Dead
Wrong
(2024/Mill Creek Blu-ray)/Dr.
Cheon And The Lost Talisman
(*)/Mute
Witness 4K
(1995/Arrow 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray**)/One-Percent
Warrior
(*both 2023/Well Go Blu-rays)/Royal
Warriors
(1986/***)/Yes,
Madam!
(1985/***both 88 Films/**all MVD Blu-rays)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B Picture: B-/B+/B-/B+/B-/B- Sound:
B/B/B-/B+/B-/B- Extras: C/C-/C+/C-/C+/C+ Films:
C/B/C+/B/C+/C+
Here's
a group of unusual genre films that follow formula and think they are
maybe delivering more than they think they are, but not all succeed
in that respect...
Rick
Bieber's Dead
Wrong
(2024) is
a way over the top, convoluted crime film where Rob Schneider tries
to play an alcoholic lawyer (he gets it half right, guess which one?)
in the middle of a revenge fiasco where a married man (Derek Smith)
is sick of the big wealth of his best friend (Chet Hanks,) though he
gets this from being the head of a mob organization! Well, with
friends like that...
The
mostly unknown cast is at least trying to make this work, but the
directing is mixed, editing off and screenplay loaded with even more
cliches that it is bad language, bad dialogue, blood and repetitive
boredom that really surprised me in its ineptness. When all was said
and done, I had to wonder, what were they really trying to do here?
A
Director's Cut of the film is also included and is counted on the
back cover as an extra, but both cuts are just as bad and make no
difference in the final result.
Dr.
Cheon And The Lost Talisman
(2023) is directed by Kim Seong-sik and is a treat for genre fans
that like cosmic based action along the lines of Dr.
Who,
as it has a lot of stylized action sequences, but also a mix of
horror as well. The film centers on Dr. Cheon, a fake exorcist whose
grandfather was a legendary shaman but he himself simply performs
fake acts on camera for fame, but he has to step up when he is
commissioned for a real exorcism. Having to maintain his reputation,
he's pushed to the limits as things get out of control pretty quickly
and challenges him on a new level he's not quite prepared for!
The
film stars Gang Dong-won, Joon-ho Huh, Esom, Dong-hwi Lee, Yi-Hyun
Cho, and Lee Jeong-eun.
Special
Features: Character Bios and an Original Theatrical Trailer.
Anthony
Waller's Mute
Witness 4K
(1995) was
originally entitled 'Snuff
Movie'
and intended to be a bit sleazy and tricky, hoping to capitalize on
films like Brian De Palma's Blow
Out
(1981,) the FX
films with Brian Brown and Richard Rush's The
Stunt Man
(1980) and involves a seemingly simple slasher movie production in
Russia, but a filmed murder turns out to be an actual one and on of
the persons present (Marina Zudina as a visual effects artist) is
shocked, mute and now a marked woman.
From
there, the script and the movie go downhill as it turns out to be
'The Russian Mob' making money off of such filmed killings (a
post-Cold War bad guy organization that exists in real life that was
convenient for many B-movies, now looking more ridiculous with the
invasion of Ukraine and other international messes) and she is on the
run as they try to kill her. Will she survive? Can she prove the
murder? Can her analog-era movie skills protect her? Can this make
for a watchable or even good film?
Most
of the answers are predictable and the film was nto good when it
first came out and now, has aged very badly and oddly further, though
it is now a curio in our overly-digital era and still, the missed
opportunities pile on as quickly as the cliches. They tried to sell
this as a sophisticated thriller at the time, but even with some name
critics buying that, I never did. Still, serious movie fans should
see this one just once to see what does and does not work and why it
failed commercially. The Mission:
Impossible
films were just starting to happening, the FX
films (the first far better than the idiotic second) and no big fan
of Stunt
Man,
its still better than this. Now you can see for yourself, if you
care.
Extras
(per the press release) include:
One-Percent
Warrior
(2023) is a Japanese action film in which a legendary action movie
star ends up in a real life face off when a Yakuza clan take over his
movie set, but when he's used to fighting stunt men and trained
professionals how does he fare against the real like bad guys? This
takes the same formula as The
Fall Guy,
but spins it on its head.
The
film stars Tak Sakaguchi (Versus,
Death
Trance),
this is the foreign equivalent of a John Wick or Jason
Statham-starring action vehicle with lots of fist to fist combat and
slow motion sequences. Actors here also include Sho Aoyagi, Itsuji
Itao, and Keisuke Horibe.
