Bigfoot
or Bust
(2022/Blu-ray*)/DC
Legends Of Tomorrow: The Complete Seventh Season
(2021/DC Comics Blu-ray**)/Dr.
Lamb
(2010/Unearthed/*both MVD Blu-rays)/Green
Lantern: Beware My Power 4K (2022/DC
Comics 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray/**both Warner)/White
Elephant
(2022/RLJ Blu-ray)/Yellowbrickroad
(2010/Lightyear Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: A- Picture: B/B+/B+/B+/B+/B Sound:
B/B+/B+/B+/B+/B Extras: C/C+/C+/C+/D/C+ Main Programs:
D/C+/C+/B/C+/D
Now
for some new genre offerings, wacky and otherwise...
Bigfoot
or Bust
(2022)
feels like one of those movies that was made by a group of friends on
an extremely low budget filmed in Los Angeles or thereabouts that's
full of inside jokes, cleavage shots, and very bad improv. While
it's marketed as some sort of adult version of a Bigfoot movie or
something, it's just a really bad Z grade movie that may have been
written by a hormonal teenager. To call it a B movie would be too
high of a mark. For instance, the Bigfoot costume looks like it was
bought at a thrift store, and despite it being heavily centered on
the female anatomy (its tag-line is 'The Breast Bigfoot Movie Ever
Made!'), it doesn't really even come through in that regard as it
could easily be rated PG-13 because it doesn't show anything.
The
film is by the director of the cult classic Chopping
Mall
and The
Return of the Swamp Thing,
Jim Wynorski, and neither of those films are necessarily known for
their groundbreaking filmmaking or stories. The film stars Melissa
Brasselle, Becky LeBeau, Lisa London, Cindy Lucas, Gail Thackray, and
Christine Nguyen.
The
plot, if there is much of one, just features big-breasted women who
stumble upon each other to hunt the Bigfoot monster seeking fame and
fortune. Every filmmaking trope you can think of to waste time is on
display here. Multiple music montages, a scene where they play with
a sound effects board, a trampoline jumping scene, and just mainly
moments when the girls strip down, but stop at lingerie, of course.
For what this movie is supposed to be, you would expect a record
number of nude shots, but alas the movie is a pretty big tease in
that department. They even blur out the nudity! This will likely
disappoint the audience this it's geared towards because of the
marketing. If you're going to make a film of this sort you might as
well go the whole way. If you're expecting Bigfoot to do more than
walk around and watch the girls from a distance and jump around like
a high school football mascot, then you will be sorely disappointed.
Bigfoot
or Bust
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and a lossless,
English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit). Shot
digitally, the film is mostly shot outdoors with little to no
lighting in the California mountains. The HD transfer looks and
sounds fine, but this is pretty unimpressive filmmaking on a whole,
but not necessarily bad... just passable.
Special
Features:
Music
Video / Trailer / Commentary and Deleted Scene.
Bigfoot
or Bust
is just really terrible. I didn't expect it to be necessarily good,
but you can tell the editor stretched moments out where they had
nothing to work with just to get the edit to a 90 minute runtime.
For the type of film that this is supposed to be it should star 18-21
year old swimsuit models rather than the ones cast here. To not
sound too rude or mean, the women in this picture are middle aged or
older and aren't being helped by the HD transfer. In terms of
content and overall effort, this is just really bad in every
imaginable way. Avoid at all costs unless you want to torture
yourself or those around you.
DC
Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete Seventh Season
(2021) comes out on Blu-ray disc from DC Comics and Warner Bros. The
action packed superhero series reaches its final season, this time
with the time traveling heroes stuck in the 1920s time period. This
give an interesting change of pace to the series and helps add to the
fun of the time travel theme. These fun genre elements make this
series a bit more interesting than Supergirl,
Batwoman,
and Arrow.
The
series stars Caity Lotz (Arrow,
Mad
Men),
Tala Ashe (Smash,
The
Carrie Diaries),
Jes Macallan (Mistresses,
Shameless),
Olivia Swann (Doctors),
Adam Tsekhman (The
Twilight Zone),
Shayan Sobhian (The
Chosen),
Lisseth Chavez (Chicago
P.D.)
and Amy Louise Pemberton (Arrow,
Suspense),
with Nick Zano (What
I Like About You),
and Matt Ryan (Constantine).
13
episodes include The
Bullet Blondes - The Need for Speed -
wvrdr_error_100<oest-of-th3-gs.gid30n>not found
(yes, that's the actual name of episode) - Speakeasy
Does It - It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Scientist - Deus Ex Latrina - A
Woman's Place Is In The War Effort! - Paranoid Android - Lowest
Common Demoniator - The Fixed Point - Rage Against The Machines - Too
Legit to Quit - Knocked Down, Knocked Up.
DC
Legends of Tomorrow
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and a lossless,
English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit). The season
spans three Blu-ray discs and are presented commercial and
network-watermark free. The transfers look pretty good for the
format and up to standards.
Special
Features:
Gag
Reel
Deleted
Scenes
and
Captain
at the Helm: DC's Legends of Tomorrow 100th Episode.
Dr.
Lamb
(1992) is
a pretty brutal foreign thriller that's similar to films like Taxi
Driver
and Maniac.
Recalling his crimes, Dr. Lamb liked to stalk women in a taxi cab
and then murder them and do grotesque things to their bodies after
the fact. This certainly isn't an easy film for a normal person to
stomach. But if you're into most of the films that Unearthed Films
put out then you get an idea of what to expect. The film is
beautifully photographed and is pretty well done, however, so if
you're into gore films this one is worth checking out in its fully
uncut glory in this release.
The
film stars Danny Lee, Simon Yam, Kent Cheng, and Erik Kei.
Dr.
Lamb
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.20:1, and mixes in
Cantonese and Mandarin LPCM 2.0 Mono with optional English subtitles.
This is a new 2K restoration and certainly bests any previous
versions that were released.
Special
Features:
Audio
Commentary From Art Ettinger (Ultra Violent) And Bruce Holecheck
(Cinema Arcana)
Lamb
To The Slaughter:
An interview with filmmaker Gilbert Po, who initiated The Dr. Lamb
Film Project
Cut
And Run:
Film Academic Sean Tierney a.k.a. The Silver Spleen remembers Dr.
Lamb
Three
Times The Fear:
Film critic James Mudge on the Golden Era of Category III
Collectors
Booklet and Trailers.
Dr.
Lamb
is definitely a horror cult classic and this is a nice release from
Unearthed Films.
Green
Lantern: Beware My Power 4K
(2022) is a DC Universe animated film in the same animation style as
other entries in their home video library. This film centers on the
Green Lantern John Stewart (there are several Lanterns, if you're
unaware), and also features favorites Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter,
Thanangarian Hawgirl and others in a battle against the infamous
villain Sinestro, who is pretty much the main villain of the
Lantern-verse.
Overall,
the animation seems a little lackluster this time around. Not that
it's horrible, but personally I don't understand why they don't try
to achieve a look similar to the art seen in the actual comics. Make
the panels come to life from the page more or at least change up the
styles from animated movie to animated movie. Otherwise, it's easy
to imagine how cool this film would be live action with a big budget
and the right filmmakers onboard. It is a shame that the Ryan
Reynolds Green
Lantern
film wasn't more memorable, but it seems to still make Warner Bros /
DC a little shy when it comes to the character. Perhaps this
animated film is testing the waters to see where the interest level
for the character still lies. There is certainly a lot of
similarities to this story as opposed to the live action version.
Aldis
Hodge (Black
Adam,
One
Night in Miami,
City
on a Hill)
takes the title role as John Stewart/Green Lantern, closely supported
by Jimmi Simpson (Westworld
and The
Man Who Fell To Earth
TV revivals, Pachinko)
as Green Arrow. The voice cast includes Ike Amadi (Mortal
Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge,
Superman:
Man of Tomorrow)
as Martian Manhunter, Brian Bloom (The
A-Team,
Mass
Effect)
as Adam Strange, Jamie Gray Hyder (Law
& Order: SVU,
True
Blood)
as Hawkgirl, Mara Junot (Call
of Duty
franchise, Genshin
Impact)
as Lyssa Drak & Banth Dar, Jason J. Lewis (Justice
League Action)
as Ganthet & Captain Kantus, Keesha Sharp (Empire,
Lethal
Weapon)
as Vixen, Simon Templeman (Uncharted
franchise) as Sardath & Console Voice, Rick D. Wasserman (Batman:
The Killing Joke)
as Sinestro, Sunil Malhotra (Mortal
Kombat 11,
The
Legend of Korra)
as Power Ring and Rannian Commander, and additional voices provided
by Nolan North (Young
Justice,
Rick
and Morty,
American
Dad!).
Green
Lantern: Beware My Power
is presented in both a 2160p on 4K UHD disc in an upscaled 4K image,
an HEVC/H.265 codec, HDR10, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and
audio mixes in English, lossless DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz,
24-bit). Also included is a 1080p high definition version on Blu-ray
disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1,
and another lossless, English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz,
24-bit). There is a noticeable difference in quality between the two
discs and both solid for their respectable formats.
Special
Feature: John
Stewart: The Power and Glory
featurette.
Green
Lantern: Beware My Power 4K
isn't terrible by any means, but the animation style seems a bit
lacking compared to some of the Batman animated cartoons by the same
studio.
Jesse
V. Johnson's White
Elephant
(2022) has a top notch action cast with Michael Rooker, Bruce Willis,
Olga Kurylenko (Black
Widow,
Quantum
Of Solace)
and John Malkovich and some explosive shoot out scenes to boot. It
seems like just about everyone in this film is playing their usual
role - Rooker is the crazy villain, Olga is the sharp shooting woman
you don't want to mess with, and Malkovich and Willis aren't exactly
trying anything new with the material either. That being said, White
Elephant
isn't too bad, just your typical action movie.
When
an assassination attempt is witnessed by two cops, an
ex-marine-turned-mob-enforcer (Rooker), is ordered by his mob boss
(Bruce Willis) to eliminate the heavy hitting assassins and rival
gangs that threaten him. As bullets fly, the drama ensues.
White
Elephant
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1, and a lossless,
English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit). The
presentation overall is fine especially considering that the budget
here isn't huge.
No
extras.
If
nothing else, White
Elephant
will be remembered for being one of the last films in Bruce Willis'
long career.
Yellowbrickroad
(2010)
looks like a creepy Wizard
of Oz-inspired
horror thriller on the package, but it's more likely to give you a
headache than actually scare you. Sort of inspired by found footage
films like the Blair
Witch Project,
the movie starts out kind of interesting but once the bulk of the
film rolls out, it starts to be a total bore with nearly unbearable
over acting and an ending that makes little sense. I think this
would've been a better short rather than an hour and forty minute
movie. There's a few interesting ideas peppered throughout, but
sitting through this one is a real endurance test.
The
movie stars Cassidy Freeman, Anessa Ramsey, Lee Wilkof, Clark
Freeman, and Laura Heisler.
In
1940 when, after a viewing of the 1939 classic version of The
Wizard of Oz
at a movie house, the residents of the small town of Friar, New
Hampshire, walked up a mountain trail and mysteriously disappeared
into the wilderness. One survivor later went insane. Fast forward
seventy years later and a group of filmmakers go out to make a
documentary about the incident but end up going insane themselves.
Don't expect any Wizard
of Oz
cosplaying slasher villains or anything fun really. There's no real
humor in this or characters you can relate to.
Yellowbrickroad
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.20:1, and a lossless,
English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit). The film takes
place mostly outdoors in the sunlight with some interesting still
photography bits thrown in during certain scenes.
Special
Features:
Behind-the-scenes
featurettes: "Practical
Blood FX on an Indie Budget"
and "Walking
the YellowBrickRoad"
Cast
and Crew Interviews: Director/Writers Andy Mitton & Jesse
Holland, Actors/Executive producers Clark and Cassidy Freeman,
Producer Eric Hungerford
and
Original Directors' Commentary with Andy Mitton & Jesse Holland.
Yellowbrickroad
could have been a lot more intense and interesting than it actually
is or wants you to believe it is.
-
James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
