Boogie Nights (1997/New Line/Warner Blu-ray)
Picture:
A- Sound: A- Extras: B- Film: A-
From the
genius that would later give us great films like Magnolia and There Will Be
Blood, comes Paul Thomas Anderson’s classic porn-centric drama Boogie Nights. It was a film that made a big splash with its
controversial topics and even more daring script. It won critical praise and even a few award
nods.
The 1997
drama focuses on the rise of Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg) a male prostitute who
becomes one of the biggest (no pun intended) stars in the porn industry. Taking place in the late 1970’s into the
early 1980’s, Boogie Nights chronicles
the golden age of porn. Eddie Adams is a
young man who works at a night club run by Maurice Rodriguez (Luis Guzman), but
secretly dreams of bigger, better things.
To make extra cash Adams shows off some
of his bigger assets as a male prostitute, but soon catches the attention of
porn mogul named Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) and becomes an instant star due to
his youth and larger attributes.
Obsessed by his rapid rise to fame, Eddie Adams changes his name to Dirk
Diggler and is suddenly buying a big house, fancy clothes and every luxury
known to man. Diggler soon makes a best
friend when he meets the lighthearted Reed Rothchild (John C. Reilly); a fellow
porn star and aspiring magician, who hopes to team up with Diggler in a series
of action porn films. But the tale is
not a simple one and the higher they rise and harder they fall.
Dirk
Diggler’s fame becomes too much for him and he begins to spiral out of control,
one misstep at a time. Though Dirk is
the main focus of the film we get to peer into the lives of the others as a
variety of individuals try helplessly to make it big in the porn industry. There is Little Bill (William H. Macy) with
the serially unfaithful wife (Nina Hartley).
Then there are the variety of ladies including Roller Girl (Heather
Graham) and leading lady Amber Waves (Julianne Moore), who seems to have issues
of her own that range from custody battles to drug addictions. All of this is only the tip of the iceberg
for the cast of Boogie Nights as
star after star steps in to fill the shoes of the troubled individuals who make
up this very realistic world.
Boogie Nights is one of this reviewer’s favorite
films and for such a controversial topic; it has a very epic nature about
it. The film manages to entwine the
characters lives admirably well and currently portray sexuality in a brilliant
manner. Boogie Nights is candid in all the right ways as it shines light on
the brightest and darkest moments of the porn industry. Alcoholism, drug addiction, abuse, violence,
and everything in between run rampant throughout Boogie Nights and it is all wonderfully gripping. The film is well written, well cast and
fantastically executed. Boogie Nights quickly caught the
attention of critics and will certainly gain even bigger praises with time,
going down as a future classic.
The
technical features on this new Blu-ray are stunning. The picture is presented in a 2.40 X 1 VC-1
1080p Encoded transfer that boasts of brilliantly vibrant colors, a crisp image
and an overall detailed image with solid texture and depth. The colors are stunning as they jump from the
screen and the inky blacks frame each scene perfectly. Boogie
Nights is one of the best presentations I have seen on Blu-ray in a while
now and I was thoroughly impresses. The
sound was equally impressive as the picture with the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Track
exploding as the great soundtrack hits the speakers and the dialogue is
punctuated with crisp precision. I
personally own this film’s soundtrack and believe me when I tell you that the
Blu-ray presents the tunes almost perfectly.
Directionality is wonderful and the full speaker range is utilized. The speakers are always active and deliver
every note, word or ambient noise gorgeously.
Between the quality image and charismatic sound the atmosphere
established by the Boogie Nights Blu-ray
is breathtaking.
The
extras include a Commentary Track; Deleted Scenes; The John C. Reilly Files
(extra scenes basically); Michael Penn “Try”
Music Video; Theatrical Trailer. There
are no new extras on this Blu-ray, which is quite sad as I always like to have
up to date interviews with cast and crew as they look back. Each release should have something new, but I
believe this Blu-ray only ports over old material and may have even cut out a
few featurettes that were previously included on the Deluxe DVD Edition. The extras are solid, but I liked them the
first time I saw them.
All in
all I believe this Blu-ray edition of Boogie
Nights looks amazing and is definitely worth the upgrade.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
