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