The Odyssey - Spoilers and Random Thoughts

My spoiler-free review of The Odyssey conveys the gist of my thoughts on the film, but I had a lot of stray branches I wanted to touch on that warranted its own post. So this will be much more disjointed and filled with SPOILERS.

IMAX 70MM

As a Nolan fan, I go into his films wanting to like them. Actually, I want to like everything I see, but with Nolan I’m willing to rewatch a film a few times if it isn’t clicking with me the way it is with others. This is what happened with Oppenheimer, which took me multiple viewings to fully enjoy. (I plan on revisiting Dunkirk again in the future, because I was very underwhelmed with that one while others consider it his best work.) Anyway, it’s something I’m aware of, and it’s why I usually like to put some time between watching his films and reviewing them. I take the format I watched them in into the equation, as well. In this case, it was 70MM IMAX.

The Odyssey is the first film I’ve seen in 70MM. The closest IMAX to me (in Evansville, IN) is standard. I was able to make the trip to Indianapolis for this film, however, finally seeing a film in 70MM. I was taken aback at first with the height of the screen, but I ended up loving the format. 

The point of all this is that there were factors at play that amplified my enjoyment of this film, and only time, and smaller formats, will tell if this one will keep its place among my favorites of Nolan’s filmography. But right now, I really fucking liked it. 

The Logical Follow-up to Oppenheimer

For most of the film, the only issue that was forming was Odysseus’s guilt and reluctance to go home. It didn't click with me what the problem was. He won the war, so what was the problem? The deception of the Trojan horse and the sack of Troy are so embedded in culture that I never even thought of the emotional impact of such betrayal and misery. So when he revealed all of this to Penelope and Athena (who is in the form of a priestess executed in front of him), it hit me hard. This is a man reckoning with the death and carnage brought on because of his plan, which he sees reaching beyond just Troy as he set the example that the rules of hospitality no longer need to be honored. This is just like the back half of Oppenheimer in which he takes indignity and indignity because he feels like he deserved it. 

Oppenheimer was criticized (most notably by well-known subtle person James Cameron) by some for not showing the effects of the bomb and instead focusing on Oppenheimer’s personal experiences. Since he was not there when the bombs dropped, the film would not show them. The focus is instead on his feeling of guilt which is manifested quite effectively in his victory speech (that isolated scream gives me chills no matter how many times I hear it) and his imagination of stepping through charred bodies. 

With The Odyssey, Nolan gives you the bomb and the guilt. We witness the sacking of Troy as Odysseus watches on in horror. I don’t think this is Nolan responding to Oppenheimer criticism. It’s just that this time he chose a story in which the creator of destruction personally witnessed it, as well. Anyway, there should be no bullshit complaints this time about literally showing what the main character feels guilty about. 

On a side note, I thought the casting of Benny Safdie as Agamemnon was interesting since he played Teller in Oppenheimer, who focused on surpassing the atomic bomb by developing hydrogen weapons. He’s the arbiter of destruction here, as well, wanting war with Troy no matter the reason. His characters also end their screen time in both films with a woman looking at them quite angrily, in both cases deservedly so.

Costumes and Casting “Controversy”

First off, I think the vast majority of people being bitches online about the casting and the costumes of this film are either bots, people who never planned on watching the movie ever anyway, and/or racists/transphobes. This is why I didn’t want to even acknowledge it in my actual review because it’s so fucking stupid. But I’m a creature of the internet, so I’ll get into it a little bit.

The Lupita Nyong’o shit is just racist, plain and simple. This is a modern film about a fictional epic, the cast is who it is. Beauty is famously in the eye of the beholder, so if she’s not beautiful enough for you, then fine, but don’t be a bitch about it. She’s great in the small amount of screen time she has, by the way. Nolan needed an actress in a dual role that could convey supreme sadness in one scene and righteous fury in another, and he chose well.

Also, if you’re pissed off about Nyong’o, but you’re okay with Matt Damon or any of the other non-Greeks playing Greeks, then that says it all. It’s a fucking movie about a mythological story, so it’s not going to be “historically accurate,” whatever the fuck that means anyway. I fucking hate the internet sometimes.

