Posted January 25, 2021 01:13 AM by Sean Greenwood
For the week of January 25th, Arrow Video brings writer-director Richard Kelly's Southland Tales to Blu-ray. Kelly's sophomore feature film as director stars Dwayne Johnson, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Seann William Scott, and is presented by Arrow in two versions over two Blu-ray Discs: the 145-minute theatrical cut, and the 160-minute "Cannes cut", which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006. both of which have been remastered in 2K from the original DI (digital intermediate) files. Several extras are included beyond just the two different versions, such as a brand new multi-part retrospective documentary with Kelly and members of the crew entitled It's a Madcap World: The Making of an Unfinished Film. In the closing words of his review, Jeffrey Kauffman sums up Arrow's new edition: "Is Southland Tales seemingly willfully perplexing? Yes, but the film does offer a truly bizarre assortment of plot points and attendant visuals. This is another Arrow release of a cult item that may arguably hold as much interest in its supplemental content as for the feature itself. Technical merits are solid, and the supplemental package very enjoyable."
Up next is another big haul of titles from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Beginning with their new release titles, first up is the latest DC animated movie, Sam Liu's Batman: Soul of the Dragon, starring Kelly Hu, Michael Jai White, Mark Dacascos, James Hong, and David Giuntoli. Available on Blu-ray, 4K UHD Blu-ray and a Best Buy Exclusive Limited Edition 4K UHD Blu-ray Gift Set, this new Batman adventure is set in the 1970s and finds Bruce Wayne training with a group of martial artists under a master sensei, when a deadly menace arises that can only be defeated with the combined might of Batman and his allies. Presented in HDR on the UHD Blu-ray, and with several extras on the Blu-ray, including the new 30-minute featurette "Batman - Raw Groove" and a sneak peak as the next DC Universe Movie, Justice Society: World War II. Screenshots and reviews for both the Blu-ray and the 4K UHD Blu-ray are available, courtesy of Randy Miller III.
Then we have two TV seasons from Warner Bros.: Snowpiercer: The Complete First Season and Doom Patrol: The Complete Second Season. The two-disc sets feature all episodes of their respective seasons, featurettes and an episode guide and both come packaged in slipbox packaging. Screenshots and reviews for both releases are available here and the here courtesy of Neil Lumbard and Randy Miller III.
Finally from Warner, no less than four newly remastered classic titles come to Blu-ray via the Warner Archive Collection: After the Thin Man, the first of many sequels to The Thin Man, reuniting William Powell and Myrna Loy, Good News, starring June Allyson and Peter Lawford, Room for One More, starring Cary Grant and his then-wife Betsy Drake and finally, The Pajama Game, starring Doris Day and John Raitt in an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. All except for Room for One More come from 4K masters, often taken from the original camera negaives, and each title includes vintage extras, like radio broadcast versions, deleted material or outtakes, short films, WB and MGM cartoons, and theatrical trailers. In his review of After the Thin Man, Randy Miller III says in part: "Advertised as a "new 4K restoration from the best surviving elements", this stunning 1080p transfer of After the Thin Man is every bit as good as the first one, if not even better. The film's nitrate roots are visible from start to finish, with silvers grays shining through thanks to excellent contrast levels and a strong amount of natural film grain. As a whole, the image is very clean with no signs of excessive digital manipulation, no compression artifacts, and not a hint of edge enhancement or sharpening. Even potentially problematic scenes, such as an extremely foggy nighttime meeting that involves a gun disposal, look as filmic as possible with noise kept to an absolute minimum". Randy's similarly enthusiastic review for The Pajama Game is also already available.
Next, Paramount Home Media Distribution have a new release, the R-rated dark holiday comedy Fatman, starring Mel Gibson, Walton Goggins, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Shaun Benson, and Chance Hurstfield. Gibson stars as Chris Cringle, otherwise known as Santa Claus, who along with Mrs. Claus has fallen on hard times, due to an abundance of "naughty" children in the world. When he is forced to open his workshop up to the U.S. Military in order to make ends meet, the situation becomes complicated when a spoiled rich kid hires an assassin to kill Santa after receiving a lump of coal for Christmas. Paramount's Blu-ray includes a commentary with Mel Gibson and the crew, deleted and extended scenes and a storyborad to film comparison, with optional audio commentary. Reviewing the disc, Martin Liebman says of the picture quality that "Perhaps most telling of the transfer's prowess comes in close-ups. Anytime the camera pushes in and lingers on Gibson's Chris Cringle, audience are treated to a remarkable level of innate depth to wrinkles and razor-sharp definition to the dense facial hair. These shots push the format right to its limits; they couldn't look more densely textured and naturally realized at this resolution. Certainly winter clothes, natural environments, barroom interiors, and the plush estate where Billy lives all thrive, too, each of them revealing corner-to-corner sharpness and allowing the audience to soak in every last minute texture...This one pushes right up against Blu-ray perfection".
Then for Paramount, it's the latest addition to their Paramount Presents lineup of catalogue titles, Melvin Frank's The Court Jester, starring Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury, and Cecil Parker. The classic musical recently has its original VistaVision negative remastered at 6K resolution, from which this new Blu-ray was then derived. The Court Jester is presented with a lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono track, one of the new "Filmmaker Focus" featurettes (here with Leonard Maltin) and the deluxe slipcover packaging that have both been fixtures of the Paramount Presents series. Martin Liebman's review contains a thorough analysis of the disc's picture quality, including words and phrases like "exquisite", "incredible detail" and "magnificent" color that make the disc "a very early contender for placement on 2021's "best of" Blu-ray list". The full review, with plenty of gorgeous screenshots, can be found here.
Finally this week, two more new releases. First, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment will release Jacob Chase's thriller Come Play, starring Gillian Jacobs, John Gallagher Jr., Rachel Wilson, Azhy Robertson, and Winslow Fegley. The film is notable for having been one of the comparatively few films released theatrically in late 2020, and over the Halloween weekend, Come Play topped the box office with $3.2 million, ultimately grossing almost $10 million so far and over $12 million worldwide. No extras are included on the disc, but a review with screenshots is available here courtesy of Martin Liebman.
Lastly, from Lionsgate Home Entertainment comes Alex Ranarivelo's film Born a Champion, starring Dennis Quaid, Katrina Bowden, Sean Patrick Flanery, and Currie Graham. Synopsis: Dennis Quaid and Sean Patrick Flanery headline this powerful martial arts action film about the love for family and the drive for greatness. After a blood-soaked jujitsu match in Dubai, fighting legend Mickey Kelley (Flanery) falls to superstar Blaine. But years later, an online video proves that Blaine cheated, and the world demands a rematch. Can the aging underdog get back into shape in time to vanquish his foe, get revenge, and claim his prize?