Then there are film such as the Lord of the Rings Trilogy with extended editions that go on and on with seemingly endless battle sequences which were too long as it was in the theatrical cut and obnoxiously too long in the extended cut. Sitting there, I have to guess that they figured that since we went to the lengths to create this footage in the first place, we might as well let the world see it. Again that college essay mind set at work. You know, since I had to learn this stuff for the exam, I will at least show you that I did. I wish I could guess at what they were thinking when they put the extended cut of Hall Pass together, but I don’t think that anyone can figure that out, not even the filmmakers themselves. Not even the college essay theory can explain this mess.

Film  

Hall Pass, whether the theatrical cut or the Enlarged Edition (I can hear Bevis and Butthead laughing now in the background at that one) is an awful film. Hall Pass is a stupid and crass film, with the enlarged edition even more so.

The film stars Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis as two 30ish husbands who can seem to get sex off their minds. Their lovely wives who frankly deserve better ( played by Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate) decide to give their husbands hall passes. The halls pass is a week off from their marriage, where they can seek out sex with other women to get it out of their systems so they can return and focus their attentions on their wives. The wives leave for Cape Cod for a week of relaxation while their men go crazy. However, while on Cape Cod, the wives turn out to have better luck than the husbands in the extra curricular department.

The film is like a bad Saturday Night Live sketch extended from 5 minutes to two hours. It is devoid of anything really funny and instead is a crass and crude as you can get. Hall Pass is a bad film, embarrassingly bad, and one that you are better off skipping in its entirety.

Video  

The best thing that I can say about the video presentation here is that it is better than the film. It is a solid is unspectacular looking film with a nice natural looking color palette with nice levels of detail and decent blacks. Film grain is heavy however so if you don’t like film grain and prefer you films as clean as computer animation, Hall Pass will not be your cup of tea and really shouldn’t be anyway, grain or no grain. The film has good depth and clarity but far from reference quality. The film itself is in pristine quality and I was not able to detect any obvious errors with the encoding of the film.

Audio  

I was not expecting a reference audio presentation when I sat down to watch the film. However, even so, I was disappointed with the audio here. The film is a bit front heavy as one would expect with a comedy. While the surrounds do kick on occasion, most of the action remains centered in the front of the room. The real issues I had with the audio here is with the overall fidelity. I found the sound to be too thin and bright for my tastes, a bit on the shrill side, more like bad lossy audio rather that a DTS HD Master Audio track. The audio is just another reason to pass on this release.

Special Features  

There are two extras included with this release, consisting of an “outrageously funny” additional scene as well as a “hilarious” gag reel. I found neither to be either outrageously funny or hilarious. When you have to say you are outrageously funny or hilarious, this is usually a sure sign that you aren’t. Hall Pass is a combo pack release which contains a DVD copy of the film along with a digital copy, so you can take this mess of a film with you.

Final Thoughts  

Simply put, Hall Pass is a terrible film, one that I found to be crude and crass and at times relentlessly so. The audio is weak and the video just good with meager extras to boot. In short, there is really nothing here to recommend about this release. I suggest that you skip this one entirely.

Film  

For the most part, I enjoyed Unknown, at least up until the end, where the film really revealed itself for what it was, the film Total Recall, set in Berlin rather than on Mars, with Liam Neeson in the lead role rather than the former Governor of California.

Liam Neeson is Dr. Martin Harris, who travels to Berlin for a conference with his wife (January Jones). When checking into the hotel, Dr. Harris realizes that he left his briefcase at the airport and he hails a cab to take him back to the airport. On the way back, his cab is involved in an accident and flies off a bridge into the river. He is knocked unconscious in the accident and is rescued from drowning by the cab driver, played by Diane Kruger.

Dr. Harris awakens in the hospital a few days later and realizes his is missing the conference. Against the advice of his doctor, he returns to the hotel only to discover that his wife does not recognize him and that there is another man in the role of Dr. Martin Harris. He spends the rest of the film trying to prove that he is who he claims to be during which there are several attempts on his life. In the later part of the film, his true identity is revealed to him and the real purpose for his visit to Berlin.

If you haven’t already seen Total Recall, you will no doubt really enjoy this film as it does really draw you in and has some real suspense. If you have already seen Total Recall, you will really be disturbed by the last section of the film when you realize just what a remake of Total Recall Unknown really is. Are there no really new original ideas left in Hollywood? Rated as a rental only.

Video  

All in all, this is a fine encode . The film features a rather cool blueish appearance which is becoming all too common in films these days and is a trend that I can really do without. Most of the film takes place either at night or in dimly lit interiors. Nevertheless, the film maintains a excellent level of clarity, detail and depth throughout the film. Black are deep and inky with excellent shadow detail. The film features well saturated colors and is free of digital noise that can plaque dark looking films. While I could do without the overly stylized color scheme, the encode boasts excellent levels of detail and clarity and is free any obvious technical errors, including digital noise reduction or edge enhancement.

Audio  

I found the DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 audio track to be every bit as good as the video presentation. The film features active and at times very aggressive use of the surround speakers to create a nice immersive sound field during the entire film. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the sound mix. Overall fidelity is quite good as is the placement of the various sound effects within the sound field. Bass is deep and tight and dynamics are excellent as well. In short, this is a fine sounding film, whose sound design is every bit as good as the visuals, perhaps even a tad better.

