Cocoon
(2020/Film Movement DVD)/The
Gilded Age: The Complete First Season
(2022/HBO/Warner DVD Set)/The
Lost City 4K
(2022/Paramount 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray)/The
Making Of A Lady
(2021/Via Vision PAL Import DVD)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: C/C+/X/C Sound: C+/C+/B+/C+
Extras: C/C+/C/D Main Programs: C/C+/C+/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Making
Of A Lady
Import DVD is now only available from our friends at Via Vision
Entertainment in Australia, can only play on all 4K, Blu-ray and DVD
players that can handle the PAL format and can be ordered from the
link below.
Up
next are four very different tales of people going out into the
world...
Not
to be confused with the Ron Howard hit, Leonie Krippendorff's Cocoon
(2020) is yet another coming-of-age import about 14-year-old Nora
(Lena Urzendowsky) in modern internet times trying to find herself,
early parts of her sexuality and general identity and much more in
this German-language release that is at its best when it shows us
life in Germany today and how some things have changed, but is not
always able to find new territory we have not seen before, or often
in the case of foreign films in general that have made such films
their own cycle.
The
actors are good and I do not know how long they have been acting, but
they are convincing enough, while this is well-shot and has some
nudity we would never see in most U.S. productions. It is never
sleazy and there is no exploitive 'thought police lesbianism' that
you might get in some such films. Its a little more believable than
not, but I would only recommend it for the most interested, mature
viewer.
The
bonus short film Summer
Of Bees
is the only extra and not bad.
The
Gilded Age: The Complete First Season
(2022) is the new show from the creator of Downton
Abbey
and this time, takes place in the New York of the last turn of the
last century (i.e., 19th to 20th), yet has the same pro-caste system
politics of the previous hit and makes for an odd show as a result.
No doubt the locations, set design and amazing costumes are top rate
and this HBO series was co-produced by them with parent company
Warner and Universal. It looks good and lavish, even in the DVD
version we are covering, though a Blu-ray version is also being
issued.
If
anything, this might have the biggest costume budget since the
original Dynasty
or Game
Of Thrones,
but it looks good. The cast is solid, including Cynthia Nixon and
Christine Baranski, though they are part of a much larger cast. The
tale of old big money being succeeded by big new money is
interesting, if not always new, but more interesting than anything we
might see in our modern times. I do not see it as a companion to
Downton
Abbey,
yet its nonchalant about caste systems is not good and especially odd
for a TV show set in the United States.
Running
nine episodes and already renewed for the next elaborate season as
this set was issued, the problem even if we subtracted its politics
is that it is not very well written, I thought the subplot of a smart
young woman of color being part of 'white society' stretched
credibility by ignoring the racism angle just a bit too much and
therefore, ringing anywhere from awkward to false. Then when all was
said and done, it plays like a bad, formulaic soap opera that hopes
its lush production can cover up its formulaic teleplay writing.
Mind you, some moments and scenes do work, especially when the makers
are not trying so hard, but it also shows that Downton
Abbey
might have been a fluke of success, which itself has already played
itself out.
Yes,
the capturing of locations in New York and Newport, Rhode Island are
a plus and are amazing in that they are still standing, but the
people in those areas in real life love, respect and often take care
of their past, not throwing out like so many other cities across the
U.S. in unfortunate ways and yes, the places featured were built to
last. But when you are talking about these things more than the
actors, characters and storyline, you know the show still
disappoints. I'll be curious what they do with the next season,
though it will take a while to make because they just started it up.
Extras
include behind the scenes clips like All That Glitters: Creating
The Gilded Age
One
of the things I hear often is because of endless digital visual
effects, other tricks and franchises, people do not go to see feature
films for the stars and/or actors in them. That the star system is
dead and obsolete. I hear that more now than when that nonsense was
first said in the 1980s. If anything, because
it is not the strongest film with the strongest screenplay in recent
years, Adam Nee & Aron Nee's The
Lost City 4K
(2022) proves all those going around saying anything like that wrong.
In
part because she can pick and choose what she wants to do and in part
because she keeps having hits, even during the COVID fiasco, Sandra
Bullock showed once again what star power is and hers in particular
by making this silly comedy. She plays a writer of romantic
adventures and is very commercially successful, though in real life,
she has never gone far to encounter anything close to her book
narrative success.
