Evans Above

The Paramount+ series Tulsa King stars Sylvester Stallone as Dwight “The General” Manfredi, a New York mafia capo who has just been released after twenty-five years in prison. His boss sends him to watch over Tulsa, Oklahoma, which might as well be on a different planet to the New York mobster. The dramedy follows Manfredi as he builds a crew and begins to realize that maybe his mob family no longer has his best interests in mind. Over the nine episodes of the first season, he must deal with a new locale, new foes, and a world that’s changed in the quarter of a century since he was last free. Paramount has released a Tulsa King: Season One SteelBook and I had a chance to take a look.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in two aspect ratios: 2.00:1 and 2.35:1. This is an artistic choice by the director to give you a different feel during changing locales. The video presentation has good detail on the usual suspects (facial features, textiles and environments) and there’s only the occasional moments of softness in some scenes. It’s a warm colour palette that brings out the dusty Oklahoma landscapes and vegetation. Black levels are quite good too, with no real loss of details in the shadows.

On the audio side of things, the disc comes with an English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. Subtitles are available for English SDH. The surrounds put you into the landscape nicely with ambient sounds. The score is clear and dynamic, while dialogue is clear, centred and well-prioritized in the mix.

The two-disc Blu-ray set does not come with a digital code. There are small featurettes for each of the nine episodes that delve into the characters and plot points, as well as other extras that look at the story origins, Stallone and the cast, costume design, stunts and locations. The SteelBook artwork features Stallone’s Manfredi and the show title on the front, a burning plane ticket on the back, and a shot of Manfredi at a bar in the interior of the case.

With an enjoyable performance from Stallone, good video and audio, and a nice selection of extras that you don’t usually see on TV releases, the Tulsa King: Season One SteelBook is a good addition to your collection.

Bonanza was a TV juggernaut second only to Gunsmoke as the longest-running Western series. It first broadcast on September 12, 1959, and ran until January 16, 1973. It was the first TV Western to air in colour and NBC’s parent at the time, RCA, used its popularity to drive the sales of colour TVs. Now Paramount has released Bonanza: The Official Complete Series on DVD. All 431 episodes and 14 seasons in one hefty set. If you’re new to the show, it follows Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) and his three sons, Adam (Pernell Roberts), Hoss (Dan Blocker) and Little Joe (Michael Landon). The quartet run the Ponderosa ranch in Nevada. Seeing a piece of TV history like this available on physical media is amazing.

The series was restored and remastered from the original 35mm film elements. Seeing as film elements were available, it would have been nice to see this on Blu-ray, but that’s just a wish not a complaint. The scenery and other elements look great here and show that a well done DVD can still look great with good detail and a pleasing colour palette. The series is in a 4:3 aspect ratio.

On the audio side, all seasons come with an English Dolby Digital Mono soundtrack and season nine to fourteen also feature a Spanish Dolby Digital Mono track. It sounds really clean and each full-length episode has its original music.

This DVD set is spread over 112 discs and yes that’s one hundred and twelve discs. This includes a bonus disc that includes over two and a half hours of rarely seen interviews, promos, photos and other footage and bloopers. Just the bonus disc alone is a treasure trove of rare TV.

If you love the show or you’re a completist who wants to own a piece of TV history, then Bonanza: The Official Complete Series DVD set is highly recommended.

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released Elizabeth Banks’ Cocaine Bear in the US in April, but we’re just getting it now in Canada. I had a chance to review the disc which is loosely — LOOSELY — based on a true story. In reality, smugglers ditched 75 kilos of coke in Tennessee back in 1985 and a black bear ingested it and promptly died. In this movie, the aforementioned bear lives and goes on a bloody limb-ripping killing spree. The horror comedy stars stars Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Christian Convery, Alden Ehrenreich, Brooklynn Prince, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Margo Martindale, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Ray Liotta in one of his last roles.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. It’s an excellent transfer with great clarity in all the usual places: facial textures, textiles, and environments. The colour palette is broad and ranges from the rich reds of copious amounts of blood to the deep greens of the forest. There’s not any digital noise to speak of and no evidence of compression artifacts. In drug dealer parlance, this is “the good stuff.”

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of English and Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 tracks and a French (Canadian) DTS 5.1 track. Subtitles are available for English SDH, French, and Spanish. The surrounds put you into the forest with great ambient sounds and the action is giving some extra power with the low frequency channel. Dialogue is clear and centred.

