Burning
(2018/Well Go Blu-ray w/DVD)/Death
Is A Number
(1951*)/Doctor Who: The
Complete Eleventh Season
(2018/BBC DVD Set)/Mystery
Road: Series One
(2018/Acorn Blu-ray)/Torment
(1949/*both MVD/Juno Selects DVDs)
Picture:
B & C+/C/C+/B+/C Sound: B & C+/C/C+/C+/C Extras:
C/D/C+/C/D Main Programs: B+/C/B-/B+/C
Here
comes a very varied group of releases with mystery, action and other
thrills to know about...
Jong-su
(Ah-in Yoo) is your typical young man living in the city just working
and trying to get by, until he meets his childhood friend Haemi.
Jong-su and Haemi (Jong-seo Jun) get romantically involved, but
things get complicated when Haemi returns from a trip with a
mysterious new friend named Ben (Steven Yen). Ben is charismatic and
wealthy, but his job remains a mystery. As time goes on, Jong-su
becomes jealous and paranoid of Ben, is he a rival, foe or something
more dangerous? When Jong-su learns of Ben's secret hobby ...he
can't help but wonder is Ben a friend or killer psychopath?
In
Lee Chang-Dong's Burning
(2018), Jong-su
lived a pretty normal and boring life until he ran into his childhood
friend Haemi. After having sex, Jong-su views Haemi as his romantic
partner/friend. When Haemi brings another man into the relationship
Ben, Jong-su can't help but feel jealous that Ben is superior to him
in every way. As the three relationships continue, Ben continues to
remain a mystery, including what he does for a living and make
Jong-su more jealous of his life style. But after one night Jong-su
learns of Ben's secret hobby is burning abandoned greenhouses which
causes Jong-su to become suspicious of Ben. Jong-su confronts Haemi
and Ben of his feelings, but then Haemi ends up leaving with Ben.
Jong-su tries to find and reconnect with Haemi, but find no traces of
her. After discovering Haemi's empty apartment and Ben taken in a
stray cat like Haemi's cat, Jong-su becomes even more paranoid that
Ben has 'killed' Haemi. Jong-su lures Ben to the country side and
kills him. After burning Ben's body and all the evidence the story
ends.
Watching
this movie felt like it was watch a Korean version of The
Talented Mr. Ripley.
A tale of filled with jealousy, envy, paranoia and murder. There is
no evidence, the main character just become more and more
paranoid/jealous of another man (who may have either stolen or killed
the girl he likes). In the end what makes the story so scary, is
anyone in the main character position would become suspicious and
want to commit murder. Extras include about the characters and
trailers.
Roger
Henryson's Death
Is A Number
(1951) is an interesting film I had seen decades ago when I was VERY
young and though the whole film overall is not great, it is
ambitious, a little creepy and interesting in its telling of how a
numerologist uses his talents to show how cursed his family and
related people are for no other reasons than numbers, which also
affect a professional car racing situation. This is made more
effective by unusually good editing.
Unfortunately,
the film only has 50 minutes and offers no other reason(s) besides
these numbers (particularly #9) to flush out a suspension of
disbelief or further creepiness. The cast includes Terrence
Alexander, Denis Webb, Leslie Osmond, Isabel George, Ingerorg Von
Kusserow and Peter Gawthorne, all of whom have the right temperament
for this to work as well as it does. Though not a perfect film or
classic, it is better than so many similar horror genre films we've
seen since (and especially lately) that makes me surprised it did not
become a cult classic of some kind. Interesting, deserves to be in
print and a plus for MVD's new Juno Selects series.
There
are sadly no extras.
Doctor
Who: The Complete Eleventh Season
(2018) is one of the best best seasons of the revived version of the
classic series as Jodie Whittaker takes over as the first female
Doctor and manages to pull it off. Though the famous Time Lord is
unaware at first he is of the other general human gender, the now she
shows up just in time as people are bing killed by being instantly
vaporized by a mysterious killer figure originating from another
world. The Doctor also needs to rebuild the Sonic Screwdriver,
hopefully in time.
Also
helping is a sense of energy that has not always been on the show
since way back when Tom Baker was pushed off the show. We get a good
pace, the show is up to speed and though it still is far form the
peak of darkness and suspense that the original show had in its early
seasons, this is formidable enough and the ten episodes (these new
seasons are much shorter than the older series offered) are pretty
consistent. The supporting actors are good and we'll have to see
where the show goes from here.
