Exam-season is still ongoing, but try not to fret! Freedom is nigh – and as well as bringing that exam you’re no doubt dreading, June is also making up for it with a flurry of exciting new DVD and Blu-ray releases. Among this month’s releases are Oscar-nominated dramas, action-packed thrill rides, a trippy art-house flashback to the 1970’s and one of the most disturbing horror flicks in recent years.
Ex Machina
The immense creative cauldron that is the mind of Alex Garland has brought us some fantastic stories over the years: post-apocalyptic indie-horror classic 28 Days Later and the somewhat underrated sci-fi thriller Sunshine are just a few. With his latest work – which saw him take the director’s chair for the first time – he has conjured up a sleek modern masterpiece. Ex Machina is a film which has such a loose locus of tangible intention and manifested motivation that it eloquently entices our minds into subconsciously piecing together our own archetypal interpretations of the uniquely relatable characters – and the frequently claustrophobic world they’re enclosed in. Garland supplies us with the events, motives and even the possible reasoning behind each of Caleb, Nathan and Ava’s true purposes, but not once tries to significantly influence our allegiance to any one of the three leads. Which proves a timely and refreshing contrast to the habitual Hollywood ‘hero vs. villain’ spoon-fed lineage, that wears increasingly thinner with each release.
The story itself is tentatively structured around the progressive sessions of a Turing Test – funded and instigated by the founder of a Google-like entity named BlueBook – in order to assess whether his chosen subject, Caleb, can be convinced that Ava – his consummately crafted A.I. – has genuine human consciousness. This seemingly linear approach may appear to echo the aforementioned, but any niggling doubts are dispelled by proportionately prompt moments of comic relief – the most notable being Nathan and his A.I. ‘maid’ enjoying a carefree dance to Oliver Cheatham’s ‘Get Down Saturday Night’. However, where this production shines above all else is visually. The meticulously manufactured mise-en-scène resonates a mesmerising mirage of comfort and safety within an increasingly hostile environment. Package all of that together and what you have is an exquisitely executed ocular study of the human condition, on both sides of the silver screen.
Ex Machina is available to buy from 1st June 2015* | Words: AG
Whiplash
Whiplash stars Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons in a story about Andrew Neimann (played by Teller) trying to become a successful Jazz drummer in the cruel contemporary world of today. Soon Andrew’s goals almost evolve into becoming about him trying earn acceptance from his hard edged ‘tough love’ teacher Terrance Fletcher (Simmons). Whiplash is brutal look at what it means to be determined, while also an engaging look into what it means to follow your dreams (something that can be especially difficult in arts like music and film) and not be persuaded to live a life of regret, interestingly this is subtly studied in Andrew’s father who is a school teacher. Whiplash is a combination of technical brilliance and mental conflict…
It’s clear to see above that the film tackles multiple nuances of life’s struggles, but forcefully driving the story of the film forward is Andrew’s will to be the best. Technically driving the film? Everything else. First time director Damien Chazelle puts together a film that’s powerful, energetic, precise and emotional through a focused direction that allows every department to excel. Sound, Editing, Cinematography and the two leads; Teller and Simmons all manifest a masterfully strong film that truly punches the audience in the face with what film is about in general. A combination of art. Simmons’ performance of hard knock teacher Fletcher swooped awards all round this year, while Teller’s performance I feel is widely underrated due to his opposite cast mate taking the spotlight. Chazelle uses beautiful techniques of other directors like David Fincher but adds his own original style that’s very specific. Simple conversations between characters are enthralling, while the music scenes are filmed like battle sequences from an epic war drama. Whiplash is a very special film, with Oscars sitting on it’s shelf it was definitely in the top 5 films released in 2014, a true filmmaking masterpiece in it’s own right.
Whiplash is available to buy from 1st June 2015* | Words: EM | Read the full review here
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Kingsman: The Secret Service is a raucously fun spy action caper, based on the graphic novels by Mark Millar. Directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kick Ass, X-Men: First Class), the film revolves around a troubled youth called Eggsy (Taron Egerton) who possesses a natural flair for fighting, thieving and trouble-making, Eggsy spends most of his adolescent life on a council estate with his Mum, baby sister and thuggish Step-Dad. His real father died when he was young in ‘classified circumstances’. As it turns out, Eggsy’s dad was a Kingsman – an agent of an elite secret service – who died saving the life of fellow agent, Harry ‘Galahad’ Hart (Colin Firth). Honour-bound by the sacrifice Eggsy’s father made, and despairing of the wasteful situations the boy gets himself into, Harry attempts to recruit Eggsy into the institution. Meanwhile, an eccentric plot by billionaire megalomaniac, Richmond Valentine (Samuel L Jackson), threatens the world’s population – calling the Kingsman agents into action.
One of the best things about the film, is it’s ability to not take itself too seriously. Despite being packed full to the brim with classic spy tropes and typical action sequences, there is a detached sense of irony throughout the film that is joyous to experience. Though Jackson’s overly limp and lispy performance as the villain Valentine is somewhat unsatisfying, the rest of the cast are on stellar form. Egerton makes a spectacularly charismatic acting debut as Eggsy, while Firth excels at mixing his classic gentlemanly demeanour with an air of thrillingly badass diffidence. Overall, this is a film that combines an incredible sense of fun with an exhilarating punch of comic-like violence, that both shocks and thrills. If there’s one movie you absolutely must watch this month, it’s this one.
Kingsman: The Secret Service is available to buy from 8th June 2015* | Words: AH | Read the full review here
Inherent Vice
Inherent Vice has ended up being perceived as a film for those with a very specific taste. What I mean by that is, it’s easy for a casual viewer to get lost in it’s mystery. But if you can sit and become fully enveloped by the mastery of the film’s cinematography, music and performances, I can assure you, you won’t get bored – even if you’re not quite sure what’s happening in terms of plot. To explain the plot briefly, private detective Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) spends most of his days stuck in a marijuana-fuelled haze. However, when his former lover and her husband suddenly disappear, he must navigate a psychadelic world of surfers, stoners and cops to solve the case. What Paul Thomas Anderson does so well as a director is in his ability to wholly transport his audience to the time and place that his films are set in –and with Inherent Vice, that couldn’t be more true – or excellent.
Straight away, the film opens with a shot of the ocean, dosed in a Californian sun-soaked haze, that transports you not only through vision to the 1970s, but also through feeling. And that’s what the majority of the film does. It’s truly a feat for Anderson to have made this film in the first place, as it’s adapted from the novel of the same name by Thomas Pynchon – who is notoriously renowned for not being an easy read. It’s definitely a film that you need to see at least twice to fully grasp what’s going on. When I saw the film, I sat there through the opening in wonder, knowing full well that I was going to have to watch it a second time. And time after time after that. Despite it’s complexity, Inherent Vice is definitely my favourite film of 2014/15 and worth the watch(es).
Inherent Vice is available to buy from 8th June 2015* | Words: SM
It Follows
Aside from being a not-too-subtle PSA on the dangers of unsafe sex, It Follows is one of the most original and creepiest films of the year thus far. The film follows (no pun intended) a young woman named Jay (Maika Monroe) as she has to deal with the horrifying aftermath of a first date gone wrong: after being knocked unconscious and tied to a chair in the middle of an abandoned car park, she learns that something has been passed onto her. It will follow her wherever she goes – at an unnervingly slow pace – and the only way to get rid of it is to pass it on to someone else by having sex with them. Oh, and it can take the form of literally anyone on the planet, including people she knows.
It Follows is a deeply unsettling trip into a subject that’s impossible not to feel at least a little bit threatened by, particularly for its target audience of those in their late teens. Set in a deliberately ambiguous time period, there’s an intensely dream-like quality to the film that makes the more suspenseful moments even more effective, and its low budget only serves to enhance this atmosphere. Fans of both the slasher films of the 1980s and Alfred Hitchcock’s masterful filmography should appreciate the obvious homages, but director David Robert Mitchell adds just enough style and original technical work to make the film stand out on its own chilling merits.
It Follows is available to buy from 29th June 2015* | Words: SK | Read the full review here
Also out on DVD and Blu-ray this month*: American Sniper (1st), Shaun The Sheep (1st), The Gambler (1st), Lost River (1st) Mortdecai (8th), The Interview (8th), Trash (8th), Selma (15th), Taken 3 (15th), Fifty Shades of Grey (22nd), Blackhat (22nd), The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (29th), Jupiter Ascending (29th) and Cake (29th)
*Please note that all release dates referenced are UK only. International release dates may differ.
Words by Alex Graham, Annie Honeyball, Samantha King, Sophie McEvoy and Eddie Michael
Compiled by Annie Honeyball