STACK #149 Mar 2017

REVIEWS DVD&BD

Express to hell. TRAIN TO BUSAN

Welfare woes. I, DANIEL BLAKE

Format:

Release Date: 15/03/17

Format:

Release Date: 22/03/17

Snowpiercer meets World War Z in this full throttle South Korean zombie thriller from director Yeon Sang- ho. A passenger train bound for the titular station manages to escape an outbreak of the living dead in Seoul, and must speed to Busan before the city is locked down and quarantined. That's not going to be easy when the infection begins to spread onboard and loved ones become separated by carriages full of hungry zombies. Forget The Walking Dead , these creatures move like Usain Bolt! Featuring an inspired

We usually encounter various levels of bureaucracy daily. But the circuitous inefficiency that unemployed 59-year-old carpenter Daniel Blake (stand-up comedian Dave Johns) – only out of work on doctor’s orders due to a recent heart attack – encounters from Britain’s Jobcentre beggars belief. It’s the first time in his life that he’s required government assistance, yet he’s engulfed by a relentlessly frustrating stream of petty officialdom overload. He finds some sanity in father figure duty for a young single mother and her two kids who are in a similar situation, but ultimately how far

prelude to the apocalypse, characters you can actually care about, and as relentless as a runaway locomotive, Train to Busan is a knockout zombie flick from a country renowned for great genre films. Needless to say, this is an essential purchase for horror fans. SH

can a system that’s supposed to assist when needed push a man, when they appear to want to do anything but help? Worship-worthy cinematic curmudgeon Ken Loach nabbed the Cannes Palme d’Or for this bleak yet brilliantly witty and sadly relevant flick. He bloody well deserved it. AF

THE LEGEND OF BEN HALL

THE WHOLE TRUTH

THE DISAPPOINTMENTS ROOM

ELLE

Release Date: 22/03/17 Format:

Release Date: 08/03/17 Format:

Release Date: 08/03/17 Format:

Release Date: 22/03/17 Format:

Ned Kelly must have had a bloody good press agent. Ask any Aussie to name a bushranger and his will likely be the only name that springs forth. There were, however, others who decided that robbery under arms was the life for them. After all, every 1800s Aussie was a criminal, right? Anyway, the final nine months in the life of Ben Hall, renowned for not actually killing anybody as he went about his business, hit the screen in this project which began on Kickstarter. Claiming historical accuracy, it combines expected action with a look at relationships in Hall’s gang, and warrants space alongside Ned in the bushrangers section of your movie collection. AF

Keanu Reeves likely wouldn’t be your first choice to play a lawyer in a courtroom drama. He wasn’t first choice for the producers of The Whole Truth either, but when Daniel Craig pulled out at the last minute, Neo bravely stepped into the briefs – erm, breach. He holds his head high in this John Grishamesque tale of a rich bloke’s murder, too, defending the deceased’s son. The only problem is that the kid won’t talk. At all. Not even to his lawyer... Courtney Hunt ( Frozen River ) directs and, as it scarcely leaves the courtroom other than for flashbacks, this really is one for legal eagle whodunit junkies. AF

If Underworld: Blood Wars isn't your thing but you're still itching for a Kate Beckinsale fix, then this old dark house thriller won't, err, disappoint. Relocating to a rundown country estate in the wake of a family tragedy, the grief-stricken Beckinsale begins to question her own sanity when she's plagued by creepy visions following the discovery of a hidden room and an encounter with the house's sinister former owner. Ostensibly a haunted house movie, The Disappointments Room (the title refers to where children with special needs were shamefully locked away) leans more towards the gothic melodrama of Crimson Peak than the scares of Insidious . SH

Paul Verhoeven ( RoboCop , Basic Instinct ) has been absent for too long, and his first feature in ten years marks a triumphant return. Isabelle Huppert (in a Golden Globe- winning performance) plays a video game executive who is sexually assaulted in her Paris apartment by a masked assailant. But rather than report the incident, she decides to play her own obsessive game with her attacker. Verhoeven and Huppert transform the rape-and-revenge thriller into a bold and classy affair that constantly subverts expectations. It's one Elle of a ride. (French with English subtitles.) SH

37