DVD.Movie Review: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny

 

Sword of Destiny is a sequel to the 2000 movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It stars Michelle Yeoh (who was the only cast member from the original film to return for the sequel), Donnie Yen, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Jason Scott Lee, Harry Shum Jr., Eugenia Yuan, Roger Yuan, JuJu Chan, Chris Pang, Woo Young Park, and Darryl Quon. The movie is set 18 years after the events of the first film. In the movie, we learn a bit more about Shu Lien's (Yeoh's character) past and the man to whom she was betrothed. There is another fight for, and an attempt to steal, the Green Destiny, which is still at the home of the recently deceased Ser Te, and then there are some weird side plots.

The DVD is clearly not an official release. It can be played in a variety of languages (defaulting to Chinese), with an English audio track also available. The movie was actually filmed in English, even though it was released in Hong Kong and China before being released in the US. Therefore, if you watch it with the English audio track, you won't have to sit through bad overdubbing. It is also captioned in a few different languages, including English, but the English captions do not even slightly match what the characters are saying in the English audio track. Even though the DVD menu indicates there are bonus features, there is no way to select "bonus" from the menu; you can only play the movie, navigate the scene selection, or choose the audio and captions. The A/V quality is only okay, and there are some really bad (and cheesy) CGI effects in a couple of scenes.

The movie is okay, but nowhere near as good as the original film. It appears that the script was written with the hope that Zhang Ziyi would reprise her character from the first movie, and then the script was slightly altered when she did not. It features some good action sequences, some of which pay homage to scenes from the first film. I think it would have been better as a straight sequel to the first movie, telling what happened to Jen after she jumped from the mountain, and what Shu Lien did after Li Mu Bai's death. Ultimately, it is not a must-watch, but if you liked the first movie, it is interesting to check out. 

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Luke Cage Season 1

 

The 13-episode first season of Luke Cage was released on Netflix in September of 2016. It was the third of the four Marvel Netflix series (including Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist) that exists within, but ancillary to, the Marvel Universe/MCU. It starred Mike Colter, Simone Missick, Theo Rossi, Alfre Woodard, Mahershala Ali, Frank Whaley, and Erik LaRay Harvey. Rosario Dawson also appears as her character, Claire, who was first introduced in Daredevil. Luke Cage (Colter) made his first appearance in season 1 of Jessica Jones (which is referenced throughout the series) as the owner of a bar. Now, he turns up in Harlem, working in a barber shop and as a dishwasher at a club owned by the local gangster (played by Mahershala Ali). It is partly an origin story for the character and part a fight to take down the local mob, corrupt cops, and politicians, with a bit of a Cane and Abel story and a lot of social commentary thrown in (yes, it does have a take on BLM for any snowflakes out there who cannot handle that). There is no direct tie-in from this storyline to what plays out in The Defenders (which will bring together all the characters from the Netflix shows like The Avengers), but it does end on a bit of a cliffhanger.

The show is well-written and acted. While Mike Colter does much of the heavy lifting, the rest of the cast comprises many great actors, some great character actors and others of more notability. It is a true ensemble cast, however, because when the show aired (and arguably even now), none were really A-list actors (although Mahershala Ali is getting close). While set in NY like the other Netflix shows, it tells its own story and has its own feel.

The Blu-Ray set is a four-disc set. The A/V quality is good, but the set is light on extras. It is a bit more than a MOD set, though, as it has a 22-minute roundtable discussion with some of the cast members with interview clips of the showrunners. It was not bad for what was included, but it was not a ton of material. If you are a fan of Daredevil and Jessica Jones, this is definitely worth checking out.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

 

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is the fifth and likely final installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Before the allegations made against Johnny Depp by  Amber Heard were exposed, it was hard to tell if the Pirates franchise would ever truly be over until Johnny Depp decided he did not want to do any more of them. It seems, however, that this will be the final movie. This one was released in 2017 and starred Depp, Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario, and Kevin McNally. The main focus of the story is the search for Poseidon's trident, which allows whoever wields it, power over the seas. Javier Bardem is the new "big bad", Captain Espinoza, who has a history with Jack Sparrow. Geoffrey Rush reprises his role as Barbosa, and many of the original supporting characters appear as well (e.g., Kevin McNally as Gibbs). Thwaites plays Henry Turner, the son of Will and Elizabeth, and Scodelario plays an astronomer (who is accused of being a witch) who is trying to find the trident to follow a map her father left for her. 

The 4K set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The movie looks and sounds great in the UHD format, and it is a reference-quality release. There are awesome visuals that are a mix of practical and CGI, and they really pop in the UHD format. The UHD disc has just the movie, and the regular Blu-ray disc has the extras. The extras include over an hour of making-of and behind-the-scenes material, a gag reel, deleted scenes, and a couple of previews. A pretty good amount, especially with less and less bonus material being put out with the physical discs these days.

