Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

If our recent review of Japanese maverick director Seijun Suzuki’s Taisho trilogy whetted your appetite and prompted you to seek out a copy of the trio of films in that release, then you will need no further prompting to purchase a copy of what could be equally anticipated when it arrives in your possession.

This writer also wants to reach out to those who were bemused at the prospect of watching that collection and make the time to seek out his new quintet of films, which are available for the first time on Blu-Ray outside of their native Japan.

Made all before the previous release, The Early Years Vol. 1 contains a sterling and stunning mix of youth-oriented tales that hold tremendous cross-over appeal to Western fans who have enjoyed classic Hollywood fare like Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story. You might also find value in seeing these if you have been fascinated by the likes of Japanese-themed Hollywood dramas like The Yakuza, Rising Sun, and Black Rain.

The collection kicks off with The Boy Who Came Back (1958), the tale of a female probation officer attempting to tame a wayward youth, but whose emotional conflicts begin to affect the objectives set by her superiors.

Fans of recent hits La La Land and Hugh Jackman’s Barnum extravaganza The Greatest Showman will find much to enjoy with The Wind-Of-Youth Crosses The Mountain Pass (1961), the heart-warming and infectious tale of a travelling student in Japan who hooks up with a down-on-their-luck circus troupe – and who is himself desperate to part with and peddle ladies underwear in order to pay his way forward.

Teenage Yakuza (1962) focuses on a teenager who gets drawn into extortion and conflict with mobsters from a neighbouring city and has to face up to the reality of his friendship with a long-term mate. British fans of 1960s cinema will get much appreciation from a film that taps into the coffee shop social culture of the time, which spawned the British musical ‘skiffle’ craze – and unleashed the likes of The Beatles.

Fans of the Taisho trilogy will definitely be drawn to the last two films in the collection, The Incorrigible (1963) and Born Under Crossed Stars (1965), set in the ‘Taisho Period’ but which provide a more narrative-driven and less artistic experience. The Incorrigible is the tale of a recently expelled youth from a prestigious academy who is left with a relative by his mother and has to wake up to his emotional concerns. Born Under Crossed Stars focuses on life in a grammar school and the life of one conflicted individual who clearly feels he is above those he is surrounded with.

We would heartily recommended using this collection as a start-off point of reference for Suzuki’s work and Arrow Academy are to be applauded for bringing a second collection of the director’s work, which may well prove to be even more popular than the earlier release.

SEIJUN SUZUKI: THE EARLY YEARS. VOL.1: SEIJUN RISING: THE YOUTH MOVIES / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: SEIJUN SUZUKI / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: AKIRA KOBAYASHI, SACHIKO HIDARI / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 12TH

Attack on Titan takes place in a kingdom where mankind is beset by titans (giant, flesh-eating monsters). The people live in a city surrounded by giant walls. Unfortunately, the titans have breached the wall, and it is up to the military to fight them back. Season Two starts with the titans breaking through another one of the walls.

Season Two has 12 episodes in total, down from Season One’s 25. Having a shorter episode count fixes the pacing problems that affected the show’s first season. The storyline doesn’t feel stretched out this season, and individual episodes are able to have more impact on the story than they would have with a longer episode count.

Attack on Titan has a large cast, but the episodes on display here manage that cast size size by focusing on a core group of characters. Some old favourites don’t get the attention they got last season, but the characters that do get the spotlight benefit from room for fleshed-out character arcs and a few surprise reveals. Early on, Sasha gets an episode dedicated to her that shows off her skills, examines her character, and explores how dangerous even one titan can be.

The one aspect that may prove to be the most disappointing is the plot. Without going into spoiler territory, it is debatable how much this season goes towards expanding the plot of the show as a whole. What prevents this from being a bigger issue is that the show is at its best when it gives its cast room to act within the world and plot scenario. This, combined with the few nuggets of new information the audience does get, is enough to make Season Two feel like a success.

In the age of streaming, it is easy to doubt the appeal of a physical release. This is typically where special features come in, and the special features present here are fantastic. There is a wealth of extra content that is rarely found on an anime DVD/Blu-ray.

Two of the episodes come with commentary, some of the cast get interviewed, and more of the cast take part in Attack on Titan-themed challenges. Between them, these features offer both comedy and an insight into the inner workings of the show. The one negative  is that the challenges performed by the cast refer to website polls that are no longer running, though this doesn’t affect the enjoyability of the videos themselves. Marathon play and the ability to watch the Japanese dub are both present, giving fans multiple ways to enjoy the series.

Attack on Titan – Season Two improves on its predecessor and makes up for that season’s key failing. It does enough to advance the plot and provides plenty of opportunities for its characters to shine. The show itself is backed up by a selection of special features of such quality that it should be considered the gold standard for such collections. Attack on Titan – Season Two is what an anime season box set should be.

Special features: Episode Commentaries (episodes 30 and 31) / Anime Expo 2017 Interview with Trina Nishimura / Interview with Tetsuya Kinoshita & Yui Ishikawa / Interview with original creator Hajime Isayama / Inside the Episode / Eyecatch Gallery / Promo video / Textless Opening & Closing Songs

ATTACK ON TITAN – SEASON TWO / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: VARIOUS/ WRITER: VARIOUS/ STARRING: BRYCE PAPENBROOK, JOSH GRELLE, TRINA NISHIMURA, JESSICA CALVELLO, ELIZABETH MAXWELL, MATTHEW MERCER/ RELEASE DATE: 26TH FEBRUARY 2018

 

Stephen King adapted his own novella Cycle of the Werewolf for this 1985 horror, which came hot on the claws of The Howling and An American Werewolf in London and, whilst it isn’t as good as either, this Dino de Laurentiis production gets a very clean transfer, is great fun and the disc’s extras have a bit of bite.

In a small town plagued by a series of violent murders, terrified and angry locals clash with the police who seem to have no leads into the brutal killings, whilst the local preacher keeps a close eye over his congregation. Meanwhile, young wheelchair user Marty (Silver Bullet is the name of his souped-up motorised chair) and his sister Jane must put their squabbling aside when a visit from their Uncle Red brings them an ally, someone who will at least listen to their suspicions that the murders are the work of a werewolf.

As is typical of Stephen King, what gives Silver Bullet its charm is its depiction of a small town and the characters inhabiting it. His writing has a knack of making even the briefest of characters feel fully formed, thanks also to the casting of some great character actors in small roles. The main cast are great fun, a young Corey Haim showing why he made such an impact so young, and an older Gary Busey giving Uncle Red the film’s best lines and, alongside Megan Follows as Jane, providing a family unit we really do care about.

Which is a good job because you can sense the different approaches the film battles with, as referenced in the audio commentary from first-time director Daniel Attias. He always felt that the film worked best as a teen adventure, whereas de Laurentiis wanted more gore and horror. Consequently, Silver Bullet doesn’t fully achieve either the scares to make it a horror classic or the cares to embed it in your heart.

That director commentary is compelling, a chat which takes us through Attias’s memories of the actors and locations rather than examinations of individual scenes. There’s a straight-forward but interesting interview with Martha de Laurentiis, an unspectacular one with actor Everett McGill and also an animated chat between SFX artists Michael McCraken Jnr and Matthew Mungle.

The set piece scene of a mass transformation inside a church gets discussed, which is fascinating, but what becomes very clear is the struggle the production had to get Carlo Rambaldi to create a werewolf which didn’t just look like a big bear. Rambaldi never really pulled it off, which is another reason why Silver Bullet is fun rather than terrifying.

STEPHEN KING’S SILVER BULLET / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: DANIEL ATTIAS / SCREENPLAY: STEPHEN KING / STARRING: GARY BUSEY, EVERETT MCGILL, COREY HAIM, MEGAN FOLLOWS

Quantum Leap finally makes its long awaited and well-deserved Blu-Ray debut in this handsome box set comprising all five seasons.

For those new to the show, Quantum Leap was a time travel series with a difference that was shown on BBC 2 at 9:00 on Tuesday nights, debuting in early 1990. It was never a glitzy, technobabble-spouting, special effects showcase but instead was a quirky little show that very quickly garnered a cult audience.

