Grace
Unplugged (2014/Lionsgate
Blu-ray w/DVD)/The Misfits
(1961/United Artists/Umbrella Region B Import Blu-ray)/Mother
Of George
(2013/Oscilloscope DVD)/A
Perfect Man (2012/MPI/IFC
DVD)/Reaching For The Moon
(2013/Wolfe DVD)/Wadjda
(2013/Sony Blu-ray w/DVD)/We
Of The Never Never
(1981/Umbrella Region B/C 50i Import Blu-ray)/What's
Eating Gilbert Grape
(1993/Umbrella Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- & C/B-/C+/C+/C/B- & C/B-/B- Sound: B- &
C+/C/C+/C+/C+/B- & C+/C+/B- Extras: C-/C-/C+/C-/C/C+/B-/C
Films: C-/B-/C+/C/C+/C+/B-/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
Misfits,
We
Of The Never Never
and What's
Eating Gilbert Grape
Region B (which can only only play on Blu-ray players that can handle
that version of the format & C/50i, which do not play on most
U.S. HDTVs) import Blu-rays are only available from our friends at
Umbrella Entertainment and all can be ordered from the link below.
Here
are a cycle of dramas you should be aware of for the most part...
A
young female religious singer is tired of her oppressive family
situation and wants to go out of town to a big city and sing rock
music. That is basically the plot of Rock
Of Ages,
which became an awful feature film bomb with Tom Cruise, et al.
However, this is also pretty much the same high concept plot for Brad
J. Silverman's Grace
Unplugged
(2014) and against the odds, they have actually found a way to do a
worse job with the same cliched ideas.
When
I saw the strange resurfacing of the old, animated Orion Pictures
logo, I knew we were in for something odd, but this is lightyears
away from the kinds of great films that studio made before their sad,
unfortunate demise too long ago. They would have never made a dud
like this with these kinds of pretensions. A.J. Maichalka is the
title character (a blonde as in the film version of Ages)
who takes the sinful leap, James Denton is her singing father, Kevin
Pollack shows up as a music insider and we are nearly bored to death
for 101 minutes.
Whether
the makes were trying to do a more Christian version of that musical
or just rip it off to cash in, who knows, but should't it be
sacrilegious to be this boring?
Extras
include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes
capable devices, a Gag Reel that is odd, flat Deleted Scenes and a
Making Of featurette.
John
Huston's The
Misfits
(1961) has now been issued by Umbrella in Australia on a Region B
Import Blu-ray that is exactly the same transfer and master as the
U..S. Fox/MGM Blu-ray we reviewed at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10955/Dead+Man+Walking+(1995)+++Hotel+Rwanda+(2
Now
they too can enjoy a decent basic edition of the film, but it
deserves a more deluxe edition down the line.
Andrew
Dosunmu's Mother
Of George
(2013)
tells a somewhat familiar story of a matriarch putting pressure with
a sense of tradition on her son to marry and have children, but when
the bride keeps having trouble having children, the couple in
question separately are driven to very bad decisions just to keep the
happy
family
thing going. Unfortunately, we have seen some of this more often
than you might think, but it is the look at a little seen culture
(Nigerians in the U.S.), some of the better twists in the story, the
fine acting and the director giving this a consistent look that has
cinematic palpability that makes this worth a look despite some
unevenness.
Being
an independent film, it has a natural feel that consistently makes
this believable and honest enough throughout that it is like spying
on the people involved. Oscilloscope's buyers have a great knack for
picking interesting work and this is no exception. Cheers to Dosunmu
for have a feminist context here too.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track by Dosunmu, Editor
Oriana Soddu & Costume Designer Mobolaji Dawodu, the Original
Theatrical Trailer, 7 Deleted Scenes and A
Human Story
featurette.
Kees
Van Oostrum's A
Perfect Man
(2012)
has the underrated Jeannie Tripplehorn married to Liev Schreiber and
quite happy about it until he starts having an affair behind her
back. The #1 problem is that Schreiber is so obviously cast that
even the consistent script cannot stop this from being flat, dull and
even unintentionally silly as Schreiber keeps playing this same
unlikable character over and over and over and over again.
The
her actions to get back at him do not seem as smart as they should
and make this almost a spoof of itself, but we do get performances
from Louise Fletcher and Renee Soutendijk (Verhoeven's The Fourth
Man) that help, but not enough. See it when you are not too
tired if you must.
A
trailer is the only extra.
Bruno
Baretto's Reaching
For The Moon
(2013) is better at the realistic relationship portrait as a poet
(Miranda Otto) who is sexually oppressed goes to 1950s Rio de Janeiro
and meets a difficult woman named Lola (Gloria Pires) who eventually
fall in love with each other. I bought much of it, but some moments
were repetitive and others indistinctive and being based on true
events does not mean one automatically suspends disbelief, yet
director Baretto (best known for Dona
Flora & Her Two Husbands
in the U.S.) gets a consistent look in the film and is worth seeing
if you are interested.
