STACK #138 Apr 2016

CINEMA REVIEWS

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10 CLOVERFIELD LANE

EDDIE THE EAGLE

In 2008, an enigmatic trailer for a film called Cloverfield teased us with the Statue of Liberty’s head being lobbed into a Manhattan street by something big and angry. Eight years later 10 Cloverfield Lane arrives under a similar cloak of secrecy, and despite the title, it's not a sequel, nor a found footage film. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is rescued from a car wreck and awakens chained to a bed in an underground bunker by John Goodman. So this is a captivity thriller, right? Not so fast. Claiming to have saved her from a mysterious “attack” that has rendered the outside world uninhabitable, Goodman gradually appears to be more benefactor than captor, despite his creepy demeanour. His story is backed up by bunker-mate John Gallagher Jr., and glimpses of the outside world further support the possibility there’s something seriously wrong beyond the confines of their shelter. That's when this claustrophobic three-hander begins to seriously mess with its audience. Is the oafish Goodman a delusional psychopath playing his own twisted game, and the real monster of this particular visit to Cloverfield? Or is there something worse waiting outside? That’s for you to discover. It’s impossible to look away from this cleverly constructed and incredibly tense little nail-biter, which conceals its central mystery until the final act. There are clues aplenty, but the biggest one lies in the title. Scott Hocking RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Dan Trachtenberg CAST: John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr. RATING: M

RELEASED: April 21 DIRECTOR: Dexter Fletcher CAST: Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Tom Costello Jr. RATING: PG

It’s impossible not to fall in love with the utterly delightful Michael ‘Eddie’ Edwards (Taron Egerton), as we witness his childhood obsession with becoming an Olympic champion against the odds. Equipped with leg braces and chunky ‘national health’ glasses, he’s a failure in every sport he attempts. When a little older and wiser, he ditches his Olympic dream for a new and more achievable goal – the Winter Olympics. But all seems lost when Eddie is dropped from the British ski team. However, defeat and loss only increases his determination, and he signs up to become the most successful ski jumper in the country. He’s also the only ski jumper in the country. Committed to competing for Britain, he enlists the help of coach Bronson Peary (Hugh Jackman), a grumpy, alcoholic ex-jumper. No amount of hospital trips or stuck-up officials can hold him back, and Eddie the Eagle soars to become a national hero in the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, even though he comes last – twice. Based on true events, this is an inspirational and heartwarming underdog-makes-good tale, and Egerton is terrific in the lead role. You’ll laugh and you’ll cry. You may even consider taking up ski jumping. Sally Carlier-Hull

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2

KUNG FU PANDA 3

CINEMA

RATING KEY: Wow! Good Not bad Meh Woof!

It’s been nearly fifteen years since My Big Fat Greek Wedding . That film started as a one-woman show, written and performed by Nia Vardalos. Fate intervened, and one night, Rita Wilson (Tom Hanks’s wife) was in the audience. She liked what she saw and convinced her husband to help Vardalos turn her show into a film. On a budget of five million dollars, My Big Fat Greek Wedding ended up making over US$350 million. It’s one of the most profitable movies of all time, so a sequel was, perhaps, inevitable – that’s how Hollywood works nowadays. Since Toula (Vardalos) and Ian (John Corbett) were married in the first film, the titular wedding this time is that of Toula’s parents, Gus (Michael Constantine) and Maria (Lainie Kazan), who discover an error in the marriage certificate and decide to rectify the situation. Almost all of the original cast returns, many of whom are remarkably untouched by age. There’s a target audience for My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, and that’s Greeks. People with any insight into Greek domestic culture may also benefit from the film’s jokes, almost all of which are geared solely toward that specific target audience. Anyone else may be left wondering what all the fuss is about. John Roebuck RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Kirk Jones CAST: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Michael Constantine RATING: PG

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Alessandro Carloni, Jennifer Yuh CAST: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, Dustin Hoffman RATING: PG

Everybody was kung fu fighting – except they were all pandas, and the kicks weren’t fast as lightning. Kung Fu Panda was released back in 2008, which means that the ten-year-old kids who loved Jack Black’s martial arts moves as panda Po have since moved on to Deadpool . Therefore youngsters will have to start from scratch prior to checking out this third instalment in the franchise, which pits Po and the Furious Five against Kai (J.K. Simmons), a supernatural villain intent on capturing the Chi of all the kung fu masters in the land – and he’s coming for the Dragon Warrior next. If this wasn’t enough emotional turmoil for Po to, um, bear, he’s also reunited with his long lost dad, Li (Bryan Cranston), and returned to the village of his kind where he will be taught to master his Chi in order to defeat the enemy. It’s all beautifully animated and it's fun to hear Simmons and Cranston in their animated roles, but the jokes are becoming a little thread-bear by round three. It's time to hang up the black belt, and by all reports KFP3 is the final chapter. But that, of course, is entirely dependent upon the level of pandamonium it raises at the box office. Alesha Kolbe

APRIL 2016

22

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