Gun (2010/Image Blu-ray) + King Of Paper Chasin’ (E1 DVD) + Nite Tales – The Series (E1 DVD) + Inhale (2010/IFC/MPI DVD) + Stone (2010/Anchor Bay Blu-ray)

 

Picture: C+/C/C-/C/B-     Sound: B/C/C/C+/B     Extras: C-/D/D/C-/C     Main Programs: D/D/C+/C/B-

 

 

How dead is Hip Hop?  Well it is not gone, especially when older genres (Rock, Pop, Country) are still with us too, but it peaked in 2000 (George W. Bush would not have had two terms otherwise) and even worse, anything connecting a narrative to the music suffered.  Before the Gangsta subgenre overtook the entire genre, a few films with the music and about the culture surfaced, but the rest of that was lost to the false West Coast/East Coast myth and disaster resulted.

 

This was as Hip Hop tried to absorb two genres.  One was Gangster films, the other Horror films.  It succeeded in the worst way in the former and failed miserably in the latter.  Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has been one of the few names in Hip Hop to have extended work in features and co-wrote, co-produced and stars in Jessy Terrero’s Gun (2010), an awful, tired, formulaic romp that also managed to get Val Kilmer to sign on (in a pale Xerox of his Heat role) as Rich (Jackson) has to fight for his life when one rival gang knocks off all the members of a challenger gang in the opening sequence.

 

The Detroit Police go to Rich to break the case, but Angel (Kilmer) the gun runner has to save him.  Rich also gets involved with a woman (Annalynne McCord) who adds stress to his situation.  That in itself could have been a watchable, basic thriller, but Jackson and company have more clichés here than a Bon Jovi record as this becomes more and more absurd throughout.  Kilmer looks bored and even at 82 minutes, this goes on far too long.  Jackson offers nothing new acting here in this vanity project and this goes nowhere fast.  There is also one of the most laughable sex scenes in recent memory, plus James Remar, John Larroquette and Danny Trejo also show up, though to no avail.

 

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer is weak throughout, shot on digital video of some kind and not very well.  Any attempts at style do not help either.  Considering the names in the cast, you’d think they would have made this look better.  The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is the 0only saving grace here and though it is not great and does not have any kind of exceptional qualities, it is warm, rich and full throughout, making it better than most Hip Hop-based releases in this respect.  There are no extras.

 

Almost practically the same work with the same story arc, Monte Edwards’ King Of Paper Chasin’ has the same gang vs. gang opening, same tough life clichés and same tired formula that is faker and faker all the time.  Of course, the criminal empire (what there is of it here) justifies itself as being like bad Late Corporate Capitalism, as if that were any excuse.  The only difference is this is badly acted, shot, has no known names and is set in the music business, or some sort of it as the main character tries to go from drugs to mixtapes!

 

At least it is not the vanity project like Gun, but we have seen this a thousand times before and goes nowhere we have not already been.  It is just dull and pointless.  The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is weak, the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix taking poor sound and trying to boost it to no avail and the combination is dated upon arrival.  Extras include a making of featurette and feature-length audio commentary with the Director and DP Brett Albright.

 

Then there is the brief-lived TV show Nite Tales – The Series, which wants to be Twilight Zone or Night Gallery, but offers five episodes that show why it was cancelled.  Nothing here is suspenseful or funny, with some parts of each show not being able to decide to be funny or serious.  Making this wackier and qualifying it for absolute Hip Hop certification is that the host is Flavor Flav of Public Enemy, now of bad reality TV.  He hosts awkwardly in a semi-Dracula outfit that gives new credibility to Plan 9 From Outer Space.  The letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image is the weakest of the five titles here with awful image reproduction throughout, the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is badly recorded with location echo and other issues like volume drop and extras include a making of featurette and (unlisted on the back of the case) trailer.

 

Baltasar Kormakur’s thriller drama Inhale (2010) even has gangster elements as Dermot Mulroney plays a father who is determined to get a new lung for his daughter, even if he has to go to another country to get it on the black market in Mexico where he lands up dealing with violence and more ugliness.  That is overly simple enough, but then an accident happens that tires to make this into Crash or maybe Babel and it lands up being a clichéfest that even good performances by Mulroney, Diane Kruger, Rosanna Arquette, Jordi Molla and Sam Shepard cannot save.  The point is to let us know how ugly the illegal organ market has become, but it gets too distracted by other elements and tries to juggle too much.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is weak from this format and the stylizing of the image which does not always help, especially in the dark scenes that move towards torture porn, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix may not be great, but has the best sound of the three DVDs here.  It may be limited at times, including from quiet scenes and talking scenes, but it is not bad.  The only extra is a trailer.

 

Finally we have John Curran’s Stone (2010) with Robert De Niro as an older prison parole officer who has to deal with deciding if the title character (Edward Norton) should be released from prison or not.  Stone has a girlfriend (Milla Jovovich) who also wants to see him free and after telling the warden about her in serious sexual detail, Jack (De Niro) is still not certain what to do.  He has a religious wife at home and could be vulnerable to seductive suggestions.  Though this does not work well throughout, the three main actors are most convincing in their roles and even with some of the results predictable, I thought this had enough moments to give it a look if you were interested.  It is easily the nest of the five releases here, but this is the one that could have gone all the way and sadly does not.

 

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is weakened to some extent by the tired stylizing we have seen plenty of times before, but is still the best looking of the five releases here.  I just wish it looked better more often.  The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix just edges out Gun for the best soundfield and sonics, even with the dialogue throughout.  Extras include trailers and a Making Of featurette.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo