New Blu-Ray Releases: 'Incredibles 2', 'Creepshow', 'The Spy Who Dumped Me', 'The Princess Bride', 'Sorry To Bother You'
(Welcome to Not Dead Yet, a feature dedicated to new Blu-ray releases and what special features you should be excited about. Because yes, some of us still like to own physical copies of our movies.)
Here are the new Blu-ray releases and their special features you should check out this week and beyond.
Incredibles 2
Now Available on Digital, Available on Blu-ray November 6
Fans waited 14 years for a sequel to Pixar's The Incredibles, and they finally got it in the form of Incredibles 2. Was it worth the wait? Sort of! Incredibles 2 is bursting with jaw-dropping action beats – scenes where character zoom about the digital landscape at break-neck speed, sweeping us right along with them. These moments are what make the movie so special, and they're also what director Brad Bird excels at. But Incredibles 2 is also bloated, and for a film that features so much action, it's weirdly inert. That's not to say the film is a wash. The cast – particularly Holly Hunter as Helen Parr / Elastigirl – shine. And I love the way new character Evelyn Deavor (Catherine Keener) is animated – always in a slouching or laid-back pose, head titled. Yet when Incredibles 2 ended, I was left feeling a little empty. It can't hold a candle to the original film, and it's probably best to let the series end here. Still, it's fun to watch the family of superheroes gather together to deal with problems both domestic and fantastic.
Special Features to Note:"Super Stuff" is a fun featurette in which the animators talk about how big the movie is, and all the elements involved in the movie's complicated story: action, comedy, spy movies. "It's all of those things in a big caramel candy corn" says Brad Bird. The animators also discuss how the first film was set up to look like it took place in the 1950s, while this sequel was supposed to be in the 60s. "Retro-futurism" is the term applied the most here.
Beyond this, we get featurettes focused on each of the film's main characters. Here, Brad Bird reveals that Mr. Incredible as a character is a blend of both his own father, and himself.
In addition to this (and more), there are a wealth of deleted scenes. Unlike deleted scenes from live-action films, these are cobbled together from storyboards and test animation. Brad Bird calls them "Scenes that seemed like a good idea at the time." Among these we have an alternate opening, in which the family deals with the fall-out of the explosion of their home (something that happened in the first movie). There's also another alternate opening where the Bob and Helen visit Kari, the babysitter from the first movie. Kari had her memory wiped after witnessing baby Jack-Jack's powers, and she's never been right in the head since. The best of the bunch is a deleted scene that finally reveals Frozone's never-seen wife Honey. After witnessing a scenario that might need Frozone's attention, she intentionally hides his super-suit to keep him from going out. Bird explains here that everyone thought it was better to have Frozone's wife remain seen and not heard.
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Creepshow
In 1982, George Romero and Stephen King teamed up for Creepshow, the ultimate horror anthology film. Goofy, gory and loaded with fantastic practical effects, Romero and King channelled the glory days of EC comics to tell several tales of terror. A rotting ghoul returns from the grave in search of a cake (yes, really). A dumb hick succumbs to an infection from outer space. A man having an affair with a married woman runs afoul of the woman's husband. A crate containing a bloodthirsty monster might be the solution to an unhappy man's problems. And roaches infest a clean-freak's sterile apartment. Some of these stories are better than others, but all are told with just the right amount of zest and style. Creepshow is more amusing than scary, but that doesn't diminish its power. More horror anthologies would follow this film, but none would live up to the ghoulish magic Romero and King created here.
Special Features to Note: Creepshow has never looked better than it does on this glorious new Blu-ray from Scream! Factory. In a new interview, Director of Photography Michael Gornick describes how he supervised this new 4K scan, and how he was able to extend in-camera effects in ways he wasn't able to back in the '80s. Gornick extended color affectations, and meticulously worked on color correction to make the film's lighting effects – lots of reds and blues – pop. As Gornick puts it, this is a new version of the film, but also an accurate version. This is, without question, the only version of Creepshow you should own.
