
Alienist:
Angel Of Darkness
(2020/Warner DVD Set)/Camino
(2015*)/Deliver
Us From Evil
(**)/Feed
The Gods
(2014*)/The
Paper Tigers
(**both 2020/Well Go Blu-ray)/Zeroville
(2020/*all MVD Blu-ray)
Picture:
B-/B+/A-/B-/B+/B- Sound: B-/B+/C+/B-/B+/B- Extras:
C+/B/B/C+/B/C- Main Programs: B/C+/B+/C+/B+/C+
Now
for more genre releases of all kinds...
The
Alienist: Angel Of Darkness
(2020)
stars Dakota Fanning, Luke Evans, and Daniel Bruhl in an intense and
cinematic ten episode television event that is now presented in a
collectible 3 DVD set. The period drama is based on a 1994 crime
novel by Caleb Carr, and follows a complicated case of a serial
killer who is targeting male prostitutes in New York City in the late
1800s.
Ten
episodes span 3 DVDs and include The
Boy on The Bridge, A Fruitful Partnership, Silver Smile, These Bloody
Thoughts, Hildebrandt's Starling, Ascension, Many Sainted Men,
Psychopathia Sexualis, Requiem,
and Castle
in the Sky.
The
Alienist
is presented in standard definition with an anamorphically
enhanced
1.78 X 1 widescreen aspect ratio and a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix.
The show feels more like a long movie than a series, and have a very
Hollywood look and score. Compression issues aside evident to the
format, the series looks great commercial and watermark free in this
release.
Special
Features:
Making
of Featurettes
The
series feels a bit like the Hughes Brothers' From
Hell
at times in that its a gothic mystery with a period setting and has a
similar vibe. The acting and direction is top notch and there is a
lot of production value in every frame.
Acclaimed
stunt double and actress Zoe Bell (Deathproof,
Xena)
stars in this heavy war film Camino
(2015), in this special edition version new from MVD Visual.
Directed by Josh C. Waller, Belle plays a tough as nails photo
journalist who ends up taking forbidden photos exposing a group of
missionaries. In order for this photo proof to not get out there,
extreme measures are taken.
The
film also stars Nacho Vigalondo, Kevin Pollak, Francisco Barreiro,
Sheila Vand, and Tenoch Huerta. The film begins on the same day of
the Mansion Murders in Los Angeles, where a young ex-communicated
seminarian, Ike 'Vikar' Jerome (Franco), arrives with images of
Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift - ''the two most beautiful
people in the history of the movies'' - tattooed on his head, and the
determination to be in the movie business. He crosses paths with many
bizarre characters, including Soledad (Fox) - an actress.
Camino
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC with a widescreen aspect ratio and an audio mix in 5.1 English
surround. The film has a nice cinematic look and tone to it, and
looks fine on the Blu-ray format with no noticeable flaws.
Special
Features:
Camino
Behind The Scenes, Part 1: "The Shoot"
Camino
Behind The Scenes, Part 2: "The Fights"
Camino
Behind The Scenes, Part 3: "Electro-Jungle-Western"
Camino
- Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Promo
an
Original Theatrical Trailer & Original International Trailer
A
government agent is called back into action when he learns of a
little girl being kidnapped. With time running out he must find her
before the human traffickers sell her off to the highest bidder.
However, he is chased by a deadly assassin, who vows revenge on him
for the last job and will do anything and kill anyone who is related
to him in Won
Chan Hong's Deliver
Us From Evil
(2020).
A
retired government assassin is forced out of hiding after learn his
former girlfriend is dead and he had a daughter that he never knew
about. Using his skills once more he finds and punish those
responsible. He meets his match when he discovers another assassin
is hot on his trail from his last job killing a yakuza boss. One by
one, the agent's former contacts are captured, tortured, interrogated
and killed to find out where he and the girl is. Both the agent and
assassin are one man killing machines, the only difference is they
work for opposite sides of the law.
This
movie was like a Korean version of Taken
or Leon:
The Professional,
a one-man-army agent/assassin to save one little girl in a corrupt
world. It was an action filled movie with not stop violence and
definitely not for kids. The Koreans in the film are treated as
minorities and underdogs in Asian society, they are ignored by
government and discriminated by the people and their violence seems
justified when they are forced to do what they can to survive or
protect they ones they love.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer looks good as
expected with consistent color and detail, but the
Korean DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is a little off in
an inconsistent soundfield and the recording is not the best at
times.
Extras
include a Making Of the movie, filming location and trailers.
MVD
Rewind Collection unearths an indie Bigfoot centered flick, Feed
The Gods
(2014), which has been re-released on the Blu-ray format here as part
of the MVD Rewind Collection. The film stars out when some teens go
looking for their missing parents and end up unraveling a sadistic
plot involving a Bigfoot type creature. The first act is a bit
boring and low budget feeling, but things start to ramp up later on
in the film. It can't exactly shake this feeling of B-movie
silliness, however, despite how hard it tries to be serious.
Feed
The Gods
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with a 2.35:1
widescreen aspect ratio and audio mixes in lossless 5.1 DTS-HD
Surround and 2.0 Stereo Sound (LPCM). I don't have the previous
version to compare it to you, but the presentation is fine and up to
norm with 1080p standards.
Special
Features:
Feed
The Gods
Behind the Scenes Featurette (HD)
Original
Theatrical Trailer
and
Reversible Artwork.
Three
teenagers, Danny, Hing and Jim were disciples and vowed to use their
martial arts for good and to protect the weak. Fast forward 30
years, they are now old and out of shape, but upon learning their
Sifu was murdered, they team up once more to discover who killed
their master in Quoc
Bao Tran's The
Paper Tigers
(2020).
Danny,
Hing and Jim were once known as the 3 tigers and believed that they
would become martial art masters and be brothers-in-arms forever, but
after leaving the dojo, they went on and got jobs and families and
forgot each other until one day they learned their former master has
passed away. As they team up together to fight other kung fu masters
to discover who killed their master, they learn they are more than
just out of shape, but can they rebuild their brotherhood once more?
Old scores and grudges once more face the 3 tigers, they may be old
but can they prove they still have a bit of fight left in them?
This
was a comical martial arts movie, not only the main characters were
Westerners but it was like what if The
Karate Kid
got old and fat in his later life? There were many funny scenes with
a bit of martial arts wisdom and fortune cookie one liners.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer is one of the
best we have seen from Well Go in a whole with great color, detail
and depth, and their titles have looked fine to begin with of late.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is fine, if not up to the
image superiority.
Extras
include behind the scenes, deleted scenes, bloopers and trailers.
Finally,
James Franco, at current not the most popular actor in Hollywood
amidst various allegations, stars and directs this 2019 feature -
Zeroville.
Which also stars Megan Fox amongst many of James Franco's friends
that you see in his other movies. This includes Seth Rogen, Joey
King (Wish
Upon),
Craig Robinson (Hot
Tub Time Machine),
Danny McBride (Pineapple
Express),
Jacki Weaver (Silver
Linings Playbook),
Dave Franco (Now
You See Me),
Mike Starr (Dumb
& Dumber),
Horatio Sanz (SNL)
and Thomas Ian Nicholas (American
Pie).
It
is interesting that Franco as a director likes to explore filmmaking
from behind the lens and puts himself in the lead, just like The
Disaster Artist.
Zeroville
is presented in 1080p high definition with an MPEG- 4 AVC codec and a
widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and a lossless DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 5.1 surround audio mix. The film has been nicely restored and
looks great on this HD release.
The
only extra is a Trailer.
-
Ricky Chiang (Well Go) and James
Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/