THE TOWN (EXTENDED CUT) (2010, Blu-ray released December 17, 2010 – MSRP $35.99)

MOVIE:	★★★★☆
VIDEO:	★★★★☆
AUDIO:	★★★★½
EXTRAS:	★★★★☆
BLU-RAY:	★★★★☆

I’m in shock. I really, really enjoyed a Ben Affleck film. I mean, I didn’t just enjoy it, I enjoyed the heck out of it! I actually thought The Town was mostly brilliant! And you know what, the Blu-ray disc is not half bad either!

I guess Boston has some bad apples. As the opening text tells us, the city of Charlestown is known for its bank robberies..and its many, many bank robbers. Apparently, it’s a cultural thing. Doug MacRay (Affleck) is the mastermind behind his gang’s string of successful heists. He falls in love with a hostage (Rebbecca Hall) and plans one last job that will finally allow him to retire – if he can manage to outwit the cagey FBI lawman (Jon Hamm) on his tail.

Affleck directs his script, adapted from Chuck Hogan‘s Hammett Prize-winning novel Prince of Thieves and does a bang up job here. Every moment of The Town bristles with energy, with Affleck, Hall and the electric Jeremy Renner (as the member of the gang who is clearly going to be the first to shoot at the cops) turning in particularly exceptional performances. As strong as the film is, I can’t help but feel the ending was a tad more tidy than it should have been. This isn’t the type of film that should be tied neatly with a bow but left open and desperate. Like The Conversation. Or Butch and Sundance. With Gone Baby Gone and The Town now under his belt, Affleck is shaping up to be an unqualified success in the director’s chair but could benefit from being a little less safe in his choices.

The Town looks surprisingly amazing on this Blu-ray disc from Warner. There’s a ton of detail, accurate colours and deep blacks aplenty. But by all rights, the disc shouldn’t look anywhere near this pretty, as two versions of the film have been crammed onto this dual-layer disc, both encoded at low bit-rates. Aside from some evidence of black crush (which may have been the intent of the filmmakers, for all I know) I didn’t spot any egregious nastiness in the image. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, on the other hand, is balls-out awesome! I think my ears are still recovering from the dynamic wallop of the outstanding 24-bit offering on the theatrical cut of the film.

Now, about these two different cuts of the film – Warner has included both the 125-minute theatrical cut and 153-minute extended version of the film on this Blu-ray disc and a pretty incredible director’s commentary track that actually speaks to the differences. The commentary is identical over both cuts of the film, with the theatrical cut providing an edited version that fits its run-time. I highly recommend giving the extended version a listen after watching the film. Affleck is engaging, informative and humble through his chat. And use the “Extended Cut Scene Indicator” while you’re at it. It pops a tiny icon on the screen every time added footage appears, keeping you from wondering if you’re watching a new scene or if you’re just loosing your mind. The disc is rounded out by 30-minutes of “focus point” featurettes – six short behind-the-scenes docs that can be watched outside of the film or via the “In Movie Experience“.

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You probably won’t believe this but until a couple of nights ago I had never watched Armageddon. I had successfully managed to avoid Michael Bay‘s most famous ode to machismo and Americana for over a decade. It figures that it would take the new Blu-ray release of the film to finally break me down and force me into a screening. And after all was said and done, the film failed to leave me breathless…but it did render me speechless.

What a turd. Armageddon is not a good movie. I’ve been hearing and reading about the film for over a decade and, of course, had some expectations of it. The cheese, the plasticity, the…Bay-ness of it all. It’s all there in the relative abundance I expected it to be. But what I wasn’t anticipating was the generally engaging setup of the film that gives way to utter, unbelievably dated sci-fi comedy.

