Police Story: Lockdown Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Jackie Chan, Ye Liu

Director: Ding Sheng

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: Cantonese

Subtitles: English

Dubbed: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: August 11, 2015

Run Time: 110 minutes

 

        American audiences may have first taken notice of Jackie Chan with Rumble in the Bronx (1995), but he had already established his signature style with the highly successful Police Story franchise. While it is not surprising to see Chan return to his most lucrative franchise the same way that Bruce Willis seems to keep dying hard, Sylvester Stallone repeatedly returns as either Rambo or Rocky, and Arnold Schwarzenegger will always “be back” for another Terminator film, the title of Police Story: Lockdown is somewhat misleading. Released as Police Story 2013 in China, this latest installment does not feature Chan playing the Inspector Chan from the Police Story franchise. In fact, the only thing that this film shares in common with the martial arts actor’s most lucrative film series is the title. Not only the character name has changed, but also the style in which the story is told and the impact of the film’s action sequences.

 

True Story Blu-ray Review

     Actors: James Franco, Ethan Suplee, Jonah Hill

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English (DTS 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Dubbed: French, Spanish

Region: Region A/1

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Release Date: August 4, 2015

Run Time: 100 minutes

 

        It may have been an odd choice to cast two leads better known for their comedic connections in film, but the true crime of True Story is the feeling that both actors are much better than their performances in these roles. Jonah Hill has tackled dramatic roles with critical praise in recent history, but doesn’t seem quite capable of making this unlikable protagonist worth watching for the brief running time. And James Franco is merely sleepwalking through his performance, nearly as bored as the audience waiting for the twists and turns of suspense which never arrive. 

 

Hell on Wheels: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Anson Mount, Common, Jennifer Ferrin

Director: David Von Ancken

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 4

Studio: Entertainment One

Release Date: August 11, 2015

Run Time: 559 minutes

 

 

        The longer that “Hell on Wheels” is on air, the more bleak its narrative seems. Since the death of a major character in season two, it was clear that the AMC series was not afraid to switch things up from season to season, and the fourth brings about some of the show’s biggest changes. There are new characters arriving as old ones depart, typically in the most violent ways imaginable. The impact is even greater now that the show has been on for several seasons, making the loss of beloved characters that much more devastating.

 

Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Winston Chao, Kun Chen, Li Bingbing

Directors: Peter Pau, Tianyu Zhao

Format: Blu-ray, Widescreen

Language: Cantonese

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: August 4, 2015

Run Time: 118 minutes

 

 

        I imagine that the large scale Chinese blockbuster, Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal, to be comparable to the recent Hollywood attempts at the Hercules mythology, in terms of new fantasy films cashing in on classic narratives. Directors Peter Pau and Tianyu Zhao take on the legend of Zhong Kui (Kun Chen), an anti-hero who is a pawn in the battle between Heaven and Hell, mostly occurring on Earth. The fantasy is completed with a star-crossed-lovers subplot, with the title character Snow Girl (Bingbing Li) as the object of Zhong Kui’s desire. All of this begs for large scale adaptation, offering plenty of opportunity for special effects spectacle. Unfortunately, we are left with bad CGI that looks like all of the filler movies in video games.

The Salvation Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Mikael Persbrandt

Director: Kristian Levring

Format: Blu-ray, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

Release Date: August 4, 2015

Run Time: 92 minutes

 

 

        The Salvation has the traditional plot of an American western, from setting to storyline, except that it was made with the sensibility and tone of its Danish filmmakers. There is a weightiness to the revenge narrative that feels distinctly Scandinavian, despite the classic Wild West setting, allowing for unrelenting bleak content to overpower some of the crowd-pleasing spectacle. Nothing about the actual story may be altogether original, but the approach is a wonderful blend of distinct cultural cinemas.

 

Black & White: The Dawn of Assault Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Mark Chao, Ken Lin

Director: Yueh-Hsun Tsai

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: Cantonese

Subtitles: Cantonese

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Shout! Factory

Release Date: August 4, 2015

Run Time: 142 minutes

 

 

        The Taiwanese buddy cop TV series “Black & White” ran for a successful season in 2009, followed by this 2012 prequel film and a subsequent sequel. Although Black & White: Dawn of Assault is the first to be made available in the States, no previous knowledge of the franchise is entirely necessary for its enjoyment. At its core, this is simply a blockbuster popcorn film that doesn’t require a great deal of thought, but is heavily rewarding in terms of spectacle. The only reason the previously established television series is significant has to do with the amount of chemistry that the cast already has with each other.

Into the Grizzly Maze DVD Review

     Actors: James Marsden, Billy Bob Thorton, Thomas Jane

Format: Multiple Formats, Closed-captioned, Color, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Subtitles: English, French

Dubbed: French

Region: Region 1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: August 4, 2015

Run Time: 90 minutes

 

 

         Throw in a few additional scenes of unnecessary objectification of women with cheaper CGI bear attacks and this is exactly the type of low budget fare you might expect to find on the same shelf as many Asylum productions or Syfy Channel releases. The screenplay lacks any originality and an over-use of stock footage makes it clear that the actors were never anywhere near live bears, and yet Into the Grizzly Maze still manages to stand above the rest thanks to a surprisingly stacked cast. Despite the limited material, this cast keeps a silly plot and amateur filmmaking far more entertaining than it deserves, proving why a professional actor is an invaluable commodity. This is true even in the films that are typically more interested in the carnage of its characters than their believability. I’m not exactly certain how it happened that this movie got such an undeservingly seasoned cast, but it ends up being the only saving grace in the filmmaking process.

