Lucifer:
The Complete First Season
(2015 - 2016/DC Comics/Vertigo/Warner Blu-ray Set)/Narcos:
Season One
(2016/Netflix/Gaumont/Lionsgate Blu-ray Set)/Roots
(2016 Remake Mini-Series/A&E/History Channel/Lionsgate Blu-ray
Set)
Picture:
B Sound: B/B/B- Extras: C/C+/C- Episodes: C/B-/C+
Here's
the latest round of TV on Blu-ray releases for you to know about...
Lucifer:
The Complete First Season
(2015 - 2016) is the new Neil Gaiman TV series from DC Comics,
Vertigo & Warner Television we just looked at on DVD at this
link...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/14363/DC's+Legends+of+Tomorrow:+The+Complete+Firs
Featuring
the same extras, Warner has also issued a Blu-ray
set and I have to admit that though it does not improve the show, it
really helps with the dark-looking shoot and sonics the DVD left
weaker than even I realized. If you have to see the show, go for
this set. For tech info, see more below.
After
several failed and delayed attempts to tell the story of Pablo
Escobar's cocaine empire (a few of which we still look forward to),
Narcos:
Season One
(2016) from Netflix, Gaumont and Lionsgate finally got made and it is
not a bad series at all. Told from the point of view of a DEA Agent
(Boyd Holbrook) moving to Colombia for the job and offering his
Scorsese-like voiceovers throughout (the show even does freeze-frame
images for the first few shows until they realize that's too
derivative), we get a show that has some good acting, pacing,
editing, humor and moments working at its best when melodramatic
subplots and originality (i.e., not imitating Scorsese's crime films)
kick in.
The
other thing that separates this from the bad crime dramas that have
followed The Sopranos and Scorsese's films is that it is able
to deal with the global political side of things, how the Reagan/Bush
years (1980 - 1992) was so hell-bent on fighting Soviet Communism or
any other kind of such Marxism, that the U.S. only backs any plans
against Escobar (a very convincing Wagner Moura, who captures the
restraint side well) or other drug kingpins when even one penny might
be funding the USSR, their allies or guerrilla groups. The teleplays
could have used more of that, plus we never hear about the Contras
for some reason at all here, but that would not have hurt.
I
also like how actual archival footage is used and the actors playing
the various real life people ARE NOT inserted into said footage, a
smart, brave move that works. Some of this is condensed and
fictionalized to fit into the storylines, but the series is as good
as most of what we have seen on any TV for a while and we'll see if
it can get better next season. It is certainly an artistic victory
for Netflix.
Extras
include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and other
cyber iTunes capable devices, while the Blu-ray discs add three audio
commentary tracks on one episode per disc, three Behind The
Scenes/Making Of featurettes (Establishing The Route, The
Colombian Connection, The Language Barrier) and Deleted
Scenes.
Finally
we have the 2016 remake of the TV mini-series classic Roots,
now a cable TV mini-series following the family tree as discovered by
best-selling author Alex Haley. We recently reviewed the original
1977 original mini-series on Blu-ray here...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/14248/Julia+(1977/Fox/Twilight+Time+Limited+Edition+Bl
as
well as 1978 Next
Generations
sequel mini-series on DVD a while ago here...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6024/Roots+%E2%80%93+The+Next+Generations+(Mini
The
new version is not awful, but the original was so good, clever,
honest and focused that many have rightly questioned the wisdom of
remaking it. The makers (including original star LeVar Burton) have
chosen to try to capture the cycle of these stories (most successful
with 12 Years A Slave and Spielberg's Amistad) by
making this more violent and graphic (fair enough, since the horror
needs to be seen sometimes so we know the truth), but sometimes this
backfires by being dark, angry and unrelenting in a way that lands up
having us wallow in these things instead of going somewhere with
them.
Also,
the story has been rewritten to Kunta Kinte (Malachi Kirby, bravely
trying an angrier, less joyful take on the man) to take plot twists
that loose the original's focus and may be a bit unrealistic to say
the least. Acting turns by Laurence Fishburne, Johnathan Rhys
Meyers, Anika Noni Rose, Forest Whittaker, Derek Luke, Anna Paquin,
Mekhi Phifer, James Purefoy and the cast are not bad, but do not have
the chemistry or realism of the original show. Still, a little more
of this works than expected, but not enough to recommend it very
strongly, yet it is done with more effort, power and effort than
expected. However, some parts play like an unrealistic revenge
western and some other points (I will skip because of spoilers) don't
ring true and that's what happens when you loose focus from the
original work that was so well structured.
Snoop
Dogg rightly-enough complained that he was sick or reliving old
history, to boycott the show and that we needed to deal with our
problems and issues now, but you have to deal with the past in order
to deal with the future. No matter what the myths of youth say,
history affects us all, especially this weakest link of the founding
and building of the United States through very ugly slavery. The
definitive work (or at least the Schindler's List) on this
subject has yet to be made, but in another year or two, we might see
it. I'll be curious if we see a sequel to this series. Catch it if
you are curious and can endure its 6.5 hours.
The
only extra here is a Behind The Scenes/Making Of featurette called
Roots: A History Revealed, but Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for
PC, PC portable and other cyber iTunes capable devices is also
available.
All
three sets have 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image
transfers from their digital HD shoots and each have their moments.
I already noted the improvements in Lucifer,
Narcos
may have its share of vintage analog video footage, but the mostly
new footage looks as good as anything here and Roots
goes for a visually darker approach than the 1977 filmed mini-series
to find its own look. It looks better than the 1977 show on Blu-ray,
but that is in part because the 1977 version has a slightly
detail-weak transfer, so I do not consider it an accurate way to
compare. However, there is no motion blur here and I saw some in
other broadcast versions of the various episodes, so that's another
plus.
Then
we have sound, where all three shows offer DTS-HD MA (Master Audio)
5.1 lossless mixes on their episodes,
all well mixed and presented. However, Roots
has some soundfield limits and I wonder if it is location recording
or mixing issues, but it is not always up to the quality of the other
shows.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
