Evans Above

Paramount Home Entertainment has released South Park: The Streaming Wars on Blu-ray. In typical South Park fashion, the two special event storylines manage to combine water scarcity, global warming, corporate greed and breast implants while also being a commentary on the glut of product for streaming services.. How will the town of South Park and its four most famous residents – Kyle, Stan, Kenny, and Cartman – handle these issues? I had a chance to take a look.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The show’s trademark 2D animation style is served up with great clarity and sharpness for the animation’s line art. As per usual, the colour palette is full of bold primaries.

On the audio side, there’s a single English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack with subtitles available for English SDH. While a pretty front-heavy mix, some effects do make their way to the surround channels. The dialogue is clear and centred.

The single disc has zero special features, nor does it come with a digital code.

The South Park: The Streaming Wars Blu-ray tackles multiple issues in a way only these Colorado school boys can. If you’re a fan of this show and its mature humour, you’ll enjoy this release.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is another attempt to cash in on the wildly successful first installment of the franchise, a word-of-mouth success that captivated audiences and grossed $368 million against a budget of $5 million. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, starring, written and – for the first time – directed by Nia Vardalos, has Toula, Ian, and her extended loving, loud, and crazy Greek family actually heading to Greece for the first time in the franchise. Toula’s father, Gus, has passed and his dying wish was that his detailed journal be given to his three childhood best friends. With her family in tow, Toula heads off to Greece to fulfill his wish. It’s relatively harmless fun (a phrase never used in ringing endorsements) set in a beautiful country, but never captures the magic that was the first film. Vardalos is joined in the cast by John Corbett, Louis Mandylor, Elena Kampouris, Gia Carides, Joey Fatone, Lainie Kazan, and Andrea Martin. Universal has just released the My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray and I had a chance to take a look.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. It’s not a showstopping transfer and detail isn’t as sharp as we’ve come to expect from Blu-ray. The colour palette is bright, with rich blues and natural greens, so at least the Greek scenery is showcased in that way. Given how beautiful Greece is, it’s a shame that the video presentation isn’t top-notch.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Spanish DTS 5.1 track. The Canadian version drops Spanish for a French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Subtitles are available for English SDH and Spanish, with French replacing Spanish on the Canadian version. Anyone else think it’s weird that there’s not a Greek option? The surrounds don’t get a lot of action, but in one club scene they pull you into the action enough that you’ll start a drink tab. They also get some use with atmospheric sounds and some elements of the bright and dynamic score. Dialogue is clear and centred.

The US version comes with the Blu-ray, a DVD copy and a Digital code. Both the DVD and the code are dropped for the Canadian pressing. Please don’t get me started on the weird AI-generated/enhanced cover art, but man oh man, the faces and hands just look off. Bonus materials include audio commentary by Nia Vardalos, a gag reel, deleted and extended scenes, a look at Nia’s writing and directing, a “making of” featurette, and an extended take of the wedding drum song.

With a story lighter than a baklava and good but not great audio/video, the My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Blu-ray is only for hardcore fans of the franchise. If you just have a passing interest, catch it on streaming.

Roger Corman is a pioneer in independent cinema and low-budget cult film and his influence on the industry is huge, having mentored filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard, to name but a few. Film Masters have just released a double feature Blu-ray set that presents both Beast From Haunted Cave and Ski Troop Attack. I was given an early look.

Directed by Monte Hellman, 1959’s Beast From Haunted Cave stars Michael Forest, Sheila Noonan, Frank Wolff, Richard Sinatra, Wally Campo, Linné Ahlstrand, Chris Robinson and Jaclyn Zeman. A group of criminals use an explosion in a mine to divert attention away from their robbery of a local bank only to come across a spider-like creature that feeds on humans. The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in both a 1.85:1 aspect ratio and in a 1.33:1 TV-friendly aspect ratio that was used back then. The transfer is from a 4K scan of the original 35mm film elements. The transfers have good clarity, detail and grain structure, though the wear and tear on the source elements is evident. The main thing here is that we’re getting a Blu-ray transfer of a Corman-produced film and it’s always nice when a film is preserved and not lost to the sands of time.

On the audio side of things, the release comes with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono soundtrack with English subtitles.. Again, the transfer depends on the source material but the occasional hisses and crackling does not render the dialogue unintelligible.

Ski Troop Attack was film at the same time as Beast From Haunted Cave and reused the same South Dakota location and Michael Forest, Frank Wolff, Wally Campo and Richard Sinatra star in this one as well. Corman, who directed this outing, knew how to stretch his budgets. In this flick, a patrol of US troops is skiing behind German lines on reconnaissance mission in the Hürtgen Forest during World War II. Besides battling the enemy, there’s tension between the veteran sergeant and the group’s inexperienced lieutenant.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. While Beast From Haunted Cave was scanned in 4K from original 35mm elements, Ski Troop Attack was given an HD scan from a 16mm reduction print. The different source material means this transfer does not have the same clarity as its companion film. The contrast is also lacking a bit and with so many white scenes, the image is a bit washed out. As I’ve said though, it’s great that Film Masters is preserving works from the influential Roger Corman.

On the audio side of things, Ski Troop Attack features an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono soundtrack and English subtitles.

The Beast From Haunted Cave / Ski Troop Attack Special Edition set is presented on two Blu-ray discs. There is no digital code. Film Masters could just present these two films and their preservation work would be done, but they also include bonus materials that help educate the viewer about the films. Beast From Haunted Cave features a commentary by Tom Weaver and Larry Blamire, original and recut trailers and a behind-the-scenes gallery. The Ski Troop Attack disc features commentary by C. Courtney Joyner and Howard S. Berger and a Ballyhoo doc, “Hollywood Intruders: The Filmgroup Story Part One.” The set also has a booklet with essays by C. Courtney Joyner and Tom Weaver,

Film Masters has once again helped film preservation with the release of the Beast From Haunted Cave / Ski Troop Attack Special Edition Blu-ray. If you’re fan of, or interested in learning about, the work of Roger Corman’s production company, you’ll want to add this to your collection.

Studios like to milk their intellectual property dry and the Transformers franchise is no different. Since Transformers was released in 2007, it has spawned four sequels and a prequel film, Bumblebee. The latest entry, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, has its timeline squished between Bumblebee and Transformers. In this iteration, Optimus Prime and the Autobots must battle Unicron and the Terrorcons with help from the Maximals, who are beast mode Transformers. (Not a sentence I type often.) The various Transformers are voiced by Ron Perlman, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh, Pete Davidson, Liza Koshy, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Colman Domingo, Cristo Fernández, Tongayi Chirisa, Peter Cullen, John DiMaggio, and David Sobolov. while the humans – who are really just sidebars to the plot – are led by Dominique Fishback, Anthony Ramos, and Dean Scott Vazquez. While Bumblebee tried to take the franchise in a more “emotional” direction, Steven Caple Jr.’s entry heads back to the more bombastic Micheal Bay style of Transformers flicks. Plot has always taken a back seat to boom and smash in these films, so if that’s your cup of tea, you’ll be happy to know that Paramount has released a 4K SteelBook of the movie. I had a chance to take a look.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. What it lacks in story depth, it makes up in looks. It’s an excellent video presentation with great detail and clarity in both real and computer-generated elements. The colour palette ranges from popping colours on clothing to lush jungle fauna. The black levels are deep and there’s no loss of detail in the shadows and darker scenes. There are no encode issues to speak of and all in all it’s a really good looking presentation.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of English and French Dolby Atmos soundtracks that fold back to Dolby TrueHD 7.1. There are also Spanish (España and Latinoamérica) and French (Canadian) Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish. The soundscape is fully explored, with explosions, scraping metal, clanks and whirs moving throughout the surrounds and height channels while the subwoofer doesn’t get a chance to relax either. Dialogue is clear and centred. It’s a fun track.

The Transformers: Rise of the Beasts 4K SteelBook also comes with a Blu-ray copy of the film as well as a digital code. Extras include featurettes with cast and crew discussing the franchise, 90s production design, the heroes and villains, a look at some of the sequences and locations, as well as deleted and extended scenes. The collectible SteelBook case has a painting of Optimus Prime on the front, a painting of Optimus Primal on the back, the inner panel shows the Maximals on the left and the Autobots on the right.

Fans of the franchise who are also collectors of SteelBooks will be interested in the Transformers: Rise of the Beasts 4K SteelBook, with its excellent audio and video presentations and nice-looking case. A non-SteelBook version is also available for those who don’t care about SteelBooks.

Rosemary’s Baby was director Roman Polanksi’s Hollywood debut and with that debut he produced one of the most chilling horrors in history. Based on Ira Levin’s novel, it tells the tale of a young woman (Mia Farrow) who, during her first pregnancy, becomes increasingly suspicious about both her unsuccessful actor husband (John Cassavetes) and her nosy neighbours (Sidney Blackmer and an Oscar-winning Ruth Gordon). They keep up suggesting she’s just undergoing hormonal paranoia, but as the film unfolds we begin to wonder if paranoia is actually perception. Anchored by the performances of Gordon and Farrow, the film is as creepy today as it was in 1968. As the film celebrates its 55th anniversary, Paramount is releasing a 4K version and I had a chance to take an early look.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The video presentation is sharper than previous releases with excellent details in the fabrics and apartment settings. Any softness in the image is a creative choice by cinematographer William A. Fraker who diffused the shots to provide a dreamy, ethereal feel to what was unfolding. The colour palette stands out in 4K HDR, with brighter whites, deeper reds and more variations in subtle hues. The darker scenes benefit with no loss of detail in the shadows.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Mono soundtrack as well as French, German and Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono tracks. Subtitles are available for English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Dutch. Purists will rejoice that the original mono track wasn’t forced into a surround setting. Dialogue is clear and Krzysztof Komeda’s score is haunting.

The Rosemary’s Baby 4K also comes with the 2021 Blu-ray and a digital code. There are no extras on the 4K disc, but the Blu-ray has a featurette that provides background and context to the production while another looks at Farrow and Polanksi. Two trailers are also included.

Rosemary’s Baby is a horror classic. Toss in excellent video and audio and this 4K is highly recommended.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is the story of Ruby (Lana Condor), a typical high school student with one big secret: she and her family are actually krakens, the creatures that have been a part of seafaring myths for ages. When it turns out that one of her friends, Chelsea (Annie Murphy), is actually a mermaid, who have battled the krakens for eons, Ruby must accept who she is and what powers she has. The voice cast of this computer-animated family film also includes Toni Collette, Colman Domingo, and Jane Fonda. Though the plot may seem a little familiar, say, “Turning Red beneath the waves,” Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is an enjoyable film for family viewing. Universal has just released a Blu-ray/DVD combo set and I had a chance to look.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The computer animation, from characters to backgrounds, is beautifully detailed and the colour palette is stunning. I usually say “popping” primaries, but this image takes colour to explosive. Black levels are nice and deep. Audiences of all ages will find something in the video presentation to captivate them.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack as well as a Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 track and a French (Canada) Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Subtitles are available for English SDH, French and Spanish. It’s a nicely immersive soundtrack (underwater pun not intended) and the surrounds will put you into the scenes nicely with ambient sounds and action effects. The subwoofer adds a nice, deep (ocean) floor to the track and the score is bright an dynamic. Dialogue is clear and centred and never gets overwhelmed by everything else going on.

In the US, the Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken set comes with a Blu-ray, a DVD and a digital code. Once again there is no digital code in the Canadian version. Is it something we said? There’s an audio commentary by directors Kirk DeMicco, Faryn Pearl, and other members of the production team, deleted scenes with introductions, a look at the recording of the voice performances, a look at kraken lore, a couple of featurettes on the voice cast, prom stories, a look at female empowerment in the story and the women on the creative team, and an animation guide.

Though Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken may tread some familiar territory, a great cast, beautiful imagery and positive message will make it and its audience get along swimmingly.

Film Masters, founded by Phil Hopkins, is a new boutique label whose mission is the preservation and restoration of film. The Giant Gila Monster (and its companion release, The Killer Shrews) are the type of low budget films that were perfect for drive-ins or those late night horror shows on your local TV station hosted by some familiar personality in the community. Many of these films are in danger of being lost to the sands of time, but seeing Film Masters lovingly restore them and give them the full bonus materials treatment is a heartening example of preservation work. I had a chance to look at The Giant Gila Monster / The Killer Shrews.

