Better
Off Dead 4K
(1985/CBS*)/Bride Hard
(2025/Magenta Light Blu-ray)/Clueless
4K (1995/30th
Anniversary Steelbook/*both
Paramount 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Friendship
(2025/A24 Blu-ray)/Paw
Patrol: Fire Rescue (2024
- 2025/Nickelodeon DVD)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B/B+ Picture: B-/B-/B/B/C+ Sound:
B-/B/B/B/C+ Extras: C-/D/C+/C+/D Main Programs: C/C-/C/C/C+
Now
for a mix of comedies that are very mixed in themselves...
Savage
Steve Holland's Better Off Dead 4K (1985) is a John Cusack
comedy that goes out of its way to be part of the cycle of dumb
comedies being made in the 1980s along with several geek/genius films
and the like. He plays Lane, a semi-depressed teen with ineffective
parents, a potential new girlfriend Beth (Amanda Wyss) and more high
school happenings. When a cocky skiing ace at school gets in the way
of the two of them, he decides to take the guy on.
Still
touching on suicide at times, this has a cult following, but is a
sloppy film at times, more apparent today than ever. Supporting work
by Diane Franklin, Curtis Armstrong, Kim Darby, Vincent Schiavelli,
David Odgen Stiers and an on-the-rise Rick Rosenthal helps keep the
film afloat, but you'll either love it perpetual dumbness and flaws
or just have to be patient to get what you can from it. Even if you
are only so impressed like myself, you should still be able to see at
least some of its appeal, appeal enough that its making it to 4K disc
before so many other great comedies.
Some
narrative in jokes include a Luke Cage/Dr. Doom Marvel Comics
storyline and sending up the classic skiing sequence in the James
Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, it has some sense
of shamelessness. Now you can see for yourself if it works for you
or not as restored here as it is going to get.
Extras
include Digital Movie, while all the disc adds is an Original
Theatrical Trailer. The same gang later made One Crazy Summer,
which we reviewed in its recent Blu-ray debut here:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15976/Boss+Baby:+Family+Business+4K+(2021/Universal+4K
Simon
West's Bride Hard (2025) is a music video director (Rick
Astley's great clip for his classic Never Gonna Give You Up)
to sometimes high profile feature films (Con Air, the first
Lara Croft film) that never seem to work, yet here he is again
making another feature film decades later. This time, Rebel Wilson,
Anna Chlumsky, Anna Camp, Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Gigi Zumbado play
brides whose weddings get interrupted by a gang of mercenaries. How?
Why?
It
does not matter because nothing here is believable, funny or adds up
much. Wilson in particular seems to have a built-in device or gadget
more advanced than the most expensive AI program around to find the
worst possible scripts out there to sign for. Some would say this is
in bad taste, while others would say much worse. Stephen Dorff even
shows up, but to no avail.
I
doubt this will even get cult status, but warn that it might get some
Razzie Awards, so we'll see.
There
are no extras.
Amy
Heckerling's Clueless 4K (1995) is the well-upgraded version
of the writer/director's hit that most people like,
but I found remarkably predictable and not as good as the likes of
Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982,) the unusual Johnny
Dangerously (1984) the still-mixed Loser (2000) yet still
better than the Look Who's Talking films (1989, 1990) and
National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985) so Alicia
Silverstone's slacker answer to Hello Dolly (and no
singing!!!) meets Austen's Emma is still talked about.
I
am not necessarily the audience for this film, but it reminded me how
much I missed Brittany Murphy and how unimpressed Stacey Dash always
left me. Paul Rudd is a plus, the rest of the cast not bad, it does
mock the shallow side of teen living in its time. It also quits
while its ahead (almost) at about 97 minutes and is more than a
one-joke film, but that still only did so much for this viewer. A
time capsule in unexpected ways now, some may say it is why we have
seen declines in actual society where we should not have them, but
I'll give Heckerling credit that the film has just enough ironic
distance to it to disagree with that.
