4K-UHD/Movie Review: Cloverfield

 

Cloverfield is a 2008 horror film produced and conceived by J.J. Abrams (it was one of the first movies produced by his production company, Bad Robot), written by Drew Goddard, and directed by Matt Reeves. It starred Michael Stahl-David, Odette Yustman (now Anabelle), Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Lizzy Caplan, and Mike Vogel. It is a monster movie, heavily influenced by the old Godzilla movies, that involves a creature that destroys New York on the night of a going-away party for Stahl-David's character, Rob Hawkins. The premise of the movie is that footage from a personal camcorder is recovered in what is left of Central Park. The tape begins with footage of Rob and his girlfriend Beth (played by Yustman) spending a day together, and is intercut with footage of the day of the party, the events of the party, and the creature's destruction of the city. T.J. Miller's character, Hud, is tasked with recording the party and encouraging the partygoers to film farewell messages for Rob. The events of the film are mostly shown from the point of view of what Hud is filming and narrating. 

The 4K set is a two-disc set, containing a UHD disc and a standard Blu-ray disc. It also has a code to redeem a digital version of the film. There are a couple of different 4K releases, including a steelbook edition, each of which has the same content. The UHD disc only includes the film, while the regular Blu-ray disc contains the film and all the bonus content. The extras include a director's commentary track by Matt Reeves, a gag reel, a making-of documentary, featurettes on the visual effects and creating the creature, a few deleted scenes, and a couple of alternate endings. The film can also be played in an investigation mode, where facts about the characters and the events in the movie are displayed while the movie plays. Reeve's commentary had a lot of interesting information about the production process. 

The movie is good, but different. It was a low-budget film that was intentionally made to appear like a home movie, so the camera shakes a lot and does not always capture everything that is happening. The best way I can describe it is a cross between Godzilla and The Blair Witch Project. While the A/V quality is excellent and it looks wonderful in UHD, it has a distinctly different look and feel compared to major blockbuster movies. The film is very short (under an hour and a half, with the credits), which was almost necessary given the way the movie was filmed. It is well-written and acted, and the cast, despite being filled with young, relatively unknown actors, does a great job in their respective roles. It is much more suspenseful than it is gory, and for most of the film, the creature is shown only very fleetingly. That said, there is some violent content and a lot of swearing, so it is not suitable for young kids. If you're a fan of the horror genre, especially monster movies, this is worth watching. If you have a physical media collection, it's also worth adding to it. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle

 

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle is a 2003 action/comedy film that is the direct sequel to the 2000 film Charlie's Angels. McG returned to direct the film, which brought back Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu to reprise their roles as the Angels Dylan, Natalie, and Alex. Crispin Glover, Luke Wilson, and Matt LeBlanc also reprised their roles from the first movie. The additions to the cast included Demi Moore, Robert Patrick, John Cleese, Shia LeBeouf, Justin Theroux, Bernie Mac, and Ja'Net Dubois. The film also features several cameo appearances, including Carrie Fisher, Pink, Robert Forester, Bruce Willis, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and Jaclyn Smith, reprising her role as Kelly Garrett from the TV series. 

The plot involves a pair of rings that contain and unlock a list of people in the witness protection program. The list is stolen and set to be sold to various criminal organizations. A couple of revenge plots are intertwined within the story, and we get a bit more backstory about Crispin Glover's character. 

This is a single-disc release containing both the theatrical version of the film and an unrated version that adds a few more minutes to the runtime, mostly by adding more violence to a couple of the big fight scenes. The extras include several commentary tracks on the film. There is an audio and a telestrator commentary by McG. The audio tracks are exactly the same, but the telestrator commentary is annotated with things being circled in the background of some of the scenes while McG talks. Then, there is a commentary track by a couple of the writers. The theatrical version can also be played with a trivia track similar to the old show, Pop-Up Video, where information about the movie is displayed in pop-up boxes while it plays. Then there are several different making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes, a preview for the 2019 reboot, and the music video for Pink's song Feel Good Time. 