Overall, I think the movie is good, even if it is derivative (at times) of parts of the other movies. Assuming this is the final movie in the series, it does a good job telling its own story while having callbacks to and essentially finishing the Will and Elizabeth story (both Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly have cameos in the film). The younger actor's roles were clearly meant to mirror, but not outright copy, the roles of Bloom and Knightley in the first movie. Depp can easily step back into what has become an iconic character without missing a beat. It would have been nice to incorporate Orlando Bloom into the movie more, as there was certainly a pretty easy way to do so, but from what I remember reading back when it was announced that the movie would be made, he was not really interested in more than a cameo role. While I do not think that the movie is as good as The Curse of The Black Pearl, I do think that it was on par with, or better than, the other sequels. I do think with a running time of just over two hours, it did not feel like the movie was dragging on too long. I definitely think it is worth checking out.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Aliens

 

Aliens is a 1986 Sci-Fi action/adventure/horror film written and directed by James Cameron as a sequel to the 1979 Ridley Scott film Alien. It stars Sigourney Weaver (reprising her role as Ripley from Alien), Carrie Henn, Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, Paul Reiser, Al Matthews, Mark Rolston, and William Hope. The movie is set 57 years after the events of Alien. At the beginning of the film, Ripley's spacecraft is discovered with her and Jones the cat still in stasis. We learn that the exomoon LV-426 has been colonized by a terraforming colony with no reports of hostile aliens. When Earth loses contact with the colony, Ripley is asked by a representative of the Weyland Corporation named Carter Burke (played by Reiser) to act as a consultant for a group of Marines sent to investigate the loss of communication. Once they arrive on the moon, they find the colony destroyed and evidence of an attack.

The 4k set is a three-disc set containing a UHD disc and two regular Blu-Rays. The UHD disc and one of the regular Blu-Rays just include the two versions of the movie (the theatrical edition and the 1990 remastered expanded edition). There are commentary tracks on each version of the movie by Cameron and members of the cast and crew. Some of the people providing commentary were recorded together, and some were recorded on their own, so the commentary jumps between conversations. The second regular Blu-Ray disc contains bonus features. The bonus disc has over four hours of extras. The most extensive is a three-hour-long making-of documentary (that can be watched in individual segments or in a play-all mode) that includes interviews with the cast and crew from the time the movie was being made, along with interviews made later on. There is also a discussion with Jim Cameron that was made very recently. Finally, there are some stills galleries, trailers, and TV spots.

Ultimately, the movie is very good, with a lot of action and suspense. The longer version of the film adds about 20 minutes of additional footage, mostly at the beginning of the movie before the team arrives on LV-426, which adds a bit more context for Ripley's motivations. The bonus content and commentary tracks provide a lot of interesting information, including the contentious filming process (Cameron, who has a reputation for being hard to work with anyway, butted heads with much of the initial crew that was forced upon him by Pinewood studio), how Weaver ended up getting a massive payday because she was not signed until after the script (which was centered around the Ripley character) was written, and how Cameron was only allowed to direct the movie after The Terminator was a hit. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is good. This movie looks grainier than many of Cameron's other 4k restorations because of how the movie was shot. Cameron notoriously hates film grain and uses a lot of digital noise reduction to make his older movies look like they were shot digitally with today's cameras, which some people hate. But because of the equipment they used to film Aliens, some of the grain is left in (although it is much less grainy than the VHS or original DVD release). Since CGI was not a thing back in 1986, in the UHD format, you can definitely tell when models or matte paintings were being used to create effects, and some of the effects do look a bit cheesy. Even so, the movie is still very enjoyable and well worth the time to watch.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Jurassic Word: Fallen Kingdom

 

Fallen Kingdom is the 2018 sequel to 2015's Jurassic World. It was written by Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow and directed by J.A. Boyona. The movie stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, reprising their roles from Jurassic World, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, Toby Jones, and Ted Levine. B.D. Wong and Jeff Goldblum also reprise their roles from the original trilogy. 

This is the second in the new trilogy, which is, of course, the sequel trilogy to the original Jurassic Park trilogy. This movie starts out with what is ostensibly a rescue mission because a volcano on Isla Nuba is going to erupt and kill all the dinosaurs. Of course, there is a question (which is where Jeff Goldblum makes his cameo return) about whether the dinosaurs on Isla Nuba should be saved or whether they should be allowed to go extinct again. As you would expect by now, things go sideways, and chaos ensues.

The 4k set is a two-disc set with a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The AV quality of the UHD disc is outstanding, especially if you have a big screen. The visuals from Hawaii are awesome, and the dinosaurs look better than they have in any of the movies, thanks to the CGI advancements. The dinosaurs in the movie are a mix of puppets built as models and CGI creations, but it is hard to tell the difference between the practical models and the CGI dinosaurs. The UHD disc contains the movies and all of the extras, which is great. The extras include several relatively short (about 5 minutes or so) behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes. All totaled, the extras add up to about an hour's worth of material.

Chances are, if you liked the first movie in the new group, you will like this one. If you thought they should have just left the franchise alone, then chances are you will still feel that way watching this one. All of the ethical questions from the previous movies, such as humans playing god, whether humans and dinosaurs can co-exist, etc, come back in this one. It is definitely an action movie, but it is also one that does try to make you think. In this one, more than in any of the other films (at least in my opinion) the dinosaurs are as much of, if not more, sympathetic characters as they are the scary monsters. If you are a fan of the franchise, this is worth watching.

 

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Master: Complete Series

 

The Master was an action-adventure series that aired during the 1984 TV season. It is what you get if you combine any of the 1980's procedural action series like A-Team, Greatest American Hero, Night Rider, etc., with the Cannon Ninja trilogy (which had a big cult following). It never gained traction as a show and was canceled after 13 episodes. I was pretty young when the series first aired, and I loved martial arts and all things ninja. I remember watching some of the episodes when they originally aired. As a kid, it was easy to overlook the cheesy and sometimes downright bad acting and writing. Watching it again as an adult, the horrible acting and writing are far more noticeable. If, however, you were a kid back in the early to mid-1980s, this is a nostalgic blast from the past.

