Category: Reviews

European filmmakers seem to favor theme and concept over actual execution which may be one reason why American audiences appear so resistant to the overseas offerings. For example, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn had a fairly interesting idea about exploring female villains, inspired by the real life doings of mass murderer Countess Elizabeth Báthory. He coupled that notion with the universal themes of youth and beauty, setting his tale in Los Angeles and the fashion model field. Unfortunately, despite a strong American cast, the European sensibilities failed to bring the ideas to life and The Neon Demon arrived cold, sterile, and thoroughly uninvolving. The film is out no on home video courtesy of Broad Green Pictures.

We open with a striking visual of a blood-soaked Jesse (Elle Fanning), attired in blue, prone atop a settee. Of course, it’s for a shoot and the 16 year old has arrived on the West Coast in search of work as a model. She somehow met up with much older Dean (Karl Glusman) who shoots these test photos for her to use to sign with an agency.

Everyone tells us she is young, innocent, and has that certain something that will make her a star. Refn keeps telling us this and never, ever show us this magical quality so we’re left to wonder. Fanning’s deadpan performance makes her less human and more mannequin so any sympathy we should have for her is absent. So little is revealed about her past life that we really never get to know her, which is a shame.

Jesse befriends makeup artist Ruby (Jena Malone) who clearly has the hots for her. In turn, Ruby introduces her to models Sarah (Abbey Lee) and Gigi (Bella Heathcote). They see in Jesse that their sell by dates are rapidly approaching despite all the artificial work Gigi has proudly done to her body.

After she’s hired by Christina Hendricks, the only performer to infuse life into her character, Jesse is sent to top photographer Jack (Desmond Harrington), who forces her to strip nude and covers her in gold paint for the shoot. Somehow this gets her work but there’s a lot of narrative tissue missing from this. It also way too quickly transforms Jesse from innocent to narcissist, driving away Dean and robbing her of any sympathy. It’s all wasted and dull screen time.

Then you have her living in a squalid motel run by Hank (Keanu Reeves in a head-scratching bit part) where a mountain lion has entered her second floor room and destroyed it. Dean comes to her rescue here but the relationship goes nowhere.

There are so many interesting ideas in Refn’s head that it’s a shame they never made it to the script or screen. The film is intellectually vapid but visual stunning at times. Credit has to be given to production designer Elliott Hostetter, costume designer Erin Benach, and cinematographer Natasha Braier.

The narrative in the script by Refn, Mary Laws, and Polly Stenham is so disjointed, filled with long silent stares you wonder if the entire cast has gone mute. There is one restaurant scene where ideas are introduced but that’s the sum of intellectual heft. The notion that the fashion industry devours its young plays out literally in the latter stages. But first, we deal with sexual assault and a disturbing bit of necrophilia that does little to advance the plot.

The final fate of Jesse and the other models is morbid and vague and horrific after what seemed more like a psychological thriller. A talented cast is robbed of a chance to do good work thanks to a shoddy script and director less interest in people than themes.

The film was released via Amazon Films, and is now out on Blu-ray. The high definition transfer nicely captures the stylish visuals. The audio lets you hear every note of the annoying electronic score by Cliff Martinez. The spare special features are a director’s commentary, a trailer, and a brief look at the film.

I may have been one of the few to like the 2005 film version of DC Comics’ John Constantine. Yes, it had Keanu and yes it was in Los Angeles, not London, but it was an old fashioned horror film and worked better than it should have.

As a result, I was primed to enjoy NBC”s take on Constantine when it debuted in 2014. It had the right pedigree with David S. Goyer and Mark Verheiden among the producers and cast an act Brit, Matt Ryan, in the lead. What resulted, though, was something interesting and uneven that didn’t catch on with the general audience and was gone after thirteen all-too-brief episodes.

There has been enough interest in the character that Ryan was brought on to reprise his role in last season’s Arrow and he’s voicing John on the forthcoming Justice League Dark animated feature. And now, Warner Archives has released Constantine The Complete Series as a three-disc Blu-ray set.

Properly portraying the supernatural on prime time is tough because the very subject matter is challenging and visually, it needs to be atmospheric and way too often network fare is too brightly lit to work. Here, the overall look is far more subdued and they definitely upped the ick factor so it worked more often than not.

Constantine closely resembles his print origins even if he did smoke a lot less and abstained from his bisexual ways. Instead, we got an exorcist and mystic troubleshooter who got into trouble as he tried to do good. Being a television series, it needed something to act as a through line so they invented the scrying map and drops of blood to direct them to their next port of call, which I found confining and unnecessary.

Being an American production, it was set in the United States so his best friend Chas (Charles Halford) is no longer a cabbie but an adventurer with more than little familiarity with the dark arts. The dynamic from the comic is totally absent here and there was little chemistry between the characters. I also thought Ryan paired well with Lucy Griffiths, who appeared in the pilot as Liv Aberdine, but the producers changed creative direction and she was gone, Replacing her was Zed (Angélica Celaya), taken from the comics; a psychic who added fresh complications to most cases.

There are other nods to the DC Universe here such as a Swamp Thing skull, a Doctor Fate’s helmet, and Felix Faust (Mark Margolis) as a foe and Jim Corrigan (Emmett J. Scanlan) as a New Orleans cop and future Spectre. A recurring foil was Pap Midnite (Michael James Shaw), seen in some of the better episodes.

Had the series been allowed to evolve and grow, I suspect it would have gotten stronger and creepier, freed to explore even darker corners. It’s a shame we’ll never know.

The overall look on high definition is absolutely fine, matched perfectly fine sound. The discs also feature a small handful of special features including: the Constantine trailer; a featurette called “On the Set;” the 2014 Comic-Con Panel Q&A with the cast and creators; and a featurette on the DC Comics Night at Comic-Con 2014 presentation, which also featured Gotham, The Flash and Arrow.

Gail Simone is an adept writer who brings a unique voice to her projects and when she took over Dynamite’s Red Sonja, it was no different. Her initial foray, Queen of Plagues, saw the she-devil with a sword lead an army as payback for a man who spared her life. Not only did she display a good handle on Sonja but gave us the arresting figure of Dark Annisia, a unique antagonist.

Coupled with fie art from Walter Geovanni, it was a strong story and remain available in trade. For some reason, Shout! Factory chose this story as their next motion comic, out now on Blu-ray and DVD combo pack.

As nice as Geovani’s art is, some of it proved difficult for the limited animation of motion comics and pales in comparison with the more detailed art found in some of Shout!’s Marvel offerings, such as Wolverine: Origins.

Misty Lee does a nice job as Red Sonja and Rebecca Strom is fine as Dark Annisia. The sound effects are okay and it’s pleasurable enough to watch. The question remains why these exist, since the interest in the format waned long ago and the adaptation adds nothing to our enjoyment of the story.

The disc comes with an interview with Simone, which is worth a watch; less interesting are what the cast and crew have to say.

There is no creative reason Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants exists. It is merely a vehicle to promote toys for the younger segment of fan. Essentially, if you have enjoyed any of the previous Batman Unlimited offerings – Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts and Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem — this will be equally entertaining.

In this relatively thin screenplay from Kevin Burke & Chris “Doc” Wyatt, to Batman (Roger Craig Smith) and Green Arrow (Chris Diamantopolous), resort to wearing mech suits to sop the latest wave of terror in Gotham City courtesy of Mister Freeze (Oded Fehr) and Penguin (Dana Snyder). This time they have turned Bane (Carlos Alazraqui) and Killer Croc (John DiMaggio) into oversized monsters, necessitating the heroes suit up. And to help even the odds, they recruit Robin (Lucien Dodge), Nightwing (Will Friedle), and The Flash (Charles Schlatter).

The mayhem moves at a reasonable pace thanks to the steady direction of Curt Geda but there’s little in the way of character or consequence to the total event. It looks fine on this original made-for-video offering.

The sole bonus feature is the far superior “Night of the Batmen” episode from the missed Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Unlike the previous two, this comes as a straight single-disc DVD with no bonus toy.

The 1980s was perhaps the first decade where sequels were crowding the theater screens and most were justifiably vilified by critics and fans alike for being little more than a retread of the original. That changed when director James Cameron, fresh off a little indie production The Terminator, was tasked with a sequel to 1979’s surprise hit, Alien.

The Hollywood executive merry-go-round delayed the sequel by several years, although that allowed Cameron to hone his ideas with producer/wife Gale Anne Hurd. He envisioned a story where the humans were akin to the Americans during Viet Nam, strangers seriously outnumbered in a strange land. After insisting the film star Sigourney Weaver, who was in a contract dispute with 20^th Century-Fox, all the pieces came together.

When the movie opened in 1986, it set a new higher standard for what a sequel should be, which was expanding upon the characters and universe seen in the first film. At the same time, it also was one of the first films of the modern era to hang so much of the film on a female protagonist. As a result, it was the right film at the right time, in the hands of a rising director who it box office gold.

