4k-UHD/Movie Review: Anna

 

Anna is a 2019 movie written and directed by Luc Besson (who has directed movies such as The Professional, The Fifth Element, Taken, and Lucy) and starring Sasha Luss, Luke Evans, Cillian Murphy, and Helen Mirren. In the movie, Luss plays Anna, who is recruited into the KGB by Evans' character, Alex, and works under the direction of Mirren's character, Olga. She is trained as a KGB assassin with the promise of being discharged after five years. When the director of the KGB refuses to honor the agreement, Anna becomes a double agent for the CIA in exchange for a new life.

The 4k set is a two-disc set with a UHD disc and a regular blu-ray disc. Both of the discs include the movie and the special features. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is very good. It is not quite reference quality, but close. There are about 30 minutes of bonus material consisting of four different making-of featurettes. The movie is a good spy thriller, with a handful of action scenes spread out well throughout the movie. The story is not told linearly. It plays out similarly to the movie Memento. The movie starts partway through the story, and then flashbacks are used to tell Anna's backstory, to fill in gaps, or to show events from a different perspective than when they first played out. So, by the end of the movie, you know how Anna was recruited into the KGB and the CIA, but as you watch the movie, there are twists and turns that play out via the flashbacks. The action scenes that are in the movie are very good, but very violent. There is a bit of sexual content and one nude scene in which Luss is topless. So, it is not really a family-friendly movie.

Ultimately, the movie is well-written and very well-acted. Luss does a very good job in what was her second movie role, and Mirren pretty much dominated every scene she was in. Luss was especially good, considering she came from a modeling background and not an acting background. Evans and Murphy did well in their supporting roles, but neither were in the movie as much as Luss and Mirren. While it was not a blockbuster movie, it is much better than a lot of people will likely expect. So, if you are a fan of spy thrillers, this is worth the time to watch. 

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Avatar (4-Disc Collector's Edition)

 

This is the second 4K release of 2009's Avatar. The other version (which is misleadingly labeled as the Ultimate Collector's Edition) is a three-disc set that just has the theatrical version of the movie on UHD and regular blu-ray and then a regular blu-ray disc with special features. This set (just labeled Collector's Edition) is a four-disc set that has the theatrical and the two extended editions of the movie on UHD and regular blu-ray and then has two regular blu-ray discs with special features. 

The movie itself is very good. The first extended edition (which adds about 8 additional minutes to the theatrical version) basically just extends a couple of the scenes a bit. The second extended edition (which runs 178 minutes, adding 18 minutes of additional footage) is the best version of the movie (in my opinion). That version adds the most substance and backstory to the theatrical version, which definitely helps flesh out the overall story. You can also watch the additional footage for each extended edition as separate deleted scenes accessible from the menu. Each version of the movie is visually stunning in UHD. The audio track on the theatrical edition is wonderful. The tracks on the two extended editions are not available on Dolby Atmos, so they do not sound as good.

Where this set blows the Ultimate Collector's Edition release away is the extras. It includes all of the extras that were released with that one (including the new extras on that set and a few new ones exclusive to this set) and all of the legacy content included with the 2010 blu-ray release. The only difference between this release and the original blu-ray release (excluding the brand-new content) is a new line of added dialogue from Giovanni Ribisi's character (which is added to each version of the movie).

I have two issues with this set. First, it was not released at the same time as the original 4k release. So, if you bought that one early, you would have to double-dip to get all of the bonus content. Second, the packaging, while great to look at, is awful. It has a wonderful hard slipcover that holds a cardboard book-style case that holds the discs in very tight pockets (If you have the House of Cards individual seasons on blu-ray, it is like those). The discs are very hard to get out of the pocket without ripping the pockets and/or smudging or scratching the discs. So, if you get this, you want to watch it right away in case you get damaged/unplayable discs. I ended up putting the discs in their own individual blu-ray cases (I get extra cases to replace damaged cases if the discs are in otherwise good condition) and did not put them back in the book-style case. 

If you love the movie and love watching the bonus content, this is the version to get. You get hours of bonus material (even more if you redeem the digital code on Movies Anywhere or Vudu). If you stop the movies before the end you can resume where you left off, but that is not the case if you are watching the bonus content. If you stop in the middle of one of the featurettes on discs 3 or 4 and then restart the disc, it will go back to the main menu, and you will have to figure out where you left off. That is a relatively minor point, but worth noting.  Overall, this is absolutely worth the pickup if you are a more than just a casual fan of the movie.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Avatar

 

Avatar is a visually stunning movie from 2009, directed by James Cameron, starring Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Joel David Moore, Stephen Lang, and Giovanni Ribisi. The movie's premise is that while Earth's natural resources are being depleted, a moon in the Alpha Centauri solar system called Pandora has a valuable mineral called "unobtanium" that a company called the Resources Development Administration wants to mine. The problem is that the native population, which includes a race of 10-foot-tall humanoids called the Na'vi who live in harmony with nature, is in the way. The moon's atmosphere is inhospitable to humans, but the company has built Avatars, Na'vi shell bodies that humans can link their consciousness into. The company hires a group of scientists to act to use the Avatars to interact with the Na'vi and try to get them to move off of their land so that the unobtanium can be mined and uses the military to provide protection against the many threats the moon poses.

This is one of two 4k sets that are available. Even though this is labeled as an ultimate collector's edition, the version that is just labeled "Collector's Edition" has more features. This one is a three-disc set. There is a UHD disc and one regular blu-ray disc that just contains the movie. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is fantastic and can be considered reference quality. The third disc is another blu-ray disc with all the special features. The special features mix new material created for the 4k release with some (but not all) of the legacy material created for the original physical media release. The new content includes a roundtable discussion with one of the producers and the prominent cast members called "Memories of Avatar" and a featurette called "Avatar, a Look Back" with new interviews with the cast and crew members. The legacy carry-over content includes the hour-and-a-half-long documentary titled "Capturing Avatar" and the hour-and-a-half worth of making-of featurettes. This set does not include the extended edition of the movies, the trailers, the stills gallery, the VFX featurettes, etc., contained in the original Extended Collector's Edition blu-ray release. If you own that set, you may want to hang onto it if you get this one.

The movie is very good. The story is based on the concepts of colonialism, imperialism, and the treatment of native populations throughout history. It also hammers the themes of environmental damage and corporate greed. It is well-written and well-acted, but the fantastic special effects are the main appeal. This movie took a leap similar to what The Matrix did back in 1999 in terms of special effects and integrating CGI effects into film, making the CGI characters and sets nearly indistinguishable from what was built practically. Even if you are not a huge fan of Sci-Fi, this is still worth watching. 

4kUHD/Movie Review: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Spoilers)

 

2001 is widely considered one of the most iconic Sci-Fi movies ever made. The 1968 movie was directed by Stanley Kubrick and adapted from the novel by Author C. Clarke (who wrote the screenplay for the movie with Kubrick). The movie stars Keir Duella, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, and Douglas Rain. The movie is set in 2001, in a much more technologically advanced future than we actually had in 2001 or even now. Duella stars as Dave Bowman, a scientist on the Discovery spacecraft which is bound for Jupiter. The ship is run by an artificially intelligent supercomputer called the HAL 9000 (voiced by Rain). The mission goes sideways and becomes (in part) a story of man versus machine.

This is an excellent movie, but it may not be entertaining for everyone. It touches on many different topics, including life's origin, artificial intelligence, and space exploration. There is not really any action in the movie. The closest thing to that is when Dave was trying to get back into the ship after HAL locked him out. It is very much a movie that requires you to think more than anything else. The idea that a computer goes bad and attacks humans would appear later in movies like The Terminator, but what made this version of that story work was how HAL interacted with the other characters. Ultimately, 2001 is an interesting, but not exactly exciting, movie. It is really a very long thought experiment, made by the only director that would ever be allowed to make it the way he did. As is the case with many, if not all, of Kubrick's movies people tend to either love it or hate it. It received a ton of bad reviews when it came out in 1968 for being too long and boring, with nothing happening for most of it. And to some extent, those are valid points. It is 2.5 hrs long, and there is no dialogue for the first half-hour or the last (give or take) half-hour of the movie. The first two minutes are a completely blank screen, it has an intermission, and there is (an approximately) 20-minute long vertigo-inducing light show toward the end of the movie.

Even with all that, the movie plays on concepts of the origin of life, god, alien life, technological advancement, human reliance on computers, and the possible dangers of artificial intelligence. All of this makes for ripe debate now 50 years past the movie's release. It is unique in the fact that it does not really try to provide any answers, or really set up all of the questions that it is posing all that well. It is not a movie that you can really have on in the background and follow everything, yet there are parts where you can completely ignore it and not miss anything.

The 4k set is a three-disc set. The movie looks great in 4k UHD format. On the UHD disc, you just get the movie, with or without the option of playing the commentary track with actors Gary Lockwood and Kier Dullea. It is hard to tell exactly how great the restoration is until you see the low-definition clips from the movie on the special features disc (which is a separate blu-ray). While it does not look as good as some of the new movies do in 4k, given that it is now over 50 years old, it looks as good as it will ever look in any format unless it gets an extensive restoration. That said, the A/V transfer was of good quality and it is a step up from the DVD and the initial blu-ray releases. There is also a regular blu-ray disc with just the movie itself on it.

There are about 2 hrs worth of extras, some of which were documentaries shot in the 2000s which discussed the movie's impact on all the sci-fi movies that came after it, and how it was a giant in the world of practical special effects. There was also some behind-the-scenes material shot while the movie was being made, a documentary from back when it was being filmed about how the filmmakers and NASA were working together to make it as authentic as possible, and for me, the most interesting, how they thought technology and the space program would be in 2001 as opposed to what reality has been. They got some very close (like the tablet devices on the ship that look a lot like iPads do today) and other things that were way off about (like permanent bases on the moon, and space flight being as normal as flying in an airplane). There is also an almost hour and twenty-minute long audio interview with Kubrick done in 1966).

Overall, I cannot say that this is a movie that everyone will enjoy. Chances are, however, anyone who is considering this has already seen the movie and is a fan. I would say, that it is a good idea to also get 2010 which was the sequel that was made in 1985 which not only concluded the story but also helped make the story in 2001 make more sense than it does upon first viewing. It is also, in my opinion, a more entertaining movie than this one, because it is less thought experiment and more drama. Even though I do like 2010 better, this one is still one of my must-watch movies.

4k-UHD Box Set Review: The Dark Knight Trilogy

 

This is, as most probably know, the trilogy of Batman movies (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises) that were written and directed by Christopher Nolan, and starred Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Batman Begins (released in 2005) represented the resurrection of Batman in live-action movies after the turd that was Batman and Robin had pretty much killed it off in 1999, and arguably set the stage for the success that superhero movies have had to this day, including the MCU movies because Nolan (and the studio) wanted to make a serious movie that was grounded in some kind of reality. The Dark Knight (released in 2008) is best known for the masterful performance of Heath Ledger playing The Joker, and The Dark Knight Rises (released in 2012) was a good conclusion of the story. The movies have a strong supporting cast including Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Ken Wanatabe, Anne Hathaway, Katie Homles, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhall, Mathew Modine, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, and Joseph Gordon Levitt (among others). 

In this set, each of the movies is packaged in individual cases within a decorative outer box. Each movie is a three-disc set with a 4k UHD disc and two regular blu-ray discs. The UHD discs just have the movies themselves, and then one of the regular blu-rays has the movie (which can be played with an in-movie experience that pops up facts about the movie throughout) and the second regular blu-ray disc just has special features. For each movie, you get 2-3 hours of bonus content with a lot of behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes that include interviews with members of the cast and crew, as well as featurettes on some aspect of the overall Batman mythology, and trailers. The A/V quality of the UHD discs is awesome, especially for the scenes filmed in IMAX for the second and third movies, and are reference quality, especially if you have a large screen and a great sound system to watch it on.

Overall, the movies are great. They are, arguably, the best of Batman in live-action. I liked that they set the movies in the "real world" and made his gadgets have some grounding in reality so it looked and felt like the things in the movie could happen in real life. In my opinion, Bale, at least up to that point had done the best job playing both characters (Bruce and Batman) in live-action and being believable in both roles. I think Michael Keaton was a great Bruce Wayne, but was not as believable as Batman. I think Kilmer played a good Bruce Wayne and a good Batman, but he was not as good as Keaton or Bale as Bruce and not as good as Bale as Batman. And Clooney was not great in either role. I think the A/V quality of the UHD presentation is good enough that it warrants the upgrade even if you already own the movies on blu-ray. I definitely recommend this set.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

 

This is the third and final movie in the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy starring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman. The film is set eight years after the events of The Dark Knight with Gotham being mostly crime-free and Bruce Wayne holding up as a recluse in Wayne Manor while Batman is vilified for killing Harvey Dent. Dent is still being held out as a hero, and the law passed in his name allowed the police to keep all the criminals he prosecuted locked up. When a new threat to Gotham emerges, in the form of a mercenary named Bane (played by Tom Hardy) who was excommunicated from The League of Shadows, Bruce must bring Batman back to try and save the city.

The 4k-UHD version is a three-disc set. The UHD disc just has the movie itself, and then there are two regular blu-ray discs, one with the film and one with most of the extras. The regular blu-ray with the movie on it does have a second-screen experience that allows you to watch the movie with exclusive content that pops up as the movie plays. The bonus disc has about two hours worth of behind-the-scenes and making-of material, and an hour-long featurette on the Batmobile, basically discussing its evolution during the comics and the various live-action versions. It included interviews with Adam West and the creator of the Batmobile from the 1960s TV show, as well as Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher, and the crew members who designed the cars for the pre-Nolan movies, and then extensive interviews with the design team from the Nolan movies. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is wonderful, especially during the Imax sequences that are scattered throughout the movie. 

Overall, this is a fine end to the Nolan Trilogy, which absolutely revived the live-action Batman franchise and arguably paved the way for the boom of superhero movies that would follow 2005's Batman Begins. The main supporting characters/actors (Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman) were all brought back, and the additions to the cast were, of course, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway playing Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Joseph Gordon Levitt who is a GCPD member, as well as Ben Mendelsohn (from Rouge One), Marion Cotillard, Adien Gillian (from Game of Thrones), and 80s star Matthew Modine. And, Cillian Murphy makes yet another appearance as Dr. Crane. Some of the supporting character's roles are definitely larger than others. Hathaway does a great job as Selina Kyle, although playing a much different version of the character than any of the other live-action versions of her, and Hardy is very good as Bane, especially having to act through a mask through 99% of his scenes. There were rumors that the original plan was also to work Joker into the third movie, however, after Heath Ledger's death, that role was never going to be recast, and they did not even use archival footage or deleted footage from the second movie of Joker in this one. While I still think that the second movie, The Dark Knight, is the best in the trilogy, this is a worthy follow-up and definitely worth watching.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: The Dark Knight

 

This is, of course, the second movie in the Christopher Nolan directed and Christian Bale led live-action Batman trilogy which not only revived the live-action Batman franchise from near death, but arguably paved the way for the historic run of superhero movies that is still going strong today. The fact that Nolan took these movies seriously, coupled with the fact that the first Iron Man movie (which came out the same year as this) was so well done really took superhero movies out of the "cult following" that had been the majority of their fanbase and opened the genre up to wider appeal.

This movie is set about a year after the events of Batman Begins with Batman having terrorized the city criminals and inspired lackluster (to say the least) copycat vigilantes. Gordon (played again by Gary Oldman) is now the head of the major crimes unit (cleverly nicknamed MCU) which is trying to take down the mob and "capture" Batman. Joker (played brilliantly by Heath Ledger) offers his services to the mob to kill Batman and get the heat off of them put on by Gordon and new Gotham District Attorney, Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart). Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman also reprise their roles as Alfred Pennyworth and Lucius Fox, and Eric Roberts joins the cast as mobster Sal Maroni.

Aside from Ledger's casting, which was controversial when it was announced, the other big casting change from the first movie was replacing Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes with Maggie Gyllenhaal. At the time, it was speculated the Holmes' marriage to Tom Cruise and participation in Scientology was the reason, but Nolan has gone on record saying that she was simply not available to do the sequel. Whatever the reason, while I personally would have preferred for Holmes to return (mainly because I am not a fan of recasting).Gyllenhaal does a good job with the role. 

This set has three discs, the 4K-UHD disc that has just the movie itself, a regular blu-ray disc with just the movie, and a second blu-ray disc with most of the special features. The regular blu-ray disc does include a making-of documentary called Gotham Uncovered, and the movie can be played with a picture-in-picture option that includes some of the material from the Gotham Uncovered documentary. The rest of the features are on the second blu-ray disc and include a featurette on Batman's tech, the psychology of Batman, a series of Gotham Tonight episodes, hosted in-character by Anthony Michael Hall's character from the movie and featuring some of the other cast members, and the trailers, and a gallery of the different Joker cards.

Overall, the movie is great. One of the best superhero movies of all time in my opinion. While Ledger was only in the movie for a minimal amount of screen time (all totaled), he dominated pretty much every scene he was in, and his appearances were spaced out well so it seemed like he was in the movie much more than he was. The only thing I would have done differently is [SPOILERS AHEAD] kept Two-Face for the next movie. Maybe make him disappear and then exact revenge in the third movie instead of killing him off after only four scenes. From what I had read, the plan was originally to bring Joker back for the third movie in some capacity. Of course, Ledger's death shortly after filing wrapped made that impossible and by that point, the movie was finished and it would have been too expensive to go back and totally change the ending.

Regardless, the movie is great and the A/V quality of the UHD disc, especially in the IMAX scenes is wonderful.  It is definitely worth the upgrade to the 4k blu-ray. 

4k-UHD Review- Batman Begins

 

Batman Begins was the 2005 reboot of the live-action Batman franchise which had mostly been killed off by the hot garbage of a movie that was Batman and Robin. This movie was co-written and directed by Christopher Nolan who, at the time, was best known for movies like Memento and Insomnia. It starred Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne, Michael Caine as Alfred, Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon (who was a Sergent at the time), and Morgan Freeman as Lucious Fox. It included a supporting cast of Katie Holmes, Liam Neeson, Rutger Hauer, Tom Wilkinson, and two who would become Nolan regulars, Ken Watanabe and Cillian Murphy.

The movie was another origin story for the character of Batman, but unlike other adaptations in which the murder of Bruce's parents is shown and then there is a time jump to him being established as Batman, this movie shows the process of Bruce becoming Batman, and what he had to do to get to that point, including training with the League of Shadows, a society of assassins who practice ninjutsu and want to restore law and order to the world. Then the movie shows Bruce returning to Gotham to take on the criminal underworld (mainly Tom Wilkinson's Carmine Falcone) that has taken over the city.

The 4k-UHD set is a three-disc set. There is the UHD disc that just has the movie, a regular blu-ray disc that also just has the movie on it, and then a second blu-ray disc that has all of the special features. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is very good, near reference quality, and definitely an upgrade from the original 1080p release. There are well over two hours worth of bonus content on the third disc, including several making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes, which detail nearly every part of the filmmaking process from the creation of the new Batmobile to the stunt training. The first six-minute opening sequence of the second movie in the trilogy, The Dark Knight is also included, as is the theatrical trailer for Batman Begins.

Overall, the movie is great. It is much better than the Joel Schumacher-helmed movies, and very much on par quality-wise with, but much different than Tim Burton's movies. Nolan grounds the movie in reality as much as he can, making Gotham look like a real city and using as few CGI effects as he possibly can. Bale, as much as he can be a jackass in real-life at times and seems to take himself way too seriously, does a great job both as Bruce Wayne and as Batman. He absolutely threw himself into the role (as he does for all his movies), and was really the first actor that I think nailed both roles in live-action. Katie Holmes was very good as Rachel Dawes, Bruce's childhood friend turned assistant District Attorney who was one of the few officials in Gotham who was not corrupt, and Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman were great in their respective roles. So, if you are a fan of Batman it is a must-see movie, and the 4k disc is definitely worth the upgrade. 

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Jumanji - Welcome to the Jungle

 

This is the 2017 movie that is mostly a reboot and quasi-sequel to the 1995 movie, Jumanji, which starred Robin Williams. This version starts out with almost a vibe of the movie The Breakfast Club with four high school students named Spencer (played by Alex Wolff) who is a gaming and science nerd, Fridge (played by Ser'Darius Blain) who is a football star, Bethany (played by Madison Iseman), a self-absorbed hot chick, and Martha (played by Morgan Turner), an introverted loner, are assigned detention and forced to clean the school basement. They find an old video game that sucks them into the game when it boots up, with the twist being that they inhabit the bodies of the game characters, and find out they each have three lives with which to finish the game. Spencer becomes the leader Smolder Bravestone, (played by The Rock), Fridge becomes Smolder's sidekick, Mouse (played by Kevin Hart), Martha becomes Ruby Roundhouse (played by Karen Gillian), and Bethany becomes the cartographer played by Jack Black. 

The movie is about the video game characters playing people who are totally opposite themselves, so the Rock is a sickly nerd who suddenly becomes a 6'5" musclebound tank, Karen Gillian plays an introvert who basically becomes Laura Croft (inappropriate jungle attire included), Kevin Hart plays a football player turned into a 5'3" loudmouth, and Jack Black has to play a hot high school girl turned overweight middle-aged man. The movie is a good blend of action and comedy, and the cast all play off each other very well. There are some very funny moments, including Karen Gillian commenting on the short shorts she is wearing and Kevin Hart's character's inability to eat cake. There are some tie-ins with the original movie, including paying homage to Robin William's character from the original movie. The movie has to walk a fine line between honoring the original with doing its own thing, which it does well. 

For those who get the 4k set, the UHD disc just has the movie and then all of the extras are included on the regular blu-ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is very good, but it is not what I would call far beyond the a/v quality of the regular blu-ray disc. Both are pretty comparable. The extras include a gag reel, a music video by Nick Jonas (who has a role in the movie), and a handful of making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes that vary in length from about four minutes to just under fifteen minutes. All totaled there are about 40 minutes, give or take, worth of extras if you like going through them.

Overall, the movie is very good. As I said above, it has a good blend of action and comedy, and all of the actors fit their roles very well. The Rock, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillian, and Jack Black all play their parts perfectly, and each of their characters get their moments to shine during the movie. It is definitely a more "adult" movie than the 1995 movie was and does include swearing and sex jokes. So, be aware that it is not as family-friendly as the original movie. That said, it is definitely worth watching. 

4k-UHD/Movie Review: American Assassin

 

This is a 2017 film based (very loosely) on the series of spy novels written by the late author, Vince Flynn, centered on the character of Mitch Rapp (played in the movie by Dylan O'Brien). The book series started out with the novel Transfer of Power, which was actually Flynn's second novel, but the first to feature the character of Rapp. In that book, Rapp was a 31-year-old off-the-books CIA agent who hunted down terrorists in the prime of his career as a spy/assassin (think Jack Bauer in the series 24). After writing about 11 novels set around the older Rapp, Flynn wrote two prequel novels, "American Assassin" and "Kill Shot", which basically filled in Rapp's origin story. 

This movie is loosely based on the novel American Assassin (and to some extent Kill Shot) but changes elements of the story significantly (such as how Rapp's college girlfriend is killed which set him on his path to the CIA). Some elements from the book do make it into the movie, but it basically tells its own story (largely involving a rouge agent). While the movie does include character traits and heavily adapted plot elements from the books, it does not use the actual storylines from either of the books as Vince Flynn wrote them. 

For those who get the 4k disc, the A/V quality of the UHD disc is very good, and all of the extras are included on the UHD disc, although you do get a regular blu-ray disc as well. The extras include a making-of featurette that runs about 10 minutes, a featurette on casting O'Brien as Rapp, a featurette on the character of Stan Hurley (played by Michael Keaton), and a featurette on the main antagonist. Then there is a featurette on the stunts from the film, and one on the locations in which the movie was shot. Finally, there is a Q&A session with O'Brien and Taylor Kitsch, that runs almost a half an hour (and is the longest of the extras). All totaled, you get about just under 90 minutes of bonus material.

This is a good action movie, but it is definitely better if you have not read the books and are not already invested in the characters. I had not yet read the books when I saw the movie, but now that I have started reading them, I can definitely tell why some fans really felt that the movie did not do enough to hold true to the books. I remember Flynn being interviewed when he was negotiating the movie rights before he passed away and basically admitting that he would have to give up control of the story and that if the characters made it to the big screen, the stories would be a lot different than what he wrote. That is absolutely what happened and I think if the movie would have been more faithful to the book, and been set in the late 1980s, it would have been better received by the fans. That said, I think O'Brien did a very good job as a young Mitch Rapp, and Michael Keaton was great as Stan Hurley. Since the movie pretty much bombed in its theatrical release, the chances of there being a follow-up movie or a franchise of movies are pretty slim, but as a stand-alone action movie, it is definitely worth watching if you can accept that you are not going to get the story from the book.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Blade Runner 2049

 

This is the 2017 long-awaited sequel to the (now) iconic 1984 film Blade Runner, which starred Harrison Ford a Deckard, a Blade Runner who hunted down and retried Artificially Intelligent Androids called Replicants. Of course, that movie ended with Deckard falling in love with, and escaping with the replicant Rachael (played by Sean Young). This movie is set 30 years after the original movie. We find out that the Tyrell Corporation has been taken over and is now the Wallace Corporation, run by Niander Wallace (played by Jared Leto). The corporation still makes replicants and has basically turned them into slaves, and the Earth has become a dystopian nightmare, in large part due to an electromagnetic pulse that wiped everything out in 2022. Most humans now live on the colonies that were promoted in the original movie. Ryan Gossling plays K, the most advanced replicant (a Nexus-9 Replicant) who is a Blade Runner that hunts down and retires rogue replicants. In the process of retiring a replicant at the beginning of the movie, he discovers evidence that replicants can reproduce biologically, and this leads him, through a series of events, to finding Deckard (again played by Ford). I will not spoil the movie for those who have not seen it, but if you have seen the original movies, similar themes play out in this movie that did in the first one.

For those who get the 4-k blu-ray, it is a two-disc set with a UHD disc just containing the movie and a regular blu-ray with the movie and the extras. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is top-notch, pretty much what I would call reference quality. There are, of course, a lot of CGI effects in the movie, and everything looks seamless so, if not for flying cars and the like, it would be hard to tell what is real and what is not. The extras include two longer featurettes, one 17 minutes and one about 22 minutes, that focus on casting and the look of the new movie. Then there are a series of prologues which are prequel shorts to the movie that provides some backstory. The longest is just over 15 minutes and the other two are around 6 minutes. Then there are a series of short featurettes that total 11 minutes and can be played all at once, which cover different aspects of the Blade Runner world. Then there is a trailer for the game that was released around the same time as the movie. All in all, the extras total about an hour and twenty minutes, give or take. 

Overall, the movie is very good. The original movie, which was directed by Ridley Scott is widely considered one of the best Sci-Fi movies of all time, if not the best, so this had large shoes to fill. The writers did a good job incorporating parts of the story from the original film into a new, updated movie, and made it work. The cast is very strong and includes Robin Wright,  (in her first major role in the US), and Dave Bautista. The movie even finds a way to incorporate Sean Young's character (using a similar kind of CGI and real actor blend that was used in Rouge One) from the first movie without her appearing in person (although she is still credited as appearing as Rachael). Like the first movie, it is hard to classify what genre this is. It is a movie that has a lot of action, but it is not really an action movie per-se. It is a mix of action, drama, philosophy, and thought experiment all rolled into one. The acting is top-notch with Gossling doing a great job taking over the leading role, and Ford steps back into the role of Deckard well. It is a worthy follow-up to the first movie and is definitely worth watching. 

4k-UHD/Movie Review: It - Chapter 1

 

This is the updated 2017 live-action adaptation of Stephen King's novel, It, directed by Andy Muschietti. The movie is subtitled Chapter 1, as it is the first of two movies one which will focus on the members of the "Loser's Club" as kids, and the second one which focuses on them as adults (much like what was done in the 1990s miniseries. This, as you would expect, is the movie that tells the story of the heroes as kids. 

The movie stars Jaeden Lieberher as the main protagonist Bill Denbrough, whose brother Georgie is killed by a monster at the beginning of the movie, setting Bill on a quest for revenge, and Bill Skarsgard as It/Pennywise, the ancient evil that terrorizes the town of Derry Maine every 27 years. The rest of the main cast includes Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Nicholas Hamilton. 

There are several differences between the movie and the book, one of the main differences being that the Children's part of the story is set in the late 1980s as opposed to the 1950s. Also, the book jumps back and forth between the story with the group as kids and as adults, which makes it very hard to follow, so the movie is much more streamlined in the storytelling. And, even by splitting the story into two movies, they could not include every element that was included in the book, so there are parts of the story that the movie takes out. The book has a lot of exposition and backstory that is honestly not needed in the movie, so I do not think anything that is left out of the movie is really missed. And, the movie does change the most controversial part of the book from something that could never be filmed to something that could.

For those who get the 4K set, there are two discs, the UHD disc with just the movie itself, and the regular blu-ray which has the movie and the extra. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is fine, but not great. The movie was shot in 2k, so it is upscaled to 4k, and honestly does not look much different than the video quality of the regular blu-ray. The extras include trailers, about 15 minutes of deleted scenes, and three different behind-the-scenes featurettes, one on Pennywise, one on the cast of kids, and then one in which Stephen King is interviewed about this latest adaptation of the book.

Overall, the movie is very good. It is scarier than I remember the mini-series being, but that makes sense given that this is a movie and the mini-series aired on broadcast television. It is still not overly gory, but it does get a bit gory toward the end. Still, it is more of a psychological thriller than a blood-and-guts horror movie. The acting is very good, which given the cast was made up of young, mostly unknown actors (Finn Wolfhard was probably the most well-known of the child actors), is kind of surprising. Bill Skarsgard is great as Pennywise, who is definitely the main attraction. He can switch from innocent, to creepy, to scary at the drop of a hat. Even if you are not a huge fan of the book, this is still worth watching, as it is one of the few times where I have found a movie to be better and more entertaining than the book. It is definitely a must-watch if you like horror movies.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle

 

This is the 2017 sequel to the 2014 film Kingsman: The Secret Service. At the beginning of the movie, The Kingsman are attacked and information from their computer database is passed along to the head of the world's largest drug cartel called The Golden Circle, led by Poppy Adams (played by Julianne Moore). Eggsy (Taron Egerton) and Merlin (Mark Strong) end up in America, at the American equivalent of the Kingsman, run out of a Bourbon Whiskey distillery, whose agents are named after beverages like Whiskey, Tequila, Ginger Ale, Jack Daniels, Champagne, etc. The two groups must team up to defeat the Golden Circle and save Elton John (playing himself) who has been kidnapped by Poppy. Like the first movie, this one involves a larger plan that threatens millions of people and is a part of a vast conspiracy. 

The 4k set is a two-disc set. The UHD disc just has the movie and the regular blu-ray has the movie and the extras that are included. Those include a nearly two-hour-long, five-part making-of documentary, a featurette on the opening car chase, concept art, a stills gallery, and the trailers. So, there is quite a bit there if you like watching the extras. And, the A/V quality of the UHD disc is great, with near-reference-quality audio and video transfers. 

Chances are, if you liked the first movie, you will probably like this one. It has a very similar tone and style as the first movie. It is very violent but in an over-the-top almost tongue-in-cheek way. There is a ton of action and a bit of humor mixed in. The additions to the cast include Hallie Berry, Pedro Pascal, Channing Tatum, and Jeff Bridges, all of whom do a great job in their roles, as does all of the returning cast. While you do not have to have seen the first movie to really follow the story in this one, having the character development from the first movie does help. If you have seen the first movie and did not like it then you are probably not going to like this one. But, if you are a fan of action movies and do not mind violence, swearing, and some sexual innuendo, then this is worth checking out.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: mother!

 

mother! is a very eclectic (to put it mildly) movie that was written and directed by Darren Aronofsky (who also directed films like Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream, and The Fountain), and stars Jennifer Lawrence as mother, who is the wife of and muse for a famous poet named Him (played by Javier Bardem) who has writer's block. It is hard to review the plot of the movie, first, because it is all over the place, and second because it is hard to do so without giving too much away. The best way to describe it is that it is a psychological thriller that is an allegory for biblical destruction with characters that clearly represent Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, etc. If you are not a fan of Aronofsky's movies, especially the more offbeat ones that have almost supernatural elements to them, then you will absolutely not like this movie. The movie kind of takes the craziest kind of stuff from Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream and combines that with the supernatural elements of The Fountain. 

The A/V quality of the UHD disc is outstanding. The movie looks and sounds great in the format, and the visuals really tie into the general weirdness of the movie. The UHD disc just has the movie itself, and then all of the other extras are on a second, regular, blu-ray disc. The extras include a 30-minute making-of featurette and a 7-minute featurette on the visual effects. There are also a handful of trailers that play as the disc loads.

The movie is good overall, but very strange. It is definitely not going to appeal to everyone, even people who generally like psychological thrillers. Lawrence and Bardem are very good in roles that are pretty different from what either of them has done (especially Lawrence). It also has a strong supporting cast including Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall and Brian Gleeson, and Kristen Wiig. I would not say it is family-friendly because it can be a bit gory and does have some nudity and swearing. 

4k-UHD/Movie Review: The Dark Tower

 

This is apparently a very loose and condensed adaptation of Stephen King's Dark Tower series of novels. The story is set partly in the real world (specifically, modern-day New York City) and partly in a world called Mid-World, an old-west-style parallel universe in which a gunslinger named Roland Deschain (played by Idris Elba) is trying to protect the titular Dark Tower from The Man in Black, Walter Padick (played by Matthew McConaughey). In the real world, a young boy named Jake Chambers (played by Tom Taylor) has visions of Roland and The Man in Black in Mid-World and finds a portal to Mid-World. The Man in Black wants to capture Jake in order to take his psychic power (called Shine) to destroy The Dark Tower. Then, a kind of cliched good versus evil story plays out both in New York and Mid-World.

For those who get the 4k set, as is usually the case, the UHD disc just has the movie and then the rest of the bonus features are on a second, regular, blu-ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is outstanding. Pretty much what I would describe as reference quality video with visuals that really pop. There are a handful of extras on the regular blu-ray disc including a gag reel, deleted scenes, a couple of featurettes about adapting the books to the movie, character profiles on Roland and The Man in Black, and trailers for other Sony movies. All totaled, the bonus features run about an hour, give or take.

The movie is good, but not great. I think it is probably better if you have not read the books because from what I have read, the movie is a very watered-down version of the story from the books. I have not read the books, but it seems like the main complaints are that the movie removes a lot of violence, which was done to get a PG-13 rating, and that the movie tells a pretty basic, non-nuanced story. Elba does a good job playing the character of Roland as a reluctant hero (not quite an anti-hero) and McConaughey does a good job as the bad guy of the movie. It is what I would classify as a decent action movie, but the story really should have been a series (even just a limited event series with 10, hour-long episodes) so that the entire story could be told and should have been done without being watered down. I think most people who are huge fans of the books will probably not like the movie adaptation. I think most people who are a fan of action movies, but who have not read the books, will probably like it more.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Atomic Blonde

 

Atomic Blonde is a spy thriller starring Charlize Theron and James McAvoy. The movie is set in Berlin, in 1989 on the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall, when every spy in the city is at risk of being when an MI6 agent is killed by a KGB agent and a list of every agent operating in the city is stolen. Theron plays Lorraine Broughton, a high-ranking MI6 field agent, and McAvoy plays MI6's Berlin station chief. The plot of the movie is about agents from various spy agencies, including MI6, the CIA, KGB, and the French intelligence service trying to track down the list, but that is mainly filler between the fight scenes. The movie is based on a graphic novel and the violence is definitely very over-the-top as it tends to be in many of the film adaptations of graphic novels.  There is also some sexual content, including a sex scene between Theron and Sofia Boutella. 

For those who get the 4k set, as usual, you get a UHD disc and a regular blu-ray disc. The A/V quality of the 4k disc is very good, although neither is what real A/V wonks would call reference quality. The only extra on the UHD disc is a commentary track on the movie by the director and the editor. The rest of the bonus content is on the regular blu-ray, and those include deleted and extended scenes totaling about seven minutes, a handful of making-of featurettes that total about twenty-two minutes with the shortest being about four minutes and the longest being just under eight minutes. Then there is a short storyboard sequence for a couple of the action scenes.

The movie is a good action spy thriller. Theron has proven she has the chops for action movies multiple times over the course of her career, but the fact that she can pull off an action lead in her 40s and do as well as she did in her early 30s is impressive. The movie is definitely not appropriate for young kids as it has a lot of violence, swearing, and sexual content. But otherwise, if you are in the mood for a good action movie that you do not have to pay constant attention to in order to follow what is going on, this is a good one.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Spiderman Homecoming

 

Homecoming is the newest incarnation of Spiderman in the Marvel universe. Of course, the first live-action version of the character was played by Toby McGuire back in 2002 and arguably jumpstarted the superhero movie genre which had been on life support since Batman and Robin flopped in 1999. This version of Peter Parker/Spiderman, played by Tom Holland, was actually introduced during Captain America Civil War, fighting on the Iron Man side. This movie is mostly set after the events of Civil War, with Peter Parker going back to life as a high-school student, still being mentored by Stark (mostly from afar), and being watched over by Happy Hogan (played again by Jon Favreau). The movie also has ties to the first Avengers movie with the Chitauri technology playing a large role in the plot of the movie. Peter becomes more concerned with fighting crime than he is with school, which does not always work out well for him. The movie also sees the return of Michael Keaton to the superhero genre, this time in a much different role. The rest of the cast is very strong and includes Zendeya, Jacob Batalon, Donald Glover, and Marissa Tomei, as Aunt May.

For those who get the 4k-UHD set, there are two discs, the UHD disc, and a regular blu-ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is great, and the movie looks and sounds wonderful in the format. The UHD disc has one extra, the Spidey Study Guide, that allows the movie to be played with pop-ups that have trivia and facts about the movie. The rest of the extras are on the regular blu-ray disc. Those include a short gag reel, about 16 minutes of deleted and extended scenes, eight different making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes that run about 45 minutes, give or take, all totaled, a photo gallery, the movie trailer, and trailers for other Sony titles.

