Grotesque (2009)

Movie: 2.5/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 3/5
Extras: .5/5
Overall: 2.5/5

"Ugh..."

I wonder what possess a filmmaker to make nothing but extreme violence because Grotesque takes it to the point of overkill. While most people will bash the seven Saw films and brand them with the idiotic and very snobish term "Torture Porn", those films at least have a plot. Hostel at least had a plot. A Serbian Film had a plot. Grotesque does not have a plot. And this is why this film fails.

The film is about a crazed doctor who kidnaps a couple and performs various sexual and violent acts upon them both. That's it, a film with no plot that wants to just show human suffering for seventy-three minutes. Why do I give this film a 2.5/5? I found it somewhat creative and the effects are not a total waste.

Video: 3/5
Presented in 2.35:1 in a 1080p presentation, Grotesque looks like it was shot with a basic high definition camera. While compression artifacts are present throughout, the film does not look completely bad. It's main color scheme of green and brown is somewhat strongly preserved through the whole "film". I give the presentation 3/5.

Audio: 3/5
Media Blasters give Grotesque only one audio presentation; Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo.  For what it is, it does it well. Does it honestly matter if you hear the man and woman scream in 2.0 or 5.1 DTS-HD MA? 3/5.

Extras: .5/5
Only bonus features is a trailer in SD and a DVD copy. Fantastic, .5/5.

Overall: 2.5/5
I question how much it cost Media Blasters to get the rights to this film. A studio that has been running themselves into the ground for years and they cling to whatever shocking garbage that they can get their hands on or make themselves like Late Fee. I think I paid $13 for this, don't pay more than that. 2.5/5.

An Elf's Story (2011)

Movie: .5/5
Video: 5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 1/5
Overall: 3/5

"What's That?"

If A Walk in My Shoes taught me anything, is that there's more propaganda out there than I thought. Now, the makers of "Elf on the Shelf" have made a twenty-six minute short film that is nothing but nonsense for kids. This short revolves around Chippey (What's That?) who is sent from the North Pole to help make a child believe in Santa Clause again.

This short film is short of nothing but annoying music numbers that will make anyone over the age of six annoyed. And this biggest thing that puzzled me over this is that if someone touches an "Elf on the Shelf", it looses its power. Then how the hell do you get it out of the box? .5/5

Video: 5/5

Considering that this is completely computer animation, the video presentation is flawless. There's also the short film in stereoscopic 3D, but, I don't have equipment to view it. Despite that setback, presented in 1.78:1, the video is crystal clear. 5/5.

Audio: 5/5

There's two audio tracks for the short, English DTS-HD MA 5.1 and a LPCM 2.0 stereo track. Default track is the LPCM, why make two mixes is beyond me. It sounds fine for what it is. No complaints, I've complained enough and at the same time, I haven't. 5/5.

Extras: 1/5

There's a two minute trailer for this "short" film. However, I don't know where this trailer came from and who played it because this thing breaks down the whole twenty-five minute short in two minutes. It's like an old school digest 8mm film that you could buy back in the day.

There's a ten minute making of and I found it down right disturbing that this is a family affair. I find it so bizarre how they feel like they made a real movie. If this was fifty minutes longer than what it was, I could understand. This is only twenty-five minutes! They talk about scenes they like where these scenes only last two seconds! Smurfin' smurf, man!

Finally, we have a commentary track that is torture. Whoever the man is who is talking to the women, he sounds like Kenneth from 30 Rock. This is nothing but a self-serving commentary track that's missing lotion. These people clearly have no idea how ADR works as the woman talks about how the actor doing the voice for Santa was putting emotion in to the ADR and throwing his arms in the air.

And finally we have a DVD copy, because why not? Clearly if someone buys a DVD, they don't get a Blu-ray copy with it, so let's give the Blu-ray buyer a DVD for the hell of it. Please... Don't make me sick. I give these bonus materials a painful 1/5.

Overall: 3/5

It pains me to give this Blu-ray the score it gets. It doesn't deserve it. If you do or don't have kids, for the love of everything holy, run away! I paid $4 for this and I regret it since I watched this. Don't be fooled, it does not deserve a 3/5. Maybe Chip Chipperson will love it or at least love Chippey.

The Raid: Redemption (2012)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 3/5
Overall: 4.5/5

"German Release Does Not Contain Original Score."

Note: While the German release does not contain the original Indonesian score, I am not docking points for this release.