Both of the films were directed by Ray Kellogg and produced back-to-back. The Giant Gila Monster follows Chase Winstead (Don Sullivan), a hot rod-obsessed teen who works as a mechanic to support his family. When the town is threatened by a giant lizard, the local sheriff (Fred Graham) knows he has to stop it before it kills again. Can our teen hero help him save the day? Will the sock hop be threatened?

The Killer Shrews stars James Best as Captain Thorne Sherman, who is tasked with dropping supplies off to a remote island where Dr. Marlowe Craigis (Baruch Lumet) has been conducting experiments on shrews. When a hurricane threatens the island, the Captain finds himself trapped there. Did I mention the shrews have escaped and that they’re aggressive, the size of dogs, and poisonous? The cast also includes co-producers Ken Curtis and Gordon McLendon and Ingrid Goude, who was Sweden’s entry in the 1956 Miss Universe pageant. James Best would later go on to play Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in The Dukes of Hazzard.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfers of both films are presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, while a 1.33:1 aspect ratio is also provided to give you that late night pre-widescreen TV experience. Both films have a pleasing grain and a good amount of detail. The Giant Gila Monster is from a 4K scan of the 35mm source materials and the black levels are nice and deep. The Killer Shrews is listed as coming from a restored HD print and is much darker in some scenes. While The Giant Gila Monster used an actual lizard on miniature sets, The Killer Shrews used puppets and dogs in costumes for the title characters, so the extra darkness was an artistic choice to help “hide” the talent.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono and Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono soundtracks. Subtitles are available for English SDH. The mono tracks service the dialogue and music well. I only noticed some occasional minor crackling in The Killer Shrews track.

The 2-disc Blu-ray set also features a 24-page booklet that has photos, posters and two essays by Don Stradley and Jason A. Ney. The Giant Gila Monster includes a trailer, a lengthy interview with Don Sullivan and audio commentary by Larry Strothe, James Gonis, Shawn Sheridan and Matt Weinhold from The Monster Party Podcast. The Killer Shrews extras include an audio commentary by author Jason A. Ney, a featurette on director Ray Kellogg narrated by Larry Blamire and produced by Daniel Griffith’s Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, as well as radio spots for both films.

Film Masters debut offering preserves two drive-in / late night classics and helps provide historical context to the two films. Lovingly presented, this The Giant Gila Monster / The Killer Shrews Blu-ray double bill is recommend for fans of the genre or anyone who loves to see the preservation of a wide range of films.

The CBS drama series Fire Country stars Max Thieriot as Bode Donovan, a young convict who volunteers for the California Conservation Camp Program which helps prisoners shorten their sentences by assisting professional firefighters with California’s wildfires. Assigned to his hometown, Bode finds himself working with former friends and other inmates. The main cast is rounded out by Kevin Alejandro, Jordan Calloway, Stephanie Arcila, Jules Latimer, Diane Farr and Billy Burke. Paramount has just released Fire Country: Season One on DVD and I had a chance to take a look.

I sound like a broken broken record, but I do get asked why a recent series that’s broadcast in HD would be released on a standard definition DVD instead of a Blu-ray. Long story short, DVDs are cheaper to make and the studio analyzes what it thinks the home market will be. If the show is super popular or a genre hit with rabid fans it gets a Blu-ray, otherwise it gets a DVD. The video presentation does look pretty good with colour palette that captures the natural surroundings and raging fires well. Black levels and shadow details aren’t as good as a Blu-ray could deliver but are good for the DVD format. With the 22 episodes spread over six discs, the video does have some room to breath so compression artifacts aren’t too bad. The series is presented in a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio.

On the audio side of things, the set does come with an English 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack. Subtitles are available for English SDH. Like many TV shows the soundtrack can be a little front-heavy though the surrounds and subwoofer do get usage for the environmental sound. Dialogue is clear and centred.

The six-disc DVD set comes with two featurettes that look at the season and the visual effects and there is also a gag reel. The set does not come with a digital code.

If you’re a fan of the series, then you’ll want to pick up Fire Country: Season One on DVD. If you haven’t seen it, I’d recommending checking it out on CBS or Paramount+ and deciding if you want to add it to your collection.

