Get
Carter 4K
(1971/MGM/Warner Archive 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray)/Misericordia
(2024/Criterion/Janus Blu-ray)/One
Tough Cop
(1998/MVD Blu-ray)/Santo
Contra Hombres Infernales
(1961 aka Santo
Vs. Infernal Men/VCI
Blu-ray)/La
Femme Nikita: The Complete Series
(1997 - 2001/Warner DVD Set)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+* Picture: B/B/B-/B-/C Sound:
C+/B-/B-/B-/C+ Extras: B/C+/C/C/C Main Programs: B/C+/C+/C/C
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Get
Carter 4K
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Now
for a new set of action dramas...
Mike
Hodges' Get
Carter 4K
(1971) is one of the great British films, a cold gangster genre hit
with Michael Caine as the title character everyone wants to kill when
he comes back home to find out who killed his brother. He's out for
the truth, but things have become more rotten and complicated since
he was gone and that makes everything he does more difficult and
twisted. Fortunately, he gets more difficult and twisted too.
Reveling
in the new realism that big screen movies were taking advantage of at
the time, a mere year before Coppola's Godfather,
this was a hard-hitting breakthrough in the genre, filmmaking itself
and further put Caine over the top as one of the most important stars
and actors of his time. The pace, editing and energy never let up,
never a false note and the film holds up even better than I
remembered.
Besides
some fine locales, the cast is a big plus including Britt Ekland as
his gal, the legendary Ian Hendry, John Osbourne, George Sewell,
Petra
Markham, Tony Beckley, Geraldine Moffat, Alun Armstrong, Bryan
Mosley, Terence Rigby, Godfrey Quilley, John Bindon, Kevin Brennan,
Glynn Edwards, Bernard Hepton, Alan Hockey and uncredited turns by
Terence Plumber and John Quarmby. You may recognize some of the
names, but most are the kinds of actors you definitely know their
faces if you watched major amounts of British TV and movies at the
time.
That
also makes this Warner Archive's third 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release
and another great choice following The
Searchers
and High
Society.
Like those gems, this is must-see cinema and any serious fan needs
to check out this great restoration ASAP!
Also,
avoid the Stallone remake at all costs.
Extras
include a
vintage audio commentary by Michael Caine, Director Mike Hodges &
Cinematographer Wolfgang Suschinsky; 2022 introduction by Michael
Caine; 2022 Audio commentary with Kim Newman & Barry Forshaw;
Mike
Hodges in Conversation
(2022, 60 minutes); The
Sound of Roy Budd
(Get
Carter
composer; 2022, 17 minutes); Don't
Trust Boys
(2022, 22 minutes) Petra Markham reflects on her career & her
role in Get
Carter;
Klinger
on Klinger:
Tony Klinger discusses the career of his father, Michael Klinger,
Producer of Get
Carter;
2022 and 1971 Original Theatrical Trailer.
Caine
and Hodges soon reunited for the film Pulp (1972) and you can
read more about it at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15128/Attack+Of+The+Killer+Tomatoes+(1978/MVD+Rewind
Alain
Guiraudie's
Misericordia
(2024) is our newest entry, a creepy French thriller with a young
former resident of a small town (Felix Kysyl) coming back home to all
kinds of odd happenings, slowly causing the return of the repressed
for several people including a priest, old widow, her son and a few
others. All toxic, this cannot have any kind of good outcome, but
maybe an interesting one.
However,
it is not that much different from Entertaining
Mr. Sloane
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) and when it all folded a long 103
minutes later, I was not convinced and even why the makers bothered
if this is all that they came up with. It has some good moments,
which is why I can see how Criterion/Janus
decided to pick it up. However, I was underwhelmed. At least the
actors were not bad.
Extras
include an Original Theatrical Trailer, interview with Director Alain
Guiraudie and illustrated paper pullout with notes by critic Imogen
Sara Smith.
Bruno
Barreto's One
Tough Cop
(1998) is an urban police thriller produced by the prolific Martin
Bregman, whose work includes many key films by Sidney Lumet or with
Al Pacino as the lead, but we get an interesting director and two
leads that do some of their best work here: Stephen Baldwin and the
late Chris Penn, playing fellow cops in some bad situations.
Based
roughly on a true story, Bo Dietl (Baldwin) is fighting to break
cases, stop people from killing each other and juggle bureaucracy
when the FBI starts to badger him about people who he grew up with
who happen to be involved with organized crime. This is happening as
some politicians and some people inside various law organizations are
also vying politically and many do not care what happens to these
cops.
When
the film works, it is worthy of similar crime dramas in the genre,
even ones not made by Bregman. However, some aspects of the film
have not dated as well as others, we have some cliches and
predictability, even more so since its release because we have a guts
of bad variants of this film and ones like it and Director Barreto is
a somewhat underrated filmmaker who at least is ambitious and tries
to make a good film. Cannot say that about enough new filmmakers
today.
The
locales and supporting cast are a plus and include Gina Gershon,
Michael McGlone, Luis Guzman, Amy Irving, Victor Slezak, Paul
Guilfoyle, Michael Rispoli, and Frank Pellegrino. If this is your
kind of filmmaking and storytelling, its worth a look. It got a big
release at the time, but is not as remembered. Nice to have it on
Blu-ray.
