STACK #132 Oct 2016

DVD & BD

REVIEWS

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They're here... again. POLTERGEIST

Back to the grind. MAGIC MIKE XXL

Release Date: 21/10/15

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Release Date: 21/10/15

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It's a bold move revisiting Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper's 1982 house of horrors, but this remake more closely resembles the likes of Insidious and The Conjuring than the classic original. It's also surprisingly restrained in its use of CGI to reimagine the original's big FX set pieces. The plot remains the same: family move into a new house in the 'burbs that's built on a (supposedly) relocated cemetery, their youngest daughter communes with the spirit world through the television and gets abducted to the other side, and

Steven Soderbergh's 2012 male stripper opus was a Boogie Nights -like peek into an adult industry via a rites of passage story. Gregory Jacobs' sequel is more of a road movie, set three years later when Mike (Channing Tatum) has settled into his own furniture removal business and is keeping his clothes on. When he receives a message from his beefcake buddies (Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer, et al) to join them for a stripper convention (yes, apparently there is such a thing), Mike is initially reluctant. But when an epiphany whilst welding leads to some

there's a creepy clown doll. This time, however, it's a TV ghost hunter who's called in to help and declare "this house is clean", and the original's sense of fun has been replaced with a more serious tone. But the overall message remains the same: don't go into the light.

serious dance moves in the workshop, Mike joins the boys for one last strip. Matthew McConaughey and Soderbergh are sorely missed here, and the guys don't really get their gear off until the final reel, but Magic Mike XXL boasts enough six-packs to keep a hens' night rowdy.

The future isn't just something that happens. ALOHA

Justice is priceless. WOMAN IN GOLD

Release Date: 08/10/15

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Release Date: 07/10/15

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Aloha is Bradley Cooper's second stint in the military this year, albeit less traumatic than the events of American Sniper . It's a Cameron Crowe film, which means loads of whimsy and a great soundtrack. Cooper plays a former pilot turned defence contractor who returns to Hawaii, where his past is waiting in the form of an old girlfriend (Rachel McAdams – is there a movie she isn't in nowadays?). The other woman in his life is his air force liaison (Emma Stone), who reminds us of Kelly McGillis in Top Gun , only cuter. This isn't the love

Helen Mirren sinks her teeth into another tasty role in this real-life account of the attempt to return a masterpiece of art to its rightful provenance. Mirren plays Maria Altman, who discovers some revealing letters in her late sister's belongings regarding a painting of her aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer, which was stolen by the Nazis and now hangs in an Austrian gallery. Maria heads to Vienna with a young lawyer (Ryan Reynolds) in tow, and will stop at nothing to restore her family's past – even if it means taking the

triangle it sounds like, however, as Cooper is kept busy negotiating with a Hawaiian leader over the launch of a satellite from Oahu. Crowe has assembled a great cast – that also includes Bill Murray and a blustering Alec Baldwin – which alone makes Aloha worth a look.

Austrian government to court. And really, would anyone say no to the indomitable Dame Helen? Woman in Gold isn't some stuffy movie about art, it's a buddy movie, a courtroom drama, and another fine showcase for Mirren, who's as adept at accents as Meryl Streep.

OCTOBER 2015

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