THE STEAM ENGINES OF OZ -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 5/31/18

 

THE STEAM ENGINES OF OZ (Cinedigm, 2018) is one of those dystopian Oz tales in which L. Frank Baum's wonderful fairytale land has gone to pot and needs someone to restore the magic.

And much like writer-director Sean Patrick O'Reilly's HOWARD LOVECRAFT AND THE FROZEN KINGDOM, it's also one of those modestly-rendered digital cartoons that will probably look decidedly low-tech to someone who's more used to lush, polished Disney and Pixar product.  (Although, ironically, it would've looked amazingly cutting-edge back in the "dawn of CGI" days of the 80s.)

As such, the character/background design and execution are of uneven quality throughout, with the underground and city sequences looking the best and the forest/battle scenes often having a somewhat unfinished look.  Not surprisingly, the film's steampunk angle is one of its most appealing elements.

The story begins in the vast subterranean world beneath the Emerald City, where a plucky young "Mary Sue" type named Victoria, whose job it is to help keep the city's massive steam engines running, is chosen by good witch Locasta and her flying monkeys to help defeat the city's tyrannical ruler and restore order to Oz.

Surprisingly, this dreaded tyrant is none other than the Tin Man, who rules with an iron fist (so to speak) in his quest to abolish magic and spread his steam-engine technology throughout the land to the detriment of the environment (giving the story an ecological slant).

A flashback in black-and-white motion-comic form--one of the film's best-looking sequences--explains Tin Man's motives (he's doing it all for love) but that doesn't lessen the image of him as a snarling metal monster (more of a sinister, hulking Doctor Doom than the benevolent little tin fellow we're used to) trying his best to chop the good-guy characters to pieces with his massive axe during the big battle sequence that occurs about halfway through the story. 

The film doesn't hold back on such imagery, portraying Tin Man's armies as goose-stepping fascists wielding lethal weapons (indeed, in one scene a likable main character is melodramatically shot to death with a lightning-bolt rifle).

Leading up to all of this, Victoria emerges "topside" for the first time in her life so that she can escape the Emerald City and seek out the help of the Munchkins as well as that of the fabled Wizard of Oz (here voiced by none other than William Shatner). 

Accompanied by her friends Mr. Digg and a comical Munchkin named Gromit, whom she freed from their dungeon cells as "honored guests" of the Tin Man, Victoria enlists the aid of Magnus, son of the Cowardly Lion, and the rest of his pack in what will eventually lead to the aforementioned battle with Tin Man's forces as THE STEAM ENGINES OF OZ becomes a bonafide war movie.

During all this we'll recognize obvious callbacks to various other action movies such as THE MATRIX, 300, and KILL BILL.  At one point, one of the Munchkin leaders exhorts his troops with the phrase, "Let's go, Munchspendables!"

Later, Victoria and company return to the Emerald City, entering Tin Man's dreaded steam engine chamber in search of the imprisoned Scarecrow and resuming the film's "quest" theme, which will eventually be resolved in a "love conquers all" ending.

I'm not sure how little kids will respond to THE STEAM ENGINES OF OZ, since it seems aimed mainly at those who read the graphic novel and/or prefer their Oz stories with a hefty dose of adult grit and grime.  I spent most of its running time reacting to it rather than actually enjoying it, my assessment varying as wildly as the gauges on one of Tin Man's smoldering steam engines. 


CAST
Ron Perlman ("Sons of Anarchy," Hellboy)
William Shatner ("Star Trek," Miss Congeniality)
Julianne Hough ("Dancing with the Stars," Footloose)

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Format: BD+DVD / Digital (iTunes, Amazon, Vudu and more)
SRP: BD+DVD:$19.97
Running Time: 75 mins.
Genre: Animation/Family
Audio: Dolby 5.1
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 (1.78:1)
Subtitles: English
Extras: none
Street Date: June 5, 2018

THE STEAM ENGINES OF OZ -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

SHOCK WAVE -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 12/21/17

 

Bomb squad and hostage crisis stories are always inherently tense to some degree, but SHOCK WAVE, aka "Chai dan zhuan jia" (Cinedigm, 2017), takes things to a whole new level.  It's one of those "through the wringer" experiences that just leaves you...well, wrung out.

Chinese action superstar Andy Lau (THE WARLORDS, BATTLE OF THE WARRIORS) plays veteran bomb defuser extraordinaire J.S. Cheung, whose nerves of steel don't keep him from having a warm heart, as his girlfriend Carmen Li (Jia Song, RED CLIFF) will attest.

They have a nice meet-cute under odd circumstances that lead to a deep relationship which might or might not lead to marriage.  What we're already certain of, if movies like this have taught us anything, is that if there's a big bomb crisis later on in the movie then eventually the girlfriend will get mixed up in it.

Naturally, there's a big bomb crisis later on in the movie, thanks to Cheung's mortal enemy and top bad-guy bomb expert Peng Hong (Wu Jiang), whose brother was sent to prison by Cheung during an undercover assignment. 

Nursing a big, festering grudge against Cheung, Peng Hong plans a massive attack in which Hong Kong's Cross-Harbor Tunnel is taken over and its thousands of hostages threatened with explosive doom unless the imprisoned brother is set free.

What sets SHOCK WAVE apart from most of the other hostage-crisis films is its scale--it looks as though the filmmakers have full use of an actual tunnel filled with automobiles, and the mayhem that occurs inside it will involve all manner of full-scale gun battles, car crashes, and explosions. 

This isn't just some direct-to-video yarn here, but epic, heart-pounding action that exploits every facet of bomb-defusing, hostage negotiating, and all-around shoot-em-up chaos while also exploring all the emotional human elements.  Hostages get killed as do brave cops, and Cheung's character must suffer every tragic loss while feeling partly responsible for it. 

The film begins with a sustained action sequence involving a bank robbery that ends badly.  That leads us into the drawn-out suspense of the tunnel situation which will take up the rest of the film. 

Things slow down in the second half to concentrate on the human side of Cheung's ordeal (including the "girlfriend" part that we knew was coming) as well as exploring other peripheral aspects of the situation, but this just gears us up for one of the most calamitous finales imaginable for a film like this.  I'm talking "intense" in the full sense of the word.

Andy Lau is great as the heroic, likable cop, while Wu Jiang makes an ideal non-cliche' bad guy who loves putting Cheung and the city of Hong Kong through hell.  The rest of the cast are fine as well.
 
Director Herman Yau (THE WOMAN KNIGHT OF MIRROR LAKE, THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN) is in top form throughout, staging it all with brisk bravado and clearly aiming to knock our socks off.  My only complaint is the obvious use of CGI for many of the explosions, which had me yearning for the good old days when they just blew everything up for real. 

Still, SHOCK WAVE is mind-boggling in its mix of human drama with the most nail-biting suspense and explosive, car-crashing, bullet-spraying carnage one could ask for in an action flick.  And after all that, it ends on a note of genuine emotional resonance.  Well done.


SHOCK WAVE DVD BASICS              
Street Date:         January 2, 2018
Language:           Cantonese, Mandarin                      
Runtime:             119 minutes             
Rating:                Not Rated
Subtitles:            English
(Also available in Blu-Ray+DVD)

EXTRAS:
Making-of featurette
Trailer

SHOCK WAVE -- DVD Review by Porfle

SLASHER.COM -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/1/17

 

You know you're in for a good time when a movie not only meets whatever modest expectations you may have for it, but continually surpasses them from the first scene all the way to the last.

Not that SLASHER.COM (2017) is in danger of winning Best Picture or anything, but it does take the lowbrow and often "blah" genre that is its namesake and uses it as the raw material to carve out a finely-hewn piece of cinematic folk art. 

A dynamic opening titles sequence recounting the recent slasher murders of St. Louis singles answering lonely hearts ads online leads us to, you guessed it, a couple of strangers hooking up via an online dating service and venturing out into the wilds of Missouri to spend a getting-to-know-you weekend in a secluded cabin.

Right off the bat, we have to start wondering if those nice facades are for real, or if there's anything Jack (Ben Kaplan, "Pillow Talk", "Weekend Warriors") or Kristy (Morgan Carter in a solid debut) might be hiding as they settle into their fun weekend of romance and a bit of hanky-panky.

What we don't expect is how...well..."odd" the people renting the cabin to them turn out to be.  The Myers family includes Papa Jesse, played by R.A. Mihailoff (DARK HOUSE, LEATHERFACE: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III), who looks like he was born to play a machete-wielding boogeyman, and oversexed daughter Caitlin (Rebecca Crowley), a backwoods child-woman who eyes Jack up and down with all sorts of illicit intent.

