STACK #156 Oct 2017

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ISSUE 156 Oct ’17

HALLOWEEN HORRORS • BLADE RUNNER 2049 • P!NK

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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

Issue 156 OCTOBER 2017

Creative Director Michelle Black DVD Consultant Kerrie Taylor Games Consultant Andre Eivik Music Consultant Mike Glynn Marketing Manager Fleur Parker Chief Contributors Bob Jones , Gill Pringle Contributors Graham Reid, Amy Flower, Michael Dwyer, Jeff Jenkins, Jonathan Alley, Simon Lukic, 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

WELCOME Counting this month’s Spider-Man: Homecoming , there have been six standalone Spider-Man films and one Marvel tie-in released over the last 15 years. Over the same period, Batman and Superman, combined, have only featured in the same number of standalone titles – and that’s counting last year’s infamous face-off. There’s no denying that the scarlet web-slinger is popular, but what is the fascination with the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko comic creation that almost didn’t happen? As far as superheroes go, Spider-Man is probably one of the most relatable and accessible to audiences. He doesn’t have overt superpowers, isn’t wealthy beyond imagination, or possess a colossal frame bristling with the muscle and sinew associated with quintessential comic book physique. He’s sensitive, gawky, a nerd, hopeless with girls, and even a little antisocial. Stan Lee’s original brief back in ’62 was to create a superhero that appealed to teenagers, and this is exactly how British actor Tom Holland, pulling on the red suit and mask for the second time now, depicts Spidey in Homecoming . The film eschews the hackneyed origin story, instead providing a platform for the Spider-Man’s reinsertion into the Marvel Cinematic Universe following a guest role in last year’s Captain America: Civil War . But it also reinvents the modern superhero film as a high school coming-of-age story with humour and heart. So while it would be easy to dismiss this as just another Spider-Man film, as I did when it was initially announced, you’ll be surprised at what you find inside the cover. Paul Jones, Editor-in-Chief

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Issue 156

OCTOBER 2017

Music Pages 42–69

Games Pages 1–28

Extras Pages 8 -13

Cinema Pages 14-20

DVD & BD Pages 24 -41

14-15 Blade runner 2049 Acclaimed director Denis Villeneuve said it was love at first sight when he saw the original Blade Runner. Now he’s determined to bring the same spirit and aesthetic to the highly anticipated sequel. 16 battle of the sexes Emma Stone serves up a potentially award-worthy performance – as Billie Jean King, the tennis champion and pivotal figure in the women’s movement. 16 the mountain between us For this extreme tale of human endurance, Kate Winslet and Idris Elba were tested by shooting in harsh, freezing locations. 18-20 REVIEWS Kingsman: The Golden Circle, mother!, American Assassin, IT, The Lego Ninjago Movie

24-25 SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING Not just another Spidey reboot! Following five movies, including three from Sam Raimi, Spider- Man is back where he belongs – in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 26 ASH VS EVIL DEAD Bruce Campbell, Lucy Lawless and seventies icon Lee Majors on the second season that’s sure to have horror fans screaming – for more! 28 CULT OF CHUCKY Fiona Dourif on joining her famous father, Brad, in the long-running horror franchise. 30 CHURCHILL We talk to Brian Cox about his role as the British PM, in the lead-up to the D-Day landing. 32 HOUNDS OF LOVE Be warned, this is loveable Aussie star Stephen Curry as you’ve never seen him before – as a serial killer stalking a Perth suburb in 1987. 34 VERSAILLES The English monarchy certainly didn’t have a monopoly on depravity.

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YOUR ESSENTIALGUIDE TO CINEMA,DVDs,GAMES&MUSIC

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ISSUE 156 Oct ’17

ISSUE 156 Oct ’17 GAMES

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HALLOWEENHORRORS • BLADERUNNER 2049 • P!NK

WOLFENSTEIN II: THENEW COLOSSUS • SUPERMARIOODYSSEY

ECCAVANDAL • ALEX LAHEY • KING PARROT • CUB SPORT

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8 NEWS Halloween is on our

45-58 NEWS + INTERVIEWS We spoke to Ecca Vandal about her eclectic self-titled album, and Wolf Alice’s Joel Amey revealed his favourite (and very cute) memory of recording Visions Of A Life . Other interviews include King Parrot bassist Slatts, Protomartyr‘s Joe Casey, Tim and Sam from Cub Sport, and Melbourne singer-songwriter Alex Lahey. Don’t forget to check out Our Cookie’s brand new live gig sketches on page 56! 60 P!NK Here’s how introspective Pennsylvanian teen Alecia record-setting, beloved worldwide pop star that is P!nk. 62-68 REVIEWS STACK Star Mr. Jonathan Alley drops in to tell us why Ecca Vandal’s debut record deserves Album of the Month; we also look at British India, Crepes, King Krule, Cut Copy, Joe Bonamassa, Winston Surfshirt, Torres, Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile, Lucinda Williams, Slum Sociable, Hundred Waters, Jess Locke, The Heartache State, Alex Lahey and plenty more. Beth Moore became the trend-crushing,

