Schwarzenegger Review Season: Hercules in New York Blu-ray Mediabook

"Everybody needs to start somewhere, right? Hercules in New York marks twenty two year old Arnold Schwarzenegger's film debut as the muscle bound hero. He is credited here as Arnold Strong due to his name being too long and foreign for Americans at the time. It was also an attempt to match with star Arnold Stang's name."

"German Mediabook front."

The Plot:

Hercules is fed up of being in Olympus with his father Zeus and with the other Gods. He wants to go to earth and experience something different. When an argument breaks out Zeus throws a lightning bolt at Hercules and sends him down to earth as requested. On his way down a hilariously bad scene where Hercules waves to a woman on a passenger plane ensues. (Trust me it is bad.) Hercules then gets picked up by a boat and they head inward to New York City. 

Due to Hercules coming from the heavens and Schwarzenegger's broken English at the time, he is unable to communicate very well  which leads to many moments of miscommunication and just downright awkward moments. From there on antics ensue where Hercules leaves the boat and fights off waves of angry men. He then meets a small man named Pretzie. He becomes Hercules' guide through the city and eventually turns Hercules into a professional wrestler due to his physique and some persuasion on Pretzie's part. I have to mention this unintentional hilarious moment. During when Hercules runs away from the men with Pretzie at the docks there is an awful bit of dialogue made funnier with Schwarzenegger's thick accent at the time. The video is below.

During all of these antics Zeus is keeping a close eye on what Hercules is doing and thinks Hercules is making the God's look bad. So he decides to send Mercury down to earth to persuade Hercules to come back. When all attempts fail to bring Hercules back Zeus tells Nemesis to send him to the "infernals of Pluto". Though Juno instead persuades Nemesis to poison Hercules which will strip him of his powers. Hercules then loses his powers just as he is in competition at a strong man event. He fails to lift the weights and Hercules' manager who is tied to the mafia becomes very upset. A huge brawl breaks out and just as Hercules tries to tip huge containers, his powers are restored by Zeus and he condemns Nemesis for her actions.

"My Olympia strikes a pose..."

Hercules then decides to go back to the Heavens as he realizes he has been disobedient to his father Zeus. Strangely he says his last words to Pretzie through a radio and it is obviously not Arnie's voice but the one used for the dub. The film originally had Arnold dubbed on release due to Arnold's thick Austrian accent. The film then ends with Zeus leaving the heavens and going to earth himself.


 

"German Mediabook back."

I also have to point out this so bad it's good fight with the "bear". It has to be seen to be believed.

  

Extras;

A 45 minute documentary unrelated to the film. It goes into Schwarzenegger's domination of Hollywood and rise to fame. A trailer and behind the scenes photos are included too. It would have been fun to have seen Arnold's reaction to this film many years later. though it has been said he has distanced himself from it. We can only wonder why...

2/5 

Picture Quality;

The Blu-ray brings this film to life in true 1080p. The best I have ever seen it and head and shoulders above any of the budget release DVDs released. Compression can be bad at times but other than that the picture has great grain structure and clear picture quality for a late 60s low budget film.

3.5/5 

Audio Quality;

We are graced with two audio options both DTS HD audio 2.0. The original audio track with Schwarzenegger's voice which has great depth and sounds very clear. The other is the original dubbed version which is muffled and has a high pitched noise throughout. I recommend watching it with Schwarzenegger's voice but both options are hilarious.

3/5

This film has been marketed with many different names throughout the years one which I find funny is "Hercules goes bananas". It also has had many great pieces of artwork done to sell itself to the consumer. Many misleading. If you are going in and expecting it to be like Schwarzenegger's Conan epic then you will very disappointed. But if you are looking for a so bad its good film then this film is for you because it works on so many levels. A film guaranteed to make you laugh. I can only recommend it for this quality as it fails at everything else and missing is Arnold's on screen signature charisma and charm which would later be highlighted in 1982's Conan the Barbarian.

 Recommended.

I'm Back! Schwarzenegger review season

Hey everyone i'm back! It's been over a year since my last update but now I have returned to start a new review series. First up will be Schwarzenegger season. I will be going through each and every Schwarzenegger film that Arnie has appeared in as primarily the lead star. Expect the first review to be up tomorrow. 

 

 

Thursday UPDATE

"Two horror Franchises and a few blockbusters arrive."

"I decided to finish up my mainstream horror collection. The US release of the scream trilogy is great, it comes with two amazing in depth documentaries. Unfortunately the UK release of Scream 4 is a Bare bones release."

"The Chucky collection has all of them for the first time in one set. Just recently Chucky returned after the terrible Seed of Chucky. Curse of Chucky was pretty damn good, I would rank it as the 2nd best sequel next to 2. Great set, no new extras but most are ported over form the DVD releases."