The Raid: Redemption tells the tale of a group of special ops who raid a building ran by a drug kingpin. Once inside, they have their cover blown and every vicious killer in the building is out for their heads. Rama (Iko Uwais, Merantau) is a tough soldier who soon takes the lead as he is cut off from his squad leader, Jaka (Joe Taslim; Fast & Furious 6) and other members from the squad. They all realize that the only way out is to go all the way to the top to face the leader of the building.

The movie is an action roller coaster. This was one of the first movies that I had seen after I survived getting hit by a car in 2012. I had to go to a small indie movie theater in Columbus, OH because it was the closest theater playing it. I was still heavily medicated at the time I saw it, so, I think the medicine I was on made me enjoy it more. The theater in my town finally got it a few weeks after and saw it digitally for my second showing of the film. Still loved it. 5/5.

Video: 3/5

Shot in HD, Koch Media uses Sony's transfer of the film. The transfer is very problematic. When I saw it on celluloid the first time, I don't remember it looking that rough. Seeing it on home video on Blu-ray, it looks rough with macro problems all over the place if it's not a close up shot. If I had to guess, this was shot in 720p. I give the video 3/5.

Audio: 5/5

We have two audio tracks for the film; Indonesian and a German dub DTS-HD MA 5.1 tracks. Both tracks sounded evenly good. I have no doubt that the Indonesian audio is probably the same track that is found on the U.S. Blu-ray. I give the audio presentations 5/5.

Extras: 3/5

While the extras in this release pails in comparison of the U.S. Blu-ray; we have the audio commentary by the director, Gareth Evans. Oddly, the commentary does not have any German subs as its in English. Claycat's The Raid which is a stop-motion animation version with cats that was done by a guy who makes Youtube videos. Then we have seven trailers and teasers and tv spots for Germany. And then finally, German dubbed trailers for Margin Call; Black's Game; and Who Killed Marilyn. While it's missing out, I do give the bonus material 3/5.

Overall: 4.5/5

I got this disc off of a Steelbook collector who got rid of the disc for about $5. While it is region free, it's not English friendly. Lucky for me, since German is my second language, this worked out in my favor that I got to experience one of my favorite films in German. If you don't speak German, please wait for my review on the U.S. release by Sony. I give the German Blu-ray 4.5/5.

[Rec.] 2 (2009)

Movie: 3.5/5
Video: 4/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 5/5
Overall: 4.5/5

"Interesting, but..."

[Rec.] 2 takes place minutes after the first film has ended. The plot is pretty simple, after the original crew is sent in, another goes in to find any survivors. This group of police are armed to the teeth in helmet cams, which transitions back and forth from one to the next.

With how we get towards the end and with what we get during the film with all the revelations about the plague kinda turned me off of this whole story line. This is just an oddball route to take; the only thing that I can compare it too is like how the first Feast film was great and then by the time we got to the third film it was just downright atrocious. But, for being a horror film that has lots of jump scares, I did enjoy it. I give the movie 3.5/5.

Video: 4/5

Entertainment One has presented [Rec.] 2 in it's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with an MPEG4 transfer in 1080p. Shot in HD, the quality varies throughout the film. However, it's not as bad as the video quality of another shot on video film I reviewed, like Project X. Mostly the image is crystal clear but there is some video noise that is from the cameras itself, not the digitally manipulated noise that is in post that you can tell is added. I give the film 4/5.

Audio: 5/5

Entertainment One has given [Rec.] 2 two different audio presentations for the film; Spanish DTS-HD MA 5.1 and Spanish LPCM 2.0 stereo. While listening to the audio, the DTS-HD MA 5.1 sounds better of the two tracks.

Extras: 5/5

Entertainment One has given the film a small, but a lot of time consuming bonus materials. First off before we get to the menu, we have trailers for The Tormented, Rec, 7 Days, and Unthinkable. We have an almost two hour documentary of [Rec.] 2 called, In an Infected World. This documentary was all right, it covers most ground about the whole production process. And then another hour of behind the scenes footage. And finally deleted and extended scenes. Watching this all in one sitting can be very over whelming, watch in moderation if interested. 5/5.

Overall: 4.5/5

Entertainment One has given the U.K. a fine disc for [Rec.] 2. Why they couldn't have made this disc region free since they have Canadian rights is beyond me. This disc is region B locked; I managed to buy this used for $3 and for that price, I think I got myself a deal. I give the U.K. release of [Rec.] 2 a 4.5/5.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)

Movie: 3/5
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 3/5
Overall: 3.5/5

"Leave Town!"