I was actually with Armageddon for the first half of the film. It almost had me. It’s got a pretty compelling opening act that trucks along at a good clip, trading character and plot in a fairly even-handed kind of way. But it lost me down the line. I had expected the ‘cheese’ – the trite contrivances abundant in any Bay film – to come solely from the script, from the melodrama in the story. And it does. It’s there. But when the mining team led by Bruce Willis arrives on the asteroid that’s rocketing toward Earth, threatening to obliterate all mankind, the film descends into a kind of science fiction-lite television production from the 60s! There wasn’t a single moment of the latter half of Armageddon where I found myself able to sufficiently suspend my disbelief to be able to accept what I was witnessing on screen. Marveling at the piss-poor stage set the actors were stuck upon, I almost expected to see William Shatner or Billy Mumy waltz around the corner to help save the day. What a letdown!

But don’t let my persnickety criticisms of the film rob you of any entertainment. I can see where most folks would enjoy Armageddon. It plays like a prequel to Bay’s Transformers films with lots of sweeping, well composed shots of military gear coupled with a tremendous amount of explosions. There is a child-like sense of wonder about it all but, unlike Transformers, it all ends up feeling a bit uneven to me, with a contrived yet down-to-earth beginning and very silly and silly-looking second half. But clearly I’m not the target audience. For those who are — those folks who enjoy the more melodramatic, ridiculous, chaotic and loud end of the cinematic spectrum — I imagine this film will most likely hit the mark.

The great news here is that Armageddon looks fantastic on Blu-ray! There’s a lot of detail on display in this new HD transfer, with deep, deep blacks and bold, yet accurate colours. Even if you don’t care for the film itself, I guarantee you’ll love the way it looks in 1080p. The DTS-HD Master Audio track may not rattle your bones to the extent that more modern films do, but it’s a solid effort that blows away the lossy track on the previously available DVD edition.

The special features come up a bit light on the Armageddon Blu-ray disc. This release of the film only includes a couple of trailers and the Aerosmith music video for their song “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”, leaving behind the multitude of extras from the 2-disc Criterion Collection DVD. Fans of the film will definitely want to pick up the Blu-ray for the amazing upgrade in picture and sound. But don’t get rid of your DVDs if you care to listen to commentary or watch deleted scenes, interviews or featurettes.

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These two films are fan favourites but I’m only excited about one of them coming to Blu-ray. I have to admit, I’ve never seen Armageddon and I’m not sure if I ever will. It just seems too…90s-dumb. I’m sorry. I know it has a lot of fans. I’m just pretty sure I’ll never be one. On the other hand, I’d be happy to watch Tombstone once a week. It’s one of the few great, really entertaining modern westerns to come out of that decade.

We don’t have any details about the titles Blu-ray discs yet and even the release date seems in question. We were initially told to expect them on May 4th but retailers have now been informed that the discs will street on April 27th. I’m thinking the April date is the one to count on but who really knows for sure at this point. And to be honest, I don’t really care. One week doesn’t really make that much of a difference, you know? In the meantime, until we hear some firm details, check out the package art below:

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I like Mike Judge‘s work a lot. I really do. He has an uncanny ability to distill the character of a community or sub-cluture down into a tight, little quirky film. Most famously in the cult hit Office Space but also in years of his animated TV show, King of the Hill. His latest film is called Extract and it’s more of what Judge does best – a look at regular people working regular jobs with a focus on the minutiae of their day-to-day existence and a little bit of grifting thrown in, just to keep things interesting.

As I said off the top, I like Judge’s work a lot. And while there’s a lot of good stuff going on in Extract it just isn’t the type of film that will grab you by the lapels and refuse to let go. The script is well crafted. The cast is phenomenal. And everything in the film seems to cohere and move along quite nicely. But, as is common in Judge’s stories, none of the characters are desperate enough to overcome the obstacles in their way. There’s barely any tension here. A lot of apathy but not much tension. And, as we all know, all dramatic moments thrive on tension. In most cases (like every week on King of the Hill) Judge can make it work – compensating with his trademark style of humour within social commentary. But it doesn’t quite come together here.

Jason Bateman leads an outstanding cast as Joel, a business owner who seems bored with his life. He’s keen on retiring, selling off his flavour extract company and devoting his life to putting the verve back into his dull, failing marriage to wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig). Just as this looks to become a reality, one of his workers is injured and threatens to sue, a beautiful young grifter (Mila Kunis) appears on the scene to take advantage and Joel gets into a whole mess of trouble with drugs, a gigolo and Ben Affleck (for real!) You can see how this sounds like it would amount to a laugh-riot of a film on paper. But it just never quite makes the grade. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a whole lot to love here. Bateman, Wiig and crew give subtle, textured performances. They’re wonderful. And the story is quite a nice little picture of small town, suburban life, pushed along by characters that feel fairly real. The problem is that nothing here is really all that funny. And that’s kind of what you want from this film, what the marketing has led us to expect from it. A few chuckles. A laugh. A good time. But most of the “funny” moments feel forced or rehashed (in particular, Joel’s pesky neighbour Nathan, whose speech patterns are a retread of Gary Cole‘s famous Bill Lumbergh character from Office Space.) And the drama isn’t dramatic enough to be fulfilling. I enjoyed Extract well enough. But I probably won’t be watching the disc again anytime soon.

Speaking of the Blu-ray, it manages to deliver an audio and video presentation equivalent to the film itself – perfectly enjoyable but not groundbreaking by any stretch of the imagination. This is no doubt the best Extract will ever look and sound on home video but there’s nothing to write home about here. The blacks are all right but not as deep as they could be, the colours accurate while not terribly brilliant and the detail acceptable. Likewise, the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track is perfectly serviceable – clean and clear but nowhere near as enveloping or dynamic as it could have been. Sigh…

Rounding out the disc are a small handful of special features, the highlight of which is an 11-minute behind-the-scenes featurette that’s fairly entertaining and revealing, for the limited time afforded it. The Extract Blu-ray disc also features a deleted scene and almost 5-minutes of extended scenes that you can safely skip.

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I’m not even supposed to be here today.

I have been salivating over this disc set and dreaming about its review for awhile. I really like Kevin Smith movies and here’s why; he knows exactly what he has to offer. And he gives it all to us. Yes, there is crass humor that sometimes borders on stupidity, but have you looked around lately? There’s more than a grain of truth in what Smith offers in his movies. I’ve always enjoyed his pacing and his simple sense of visual storytelling – clear and concise without reliance on complicated tricks. He’s there to tell a story, whichever one that might be, and isn’t worried about impressing us with how pretty he can make it.

But being put on Blu-ray has somewhat taken care of the lack of visual pizzaz we’ve been used to in our old DVD versions of the films! These 1080p transfers of the films bring out the best of the source material. And while it would have been nice to see this collector’s set include EVERYTHING worth collecting (add in Clerks II, Mallrats, Jersey Girl and Dogma and you have a complete SET!) this big box of Blu-ray does just about everything you can ask for from these three titles, with one notable exception. I’ll get to that in a moment.

The other thing I really love about Kevin Smith is how much he seems to have to say, be it in the movies or in the commentary, interviews, conventions and documentaries that enhance them on the discs. And this set gives it all up. These Blu-ray discs are packed to overflowing with content, and lots of it is new!

What’s new you ask? Check it out!

On the Clerks disc:

• An introduction By Kevin Smith
• “Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party: The Making of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back”

Plus:

• Theatrical Version of the Film
• Classic Commentary (1995)
• Enhanced Playback Track – synchronized trivia and cast & crew quotes
• “The First Cut” Version
• Kevin Smith Intro (2004)
• “The First Cut” Audio Commentary (with New Authoring / 3 viewing modes)
• Clerks: The Lost Scene – Animated Short
• “The Flying Car”
• Clerks Restoration
• Original Auditions
• “Snowball Effect: The Story of Clerks”
• Outtakes From “Snowball Effect”
• “Mae Day: The Crumbling Of A Documentary” With Intro By Kevin Smith And Scott Mosier
• 10th Anniversary Q & A
• MTV Spots With Jay & Silent Bob
• Soul Asylum “Can’t Even Tell” Music Video
• Theatrical Trailer

