Whip It (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)
January 31, 2010 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
Entertaining, fun and an enjoyable coming-of-age film. A solid directorial debut by Drew Barrymore and another wonderful performance by Ellen Page and also from the film’s all-star supporting cast.
© 2009 Babe Ruthless Production, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Whip It
DURATION: 111 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, Widescreen 2:40:1, AVC@36MBPS English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Spanish, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
RATED: PG-13 (Sexual Content including Crude Dialogue, Language and Drug Material)
COMPANY: Twentieth Century Fox
RELEASE DATE: January 26, 2010
Based on the book “Derby Girl” by Shauna Cross
Directed by Drew Barrymore
Screenplay by Drew Barrymore
Executive Producer: Drew Barrymore, Peter Douglas, Joseph Drake, Nancy Juvonen, Nathan Kahane, Kirsten Smith
Producer: Barry Mendel
Co-Producer: Nicole Brown, Kelli Konop, Jason Lust, Karyn McCarthy
Associate Producer: Chris Miller
Music by The Section Quartet
Cinematography by Robert D. Yeoman
Edited by Dylan Tichenor
Casting by Justine Baddeley, Kim Davis
Production Design by Kevin Kavanaugh
Set Decoration by Meg Everist
Costume Design by Catherine Marie Thomas
Starring:
Sarah Habel as Corbi
Ellen Page as Bliss Cavendar
Alia Shawkat as Pash
Shannon Eagen as Amber
Marcia Gay Harden as Brooke Cavendar
Daniel Stern as Earl Cavendar
Jimmy Fallon as “Hot Tub” Johnny Rocket
Kristen Wiig as Maggie Mayhem
Zoe Bell as Bloody Holly
Eve as Rosa Parks
Drew Barrymore as Smashley Simpson
Andrew Wilson as Razor
Juliette Lewis as Iron Maven
Rusty Mewha as Holy Rollers
Ari Graynor as Eva Destruction
Landon Pigg as Oliver
Carlo Alban as Birdman
The memorable heroine of Juno is back and scores huge laughs as Bliss Cavendar, a blue-haired misfit stuck in a tiny Texas town in Whip It, a coming-of-age comedy skating onto Blu-ray Disc with Digital Copy and DVD January 26 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Tired of following in her family’s footsteps, Bliss discovers a way to put her life on the fast track when she lands a spot on a rough-and-tumble roller derby team. Her journey comes full-circle as she reconnects with her family and finds her own path in the world.
Roller Derby. I can easily remember turning on the television and watching the Los Angeles T-Birds. Personally, I didn’t know if this was a true sport or if it was like wrestling and it was just sports entertainment. But I was hooked. Not sure if it was the blonde women with poofy hair throwing other women out of the rink or that one person who didn’t look should be on the rink, actually kicking butt. Needless to say, that roller derby has had its following for decades and now here we are with a film based on a character who takes part in roller derby competitions.
“Whip It” marks the directorial debut by actress Drew Barrymore (“E.T.”, “50 First Dates”, “The Wedding Singer”, “Charlie’s Angels” films) and is an adaptation of the novel “Derby Girl” by Shauna Cross, a fictionalized book of skating with the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls.
The independent film was released in theaters during the fall of 2009 and now makes its Blu-ray and DVD debut. The Blu-ray edition comes with a second disc which contains a digital copy of the film.
The film revolves around Bliss Cavendar (played by Ellen Page, “X3″, “Juno”, “Smart People”), a quiet and shy girl who lives in the small town of Bodeen, Texas and works at a fast food restaurant. She aspires to nothing and is constantly pushed by her pageant mother Brooke (played by Marcia Gay Harden, “The Maiden Heist”, “Damages”, “Mystic River”) to compete in a variety of beauty pageants. Her little sister Shania is more of the person who enjoys the pageants but for Bliss, it’s not her thing. In fact, she doesn’t even know what kind of person she is and just thinks that she is not cut out for the pageants.
But fortunately, she has a friend named Pash (played by Alia Shawkat, “Arrested Development”, “Bart Got a Room”) who is a good friend and her emotional support. Both dream of leaving the small town, while Pash dreams of going to an Ivy League School, Bliss doesn’t know what to do with her life.
One day while shopping with her mother, she discovers a group of women promoting a roller derby event in Austin. Immediately, she is mesmerized by it and she and Pash go to Austin and pretend they are going to a football game when in fact, she goes to watch the roller derby event in which she suddenly becomes inspired by the team “The Hurl Scouts” who are the worst roller derby team in Texas.
When she goes to meet with them and tell them how they are her new heroes, Maggie Mayhem (played by Kristen Wiig, “Saturday Night Live”, “Extract”) and Smashley Simpson (played by Drew Barrymore) asks her to put on some skates and attend the tryouts and become her own hero. Of course, Bliss lies and tells them that she’s 22 when she’s actually a teenager. But Bliss who has become inspired by these women, takes her Barbie skates and starts practicing to skate and enters tryouts.
