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Category:    Home > Reviews > Comedy > Drugs > Sex > Alcohol > Aliens > Science Fiction > British > We're The Millers (Warner Blu-ray w/DVD)/The World's End (Universal Blu-ray w/DVD/both 2013)

We're The Millers (Warner Blu-ray w/DVD)/The World's End (Universal Blu-ray w/DVD/both 2013)


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



With so many big blockbusters bombing this year, comedies picked up some of the slack, but sometimes not for the reasons one would have wished.



The biggest news about Rawson Marshall Thurber's We're The Millers (2013) was not that it was a big hit summer film, a surprise (read sleeper) hit or that one scene by Will Poulter in the trailer where he sings along with a big TLC hit sold the film way in advance, but that after decades of trying to have a hit movie after endless press, ink, cyber ink, hype and run-on TV segments about how talented and wonderful she is, Jennifer Aniston finally appeared in a big hit movie that actually made money!


Jason Sudekis plays a drug dealer who gets into so much trouble that he has to suddenly recruit a stripper (Aniston), naive kid (Poulter) and street gal (Emma Roberts in a strangely whiny performance that sort of fits the script) to pretend to be his family as they go to Mexico to rob some serious narcotics from a drug kingpin and somehow escape. The premise is dull, humor bottom-of-the-barrel and yet, the script (which had at least 4 writers, giving you an idea of how choppy it is) actually celebrates and wallows in its sexism, homophobia, racism, xenophobia and ignorance to no end, never missing a cynical moment of self hate and for all intents and purposes, pandering in the worst way to the audience. Had it been a better summer for films, this would not have done as well, but here it is a hit and boy, is it lame.


Thurber previously helmed the goofy comedy Dodgeball and botched a very belated film version of Michael Chabon's The Mysteries Of Pittsburgh, so to say he got lucky here is an understatement. We are likely to get some kind of sequel to this, especially since Aniston needs another hit very, very badly. If you must see this, have the lowest expectations possible.



On the other hand, we have the writing team of Simon Pegg (actor) and Edward Wright (director) with a more interesting film in The World's End (2013), which is part of what is being dubbed The Cornetto Trilogy that includes Shaun Of The Dead (2004, where they send up zombie films in advance of what has become a glutted cycle of the real thing) and Hot Fuzz (2007, spoofing police dramas, especially British ones) that want to spoof the genres they are doing while being entries in those genres. We reviewed those films in the now-defunct HD-DVD format before they were issued on Blu-ray with the same video transfers and improved audio at this link:


http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5793/Hot+Fuzz+(HD-DVD/DVD+Combo+Format+++Wide


The film have fans and a following, but I thought the humor was often too obvious and the subject matter did not challenge the makers nearly enough. The new film is the best of the three by default and has some genuine laughs as it tries for something more complex and has a degree of success. The film deals with men aging and dealing with their mortality as the guys who used to hang around as teens go for a pub run for old times, but no one seems to recognize them or know where they are. They cannot go home again, but it turns out it is not nearly age that is the obstacle for a return to memory lane, but people are being replaced by (in a nod to Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and its many remakes and rip-offs) duplicates that can get violent and we only learn of this after a while watching the film.


At its best, this is some of the best work all involved have delivered to date and the addition of Rosamund Pike as the main gal and Pierce Brosnan in his funniest turn in eons only helps, yet the silliness that permeated the previous films is also alive and well for better and worse throughout restricting the film more than it should or ought to be restricted. Pegg is naturally funny and the better moments of How To Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008) of an otherwise also-problematic film as that shows that big laughs can come easy to him, even when the overall narrative is not on as high a level.


Universal and fans of Pegg & Company expected End to do better, but awkward promotion and expecting fan boys alone to deliver a big weekend was a mistake, yet I think this will do very well on Blu-ray, DVD and other home video outlets, plus this time, this might unintentionally become a cult item in a way no one involved was expecting. Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan, Martin Freeman and the voice of Bill Nighy also star.




The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on both Blu-rays look good, despite being shot two totally different ways, both with potential pitfalls that were avoided. Millers was shot on an Arri Alexa and is a pretty competent shoot for it without many of the limits and flaws we have seen in so many HD comedy shoots in recent years, while End mixes real 35mm anamorphic Panavision, Super 35mm and 16mm filming throughout in an effective, seamless way that even with the visual effects, is remarkably well integrated. The anamorphically enhanced DVD versions are both softer than their Blu-ray counterparts, but End is particularly soft.


The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes on both Blu-rays are not bad with Millers being dialogue/joke based and only having so consistent a soundfield, but End on the other hand has those characteristics with more ambience and some fun surround moments, especially when the action kicks in. The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 versions of the same mixes on their respective DVDs are weaker and particularly so on Millers.


Extras for both releases include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes capable devices, feature length audio commentary tracks (one for Millers, two for End!), Deleted Scenes & Out-Takes and several Making Of featurettes on each. Millers adds a Gag Reel, while End adds a Trivia Track and Storyboard Picture-In-Picture.



- Nicholas Sheffo


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