Film

In the not-so-distant, but distant future, the new currency that everyone is willing to do anything for, including killing for, is TIME. Literally. Everyone walks around with a time meter bracelet attached to their wrists with an electronic time indicator counting down the seconds. Some folks have it stockpiled, usually the rich, and most are on their last days. See, in this world people have stopped aging at the age of 25, but have until age 26 to live. If you’re lucky enough to find more time then you can essentially live forever, but still look 25. ZOMG!

Will (Justin Timberlake) is one of the unlucky poor kids who live in one of the least desirable rungs of the city. The world of In Time is divided into zones, and Will is smack-dab in the middle of one of them. One night while Will is at the local bar, Henry,  a rich individual walks in and starts buying everyone drinks with his 116 years of time. This kicks up plenty of unwanted attention from the local “Minutemen” led by their cockney leader Fortis (Alex Pettyfur). Will sees what’s going down and intervenes and saves Henry from being killed. Being thankful, Henry transfers his remaining time over to him as Will he sleeps before bolting.

With everyone on Will’s tail, including Timekeeper Leon (Cillian Murphy) who is pretty much a police officer of the zone. Will’s only hope is to bail to New Greenwich, a kind of Beverly Hills zone where only rich time millionaires/billionaires congregate. Will enters a casino hoping to add some more time to his clock. There he meets Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried) who is the young daughter of a filthy rich “time lord” (not really a time lord, but the guy has tons of time to spare). Gambling ensues.

Eventually, Will is tracked to down by Leon and Sylvia is taken hostage by Will. It turns into a cat and mouse game between all parties involved.

In Time had such potential, but its execution was sloppy, in my opinion. The film meanders quite a bit as people are being chased and shot at. It’s in the moments that call for exposition that seem a bit clunky. We’re given tons of philosophical ramblings about living forever and wanting to die, that we never get back story as to why the world is the way it is. The way it’s presented; it just is. What’s even more frustrating is that the Blu-ray has a special featurette which gives you the back story of the film, but too bad it’s not in the actual film itself. It’s weird to get the meat and potatoes of a plot from a special feature as opposed to getting it from the feature film itself.

Timberlake and Seyfried do what they can in their roles and they succeed for the most part. I would also say, without spoiling it, that the ending is not congruent to what just happened – which is also extremely frustrating. If you want something stimulating then watch something else, but if you want style over substance then you may enjoy In Time. I didn’t care for the film all that much, but the Blu-ray looks and sounds great and the production is pretty cool.

Video

In Time is presented in 1080p; 2.35:1 widescreen. Unlike the movie’s faults, this high definition transfer stays consistent throughout the entire picture. Flesh tones are natural, although one will be bale to detect subtle uses of DNR to make all the good looking people’s faces a tad smoother, but it’s expected. Colors look natural for the most part. Certain areas of the city look a bit more washed out than others which extends to the contrast levels, as well. Black levels are spot on, though. They never crush and are deep and inky. Black levels reign supreme on this Blu-ray.

 

Audio

In Time is presented in DTS-HD MA 5.1. The lossless surround sound track is extremely robust in that it handles everything it’s thrown at it with relative ease. Dialogue is smooth and clean and handles the quiet scenes just as effectively as the action scenes. The LFE is very aggressive when it needs to be mainly during the car chase sequences. Gunshots rip through the sound-scape you’d think that you were the one being chased and shot at. I guess it helps that it was filmed in Los Angeles. In Time gets props from me on sound quality.

Extras

I’m actually pretty disappointed in the special features for this Blu-ray. I would love to have seen a production design featurette or something similar, but we don’t get anything like that at all. There are some deleted/extended scenes and a 15 minute featurette that expands on the In Time universe. It’s a “reality” piece that traces the steps of various important figures (and some that we never see) in the movie. It was neat, but I wanted more.

• The Minutes- Learn the origins of the film’s time-based society

 

• Deleted /Extended Scenes

Summary

Andrew Niccol has always been an underrated filmmaker, and I always considered him the Christopher Nolan before there was a Christopher Nolan, but In Time could have been a great film and comes up extremely short. I get the feeling that Niccol’s original version was much darker and colder than the final product. The video and audio specs are its only saving grace, because the lack of special features drive down the already low-ish score down even further. Rent it.

Order In Time on Blu-ray!

Special Mention – Documentaries:  Beats, Rhymes, & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest and Project Nim – Putting documentaries and films together on the same list is quite difficult, so I needed a separate place to mention two great docs.  I am a huge fan of the innovative hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest and the Michael Rapaport-directed documentary that covers the group’s past, present, and possible future was entertaining, insightful, and full of great beats (Trailer HERE).  Additionally, from the director of one of my favorite documentaries ever, Man on Wire, James Marsh made a new documentary this year that focused on the life of a chimpanzee named Nim.  Nim was the subject of an extended study involving sign language and living with humans, which was followed by a life of turmoil.  Project Nim is a deeply affecting documentary that goes over Nim’s story.  (Review HERE)

Another Special Mention:  Bellflower – Not a film that I am in love with, but I really admire it quite a bit and it was one of those that I kept thinking about after having watched it, then watched it again.  Made for $17,000 as a debut film, using a custom built muscle care (equipped with actual flamethrowers), and filmed on custom made cameras, Bellflower is a unique sort of love story with a hipster meets post-apocalyptic atmosphere, which I grew quite fond of. (Review HERE, Interview HERE)

And One Last Special Mention:  Take Shelter – I wanted to specifically point this film out as well, because while it did not make my top 10, I do think it contains the two best performances of the year from Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain.  This is the story of a man who may or may not be slowly going crazy, due to intense nightmares, and decides to devote a vast amount of time building an expansive tornado shelter under his backyard, to the alarm of his wife and young daughter.  Both lead actors do tremendous work in a film that I would love to see get more acclaim because of it.  (Review HERE)

And now for the top 10…

10.  The Muppets – I am kicking things off with the movie that had me smiling the most this year.  The Muppets gave me all the joy I wanted in a movie that featured these timeless characters.  Complete with wonderful songs, Muppets-style self aware humor, call backs, and tons of cameos, this was one of my most anticipated films of the fall and it completely delivered.  Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller managed to put together a script that lived up to the spirit of the Muppets.  Bringing on the Flight of the Conchord’s Bret McKenzie to collaborate on and write the songs, along with director James Bobin to add his Conchord-style visual sensibility only further helped to capture the fun and witty spirit of the film.  A purely enjoyable film that that brought me lots of happiness.

“Maniacal laugh!” (Review HERE)

9.  Another Earth – The first of the two existential, sci-fi dramas that I will have on this list.  While I thought the premise was interesting enough – what if a duplicate earth suddenly appeared, relatively close, in our universe? – I was really surprised as to how into this film I was.  This surprise was especially due to how the sci-fi nature of the premise is essentially pushed into the background for the majority of the film, as a more low-key drama emerges, based off of a tragedy, and becomes the film’s focus.  Made as a fairly independent feature, only to receive studio backing later on, this feature film from co-writers Mike Cahill (also the director) and Brit Marling (also the star) really got to me with its intriguing ideas and well handled tone.  It was certainly enough to make a lasting impression.

“What would we really like to see if we could stand outside ourselves and look at us?” (Review HERE)

8.  Hanna – I love talking about Hanna.  It has so many cool aspects to go into.  Saoirse Ronan is kick ass as a young girl, raised to be the perfect assassin, who discovers what the real world is like for the first time.  Eric Bana continues to show how badass he can be in action.  Joe Wright’s direction leads to some well shot sequences, many involving slick action.  The undercurrent of fairy tale-related imagery and characters added a neat thematic element as well.  And the awesome score by The Chemical Brothers made things all the better to enjoy.  Hanna was a cool little sleeper that hit during the early spring and I totally dug it.

“I just missed your heart” (Review HERE)

7.  Hugo – A film that I grow to love more and more every time I think about it.  Hugo is an affecting adventure/drama of sorts that involves the quest for a young, orphaned boy, who lives in a Paris railway station, to find out the secret behind a broken gift from his father.  In discovering more about this gift, the narrative segues into another fantastic story about the history and inventiveness of early cinema.  Martin Scorsese not only brought a popular children’s novel to life, he also managed to make one of the best directed films of the year, based on the technical accomplishments he achieves in areas like production design and the fact that his film is completely enhanced by his decision to film in 3D (which actually makes sense, when applied to the narrative) and make it the best 3D experience I have had in theaters.  I can’t emphasize enough how this movie should be seen in theaters, in 3D, as Scorsese made a film that literally serves as a tribute to cinema.

