4k-UHD/Movie Review: Babygirl

 

Babygirl is a 2024 drama written and directed by Helina Rejin. It stars Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, and Antonio Banderas in the leading roles and Esther Rose McGregor, Sophie Wilde, and Izabel Mar in the supporting roles. Kidman plays a high-powered CEO of a robotics company named Romy Mathis. Romy has an unfulfilled personal life and uses a prim and proper facade, an air of control, and an attitude of not being bothered by anything to mask many insecurities. She begins having an affair with a young intern at the company, Samuel (played by Dickinson), as she explores her submissive side. 

The 4k release is a single-disc UHD release. The movie looks and sounds fantastic in the UHD format. The extras include a commentary track on the film by Rejin, which provides a lot of insight into the story and the filming process, some behind-the-scenes material, and deleted scenes. The movie is good, but it will definitely not appeal to everyone. It has a lot of sexual content, some nudity (much of the sex is covered up, but there are some nude scenes including topless and butt shots of Kidman), and a lot of swearing. Kidman does a great job playing a character who is not very emotive, which packs a punch the few times she expresses emotion. Despite having some star power, the film feels more like an indie movie than a big-budget blockbuster. Ultimately, it is a good film, so it is worth watching if those things do not dissuade you. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Clerks III

 

Clerks III is the 2022 (likely) conclusion to the Clerks franchise in Kevin Smith's View Askew universe. It stars Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson (reprising their roles as Dante and Randal), Trevor Fehrman (reprising his role as Elias from Clerks II), and Austin Zahur. Smith and Jason Mewes also reprise their roles as Jay and Silent Bob, and Rosario Dawson reprises her role from Clerks II, although it is a smaller role than she had in the first movie. And, because this is a Kevin Smith movie, he includes actors he has worked with in the past in cameo or extended cameo roles, such as Justin Long, Ben Affleck, Melissa Benoist, and Ethan Suplee. There are also cameo appearances by Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Danny Trejo, and the Impractical Jokers cast. And, of course, Smith's wife, daughter, and mother all make appearances.

The storyline of this movie returns to Smith's personal life (as opposed to the storyline in Clerks II). In it, he uses his real-life heart attack as a plot line, having Randle suffer a heart attack in the convenience store. Having a new lease on life, Randle decides to make a movie (essentially the first Clerks film), which allows several people who appeared in the original film to come back for this movie. Smith also includes many jokes about the prior two films, including an explanation (as Silent Bob) about why he shot the original film in black and white. In the third act, the movie becomes a very emotional drama and provides a fitting end to the trilogy.

The blu-ray features an introduction from Smith before the disc loads, thanking fans for purchasing the movie on physical media. The bonus content includes a commentary track on the film that features Smith, O'Halloran, Fehrman, and Zajur. The extras also include two documentaries that are nearly as long as the movie. The first provides a behind-the-scenes look at the five-week process of filming the movie, and the second is a retrospective on the trilogy as a whole featuring interviews with the cast and crew about getting the first movie made and the challenges of making the sequels. Finally, there is about a half hour of deleted scenes and the theatrical trailer. 

The movie is very good, especially for fans of the first two movies. It has a lot of the same crude humor (although not as much as in the first two movies), but the story is really about growing old and reaching the age when you start losing loved ones. The only thing I did not like was that it did not end with the song Misery like the first two films did. As I said above, it will probably be the last movie in the Clerks franchise, not only because of how the story plays out but also because of the reluctance of the people involved (especially Anderson) to keep making sequels. This is a must-watch if you liked or loved the first two movies. It is also worth watching if you are a fan of comedies with raunchier and sometimes silly/stupid humor (although it helps to have seen the first two movies to get all of the jokes). Ultimately, if it is the final Clerks movie (and I think it should be), it is a great swan song for the franchise and is worth the time to watch. 

DVD/Movie Review: Bikini Summer

 

Bikini Summer is a 1991 late-night cable D-level comedy starring Melinda Armstrong, David Millbern, Kelli Konop, Shelly Michelle, Rebekah Alfred, and Alex Smith. It is one of those films that is something between the soft-core "Skinemax" movies that use real porn stars but don't show anything and the mainstream coming-of-age comedies of the mid to late1980s. It has a few plotlines (that are quite silly and stupid) that converge at the end, providing an excuse to hold a bikini contest fundraiser. However, the plotlines are mostly filler between scenes of models in various stages of undress. 

The DVD is a transfer from the VHS, and as you would expect from a low-budget comedy with no major stars, it did not get any kind of upgraded A/V transfer. The DVD is now out of print, so it can be hard to find at a reasonable price. There are no bonus features specific to the movie, just a bunch of trailers/previews for other low-budget direct-to-video movies that can be played from the main menu. Ultimately, the movie is a dumb comedy with several good-looking models in it. There is a bunch of nudity and some swearing (although not much of the latter). Despite the nudity, there are not really any sex scenes (only one that you mostly hear through a door). It is kind of a blast from the past if you grew up in the 90s and remember seeing it on TV, but you will not miss much if you skip it. 

