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THE EPITAPH VOL. 70 - BRIEF REMEMBRANCES OF THE RECENTLY RELEASED - WARNER BROS. EDITION!
YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966) - FRIENDLY PERSUASION (1956) - THE NUN'S STORY (1959) - AMERICAN SNIPER (2014)
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 97 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Elizabeth Hartman, Geraldine Page, Rip Torn, Peter Kastner, Dolph Sweet, Tony Bill, Julie Harris
Frightmare) is an anxious young man looking to step on his own and become an adult, which means moving out of his parents house and into his own Greenwich Village walkup. His parents re quite the characters themselves, we have over-bearing mother Margery (Geraldine Page, Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice?) and the incessantly disapproving I.H Chanticleer (Rip Torn, The Beastmaster), who seem largely responsible for his awkwardness. Now free to live a liberated lifestyle away from his parents Bernard, with help from his somewhat duplicitous pal Raef (Tony Bill, Are You Alone in the House?), he sets his sights on meeting women, and hopefully losing his virginity in the process. The femmes he meets include Amy (Karen Black, Invaders from Mars) a secretary from his father's office and a cold go-go dancer/actress Barbara (Elizabeth Hartman, The Group). The former really likes Bernard quite a bit, but while on a date with her he encounters the ginger haired Barbara and cannot take his eyes off of her, which so infuriated Amy that she blatantly suggest they go back to his place, which of course goes all wrong. This one is chock full of coming-of-age hijinx and broad comedy moments, I thought Kastner was quite good in the role of awkward Bernard, but it's
Geraldine Page and Rip Torn as the possessive mother/dismissive father who steal the show here, they are dynamite. Another highlights is Bernard's landlady Mrs. Norma Thing (Julie Harris, The Haunting) who keeps a woman-hating rooster on the fifth floor of her apartment house which you know plays into the story at a certain point, and an appearance from Dolph Sweet (TV's Gimme a Break!) playing what else, a cop who also lives in the apartment. Truth be told I like this comedy quite a bit more than the recently review The Rain People, I love these 60's coming-of-age tales along the lines of The Graduate, and it delivers the idiosyncratic humor and slapstick comedy is spades, not perfect, but still a gem, and an interesting footnote in the Coppola cannon, gorgeously restored by Warner Archive, highlighting the NYC locations and Coppola and cinematographer Andrew Laszlo's (The Warriors, Funhouse) inventive camerwork.
Special Features:
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
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Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 137 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: William Wyler
Cast: Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins
The Civil War drama Friendly Persuasion (1956) centers of the Birdwells, a Quaker family in Indiana who pacifist beliefs are put to the test as the war encroaches on their territory with the arrival of Confederate rebels who threaten to loot and burn their farm. Gary Cooper stars as the patriarch Jess Birdwell also have his Quaker minister wife Eliza (Dorothy mcGuire, The Spiral Staircase), daughter Mattie (Phyllis Love, The Young Doctors), young son "Little" Jess (Richard Eyler, The Invisible Boy), and elder son Josh (Anthony Perkins, Edge of Sanity). The first half of the film is a pretty wonderful slice-of-life tale about the film, it builds up the characters and makes you like the whole lot of them, there;s humor, budding romance, and slapstick moments of comedy. However, as the confederate rebels move in closer it gets darker, while the neighbors are taking up arms to defend their properties Jess steadfast refuses to resort to violence, though his eldest son Josh believes they should defend themselves, leading up to an action-packed finale that is chock full of drama and suspense. The Warner Archive Blu-ray is quite handsome, there's some inherent softness to a few shots, but otherwise the lensing from Ellsworth Fredericks (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) looks and sounds superb, with another excellent score from Dimitri Tiomkin (Angel Face). On a side note this was my first time watching it in color, I think the one and only time I had watched this previously was on my grandma's TV in the 80's, and she had a black and white television well into the mid-80's, so there were a lot of movies and TV programs I watched back then that I only found out were in color years later!
Special Features:
- Wide Wide World TV excerpt (10 min)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
Buy it:
Moviezyng - use code: MOVIEDEAL at checkout to get 5% off your entire order!
Physical Media Land - use code: MOVIEDEAL at checkout to get 5% off your entire order!
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 149 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch, Edith Evans, Colleen Dewhurst
The Nun's Story (1959) is directed by Fred Zinnemann (High Noon) and it tells the tale a nun, Gabrielle Van Der Mal aka Sister Luke, played by the ever radiant Audrey Hepburn (Wait Until Dark), the daughter of a prominent physician (Dean Jagger, Alligator) who sacrifices worldly desires by joining a nunnery, where under the direction of Rev. Mother Emmanuel (Edith Evans, Nasty Habits). Her journeys takes her a mental asylum where she is attached by a violent patient (Colleen Dewhurst, When A Stranger Calls), then to Belgian Congo where she assists Dr. Fortunati (Peter Finch, Network), before coming back to Belgium during the outbreak of WWII, where she finds it difficult to maintain her vows in the face of the Nazi occupation. When it comes to nun stories I prefer the more salacious nunsploitation entries (Killer Nun, Satanico Pandemonium, etc), but this was quite an interesting watch. A nearly three-hour long melodrama about the inner struggle of a woman who want with all her heart to be a nun and serve God but finds it hard to be completely humble, and Hepburn knocks it out of the park with a nuanced, contemplative, multi-faceted portrayal, plus some stellar lensing by Franz Planer (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and a wonderful sweeping score by Franz Waxman (Sorry, Wrong Number). Warner Archive knock it out of the park with a gorgeous restoration both audio and video. The film is largely quite neutral in terms of color, but scenes in the congo offer more vibrant splashes of color that look terrific.
Special Features:
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
Buy it:
Moviezyng - use code: MOVIEDEAL at checkout to get 5% off your entire order!
Physical Media Land - use code: MOVIEDEAL at checkout to get 5% off your entire order!
Label: Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 132 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Luke Grimes, Jake McDorman, Cory Hardrict, Kevin Lacz, Navid Negahban, Keir O’Donnell
The Clint Eastwood directed American Sniper (2014) starring Bradley Cooper (Nightmare Alley) as Navy SEAL sharpshooter Chris Kyle makes it's UHD debut from WBDHE. A terrific character study of a man whose skills as a sniper made him a hero on the battlefield, but also of the man at home, who wrestles with mental illness, and with who he is at home, struggling to find his place as a husband and his ability to reconnect with his wife, Taya (Sienna Miller, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), and their kids, but finding it hard to leave his experiences in Iraq on the battlefield. Like I say, more of a layered character study of the toll war has on one soldier and his family than a war epic, expertly crafted by Eastwood, and terrifically acted by Cooper, and I like that it manages not to be too jingoistic for its own good. The 4K UHD looks terrific with pleasing amount of sharp detail and textured detail tot he digitally shot film. HDR10 is used judiciously and punches up primary colors quite nicely, black levels are excellent, and they've carried over excellent Atmos audio from the 2015 Blu-ray release, as well as the archival extras, as well as including a digital UHD copy of the film and a slipcover with the same artwork.
Special Features:
- One Soldier's Story: The Journey of American Sniper (31 min)
- Chris Kyle: The Man Behind the Legend (30 min)
- Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy – The Heart of a Hero (15 min)
- Navy SEALs: In War and Peace (30 min)
- Bringing the War Home: The Cost of Heroism (21 min)
- The Making of American Sniper (29 min)
- Guardian (3 min)
