Agonie
(2016/IndiePix DVD*)/Basket
Case 4K (1982/Arrow 4K
Ultra HD Blu-ray*)/Bounty
Hunter Trilogy (1969,
1972/Radiance Blu-ray set*)/Flying
Swordsman: Out For Revenge
(2023/DVD**)/Hard Boiled
2: The Last Blood
(1991/88 Films Blu-ray*)/Mean
Guns
(1997/Blu-ray*)/Scarface
Mob
(1959/Paramount/Desilu/Arrow Blu-ray/*all MVD)/Your
Lucky Day
(2023/Blu-ray/**both Well Go)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B- Picture: C/X/B-/B-/B+/B-/B-/B+ Sound:
C+/C+/B-/B-/B+/C+/B-/B+ Extras: C-/B-/B-/D/B/C/C+/D Films:
B-/C+/C+/B-/C+/C/B-/C+
Crime
and horror figure in the following new releases...
David
Clay Diaz's Agonie
(2016)
has the premise that a young, pretty woman has been decapitated, her
body spread around a few different locations in Vienna and that the
mystery is, why did it happen and why would someone do this. Well,
even in eight years, though many had the usual ideas before hand,
this is far from a character study, even as we focus on the life of
two young men, a streetwise blonde (Alexander Srtschin) and bookworm
brunette (Samuel Schneider) existing in parallel. Sadly, you can see
most of what is coming.
The
things that do make this different and have its moments are the way
the film is shot, edited, directed and how good and well cast the
actors are. The locations are interesting and the peak moment (the
murder out of nowhere) is so graphic, bloody and shocking, I was even
shocked and that is very, very rare for me anymore. Additionally, it
is so graphic, this film would be issued as unrated in limited U.S.
theatrical run (this copy is not rated) or get an NC-17 rating for
sure.
So
with all that, the ending disappoints, there are more missed
opportunities even as the film keeps offering something different
here and there and the conclusion disappoints, et al. Cheers to the
cast for pulling off what they did. I will quit there and recommend
any interested give this one a good look, limits and all.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2 X 1 image has some good color and good
shots, but is much softer than I would have liked, getting into the
way of the narrative and good compositions, but the lossy
German/Austrian Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is not bad and would
probably sound better lossless.
Extras
are only trailers.
Frank
Henenlotter's Basket
Case 4K
(1982) becomes the next and one of the few 16mm-shot feature films to
get an Ultra HD upgrade. We have reviewed the several times,
including my coverage of an out of print Blu-ray...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11189/Basket+Case+(1981/Something+Weird+Video/Ima
Then
we covered Arrow's older Blu-ray-only set here...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15146/Basket+Case+(1982/MVD+Visual/Arrow+remastere
Even
if you are not a fan of the film or think the dark, odd humor is
one-note as I do, the film has remained popular since its original
release, was a big home video hit (well promoted as well) and remains
a cult curio. It is also the kind of film you rarely see getting
made, an independent release of any kind that is ambitious,
no-holds-barred and took risks. This is the best way to see it now.
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.33 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Basket
Case 4K
has some impressive color and is the same Ultra HD master used for
the regular Arrow Blu-ray release, thanks to the Museum of Modern
Art, but the elements are not in as good a shape as the 1974
16mm-shot Texas
Chain Saw Massacre
with more grain, flaws and slightly off moments. Fortunately, color
is a strong point and the film has never looked better save the most
pristine 16mm or 35mm blow-up prints, the few that have survived.
The
PCM 1.0 Mono sound definitely shows its age, magnetic tape with no
major noise reduction, sounding as good as it ever will, limits and
all.
Extras
are the same as the previous Blu-ray set that sold out and you should
get this one while supplies last.
The
Bounty Hunter Trilogy
(1969, 1972)
is a choppy one where the first two films come out the same year,
then the last film arrives a few years later. The films are
Shigehiro Ozawa's Killer's
Mission,
Eiichi Kudo's The
Fort of Death
and Ozawa's Eight
Men to Kill.
In all three, the protagonist comes out of their normal life to deal
with armed political uprisings, a sieged village and stopping a gold
shipment before an eclipse. Despite its earlier settings, the spy
genre plays as much a role as the martial arts cycle revving up at
this time and Ozawa went on to create the Street
Fighter
films, while trilogy lead star Tomisaburo Wakayama became the first
Zatoichi, so these are curios for sure.
However,
I found them to be a mix of too much formula, hard work by the actors
and very uneven results. Thus, it is for fans only and the missions
play like big MacGuffins that motivate the characters, but only do so
much for the audience and were not very memorable for this viewer,
especially since we have seen so much of this before. For the
curious, these restorations are decent and add the ambitious set of
extras and it is worth a look for those really interested. They are
historical enough, but for myself, once was enough.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on all three films look
good as shot in Toeiscope, but also show their age and have some
flaws
here and there throughout, with Mission
narrowly looking a little less stressed. All three apparently were
shot on Eastman 35mm color negative and have held up decently
enough,. All
three films are here in DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless
mixes,
save for Mission
in Japanese PCM 2.0 Mono, all sounding a little better than expected
and as good as they will likely ever sound.
Extras
in this Limited Edition include:
Feature
Length Audio Commentary track on Killer's Mission by Tom Mes
Interview
with film historian and Shigehiro Ozawa expert Akihito Ito about the
filmmaker
Visual
essay on Eiichi Kudo by Japanese cinema expert Robin Gatto
Series
poster and press image gallery
Trailers
Optional
English subtitles
Six
postcards of artwork from the films
Reversible
sleeves featuring artwork based on original posters
Limited
Edition booklet featuring new writing by samurai film
expert Alain Silver, an obituary of Eiichi Kudo by Kinji Fukasaku
and an interview piece on Shigehiro Ozawa after his retirement from
filmmaking
and
Limited Edition of 3000 copies, presented in a
rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases and removable OBI strip
leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
Lei
Qiao's The
Flying Swordsman: Out For Revenge
(2023, aka The
Hidden Fox)
is action packed and totally worth checking out if you are a fan of
marital arts fantasy epics!
Obviously
inspired by anime and classic Japanese cinema in its creation, this
period film has sharply directed action sequences and eye popping
moments that reminded me a little of Hero or Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Even if you aren't big on foreign language
films, there is enough visual eye candy here to keep just about
anyone interested in the genre glued to the screen. The story itself
is a basic revenge plot, and so the main draw to this film is
definitely the stylized action and swordplay.
The
film stars Ray Lui, Yusi Chen, Huawei Zhao and Shanshan Chunyu.
After
a twisted attempt to steal a hidden fortune results in the death of
two legendary swordsmen, the map to the treasure that took their
lives disappears. Ten years later, the map resurfaces and eight
assassins from the original plot seek out to find it, but are
challenged by a mysterious new swordsman who is motivated only by
revenge. Who will be left standing?
The
Flying Swordsman is presented in
anamorphically enhanced, standard definition on DVD with a
2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a lossy 5.1 Mandarin Dolby Digital
audio mix with English subtitles. Some compression is evident in the
aging DVD format, but the film looks and sounds as good as it can
here.
No
extras sadly, except for Trailers.
From
filmmaker Wong Jing (City
Hunter,
God of
Gamblers),
comes Hard
Boiled 2: The Last Blood
(1991), which sees a new release on Blu-ray from 88 Films. The John
Wick series was definitely inspired by this gun heavy action flick,
which features some impressive stunt choreography and plenty of wild
camera work and explosions that would make Keanu Reeves himself
applaud!
The
Chinese action film stars Alan Tarm, Andy Lau, Eric Tsang, Bryan
Leung, May Lo, and Natalis Chan. The film goes by many titles, one
of which is Hard Boiled 2 (a follow-up to the renowned John
Woo classic), Police Protectors, and Twelve Hours of
Terror. The film centers on The Red Army who seek to assassinate
the Daka Lama in Singapore, leaving a woman with a rare blood type on
the run from an army of terrorists!
Hard
Boiled 2: The Last Blood is presented in 1080p high definition on
Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a full frame aspect ratio of
1.85:1 and an original English and Cantonese LPCM 2.0 Mono mixes with
English subtitles. The HD restoration is a large improvement over
previous releases and so if you are a fan then you will definitely
want to upgrade.
Special
Features:
Audio
Commentary with Hong Kong Film Expert Frank Djeng
English
and Hong Kong Trailer
Stills
Gallery
Reversible
Cover
and
a Double Sided Poster.
Albert
Pyun's Mean
Guns
(1997) is another odd relic from the 1990s, made odder by its
infamous genre director and rapper Ice-T in an early acting role,
trying to convince us that he is the head of the top mob organization
in the world and only Christopher Lambert can stop him!
Well,
the bad screenplay could stop no one
and though having Streets
Of Fire
and Walter Hill's The
Warriors
alumni Deborah Van Valkenburgh (was Pyun thinking some kind of
trilogy of her work in gritty thrillers? She was also on the hit TV
show Too
Close For Comfort,
made between those two films.) here is a plus among the mostly
unknown cast, this is just yet another Pyun dud and Lambert is once
again wasted and hardly here. The result is a run on that you hope
might pick up at some point, but never adds up into anything much.
