STACK NZ APril 2016 Issue 72

Blended families aren’t new – nor is the situation where

children in such arrangements don’t exactly take to their

step-parents. Sometimes it’s because, well, they’re

arseholes, but this isn’t the case with good natured radio

exec Brad Whitaker (Will Ferrell). He’s married Sara (Linda

Cardellini), inherited two great kids in Megan and Dylan,

and he’s finally making great progress with them. Then

their biological dad, Dusty (Mark Wahlberg), rocks up. He’s

the anti-Brad, all machismo, muscles and motorcycle, but

despite being intimidated, Brad does his best to make the

guy feel welcome. It’s a dumb idea, for Dusty’s come with one aim – to

wrest Sara and his kids back from Brad. But the stepdad isn’t going down

without a fight. Ferrell and Wahlberg’s rapport, as first seen in

The Other

Guys

, makes this often surprisingly raunchy comedy well worth a look.

Who's your daddy?

DADDY'S HOME

Although the UK’s most famous

suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst

makes a brief appearance here

(in the guise of Meryl Streep),

one of the best things about this

handsome period drama is that

it zeroes in on the contribution

made by ordinary working

class women in the battle for

equal rights. Carey Mulligan is

excellent as the laundry worker

who becomes radicalised as her

eyes are opened to the injustices

around her. She is well supported

by Anne-Marie Duff as a fellow

rebel workmate, and Helena

Bonham Carter as a middle class

veteran of the movement. An

important and uplifting slice of

modern history.

SUFFRAGETTE

Release Date:

20/04/16

Format:

As we learned in the first season

of this superb drama, on 14

October 2011, two per cent

of the world’s population just

vanished. Here, after a head-

scratching prologue involving a

cavewoman, we’re spirited to

present day Jarden, Texas. Or, to

be more accurate, ‘Miracle’, so

renamed as the town suffered no

departures back on that fateful

day. As such it’s become a Mecca

for those wanting answers,

including Kevin (Justin Theroux),

Nora (Margaret Qualley) and Jill

(Carrie Coon). Another perplexing

but captivating season that

could only have emanated from

the delightfully twisted mind of

Damon (

Lost

) Lindelof.

THE LEFTOVERS:

SEASON 2

Release Date:

06/04/16

Format:

Release Date:

27/04/16

Format:

Channeling the ‘greed is good’ mantra of

Wall Street

’s

Gordon Gekko, Michael Shannon is at his reptilian best as the

real estate broker from hell in this bleak but gripping drama.

Set against the backdrop of the collapse of the American

property market following the global financial crisis, Shannon

plays Raymond Carver, an estate agent who specialises

in snapping up the foreclosed properties of the people he

evicts on behalf of the banks. Andrew Garfield is Dennis

Nash, a struggling single father who loses his family home to

Carver but reluctantly agrees to work for him in order to win

back his house. The bewildered heartbreak of ordinary people who have lost

everything because of the financial meltdown is sensitively brought to the

screen by director Ramin Bahrani – and the ongoing property explosion here

makes this a sobering and timely release.

John Ferguson

Greed is good

99 HOMES

After the left-turn that was the

fifth

Paranormal Activity

movie,

The Ghost Dimension

returns

to the core story of possessed

sisters Katy and Kristi for what

is billed as the final installment

in the found-footage franchise. A

family move into their new home,

where dad Ryan (Chris J. Murray)

discovers an old video camera

that can see images from an

otherworldly dimension, and a box

of cassettes featuring recordings

of the scary siblings from 1988,

which seem eerily linked to the

present. Although it doesn't

stray too far from the established

formula, the 3D ensures that the

final (for now)

movie lives up

to its subtitle.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY:

THE GHOST DIMENSION

Release Date:

06/04/16

Format:

In the latest season of this

gleefully excessive crime series,

ex-con sheriff-imposter Lucas

Hood (Kiwi star Antony Starr)

has his hands full with a hulking

Native American on the warpath,

the arrival of the real sheriff's son

threatening to blow his cover, a

siege at the station, and of course

being regularly pummelled by

badasses. But there's still time to

pull off a daring heist on a military

base with partners in crime Carrie

(Ivana Milicevic) and Job (Hoon

Lee), which leads to conflict with a

vengeful Colonel. For a small town

there's a LOT going on, and this

season the bodycount is massive.

Pure pulp fiction,

Banshee

remains

an absolute blast.

BANSHEE:

SEASON 3

Release Date:

06/04/16

Format:

Release Date:

14/04/16

Format:

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APRIL

2016

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