Extras
include eight behind the scenes featurettes and select audio
commentary on some episodes.
When
two young men disappear in small town, the big city sends indigenous
detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) to help with finding their bodies
with the local law enforcement Sargent Emma James (Judy Davis). At
first, Jay and Emma clash with their different styles of
investigations, but they soon realize the case is more than just a
party gone wrong or couple of runaway boys, but they will have to
work together in order to solve this case. But before this case is
over, they will uncover a secret, a secret the townspeople has been
keeping from the authorities, specially from a white sheriff and a
big city detective in Mystery
Road: Series One
(2018).
Detective
Jay is a smart, rough, tough and ready detective and is willing to
break the rules (and some heads) in order to solve the mystery and
catch the murderer. But Jay is immediately given the cold shoulder
treatment by hard headed, by-the-book, no-nonsense Sargent Emma who
tells him he isn't need or wanted in her town ...and that she has
everything
under control (~right~). But after Jay points out a few (major)
clues they missed at crime scene, Emma reluctantly allows Jay stay to
help with the case. Both of them are considered outsiders in the
small town of aborigines, Emma because she is white (and a woman),
and Jay because he's from the city and considered a sellout for
working for his 'white' bosses. No one is willing to tell them
anything, much less trust them. However, both of them also have
problems of their own, Emma's ex-husband is the defense lawyer for
their suspects and Jay's estranged daughter and ex-wife comes into
town and manages to get involved with those related to the case. What
they thought was a simple drug deal gone wrong, turns out maybe
related to a case 10 years ago where young girl was raped in town,
they may have jailed the wrong man. Also they discover a darker
secret about Emma's family history (unknown to Emma, of course) when
she discover her family got rich from murdering the aborigines who
lived there originally.
This
was your typical detective murder mystery, two detectives who don't
get along but after working together realize they have effective
chemistry. The story is set in a small town in the Australian
outback where the aborigines have a strong hatred/dislike/prejudice
against white people (and those who work for them) along with a
conspiracy where those in power covered up a crime and tried to
rewrite the town's history. Extras include interviews with cast and
crew and trailers.
Finally
we have an early thriller from director John Guillermin, Torment
(1949) is about two writers who are brothers and one of them starts
to get too into his work and commit murder. Jim (John Bentley) and
Cliff (Dermot Walsh) also both have a thing for the murderer's
secretary Joan (Rona Anderson) which complicates matters all the
more.
This
British programmer runs only 65 minutes, yet it is a mixed bag with
some good moments, and some that just fall flat, but Guillermin does
what he can to keep things going. Later, he would direct some of the
full color Tarzan films before big success with the 1976 King
Kong
and Towering
Inferno,
so this is an early work of a very successful journeyman director
doing what he can with what he had to work with and that's why it
should be in print.
This
is the other release from MVD's Juno Selects DVD series and they all
have curio interest for serious film fans. We'll have to see where
this series goes. In this case, the disc has no extras.
As
for playback quality, the 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition
image on Burning
is pretty good for an HD shoot, but has some minor flaws, which are
even more evident or hidden on the softer, anamorphically enhanced
DVD version included with this Blu-ray, so it is a surprise that the
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on
Mystery
Road
actually looks better, more consistent and is the best looking
release on the list. Why, its hard to say, but the good looking show
just adds to why it was a success.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Doctor
Who
is the best-looking of the DVD releases, even over the Burning
DVD and was issued on Blu-ray (but not 4K Blu-ray) at the same time
as this set. The BBC is definitely putting money into the show,
especially at this point and it shows, a well-rounded HD shoot as
good or better than any equivalent on either side of the Atlantic.
Fans can be happy.
The
1.33 X 1 black and white image on the Juno DVDs are a little soft and
seem to come from older transfer and film sources, but they could be
worse and its good to get them on DVD for starters. If these do well
enough, maybe restorations will follow, but for lower-budget
productions of their time, they look pretty good.
As
for sound, Burning
has Korean DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is the best
sonically on the list, followed by the English DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes on Mystery
Road,
which can be more dialogue-based than expected. The lossy Dolby
Digital 5.1 on Doctor
Who,
which would definitely sound better lossless and has more surround
activity than Mystery
and maybe Burning.
That leaves the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on the Juno DVD
sounding a generation or two down from the original optical
theatrical monophonic sound. You can make out what is being said
usually, but could sue some restoration like its picture.
-
Nicholas Sheffo (DVDs) and Ricky Chiang