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 

Last Tango in Paris stars Marlon Brando as Paul, an American who lives in Paris in an hotel with his wife who owns the hotel. His wife commits suicide in their bathtub and this seems to send Paul over the edge. He takes out an ad for a rather squalid flat in the Passy section of Paris that he is renting and he is there when Jeanne, played by Maria Schneider, arrives to look at the flat.

For some strange reason, they immediately begin to make love on the floor of the filthy flat. They continue to meet there every day for a sexual liaison, even though Jeanne, an actress, is engaged to be married. Most of the film takes place in the flat as Paul and Jeanne interact together. Paul views the flat as a place of solitude, as a way of getting away from the world. He does not even want to know anything about Jeanne. They don’t even know there names or anything about each other. Little by little, director Bernardo Bertolucci, begins to show you a little about the real lives of Paul and Jeanne. You just know, that these two both have serious emotional issues and that their relationship will not end well.

I realize that the film received critical acclaim when it was released but in viewing the film all these years later for the first time, I only found the film to be weird. Both main characters are hard to warm up to with Brando’s Paul, on the edge of the macabre. The film does feature plenty of nudity, fortunately mostly of Maria Schneider, and plenty of sexual activity which while I am sure rather graphic for a non pornographic film of the day, is no where near as shocking today as it was back in 1972. While I appreciate the historical significance of the film, I can’t really imagine sitting down and watching this film more than once. I therefore can recommend the film but as a rental only.

Video 

Last Tango in Paris is a a rather soft looking film. It is a rather grainy looking film and all of the fine film grain appears to be well preserved. I could detect no significant evidence of the application of digital noise reduction to “clean up” the look of the film. The overall image is rather soft, although the close-up scenes have plenty of fine facial detail. The film has a rather warm color palette, with plenty of reds, oranges and browns the dominate colors. Other than the opening title sequence, I found the black levels to be no more than average and certainly not inky. As a result of the softness, the film has a rather flat look, lacking much in the way of three dimensionality. However the over all clarity and detail is still good enough to warrant a full 4 star rating. I am sure that fans of the film will find the encode to be more than satisfactory.

Audio  

I was not as impressed with the audio here as I was with the video, not by a long shot. There is no 5.1 mix presented here at all. While the film does feature a lossless track, it is DTS HD MA stereo only. While this is the default track and is listed as the English track, make sure that you have the English subtitles for the hearing impaired enabled while you watch the film, unless you are fluent in French. Otherwise, you will not be able to follow parts of the film which are in French and not otherwise subtitled. In fact, in many scenes both characters slip in and out of both languages. On the technical end, I found the audio to be rather inconsistent in levels, which varied from scene to scene as well as in scene. There is one scene in particular in the bathroom in the flat where the volume level of the dialogue changes significantly as the actors move closer to the camera by only a few feet.

I also found the overall fidelity of the audio to be less than ideal, sounding a bit harsh and thin, especially the musical score. I also found the musical score to be higher in level as well compared to the dialogue, so that the music is much louder when it kicks in than the dialogue and at times, jarringly so. While this is not doubt how the film sounded in the theater, I would have preferred that a 5.1 track be included as well. Given that there are 15 mono tracks included in some languages that I didn’t even know existed, it would have been nice if they had found room for a 5.1 mix.

Special Features  

There is only one extra included with this release and it is the original trailer for the film, which is nothing more than a moving set of stills. No featurettes about the film at all. Kind of disappointing that a film with such a historical significance gets such a bare bones treatment.

Final Thoughts  

Last Tango in Paris finally makes its debut on Blu-ray. While the video is fine, the audio is a bit of a disappointment as is the lack of extras. The film is certainly worthy for a look, but on the basis of a rental only.

Film 

There is little question that Thelma & Louise is a classic. There were certainly no films like it before and I can’t really think of one since its release. In this regard, it pretty much stands as unique in the history of cinema. Sure there were plenty of road movies before and since and plenty of Buddy films. However, this is the only “Buddy” or “Road” film that I can recall where the two leads were women and not men. The movie world was male dominated 20 years ago and still is. When Thelma & Louise was released, it caused quite a stir in the media, including a cover piece in Time.

How you viewed the film often times depended on your gender, with women loving it, viewing it as a film about the empowerment of women and men hating it anti male given the way Thelma & Louise treated most men in the film. I guess men were not used to seeing men shot and humiliated in films by women. Looking back on it with 20 years’ perspective, all the bluster about the film seems to be just that, bluster. It is simply a great film about two interesting and complex women and one that I am grateful to see make its debut on Blu-ray.

I am sure that most of you already know the plot line of the film. Thelma & Louise are played brilliantly by Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. Thelma is a housewife trapped in a loveless marriage to a real boob and leading a life totally devoid of even a hint of excitement or passion. Louise is a long time friend who works as a waitress in a diner who has some hidden demons that manifest themselves early enough in the film.

