STACK #126 Apr 2016

DVD & BD

EXTRAS

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DISC of the month:

Expose the underbelly of Los Angeles and dark things will crawl out. One of these things is Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), a slimy sociopath and NIGHTCRAWLER

MILES TELLER

Miles Teller doesn't possess the traditional looks of a Hollywood heartthrob – a car accident at the age of 20 left him with facial scarring and the somewhat lumpen look of a rugby player who's been beaten up a few times. And yet this rising star has been a lady killer and party dude on screen

common thief who turns ambulance chasing into a business. Armed with a camcorder and a police scanner, Lou lurks around accident and crime scenes to shoot the grisly footage he can sell to anchorwoman Nina (Renee Russo) for her trashy news network. "If it bleeds, it leads" is the nightcrawler motto, and the more sensational the footage, the higher its value, with little regard for the real cost in human lives. Before long, Lou is interfering with evidence and overstepping the boundaries of police-line tape in order to beat his competitors to the money shots. Writer-director Dan Gilroy's film is both a scathing critique and dark satire on gutter journalism and the greedy media and public who feed it; a scene in which Russo virtually salivates over shots of murder victims with ratings in mind says it all. Gyllenhaal is fantastic as the opportunistic, scumbag protagonist; a gaunt and soulless loner with more than a touch of Travis Bickle-like madness behind his cold goldfish eyes. His angular, skeletal features lend him the appearance of an angel of death hovering on the periphery of newsworthy carnage. Set against the glittering backdrop of the LA nightscape, this stylish '70s-style exploration of the nocturnal pursuits of America's bottom feeders is one of those arthouse- thriller gems like Prisoners , Cold in July and Drive that deserved to reach a much wider audience – and now it can, when the DVD and Blu-ray arrives in JB Hi-Fi stores on April 1 . (See page 36)

Whiplash (2014)

in several comedies, prior to attracting the attention of even more female fans following his powerhouse performance as the ambitious young drummer in Whiplash . The Pennsylvania-born actor had jammed in bands and played the drums for his church youth group whilst in high school, but Teller was determined to bring authenticity to his role in Whiplash (you can't really fake playing the drums), training with musician Nate Lang for two months and performing at least 99 per cent of the strenuous drumming you see onscreen. "Living in somebody else's pain for an actor man, it's actually nice when you get to feel that emotion. That's what I like," says Teller of his career philosophy. Teller may have less than a dozen films on his CV to date, but like contemporary Paul Dano, he has that 'interesting' it-factor that stands out in a cast. After appearing in a handful of short films, he made his big screen debut in the downer drama Rabbit Hole (2010) alongside Nicole Kidman, who has remained an avid Teller fan. Growing up watching comedies like Superbad and Wedding Crashers provided the groundwork for roles in party movies Project X (2012) and 21 & Over (2013), which earned him comparisons to a young Vince Vaughn. He danced up a storm in the 2011 remake of Footloose (reprising the character he'd played in the stage production); got the opportunity to explore his sensitive side in rom-coms The Spectacular Now (2013), That Awkward Moment (2014) and Two Night Stand (2014); and flexed some muscle as an action man in YA blockbusters Divergent (2014) and Insurgent (2015). "I'm still waiting for my first big Hollywood paycheck... maybe I'll play a superhero," mused Teller. Well, that moment has arrived. We'll be seeing him this August as Reed Richards – aka Mr. Fantastic – in the reboot of Fantastic Four .

Divergent (2014)

That Awkward Moment (2014)

The Spectacular Now (2013)

21 & Over (2013)

COMING SOON Hitting the JB shelves in May The Gambler Mark Wahlberg as a

Unbroken Angelina Jolie directs this ambitious wartime true story that chronicles Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini's harrowing experience as a POW.

The Imitation Game Benedict Cumberbatch plays Alan Turing, the math genius who cracked the German's enigma code during World War II.

American Sniper

literature professor with a gambling problem? You bet. The perennial tough guy headlines this remake of the 1974 drama.

Bradley Cooper is terrific as military marksman Chris Kyle, in Clint Eastwood's gripping biopic.

APRIL 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.com.au

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