Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

Film composers utilise the opportunities they get to perform live to the best of their abilities amidst their production commitments and for the fans who love listening repeatedly to their music via LP, CD or stream, it is a great chance to experience the purity of live sound, coupled with the many golden memories of watching the films at any age.

Hans Zimmer is a composer this writer has admired for many years, ever since I heard his exotic score for Ridley Scott’s culture-clash cop thriller Black Rain (1989) starring Michael Douglas. In 2016, he embarked on what turned out to be an incredibly successful European Tour that took in key cities and brought much of his best-loved contemporary works to the masses.

This two-hour-plus concert, filmed on the  May 7th, 2016 at the O2 Arena in Prague and co-produced by legendary Live Aid organiser Harvey Goldsmith, allows those who weren’t lucky enough to see the live performances to experience a truly involving night of Zimmer’s showcase themes and tunes.

Kicking off with the playful theme from Driving Miss Daisy (1989), the pace never lets up, with compositions from the likes of Crimson Tide, The Da Vinci Code, Interstellar, The Lion King, Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Rain Man and The Thin Red Line, Terrence Malick’s comeback film after years in the wilderness since his 1978 drama Days Of Heaven.

Zimmer is clearly somebody well at home on the live stage as much as he is in the recording studio and sound-stage and his band, orchestra and choir, totalling seventy-two members in total are allowed to express themselves. The tempo brightens mid-concert when vocalists emerge who perform the orchestral version of ‘Circle of Life’ from The Lion King (refreshingly, Zimmer’s contribution is not overshadowed here by bursts of Elton John’s vocal hits) and there is so much acknowledgement about the role an individual musician plays in the canvas of a whole band or orchestra.

Pop and rock music fans will certainly gain some enjoyment from this concert, as guitarist Johnny Marr guest performs on ‘The Electro Suite’ from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and there is a genuine respect and love amongst everyone on the stage here, who clearly love their instruments and move with the enthusiasm of dancers as Zimmer guides them through the evening. There is added poignancy, as Zimmer pays tribute to the likes of the late Tony Scott and Heath Ledger during introductions to Crimson Tide and The Dark Knight Trilogy, as well as performing a piece called ‘Aurora’ in honour of the victims who died during the tragedy at the Dark Knight Rises opening night screening

I am sure some fans will be disappointed that one of their favourite themes is not included in the playlist here, as there are so many great compositions here. Still, don’t let that spoil your enjoyment of a true composing master at work here.

HANS ZIMMER – LIVE IN PRAGUE / CERT: E / STARRING: HANS ZIMMER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Dragon Ball Z Movie Collection Two contains the Dragon Ball Z movies, The Tree of Might, and Lord Slug. These two films that are very similar in terms of plot. In both The Tree of Might and Lord Slug an alien menace shows up and tries to change the environment of the earth for their own purposes. In, The Tree of Might this means harvesting the world’s energy. In Lord Slug, the titular villain wants to turn Earth into his own personal spaceship.

Despite this similarity of plot, Lord Slug is the stronger of the two movies on offer. Most of the action in, The Tree of Might focusses around the titular tree. Lord Slug, on the other hand, takes place in different environments, one of which is a small city. The background of the different buildings offers more than the solitary, world ending tree does.

The villains are also better in Lord Slug. Slug’s henchman, Medamatcha, has a creepy design and adds some variety to the villains that aren’t present in The Tree of Might. This quality difference is also true of the main villains. Both villains are evil for the sake of being evil, but Lord Slug makes for a more imposing presence. Furthermore, his transformation and the way that it is countered by the heroes add some variety to the action. For once the heroes have to come up with a way to beat the villain that isn’t just them really hard or cut something off, and it is a welcome change.

That being said, neither movie is more than merely okay. Once again, there is very little to the plot, and both villains are ultimately disposable. Neither movie has a particularly long running time, and their animation isn’t different from the animation of the show at the time. These movies feel like extended episodes with little connection to their series, then actual movie versions of the source material.

Unsurprisingly this collection offers viewers the chance to watch its contents in either the original Japanese or in the English dub. It also has the option for viewers to watch the movies with the English dub, but the Japanese music rather than the US score. This is a little thing, but it gives more choice to how the collection is enjoyed.

