Evans Above

Released twenty-six years after the first film, Phil Traill’s Good Burger 2 reunites Dexter (Kenan Thompson) and Ed (Kel Mitchell). Dexter is now a failed inventor and finds himself asking Ed for both a place to stay and a job, as his friend not only still works at Good Burger, he owns it. The antics follow the pals as they try to save their beloved restaurant from the clutches of an evil conglomerate. Filled with callbacks to the past and celebrity cameos, the film is a nostalgic trip for fans of the original movie and sketches on the Nickelodeon series All That. Paramount has now released the film on Blu-ray and DVD. Oddly, reviewers were only sent DVD copies for review. I’ll link to the Blu-ray option below, but you can obviously select the DVD option on Amazon, if that’s what you want.

As mentioned, reviewers received the DVD for review. The video presentation still looks quite good for the DVD format with a nice bright colour palette, though at times the image can look a little dull.

On the audio side of things, the disc comes with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. Subtitles are available for English SDH. It’s a very front-heavy soundtrack and the surrounds only get occasional and light usage for ambient sounds. Dialogue in most comedies is key and here it clear and centred in the mix.

The DVD copy of Good Burgers 2 does not come with a digital code and it appears the Blu-ray doesn’t either. Extras include a recap of the first film, a look at the original sketch, extended bloopers, and some behind-the-scenes and cast featurettes.

Good Burger 2 will give some laughs to all, but more to fans of the sketch or first movie. The DVD has good video and audio, but dedicated fans of Kenan and Kel may want to upgrade to the Blu-ray version.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released Paprika (パプリカ) as a limited-edition 4K SteelBook. Directed by the late Satoshi Kon, the animated science fiction thriller details a device that allows people to share their dreams. It’s stolen and a dream terrorist is using it to affect people’s lives with nightmares. One of the researchers, Dr. Chiba, uses the device to enter the dream world as her dream detective alter-ego, Paprika, in an effort to solve the case. Paprika was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded upscaled 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The line art looks great but the film has always had a general softness that’s part of its cinematic style. As coders would say, it’s a feature not a bug. The colour palette is amazing with colours that pop of the screen. The black levels are deep and there’s no loss of detail in the darker scenes.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of a Japanese Dolby Atmos soundtrack that folds back to Dolby TrueHD 7.1. There are also Japanese, English, French and German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks, and Cantonese, Italian, Spanish and Thai Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional), Thai, and Turkish. The Japanese Atmos track engulfs you in the dream world, with effects and other ambient sounds swirling through the surrounds. Dialogue is clear and the score dynamic. It sounds amazing.

The Paprika 4K SteelBook (which has gorgeous art on the case) also comes with a Blu-ray copy and a digital code. Except for a new look at the 4K restoration, the Blu-ray disc contains legacy extras from the previous release. They include commentary from director Satoshi Kon, composer Susumu Hirasawa and associate producer Morishima, a discussion between Kon and the book’s author Yasutaka Tsutsui, a panel with Kon, Tsutsui, and voice actors Megumi Hayashibara and Tôru Furuya, DOP Michiya Kato discussing the use of CG elements alongside traditional animation, a piece on imagery and symbolism with art director Nobutaka Ike, a collection of storyboards, and two trailers.

The Paprika 4K SteelBook takes an amazing trip of a movie and combines it with amazing audio and video, a nice collection of extras and a beautiful SteelBook case. Highly recommended.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment dives into Columbia Pictures catalog once again to bring us Columbia Classics Volume 4 on 4K. This set includes six films making their 4k debuts: 1940’s His Girl Friday, 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer, 1984’s Starman, 1993’s Sleepless in Seattle and 2002’s Punch-Drunk Love. I had a chance to take a look at the set.

In Howard Hawks’s screwball comedy, His Girl Friday, Cary Grant plays Walter Burns, a newspaper editor who’s about to lose his best reporter and ex-wife, Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell), to a new city and a new man (Ralph Bellamy). Burns concocts a plan to have her work on one last big story, hoping the situation will convince her to stay and leave her new beau. In 2000, the American Film Institute’s 100 Years … 100 Laughs ranked the comedy at #19.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio. It’s a beautifully crisp image with great detail in facial features and textiles. The black levels are deep and the HDR allows the whites to pop and expands the gradient levels of the grays. The grain presentation is natural and filmic. The presentation appears to be devoid of compression artifacts. It just looks lovely.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono soundtrack as well as French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish. Like its contemporaries, the soundtrack is a bit tinny, but the dialogue is clear and prioritized in the mix.

