Good
Manners (2017*)/Great
Battle (2018/Well Go
Blu-ray w/DVD)/Lucifernia
(2018**)/Next Time I'll
Aim For The Heart
(2015/*both Icarus DVDs)/Snowflake
(2017/**both Artsploitation Blu-rays)
Picture:
B-/A & C+/B+/B-/B Sound: B-/B+ & C+/B+/B-/B Extras:
D/B/C-/C-/C+ Films: B/A-/C+/B/C
Here's
a new set of genre releases coming from sources that are solid and
worth going out of our away for...
A
modern fairy tale, Good
Manners
(2017) is a werewolf movie unlike any you've seen before, but
obviously inspired in some way by the films of Guillermo Del Toro.
Directed by Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra, the Golden Leopard
nominated film lands on DVD courtesy of Icarus.
In
Good
Manners,
a wealthy woman (Marjorie Estiano) hires a nurse named Clara (Isabel
Zuaa) to help her during her pregnancy and ultimately become the
child's nanny. However, once the full moon comes out, they realize
that this is no ordinary child... soon, Clara ends up becoming closer
to the monster child than she had originally planned when she becomes
his sole protector...
Good
Manners
also stars Cida Moreira, Gilda Nomacce, Germano Melo, and Hugo
Villavicenzio. The film is presented on anamorphically
enhanced, standard
definition DVD with a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and a
lossless Dolby Digital 5.1 Portuguese sound mix with English
subtitles. It is is nicely shot and would definitely look a lot
sharper in HD, but looks fine for the format here despite compression
issues.
No
extras.
The
film has a lot of interesting visual effects and makeup and fine
performances all around. This could be an interesting film to be
remade in America.
Kim
Kwang Sik's The
Great Battle
(2018) is an epic tale of how the soldiers and citizens of city
fortress Ansi held off an army of 200,000 Tang soldiers for months.
While the Goguryeo army ran away, the people of Ansi did what was
believed to be impossible.
After
the defeat of the Goguryeo army, a young soldier was sent to the
Fortress city of Ansi to assassinate the 'traitor' commander for not
joining the battle, but what he discovers is Commander Yang of the
city of Ansi was no coward, but rare leader who is actually thinks
and only fights if there is a chance of winning. Commander Yang
serves his people and cares for more for their survival than glory
and honor in battle. The young soldier sees how people respect their
commander and has a change of heart. Through tactics and strategy
5,000 soldiers were able to hold off and army of 200,000 for months
until the reinforcements came.
Based
off a true historical tale, it is the epic story filled with last
stands and heroic sacrifices. It was like a mix of 300,
Lord
of the Rings
and Kingdom
of Heaven
with graphically enhanced special effects and stylized battle. The
only thing that was a bit off was that you could tell Korean actors
were trying to speak Chinese with heavy accents.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer is an HD shoot
that looks exceptional throughout with demo shots all over, while the
Korean DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless mix may not always be its equal or be
a 12-track presentation, but its impressive enough when it needs to
be. The anamorphically enhanced DVD with lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 is
a real comedown from the Blu-ray, but is passable. Extras
include commentary, character bios and trailers.
If
you're looking for a new exorcism film then don't let Gonzalo
Calzada's Luciferina
(2018) escape you. While many American takes on the genre as of late
have been pretty tame, with the exception of Song
of Solomon
(reviewed elsewhere on this site), Luciferina
is from Argentina and is certainly not for the weak at heart.
Luciferina
stars Gaston Cocchiarale, Sofia Del Tuffo, Marta Lubos, Pedro Merlo,
and Malena Sanchez. The film centers around a young girl who travels
to a creepy jungle to find a plant that will help cure her dying
father. However, once she's there she ends up a part of a satanic
ritual that releases a deadly curse...
The
film is presented in 1080p on Blu-ray disc with a widescreen aspect
ratio of 2.39:1 and a nice sounding track in lossy Spanish Dolby
Digital 5.1 and lesser Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks with optional
English subtitles. The transfer is clean and very nicely done even
though this film is on a lower budget, its filmmaking is solid.
The
only extra is a HD Trailer with English subtitles.
While
the film has a few vicious moments and a few jump scares here and
there that may shock you, the first hour kinda drags... things start
to heat up around the one hour mark, though, and pack a powerful
finish.
Nominated
for two Cesar Awards, the dark and twisted Next
Time I'll Aim For The Heart
(2014) is similar to Bad
Lieutenant
in a way, but done in a more dramatic fashion. The biopic is based
on the notorious serial killer Alain Lamare (played brilliantly by
Guillaume Canet) who claimed many victims in France in the winter of
1978-79. The twist is that he was also a police officer tasked with
solving the murders that he himself committed. The clever
performance he puts up to fool his victims and the police is the
personification of true evil.
The
film also stars Ana Girardot, Jean-Yves Bertleloot, Patrick Azam, and
Arnaud Henriet with direction by Cedric Anger.
Presented
in anamorphically
enhanced, standard
definition on DVD with an anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of
2.35:1 and a lossy Russian Dolby Digital 5.1 mix with English
subtitles, the film looks and sounds fine for the format.
Compression issues evident (especially when comparing directly to
HD), but the overall presentation doesn't have any noticeable issues
outside of its limitations.
The
only extra is trailers for other films from Icarus.
Next
Time I'll Aim For The Heart
is a powerful film that's definitely worth checking out.
We
conclude with the German thriller Snowflake
(2017) also known as Schneeflockchen, is an insane thrill ride from
the get-go that's being described as 'The most F-ed Up German fairy
tale since the Brothers Grimm'. While that may be a pretty broad
statement, the best way to describe Snowflake
is 'wacky'. Even though its foreign, you can see the Tarantino
influence in some of it mainly in its exhausting dialogue that's full
of quips. For me, it felt like it was trying too hard.
The
story is a bit all over the place and a little hard to sum up as it
has a few different storylines... one involves an orphan and a
bodyguard who seek revenge for the death of the family they both
lost. Another follows two wacky outlaws named Tan and Javid who
discover a screenplay in which their life is unfolding... and a
possible for outcome of how it will unfold in the future... for there
it gets even crazier.
Snowflake
stars Reza Brojerdi, Erkan Acar, Alexander Wolf, Loretta Stern, and
Matti Klemm.
The
film is presented in 1080p on Blu-ray disc with its original 2.35:1
widescreen aspect ratio and nice sounding German 5.1 Dolby Digital
track with English subtitles. Some parts of the film are in English
too, surprisingly, which also are in 5.1 Dolby Digital. Snowflake
was shot using DSLR cameras so the details here are a bit limited,
but overall the color correction is nice and the film doesn't look
cheap.
Special
Features include...
Making
of Featurette
and
a Trailer in HD
Snowflake
has a few fun moments, but ultimately feels like it's trying too
hard.
-
Ricky Chiang (Great
Battle)
and James
Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/