MCU Mutants, an Underrated Comedy Sequel and a Terrific Documentary Hit 4K - Viva Physical Media

Plus a look at recent discs for The Hitcher, Twisters, two 1940s horror films and more.

Per usual, doing plenty of catch up here from the past few weeks - in fact, at least one of the following discs came out back at the end of September (hint: it rhymes with Fad Foys). So let’s get into it, with a handful of summer 2024’s big releases, some cool catalog releases (including a comedy I adore that apparently many do not), and one lovely double-feature Criterion disc going way back to the 1940s. 

DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE 4K UHD + BLU-RAY

The arrival of Deadpool and Wolverine to the MCU was a big deal and the film featuring the two ended up being a massive blockbuster, becoming the MCU’s seventh highest-grossing movie worldwide despite it being the 34th theatrical release in a franchise that’s been going since 2008. The film is a true crowd pleaser, providing terrific chemistry between its title characters, some great return appearances from pre-MCU Marvel movie actors/characters (I still can’t believe Wesley Snipes played Blade again!) and a nice overall feeling of affection for the 20th Century Fox Marvel/X-Men era, warts and all. I wish director Shawn Levy was better with action, because there are sequences in this movie that are decent that I think could have been phenomenal in other hands, but Deadpool & Wolverine has grown on me in repeat viewings. 

The 4K transfer is rather outstanding. Levy isn’t a particularly interesting visual director – he’s best when letting the comedic and character moments shine – but from the bright reds and yellows in Deadpool and Wolverine costumes to the oranges of the TVA, this disc looks very good and presents the movie at its absolute visual best. 

IS THERE A COMMENTARY? 

There is, and it’s a fun and lively (Blake Lively?) one featuring Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy. The two are good buddies in real life and make sure to keep the energy high and provide a lot of interesting details, while frequently praising Hugh Jackman’s excellent work. 

There are a few featurettes, focused on the surprise characters, Jackman returning as Wolverine, the creation of the “Like a Prayer” fight sequence, and the film’s production design. The latter is all about the excellent work of longtime MCU alum Ray Chan, who’s interviewed here, and sadly passed away shortly before Deadpool & Wolverine opened. 

There is also an amusing gag reel and a couple of minutes of deleted scenes, which include more of Wunmi Mosaku reprising her role from Loki as Hunter B-15. The “Deadpool’s Fun Sack 3” section includes various promos done for the movie by its stars, including a PSA about testicular cancer with Reynolds as Deadpool.

THE HITCHER 4K UHD

I hadn’t seen The Hitcher in many years before receiving a copy of this new 4K UHD release but was very happy to find it still held up as a tense and exciting horror-thriller. This is a movie that gets to the point very quickly, as the moment the opening credits conclude, C. Thomas Howell’s Jim Haley is picking up Rutger Hauer’s hitchhiker John Ryder on a dark and stormy night. And almost immediately, Ryder has revealed himself as a dangerous psychopath who’s threatening Jim with a knife. Though Jim manages to get Ryder out of the car, he spends the remainder of the movie stalked through desert roads, with Ryder causing quite the body count and Jim looking like the guilty one. There are multiple times where Ryder’s ability to constantly show up or vanish whenever convenient are almost comical, as though he were a murderous cartoon character who can bend reality around him. But it almost feels like that’s the point - like he’s the devil himself.

Warner Bros.’ US release of The Hitcher on 4K comes right on the heels of an overseas version from Second Sight. The transfer is identical and it’s a terrific one, giving the movie and its desolate and foreboding desert landscape a vivid presentation. 

IS THERE A COMMENTARY? 

Yes, there is. It features director Robert Harmon and screenwriter Eric Red, though they were recorded separately. Unfortunately, it’s a rather dry and dull commentary with way too many long portions without either participant speaking. It’s worth noting that the Second Sight version of the 4K features two additional commentaries that aren’t included here, among its many special features. 

The US release only retains one other bonus feature from the Second Sight release, but it’s a good one - a 41 minute interview with Harmon that is much more informative and lively than his commentary when it comes to discussing how The HItcher came together, what it was like working with the late, great Hauer and more. The film’s original trailer is also included. 

AMERICAN MOVIE 4K UHD

1999 is rightfully known as one of the best movie years ever, with one standout after another released. But among the many films from that year celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2024, American Movie very much deserves its flowers. Chris Smith’s documentary proves that people like the fictional characters you see in Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries can very much really exist. His look at Wisconsin native Mark Borchardt attempting to make a horror short called Coven is very funny, very involving and ultimately rather poignant. Borchardt is a pretty wild personality, but he’s also a real person, dealing with money issues, family dynamics and a drinking problem. There are a ton of memorable moments throughout American Movie, as we see Mark work so hard to make Coven, alongside his buddy, the very funny and lovable Mike Schank (who sadly passed away a couple of years ago). 

American Movie is an easy recommendation though it’s not exactly a movie that’s been clamoring for a 4K version, given it’s a grainy, low budget documentary. That being the case, there’s little gained visually by having it in this format and it’s in no way a notable leap in quality from the previous Blu-ray. Though this new release does at least have one crucial bonus feature the Blu-ray was lacking…

DOES IT HAVE A COMMENTARY? 

All the old Blu-ray extras are retained, including a commentary from Smith, Borchardt, Schank and producer Sarah Price, which is amusing if not a standout. There are also 37 minutes of deleted scenes, some of which are quite entertaining, plus the film’s trailer. But the one big addition here is Coven itself, the full 36 minute short, which was frustratingly missing on the Blu-ray. So while there’s not much here on the technical side to call for an upgrade to American Movie, if you’re a big fan of the film or never owned it before, the inclusion of Coven is a solid selling point, given it’s what the entirety of the documentary is aiming towards. 

BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE BLU-RAY

It took 29 years and four movies, but I’m now fully on board with the Bad Boys franchise. Having found the original only so-so and really disliking the second (which I know has some super fans, who love Michael Bay going all in on his excess in that entry), I was pleasantly surprised when 2020’s Bad Boys For Life – and directors Adil & Bilall taking over for Bay – provided something much more enjoyable. This year’s fourth entry, Ride or Die, ended up being my favorite to date though, with Adil & Bilall really showing what they can do when it comes to creative, high energy action sequences. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence still have great chemistry, and while some of the comedy is very silly, much of it is really funny as well, including a rather amazing payoff for a character introduced back in my hated Bad Boys II. 

There is a 4K of Ride or Die out too of course, but Sony only sent me the Blu-ray, so that’s what I’m reviewing. And it looks really good! Adil & Bilall have retained Bay’s general aesthetic, including plenty of beauty shots of Miami, but also added a lot of their own visual style to the film. The Blu-ray transfer looks great, with the colorful backdrops – and moments that sometimes feel animation-inspired – really popping. Martin Lawrence attempting to eat a cascade of jelly beans pouring forward never looked so good. 

IS THERE A COMMENTARY? 

There is not and what is provided is pretty slight. There are five short featurettes, each running around 3-5 minutes, focused on topics like producer Jerry Bruckheimer or Smith and Lawrence’s pairing, but it’s all so cursory. Seven minutes of deleted scenes and a gag reel are also included. The home release also boasts the inclusion of a new post-credit scene not in the theatrical version. It’s a pretty cheesy scene that takes an amusing joke from the movie and goes a bit too far with it, feeling tonally off.

TWISTERS 4K UHD

A strange case of a decades-later sequel not really being a sequel at all – there are zero character connections to the original film and if it weren’t for one stormchaser-ready device, there wouldn’t be any connections at all – Twisters is basically just giving you another movie about tornados, offering up another round of spectacle in the process. But it works more often than not, thanks to Lee Isaac Chung’s direction and a charismatic cast led by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell. Oh, and let me deliver a hot take and say I didn’t care that there was no kiss at the end… but my wife was bothered by it, so that very frequent complaint was represented in my household.

I wish Twisters had more of a true standout sequence but ultimately it’s a decent enough summer popcorn movie, providing the disaster movie fun (including some well done jolts) audiences want from a movie with this title. As you might expect, it’s a strong 4K presentation, in terms of both the transfer and the audio, the latter of which is a crucial element to sell the reality of what is occurring.

IS THERE A COMMENTARY? 

Yes, the likable Chung provides a solid commentary, though there are some lulls. Along with a gag reel and a couple of minutes of deleted scenes, there are also several featurettes. An amusing look at Powell and his parents visiting the set and a fairly standard overall making-of are fine, but the best of the featurettes are the ones focused on the film’s technical aspects and how the tornado sequences were created. It’s very impressive seeing the work that went into these scenes and how certain moments of in-camera destruction or characters being yanked into the air were pulled off. I was surprised to learn how many cast members and stunt performers were actually put into harnesses, hurtling through the sky for sequences where a tornado grabbed ahold of their character.  

VACATION 4K UHD

If I were to name my favorite comedies of the past decade, Vacation would be on the list. And if you’re saying “What?!” that’s why if I were to name the most underrated movies of the past decade, Vacation would be high on that list too. The fifth film in the comedy franchise that began in 1983 was met with some pretty negative reviews and online reaction when it opened in 2015, which surprised me, because I laughed my ass off the first time I saw the film and am happy to report that is still the case watching the new 4K UHD disc.

Yes, it leans much more into gross out comedy than the original – not that there was none of that when the series began, given Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) once sensuously ate a piss-covered sandwich – but it’s damn funny gross out comedy. In fact, the entire movie is hysterical, start to finish, featuring some great cameos (Charlie Day’s might be my favorite) and memorable sequences like Christina Applegate’s Debbie Fletcher-Griswold trying to show she can chug beer and run an obstacle course just as well as when she was a college kid and failing miserably. 