They decide to have a little fun and meet to go fishing in the mountains. Along the way they stop at a truck stop for some drinks where Thelma is hit on by Harlan Puckett (Timothy Carhart), a married man who is well known at the restaurant/bar as a pick-up artist. Thelma has too much to drink and feels sick while dancing. She goes outside for some fresh air where Harlan tries to rape her after she rejects his affections. Louise comes upon the scene while trying to locate Thelma as Harlan is just starting ito manhandle Thelma over the hood of a car and breaks it up with a gun from Thelma’s handbag to the back of Harlan’s head.

While leaving, Harlan says something derogatory to Louise who turns around and shoots and kills him. Rather than call the police, the two flee the scene. When the murder is discovered, the police, led by Detective Hal Slocumb (Harvey Keitel) quickly zero in on Thelma & Louise as suspects and begin to pursue them as they attempt to escape to Mexico. As they cross several states as part of their escape, they engage in criminal activity to finance their efforts to avoid capture at the hands of just about every law enforcement agency in the Southwest United States.

*Spoiler Alert*

Along the way, they truly discover themselves and even enrich their friendships, to the point that they commit suicide together rather than get caught, as they drive their car over the edge of the Grand Canyon as the film ends with that unforgettable sight of their car suspended in the air over the canyon before they can begin the plunge to their deaths.

Despite the subject matter, the film is filled with humor and is a very entertaining 129 minutes. Thelma & Louise is an unforgettable film that is as good today as when it was released way back in 1991 and is highly recommended.

Video 

I have no recollection as to how this film looked in the theaters 20 years ago. I am not sure that anyone would have having only seen the film once 20 years before. That said, this is a fine looking encode. The film has a pleasing looking color palette which is a bit skewed to the color cyan, with colors having a light blue tinge to them. Black levels are good and stable and consistent throughout the film but far from reference. Color saturation, detail, shadow detail and clarity are all good, although the overall look of the film is a tad on the soft side.

I found film grain to be well preserved with the overall video presentation maintaining that film like appearance. Other than during the opening sequence of the film where slight banding was present, I noticed no significant encoding issues. The print used for the release looked clean and in excellent shape. Fans of the film should be more than pleased with the look of the film on its initial Blu-ray release.

Audio 

All in all I was quite pleased with the audio here. While the sound design is a bit front heavy, the overall fidelity of the recorded sound was excellent, sounding smooth, rich and open with not even the hint of hardness evident. Bass response was particularly strong and most noticeable during the film score and sound effects. The dialogue track was well recorded and always intelligible. All in all, the sound reproduction here is of top notch quality.

Special Features 

I found the extras presented here to be rather mundane. The extras include an audio commentary with director Ridley Scott as well as one featuring Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis and screenwriter Callie Khouri. We also get a featurette on the making of the film and the reaction to it entitled “Thelma & Louise: The Last Journey” which is presented in standard definition and appears to have been ported over from the prior DVD release of the film.

Also included is an extended ending to the film with commentary by Ridley Scott, where he explains why the extended ending was deleted from the film. The extras also include several extended and deleted screens, a mutli-angles storyboard of the final chase scene as well as the original trailer for the film and a “Part of You, Part of Me” music video by Glenn Frey.

Final Thoughts 

It was great to see Thelma & Louise again after 20 years. its initial release on Blu-ray looks and sounds about as good as this film can and should please the many fans of this film and is highly recommended.

Starring a stellar cast such as Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Daines, and the unheralded Charlie Cox, and with a supporting role for Robert DeNiro, I was quite excited.  That Gene Shalit, Richard Roeper, and Dave Karger all enthused about the film also gave it great promise.  Would it live up to this heady billing?

Film

I am comfortable in stating that this film will polarize the audience.  Where I found the film poorly paced, overly complex, somewhat convoluted, and way too violent for the little ones, the official wife was entranced by it.

To summarize the complex plot as quickly as possible, it starts with a Village called Wall, obviously located by a wall that acts as a border between the English Countryside, and the fantasy realm of Stormhold.  In this fantasy realm, the dying King states that his throne will be inherited by whichever of his sons find a ruby, one that he throws into the sky and that bonds with a falling star.

Meanwhile, our protagonist Tristan (Mr. Cox), sees the star fall on the other side of the wall, and vows to return to a certain lady he is pursuing.  Tristan also learns from his father that he is the offspring of his father, and a slave to which whom his father met on the other side of the wall.

Of course Tristan finds the falling star, who happens to be a beautiful girl named Yvaine (Ms. Daines).

Adventures ensue, including pursuit by the King’s remaining sons, pursuit by a witch (Laima, Ms. Pfeiffer) who want to use Yvaine’s power to remain young and gain power.  Through magic, Tristan and Yvaine end up in the clutches of flying pirates, led by Captain Shakespeare (Mr. DeNiro), a kind-hearted cross-dressing pirate.

Further battles and adventures ensue, followed by the requisite fairy tale happy ending.

Was this a bad movie?  No.  Was it good, memorable, or did it encourage multiple viewings?  To my mind, it only encouraged a multiple viewing so that the viewer could try and understand it a bit better.

The acting performances were fine (though Ms. Daines’ role was a bit lightweight), leading me to conclude the film’s weaknesses were more in the script and direction than the performances.  Ms. Pfeiffer out “evils” Ms. Kidman in The Golden Compass, and Mr. DeNiro actually makes a cross-dressing Pirate captain oddly heroic.  Mr. Cox is more than serviceable as our hero, Tristan, and maintains a sort of bumbling “everyman” quality throughout the film.

When I compare this film to one of my favourites, The Princess Bride, it does not compare very well.  The plot lacks a cohesion and linearity The Princess Bride had.  And although the acting is good, the limitations of the script suck much of the humor and whimsy out of what could have been a more special movie.  Simply trying to figure out who is who can actually occupy the viewer for the first thirty minutes of the film, something I find that detracts from a film’s enjoyability.

Ultimately, the limitations of this film outweigh its benefits, and it is highly unlikely this one will end up in my “to be watched again” pile.

Video

Despite the weakness in the film itself, it does have a very lovely looking presentation.  There is lovely color saturation, with all the shiny, colorful, and bright things we normally see in medieval-themed movies.

My main complaint would be the presence of overly pronounced grain in some of the darker scenes.  Although this may be a natural grain, it borders on distracting, and does soften the sharpness of the image.

Audio 

The soundtrack for Stardust is a very pleasing DTS-MA 5.1 presentation.  Outside scenes sound like they are outside, and surround effects are clear and appropriate.  LFE information is good when present, but the score and effects do not overly tax the channel.

In general, a very good audio presentation – nowhere near reference, but very very acceptable.

Special Features

The Blu-ray did come with a slightly above-average set of special features, most notably highlighted by a five-part 1080p documentary about the making of the film which clocks in at just over 55 minutes.  Some of the documentary segments are quite interesting, especially the one that showed the difficulty in translating the novel to the screen while staying under budget.

Also included were a fairly dull commentary track, deleted scenes and outtakes (in SD, boo), a 10-minute feature that looks as if it was lifted from the DVD release, and the theatrical trailer.  All in all, not a bad offering.

Final Thoughts

I do feel bad about not scoring this film higher.  The cast does what they can with the script.  It was shot reasonably well, and the effects are reasonably good. 

Unfortunately, a convoluted plot and an excess of characters makes this film very difficult to follow and enjoy.  Even as a family film, the scary parts can actually be quite scary – definitely not recommended for the under-10 crowd.

More importantly, how does this film measure up against the “epics” of today, and how well did this translate to Blu-ray?  Although some films receive a loving restoration (The African Queen), how well would Warner Brothers treat this legendary film?

Film

Based on a novel by Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago follows the life of our eponymous hero as he navigates life in Russia through both World War I and the Russian Revolution. 

Left destitute by the death of his mother, Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif in his best role) is taken in by well-to-do friends of the family (the Gromekos).  Trained to be a doctor, yet popular as a published poet, Yuri’s life is ideal, including a predestined marriage to the Gromeko’s daughter (Tonya, played by the lovely and vulnerable Geraldine Chaplin).  However, this idyllic world is torn apart, firstly through World War I (and Yuri’s conscription), followed by his return home to a radically changed Russia.

Yuri’s life is further complicated by him unexpectedly falling in love with a nurse whom he met while serving in the Army.  Lara (played by a beautiful, vulnerable, yet strong Julie Christie) reciprocates these feelings, but their romance remains unconsummated.  In the words of Lara, “Let us do nothing that you will need to lie to Tonya about”.   

The movie itself operates in three main acts; before War and the Revolution in Moscow, after War and the Revolution in Moscow (including escape), and life in the Urals, away from the Revolution.  And although a devoted family man, and still in love with Tonya, Yuri cannot resist the pull of Lara, especially when his family is hiding safely only miles from the town where she lives. 

In his soul a poet, but by trade a Doctor, Yuri Zhivago is one of a type of movie hero that seems to have disappeared from cinema.  He is not a “doer” or a man of action; like most of us in our lives, the world around him changes, and he must do what he can to adapt and survive.  And although he does not overtly fight back against those who would ruin the life he once enjoyed, when challenged, he shares candidly his true feelings about what has happened to Russia, without fear or remorse.  An incurable romantic, a spiritual fatalist, and a flawed man; this best describes Yuri Zhivago.  Yet in his noble bearing, he communicates a dignity that we would all be hard pressed to equal if placed in similar circumstances.

One of the most endearing traits of the movie is how the main characters’ lives intertwine throughout the movie.  Lara’s finace (Pasha) is in the film early as a Bolshevik idealist, in the middle as a ruthless Red leader Strelnikov (during which he has a powerful conversation with Yuri), and at the end (offscreen) as a main motivation for a number of the characters.

Lara herself first appears to Yuri in Moscow as the daughter of a patient he and his guardian visit.  Later on, she appears to him again as a much-needed nurse during a retreat from the World War I front lines.  And lastly, she reappears, living only miles from the old family house where Yuri hides with his guardian and family.

