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"DATE NIGHT" Blu-ray Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars) Rated PG-13 Studio: 20th Century Fox Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Phil and Claire Foster (Steve Carell and Tina Fey) are a married couple who has had all the spark go out of their relationship. They vow to take some time for themselves and head into New York City one night for a date. After they steal another couple’s reservation at a trendy Manhattan restaurant, they soon find themselves the target of dirty cops trying to shake them down for a mysterious flash drive.
WHAT I LIKED
I like both Steve Carell and Tina Fey, so an affinity for both of their humor is a pre-requisite to enjoy “Date Night.” And for two NBC Thursday night stars who are the keystone of their own shows, both did a fine job sharing that spotlight.
Director Shawn Levy has taken quite a few critical hits over the years with films like the two “Night at the Museum” flicks, but I found those enjoyable for a family audience. Likewise, “Date Night” presents itself as a light, fluffy movie for the PG-13 crowd. It has plenty of silliness, but it doesn’t go too over the top in terms of zaniness of raunch.
Like many good comedies, what makes “Date Night” work isn’t just its stars but also the supporting cast. Mark Wahlberg, James Franco and Mila Kunis give scene-stealing performances. And for anyone who has been married for the better part of their adult life, you should be in on the joke of trying to bring some excitement back into your relationship.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Most of the complaints I have about “Date Night” come from its rather standard mainstream attempt to be funny when the set-up doesn’t always work. It’s not pervasive in the film, but we find our characters in plenty of predicaments that are a little too unbelievable. It’s only the ability of Carell and Fey to work their comedy magic to make these moments bearable.
Aside from this, there is one overly awkward scene that overstays its welcome. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know the one I’m talking about... the scene in the strip club. Just write that one off as the jazz club scene from “Spider-Man 3,” and you should be good.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
The Blu-ray comes as the Extended Edition, which doesn’t noticeably differ from the theatrical cut, save for a couple lines or spots here and there. If you want more of the funny moments, you’ll have to dig into the deleted, alternate and extended scenes, which are pretty decent and funny.
There’s an audio commentary by director Shawn Levy on the theatrical cut, plus featurettes that include “Directing 301” with Levy, “Disaster Dates” about the cast and crew’s worst dates and “Directing Off-Camera.”
Additional features include camera tests for Carell and Fey, a gag reel, fake promotional PSAs and BD-Live: Live Lookup via IMDb. The Blu-ray also comes bundled with a Digital Copy disc.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Fans of the mainstream relationship comedy, and those who like Steve Carell and Tina Fey.
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"THE JONE$ES" Blu-ray Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: **1/2 (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: * (out of 5 stars) Rated R Studio: 20th Century Fox Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
The Joneses is the new family on the block, and they seem to have all the coolest new toys, gadgets and other trendy things. However, this seemingly perfect family isn’t what it appears to be. Both parents and the two kids are employees of a high-level marketing firm that uses them as plants to get people interested in new products. However, when guilt and bad decisions start to cause problems with their perfect little life, the corporate lie threatens to be revealed.
WHAT I LIKED
I went into “The Jone$es” cold. I had no idea what it was about and had to figure it out as soon as the disc started spinning. I didn’t even read the cover box. That made for a mighty interesting viewing experience because several surprise moments were actually surprises to me... more than they would have been if I read the blurb on the back cover or even that “What It’s About” paragraph above.
“The Jone$es” has a lot to say about commercialism, materialism and greed, and these are not insignificant messages. I suppose none of us want to think of ourselves as the people in the neighborhood which the Joneses inhabit, but I also suppose that we have more in common with sheep following the trendsetters than we’d like to admit.
I can’t say I’d watch “The Jone$es” again, but it wasn’t a bad little film to get you thinking about how much materialistic crap you really need. And it wasn’t bad to see some good actors like David Duchovny and Demi Moore back in a movie again.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
As interesting as the message is with this film, it is equally as hypocritical of the movie industry to shake its finger at fads, trendsetters and materialistic nonsense. And it seems strangely out of place for certain logos to show up in this film when you know full well that there was a certain degree of product placement negotiated for this.
David Duchovny has been struggling to find an acting home even now, years after his career-making role on “The X-Files.” And while he’s achieved a certain measure of non-Mulder fame from “Californication,” he is still reading a bit desperate in this movie. The saving grace for him is that he is balanced out by Demi Moore (who hasn’t had much of a hit since her attempted comeback with “Charlie’s Angels 2”) and Lauren Hutton. It’s a bit of a downer when Amber Heard is has the biggest potential in the cast.
But the biggest problem with “The Jone$es” is that it doesn’t go far enough. Sure, there are some ugly things that happen, but the characters find a way out of too many problems too smoothly. Also, the characters are too smarmy to really like and too friendly to really dislike. The script could have benefited from a more decisive approach.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
Just a handful of deleted scenes.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Anyone who has ever felt envy on his or her neighbors’ possessions.
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"BULL DURHAM" Blu-ray Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: ** (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5 stars) Rated R Studio: MGM Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Tim Robbins plays a minor league pitcher with a million dollar arm that is just waiting to be seasoned enough so he can be plucked for the majors, or as the ballplayers call it, “The Show.” Kevin Costner plays a long-term minor leaguer who is brought in to get this million dollar arm into shape. Meanwhile, Susan Sarandon plays a middle-aged baseball barfly who picks a guy on the team and has an affair with him throughout the season, having to choose between these two star players.
WHAT I LIKED
Even though I grew up in the 80s, “Bull Durham” was one of those films that has been lost on me through the decades. I have heard nothing but good things about it from people, and I’m glad I finally had a chance to see it.
“Bull Durham” is a film made with a great love of the game, and it’s a sweet thing that it took aim at the underdog in minor league baseball. Hailing from Columbus, Ohio (home of the Columbus Clippers), I understand the appeal of a smaller ball club, with better prices than what you’d get if you went to see the Reds or the Indians play two hours in either direction. This is an unrefined game and can often result in more interesting plays, and this lower rent version of baseball is showed off in “Bull Durham.”
This movie was also made in the early days of Robbins and Costner’s careers, so it’s pretty cool to look back more than 20 years and see them in their glory days.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
While I can appreciate the love that many people had for this film, I wasn’t charged with the movie like I was with other baseball favorites like “The Natural” and “Major League.” I blame this on the characters as I really didn’t connect with any of them.
Susan Sarandon as a sex symbol was gone by the final frame of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” so I just didn’t get into her character. Likewise, Robbins and Costner, as charming as they were in their heyday, really didn’t appeal to me from a character likability perspective.
I will always respect “Bull Durham” for what it represents in terms of love of baseball (and particularly minor leagues), but it will not be on my list of favorite sports movies.
Oh, and for the record, I wholeheartedly do not believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days. That’s just not sanitary.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
The new Blu-ray includes just the feature film in high definition, but it also comes bundled with the previously released DVD that has a whole slate of features, including two audio commentaries, a Kevin Costner profile, a Sports Wrap and the featurettes “The Greatest Show on Dirt” about minor league baseball, “Diamonds in the Rough” looking back on the film and “Between the Lines – The Making of Bull Durham.”
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Fans of the film and people nuts about baseball.
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"HEROES: SEASON 4" Blu-ray Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: *1/2 (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: **** (out of 5 stars) Not Rated Studio: Unviersal Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
The superhero-themed NBC series “Heroes” finishes off its final season with Sylar unwittingly posing as the dead Nathan Petrelli, Peter channeling his hero qualities into an EMT, Claire trying to live a regular life in college and Hiro starting a “Hero for Hire” business with Ando. This scattering of heroes is brought back together once again by a mysterious man from a carnival who discovers new powers when he connects with other Specials.
WHAT I LIKED
I wasn’t wild about “Heroes” when it first started its run on NBC, but I got into it in the second season. This was, sadly, the season that was crippled by the WGA strike. But on the whole, I like the general concept of the show and some of the choices they have made.
The best part of this fourth and final season was Robert Knepper as the latest villain in the “Heroes” universe. He could have been a fantastic replacement for Sylar if the show would have just given that character a break. He made things bearable this season.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
As anyone who watched this series would tell you, the show completely fell apart in the fourth season. We were retreading old storylines – Claire wanting to be normal, Specials losing their power, Sylar struggling between being good or evil, Tracy Strauss coming back from the dead, HRG hunting Specials down – to the point of irritation.
This show had such a great set-up, but the character languished in their own angst. A culling of the herd should have happened long ago because I was so tired of Claire and Peter as the good guy focus points. Hiro was okay at times, but the trendy television device of writing stories almost completely in another language has gotten on my nerves.
Also, Sylar continued to be overused to the point that it was more confusing to figure out if you liked him or not. With as cavalierly as showrunner Tim Kring killed off other specials in previous seasons, you’d think he’d get rid of some of the leads that overstayed their welcome years ago.
Season 4 also made me wonder if the half-season we got in the second year should have been the norm. There was just so much down time in this year that it was a struggle at times to get through it all.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
I was impressed by how much decent special features were still included on the fourth year Blu-ray. Lesser shows fall into the habit of just throwing a couple deleted scenes on the final disc, but at least NBC/Universal was giving the old college try with the bonus material here.
In addition to deleted scenes, extended scenes and the Hero Connection grid on all discs, there’s picture-in-picture and embedded bios in the U-Control play mode. There’s also the following featurettes: “Deconstructing Sylar,” “Heroes Revolution,” “Milo Speaks,” “Sullivan Brothers Design Gallery” and “Genetics of a Scene,” which includes lengthy break-downs of several key scene in the season.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Any of the fans that are left.
