David Cronenberg’s Fast Company (1979/Blue Underground Blu-ray)/John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix
(1966/Warner Blu-ray)/Super Hybrid
(2011/Anchor Bay Blu-ray)/Top Gear –
Season 16 (2011/BBC Blu-ray set)
Picture:
B- (Grand Prix: A) Sound: B-/B/B/C+ Extras: B-/B+/C+/C+ Films/Episodes: B-/B+/C+/B-
Summer
and cars are a great combination and Blu-ray makes that even more so. Here are four titles worth checking out and
then some…
We start
with David Cronenberg’s Fast Company
(1979), an early feature film of the famed Canadian director than may not be
the challenging kind of film (Spider,
The Dead Zone, Naked Lunch, Dead Ringers)
he made later, but it is a fine, underrated piece of filmmaking from Canada
whose best films are underrated and sometimes mistaken for U.S. product. In this case, this is a drama about car
racing Cronenberg co-wrote the screenplay to, but even here the line between
man and machine slowly starts to break down.
However,
this is more in the spirit of the bandit/chase cycle (though it is not one of
those films) or other great car films of its decade like Two Lane Blacktop, Vanishing
Point, the many Australian car films of the period and even Death Race 2000 in feel, attitude and
love of cars. Here, it is the racing
world of funny cars, race cards with shells that are oversized, made to amusing
show and barely constitute that the vehicles are cars versus chassis with
engines and a seat. William Smith (who
often played bad guys) is good here as an experiences racer whose time may or
may not be up, but Fast Co. Oil (the film title has several meanings) John
Saxon may be up to no good and want him out.
Though
fun like the many such films noted, it is also smart like the more challenging
films in the genre and tends to have subtly stark moments, but it also goes out
of its way to appeal to a teen audience with would-be Pop/Rock this and follows
(though in an almost ironic way) the formula of such films. Still, it is very well made, has aged well
enough and is a film that deserves to be as rediscovered as other early
Cronenberg films. It also is better than
many such genre films but being just a little more raw in its realism. Claudia Jennings and Nicholas Campbell
co-star.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer may show some age and slight
flaws on occasion holding it back overall, but the transfer was supervised by
Director of Photography Mark Irwin (who became a regular collaborator with
Cronenberg) and it has plenty of great shots and even a few demo shots that any
HD playback or home theater will enjoy.
The color range is great and color as consistent as it is clear. The sound is here in both DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 7.1 lossless and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mixes and though the original film was
originally monophonic, this is not a bad set of upgrades (the DTS is just
slightly better than the Dolby) and a third soundtrack in lossy Dolby Digital
5.1 EX is also included. Of course, the
sound recording can show its age, but I cannot imagine this sounding better.
Extras
include the Theatrical Trailer, feature length audio commentary by Cronenberg,
two earlier short films by Cronenberg (Stereo
(1969) and Crimes Of The Future
(1970)) and two making of featurettes: Inside
The Character Actor’s Studio with Smith & Saxon and Shooting Cronenberg
with Irwin. Blue Underground has given
great deluxe treatment to another missing gem on Blu-ray. Though realistic, there are other car films
that have been as effective.
After a long wait, Warner Home Video has issued John
Frankenheimer’s equally realistic Grand
Prix (1966) on Blu-ray, though it was issued in 40th Anniversary editions in a DVD set and now defunct,
out-of-print HD-DVD that we reviewed here:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4394/Grand+Prix+(1966/HD-DVD)
That also
has a link to the DVD set. Now
celebrating its 45th Anniversary, the film continues to be one of my
favorite High Definition demos sporting the same amazing transfer from the
original 65mm negative elements that were used in the previous editions and in
HD-DVD form was THE image demo in my collection for a long time, stunning all
who saw it. Best of all, the sound has
been upgraded!
While the
DVD had lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 and HD-DVD somewhat better Dolby Digital Plus
5.1 (remember that format?), this Blu-ray takes the same fine soundmaster and
offers it in a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mix that may show the
limits of the older magnetic multi-channel master, but is much warmer and
fuller than the previous editions and the Maurice Jarre music score now sounds
more in line with what the original music recording would have sounded
like. Yes, there may be some dirt on the
print and the sound is not going to be spotless all the time, but the
combination will stun those not used to seeing films of the 1960s in all their
glory and this is a must-have Blu-ray for any serious collector.
For more
great John Frankenheimer films on Blu-ray, try these links:
Manchurian Candidate (1962)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10955/Dead+Man+Walking+(1995)+++Hotel
Ronin
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8306/Ronin+(1998/MGM+Blu-ray)
Another big
surprise lately has been Eric Valette’s Super
Hybrid (2011), a release that looked like another bad “get the product down
the pipeline no matter how bad” release that it seemed we were in for another
painfully bad release. However, there
are not many killer car tales out there and this one is surprisingly consistent
enough to work just enough to watch it.
When a
car is brought to a garage ion Chicago
all busted up, they cannot take it, but it turns out it is more than just
another semi-totaled vehicle. Early on,
we see it has night vision, can move on its own and may run on the one fuel
lost in the environmental debate: human flesh and blood!
Eventually
it is brought in, which is when strange things start to happen and it slowly by
surely becomes obvious something is wrong and wrong with it, especially when
workers at the garage start turning up dead.
No, it is
not totally original (the elements of Aliens
and Transformers are worked in, but not as badly or as sloppily as you’d
think), but it also has a consistent pace, amusing acting without being too
stupid, a look and feel that hold up and enough suspense to help it survive
some of its clichés. No, it is not a
great flick, but it is a solid piece of B-moviemaking and in a glutted market
with a seemingly endless series of no-talents, it is fun.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer is softer than I would have
liked, shot on the all-HD RED ONE camera that has a limited look, plus we also
get more motion blur than I would have liked, but Director of Photography John
R. Leonetti is on a genre roll with the underrated Piranha 3D and Insidious
(both reviewed elsewhere on this site) even if the latter failed where the
former and this release succeed. He gets
a mood out of that HD camera and that is not easy, but it works here. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix is even better with
a very solid sound design and well recorded work overall, which helps this all
the more. The only extra is an amusing
featurette Under The Hood Of Super Hybrid
that runs about a half-hour and you should watch only after you have
watched the actual feature.
Finally
we have Top Gear – Season 16 (2011),
the continuation of the original British series version of the hit show that I think
is the best TV series on automobiles ever.
This season, the automobile highlights include the Ariel Atom 500,
latest Porsche 911, the 959 vs. Ferrari F40, a Ferrari 599, Pagani Zonda R,
Pagani Tricolore, Jaguar XJ and even ultra expensive Mark II NASA Moon
Buggy! Among the stars in “reasonably
priced cars” this time around include Director Danny Boyle, Boris Becker, Amber
Heard and the filmmaking/acting team of Nick Frost and Simon Pegg.
The 1080i
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image again stylizes the cars during initial
tests sometimes to their slight detriment, but this looks fine for such a show
and is as solid as the previous Blu-ray seasons (not to mention better than the
DVD versions, some of which need Blu-ray upgrades) and the Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo is good, though fans would like some kind of lossless audio. After all, we’ve had DTS DVDs with automotive
material and they had richer sound than this, but that is what we get.
Extras
include Outtakes, Studio Tour, Behind The Scenes of Celebs In A Reasonably Priced Car, End Of Season 16 chats and a few
more surprises that will make more sense once you’ve watched the whole season.
- Nicholas Sheffo
