"The Bucket List" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 2007 Rob Reiner Film...

"…Joy To Others…" - The Bucket List on BLU RAY

Car mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) is at the garage tinkering with a Chevrolet Camaro – cigarette in his gob like it always has been for 45 years. He smiles as his younger co-worker quizzes him on five former American Presidents whose surnames begin with H (Carter has a thing for accumulating knowledge). He of course gets their names right. But then mid explanation on the next question (which man actually invented the radio) - his Doctor phones with test results - and the cigarette that was placed between Carter’s fingers to take the call falls to the greasy floor…

Meanwhile in a courtroom far away – four-times married multi-millionaire Edward Penniman Cole (Jack Nicholson) is assimilating hospital number 16 into his privatized portfolio. Sipping his Indonesian Kopi Luwak (the most expensive coffee in the world) from a Gold mobile dispenser - he asks his puppet assistant to give the panel of trustees "the spiel…" Their financially failing Hospital needs him and no matter what their 'moral posturing' maybe - in his moneymaking medical palaces there are two beds to every room for patients (no exceptions). But in the middle of another crass speech about how he’s running a hospital and not a health spa - Edward suddenly starts to cough something into his handkerchief that isn’t phlegm…

Next both wildly different men find themselves lumped together in the same room of a Hospital Edward Cole owns. But because of bad PR – the grouchy Cole can’t get a private room to be away from “the living dead over there”. Gradually across chemo, operations, puking and diarrhoea - they become reluctant buddies of sorts. One day Edward finds a yellow jotter page on the floor on which Carter has written "The Bucket List". It’s what his former college tutor told him to write as a young man – things you want to do before you 'kick the bucket'…

Recovered momentarily and now with a diagnosis of 6 months and one year respectively – Edward persuades Carter not to go home to his Nurse wife Veronica and his three kids to be swallowed by pity and grief – but to take a shot at all the things he’s wanted to do. After all money is not a problem. And despite his wife’s misgivings – Carter knows Edward is right. It’s now or never. So they skydive, get a tattoo, drive a Mustang Shelby 360, laugh until they cry, kiss the most beautiful woman in the world, witness something majestic…and so on.

Part of the joy of "The Bucket List" is watching two acting giants given great material - let rip with it – and that’s what you get here. The chemistry and obvious respect between Freeman and Nicholson leaps off every frame and Director Rob Reiner never interferes – even when the film is being silly and a little preposterous. In fact in the first 30 or 40 minutes as they navigate the physical and mental agonies of terminal illness in a Hospital – “The Bucket List” is truly touching movie-making - with a razor-sharp script and life observations that don’t feel obvious nor too cutesy.

Even in the second-half where the story demands they do their comedy party pieces – the conversations between them on Cole’s private jet and in a luxurious hotel bathtub are filled with classy one-liners and power delivery (beautifully scripted by Justin Zackham). And it’s funny too (most of which is provided by the incomparable Jack Nicholson). By the time it gets to The Shawshank Redemption Morgan Freeman voiceover end - when a Chock-Full-Of-Nuts tin is being carried up a mountain - you’re a willing convert.

This is major Hollywood movie and the picture quality on the BLU RAY is simply glorious. Defaulted to 1.85:1 Full Aspect – the frame fills the entire screen and there isn’t a shot that doesn’t look immaculate and impressive. Even the CGI of the chat about his daughter Emily on top of the Pyramids is convincing (title above) - as is the motorbike ride on the Great Wall of China and their walks around the Taj Mahal. Audio is Dolby Digital English, French and Spanish 5.1 for each - while the Subtitles offered are English, French and Spanish.

The Extras are delightful – interviews with both leads, Director Ron Reiner, the Screenwriter, a Making of and John Mayer’s gorgeous acoustic balled "Say".

As he treks through snow keeping a promise to a man he first despised but then grew to love - Carter Chambers says of Edward Cole - "When he died…his eyes were shut...and his heart was open…"

"The Bucket List" has been a joy to re-watch on BLU RAY. Do yourself a solid – and open your bruised ticker to this modern-day nugget...

“Glory” on BLU RAY - A Review Of The MASTERED IN 4K Release…

Here is a link to Amazon UK to buy this issue at the best price (£9 as of March 2014):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00D6AAS94

First things first - I don't own a 4K TV - nor do I own the Sony BDPS6200 BLU RAY player with built in 4K upscaling. So I suppose this review of "Glory Mastered In 4K" is compromised on 2 fronts. However I have what I suspect most film lovers have - a good Plasma TV and a half-decent BLU RAY player. But even with machines as lowly as these - I'm compelled to review...

