Fast
And The Furious 4K: 25th Anniversary
(2001/Universal 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/The
Hot Spot 4K
(1990/Orion/Radiance 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray*)/Man
Of War (2026/Well Go USA
Blu-ray)/TAG: The
Assassination Game
(1982/MVD/Synapse Blu-ray*)/Wicked
Priest Collection
(1968-1971/Arrow Blu-ray Set/*all MVD)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B/B+ Picture: B- Sound: B/B-/B/B-/C+
Extras: C+/C/C-/C+/B- Films: C+/C/C/C/C+
Now
for several action entries, including a few revisits in Ultra HD...
Rob
Cohen's The
Fast And The Furious 4K: 25th Anniversary
(2001) is already a quarter century old, though that fact is made
odder by how long it has been since we lost Paul Walker. Here is my
original coverage of the release on the film in the now-defunct
HD-DVD format...
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4335/The+Fast+&+The+Furious+Trilogy
That
also means the Sylvester Stallone bomb that was supposed to be the
big car film, Driven,
is also that old and far more forgotten. It has aged worse, while
this film has some highlights and set up what would be an unexpected
series (saved by the late Oscar-nominated director John Singleton,
who never gets credit for it. No, his film was not a great entry,
but I am not a fan of any of these films, so what he did was not
spectacular. Still, in retrospect, it was key. This is and will
always be a for-fans-only-affair and is almost as much a work of
fantasy as a Lord
Of The Rings
films when it comes to how seriously we should take the cars. Now
you can see for yourself in the best fidelity possible outside of a
mint film print.
Extras
repeat the extras from the
older Blu-ray include stunts with the multi-angle function, an
obligatory making of featurette, deleted/extended scenes, Music
Video, Visual Effects piece & separate montage, trailers, behind
the scenes with Coen personally and several pieces that fetishize the
cars. A new 25th
Anniversary interview featurette is the new extra.
Dennis
Hopper's The
Hot Spot 4K
(1990) makes the film a little more effective than just its Blu-ray
version, which you can read more about at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16847/Hot+Spot+(1990/Orion/Radiance*)/A+Queen's+Ranso
The
4K is an improvement that will allow you to see for yourself better
than even the decent blu-ray transfer (see more below in the tech
section) how this film plays, though it has some fans whop will also
be impressed. I was still disappointed, but all films should be seen
at their best as intended and in that respect, the 4K disc does
deliver.
Extras
repeat the Blu-ray review
listing, including an OBI strip, while the discs add an archival
interview with Dennis Hopper, who discusses The
Hot Spot
and features footage of John Lee Hooker and images from the set
(1991, 4 minutes)
Interviews
with stars Virginia Madsen (2021, 7 minutes) and William Sadler
(2021, 6 minutes)
Nick
Dawson on Dennis Hopper and The Hot Spot, an
interview with the editor of Dennis Hopper: Interviews (2023,
20 minutes)
Duane
Swierczynski on Charles Williams' source novel, the crime writer and
expert looks at the adaptation and provides a background of the
author (2023, 25 mins)
Original
Theatrical Trailer
Reversible
sleeve featuring original and new artwork by Time Tomorrow
and
a Limited Edition booklet featuring writing by critics Elena Lazic
on the film, Leslie Byron Pitt on the erotic thriller genre and the
film's place within it, and an archival piece on the film featuring
an interview with Hopper by R.J. Smith.
William
Kaufmann's Man
Of War
(2026) is a sometimes interesting film that ultimately becomes a very
mixed bag, but is a war genre revenge tale we have not seen enough
of. Why have their been so few films in the genre about how bad
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been? It is very strange and the
story here familiar as a superior war fighter (LaMonica Garrett, who
is not bad here) finds out the Russians have kidnapped his daughter,
so he has to go into unexpected action in the middle of a conflict
that is one of the most dangerous and unpredictable around.
The
themes are nice to see, but the cliches and child-in-jeopardy parts
we could do without. Fans of the genre might like some of this, but
even with Jason Patric showing up, I just could not buy this one in
total. One more script rewrite or two might have helped, but it is
what it is. At least it was somewhat promising at first.
An
Original Theatrical Trailer and some other Well Go trailers are the
only extras.
Nick
Castle's TAG:
The Assassination Game
(1982) is a comedy where people at a college are playing a game with
suction cup guns, fun for people who love mysteries and puzzles.
However, someone there decides to start using a real gun and people
start really getting shot and killed.
A
curio for several reasons, it has some interesting moments, but
ultimately has too many missed opportunities to work as well as it
should and a low budget is no excuse. This was director and
sometimes actor Castle's first feature film directing a cast that
included early turns by Linda Hamilton, Robert Carradine, Bruce
Abbott, Perry King, Xander Berkeley, Michael Winslow, Kristine
DeBell, John Mengatti, Ivan Bonar and Forest Whittaker. It is a good
cast too, so as a mystery fan who likes comedy, I was always
disappointed and a little less comedy with a little more thought
could have made this at least a minor classic. Now its just a curio
worth a look for serious film fans at best. What a shame.
