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Category:    Home > Reviews > Horror > Giant Monster > Japan > Fantasy > Cable TV > Slasher > Supernatural > Thriller > Action > Mystery > Daimajin Trilogy (1966/MVD/Arrow Blu-ray Box Set)/His Dark Materials: The Complete Second Season (2020/HBO*)/Lucky (2020/DVD**)/Seance (2021/Blu-ray/**both RLJ)/Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021/*both Warn

Daimajin Trilogy (1966/MVD/Arrow Blu-ray Box Set)/His Dark Materials: The Complete Second Season (2020/HBO*)/Lucky (2020/DVD**)/Seance (2021/Blu-ray/**both RLJ)/Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021/*both Warner Blu-ray)



Picture: B+/B+/B-/B+/B+ Sound: B+/B+/B-/B+/B+ Extras: B/B/C+/C+/C- Main Programs: B- B- B/C+/C+/B/B



Here's a rich, extensive new set of genre releases to consider....



Arrow's new box set for the Daimajin Trilogy (1966) is simply marvelous. The box and disc art is top notch and the films are an intriguing companion to other Kaiju movies and a distant cousin of Godzilla. A statuesque demon god that is awakened by the carelessness and ignorance of mankind in order to save villages in despair. The main theme of the films is simply - respect the Gods or they will reign down upon you! I think these films were likely under many American fans radar since they are older and a bit more obscure, but hopefully thanks to this new exposure from Arrow Video more people will now be able to experience them. If you are into the older Godzilla films or Kaiju films of the like then I would definitely suggest watching them.


All three films, Daimajin (1966), Return of Daimajin (1966) and Daimajin Strikes Again (1966) are now fully restored and presented here the way they were meant to be seen. While watching the one thing that constantly went through my head was that I couldn't believe they were all made within the same year! Each film had predominantly the same crew but different directors for each film. The Directors included Kimiyoshi Yasuda, Kenji Misumi, and Issei Mori. The special effects for the time are pretty impressive and in color.


The films feature Shiho Fujimura, Chikara Hashimoto, and Hideki Ninomiya as the leads.


The Daimajin Trilogy is presented here in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and paired with lossless original Japanese and dubbed English mono audio for all films with optional English subtitles. There have been a few other releases of the films over the years, but none compare to the clarity of this new Arrow scan, which hopefully will see 4K UHD in future years.


Special Features:


Illustrated collector's 100 page book featuring new essays by Jonathan Clements, Keith Aiken, Ed Godziszewski, Raffael Coronelli, Erik Homenick, Robin Gatto and Kevin Derendorf


Postcards featuring the original Japanese artwork for all three films


Reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Frank


DISC ONE - DAIMAJIN


Brand new audio commentary by Japanese film expert Stuart Galbraith IV


Newly filmed introduction by critic Kim Newman


Bringing the Avenging God to Life, a brand new exclusive video essay about the special effects of the Daimajin films by Japanese film historian Ed Godziszewski


Alternate opening credits for the US release as Majin - The Monster of Terror


Trailers for the original Japanese and US releases


and an Image gallery



DISC TWO - RETURN OF DAIMAJIN


Brand new audio commentary by Japanese film experts Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp


My Summer Holidays with Daimajin, a newly filmed interview with Professor Yoneo Ota, director of the Toy Film Museum, Kyoto Film Art Culture Research Institute, about the production of the Daimajin films at Daiei Kyoto


From Storyboard to Screen: Bringing Return of Daimajin to Life, a comparison of several key scenes in Return of Daimajin with the original storyboards


Alternate opening credits for the US release as Return of the Giant Majin


Trailers for the original Japanese and US releases


and an Image gallery



DISC THREE - WRATH OF DAIMAJIN


Brand new audio commentary by Asian historian Jonathan Clements


Interview with cinematographer Fujio Morita discussing his career at Daiei and his work on the Daimajin Trilogy


Trailers for the original Japanese release


and an Image Gallery



This set is awesome and as mentioned, the box art and supplements and everything are all beautifully put together and is definitely going to be on many critics' Top Ten box sets of the year.



The hit HBO fantasy series, His Dark Materials, continues in its second season based on the bestselling book series that is in the same world as the novels by Philip Pullman, which includes The Golden Compass. This Complete Second Season (2020) is full of more creatures (known here as Daemons) and more epic fantasy thrills than season one and the budget looks a bit higher as well. I haven't heard as much buzz about this show has one would expect with it being a major fantasy property, but I think it's pretty fun and definitely better as a longer HBO series to cover more material from the book than just a few feature films could.


