American
Sniper 4K
(2014/Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray)/Edge
Of Everything
(2023/Lightyear DVD)/Friendly
Persuasion
(1956/Allied Artists*)/Nun's
Story
(1959*)/Ordinary
Angels
(2024/Lionsgate Blu-ray w/DVD)/The
Rain People
(1969/*all Warner Archive Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: X/C+/B/B/B & C/B Sound:
B+/C+/C+/B-/B & C/B- Extras: C/C-/C/C-/C/D Films:
B/C+/C+/C/C/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Friendly
Persuasion,
Nun's
Story
and Rain
People
Blu-rays are now only available from Warner Bros. through their
Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Now
for a group of dramas old, new, well-known, restored and worth
knowing about...
Clint
Eastwood's American
Sniper 4K
(2014) is the director's best film of many solid ones he has made in
the last 20 years and if anything, it has gained power and is more
relevant than ever, featuring a great performance by Bradley Cooper
as the title man, who was extremely effective and successful for the
U.S. military and maybe one of the best of all time, anywhere. Now
on Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, it has more impact than ever and is
the best easily since I saw it theatrically. We covered the
Blu-ray/DVD set at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/13511/American+Sniper+(2014/Warner+Blu-ray+w/DVD
It
also treats patriotism and the U.S. With the seriousness,
authenticity and respect it always deserves, especially has
nationalism has been eclipsing that too much in recent years, but
aside from that, it is just a smart, suspenseful film and I cannot
re-recommend it enough. Glad it got such a grade-A upgrade.
Extras
repeat the previous Blu-ray release, but they are not bad.
Sophia
Sabella and Pablo Feldman's Edge
Of Everything
(2023) has Sierra McCormack as a 15-year-old gal stuck with her
father and her annoying and (much) younger girlfriend. She starts to
get involved with others and other things, for better or worse,
especially thanks to new friend Caroline and that marks a turning
point or two in her life. Will she be any happier soon?
The
actors and cast are OK, but the script is very uneven shows us almost
everything we have seen before (no matter what kind of sex is
involved) and goes bad very early when a guy walks up to her and
invites her to his place in the nicest way. Her and her friend
laugh, joke about it, then the film goers downhill from there. In a
HUGE missed opportunity and one for character development, she should
have eventually accepted, wether it worked out or not. Instead, this
entire, short 82 minutes does not work out and turned quickly into a
big disappointment.
Extras
include an Original Theatrical Trailer for this and a few other
Lightyear releases.
William
Wyler's Friendly
Persuasion
(1956) is a long, drawn-out melodrama about a Quaker family lead by a
solid father (Gary Cooper) who thinks there must be a better way than
war to resolve The Civil War. He may be correct, but how so and what
can he really do to effect the mess?
Sure,
they can talk about faith and the screenplay gets into that, but of
course, no faith in the world can deal with the injustices of
slavery, hate, racism, torture, human trafficking and murder, so this
kind of thing can only go so far. Anthony Perkins is good here as
his son and Dorothy McGuire more than holds her own, but even they
cannot survive under the weight of the endless melodrama and yes, it
can be a little preachy.
However,
this was a coup for the smaller Allied Artists Corporation, including
landing Wyler, so they benefited well and this is the kind of film
that still had an audience. Today, it might be a very, very shallow
'faith' film, but at least this one treats its audience like it has a
brain. Now you can be the judge, restored, looking and sounding
better than it has in decades.
Extras
include an Original Theatrical Trailer and clip from the 1955 NBC-TV
series Wide
Wide World
on the movie.
Fred
Zinnemann's The
Nun's Story
(1959) has the ace of Audrey Hepburn in the title role, leaving the
convent, only to have to deal with her faith and the Church when WWII
arrives. She has to fight he war and deal with either 'neutrality'
as the script supposes, but unfortunately, this was not the actual
history case. Though many of the Catholic faith itself fought
against the Nazis and Axis forces as much as so many others, in real
life, The Church (among other scandals we know far better now) looked
the other way while The Holocaust was going on and helped the Axis
forces more than many knew at the time.
