Carlito's
Way 4K
(1993/Universal/Arrow 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray*)/Suburra
(2015/Unearthed Blu-ray/*both MVD)/Succession:
The Complete Series
(2018 - 2023/HBO/Warner DVD Set)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B-/B-/C+ Sound: B &
B-/B-/C+ Extras: B-/C+/B- Main Programs: C+/C/B-
Now
for some crime dramas, old and new...
Brian
De Palma's Carlito's
Way 4K
(1993) was a big deal before its release, as Al Pacino and the
director were reuniting to do a gangster film for the first time
since their 1983 remake of Scarface
(see the 4K review elsewhere on this site) playing the title
character, a convict who finds thew world he was locked away from (in
the 1970s, by the way) was as alive as ever. He has a girlfriend
(the underrated Penelope Ann Miller) who has waited for him, a solid
lawyer (Sean Penn
almost stealing the film at times) and plenty of enemies.
Especially
after the oncer-failed Scarface, which bombed at the box office upon
first release, had by this time become a huge latter-day hit and even
money machine, plus Scorsese had delivered genre groundbreakers like
GoodFellas
and
Casino,
that this could be a big critical comeback (give or take The
Untouchables)
for De Palma. Instead, it plays it too safe and subtle, is somewhat
predictable and was not very memorable for this viewer.
We
have this coverage in the old HD-DVD format from someone who really
liked the film and its sequels....
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6158/Carlito
On
the plus side, it looks good, does a decent job of using the scope
frame well and benefits from a supporting cast that includes Luis
Guzman, Viggo Mortensen and John Leguizamo, but even their work could
not make this work for me. Cheers for De Palma stepping into Sidney
Lumet territory a bit, but this one is only for serious fans of the
director, actors or the genre. Otherwise, I continue to be
disappointed at all the missed opportunities.
Extras
are many, mostly brand new, and include:
Brand
new audio commentary by Matt Zoller Seitz, author of The Wes
Anderson Collection and The Soprano Sessions (both
versions)
Brand
new audio commentary by Dr. Douglas Keesey, author of Brian De
Palma's Split-Screen: A Life in Film (both versions)
Carlito
and the Judge, a brand new interview with Judge Edwin Torres,
author of the novels Carlito's Way and After Hours on which
the screenplay for Carlito's Way is based
Cutting
Carlito's Way, a brand new interview with editors Bill Pankow
and Kristina Boden
De
Palma's Way, a brand new appreciation by film critic David
Edelstein
All
the Stitches in the World: The Locations of Carlito's Way, a
brand new look at the New York locations of Carlito's Way and
how they look today
De
Palma on Carlito's Way, an archival interview with director
Brian De Palma
The
Making of Carlito's Way, an archival documentary on the making
of the film, produced for the original DVD release
Deleted
scenes
Original
promotional featurette
Original
Theatrical Teaser and Trailer
and
an Image Gallery.
Stefano
Sollima's Suburra
(2015)
has an interesting premise of a gang war over a giant construction
project in Ostia intended to make it a modern Roman answer to Las
Vegas (or the like) has potential and we get some good moments, bit
it never realizes its potential due to budget limits, a screenplay
that needed a rewrite and the makers challenging themselves to
stretch in the face of a played-out gangster genre. This even has
the director of the Sicario
sequel and highly respected Gomorrah
that inspired a TV series and is still talked about.
The
mostly unknown cast is even decent here, but this drags on a little
too much at 135 minutes and they are giving it their best, but the
results are very uneven. Those very curious or who liked the other
films may still want to see it for themselves in case they like it
more, not unlike that Boondock Saints sequel. However, it was
just too many missed opportunities for me. Now you can see for
yourself.
Extras
include:
And
finally Succession:
The Complete Series
(2018 - 2023) gives us all four seasons of the hit HBO series about a
rich and powerful family, whose ways, corruption and late capitalism
is about to catch up with all of them. A show that started off with
promise and held up as long as it could. Sure, TV shows about
corrupt wealthy people had been made before, but many of those were
nighttime soap operas (Dynasty
at its best, Dallas
despite them not dressing like it, their many spinoffs and imitators)
so this show told its story leaving that kind of formula behind.
That's good, because recent revivals of said soap operas were all
bombs.
We
have covered the series before, starting with my feeling about the
Season
One
Blu-ray set:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15360/Basic+Instinct+2+(2006/*/**)/Get+Shorty+(1995
Then
a second opinion on the show as it got better with the Season Two
DVD set:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15776/Beats+(2020/Music+Box+DVD)/Driveways+(2019/
Brian
Cox more than held his own leading the solid cast, while Kieran
Culkin proved his acting chops for certain here if there was any
doubt before. The rest of the cast, including Jeremy Strong, Matthew
Macfadyen, Sarah Snook, Alan Ruck and Nicholas Braun gelled so well
that it made the fine writing and directing come alive all the more.
I hope HBO keeps taking risks on such series programming and mature
themes that makes their shows stand out from so many others.
Extras
repeat the previous sets and continue for the final season including
Cast/Crew Interviews, Inside The Episodes clips, Character
Recaps, Controlling The Narrative segments, Who Said It?
clip, Scene swap segment and from the debut season, An Invitation
To The Set with The Series' Storytellers.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Carlito's Way 4K
looks as good as it can, as shot in real 35mm anamorphic Panavision
on 35mm Kodak color negative film, with solid compositions and some
fine trick shots. The 1080p Blu-ray with the same framing is fairly
good, but is a little too soft for its own good. The sound was a
DTS-exclusive theatrical release, though not always as strong as it
could have been, but the new DTS: X
lossless 12-track upgrade for the 4K version really brings out al the
sound as well as possible and makes watching it more interesting and
entertaining, even if you are not a fan of the film. We are not
getting enough DTS: X sound discs.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Suburra
has some nice shots and some good color at times, but just has too
much softness and motion blur issues beyond any style choices. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) Italian 5.1 lossless mix is also good, but
has an inconsistent soundfield.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on all episodes of Succession
look as good as they can in this older format, though I liked it much
more on Blu-ray. Ditto to the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 which is not
horrible, but from the first scenes, I could hear the loss of
fullness the lossless sound on the Blu-ray edition has. For DVD fans
only.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
