From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 3.5/5

Really? FROM DUSK TILL DAWN: ROUND 4!

This marks the fourth review that I have done on the Robert Rodriguez film From Dusk Till Dawn. I have reviewed this film in the individual release by Echo Bridge followed by the double feature which contained Texas Blood Money and then finally in the series release that had all four films crammed onto one disc. To get my views on the film, please visit my review of the double feature from 2011. How does the initial 2008 disc from Alliance (now Entertainment One) stack up in comparison?

Video: 3.5/5

I initially gave the video presentation on the Echo Bridge version 3.5/5. I am giving this version a 3.5/5 as well. The EB release was actually a remastered version produced sometime after or during this Canadian release. The visual presentation is opened up slightly from 1.85 to 1.78; but it's miniscule to worry about having an opened matted presentation since these two aspects are almost the same thing. The visual presentation on both releases of the film has been a debate for some time now; after watching both, I am leaning towards the Echo Bridge release.

I will be giving spoilers in these following descriptions of shots; when Jimmy is now a vampire, the blood on his white shirt in the Canadian release is almost orange. At the almost 1:23 into the film, Kate is thrown by Sex Machine; in this version, you can clearly make out the wires attached to Juliette Lewis. In the Echo Bridge version that's been remastered, wires were completely removed from the shot. Despite the somewhat orange skintones on people in the remaster, the color scheme seems more natural on blood and other things.

You might ponder why am I giving this the same score? The detail is still pretty strong in this transfer and that is a big pro for this. The biggest con on this transfer, and I assume this is why it was remastered, is that the print damage is all over the place. Another pro against the EB release is that the right side of the screen doesn't show any sort of distress which was noticeable after the gang leaves the stock room of junk for weapons. One other thing and this minor, the end credits look like it has finger prints visable throughout on the Canadian transfer. I give this transfer a 3.5/5 along with the remaster, it's all about that concept called the power of suggestion which I will leave for you to decide which version is best.

Audio: 5/5

Alliance (Entertainment One) has given this initial transfer a pretty powerful English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track along with a Dolby Digital 5.1 and French DTS-HD MA 5.1 and DD 5.1 tracks. I think they might have gone overboard on the audio tracks if you ask. To compare audio on both releases, I would give it to this disc. The sound has a more raw and gritty feel to it, whereas the DTS-HD MA 5.1 on the Echo Bridge sounds more subdued. The French dub sounds average in my opinion. I award the audio on this disc 5/5.

Extras: 0/5

Just like the Echo Bridge Blu-ray, this Canadian release has no extra features.

Overall: 3.5/5

As far as I know, this disc is out of print now. After the Echo Bridge Blu-ray came out, Alliance put out a combo pack and a steelbook and from what I read, those two releases contained the remastered version that Echo Bridge used. One of the big cons on the Echo Bridge Blu-ray is that English subtitles are rarely applied to releases and this one falls in that category. If you're a person who relies on subtitles to help you enjoy the film, this Canadian release has English subtitles. I give Alliance (Entertainment One) initial release a 3.5/5.

The Killer (1989) / Hard Boiled (1992)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 3/5

"It's Not a Party if You Don't Have a Gun in Both Hands!"

Movies:

The Killer (1989): 5/5

Chow Yun-Fat is "Mickey Mouse", a professional killer for hire. After having a shootout in a bar, he leaves a beautiful singer blind. He secretly follows her around and begins to know her after she is being mugged one night after leaving the bar. The police are following in on him and his whereabouts. Soon, the Triads and police are all closing in on him.

It's a pretty sweet action film. I remember seeing this film in the winter of 1999. I was ten years old and was pretty blown away at the action in this. Chow Yun-Fat does a great job in this movie. And the ending is pretty spectacular. I give the film a 5/5.

