Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Mr. Robot Season 4

 

+++Warning, this will contain prior season spoilers, but no major giveaways from the final season+++

The 13-episode fourth season of Mr. Robot aired during the fall and winter of 2019. This ended up being the final season of what was, in my opinion, along with shows like The Americans, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul were the best cable dramas of the 2010s. It is nearly impossible to discuss the season's overall plot without giving too much away. Much of the season is about fleshing out Zheng's/Whiterose's story, including a backstory, and Elliot's takedown of both Whiterose's plan (which has been referred to throughout the series) and the group of the 1% of the 1% who run the country. Some of the cast is relegated to more of a recurring status this season (e.g., Portia Doubleday) while the roles of other cast members are expanded (e.g., B.D. Wong, who is terrific playing a dual role). The showrunners did an excellent job tying up all the threads and storylines, mainly in the second half of the final episode, making it clear (seemingly anyway) that the bulk of the story was planned out from the beginning.

The Blu-Ray set is a four-disc set. As with the prior season releases, the show looks great in the HD format, with great views of NY, especially the NYC skyline. The extras are pretty thin, which is the only drawback for me, but really only enough to knock the set down half a star. There are deleted/alternate/extended scenes for every episode and a seven-minute gag reel. There are no commentary tracks, behind-the-scenes material, or series retrospective, which is a shame because there is a lot to be said about how the series ended. It would have been nice to hear the thoughts of Sam Esmil, Remi Malik, and the rest of the cast.

Overall, the season and series were wonderful. It continued to be well-written and acted, and the characters were developed until the final episode. The series still earned a hard TV-MA rating, mainly because of the language and violence. Ever since Tyrell's wife was killed off, and his character took a different arc, the sex was toned way down, but there is liberal use of the f-word, so if swearing gets to you, you will not like the show. The series continued to take chances not only in the character development but also in things like having a dialogue-free episode, which I can only remember being done in season four of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. If you liked or loved the prior seasons, you will enjoy the payoff to the series that this season gives you. On the other hand, if you were not a fan of the prior seasons, this will not do anything to make you like it. I definitely recommend it for those who are looking for a great but very different drama, with the proviso that you absolutely have to watch the series from the beginning to be able to follow what is going on.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Mr. Robot: Season 3

 

+++Warning, this has spoilers from seasons 1 and 2, but no major season 3 giveaways+++

The 10-episode third season of Mr. Robot aired during the fall and early winter of 2017. This season brings the show back into the "real world" after spending much of season 2 in Elliot's head while he was in prison. It is still about the fallout of the 5/9 hack of E Corp. and setting up a much more massive phase-two attack that was hinted at last season. This season reveals more about the Dark Army and the various operatives they have working for them. It also reveals what Wellick did during season 2, for which he was mostly absent. I will not go into too much of what happens this season because it is hard to do so without giving too much away. I will say that the various characters, even the "good" ones, continue to be morally ambiguous (at best). And some even take a turn for the worse.

The Blu-Ray set is a three-disc set. The extras are okay but not extensive. There are deleted scenes for some episodes, a gag reel, and a couple of behind-the-scenes featurettes. It is definitely not a show that will appeal to everyone. But, if you liked the first couple of seasons (especially season 1), you will probably like this. The blu-rays have unedited episodes (which basically means the f-word is not bleeped out as it is when it airs on TV), and there is violence, sex, and drug use. And, even though the show is set in the past, it does manage to take a few shots at t***p, whom, if you follow the show's creator on Twitter, you know he despises. So, if any of that would turn you off to a show, you probably want to skip this. For everyone else, it is well written and acted, even it is a bit (and sometimes more than a bit) weird. Definitely worth checking out.

DVD/Movie Review: The Betrayed

 

The Betrayed is a 2008 thriller directed by Amanda Gusack starring Melissa George (probably best known for her role in the series Alias), Oded Fehr (probably best known for his role in the first two Mummy movies and several of the Resident Evil movies), Connor Christopher, Christian Campbell, Alice Krige, and Donald Adams. The movie begins at the scene of what appears to be a hit-and-run car accident, but the driver of the car that was hit is nowhere to be found. Then, we see a woman named Jamie (George) who has been kidnapped and is being held in a warehouse by a masked stranger (Fehr) who is asking for information about her husband (Campbell). Jamie finds out that she and her son, Michael,  are being held by members of a crime syndicate who claim that her husband, who Jamie believes is the owner of an Italian restaurant, has stolen forty million dollars from them. She is told that she and her son will be released if she helps track down the money. 

