The Tempest (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

September 18, 2011 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

As far as Shakespeare film adaptations go, “The Tempest” is viscerally entertaining and features beautiful costume design and make-up. But it’s pacing seems quite a bit disjointed and doesn’t pull you in but pushes you away. But “The Tempest” is one beautiful experimental film that looks and sounds fantastic on Blu-ray!

TITLE: The Tempest

FILM RELEASE DATE: 2010

DURATION: 110 minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (widescreen 2:35:1), English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English & Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English SDH and Spanish

RATED: PG-13 (For Some Nudity, Suggestive Content and Scary Images)

COMPANY: Miramax Films/Touchstone Home Entertainment

RELEASE DATE: September 13, 2011

Directed by Julie Taymor

Based on the play by William Shakespeare

Screenplay by Julie Taymor

Produced by Robert Chartoff, Jason K. Lau, Julia Taylor-Stanley, Julie Taymor

Executive Producer: Ronald M. Bozman, Anthony Buckner, John C. Ching, Rohit Khattar, Deborah Y. Lau, Tino Puri, Greg Strasburg, Stewart Til

Co-Executive Producer: Beaux Carson

Associate Producer: Phyllis LaVoie

Music by Elliot Goldenthal

Cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh

Edited by Francoise Bonnot

Production Design by Mark Friedberg

Art Direction by Alex DiGerlando, Kim Jennings

Set Decoration by Alyssa Winter

Costume Design by Sandy Powell

Starring:

Helen Mirren as Prospera

Felicity Jones as Miranda

Jude Akuwudike as Boatswain

Reeve Carney as Prince Ferdinand

David Strathairn as King Alonso

Tom Conti as Gonzalo

Alan Cumming as Sebastian

Chris Cooper as Antonio

Ben Whishaw as Ariel

Djimon Hounsou as Caliban

Russell Brand as Trinculo

Alfred Molina as Stephano

This modern retelling of William Shakespeare’s final masterpiece is an exciting, mystical and magical fantasy with Academy Award®-winner Helen Mirren (Best Actress, The Queen, 2006) leading a star-studded cast including Russell Brand (Get Him To The Greek) and Alfred Molina (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice). Exiled to a magical island, the sorceress Prospera (Mirren) conjures up a storm that shipwrecks her enemies, and then unleashes her powers for revenge. Directed by Julie Taymor (Frida) — and complete with exclusive bonus features — The Tempest, with its innovative twist, is a supernatural dramedy filled with Shakespearean villains, lovers and fools that will leave you spellbound.

When it comes to plays and theater, Julie Taymor is well-known in the circle. Having earned two Tony Awards for directing the stage musical of “The Lion King” and well-known for her costume design and puppetry for plays such as “The Tempest”, “Oedipus Rex”, “The Magic Flute” and was also the production consultant and designer for Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” concert show.

But when it comes to directing films, Taymor is best known for directing the 1999 film “Titus” and the 2007 film “Across the Universe”.

But in 2010, Taymor returned to her roots, her passion for Shakespeare and to create the film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play “The Tempest”, considered to be the last play that Shakespeare had written alone. And many consider it to be a play that would incorporate themes from other Shakespearean plays such as romance, comedy, drama and other sources.

The 2010 film is loosely based on “The Tempest” as the lead character Prospera (played by Helen Mirren, “Queen”, “Excalibur”, “Calendar Girls”, “National Treasure”) is played by a woman and not a man (who goes by the name of Prospero). And in the play, Prospero is the Duke of Milan but for this film, Prospera is the wife of the Duke.

“The Tempest” revolves around Prospera, the Duchess of Milan and also a sorceress who is accused by her brother Antonio of killing her husband, the Duke with witchcraft.

Antonio had wanted power and control and thus, fearful of a woman taking the leadership of the country, he casts Prospera and her four-year-old daughter Miranda to the open seas.

The two end up on an island where they take up residence and the only person that lives on the island is a monster/human named Caliban.

With her power, Prospera makes Caliban (played by Djimon Hounsou, “Blood Diamond”, “The Gladiator”, “The Island”) her slave and claims the island for her and her daughter. Caliban has a deep hatred towards Prospera for making him a slave. But using her magical powers and to call upon the spirit Ariel (played by Ben Whishaw, “Layer Cake”, “Bright Star”) to help her, both make sure that no one sets foot on the island.

But with Prospera now older and Miranda (played by Felicity Jones, “Chalet Girl”, “Like Crazy”) now a young woman, one day, Miranda spots a ship in trouble in the sea.

Alonzo, the King of Naples (played by David Strathairn, “The Bourne Ultimatum, “L.A. Confidential”, “Fracture”) is sailing back to his kingdom after his daughter’s wedding to the prince of Tunisia and accompanying him is his son Ferdinand (played by Reeve Carney. “Snow Falling on Ceders”, “Spread”), his brother Sebastian (played by Alan Cumming, “X2″, “The Anniversary Party”, “Spy Kids”) and Antonio (played by Chris Cooper, “Adaptation”, “American Beauty”, “The Bourne Identity”). Feeling that she can get her revenge, she unleashes her power, a tempest which wrecks the ship. But with Miranda preventing her mother from causing much harm, she stops complete destruction in which King Alonzo and a few are able to make it onto the island.

As King Alonzo tries to find help in order to get back home, the conniving Antonio tries to convince Sebastian to kill his brother in order to be the next King of Naples.

Meanwhile, Ferdinand is separated from everyone else and encounters Miranda…and both fall in love with each other at first sight. But concerned and protective of her daughter, Prospera tries to make Ferdinand her slave.

Also, finding the island are Stephano, Alonzo’s butler (played by Alfred Molina, “Spider-Man 2″, “Chocolat”, “Magnolia”) and Trinculo (played by Russell Brand, “Get Him to the Greek”, “Arthur”, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) and because Stephano has liquor, they manage to get Caliban drunk and together they try to find a way to go against Prospera.

But with her daughter falling in love with Ferdinand and the fact that her brother is on the island and feeling that they are going after her, will Prospera unleash her power to destroy them, or will she forgive them and let them live?

VIDEO:

“The Tempest” is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:35:1). And the film looks absolutely beautiful. This film also reinforces my belief that nearly every film shot in Hawaii and released on Blu-ray looks magnificent in HD. The film and the lighting are fantastic. There is plenty of detail, colors are vibrant and dark when they need to be.

But the cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh (“Bridget Jone’s Diary”, “The Piano”, “Analyze This”), visual effects, costume and makeup design for the film is fantastic. In fact, possibly the most impressive part of the film is when Prospera calls upon Ariel in his darkest form. Excellent scene! Dryburgh has a lot to work with in terms of capturing the look and feel of the island on camera and there are plenty of breathtaking scenes.

I detected no banding, no edge enhancement, no softness. Picture quality is fantastic!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“The Tempest” is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD MA. The back cover mentions English and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, but it appears to be an error possibly meant for the DVD version. But audio-wise, the lossless audio is fantastic. There is quite a bit of action throughout the film from various weather elements, the opening scene alone with the chaos in the seas definitely utilizes the center, front, surround channels and LFE. The overall ambiance is also well captured in the film and if anything, the lossless audio is nothing short of spectacular.

The dialogue is crystal clear and for the most part, audiophiles will find the lossless soundtrack to be quite immersive.

Subtitles are in English SDH and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“The Tempest” comes with the following special features:

Audio Commentary – Featuring in-depth commentary by Julie Taymor. Julie is very passionate about Shakespeare and she goes into details of the location, the cast and various scenes.
Shakespeare Experts Audio Commentary - I found this audio commentary to be a welcome addition to the Blu-ray release as experts Virginia Mason Vaughan (a Professor of English at Clark University) and Jonathan Bate (A Shakespeare Professor at England’s University of Warwick) discuss the differences between the play and the film adaptation. The two do not engage in any lambasting towards the film but for those that want to know about the key differences, will surely enjoy this commentary.
Raising the Tempest – (1:06:06) A making-of “The Tempest” but also gives you an idea of the location of the film, the cast’s state of mind while working on the film and also comparisons of the play and film and more.
Julie & Cast: Inside the L.A. Rehearsals – (13:34) A featurette in which Julie Taymore along with Russell Brand, Alfred Molina and Djimon Hounsou at a stage rehearsal from back in 2008.
Russel Brand Rehearsal Riff - (4:32) Julie Taymor interview Trinculo (Brand).
Music Video – (3:22) Featuring a the music video for “Mistress Mine” by actor Reeve Carney.

EXTRAS:

“The Tempest” comes with a slipcover case.

I really wanted to love”The Tempest” and I know how passionate filmmaker Julie Taymor was when she created it. And to reaffirm that passion, I listened to the audio commentary, the featurette on the making of this film. And how she wanted to bring technology and theater together as one.

But the problem is, while visually the film was visceral and gorgeous, the story was not.

And the biggest culprit was the pacing of the film. The film starts off rather dark, we learn what sacrifices Prospera had gone through to keep she and her daughter safe from intruders. How she took control of the island and made Caliban, a slave. And the dynamic between mother and daughter, Prospera and Ariel, Miranda and Ferdinand, I did like.

But the pacing takes a 90 degree turn as the film’s comedy diverts you from a more serious/darker tone to ridiculousness as the film begins to focus on Trinculo and Stephano with Caliban. To put it bluntly, when you start watching Russell Brand trounce into the film, in modern day garb and discovering Calaban, “The Tempest” resembles less of a Shakespearan film and almost becomes more of something we would see from Happy Madison or Judd Apatow-produced films.

Is it funny, yes…but it is so out of place and in many ways, it became more of an experimental, jarring part of the film that really takes you out of the actual story. Yes, we know that Trinculo, Stephano and Caliban would be plotting against Prospera but perhaps the three were focused on too much.

The other story featured Kin Alonzo, Antonio, Sebastian and I felt that while the play shows the conflict between Antonio and Prospero quite well, I felt the necessary bridge to show Antonio’s betrayal of Prospera was not well tied together in the film.

But what I did enjoy about the film was relationship between Prospera and Miranda and you have to give credit to the performance of Helen Mirren who did a wonderful job. Julie Taymor was correct in the fact that a woman can play the role of the lead protagonist and the casting of Mirren was terrific.

As mentioned earlier, the visual effects, cinematography, costume design and makeup were fantastic in this film and to incorporate an experimental and artistic direction for the film can be applauded, it’s just that I felt there were scenes, moments that were missing or just out of place.

While the Blu-ray release of “The Tempest” will surely be enjoyed by fans, there is no doubt that this film looks and sounds fantastic on Blu-ray and the special features are also lengthy, enlightening and entertaining. But as far as the film itself, for a visceral film that screams beauty and darkness, unfortunately its disjointed storyline doesn’t match the vibrancy of the film’s beautiful aesthetics.

Filed Under: Blu-ray Reviews

The Double Life of Veronique – The Criterion Collection #359 (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

February 7, 2011 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

Vibrant, colorful, symbiotic and ambiguous, “The Double Life of Veronique” is a wonderful arthouse film that continues to resonate strongly 20-years later and a highlight in the career of Polish director and screenwriter Krzysztof Kieslowski’s cinema oeuvre. Highly recommended!

TITLE: The Double Life of Veronique – The Criterion Collection #359

YEAR OF FILM: 1991

DURATION: 97 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:66:1 Aspect Ratio), Color, In Polish and French with English Subtitles

COMPANY: Miramax/Image Entertainment, mk2/THE CRITERION COLLECTION

RELEASE DATE: February 1, 2011

Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski

Written by Krzysztof Kieslowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz

Produced by Leonardo de La Fuente

Executive Producer: Ryszard Chutkowski, Bernard-P. Guiremand

Music b Zbigniew Preisner

Cinematography by Slawomir Idziak

Edited by Jacques Witta

Casting by Margot Capelier, Caroline Castelain

Production Design by Patrice Mercier

Costume Design by Laurence Brignon, Claudia Fellous, Ezbieta Radke

Starring:

Irene Jacob as Weronika/Veronique

Halina Gryglaszewska as La Tante

Jerzy Gudejko as Antek

Philippe Volter as Alexandre Fabbri

Sandrine Dumas as Catherine

Lorraine Evanoff as Claude

Guillaume de Tonquedec as Serge

Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus as Jean-Pierre

Wladyslaw Kowalski as Le pere de Weronika

Claude Duneton as Le pere de Veronique

Krzysztof Kieślowski’s international breakthrough remains one of his most beloved films, a ravishing, mysterious rumination on identity, love, and human intuition. Irène Jacob is incandescent as both Weronika, a Polish choir soprano, and her double, Véronique, a French music teacher. Though unknown to each other, the two women share an enigmatic, emotional bond, which Kieślowski details in gorgeous reflections, colors, and movements. Aided by Slawomir Idziak’s shimmering cinematography and Zbigniew Preisner’s haunting, operatic score, Kieślowski creates one of cinema’s most purely metaphysical works. The Double Life of Véronique is an unforgettable symphony of feeling.

“The Double Life of Veronique” is a 1991 French and Polish film and a pre-cursor to Kieslowski’s color trilogy (“Three Colors: Blue, Red and White) and known for the TV mini-series “The Decalogue” which captured audiences for its artistic style, considering it was a TV mini-series, preceded by three more Kieslowski films that received rave reviews in 1988, “A Short Film About Love”, “A Shot Film About Killing” and in 1981 for “Blind Chance”.

The film won “Best Actress”, “FIPRESCI Prize” and “Prize of the Ecumenical Jury” at the Cannes International Film Festival and was also nominated for a Golden Palm Award. Also winning an award for “Best Music” by the Los Angeles Film Critics” and “Best Foreign Language Film” by the National Society of Film Critics Awards.