DVD/Movie Review: The Big Town

 

The Big Town is a 1987 film starring Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, Tommy Lee Jones, Suzy Amis, Bruce Dern, Lee Grant, Tom Skerritt, and David Marshall Grant. The story is set in the late 1950s. In it, Matt Damon's character, J.C. Cullen, makes a living playing craps in a small town in Indiana. He decides to move to Chicago to become a professional gambler. He starts to work for two professional gamblers (played by Dern and Grant), gets mixed up with the owner of a strip club (played by Jones), and begins having an affair with the owner's wife (played by Lane), who hooks him into a revenge scheme. He also starts a romance with Amis' character, a single mother who wants to become a disc jockey and has to choose which life he ultimately wants. 

There are many versions of the DVD out there. I have the French import, so it can only be played on a Region 2 or Region free player. The menus are in French, and the audio track defaults to French, but you can play it with the English audio track, which plays with French subtitles. That version has no extras. The movie is okay, but not great. It has a similar style and tone to many late 1980s films that tried to recapture the film noir era style. It is absolutely dated, and there are some things in the movie (like a white character dropping the "n-word" and men smacking women) that would not fly today. It has a lot of swearing, some sexual content, and nudity. Lane has a few topless scenes (and they are spectacular) and a couple of sex scenes with Dillon. The acting is good, but the script was somewhat limited and did not give the cast (which included many excellent actors) much to work with. If you are a fan of the genre or any of the actors in the film, it is worth checking out, but it is not a movie that I would classify as a must-see. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Beerfest

 

Beerfest is a 2006 comedy that spoofs the concept of Oktoberfest. The film was made by the same team behind Super Troopers and the Dukes of Hazard movie (but it was not as good as either of them, and much closer in quality to Dukes of Hazard than Super Troopers). It was directed by Jay Chandrasekhar and stars Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Stoter, Erik Stolhanske, Eric Christian Olsen, and Will Forte. Monique and Cloris Leachman have hilarious supporting roles, and Donald Sutherland, James Roday, and Willie Nelson have cameo appearances. The movie is one of the spate of raunchy comedies released in the early 2000s after American Pie became a huge hit. The crux of the story is that after the death of their grandfather (played by Sutherland), two brothers (played by Stoter and Stolhanske) travel to Germany to spread his ashes. They discover an underground beer drinking competition called Beerfest, where they find out their grandfather allegedly stole a beer recipe from their German cousins. After being humiliated at the competition, they put a team together to compete at the next year's competition to take on the German team.

The Blu-Ray's A/V quality is good but nothing to write home about. The extras include two different commentary tracks on the movie, one with Chandrasekhar and Lemme and one with the other lead actors. Then, there is about a half hour of deleted scenes that can be played with or without commentary, some behind-the-scenes material, and the trailer. The movie is okay, but not great. It is definitely not as good as other films in the raunchy comedy genre, but it does have some funny moments. However, I would say that among stupid comedies, it is more stupid than funny. It has a lot of swearing, some sexual content, and nudity. If you are not a fan of that type of comedy, then you absolutely want to skip this. Even if you are generally a fan of that type of comedy, you may or may not like it. Personally, I would not have gone out of my way to purchase it, but it was delivered by mistake and wherever I purchased it from did not make me send it back. Ultimately, it is an okay comedy, but you are not missing anything if you skip it. 

DVD/Movie Review: Ammonite

 

Ammonite is a romantic drama from 2020 starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan. It was written and directed by Francis Lee and loosely based on the life of a British paleontologist named Mary Anning. The supporting cast includes Fiona Shaw, Gemma Jones, James McArdle, and Alec Secareanu. In the film, Mary (played by Winslet) runs a shop in Lyme Regis in Dorset, England with her mother. An archeologist named Roderick Murchison (McArdle) visits the shop with his wife Charlotte (Ronan) who has been sent to Lyme Regis to convalesce after losing a baby, with the sea air being prescribed for her depression. Roderick initially pays Mary to teach him about fossil collecting and leaves Charlotte in Mary's care (much to both of their chagrin) for six weeks while he visits mainland Europe. When Charlotte gets sick, Mary cares for her, and the two fall in love and begin a sexual relationship. 

The DVD is a single-disc release. The only bonus feature is a short making-of featurette featuring interviews with Winslet, Ronan, and Lee. The film is a well-written and acted romantic drama. It definitely has the feel of an independent movie with a slower plot. About two-thirds of the way into the movie, there is some sexual content, including a nude sex scene between Winslet and Ronan. So, it is not exactly family-friendly, but it is not full of gratuitous sex and nudity. Ultimately, if you like independent dramas and are not triggered by same-sex relationships, it is worth watching.    

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: City of Angels

 

City of Angels is a 1998 romantic drama directed by Brad Silberling starring Nicholas Cage, Meg Ryan, Dennis Franz, Andre Braugher, and Colm Feore.  The film is based on, and partially a remake of, the German Film titled Wings of Desire. The movie's premise is that angels walk among us, mostly unseen, guiding and watching over humans. The angels can allow humans to see them when they desire, but humans mostly see the angels when they are sick or dying (in which case, an angel acts as a messenger to walk the humans toward the afterlife). The angels are immortal beings who can become human if they fall from a great height with the will to become human. Nicholas Cage plays an Angel named Seth, who allows Meg Ryan's character, a heart surgeon named Maggie Rice, to see him after she loses a patient on the operating table. He initially keeps his true identity a secret, but as the two fall in love, he contemplates "falling" to turn himself human to be with her.

