Author: Robert Greenberger

Listening to the audio commentary to Underwater, you can hear director William Eubank gush about the set design, the costumes, the creature effects, the title sequence, and so on, and you realize it’s about all that and not the story and characters. Any time you take your eye off the story and characters, you’re in trouble.

Underwater, out now from 20^th Century Home Entertainment, is a complete misfire of a horror thriller, effectively remaking Alien and setting it under the sea. It wastes an engaging enough cast anchored by Kristen Stewart, looking as fetching in her underwear as Sigourney Weaver did, and never builds enough original suspense to be worth sitting through.

She plays Norah, a mechanical engineer deep down in a corporate mining facility and of course, the corporation has ignored warnings of strange sightings, leaving the small crew vulnerable. So of course, things go wrong, one after the other, and the crew is winnowed until its just her and Jessica Henwick versus the sea creatures.

Ho hum. You know what’s coming, you don’t care when it arrives, and know how it’s going to end so you’re watching out of sluggishness, not interest.

There’re sparks of interest here and there, mostly why you remain rooted in your seat, hoping for better. The crew is led by Vincent Cassel and his French accent, complete with the always watchable T. J. Miller, and rounded out with John Gallagher Jr., Mamoudou Athie, Gunner Wright. Whatever is revealed about the characters is just enough, in the Eubanks’ mind, as he wants to keep moving the story forward, forgetting we need to be invested in the characters. One of the extended scenes visually reveals things about the crew which begs for more but it’s cut, he says, to keep the story going.

If only the story had a direction that was fresh, new, and compelling. Blame goes to the script by Brian Duffield and Adam Cozad and Producers Peter Chernin, Tonia Davis, Jenno Topping who have all produced far better stories and should know better.

Stewart is an interesting actor to watch, but her film choices leave you wondering. What attracted her to such a flimsy story? It’s a waste of her skills. And while it’s always nice to see Henwick get work, she needs meatier roles.

The movie could not be reviewed on disc due to the Covid-19 protocols and was watched digitally. On MoviesAnywhere.com, the high definition edition looks good, capturing the subtle shades of the murky sea, the grubby interiors, and so on. The audio track sounds fine on a computer and a soundbar. The digital edition also comes with the Special Features you will also find on disc.

There are extended or deleted scenes, with and without commentary by Eubank, Associate Producer Jared Purrington, and Phil Gawthorne. — Call the Mover Extended Scene (1:30); Crew Suit Up Extended (1:44); Gantry Exit Extended (2:30), Baby Clinger Extended (1:35); Midway Station Extended (1:43); Ocean Floor Walk Extended (5:35); Rock Garden (:48); and Smith Departure Extended (1:01).

The trio can also optionally be heard on Alternate Ending (2:55), Real Bunny Montage (3:25); Making Underwater, in three parts: Design (17:54), Production (19:50), and Creatures & Visual Effects (19:56); Audio Commentary with Eubank, Purrington, and Gawthorne.

Once upon a time, when there were just three major networks, the schedules would be filled with glossy, interesting, high-concept miniseries, usually aired during the vital November, February, and May sweeps periods when the ratings were used to set advertising rates. This is what gave us great concepts like ABC’s Roots or, in 1983, V.

Metro subways and bus stations were plastered that spring with red-suited people, wearing sunglasses and big smiles, wrapping their arms around ordinary folk and we were assured: “The Visitors are our Friends”.  A few weeks later, they were replaced with replicas but now a spray-painted V covered them and we got a hint of the Visitors’ true, reptilian nature.

The V miniseries, wonderfully written and directed by Ken Johnson (he of Incredible Hulk fame) was a taut two-night affair that presented the aliens coming to Earth and befriending us before their true intentions were revealed and a resistance movement began. Johnson carefully varied both the humans and aliens so there were differing perspectives and allegiances. The show turned Marc Singer into a star and introduced the world to Robert Englund.

The May ratings were a smash, so NBC ordered a sequel entitled V: The Final Battle, a three-part epic for May 1983 that is now available on Blu-ray for the first time from Warner Archive.