The DVD is a very bare-bones release. There is no bonus content specific to the movie. The only extras are a series of trailers that play before the disc menu loads. While the movie is not quite an independent film, it definitely had a lower budget and is not an action-packed blockbuster with an A-list cast. That said, it is a well-written and acted thriller. George and Fehr, who have mostly had supporting roles in their careers, are excellent as the leads. While the movie has a little bit of action, mostly at the end, it is mainly a suspense thriller set in a single location for the vast majority of the time. The run time comes in at just under 90 minutes. The story is compact and does not ever seem to lag. Ultimately, it is a decent to good B-level drama/suspense thriller that is worth watching.

Book Review: Holly

 

Holly is a 2023 thriller by Stephen King. It is centered around the character of Holly Gibney, introduced in the novel Mr. Mercedes. The bulk of the story is set in 2021, during the COVID pandemic. Holly, who is running the Finders Keepers detective agency, is contacted by a woman named Penny Dahl, whose daughter Bonnie has mysteriously disappeared. The investigation reveals multiple disappearances that seem to point to a serial killer and the involvement of a pair of retired professors. While you do not need to have read the earlier books in which Holly Gibney appeared to follow what is going on in this book, you will get more of the character's evolution as King lets those earlier works serve as the character development for Holly.

The hardcover version of the book is just under 450 pages. King writes it so that the readers know more than the characters in the book. He uses flashbacks to tell part of the story so the readers know who is responsible for the disappearances but do not know the motive until the last act. Even though the readers know more than the character of Holly does early in the book, King still manages to make the story very suspenseful. King does, as he has in his more recent books, include some social commentary (this time, the reaction to COVID and the vaccines) into the story and takes some shots at the orange genital wart (which will, of course, freak out the lickspittle MAGATs). Still, neither of those things dominates the story. Ultimately, it is a very well-written thriller. If you are a fan of King's novels, especially his recent ones, this one is worth reading. 

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Blindspot: Season 3

 

++++Warning, this will contain spoilers from prior seasons, but no major giveaways from this season++++

The 22-episode third season of Blindspot aired during the 2017/2018 TV season. It starts by revisiting the time jump that ended season two. The first couple of episodes fill in the gaps of what happened to the team during the nearly two-year time jump, and then the rest of the season is about the team (the same people, but with a different dynamic after the time jump) trying to take down Roman (Luke Mitchell), who has an agenda of his own aside from just getting back at Jane/Remi that plays throughout the season. All of the main cast members, Sullivan Stapleton, Jamie Alexander, Rob Brown, Audrey Esparza, Ashley Johnson, and Mitchell return as series regulars. Ennis Esmer has a larger recurring role as Rich Dotcom, and Mary Stuart Masterson joins as another recurring character.

The Blu-Ray set is a four-disc MOD set. Unlike some MOD DVD and blu-ray sets it has subtitles and extras. The latter include deleted scenes for most of the episodes, a 6+ min gag reel, and a 4 min behind the scenes with Audry Esparza highlighting her character, Zapata. Good for what is there, but not a ton. It may or may not be worth the extra cost to you. Chances are if you got the discs for seasons 1 and 2 you will want this one to have a complete collection. But if you only get discs when there is a lot of bonus material, then you may just want to stream it. One benefit to the MOD discs, however, is that there is a true play-all mode that allows you to pick up where you left off. Even in the middle of the episodes. That is not something that the "regular" Warner Brothers and Fox blu-ray sets do not.

The season is a bit uneven. It really tries to get its footing as a show after playing out the time jump. Some parts of the story work better than others, but where it really hooked me is the end, doing basically another couple of cliffhangers which really set up season four to potentially be the best season yet. It mostly has a long serial arc that builds throughout the season, but does have some self-contained episodes that are more like what you see in procedural dramas. It is well-written and acted with a good blend of action, drama, suspense, and humor. Even though it takes a while for the season to really pick up, it is absolutely worth the time to watch.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Aliens

 

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

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

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

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

 

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is the 2011 follow-up to the 2010 movie starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson. The rest of the cast includes Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry, Kelly Reilly, Eddie Marsan, and Geraldine James. This time, Moriarty is introduced in the flesh, as opposed to the shadowy figure from the first movie, and played wonderfully by Jared Harris. The movie incorporates elements of different Holmes stories, such as The Final Problem, and basically sets up a Holmes v. Moriarty showdown. I will not go into too much detail to avoid giving too much away, but if you have read the Holmes novels, you likely have an idea of the ending, although it does not follow the stories from the books word-for-word.

