COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

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Re: COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

Postby lhz on 13 Feb 2022, 19:40

Quick words about Cover-Up for which I had the pleasure to discover it for the very the first time in HD transfer after decades of hideous, incorrect ratio, horrible french dubbing through various bootleg editions (the US dvd was the less hideous at the time).
Despite that, I always loved that movie deeply, knowing perfectly it is a minor vehicule from Dolph classics era but I always appreciate the fact that COVER-UP showed us, how early in his career, the will of Dolph to incarnate something different from the traditional action hero or the Frankenstein willness super soldier. Years before his daily-life people role like in JILL RIPS, this attempt never left me insensitive.
The cast supporting Dolph are decent especially due to the always noticeable presence of Lou Gosset Jr plus Susan Berkley get the right tone in his ambiguous relationship with Dolph.

Besides the relatively restreint budget of the movie, a plot sometimes a bit boring or the lack of real action for people who are expecting a more traditional Dolph's action-flick, the film shine like never in HD, the shooting taking place at Israel (very unusual) helping at it.
Manny Coto is clever and very good at shooting Dolph strolling through the burning streets of Tel-Aviv and the scenery has something artsy and very unique at some various moments of the film (I don't even need to mention the loving shower scene of course).
Below 2 screenshots to illustrate some of those feelings :

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We definitely needs some editors releasing it physically in HD to allow COVER-UP to reach his full potential. Of course it would depends of the current state of the movie's rights.
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Re: COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

Postby Jox on 14 Feb 2022, 19:01

Spot-on...

By the way we got to give it to Manny Coto for taking on the helm of the film only a week before filming (after writer and previously-attached director William Tannen (of FLASHPOINT and HERO AND THE TERROR fame) left the project at the eleventh hour...

Coto was only 26 I believe, he had one successful short film under his belt, and was just getting known in Hollywood for having just sold a script for $1 million with had Bruce Willis attached (THE TICKING MAN, never made).
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Re: COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

Postby lhz on 16 Feb 2022, 02:50

Thanks Jox for the usual enlightening anecdotes as I know very few of it for this movie.
Especially that Manny Coto was not the initial director intended !
We got many infos and behind the scenes from other Dolph's classics movies thanks to the various bonus we got from all released blu ray edition.
This one is really a case apart when you compare it to RED SCORPION e.g where we got tons of making-of, booklets, interviews and audio commentaries. I don't even need to mention PUNISHER through your excellent book.

I can't get off my head the need of a physical edition for COVER-UP :mrgreen:
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Re: COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

Postby Jox on 16 Feb 2022, 18:18

During late 1990 and 1991, COVER-UP actually benefited of a good amount of coverage in German and especially French magazines (mostly "Impact" and "Ciné-News") with preview articles, interviews with Dolph and still photographs.

It was less than RED SCORPION and THE PUNISHER but more than 1993 JOSHUA TREE, so aside from UNIVERSAL SOLDIER in between it was the last DL starring vehicle that had this much coverage...

I also managed to catch and tape a French TV interview with Dolph, and since I'd missed some for THE PUNISHER, it was then the first time I'd see him speak in a candid context.
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Re: COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

Postby lhz on 16 Feb 2022, 21:28

I was talking about footages, bonus from nowadays through modern dvd and blu-ray release.
I don't have any doubts about promo and marketing around the movie at the time. (we can still watch those today thanks to your relentless archivist work)
My point was, today, COVER-UP has been completely forgotten by the public (and the editors) compare to other vehicles from Dolph's classic era which has been released several times with good amount of bonus, behind the scenes and so on. Even PENTATHLON got a decent physical HD release.
But strangely for COVER-UP nothing. I hope the recent revitalized hype for Dolph will decide someone to do something about it, cause an availability only through VOD platform with only French dubbing is definitely not enough. :mrgreen:
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Re: COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

Postby JuV on 17 Feb 2022, 00:56

Shout! Released it on VOD, but they're sadly not planning on a physical release at the time (could be that they don't even have the rights for it). Curious if there's any difference between the French and Shout! transfer.
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Re: COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

Postby Jox on 17 Feb 2022, 11:32

lhz wrote:I was talking about footages, bonus from nowadays through modern dvd and blu-ray release.
I don't have any doubts about promo and marketing around the movie at the time. (we can still watch those today thanks to your relentless archivist work)
My point was, today, COVER-UP has been completely forgotten by the public (and the editors) compare to other vehicles from Dolph's classic era which has been released several times with good amount of bonus, behind the scenes and so on. Even PENTATHLON got a decent physical HD release.
But strangely for COVER-UP nothing. I hope the recent revitalized hype for Dolph will decide someone to do something about it, cause an availability only through VOD platform with only French dubbing is definitely not enough. :mrgreen:

Right. There could be hope on the German side, but if both Shout and Metropolitan decided decided to only release it through VOD, I guess they thought it was not commercial enough to sell disc and they'll probably won't do make them, (not mentioning with special features, which also be unlikely for a title like PENTATHLON).

JuV wrote:Shout! Released it on VOD, but they're sadly not planning on a physical release at the time (could be that they don't even have the rights for it). Curious if there's any difference between the French and Shout! transfer.

They most likely do have the video rights including for physical releases. The transfers are the same and it's a very good one.
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Re: COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

Postby Scorpio on 18 Feb 2022, 01:17

In Spain there is a Blu-ray movie distributor (Resen) that would possibly be interested in publishing this title.
As I understand it, the rights to this film are lost in my country, the company that owns the rights closed many years ago, and the distributor I'm talking about takes advantage of this to edit all these titles on Blu-ray.
These editions are not entirely legal, they are edited without rights, but they obtain certificates from the Ministry of Culture and are legally sold by Amazon, eBay or physical stores such as Mediamark or El Corte Inglés.
These editions have nothing to envy to the official editions of the legal distributors of the film, they look and sound very good, it is worth buying them.
Honestly, if it weren't for them, in Spain we would never enjoy all these titles in HD quality, many of them didn't even make it to DVD. It's the same distributor that released the new steelbook edition of "Litle Tokyo" a few months ago, and I'm trying to convince them to also release a similar edition of "Joshua Tree", my favorite Dolph movie. :D
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Re: COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

Postby Jox on 18 Feb 2022, 11:36

Scorpio wrote:These editions are not entirely legal, they are edited without rights, but they obtain certificates from the Ministry of Culture and are legally sold by Amazon, eBay or physical stores such as Mediamark or El Corte Inglés.

I still don't understand how those unauthorised Spanish editions keep coming out and nobody is suing them (although sure there is no information on who makes them on the cover or the discs). For instance SHOWDOWN is owned by Warner Bros worldwide (so it's not like no one owns it) and they're not the kind to let go easy, if anybody did this in France they'd be on for a lawsuit in no time...
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Re: COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

Postby Scorpio on 18 Feb 2022, 12:21

I think this happens because the big distributors (Warner, Universal, etc.) are no longer interested in this type of title, for them selling 2,000 or 3,000 copies of a title does not imply any motivation, and the fact that other companies benefit from them they do not care.
Here in Spain this has been happening for several years, and the truth is that we fans have to thank them, because if it weren't for them, we would never be able to enjoy many of our favorite movies in HD quality.
Movies like "Men of War" or "Joshua Tree", for example, were only released in Spain many years ago on VHS, they were never released on DvD, and now thanks to them we can enjoy them on Blu-Ray.
Honestly, it's a shame, I would love to be able to buy an official edition from Warner, Universal, etc... But it's very obvious that these companies have no interest in editing these films in my country.
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Re: COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

Postby lhz on 18 Feb 2022, 21:24

Scorpio wrote:Honestly, it's a shame, I would love to be able to buy an official edition from Warner, Universal, etc... But it's very obvious that these companies have no interest in editing these films in my country.

I don't follow you on this one for the Warner Bros releases.
We can genuinely criticize them about the lack of bonus on their edition or the questionable liberty they take regarding the respect of the original photography colors on their transfer.
But outside of that there is nothing retaining you from buying it as a Spanish. Both MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE and SHOWDOWN are Region Free. MOTU got the Spanish subtitles and SHOWDOWN got only the English subs, but if you can post here in English I have no doubts you can understand the subtitles on that movie perfectly. :wink:

Is the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE Spanish edition a bootleg or an official one ?

Anyway it is an interesting debate.
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Re: COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

Postby Scorpio on 21 Feb 2022, 15:50

No, actually I don't understand English 100%, I do defend myself, but on many occasions I need the help of a translator to be able to understand certain things or express myself better.
For this reason, I always prefer an edition published in my country with Spanish dubbing, or failing that, a foreign edition that contains at least subtitles in Spanish.
These pirate editions that I am talking about, only differ in the matter of being editions with or without rights, but what is the disc itself, they are exactly the same as any official edition, and honestly, it is very difficult to resist to them since they give us the possibility of being able to see the films dubbed in Spanish and in HD quality.
In my country this is a very controversial topic, there are many people who are in favor, but also many people who are against it, and on many occasions great discussions take place in forums dedicated to the world of films in physical format.
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Re: COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

Postby Jox on 23 Mar 2022, 22:37

Korean newspaper ads

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Re: COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

Postby Jox on 28 Mar 2022, 19:56

Hungarian VHS cover :shock:

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Re: COVER-UP (Manny Coto, 1990)

Postby Jox on 15 Apr 2022, 13:28

US home video promo, courtesy of Krom

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