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Furie Blu-ray Review

  • Actors: Veronica Ngo, Cat Vy
  • Director: Le-Van Kiet
  • Disc Format: Dolby, Subtitled, Surround Sound, Widescreen
  • Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS 5.1)
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: Region A/1 
  • Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
  • Number of discs: 2
  • Rated: 
     NR 
     Not Rated
  • Studio: Well Go USA
  • Release Date: June 25, 2019
  • Run Time: 98 minutes



        Americans notoriously avoid foreign films. The sad reality is that even those deemed the best of all imported cinema (subjectively determined by year-end lists and awards), are often ignored by a large majority of audiences in this country. The rare exception of a financially successful foreign film is often completely distanced from the idea of what wins awards, and tends to exist within a familiar genre convention. In the past, horror fans have flocked to the notoriously gruesome offerings of different cultures, but I have noticed the genre most influenced by foreign markets in recent years has been the action/martial arts movie. Ironically, while Furie’s major selling point is the casting of a Vietnamese actress already successful in Hollywood (Veronica Ngo from Star Wars: The Last Jedi), it is a film that will likely be an introduction to Vietnamese action for most in Hollywood. And for many it will be the first Vietnamese film they have seen; in fact, it was the first ever to be released theatrically in the United States, in any genre.

Between the Lines Blu-ray Review

  • Actors: John Heard, Lindsay Crouse, Jeff Goldblum, Jill Eikenberry, Bruno Kirby
  • Director: Joan Micklin Silver
  • Writers: Fred Barron, David Helpern
  • Producer: Raphael D. Silver
  • Format: NTSC
  • Language: English (PCM Mono)
  • Region: Region A/1 
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Rated: 
     
     Restricted
  • Studio: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
  • Release Date: June 18, 2019
  • Run Time: 102 minutes



        Between the Lines feels as though it must have had its finger on the pulse of the counter-culture movement of the seventies, while simultaneously serving as an awkward reminder of how much even the liberals and progressives of that time were politically incorrect by today’s standards. The film follows a group of employees working at an alternative newspaper in Boston which is on the verge of a buyout from a major publishing company. Leaning heavily on the idea that selling out means a lack of integrity, Between the Lines feels laughably dated in its sensibilities (which would have been completely dismissed had the film been made a few years later, in the 1980s), but even worse is the awful treatment of female characters amidst the illusion of ‘free love.’ Sadder yet is the fact that this incredibly misogynistic film was directed by the rare female director.