Lake Placid Vs Anaconda DVD Review

     Actors: Robert Englund, Yancy Butler, Nigel Barber

Director: A.B. Stone

Format: Multiple Formats, AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Region: Region 1

Number of discs: 1

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: August 4, 2015

Run Time: 92 minutes

 

When there have already been far too many sequels in a franchise, the next logical step is to combine it with another overdone film series. Even in larger budget films, this has been attempted over enough time, which is how we ended up with Alien vs. Predator and Freddy vs. Jason. But despite Robert Englund in a supporting role, the Syfy Channel original film, Lake Placid vs. Anaconda, comes nowhere close to the quality of these theatrical releases. Instead, this just looks like every other TV movie from this station, cheaply made in another country for the lowest possible budget.

 

3 Hearts Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Benoit Poelvoorde, Catherine Deneuve, Charlotte Gainsbourg

Director: Benoit Jacquot

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, NTSC, Surround Sound, Widescreen

Language: French

Subtitles: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13 

Studio: Cohen Media Group

Release Date: July 28, 2015

Run Time: 108 minutes

         3 Hearts is a tragic romance that is approached stylistically as more of a thriller by filmmaker Benoit Jacquot (Farewell My Queen), with highly charged performances and an ominous score by Bruno Coulais. There is no real danger to the health or safety of these characters, yet we feel that their very lives are at stake with the gravity of their romantic passions looming over each decision. Melodrama takes the main stage for much of this narrative, though it is a film which ultimately depends upon the moments of romance as the glue that holds together the series of unlikely coincidences that follow.

 

Love Unto Death/Life is a Bed of Roses Blu-ray Review

    Actors: Fanny Ardant, Ruggero Raimondi, Sabine Azema

Director: Alain Resnais

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, NTSC, Surround Sound, Widescreen

Language: French

Subtitles: English

Region: Region A/1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Cohen Media Group

Release Date: July 21, 2015

Run Time: 192 minutes

         This double-feature contains a comedy and a drama that couldn’t be more different in terms of plot and tone, but both are tinged with a similar fantastical style from French filmmaker Alain Resnais. While neither reaches the frustrating ambiguity of a film like Last Year at Marienbad or the weightiness of his wartime films, both have the uncanny sense of experimentation running through them, stylistically as well as within the narrative structure. One never knows where Resnais is headed, however familiar his films feel in their approach.

 

Kung Fu Killer Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Donnie Yen, Charlie Yeung, Baoqiang Wang

Director: Teddy Chen

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: Cantonese

Subtitles: English

Region: Region A/1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: July 21, 2015

Run Time: 100 minutes

 

         Blending martial arts with a serial killer narrative, Kung Fu Killer offers brief genre-bending originality in its premise before settling into predictable entertainment. There are some thrills to be found in the execution of the fight scenes, but the narrative offers too few surprises to keep the moments in-between entertaining enough to weave together a satisfying story. Preposterously unrealistic and blandly predictable, Kung Fu Killer features decent action scenes that aren’t quite memorable enough to outweigh the rest of the film’s shortcomings.

 

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Kevin James

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Ultraviolet, Closed-captioned, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: French

Dubbed: French

Region: All Regions

Number of discs: 2

Rated: PG

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: July 14, 2015

Digital Copy Expiration Date: December 31, 2018

 

        I liked Paul Blart: Mall Cop and I’m not ashamed to admit it. It was silly but managed to be sweet, comedically taking a Die Hard plot by inserting a rent-a-cop as the heroic protagonist. With this in mind, I don’t want to say that I had high hopes for the sequel, but certainly didn’t anticipate the quality to drop so significantly from the first film. From the beginning sequence that destroys every aspect of the happy ending we were left with at the close of the last film, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is illogical and overly silly in its desperate grab for quick laughs.

 

My Beautiful Laundrette Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Daniel Day-Lewis, Gordon Warnecke, Saeed Jaffrey

Director: Stephen Frears

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Region: Region A/1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R

Studio: Criterion Collection (Direct)

Release Date: July 21, 2015

Run Time: 97 minutes

        My Beautiful Laundrette is a classic kitchen sink 1980s slice-of-life drama from Stephen Frears (Philomena), though the film’s lasting success owes a great deal to the breakout performance given by a young Daniel Day-Lewis. Having made A Room with a View (1985) the same year, critics raved at the actor’s range, though it is clearly his performance in this film which leaves the most lasting impression. It is a bold performance in a movie that is about the acting and the characters far more than the plot, which often meanders without clear direction.