Johnson was once more the mastermind although he and the network began to clash over the creative direction and he left the production.

The overall plan is that the aliens need the world’s water and are befriending humanity in an attempt to gain converts to their cause or a cowed populace who will not stand in their way. In their human disguises, they beguile, bribe, and seduce many to their cause, manipulating the media, and steadily taking control city by city.

The action in both miniseries is limited to Los Angeles, letting the novels and DC Comics adaptation (which I edited for a stretch), see what was happening elsewhere. The rebellion is led by TV reporter Mike Donovan (Marc Singer) and Juliet Parrish (Faye Grant), more or less opposed by Diana (Jane Badler) and John (Richard Herd). The sequel continues where we left off but there are new complications. First, Diana’s failure to secure the planet according to schedule means her superior, Pamela (Sarah Douglas), arrives to take charge. Joining the rebels are CIA operatives Ham Tyler (Michael Ironside) and his burly sidekick Chris Farber (Mickey Jones).

Teen Robin Maxwell (Blair Tefkin) was impregnated by the Visitor Brian (Peter Nelson) during the first miniseries so of course, she will be giving birth here. The crossbreeding, ordered by Diana, resulted in hybrid fraternal twins, a reptilian boy with blue eyes, and a human girl with a forked tongue. When Parrish, a doctor, conducts an autopsy, she discovers a strain of bacteria that killed the boy and could be turned into a weapon, dubbed Red Dust, to repel the invaders.

It’s all very good for its day, with some strong acting, good makeup, and a fast-paced story. The V phenomenon was nicely continued here.

Sadly, NBC decided to follow it with a disastrous weekly series the following season. In the hands of Dan Blatt and Robert Singer, they were making it up as they went along, ignoring internal logic or, you know, science.

Anyway, the two-disc Blu-ray looks good with a fine, If not perfect, transfer, retaining its broadcast 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The 2.0 DTS-HD MA mix is perfectly adequate. There are no special features included beyond network teasers.

Hilo: All the Pieces Fit
By Judd Winick
210 pages/RH Graphic/$13.99

Receiving the sixth volume of a continuing series to review can be a daunting task if you have not read the previous five, especially if there is no recap section preceding the story (a complaint I have about most series).

That said, this volume, wrapping the initial storyline takes a little time to get one’s feet wet then you are propelled through the action, figuring things out along the way. Credit to Judd Winick for being adept at doing this so by the end, you’re not just accustomed to the characters but emotionally invested in the team of protagonists trying to protect the world.

The series kicked off in 2015 so readers of this mid-grade series can grow up with the characters and if they’ve outgrown it after this volume, they will be satisfied. And for those who are just finding it, be assured volume seven and a new story arrives in 2021.

Hilo is an android built to resemble an elementary school student and drops from the sky onto Earth. He was befriended by D.J. and Gina and over the course of the series, they learn about him and his extradimensional origins as well as the threat presented by Razorwark. What does this red-armored being want with Hilo and Earth?

This volume has the first in-person confrontation between Hilo and Razorwark with the fate of the world at stake. Gina finds herself playing a significant role as magic comes into this mostly SF story and there’s a heroic sacrifice that will no doubt require tissues for the younger readers.

Winick, no stranger to graphic storytelling, evolves the status quo so the end of book six leaves everyone different from book one, which is a good thing. His writing is breezy and his open, cartoony style is filled with kinetic motion and letting big moments take whole pages. It becomes a quick-paced read after the first 30 or so pages as we build momentum.

There’s a lot to recommend in this all-ages series, but you must start with book one.

I pity Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn for not being able to find its audience, having the misfortune of opening just as the pandemic entered the news. Shunted to streaming, it’s languished and honestly, it’s entertaining and fun.

It’s not as good as anticipated.

Long in development, the movie was the brainchild of Margot Robbie, who immortalized the live-action version in 2016’s Suicide Squad misfire. Her role was largely inspired on the New 52/Rebirth take on the character, more Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti than Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. She was certainly the best thing about the movie so a spinoff featuring her and some of DC Comics’ other heroines sounded great.

She bonded with screenwriter Christina Hodson, best known for her solid work on Bumblebee (and credited as the writer of the still unfilmed Flash), and they crafted a gonzo story that picked up where the other film ended, hence the “emancipation” portion of the mouthful of a title.

Harley Quinn has severed her ties with the Joker and is adrift, wallowing in self-pity, leaving a trail of destruction on a large scale. A regular at the Black Mask Club, run by Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), she befriends Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), a torch singer turned Sionis’ personal driver. She’s on hand to witness Sionis’ thug Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina) picking up a valuable diamond, only to have it snatched from him by the teen thief Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco). Elsewhere, Detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) is investigating Harley’s actions while a female vigilante (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is killing criminals. And we’re off.

The diamond is the magnetic McGuffin that brings the women together to oppose Sionis and his criminal forces climaxing in an amazing battle at an abandoned Fun House.

The various women all get their backstories told in various flashbacks and Hodson gets credit for playing with the story structure so we’re getting multiple points of view, flashbacks, and voiceovers (with Harley not the most reliable of narrators). Still, we learn Dinah is the daughter of Black Canary who, we gather, was protecting Gotham City before Batman arrived. The entire sense of legacy is cool but tossed of in a line and never picked up so we never fully understand Dinah’s reluctance to embrace her sonic powers and fighting skills.

Cassandra is there in name only, serving the fans and doing a massive disservice to the fans of her four-color source. What we have here is closer to a female Short Round with a potty mouth.

As underwritten as the women are, the men are worse off with Szasz, a deadly opponent in the comics, is reduced to being a sidekick thug who never comes off as menacing. Sionis’ comics origins were creepier and he was far more threatening in comics than here. McGregor was miscast or misdirected because he never rises to a true threat or memorable screen villain. At best, he’s a wanna-be Bond villain, at worst, he’s just boring.

Gotham City’s edges are the focal point of the story but Gotham, when well-used, is a character in its own right and the film’s production design fails to accomplish this until we get the final quarter, both at the amusement park and then at a pier. Until then, it’s a generic city which is not Gotham, home to the Bat. His presence gets a shout out but never seems to influence the cops or the criminals.

Where the film excels is energy, with some of the best stunts and action sequences yet found in a super-hero film. Kudos to the stunt team and the actors who just let it rip and looked like they were having a ball.

Director Cathy Yan gets credit for bringing a loose sense of verve to the proceedings but I wish a little more care went into characterization and its place in the greater DC filmed universe.  She and Robbie hope for a sequel with Poison Ivy, which could be fun, but the box office forecast makes that an iffy proposition at best.

The movie can be rent or bought on your favorite streaming service. The copy reviewed via MoviesAnywhere.com nicely captured the range of colors and tones from daylight to foggy night. The audio at home was just fine so overall, watching from the home screen wasn’t an issue.

The film is accompanied by a routine assortment of special features which, light the film,  keep things bright and always on the surface: Birds Eye View Mode, the entire film with pop up trivia and commentary offering some interesting tidbits and insights; Whip it Real Good (:55), a shorter version of the Skating piece; Birds of a Feather (8:26), everyone gushes; Romanesque (4:57), a look at Roman Sionis; A Love, Skate Relationship (4:29), a brief look at the real world roller derby women who participated in the film and the stunts on wheels; Grime and Crime (10:38), exploring the production design; Sanity is sooo last Season (7:39), a look at costumes and accessories; Wild Nerds (6:03), all about the unusual approach to storytelling including the visual effects, notably scenes with Bruce the hyena; and Gag Reel (2:02).

I contend the world changed more between 1875 and 1900 than any other quarter-century in recorded history. From Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone to Thomas Edison’s phonograph and motion pictures, the masses were suddenly able to communi9cate and entertain in new ways. The world shrank and night was eliminated thanks to the light bulb.