Is Mastered In 4K a gimmick? No it's not. The new format on BLU RAY is in its infancy for sure as far as releases and market interest is concerned - but judging on what I'm seeing on my television - that isn't going to last long. Once you set your eyes on the quality of the picture and what can be done - immediate upgrades on all your favourites is going to make you very excited - and your bank manager very nervous.

"Glory" has had a convoluted and patchy history with regard to reissue - most notorious of all was the DVD - slammed as being awful - with its BLU RAY follow up not a whole lot better. And this powerful 1989 Edward Zwick movie about the 54th Massachusettes regiment in the American Civil War (the first Black military unit and their extraordinary bravery) means a lot to many. So Sony seem to have gone to some lengths to change this with their new format baby because "Glory" is being hailed as a sort of flagship release to show what can be achieved  - even with older and sometimes degraded elements.

It's defaulted to 1.85:1 aspect ratio so it naturally fills the full screen and has a huge impact for doing so. The picture isn't perfect by any means or stretch of the imagination - and there are shocking 'grain' spikes at times. The most famous of these is where Colonel Robert Shaw (a huge performance from Matthew Broderick) is in a ballroom talking to a general - when it cuts to the general the picture is gorgeous - but when it cuts back to Broderick's face - it looks awful - twice. And on many other occasions the natural grain of filming is evident like a very faint shimmer - but even in the darker night sequences in tents when Denzel Washington, Andre Braugher and Morgan Freeman are talking - the picture is amazingly clean, rich and rock solid.

But it's when the camera moves to the drill marches, the towns they pass through and especially the battle encampments and the fields of battle - it looks gorgeous to a degree that is breath-taking. Bloody wounds, muddy shirts, the blue uniforms they covet so much, Denzel standing tall and defiant and hurting as he takes the lashes on the wheel for insubordination - it all looks incredibly rich and deep. Throughout the film this kicked in maybe 30 or 40 times which is impressive despite the grain moments in between.

The best way to describe the picture is 'cinematic' - there's an almost 3D depth to some shots - a real 'movie-in-your-home' sense of distances. And the James Horner soundtrack is given full reign too by the 5.1 True HD mix (English and Spanish) as are and sounds of rifle gunfire, canon blasts, rain on tarpaulin and men screaming in pain in tents as surgeons saw off limbs.

Presentation - Subtitles are in English, English for The Hard of hearing, Hindi, Polish and Spanish. Each release comes in a pretty blue card slipcase on the outside with the BLU RAY MASTERED IN 4K logo across the top - but unfortunately little else. There are literally no extras of any kind - which feels like a huge missed opportunity especially on such a rich film as "Glory" (3 Oscar wins - Best Supporting Actor for Denzel, Best Cinematography and Best Sound).

And as you can see from the list below - the initial vanguard of titles in 4K is hardly enticing - and in some cases - why even bother (the truly dreadful "The Other Guys" and the underwhelming "Moneyball")? And these titles were issued (Region Free) in the States between April and July 2013 with no further names since? Hardly a rip-roaring start...

Having said all that - I'm impressed. I'm even tempted now by "Taxi Driver", Ghostbusters" and "Godzilla" which have received similar glowing reviews on the improvement front.

The truth I suspect is that `4K' is an advancement for film fans that we're going to want more of once we clap our beady eyes on the screen - and that can only spell joy and pain in equal measure.

Here we go again...

Titles MASTERED IN 4K as of March 2014 are:

1. Angels And Demons (2009)

2. Battle: Los Angeles (2011)

3. Ghostbusters (1984)

4. Glory (1989)

5. Godzilla (1998)

6. The Karate Kid (2010)

7. Men In Black (1997)

8. Moneyball (2011)

9. The Other Guys (2010)

10. Pineapple Express (2008)

11. Spider-Man (2002)

12. Spider-Man 2 (2004)

13. Spider-Man 3 (2007)

14. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

15. Taxi Driver (1976)

16. Total Recall (2012)

“Gone Baby Gone”. A Review of the 2008 Film on Blu Ray.

“ …I Always Think That Life Is About The Choices You ‘Don’t’ Make…”

There's a moment about 5 minutes into "Gone Baby Gone" when you think you might just have stumbled on a genuine masterpiece...

As Casey Affleck ruminates in a weary beaten-up voiceover about good and evil and the life choices we make and how neighbourhoods shape us as people and those choices, the camera pans across the locals he’s talking about and their Boston inner city terrain.