Ultimately, the movie is a fun action-comedy. It is similar in style and tone to the first movie. It does have a lot of adult humor that skirts the bounds of what can be included in a PG-13 film. There is also a scene where the Angels are nude in shadow so you cannot really see anything except for a brief flash of sideboob from Drew Barrymore. Of course, the big draw when the movie came out was that this was Demi Moore's return to movies after a hiatus of about six years. She was phenomenal in the role and looked fantastic. It seems all the actors had fun in their respective roles and did not take themselves too seriously. The big change from the first film is that Bill Murray did not return. The writer's commentary track touched on Murray's absence, stating that they knew they would have to go in a different direction with the Bosley character when it was clear that Murray would not be back. There was no mention in any of the bonus content of the conflict between him and Lucy Liu in the first movie. They came up with a good way to have Bernie Mac be the new Bosley and did include a picture of Murray in one of the scenes. If you liked the first movie, you will probably like this one. Like the first film, this one takes a lot of suspension of disbelief and has some plot holes, but if you do not overthink it and just enjoy it for what it is, it is worth watching.   

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Charlie's Angels

 

Charlie's Angels is a 2000 action-comedy based on the 1970s TV series of the same name. It stars Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, Cameron Diaz, Bill Murray, Sam Rockwell, Kelly Lynch, and Crispin Glover in the main roles. Tim Curry, Matt LeBlanc, Luke Wilson, Melissa McCarthy, Tom Green, LL Cool J, and Alex Trebek have smaller roles (or cameos). John Forsythe reprised his role from the TV series playing the voice of Charlie, while Barrymore, Liu, and Diaz played the Angels. Murray plays Bosley, who is the go-between the Angels and Charlie. The plot involves misdirection about who the true bad guys are, but the meat of the storyline is that someone is trying to track down Charlie as a part of a revenge scheme, using the Angels and Bosley as unwitting pawns in the plan.

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 outstanding and is a massive upgrade over the DVD release and a decent upgrade over the 1080p release. Most of the extras are on the regular blu-ray, but the UHD disc has the teaser and theatrical trailers for the movie and a sneak peek at the 2019 reboot/quasi-sequel written and directed by Elizabeth Banks. The extras on the regular blu-ray were carried over from the prior physical media releases and include a commentary track by director McG and cinematographer Russell Carpenter, several behind-the-scenes featurettes featuring cast interviews, a blooper reel (which are the same bloopers shown in the end credits), deleted scenes, and two music videos.

The movie is a bit dated, but it holds up pretty well even after 25 years (as of this writing). It has a good blend of action and humor, and Barrymore, Diaz, and Liu had no qualms about looking silly. They did work their asses off to do a lot of the stunts. And, they were all hot as fire. Some of the humor is a bit cheesy, and Tom Green is annoying, as always. While Barrymore, Diaz, and Lui seemed to have great chemistry, there was no mention in any of the bonus material of the tension between Murray and Liu that would lead to the role of Bosley being recast in the direct sequel, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Ultimately, this combines a good action movie and a silly comedy. If you can accept it for what it is and what it is not, it is worth watching. 

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Basic Instinct

 

Basic Instinct is the 1992 erotic thriller starring Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone. It was written by Joe Eszterhas and directed by Paul Verhoeven. The supporting cast includes George Dzundza, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Denis Arndt, Leilani Sarelle, Wayne Knight, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Mitch Pileggi. In the film, Stone plays a novelist named Catherine Tramell. Her boyfriend is killed with an ice pick at the beginning of the movie by a woman whose face we never see while having sex. Douglas and Dzundza play police detectives investigating the murder. Tramell begins playing mind games with Douglas' character, telling him that she is going to base the lead character in her new novel on him. The movie is essentially a who-done-it that throws a lot of misdirection meant to make it ambiguous as to whether Catherine is really the murderer or is being set up.

