Evans Above

Sometimes when a problem seems almost too big to comprehend, it helps to bring the story down to a personal level that we can relate to better. That’s exactly what The Quiet Epidemic, which screened as part of Toronto’s Hot Docs 2022, does for chronic Lyme disease.

The disease affects hundreds of thousands in the United States, but getting it recognized as a chronic condition by doctors, the CDC and more importantly, for Americans, the insurance companies is an uphill battle. Directors Lindsay Keys and Winslow Crane-Murdoch start off with the story of Julia Bruzzese a once-vivacious teenage girl in Brooklyn who was suddenly hit with an illness that left her tired all the time and using a wheelchair. Her father checked everything he could and his information pointed to Lyme disease. Her dismissive doctors pushed back against that notion and even accused her of faking her illness. The Bruzzeses weren’t alone though and weren’t some kooks dismissing science. In fact their paths cross with noted oncologist and researcher Dr. Neil Spector, whose own battle with Lyme had left him needing a heart transplant.

We branch off from these personal experiences with the disease to see the origins of Lyme disease and how tests were manipulated to lesson the number of people diagnosed in the first place so that insurance companies could keep their payouts down. We learn of vaccines removed from the market for legal reasons and just like tobacco, we see that money trail that often connects the doctors and the CDC to the insurance companies.

I’d strongly recommend looking for this doc in your town or online. As much as The Quiet Epidemic is the story of the fighting spirit of a girl, her father, and a noted researcher, it’s also a stark reminder that in the United States especially, the Hippocratic Oath has a price limit attached.

Meeting Point is a powerful doc that explores what happened to the fathers of filmmakers Alfredo García and Paulina Costa. Directed by Roberto Baeza, Meeting Point screened as part of Hot Docs’ Made in Chile program.

García and Costa were just babies when their fathers, Alfredo García Vega and Lucho Costa Del Pozo — protesters against the brutal dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet — were arrested and imprisoned in a tiny cell in Villa Grimaldi, one of Pinochet’s infamous torture centres. Only Costa’s father survived the ordeal, but through the use of actors, and aided by painful interviews with family and friends, they hope to gain an understanding of their final days.

As the filmmakers enter pre-production, building sets and auditioning actors, the events they are recreating are given additional power by the fact that Chile is undergoing the Estallido Social, a series of protests across Chile against social inequity that were met by aggressive measures by the government of Chilean President Sebastián Piñera.

Director Baeza gives us a very powerful documentary. It’s impossible to watch unaffected as García’s mother relives the last moments with her husband or Lucho painfully describes the routines of torture that he and García’s father were subjected to on a daily basis. The actors in the documentary are also deeply affected by the history they are trying to recreate.

The cinematography by García and Alejandro Carrasco deftly moves between capturing the making of the movie within the doc and the recreations done by the actors that transition from homes to claustrophobic, inhumane prison cells.

Meeting Point is a reminder that the events of the past are just a slippery slope from being the conditions of the present.

Screening as part of Hot Docs’s Made in Chile program, Daniel Díaz’s On Suspicion Zokunentu is a very personal look at the effect of the ingrained racism of Chilean society towards the indigenous community. When he as younger, Díaz’s uncle, celebrated Mapuche artist Bernardo Oyarzún, was arrested on suspicion of jewelry theft. Oyarzún bore no resemblance to the suspect, but the local police didn’t care. He was Mapuche, and that was the only thing that mattered to them. This same profiling also happened to his maternal grandfather. The brutal treatment by the police was to suit their own racist narrative.

The exploration of this topic leads Díaz to explore his indigenous culture and family history. He uses archival footage and family photos combined with the powerful sculptures, photos and art installations of his uncle to tell the tale of their treatment while celebrating both his family and the culture, language, and traditions of the Mapuche.

On Suspicion Zokunentu is a very proud and personal doc. When I watched it, I was captivated by the culture. It’s maddening how so many are threatened by diversity instead of celebrating it.

Screening as part of Hot Docs’ Made in Chile program, Yerko Ravlic’s Desert Space follows Leonel Codoceo, who works as a mining company security guard in the town of Copiapó, located in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert.

His job and life may seem lonely at first, with an ex he’s trying to reconcile with in Australia, but he has a circle of friends that share the same passion that he has: UFOs. Pretty much every night, Leonel spends hours watching and recording the night sky, looking for light or movement that may indicate that we are not alone. He and his friends then pore over the recordings, carefully tagging possible sightings in a spreadsheet that he maintains. This group supports and cares for his work and his passion is leading him to organize a vigil of fellow skywatchers.

Ravlic’s direction moves at a pace that gives us a feeling of the quiet effort that our subject expends every night. This is not a documentary that comes at you with narration or interviews. We are bystanders quietly accompanying Leonel on his nightly watches and you’ll find yourself scanning the night sky looking for something as well.

And what a sky. Nathaly Cano’s cinematography captures the star-filled sky perfectly. If you’re a city dweller who has never ventured from the light polluted skies, you’ll be amazed by how much of the cosmos is unfolding above us. Just look carefully, you might miss something.

When you’re covering physical media you see a lot of press releases. You might think “Oh that’ll look great” or “the fans will love to see that upgraded to 4K.” Occasionally, you take off the journalist hat and get personally excited about a release. When Warner Brothers announced that they were celebrating the 70th anniversary of Singin’ in the Rain with a 4K release, I was happy and the announcement transported me back to lazy Sunday afternoons watching the movie on TV with my parents and sister. It’s a joyous movie and you can’t help but be uplifted by the performances of Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds. Warner Bros is releasing the classic on 4K and I had a chance to review 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.

If you’ve never seen it, Singin’ in the Rain is a musical rom-com set in 1920s Hollywood, just as movies are making the transition from silent films to “talkies.” Kelly plays leading man Don Lockwood, whose studio has him “romantically linked” to his irritating co-star, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen). He can’t stand her and instead begins to fall for a young actress named Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds). When the studio decides to make his latest picture a musical to highlight motion picture sound, we discover that Lina has the perfect voice…for silent movies. What will the studio do? Will Lockwood and his best friend Cosmo Brown (Donald O’Connor) come up with a plan? Make some popcorn and settle in for some fun.

The 2160p HEVC/H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with HDR10 is presented in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio. The video presentation of this remastered 4K is simply stunning. Details are perfect in the actors’ faces and hair, the clothing and the various sets. The colour palette is a rainbow of Technicolor hues and the HDR colour grading gives colours and highlights that extra pop. The only quibble with colour is with the flesh tones as they shift from pale to pink. This is most likely due to the multiple film sources used as the original negative was a victim of a 1978 storage facility fire. There’s a light level of grain. The blacks are inky and details remain in the shadows. In a word, this transfer is gorgeous.

On the audio side, your ears are presented with an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, the original English 2.0 Mono track presented in DTS-HD Master Audio, and French, German, Italian, and Spanish (Castilian and Latin American) 2.0 Mono Dolby Digital tracks. Subtitles are available in English SDH, French, German SDH, Italian SDH, Spanish (Castilian and Latin American), Japanese, and Korean. The best news here is the inclusion of the original mono soundtrack which enable you to hear the movie the way it was originally released. The dialogue is clear and the music sounds great. The English 5.1 track is the same track from the 2012 Blu-ray release and does a very nice job moving the soundtrack into a larger soundscape. Elements of the soundtrack have been moved into the surrounds, but the real star is the music and vocal in the musical number. The stars’ sound great and the music is bright, lush and dynamic. Dialogue is clear, centred and well prioritized.

The Singin’ in the Rain 4K comes with the aforementioned 2012 Blu-ray as well as a digital code. Most of the extras are on that Blu-ray, while the 4K disc contains audio commentary from Cyd Charisse, screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green, co-director Stanley Donen, Kathleen Freeman, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds as well as filmmaker Baz Luhrmann and author Rudy Behlmer. It also has a quick way to hit the musical numbers. The Blu-ray contains the commentaries, a 50 minute doc, the jukebox feature and a theatrical trailer.

