Author: Robert Greenberger

On September 18, 1964, a serious animated adventure series, demonstrating cartoons didn’t have to always be comical such as The Flintstones (still airing then on ABC). Instead, Jonny Quest captured the sense of exploration Americans were longing for thanks to the Mercury astronauts and the rising tide of espionage films, headed by James Bond. However, Jonny was a young boy, making him an ideal feature for the Friday at 7:30 p.m. slot.

While the 26 episodes are all that were produced, the show’s overall quality proved influential to subsequent generations of animators, comic book storytellers, and audiences. It has pretty much remained in syndication for the last forty years.  Jonny Quest remained the benchmark for dramatic animated fare for decades, enjoying brief runs as a comic book (notably Comico’s 1980s run).

The series has been collected and polished to a brilliant shine on a just-released Jonny Quest: The Complete Series Blu-ray from Warner Archives, where it will be celebrated in San Diego later this month.

The credit for the Hanna-Barbera series starts with Doug Wildey, who was asked to adapt the radio serial Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy for a cartoon series. Instead, Wildey threw himself into research and so thoroughly updated the concepts and cast that it was something entirely new.

Jonny (voiced by young Tim Matheson) is an 11-year-old homeschooled boy, who accompanies his father, the brilliant Dr. Benton C. Quest (John Stephenson/Don Messick), who is sent by the USA government on various expeditions. They are accompanied by Race Bannon (Mike Road), an agent from Intelligence One, designated as Jonny’s tutor and bodyguard, and Hadji (Danny Bravo), a Kolkata orphan adopted by Dr. Quest. With their dog Bandit, they circle the globe getting in and out of danger with regularity. The stories are imaginative and varied, giving the series its lasting appeal with heavy doses of technological plausibility plus pterodactyls.

There were several recurring characters, notably Race’s old girlfriend, Jade (Cathy Lewis), a mystery never fully solved.

The superior animation lavished on this, compared with most of Hanna-Barbera’s output from the era, looks great here with the traditional 1.33:1 aspect ratio. These files were cleaned up so the colors and heavy black line work is crisp, the colors popping and shadows properly murky.

The DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix nicely preserves the one-channel original audio and works just fine with the beautiful visuals. Hoyt Curtin and Ted Nichols’ theme and music have never sounded better.

The special features from the 2004 DVD release are carried over here, including The Jonny Quest Files: Fun, Facts & Trivia (25:19), Jonny Quest: Adventures in Animation (15:15), complete with comments from Brad Bird, Steve Rude, Dan Riba, and Alex Ross; The Jonny Quest Video Handbook (16:57), and P.F. Flyer Sneaker Commercial (1:00).

If younger people today know Popeye at all, it’s probably his connection with spinach. The brilliance of the animated cartoons from the 1940s is forgotten as is his Can-Do personality and rich supporting cast. A while back, the classic black and white cartoons were being collected as a three volume DVD so it is most welcome that Warner Archives is releasing the color ones using restored and remastered in HD 4K scans of the original nitrate Technicolor negatives for Blu-ray where we can appreciate the detail.

Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s Volume 1 came out last December and now we have Volume 2 with 15 more in chronological order on a reasonably priced disc ($17.97 if you look around). There were released in 1946 and 1947 just after World War II so the content reflects that euphoria and forward-looking approach.

These are a fanciful collection with adventures under the sea, on Mars, out west, and in darkest Africa.

The cartoons lack the imagination and brilliance of the earlier Fleischer Studios, but the renamed Famous Studios still offered up some of the finest animation of the era thanks to the efforts of director Jim Tyer and director Bill Tytla who worked on the majority of these offerings. Veteran director Seymour Kneitel and writers Jack Ward, Carl Meyer, Otto Messmer, and Woody Gelman also well represented here.

