Mike Spring
Recap
Review
What’s New in Home Video & Pop Culture – August 12th, 2025
This week has a mix of genres dropping to give people a lot of choice. We have epic adventures, quirky dramedy, dystopic futures, anime, silent film, foreign movies, graphic novels, and even a music CD! It’s truly something for everyone!
In This Week’s Column:
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital)
- The Phoenician Scheme (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital)
- See: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
- Wolf Children (Blu-ray)
- Finis Terrae (Blu-ray)
- Black Tea (Blu-ray)
- Suitor Armor: Volume 3 (Graphic Novel)
- The Land of Unfinished Dreams (Graphic Novel)
- Varre Vartianinen – Head and Heart CD
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital)
The Movie:
Russell Crowe’s last big blockbuster film remains one of his best and — sort of — most underrated. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is an epic sea battle film set during the Napoleonic Wars and based on two of the books from Patrick O’Brian’s popular 20-volume series about Captain Jack Aubrey and his wars.
I say it’s “sort of” underrated because it’s a well-liked film that was treated relatively kindly by critics. And it was a minor box office hit, grossing $212 million worldwide against a $150 million budget. So it’s not like the film was a complete flop or anything like that. But it failed to launch the expected franchise and while people are fond of the movie, it’s not the kind of film that comes up in the pop culture conversation all that often. Still, Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany are terrific in the movie and director Peter Weir has crafted a period piece that is equal parts action and drama with some stunning sea battles on the kind of giant naval galleons that don’t exist anymore. It’s pretty epic.
So I’m happy to see that the film is being released on 4K Ultra HD for the first time this week, packaged in a gorgeous Steelbook case. And this is definitely the kind of movie that you want to watch in 4K!
The 4K Video/Audio:
Not surprisingly, Master and Commander looks and sounds amazing in 4K, featuring terrifically sharp imagery, and deep, rich black levels. Color saturation is outstanding when it’s appropriate; it’s not the most wildly varied color palette in the world, but there is a nice vibrance to what’s on screen. The picture never feels too dark or lacking contrast. The print, of course, is devoid of any blemishes or debris. The surround soundtrack has a lot to work with and it doesn’t waste any opportunities to fill your living room with activity, but it also makes sure the quieter moments and the dialogue ring true and clear. There’s also a nice low end bass channel that gives some of the climactic scenes an effective rumble that you’ll feel in your chest. Without a doubt, this is the kind of movie I love to watch in 4K.
The Bonus Features:
- Deleted Scenes
- Historical and Geographical Trivia Track
- Pop-Up Map
Digital Copy Included: Yes
The Wrap-Up:
Master and Commander: Far Side of the World is a terrific adventure film with some great performances and some eye-popping visuals. While it may not be the most-awaited film of all on 4K, it’s a welcome addition to the 4K Ultra HD ranks.
The Phoenician Scheme (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital)
The Movie:
Wes Anderson must be the nicest guy in Hollywood. Because honestly, I don’t see how his movies get made otherwise. It’s not like most of them turn a big profit, yet not only does he get to make a new film pretty much every year, but he attracts all the biggest names in acting royalty to his movies. And yet… his films just aren’t good. Or, for me, even particularly tolerable.
Now, before you accuse me of hate-watching, I want to say that I actually loved The Grand Budapest Hotel. So I don’t watch new Wes Anderson films with the expectation that I’m going too hate them. In fact, I go into them hoping for the next Grand Budapest Hotel. But at this point, I feel like Wes Anderson is just making parodies of Wes Anderson movies. It’s even more of the same every time: endless dolly shots, actors speaking in monotonous chunks of dialogue, less emotion, one-dimensional characters, and quirkiness for the sake of being quirky. I’ll give him credit for one thing, though: only about 75% of this film was framed in square boxes, unlike the usual 90-100% we see from him.
The film sees Benicio del Toro playing business magnate Zsa Zsa Korda surviving yet another assassination attempt, so he appoints his nun novitiate daughter his sole heir in case he eventually actually dies. He’s close to completing his “Phoenician scheme,” a 30-year project that will set his family up for the next 150 years. But first, he has to bring it to completion, so they set off around the world to set it all in action, with schoolteacher Professor Bjorn (Michael Cera) along for the ride.
