STACK July 2016 Issue 141

RATING KEY:

Wow!

Good

Not bad

Meh Woof!

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stack.net.au

CINEMA

REVIEWS

jbhifi.com.au

JULY

2016

CINEMA

RELEASED:

Now Showing

DIRECTOR:

James Wan

CAST:

Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Madison

Wolfe

RATING:

MA15+

The sequel to James Wan’s 2013 supernatural

shocker, which somehow managed to become

one of the most commercially successful horror

movies of all time, reunites us with paranormal

investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Wilson and

Farmiga) for another “true” tale from their files – the

much documented case of the Enfield Poltergeist,

which made headlines in London in 1977. Single

mum Peggy Hodgson (Francis O’Connor) and her

four children live in a rundown council house in

North London that’s seemingly inhabited by the

ghost of a former resident. When neighbours and

police officers witness the poltergeist activity

that’s targeting 11-year-old Janet (Madison

Wolfe), it becomes front page news. Stateside,

Lorraine Warren is also being haunted, by a

demonic nun (that looks like Marilyn Manson) and

premonitions of her husband's death. Before long,

the ghostbusting duo receive the call to look into

“England’s own Amityville”. There’s nothing in

The

Conjuring 2

that we haven’t seen before in

Insidious

and

The Exorcist

; it’s a horror movie made for

people who’ve never seen a horror movie. Today's

audiences demand calculated jump scares and a CGI

boogeyman, and that’s what Wan gives them. Show

them Robert Wise's b/w classic

The Haunting

and

they'll yawn; old school horror fans will have the

same reaction to

The Conjuring 2

Scott Hocking

THE CONJURING 2

Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), the scatterbrained blue

tang fish that helped Marlin (Albert Brooks)

relocate his son in

Finding Nemo

, begins to have

memories of her childhood and specifically, how

she came to be separated from her parents.

Together with Marlin and Nemo (Hayden Rolence),

Dory sets off across the ocean to retrace and piece

together her fragmented memories in order to find

her long lost home. Success may be Pixar’s greatest

hurdle. The past achievements of the enormously

influential animation studio precede every new

release, setting the bar to such a daunting high

point that a film must be no less than great to

reach it. Moreover, Pixar’s previous disinterest

in franchising their films has waned, particularly

since Disney bought out the studio in 2006. We

have

Toy Story 3

Cars 2

Monsters University

and

now,

Finding Dory

. Both of these factors are crucial

to understanding the success and failure of this

belated sequel to the studio’s 13-year-old smash

hit.

Finding Dory

is convincingly accomplished (like

most Pixar animation releases), entertaining and

occasionally inspired, but it never quite reaches the

heights of the studio’s early triumphs, nor totally

convinces us it’s a necessary continuation of the

original story.

John Roebuck

FINDING DORY

RELEASED:

Now Showing

DIRECTOR:

Andrew

Stanton, Angus MacLane

CAST:

Ellen DeGeneres,

Albert Brooks, Idris Elba

RATING:

ovie adaptations of video games

are always best approached

with trepidation, thanks to a less

than stellar track record. Turning Blizzard

Entertainment’s massively popular MMORPG

(as in massively multi-player online role-playing

game) into a blockbuster film was always going

to be challenging, given the game’s dense

mythology and lore – remember how the

Dungeons & Dragons movie turned out?

Fortunately

Warcraft

has two things in its

favour. It’s set in a recognisable fantasy realm

to give non-gamers an entry point, and it has

director Duncan Jones, who helmed two terrific

indie sci-fi films:

Moon

and

Source Code

Despite all the lore craft, the story is a

simple tale of light versus darkness, as two

tribes go to war. Using a dark magic called

the Fel, warrior orcs enter the human realm of

Azeroth through a portal, intent on claiming the

world as a new home.

Unless a peace can be struck with the

rebellious orc chieftain Durotan (Toby Kebbel),

who recognises the true destructive nature of

the Fel, Azeroth will be overrun by the horde

that's waiting on the other side of the gate.

Warcraft

is a triumph in production design

and Jones brings a visual creativity to all the

CGI-candy and elaborate sets, with vertiginous

angles, aerial battle shots, and skimming the

camera at ground level. But his screenplay,

co-written with Charles Leavitt, only engages

sporadically.

The brutish orcs – who resemble a

cross between the Hulk and a warthog

– are exceptionally well realised through

performance-capture, taking the process a level

beyond

Avatar

and

Dawn of the Planet of the

Apes

. The film is most interesting when they’re

on the screen, and Jones obviously thinks so

too, because he’s lavished an incredible amount

of detail on their appearance and culture.

Condensing the world of

Warcraft

into an

accessible franchise opener is a tough gig,

and Jones has done an accomplished job.

But audiences are unlikely to find themselves

invested in the story or characters, unlike the

game, which role-players immerse themselves

in for days on end without a break. At a brisk

two hours, at least there’s no need for caffeine

and a catheter here.

Scott Hocking

FURTHER VIEWING:

The Hobbit Trilogy

When two tribes go to war...

WARCRAFT

RELEASED:

Now Showing

DIRECTOR:

Duncan Jones

CAST:

Travis Fimmel, Paula

Patton, Ben Foster

RATING: