4K Digital Review: Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch

 

Wes Anderson's tenth film, The French Dispatch, is a love letter to journalists by bringing their words to life. An amazing cast fills the screen. Using the layout of the fictional titular newspaper to tell four stories that transport us to the fictional town of Ennui-sur-Blase in midcentury France. We get to see a tour of the city, a criminally insane genius of an artist, a youth revolt and the abduction of the police commissioner's son. 

Each story celebrates the filmmaking styles of the time. We get scenes in black and white and even the color segments evoke the time period. There are even a few hand drawn animated scenes done in the style of a magazine illustrator of the era. 

As with all Wes Anderson films, the visuals are bold and features and all-star list of actors. Anjelica Huston narrates the film and the ensemble includes Jason Schwartzman, Benicio Del Toro, Adrian Brody, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Jeffrey Wright, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson. 

The release on 4K digital download includes a fine video transfer. The film looks striking and colors are vivid and bold. Audio is in 5.1 surround sound with the score filling the rear channels and dialogue crystal clear from the front channels. Sadly there are no extras included with the digital download, not even a trailer. All of Wes Anderson's films have eventually received a Criterion Collection release so there is hope down the road for supplemental features. 

The French Dispatch is a great film with a wonderful cast, top-notch sets and art direction as well as with all of Wes Anderson's best work, a very funny film. 

4K Digital Review: Ron's Gone Wrong

 

Easily the most underrated film of the year, Ron's Gone Wrong is heartfelt, charming and delivers an important message of what is friendship in today's world of social media. Today, the word friend and friendship have entirely different meanings and many times we all have confused the two especially in this day and age of social media. In terms of social media, a "friend" can be someone who likes or shares your posts. You can add them as a friend, but is this "friendship"? Can a real friendship exist simply because of similar interests and opinions in a social media setting or does there have to be something organic? Ron's Gone Wrong looks at these questions.

The Bubble Bot is "your best friend out of the box" and created by tech giant Bubble. The Bubble Bot or B*Bot scans your social media profiles and uses that information to find other's with similar likes and interests. It's an instant hit and every kid has one except for Barney (Jack Dylan Grazer) who not only doesn't have a B*Bot but he also doesn't have any friends in real life either. His father (Ed Helms) gets him a B*Bot but it's dented. Barney is still beyond happy with his B*Bot but quickly discovers that his B*Bot (Zach Galifianakis) that he names Ron is malfunctioning. 

The film makes us look at a world that is supposedly getting closer connected than ever before because of technology but in reality is becoming more and more distant. Barney and Ron are more connected than one might think.  Both are broken in different ways but as they both go through various experiences they learn about one another together. A real friendship is formed and brought together in a thoughtful and meaningful way.

Video

Disney brings a stunning 4K presentation home. Take a look at the fine details of the human faces and hair, the plastic robot shells, the environments such as the woods and the school. Colors are deep and vibrant. Even the white on Ron is luminous and look at the light reflections off of him. The colors of the school are rich and bold and the various B*Bots are all brightly colorful. Just an outstanding video presentation from Disney.  

Audio

The 5.1 audio mix is superb on this digital release. The dialogue is clear and well positioned front and center, the soundtrack and sound effects are crystal clear and well defined creating a sense of full immersion. 

Extras

• Designing the World of "Ron's Gone Wrong"
• A Boy and His B*Bot: When Jack Met Zach – Zach Galifianakis and Jack Dylan Grazer, the voices behind Ron and Barney, sit down to chat about a fun assortment of topics. From social media to skateboarding, the two actors from two very different generations tell us all about when Jack met Zach.
• Making Ron Right – Join cast and crew behind the scenes as they reveal the skill, dedication and friendship it took to bring this film to life. From writing the script to the voice-over booth, Locksmith’s artisans detail how they made Ron right.
• “Sunshine” Music Video – Song from the motion picture Ron’s Gone Wrong, performed by Liam Payne.
• Theatrical Trailer

Summary

A hugely underrated movie full of heart and humor with top tier video, fantastic audio and some fun extras. Highly recommended! 

DVD Review: Marvel's Spidey and his Amazing Friends

 

With teens and adults heading to theaters to watch Spider-Man: No Way Home, what do you do if you have a younger superhero fan? Well, with Marvel's Spidey and his Amazing Friends on DVD, it's a great way to introduce the smallest of Marvel fans to Spider-Man.

Your youngsters will meet three amazing kids who grab their spider suits to become superheroes. Peter Parker, along with his friends Gwen Stacy and Miles Morales also team up with others kids who are also superheroes. You will meet Black Panther, Ms. Marvel or even The Hulk. Together they will all learn the importance of friendship, working together and doing the right thing. 

You get 12 episodes as well as 11 bonus shorts. 

Episode Titles:           Spidey to the Power of Three

Panther Pateince

Super Hero Hiccups

Lost and Found

Doc Ock’s Super Octopus

Attack of the Green Giggles

Mother’s Day Mayhem

Not-So-Fun House

Trick or TRACE-E

Bug in the System

Test Your Super Strength

Bonus Shorts:            Web-Ster

S.O.S. Kitty!

Spidey Mystery

A Helping Hulk

Spidey Surprise

Rock-A-Bye Rhino

Stop Doc Ock

The Spidey Team

Monkeying Around

Power Practive

Road Raging Rhino

TEASER TRAILER & NEW POSTER FOR “DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS”

 

Today, Marvel Studios debuted the teaser trailer and poster for “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”—a thrilling ride through the Multiverse with Doctor Strange, his trusted friend Wong and Wanda Maximoff, aka Scarlet Witch.

 

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” opens in U.S. theaters on May 6, 2022.