Created by: Brannon Braga, David S. Goyer
Starring: Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, Sonya Walger, Christine Woods, Dominic Monaghan

Flashforward was to be the big LOST replacement water cooler series and it had some great ideas. Unfortunately the series only lasted one season. Was it a bad show or did the marketing just not support the show enough?

The Series

One day the entire world blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. The visuals of hundreds of people lying passed out in the middle of whatever they were doing when the blackout happened were striking. These visuals are part of what made Flashforward one of the most anticipated shows of last year. While everyone was unconscious most of them saw a vision of their future while others saw nothing but blackness. After the blackout FBI agent Mark Benford and his team were tasked with investigating the blackout and discovering what and who caused the blackout. The story slowly went deeper and deeper and more and more complex as people began to see how their flashforwards were going to affect others in the future and still more people began seeking each other out to confirm and even change their futures.

The concept, in the beginning, was exciting and mysterious but the show had some real problems that just seemed to hold it back. The first issue early on is the painfully slow pacing. There were some secondary plots developed that were meant to gain viewer interest and allow the writers to prolong the greater story but the execution of these secondary story didn’t quite work in the early episodes. One thing that bothered me from the beginning is that the damage left from every single person on the planet passing out was never properly represented. Some car wrecks and fires were shown but everything seemed to be back ok in a very short amount of time. As the show progressed the writers and producers got better at wrangling all of these characters and the story but that happened after the show went through an overly long hiatus, too long for a new show trying to find an audience. The show also had a problem that the Star Trek TV shows had by the end of their runs, it often got bogged down in pseudoscience techno babble which sometimes left big reveals a little hazy.

Flahsforward was an ambitious TV series which required a steady hand to execute properly and in the end the lack of a seasoned showrunner behind the scenes in those early episodes is probably the reason for the show’s downfall. David S. Goyer is one of the most interesting writers working in film today but he’s never been a showrunner prior to Flashforward and it just took him too long to find his footing.  The episodes that came after the hiatus featured a new showrunner, a faster pace, and some more interesting dramatic elements. By the end of the season the show is incredibly riveting but also by then it was too late to rescue it from a ratings nightmare.

7/10

The Video

The widescreen video looks good hear with colors and black levels looking fine. There’s some grain on the disc but it was there during the original broadcast too. It’s not HD but it’s as good as most modern TV to DVD presentations.

8/10

The Audio

The Dolby DTS 5.1 sound is fairly solid with a nice mix for dialogue, score, and fx. There’s some nice surround speaker use in more action heavy scenes but the surrounds go a little dead during scenes requiring more subtle ambient noise. It sounds good but it’s not the set you want to crack open to demo your system.

8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The complete set is packaged in a plastic keep case with a cardboard slipcover. The art feels a little basic even though it does reference the show as a mosaic design.

All of the featurettes from the original volume one release of the show are here and they feel a little weird as they focus on promoting the second half of the season.

Flashforward on Set offers some nice behind the scenes footage showing how some of the scenes were created for the show. There’s a featurette focused on the kangaroo that just feels like fluff because there’s no real information provided. Architects of Destiny is a featurette that focuses on some of the bigger events in the series. There’s a mildly amusing gag reel. There’s one commentary that offers some good behind the scenes information but not much as far as extending the story. On that note there’s nothing in these featurettes that even hints to where the show might have gone had it lasted. Since the show is based on a book you know that the creators had at least a vague road map leading to the end of the series had it been successful. There’s very little in the way of cast interviews outside of the scant clip from a Comic-Con panel and no interview with the author of the book.

There are a few good bits of information here and there but there’s room for so much more to have been done to make this set truly enhance the viewing experience.

5/10

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

The Review
The Series 7/10
The Video 8/10
The Audio 8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

Directed by John Landis

Suzie and I first discovered this film about a hyper, alcoholic, professional car salesman at the Nashville Film Festival. Now Docurama has brought it to DVD. So he and I decided to sit down and take another look at the film and see if it holds up to our original viewing.

The Movie

Few men in our society are regarded with such contempt and suspicion as the used car salesman accept for possibly lawyers, politicians, and Satan.

The film opens as Michael Bennett is on his way to Memphis, TN. Michael Bennett is well known in the world of used car sales. He lives in California but is hired by car dealerships throughout the United States for his ability to sell a lot of cars in a short period of time. Bennett will arrive at the dealership with another salesman employed by him, a disc jockey and mind full of ideas. Once he arrives, he virtually takes over. He immediately covers the dealership in balloons and signs. He hires pretty girls to “sweet talk” and assist the customers with loan applications. His disc jockey spins the tunes as he works the crowd in his cheap tuxedo. He inflates the prices of the used cars for sale and writes this number on the windshield. When a person expresses interest in a car, he then “slashes” or reduces the price to make it appear as if the person is receiving a “once in a lifetime” deal. The person is not receiving a great deal rather simply paying the regular value of the car. He is known for setting up the $88 car promotion. To listen to the ads, one would think there are several cars being sold for a mere $88.00. However, there is just one per day and it is unmarked. These cars are in dramatically poor condition and are not worth much more than $88 on any car lot. But, the hope of getting a car for $88 is enough to bring in the crowds giving Bennett the opportunity to put them in something that costs significantly more.

Memphis, Tennessee is known as the bankruptcy capital of the world. Times are hard in Memphis and so is the car business. Chuck Hutton Toyota is overstocked with stale merchandise. The dealership is having a difficult time achieving a goal of 30 cars a month. They hire Bennett and his crew to set up a Memorial Day weekend sale in hopes of revitalizing their business.

Bennett is quite a character. He reveals that he has had several brushes with the law and has been in jail. He has a drinking problem that is very apparent as he grabs a bottle of beer for breakfast as he is preparing to leave for Memphis and drinks continuously once arriving. He has the raspy voice of a man who makes his living by doing nothing but talking and screaming. He has a wife and several daughters. Michael Bennett is a walking contradiction: he is a loving husband and father who misses his family immensely while he is on trips but he is also able to look a person directly in the eye and overcharge them for a car that is mechanically questionable.

Watching the Memorial Day weekend sale unfold is thoroughly entertaining. The audience is kept laughing and on the edge of their seats to see if Bennett is able to deliver what he has promised Chuck Hutton Toyota. The soundtrack that accompanies Slasher is quintessential Landis, filled with great soul and rhythm and blues music that will have your toe tapping the whole film.

Slasher does not inspire faith and trust in your local used car salesman or in the used car business in general but provides a humorous and insightful look at one of its most dynamic and flawed individuals.

The film does seem to drag a bit in the middle and changes gears a bit at the halfway mark from a character study to a more epic storyline. Other than these minor quibbles this is a great look into the life and work of quite a unique individual.

9/10

The Video

The movie is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen and for the most part looks good. We say that taking into consideration that the original source material for the DVD was shot on video. Everything associated with video is present including dull colors, grain, and an overall flat look. But colors are well balanced, even if they are flat, and there was no obvious edge enhancement or artifacting. Docrama reproduced the image from the source quite accurately with this release.

8/10

The Audio

The Dolby 2.0 mix is pretty basic but for what it is, it’s well done. Dialogue and music come through the front channels crisp and clean. No bells or whistles for the surround sound fans but this movie realy doesn’t call for it.

8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The DVD comes in a standard amaray keep case with the poster art reproduced for the cover. The DVD features a sort making of featurette, deleted scenes, and a feature commentary with Director John Landis and producers.

The meat of the extras is definitely the commentary. While definitely not the best commentary as it features several long dead spots and some unexplained inside jokes it does however feature some amusing stories and information about the struggles to get the movie made.

The IFC Making of featurette presents a bit of behind the scenes footage and an interview with Landis. It feels a little bit to promotional, like an extended trailer.

The deleted scenes are fairly brief and were wisely cut as they would have bogged the film down. It is interesting to see what the filmmakers cut versus what they decided to keep though.

There are also text card biographies for the producers and for director John Landis.

7/10

John Landis has told some of the greatest stories ever committed to film and now he has successfully utilized his skills as a story teller in the world of documentaries.

Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

Review:
The Movie 9/10
The Video 8/10
The Audio 8/10
The Bonus Features 7/10
Overall 8/10

This week we are overflowing with speakers as super fan Dwayne joins as does Tom from Geeks of Doom! We talk The Last Exorcism, Expendables 2, Fantastic Four reboots, Comic Book TV, and Scarlet Brian Michael Bendis’ new project!

Directed by: Sam Raimi
Starring: Bruce Campbell

Anchor Bay has a stable of films they just seem to keep finding reasons to reissue in slightly updated form.  Some examples are Halloween, Hellraiser, and the Evil Dead films.  We get different boxes and some different bonuses features and on occasion new transfers of the films. Many critics have said that Anchor Bay has taken advantage of the rabid fan base for these films and those critics are probably right.  The question is how is that different than most other distributors?  I will say that there have been a fairly excessive number of versions of the Evil Dead series.  This one however makes sense as it is a true upgrade in the audio and video presentation of this film.

The Movie

What is it that has elevated this little low budget horror film from the 70’s to this mega cult status?  It’s that there’s more to this little film than the limitations of the budget and the expectations of the genre.  If you haven’t seen this film where have you been?

The plot is simple; a group of young people take a vacation trip to a remote cabin and they discover “The Book of the Dead”.  Of course the guys in the group decide to read from the book and demons are called forth to take over the bodies of the group, everyone except Ash (Campbell).  The film is completely over the top and super gory.  The special effects are cheap but the film is shot in such a way that they work for the most part.

