STACK #141 Jul 2016

DVD & BD REVIEWS

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What makes us different ties us together. THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT

Monsters come in many forms. 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE

Release Date: 27/07/16

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Release Date: 07/07/16

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It’s the third in the Divergent movie series, and Jeanine’s reign is over. But hostility is rising within Chicago, and our heroes Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) aren’t finding it such a sweet home anymore, so they set off over the wall and into the unknown. However, they’re quickly captured and taken to the Bureau, discovering more about those who are “divergent”, as well as learning of failed genetic experiments deemed “damaged”. Due to, erm, “differences”, Tris and Four soon separate. Tris swallows the smooth verbal Kool-Aid of Bureau chief David

This isn't a direct sequel to the 2008 found-footage monster movie. Neither is it a captivity thriller, despite Mary Elizabeth Winstead being chained to a bed in an underground bunker by John Goodman. Claiming to have saved her from a mysterious “attack” that has rendered the outside world uninhabitable, Goodman appears to be more benefactor than captor, and visual evidence supports the possibility there’s something seriously wrong beyond the confines of their shelter. That's when this claustrophobic thriller begins to seriously mess with you. Is Goodman a

(Jeff Daniels), while Four soldiers it up, soon doubting David’s motives. Featuring some impressive effects amongst its many messages, this first half of the final novel (the finale, Ascendant , is due next year) will keep franchise fans wondering. Well, unless they’ve read the book, natch. AF

delusional psychopath and the real monster of this new 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. SH

Lights. Camera. Abduction. HAIL, CAESAR!

Game of drones. EYE IN THE SKY

DVD&BD

Release Date: 14/07/16

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Release Date: 20/07/16

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Other than inevitable quirkiness, you can never be quite sure what you’re going to get from a new Coen brothers flick, and Hail, Caesar! sees them revisiting Barton Fink territory. It isn’t a sequel, but it does orbit around the fictitious Capitol Pictures some 10 years later. Yes, it’s the 1950s, and the studio is sent into a tailspin when their megastar Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) disappears from the set of their new Roman epic. Luckily, however, they have a prototype Ray Donovan on their payroll in Eddie Mannix (Josh

When high-tech surveillance uncovers an Al-Shabaab terrorist cell prepping suicide vests in a Nairobi safe house, the opportunity to eliminate them with a missile strike must be taken. But a young girl selling bread in the vicinity creates a moral dilemma for supervising British Colonel Katherine Powell (a steely Helen Mirren) and US drone pilot Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) – can one civilian casualty be justified in order to prevent even greater loss of life? Gavin Hood's topical and gripping thriller reveals the

Brolin). From columnists to Communists, he has a lot to “fix”. Throw in a singing cowboy, a hyper-coloured Esther Williams homage, a big-arse submarine and other off-kilter Coen imaginings, and Hail, Caesar! confounds and captivates in equal measures. AF

political wrangling involved in sanctioning a drone strike (collateral damage assessments and second guessing), and more pertinently, the agonising decisions facing those who fight the war on terror by remote control. Highly recommended. SH

JULY 2016

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