It’s a fascinating period and one that has been overlooked until recently. First came, Graham Moore’s The Last Days of Night, a historical novel from 2016 that carefully detailed the battle between Edison and George Westinghouse for setting the electrical standard for America. Of course, alternating current won, but not without losses on both sides.

A year later, director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon tackled the same subject matter in The Current War, pitting Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) against Westinghouse (Michael Shannon). In both stories as in history, the mad genius of Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult), is a naïve innocent, trapped between sides.

Michael Mitnick made this story his life’s work, first as a musical then as a screenplay, going through sixty drafts, earning its way onto the infamous Black List of great, unproduced scripts. It slowly lurched towards production in 2016 and shown at the Toronto Film Festival in 2017 where it was met with distaste. Gomez-Rejon trimmed ten minutes and shot ten minutes that added depth to the main characters. Then the Weinstein Company disintegrated in the wake of Harvey Weinstein’s exposure as a serial rapist. After the studio and its assets bounced around, the movie, now called The Current War The Director’s Cut, finally arrived last fall.

Out now in streaming and available on disc in May, the bottom line is: read the novel.

I don’t know who should get the blame, Mitnick or Gomez-Rejon, but the film never breathes. It’s a series of short scenes in a staccato style so we’re lurching from place to place, event to event, never really getting to know either man. What they share in common is that they love their wives, and when Mary Stillwell Edison (Tuppence Middleton) dies early on, we feel for Edison. But we don’t know the men, or Edison’s number two (Tom Holland) or financier J.P. Morgan (Matthew Mcfadyen), and why he backed the wrong industrialist. The most misused character s Tesla seen as a hapless immigrant, consistently taken advantage of. He is misplayed by Hoult and is robbed of Tesla’s mangled English, adding to his otherworldliness.

What should have been a riveting story about which man got to change the world, has been reduced to a disinteresting story that merely hints at what was.

The film was seen on MiviesAnywhere.com and its high definition stream carefully captures the subtle colors of the era, especially the night scenes. There’s a nice, crystal quality to the visual and the audio was just fine. No special features accompanied the digital version.

World War I is a period usually given short shrift in social studies classes. Neither of my kids spent time on this vital conflict, since it set the stage for the next 75 years of history. For many, the No Man’s Land scene in Wonder Woman may have been the only time they saw what the battle may have looked like.

As a result, San Mendes’ 1917 was a welcome entry to the history on film canon, deserving the ten Academy Award nominations among many other accolades. The film, out on disc now from Universal Home Entertainment, is a visually stunning work that should be seen.

Much has been made of the cinematic approach, telling the story in a way that suggests one continual shot from the soldiers’ perspective. Kudos to Mendes for trying this and to Cinematographer Roger Deakins for making this a visually arresting film. The production design and set decoration are incredible and rich in detail.

As a result, you spent the entire 119 minutes gaping at the visual spectacle and trying to find where camera cut. It’s not until the lights come up and you pause to absorb it all that you realize it’s not a well-written movie. Mendes used an experience of his grandfather’s as a springboard and cowrite the screenplay with Krysty Wilson-Cairns about two British soldiers — Tom Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Will Schofield (George MacKay) — tasked with getting a message to the frontlines before a disastrous ambush takes place.

Neither actor is well-known so we can’t predict if either or both survive the 24-hour ordeal. But, as the two endure sniper fire, things falling apart around them, concussions, mud pits, and more, you come to realize this is all too much for the time period. No human can endure this much without eating or sleeping (or going to the bathroom) or in need of medical care. At one point, of them falls in a cold river for some time and never slows down to hypothermia – and this after a concussion.

It’s all too much, spoiling the incredibly realistic setting the two find themselves in.

None of the characters are well-defined, more like stock players with flat dialogue that defines no one. In incredibly small roles, but to secure investments I’m sure, you can spot Mark Strong, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Jamie Parker.

I truly wish as much effort went into creating interesting characters as they did in the visual portion of the film.