Things get interesting when Ash finds himself fighting against demons that were once his friends.  Campbell carries this film on sheer charisma and quirky humor.  Raimi also shoots the film in a quite innovative ways that are still being emulated today both in low budget films and Hollywood blockbusters.  When you see the low shots of the demons moving through the forest you won’t be able to tell me you haven’t seen similar scenes in movies that came after.  There’s also a classic scene than pans across the group from above inside the cabin and a whooshing noise occurs for no reason every time a rafter passes across the screen.  There’s no reason for the noise other than building suspense and it works.

The Evil Dead came at the end of an era of humorless and dark horror such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Exorcist. As much as I like the humorless atmosphere and sociopolitical commentary that was heavy in 70’s and early 80’s horror films like Night of the Living Dead I appreciate how The Evil Dead strips all of that away in favor of a completely visceral experience with an infusion of black comedy something that became more popular in the genre after this film was released.

I saw this film on VHS when I was growing up and loved it, and was disgusted by it for one reason; every big gore explosion hit Ash square in the mouth and inevitably his mouth was open.  It was completely gross and hilarious.  Few films have ever been this well made on this low a budget.  It’s highly stylized and aggressively directed and paced making it feel extreme and exciting along with funny, scary, and gross.  Some critics have said there’s no character development and the plot is nonexistent.  They might be right. but this film happens so quickly it just feels like there was no time to get to know any of the characters.  Usually I would complain about a lack of character development too but for this film it’s just unnecessary.  No horror fan should be without this film in their collection in some form.

9/10

The Video

There are two versions of the film on this blu-ray, a full frame and an anamorphic presentation. I just don’t understand why Anchor Bay bothered with the full frame version. Right away the 1080p HD video looks worlds better than any previous version of the film released to home video. That’s not to say it’s perfect because the HD presentation actually makes some of the print damage stand out a little more than it did but it also makes the colors pop without blooming and the detail that is present in this low budget film stand out better than ever before. Skin tone and detail are excellent and black levels are their most solid in this version. This is still a very old very low budget film so you can only expect so much from it. With that said 1080p does help the overall look of the film making this version easily the best looking home video presentation yet.

9/10

The Audio

The Dolby Digital TrueHD 5.1 presentation here is surprisingly well executed.  Dialogue, score, and fx are well balanced and clear of hiss and distortion. The audio has always played a big part in this film and the way it is applied to the surround stage is very solid. The whooshing sound of the camera flying through the woods is bolstered by nice sub woofer use and directional fx. The audio experience is taken from mono materials so only so much can be done with it and Anchor does everything they possibly can here. The quiet moans sound great and the purposefully shrill bits are effective but never excessive. Again, considering the age of the film and the lowbudget nature of the source this an exceptional presentation.

8.5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

As I mentioned earlier Anchor Bay loves to double and triple dip this one and they’ve set up this release for multiple aversions. The move to blu-ray makes sense because it’s a true upgrade for folks with HDTV’s. The set up I’m talking about is how they’ve purposefully left out some bonus features from previous releases of this film to DVD. They even left out some of the bonus features from the recent Ultimate Edition DVD release. Now I could understand it if they were putting out a simple value priced movie only version of the blu-ray and were planning to later release a premium packaged, and premium priced version. The problem is that only hardcore fans buy this movie and others like it and they won’t gove up the current version they have infavor of a new one with no extras even if the video and sound are better. So, Anchor Bay has to drop some bonus features on the release to get it selling. The problem is that fans know they’re getting screwed because of the missing extras that Anchor Bay did not include that will be added to some other version coming out later. On top of that most of the extras in this release are on a bonus DVD, so they are not in HD.

At any rate, the first and most attractive extra in this set is the all new audio commentary with director Sam Raimi, producer Rob Tapert, and star Bruce Campbell. These three have done a lot of shilling for this film including multiple commentaries and you can tell they’re all a little bored with discussing it. There is some new and good information in the commentary but it’s much more dry than previous chats these three have had about Evil Dead.

The first featurette on the SD DVD is One by One We Will Take You: The Untold Saga of The Evil Dead.  This is the highly detailed documentary that this film ahs deserved for years.  All of the actors that appeared in the film other than the star Bruce Campbell appear in the documentary to discuss the film as does the producer and nearly every crew member.  Just about anything you want to know about the film is revealed in this documentary.It is ridiculous that Bruce Campbell is nowhere to be found in this highly detailed document of this classic film. I interviewed him a while back for his direct-to-SCIFI Channel films and he was a pretty grumpy dude when it came to all things Evil Dead.  It was a pleasure to see new generation filmmakers Eli Roth (Hostel) and Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) sharing their stories about seeing Evil Dead and discussing how the film has influenced them.

Disc two features an hour of extended scenes, behind the scenes footages, and outtakes called Treasures From the Cutting Room Floor.  The scenes are tied together and just put out there with no interruption for fans to watch.  I loved seeing the behind the scenes stuff because you really get a feel for what the working conditions were like during the making of this film.

The Ladies of Evil Dead Meet Bruce Campbell is a half our featurette where bruce Campbell sits down with his three leading ladies and discusses their experiences working on Evil Dead and even in some cases before the classic film.

Discovering The Evil Dead is a brief but surprisingly interesting discussion of the bumpy distribution history of the film.  I found it really intriguing to hear what Raimi and Co. went through to get this film out to the public.

Unconventional is a 20 minute interview session with all of the cast of the film and Ted Raimi who actually is a stunt double in the film and the young age of 14.  The interview actually happens in a ball room at a horror convention, probably after they all did a panel together.  There is Evil Dead discussion but the focus is more on convention experiences.  Again Campbell seems the most jaded about the convention circuit.

At the Drive-In is an odd featurette that runs around 13 minutes and features the cast at a special drive-in screening of the film giving away an early DVD release of the film.  There’s really not much to this other than watching the cast give away DVD’s.

There’s a 30 minute recording of a panel discussion from a convention called Reunion that features most of the cast.  The actors don’t really seem to take the fans to seriously in this panel, which in a way is understandable but hey these people did pay to come to this event.  There’s nothing here that we didn’t already learn from the other featurettes.

Make Up Test is so short if you blink you’ll miss it running just over a minute.  It shows some very brief special effects footage. Other than that there’s a brief additional scene of Bruce looking through the book of the dead, some stills, a trailer, and some TV spots.

All of this stuff is great and also available in standard def on the previous release of Evil Dead along with one additional lengthy and worthwhile Ladies of Evil Dead documentary. There are other commentaries from previous releases and some additional featurettes. All of these will eventually see the light of day on blu-ray but the question is when they do  which of the bonus features listed on this disc will be left out? I own two or three different versions of Halloween and that’s dumb but I do because I want all of the bonus features. That’s exactly what Anchor Bay is doing with Evil dead here.

These bonus features are great, but they are the exact same ones as were on the previous release not even up-converted to HD. So we get a new commentary with three guys that are a little tired of discussing the film over a previous one where they were cracking jokes and having a good time sharing stories about the film, rereleased previous bonus features, and some of the really good stuff purposefully left out. As good as what’s here is I have to take points from the score because this feels like a plceholder for what will hopefully be a better packaged and more complete blu-ray to be released at a later date. If you ahven’t seen these interviews then you are in for a treat though.

7.5/10

Evil Dead looks and sounds fantastic on this blu-ray better than it has ever looked or sounded before. The only problem is that not much care was put into the bonus features. It feels like some of the previous “Ultimate Editions” were unboxed and one of the bonus discs from that set was taken out and slipped into these blu-ray cases along with the movie. Fanswho love this movie really love it and they support it with their dollars so they should be shown a little respect and not be constantly double and triple dipped just to make a buck. Even with these complaints the movie just looks so freat here and the extras, while rehashed and in SD are still really good. If you just can’t wait for that premo edition that’s sure to come this is a solid release in every way.

Overall (Not an average) 8/10

The Review
The Movie 9/10
The Video 9/10
The Audio 8.5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 7.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

Directed by Noboru Ishiguro
Featuring Voices by Katsuyuki Konishi, Daisuke Kishio and Takashi Kondo

Galaxy under constant military threat seeks one brave, apathetic main character to inspire long talks of rebellion.

The Series

The galactic Valdana Empire rules over planets and planets with the iron fist of the Tytania military family. The powerful, generational-old clan spreads fear and tyranny across the stars that even the emperor fears to speak out against. But then the young space admiral Fan Hyurlick hands Tytania its first defeat in a battle no one expected him to win, including his own country. Now Fan is on the run as the cracks in Tytania’s armor grow more and more in the face of a restless galaxy.

This collection is the first half of the series, starting with Tytania’s defeat and following the ensuing ripple effect. Tytania, it seems, hasn’t been making too many friends as it plowed through space fleets and conquered worlds for the empire.

The premise sounds like a good revolt in the making, but everything is so slow. Much of these episodes are characters just sitting and talking. The main five Tytanian leaders often gather alone to talk about how glorious Tytania is and how they should protect and enforce their persuasion to random dissenters. All while the main character Fan evades detection and runs into new allies on the run who also like to talk the audience’s heads off.

For as big of a space battle opera as this show wishes to be, it has too little sense of scale. Tytania is a supposedly large army, but so few are ever focused on. The same with the dissenting forces. Only about five or six characters on any side ever get screen time, so when dozens and dozens of cheap CGI ships appear for a space battle, they seem lifeless because all the characters are safe on the flag ships. There’s no audience impact when ships get destroyed because there’s no audience connection with characters they never see.

Plus it’s all too far in between. Only four major battles actually happen in the collection, and two of them are in the last two episodes.