Dragon Ball Z Movie Collection Two is exactly what the title suggests. It collects two of the movies from Dragon Ball Z’s line up and makes it easier for viewers to watch them in the dub of their choice. The movies aren’t terrible, but they don’t offer much either. This is a purchase for someone who already knows that they want to revisit the films contained within.

DRAGON BALL Z MOVIE COLLECTION TWO / CERT: PG / DIRECTORS: VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: SEAN SCHEMMEL, CHRISTOPHER R. SABAT, SONNY STRAIT, STEPHANIE NADOLNY, CHRIS PATTON, BRICE ARMSTRONG / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 27TH

A runaway hit in its native Japan, Your Name begins as a humorous teen body-swap comedy before gradually transforming into something profoundly complex. Japanese director Makoto Shinkai’s fifth film sees him grappling once more with themes of separation, distant love and loneliness in this strange, genre-hopping story of intermingling lives. Your Name marks Shinkai as one of the most exciting anime directors about as he delivers a sparkling, ambitious and visually impressive coming-of-age drama.

The film revolves around small-town teenager Mitsuha (Mone Kamishiraishi) and Tokyo high-schooler/part-time waiter Taki (Ryunosuke Kamiki). Mitsuha is tired of her quiet country life and dreams of moving to Tokyo. Her dream comes true sooner than expected when she inexplicably swaps bodies with Taki for random day-long periods. While the body swaps appear dream-like and initially confuse the pair, they cotton on to the nature of their predicament when friends recall their uncharacteristic behaviour of the previous day. Consequently, the pair lay down some ground rules and convey messages to each other via smartphones to keep updated with each other’s lives – yet this doesn’t stop the duo from acting on certain crushes and other impulses. The two are kept apart by the hazy memories of their body-swapping experiences and each other’s name continually alludes them. The involvement of a comet, which is set to fly closely past Tokyo, sees the narrative transform into an emotionally-charged, time-hopping, apocalyptic tale.

That’s all that can be said without spoiling Your Name’s many genre-shifting delights. One thing is for sure though, the animation on show here is stunningly rendered. Every frame of the film is engulfed in detail, care and attention – Shinkai’s love and passion for his craft is plain to see. From the picturesque, quaintness of Mitshua’s village to the metropolitan hustle and bustle of Tokyo, everything is steeped in atmosphere and captured authentically. Several beautiful transition shots, such as one from the sliding wooden door of Mitshua’s house to the shutting underground door of Taki’s subway train, are gorgeously executed and effortlessly illustrate the contrasts at the heart of the film.

While Your Name is refreshingly bold in its storytelling, its latter stages do suffer a little from convolution. There are so many narrative strands and genre elements at play here that Shinkai inevitably struggles to retain cohesiveness. But an abundance of ideas is a flaw that is easy to forgive, particularly when a film looks this good. Additionally, the film’s high-stakes third act treads the fine line between genuine profundity and sappy Nicholas Sparks territory. But, Your Name avoids diving into over-sentimentality thanks to brilliant voice acting, empathetic characters, welcome injections of humour, and adept explorations into hefty themes of love, fate and memory.

In the way of special features, the release boasts an interesting 22-minute TV special featurette (which includes interviews with the cast and crew), an extensive look back at Makoto Shinkai’s filmography as well as the film’s Japanese and English trailers. There’s also both Japanese and English language options for the film.

Your Name may throw to many ideas at the wall, but it’s an inventive, pristinely animated, emotionally resonant treat that reinforces Shinkai’s undeniable talents.

YOUR NAME / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: MAKOTO SHINKAI / SCREENWRITER: MAKOTO SHINKAI / STARRING: RYUNOSUKE KAMIKI, MONE KAMISHIRAISHI, MASAMI NAGASAWA, ETSUKO ICHIHARA / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

This collection presents three early films from the legendary horror director, George A. Romero, who sadly passed away in July of 2017. The horror master was best known for his series of gruesome and satirical horror films about an imagined zombie apocalypse, beginning with Night of the Living Dead (1968), which is often credited as the inspiration for the fictional zombie of modern pop culture. However, as this box of Romero delights shows, the director shouldn’t be defined simply as the father of the zombie subgenre. The movies included in this box set are: There’s Always Vanilla (1971), Season of the Witch (1972) and The Crazies (1973).