Special Features  

The extras are about as sparse as they come and consist of two brief featurettes, both of which are presented in HD. The first is Liam Neeson: Known Action Hero and the second Unknown: What is Known? The first is rather self-explanatory and takes a look at Liam Neeson’s role in the film. The latter is a brief behind the scenes look at the laming of the film and both feature interviews with the cast and crew. Most of the material in both featurettes is rather duplicative, which much of the latter appearing in the former. The release also includes a second disc containing a DVD and digital copies of the film.

Final Thoughts  

While there is a lot to like about Unknown, the problem is that the film is essentially a remake of Total Recall with the same basic plot line in a very different setting. I guess there is little new original material left to make out there in Hollywood or so it would seem by the releases in the past few years. It seems that most of the new faire consist of nothing more than remakes, sequels and more comic book super heroes. Rated as a rental only.

Film

Time shifts back and forth as the story of a filmmaker who has been struck blind during a car accident is told on both sides of said accident. As well, there is focus on another story, that of a young woman who must act outside of her character in order to advance herself in life, help her ailing father, as well as literally perform as a film actress who is the object of effective for both a film producer and the director (who happens to be the man who is eventually struck blind).

Along with being a sexually charged thriller, this film is also a love note to film noirs of yesteryear plus some touches of Hitchcock (and any debatable connections therein). The tension is boosted by very loud strings in the score and the melodrama is running on all cylinders.

What I found to be the most intriguing element of this film, as well as the most unnerving, was its use of the “Male Gaze.” Laura Mulvey’s essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” writes extensively on the Male Gaze, and the many forms it can take within cinema. A great amount of this can be applied to Broken Embraces, and I will touch on some of that now. This film opens with a blind man seducing a young woman who volunteered to help him read the newspaper. The audience is meant to adopt a male gaze in this instant, and yet it is that of a man who literally cannot see. Perhaps we are meant to fill in for his lack of vision as he acts out a male fantasy, and the audience receives no real context until after the fact. Nevertheless, the film’s narrative continues to lionize this older man, and in fact, both of the older male, main characters (the producer and director of the film within the film), by placing stunning women into their beds and eliminating all young male competition by making them all either homosexuals by confession or by implied, suggestive actions (groping each other in maybe/maybe not playful manners). As Mulvey says in her essay “The determining gaze projects its fantasy on to the female figure which is stylized accordingly.” More often then not, Penelope Cruz, who plays the hopefully main actress, is the subject of these fantasies. A telltale scene would be when the director plcaes a cavalcade wigs onto Cruz’s head while he takes pictures of her reflections. His “Stylizing” of this fantasy is manifested in his altering her looks to suit his visual desires. She is not even allowed to look at him directly in this case, only through the reflection of her mirror can she see who is watching her.

During the entire film, all eyes, and lenses, are on Cruz. Lenses indeed, as the male gaze of the older men (the filmmakers) is further reinforced by the fact that both spend every possible moment either watching Cruz or filming her (I remind you of the just mentioned picture taking/wig scene). The film within the film is a major part of this, but more pertinent is the fact that Cruz is being spied on by her lover’s son, who films her every move for the sake of his father. The son’s gaze is non-sexual as he is a homosexual with no predatory attractions to Cruz’s character, but his lens becomes the gaze of his father who does indeed lust after Cruz, and wished to control her life as well. All of the lenses in the film are part of a Male Gaze, thus the lenses filming Broken Embraces become likewise. Blindess, as a theme, only becomes another of the constant reminders in this film that we are seeing everything through the eyes of an older male fantasy.

The car accident is revealed at the end of the second act, and the act that remains is a series of secrets being exposed at a somewhat uninterested pace. By then, we are invested in these characters, but most all the true action halts as there is no more situational tension, just conversations.

Some relationships die, others grow closer. The film within the film is a bomb but is being mended for a re-release as a cathartic act by the director. There is a very definite arc the story takes for the blind filmmaker where a tragic amount of loss is rectified with a sizable amount of personal gain. With the aforementioned failure to maintain interest in the third act, it is only this arc that we have to cling to by the end, and just barely at that.

Video

Widescreen 2.35:1. The picture quality has its greatest clarity during the closeups. A slight haze finds its way into some of the wider shots, but nothing that was all too distracting.
The bright colours of the film within the film are esspecially vibrant, nearly enough to burn forever in your retinas.

Audio

Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and French 5.1 Dolby Surround are the two tracks available. I had mentioned the strings being very prominent in the score, and the soundtrack does a very fine job of making their presense more than felt…almost rattling. You will feel the music in your core and the dialogue sounds very fresh. A nice job.

Subtitles available in English and French.

Special Features

The Cannibalistic Councilor: A short film made from the film within the feature film (make sense?). This is a monologue about promiscuity and indulgence that is of a completely silly and upbeat tone, filled with vibrant colours and plenty of cocaine. A totally contrast to the feature film. Carmen Machi does do a great job with her frantic, comic delivery.

Deleted Scenes: Three scenes that are plenty interesting for those that have just finished watching the film, particularly the emotions within the blind restaurant scene, but most likely cut for time purposes, what with Broken Embraces already clocking in at over two hours long.

Trailers: For this and other films by the same company.

Pedro Directs Penelope: An interesting split-screen view of Pedro Almodovar barking the subtext at Penelope Cruz while she is shooting reaction shots to another actresses’ speech. Funny at points but odd to watch for any person who believes that an actor should be trusted with their own research of the subtext and might be turned off by Perdo’s puppeteering.