Everything ultimately feels uneventful as very little seems to be getting done to progress the story of rebellion. Side stories with fairly benign characters take up entire episodes that accomplish no real character growth or plot development. The main character Fan is almost entirely indifferent to the events around him. The characters who do get up in arms against Tytania are ineffective at best. It’s all a boring experience that becomes a chore to watch. The story isn’t inherently bad. It’s just drawn out and improperly focused so that it loses any interest to captivate viewers long enough to finish one disc, let alone go out and buy the second half.

4/10

The Video

The series is in anamorphic 16:9 widescreen. The colors are bright and vibrant (almost too much on some characters). The animation is pretty stiff though, and the CGI for the spaceships looks pretty cheap (especially when exploding).

5/10

The Audio

Only Japanese 2.0 audio. With all the talking in this series, it really could use an English dub. Otherwise, you’re going to have to stay glued to the screen just to follow the conversation. The soundtrack is fairly average and forgettable.

4.5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The two-disc collection comes in a standard DVD case. The art on the cover and on the discs is well drawn, and the general jacket design itself is fine. The extras are the basic trailers, DVD credits and clean opening and ending animations. Nothing special there.

4.5/10

Tytania is a drudge to get through. Lot of dialog to pay attention to even when nothing happens. Despite its pedigree of the director of the original Macross series and the author of the Legend of the Galactic Heroes novels, this collection is completely passable.

Overall (Not an Average) 4.5/10

The Review
The Series 4/10
The Video 5/10
The Audio 4.5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 4.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 4.5/10

Cult Epics brings us this new collection on of nunsploitation films. Nunsploitation is a subgenre of the overall exploitation genre. Nunsploitation is one of those subgenres that is really the most cult of this sort of cult cinema. It’s not that it’s just so edgy or racy; it’s just a little lesser known. Nunsploitation didn’t take hold in the United States like it did in Europe and Asia in the 60’s and 70’s. The fan base in the states is rabid but there are few films of the genre, quality films anyway, that were actually made in this country.

Nunsploitation could be called “nuns behaving badly”. There’s something visually creepy about all of these women dressed in these black robes and the religion itself even has a cultish vibe. Those two elements alone set a great stage for all sorts of debauchery. Add to that the sexual elements of “what could they be wearing under those long dark robes” and the fact that the setting features a bunch of women living together and a complete genre of film is born. All of these films feature some sort of sexual element with some simply focusing on the erotica while others find nuns going even further and becoming completely evil.

Behind Convent Walls Interno di un convento (1978)
Directed by: Walerian Borowczyk
Starring: Ligia Branice, Howard Ross, Marina Pierro, Gabriella Giacobbe

In this film a Priest convinces a Mother Superior to become stricter on the nuns in her convent and when she does she uncovers some dark truths about the nuns such as the lengths they go to satiate their carnal desires. The tropes of exploitation and nunsploitation are all in play here including lesbianism and general sacrilegious behavior. The tougher the Mother Superior tries to get the more rebellious the nuns become until one of them takes drastic action committing the worst of sins.

The film is well acted and directed but it’s the gorgeous visual style that makes this thread bare story stand out above most other similar films. The film was shot by Luciano Tovoli the same man that made Dario Argento’s Suspiria a visual feast. This film has a distinctly art house look and the sexual elements have a sort of innocent playful feeling outside of one particular almost out of place shot. This film is standard erotic nunsploitation focusing on pent up sexuality but the execution of the film from the acting to the cinematography and editing make it one of the better installments in the genre.

8/10

School of the Holy Beast (1974)
Director: Norifumi Suzuki
Starring: Yumi Takigawa, Emiko Yamauchi, Yayoi Watanabe, Ryouko Ima

This Toho film is a lot less art house and more extreme exploitation than the previous film. All of the tropes of erotica are here but there’s another layer of violence and torture sending this film way over the top. After the mysterious death of her mother a young woman decides to join the convent where her mother resided to try and find the truth about what happened. The setting is modern day, well for 1974 anyway, until she enters the convent then it becomes what I like to call Toho time. Whether they are exploitation pinky films or martial arts actioners  these Toho films from the early 70’s all have the same heavily lit vibrant colored costumes and shallow sets.

This film from exploitation maven Norifumi Suzuki has become known as one of Japan’s most notorious nunsploitation films, a crown not attained easily, mostly due to an over the top torture scene involving  whipping with rose thorns. This one’s campy and weird, all the things you hope for from Asian exploitation and it’s beautifully shot in with the Toho machine behind the scenes.

8/10

The Video

Both films show their age coming from rough source material leading to some grain and unbalanced contrast but with age as a consideration both films come off quite well on their DVD’s. Black levels could definitely stand to look a little more solid rather than the murky gray that is often the case but that’s a minor complaint. Even though it’s the older of the two films School of the Holy Beast features the best presentation with the vibrant reds and whites surviving the age of the source material and the transfer to DVD really nicely.

7.5/10

The Audio

The audio on both films is very basic in presentation and again the presentation show some age with a few balance issues and slightly muffled dialogue in places but overall as basic as the presentations are they sound fine.

6.5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

Both films come packaged in standard amaray cases with fantastic retro exploitation artwork. The art on both cases is eye catching and it perfectly sells the films. The two amaray cases are presented in a cardboard box with hilariously suggestive image taken from Behind Covenant Walls.

Each film surprisingly features some bonus materials including interviews with cast, trailers, and still galleries. None of the interviews are particularly in depth but they are fun additions to the collection. Some sort of nunsploitation documentary or featurette would have been interesting to go with these films.

7/10

Overall my biggest complaint is the title of “Nunsploitation Collection”. The word collection infers many titles not just two. Outside of that minor quibble these are great examples of the genre and a must for fans. One film features cinematography by one of the world’s best cinematographers and another by one of Japan’s most controversial directors.

Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

The Review
Behind Convent Walls 8/10
School of the Holy Beast 8/10
The Video 7.5/10
The Audio 6.5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 7/10
Overall (Not an average) 8/10

Directed by Thor Freudenthal
Starring: Robert Capron, Chloe Moretz, Zachary Gordon, Grayson Russell

“Zoo Wee Mama!”
Robert Capron as Rowley

I didn’t know what to expect from this film. Based on the popular children’s book series written by Jeff Kinney with the first book of the series published in 2007, the whole Wimpy Kid phenomena somehow passed by me entirely. Could it be that I am totally out of their demographic? Anyway, is The Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie any fun? Let’s explore, shall we?

The Movie

To Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon), middle school is possibly one of the dumbest ideas ever invented.

His older brother, when not trying to murder him, gives him a piece of advice before the first day of school: “don’t say anything, don’t go anywhere, don’t sit anywhere, and don’t look at anyone”.

Greg soon learns that middle school is riddled with hundreds of social landmines, the least of which is not finding a table at lunch time and having to sit on the floor. What is the worst? Well, that would be the “cheese touch”, contracted by touching a festering piece of cheese in the recess yard that is infected with nuclear level “cooties”

To survive the never-ending ordeal, Greg devises an endless series of can’t-miss schemes, some of them work, and most of them fail miserably. Greg keeps a journal (not a diary, he insists!!) filled with his opinions, thoughts, tales of trials, tribulations, and schoolyard triumphs and humiliations.

By his side is his ever faithful, sweet natured but clueless friend Rowley (Robert Capron), whose climb up the social ladder is doomed from the start and his new and extremely weird friend Fregley (Grayson Russell).

Add to this is a girl named Angie Steadman (Chloe Moretz), who is a bit older than Greg but so much cooler and more knowledgeable. Greg can’t decide if he wants to align with Angie or is she one of the enemies?

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid is an entertaining little flick that gets the whole pre-adolescent angst thing just right. Integrating the cartoon graphics from the book seamlessly with the live action segments, the movie stays light, funny and fast paced throughout.

Performances are solid throughout, in particular Grayson Russell as Fregley, who brings such a weirdly charismatic turn to his character. Moretz, fresh from her turn as Hit Girl in Kick Ass, turns in a good performance too. Robert Capron as the naïve and loveable Rowley turns in a noteworthy performance as well.

Diary of A Wimpy Kid was a surprise for me. It seems so many of the live action films aimed toward families or kids these days are just schlocky warmed over crap. This film has some nicely developed character dynamics in between the wacky situations. Some of the relationships among the children were very reminiscent of the nuanced dynamics present in one of my favorite films featuring children’s relationships to each other Stand By Me.

So, if you have a kid in the house, this one is a no-brainer. But even if you don’t have a rug rat running around, this one at least makes a fun and lighthearted night of entertainment for the adults in your house that are still in touch with the kid inside. And, thank god “cheese touch” wasn’t around when I was 11.

7.5/10

Video

Presented in a 1080p AVC anamorphic widescreen transfer, Diary of a Wimpy Kid has an overall decent transfer. The level of detail is respectable, as well as the black levels. The color palette is vibrant and I did not notice any artifacts.

6.5/10

The Audio

Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, the film sounds good overall.  The dialogue track is crystal clear and easily understood. The sound mix, while not spectacular, is straightforward and no-frills. The soundtrack is mixed well.

6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The film is presented in a blu amaray case with artwork appropriate for the film presented. As a bonus, there is brand new 6 page story by Jeff Kinney attached to the cover. Nice touch for Wimpy Kid fans.

There is an audio commentary with director Thor Freudenthal and Writer Gabe Sachs that makes for an enjoyable listen. There are several deleted scenes to peruse, as well as behind the scenes featurettes. If your blu ray player is BD Live enabled, there is an additional 4 minute interview with the Wimpy Kid creator Jeff Kinney.

There is also a regular DVD copy and digital copy included.

7/10

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

The Movie
The Movie 7.5/10
The Video 6.5/10
The Audio 6/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 6/10
Overall (not an average) 7/10

Orland Park (IL) (August 24, 2010) – Dark Sky Films, a division ofMPI Media Group, announced today that in anticipation of the upcoming Halloween horror movie season, Adam Green’s HATCHET II will be distributed in theaters across the country beginning Oct 1. The film will be released without an MPAA rating, marking the widest release of an unrated genre film in more than 25 years.

AMC Theatres, under its AMC independent program, will be exhibiting HATCHET II in the top 20 markets across the country. Vitagraph Films is serving as theatrical distributor.

The announcement regarding the HATCHET II release was made jointly by Adam Green with MPI Media Group’s Senior Vice President of Acquisitions Greg Newman.

A ferociously fun tribute to the old-school horror sensation slasher movies of the 80’s, HATCHET II is the follow-up to the popular original film, which was released theatrically in 2007 and became a sleeper-hit, gaining a wide following on DVD. The cast of HATCHET II features a cavalcade of horror movie icons including Danielle Harris (HALLOWEEN) and Kane Hodder (FRIDAY THE 13th), reprising his role as serial killer Victor Crowley. Also starring are Tony Todd (CANDYMAN) and R.A. Mihailoff (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE).

Director Adam Green said, “Having a movie as graphically over the top as HATCHET II come out in major theatres unrated is an absolute dream come true — not only for the genre fans but for the entire make-up effects crew who normally have to watch their amazing achievements get sliced and diced for theatrical release. This is an important event for the horror genre and I hope the real horror fans support HATCHET II and help change the way genre films are released theatrically from this day forward. Kudos to Dark Sky Films and AMC theaters for truly honoring the spirit of old school American horror and doing this right. Gorehounds won’t know what hit them!”

Dark Sky Films’ Newman added, “We are thrilled that audiences will not have to wait for a director’s cut or unrated version of Adam Green’s HATCHET II. On October 1st fans will have the opportunity to see Hatchet II in theaters exactly as it was intended to be seen: full-on, uncut and uncensored! We hope that this unrated release of HATCHET II marks a new trend in providing an uncompromised theatrical experience for genre film lovers nationwide.”

“Our AMC independent program embraces diverse storytelling of all types,” said AMC Theatres’ Vice President, Specialty & Alternative Content, Nikkole Dneson-Randolph. “Bringing a story like HATCHET II to our guests is a natural fit during this time of year and we’re excited to share the filmmakers’ vision on-screen in its intended state.”

Check out the trailer!

Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Alex Maleev

Scarlet is as mad as hell, and she’s not going to take this anymore in this Bendis-Maleev creator-owned endeavor.

The Story

Scarlet has opened her eyes. She sees the scum and filth of the Earth. Corruption in the police, crime committed out in the open, people generally being dicks. Yet no one does anything… until she does.

Scarlet (probably has something to do with her red hair) is a young woman with a fairly normal life until an incredibly crappy event forces her to realize that the world is broken with corruption, greed and apathy. So she just goes to town beating the crap out of people she comes across not being particularly nice to their fellow man.

The first striking thing about the story is Scarlet talking to the audience. With rectangular dialog bubbles, Scarlet looks straight out of the panel and converses with you, the reader. All while the actual story goes on at the same time. Think Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Here, it’s a well-used technique to help the reader identify with the character and hear her story straight from herself. That’s an important aspect for such a character-centric book. Especially when the character starts out killing a cop. Kind of good to get her side of the story.

Throw in a neat montage to help show off Scarlet’s average life, and you can see Bendis playing around with his storytelling techniques. And it’s paying off with a refreshing and entertaining read.

Beyond the creative storytelling though, this issue looks like The Punisher as a cute redhead. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s not anything particularly new or worthwhile enough to dedicate to a hold box. Bendis promises the title will enlarge with scope as Scarlet creates a sort of domino-effect movement that expands to a federal and even global level. However, that isn’t too apparent from this first issue. Hopefully signs of that growth will occur soon. With Bendis pulling out some techniques out of his hat, this is a fun book to read, but those tricks won’t hold up for long if the story doesn’t progress beyond simple street-level vigilantism.

I like how Bendis tells the story, but the story itself needs a bit more development.

8/10

The Art

Alex Maleev rejoins Bendis and brings his high-quality art from Daredevil and Spider-Woman. His gritty, lifelike detailing conveys the dark reality Scarlett is dealing with. The expressions are full of emotions that vary widely with even subtle changes in similar panels. Everyone looks like regular people, even down to the baggy clothes Scarlet and her fellow inner-city college friends wear. This is the kind of realism I think Maleev does best in, free from the impossibly spectacular heroics in typical Marvel comics.

The coloring does a good job separating the past and present, with the present scenes in a mostly blue tint, and past in yellow. The one main constant is Scarlet’s vividly red hair. The coloring in general is a great match for the art, together making a great fit for the story.

9.5/10

In addition to the comic itself, the back of the book contains a few extras. Bendis introduces contact info (including an old school AOL email address), an interview he did with IGN, alternate covers and even some scripting with art. It also has a relatively cheap price (this Icon Comics title is a whole four cents cheaper than Marvel’s main $3.99 price point) while still keeping the ads few. It’s a good read and a good start. Let’s hope it keeps building up.

9/10

The Review
Story 8/10
Art 9.5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 9/10

Directed by Wim Wenders
Starring: Gerry Bamman,  Natassaja Kinski, Dennis Hopper, Udo Kier

If you ever wanted to immerse yourself in the work of Wim Wenders, this is the box set that will do it. If you are familiar with the work of this prolific German filmmaker, you are in for a treat. Most cinephiles are acquainted with his films Wings of Desire, Paris, Texas or The End of Violence, but those are just a few films in a huge body of work. Anchor Bay recently released The Wim Wenders Collection: Volume Two.

The Collection

Included in this release are the films The Scarlet Letter (1973), Notebook on Cities and Clothes (1975), The American Friend (1977), The Wrong Move (1979), Lighting Over Water (1980), Tokyo Ga (1985), Room 666 (1985) and A Trick of the Light( 1995).  I will give a brief synopsis of each, then reveal my favorites from among those offered.

The Scarlett Letter is Wender’s version of the classic Nathaniel Hawthorne story of  Hester Prynne. Wender’s version stars Rafael Albaicin, Angel Alvarez and Senta Berger.

Notebook on Cities and Clothes is a documentary about Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto. He has a conversation with the designer about living a creative life and discusses technology and the evolution of big cities.

The American Friend stars Dennis Hopper and is Wenders’ take on the mystery/thriller genre. Jonathan Zimmermann, a picture framer in Hamburg is diagnosed as having leukemia. Ripley (Dennis Hopper), an American art dealer who deals in forgeries, uses this fact to arrange for a mob associate of his to recruit Zimmermann as a hit man. Zimmermann agrees to this to ensure his family’s financial future. Zimmermann descends into a nightmare world of deceit and double dealing.

The Wrong Move stars Natassja Kinski, Hans Christian Blech and Hanna Schygulla. The Wrong Move is look into 6 days in the life of Wilhem, a man that is truly a loner. By chance, he meets two unusual travelers on a train and his life is changed.

Lightning Over Water is a documentary about Wenders’friend Nicholas Ray as Ray is dealing with relationships and emotions as he is dying from cancer.

Tokyo Ga is a documentary of Wenders’ trip to Japan. A big fan of Japanese cinema, and in particular, the films of Yasujiro Ozu, Wenders’ is eager to discover the Japan of yesteryear.

Room 666 is a documentary about the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. He asks various directors, actors and attendees about the future of cinema.

A Trick of the Light is a documentary about Wenders’ experience as a film professor at the Munich Film School.

While I enjoyed all of the films, I have my favorites from among those offered. It shouldn’t be any surprise at all the documentary films are among my favorites.

I enjoyed Tokyo Ga immensely, as I am a huge fan of Japanese cinema myself. I am also a big fan of Yasujiro Ozu as well, so I can relate to Wenders’ journey.

I also enjoyed Room 666. Being a filmmaker, I am partial to filmmakers discussing their love of film and what they see as the future of cinema.

I enjoyed The Wrong Move also. The performances are solid and the atmosphere is classic Wenders’.If you are a fan of Wim Wenders’ work, this film is a no-brainer.

So, if you are a fan of Wim Wenders, this is a must have. If you aren’t, pick up a copy of this boxset. Trust me, Wenders’ creates truly one of kind films and you won’t be disappointed.

7/10

The Video

All the films included in this release are presented in their original aspect ratios. I was impressed with the transfers of these films. They all look great and I did not notice any instances of grain or artifacts.

8/10

The Audio

All the films included in this release are presented in their original sound mixes. All the dialogue is crystal clear.

8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The films offered in the Wim Wenders Collection Volume 2 are presented in 8 slim amaray cases inside a cardboard box. Nice job Anchor Bay!

There is a nice assortment of bonus features to explore on this release for the Wim Wenders’ fan. There is a Director’s Commentary offered on every film. Wenders’ is a passionate and unique filmmaker and his commentaries are insightful and entertaining.

Also included on this release is Deleted scenes from The American Friend and Notebook on Cities & Clothes with commentary by Wenders.

There is also a featurette entitled Nicholas Ray: Especially for Pierre on Lightning Over Water and a 38 minute lecture by Nicholas Ray. Twelve Years Later, a featurette, is offered on Notebook on Cities & Clothes. And if that wasn’t enough, there is a 16-page collectible booklet.