doorstep, so there’s no better time to have a horrorthon! Here are our scary suggestions. 10 EXTRAS The fifth Transformers film from the Michael Bay cinematic universe is also the most ambitious. Let’s check out the numbers. 12-13 EXTRAS Fun facts on your friendly neighbourhood Spider- Man, and all the JB Exclusives you can expect in October – including a very special 40th anniversary edition of Close Encounters of the Third Kind , and a value packed South Park: The Fractured But Whole . 22-23 BOB J The story of the Chateau Marmont, legendary hideaway for the stars, continues. It’s 1932, and Jean Harlow, the most glamorous superstar of her time, becomes embroiled in scandal when her husband is found dead at the Marmont.

3-4 INTRO October at a glance. 5 PAX AUS 2017 Is it that time of year already? 6-7 assassin’s creed

Assassin’s Creed is back after a year off – this time we’re headed to Egypt. 8-10 wolfenstein Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is out this month. Here’s what to expect... 12 the evil within 2 Seb is back and hunting for his daughter in The Evil Within 2. 14 GT Sport Gran Turismo returns for its seventh main installation. 16 super mario odyssey Mario is headed to the sandbox once more. 18 friday the 13th Heeeeeeere’s Jason! 20 forza motorsport 7

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Assassin’s Creed Origins, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, The Evil Within 2, GT Sport, Super Mario Odyssey and more .

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HALLOWEEN HORRORTHON

Halloween is coming, which means it's time to plan your horror movie marathon for the night of October 31st. We've made it a bit easier if you want to stick to a Halloween theme – and don't want to watch all eight Michael Myers films in a row. So, in between interruptions by trick or treaters, here's a horror half dozen that'll keep you sufficiently scared from dusk till dawn...

HALLOWEEN (1978) The obvious place to start – just make sure you've got John Carpenter’s classic original and not that Rob Zombie dross. The seminal slasher flick should be revisited at least once a year, on this very date of course. And if you've never seen it, you are in for the ultimate Halloween treat.

TRICK 'R TREAT (2007) Possibly the best horror anthology film since Creepshow , offering five interwoven stories set on Halloween night, each with a wonderfully ghoulish punchline. The cast is a treat, too, including True Blood 's Anna Paquin getting into more vampire strife, and Brian Cox as a Halloween-hating old geezer who gets his just deserts. TALES OF HALLOWEEN (2015) This 90 minute anthology film offers ten tales of terror, so some do fly by before they've had a chance to properly register. 'Bad Seed', involving a carnivorous jack-o-lantern, and 'Sweet Tooth' are among the highlights, and horror fans will love the plethora of in-jokes and genre star cameos, including the return of the DJ from The Fog . POLTERGEIST (1982) Ok, so it's not Halloween related, but why not finish off your horror marathon with a screening of this '80s classic as a tribute to the late, great Tobe Hooper. Spielberg suburbia is given the Texas Chain Saw director's touch with crawling steaks, a terrifying toy clown, and a corpse- erupting climax. "They're here!"

HALLOWEEN II (1981) The first of the numerous sequels that followed is the most direct – set on the very same night as the original, making it perfect for back-to-back viewing. And hospitals can be scary places, right, especially if they're perpetually cloaked in darkness like Haddonfield Memorial.

HALLOWEEN III (1982) A sequel in name only. No Michael here – the villain is a mad toymaker adding shards of Stonehenge and microchips to Halloween masks, which do nasty things when triggered by a TV commercial. “Happy Happy Halloween, Halloween, Halloween…” Be warned: you won’t be able to get that catchy Silver Shamrock jingle out of your head!

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TRANSFORMERS

THE NUMBERS

$ 2,600 That's about how much it will set you back in Australian dollars to pick up a boxed set of the original Optimus Prime, released by Hasbro in 1984. If you're not that fussy but still want to recapture your childhood, there are anniversary editions floating around for a lot less. Orion Pax, a hardworking bot who becomes transformed into Optimus Prime. 9 MILLION years (give or take a few centuries), is the age of Optimus Prime, according to the original animated TV series which debuted in 1984, and ran until 1987. We discover this in a time travel episode, where Megatron sends the Aerialbots back in time, encountering

505 The horse power of the Western Star 5700. That's the imposing truck model of Optimus Prime's alternate auto mode since 2014's Transformers: Age of Extinction . The standard engine fitted to the 5700 is a 14.8L Detroit DD15, capable of between 455 to 505 hp. 265 As a 2016 Chevrolet

10 th Transformers takes the honours as the tenth highest grossing film series of all time with $4.4 billion USD in global box office receipts. Its collective budget is $972 million, and at the highest price tag of $217 million, Transformers: The Last Knight is the most ambitious production to date.

Camaro, the ever faithful Bumblebee is a muscle car still capable of a blistering 265 kilometers per hour. 3.6

2018 Expect a standalone movie of Bumblebee in June next year.

Michael Bay will produce but this time it will be an all-new director to the Transformers cinematic universe in Travis Knight, best known as the stop motion animation specialist behind 2016's Kubo and the Two Strings . Also, a Transformers 7 is in the works for 2019.

484 The year of the opening events in Transformers: The Last Knight . King Arthur and his knights are near defeat at the hands of the Saxons. A desperate Merlin enlists the help of a mysterious knight from Cybertron. From this deed, a secret Order of the Witwiccans is formed, sworn to help the Transformers here on Earth. The last remaining member of the order is Sir Edmund Barton, played by Sir Anthony Hopkins.

The seconds it takes for the 2017 Mercedes AMG GT R to reach 100 kph. A stunning statement of German engineering, it boasts a distinctive green finish, but for Transformers: The Last Knight , it's a striking combo of black and red. That's to match with the eastern flourishes of Drift, a sword- wielding former Decepticon that now fights alongside the Autobots.

Transformers: The Last Knight is out Oct 4 on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K

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SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING FUN FACTS

Tom Holland confirmed the appearance of

The warehouse collapse scene was straight out of the comics – specifically Amazing Spider-Man #33

Donald Glover appears in Homecoming , but has a second role in the MCU as the voice of Miles Morales in Ultimate Spider-Man

Zendaya – who plays Michelle in the movie – went on her first date when she was 16 – to see a Spider- Man movie!

Jennifer Connelly voices the AI Karen – her husband, Paul Bettany, plays the Vision and voiced JARVIS

Spider-Man at the Stark Expo in Iron Man 2

Jon Favreau grew up in Queens, so in some ways Homecoming was a homecoming for him, too

Tom Holland sent Marvel tapes of himself performing gymnastic stunts and parkour as part of his audition

Mac Gargan – one of The Vulture’s henchmen – goes on to become the villain Scorpion in the comics

Homecoming ’s villain, the Vulture, first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #2

Whatever Happened to...

Jamie Lee Curtis @jamieleecurtis

His name is synonymous with some of the best horror films from the 1970s and '80s – Halloween , The Fog , The Thing , Christine , Prince of Darkness – as well as sci-fi classics like Escape from New York and They Live . After helming Ghosts of Mars in 2001, the cult director took an almost decade-long hiatus from filmmaking, citing burnout and a loss of love for cinematic storytelling. Although he did make a brief return to TV in 2005 to direct the Masters of Horror episodes Cigarette Burns and Pro-Life. Carpenter was back behind the camera in 2010 for the institution horror film The Ward , which was sadly not the return to form that his legion of fans had been hoping for. As any Carpenter aficionado will know, the man also composes killer electronic music, scoring many of his films, and released his first ever standalone solo album, Lost Themes , in 2015. Since then he's continued to focus on his music career – he performed live for the very first time last year in Iceland, and has been touring ever since. Most recently, he directed a music video for the Christine theme (featuring the possessed Plymouth pursuing a new victim) to tie in with a new album – Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998 – which will feature 13 of his most iconic film scores. He will also serve as a producer on the new Halloween film due for release next year, that features the return of Jamie Lee Curtis (see left). JOHN CARPENTER

"Same porch. Same clothes. Same issues. 40 years later. Headed back to Haddonfield one last time for Halloween. Release date 10/19/18." #HalloweenMovie In production

A sequel to IT was planned from the very beginning, as the new movie only tells half the story. Now that it's broken box office records as the highest grossing horror film, Chapter 2 is a certainty, even if it hasn't been "officially" greenlit at the time of writing. The second film will pick up 27 years later with the grown-up Losers Club having to honour their childhood pact to return to Derry and confront IT one more time. Casting hasn't been confirmed as yet,

but you can expect to see the kids from the first one again (as well as Pennywise, of course).

"If we're telling the story as adults, we are going to have flashbacks that take us back to the '80s and inform the story in the present day," director Andy Muschietti told EW .

• John Carpenter's Lost Themes II is now available on CD

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NEWS EXTRAS

These goodies are exclusive to JB Hi-Fi, while stocks last.

Blade Runner (Steelbook) Ridley Scott's definitive Final Cut, including extended scenes and new special effects in a two-disc Blu-ray set. Available now.

Angus & Julia Stone - Snow Sky blue vinyl pressing exclusively at JB Hi-Fi. Available now.

Transformers:The Last Knight (VR Edition) JB Hi-Fi exclusive VR edition including limited edition viewing goggles, 360˚ video experience and bonus DVD with extra features. Available October 4.

Assassin's Creed: Origins (Apple of Eden Edition) This striking Steelbook comes with an Apple of Eden Replica with LED illumination. Includes the Digital Tribal Pack with shield, weapons and mount. Pre-order to unlock the additional missions in Secrets of the First Pyramids. Available October 26 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

GT Sport (Steelbook Edition) Includes JB Hi-Fi exclusive Europe Theme Pack, as well as Head Starter DLC pack (6 cars), Livery Stickers, in game credits (1,500,000) and much more.

Wolfenstein II (Steelbook Edition) Pre-order now! This exclusive Steelbook

includes Episode Zero DLC – play as Gunslinger Joe, Agent Silent Death and Captain Wilkins. Available October 27 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. South Park:The Fractured ButWhole (Super Hero South Park Edition) Pre-order now! This exclusive Steelbook includes Professor Chaos (7.5cm figurine) as well as South Park : Season 14 with 13 episodes. Available October 17 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Available October 18 for PlayStation 4.

Ash vs Evil Dead - Season 2

Available as a 2 DVD or a 2 Blu-ray set from October 25. Includes an axe-shaped pen. Groovy!

American Horror Story: Roanoke (Season 6)

The latest season in the acclaimed Emmy-winning series is available on DVD and Blu-ray from October 5, in a slipcase featuring exclusive alternate artwork.

Close Encounters of theThird Kind (40th Anniversary Edition) This 4K UHD/2-Blu-ray set comes with a 64 page booklet, as well as loads of special features. The packaging has a few special surprises, too. Out on October 4. (see page 40)

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CINEMA FEATURE

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Denis Villeneuve was determined to bring the film noir aesthetic and spirit of the original film to Blade Runner 2049 . Words Scott Hocking

“I ’m not supposed to be here with you, I’m very busy doing a movie right now,” says Denis Villeneuve when STACK meets with him at San Diego Comic-Con. “I have three crews working in Los Angeles and I’m meant to be doing sound, music and VFX right now.” That movie is Blade Runner 2049 , the highly anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 science fiction classic which brought forties’ film noir elements to a bleak future of bioengineered human replicants and the cops who terminate them. Villeneuve says it was “love at first sight” when he first saw Blade Runner . “It was science fiction that was doing its job, which is to explore the human condition and ask deep questions about our identity and relationship with memory. At the time it was great to see a movie where morality is blurred. I didn’t know who were the good and bad guys. It’s a movie that stayed with me through the years.” Set 30 years after the events of the original, the sequel involves another Blade Runner,

precise plot details are still tightly under wraps, Villeneuve promises Blade Runner 2049 will be a very existential detective story with more dynamic action sequences. In approaching the sequel, he says his main goal was to respect the spirit of the first movie. “When I say spirit, I’m talking about the film noir aesthetic and rhythm. I also wanted to stay in contact with Roy Batty, Deckard, and all those characters in the first one. I hope I succeeded, but that I cannot judge. We did our best and it is [the audience] who will say how they feel about it.”

Director Denis Villeneuve on the set of Blade Runner 2049 .

Blade Runner 2049 is Villenueve’s second venture into science fiction following last year’s Arrival , which received eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Director. On the strength of Arrival , as well as his other films – which include Prisoners and Sicario – the Blade Runner sequel is in very capable hands. But Villeneuve himself wasn’t so sure

played by Ryan Gosling, who is searching for Harrison Ford’s character, Deckard, in order to solve

a long buried secret. While

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FEATURE CINEMA

As any fan of Blade Runner will know, the music score by Vangelis is as intrinsic to the identity of the film as the noirish mood. Tasked with capturing the essence of Vangelis’s haunting themes for the sequel is Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson – who has worked with Villeneuve on Sicario and Arrival – along with contributions from Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer. “There was a lot of talk [as to whether] we try and do what Vangelis did and design a new sound,” offers Villeneuve. “I felt there’s no Blade Runner without a Vangelis vibe. We worked with a CS-80 – the Vangelis synthesizer – on the movie; it needs these sounds to be alive. We need the Vangelis spirit in the movie, it doesn’t work without it.”

movie, and he said yes right away. He said it’s going to be weird when they realise that two Canadians have hijacked Blade Runner,” he laughs. As a filmmaker, Villeneuve says he looks for inspiration in life, not other movies, and evolving the future world of Blade Runner gave him the opportunity to reflect the present. “The good news is that we are still there in 2049, which is optimistic. For me, good sci- fi is an exploration of today’s world. It’s not interesting in what it says about our future, it’s interesting in what it says about our world today.”

