Fernando Di Leo: The Italian Crime Collection, Vol.
2 (1969 – 1975/Naked Violence/Shoot First, Die Later/Kidnap
Syndicate/Raro Blu-ray Set)/Punk
Vacation (1987/Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray w/DVD)/Strike Back: Cinemax
Season Two (2012/HBO Blu-ray)/Welcome
To The Punch (2012/IFC/MPI Blu-ray)
Picture: B-
(Punk DVD: C+) Sound: B-/C+ & C/B-/B- Extras: B-/C/C+/C Films: C+/C/C/C
Now for
the latest action and crime Blu-ray releases…
Fernando Di Leo: The Italian Crime
Collection, Vol. 2
(1969 – 1975) follows up the solid Volume One set that included the films Caliber 9, The Italian Connection, The
Boss and Rulers Of The City. You can read about that set at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11437/Fernando+Di+Leo:+The+Italian+Crim
We get
three films this time including Naked
Violence (1969) telling the disturbing tale of a group of males teens at a
boy’s school who like their teacher sexually so much that they attack and gang
rape her, but when she turns up dead, they are as surprised ass the authorities
and those who find her are. Who killed
her? Are the students lying? Are they being framed? Do they deserve to get one kind of punishment
for a different crime? Certainly a
Catholic/Italian transfer of guilt is at play here, but this is more exploitive
than most Di Leo films and not always as good as his later work.
I had
seen this one a long time ago and was only so impressed then as now, but I also
felt a better film, was in here somewhere and maybe he was trying to do a
Giallo horror film without the stylizing.
We
already got to see the new restored Blu-ray of Shoot First, Die Later (1974) when it was issued as a single and
you can read all about it at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12164/Bunohan:+Return+To+Murder+(2011
Again, I
like the idea that it is a crime drama graphically dealing with a real life
tale of corruption in Italy
it its time.
Finally
we get Kidnap Syndicate (1975) with
Luc Merenda as a father who sees his son and the son of a rich, power and
controversial businessman he works for get kidnapped for big money, but the
businessman will not pay, so the poor father takes matters in his own hands
with dark results.
This film
has some nice twists, solid fights, believable chases and fine casting that
includes no less than James Mason surprisingly effective as the dirty businessman. Hard to believe this is not more discussed
for Mason alone if not bucking the formula of such kidnapping scenarios. This is as good as any film on this list and
helps make this trilogy one of the best Blu-ray movie collections of the year.
Extras
include another text-rich, illustrated booklet on the films and those who made
it with informative text on who made each of the three films. Naked
adds two documentaries, one called Good Fellas and the other, Fernando
Di Leo At The Cinemathéque Francaise.
Shoot adds a two-part
interview featurette with Di Leo talking about filmmaking and this film
specifically. Kidnap adds a single featurette in Violent Cities: The Other
Fernando
Di Leo Trilogy.
Stanley
Lewis’ Punk Vacation (1987) is a
little-seen reactionary 1980s gang violence/revenge film about a group of
motorcycle riding punk fans (who look more like angry New Wave people than the
Goth or dirtier Punk fans you would see now or in the 1970s) as they terrorize
a family at a local business/residence in the middle of nowhere where an older
daughter happens to be dating a local guy who is a new police officer.
Running
93 minutes, the film has some good moments that work, but they are too often
accompanied by scenes that do not work and scenes that are trying to be funny
by being dumb and do not work either.
Acting is mixed at best and we’ve seen just about everything here
before. It is a curio just by coming to
Blu-ray and the unknowns are giving it their best shot, but this is a B-movie
exploitation work for the most part, but refreshingly has no pretension that it
is anything else like most genre works we see today.
Extras
are only on the DVD version and include two interviews, extensive stills, two
interviews (one with Producer/Actor Stephen Fusci, the other with Producer’s
Assistant/Stuntman Steven Rowland) and Stanley Lewis’ previous gang violence
revenge film, Nomad Riders.
Unfortunately, they could not find a film print, so they had to use an
old analog 1-inch videotape master, but it is watchable even if the film is
only so good.
The
Australian action series Strike Back: Cinemax Season Two (2012) picks up
where the previous season left off, but again for the record, Cinemax skipped a
season, so this Season One link is really for the second season:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11724/Hijacked+(2011/Anchor+Bay+Blu-ray
The duo
of Michael Stonebridge (Philip Winchester) and Damien Scott (Sullivan
Stapleton) take on a new mission for their military spy group Section 20 as a
set of loose nuclear weapons and their detonators land up on the open,
unsecured market and they have to figure out how to stop them from being sold
or stolen and used by Islamic Terrorists, but a twist happens when an old enemy
of their government (Charles Dance of For
Your Eyes Only and Alien 3)
shows up with plans of his own at any cost.
Though
there are some good moments in each show, there are not enough of them and too
much of the previous season is suddenly forgotten and with it, more character
development, so the series quickly succumbs to the weekly TV grind and starts
to resemble any other Rah! Rah! military action series or movie. Luckily, the cast still has chemistry, some
of the action works, but there are also basic mistakes people start making that
seem more like plot devices than realistic behavior of the characters. By forgetting too much of its spy roots, the
show disappoints too much this time out.
Either way, see it from the beginning previous Blu-ray set if you are
going to watch at all to see for yourself.
Extras
include Digital Copy of PC, PC portable and iTunes oriented devices, audio
commentary tracks on all episodes and a bonus DVD with the Pilot episode of Banshee. Due on Blu-ray from HBO very
soon.
Ridley
Scott co-produced Eran Creevy’s Welcome
To The Punch (2012), also has its revenge/secret operation aspects as a
heist in London goes wrong for a top cop (James McAvoy) when he is dumb enough
to approach an armed assailant unarmed and pays the price with an ugly gunshot
wound three years earlier. Now, the
shooter is back for reasons he never expected and our police officer wants
revenge and to break the latest case.
Though no
spy work is involved, this film has as much spying and action as Strike Back, plus manages to not be as
constricted as the tired cycle of British police procedurals too common on both
sides of the Atlantic. Again, characters make mistakes here they
should not either, but they do not seem as bad and in a cast that includes Mark
Strong, Peter Mullen, Andrea Riseborough, Johnny Harris and David Morrissey
playing to type, this has some moments worth catching.
Unfortunately,
some of the twists do not work as well as others and the script puts itself in
its own corner it cannot get out of with scenes that do not always ring
true. Still, I enjoyed what did work and
how good it made London
look, plus the actors are really giving it their best efforts which we rarely
see in the genre anymore, so this works out at least as well as the recent Sweeney remake and genre fans will at
least want to see this one once, but with reservations.
Extras
include a Making Of featurette, a set of interviews and a Trailer.
The 1080p
digital High Definition image transfers on all the Blu-rays are about even with
the 1.85 X 1 Di Leo films looking
really good from the best 35mm materials available, but Shoot looks the best coming from the original negative. All also show their age, but usually have
really good color and all even offer a few nice demo shots, so Raro once again
delivers top rate work. The 1080p 1.85 X
1 digital High Definition image transfers on Punk is better than you might expect for an independent production
its age with some great shots of its own, a few exceptional color moments as
well and a nice look and feel that is not like your typical HD shoot, shot on
35mm film, but the print can (as expected) show its age, but it looks as good
as it likely ever will. You would never
know how good if you compare it to the soft, anamorphically enhanced DVD
version also included.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Strike
Back (styled down a bit to be gritty) and 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High
Definition image on Punch (a mix of
great shots and somewhat styled-down shots to be dark on purpose) are the
newest transfers, digitally shot and looking better than many similar shoots in
the genre. Still, the style choices
backfire a bit and even take the viewer out of the action by making the visual
narrative side a little choppy.
Otherwise, very professional and nice work.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes on Strike Back and Punch
should be the outright sonic champions and they have the best sonic peaks, but
sound can be quiet or too much towards the front speakers too often, so the Italian
PCM 2.0 Mono on all three Di Leo
films can compete more often than they should despite their flaws, obvious
post-production dubbing and age. The
English dubs are weaker in all cases, but the Italian tracks can still surprise
more than you would think.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix on Punk definitely shows its age and even sounds older than the Di Leo Italian tracks at times,
reflecting the low budget and lack of experience of the sound people, but it
sounds fine for a-movie of its time and the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on the
Punk DVD is much weaker to the point
that it can be hard to hear and never gives you an idea that it might sound
better lossless.
- Nicholas Sheffo