The A/V quality of the Blu-Ray is outstanding. The movie looks and sounds great in the HD format and the special effects look seamless with the practical effects. The extras are much like what was included in the Blu-Ray release of the first movie. The most extensive being the Maximum Movie Mode, which allows you to play the movie with behind the scenes material interjected. Then, there are some other behind the scenes features included as well. A lot to go through for people who like the bonus material.

Ultimately, if you liked the first movie, you will likely like this one, as it has a very similar tone and feel with an even better bad guy to be a foil for Holmes. You really cannot compare it with the BBC series Sherlock, as the movies and the series were really their own thing. It just so happens that, unfortunately, were released very close in time, and the series went on to be a very big hit. This, I think, is at least a part of why future movies have not materialized (not to mention Downey Jr. and Cumberbatch's commitments to the Marvel movies). It is definitely worth a couple of hours if you are looking for a good action movie.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Alien

 

Alien is the 1979 horror/action film directed by Ridley Scott that started the Alien franchise. It stars Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skeritt, Veronica Cartwright, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Harry Dean Stanton, and Yaphet Kotto. The story involves the crew of a space tug called the Nostromo being awakened from suspended animation while returning to Earth by the ship's computer when a transmission from a nearby moon is detected. The crew is tasked with investigating the source of the transmission, which turns out to be a large spaceship with a dead alien with a hole in its chest. While investigating the ship, one of the crew members is attacked by a creature that ends up being brought aboard the ship. From there, it becomes a fairly standard monster/chase movie.

The 4k set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc.  The 4k set was released in conjunction with the 40th Anniversary of the film. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is outstanding. While the film does retain some grain and noise from the transfer, the movie looks better than it has on any prior physical media release. The extras (which are included on the UHD disc), however, are limited. There are two different versions of the movie, the Director's Cut and the theatrical version. There are commentary tracks on each version of the movie. On the Director's Cut, there is a commentary track that included Scott and all of the crew members that was recorded in 2003. The commentary track on the theatrical version was recorded by Scott in 1999. Then, you can watch the theatrical version of the movie with two different scores. One is the theatrical isolated score, and the other is Jerry Goldsmith's original score, which was heavily changed for the movie's release. Then, there are a handful of deleted and extended scenes. If you own the Alien Quadrilogy on DVD or Blu-Ray, that set has a lot of extras that were not transferred over to this release. So, if you are a person who is a fan of bonus content, you will want to keep that set. Ultimately, the movie is good but dated (as the newer movies in the franchise have proven). The physical release is very good (aside from the fact that not all the prior bonus content was included) and is definitely worth the pickup.  

4k-UHD/Movie Review: A Quiet Place

 

A Quiet Place is a 2018 film with a twist on movies with themes of unseen monsters, alien invasions, etc. The twist is that the monsters in this movie are blind but have super hearing and kill anything that makes noise. The movie stars John Krasinski (who wrote the screenplay and directed the film), his real-life wife Emily Blunt, Noah Jupe, and Millicent Simmonds, playing members of a family in what is essentially a post-apocalyptic world in which many humans and animals have been killed. Those who have survived have to be perfectly quiet, communicate via sign language, and can only talk if they are near something that is making more noise than them.

It is a very different movie, especially as a horror movie, because there is minimal sound. Of course, sound is critical to the thrills in most horror movies, and in this one, it is the absence of sound, including background sounds. Even the soundtrack is very understated. The movie pulls off what most TV shows cannot, namely, having little to no dialog between the actors yet still managing to tell a compelling story.

The 4k set is a two-disc set with a UHD  disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The movie looks great in the UHD format. What the film lacks in sound, it makes up for in visuals and special effects. The UHD disc has just the movie, and then there are about 35 minutes (give or take) of behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes on the regular Blu-Ray. Overall, the film is well written, very well acted, and tells a unique story on an old theme of a creature-based horror movie. It is definitely worth checking out.

