Comet
(2014/MPI/IFC Films DVD)/Honeymoon
Hotel (1964/MGM/Warner
Archive DVD)/The Lovers
(2010/MPI/IFC Films Blu-ray)/The
Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe
(1972/Film Movement Classics Blu-ray)/While
We're Young
(2013/Lionsgate Blu-ray)
Picture:
C/C+/B-/B-/B- Sound: C+/C/B/B-/B Extras: C-/D/C/C/C-
Films: C-/C/C/C+/C-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Honeymoon
Hotel
DVD is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Here's
a mixed group of comedies, sometime adding other genres, that all
come up with mixed results...
Sam
Esman's Comet
(2014) is
the first of two romantic comedy films that try to deal with love
across time and has Emily Rossum and a stuck-in-indie-limbo Justin
Long over a six-year period that is told out of order, but that only
reshuffles the genericness of the script, plotting, storyline and
after a brief early period of promise, this gets lost in its own
mixing up. Locations are nicer than usual, but that only adds to the
phoniness and lame sense of would-be romance. As a result, this
would have been better as a disaster film if the title object were
heading towards the earth. Boredom arrives instead with a big thud.
A
trailer is the only extra.
Henry
Levin's Honeymoon
Hotel
(1964) is a romantic comedy with few laughs, a weak script and a fine
cast headed by a young Robert Goulet (who sings the flat title song)
who lands up going to the title location when his friend (Robert
Morse) has his bride walk out on him at his wedding. Nancy Kwan
shows up there, as does Jill St. John, but they are both underused
despite looking great and staling all their scenes, with a drunk Jill
brought there by their married boss (Keenan Wynn), but this mostly
has an idiot plot despite the money in this one and even Else
lanchester as a maid cannot save it.
It
looks like MGM had high hopes for this one somehow, but TV sitcoms
were starting to make these kinds of films pointless and though St.
John's career would be on the upswing, it is a curio at best that
shows why these stars were all stars. It is the kind of 'honeymoon'
you could easily fall asleep on.
There
are unfortunately no extras, as I'd like to see what the participants
might say about it.
Roland
Joffe's The
Lovers
(2010) is not a remake of Jean Jacques Annuald's NC-17 drama from
1990, but had
different titles beforehand and has Josh Hartnett (then on the
comeback trail) doing deep sea diving as he falls for a woman he
loves, but when he gets injured badly, he finds himself back in 1778
in India (versus the U.S.) making it as outlandish as Comet
above. His character is also in jeopardy in both periods of time and
any romance is forgettable fluff.
Joffe
was on his way year ago to becoming a major art filmmaker, but he
took some odd turns and this is an ambitious but ultimately failed
dud (pricey at that from the looks of it) that is barely better than
Comet and gets too cheeky with its extravagance, pseudo-philosophy on
love and worst of all, desperate breaking of the fourth wall. Yawn.
A
Making Of featurette of the time and a trailer are the only extras.
Yves
Robert's The
Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe
(1972), a hit spoof of the spy genre late in the spy craze game with
Pierre Richard in the title role of a man who has no idea every
outfit in town is following him thinking he is a spy and possibly
assassin. Remade in the 1980s in a dud with Tom Hanks, you can see
why this was a hit at the time, but it is uneven overall and no
Charade
as far as wit and the genre are concerned.
Yes,
it has some moments and of course, some of the technology is funnier
now than it would have been then, but Director Bertrand Blier's son
Bernard is here as one of two master spies and it is at least
consistent in taking its audience seriously, but downsides include
pseudo-Tati humor that does not work (his superior last film Trafic
was issued the same year) and sexy Mireille Darc steals all her
scenes (which would have happened even if I liked this one more), but
the film expects you to find Richard hilarious.
Though
he can be funny, he is not that
funny and when all was said and done, the film did not stay with me
and Richard was wrongly used in some sequences. Still, this is the
best entry on the list so if you must see one of these releases,
catch this one; especially if you are curious and want to compare it
to the Hanks remake. I was disappointed.
An
illustrated booklet with text on the film and new reissue trailer are
the only extras.
Noah
Baumbach's While
We're Young
(2013) has
Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts as an older couple who do not act old and
find some sort of connection with Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried as
a young couple on the move. Stiller is a filmmaker trying to be as
successful as his father (an underused Charles Grodin) once was, but
the film it a mumblecore dud with older stars mixed in with no point.
Adam Horowitz also shows up, but to no avail. I never bought it and
some of it feels forced. See it at your own risk.
Extras
include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes
capable devices, while the Blu-ray adds trailers.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image in Comet
may be the newest shot, but it is the poorest performer on the list
and the softest presentation with so-so color and few memorable
shots, though the anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on Hotel
has some softness, the real 35mm anamorphic Panavision scope shoot
has some great MetroColor shots and is well lensed throughout. The
print can show its age, but it was not too bad.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on Lovers
was also shot on 35mm film and has its share of nice shots, but the
insistence of the makers to drain and stylize color and scenes is
overdone at could have been the best performer here otherwise, but
the 1080p 1.66 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Shoe
easily has the better color here even when the print has slight signs
of age (and even best color on the list over Hotel),
while the 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on
Young
has some good shots if nothing great. It is barely consistent and
has some detail issues. Odd but not uncommon for a new shoot.
The
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Comet
has a few good surround moments for rare action and some music, but
it is an inconsistent soundfield, but the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0
Mono on Hotel
is at least a generation down and a little weaker than I would have
liked. Be careful of volume switching and high playback volumes to
be on the safe side.
As
for the Blu-rays, the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes on
Lovers
and Young
are at least well recorded, consistent and have professional-enough
soundfields, even if that does not help them as narratives, so they
tie for first place. That leaves the lossless PCM 2.0 Mono on Shoe
in between the two, sounding about as good as a monophonic film from
the time can, though another Blu-ray of a comedy from that year that
was mono sounds better: What's
Up Doc?
To
order the Honeymoon
Hotel
Warner Archive DVD, go to this link for it and many more great
web-exclusive releases at:
https://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo