STACK October 2016 Issue 144

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Those who gripe that we don't
need a remake of The Magnificent
Seven should remember that John
Sturges' 1960 Western favourite was itself
a reimagination of Akira Kurosawa's Seven
Samurai.
This time around, instead of a Mexican
peasant village it's the town of Rose Creek
that needs protection from dastardly
industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter
Sarsgaard), who wants to strip mine
the place and exploit the residents as a
workforce.
After her husband is gunned
down in the street, local girl
Emma Cullen (Haley
Bennett) enlists bounty
hunter Sam Chisolm
(Denzel Washington) and
six gunslingers (Ethan
Hawke, Chris Pratt, Vincent
D'Onofrio, Byung Hun-Lee,
Martin Sensmeier, Manuel
Garcia-Rulfo) to oust
Bogue and his goons.
Departing from his
familiar urban stomping
ground for the Wild West, Antoine
Fuqua ( Training Day, Southpaw)
invests this star-powered revision
with his trademark grit and thankfully
avoids the hip and cool approach
suggested by the trailer.
This is a very traditional Western, with
lashings of Leone and Ford and an explosive
climax that's pure Peckinpah. It's the
multicultural cast that reflects contemporary
times, with Fuqua noting that his movie is
an allusion to terrorism and the need for
unity in the fight against it.
Moreover the vengeful Emma Cullen
bucks the stereotype of marginalised
women in Westerns, and Haley Bennett is
likely to steal roles from Jennifer Lawrence
on the strength of her performance here.
Fortunately Chris Pratt isn't allowed to hog
the movie, and the potential for romance
with Bennett's character is avoided –
there simply isn't time, especially once
the film's thrilling final third kicks into
action with the rattle of a Gatling
gun and a hail of bullets.
Box office takings will ultimately
decide whether or not the
Western will make a comeback,
but Fuqua's film is a
reminder that this often-
neglected genre can still
work as blockbuster
entertainment.
Scott Hocking
FURTHER VIEWING: The
Magnificent Seven (1960)
RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTORS: Nicholas
Stoller, Doug Sweetland CAST: Andy Samberg,
Katie Crown, Kelsey Grammer RATING: G
“Where do babies come from?” is the age-old
question parents dread answering. The idea
that storks deliver them solved that problem,
but what if instead of delivering small bundles
of joy, they dropped off your eBay purchases?
Junior (voiced by Andy Samberg) is the top
of the flock at – a delivery
service that uses storks to deliver packages
all across the world. They used to deliver
babies, but after stork Jasper was exposed to
so much cuteness it went insane, the program
was altered. Junior is up for a promotion,
but first he must fire “Orphan” Tulip (Katie
Crown) – the one that drove Jasper mad as a
baby. What follows is a clever and enjoyable
animated adventure for all ages, with multiple
jokes aimed at parents that have seen it all
before and know the hardships of raising kids.
Something that can only be described as comic
relief appears in the form of Pigeon Toady
(Stephen Kramer Glickman), although most of
it is just weird. And in keeping with the current
trend, there’s a totally unnecessary musical
number thrown into the mix. Alesha Kolbe
STORKS
Although much of the media attention has been
about whether or not star Renée Zellweger has
had cosmetic surgery, it is a question some
people may also be asking about the movie
itself. After all, it’s been 12 years since the last
Bridget Jones film, so will the third installment
be a winning return to the feel-good charms
of the original, or a crass and embarrassing
makeover, in which the makers desperately
attempt to woo a younger new audience? The
good news is that Bridget Jones’s Baby leans
more towards the former and is certainly a
big improvement on the last entry, the bloated
retread The Edge of Reason. The film opens
with our loveable heroine (Zellweger) drowning
her sorrows as she faces up to her 43rd birthday
alone. However, things take a turn for the better
when her new thirtysomething pal Miranda
(a scene-stealing turn from Sarah Solemani)
whisks her away to the Glastonbury Festival,
where she hooks up with a sexy yank (Patrick
Dempsey) who turns out to be Jack Qwant, the
billionaire owner of a dating website. Before
learning his true identity, however, she ends
up back in bed with Mark (Colin Firth), who she
discovers is in the process of splitting up with
his wife. Then things get really complicated
when Bridget discovers that she is pregnant and
that the father could be either Jack or Mark…
Although a tad overlong, Bridget Jones’s Baby
offers a mostly cheery and affectionate trip
down memory lane, and the gag-packed script
keeps the laughs flowing and the sentimentality
largely at bay. John Ferguson
BRIDGET JONES'S BABY
RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Sharon
Maguire CAST: Renée Zellweger, Gemma Jones,
Patrick Dempsey RATING: M
A wilder west.
THE MAGNIFICENT
SEVEN
RELEASED: Now Showing
DIRECTOR: Antoine Fuqua
CAST: Denzel Washington,
Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke
RATING: M
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20 OCTOBER 2016
CINEMA
REVIEWS
RATING KEY:
Wow!
Good
Not bad
Meh Woof!