Malcolm/Death In Brunswick/The Big Steal (Umbrella Entertainment Region Zero/0/PAL DVD Set)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+/C/C+ Films: C+/C/C+
PLEASE NOTE: This DVD can only be operated on
machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Zero/0/PAL format
software and can be ordered from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment at the
website address provided at the end of the review.
Three well-known indie productions from Australia have
been collected into one DVD set by Umbrella Entertainment and they are not
bad. The comedies fare better than the
lone drama, but most people (especially in the U.S., for instance) have not seen them and they are
all worth a look no matter what. It also
helps that the comedies have the same director.
Nadia
Tass is responsible for Malcolm
(1986) and The Big Steal (1990), her
films before and after her one crossover success with Rikki & Pete. I need to
see Rikki again, but really enjoyed
the two films where the protagonists eventually land up in crime by
default. Colin Friels is Malcolm, a loner and mechanical genius
who is about to get fired from his job and land up being taken advantage of by
a criminal who will use him to help set up a heist. An entertaining if somewhat predictable slice
of life comedy, it knows when to quit at 90 minutes and has enough fun moments
to give it a look.
The Big Steal has Ben Mendelsohn as Danny
Clark, a young man who is a victim of the invisible caste system and wants a
Jaguar (especially an XJ-6, for which we can all relate) he cannot afford. But add a sexy woman and fast ideas about
everything and you know he’ll be behind the wheel of one whether he should be
or not. It gets worse when he trades the
gift Nissan from his dad for an XJ-6 to a no good used car dealer and things
really get interesting. Again, another
fun film from Tass, who is underrated.
Death In Brunswick (1991) is a drama about a man
(the always reliable Sam Neill) who becomes a cook and lands up in a fatal
fight that puts his life in jeopardy.
The film can be flat, uneven and predictable, but his performance and
the mod of the film by director John Ruane helps and is a nice change of pace
to see. It is also more proof of how
good Neill is as an actor and the supporting cast is decent too.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on all the films are about even, with
some detail issues, some aged print issues and Steal has some weak Video Black. At least color is good. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono and 2.0 Stereo on Brunswick are about even as well, with the
later a bit compressed and offering no palpable surrounds in this edition. The theatrical Dolby was old analog A-type
and this is a generation down. Extras
include audio commentary tracks for each film (Brunswick has two) by key creators & participants, trailers for
each respective film, while Malcolm adds cast/crew profiles/interviews, Popcorn
Taxi Q&A, Press Kit, more Malcolm games and interviews at the AFI
Awards. Steal adds original cast audition tapes, cast interviews and Tess +
Writer/Director Of Photography David Parker (who do the commentary track) doing
on-camera interviews.
All in
all, that is a good set.
As noted above, you can order this PAL DVD import
exclusively from Umbrella at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
- Nicholas Sheffo