Special
Features: a Behind the Scenes Featurette and an Original Theatrical
Trailer.
David
Chung's Royal
Warriors
(1986) has Michele Yeoh in another martial arts action romp (early on
when they kept trying to give her slick, alternative names to up the
box office) is a CID agent who becomes part of a de facto trio that
stops an airplane from being hijacked, but they miss catching the
terrorists, who soon come back for revenge and a larger target and
prize.
Done
with more humor than than it would be after 9/11/2001 or the like, it
has some good moments and seeing Yeoh in her younger prime is a plus,
while the supporting actors and martial artists give it their all,
but it is still a formula script that plays it a little safe and
shows its age and the era it comes from. You could even think of it
as a sort of time capsule and one they never expected it to be.
Extras
include:
Audio
Commentary by Frank Djeng (HK Version Only)
New
Artwork by Sean Longmore w/reversible sleeve
Missing
Aeroplane Inserts
Cantonese
Theatrical Trailer
English
Theatrical Trailer
and
English In
the Line of Duty
Titles.
Cory
Yuen's Yes,
Madam!
(1985) tries to give Cynthia Rothrock the same star treatment and
pair her with Michele Yeoh as opposite number crime investigators
(Rockroth's character comes from England and is trying to find out
how one of their agents were killed) as both discover he had some
very dangerous information that could cause major trouble for a Hong
Kong crime syndicate. Triad-affiliated or not, they target the
ladies when they start getting too close to the truth.
If
only the screenplay had more mystery, complexity and suspense,
especially here we get humor, my chief complaint of all the 1980s
martial arts films, too much of it was not good then and has dated
these films more than they would be otherwise. The highlight here is
simply getting these two martial arts legends together and they do
have some chemistry, but the script never totally capitalizes on that
and the film has a degree of disappointment, albeit predictable for
this viewer.
It
is worth a look for those interested, especially in this edition with
all these extras.
Extras
include:
Audio
Commentary by Frank Djeng (HK Version Only)
New
Artwork by Sean Longmore w/reversible sleeve
Interview
with Cynthia Rothrock
Select
Scene Commentary with Cynthia Rothrock and Frank Djeng
Interview
with Mang Hoi
Archive
Interview with Michelle Yeoh
Archive
Battling Babes Featurette
and
an original Hong Kong Trailer.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, HDR (10;
Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Mute
Witness
was shot in the Super 35 format, all on Agfa 35mm color negative
film. Though it is meant to look dark and dirty per its genre, but
the color here is rendered so dark, you cannot tell what color it was
shot in and is the poorest feature film or TV show I have ever seen
shot on Agfa. You would best know the color from the early seasons
of Seinfeld
or the Kevin Costner Robin
Hood.
The 1080p Blu-ray is even darker and less colorful, with a little
less detail and depth, while both offer DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless mixes from the original old
Dolby A-type analog noise reduction 'Dolby System' presentation.
This was eight years into Dolby offering Dolby Digital and their
better SR (Spectral Recording) sound formats, so this looks and
sounds a little older than it ought to in combination.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on Dead
Wrong
is the newe4st release here and the softest presentation looking like
yesterday's HD camera in action with close shots looking only a
little better than the long ones. Color is fairly good and
consistent, but can be dull too. Really disappointing for a new
production, but this is sadly becoming a trend. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix fares just about as badly,
at least is pulled off professionally enough, but nothing is
sonically memorable here either, so the combination is very wanting.
Dr.
Cheon and the Lost Talisman
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 audio tracks in
Korean lossless DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 and lossy Dolby Digital
2.0 Stereo mixes, both with optional English subtitles. The film
looks nice on Blu-ray disc and showcases the film with a clean image
and sharp sound mix that especially highlights the effects. No
English dubs for those who may be wondering.
One-Percent
Warrior
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 lossless Japanese
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) and 2.0 Stereo mixes as
well as [lesser] English dubbed versions. The HD transfer to disc is
very nice and maintains a high standard set by Well Go USA for home
video exhibition.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on Royal
Warriors
and Yes,
Madam!
can show
the age of the materials used, using 2K scans of the original and
surviving 35mm materials. Despite
some age, flaws and limits, we get some good shots and color can be
really good in parts. They are at least consistent enough. The
Cantonese DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 and 2.0 Mono lossless mixes
also show the age of both films, recorded with some limited fidelity,
even in remixes included, but they sound as good as they ever will
here and the English dubs in all cases are much weaker.
-
Nicholas Sheffo and James Lockhart (Well Go)
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