Season Two series regulars include stars Dafne Keen (Logan), Ruth Wilson (The Affair), Amir Wilson (The Secret Garden), Ariyon Bakare (Life), Andrew Scott (Sherlock, Fleabag), Will Keen (The Crown), Ruta Gedmintas (The Strain) and Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton). Joining the cast this season are Terence Stamp (Superman), Jade Anouka (Cleaning Up) and Simone Kirby (Notes on Blindness).


His Dark Materials: Season 2 features seven episodes spanning two Blu-ray discs and includes The City of Magpies, The Cave, Theft, Tower of the Angels, The Scholar, Malice, and Aesahaettr.


The series is presented in 1080p on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.00 X 1 and audio mixes in lossless English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1. The series looks and sounds fine on Blu-ray disc and is comparable to the original HBO broadcast.


Special Features include all these featurettes:


Noble Rogue: The Legend of Lee Scoresby


Exploring His Dark Materials: Panserbjorne


Exploring His Dark Materials: Daemons


Exploring His Dark Materials: Portals & The Multiverse


Exploring His Dark Materials: Witches


His Dark Materials: Bringing Daemons and Bears to Life


His Dark Materials: Exploring Cittaagazze


His Dark Materials: Worlds Collide


The Powerful Mrs. Coulter


Lyra


and The Subtle Knife


I'm not sure how many more seasons His Dark Materials will play out on HBO, but I think these two seasons so far have been pretty entertaining. If you're a fantasy fan then you will want to check them out.



From Shudder and RLJE comes Lucky (2020), the horror/suspense film stars Brea Grant, who is pretty solid in her leading lady role here. The film is a slasher of sorts mixed with other genre elements with Grant starring as a self help book author whose house is broken into by a masked killer nightly. Despite attacking and killing him night after night he keeps coming back. Is time travel involved? A social commentary of sorts, the film has a nice look and some experimental filmmaking moments, and some interesting ideas that make it worth checking out.


The film also stars Kausar Mohammed, Dhruv Singh, and Yasmine Al-bustami. The film is directed by Natasha Kermani.


Lucky is presented in standard definition, anamorphically enhanced DVD with a 1.78:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital sound mix. On an up conversion on a 4K UHD TV, the film doesn't look too bad on the aging format, but you can tell it was shot digitally. No flaws in the presentation make it distracting in any way. Nice job by RLJE here.


Special Features:

Filmmaker Commentary

and a Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery.



Also from RLJE / Shudder comes Seance (2021) a film in the same vein as The Craft or any college based horror slasher/ thriller but with a new dark spin that makes it more interesting than most modern thrillers. While at first I thought it may be a bit cheesy, after watching it I found it to be a dark and pretty well crafted thriller that wasn't what I was expecting. The story centers on a group of sorority girls that conjure a demonic spirit of a former student that ends up killing them off one by one, but things get pretty wild the deeper the film goes.


The film stars Suki Waterhouse, Madisen Beatty, Ella-Rae Smith, Iranian Sarkis, Seamus Patterson, and Marina Stephenson Kerr.


Seance is presented in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and an audio mix in a lossless DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 mix. The film looks and sounds high end and the presentation doesn't have any flaws that pop out to me personally. RLJE has high standards for presentation and this title isn't an exception! The overall look is a bit dark even one scenes that would typically be brighter, but it works for the material and tone of the film.


Special Features include:

Director's Commentary

Behind the Scenes Featurette

Outtakes

Deleted Scenes

Decapitation Pre-Vis

and a Photo Gallery


Seance is a surprisingly enjoyable watch.



Finally, Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021) is the exciting new thriller starring Angelina Jolie that pits her up against the violence of wild fires. The film is intense from frame one as we are put inside her mind remembering a very violent loss she experienced in past fire fight. This loss makes her character a bit reckless and willing to do anything for a thrill or pain. But when she meets a young boy (Finn Little) who is being pursued by two assassins after his Father was involved in a coverup, the two become unlikely allies and she must use her skills of survival and leadership to help save the boy's life.


Jolie is fantastic in the film and the supporting cast is nothing to frown at either with Tyler Perry (in a cameo), Medina Senghore, Jon Bernthal, Jake Weber, Aidan Gillen, and Nicholas Hoult. The film is directed by Taylor Sheridan (Wind River).


Those Who Wish Me Dead is presented in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and an MPEG-4 AVC codec with a lossless English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 mix. The film is beautifully photographed and even the digital fire looks pretty good here. As far as Blu-ray is concerned, this presentation is top notch.


Special Feature: a Making of Featurette.


Sadly no 4K UHD release at this time, but I hope in the future. The film was pretty underrated when it came out, but at least made it to theaters (and HBO Max), but it may have flown under your radar, and so now that it is on disc it is definitely worth checking out!



- James Lockhart

https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/



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