Evans Above

Directed by Jean-François Richet, 2005’s Assault on Precinct 13 is a remake of the 1976 John Carpenter film. Sergeant Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke) is a pill-popping Detroit cop working the graveyard shift at a soon-to-be decommissioned police station. It’s New Years Eve and when a snowstorm diverts a prison truck to the station, Roenick finds himself playing host to mob boss Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne). Things heat up when the station comes under attack by crooked cops out to silence Bishop and Roenick must arm cops and criminals to defend the station. Who can you trust? Mill Creek has now released a Blu-ray of the film, which also stars John Leguizamo, Maria Bello, Ja Rule, Drea de Matteo, Brian Dennehy, Aisha Hinds and Gabriel Byrne.

The 1080p AVC encoded transfer is presented in a 2.40:1 aspect ratio. The video presentation is quite good with detail in facial textures, textiles and locations. The colour palette is natural and the black levels are deep with a good amount of detail in the frequent dark scenes. Compression artifacts are at a minimum.

On the audio side, Assault on Precinct 13 has an English DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio soundtrack. English SDH are available. It’s a really good mix and action and ambient effects make good use of the surrounds while your subwoofer adds extra oomph to the proceedings. Dialogue is clear, centred and well prioritized in the mix.

Assault on Precinct 13 does not come with a digital code and apart from the trailer, there are no extras.

If you’re looking for a faithful remake of the 1976 film this isn’t it but the 2005 version is a good action flick with a great cast. Mill Creek’s Assault on Precinct 13 Blu-ray gives us quite good audio and video at a great price, so if this is up your alley, I’d recommend it.

Paramount is releasing 1996’s The First Wives Club on Blu-ray for the first time. Those in the US will get the special Paramount Presents packaging. The comedy stars the fantastic trio of Bette Midler, Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn in the story of three college friends who decide to get back at their ex-husbands (Dan Hedaya, Victor Garber, and Stephen Collins ) for leaving them for younger women (Sarah Jessica Parker, Elizabeth Berkley and Marcia Gay Harden). Comedies like this used to hit the theatres. Now they’re mostly relegated to streaming releases.

The 1080p AVC encoded transfer is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. This Blu-ray is off of a newly restored 4K scan, so hopefully down the line we’ll see a 4K of this release. The video presentation looks great with amazing clarity, a fine film grain, and detail in the facial textures and hair, the clothing, and the sets and other locations in the movie. Black levels are nice and deep, there’s no evidence of crushing and there’s detail in the darker scenes. The colour palette is natural with nice flashes of colour that pop but don’t overpower the more muted tones. Flesh tones are natural and digital noise and compression artifacts are absent.

On the audio side of things, we get an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, an English Audio Description track and a French 5.1 Dolby Digital track. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH and French. It’s a very front-heavy mix, though the surrounds do get some light use for ambient atmosphere. You subwoofer basically has the night off, though it would be nice if it could give some more bass floor to the score. Dialogue is clear, centred and well prioritized in the mix. It’s not a bad audio presentation at all, but it’s not going to wow you.

As mentioned, if you get the US packaging, you’ll get the Paramount Presents slip cover which opens to reveal the original poster. A digital copy code is included. The bonus materials consist of an eleven minute interview with screenwriter Robert Harling and theatrical trailer.

The First Wives Club Blu-ray provides an excellent video presentation coupled with a very good, but front-heavy audio presentation. You can’t go wrong with Bette, Diane and Goldie in a comedy. Recommended.

Mill Creek Entertainment has released the George Clooney Double Feature: The American / Leatherheads Blu-ray combining two of George’s films at a reasonable price point. Let’s take a look…

In 2010’s The American, Clooney plays an assassin and gunsmith who hides out in Castel del Monte, an Italian commune, after a near-death experience has him questioning everyone’s intentions, even that of his handler, Pavel (Johan Leysen). He keeps company with two locals: Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli), a priest, and Clara (Violante Placido), a prostitute. When he accepts one last job from Pavel – making a custom sniper rifle for a fellow killer named Mathilde (Thekla Reuten) – he finds himself questioning everything and everyone. It’s not a fast-paced action flick, but rather a tense, methodical examination of a hitman facing the perils of his chosen profession.

