After
The Rain: Putin's Stolen Children Come Home
(2024/IndiePix DVD)/Di'Anno:
Iron Maiden's Lost Singer
(2026/MVD/Cleopatra Blu-ray)/George
Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey 4K
(1984/Warner Archive 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B Picture: C+/B-/B- Sound: C+/B-/C+
Extras: C-/C-/C+ Films: B-/C+/B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The George
Stevens
4K Blu-ray set is now only available from Warner Bros. through their
Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Now
for more documentary releases...
Sarah
McCarthy's After
The Rain: Putin's Stolen Children Come Home
(2024) is a very serious, important work about the many crimes of
Vladimir Putin that are still continuing as this posts and have been
going on for decades. Too long and often gross to go into, he
reached yet another new low a few years ago when he decided to invade
Ukraine and that fiasco is still continuing. This work, which runs a
very rick 79 minutes, really spells out how bad it is.
Here,
Ukrainian children Putin and Russia sent away after separating
children from their families (when they are not being tortured or
killed) are somehow brought back home and the permanent damage is
obvious, yet the world lets this happen and it is made far worse by
the media underreporting it or making lite of it or picking and
choosing in 'interesting' ways. Glad this got made and released. It
could have been longer and a sequel would be no surprise.
The
only extras is an Original Theatrical Trailer.
Wes
Orshoski's Di'Anno:
Iron Maiden's Lost Singer
(2026) is the little-told story of the title singer who left the band
after he grew apart from them, but as fate would have it, this was
just before their breakout classic Mark
Of The Beast
was made and went through the roof. More shocking than say, drummer
Pete Best being dropped from The Beatles just before they hit the
jackpot, he then ran into all kinds of problems, issues and very,
very serious healthy problems.
We
learn what happened afterwards, how much insiders still respect him,
how he has prevailed the best he can, the support he still has and
how he handles the path and fate he got and did not deserve. Fans of
the band and Rock Music will especially get the most out of this and
the result is another untold story told and history recorded. Wait
until you see who shows up.
Extras
include Deleted Scenes, a Slideshow and an Original Theatrical
Trailer.
George
Stevens Jr.'s George
Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey 4K
(1984) is the tale of the great journeyman filmmaker, who could have
just stayed a cinematographer because he was really good at it and
did dozens of films in that capacity, but he started directing shorts
and with the comedy Kentucky
Kernels
(1934, reviewed on warner Archive Blu-ray elsewhere on this site)
presenting the comedy team of Wheeler & Woolsey with a young
Spanky from Our
Gang
aka The
Little Rascals.
He
got on quite a run of hits at RKO afterwards, including Alice
Adams,
Annie
Oakley,
Swing
Time,
Vivacious
Lady
and Gunga
Din,
then moved onto other studios with hits like Penny
Serenade,
the infamous Woman
Of The Year
with its horrid ending, Talk
Of The Town,
I
Remember Mama,
A
Place In The Sun,
Shane,
Giant,
The
Diary Of Anne Frank,
The
Greatest Story Ever Told
(the Biblical Epic which almost bankrupted United Artists) and the
somewhat underrated The
Only Game In Town.
Its
an amazing career, with some serious ups and downs like few careers
before or since, but the 112 minutes also has plenty of time to talk
about his birth, childhood, life and much more, so this is a very
well-rounded work that holds up really well and about a key filmmaker
all serious filmmakers and movie lovers need to know more about. His
films all deserves rediscovery and many have been restored and
reissued lately to all of our benefit.
Add
that this is now in 4K and it is one I definitely recommend.
Extras
include the George Stevens Lecture on Directing with
Christopher Nolan and George Stevens Jr.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.33 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on George
Stevens 4K
looks good for its age and the clips used at the time, though maybe a
few were upgrade for this release? The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0
Mono lossless mix is the best this has ever sounded and much more
than the clips we've seen of this in the past as extras on other
Stevens films on older home video releases.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on
Di'Anno
is a decent, consistent digital shoot, with consistent editing better
than similar such releases of late. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0
Stereo lossless mix has location audio, but its the clearest and best
of the three releases here, though you still get some rough spots and
sonic limits as expected.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on After
The Rain
looks good for the format, with some good color, while the lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has location audio and is fine for what it
is, though in HD and with lossless sound, I could imagine further
impact in viewing.
To
order the George
Stevens
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray set,
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
