STACK #139 May 2016

CINEMA REVIEWS

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THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER'S WAR

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan CAST: Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Charlize Theron RATING: M The plot of The Huntsman: Winter’s War is convoluted and threadbare. Scorned and heartbroken, Queen Freya (Emily Blunt) forges a kingdom in the north using her powers to control ice as well as her deadly force of ‘Huntsmen’ (although no hunting is ever actually committed). Two of the Huntsmen, Eric (Chris Hemsworth) and Sara (Jessica Chastain), fall in love – a sentiment that is outlawed. They incur the wrath of the Queen, who plots to force them apart. There’s a lot more in it, but not much more to it. In the tale of Snow White, as published by the Brother’s Grimm in 1812, the Huntsman drags Snow White into the forest to kill her, on orders from the evil Queen. He takes pity on her and lets her go, taking back the liver and lung of a boar to the Queen as evidence of the girl's death. And that’s it. That was also the role of the Huntsman in the 1937 Disney animation, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs . And now, because of Hollywood’s apparently insatiable desire to tamper with classic fairy tales, the Huntsman has a franchise of his own, free of Kristen Stewart’s Snow White. The Huntsman: Winter’s War is a sequel that nobody asked for to a film that generated poor reviews and mediocre box office returns, directed by a man known principally for his work in special effects. Mercifully, it’s the last feeble live-action fantasy release for quite some time. John Roebuck FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS RELEASED: May 5 DIRECTOR: Stephen Frears CAST: Rebecca Ferguson, Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant RATING: PG Delusion is a powerful force, particularly when combined with a capacity for indulging that delusion. The life of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York socialite who became an opera singer infamous for her atrocious voice, is a tale about what happens when the two collide. Foster Jenkins (Streep) is a wealthy heiress who lives with her husband, St. Clair (Grant), and runs nights at the musical society, the Verdi Club. But St. Clair has another life, and another woman, and we soon learn that he’s but one of many benefactors of Foster Jenkins’ generosity. She has delusions of becoming a famous opera singer, but she has little feeling for rhythm or pitch and is hardly capable of sustaining a note. The people surrounding her, including St. Clair, rehearsal pianist Cosmé McMoon (Simon Helberg) and the curiously adoring fans from the Verdi Club, encourage her. Is it wrong to support such fantastical egotism or should everyone be supported in his or her dreams? Director Stephen Frears carefully toes the line between admonishing and sanctioning the support given to Foster Jenkins. The blame lies not on Foster Jenkins herself; after all, she’s deluded. It’s how her ambiguous husband feels about her that emerges as the most intriguing element of the film. John Roebuck

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Jon Favreau CAST: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley RATING: PG

Computer Generated Images traditionally falter with the power of hindsight. Imagery that appeared photorealistic to the eye in 2006 is often substandard to that same eye ten years later. Animals have proven particularly testing for filmmakers. The work on Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book , which constructs a world of CGI and populates it almost entirely with CGI anthropomorphic animals, is a startling step in the direction of the real. There is a lingering impression, however, that the entire film is little more than an exercise in technical wizardry. The plot doesn’t veer wildly from the 1967 Disney animated original. Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is a boy reared by a wolf pack in the jungle. When the nefarious tiger, Shere Khan (Idris Elba), threatens his existence, Mowgli is excommunicated from the pack and forced to discover his place in a savage world. The appearance of the characters – from Mowgli to Bagheera (Sir Ben Kingsley) and Baloo (Bill Murray) – are also very closely modelled on Disney aesthetics. Even the music is somewhat dictated by the songs from the original. The Jungle Book is bursting with visual artistry, and Favreau certainly has a flair for atmosphere, but the film is somewhat redundant, particularly because it adheres so closely to its animated antecedent. But while The Jungle Book is bound by obligation and upstaged by its technical prowess, there’s an undeniable competence to the way in which the whole thing is assembled. And sometimes, that’s enough. John Roebuck THE JUNGLE BOOK

CINEMA

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Robert Schwentke CAST: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Jeff Daniels RATING: M

RATING KEY: Wow! Good Not bad Meh Woof!

THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT

Now that The Hunger Games has wrapped, Divergent and The Maze Runner are the only YA series in town, and their similar storylines are in danger of becoming Convergent. Allegiant is the first of the (obligatory) two-part finale to The Divergent Series , and the practice of bisecting the final novel doesn't do Veronica Roth's saga any favours. The film is essentially 20 minutes of set-up stretched to a dull two hours. Having ventured beyond the wall surrounding the ruins of Chicago, Tris (Shailene Woodley) and her fellow Divergents are captured by the Bureau of Genetic Warfare, led by bland and underwritten villain David (Jeff Daniels). This mob appear to have started the whole apocalyptic mess, and are now seeking to "purify the human genome" – or something to that effect – with Chicago functioning as an ambitious social experiment. Using Oblivion -like flying pods, the characters flit back and forth between the Bureau and Chicago, where conflict has erupted between Naomi Watts's Factionless and Octavia Spencer's Allegiants, following the downfall of Kate Winslet's regime. Will they put aside their differences, embrace diversity, and unite against the common enemy beyond the wall? Will Shailene Woodley realise she doesn't possess the screen presence of Jennifer Lawrence? And more importantly, where does all that shiny and powerful technology come from in the middle of a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Next year's Ascendant will undoubtedly answer these questions, but will anybody beyond fans of the book still care? Scott Hocking

MAY 2016

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