Yuri also has a half-brother, Yevgraf (played with charm, menace, and sincerity by Sir Alec Guiness) who appears in many places in the film.  When needed, he provides the necessary narration to move the story forward, yet he also appears at pivotal moments in Yuri’s life.  Although a member of the Cheka, Yevgraf hides a true and loving soul for his half-brother under his staid and state-centric persona.

Over top of this all, is our Faustian devil, the lawyer Victor Komarovsky (played incredibly well by Rod Steiger).  Through the movie, Komarovsky is a harbinger of nothing but illness to our protagonists, be it through forcing himself on a young Lara while in Moscow, reputedly driving Yuri’s Father into destitution, or threatening and bullying Lara and Yuri in the film’s closing stages.

Although this movie is set during two very pivotal moments in Russian 20^th Century history, the film does not denigrate into historical documentary territory.  Sir David Lean instead captures the essence of what it is to be human, how the heart can override the mind, and shows the both the best and worst sides of human nature.  And to do so would have been impossible without the flawless performances of Sharif, Christie, Chaplin, Guiness, and Steiger. 

It is also easy to understand why Mr. Pasternak’s writings and this film were banned in Russia for many, many years.  Sir David Lean takes a decidedly Western view of Communism; Yuri leaves a vibrant and beautiful Moscow, and return to a filthy, starved, disease-ridden city, full of the most rapacious and petty-minded Communists imaginable.  Humanity seems to have been sucked out of almost every ardent Bolshevik in the movie, never more elequently illustrated as through the character of Pasha/Strelnikov.   

The quality of the film is beyond reproach.  From the beautiful score by Walter Jarre (you’ll be humming “Lara’s Theme” for days), to the sets, costumes, and cinematography (by the legendary Freddie Young), this is truly what a classic epic film is.

For us in our reasonably comfortable North American world, one cannot help feel but a bit of chill when we see how quickly all of the comfort and luxury taken for granted by these characters is ripped away from them.  To me, this is what makes the film most compelling; how would I survive the same things survived by Yuri, his family, and Lara?  Hours after seeing the film, I am still asking myself the same question.

Video

In the words of Alex from A Clockwork Orange, “gorgeousness and gorgeousity”.

This movie is absolutely magnificent.  Sir David Lean knew how to use a camera, how to frame a shot, and how to get the best out of his actors.  Be it lighting placement, shot staging, or using every natural nuance of his actors to convey an emotion, each frame is shot with an exact preciseness.  Wide shots, tight shots, dark shots, light shots – all are done with love and care.  The film itself is also a throwback to the era of true epic pictures from Hollywood; even the sets are fantastic, and are better than virtually anything from that era.

Most importantly, Warner Brothers did an incredibly respectful job with the restoration of this film.  Grain is there (as it should be in a 45 year old film) but is never distracting.  Low light shots are resolved superbly.  Although some of the blacks can tend towards dark gray, there is never swimming grain, macroblocking, or crush.  The movie itself is somewhat sepia-toned, but color is used appropriately with the color red obviously highlighted.

All in all, this is an incredible presentation for a movie released in 1965.  The care used by Sir David Lean in filming the movie allowed the WB restoration team to produce a movie of pure beauty.  Although not perfect, this disc is now the standard by which I will judge the restoration of all classic movies. 

Audio

As is expected, audio simply cannot be restored the same way video can.  If filmed with a mono track with limited dynamics, there is only so much the engineers can do to spatialize sounds, and add top and bottom end to them.

This being stated, the team that worked on Doctor Zhivago deserve the merit star for a top quality effort.  The DTS-MA 5.1 is absolutely incredible for a movie this age, with decent use of the surround channels, and even some LFE information! 

At times the dialog can drop out, and the score can be a bit jarring through the centre channel, something which did having me adjusting the volume more than I prefer to.  This being said, the sound is superb for a 45-year old movie.  

Special Features

Packaged as a “45^th Anniversary Edition Digibook”, this film has every extra a true movie lover could ask for. 

The handsomely bound book contains forty-four glossy full-color heavyweight pages describing a bit about the movie, making a lovely primer for the neophyte (such as myself).  There are also profiles of a number of the main actors in the film, and some candid “behind the scenes” photos.  A great booklet in the opinion of someone who still loves the printed word.

Also included is an all-too-short CD sampler of the soundtrack, which is a real treat for someone who loves 2-channel classical music.  This alone would have been worth 2.5 discs on its own.

However, in the list of more traditional features, we have some that come on the movie’s Blu-ray, with the balance being contained on an accompanying DVD (all in SD unfortunately).

On the Blu-ray we have a commentary track.  And we are fortunate to still have the genteel Omar Sharif with us, as well as Sir David Lean’s widow, Sandra; he obviously told her many stories in the short time they were married.  Although we no longer have Rod Steiger with us (he passed on in 2002), we are fortunate that he did have some commentary recorded for the film (likely for the 2001 DVD release) – even though he is not a part of the initial conversation, he is seamlessly blended into this track.  Be advised that although this is a better commentary than most, it does still represent listening to other people talk over a movie for over three hours.  And as loyal readers know, I am not a big fan of commentaries, though this one held my attention better than most.

