Immortal
Life Of Henrietta Lacks
(2017/HBO Blu-ray)/The
Long Hot Summer
(1958/Fox)/September
(1987/Orion/MGM)/Suddenly
Last Summer
(1959/Sony/Columbia/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-rays)/Warrior
4K (2011/Lionsgate 4K
Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/The
Wizard Of Lies (2017/HBO
Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B Sound: B/C+/C+/C+/B+ &
B/B Extras: C/B-/C+/C+/B-/C- Main Programs: B/B-/B-/B-/C+/B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
Long Hot Summer,
September
and Suddenly
Last Summer
Blu-rays are now only available from our friends at Twilight Time,
are limited to only 3,000 copies and can be ordered while supplies
last, from the links below.
It
is awards season, so films old and new that are considered top
calibre are arriving on disc, including these impressive dramas...
George
C. Wolfe's The
Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks
(2017) tells the almost unbelievable story on how the title woman
turned out to have human cell so remarkable, that they cured all
kinds of disease and launched a billion-dollar industry or two...
except that they were taken from her without her permission, it was
all legal then and now, and she almost did not get any credit for it.
She certainly did not get any financial benefit and in part because
she was African American in the early 20th
Century, you can see where that horrid part of the story goes.
Rose
Byrne is a reporter who is trying to find out the origin of the
mysterious 'He-La' cells (an abbreviation of Miss Lacks' name done in
the lab off the cuff) and enlists her daughter Deborah (Oprah
Winfrey, proving yet again how good an actress she really is) to help
finds the truth, including getting records only a family member could
get. Well, the truth really is out there and it leads to a book that
tells all.
Yet,
the film (another top grade HBO cable telefilm) deals with deeper
truths about truth, justice, being used and the dark side of some of
our greatest successes. The film constantly asks ethical questions
and they are as relevant now and more so than ever. The filmmakers
never sell out the truth or the subject and it is a real triumph that
all serious mature adults should see. I hope it becomes a surprise
multiple-nominee for awards season because it is a rich experience
like we do not see enough.
Martin
Ritt's The
Long Hot Summer
(1958) is one of the great director's collaborations with Paul
Newman, a drifter here who disrupts the dysfunctional Varner Family
in the deep south with their toxic behavior resonating in the small,
pretty town that has plenty of hidden distortions in it. Joanne
Woodward and Anthony Franciosa are the adult children, Lee Remick the
son's semi-racy wife and Angela Lansbury as the mistress of the head
of the family, played by Orson Welles as flustered and pompous.
Welles was in conflict with everyone on the set, yet that might have
push his performance here to be even better than it would have
already been.
Some
of William Faulkner's book had to be censored because the Hollywood
Production Code was in its last days, but Ritt and his writers get
around things and though I think parts of the film do not work as
well as others, it is worth the nearly two-hours to see it, even if
you only see it once as there are some really good moments (as there
are in ALL Ritt films) and this is the best version of the film now
out there outside of the best film prints.
Woody
Allen's September
(1987) is another one of Allen's 'serious films' though it has its
spots of ironic humor and definitely is another Ingmar
bergman-inspired turn. Some have bashed it as being too impersonal,
but for comic filmmaking icon Allen, that is actually a personal
achievement when you think about it and though it is not a great or
perfect film, it is better than it gets credit for and I have a feels
Allen is doing more of what he is criticized for on purpose than
those bashed points being accidental.
The
home and its rooms are very dense and lived in. Seeing them, you
could imagine the family here has lived there that long. The cast is
really good here, but the choice that reveals that Allen really knows
what he is doing is by casting comedy and stage icon Elaine Stritch
(known for being very New York and very funny with great wit like
Allen) as the mother. Almost like Scorsese's King
Of Comedy,
many things that might seem funny here are not supposed to be, though
not to the extent of Scorsese's underrated gem.
Instead,
Allen us using the 'is it comedy?' question to create a kind of
tension that is more his than Bergman's and the film (and his script)
are delving into the moodiness of a family starting to no longer be a
family after decades. It is slyly painful, but intentional and that
he has Stritch joined by Mia Farrow (yes, she fits into this point),
Denholm Elliott, Sam Waterston, Jack Warden and Diane Wiest, all
these are top rate actors who can turn on a time in the
serious/comedy dichotomy and that is why the film works as well as it
does.