On a lighter note, 2008’s Leatherheads is a sports-themed romantic comedy set in the 1920s. Clooney plays Jimmy “Dodge” Connelly, the captain of the Duluth Bulldogs, a struggling pro football team. Looking to turn around the financial fortunes of the team, he convinces Carter “The Bullet” Rutherford (John Krasinski) to join the team. Rutherford is not only Princeton University’s star player, he’s also a decorated WWI hero. His appearance on the team draws the interest of a Chicago Tribune newspaper reporter, Lexie Littleton (Renée Zellwegger), who’s investigating claims that Rutherford’s heroics may not be all they’re cracked up to be. A love triangle and the machinations of pro sports carry the film to the end zone.

Both movies appear on one Blu-ray disc. The 1080p AVC encoded transfers are presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio for The American and a 1.85:1 aspect ratio for Leatherheads. Both films had previous Universal Blu-rays using the older VC-1 encoding. The newer AVC MPEG-4 encoding does this release some favours. Both films do well for clarity and detail in the usual suspects (facial features, hair, textiles, and environments) and the colour palettes for the most part are quite pleasing and realistic. Black levels are pretty deep. The only issue here is the compression Mill Creek uses to get the two films on one disc, which lends to some abundant macroblocking in some lower light scenes.

On the audio side both films come with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack and English SDH subtitles. Any slight concerns for the video quality do not translate to the audio. These are very nice tracks, with good use of the surrounds, bright dynamic music and clear, centred and well prioritized dialogue.

The disc does not come with a digital code for the movies, nor does it come with any supplemental materials.

The George Clooney Double Feature: The American / Leatherheads Blu-ray is an economical way to add two Clooney films to your library if you’re more of a casual physical media consumer. With good video and excellent sound, I’d recommend it at this price point.

It’s been thirty years since Eddie Murphy jumped into the rom-com genre with Boomerang. To mark that anniversary, Paramount Home Entertainment has released a Blu-ray of the film and I had a chance to take an early look. In Boomerang, Murphy plays an ad exec who has a reputation of being a ladies man, notching conquests on his belt and enjoying a life without commitment. When he falls for his new boss (Robin Givens) after a merger, he discovers she’s the female version of him. Suddenly on the receiving end of the treatment he has dished out for years, he discovers how bad he’s made others feel. Could his thoughtful co-worker (Halle Berry) be what he was really looking for? The cast also includes David Alan Grier, Martin Lawrence, Grace Jones, Eartha Kitt and Chris Rock.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, cropped slightly from the original release’s 1.85:1 aspect ratio. It’s a good transfer with good detail on the usual suspects (facial textures, textiles and environments) but I think a better transfer could have been done with a better master scan. Colour levels are accurate and though it’s a predominantly natural palette, some primaries do have a nice pop to them. Black levels are deep and there’s fairly good detail in shadows, while grain is slightly more noticeable in darker scenes.

On the audio side, Boomerang features an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack as well as German, French and Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks. Subtitles are available in English, English SDH, German, French and Japanese. It’s a mostly front-heavy track with the surrounds used sparingly for some effects. The soundtrack is heavy on the bass, so your subwoofer does a bit of work there. Dialogue is clear, centred and well-prioritized.

The Blu-ray disc comes with a digital copy code. In terms of extras, there’s a commentary track by director Reginald Hudlin and a few minutes of deleted and extended scenes.

Boomerang has a good transfer and audio presentation. I might have expected a bit more on the extras side. It’s the 30th anniversary after all and Murphy has made a boatload of money for the studio over the years. Still, it’s priced well and a good outing by Murphy, so you should consider adding it to your collection.

Mill Creek Entertainment has released another actor-focused double feature. This time around the subject is Martin Short, so if you want to see him as a leading man this set will do just fine. It features Cross My Heart from 1987 and 1991’s Pure Luck. I had a chance to review the Martin Short Double Feature: Cross My Heart / Pure Luck Blu-ray early so let’s take a look.

1987’s Cross My Heart stars Short and Annette O’Toole as David and Kathy, a pair that is stressing over the “all-important” third date. The budding romance seems to be going well, except maybe they’ve told some white lies along the way. She doesn’t know he’s been recently fired and he’s unaware that she smokes and has a 7-year-old. Things start to go bad on the date and when they head back to David’s apartment – another lie, it’s his friend’s (Paul Reiser) – they have to decide if they can share the truth with each other.

In Pure Luck, a remake of the 1981 French film Le Chevre, an accident prone women, Valerie (Sheila Kelley), disappears in Mexico without a trace. Her wealthy father (Sam Wanamaker) hires investigator Raymond Campanella (Danny Glover) to track her down but the trail is cold. The company shrink (Harry Shearer) has an unorthodox solution: have someone as unlucky as Valerie work with the private eye and they might just stumble on her location. That’s where Short comes in and the slapstick begins.

On the video side of things, the two movies share a single Blu-ray disc. The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfers are presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Both films appear to come from older scans of their source material. They’re not the sharpest looking Blu-rays out there, with fine details in facial features and textiles missing. Of the two, Cross My Heart seems to have the better transfer, with slightly more detail and a more realistic colour palette.

On the audio side of things, both discs come with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 soundtrack with subtitles available for English SDH. The stereo tracks present the dialogue in both with good clarity and prioritization in the mix. The scores sound good as do the atmospheric effects.

As for extras, this double feature does not come with digital code nor any bonus materials.

The Martin Short Double Feature: Cross My Heart / Pure Luck Blu-ray may not be the prettiest Blu-ray on the block, but it does give a glimpse of the period of Short’s career where he was considered to be a leading man. I commend Mill Creek Entertainment for finding films like these, that may otherwise have been passed over for Blu-ray releases, and giving them a home in the format. These are two enjoyable Short films, with the chemistry of Short and O’Toole giving Cross My Heart a slight edge. If you’re a fan of Short, I think you’ll enjoy this release.

David S. Ward’s 1991 comedy King Ralph is one of Mill Creek Entertainment’s latest entries in their Retros VHS series, which pairs video store staples of yore with a cute slipcover which recreates a VHS tape box. When the British royal family is decimated by a freak accident, a search of historical records traces down an heir in the US. Ralph Jones (John Goodman) is a slovenly Las Vegas entertainer but he’s the next in line and receives a quick course on royal etiquette from Sir Cedric (Peter O’Toole). Meanwhile, Lord Percival (John Hurt) concocts a plan to discredit Ralph and claim the throne for himself.

The 1080p AVC encoded video transfer is presented in a 1.84:1 aspect ratio. Like many budget-priced Blu-rays, it’s not the cleanest transfer with some compression issues, crushing in the back levels, some digital smoothing of the grain and wear and tear on the print used for the transfer. Still, details are pretty good and though the colour palette may not be rich, it is still realistic.

On the audio side, the disc comes with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack. Subtitles are available for English SDH. It’s a decent stereo soundtrack but lacks any pizzazz. Dialogue is clear and well prioritized in the mix.

The disc doesn’t come with a digital code or any bonus materials. As mentioned, the slip cover recreates a video store rental tape box. Thankfully, there are no late fees.

Though the video and audio presentations won’t knock you off your feet, the cast is fit for a king and King Ralph is a fun little comedy. I appreciate Mill Creek presenting these smaller catalog films in the Blu-ray format and a very affordable price point, so I’ll recommended it, especially if you remember renting this when Blockbuster ruled the Earth.

1993’s Heart and Souls, directed by Ron Underwood, is the latest entry in Mill Creek Entertainment’s cute Retro VHS Blu-ray series where the slipcovers recreate the boxes of popular video store rentals. This comedy stars Robert Downey Jr. as a businessman whose guardian angels since childhood are a quartet of ghosts (Kyra Sedgwick, Alfre Woodard, Tom Sizemore and Charles Grodin) who now need him to help them with their unfinished business so that they can be released. The cast also includes Elisabeth Shue and David Paymer.