Variety Q&A with Penelope Cruz: A set of standard issue questions lobbed at Cruz, and she answers them very politely.

On the Red Carpet: The New York Film Festival Closing Night: A couple clips of red carpet interviews (read: fluffy, easy to answer questions).

Final Thoughts

This melodrama was well-executed enough by the actors. Pedro Almodovar, as both writer and director, could have used a little more discipline and perhaps placed a bit too much of his personality into this piece to make it easier to trim it down all stages of production.

Film

The editing style of the opening has shots and scenes crashing against each other with non-diegetic sound f/x of metal and explosions, attempting to make the proceeding life story all the more intense to witness. What follows that is not so much an explosive tale, but more a cavalcade of weak pop songs that do not have the strength to carry the film alone so they are separated by Bieber being smug as a young celebrity, him being a brat in his pre-fame days, and far too many shirtless shots for my comfort.

There are two stories being told in this film. The first being the biography of Bieber, the other a day by day countdown to his sold out show at Madison Square Garden. I can forgive much of Bieber’s aforementioned smugness and brattiness to him being an adolescent who has been launched into super stardom. I even managed to alter my opinion of him slightly when I saw that he is actually capable behind a drum kit. Beyond that, this is a film solely for one of his squealing fans and I am not a part of that flock.

Video

Widescreen 1.78:1. Despite having to fight against aged home videos and a fleet of stage lights, the picture quality comes off very well. The only traces of fuzziness are backgrounds during the concert scenes or the expected haze of showing a cheaply shot youtube video on an HD screen. Beyond that, Justin’s heavily tailored image is clear.

Audio

English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio as well as 5.1 Dolby Surround in French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Oh my, how I am forcibly immersed into the constant screams of his fans. Being a concert film, the sound is always crucial and all of Bieber’s mediocre pop tunes come through with plenty of clarity, as well as the similar mediocrity of guests Usher, Miley Cyrus and the like.

Subtitles available in English,French, Spanish and Portuguese

Special Features

Concert Sance off: Essentially an extended scene. A full look at Beiber’s dance crew getting a chance to demonstrate their dance moves. Entertaining enough, and it is one of the few tings on this disc that doesn’t not incessantly praise Bieber.

Favorite Girl: The complete ballad where Bieber starts off suspending over the crowd in a giant metal heart.

R.I.P Hair Flip: Bieber’s haircut was just about as famous as himself. This documents said haircut being removed, filmed on what might have been a phone camera.

Giving Back: Another extended scene from when two of his handlers hand out tickets to random fans. A very nice gesture and great way to get screaming/crying girls on camera, and from the point of view of the filmmakers, it pays for itself as far as that is concerned since they want to display as much Bieber hysteria as possible.

DVD copy of the film.

Digital Copy of the film.

BD-Live

Final Thoughts

Young people have been pre-sold on this formula for a long time. This film is more polished than his image, and said image is manufactrued to the point that it is hardly decipherable from the previous pop sensation, nor the one that will follow in the next two years or less.

Film

Before the opening credits (themselves, one of the few proper homages to the original show) we are served up an intense but oddball scene of a man wearing an enormous collar being decapitated by a projectile buzzsaw blade. From there, the villains taught tanks, giant spiders and various other contraptions. So yes, it would seem that the gadgets, that were a trademark of the TV show, remain but their conception is much more vast as they take on a monstrous steampunk designs, again…only adding to the bloating.

Will Smith does seem to be relying a bit too much on his comic charm as the film dedicates more time to making his character appear cool than it does in developing the plot. So while Smith gets to charm ladies, tilt his black hat and shoot roomfuls of badguys, hihgly skilled thespians Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branaugh are left to watch their creditability get crushed by the explosive budget of a Barry Sonnenfeld film. As well, Salma Hayek makes for the most token character I have seen in recent memory. She literally adds nothing to the plot and her entire performance can be summed up in a peekaboo shot of her bum while Kline and Smith sit around and stare.

Not to say that there isn’t any fun to be had. The stunts are big, the sets and costumes are heavily detailed, and a couple of tiny chuckles snuck into the mostly throwaway dialogue. This Blu-ray will serve well as a visually cluttered piece of time-killing entertainment for those who need something that will not challenge them as they watch.

Video

Widescreen 1.85:1. The picture quality is easily the best part of this release. Both the explosions and the Western sun have a lustrous orange glow, Smith’s ULTRA cool black hat has no signs of fading, and Hayek’s bottom is…well, less of a gentleman might say something crass about how defined it is in HD…but not me, no sir.

Audio

The lone track is 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio in English as well as 5.1 Dolby Surround in French and Spanish. The banter, as often banal as it is can be, comes through clear as a bell in the frontmost speakers while a nice mix of steel spurs on wood flooring combined with an expensive sounding score play equally clear in the surrounding speakers without overpowering anything. It’s in video and audio quality where big budget films get a chance to redeem themselves and this film makes for a fine delivery.

Subtitles available in English, French and Spanish.

Special Features

Music Videos:

• Wild Wild West by Will Smith featuring Dru Hill and Kool Moe Dee: Like Sonnenfeld’s Men in Black before it, Will Smith gets to record the title track to the film. This time scooping another riff from Stevie Wonder. This video is a the cinematic sort that would fit right into Michael Jackson’s catalogue. The song frequently stops as we get a story of Smith saving Salma Hayek from his arch-nemesis (Kenneth Branaugh saves a little face by not actually appearing in this). The budget to make this may have been a fraction of the feature film’s, but its still thousands more than your average video has to spend.