Best of all, though, is Jewel Shepard as Mama Myers, the matriarch of the family.  Stuffed into a dress half her size, this overripe matron (who's both too nice and too creepy, a deadly combination) practically oozes "horny" as she ingratiates herself to the nervous young couple, taking special interest in our Jackie boy.

 

Shepard's performance in the role is one of the most deliciously demented I've seen since Lynn Lowry blew through last year's MODEL HUNGER, and she helps push SLASHER.COM deliriously over the top.  Not that it needs that much help, since its premise starts out deceptively simple before taking an abrupt left turn into stark, raving coo-coo and then never letting up.

Once this happens, we can't be quite sure who's who or what's what, which keeps things wonderfully unpredictable.  Just when one of my suspicions turned out to be true, another surprise caught me totally off-guard. 

In fact, this script, which tiptoes around "torture porn" territory without ever actually succumbing to it, delights in playing up our expectations by giving us just what we expect one moment and then pulling the rug out from under us the next.

Technically, SLASHER.COM is sharply-rendered and is simply a pleasure to look at.  Director Chip Gubera keeps a keen edge on the action and visuals while also handling writing (with Chelsea Andes) and music chores.  His rock score adds to the film without overpowering it. 

There isn't a whole lot of gore, but what there is has been done with traditional 80s-style practical effects--indeed, the whole film just has the kind of vibe one gets from the more satisfying genre films of that decade.

The DVD from Cinedigm is widescreen with Dolby 2.0 stereo sound (English only).  No subtitles.  The sole extra is the film's trailer. 

As exceptional as it is, SLASHER.COM keeps things pretty basic while embellishing its barebones storyline with good performances, quirky characters, chills and suspense, and some twists that only the usual "I saw it coming" types will see coming.  I wish every movie of this type could be as much bloody good fun.

SLASHER.COM -- DVD Review by Porfle

EXTRAORDINARY MISSION -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 1/29/18

 

One of the most suspenseful plots I can think of is the straight-arrow cop going undercover as a bad guy and having to live the lifestyle 24 hours a day, with imminent discovery and death always a hair's breadth away. 

It's what made "Donnie Brasco" (the non-fiction book and the movie) so harrowing, and it's what gives the Hong Kong action extravaganza EXTRAORDINARY MISSION (Cinedigm, 2017) such a visceral and emotional charge.

Directors Alan Mak and Anthony Pun and writer Felix Chong (THE DEPARTED, INFERNAL AFFAIRS) wring all the nerve-stretching tension they can from the concept before blasting the doors off with a final act that's pure rocket-fueled action. 

Huang Xuan (THE INTERPRETER) plays Lin Kai, the incorruptible cop whose (mis)fortune it is to be chosen for the task of entering the world of high-stakes drug trafficking with the goal of finding the biggest fish and the pond he swims in. 

Naturally, in order to gain the trust of his criminal cohorts he must engage in highly dangerous and often deadly exploits, with his life on the line at every turn.

This leads to some early action sequences that get us stoked for what's to come. But the main gist of the film's first two-thirds or so is to show Lin Kai using his wits, along with sheer guts, to climb the ladder toward the higher levels of the drug trade. 

The higher up the food chain he goes, the farther down the rabbit hole he descends.  And every time you think you've finally met the biggest, baddest bad guy, there's always someone worse who he must answer to. 

When our hero finally reaches the heart of darkness, we're treated to some stunning twists and revelations that give Lin Kai's mission and everything about it a whole new, shockingly different perspective.  The story keeps the now-familiar "undercover mole" concept fresh by adding intriguing angles to it which give it zing.

But that's nothing compared to what happens when Lin Kai, the ultra-ruthless drug kingpin, and one or two other surprise participants all engage in one of the most furious, action-packed shoot-em-up chase sequences ever filmed. 

Once it starts you might as well buckle up because this is non-stop blazing action that doesn't let up until we've gone back and forth through the wringer at least half a dozen times. 

It's dead serious (no wisecracks or one-liners) with an emotional core that gives the story heft, plenty of suspense, and enough frantic, mind-numbing action coming at us in the last 20-30 minutes for three movies.  EXTRAORDINARY MISSION is one super-charged thrill ride.


EXTRAORDINARY MISSION BLU-RAY™                   
Price:                  $19.97

Street Date:         February 6, 2018
Language:           Mandarin                 
Runtime:             120 minutes             
Rating:                Not Rated
Subtitles:            English

EXTRAORDINARY MISSION DVD BASICS                
Price:                  $14.93

Street Date:         February 6, 2018
Language:           Mandarin                 
Runtime:             120 minutes             
Rating:                Not Rated
Subtitles:            English

Extras: Making-of featurette, trailer

EXTRAORDINARY MISSION -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

TRUTH OR DARE -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 8/23/18

 

How exhilarating it is these days to encounter a full-blooded horror thriller that yanks you up out of your seat and whisks you along like a carnival ride before coming to a crashing halt and leaving you dazed and breathless.

That, my horror-friendly friends, is TRUTH OR DARE (2017), one of the most exciting, nailbiting, and just all-around fun genre flicks I've seen in a goon's age.

Oh sure, it starts out just like one of those standard stalker-slasher yarns about a group of annoying young people who drive to some secluded house for the weekend to party and end up being terrorized by something or someone.

I was all ready to settle in for the same old familiar hijinx and see if this one was going to be so-bad-it's-good or just plain bad.  In fact, I seem to have developed a fondness for such trash over the years and usually derive at least some amount of fun from watching it.

Here, we get the usual group of various teen-types in the big, creepy house, spending Halloween night getting drunk, scaring each other, and playing the titular game which, as you might suspect, dredges up some unpleasant truths (such as infidelity in the ranks) and puts certain members of the group at odds with one another.

But what these hapless kids don't suspect is that there's an evil entity inside that house, and it likes to play the game too--only it plays it for real. Which means that those cryptic, crudely-scrawled "dares" which start to turn up everywhere ("smash your knee", "burn your hands on the stove", etc.) must be followed to the letter within an alotted time, or else.

The "or else" is what gives TRUTH OR DARE its most potent shocks and thrills, with our stalwart protagonists--who actually develop into real people that we care about--getting wise to the seriousness of it all and scrambling (to borrow a line from the script) to "do the dare before the dare does you."

This leads to a frantic succession of horrific acts including self-mutilation, cannibalism (a vegan is forced to devour her friend's freshly-charred scar tissue), and other atrocities that grow in magnitude until I was literally cringing with dread at what they'd be "dared" to next.  Just when one dare seems unfairly extreme, the next one goes it one better on the horror scale until such things as hanging and dismemberment come into play.

As I said, we really do start to care about these characters and their plight, which makes the story all the more effective.  Taking a tip from an aging survivor of the game from years back (NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET's Heather Langenkamp in a welcome cameo), they begin to help each other get through the dares, sharing the burden equally whenever possible so that all might have a chance to make it past the final round.

But the game is always ahead of them, and each successive horror is enough to have guys like Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft nodding in amusement and approval.  Langenkamp's presence is especially appropriate since NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET is one of the last teen-oriented horror flicks that I remember enjoying this much.

The film looks great and is sharply directed by Nick Simon (REMOVAL, THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS) for maximum effect, with a uniformly fine cast.  Standouts include Cassandra Scerbo as Alex, Brytni Sarpy as Maddie, and Mason Dye as Tyler, whose volatile romantic triangle will be one of the key factors in the dares.  Surprisingly, this is a made-for-TV movie that premiered on the SyFy Channel, blowing away most of their other original fare.

Am I praising TRUTH OR DARE too highly? Perhaps, but I'm simply basing my comments about it on how I felt at the fadeout, which managed to be open-ended while still delivering a slam-bang finish.  It left me excited, impressed, jazzed, wrung-out, and feeling as though I'd just stepped off a Tilt-A-Whirl.  For a modern-day horror film in a sub-genre known for its frequent mediocrity, that'll do just fine.

Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Number of discs: 1
Not Rated
Captions: none
Studio: Cinedigm
DVD Release Date: September 4, 2018
Run Time: 90 minutes
Extras: none

Buy it at Amazon.com

TRUTH OR DARE -- DVD Review by Porfle

RWBY: VOLUME 5 -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 5/28/18

 

When I was a kid, it was Santa Claus and the county fair that gave me some of my best annual thrills.  Now, it's the disc release of each season of Rooster Teeth/Cinedigm's mind-candy American anime series, "RWBY", the continuing adventures of those four multi-hued heroines Ruby Rose (red), Weiss Schnee (white), Blake Belladonna (black), and Ruby's sister Yang Xiao Long (yellow)--the latest of which being the 2-disc Blu-ray, RWBY: VOLUME 5. 