“So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn’t be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason.” (Review HERE)

6.  Martha Marcy May Marlene – Along with Insidious (the best pure horror movie I saw this year), Martha Marcy May Marlene kept me incredibly tense throughout its running time.  It definitely helped that the film was exceedingly well acted, contained a story structure that managed to deliver just enough information through dialogue, and communicated so much more visually and through nuances within the characters and their interactions.  Superb editing is a specific area I hope this movie gets awards recognition for, given the deliberate flow of the film.  This is the darkly intriguing story of a girl who has escaped a cult and attempts to readjust back to normal life with family, crossed with flashbacks to her time in the cult.  It has a moody atmosphere, which perfectly establishes a sense of paranoia to match the viewer with the mind of Elizabeth Olsen’s Martha.  I easily joined the cult of this movie’s fandom.

“I know who I am. I am a teacher and a leader; you just never let me be that.” (Review HERE)

5.  Rango – Still probably the strangest movie on my list.  Rango is just as much a fun adventure movie about talking animals as it is a surreal western about a chameleon going through an identity crisis.  Director Gore Verbiniski and Johnny Depp reteamed (after ‘Pirates’ 1-3) to make this incredibly well-animated film that gave me a lot of sheer joy.  It is easily a film that can be off-putting to many, but I was completely taken by its weird charm.  The fact that a mainstream “kids” film could incorporate elements of westerns, existentialism, a Star Wars-like chase sequence, and a plot incredibly similar to Chinatown is kind of amazing and it left a great impression on me.  I am completely hoping For A Few Rangos More.

“Now, we ride!” (Review HERE)

4.  Midnight In Paris – I was completely taken by this year’s Woody Allen film.  Not only did he make one of my favorite films of the year, complete with a top-notch cast, wonderful photography, and a creatively fanciful story; Allen managed to make one of my favorite films that he has ever made.  I managed to see this film without knowing what the early twist of the story was (which I alert people of in my review) and was wonderfully surprised with a very arresting story that calls back to past Allen films like The Purple Rose of Cairo.  Headed up by Owen Wilson, the cast is wonderfully well-suited to this film, given the great script that they get to play out and the beautiful setting they get to occupy.  Similar to Martin Scorsese and Hugo, a director more advanced in their age does not mean they have no more ambition.

“What is it with this city? I need to write a letter to the Chamber of Commerce.” (Review HERE)

3.  Melancholia – The second existential, sci-fi drama on my list and the one that left me practically floored.  There were two things I was definitely not expecting to have done, film-wise, this year.  One was being caught up on all of the Twilight films, but that is for another discussion.  The other was not only seeing the latest feature from director Lars Von Trier, who always seems to be going for a sucker punch to your emotions, but completely embracing it and being fully taken by what it had to offer.  Melancholia offers a long study concerning the end of times, with a visually stunning opening prologue, a “part one” that deals the emotional drama (and sometimes hilarity) of a wedding, a “part two” that delves into the possibility of a rogue planet colliding with earth, and an ending that had me completely wrapped up in its dark, visual splendor.  And I wasn’t even depressed afterward, as I was too taken in by the beauty of Melancholia.

“Hold my hand.  Close your eyes.” (Review HERE)

2.  Attack the Block – A lot of people familiar with me may have been able to see this one coming, as I have been talking and posting incessantly about his movie ever since I saw it early in the summer.  Attack the Block is creative genre madness at its finest.  The story of a gang of South London teens taking on an invasion of nasty aliens is met with stylish direction, a clever and constantly humorous script, a sweet score from the electronic group Basement Jaxx, and sufficient thrills based around the fantastic and practical effects work in the design of the aliens.  At a quick-paced 88 minutes, Attack the Block is the movie I have watched the most this year and it continues to deliver each time.  And here’s a little bonus, believe.

“This is too much madness to explain in one text!” (Review HERE)

1.  Drive – Stylish, smart, and super cool, Drive is my real hero, my real number 1.  I was easily gripped by this film.  This was the incredibly familiar story of a part-time stunt driver/part-time wheelman (Ryan Gosling) taking matters into his own hands, when it came down to protecting a woman (Carey Mulligan), yet director Nicolas Winding Refn completely made it his own.  Certainly not resting on cruise control, Drive is a slick action drama with plenty of appeal.  Gosling’s intensity matched with the surprising intimidation factor of Albert Brooks.  The fantastic soundtrack and score by Cliff Martinez.  The thrilling and crazy-violent nature of some of this film’s key sequences.  The fact that this film has one of the best romantic narratives of the year.  Drive had all of this and kept me extremely satisfied throughout (and enough so to have me see it again the following day as well).  In a year full of great films, Drive managed to stick out to me as the one that deserved my top spot and I will be excited to receive the night-call to watch it again.

“…I don’t carry a gun.  I drive.” (Review HERE)

With the Top 10 out of the way, here are a batch of other notable films, disappointments, and a worst of the year list:

11-20 (Alphabetical):

13 Assassins, 50/50, The Artist, Insidious, I Saw the Devil, Kung Fu Panda 2, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Skin I Live In, The Tree of Life, Win Win

Honorable Mentions:

The Adventures of Tintin, Beginners, Bridesmaids, Contagion, Fast Five, Fright Night, I Love You Philip Morris, The Illusionist, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Red State, Submarine, Warrior, X-Men: First Class, and of course Captain America: The First Avenger

Films I Wish I Had Seen:

Being Elmo, Certified Copy, A Dangerous Method, Terri, Tyrannosaur, We Need to Talk about Kevin

Most Disappointing Films:

Cowboys and Aliens – There was so much potential and promise in this film.  Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig as leads; Jon Favreau directing; Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, and Brian Grazer producing; a ridiculously fun idea for a story; all of this and the movie was still a big bore.  As this was near the top of my most anticipated list, I was saddened to not enjoy it as much as I would have wanted. (Review HERE)

Drive Angry 3D – I was not as saddened by this movie as ‘Cowboys’, but I was still hoping for much more given the combination of the team behind the surprisingly entertaining My Bloody Valentine 3D and Nicolas “Rage” Cage.  Somehow, the movie titled “Drive Angry” did not feature nearly enough angry driving and had a fairly low-key Cage, when his wild-man nature was really needed.  At least William Fichtner was awesome in this film, but not much else was.  (Review HERE)

Top 10 Worst Films of 2011:

Luckily I was able to avoid a number of movies, including two terrible looking Adam Sandler films, whatever the hell Bucky Larson was, a movie about a married horse mother that was supposed to make us imagine how she does it, the arrival of a full-sequenced centipede, and Season of the Witch – starring Nic Cage’s hair.  Still, I found a number of pretty bad flicks to list out here:

10.  Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – As a person who really likes the first three ‘Pirates’ films, I was supremely disappointed with what ‘On Stranger Tides’ had to offer.  Lackluster and boring, everything that people were ironically expecting before the fun surprise that was the first ‘Pirates’ film, is exactly what we got in this fourth entry.  Deadly mermaids were not enough to save this one for me. (Review HERE)

9.  Sanctum – A film that could have been a decent B-movie, with a James Cameron stamp of approval, based on the use of 3D, turned out to be terrible due its clichéd disaster plot-like story and having the worst performance I have seen this year.  Mr. Fantastic himself, Ioan Gruffud, is so bad in this movie that I almost wanted to crawl into an underground cavern to escape him.  (Review HERE)

8.  No Strings Attached – Well it made me either more or less curious about watching Friends with Benefits…moving on (Review HERE)

7.  Straw Dogs – Pointless remake of a movie I don’t even care for that much, but was at least aware of its controversy and themes.  This remake might have been better received by me if it did not brand itself within the same guise as the Sam Peckinpah-directed predecessor, given that it practically reverses the original’s purpose, but no, it’s just a trashy story that builds to a violent climax, designed to appeal to audience desires.  Cyclops himself, James Marsden, might as well have said, “Gotcha suckers!” at the end.  (Review HERE)

6.  The Thing – I was on board with the idea of this film from the outset.  The fact that I heard good things about the practical effects usage early on was also promising.  The result?  A really stale story that had none of the foreboding paranoia that made John Carpenter’s The Thing so effective, along with laughably bad CGI effects.  Bonus points for having the laziest prequel/sequel title this side of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.  (Review HERE)

5.  I Am Number Four – Hey, it’s Twilight with Aliens!  (Review HERE)

4.  Priest – During this movie, Paul Bettany rides alone on his futuristic motorcycle for days before arriving at his destination.  It is one of the more humorous montage scenes of the year.  And then there’s the rest of this fairly lame sci-fi/vampire/horror/action/western film to sit through, featuring verbal sparring between Bettany and Cam Gigandet, a wasted Karl Urban, and horrendously bad dialogue.  (Review HERE)

3.  Red Riding Hood – This movie is amazing according to my favorite review comment thread participant – HERE

2.  The Roommate – At least this movie didn’t call itself Single White Female.  Not being a remake is a plus, but being a really terrible rehash of a film, featuring a story that’s been done to death is not much better.  The only suspense here may come from deciding on the amount of time it takes before you turn the film off.  This is the film that featured a murdered kitten to shock audiences and also features Cam Gigandet in his second appearance on this list.

1.  Larry Crowne – Almost as insultingly nice as it is bad.  Despite being well-meaning, Larry Crowne, to me, is the biggest dud of the year.  Tom Hanks’ second theatrical feature he has directed pales in comparison to That Thing You Do and offers next to no entertainment value.  Instead, we get Hanks in his whitey tighties, That 70s Show’s Wilmer Valderama as the head of a scooter gang, Julia Roberts looking miserable, and the great Bryan Cranston somehow playing beneath himself, with dialogue that seems on par with lines from The Room.  Not even co-star George Takei’s, “Oh My’s” were enough to save this utterly sad film.  (Review HERE)

Not quite top 10 worst, but still pretty bad:

Apollo 18, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Scream 4, Sucker Punch

And that should do it for me, with this year’s wrap up.  Have a Happy New Year Everyone! (here’s a hint for my most anticipated of 2012):

IN THE FUTURE, EVERY SECOND COUNTS

Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried and Cillian Murphy

Star in The Pulse-Pounding Sci-Fi Thriller

Debuting on Blu-ray and DVD January 31

In the future, time has become the ultimate currency and genetic alteration has allowed people to stop aging at 25 years old. Upon reaching 25, the countdown begins and in order to stay alive everyone must work to buy themselves more time or die within a year. The rich can buy their way out of the situation, while the rest are left to negotiate for immortality. When a struggling young man, Will Salas (Timberlake), comes in contact with a “millionaire,” he is gifted more time than he can imagine. Falseley accused of murder, Will is a fugitive on the run and becomes determined to bring down the entire system by any means possible.

Showcasing stunning visual effects and gravity defying stunts, the IN TIME Blu-ray is loaded with bonus materials including an exclusive featurette “THE MINUTES” to discover the origins of the film’s time based society, deleted and extended scenes, and access to the enhanced IN TIME THE GAME APP. DVD special features include deleted and extended scenes. IN TIME will be available on Blu-ray for an average retail price of $24.99 and on DVD for $19.99, respectively.

Big Love: The Complete Collection

Film  

Big Love is the story of the Henrickson family which centers on Patriarch Bill (Bill Paxton) and his first Wife Barb (Jeanne Tripplehorn).  Barb is the mother of Sarah (Amanda Seyfried), Ben and Teeny.  Living next door is Bill’s second wife Nicki (Chloe Sevigny), mother to Wayne and Raymond.  A third home next to that houses Bill’s third wife Margene (Ginnifer Goodwin) and her young children.  As the show begins, Bill is opening a second home improvement store while attempting to get out from underneath the thumb of Nicki’s father Roman, who helped finance the first store.  Roman, the prophet of the Juniper Compound, had evicted Bill from it years earlier and tensions increase when history repeats itself when Roman also banishes Bill’s father and his wives along with Bill’s brother and sister-in-law.  Bill’s three houses are soon overflowing with his family and it doesn’t make it any easier to live together when Bill’s father starts peeing in the sink while the wives try to prepare an Easter dinner.

It’s unclear if Barb is truly accepting of the polygamist lifestyle or if she was just trying to keep Bill happy, and doing what had to be done as a result of her cancer.  The family is trying to hide their secret and Margene is trying to figure out where she fits in.  A friendly and somewhat pushy neighbor causes problems inviting Margene to church services and drops by the house unexpectedly.  Pressures build when Nicki’s big secret is revealed and the family learns that she has racked up almost $60,000 in debt that Bill knew nothing about and the creditors are calling to collect.  Nicki even makes a deal with her father  against her family in exchange for a payment.

Now that Bill has a new business plan that he hopes will create financial security for his family.  Barb has left home and returned.  The ongoing drama at Juniper Creek continues which includes a raid on the compound.  Roman’s 16 year old wife-to-be Rhonda leaves the compound to live with the Henricksons.  While they are trying to help Rhonda she turns out to have psychological issues beyond being a child bride.  Margene, who is pregnant, again, pushes for a fourth wife as she is looking for an ally in her dealings with the other wives.  Barb stands firm as the first wife and threatens that she will leave if a fourth wife is brought into the family.  Barb and Ben’s daughter Sarah’s seeks help in dealing with polygamy and meets a man ten years older than her who she loses her virginity to.  Following in his father’s footsteps, Ben starts dating twin girls from Juniper Creek which leads Barb to consider sending him to live with her mother to get him away from the polygamist lifestyle.

Ana, the Serbian waitress from season two returns which causes a lot of trouble for the family.  Even though Barb had threatened to leave if Bill brought in a fourth wife into the family, she agrees to let Bill marry Ana.  Seeing that her presence is making things worse for the family and realizing that Bill isn’t everything Ana thought he would be, makes her decide to divorce the family.  Now that Roman Grant is on trial, that turns into a mini soap opera of its own.  Speaking of soap operas, while getting ready to leave for college, Sarah learns that she is pregnant.  It is also discovered that Nicki has been taking birth control pills for years and is not actually trying to have more children, as she had been claiming.  Meanwhile, Bill hopes to partner with a Native American tribe on a Mormon friendly casino, adding more stress to his already crazy life.

As if he didn’t have enough complications in his life already, Bill decides to run for the Utah State Senate, hoping to legitimize and publicize the polygamist lifestyle, which Barb actively attempts to sabotage.  This whole story-line takes place over the course of only nine episodes which makes it the shortest season for this show but despite that limitation, it still has some big surprises involving Roman Grant.  When the final season begins, we see the fallout from Bill’s decision from revealing that he is a polygamist on election night and many would like to see him impeached.  With their lifestyle finally in the open, the Henrickson family is not embraced as they had hoped.  They are feeling hostility from all directions which will lead to arguments and even gunfire.

I enjoyed all of the seasons of Big Love, but they did go a bit overboard with their story-lines and turned it into a soap opera.  The show would have been interesting enough if it had just focused on Bill Henrickson and his many wives.  When you throw in the Juniper Creek story-lines and all that goes with that, it adds up to a lot of unneeded fluff that takes the focus away from Bill’s family, which is where it should have remained.  When you add Bill’s political career and the additional wives, it just gets a little nuts.  The episodes I liked the most were just about Bill, Barb, Nicki and Margene which told the story of how one man juggles the needs of three wives, which I think is interesting enough.  Even more compelling to me was the dynamics of how they learned to work and live with each other and tried to get over their own jealousies.  I enjoyed the show a lot, but I would have enjoyed it even more if it had focused less on the melodramatic elements and more on the family.

Video  

Big Love is presented on DVD with a 16×9 aspect ratio.  It’s a shame it’s not on Blu ray, but it looks pretty good as DVDs go.  Skin tones appear accurate throughout and the show looks good in natural light, indoors and in darkly lit scenes.  Colors look look distinct and varied and the black levels are suitably dark.  Some shots look a little soft but overall this is a pretty decent transfer for a television show on DVD.

Audio  

Big Love is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1.  The dialogue is even and at a consistent level.  This is a dialogue driven show that primarily uses the front channels to deliver the lines.  The rear speakers don’t get as much attention but the Beach Boys’ song “God Only Knows” sounds great.  This mix adequately does  what it needs to do but don’t expect any fireworks.

Special Features  

I’m pleased with the quantity and quality of the special features overall.  The commentaries are a little random and you could easily skip some of them, but I enjoyed the prequels despite their short length and the minidramas as well.

• Big Love – A Balancing Act on Ice – A behind the scenes look at making the title sequence, where the main characters are seen ice skating.  This was a lot more about the show in general than I expected and less about the actors skating.  No falling down bloopers here.
• Audio Commentary – Principal actors participate in audio commentary throughout the series.
• Big Love Prequels – Post Partum, Meet the Baby Sitter and Moving Day – Three short scenes that can be selected individually or with the play all feature.  All three explain a lot about what life was like in the beginning.
• Their Stories So Far – Four direct to camera videos from Bill, Barb, Nicki and Margene.  These are basically commercials for Big Love from the perspective of each of the main characters.
• Three Past Midnight – Three minidramas (basically the length of an extended scene) as characters deal with the national crackdown on polygamy.  The first focus on Bill and Barb, the second is about Margene and Nicki and the third deals with Sarah and Ben.
• Inside the Episodes (Fourth and Fifth Seasons) – Creators and Executive Producers Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer give the inside perspective on each episode.  Can be selected individually or with the play all feature.
• Big Love – The End of Days – The actors and filmmakers discuss the end of the show, where it began, and the characters they leave behind.

Final Thoughts  

The writers of Big Love definitely know their stuff when it comes to polygamy and Mormons.  I was surprised to find more details in Big Love about the lifestyle than in the reality show Sister Wives about why polygamy exists, and to learn that it’s not all about just having lots of wives.  For a large set, the discs were well marked and the features were easy to find.  Recently I’ve reviewed some larger sets where it was impossible to just go back and find a special feature later, but Big Love does a good job of keeping this labeled and organized and labeled and I like that.

Order your copy today!

Henry Hamilton:  If you had as much time as I had, what would you do with it?
Will Salas:  I sure as hell wouldn’t waste it.