The Singin’ in the Rain 4K set has stunning video, amazing sound and a nice selection of extras. It’s a wonderful presentation of one of the best musicals in movie history that will leave you dancing and singin’ in the rain. Highly recommended.

Jake Kasdan’s 2002 comedy Orange County is now getting the Blu-ray treatment from Paramount Home Entertainment. The film stars Colin Hanks as Shaun, a carefree teenager who coast through school until he finds a book that inspires him and he decides to become a writer. When he discovers that the author teaches at Stanford, it becomes his sole fixation. Unfortunately, his transcript is mixed up with another student and he’s rejected. He refuses to give up and supported by his girlfriend (Schuyler Fisk) and variously aided and impeded by his dysfunctional family (John Lithgow, Catherine O’Hara and Jack Black), Shaun will stop at nothing to get in.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. It’s a typical Blu-ray with good detail in facial textures, textiles and environments. The film has a bright and vivid colour palette and there’s no digital noise or compression artifacts to talk about. This is the nice thing with studios moving some of their smaller catalog titles to Blu-ray. Though this isn’t some super dazzling restoration of a highly-anticipated classic, just the upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray gives the film a nicer way to be remembered.

As for audio, your ears are given the choice of an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack as well as German, Spanish (Latin American) and French 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, German, Spanish, French and Japanese. It’s a front-heavy mix, though the surrounds do get the occasional chore. The score is bright and dynamic, while dialogue is clear, centred and well-prioritized.
Orange County comes with neither a slipcover nor a digital code. Extras include a commentary track by Kasdan and writer Mike White, a handful of deleted scenes, a variety of interstitials, and a theatrical trailer.

With a great comedic cast and very good video and audio, Orange County is a fun movie and a good addition to your collection.

I have to tip my hat to Paramount Home Entertainment. Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! was basically a flop when it was released in 2004, but over the years has grown a bit in affection by fans of the light romantic comedy genre. So while it may not have topped anyone’s “this has to be on Blu-ray!” list, Paramount has released it and those are always victories for fans of physical media. Directed by Legally Blonde’s Robert Luketic, the film marks the film debut of Josh Duhamel, who plays the titular character. Tad is in need of some image rehab, so his manager (Sean Hayes) and agent (Nathan Lane) dream up this contest. It’s won by Rosalee (Kate Bosworth), a West Virginia supermarket worker, much to the dismay of her co-worker, Pete (Topher Grace), who has unexpressed feelings for her. The usual rom-com hijinks ensue when Tad begins to actually have feeling for Rosalee.

The 1080p AVC encoded transfer is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. It’s a nice video presentation that does what we expect from the Blu-ray format. There’s good detail in faces, environments and textiles, the colour palette is bright with popping primaries, and the black levels actually give us nice detail in the darker scenes.

What did surprise me, for a rom-com that flopped in theatres, was the availability of multiple soundtracks. There’s an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track as well as German, Spanish (Latin America) and Japanese 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, German, Spanish, French and Japanese. It’s a pretty front-heavy mix with limited surround usage, but this is a rom-com not an action flick. Dialogue is clear and well-prioritized.

In terms of extras, there’s no slipcover or digital code. There’s about 22 minutes of short deleted scenes and a gag reel.

Again, an unexpected Blu-ray release from Paramount but it’s a cute little diversion for 96 minutes so if rom-com’s are your thing, you might want to pick Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! up.

Paramount and CBS Home Entertainment have released CSI: Vegas Season One on DVD and I had the opportunity to take a look at the set. A sequel to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and the fifth show in the franchise, CSI: Vegas premiered on October 6, 2021. A new series of threats promises to bring down the crime lab and release thousands of killers back on the streets unless a new team of forensic investigators can stop it from happening. Familiar faces are asked back to help the team and explore the cases with updated forensic techniques. New team members Paula Newsome, Matt Lauria, Mel Rodriguez, and Mandeep Dhillon are joined by CSI vets William Petersen , Jorja Fox,Wallace Langham and Paul Guilfoyle in this ten episode season.