DVD/TV Series Review: 24: Legacy

 

24: Legacy was a limited event series that aired in early 2017 and starred Corey Hawkins, Miranda Otto, Jimmy Smits, Teddy Sears, and Gerald McRaney. Carlos Bernard was the only cast member from the original series to appear in Legacy. In the age of seemingly every canceled show getting a reboot, this is definitely not needed. At least not in the way it was done. It was actually the second shot at a 24 reboot, this time without Kiefer Sutherland reprising his role as Jack Bauer (he was credited as an executive producer), so while it had the same kind of exaggerated "real-time" format (at least for 11 hrs and 58 minutes or so, then did a 12 hr time jump and finished off the last couple minutes) and crazy twists that the old show was known for, it just did not work as well without the character that made the series iconic in the first place.

This series follows up on the aftermath of a raid that was clearly a take-off on the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, but this time with the remaining terrorists planning retaliatory strikes in the United States. It centers around the character of Eric Carter (played by Corey Hawkins ), who was a member of a group of army rangers on a mission to kill the terrorist leader. The supporting cast includes Miranda Otto, who is the outgoing director of CTU and wife to Jimmy Smit's character who is a senator with Presidential aspirations, Gerald McRainey who plays the father of the senator, and Teddy Sears as the new director of CTU. There are also some character tiebacks to the original series. Chances are, most people who get this have already seen the series, but I will not spoil anything for those who have not.

The set is only available on DVD. After the series ended, Amazon had a page for a blu-ray release. Still, as is the case with the vast majority of Fox's shows, if it gets a disc release at all, it is only a DVD (although it looks like it was released on blu-ray overseas, so if you have a region-free blu-ray player and want to pay for an import, that is an option. The extras are all on the last disc, just deleted scenes and an 11-minute making-of featurette. Okay, for what is there, but definitely bare bones.

While the series was billed as a first season, it was canceled shortly after the final episode aired. Had the original series not existed, this would have been fine for a 12-episode show. But given what had come before and the fact that it was so centered around the Jack Bauer character, having an event series so far outside the parent show's storylines just did not work well. Plus, the fact that the new characters were not established in any way for a handful of episodes, so there was no way to really get fans to care about them, did not work. What the writers with the story was fine, and the acting was fine, but the series just felt like a square peg being forced into a round hole. I think it would have worked far better if they were at least to incorporate the character of Jack Bauer into the story (say, a mission to try and free him from whatever hole he was likely dropped into at the end of the Live Another Day series), even if Kiefer did not appear, appeared for just one scene at the end, or only appeared in flashbacks would have had fans of the original series more invested in this one. Ultimately, while it was not a horrible series, it was nowhere near as good as the original series was at its best. While it is worth watching but is not a must-watch series.

DVD/TV Series Review: MacGyver (2016) Season 1

 

The 21-episode first season of MacGyver aired during the 2016/2017 TV season. It starred Lucas Till, George Eads, Sandrine Holt, Tristin Mays, Justin Hires, and (later in the season) Meredith Eaton. Tracy Spiridakos played a major recurring character, and the season saw guest appearances by some of the stars of the Hawaii Five-) reboot, specifically Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park, and Taylor Willy. The show itself is a fun reboot of the 1980s show of the same name. I never really watched the original show, so I am not sure how true to the feel of the old show this one keeps or does not. This version is set with MacGyver (Till) working for a "think tank" that is a cover for a secret off-the-books government organization. As was the case with the original show, they keep the gag about him being able to build a bomb out of paper clips and duct tape. More accurately, building whatever he needs to solve a particular problem with whatever happens to be handy.

He partners with Jack Dalton (Eads), who is the muscle to his brains, Riley Davis (Mays), who is a hacker who the team springs from prison, and Mac's best friend Bozer Hires), who is clueless about what he really does. The show is mostly a procedural case-of-the-week drama, much like CBS's other shows, but it does have a couple storylines that keep popping up throughout the season. It also exists in the Hawaii Five-0 universe (both shows have the same showrunners) and had a subtle shout-out to one of that show's season 7 storylines and then a crossover episode a bit later in the season.

The DVD set is a five-disc set. They are nothing more than a MOD release (even though I do not think they are burned on DVD-R). There are no extras of any kind, no subtitles. Just the episodes. The episode titles are not printed on the discs or the case, but they are on the DVD main menu screen when each disc loads. So, there is no reason to have to watch the episodes out of order unless you want to. There is no play-all option, but once the current episode stops playing, you can easily get to the next episode.