All things considered, a plethora of bonus features to explore.

9/10

Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

Review:
The Collection 7/10
The Video 8/10
The Audio 8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 9/10
Overall ( Not an Average) 8/10

Created by Carlton Cuse, Damon Lindelof
Starring Mathew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Terry O’Quinn, Michael Emerson,  Naveen Andrews, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Emilie de Raven, Dominic Monaghan, Elizabeth Mitchell

Watching bonus features of on TV show DVD’s that have been cancelled or simply finished their runs usually means looking at interviews with cast and crew that look back fondly on their experience. The one standout exception is the cast interview on the Firefly box set. The cast and crew of this series were truly attached to each other and the work so seeing it all end before it was time still effected them months after the show was done and many of them had already moved on to other projects. There are many tears in that interview. Viewing those features was a uniquely emotional experience until checking out LOST season six.

The Season

Season six was a tough season for the creators, cast, crew, and the audience because everyone knew going in that this was it, the last group of episodes of one of the most innovative shows on television. No one is ever going to be completely happy with what they get and there’s never been a perfect television series so yes there are bumps in the road of season six but the dead end, the final two hour episode is nothing short of stunning.

Season six of LOST had a lot to accomplish. There were many dramatic story arcs to complete and many more mysteries that required solving. Fans demanded answers and while the creators planned to offer up many of those answers they also had a bigger task in mind. They managed to, by the end of the season, make not only the characters realize who they are but they also made us, the audience, take a real look at ourselves. They managed to make us feel stupid for demanding answers to the tiniest little detail when the truth is that the characters are what really mattered the whole time. These characters were put in offbeat situations for sure but it was always about the characters. The sort of emotional arc and final realizations crafted in this series are more common to great pieces of literature, some film, and very few television shows.

Season six introduced a new storytelling device that would be a point of controversy among fans; the flash-sideways. The flash-sideways initially appeared to almost be a what if sort of situation. What if these people had lived the flash-sideways lives rather than the ones that brought them to the island? Other fans thought that these stories were set in some sort of alternate dimension. A fellow fan complained to me that these flash-sideways were a waste of time. Seeing him proved so wrong by season’s end was thrilling. Many characters that had previously died made a comeback in this offbeat season in the flash-sideways in completely different situations than you’d expect. Perhaps the most funny character change was seeing Sawyer, the bad boy, as a cop. Ben’s new life in the flash-sideways is also really entertaining. The real world story followed the castaways as they tried to stay alive in the wake of the smoke monster, or man in black, whichever you prefer sets out to kill them all.

There are a couple of episodes that are just a little weaker or slower than the rest of the season. The worst of the two is Ab Aetemo. This entire episode was meant to give up some answers about who the mysterious Richard Alpert is. It did give those answers but the story felt drug out. The worst this show had to offer at the time it was broadcast was still leaps and bounds beyond anything else on television except for possibly Battlestar Galactica. I’ll say it again, the episode titled The End is one of, if not the most moving and powerful closer to any series that has ever been on television.

9/10

The Video

The 1080p 1.78:1 presentation on blu-ray looks pretty great overall with nice color representation and good detail. The graininess in some of the scenes is purposeful and part of the film look of the show. The only real issue is a little murkiness in some blacks in just a couple of scenes. This is a theatrical film quality transfer here not your average TV show on blu-ray. One of the best TV show transfers to date.

9/10

The Audio

The HD lossless audio here is again cinema quality with solid use of the surround environment, great sub woofer action, and cleanly mixed dialogue, score, and fx. Hearing this series is a real treat. The sounds of the smoke monster, and the ambient jungle sounds are downright creepy. Explosions are teeth rattlers and subtle quiet moments are just that. This is one of the best television series audio presentations I’ve experienced.

9.5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The box set is presented in a slim blu-ray amaray case with a glossy slipcover featuring the show’s title in bright silver. The packaging makes the show feel important as it should. There are no floating heads of the stars thankfully because this is an ensemble show. The title in the right font is really all that’s necessary to sell this series.

There are only four commentaries in this box set but they are very strategically planned to enhance the viewing experience of the season overall. The best of the four are the two featuring producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. These two have unending enthusiasm for the story they had set off to tell when the series began and the changes they had to make to see the story through to its conclusion. Their commentaries are on LAX and Across the Sea, two pivotal episodes for season six. Actor Michael Emerson (Ben Linus) and two writers from the series chat about the episode Dr. Linus and two other writers and Nestor Caronell (Alpert) cover Ab Aeterno. These last two commentaries are very informative and more character specific.

The New Man in Charge is a 12 minute epilogue that the cast and producers have been promoting since the series ended. It turns out that these 12 minutes haven’t been overhyped. Those last remaining minutes of story are riveting and they actually answer another big question. This short add on story is a fantastic coda to an amazing series. What are been and Hurley’s first duties having taken over the island? Hurley does say that he can do things different on the island than they were done before at the end of the series finale and he wasn’t joking.

Lost in 8:15 – A Crash Course is brief amusing recap of the entire Lost series. Not much to this really but it is funny. Crafting a Final Season is a near 40 minute documentary covering the production of the final season of the show. The cast and crew really feel like a family and as the final episodes draw near the sadness mixed with the anticipation of the finale is palpable. The most powerful part of this featurette is watching Jorge Garcia (Hugo) read the finale script for the first time. When it draws him to tears you’re right there with him, if you’re a fan of course. As an interesting addition to the season coverage this featurette also has interviews with some of TV’s best known creators discussing ending their shows sprinkled in. Lost on Location is a featurette focusing on the production of several of the episodes with special looks at the sets. This featurette is more of a fly on the wall doc but interaction with some of the cast and crew make it a must watch. A Heroes Journey is a look at the evolution of all of the characters throughout the six seasons and what made them all heroes. See You in Another Life, Brotha is short featurette looking at the side-ways stories of the season. This one is a little too sound bite-ish and doesn’t really offer a lot of new information. Finally there are 9 deleted scenes and four minutes of bloopers. It’s all worth a watch. There is a blu-ray feature that promises to offer a lot more bonus material but it wasn’t working as of this writing.

The commentaries, Crafting the Final Season, and most importantly New Man in Charge offer up the goods and then some so everything else is just icing on the cake.

10/10

Watching LOST was like watching a mini movie each week. Few shows can compare on any level to this one making it required viewing for anyone that likes a great story.

Overall (Not an Average) 9/10

The Review
The Season
The Video
The Audio
The Packaging and Bonus Features
Overall (Not an average) 9/10

There’s a lot to cover in this week’s episode including Piranha 3D, a X-Men First Class news, a special discussion with The Film Talk’s Tony Youngblood about moving from physical media to digital film and TV, this week’s comics, and still more!

Directed by Tatsou Sato
Featuring Voices by Kana Ueda and Yuki Matsuoka

How much do you think overnight shipping from the afterlife costs?

The Series

In the world of Shigofumi, the dead are allowed one final right – to send a message to the living. This message is called a shigofumi (“shigo” – afterlife, “fumi” –letter). It can be a good bye or a confession, good or bad, but it will always be true as the dead do not lie.

The series follows the other-worldly mail carrier Fumika as she delivers the final words of the departed to their living recipients. The first half of this 13-episode series contains pretty stand-alone deliveries that uncover mysteries about those who dies and how they impact the living. The premises of these deaths and their ripple effects are intriguing. It’s a natural curiosity to want to know what the dead could tell us. A dark side is slowly revealed in the process of the episodes within either the living or the dead, with the revelation usually bringing redemption. The reactions of the recipients range from frustration to catharsis, all being both entertaining and relatable to feelings anyone who has lost a loved one might feel.

The second half, starting on disc two, slows down to focus more on the mystery of Fumika herself and how she went from being a living girl to being FedEx from hell. As with the previous murder mysteries, this is shown to be more sinister and complex than the other characters imagine. However, focus soon shifts from the source of the darkness into a less interesting teen drama with the main and now-continuing side characters. While still maintaining the complex nature of why the situation is how it is and how it affects others that the first half has in each of the series, the latter half gets bogged down with its multi-episode structure.

Add to that a short epilogue in end credits of episode 12 (also titled “Shigofumi”) that doesn’t provide a fulfilling conclusion, followed by a bonus episode that is equally unsatisfying, and you have a series that really loses its steam towards the end. With that aside though, it’s still an interesting watch and a short enough series to give a try, at least with the first disc.

7/10

The Video

The animation is presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen. The animation moves well and keeps from staying static for any annoyingly noticeable periods of time. The character designs are average.

6/10

The Audio

There’s only a Japanese 2.0 audio track. The voices are fine. Sentai Filmworks spoiled me with Golgo 13 and its dub. I miss not having to read all the time. It is also about $10 cheaper, so you get what you pay for.

My one gripe with the soundtrack is that the opening song – “Kotodama” by ALI PROJECT – sounds just like the group’s same work from Code Geass. Learn some variety.

5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

At last. An actual extra. This collection contains picture dramas, which are essentially trivial audio side stories played with accompanying art. The audio is still in Japanese, but subtitles are shown with the art. There are seven episodes, with the art ranging from decent quality to simple storyboards. They aren’t especially captivating, but they’re a neat (and likely easily produced) effort. Of course, there are also the typical clean openings and endings and the trailers.

The case is a decent-enough standard DVD case, holding the two discs.

7/10

Shigofumi brings up an interesting concept and deals with it well. It loses its way towards the end, but it’s still a decent journey. While a dub would be nice, the extra effort taken to translate the picture drama extras is a nice touch.

