Movies He’ll Love (Mission/Killing Fields/Streets Of Fire/A Bronx Tale/Glengarry Glenross/1492 Conquest Of Paradise/Evil Roy Slade/Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence/Raising Cain/Repo Man/Umbrella Entertainment/PAL Region Four/4/DVD Import Set)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Films…

 

 

PLEASE NOTE: This DVD set can only be operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Four/4 PAL format software and can be ordered from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment at the website address provided at the end of the review.

 

 

Links follow where we have covered the films before and all include rating:

 

The Mission Umbrella single DVD [C+]

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9724/The+Mission+(1986/Region+Four/4/PA

Region 1 Warner DVD vs. KD Media DTS Import

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2653/The+Mission+(Warner+R1+U.S.+vs.+K

 

The Killing Fields Umbrella single DVD [B-]

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9723/The+Killing+Fields+(1984/Region+Four

 

Streets Of Fire Universal U.S. HD-DVD [C+]

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5747/Streets+Of+Fire+(HD-DVD)

 

Surprisingly, Universal has yet to issue this on Blu-ray, so the best version for now is the out-of-print HD-DVD, especially as this version has a weak picture [C], only Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with weak surrounds [C+] and no extras [D], though maybe we’ll get an upgraded special edition.  It couldn’t hurt.

 

A Bronx Tale [B]  Originally issued in an unimpressive DVD edition in the U.S., this copy is a much worse 1.33 X 1 old analog transfer [C-] with awful Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo [C] with very weak sound and no extras [D].  No Blu-ray has been planned and the old DVD is now out of print in the U.S., leaving the film only available new now from Universal Vault DVD-R in the U.S. you can only order on line.  This is Robert De Niro’s directing debut of a script by co-star Chazz Palminteri, playing opposite each other.  De Niro has a son he is trying to raise well while working as a bus driver, while Palminteri is the local head mobster.  Will the son choose crime or follow the better example?  A very underrated film that deserves better than this.

 

Glengarry Glenross (or Glen Ross) Umbrella single DVD [C+]

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9125/Glengarry+Glen+Ross+(1992/Umbrella

 

1492 Conquest Of Paradise [C] Ridley Scott’s 1992 Christopher Columbus film might have been more serious than the Salkind-produced Christopher Columbus – The Movie produced around the same time, but it is an odd, awkward and very long work that fails to work as an epic and is never involving like his better films.  Gerard Depardieu is miscast and I never bought it. The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is not bad, the Dolby Digital 5.1 lively, but not as good as I have heard the film at its best.  Interviews with Scott, Depardieu and Alain Goldsman are included, as well as trailers for this and other Umbrella releases.

 

Evil Roy Slade [C] A Western Comedy with John Astin in the title role has a weak 1.33 X 1 transfer [C], Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono that is barely better [C+] and no extras [D].  I never laughed either at this TV movie that has shockingly made it to DVD.  It is nice to see some of these good actors, including Henry Gibson, Dick Shawn, Mickey Rooney, Edie Adams, Dom DeLuise, Pat Morita and Milton Berle show up, but to little avail.

 

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence [C+] This Nagisa Oshima-directed WWII drama (just issued on Criterion Blu-ray in the U.S.) wants to mix homoeroticism, Japanese Nationalism, death worship and politics, but does not always work in this ambitious drama with David Bowie, Jack Thompson, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Tom Conti in the title role.  The big problem is that it makes the POW camp to tame and I never bought it for long, despite what does work.

 

Raising Cain [C]  A terrible Brian De Palma film has John Lithgow wasted as a serial killer with multiple personality (and who knows what else) on a killing spree in what seems like a strange attempt by the director to disown his Hitchcockian past.  His career has been downhill ever since with few exceptions, sadly.

 

Repo Man U.S. Universal/Focus DVD [B-]

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3459/Repo+Man+-+Collector%27s+Edition

 

Though I was not as impressed with the U.S. DVD as my counterpart, this DVD seems to come from the same new materials and looks good, but not great in yet another film that is not on Blu-ray yet.  This has the same extras as the DVD we covered.

 

 

As noted above, you can order this PAL DVD import set exclusively from Umbrella at:

 

http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo