STACK #129 Jul 2016

DVD & BD

REVIEWS

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What's up, Doc? INHERENT VICE

Tim Burton's back, but where's Johnny? BIG EYES

Release Date: 22/07/15

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Release Date: 22/07/15

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The latest from the great Paul Thomas Anderson is one of those gonzo movies like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas whose success or failure depends on the state of mind you're in when you watch it. Joaquin Phoenix is perfectly cast as perpetually stoned private investigator Doc Sportello, who navigates the dope haze of 1970s California in the search for a missing ex-girlfriend. Anderson's neo-noir epic is more a series of interconnected events and encounters with oddball characters – including a scene-stealing Josh Brolin and

Big Eyes is one of the few Tim Burton films that doesn't star Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter (yes, really!). Moreover, there are no magical worlds being explored in this biopic of American artist Margaret Keane (played by the always fantastic Amy Adams), who achieved fame during the 1950s and '60s for her creepy paintings of big- eyed kids (which are certainly Burtonesque). But it was her unscrupulous husband Walter (Christoph Waltz) who took all the credit, passing off her artworks as his own and making a fortune through their mass production. The film

Martin Short – than a coherent narrative (he's never been one for linear plotting), and ultimately the viewer has about as much idea of what's going on as Phoenix's dazed and confused Doc. Inherent Vice won't be to all tastes, but Anderson fans will need no prompting to check it out.

also follows their subsequent divorce and legal proceedings, and it's not hard to see why Burton was attracted to the story; the Keanes are the kind of big-dreaming eccentrics he's always loved, and Adams and Waltz deliver performances to match.

An excellent adventure. PROJECT ALMANAC

Unsafe sex. IT FOLLOWS

Release Date: 08/07/15

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Release Date: 15/07/15

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Hot Teen Time Machine best describes this Michael Bay- produced found-footage film (that doesn't really need to be a found-footage film) in which physics student David (Jonny Weston) discovers his dad's blueprint for a time machine in the basement. Building the contraption out of a cannibalised gaming console, car batteries, a hydrogen (not Plutonium) power source and a smartphone to dial up time and date, David and his mates embark on an excellent adventure to the Lollapalooza music festival, get better grades, win the lottery, and David gets the girl

Following a one night stand, 19-year-old Jay (Maika Monroe) is left with something worse than an STI; her date has passed on a curse in the form of a malevolent, shapeshifting entity which relentlessly shadows her with homicidal intent. In a neat riff on the body-snatching theme, 'it' can look like anyone, and the only way to get rid of it is to pass it on to your next sexual partner. It Follows transforms adolescent fears into a new kind of boogeyman, favouring a palpable and sustained sense of dread over cheap scares and gore. It's a brilliant idea that's creepy as hell, and horror fans

(Sofia Black-D'Elia). But with time travel comes paradoxes, and Project Almanac ultimately echoes The Butterfly Effect , with David learning the hard way that the more you try and change things back to the way they were, the more screwed up they become.

will recognise a number of nods to John Carpenter's classic Halloween . While Hollywood is content to churn out endless remakes and forgettable found-footage horror films, indie gems like It Follows offer something new, exciting, and most importantly, scary. Highly recommended.

JULY 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.com.au

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