Happy
Hooker Goes To Hollywood
(1980/Cannon/Scorpion/Blu-ray*)/Sex
and Zen (2010/Umbrella
Region Free Import Blu-ray)/Tokyo
Decadence (1991/Unearthed
Blu-ray*)/Wild Things 4K
(1998/Sony/Arrow 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/*all MVD)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: A- Picture: B/B-/B-/X Sound: B-/B-/C+/A-
Extras: C/C/C/B- Films: C+/C/C/B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Sex
and Zen
Import Blu-ray is now only available from our friends at Umbrella
Entertainment in Australia, can only play on 4K and Blu-ray players
that can handle Region B discs and can be ordered from the link
below.
If
you treat sex films like a genre, they also will show that it has its
limits, so marking it as officially launched in 1972 (when it became
legal to show a film like Deep
Throat,
et al) followed by thousands of like films making untold money, that
success will wear things out quickly and these four films show how...
Alan
Roberts' The
Happy Hooker Goes To Hollywood
(1980) is the third feature film with a different actress playing the
real-life title character and super-madame, Xavier Hollander. This
time, it is veteran Bond Gal and international sex symbol Martine
Beswick, as sexy as her acting predecessors and in what is a comic
tale of producers trying to turn her hit book into a movie. Yes, a
post-modern porn spoof.
We
do get more nudity and a few sex moments I was not necessarily
expecting, but the ongoing joke is having people cast who you would
never associate with any kind of XXX material like Adam West (still
very much the Batman of the moment with his hit 1960s series and a
newer animated 1977 hit show made for Saturday Morning Children's TV)
and Richard Deacon of The
Dick Van Dyke Show,
plus Phil Silvers, Chris Lemmon, Dick Miller and even Edie Adams.
That in-joke would be lost on most newer viewers, but its there and
the film has enough wacky, politically incorrect and odd moments that
those interested should give it a good look.
Extras
include two on-camera interviews (a good one with Chris Lemmon and
great one with Martine Beswick) and an Original Theatrical Trailer.
Michael
Mark's Sex
and Zen
(2010) has a newlywed man (Lawrence Ng) so disappointed with his
wedding night performance, he goes on a sex spree to be with all
kinds of women to have all kinds of sex so there is never a repeat of
that bad night. Then his wife (Amy Yip) becomes a hooker?
This
is meant to be a comedy of some kind and at least has some amusing
moments, but not enough of them or anything sexual to justify 95
minutes that might have worked much better if it tried to do some
other things and maybe take a few more things seriously. The cast is
not too bad either and this is shot well enough.
Extras
include an Original Theatrical Trailer and on-camera interview with
director Mark.
Ryu
Murakami's Tokyo
Decadence
(1991) has us following one woman (Miho Nikaido) into the night of
sexual exploits, adventures, behaviors, fantasies and more than a few
bad things as well, but the problem is that it is more titillating
than any kind serious character study of her or the world, though the
makers capture some of the sleaze of the situation. This can even
look good in parts, but in its nearly two hours, it does not achieve
much more.
Helping
is a score by Ryuichi Sakamoto of Bertolucci's The
Last Emperor
(1987) who makes it more bearable, but the makers fail to take
advantage of that bit of luck. Still, I did not buy much of this and
felt I had seen most of this before, but you can always see for
yourself.
Extras
include Trailers, Stills Gallery and Making Of featurette.
Lastly,
the widely released Wild
Things 4K
(1998)
gets a deluxe 4K presentation in this great release from Arrow Video.
The captivating thriller remains a fun and sexy romp and features
great performances by Kevin Bacon, Denise Richards, Neve Campbell,
Matt Dillion, and Bill Murray to name a few. If you're a fan of the
film or perhaps even seeing it for the first time then this limited
edition is not to be missed.
There
were a few pretty lousy sequels that followed this film, none of
which brought back any of the great original cast, and leaned in I
think more on the sex angle than anything. What works here the most
is a strong screenplay in which you never quite know what character
to trust at any moment, which sometimes makes it a bit confusing on
who to root for. Campbell and Richards both were in their prime here
and really sizzle in their scenes together, and while their romantic
scenes here are no big deal now, they were at the time.
A
high school counselor named Sam Lombardo (Dillion) is convicted of
raping a pretty young girl (Denise Richards) and another student
(Neve Campbell) a few years earlier. Although Lombardo swears that
he didn't do such a thing, he loses his job and hires a bunk lawyer
(Murray) when he's taken to court. A skeptical Detective (Bacon) has
a growing interest in this case, one of which takes many twists and
turns, in a complicated caper where lives and millions of dollars are
soon at stake.
Special
Features:
Unrated
and Rated versions of the film in new 4K restorations supervised by
Sony Pictures
Exclusive
new audio commentary by director John McNaughton and producer Steven
A. Jones
Commentary
by director John McNaughton, cinematographer Jeffrey Kimball,
producers Steven A. Jones and Rodney Liber, editor Elena Maganini and
score composer George S. Clinton
Exclusive
new interview with John McNaughton
Exclusive
new interview with Denise Richards
Making
of documentary
An
Understanding Lawyer outtakes
Trailer
Illustrated
collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Anne Billson
and Sean Hogan
Double-sided
fold-out poster
Six
double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproductions
and
a Reversible Sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
by Sam Hadley
While
Wild Things weighs heavily on the theme of 'how far will
someone go to become rich', its story really isn't too far of a
stretch nowadays. In fact, this story could easily happen, and
likely backfire in today's high tech world of crime, and so oddly its
1998 release date fits the story setting quite well. Are people dumb
enough to kill each other over some money? Absolutely. This film
simply shows you one scenario.
Now
for playback performance. Wild Things 4K is presented in
2160p with an HEVC/H.265 codec, Dolby Vision/HDR, a widescreen aspect
ratio of 2.39:1 and audio mixes in lossless English DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit). Shot on 35mm, the film
looks and sounds fantastic throughout and has really been cleaned up
from the days of DVD and VHS when the film was first released. The
soundtrack has some noticeable '90s hits and a sultry score by George
S. Clinton that hints a little bit of Bernard Herrmann at times.
This is the definitive version of this film and beats out any prior
version in terms of quality by a long shot.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Hooker is the
best of the rest with a few flaws, but still consistent enough for a
2018 HD master, but the 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image
transfer on Zen and 1080p 1.66 X 1 digital High Definition
image transfer on Tokyo can show the age of the materials used
much more so and even if we figure in stylized shots, they just do
not look as good overall as they could.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono on Hooker
5.1 lossless mix on Zen
tie for second place for sounding good, but not great and show their
age, though I doubt they can sound much better than they do here, or
this is the best they
will ever sound. The PCM 2.0 Stereo and Mono counterpart tracks on
Tokyo
are narrowly different, though I preferred the Stereo, yet it is
still on the weak side and seems to be the way the sound was
produced.
To
order the Sex
and Zen
Umbrella
Region Free import Blu-ray, go to this link for it and many other
hard-to-find releases:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
-
Nicholas Sheffo and James Lockhart (4K)
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
