STACK #169 Nov 2018

FILM REVIEWS

visit stack.com.au

How can you resist? MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN

There is no equal. THE EQUALIZER 2

Release Date: 07/11/18

Format:

Release Date: 14/11/18

Format:

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again weaves two tales – the origin story of how Donna met the three dads and, back in the now, her daughter Sophie’s quest to reopen the hotel and deal with her own impending arrival. Almost all the faves from the first film variously pop up – as does Cher, playing Sophie’s grandmother and adding some welcome professional vocals with her take on Fernando . A majority of the A-list tracks made it into the first flick, so this time we get to partake in the B-list (if, indeed, you agree

The appealing conceit of 2014's The Equalizer was Denzel Washingotn as a mild-mannered shop attendant by day, and a John Wick-style killing machine by night – don't go near him if you're the Russian mob. It's just too giddy a premise to be left alone. In reuniting for their first ever sequel, director Antoine Fuqua has tweaked Washington's Robert McCall, who re-emerges as a Lyft driver. Shedding light into his deep state past, we learn that it's come back to more than haunt him, in

that ABBA had any B-list songs). If you ABBA-solutely loved the original, you now have more to adore, and are guaranteed to love this merry and bright spectacular more than that day you got Arrival on cassette when you were a kid. OK, maybe not quite that much… AF

fact as McCall says, "They're going to war with me". It's novel, and in a gripping way, to watch a two-time Oscar-winner channel his inner assassin in such an efficient and brutal manner, where even a credit card becomes a weapon. If you want thrills, he got game. AC

90 minutes. 22 miles. Zero back up. MILE 22

Take a mad trip with Nic. MANDY

Release Date: 28/11/18

Format:

Release Date: 28/11/18

Format:

Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg, back together for a fourth venture. Buckle up is right. Wahlberg is James Silva, a CIA operative for tricky missions when a 'third option' is required, involving going rogue on foreign soil. His team includes The Walking Dead 's Lauren Cohan and Ronda Rousey. You might guess that they sling insults at each other whilst being highly competent at the paramilitary stuff – which they will need to be. A mysterious informant (played with action aplomb by The Raid 's Iko Uwais)

Director Panos Cosmatos follows up his trippy 2010 debut feature Beyond the Black Rainbow with an equally psychedelic revenge-horror opus that gives star Nicolas Cage the opportunity to go stark raving mad with a chainsaw. If that isn't enough to hook you in, there's a creepy cult called the Children of the New Dawn, who after summoning demon bikers to abduct Cage's lover (Andrea Riseborough), find themselves on the receiving end of some major Cage rage. Blending heavy metal, acid horror,

has come forward, who can lead them to radioactive material ripe for a catastrophic nuclear device. Silva and team must extract the material – and themselves – from enemy territory before their cover is blown. The action comes thick, fast and more than a mile or 22 wide. AC

Evil Dead -style splatter, animated dream sequences, and disorienting visuals, this is a lurid descent into hell from a truly visionary filmmaker. Cosmatos told STACK that it's a miracle Mandy exists (see page 32), and horror and cult movie fans will be damn glad that it does. SH

040

NOVEMBER 2018

jbhifi.com.au