Overall, the show is fun and entertaining, much like the Hawaii Five-0 reboot, but the DVD release is lackluster to lousy. If you have a CBS all-access (now Paramount+) subscription, you can stream all the episodes and get better video quality, and you will miss absolutely nothing this DVD release offers. That said, whether you get the DVDs or stream it, the show is very entertaining and worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Homeland: Season 6

 

+++Warning, this will contain the spoiler for the cliffhanger at the end of season 5, but no major giveaways from season 6+++++

The 12-episode 6th season of Homeland aired in winter and spring of 2017. This season brings the show back to the United States. It is specifically set in New York and has a few different intertwined storylines, the main one being an attempt at taking down the President-elect. It is heavily influenced by the political climate and events of the past few years. The stories are well done, the acting is top-notch, and I do not think the show is overly preachy with the political elements as some shows can be. It did incorporate an Infowars-like radio show and a social media troll farm into the story and definitely used the real-world political divisiveness and hatred that exists to tell part of the story.

The Blu-Ray set is a three-disc set. The A/V quality is very good, and the discs have a season-play mode that allows you to stop during any episode and pick up where you left off. For extras, there are a couple of behind-the-scenes featurettes (each only a couple minutes long) and then an almost hour-long roundtable discussion with some of the cast and showrunners.

Ultimately, the season is very good. Rupert Friend as Quinn is really the standout this season. We learn in the first episode that Carrie did not end up pulling the plug on him, and when he comes back, he is a shell of his former self, dealing with, among other things, PTSD. He has to go through a range of emotions with the character and does it very well. While he is (in my opinion) the show's "backbone" this season, all the main and supporting actors did a great job with their material. Homeland is definitely a show that has had its ups and downs. I do think they struggled to end the Brody storyline, but now, being a few seasons removed from it, I think the show has recovered quite well. It could have easily gone in the tank after the first two seasons when all was revealed (and there are definitely some out there who think it did). But if you gave up on it during season 3 or 4, I think it has recovered nicely the past couple of seasons and is well worth taking a look at again.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Homeland: Season 5

 

The 12-episode 5th season of Homeland aired in the fall and winter of 2015. This season, most of the show is set in Germany and finds Carrie out of the CIA, working for a private company. Saul and Carrie are barely talking, and Quinn is taking out terrorist targets for Saul while falling apart more and more. I will not go into any more detail than that to avoid giving anything away, but the season involves Russian infiltration into the CIA, a major terrorist threat, chemical weapons with a Syria tie-in, and an Edward Snowden-like hacking angle.

I think the show is holding its own well now that it is a couple seasons removed from getting itself out of the Brody storyline (although there is a good easter egg-like reference to Brody, which happens in an episode that flashes back to Carrie's time in Iraq). The writers packed a lot into the season and had a lot of thought-provoking and almost clairvoyant angles (given what has been going on in the US political scene in recent years. The acting was again top-notch notch, with Rupert Friend, Claire Daines, and Mady Patinkin all standing out at different points. Miranda Otto is a good addition to the cast this year as a character who has ties to almost every character and plays a large role in the season.

The Blu-Ray set is a three-disc set, and as with the prior season releases, the show looks and sounds great on blu-ray. Thankfully, there is still a season-play mode for the discs, so you can stop and catch back up where you left off, even in the middle of an episode. There are only a couple extras. A feature on the evolution of Carrie as a character and a behind-the-scenes feature on using Berlin as the setting for the season. They each run for about 10 min. For die-hard fans of the series, it is a must-get. I think even the people who got sick of the Brody story arc in season 3 will find this one enjoyable.

Book Review: You Like it Darker: Stories

 

You Like It Darker is a collection of short stories written by Stephen King and published in 2024. The book includes 12 stories, which vary in length. A couple of the longer stories, including one that is a sequel to the movie Cujo, could definitely be adapted into a feature-length movie. The best story in the book (which is another one that could be adapted into a movie) is the final story entitled The Answer Man, which is one of the more metaphysical stories in the book. As is the case in much of King's work, he blends real-world elements (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) with his fictional world. Some of the stories are set in Maine (as many of King's stories are), but not all are. Rattlesnakes, for example, is set mostly in Florida. 

The hardcover version of the book is just over 500 pages long.  The stories are easy to get through and if you are a fast reader, you will likely be able to finish it in a few days (or less). Overall, the book is good. Some of the stories are better than others, but generally, if you are a fan of King's work, especially his more recent work, you will probably like the book. While I would not classify this as one of King's must-read books, it is worth reading.