While the film was praised for its symbolic and artistic quality, for the US release, Harvey Weinstein of Miramax requested an alternate ending and thus the US version of the film had an extra four scenes at the end.

But what “The Double Life of Veronique” would feature is a concept of doppelgangers, a fantasy element that is not explained but it is part of the film. But what is amazing about the film is its cinematography as it uses color and camera filters to create an ethereal atmosphere where greens, yellows, oranges, reds and blacks are featured strongly throughout the film. A style which cinematographer Slawomir Idziak would experiment on “The Decalogue” and would become used in this film and used heavily in Kieslowski’s “Color” trilogy.

“The Double Life of Veronique” revolves around two women. Weronika of Poland and Veronique from Paris (both played by Irene Jacob, “Red”, “Othello”, “US Marshals”. Two women who are not related but share many traits and yet have a feeling that part of them exists somewhere else.

Weronika is a wonderful opera singer with a heart problem, Veronique had a similar goal but has abandoned it and teaches music to children. One day, Veronique was taking a vacation and the tour had stopped in Poland. Weronika saw Veronique going to the bus and it shocked her that someone looked exactly like her. But Veronique never sees her (but as she was taking pictures, she did snap a picture of Weronika).

The first half of the film explores Weronika’s life. Weronika lives in Poland and loves singing opera. We watch her as she lives with her father and he likes to paint. We watch as she sacrifices everything for her passion of singing opera. Weronika loves life, loves singing but knowing that her heart is not strong.

The second half of the film explores Veronique’s life in France and we see how she has some sort of emotional connection to someone (Weronika) but doesn’t know why. Similar to Weronika, she also pursued the same goal but abandons it. Like Weronika, she has a bad heart. Meanwhile, she starts to receive mysterious packages by a man who is fascinated with her. She also is fascinated with a marionette maker and puppeteer named Alexandre Fabbri (played by Philippe Volter).

“The Double Life of Veronique” showcases two women who look alike, share similar qualities and have this undeniable connection in which they are unable to explain.

VIDEO:

“The Double Life of Veronique” is presented in 1:66:1 and looks magnificent on Blu-ray. Detail is much more evident as you can see the cracks of the walls to the skin bumps on Irene Jacob’s naked skin. The colors also pop with no sight of banding. Colors are vibrant, blacks are nice and deep. As mentioned earlier, the color filters and what was accomplished by cinematographer Slawomir Idziak is quite amazing. The filters create an ethereal dreamlike look for the film and if you thought the film looked great on DVD, on Blu-ray, “The Double Life of Veronique” looks spectacular.

On 4:3 televisions, the images will appear letterboxed. On standard and widescreen televisions, black bars may also be visible on the left and right to maintain the proper screen format.

According to the Criterion Collection, the HD transfer was created using a 35mm negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS system, while Digital Vision’s DVNR system was used for small dirt, grain and noise reduction.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“The Double Life of Veronique” is presented in stereo. Dialogue and music can be heard clearly! The score by Zbigniew Preisner is wonderful and comes alive through the lossless stereo track but if anything captured me was hearing the operatic voice (not sure if that was truly Irene Jacob’s voice but it was divine!).

According to the Criterion Collection, the stereo soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the 35-mm magnetic tracks. Clicks, thumps, hiss and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools D. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated audio workstation.

Subtitles are in English SDH.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“The Double Life of Veronique – The Criterion Collection #359″ on Blu-ray comes with the following special features:

Audio commentary – # Audio commentary by Annette Insdorf, author of Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieślowski. A very insightful and informative audio commentary, pleasant to listen to and well-done!
U.S. Ending – (5:16) The U.S. Ending for “The Double Life of Veronique”.
The Musicians – (1958, 10:35), a short film by Kieślowski’s teacher Kazimierz Karabasz which inspired Kieślowski.
Three short documentary films by Kieślowski: Factory (1970, 18:07), Hospital (1976, 21:20) and Railway Station (1980, 13:15).
Kieślowski’s Dialogue – (52:22) A 1991 documentary featuring a candid interview with Kieślowski and rare behind-the-scenes footage from the set of “The Double Life of Véronique”.
1966-1988: Kieślowski, Polish Filmmaker -(30:38) A 2005 documentary directed by Luc Lagier tracing the filmmaker’s work in Poland, from his days as a student through “The Double Life of Véronique”.
Slawomir Idziak – (24:18) A 2006 interview with cinematographer Slawomir Idziak.
Zbigniew Preisner - (21:16) 2006 interview with Zbigniew Preisner is a composer who had worked with Kieślowski since the 1985 film “No End”.
Irene Jacob – (16:45) A 2005 interview with actress Irène Jacob.

EXTRAS:

Included is a 46-page booklet featuring “Through the Looking Glass” by Jonathan Romney and “Pure Emotions: The Double Life of Veronique from Kieślowski on Kieślowski”. (Note: “The Forced Choice of Freedom” by Slavoj Zizek and “Kieslowski’s Muse” by Peter Cowie which were in the 2006 DVD release booklet are not included in the Blu-ray release booklet).

“The Double Life of Veronique” is quite an intriguing film. Many critics and viewers have various interpretations of the film… From the two women symbolizing their countries, the women symbolizing the life of Kieślowski and others feeling it deals with the doppelganger mythology and more.

There is an ambiguity that Kieślowski knew that people who watched the film, would experience and interpret it differently. And it’s what he wanted to do as a filmmaker. In fact, knowing that this film would be showing in various theaters, his goal was to slightly change the film for each theater, “The Double Life of Veronique” would be a different experience for a viewer, with some scenes running shorter or longer, ending would be happy or sad but in the end, they ran out of time and were only able to create two versions, with the second version being the US release with a few scenes added to the request made by Miramax’s Harvey Weinstein.

There is no doubt that this is one of those films that arthouse fans love for its cinematic creativity. The cinematography by Slawomir Idziak is magnificent. The use of the filters in Kieślowski’s words, “to create a beautiful world, more than it is”. But for others, the film may be too ambiguous for their tastes. But it is what made Kieślowski’s work so unique and untethered. Although he worked in co-productions, his films were his own. He made the call, he made the cuts and the integrity of the film of what he wanted remained intact.

But there are scenes that are symbolic, there are scenes which one must be focused on too pickup the various clues that Kieślowski leaves with the viewers. From Weronika pulling on a shoestring which resembles an EKG monitor and seeing the string snap off. There is a scene in Veronique’s storyline in which her small crystal ball shows an image of buildings which were the buildings that Weronika’s father was drawing, and a small ball that Weronika also carries. There is a scene where Weronika looks at her photo after making love and seeing the opposite with Veronique.

The film showcases this mysterious connection but it doesn’t focus on it. While many Hollywood films on the mystical are treated with storylines answering questions of “why is it possible?”, Kieślowski’s film answers back with a “why should I answer that?”.

