US Blu-ray and DVD Releases: Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Mortal Kombat Legends, Sundown, Oh God Collection, Great White, Elstree 1976 and more

It’s not a huge week this week, but there are some huge releases, spearheaded by the much-talked-about Zack Snyder cut of Justice League. I have… a few thoughts about it.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League – Few films got as much buzz last year as Zack Snyder’s Justice League. The four-hour version of the film removed much of Joss Whedon’s influence and restored the film to an epic-sized, bloated four-hour running time. Personally, I liked the film just fine the first time. Do I think this new version is better? Ultimately, yes, it probably is. I like the tone and humor of Whedon’s version better, but there’s no denying there’s some pretty cool stuff in the extended version. But there are still a lot of flaws as well. Here are my the thoughts that occurred to me as I watched the film:

• Justice League: Now with 30% more grimacing!
• Fun drinking game: take a shot every time one or more heroes strikes a heroic pose and holds it as they prepare to take on a bad guy. (Just kidding. Don’t do that. You’ll die.)
• I still hate Cyborg’s design. “Hey, let’s glue lots of little triangles and cubes all over him!” I’m not saying they have to stay true to the comics, but I think a design more like the comics would have worked better where he’s got one human arm and leg still, and then cybernetics on the other half of his body. He just looks… ugly.
• Also, Steppenwolf was already one of the dumbest looking villains in recent history. Adding thousands of spiky metal bits to him did NOT make him look cooler.
• Speaking of Steppenwolf, why did they need to pay Ciaran Hinds (google it, you know him) to do the voice? His voice was completely unrecognizable anyway.
• What the actual $%#& was up with the songs in the first half of the film? They were horrendous, and they actually distracted from the film. “Our gooooods wiiiiilllll outliiiiiive uuuuussss…” Ugh.
• Not to mention the arctic fishing village singing girls scene. It was like Zack Snyder said, “Hey, how can I make this movie more like The Hobbit? I know! More singing! Oh, and let’s add an hour to it!”.
• The Flash is still the best part of the film.
• Batman’s costume is stupid. Ben Affleck looks seven feet wide, and not in a good way.
• Speaking of Batman, are we ever again going to have a film Batman whose voice doesn’t sound like a hoarse lion who’s gargling glass?
• Mera has a British accent? Okay, sure, why not.
• The many, many scenes of sad Lois would have worked MUCH better if they had earned it. Their relationship was such an afterthought in Man of Steel and BvS that it range extremely false  here.
• Darkseid looked stupid. Why was he all wrinkly? Why did his armor have 375,000 individual components to it? Why does DC think many, many little parts makes everything look cool?
• DC’s CGI still sucks. There were a solid amount of bad CGI moments here. And any time a character moves in a superhuman way, it looks fake (except The Flash.) Like, whenever someone super-jumps or gets thrown or moves at fast speed, it looks terrible.
• MINOR SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD: I actually really liked the coda. The post-apocalyptic dream was cool, the dialogue between Bruce and the Joker was great. A neat possible future.
• I love that the film included the Martian Manhunter, as he’s one of my favorite characters, but I don’t like that he took away the nice scene between Lois and Martha Kent. But his bit at the end was awesome.

