Dark Star
(1974/VCI Blu-ray)/Fire With Fire
(2012/Lionsgate Blu-ray)/[REC]3: Genesis
(2012/Sony DVD)/Suddenly (1954/HD
Cinema Classics/Film Chest Blu-ray w/DVD)/Vamps
(2011/Anchor Bay Blu-ray)
Picture:
B/B-/C/B- & C/B- Sound:
B-/B/C+/C/C+ Extras: B/C+/D/B-/D Films: B-/C+/D/B-/D
Here are
some new action genre releases that include some comedy, some Science Fiction
and some Horror…
John
Carpenter’s Dark Star (1974) is his
first feature film and it was an indie hit thanks to Jack H. Harris picking it
up, having a 35mm blow-up version produced and distributing it well. The film was written by Dan O’Bannon who used
some its structure when he wrote the script for what became Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979, reviewed elsewhere on this
site) and George Lucas definitely was inspired by in it his creation of R2D2
and in his set design, in part in how to keep costs down on his first of many Star Wars films.
We have
covered the film twice in its previous VCI DVD releases and you can read more
about the film from one of its biggest fans at these links:
First DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5424/John+Carpenter%E2%80%99s+Dark
Upgraded DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10690/Dark+Star+%E2%80%93+36%C2%B
Seeing it
on Blu-ray in this amazing upgrade, the film’s impact can be enjoyed in ways
only those who have seen a nice film print have before this release. We can finally see what Carpenter and
O’Bannon (who co-stars too) were trying to do.
I was very impressed by how much of an impact the upgrade has had. VCI has been a big supporter of the film for
years and they can be satisfied they made the film more popular sine their
first DVD and this continues their extraordinary run of great Blu-ray
productions.
All of
the extras from the last DVD are here and we’ll get to how good this looks and
sounds below.
Josh
Duhamel is a fireman who has to tangle with a murderous white supremacist
leader (Vincent D’Onofrio) in David Barrett’s Fire With Fire (2012) which is actually co-produced and has an
appearance by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, but he does not use his Rap name and
for the first time, he is actually connected to something that is watchable if
eventually failed.
Duhamel
is involved with a federal agent (Rosario Dawson) protecting him and a police
officer (Bruce Willis) who might be up to no good or is up to something more complex. This does have some promise and some good
action sequences, plus D’Onofrio is really good here, though I wish he could
get more roles than villains since I really like him, but everyone here is
decent and if you are really interested, it is worth a look. Just don’t expect much rewatchability.
Extras
include two feature length audio commentary tracks (one by the actors, the
other by Barrett and Director of Photography Christopher Probst), trailers, on
camera cast/crew interviews and a Behind
The Scenes interviews featurette.
Paco Plaza’s [REC]3: Genesis (2012, or should that be “wreck 3”) is another
point-of-view-on-digital-camera bloodbath formula flick and this one is set
after the events of a nice wedding go by.
Then everyone who wanted to cut the cake get cut to cake. I guess someone is enjoying this (as a sick
joke? They are bored with their lives?)
but I am not and even with the situation having some interesting potential, it
is not found here. The result is a dud
for fans only. Deleted Scenes and
Outtakes are the only extras.
For
years, Lewis Allen’s Suddenly (1954)
has been issued in an amazingly bad series of horrid VHS, LaserDisc, Betamax
and DVD editions (especially in that infamous colorized version where someone
made Sinatra’s “old blue eyes” brown!), but the gang at HD Cinema Classics/Film
Chest have issued a restored version of this orphan film (originally
distributed by United Artists) and the result is its debut on Blu-ray and
includes a DVD.
The title
refers to the small town where the President Of The United States is due to
visit, which makes local officer Sterling Hayden happy, but on alert. The Secret Service also arrives, as do a trio
of FBI agents who turn out to be paid criminals including their leader
(Sinatra) ready to coldly assassinate the Commander-In-Chief and cash us all
out.
Sinatra
is really good here in a great role and performance just after his From Here To Eternity comeback and the
cast, set-ups and locale all add up to making a suspenseful kidnap/murder
thriller. Like William Wyler’s The Desperate Hours (1955, reviewed
elsewhere on this site), this is not a full Film Noir but Noirish enough and
more of a straight-out crime drama and both are two of the best of their kind
from the 1950s.
If you
have not seen this film (or not in a long time), you’ll want to catch up to it
on Blu-ray. A postcard inside the
Blu-ray case, plus new trailer, before & after restoration demonstration
and fine feature length audio commentary by Sinatra and film scholar Tom Santopietro
which should be listened to after watching the film are the extras. For more on the second Blu-ray version Image
issued soon after this one, go to this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11937/Dead+Ringer+(1964)/The+Postman
Amy
Heckerling is back with Vamps (2011),
a comedy about two female friends (Alicia Silverstone, Krysten Ritter) who
happen to be vampires. Heckerling has
made smart (or at least distinctive) films like Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Clueless
and even Loser, but this is one of
her gimmick films like Look Who’s Talking in what is a bad one-joke film about
their tough life and how anything gross is just par for the course in their
lives.
Sigourney
Weaver, Malcolm McDowell, Richard Lewis and Wallace Shawn even show up, but
even they cannot save the lazy, obvious, bore that never goes anywhere. With all that talent, this had potential, but
Heckerling has lost her touch.
There are
no extras.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Dark
Star is the second oldest film here, but is easily the best performer on
the list with some impressive moments of color, definition and clarity that
surpasses all previous editions of the film and video masters, including the
PAL DVD that I covered from Umbrella.
You can see some of the dated effects and some of the limits of the 16mm
in shots, but I was sometimes stunned by the great work that went into fixing
the film. It is a must-see back catalog
title and VCI does it again.
The 1080p
1.33 X 1 (though some feel it is more towards 1.66 X 1) digital High Definition on Suddenly is centered in a 1.78 X 1
frame and is HD Cinema Classics’ best restoration to date with some nice
detail, Video Black, Video White and depth like I have never seen on this film
ever. There are still some issues with
the print (age, damage) and some parts that did not turn out as well as others,
but it is looking good for its age and the anamorphically enhanced DVD (using
the same 1.33 X 1 in 1.78 X 1 master) is the best DVD version to date. Image Entertainment is issuing their Blu-ray
of the film soon, so we’ll try to get it to compare.
That
leaves the HD-shoot of Fire (1080p
2.35 X 1) and Vamps (1080p 1.78 X 1)
digital High Definition image transfers looking watchably good, but not great
as they have their share of motion blur, detail issues and other shortcomings
that are not as bad as some HD shoots (like [REC]3) but you would not mistake either for a good film shoot.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on [REC]3
is purposely the poorest performer here with motion blur and shaky camera work
on purpose, plus self-consciously presented video screens, all with extra
degradation.
As for
sound, the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Fire is the best with a consistent soundfield, good recording and
editing throughout, followed by a surprisingly good PCM 5.1 mix on Dark Star (which also includes a decent
PCM 2.0 Stereo mix that is almost as good) bringing out amazing results form a
film that was originally a theatrical monophonic sound release.
The lossy
Dolby Digital 5.1 on [REC]3 and
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 on Vamps follow
with more sound information towards the front speakers than they should have and
inconsistent sound mixes in general. Suddenly has a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio)
2.0 lossless mix on its Blu-ray and lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono mix on its
DVD, but the sound could only be saved so much and the oldest title here sounds
it.
- Nicholas Sheffo