In many ways, the film can be seen like poetry, like a painting. The film relies on ambiance and mood for narrative, in fact Weronika/Veronique’s dialogue is quite minimalistic, as the film is ethereal and allows the viewer to come up with their own answers to what the film may be about.

I’ve met people who felt that Weronika succumbs to the doppelganger effect (a myth which is about a person who comes across their exact self, their doppelganger, the result is that they will die). But there are those who go deeper into the storyline and feel that “The Double Life of Veronique” examines humanity and possibly may symbolize countries. If both countries have a connection and are very much alike, do they have free will or is someone higher pulling their strings. Others have felt there was a religious connection (although God or religion is not mentioned in the film), I have read those who felt there was a Christian-link to the film when it comes to spirituality.

Some may feel there is a symbolism with a political nature due to Kieslowski’s past films, while others feel the film is about something deeper. Nevertheless, this is where the efficacy of the film works, with the fact that people have their own interpretation of what the film is about and what they imagine the film to be.

This was Kieslowski’s style, to never discuss what he was trying to accomplish with the film, to let the viewers have their say on how a film meant to them.

For me, I have watched this film several times and each time, I manage to pick up on things that I didn’t see previously. In fact, this is a film that does require multiple viewings, not for the sake of understanding the story but as I mentioned before, it’s like a painting. It has simplicity, but it can also be interpreted as complex. Kieślowski is the creator, does his past and what he had created in his past films or documentary work have something to say about his work of art? What are the symbolic meanings of the objects of the film? These questions is what makes the film so intriguing that you want to watch it again.

As for the acting, the acting was wonderful. Irene Jacob did a fantastic job in playing the role of two women. She is able to embody the emotions felt by both women, from happiness, sadness and it looks natural and believable. And I will say that if it that is Jacob’s voice during those operatic scenes, my respect for her as a multi-talented actress has increased and found her performance to be ingratiating.

As for the Blu-ray release of “The Double Life of Veronique”, let me first say that the 2006 DVD release from The Criterion Collection was magnificent. And with the 2010 Blu-ray release in Europe ala Artificial Eye, there was no doubt in my mind that this title would receive a Blu-ray release courtesy of Criterion. The 2011 Blu-ray looks absolutely beautiful in HD and of course, with the ability to go to index for the commentary quite easily is a plus. But it is important for me to say that the original 2006 DVD release does have more content (in the booklet) and of course, the DVD release had an awesome package.

So, the big question for those who own the previous 2006 DVD release is if it’s worth owning on Blu-ray. The answer is yes if you want the improved picture quality and lossless stereo track. But if you don’t have a 1080p HD TV or a proper home theater setup for lossless audio, then it’s a moot point, there is no need to upgrade. Otherwise, if you do have the proper home theater setup, then yes because the film looks absolutely vibrant on Blu-ray, The details of the film are much more evident, every crack on the walls can be seen, even the skin bumps on actress Irene Jacob can be seen very clearly.

Overall, “The Double Life of Veronique” is a magnificent film from director Krzysztof Kieślowski and the Blu-ray release from The Criterion Collection is wonderful. I will say that the original 2006 DVD had a wonderful package presentation and the addition of more content in the booklet made it a perfect release and if you own that DVD release, I highly recommend on keeping it. But for those who don’t own the film or those wanting to upgrade to Blu-ray, especially for those who are used to watching arthouse films, especially Kieślowski films, will find “The Double Life of Veronique” to be a release worth owning especially as it is a film that requires multiple viewing.

“The Double Life of Veronique” is a beautiful film!

Highly recommended!

The Boys Are Back (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

January 15, 2010 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

A delightful, heartwarming film. Clive Owen’s with his best performance yet!

DVD TITLE: The Boys Are Back

DURATION: 104 minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Spanish Language Track, English SDH and Spanish Subtitles, Widescreen (2:35:1) – Enhanced for 16×9 Televisions

COMPANY: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

RATED: PG-13 (For Some Sexual Language and Thematic Elements)

RELEASE DATE: January 26, 2010

Based on the novel “The Boys Are Back in Town” by Simon Carr

Directed by Scott Hicks

Adaptation by Allan Cubitt

Executive Producer: Peter Bennett-Jones, Clive Owen, David M. Thompson, Jane Wright

Producer: Greg Brenman, Timothy White

Associate Producer: Jessica Beiler

Line Producer: Paul Ranford

Music by Hal Lindes

Cinematography by Greig Fraser

Edited by Scott Gray

Casting by Nikki Barrett, Nina Gold

Production Design by Melinda Doring

Art Direction by Janie Parker

Set Decoration by Glen W. Johnson

Costume Design by Emily Seresin

Starring:

Clive Owen as Joe Warr

Laura Fraser as Katy Warr

Emma Booth as Laura

George MacKay as Harry Warr

Nicholas McAnulty as Artie Warr

Emma Lung as Mia

Julia Blake as Barbara

Natasha Little as Flick

Erik Thomson as Tom

The death of his wife leaves wisecracking sportswriter Joe Warr (Clive Owen) with a curious six year-old (Nicholas McAnulty) and a rebellious teen from a previous marriage (George MacKay) to bring up in a household devoid of feminine influence. So Joe takes on parenting the only way he knows how—full throttle. With an exuberance born of necessity, he teaches his boys to meet the joy and fragility of life head on. The Boys Are Back chronicles the fierce love and loyalty the three Warr men discover for each other as they make their way through the trials of everyday life.

In 2009, “The Boys are Back” is a film from BBC films, adapted from the novel “The Boys are Back in Town” by Simon Carr and was distributed in the US from Miramax Films.

The film is directed by Scott Hicks (“”Snow Falling on Cedars”, “No Reservations”, “Shine”) and a screenplay adaptation by Allan Cubitt (“The Hound of Baskervilles”, “Anna Karenina: TV Series”). The film features cinematography by Greig Fraser (“Spider”, “Last Ride”, “Bright Star”) and music by composer Hal Lindes (“Apparitions”, “Little Devil”, “Losing Gemma”).

“The Boys are Back” is about a busy sportswriter in Australia named Joe Warr (played by Clive Owen, “Sin City”, “Children of Men”, “Shoot ‘Em Up”). Because he travels so much, his wife Katy (played by Laura Fraser, “The Passion”, “The Flying Scotsman”, “No Holds Bard”) raises their five-year-old son Artie (played by Nicholas McAnulty).

For Joe, his connection with Artie is brief since he works a lot and their main emotional connection is when he brings over gifts when he comes home. But fortunately Katy and her parents have been there for Artie.

But one night as he goes out with his wife to a dinner party, she feels sick to her stomach and collapses. She has cancer and it has spread throughout her body and she doesn’t have much time left. Joe tries to prepare Artie for his mom’s inevitable death but both are not prepared of how life would be afterward without their mom.

Without his mother, Joe now wants to connect with his son and be there and takes time off from his work. Joe sees life differently now as he is forced to be a father for his son but most importantly, asking his son Harry (played by George McKay, “Defiance”, “Peter Pan”) from his first marriage to come stay with him in Australia.