The series starred Lee Van Cleef and Timothy Van Patten, with recurring appearances by the star of the Cannon Ninja trilogy (Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, and Ninja III: The Domination), Sho Kasugi. Van Cleef played John Peter McCallister, an aging Ninja Master returning to the United States to find his daughter. Kasugi plays his former student, Okasa, from Japan, who was out to kill him, and Van Patten plays Max Keller, who becomes his new student after the two meet in the mists of a bar fight. It is basically a story-of-the-week show where Keller and McCalister drive around the country looking for McCallister's daughter and eventually get involved in some local dust-up between (usually) a damsel in distress against the local bad guy(s). 

It does take a lot of suspension of disbelief on many levels to watch the show, including buying that either Van Cleef or Van Patten had anything close to martial arts skill (which you could see during the extreme close-ups during the fight scenes that they did not). Or, buying the fact that the McCallister character, who would walk around as himself in broad daylight beating up the bad guys, would need to change into his ninja uniform at night to beat up the same bad guys, with his same apprentice in tow (who was not in a ninja uniform). And even when he was in uniform he was always pulling his mask down, so there was never any real disguising who he was. And, of course, there was the carrying around tons of illegal weapons.

The Blu-Ray set is a three-disc set. The A/V transfer is okay but not wonderful. It is about as good a transfer as you would expect for an old 1980s TV show that was canceled halfway through its first season. The only extras included on the set are trailers for a handful of the Westerns that Van Cleef was known for throughout his career, as well as trailers for Enter the Ninja and Revenge of the Ninja, the two movies Kasugi had been in at that point.

I think most people who will get this are those who were kids in the 1980s and remember watching it back then. You will definitely not get it because of great writing or acting. Several very recognizable and good character actors and actresses were in the show. Also notable is that a very young Demi Moore had a guest-starring role in the pilot. Still, it was overall a pretty hokey and cheesy show. The pilot episode was even featured in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. The show's silliness is best exemplified by a scene in which one of the characters picks up a piece of uranium and sticks it in his pocket. Ultimately, if you watch it expecting it to be a fun blast from the past, it is enjoyable and even pretty funny. If you are expecting award-winning TV, you will be sorely disappointed.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Scorpion King

 

The Scorpion King is a 2002 action/adventure movie starring The Rock, Kelly Hu, Steven Brand, Bernard Hill, Peter Facinelli, and Michael Clarke Duncan. This was one of The Rock's early roles, in which he was a headliner (along with The Rundown). At this point, he had appeared as The Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns, but that amounted to basically a cameo role in live-action and then a very cheesy CGI monster role toward the end of the movie, so he was really not in it much. This, of course, is a prequel spin-off, telling the early story of how he became the king.

The movie is enjoyable as a part action, part comedy, with some drama thrown in there. It is not a great script, and The Rock is clearly still feeling out his acting chops here. It is, at its core, an action movie meant to capitalize on The Rock's athletic background. But it also shows that he had the ability to grow into a rather well-rounded actor that he has become, and while I doubt he will ever be winning an academy award for any role he will ever do, he has far eclipsed even Arnold when it comes to acting ability for an action star. The movie is supported by a number of good B-level character actors, including Michael Clark Duncan, Peter Facinelli, Grant Heslov, and Bernard Hill (in Leonardo DaVinci-like role). Steven Brand, an English stage actor plays Memnon the main antagonist of the movie, and Kelly Hu plays Cassandra a sorceress with the gift of foresight. While her role was key to the story, much of what she was there for was to look pretty and stand around in skimpy outfits.

The A/V quality of the Blu-Ray is good, especially given that the movie is a bit older and was on the edge of the DVD/Blu-Ray transition. There is little to nothing in the way of extras, just a commentary track on the film by the director, Russell Chuck. You have to know what you are getting from a film like this. Yes, it is a formulaic action movie, with a very basic plot. The acting was as good as you would expect for a film like this, but it was not Shakespeare by any means. But if you accept it for what it is, it is a good way to kill 90 min when you just want to watch a fun movie that does not require a lot of thought and has a bunch of good-looking people in it.

4K-UHD/Movie Review: The Abyss

 

The Abyss is a 1989 Sci-Fi/Adventure movie written and directed by James Cameron. It stars Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn, along with numerous recognizable character actors. The basic plot is that a top-secret nuclear submarine is hit with something akin to an electromagnetic pulse. The Soviets are moving toward the sub as a hurricane enters the area. The Navy sends a team of Seals to a Deep Core underwater oil rig (run by Harris' character Bud Brigman) that is located where the sub went down along with the designer of the oil rig, Lindsey Bergman (played by Mastrantonio), who is also Bud's estranged wife) to launch a mission to find the sub and try to recover the sub and find any survivors. As the movie goes along, the crew discovers that the sub was sunk by a race of aliens that have been living in the oceans, referred to in the movie as NTIs (short for Non-Terrestrial Intelligence). The Seals plan to use a nuke to attack the NTIs, which leads to a confrontation between the Seals and the crew of the rig.

The 4K set is a three-disc set with one UHD disc and two regular Blu-Ray discs. The UHD and the first Blu-Ray disc contain both versions of the movie: the two-hour and twenty-minute theatrical version and the two-hour and fifty-minute extended edition. The extended edition includes more of a US vs. Soviet Union storyline and a threat from the aliens to unleash mega-tsunamis against humans if they humans do not change their ways. Both versions of the movie look and sound great in the UHD format. Cameron's 4K remasters are the subject of much controversy as he prefers to remove the film grain and make the movies look like they were shot on today's digital cameras. Because of that, the movie does look like it could have been shot today, but some of the special effects look a bit cheesy because the limitations of late 1980s CGI are readily apparent in the UHD format. 

The third disc has special features, including a recent interview with Cameron in which he discusses the chaotic filing process that runs about 30 minutes, a featurette on the legacy of the movie that runs about 25 minutes, an hour-long making-of featurette that has archival behind the scenes footage and interviews with members of the cast and crew made in 1993, and a text and stills gallery divided into multiple chapters. The bonus material goes into just how crazy the filming of the movie was (almost the entire movie was shot in a huge water tank), with nearly all the scenes shot underwater. You can tell that most of the cast members hated the process but loved the story they were telling. Harris, who nearly drowned a couple different times filming the movie absolutely seemed to hate the process of making the movie but was proud of what they created.

Ultimately, while the movie is not perfect, it is very good, and the UHD release is wonderful. The movie has a great blend of action, drama, and suspense. You can see elements from many of Cameron's other movies, including Aliens (which was made before this one), Titanic, and Avatar (both of which were made after this one) in this movie. It is absolutely worth the time to watch and add to a physical media collection.  

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

 

On Stranger Tides is the fourth and probably final movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. It was directed by Rob Marshall and stars Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane, Geoffry Rush, Sam Claflin, Astrid Berges-Frisbey, and Kevin McNally. Depp, Rush, and McNally, of course, were reprising their roles as Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbossa, and Gibbs from the original trilogy.  This movie was obviously set up by the final couple of scenes of At World's End when the Fountain Of Youth story was teased. This picks up at some point after the end of the prior movie with Jack and Gibbs in London, running into Barbossa, who now works for the crown. They all end up in a race with Blackbeard and the Spanish to find the Fountain. Intertwined in the story is Penelope Cruz's character, who has a past with both Jack and Blackbeard. Much of the cast from the original trilogy is not present in this movie (including Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly). The main "supernatural" characters in this movie come in the form of mermaids, who appear about halfway in.

The movie has more of the darker tones from the second and third movies of the "main" trilogy, but does incorporate humor here and there, especially between Rush and Depp. While it does have some humorous and lighthearted moments, they are not as frequent as in The Curse of the Black Pearl. There are, of course, a lot of action sequences and CGI work. The CGI in the film looks great, but it does seem that they did what they could to build real sets, so not everything was computer-generated. There was probably more suggested sexual innuendo in this movie (although nothing overt) than in all the others. Thankfully, the running time was kept to just over 2hrs, and it did not feel like it was dragging like Dead Man's Chest and At World's End seemed to.

While the A/V quality of the Blu-Ray is great, this release is the lightest on extras of all of the physical media releases for the movies in the franchise. There is no separate disc with bonus features. Everything is included on the movie disc. The "big" extra is the ability to play the movie with the in-movie experience that pops up windows throughout the movie that allows you to get a deeper insight into the film. Then, there is a blooper reel, a few deleted scenes, and a few behind-the-scenes featurettes. If you are a big fan of all the Pirates movies, then this will be worth adding to your collection. If you fall into the camp where you liked the first movie and started to get sick of them by the third movie, then you are probably not going to like this enough to buy it. There is not a ton of character development throughout the film, save for the few new characters that show up, but it mostly relies on the assumption you know who everyone is. The story is good but not as good or fun as in Curse of the Black Pearl. If that is the only movie in the series you really liked, then you may want to limit yourself to just having this on in the background or skip it altogether. Ultimately, the story was okay but nothing to write home about and while the movie is entertaining, I would not say that it really needed to be made. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

 

At World's End is the 2007 entry into the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and was the final film in the original Pirates trilogy. The movie was directed by Gore Verbinski (who directed the first two movies) and brought back the main cast members, including Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly, and Orlando Bloom, and sees the return of Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa. This movie is set a few months after the events of Dead Man's Chest, with the group trying to find a way to rescue Jack from Davy Jones' Locker and then take down Lord Cutler Beckett and Davy Jones.

This seems to be the movie in the franchise that people either love or hate. I happen to be one of the (seemingly) few people in the middle. I do agree that the film is way too long. At just under 3 hrs, it takes much longer to get where it ultimately went than needed. That said, like all the movies, the visuals were stunning, the special effects even more seamless than in the first two movies, and the final battle between the Royal Navy, The Black Pearl, and the Flying Dutchman was awesome. Some of the humor of the first movie was sprinkled into this one, but on the whole, it had pretty much the same darker tone as Dead Man's Chest. Depp and Geoffrey Rush played off each other well, which provided most of the comedy.

The A/V quality of the movie on Blu-Ray is again outstanding. The extras are similar to what was included for the others. There are lots of making-of and behind-the-scenes features, a gag reel, and some deleted scenes. There are not as many deleted scenes for this movie's release as there were for the first two movies.  At this point, you will likely know how you feel about the movie (and the franchise in general). While the movie could have easily been cut down by about 20-30 minutes, it brings the original story to a satisfying conclusion and has a good blend of action and humor. If you like the films and want the extras, then the Blu-ray is definitely worth adding to your collection.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

 

Dead Man's Chest is the 2006 sequel to Curse of the Black Pearl. The movie is again directed by Gore Vabinski and sees the main cast of Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightly return to their roles as Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and Elizabeth Swann, respectively. This is the movie where the Pirates movies took a darker, more serious tone. It lost a lot of the humor that was in the first movie, which I think made that one so good. Not that there was no humor in this one, it was just darker humor, and while Curse of the Black Pearl did not really take itself ultra seriously, this one did. This movie also felt like it took a long time to get through. Like the wheel fight gag, while humorous and fun at first, took like it took forever to pay off. The big additions to the cast in this movie are Bill Nighy as Davy Jones and Stellan Skarsgard as Bootstrap Bill. 

The story this time centers around Jack trying to outmaneuver Davy Jones and the Kracken that he unleashes on those that owe him a debt (and really anyone who gets in his way), and Will finding out what happened to his father. Jack Davenport returns as Commodore Norrington, still acting as a foil to Jack and the crew, but this time in a much different capacity. While Geoffrey Rush was the standout in the first movie, I think Davenport was the standout in this one, stealing most of the scenes he was in.

The A/V quality of the Blu-Ray is again top-notch. The special effects are even better in this one, and the "monster-like" characters in this one are even less fake-looking than the undead pirates in the first movie. In fact, the only spot you can really tell that the shot was against a green screen is one of the shots with the Kracken toward the end of the movie. Other than that, everything looks seamless. There are tons of extras on the blu-ray as well. Much more than (although pretty much the same type as) were included in the extras for the first movie.  The extras include several making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes, a gag reel, a movie showcase, and more. The is well over three hours' worth of material for those who like to go through the bonus features.

The movie is not perfect. This is the movie where a lot of people who liked the first movie but ended up hating the franchise seemed to take a turn. While Curse of the Black Pearl could have really been one stand-alone, great movie, I do think this one gets more of a bad rep than it deserves. Liking or disliking a movie like this is very subjective, but if you go into it knowing that it may not live up to what the first one was, and is not a carbon copy of the first one (which would not have worked either) then I think you can find this enjoyable. It has a very good blend of action, comedy/humor, and drama and is worth the time to watch. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

 

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl is the original movie in the Pirates franchise from 2003. It was directed by Gore Verbinski and starred Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, and Jack Davenport. The supporting cast included Kevin McNally, Zoe Saldana, Mackenzie Crook, and Lee Arenberg (among others). The movie was the breakout role for Knightly (as a lead), who was just 17 years old when the movie was filmed, the second big franchise appearance for Bloom (who had made the first two Lord of the Rings movies), and was a career resurgence for Depp, who starred in what is clearly his signature role, Captain Jack Sparrow. The movie involves a group of Pirates (led by Rush's character, Captain Barbossa) trying to track down the final pieces of stolen Aztec gold that caused a curse to be placed on those who stole the gold. They plan to return the gold in order to lift the curse and in the process, end up kidnapping Knightly's character, Elizabeth Swann. Bloom, who plays an apprentice blacksmith named Will Turner, teams up with Sparrow (who has his own agenda) to rescue her. 

Chances are, by now, most know enough of the movies to know what they are and are not. Curse of the Black Pearl was obviously the first in the chain of "Pirates" movies, based on the ride at the Disney Theme Parks. The movie takes elements from the rides and weaves them into the story. It has the most basic and probably least bloated storyline of the entire series of movies. And, it is probably the one that does not seem like it takes 2+ hours to sit through because the story is fun, and the pacing is so good.

The movie centers around the three characters, Captain Jack Sparrow (played wonderfully by Johnny Depp), Will Turner (played by Orlando Bloom), and Elizabeth Swann (Kiera Knightly). Apart from the main three, there is a huge ensemble cast made up mainly of character actors, all of whom play much larger roles in the movie than in any other movies they have appeared in. As good and original as Depp was in the movie, Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa stole every scene he was in. The scenes with Rush and Depp together were the best part of the movie, in my opinion. 

The A/V quality of the Blu-Ray is awesome. The picture quality of the movie was the one that prompted me to start investing in Blu-Ray. The A/V quality of the Blu-Ray was, at the time the movie was released, reference quality. The extras include a ton of behind-the-scenes and making-of features, as well as deleted scenes and a blooper reel. It also includes the TV special about the making of the ride that aired in the 1960s. All in all, you get a good 2 plus hours of material.  Ultimately, it is a very good action-adventure movie. It had the perfect blend of action, mystery, thrills, and humor. It definitely did not take itself too seriously, something that cannot necessarily be said for the sequels, and really wrapped up its part of the story by the end. You can, however, see the seeds they were sewing for the subsequent movies by leaving Will's background a mystery. It is absolutely worth the time to watch, and you definitely will not be disappointed with the picture and sound.

DVD/Movie Review: Reindeer Games

 

Reindeer Games is an action-thriller from 2000 starring Ben Affleck, Charlize Theron, James Frain, and Gary Sinise. The supporting cast includes Dennis Farina, Donal Logue, Danny Trejo, and Issac Hayes. The movie centers around Ben Affleck's character, Rudy, who has been in prison for 5 years for stealing cars. He gets out and hooks up with his cellmate's pen pal (played by Theron), passing himself off as his cellmate (played by Frain), who has died in a prison fight. From there, he is set up to participate in the robbery of a casino on Christmas Eve.

The original DVD release just includes the theatrical version of the movie. The only extras are a short making-of feature, a director's commentary track on the movie, and the theatrical trailer. There is a Blu-ray version that has a director's cut and may have more features, but this is not really a movie that I would say is a must-own on Blu-ray, unless you really love it.

There are some humorous moments and Gary Sinise plays a pretty good bad guy. Albeit somewhat over the top. Although that is the tone it seems the movie was going for. Even though the cast is loaded with talented actors (or at least those who are seen as talented these days) the writing was bad enough that really nobody was going to do any better job with the material. Ultimately, it is not the worst movie ever, but it is not an award-winner either. It is somewhat formulaic plot-wise, including the various twists throughout regarding where the loyalties of Charlize Theron's character lie. It is a decent action-thriller that is worth watching, but not necessarily worth watching multiple times.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

 

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is the third (and hopefully final) entry into the Mummy franchise of movies. It is a 2008 sequel to the original 1999 movie and its 2001 sequel. Brendan Fraser and John Hanna reprise their roles as Rick and Jonathan. Maria Bello takes over the role of Evie from Rachel Weisz, and Oded Feher does not return. The major additions to the cast, aside from Bello, are Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Isabella Leong, and Luke Ford, who takes over the role of Alex, Rick and Evie's son. What made The Mummy work as a franchise was the character development and the chemistry the cast members had with each other. Without Rachael Weisz and Oded Fehr (whose character would not have fit into this story anyway), the movie is not the same and ultimately does not work well at all.

This time, the movie is set in 1946, in China, and the Mummy is played by the awesome Jet Li. In fact, the only reason I give this even 2 stars is because of Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. They both did a great job with their characters, and the cinematography and visual effects are great. However, there is a total lack of continuity in the story in the first two movies. First, you are expected to believe that Brendan Fraser has aged 26 years from the first movie without looking much older (this movie was made nine years after the original). It was a big stretch to believe that he had aged 10 years between the first and second movies (which were made two years apart), but they needed to do a much better job at making Fraser look older. Also, the kid Alex from the second movie is now grown up and has lost the British accent in favor of an American one, and is very little like how he was portrayed in the second movie. And John Hannah is given little, if nothing, to do in this movie, and it just seems like his character is there to tag along. I think the decision to recast the character of Evie was horrible, and they would have been better off to have killed off the character than bringing someone new in. Even though I do not think Bello was horrible in the role, the character just did not have the same feel as how Weisz played her.

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is very good. While the transfer is not as good as today's new movies get, it is much better than the first two movies and the CGI effects look more realistic than they did in the first two movies. As far as extras go on the disc version, there are a few deleted and extended scenes,  a 20-minute making-of feature, a commentary track on the film, and a handful of other items. This definitely does not have as many extras as the blu-rays for the first two movies did, but not bad for what is there. 

Ultimately, this movie did not have to be made. I think the producers thought they had a much stronger franchise with The Mummy than they really did. Without all of the original cast, which they did get for The Mummy Returns, it just fell very flat. Luckily, it seems that they got that message since no other attempts at continuing the franchise (and no, I don't count the Tom Cruise movie) have been made. It is worth picking up on blu-ray if you are one who wants to keep your collection as complete as possible, but it is definitely not a must-watch and nowhere near as good as the first two movies.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Mummy Returns

 

The Mummy Returns is the 2001 follow-up to the 1999 movie. In a rare feat (one that would not be repeated in the last movie of the trilogy), the entire cast, including Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, John Hannan, Patricia Velasquez, and Oded Fehrand and crew, including director Stephen Sommers, from the first movie, returned for this one. This helped the movie retain some continuity from the first film, even though it really expanded on the story. The big additions to the cast are The Rock, playing the Scorpion King and Freddie Boath, who plays Alex O'Connell. 

The movie is set 10 years after the first movie. The Mummy is resurrected in order to kill the Scorpion King (played by The Rock in his first movie role), and of course, the events pull the now-married Rick and Evie O'Connell along with their son and her brother Jonathan. Oded Fehr and Patricia Velasquez also return and are given much more to do and are involved much more in the overall plot in this movie. Rachel Weisz was given more action scenes, including a sai fight in a barely-there outfit against Patricia Velasquez about halfway into the movie and another one at the end. She was much more of an action heroine in this movie than she was in the first. Which ultimately is good, although the plot twist through which that happened was kind of silly.

Like the first movie, this one is very special effects-laden as well. There are new creatures from the first one, and the effects, while not as good as they would be today, are slightly improved from the first film. Although the CGI characters still look quite cartoonish in this movie, If you are one of those who only want to see it because The Rock is in it (which was probably more of an issue when it was released in theaters and he was at the height of his WWF/WWE fame), he is really only in the move a total of about 15 min. 5 at the beginning in the flesh, and about 10 at the end as a dumb CGI creature. I think it would have been much better to have him resurrected as a human and essentially have a three-way battle between the main characters at the end.

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is very good. As far as extras go, there is a commentary track for the movie, a 20-minute making-of feature, a three-minute interview with The Rock that was actually done for the spin-off Scorpion King movie, and a short feature on the visual effects along with a few other things. 

Ultimately, whether you like this or not depends on your feelings about the first movie. If you hated the first one, then you will likely hate this one, too. If you liked or loved the first one, you will at least like this one as well. While some elements from the first movie were incorporated into this one, it was not a carbon copy of the first one. It is a good action-adventure movie that, like the first movie, has some humor mixed in. If you are a fan of the genre or the actors involved, it is worth the time to watch.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Mummy

 

The Mummy is a 1999 action/adventure movie starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, and John Hannah. Oded Fehr and Patricia Valasquez have supporting but important roles as well. The movie is a retelling of the 1930s version of the story. It utilizes many of the same characters and story elements, but it is its own movie. It is not a shot-by-shot remake by any means. This version utilizes a ton of CGI animation and a green screen. It is set in the period between World War I and II, and so it blends ancient Egypt with the 1920s modern world. The premise of the story is that a group of adventurers and scholars are at a dig site in Egypt. They inadvertently release the spirit of high priest Imhotep (played by Vosloo), who then, as an almost immortal being, tries to resurrect his mistress Anck-su-namun (played by Valasquez).

The movie itself is a blend of action, comedy, and romance. Along with somewhat cheesy drama. In some ways, it pays homage to old monster movies, and in some ways, it is a tongue-in-cheek spoof of them. The ensemble cast of Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, and John Hannah all do a great job with their respective roles. Fraser shows he has the chops to be both funny and somewhat of an action hero...Although not necessarily a larger-than-life one. Hannah is great at blending being a cowardly, weasel with reluctant bravery when the need arises so that you actually like and root for his character. It is hard to buy Weisz as the nerdy librarian they portray her as in the beginning of the movie and their attempts to make her kind of frumpy and tone down how gorgeous she really is did not work all that well. But once they turned the character into more of a leading lady kind of role for movies like this, she worked well. I thought Vosloo, did a fine job as the mummy, especially given that so much of his performance was based on expression as opposed to dialog. He said very little throughout the film, and when he did it was never in English, Regardless of that he was able to portray being menacing, smug, concerned, and scared without needing to say much.

If you get the blu ray, the movie looks and sounds very good. The special effects are good but dated, so some of the things are not going to be as good as in a movie made today. However, it looks about as good as a movie from that time could without a major restoration (which it may get if it is released on 4k). There are quite a few special features, with the longest being a 50-minute featurette centered on the digital effects used to create the various mummies in the movie. There are also some deleted and extended scenes and a couple other short making-of featurettes.

Ultimately, the movie is enjoyable as long as you do not go into this movie thinking you are about to see an Academy Award-winning best picture or get a best actor/actress performance. You won't. It is purely a big-budget, special effects popcorn movie. If you look at it as a somewhat funny action/adventure movie, and if you generally like those kinds of movies then you will probably like this. Also, it is not meant to be an accurate period piece from either ancient Egypt or early 1900s Egypt. So, if you are one who would nitpick things that are wrong, you probably want to stay away from this. Otherwise, it is worth the time to watch.

DVD/TV Series Review: Alias: Seasons 1-5

 

+++Warning, this contains some spoilers from throughout the series.+++

This is the complete series of Alias which ran from 2001 to 2006 and starred Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan, Victor Garber, Ron Rifkin, Kevin Weisman, Greg Grunberg, Carl Lumby, and David Anders. In the early seasons, it also starred Merrin Dungey,  Bradley Cooper, and Sarah Shahi, and in later seasons, Lena Olin, Melissa George, Rachel Nichols, and Mia Maestro.  Alias was a great concept that got a little weird when it started to focus on the Rambaldi storyline. The first few seasons where the Rambaldi storyline was merely in the background and would be advanced in one or two episodes each season were great. Once it became the focus and the supernatural elements got more and more silly, the show definitely took a downturn. 

The crux of the storyline in the first season is that Jennifer Garner's character, Sydney Bristow, believed that she was working for the CIA (which she could not reveal to anyone), while she was really working for a shadow organization run by criminals. When the organization discovered that she told her fiancee that she worked for the CIA and he was killed by the organization she discovered who she was really working for and what she was really involved in. From there the show focuses on her life as a double agent and her attempts to bring down the rogue spy agency/criminal organization.

Where Alias really shined was character development and perfect casting. Every character that was around for a significant amount of time changed from the time they were first introduced. And of course, Alias was a world where being dead did not always mean staying dead. I think the best storyline of the series was the time jump and the way it was done. Sydney having lost two years with no memory, then finding out exactly how and why her memory was erased was a great payoff. Especially when that is the kind of story that often falls flat at the big reveal.

The one drawback to the series as I said before is by the end the entire focus was on the Rambaldi storyline, and making the whole supernatural/eternal life storyline. It really did change the feel of the show, and while it did provide a good explanation for Sloane's motivation from the beginning, I think it did better when those parts of the storyline were in a few episodes of the season as opposed to the focus of the season. Overall though if you are looking for a show that combines action, comedy, great acting, and a unique take on the spy world (plus the bonus of Jennifer Garner in skimpy outfits on a pretty consistent basis) this is a good one.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Emerald City: Season 1

 

Emerald City is a trippy and sometimes very odd reimaging of the Land of Oz based on the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland. In this adaptation, set in the modern day (as of 2017 anyway), Dorothy is a nurse in Kansas played by Jessica Alba lookalike Adria Arjona, who still gets transported to Oz via a tornado (although the circumstances are much different than in the movie), and still kills the Wicked Witch of the East (who is conveniently named East). But in this adaptation, East's death sets off a war between witches and the Wizard (played by Vincent D'Onofrio) which Dorothy into which Dorothy is thrown in the middle. Oliver Jackson-Cohen plays Lucas, a strange man with no memory (who is clearly an analog for The Scarecrow from the movie) who accompanies Dorothy through Oz.

The show looks and sounds great on blu-ray. There are, of course, a ton of special effects that make for really good visuals. The extras include a handful of short deleted scenes and a five-part making-of-documentary that runs about 45 minutes, give or take, in total. So, not a ton of extras, but what was included is good.

Chances are a lot of people who watch this will either love the show or hate it. It definitely tells a much different story than what was told in the movie. There is also a lot of violence and some sexual content. While there is no real nudity or explicit sex, it does push the boundaries of what could be shown on regular network tv, including a covered handjob. So, needless to say, this is not going to appeal to everyone and is not something that is appropriate for younger kids. I personally liked the fact that it included more characters than the movie did, and incorporated some of the neighboring kingdoms around Oz into the story. I think Arjona did a good job playing the series lead, but the entire cast including Joely Richardson, Stefanie Martini, and Isabel Lucas, did a good job in their roles. The show was canceled after just ten episodes and the writers were clearly setting up a second season, so if you do watch the show and like it, it may be a bit unfulfilling. 

DVD/Movies Review: The Librarian Trilogy

 

This is a two-disc set containing the three Librarians movies, starring Noah Wyle in his first major post-ER role. Wyle stars a Flynn Carson, a perpetual student with a multitude of pretty useless degrees and no life. Flynn receives an invitation to apply for a job as the librarian at the New York Metropolitan Library. He discovers that the Librarian collects and protects magical and supernatural artifacts like Excaliber, Pandora's Box, and The Ark of the Covenant. In the first movie, The Quest for the Spear, the Spear of Destiny is stolen from the Library, and Flynn and his Guardian, Nicole Noone, (played by Sonya Wagner) have to recover it. In the second movie, Return to King Solomon's Mines, Flynn and an archeologist named Emily Davenport (played by Gabrielle Anwar) must find, and guard the secret of King Solomon's Mine. The third movie, Curse of the Judas Chalice, is set in New Orleans and has a storyline that involves vampires and their version of the Holy Grail. 

The movies are basically Indiana Jones knockoffs with even more supernatural elements than Indiana Jones, mixed with a love story. In each movie, Flynn ends up falling in love with the female lead (Wagner in the first movie, Anwar in the second, and Stana Katic in the third). None of the movies had a huge budget, so the special effects could be a bit cheesy, but I think cheesy was the vibe they were going for. 

Each of the movies has some extras including deleted scenes and some behind-the-scenes featurettes. The extras run about 15 minutes or less per movie, so none of the movies have an extensive amount of bonus content, but it is there for you.

I'd say that the movies are good, but not great. They do have strong supporting casts including Jane Curtin, Bob Newhart (both of whom reprise their roles in the spin-off TV series The Librarians), Kelly Hu, Kyle McLaughlan, Olympia Dukakis, 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Jurassic World

 

Jurassic World is the 2015 reboot of the Jurrasic Park franchise starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, Katie McGrath, Irrfan Khan, Judy Greer, and BD Wong (reprising his role from the original movie).  In an era of reboots for both movies and TV shows, it was really only a matter of time before it happened to Jurassic Park. In this movie, the site of the original park on the island of Isla Nubar is rebuilt and opened as Jurassic World. Apparently, nobody learned at InGen a lesson from the events of the first three movies and are hell-bent on creating a dinosaur zoo, which goes about as well as you expect it to. The only legacy character that appears in the movie is BD Wong's Henry Wu, who is still making new breeds of dinosaurs, which again, goes about as well as you would expect. 

The crux of the story is that Park Operations Manager Claire (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) needs to "reinvigorate the public's interest" in the park. Her nephews Gray (Ty Simpkins) and Zach (Nick Robinson), fly over to visit her and get a tour of the park, but she is too busy and passes them off to her assistant (played by Supergirl and Merlin's Katie McGrath) and, of course, they get in mortal danger when things hit the fan. Chris Pratt plays the male lead, Owen, who is a velociraptor trainer, who butts heads with everyone in charge at the park, including Claire. None of the other legacy characters like Alan Grant, Ian Malcolm, or Ellie Sattler appear, although one of Ian's books is on display in one of the early scenes. The movie does have some nice tie-ins that pay homage to the original movie, some that are very obvious, and others you have to be kind of sharp-eyed to spot.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the movie looks and sounds great, as you would expect. The A/V quality is wonderful. The extras include deleted scenes, a featurette titled "Chris and Colin Take on the World" is an in-studio conversation with actor Chris Pratt and director Colin Trevorrow, a featurette titled "Dinosaurs Roam Once Again" about the updated special effects used here, a thirty-minute making-of documentary titled "Welcome to Jurassic World" that includes interviews with executive producer Steven Spielberg and producer Frank Marshall, a featurette titled "Jurassic World All-Access Pass" takes a closer look at the design of the park itself, Chris Pratt gives a brief tour of the park's visitors' center, and finally a featurette titled "Jurassic's Closest Shaves" that include attack scenes from all of the movies in the franchise.

Overall, the movie is good. It is not as good as the original 1994 movie, but I think it is somewhere between Jurassic Park II and the original movie in terms of quality. The characters make a lot of bad decisions, as they always seem to do, and there is the really goofy scene of Bryce Dallas Howard running from a dinosaur in heels. Even though you have to give her credit for being able to sprint in heels, it is pretty cheesy. And, of course, the movie continues to play into the myth that a T-Rex (yes, the T-Rex makes an appearance) cannot see you if you stand perfectly still. But there are a lot of good action scenes, Howard and Pratt have really good chemistry, and if you do not nitpick it to death and just enjoy it, it is well worth watching.