Happy
Hour (2015/Icarus Blu-ray
Set)/MisEducation of
Cameron Post
(2018/MVD/FilmRise Blu-ray)/Three
Coins In The Fountain
(1954/Fox*)/Welcome To
Marwen (2018/Universal
Blu-ray w/DVD)/X, Y Y Zee
(1972/Sony/Columbia/*both Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-rays)
Picture:
B/B+/B/B+ & B-/B Sound: B/B/B-/B+ & B-/B- Extras:
C+/B/B/C+/C Films: B/B/C+/C/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Three
Coins In The Fountain
and X
Y & Zee
Blu-rays are now only available from our friends at Twilight Time,
are limited to only 3,000 copies and can be ordered while supplies
last from the links below...
These
dramas and melodramas can also feature dark comedy and try to offer a
different view of life...
A
five hour Japanese film by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Happy Hour
(2015) centers around the lives of four women living in modern day
Kobe. When one of the four women announces that she is getting a
divorce, it gets the other women thinking... 'am I the person that I
want to become?' At times bleak, but other times quite intriguing,
Happy Hour is an artistic and at times experimental look at
the complexity of life.
Winner
of several awards including a combined best actress win at Locarno
Film Festival, Happy Hour is worth checking out if you're
interested in modern day Japanese culture and relationships.
The
main stars of Happy Hour are Sachie Tanaka, Hazuki Kikuchi,
Maiko Mihara, and Rira Kawamura.
Happy
Hour is presented in 1080p high definition with a 1.78:1
widescreen aspect ratio and a Japanese 5.1 audio mix with English
subtitles. Shot digitally, the film looks and sounds fine for the
format with a natural and not too overly stylized look. One of the
highlights of the film is certainly its very artistic photography.
Special
Features include only 'Beyond Happy Hour' - 30 minutes of cast
interviews
An
award winning journey of self discovery, The
Miseducation of Cameron Post
(2018) stars Chloe Grace Moretz as a teen girl who gets caught
kissing the prom queen. Unsure if she is really gay or straight, she
gets sent to God's Promise - which is a treatment camp that hopes to
'cure' her of her homosexuality. While at the camp, she makes a few
other friends, who are misfits in their own right, and they hatch a
harebrained scheme to escape the camp.
The
MisEducation of Cameron Post also stars Quinn Shephard, Sasha
Lane, Emily Skeggs, Forrest Goodluck, and Jennifer Ehle with
direction by Desiree Akhavan (Appropriate Behavior). While
the film didn't make a ton at the box office, it won many awards on
the festival circuit including an Independent Spirit Award for Best
Screenplay.
The
film is presented on 1080p Blu-ray disc with a widescreen aspect
ratio of 1.84:1 (1.85:1) and audio mixes in both lossy Dolby Digital
5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 respectively.
Special
Features include...
Audio
Commentary with the Director and Producer
Behind
the Scenes Photo Gallery
Theatrical
Trailer
and
Accolades Trailer
Jean
Negulesco's hit melodrama Three
Coins In The Fountain
(1954) is back and finally on Blu-ray, albeit a limited edition, but
a fine upgrade from the DVD we reviewed many years ago at this
link...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1607/Three+Coins+In+The+Fountain
The
film is as campy as ever, but the Venice and Rome location shoot
really improves from the DVD with a new HD master presented here in
1080p
2.55 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer can show the age of
the materials used a bit, but this is far superior a transfer to all
previous releases of the film and has more depth, detail, color range
(color by DeLuxe!) and warmth than the old DVD. It is an impressive
enough upgrade and fans in particular will love it.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless mixes are here in 5.1, 4.0 and 2.0
Stereo versions off of the original 4-track magnetic soundmaster the
film was originally screened with in its very best theatrical
engagements. It is warmer and richer than the lossy Dolby Digital
versions on the old DVD, but new flaws and limits in the sonics turn
up. Still, I prefer the 5.1 DTS-MA mix here and you get to hear
Frank Sinatra sing the title song in lossless multi-channel sound!
Extras
are increased and include a nicely illustrated booklet on the film
including informative text and yet another excellent, underrated
essay by the great film scholar Julie Kirgo, while the blu-ray disc
repeats extras from the DVD that include a Fox Movietone Newsreel,
Original Theatrical Trailer and another great feature length audio
commentary track by film scholar Jeanine Basinger, plus we get the
new addition of an Isolated Music Score track.