But Joe realizes that he never really had any connection with his sons. When Harry was six, he left him to be with another woman who was pregnant with Artie. And thus, this is the first real time in their lives Joe and his son Harry are together and a similar situation with Artie who was always dependent on his mother. Now the three must live as a family but will Joe be the father that they need?

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“The Boys are Back” features beautiful cinematography from Southern Australia. Director Scott Hicks knew of what scenes he wanted in the film and Greg Fraser does a great job in showcasing the ocean, the blue skies, the yellow and green landscapes. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking. Shots of Joe and his wife Katy was well-filmed as with Joe and his sons. Key scenes showing the family bond and him trying to be there for his loved ones. The film is presented in Widescreen (2:35:1) – enhanced for 16×9 televisions.

As for audio, the film is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound with a Spanish language track included. The film is primarily dialogue driven with the occasional music. Dialogue is clear and understandable and is primarily front and center channel driven.

Subtitles are in English SDH and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“The Boys are Back” comes with the following special features:

The Boys are Back: A Photographic Journey – (16:22) The following featurette showcases photography taken on the set of the film and behind-the-scenes. Optional commentary by director Scott Hicks is included as Hicks talks about working with the various talent and crew and filming in Southern Australia.
A Father and Two Sons, On Set – (1:42) Author Simon Carr talks about the day his sons met the talent playing them and how the real life sons and the movie sons got a long quite well with each other.

A delightful, heartwarming film. Clive Owen’s best performance yet!

“The Boys Are Back” is a film inspired by a true story and where films about life after a deceased parent is nothing new, what makes this film so special is the connection between father and two sons that he has never been close with because of his commitment of being one of the best sports writers out there. Always traveling to major sports competitions, he has always trusted his son with his wife.

But it’s when the character of Joe is forced to take on the role of father, you can feel that wall between him and his son. He knows that he hasn’t been much of a father but he’s trying. But when his son Harry from a previous marriage comes to stay with them, this is when we see Joe start to learn about himself. Things he was not conscious about. He’s only thought about his young son Artie with his current wife, its when he sees his son Harry, a son that he has not really been too close with, you realize that Harry has missed out on having a father and now Harry is learning first hand that even though he had this new family in Australia, he has always made decisions that would benefit himself and never realizing how his children were feeling.

It’s a real-eye opening story that you don’t really see too often in a film. As mentioned, Clive Owens does a great job with his performance as Joe but credit also goes to the children played by George McKay and Nicholas McNaulty. Also, the characters of Barbara played by Julia Blake. Blake plays a good grandmother but having lost her daughter to cancer, she wants to make sure that her only living connection with her daughter, which is her grandson, is taken care of. And Julia has a hard time trusting Joe who has made some bad decisions.

Another actress that deserves credit is model Emma Booth who plays the character Laura. A woman who takes care of Artie when Joe is gone and a single parent who has chemistry with Joe but doesn’t know where there relationship/friendship is going. Is she just his babysitter or does Joe really care about her?

As for the film being rated PG-13, there are some scenes with profanity and some situations that you just don’t want your young children to recreate in real life, such as riding on the hood of a vehicle to jumping into a bath. But there is no violence, no scary situations for children but some sexual language and certain elements that parents may not want their children to see.

The fact is that this is a dysfunctional family. A child losing his mother and having to deal with the person closes to him not there anymore, is hard for a young child. And the same with the character of Harry. A boy that loves his father but they have not been together since he left him and his mother. So, there is resentment. And for Joe, its just being put in the role of a single parent while having this major career which is now being affected. All three individuals are facing challenges that they have never faced before. But together as a family, they try to make things good and that is what the heart of the film is about.

Overall, “The Boys are Back” is a delightful, heartwarming film worth watching. Definitely recommended!

Filed Under: DVD Reviews

J!-ENT Special Feature Article: “Extract” Writer/Director Mike Judge Q&A

December 16, 2009 by J!-ENT · Leave a Comment

mike-judge

With the upcoming release of Miramax Films “EXTRACT” on Blu-ray and DVD on December 22nd, J!-ENT recently took part in a media roundtable with the writer and director of “EXTRACT”, Mike Judge. Judge who is known for “Office Space” and the animated series “Kings of the Hill” and “Beavis and Butthead”, talks about his experience working on the film, with the talent and more.

Read our J!-ENT Special Feature Article with “Extract” Writer and Director Mike Judge

Filed Under: Interviews and Articles

Kevin Smith: 3-Movie Collection: Clerks, Chasing Amy, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

November 13, 2009 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

The three classic Kevin Smith films may not be the kind of films to showcase the capabilities of Blu-ray but for fans of the View Askewniverse, the new special features and slight improvement to the picture and audio quality of these Kevin Smith classics definitely makes owning this set well worth it.

TITLE: Kevin Smith 3-Movie Collection (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back)

DURATION: Clerks: 92 Minutes, Chasing Amy: Minutes, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back: Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: CLERKS: 1080p High Definition (1:85:1), English 5.1 DTS-HD MA (48 kHz/24-bit), Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

RATED: Clerks: R (For Extensive Use of Extremely Sex-Related Dialogue)

COMPANY: Miramax Films

Release Date: November 17, 2009

Clerks

Written and Directed by Kevin Smith

Producer: Scott Mosier, Kevin Smith

Cinematography by David Klein

Edited by Scott Mosier, Kevin Smith

Makeup Department: Leslie Hope

Production Management: Charlie McClellan

Chasing Amy

Written and Directed by Kevin Smith

Executive Producer: John Pierson

Producer: Scott Mosier

Associate Producer: Robert Hawk

Line Producer: Derrick Tseng

Music by David Pirner

Cinematography by David Klein

Edited by Scott Mosier, Kevin Smith

Casting by Shana Lory

Production Design by Robert Holtzman

Art Direction by Jim Williams

Set Decoration by John Carlucci, Susannah McCarthy

Costume Design by Christopher Del Coro

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

Written and Directed by Kevin Smith

Executive Producer: Jonathan Gordan, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein

Producer: Scott Mosier

Co-Producer: Laura Greenlea

Music by James L. Venable

Cinematography by Jamie Anderson

Edited by Scott Mosier and Kevin Smith

Casting by Christine Sheaks

Production Design by Robert Holtzman

Art Direction by Elise G. Viola

Set Decoration by Jeff MacIntyre, Douglas A. Mowat

Costume Design by Isis Mussenden

“Clerks” Starring:

Brian O’Halloran as Dante

Jeff Anderson as Randal

Marilyn Ghigliotti as Veronica

Lisa Spoonhauer as Caitlin

Jason Mewes as Jay

Kevin Smith as Silent Bob

Scott Mosier as William the Idiot Manchild

“Chasing Amy” Starring:

Ben Affleck as Holden McNeil

Jason Lee as Banky Edwards

Joey Lauren Adams as Alyssa Jones

Matt Damon as Shawn Oran

Jason Mewes as Jay

Kevin Smith as Silent Bob

“Jay and Bob Strike Back” Starring:

Jason Mewes as Jay

Kevin Smith as Silent Bob

Ben Affleck as Holden McNeil

Jeff Anderson as Randal Graves

Brian O’Halloran as Dante Hicks

Shannon Elizabeth as Justice

Eliza Dushku as Sissy

Ali Larter as Chrissy

Will Ferrell as Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly

Jason Lee as Brodie Bruce/Banky Edwards

Judd Nelson as Sheriff

George Carlin as Hitchhiker

Carrie Fisher as Nun

Seann William Scott as Brent

Jon Stewart as Reg Hartner

Chris Rock as Chaka Luther King

Mark Hamill as Cocknocker

Tracy Morgan as Pumpkin Escobar

Clerks

Clerks tells the outrageously funny story of one wacky day in the life of a pair of overworked counter jockeys whose razor-sharp wit and on-the-job antics give a whole new meaning to the phrase “customer service.” The film features winning performances from Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson as the two titular characters, and marks the debut of Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith as the now classic comic duo “Jay and Silent Bob.” Unanimously praised by critics, Clerks won the Filmmakers Trophy Award at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival and both the Award of the Youth and the Mercedes-Benz Award at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.

Chasing Amy

In Chasing Amy, comic-book artist Holden (Ben Affleck, Armageddon) finds himself falling for the ultimate in unavailable women: a lesbian comic book artist named Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams, Dazed and Confused). Filled with Smith’s unique brand of clever dialogue and featuring heartfelt performances from its young leads, Chasing Amy offers a thoughtful, fresh take on modern relationships. The film co-stars Jason Lee (TV’s “My Name is Earl”) and features an unforgettable appearance by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith as “Jay and Silent Bob,” who show up to deliver one of recent movie history’s most memorable monologues. Chasing Amy won the 1998 Independent Spirit Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (Jason Lee), while star Joey Lauren Adams was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical.

Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back

In Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, the hilarious comic duo “Jay” (Jason Mewes) and “Silent Bob” (Kevin Smith) head for Hollywood, hoping to cash in on a film adaptation based on their lives. But when the goofy duo learns they’ve been cut out of the moviemaking deal, they set out to sabotage the flick at all costs! Kevin Smith’s laugh-filled riot features his most star studded cast yet, including appearances by Ben Affleck (Chasing Amy, Armageddon), George Carlin (Cars, Scary Movie 3), Shannen Doherty (TV’s “90210”), Eliza Dushku (TV’s “Dollhouse,” Bring it On), Shannon Elizabeth (American Pie, Scary Movie), Will Ferrell (Elf, Talladega Nights), Carrie Fisher (Star Wars Trilogy), Mark Hamill (Star Wars Trilogy), Jamie Kennedy (Scream Trilogy), Ali Larter (Obsessed, TV’s “Heroes”), Tracy Morgan (TV’s “30 Rock”) and Chris Rock (Head of State, I Think I Love My Wife).

Throughout the 1990′s and early 2000′s, Kevin Smith’s “View Askew” or “The View Askewniverse” was a unique and fresh perspective of what one could accomplish with a tight budget, inspiring filmmakers and even acting talent as Kevin Smith have went on to bigger things in his career, Ben Affleck who received his first major acting role on “Chasing Amy” (also starring his good friend Matt Damon who both appeared on the film “Mallrats”). And of course, films that would feature the recurring characters Jay and Silent Bob.

In some ways, this group featuring Director Kevin Smith and his good friend/producer Scott Mosier and their good friends from the East Coast were an inspiration for doing things their way and not compromising to appease Hollywood execs.

From the first View Askew film “Clerks” (1994) which was made for around $27,000 and would make over $3 million in the box office. Followed by the 1995 film “Mallrats” which featured virtually unknown talent at the time (with the exception of “Beverly Hills 90210″ actress Shannen Doherty) such as Jason Lee, Jeremy London, Claire Forlani Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and a film that may have been critically panned but was supported via DVD sales. The next film “Chasing Amy” would become a critical success and end up boosting the careers for Ben Affleck, Jason Lee and Joey Lauren Adams and solidifying Kevin Smith as a writer and director.

And from that point, View Askew films such as the 1999 film “Dogma”, then an animated series of “Clerks” was released in 2000. Then in 2001, the film “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” was released and followed by the 2004 film “Clerks II” and throughout the ten years of View Askew films, each release would still continue to feature the two characters Jay and Silent Bob . Needless to say, looking at the ten years of what Kevin Smith was able to accomplish in his career since the 1995 release of “Clerks” is just incredible.

In 2004, fans of “Clerks” were happy to get a “Clerks” 10th Anniversary DVD release (note: “Clerks” has been released three times previously) and now in 2009, it’s the 15th Year Anniversary of “Clerks” and now that we’re in the Blu-ray era, Miramax Films celebrates Kevin Smith’s career with the release of “Clerks”, “Chasing Amy” and “Jay and Silent Bob” (the other films were released from different movie studios) in a box set release and also individual Blu-ray releases.

Clerks

Hilarious, real and innovative. Kevin Smith’s “Clerks” may be a low-budget film but it’s a film that continues to impress me 15 years later!

“Clerks”revolves around the character of Dante (played by Brian O’Halloran). On the day he was supposed to prepare for his hockey competition, he receives a call from his boss to come into work on his day off and work for several hours. Throughout the day, we see Dante having to deal with various customers, deal with his girlfriend Veronica (played by Marilyn Ghigliotti), deal with his good friend Randal (played by Jeff Anderson) who works at the video rental store next door, deal with two loiterers named Jay (played by Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (played by Kevin Smith) who hang out at the front of the store and also deal with the return of his ex-girlfriend Caitlin (played by Lisa Spoonhauer).

While Dante deals with customers (and occasionally letting Randal handle the register), his day grows longer as he finds out that his boss is not coming back that day and he is forced to work a daylong shift where anything and everything good and bad can happen.

The Blu-ray comes with two versions, the theatrical version and the original version which was presented to the studio execs.

Chasing Amy

Emotional, touching, real and fantastic! “Chasing Amy” is a View Askew classic and my favorite Kevin Smith film!

Two comic book artists/writers Holden McNeil (played by Ben Affleck) and Banky Edwards (Jason Lee) are promoting their comic books and while visiting a panel which their friend Hooper X (played by Dwight Ewell) was speaking at, Holden meets comic book writer Alyssa Jones (played by Joey Lauren Adams).

While the four go out together and hang out, Holden becomes smitten with Alyssa but finds out that she is a lesbian. But through circumstances, Holden and Alyssa eventually become a a couple which then tears into his friendship with his comic book partner Banky. While Holden tries to deal with his friendship with his comic book partner, he hears gossip about Alyssa that starts to become a burden on his conscience.

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

Jay & Silent Bob get their own movie. A wild and crazy film featuring cameos by a large number of talent from previous View Askew films, from film and television.

Because of their rebellious nature, Randal Graves (from “Clerks”) gets a restraining order preventing Jay and Silent Bob from coming one hundred feet from the Quickstop and RST Video. With no place to go, the two visit their friend Brodie (from “Mallrats”) and learn that Miramax Films is working on a film based on “Bluntman and Chronic” (which was the comic produced by Holden and Banky from “Chasing Amy”). So, the two feel that since the characters are based on them, they should get some money and so they pay a visit to Holden McNeil (from “Chasing Amy”) and learn that he has sold his rights to Banky Edwards (from “Chasing Amy”).

Holden shows what people on the Internet are saying about the upcoming movie and bashing them and so now Jay and Silent Bob who are insulted, decide they will go to Hollywood and stop the movie and save their reputations.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

Clerks: 15th Anniversary Edition

“Clerks” receives its HD debut with a 1080p High Definition (1:85:1) Blu-ray release. Kevin Smith made comments before the Blu-ray release (and on the special features) about how he wouldn’t like to watch the film on Blu-ray because Blu-ray is about great picture quality and he knows that the film was a low-budget film that was not exactly known for its picture quality. But I will say that the picture quality of “Clerks” is what gives the film its charm. The 16mm look can only look so much better on Blu-ray but overall, it’s hard to complain given the circumstance of a film that was shot for around $27,000.

So, I will say that “Clerks” does maintain a good amount of grain but it also brings out the original film’s graininess and if it was any other film, the film would get a failing grade. But the fact is that “Clerks” was not exactly a pretty film to begin with, the picture quality is much better and sharper than its DVD counterpart. Blacks are nice and deep, whites are nicely demonstrated and again, this is good for this low-budget film and a definite upgrade in PQ compared to its DVD counterpart. Picture quality is much clearer and sharper. Again, Smith acknowledges that this film would be the last film he would like to see on Blu-ray but knowing that this film is a classic it was going to happen inevitably.

As for the audio, audio is featured in English 5.1 DTS-HD MA (48 kHz/24-bit). Again, “Clerks” was a low budget film but for the most part, the lossless audio track is what it is. You’re not going to get spectacular audio through this film. Front and center channel are clear and the music of the film definitely gets an added boost in the surrounds but truth be told, it’s not a great soundtrack but its a soundtrack that is satisfactory for this film.

Subtitles are featured in English SDH and Spanish.

Chasing Amy

“Chasing Amy” makes its debut on HD via a 1080p High Definition (1:85:1) and although not as low budget as “Clerks”, the film was made for around $250,000 and the production crew had to cut around corners to make this film happen. I have to admit that I had such high expectations for the picture quality of this Blu-ray release but the film really does shows its age. The picture quality has fine layer of grain and where “Clerks” was able to benefit from its black and white video, “Chasing Amy” wasn’t as lucky as the picture quality was not clear, vibrant or colorful as I was hoping.

As for audio quality, the film is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD MA (48 kHz, 24-Bit) and also Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital. Similar to clerks, the audio quality for the film is dialogue driven with occasional music. Dialogue is nice and clear through the front and center channels but I don’t think I recall hearing much surround usage.

Subtitles are featured in English SDH and Spanish.

Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back

For “Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back”, the Blu-ray is identical to the release from Sept. 2006 and is the picture quality is the best out of the three films. The film is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:35:1) and is the biggest budget film for Kevin Smith at that time. The picture quality has a fine layer of grain and for the most part, skin tones are natural but colors aren’t as vibrant.

As for audio quality, the film is presented in English 5.1 uncompressed (48 kHz/16-bit) and also in English and French 5.1 Dolby Digital. For the most part, the film is dialogue and music driven but there are some scenes that utilize a bit of bass but for the most part, this lossless soundtrack was not exactly that immersive.

Subtitles are in English SDH and French.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Kevin Smith: 3-Movie Collection comes with the following Special Features:

Clerks

Special features are in 1080p or 1080i with audio in English 2.0 Dolby Digital and English SDH and Spanish subtitles.

“Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party: The Making of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” – (1:27:17) A Brand new featurette for “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” (directed by Kevin Smith’s wife) and the on-set shenanigans that took place behind-the-scenes. Exclusive to Blu-ray.
Classic Commentary – Featuring the original 1995 commentary by director Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier, Brian O’Halloran, Jason Mewes and more.
Enhanced Trivia Track – Watch the film and check out the trivia and quotes from cast and crew.
Intro To The First Cut 2004 Commentary – Introduction by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier about the original film that was screened to studio execs.
2004 Commentary (with New Authoring) - Featuring the 2004 commentary by director Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier, Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson and Jason Mewes.
Clerks Lost Scene – Animated Short – (10:02) A scene cut from the original script in animated form (using the animation style of “Clerks the Animation”. You can view the cut scene on its own or while during the screening of the film.
The Flying Car – (8:14) Back in 2001, a short was created for the Tonight Show.
MTV Spots With Jay & Silent Bob – (18:00) Featuring eight MTV spots: Coffee, Government Cheese, Delusions of Grandeur, Dancin’ Like Manson, Cable Guy, Puppets, Lil’ Alanis, Chicks I’d Nail. Also, included is an intro by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier.
Theatrical Trailer – (2:00) The original theatrical trailer for “Clerks”.
Soul Asylum “Can’t Even Tell” Music Video – (5:00) Featuring a music video of “Can’t Even Tell” by Soul Asylum.
Clerks Restoration – A featurette about the restoration process of picture and sound. This segment features: (5:12) Restoring the Clerks Sound with Scott Mosier and (:36) restoring the Clerks look with David Klein and (7:02) introduction to the theatrical cut with Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier.
Original Auditions – (14:33) Featuring the original auditions with Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Ernest O’Donnell and an intro by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier.
Snowball Effect – (1:30:28) A documentary exploring the film and lasting impact of “Clerks”.
Outtakes From Snowball Effect – Featuring 13 additional scenes not included in “Snowball Effect”: Kevin & Walt: Vulgar the Clown animated view of the Askew Logo, Jeff: Auditioning for TV Pilot, Jeff: Chemistry with Brian O’Halloran, Janet Maslin, New York Times Film Critic 1977-1999: Seeing Clerks and Kevin, Bryan: Creative Writing Classs, Kevin: Lisa Spoonhauer as Caitlyn, Kevin on Scott, Scott & Kevin: I Will Leave, Geooff: Introduces Final Sundance Screening, Kevin & Scott: 1999 Sundance Filmmakers Trophy Acceptance Speech, Kevin & Scott: On Quickstop, Scott & Kevin: Night Shooting, Scott: Winning the Lottery.
Mae Day: The Crumbling Of A Documentary With Intro By Kevin Smith And Scott Mosier – (11:38) An intro. for Mae Day, a short film by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier when they were in film school.
10th Anniversary Q & A – (42:09) A Q&A featuring Kevin Smith, cinematographer David Klein, producer Scott Mosier, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson and Brian O’Halloran and a public audience. A pretty tense Q&A.

Chasing Amy

Special features are in 1080i or 480i. Audio is in English 2.0 Dolby Digital and with English SDH and Spanish subtitles.

“Tracing Amy: The Chasing Amy Doc” – (1:21:13) A very indepth documentary exclusive to Blu-ray of the making of “Chasing Amy” featuring behind-the-scenes footage and a new interview with Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier, Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams. From the failure of “Mallrats” and how it led to “Chasing Amy”, Kevin Smith’s relationship with Joey Lauren Adams, how the four lived together during the making of the film and the making of the film and how Bob Weinstein gave the film a chance and the success of the film. A wonderful documentary!
“Was It Something I Said?” – A Conversation With Kevin & Joey – (18:06) An interesting and fun interview exclusive to Blu-ray between both Kevin and Joey, how they met and working on the film and just reminiscing of their time together on the film.
10 Years later Q & A – (27:46) Exclusive to Blu-ray, a reunion Q&A in front of a live audience with Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier, Joey Lauren Adams, Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Dwight Ewell and Jason Mewes. Fortunately not as tense as the “Clerks” 10th Anniversary Q&A but overall, an interesting Q&A.
Audio Commentary with Writer/Director/Actor Kevin Smith and Producer Scott Mosier – A new 2009 commentary featuring Smith and Mosier. The two have fun talking about how the talent looked then and now and behind-the-scenes of the film. But a lot of jokes of things that took place and the technical aspects of the making of the film.
Deleted Scenes: (25:01) Featuring 10 deleted scenes: Tell’ Em Steve-Dave!, The Original Love Story, Bring On the Free Hooch!, Money and Power, Help a brother Out, The Right Man, Shoes?, Bitch, You’re Schooling No One, A More Tolerant Age and The Mata-Fucking-Hari.
Outtakes – (4:56) Featuring the outtakes from “Chasing Amy”.
Trailer – (2:04) The original theatrical trailer.

Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back

Of the three films on Blu-ray, “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” had the least amount of special features and Miramax Films decided not to give an updated version for a Blu-ray release. Since the special features of the movie showcase is from the film, the special features are in 1080p High Definition and English 5.1 Dolby Digital or English 2.0 Dolby Digital with optional English SDH subtitles.

Audio Commentary – Director Kevin Smith, Producer/Editor Scott Mosier & actor Jason Mewes – Featuring an Informative commentary on the various scenes in the film.
Movie Showcase – Viewers can access there scenes that showcase High Definition via the picture and audio quality from this film.

For many fans of Kevin Smith’s earlier View Askew films starring the popular character duo Jay and Silent Bob, fans were in high anticipation for a Miramax Films Blu-ray release. Sure the first two films are not exactly known for their picture and audio quality but there were efforts to improve it for their HD debut.

So, here we are with “Kevin Smith: 3-Movie Collection” Blu-ray box set featuring the first View Askew film “Clerks”, the third film “Chasing Amy” and the fifth film “Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back” (the second film was “Mallrats”, the fourth was “Dogma” and the sixth is “Clerks II”) and it was great to watch these films again after all these years.

For “Clerks”, sure the picture quality is not the greatest and if anything, the HD definitely brings out the graininess of the film. But still the film is watchable and for the most part, it contains all the original cut and the special features from the previous 10th Anniversary release and also the special feature “Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party: The Making of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” which was filmed by his Smith’s wife and was passed for inclusion in previous DVD releases and since “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” is the original 2006 release, this special feature is included with the “Clerks” Blu-ray. Personally, it was fun to see Kevin Smith talk to the fans of having to buy another version of “Clerks” and also his feelings of it going on Blu-ray but it’s great to see him have that opportunity to say what he wants and how he feels about the film getting its release on Blu-ray. That was cool!

As for “Clerks”, I loved the film when it came out. An Indie film with characters and actors and actresses who were not well-known but yet a storyline that was so fun and unique at the time, it was great to see this film do well in the box office (the film cost $25, 000+ to make and made over $3 million). But overall, it was fun to watch the film over again and I’m sure some people will have things to say about the picture quality, but even Kevin Smith called it months before this Blu-ray was released how he himself wouldn’t want to watch the film on HD. But even for the Kevin Smith fans, sure it brings out the grain but for the most part, it’s more evident depending on your viewing distance but again, for this film…I was not expecting brilliant picture quality but I was looking for an improvement over its DVD counterpart and this release with the newer special features and the packed original 10th Anniversary features makes this Blu-ray worth owning.

As for “Chasing Amy”, the film is my favorite View Askew film thus far. The third installment which came after “Mallrats”, I found “Chasing Amy” to be a pretty cool film. Granted, I was quite biased by the inclusion of the comic book conventions and that comic books played a big part in the film but truth be told, it’s the realness of the film that made me enjoy it so much. It’s been many years since I saw the film, so I was expecting awesome picture quality on Blu-ray but then I saw the film and remembered how it was made with a low budget. So, I’m not going to go negative on this film because the original source was not spectacular to begin with. And for those who own the original CRITERION COLLECTION DVD, you do get extra Blu-ray exclusives especially the reuniting of the cast and the documentary that fans of the film will definitely feel stoked about.

“Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back” is actually quite interesting. This film to me was like a mashup of all the characters from the previous films and throwing in popular talent of films and television (during that time) and watching a film that focused on Jay and Silent Bob. The film was the first big budget View Askew film and it was also hyped as the final film for the popular drug dealing duo (the two characters are in “Clerks II” and also have cameos in other films such as “Fanboys”, “Drawing Files” and “Scream 3″).

I found the film to be fun, hilarious and entertaining. To see all these popular talents in a View Askew film was kind of surreal and of the three films, “Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back” has the better looking picture and audio quality on Blu-ray but unfortunately, it also has the least number of content among the three. It’s literally a re-release 2006 Blu-ray but with newer trailers. So, as a Blu-ray release… it was a bit of a bummer that this film didn’t receive any sort of upgrade and thus, it makes sense why the documentary ended up on the “Clerks” Blu-ray.

But overall, many of you probably have the DVD’s, especially many versions of “Clerks” as I do. And I think that Kevin Smith said it right on the “Clerks” Blu-ray of having to purchase and re-purchase “Terminator 2″. But is it worth the double dip on Blu-ray? If you are a big fan of the two films, the extra content definitely makes these View Askew films on Blu-ray worthwhile. It was already a given that the first two films wouldn’t not look spectacular on Blu-ray but they definitely look better than their DVD counterpart. I think the newer content included on both “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy” make its owning the set worthwhile especially if you have fully moved on to owning and watching your favorite films on HD. Otherwise, if you are on a budget, you’re good with your DVD copy of the films for now.

Filed Under: Blu-ray Reviews