Quantum Leap is a time travel project headed by Sam Beckett, played by a pre-Star Trek: Enterprise Scott Bakula. In his impatience to test the project, he uses himself as a guinea pig and finds himself travelling through time. If it sounds pretty formulaic as a standard U.S. sci-fi TV show so far, that’s where the similarities end.

Beckett can only move backwards through his own timeline, thus can never go further than his own birth date. Whatever time he lands in, he inhabits the body of someone in that time. Believe it or not, our favourite Time Lord wasn’t the first time traveller to change genders. Nor ethnicity.

Wherever he ends up, he encounters a person needing help, or a situation that needs to be corrected. Some of the stories are big, many are small but ingeniously subtle. These twists are often not apparent until near the show’s end. It might be unwittingly summoning the police to the Watergate Hotel in the early seventies, or suggesting a small change to a farmer named Buddy Holly that inspired him to write Peggy Sue, or even, topically, as a cab driver in the fifties, mentioning to a fare that real estate in New York could make him a fortune in years to come, thus inspiring the rise of Donald Trump.

Beckett moves from time to time, body to body, helping everyone from Mach 2 test pilots to civil rights campaigners, aided and advised by Al Calavicci (Dean Stockwell), who only appears to Sam as a hologram. The hope is, of course, that each leap will be the final one that brings Sam home to his own time and body.

As we’ve mentioned, it’s not an effects-laden show, nor is it a hard science lesson. Ultimately, it’s a gentle, feel-good show that’s both dramatic and in its own way inspirational and moralistic without being heavy-handed and overly message-laden. The conversion to Blu-ray is an eye-opener, as the show is more vivid than ever. The camerawork is exceptional, and the colours rich and sharp. Watching the show on hi-def, it’s actually hard to believe that the pilot episode is only a couple of years away from its 30^th anniversary, it really has aged that gracefully and well.

QUANTUM LEAP: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION / DIRECTOR: VARIOUS / WRITER: VARIOUS / STARRING: SCOTT BAKULA, DEAN STOCKWELL / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Think Blade Runner combined with… well, more Blade Runner. It is an unavoidable fact that French director Guy-Roger Duvert’s first feature film borrows heavily from Ridley Scott’s timeless sci-fi heavyweight, and not just in its cyberpunk aesthetic. Businesses controlling the experience of being (or not being) human, a lead character with skeletons in his closet and some serious philosophical probing all feature heavily in 2047: Virtual Reality, unapologetically harking back to one of the jewels of contemporary science-fiction.

And much like Scott’s film, 2047 manages to make you think. It’s a provoking investigation of internet security and political game-playing that leaves you with thoughts long after the film finishes. It follows a chapter in the life of one man as he finds himself a piece in a dangerous game being played by the corporations, the government and internet terrorists, all of whom want control over a human population who spend most of their time online in the virtual world.

In the tradition of Netflix’s Black Mirror, 2047 focuses on a technology that already exists and has taken off in recent years – virtual reality. The moments in the real world have a stinging contrast to the fantastical simulations or ‘verses’ as they are called. It is the actions of those few left in the real world that bears heavily on the plot and provides you with the most opportunities for a bit of soul-searching.

However, 2047 fails to really impress. The moments where main character Nash (a chiselled, spirit-glugging Mike Dupod) is in the virtual world feel inconsequential. The escapade where Nash takes over the body of a woman, in particular, feels very far-fetched; a shallow combination of desert warfare and robots that don’t clearly tie in with the main story until its last moments. Efforts are not made to make the technological equivalent of waking up and realising it’s a dream engaging enough.

None of the actors put in a terrible showing, but the performances are as unmemorable as the characters. For a film with some impressive and beautiful shots of the neon-lit future, it’s astonishingly unengaging. There is nothing to make you sit up and take notice. There is no Roy Batty or moving rain-soaked monologue here. You are instead left with a slight headache as you try and keep up with who everyone is working for, a conundrum that overshadows any ethical debates brought up during the story.