While at tryouts, she immediately, she is bossed around by Iron Maven (played by Juliette Lewis, “Cape Fear”, “From Dusk Till Dawn”) but the Hurl Scouts coach, Razor (played by Andrew Wilson, “Fever Pitch, “Charlie’s Angels”, “Rushmore”) sees her speed as major potential and gives her a spot on The Hurl Scouts and quickly becomes good friends with the other ladies on the team which include Bloody Holly (played by Zoe Bell), Rosa Sparks (played by Eve) and more.
Part of the perks of being a Hurl Scout is attending parties hosted by roller derby host “Hot Tub” Johnny Rocket (played by Jimmy Fallon) and both Bliss and Pash start to have some fun. That is where she meets Oliver (played by Landon Pigg), a musician from the band playing at the party and eventually a guy that she starts to fall in love with.
Immediately, Bliss becomes a sensation on the team as the quick “Babe Ruthless” and suddenly the last placed Hurl Scouts become the hot team in roller derby and her presence has inspired her teammates to want to win their matches. For the first time, Bliss feels that she is making a difference with her life and things are starting to happen and she’s happy. But yet she is still living a lie. She’s underage and shouldn’t be competing, she’s lying to her family and telling them that she’s with her friend studying for her SAT’s. How long can she keep this up?
With her mother expecting Bliss to compete at major beauty pageant competitions, having a new guy in her life, maintaining her friendship with Pash and trying to fake her injuries that she receives at roller derby competitions, let alone lying about her age…what happens when the truth about Bliss comes out?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Whip It” is presented in 1080 High Definition (Widescreen 2:40:1), AVC @ 36 MBPS. The film sports vibrant colors with the Hurl Scouts green outfits, while amber lights shine on the roller derby rink. You can see details in the surroundings, especially injuries ala bloody noses to bruises. Even the tattoos on Kristen Wiig are seen much clearly on HD. Skin tones are natural and blacks are nice and deep. Everything is visible from the freckles of Pash, to the sweat and tears of Bliss and the other girls during competition or the more emotional scenes of the film. I will say that at first, I thought this was a period film shot in the ’80s but you realize that the film focuses on Bliss living in a very small town.
There is a fine amount of grain in the film and I didn’t notice any compression artifacts, banding or any sign of DNR. A solid Blu-ray release in terms of PQ from Fox.
As for the audio, “Whip It” is featured in English 5.1 DTS-HD MA and Spanish, French 5.1 Dolby Digital. The film is front and center channel driven. Dialogue and music are both crystal clear but there is minimal use of surrounds. You can hear crowd ambiance and the women racing on the rink and hitting the side rails and hearing the skates but its not immersive as I would have hoped but still, the film is not all about the roller derby and there are plenty of dialogue scenes and music-driven scenes that are very clear, with some songs having a nice kick of bass. A pretty interesting soundtrack as well from ’80s 38 Special’s “Caught Up in You” to music from the Ramones and the Breeders.
Subtitles are in English SDH and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Whip It” comes with a digital copy of the film and comes with a few special features:
- Deleted Scenes – (16:14) Included is an alternate opening and eight deleted scenes.
- Fox Movie Channel Presents Writer’s Draft: Shauna Cross of “Whip It” – (3:04) A short featurette with an interview with novel and screenwriter Shauna Cross about “Whip It”.
- Whip It Soundtrack Spot - (:32) A promotional for the “Whip It” soundtrack.
“Whip It” may seem like a film about roller derby and the antics that go behind-the-scenes of the sport but truthfully, the film has many layers. From a coming-of-age film, a relationship movie and a girl power film, there are a good number of things going on in this film that there is far much more to enjoy than expected.
I have to admit that Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut definitely shows promise. The actress has starred in so many films since she was a child and has worked with a good number of quality director’s, I had no doubt that she would do a pretty solid job.
Part of the challenge of “Whip It” is bringing together this wild bunch of characters that the character Bliss associates with and then bringing this other side of her life as a teenager from a small town, having an overbearing pageant mother and working at a fast food restaurant while trying to maintain her friendship with her high school friends and then finding love. Definitely not an easy task for Barrymore but one thing she does have is the original author Shauna Cross involved with the screenplay and she has a talented actress in Ellen Page in the main role.
At first glance, I didn’t know if Page can pull of such a role but as she did with “Juno” she manages to pull of Bliss very well for “Whip It”.