Hard Boiled (1992): 5/5

Chow Yun-Fat is on the law's side in John Woo's follow up. This time Chow is Tequlia, a cop is down and out after his partner gets killed in a tea house. Tequlia vows to get all of those responsible and that leads him onto the trail of Alan. Alan, played by Tony Leung, is an informant who is way over his head and it has come to the point where he has no way out. It all leads to a massive, all out war at a hospital where police and Triads collide.

This film is nothing short of a masterpiece. Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung are a great duo who constantly bicker and kick ass throughout the movie. The whole warehouse raid is amazing as we have nothing but gunfire and explosions left and right. And the whole hospital sequence at the end just tops it. This is the essential action movie. 5/5.

Video: 3/5
Before I start going into the video for both films, I am not sure if the original individual releases by Dragon Dynasty/The Weinstein Company/Vivendi Visual/Whatever has this, but Alliance put a warning screen before we get to the menu that says:

"The quality of the audio and video on this Blu-ray may reflect the age of the source material."

That is because there is some bad quality control problems with the transfers. Starting with The Killer; I question when this HD master was created, because no way was it in 2010 when this was released on the format. Horrible is an under statement for this film. In the opening when we see Chow Yun-Fat leaving the church, you think you'd be able to see his face as he walks towards the camera in this shot, but you can't even make out his face at all. Was that him? The details were so blocky and blurry that I'm unable to tell.

The grain is faked out like crazy to try to make this pass off as a decent film transfer. But the grain can't hide the macro-blocks that popped up on Chow Yun-Fat's face several times. If this was a real HD sourced transfer, it must have been made in the late 1990's, maybe around the time the film itself had turned ten years old. There's no way this was made in the 2000's. It's bad. There should be clarity; instead, white bleeds through the image like crazy and daytime scenes look disastrous to the eyes. 2/5

Hard Boiled is not as disastrous of a transfer. While this one is far from perfect, the action scenes are mostly preserved, especially most of the epic hospital shootout at the end. However, the image constantly wobbles in places. We also have a lot of print damage present throughout the film. Saturation and contrast is pretty strong.

When the presentation of Hard Boiled is nice and crystal clear, it's amazing. It's just a shame that Hard Boiled and The Killer could not get that five star treatment like they did when they were released by Criterion. These would have been excellent releases. But, at the end of the day, I give the transfer for Hard Boiled a 3.5/5.

Audio: 4/5
Oddly, The Killer is presented in English and Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0. When you select the Chinese audio, the English subtitles are forced, and you cannot turn them on if you select English audio. The audio tracks are average. I prefered the sound of the Cantonese audio more than the English dubbing. Why we couldn't get this in DTS-HD MA is beyond me. 2.5/5.

Hard Boiled,unlike The Killer, is presented with English and Cantonese DTS-HD MA 5.1 tracks on this disc. Just like the previous film, subtitles are forced on the Cantonese audio. Why you would force subtitles is idiotic to me. The audio is pretty sweet on this one. The music of the saxophone playing when Tony Leung enters the film and various explosions boom throughout; it's a shame The Killer couldn't get this treatment audio wise. 5/5.

Extras: 0/5
This Blu-ray contains no extras.

Overall: 3/5
Despite the horrible visual presentations, I felt this was worth the $17 I got it for. I am sure you can get the individual, domestic U.S. releases for about the same price I got this Canadian release for. These two films are classics. Just hope and pray that Criterion can get the rights back and do these films proper, especially The Killer. 3/5.

Blade (1998)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 2/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 3/5

"A Great Movie Ruined By Cropped Aspect Ratio."

Movie:

I remember being an eight year old child in the year 1998. It was about a month before my ninth birthday when Blade came out. Sure, most children wouldn't be taken to see an R-rated action film like this. But, my parents taught me from a young age that what I saw on screen was not real. That was essentially one of the things that got me to really like filmmaking. So, by the time I was five or six, I saw Species. And I was seven years old when I watched An American Werewolf in London, Alien, and Evil Dead. Point being, I was exposed to stuff most parents probably wouldn't dream of in this day and age with political correctness. And I am sure most would probably place Blade in that category.

