Blood Out
(2011/Lionsgate Blu-ray) + House Of
Payne – Volume Seven (Lionsgate DVD Set) + Identity (2009/British Mini-Series/Acorn DVD Set) + If God Is Willing & Da Creek Don’t Rise
(2010/HBO DVD Set) + Mob Rules
(2011) + Step Off (2011/Lionsgate
DVD) + 23rd Psalm
(2010/Vendetta DVD)
Picture: B-/C/C+/C+/C/C-/C- Sound: B-/C+/C+/C+/C+/C/C Extras: D/D/C-/B/C-/C-/C- Main Programs: D/C-/C+/B+/C-/C-/C-
As
recently discussed, African American discourse in entertainment is in debate
and recently, Spike Lee criticized Tyler Perry for making formulaic works of
limited worth for which Mr. Perry told him where to go. Both have been criticized for their work in
some way and both are among a very few producers with long term commercial
success and even critical accolades.
Let’s take a closer look with seven new releases.
First
comes a dumb reunion of Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Val Kilmer, less prominent
but still seen in Blood Out (2011),
an inept new crime drama that really focuses on the underrated Luke Goss as a
cop who wants to avenge the gang killing of his brother. Clichéd like the rest of this dud, Vinnie
Jones even shows up and cannot save us from a release that never rings true and
is a total waste of time. Kilmer looks
bored and Jackson
gives the same cardboard performance.
Trailers and a behind the scenes featurette are the only extras.
With that
kind of product too common for everyone’s own good, you can see why Tyler Perry
has an audience. House Of Payne – Volume Seven shows a different kind of formula
with the melodrama becoming suffocating and boring at this point, but it
marches on. For the record, here is our
coverage of previous volumes:
One
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6322/House+Of+Payne+%E2%80%93+Volu
Six
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10796/For+Colored+Girls+(2010/Blu-ray+w/
The show
was not that good to begin with and now it is getting desperate, so Perry’s
mostly safe works become an alternative to urban exploitation fare, but it can
also be seen as the reverse of the same limiting narrative situation. I also get the impression Spike Lee sees its
version of Christianity as a limiting one, though it would be nice to hear more
from him on the subject. At least Perry
has backed films like Precious and
should do more projects like that as well more often. This set has no extras.
So can
there be a more positive, progressive black image without being trapped. I decided to include the 2009 British
Mini-Series Identity here to prove a
point. Though British TV is not free
from racism, there tends to be a more progressive attitude towards
African/Black actors and characters in their dramas that is not dull and this
series about people who steal others identities and the authorities who go
after them. Aiden Gillen (who is white) of
The Wire co-stars with Shaun Parkes
of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (who
is black) and it is a shame that yet another actor from a hit cable show (think
Oz actor Irdis Elba from the BBC
series Luther) has to go overseas to
get a solid role. They play cops at odds
with each other in this is the kind of sharp genre work U.S. TV used to produce
all the time but seems to have given up on and it is hard to tell if there will
be another season. There are no extras.
If Spike
Lee has a point against Tyler Perry, it is because he has done some very
important narrative films and documentaries like If God Is Willing & Da Creek Don’t Rise (2011) which continues
his visit to New Orleans and the grave injustices done to the area by the
Hurricane Katrina fiasco and Bush Administration’s irresponsibility (along with
bizarre government policy) that caused incalculable damage to the region. Lee was visiting on the 5th
Anniversary of the event and was about to leave when the BP/Halliburton oil
fiasco happened!
This is a
richly informative documentary that has priceless information and interviews to
share with us, showing how the Big Three networks and the 24-hour news channels
have failed us big time in a journalistic sense. It is also a learning experience showing us New Orleans in ways you
may not have seen it before. Lee does
audio commentary over the entire two parts of this mini-series and we get an
hour-long bonus featurette. Excellent
work all around!
Keith
Parmer’s Mob Rules (2011) is another
gangster film with two criminals about to meet up again and against each other,
about to have a big fight over a fortune they are owed from a heist that was
botched. This could have been watchable
if it were not so clichéd and lacking in new ideas, but instead follows the
same tired formula so many similar films (including some Hong
Kong films) that makes this very forgettable. A Music Video and cast/crew interviews are
the only extras.
LaRon
Austin’s Step Off (2011) is set in
the world of rap music, yet there is the conflict battle formula that many of
these pseudo-musicals have featured and this one too is cliché-ridden and the
music is not that memorable. Can our
protagonist Rippa deliver music so great that he gets to be a money-making
music artist? Not if it is this
boring. The You Got Served producers are part of this and that was
overrated. A making of featurette, ‘Beat
Box’ piece, Gag Reel and Deleted/Extended Scenes are the extras.
Finally
we have Christopher C. Odom’s 23rd
Psalm (2010) which I have saved for last because it wants to be an urban
drama with crime and trouble, but is more explicit about its religious position
that Perry’s work as a way to solve said problems. In this, it is better than the generic works
we have covered here and before, yet it gets caught up into its own formulaic
corner despite good intents. An L.A. detective has to
solve a tricky crime situation and follows scripture to get through it. This has surprising gumshoe edge to it, but
goes overboard on the quotes and the overall result is a very uneven work, but
I wonder what would happen if this was rethought without using visual scripture
graphics, but the same intents. This is
an interesting failure and ranks third best of the titles on this list. Extras include Bonus Footage, Trailers and
Director’s Commentary.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Blood
is the only Blu-ray on the list and has the best picture reproduction here, but
this is by default as we get motion blur, weak detail and other limits that do
not make this a demo quality presentation by any means. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mix
is also limited with an inconsistent soundfield and other sonic issues, yet it
is also the best sound of the releases here by default.
The 1.33
X 1 image on Payne is much softer
and also has its motion blur, though it seems to be a 1.78 X 1 frame cut to
tunnel vision and the Dolby Digital sound is no better with the flat sitcom
sound the show has had from episode one.
The remaining
DVDs have anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 images that are as weak as Payne (Mob) or much worse (Step,
Psalm) that have too much softness
and motion blur throughout to be watchable more than once. Identity has some blur, but looks much better
and is at least a professional TV shoot with some money in it. Lee’s If
God Is Willing… has some fine new HD shots, but the overall playback
performance is held back by the nature of a documentary like this that adds all
kinds of analog and low def images for historic reasons to go with the new
footage. The audio goes from stereo to
mono, but is here in Dolby 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo mixes.
The
remaining DVDs have Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo tracks, but Mob and especially Step
try to expand their sound to 5.1 and have problematic soundfields as a result,
while Identity is well recorded and
is only rivaled by Blood as the best recorded of the seven (though Lee’s
project is a documentary and cannot be directly compared).
In all
this, there is room for new black characters on both sides of the Atlantic and some of this shows us some people are trying
to make this happen, but the next breakthrough is going to take some time. It will take a new name though and one who
does more filming and less debating.
- Nicholas Sheffo