• Making the Wild Wild West Video: THAT’S a fine sign that you’ve made a big budget music video, when it gets it’s own mini-documentary.

• Bailamos by Enrique Iglesias: This too tries to be a bit of a cinematic music video, but falls on its face as the sort-of story of Iglesias being a wanted man dissolves to make way for dancers (complete in modern clothing, exploding the Wild West setting) and Iglesias’ love-lorn pouts to the camera. I watched this at 1.5 speed and it turned into a pretty neat dance tune…honestly.

Behind the Film:

• Wardrobes of the West: The cosutmers did do a lot of research and placed a lot of effort into making a rich mix of historic garments, and modern tributes to the main characters’ fatigues. A worthy tribute to them and their efforts.

• Good Guy’s Gadgets: A mix of character and gizmo profiles, focusing on our heroes. Decently entertaining if you’re into the film.

• Loveless Ladies: Interview with the models/actresses who played the main villain’s hench(wo)men. They are charming ladies who had decent performances in the film. Greatly outshined the models who tried to be badguys in some other big budget romp cough see my Taxi review cough cough*

• Evil Devices: The villlainous contraptions where almost entirely huge mixtrues of CG and practical effects. Each took teams of people to create. This is one of the more interesting featurettes as we get to see some very creative people at work.

Commentary by Barry Sonnenfeld: Oh my, Barry sounds embarrassed during this track. The comments he makes are very infrequent, so fans need not bother with it. But if you’re looking for some ironic fun, take a listen to Sonnenfeld opening criticizing this film, and offer tiny details, all the way through film and the ending credits.

HBO First Look: It’s a Whole New West: 15-minutes of redundant preview footage if you’ve watched the movie itself. Poor Salma Hayek has to grit her teeth through an embarrass intro bit…just avoid this feature.

Final Thoughts

The film might not be up to par, but this Blu-ray certainly offers a lot for any potential fan out there. Not so horrible that you need to run away from it, so if you find this at a decent price you could do a lot worse.

Film  

I Am Number Four is produced by the aforementioned Michael Bay and is directed by D.J. Caruso. It is based on the young adult novel of the same name by Pittacus Lore. The crux of the story is interstellar in nature. It seems that race of bad guys, The Mogadorians, hop from planet to planet, taking them over, exploiting their resources and in the process, wiping out the inhabitants (wasn’t that the plot of Independence Day?). In this case, they have already ravaged the planet Lorien. We don’t really know much about that planet other than the nine special ones who were helped to flee the plant along with their individual protectors, who have all made their way to Earth.

It seems that these nine special ones have incredible supernatural powers, even if they have yet to discover them. Bad news for the Earth though, as the Mogadorians have discovered that they are hiding out on the Earth. However, given the Lorien’s special powers, the Mogodorians have to eliminate all of the Loriens on Earth before colonizing the planet as the Loriens have the power to not only protect the Earth but destroy the Mogadorians. The Mogadorians need to strike quickly before the Loriens discover and develop their special powers, and band together to challenge them. This is where we find things when the film begins.

The Mogadorians have killed the first three of the Loriens and are stalking number 4. His protector, Henri (Timothy Oliphant), moves Number 4, John (Alex Pettyfer), who the Mogadorians have tracked to Florida. They move to Paradise, Ohio, where John enrolls in high school, and meets the alluring Sarah (Dianna Agron). However, the Mogadorians, discover his location and move in for the kill, endangering not only John’s life, but that of Henri, Sarah and the residents of Paradise. Will he survive? Will they all survive? Will someone come in at the end to help rescue them all? Will there be a sequel? I will let you watch the film for yourself to decide.

While D.J. Caruso of Disturbia fame is at the helm here, the film has all of the typical earmarks of a Michael Bay production, all action , little plot or meaningful dialogue and plenty of explosions and destruction. It would be nice to know more about the planet Lorien, why its residents look fully human and just how they made their way to the Earth, rather than take the easy way out with nothing but action with some puppy love thrown in. While there is plenty of potential here in this material, it was not explored very well here at all. Perhaps it will be in the sequel, although I am not holding my breath. If you are looking for a rather simple, fast paced, no brainer action film, give I Am Number Four a look. If you are looking for something with a great script and incredible, check out The King’s Speech instead. You will be glad you did. Rated as a rental only.

Video  

There is certainly a lot to love about the video quality on this release. The film certainly features a bright, bold and well saturated color palette although the skin tones are a bit too orange or gold for my tastes. For the most part black levels are outstanding. The level of detail here is exceptional and is about as good as it gets on Blu-ray. Clarity and depth are outstanding as well.

The only real issues I have with the video here is a bit of black crush and some lighter blacks near the very end of the film during, especially during the battle sequence in the interior of the high school. During most of the film, there is little in the way of shadow detail, which is most notable during the dimly lit interior sequences during the basement sequence where Henri is held captiveheld and during the haunted house sequence at the Paradise Halloween Scare festival.

While there is some video noise present during the most dimly lit scenes, it is kept to a minimum and is not much of a distraction. Other than this noise and the issue of black crush and some minor black level issues at the end of the film, this is a fine looking film and is an encode that should more than please fans of the film.

