STACK NZ Jul #64

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32 JULY 2015 JB Hi-Fi
visit BEST OF REVIEWS
BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT
Get ready to strap yourselves in, boys and
girls – it’s finally time to be the Batman.
The conclusion to the acclaimed Batman:
Arkham trilogy – Batman: Arkham Knight –
finally dropped late last month, and boy was
it worth the wait. Grapple and soar your
way around Arkham in true Caped Crusader
style, fighting crime and just being generally
badass – but not killing anyone, right?
Arkham Knight takes place a year after
the events of Arkham City, and features
all the familiar baddies; Poison Ivy, The
Penguin, Two-Face and Harley Quinn all
strive to make your life hell as you battle be
the hero Gotham deserves.
Arguably the most noteworthy of
additions to Gotham City is the Batmobile.
Cruise the streets the way only the Dark
Knight can, and put the pedal to the metal
as you hoon around the city’s streets
for hours on end. If simply cruising is
too predictable for you, opt instead to
blow things up with the fully-functioning
weapons system.
The final instalment in the Batman series
hosts a playable area five times that of
Arkham City, allowing you to explore three
islands of Gotham City in beautiful detail.
Arkham Knight also does its best to
revive the classic, genre-defining combat
that we’ve all come to love. Pair that with
the endless hunt for Riddler trophies, and
you’ll have dedicated a reasonable amount
of time to fighting crime.
IT FOLLOWS
Have-sex-and-die was a staple of ‘80s teen
slasher films, and this theme is given a
frightening new twist in writer-director David
Robert Mitchell’s terrific indie horror movie.
There’s a wealth of subtext here, particularly for
fans of Cronenberg’s early work, but It Follows
more closely resembles an arthouse version of
the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, sans
gore and flashy visual effects. It also evokes
John Carpenter’s classic Halloween; autumnal
suburban streets are captured with wide angles
and long tracking shots, and evil can be lurking
anywhere within the widescreen frame. And the
pumping synth score is pure ‘80s/Carpenter.
The emphasis here is on mood and
atmosphere; the ordinary and everyday oozes
malevolence – a device that fans of Ramsey
Campbell’s horror fiction will immediately
recognise. Moreover, a weirdly anachronistic
setting – where black and whiteTVs and
e-readers co-exist – in a Detroit landscape of
derelict buildings and urban decay adds further
to the inherently creepy vibe.
What’s also impressive, and refreshing, is
that the protagonists are real teenagers with
real hopes and fears about growing up, instead
of the gorgeous-looking, vacuous social media
addicts who populate a majority of today’s
horror films.
It’s a crime that movies like It Follows struggle
to make it onto cinema screens, and if they do,
they’re granted a very limited release, whereas
Paranormal Activity: PartWhatever can dominate
the multiplexes for an extended run.Thank
goodness for DVD, where quality films like this
can reach the wide audience they deserve.
TAME IMPALA Currents
“They say people never change/but that’s
bullshit,” sings Kevin Parker on Yes I’m
Changing, a track on Tame Impala’s new
album Currents. The sentiment likely
doesn’t relate to music, but there’s little
doubt Currents finds the now internationally
renowned West Australian in a state of
flux. When I first heard Tame Impala in
2008, they struck me as the result of hip
parents leaving their Cream and Blind
Faith albums lying around for their kids to
discover – and that was no bad thing. While
Lonerism and Innerspeaker stylishly and
powerfully evolved the riffage, Currents
puts us on notice that that incarnation
of Tame Impala has soared over some
distant horizon, possibly never to return.
In its place is this eclectic psychedelic
confection – a galactic space-pop album of
sorts, not nearly as daffy as Empire of the
Sun, nor as cooly removed as Daft Punk.
It’s a 13-track odyssey with plenty of fuzz,
fun, funk and futurism at its core. Parker’s
embraced a multi-faceted future, and only
his most conservative fans would reject this
adventurism. It cruises more than it bruises,
certainly, but it’s still a trip worth taking,
even if it’s not the one you were expecting.