[Ridley] told me he’d be there for me, anytime, but would also leave me alone. It will be my movie, which was very generous

when first offered the project, citing the enormous responsibility and pressure that came with it. “The truth is, at the beginning, I was very excited and touched that they came to me and trusted me,” he says. “Then I read the screenplay and fell in love with the story; I thought it was very powerful. But I was saying to myself, ‘It’s an insane task, dangerous.' I’m used to flirting with disaster but this is another level. Once I said yes, the way to deal with the pressure is that once you accept your chances of success are very small, it becomes a pure artistic gesture of love toward the first movie. When you make a sequel to a masterpiece, once you find that space of peace, you are totally free.” Villeneuve adds that he received the full support of Ridley Scott – who serves as an executive producer on the film – when the pair met to discuss the sequel. “He told me he’d be there for me, anytime, but would also leave me alone. It will be my movie, which was very generous,” he recalls. “I also remember that he shook my hand and looked me in the eyes and said ‘Listen, if you do your homework correctly, that can be fantastic. If you don’t, that can be a disaster.’ And he was right.” Harrison Ford was already onboard when Villeneuve signed on, and the director duly notes that without him, there would be no sequel. “Harrison is part of the DNA of the story – I had to be approved by Harrison Ford, not the other way around,” he laughs. As to Ryan Gosling’s involvement, he says it was co-writer Hampton Fancher’s idea to cast him as the protagonist. “When they gave me the screenplay, they said ‘Listen, you will do

what you want and cast who you want, but we think Ryan Gosling could be a good actor for this.’ And when I read it, it was obvious – it was written for him.” Villeneuve adds that Gosling proved pretty easy to convince. “We had a very long meeting, talking about our love of the first

Blade Runner 2049 is in cinemas on October 5

It’s not easy using green…

“In a movie like this there are a lot of VFX, but the goal was to do as much as possible on camera, meaning there are no virtual sets – all of them have been constructed,” says Villeneuve. “There are very few shots dealing with green screens. We built the apartment and the streets because we wanted to control the lighting, the atmosphere, and the look of the movie on camera, and then add little bits of computer imagery after that. It made for a better relationship between the actors and the world.” The director also makes it clear he’s not a fan of the green screen process. “I tried to work sometimes in the green environments and it sucked out my energy,” he admits. “I admire a director who can do that, but I can’t. I could never make The Jungle Book . I put Amy Adams in a green environment for one day [on Arrival ] and at the end of the day I was so depressed. I’m very old school in that regard, and I had the chance to build everything. But there are still a lot of shots that are only possible with a computer.”

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CINEMA FEATURE

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The ball is in Oscar-winner Emma Stone's court as tennis champion Billie Jean King, playing a pivotal match for women's rights. Words Gill Pringle BILLIE JEAN WILL NOT ROLL OVER

tennis player. From the start, she knew she was fighting for something bigger than herself,” she explains. Despite the almost half century age gap between Stone and King, the two women share an easy rapport and a hope that the principles behind Battle of the Sexes , the movie, remain just as relevant today as the original match was 44 years earlier when all kinds of walls – race, gender, religion and sexual orientation – were just starting to tumble and King was at the forefront of that tidal change. “I’d never played a real person before, much less someone like Billie Jean,” muses Stone. “So when I met her and her partner for the first time, they were so welcoming to me. Billie Jean made it very clear that she would be open to whatever process I needed to go through in order to bring this whole thing to fruition, so we threw some balls around on a tennis court and I quickly realised that I wanted to watch a lot of footage from that time period and read about her then because she is so fully formed today and is able to talk all about this now with closure and hindsight than she was able to aged 29.”

E mma Stone set the bar high after collecting this year’s Best Actress Oscar for La La Land . But Damien Chazelle’s musical confection was a work of fiction – for her next role she would need to do justice to tennis legend Billie Jean King, not only a Grand Slam champion but a trailblazer for women's rights. Battle of the Sexes would be a game changer for Stone, portraying the woman who, in 1973, inspired millions of women and girls when she defeated Bobby Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in one of the greatest landmark tennis events of all time – the Battle of the Sexes. Riggs, a self-styled chauvinist pig and one of the world’s top ranking tennis pros in the 1940s, swore that no woman could beat him. But he was yet to meet his match in Ms. King. “There’s so much that the public didn’t see at that time; so much that was happening for Billie Jean internally,” says Stone when STACK meets with her and King in Los Angeles, referring to how society, at that time, dictated King hide her sexual identity. Wed to college sweetheart Larry King for much

of her professional career, Billie Jean was forced to deny her feelings towards women before becoming the first prominent professional female athlete to come out as a lesbian in 1981. President Obama would honour King with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 for her work advocating for women's rights and the LGBT community. Stone believes King was propelled by a force even greater than becoming No.1. “From an early age, I think Billie Jean was driven by these larger ideas of affecting change in the world. You have to remember it was looked down upon for a woman to even be an athlete when she was young – especially an aggressive women’s