We open with “House Tricks?”, which is the first to feature Popeye on the title card and is a remake of the earlier “The House Builder-Upper”. Harry Foster Welch does Popeye’s voice the first few toons before Jack Mercer arrives and takes over with “I’ll be Skiing Ya”. You will watch styles change, notably Olive Oyl, but the antics remain fresh and engaging.

“The Fistic Mystic”, “Wotta Knight”, and “The Island Fling” both feature Black stereotypes that have been edited or not aired on television and are here for inclusiveness. Look for a Herman the Mouse cameo in the latter one. Similarly, there was a moment in “Popeye and the Pirates” where he changed into drag with a glimpse of nudity that screened in 1947 but was snipped for airing and is thought lost, so remains missing here.

The loving restoration from the negatives means we’re seeing crisp, clear version with brilliant colors, a superior collection compared with the first volume. The cleaning also means we’re treated to a superior sound track without the artifacts and hissing that mar broadcast versions.

There are no special features, but I can live with that given the overall quality.

For the record, the titles include are:

“House Tricks?”

“Service with a Guile”

“Klondike Casanova”

“Peep in the Deep”

“Rocket to Mars”

“Rodeo Romeo”

“The Fistic Mystic”

“The Island Fling”

“Abusement Park”

“I’ll Be Skiing Ya”

“Popeye and the Pirates”

“The Royal-Four Flusher”

“Wotta Knight”

“Safari So Good”

“All’s Fair at the Fair”

I was captivated by Jordan Peele’s directorial debut, Get Out, until it devolved into over-the-top horror film fare, spoiling the social commentary. Apparently, I was not alone in this and Peele decided his sophomore outing would be a straight on horror film, Us. When it opened, my students flocked to see it, many enjoying it, and several saying they needed to see it twice to fully appreciate it.

The film, from Universal Home Entertainment, is out on home video tomorrow, and I have to say, I don’t get the fuss. Once again, Peele layers in social commentary mixed with his horror tropes (a modern-day Body Snatchers?), but I was fairly bored for the majority of the film.

In short, your perfect nuclear family, headed by Lupita Nyong’o (in a part Peele wrote just for her) and Winston Duke, has their lives turned upside down when their home is invaded by red-tracksuited doppelgangers. We eventually learn that they are not alone and the local town is overrun with these silent, deadly clones.

It becomes a race for survival although there appears to be something personal between Nyong’o and her double, who she first saw in 1986. She (Madison Curry) was so traumatized, she fell silent for years, and today is uncomfortable in crowds and easily spooked. There’s also some odd connection between her son Jason (Evan Alex) and his double.

As in all good horror films, people make stupid decisions so at various points when the family could escape to safety, they chose the less obvious path, extending the threat.

As we learn, these are imperfect clones, dubbed the tethered, developed and raised by the government in some harebrained scheme to control the masses. Why they were allowed to remain alive is never addressed. Nor is there a hint of government response to any of this. Similarly, and in keeping in the horror tradition, our heroes appear to be the only ones to have survived their deadly encounter. In fact, there are lot so internal logic questions left dangling.

The cast is appealing as Duke and Nyong’o play parents nicely and it’s good to see Elizabeth Moss in something other than a red robe but I wonder why she took the role since there’s absolutely nothing to work with. She’s just the highest profile cannon fodder in the cast.

Apparently, people smarter than me have plumbed the film’s deeper meanings and what Peele is trying to say about ourselves, our psychological states, but nothing about why a republican wants to control its citizens. I think people want to see more in this movie than is really there. And then Peele pulls the rug out from under us with a reveal at the end that raises plenty of unanswered questions, but by then, I was done.

The movie is out in the usual assortment of formats including the $K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and Digital HD combo pack. The film works very well in 4K as the 2160p digital transfer allows the deep shadows and figures running in the dark to look clear. The Dolby Vision color palette lets the limited color palette work just fine. Coupled with a fine Dolby Atmos sound track, the film will play nicely at home, spooking its audience.

The Blu-ray, by the way, is nearly as good so if you just get that, you’re fine.

The Special Features included don’t reveal as much as one would have hoped and are a fairly average assortment. We begin with The Monsters Within Us (4:45), examining the main family; Tethered Together: Making Us Twice (7:29, which touches on how the cast played two versions of themselves, aided by the crew; Redefining a Genre: Jordan Peele’s Brand of Horror (5:31), although I question if anything actually got redefined; The Duality of Us ( 9:56), with Peele admitting he’s scared of his own double; Becoming Red (4:09), shows Nyong’o getting into character; Scene Explorations – Seven Second Massacre (2:41), It’s a Trap (2:02), and I Just Want My Little Girl Back (2:53); Deleted Scenes (6:28); We’re All Dying (6:22), an extended beach scene; and, As Above, So Below: Grand Pas De Deux (5:02): Zora dances.

Surprising to some, Batman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have some commonalities. After all, the half-shell heroes were initially created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird as a parody of Frank Miller’s work on Daredevil, before coming to DC and turning his talents to The Dark Knight. Both properties work best in the shadows and had the producers of this animated adventure leaned into that, this could have been a cut above an obvious cash grab.

The participants have met before, in three miniseries from DC Comics and IDW in addition to one strictly set in their “Adventures” incarnations, aimed more at all-ages readers. Now, we have Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a briskly paced story. It’s not bad, but boy, it could have been so much more had anyone made an effort.

The versus portion of the story is the most obvious bit of fan service since time immemorial has required crossovers to begin with a fight before a partnership can begin.  The Foot Clan arrives in Gotham City for nefarious purposes and gets discovered by Batgirl (Rachel Bloom) just before Leonardo (Eric Bauza), Donatello (Baron Vaughn), Raphael (Darren Criss), and Michelangelo (Kyle Mooney) arrive. As usual, they are on the trail of Shredder (Andrew Kishino) and the next target is, of course Wayne Enterprises. Enter: Batman (Troy Baker) and Robin (Ben Giroux). Mix, repeat.

And if the usual felons arrive for one team, surely we must have equal villains for the other so toss in The Penguin (Tom Kenny), Mr. Freeze John DiMaggio), Two-Face (Keith Ferguson), Ra’s al Ghul (Cas Anvar), Scarecrow (Jim Meskimen0, and of course, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn (both Tara Strong).  All of these are underutilized which is s shame since the turtles versus the rogues could have been as interesting as watching the Caped Crusader face off against Shredder.

This works when your young viewer knows both properties because introductions and backgrounds are the least concern to writer Marly Halpern-Graser and director Jake Castorena. Instead, it’s to keep things upbeat and moving for 84 colorful minutes. One thing rising above the sameness is Kevin Riepl’s score.

The film is out in a variety of formats including the 4k Ultra HD/Blu-ray/ Digital HD combo pack, which was reviewed. The 2160p transfer works best with the colors and is acceptable all around, just not stunning. The Blu-ray actually might work a little better for overall balance. The audio is more than up to the task, just not in a noteworthy way.

In keeping with the same old feel of the main feature, the special features continue that with perfunctory features starting with Cowabunga Batman! When Comic Book Worlds Collide (12:31), Fight Night in Gotham (18:06); and A Sneak Peek at Batman: Hush (9:18). That’s it no extra cartoons from either property or anything about their comic book meetings, which is a shame.

With the box office less than hoped for, Warner Bros. decided it was time to entice parents and the children who stayed away from the darker Batman Returns. Despite the comic book source material of the late 1980s being grim and gritty, Warner saw the dollar signs after the success of Batman the Animated Series and wanted those younger viewers.

Batman Forever and Batman & Robin are out this week in newly restored 4k UHD editions, part of Warner Home Entertainment’s 30^th anniversary salute to Burton’s Batman. That and Batman Returns were reviewed yesterday.

Forever is transitional, keeping a lot of the menace from the previous films and replicating the two villains are better than one formula.

Desiring to go younger, the execs turned from Tim Burton to another visual stylist, Joel Schumacher. He was ordered to lighten things up and finally bring in Robin. Burton, star Michael Keaton, and composer Danny Elfman were out. Schumacher’s two films are therefore considered lesser works, colorful but vapid, wasting some good performances.

What hurt was that the original script by Lee Batchler and Janet Scott Batchler focused heavily on the Riddler and then Two-Face was added and the entire story was revised by Akiva Goldsman. As a result, Two-Face, teased with the introduction of Billy Dee Williams in 1989, is now wasted with an inconsistent performance by Tommy Lee Jones. On the other hand, the addition of Nicole Kidman’s Dr. Chase Meridien was nice, giving the new Bruce Wayne, Val Kilmer, someone to relate with. I always liked Kilmer’s work here and it holds up. Chris O’Donnell’s Dick Grayson, though, was a bit too old and there is a distinct lack of chemistry between the Dynamic Duo. The potential for a much stronger film was there as noted by the many deleted sequences but style won out over substance.

This trend accelerated with 1997’s Batman & Robin, which derailed the franchise for decades and spoiled more comics from being adapted for the screen. Schumacher and Goldsman were back and now the director wanted to pay homage to the ABC series and the work of artist Dick Sprang. The problem is, the audiences of that time, didn’t want that approach and their critical word of mouth, coupled with scathing reviews, made the film reviled. George Clooney, replacing Kilmer, continues to apologize for his charismatic-less performance.

And if two villains were good, three would have to be better, right? Not with the horrible work of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze. Vying with him for screen time in this overstuffed production was Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy, which was at least an interesting approach to the character. Totally wasted was Bane (Jeep Swenson), reduced to thoughtless body guard rather than the brilliant tactician as created in the comics. Then you have Alicia Silverstone being shoved into the story as Alfred’s niece so a Batgirl can be added for balance.

None of this is good or works and made the DC staff groan out loud long before the audiences got to see this embarrassment.

Whereas the 2160 high definition upgrade perfectly caught the darker tones on Burton’s films, here, we nicely capture the brilliant colors applied to these films. You might need sunglasses at times, as Schumacher went for brilliance (much as the ABC series did, but that was designed to sell color TVs). On the few occasions when things grew dark, the details are never lost, letting you appreciate this aspect of the production design.

The high-quality care extends to the Dolby Atmos soundtrack, which nicely captures Elliot Goldenthal’s brand new score, ordered to avoid Elfman’s more somber sounds. Like his predecessor, he included pop tracks which sound just lovely.

Both films are released as combo packs with newly restored Blu-ray discs and Digital HD codes.  A box-set of all four will be out in September if you want to consider Christmas gift-giving. All the previous special features are replicated and there are no new pieces, which is a shame.

Batman Forever offers up Audio Commentary: Director Joel Schumacher; Riddle Me This? Why is Batman Forever?; Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight Pt. 5 – Reinventing a Hero; Batman Forever: The Heroes; Batman Forever: The Villains; Beyond Batman; Deleted Scenes; “Kiss From a Rose” by Seal; and Theatrical Trailer.

Batman & Robin contains Audio Commentary: Director Joel Schumacher; Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight pt. 6 – Batman Unbound; Batman & Robin: The Heroes; Batman & Robin: The Villains; Beyond Batman; Deleted Scene: Alfred’s Lost Love; Music Videos: “The End is the Beginning is the End” by The Smashing Pumpkins, “Look Into My Eyes” by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and “Foolish Games” by Jewel;  and Theatrical Trailer.

Suddenly thirty years ago doesn’t seem that long back, especially as so much from that era is being resurrected, repurposed, and remembered. This month we celebrate the anniversary of Tim Burton’s Batman and Warner Home Entertainment is offering up all four films from that period in spiffy new 4K UHD editions (a box set collection will be out in September). We will look at those DVDs divided in half, the two Burton films now and tomorrow the pair from director Joel Schumacher.

It’s been argued that this film made super-heroes palatable to Hollywood once more, although it can be said it took until 2008 before that became a reality. What we did get was this film coming after mainstream media began recognizing comic books had “grown up”. In 1989, we already had Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight, Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons’ The Watchmen, etc. set the table and get people to pay attention.

The first Batman feature film languished in production hell since the rights were granted to producers Mike Uslan and Benjamin Melniker in 1980. It took Miller and the press to get Hollywood off their collective asses to get the film made. The brilliant stroke was turning it over to visual stylist Burton, coming off the visually spectacular Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Beetlejuice. He, in turn, brought on Anton Furst to make certain Gotham City was as much a character as the guy in the cape and cowl.

Casting was the final element with Burton recognizing that Michael Keaton could bring the gravitas to Bruce Wayne and his alter ego. Pairing him against Jack Nicholson’s Joker made certain we’d be sitting up and paying attention.

It was super-hero noir in the best possible way as Danny Elfman’s haunting score reminded us that this was a dark world that needed a hero. The Sam Hamm script was serviceable with only a few questionable plot points but it was secondary to the visual feast.

With this smash success, Burton was quickly resigned for a sequel and here he upped both the ante and weirdness factor. Danny DeVito’s Penguin was malicious, grotesque, and a far cry from the Joker while Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman was a wonder. Unfortunately, the script made a lot less sense and callbacks to plot points from the ABC television series marred the effort. Had it been a Bat and Cat story, it would probably have been stronger.

The box office was good, but not as great as expected. The darker tone, in the wake of the billions earned in bat-licensing since 1989, scared Warner Brothers. As a result, they turned the franchise over to Schumacher with directions to lighten things up. The results speak for themselves.

As with other rereleases, Warner has done a superb job with the new edition. The 2160 high definition images are excellent, well matched with the Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Each film is released in a combo pack with a restored Blu-ray edition, making it superior to the 2009 Anthology Collection. Unfortunately, there are zero new extras just imported ones from that previous boxset. If you want the upgraded picture and sound, then these are for you.

Here, the upgraded images allow you to revel in Gotham’s darkness, with the colors popping for emphasis. Yes, it’s a dark place matching a dark story featuring a guy in mostly black so here, we can see the details with a clarity that makes you appreciate Furst’s designs and Cinematographer Roger Pratt’s work all the more. Similarly, when we get to the Joker and his colorful takeover of Gotham in the latter half, the colors pop in dazzling detail.

Cinematographer Stefan Czapsky has even more darkness to work with in the sequel since so much of the Penguin’s antics occur at night plus Catwoman being in the shadows as well. Again, the restoration is superior and you pick up on the grit, grim, and ghoulish aspects of the city and its protector. When we do go into the light, such as the scenes between Keaton and Pfeiffer in Wayne Manor, the color is warm and saturated.

Again, the Dolby Atmos soundtrack brilliantly captures every sound effect and musical note with crisp clarity.

The special features ported over from the last Batman Blu-ray include Audio Commentary: Director Tim Burton; On the Set with Bob Kane; Legends of the Dark Knight: The History of Batman; Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight; Batman: The Heroes; Batman: The Villains; Beyond Batman; Batman: The Complete Robin Storyboard Sequence; Music Videos; and Theatrical Trailer.

The Batman Returns special features include Audio Commentary: Director Tim Burton; The Bat, the Cat, and the Penguin; Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight Pt. 4 – Dark Side of the Knight; Batman Returns: The Heroes; Batman Returns: The Villains; Beyond Batman; “Face to Face” by Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Theatrical Trailer.

In an era of female empowerment, Hollywood is looking far and wide in an attempt to create role models and franchises for proper exploitation. The most recent non-super-powered entry in this field is Miss Bala, a remake of the 2011 Mexican film of the same name, starring CW darling Gina Rodriguez.

We take a makeup artist everywoman and watch her routine, not entirely satisfying life get upended by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Along the way, she is terrified, betrayed, seduced, and ultimately woke. She goes from patsy to taking control of her destiny, finding the strength to do things she couldn’t imagine weeks earlier.

The problem with the film, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, is that we don’t develop Gloria Fuentes as a character to care about beyond a few perfunctory scenes before things go sideways. When she and a girlfriend, Suzu (Cristina Rodlo), are at a nightclub, it happens to be the night members of the “Las Estrellas” gang attacks. Suzu goes missing and Gloria, who admits seeing the attackers’ faces, winds up in the hands of a corrupt police officer who turns her over to Lino (Ismael Cruz Córdova).

She s briefly in the hands of the DEA, using a civilian as a pawn to entrap Lino, but when things go wrong, disavow her, forcing Gloria to side with her captor. There’s a touch of Stockholm syndrome at work, a hint of sexual desire between Lino and Gloria, and a whole lot of things going boom.

Gloria, Lino, and all the other characters in this story are bland, boring, and two-dimensional. Any attempt to add complexity to the players falls flat. We should be rooting for Gloria to overcome her circumstances and come out on top, but we don’t believe the steps in the paint-by-numbers script from Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer. Hardwicke can get good performances from her cast as witnessed by Thirteen and even Twilight, but seems more intent on the action pieces than the characters.

Rodriguez is clearly a talented, appealing actress and it’s good to see her stretch beyond Jane the Virgin but was ill-served here.

The film is out from Sony Home Entertainment in a handful of formats. The standard DVD was reviewed and looks and sounds fine, although I’ve come to miss the sharper definition of the superior formats.

The DVD contains the usual assortment of special features including Audio Commentary from Hardwicke, Producer Jamie Marshall, and Associate Producer Shayda Frost. Then we get into the more perfunctory pieces including Gina: The Strength of a Woman (4:03), The Bigger the Bang (7:31), Making of Miss Bala (7:05), Wardrobe Tests with Commentary by Director Catherine Hardwicke (7:30), Action Rehearsal with Commentary by Director Catherine Hardwicke (4:59), Deleted & Extended Scenes (7:31).

I have always been a big Legion of Super-Heroes fan and early on, designated Star Boy as my favorite Legionnaire. Maybe it’s because he was an underdog hero, but I’ve always liked him so was thrilled to see he would take center stage in the just-released Justice League vs. the Fatal Five. I admit to being a little less than thrilled they were going with the mentally unbalanced Star Boy as depicted in the Brad Meltzer run of Justice League. But, by pairing him with agoraphobic Jessica Cruz, I could understand the larger themes at work, I was fine with it.

I just wish their final product lived up to their intentions (and all the high-faulting hype seen on the bonus material). Instead, we get an over-stuffed, under-edited work that makes very little sense.

As best I understand it, Mano, Tharok, and the Persuader were going back in time to free the Emerald Empress and Validus from the sciencells on Oa in the 21^st Century because apparently 31^st Century prisons suck. To free the pair, they need to steal a time bubble from the Legion and Star Boy is brought along by mistake.

In the 21^st century, Star Boy, without his meds, is considered a lunatic and assigned to Arkham Asylum for ten months. Meanwhile, the Fatal Three-fifths are seemingly trapped for a while until they get free then commit a lot of mayhem before leaving for Oa.

Said mayhem brings in the Justice League with trainee Miss Martian along for the experience, although so little background is given about her that if you weren’t familiar with Young Justice she’d be an anomaly. The League needs their Lantern, despite Jessica still struggling with the PTSD inflicted on her after witnessing her friends being gunned down two years earlier.