Blade is based off of the popular Marvel comic story of a half-human, half-vampire who goes around saving the world from the vampire underworld. A vampire by the name of Deacon Frost sets to bring about a vampire God known as La Magra. While Blade sets out to stop Deacon, he has a young medical examiner named Karen held captive as she was bitten by one of Deacon's henchmen. While in Blade's care, Karen believes that she has found a cure that could possibly end the vampire plague.

This was a childhood favorite. An example of what action was to me as a child; we see Snipes as Blade busting up an underground vampire dance club causing a full vampire slaughter. Snipes was great as Blade and the same goes for Stephen Dorff as Deacon. We see how ruthless our protagonist and antagonist get to their goals. And the final battle is nothing but badass. I give this film a 5/5 for being nostalgic reasons.

Video:
Alliance brought Blade to Blu-ray years before WB made their initial release in 2012. I picked up this Blu-ray in March 2011 as a local grocery store I frequent oddly carries Canadian DVDs and Blu-rays in their cheapo bins. This transfer is pretty bad; it is cropped from 2.35 to 1.78 and there is a major amount of image cut off from the sides of the screen and everything is pretty much dead center of the image. The main thing that I learned from my film classes is that you want to keep the audience's eyes moving around the screen. The eyes don't move that much with this transfer of the film.

While cropping is the biggest offender on this release, I couldn't find any real print damage to the film. The details are okay. Seeing this cropped version, I didn't realize that Frost's eye glow red when he's covered in backlighting towards the end of the film. I am giving the video a 2/5, only because of this bad crop job that the film has.

Audio:
Alliance has given us three audio tracks for the film; English DTS-HD MA 5.1 and English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. I have listened to the film dubbed in French, since it's my third language. For a French dub and for an audio track, it sounded ok. The Dolby Digital in English sounds tame and you have to manually switch over with your remote to the DTS-HD MA track as the DD is the default. The DTS-HD MA track sounds pretty good. I have no real complaints towards it. 5/5 for the sound presentation.

Extras:
None. The movie has a screen that will tell you that the movie will begin and that's it. 0/5.

Overall:
Blade remains a childhood favorite of mine. For us who got this Canadian release, it's a shame that they decided to release this film cropped. The visual presentation is hands down the biggest thing for me when it comes to watching movies. Seeing stuff get cropped from it's original aspect ratio to, like, 1.33 like Howling 3 and McLintock! is a damn shame, especially in this day and age. And that applies to movies being cropped from 2.35 to 1.78. This release does not deserve the score it gets. 3/5.

Trailer Park Boys: Say Goodnight to the Bad Guys (2008)

Movie: 3.5/5
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 5/5
Overall: 4/5

Greasy! (Spoilers From the Show)

I essentially gave up on television in 2008 when I left for a year of college. Most of the shows I liked were getting cancelled left and right and I said; "F*** this!" Fast forward to the end of 2010 and I had a Netflix account, I stumbled across the two Trailer Park Boys films and I was instantly hooked on this Canadian film and sought out the series. The show lasted for seven seasons, from 2001 to 2007. While the first six seasons were pretty fun, season seven went down a deep, dark path. Luckily, this loose bridging from the show to the second film is not as dark as the show's finale.

Spoilers to the series finale; Lucy has Baby Randy, which is really Ray's child. And the boys sell off the cigarettes that they have gotten from Sebastian Bach and make it rich. Now we are here to SGTTBG; Julian hides the money for a year while he waits for Ricky and Ray to get out of the American prison system. Little does he know that Lahey is plotting with Randy to get the money and take the boys down once and for all. He enlists Sam Losco and his ex-wife Barb to steal Julian's car on the eve of Ricky coming home. All hell breaks loose and Sam and Barb are busted by the cops and the money is taken. With the gang at odds with each other, Lahey brings the boys together in a trap to hold a dance party.