Before his passing, Romero went on the record calling There’s Always Vanilla his worst film. The less said about this one the better, but it follows the life of a former US Army soldier, who has become a drifter and falls in love with a local actress, before completely messing it up. Completists will be happy it is included here so that they won’t have to buy an individual release of what Romero himself called “a total mess”.

Quickly moving on, Season of the Witch feels closer to what you expect from a George A. Romero film. It is about a bored housewife, Joan Mitchell (Jan White), who is shocked to find out that a local woman, Marion (Virginia Greenwald), is a witch. Soon, Mitchell begins experimenting with Witchcraft herself, as well as other things with her daughter’s boyfriend. The film’s distributor cut major parts of the film and changed its title to Hungry Wives, marketing it as a softcore pornography film. The film tries to use witchcraft and the occult, to try and say something about the Feminist movement, but possibly due to the edits the message has been somewhat lost. Romero never fails to hold the attention of his audience throughout, though.

Finally, The Crazies is by far the best film included in this box set, and perhaps Romero’s best non-zombie film. The film is about the accidental release of a military biological weapon in a small American town, and tells, essentially, two different but related stories. The first follows the civilians who have to battle both ‘the crazies’ (victims of a virus code-named causing them to become homicidal), as well as US soldiers ordered to shoot anyone on sight. The other involves the political and military leaders trying to contain the epidemic. While not quite living up to the promise of Night of the Living Dead, the film is a cult classic in its own right and was good enough to warrant a remake, released in 2010. If this was a review of just this film I’d have to give it eight stars. The other two films are interesting but not in the same league as The Crazies and Romero’s zombie films.

GEORGE A. ROMERO: BETWEEN NIGHT AND DAWN / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: GEORGE A. ROMERO / SCREENPLAY: RUDY RICCI, GEORGE A. ROMERO / STARRING: RAYMOND LAINE, JUDITH RIDLEY, JAN WHITE, LANE CARROLL, WILL MACMILLAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

It’s hard to maintain character and drama when your two stars are marooned 47 metres under the ocean and spend over two-thirds of the film’s running time encumbered by diving masks. Still, English writer/director Johannes Roberts must have made a pretty good stab at it, with 47 Metres Down making back almost ten times its $5.5m budget at the box office, and a sequel (adding an extra metre’s depth) officially going into pre-production.

Given its premise and publicity, you’d be forgiven for expecting Roberts’ film to be an underwater Aliens, primarily concerned with the great white sharks that are plastered all over the promotional materials. Instead, and although the marine predators are an ever-present threat, the movie is more like that other James Cameron film The Abyss, in that it’s the predicament of the two sisters trapped on the ocean floor that occupies most of its duration. As such – and despite brave and mostly convincing performances from Holt and Moore, who spent the better part of the shoot in an enormous water tank in Basildon – it’s a shame the two girls aren’t given more in the way of back-story or greater depth of characterisation. Several scenes were cut that would have involved James Van Der Beek as Lisa’s boyfriend, presumably in order to get to the water more quickly.

The two sisters, the younger and more carefree Kate (Australian Claire Holt) and her elder, more repressed sibling Lisa (ex-pop singer Mandy Moore), are in Mexico trying to get Lisa over the break-up of her relationship with Stuart – who has dumped her for being boring – when they hook up with two local men, who persuade the girls to throw off their inhibitions by cage diving in shark-infested waters. Of course, it isn’t long before things have gone awry, and just a third of the way into 47 Metres Down’s running time, that’s exactly where Kate and Lisa find themselves, running low on oxygen and with no lifeline back to the surface.

While there’s nothing in the characters that ostentatiously beggars belief (although the science surrounding both the sharks and the diving is off-the-scale nonsense, which is perhaps fair enough given there wouldn’t be much of a film otherwise), neither are the sisters sketched in well enough that we really ever come to know or like them. And that is Roberts’ biggest problem because in spite of managing to keep the obviously slight narrative ticking over such that it never gets excruciatingly dull, we never really get to care either – and thus the killer twist at the end is totally wasted.

Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable enough time-filler, a Friday night renter that won’t tax or traumatise the viewer too considerably.

Extras: Director and cast interviews

47 METRES DOWN / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: JOHANNES ROBERTS / SCREENPLAY: JOHANNES ROBERTS, ERNEST RIERA / STARRING: CLAIRE HOLT, MANDY MOORE, MATTHEW MODINE / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 27TH

It’s no surprise that the script for 1972’s Fear in the Night had been kicking around for a decade before it finally got made. This is no Hammer Horror but instead fits more closely with Taste of Fear or Paranoiac and deliberately echoes the likes of Les Diaboliques and Hitchcock.  As might be expected therefore it’s written by (and in this case also directed by) Jimmy Sangster.

Judy Geeson plays Peggy, a shy young woman who some 6 months earlier had suffered a breakdown and spent some time in hospital. Since her release, a whirlwind romance with teacher Robert (Ralph Bates) finds Peggy now married and about to move with him to the boarding school he works at. It’s a chance at a new life, one perhaps finally happy, for Peggy and she is eager to go.

Before she can leave London, Peggy is attacked in her home by a one-armed man though the people around her are more inclined to believe she’s imagining things.  Leaving for the country school, she meets the headmaster Michael (Peter Cushing), and there’s definitely something off about him.  Cushing’s wife Molly is played by Joan Collins and the two take an instant dislike to each other.  Peggy’s dream new life is obviously not going to be what she hoped for but it might even be worse if Peggy is right about the man she sees lingering outside. Maybe someone is trying to kill her after all.

Fear in the Night centres not around whether Peggy is imagining things (as an audience were clearly directed to be on her side) but instead who is responsible and why. It’s a slight tale and the condensed number of characters doesn’t encourage much whodunnit mystery. Yet despite this, the new release from Studio Canal has plenty to recommend. There’s some influence from the burgeoning giallo films, but here done with a drab, autumnal early ‘70s British approach, which is actually interesting. Neither Sangster’s script nor the restrictions of low budget production ultimately leave much room for surprise twists, but Jimmy had a handle on the material and it shows. It’s quite a subtle, measured film and despite not a lot actually happening, the end still delivers. Performances are all very good, with Geeson outstanding and, although Cushing’s appearances are little more than a cameo, the great man as ever makes the most of it.

The print is beautiful and sharp, production design is thoughtful and this is inarguably the best presentation of the film yet. A short 17-minute documentary features the usual faces for these releases but the context and analysis are welcome. For anyone with an interest in late-period Hammer, it’s a worthy purchase.

FEAR IN THE NIGHT (1972) / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: JIMMY SANGSTER / SCREENPLAY: MICHAEL SYSON, JIMMY SANGSTER / STARRING: JUDY GEESON, JOAN COLLINS, RALPH BATES, PETER CUSHING / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Of all the Doctors Who, William Hartnell is by far the least knowable. Having passed away prior to the dawn of fandom, and having been too ill during the tenth anniversary year to have participated much in the celebrations – thus missing out on joining his successor on Pebble Mill at One – there is very little documentary evidence recording just what Hartnell thought of his time in the TARDIS. The latest Koch Media compilation of Reeltime’s Myth Makers interviews tries its hardest to address this situation but falls somewhat short of painting a living picture of the original performer of the part.

Not that this isn’t a valiant attempt. The set starts with an hour-long tribute to Hartnell, featuring not just the actors who played his companions but also the likes of Shaun Sutton, Donald Tosh and Verity Lambert, plus Jack Pitt, a sometime monster operator on the programme who has also been Hartnell’s flatmate and who, along with Hartnell’s granddaughter Jessica Carney, manages to bring more of a personal perspective to the recollections. There’s another tribute on disc one (along with two combined shorter interviews with Carole Ann Ford), this one to Jacqueline Hill and dominated by a conversation with her husband Alvin Rakoff, that celebrates her career and ability but also makes the first half of this compilation a rather sad and occasionally heart-breaking affair. Rakoff discussing Hill’s illness is actually quite a difficult watch.

The second disc is perhaps meatier, including more substantial interviews with two of the first Doctor’s male companions, both fascinating actors who led pretty successful careers away from Doctor Who; firstly a tour of Dalek shooting locations with William Russell, and secondly an invitation into the home of Peter Purves. These two segments of the compilation alone would make the set worth buying, yet there is something even more intriguing to be found on this second disc.

