Mortal Kombat Kollection - Arrow 4K

The first Mortal Kombat was one of the first movies I remember feeling the need to own. In 1995, I saved up my $20 to buy the VHS. I didn’t want to just rent it, I needed to own it. But it never showed up on the shelves, despite being available to rent. It was my first lesson in delayed release tactics from the studios (now we’re teased with the expensive streaming option before a film is released on physical media or on one of the subscription streamers). This little trip into my dorky childhood is simply meant to illustrate that the first Mortal Kombat was an important movie for me (Annihilation, not so much), so when Arrow announced the Mortal Kombat Kollection (out now), I knew I had to check it out. 

Mortal Kombat 

This movie is kind of a miracle. There’s just so much going against it. It was a PG-13 version of a famously gory game. Video game movies had famously been awful because the simplistic video game premises of the time needed too much fleshing out. Honestly, how do you make a live action Mario or Double Dragon movie that doesn’t look like a peyote hallucination come to life? But Mortal Kombat kept things simple, and that made it work while still being objectively silly. 

There isn’t a huge focus on back story or anything in Mortal Kombat. Characters are given one thing they want, and that one thing can be achieved through fighting in a martial arts tournament held in a different dimension. Good enough for me. But there was still the gore problem. You can’t have Sub-Zero ripping off a dude’s head with the spinal cord still attached, or Kano ripping out a still-beating heart, etc. If blood was off the table, then Paul W.S. Anderson knew that the fighting had to be great. The choreography is impressive in this film, but most importantly, Anderson insisted on shooting the scenes in master shots, giving them a similar look to the video game. My favorite shot in the film is when Liu Kang and Sub-Zero square off, and the beginning of the fight looks like the video game came to life. Sure, there are still cuts and wacky moves and nut shots (though the nut shot is game accurate), but overall the fighting is great.

But the most important factor is in your face from the beginning of the movie. When “Mortal Kombat!” rings out and that techno score starts, it awakens something inside me. The energy of that score coupled with the competent fighting scenes made me forget all about the gore. That’s why I still enjoy this one more than the 2021 version, even though that one features all the gore. There’s an energy and silliness to this film that transcends decapitations. And I’m so glad that Arrow has given it the 4K treatment.

Transfer and Special Features

It’s Arrow, so it looks great. Though the better the technology gets, the worse some of the CG looks, so Reptile looks a little rough, but the Goro puppet makes up for it.

The commentary with Anderson is fine. He just seems like a nice dude who enjoys his job, so it’s about as traditional a commentary as you’re going to find.

The interviews and archival stuff is interesting, with Linden Ashby’s interview being the most interesting. He reveals that a lot of the comedy was improv, which surprised me. He also acknowledged that they knew they weren’t making serious art, but they were still devoted to make as entertaining a movie as they possibly could.

Random Thoughts / Favorite Quotes

Imagine enjoying yourself at a heavy metal show in Hong Kong and Brigitte Wilson-Sampras walks by and cracks you in the head with a shotgun for no fucking reason.

Those metal-heads are hardcore. They aren't phased at all when a dude fires an uzi into the crowd or when that dude gets blasted with a shotgun.

Fuckin’ Kano has to make an exaggerated grunt when lifting off an air grate. Love that guy.

“Now listen, Peter Jason, we need you to walk just like Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, and that man walks like a 2×4 is stapled to his back! You can't be slouching like you do in Carpenter's movies.”

Sure, Christopher Lambert is an odd choice for Raiden, but it’s less crazy than Liu Kang wearing a leather jacket in Thailand.

“Okay, so you guys just got done roasting all the chickens and whatnot for hours and setting up dinner for all the fighters? Great. Okay, minions, go fuck up all the tables and let Sub-Zero kill one of you.”

Goro: *other-worldly guttural groans and roars for no reason*

Cage: “Sonya, you go ahead, find out what that was. Liu and I will wait right here.”

Cage: “So where's my fight? The same beach-type setting that Liu and Sonya got?”

Shang Tsung: “No no no no, you will fight Scorpion in an eerie forest setting that seems like it's from a different movie. But if you're quick, you can follow him to a haunted pirate ship realm!”