DVD/Movie Review: Secret Window

 

Secret Window is a 2004 mystery/thriller starring Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello, Charles S. Dutton, and Timothy Hutton. The movie is an adaptation of a short story by Stephen King called Secret Window, Secret Garden. It is about a novelist named Mort Rainey, played by Depp, who is accused by a man named Shooter, played by John Turturro, of stealing one of his stories. It turns into a fairly twisted (for a PG-13 movie) thriller as Mort's life spirals more and more out of control at the hands of Shooter.  Bello plays Mort's estranged wife, Timothy Hutton plays her new boyfriend, and Charles S. Dutton plays the private investigator Mort hires to help him with the shooter situation.

The DVD extras include a commentary track on the movie by the director, David Koepp, deleted and extended scenes, and a short making-of featurette. The story, as you would expect for a movie adapted from a King novel, is very strong with some twists and turns. The acting was very good from top to bottom. Given this movie was made (2004) while Depp was in the mists of filming the various Pirates movies, it is a good break from his Captain Jack Sparrow character and lets him flex more of his dramatic acting muscles with a little bit of humor mixed in. It is definitely a good way to spend an hour and a half watching a movie that is entertaining but you do not have to think about too much when it is over.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

 

+++Warning, I will assume that anyone reading this has seen the movie already, so there will be some spoilerish material in the review, but I will not give away any major surprises+++++

The Force Awakens is the 2015 return to the Star Wars movie universe. It was written by J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan (who also co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi), and Michael Arndt, and directed by Abrams. It starred Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Issac, Lupita Nyongo, Domhnall Gleeson, and Andy Serkis (as the new characters in the franchise) and also saw the return of Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hammil, Anthony Daniels, and Peter Mayhew from the original trilogy cast. Of the legacy characters, Ford has the largest role in the movie, and Hammil has the smallest.

This movie was written clearly to cater to the fans of the original trilogy who were disheartened by Lucas' abandoning anything close to a good script and overuse of CGI in the prequel trilogy. This movie goes back to the roots of Star Wars, blending many practical effects with CGI, putting out a good story, and getting good performances out of the actors. The focus of the story is very much on the new characters, Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren, BB-8, and Poe. All the original main characters are in the film to various degrees, with Harrison Ford doing much of the heavy lifting, returning as Han Solo. It is very much meant to mirror A New Hope. The journey of the main character is intentionally paralleling the journey Luke took in the first movie. While I am not one who thinks it is an outright ripoff of Episode IV like some do, the fact that they were going for that tone and certainly had scenes that mirrored a lot of what was going on in that movie and had some of the same lines (some subtle and some very much not) I do get the criticism.

I ultimately give this movie an incomplete grade until this Trilogy is played out. There are three main things I think need to be cleared up in the subsequent movies or canon novels that are coming down the line, and then some other things that would just be nice to know. The first big point is obviously who Rey is. That character is obviously the one the whole new trilogy is going to be based around, so an explanation of who she is is essential. Likewise, Snoke's identity has to be revealed. They are setting up that he is an Emperor-like figure, powerful in the dark side. But it is known that during The Emperor and Vader's time, there were two Sith, a master and an apprentice. So there needs to be an explanation of how Snoke came to be in order to make sense of his seducing of Kylo Ren to the dark side. Then I think there needs to be an explanation of the new force powers we see in the movie. Kylo Ren, who J.J. Abrams made clear leading up to the movie is not a Sith lord and is not fully trained, is using powers that have not been shown in any previous movie (I have not seen The Clone Wars or Rebels cartoons, so I am not sure about what has or has not been in them). Not to mention the skills that the other character was able to learn so quickly.

The things I believe some kind of explanation would be nice are why Finn deserted, for example. He was on his first mission early on in the movie, and his only act of disobedience was to defect. That is not something that seems realistic for a soldier who was bred from childhood to be a Stormtrooper and obey orders. Then things like how Mas came to obtain Luke's old lightsaber, what were the main characters doing in the years after Return of the Jedi, etc. Obviously, some of those things will be told in Episodes VIII and IX and likely fleshed out in the new Cannon novels, but when those points are known, then I think this movie's piece in the larger puzzle can be better evaluated.

I do think that there are certainly imperfect parts to the story. Like Leia basically ignoring Chewbacca at a certain point, not going to find Luke herself when they figure out where he was, basically redoing a trench run to blow up the base, and things like that. With that said, I do think the movie made for a very good return to the Star Wars cinematic universe and gave a boost of nostalgia for those of us who grew up with the original films. I am not one of those who utterly loathed the prequels, but I certainly can be counted among those who think that Lucas took on way too much on his own in making them and lost sight of what made the original movies the classics they are. And I am one who loathes the endless of amount of CGI and tweaks and additions that he put into the original trilogy.