Jackie Lane hasn’t had a great deal to do with Doctor Who since her departure from the programme, very rarely appearing at events or allowing herself to be interviewed about the series. Yet 25 years ago, she let Nicholas Briggs interview her for one of these tapes, and it’s perhaps the most interesting inclusion on the set. Not just because of the opportunity to spend 45 minutes listening to Lane, but also because the rather odd decision was taken to record her against a blue screen and present the interview as if it had taken place in a virtual TARDIS, making the resulting presentation one of the oddest things Reeltime ever produced.

This isn’t quite as required viewing as the three previous Koch compilations, but for fans of the series’ early years, it is still thoroughly absorbing.

Extras: Introduction by Barnfather and Briggs

THE DOCTORS: THE WILLIAM HARTNELL YEARS / CERT: E (EXEMPT) / DIRECTOR: KEITH BARNFATHER / PRESENTER: NICHOLAS BRIGGS / STARRING: CAROLE ANN FORD, JACQUELINE HILL, WILLIAM RUSSELL, PETER PURVES, JACKIE LANE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

With the likes of Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, and Reservoir Dogs approaching or achieving their quarter century of release and Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver paying homage to the likes of The Driver and Freebie and the Bean, it’s timely that Arrow Academy has put together a cracking quartet of classic noir thrillers from the Golden Age of Hollywood. These will certainly be of interest to fans and curious followers of Scorsese and Tarantino, who have both cited the four films here as key influences on the classics that have redefined genre in Tinseltown.

The Dark Mirror (1946), Secret Beyond the Door (1947), Force of Evil (1948), and The Big Combo (1955) bring together incredible directing and casting talent who excel in their respective roles and environments. Another key joy of watching the films is also scoping the credits for those who went on to bigger things. In the case of Force of Evil, cinematographer George Barnes, who shot the 1953 version of War of the Worlds and The Dirty Dozen director Robert Aldrich is credited as Assistant Director, lend their chops to this dark and timeless yarn of gambling fraud, which features John Garfield, who starred opposite Lana Turner in the 1946 version of The Postman Always Rings Twice.

The Dark Mirror reveals Olivia de Havilland in dual roles as twin sisters, one of whom may be a murderess whilst the other deems herself an alibi. A psychologist (Lew Ayres) who specialises in the study of twins works alongside the police to uncover the circumstances behind the death of a man in the apartment where they live.

Secret Beyond the Door showcases Metropolis director Fritz Lang’s work after he moved to Hollywood and signed with MGM. Newly-weds Celia (Joan Bennett, whose last film role was as Madame Blanc in Dario Argento’s Suspiria) and Mark (Michael Redgrave) have to confront his dark past, which seemingly is hidden behind a secret locked room in his house.

The Big Combo sees Detective Lt. Diamond (Cornel Wilde) in a determined frame of mind to bring down kingpin gangster Mr. Brown (Richard Conte). Unfortunately, his obsession with Brown’s girlfriend Susan Lowell is clouding his judgement in cracking the case.

This is a supremely enigmatic collection of tales, all contrasting but consistent with the genre they celebrate. The cinematography is dark and deliriously framed and there are key shots and montages that remind one of the later films that fans of the directors first mentioned in this review will pick up on without delay. They are also excellently compact and concise stories told with simplicity and without the need for major visual effects or editing prowess that is at the disposal of modern editors and cinematographers.

The Limited Edition box set contains Dual Format Blu-ray and DVD (2000 copies) – plus commentaries, introductions (including one from Martin Scorsese of Force Of Evil), reversible sleeves and a Hardback book with new writing on all four films, amongst the extras.

Highly charged – and highly enjoyable – entertainment for noir fans.

FOUR FILM NOIR CLASSICS LIMITED EDITION BOX SET / CERT:PG / DIRECTORS: ROBERT SIODMAK, FRITZ LANG, ABRAHAM POLONSKY, JOSEPH H. LEWIS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: RICHARD CONTE, OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND, JOAN BENNET, MICHAEL REDGRAVE, JOHN GARFIELD / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 20TH