20^th Century Home Entertainment is celebrating this achievement with a handsome Aliens: 30^th Anniversary Edition. The box set comes with a digital HD code and a booklet featuring art culled from Dark Hose Comics’ assortment of Aliens-related comic covers plus a handful of art cards.

Weaver’s Ripley, sole survivor of the Nostromo, awakens 57 years later and winds up leading an expedition back to LV-426 and the malevolent lifeform awaiting them. The film continues to be a thrilling adventure thanks to Weaver, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, and Bill Paxton. Not only is it an action-adventure thriller, but it deepens Ripley by her protecting Newt (Carrie Henn), the young survivor of the human colony. All of which results in the now-famous but then-explosive climax as Ripley, in armor, confronts the Alien Queen.

The Blu-ray transfer is excellent (same one from the Aliens Anthology) and the sound superb, making for a good home viewing experience. You can choose the theatrical or 17-minute longer extended edition, which is nice to have. All the old special features are reprised here along with. The Inspiration and Design of Aliens featurette. However, you can only access the new feature through HD streaming and only 10 times between now until 2019 when it presumably vanishes.

Despite that flaw, this is one of the strongest anniversary editions of a film to come out in a long time and is recommended.

It used to be, movies surprised us when we took our seats. We didn’t have so many sources for news and trailers a decade or so back. On Tuesdays, Warner Bros screened new films after hours and one night, the DC Comics crew filed in to see an animated feature called The Iron Giant. We didn’t know much about it or Brad Bird, the man behind it.

We were utterly charmed. None of us knew Ted Hughes’ The Iron Man book it was based on but found the 1950s setting perfect, and the old style animation well-done. Best, it had heart and soul and humor and a robot who wants to be Superman. What’s not to love?

Warner moved the release date so late in the process that tie-ins missed the opening and the marketing wasn’t what it should have been. As a result, this modern day classic withered and vanished. Bird, of course, went on to make The Incredibles for Pixar and then direct a Mission: Impossible film so he did pretty well.

The Iron Giant, though, faded from memory. That is until 2014 when Bird and Warner agreed to spruce it up and rerelease it. With fresh cash, they went on to complete scenes that couldn’t be done for budgetary reasons and the revised film came out in 2015. Finally, the original version and Signature Edition of the film have made their Blu-ray debut in a nice edition from Warner Home Entertainment.

Bird and screenwriter Tim McCanlies made this a thoroughly American film, shifting the time to the post-Sputnik period of the Cold War and dealing with America’s paranoia. When something crashes in Rockwell, Maine (get it?) and people think they’ve seen a monster, a jaded government agent, Kent Manley (Christopher McDonald), comes to investigate. The something turns out to be an alien construction, a war machine that is human in shape and has suffered system failures. While he self-repairs, he (Vin Diesel) is learning from Hogarth (Eli Marienthal), the young boy who discovered him. He’s lonely since his single mother Annie (Jennifer Aniston) works too many hours at the local diner and he’s filled with the era’s pop culture – alien invaders and super-heroes.

The lessons Hogarth imparts are subtly contrasted with the single-minded fear of the unknown represented by Manley, who grows increasingly unhinged as events unfold. The only ally Hogarth has is the town beatnik Dean McCoppin (Harry Connick Jr.), who runs the scrap yard and makes art with the junk.

There is gentle humor and some thrills and yes, parts can be predictable but overall, it has a gentle way about it that too few modern animated films possess. It has an old fashioned feel, with pacing that lets events unfurl without rushing or smash cuts to jar the senses.

The high def transfers are sharp and clear, the colors popping as they should. The two films co-exist on a single disc. There are two new scenes added to the original: Dean and Annie have a conversation in the diner and the Iron Giant has flashbacks to his life as a soldier in a mechanized army. Additionally, an ad for Maypo was replaced with what Bird originally wanted, one for Tomorrowland (working for the Mouse helps get you clearances). The lossless DTS-HD MA audio is a fine match and makes for fine viewing.

The majority of the special features from the 2004 DVD have been included here (well worth a look) along with The Giant’s Dream (55:47), which covers Bird’s career and how he wound up making The Iron Giant. It’s important to watch to better understand the filmmaking process along with the dues one must pay before being given a chance at something so personal. The Warner marketing errors are also included in conversation, which is rare honesty.  There’s also a Commentary with Bird, Head of Animation Tony Fucile, Story Department Head Jeff Lynch and Animation Supervisor Steven Markowski, which was previously used on the 2004 “Special Edition” DVD.  New, though, are fresh comments from Bird on the Signature Edition during the new sequences.