FILM FRENZY

David Gulpilil in Walkabout (Photo: Criterion)

By Matt Brunson

(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray, 4K and DVD. Ratings are on a four-star scale.)

APORIA (2023). After her husband Mal (Edi Gathegi) is killed by a drunk driver, Sophie (Judy Greer) becomes a shell of her former self, and her dreary existence is compounded by the fact that their teenage daughter Riley (Faithe Herman) has drifted away from her. But Mal’s best friend, an immigrant physicist named Jabir (Payman Maadi, the lead in Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar-winning Iranian film A Separation), has built a machine that can target and kill a particular individual in the past. Swallowing this development doesn’t take a suspension of disbelief — it requires a complete severing with both an ax and a chainsaw. But those who can get past the mental hemorrhaging will be treated to a thoughtful and even startling drama about the messy morality behind the choices one makes. Sophie and Jabir both agree that it’s OK to retroactively kill the drunk driver, since his past death means that Mal will still be alive. Amazingly, it works, with Mal reappearing and acting like he’s never been away — for their part, Sophie and Jabir still retain the memories of the six months he was gone, but they’re nevertheless thrilled to have him back in everyone’s lives. But Sophie’s choice to have her husband back causes other people to suffer in previously unexpected ways, so they try to again tinker with the past in order to reshape the future, with increasingly dire results. On one level, Aporia is a gritty Frankenstein story in which humankind’s desire to play God can lead to unimaginable developments; on another, it’s a touching meditation on the lengths people will take in order to remain connected with loved ones.

Blu-ray extras consist of a behind-the-scenes piece; the theatrical trailer; and trailers for other films on the Well Go USA label.

Movie: ★★★

BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM (1993). Based on — and produced during the run of — Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995), Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was originally planned as a straight-to-video title before Warner Bros. rolled the dice and opted to release it theatrically on Christmas Day. While the movie came up snake eyes from a financial POV — it was a box office bomb, not even making back its $6 million budget — it proved to be a resounding hit over the long haul, as it’s routinely included in lists of the greatest animated features of all time and/or lists of the best Batman movies ever made. Like the series, it takes its inspiration not only from Tim Burton’s Bat-flicks (Batman and Batman Returns) but also from those Max Fleischer Superman cartoons from the 1940s. Therefore, expect film noir shadows and Art Deco arrangements to provide plenty of pop to the rather ordinary character designs. In this outing, Bruce Wayne/Batman (voiced by fan favorite Kevin Conroy) must contend not only with his old nemesis the Joker (Mark Hamill) but also with the Phantasm, a mysterious vigilante who’s bumping off Gotham’s most prominent gangsters. It’s interesting how the film manages to weave together three plotlines — the Phantasm material, the Casablanca-styled return of Bruce’s former fiancée Andrea Beaumont (Dana Delaney), and the Batman backstory — and allow them to finally dovetail in orderly fashion. The voice work is typically strong, with series regular Hamill a highlight as the cracked Joker.

The only extra in the 4K UHD + Digital Code edition is a featurette on Conroy.

Movie: ★★★

ELIZABETH (1998). Those who don’t mind their celluloid history lessons filtered through the usual sieves of condensation and inaccuracy should take to Elizabeth, a bruising drama about the early days in the reign of England’s Queen Elizabeth I. Cate Blanchett is aptly cast as the ruler who would later be dubbed “The Virgin Queen,” here trying to stay alive as various factions seek to topple her from the throne. Among those opposing her is the sneering Duke of Norfolk (Christopher Eccleston); among those supporting her is the ruthless Sir Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush); and among those ultimately wavering is her lover Robert Dudley (Joseph Fiennes). Sort of like Dallas with more extravagant costumes (sex and power plays lurk around every corner), the film doesn’t always hold together — its producers at the time boasted that they were mainly inspired by more contemporary films like The Godfather, and its modern sensibilities occasionally work against its you-are-there verisimilitude. But Remi Adefarasin’s dark camerawork and the brooding performances (look for future 007 Daniel Craig as a Catholic priest who enjoys beating Protestants to death) help establish a suitable aura of royal intrigue. This shared some overlap with the year’s other acclaimed period piece about the monarchy, as both Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love found roles for Rush and Fiennes. Nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Cinematography (for his part, Rush was nominated in the supporting ranks for Shakespeare in Love), this nabbed a solitary Oscar for Best Makeup.

Extras in the 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital edition include audio commentary by director Shakhar Kapur and a making-of featurette.

Movie: ★★★

GHOULIES (1985) / GHOULIES II (1987). Seemingly a rip-off of 1984’s Gremlins although they were both in production at the same time, the original Ghoulies has the decency to offer a heroic role to the singular Jack Nance, best known for playing the title character in Eraserhead and for uttering, “There was a fish in the percolator” on TV’s Twin Peaks. Meanwhile, fans of the long-running series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit might be interested in catching Mariska Hargitay in her film debut (she plays the sweet Donna). Otherwise, this Empire Pictures production will primarily satisfy that branch of cult-flick connoisseurs into chintzy special effects. The dumdum plotting finds the son (Peter Liapis) of a devil worshipper (rock star Michael Des Barres) falling under the spell of evil influences and unleashing vicious little monsters on his unsuspecting friends, among them the requisite stoner, the requisite nerd, the requisite macho shithead, etc. The titular critters are laughably cheap (critic Leonard Maltin once cracked that they look like “Muppets dipped in shellac”) and are severely hampered in their movements — this is the sort of movie where you can sense the puppeteers poised just outside of the camera’s eye and clumsily trying to move those little monster limbs and lips.

As for Ghoulies II, it’s no better and no worse than its predecessor, with a group of the pint-sized evildoers setting up shop within a traveling carnival’s haunted house. The carnival setting initially seems like an interesting slant, but tedium soon sets in — Tobe Hooper’s 1981 terror tale The Funhouse showed far more imagination in its employment of a similar setting. The diminutive actor Phil Fondacaro, who has played Ewoks, Christmas elves, and Munchkins over the years, has one of his better roles as an actorly assistant known as Sir Nigel Pennyweight.

For those keeping track, Ghoulies and Ghoulies II were followed by two straight-to-video efforts, 1991’s Ghoulies Go to College (aka Ghoulies III) and 1994’s Ghoulies IV.

The MVD Rewind Collection is offering Ghoulies in a 4K UHD + Blu-ray edition and Ghoulies II in a Blu-ray-only edition. Extras on Ghoulies include two audio commentaries (from 2015 and 2016) by director and co-writer Luca Bercovici; an introduction by Bercovici; a making-of piece; and interviews with Bercovici, co-star Scott Thomson (who plays the perpetually stoned Mike), and editor Ted Nicolau. Extras on Ghoulies II include an introduction by screenwriter Dennis Paoli; a making-of featurette; deleted scenes; and an interview with Paoli.

Ghoulies: ★★

Ghoulies II: ★★

JOY RIDE (2023). As a feature film with both Asian representation and trans representation, Joy Ride is somewhat priceless; as a feature film in the raunchy comedy vein, Joy Ride is somewhat worthless. Yet what saves this picture from total dismissal isn’t its humor but, rather surprisingly, its forceful dramatic components. Adele Lim, who penned the scripts for Crazy Rich Asians and Raya and the Last Dragon, makes her directorial debut (to go along with co-scripting duties) with this yarn in which Audrey Sullivan (Ashley Park), a Chinese lawyer who had been adopted by white parents as a baby, has to travel to her homeland for a business transaction. Accompanying her is her mouthy best friend Lolo (Sherry Cola) and Lolo’s oddball cousin “Deadeye” (Sabrina Wu), and they eventually meet up in China with Kat (Everything Everywhere All at Once Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu), Audrey’s former college roommate and now a well-known actress. It’s the same formula employed for The Hangover, Bridesmaids (still the best of the bunch), and Girls Trip, but after an amusing start, the film mostly falls flat when it comes to laughs. Yet coursing through the picture is a storyline involving Audrey’s attempts to find her birth mother — this dramatic device takes over during the final stretch (complete with a surprising twist), and it leads to a tender examination of identity, expectation, and self-awareness.

Blu-ray extras include a making-of featurette; a piece on Lim; a deleted scene; a sing-along for the Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion tune “WAP” (performed during the film by the four leads); and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★½

MALONE (1987). To quote from a certain Western classic, “Shane, Shane, come back!” To which I’ll add, “All is forgiven!” Although based on William P. Wingate’s novel Shotgun, Malone is basically an updated Shane, only instead of Brandon deWilde’s 10-year-old Joey looking up at Alan Ladd’s heroic cowboy with admiration and wanting to hold his pistol, this has Cynthia Gibbs’ 17-year-old Jo ogling Burt Reynolds’ ex-CIA agent with lust and wanting to fondle his, uh, other pistol. In one of the many pile-on duds that continued Reynolds’ slide from Hollywood king to a VHS rental afterthought, this one finds his character befriending a gas station owner (Scott Wilson) and his teen daughter (Gibbs) in a small Pacific Northwest town. But there’s trouble afoot thanks to neighboring millionaire Charles Delaney (Cliff Robertson). A right-wing demagogue and white supremacist who has conservative politicians groveling at his feet and who speaks of making America great again via an overthrow of the government (all that’s missing is a red baseball cap, although he does often sport a green one), Delaney plans to use this mountain community as his home base, and he apparently has to have that gas station in order for his plans to succeed. With the corrupt sheriff (Kenneth McMillan) in Delaney’s pocket, it’s up to Malone to employ his CIA training to save America from itself. It’s all pretty cut-and-dried, with the action almost as broad as the characterizations. Post-Malone (see what I did there?), Reynolds returned approximately eight months later with one of his all-time worsts: Rent-a-Cop, co-starring Liza Minnelli.

Blu-ray extras consist of film historian audio commentary; the theatrical trailer; and trailers for other films on the Kino label.

Movie: ★★

MATILDA (1996). Matilda is Carrie for the kiddies. A funny and inventive adaptation of Roald Dahl’s novel, this centers on Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson), a bright but lonely girl who wants only to be part of a caring family. She discovers a true friend (and surrogate mom) in the sensitive teacher Miss Honey (Embeth Davidtz), but most of her time is spent using her astronomical IQ and telekinetic powers to outwit her neglectful, dim-witted parents (Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman) as well as the sadistic principal (Pam Ferris) of her elementary school. Parents who like their family films straight up might be put off by this film’s outrageous antics, but the bottom line is that DeVito (who also directed and produced) has made a vastly entertaining fable that salutes such essential childhood qualities as curiosity, imagination, and self-worth. Its edgy style makes it a good bet for adults as well as kids, and it’s refreshing to find a movie that goes out of its way to celebrate intelligence. Like 1984’s The Neverending Story, Matilda urges children to read more books and watch less television; wisely, though, it keeps its own medium — the motion picture — out of the debate. The late Paul Reubens (aka Pee-wee Herman) appears in a small role as an undercover FBI agent.

Matilda has been issued in a 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital steelbook edition. Extras include audio commentary by DeVito; a 2013 reunion featuring many cast and crew members discussing the picture; a piece on the visual effects; on-set footage shot by Wilson; and “Escape to the Library,” basically a PSA featuring DeVito and Perlman.

Movie: ★★★

THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975). One of 1975’s top 10 grossers, this adaptation of James Grady’s novel Six Days of the Condor is one of a handful of superb “paranoia thrillers” released during the post-Watergate 1970s, ranking alongside the high-powered likes of The Parallax View, The Conversation, and All the President’s Men. Directed by the often underrated Sydney Pollack and scripted by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel, it stars Robert Redford as Joe Turner, a low-level CIA wonk whose job is to read books while searching for coded messages or beneficial ideas. When Joe returns to the office and finds all his co-workers assassinated, he contacts CIA Deputy Director Higgins (Cliff Robertson) and then goes into hiding, initially forcing but then convincing an innocent woman named Kathy (Faye Dunaway) to help him. All the while, he’s being pursued by Joubert (Max von Sydow, wonderful), the freelance killer hired to wipe out the office staff for reasons that become clear later in the picture. Even by Stockholm Syndrome standards, the relationship between Joe and Kathy develops too quickly, but it’s a testament to the two actors’ excellent performances that it nevertheless works. At any rate, it’s the spy game that dominates this exciting movie, with Joe’s inexperience in the field making him an unpredictable and thus intriguing protagonist. This earned an Oscar nomination for Best Film Editing and a Grammy nomination for Dave Grusin’s score. It’s also of note as one of the very few films to shoot inside the World Trade Center.