Cage: “Fuck. Okay, but Liu's next fight is going to be harder, right? That first guy he fought didn't even get his name announced.”

Shang Tsung: “He'll be straight up on the beach for his next fight, but it will be against Kitana.”

Cage: “I guess that's better. She's a thousand years old so she'll be tough to beat.”

Shang Tsung: “Oh, no, it will be more like an exhibition match during which she will give tips and riddles about how to win his next fight.”

Cage: “Fuck off! For a tournament that decides the fate of all mankind this is all planned out pretty willy-nilly.”

That “Noooooo!” Sonya lets out when Art Lean dies is a bit much. I mean, did she even ever get properly introduced to him?

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation 

To begin, the most impressive thing about this set is that it got me to watch Annihilation for the second time this year (Blank Check covered it on Patreon a few weeks ago), a movie I swore I would never watch again but have now seen four times. I really hope this is the last time, though, because this film is not growing on me. I know, like all shitty movies from ten years or longer ago, people start to defend it, but I’m not getting on board.

I guess if this came out when I was younger I would feel more fondly about it. But everything just feels watered down this time. The music isn’t as good, the costumes are cheaper, and, worst, the fighting is a downgrade. The re-casting of some characters hurt, as well, and the whole thing is just too slapdash and silly for me. But I guess it’s cool to see so many video game characters get tossed into the mix. 

But four viewings is enough for me, though I’m happy it got the same treatment as the first film for the deluded fans of this one.

Transfer and Special Features

The Sindel lady has some not shocking delusions about the movie, talking about its continued popularity in terms of people just enjoying a good vs. evil story. 

I was surprised by the interview with the composer for two reasons. First, I didn’t know there were two George Clintons involved with music, and at first I thought the famous one composed the music for these films, which, of course, is wrong. Second, I thought for sure the sequel had a different composer since I found the music to be weaker this time around. I honestly don’t know why they didn’t just completely use the first film’s score for this one.

The stunt dude, J.J. Perry, was interesting, or maybe I was just excited because he talked about Van Damme a bit. He’s one of those stunt guys that clearly loves his work, so his interview was the most interesting due to his enthusiasm and memory of his work.

I gave up on the commentary after the director, John Leonetti, claimed that Linden Ashby was in the film. And he also gave a bit of a non-answer when asked why Brigitte Wilson-Sampras didn’t come back. He did admit that Lambert didn’t return because he wanted $2 million. Honestly, I was looking for a reason to bail on this commentary. I don’t think I could ever look my children in the face again if they found out one day that I watched Mortal Kombat: Annihilation with the director’s commentary. 

Random Thoughts / Favorite Quotes

“A brief period of peace.” I'll say; it was literally less than a minute.

“Too bad…YOU…will die.” It's nice that this meme happens in the first five minutes, so you can skip the rest.

“You would never let one of your precious humans die.” Well, we couldn't get Linden Ashby back, so his replacement can die, I guess.

“We must travel quickly. Get in the magic hamster balls and stand crotch-to-crotch with me.”

I remember watching the end of the first film and seeing a giant Shao Khan, and then he's just some stupid dude in this. Don't get me wrong, it's Brian “Buffalo Bob from Joe Dirt and axe-cult leader from Cobra” Thompson. But it’s still underwhelming. 

I always thought the cyborgs in the game were silly. Their presence here did not change my mind.

All of this is admittedly silly, but Scorpion yelling “Suckers!” is just an ice bridge too far.

Final Thoughts

Fans of these two films couldn’t ask for a better set. Along with the special features I already mentioned, there is also a book with new essays about the films, multiple reversible posters and sleeves, all with newly commissioned artwork. Even if you’re like me and only truly love the first film, this set is worth it.

Day of the Dead - Scream Factory 4K

Collecting Physical Media Can Be Annoying Sometimes

There are a handful of movies I will buy every time the technology advances, and Day of the Dead is one of them. When they come up with a way to implant this into my brain so that I can be part of the movie, I will buy it day one. Until then, this new 4K is my latest option. I was planning on doing the normal write-up for this, and I’ll still do that, but first I have to address a bunch of shit that’s been coming across my social media feeds concerning this release.

Since I had been Googling stuff related to this release, my algorithm started suggesting articles and posts about the new 4K on my feed. Nearly every one of them was a variation of “Scream Factory Shits the Bed Again!!!” And there would be an accompanying article or video claiming this is the worst release the film has ever had, and Second Sight is supposed to be doing a version soon, anyway, so just wait on that, and all the usual hyperbolic shit you’ve become accustomed to in this exhausting era of humanity.

I didn’t dig too deeply into much of it once I learned the biggest complaint was the audio track they used. Apparently, it’s a “censored” track with some slight changes. I’m not going to add to the discourse because I didn’t notice anything when I watched it. But more particular people have apparently noticed the difference, and they’re fucking mad. For the record, plenty of people in the comments pointed out that the Laserdisc audio option uses the “good” track. And I guess I’ll watch it with that the next time just to see if I notice something, but I’m not too concerned. 

But once that audio issue was brought up, it opened the floodgates. “It doesn’t look any better than the blu-ray.” “The new interviews are mostly on Zoom.” “The cover art is terrible; that gun isn’t film accurate.” 

A small part of me gets it and even agrees with all of this. But you could make these claims about almost any 4K release of an older film. And while I have a few nitpicks of my own with physical media, this constant dogpile on certain releases is exhausting. 

Yes, this is an expensive new set. But I’ve made my peace with this world. New releases like this are going to run you $40+ if you pre-order them. And yeah, they’re not going to make the movie look like it was filmed yesterday with the new scan. And yeah, they’re going to do some new artwork that you might not like. And yeah, they’re going to take the easier route with some interviews and do them over Zoom instead of flying a crew out to Pittsburgh. In the words of Miguel: “So what? So fucking what?”

I don’t like being this guy, but just don’t fucking buy it if you’re that particular. I feel confident in saying this is the best this movie has ever looked. That written, I don’t know for sure. I’m still getting used to the idea that 4Ks don’t necessarily mean everything is crystal clear. It just means they’ve restored the film to its source material as much as possible, cleaning it up and whatnot. Blu-ray was the era of smoothing things out, and 4K is the era of “this is what it looked like in theaters.” But yeah, it’s not a huge step up from the blu-ray. Not many 4Ks are. But if one of my favorite films of all time gets a 4K release, I’m going to buy it. 

I’m clearly easy to please with this stuff, but that doesn’t mean I’m against people pointing out issues with these expensive releases. I am against click-bait blanket statements referring to the entire release as “unwatchable” or “trash” when your issue concerns an audio track that only the geekiest of fans will even notice. Shit like this makes me hate physical media collecting. I’m passionate about this stuff, but I like to find the positive before I point out the negative. 

And with that, I’ll get into my thoughts on this new release.

Transfer and Special Features

I already covered this, but I think this looks fine. It’s not as crisp as some might hope for, but the softness serves it well. 

There are a lot of archival special features from previous releases included, with the feature-length doc being the best inclusion. 

The aforementioned interviews done largely on Zoom are fine, though a lot of this stuff is starting to feel a bit familiar because all these people have talked about all these things so many times already. I did enjoy the little tidbit from Lori Cardille about how they were all friends from Pittsburgh to the point that she ran into Tom Savini at Target recently. 

John Harrison points out the Romero zombie cameo (it’s a zombie with a scarf hanging down that pushes a cart during the feast scene). I’m sure that’s been confirmed elsewhere before, but this is the first time I have come across that.

The archival commentary is included, though you’ll need to hang onto your Anchor Bay release if you want the Roger Avary track. There’s a new commentary with Drew McWeeny (who wrote on Masters of Horror) and author (and recent Pulitzer Prize winner) Daniel Kraus, who finished George Romero’s zombie book The Living Dead. These two certainly have a Romero connection, but they didn’t have anything to do with Day of the Dead, so this felt more like just two fans enjoying the movie. And that’s fine, but I’m getting a little tired of these tacked on commentaries that could be done by any regular-ass fan. But look at me nit-picking now. As with everything, you always have the option to be a normal person and listen to the commentary.