Battle of the Sexes is in cinemas now

REMOTE CONTROL For the survival drama The Mountain Between Us , director Hany Abu-Assad insisted stars Kate Winslet and Idris Elba experience the harsh reality of a mountain environment. Words Gill Pringle

don’t like the cold? Director Hany Abu-Assad insisted on his cast getting real, shooting the film in the snow-covered mountains of British Columbia outside Vancouver in Canada. Not that Winslet complained. “I think you can tell if something is green-screened and doing it for real had such an impact on our characters and the truth of the story. We really are at 10,000 ft and we really were freezing cold and it was very difficult,” says the actress, speaking at the Toronto International Film Festival. “I’d never done anything like this before in terms of altitude. Running at altitude is absolute agony and makes your chest burn. It’s so horrible and it was the one thing about this film that I handled badly. I‘m a fit, strong person but I wasn’t prepared for

that at all,” she admits, also adding that, should she ever be stranded on a mountain top, she would not chose Elba as her mate. “I’m pretty resourceful actually and I know how to build a fire, but Idris is rubbish.” Shamed into improving his survival skills, Elba laughs, “If I could choose anyone to go down with in a plane, it would be Kate. Yes man.” Clearly a fan of Canada, Elba even debuted his new girlfriend, former Miss Vancouver Sabrina Dhowre, on the TIFF red carpet. “We made this film in Canada with Canadians and we did not want to go home,” says the actor, who had more reason than most to linger in Vancouver. Spending almost every day of the 60-day shoot together, the co-stars learned to keep their distance while off-set. “We did have days where we would purposefully leave each other alone. It was like a relationship – you have to give each other space,” says Winslet.

B ased on Charles Martin’s best-selling romance, The Mountain Between Us begins one stormy night as two strangers await a flight from Salt Lake City airport. Ashley Knox is a successful photographer heading east for her wedding the next day, while neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Payne is flying to Baltimore for life-saving surgeries. After chartering a small aircraft together, their pilot suffers a heart attack and the plane crashes. The two strangers must then forge a connection to survive the extreme elements of a remote, snow-covered mountain. As the couple, Kate Winslet and Idris Elba have enough heat to melt the snow, although they will need more than chemistry as they realise

no-one is coming to rescue them, and embark on a perilous journey across the wilderness. Winslet and Elba might seem like a couple made in movie heaven, but this might have been a very different film – originally set to co-star Michael Fassbender and Margot Robbie until both had scheduling conflicts, and later replaced by Rosamund Pike and Charlie Hunnam who likewise eventually dropped out. Perhaps they

The Mountain Between Us is in cinemas on October 12

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“Wonderfully touching… Butler is at the top of his game.” THE HOLLYWOOD NEWS

GERARD BUTLER

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MOTHER!

RELEASED: Sept 14 DIRECTOR: Darren Aronofsky CAST: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer RATING: MA15+ Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem play a married couple living in a big old house in the middle of nowhere, which they have just restored after a fire. He’s a poet struggling with writer’s block, and she’s focused on painting walls behind which something weird and organic pulsates. Their hermetic world is shattered by the arrival of two strangers (Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer) who refuse to leave. Bardem treats them like old friends, while Lawrence is understandably bewildered – who are these people? When an act of violence brings more uninvited guests, chaos reigns, leading to a final act that must be seen to be disbelieved. Making sense of mother! is like trying to understand Twin Peaks – it’s best to just let this batsh-t crazy psychodrama do its thing while you pick up your jaw from the floor. There’s neither rhyme nor reason to the absurdity that unfolds, but like David Lynch’s films, mother! does possess its own circular nightmare logic. Festering floorboards, escalating hysteria, and Lawrence’s gradual descent into madness invite comparisons to Polanski’s Repulsion and Aronofsky’s own Black Swan , but is this a surrealist horror film, haunted house movie, home invasion thriller, religious allegory, or the most pretentious project to emerge from a major studio? Who the hell knows. The kind of film you walk out of wondering what you’ve just seen, file mother! under WTF – with an exclamation point. Scott Hocking AMERICAN ASSASSIN RELEASED: Sept 14 DIRECTOR: Michael Cuesta CAST: Dylan O'Brien, Taylor Kitsch, Michael Keaton, Scott Adkins RATING: MA15+ When Dylan O’Brien’s island holiday with his girlfriend is rudely interrupted by Middle Eastern terrorists, his whole life is turned upside down. Subsequently, he embarks on a personal vendetta against the bad guys, determined to take out the head of the cult and anyone associated with him. However, you can’t really get away with 18 months of planning without being noticed by the CIA. They eventually recruit him to their cause and send him out to be trained by Michael Keaton with a few other Winter Soldiers. They’re faster, smarter, and more lethal than your everyday undercover agent – and if they’re killed, they never existed. Think Bourne, Atomic Blonde or the Mission: Impossible films – super spies that don’t really exist. Following the lead of some seemingly unrelated attacks, the team uncover a looming global threat in the form of a government intent on starting a new world war. When plutonium goes missing and a nuclear bomb is thrown into the mix, the stakes are raised even higher. American Assassin ‘s plot isn’t anything we haven’t seen before, and is at times patriotism at its finest – all it’s missing is Gerard Butler. O’Brien is great as the forlorn, driven spy with a keen eye, and Keaton shines as the no-love-lost trainer of the next generation of super soldiers. A sufficiently entertaining albeit forgettable terrorism thriller. Alesha Kolbe

RELEASED: Sept 21 DIRECTOR: Matthew Vaughn CAST: Taron Egerton, Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges, Halle Berry RATING: MA15+