This
is from Allen's Orion period (a catalog now owned by MGM) and is
another memorable showing from that period. It is worth revisiting
as a somewhat unique film in his long, successful career and that
says something. See it or see it again, especially in this solid new
limited edition Blu-ray version, ASAP.
Joseph
L. Mankiewicz's Suddenly
Last Summer
(1959) is also a painful family tale, this time about the ugly
assault of a young woman (Elizabeth Taylor in one of her greatest
roles) and the death of her male cousin that his mother (Katharine
Hepburn, great in a thankless role) want to silence her and the truth
by having her lobotomized!
Needless
to say this kind of thing still
happens all the time, but was especially shocking nearly 60 years
ago, but Tennessee Williams' play (like all his works) was strong
material to begin with and you can see why all knew this could make a
great movie. However, it was on-the-rise Columbia Pictures (going
from a small studio to permanent major studio status in this period)
that had the guts to take it on and the result was another
groundbreaking hit that furthered the status of all involved,
including Montgomery Cliff, showed what happens yet again when a
group of talented people serious about honest filmmaking get together
and dare to pull off something they think can work. They did.
Sony
has licensed this classic drama to Twilight Time as one of their
Limited Edition Blu-rays and though some of the treatment of mental
illness in the film may seem old hat, most of the rest does not.
Why? People don't change and when they get scarred or worry about
their names or reputations, they'll do anything to control the truth,
no matter how much they must lie.
Gavin
O'Connor's Warrior
(2011) is back, now on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with its previously-issued
Blu-ray. As I wrote years ago about the film, it is...
''a
film about extreme mixed martial arts fighting with Joel Edgerton as
a teacher who is decides to get involved in the sport again after
telling his wife he would walk away for good. Not on great terms
with his father (the underrated Nick Nolte in another good
performance [he got an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting
Actor after my original review posted]), he also has a brother (Tom
Hardy of Star
Trek: Nemesis,
Bronson,
[now Dunkirk]
and Dark
Knight Rises)
who wants to also fight again and turns to their father to train.
Some
of this is predictable and after so many bad Rocky
rip-offs [this was before Creed,
also reviewed on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray elsewhere on this site], few
attempts to imitate Raging
Bull
and the recent release of the better-than-expected The
Fighter,
Warrior
is fighting an uphill battle. The resulting film is an ambitious but
mixed work that is at its best when the three leads are at it, but
falls short when it tries to deal with (some false notes and
inaccuracies do not help) and the scripts inability to do something
new or even be more powerful. Still, O'Connor is a serious filmmaker
and he is at least trying, which is more than I can say for most
today and in such a bad year for filmmaking, it is no wonder it is
being seriously and rightly discussed as an underdog for awards
season. It also brings Nolte back to form and that alone makes it
all worth it.''
Looking
at it now, it still has the same flaws, but the characters now
somehow seem more doomed than they did six years ago and it at least
tries to be real unlike some bad sports films (especially a boxing
film or so) since it was released. If you have not seen it, it is
worth a look, flaws and all, but expect a mixed experience.
Finally
we have Barry Levinson's The
Wizard Of Lies
(2017), telling us what really happened when businessman Bernie
Madoff, who was a founder of NASDAQ apparently, established himself
as a money whiz who could never stop turning profits and it all
turned out to be one of the biggest frauds ever. He was finally
exposed at the opportune time when the market had its suspicious 2008
crash. Though we get a few flashback sequences as Madoff (another
fine turn by Robert De Niro), much of it is happening in the real
time of the disaster, you have his wife (Michelle Pfieffer back in
action) and his sons not quite knowing what he is up to, but enjoying
the wealth so much, they assume the head of the household is on the
up and up.
The
film also asks how this was allowed to happen and rightly indicts a
society (especially since the 1980s) that puts financial success
ahead of people's lives and the truth. This is also (despite being
an HBO cable TV film) part of an ever-welcome cycle of films going
after corruption in money and asking what this has done to booth the
society and the world. The supporting cast is great and Levinson is
in good form, which I wish he was more often. This is a must-see
telefilm for all.