Fans
should grab this one while they can!
Steve
Carell stars in Director Robert Zemeckis' (Back to the Future,
Forest Gump) Welcome to Marwen (2018), which is a
strange film that neither critics or audiences really clung to. Due
to a horrific assault, Mark Hogancamp (Carell) deals with his PTSD by
living out a fantasy world (set in WWII) using realistic looking
dolls (that all reflect people in his life of course). Photographing
them in stop motion, but seeing them come to life in a cinematic
fashion as part of an 'art exhibit', Mark's odd imagination ends up
helping him restore his memory of what happened to him, and conquer
his fear of facing his attackers.
The
film has a strong supporting cast in Leslie Mann, Diane Kruger,
Merritt Wever, Eiza Gonzalez, Janelle Monae, and Gwendoline Christie.
Marwen
tries to be a heartwarming type film, but ultimately can't decide
what it wants to be. It isn't necessarily for kids, even with the
inclusion of the toy element, and has some moments that are a bit
overly dark. Carell is a bit goofy and overly creepy in the role,
especially when he's interacting with any female character in the
film, which was likely the intention.
Welcome
to Marwen is presented on 1080p high definition Blu-ray disc with
a 2.40:1 widescreen aspect ratio and audio tracks in Dolby TrueHD 5.1
lossless mix and Spanish lossy Dolby Digital 5.1. For being a film
that features very nice digital effects, there's plenty of detail in
the image and the film looks pretty sharp throughout. Also included
is a standard definition, anamorphically enhanced DVD with a lossy
5.1 Dolby Digital track and a more compressed image. A digital copy
is also included.
Special
Features include...
Deleted
Scenes plus featurettes...
Marwen's
Citizens
A
Visionary Director
Building
Marwen
and
Living Dolls
Welcome
to Marwen is a bizarre film that walks a fine line between creepy
and oddly touching. Either way, I don't think it's a film that I
would consider a highlight for Zemeckis, who certainly could have
picked something stronger to do than this.
Finally
we have
Brian G. Hutton's X,
Y Y Zee
(1972) bringing Elizabeth Taylor back to England in a film meant to
be a witty flipside to Who's
Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?
with more Britishness to it. She is married to Michael Caine,
perfectly matched casting and the marriage is barely happy, but it
gets thrown a curve ball when he sees sexy Susannah York at a party
and just cannot resist hitting on her or trying to have sex with her
as soon as possible!
Not
exactly coming from an open marriage, the film wants to examine the
conflict and being that they are educated and in the know, we get
tons of witty dialogue exchanges, clever insults, slick digs and
other superior uses of the English language throughout. However, the
film gets tripped up in some of it and does this at the expense of
some of the character study it is attempting. Still, I like the
period, actors, look and much of the pace of the film and at least
they were trying to create something intelligent and adult.
Caine
and Taylor are totally unleashed and unhinged in prime form and it is
fascinating to watch them go at it because they are very convincing
as if they've know each other for decades. Add all the smoking and
drinking and it can only lead to mutual self-destruction or chaos
they should be old enough to avoid, but never grew up enough to
reach.
At
least Hutton shows he can direct more than big action films and it is
worth a look for any serious film fan, especially in this great new
Blu-ray (a Limited Edition) with an excellent new HD master.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer rarely shows
the age of the materials used, has
great color throughout capturing the time period very accurately and
that has probably not looked this good since its original release.
Director of Photography Billy Williams keeps the rich look going on
throughout.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix sounds as good as it
can for an optical monophonic release of the time, which it has to
considering the dialogue and accents might be a challenge to more
than a few viewers. Stanley Myers' music score is a plus.
Extras
include another nicely illustrated booklet on the film including
informative text and yet another excellent, underrated essay by the
great film scholar Julie Kirgo, while the Blu-ray disc sadly only
adds an Isolated Music Score track (though a high quality one), but
Sony could not find any trailers?
To
order the Three
Coins In The Fountain
and X
Y & Zee
limited edition Blu-rays, buy them while supplies last at these
links:
www.screenarchives.com
and
http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo (Twilight Time) and James
Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/