STACK Jan 123

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H appy New Year. With Christmas festivities and NY Eve
hangovers gradually diminishing, it’s time to head in to
JB Hi-Fi to redeem all those gift vouchers that Santa
brought you. With a plethora of blockbuster releases and
collectible box sets already on the shelves, you’ll be spoiled for
choice. And while January is traditionally a quieter month
release-wise (hence this rather streamlined issue you’re
holding), there are still a number of great titles being added to
the summer range.
Hell hath no fury like Brad Pitt’s ‘Wardaddy’, his band of
brothers and a Sherman tank, as the Germans discover in
the World War II action-thriller Fury. With a strong focus on
character, period detail, and intense combat sequences that
recall the verisimilitude of Saving Private Ryan, Fury is one of
the must-see movies this month.
The Maze Runner continues the trend of adapting young
adult bestsellers into profitable film franchises, although
this one’s more in the tradition of Lord of the Flies than the
dystopian futures of The Hunger Games and Divergent . Then
there is The Giver, a standalone YA adventure (and school
reading list fixture) whose future society and manipulation of
memory will remind many of The Matrix and Logan’s Run.
And for pre-teens, The Boxtrolls is a quintessentially British,
delightfully macabre and beautifully animated adventure from
the studio who brought us Coraline and ParaNorman.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For delivers four more Frank Miller
stories, and more eye candy – and I don’t just mean the dame
of the title, played by Eva Green. The striking black and white
cinematography and graphic novel aesthetic of the first film has
been taken to a whole new level, thanks to the addition of 3D.
There are some exciting new additions and changes planned
for STACK in 2015, which will make your favourite magazine
even better. Stay tuned...
An oldie bit a goodie this month. John Carpenter’s 1983
adaptation of Stephen King’s bestseller ranks amongst
the best killer car movies, but it’s also a coming-of-age/
revenge tale in a similar mould to the author’s own Carrie. This time the
bullied geek, Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon), makes his tormentors pay
by turning them into roadkill with his possessed, driverless Plymouth Fury,
which also has remarkable regenerative powers. And it looks great on Blu-
ray for a film that’s now over 30 years old. I’ve always maintained that one
of the best ways to judge a good HD transfer is to look for the finer details
in facial features (pores, stubble, etc) and cars (colour, chrome). Needless
to say Christine (the film and car) satisfies this criteria, and Carpenter’s
signature synth score adds aural sting. Australia has been particularly lucky
to get this cool catalogue title on Blu-ray: in the US it was only available as
a limited edition of 3,000, which sold out via pre-orders in about an hour.
You can find copies on eBay for the same price Arnie paid for the car in the
movie, or you can pick it up from JB Hi-Fi for around $16, or as part of a 2
for $20 deal until 18 January 2015.
ON MY TO-WATCH STACK So much to view, so little time...
Gone Girl
Saw this cracking
thriller at the cinema,
and can’t wait to watc
it again. If you haven’t
seen it yet, avoid any
plot spoilers at all cost
A Walk Among
the Tombstones
A hard-boiled detective
noir with murder, drug
trafficking, depravity,
and Liam Neeson.
Grave stuff indeed.
Boyhood
Richard Linklater’s
coming-of-age tale, sho
over 12 years, lets the
viewer watch star Ellar
Coltrane literally grow
in front of the camera.
Tusk
Michael Parks turn
Justin Long into
a walrus in Kevin
Smith’s new horror
comedy. WTF? An
instant must-see.
CHRISTINE
DISC of the month:
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