Also on the Blu-ray, we have a two-part documentary (480p – bah!) about Doctor Zhivago, most notably in the words of others in the industry.  A very good piece.

On the accompanying DVD, we have what looks to be a rehash of the special features that accompanied the 2001 “Special Edition” DVD release of the film.  If you do not own the DVD, and love “retro” features, this is your disc.  There are number of vintage featurettes, including interviews, a screen test, and various old “presser” type materials.  Plus, this disc includes the excellent 1995 documentary on Doctor Zhivago, narrated by the ever-eloquent Omar Sharif.

In terms of variety, volume, and quality, this is a wonderfully varied set of special features.  Even the lack of high-def supplements is acceptable considering the age of the film. 

Final Thoughts

Honestly, I did find the thought of reviewing this film a bit daunting.  Not only is it legendary, it comes with a hefty runtime, and a hefty set of extras in its 45^th anniversary edition.  Furthermore, I did find the start of the movie to be a bit slow and confusing, though this all resolved itself once the film progressed. 

However, I cannot remember the last time I was so engrossed in a film, especially developing a heightened empathy for our characters.  This is a tribute to Sir David Lean, who truly captured the emotion of his actors for the screen.  From an excellent story, to an excellent script, to tour-de-force acting performances, this is a top notch film. 

That a 45-year old film looks and sounds as good as this does on Blu-ray is a tribute to Warner Brothers; Doctor Zhivago fully deserves a place of honor in any serious movie collection.

Film  

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, which is a mouthful of a title, is all about looking back at one’s life and reflecting on what you’ve done in the past to get you to this moment. For our main character, played by Robin Wright, that’s exactly what she does and her past memories or previous lives are played out for us.

The film follows Pippa as she leaves her bi-polar mother to find refuge in another family member, her aunt who just happens to be a lesbian with a dominatrix, which is clearly a great environment for a young and impressionable teen. Surprisingly she falls into the wrong circles and gets addicted to drugs, only to be pulled out of all this by an older gent who she marries (played by Allan Arkin), after what seems like the wackiest backstory of all time we’re brought back to the current struggle of Pippa’s character, which is whether or not she should be stay with her aging husband or leave him and try and be happy for once in her life.

The film definitely is eccentric, but in a way where it’s almost trying to be weird just for the sake to stand out and as we can see from its distribution, it’s not really standing out. The performances in the film are it’s only redeeming quality, Alan Arkin is great in anything he’s in and Blake Lively’s portrayal of the teenage Pippa is probably my favourite part of the film.

The film was actually an adaptation of a novel by the writer and director of the film, which I found to work against the film. It seemed like she had this idea for the film, but just couldn’t achieve her vision. I think a new set of eyes on the project would’ve done the film some good, whether it was a script doctor or a better director; the film just felt weighted and pretentious at times.

Video

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee’s video is uses the 1080p AVC codec and is in 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The film overall doesn’t look bad, there’s only a bit of noticeable grain, however the sharpness and dynamic range of colour really suffer for some reason. Either during the transfer or the actual colour grading of the film caused the film to have this pale haze over it that really isn’t working for it (whereas the muted green colour grading of the matrix was iconic).

The lack of detail in most shots didn’t look good on my television or my projector, it’s not the worst transfer I’ve seen, but the fact that it felt slapped together adds credence to the idea that the studio was just dropping the film and washing its hands of it.

Audio

The audio overall is much better than the video quality. It comes at us in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and due to the fact the film is so dialogue heavy we’re really only concerned about the centre channel’s quality. The audio doesn’t fail to do its job, the dialogue is clear and everything seemed to be mixed well.

The surrounds are barely used. There’s a bit of spill from the score, but overall it’s a front heavy mix, which is fine for this movie. I do like the scores of these dramatic films to fill the void of dynamic sound when compared to those epic sci-fi flicks, but unfortunately this is just a standard mix.

Special Features

The special features are pretty paltry as well. There’s a commentary with the director and Robin Wright, there’s a lot of awkward silent gaps and overall it wasn’t insightful nor was there any reason to listen to it. Then there’s a small section of  videos in Standard Def of Q&A with the actors, which was a step-up from the commentary but still nothing to make this an essential blu-ray.

Final Thoughts

Overall the film is mediocre and with average audio/video quality and a pathetic amount of special features  I found myself spending more time reflecting about my own life and what I’d much rather be doing than watching the film. If you’re a fan of the book, then I suggest a rental only.

Film  

Michael Mann has always been a household name in the action genre; the man simply knows how to film high octane action scenes that get your heart racing. However, there’s a great writer within that action-packed mindset that provides with an interesting film experience.

With well-rounded characters, great archetypical journeys that they’re set forth on and accurate dialogue between them; we get this double edged sword. His films aren’t mindless action films, they’re movies with depth… And it started with Heat.

Originally Mann had been trying to make this film for quite some time and as it seems in Hollywood, the stories that take longer to be told are usually the ones that will strike the right chords (See Inglourious Basterds). Mann originally tried to make a condensed version of his idea for Heat into a made-for-TV film in 1989 called L.A. Takedown, due to the fact his previous attempts to get Heat made were unsuccessful.

