Disc Reviews

It is not very often that I am able to say that a film revolving around an extramarital affair keeps me engaged. While the writing in Adulterers became rather unfavorable towards the end, the strength of the conflict and the pacing of the editing and cinematography combine to make a significant force. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by the intensity of the drama that unfolds among the disturbed trio, but there were many moments that distracted me from that pleasure. Through this review, I aim to be as fair and as spoiler-free as possible. I believe this film is definitely worth the watch, regardless of what does not “work” for me.

Adulterers tells the story of Samuel Deuprey (Sean Ferris), a hardworking man, who comes home to find his wife (Danielle Savre) in bed with her lover (Mehcad Brooks). The events and scenes that follow are rooted in humiliation, depravity, and violence, as Samuel decides to resolve the situation in his own way. The way in which Adulterers heightens the tension is through adding details such as: the events transpire on the couple’s anniversary, Samuel works long hours to provide for his wife, money may or may not be involved, etc. While each of the details introduced into the film’s story may be cliché for dramatic films about affairs, they are absolutely necessary in order to understand Samuel’s rage and mania.

Does anyone remember Full House? Of course you do. It was recently given a kind of reboot which is supposed to debut on Netflix in 2016. That’s pretty good for a show that debuted in 1987. It ended in 1995 with 192 episodes. That is a very successful run, and it launched the Olson twins as mega-moguls. The twins apparently no longer act, so they will not be in the reboot. I hear they are very, very rich ($300,000,000?). I also hear that Ashley might have Lyme disease, which is a long term ordeal and difficult to overcome. Apparently The Unauthorized Full House came about because Lifetime had success with The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story. I will say that I expected juicy dirt about the various cast members. It isn’t particularly juicy, but it is full of embarrassing details on just about everyone. It is also full of a fair amount of inaccuracies, some due to legal constraints (such as not being able to use sets, theme songs, catch phrases, etc.). It’s more of a behind-the-scenes look at the struggles of producing a network television show. There have been a few alleged scandals, but they did not make the cut of this somewhat friendly look at the show. The original cast included John Stamos, Lori Loughlin, Bob Saget, Dave Coulier, Jodie Sweetin, Candace Cameron, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson. The actors portraying them are almost entirely unknown faces. The only cast member who I even remotely recognized was Peter Deluise, who plays Stamos’s father. Stamos goes to the pizzeria that his father owns looking for advice about his faltering career. That all changes when he gets the show. We get to see all the cast members as they fret about their futures, but once the show takes hold, we focus on some personal tragedies like both Saget and Coulier suffering the deaths of their sisters. The show’s creator, Jeff Franklin, is depicted as a somewhat stressed out killjoy, constantly having to watch that Saget won’t say bad words in front of the kids. The show’s run is dutifully handled year by year even going to the effort of hiring new actors for the child actors as they grow. I may be giving the impression that I don’t know why they bothered.

The entire effort seems so lackluster and generic that it might have seemed more in place if had been broadcast back in 1987 instead of 2015. Whatever chemistry the original cast may have had is certainly not translated into this version. As a tribute, it seems well-intentioned but substandard. I would say if you are a huge fan of the original series, you might want to see this. If you are a fan of television, in general, you might find some behind-the-scenes information somewhat useful. But if you have any interest in a quality program that stands on its own, it is completely and totally useless. It is boring, dull, and sleep-inducing. The original Full House was probably something of a retread of routine sitcom situations, so this movie is a retread of a retread.

Once again I have the pleasure of reviewing a Blu-ray double feature distributed by Shout Factory. This time out, I have been graced with two sci-fi adventure films from the mid 1980’s: The Dungeonmaster and Eliminators. Although the two films play well as a double feature, the cheesy (yet oh, so beautiful) aesthetics and special effects are not these films’ only connection. Peter Manoogian sits in the director’s chair for Eliminators and also one of the segments of The Dungeonmaster. Manoogian came onto my radar with his 1992 video feature Demonic Toys, so I was really excited to experience his earlier (and arguably better) work.

Starting with The Dungeonmaster: this film is absolutely crazy. If you do not have a clear grasp of the film’s concept, it may be a tough pill of 80’s sci-fi to swallow. The film follows Paul Bradford (Jeffrey Byron) as he journeys into his own computer system to save his girlfriend from the evil wizard Mestema (Richard Moll). While that story seems simple enough, the film is broken into several segments. Each segment is a different challenge set forth by Mestema that Paul must overcome. However, what makes this concept unique is that each segment has a different director. That being said, although each segment is directly tied to the story; with each new challenge, the film changes tone right before your eyes. If you are not aware of that fact going in, I will admit the film might be a little overbearing.