In the US, Cocaine Bear comes with the Blu-ray disc, a DVD and a digital code. For some reason, Universal decided to skip the digital code for its Canadian release. Special features include an alternate ending, a gag reel, deleted and extended scenes, a short making-of featurette, a closer look at some of the bear’s kills, a script reading obviously called “Doing Lines”, and an audio commentary by director/producer Banks and producer Max Handelman.

Cocaine Bear is not a family film, unless you have older teens. It’s unapologetically gory and crazy and over-the-top. On the technical side, this goofy gore Blu-ray comes with great audio and video and nice collection of extras.

With Transformers: Rise of the Beasts coming out in early June 2023, it’s a good time for Paramount to release the Transformers 6-Movie SteelBook Collection 4K. The set contains Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Transformers: The Last Knight and the prequel film Bumblebee. The film series, which started back in 2007, traces the story of the warring alien robot factions called the Autobots and the Decipticons. The franchise has brought in over $4.8 billion dollars.

With a collection like this let’s go through some basic stats:

• Transformers: Upscaled 4K, Dolby Vision, HDR10, aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Upscaled 4K, Dolby Vision, HDR10, aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon: Upscaled 4K, Dolby Vision, HDR10, aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Transformers: Age of Extinction: Upscaled 4K, Dolby Vision, HDR10, aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Transformers: The Last Knight: Upscaled 4K, Dolby Vision, HDR10, aspect ratio: 2.39:1 and 1.90:1
• Bumblebee: Upscaled 4K, Dolby Vision, HDR10, aspect ratio: 1.78:1

The new thing here is the collection’s case and the SteelBook artwork on the case of each film. The 4K discs themselves are identical to the previously released versions. Across the board, the discs provide excellent detail to both humans and robots alike. The HDR boosts the colours, contrast and specular highlights. These are great video presentations.

Here are the stats for the audio:

• Transformers: English Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 7.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0, French (Canada), Spanish, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1. Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: English Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 7.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0, French (Canada), Spanish, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1. Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon: English Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 7.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0, French (Canada), Spanish, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1. Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Transformers: Age of Extinction: English Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 7.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0, French (Canada), Spanish, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1. Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Transformers: The Last Knight: English Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 7.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0, French (Canada), Spanish, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Bumblebee: English Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 7.1, Czech, Spanish, French, Italian, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Thai, Turkish Dolby Digital 5.1. Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Cantonese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean, Malay, Mandarin (Simplified), Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish

These are great soundtracks with excellent surround usage and low frequency tones that add oomph to each thud and clank. The scores are powerful and the dialogue is clear and centred.

The Transformers 6-Movie SteelBook Collection 4K comes with 12 discs: six 4K discs and six Blu-ray discs. There’s a digital code for each movie. All the special features are on the Blu-ray discs, though commentaries for the movies that have them are on the 4K. The extras include the usual suspects: deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurettes and music videos. The set is housed in a box with a magnetic clasp that displays the symbols for the Autobots and the Decepticons. Each individual movie has SteelBook artwork displaying the various robot characters.

If you love both SteelBooks and the Transformers franchise, then the Transformers 6-Movie SteelBook Collection 4K, with its excellent audio and video, belongs in your collection.

Today I want to look at three of the films I screened during the 2023 Hot Docs Film Festival.

Joe Piscatella’s Who’s Afraid of Nathan Law? is a follow-up to his 2017 documentary Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower. This time we meet Nathan Law, a college student in Hong Kong, who teamed up with fellow pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow as they lead 2014’s Umbrella Revolution. The students shut down the busiest parts of Hong Kong to try and get China to keep it’s “one country, two systems” promise.

Law then became the youngest person elected to the Hong Kong Legislative Council, only to be kicked out on trumped up allegations. When the students once again take to the streets to protest the proposed extradition law that will allow prisoners to be sent to the mainland, the Chinese retaliation is swift and though their belief in democracy gives them the strength to survive police battles and brutal beatings by criminals hired as agitators, the huge weight of the authoritarian regime rips through the group with onerous prison sentences.

Besides the on-the-street footage of the confrontations with police, Piscatella’s camera gives us access to the group’s planning meetings and takes us inside Law’s election campaign and time as a council member. He also gives us access to Law, who was able to flee Hong Kong but now lives with one eye over his shoulder as he knows the Chinese intelligence apparatus is far-reaching.