The 1080p AVC encoded video transfer is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. It’s a good looking transfer with good details in the usual suspects (faces, clothes and locations) with a light level of film grain. The colour palette is full of bright colours. Black levels are pretty good with some loss of detail in shadows and darker scenes.

On the audio side, there’s an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Subtitles are available for English. The audio track has some good ambient sounds in the surrounds but the real star is the score which is bright and dynamic. Dialogue is clear, centred and well-prioritized in the mix.

As mentioned, Heart and Souls is part of Mill Creek’s Retro VHS series. The slip cover looks like a VHS tape partially out from its box, while the “box” has the appearance of a video store rental including an image of a “Staff Pick” sticker. The disc also comes with a nice selection of bonus materials including a lengthy interview with director Ron Underwood, interviews with screenwriter S.S. Wilson and production designer John Muto, as well as a theatrical trailer.

Heart and Souls has a great cast coupled with good video and audio presentations. There’s also a nice amount of new bonus material. If you remember this one in your local Bloackbuster back in the day, it’s a fun addition to your collection.

CBS and Paramount Home Entertainment have released Showtime’s Billions Season Six on DVD. I had a chance to take a look. The previous five seasons had aggressive hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) battling the investigations led by US Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti). With Lewis exiting the series to spend more time with family, Rhoades’ new sparring partner at the hedge fund is Michael Prince (Corey Stall) and these battles are of Olympic proportions.

The 4-disc DVD set contains all twelve episodes of season six. The video presentation is in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The show is digitally shot in HD, so though this is a standard definition DVD presentation, it does look quite good for the medium and given how badly some streaming services and providers can throttle the bandwidth at times, a DVD presentation can sometimes look better than what you’re streaming online. The colour palette is pretty good for a DVD, but yes, it would have been nice if it was on Blu-ray. Maybe fans will get a Blu-ray box set when the series ends. Fingers crossed.

On the audio side, there’s an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack with subtitles available in English SDH. As with many similar shows, the soundtrack is very front-heavy, with the surrounds sparingly used for the odd effect or ambient noise. Dialogue is clear, centred and well-prioritized.

The 4-disc DVD set does not come with a digital copy code. In terms of extras, there are three small featurettes.

The Billions Season Six DVD set is aimed at those who either love the show and simply must have it on physical media or at those who missed it airing and don’t subscribe to Paramount+. If fans get their wish, hopefully when the series is over we might one day get a Blu-ray box set.

Last year, Paramount released 4K standard and SteelBook 4-movie collections of the Raider of the Lost Ark franchise. The artwork and packaging on the sets, especially the SteelBooks, left some feeling underwhelmed. This year, Paramount is releasing the four films individually on SteelBooks with much improved artwork. Whether you call it double dipping or an attempt to right a wrong, the SteelBook artwork is much improved and it will be tempting for some collectors to pick up the new ones. As I had previously reviewed the discs themselves last year, I’d normally point to that review for the technical info. That review, unfortunately, is one of the entries that got blown up in a database fiasco, so while I work on recovering it, I’ll give my fingers some exercise and cover the same ground again. First up is the film that started it all, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Now hold on a second, you say, isn’t the film called Raiders of the Lost Ark? Yes, that’s the way I saw it in theatres. However, in 1999, Paramount added the Indiana Jones… part to the video releases to keep the title consistent with other entries in the franchise. Call it what you want.

The film follows Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), an archaeologist trying to beat the Nazis to finding the Ark of the Covenant, which is said to make armies invincible. The Germans have an army and the help of a rival archaeologist, Dr. René Belloq (Paul Freeman). Indy has the help of a feisty ex-girlfriend, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen). My money’s on Indy.

