Katie Crown, Kelsey Grammer RATING: G “Where do babies come from?” is the age-old question parents dread answering. The idea that storks deliver them solved that problem, but what if instead of delivering small bundles of joy, they dropped off your eBay purchases? Junior (voiced by Andy Samberg) is the top of the flock at cornerstore.com – a delivery service that uses storks to deliver packages all across the world. They used to deliver babies, but after stork Jasper was exposed to so much cuteness it went insane, the program was altered. Junior is up for a promotion, but first he must fire “Orphan” Tulip (Katie Crown) – the one that drove Jasper mad as a baby. What follows is a clever and enjoyable animated adventure for all ages, with multiple jokes aimed at parents that have seen it all before and know the hardships of raising kids. Something that can only be described as comic relief appears in the form of Pigeon Toady (Stephen Kramer Glickman), although most of it is just weird. And in keeping with the current trend, there’s a totally unnecessary musical number thrown into the mix. Alesha Kolbe BRIDGET JONES'S BABY RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Sharon Maguire CAST: Renée Zellweger, Gemma Jones, Patrick Dempsey RATING: M Although much of the media attention has been about whether or not star Renée Zellweger has had cosmetic surgery, it is a question some people may also be asking about the movie itself. After all, it’s been 12 years since the last Bridget Jones film, so will the third installment be a winning return to the feel-good charms of the original, or a crass and embarrassing makeover, in which the makers desperately attempt to woo a younger new audience? The good news is that Bridget Jones’s Baby leans more towards the former and is certainly a big improvement on the last entry, the bloated retread The Edge of Reason . The film opens with our loveable heroine (Zellweger) drowning her sorrows as she faces up to her 43rd birthday alone. However, things take a turn for the better when her new thirtysomething pal Miranda (a scene-stealing turn from Sarah Solemani) whisks her away to the Glastonbury Festival, where she hooks up with a sexy yank (Patrick Dempsey) who turns out to be Jack Qwant, the billionaire owner of a dating website. Before learning his true identity, however, she ends up back in bed with Mark (Colin Firth), who she discovers is in the process of splitting up with his wife. Then things get really complicated when Bridget discovers that she is pregnant and that the father could be either Jack or Mark… Although a tad overlong, Bridget Jones’s Baby offers a mostly cheery and affectionate trip down memory lane, and the gag-packed script keeps the laughs flowing and the sentimentality largely at bay. John Ferguson

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Antoine Fuqua CAST: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke RATING: M

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

A wilder west.

T hose who gripe that we don't Sturges' 1960 Western favourite was itself a reimagination of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai . This time around, instead of a Mexican peasant village it's the town of Rose Creek that needs protection from dastardly industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), who wants to strip mine the place and exploit the residents as a workforce. need a remake of The Magnificent Seven should remember that John

suggested by the trailer. This is a very traditional Western, with lashings of Leone and Ford and an explosive climax that's pure Peckinpah. It's the multicultural cast that reflects contemporary times, with Fuqua noting that his movie is an allusion to terrorism and the need for unity in the fight against it. Moreover the vengeful Emma Cullen bucks the stereotype of marginalised women in Westerns, and Haley Bennett is likely to steal roles from Jennifer Lawrence on the strength of her performance here. Fortunately Chris Pratt isn't allowed to hog the movie, and the potential for romance with Bennett's character is avoided – there simply isn't time, especially once the film's thrilling final third kicks into action with the rattle of a Gatling gun and a hail of bullets. Box office takings will ultimately decide whether or not the Western will make a comeback, but Fuqua's film is a reminder that this often- neglected genre can still work as blockbuster

RATING KEY: Wow! Good Not bad Meh Woof!

After her husband is gunned down in the street, local girl Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) enlists bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) and six gunslingers (Ethan Hawke, Chris Pratt, Vincent D'Onofrio, Byung Hun-Lee, Martin Sensmeier, Manuel

Garcia-Rulfo) to oust Bogue and his goons. Departing from his familiar urban stomping

entertainment. Scott Hocking

ground for the Wild West, Antoine Fuqua ( Training Day, Southpaw ) invests this star-powered revision with his trademark grit and thankfully avoids the hip and cool approach

FURTHER VIEWING: The Magnificent Seven (1960)

OCTOBER 2016

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