Doug Liman's Mr. & Mrs. Smith tells the story of two lovers, John Smith (Brad Pitt; Too Young to Die, World War Z) and Jane Smith (Angelina Jolie; Gone in 60 Seconds, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow) who are married and at the same time do not know that they're both hired assassins. After going on a mission, their covers are blown and now all hell breaks loose. Jane's second in command, Jasmine (Kerry Washington; Django Unchained, Lakeview Terrace) wants everything shut down and soon a hit is put out on both John and Jane's heads.

I have a problem with how the movie ends. To give a slight spoiler to a film that's pushing ten years old, there's no resolution. It's left open for a sequel which never happened and a failed television pilot to continue the story. I'm not too much of a fan of Doug Liman as he's claimed that there would be sequels to this and other films (Jumper) which never materialized. I do think that Pitt and Jolie did a good job on this film, but, the failed resolve makes me give this film a 3/5.

Video: 3.5/5

Kinowelt/Studio Canal has presented Mr. & Mrs. Smith in it's original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Having not seeing the U.S. Blu-ray by Fox, I do not know if this is the same HD transfer. There is grain present throughout the film, but it looks somewhat scrubbed away. I can't tell if it's DNR or what. But, considering this is ten years old, I doubt this film will look any better. 3.5/5.

Audio: 3.5/5

Kinowelt/Studio Canal has given the film two different audio presentations for the film; English and a German dubbing in DTS-HD HR 7.1. For being this high in terms of audio, I found myself turning up the audio slightly. I encountered this in both audio tracks. I guess if you have the proper sound equipment to play in 7.1 channels, it might sound better. I give the audio presentations 3.5/5.

Extras: 3/5

German dubbed trailers for The Bank Job, Jumper, Meet Dave, Million Dollar Baby, P2 , Premonition, The Sentinel, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Three different audio commentary tracks in DTS; With Simon Kinberg and Doug Liman; Michael Tronick, Jeff Mann, and Kevin Elam; and with producers Lucas Foster and Akiva Goldsman. Deleted scenes. Domestic Violence: The Making of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. And Doug's Filmschool. With all this bonus material, if you're a fan of this film, it might be entertaining; but, I felt somewhat bored with all this.

Overall: 3.5/5

Like my previous review of the German Blu-ray for The Tourist, I got this disc from a Steelbook collector who sold off the Region B locked discs. Studio Canal simply re-uses the original Kinowelt disc because it was made before Studio Canal bought them out. I paid $3 for the disc and I know that the U.S. release goes for under $10. I give this German disc a 3.5/5.

Almighty Thor (2011)

Movie: 2/5
Video: 4/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Extras: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

"Learn How to Frame Your Movie!"

Loki (Richard Grieco, 21 Jump Street) is laying waste to Valhalla in search of the hammer of the Gods. Odin (Kevin Nash) sends the hammer to Earth in his final dying breath. Thor (Cody Deal) and Jarnsaxa (Patricia Velasquez, The Mummy; Mindhunters) evade Loki and his horde of evil monsters to escape to Earth. Loki in his quest for the hammer goes to Earth to kill Thor and to try to take control of the galaxy.
For a film from The Asylum, this one is not as bad, but it's not that great either. I guess Thor running around some major city, I am guessing Los Angeles, with an Uzi was a great idea. I wish I was joking about that last sentence, he's fighting Loki head on and is firing an Uzi at him trying to lay him to waste. There's no real honor in that in my humble opinion.

Also, I am giving some harsh criticism towards whoever thought to put the film in scope. In the behind the scenes stuff, we can clearly see that it's all 16:9 and all of the other Asylum films that I have seen are 16:9. It's like they just decided to crop the top and bottom of the screen without properly adjusting the image. Because most of the top, either Thor or Loki's head is completely chopped off the frame while he is talking. That is unacceptable. I give the film 2/5.

Video: 4/5
Presented in 2.35:1 with an MPEG2 encode; Almighty Thor has somewhat of a better transfer than most of the Asylum films that I have seen. Detail is nice and solid with the bitrate being in the high 20's and even goes into the 30's. The film plays on the colors of blue and grey after the first half hour. I think it helps convey the dismal situation that Loki is putting everyone through. I give the video presentation 4/5.