The Blu-Ray is a single-disc release. The movie looks and sounds good in the HD format, although the film did not get an extensive restoration for the Blu-Ray release, and, as such, the A/V quality is not as good as what a newer movie released on Blu-Ray has. The bonus features include two different commentary tracks on the film, one by the director and one by the Screenwriter, Dana Stevens, and Producer Charles Roven. Both commentary tracks are a bit dry but provide insight into the movie's writing, casting, and production processes. The rest of the extras include deleted scenes (which can be played with or without commentary), a couple of different scene-specific commentaries, one by the director of photography and one by the production designer, a half-hour-long making-of featurette, a featurette on the visual effects, the trailers, and two music videos, one for the song If God Will Send His Angels by U2, and one for the song Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. Unfortunately, Alanis Morisette's video for Uninvited was not included. Apparently, not all of the bonus content included in the original DVD release was transferred to the Blu-Ray release, which knocks the Blu-Ray release down a star for me. 

The movie is a good romantic drama. Cage and Ryan were at the pinnacle of their careers when the film was made, and both are excellent in their respective roles. The supporting cast does an outstanding job, and Dennis Franz absolutely steals a couple of the scenes he is in. It does feel a bit dated watching it now (2025 as of this writing), but the movie generally holds up well. It can be sappy in parts, and the ending may be predictable for some. Ultimately, however, it is a good movie that is worth watching.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Men in Black: International

 

Men in Black International is a 2019 Sci-Fi action film. It is partly a sequel to and partly a reboot of, the Men In Black movie franchise made famous by the original 1997 film starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. It stars Tessa Thompson as Agent M, a young woman named Molly who first learned of Aliens and MIB as a young child, and then spent her entire life trying to get "recruited" into the organization. Chris Hemsworth plays Agent H, an MIB agent based in London, who is pretty much a "college bro" like character who ends up being Agent M's partner. The plot involves a possible mole within MIB working to assist an alien life form that can destroy the earth, and Agent M and H trying to stop it. They are joined by Kumail Nanjiani who plays the role of the alien sidekick. The rest of the cast includes Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Rebecca Ferguson, and Blaney. The movie is mostly a reboot, given that neither Smith nor Jones makes an appearance in the movie. There is a bit of continuity with Emma Thompson reprising her role as Agent O and cameos by Frank the Pug and the Worm guys. 

The 4K set is a two-disc set with a UHD disc and a regular Blu-ray. The movie looks and sounds great in the UHD format. The UHD disc just contains the movie, and the regular blu-ray includes the movie and all the extras. The bonus content includes previews, a gag reel (which is actually the first movie-related extra, which is usually not a good sign for how extensive the bonus material will be), deleted/alternate/extended scenes, and then a handful of behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes.

Overall, the movie was decent but totally unnecessary. You absolutely do not have to know anything about the prior movies to follow what is going on in this one. I do not think there was any clamor for a reboot to extend the series. That said, the story was okay, if not predictable in parts, and the acting was very good. Hemsworth has no qualms about making fun of himself and did so in this movie much as he did as "Fat Thor" in Avengers Endgame. He and Tessa Thompson had great chemistry, and she definitely shows that she has what it takes to be a lead (or co-lead) character in a big movie. This is not as good as the original movie, or either of the two sequels with the original stars. That said, as its own thing, it told a fun story and had great special effects, as you would expect. While I will not say that the movie is a must-have or must-see if you are a fan of the franchise, it is worth checking out, even if you just choose to stream it.

DVD/Movie Review: Chasers

 

Chasers is a 1994 comedy directed by Dennis Hopper and starring Tom Berenger, William McNamara, and original Baywatch babe and former model Erika Elaniak. The supporting cast included Crispin Glover, Dean Stockwell, and Gary Busey. Hopper also made a minor but funny appearance about 2/3 of the way into the movie. The film is part buddy-cop, part chase, and part romantic comedy. In it, two Navy shore patrollers (the Navy's version of military police and security), Eddie Devane (McNamara), who is a day away from being discharged, and Rock Reilly (Berenger), are assigned to transport prisoner Toni Johnson (Elaniak) from Camp Lejeune to their base, where she is to be transported to prison. She keeps trying to escape detention, causing a series of mishaps along the way. Along the way, Eddie and Toni fall in love, and he regrets having to turn her in.

The DVD is very bare-bones. It can be played with English captions, and the only bonus feature is the movie's trailer. The best way to describe the film is good but not great. The story is a bit predictable and formulaic, but it does have some funny moments. Berenger plays a great, no-nonsense but somewhat out-of-touch grump, and Elaniak and McNamara had pretty good chemistry (and both were ridiculously good-looking). Elaniak was a couple of years removed from Baywatch and absolutely gorgeous. The movie has a lot of swearing, some sexual content, and nudity. Elaniak is in lingerie a couple of times during the film, and there is a sex scene between McNamara and Elaniak about halfway into the movie where she is topless and shows her ass. So, it does earn its R-rating. While it is not the greatest movie ever, it does not try to be more than it is, and it has some entertaining moments. It is worth checking out as long as you don't expect it to be something it is not. 

DVD/Movie Review: Can't Hardly Wait: 10 Year Reunion Edition

 

Can't Hardly Wait is the underrated and often overlooked late 1990s coming-of-age teen comedy. It is overlooked mainly because American Pie was released a year later and became a massive hit and franchise. This movie, released in 1998, was co-written and directed by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont. It stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry, Seth Green, Lauren Ambrose, and Peter Facinelli. The supporting cast includes several recognizable faces (especially if you grew up watching TV and movies in the 1990s or early 2000s), including some who would become stars and/or appear in more prominent roles. They included Jason Segel, Jamie Pressly, Sean Patrick Thomas, Freddy Rodriguez, Donald Faison, Chris Owen, Selma Blair, Amber Benson, Clea Duvall, Breckin Meyer, and Eric Balfour. Jenna Elfman and Jerry O'Connell, who were more recognizable than the rest of the cast when the movie came out, had cameo appearances in the film. 

The movie is set during a graduation party in which all of the various high-school cliques show up. Several storylines occur in the movie, including Seth Green's character Kenny/Special K trying to get laid, the school geek Preston, finally taking his shot with the girl who doesn't know he exists (JLH's character, Amanda) who he has been pining after since freshman year and has just been dumped by the mega jock, Mike Dexter (played by Facinelli). Dexter is the subject of a humiliation plot by a group of nerds. Some of the storylines intertwine, and some are kept separate. Green is hilarious in the movie as the typical white suburban kid who thinks he is black, trying too hard to impress everyone. Hewitt does not do much in the film (besides looking pretty) until the end, and Facinelli plays a great asshole. It ultimately becomes a story of old friends reuniting, people from different high-school groups discovering (at least for a few moments) that they have something in common, and the guy trying to get the girl of his dreams. All mixed in with graduation party debauchery. 

The DVD release has many extras, including just under an hour of featurettes filmed in 2008, including interviews with Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont and several cast members discussing the film and what they think their characters would be doing ten years later. Then, there are deleted and extended scenes, the music video for Smash Mouth's "Can't Get Enough of You Baby," which featured members of the cast and clips from the movie, and two different commentary tracks on the film, one done for the original DVD release and one for the 2008 re-release. Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont, and Seth Green participated in both commentaries, and in the 1998 commentary, Faison, Facinelli, and Joel Michaely (one of the nerds) participated. In the original commentary track, Green started out using a British accent and seemed content to do it the entire time until Kaplan told him the joke was getting old, which Green brought up in the 2008 commentary. In the special features menu, a Special K 411 edition is listed, which appears to be another commentary track that would just feature Green in-character commenting on the movie, but it just plays the original 1998 commentary track again. 

Ultimately, the movie is a well-written and acted comedy that mixes in some drama. It does feel dated now, and certainly, some of the jokes they used would not be used today. It was not as raunchy as American Pie, and while there was some sex and a lot of swearing and drinking, there was no nudity. Most of the actual drinking was kept off-camera to keep the movie PG-13, and when we did see people drink, the actor was drinking non-alcoholic beer. Overall, the movie was pretty tame, especially by today's standards. While I would not say that it is as good as American Pie (or any of the American Pie movies with the main cast members) or that it is the best film in the coming-of-age comedy genre. That said, it is enjoyable and absolutely worth watching.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Bohemian Rhapsody

 

Bohemian Rhapsody is a 2018 biopic of the popular 70s and 80s rock band Queen, focusing on the band's lead singer, Freddy Mercury. It was directed by Bryan Singer and stars Rami Malek, Ben Hardy, Gwilym Lee, Lucy Boynton, Joseph Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Allen Leech, Tom Hollander, and Aaron McCusker. The movie starts and ends at the 1985 Live Aid concert. The film begins with Mercury (played by Malek) walking to the Live Aid stage, and then it flashes back to 1970 to show the band's formation and chronicles their rise to fame, breakup, and reunion. The show ends with a recreation of the Live Aid performance, which is regarded by many as the band's best performance. 

The 4K set is a two-disc set with a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The UHD disc contains the movie and one of the bonus features, the full recreation of the 21-minute live-aid performance (which was cut down for the film's theatrical release). The rest of the bonus features are on the regular Blu-Ray disc, which includes several featurettes (that each last approximately 20 minutes) with behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with the cast and crew as well as a couple of the surviving band members, including Brian May who was also a producer on the film, and three different trailers for the movie.  So, if you are a fan of bonus content, this has over an hour's worth of material. Interstingly, Singer is not featured in any of the bonus material. He had a notorious reputation for being a difficult director (pretty much being an asshole to people on set). After the allegations of sexual assault against him in 2017, Singer became persona non grata. He was replaced late in the movie's production but still received the directing credit. This was (at least for now) his final directing job.

The movie is well-written and very well-acted. Malek is fantastic as Mercury and almost perfectly nailed his look, voice, and mannerisms. Mercury was a flamboyant and weird dude, and Malek channeled that well. Malek seems a bit odd, so it was a good fit. The movie did not sugarcoat Mercury's problems with drugs, relationships, his issues dealing with his sexuality, and the promiscuous lifestyle that led to him contracting AIDS. The writers also did a great job showing the complicated dynamics between the band members. While Mercury wanted to constantly party, the others had families and were increasingly irritated at Mercury always being late for rehearsal and recording sessions. While the movie is just over two hours long, there was not enough time to focus on the lives of the other band members, so they are primarily seen in scenes together as a group, while we see much more of Mercury's personal life. Ultimately, it is an excellent movie and enjoyable whether you are a fan of Queen or even like their music all that much. Although several of the band's songs are played in the movie, so it does help if you like their music. It is absolutely worth watching.

DVD/Movie Review: Daddio

 

Daddio is an independent film from 2023 directed by Christy Hall and starring Dakota Johnson (who is also a producer) and Sean Penn. The movie's premise is quite simple but works very well. Johnson's character, who is just called "Girlie," takes a cab driven by Penn's character, Clark, home from the airport. During the ride, the two strike up a conversation that includes topics ranging from the role of technology in our lives to relationships and power dynamics between men and women. Almost the entire movie is set in the cab, with the two characters talking between the divider.

The DVD release is very bare-bones. It just contains the movie, which runs about an hour and a half and can be played with or without English captions. There is no behind-the-scenes material, deleted scenes, or other bonus content. The movie is excellent and plays to both Johnson's and Penn's acting strengths. Johnson is much better when she is not trying to play a seductress (which absolutely does not suit her). Penn (regardless of what you think of his personal life and beliefs) does a great job in any role he takes on, especially dialogue-driven roles. The movie does have some sexual content, mainly in the form of explicit text messages between Girlie and the man she is seeing that occur during the cab ride. Those include naked pictures. However, there are no actual sex scenes or "live" nudity. Ultimately, it is a well-written and acted drama. If you are a fan of either actors and/or independent films as a whole, this is absolutely worth watching.

DVD/TV Movie Review: The Client List

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4K-UHD/Movie Review: Caligula: The Ultimate Cut: Collector's Edition

 

Caligula is the controversial film about the rise and fall of the Roman Emperor, Caligula, who ruled from 37-41 A.D. The movie stars Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Teresa Ann Savoy, Peter O'Toole, Paolo Bonacelli, John Steiner, Anneka Di Lorenzo, and Lori Wagner. It was filmed in 1976 but not released until 1980 because of post-production and legal issues, mainly stemming from the final edit of the film, overseen by producer Bob Guccione, who was the owner of Penthouse magazine, that added explicit X-rated footage to the movie without the knowledge of the main cast members, the director (Tinto Brass) or the screenwriter (Gore Vidal). Both Brass and Vidal did not want to be credited on the movie (the credits say "Principal Photography by Tinto Brass" and "Adapted from the screenplay by Gore Vidal"). The movie itself is a bit weird, but all the stories about the making of the movie are even stranger. Basically, it was filmed in Italy, using British and Italian actors and Italian extras. Guccione thought that the film was not sexy enough and the Italian extras were not attractive enough, so he brought in several Penthouse models, including Di Lorenzo and Wagner, to use as extras. Then, after Principal Photography was finished, Guccione secretly recorded reshoots with the X-rated content using the Penthouse models and inserted it into the film using a new editor. Because of the explicit content, several versions of the movie have been cut over the years due largely to censorship standards in various markets.  In 2019, author and historian Thomas Negovan was hired to oversee the film's restoration and recut to match Vidal's original script as much as possible, using the recently discovered original slides and negatives. 

The 4K set is a four-disc set containing a UHD disc and three regular Blu-Ray discs. The UHD disc contains the restored version of the movie that uses all new footage for every scene and includes an animation sequence at the beginning of the film to set up the story. It also rearranges scenes from some other versions, beginning the movie with Caligula waking up from his nightmare. The version of the film on the UHD disc is just under three-and-a-half hours long, and the A/V quality is excellent. The only extra on the UHD disc is an audio commentary on the film by Arrow Films author Heather Drain. Disc 2, the first regular Blu-Ray, has a shorter version of the Ultimate Cut of the film (that runs just under three hours) and also includes a commentary track by Drain. Disc 3 contains the unrated, uncensored cut of the movie with the explicit content and some of the extras, including a webcast discussion between Negovan and Aaron Shapps about the Ultimate Cut of the movie and a webcast of Negovan discussing premiering the new cut of the film at Cannes. Disc 4 includes the pre-release cut of the film without the X-rated material, the Australian version of the movie, and the Italian version of the film, which is the shortest cut of the film at just over an hour and a half that can be played with or without English subtitles. The Australian and Italian versions of the movie tone down the nudity a lot, and the Italian version cuts many of the scenes, so it really streamlines the storyline. 

There are three different audio commentary tracks on the pre-release version of the movie, one including Malcolm McDowell, one including Helen Mirren, and one including the on-set writer Ernest Volkman. The rest of the bonus features are on the fourth disc and include two different Q&A sessions with Negovan and McDowell at the Fantastic Film Festival. Hearing the different views on the movie's original version is interesting. McDowell hated it (and Guccione) and seemed irritated with the Penthouse models, especially Di Lorenzo. On the other hand, Mirren did not seem to have much of an issue with the explicit content. Opinions on Guccioni's addition seem to range from Guccione destroyed the movie, to he was financing the film so he could do what he wanted with it. In the archival interviews featuring Guccione in the bonus content, he was clear that he wanted a blend of a mainstream movie and a pornographic film. The rest of the extras include behind-the-scenes material, an interview with Lori Wagner (who says the Penthouse models were promised speaking parts in the film and only found out that they would be extras once they got on set), and a couple of making-of featurettes that included interviews with the cast and crew when the film was made. If you get the set from Umbrella Entertainment, it also comes with two posters, 8 poster cards, two different books, and a commemorative reprint of the Caligula issue of Penthouse Magazine (just the portion discussing the movie, not the entire magazine). Everything fits into a hard outer case. 