The video presentation is in 480i and is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. It’s a shame that it’s not a Blu-ray release as the Las Vegas setting with its neons, hectic nights and bright sun really shine in the boosted colour and black levels of that medium. Still, given that most people will be watching the show on Paramount+, physical media aficionados know that physical demand will be low so DVD it is. Detail and colour is good for a DVD release, but dark scenes do suffer a bit in terms of detail.

The audio is an English 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack with available English SDH subtitles. Effects are placed in the surrounds and the score sounds pretty good, while dialogue is clear, centred and well-prioritized in the mix.

The 3-disc sets has each DVD disc on its own spindle, which is nice. There’s a slip cover, but no digital code. The extras include a handful of deleted scenes and a trio of featurettes that look at the reboot and its production.

The CSI: Vegas Season One DVD set will be welcome news for fans of the franchise. The audio and video is quite good given the specs of DVD physical media.

When the American Film Institute updates its Top 100 films, I’m pretty sure that Jackass Forever will not be added to the list. Still, there are people out there who enjoy Johnny Knoxville and friends’ bone-breaking, ball-bashing stunts so Paramount has released a Blu-ray of their latest mishaps.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. It looks really good with excellent detail in most of the footage from nicks and cuts to bruises and stubble. Black levels are good with no evident crushing and pretty good detail in the shadows. The colour palette is natural and some tones really pop. There’s no compression artifacts or digital noise to speak of. It’s a really nice transfer.

On the audio side, being a jackass knows no borders, so you have the choice of an English 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack and an English Audio Description track as well as French (Canada), German and Spanish (Latin America) Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French (Canada), German, Norwegian, Polish, Spanish (Latin America) and Swedish. Though the soundtrack is a little front heavy, the surrounds do add to the effects in some scenes and the subwoofer adds to the bone-crunching and explosive mayhem. Dialogue is clear.

On the extras side, the Blu-ray disc also comes with a digital code and additional and extended stunts and interviews connected to the antics.

If you’re not a fan of the Jackass franchise, you’ll probably give Jackass Forever a pass, but for the faithful you’ll get treated to a really good video presentation teamed up with good sound and a nice collection of extras. Recommended for fans.

Soapdish is one of those light, fun films with a great cast that is perfect when it’s a rainy Sunday afternoon or you’ve got a cold. You want something that’s not too taxing and will give you a few laughs to make you feel better. It’s cinematic chicken soup. Paramount Home Entertainment has just released it on Blu-ray and I was given an opportunity to review it.

Directed by Michael Hoffman, the film stars Sally Field as Celeste Talbert, the star of the soap opera The Sun Also Sets. She’s popular with the fans and a perennial award winner, but on set she has very few friends and many enemies. Her biggest enemy is Montana Moorehead (Cathy Moriarty), a fellow actress who is tired of being the lesser star and needs Celeste gone to accomplish her goals. She’s aided by producer David Barnes (Robert Downey Jr.). He’ll do anything to get into Montana’s pants, including hiring Celeste’s ex, former co-star Jeffrey Anderson (Kevin Kline), who now finds himself working the dinner theatre circuit. Celeste’s one true friend, head writer Rose Schwartz (Whoopi Goldberg), does what she can to protect Celeste, but everyone’s plans go awry when an ambitious young actress (Elisabeth Shue) joins the cast.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The video presentation is pretty standard fare. Good details on all the usual suspects (faces, textiles and environment) and a bright colour palette with adequate black levels.

On the audio side, the disc comes with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, and French. It’s a front-heavy mix, but dialogue is clear and the music sounds good. It’s not going to dazzle anyone, but does the job for this light comedy.

The disc does not come with a digital code and the extras consist of a very short behind-the-scenes featurette and the theatrical trailer.

Look, I’m biased here. The missus and I have watched Soapdish several times over the years. Though this Blu-ray may not have mind-blowing audio and video and lacks exciting extras, I’ll still recommend it if you want the cinematic equivalent of comfort food.

[Newest Posts] [Newer Posts] [Older Posts]