Probably the most important inclusion is the behind-the-scenes featurette on the restoration. I enjoyed it for a couple reasons. First, they were sent the negatives of the abysmal 2008 “remake” by mistake, which I find hilarious. Second, I read about restorations and shit all the time, and I don’t know exactly what that means, so this gave me more of an idea of what goes on with these releases. It’s also nice to watch it with all this nerd-hate going on as proof that Scream Factory did indeed work on the film whether they like the end result or not. 

There are also some collectible lobby cards that I just kept banded together because I never know what to do with stuff like this anyway.

Ad Astra - Apocalypse Now in Space

 

When Ad Astra came out years ago, I was dismissive. I remember liking the moon sequence, but being underwhelmed aside from that. I don’t know what the fuck was wrong with me. Randomly rewatching it a few weeks ago, I was blown away by it. The fact that it was basically James Gray’s version of Apocalypse Now in space finally clicked with me (Apocalypse Now is one of my favorite films of all time). That alone made me want to write about this movie, even though the film wasn’t exactly relevant. Until recently. First, Robert Duvall passed away, which adds to Apocalypse Now comparison. And when Gray was at Cannes this year, he brought up that he would love to make a director’s cut of Ad Astra, which would be twelve minutes shorter and a very different movie. So after watching the film five times (one of which with the director’s commentary), I felt it was time to write about my latest cinematic obsession.

Apocalypse Now…in Space!

Ad Astra owes a lot to Apocalypse Now, which James Gray admits to in his commentary (more on that commentary later), though he speaks just as much about the source novel for that film, Heart of Darkness. The comparison is easy enough if you’ve seen both films. A soldier is sent on a secret mission to take out a commanding officer who went too far, literally and figuratively, and has lost control. In Apocalypse, the setting is Vietnam, with Col. Kurtz deep in the jungle, acting like a mad king. The soldier, Captain Willard, is on a purely military mission, though his own journey to Kurtz makes him question everything. 

Ad Astra is a much more personal story with astronaut Roy McBride on a mission to stop his father, Cliff McBride, whose brutal attempts to keep his own mission alive have caused dangerous power surges that are wreaking havoc on the entire universe. Unlike in Apocalypse, Roy is ordered to stand down early on due to the personal nature of it all. But Roy defies orders and makes his way to his father. 

This is the biggest difference. Both films delve into what the mission is doing to the protagonist, but Apocalypse Now is much more existential and more concerned with pointing out the absurdity and insanity of war, especially the Vietnam War. Ad Astra isn’t too interested in making statements about space travel in general aside from some commentary about attempting to make the moon just like Earth, which is missing the point of space exploration. Instead, it’s much more about the inner turmoil of Roy. His missing father has dominated his life, resulting in a failed relationship and a constant numbness that makes him oddly suitable for life in space. 

Willard is a man so conditioned by war that it’s become the only thing he can relate to, and Roy has become conditioned by space travel in much the same way.

By the end of Apocalypse Now, Willard seems like a shell of a man. The war and mission has gutted him, but at least he survives. It’s fairly nihilistic. Ad Astra, on the other hand, shows that Roy has had a breakthrough in the end. He is able to rebuild his relationship now that he’s confronted his father. The numbness is gone, and he can finally live a life that is truly his own. It’s a surprising and refreshingly uplifting ending. 

Beyond that admittedly important difference, there are a lot of one to one comparisons between the two films. There’s the basic man on a mission to stop a lone madman, but the debriefing scene is similar, as well, with multiple people being very vague with Roy as they talk about the mission. I think of John Ortiz as the Jerry Zeismer of Ad Astra. (I’ll include a picture below to explain that idiotically specific comparison.) Ortiz talks more than Jerry, but he still exudes the same oddly congenial tone while discussing secretive shit and a mission that ultimately ends with Roy’s father being killed.

