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Category:    Home > Reviews > Thriller > Drama > Mystery > Horror > Supernatural > Vampires > Demons > Action > Crime > Black Box (2021/aka Boite Noire/Icarus DVD)/The Lost Boys 4K (1987/Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Lucifer: The Sixth And Final Season (2021/DC Comics/Vertigo/Warner DVD Set)/Miami Blues (1990/O

Black Box (2021/aka Boite Noire/Icarus DVD)/The Lost Boys 4K (1987/Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Lucifer: The Sixth And Final Season (2021/DC Comics/Vertigo/Warner DVD Set)/Miami Blues (1990/Orion/MGM/MVD Blu-ray)



4K Ultra HD Picture: A- Picture: C/B/C+/B+ Sound: C+/A-/C+/B+ Extras: C-/B/C/C+ Main Programs: B/B+/C-/C+



Now for a new set of thrillers, including a few supernatural entries just in time for Halloween...



Yann Gozlan's Black Box (2021/aka Boite Noire) may take its cue a bit from Boeing's disastrous 767 Max disaster, but it is set in France (et al) and has a different set of things going for it. When a new airliner kills 300 people, an investigation is quickly underway and one sound expert (Pierre Niney) is instantly hard at work trying to get a conclusive record of the catastrophe in a key summary for the companies, news media and public. However, the black box audio is strangely distorted in parts and he is as puzzled as anyone involved.


That might be a simple issue of technical errors or some kind of interference, but when a key person working on the investigation disappears and he starts to have even more questions, he starts to realize something stranger is going on and when they think they hear an Islamic Terrorist somehow enter the cockpit and start to kill the pilots, he's not so sure of that at first either.


Though this runs over two hours, this surprisingly justifies just about all of its screen time, is a near-excellent mystery thriller and is one of the best new films to come out of France in the last few years that was produced by them. The image and sound are well recorded, shot, edited and the screenplay is tight. The supporting cast, including Lou De Laage, Andre Dussollier, Olivier Rabourdin, Andre Marcon, Marie Dompnier and Guillaume Marquet are a real plus. Hope we see all of them again soon!


The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is a little softer than I would have liked, made worse by some better footage I saw of the film color and detail-wise, but it is passable at best just to see the film for now. The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has all kinds of interesting sound in it, making me wonder why no 5.1 mix or if this got any kind of 12-track release (DTS: X, Dolby Atmos, Auro3D) anywhere. It is a smart mix, even cut down to simple stereo here.


Sadly, we only get three trailers for other Icarus releases and nothing on this film, but it deserves more.



Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys 4K (1987) has finally arrived for fans of the hit film that stays popular and gains new generations of fans all the time. With its impressive cast, the vampire mythos is applied to a then-present day scenario, where a group of teens encounter a gang of rock-n-roll style vampires that are looking for thrills in addition to blood in Santa Carla, California. Can they thrive without being detected? Can they find new recruits? Will they grow their army? Will they be discovered and destroyed? The film stars Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Dianne Wiest, Barnard Hughes, Edward Herrmann, Alex Winter, Jamie Gertz, Corey Feldman and Kiefer Sutherland.


The Lost Boys 4K is presented in 2160p on 4K UHD disc with HDR10, an HEVC / H.265 codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and an audio track in a lossless, English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 mix that has been kept as is. There have been a million and one releases of the film and it is also here in a passable 1080p Blu-ray to join previous releases over the years on Blu-ray and so it is usually easy to overlook a new one. However, this one really does show a lot of improvement in the image thanks to the new 4K restoration.


Special Features:

Another great Feature-length Audio Commentary by the late Director Joel Schumacher

The Lost Boys: A Retrospective: an in-depth look at the production of the film

Inside the Vampire's Cave featurette

Vamping Out: Makeup effect featurette

Haimster & Feldog: The Story of the two Coreys featurette

A World of Vampires documentary

Lost Scenes

"Lost in the Shadows" Music Video

and an Original Theatrical Trailer.



Next, somehow, we have Lucifer: The Sixth And Final Season (2021,) a show I originally reviewed the debut season of the show in two formats (Blu-ray and DVD) and was not impressed. Too jokey, silly and lead Tom Ellis did not impress me much. However, he impressed enough people for the show to last this long, but TV is not just made for me and they somehow made it. Unfortunately, it is the same one-joke show it has always been, thinner now than when they started and for the seasons we did get in-between the first and last, other writers added their thoughts, so that concludes our thorough coverage of this surprise, if lite hit.


The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image looks fine for DVD, but even for a non-fan like myself, it is far more effective on Blu-ray, especially where Video Red is concerned. The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 is good for the old, compressed format and will do, but it is a show that also has more of an edge (for whatever that entails) in a lossless mix. The combination is passable at best.


Deleted Scenes and a Gag Reel are the only extras.



And rounding things out, Alec Baldwin stars in Miami Blues (1990) along with acclaimed actress Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight, Single White Female) and the late Fred Ward (Tremors). While pretty dated and obviously very late '80s in terms of style, the film isn't too bad and follows Baldwin as a con-man who lands in Miami and takes advantage of just about everyone that he comes in contact with. He meets a call girl (Leigh) that he falls in love with and also manipulates as he dodges the police and poses as one too in order to take advantage.


The film, directed by George Armitage (Grosse Point Blank, The Big Bounce) shows how easy it was at the time to get away with a lot of things that wouldn't be as simple to get away with in the technology age that we now live in, which is why I say many aspects of the film are dated. Baldwin and Leigh have interesting onscreen chemistry and the film in some ways reminds me of a lesser version of True Romance or in that same sort of sub genre. Baldwin does a good job of making an unlikeable but sly character that you kind of feel for at times (he got good notices for the film at the time, though it was not the big hit some and Orion Pictures thought it might be) while Fred Ward is fun as a police detective with false teeth that he is constantly having issues with.


MVD Rewind continues its label with a nice presentation and extras as the film is presented in 1080p on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and a lossless, English LPCM 2.0 track, all of which restore the presentation nicely to disc. It was also released on Blu-ray in 2015 from Shout! Factory and could be the same or similar transfer as that release. Judging from the technical specifications, I would venture to think it is in fact the same transfer.


Special Features:

Interviews with Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Jason Leigh

Original Theatrical Trailer

3 TV Spots (SD)

Original Orion Home Video 'Miami Blues' Trailer

Photo Gallery

Collectible Mini-Poster

and Reversible Artwork.



- Nicholas Sheffo (Box, Lucifer) and James Lockhart

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



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