Flight Of The Cardinal (2010)/Leave Blank (2010/Water Bearer DVDs)

 

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

 

 

Now for two more releases from Water Bearer.

 

 

Robert Gaston’s Flight Of The Cardinal (2010) wants to be a sort of thriller where the characters are eventually stuck in a remote cabin, but it is not a torture porn work nor is it an outright thriller.  It is trying to be about psychological and some sexual tension (gay and otherwise), but it is too reserved and it is not a work that knows its way around the genre, even in a way to try and play against it.  Sometimes, it is an interesting failure, but it is a disappointment overall.  Extras include stills, music videos, teasers and trailers.

 

Todd Verow’s Leave Blank (2010) is the director’s most graphic film and as a matter of fact, it is simply a gay XXX flick trying (and failing) to be some kind of art film.  He plays a character named Todd and one that happens to have his last name tattooed on his one arm who hires a male hooker to have sex with and that is what they do.  Yawn!  Then they get goofier and this adds other men, drugs and whatever.  Guess Verow is out of things to say and do.  Extras include a lame trailer, lame extra scene and odd interview with the two leads (27+ minutes) trying to explain why this is more than just a sex project.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on both DVDs is weak with Flight having terrible macroblocking and sometimes very hard to watch, while Blank is a low-def digital video shoot that is very soft throughout, looking like a dated XXX work.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is barley stereo in both cases, though Cardinal is especially rough.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo