Black
Box (2021/aka Boite
Noire/Icarus DVD)/The
Lost Boys 4K (1987/Warner
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Lucifer:
The Sixth And Final Season
(2021/DC Comics/Vertigo/Warner DVD Set)/Miami
Blues (1990/Orion/MGM/MVD
Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: A- Picture: C/B/C+/B+ Sound: C+/A-/C+/B+
Extras: C-/B/C/C+ Main Programs: B/B+/C-/C+
Now
for a new set of thrillers, including a few supernatural entries just
in time for Halloween...
Yann
Gozlan's Black
Box
(2021/aka Boite
Noire)
may take its cue a bit from Boeing's disastrous 767 Max disaster, but
it is set in France (et al) and has a different set of things going
for it. When a new airliner kills 300 people, an investigation is
quickly underway and one sound expert (Pierre Niney) is instantly
hard at work trying to get a conclusive record of the catastrophe in
a key summary for the companies, news media and public. However, the
black box audio is strangely distorted in parts and he is as puzzled
as anyone involved.
That
might be a simple issue of technical errors or some kind of
interference, but when a key person working on the investigation
disappears and he starts to have even more questions, he starts to
realize something stranger is going on and when they think they hear
an Islamic Terrorist somehow enter the cockpit and start to kill the
pilots, he's not so sure of that at first either.
Though
this runs over two hours, this surprisingly justifies just about all
of its screen time, is a near-excellent mystery thriller and is one
of the best new films to come out of France in the last few years
that was produced by them. The image and sound are well recorded,
shot, edited and the screenplay is tight. The supporting cast,
including Lou De Laage, Andre Dussollier, Olivier Rabourdin, Andre
Marcon, Marie Dompnier and Guillaume Marquet are a real plus. Hope
we see all of them again soon!
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is a little softer than I
would have liked, made worse by some better footage I saw of the film
color and detail-wise, but it is passable at best just to see the
film for now. The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has all kinds of
interesting sound in it, making me wonder why no 5.1 mix or if this
got any kind of 12-track release (DTS: X, Dolby Atmos, Auro3D)
anywhere. It is a smart mix, even cut down to simple stereo here.
Sadly,
we only get three trailers for other Icarus releases and nothing on
this film, but it deserves more.
Joel
Schumacher's The
Lost Boys 4K
(1987)
has finally arrived for fans of the hit film that stays popular and
gains new generations of fans all the time. With its impressive
cast, the vampire mythos is applied to a then-present day scenario,
where a group of teens encounter a gang of rock-n-roll style vampires
that are looking for thrills in addition to blood in Santa Carla,
California. Can they thrive without being detected? Can they find
new recruits? Will they grow their army? Will they be discovered
and destroyed? The film stars Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Dianne
Wiest, Barnard Hughes, Edward Herrmann, Alex Winter, Jamie Gertz,
Corey Feldman and Kiefer Sutherland.
The
Lost Boys 4K is presented in 2160p on 4K UHD disc with HDR10, an
HEVC / H.265 codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and an audio
track in a lossless, English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 mix that
has been kept as is. There have been a million and one releases of
the film and it is also here in a passable 1080p Blu-ray to join
previous releases over the years on Blu-ray and so it is usually easy
to overlook a new one. However, this one really does show a lot of
improvement in the image thanks to the new 4K restoration.
Special
Features:
Another
great Feature-length Audio Commentary by the late Director Joel
Schumacher
The
Lost Boys: A Retrospective: an in-depth look at the production of
the film
Inside
the Vampire's Cave featurette
Vamping
Out: Makeup effect featurette
Haimster
& Feldog: The Story of the two Coreys featurette
A
World of Vampires documentary
Lost
Scenes
"Lost
in the Shadows" Music Video
and
an Original Theatrical Trailer.
Next,
somehow, we have Lucifer:
The Sixth And Final Season
(2021,) a show I originally reviewed the debut season of the show in
two formats (Blu-ray and DVD) and was not impressed. Too jokey,
silly and lead Tom Ellis did not impress me much. However, he
impressed enough people for the show to last this long, but TV is not
just made for me and they somehow made it. Unfortunately, it is the
same one-joke show it has always been, thinner now than when they
started and for the seasons we did get in-between the first and last,
other writers added their thoughts, so that concludes our thorough
coverage of this surprise, if lite hit.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image looks fine for DVD, but even
for a non-fan like myself, it is far more effective on Blu-ray,
especially where Video Red is concerned. The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1
is good for the old, compressed format and will do, but it is a show
that also has more of an edge (for whatever that entails) in a
lossless mix. The combination is passable at best.
Deleted
Scenes and a Gag Reel are the only extras.
And
rounding things out, Alec Baldwin stars in Miami Blues (1990)
along with acclaimed actress Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful
Eight, Single White Female) and the late Fred Ward
(Tremors). While pretty dated and obviously very late '80s in
terms of style, the film isn't too bad and follows Baldwin as a
con-man who lands in Miami and takes advantage of just about everyone
that he comes in contact with. He meets a call girl (Leigh) that he
falls in love with and also manipulates as he dodges the police and
poses as one too in order to take advantage.
The
film, directed by George Armitage (Grosse Point Blank, The
Big Bounce) shows how easy it was at the time to get away with a
lot of things that wouldn't be as simple to get away with in the
technology age that we now live in, which is why I say many aspects
of the film are dated. Baldwin and Leigh have interesting onscreen
chemistry and the film in some ways reminds me of a lesser version of
True Romance or in that same sort of sub genre. Baldwin does
a good job of making an unlikeable but sly character that you kind of
feel for at times (he got good notices for the film at the time,
though it was not the big hit some and Orion Pictures thought it
might be) while Fred Ward is fun as a police detective with false
teeth that he is constantly having issues with.
MVD
Rewind continues its label with a nice presentation and extras as the
film is presented in 1080p on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec,
a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and a lossless, English LPCM 2.0
track, all of which restore the presentation nicely to disc. It was
also released on Blu-ray in 2015 from Shout! Factory and could be the
same or similar transfer as that release. Judging from the technical
specifications, I would venture to think it is in fact the same
transfer.
Special
Features:
Interviews
with Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Jason Leigh
Original
Theatrical Trailer
3
TV Spots (SD)
Original
Orion Home Video 'Miami Blues' Trailer
Photo
Gallery
Collectible
Mini-Poster
and
Reversible Artwork.
-
Nicholas Sheffo (Box, Lucifer) and James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
