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What I love about so many Chinese historical epics is how they blend history and myth. Now famed director Hark Tsui, who created the ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA series, brings the real life story of Chinese historical icons Detective Dee and Empress Wu to the screen in a big budget, vfx-driven spectacle that includes spontaneous human combustion, high flying kung fu and a talking deer.

Detective Dee (Andy Lau, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) was exiled after engaging in a revolt against regent Wu (Carina Lau, 2046), who he believed was murdering her way into becoming the first empress of China. On the eve of her coronation, a series of mysterious murders have occurred where people have been bursting into flames. Wu decides to bring back Dee in order to prove that she is not involved and partners him with her top officer Shangguan Jing’er (Bingbing Li, THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM).

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Read my review of DETECTIVE DEE

This transfer of Hark Tsui’s epic fantasy is gorgeous. The MPEG-4 AVC Blu-ray has colors so rich that they actually took me aback, especially in the film’s elaborate vfx sequences. Because of the detailed clarity, some of the wide matte-painted backgrounds look strikingly realistic. It shows off the impressive quality of Korean vfx firm AZ Works and their partners’ work. The rich golds and reds of lavish costuming pop and the detail even reveals threads. When the film descends into the underground Phantom City, the contrast of shadow is represented nicely without any noticeable crush. Grain is practically nonexistent in daylight scenes, but does creep up in lower lit sequences. Digital anomalies like banding, aliasing or pixelization were not evident to me.

The Mandarin language DTS-HD 5.1 Master soundtrack is what one would expect from a big epic action flick. Action sequences really utilize all the tracks with some great directionality. Arrow whoosh by the viewer from front to back. Explosions and even some of the strong kung fu fist falls boom on the LFE track. Dialogue sounds clear and the subtitles are easily read and keep up with the film well. The elements – dialogue, sound effects and score – are mixed dynamically. The balance makes for a robust sonic experience. The disc also has a Dolby Digital Stereo English-dubbed track for the subtitle phobic.

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Director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody last collaborated on the Oscar nominated JUNO. Cody won the Oscar for her screenplay, her first produced script. Some thought she was a one hit wonder following her entertaining, but not all that original, horror flick JENNIFER’S BODY. YOUNG ADULT proves them wrong.

This dark comedy follows Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron, MONSTER), a ghost writer for a popular tween girl book series. Her life is at a low point with the recent end of her marriage and the close of the book series. Everything seems even worse when she gets a birth announcement from Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson, LITTLE CHILDREN), her old high school flame. So she gets the great idea of going back to her small hometown and break up his marriage.

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Tomas Alfredson, who directed the wonderful Swedish vampire film LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, adapts John le Carre’s classic spy novel into a slow burn thriller. His film is as laconic as his central character, played with great reserve by Gary Oldman. From its Cold War setting to its visual style, the film at times conjures up memories of Hitchcock’s latter day thrillers.

George Smiley (Oldman, LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL) was a top spy for MI6 before being forced into retirement after a botched mission left fellow agent Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong, STARDUST) shot in the street. The incident also took down his boss Control (John Hurt, THE ELEPHANT MAN), who has long believed that there is a Russian mole in the highest ranks of the “Circus.” When top official Oliver Lacon (Simon McBurney, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND) gets a tip about the mole, he calls in Smiley to work outside the agency in order to root out the double agent.

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Read my review of THE HELP

This MPEG-4 AVC 1080p release is a lush Blu-ray. The color palette glistens. The vibrant colors of the 1960s come out in the clothing and interior design, as well as Hilly’s bright red hair and her emerald green lawn, which fit her faux bright character very well. Black levels are solid and consistent too. Clarity is first rate throughout the disc, giving the visuals added depth. Lines and contours of the actresses’ faces pop out. Digital anomalies are to a minimum. I noticed a little crush during darker scenes and some scenes were a slightly soft. Film grain levels were pretty light throughout.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is equal in quality to the superb picture. For a dialogue heavy film, the subtle ambiance is nicely done. Party scenes fill the soundscape with scuttlebutt and the LFE track gets some strong use during the severe storm scene. The balance between dialogue, score and sound effects is perfect. There is even some nice directionality as Skeeter races down the road in her family truck to make her date.

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This is not the first AIDS message film to come out of Africa and it probably won’t be that last. It touches on many of the issues that the Oscar nominated African film YESTERDAY tackled. But what makes this film different is its perspective. The innocent children of the pandemic are at the center. It’s tale of struggle and sacrifice works on the audience slowly reaching a power crescendo.

In the first scene, tweenaged Chanda (Khomotso Manyaka) is buying a coffin for her dead infant sister. Her mother Lillian (Lerato Mvelase) is too grief stricken to leave the house. Her stepfather Jonah (Aubrey Poolo) is passed out drunk at a bar with another woman. He has taken all the family’s money so Chandra has to go recover it in order to pay for the funeral. Lillian’s friend Mrs. Tafa (Harriet Lenabe, HOTEL RWANDA) reminds Chanda that the baby died of influenza so no one will talk. No one shall dare say what they think it really was.

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Read my review of LIFE, ABOVE ALL

This 1080p MPEG-4 AVC transfer of Oliver Schmitz’s South African film is rich with detail. The color palette glows with earthly tones from the golden brown dirt streets to clay buildings of the towns. Black levels are solid. African skin tones are so often either too shadowed or blown out, but here they come through beautifully natural. The clarity of the image allows for details to pop whether it be the contours of the actors’ faces or the fabrics of the clothing. The picture is so clear that one gets the sense of added depth in the frame. As for digital anomalies, they are nonexistent.

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack matches the picture in quality. Subtlety ambiance marks the entire film. Whether it’s simple touches like the buzzing of a fluorescent light or fuller crowd scenes, the mix doesn’t slip. Directionality is spot on trucks or even people move across the soundscape. The balance between dialogue, sound effects and score is also wonderfully handled. The LFE track isn’t bombastic, but it isn’t forgotten either.

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In so many ways this film reminded me of NAPOLEON DYNAMITE – it has a fascinating, unique central character that needs a better movie around him. Hesher and Napoleon are both slightly unlikable, but compelling misfits, but in completely opposite ways. Napoleon is the quintessential nerd, while Hesher is the quintessential anarchist. He really doesn’t give a…

Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50) meets the film’s young protagonist T.J. (Devin Brochu, IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH) when the boy inadvertently alerts the cops to the long-haired metal head crashing at a house under construction. As a result, this 20-something loner decides to haunt this young boy day and night. He comes to his house and moves right in. He follows him to school. If T.J. tries to tell him to go away, Hesher threatens very seriously all sorts of violence on him. Covered in tattoos including a giant middle finger on his back and a stick figure blowing out his brains on his chest, Hesher is a force of nature.

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