STACK NZ February 2017 Issue 81

What do you do if the bank’s screwing you around,

itching to foreclose on your family’s ranch? Well, if

you’re Texan brothers Tanner and Toby Howard (Ben

Foster and Chris Pine) you’d rob some of their branches,

launder the money and then pay off what’s owed to the

bank with their very own funds, setting your estranged

kids up for life – especially as oil’s recently been found

on the land. That’s the gist of this western-tinged heist

thriller, which finds beauty in the desolate landscapes

of post-GFC times where everybody’s struggling – we

lost count of properties for sale and billboards flogging quick loans.

Add a pair of staunch, acerbic Texas rangers in Jeff Bridges and Gil

Birmingham, superb writing, the odd LOL moment and an ending that

comes all too soon, and you've got one terrific Texan treat.

Justice isn't a crime

HELL OR HIGH WATER

Even the most genuinely

clairvoyant would have been

hard-pressed to have foreseen a

second movie based on the

Ouija

board game being made, yet here

it is! Taking us back to 1967 Los

Angeles – complete with classic

Universal logo – we set about

ticking things off the checklist.

Widow? Yep. Older daughter?

Uh-huh. Younger daughter ripe for

possession? You bet. A priest?

Duh! Evil spirits? Naturally! We

may sound dismissive, for

Ouija:

Origin of Evil

certainly goes

for the tropes, but following a

gradual build involving the family’s

shonky fortune-telling business

becoming all too real, it really lets

loose some scare-tinged, M-rated

popcorn pleasure.

OUIJA: ORIGIN

OF EVIL

Release Date:

08/02/17

Format:

British filmmaker Andrea Arnold

(

Fish Tank

) adopts the voyeuristic

style favoured by Harmony Korine

for this episodic road trip into the

American heartland in the company

of a group of impoverishered

youths flogging magazine

subscriptions to people who don't

want them, or can't afford them.

The focus is on newcomer Star

(Sasha Lane), who joins the team

after locking eyes with Jake (Shia

LaBeouf) in a Walmart – their

fractious relationship providing

the dramatic impetus in lieu

of a narrative. Measured but

captivating,

American Honey

raw and real; a breath of fresh

Midwestern air after being

suffocated by so many superheroes

and special effects.

AMERICAN HONEY

Release Date:

22/02/17

Format:

Release Date:

08/02/17

Format:

ith the episode count upped from six to fifteen, and

mid-season break in between, the second season of

is prologue to the zombie apocalpyse emerges from

e shadow of its more popular sibling series, although it

oes share some of the problems that continue to plague

WD – namely cheats involving the fate of some of the

haracters, who'll begin to grow on you after an alienating

troduction in season one. FTWD season two charts a

ifferent course, with Madison (Kim Dickens), Travis (Cliff

Curtis) and family setting sail for a safer port – zombies

can't swim, right? – only to encounter a different kind of peril on the

ocean (have none of them seen

Dead Calm

?). Much of the second half

takes place in Mexico, where every day is the Day of the Dead. AMC have

renewed the show for a third season, which is due to air this year.

Death knows no borders

FEAR THE WALKING DEAD:

SEASON 2

Deliverance

meets 1970s

exploitation by way of Quentin

Tarantino in this horror/thriller

mash-up from Mickey Keating,

the guy behind

Pod

and

Darling

It all begins with a botched bank

job, a gunshot wound and a hasty

escape to the middle of nowhere.

Or, more specifically, the middle

of a property owned by one Wyatt

Moss (Pat Healy), an ex-military

sniper and certifiable yokel sicko.

Bullets fly, blood spurts and our

heroine, Vivian (Ashley Bell),

appears, having been kidnapped

and jammed in the boot by the

wannabe bank robbers. So begins

a cat and mouse game between

Wyatt and Vivian with only one

thing missing – banjos!

CARNAGE PARK

Release Date:

01/02/17

Format:

Move over Brangelina and

shuffle sideways Jackie Chan,

for it’s Zach Galifianakis and

Isla Fisher’s turn to don their

Agent 86 and 99 hats as Jeff

and Karen Gaffney, when

spies move into their cosseted

cul-de-sac. They’d be Tim and

Natalie Jones (Jon Hamm and

Gal Gadot), although obviously

they’re not shouting their career

choice from any rooftops.

Instead they’re trying to inveigle

their way into the aerospace

company that employs Jeff

and most of the suburb. It’s

your everyday everyman and

everywoman become spies and

travel-the-world action comedy,

but with many laughs and much

charm.

KEEPING UP WITH

THE JONESES

Release Date:

08/02/17

Format:

Release Date:

08/02/17

Format:

jbhifi.co.nz

FEBRUARY

2017

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stack.net.nz

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