Seeing the villains on the news, Star Boy (or Thomas Kallor –why go from Thom to Thomas?) frees himself and finally begins making sense to the League.

What makes less sense is the villains making it to Oa with a coerced Jessica to breezily access the vast prison cells and free the final pieces of the puzzle. And of course, the Guardians of the Universe would allow the Empress to keep the powerful Eye of Ekron in the cell. When Salaak and Kilowog show up, they’re easily dispatched but apparently the devastating prison breakout doesn’t alert the all-powerful Guardians, who allow the Eye ro drain the Central Power Battery’s energy.

That doesn’t stop Jessica from finding her Green Lantern mojo which marks a nice turning point. I wish they left her ring as a snarky companion, ala the comics, along with Jessica’s early struggles at forming constructs but you get the idea.

They then threaten the Earth’s sun to end the age of heroes, creating a future without heroes to defeat them. The JL must make a desperate last stand to save the future and Earth and a few other things.

At least, that’s what I think the story is about. The fight scenes are too long and poorly choreographed (too often heroes stand around to get zapped). That said, there are some great lines of dialogue and nice character buts sprinkled throughout complete with a tear-inducing ultimate sacrifice and funeral scene. But it’s all too little to really make this, the 34^th film from Warner Animation, truly enjoyable.

It’s certainly nice to see the JL Unlimited art style once more along with a cadre of familiar voice artists but this is disconnected from that series as well as the budding animated universe so this is ab odd stand-alone, produced and directed by Sam Liu, who has done better work. The script by Eric Carrasco, Jim Krieg, and Alan Burnet need a strong story editor’s hand.

The film is released in all the usual combo packs complete with the 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray/Digital HD edition. What already looks sharp o Blu-ray looks even brighter and sharper on the HDR10 disc. Technical fans will appreciate the improved colors, attention to detail and higher resolution. The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track is even better so you won’t miss the Dolby Atmos that usually accompanies these releases.

All the bonus features can only be found on the Blu-ray disc and they’re a fairly standard assortment. We begin with Audio Commentary with Executive Producer Bruce Timm, Director Sam Liu, and Screenwriters Jim Krieg & Eric Carrasco and they provide a lot of behind-the-scenes details.

There’s also A Sneak Peek at Batman: Hush (9:18) which lionizes a beautifully drawn but bloated serial that’s finally being adapted and Battling the Invisible Menace (8:05), which nicely addresses the mental health issues found in the film; Justice League vs. Fatal Five: Unity of Hero (15:11) pats DC on the back for being so diverse these days.

Packed into the disc as repeated Sneak Peeks for Justice League Dark (8:12) and Justice League vs. Teen Titans (11:31). From the DC Vault we get Legion of Super-Heroes, “Man of Tomorrow” (22:44) and Justice League Unlimited, “Far From Home” (22:57).

Apocalypse Taco
By Nathan Hale
128 pages, Amulet Books, $14.99

Nathan Hale is a popular, creative graphic novelist, bouncing between historic tales and original stories. This is the latter and while the theme of science gone wild is a good one, along with being responsible with your experiments, there is so much that doesn’t plausibly work that the fantastic elements fail to engage the imagination.

Let’s start with the fact that a high school production of Brigadoon is so far behind schedule a parent willingly remains with the entire crew to finish the sets in an overnight marathon (permission slips included). That’s irresponsible on the parent’s part as well as the school’s.

At 1:30 in the morning, she sends her 11-year-old twins Axl and Ivan out with Sid to go get the crew food. While out, things get weird. Strange creepy crawlies begin appearing out of nowhere and there’s a Taco Bear drive-thru where there previously wasn’t one.

Creatures, both vaguely familiar and terrifyingly unique, emerge and threaten the trio. Apparently, they are the only ones still unaffected by whatever is ailing their city and run screaming from point to point. It’s not until we’re halfway through the book that they meet multi-armed Wendy who finally explains what is happening.

