Author: Robert Greenberger

I am not a gearhead, so I have always looked at the Fast and the Furious franchise from a distance. But their popularity makes them hard to avoid. Fast X, the tenth installment in the series, arrives on disc and streaming this week from Universal Home Entertainment and no doubt entertains those who have been there from the beginning.

As with any franchise with multiple chapters, there’s the core set of characters and then all the supporting players who drop in and out of these chapters as needed. And, to keep things interesting, new players are added, usually the antagonist and maybe a new ally or frenemy.

Here, we have the sociopathic Dante (Jason Momoa) seeking vengeance on Dom (Vin Diesel) for the death of his father (Joaquim de Almeida) a decade earlier, as depicted in Fast Five. With seemingly limitless cash and men at his disposal, he has laid out his traps and begins to ensnare the team. We learn some of this when a severely injured Cipher (Charlize Theron) shows up on Dom’s doorstep.

First, Dante seemingly frames the team—Dom, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), Han (Sung Kang), and Tej (Ludacris)—for an attempted bombing of the Vatican, although anyone paying attention to the data would have seen them trying to stop the bomb.

But, this begins the dominoes falling as The Agency’s current leader, Aimes (Alan Richardson), convinces his superiors to also hunt them down, despite Mr. Nobody’s daughter Tess (Brie Larson) protestations.

And we’re off.

The film has the usual over-the-top set pieces, but these grow tiresome quickly. Everyone is an expert driver and an expert fighter, so there’s no real tension here. Just wanton destruction and a callous attitude toward life.

Dom and Letty are filled with cliché platitudes about family and friendship, but it’s tempered by the lengths they go to protect their son  Brian (Leo Abelo Perry). His protector comes in the form of Uncle Jake Toretto (John Cena).

The screenplay from Justin Lin and Dan Mazeau keeps multiple threads moving but spends zero time of making us give a shit for anyone except maybe Brian. There’s no interesting chatter among the regulars, who seem to be hitting their marks, saying their lines, and collecting their checks. Worse, there are several moments where the story stops making any sense whatsoever, making Dante so perfect, so well-planned that everything breaks his way.

The only ones who seem to be having any fun in this film are Larson and Momoa, both of whom have a cocky attitude that shines among all the scowls and snarls.

The film screeches to a stop with the return of the once-dead Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot) and the mid-credit sequence that welcomes Dwayne Johnson back to the series after his Black Adam arrived stillborn. The eleventh film is scheduled for 2025, but it likely may move, thanks to the current strikes.

The film was reviewed via digital HD code and looks very crisp and sharp in high definition. It is also available on 4k Ultra HD and Blu-ray in varying combo packs. The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio sounded just fine on a home theater system, so every boom and punch is quite clear.

Special features include an Audio Commentary with Director Louis Leterrier, plus an above-average assortment of material: Gag Reel’ (4:35); This is Family’ (35;00); Fast Breaks: Scene Breakdowns with Louis Leterrier (8:00); Xtreme Rides of Fast X (13:00); Belles of the Brawl (7:00); Tuned Into Rio (5:00); Jason Momoa: Conquering Rome (3:00); Little B Takes the Wheel (3:00);  A Friend in the End (1:00);  and there are two Music Videos: “Toretto” by J. Balvin and “Angel Pt. 1” by Kodak Black and NLE Choppa, featuring Jimin of BTS, JVKE and Muni Long.

Soldier: From Script to Screen

By Danny Stewart

144 pages/BearManor Media/$32 (hardcover) $22 (softcover)

Everyone has their passion, whether it is universally acclaimed or not. Thankfully, BearManor Media provides an outlet for their authors to share that unique passion with those who also find the subject matter of interest.          

Here, Danny Stewart delves into the 1998 film Solider, which came and went with little notice when Universe released it. Despite some marquee names making the film, it opened to poor reviews (in addition to 15% at Rotten Tomatoes) and dismal box office, earning a mere $14.6 million against a $60 million budget.

It’s justifiable if you don’t recall or never heard of the film. It was based on a script by the noted screenwriter David Webb Peoples, best known for Blade Runner. Some even call the film a “sidequel” to that classic. Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson (best known for the Resident Evil series), with the familiar cast of  Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee, Jason Isaacs, Connie Nielsen, Sean Pertwee, and Gary Busey.

Set in 2036, Sgt. Todd 3465 (Russell) is the last survivor of a clutch of children raised entirely by military routine. The next generation is ready, and it becomes a new versus old story, with Russell making the most of his 104 words of dialogue.