The 4k set is a three-disc set containing a UHD disc and two regular blu-ray discs. The A/V quality is excellent.  While some of the scenes still have some imperfections and grain, many of the scenes show a lot more detail than any prior physical media releases of the movie. The UHD disc and the first regular blu-ray have the same content, the movie and some bonus features. The second regular blu-ray disc just has additional bonus content. The bonus features include three commentary tracks on the film: the original 1993 commentary track by Verhoeven, a second commentary track that was created for the special edition DVD release featuring Verhoeven and the director of photography, Jan De Bont, and a third commentary track by Professor Camille Paglia. The first two contain a lot of good information about the movie, the casting processes (especially casting Stone to play Catherine Tramell), and all the controversy the movie's production garnered. Paglia's track is not as good. It seemed like she wrote a scene-by-scene breakdown of the movie for a college lecture and just read it word-for-word. It does not seem like she was giving an authentic reaction to just watching the film. 

The rest of the bonus content on the UHD (and first regular blu-ray) disc includes a couple of new featurettes featuring interviews with the cast and crew that were made for the 4k release, and some of the archival featurettes that were transferred over from earlier physical media releases (such as a featurette on how the movie was edited for television, original screen tests by Stone and Tripplehorn, a TV spot, and the trailers, as well as an archival interview with Stone). The rest of the bonus content on the second regular blu-ray disc is all archival content transferred from the prior physical media releases, including the original making-of featurettes (including one from the VHS release of the film), storyboard comparisons, and the like. Some of the material on this disc (such as the screen test and trailers) is duplicative of the material on the UHD disc. Note that some 4k sets are UK imports, meaning that the UHD disc is region-free and will play in the US, but the two regular blu-rays are region-locked, so you will need a region-free or Region-2 player to watch them. The Lionsgate Steelbook edition is a US release so all the discs will play in on Region-1 players.

The movie is a good thriller, but some things about it would probably be changed if it were made today. It is absolutely not family-friendly, as it contains a lot of nudity (including the infamous interrogation scene), swearing, and sexual content. The movie's ending is ambiguous as to whether Catherine is guilty or innocent, but Verhoeven definitively answers that question in the commentary tracks and other bonus material. The bonus material is where the set really shines. It has hours of bonus content, and even in the newly added bonus features, all the participants discuss all aspects of making the movie and the controversies surrounding making the film (including the reaction from the gay and lesbian community before and after the film came out). Verhoeven and Stone still wildly disagree as to whether she was made aware of what was going to be shown in the upskirt shot in the interrogation scene, but Stone admits, while she was pissed that she was never told that her crotch would be visible, that it worked for the movie. Ultimately, it is a good movie that is worth the time to watch, and if you like going through bonus content, the 4k version is a must-add to your collection.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: American Pie [UK Import]

 

American Pie is the iconic 1999 coming-of-age teen comedy written by Adam Herz, directed by Paul Weitz, and starring Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Seann William Scott, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Alyson Hannigan, Shannon Elizabeth, Natasha Lyonne, Tara Reid, Mena Suvari, Eugene Levy, and Jennifer Coolidge. Chris Owen, Christina Milan, Casey Affleck, and Eli Marienthal have more minor supporting roles, and the members of the band Blink 182 have cameo appearances. 

The movie is set in the fictional town of East Great Falls, Michigan, and centers around a pact made by a group of friends in their senior year of high school (Biggs, Klein, Nicholas, and Thomas) to lose their virginity by prom. The film launched the careers of the younger actors (most of whom were in their early to mid-twenties when the movie was filmed, except for Thomas) and helped revive the careers of Eugene Levy and Jennifer Coolidge. It is primarily a raunchy comedy with more serious moments between various comedic moments. While all the cast members do a great job in their roles, Hannigan and Levy steal most of the scenes they are in. 