NCIS: Los Angeles premiered on CBS on September 22nd, 2009. Fourteen years and 323 epiosdes later, its successful run on CBS ended on May 21, 2023. The series follows two special agents, Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) and Grisha Callen (Chris O’Donnell), who work undercover for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The supporting cast has included Peter Cambor, Daniela Ruah, Adam Jamal Craig, Linda Hunt, Barrett Foa, Eric Christian Olsen, Renée Felice Smith, Miguel Ferrer, Nia Long, Medalion Rahimi, Caleb Castille and Gerald McRaney. Paramount has just released NCIS: Los Angeles: The Complete Series on DVD and I had a chance to take a look.

The fourteen season set is spread over 81 discs which means this hefty package is not only entertainment but also probably qualifies as home workout equipment. And now we answer the inevitable question: “The show is streaming in HD, so why is this a DVD and not a Blu-ray?” The answer is market analysis. Yes, some previous individual season releases were on Blu-ray but Paramount figures that the market for this complete series set is not big enough to warrant Blu-rays and/or really care if it’s in HD. So we get a DVD release, as DVDs still lead physical media sales and are cheaper to manufacture. The video presentation is presented in a 16:9 aspect ratio and is pretty good for DVD. The colours look good and though we don’t get the same deepness of black levels or shadow detail as a Bu-ray, the video presentation is good. There is some artifacting and compression issues here and there but with an 81 disc set the video does have a bit of room to breathe.

On the audio side of things, you have the typical mish-mash of language choices that TV releases have, with no consistency across the whole series. So, seasons 1-2 have English 5.1 Dolby Digital, English 2.0 Dolby Digital, and French 2.0 Dolby Digital. Seasons 3-11 have English 5.1 Dolby Digital and English 2.0 Dolby Digital. Seasons 12-14 have English 5.1 Dolby Digital. As for subtitles, seasons 1-2 have English SDH, French, Portuguese and Spanish. Seasons 3-5 have English SDH, Portuguese and Spanish. Seasons 6-7 have English SDH and Portuguese, while seasons 8-14 just have English SDH. Confusing, huh? As with many TV releases, the 5.1 soundtrack can sometimes be front-heavy, while in other scenes the surrounds do get some use with ambient sounds and action effects. LFE usage is quite good. Dialogue is clear and centred.

The 81 disc set doesn’t come with a digital code for the series, but it is packed with over 17 hours of bonus content including crossover episodes with NCIS and NCIS: Hawai’i ,behind-the-scenes pieces and deleted scenes.

If you’re an NCIS: Los Angeles fan, this set has good audio and video and a nice selection of extras. It would be great if it was on Blu-ray, but since they may not happen, fans will love NCIS: Los Angeles: The Complete Series DVD set.

The third and final season of the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Picard is in the books and most fans agree that it was a fitting and satisfying ending for the adventures of the beloved captain and his Star Trek: TNG crew. The cast of this season includes Patrick Stewart, Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, Ed Speleers, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Todd Stashwick, Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut, Michael Dorn, Amanda Plummer, Marina Sirtis, LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, and Mica Burton. Paramount has released a Star Trek: Picard – The Final Season Blu-ray SteelBook and I had a chance to take a look.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. Sharpness and detail is present in all the usual places: facial features, clothing, sets and locations. The black levels are nice and deep and details remain in the shadows and darker scenes. Sharp-eyed viewers who have already watched the season on Paramount+ will notice that, for some reason, an Enterprise flyby in one scene uses a different VFX shot from the streaming version.

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, Italian, Japanese and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish. (So you can read Picard saying “Gör det så.”) The surrounds are put to good use whether it’s for the ambient sounds on the vessels or to enhance the action. The dialogue is clear and centred.

The three-disc Blu-ray set does not come with a digital code for the season. Extras include multiple commentaries with cast and crew, deleted scenes, some featurettes, a Q&A, and a gag reel. The SteelBook case features Picard and the crew on the front, a rendering of the Enterprise on the back, and the interior features an image of the crew playing poker.

Star Trek: Picard – The Final Season Blu-ray SteelBook has very good audio and video and a nice collection of extras. If you’re a SteelBook collector, you’ll probably want this version. If you haven’t bought the previous two seasons, you may be interested in the Complete Series Blu-ray being released at the same time or you may want to wait a little while to see if Paramount gives fans a 4K version.

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