066 | W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K
REVIEWS HOME FILM
Magic
What a dummy!
Release 3 March 2
Director ichard AttenboroughR
Cast nthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret, A
Burgess Meredith
Distributor econd SightS
Certifi cate 15
FormatWhen struggling magician
Corky (Anthony Hopkins) fi nds fame
with his new ventriloquist act, his
self-doubts come to the fore and
he runs away to his childhood town with his
dummy Fats to fi gure things out. There, he
hooks up with old fl ame Peggy (Ann-Margret)
but Corky soon fi nds himself talking to Fats
more and more, even when they’re alone, and
Fats doesn’t like sharing Corky with anyone...
Written by William Goldman (who also wrote
the novel the movie is based on) and directed
by Richard Attenborough, Magic has legends
of cinema behind it. The cast, too, take solid
turns – Hopkins doesn’t quite go into the realm
of over-crazy (he gets pretty close though),
Ann-Margret is charming as former prom queen
Peggy and Burgess Meredith shines as Corky’s
cigar-twirling agent.
The fi lm stalls a bit in the middle and the plot
gets a little silly, but Magic is an entertaining
fi lm with enough tension to keep audiences
interested. The extras on the new Blu-ray
release are also great, featuring interviews
with the likes of Hopkins and cinematographer
Victor Kemper. Our favourite, however, has
to be the wonderful anecdote-fi lled interview
with Goldman who refl ects on working with
Attenborough and writing the original novel.
Rachael Harper
Ready
Or Not
Don’t upset the in-laws
Release Out now
Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin,
Tyler Gilletts
Cast amara Weaving, Adam Brody, S
Andie MacDowell
Distributor 20th Century Fox Home
Entertainment
Certifi cate 18
Format •So, it’s your wedding night
and you’ve discovered that your
new husband’s family has a
tradition of playing hide and seek
with the new spouse. But in this version of the
game, if you’re found, you’re dead. Sounds
like the plot of a terrible movie, right? Well
yes... but Ready Or Not is anything but.
When Grace (Samara Weaving) marries
into a wealthy gaming dynasty, she fi nds
herself at the mercy of this tradition – pick
a card and play a game, just don’t pick the
‘hide and seek’ card because that means if
the new spouse isn’t killed by midnight, the
family will die. Of course Grace picks said
card and soon fi nds herself trying to survive
the night as her in-laws hunt her down.
But Grace is not going down without
a fi ght. Weaving plays her brilliantly and
is surrounded by a great cast (especially
mother-in-law Andie MacDowell), allowing
audiences to feel a kinship with Grace as
things get crazier and crazier.
A taunt, nail-biting horror full of fun and
satire, Ready Or Not is not to be missed.
Rachael Harper
Guns
Akimbo
The game is on
Release Out now
Director J ason Lei Howden
Cast aniel Radcliffe, Samara D
Weaving, Natasha Liu Bordizzo,
Ned Dennehy, Rhys Darby
Distributor Saban Films
Certifi cate 18
Format On DemandIllegal online game Skism
pits armed players in live-action
death matches, with the whole city
their arena. After casually fl aming
its users, hapless geek Miles (Daniel Radcliffe)
is visited by game runners who nail guns to
his hands and force him into a deadly contest
with reigning champ Nix (Samara Weaving).
In Jason Lei Howden’s follow-up to
Deathgasm (2015), the high-calibre, over-the-
top dynamics of a shoot-’em-up are grounded
in the comic normality of an everyday
protagonist who prefers fl ight to fi ght, and
whose voiceover keeps emphasising the
un-cool realities of combat (the indignity of
haemorrhagic shock, the deafening loudness
of bullets and the ravages of PTSD). Not that
this ever stops Guns Akimbo being an all-out
hyperbolic bullet ballet, or Miles improbably
travelling from zero to kickass hero over the
course of a single day. Along the way, Ned
Dennehy’s tattoo-covered Riktor is a mirthfully
mercurial villain, while the fi lm gently satirises
our addiction not just to electronic devices,
but to the low voyeuristic pleasures of
Schadenfreude and ultra-violence.
Anton Bitel