As for the other supporting characters, personally I don’t if roller derby lifestyles are similar to what is depicted in the movie. As much as I do enjoy Barrymore’s directorial debut, her role as Smashley Simpson is a bit too much while I do feel Kristen Wiig manages to pull off another solid supporting role like she has done in “Extract” and Juliette Lewis still does a great job in portraying the bad girl. Marcia Gay Harden and Daniel Stern (who plays Bliss’s father) also do a good job as the parents of Bliss.
As for the Blu-ray, the picture quality for the film was very good and the lossless audio was satisfactory but it would have been great to have it a bit more immersive via use of the surround channels. And it would have been great to have audio commentary by Barrymore and Shauna Cross or even a featurette on how the talent prepared for the film or even Behind-the-scenes footage. I felt the special features were a bit short for this Blu-ray release. But as for the film, “Whip It” is an entertaining, humorous and a solid coming-of-age, feel-good style of film. And again, although roller derby does play a big part in this film, “Whip It” is not an all out sports movie. The film has many layers to it and fortunately, the solid performances definitely made this film enjoyable.
Overall, “Whip It” is a solid directorial debut from Drew Barrymore and fine performances by Ellen Page and its supporting cast makes this film better than expected.
The Maiden Heist (a J!-ENT DVD Review)
November 1, 2009 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
“The Maiden Heist” is a fun comedy that is witty, hilarious and very entertaining courtesy of the film’s all-star cast. All four Academy Award winners – Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, William H. Macy and Marcia Gay Harden made this art caper so fun to watch. Definitely a film worth checking out!
Image courtesy of All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: The Maiden Heist
DURATION: 90Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Anamorphic Widescreen 2:40:1, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
RATED: PG-13 (For Some Strong Language, Nudity and Brief Fantasy Violence)
RELEASED: November 24, 2009
Directed by Peter Hewitt
Written by Michael LeSieur
Executive Producer: David Glasser
Producer: Morgan Freeman, Lori McCreary, Rob Paris, Bob Yari
Co-Producer: Kim H. Winther
Line Producer: Jonathan McCoy
Music by Rupert Gregson-Williams
Cinematography by Ueli Steiger
Edited by Carole Kravetz
Casting by Susan Shopmaker
Production Design by Chris Roope
Art Direction by Gershon Ginsburg
Set Decoration by Lisa Nilsson
Costume Design by Ha Nguyen
Starring:
Morgan Freeman as Charles
Christopher Walken as Roger
Marcia Gay Harden as Roger’s wife
William H. Macy as George
Back in May 2009, I was awaiting the film “The Maiden Heist” which featured an all-star cast featuring Academy Award winners Morgan Freeman (“Unforgiven”, “Driving Miss Daisy”, “Million Dollar Baby”), Christopher Walken (“The Deer Hunter”, “Pulp Fiction”, “Wayne’s World 2″), William H. Macy (“Fargo”, “Jurassic Park 3″, “Seabiscuit”) and Marcia Gay Harden (“Pollock”, “Damages”, “Mystic River”).
The film was directed by Peter Hewitt (“Garfield”, “Zoom”), a screenplay by Michael LeSieur (“You, Me and Dupree”), music by Rupert Gregson-Williams (“Bedtime Stories”, “Made of Honor”, “You Don’t Mess with Zohan”) and cinematography by Ueli Steiger (“10,000 BC”, “Nomad”, “The Day After Tomorrow”).
All would seem good for an early summer release but then the film’s distributor Yari Film Group (known for films such as “The Illusionist”, “Kickin’ It Old School”, “The Accidental Husband”) filed for bankruptcy and the film was shelved. The film did happen to debut at the Edinburgh International Film Festival but unfortunately, that was it. And now the film has its DVD release courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
“The Maiden Heist” starts off with Roger (Christopher Walken) who works in security for a major museum where the painting the “Lonely Maiden” is kept. Roger absolutely adores this painting. He dreams of himself defending the painting from thieves and he’s literally in love with the painting and knows all the details about it. Meanwhile, back at home, his wife (played by Marcia Gay Harden) dreams about going to Miami and has been saving her money specifically for this trip.
Roger is not very talkative towards his wife. In fact, he goes home, puts on his beret, listens to French music and just reads about the “Lonely Maiden”.
But life starts to become disrupted when he finds out that “The Lonely Maiden” and other artifacts from the museum are being shipped out overseas to Denmark. Roger is absolutely crushed. He then discovers that he is not the only one. Another security guard named Charles (played by Morgan Freeman) is also enamored with another painting in the museum and has been in love with it. So, in love to the point that he has painted the exact painting in his home. But similar to how Roger is with the “Lonely Maiden”, Charles is with the painting that he enjoyed for so many years.
After meeting over lunch, Charles comes up with an idea…”why not steal the paintings” they love. But of course, Roger is quite dedicated to his job and tells Charles that they are security guards with a job to protect the paintings not steal them. But life then changes when Charles discovers another person in security who is enamored with a sculpture at the museum. Charles shows Roger surveillance captured of the other security guard named George (played by William H. Macy). George has some unusual fetish as a late night security guard and likes to strip off all his clothes in front of the sculpture (which is a naked man showing off his muscles) and do a similar pose.
Charles and Roger feel that with another man to help them, they can probably pull of another heist. After talking to George (who used to be part of the Marines), he absolutely is supportive of the idea. Why not create forgeries of the paintings and the sculpture and replace them before they are shipped to Denmark. Will the three be able to pull off the heist?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“The Maiden Heist” is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2:40:1) and for the most part, cinematography by Ueli Steiger is done quite well. Shot in Boston and also at the Worcester Art Museum, most of the film takes place in the museum but also at Roger and Charles apartment.Lighting is well-done and for the most part, all three men look great and despite being older men, the film gives the men a youthful spin as these guys must try to pull of the unthinkable. Picture quality for the most part is well done and good use of utilization of shots throughout the film but the film does look very good.
Audio-wise, the film is featured in English 5.1 Dolby Digital. The film is primarily dialogue driven and also jazzy music plays a part in the film as well. Thus it’s more or less front and center channel driven. I didn’t notice a whole lot of surround usage as this film is not exactly an action film. But for the most part, dialogue is clear and understandable.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The Maiden Heist” comes with the following special features:
- Director, Writer and Producer Commentary - Audio commentary by Director Pete Hewitt, Writer Michael LeSieur and Producer Rob Paris. An enjoyable and informative commentary providing insight to the characters and film-making details of the set location, production design and scenes.
- In the Presence of Art: Making The Maiden Heist Featurette – (17:40) Featuring the cast and crew talking about the film. The cast talk about their characters while the director talked about how this film had an awesome script but it was all about when the film would become a reality.
- Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary – Featuring optional commentary for 12 short deleted scenes which include: Roger and Charlie Meet, Too Much Gas, Over My Dead Body, A Few Words from the Curator, Donnie, The Lovely Mr. Needlebaum, A Few Words from George, It’s Me They want, The Shirt, Waiting for Roger, The Avant Guard, More Donnie
- Bloopers Reel – (2:45) Bloopers from “The Maiden Heist”
- Previews – Trailers for upcoming Sony Pictures Home Entertainment films on Blu-ray and DVD.
After watching this film, I enjoyed the film and its witty sense of humor but also how clever the screenplay is. Director Peter Hewitt said that one of the things that came to his mind when working on this film are those security guards at a museum. Many are old and what keeps them going in such a job. And the film tries to showcase how these three security guards just fall in love with a certain item at the museum and are very protective of it. Granted, I don’t any security guards at museums personally to know if this happens in real life but if it does, that would be quite interesting.
As mentioned, these three Academy Award winning men look absolutely full of youth. It was fun to see Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken and William H. Macy so energetic. In fact, surprising enough, the PG-13 rating comes from William H. Macy’s nude scenes. And these three play interesting characters. Although it’s not in your face, Freeman plays a gay man, Walken plays a husband who doesn’t really take notice of his wife because he’s so in love with a painting and Macy’s character, although he’s pretty gung-ho and talks about the Marines, his hobby of taking off his clothes in front of a nude male statue is a bit odd. Especially when he gives advice to Roger (Walken) of how he should be more of a man when taking care of his wife. But overall, it’s just interesting to see how these men become attached so much to these beloved items and will do what it takes to keep them home and not have their own personal lives disrupted.
And as these three men are quite interesting to watch, Marcia Gay Harden is absolutely fabulous as the wife who just works her butt off for a vacation with her husband that seems to be long overdue. She’s a talker but it seems this vacation is all that keeps her going in her marriage and she plays a great job as a wife who is determined to go on this trip.
Although a predictable, straightforward film, “The Maiden Heist” doesn’t need to be a “Mission Impossible” or highly technological style of film. It’s all about the performances of the four talents and they all make this film happen. It’s unfortunate that the film never received a theatrical release due to the distributor’s bankruptcy but it’s a fun, lighthearted comedy that is worth giving a try.
Overall, “The Maiden Heist” is a fun comedy that is witty, hilarious and very entertaining courtesy of the film’s all-star cast. All four Academy Award winners – Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, William H. Macy and Marcia Gay Harden made this art caper so fun to watch. Definitely a film worth checking out!
Marcia Gay Harden, Mariska Hargitay and Mary-Louise Parker at the Mariska Hargitay’s Joyful Heart Foundation Dinner
September 27, 2009 by J!-ENT · Leave a Comment
Actors Marcia Gay Harden, Mariska Hargitay and Mary-Louise Parker attend Mariska Hargitay’s Joyful Heart Foundation dinner at the Bon Appetit Supper Club and Cafe on September 26, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Bon Appetit). Content © 2009 Getty Images All rights reserved.