Here's the backstory: after a catastrophic war that almost destroyed everything, the world of Remnant has been divided into four kingdoms dedicated to maintaining peaceful relations.  Also drawing them together is a common enemy, the Grimms, a never-ending army of terrifying supernatural beasts that constantly attack both urban centers and outlying villages, drawn by negative emotions such as fear, panic, and hatred. 

The main line of defense consists of hunters and huntresses, those born with various super-powers who train from a young age at special academies until ready to take on the Grimms.  This is where we first met Team RWBY shortly before their academy was attacked and virtually destroyed by a combination of Grimms and a group of terrorists known as White Fang, made up of human-animal hybrids called Faunus under the command of a secret cabal of sinister villains.

As season five commences, the mixed group of RWBY and JNPR (Juniper) team members have completed their arduous journey to the neighboring land of Mistral and its Haven Academy, in a quest to gather more huntsmen and huntresses for the battles to come.  But all is not well--the academy has been infiltrated by evil forces of both White Fang and the dreaded sorceress, Salem, and most of its best warriors murdered.

Meanwhile, Ruby's sister Yang is not only dealing with her new robot arm but must confront her own mother, Raven, now a renegade criminal with very dark dealings involving Salem and her minions.  These include vengeful Cinder and some of the worst members of White Fang, who are now targeting Blake and her family because of their efforts to establish peaceful relations between the Faunus and the human race.

It may sound complicated, but darn if all this drama and intrigue isn't just as riveting as the many intense battle sequences that occur during these fifteen serial-like chapters.  The characters are all fascinating and beautifully conceived, with scintillating dialogue that's either richly dramatic or breezily funny. 

This time there is, in fact, much more personal and political intrigue, now that more of a foundation for such plot complications has been gradually established over the previous seasons and our increased familiarity with the characters makes deeper explorations of them possible.  Both good and bad guys this time around are three-dimensional and increasingly interesting to observe. 

As always, the looks of the series is absolutely gorgeous--even moreso, now that the technology used in creating the digitally simulated "cel animation" look of the show has gotten better and better over time.  Never has "RWBY" looked this gorgeous, richly colorful, and stunningly designed.  The result is often breathtaking, and always a treat for the eyes.

As for the battles themselves, they're choreographed and executed for maximum drama and excitement, with new species of Grimm as well as new human and Faunus opponents.  In an early episode, Weiss takes on a swarm of Grimm resembling giant hornets who attack the transport she's using to get to Mistral.  In the thrilling finale, all the forces of good and evil clash in a prolonged battle that spans several chapters and had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

The 2-disc Blu-ray set from Rooster Teeth/Cinedigm contains the 15-chapter saga on one disc and special features on the other.  These include exciting character studies (deleted scenes), a "Five Years of RWBY" series recap, a collection of featurettes ("CRWBY") detailing various elements of the show's creation, and a manga booklet. Total story running time: 244 minutes.  Widescreen with English Dolby 5.1.  English captions are available.

As always, RWBY: VOLUME 5 kept me thoroughly, deliriously entertained and left me wanting more.  So while my younger friends are awaiting Santa's return, I'll be looking forward to my next annual wallow in the incredible adventures of my current favorite cartoon heroes. 

Release date: June 5, 2018

RWBY: VOLUME 5 -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

RWBY: VOLUME 4 -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 6/5/17

 

If you're a RWBY fan, then you're already stoked for the next installment in the series as presented in this Blu-ray/DVD combo from Rooster Teeth and Cinedigm.  If not, then RWBY: VOLUME 4 (2017) should be a good introduction to those four color-coordinated heroines Ruby Rose (red), Weiss Schnee (white), Blake Belladonna (black), and Ruby's sister Yang Xiao Long (yellow).

Long story short: after a catastrophic war that almost destroyed everything, the world of Remnant has been divided into four kingdoms dedicated to maintaining peaceful relations.  Also drawing them together is a common enemy, the Grimms, a never-ending army of terrifying supernatural beasts that constantly attack both urban centers and outlying villages, drawn by negative emotions such as fear, panic, and hatred. 