As I said above, the movie is weird. Even if it were a standard movie that never included explicit content (and yes, that includes actual sex in which you can see everything), it would be a very adult film. Each version of the movie has nudity and shows much more nudity than many mainstream films do (including full-frontal male and female nudity). McDowell's performance was very over-the-top, but he was playing a character that essentially went crazy as he amassed more power. Mirren (who was still a relative unknown at the time) did a good job in her role as Caesonia, and Peter O'Toole was great in the limited amount of time he was in the film. The movie absolutely feels dated and would probably be made much differently today. If you love going through bonus content, this has a ton of fascinating material. It is not a movie that will appeal to everyone, and even the tamer versions of the film may offend many people, but if you are a film buff, the movie is worth watching, and this set is worth picking up.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice - Limited Edition Steelbook

 

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the 2024 horror-comedy sequel to the original 1988 movie. It was directed by Tim Burton and stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O'Hara, all reprising their roles as Beetlejuice, Lydia, and Delia from the original movie. It also stars Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, and Monica Bellucci. Burn Gorman also reprises his supporting role from the original film, and Danny DeVito has a small cameo appearance at the beginning of the movie. Like the original film, this one is kind of weirdly offbeat, but it works. In it, we learn that Charles Deetz, played by Jeffrey Jones in the original movie, died, bringing the family back to the house for his funeral. Lydia has a paranormal talk show in which she interacts with ghosts in people's homes. Her daughter, Astrid (played by Ortega), is full of teenage angst and does not believe in her mother's ability to see ghosts. In the afterlife, we learn that Beetlejuice is still pining after Lydia, while his ex-wife (Bellucci), who was an occultist in life and who can suck out souls in death, is coming after him. Lydia starts seeing Beetlejuice in the real world, and events require her to call on him for help.

The 4k set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular blu-ray disc. You can get the 4k set in a steelbook package with a glow-in-the-dark slipcover with Lydia on one side, Beetlejuice on the other, or in regular packaging. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is outstanding. Both the audio and video quality are top-notch and at or near reference quality. The extras are all included on the UHD disc. Those include a commentary track by Tim Burton, a making-of featurette that runs almost a half hour, and then about an hour of behind-the-scenes material split up into six shorter featurettes. The commentary track by Burton is okay, but it does have some long stretches in which he does not say anything, and the movie is playing. However, he provides information on the discussions he has had with Keaton over the years for a possible sequel, why he felt it was better to wait to make the sequel instead of doing it in the early or mid-1990s, and specifics of the production. He does not detail why Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, and Jeffrey Jones were not returned for the sequel. Jones' likeness was used, but he did not play or voice Charles Deetz in the movie. He was not brought back because of his legal issues, but I have not seen or heard any explanation for why Baldwin and Davis were not brought back (or if they were even offered parts). There was a line in the film explaining the absence of the Maitlands (Baldwin and Davis' characters from the original movie).

The movie is a fine sequel to the original. It mixes horror and comedy and, like the first movie, has an epic musical number. It does not have an overabundance of CGI, as Burton relied on practical effects where he could and used stop-motion animation for sequences where CGI is usually used. Therefore, the movie was able to have a similar look and feel to the original. It is definitely a quirky movie that will not appeal to everyone's tastes. There is a lot going on in the movie, with a few different storylines that are sometimes separate and sometimes intertwined. Bellucci's role seemed just shoehorned into the movie, did not tie to any of the main plotlines, and only intersected with the other parts of the story at the end. Ultimately, if you were a fan of the original film, this is definitely worth watching.

4K-UHD/Movie Review: Alien Romulus

 

Alien Romulus is a 2024 Sci-Fi/horror film co-written and directed by Fede Alvarez. It is (as of this writing) the newest entry in the Alien franchise of films, set in the year 2142 between the original 1979 movie Alien (set in 2122) and the 1986 movie Aliens (set in 2179). It stars Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Arche Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu. In it, a group of young colonists living and working on the planet LV-410 steals a hauler with the intent to raid an abandoned space station so they can steal the cryostasis equipment and get to a planet called Yvaga III, which is not controlled by the Weyland-Yutani corporation. Little do they know, the corporation had recovered a cocoon from the wreckage of the Nostromo that contained the xenomorph that killed the crew of the Nostromo, brought it aboard the station, and began reverse engineering the facehuggers. Of course, the station's crew were all killed, and there are Aliens in the "Romulus" module of the station, which the group inadvertently releases when they attempt to steal the cryostasis equipment. Then, it becomes a monster-chase movie similar to the other films in the franchise. 

The 4k set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD version of the movie is excellent and is reference quality (or near reference quality) for both the audio and video. All the extras are included on the regular Blu-Ray disc. Those include about 11 minutes of deleted scenes, about 35 minutes of behind-the-scenes material, and a conversation between Fede Alvarez and Ridley Scott (who was an executive producer on the film). In total, there are just under an hour of extras. There is no director's commentary track on the film, which would have been nice given how big a fan Alvarez is of the franchise and how many easter eggs he put in the movie to tie it to Alien and Aliens. 

