Blue
Beetle 4K
(2023/Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray*)/The
Flash: The Complete Ninth & Final Season
(2023/Warner Blu-ray Set/*both DC Comics)/King
Of Killers
(2023/Lionsgate Blu-ray w/DVD)/Lion-Girl
(2022/MVD/Cleopatra Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: X/B+/B & C/B- Sound:
B+/B+/B & C+/C+ Extras: C+/C/C-/C- Main Programs:
C+/B/C/C-
Now
for the latest comic book superhero action, including one with plenty
of exploitation and one when martial arts is the only superpower...
Angel
Manuel Soto's Blue
Beetle 4K
(2023) is not a perfect film, but it is the most family-friendly DC
Comics movie since Wonder
Woman 1984
back in 2020 and has young actor Xolo Mariduena well-cast in the
title role, though he starts as college guy Jaime Reyes. However,
the new employment opportunities will have to wait when he finds an
ancient scarab (which reminded me a bit of the 1970s Isis
TV series with the late, great Joanna Cassidy, but that's where the
similarities end) and he lands up unwittingly becoming a superhero...
of sorts.
Landing
up with a highly technologized blue suit that has also responds to
this various commands, he and even his family are soon under attack
because they want that little trinket he has just found, though he
does not even realize that initially is the reason for all the
violence and chaos.
Though
the film has elements we have seen before in other films and TV shows
in the genre over the decades, I was surprised by the energy and flow
that has been missing form most films and TV shows in the genre the
last few years, especially an underrated, extended battle sequence
about a third of the way though the film. Not being connected to an
amusement-park like multiverse, it gives the film room to breathe and
run with the better things it has to offer.
George
Lopez is actually interesting here, knowing what is going on and
knowing how to play it, with the rest of the cast convincing and all
in for some fun and a few good in-jokes. No, it is not a masterpiece
by any means, but it is more in the element of what a DC Comics movie
should be (Marvel films have a different look, feel and sense, as
oddly, do the current Spider-Man films) and now that DC is
relaunching a new era of feature films, a potentially stronger (and
more profitable; I expect this to do better on home video (et al)
than it did in theaters) sequel will probably never get made. That's
a shame, because getting a cast this good down pat is very, very
hard, so enjoy what they accomplished here and be glad it was not
shelved.
Susan
Sarandon is the villain of the piece, but she is shockingly robotic
and cold throughout with zero character development. This is not the
kind of person she is used to playing or usually takes on and we do
not get any deleted scenes, so that part of the film is one people
will eventually start discussing at some point as they catch up with
the film itself.
Extras
include Digital Movie
Code, while the disc adds: ''Generations:
Blue Beetle''
4-part documentary
The
Grant Gustin-led DC Comics television series, The
Flash: The Ninth & Final Season
(2023) is
captured here in a collectible 3 disc Blu-ray set. We have reviewed
past seasons of the show elsewhere on this site. This is not to be
confused with the big screen Ezra Miller-led version of the same
character, also reviewed elsewhere on this site, and ironically
released in the same year. This is one of the last DC television
projects under the old studio reign before James Gunn and Peter
Safran have taken over the franchises for Warner Bros.
In
Season
9 of
The
Flash,
the scarlet speedster returns as he battles against a band of
evil-doers known as The Rogues, who descend upon Central City and put
The Flash and his counterparts in an ultimate battle that
encapsulates the entire series.
The
Flash
stars Grant Gustin (Arrow,
Glee),
Candice Patton (The
Game),
Danielle Panabaker (Sky
High,
Friday
the 13th),
Danielle Nicolet (Central
Intelligence),
Kayla Compton (Making
Moves),
Brandon McKnight (The
Shape of Water)
and Jon Cor (Shadowhunters).
13
episodes make up the season including Wednesday
Ever After, Hear No Evil, Rogues of War, Mask of the Red Death Parts
One and Two, The Good, The Bad, and the Lucky, Wildest Dreams,
Partners in Time, It's My Party and I'll Die If I Want To,
and A
New World Parts 1 - 4.
Special
Features:
The
Flash: The Saga of the Scarlett Speedster
(featurette)
Deleted
Scenes
and
a Gag Reel.
Kevin
Grevioux's
King
Of Killers
(2023) is based on a graphic novel, a comic book for adults, but that
market is now more than oversaturated and does not mean the book will
be any good or ambitious. In this case, we only have this feature
film adaption, but directed by the creator of the original book. A
hitman (Alain Moussi) investigates a bad incident on his own when he
is offered $10 Million to take out another big assassin by a new
client (Frank Grillo strikes again) only to find he is going to
choose from several possible counter-assassins.
Forgettable
and formulaic, Stephen Dorff shows up as a very bad man and we get
fight sequences that are as mixed as the rest of this is cliched. I
wanted to like this one, but the missed opportunities pile up faster
than the bullets, bodies and fight sequences, so this is for the very
curious only. Too bad, because this one had more potential than is
realized.
Extras
include Digital Copy and a trailer.
Kurando
Mitsutake's Lion-Girl
(2022) is a purposely bonkers production, meteors hit the earth and
bring with them killer monsters who are out to hunt down the human
race to extinction (guess they were not accidental landings?)
so we are all doomed... until the title super-heroine (Tori Griffith)
shows up to fight for us all. Lucky us. Too bad she did not fight
for a better screenplay or more original ideas!
The
film has ultra-violent cartoon-accented visuals, some flat nudity,
cheap sets, really bad acting, bad editing, bad visuals and sloppy
fighting sequences. They rip-off anything they can, but the Casshan
(the great animated series (see the Blu-ray review elsewhere on this
site) and more recent, darker, odd, live-action version that was a
mess) is the main storyline and set-up they are drawing from.
No
one looks like they are taking any of this seriously and then we get
cheap comic book images and cheaper CGI that all adds up to one of
the lamest things I have had to sit through in the last few years and
that says something. Not the absolute worst, as it is still more
ambitious than Black
Adam,
but that is really not saying much in this case. Unless you are
still somehow EXTREMELY curious, this one is best skipped!
Extras
(per the press release) include Directors Commentary (audio option),
Interviews with the Cast, a conversation with Japanese Manga Legend
Go Nagai, Q&A with Key Cast Members at the Hollywood Theatrical
Premier of Lion-Girl and The
Making of Lion-Girl
Documentary Feature Film.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Blue
Beetle 4K
is the best performer here, but some of the indoor shots are not as
solid as the outdoor ones or as smooth as the better CGI sequences.
I like the use of color here and though we've seen more than a little
of this before visually in recent years of the genre, it looks good
often and the CGI us not as sloppy as so many other releases of late.
The lossless Dolby
Atmos 11.1 (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) has some nice
sonic moments, but it also has more than its share of dialogue and
jokes, so it is sonically the best release on the list as well. The
combination is a little better than many may expect.
The
Flash
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and a lossless,
English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) mix, which is
the same across the board for this series.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Killers
is an HD shoot on the solid side and a little better than expected,
but it also offers no major shots that are of demo quality or
particularly memorable, while the
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix has a consistent,
professional soundfield. Too bad the combination is not that
effective, while the anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on the
DVD is easily the weakest on the list. The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1
is also a comedown form the DTS-MA.
Lastly,
the 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Lion-Girl
is sloppy, a little off-kilter (on purpose more than it should be)
and has motion blur and softness that makes it look older than a
current HD shoot. And yet again, instead of a lossless soundtrack,
which 99% of all Blu-ray discs have, Cleopatra insists on older sound
codecs and we get a
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix that is one the weak side. In this case,
though, the sound mix is also on the sloppy side, so beware!
-
Nicholas Sheffo and James Lockhart (Flash)
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