Now
the technical performance of these releases. Warrior
is the newest of the theatrical releases, so you would expect it to
have the best performance and offering the only 4K disc here, its
grainy-yet-vivid 2160p HEVC/H.265, HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced 2.35 X 1 Ultra High Definition image comes from a
feature shot on 35mm film and that is one of the reasons why it looks
so gritty good. Video noise faked as grit just does not deliver like
this and the atmosphere plays an important part of telling the story.
Here, you live it more than even in the 1080p regular Blu-ray
version, which is also the first time we've seen that version. It's
fine, but the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray is an interesting surprise.
The
rest of the Blu-ray playback here is the equal of the regular Warrior
Blu-ray, starting with the two fine-looking 1.78 X 1 1080p HBO
presentation of Immortal
and Lies,
both looking better than too many sloppy, bad, lame theatrical
releases of the last few years. Though they're styles are different
(more flashbacks in Immortal and different eras to discuss), they
were very consistent and in both cases, I asked 'why were these not
released in movie theaters?' because they are that good on a visual
level as they are script-wise.
That
leaves the great Twilight Time releases, starting with the very
clean, yet palpable 1080p 1.85 X 1 black & white digital High
Definition image on Suddenly,
looking better than I have just about ever seen the film with
Director of Photography Jack Hildyard's monochromatic work proving
how great filming this way was, is and can be. In a transfer like
this, as you watch, you can forget it is not in color because it is
so visually compelling. We even get some demo shots.
Director
of Photography Carlo Di Palma delivers for Woody Allen in the
sometimes restrained (but not by photochemical manipulation) colors
of September,
here in a really clear, dense, 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition
image transfer that shows how they make the home a sort of trap for
the people, their memories, their pain and their unresolved issues
ala Ingmar Bergman and then some. Those who might not have liked
this film seeing it a while ago (especially on older video versions)
might change their minds on this version.
Last
but not least is the 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image
transfer on Hot,
which can show the age of the materials used in a few spots, but this
is far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film.
Shot on 35mm film with older CinemaScope lenses with color by DeLuxe,
you get some mixed-color moments, but this is just fine for the most
part and the use of color is more impressive than I have ever seen on
this film.
Nice
to have such impressive picture playback across the board.
As
for sound, Warrior
wins again with the 2160p version upgrading the already well-recorded
and mixed soundtrack to a Dolby Atmos 11.1 that even bests the
otherwise impressive DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless mix on the
regular 1080p Blu-ray. In Atmos, the film could not sound any better
unless a DTS: X mix could deliver something we are somehow not
hearing here.
The
two HBO cable telefilms and Hot
offer DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes that sound as good
as dialogue-driven dramas could, but Hot
cannot avoid showing its age, though its 5.1 mix is better than the
2.0 Stereo version that some may still prefer. The isolated music
score sounds as good and its a shame the older sound elements were
sonically limited.
That
leaves September
and Suddenly
with DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes that sound fine
for what they are, quiet moments included, but a few spots on each
are hard to hear due to the limits of the original theatrical mono
sound.
Extras
on Hot,
September
and Suddenly
include nicely illustrated booklets on each respective film including
informative text and yet another set of excellent, underrated essay
by the great film scholar Julie Kirgo, Isolated Music Scores with
select Sound Effects and Original Theatrical Trailers. Hot
adds Fox Movietone Newsreels and an episode of Hollywood Backstory on
the film. Immortal,
Lies
and Warrior
all offer Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and other
cyber iTunes capable devices, while the Immortal
and Lies
Blu-rays
add interview clips and Immortal and brief featurette. Warrior
repeats its DVD extras on Blu-ray including the terrific feature
length audio commentary by O'Connor, Co-Writer Anthony Tambakis,
Editor John Gilroy, A.C.E. and Edgerton, Cheap
Shots: Outtakes,
Deleted
Scene: The Diner
with optional commentary, Scene Select commentary with Nolte and the
Filmmakers and four featurettes: Redemption,
Philosophy
In Combat,
Simply
Believe
(a tribute to TapOut founder Charles 'Mask' Lewis Jr., who passed
away after offering huge support to get this film made to his great
credit) and Brother
Vs. Brother.
To
order The
Long Hot Summer, September and Suddenly Last Summer
limited edition Blu-rays, buy them and other great releases while
supplies last at these links:
www.screenarchives.com
and
http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