Thankfully he tried again in 1995.

Heat seems like one of those ensemble pieces with multiple storylines, which it kind of is, but it doesn’t fall victim to the downfalls of having tangent scenes that lead nowhere and filler that drags the story on. Every path the film takes us on is clear and distinct and you never fall by the wayside trying to keep up with the story.

The acting in the film is great, sure Pacino plays a hot head as well as he always has, but it’s the performances that may seemed underplayed at first that really hold their place through time as the movie comes towards its 15 year anniversary. The role I’ve always loved was Dennis Haysbert (The Unit, 24, All State Commercials) playing Donald Breeden, a recently released inmate who’s now working at soul-crushing fast food joint for a mean boss.

At the time the film was big due to the fact that Pacino and De Niro were sharing the screen for the first time since Godfather 2 (although they were never in the same scene), however now that time has passed and Righteous Kill has plagued theatres, I believe that it’s not that big of a deal anymore. Besides that, this film hasn’t lost any of it’s great qualities and still holds up as one of the best action films of our time.

If you haven’t seen it, rent it.

Video 

Heat‘s presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.4:1 and uses the 1080p/VC-1. Michael Mann is often known for his unique looks in films, such as very extreme color grading and his very grainy shots (mostly due to his use of both low-end film cameras and digital cameras that aren’t as great in low-light).

Although Heat does have that grainy look, it doesn’t distract from the film, it gives it that gritty feel that really actually adds to the film. The Blu-ray transfer in general does make the grain more noticeable, but it also makes the picture a lot clearer in general.

Details are sharp, the colours come through truly and any quick camera movements are very smooth, which is important with such fast paced cinematography.

Audio  

Heat‘s audio comes at us in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Sound in English and uses Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround for French, German, Spanish and Portuguese. There’s also subtitles for the aforementioned languages as well as Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Finnish.

Heat has often been noted as having an amazing audio mix, Michael Mann in particular knows his way around great foley and mixing. Every explosion, every gunshot, every screeching tire and every clink of a spent shell hitting concrete comes through so clearly that it really makes up for Mann’s mixing screw-ups in Public Enemies… This mix proves that he knows his way around an action movie’s audio.

With early DVD releases of the film, most notably the snap-case bare bones edition from many moons ago, the dialogue quieter than the rest of the mix, which made it hard to listen to, you were constantly turning the film up and down and if you forgot you either missed some dialogue or perforated an ear drum when a gunshot surprises you. I was happy to see that they fixed the mix with the Two-disc special edition DVD so to those who may be looking at whether or not to replace their old copy of heat, the audio is worth the price alone.

Special Features 

I doubled checked and all of the special features of the Blu-ray version of heat match the recently released two-disc special edition that came out on DVD a while ago. Regardless this is still a step-up from the barebones snap-case version, which I’m almost positive was one of the first DVDs released.

Although there is a great selection of special features, none of them are HD, which makes my rating a little lower. However the features available are still a great watch.

They include 3 “Making-of” featurettes which cover everything from real-life criminals who inspired the movie to all the great locations in L.A. that were used for the film. There’s also a great featurette discussing Pacino and DeNiro’s characters and performances, which is simply called “The Conversation”, which refers to the classic scene where the two are face-to-face for the first time in the film. There are also a slew of deleted scenes and theatrical trailers to round out the selections.

This is definitely one of the better selections of special features I’ve seen and if only it was in HD, then it would get a higher rating.

Final Thoughts 

Heat definitely gets a respectable Blu-ray release and even though the special features are nothing new, the sound mix and picture quality really makes up for that. If you have yet to buy Heat or own the original DVD release, I strongly suggest picking up the Blu-ray for the sound mix alone.

A great film and a great Blu-ray overall!

This is true even if we hadn’t see the book as it is those details that help pull the overall story together, the glue if you will, that can hold a very complicated story together, without with, the story may just be a disjointed mess or a darn confusing one at that. Such is the case with The Time Traveler’s Wife.

Film 

I was really hoping to like The Time Traveler’s Wife, as I had heard so many good things about the book. However, as is often the case with long books, there is just too much detail left out of the film to piece together a coherent narrative. The film is just too disjointed with far too many unanswered questions and some obvious holes in the plot which take away from one’s enjoyment of the film. In brief, the film is essentially a love story, although a weird one at that.

The film revolves around two main characters, Clare (Rachel Adams) and Henry (Eric Bana). It seems that Henry has a secret, an ability to time travel. He travels back and forth between the past, present and future, often willy nilly and at odd times, unable to consciously control when he leaves the present and when he returns. While this could be used for some rather funny moments, the film is not a comedy and is planned very seriously, often times far too seriously for my tastes. It seems that Henry one day traveled to the past and met Clare when she was a young girl. They continued to meet over the ensuing years (at least for Clare) and Clare fell in love with Henry, who she finally meets as an adult.