Extras in the 4K UHD + Blu-ray edition include archival audio commentary by Pollack; film historian audio commentary; a 2004 documentary about Pollack; and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★★★

WALKABOUT (1971). Nicolas Roeg’s first solo outing as a director — he previously had co-directed Performance, which marked Mick Jagger’s acting debut — Walkabout is one of cinema’s great mood pieces, a complex, multilayered work that relies as much on its visuals and sound schemes as on plot and characterization. After their disturbed father attempts to murder them before proceeding to commit suicide, a teenage girl (Jenny Agutter) and her younger brother (Lucien John, aka Roeg’s real-life son Luc) find themselves lost in the Australian Outback, where their chances of survival look shaky until they meet a teen Aborigine (David Gulpilil, making his film debut as David Gumpilil) who takes them under his wing. Despite the fact that they can’t communicate verbally, the teen Aborigine and the little boy coexist easily, but the girl’s mix of perceived Anglo-Saxon superiority and burgeoning sexuality makes her relationship with the native more complicated. Repeat viewings are essential to fully appreciate and absorb this unique endeavor, which frequently uses startling imagery (animal kingdom savagery, bursts of violence, full-frontal nudity of the teen stars) as well as subtle symbolism to note the differences — and similarities — between the natural and man-made worlds. Roeg followed Walkabout with the superb 1973 psychological thriller Don’t Look Now and the 1976 David Bowie space oddity The Man Who Fell to Earth. Unfortunately, the last 25 years of his career (he passed away in 2018 at the age of 90) saw him largely reduced to helming forgettable TV fodder.

Extras in the 4K UHD + Blu-ray edition consist of audio commentary by Nicolas Roeg and Agutter; interviews with Agutter and Luc Roeg; the 2002 documentary Gulpilil: One Red Blood; and the trailer.

Movie: ★★★★

Short and Sweet:

COMA (1978). Adapted from Robin Cook’s bestseller by writer-director Michael Crichton, Coma casts Geneviève Bujold as Dr. Susan Wheeler, who notices that many of the patients at Boston Memorial Hospital are meeting unpleasant ends after supposedly routine procedures. But no one, not even her boyfriend (Michael Douglas), believes her talk of a conspiracy, leaving her to single-handedly unravel the mystery. The boys’-club politics at the hospital provide the picture with interesting subtext right in line with the sexual dynamics of the period; Bujold proves to be a worthy champion for the feminist cause, delivering a committed performance as a woman who refuses to be patronized. Intelligent and occasionally chilling, this offers small, early roles to Tom Selleck as a luckless patient and Ed Harris as an obnoxious staffer.

Blu-ray extras include film historian audio commentary; an image gallery; and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★★

GAY PURR-EE (1962). There’s an excellent sequence in this animated feature set in 1890s France in which a cat gets drawn in the various styles of the period’s great artists. The film could have used much more innovation of this order, as the story proper is a sleepy yarn about naïve country cat Mewsette (voiced by Judy Garland) seeking a refined life in Paris but instead needing to be rescued from the dastardly feline Meowrice (Paul Frees) by her country bumpkin boyfriend Jaune Tom (Robert Goulet). The script is by the legendary Chuck Jones (co-written with his wife Dorothy), but there’s very little Looney Tunes madness in this trite tale.

Blu-ray extras on Gay Purr-ee consist of the Oscar-winning 1949 Pepe Le Pew cartoon For Scent-imental Reasons; the 1951 Bugs Bunny cartoon French Rarebit; the 1962 Pepe Le Pew cartoon Louvre Come Back to Me!; five audio-only songwriter demo recordings; and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★

FROM SCREEN TO STREAM

HIGH FIDELITY (2000). This popular comedy stars John Cusack as Rob Gordon, the owner of a music store that specializes in selling vinyl. Rob’s staff consists of two social morons, Jack Black’s obnoxious Barry and Todd Louiso’s mumbling Dick, yet while they both can be taxing, they’re nothing compared to Rob’s real problem — namely, that his long-time girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle) has just left him for an annoying, New Age neighbor (Tim Robbins). Spurred by this rejection, Rob makes a mental list of his “Top 5” most painful breakups and starts analyzing where those relationships went wrong. Under the direction of Stephen Frears (The Queen) and blessed with a multi-faceted screenplay (adapted from Nick Hornby’s 1995 novel), the film is insightful in exploring the manner in which people’s perceptions of each other are colored not by actual shifts in personality but by circumstances that are often beyond anyone’s control. The movie is also honest in presenting us with a protagonist who isn’t the usual decent guy plagued by a couple of minor character flaws — let’s face it, Rob’s a total prick much of the time, with behavior that occasionally borders on the monstrous. Joan Cusack shows up here as well, and there’s even a cameo by Bruce Springsteen. But it’s Black who started scoring more film work based on his turn; he’s hilarious as a record store slob who’s so contemptuous of the customers that he would just as soon chase them off as listen to their opinions and requests.

Movie: ★★★½