I know Anderson has his fans, but I honestly don’t get it anymore. The film is just exhausting to watch, because everything has to be seen through a Wes Anderson filter. I would love it if he could just make a normal movie like Bottle Rocket (his film debut) again, but honestly I doubt he even remembers how.
The 4K Video/Audio:
The Phoenician Scheme on 4K Ultra HD does a great job of capturing the look and feel of a Wes Anderson movie, meaning it feels a little like it’s from the 1970s, while at the same time the filmmaking still looks crisp and sharp. While the colors on screen (vehicles, furniture, etc.) do have that earthy/natural Wes Anderson patina to them, the color saturation represents it all authentically. The picture is crisp and clean and lets you see all the details Anderson packs his square-frames shots with. The surround soundtrack focuses a lot of dialogue but adds in music and occasional bouts of atmospheric activity, and it balances all three elements nicely. A good effort overall.
The Bonus Features:
- Behind The Phoenician Scheme – A four-part making-of feature that details the film’s creation and cast, but it only runs about 15 minutes total, so it’s pretty surface-level.
Digital Copy Included: Yes
The Wrap-Up:
Wes Anderson fans will probably love this movie and decry me for criticizing him. Everyone else, though, will likely find this movie overly stylized and not that interesting, unfortunately.
See: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
The Show:
Apple+ shows haven’t really made that big of a splash in the general pop culture consciousness (outside of Ted Lasso, of course), so you may not have heard of See. (The fact that the show’s title is simply a three-letter unassuming word doesn’t help either.) But this action adventure series starred Jason Momoa, features a high concept, and ran for three eight-episode seasons, telling a complete story in that time.
The show takes place in a dystopic future, in a world where much of Earth’s population has been wiped out by a virus. The survivors were left blind, which makes it hard to survive in a world that has lost most conveniences. Jason Momoa plays Baba Voss, a man who has taken in two children who were born with sight, something of great interest (and a huge threat) to the evil queen who wants to keep the world under her thumb.
The show is not a slam dunk, but it’s pretty enjoyable. The cast is great, the production values are top-notch, and the action scenes are effective, even if things veer a little into the melodramatic side of things from time to time. The shorter nature of the series does luckily help to combat that, however, as things are never drawn out for too long. Overall, I found it enjoyable if a little on the dark/bleak side of the spectrum.
The Bonus Features:
As with a lot of “streaming-service show arriving on home video for the first time” releases, See does not include any bonus features.
Digital Copy Included: No
The Wrap-Up:
If you like dystopic fiction (which I do), See is definitely worth tracking down. It’s a dark future to sit through, but it’s a good show overall.
Wolf Children (Blu-ray)
The Movie:
When the description of a movie begins with the line, “College student Hana falls in love with a wolf man and together they have two half-human, half-wolf children,” you know you’re watching an anime film. This one comes from Studio Chizu, a modern contemporary of Studio Ghibli, and is directed by Mamoru Hosoda, who was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Animated Feature Film for his film Mirai. He also directed Belle and Summer Wars, which are both quite popular.
I’m not the biggest fan of anime in the world, but I’ve watched a few of Hosoda’s films and I find them to be better than the average anime fare that I review. Wolf Children isn’t destined to be one of my favorite movies ever, but it’s a pretty solid emotional outing. Early on in the film (minor spoiler alert), Hana’s wolf-husband is killed, so she moves out to a shack in the woods to raise her children and let them decide if they want to lean more towards the human world or the wolf world as they get older. The film’s themes lean towards the challenges of motherhood, the parental love for a child, and letting go, which is pretty heady stuff for an anime about wolf people. But overall I enjoyed it more than I didn’t.
Wolf Children originally debuted on home video in 2013 but now it returns to Blu-ray (although not 4K, unfortunately) with a 4K remaster that was created for a limited theatrical run earlier this year.
The Bonus Features:
- Interview with Mamoru Hosada
- Stage Greetings
- Director’s Cut Trailers
- Teasers & Trailers
Digital Copy Included: No
The Wrap-Up:
Wolf Children is a moving and emotional anime film. If you’re just looking for a fantasy adventure movie, this might not be for you, but if you want something deeper, check it out.
Finis Terrae (Blu-ray)
The Movie:
I always appreciate when I get a chance to learn something about film history from a home video release. For example, Eureka Entertainment’s new Masters of Cinema Series Blu-ray release, Finis Terrae, is a 1929 movie by French director Jean Epstein, who is best known for collaborating with surrealist master Luis Bunuel on the first film adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher.
This silent film runs a brisk 81 minutes, and it tells the tale of four young men harvesting a valuable seaweed who are stranded on a lighthouse isle off the coast of Brittany. As they are stuck longer and longer by weather and other challenges, tensions naturally start to rise, and pretty soon the men are at odds with each other. The description on the Blu-ray case mentions the film as an inspiration for Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse, and while I didn’t like that film at all, it’s not hard to see some connective tissue.
Silent films aren’t always the most riveting movies to modern audiences, but watching Finis Terrae with an eye for Epstein’s innovative filmmaking techniques, including some early uses of slow motion, it’s hard not to at least appreciate the film from a technical standpoint. It’s a truly artistic work.
The Bonus Features:
- Impressions on Jean Epstein – A new interview with film historian and critic Pamela Hutchinson on the life and work of the director
- Stranded – A new video essay on Finis Terrae
- The Bottom of the Wave – An archival appreciation of Finis Terrae by Joel Daire
- Limited edition collector’s booklet – Featuring a new essay on Finis Terrae by Jean Epstein expert Christophe Wall-Romana and archival writing by the director
Digital Copy Included: No
The Wrap-Up:
Finis Terrae won’t be for casual viewers, but cinema history enthusiasts will be extremely excited to see this new release, especially seeing as how it features a new 4K restoration, resulting in very impressive picture quality for a movie that’s nearly 100 years old. This is a terrific release.
Black Tea (Blu-ray)
The Movie:
One thing foreign cinema does well is take a more late approach to certain genres. Take romance films, for example. In current Hollywood you’ll either see a rom-com, a Hallmark-style Christmas romance, or a pseudo-romance masquerading as a romance film film like Nicole Kidman’s dreadful Babygirl.
Black Tea, however, is simply a romance movie that takes its time and is all about people from different cultures slowly falling in love over, of all things, making tea. The film, directed by Abderrahmane Sissako, sees Ivory Coast native Aya leave her fiancee at the Altar and flee to Guangzhou, China, where an African culture has popped up. Taking a job at a tea boutique, Aya works under the tutelage of Cat, an unassuming Chinese man who mentors her on the ancient art of the tea ceremony. As Aya learns and a bond develops, romance starts to blossom.
The film is a bit of a slow burn and it could probably have been a touch shorter (at least for someone impatient like me), but it also takes the time to develop endearing characters and their romance blooms organically, which works. It’s a sweet film and people who don’t need a meet-cute will likely find a lot to like.
The Bonus Features:
- Berlin Film Festival Press Conference
- Theatrical Trailer
Digital Copy Included: No
The Wrap-Up:
Black Tea features a couple of different languages throughout it, so an appreciation for foreign film is probably a requirement to truly embrace it, but if you like an occasional quiet drama with a good heart at the center of it, this film is for you.
Suitor Armor: Volume 3 (Graphic Novel)
The Book:
It’s rare that I open a review package an audibly exclaim excitement when I see what’s in it, but that’s exactly what happened when I received the box that contained Suitor Armor: Volume 3. (That excitement was only dashed a few minutes later when I read in the accompanying press release that this is the final volume in the series. Nooooooo!)
Before I go any further, let me say that you should absolutely start with Volume 1 if you’re going to read Suitor Armor, which I highly recommend. The series is about a young lady-in-waiting (who’s secretly a fairy) who lives among humans in a medieval fantasy world. She develops a friendship (and possible romance) with a magical suit of armor, while trying to keep her secret, learn magic, and help her princess prepare for her wedding. Oh yeah, and she needs to discover the secret of the Fairy War, which may be falsely being lied about by humans.
In this volume, Lucia discovers the secret of the elves, and also learns what it will take for her to live among the humans with no fear of discovery — but is the price she will have to pay too high? She uncovers the turn about the Fairy War and continues to develop her relationship with Modeus. But a new arrival at the castle threatens her very life, and she has to make some tough decisions. There’s a lot going on in Volume 3 and I absolutely loved every page of it!
As with the first two volumes, writer-artist Purpah creates endearing characters and her art is both simplistic and captivating, creating a world that you get more and more wrapped up in as it goes. I hope this is only the temporary end for Suitor Armor and that somehow it will come back again in the future!
The Specs:
- Publisher: Ten Speed Graphic
- Format: Hardcover or Softcover
- Page Count: 24 pages
- Cover Price: $24.99 (HC) or $17.99 (SC)
The Wrap Up:
Suitor Armor is aimed at tween readers with a focus on being friendly to the LGBTQ+ community. I am neither a tween nor a member of the LGBTQ+ community (although I’m a staunch ally), yet I absolutely loved all three volumes of the series, which tells you how good it is. Track it down as soon as possible; you’ll thank me for it!
The Land of Unfinished Dreams (Graphic Novel)
The Book:
Italian writer Marco Ventura and artist Marco Ferraris (I’m sure THAT never gets confusing!) have teamed up to bring us a new graphic novel, an all-ages friendly fantasy book called The Land of Unfinished Dreams. The story follows a Carl-from-Pixar’s-Up-styled grandfather character who only truly comes to life when making up and telling his grandkids bedtime stories. One day, he wakes up inside the world of his own fantasy tale and he must figure out if its real or if he’s dreaming; and if he’s not dreaming, how is he going to survive in a world filled with talking bears, magic, dragons, and more?
While the book is all-ages friendly, it’s geared more for younger readers in the adolescent-to-tween age group. In fact, I suspect the Marcos probably potentially intend for parents or grandparents to read the story to their kids, maybe even at bedtime! It’s a colorful and action-packed adventure, and while it’s maybe not right in my wheelhouse, I appreciated the fun story and the quite beautiful artwork.
The Specs:
- Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
- Format: Hardcover
- Page Count: 160 pages
- Cover Price: $19.99
The Wrap Up:
The Land of Unfinished Dreams is a great book for younger readers to dive into that has plenty of heart and emotion and a strong focus on family, all while wrapped up in an adventure/fantasy setting. Definitely have your younger readers — or maybe even the kid inside of you — check it out.
Varre Vartianinen: Head and Heart (CD)
The Music:
Varre Vartianinen probably isn’t a household name outside of his homeland of Finland, but in his own country he’s pretty well-known. One of the most sought-after guitarists in Finland for almost three decades, Vartianinen has contributed to dozens of film scores and played alongside most of his country’s notable musicians. He’s also been a bandleader there for The David Hasselhoff Show and Finnish Idol, so he’s a familiar face on TV as well.
As a solo musician, Vartianinen started releasing albums in 2011, and this year he has a new one out called Head and Heart. I honestly had no idea what to expect, so I popped the new CD from Eclipse Music to check him out. His style is described as “bop & roll,” but if I’m being honest it just sounds like regular old jazz music to me. I’m not particularly a jazz music fan, but my father-in-law is a jazz aficionado, and Vartianinen’s music sounds exactly like the kind of thing he loves. It’s upbeat and energetic, and the album consists of ten tracks that range from six to ten minutes each. With plenty of jazz guitar but also a good amount of jazz brass instruments, it’s a pretty upbeat experience. Oh yeah, and one of the songs is named “For Mike,” so of course that was my favorite track!
Track Listing:
- Miked Up!
- Hardly
- Head and Heart
- Dark Size Life
- Waltz for Roni
- Blue Velvet St.
- For Mike
- Fat Time Blues
- Mood Swings
- Bill From Sao Paolo
The Specs:
- Format: CD (Also available on vinyl)
- Label: Eclipse Music
- Run Time: 69 minutes
- Suggested Retail Price: $15.99
The Wrap-Up:
While I’m not a big jazz fan, I can at least recognize that Varre Vartianinen’s Head and Heart is an album that jazz fans will enjoy immensely. It’s lively and energetic and it will liven up any space it’s played in.
