Down The Shore (Anchor Bay Blu-ray)/Falling Uphill (Cinema Epoch DVD)/Not Suitable For Children (Well Go USA Blu-ray)/Save The Date (IFC/MPI DVD w/CD/all 2012)

 

Picture: B-/C+/B-/C     Sound: B-/C+/B-/C+ & B     Extras: D/C/C/C     Main Programs: C+/C/C/C

 

 

Now for a drama that almost worked and the latest of the dreaded mumblecore cycle…

 

 

Harold Guskin’s Down The Shore is a drama with some good performances that includes some things we have seen before and some moments that work well enough to see it if you find it of interest as relationships between old friends (James Gandolfini, Joe Pope) start to break down as the former has to deal with the death of his (Gandolfini’s Bailey) sister and the arrival of her French widow husband (Edoardo Costa) shows up to claim his part ownership of the family house.

 

This does not make Bailey happy, nor does his “friend” (Pope) whop owns the land Bailey has his amusement park on and with increased drug use, wants more money to rent it.  Bailey still likes his wife (Famke Janssen) who had an affair of some sort with him a long time ago.  The drugs are making the husband more abusive and something will eventually give.

 

I liked the film, but it had too many points where it did not work like it should have despite the talent and surprisingly good performances by the lesser-known actors.  Gandolfini is great in a different kind of role and at least this is ambitious.

 

There are no extras.

 

 

Another near miss with a cast of unknowns who are really good together is Richard J. Bosner’s Falling Uphill has a story of friends who might become much more.  At first, Robert (Ari Kanamori) and Jenny (Jessiqa Pace) are just friends moving in together so afford life in beautiful San Francisco, but a year later, Rob is running out of money and the nerve to tell her he is in love with her.  Will he go back home to live with his parents in New York City or find a way to stay?

 

Though many scenes rang untrue, more worked well, the locales are used well, the cast has chemistry and you believe what is happening to the leads.  However, it was just not consistent enough to work for me all the way, though this is an ambitious film that becomes a victim of mumblecore conventions when it should have left that formula behind and went all the way.  Still, it is worth a look for the moments that work if you are interested.

 

A Deleted Opening Scene and feature length Director Audio Commentary are the extras.

 

 

Australia gives us Peter Templeman’s Not Suitable For Children, yet another comedy that had potential, but is way too predictable despite another good cast and potential.  Jonah (Ryan Kwanten) finds out during potential sex that something is wrong with his sex organ and it turns out his right testical is cancerous.  What could have been a soul searching film about a serious, under-discussed subject becomes a one-joke mess wasting our time and a good cast.

 

What is sad is how early this all gets stupid and never recovers, even when it might.  I don’t know what the makers where thinking, except to imitate bad U.S. indie films.  We’ll, they sadly succeeded.  As a matter of fact, it is sometimes hard to believe this is Australian considering the good films made their often.

 

Extras include Cast/Crew Interviews, a Trailer and Behind The Scenes featurette.

 

 

Finally we have Michael Mohan’s Save The Date which is one of those bad mumblecore U.S. films with Sarah (Lizzy Caplan of 127 Hours) freaking out after her musician boyfriend proposes to her and she runs out on him, while her sister (Alison Brie) is about to get happily married.  Sarah finds another man on the rebound, but we wonder why anyone gets along with anyone else or strays with anyone else due to the idiot screenplay.

 

Everyone is predictable, unfunny, boring and flat, leaving any sex or sexuality the same to the point that I wondered how anyone could stand each other or themselves.  The actors are actually not bad, but too bad everything else is, including the not so embarrassing inappropriate comments and the seen-it-all-before feel of it all.  If it did not have more potential or a few times it might have picked up, I would have rated it lower.  See it at your own risk!

 

Extras include Outtakes, a Teaser Trailer, Trailer, Comic Book, Music Video, making of a Mini Comic Book, Deleted Scenes with optional Director Commentary and feature length Director Audio Commentary.  We also got the CD soundtrack that features music from the film that is actually very well recorded and produced, making the film’s failure al the more unfortunate.

 

The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Shore is one of the last films shot in 35mm Fuji film stocks and the 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Suitable was shot on an Arri Alexa.  They tie as the best-looking transfers here, though they are the only two Blu-rays, yet some styling holds both back and we also get a bit of motion blur here and there. 

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Uphill is the runner up in the best looking image and best DVD here, because the anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 on Date is softer throughout than I had expected.

 

The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Suitable and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix on Shore tie for best sonic presentation, though both have many dialogue moments, so they do not have consistent soundfields, yet this is probably the best they’ll ever sound.  Sound can be towards the front speakers as well.  The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on Uphill and lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Date tie for second place having weak sound all around.  Date could have been a 5.1 film, save for the music, but the PCM 2.0 16/44.1 CD soundtrack shows how much better the music recording was.

 

The music is somewhat predictable too, but not bad.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo