STACK NZ Jun #63

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REVIEWS

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Moore's overdue Oscar STILL ALICE

The final chapter TAKEN 3

Release Date: 03/06/15

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Release Date: 03/06/15

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Prior to this year, the fact that Nicole Kidman had won an Oscar and Julianne Moore hadn't was one of the Academy's biggest injustices. Moore's consistently brilliant thesping was finally rewarded for her performance as Alice Howland, a 50-year-old linguistics professor who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Having dedicated her life to the process of communication, to be robbed of these skills and her memory (naturally) weighs heavily on Alice, her husband (Alec Baldwin) and their three adult children,

Former CIA operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), the man with the “very particular set of skills”, returns for the third and final film in the phenomenally successful Taken series. Directed once again by director Olivier Megaton, Taken 3 continues Mills’s seemingly neverending struggle to protect his ever-endangered family, but prepare to be taken elsewhere in this trilogy closer. This time Mills is fleeing from the authorities, determined to clear his name after being wrongly accused of a murder in LA, whilst at the same time playing guardian to his now

and the steps she takes to retain her sense of self make for compelling and affecting viewing. Still Alice is heavy stuff, but its unsentimental approach to its subject is as far removed from a generic disease-of-the- week telemovie as Moore's talent is from Kidman's.

pregnant daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace). After three Taken films (and a couple of wannabes), Neeson has well and truly cemented his action-hero credentials and knows how to point a pistol – it’s now time for him to return to the kind of solid, dramatic roles he was doing in the ‘90s.

The Wachowskis reloaded JUPITER ASCENDING

District 10 CHAPPIE

Release Date: 24/06/15

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Release Date: 17/06/15

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More accessible than their recent Cloud Atlas and more enjoyable than those Matrix sequels, the Wachowski siblings’ latest sci-fi epic concerns ordinary Earth girl Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), who discovers she’s a genetic “recurrence” of the powerful matriarch of an intergalactic dynasty, and consequently the legal heir to their fortune. This of course upsets the eldest son, Balem (a hilarious Eddie Redmayne), who makes it his mission to destroy her. With a genetically engineered dog soldier (Channing Tatum) as her guardian, Jupiter’s ascension proves to be quite a convoluted affair.

In Johannesburg, 2016, a robotic police force fights crime. When one of these droids is damaged and reprogrammed, it becomes capable of learning. Unfortunately it doesn't have the best teachers, having been kidnapped by a pair of ghetto punks (played by South African hip-hop duo Die Antwoord) who name him 'Chappie', decorate him with bling, teach him to talk dirty and steal cars. If this sounds like Short Circuit meets RoboCop , it sort of is. Had Chappie been a Hollywood film, it would be horrible. But this is a Neill Blomkamp movie, and the District 9 and Elysium director's trademarks

This is one of those big, dazzling, FX-laden and overly ambitious science fiction films whose erratic tone alternates between serious and screwball – often in the same scene. And like the similarly bonkers The Fifth Element , the Wachowski’s space opera is destined to attract its own cult following.

(fetishised tech, slums, social commentary and Sharlto Copley) guarantee an offbeat ride. Chappie himself winds up being far more believable than his flesh and blood counterparts, including Hugh Jackman giving Aussies a bad name. Now let's wait and see what Blomkamp does with the Alien franchise.

JUNE 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.co.nz

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