Being so closely related to another film also means that 2047 cannot really be seen as anything new. Before long, this futuristic science fiction treat ends up feeling crusty and stale. The surface-level aesthetics and interesting themes are not enough to stop this flying car scraping along the pavement.

2047: VIRTUAL REALITY / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: GUY-ROGER DUVERT / SCREENPLAY: GUY-ROGER DUVERT / STARRING: MIKE DUPOD, JANE BADLER, JOCHEN HÄGELE, MAXIMILIEN POULLEIN, KAYA BLOCKSAGE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

2015’s Kingsman: The Secret Service was an absolute riot of a film. Playing like a suave, sleek, action-packed, foul-mouthed offspring of the James Bond pictures of yesteryear, the adaptation of Mark Miller and Dave Gibbons’ much-loved comic book instantly became a huge favourite of many a genre fan. And now, the follow-up to that picture – Kingsman: The Golden Circle – has landed on Blu-ray and DVD.

Plot-wise, the action picks up with Taron Egerton’s Eggsy at the very top of his game, now fully immersed in the elite world of the Kingsmen. That’s not to say he’s forgotten his roots, of course, for Eggsy is still equally at home chilling out with his mates as he is saving the world. As it so happens, it’s yet another world-saver that’s required from him here. This time out, Julianne Moore’s insta-grinning Poppy Adams is the threat. While she could easily have been pulled straight off the set of Happy Days, Poppy isn’t quite as well meaning as her chirpy demeanour would have you believe, for she heads up the nefarious Golden Circle drug cartel. Like any good villain, she has her sights set on global dominance – this time by trying to force the President of the United Sates to grant her and her cohorts immunity in their trade of choice – and it’s down to Eggsy and Co. to team with their American counterpart, Statesman, to save the day.

In terms of tone and narrative, Kingsman: The Golden Circle very much follows its predecessor. The humour is intelligent yet ballsy, the action intense and never afraid to be brutal, and the performances of the film’s key players are all absolutely pitch-perfect for what is required. Bringing the Statesman organisation to the fore also works splendidly, with the initial yeeha cowboy element of the group meshing brilliantly with the bullish British attitude of Eggsy and Mark Strong’s Merlin – two of the last few surviving Kingsmen after Poppy makes the majority of the organisation go “boom!”. Pedro Pascal and Channing Tatum completely nail it as two of Statesman’s finest, while Halle Berry is great as their resident tech whizz, and Jeff Bridges is as cool as they come as the group’s head.

For the villain of the piece, Julianne Moore has never been so terrifying! While she may initially seem like she spends her days baking apple pies and jiving around her kitchen, that pleasant and pleasing sheen goes out of the window as soon as some poor soul is put through her mincer and cooked up as a juicy burger. Making this all the more sinister, Moore barely ever the takes the smile off her face or the spring out of her step.

Make no mistake about it, The Golden Circle is a fresh, vibrant effort that both pulls plenty from the first movie while similarly not being afraid to veer off in its own path. On that front, director Matthew Vaughn and co-writer Jane Goldman deserve ample credit, and this truly feels as if they took all that made 2015’s Kingsman great and turned it up to 11. Egerton is again as charming as ever as rascal-done-good Eggsy, and we see a slightly more mature and softer side to him here in how he’s now shacked up with Princess Tilde (Hannah Alstrom) – the Swedish royalty he rescued at the end of the first picture. Then we couldn’t not address the return of Colin Firth as Harry Hart. Yes, we were a tad miffed, too, when all of the trailers for The Golden Circle showed Harry back from the dead following his demise in the first film, but his reappearance is actually handled rather wonderfully in The Golden Circle.

If there’s one major complaint about this sequel, it’s the runtime. The action and energy of the film never massively wanes, but it does feel as if The Golden Circle would’ve been best served by losing 20 minutes or so of its excessive 2 hours 20 minutes runtime. In fairness, the length is only 10 minutes more than the first movie, but it’s a lot more noticeable at certain points here. All in all, though, this is a fun, ferocious follow-up to one of the most enjoyable films of recent years, and we can only hope that Eggsy et al are back for a third outing at some point down the line.

