STACK Magazine April 2015 Issue 126

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Focus on
THE BEST OF ME
From the maestro of romance novels
Nicholas Sparks (Message in a Bottle, A
Walk to Remember, The Notebook, Dear
John, The Lucky One, and this year's
The Longest Ride), comes another
adaptation to shred your Kleenex: The
Best of Me. It's the story of Dawson
Cole and Amanda Collier (James
Marsden and Michelle Monaghan,
respectively) who are reunited
following the death of Dawson's father.
The true nature of their past connection
is revealed slowly across the length of
this sweet yarn, as Dawson unpacks
his former life – both literally and
figuratively. Absolutely perfect for the
coming moody, autumnal weather, we
think.
STACK takes a look back at what you may have missed. By Zoë Radas
of Channel Nine TV "events" is the seven-part
drama Gallipoli, which was adapted from the
bestselling book of the same name by Les
Carlyon. It stars awesome Aussie dude Kodi
Smit-McPhee, who is now 18, but whom
you might remember as the 12-year-old kid
accompanying Viggo Mortensen in the horrifying
The Road a few years back. Gallipoli follows
the ten-month campaign of ANZAC soldiers in
Turkey, who attempt to develop their combat
skills whilst enduring all kinds of seriously
treacherous situations on the front.
If you're after something uplifting, you can
bend your boots towards Hector and the
Search for Happiness, which does exactly
what it says on the label, and stars Simon
Pegg no less. He's such a charming
guy and fits the role of poor Hector
– a psychiatrist whose patients start
to get the better of him, and hence
decides to embark on a lengthy trip
to discover where that elusive kernel
of delight in life lies – to a tee.
Meanwhile in Haley Joel Osment
news, our favourite dead people seer
FEBRUARY 2014 JB Hi-Fi 072
I s it just me or is Nicolas Cage
actually accelerating into the
twilight of his career? He is not
going gentle into that good night. And
that's kind of cool with me, because his
latest, Left Behind, is actually a really
intriguing drama. It's an apocalyptic thing
which does away with any of the over-
thought premises that your average sci-fi
might entertain: basically, millions of
people all over the world disappear in an
instant, leaving their clothes in a pile
exactly where they'd just been standing, and the
film is about how that affects the people who
remain. Although there are tons of car crashes
and planes falling out of clouds and people
screaming in confusion, the most shocking
scene shows quiet rows of empty baby cribs in
a hospital nursery, each one containing a tiny
beanie or onesie. It's worth a look, even if
hammy old Cage is your captain.
Back on the homefront, it's time to take
a look at how Mandy McElhinney has done
depicting mining heiress Gina Rinehart in
biographical mini-series The House of
Hancock. As was to be expected, Rinehart
herself launched a fusillade of legal action
against the production's airing, but now you
can take a peep into the machinations
behind the Filipino housekeeper Gina
hired to help her ailing iron ore magnate
father, the subsequent whirlwind
romance between said housekeeper
and magnate, and Gina's protracted
battle to try and grasp her inheritance
in a super public brawl of litigation.
Also emerging from the land
is starring in a surprisingly amazing comedy
about a young substitute teacher who
realises his detention students are super
sexually confused. He instigates an after-
school Sexual Education program which
becomes wildly popular; the only issue is that
he's not terribly sexually experienced himself,
and so struggles with feelings of fraudulence.
His kinky roommate convinces him he needs
to end his dry spell, which winds up suitably
disastrous. Sex Ed is in stores now.
visit LAST MONTH EXTRAS
Hector and the Search for Happiness
Left Behind
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