Blu Tuesday is a weekly column where we review the newest Blu-ray and 4K releases, along with a brief rundown of the included bonus material, to determine whether they’re worth buying, renting or skipping.
Pick of the Week: “Hundreds of Beavers”
I had never heard of Mike Cheslik’s “Hundreds of Beavers” before my local critics group awarded it Best Overlooked Film at our annual awards, but it’s a good thing they did because it’s quickly become one of my favorite films of 2024. A deranged mix of “Looney Tunes” and Charlie Chaplin that is filled to the gills with gags, this low-budget, black-and-white homage to the slapstick silent era is a truly unique moviegoing experience that is so much fun to go into blind that to say any more would spoil it. Though “Hundreds of Beavers” loses some momentum in the latter half due to its bloated runtime — if it was under 90 minutes, it would be absolute perfection — it’s a testament to just how entertaining the movie is that this is its only real criticism. “Hundreds of Beavers” is the kind of film that makes you wish you could erase your memory just so you can watch it for the first time all over again — it’s really that good.
Extras include three audio commentaries (the “Sober Commentary,” the “Drunk Commentary” and the “Trashed Commentary”) by director/co-writer Mike Cheslik, star/co-writer Ryland Brickson Cole Tews and various cast and crew, as well as VFX and sound design breakdowns, deleted scenes, interviews and more. FINAL VERDICT: BUY
Also Out This Week:
“Running on Karma” — Director Johnnie To’s crime thrillers are some of the best around, but his other films don’t work quite as well for me. Case in point: the 2003 genre hybrid “Running on Karma,” which reteams To with frequent collaborator Ka-Fai Wai for one of his strangest movies to date. Though it starts out well enough, especially for a film that could have so easily been derailed by the decision to put Hong Kong legend Andy Lau in a full (and somewhat goofy) muscle suit, it begins to lose focus by the midway point due to its constant shifting between genres. “Running on Karma” doesn’t seem to know what kind of movie it wants to be until it’s too late, and it suffers greatly as a result. Extras include an audio commentary by film historians Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto, as well as an archival making-of featurette, a new interview with Asian Cinema editor-in-chief Gary Bettinson and more. FINAL VERDICT: SKIP
Disclosure: Bullz-Eye was provided a copy of the above titles for review purposes.
