Up first this week is a new 4K release of the Jennifer Lopez psychological thriller The Cell. I probably hadn’t seen the film in over 20 years or maybe even 25 since it first came out in 2000. I actually didn’t remember Vince Vaughn being in it, but did remember Vincent D’Onofrio was the serial killer. Lopez plays a therapist/scientist type who enters the subconsciousness of a young boy. When D’Onofrio is caught, but is in a coma, Lopez needs to enter his mind to find the last surviving woman. Vaughn plays the Fed who convinces her to do it. It’s a lot more like Inception than I remember it being. Maybe because I hadn’t seen it in a long time I enjoyed rewatching it. I don’t remember liking it originally, but I’m glad this new 4K came my way and I was able to revisit the film. It was definitely ahead of its time where people would have compared it to The Matrix when it’s more like Inception. The visuals were something that always stood out even if people didn’t quite understand the story at the time. The visuals shine in 4K and the film sounds great too. The film has been restored in 4K in both the theatrical and director’s cut. It also comes with multiple commentaries, alternate versions of the film, deleted/extended scenes and more. If you haven’t seen the movie in a long time, give it a second chance.
Next we have Dark Sanctuary: The History of The Church, a documentary on a cool club in Texas. I was not familiar with the place, but watching the documentary made me wish I had been to the original version of the nightclub. It’s in a new location, but the documentary focuses on the 1990s/2000s location for The Lizard Lounge. On Sundays the club became The Church, a hot spot for alternative people looking to dance and be themselves. It was big for techno and trance/house music and had all kinds of bands like Skinny Puppy, Combichrist, Moby and The Prodigy play there. They had fetish nights, huge Halloween parties and so much more. It’s pretty crazy I had never heard of the place considering the acts that played there and the celebs that visited. They shot multiple movie scenes there and seemed to be a social place for misfits. The owner, a few past DJs, multiple club goers and others all talk about the place, what it meant to them, to different scenes and how it brought people together. If you’ve ever been you’ll like the documentary. If you haven’t (like me) and want to learn about it, check this out.
I can’t tip toe around the next release, Shelf Life might be one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Lost for 30 years, I kind of wish it had stayed missing because I thought it was terrible. From director Paul Bartel, it’s about a family that hides in their bunker after the killing of JFK. It time jumps 30 years later and the three children are grown and the parents are dead. I shouldn’t say grown because 30 years living underground hasn’t educated or made them normal. I believe it’s based on a stage show and maybe it worked better as a show because the movie is terrible. I hated the characters and dialogue and nothing about it worked for me. We’ve had all kinds of bunker shows/films since this was made in the 1990s and they are better than this. The three leads annoyed me and unless this is a film you’ve been waiting to see for 30 years, if you skip it you won’t be missing anything.
Fourth we have Bastard!! Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy Season 1. This anime release consists of all 24 Season 1 episodes on three discs. It’s based on the manga of the same name and took me about a week to get through. You can see the influence music and things like Dungeons & Dragons had on the creator with one of the kingdoms sounding like Metallica. It’s definitely darker than some other anime I’ve seen of late. It’s a classic storyline of fighting evil with evil. The daughter of a grand priest resurrects the wizard Dark Schneider who had been defeated 15 years earlier and he is revived in a new body because of magic. He must take on the army of the Diving Kings, but can he be controlled and trusted? I’m not familiar with the manga so I can’t tell you if it’s an authentic adaptation or not. Overall I liked it because it seems more adult oriented and is pretty action packed. I had to look up if there were more seasons and there are so hopefully those come my way in the future.
The next two releases came out last week, but I didn’t get them in time. First is a 4K release of Incubus, the 1966 film starring pre-Star Trek fame William Shatner. I knew of the movie, but had never actually seen it. Shatner plays a soldier with his sister in a village that has a well whose water is supposed to heal people and make them more beautiful. There are succubi and demons who prey on the souls of those coming for the water. One wants to corrupt Shatner’s character because he’s nice and holy. She’s told not to because she will fall in love with him, but she wants to corrupt the uncorrupted and send his soul to Hell. The entire film is in Esperanto and was the second film to use the language. Shatner definitely shows some of his Shatner-isms with how he speaks and acts. His mannerisms and overly dramatic speaking made him a legend and you see glimpses of it here. The film is beautifully shot by cinematographer Conrad Hall, who won 3 Oscars for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, American Beauty, and Road to Perdition. I can definitely see this being a cult classic especially for Shatner fans. The 4K release comes with a Blu-ray and includes bonus features like multiple commentaries, multiple interviews and optional English dubbing. If you are a fan of the film or Shatner this is a must own.
Last we have a new 4K release of Inglorious Basterds. I know this should be a movie I absolutely love, but I saw it at the theater and didn’t like it. I didn’t like it enough to ever give it another chance until this came my way. I had seen clips through the years and always thought Christoph Waltz was very good, but the film never resonated with me. After finally giving it another shot, I still don’t like it. The cast (Waltz, Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Melanie Laurent, Diane Kruger, Michael Fassbender, BJ Novak, etc.) are fine, but I hate revisionist history. It takes place during World War II, but it’s made up fan fiction to me. I know I’m in the minority of cinephiles who don’t love it, but I also don’t love Quentin Tarantino’s work beyond Reservoir Dogs. I’m sure you love the film and the 4K looks fantastic so it’s a must own for QT fans. Bonus features include commentary, multiple interviews and more.
The Nerds Templar 