Audio  

Even without much in the way of subtly, this is one fine sounding film. It features a shall we say “robust” audio presentation with balls to the wall bass and dynamics that is of reference quality. While it can be a bit overwhelming at times, especially during the final battle sequence, the audio here is superb and will given your home theater rig, regardless of its cost or complexity, quite a workout. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the sound mix. Despite the cacophony, the dialogue track never gets lost in the mix. The surrounds are engaged very aggressively during the entire film, providing a totally immersive sound experience. All of the various sound and panning effects were placed perfectly in the sound field and they move seamlessly from speaker to speaker, from side to side and from front to back.

The overall fidelity of the sound is superb, sounding smooth and warm, even at rather high volume levels. If you want to listen at high volumes levels, be forewarned that your sub may be blown into the next room during the fight sequence at the high school football field. The audio track is certainly more than up to the task of providing a robust and dynamic home theater experience that will simply thrill fans of the film and of home theater in general, even if the plot. lacks the same degree of robustness, if you get my drift.

Special Features  

I Am Number Four is available in a three disc combo pack, which includes, in addition to the Blu-ray copy of the film, separate DVD and digital copies of the film. I will say that the extras included here are rather sparse, consisting of a blooper reel, 6 deleted scenes with introductions by D.J. Caruso as well as a featurette focusing on the character of Number Six, played in the film by Teresa Palmer. While the film focus on Teresa Palmer, her training for the role and how her scenes were filmed, the featurette does also feature interviews with D.J. Caruso and members of the cast. The blooper reel is rather pedestrian and nothing more than a bit of filler, given how sparse the extras are here. There is one other deleted scene entitled “Power Prank” that is included with the digital download of the film.

Final Thoughts  

While long on quality audio and video presentations, I Am Number Four is short on just about everything else and most importantly plot, dialogue and character development. In short, a typical Michael Bay film. Rated as a rental only, if just for the sensational audio presentation.

Film

The Jackass boys are back and I had a chance to see this film with some friends in theatres in 3D. To prevent burying the lead, if you’re interested in purchasing this film… do it now, the film was converted to 3D after the fact and it simply didn’t need to be… The only thing that popped out was the staged gimmicky opening scene that consists of a series of airbags and confetti going off, but to really justify paying a premium price for a 3D Blu-ray we deserve a bit more.

As for the film itself, it’s hard to critique. It’s essentially a series of clips that either consist of practical jokes, hidden camera style pranks, and footage of self-mutilation. It’s definitely catering to a specific market and it’s definitely not a film that’s fun for the whole family.

The funniest moments for me were the uses of super slow-mo camera as they pulled pranks on people by throwing water in their faces. Honestly though this sort of thing can be seen for free by watching Time Warp on the Discovery Channel. However the film quickly begins to go too far with a barrage of disgusting gag reflex testing stunts that I can’t mention here. Honestly you know if you’re going to like this film, just don’t expect the same quality compared to the first two films. Things feel a bit stale and “bottom of the barrel” and even with a few funny parts, I really just found myself checking my watch for most of it.

Video

Jackass 3’s video is displayed using the mpeg-4 AVC codec. The vide o quality is hit and miss due to the fact that we’re seeing the events from a bunch of cameras of varying qualities. The main cameras used are really high quality high definition cameras that do a great job providing sharp and clean footage.

The colors are bright and skin tones come through nicely, however there is some blown out highlights once in a while which aren’t rare for footage that comes from a video source. The nice thing about the video cams used is the fact that they produce details very nicely and the details are sharp, most notably skin texture.

Audio

Jackass 3’s audio comes at using the DTS-HD Master 5.1 audio. The score and foley is pumped up to help make up for the lack of true surround sound and although we’re given some nice centered dialogue there’s some surprisingly pieces that have been mixed to make use of all of your speakers. However these scenes are few and far between and are most noticeable in the opening and closing credit scenes which are usually the most elaborate.

For most of the film we’re given a clean and front heavy mix but it’s spiced with some nice uses of LFE and surrounds that help out the fairly plain mix.

Special Features

Jackass 3 has a small amount of extras, but they’re honestly the best possible extras for the subject matter. Deleted scenes and outtakes are pretty much just more of the movie to watch, so that’s always good. There’s also an “MTV: Making of” featurette which is as in depth as I would ever be interested in the film. Although it is only 3 extras, would you really want a commentary track?

Final Thoughts

Albeit the film doesn’t really stand out as a Blu-ray essential, the film does provide some decent content when good quality high definition cameras are used. However with hit and mix audio and video presentation, the film isn’t anything special but if you’re a fan then it may be worthwhile to await the inevitable 3D release of the film if that is something you’re into.

Film

Jimmy Fallon took a break from smirking his way through SNL sketches to play an overeager cop who has zero skills behind the wheel of a car. Several expensive props destroyed later, he literally runs into a cab operated by an aspiring Nascar racer, played by a nauseatingly sassy Queen Latifah. The two become hap-hazard partners in a scheme to stop a band of (sigh) Brazilian models who have decided to rob banks.

The films kicks off with an immediate overdose of trying-to-be-cool scenarios, such as Queen Latifah performing completely improbable stunts on a messenger bike through the streets of New York. This is followed by her car transforming like the Gadget Mobile so she can place lives in danger on the road and shatter any and all traffic safety laws, all for the sake of lookin’ cool. Throughout the film, this “cool” attitude remains and makes for a complete disconnection with not only the audience, but with the city of New York. This film acts like it has an intimate understanding and love of NYC but does nothing to serve that feeling by having caricature heroes chasing cartoonishly absurd villains.

Yes, Gisele and the other models as the bank robbers, how could I get through this review without addressing their talents? Gisele’s acting skills are confined to her making the odd kissy face. Beyond that, she has to rip off her clothes and/or molest another woman in order to grab your attention and remind you that she is more than just a gun-toting mannequin in this film.

Taxi is simply a gigantic waste of stunt people and a sizable budget. All the gags fall flat (I mean, they even rip off a laughing gas gag from Lethal Weapon 4…the fourth Lethal Weapon sequel for crying out loud! And even then LW4 stole it from several others, up to and including the Simpsons), and the cast is devoid of charm.

Video

Widescreen 2.35:1. There are a lot of cars in this film, and they all looked freshly washed under the HD treatment. As good as the HD is for this release, it causes some problems as some dated CG and green screen graphics become more apparent when placed amongst ultra-clean footage of real people and places. A hazard of clarity.

AVC runs at an acceptable 22 MBPS.

Audio

This disc is absolutely loaded with audio options. Dolby Digital 5.1 in English, French (both Quebec and Parisian), Spanish (Stereo only, Castellano is 5.1)), German, Italian, Czech and Turkish. Subtitles are also offered for the same languages just mentioned, plus additional texts for Korea, Netherlands and possibly others, I was losing track of them all after a while. Also included are dubbed director commentary tracks in Spanish, French and German. Never mind the huge budget depressing me, now I’m imaging how many countries are being distributed this schlock.

My subjective criticisms of the film’s quality aside, this is a well treated soundtrack. The music is booming when it wants to be obvious and the dialogue is clear enough so that not a single failed joke is missed (sorry, obviously I cannot just let it go).

Special Features

Director Commentary: Tim Story uses the word “fun” to describe his reasoning (or his excuse) for everything, be it the irrational stunts, the casting of models whose acting talents resemble Oak, the overblown set pieces and all the other junk that he tries to justify. On top of this, he his bland speaking voice has no presence. I cannot fathom him having any sort of authority on a major movie set. I am baffled.

The Meter’s Runnin’ Making Of Featurette: This mostly consists of Jimmy Fallon mugging for the camera. Another waste of time.

Lights, Camera, Blue Screen: A remedial explanation of how Blue Screen effects work that would be better left as a feature on a Star Wars DVD, or at least hosted by someone with more than one facial expression.

Tour Guide: Jimmy Fallon: Fallon’s mugging of the camera obviously worked as he leads a boring tour through the studio set. If you watch it in fast forward, it hurts less.

Comedy Central’s Reel Comedy: Taxi: Two of the stars of Reno 911 do a profile/sketch about the film in what is the ONLY funny thing on this disc. These two know how to improvise and manage to spark a little something from Latifah too. But even this gets old fast when you realize what film they are talking about.

Beautiful Criminals: A musical montage compiling nothing but footage of the models. As boring as it is, it could easily replace the film in my books…and I don’t mean that in a misogynist, hound dog sort of way…I just think it has a better plot.

Deleted Scenes: I could not sit through this even though it lasts less than 5 minutes (I think). Each is worse than anything left in the film…and that is a VERY harsh insult.

Final Thoughts

There must be some sort of irony in how the main character is trying so desperately to win back his credibility on the police force while Jimmy Fallon explodes any remaining credibility he had while portraying him. Bleh. Steer clear of this one (see that embarassing pun I just made? THAT was wittering than anything this film provided).

Film 

Inspired by his loving father, played by Ray Liotta who might have been cast purely to help the audience parallel this film with character arcs in Goodfellas, George dedicates his life to never being poor. Such inspiration leads him to California and into the lap of a drug-dealing opportunity. Not wanting to take any chances, as far as his finances are concerned, he wants to shoot for something bigger than just collecting dollars from the free spirits roaming the beach. He first starts up by smuggling dope to the East by way of his flight attendant girlfriend, and eventually escalates it to flying product from Mexico to the US himself. This drug trafficking evolves from marijuana to cocaine, and the dollars he rakes in convert from thousands to millions at the same time.

George truly is meant to be an anti-hero. We cannot fully sympathize with him when he faces the legal ramifications of his actions, and yet we develop a liking for him. Perhaps Johnny Depp’s charismatic performance was doing us a disservice in this sense, but the film does do a lot to paint George in a certain light. In some ways, he wanted to “do right” for his daughter, but that can also just be seen as an Act Three revelation for him, in terms of cinematic character composition. By the time he is day-dreaming about his daughter, and the final frame dedicated to a real-life shot of George in jail, we are almost forgetting the hedonistic (if not selfish) heights he took his life. He was a drug-dealer who was responsible for corrupting many lives, either through direct contact or by way of the products he smuggled into the US from Colombia, which in turn supported the blood-thirsty Pablo Escobar. If nothing else, this film demonstrates how charm can gloss over many a things but we must be disciplined to remember that a crime is a crime, no matter whose smile is in front of it (but try and tell that to the thousands of kids who have Scarface posters hanging on their walls).

Demme’s composition of this film seems to be a love letter to his favourite films and filmmakers of the late 70s and 80s. Some references are clearer than others, such as borrowing a quote from Jaws, while others are artfully hidden in the staging of some shots (many an ode to Coppola in that vein), or how the camera doesn’t so much film its subject, but pursues them the way that Scorsese’s might (think of the longer shots, without cuts, in Goodfellas, for a prime example of what I mean).