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

The Review
The Series 7/10
The Video 6/10
The Audio 5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 7/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

Directed by Kim Chapiron
Starring Vincent Cassel, Oliver Bartelemy, Leila Bekhti, Roxane Mesquida

I am a big fan of Vincent Cassel. If the only performances you have seen of Cassel’s are his performances in Ocean’s Twelve or Derailed, you haven’t seen the best that this versatile French actor has to offer. After seeing Irreversible, I knew that Cassel’s was a name to watch in cinema. Tartan Films USA recently released Cassel’s newest film, Sheitan on DVD.

The Movie

The plot to Sheitan seems standard from the beginning credits but trust me, it definitely gets stranger as things progress.

Three friends Ladj, Thai, and Bart meet up for a night of drinking and carousing. They soon meet Yasmine and Eve. When one of the group gets too rambunctious and gets the group thrown out of a club, Eve suggests they take the party to her house.

After an all night drive, they finally arrive at Eve’s remote farm. Enter into the picture Joseph (Vincent Cassel), Eve’s farmhand. Even though he has a big smile and a head full of curly hair, he immediately strikes the group as a missing cast member from the film Deliverance. Why would Eve subject her group of friends to such a weirdo?

Once Joseph enters the plot, the film really fires on all pistons. Joseph has some bizarre ideas of appropriate conversation and hobbies and he doesn’t hold back subjecting his houseguests to some really awkward situations. Joseph isn’t the only weirdo out in the backwoods of France. He also introduces the group to some of the locals and they are as whacked out as he is.

What is to become of Eve and her group of friends? Will they ever escape the grasp of the insane Joseph?

Sheitan has a wonderfully tense atmosphere and leaves the viewer anxious to see what is going to happen to the group next. However, there is an odd undercurrent of humor that somehow works in this film.

The biggest strength of Sheitan is without a doubt Vincent Cassel. He is absolutely brilliant in his performance as the bizarre Joseph and the movie works because of him.

If you were to take the films The Desperate Hours (1955) or Funny Games (1997), and make it even more tense and depraved, you would have Sheitan.

This film isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I sure enjoyed every last drop.

7/10

The Video

Sheitan is presented in anamorphic widescreen. The transfer is first rate and the black levels are respectable.

7/10

The Audio

Sheitan is presented in DTS 5.1 in the original French language with English subtitles. The dialogue is clear throughout and mixed well with the soundtrack.

7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

Sheitan is presented in a standard amaray case with a wonderfully devilish photo of Vincent Cassel on the cover. Nice job Tartan!

There are a few bonus features to explore on this release. The Making of Sheitan featurette clocks in at around 25 minutes and is a great behind the scenes look at the production of the film. There are some interviews with cast and crew. It is an pleasurable watch.

In addition to the featurette, there is the original theatrical trailer as well as trailers for other Tartan Video releases.

Unfortunately, that is all for bonus features.

4/10

Overall ( not an average) 7/10

Review:
The Movie 7/10
The Video 7/10
The Audio 7/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 4/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

Starring: Andy Garci, Julianna Margulies, Steven Strait, Dominik Garcia-Lorido, Ezra Miller, Emily Mortimer, Alan Arkin
Directed By: Raymond De Felitta

This is a movie about secrets. How secrets are like a balloon, each little supporting lie is just one more breath into the balloon, and how eventually every balloon goes boom and once that happens everybody left standing has to try to piece everything back together. Everybody in the Rizzo family is puffing away on their respective balloons until Tony, the needle, comes to live with them.

The Movie

City Island is an actual island in Long Island Sound connected by a bridge to the Bronx. Its roots go back to the seventeenth century as a fishing village. During the first part of the twentieth century it’s boat building tradition was put to use producing minesweepers, tugboats and landing craft for the first and second World Wars. The boat building tradition continues, seven of the Americas Cup winning yachts were built on City Island. It’s a small New England fishing village dropped into the middle of New York City and none of this really has anything to do with the movie beyond providing an interesting backdrop.

That’s not strictly true. Vince Rizzo, Andy Garcia, is a clam digger, meaning that he was born and raised on the island. He is raising his family in the house that his grandfather built. This has shaped him into a bit of a traditionalist and provided him with very fixed notions about what a father and husband is supposed to do and how one should act. Not fitting into that image is acting, which is his secret desire. He’s been sneaking into the city nights to attend an acting class. Lying to his wife, Joyce, Juliana Margulies, that he is going to a poker game. Joyce picks up on the lie but instead of deducing that he’s going to acting classes she imagines that Vince is having an affair.  After all why would anybody lie about going to acting classes?

Vivian, Dominik Garcia-Lorido, Vince and Joyce’s daughter is living in the city attending college, the first in the Rizzo family to attend college. Or at least that is what her parents believe. She has actually been suspended from school and lost her scholarship. She is now dancing in a strip club to raise money to go back to school. When Spring Break rolls around it doesn’t mean anything to her, but to her parents who believe she is still going to school it means that she will be coming home for the week.

There are other secrets floating around large and small. I don’t want to give them all away, but I have to mention one more that acts as the catalyst to bring it all to a head. Vince works as a prison guard, or as he would prefer, a corrections officer. He notices a familiar name on one of the new transfers to the facility he works in. The name is the same as a woman he walked out on as a young man, before he met Joyce. After looking into the prisoner’s background he finds out that the young man, Tony, played by Steven Straight, is indeed his son. Tony is eligible for parole, but has no family to vouch for him so he is having to serve out the last thirty days of his three year sentence. Vince pulls some strings to get him released to his custody. Tony’s presence upsets the shaky equilibrium between everybody’s secrets and leads to everyone’s balloons getting popped.

The cast assembled for the movie is great; the Rizzos are entirely believable as a dysfunctional family. The direction is solid and transparent, but it’s the story by Raymond De Felitta that shines. It manages to take a simple concept, the toxicity of secrets, and wrap around it several threads which get all tangled up but still manage to get resolved believably with characters that seem real and never appear to do things that contradict everything you’ve learned about them in the previous hour and a half. All while supplying a bunch of smiles and a few great laugh out loud moments. This is not an ambitious movie but it solidly hits every target it puts up.

8/10

The Video

The video is presented in widescreen format. The transfer is great, I never noticed any aliasing, blooming or other digital artifacts. The colors are beautifully rendered and even the dark scenes are full of detail with very little grain. City Island seems like such an interesting place I would have like to see more of it, but what you do see looks wonderful.

9/10

The Audio

The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, with Spanish and English subtitles. The dialog is always clear and never trammeled upon by the score. I never noticed any distortion or other distractions with the audio.

8/10

The Packaging/Bonus Features

The DVD is packaged in a standard Amaray case with a cardboard slipcase. One of the themes of the movie is secrets which the artwork slyly references. There is not a surfeit of bonus material but what is there is worth viewing. There is a featurette Dinner With The Rizzos featuring a faux meal with Raymond De Felitta and the actors discussing the making of the movie, an audio commentary with De Felitta and Garcia, and the requisite deleted scenes.

7/10

I want to describe this film as a great little movie and it is, but “little” comes off as a pejorative so I hesitate to use the phrase. I don’t mean little as not important or of no consequence I just mean it as the opposite of big but even that is not exactly right. No body is trying to save the world, no body’s life is threatened, it’s just the story of one families Spring Break. Nobody outside of the Rizzos life is going to be affected much one way or the other, but to the Rizzos the story is epic.

Overall (Not an Average): 8/10

The Review
The Movie: 8/5
The Video: 9/10
The Audio: 8/10
The Packaging/Bonus Features: 7/10
Overall (Not and Average) 8/10

Acer AO532h-2588 10.1-Inch Onyx Blue Netbook – Up to 8 Hours of Battery Life

In Japan the direct to DVD market is exploding and has been popular for quite some time.  Here in the states until recently you’d only find low rate horror films and T&A on the direct to DVD shelves.  That’s finally changing with many great films in the works to go direct to DVD and a ton of excellent animated films included.  Marvel and Lion’s Gate are producing films based on some of Marvel’s most popular properties and now Anchor Bay, Cartoon Network, Mike Mignola and Guillermo Del Toro bring us an animated Hellboy.  To be fair this technically isn’t direct to DVD as it did air on Cartoon Network but I only just heard about the film when the announcement of the DVD was made.

The Movie

The film was overseen by creator Mike Mignola and director of the theatrical film Guillermo Del Toro and even features the major actors from the feature films revisiting their roles in voice form for this film.  Having Ron Perlman doing Hellboy’s voice adds some real weight to the animated version because it ties this film to the theatrical film plus he brings solid acting chops to the role.

In this adventure Hellboy is called to Japan to investigate a mysterious sword.  While there Hellboy is taken to an alternate realm where he must fight an onslaught of demons from Japanese folklore to solve the mystery of the sword and save the day.  The film starts off a bit clunky but once the adventure is in full swing it feels like a really solid Hellboy comic book.  The animation is solid throughout and Hellboy himself looks fantastic.  Selma Blair reprises her role as well and the animation interpretation is irritating because the drawing, which is heavily a mix of anime and Disney appears much younger than she actually is and than she appeared to be in the film.  They have some new sidekicks that were actually pulled from the comics too.  Kate Corrigan is a fun addition although the voice actress, Peri Gilpin (Frasier) has a much older sounding voice than the character looks.

All complaints aside Hellboy fans will love this feature length animated film as it features everything you’d expect from Hellboy, loads of action and plenty of goofy humor.  Now, those looking for some character development will be a little disappointed.  it feels like that was saved for the live action sequel being worked on now by Del Toro, but that’s ok because this film is supposed to be for teenage kids and adults so you can’t expect the character development to get to heavy.  Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms is a perfect bridge between the first Hellboy film and the upcoming sequel.

