New Blu-ray Roundup
Drive My Car may be garnering more awards season acclaim, but Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is the definitive Ryusuke Hamaguchi film of 2021. The anthology work features a trio of tales that play out in near perfect short story fashion, as if O. Henry himself had risen from the grave to collaborate with the Japanese writer/director. Whether exploring a coincidental romance, a flawed revenge plot, or a long-delayed reunion, Hamaguchi keeps honest human emotions at the forefront, even when his narratives take borderline fantastical turns. While each chapter is intelligently crafted and entertaining, "Once Again” proves especially poignant and moving, and concludes the collection on its most dramatically rich note.
Grade: A-minus. Not rated, but with adult themes and language. Available on Blu-ray
(Photo: Film Movement)
How does Beavis and Butt-Head Do America play 25 years after its release? Quite well, actually. Though Mike Judge’s intellectually stunted teens’ constant sugar-high chuckling feels like a relic from a bygone era, with the exception of smart phones, the film’s depiction of mid-late ’90s U.S. society could take place in modern times — down to the biological weapon that makes its way across country, sewn into an oblivious Beavis’ shorts. The immature jokes also mostly still land, and, in tandem with the ambitious story, the handful of scaled-up set pieces that take advantage of the big screen justify the work as a film rather than a “very special episode” of the TV series. Heh-heh. Cool.
Grade: B-plus. Rated PG-13. Available on Blu-ray
(Photo: Paramount Pictures)
One of the dumbest stories committed to film thus far, Hard Target carries the distinction of also being one of the most strangely entertaining viewing experiences in cinematic history. John Woo’s English-language debut filters the themes of The Most Dangerous Game through an early ’90s lens with an impressively (?) mulleted Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux, a New Orleans do-gooder drifter who helps Nat Binder (Yancy Butler) figure out what happened to her missing father.
JCVD is his usual terrible actor self, to the extent that it seems like the only reason the film is set in The Big Easy is to excuse his accent as Cajun, though it also paves the way for the film’s most enthralling stretch, involving Chance’s moonshine-making, bayou-living survivalist uncle Douvee (Wilford “No Accent is Too Big” Brimley). Through every ridiculous extended shootout and roundhouse kick to the head, Woo’s camerawork and direction are energetic enough to distract viewers from the dopey material, though whoever came up with the now-immortal snake-punching scene — be it screenwriter Chuck Pfarrer or someone else — deserves a medal.
Grade: B-minus. Rated R. Available on Blu-ray
(Photo: Kino Lorber)