For those who get the actual Blu-Ray, the movie looks and sounds great as you would expect. The extras, of course, vary depending on where you buy it, with the studio doling out retailer-specific extras. To my knowledge, none of them have an audio commentary on the film itself. For the Amazon version, the main extra is an hour-long behind-the-scenes and making-of feature called "The Story Awakens," where the cast and crew talk about the process of creating the movie from pre-production and casting to the end. Then there are several shorter features, all pretty much under 10 min on building BB-8, creating the various creatures, breaking down the fight scene in the forest at the end of the movie, John Williams returning to score the movie, ILM creating the digital effects, deleted scenes and a short feature on the charitable work done by the studio, cast, crew etc around the movie. Good for what is there, but sucks that all the bonus content was again split up like is happening on a lot of the major releases. And a commentary track including the various trailers would have been nice. Thankfully Harrison Ford participated a lot in the extras, which is something given his rumored dislike for the character of Han Solo and the movies overall. He seemed appreciative of being in the movie, respectful to the fans, as well as being honest and sincere with that 10-20 years ago, he probably would not have agreed to come back.

There will ultimately be a lot of subjectivity in liking or disliking this movie. It is not perfect, but realistically, aside from maybe Empire Strikes Back, none of the movies have been all that close to perfect. I think most people in their 40s and 50s who were kids or teenagers when the original films came out and loved those will mostly fall somewhere on the like-to-love spectrum on this movie. If you were a casual fan of any of the movies, then I think you will probably be a casual fan of this. If you are one who loved what Lucas did with the prequels and the special editions, then you may fall somewhere between disappointment and hate. Realistically almost everyone has seen this at least once by now, so you know where you fall. While some whiny "fans" shit on the movie (and the prequel series as a whole), I think this is a good movie that was setting up a good storyline. The one thing I do think that the producers can be ripped for is the decision to have three different directors do each movie and have total control over the storyline of each movie. I think the prequel trilogy would have been much better if at least the same writers wrote all three movies. Since that did not happen, the prequel trilogy became a mess. That said, the movie is absolutely worth the time to watch.

4K-UHD/Movie Review: The Abyss

 

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

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

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

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

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Homeland: Season 4

 

++WARNING: This will contain spoilers from the prior seasons and hints, but no major giveaways from season 4. If you have not seen the prior seasons, skip past the first paragraph. +++

The 4th season of Homeland included 12 episodes that aired during the fall and winter of 2014. This season, the main cast includes Claire Danes, Rupert Friend, Nazanin Boniadi, Laila Robins, Tracy Letts, and Mandy Patinkin. 

The season starts off months after the events of season 3. Carrie is still dealing with the death of Brody and being a mother. Most of this season's story is set in Pakistan and plays off the very real-world scenario of they do not trust us, and we do not trust them, and it mainly involves a Taliban leader's grab for power. After the Pakistan CIA station chief is killed, Carrie ends up stepping in for him and begins making dubious decisions. Quinn really steps up to the number two character this season. Saul's role is somewhat reduced, especially since he works in the private sector. While he is still involved in major parts of the story (especially toward the middle to end of the season), he is on the sidelines a lot. Carrie calls many of the shots this season despite being unwell, and Quinn sometimes helps her and sometimes on his own. There is a very good storyline within the season of Quinn trying to get out of the CIA but finding himself drawn back. Because of Brody's death in season 3, we do not see any of his family this season. Although they did find a way to get a nice Damien Lewis cameo in one of the episodes.

The Blu-Ray set is a three-disc set that includes the episodes and a handful of extras. The A/V quality is very good, and the shows look and sound great in the HD format. The discs have a season-play mode that allows you to stop in the middle of an episode and pick up where you left off. The extras include deleted scenes for some episodes, a few script-to-screen features that detail specific scenes during the season and how they were done, and character profiles. It's good for what is there, but not extensive. Ultimately, the season is good. It is not as good as the first season, but better than the third season. The show definitely had to pivot with the end of the Brody storyline, but that had really played itself out by the end of season three. Even though it could not recapture the feel of season one, it is still worth the time to watch.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Homeland Season 3

 

+++WARNING This will contain spoilers from the prior seasons and some hints, but no major giveaways about season 3.+++