The other target of online bullshit is the casting of Elliot Page. At first, people thought he was cast as Achilles, but it turns out to be Sinon, the soldier left behind to convince the Trojans the horse was a gift. I’ve seen some people post things in defense of the casting along the lines of “Calm down, he’s not playing Achilles.” I get that since Achilles was supposed to be a huge warrior (my Humanities professor complained about Brad Pitt being too small for the role back when Troy was coming out). But even if he was Achilles, who gives a fuck? It’s not like Achilles would have a big role in this film if he was featured in it, so I don’t get the outrage. It’s all just transphobic bullshit, and it’s exhausting. For the record, I thought Page was great in the role, especially in the speaking dead sequence. 

Travis Scott is another inclusion that has bothered some, but not so much for his role. The end credits feature a Scott song. Once again, so what? I saw one clickbait post saying it would be like “if Schindler’s List ended with an Imagine Dragons song.” First off, the comparison makes no fucking sense; at least pick an artist from that time period if you’re going to make that joke. Second, the film doesn’t “end” with the song; it plays over the credits. You know, the same way Tenet had a Travis Scott song play over the credits? I’m not even a fan of Travis Scott’s music, but I don’t care if his music plays over the credits. 

There were also plenty of complaints about the costumes. Most recently a picture of Jon Bernthal was released in which he was wearing a simple leather doublet. Dipshits online were complaining that this would be more suited for hunting than for war. Well, he wears it while hunting pheasants (or some other such bird). It’s just a perfect example of “Wait until you see the movie before you criticize it.” 

The other costume that caught shit was Agamemnon’s exaggerated armor. I thought it looked odd myself in the first trailer, but in the film it’s used to great effect. Agamemnon is the real reason behind the war, so the armor works as this imposing dark image a few times in the film, and it’s a powerful visual each time. It’s my favorite costume choice in the film.

“Who is your daddy, and what does he do?”

Some of the dialogue from the trailers has been scrutinized, most notably the use of “dad” and “daddy” and Matt Damon yelling “Let’s go!” as the soldiers run seemingly into battle. This is the only pre-release stuff that did give me pause. It didn’t take me out of the movie or anything, but yeah, couldn’t we just go with “father”? Although Pattinson uses “daddy” to mock Holland, so I guess that works. But if there was one thing I’d change, it would be that. But, again, it did not bother me at all during my viewing.

The “let’s go” moment is another example of not knowing the context. The scene is not a battle charge; it’s Odysseus and his men fleeing the dead. I think it’s okay to yell “Let’s go!” in that scenario. I think people were assuming it was more like a Deadpool and Wolverine “Let’s fucking go” kind of moment, but that’s not the case. For me, I didn’t even know people had an issue with it until after I saw the movie, and it certainly didn’t stick out to me while watching it.

More importantly, the daddy issue in this film is interesting to look at in regard to Nolan’s filmography. Cobb in Inception is trying to get back to his kids. Cooper leaves his children for (nearly) their entire lives, and seems especially indifferent to his son who he just thinks will be fine without him. Oppenheimer has to have someone else keep his child, and his children don’t factor into his life seemingly at all in the film. And Batman…well, we all know about his father since we’ve seen his death committed to film a half a dozen times at this point. 

And now we have The Odyssey, the ultimate coming home story. Telemachus barely remembers his father yet his life is dominated by his absence. And when Odysseus finally makes it home, they get one bonding slaughter and it’s, “See you later, son, I’m sure you’ll be a great king.” Some have theorized that this is Nolan’s way of conveying his own guilt for being away from his own children while making films. I don’t know about that, but one thing is for sure: he’s making it loud and clear that he doesn’t think fathers are all that necessary in the raising of children. Something tells me he has a real “hand’s off” approach to parenting. 

We Live in Annoying Times

As I stated above, I go into all movies wanting to like them, so it annoys the fuck out of me when people seem to want to hate something, especially out of racism or transphobia or any other misguided hatred. I didn’t comment on any of that crap in my review because I want this film to be judged by watching it.

And all this isn’t to say if you dislike The Odyssey then that means you’re racist or whatever. It’s perfectly fine to dislike it for legitimate cinematic reasons. But if you hate it before you even watch it, you’re just wrong. 

For me, even the thought of these "issues" left my mind as I watched the movie because I found the whole experience so immersive. And hopefully, that's the case with anyone else distracted by this nonsense.

Final Randomness

I’ve rambled enough, but I did want to mention a couple other things briefly. 