I felt this was overall enjoyable as we come to the finale and then you jump to the second film. It does have it's flaws from gaping the show to the second film, one of which I honestly favor and spoilers, the vanishing of Baby Randy. I felt that was just dark and sinister as hell when it played out on the show. In terms of how it compares to other episodes of the show, I've seen better. I give the special a 3.5/5.

Video: 4/5
Alliance has given Trailer Park Boys: SGTTBG a great 1.78:1 transfer. This special and the seventh season were both shot in HD, whereas the previous six seasons were shot in SD. The transfer could have been better in terms of contrast. Some of the footage, especially in the first few minutes of the episode, seemed grayish/washed out a bit. But, the overall feeling is that it's pretty good. Video scores a 4/5.

Audio: 4/5
I felt that the English Dolby Digital 5.1 track that Alliance has given us is adequate. There's not much action in this episode except for the shootout with Sam and then the chase in the first few minutes. Other than that, hearing the constant bickering and struggle with the boys, the Dolby Digital track works. 4/5.

Extras: 5/5
We have a group of alternate/deleted scenes and a behind the scenes footage. The behind the scenes footage shows us how they'd choreograph a stunt revolving around J-Roc and Randy. Hearing Jonathan Torrens talk normally and then going into his J-Roc voice is bizarre, yet informal as he talks about how it takes him a few seconds in his head to break it down. Also, I don't know if all of the Blu-rays have this, but my copy had a mini-poster with it of Bubbles as seen on the cover. However, these posters must have been with the DVD as the poster says; "Now Available on DVD For the First Time Ever." Even though this is the Blu-ray. Extras score a 5/5.

Overall: 4/5
If you love Trailer Park Boys, then this is a must. We get to see the boys one last time before the Countdown to Liquor Day! And that was my favorite of the two movies. This Blu-ray is pretty much all around recommended for fans. If you haven't seen the show, do not start with this, go all the way to the beginning of the series. I award this Blu-ray a 4/5.

The Cell (2000)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 3/5

One of the Most Conflicting Transfers I've Ever Seen!

The only way I've been getting my Canadian Blu-rays is through a grocery-type store called Meijer. They have these Alliance Blu-rays that pop up for $10 and every once in a while I'll look through them in hopes of finding something that's not out here in the US on the Blu-ray format. Well, I finally found a copy of "The Cell". The 2000 film starring Jennifer Lopez and a pre-comedic Vince Vaughn in this sci-fi thriller about going into the mind of a killer. The film, at the time, was pretty unique in terms of visuals; but as CGI has improved over the years, more and more craziness arrives such as Robert Rodriguez' "Sin City" or Kazuaki Kiriya's "Casshern" and "Goemon". I give the feature a 5/5 due to how creative Tarsem is as a director and the story he was able to put on the screen and this is also probably the only good film Jennifer Lopez has in her filmography.

The video is a real problematic transfer. In most scenes, it looks great and a real upgrade from the New Line Cinema DVD from 2000 when the film came out. However, especially in the opening, there's lots of specs and dirt over the image. Also at one point these weird and crazy lines show up on the scene while they about to go into the killer's mind. But after the first twenty minutes or so, the transfer is pretty much smooth sailing. THIS FILM NEEDS TO BE REMASTERED!!! 3/5 for the video.

This Blu-ray contains three audio tracks like most of Alliance's exclusive releases; English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, and French 5.1 Dolby Digital. The disc starts on default with English 5.1 Dolby Digital, which you'll have to switch over to the English 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio. I listened to the film with the DTS-HD MA audio and I was quite pleased with the track. I've checked through and felt that the two Dolby Digital tracks were on the flat side. Audio gets a 4/5.

Almost every Alliance exclusive has no extras, including this one. Overall, if you want to upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray, I'd recommend it if you can get it for $10. So far, as of July 2011, this is the only release of the film and I do not see Warner Bros releasing this title any time soon. If WB's master is just as bad as the Alliance master, they need to remaster it without question. That's probably why it has not been released here in the U.S. However, as I do state all the cons about this release, it still scores a 3/5 which isn't that much of a disaster.