We get flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks and there’s some interesting underlying issues emerging, but no way does a college kid have the ability to access tools to build the nanotechnology behind the grotesque threat, but being able to perform his experiments unchecked. There are ethical issues raised, which is good, and a distinct lack of smart decisions made by adults, which is a bad message in a middle school graphic novel.

There’s more running, screaming, transformations, and threats which Hale briskly paces, using a black, white, and tones of orange to create an interesting mood. But really, there’s not enough content here to sustain 128 pages. While there are some witty lines of dialogue, our trio of protagonists are fairly underdeveloped.

If you’re a fan of Hale, then try it. Otherwise, there are far better choices out there.

Allow me to state upfront that I have now nor ever have been a fan of the Transformers. When they arrived, my tastes ran in other directions. That said, I have done some behind-the-scenes work with the franchise a few times in my career so have a good working knowledge. I’ve also seen the first Michael Bay and bits of the subsequent ones, enough to know these also aren’t to my taste.

I was therefore ready to outright reject the first solo film, Bumblebee, but the trailers hooked me. That and the arrival of Hailee Steinfeld, who I have enjoyed since True Grit. As a result, the film, out now on disc from Paramount Home Entertainment, is far more enjoyable than imagined.

By making this about a girl and her robot, a tried and true formula dating back decades (was Gigantor the first?), the film is smaller, needing only so much backstory to be plausible. Set in the film universe, it’s set in the past and therefore acts as a prequel to the overstuffed films that have ground the series into rust.

We get glimpses of the Cybertron civil war, with Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), the Autobot leader, ordering loyal B-127 (Dylan O’Brien) to seek safety on Earth. No sooner does he land than scared humans and vile Decipticons batter him, damaging his vocal synthesizer and sending him into hiding. That is, until he’s discovered by18-year-old Charlie Watson (Steinfeld). She’s emotionally damaged, having just lost her father, and they find one another in a series of charming scenes.

All that changes when Sector 7’s Jack Burns (John Cena) alerts the bad guys B-127 has been located, then the running, chasing, shooting, and exploding begins in earnest. By then, we’re emotionally invested in the pair and put up with the noise. At its core, the film is about people learning to find their voices and overcome adversity of all stripes, in order to stand tall and move forward. That’s a good message for the intended audience.

The film is out in a nice variety of formats including the 4K Ultra HD Combo and Blu-ray combo. The movie is said to have been shot at a resolution of 3.4K, and finished at 2K giving us a sharp, colorful, and detailed image. All the CGI looks particularly good in 4K. The Blu-ray 1080p transfer is equally good. The Dolby Atmos soundtrack provides an excellent companion to the visuals.

What’s lacking are excellent special features, delivering instead, the same old. We have

The best part of the package (both $k and Blu-ray) is the prequel mini-comic Sector 7 Adventures, which is nicely written and drawn and I wish the credits were provided although it was packaged by Avalanche Comics Entertainment, which produced a previous Transformers in-pack comic and know their stuff.

The special features include Sector 7 Archive: Agent Burns: Welcome to Sector 7 (0:50), Sector 7 Adventures: The Battle at Half Dome (9:19), a motion comic version of the ACE comic; Deleted and Extended Scenes (19:05) — Original Opening, Drive to Karate Class, Birthday Present, Car Wash and Beetle Breakdown, Charlie Drops Off Mona and Conan, Decepticons Inspect the Armory, Drive to Cliff, Sector 7, and Appliance War; Outtakes) — Burns Meets Bee, War Room, There’s a Door in My Way, Charlie in Trash, and Saved the World; Bee Vision: The Transformers Robots of Cybertron (3:56); Bringing Bumblebee to the Big Screen in five parts: The Story of Bumblebee (3:54), The Stars Align (7:04), Bumblebee Goes Back to G1 (10:02), Back to the Beetle (6:20), and California Cruisin’ Down Memory Lane (19:57).