The
Church has apologized many decades after what they did, though some
anti-Semitic things have happened since, but that is a separate
essay. The problem is that this Award-winning, long film is based on
a very bad premise and that makes it very hard, especially when you
feel like you are being lied to. In fairness, many of the
participants at the time may not have been aware of what had really
happened, but the film was a long, dragged-out affair before I even
knew all this.
Peter
Finch, Dame Edith Evans, Dame Peggy Ashcroft and Dean Jagger are
decent here, of course, but they cannot possibly make up for its many
shortcomings then and now and it is sad to watch them as it is almost
like they were being liked to and used as well. See it at your own
risk.
Extras
only include an Original Theatrical Trailer, but I did not expect
much more since this is just not that great a film despite a
legendary lead.
Jon
Gunn's Ordinary
Angels
(2024) puts Hilary Swank in a sort of faith film that I had some
faith in because of her, but this drawn-out melodrama about her
hairdresser working hard for the money when she meets a guy (Alan
Ritchson) she hits it off with. He is in worse shape because his
daughter needs a liver transplant, so she will take this on too to
see if they can make it.
This
did not become a formulaic 'disease-of-the-week' tale, but it is
tired, cliched and muddy in every other way possible and we have seen
this all before. Oscar-winner Swank can obviously act and she is
good here, but even she cannot stop being drowned by the extreme
boredom and avalanche of cliches. Too bad this was such an
'ordinary' drama.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track by the director and
Co-Producers, Deleted Scenes and four Making Of featurettes.
Francis
Coppola's The
Rain People
(1969) has a fine, early performance by the now late James Caan and
shows what a good actor he was and how good Coppola could handle
palpable drama when he had the chance. You can read my coverage of
the DVD version here...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15550/On+Dangerous+Ground+(1952/RKO/Warner+Archi
Now
restored and upgraded in time for Coppola's new epic Megaopolis,
it is great to revisit it, see Shirley Knight and Robert Duvall at
their early best as well and a year before winning an Oscar for
Patton, Coppola more than demonstrates his adult handing of
adult human beings as adult and for real, in a way one would
recognize in real life. Though the film is not always great and has
some off moments, it is often so good and that is why it is worth
seeing, even if you have to sit though some down moments. When it
comes to actors in a naturalistic, realistic way, he just has the
knack for it. Now you can see how good it is and be amazed at how
great these actors are too.
There
are very, very sadly no extras.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, HDR (10;
Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on
Sniper 4K
may be an unscaled presentation from the regular HD shot and
production, but it is still a better presentation than the decent
Blu-ray we covered years ago and also has color that is a little
better, along with slightly more detail and depth. A really good HD
shoot for its time, it holds up. The lossless Dolby Atmos mix is
also a solid upgrade over the already impressive DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 5.1 lossless mix from the older Blu-ray, so the combination
impresses.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on all three Warner
Archive Blu-rays look really good, with Persuasion
in DeLuxe color and the rest in
dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor on the other two. Nun's
Story
looks good, but its hardly definitive in using technicolor for a
drama, while Rain
People
fares best and not just because it is the newest shoot. It is also a
fine improvement over the old DVD. All three also offer DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes that are all as good as these
films will ever sound, so Warner Archive delivers more excellent
restoration and preservations from their great catalog.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on Angels
is just fine, but nothing special, while the lossless Dolby Atmos
soundtrack is surprisingly limited and does nto offer much more
than a regular 5.1 mix would. The anamorphically enhanced (2.35 X 1
and 1.66 X 1) image on the Edge
and Angels
suffer as compared to the higher definition releases, but Edge
is not bad, while Angels
is on the softer side when compared to its Blu-ray version and that
gets annoying after a while. Both DVDs offer lossy Dolby Digital 5.1
sound, but Edge
has a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo option that can sound a little
better and more naturalistic.
To
order either of the Friendly
Persuasion,
Nun's
Story
and/or Rain
People
Warner Archive Blu-rays, go to this link for them and many more great
web-exclusive
releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
-
Nicholas Sheffo