Audio: 3.5/5

We have two audio tracks on the disc; English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0. While listening to the audio tracks, the 2.0 stereo track is loud and has more of a kick to it in comparison to the 5.1 surround sound track. If you do decide to watch this film, go with the 2.0 stereo track. I give the audio 3.5/5.

Extras:  3/5

Trailers for Battle of Los Angeles, 200 M.P.H, Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes, Ballistica, Mega Shark Vs Crocosaurus, Princess and the Pony, and Almighty Thor. A nine minute making of which shows how miserable Richard Grieco looks and claims that this film has a 124 page script. Patricia Velasquez points how fast this film is being made in terms of training and shooting, which was two weeks. Cody Deal seems to have everything wrong about this film and how an audience will react. And a blooper reel which is undesirable. I give the extras a 3/5.

Overall: 3/5

I picked this up for $5. I wouldn't pay more than that for this film. I do know that it is available in a triple feature set with The 7 Adventures of Sinbad and John Carter of Mars. As far as Asylum films go, it's better than Alien Origin; Countdown: Armageddon; and 2012: Doomsday. I give this Blu-ray release of Almighty Thor a 3/5.

Robocop (1987) - Remastered

Movie: 5/5
Video: 4.5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

"Tastes Like Baby Food."

Paul Verhoeven's satire/sci-fi classic Robocop has arrived again on Blu-ray in a remastered version, just in time for the new remake. Alex Murphy (Peter Weller; Star Trek into Darkness) is new to Detroit and on his first day, he is brutally murdered by Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith; Fortress, That '70's Show) and his gang. At the same time at OCP, Rob Morton (Miguel Ferrer, Iron Man 3) pitches the "future of law enforcement" and it all lands in his lap.

Murphy is now the cybernetic being known as Robocop. Reborn, he is sworn to protect the law. All seems to be going well, until he defects and begins to remember his past life and the people who took his life. After chasing down Boddicker; Robocop learns that more sinster things are afoot.

The movie is a classic with humor and sci-fi elements. I used to watch all three Robocop films all the time when I was a little kid, so this film and the sequels have a special place in my heart. The casting is great as we have Peter Weller playing the protagonist with the existential crisis once he snaps and goes after Boddicker and his buddies. Kurtwood Smith always plays a great villainous role, especially as what most people know him for on That '70's Show. The effects are pretty great with props and the stop motion work on ED-209 is top notch. I give the film a 5/5.

Video: 4.5/5

While I never saw the original 2007 Blu-ray, this new remastered version looks fantastic! Presented in 1080p with an MPEG4 encode in it's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. It's as close to perfection as we can get, but there is a few shots that I noticed that still looked somewhat rough to my eyes. Now, some of this footage is from television broadcasts with low quality, I can forgive that. How ever, when Murphy is getting killed by Boddicker, some of the shots looked somewhat scrubbed in terms of detail. I also this again when we have several shots with Boddicker's last scene in the film. But, MGM/Fox has given their second 4K remaster (first being The Terminator) a very strong which makes it look like it was shot yesterday. Quality control here is amazing. 4.5/5.

Audio: 5/5

I personally like what Fox does with catalog titles that most studios don't do anymore; make their discs for worldwide use. Universal used to do it back when they started doing Blu-rays in 2008. As my second and third languages are German and French, it always pleases me when I see that there's a German dub available on a U.S. release. The film is available on the disc in twelve different audio languages with encodes varying from DTS-HD MA 5.1 to Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. And also Fox has given the film subtitles in twenty-three different languages; that is a lot of hard work in terms of making a great disc, is it not?

The English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track sounds great. Effects sound live and flow nicely and I personally have no complaints with it. I've also watched the film with the German dub which is presented in DTS 5.1. It sounds weak in comparison. Seeing as how some of the audio tracks range in terms of encodes, I doubt these are remastered tracks. I do give the audio presentation on the original English DTS-HD MA 5.1 a 5/5.

Extras: 5/5

With the exception of the 2012 Q&A with Paul Verhoeven and Peter Weller and some of the people who worked on the film, I am going to assume that most of these bonus features were available on the original 2007 Blu-ray. The Q&A goes on for almost an hour and is insightful as are most of the other bonus features. There's four behind the scenes featurettes, two of which are from 1987; a very nice English commentary which is also available subtitled in German and French. I give the bonus material 5/5.

Overall: 5/5

FOX and MGM has given Robocop a top notch re-release which you can get for under $10. This is worth having in your library of films. This is an example of a demo disc to show off the beautiful high definition quality of Blu-ray. I give this release a 5/5.