The musical score is a bid obvious and overbearing at times, especially when silence would have sufficed for a scene. A perfect example is how the tension of when George confronts his former partner at his Colombian mansion was plenty to hook us into the moment, but the score rises to an almost distracting level. Demme had such a stellar cast in both the leading and supporting roles that he really should have trusted them to carry a scene when the score seems to be trying to unnecessarily pick up the slack.

Overall, this film remains fascinating throughout. Sometimes things arise so casually that you find yourself forgetting just how immense the character’s actions are, never mind their repercussions. A heavy hitting combo of an engrossing story, well told by a director with a clear vision and a cast loaded with amazing talents.

Video

Widescreen 2.35:1. Not the crispest picture I’ve seen on Blu Ray, but the fuzziness can only be scene if standing very close to a large screen. So this film may not be used as an HD demo any day soon, but its pros certainly outweigh its cons. Said pros include a very vibrant look to the more colourful portions, most notably during the party scenes and anything depicting sunny locations in the 60s or 70s.

1080p HD is doing a rather good job, whether its as crisp as a Pixar release or not.

Audio 

The options include 5.1 Dolby Digital and 5.1 Dolby True HD in English, as well as 5.1 Dolby Digital in French. Each track option is very well mixed. The score is ever-present without overpowering the dialogue. Depp’s narration comes through clear, as he never succumbs to the natural droning in his voice.

Subtitles available in English and French.

(DVD copy also offers Dolby 2.0 in French)

Special Features 

Focus Points: An interactive option where clips featuring interviews and facts about the real history behind the film can be summoned when an icon appears on the screen during the film. Essentially, most of these clips are taken from other featurettes available on the disc and are compiled as a sample platter of relevant facts injected into our viewing experience so that we, the audience, can get a greater sense of the time it takes place and the social ramifications in the characters’ actions.

Behind the Story

• Commentary by Director Ted Demme and George Jung: These two do not interact with each other as their comments were recorded separately, but still share time as Demme offers insights and opinions on the making of the film and those that helped him make it, and Jung offers us his own tidbits about the actual time he spent while its being recreated on the screen and/or his more in depth feelings about the characters being portrayed. Each make for an engrossing listen and a real treat for those that appreciate this film’s story.

• George Jung Interview: Demme speaks with Jung, who remains incarcerated, on a wide array of reflections and opinions about the film and the parts of his personal history it resurrects. Despite age and a naturally subdued demeanor created by the impact of a prison life, Jung’s natural charm still leaks through in his responses.

• Lost in Paradise: Cocaine’s impact on Colombia: A fascinating documentary in and of itself. Pablo Escobar, the drug lord, is a crucial part of Blow, and here his effects on Colombia and the escalation of the crippling violence within it, are detailed through graphic footage of real people being attacked and kill, as well as interviews with former guerrilla rebels, citizens, journalists and many others who have witnessed first hand the horrors their country face.

• Addiction: Body & Soul: A look into the effects cocaine has on a person, as well some possible psychological and scientific explanations as to why a person may become addicted to a substance, which is ultimately tied to the story of George Jung over the course of many interviews with those recovering from addiction or studying it.

• Fast Track: An optional track that displays relevant facts and information as the film plays. A welcome addition to the abundance we already can have while watching the film (bringing the count of optional tracks to 3, all playable at once).

Music Video

Push and Pull by Nico Costa : A decent little tune. Purely an extra as it has no direct line of connection to the film’s narrative. Still appreciated.

Online

An advertisement for the film company’s official site, offering more information on the film, but presumably not as interesting information as what already appears on the disc itself.

Extras

• Production Diary: A large handful of handy-cam recordings from the 63 day long production. A cute, candid view of the production. A camera behind the camera diary that is a lot less tedious than other behind-the-scenes featurettes I’ve seen in my time. The final day antics are particularly amusing. Demme is a positive force on the set, which is great for a director, and it reflects in the cast and crew surrounding him. Something very joyful that instantly becomes tragic when you discover how this was Demme’s final film, since we lost him to a (possibly) cocaine induced heart attack.

• Trailers: 2 trailers, one full theatrical, the other a teaser…that’s all you need to understand.

Additional Scenes:

• Deleted Scenes: 10 in total. Demme mentioned in his interview with Jung that the rough cut of the film was 45 minutes longer than the final cut, so I knew I was in for a large haul when it came to deleted material. Some very interesting material all around that were obviously shaved for the sake of time and flow. The quality in presentation is equal to the main feature, showing just how much they meant to the director, and how easily they could re-enter in some cut down the road, perhaps.

• Director Commentary Track: Since the feature film had 3 optional tracks (granted, only one was commentary) it is only fair that the deleted scenes get their own track. Demme offers some very nice insights into what these scenes meant to him and the film. Included in this batch is a jail house scene that Demme notes as his favourite while also reiterating some words of wisdom he received “You’ll know you’re a good filmmaker when you are able to cut your favourite scene,” meaning you can see what is best for the film as a whole, and not just each scene by themselves.

• Character Outtakes: A series of interviews with the actors, completely in character, as they speak about their relationship with George Jung. A nice exercise in demonstrating how professional actors absorb their characters.

DVD copy of the film: A nice copy of the film. Blu-ray does an obviously better job bringing out the great colour palette this film has, but the DVD is no slouch. Always a welcome contribution to any Blu Ray release.

Final Thoughts 

With both DVD and Blu-ray in the package, along with all the special features one could dream of for this feature, this currently reigns as the definitive edition of Blow to have in your collection. The film alone makes for a great ride, and these extras on this edition make it essential for any major film collector.

Film  

De-Lovely tells the story of the adult life of the greatest composer of popular song in American history, Cole Porter. It does so in a very creative manner using the songs themselves to tell the story as Cole is shown his life by the Archangel Gabriel a moment before his death, Broadway show style in a small theater.

Gabriel, played beautifully by Jonathan Pryce, arrives at Cole Porter’s apartment near the moment of his death. He then takes him to the small theater in Indiana where Cole started his career and shows him his life, warts and all. Cole Porter is played beautifully by Kevin Kline, who is quite a showman himself and who sings and plays the piano himself quite well during the entire film.

It picks up his life in Paris as a young man. Cole Porter was already quite well off as a young man due to the wealth of his family and quite a playboy and party animal in addition to being a little known amateur songwriter outside his social circle in Paris. He also had his own little secret not known outside his small circle of friends, namely that he was gay. It was in Paris that he met the only real love of his life, Linda Thomas, who is portrayed in quite a moving performance by Ashley Judd. She knew Cole was Gay but loved him nonetheless as he was able to complete her.

In a way, she completed him as well, as it was she who guided his career, introducing him to her friend, Irving Berlin who recommended him to write and stage his first Broadway play. While he always didn’t realize it at the time until her death, Cole truly loved Linda. He turned bitter after her death and never wrote much after her death. For a man who wrote such beautiful songs about love, Cole Porter was never truly able to understand the concept until he lost the one thing that he truly did love.

As good as the acting and storytelling is here, the real star of the film is the music. Over 30 Cole Porter songs are presented here, from Let’s Misbehave, to Be A Clown, to Night and Day to Every Time WE Say Goodbye to Love for Sale. The arrangements of the tunes is varied from more traditional arrangements to some very original and modern ones.

The film features several a musical performances, from the likes of Elvis Costello, Diana Krall, Robbie Williams, Natalie Cole, Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette. The choices for the artiest to perform these songs is quite interesting. While DIana Krall wold be a no brainer for this type of music, the use of Alanis Morissette was and out of the box and very effective choice and she nails Let’s Do It.

The film even features John Barrowman aka Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood singing Night and Day in a duet with Kevin Kline. For me, the highlights of the film musically are Sheryl Crow’s stark and sultry performance of Begin the Beguine as well as a jazzy and bluesy and quite naughty rendition Love for Sale depicting Cole Porter’s exploits in a gay club in Los Angeles, as Cole Porter risks the exposure of his lifestyle at the height of his career.

Cole Porter was a brilliant songwriter and a very complicated man who lead a very complicated life. The use of his own songs to tell his story, warts and all, is simply sensational. I know there will be some that will be put off by some of the subject matter in the film, but it is a brilliantly conceived and executed film nonetheless, presented with some of the finest popular music ever written, if not the finest. If you haven’t seen the film or are unfamiliar with the music of Cole Porter, by all means see this film. De-Lovely is highly recommended.

Video  

As enthusiastic as I am about the film, I cant say that I was all that pleased with the video. With certain exceptions that were few and far between, I found the film to be rather soft, flat and lacking in detail. Black levels as well were inconsistent. In particular, I found facial details to be lacking, as though the detail was scrubbed away. While I wouldn’t say that the actors had a clayfaced appearance, it would not surprise me to learn that digital noise reduction was applied to this encode.

While the film features a very natural looking color palette, the overall picture can best be described as soft, flat and fuzzy, lacking the clarity, depth and detail that we have come to expect with Blu-ray releases. While not quite of DVD quality, the video on this release has more of that DVD look that I had expected and is far from reference material. IN fact, it would not surprise me to learn that the video here was taken from the transfer made for the prior DVD release of the film. It would have been nice, although probably too expensive for this type of film, to go back and do a new transfer for a Blu-ray release.

Audio  

While I was disappointed with the video presentation here, the audio presentation is a good bit better, although still not as good as I had expected. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix. The film is rather front heavy with the surrounds used quite effectively, to create room ambiance. While room ambiance is present throughout, I would not exactly call this an immersive sound mix. The real focus here is the music, which has very nice bass, transparency and imaging. If I would have one complaint with the music, it would be that it can at times sound a bit bright, especially in comparison with the rest of the audio.

Special Features  

The extras here are all ported over from the prior DVD release of the film. The extras include:

• Two audio commentaries, one with Director Irwin Winkler and Kevin Kline and a second with Irwin Winkler and screenwriter Jay Cocks.
• Featurettes about the making of the film. The longest is the behind the scenes “Making of De-Lovely” featuring interviews with Irwin Winkler, Jay Cocks, Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, Jonathan Price, Elvis Costello, Diana Krall, Alanis Morisette and Sheryl Crow among a quite a few others.
• A look at the musical performances in the film entitled “The Music of De-Lovely” which features some of the same interviews featured in the making of featurette.
• Two making of featurettes showing how the Love For Sale and Be A Clown scenes were constructed and filmed.
• Deleted scenes
• Trailers

All in all, the extras included here are rather standard fair and include nothing that was not already included on the prior DVD release of the film. All are presented in standard definition.

Final Thoughts 

De-Lovely is a very original and compelling look into the complicated life of America’s greatest tunesmith, Cole Porter, and some truly wonderful music. While I was disappointed with the video presentation included here, I can still highly recommend this film. Check it out, I am sure you will be glad you did.