The main line of defense consists of hunters and huntresses, those born with various super-powers who train from a young age at special academies until ready to take on the Grimms.  This is where we first met Team RWBY shortly before their academy was attacked and virtually destroyed by a combination of Grimms and a group of terrorists known as White Fang, made up of human-animal hybrids called Faunus under the command of a secret cabal of sinister villains.

 

Volume 4 opens after the previous season's terrific climactic battle has left all four kingdoms in chaos and the RWBY team scattered.  Weiss has returned to her palatial home where her stepfather runs the family "Dust" business in decidedly shady fashion and all is definitely not well.  Blake has also returned to her parents estate on the Faunus continent accompanied by Sun, a boisterous young fellow with an eye for her.  Ruby's sister Yang is still recovering from the loss of both her right arm in the battle and her self-confidence and resolve, which the girls' father is doing his best to restore. 

The main thrust of the season's story, however, is the cross-country trek of Ruby and her friends Jaune, Ren, and Nora (formerly of team JNPR until the tragic death of the valiant huntress Pyrrha) to reach the kingdom of Mistral.  It's one of those grand, heroic journeys filled with much self-discovery and character revelations, not to mention intense life-or-death battles with some of the largest, fiercest, and most horrific Grimms that we've seen thus far. 

The route takes them through the vast wilderness between populated areas and also through various secluded villages, some of which need their help vanquishing particularly hostile Grimms, and others which have already been utterly destroyed by either Grimms or marauding bandits.  One smoking ruin prompts Ren to recall his history as a boy whose parents were killed before his eyes by a bloodthirsty beast, and how he assumed responsibility for another lost soul, the destitute orphan Nora.

 

 

While Yang struggles to regain her confidence and learn how to use her new robotic arm, Blake and Sun's ocean cruise to the Faunus continent is both incredibly scenic--the show is pictorially intoxicating as usual--but highlighted by a spectacular battle with a flying sea dragon.  Once they've reached their destination, the drama continues with Blake's parents clashing with the socially-awkward Sun as well as two highly-suspicious emissaries from the White Fang group.

As usual, we're left with a cliffhanger ending to keep us on edge until the next season begins, with Ruby's team reaching Mistral but discovering that much is not as they expected.  Meanwhile, the main villains of the saga, led by mysterious white goddess Salem and her evil underlings (including last season's traitorous huntress Cinder) keep a low profile and bide their time for a later, more catastrophic strike, with only the near-invincible madman Tyrian directly engaging our heroes in fierce battle during their journey.

Through it all, RWBY VOL. 4 carries on this sharply-written series' tradition of scintillating dialogue and character interactions that make the less action-packed segments just as riveting as the frentic battles--which, as usual, are both lightning-paced and imaginatively staged, striking just the right balance between humor (especially with the girlishly excitable Nora) and dead seriousness, as when a key member of Ruby's group is critically injured.

Visually, the series is a feast of colorful CGI settings and pleasingly executed motion-capture figures that move well and are exquisitely designed. While I still prefer cel animation in my cartoons, I gladly make an exception when a three-dimensional CGI simulation of old-school anime such as this is rendered to such lavish and eye-pleasing effect. Voice performances and music are outstanding as well.

The "It's Also a Gun" Special Edition Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack contains both a Blu-ray disc and a DVD, along with a collectible Crescent Rose lenticular card featuring Ruby's distinctive scythe-shaped weapon ("It's also a gun").  Also available in Blu-ray/DVD and DVD editions.  Total story running time: 190 minutes.  Widescreen with English Dolby 5.1.  English captions are available.

Bonus featurettes include: "World of Remnant: Kingdoms", "World of Remnant: The Great War", "World of Remnant: Schnee Dust Company", "World of Remnant: Faunus", "World of Remnant: Between Kingdoms", "Behind the Scenes: A Grimm Introduction", and "Behind the Scenes: RWBY 4 Production Diary", plus audio commentaries. 

With RWBY: VOL. 4, this series remains one of my favorite and most eagerly-anticipated of any genre adventures being created today.  While not quite as action-intensive as the previous season, this one more than compensates with a richness of story and character that lends even greater impact to the slam-bang battle sequences.