The film looks quite good on 4K, though it’s not a massive visual upgrade from the already-strong Blu-ray that was released nearly a decade ago. Still, I’m pleasantly surprised Vacation 2015 got a 4K disc at all (albeit a MOD/Made on Demand) one, beating European Vacatioon and Vegas Vacation to the punch in the process. 

IS THERE A COMMENTARY? 

No, just a few featurettes ported over from the Blu-ray, along with the gag reel and deleted scenes. I would have loved a new commentary from writer/directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. Since Vacation, the duo have received far more acclaim for other great films like Game Night and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, but I’d be fascinated to hear their perspective on their (unfairly!) less beloved directorial debut nearly a decade later. 

KINDS OF KINDNESS BLU-RAY

Yorgos Lanthimos’ follow up to Poor Things is not nearly as excellent as that film, but it’s certainly a fascinating movie in its own right. It certainly goes off the rails at times, but much of it is funny and fascinating. Doing a loosely interconnected anthology-type film where the same actors appear in each story as different characters is a very fun approach, allowing terrific actors like Lanthimos regular Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn and Mamoudou Athie to play some very different layers - most especially Plemons, who probably has the most screen time here. It remains wonderfully gratifying to see Landry from Friday Night Lives prove to be such a talented and successful film actor and Kinds of Kindness lets him run the gamut from endearing and sympathetic to creepy and off-putting… sometimes in the same story! The stories don’t all work and get a bit repetitive at times, but overall, if you’re a fan of Lanthimos, this delivers a lot to admire, while still feeling like a lesser work from the director. 

I’ll continue to bemoan that Disney is only putting Searchlight films out on Blu-ray, not 4K, but this just seems to be where we’re at for now. And this is a great transfer regardless, showing off the beautiful cinematography of Robbie Ryan. Though not done as dramatically as in Poor Things, there are some occasional shifts in visual style, including to black and white, and it all pops on this disc. Ryan and Lanthimos continue to be as formidable a pairing as Stone and Lanthimos. 

IS THERE A COMMENTARY? 

There is not. Just a 15-minute featurette that speed runs through a lot of aspects of the film and two inconsequential deleted scenes (one of which is all of 15 seconds). 

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE / THE SEVENTH VICTIM 4K UHD + BLU-RAY

Criterion recently released this two-movie collection, featuring two 1943 films from producer Val Lewton (Cat People). Director Jacques Tourneur’s I Walked With a Zombie involves a nurse (Frances Dee) who takes a job in the Caribbean where she encounters Vodou rituals and the possibility of the dead walking the Earth. Loosely connected to Cat People (Tom Conway plays the role in both films), Mark Robson’s The Seventh Victim stars Kim Hunter as Mary Gibson, whose search for her missing sister (Jean Brooks) leads her to a cult of devil worshippers. Of the two films, I found I Walked With a Zombie to be the stronger and more engaging one, but both are still quite strong examples of classic Hollywood horror and both are incredibly beautiful visually. Watching the gorgeous, expertly constructed black and white shots in these films makes it easy to say “they don’t make them like they used to” and mean it. 

Criterion’s new transfers of these films is incredibly impressive, taking movies that are now over 80 years old and making them look far better than they ever have in previous releases. The liner notes mention that The Seventh Victim’s negative had mold on it and that some mold residue would be visible in the picture, but I was straining to find example of this. This is a loving presentation of true cinema history, even if these are not among the most famous titles from the era. 

IS THERE A COMMENTARY? 

Yes, retained from Criterion’s previous releases is a commentary on I Walked with a Zombie featuring authors Kim Newman and Stephen Jones and one on The Seventh Victim featuring film historian Steve Haberman. These are highly knowledgeable participants and while obviously none of them were present for the making of these films, there’s a ton of great information and observations made throughout. I was less enamored with the additional audio tracks for each film culled from Adam Roche’s podcast The Secret History of Hollywood, as they are much broader in focus, but they do also dig into Val Lewton and these films with some intriguing additional facts. 

The 54-minute 2005 documentary Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy provides a great overview on the producer and his impact, with interview participants like Guillermo del Toro, William Friedkin and George Romero, plus Lewton’s son. An additional piece of archival material is provided with an excerpt from the PBS series Monstrum entitled “The Origins of the Zombie, from Haiti to the U.S.”

Honestly, this archive material is plentiful already, but Criterion has produced a new bonus feature as well, a 47-minute interview with film historian Imogen Sara Smith. I loved this interview, with Smith doing a great job of digging deep on both films and the thematic connections between them, some of which aren’t obvious at a glance. All of these bonus feature also do a wonderful job of discussing how these films explore subject matter like slavery (in I Walked with a Zombie) or suicide (in The Seventh Victim) in a way one might not expect for the era, by cleverly using their genre trappings to do more than other films were often able to.

Both films’ trailers are also included.