Like
other Pyun films, the missed opportunities pile up as fast as the
cliches and mistakes throughout the long 104 minutes, but mistakes
never stopped him before, so only see this one if you are really,
really, really curious.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is a little slightly
dark and the full color leans towards an odd sense of green, but it
is one of the few, rare feature films entirely shot on 35mm Fuji
color movie negative film. In that, it
should look a little better, but style choices are also mixed. To
its advantage, it is shot
in Clairmont-Scope
and not plain Super 35 or Techniscope with less picture definition,
so that helps. The original Scream,
and a good portion of Body
Snatchers
(1993) and the original Blade
with Wesley Snipes used these lenses as well and I like them. Wish
they were used more often.
The PCM 2.0 Stereo mix is off of the
Dolby SR (Spectral Recording) analog noise reduction surviving sound
elements, but the low budget makes them sound a little aged, rough
and dated despite how much more advanced that noise reduction system
was than Ultra Stereo or Dolby's A-type Dolby System format. No
doubt the budget did not help, but neither did the director. The
combination is passable, the the picture might look better in 4K,
maybe.
Extras
include:
Audio
Commentary from Director Albert Pyun
Introduction
by Director Albert Pyun
NEW!
Interview with Producer Gary Schmoeller
NEW!
Interview with Executive Producer Paul Rosenblum
NEW!
Interview with Composer Anthony Riparetti
an
Original Theatrical Trailer
Reversible
artwork
and
a Collectible Mini-Poster
Phil
Karlson's
The
Scarface Mob
(1959) is the two-part pilot for the original Untouchables
hit TV series that was cut together as a successful theatrical film
and made Robert Stack a big star. We previous discussed the show
when we covered the first half of the debut season on DVD at this
link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5233/The+Untouchables
Though
there were limits to violence the show could show and in effect, the
series was very well-written and developed by Lucille Ball & Desi
Arnaz's Desilu Studios and became their second-biggest success next
to monster megahit I
Love Lucy,
though it would be a while before the legendary production company
had more hits besides ones with Lucy as the lead. However, note that
Star
Trek
was not originally a hit and Lucy got NBC to stick with the show for
three seasons just the same. The couple, then the two separately
when the divorced, worked to produce some of the highest quality
programs on early TV.
The
movies, TV and the world have all become more violent since this was
made and since the last time I saw it, but with that said, this still
holds up pretty well considering the genre would go into decline
after the series was cancelled and would not return until Coppola's
Godfather
in 1972. In that, it is a solid piece of work thanks to the actors,
producers, director, screenplay and energy that kept the show so
popular for so long. Even in the face of Brian De Palma's 1987
Oscar-nominated remake, it is definitely worth revisiting. Gangster
genre fans who have never seen this one will be pleasantly surprised.
Neville Brand plays Al Capone.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfer can show the age of the materials used in spots, but this
better than the copy on the old DVD
set and the PCM 2.0 Mono sounds as good as it ever will and better
than any episode on DVD of the series itself. The image on the
more-studio-based I Love
Lucy was less rough for
late 1950s episodes, but you can see some similar roughness in the
first two Blu-ray season sets of the show, so that is the condition
of the archive. Still, it is well shot enough and you can see why
they were rightly confident to do a theatrical release at a time when
people were just starting to buy TVs.
Extras
in this Limited Edition release are decent, especially versus none on
the DVD TV series set and include:
Philip
Kemp on The Scarface Mob, a brand new video essay on the career
of Eliot Ness and his depictions on film, including The Scarface
Mob, by film critic Philip Kemp
Lastly,
Dan Brown's Your
Lucky Day
(2023) asks how far you would go to win the lottery to the tune of
$156 Million. What if you were in a store and someone announced they
won? What if a robbery of that winning ticket ensued and you were
one of the hostages? This interestingly written film focuses on the
power that money can have over people.
The
high stakes thriller stars (the late) Angus Cloud (Euphoria),
Elliot Knight, Jessica Garza, Sterling Beaumon, Mousa Hussein Kraish,
Jason Wiles, Sebastian Sozzi, Spencer Garrett, and Jason O'Mara.
The
film is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an
MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and a lossless,
English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) and lesser,
lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. The film is nicely shot and is very
cinematic considering its lower budget.
The
only extras are trailers.
-
Nicholas Sheffo and James Lockhart (Well Go, Boiled 2)
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