The film is set in a retro-future, where the aging gene has been switched off and people now stop aging at 25. To avoid overpopulation after 25 each person is given just one more year to live and stamped on their arm is a running clock of how long they have left, once the clock reaches zero they die. This has lead to time becoming the new currency.  Time is earned by working and can also be stolen or robbed from another person. Of course, within this society, there are the rich and the poor.  The rich apparently live as immortals in a high class society, while the poor live in the ghetto, struggling to survive.

Justin Timberlake stars as Will Salas, a street rat managing to just get by with his 50-year old mom (Olvia Wilde, apparently just as busy this year in studio films as Jessica Chastain is in indies).  One night, Will saves the life of a man, with over a century of time on his arm, from a gang known as the Minutemen, lead by a 75-year old, Fortis (Alex Pettyfer).  The man Will saves is Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer), who is over 100-years old and is done living in this society.  Henry gives Will all of his time and jumps off a bridge.  This leads to a murder investigation headed up by a Timekeeper, Leon (Cillian Murphy), who is incredibly suspicious of a man who he does not think would just give away all of his time to some kid from the ghetto.  Regardless, due to some other personal reasons, Will heads to the rich society in an effort to bring justice in his own way to those who unfairly get to live as immortals, while others suffer.

By having set up so much of what this film’s future society is like, I have hardly been able to get at the meat of the plot, which involves Will’s character kidnapping the daughter of one of the richest men in the world, Philippe Wies (Vincent Kartheiser).  His daughter is Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried), who becomes the Bonnie to Will’s Clyde, as the two join up to rob time from the rich and distribute back out to the poor.

I was intrigued by this film early on and would have been fine with it, were it not so poorly configured.  It is not so much in the unexplained retro-design of the film or the overall look of the world, captured by cinematographer Roger Deakins, apparently shooting with digital photography for the first time, but the writing, which is truly an issue.  All of the dialogue feels really poorly handled, very obvious, and does little to make the film more compelling.  It is hard to find where the blame lies, as some of the performances were rough, some directorial choices were laughable, and many scenes were very uncompelling.

I am a fan of writer/director Andrew Niccol, who has written The Truman Show, created Gattaca and the underappreciated Lord of War, but his work seems off here.  I have heard nothing in the way of studio interference and Niccol has even been credited as writer/director/producer this time around.  Given that his previous directorial outings have been met with little commercial success, it is almost as if an attempt was made to bring more mainstream appeal to this film by essentially lowering some of his standards.  Now this is incredibly presumptuous, but I really have no idea why this film suffered from subpar writing.

Some things register decently enough.  I continue to enjoy Timberlake as an onscreen presence.  His casting in this film as an action lead seemed like something new and despite the problems I have already mentioned, I think his work in the film was fine enough.  I have little to say about the rest of the cast, although I was amused by Murphy’s insistence on wearing a big, black trench coat everywhere.  I also found it humorous that in a world of very attractive 25-year olds, Johnny Galecki (clearly not looking 25) was cast as the ugly best friend character.

In trying to strip away the gripes I had and judge it like a simple B-movie, I still can’t quite say I had fun in that regard either.  I feel like there was a lack of energy in this film to keep me wanting to be involved in the story.  There is a lot of running in this film and the righteous criminal approach is a neat route to take, especially since it evokes a classic Robin Hood-like tale, but I still couldn’t find much to appreciate in its basic action elements.

I found In Time to be a misfire.  I wanted to go in and enjoy the film.  If not on a compelling level in regards to the science fiction that was established, then at least as a fun sci-fi B-movie.  Unfortunately I found neither.  There are a lot of good looking people here and a solid premise to play off of, but it is the poor writing that undid everything for me.

Will Salas:  Just once I’d like to wake up with more time on my hand than hours in the day.

If my research is correct, In Time is actually the third name this science fiction thriller has donned.  It was previously called Now and I’m.mortal.  The film was written and directed by Andrew Niccol.  Lucky man!   However, what’s even more impressive is the star-studded cast of Amanda Seyfried, Justin Timberlake, Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde and many more.

The ambitious movie asks a lot from us.  It asks us to be patient, forgiving and ambitiously willing to suspend our disbeliefs while we switch off the real world around us and exist solely in the alternate universe we are made to surrender to for 115 minutes.  I’m not saying that like its a bad thing, after all, I did love Inception (who didn’t?), but this film is no Inception.

As I mentioned before, In Time is set in an alternate future where, stay with me now, the aging gene has been switched off.  Yep.  You heard what I said…the aging gene.  People stop aging at 25 years old.  That wouldn’t be a bad thing for the many who love the way they look at 25, but there’s a catch.  You see, people live with a digital clock imprinted on their arm.  It dictates how long you will live.  So when I said there’s a catch, here it is.  If the obnoxious glowing green neon clock on your arm wasn’t enough, once you turn 25 it starts counting down and you only have a year left on your life.  Bam!  If that’s not a slap in the face, then I don’t know what is.  In essence, turning 25 in this universe is like turning 50 in ours.  Relax!  I’m just kidding.  Everyone knows that half-life is in our 30’s.  Laugh out loud.

So you all still with me?  I mean, this is all plausible, right?  So people have this seemingly unavoidable death sentence at age 25 to curb the problem of overpopulation.  When you run out of time, your heart just stops and that’s it.  Lights out!  So in essence, another way to look at all of this is that time becomes a currency and it is the way people pay for luxuries and necessities like food, coffee and housing.  I’m not kidding about any of this by the way.  This is the movie’s premise.  Te rich are able to live forever.  One can almost say like a vampire, they are immortal, while the rest of the population does anything the can to earn extra minutes on their clocks, including manual labor.  Yuck!

So here’s the Act One plot point.  A very poor 28-year old man (28 in real years), Will Salas (Justin Timberlake), is accused of murder when he inherits a fortune of time from a man who has lived over one hundred years and seemingly doesn’t want to live a day longer.  He becomes a wanted felon.  He is forced to go on the run from a police force known as, try not to laugh, the Timekeepers.  Also, hot on his tail is a mob called; I hope you are ready for this, The Minutemen.  Who comes up with this stuff?  These names are almost as ridiculous as Unobtainium!  The leader of this mob goes by the name of Fortis (Alex Pettyfer).  He is 75-years old.  But remember…EVERYONE in this film looks not a day over the ripe age of 25-years old, except Cillian Murphy, but that’s a completely different story.  And what would our tale be without a little romance….enter the beautiful Amanda Seyfried.  Every rogue time stealer needs a dame in distress, right?

If I had to rate this film I would give it a 2.5 or 3 out of 5 doggies depending on what kind of mood I was in.  I was happy to have seen it, but unless I’m offered a review copy, I probably won’t be seeing it again anytime soon.  It’s ambitious and bold.  I like that about it.  But it’s all over the place at the same time.  It’s almost like they describe in screenwriting courses as double jeopardy.  We are asked to believe and put our trust in this alternate universe, but he time jumping on the arms was utter lunacy at times, no pun intended with the repeat term.  Frequently, I couldn’t tell who had what time left on their arms during the presentation.  One minute Will would have 100 years and the next he would have five minutes.  It was too much, in my opinion, but nevertheless, it was also very cool at times too.  The stakes were high, but they were only believable if you didn’t allow your suspension of disbelief to be broken.  Beware of distractions at the theater when you check this one out.  You need to concentrate.  No loud popcorn chewing or Twizzlers unwrapping!  If your disbelief is broken, forever will this movie probably suck in your repertoire.  I like how the movie didn’t waste anytime setting up the world we were about to live in.  Its Lord of the Rings-like narrative was efficient in its delivery and hey…worst-case scenario it has something for both the guys and gals, Justin and Amanda.  How can you go wrong?  If you have the “time,” check it out, yo!

Guillermo Del Toro was on hand to give fans a sneak peak at his newest upcoming horror film, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.  He was joined by stars Guy Pearce and Ron Perlman.  Director Nicolas Winding Refn was also there to show us some scenes from his upcoming film, starring Ryan Gosling, called Drive.  They both look pretty appealing if I do say so myself.

Up next, Fox treated fans to some extended footage of a film I am really looking forward to, Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  Also, Justin Timberlake (who did not seem to want to pose for pictures) was on stage bringing sexy back along with the beautiful Amanda Seyfried to give fans a sneak peak at their upcoming film called In Time.  And oh yeah…there was this little film they showed some clips of too.  What was that name?  Oh yeah!  Prometheus!  Anyone ever hear of it?  Charlize Theron was live on stage as the moderator and her talked to Ridley Scott via videoconferencing.

Check ut some of our exclusive photos below.  Enjoy!

Henry:  Just so you know, if you are the wolf, I’m going to cut your head off.

Peter:  And if you’re the wolf, I’ll do the same.