Roy’s trip to the moon covers two segments of Apocalypse: the USO show and the attack on the village. When Roy first gets to the moon, we see the Americanification of it with plenty of vendors (there’s even an Applebee’s!) and kids taking pictures with people in alien costumes all while the moon is essentially a warzone. It’s this insane element of “normal” life in an abnormal world. The “Ride of the Valkyries” moment isn’t so much an exact comparison aside from both being the heaviest action set pieces of both films. Though both moments solely exist because the main character is hitching a ride with them. And both moments are arguably the most memorable sequences in both films.

The sequence with the animal research ship is the dead giveaway that this is a version of Apocalypse. It covers multiple comparison points. The crazed primate is the tiger from Apocalypse. Both moments accentuate the truth of “Never get off the boat.” The other moment it mimics is the stopping of the fishing boat. In both moments, the protagonist argues with the captain of the ship to not stop, but gives in. The dark moment when Willard kills the wounded fishermen is also covered with Roy trying to patch up the clearly dead captain with duct tape (“We’d cut ‘em in half with a machine gun and give ‘em a band-aid.”). Although Roy is much more compassionate in this regard than Willard.

The Mars segment is similar to the bridge in Apocalypse Now in that both sequences feel the most, well, apocalyptic. There’s the strange coloring of Mars and the bunker aesthetics of it all, and the continuing surges have everyone feeling a bit crazed.

And finally there’s the Kurtz / Tommy Lee Jones parallels. Both have gone too far, literally and figuratively. Jones is alone, having killed every crew member who eventually wanted to abandon their hopeless mission of finding intelligent human life. He was the only one willing to give up his life on Earth in this pursuit. Kurtz also gave up on everything to create his small kingdom, and he killed anyone who challenged him (“You’re lookin’ at the heads.”). Both men also accepted, and even asked for their deaths. By encountering the soldier tasked with killing them, Kurtz and Jones both have a realization that the only thing that will stop them is death. Once again, Jones’s death is a kind of wake up call for Roy, freeing him from this life. Kurtz’s death frees Willard literally, but there isn’t much hope with his end.

Aside from the specific plot points, there are plenty of other similar aspects. The narration is the big one, though I find the Ad Astra narration largely unnecessary. A lot of it is just stating stuff the film has already conveyed. Not to mention, the Donald Sutherland character allows for Roy to get a lot of his thoughts out there, negating the need for voice-over, at least for that segment. The narration in Apocalypse is vital and often entertaining, by comparison. 

Both protagonists are death-bringers. Lance technically survives in Apocalypse, but that dude is never going to be the same. And Roy gets everyone killed everywhere he goes. The Cepheus crew seem to be nearly suicidal when they attack him. It’s just another aspect to amp up how lonely these characters are.

Most importantly, both movies are beautiful, thought-provoking, and entertaining. It took me a while, but I finally realized how great Ad Astra is, and I now consider it a worthy companion to Apocalypse Now.

The Lack of Duvall

One glaring omission from this comparison is Robert Duvall’s Kilgore. There isn’t a similar character in Ad Astra, and that’s for the best. Duvall shows up and takes over that film for twenty minutes. He’s an example of a type of soldier in that war. A force of nature that the war can’t touch. He’s annoying, hilarious, and somehow still likeable despite his invincible status and love of war. 

There’s simply no way to recapture such a character and performance in any film. And with Ad Astra, such a character would derail the film rather than add to it. Willard is the main character of Apocalypse, but that movie is just as interested in the absurdity of war as it is with his inner turmoil. Ad Astra is all about Roy’s journey, and any side quest with a crazy space man would feel out of place.

And Duvall has no equal, so why bother?

Director’s Cut?

James Gray has spoken about this multiple times, but I’m starting to cool on this prospect. At first, I liked the idea of him doing a director’s cut because it could mean that the narration would be cut back or excised entirely, which I might like. But after listening to his commentary and seeing some behind-the-scenes stuff, I’m not sure what the changes would be.

I still want him to make his cut of the film, especially since its creation doesn’t negate the theatrical cut that I already love. I’m not sure what happened with the film being “taken away” from Gray, but he was involved with the blu-ray special features, so I’m not sure how true that is. I guess his commentary and everything is just him playing ball? So I’m not sure how much stock I can put into anything he said on that. I am interested in his claim that he would make a shorter movie, especially since Ad Astra isn’t that long, especially by space epic standards. Anyway, I checked out all the blu-ray shit, so I’m still going to write a little bit about it.

In the commentary, Gray claims the narration is “essential,” and that he was part of the decision to add it. He also claims plenty of people worked on it, including Charlie Kaufman. The treatment of the narration, and whether it would survive at all, is the most interesting part of the prospect of a director’s cut for me. He also talks about how any movie is like a wild horse that eventually gets away from you, so maybe that’s his diplomatic way of saying the studio took the film away from him in editing.

The deleted scenes don’t offer much. One features a brief flash forward with Pitt and Liv Tyler with a young child. That’s not ground-breaking, since the ending implies they get back together already. 

In one of the behind-the-scenes featurettes, it looks like Gray filmed a rave scene on Mars with people half-naked and whatnot. Maybe Gray shouldn’t get a shot at that director’s cut.

Seriously, though, the possibility of a director’s cut is the final comparison to Apocalypse Now, which has three total cuts. I usually prefer director’s cuts, but I’ve always been a much bigger fan of the theatrical cut of Apocalypse Now, and I think that would end up being the case with Ad Astra, as well. Especially if Gray wants to include a half hour scene with Pitt hanging out at a French space station having dinner and discussing politics. 

Disclosure Day - "Listen..."

When Steven Spielberg makes any new movie, it’s worth checking out, but when there are aliens involved it becomes, hopefully, something special. Disclosure Day has a lot of that old Spielberg magic (obsessed characters on a mission, constant movement, characters doing the glassy-eyed “Spielberg face,” etc.), and that will be enough for a lot of people (it kind of is for me), but if you’re hoping for something monumental, then this may leave you disappointed. No one is coming here before they decide to watch this, but just in case, SPOILERS AHEAD.

The pace of Disclosure Day is probably the best thing going for it. This is a chase movie through and through with plenty of set pieces to keep you occupied. And that’s good because the more you dig into the plot, the more questions keep arising. 

First off, this film would have worked so much better in the early ‘90s. As it is, we know everything from the get-go, and not just because of previews. This is a movie about disclosing proof of alien life to the public. So there’s no mystery, even though the film keeps pretending there is. We’re shown footage early on when Josh O’Connor shows Eve Hewson some of the footage he plans to release. Maybe if we didn’t see any of it until the end, it would have had more impact, but even then we’ve all seen so much alien shit over the years that nothing shown is all that moving, no matter how many people stare at the footage with tears in their eyes at the end. 

It’s simply not a compelling plot to the point that I assumed it was a misdirect. It wasn’t. The only slight twist on things was that the disclosure is used as a kind of Watchmen-esque plan to save the world from nuclear war. But that’s been done before. And, worse, I don’t think that would work at this point. Maybe back in the ‘90s, but now I fear even aliens can’t bring us together.

But that’s Spielberg for you. His stance is made clear in a phone call between Eve Hewson, whose character gave up being a nun, and Elizabeth Marvel, her former nun…boss (or whatever they’re called). Hewson is worried that exposing alien life will destroy belief in God. Marvel reassures that this wouldn’t be the case, and that Hewson didn’t give up being a nun because she stopped believing in God; she quit because she stopped believing in people. 

In one aspect, I agree. I don’t think confirming the existence of alien life will destroy the world’s religions, but not for the reasons that Disclosure Day gives. Between the constant barrage of bullshit we doom-scroll through every day and the ability to call everything “fake” thanks to AI-shit and general stupidity, I just don’t think disclosure would make the same wave it would have decades ago. And this film suggesting it is possible to still unite the human race through a CNN report and YouTube videos on our phones is extremely naive to the point of being insulting. Or maybe I just don’t share Spielberg’s optimism, and that’s my own problem. 