The organization of the book is a bit of a head-scratcher. After opening with an analysis of Western tropes being used in SF films, Stewart acknowledges Solider’s spiritual connection to the far superior Shane. Then we get a prose version of Russell’s IMDB page, followed by an in-depth piece with Peoples. One would expect something about Anderson, who was not interviewed, but instead, we go right into the filming personnel ahead of the film designers. That said, it’s fascinating to hear from the Second Assistant Director and the Key Makeup Artist, etc. These unsung heroes of filmmaking never get enough credit, and here, they reveal their influences and techniques brought to the making of the film. A special treat is the write-up done to convince the Academy of Motion Picture Aerts and Sciences to consider the film for a makeup nomination.

Stewart then gives us a piecemeal analysis of the film’s story, theme, and characters before running a series of essays and reviews from others. Closing out the book is an essay by Cinefantastique veteran Paul Sammon, whose making of books should have been used as a template.

Most script to screen books give us a better sense of the context from Peeples’ script to release. We have no real idea of how the various jobs intersected or overlapped. A production diary or calendar would have been interesting, as would have an analysis of why Stewart loves the film while the majority of moviegoers gave it the cold shoulder. At 144 pages, there was certainly more room to explore these issues.

The book needed more careful attention to proofreading, especially for style and consistency.

Popeye the Sailor: The 1960s TV Cartoons

By Fred M. Grandinetti

230 pages/$30 hardcover $20 softcover/Bear Manor Media

Like author Fred M. Grandinetti, I was a child of the 60s and was exposed to all the Popeye cartoons, and it took time for me to understand that some were excellent, some were good, and some were outright bad. It slowly became clear to me that the best was the theatrical shorts made in the 1930s by the Fleischer Studio. What was less clear was who made the others of varying quality.

Thankfully, Grandinetti provides us with a handy guide, breaking down which animation house did what, all in an attempt to corner the syndicated cartoon market when there were hours upon hours of time to fill.

Elzie Segar’s Thimble Theater featured the Oyl family, with new characters coming and going as needed for each serialized adventure. On January 17, 1929, readers met Popeye, who caught their imagination, and he never left. (That same month, they were also introduced to Tarzan and Buck Rogers, quite an exciting time to read the newspapers.)

Grandinetti has written many other works on animation with a focus on Popeye so he’s the acknowledged expert. The problem with being the expert on something is that so much is in your head that sometimes you presume everyone knows this too. There’s an awful lot of context missing from the narrative.

We open with a brief background on the strip, although the current creator, R.K. Milholland, is not listed. Then we get into his screen adaptation (here, David Fleischer is not credited at all. From here, we get the handoff from Fleischer to Paramount’s Famous Studios, and then Associated Artists Productions acquired the library of 234 shorts dating back to 1933.

As children’s television programming arrived in 1949 (Crusader Rabbit), more followed with limited animation used for cost purposes. The made-for-television shorts could never compete with the hand-drawn work for features. However, by the late 1950s, cartoons vanished from movie screens and could only be found on the small black and white screens at home.

AAP’s package of cartoons was a ratings hit for countless stations and a financial bonanza for them. King Features, which owned the character, decided to get in on the act and formed King Features Syndicate Special Service, which went on to make the comic strip characters and turn them into animated fare with very mixed results.

Hired to oversee the Popeye cartoons was Al Brodax, best known today for his work on Yellow Submarine (which featured a Popeye cameo). To get 220 new cartoons made, he divided the work over six animation houses worldwide, hence the uneven quality and clear lack of quality control.

The book has an odd order, so we get info on these studios before we do the characters. Additionally, Grandietti and the book’s editor don’t like using paragraphs, so there are long blocks of type that really needed to be broken up.

Thankfully, when he does get to the characters, he clears up, once and for all, the confusion between Bluto and Brutus, so thanks for that.

We also get nice thumbnails of the key voice performers, including Jack Mercer (whom Grandinetti wrote a bio about) who was an animator that got discovered. He also wen ton to write some of the cartoons.

Grandinetti includes sections on spinoffs inspired by the cartoon, including related merchandise.

By page 77, he seems to run out of things to say about the character and the animated history. The remainder of the book is very detailed episode guides divided by the production house. Some contain additional credits; some contain one or two lines of opinion on the quality. As a result, you really have to be a fan of the character or an animation aficionado to appreciate this book.