Amanda Seyfried stars as Valerie, a beautiful, young blond living in the medieval village of Daggerhorn.  While Valerie has been pining for the brooding, dark haired, wood cutter/male model, Peter (Shiloh Fernandez) for years, with plans to run away with him, her family has arranged for her to be married to the brooding, fairer haired, metal worker/male model, Henry (Max Irons).  Unfortunately, running away with Peter will have to wait, as Valerie’s sister has been murdered by the evil wolf that terrorizes the town.  With an uneasy truce seemingly in breach by the monstrous creature, some of the townspeople gather their shiniest of knives and pitchforks in an attempt to capture the beast.

Upon returning with what they believe to be the head of the evil wolf, the people rejoice, but it is not long before they realize they are still under attack.  Fortunately, a rock star wolf-catcher, in the form of Gary Oldman, shows up to help the town.  Oldman plays Father Solomon, a man experienced in ridding areas of werewolves, equipped with a team of strong men and a giant metal elephant (not kidding), and makes it very clear that this town needs to start suspecting all who live in it, as any one of them could be the wolf in question.  Solomon also points out that this is the time of the blood moon, which means that a bite from the wolf will have the extra effect of turning others into werewolves.

All of this drama does not help Valerie, as she is now torn between the two men after her heart and also worried about this whole wolf issue.  Further complications ensue, when Valerie learns that she has a unique connection to the wolf, which makes her both suspect of witchcraft and bait to draw the beast back for Solomon and his men to kill it.  At least she has her Grandmother’s (played by Julie Christie) new red hooded coat to help keep her warm.

Similar to the recent I Am Number Four, it would seem that the sole reason this film was made was in an attempt to score a big success off of the Twilight demographic.  Now I say this while also acknowledging that it is not that I have something against this notion (it would be like someone calling me out for seeing every new superhero movie), but that this film has been done so poorly.  Beyond having a lead female character caught between two guys (I am surprised that neither of the guys had a moment with their shirt off for this film), in a fantasy setting, you even have the director of the first Twilight film, Catherine Hardwicke, lending her directorial abilities over to this film.  I remember a time when Hardwicke was a promising director, given the great response to her debut film, Thirteen, but this film seems to have been delivered dead on arrival.  I felt such a great disconnect between what this film wanted to go for and what it actually accomplished.  An example being the use of modern music and the lack of medieval times accents, while sticking with a somber tone throughout.  It is simply all over the place in terms of which film it really wanted to be.

This is a terrible werewolf film, no question; once again adding to the stack of werewolf films that have turned out to be very bad.  I honestly can’t remember the last time I actually really enjoyed a movie with werewolves at this point.  Even for an attempt at PG-13 horror, this film does a terrible job at trying to scare the audience.  The “werewolf” in this film is displayed quite prominently during the course of the film, and at no point at all did it ever seem intimidating or convincing.

The actual plot of this film surrounding the werewolf is equally ridiculous.  The film tries to supply a “whodunit” framework, in order to keep you guessing and watching out for suspects and red herrings.  I found this to be akin to a film like Sleepy Hollow, which had the same sort of twist on an old story, but that film had much better scripting and much better talent, which made it a film that knew what it was doing, while this film feels more up to par with another stinker – The Village (Note: after having brought this comparison to others, some seem to have an appreciation of The Village that I was not aware of, so if that doesn’t work, cross Sleepy Hollow with a different, but still terrible film with a comparable setting).

The film does have an interesting cast.  Seyfried seems to have the ability to play adorably concerned quite well.  There is clear talent behind her beauty, so I hope it has a chance to come out in other roles.  Oldman does all he can to make things more interesting by using one of his fun accents and milking his role for all it is worth, but it is not enough to make this film rise above its very poor scripting and dialogue.  Julie Christies, similarly to Oldman, does all she can to seem interesting in such a bland film, but at least gets to be involved in the iconic scene of the story.

Initially, a lot of my intrigue for this film came from what I thought was some evocative imagery stemming from the use of a bright red hooded outfit in the middle of a very snowy setting.  Mixed with a soundtrack by Brian Reitzell that I found to be equally intriguing, I only wish that the film’s imagery could have matched up to what little positive response I had for a trailer.  Instead, the film’s village setting feels very much like a stage that has had several prop buildings made and dressed up to appear more wintery.  Throughout the film, it seemed very apparent that these characters were quite cramped in a small setting and never really affected by the snowy weather.  I like to grasp onto production design and visual style quite a bit when it comes to films that I know are capable of showing off such things, even if nothing much else comes from it, but that was not the case here.  The film simply looks cheap, banking on its Twilight similarities to make it a hit with the fans.

If there is something to glean from all of this, it is that I do not necessarily think this film is a failure, more of a mixed disaster.  The tone of this film is all screwed up.  It would like to be a fantasy drama with notions towards the spirit of a dark fairy tale.  Instead, the film is dull, mixed with a couple over-the-top performances, many more wooden performances, poor effects work, and an especially bad handle on putting together good dialogue.  It does not quite reach the “bad turns to funny” levels of quality, but a few more “out of left field” moments and maybe an extended brawl at Grandma’s house and it certainly could have had me feeling a bit more big and bad upon leaving the theater.

Valerie:  Oh Grandma, what big eyes you have…

Red Riding Hood is billed as an American horror film.  I’m not entirely sure I agree with that billing.  I see it more as a dark fantasy film, but that’s just me.  The feature is directed by Catherine Hardwick and surprise surprise, it’s produced by none other than Mr. Leonardo DiCaprio.  And much to my liking, it’s written by a fellow screenwriter whom I have much respect for, David Leslie Johnson (Orphan).  There’s a whole Comic-Con 2009 story to be told here, but I will spare you.  Supposedly the script is derived from three main sources: the folk tale Little Red Riding Hood by both Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm and from Bruno Bettelheim’s book, Uses of Enchantment.  Now that we got all the non-fun stuff out of the way, let’s talk about the movie!

The movie takes place in the medieval village of Daggerhorn.  A young woman, Valerie (Seyfried), is preparing to run away with her boyfriend, Peter (Shiloh Ferandez), in order to avoid an arranged marriage with Henry Lazar (Max Irons).  Isn’t young love so cute?  However, all plans come to a screeching halt when Valerie’s older sister is found slaughtered by a familiar werewolf that has been terrorizing the village for years.  I hate it when that happens!  I think it’s been something like 20 years since the werewolf has touched a human.  Instead, it always seemed to be happy with the monthly livestock offerings the village provided.  So what the heck changed all the sudden?  Well, that’s really the meat and potatoes of the story and where the Witchfinder General, Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), enters.

Perhaps I should rewind just a bit.  After the death of Valerie’s sister, the majority of the townsmen go werewolf hunting and believe they have killed the beast, but Father Solomon urges them not to prematurely celebrate.  Do they listen to him?  Of course not!  If they had, that would make for a dull movie wouldn’t it?  So eventually the big bad wolf makes its presence known by frequently killing more innocent people and eventually learn of a secret ability that Valerie possesses.  She seems to have the innate ability to telepathically communicate with the Lycan beast.  Wow!  Isn’t she so lucky?  Tell me you would not be thrilled to possess that wonderful quality.  I can see it now…Brian White the Wolf Whisperer.  It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

So here’s what’s up.  I liked the film.  I really did.  It probably won’t make my Top 10 list this year, but like Jennifer’s Body, it had just the right mix of violence and quirkiness to sustain my short attention span.  The acting was wooden at moments, but when you have subject matter as ridiculous as this, can you ever guarantee 100% authentic performances?  I don’t think so.  I would even go as far to say that it had some Twilight qualities to it, but that’s stretching it even for me.  It’s a modern day look at a fairy tale known to all with a twist of gothic as I like to call.  And it’s also a love story, hence the Twilight comparison.  And I guess I can always bring home the Twilight comparison with the fact that the film is also helmed by the same Director of Twilight here.  How’s that making a point?  But anyway, what I like the most about it is the who did it approach the film takes on.  Was it Peter?  Is it Henry?  How about grandma?  Who’s the big bad wolf?  You’re left guessing until the very end.  I like that!

So here’s the question that’s always difficult to answer depending on a person’s personal tastes.  Is it worth you running to the theaters for?  That’s a tough call.  I heard some critics talking negative about the film as I was exiting the press screening and others saying it was okay.  So if you want my advice, here it is.  Save your money on opening night and check out a matinee of it during the weekend.  This way I can recommend it to you and save you dough at the same time.  See how nice I am?  And what about that Amanda Seyfried?!  How does she manage to get more beautiful each time I see her?  Amazing!

CULVER CITY, CALIF. (May 24, 2010) – Sexual addiction. Infidelity. Family secrets. Betrayal. All these and more are key elements in Sony Pictures Classics’ sleek, erotic thriller CHLOE, debuting on Blu-ray™ and DVD July 13 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The all-star cast includes Academy Award^® nominees Julianne Moore (2003, Best Actress, Far From Heaven) and Liam Neeson (1994, Best Actor, Schindler’s List), with breakout actress Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia, Dear John, TV’s “Big Love”) under the direction of Academy Award^®-nominee Atom Egoyan (1997, Best Director, The Sweet Hereafter). After suspecting her husband (Neeson) of cheating, the conflicted Dr. Catherine Stewart (Moore) hires an escort to seduce him, putting in motion an unforeseen sequence of dangerous events that jeopardize her family. Special features include feature commentary, deleted scenes and a “making-of” featurette. CHLOE will be available on Blu-ray for $34.95 SRP and DVD for $27.96SRP.

SYNOPSIS:

Catherine (Moore) and David (Neeson), she a doctor, he a professor, are at first glance the perfect couple. Happily married with a talented teenage son, they appear to have an idyllic life. But when David misses a flight and his surprise birthday party, Catherine’s long simmering suspicions rise to the surface. Suspecting infidelity, she decides to hire an escort to seduce her husband and test his loyalty. Catherine finds herself ‘directing’ Chloe’s encounters with David, and Chloe’s end of the bargain is to report back, the descriptions becoming increasingly graphic as the meetings multiply.

CHLOE was directed by Atom Egoyan (Adoration, Where the Truth Lies). The screenplay was written by award-winning Erin Cressida Wilson (Secretary). Ivan Reitman (I Love You Man, Old School), Joe Medjuck (Distrubia) and Jeffrey Clifford (Up In The Air) served as producers with Tom Pollock (Up in the Air, I Love You, Man), Jason Reitman (Juno, Up In The Air), Daniel Dubiecki (Juno), Olivier Courson and Ron Halpern as executive producers.

DVD Special Features Include:

• Commentary with Actress Amanda Seyfried, Director Atom Egoyan and Writer Erin Cressida Wilson
• Deleted Scenes
• Introducing Chloe: The Making of CHLOE Directed by Atom Egoyan

Check out more of my movie reviews by clicking the image below!

Film   

First, let’s be perfectly honest with ourselves.  The main draw of Jennifer’s Body is Megan Fox’s body.  Oops! I meant to say actress Megan Fox.  Is there really any dispute in the fact?  Would the opening box office turnout even have been so high with only Amanda Seyfried in the starring role?  I would like to think not.  I, like probably half of the moviegoers here, was really interested in one thing here.  No, it wasn’t to see what if anything more would be shown of Megan Fox’s sexy body after the leaked production photos last year.  That’s what Google Search is for.  C’mon guys!  Get your perverted minds out of the gutter.  I simply wanted to know whether Miss Fox could sink or swim in her first leading role or if she was just another pretty face destined to become just a Hollywood fad after her 15 minutes of fame had expired.  However, I personally don’t think Michael Bay would let that last part happen as long as he is still making movies.

 So just how awful was Megan Fox in her first starring role?  I am going to go out on a proverbial limb here, hoping not to go out too far and risk a branch breaking and boldly say that she truly was the charm of this film.  From her quirky, adolescent delivery of corny one-liners to her sh#$-eating, bloody grins, I found myself engaged, amused and entertained throughout.  While her performance is hardly good enough to warrant any Oscar nods, it was exactly the kind of deliverance that I was expecting from her in this juvenile role.  Actually I did not know what to expect, but let me state what I just said in a different way you all can understand.  Simply put, if you were satisfied with her performance in the Transformers films, then there is no way she can disappoint you here.  I believe Miss Fox deposited a sincere portrayal of the yuppie high school cheerleader, we have all come to know and love, that just so happened to have a need for feeding on the flesh of the living and practicing male population control.  But what else is a succubus to do? 

So does the inclusion of Megan Fox make Jennifer’s Body a Blu-ray movie worth plopping down your hard earned Benjamin’s for?  If you were initially curious like me, a Megan Fox fanboy, or just a fan of Cody’s quirky writing style, then I think this Blu-ray warrants a purchase.  However, if you are easily annoyed by the slow moving nature of Cody’s writings or a Megan Fox hater, then your time may be better spent scouring ebay looking for a still sealed mint condition Hordak figure.  I am not saying this because Jennifer’s Body is a bad movie, but on the contrary I believe it to be much of an acquired taste like beer first is in your youth.  It was just the right mixture of homogenous ingredients to get me over the hump of some of the bad movies I had seen in the August/September 2009 timeframe.  The film is a dark, brooding horror-comedy that feeds on your brain much like the undead zombies feed on fresh flesh.  Aligning perfectly with the split mixed critical reviews, you are either going to find this movie appealing in a guilty pleasurable kind of way or you will simply be appalled by it.

If you found the vomit scenes in Drag Me To Hell too gross to handle, then just keep moving on, as this is not the film you are looking for (as I make my Jedi-like wave).  Although the film is violent in nature, much of the gore is kept to a minimum.  In retrospect, if you cut out the very infrequent F-bombs that were used, I really cannot see a reason as to why this film could not have achieved a PG-13 rating.  The R-rating is probably what kept the box office numbers low.  But who does not like a good, abrasive, cutting edge R movie anyway?  The movie studio is really going to hate me for this, but I feel this is my civic duty to let all the fanboys know that Megan Fox does not have any nude scenes.  You have actually seen more nudity of her on the Internet (hence my reference to Google Search before), during production of this film, then you will ever see within the movie’s 102 minute runtime (or 107 minutes depending on which version you are viewing).

It has been said that writer Diablo Cody wrote Juno at Starbucks in a Target store.  So don’t be alarmed when you hear a random shout out to Super Target within the movie.  Little inside jokes like this are what I find clever in filmmaking; with the exception of Revenge of the Sith’s lightsaber handle swaps.  Besides the eye candy of Megan Fox, Jennifer’s Body also stars Mamma Mia!’s Amanda Seyfried and everyone’s favorite newspaper editor, J.K. Simmons.  In addition to the well-known cast members, the film also rocks a sonic soundtrack that will appeal to even the broadest range of alternative fans.  If you are like me and you enjoy a hot female lead, a campy B-movie storyline/feel and essential horror gore, then you will probably like Jennifer’s Body.  Notice, I used the word ‘probably.’  As I stated before, this film will not appeal to everyone.  You just have to keep an open mind, accept the fact that you have bought this Blu-ray for Megan (or Amanda if she is your cup of tea) and be able to appreciate the mundane from time-to-time.  If I had to break the film down in mathematical terms, I would quantify a statement that Jennifer’s Body equals the quirkiness of Juno plus the horror comedy elements of Drag Me To Hell.  Take that for what it’s worth. 

Before we move on to the technical aspects of the Blu-ray release I guess it would be nice of me if I gave you a very brief synopsis of what Jennifer’s Body is even about other than spending 5 paragraphs talking about that fact that Megan Fox stars in it.  Cody is on record saying that she wanted the film to speak to female empowerment and explore the complex relationship between best friends.  I find it hard to digest the word ‘complex’ in Cody’s statement.  There is nothing about Jennifer’s Body that is complex.  Yes, the film does explore the affinity between best friends (Fox and Seyfried), but I would hardly call this relationship complex.  They wear BFF necklaces.  How much more juvenile can we get?  In case you are wondering, BFF stands for Best Friends Forever and is pronounced ‘biff’ with a short ‘i’ (as a tribute to Back to the Future I have read).  But think about this.  What if your best friend was so completely the opposite of you that no one outside of your relationship really understood you or why you two were friends in the first place?  Now, what happens if your best friend all the sudden transforms into an unstoppable flesh eater that will stop at nothing until her male appetite is relinquished?  Will you stand by her or would you put a stop to the killing even though you know she would never harm you?  Jennifer’s Body never markets itself as a true horror film, but in my belief that won’t stop the film from achieving a modern day cult classic status due to its sometimes witty and clever dialogue and brilliantly fun performances (in which Megan Fox really does deliver the goods).  All right, enough fluff, let’s get move on to the Blu-ray vitals!

Video     

Jennifer’s Body sinks her teeth into Blu-ray with a delectable 1080P video presentation that will leave even the most petite succubus wanting seconds.  The nectarous video transfer sees an AVC MPEG-4 encode celestially filling your entire HDTV screen real estate with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio.  The seductive Megan Fox never looked better as every delineated shadow is accounted for.  The video presentation is almost perfect as the exceptional transfer is consistent throughout and exquisitely captures Diablo’s vision and moody undertones.  The movie looks exactly the way I saw it in the theater, minus the annoying teenagers kicking the back of my reclining chair.  After much internal debates with myself, I finally settled on a score of 4.  While this presentation is hardly reference quality, it does however faithfully reproduce the theatrical exposition of the film in the privacy of your own home.  Isn’t that what the Blu-ray format is supposed to do?  If the answer to that question is a Rob Zombie “Superbeast”-like hell yeah, then Jennifer’s Body is a bloody victory. 

Everything is done right in this transfer (skin tones are “dead” on, Megan’s tattoos are flawlessly covered, detail is staggering, colors are vivid when required and the print is cleaner than a fat kid’s plate after eating cake), but what really stands out the most are the exceptional black levels. For a movie that is consistently drenched in dark shadows and horror-like atmospheres, the black levels are unrivaled.  One scene that comes to mind takes place near the end of the movie where Jennifer is laying in bed and then she turns out the remaining lights in her teenage bedroom.  Even with all the lights off, the subject matter (Megan Fox) and all her surroundings are brilliantly captured and visible just like I was there on the set seeing it through my own set of 1080P eyes.

Audio   

Jennifer’s Body is even more bodacious and infectious on the Blu-ray format thanks to the rocking and thunderous DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track.  The surround track is sumptuous on a number of accounts.  Sure, the track will never be a true reference quality that rivals the great action movies on the Blu-ray format, but the quirky and brooding atmosphere of Jennifer’s Body is faithfully intact here thanks in large part to its impressive audio.  I never thought I would have ever been reaching for my remote control to turn the volume down.  I initially thought the other way around.  When the action heats up on the screen the surround track kicks it up into high gear and encompasses you in the center of it all.  The dialogue always remains loud and clear throughout.  But most of all, it is the score and alternative pop songs that are truly the masterpiece here.  You want to talk about a film soundtrack?  I bought it as a blind buy weeks before the movie’s theatrical release last year and it is still a heavy hitter in my car’s CD library (and in Gregg’s iPod).  The songs rattled my Onkyo subwoofer and gave it an exhausting workout like it has not had for a long time.  Just like the movie is to many fans, I think they will be pleasantly surprised here with a Blu-ray audio track that deserves to be recognized for what it is…killer.

Special Features   

The Blu-ray debut of Jennifer’s Body is outfitted with a pretty succulent supplement package.  The succubus tale of Jennifer’s Body is accompanied with quite an arsenal of Hi-Def goodies.  Unfortunately, most of these extras are quite short in runtime, thereby preventing me from awarding a higher score in the special feature category.  The real crown jewel of this Blu-ray release is the inclusion of a Director’s Cut version of the film, which appears in addition to the theatrical one.  The Unrated version of the film adds an extra 5 minutes of runtime to the feature.  Make no exception here; the inclusion of this extra footage is a much welcomed addition to an already tantalizing film.  Usually, unrated editions add unnecessary footage and end up burdening the overall viewing experience, but that’s definitely not the case here.  The seductive story of Jennifer Check only benefits from the add-on treatment.  How often can you say that?  Anyway, let’s get down to business and check out every special feature of Jennifer’s Body.

Below are some pictures I took of the back cover art, the inside packaging of the 2-disc set (Digital Copy on the left and the Blu-ray disc on the right) and the paper insert with the Digital Copy activation code on the flip side (valid until December 28, 2011).  Click on the below images to enlarge for maximum viewing pleasure.

Below are some screenshots I took of the Blu-ray disc main menu selections. The menu choices remain static on the bottom of the screen as different movie scene images cycle in the background.  Click on the below images to enlarge for maximum viewing pleasure.

• Unrated Version – As stated before, you can choose between the theatrical version of the film and an Unrated Director’s Cut.  The runtimes between the two differ by only 5 minutes (theatrical – 102 minutes & Unrated – 107 minutes).
• Audio Commentary on the Theatrical Version – The audio track features Director Karyn Kusama and Writer Diablo Cody.
• Audio Commentary on the Unrated Version – This audio track features only Director Karyn Kusama.
• Deleted Scenes (HD) – Here you will find 6 polished deleted scenes clocking in at a total runtime just shy of 14 minutes.
• Jennifer’s Body: The Dead Pool (HD) – This 14-minute featurette takes a quick look behind-the-scenes into the production of the film, set locations and special effects such as the unhinged jaw of Jennifer Check used during her feeding scenes.  This was really worth it for me.  I recommend checking this one out.
• Cast & Filmmakers’ Behind-the-Scenes Video Diaries (HD) – There are near 13 minutes worth of short video diaries from various members of the cast and crew.  There’s nothing of real substance here so let’s move on.
• Gag Reel (HD) – I was kind of surprised this one lasted as long as it did clocking in at almost 5 minutes in length.
• Megan Fox is Hot (HD) – When I first heard about this special feature I thought what a great way to market to the Megan Fox fanboys and move Blu-rays.  Naturally, this was the first extra I watched.  I hate to say it, but it was nothing special.  Heck, it does not even last one minute in length.  Boo!  Give me more!
• Megan Fox Peer Pressure PSA (SD) – I was actually quite bummed that this 40-second charm was not present in Hi-Def.  The quick satire was fun and right to the point.
• Fox Movie Channel Presents Life After Film School with Diablo Cody (SD) – The longest special feature on the Blu-ray disc features a 26-minute interview of Diablo Cody by three film school students.
• Trailers (HD) – There are trailers for Gentlemen Broncos, All About Steve, Whip It and Fame.  Sadly, there are none for Jennifer’s Body.
• Digital Copy (SD) – Last but not least, the included DVD disc in the set contains a portable copy for your favorite media player.  Enjoy it on the road!

Final Thoughts   

I am sure by now you have grown tired of me singing nothing but praise for Jennifer’s Body.  Ordinarily, on a movie such as this one that is split equally amongst critics, I would be obligated to give this one a rating as a rental.  However, due to my over poignant fondness of this film, the Blu-ray’s sonic audio surround track and an equally impressive video transfer, I am going to whole-heartedly recommend a purchase of this title.  For the fans who somewhat enjoyed it during its theatrical run, give it a second chance on the Blu-ray format, and I am confident you will be pleasantly surprised like I was.  For all the Megan Fox fanboys out there, well then this goes without saying.  I was so surprised to see that by 7 PM all the Best Buy stores in my area were completely sold out of this Blu-ray title.  Either there were only a few copies to go around or the cult following buzz that was missed as an opportunity in the film’s initial marketing is taking off faster than I expected.  Whatever the case is, you will definitely get your money’s worth here.  If nothing else, you always have good eye candy (I can just hear Gregg snarling at me now as he is reading this).  For what it’s worth, I am in love with Jennifer’s Body, the Blu-ray of course.  Thanks for reading!

I hope you enjoyed my review of the Fox’s Jennifer’s Body Blu-ray release.  Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments below.  I look forward to receiving any and all feedback from my readers. 

Jennifer’s Body was released on Blu-ray December 29th, 2009.  If you like what you read in the review above, then please show your support for our site by clicking the shopping cart link above to order and save with Amazon’s Everyday Lowest Prices.  Thanks!

I am digging the fresh cover art for the Blu-ray release.  Kudos Fox!  As a treat to my loyal readers I have not only included the full press release below from Fox, but also the full-size Blu-ray box art.  Just click on the box art below to maximize for your viewing pleasure.  Enjoy!

SHE’S EVIL… AND NOT JUST HIGH SCHOOL EVIL…
MEGAN FOX STARS AS A KILLER CHEERLEADER IN

JENNIFER’S BODY

Written By Academy Award® Winner* Diablo Cody, The Wickedly Sexy Horror Arrives On Blu-ray Disc And DVD December 29

Featuring An All-New Unrated Extended Cut Too Sexy and Gruesome For Theaters

LOS ANGELES, CA – (November 6, 2009) In every school there’s one girl, every girl wants to be friends with…and every guy would die for. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment presents a “student body” with a ferocious bite when Jennifer’s Body arrives on unrated Blu-ray Disc (BD) and DVD December 29. Sexy temptress Megan Fox (Transformers) is hotter than hell as Jennifer, a gorgeous, seductive cheerleader who takes evil to a whole new level after she’s possessed by a sinister demon. Steamy action and gore galore ensue as the male student body succumbs to Jennifer’s insatiable appetite for human flesh. Now it’s up to her best friend (Amanda Seyfried; Mamma Mia!) to stop the demonic diva’s reign of terror before it’s too late!

Fueled by the satiric wit of Oscar^®-winning writer Diablo Cody (Juno), the sexy horror directed by Karyn Kusama (Aeon Flux) features a strong supporting cast of young Hollywood stars including Adam Brody (“The O.C.”), Johnny Simmons (Hotel For Dogs) and Chris Pratt (Bride Wars) as well as J.K. Simmons (Juno) and Amy Sedaris (“Strangers With Candy”). Killer bonus features include an unrated extended cut packed with more sex and terror in addition to writer and director commentary, deleted scenes, gag reel, video diaries, a Megan Fox PSA and much more. Jennifer’s Body will be available on Blu-ray (BD) as a two-disc release featuring a Digital Copy version of the extended cut on December 29^th.

Blu-ray Features:

Disc One
? Theatrical Widescreen Feature Film
   ? Audio Commentary with Director Karyn Kusama and Writer Diablo Cody
? Extended Widescreen Version
   ? Audio Commentary with Director Karyn Kusama
? Deleted Scenes

   ? Dead Boys
   ? Jennifer Check Is Gross
   ? Needy Confronts Jennifer

   ? Who’s Cindy Crawford?
   ? Needy Faces The Band
   ? Ass, Gas or Grass…

? Gag Reel
? Jennifer’s Body: The Dead Pool
? Video Diaries

   ? Megan Fox and Johnny Simmons
   ? Amanda Seyfried 

   ? Diablo Cody
   ? Dan Dubiecki

? Megan Fox Is HOT
? Megan Fox “Peer Pressure” PSA
? Fox Movie Channel Presents ‘Life After Film School’ With Writer Diablo Cody
Disc Two
? Digital Copy of Jennifer’s Body (Extended Version) 

After the sleeper success and Oscar win of 2007’s Juno, screenwriter Diablo Cody has become a breakout success with a bizarre rags-to-riches story.  But in the past year the backlash due to her trademark ‘dialogue’ and what many felt an undeserving win, has almost out-shadowed her success.

The same can be said for the film’s leading lady, Megan Fox; after bidding time with average teen-drama fair, Fox broke out in Michael Bay’s Transformers making mouths drool and heads turn from her stunning looks.  Unfortunately, over time, her loud opinions and general overexposure has made even horny teenage boys tire of her, which bring us to Jennifer’s Body; an enticing collaboration between the two.  When announced a year ago, the concept screamed ‘box-office success’ but at present has only made a small whimper at the cinemas.  The film is overly ambitious and muddled yet overall it’s a shame because looking past its flaws and media gossip lies a fun B-movie that deserved a fair shot.

First things first, Megan Fox is smoking hot in the film but that’s a given.  Luckily, she also impresses on the acting front, playing the ice-cold high school diva with relish.   She’s equally as game to flaunt in her cheerleader outfit as she is to vomit black bile in demon make-up.  Yet, for all the effort she puts in, the true stunner is Amanda Seyfreid who manages to steal the show with the less flashy role.  Her take on Needy is grounded and involving, helping the uneven film through some of its more awkward and bizarre moments.

On the screenwriting side there’s no denying that Cody is a good writer, behind both her films lie an involving story with three-dimensional characters regardless of all the superficial quirks.  Yet Juno comes out superior for its grounded drama and was subtler with its quirkiness while Jennifer’s Body attempts to go straight for the jugular and wallow in its excess.  Most of Cody’s trademark dialogue comes off as flat and more specifically robs the third act from any decent emotional involvement.  Another flaw is the film’s ambition.   Diablo attempts something that is part dark ‘High school’ satire, part ‘feminist’ message and part B-grade horror, overall creating a concoction hard to swallow although enjoyable to watch.

Director Karya Kusama’s attempts to blend it together are as slick as possible, yet stumble when she aims her style for Gothic and elegant with the subject screaming gritty and ‘Grindhouse.’  The end product is a film that falls short of its ambitious checklist, yet you can never hate a film for trying.  For the several times Jennifer’s Body falls on its face, once in a while it hits one out of the park creating something fresh, sometimes exciting and overall fun.

Overall: 3/5

Jennifer’s Body has a very 1980’s feel to it, and the film’s creators managed to keep that vintage, campy feel.  They synopsis of this movie is…don’t gasp, I’m not giving any hard details away (though I would be doing your wallet a favor to keep you from seeing this film at the cinema), anyway, the synopsis of the movie is high school beauty queen, Jennifer (Megan Fox), is the unfortunate victim of demonic possession.  Don’t you hate it when that happens?  Why, just the other day I thought I was about to be the victim of such an occurrence myself as I spoke with one of Lucifer’s lieutenants.  Then I realized I was just having a conversation with an IRS employee.  Whew!  Close call. 

In order to feed the insatiable appetite of the demon inside her, Jennifer must feed on the living.  With a high school full of raging-hormone males at her disposal, Jennifer finds no shortage of the human buffet in front of her.  Her best friend, Needy (played by Amanda Seyfried of Mama Mia fame), immediately notices some inexplicable changes in Jennifer and continues to maintain an uneasy relationship with her.  I will say if one of my very close friends started looking like a crack addict overnight, I’d probably take some sort of action of assistance that did not include “Sure, let’s go out tonight!” 

Now the big question you’ve all been waiting for; how is Megan Fox in a leading role?  In all honesty, I can’t judge that based on this film alone.  She assumed the role of a whiney, condescending, homicidal character and there wasn’t a great range of emotion to be had (funny, that sounds like two-thirds of traits from some of the cheerleaders I knew in high school).  Her situations of duress were conveyed very convincingly, but outside of that, she has the attribute of seduction already built into her and standing there with blood falling out of your mouth isn’t exactly an instance I can judge someone’s acting on. 

So much of this movie was very tongue-in-cheek to me.  Personally, I can’t qualify this as a horror film, filing it in a category with a classic such as the original Nightmare on Elm Street.  There was just too much silliness involved.  It did win a couple of faint laughs out of me, but the scares were non-existent.  I’d like to see Ms. Fox take the reigns once again as not just the leading lady, but the leading role as she did here.  However, I suggest her agent push for a more serious script, staying away from juvenile material such as Jennifer’s Body.  Expand your horizons, lass!  You won’t have that hot body forever.  My recommendation for this film is similar to what Leia once told Luke, “Run away, far away.”  

 So just how awful was Megan Fox in her first starring role?  I am going to go out on a proverbial limb here, hoping not to go out too far and risk a branch breaking and boldly say that she truly was the charm of this film.  From her corny one-liners to her sh#$-eating grins, I found myself partially amused throughout.  While her performance is not going to warrant any special recognition, it was exactly the kind of deliverance that I was expecting from her in this juvenile role.  Not to take her too seriously, I believe Miss Fox deposited a sincere portrayal of the yuppie high school cheerleader, we have all come to know and love, that just so happened to have a need for feeding on the flesh of the living.  For some strange reason Megan reminded me a lot of Mila Kunis’ character from That ‘70s Show, when she wasn’t practicing male population control, of course.

So does the inclusion of Megan Fox make Jennifer’s Body a movie worth plopping down your hard earned Benjamin’s for?  If you are curious like me, then I think so.  However, if you were among the few in attendance tonight at the theater, your time may have been better spent enjoying the last remnants of summer nights.  I am not saying this because Jennifer’s Body is a bad movie, but on the contrary I believe it to be much of an acquired taste like beer first is.  It was just the right mixture of homogenous ingredients to get me over the hump of the bad movies I have seen over the past couple weeks, but not by much.  The film is a dark brooding horror comedy that feeds on your brain much like the undead zombies feed on fresh flesh.  Aligning perfectly with the split mixed reviews I have been observing ever since last week’s Toronto Film Festival, you are either going to find this movie appealing in a guilty pleasurable kind of way or you will simply be appalled by it.

If you found the vomit scenes in Drag Me To Hell too gross to handle, then just keep moving on, as this is not the film you are looking for (as I make my Jed-like wave).  Although the film is violent in nature, much of the gore is kept to a minimum.  In retrospect, if you cut out the very infrequent F-bombs that were used, I really cannot see a reason as to why this film could not have achieved a PG-13 rating.  The R-rating is what will probably keep the box office numbers low.  Despite the massive appeal that Megan Fox possesses over the male population, I was very surprised to behold a low theatrical turnout for opening night.  I could have walked into the movie, just as it was starting, and would have had no problem finding my favorite seats.  The movie studio is really going to hate me for this, but I feel this is my civic duty to let all the fanboys know that Megan Fox does not have any nude scenes.  You have actually seen more nudity of her on the Internet, during production of this film, then you will ever see within the movie’s 103-minute runtime.

It has been said that writer Diablo Cody wrote Juno at Starbucks in a Target store.  So don’t be alarmed when you hear a random shout out to Super Target within the movie.  Little inside jokes like this are what I find clever in filmmaking, with the exception of Revenge of the Sith’s lightsaber handle swaps.  Besides the eye candy of Megan Fox, Jennifer’s Body also stars Mamma Mia!’s Amanda Seyfried and everyone’s favorite newspaper editor J.K. Simmons.  In addition to the well-known cast members, the film also rocks a sonic soundtrack that will appeal to even the broadest range of alternative fans.  If you are like me and you enjoy a hot female lead, a campy B-movie storyline/feel and essential horror gore, then you will probably like Jennifer’s Body.  Notice, I used the word probably.  This film will not appeal to everyone.  You just have to keep an open mind, accept the fact that you are there for Megan and be able to appreciate the mundane from time-to-time.  If I had to break the film down in mathematical terms I would quantify a statement that Jennifer’s Body equals the quirkiness of Juno plus the horror comedy elements of Drag Me To Hell.  Take that for what it’s worth.  With all that being said, this will be a Week 1 Blu-ray purchase for me. (Grade: B- )

I scoured the Internet and found three different theatrical posters (see below) for Jennfier’s Body.  Hell yes!  Enjoy! 

Feel free to leave some comments below and let me know your thoughts on this review and/or Jennifer’s Body.  Thanks!