A
Wrinkle In Time
(2018/Disney 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Along
With The Gods: The Two Worlds
(2017/Well Go DVD)/Great
Summer Campout
(2018/Nickelodeon DVD)/Peter
Pan (1953/Disney
Signature Blu-ray w/DVD)/Steam
Engines Of Oz
(2018/Cinedigm Blu-ray w/DVD)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: A Picture: B+/B/C+/B & C+/B- & C
Sound: A/B/C+/B- & C+/B- & C+ Extras: B/B/D/B/D Main
Programs: C/A/C+/B/C
A
misfire at the box office, A
Wrinkle in Time
(2018) is a mediocre young adult fantasy that's high concept and high
budget but can't escape the fact that 90 percent of it was shot on a
green screen stage. While it aims to be for kids and a younger
audience, the film is riddled with complicated scientific babble
that's sure to go over their heads (and most of the adult audience
too). While the film boasts a decent cast (seen below) and some
interesting visual effects, the end of the film is a little too
convoluted, weird, and silly for its own good.
The
film is directed by Ava Duvernay (Selma),
which is surprising that she would choose a film like this after many
of her films seem to be more based in realism.
Wrinkle
stars Storm Reid, Chris Pine, Reese Witherspoon, Opera, Zach
Galiflankis, Mindy Kaling, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Deric McCabe, Levi
Miller, and Bellamy Young to name a few. The film is based on a
(pre?) YA novel from more than 50 years ago written by Madeleine L'
Engle.
After
the disappearance of her scientist father, three peculiar beings send
Meg (Reid), her genius kid brother Charles (Deric), and Meg's friend
Calvin (Miller) to space in order to find him. Along the way, they
end up in a fantasy world and go from dimension to dimension through
space and time until they come across him again. But nothing is as
it seems...
The
film looks incredible on in 2160p HEVC/H.265, HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image, with a widescreen
aspect ratio of 2:39:1 and a stellar Dolby Atmos 11.1 lossless track,
both of which are as close to a theatrical presentation that you can
get at home. The film is quite colorful and has several different
(digitally created) worlds. Textures and details on characters and
clothing is incredible here but again the format looks a little too
good and at times exposes some weak digital effects moments. Also
included is a 1080p high definition Blu-ray with similar specs and a
digital copy.
Special
Features:
A
Journey Through Time
- Take an up-close look at the making of this magnificent movie with
Director Ava DuVernay, Oprah Winfrey, and the cast and crew.
Deleted
Scenes (with optional director audio commentary)
Ant
on a String
Aunt
Beast
Meg
Learns About Calvin's Dad
Papergirl
Feature
Length Audio Commentary w/Director Ava DuVernay, Producer Jim
Whitaker, Co-Screenwriter Jennifer Lee, Production designer Naomi
Shohan, First assistant director Michael Moore, Editor Spencer
Averick, and VFX supervisor Rich McBride
Bloopers
Original
Songs/Music Videos
There
are also various editions of the film available at Target and Best
Buy in collectible packaging as well.
Ja-hong
was a fireman... but then he died! Upon dying, he is suddenly
greeted 3 guardians of the afterlife and they tell him that he has
lived an honorable life and is subject to reincarnation. BUT he has
to first past the trials set by the gods, each god will look back
over aspects of his lives and test him and then judge if he is worthy
in Kim Yong-hwa's Along
With The Gods: The Two Worlds
(2017).
Ja-hong
never expected to die either, much less when he finds out he is the
first 'paragon' in years and that he has a chance to reincarnate, but
he could care less about reincarnation, he only wants to visit his
mother one last time. As his 3 guardian spirits take him from trial
to trial each god is a virtue and they test Ja-hong. The 3 Guardians
then must defend the virtues in his life, was he selfless? Was he
caring? Was he honest? Was he greedy? Was he faithful? ...etc.
But when suddenly his brother is murdered on Earth and becomes a
vengeful spirit, his trial suddenly changes... demons and monsters
(who do not want Ja-hong to reincarnate) believes his brother's death
is a sign that he is not worthy. The 3 Guardians must not only to
save Ja-hong, but also solve his brother's murder.
This
was a heart moving movie with fantastic graphics. Along with a drama
filled story it is also has a lot of action fighting evil spirits as
the characters search for the truth. It is a story about family and
strength of their connections. For those who believe in karma, what
you do in life effects what you have in eternity.
The
anamorphically enhanced image and lossy Korean Dolby Digital 5.1
sound on this DVD are as good as they can get, but (and so), it
deserves a Blu-ray and maybe even 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release.
Extras
include character intros, behind the scenes and trailers, and know a
sequel is arriving soon!
Nickelodeon's
Great
Summer Campout
(2018) is simply a basic single DVD with no extras and is fine if you
do not already have a gut of DVDs from this or any other
child-friendly video label. One episode each from Bubble
Guppies,
Shimmer
& Shine,
Blaze
& The Monster Machines,
Sunny
Day
and Nella
The Princess Knight
are featured, running a decent 90 minutes. Guess it will depend if a
child likes most of these shows to even go and get this one, but here
it is and its not awful. Now, you can decide.
Next,
Disney's all-time animated classic Peter
Pan
(1953) has been out of print for a while, but the Blu-ray and DVD are
being reissued in one of Disney Signature Blu-ray w/DVD sets,
offering the same exact transfers as the previous edition we reviewed
years ago at this link...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12020/Ghoul+(2012/Chiller/Image+DVD)/Peter+Pan+(19
The
difference is that some extras have been removed (but we still get
digital copy) and a few new ones introduced, including two
sing-alongs,
A
Darling Conversation with Wendy & John: Kathryn Beaumont and Paul
Collins
that was taped since the last Blu-ray release and the archival
Stories
from Walt's Office: Walt & Flight that
shows how the founder of the company loved airplanes, flying and
suggests how that fits into this classic, among others.
Guess
a 4K UHD edition would be the next stop for this classic, but if you
missed the last set or want to add it to that one if you are lucky
enough to own it, this is worth your time.
And
finally we have tSean Patrick O'Reilly's extremely
odd Steam
Engines Of Oz
(2018) kicks around the term 'cyberpunk' to semi-animated a brand new
story that trashes any child-friendly aspects of the original books
(or 1939 classic film or anything that tried to be like it) for this
highly unlikely, quasi-depressing dud on how The Tin Man loses his
heart and turn Oz into a mechanical police state. Guess high quality
animation was outlawed too.
Ron
Pearlman, William Shatner and Julianne Hough are among the voice
actors, but they seem as bored as I was and was puzzled as to the
point of this and can tell you it was very forgettable. The
animation here is very dated CGI, slow-moving and it does not move
much. Color is even lacking in range and this Cinedigm Blu-ray/DVD
set is not making any errors in its
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Blu-ray or
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 DVD image version. It just does not
work.
Sound
is hardly better with a mixed soundfield in the Blu-ray's DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix and DVD's lossy Dolby Digital 5.1
mix. This is a flat production all around and again, there are no
extras, but that's fine with me.
-
Nicholas Sheffo, Ricky Chiang (Along),
and James
Lockhart (4K)
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
