28 / 36
W
hat, they’ve remade
Point Break
already? Well, it has
been 25 years – that’s a long time in Hollywood. So, Patrick
Swayze’s Bodhi and Keanu Reeves’ Utah have been replaced
with newer, hipper models in Edgar Ramirez and Aussie
Home
and Away
escapee Luke Bracey. The story’s also been given a
21st century bump in the excitement stakes, with the action
sequences amped considerably. The chilled bank-robbing
surfers are now a bunch of Robin Hood-styled extreme sports
athletes, pulling off such capers as nicking a fortune in cash
and then letting it loose over an underprivileged Mexican
village, and ripping off diamonds from a skyscraper before parachuting to
freedom. But with FBI guy Utah deeply embedded among them, they’re gonna
go down, right? Much like a movie equivalent of your favourite energy drink,
this
Point Break
takes Hollywood recycling TO THE EXTREME!
AF
100% pure adrenaline
POINT BREAK
Release Date:
11/05/16
Format:
With over 60 books in R.L. Stine's mega-selling series
of scary tales for kids, how does Hollywood pull off a
Goosebumps
movie? It takes a meta approach; casting
Jack Black as the reclusive author, who keeps his creepy
creations locked within their respective manuscripts in his
basement. When said books are opened, a maelstrom of
monsters is unleashed upon the quiet town of Madison,
Delaware, and it's up to Stine's daughter (Odeya Rush)
and her new neighbour (Dylan Minnette) to get the
fictional creatures back between the covers. A chaotic
clash of
Jumanji
and
Night at the Museum
, there's simply way too much
going on in this overly ambitious adventure, including Black pulling double
duty as Stine and the voice of his diabolical dummy nemesis, Slappy.
Goosebumps
won't raise any, but kids will be sufficiently entertained.
SH
There goes the neighbourhood
GOOSEBUMPS
Release Date:
25/05/16
Format:
Cate Banchett is exquisite in the title role of this flawless
adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 novel, while Rooney
Mara is equally superb as the object of her desire, young
New York shop assistant Therese. The two meet when
elegant and affluent Carol buys a Christmas present for her
daughter from Therese and there is a subtle but electrifying
connection between the pair. Blanchett is cool and alluring
as Carol, while there is an enchanting Audrey Hepburn-like
quality to Mara as the inexperienced Therese whose true
self is awakened. But it’s the 1950s and society wife Carol
has everything to lose, including her child, if the women’s relationship is
discovered. Director Todd Haynes (
Far From Heaven
) wonderfully evokes
the era with ravishing period detail and brilliantly captures the tantalising
thrill – and piercing pain – of falling in love.
Judy Ewens
Forbidden love
CAROL
Release Date:
04/05/16
Format:
J-Law is, appropriately, a joy in this uplifting David O.
Russell dramedy that’s loosely based on real life. That
would be the rise of American entrepreneur Joy Mangano,
who went from inventing a mop that changed the face
of, well, mopping, to running a multi-million dollar empire
creating home shopping products. We meet Joy when
she’s still juggling more than any woman should have to.
She’s a divorced mum with two young kids, her mother,
dad and grandmother all living under her roof – plus her
ex, an aspiring lounge singer who’s still at the aspiring
stage. Creative since she was little, Joy works as an airline clerk, but
invents things in what little spare time she has. When she comes up with
the mop, Joy faces mass indifference – even her family are dismissive.
But she’s one tenacious woman, determined to, er, clean up.
AF
J. Law cleans up
JOY
Release Date:
04/05/16
Format:
visit
stack.net.nzDVD
&
BD
REVIEWS
28
jbhifi.co.nzMAY
2016
DVD&BD