Extras
include a Feature Length Audio Commentary with Director Nick Castle
and Star Robert Carradine and an Original Theatrical Trailer.
The
Wicked Priest Collection
(1968-1971) features
three directors helming five films. Kiyoshi Saeki did the first one,
Takashi Harada the next three sequels and Buichi Saito on the final
film. The films are Wicked
Priest,
Wicked
Priest 2: Ballad Of Murder
(both 1968,) Wicked
Priest 3: A Killer's Pilgrimage
(1969,) Wicked
Priest 4: The Killer Priest Comes Back
(1970) and Wicked
Priest 5: Blood On The Commandments
(1971.) It is a comedy series about the title character (Tomisaburo
Wakayama from the original Lone
Wolf & Cub
series) who is a Buddhist Monk, but does not let his vows get in the
way of life's pleasures and knows Judo.
A
high concept joke (we've seen this before) that might be sacrilege to
some, it obviously was not to enough people for there to be five
films in four years. He lands up getting between yakuza members and
priests getting together in ways they should not. The yakuza gets an
old enemy after him in the first sequel, while revolutionary pirates
try to take over an island next, then his mother dies and he comes
home to fight more yakuza and in the last film, he
has his final showdown with longtime arch enemy Ryotatsu.
Bunta Sugawara plays that villain in all five films.
Well,
the first film was more than enough for this viewer, but Wakayama had
a big following already from the Shinobi and Zatoichi
film series we have reviewed over the years, so you can see why
studio Toei made sure they could drag this out as long as possible
and it was far from the only films Wakayama was making at the time, a
very prolific actor in the business back then. This set is for fans
only, but fans and the most curious should be satisfied. Then Arrow
goes the 'extra' distance.
Extras
include
Composing
the Gospel,
a brand new video essay on Wicked
Priest
composer and electronic music pioneer Isao Tomita by music supervisor
and Japanese cinema expert James Balmont
Taisho
Troubles, a brand new video essay on Wicked Priest's
depictions of historical Japan by Japanese cinema expert
Jonathan Clements
Offscreen
Battles, a brand interview with Asian cinema expert James Mudge
on the tumultuous landscape of 1960s Japanese cinema
Martial
Arts and Super Mario Brothers, a brand new interview with
Japanese cinema experts Patrick Macias and Matt Alt on Wicked
Priest star and Japanese screen icon Tomisaburo Wakayama
Priest
or Monk, a brand new primer on Buddhism and pop culture as
depicted in the Wicked Priest films by Patrick Macias and Matt Alt
Original
theatrical trailers for all five films
Reversible
sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
and
a collectors' booklet featuring new writing on the films by Camille
Zaurin
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
Fast And The Furious 4K
is an improvement over the old HD transfer that's been around for a
few decades, but it also shows some flaws and limits, slight as they
can be, including some slightly off shots from the Super 35mm
photochemical film shoot. Might be from budget limits too. The
lossless Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) is
a nice upgrade from the original 5.1 mix that opens up the sound, but
does nto make it more dynamic by any means.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on the regular Blu-ray
is the same exact transfer used on the older Blu-ray and HD-DVD
releases when they first debuted in HD and show their age. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix still has punch and holds
up, but the Atmos on the 4K disc does show how this is a little
limited in its own way. This set lets you experience both.
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on The
Hot Spot 4K
looks
even better here than on the previously, recently reviewed 1080p 1.85
X 1 digital High Definition image on the regular Blu-ray we just
looked at, both from a new 4K scan of the original 35mm camera
negative, while the PCM 2.0 Stereo lossless mix does its best to
represent the original Dolby SR (Spectral Recording) advanced analog
theatrical sound, which is not bad.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer can on the Man
Of War
Blu-ray is a little soft, but consistent for the look and style
chosen. It can be a cliched one, but it is what it is, and an
all-digital shoot. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is
decent, professional and the soundfield is solid, if nothing too
memorable.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on TAG:
The Assassination Game
can definitely show the age of the materials used, but color
is decent, yet the low budget shows. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix does its best to
remaster the old analog, monophonic, optical theatrical sound and
sounds as good as it likely ever will.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on the Wicked
Priest
films can look a little worn throughout, surviving storage, high
usage and who know what kind of lab work, with the first film looking
the best and all are in decent color, though fading and some other
inconsistencies are in all five films. Some nice scope compositions
are in all the films and a plus. The Japanese PCM 1.0 Mono in all
cases are on the weak and aged side, which is usually the case for
films this old in this genre from Japan.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