This isn’t exactly a comedy. In fact, I was kind of surprised by how dark the story was in content and tone. But there are a couple very funny moments. First, Corey Hawkins taking an arrow right to throat as he tries to say “Odysseus” really got me. And John Leguizamo (who was the surprise of the movie for me) has the funniest line when he asks, “Did we win?” (or something like that; I’m awful at remembering exact lines) after the battle with the suitors. It was just the perfect moment of levity after such a prolonged sequence of righteous violence.

Speaking of violence, I didn’t know this was R-rated until I heard the third “fuck.” There was certainly more blood than other Nolan films, but it wasn’t gratuitous or graphic enough to assume an R-rating. I suppose that pig sequence played a factor because those transformations were fucking gnarly. 

That’s it for now. I hope to watch this film again soon, probably in standard IMAX. And who knows, once I’ve had a chance to watch it three or four more times, maybe I’ll write some more nonsense about it.

Soylent Green - Arrow 4K

Arrow certainly has a theme going with their July releases because this and Falling Down are very sweaty movies that look great in 4K. Soylent Green (out on July 28) is a film I’ve known about for as long as I can remember but this is the first time I’ve seen it. I didn’t bother with it for years because I knew the twist before I knew the movie thanks to an SNL sketch about Soylent Green sequels with Phil Hartman, which culminates with them going back to the well and Hartman ending the film with: “Soylent Green is still made out of people! They didn’t change the recipe like they said they were going to! It’s still people! Argh!!!”

Between that and jokes about it in Futurama, I figured it was a one-trick pony of a movie, and I could skip it. But with Arrow releasing a new 4K, I felt like it was finally time to check it out and see if it was still worth it even though I knew the big surprise.

In short, it is. I always enjoy old sci-fi dystopia movies that take place in what is now the past. In this case: 2022. It’s amusing to see what they thought the future technology was going to be like. With Soylent Green, though, technology took a backseat as the food and water supply dwindled, leaving only city hellscapes left filled with desperate, starving people and a handful of corporate elites still profiting despite the grim circumstances. 

That all sounds miserable, and it is, but this movie doesn’t wallow in it. People are used to these conditions, so the whole thing is more of a murder mystery / buddy movie with Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson in his final role.

The scenes with Heston and Robinson are the standout and provide the emotional core of the film. The best scene in the film is when Robinson cooks a meal with real food that Heston took from a murder victim’s apartment. They both convincingly convey that this is the best meal they’ve ever had, and it’s simply delightful. 

As for the aforementioned twist, I imagine modern audiences would pick up on things pretty quickly even without already knowing about it because we’ve been conditioned to look for such things, especially in dystopian movies. The powerful are always hiding some awful secret in such films. But I can see how this worked over fifty years ago. 

Transfer and Special Features

This movie looks amazing. The environmental conditions have led to extreme heat, and you can see each bead of sweat in 4K. It amplifies the miserable world of the film. I’m glad this is the first format in which I saw this. 

As for the special features, there are a lot of interesting archival options and a newly recorded commentary. 

The old promo for the film was interesting, and the stuff celebrating Robinson’s 101st (and final) feature was nice.

There are lengthy interviews that are more career-spanning than Soylent specific with the director and Heston. Heston’s is interesting because it’s audio-only. So it plays over the movie like a commentary, but it’s not as long as the film, so it ends when Robinson’s death sequence begins. Not sure if that was intentional, but I found it interesting.

I think it’s safe to say this is the definitive version for fans of this film.

The Odyssey - Adding to the Nolan Hype Pile

Christopher Nolan is one of the only filmmakers whose every project is a cinematic event. If filmmakers are the modern equivalents of the ancient poets, then who better to bring the definitive version of The Odyssey to the big screen (preferably in 70MM IMAX)? That may sound like hyperbole, but Nolan has exceeded the highest expectations so many times that greatness should be expected, and Nolan has delivered once again.

The story of The Odyssey is basically common knowledge, but I’ll still keep this as spoiler free as possible. It’s the classic tale of Odysseus (Matt Damon) returning home from the Trojan War and all the obstacles that keep him from doing so. The film hits all the highlights you’d expect (the cyclops), and includes some of the lesser known moments (the Laestrygonians). The Trojan War obviously looms over the entire film, as well. In other words, this film is as big as it gets; in story, in budget, in scope, in camera (the entire film was shot with IMAX cameras), etc. Nolan condenses it down to just under three hours, though it seems to fly by despite the film’s subject being a seemingly never-ending journey. 

The Odyssey has almost everything except the gods…kind of. Nolan went with something between featuring the gods as active participants and eschewing them entirely (as done in Troy). While Odysseus sees Athena (Zendaya) in visions throughout the film, no actual god makes an appearance. Despite that, The Odyssey still features plenty of supernatural elements. It’s a nice balance that allows for extraordinary sequences without getting too silly (there’s no bag of wind here to blow them off course). 

The realistic presentation of the supernatural elements is vital because this is a dark, R-rated adaptation. Rather than tell the simple story of a war hero trying to get home, Nolan presents each obstacle as a manifestation of guilt keeping Odysseus from his home. This is no triumphant return, and his home, now crawling with evil suitors (led by Robert Pattinson at his sleaziest), doesn’t seem like the home he left anyway. Death and misery follow Odysseus, and it affects his entire family and kingdom, even without him there.

That darkness makes The Odyssey a surprisingly emotional film. Nolan has been (wrongfully, in my opinion) described as a cold filmmaker, more focused on spectacle than emotion. Even if that was the case (and it isn’t), The Odyssey would be the perfect subject matter for such inclinations. Instead, Matt Damon, in arguably his best performance, portrays Odysseus as a man wracked by guilt who is slowly broken down throughout the film. It’s certainly a physical performance, but Damon keeps it grounded, and he makes you care about this man, even with his faults. 

Beyond Damon, this is the story of Telemachus (Tom Holland) and Penelope (Anne Hathaway), Odysseus’s son and wife. Their story with the suitors could have easily felt pedestrian in comparison to Odysseus’s supernatural exploits, but they provided the heart of the film, pushing familial loyalty to its limits. Holland and Hathaway are great, and there isn’t a weak spot in the cast. The standouts were John Leguizamo (who also has the funniest line), Ryan Hurst, Jon Bernthal, Samantha Morton, Himesh Patel, and…look, there are a lot of great actors in this and it’s silly to list them all when you can just check the IMDb page if you’re curious. 

The performances and action are expectedly great, and Ludwig Göransson has cemented his place as my favorite working composer. Perhaps the most surprising and important element is the pacing of the film. Of course a film about The Odyssey is going to be long (but good for Nolan keeping under three hours), but it never feels long. Every moment feels necessary, even when a lot of it is just there to reinforce the themes of loyalty and loss. No scene or sequence goes on too long, and the moments that could feel ponderous (such as the long stay on Calypso’s island) are smartly broken up as framing devices to keep things moving.

The pacing provides an electric energy to the film. The buildup to certain sequences is so intense that even when I knew what was going to happen, I was left jittery by the end. The score, sound design, emotion, and action all come together in a special way that left me feeling excited in a way few movies ever have. Or maybe it was just because it was my first time watching a movie in 70 MM IMAX, but I think it was more Nolan than IMAX.

This is more than I could have ever hoped for from an adaptation of The Odyssey. It made me wish this movie had been around back when I was still teaching high school English (though I would have had to show it in carefully edited clips). It has the tone, scope, emotion, and pure entertainment worthy of a classic epic. Perhaps I’m only adding to the Christopher Nolan hype pile with this review, but The Odyssey is the kind of film that reminds me why I love movies so much in the first place.

Falling Down - Arrow 4K

In what has to be intentional timing, Arrow is putting out a new 4K of Falling Down later this July, making it likely that you’ll be watching this sweltering movie while it’s actually sweltering outside. At least that was the case during my watch, and it does add a little something to this ‘90s classic, especially with this fantastic transfer in which you can see each strand of hair in Michael Douglas’s dickhead flat-top. But the heat is just the instigating element of Falling Down. Watching it today, I wondered how well Douglas’s anti-hero has aged over the years.

I generally hate “they couldn’t make that today” bullshit (especially when Uwe Boll is out here making vigilante movies with Armie Hammer), but I’m not against re-evaluating a movie in today’s context. With Falling Down, I wondered how heroic Douglas’s D-FENS (his personalized license plate is how he’s credited in the film) would come across today because in my memory he was presented as fairly justified in the film. But that simply isn’t the case today or when the film first came out. 

I blame this on the most memorable scene in the film. Douglas, already snapped, enters a Whammy Burger (no doubt no real fast food chain wanted to be represented in this way). They refuse to serve him breakfast because he’s a couple minutes past the cutoff time. So he takes the whole restaurant hostage. He decides he’ll get lunch instead, and he’s further enraged by how shitty the burger looks; it’s pathetic compared to the pictures in the ad. It’s an overall amusing scene despite the seriousness of Douglas accidentally shooting the place up (I think it’s even funnier than Adam Sandler’s version of the exact situation in Big Daddy). Most importantly, it’s relatable. Fuck that cutoff time! And why do the burgers look so much better in commercials?!

While that is humorous and acknowledges some everyday bullshit we all deal with, Douglas is not presented as a hero in the scene. People are rightfully terrified by this flat-topped psycho. The film does a great job of putting Douglas in relatable situations in which we’ve all had violent fantasies of overreaction (punching a guy yelling in traffic, blowing up a road construction site, trashing an overpriced convenience store, etc.), but it’s clear that Douglas is not mentally stable. And a lot of people get hurt along the way. 

The film muddies the moral waters when Douglas interacts with more sinister characters like gang members and a neo-Nazi. He even gets a bit of “hero” music after he shoots the gang-member in the leg after the failed drive-by. His interaction with the neo-Nazi is arguably the most important scene, morality-wise. D-FENS is shocked when he realizes that the Nazi thinks they are kindred spirits. It starts to click with him that he might be the bad guy. But after killing the Nazi (another moment in which it’s hard not to root for him), he goes deeper into his insanity rather than waking up from it. This is clear because at the end of the movie he’s surprised that he’s the “bad guy.” This should have been obvious to him hours earlier.

The whole journey of D-FENS is someone who is “no longer economically viable” (to use the language of the film) and cannot adapt and/or accept it. It’s not a tragedy in which the world has turned to shit, and we need lunatics like D-FENS to shoot up places and wake people up. Robert Duvall is the perfect foil to Douglas in this regard, and he sums it up quite well when Douglas complains about being lied to: “They lie to everyone. Doesn’t give you a right to do what you did today.” Yeah, the world is fucked up, but you just keep going; you don’t start shooting up Whammy Burgers. The writer, Ebbe Roe Smith, in a new interview included on the disc, explains that D-FENS is not a vigilante because he’s not raging against some true injustice; he’s just fighting against personal gripes. 

Falling Down ended up being more relatable than ever. I wish more people could realize that shit that bothers them personally does not equal universal injustice. Anyway, none of the morality stuff bogs this movie down. It’s a sweaty ‘90s thriller, and it’s a lot of fun despite the serious subject matter. And it’s never looked better. 

Random Thoughts / Favorite Quotes

“Do you realize how much money my country has given your country?”

“How much?”

“I don't know, but it has to be a lot.”

The above quote might be my favorite interaction in the movie. I love when people ask for facts when someone spouts off some shit that doesn’t matter in the first place. Seriously, even if America has given Korea all the money in the world, what the fuck does that have to do with these two guys in a store in L.A. arguing about the price of a soft drink?

Dude's been going to a fake job every morning and still gets stuck in traffic?

The film has a kind of video-game structure. Douglas keeps leveling up his weapons and armor throughout, going from dorky office dude with no weapons to full on fatigued psycho with a rocket launcher by the end.

Duvall's macho captain is such a douche, yelling “She's open!” while hitting the heavy bag inexplicably in his office. Then he spends the majority of the retirement conversation with his pants undone. It’s great that Duvall gets a nice dig in at his expense on live TV.

“I’m with you. We’re the same, you and me.”

Frederic Forrest is so good at playing an insufferable neo-Nazi fuckhead.

“Now you're going to die wearing that stupid little hat.”

“I’m the bad guy?”

Special Features and Transfer

Arrow knows what they are doing, and this looks great in 4K. You truly get the sense of how hot it is in the film.

The highlight of the special features is a new interview with the writer, Ebbe Roe Smith.

Smith talks a lot about them toning down his script. 

One example is the family having the BBQ was originally the owners of the house and not the caretaker. The guy is a plastic surgeon, and one of the kids says that the dad did mommy's boobs. D-Fens makes the mother take her top off and has the children applaud the work. Can't believe they cut that!

And he claims Schumacher said he would only make Batman Forever if they let him make Falling Down first.

There is also an interview with the composer, a featurette on the locations in the film, an archival interview with Douglas, and an archival commentary.

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.