Season 3 of Homeland included 12 episodes that aired during the fall and winter of 2103. In this season Rupert Friend and F. Murray Abraham were promoted to series regulars, and Tracy Letts was brought on as a power-hungry senator named Andrew Lockhart. The third season is good but kind of disjointed. The plot lines seem to jump around until you get toward the end of the season where everything comes together. The first half of the season was really about the aftermath of the CIA bombing at the end of Season 2 that was pinned on Brody. An elaborate plan between Carrie and Saul was hatched to get the person responsible out in the open, but if you think about it too hard it was a plan hatched to catch someone they did not really know was involved with 100% certainly, relied on information they did not have when the plan was set in motion, or that the bait would be taken. So it takes a lot of suspension of disbelief to buy into the whole thing. If you can put that aside, however, the rest of the season is compelling and dramatic, much like the prior seasons were.

The other main point this season was the wrap-up of Brody's storyline. For much of the first part of the season, Brody was not even around or only appeared for most of 1 episode and a few minutes in a few others. Then his story converged on the other storyline. The one unfortunate part of ending that story is that the great story surrounding Dana's response to finding out her dad was a terrorist was also wrapped up, and it was pretty clear that his family will not have a large role in the show anymore. That said, it was definitely time to bring that story, as good as it was for the first season and a half to a close.

The blu-ray set is a three-disc set, with the episodes and extras spread across the three discs. As far as extras go, there is a behind-the-scenes feature on filming the final episodes, deleted scenes, commentary on the final episode, and a feature on Brody's story from the first part of the season. Not a ton, but okay for what is there. All in all, it is not as good as the prior seasons, but does an adequate job of resolving some storylines and moving the show forward.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: No Country for Old Men

 

No Country for Old Men is a 2007 crime-drama/crime-thriller directed by Joel and Ethan Cohen and starring Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones, and Kelly Macdonald.  Woody Harrison and Stephen Root have smaller, extended cameo roles. At the core, it is a chase movie. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon the scene of a drug deal gone wrong while out hunting. He finds a case with two million dollars in cash in it (along with a lot of dead bodies) and takes the money, thinking he was in the right place at the right time. In a very stupid move, he goes back to bring water to one of the men left barely alive but ends up being spotted. That sets up the rest of the movie. He ends up being pursued by killer Anton Chigurh (played wonderfully by Javier Bardem), who is a killer with some sense of a code but will also kill anyone who gets in his way. The cornerstone of the movie is the local sheriff, Ed Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), who is trying to make sense of the entire thing and stop Chigurh, a killer he does not understand, and save Moss.

The movie leaves a lot of the filling in-the-blanks to the viewer. It is a very violent movie that has a lot of suspense and action. You do not, however, learn all the pieces of the puzzle and are left to guess at the fate of some of the characters. So, if you are a person who needs the entire movie to be wrapped up in a nice bow at the end and everything resolved, you will hate this movie. The point of the movie, to the extent there is one, was to show how crime had changed for Sheriff Bell and how he felt that he could not comprehend and keep up with the "new" criminal element.

What made the movie great to me was the acting and writing. The cast is truly an ensemble, with Tommy Lee Jones being the most well-known at the time. Everyone, from the main characters to those who basically just made cameo appearances, like Woody Harrelson and Stephen Root, did a great job. Even though the story was essentially being told from Sheriff Bell's point of view (at least in terms of the narrations throughout the film) it did not focus on one character above the rest. It was also unique in that none of the main characters ever really interacted. The closest was a shootout between Moss and Chigurh, where neither one got a real good look at the other.

The Blu-Ray's A/V quality is great. The movie's cinematography was excellent, and the shots really jumped out in the HD presentation. As far as extras on the single-disc edition go, there are about 40 minutes or so of making-of and behind-the-scenes features. The centerpiece is a 25-minute "Making of No Country for Old Men" featurette. Chances are, most people will have already seen the movie or at least heard about it. It is definitely not for everyone and has kind of an offbeat nature like the Cohen Brothers are known for. It seems most people either really like it, either because they were a fan of the book, the Cohen Brothers in general, or just saw the movie because they heard someone say it was good and ended up liking it. On the other hand, the people who hate it seem to be in the camp that it is too slow, they hate the way it ended, and/or they think there is not much point to it. I am not one who calls it the greatest movie of all time, but for a movie that is a blend of drama, suspense, and very dark comedy, it is worth checking out. Just know, however, that if you do, it does not end with everything being answered and does leave you to think and draw your own conclusions.