Extras
include an Original Theatrical Trailer and three TV Spots.
Joselito
Rodriguez & Enrique Zambrano's Santo
Contra Hombres Infernales
(1961, aka Santo
Vs. Infernal Men)
is the earliest of the three films with the famous Spanish Superhero
battling bad guys in the tradition of more blunt, raw, pre-glamed
wrestling (think the Bruno Sammartino era that made the now-billion
dollar industry possible) world that is now a billion-dollar
industry. Santo's spy ally Joaquim (Joaquim Cordero) has been hurt
and in an ambulance ride, recalls past Santo adventures in this
sort-of compilation film that runs about 75 minutes.
A
nice crash course on the character and the last film in the series
before Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban government and took over,
this is one of the earliest films in the series and last one shot in
that country. Santo is present enough and has his action moments,
but would be more prominent in upcoming films. Though a little
rough, nice to have this on Blu-ray. Makes me miss the basics of the
genre after way too much CGI and goofiness grossly overwhelmed,
causing the spectacular collapses of DC and Marvel's movies that they
are just recovering from as we post.
The
only extra is the featurette Santo:
Silver Mask, Silver Screen,
but as we wait for more Santo on Blu-ray, you can read more about
Santo at these links for later films, all from VCI:
Santo
Vs. The Martians
(1967, DVD)
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4666/Santo+Vs.+The+Martians+(VCI
Santo
And The Treasure Of Dracula
(1969, Blu-ray)
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15908/American+Dream+(2021/Lionsgate+DVD)/Drunken+Ma
La
Femme Nikita: The Complete Series
(1997 - 2001) is the first of two moderately successful TV series
based on the original feature film, which is obviously based on Luc
Besson's La
Femme Nikita
feature film. I was not a fan of the first film, John Badham's U.S.
remake Point
Of No Return
(1993) with Bridget Fonda that Warner produced like this second TV
version. See links below.
This
1997 - 2001 Peta Wilson cable series named after the original film
ran for 5 seasons and it had some energy going for it, but never
worked for me either, despite how appealing the lead was. She was
frankly better than the series and the #1 reason it did as well as it
did. A fans-only affair, you have to comb though many episodes
before you get any highlights and it still has its small, loyal
following and may pick up some new fans. Otherwise, it has not
appreciated in value much to this viewer.
Extras
include
Section
One Declassified: The Making of La Femme Nikita;
Designing
Nikita;
Commentary on Select Episodes; Deleted Scenes; Gag Reels and a few
more surprises. For more on the second Nikita
series, try these links for these Blu-ray releases:
Season
Three
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12400/The+Girl+From+U.N.C.L.E.:+The+Complete+Series,+P
Season
Four
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12855/Nikita:+The+Fourth+&+Final+Season+(2013/Warner
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Get
Carter 4K
looks great, authentic and with the slightly darker look British
thrillers tend to have from a 2022 BFI restoration, featuring
MetroColor and lensed very memorably by Director
of Photography Wolfgang
Suschinsky (father of the also-amazing Peter Suschinsky) who also
lensed Ulysses
(1967,) Vengeance
Of She,
Entertaining
Mr. Sloane,
Living
Free,
Theater
Of Blood
and Claudia.
The
constant quality of the compositions and their look create a dark,
rich atmosphere that more than forwards the already dark narrative
and the 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on the Blu-ray
version is decent too, but no match for the 4K edition. *Especially
in 4K, some shots will show their age, but then you get some amazing
shots that defy age and the color quality is great.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix is good for its age
and the same on both disc versions, but it is a little more sonically
limited than I would have liked and it is either from its age, budget
or that the best sound materials have worn out a bit. Otherwise,
this classic has been thoroughly restored and is a very welcome
addition to any shelf of Blu-ray and 4K gangster genre classics.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on
Misericordia
also looks good and consistent throughout, with sometimes subdued
color, but the best performer here next to the Carter
set. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is often on the
quiet and subdued side, but that matches the narrative just fine.
The combination is as good as it will get in this format.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on One Tough Cop
is from a decent-but-older HD master that has some good color and
consistency, but I like how this was shot and bet it would be
surprisingly good in 4K. The PCM 2.0 Stereo sound has Pro Logic
surrounds, but the film was originally issued as a Dolby Digital
theatrical release, so why we are not getting that soundtrack is odd.
Otherwise, this is the best the film has looked since its 35mm
release.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfer on Santo
can show the age of the materials used, but this still has some fine
shots along with various damage and slight scratches. The PCM 2.0
Mono shows its age a little more with some harmonic distortion and
other sonic limits, so only expect so much, as it was a low budget
production. Otherwise, more than viewable.
The
1.33 X 1 image (windowboxed in an anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1
frame) on Nikita
repeats the older DVD transfers Warner issued on DVD many years ago
and though color can be good for the old format, softness and other
flaws are also present. The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has
healthy Pro Logic surrounds, but no 5.1 mix is here and unless they
go out of their way if this ever comes to Blu-ray, will always be a
stereo-only TV series. At least if any of the older pressings have
issues or those who have the older copies did not store them well,
you have a second chance to get them fresh here.
To
order the Warner Archive Get
Carter 4K
release, go to this link for it and many more great web-exclusive
releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
-
Nicholas Sheffo