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The Spy Who Dumped Me
It's becoming abundantly clear that Kate McKinnon is one of those actresses worth seeing in anything. Even if the film the SNL actress is appearing in isn't great, she usually is. McKinnon's natural charisma, and her talent for strange humor, make her incredibly compelling. I want to see her in everything. McKinnon is the highlight in The Spy Who Dumped Me, Susanna Fogel's mostly funny, surprisingly violent action-comedy. McKinnon and Mila Kunis play best friends caught up in a case of national espionage – a scenario that is funny because neither character knows what they're doing. The plot is so-so, but Kunis and McKinnon have a nice rapport with each other (although it's often painfully clear Kunis is not nearly as funny as McKinnon). When all is said and done, The Spy Who Dumped Me is fun. It's also action-packed, full of exciting action beats that put most full-fledged action movies to shame. I don't think The Spy Who Dumped Me is going to end up on anyone's top 10 of 2018 list, but it's damn entertaining to watch.
Special Features to Note: In a making-of featurette, director Susanna Fogel discusses how she and her writing partner David Iserson approached the film with indie movie sensibilities thrust into a big blockbuster. The way Fogel and Iserson saw it, The Spy Who Dumped Me is an action movie with people who shouldn't be in an action movie and action is the key ingredient here. Fogel very much wanted the film's action to be worth cheering about, and so she recruited Gary Powell, the man responsible for fight choreography on films like Casino Royale. The results paid off – the action in The Spy Who Dumped Me is great.
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The Princess Bride
Rob Reiner has never made a film as charming, as endearing, as wonderful as The Princess Bride. A fairy tale full of wry humor, swashbuckling adventure, and an unbeatable script from master writer William Goldman, The Princess Bride is an adventure well-worth its reputation. Some popular films disappoint – they can't live up to the hype. The Princess Bride isn't one of those films. Instead, it's a fantastic journey focused on Buttercup (Robin Wright) and Westley (Cary Elwes) and their everlasting love. The duo get swept-up in a fantastical adventure that somehow gets better every time you rewatch the film. And who can forget Mandy Patinkin as Inigo Montoya, on his quest for revenge? And André the Giant as Fezzik, the gentle giant? When The Princess Bride was announced as joining the Criterion Collection, several cinephiles complained. The film was too modern, too poppy, to join Criterion in their minds. But Princess Bride is a pure delight, and an excellent film to boot.
Special Features to Note: The majority of the special features on this superb Criterion release are imported over from previous DVD and Blu-ray releases. But there is a lovely new featurette devoted to the skill of William Goldman, the screenwriter of Princess Bride (and the author of the novel it was adapted from). As revealed here, Goldman – one of the best screenwriters in the history of the medium – dislikes the majority of his scripts. The only two he's actually happy with are Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Princess Bride. Goldman's Bride script ignores almost all of the standard "rules" for writing a screenplay – lots of CUT TO scenes; lots of literary terms; lots of camera instructions. Normally, this type of screenwriting is frowned upon. Goldman, however, could get away with it because he was so damn talented.
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Sorry To Bother You
Nothing can prepare you for Boots Riley's batshit insane dark satire Sorry To Bother You. Analyzing class and capitalism, Sorry To Bother You is unabashedly political, unapologetically weird, and unlike anything you've seen before. Not all of it works – the move is perhaps ten or fifteen minutes too long. But one thing is clear: Boots Riley is a filmmaker to pay attention to. Sorry To Bother You is his feature debut, and he has immediately established himself as an auteur. Here, Lakeith Stanfield plays Cassius Green, a man in desperate need of a job. He ends up at a telemarketing company, where he discovers a talent for using a "white voice" on the phone. This helps him rise to the top of the company...and that's where things get insane. The less said the better, but along the way, Cassius turns on his friends, alienates his girlfriend (Tessa Thompson), and finds himself mixed-up in a scheme involving the nutso head of the company he works for (played memorably by Armie Hammer). Everything you've heard about this movie is true, and then some. To put it simply, Sorry To Bother You is going to break your damn brain.
Special Features to Note:
Even though Sorry To Bother You is one of the most unique films of 2018, the Blu-ray is curiously lacking in special features. Perhaps a future edition will offer more. For now, we get a behind-the-scenes talk about the movie from Boots Riley. The filmmaker calls Sorry To Bother You "An absurdist dark comedy with magical realism and science fiction, inspired by the world of telemarketing," and that about sums it up – as wacky as that sounds. The fiercely intelligent Riley lays out his vision for the movie, and his process of casting. He's the type of storyteller you could easily listen to for hours and hours. Riley talks about how he wanted Sorry To Bother You to be artistically important, not just thematically important, and he definitely succeeded there.
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