THE EPITAPH VOL. 50
SUPERGIRL: THE SIXTH AND FINAL SEASON (2022) - 6:45 (2021) - PROJECT GEMINI (2022) - IDA (2013) - BROADCAST SIGNAL INTRUSION (2021)
THE SIXTH AND FINAL SEASON (2022)
Label: WBHE
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 846 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Cast: Melissa Benoist, Chyler Leigh, Katie McGrath Jesse Rath, Nicole Maines, Azie Tesfai, Julie Gonzalo Staz Nair, David Harewood
Not many shows go out when they're still on top, and I won't say that the final season of Supergirl was perfection by any means, but after six seasons it came to a close while I was still fairly entertained by the series, which is more than I can say for a lot of shows DC's Legends of Tomorrow which I've stopped watching altogether. In this final season Supergirl (Melissa Benoist, Jay & Silent Bob Reboot) must - surprise - battle her nemesis Lex (John Cryer, Dudes) who has brainwashed most of the planet, she gets trapped in the Phantom Zone where she meets her father Zor-El, while phantoms from the PZ escape and menace the Earth, and then we have the persistent threat of the magical Nyxly who searches for magical totems that will give her unstoppable powers, with help from her sorta boyfriend Lex Luthor. The best stuff for me is the the superfriends-type team sequences, I mean that what I want to see, superheroes banding together and battling baddies, and far too often these CW/DC shows get bogged down in the CW drama-mode and explore the troubled love lives, or worse yet, work conflicts of the characters, and the balance of ass-kicking to drama is far too imbalanced for my tastes. That said, I kept coming back to Supergirl and watching it weekly, which I cannot say for a lot of the Arrowverse shows. The finale delivered both bombast superhero action and the usual heart-string tugging drama, winding things up with an uplifting ending that sees Kara (Supergirl's alter-ego, duh) making a change that will make her a more complete person. I'm glad they wrapped up the series after six seasons, I liked it but I just didn't love it, and to be honest I won't miss it all that much - if I am craving superhero TV action I still have Stargirl, The Boys and Invincible to look forward to. I also look forward to seeing what Benoit does next, I enjoyed her appearance in Kevin Smith's Jay & Silent Bob Reboot and wish her a lot of success, she's the reason I locked into the series initially, so here's hoping she goes on to have a storied career. The 4-disc set from WBHE collects all 20-episodes and looks and sounds terrific, these sets always deliver, though they skimp on the extras, especially considering this is the final season. What we do get are 44-minutes of extras that include bountiful deleted scenes and A Farewell To Supergirl featurette, plus a redemption code for a digital copy of the season.
Special Features:
- Deleted Scenes
- A Farewell Tribute to Supergirl
- Digital Code
Label: WBHE
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 186 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
I was never a regular watcher of Adventure Time, but I would tune it frequently when my tween son would watch it when it originally aired on the Cartoon Network. He loved it, and I am certain he watched the entire run, of which I only caught a handful. So, just know that I am no expert on the series and name more than a handful of characters, but I did love the hand-drawn animation and surreal feel of it, I always felt like it was a acid-fueled kid-friendly bit of weirdness that I could watch and enjoy just as one-offs that entertained me. The same can be said of the four Adventure Time: Distant Lands episodes, exploring the Adventure Time multiverse with stories based around Marceline & Princess Bubblegum, Peppermint Butler, and Finn and Jake. Each episode has the distinctive animation style of the regular series with varying degrees of individuality. I found them to have the same sort of acid-tinged kid-friendly feel of the OG series. The best stuff for me was not surprisingly the tale about the Finn and Jake, with Finn dying an old man and searching for Jake n the afterlife - it's dementedly awesome. Sadly the Blu-ray has no extras whatsoever, not even a digital code, but they look great in HD on Blu-ray.
6:45 (2021)
Label: Well Go USA
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 96 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 & 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen
Director: Craig Singer
Cast: Michael Reed, Augie Duke, Armen Garo, Thomas G. Waites
When couple Bobby (Michael Reed, Disco Exorcist) and Jules (Augie Duke, Necropolis: Legion) spend a weekend getaway on a curiously deserted East Coast island they hit up the Cozy Nook Bed & Breakfast, operated by Gene (Armen Garo, Dexter: New Blood). It seems like a quaint place and Gene seems friendly, but he also send of creepy vibes. He explains that the town is a bit quiet at the moment as there was recent murder that has spooked the town, Regardless, their first days seems fine, they grab food at a bar, but then are murdered by a dead-eyed killer who slashes Jules throat and snaps Bobby's neck. But that is not the end for them, they seem to have stumbled upon a time loop, forcing them to relive a demented cycle of terror with seemingly no means of escape, each time they die they are resurrected at 6:45 AM the same day, everyday. Only Bobby is aware of the reset and the previous days evens, and in a very Groundhog Day/Happy Death Day way he sets about attempting to change the course of events to save his beloved, all the while each repeated day new dynamics of their relationship come to light that complicate matters, and change out view of the couple's relationship. I'm usually a sucker for a good time-loop flick, emphasis on "good", and I was quite disappointed by this entry, even though I am a fan of both Reed and Duke who do good work here but they cannot save this poorly written flick that executed rather flatly in my opinion. How it all pans out made me regret investing my time in it, while it had some initial promise and some haunting ideas I found it ultimately to be a bit of a bore. On a plus note, keep an eye out for an appearance from Thomas G. Waites, "Windows" from John Carpenter's The Thing in a small role.
Label: Well Go USA
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 99 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 & 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen
Director: Serik Beyseu
Cast: Egor Koreshkov, Alyona Konstantinova, Dmitriy Frid, Nikita Dyuvbanov, Lisa Martinez, Kostya Samoukov, Viktor Potapeshkin, Petr Romanov
I love Alien knock-offs, having grown-up on a steady diet of Italian and Roger Corman produced cheapies that thrilled me non-stop on VHS, and that affinity sometimes carries over into more modern fare, such as with the Russian knock-off Project Gemini (2022). There have been a handful of Russian made films the past few years that I liked, Sputnik being at the top of the heap, and while this one is not Ridley Scott rip-off perfection it is a slickly made piece of sci-fi action with elements stolen from Alien, Prometheus and the non Ridley Scott directed but still derivative Event Horizon. We basically have a future where mankind had failed to heal the effects of global warming and there's a plant-killing virus that is quickening the planet's demise as a sustainable host. Scientist have discovered an alien device buried deep in cave, seemingly send before the time that life began on Earth. It seems to hold the key saving humanity, and an international expedition is quickly formed to find a suitable new planet on which to unleash this terraforming life-creating device, but the new warp tech used to navigate space and time seems to have taken the crew to the wrong planet in an uncharted star system. There's some discussion about if this was an accident or is the alien tech more than it seems, perhaps housing a alien lifeform with it's own designs for humanity? I thought this was mindless fun, the story is convoluted beyond reason but it's a slick looking production and the action is well-done, though the alien threat is glimpsed far to briefly for my tastes. That said, if you like myself love the late-70's/early-80's alien knockoffs I think you will find plenty here to enjoy, but it's most likely a one and done. The Blu-ray is plagued with compression artifacts/black crush unfortunately, but the English dub is decent.
Special Features:
- Making Of Featurette
Label: Umbrella Entertainment
Region Code: B
Rating: M
Duration: 82 Minutes
Audio: Polish DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Cast: Agata Kulesza, Agata Trzebuchowska, Dawid Ogrodnik
Set in Poland 1962 the arthouse drama Ida (2013) is about tow complicated characters, the first is Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska), a troubled eighteen-year-old orphaned woman, preparing to enter the convent as nun. Before doing so however her Mother Superior orders her to visit her only surviving relative, her mother's sister Wanda Gruz (Agata Kulesza), who informs her of a family secret that challenges who she thought she was. Gorgeously shot in stark black and white the film is a wonderful character study of two women facing their pasts; with Wanda reconciling being a former hard-liner Communist state prosecutor who sent many priests to death sentences, and with Ana learning that she is actually Jewish. This is one of those languidly paced character studies that might catch you off guard with it's subtle life affirming graces and poignancy. Ida gets a gorgeous region B locked Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment with a good selection of archival extras as part of their World Cinema sub-label which includes a slipcover.
Special Features:
- Q&A with director Pawel Pawlikowski (21 min)
- "On the Set of Ida" featurette (11 min)
- Interview with director Pawel Pawlikowski (7 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
Label: Dark Sky Films
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 104 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 & 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: Jacob Gentry
Cast: Harry Shum Jr., Chris Sullivan, Kelley Mack
Set in the late-90's Broadcast Signal Intrusion features a Chicago-based video tape archivist James (Harry Shum Jr.) who discovers a TV clip that that was recorded of a broadcast signal hacking in the 80's of an eerie masked person accompanied by some strange sounds. This discovery leads to him tracking down similar broadcast intrusions that he believes have some connection to the disappearance of his wife some years earlier. The film was inspired by actual broadcast interruptions that occurred in Chicago in the late 1980s, and remain unsolved to this day, and it makes for a very intriguing premise as James throws himself down the conspiracy rabbit hole, but it gets watered down by the endless detours. If you're a fan of stuff like Videodrome, Under the Silver Lake, and Archive 81 I think that this will get under your skin with it's creepy 'what's happening here?' vibes but your milage will vary the way that it all pans out. I liked it, didn't love it, and felt it could have been so much more. Despite it's short coming it's hard to deny that the persistent creepy vibe and noir leanings make for a solid watch, particularly if you're predisposed to conspiracy laden creep-fests.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Director Jacob Gentry and Actor Harry Shum Jr.
