STACK NZ Jan-Feb #59

DVD&BD

REVIEWS

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A collapsing House of Cards GONE GIRL

Band of Brothers FURY

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Release Date: 11/02/15

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Release Date: 21/01/15

TOP HITS

After his faithful adaptation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo , director David Fincher tackles another classy bestseller. And once again he doesn’t put a foot wrong: Gone Girl is a deliciously dark thriller that will delight fans of Gillian Flynn’s original novel (she wrote the script) and keep everyone else on the edge of their seats. Ben Affleck plays Nick, an amiable bar owner with a seemingly happy marriage and a perfect wife Amy (Rosamund Pike). When she vanishes from their home after what appears to be a violent struggle, the media and local community rally

Writer-director David Ayer moves from the urban jungle of Training Day and End of Watch to the battleground of World War II with this impactful combat film that possesses the same sense of authenticity that distinguished his earlier cop dramas. Brad Pitt plays Sgt. Don Collier – aka Wardaddy – who commandeers a Sherman tank christened Fury, leading his band of brothers (Shia LaBeouf, Jon Bernthal, Michael Peña) and a rookie driver (Logan Lerman) in an attack on a German platoon behind enemy lines. There are echoes of Pitt’s Nazi-killing turn in Inglourious Basterds in Wardaddy,

behind him. However, all that changes when it becomes apparent that their relationship wasn’t quite as idyllic as it first appears and Nick comes under increasing scrutiny from the police. Both an immaculately twisted thriller and a wittily jaundiced dissection of modern marriage, make sure you save one of your Christmas vouchers for 2015’s first essential purchase.

and the supporting cast are equally impressive, with Lerman’s newcomer providing a crucial conduit into the hell of war for the viewer. Ayer deftly balances the chaos of the battlefield and the camaraderie of the tank crew within the claustrophobic confines of the war machine, delivering one of the most visceral war movies since Saving Private Ryan .

Duvall and Downey Jr. in the dock THE JUDGE

Here be Monsters! THE BOXTROLLS

Format:

Release Date: 11/02/15

Format:

Release Date: 21/01/15

Robert Downey Jr takes a break from big budget action heroics for this more intimate legal drama, the first from his new production company. He plays Hank Palmer, a brilliant but arrogant lawyer who reluctantly returns to his small-town family home for the funeral of his mother. Hank has long been estranged from his father Joseph (Robert Duvall), a flinty local judge who pretty much treats his kids as if they appearing before him in the courtroom. When the judge is arrested for the hit and run killing of a recently- released murderer he had sent to prison, Hank insists on

Inspired by Alan Snow’s children’s book Here Be Monsters! , The Boxtrolls is the latest stop motion marvel from animation studio Laika ( Coraline , ParaNorman) . And like those films, this is a gorgeously realised fairytale with a sense of the macabre, in which a human boy finds himself caught between two worlds. Set in the quintessentially English town of Cheesbridge, the eponymous cardboard- wearing creatures live beneath the cobblestone streets, having built their home with the things that humans leave behind. The Boxtrolls is ultimately a tale about the

representing him, but cannot understand why his father seems intent on sabotaging his defence. More a family drama than a legal thriller, The Judge will nevertheless go down a treat with a John Grisham fans, with Downey Jr and Duvall making for a formidable double act.

importance of finding your place in the world, where the monsters are the good guys and the humans the baddies – the villainous Archibald Snatcher (voiced by Ben Kingsley) has made it his mission to exterminate the Boxtrolls. Pure eye candy for kids and adults alike.

SUMMER EDITION 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.co.nz

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