STACK #133 Nov 2016

CINEMA

REVIEWS

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RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Scott Cooper CAST: Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch,

BLACK MASS

Dakota Johnson RATING: MA15+

Johnny Depp works hard to deliver sexy menace and charm, but the real star is Joel Edgerton, in a film that never lives up to its promise.

T he Paranormal Activity films have become a regular fixture on the Halloween release date calendar, filling the vacancy left after the Saw franchise wrapped. We're six films in now and this found-footage phenomenon continues to suffer from the law of diminishing returns, in terms of quality, not box office. The 2007 original saw the creepiest use of the found-footage format since The Blair Witch Project popularised it 16 years ago, but since then the PA films have become increasingly bogged by a developing mythology involving a girl named Katy and a demon named Toby, and a sense of same thing, different sequel. This new entry promises to answer all the questions raised in the previous films and reveal the true nature of the 'activity', so make sure you're up to date before seeing. A family move into their new home – which is built on the site of the original Paranormal house – where dad Ryan (Chris J. Murray) discovers an old customised video camera that can see images from the other side, and a box of cassettes featuring recordings of Katy and her sister from 1988, which are eerily linked to the present. Before long, an S tylised and sledgehammered intensity – to the point of almost drawing arrows on the screen indicating, ‘yep, this guy is a really bad dude!’ – is par for the course in this cold and cool gangster biopic. By all accounts, James ‘Whitey’ Bulger (who hated being called his popular moniker!?) was a cold-blooded Boston criminal who made up for his lack of follicles with a macho projection juxtaposed against his need to tend his inner flock with protection and random kindness. One minute he’s emptying a .38 into a rival’s head, the next he’s helping an old lady ‘from da neighbourhood’ put away groceries. Well, that’s how the movie portrays him – not dissimilar to Scorsese’s Tommy from Goodfellas , who’ll stab you in the trunk of his car, and then visit his ma for a home-cooked meal. However that’s about the limit one could compare this by-the-book offering against the 1990 masterpiece, except for a blatant dinner scene rip- off you’ve already seen in the first teaser. Black Mass really doesn’t have any true drama whatsoever. What honest character depth that is delivered isn’t owing to Depp’s creepy and effective take on being a serial killing opportunist

sociopath, rather it’s Joel Edgerton’s ‘Is there nothing he can’t do right now?’ solid rock performance as the ambitious FBI agent who devises a cunning way to protect his childhood hero. Oozing calculated and seasoned confidence while effortlessly sparring with a Hollywood heavyweight, Edgerton is certain to immediately ascend into the upper echelons of Tinseltown’s most wanted lists. With the hype surrounding Depp’s "amazing performance and transformation" dominating the PR machine, one can finally see why this film wasn’t given long-lead reviews – it simply isn’t as good as we all want it to be. It’s a straight, by-the-numbers gangster cliché overshadowing any character peril or audience immersion. There’s nothing particularly bad about it, you just don’t care enough to see it again, which is a criminal shame. Oh, Benedict Cumberbatch is in it too, basically playing Benedict Cumberbatch. Chris Murray

FURTHER VIEWING: Public Enemies, Donnie Brasco

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION

RELEASED: Now Showing DIRECTOR: Gregory Plotkin CAST: Chris J. Murray, Brit Shaw, Ivy George RATING: M

The found-footage horror franchise reaches its use-by date.

amorphous black mass is hovering in the house, with demonic designs on daughter Leila (Ivy George). Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension features the added attraction of 3D, and that's really its best asset. But the requisite jump- scares are more a result of clever sound design than the 'comin-at-ya' visuals. Moreover, the characters act in increasingly baffling ways – failing to check the footage their camera has recorded, and deciding to find out what the entity wants rather than get the hell out of there. People just don't behave this way in horror movies. By the time a priest is called in to perform "not an exorcism, but an extermination", the film has become totally hokey. Only the most jittery of teens will find it scary. Producers Jason Blum and Oren Peli insist this is the final PA film, and that's probably a good thing. Although we suspect the franchise's fate will ultimately be determined by this one's performance at the box office.

FURTHER VIEWING: Insidious, Paranormal Activity

NOVEMBER 2015

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