Against
The Sun (2014/Anchor Bay
DVD)/The Frontier
(2013/Virgil Films DVD)/Little
Accidents (2014/Anchor
Bay DVD)/The Jerry Warren
Collection: Violent &
The Damned/No Time To Kill
(1954, 1959/VCI DVD Set)
Picture:
C/C+/C+/C Sound: C+/C+/C+/C Extras: C-/D/D/D Films:
C/C+/C/C/C+
The
following dramas strive for realism, but they mostly come up short
too often...
Brian
Falk's Against
The Sun
(2014) is a stuck-on-a film based on the true story (I believed that
one for once in this case) about three men (Garret Dillahunt, Jake
Abel, Tom Felton) who get stuck in a small boat for a long time after
their fighter crashes. Try as this might be, the script needed to
come up with a newer way to approach the situation, but this instead
becomes a run-on piece at 99 minutes (not to mention how Hitchcock's
Lifeboat
haunts it, for those who know that one) despite some good
performances.
Also,
one of the makers says in an extra clip that the company making it
strives for accuracy, but the faked newsreel at the beginning rings
false in a few ways (voiceover is too slow, Castle Films did not do
newsreels and the result is awkward). Still, a serious, ambitious
piece that tries, if not being too successful.
Matt
Rabinowitz's The Frontier
(2013) is a drama about a man and scholar (Max Gail from Barney
Miller, still a solid
actor) whose son (Coleman Kelly) comes back home, but the two are not
exactly estranged, yet not on great terms. Between them is Nina
(Anastassia Sendyk), an assistant to the scholar who becomes somewhat
caught in between the awkwardness. I liked the acting and scenes,
but this was a bit predictable in between those good scenes and that
is enough to make this as good as anything on the list, but more
nuance and a tighter script could have put this one over the top.
Sara
Coangelo's Little
Accidents (2014) is on
the more predictable side, though it also has some great moments as a
coal mining town is reeling from an accident that got some miners
killed and the company (surprise!) is trying to cover some of it up
despite paying some of the victim's and their families compensation.
It sets up bad things for those in town who don't have much in their
lives, but things get darker and uglier when a young man goes
missing, though we are privy to what happened.
I
liked the performances and the writing is sadly accurate about the
lives portrayed, but again, there was more to say and the film does
not do enough with its 105 minutes or its cast that includes
Elizabeth Banks, Chloe Sevigny, Boyd Holbrook, Jacob Lofland and Josh
Lucas. It is worth a look for the actors if nothing else, but have
patience.
VCI's
Jerry Warren Collection
makes no secret that the producer was a hack and made bad movies and
he apparently liked buying duds too, but they can have some campy
amusement value. Carlos
Hugo Christensen's Violent
& The Damned
(1954) is about prisoners on a chain gang escaping in a bloody
incident where they couldn't take it any more. There's plenty of
voice overs on stock footage or footage shot with noisy cameras where
they could not blimp them or tape the sound correctly. It is very
mixed watching that drags, but is only 58 minutes... even if it feels
longer.
Tom
Younger's No Time
To Kill (1959) is a bit
more watchable and has a young John Ireland in a sort of thriller
where he plays a man who wants revenge after being in prison for no
good reason for 8 years after being framed. There are some nice
locales, pretty women and something that wants to happen here, but it
never takes off in its hour-long length. With more money and time,
this could have been turned into a good thriller of some sort, but
that sadly never happens.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Sun and Frontier
are digital shoots that look soft here, but Sun is much softer
throughout and I do not see it as a style choice. The anamorphically
enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on Little is also a little soft, but
as good as any presentation here. That leaves the 1.33 X 1 black and
white presentations on both VCI films, but Kill has slightly
more detail as both show the age of their print materials.
As
for sound, the three newer releases offer lossy Dolby Digital 5.1
that is not bad, talky and quiet, so therefore only shows off
surrounds so well. They still tie for best sonics, while the lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on both VCI DVD films are old, rough, a little
frail, distorted and compressed throughout. Seems they tried to
clean them up, but this only helped so much.
Except
for a few promo clips on Sun
used in advance to promote its theatrical release, all four releases
are totally absent of extras.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
