Angels'
Share (2012/MPI/IFC
DVD)/Big Trouble In Little
China (1986/Fox/Arrow
U.K. Region B Blu-ray)/Lust
In The Dust (1985/Arrow
U.K. Region 2 PAL Import DVD)/Sightseers
(2012/MPI/IFC DVD)
Picture:
C+/B/C+/C+ Sound: C+/B/C+/C+ Extras: C/B/C-/C Films:
C/B-/C+/C
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Big
Trouble
Region B Import Blu-ray and Lust
In The Dust
Region 2 PAL DVD is only available from Arrow U.K. and can be ordered
from the link below.
Here
are four comedies that all offer something more than the usual fare,
even if they do not always work...
I
am no fan of Ken Loach, but his new comedy Angels'
Share (2012) does have
one of the funniest early scenes of any comedy I have seen in a while
(the one on a train platform), but after that, it becomes another one
of his harrowing, predictable, would-be slice-of-life films in which
some troubled youths have to get together and do community service,
but some of them are getting too old for the results of such
immaturity and one keeps getting beat up as his girlfriend welcomes
their new baby into the world.
The
film is punctuated by some interesting moments and the decent cast
have a few decent scenes, but you can see what is going to happen
coming form a few light years away, yet Loach still gets raves for
what he does. It is worth a look for the very curio and at least the
opening for that howler of a scene, but he screenplay eventually
conforms to the same old same old and that is a shame.
Deleted
Scenes of some interest and an Original Theatrical Trailer are the
only extras.
John
Carpenter's Big Trouble In
Little China (1986) was
the director's attempt to send-up 1980s action films in the early
midst of the cycle, but it was not a hit in its time and audiences
only caught up to it later giving it the following it has now. Fox
issued it in a decent Blu-ray edition a few years ago in the U.S.
market, but now, Arrow U.K. Has issued a very extended version of it
(though in a Region B Blu-ray most U.S. Blu-ray players cannot play,
so you have to get a multi-region player to enjoy it) and we covered
the U.S. Blu-ray (a big fan of the film) at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9062/Big+Trouble+In+Little+China+(1986/Fox+Blu-ray
I
was never as big on it and feel the jokes are limited in scope,
making it a two or three joke film. Like all the James Bond spoofs,
the 1980s action films (including Raiders Of The Lost Ark)
poked fun at themselves like Bond and that is why Carpenter needed
more ironic distance for this to really take off. As it stands, it
is not bad and Russell proves he can once again handle comedy well.
More politically incorrect than it was upon release, Carpenter seems
to have given up a bit after some of his high profile films we now
know the greatness of did not do as well as they should have upon
original release. Still, he was in good form here.
Extras
from the previous U.S. Blu-ray including the Feature Length Audio
Commentary with director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell, the
Extended Ending, Deleted Scenes, a Music Video, interview with visual
effects producer Richard Edlund, Trailers and TV Spots, a
Behind-the-Scenes Gallery and a Vintage Making-Of Cast/Crew
Featurette are repeated, but Arrow has added a slew of new goodies
including an isolated music track in lossless 5.1 DTS-MA surround,
Return to Little China – A brand new interview
with John Carpenter, Being Jack Burton – A brand new
interview with Kurt Russell, Carpenter and I – A brand new
interview with cinematographer (Director of Photography) Dean Cundey,
Producing Big Trouble – A new interview with producer Larry
Franco, Staging Little Trouble – A new interview with
stuntman Jeff Imada, 3 original trailers, TV Spots, Reversible Sleeve
featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw and a
new booklet featuring new writing on the film by John Kenneth Muir,
author of The Films of John Carpenter, a re-print of an article on
the effects of the film from American Cinematographer
Magazine, illustrated with archive stills and posters.
Paul
Bartel's Lust
In The Dust
(1985) was very heavily advertised at the time to try and capitalize
on the surprise success of John Waters' original Hairspray
as well as thinking they had another Blazing
Saddles
on their hands in this satire of the Western genre focusing on sex,
camp and gross jokes. Divine plays a lady in distress, reunited with
Hairspray
co-star Tab Hunter as a man with no name (and no dialogue at first
for a while) heading for a town they have never been to before for
what might be some kind of opportunity.
Turns
out gold might be at hand, but they'll meet a bar owner (Lainie Kazan
stealing every scene she is in), a really old hooker (Nedra Volz), a
priest who knows what is going on (Cesar Romero) and a supporting
cast that features veterans of the genre (Geoffrey Lewis, Woody
Strode, Henry Silva, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez) and even an uncredited
Noah Wyle, you can see why this is at least a curio.
The
script is not great, filled with more than a few single-entendres and
gross jokes that can be redundant, but seeing so many actors
including name ons take risks to go this overboard is bravery we do
not see much today. Already issued in the U.S. on DVD years ago,
this Arrow U.K. Region 2 PAL Import DVD looks at least as good and is
welcome edition with the most extras for the film yet. The actors
save it, even when it gets rough and does not always work. For all
the bad serious and spoofy Westerns we have suffered through of late,
it looks more ambitious than ever.
An
Original Theatrical Trailer is the only extra on the disc, but Arrow
has added a Collector's Booklet in the DVD case.
Finally
we have Ben Wheatley's Sightseers
(2012), a comedy from the executive producer of Hot
Fuzz and Shawn
Of The Dead, features a
couple involve on a road trip in the U.K. (Alice Lowe, Steve Oram)
who happen to be serial killers. It starts out with some promise and
some funny uses of hit songs, but after the first half-hour, cannot
find its way to do anything much funny or original, so it slowly goes
into decline until a so-so twist ending with very mixed results. A
curio for fans at least, I was not impressed by Wheatley's Down
Terrace or Kill
List (both reviewed
elsewhere on this site), but this was less impressive and he just
cannot seem to bring a full length narrative together.
Interviews
and an Original Theatrical Trailer are the only extras.
The
visual winner here is easily 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition
image transfer on Trouble,
the same solid presentation form the U.S. Blu-ray and though my
fellow writer liked it even more than myself, I can say it still
pretty much represents how the film originally looked. The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on Angel
(shot on 35mm film) and anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on
Lust
(in PAL format shot in 2-perf Techniscope) and Sightseers
(the only HD shoot on the list, using a RED ONE MX) comfortably tie
for second place looking about as good as they are going to look in
the format, though all likely have more to offer in an HD
presentation.
As
for sound, Trouble
is the sonic champ here too featuring the same solid DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix it had on the U.S. Blu-ray, expanded
from its original 70mm blow-up print sound that offered a 4.1
magnetic sound surround presentation. The attempt at split surrounds
is not bad, but can be obvious at times. Fortunately, the isolated
5.1 music score is even more dynamic and a nice plus. All the DVDs
have lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 save Lust
in lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. As the newer films are dialogue and
joke based, they do not have pronounced soundfields, though a
lossless presentation may have offered more clarity and detail, so
the Mono on Lust
can more than compete meaning we have another 3-way tie for second
place.
As
noted above, you can order the Big Trouble Region B Import
Blu-ray and Lust In The Dust Region 2 PAL DVD from Arrow U.K
at this link:
http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