Overall, the movie is very good. It has a nice blend of action and humor and is a bit more light-hearted than some of the other MCU movies. Of course, Sony actually owns the rights to the Spiderman character (because of some licensing deal made years ago) and they allow the character to appear in the MCU. Holland does a great job as the lead, and you can buy him as a teenager even though he was in his early 20s when the movie was made. Robert Downey Jr. is always entertaining as Tony Stark (especially when he was hitting on Aunt May), and both Batalon (playing Peter's best friend, Ned) and Zendaya (playing Michelle/MJ) were great in the younger roles. For me, however, Keaton really stole the show and seemed to really be enjoying his return to the superhero genre. It is a great movie that is definitely worth checking out.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Baywatch

 

Baywatch is a 2017 movie that partly pays homage to and partly spoofs the long-running 1990s TV show of the same name. The movie stars Dwyane Johnson (a.k.a. The Rock) as Mitch Buchannon, the leader of a team of lifeguards in Emerald Bay that includes veterans Stephanie Holden (played by Ilfenesh Hadera) and C.J. Parker (played by Kelly Rohrbach, taking over the role played by Pamela Anderson in the show). The team holds tryouts for three open positions, that ultimately are filled with characters played by Alexandra Daddario, John Bass (who is pretty much the comic relief of the movie), and Zach Efron, who plays a former Olympic swimmer named Matt Brody, and is the butt of Mitch's constant jokes.

The plot of the movie involves the team having to solve a murder that involves a wider criminal plot. The other cast members include Priyanka Chopra, Rob Huebel, Hannibal Buress, and Oscar Nunez, and does have cameo appearances by Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff. You can watch the rated/theatrical version or the unrated/extended edition (which does not really add much to the story, just has a few more jokes.

For those who get the 4k set, there are two discs, a UHD disc, which just includes the movie, and a regular blu-ray disc with the movie and the bonus material. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is outstanding. Both the picture and sound are great, especially if you have a large screen and a decent sound system. There are a handful of extras which include a 21-minute feature on the various characters, a 10-minute feature on a look at the show's legacy and how the movie tried to pay homage to that, a 10-minute feature on the stunts, and then about 10 minutes of deleted and extended scenes.

The movie is basically an action-comedy, with the comedy being on the more raunchy side. So, it is definitely not a movie that will appeal to everyone. It has a bunch of ridiculously good-looking people in it, which is really the main attraction. It is definitely not an award-winner by any stretch of the imagination. But, if you take it for what it is, and do not expect it to be more than what it is, it is enjoyable. 

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Fate of the Furious (F8)

 

The Fate of the Furious is the 8th movie in the "Fast" franchise. The plots of the movies have become crazier and more unrealistic over the course of time, and yes, this movie follows that trend (in this movie a missile is punched by The Rock) and you just have to go with it. If you cannot suspend your disbelief, these movies are not for you as the action sequences, which are fun, could never be pulled off in real life.

This movie sees Dom (Vin Diesel) as the bad guy, seemingly turning his back on the team/family. Of course, not everything is as it seems, as there is a larger plot that plays out throughout the course of the movie. The action sequences are crazy and there is some humor mixed in (including Hobbs and Shaw having to protect a baby while kicking ass). This is the movie that really set the stage for the Hobbs and Shaw spinoff as there are several entertaining sequences that include Jason Statham and The Rock. For the most part, the rest of the main cast returns, including Ludacris, Tyrese, Michelle Rodriguez, and Nathalie Emmanuel. Jordana Brewster does not return as her character, Mia, was written out to be off with Brian who retired after Paul Walker passed away. Kurt Russell reprises his role as Mr. Nobody, and the new cast members include Scott Eastwood and Charlize Theron. 

The 4k set is a two-disc set with just the movie itself on the UHD disc and the movie and all the extras on a regular blu-ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is very good. Probably a tick under "reference quality" video, but for anyone other than a total A/V wonk, it will be fine. The extras include an 8-minute featurette on shooting in Cuba, a four-part featurette about the main characters, a three-part featurette on the car racing culture, a three-part featurette on the stunts, and extended fight scenes. There is a director's commentary on the movie that is included both on the UHD disc and the regular blu-ray. All totaled, the bonus content runs about an hour, give or take. 

Ultimately, if you like the prior movies, you will probably like this one. If you do not like the prior movies, especially the movies after Tokyo Drift, then you will not like this one. It is totally unrealistic and over-the-top, but that is cooked into the series at this point. Charlize Theron is awesome in her role and definitely seemed to be having fun in this role. This was the movie in which the battle between The Rock and Vin Diesel came to a head, with The Rock refusing to do any more of the "main franchise" movies.  If you don't take it too seriously it is a good, fun, action movie.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Ghost In the Shell

 

Ghost in the Shell is a 2017 movie adaptation of an Anime film starring Scarlett Johansson. It was controversial for casting a white actress in the role of a Japanese character, in a movie clearly set in Japan. The movie is set in the near future in which humans are able to make cybernetic improvements to their bodies to give them better strength, vision, intelligence, etc. Basically, the more money a person has, the more that person can improve themself. The cybernetics can be hacked, which also makes the people who have them targets of cyber terrorists. Johansson stars as Mira Killian, a survivor of a terrorist attack whose body was damaged beyond repair, so her consciousness has been integrated into an artificial body called a "shell". She is a major in a counter-terrorism police force, and as the movie goes along, she uncovers a larger conspiracy after her team thwarts an attack on a business conference. 

For those who get the 4k set, the UHD disc just includes the movie and the handful of extras are on the second, regular blu-ray, disc. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is very good. The video transfer is not quite reference quality, but unless you are a major A/V wonk that nitpicks the video quality to death, it is not likely to bother you. The extras on the regular blu-ray include a half-hour-long making-of documentary, a featurette on Section 9, the counter-terrorism unit that Mira is a part of, and a featurette on the philosophy behind the story. So, if you like watching the bonus features, all totaled, you get just under an hour of material.

The movie is good, but not great. One can make easy comparisons to movies like The Matrix and Blade Runner, although this is not as good as either of those. It does tell a decent story, has a lot of action, and even tries to explain away why Johansson's character is not Japanese. I think Johansson did a good job in the lead role, and as a stand-alone action movie, it is entertaining. So, if you are a fan of the dystopian future genre, this is a good one to check out.