Just to clarify, the 4K disc is the same 4K disc that was released as part of the four movie set last year. The 2160p HEVC / H.265 native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The video presentation looks fantastic. The image is sharp, clear and colourful. Obviously, this 1981 classic was shot on film and the transfer is wonderfully filmic, with a light grain texture. Sand, faces, buildings and textiles reveal details galore. The colour palette is amazing too and the HDR colour grading amplifies all the improvements. Bright golds, dark browns, sun-bleached sand and colourful bazaars cover the spectrum. Whites are dazzling and the black levels are deep, with great detail still available in the darker scenes and shadow areas. There’s no evidence of print damage from this forty-year-old film and there’s no digital noise or compression artifacts to speak of. This transfer is a treasure.

On the audio side, your ears have the choice of English Dolby Atmos and Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtracks as well as Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0, Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 and Russian Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks. Subtitles are available in English, English SDH, French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Russian, Swedish and Thai. The upmix into Dolby Atmos works very well, with the overhead channels finding work with the famous rolling boulder and other elements like planes. The action elements playfully dance through your surrounds and you’ll be tempted to duck. Low frequencies add additional thrills. John Williams score is powerful and dynamic, while dialogue is clear, centred and well-prioritized.

This time around, the SteelBook artwork is head and shoulders above the previous SteelBook release with a whip-cracking Indy front and centre, surrounded by other characters from the film. The back of the SteelBook features a world map with the Ark above it. The packaging includes a digital copy code and the interior artwork is an image of Indy and Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) lifting the Ark. A fold-open poster of the original art is also included. The four-movie set included a Blu-ray disc of bonus materials but sadly this one does not, so the only bonus materials on the 4K disc are three trailers.

If you buy this standalone Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark 4K SteelBook, you are buying it a) because you want the much better SteelBook artwork for collecting purposes or b) you didn’t buy last year’s four movie set. I just want to be clear: This is the same disc as last year with better individual packaging and no bonus features. It’s the same great video and sound as last year, but with a different outfit and no bonus elements to speak of. The other three films in the franchise are on their way in solo SteelBooks as well.

Though there was some initial reluctance when fans heard that Robert Pattinson would be the next Caped Crusader, Matt Reeves’ The Batman quelled those fears with a dark and moody outing. Gotham City’s favourite genius vigilante is up against a serial killer named the Riddler (Paul Dano) who has been killing the city’s elite. Can Batman stop Riddler and uncover the corruption that has long plagued the city? The cast also features Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle / Catwoman, Jeffrey Wright as Lieutenant James Gordon, John Turturro as mobster Carmine Falcone, Andy Serkis as Alfred and Colin Farrell as Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot / Penguin. Warner Brothers Home Entertainment has released The Batman on 4K and I was given a chance to look at it. The WB likes disclaimers, so here goes: Though Warner Brothers provided me with a copy of this release to review, the thoughts and opinions below are mine.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The video presentation is a stunner. The image is razor sharp with an amazing amount of detail in costumes, faces, hair and locations. The details hold up in even the darkest scenes and, hey, with Batman you get a lot of those. The black levels are deep but, again, this is where 4K shines as everything still stands out. It’s a dark palette but the HDR colour grading really makes things like displays and fires pop. The image is clean and free from artifacts. Stunning.

On the audio side, The Batman comes with English, German and Italian Dolby Atmos tracks, English, French (Canada), German, Italian and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks as well as English Descriptive Audio. Subtitles are available for English SDH, French, German SDH, Italian SDH, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish. The Atmos track takes advantage of the height speakers and between that and the wonderful surround usage you’ll be so much in the action that you might vote for the next Gotham mayor. Your subwoofer will shake the roof off, while the musical score in powerful and dynamic. Dialogue is clear, centred and well prioritized in the mix.

The three disc set of The Batman comes with the 4K disc, a Blu-ray version and a bonus materials Blu-ray. A digital code is included. The extras include a look at the fight choreography, insights into Pattinson’s casting and character choices, an examination of whether Batman and Riddler are two sides of the same coin, a piece on Catwoman, looks at the new Batmobile and car chases, a look at one of the gadgets in Batman’s arsenal, an almost hour-long “making of” featurette, a look at the costume design, a piece on Penguin’s makeup, and deleted scenes.

The Batman has amazing video, stunning audio, and a great selection of extras. Heartily recommended.

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