Accountant
2 4K
(2025/Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray)/Bright
Leaf
(1950/Warner Archive Blu-ray)/Hellbender
(2021/MVD/Arrow Blu-ray)/Locked
(2025/DVD*)/1923:
Season Two
(2025/Blu-ray Set*)/NCIS
Origins: Season One
(2024/DVD Set/*all Paramount)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: X/B/B/C/B/C Sound:
B/B-/B/C+/B/C+ Extras: D/C/C/D/C+/C Main Programs:
C/C+/C-/C+/C+/C
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Bright
Leaf
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Now
for some various genres with action, not all the same genre, but
going for some of the same things...
Gavin
O'Connor's The
Accountant 2 4K
(2025) is the unexpected sequel to The
Accountant,
which we reviewed at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/14702/The+Accountant+(2016/Warner+4K+Ultra+HD+Blu-ray
Nine
years later and after no sequels to his Daredevil
or Batman
films, Ben Affleck reprises his role as a very smart man who uses his
alleged disability he can actually control to have an edge that gives
him amazing advantages in tough, complex situations. He's not bad
here, but this loses something in momentum being almost a decade
after the original film, you have to wonder why now and in the
narrative, is this the only thing he did since his troubles in the
last film?
Supporting
cast members Jon Bernthal, J.K. Simmons, Allison Wright, Robert
Morgan, Daniela Pineda, Allison Robertson and Cynthia Addai-Robinson
are no bad, but the 'dark underworld' here is just too obvious,
cliched and played out to be convincing. O'Connor fared better on
Warrior and Miracle and can direct, but this material limits him.
This all works best when it does not try so hard, which is not enough
and the result is whatever energy the first film had, you hardly get
that here. Better when you watch it than afterwards, its time to
close this account.
There
are no extras.
Michael
Curtiz's Bright
Leaf
(1950) is a rare drama about war big money wars of people making a
fortune in the tobacco industry back in the 1890s, yet it still plays
like some kind of pro-smoking movie and pro-smoking extended ad
despite a great director and cast that includes Gary Cooper, Lauren
Bacall, Patricia Neal, Jack Carson, Donald Crisp, Elizabeth
Patterson, Jeff Corey, Gladys George and Thurston Hall.
Wanting
to be like Gone
with The Wind
on some level, there is a lack of chemistry here, the actors look
bored, Curtiz can only do so much with the material and the wealth
battle so flay, it could have been about anything. We never in 10
minutes really hear why or know why outside of fortunes made that
tobacco has such appeal outside of its obvious (and now deadly as we
know more than ever) applications. The result is a curio that seems
dated and some will find more than a few moments unintentionally
funny or even campy. Only for the most curious.
Extras
include two animated Warner Bros. Technicolor cartoon classics:
Bunker
Hill Bunny
and Hillbilly
Hare.
Hellbender
(2021) is by a trio of directors calling themselves 'The Adams
Family' (that's one 'D' so you do not confuse them with the classic
horror satire comic strip, TV show and feature films (et al) of the
same name, but they make for too many cooks here, only outdone by the
formulas, cliches and high rate of predictability the screenplay
delivers and final product makes more tired.
A
teenager with medical issues lies alone and in the middle of nowhere
(for some reason, versus the city, where she might be able to get
help or be near help?) then starts eating worms from a stupid 'game'
when she gets sicker, wonders what is really wrong with her (or us
for watching this) and then supernatural things start happening.
Too
bad that is not the same as original ideas and the cast seems uneven,
probably thanks to uneven directing and then we get everything we've
seen before and a little less as it continues not to add up and
reminds us of other things we have seen before versus hoping for
something that works. Genre fans supposedly like this one, but not
all of them and unless it is something you really, really, really,
really want to see, I'd say skip it.
Extras
include
a...
Brand
new audio commentary with filmmakers Toby Poser, John Adams, Zelda
Adams and Lulu Adams
From
the Forest She Rises,
a brand new video essay by filmmaker Jen Handorf
Black
Magic Tricks,
a featurette on the visual effects by VFX artist Trey Lindsay
Behind-the-scenes
compilation footage
Fort
Worden
(2021), a short film by Zelda Adams
Four
music videos: Hit
and Run
(2024), Drive
(2021), Lovely
(2021) and Black
Sky
(2020)
Original
trailer
Reversible
sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Beth Morris and
original artwork by Sister Hyde
and
an illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film
by Natasha Ball and Kat Hughes.
David
Yarovesky's Locked
(2025) is yet another a stuck-in-a movie, this time with Bill
Skarsgard (from the latest versions of It,
Nosferatu
and The
Crow)
is actually good here, making the best of a formula situation (Tom
Hardy just did this recently) and plays a thief who picks the wrong
SUV to try and rob. That means we are not supposed to have as much
sympathy for him as individuals in past variations who were
'innocent' or just being victimized without provocation.
Anthony
Hopkins is also here, but to say you get a limited cast is not
exaggeration and Sam Raimi produced. Helping this version is a film
that is well shot and is not just stuck in its tight location, but
shows the outside location well. That actually helps make this more
watchable, but after 94 minutes, only so much. Could have been even
shorter, but it is what it is. A curio all in all, you could do
worse. For Skarsgard, its much better than that hideous Crow
remake.
There
are no extras.
1923:
Season Two
(2025) is a prequel/spin-off to the surprise hit Western TV show
Yellowstone,
which we covered the latest half-season of at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16628/Yellowstone:+Season+5,+Part+2+(*both+2024/Param
This
gets the great dose of star power in having Helen Mirren and Harrison
Ford play a married couple fighting to keep their ranch and much
more. A pairing that surprisingly did not happen anywhere decades
ago, the show takes advantage of it and they have hardly ever worked
in the genre, more luck for the producers and Taylor Sheridan.
To
talk about the plot would risk spoilers with some parts needing too
much explanation, plus we did not cover the debut season, so we'll
leave that to you if you take the show on, but you'll definitely want
to start with the debut season. The result is a series playing
better than the show it came from, now that it ran out of storyline,
but its hard to make any good Western genre work in any medium (as
Kevin Costner recently learned) and we'll see if the show can keep
this going, get better or has peaked. I will admit it is better than
most such show in a while.
Extras
include a Behind
The Story
piece for every episode and five Making Of featurettes: Darkness
Cannot Hide: 1923 Returns,
The
Shroud Of Winter: Production Design & Costumes,
The
Women Of 1923,
1923:
Teonna's Story
and What
Would You Bring Back From 1923?
Last
but not least is NCIS
Origins: Season One
(2024,) a prequel to the several-series franchise which has been more
successful than expected, but is another series necessary? For fans
apparently, as it is doing some consistent ratings and accompanied by
Mark Harmon narrating all the shows, has a decent cast in Austin
Stowell, Kyle Schmidt, Mariel Molino, Diany Rodriguez, Patrick
Fischer, Tyla Abercrumbie and now-veteran character actor Bobby
Moynihan among others.
The
show takes itself and the audience seriously enough and has the tone
of its fellow series, but in this case, its a for-fans-only affair
and has the most impact if you know the other shows, especially any
with Harmon. Four DVDs contain all 19 episodes and it is consistent,
competent and fine for what it is, but it does not exceed much of
that and non-fans will not be as impressed. You can see for
yourself, but it is not as distinguished as it could have been, so
its moderately successful at best and we'll see if the show can pick
up in any way next season.
Extras
include a Gag Reel, a Behind
The Story
piece for the series and Retro-Crime
Solving: The Sets and Style of
NCIS
Origins.
For more on the other NCIS
series, which might help you enjoy this prequel show better, here's
our coverage over the years of various seasons of them...
Sixth
Season
DVD
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8983/NCIS+%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%80%9C+The+Sixth
Eighth
Season
DVD
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11185/Hawaii+Five-O+%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%80%9C
Tenth
Season
DVD
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12328/NCIS+%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%80%9C+10th+Sea
Los
Angeles First Season
Blu-ray
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10547/NCIS:+Los+Angeles+%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%80
Los
Angeles Fourth Season
DVD
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12332/NCIS:+Los+Angeles+%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%80
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 The
Accountant 2 4K
is the best-looking image here on the list, but not overwhelmingly
so, though some shots are good. Continuing the look of the first
film for the most part, it is consistent and professional enough, but
not much more. The
lossless Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) is
narrowly better by a sliver of sonics as compared to the best of the
rest on this list, but not by much, resulting in a professional
combination, but nothing that stays with you.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfer on Bright
Leaf
rarely shows the age of the materials used, but the cinematography by
the legendary Karl Freund helps the film throughout. Once again, the
Warner restoration team has done some great work, while the
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix holds up as well as
can be expected and will never sound better than it does here.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition on Hellbender
has some good shots at times, but not all the shots are good, Video
Black can get overcrushed and the
PCM 2.0 Stereo can be more forward than expected, though some of than
might be intended.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.76 X 1 image on
Locked
has some good composition and color, but is hampered by the old
format, while the
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 can be active, but the compressed older codec
is limiting and the film likely would sound much better and be more
effective in a lossless version.
The
1080p 2.00 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on 1923
looks good and the money is on the screen, even looking a little
better than Yellowstone
at times, but not with too many standout shots, while the
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is really good and
consistent from episode to episode.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on NCIS
Origins
is a little softer than one would like throughout, the format holding
it back a but, but it has a consistent look, somewhat in the mode of
its predecessors. The
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 fares better, but would again benefit from a
lossless release. The combo is passable at best.
To
order
the Warner Archive Bright
Leaf
Blu-ray, go to this link for it 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