Ultimately, the movie is an excellent return to the franchise. It is well-written and acted. It focuses on the franchise's horror/monster movie roots but expands the storyline to give more detail into the Weyland corporation's plans for the creatures. As I said above, Alvarez is a huge fan of the franchise and included many easter eggs and callbacks to the prior movies, especially Alien, including a way to posthumously use Ian Holm's likeness for the Android Rook, which is an identical model to Ash from the original movie, whom the group encounters on the station. It also ties the film to the colony aspect introduced in Aliens, giving a perspective of what it was like for the kids living in those colonies. It also incorporates aspects from the prequel films Prometheus and Alien Covenant. Given the 30+ year gap between the events of Romulus and Aliens, this movie could have multiple sequels down the line. However, even as a standalone film in the franchise, it is absolutely worth watching. 

4k-UHD/Movie Collection Review: The Bourne Complete Collection

 

This is a collection of the four Bourne movies starring Matt Damon (2002's The Bourne Identity, 2004's The Bourne Supremacy, 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum, and 2016's Jason Bourne) and the 2012 spin-off film starring Jeremy Renner, The Bourne Legacy. Most of the movies center around the character of Jason Bourne (Damon), who, in the first movie, is fished out of the ocean with no memory of who he is. He discovers that he has superior fighting and espionage skills and is subsequently chased by government agents. He begins to regain fragments of his memory, discovering he is an assassin for a CIA black ops group code-named Treadstone. In The Bourne Legacy (set during The Bourne Ultimatum's events), we learn that Treadstone was one of many black-ops programs, including one called Outcome, which was creating a group of super-soldiers. The movies had strong supporting casts, including Julia Stiles, Rachel Weisz, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Chris Cooper, Karl Urban, Tommy Lee Jones, Edward Norton, Alicia Vikander, Paddy Considine, Clive Owen, and Vincent Cassel. The crux of each movie involves the heroes being chased down by the CIA or some branch of the CIA. They are mostly action thrillers with some drama (and humorous moments) mixed in. 

The 4K set is a six-disc set consisting of five UHD discs (one for each movie) and one regular Blu-Ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD discs varies. They are packaged in a slim keep case, with all five movies held on their own base, which is held in an outer box. The audio quality of all the movies in UHD is outstanding. However, the video quality of the first three movies (Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimatum) is not much better than the 1080p regular Blu-Ray transfer. The video quality of Legacy and Jason Bourne is much better. Identity, Supremacy, Ultimatum, and Legacy can be played with a director's commentary track. There is no commentary track on Jason Bourne. The sixth disc has the remaining bonus materials, categorized by movie. They vary by movie but generally include deleted scenes, gag reels, and behind-the-scenes material. Each movie has an hour or more of bonus content. The bonus features are carried over from the original physical media releases of the movie. No new bonus material has been created for this set. Ultimately, this is a good set, but I would not call it a must-own if you already have the movies on Blu-Ray. You do not get anything new from those releases, and the A/V quality of the films in UHD is not a massive upgrade from the regular Blu-Ray (at least for three of the five movies). The movies themselves, however, hold up well and are worth watching if you are a fan of action-thrillers.

4K-UHD/Movie Review: Jason Bourne

 

Jason Bourne, released in 2016, is the fifth movie in the Bourne Franchise (which started with 2002's The Bourne Identity). It was directed by Paul Greengrass and stars Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, Bill Camp, and Riz Ahmed. Greengrass (who directed The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum) returned to direct, and Damon and Stiles reprised their roles from the earlier films. The events of this movie are set about a decade after The Bourne Ultimatum and ignore the events of The Bourne Legacy (the spinoff movie that starred Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz). In it, Bourne is living in Greece, making a living as a street fighter. Nicky Parsons hacks into the CIA to expose the Black Ops programs (like Treadstone) and then seeks Bourne's help when she discovers a link between Bourne's father and Treadstone. From there, it becomes a typical Bourne movie in which Tommy Lee Jones's character (who plays the director of the CIA, Robert Dewey) sends an "Asset," played by Vincent Cassel, to take Bourne out. Alicia Vikander plays Heather Lee, the head of the CIA's cyber ops division, who is helping track Bourne. The storyline also includes the CIA planning to use a social media platform called Deep Dream, owned by Ahmed's character, Aaron Kallor, for real-time mass surveillance. 

The 4k set is a two-disc set, including UHD and regular Blu-Ray discs. The UHD disc just includes the movie. Unlike the prior films, this one does not have a commentary track. All the bonus content is on the regular Blu-Ray disc. It amounts to just under an hour of making-of and behind-the-scenes material. The movie is a good return to the Bourne Franchise. While I was not one of those who hated the spin-off movie, it was nice to see Damon return to the leading role (and he got extremely jacked for the role, which is no easy feat in your mid-40s as he was in when the movie was filmed). Personally, I would have liked to see him team up with Renner's character, but given that Legacy was mostly considered a flop, it is not surprising that didn't happen. It also seems like there may have been a falling out between Greengrass and Damon with Tony Gilroy, who was the screenwriter for the first four movies (and the director of Legacy) since he was not included in this movie (Greengrass and Christopher Rouse wrote this movie). Damon had made it clear that he would not return to the franchise unless Greengrass was the director, but none of the bonus features address any of that. 

The movie has a good storyline and is well-acted. It would have been nice if Julia Stiles had a larger role, but she was always a more minor character. It would also have been nice if this movie had included more of the fallout from the events of Ultimatum and Legacy (and maybe brought back Joan Allen and/or Edward Norton's characters). Still, as I said above, it ignores much of the prior movies, especially Legacy. Like the other films, it has a lot of action, including the requisite Boure chase scenes. This movie actually has two chase scenes, one early on and the other toward the end of the movie, going through the streets of Las Vegas. The storyline is mostly self-contained, so while it helps to watch at least the first three movies in the Franchise, you don't have to have seen the earlier movies to follow what is happening in this one. Ultimately, it is a good action-thriller and is worth your time to watch.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: The Bourne Legacy

 

The Bourne Legacy is a 2012 action thriller set in the "Bourne" universe of movies. It is directed by Tony Gilroy (who also co-wrote the screenplay). It stars Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross/Number 5, an agent in a covert division of the government code-named Operation Outcome. Also starring in the movie are the nearly ageless Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach, Oscar Issac, and Dennis Boutsikaris. Cory Stoll (probably best known for his role in House of Cards), Zeljko Ivanek, and Elizabeth Marvel have minor roles in the film, and Albert Finny, Joan Allen, Scott Glen, and David Strathairn each reprise their roles from The Bourne Ultimatum. The movie was initially planned to be another Bourne sequel and bring back Matt Damon. Damon bowed out when Paul Greengrass decided not to return to direct, which caused the writers and producers to go in another direction with the story. 

The events of this film are set during the events of The Bourne Ultimatum. In fact, some footage from Ultimatum is used in this movie. In it, Cross is sent on a training exercise in Alaska, where he meets with another operative (Number Three), played by Issac, who may or may not be evaluating him. Because of the actions of Bourne and Landy, Operation Outcome, which is the main program under which all the other programs like Treadstone and Blackbriar are run, is shut down, and the agents (and anyone working on the program) are taken out. Of course, Cross survives and goes on the run with Weisz's character, Marta, a virologist who works for Outcome and also survives an attempt on her life.

The 4k set is a two-disc set with a  UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The UHD disc just has the movie, which can be played with or without the commentary track. The commentary track includes Tony Gilroy, co-writer Dan Gilroy, editor John Gilroy, the director of photography, second unit director, and production designer. In the commentary, they do not get into the controversy about Damon and Greengrass not returning and just stick to talking about the film. They give a lot of information about the filming and casting process, including revealing that Issac was up for the lead role, but they felt he was not established enough at that point in his career. The rest of the special features are on the regular Blu-Ray disc. Those include deleted scenes and just under an hour of behind-the-scenes material. The A/V quality of the film in UHD is outstanding. Like the other Bourne movies, this one is upscaled from 2k, but the upscaling is better than the prior films received, so it is a bigger jump in video quality from 1080p. And the audio track is terrific, especially if you have a good surround sound system. 

Legacy is a good movie that gets panned/shit on much more than it should. It definitely uses elements similar to those of other films, such as multiple chases and fight scenes. So, it has a similar feel to the other movies (which is intentional), but it does tell its own story and is not a carbon copy of the Bourne Trilogy. The story in this film flows nicely from the Bourne movies and has the potential to be further tied into that universe, leaving open the possibility of a team-up between Cross and Bourne. Given how much time has passed since this movie was made and that Cross did not appear in the film in which Damon returned to the franchise (not to mention Renner's accident that may not allow him to do a movie this physical again), that is becoming more and more unlikely. Ultimately, it is a much better film than it gets credit for being. On its own, it is a good action-thriller, but it also makes sense within the Bourne universe. It is absolutely worth watching.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: The Bourne Ultimatum

 

The Bourne Ultimatum is a 2007 action-thriller. It is the third entry in the Bourne Trilogy, including 2002's The Bourne Identity and 2004's The Bourne Supremacy. It stars Matt Damon, Julia Stiles (reprising their roles from the first two movies), and Joan Allen (her role from the second movie). The new cast members of the franchise include David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, and Albert Finney. Paul Greengrass returns to direct the movie, and Tony Gilroy again wrote the screenplay.

In the film, we find out that there is a six-week gap between when Bourne leaves Moscow and when he calls Pamela Landy at the end of The Bourne Supremacy when she tells him that his real name is David Webb. Most of this movie fills in that six-week gap and gives more context to the call between Bourne and Landy. We also get Bourne's entire backstory and discover how he was brought into Treadstone. The film also reveals that Treadstone was a small part of a more extensive operation within the CIA. Julia Stiles finally has a larger role in this movie than she did in either of the first two films, and we get a couple of new antagonists.

The 4K set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is good. The audio is outstanding, but the video is again upscaled from 2k, so it is not a huge leap in quality over 1080p. The UHD disc contains the movie, which can be played with the director's commentary track. The rest of the bonus material, including deleted scenes, a spy training guide, and about 45 minutes of behind-the-scenes material. You can also watch the movie in a U-control mode that integrates behind-the-scenes material while the movie plays. Ultimately, the movie is good and caps off the trilogy well. It is well-written and acted. Like the prior movies, you must suspend your disbelief and not try to think too hard about how Bourne survives the things he does, but if you can do that, it is enjoyable. If you liked the first two movies, this is absolutely worth watching.