King Of New York [DVD]

Sorry... best title I could come up with.One of these days, I should review a genuine DNR disaster (hey, I hear 'Predator''s going pretty cheap these days). Sadly, Arrow's latest release, 'King of New York', features a visible, well handled grain structure and plenty of detail, meaning I can't complain too much. While medium shots convey a pleasant enough level of fine detail, most close-ups are absolutely striking. Add in a real sense of depth, and Walken's remorseless visage has never looked so unnerving.Colours also impress. Skin tones never look glaringly unnatural, while blood splatters the walls with rich enthusiasm. One scene, set in a dingy nightclub and lit entirely in blue, would be a prime contender for colour bleeding, but the picture remains stable throughout.It's funny... the pasty blacks of 'Demons' came under heavy fire, but Arrow appear to have done a complete 180 here. Deep, dark, inky etc. with nary a compression artefact to be found, 'King' is mightily impressive in this department. I wouldn't completely rule out black crush, but I also wouldn't bother looking for any.Nor should you go searching for edge enhancement, because there's virtually none of that either. This is a clean, natural-looking transfer that easily bests any previous releases.Audio wise, the film's Stereo track is perfect. Strong, clear and precise - it's a faithful presentation of how 'King' was always meant to be heard. One or two lines of dialogue are barely comprehendible, but that's no fault of the disc (and can be easily rectified via the quick application of subtitles).The 5.1 DTS-HD track is... another story, however. I read a few horror stories concerning earlier DVD versions featuring terrible audio, and it seems as though that infamous mix has made a return. It's a mess - the exact opposite of the stereo track, and it's almost as though there's one of those industrial-sized hand dryers you find in public toilets blowing throughout the whole thing. Worryingly, this is the disc's default track, so remember to switch it over before starting the film.But barring the 5.1 misfire, I'd go out on a limb and state that 'King' is by far Arrow's best presentation to date. A pat on the back to all involved, and for the love of all that is cute and fluffy, PLEASE don't mess up 'Zombie Flesh Eaters'.Onto the extra features, and it's almost all about Ferrara. There's a brand new interview with the man himself that runs for almost thirty minutes. This one is particularly revealing. He takes a gruff and sincere look back at a period of filmmaking that clearly doesn't exist anymore. And amidst all the factoids and anecdotes, you can even devise a fatal drinking game around how often Ferrara says "you know".`A Short Film about the Long Career of Abel Ferrara' is a lengthy documentary in which his past collaborators discuss their work with the independent director, while `Abel Ferrara: Not Guilty' is a feature length doco that presents Abel at his most... Ferrariest.Ferrara also pops up on one of the two featured audio commentaries. His chat track is surly to the extreme (telling us outright that he's been paid five thousand dollars to record it), but certainly an entertaining listen (he gets very excited during Steve Buscemi's brief appearances). Meanwhile, the second commentary is a chatty and enjoyable affair with several key crew members.An interview with producer Augusto Caminito is the only other totally Abel-free extra. This is a relaxed account of 'King''s development that reveals its Italian connections, and the often memorable experiences had while working with Ferrara and Walken.Then there're the obligatory trailers, a neat little booklet, and some excellent new artwork by Tom "The Dude Designs" Hodge that looks especially great on this very purple SteelBook edition.VerdictAgain, if we ignore the 5.1 track, this has got to be Arrow's best work. Hardcore fans will be ecstatic when they pop 'King of New York' in, and once done with the film, there's a meaty selection of extras to plough through.It helps that the film is great, too.

Love this film. Good underrated gangster flick. Christopher Walken plays Frank White who comes out of prison to claim what is his in the drug underworld and wipe out the competition . Good cast including Laurence Fishbourne his crazy trigger happy right hand man, Giancarlo Esposito and Steve Buscemi who have little roles and The cops Wesley Snipes, David Caruso and Victor Argo who are determined to take Frank down. Solid movie and great dvd and picture quality. Came on time to.

Not mean at all in fact. Just big hearted and misunderstood - like all of us, really.Halfway through I noticed that, despite all the rave notices he got for this, Christopher Walken's mannerisms and presentation in this film was basically just the same as Christopher Walken's mannerisms and presentation in all his other movies. Don't know why that should strike me as odd, but this movie particularly hinged a lot on the loaded pregnant pauses our hero had to deliver, when you could almost feel the cogs in his brainbox ticking menacingly over, and without that sort of Presence (or Absence, he could just as much be thinking about what to have for tea) there wasn't an awful lot of script or plot. I liked the guy and found him warm and cuddly and wouldn't mind being his buddy, particularly as he always carried around barrowloads of cash and got followed everywhere by a couple of sensational minders - he could trail off into a dreamy brainbox sequence all he wanted, as far as I'd be concerned.It's an old film, so loads of blood and guts, and not a good time to be casually loitering around minding your own business. And I don't think there's anybody left at the end of it all - so the funeral guys would have been happy, if all the wives and kiddies and girlfriends of the deceased few thousand weren't. I just think the cops were sour losers, and wearing bulletproof vests not playing the game at all.