And I think that’s the main thing that is splitting viewers of this. Do you believe this would unite humanity or at least accept that it could in the world of the movie? Or do you think it would just be another crazy thing added to the shitpile? I’m a shitpile guy, but hopefully when I watch this again someday I’ll be more open to it. 

That written, I still like the ambiguous ending. The film holds back all kinds of info just throwing us right into the middle of things, so it would feel wrong for it to come up with some message from the alien. And the message isn’t the point anyway. Despite my cynicism, I can still acknowledge the importance of listening, and I believe it is one of our biggest problems as a society today. The film holds empathy as the greatest feature of humanity, and empathy begins with listening. So I loved that final line. 

And there’s actually a lot I liked about this movie. I’m not on board with the ending, but I was with this movie for pretty much all the rest of it. The cast is great. I don’t think Blunt will be nominated for this as others have suggested, but this is probably her best work. She perfectly conveys the feeling that she’s not fully in control. Firth is Firth. And Colman Domingo is one of my favorite actors working right now, so I’m okay watching him talk on the phone for an entire movie. 

Beyond the acting, the pacing was the star. This did not feel like 2+ hours. Spielberg is so good at conveying momentum. And the faster the movie goes, the less time you have to nitpick it. 

But I still have issues with Disclosure Day. I wish I didn’t. I wish I loved every second of this film. But it’s still great to have Spielberg still making movies like this, daring an audience to still have hope in an increasingly hopeless world.

Random Thoughts

The more I think about it, the less this is a problem, but I wanted so much more info about Domingo’s character. I guess he can communicate with the alien, but it seemed like only O’Connor could? That wasn’t entirely clear to me. But he had to be able to communicate with the alien to recreate Blunt’s childhood home. But how did that work? He did those weird clicks to tell them to put a copy of Kindergarten Cop on VHS on the TV stand? Or was it telepathic? I could’ve used a little more info there.

And he says the aliens present as animals. So that cardinal that showed up in Blunt’s house was really a little green alien? He hopped through the window?

It was fun when Blunt became a Jedi and started mind-tricking everyone to leave her alone.

That opening scene is right out of Highlander. Was this an intentional reference? I mean, why start this movie at a wrestling match? Hell, why does Highlander start at a wrestling match? What the fuck is going on here?

I love that Wardex is Nixon’s fault. He just had to show Jackie Gleason some aliens and ruined it for future presidents.

Di'Anno: Iron Maiden's Lost Singer

 

I consider myself a metalhead, but Iron Maiden has been a bit of a blindspot for me to the point that I didn’t even know they had a different lead singer for the first two albums. So Di’Anno: Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer (out now via MVD) worked for me in two ways: educating me about a band I didn’t know enough about, and, more importantly, documenting what happens to forgotten musicians. 

“Forgotten musicians” is not truly accurate, though, as Di’Anno is a great example of how loyal metalheads can be to members of their favorite bands. Paul Di’Anno was in bad shape, confined to wheel-chair and in need of multiple knee surgeries, when a couple of fans took to crowdfunding and this documentary to help get him back to his former self and get back on stage.

When Paul is first shown, it seems impossible that he could ever perform again. But the documentary shows the resilience of Paul and his fans as he seeks cheaper medical care in Croatia and is eventually able to tour again before his death in 2024. 

Di’Anno can be a tough watch as Paul’s health issues are not shied away from (and more footage than you might like of a knee replacement surgery is shown), but it’s an important one. For every megastar still on arena tours like James Hetfield and Gene Simmons (who both make appearances), there are many more Pauls, lesser known former members struggling to get by and stay on the stage. 

Di’Anno may not end up being as triumphant as one might hope, but that’s real life. Still, it’s inspirational to see Paul get back on stage and witness all the fans helping along the way. If you’re like me, and you’ve never heard of Paul Di’Anno, then this is certainly worth a watch, and even more so for Iron Maiden fans. 

Special Features

The whole presentation on the blu-ray looks great, and there are a couple deleted scenes included. My only complaint is the lack of subtitles. Between multiple accents and how fast Paul talks at times, I struggled at times to understand everyone, but it’s a minor nitpick.