https://youtu.be/vM-Bja2Gy04

• Bugsy Malone – Well, this is an interesting one. I’ll be honest, this was a film I’d only heard of but knew next to nothing about: take a young Jodie Foster, a young Scott Baio, and you put ‘em together in a musical about one of the most notorious gangsters of the 20th century (played by kids) and what do you get? 1975’s Bugsy Malone. But that’s why I love Paramount’s well-curated Paramount Presents line of Blu-ray releases. While their focus is on catalog favorites and big hits, they’re starting to reach out into wider territories, bringing us films that were critically acclaimed or loved by audiences without being huge box office monsters. Directed by Alan Parker, who knows a thing or two about musicals (having also directed Fame, Evita, Pink Floyd: The Wall, and the excellent The Commitments), the film is really unique. It tells us the tale of adult gangsters but played by tween-age actors. It’s not the story of young Bugsy Malone, rather a fully formed gangster tale, just with kids acting as the adults. Not sure how this ever got greenlit, but it’s so audacious as to be enjoyable.
• Habit – Bella Thorn and 90’s alt rocker (and occasional actor) Gavin Rossdale star in Habit, a new comedy that’s best feature is the fact that it’s only 80 minutes long. The film follows Bella Thorne and her friends who lose $20,000 and a stash of drugs from their drug dealer, go on the run, and dress up as nuns to hide themselves. What sounds like it could be a fun comedy is instead a crass, insipid, vacuous, and somewhat exploitative movie that is filled with bad people doing bad things. It’s over quickly, and that’s good, but it’s not really a good movie in any way.
• The Murders: Season 1 – This kind-of-forgettably-named show offers up some much less forgettable mysteries. New from the Sundance Channel, this original Canadian crime drama follows a rookie police detective who makes a mistake on her first day that causes her partner to be killed. From there, we see her trying desperately to redeem herself while she and her new partner solve crimes. Each episode focuses on a new crime, but there is an underlying serial killer plot that makes its way t through the season, as well as plot lines dealing with Kate’s personal life and her relationship with her mother. I found The Murders intriguing; its not outstanding, it’s also certainly not bad. I enjoyed how the show gives us time to get to know the characters and the crimes are generally interesting, but I can’t say I was quite riveted or captivated by the show, either. Ultimately, I’d say it’s a solid mystery series with some potential room to grow.
• Backstrom: Series 1 – Swedish crime dramas have a reputation for being dark, moody, desolate, depressing, cold, and humorless… and it’s a reputation that is well deserved. I’m not saying that Sweden hasn’t produced many fine films and TV shows, as they certainly have, but this genre of TV does tend to fall onto the bleaker side of the spectrum. Usually. Backstrom, however, seems to want to buck those trends. Oh, sure, it’s still a solid murder mystery, but this time around the lead detective is completely arrogant and thinks of himself as a rock star, instead of being tortured and broody. There’s humor in the show, and the breezy pace is a stark contrast to the usual measured Swedish procedurals (at least the ones I’ve seen.) With an intriguing central mystery that ties in to the 2004 Thailand tsunami and a fresh twist on the Swedish crime-drama genre, I found Backstrom to be quite entertaining. It is in Swedish (with occasional English) but don’t let that stop you from giving it a chance.
• Return of Swamp Thing – The original Swamp Thing movies are low-budget creature feature flicks that aimed higher than their origins, and I have to admit to having a real soft spot for them, despite their inherent cheesiness. This week, Lightyear Video brings us a new 30th Anniversary Edition of Return of Swamp Thing, the infamous sequel that sees Swampy landing no less than Heather Locklear. The film is campy fun, and Locklear’s presence makes it even better. This new Anniversary Edition DVD comes with several new extra features, mostly interviews with the crew who made the film. My biggest complaint is that it’s only available on DVD and not Blu-ray, when this is the kind of movie that screams out for a Blu-ray release fort the die-hard fans. (There was a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray a few years back from MVD, so I’m not sure if that had something to do with it.) Still, it’s a low-priced release and it’s a lot of fun.
• Indie Spotlight – We have a few indie releases out this week, and it starts with a great sci-fi B-movie release. Escape from Area 51 is the kind of low-budget B-movie that turns people into B-movie fans in the first place. Starring Baywatch alum Donna D’Errico as a sexy alien prisoner at Area 51, the film sees her escape and go on the run while trying to rescue a fellow alien and get back to her home planet. The film isn’t great, but it’s fun, and it knows exactly what audience it’s trying to appeal to, which I respect. This Blu-ray release also includes a prog-rock heavy CD soundtrack as a bonus which includes not only a Flock of Seagulls song but also a song by Prog Collective featuring William Shatner! Awesome! Next up is Crazy Nights, a 1978 exploitation film that apparently has quite a controversial history. Starring singer/performer Amanda Lear, the film is like a soft-core exploitation porno musical, extremely light on story but filled with dazzling imagery, sexy ladies, and cabaret pop music. It’s not exactly a great film, but it is a snapshot of the late ‘70s exploitation era, which makes it rather fascinating. Switching from B-movieland, next up is Harry and Snowman, a documentary from 2015 that makes its Blu-ray debut this week. This is a terrific film about a Dutch horseman in the 1950s who bought a plow horse who was literally slated for the glue factory for $80, and within two years turned him into a champion show-jumping horse. The film focuses on the man, Harry deLeyer, as much as the horse, Snowman, and we get to hear from Harry himself as well as several of his kids. It’s an excellent story and the film is made in such a way as to keep it interesting from start to finish. Finally this week, we have Higher Ed, a film by writer-director Jean Claude LaMarre that has literally been sitting on the shelf for 20 years. This stoner comedy stars Pras (from the Fugees), Aries Spears (the comedian, best known for Mad TV), Hill Harper (from CSI: NY) and Leila Arcieri (who was the next “it girl” for about a minute in the early 2000s.) The basic plot involves a drug dealer going on the run from a gangster and hiding out on a college campus where, of course, there are lots of drugs. It’s not a particularly clever film, but it’s only 75 minutes long and I do like some of the people in the film. But I’ll be honest: there’s a reason it sat on the shelf for 20 years.