STACK NZ Sep #66

REVIEWS

BEST OF

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DVD of the MONTH

Mad Max: Fury Road Done fooling around with dancing penguins, director George Miller is finally back behind the wheel of the Mad Max franchise after 30 years, and boy, has he pushed the pedal to the metal with Fury Road. Just as 1981’s Mad Max 2 created a new model for the action movie, Mad Max: Fury Road raises the benchmark again. With today’s blockbusters overly reliant

up there on the screen. Fury Road is also one of the most visually ravishing films you’ll ever see, beautifully shot by DOP John Seale. It’s a comic book movie that isn’t based on one; every frame resembles a panel from a glossy graphic novel with a colour scheme to match: rich ochre for the desert scenes and a silver sheen for the night shots. It’s a world that’s instantly familiar and yet unlike anything seen before on the screen. The characters that populate the post-apocalypse world are also fully realised, from the villainous Immortan Joe and his citadel to the matriarchal desert clan encountered in the final act. Mad Max: Fury Road has already driven a whole new generation of viewers into raptures, and a legion of Hollywood filmmakers will now be desperately attempting to imitate the Miller magic. Scott Hocking

on digital wizardry, the Mad Max reboot is refreshingly old school. CGI sandstorm aside, Miller keeps it mostly real with the stunts, the Frankenstein-like vehicles, and the bone- crunching mayhem. Everything that made the original Mad Max movies so good (yes, even Beyond Thunderdome ) is taken to the, er, max in this relentless thrill machine. Armed with the mega-budget he lacked for the first three films, Miller’s vision is magnificent, and every cent is

ALBUM of the MONTH

Dr Dre Compton Given that it’s 16 years since his last studio album, to a lot of people Dr Dre is probably better known these days for his entrepreneurial skills than his music. However the hip hop maestro has triumphantly proved his doubters wrong with Compton , which coincides with the release of Straight Outta Compton , a biopic about his old crew N.W.A. Instead of playing safe and rehashing the sound of his The Chronic or 2001 , his third album finds him reveling in inventive new sonic textures and grooves, ably assisted by an eclectic mega-star line-up of old pals, protégés and new stars. It’s actually the young ‘uns and lesser known performers who fare the best:

Rare Replay Picture the nostalgia brought on by revisiting your favourite childhood movie. Amplify that 100-fold, convert it to a video game, and you get Rare Replay . Banjo, Kazooie, Conker, Cooper and the rest are back and reinvigorated for Xbox One. Conspicuously absent from Rare’s collection are GoldenEye 007 and Donkey Kong Country , and though they are missed, there’s plenty to keep you busy – grabbing ghoulies, battling toads, and attacking atics. We’ve been dedicating our valuable time to Banjo Kazooie and Grabbed by Genocide , which features Brit artist Marsha Ambrosius and Candice Pillay, crackles with menace and is an early highlight, while King Mez, Justus, Anderson .Paak and Kendrick Lamar shine on their multiple contributions to Compton . However, they don’t have it all their own way: Jon Connor and Snoop Dogg make for a nicely nasty double act on the abrasive One Shot Kill in Years , while The Game sounds similarly fired up on J ust Another Day ; only Eminem lets the side down with his verbose and mean ramblings on Medicine Man . Dre has hinted that this will be his final album; if that turns out to be the case, he is going out on a high. John Ferguson

GAME of the MONTH

the Ghoulies in an attempt to really fire up the old memory banks and get the trophies we missed out on all those years ago. Really, for less than $50, there are few excuses not to grab this. You’re getting 30 complete games; that’s 700 hours of gameplay and an extra 10,000 Gamerscore. The achievements fall like candy from a (Viva) Piñata. Rare Replay features more than just games; over an hour of behind- the-scenes clips give you an insight into the studio and what it is (and was) like to work at Rare. Jump in. Paul Jones

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