Casual:
Season One
(2015/Lionsgate DVDs)/Felicity
(1978/Severin Blu-ray)/Paprika
(1991/Tinto Brass/Cult Epics Blu-ray)
Picture:
C+/B/B- Sound: C+/C+/C Extras: C-/B+/C Main Programs:
D/C+/C
There
are good ways to do sex comedies and bad ones. We look at both in
three new releases, one of which actually works...
Casual:
Season One (2015) joins
HBO's awful Togetherness
(cancelled, but reviewed elsewhere on this site) as an awful (and
oddly too similar in negative attitude) by starting out almost the
same way with very unfunny sex jokes thinking it is hip, then
proceeds to get worse and worse and worse. Jason Reitman produced
(and even directs) making this instantly the nadir of his very uneven
career to date. The cast looks bored as anything, the first episode
starts with dreams of incest (ha, ha??? What!?!) and how this ever
got the greenlight (being sold as a dysfunction family comedy is
highly deceptive) is beyond me, but here it is and you should avoid
it at all costs.
A
Making Of
featurette is the only extra.
John
D. Lamond's Felicity
(1978) is the one release, albeit silly and often obvious, that
actually had fun with sex and doesn't make it into something dumb and
even repulsive. This Australian theatrical film is a well done romp
we first were lucky enough to see in an import DVD at this link...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8451/Felicity+(1978/Umbrella+Entertainment+Region+Zer
The
Severin Blu-ray is a nice upgrade from the previous DVDs and Gloria
Annen is perfect in the title role and this is just enough of it all
at 94 minutes. It is worth a look for all those interested.
As
for extras, we get two films we also covered previously on import DVD
from Umbrella, ABCs Of Love & Sex (1977) C+ and Australia
After Dark (1975) C+ that were included as a double feature disc
at the time, now fitting on the same single Blu-ray. Dark had
us see the ''dark underbelly'' of erotic living Down Under around the
time of the Disco era, while ABC as a campy sex education film
that tried to come up with an important topic for every letter of the
alphabet. They are fun and worth a look, making for solid inclusion
in this set. We also get a new feature length audio commentary track
by director John D. Lamont and star Gloria Annen, highlights on the
film from the Not Quiet Hollywood documentary we reviewed
elsewhere on this site and a reel of trailers for other Lamond films.
Tinto
Brass' Paprika
(1991) is a disappointment from a man whose ability to direct erotica
survived the end of the counterculture and XXX film production's
lame-but-profitable transition to cheaper videotape. This one is
about the world of a brothel and how a young woman (Deborah
Caprioglio) slowly becomes involved in one, slowly gaining the
working name of the title. This is actually a remake of Fanny
Hill, but at 116 minutes,
it is overly long, has some really bad scenes, insists it is being
funny when it really tries too hard and that backfires on it. Not
funny or sexy, there is little to recommend and Brass seems to be
losing his touch. This is the uncut version and the music score by
Riz Ortolani makes it more tolerable, but not by much.
HD
trailers for other Brass films, lobby car video gallery and new
Welcome To The Whorehouse
HD-produced featurette are the extras.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Casual is a soft HD
shoot softer here that is passable at best and forgettable often with
more flaws than I could count. Lame.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on Felicity is
the big surprise here, outdoing the import DVD picture with ease and
looking remarkably, consistently good for its age with detail, depth
and color even I was not expecting. Fleshtones are fine and location
shooting is nice.
The
1080p 1.66 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Paprika
show the age of the materials used, but even giving the transfer the
benefit of the doubt with so much diffusion lighting and lensing, it
comes up a bit short overall despite some good shots.
The
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Casual
is talky and as unspectacular as the image, but that's still better
than the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on Paprika
that should have been lossless, but is down a generation and is not
that great. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix on
Felicity
actually is by a sliver the best-sounding presentation here, an
improvement over its DVD release and as warm and clear as a film of
its age and budget is likely to ever be.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