Who’s Afraid of Nathan Law? is at times depressing, as it feels like a well-oiled, well-funded authoritarian regime knows no bounds, but at the same, the continued belief in democracy by the students in inspiring and a lesson to those citizens in the West who see the seeds of authoritarianism trying to take root in their own countries. If you can find this doc at your own local documentary cinema or keep an eye out for it on your local public television station or streaming service, I’d highly recommend it.

Razing Liberty Square, from director Katja Esson, looks at the history and current predicament of Liberty Square, a public housing development in the predominantly Black neighbourhood of Liberty City in Miami that is facing a private redevelopment by a company saying that it’s mixed-income buildings will improve the lives of the residents.

In the Jim Crow days, Miami essentially used zoning to force Blacks away from the sought after waterfront areas and forced the families inland. Despite the terrible reasons behind the community, the area had a great spirit, with the residents believing they could count on each other.

The current development promises new and improved public housing, but there’s an issue when vouchers are offered so that residents can choose to wait in their dilapidated units for new ones or take assistance to find a new apartment but with no guarantee the rent won’t skyrocket. Razing Liberty Square shows us the struggles and the decisions to be made by many who grew up in the area, from a school principal fighting for her students to an executive with the company doing the redevelopment who fights both with the perception of his role in the company and the realization of what’s actually happening within the company.

Against the backdrop of politicians doing photo ops with the developers that fund their campaigns, Razing Liberty Square, like Who’s Afraid of Nathan Law?, shows that the fight for one’s rights and just treatment has to start at the personal level. Razing Liberty Square is definitely a film to seek out.

Director Set Hernandez brought Unseen to Hot Docs. Hernandez, a co-founder of the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective, tells the story of their friend, Pedro, a blind undocumented immigrant who is studying to be a social worker. Pedro’s goals of supporting his family and providing mental health help to his community faces both practical and political challenges. It’s inspiring to see that Pedro’s spirit may occasionally bend but never breaks and this is in no small part due to his own personal strength and the love and support of his family, community and educators.

Hernandez takes us into Pedro’s world by filming some scenes in a way that shows the blurred shapes and flashes of light and colour that Pedro faces as he navigates through his world. With Unseen, Hernandez shows us the power of determination and love. Well worth seeking out.

Film Chest is releasing Mike Hammer, Private Eye 1997-1998 on DVD and I had a chance to take a look. I love it when boutique labels release almost forgotten series on physical media. This show, which stars Stacy Keach, only ran for 26 episodes and though it’s currently on Prime, streamers are notorious for dropping shows on a whim.

You may remember that Keach played Hammer on the Eighties’ CBS series Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, which was later renamed The New Mike Hammer. In the late Nineties, the producers tried their luck relaunching the series as a direct-to-syndication show and so Mike Hammer, Private Eye was born. Sadly, the show never found it’s audience and production ended after just 26 episodes. Keach’s tough and gritty Hammer was joined by Shannon Whirry as his sexy secretary, Velda, and Shane Conrad as his sidekick.

Film Chest has presented the series in a five DVD set. The video is presented in the original 4:3 aspect ratio. With the 26 episodes spread over five discs, compression isn’t bad at all and this is a good looking DVD presentation. Audio is English Dolby Digital 2.0 with English closed captions.

Mike Hammer, Private Eye 1997-1998 comes in a nice embossed slipcover. There’s a booklet with episode synopses and the discs contain the original series trailer.

Film Chest has done a great job with the Mike Hammer, Private Eye 1997-1998 DVD set and if you’re a fan of Stacy Keach, Mike Hammer or collecting short-lived series, then this is an easy recommendation.

When you see that Paramount’s new 4K release of Flashdance is the “40th Anniversary Edition”, you have to stop and do the math. Has it really been forty years? That would mean…

It really has been forty years since Jennifer Beals played Alex. Welder by day. Exotic dancer by night. Ballerina in her dreams. Forty years since “Maniac” and “What a Feeling” owned the airwaves.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The remastered 4K scan looks great with added clarity and contrast. Black levels are deep and the many darker scenes have no loss of detail. The colour palette pops and the HDR adds some extra shine to the specular highlights of stage lighting and neon signs. There’s no evidence of digital noise and compression artifacts. The grain is satisfying and hasn’t been scrubbed digitally.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack as well as French, German and Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. The music is the real star in this mix and is sure to make you break out your torn sweatshirts and leg warmers. Though front-heavy at times, the surrounds do put you into the action of some scenes and the low frequencies add to the score’s bass and the working environments. Dialogue is clear and centred.