In
a high concept script, an mad billionaire (a strangely cast Daniel
Radcliffe) has her kidnapped and to find a real life 'lost city' that
could be worth billions of dollars without apparently understanding
she might not be able to do so, she lands up with a guy who is also
not totally ready for this (Channing Tatum, who also happens to be
making a comeback of his choosing after taking time off that
coincided with COVID) and then, another man who might know actual
such adventures better (Brad Pitt) also turns up to help.
In
all that, the humor is as obvious as the target audience and it turns
into a leave your brain at the door comedy that became another huge
hit for its three stars (Bullock even returns the favor with a cameo
in Pitt's hit Bullet
Train,
both playing different characters but the off-screen friendship is
the same) totally precalculated for maximum box office impact and it
worked. Seeing the three on the big screen delivered and it quits
while it is almost ahead at 111 minutes.
It
may be for fans only, but at least those fans will be happy in most
cases, we expect.
Extras
(per the press release) include:
Deleted
Scenes: More fun you didn't see in theatres!
Bloopers:
Laugh along with the cast at their hilarious on-set bloopers
Dynamic
Duo: Behind-the-scenes fun with Sandra Bullock and Channing
Tatum to see how their comedy chemistry perfectly aligns for this
odd-couple comedy adventure
Location
Profile: Take a trip to the exotic Dominican Republic movie
location and find out how the crew dealt with heavy rain and
mosquitos!
Jungle
Rescue: See how the movie's incredible action set pieces and
crazy stunts were filmed
The
Jumpsuit: Discover what went into designing Loretta's
eye-catching purple sequin jumpsuit
Charcuterie:
A hilarious breakdown of Loretta's big kidnapping scene and what
it's like to come under attack from a giant charcuterie board!
The
Villains of The Lost City: Meet the bad guys: Abigail Fairfax
and his henchmen
and
Building The Lost City: A look at building the film's
incredible island world.
Last,
we have Richard
Curson Smith's The
Making Of A Lady
(2021) from a book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, best known for writing
the fantasy classic The
Secret Garden.
Much more adult and realistic, Emily (Lydia Wilson) is educated and
able-bodied, but has no money, so she needs to find employment at the
last turn of the century. This happens because the well-off Lady
Maria (Joanna Lumley, who is not on screen enough for my tastes)
hires her and that will likely help her out long term. However, her
nephew (Linus Roache) is a widow and takes a liking to Emily.
Despite
not caring for him too much, he proposes marriage and she accepts,
for the wrong reasons, but war kicks in and she is left with other
relatives (including James D'Arcy) who are more interested in
destroying her individuality than helping her. She does not realize
this at first, but can her husband come back in time to save her or
live to help her at all?
Nice
production design, costumes and a decent cast, this runs only 96
minutes and is a mixed bag with many obvious moments and a few good
ones. Don't know how it compares to the book or how well it follows
it, but not enough of this stuck with me. However, if you like the
actors or the plot is of interest, you should give it a look for
yourself to see what you think. Maybe it was not long enough, they
took out too much of the book? Either way, it has aged well.
There
are no extras.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HECV/H.265, 2.35 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Lost
City 4K
is easily going to look the best here with its budget supporting a
high quality digital shoot, though not totally or actually fully 4K
as you would see if you looked at some of the motion blur at times or
the CGI effects. Still, it will all do for such a film and color is
actually not bad.
The
lossless Dolby Atmos 12-track mix (Dolby TrueHD mixdown for older
systems) is also decent, yet is not a sonic masterwork by any means,
but dialogue is clear enough and the mix is at least competent and
professional, just only expect so much.
All
three DVD releases are anamorphically enhanced, with Cocoon in
the older 1.33 X 1 aspect ratio and the rest in anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 framing, but all are softer than I would have liked
or expected, including even Gilded Age, but some of its
softness is from style. However, the limits of the old DVD format
are as much of an issue and you might want to get the Blu-ray edition
instead.
Gilded
Age offers its sound in lossy Dolby Digital 5.1, Lady in
lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo and Cocoon in both. The result
is that they have about equal sonics in this increasingly older,
dating audio codec, so both would improve with lossless presentations
and Age has such a mix on its Blu-ray edition.
To
order the Via Vision PAL import DVD Making
Of A Lady,
go to this link for it and other hard to find releases:
https://viavision.com.au/shop/the-making-of-a-lady/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