K ingsman: The Secret Service as smart as the bespoke suits worn by its agents. It was Bond meets Kick-Ass. This ambitious follow-up is full of inspired moments but it’s less controlled, suffering from the same kind of sequel bloat that affects the MCU. Eggsy (Taron Egerton) – now Gallahad – juggles his new Swedish princess girlfriend (Hanna Alström) and time spent with old mates with the responsibilities of being a fully fledged Kingsman. That is until rejected recruit Charles (Keith Allen) shows up with a Terminator arm and a murderous agenda, and Kingsman HQ suffers a devastating attack. In the aftermath, Eggsy and Merlin (Mark Strong) turn to the Kingsman’s American cousins, the Statesman, for help. Operating under the cover of a Kentucky whiskey distillery, these southern fried agents have the names and attitude to match – Tequila (Channing Tatum), Champagne (Jeff Bridges), Whiskey (Pedro Pascal) and Ginger Ale (Halle Berry). With Whiskey as Eggsy’s Statesman partner, the race is on to track down a nefarious new crime syndicate, which brands its operatives with the titular mark. And we also discover how Harry (Colin Too much of a good thing. KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE reimagined the British spy movie as a snappy action-comedy that was

Firth) managed to miraculously survive that headshot from the original. The first Kingsman was let down by the lack of a good villain (let’s face it, Samuel L. Jackson’s lisping Valentine was a bit rubbish). Fortunately The Golden Circle has Julianne Moore, who’s clearly having a blast running the world’s biggest drug cartel from a mountaintop lair decked out in fabulous fifties’ aesthetic. But where The Secret Service wisely abstained from any Austin Powers-like shenanigans, The Golden Circle features a naff plot to hold the world to ransom that Dr. Evil himself might have hatched, a bit of stunt casting more suited to that franchise (but still funny), and a Glastonbury stopover for possibly the most inappropriate planting of a tracking device in the genre’s history. Oh behave! Matthew Vaughn stages the big action sequences and cartoonish violence with the same style and verve, and thankfully avoids over-milking the comic culture clash between British manners and hillbilly hospitality. But an overindulgent screenplay and inconsistent pacing robs the sequel of the manic energy that made its predecessor so much fun. Kingsman: The Golden Circle might be bigger and barmier, but that doesn’t mean better. Scott Hocking

RATING KEY: Wow! Good Not bad Meh Woof!

OCTOBER 2017

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IT

ALSO SCREENING IN OCTOBER

RELEASED: Sept 7 DIRECTOR: Andy Muschietti CAST: Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard RATING: MA15+

IT happens!

The 1990 mini-series combined both timeframes of Stephen King's massive novel, but this big screen version is part one of a two-part film – the first chapter focusing on the six teenaged misfits known as the Losers Club, and their confrontation with the ultimate evil in the form of Pennywise the clown (Bill Skarsgård). The movie immediately announces its intention to deliver a darker take on IT than the tele-version, and also shifts the action from the late ’50s setting of the novel to 1989, which works in its favour; not only does it invite allusions to Stranger Things (whose viewers are the target audience), it also evokes the small

town ambience of ’80s films like Gremlins (a poster of which cameos on a bedroom wall) and an era when kids looked things up in a library and spent time outdoors during summer vacation, riding bikes and swimming – or fighting an evil clown. Any adaptation of IT succeeds on the strength of its young ensemble cast – the kids here have a great rapport – and of course its monster. Where Tim Curry brought a touch of Frankenfurter to Pennywise, Skarsgård’s portrayal is far more impish and malevolent, befitting King’s creation. However, as in the mini- series, with no real sense of the ancient and eternal evil that IT represents (as depicted in the novel), Pennywise is ultimately reduced to a boogeyman in greasepaint, despite stellar work from Skarsgård. Favouring atmosphere over cheap jump scares, and with Skarsgård besting Curry as Pennywise, the film has the edge over the mini-series’ Losers segment, but is never really as scary as it should be. It actually works best as a Stand by Me -like tale of adolescent bonding, bullying, and innocence lost – with a killer clown. Scott Hocking with him – they’re all secret ninjas. Garmadon’s most seriously mounted threat yet upon Ninjago City sees our six ninjas – under the much-needed tutelage of the sage- like Master Wu (Jackie Chan) – having to bring their A-game (and seriously awesome mechs) in order to save their city from a new, wholly bigger (and fluffier) adversary. Will they win out? Will Lloyd and his father reconcile? And will we find out what on Earth a green ninja’s power actually is? The story oozes with ’80s movie stylings from the likes of Gremlins , The Princess Bride and The Karate Kid , colliding with pretty much every martial arts movie ever. The fight moves were even animated based on those of Jackie Chan’s legendary stunt crew! While nothing original story-wise, the action, gags and great visuals (including, appropriately, real world elements) see The LEGO Ninjago Movie making it three-for-three for the big LEGO flicks. If you were into the first two but have your doubts here, don’t. Go ninja, go Ninjago! Amy Flower

