A
Christmas Story 4K
(1983)/Elf
4K
(2003)/National
Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 4K
(1989)/Polar
Express 4K
(2004/all 4K Blu-rays w/Blu-rays)/Tom
and Jerry: Snowman's Land
(2022 DVD/all Warner)
4K
Picture: B+ Picture: B/B-/B-/B/C+ Sound: B-/B/B/B/C+
Extras: B-/C+/C/B-/C Films: B-/C/C-/B-/C+
Now
for holiday cheer in Ultra High Definition, et al...
Bob
Clark's A
Christmas Story 4K
(1983) continues to be one of the holiday classics hundreds of others
have been trying to be, with Peter Billingsley as Ralphie (with adult
narration by author/humorist Jean Shepherd,) Melinda Dillon (Close
Encounters Of The Third Kind)
as the mom and Darren McGavin (Kolchak:
The Night Stalker)
as the dad. It is the best of the four films here and has aged very
well.
Clark
died too young in a controversial auto accident with his son and left
us too soon, but his catalog of films (from horror classics to an
exceptional Sherlock Holmes film to a horror spoof and the original
Porky's)
keep standing the test of time and this is as successful as any of
his films at this point. It captures a United States that keeps
sadly becoming more and more distant.
A
new sequel with Billingsley all grown up is on the way, but a related
but little remembered sequel was made with Charles Grodin taking
McGavin's role and Kieran Culkin (an unusual choice, he's now an
actor in his own right) as an older version of Billingsley called My
Summer Story
aka It
Runs In The Family,
which was released in 1994. We actually have a review for it here on
the site, which you can access at the following link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4140/My+Summer+Story
Jon
Favreau's Elf
4K
(2003) was also a big hit with Will Ferrell as the child-like title
character annoying James Caan throughout the film. Having Ed Asner,
Bob Newhart, Mary Steenburgen and a then-up-and-coming Zooey Dechanel
did not hurt it becoming a hit, but it was never my film or kind of
film. My fellow writer liked it more than I did and is in the camp
of being a fan of it.
People
still talk about it and talk of some kind of sequel is out there, so
who knows, but a repeat of this one would be a mistake, so we'll see.
National
Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 4K
(1989) is one of the more senseless sequels to the Chevy Chase hit
from 1983 with the hilarious theme song ''Holiday
Road''
by guitarist/genius (and former Fleetwood Mac member) Lindsay
Buckingham, but even that song is not here in any form as Chase's dad
shows how not to deal with holiday decorations, or much of anything
else.
Badly
directed by the really bad Jeremiah S. Chechik, whose hideous remakes
of the classic French thriller Diabolik
and classic British TV spy series The
Avengers
add up to make him one of the worst commercial filmmakers of our
time, and that says something. Looking at this again, I was reminded
what happens when a director keeps making the worst possible choices
at every turn. What a train wreck!
Speaking
of trains, Robert Zemeckis' Polar
Express 4K
(2004) has also become a holiday classic of sorts, a hit in its time
with earlier CGI animation so odd, you have to see it to believe it.
Out of the period where Zemeckis got carried away with visual
technology more than maybe he should have, this has as many good
moments as off ones and bad ones (Why Aerosmith? Why!?!?!) and is
just too bizarre too often not to see at least once.
I
remember when this came out that some were saying this was the future
of entertainment, but most such projects like this (one of the Final
Fantasy
films, Zemeckis' own Beowulf)
bombed so bad that when one even works half as well as this one did,
people can still watch it and actually enjoy it. It is worth a look,
though I always wondered with some different ideas and decisions, how
this could have worked so much more.
Finally,
we have Tom
and Jerry: Snowman's Land
(2022) in yet another holiday special that goes back to their
original, expensive MGM animated Technicolor shorts (though the color
here is not that strong, but still good) as the ever-conflicting duo
have to put their rivalry on hold to save Larry The Snow Mouse (yes,
you read that right) and Jerry's nephew Tuffy is there to help.
Running a somewhat short 76 minutes, it has more amusing moments than
expected, even if it offers little new otherwise.
I
like how it is a return to form with no live action, contemporary
music or hardly any talking, the makers let the duo be their fun,
amusing, silent selves (save some yipping or yelling) and so you will
get at least a few chuckles and if you have children, they may get a
few more. I liked it even more than the hit theatrical film, though
we have yet to see a real classic with the duo lately. This is at
least a step in a direction that works.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on all four films (all
1.85 X 1, save 2.35 X 1 on Polar
Express)
look as good as they ever have, with Lampoon
grainer than I remember the 35mm print I saw being. Express
was in IMAX and 3D, released in the Blu-ray 3D format, so you are
still missing something here despite this being an upscale. The
1080p regular Blu-ray versions of each film are not as good, but
Lampoon
and Elf
still look especially poor and are all the previously-issued Blu-ray
editions. The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Jerry
looks good for the format with decent color and clarity.
As
for sound, all four films are here in DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1
lossless mixes, save Story
in DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono. Lampoon
originally was issued in simple, old, analog Dolby A-type noise
reduction Dolby System with mono surrounds, to the 5.1 here is a new
upgrade. These all now sound as good as they ever will, though I was
surprised Express
was not upgraded to DTS:X or Dolby Atmos considering it was made for
a very big screen, but it still plays well enough sonically. The
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on Jerry
is just fine for what it is, but I wonder if it would sound better
lossless.
Extras
on all four releases include Digital Movie Code, while the discs
repeat all the previous releases in other formats (save all the
extras from the Elf
Blu-ray tin set) as previously reviewed elsewhere on this site and
the Blu-rays here include all of them, while the 4Ks offer the audio
commentary tracks. Jerry
has three episodes from three different TV shows they had in the
past, starting with a show from their 1970s Filmation series entitled
''Snowbrawl'',
then working up to later (''Ho
Ho Horrors'')
shows, all monophonic, save the last one (''The
Plight Before Christmas'')
in stereo, all lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