The movie is out in the usual assortment of formats including the Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD combo pack. The 1080p transfer had to be pristine to capture every detail because you’re going to want to pause and stare. Mendes worked magic and this is one of the best-looking films I’ve seen on disc with terrific colors and nicely captured dust, dirt, and debris. The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is more than a match for the stunning visuals, nicely capturing all the subtle sounds of war.

There is an assortment of Special Features that are fine, but I wish they were stronger. We start with The Weight of the World: Sam Mendes (4:29), which covers scripting the story; Allied Forces: The Making of 1917 (12:01), a too-short look at the filming; The Score of 1917 (3:52): In the Trenches (6:59), which focuses on the unknown stars; Recreating History (10:25): Mendes’ collaboration with Production Designer Dennis Gassner; Audio Commentary: one from Mendes and one from Deakins.

The best of DC Comics’ Elseworlds stories where when the writers challenged the conventional wisdom, upending how we envisioned our heroes. Among the more celebrated of these stories was Mark Millar and Dave Johnson’s Superman: Red Son, imagining the Kryptonian rocket ship landing in Soviet Russia, not Kansas.

It has long been on people’s wish list for adaptation as either a live-action or animated feature. Those wishes have finally been granted in one of Warner Animation’s more successful adaptations. The film is out now from Warner Home Entertainment in all the usual formats including the popular 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and Digital HD combo.

Superman (Jason Isaacs) arrives in the late 1930s and by the time his powers begin to manifest with his adolescence, we’re on the tail end of World War II and the arrival of Joseph Stalin’s (William Salyers) Iron Curtain. With a super-powered loyalist, Stalin manages to exert even greater influence over his people and the world at large. America may have introduced the atomic bomb, but they were clearly behind in the super-powers arms race. Presidents began to rely on brilliant industrialist Lex Luthor (Diedrich Bader) to close that gap. He’s encouraged by his reporter wife Lois Lane (Amy Acker).

The timeline is altered from our world since Stalin died in 1953 but is still alive when the planet was being orbited by multiple Russian satellites. When the Man of Steel arrives in America to save it from a failed Russian satellite, he is shown proof of Stalin’s atrocities, including an underground slave labor camp for political dissidents, including his childhood friend Svetlana Winter Ave Zoli). In his anger, Superman kills Stalin and tries to do the right thing, further spreading the Communist ideal to countries around the world.

In time, he and Princess Diana (Vanessa Marshall), ambassador from Themyscira, form a friendship where she checks his idealism with doses of realism. Over the years, he grows more strident and blindered, eventually costing him her loyalty. Other dissidents arise, including Batman (Roger Craig Smith), but the bigger threat to his rule is the extraterrestrial Brainiac (Paul Williams), which shrinks Stalingrad before he subdues and seemingly reprograms the alien tech to do his bidding.

Human nature has proven Communism to be an unattainable goal and here, even a super-powered idealist cannot make it work. He is opposed by Democratic ideals, positioned here as the one true form of government; a facsimile made from his DNA, and that pesky Bat. Everything builds up until there’s betrayal, realization, catharsis, and genuine heroism.

It’s an exceedingly well told tale thanks to a solid script from J.M. DeMatteis and strong direction from Sam Liu, who finally has tempered some of his action excesses in favor of better character moments. Frequent composer Frederik Wiedmann turns in an excellent score.

The UHD’s 2160p transfer is visibly superior to the Blu-ray (not that its bad), but the color palette is well-captured here. This gray world is nicely depicted and looks terrific.  The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track captures the booms, sound effects, and music quite well.

The Special Features have fallen into a predictable pattern. We start off with another wonderful installment of the DC Showcase shorts. Here we have a Phantom Stranger (15:07) installment, set in the psychedelic era, just when the feature was being revived by DC. Then we have the routine look at the story underlying the Elseworlds tale: Cold Red War (16:57) as Dave Johnson, Mike Carlin, Sam Liu and others from the crew talk about the source material. Thankfully they also brought on screen several people to address the real history, including history professors Miriam Neirick, Ph.D. and Michaela Crawford Reaves, Ph.D.

Additionally, there’s a useful, abbreviated motion comic (6:03) version of the graphic novel and Sneak Peek: Justice League Dark: Apokolips War (10:23), which is being billed as the final installment in this incarnation of the animated continuity.

The disc is rounded out with older previews and the two-part Justice League episode “A Better World”.

DC Universe’s Titans series is maddeningly uneven. Its second season, out now on disc for those unwilling to buy the service, is perhaps slightly better than its inaugural outing but it’s still a mess.

Let’s start with the fact that everyone behind the camera doesn’t understand Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites), so they depict him as bitter and angry, lost and without a clear sense of self. He was never like that in the comics and this is jarring and not terribly well thought through. During the season he is haunted by the vision of Bruce Wayne (Ian Glen), who seems far less brooding than one would expect an aging Batman to be.

The final episode shot for season one is used to open season two as Dick, Donna Troy (Conor Leslie), Hank Hall (Alan Ritchson), Gar Logan (Ryan Potter), Kory Anders (Anna Diop), Jason Todd (Curran Walters), and Rachel (Teagan Croft) face off against Trigon (Seamus Dever). Once his threat is easily dispatched, the team go their separate ways for most of the season.

Titans in the comics, whether under Bob Haney, Marv Wolfman, or Geoff Johns, worked best when they were together, loving, laughing, and fighting as a surrogate family unit. Instead, we have multiple storylines going on that allows them to introduce Conner Kent (Joshua Orpin), Deathstroke/Slade Wilson (Esai Morales), his son, Jericho (Chella Man), and daughter, Rose (Chelsea Zhang). Slade wants revenge against Dick for Jericho’s injuries while Rose was sent to infiltrate and betray the team in a variation of the classic storyline “The Judas Contract”.

It never quite gels and comes together as it needs to although Dick finally forges his Nightwing identity, just in time for a member of the team to be needlessly killed. There are times I think the best character in the show is Krypto, who never gets enough screen time.

A third season is in the works and one can hope they learn their lessons and grow rather than retreat.

The 1080p transfer is crisp which is good considering how dark the series is, even in daytime. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is a match if not a touch better so you’re in for a good viewing experience.

The 13 episodes are accompanied by one Special Feature: Jason Todd – Fate by the Fans (11:52), which examines the disastrous call in stunt that doomed Jason Todd to a grisly death in the best-selling “Death in the Family” storyline from 1989.

Between Walt Disney’s death in 1966 and 1988’s released of Oliver and Company, the namesake company’s animated output was stale, unimaginative, and paralyzed by execs whose manta was “What would Walt do?” Then came a second Golden Age of animation and generations have been entertained anew as they embraced bolder storytelling, more diverse characters, and even CGI versus cel animation.

And yet, I wonder how Walt would have felt about sequels. The direct to video sequels to films like The Lion King were sheer cash grabs and diluted the core properties. He would have been pleasantly surprised at how good the Pixar sequels to Toy Story have been. But, would he have approved a Frozen II? We’ll never know and it had to be a risk to bring a second adventure to the big screen considering the phenomenal success of the 2013 original.

Thankfully, the current team didn’t rush out a hasty sequel to squeeze every last nickel from their audience. Instead, they took their time to ensure a sequel was strong enough to handle the pent up expectations. There was no way the sequel, out now on disc from Disney Home Entertainment, could measure up but one would have hoped for something with a bit more zest.

The movie is pleasant enough as it builds on the world established in the original, giving us insight to the politics that beset Arendelle, which Else (Idina Menzel) now governs. She hears a call, one last heard in childhood, that brings her to the mythic forest. Accompanied by Anna (Kristen Bell), Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), Sven, and Olaf (Josh Gad), the adventure begins. They find a misty barrier and once they pierce it, they find Arendelle’s long lost warriors, including Mattias (Sterling K. Brown). Secrets are revealed, the true nature of the conflict with Northuldra included, and the Queen must sort things out.

There are gasps and guffaws and the overall story is a good one, just not great and far from magical. Partly it’s familiarity, and partly there was no way they could live up to the anticipation.

The 2160p is a step above the Blu-ray but not enough to justify the extra cost (the combo pack here is your friend). Colors and details are crystal clear, the animated figures move fluidly and the effects are strong. Both 4K and Blu-ray come with DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 or Dolby Atmos track and they both sound strong, but could be better.

The Special Features are usually where Disney shines, especially for their younger viewers but here it’s all just so ordinary. The 4K disc merely contains the movie with a karaoke-style lyric track. The rest are on the Blu-ray and there are plenty:

Outtakes (2:26) from the voice recording sessions; Did You Know??? (4:27), The Spirits of Frozen 2 (12:02), Scoring a Sequel (3:49); Deleted Scenes (17:58) with Director Chris Buck and Writer/Director Jennifer Lee introductions; Deleted Songs, including “Home” (4:22) and “I Wanna Get This Right” (6:24); two Gale Tests (3:56); “Into the Unknown” (3:07) seamlessly intercut in 29 Languages, which inspired the wonderful piece we see at the Academy Awards; Music Videos: “Into the Unknown” (Panic! At the Disco Version) (3:16) and “Lost in the Woods” (Weezer Version) (3:06).

­After a lackluster summer where there were far more misses than hits, audiences were hungry for something fresh, something different. Lionsgate met that need with the surprise hit, Knives Out, which is out now on disc.

It’s a contemporary take on the kind of murder mysteries Agatha Christie made a career out of and like the film adaptations of her works, this comes with a stellar cast. Rian Johnson, who wrote and directed the feature, serves up an incredibly enjoyable tale, letting familiar performers work outside their familiar character types.

We have world-famous author Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) and his immediate family gathering for an 80^th birthday party, but by midnight, he’s dead with all four children suspects in the crime.

Lieutenant Elliott (Lakeith Stanfield) and a trooper Wagner (Noah Segan), perhaps the weakest written characters in the film, have been taking statements and investigating but seem to be getting nowhere. Sitting quietly in the shadows, observing is Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), a private investigator mysteriously hired to ferret out the real killer.

Could it be Harlan’s daughter Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis), or her husband Richard (Don Johnson) or even Richard’s ne’er-do-well son Hugh Ransom (Chris Evans)? Maybe it was Harlan’s son Walt (Michael Shannon) or his wife Donna (Riki Lindhome), or Joni Thrombey (Toni Collette), the widow of Harlan’s deceased son Neil. Or we could skip a generation and cast a jaundiced eye at Walt and Donna’s alt-right son Jacob (Jaeden Martell), Joni’s daughter Meg (Katherine Langford), or even Harlan’s elderly mother Wanetta (K Callan).

Helping fill in some of the gaps while hiding secrets of her own is Harlan’s nurse Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas), who the family treated as one of their own until their true selves were teased out through Blanc’s questioning.

We get plenty of flashbacks until the truth is revealed to the audience and then the fun begins with the weakest car chase of all time, projectile vomiting, and plenty of scenery-chewing. A great time can be had with this delight of a film.

Johnson clearly had fun crafting this and his cast gave it their all, turning de Armas, next seen with Craig in No Time to Die, into the current It Girl. The box office success h meant work already has begun on a new Blanc mystery to solve.

The film is out on a variety of formats including the Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD combo. The AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1 works fine and only the most discerning may quibble at some of the color changes. Really, it looks fine and the Dolby Atmos audio track is crisp and clear.

I wish the special features were a little more special but they’re okay. We have In Theater Commentary with Rian Johnson, Deleted Scenes (4:57) complete with optional commentary from Johnson; Making a Murder (1:54:07), a fine behind-the-scenes look; Rian Johnson: Planning the Perfect Murder (6:17); Director and Cast Q & A (42:09) derived from a 2019 screening in Westwood, California; Marketing Gallery, three Trailers, viral ads for Thrombey Real Estate (00:34), Blood Like Wine Publishing (00:56), and Flam (00:34); and Ode to the Murder Mystery (1:43).