"Two blockbusters of last year. Prisoners is one of the best films I have seen from last year, Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal give some of their best performances. Definitely worth a watch, I can see it being part of the Criterion collection in the future. World War Z was notably edited to a PG-13 rating when it hit cinemas, this took most of the blood and gore away from the film. Fortunately the extended cut has fixed that, World War Z is a solid zombie film and one of the best in my opinion since Romero's Land of the dead. There seems to be a lack of practical effects and the film is 80% CGI most of the time which really hits the film hard, still Brad Pitt was pretty good but it was over-hyped like many summer blockbusters"

"Before Raimi did Spider-man he did his own comic book character film which was called Darkman. Sadly it has disappeared from the public eye, but what a great film. The Evil Dead humour is featured here and there and Liam Neeson gives one of his better earlier performances. Conspiracy theory is a strange one, Mel Gibson plays a taxi driver who is obsessed about conspiracy theories, when he actually finds the truth he is in danger. A funny film, not your standard Mel Gibson film but still worth seeing."




Andrew

Friday UPDATE

"Here is what arrived in the past week, some great releases."

"I don't think these films need explaining due to the popularity of them, Al Pacino at his finest. Almost finished my Pacino collection."

"I decided to buy the Italian Blu-ray of Witness due to the UK release being canceled, Harrison Ford in one of his best roles outside of Indiana Jones and Star Wars. I also decided to get the Australian release of The fugitive and it's sequel U.S Marshals, great 90s blockbuster films, the 20th anniversary edition of the fugitive looks great."

"80s classics, Bachelor Party stars a young Tom Hanks who is getting married and goes on a wild Bachelor Party which soon goes out of control. Revenge of the nerds is a great film, often parodied in Family Guy and American Dad it is a tale of nerds vs. jocks. Porky's is well, I don't think it needs to be explained.  Crocodile Dundee and it's sequel arrived this week on Blu-ray for the first time, not impressed with the picture quality though it is better than the DVD."

"The Wolf of Wall street was a fun film, I loved it. Scorsese is back on form, the best film he has done since the departed in my opinion. Red 2 is a blind buy and I have heard mixed things about it but I had to give it a go after seeing the first film."

"Now onto the last batch of films, three cult films. Two from the label Scream Factory and one from Code Red. Night of the comet released by Scream Factory is a great film, watch the trailer to get the feel of what you are going to see, you are either going to love it or hate it. The other two are forgotten 80s slashers, Final exam released by Scream Factory is a slow moving slasher film. A lot of people hate it but it has a great atmosphere and the tension slowly builds through each scene before each kill. The final film is from Code Red and it is Nail Gun Massacre, the it's so bad it's good sort of film. The killers puns, the voice and acting is enough to check this film out, hilarious!"





Andrew

The Beverly Hills Cop Series: Beverly Hills Cop III

"An embarrassment to the series which leaves the original formula for something new and fails miserably. Axel Foley is now in an amusement park..."

Plot;

While Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) and his men attack a chop shop in Detroit he witnesses his inspector get shot dead. Axel then finds out that the man that rented one of the cars had been on vacation at wonder world. Axel then goes back to Beverly Hills to investigate where he meets his good friend Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold). He tells Axel that John Taggart has retired from the force and is now promoted to a higher position in the department.

Axel then goes to Wonder World which is owned by uncle Dave. When Axel gets spotted by security a shootout begins, he is then taken to the head of security Ellis Dewald, Axel recognizes him as his inspector's killer. Billy doesn't believe Axel that Ellis is a killer because he is so involved with the LAPD. Ellis is in fact using Wonder World as a front so that he can counterfeit money, he was at the chop shop to buy blank printing paper to counterfeit with. 

Uncle Dave is then shot by Ellis and he blames Axel for it. Axel gets help from Billy to prove his innocence by going into the theme park. A shootout happens and ends with Ellis dying with his henchmen. Uncle Dave then awards Axel with a new character in his name, Axel Fox.  

Extras;

Just like Beverly Hills Cop II, Paramount has not ported any of the extras over from the DVD releases.

0/5


Picture Quality;

The picture quality is great, a nice layer of grain and colours are strong. A lot of detail which was not in the DVD release is now shown. A great upgrade.

4/5


Audio Quality;

The DTS 5.1 HD audio track is clear and has plenty of bass. The music comes through clearly and dialogue is never muffled.

4/5




The Blu-ray release is very good maybe too good for this film. For the small amount of fans out there for this film, it is worth a purchase. The film is an outcast of the series and a mere shadow of it's former self. Most of the characters have seemingly disappeared and replaced with less interesting ones. The main setting is ridiculous and is literally one big joke. It's so sad to see what John Landis has done to the series and the majority of the fans and Murphy himself have distanced themselves away from this sequel.





Not recommended!





Andrew

The Beverly Hills Cop series: Beverly Hills Cop II

"An above average sequel starring the main cast and under the direction of action legend director Tony Scott, this is a must see."

Plot;


In Beverly Hills Captain Andrew Bogomil (Ronny Cox) Detective Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Sergeant John Taggart (John Ashton) are trying to solve the alphabet crimes, the crimes are mostly robberies which leave behind a letter from the alphabet. There is now a new police chief named Harold Lutz he has a bad attitude towards the members of the police department. When he hears that Billy called in the FBI to solve the case he Suspends Andrew due to Billy being one of his men. 

Chief Lutz then demotes Billy and John to traffic duty, while Andrew is on his way home he is shot and badly injured by Karla Fry. She is the main henchman to Maxwell Dent. When Axel finds out about Andrew being shot he drops his current case and goes straight to Beverly Hills, Billy and John agree to help Axel in anyway they can.

Goodbye Andrew...

Foley soon finds that the robberies have a connection with Maxwell Dent, he visits a gun club to find that the customized bullets used in the robbery are also used in the gun club owned by Dent. Axel Foley asks for the help of Andrew's daughter as she is an insurance agent, Axel tells her to look up Dent's financial dealings. They find out that Maxwell Dent is robbing his own businesses so that he can finance firearms transactions with an arms dealer. Andrew was shot because he was too close to finding out about the truth. 

After Foley foiled a robbery attempt at a bank depot, he tricks Dent's accountant Sidney Bernstein into using his computer and discovers that Dent and Karla are planning to leave the country. Foley then finds out from Andrew's daughter that all of Dent's businesses have had their insurance coverage canceled and are about to go bankrupt except his race track, Axel now thinks that this is his next hit. They arrive too late to stop the robbery and the body of Cain is found in the vault. Lutz then announces to the press that the alphabet crimes have been solved, Foley then notices red mud on the ground. 

How about I put something in that hand...

This then leads Axel, Billy and John to the oilfields that Maxwell owns, this is where Dent is doing his arms deal. A shootout takes place, Axel goes further into the warehouse where Dent bursts out of nowhere in a car, Axel shoots him and the car crashes through the wall and explodes. When the surviving thugs try to run away the cops arrive, Lutz then tries to fire all three of them. The mayor then tells Lutz he is fired because of his attitude towards his men. The Mayor then promotes Andrew to chief, Axel then returns to Detroit after inspector Todd found out what happened in Beverly Hills he tells Axel to get on the first plane over the phone. 

Extras;

Nothing, all the extras seen on the DVD are now gone. 

0/5



Picture Quality;  


The transfer is taken from a dated source which shows heavy grain most of the time but has some great detail in some shots. It is a great upgrade from the DVD and better than most of paramount's other catalog titles. 

3.5/5



Audio Quality;


The 5.1 DTS HD master audio is very clear and the biggest improvement over other releases is the music. the music is now clear and the dialogue can be easily heard.

4/5




Overall it may not be as comedic as the first film but it has a lot of funny moments and some great action scenes. The main cast returns on form and the film seems more polished likely due to it's $20 million budget. A sequel worth watching and the best to date, Murphy is on fire in this one.




Recommended! 






Andrew

A Halloween complete box set has been announced!

"Two box sets have been announced the first box set is just a complete set with all 10 films which also include the terrible remake and it's sequel. The other is a 15 disc set which contains the producers cut of 6 and various television cuts of 1 and 2."

"Here is the product description from Amazon.com on the deluxe edition, it sounds like an amazing package!"

Halloween night - Haddonfield, IL. A young boy butchers his older sister with a kitchen knife. 15 years later, he escapes from a mental institution only to return home and terrorize the town, including babysitter Laurie Strode. Now pursued by Dr. Loomis, the doctor who tried to treat him until he realized that “what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil”. His name is Michael Myers. And so began one of the most iconic horror franchises in history – what producers Moustapha Akkad and Debra Hill, writer/director John Carpenter and stars Jamie Lee Curtis & Donald Pleasence started has spawned 10 feature films and lasted over 35 years. Now, for the first time ever, experience the terror of every Halloween film available together in 1 set! This limited edition deluxe set includes 15 discs jammed with content Halloween fans will love. Brand new, never before seen bonus features including new interviews with cast and crew, commentaries, behind the scenes documentaries, and so much more. Plus, the NEVER BEFORE RELEASED Producer’s Cut of Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers! The set also features both Blu-ray versions of Halloween as well as the Network TV versions of Halloween and Halloween 2. Here it is, the one that started it all – Halloween: The Complete Collection. 

"A great surprise and a must have for Halloween fans, I certainly will be selling my copies and going for this ultimate deluxe release."




Andrew