 

Powers: Season 1 Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Sharlto Copley

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Closed-captioned, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 3

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: July 14, 2015

Digital Copy Expiration Date: December 31, 2018

 

        The battle of superheroes at the box office occurs each summer, and occasionally in-between, but this overly-popular genre has recently bled into the world of television as well. Much of this is a way for the largest two comic book franchises to continue their narratives on the small screen, with more and more Marvel and DC shows popping up each year. Simultaneously there has been an increase in original entertainment from some unlikely places. Earlier this year we saw the success of a Netflix comic book series with “Daredevil,” but even the unlikely format of the PlayStation has entered the game with a series based on a graphic novel not belonging to either of the two powerhouse comic contributors.

 

Goodbye to All That DVD Review

     Actors: Paul Schneider, Melanie Lynskey, Heather Graham

Director: Angus MacLachlan

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Region: Region 1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO

DVD Release Date: July 14, 2015

Run Time: 86 minutes

 

 

        Screenwriter Angus MacLachlan (Junebug, Stone) tried his hand at directing his own material with Goodbye to All That, a dramedy about divorce and middle-aged casual dating, with a script that is ironically the weakest element of the film. There are episodic moments of humor and some great performances, but the narrative meanders without direction until reaching a lackluster resolution. The conflict is never fully developed, in favor of scattered moments of random humor instead, so that very little seems to be at stake in the relationships of the few characters that actually matter.

The Salt of the Earth Blu-ray Review

     Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, AC-3, Dolby, Widescreen, DVD-ROM

Language: English

Region: Region A/1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: July 14, 2015

Run Time: 90 minutes

 

 

        Although Wim Wenders traces the 40-year career of Sebastião Salgado in The Salt of the Earth, and the documentary is co-directed by the photographer’s son, Ribeiro Salgado, much of the film’s focus becomes about the events covered rather than the life of the artist behind the images. This weighs down the content, especially with many of the tragic social situations around the world that Salgado has chosen as his subjects, but any less depth would have been too superficial for the material. Even 110 minutes doesn’t feel like enough time to adequately examine Salgado’s personal background along with his work, though an uplifting final section does help alleviate the somber tone surrounding much of his earlier photography.

 

No Way Jose DVD Review

     Actors: Adam Goldberg, Ahna O'Reilly, Gillian Jacobs, Emily Osment

Director: Adam Goldberg

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Widescreen, NTSC

Language: English

Region: Region 1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

DVD Release Date: July 7, 2015

Run Time: 98 minutes

 

        Audiences have been subjected to an array of male protagonists in arrested development since Judd Apatow’s film career took off, making No Way Jose feel a bit underwhelming and derivative. There are moments of sitcom situation humor which are worthwhile, but the story feels aimless and the characters like watered down rejects from a sub-par Apatow movie. Actor Adam Goldberg tries his hand at directing with a screenplay he co-wrote along with first-time scribe Sarah Kate Levy, but neither have enough experience to save the film from meandering aimlessly and often without as many laughs as desired.

The Road Within Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Robert Sheehan, Robert Patrick, Dev Patel, Zoë Kravitz

Director: Gren Wells

Format: Blu-ray, Widescreen

Language: English

Region: Region A/1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: July 7, 2015

Run Time: 102 minutes

 

         There is a delicate balance needed when creating a comedy that is also about mental illness. A certain amount of respect and realism must be given to the disease and those who actually suffer with it, but it can’t be so much that it weighs down the plot with cumbersome melodrama. All of this pressure seems to rest on the shoulders of the actors in The Road Within, which adopts the now-familiar road trip narrative so often used in independent cinema. With most of the film containing three characters in a car, the success of the story depends a great deal on the success of these actors.

 

For the Emperor Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Park Sung-Woong, Lee Min-ki, Lee Tae-Im

Director: Park Sang-Jun

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: Korean

Subtitles: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: July 7, 2015

Run Time: 105 minutes

 

 

         Although For the Emperor is clearly a genre picture, built upon sequences of exciting action and hints of exploitation, the film’s narrative is a combination of several familiar structures. While none of the individual pieces are altogether original, together they make for a fast-paced and unpredictable viewing experience. One moment the film feels like a typical gangster film before slipping into noir territory, and eventually slides into a cat-and-mouse revenge story. Much of the mystery in the movie’s direction comes from the ambiguity found in the mostly silent protagonist, who almost seems modeled after the main character in Nicholas Winding Refn’s Drive.

 

Merchants of Doubt Blu-ray Review

    Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, DVD-ROM

Language: English

Subtitles: French, Portuguese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Indonesian, Thai, Turkish, Spanish, English

Audio Description: English

Region: All Regions

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: PG-13 

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: July 7, 2015

Run Time: 90 minutes

         These days a political documentary doesn’t seem effective unless it has the ability to infuriate the audience, seemingly to cause some type of action to remedy the social maladies examined. While Merchants of Doubt is certainly able to achieve this with its examination of marketing and public relation spin doctors, what is unexpected is the amount of humor and levity inserted into the exasperating subject matter. With Merchants of Doubt, filmmaker Robert Kenner is able to find an impressive balance between historical information, entertainment, and a call to action. The information is not entirely groundbreaking or new, but provides a concise picture for those who were previously unaware to the shady dealings of powerful corporations.