It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. My apologies. Day job gets exhausting. I hope everybody has had a good weekend. I’m just going to get right into it and dig into what I’ve been picking up since the last edition of Recent Blu-Ray Haul. As always, I will do one of these when I pick up 4 or more movies on physical media, i.e. DVD/Blu-Ray/4K. I picked up quite a few things since Vol. 19. Let’s not waste time, shall we?
Air Force One – Sony Pictures
Ahh..the 90s. The decade of bad-ass Presidents. In 96, we had President Thomas Whitmore in Independence Day and in 1997, we got Jim Marshal in Air Force One. This is a bad-ass little movie in which Air Force One gets hijacked by a group of Russian extremists, led by the ever-amazing Gary Oldman. Harrison Ford plays President Marshal in one of his coolest roles ever. Is the movie realistic? No. Nobody hijacks Air Force One. It can’t be done. But what if? The movie also has a political bent to it, which also includes the idea of invoking the 25th Amendment in the event that the President is incapacitated in any way. There’s some nifty little details in this bad-ass action flick that makes it even more fun.
Kiss of the Dragon: 20th Century Fox
Jet Li is one of the most recognized martial arts actors to ever come out of China, alongside Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, and Jackie Chan. He made his first appearance to Western audiences with Lethal Weapon 4. Most of his western-made stuff hasn’t been great, but Kiss of the Dragon is one of his best ones. He plays a Chinese cop assigned to assist Tcheky Karyo’s Richard, who happens to be corrupt as hell. Framed for murder, Jet Li’s character teams up with Bridget Fonda’s Jessica, a prostitute in the employ of Richard. My only gripe with this movie is that the tone is constantly serious, with very little wiggle-room for humor. But, it also has some of the best action sequences I’ve ever seen. The fight scenes are fairly grounded with very little wire-work if any way, and it showcases Jet Li’s power. The final fight between Jet Li and the twins is something to behold. It’s great.
The Flesh Merchant – Culture Shock Releasing
And here’s my sleazy pick of the litter. The Flesh Merchant sees the sister of a cop being abducted and sold into sex slavery, while the sister hunts down the people responsible. This movie is ridiculous in so many different ways, it’s hard to take it seriously. The subject matter should be taken seriously, but this movie shouldn’t. This is about as low-budget a movie you can get. Even the way it was shot was very low-budget. It was shot on video, so even in high-definition, it looks terrible. Yet, it gives the movie the sleazy look that it’s going for. The acting isn’t great, despite the fact that the movie has Martin Sheen’s brother in it. That’s right, Joe Estevez plays a police captain. The sets and props all scream early 90s low-budget indie film, and yeah. Is it good? No. But I have no regrets.
The Scorpion King 5-movie Collection: Universal Studios
What can I say? I’m a huge fan of Dwayne Johnson and The Scorpion King. The Scorpion King was Johnson’s first leading role and it’s a ton of fun. It also moves really quick, coming in at 91 minutes which includes the credits. As far as spin-offs go, the first Scorpion King is pretty good. Scorpion King 2? Honestly, I’d throw that one out. It’s awful. The last three are surprisingly decent little DTV action flicks. Two of them feature Victor Webster as the lead character and he’s pretty good. Zach McGowan takes over for the 5th installment. These are really goofy movies, especially the third one where Billy Zane plays the bad guy. He’s great at that. Of the 5 movies, the one you can skip is the second one which is actually a prequel. It’s BAD. Movies included: The Scorpion King, The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior, Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption, Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power, Scorpion King: Book of Souls
The Mummy Ultimate Collection – Universal Pictures
The Mummy movies with Brendan Fraser are some of the most fun I’ve had, especially the first one. The second one has a lot of great moments, and it introduces The Rock as the Scorpion King, but the final monster is a ridiculous CGI monster. Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is alright. They recast Rachel Weisz with Maria Bello as Evie, and there is no chemistry between her and Brendan Fraser. The movie DOES feature Jet Li as the villain and Michelle Yeoh as the woman that cursed Jet Li’s Dragon Emperor. It’s fun, for the most part, but it’s hampered by an absurd amount of CGI. Also, the movie was not directed by Stephen Sommers, and you can tell. He’s not the greatest director in the world, but he knows how to have fun, and even his worst movies are fun in a ridiculous sort of way. Also, this set includes The Scorpion King. So, yeah, I ended up with two copies of that movie. It makes sense for the movie to be in this collection, though. Movies included: The Mummy(1999), The Mummy Returns, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The Scorpion King
The Executioner Collection – Arrow Video
For all my adoration of martial arts actors like Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Donnie Yen, and Sammo Hung, I never saw a movie from Sonny Chiba before The Executioner. How the hell did I manage to go my entire life without seeing a Sonny Chiba action flick? This is mid-70s Japanese action at it’s goofiest. It’s bonkers in all the best ways. The collection includes both Executioner movies. Sadly, Sonny Chiba would pass away in August of 2021 due to complications from Covid-19 at the age of 82, so I will be looking for more of Chiba’s work.
The Passion of the Christ
Mel Gibson courted controversy with this one. Usually, most movies about Jesus Christ focus on his entire life, but Passion of the Christ focused on the last 12 hours of his life, and it’s very, very brutal. Most critics accuse the film of being anti-Semitic, despite the fact that the film shows it was only a handful of Jews that went after Jesus. People also complained about the film’s focus on Jesus’ suffering. I believe the purpose of that was to show that Jesus suffered for mankind’s sinning. My biggest complaint about the movie is that it doesn’t really go into the WHY Jesus went through all that. I think if there was more explanation of why, the film might have been better received. That said, it’s a powerful film whether you’re a believer or not.
Violent Night
A movie where Santa Claus lays the beatdown on a bunch of home invaders? It’s a movie I never thought I needed, but it’s great. I didn’t see it during it’s theatrical run, but holy shit, this movie is fun as hell. David Harbour plays Santa Claus who gets to wreck some fools who invade the house of a rich person. It’s bloody, violent, and absolutely hilarious. David Harbour is so much fun to watch. John Leguizamo is also great as the film’s main villain. He’s the Puerto Rican Hans Gruber. It’s one of the best Christmas movies I’ve ever seen. I’ll take this over A Christmas Story any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Overall, not a bad haul, I’d say. One last thing I want to say: With Disney and HBO Max(I will never call it MAX)pulling shows and movies from their services to save money, I want to remind people why physical media is more important than ever. It’s about preservation. If these studios have their way, any movie or show that doesn’t bring in new subscribers or make money, they’ll just erase those things entirely if they don’t let other streaming services take them. I was against piracy But these companies are making it very hard to be sympathetic when they pull things off their services with no other way to watch them. Fuck that. I won’t commit piracy myself, but I’ll be less likely to condemn people for going that route to save the things they love watching. So, with that in mind, I’ll return when I have bought more things.