The 4k set is a two-disc set from the UK containing a UHD disc and a regular blu-ray disc. The UHD disc includes both versions of the movie, the theatrical and unrated versions. The UHD disc is region-free and will play on US (Region A) players. The regular blu-ray is region-locked to Region B and appears to be coded so it will not play on region-free players. When I put it in my Region 2 player, the blu-ray disc loaded to the menu, and although the menu page had sound, when I tried to play the movie or the bonus feature, no sound came out. The only extra on the UHD disc is the original DVD commentary track featuring Herz, Weiz, Biggs, Scott, and Thomas. All the other extras are on the regular blu-ray. Most of them are carried over from the original DVD release (such as the outtakes, music videos, trailer, etc.). However, not all of the bonus content from the original release is included. There are a couple of new featurettes included specifically for this release, but as I said, none of those played with sound. The A/V quality of the movie on the UHD disc is outstanding and is a significant upgrade from the DVD.

The movie is good and holds up relatively well even after twenty-six years (as of this writing). There are certainly things in the film that probably would not be included or significantly changed (like the scrambled porn scene, the webcam scene, etc.) if the movie were made today. Some of the themes in the film are timeless to growing up and will remain true forever. The movie is definitely raunchy (it really revived the raunchy teen comedy genre) and has a lot of sexual content and dialog, although only one real nude scene (in which Shannon Elizabeth is topless). The unrated version of the movie is nearly identical, with the only real change being to the pie scene to make it raunchier than in the theatrical version. Ultimately, the movie is good, even if it is a bit dated. This release could have been better if all the extras had been put on the UHD disc. If you are in the US and don't care about watching the bonus content, it is worth the pickup since the UHD disc will play on your player. If you want the bonus content, you may want to wait and see if the movie gets a US release. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw

 

Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw is a 1976 action-thriller/crime drama starring Lynda Carter, Marjoe Gortner, Merrie Lynn Ross, Jesse Vint, Belinda Balaski, and Gene Drew. In the film, Carter plays Bobbie Jo, a waitress at a drive-in restaurant who wants to be a country music singer. She hooks up with a thief named Lyle Wheeler (played by Gortner). After they start running from the law, they meet up with Bobbie Jo's sister (played by Ross) and her boyfriend (played by Vint), and the four end up on a robbery and murder spree throughout the southwest while being pursued by a local sheriff. 

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is decent, but the film did not get an extensive restoration for the blu-ray release. It mostly looks good, especially if you like transfers that preserve a lot of film grain, but some film damage occasionally comes through. The extras include two different commentary tracks on the film, one by the movie's director, Mark Lester, and one by writer John Harrison. Lester discusses all aspects of the film and the process of making the movie. Harrison goes off on many tangents, including what many of the people involved in the movie did later in their careers. The extras also include separate interviews with Lester, Balaski, and Ross, the theatrical trailer, and two radio spots. The bonus content is quite interesting, including addressing the fact that Carter, who found religion after making the movie (and became massively popular because of the Wonder Woman TV series), did not want much to do with the movie and its promotion because of the nude scenes.

The movie is more of a cult classic than a great film. The best way I can describe its plot is that it is what you would get if you mixed the real-life Bonnie and Clyde and Billy the Kid stories with The Dukes of Hazzard. Much of the movie would have been written differently if it had been made today, including having Lyle follow Bobbie Jo home from work without talking to her and having her willingly jump in his car instead of calling the cops on him for stalking her. The movie's big attraction is that Carter was a couple of years removed from winning the Miss World USA pageant and had just filmed the Wonder Woman Pilot when the movie was made. Carter was absolutely gorgeous in her mid-20s, and the movie is one of the only (if not the only) times she went topless on film (and they are spectacular). Some of the dialogue is very cheesy by today's standards, and almost everything about it is unrealistic. That said, it is a decent low-budget action movie and is worth checking out.

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 Guccione'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.