Special Features: Ten featurettes / Kingsman Archives

KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: MATTHEW VAUGHN / SCREENPLAY: JANE GOLDMAN, MATTHEW VAUGHN / STARRING: TARON EGERTON, MARK STRONG, SOPHIE COOKSON, JULIANNE MOORE, CHANNING TATUM, HALLE BERRY, PEDRO PASCAL, JEFF BRIDGES, COLIN FIRTH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Radha Mitchell was always a Neighbours alumnus destined for bigger things, and following her stint on Ramsay Street she’s been one of its more notable ex-members. Like Guy Pearce, she has carved out a career in both high-brow and low-rent fare, and this 2003 curio from her native Australia has now been reissued on DVD by the redoubtable Umbrella Entertainment.

Ostensibly it’s the story of a young woman suffering cabin fever, having been becalmed while attempting to sail single-handed around the world, but although it sells itself on the horror of her hallucinations, most viewers looking for something to send chills down the spine will probably end up disappointed. Rather, this is more of a psychological thriller, the demons being exorcised those internal ones that Georgia Perry has been suffering since accidentally causing the incident that cost her father his legs during her childhood.

It’s a tale of two halves, much of the opening section painting in Perry’s background through flashback during the early part of her involuntary intermission. It’s an effective way to fill in the audience without labouring the exposition, although things do pick up in the latter portions which focus on her illusory visitations and what they have to say about her state of mind. Part of which is down to her relationship with Luke (Purcell), with whom she conducts regular radio conversations that end up contributing no end to the cycle of visions that beset her. But mostly Perry’s mindset is informed by her decision to embark upon the voyage at a time when she’s at risk of losing both of her parents while she’s at sea.

This isn’t a whole lot of fun, the only comedy coming from Perry’s regular conversations with her onboard cat which are as reminiscent of Doug Liman’s Go as they are of Alien or Wilson the volleyball from Cast Away. However the acting is terrific, not least from Susannah York as Perry’s suicidal mother and Ray Barrett as her much more easy-going father, and Mitchell herself holds the centre of the film quite comfortably, never giving in to the temptation to indulge in the kind of acting pyrotechnics that might have rendered this hysterical.

Visitors was written by Everett De Roche, and while it’s a lesser credit than some of his better-remembered productions, it’s easy to see the influences that created Road Games and Long Weekend behind it. It’s also the final directorial credit for Road Games’ Richard Franklin, who lends it an air of uncluttered classiness that befits a film that dwells far more on the games a mind can play than it does over-embellishing the manifestation of those fantasies. Not the most striking or memorable film, but effective nonetheless.

Extras: trailer, photo galleries, biographies

VISITORS (2003) / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: RICHARD FRANKLIN / SCREENPLAY: EVERETT De ROCHE / STARRING: RADHA MITCHELL, SUSANNAH YORK, RAY BARRETT, DOMINIC PURCELL, TOTTIE GOLDSMITH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (AUSTRALIA)

Dragon Ball Z Movie Collection Five: The Broly Trilogy stands out among the recent releases of the Dragon Ball Z movies. It is the second such collection with a theme based on a villain that appears in all of its movies (in this case, Broly). It is also the only collection of the six that includes three movies (the other five only assembling two features a piece).

Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan introduces the villain and sets much of the tone for the set as a whole. Broly vastly overpowers the rest of the cast, and this will turn out to be true for the other two movies as well.

One thing that makes this movie stand out is its mystery. Although Broly went on to become a largely recognised figure in Dragon Ball Z, the movie itself takes its time in getting to his reveal. A Saiyan shows up claiming to have made a new planet Vegeta. Getting to the bottom of his claim, and learning the truth to his motives provides a sense of intrigue to the film that earlier films in the series rarely attempted. Broly’s main flaw comes in his motivation for attacking the main characters. It doesn’t quite work, but thankfully it is easily ignored and it doesn’t detract from the action.

