House
Of Cards: Volume Four
(2016 U.S. Version aka The
Complete Fourth Season/Sony
Blu-ray Set)/The Panic In
Needle Park
(1971/Fox/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B/C+ Extras: C-/B- Main Programs: C+/B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Panic
In Needle Park
Blu-ray is now only available from our friends at Twilight Time, is
limited to only 3,000 copies and can be ordered while supplies last
from the links below.
Here's
our latest hard looks at the dark side of life, despite a separation
of decades, shows that bad things only seem to get worse...
House
Of Cards: Volume Four
(2016 U.S. Version) is back, retaining leads Kevin Spacey and Robin
Wright, but despite directors this season including David Fincher,
Joel Schumacher, Carl Franklin and James Foley, the show is starting
to run out of steam and not just because the original U.K. version
was shorter. Here's our coverage of the previous season...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/13600/Carla's+Song+(1996/Twilight+Time+Limited+Blu-r
One
could argue that real politics have become so wacky (Brexit, the U.S.
presidential race, etc.) that a fictional version cannot compete, but
the storylines and characters were already pretty fixed years ago so
that has limited validity. Cannot go into specifics without spoiling
anything, but it is at least still an intelligent show and you get 12
episodes here over 4 discs.
A
faux campaign sticker is the only extra, though we also get Digital
HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and other cyber iTunes
capable devices.
Jerry
Schlatzberg's The Panic In
Needle Park (1971) has
one of Al Pacino's best and earliest acting performances playing a
drug-addicted junkie trying to survive on the then-streets of New
York with a girlfriend and fellow junkie (Kitty Winn in a good
performance) in tow. Done with no non-digetic music and a
groundbreaking drama for its time, it is very raw, real, a giant step
after the likes of Preminger's The
Man With The Golden Arm
in dealing with this situation. Ugly as it is, it is sad to say 45
years later, this looks like the good old days!
Pacino
makes his character Bobby a joyous con before the drugs take over and
it is amazing how inventive, clever and realistic he is, capturing
this kind of 'guy' we sometimes still see today but was more rampant
in the pre-1980s years. Some scenes can still be very effective
(plastic hypodermic needles had not arrived yet, making disease more
rampant, esp, after AIDS arrived) and the film pulls no punches.
Rated PG, this would be an R today.
Besides
seeing a darker section of New York long cleaned up since, we get
some amazing early appearances by great actors like Raul Julia, Kiel
Martin, Michael McClanathan, Richard Bright, Al Neri, Joe Santos,
Alan Vint, Marcia Jean Kurtz and even Paul Sorvino. Like so many
realistic films of the time, the acting talent seems endless.
Schlatzberg
reunited a few years later with Pacino in Scarecrow
with Gene Hackman, as well as turning out underrated films like Sweet
Revenge, The
Seduction Of Joe Tynan
and Street Smart.
His Director of Photography here, Adam Holender, would work with him
again, but if this film looks a bit like Schlesinger's Midnight
Cowboy, its more that the
locale and grittiness. Holender lensed that classic too.
Extras
include yet
nicely illustrated booklet on the film including informative text and
another excellent, underrated essay by the great film scholar Julie
Kirgo, while the Blu-ray adds
an Isolated
Music Score Track featuring 30 minutes of Unused Music Composed and
Conducted by Ned Rorem, Notes on Ned Rorem's Unused Score with notes
shown over an alternate version of another piece not used in the
film, the Original Theatrical Trailer and two featurettes: Panic
in the Streets of New York
and Writers
in Needle Park.
The
1080p 2.00 X 1 High Definition image transfer on the Cards
episodes look good and far better than the DVD versions from the
previous season did. An HD shoot throughout, this looks pretty solid
and even if the show is not what it once was story-wise, the look is.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Park
can show the age of the materials used, but this is far superior a
transfer to all previous releases of the film and the DeLuxe
Color is pretty consistent throughout. Expect some grain, but it is
supposed to look gritty.
As
for sound, the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 1.0 Mono lossless mix on Park
shows its age with its location audio, any post-audio work and has
been as cleaned as possible. The music track is nicely in sync with
the film and of course, sounds better.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Cards
is the obvious sonic winner here, but I give the show credit for
using silence to its advantage instead of filling tracks for no good
reason. It is also better
than the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on the DVD box
set of the previous season.
To
order The
Panic In Needle Park
limited edition Blu-ray, buy it and other great exclusives while
supplies last at these links:
www.screenarchives.com
and
http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo