Buried (2010/Lionsgate Blu-ray w/DVD) + Paper Man (2009/MPI Blu-ray) + Happy Every Afters (2009/IFC/MPI DVD) + How To Get Ahead In Advertising (1988/Image DVD) + Love Hurts (2008/E1 DVD) + Jack Goes Boating (2010/Anchor Bay Blu-ray) + RED (2010/Summit Blu-ray) + The Virginity Hit (2010/Sony DVD)

 

Picture: B & C+/B-/C+/C+/C/C+/B/C-    Sound: B & C+/B-/C+/C+/C+/B-/B/C     Extras: C-/C/C/C/C/C+/B-/D     Films: C-/C/C/C/C/B-/C+/D

 

 

Comedy is a type of storytelling that is hard to do and its corollary when it comes to suspense is the thriller.  As the genre has become battered, inserting more serious angles in the humor has been more commonplace, but is usually not done well.  We now look at eight different recent releases to make this point starting with two by Ryan Reynolds, a star on the rise who can do comedy and drama very well.

 

The most serious work here is Rodrigo Cortes’ Buried (2010), yet another “stuck-in-a” tale, this time with Reynolds as visiting Iraq worker Paul Conroy, who finds himself waking up in a buried coffin alive and trying to get out.  This had some potential, but the makers are more interested in sticking it to the audience than actually writing a script that offers something new or something at all.  Reynolds is up to the task, but nothing else here is and this becomes unintentionally funny, not because of Reynolds, but because it has an idiot plot.  Too bad, because a good actor is wasted despite a good performance.

 

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is dark most of the time since this takes place in a coffin, but looks as good as it is going to, while the anamorphically enhanced DVD also included is much weaker and harder to watch, especially in comparison.  The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 mix is stretching it when it comes to having a soundfield.  This could have worked monophonically, but is well recorded, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 on the DVD is weaker, yet sounds more like the originally intended soundmaster.  Extras include Original Theatrical Trailers and Unearthing Buried: The Making Of Buried.  Nothing like a featurette using the title of the main feature twice!

 

Reynolds fares better as the imaginary superhero Captain Excellent in the Michele/Kiernan Mulroney comedy Paper Man (2009) with the underrated Jeff Daniels as a writers-block plagued novelist whose childhood “friend” shows up when his life is entering a few crises at once.  He becomes interested in a younger lady (Emma Stone) while his relationship with is wife (Lisa Kudrow, badly cast doing her same tied TV sitcom shtick) who cannot handle what is going on.

 

This also had more potential, especially with some of the cast, but gets too silly for its own good and is a genre curio (comedy and superhero) at best, which will become more so when Reynolds’ turn as Green Lantern arrives.  Kieran Culkin also turns up and shows how likable his whole family is on screen and I kept watching to see it get better.  It did not.

 

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image is not great all the time and color can go from being good to being lame, but it could be worse, yet is not what I would call Blu-ray demo material.  The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 mix (miscredited on the sleeve as mere Dolby Digital 5.1) is also a little weak in the soundfield department, but this is a low-budget, dialogue-based affair.  Extras include an Original Theatrical Trailers, Making Of featurette and interesting Extended & Deleted Scenes that show inexperience may have partly stopped this from being better.

 

Stephen Burke’s Happy Every Afters (2009) has the likable Sally Hawkins in this Irish romp about two weddings about to happen at once, but she has some issues and some of the involved have been mis-married… again?  This is a bit convoluted and despite some energy, never really takes off or adds up.  Also, I never really laughed at any of it, but it is mildly amusing, yet never seems to achieve what it is setting out to do.  Tom Riley also stars.

 

The 1.78 X 1 anamorphically enhanced image is Video Black-weak and makes darker scenes especially hard to watch.  Color can be good at times and locations are a plus, but the result is mixed overall, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 is stretching the dialogue-based sound and this is a low budget production, so expect only so much here too.  Extras include an Original Theatrical Trailer and Interviews.

 

Richard E. Grant is always known for comedy, especially in British films and his starring role in Bruce Robinson’s How To Get Ahead In Advertising (1988) is back on DVD yet again after a standard MGM DVD and even Criterion Collection edition.  Now comes a basic DVD edition from Image Entertainment, but no Blu-ray, which it oddly has not been issued in yet anywhere we know of.  This is the first time we have covered it.

 

Dennis Bagley (Grant) is an unhappy ad executive whose work is getting to him despite his superior skill at his job, but things are too good and he starts to loose it including a bump developing on his shoulder that seems to be taking on a life of its own.  This is supposed to be a satire, but like Withnail & I (the previous actor/director collaboration), it did not work for me despite their freedom to do what they wanted and I like British humor.  Rachel Ward is good as the female lead, but even she cannot save this quirky film from working.

 

The 1.78 X 1 anamorphically enhanced image is also Video Black-weak and that can make darker scenes especially hard to watch, yet there are some good shots, though this is softer overall than it should be, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 is stretching the dialogue and joke-based soundtrack originally issued in 35mm prints as older Dolby A-type analog stereo sound.  This is also low budget production, so expect only so much here too.  Extras include an Original Theatrical Trailer and 18 more for other Handmade Films releases.

 

Grant tries to recapture his comedy edge in Barra Grant’s Love Hurts (2008) as his 20-year marriage to Amanda (Carrie Ann Moss) comes to an end when she leaves him.  A young friend (Johnny Pacar) intends to remake him into a popular ladies’ man, but he has his own issues to resolve as he realizes how plastic his life has been.  Jenna Elfman, Janeane Garofalo and Camryn Manheim also star, but the results are as flat as Grant’s older films, save being less quirky.

 

The 1.85 X 1 anamorphically enhanced image is the weakest of all eight titles on this list, with poor color and softness throughout that makes this one hard to watch.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 is not too bad, but this is also joke and dialogue-based, so the soundfield is limited, but the sound is better than the image.  Extras include Behind The Scenes footage and Cast/Crew Interviews.

 

Another actor who can do comedy and drama very well is Philip Seymour Hoffman, who decided to direct this adaptation of the stage play Jack Goes Boating (2010) and it is the best work on the list as he plays the title character, trying to find a good relationship.  He starts to look and a couple with their own problems (Daphne Rubin-Vega and John Ortiz) introduce him to Connie (Amy Ryan) and things start to happen.  It is a combination of light comedy, character study of the people and of the situation which works more often than you might think, but the best thing Hoffman has done in this version is to make it not seem like it is stage bound.  Performances are good all around and I would like to see him direct again.

 

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image is shot in HD digital video and shows it with some softness throughout that undermines the viewing at times, but there are good shots as well and this is nicely directed.  The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix fares a bit better by being warm and well-recorded, but (here we go again) this is a low-budget, dialogue-based mix, so don’t expect a strong soundfield.  Extras include Deleted Scenes and two featurettes: Jack’s New York and From The Stage To The Big Screen.

 

Based on a DC Comic, Robert Schwentke’s RED (2010) is a rare DC project outside of Warner Bros., made by Summit and stars Bruce Willis as a retired CIA agent about to have his peace interrupted by a kidnapping… his!  He escapes to investigate and as he unravels what is going on, decides to get his old espionage gang together.  They are all marked by the title (Retired, Extremely Dangerous) and he is also involved with a younger woman (Mary-Louise Parker) and wants to get to know her better as he gets involved in a complicated conflict.

 

The big problem is that this is too self-amused for far too long before it really starts to get moving, but half-way through, it starts to work when the rest of the main cast (Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren) slowly turn up.  It is too late to save this romp, but it has some good moments and if it had had its act together earlier, could have been great.  Richard Dreyfus and Brian Cox also show up in key roles, as well as Karl Urban (who is getting better as an actor) as the younger CIA agent out to get Willis.  Seeing what I see, Summit has already greenlit a sequel.  Let’s see what they’ll do with that one.

 

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot with a RED One HD camera and this results in sometimes odd color and moments that range from decent to phony, not even counting the digital visual effects.  The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 mix is rich and warm, if not offering the best soundfield possible, but it is the best-sounding of the titles covered here and has some good sonic moments.  Extras include Access Red interactive features with Cast/Crew Interviews et al, amusing Extended & Deleted Scenes and feature length audio commentary by former CIA operative and Field Officer Robert Baer that is even more interesting than the main feature.  Watch RED before listening to him, though.

 

Finally we have a disaster called The Virginity Hit (2010), directed (if you can call it that) by Andrew Gurland and Huck Botko (it took two people to make this mess?!?!?) about some idiotic teens who have decided to loose their virginity on line and make it an event.  Then a porn star shows up and wow, who thought any of this was funny?  The idea is to have this become a cult item for a younger audience, but it is so smug, condescending and cynical that what’s the use?  That this was in a movie theater is stunning, but it reminds us of how Blair Witch permanently damaged cinematic integrity for a younger audience and the industry.  This from those who gave us the unfunny Step Brothers, but this is worse!  Wow, is this bad.

 

The 1.85 X 1 anamorphically enhanced image is the weakest of all eight titles and just about anything I have seen form a major studio on DVD lately, with awful low-def digital video all over the place, awful color, bad editing, softness and other endless visual flaws that make an 8-bit Atari 2600 image seem advanced.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is barely stereo and has plenty of volume drops, so this is also very sloppy.  Extras include a featurette calling itself “Jersey Girl” (these guys love to tempt fate apparently), a Line-O-Rama section, Zack’s Funny Or Die Audition, Screen Tests and Cast/Crew feature length audio commentary track.

 

Not too many laughs here, so choose wisely or not at all.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo