THE STREET FIGHTER COLLECTION (1974) (Shout Select Blu-ray Review)

THE STREET FIGHTER COLLECTION (1974) 

Label: Shout Select 
Region Code: A
Duration: 91/83/95 Minutes 
Rating: Unrated/Unrated/R
Audio: English and Japanese DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Teruo Ishii
Cast: Sonny Chiba, Etsuko Shihomi, Masashi Ishibashi, Claude Gannyon, Yôko Ichiji, Frankie Black 

STREET FIGHTER (1974) 
In the first film Sonny Chiba plays Takuma "Terry" Tsurugi, an assassin for hire who at the start is tasked with freeing a deathrow inmate. To that end he infiltrates a death row prison disguised as a religious monk, putting the criminal into a kung fu-induced coma that makes him appear dead, allowing for Terry and his comic-relief sidekick Ratnose (Goichi Yamada) to free him when he is transported to the hospital for medical treatment. Terry's dealing with the criminal's family concerning a lack of proper payment results in the accidental death of the criminal's younger sibling, who misses Terry during flying kick, crashing through a window, falling several stories to his bloody death. Terry is then hired by the Yakuza to kidnap the heiress to an oil fortune, but when he refuses the job he becomes a target of the Yakuza, with Terry taking it upon himself to save the heiress from the gangsters, leaving a trail of bloodies corpses in his wake along the way. 

The first film is one bad-ass kung-fu film, Chiba is a freight train of flying-fist punishment, delivering a ton of bloody action in a film that is said to be the first film to receive the x-rating solely for the sake of violence, and damn it that might just be true based on what I saw. The film has a lot of cool, kinetic kung-fu trauma, including a blow to the head that never fails to gob smacks me, with Chiba's character hitting an opponent so hard on the top of the head the screen flashes to an x-ray of his fist making contact with the skull, before showing the man spewing copious amounts of blood from his his mouth - it's fucking awesome! This movie also features a nasty castration scene of Terry ripping the junk right off a would-be rapist with his bare hands, and later tearing out the throat of his nemesis during an exquisite brawl set during a down pour on the deck of a tanker ship.

Sonny Chiba is a powerful presence in the film, his strength pops right off the screen in just about every scene, but I always found his contorted facial expressions and dramatic breathing techniques throughout the film sort of humorous in a way, which for me is all part of his charm of these films. The story here is very simplistic, you have bad-ass Chiba as an assassin, he's not a good guy, he's a bad guy who's not the worst guy in the film, tearing his way through the criminal underworld,making this a tasty and hyper-violent slice of exploitation that keeps fans of gritty kung-fu action coming back for more. 

Special Features: 
- NEW 2K Scan Of The Original Film Elements Of The Uncut Version
- Uncut Version Of The Film (91 Minutes) With English And Japanese Audio
- Two English Dubs – The Theatrical Dub And The New Line Home Video Dub
- NEW Street Fighting Man – An Interview With Star Sonny China (27 min) 
- NEW Cutting Moments – THE STREET FIGHTER Trailer – An Interview With Filmmaker Jack Sholder (13 min) 
- U.S. Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD 
- Japanese Theatrical Trailer (3 min) HD 
- Still Gallery (6 min) HD 

THE RETURN OF STREET FIGHTER (1974)
In the sequel we have Sonny Chiba returning as assassin for hire Takuma "Terry" Tsurugi, the film opens with him taking an assignment from Yakuza to murder an accountant who is currently in police custody, it seems the number cruncher has some dirt that could prove harmful to the organization. To that end Takuma starts a brawl on the streets with the cops and gets himself thrown in jail, which is where he finds the target and rips out his throat before escaping the jail. However, when Takuma discovers that the Yakuza are using a karate school as a front to extort money from the community he winds up taking them on yet again! 

The sequel still has plenty of Chiba action and cool moments but the sequel suffers a bit, there's a bit too many flashbacks to the first film for a barely 80-minute movie, and Chiba doesn't have enough screen time this time around either. The comedy is also ramped-up a bit this time around, but there is also some nudity which was lacking from the first film, so it's a a bit of mixed bag. Highlights this time around are the police station fight sequences, Chiba fighting his way through the station is kinetic and fast-paced, plus we get a snow-set fight in the mountains which is also very cool. There's another rain-drenched fight recalling the end of the first film, but it's just not as cool in my opinion, with some of the fight choreography lacking visceral energy, even being a bit cartoonish, like when Chiba's character literally knocks the eyeballs of his opponent right out of their sockets, it's a bit too silly for it;s own good, but it's still an entertaining slice of kick-ass karate cinema.   

Special Features: 
- NEW 2K Scan Of The Original Film Elements Of The Uncut Version
- Uncut Version Of The Film (83 Minutes) With English And Japanese Audio
- U.S. Teaser Trailer (1 min) HD 
- U.S. Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD 
- Japanese Theatrical Trailer (3 min) HD 
- Still Gallery

THE STREET FIGHTER’S LAST REVENGE (1974) 
The third and final film to star Sonny Chiba as assassin for hire Takuma "Terry" Tsurugi is a bit of a departure, the action packed violence of the first pair of films is toned down in favor of a 007/Fletch spy-thriller, with Chiba expanding on the opening of the first film where he's disguised as a monk, donning masks and secret identities. This time out Terry is again double-crossed by a crime family who are after the secret recipe for a synthetic form of heroin which can be produced on the cheap. The film's spy-thriller leanings lend it a bit more color and style than the the previous sequel but lacks the violence I loved about the first film, really dragging in places, making this the worst of the bunch for me, but not to the point of hating it, just not exactly loving it. 

Special Features: 
- NEW 2K Scan Of The Original Film Elements Of The U.S. Cut (80 Minutes)
- NEW 2K Scan Of The Original Film Elements Of The U.S. Cut With Standard Definition Inserts From The Original Japanese Cut (84 Minutes)
- U.S. Theatrical Trailer (3 min) HD 
- Japanese Theatrical Trailer (3 min) HD 
- Still Gallery

Audio/Video: The Street Fighter Collection arrives on Blu-ray from Shout Select with new 2K scans of archival color reversal internegatives done by Warner Bros., with the first two films incorporating footage from an older existing HD Master of the Japanese version of the film to get it to it's proper uncut run time. The third also offers the option to view both the U.S. and the longer running Japanese cut of the film, the longer versions includes standard-definition inserts, and it looks the worst of the trio, but still looks pretty good all things considered. All three film  generally look solid in HD, the 2.35:1 cinematography is intact, there are some minor blemishes by way of white speckling, dirt, scratches and vertical lines, along with some very minor fading fading throughout. That said, the grain is present and unmolested, the black levels are decent, and colors are surprisingly rich throughout, with reds and blues really popping.

All three film have both the original Japanese audio in addition to English dubs in DTS-HD MA Mono, with the first film having the original English dub as well as the New Line Cinema home video dub from the 90's. The mono track is solid but unremarkable, thin and treble-y in places, the music can be a bit on the shrill side without much bottom end, optional English subtitles are provided.

Extras on disc one begin with a new 27-min interview with star Sonny Chiba who reflects on how he came upon acting when his Olympic athlete aspirations were dashed. He's very candid about his experience making the films, pointing out some things he doesn't care for about them, going into the film's new found popularity after The Street Fighter trilogy was featured in the Quentin Tarantino scripted True Romance, and being cast in Kill Bill and Kill Bill 2, also touching on Bruce Lee and how they had planned on appearing in a film together, but the legend passed away before it could come to fruition.

There's also a very cool interview with director Jack Sholder (The Hidden) who edited the film for New Line Cinema, speaking about how he came to be a trailer editor for the distributor, editing films for content to get a proper rating from the MPAA, and how editing all those films and trailers prepared him for his own directorial career. Disc one is finished up with both U.S. and Japanese trailers and an image gallery of stills, promotional shots, newspaper ads, home video releases and posters for the film.

Extras for the sequels include a handful of trailers for the film plus a gallery of stills, lobby cards, poster artwork and various home video releases. 

The three-disc release comes housed in a standard sized Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of artwork featuring a new illustration by artist Robert O'Brien. The reverse side of the wrap featuring three original movie posters for the trilogy. This release also comes with a slipcase featuring the same artwork, both the spine of the sleeve and the wrap are numbered, this being number 65 in the Shout Select line-up.

While I don't consider my self a huge martial art/kung-fu cinema fan by any means the first film in this set is a stone-cold kung fu classic, it's hyper violent and bloody as hell, I loved it a bunch! The other films I'm not as enthusiastic, but regardless this is an attractive set from Shout Select, fans of the film (and series) should be very pleased by what they find here.    
      

SWEET VIRGINIA (2017) (Blu-ray Review)

SWEET VIRGINIA (2017) 

Label: Shout! Factory / IFC Midnight
Release Date: April 3rd 2018
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 93 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0, Surround 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.40:1)
Director: Jamie M. Dagg
Cast: Jon Bernthal, Christopher Abbott, Imogen Poots, Rosemarie Dewitt

Brooding small town thriller Sweet Virginia (2017) opens with a drifter named Elwood (Christopher Abbott, Girls) walking into a bar after hours, inside three men are gathered, Elwood acts strangely and is turned away, returning moments later with a gun, killing all three men inside. We learn that Elwood was hired by the wife of one of the men inside to kill him, a woman named Lila (Imogen Poots, 28 Weeks Later), but things didn't go as planned and the killer ends up with two unintended victims, rocking the small community. Later when the self-made widow is informed by her lawyer that her husband was on the verge of bankruptcy, her lack of funds to pay the hit-man sets in motion a series of unfortunate events. 

Central to the story is a depressive motel owner named Sam (Jon Bernthal, Netflix'a The Punisher) who has connections to Poots' character, he's having an affair with her mother Bernadette (Rosemarie Dewitt, Poltergeist), who's husband was one of the unintended casualties at the bar. The dots begin to connect when Elwood who is staying at the motel run by Sam recognizes him as a former rodeo champion from West Virginia, and Elwood sort of forces an uneasy acquaintance with the motel owner, and so the dots begin to connect, slowly building towards an inevitable violent climax that will leave few unscathed.

This slow-burning thriller caught my attention from the get-go with the crime at he bar, it grabs the attention, and then things settle down and it begin to unfold and build-up in a subtle sort of way, you can see the machination at work, the intertwined characters  begin to mingle and cross-pollinate, culminating with the expected violent outcome, there's no surprised here but I liked the contrast of the characters of Sam and Elwood. Bernthal as Sam is a surprisingly quiet guy, very meek and downplayed, we see him cower away from the threat violence an earlier scene, in contrast to the high-strung Elwood, a man with a short fuse who is always holding back the inner-rage, which is threatening to boil over at any moment. We see him set off by a pair of locals punks giving him the eye at a phone booth, or when he realizes Lila is coming up short of his required fee for the crime. 

I love this sort of quiet small town thriller, watching the pieces come together in the final push at the end, but I didn't find this one to be all that satisfying, the tense finale was a bit too anti-climatic for my tastes, there's a pressure build-up and then it just sort of deflated without the appropriate fanfare, it's not bad but it is a one and done. 

HYPE! (1996) (Shout Select Blu-ray Review)

HYPE! (1996) 
Collector's edition 

Label: Shout Select
Region Code: A
Duration: 84 Minutes 
Rating: Unrated
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0, English DTS-HD MA 5,1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Doug Pray
Cast: Members of Mudhoney, Soundgarden, The Melvins, The Fastbacks,, Jack Endino, Conrad Uno, Pete Bagge, Steve Fisk,Susan Silver, Charles Peterson, Bruce Pavitt, Jonathan Poneman 

Synopsis: Drop into the Pacific Northwest in the early '90s and watch a vibrant underground music scene explode into a global "grunge" media frenzy. Hype! follows the music from local bands playing for their friends, to Sub Pop Record’s brilliant exploitation of "the Seattle Sound," to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hitting #1 on the charts. Questions of money, authenticity, and fame arise as "grunge fashion" hits the runways and a mass migration of wanna-be Seattle bands saturates the city. The Northwest experience is one of humor, loss, and epic irony. With intense live performances by Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, and many more, Hype! rocks the definitive story of the world's last great local music scene.

The early 90's "grunge" era was sort of my coming of age musically, as an adolescent 70's rockers Kiss was my favorite band, in fact the TV movie Kiss Meets The Phantom of the Park  was one of the first movies I remember watching on TV when I was just five years old, alongside kiddie-friendly Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and the made-for-TV horror film Gargoyles (1972), the latter of which gave me nightmares for weeks! From Kiss my listening habits evolved to Van Halen, Cinderella, Ratt and Motley Crue, I definitely loved the hair rockers in the eighties, but then I discovered the glory of 70's riff-masters like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath thanks to a cool uncle, which bled into me discovering heavier stuff like Iron Maiden, Metallica and Slayer. 

It was at some point in '90 I first heard Seattle rockers Alice in Chains through my friend Cristi Fox, whom had bought the "Facelift" cassette. We had an impromptu listening party as we drove around in her car with her boyfriend/my best friend, Derek, jamming to the sludgy "We Die Young", that was my first taste of the Northwest sound. As memory serves it was mere months later that I was at a metal show at Max's Bar and Grill in Ithaca, NY where the sound man began playing some cool music over the P.A., it was not punk, not metal, not pop, but it made my ears perk-up in attention. Having had some conversation with the sound man at previous shows I walked up and asked what he'd been playing, it was an advance cassette Nirvana's "Nevermind", the song was called "Breed". I've long forgotten what band I was there to see that night but I will always remember stealing that cassette which was sitting on the edge of the soundboard, and that's when Nirvana and the Northwest "grunge" scene really entered by teen life. 

I never did buy flannel shirts (other than the few I already owned)  or wear Doc Martins boots, because docs were expensive and I was poor, but I was definitely one of those kids entranced by the Seattle-sound. It was through my love of Nirvana that I sort of reverse-engineered a love for the larger Northwest music scene, as an avid reader of zines and music mags I would keep a list of bands mentioned in interviews and reviews, seeking out their music and cultivating a love for The Wipers, Green River, Mudhoney, The Melvins, U-Men, and the roster of other Sub Pop bands like the Afghan Whigs and Love Battery, a label who branded themselves like no other at the time - they were a marketing machine. 

When this doc came out the grunge scene, at least in the media, had already been in a steady rate of decline, Kurt Cobain had been dead for a few years, and I was in the process of discovering a different brand of Northwest music, going back to the primitive 60s rockers the Sonics, and the garage-rockers on Estrus Records like the Mono Men and The Makers, as well as non-Northwest stuff, like discovering the defunct Minneapolis rockers The Replacements and the Suburbs, as well as deep diving into 70s punk rock and 80's new wave stuff like the Nervebreakers and The Controllers. 

Watching this doc was a fun trip down memory lane, documenting the rise of the Northwest music scene, of the early punk and noise bands that built the scene for years before it garnered any media attention, and the how the rise of bands like Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and of course Nirvana, contributed to the "grunge" explosion. The doc is peppered with interviews from the bands and record engineers who brought us all that great music, Jack Endino, who recorded Nirvana's 'Bleach', has a fun, wry perspective of the whole thing. The band members, music journalist and label reps talk about the absurdity and unexpected pop-culture freak out that was grunge, and how silly it all became, with plenty of Spinal Tap-ish moments described. Hands down my favorite interview is Sub Pop-employee/now president of Sub Pop records, Megan Jasper, explaining how she contributed to an infamous New York Times article about the "lexicon of grunge", which is a hilarious example of how the mainstream media latched onto something they clearly couldn't comprehend and were grasping at straws to cash-in on the phenomena. 

The doc is loaded with interviews from members of Coffin Break, Dead Moon, The Fastbacks, Gas Huffer, The Melvins, The Monomen, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, Seaweed, 7 Year Bitch, Soundgarden, The Supersuckers, Tad, The Walkabouts and more, plus record producers Jack Endino, Steve Fisk, and Conrad Uno, and the folks who ran the labels; we have Bruce and Jon from Sub Pop, eMpTy Records, C/Z Records, Estrus Records, and K Records. There also interviews with photographer Charles Peterson, who's iconic  blurry photography captured the scene, and artist Pete Bagge who wrote/illustrated the  comic 'Hate'. Even Mike Vraney from Something Weird Video even shows up as for a bit as a rock promoter. 

As a music doc we have some great live performance footage,  from archival audio and video footage of noisemakers The Thrown-Ups to the then-current performances from rockers Dead Moon, The Fastbacks, Flop, The Supersuckers, The U-Men, Gas Huffer, Girl Trouble, The Gits, Hammerbox, Love Battery, The Melvins, The Monomen, Mudhoney, there's even a VHS-sourced performance of Nirvana playing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" live for the first time at an early show. A performance from 7 Year Bitch is particularly blistering, this is a great sounding doc, one that should be played very loud! 

This was a great time for rock music, and a lot of it holds up today, these were people and bands who were passionate about rock n' roll that just happened to get caught up in the over-blown media hype surrounding it, it doesn't diminish how great the music was, depending on your tastes in music. A great document of a time when for a brief period rock reigned and the horrible bubble-gum pop music of the time was overtaken by guitars and screaming singers, and it was awesome, and slightly ridiculous. A lot of these bands have dissipated or moved on, or sadly members have died, but I am pleased to say that The Melvins and Mudhoney have gone onto thrive, particularly the Melvins who are better than ever. 

Audio/Video: Nineties grunge-rock doc Hype! (1996) arrives on Blu-ray from Shout Factory imprint Shout Select framed in 1.85:1 widescreen from a new HD transfer sourced from the 35mm inter positive. The image is grainy and appropriately raw-looking. Colors are good, the abundance of flannel shirts and mops of wild hair show some nice fine detail and crispness. Audio-wise we get both 2.0 and 5.1 DTS-HD MA tracks with Optional English subtitle. The music cues come through strong and powerful, the live performances particularly have some oomph to 'em. 

Extras include the original 2004 commentary from director Doug Pray and Producer Steve Helvey, plus a new solo commentary from Pray recorded for this 20th anniversary release, it;s a good listen as Pray reflects on the film and bands, commenting on the recent death of Chris Cornell and reflecting on his obvious love of the music. There are also 20th anniversary interviews with Mark and Steve of Mudhoney, Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, members of The Fastbacks, record producers Jack Endino and Steve Fisk, Soundgarden manager Susan Silver, and photographer Charles Peterson. The guys from Mudhoney are especially funny in their usual self-deprecating way, poking fun at themselves. There's also a selection of interview outtakes from the film from Megan Jasper, graphic designer Art Chantry, Tad, Leighton Beezer of The Thrown-Ups, and artist Pete Bagge.  

Of note are a selection of live performances shot in '93 that were not featured in the film, we get performances from Mudhoney pounding through Texas punkers The Dicks song "Hate the Police", Tucson ex-pats Supersuckers "Cottail Rider", Pond "Rock Collecting", and The Gits "Here to Fuck You", which was one of their near-last performances before singer Mia Zapata was raped and murdered a few months later, there's optional commentary from director Doug Pray for each performance.  The last of the extras are a "Hate" comics animated short which pokes fun at the hyped-grunge era, and a trailer for the film.  

Special Features: 
- NEW “Hype! 20 Years After” – Featuring New Interviews With Members Of Mudhoney, Soundgarden, And The Fastbacks, Record Producers Jack Endino And Steve Fisk, Manager Susan Silver, And Photographer Charles Peterson (16 min) HD 
- NEW 2017 Audio Commentary By Director Doug Pray
- Original 2004 Audio Commentary By Director Doug Pray And Producer Steve Helvey
- Peter Bagge’s Animated Short, “Hate” (4 min) 
-Additional Performances (With Optional Director’s Commentary) By Mudhoney, Supersuckers, Pond, And The Gits (12 min) HD 
- Additional Interviews With Megan Jasper, Art Chantry, Tad, Leighton Beezer, Peter Bagge, And More (23 min) HD 
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD 

Hype! (1996) is a rocking document of the "grunge" era as seen from the inside and loaded with humorous talking heads and powerful live performances. It does a decent job talking about the early days of the Seattle scene and the absurdity of how that scene exploded and was dutifully exploited. The disc from Shout Select sounds and looks great, the extras are cool, the music is awesome and the interviews are fantastic, highly recommended for fans of that era of rock music.