Extras
in a
solid slipcase packaging include Digital Movie, stickers, postcards
and Polaroid pictures in a collectibles envelop, while the discs add:
Clue
Or False Trivia Game
The
Class of '95 (18:30)
Creative
Writing (9:38)
Fashion
101 (10:45)
Language
Arts (8:08)
Suck
'N Blow: A Tutorial (2:46)
Driver's
Ed (3:48)
We're
History (8:49)
and
2 Original Theatrical Trailers: Teaser Trailer HD (1:57) and
Theatrical Trailer HD (2:34).
Andrew
DeYoung's Friendship
(2025) is one of those mumblecore comedies that wants to be slowly
funny, thinking the laughs will be more meaningful, realistic or
impactful, but it does not exactly adds up. Tim Robinson and Kate
Mara are married and living in a decent neighborhood, but when a new
neighbor (Paul Rudd, here again) moves in, he starts to want to get
to know him and be his best friend.
A
twist on the 'unwanted guest' cycle of comedies that usually did nto
work versus something more profound (married man has sudden gay
feelings or the like) is not a disaster, but it tries not to be the
louder version of such films (What About Bob?, Mr.
Wrong) down to Paul Rudd holding back more than usual. In
that I can see why some people enjoy this one, but A Real Pain
it is not. At least the makers tried a different take on all this.
Extras
include a
Feature Length Audio Commentary with Writer-Director Andrew DeYoung,
Director of Photography Andy Rydzewski, and Conner O'Malley
○
Deleted Scenes
○ ''Men
Talking in the Dark''
Extended Q&A with Eric Rahill, Paul Rudd, Tim Robinson, and
Andrew DeYoung
○ Conner O'Malley Extended Garage Scene
○
and Six Collectible Postcards with Behind the Scenes Photography.
Finally
we have Paw
Patrol: Fire Rescue
(2024 - 2025,) our first look at the series in eight years (!!!) and
DVD singles are still being issued. Nickelodeon has kept the show a
favorite even beyond what some expected and it has changed little,
sticking to what has now become more than a formula and even survived
the bizarre collapse of superhero movies which the show has at least
a slight attachment to genre-wise.
The
energy level is about the same, though maybe not what it once was.
Five double episodes are included and it does not seem like the show
has peaked yet. Wonder how long this will last? We'll see. Young
kids may only see action, but this show has plenty of comedy,
intended and not.
There
are no extras, though we get two hours of shows.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Better
Off Dead 4K
is not always stunning, but it has its moments with usually
color-accurate scenes and the outdoor skiing footage is really good.
It is easier to see the improvements hen comparing to the 1080p 1.85
X 1 digital High Definition image on the Blu-ray version with more
softness and less color fidelity. The film is not shot in any
extraordinary way, but is consistent with how comedies looked at the
time, while the
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix does what it can to upgrade
the old monophonic audio. Guess A&M Records decided to skip the
stereo.
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Clueless
4K is
as colorful as you'd expect, as the film revels in that, just making
it the best performer here, with the 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High
Definition image on the Blu-ray version just no match in color,
detail or depth. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes on both disc versions are
just fine for what it is, holding up well enough and as good as the
film will ever sound.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Bride
Hard is an uninspired HD shoot with so so color and nothing too
memorable, while the DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is consistent, but professional at
best, so the playback is as flat as the film.
The
1080p 1.66 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Friendship
is an HD shoot that tries to have some character and that helps it a
bit, but it is still limited visually despite the effort and the
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is good, consistent and
often on the quiet side befitting the drama/comedy. This is all
good, but I wonder if this would play batter in 4K or not.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on the Paw Patrol
episodes are on par with the many DVDs we've covered in the series
before and the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes on the shows are just
fine too, with the look a little better since the CGI animation has
improved a bit since it first was launched. Impressive the show is
still running.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