8.5/10

The Video

The anamorphic widescreen presentation is gorgeous featuring vivid bright colors and solid blacks with minimal grain.  I noticed only the smallest instance of shimmering and aliasing in a couple of places.  This is one of the best looking TV to DVD animated films I’ve seen.

9.5/10

The Audio

There is a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix provided that has nice dynamic range but limited actual surround usage.  The bass booms when necessary but it all never really feels immersive in the 5.1 environment.  Dialogue, score, and sound effects are crisp, clean, and well mixed throughout the film.  While it isn’t a particularly mind blowing presentation it is solid for a TV to DVD transfer.

7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The single disc DVD comes in a standard amaray case with eye catching Hellboy artwork on the case and on a slip cover.

Inside the case is a full length comic book, not done by the man Mike Mignola though.  I also find these shrunken comics a bit tough to read.

First up as far as disc extras is a feature commentary with the creator of the character and the original comics Mike Mignola and the creators of the film.  The commentary is entertaining and informative with the creators talking about the characters and where they came from as well as the evolution of the film.  There’s also a “Follow the Fox” feature similar to the “White Rabbit” feature on the Matrix DVD.  Every time the Fox icon appears on screen during the film if you hit enter on your remote you’ll be taken to a short documentary tied to that section of the film featuring commentary from the creators of the film.  There are five appearances of the fox leading to short documentaries that surprisingly get very specific in covering the film from the design of the props, adaptation from the comics, the score, and the design of some of the demons.  All of these are very short, with the longest one running just over five minutes, but they do offer some good information about the overall creation of the film.  Watching all of them together runs just under 17 minutes.  You can get to them from the extras menu as well as via the Fox icon.

There are also four other featurettes in the extras menu that cover the history of the character, designing Hellboy for animation, segments with the voice actors at the studio including interviews with Perlman, Perlman, Blair, Jones, and Gilpin.  The best and meatiest of these is a near 45 minute presentation recorded at the San Diego Comic Con that features Mignola, Del Toro, and the producers and writer of the film.  Within this presentation they show early art and an animatic.  there’s also a bit of video from the autograph signing after the presentation.  The other featurettes are fairly short with the longest one running just under ten minutes.

Finally there’s a DVD-Rom presentation of the film that’s highly interactive.  While you watch the film on your PC you can switch audio channels on the fly, switch to storyboards, search for keywords in the film, bookmark your favorite scenes, and a lot more.  So, if you’re into the interactive DVD-Rom experience this is one of the best we’ve seen.

This is a really strong group of bonus features for this film, I was actually shocked to see so much.  This sets a standard for films of this type.

9.5/10

The film does have some problems here and there with the voice actors and even with the animation matching the actions of the voice actors but overall this is a really great film in the Hellboy franchise that fans are sure to love and the DVD offers surprising level of extras to further enhance the viewing experience.

Overall ( Not an Average) 8.5/10

Review:
The Movie 8.5/10
The Video 9.5/10
The Audio 7/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 9.5/10
Overall ( Not an Average) 8.5/10

If you are a fan of racing, this film is a must see. Docurama recently released The Doctor, the Tornado and the Kentucky Kid on DVD.

The Movie

In 2005, MotoGP came back to America for the first time in over ten years. Its destination was Laguna Seca the iconic track near Pebble Beach California. The documentary follows three riders, “The Doctor” – Valentino Rossi, “The Kentucky Kid” – Nicky Hayden and “The Texas Tornado” – Colin Edwards, through the lead up to the race, the practice sessions, qualifying and every lap of the race. Hayden and Edwards have won at Laguna Seca before they moved up to MotoGP; most of the riders including Rossi have only seen Laguna Seca in video games.

Laguna Seca is unlike any other race on the MotoGP circuit. It has elevation changes, blind corners and the infamous Corkscrew. The Corkscrew is a ninety degree turn at the top of a hill that drops off like a roller coaster. The drop off is so severe that you can’t see the asphalt as you make the turn. Most of the other MotoGP races are on newer tracks which were usually designed to accommodate modern F1 cars. Laguna Seca was built in 1958 for sports cars and follows the terrain of the rolling California hills.

Rossi at the time of this race had won forty eight MotoGP races, had won four MotoGP championships, was on his way to a fifth and is widely considered the greatest rider ever. Rossi is one of the top ten paid athletes in the world and at the time of the race only twenty six years old. Edwards and Hayden while champions in other circuits had had mixed results in MotoGP and need to win. They were banking on their previous experience to give them the edge over the Italian superstar.

Intercut through the buildup to the race are interviews with Hayden and Edwards and their family. The interviews reveal their families total devotion to motor sports.  There is not as much information given on Rossi, but we do learn that he too comes from a racing family.

Every moment the bikes are on the track is filled with commentary from the riders or the narrator Ewan McGregor. Mark Neale, the director of this documentary, does a masterful job of using narration and commentary to describe the on track action. It is nearly incomprehensible what these men do with these machines. These bikes weigh less than three hundred and fifty pounds and produce two hundred and fifty horsepower. It’s all the riders can do to keep the front wheel on the ground. A quote from Edwards sums up the ability of these riders.

“You just keep the front wheel about half a centimeter in the air all the way up the hill at one hundred and fifty miles an hour and set it down just over the rise. It’s really just a timing issue.”

The on bike cameras capture some amazing footage, through the turns these guys are dragging their knees and the handlebars are millimeters from the tarmac. It is simply amazing how little of the tires on these bikes is actually touching the track through the turns, and how often the front wheel is off the ground during the straights. If this was fiction the actual race would probably have been closer, but it was still an exciting race. The riders offering commentary on every little mistake made it a unique experience.

I’ve always been a fan of just about any form of racing on two or four wheels. This is the greatest job of covering a race I have ever seen. This documentary is gearhead crack, but what if you’re not a gearhead? A really good documentary will mesmerize you whether you care anything about the subject matter or not before you sit down. I’m not sure that if you’re not fascinated by speed whether this one will draw you in. If you are, you are in for a treat.

8/10

The Video

The video was presented in widescreen format. The video quality varied somewhat because of the variety of the source material. The footage came from everything, handheld video cameras, high speed film cameras and on bike cameras.

For the most part, the video is great and the color gorgeous.

7/10

The Audio

The audio is 5.1 Surround Sound and every rev of the motors on those bikes sound really good. There are English, Spanish and French subtitles.

8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The DVDs come is your average DVD case. The artwork is striking and uses an interesting shade of yellow.

As for the bonus features, a Docurama catalog is enclosed. There are additional scenes included and on the second disk is something really cool. It’s the race, but you can use the angle feature to switch between different cameras. I think this is the first time I actually used the angle button on my remote.

7/10

Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

Review:
The Movie 8/10
The Video 7/10
The Audio 8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 7/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

Directed by Neil Jordan
Starring: Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, Michael Caine, Robbie Coltrane

“What is man? A miserable little pile of secrets”
Andre Malraux

There has always been something about Bob Hoskins I have always liked. Hoskins has the demeanor of an everyday, blue collar man that radiates a down to earth sincerity that instantly makes him more relatable to a movie audience than the ice cold arrogance of an actor like….Richard Gere. Okay, I said it, not a big fan of Gere. I digress. So, how is this film from 1987 where he partnered with director Neil Jordan (Interview with a Vampire, The Crying Game)?

The Movie

The film begins as George (Bob Hoskins), is recently released from prison and is given a seemingly cushy job as the driver for a high-class prostitute named Simone (Cathy Tyson) by his former boss, Mortwell (Michael Caine).

As George and Simone find out more about each other, they form an unlikely friendship despite terribly different motivations for the work they find themselves in. George is constantly dealing with pressure from Mortwell to find out as much as he can about one of Simone’s ‘regulars. Who is this “client” that has Mortwell’s interest piqued? It just so happens to be a wealthy businessman that frequently does business with Mortwell.

George is also urged by Simone to help her find an abused friend from her murky past. George’s association with Mortwell and Simone are heading toward an emotional and possibly violent climax.

The story of Mona Lisa is psychologically dark and characters true motivations aren’t crystal clear, But rather murky and untrustworthy. It would be easy for a casual viewer simply find the character of the crime boss Mortwell to be the most miserable and ill intended, but what are Simone’s and even George’s real intent, as you watch the credits roll?

The story, acting and direction of Mona Lisa is first rate. As expected, the performances by Hoskins and Caine are fantastic; however, the performance of Cathy Tyson as the emotionally conflicted Simone prostitute is nuanced and visceral.

Also, this is not the London that you may have seen in other British TV shows and films. You won’t see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey or Windsor Castle. No, this is the seedy part of the city and the backdrop of porn shops, greasy diners, strip clubs and sidewalks filled with thugs, prostitutes, junkies and other unsavory types is the perfect environment for this story. Just in the same way that Taxi Driver portrayed New York City as gritty, dirty and unforgiving, this is showing you a side of life not included in any itinerary provided by a travel agent.

Jordan would go on to direct The Crying Game and many film fans compare Mona Lisa to that film. I can see the similarities, but this is a very strong film in its own right and deserves to be viewed and appreciated in its own right. And after viewing the film, you will see that the plots and atmosphere of the two films are much different.

Mona Lisa would make a great addition to the British film section of your home film library or at least a good add to the Netflix queue for the upcoming weekend.

7/10

Video

Presented in a 1080p transfer, Mona Lisa looks much better than previous DVD release of the film. The color palette is vibrant and the black levels are decent. However, the image detail leaves something to be desired.

6/10

The Audio

Presented in lossless LPCM mono mix, the film sounds better than it has in other releases. The dialogue track is crystal clear and easily understood. The sound mix, while not spectacular, is straightforward and no-frills.

6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The film is presented in a standard blu amaray case with artwork appropriate for the film presented.

Other than the original trailer for the film, there are no other bonus features offered.

1/10

Overall (Not an Average) 6.5/10

The Review
The Movie 7/10
The Video 6/10
The Audio 6/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 1/10
Overall (not an average) 6.5/10

After seeing the absolutely breathtaking film directed by Byambasuren Davaa, I couldn’t wait to see her next film. The Story of the Weeping CamelThe Cave of the Yellow Dog opens in New York on November 10^th, 2006 and other cities thereafter, now Tartan has finally brought it to the masses on DVD!

The Movie

The Cave of the Yellow Dog opens as Nansal (Nansal Batchuluun) returns from attending school to spend the summer with her family in her native Mongolia. Nansal has a sister named Nansalmaa (Nansalmaa Batchuluun) and a baby brother named Babbayar. The family is understandably excited to have Nansal home.

Her mother (Buyandulam Daramdadi) sends Nansal out to collect dung (used for fires/heating purposes). While on this assignment, she finds a stray dog in a cave. She promptly names him Zochor (Spot) and takes him home. Sister and Brother are thrilled, Mom seems somewhat pleased but Dad (Urjindorj Batchuluun) is not happy at all. He is worried that since the dog is a stray, it has spent time with wolves. The wolves could then follow Zochor’s trail to their homestead and slaughter their heard of sheep and goats. They have already lost several during the year to the wolves. Mom tries to explain that fate brought Zochor into their lives, but Dad isn’t listening.

So, Nansal’s daily purpose is to hide Zochor from her father. Her father takes an extended trip, so she can relax during that time. Time passes, the family works hard on their small homestead, tending to the daily tasks of life and to their livestock. Nansal works hard too, but she grows closer to Zochor daily and hopes she can change her Dad’s mind. As the summer grows to a close and it is time for this nomadic family to move on, will Dad make her leave Zochor behind?

The Cave of the Yellow Dog is a fascinating look at a hardworking yet simple and earnest way of life the Mongolian nomads lead. It provides a heartfelt look at a family that lives closely and feels deeply for the animals and the earth that they live upon.

There isn’t a suspenseful, loud or rushed moment in this film however, that doesn’t take away from this film’s quiet power. It is an intimate look at a lifestyle and a culture that few live today. The Mongolian nomadic lifestyle is captivating and after watching this film, it will make you want to book a flight to this gorgeous country.

Just as in The Story of Weeping Camel, The Cave of the Yellow Dog is cast by real nomadic family and not actors. So, the film is an intoxicating mix of both narrative and documentary film. The people are real, the homes are the actual homes of the participants, only a very few “situations” in the film are fiction. The family will impress you with their completely natural film presence and performance. It also must be noted that the cinematography in this film is simply stunning.

The simplicity in which the Batchuluun family lives will make you take a second look at our hurried and noise filled lives. There isn’t a television, Sony Playstation or IPod in sight, but yet these kids are happy and fulfilled. They still lie on their backs and imagine animals in the clouds. When is the last time you have seen your kids or your neighbor’s kids do this?

I can’t recommend this film enough. I was absolutely transported to another time and place while watching this exquisite film. Byambasuren Davaa and her films have taken their place in my favorite director/films list. Just do yourself a favor, get both of her films, find a place on your favorite chair/couch and escape to Mongolia for a few hours with Davaa’s graceful films.

10/10

The Video

The widescreen presentation here is a solid transfer from low budget source materials.  The video is grainy and often washed out, but this is due to the source rather than any major issues with the transfer.  The presentation, with the grain and murky blacks is still successful at showing the unique place in whihc the characters live.

7/10

The Audio

There is a Dolby digital 5.1 and DTS mix available but don’t be fooled these mixes are about as bare bones as they come.  The surround usage is minimal and the dynamic range is also minimal.  Even with a bigger budget this film isn’t a bombastic type of story so you wouldn’t expect much as far as audio to start with.  That said, what w do get is clean and well mixed for an easy viewing experience, if not an immersive one.

6.5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The single disc release comes in a standard amaray case with a slipcover featuring the same art as is on the actual art for the box.  The artwork is a simple reproduction fo some of the original theatrical release art and it does a fine job of representing the film.

Other than that there’s a brief interview with the director and a trailer, that’s it.  There’s some opportunity here for some great documentary extras that just wasn’t takne advantage of.  A documentary on the culture of the characters or on the area where they live would have been fascinating.

5/10

While the DVD presentation is fairly basic the quality and uniqueness of the film almost makes up for that.  Highly recommended!

Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

The Review
The Movie 10/10
The Video 7/10
The Audio 6.5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

Directed by Jean-Pierre Denis
Starring Sylvia Testud, Julie-Marie Parmentier

“Murderous Maids” is based on the true story of Christine and Lea Papin, two sisters that murdered their employer and her daughter in 1933 in LaMans, France. The story of the Papin sisters is fascinating, as is the movie based on their crime.

The Movie

Christine, Lea and a third sister Emilia had a difficult childhood. After their father is accused of molesting Emilia, the mother, Clemence moves the girls away. She raises the daughters alone. Clemence makes her living as a maid for prosperous families. Emilia exhibits emotional problems and strange behavior frequently. Christine, Lea and Emilia attend convent school. Emilia has an episode at the school that the nuns describe as being “called by god”. She is separated from Christine and Lea in order that she may answer the “calling” and become a nun.

Clemence tells Christine she must find work in order to support the family. She arranges a maid’s position for Christine. Christine soon learns the emotional and physical stress of life in servitude. She resents her mother for forcing her into this lifestyle. Meanwhile, the mother seems to coddle and spoil the youngest daughter Lea. Christine is unnaturally attached to her younger sister and resents the time the mother spends on her. Christine has emotional problems of her own and is often enraged at her mother. Christine resents her social position in life.  Through many turns of events, she manages to get Lea from the mother and finds her a maid’s position with her. They can now be together 24 hours a day. The sisters move from position to position until they settle with the Lincelan family. The abnormally close sibling relationship soon develops into a romantic relationship. Christine and Lea are in a world of their own protecting their secret relationship. Christine has the upper hand in the relationship and manipulates the younger and less educated Lea. They both resent the cruel remarks and injustice they endure at the hands of their employers, the Lincelan family.

Mme Lincelan and her daughter return home early one evening to discover the sisters relationship. Christine goes into a fit of rage and attacks them. Whether Lea actually assisted Christine with the murders is still a mystery to this day. However, Lea remains loyal to Christine and confesses to the murder with her sister.

The story of the Papin sisters is still shocking and interesting to this day. The story shocked not only France but also the world in 1933. Some looked at the sisters as cold-blooded killers, others viewed the sisters as merely striking back against the unfair social structure of the time.

The performance by Sylvie Testud as Christine is remarkable. She captures the unpredictable and enraged personality of Christine perfectly. Sylvie Testud’s performance is visceral and explosive. Even with these traits, Ms. Testud’s performance still has the viewer feeling somewhat sympathetic to Christine’s life spiraling out of control Julie-Marie Parmentier, as Lea is a solid performance as well. She portrays the misguided and naïve Lea very sympathetically. The performance by Dominque Labourier as Mme. Lincelan is noteworthy. Although Ms. Lincelan is cruel and snooty, Ms. Labourier performance allows you to see the soul of Mme.Lincelan.

The movie is beautifully directed and photographed. The set designs and costumes are impeccable at replicating 1933. The production values are flawless. It is to be noted, this film is graphic at depicting the romantic relationship between the sisters and also the murder of the Lincelan’s, that included eye-gouging the victims while they were still alive. But, I feel that to downplay the shocking nature of the Papin’s sisters life would be an injustice to the story.

“Murderous Maids” had a very limited art house run. It is finally getting the attention it deserves with this DVD release.

8/10

The Video

“Murderous Maids” is presented in a widescreen anamorphic transfer enhanced for 16 x 9 televisions. The transfer is very clean and the colors are vibrant

8/10

The Audio

The film is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround audio. The audio is crystal clear without any pops or hiss present

7/10

The Bonus Features

There is a nice assortment of bonus features on this DVD. Interviews with Sylvie Testud and director Jean –Pierre Denis are included. There are also original French and American theatrical trailers.  Also, a trailer from the film “The Maids” based upon classic Jean Genet play and starring Glenda Jackson and Susannah York. After viewing this trailer, it made this viewer appreciate the skill the actors and director brought to “Murderous Maids”. Also included is 1933 Vanity Fair article written by Janet Flanner in 1933 recounting the actual events.  The inclusion of photos from newspapers at the time is a great addition.

Overall, the bonus features are great. However, an English language track option would make the film and interview portion more accessible to a larger audience. I enjoy and prefer subtitled films. Yet, it is fact that some people will find the movie interesting but will not watch it because of the subtitling.  Others have vision impairments that prevent them from enjoying foreign films on DVD. I feel that having both subtitled and dubbed language options available would open great foreign films such as “Murderous Maids” to a wider audience.

6/10

“Murderous Maids” is a remarkable film. The film will get the attention it deserves with this DVD release. The story is scandalous and the performances are extraordinary.

Overall (Not an Average) 7.5/10

The Review
The Movie 8/10
The Video 8/10
The Audio 7/10
The Packagng and Bonus Features 6/10
Overall (Not an Average) 7.5/10