These are real people in the real world – all manner of faces, colours and creeds - just going about their business – a man sat on the steps of a tenement building having a midday cigarette – kids of 8 and 9 flipping open their mobile phones – murals on walls declaring all sorts – a white father plops his baseball cap on the head of his gorgeous son of one who giggles, while a black father positions his equally gorgeous older son on the baseball circle in the local park with a sense of pride – all of it eventually making its way to a media circus outside a suburban home and a picture of a 9-year old girl on a tree…

The opening minutes are full of these beautifully realised vignettes - the use of real Bostonians and their downmarket suburbs adding a reality and power to Gone Baby Gone that is simply stunning – and that gritty reality continues throughout the film. And when you learn that the director is pretty boy Ben Affleck whom everyone loves to hate – you’re more than impressed.

But then of course it all goes to mush when the frankly ludicrously cherubic face of Casey Affleck appears with his equally drippy girlfriend Michelle Monaghan (an amazingly dull part for her) in tow beside him – they’re the leads? We’re expected to believe these dweebs?? While Casey is good in parts, he’s out of his depth in others – and worse - a lot of the time you feel he’s literally going to burst into a fit of the giggles at any moment. Monaghan is fabulous expressively as an actress, but her character Angie is a bit weedy and therefore difficult to care about – Angie seems almost superfluous to requirements (she was more fleshed out in the book).

But then you ask yourself why did top quality actors like Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris get involved in this movie – and the answer is the truly fabulous script adapted by Aaron Stockard from Denis Lehane’s book of the same name. This is “Mystic River” territory - Lehane has worked in child abuse and abduction cases and knows his monsters and their families so well that his observations of them hurt you – literally. There are many scenes in this excellent film where I found myself tearful – and not always for the grotesque things that Miramax must show you about pervs and their ways – but for the humanity of the other people involved – an emotion that seems all too often missing from other films about this easy-to-exploit subject. Ben Affleck has imbibed his debut with genuine heart even if the story does go off the rails a bit towards the end.

Given real meat to work with, the large varied cast is uniformly brilliant right down to even the smallest part - and just when you think you’ve seen all that Harris and Freeman have to give – they floor you – both of them - adding a gravitas throughout that must have had the older Affleck tingling in his Director’s chair. John Ashton is superb too as Ed Harris’ sidekick and Titus Welliver as the child’s father Lionel who may or may not be a nice guy. And Edi Gathegi as the Haitian drug-dealer Cheese is wonderfully sinister as a man with less than enlightened views about women - especially ones who need his powder to get through their day.

But the big surprise is Amy Ryan (Oscar nominated) who plays the devious trailer-trash druggy mum Helen McCready whose daughter Amanda is the girl pictured everywhere and abducted. You hate her and yet empathise with her in equal measure – and you wonder (like Affleck’s character does) should a 9-year old girl be back with this train wreck of a person - or does Helen McCready deserve a second chance at life like everyone else? And who makes that decision?

The Blu Ray print is surprisingly bad – speckled and blurry in the indoor and night scenes and hardly revelatory anywhere else. Also 2 of the special features cavalierly give away far too much of the plot and the twists – so don’t watch either before you see the movie. Also of note is David Buckley’s tenderly evocative music, which gives many of the down and up scenes a hugely powerful lift.

Despite being just a few notches short in places, “Gone Baby Gone” is a superb film – a genuine sleeper from 2008 - and Ben Affleck has arrived as a Director - big time.

I was moved, confused, hurt and left thinking about difficult decisions.

Highly recommended.

“Thick As Thieves” aka “The Code”. A Review of the 2008 Film on 2009 Blu Ray.

"Some People Were Born To Write Songs...I Was Born To Steal..."

This is a strange one. The cast is admirable enough; the story is very clever in parts and the director an experienced professional who has delivered very good movies before - yet somehow, "Thick As Thieves" just doesn't fly.

The idea on paper of Banderas and Freeman working together is probably what got this made - the reality of it is that there's very little chemistry between them - they come across as misfits instead of matches.

It does work between Banderas and the lovely/sexy Radha Mitchell and its also fab to see Robert Forster in any movie. But when you think of the sheer electricity that Freeman and Jack Nicholson generated in "The Bucket List", you realise that there's something's seriously amiss here. It's also known as "The Code" in the States - and you know you're in trouble when they can't even settle on a name...

The Blu Ray picture is exceptional in places (when Freeman and Banderas plan the heist in the bar - close up on their faces), but only OK in other places (the NYPD reception in the jewellers). There's a "Making Of" that consists of the crew shooting segments (mostly outdoors) where Freeman looks bored all the time and Banderas gets eyed up by everyone - there's also a few cast interviews that are OK, but hardly great.

Three stars. A rental I'm afraid.