The Flashdance 4K comes with a Blu-ray disc as well as a digital code. The special features are on the Blu-ray disc. There’s a short filmmaker focus on director Adrian Lyne, a piece on the look of Flashdance and another on how the film became a phenomenon. There’s also a theatrical trailer.

Flashdance was a pop culture explosion in the Eighties and a perfect example of a movie that drove soundtrack sales… or was it the other way around? With great video and audio, the Flashdance 4K is a worthy addition to your collection.

It’s not quite double dipping, but Paramount Home Entertainment has just released Yellowstone Season 5 Part 1 on Blu-ray. Yes, you read that right, it’s part one as in the first eight episodes of a fourteen episode season. This season sees John Dutton (Kevin Costner) taking the fight to protect his land and legacy all the way to the seat of power in Montana.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 2.00:1 aspect ratio. Just like the seasons before it, Yellowstone Season 5 Part 1 is a great looking Blu-ray with sharp details ranging from weathered faces to weather-worn landscapes. The colour palette is rich and natural and ranges from greens to popping primaries.

On the audio side of things, there’s an English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. Subtitles are available for English. The surrounds put you into the scenery without being too aggressive. The dialogue is clear and centred.

The four-disc Blu-ray set does not come with a digital code. Episode recaps are on each disc, while the fourth disc also includes featurettes exploring the show’s characters, music and production.

While I may have a bit of a quibble releasing a half season disc, die-hard fans of Yellowstone will want to pick up the Yellowstone Season 5 Part 1 Blu-ray.

In 1998, two movies were released that dealt with impending doom for the planet we call home. The first, released in May of that year, was Deep Impact, while Armageddon hit cinemas in July. Deep Impact’s villain was a comet, while the astronomical baddie in Armageddon was an asteroid. I’d say that Deep Impact was the more thoughtful of the two films. In the movie, Elijah Wood plays an amateur astronomer who thinks he has found a new star. It turns out to be a comet on a collision course with the Earth. Pressed by a reporter (Téa Leoni) who has access to classified info, the American President (Morgan Freeman) reveals that the Earth is facing possible extinction and the survival of the planet rests on a dangerous US/Russian mission led by a veteran astronaut (Robert Duvall). While Armageddon had Aerosmith, Deep Impact focused more on what it’s like for an entire civilization to face its own fragile mortality.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The image is crisp, with excellent detail in clothing, environments and facial features. The colour palette is muted and natural and black levels are good with some loss of detail in the shadows. There’s a light grain structure and thankfully no signs of egregious digital smoothing. Like many 4K transfers with older CG effects shots, some of the special effects do look a little soft due to their lower resolution. It’s a pleasing video presentation.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack as well as French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, and Spanish. In the smaller, more human moments of the film, the soundscape leans heavily on the front speakers, but when action scenes call for it, the mix expands to the surrounds to place you into the action, with the subwoofer adding some boom to the impending doom. The score (by James Horner) sounds great and dialogue is clear and centred.

The Deep Impact 4K also comes with a Blu-ray copy and a digital code. All the bonus materials are on the Blu-ray and include audio commentary by director Mimi Leder and visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar, some production featurettes, trailers and a photo gallery.

Deep Impact packs more of an emotional wallop then Armageddon and deals more with the human condition. Combining that with an excellent video presentation and a very solid soundtrack, the Deep Impact 4K is highly recommended.

Paramount has just released SEAL Team Season 6 on DVD. The ten episode season premiered on Paramount+ on September 18, 2022. If you’re new to the series, the show follows Bravo Team, a unit within the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group, as they conduct dangerous missions around the globe. The series is led by David Boreanaz and also stars Max Thieriot, Jessica Paré, Neil Brown Jr., A. J. Buckley, and Toni Trucks. The season opens with the team dealing with a devastating ambush that alters and affects them.

Like many TV series, this is a DVD only release. Though it’s not HD, the 16:9 presentation of this series is still very good, with colours and detail at the top end of the DVD format’s capabilities. Maybe when the show is finally over, we might see a Blu-ray release if there is enough demand.

On the audio side, the set comes with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and English SDH subtitles. Like many shows, the mix is front-heavy, but the surrounds do get a bit of a workout when the military action is happening. Dialogue is clear, centred and well-prioritized.

The 3-disc set does have some special features. They include some deleted scenes, a gag reel and four featurettes that look at different aspects of the production. The set does not include a digital code.

If you’re a fan of the series and want to have a physical copy, then you’ll want to pick up SEAL Team Season 6 on DVD.

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