Broly – Second Coming is set during the time in Dragon Ball Z in which Goku had died and left the planet. Goku’s absence, and the smaller number of characters in this movie ramp up the tension. Since Goku isn’t to hand, Broly – Second Coming focuses largely on Goten, Trunks, and Videl. The issues surrounding Broly’s motivations don’t affect this film as much as they affected its predecessor, and the fight against Broly just as desperate, if not more so than last time. It also fleshes out Broly’s Super Saiyan form some more, building up to his now iconic transformation rather than going directly to it, adding to the movie’s sense of tension and successfully raising the stakes of the battle.

Bio Broly has more in common with Broly – Second Coming than with the first movie. Goku is still gone, so Goten and Trunks serve as the protagonists again. They are backed up by Android 18 and Mr. Satan. Android 18 adds to the action scenes, and Mr Satan provides the sort of comic relief that fell on Master Roshi or Oolong in earlier instalments.

In regards to Broly himself, this movie is something of an outlier. As the movie’s title suggests, he isn’t quite Broly and he spends most of his third appearance with a vastly different look. He is still intimidating but the character lacks the elements that made him stand out before.

Dragon Ball Z Movie Collection Five: The Broly Trilogy maintains a consistent quality throughout the films on offer. The latter two movies give a welcome chance for characters other than Goku to shine, and at his best Broly comes off more akin to a force of nature than a person. Each film in the series differs slightly in terms of their set up, and all of them have something to offer. Sadly, there is no commentary available this time, but this collection still manages to be a strong offering for fans.

Extras: Trailers, Japanese audio, US audio with Japanese music.

DRAGON BALL Z MOVIE COLLECTION FIVE: THE BROLY TRILOGY / CERT: PG / DIRECTORS & SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: SEAN SCHEMMEL, VIC MIGNOGNA, KYLE HEBERT, KARA EDWARDS, LAURA BAILEY / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 12TH

Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! is a retelling of the Pokémon anime’s earliest season. There are a few scenes that will be familiar for older fans, but most of the movie concerns itself with an original plot.

This is for the best. Not every call back to the original show is bad; fighting off the flock of spearow, and saving Charmander both hit with their original emotional resonance. On the other hand, Team Rocket’s presence is entirely superfluous. Their scenes do little to add to the movie beyond being something for already established fans to recognise.

Thankfully, Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! doesn’t shoehorn in too many characters from the original show. Brock, and Misty have been replaced by Verity, and Sorrel. Charmander’s trainer, Damian, has been remade into Cross and he plays a bigger role in the movie than he did the series. These characters all get moments that explore their motivations, and the movie does enough to flesh them out as characters. The decision to include a fresh cast of supporting characters instead of old favourites is a wise one, as it allows the audience to enjoy the new characters whereas newer versions of familiar faces would have spent most of the movie competing with themselves.

While occasionally a scene will digress from the main plot, there is a narrative thread to link most of the movie together. This thread comes together in the pay-off but it doesn’t always work in the details along the way. There is a scene in which Ash reacts to a setback in a way that doesn’t feel true to the character. Even within the context of the movie, presenting a new version of Ash his reaction feels like too much of a leap to the situation, and the movie could have done a better job of explaining why Ash reacts in that fashion. This scene is saved by the quality of the scenes that followed and the way that it foreshadows events that take place later in the movie.

Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! takes the essence of the original Pokémon anime, and repackages it. While the little nods to the series that inspired it are fun, the movie is at its best when it is using the themes of its predecessor to tell its own story rather than the moments which essentially sell fans more of the same with a fresh coat of paint. Some of the specific details of the plot fall flat, but it works as a whole. Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! succeeds in celebrating the history of the franchise and showing potential fans why they should check it out.

POKÉMON THE MOVIE: I CHOOSE YOU! / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: KUNIHIKO YUYAMA / SCREENPLAY: SHÔJI YONEMURA / STARRING: SARAH NATOCHENNY, IKUE OTANI, KATE BRISTOL, CARTER CATHCART, RODGER PARSONS, DAVID OLIVER NELSON, SUZY MYERS, BILLY BOB THOMPSON/ RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 12TH