Round three for Thor has a bit of a Guardians of the Galaxy vibe about it – no surprise given the director is Taika Waititi. This time the mighty Asgardian superhero has been imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his trusty hammer, and must race back to his homeland to prevent its destruction by the evil Hera (Cate Blanchett). But first he must survive a gladiatorial contest that pits him against an old Avengers pal. Get ready to Ragnarok on Oct 26. THOR: RAGNAROK

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GEOSTORM

Earth has fallen and it's up to Gerard Butler to repair a satellite network that controls the climate before the planet freezes over. Directed by disaster specialist Dean Devlin ( ID4, The Day After Tomorrow ). There's a storm coming on Oct 19 .

RELEASED: Sept 21 DIRECTORS: Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher, Bob Logan CAST: Dave Franco, Justin Theroux RATING: G

Four-armed is forewarned?

Teenager Lloyd (Dave Franco) has father issues. After all, his dad is the Worst Guy Ever. He’s Garmadon (Justin Theroux), he’s evil, he has four arms, he loves himself and the only contact he’s had with his son since about birth was an inadvertent butt dial. Oh, he also tries to destroy Lloyd’s home, Ninjago City, at every opportunity. He sucks. So does Lloyd’s school life, as everybody knows who his daddy is and freaks out at his very presence. It isn’t entirely hopeless though, for Lloyd has five friends who share a big bond

HAPPY DEATH DAY

Scream meets Groundhog Day when college student Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) continually relives the date of her murder until she can discover the identity of her killer. Oct 12 .

Michael Fassbender stars as a detective on the trail of an elusive serial killer in this chilling Nordic-noir thriller based on the novel by Jo Nesbø ( Headhunters ). Let it snow on Oct 19 . THE SNOWMAN

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“Chateau Marmont lovers?” Clark Gable and Jean Harlow

HISTORY The of

CHATEAU MARMONT 8221 Sunset Boulevard

to divorce him in May 1934 and moved out of the Marmont. Tragically, three years later, Jean Harlow would die of kidney failure during the filming of Saratoga  (1937), in which she co-starred with Gable. She was just 26 years old.  Saratoga was completed using a body double for Harlow. With the advent of sound the Hollywood studio heads soon discovered that, just as certain silent movie stars failed in talking pictures, a vast amount of the industry’s The Marmont's resident manager passed no comment when actor Clark Gable began calling on Jean Harlow during the day scenario writers could not write dialogue. Consequently, the studios recruited playwrights, popular novelists and media journalists to write words for movie actors to speak. A young man arrived at the Chateau Marmont in early 1934 with virtually no money and little knowledge of English. His name was Samuel (Billy) Wilder, an Austrian Jew who had fled Germany following the rise of the Third Reich. He had written numerous film/ play scripts for the German cinema/theatre and had been promised a writing job with Columbia Pictures. Wilder took the Marmont’s smallest, least expensive room at $75 per month (he later used it as a model for the apartment where Fred MacMurray’s character lived in the noir movie Double Indemnity, which Wilder wrote and directed in 1944). For a time he shared it with another refugee from Nazi Germany, the actor Peter Lorre, until he found that Lorre suffered from a debilitating drug addiction.

Part 2

I n September 1932 MGM film producer, Paul Bern, was found dead in his Beverly Hills home just two months after marrying Jean Harlow, the original “Platinum Blonde”. He had been shot. At the time, Harlow was the most beautiful and glamorous superstar in motion pictures. Following a tip-off from Bern’s butler/chauffeur, MGM moguls, Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg, were the first on the scene. When the police arrived some time later, the position of Bern’s body and gun suggested that his death had been the result of suicide. This was supported when a bizarre note, allegedly written by Bern, was found addressed to Harlow, who apparently had spent the night at her mother’s house. The studio’s version that

continued to abound around the movie capital. Whilst still officially on honeymoon, Rosson left the Marmont each day at dawn for the MGM studios and would not return until late in the evening. Harlow, who was in between pictures – having just finished her latest film prior to the marriage – stayed in her suite. The Marmont’s resident manager, Ann Little, always a paragon of discretion, passed no comment when actor Clark Gable began calling on Jean Harlow during the day. The amount of time that Harlow and Gable spent together at the Chateau Marmont led insiders to believe that the two stars were much more than just close friends. Indeed, her marriage to Rosson was short-lived when she announced plans

Bern had taken his own life because he was impotent was accepted at face value. But rumours of a murder covered up by the studio to protect their most important star from scandal became rife throughout Hollywood. Several months later, Harlow, without any prior announcement, married top MGM cinematographer Harold Rosson and the couple moved into Suite 38C at the Chateau Marmont. It was, however, a sham marriage arranged by Mayer in an attempt to quell the scandalous rumours of Bern’s death, which

Harold Rosson and Jean Harlow in the garden of Chateau Marmont with Harlow’s parents

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