Buy it from Rooster Teeth

Read our original coverage

Street date: June 6, 2017

http://www.cinedigm.com/                                      
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http://www.twitter.com/cinedigm                             
http://www.youtube.com/cinedigm

RWBY: VOLUME 4 -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

RWBY: BEACON, VOLUMES 1-3 (STEELBOOK) -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 10/2/16

 

The creative team at Rooster Teeth and Cinedigm (the creators of RED VS. BLUE) have really outdone themselves with the stunningly beautiful and exciting American anime epic RWBY: BEACON, VOLUMES 1-3, the first major story arc in the ongoing series.  In fact, watching it may have gotten me so spoiled that from now on, few other examples of this k‌ind of animated adventure will live up to its level of wonderfulness. 

If that sounds like an exaggeration, it's because I tend to do that when I'm having a fantastic time.  I reviewed the third volume of this saga on its own earlier this year (which you can read HERE), and even without the first two as backstory it wasn't long before I was caught up in the sweeping tale of a futuristic world called "Remnant" (whose now-peaceful countries are the remains of a cataclysmic world war) in which super-powered teens train at academies to become huntsmen and huntresses who protect the world from evil.

This evil consists mainly of roving packs of huge, vicious animal-monsters known as Grimms.  However, human and semi-human villains plot against the forces of good as well, some of them even posing as students and infiltrating Beacon academy where our favorite superheroes-in-training strive to take their places as guardians of the world.

The main team of wannabe huntresses is known as RWBY (pronounced "ruby") whose color-coded members consist of the childlike, excitable Ruby Rose (red), ice-queen heiress Weiss Schnee (white), mysterious, moody Blake Belladonna (black), and Ruby's outgoing older sister Yang Xiao Long (yellow). Like everyone else at Beacon, each has her own individual super-power and preferred weaponry.  

At first they seem to be the usual girly-girls we find in such series as "K-On"--they're funny and sometimes a little ditzy in addition to being great athletes and warriors, and not above the occasional bout of slapstick comedy--but as the events of the story progress they and their classmates reveal many levels to their characters as the various interpersonal conflicts become progressively deep and emotionally resonant, and often carry over onto the field of battle. 

The sharply-written script is filled with snappy, natural-sounding dialogue that avoids being dumb or stilted. What's more, the large cast is loaded with appealing characters (the voice acting is superb), each of whom is fascinating in his or her own way.

Since this is a story about teens discovering themselves and each other, even the "cooler" and more seemingly invincible students get to reveal their sensitive, vulnerable sides as well as a few insecurities that are helped along by the understanding and empathy of their peers. 

Naturally, all of this teamwork, friendship, and acceptance contributes to a general feelgood ambience that's just pure fun.  There's even an impromptu group dance during the charming ballroom dance sequence that rivals the one in DEAD KIDS for pure uninhibited joy.

In sharp contrast, it's the somber, fiercely dramatic and often action-packed scenes where RWBY really goes into overdrive.  Consistently dazzling displays of imaginative fight choreography, brilliant direction, an excellent musical score, and eye-pleasing design shatter monotony and keep each new battle as fresh, thrilling, and unpredictable as the last.  The gorgeous candy-coated visuals have the look of vibrant cel art that's been brought to life with finely-rendered computer animation and motion-capture. 

Battle sequences come at the viewer at a breakneck pace that's edited rapid-fire but still easy to follow.  The battle between the young heroes and two terrible Grimms--a giant vulture and a monster scorpion--within the ruins of an ancient temple during a training mission is one of the most breathtaking and spectacular displays of animation of ANY kind that I've ever seen. 

Yang's deflating remark at the end ("Well...that was a thing") is just the sort of dead-on attitude of serious fun that permeates this entire collection.   One incredible action sequence follows another, including a furious competition between the different training academies which then becomes a spectacular and sustained battle royale when the villains, led by ultra-bad-girl Cinder and juvenile-delinquent-deluxe Torchwick, launch their final attack on Beacon. 

For me, a giddy feeling of "this is gonna be good!" preceeds each fight, which never disappoints. It's the kind of all-out wonderful genre goodness that makes me glad I became a nerd in the first place.  If I were still a smoker I'd have had to light up when it was over.

As I said in my review of volume three: "I don't often see a story escalate from colorful action-filled fun to catastrophic disaster epic the way RWBY: VOLUME 3 effortlessly does...this is great anime entertainment that left me wanting more."

The 3-disc Blu-ray set from Rooster Teeth and Cinedigm is packaged in a cool limited-edition steelbook case with plastic slipcover.  Total feature running time is 7 hours and 19 minutes.  There are no subtitles for disc one, but discs two and three contain English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. Each disc is generously endowed with commentary tracks, informative behind-the-scenes featurettes, character profiles and other backstory info, trailers, and other goodies.

While some hardcore anime fans tend to be more blase' about it (according to various forum posts), this is some of the best anime I've ever seen.  Heck, it's one of the best things of ANY kind I've ever seen.  Watching it gives me the same feeling of exploring something new and amazing that I had the first time I ever saw AKIRA.  And while that may only be my immediate excitement over it talking, it sorta tells you just how exciting it is.  RWBY: BEACON, VOLUMES 1-3 is spectacular in a way that no other medium could express, and watching it is pure, exhilarating entertainment.

RWBY: BEACON, VOLUMES 1-3 (STEELBOOK) -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

SPOOKLEY THE SQUARE PUMPKIN -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 10/19/17
 

 

It's funny how computer-animated cartoons that would've amazed people and won technical awards back in the 80s have become such an everyday thing now.  Still, I sometimes get a kick out of seeing one of these CGI cartoons with the colorful 3D-ish characters and elaborate backgrounds that remind me of moving Viewmaster reels.  And if the story is engaging enough, all the better.

Disney Junior's SPOOKLEY THE SQUARE PUMPKIN (Cinedigm) meets those criteria well enough for a TV production, at least for me anyway.  The characters are expressive and likable, the settings eye-pleasing, the songs enjoyable, and the story by children's book author Joe Troiano is sweet, simple, and comfortingly predictable.

It all begins when a square pumpkin is discovered in the pumpkin patch of Holiday Hill Farm.  This causes grave unrest among the more intolerant in the garden, embodied by a George-and-Lenny pair of pumpkins ("Big Tom" and "Litte Tom") joined by a weirdly umbilical-like vine and very vocal against any pumpkin who isn't properly round as they are. 

These bullies and their bigotry against anyone different from themselves form the basis for the story's lesson on acceptance, which, thankfully, doesn't pile-drive us quite as much as one might suspect. 

In fact, most of the characters, including friendly scarecrow Jack (the patch's amiable leader), brother and sister bats Boris and Bella (Boris craves bugs while Bella admonishes him for wanting to devour their sentient friends), spiders Edgar, Allan, and Poe ("With an 'E'!"), and vain beauty-queen pumpkin Bobo, are actually more-or-less pretty decent toward Spookley.

Square peg Spookley remains insecure even when his comical spider friends persuade him to enter Jack's "Jack-A-Lympics" competition to decide the Pick of the Patch (mainly so they can get their hands on the candy corn crown). 

Naturally, his unusual shape dooms his chances in each round, inviting a fair amount of thoughtless ridicule from the others.  It isn't until a raging storm hits the farm and everyone comes frighteningly close to a bad end that the little square pumpkin's shape enables him to rescue everyone.

As I said, it's all comfortingly predictable.  I must confess to not knowing just how kids these days react to this kind of stuff--I would've been entranced by it, and even now find it pleasantly watchable.   

The characters are pretty funny, and the frequent song-and-dance numbers--some with backup by Pointer Sisters-like trio "The Honey-Doos" and even a few musical ghosts--not only entertain with their clever lyrics and bouncy choreography but also come and go without outstaying their welcome. 

The 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo from Cinedigm is in standard television format with English, Spanish, and French 2.0 soundtracks and English SDH subtitles.  Extras consist of five (non-HD) video storybooks, each based on a Joe Troiano book and lasting about five minutes: The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin, The Legend of Beacon the Bright Little Firefly, The Legend of JellyBean and the Unbreakable Egg, The Legend of Lyla the Lovesick Ladybug, and The Legend of Mistletoe and the Christmas Kittens. 

The first of these, "The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin", is read by none other than Bobby "Boris" Pickett of "Monster Mash" fame.  Pickett also sings the main feature's "Monster Mash"-like end titles song, "The Transylvania Twist."

SPOOKLEY THE SQUARE PUMPKIN is ideal small-scale fun for (say it with me) "kids of all ages."  The little ones won't suspect they're being taught a lesson about tolerance even as Spookley's ultimately heartwarming tale leaves them with a Jack o' Lantern smile.

SPOOKLEY THE SQUARE PUMPKIN -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle