STACK NZ Jun #63

REVIEWS

CINEMA

RATING KEY:

Wow!

Good

Not bad

Meh Woof!

SPY

PITCH PERFECT 2

Depending on how much you liked Bridesmaids and The Heat , you were either apathetic or ecstatic to hear that writer-director Paul Feig and actress Melissa McCarthy had teamed up again for the comedy crime- caper Spy . It turns out that even if you disliked those former two flicks, you'll doubtless find something to love in the latter. Feig's story – about a jovial deskbound analyst in the FBI who ends up having to go undercover when two field agents are compromised – is still full of dumb/hilarious absurdities, but manages to transcend its Big Momma's House -like premise with the most rewarding script McCarthy (who ain't no Martin Lawrence) has ever run with. Moreover, it's the best opportunity she's had to showcase her winning mix of dry and slapstick humour, not to mention her ability to wring real empathy from an audience. The support of Jude Law and Jason Statham lend it ample kudos (and who doesn't love seeing either of those two stretch their funny bones), and most of the biggest chortles you'll get come from our own ubiquitous and mega-talented Rose Byrne, whose haughty and uncomplicated delivery is totally enchanting. Definitely worth it (we're as surprised as you). Zoë Radas RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Paul Feig CAST: Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Jason Statham RATING: R16

Pitch Perfect saw the debut of Anna Kendrick as the “alt girl” who can sing, joining the Barden University Bellas and taking them on to win at the National Championships. Now, the second time round, having lost Anna Camp but gained Hailee Steinfeld as a young Legacy, Kendrick is joined again by Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Adam DeVine and Skylar Astin to out-voice the competition. With an opening performance by the Bellas for Obama’s birthday, things don’t quite go according to the arrangement, and the Bellas find themselves disqualified from competing at the collegiate level. That would have been it for the film had podcasters Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins not offered to reinstate them, should they win the International Championships. The best part about the sequel is it doesn’t try to be anything else. Yes, it’s full of lame jokes at the expense of the black lesbian. Yes, Fat Amy is always the one making the jokes. Yes, Bumper is still awkward. But it works. Pitch Perfect 2 is a perfect sequel. It’s still upbeat, it’s still unique, and it’s still itself. A ca-awesome. Alesha Kolbe RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Elizabeth Banks CAST: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld RATING: M

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

SLOW WEST

True action cinema is displacement of belief combined with edge-of-the- seat, open-mouthed wonder and the sheer adrenaline one feels when on a rollercoaster drifting over the first precipice. Mad Max: Fury Road is non- stop groin anxiety, the kind that causes the entire left side of your body to sound the alarm. Forget Fast & Furious set-piece safety or a Michael Bay CGI cartoon, Mad Max films have always been about danger; even in the audience, you feel you could die at any moment. Director George Miller has once again raised the bar in what this genre can or can’t do in terms of pushing an audience’s tolerance, endurance and pre-conceived notions of good, bad, evil and the vast grey areas in-between. We find Max (Tom Hardy) captured, tortured and now used as a live blood bag to provide vitality to the willing ‘War Boys’ of the Skeletor-ish, Immorton Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), a self-proclaimed warlord controlling countless minions via his possession of precious water and ‘guzzolene’. When Joe’s trusted warrior, Furiosa (a one-armed Charlize Theron), goes rogue on a fuel mission to spirit away a semi-trailer full of his personal stash of Amazonian breeding stock, the chase is on, and boy-oh-boy you’d better make sure you’re strapped into that cinema seat.. Chris Murray RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: George Miller CAST: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Hugh Keays-Byrne RATING: R16

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: John Maclean CAST: Michael Fassbender, Ben Mendelsohn, Kodi Smit-McPhee RATING: R13

A 16-year-old, lovesick British aristocrat travels across 19th century frontier America in search of his beloved, who happens to have a bounty on her head. When a strange Irish mercenary promises to see him through safely, he soon realises the Wild West takes no prisoners and trust is a very loose term. Former frontman for the Beta Band, this is director John Maclean’s first feature film – shot here in New Zealand – with ambitions set to ultra high. It's a Euro-Western ‘journey film’ with aesthetic sensibilities aimed between a Coen Bros offbeat/arthouse kink and a slow-burn Proposition with open scabbed morality and bloodlust. That it never quite achieves either is a letdown to the amazing cinematography, strong performances from Smit-McPhee and Fassbender, and a desire to evoke classic western iconography in every frame. Two remarkable set-pieces aside (a general store heist gone awry and the eventual showdown with bullets aplenty), this feels as though it was green-lit too early in the script stage to fully flesh out what could have been an existential journey into the hearts of mad-men-on-missions, instead of some beautiful footage simply edited together in the hope of a rounded experience. Chris Murray

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