It
also gives us its look into the upper-class Rio of its time and just
justifies its 118 minutes, making it more than just a lesbian cinema
affair, but one of history, culture and ideas that those familiar
with Varetto's work will want to give a look.
A
trailer and Making Of featurette are the only extras.
Haifaa
Al Mansour's Wadjda
(2013) also
may have some cliches, but it is the first feature film ever out of
Saudi Arabia and by a female director at that. The title 10-year-old
young lady (Waad Mohammed) lives in the sexually and religiously
oppressive country (especially for women via Islam) but wants to be
freer, wear clothes that do not cover her up as much, listen to
western pop & rock music and even (shocker!) ride a bike. We
have seen this story of coming of age and over oppression in many
U.S. tales (especially ones with various eras of Rock Music arriving)
but this is a country that does not change, leaving the characters to
have to adapt in interesting ways.
Landmark
enough in its own ways and giving us a look at a country we see
little of this way, this film too is worth a look, but don't expect
it to be revolutionary or evolutionary, though its has a fine ending
and says something about where the country is heading.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track by Director Al
Mansour, a Making Of featurette and Directors Guild of America Q&A
with Al Mansour on stage and on camera.
Igor
Auzins' We
Of The Never Never
(1981) is one of the few Australian films we caught in a U.S. release
before getting it as an import from its native country. Tango
Entertainment issued a basic Region 1/NTSC DVD we reviewed at this
link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6402/We+Of+The+Never+Never+(1982/Australian+drama
I
still think it is an underrated film from a cycle that is stuffier
and more about prolonging the past than being about a new cinema
despite some of the fine dramas that were made Down Under at the same
time the first cycle of Oz-Ploitation occurred. And this is not a
basic edition.
Extras
include a Behind The Scenes Gallery, the Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack,
Original Theatrical Trailer, 1974 Walkabout Documentary (27 minutes)
and Back
To The Never Never
(23 minutes) interview featurette.
Finally
we have Lasse
Hallstrom's What's
Eating Gilbert Grape
(1993) which sports a still-amazing early Leonardo DiCaprio
performance as the mentally handicapped younger brother of the
disturbed title character (Johnny Depp) who is wondering if he has a
better future in sight, especially with an overweight mother and a
new girl in town (Juliette Lewis) becomes the impetus for the
returned of the repressed in him.
Hallstrom
can definitely direct, but not every film he makes is great, though
usually competent. Here, the script and resulting film are uneven,
but it has enough interesting performances and casting that works
that people still talk about it 21+ years later as its two male leads
moved from highly credible actors to big box office attractions. If
you have not seen it, you should catch up with it at some point, as
it is more than a curio and has some fine moments.
There
are no extras.
The
Blu-rays here tie for first place, but all have their issues. As
noted, the 1080p 1.66 X 1 black and white digital High Definition
image transfer on Misfits
is the same as the U.S. Blu-ray, which looks good, but has some flaws
hat could use fixing. The 1080p 1.77 X 1 digital High Definition
image transfer on Grape
is not bad, but has some color limits and seems to be from an older
HD master. The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer
on Wadjda
has some uneven moments, in an otherwise decent shoot that has a
consistent style, but its accompanying anamorphically enhanced DVD is
softer than I would have liked. The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High
Definition image transfer on Grace
is the most generic of all on the list and barely ties the other
Biu-rays, while its DVD is as poor as anything on the list. The
1080/50i
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Never
is a nice improvement over the U.S. DVD, but still has its issues and
limits not being progressive scan, but this is well shot in real
anamorphic 35mm Technovision and has its moments.
All
three DVDs happen to be anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image
presentations that ties for second place in having a good look, being
well-shot and likely would all look better in HD, but the DVD format
holds them back a bit. You still get some nice shots through.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes on Grace
and Wadjda
are decently recorded, but the former has its music sounding a bit
phony, while the latter has some location audio issues,
so the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo with Pro Logic surrounds
on Grape
can compete despite its age. The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes on
the Grace
and Wadjda
DVDs tie for second place with the same such sound mixes on the rest
of the DVDs, but the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono mix on the
Misfits
Blu-ray is the poorest performer on the list and needs cleaning up.
The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono mix on Never
is a nice improvement over the U.S. DVD, allowing it to compete with
weaker 5.1 Dolby on the DVDs, but it still shows its age despite the
much-welcome restoration upgrade.
To
order The
Misfits,
We
Of The Never Never
and What's
Eating Gilbert Grape
Region B Umbrella import Blu-rays, go to this link:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