Henry, who has yet to meet Clare in the present, has no idea who she is and why she knows him until she fills him in on all the details after a chance encounter at the library and he experiences his episodes with her himself. They fall in love and marry. Needless to say, it is difficult for Clare to adjust to her new life with Henry, as he can literally disappear in a flash, right before her eyes and not return again for several weeks. The central theme of the film is how they struggle together despite all the time travel craziness, to build a life and family together.

I won’t give out any more of the plot so as not to spoil the film for you and will end my summary of the film there. I will say that Rachel Adams is wonderful in the role of Clare and looks simply marvelous on screen, with a glow that has to be seen to appreciate. I also though Eric Bana was excellent as Henry with both he and Rachel Adams sharing excellent on screen chemistry which is so important for a love story. Sitting back, you can really imagine these two characters together. What I really didn’t like about the film was the pacing and the holes in the plot. The film starts out at a brisk pace and then moves forward at a slower and slower pace to the point that it almost comes to a stop. As for the plot holes, the film never really explores the reason Henry can travel back in time.

There is also an inconsistency between his alleged inability to control his travels and his propensity to be able to show up as an older man at his wedding when he time travels just before his weeding is to start. If he is unable to control his travels, why is he able to show up just in the nick of time on his wedding day? There is also his inability to travel back in time to save the life of his mother, yet he is able to go into the future and get the winning lottery number and return to the present just in time to cash in on a mega lottery drawing. Far too often, I was contemplating the plot holes and inconsistencies rather than just sitting back and enjoying the film.

Is it a bad film, or one that you shouldn’t experience for yourself? No, but I would recommend that you see the film on the basis of a rental first, before you decide to add it to your collection.

Video 

Simply put, this is a great looking film and features some wonderful cinematography. The film features deep, rich and stable blacks and excellent shadow detail. Even more impressive is the color palette which features some bright, bold and well saturated colors and excellent skin tones. There are some very stylized shots to be sure, with scenes set in snow with a steely blue look for example. The scenes where Henry first meets Clare look amazing, with the golden glow of the sunlight captured along with some amazing greens and reds. The film also features very good levels of detail and overall clarity without any obvious evidence of edge enhancement or digital noise reduction being applied as part of the encoding process.

Does this release rate up among the very best that I have seen on Blu-ray? No, but it comes pretty darn close and close enough to earn a full four and a half star rating. I just wish that the film was as good as the cinematography.

Audio 

Given the the release contains a DTS HD Master Audio track, I was quite surprised to find that the film was so front heavy in terms of its sound design. The overall fidelity of the audio presentation is excellent, sounding smooth, full and open, which explains the overall score in light of the rather simple sound design. The dialogue track was well recorded and well placed in the mix. The overall fidelity of the musical score was quite good as well. The surrounds are not used very aggressively and are used on occasion to provide essentially for subtle room acoustics and rarely if ever kick into high gear. This is a rather subtle sound design which kind of matches the overall feel and pace of the narrative.

Special Features  

The extras on this release contain two rather extensive featurettes both of which are presented in high definition. In the featurette “An Unconventional Love Story”, Rachel Adams and Eric Bana along with the director, producer and screenwriter discuss the relationship that exists between their two characters and how they went about developing that relationship on screen.

In “Love Beyond Words”, the director, Robert Schwentke, and the screenwriter, Bruce Joel Rubin, along with Rachel Adams and Eric Bana discuss how they created the film and the challenges involved in bringing a book to the big screen and the choices they had to make in doing so. I found both featurettes rather interesting if a bit long and well worth a look, at least for fans of the book, who might be a little disappointed with the choices that the director and screenwriter ultimately made in bringing the book to the big screen.

The release also includes a digital copy of the film, compatible with Macs and PCs and all portable media devices.

Final Thoughts 

The Time Traveler’s Wife is a flawed film that features excellent performances from the two leads and very good video quality. While I was a bit disappointed by the film  it is definitely worth a look… especially for fans of the book from which the film was adapted, but on the basis of a rental only.

Film

Four Christmases has a very good cast with accomplished award winning actors such as Robert Duvall, Reese Witherspoon, Jon Voight, Sissay Spacek and Mary Steenburgen along with Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Tim McGraw and Kristen Chenoweth. A film with that cast can’t be that bad, right? Well, yes it can. This is just a really bad film. The words, dumb, crass, idiotic and stupid leap to mind when I think of this film.

The film stars Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon as Brad and Kate, a successful totally self absorbed unmarried thirties something couple in San Francisco that hit the tropics every Christmas to avoid spending time with their respective families during the Christmas holidays. They tell their parents that they are traveling on the holidays on various charitable endeavors, all the while they are enjoying themselves at some tropical paradise.

This Christmas, their flight to the tropics was fogged in and cancelled and they were interviewed on TV at the airport, an interview that was seen by their families. Predictably, they had to spend part of Christmas day at the homes of their respective parents, all of which are now divorced, hence the title of the film. All of their parents and siblings are simply crazy, with one exception, and their encounters with them on Christmas send their lives together in a direction they couldn’t have imagined before their flight was fogged in.

Sounds like a good idea for a plot. However, the writing is so bad, the depiction of their families so ridiculous that I couldn’t wait for this film to end. If you want to watch a train wreck, give this film a rent. I would recommend that the rest of you skip it entirely.

Video

The word that leaps to mind when I think of the picture quality on this release is mediocre. The only positive comment I can make about the film is that is has a natural color palette. That’s it. Black level, clarity, detail and three dimensionality are all mediocre with a resulting image that is flat and lifeless. Detail, in particular facial and background details, are well below the better looking films on Blu-ray. The film has a smoothed over hazy look that I didn’t find appealing at all. Is it the worst looking film I have seen? No, it is not that bad. However, the picture quality on this release is almost as disappointing as the film itself.

Audio

Unfortunately, the audio on this release is just as disappointing as the video. While I was not exactly expecting a bombastic sound design given the nature of the film, I was expecting an audio track with some semblance of dynamics and pop. What we are provided with is a track that is as flat and drab as the video, devoid of any sense of dynamics. This might as well have been a stereo mix, as the surrounds are hardly engaged at all during the film. There is little if any real deep bass to speak of and no real sense of space or depth to the sound field. The dialogue track is just OK and always intelligible, which in the case of this film, is not necessarily a good thing. A drab, flat and boring sound track is not what I was expecting and is what is provided on this release.

Special Features

I can’t really say that I was impressed with any of the extras here. The release does include a digital copy compatible with Macs and PCs. Included is a gag reel that is presented in high definition. Also presented in HD is a featurette Four Christmases-Holiday Moments where the cast and crew discuss the film as well as their own real life family Christmas experiences.

The extras also include 7 additional scenes not included in the film (for good reason) as well as an utterly forgettable featurette Seven-Layer Holiday Meals in a Flash, with celebrity cook Paula Deen and cast member Katy Mixon whipping up a Christmas meal. Seven-Layer Holiday Meals is also presented in HD. Also included is the HBO First Look segment entitled Four CHristmases-Behind the Madness. The release is also BD-Live enabled allowing you to access personal and candid cast member memories and outtakes with Paula Deen and Katy Mixon.

Final Thoughts

To say that I was disappointed in this release would be a bit of an understatement. From the film itself to the audio and video presentations, this release is a real disappointment. If I were you, I would skip this one entirely.

Film

The Cell 2 takes the best concept from the original film and veto’s some of the lesser liked parts.  A serial killer brutally tortures his victims by flat lining them and bringing them back to life to the point that they actually beg to be left dead. But one of his victims, Maya a psychic investigator survives and has no purpose in life but to get revenge. Being monitored by the FBI Maya realizes the only way to ensure revenge is to enter his mind, the only catch being if she dies in his mind, she will stay dead.

Again I find myself in a crossroads between liking the plot and completely despising the delivery. But what can you expect from a direct to video film, I knew there would be no production value. But yet that can’t be an excuse as we are custom to a certain level of quality in films these days. So ultimately the movie fell completely short of being likeable. But to it’s credit I did think the overall plot was somewhat entertaining.

As only a half fan of the original Cell I felt somewhat disappointed with the decline in quality, this coming from someone who hardly can be called a fan; I can only imagine the disappointment from those of you who liked the original. The only thing on par with the original was the lack of convincing acting, which completely altered the way in which I perceived this movie (negatively of course). The editing was quite disappointing as well and the movie seemed to be slapped together in an amateur fashion, and the seemingly endless avenues the movie could have went down were never travelled. In the end we are left with a rather uneventful movie, and one that I would steer fans of the original away from.

Video

Presented in 1080p 1.85:1 aspect ratio and encoded in VC-1 The Cell 2 comes to Blu-ray with a problematic looking transfer. All problems from a low budget direct to video transfer are present.  From inconsistent color pallet to soft looking scenes there are many shots that look good while many others look bad.

For a direct to video movie shot on an extremely low budget I suppose the given results are good enough.  For Fans of the movie this is the best the movie will likely ever look.

Audio

Newline has equipped The Cell 2 with a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track and unfortunately for the viewer the audio track does a good job presenting the horrible acting.  Dialogue presentation is very front heavy although there are a few instances where there is an attempt to open sound presentation up.  Unfortunately the soundtrack is pretty horrid and doesn’t do anything to add the weak atmosphere.  The quality of the track is of higher quality though as there are no audible faults with the track.

For people who enjoyed the movie, the audio will sure to please at it does a good job presenting the given material.

Special Features

• Making of Feature – We are given one laughable making of feature that spans 30 minutes.  I’ve said this before but I love how cast and crew believe they are making a great movie when it nothing more than a pile of garbage.  The entire feature basically consists of the production crew and cast thinking that they are making a work of art.

Final Thoughts

For those of you who loved the original film and are eagerly awaiting another chance to enter someone’s brain, I will stop you right now. While once again I will admit the plot was quite likable it just didn’t execute it properly and ultimately I can see why this was a direct to video release. Along with a poor film that audio and video fall short of what we have become accustom to with Blu-ray and I can only recommend diehard fans of the film the purchase it. Otherwise give it a rental if you’re really hard up for something new to watch and would enjoy a taste of something less ordinary.