The designer oddly clustered all the images at the end of text sections rather than intersperse them for a better overlook loo; It would have been nice to see examples from each studio as we’re reading their history or about their output.

Ultimately, this is an uneven valentine to the lesser known and appreciated animated saga of everyone’s favorite Sailor Man.

An astronaut awakes from a horrific crash after his spaceship is knocked off course. He thinks he’s on an alien world until it becomes clear he’s on Earth. It worked in 1968’s Planet of the Apes and is far less successful when the hero goes back in time in the recent 65. As in 65 million years ago. You know, the age of dinosaurs.

The movie, out now on disc from Sony Home Entertainment, came and went in March, earning a mere 35% at Rotten Tomatoes. I suspect the low score has much to do with the heightened expectations given the writing and directing team of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the screenwriters behind A Quiet Place, which was dripping with tension and plot inventiveness.

Here’s it’s more of a cookie-cutter survival story as Mills (Adam Driver) goes on a two-year space flight to earnt he money to treat his ill daughter Nevine (Chloe Coleman), who is also aboard. Once they crash, the surviving complement is scattered and in time Mills finds young Koa (Ariana Greenblatt) and his fatherly instincts kick into gear even if they speak different languages.

They struggle through the lush, jungle foliage in an attempt to reach the Zoic, an escape shuttle. Standing in their way are all the usual problems one finds in the prehistoric era. Various dinosaur species, rock slides, and the like.

If there’s any pleasure to be taken from this formular film is the deepening rapport between Mills and Koa. Driver’s protagonist is deeply flawed, given to lying and less heroic actions. But his care for Koa wins out and he ahs a fine acting partner in Greenblatt. Still, Jurassic Park did humans versus dinosaurs better and this offers nothing new.

The film, available in a variety of formats, has a perfectly fine if unspectacular 1080 p Blu-ray transfer. Its DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is a touch superior, but together, they make for fine home viewing. The combo pack comes with Blu-ray and Digital HD Code.

The Special Features are as by-the-0numbers as the film itself., We have five Deleted Scenes (8:03); Set in Stone: Filmmakers (14:21); Future of Yesterday: Creating the World of 65 (4:56);  Primordial Planet (2:30); and Final Showdown: Concepts to Screen (10:14).

One of the joys of growing up in the 1960s is that you were treated to cartoons from earlier eras, long before limited animation filled the Saturday morning airwaves. Among those gems were the work of Max and Dave Fleischer, including Popeye, Gulliver’s Travels and, of course, Superman. Since then, they have fallen into public domain and were widely available, but never in the best condition.

Until Warner Bros. Home Entertainment got involved. First came a DVD set in 02006 and now we have a Blu-ray collection, mastered from the original film negatives. All seventeen episodes from September 26, 1941 through July 30, 1943 are here.

For those unfamiliar, the fairly formulaic stories involve a problem, Lois Lane (Joan Alexander) getting into trouble, Clark Kent (Bud Collyer) changing in the phone booth (the trope introduced in the second short), and Superman to the rescue. This si the early Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster Superman, so he’s not invulnerable to everything, he can’t exactly fly, and actually can wear down. We root for him to get back up, to not give in, and to fight the good fight.

None of the cartoons are based on any of the comic book stories and no supporting player or villain makes the leap. Even Perry White (Julian Noa), the Daily Planet editor, is named, just seen.

With an unprecedented $50,000 per ten-minute cartoon budget, the Fleischers rotoscoped portions of the stories and provided lush, multi-plane animation. The first nine the brothers produced remain among the most beloved animated cartoons produced in America. They were certainly influential on subsequent generations, notably Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, who used that look and feel for their Batman The Animated Series (but you knew that by now, right?).

Mad scientists, mechanical monsters, defrosted dinosaurs and the like are all here. As is World War II patriotic themes and caricatured villains. Each has their own thrills and with just ten minutes totally avoids characterization or much real interaction between rescuer and victim.
The effort to retore the cartoons has been hotly debated with Digital Bits slamming the effort with a scathing review. I suppose if you’re a videophile, their concerns have merit. But for someone who just wants a nice, clean DVD containing Superman history, you will barely notice.
Are they perfect? No. Errors from the DVD set, such as the incorrect intros, remain uncorrected. Clearly, a little more care could have been expended for the 1080p upgrade.

There’s nothing major to complain about regarding the DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track.

The disc comes with the twin bonus features from the 2009 DVD— First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series (12:55) and The Man, The Myth, Superman (13:37) — plus one new piece: Max Fleischer’s Superman: Speeding Towards Tomorrow (13:20). Here, Warner Animation’s director Matt Peters, producer Jim Krieg, supervising producer Rick Morales, and screenwriter Jeremy Adams hold forth on the legacy of the cartoons.

This is likely as good as it will get so if you don’t have this in any form, or want a reasonably priced upgrade, then this comes well recommended.

Philip Pullman’s Golden Compass trilogy has stood the test of time, becoming beloved young adult fantasy novels. HBO saw enough promise in the story that they picked up a television adaptation after sister company New Line Cinema failed to ignite a fervent following with their singular film. Season One\ got things off to a good start while Season Two stumbled a little.

After pandemic delays, the third and final season of His Dark Materials arrived earlier this year and is now available on home video from HBO Home Entertainment. The final eight episodes loosely adapt the third book in Pullman’s trilogy The Amber Spyglass and does so in a satisfying enough way that we will miss the series, this world, and the fine ensemble that brought the characters to life.

The focus remains on Lyra (Dafne Keen) and her growing relationship and Will (Amir Wilson). First, they have to find one another what with Lyra still in Mrs. Coulter’s (Ruth Wilson) clutches, and Will is being told to kill Lord Asriel (James McAvoy), which he might do, but only after finding her.

The varying worlds and faiths are on full display as The Authority in Magesterium is tested, threatening its existence.

It’s beautiful to look at, densely packed with plots and religious allusions, and ultimately honors Pullman’s work.

The eight episodes look superb in 1080p with the 2.00:1 ratio. The gorgeous cinematography, coupled with superior CGI creatures, looks terrific on disc. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is its equal so the home viewing experience is an excellent one.

Despite being an HBO series, this box set does not have any Special Features, mores the pity.

Philip Pullman’s Golden Compass trilogy has stood the test of time, becoming beloved young adult fantasy novels. HBO saw enough promise in the story that they picked up a television adaptation after sister company New Line Cinema failed to ignite a fervent following with their singular film.

After pandemic delays, the third and final season of His Dark Materials arrived earlier this year and is now available on home video from HBO Home Entertainment. The final eight episodes loosely adapt the third book in Pullman’s trilogy The Amber Spyglass and does so in a satisfying enough way that we will miss the series, this world, and the fine ensemble that brought the characters to life.

The focus remains on Lyra (Dafne Keen) and her growing relationship and Will (Amir Wilson). First, they have to find one another what with Lyra still in Mrs. Coulter’s (Ruth Wilson) clutches, and Will is being told to kill Lord Asriel (James McAvoy), which he might do, but only after finding her.

The varying worlds and faiths are on full display as The Authority in Magesterium is tested, threatening its existence.

It’s beautiful to look at, densely packed with plots and religious allusions, and ultimately honors Pullman’s work.

The eight episodes look superb in 1080p with the 2.00:1 ratio. The gorgeous cinematography, coupled with superior CGI creatures, looks terrific on disc. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is its equal so the home viewing experience is an excellent one.

Despite being an HBO series, this box set does not have any Special Features, mores the pity.

Let me start by saying I am not now, nor have I ever been a fan of RWBY, an American anime series that has been chugging along since its debut in 2013. For the last few years, producer Rooster Teeth has managed to partner with DC Comics for crossovers between the warriors, trained and dedicated to protecting the world of Remnant from Grimms, actual monsters.

I suppose it was inevitable that the comics crossovers would eventually find their way to the animated world where RWBY enjoys its fame. So, released recently is Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen, Part One, available as a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray/Digital HD combo pack from Warner Home Entertainment.

The World’s Greatest Super-Heroes are brought to Remnant to help the teen heroes save their world. Somehow, DC’s stalwarts wind up as teen versions of themselves, to better match the warriors. As a result, Superman (Chandler Riggs), Wonder Woman (Natalie Alyn Lind), Batman (Nat Wolff), and The Flash (David Errigo, Jr.) arrive scattered among the kingdoms of Vale, Mistral, Atlas, and Vacuo, unaware of how they arrived or why. They encounter Ruby (Lindsay Jones), Weiss (Kara Eberle), Blake (Arryn Zech), and Yang (Barbara Dunkelman) and pairings occur, so they adventure is spread around the world. Other Leaguers seen briefly in the film include Cyborg (Tru Valentino), Green Lantern (Jeannie Tirado), and Vixen (Ozioma Akagha).

Of course there’s a cliffhanger since this is part one, but I can easily wait. The familiar tropes are on display with little variation on the expected. Frankly, the screenplay from Meghan Fitzmartin, who previous wrote Justice Society: World War II, does precious little with the Teen JLA members which may explain why the RWBY characters feel predominant. This is definitely only for those who appreciate the RWBY world and characters. With Rooster Teeth overseeing the animation, our more familiar heroes certainly have a different look and feel, leaning in to the Anime influences.

The 2060p transfer is fin, nicely capturing the color palette of Remnant and its inhabitants. The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio is merely adequate but acceptable.

There are just two Special Features: Justice Comes to Remnant (7:35) and You Look … Different (9:01). Additionally, fans can enjoy Justice League Unlimited’ s “Kid Stuff” (23:09) and Justice League Action’s “Plastic Man Saves the World” (11:14). 

Aneesh Chaganty, Will Merrick, and Nick Johnson have spent the last few years slowly building an anthology of films that deal with missing people and the growing sophistication of technology in our lives. They arrived on the scene with Searching in 2018, told entirely through computer screens. Then came Run in 2020, and now, after a Covid-19 delay, Missing. Chaganty directed the first two with Merrick and Johnson as editors; but now the editors have become screenwriters and make their directorial debut with the new film.

They have intertwined the characters from the three films so you actually get some closure for Run with dialogue in Missing.

The new film swaps the father seeking his daughter from the first film as this time, teenager June (Storm Reid) uses her laptop and computer skills to track the whereabouts of her mother, Grace (Nia Long), who has disappeared in Colombia with her new boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung). Since she can’t leave America, June finds Javier (Joaquim de Almeida), a gig worker, to do the legwork in South America.

The film is the best sort of onion, with every new layer revealing twists and turns, upending what we thought only minutes before. No one is who they appear to be and June, still mourning her dead father, feels increasingly alone, isolated, and just a tad paranoid.  That she relies entirely on her computer for a real connection to the world works as a metaphor for so many teens (although, as a teacher, I jealous at how adept she is with the laptop compared with my own high schoolers).

There’s enough action and danger tossed into the story that we’re not just sitting and watching June and Javier do the real work, similar to a Twitch experience. Here, the tyro directors do a fine job ratcheting up the tension and handle the action just fine. They’re helped with a solid cast led by Reid, who has never been less than impressive in her roles.

The film, out on Blu-ray with a Digital HD Code from Sony Home Entertainment, has a fine 1080p transfer that lets all the digital screens and computer graphics shine. The visuals are improved by the excellent DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack.

The disc comes with a very fine assortment of Special Features, including Storm Reid and the Challenge of Missing (5:34); The Screens that Rule Our Lives (5:10); Hunting for the MISSING Easter Eggs (8:28); Misdirects, Online Crimes and the Social Media Mystery of Missing (6:53): Making a Frame Timelapse (0:48); Deleted Scenes (9:07); Filmmaker’s Commentary with producer Natalie Qasabian, Merrick, and Johnson.

Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’ s All-Star Superman is described as the finest salute to Silver Age ever to be written, embracing all the silliness and heart found in the Mort Weisinger-edited run of the Superman family of titles. Distilled down into a feature animated film, the story remains the same, just tighter.

The 2011 Warner Home Entertainment release is back, making its 4K Ultra HD debut. I liked it when first released, and the new edition is sharper and crisper, the 2060p transfer is excellent. Is it enough to upgrade? That’s up to you, but it belongs in your home video library in one form or another.

The strength in the adaptation has everything to do with the late Dwayne McDuffie’s screen adaptation, aided and enhanced by a wonderful score by composer Christopher Drake

The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track is the same as the 2011 release and sounds just fine.

The 4K disc has two new Special Features, both featuring Director Sam Liu, composer Christopher Drake, producer Bruce Timm, and character designer Dusty Abell. The first is An All-Star Adaptation (7:57), which looks at the challenge of turning a dozen comic books into a coherent 77 minute film. The other is An All-Star Salute to the Silver Age (7:16), which leans into the absurdity of some stories, all aimed at the younger end of the readership.

Also included in both the 4K and Blu-ray discs are the original features: Audio Commentary – with Timm and Morrison; The Creative Flow: Incubating the Idea with Grant Morrison; All-Star Superman #1 Digital Comic; and Superman Now. A digital HD code is also included in the package.