All the extras for this film are on the included Blu-ray copy. There’s a 17 minute look at the film’s costuming, an audio commentary by film critic and author Todd McCarthy, a look at the rapid fire dialogue, a video essay on Hawk’s films, a piece on writer Ben Hecht, a look at the careers of Grant and Russell, some vintage ads, and original and re-release trailers.

Stanley Kramer’s 1967 comedy-drama Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner explores interracial marriage. At the time of filming, it was still illegal in 17 U.S. states, with their laws finally struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in June of that year. Spencer Tracy (who died days after filming completed) and Katherine Hepburn star as liberal-minded parents who find the strength of their views challenged when their daughter (Katherine Houghton) comes home with a Black fiance, played by Sidney Poitier. The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won two, for Hepburn and screenwriter William Rose.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. It’s a really good lucking transfer with great detail and any softness here and there comes from the source. The colour palette is excellent with natural skin tones, while primaries pop off the screen. Black levels are deep and the grain is true to the film source.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English Dolby Atmos track that folds back to Dolby TrueHD 7.1. There’s also an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and for purists, an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track. There are also French, German, Italian and Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish. Obviously the Atmos and surround tracks are a modern addition, but the sound team has done a great job of moving the ambient sounds in the apartment into the new environment. The score sounds bright and the dialogue is clear and well prioritized in the mix.

The Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner 4K also comes with a Blu-ray copy. Most of the extras are on that disc but the audio commentary with film historians Eddy Friedfeld, Lee Pfeiffer and Paul Scrabo is also on the 4K. There’s a collection of introductions by Tom Brokaw, Quincy Jones, Karen Kramer, and Steven Spielberg, a 30 minute retrospective, some archival recordings with Hepburn and an interview with her niece and co-star Katharine Houghton, looks at Kramer’s vision for the film and his acceptance of the Irving Thalberg Award, a look at the 2007 Producers Guild Stanley Kramer Award, a teaser and a theatrical trailer.

1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer, written and directed by Robert Benton, stars Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander and Justin Henry. Hoffman plays Ted Kramer, a workaholic ad exec whose wife, Joanna (Streep), announces that’s she’s leaving him and not taking their seven-year-old, Billy (Henry). Ted and Billy struggle to adapt to their new dynamic, but just as they do, Joanna reappears and launches a custody battle. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards and walked away with Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress (Streep), and Adapted Screenplay.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Except for some occasional softness present in the original film, the video presentation here is sharp, with great detail in facial features and textiles. There’s natural film palette and the black levels are deep. The grain level is filmic and hasn’t been scraped to death in this excellent transfer.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English Dolby Atmos track that folds back to Dolby TrueHD 7.1. There are two additional English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks as well as French, German and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks, Spanish and Thai Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks and a Turkish Dolby Digital 2.0 track. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Thai, and Turkish. Like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, the addition of an Atmos track may initially seem like overkill, but the sound design team have done an excellent job moving the original soundtrack into the surround soundscape and enveloping the viewer in the ambience of the surroundings. Dialogue is clear and well-placed in the mix.

The Kramer vs. Kramer 4K also comes with a Blu-ray copy, with extras split between the two. They include an audio commentary by film prof Jennine Lanouette, deleted scenes, a piece with director Benton discussing his work with Hoffman and Henry, an adult Justin Henry talking about his experiences on the film, a piece on Jane Alexander’s role, Benton talking about his feelings about the film, a theatrical trailer, a 49 minute making-of doc and some film previews.

John Carpenter’s 1984 film Starman is a sci-fi romance that stars Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen. Bridges plays an alien shot down by the U.S. government. Originally resembling a ball of energy, he clones a human body and tries to enlist a woman, Jenny (Allen), to help him reach a rendezvous point in Arizona. She’s first scared and then wary of him, but eventually a relationship grows as they race to avoid his capture by the government. Bridges received an Academy Award nomination for his performance.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. A crisp, detailed presentation, with a warm colour palette and deep blacks. Details are not lost in the darker scenes and the grain is nice and filmic.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English Dolby Atmos soundtrack that folds back to Dolby TrueHD 7.1. There are two other English tracks, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, a German and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks, French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks and a Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 track. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish. The newly created Atmos track shows the skill of the sound team upgrading the audio into the surround soundscape with action moving throughout the surrounds and the subwoofer giving some extra weight when needed. Dialogue is clear and well placed in the mix.

The Starman 4K is a four disc set, with three 4K discs and one Blu-ray. The two additional 4K discs contain the full 22 episodes of the 1986 Starman series that starred Robert Hays. What an unexpected treat in the extras. The rest of the extras are on the included Blu-ray copy and include an audio commentary by John Carpenter and Jeff Bridges, 20+ deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes time lapses, a 23 minute look back with John Carpenter, Jeff Bridges, Charles Martin Smith, and script supervisor Sandy King-Carpenter, a making-of piece, a music video, a stills gallery, and a theatrical trailer.

We’re in the home stretch now as the fifth of the six discs is 1993’s Sleepless in Seattle. Directed by Nora Ephron from a script she co-wrote with David S. Ward and Jeff Arch, the romantic comedy stars Tom Hanks as a widowed father whose son, Jonah (Ross Malinger), calls a talk radio show looking for a new love for his grieving dad. A Baltimore Sun reporter, Annie (Meg Ryan), hears the plea and begins to fall for the thought of him, despite being recently engaged. The ensemble cast includes Bill Pullman, Rob Reiner, Rosie O’Donnell, Gaby Hoffmann, Victor Garber, Rita Wilson, Barbara Garrick, and Carey Lowell.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Sleepless in Seattle is a bit of an odd rom-com in that the two romantic leads actually share very little screen time together. And while most rom-coms are light and airy visually, this film is quiet dark and subdued in its colour palette though there are some occasional pops of bright colours. Still it’s a sharp presentation but just lacks a bit of the wow factor the other films in the set have visually.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English Dolby Atmos and Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack as well as English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks. There are also French and French (Canada), German, Italian, Korean, and Spanish, Thai and Turkish DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish. Though the soundscape is a little front-heavy, the surrounds do get some occasional work on ambient noise while the subwoofer does have some time to take a break and grab a coffee.

The Sleepless in Seattle 4K also comes with a Blu-ray copy which also holds the extras. There are two audio commentaries — a new one for the 30th anniversary track with Karen Han and David Sims and an older one with Nora and Delia Ephron. There’s a short, but new, talk between Gary Foster and Meg Ryan, an older piece on “Love in the Movies”, four deleted scenes, a music video and a theatrical trailer.

The final movie in the set is 2002’s Punch-Drunk Love, from writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson. It stars Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Luis Guzmán. Turning in at a crisp 95 minutes, the film follows Barry (Sandler), a bachelor whose overbearing sisters have led him to develop social anxiety but finds himself falling for one of his sister’s coworkers. Anderson won Best Director at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The colour palette can be saturated, but this was part of the indie art house aesthetic that Anderson and cinematographer Robert Elswit were going for. Primaries really pop, the detail is great, and the grain is filmic.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English Dolby Atmos track that falls back to Dolby TrueHD 7.1. There’s also English, French, German, Italian and Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks and a Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish. Though at times a little front-heavy, the surrounds do immerse you into the scenes, the score is dynamic and dialogue is clear.

The Punch-Drunk Love 4K also comes with a Blu-ray copy. The extras are on the Blu-ray and include deleted scenes, “Blossoms and Blood” – a short film by PTA with Sandler and Watson, Jon Brion talking about the creation of the soundtrack, recording sessions, some scopitone art shorts, Jeremy Blake artwork and two trailers.

The Columbia Classics Volume 4 4K set comes in a hard cover box that unfolds to reveal two sides that contain the six films in standard cases. Each film comes with a Blu-ray copy and a digital code. The centre of the box holds an 88 page hardcover book chock full of photos, essays and other archival goodies. Covering multiple decades, styles and genres with great audio and video presentations and a nice set of extras, film lovers will be very tempted to add this to their collection.

Kino Lorber sent over a new Blu-ray release of the 1970 documentary King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis. The powerful film is a detailed record of footage from meetings, protests and rallies that traces Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent campaign for civil rights and social justice. The footage starts around the time of the Montgomery bus boycott (1955-1956) and ends with MLK’s assassination in 1968. Directors Sidney Lumet and Joseph L. Mankiewicz intersperse the footage with powerful readings by Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Ben Gazzara, Charlton Heston, James Earl Jones, Burt Lancaster, Paul Newman, Anthony Quinn, Clarence Williams III, and Joanne Woodward. The 3+ hour film was originally conceived as a special event film shown in theatres for one night on March 24, 1970. Since then, it has occasionally aired on TV. Released on DVD in 2010, it has now lovingly been restored by Kino Lorber and The Library of Congress and released on Blu-ray. The doc is at once inspirational, with the strength of King’s oratory and drive for justice, and horrifying, as footage shows the utter contempt and hatred of the racists in positions of power. Given the attempts by some to try and erase aspects of U.S. history, it’s an important and timely release.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 1:33:1 aspect ratio. The Blu-ray upgrade gives the film footage additional detail from previous releases or TV airings and the grey scale and film grain are faithful to the original theatrical print. Some of the source material has scratches and other blemishes, but that just shows the depth of research the production had to find rare records of the events being covered in newsreels and other sources.

On the audio side of things, there is an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2,0 Mono soundtrack. Subtitles are available for English SDH. The dialogue and music are clear and though some source material might have some pops and clicks, it is a very well restored audio experience.

As for extras, the Blu-ray disc does include two theatrical trailers.

The King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis Blu-ray is an important release. King’s message and commitment to non-violence is inspirational to those around the work pursuing justice and social change. At a time when some politicians are trying to prevent this history being taught in U.S. schools, owning a copy seems more important than ever. Highly recommended.

The reboot of Magnum P.I. premiered in 2018 with a few noticeable changes. First off, the titular private investigator and former Navy SEAL wasn’t played by a mustachioed Tom Selleck, but by a goateed Jay Hernandez. Jonathan Higgins, played in the original by John Hillerman, was now Juliet Higgins, a former British intelligence agent played by Perdita Weeks. Eagle-eyed viewers also noticed that the new title was missing a comma. The reboot built a strong and dedicated following, but the show found itself cancelled by CBS after four seasons. It’s rare that a cancelled show gets a second life, but NBC picked up the show for a fifth and final season. Paramount Home Entertainment has now released the Magnum P.I.: The Complete Series on DVD and I had a chance to take a look.

As I’ve mentioned in previous TV on DVD reviews, the answer to the question “Why isn’t this in HD?” is as follows: market forces (projected sales/profit margins) dictate that most series are released on DVD, which still has the biggest share of the physical media market. So, though Magnum P.I.’s Hawaiian setting screams out for the lushness of Blu-ray, the only way to watch it in full HD is via streaming or broadcast. Still, this 24-disc set with an aspect ratio of 16:9 does a very good job presenting the series. The colour palette is bright and colourful and the detail is very good for the DVD format.

On the audio side of things, the set has an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack with subtitles available for English SDH. Like most TV discs, the mix is a bit front-heavy though ambient noises and effect occasionally make it into the surrounds. Music is clean and bright and dialogue is clear, centred and well prioritized in the mix.

The 24-disc set does not come with a digital code. There is over two hours of bonus material including deleted and extended scenes, gag reels and various other promotional featurettes.

Dedicated fans of the show who don’t want its availability to be subject to the whims of streaming services or syndication will probably be interested in adding Magnum P.I.: The Complete Series DVD to their collection.

The Raid: Redemption is an Indonesian action film released in 2011. Written and directed by Gareth Evans, it had its premiere in the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was a hit with viewers and critics alike. Starring Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Donny Alamsyah, Ray Sahetapy, and Yayan Ruhian, it follows an Indonesian National Police tactical squad who set out to raid an apartment block in Jakarta’s slums that is home to a ruthless drug lord. When they find themselves surrounded, they must fight their way out to survive and complete their mission. Sony has now released The Raid: Redemption as a 4K SteelBook and I had a chance to take a look.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded upscaled 4K digital transfer with HDR10 and Dolby Vision is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The colour grading is the star here, with rich, dark black levels that still enable great detail in the shadows and darker scenes. The colour palette is very natural and contrasts well with the darker surroundings. Detail is mostly sharp in the usual suspects (facial textures, textiles, and locations) and any softness is from the source and not the transfer. Seeing as the budget for this action picture was only $1.1 million, it looks great on 4K.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of Indonesian Dolby Atmos soundtrack that folds back to Dolby TrueHD 7.1 as well as Indonesian, English, and Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, Portuguese, and Spanish. The Indonesian options actually present two option: one to hear the original Indonesian score and the other to hear an international score composed by Mike Shinoda and Joe Trapanese. The surrounds immerse you in all the action, the LFE output will have your subwoofers testing your building’s structural integrity, and above it al the dialogue still remains clear.

The Raid: Redemption 4K SteelBook comes with a Blu-ray copy (from 20212) and a Digital code. There’s an audio commentary by writer/director Gareth Evans, a series of behind-the-scenes vlogs, a moderated discussion with Evans, Shinoda and Trapanese, a look at the international score done by Shinoda and Trapanese, a breakdown of one of the action scenes, more looks at the production and score, a Claymation cats remake, a TV ad, trailer and some Sony previews. The SteelBook itself

The Raid: Redemption is a kickass action film that looks and sounds great in this 4K release. Fans of the genre will be easily tempted to add The Raid: Redemption 4K SteelBook to their collection.

It’s been twenty-five years since Brian Robbin’s coming-of-age football film Varsity Blues was released. That film pitted an overbearing coach (Jon Voight) against an academically-gifted “football isn’t my life” backup quarterback (James Van Der Beek) and also gave us a look at a group of teens trying to figure out their place on the team, in life, and in Texas. The cast also featured Paul Walker, Amy Smart, Ron Lester, Scott Caan, Eliel Swinton, Ali Larter and Thomas F. Duffy. To celebrate the film’s anniversary, Paramount has released a Varsity Blues: 25th Anniversary Edition 4K and I had a chance to take a look.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The image is, for the most part, sharp with good detail on faces, clothes and locations. There is some occasional softness in the image, but really, it looks really good. The colour palette really captures the sun-baked greens and yellows of Texas and primary colours are strong. The black levels are deep and there’s excellent detail in darker scenes.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and French Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, Enlish SDH and French. It would have been nice to get a new mix for the 25th, but apparently this is the same 5.1 mix from the 2009 Blu-ray. You’d expect a football film to be immersive with tackles and grunts flying through the soundscape, but this is a front-heavy mix with only some moments like crowd noise making it into the surrounds. The LFE usage is low as well. Dialogue is clear and centred.

The Varsity Blues 4K also comes with a Blu-ray copy and a digital code, though once again there’s no digital code in the Canadian edition. (Is this because we beat you at FIBA 2023?) Extras are all on the included 2009 Blu-ray, so don’t expect any anniversary content. There’s an audio commentary by director Brian Robbins and producers Tova Laiter and Mike Tollin, some production featurettes, and a theatrical trailer.

The Varsity Blues: 25th Anniversary Edition 4K has a nice cast giving us a gritty look at Texas football and the 4K video presentation is the best this film has looked on home media. Those two components make this release worth a look, but it’s a shame the sound and extras weren’t updated for the anniversary.

Billions, which ran for 7 seasons and 84 episodes, follows US Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) as he investigates the financial dealings of hedge fund manager and philanthropist Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis). The series also stars Maggie Siff, Malin Åkerman, Toby Leonard Moore, David Costabile, Condola Rashād, Asia Kate Dillon, Jeffrey DeMunn, Kelly AuCoin, Corey Stoll, Daniel Breaker, Sakina Jaffrey and Toney Goins. Paramount Home Entertainment has released a Billions: The Complete Series DVD set and I had a chance to take a look.

When a series is released on DVD, people always wonder why it’s not on Blu-ray, especially when some of the past season releases were on that format. It almost always boils down to market forces. DVDs are still cheaper to make and still sell more than Blu-ray and 4K, so the studio would have made an educated guess about which format would make them the most coin. Still, as far as the DVD format goes, Billions looks pretty good here with a nice colour palette and good detail in the image. With 84 episodes spread over 28 discs, there isn’t much to complain about in regards to compression artifacts.

On the audio side of things, there’s Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Subtitles are available for Englsih SDH. Though the soundtrack can be a little front-focused at times, the surround channels do get some use with ambient sounds and directional effects. Even the subwoofer gets some use. Dialogue is always clear and centred.

Billions: The Complete Series DVD is spread over 28 discs. A digital code is not included. There’s roughly an hour of extras, including behind-the-scenes featurettes and a look at the cameos.

Fans of the series who don’t want to be subject to the whims of streaming services will enjoy adding Billions: The Complete Series DVD to their home entertainment library.

Butcher’s Crossing, from director Gabe Polsky, stars Nicolas Cage as Miller, a grizzled buffalo hunter in 1870s Colorado who is looking for one big haul of hides. The writing is on the wall, as the number of bison has been decimated by relentless hunting. To make his expedition work, Miller needs financing and that’s where Will Andrews (Fred Hechinger) comes in. Andrews, from a privileged background, has dropped out of Harvard to experience life in the West. Miller is willing to show Andrews that life, as long as he pays for it. Miller is obsessed (a comfort zone for Cage) and drives his team hard, risking life and limb to get the perfect haul of hides. The film, which also stars Jeremy Bobb, Paul Raci, Xander Berkeley, Rachel Keller, Amber Rose Mason, Harper Hofstad, Beckett Hofstad, Duncan Vezain, Gabriel Clark and Zuzu Weingart, has been released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on Blu-ray. I had a chance to take a look.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 2.00:1 aspect ratio. It’s a really good looking video presentation with sharp details in the grizzled faces, worn and dirty clothes, and gorgeous landscapes. The colour palette is natural and ranges from snowy whites to greens and reds. Black levels are deep. There are no real signs of compression artifacts or digital noise.

On the audio side of things, Butcher’s Crossing comes with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack with subtitles are available for English SDH and French. The soundtrack immerses you into the landscape with good use of the surrounds, while the horse and herds of bison are served well by the subwoofer. Dialogue is clear and centred.

The Blu-ray disc does not come with a digital code nor does the release have any extras.

Butcher’s Crossing looks and sound great and has good performances from Cage, Hechinger and the cast. Bleak, slow-paced and at times grisly, the Butcher’s Crossing Blu-ray is not for everyone, but if the story interests you, it’s worth a look.

Craig Gillespie’s Dumb Money is a comedy-drama based on the short squeeze of Gamestop stock back in January of 2021. If “short squeeze” isn’t in your vocabulary, I’ve linked to an article that should help explain it, but in short (no pun intended), large hedge funds had shorted Gamestop – the shopping mall video game store – hoping to cash in on its demise. When a YouTuber and retail investor named Keith Gill (Paul Dano) invested his life savings into the stock and posted about it on reddit, others began to follow suit, driving the price up, which directly affected the hedge funds whose shorting only makes money when the stock goes down. I’ll stop the explanation there as what happened next is the meat and potatoes of the script. The film, which also stars Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley, and Seth Rogen, has now been released on Blu-ray by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. It’s a great looking digital transfer with excellent detail in facial features, textiles and environments. The colour palette is strong and black levels are deep with good detail in darker scenes. There are no compression artifacts or digital noise to speak of. It’s just a pleasing visual presentation.

On the audio side of things, there’s an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. Subtitles are available for English SDH, French, and Spanish. It’s a front-heavy mix, and as dialogue is key here it’s clear and prioritized in the soundscape. The surrounds are given some light work with ambient sounds, while the subwoofer only kicks in when the soundtrack starts kicking.

The Dumb Money Blu-ray comes with a digital code, though once again the Canadian release does not get a digital copy. Extras include an audio commentary by screenwriters Rebecca Angelo and Lauren Schuker Blum, a behind-the-scenes featurette, a look at the casting, and some deleted scenes.

The Dumb Money Blu-ray starts off with a great cast led by Paul Dano and combines it with an excellent presentation and a small collection of extras. It captures one of the big financial stories of 2021 with humour and never drags. Recommended.

[Newest Posts] [Newer Posts] [Older Posts]