And on the Chasing Amy Disc;

• “Tracing Amy: The Chasing Amy Doc”
• “Was It Something I Said?” – A Conversation With Kevin & Joey
• 10 Years Later Q & A – With Kevin Smith And The Cast
• Audio Commentary with Writer/Director/Actor Kevin Smith and Producer Scott Mosier

Plus:

• Deleted Scenes
• Outtakes
• Trailer

The Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back disc has sadly not been upgraded at all. It’s simply the same plain vanilla Blu-ray release as before, but really, there is so much extra content on the other discs in this set it’s hard to complain. But it would have been nice to have seen the inclusion of all the bonus content from the previously available 2-Disc DVD set.

I’m not going to dwell on the technical merits of the Blu-ray presentation of these films. The fact is that Smith’s movies are shot raw, and while the transfers are accurate to the source material, they simply can’t compare to the best looking discs on the market. Don’t get me wrong, this is as good as these movies have looked, but remember that Clerks was shot long ago on 16mm for not much money. These are not movies that are meant to showcase the super powers of Blu-ray.

The real deal with this set is the comprehensive collection of bonus material on the Clerks and Chasing Amy discs. All sorts of really good stuff has been collected into one set, a very thorough set with hours and hours of extras about the movies that you love. Some call them modern classics, some people call them modern fluff. I call them one man’s love letters to film, comic books and his home town of New Jersey. Love letters that he invited his friends and family to help him write.

Over the years Smith has grown. Some might rebut that comment heavily. But if you’re a fan (and you probably are if you are reading this review and thinking about picking up this set) you probably agree. For over a decade of movie making he has worked tirelessly to populate a world with characters who we have watched change and move forward through their lives. Even as they are making fart jokes 10 years later. He gave us Death Star politics, confused lesbians, The Time, corpse sex, gay black pride, beating up your internet critics one by one, and more fast paced, quick wittedly offensive dialogue than you can shake a porch monkey at.

He’s given us memorable movies, memorable characters and memorable moments. These are things all film makers try to achieve. And in this Blu-ray boxed set he gives you a closer look at how he did it, through discussions and behind the scenes featurettes and an openness that allows you to see who he and his friends and crew truly are. There’s an honesty there. Whether he’s “speaking” the truth as he sees it or “speaking” from the pants, Smith’s movies have as big a heart as “Fat boy” Silent Bob.

And as an added bonus, this shit is really funny.

The reasons you should grab a copy of this set are twofold. First, you’ve probably forgotten half of the awesomeness that is in these movies. You owe it to yourself to revisit the films. They still work after all this time. The second reason is the ridiculously bountiful supply of bonus features. They provide a candid look at how one guy put everything he had into making a movie, that managed to spawn more movies that have afforded him the opportunity to interact with hundreds, if not thousands of fans in a personal way. That may not be every artist’s desire, but it’s sure as hell what I consider being a good film maker.

Snooch To The Nooch!!!

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PAYCHECK (2003, Blu-ray released May 19, 2009 – MSRP $29.99)

I think Paycheck wanted to be a lot more to a lot more people. And as a result, and is typical of such things, becomes very little to very few. It’s a smart story about smart people, the type that Dick wrote best. Sadly, it’s also one of those stories that found itself ground through the Hollywood meat-machine to become a soulless, gun-toting actioner that disappoints across the board. Ben Affleck plays a guy who just wants a big paycheck and is willing to have his mind wiped to get it. He reverse engineers his client’s competitor’s products and makes newer, better ones in exchange for ridiculous sums of money. But this time, his client’s are jerks and want to kill him. During the time stripped from his memory he was forced to do things that have made him a wanted man. With his clients and the cops on his tail, Ben finds clues that he left for himself, that are intended to lead him to safety.

Everything about this film leads us to believe we’re going to get another Blade Runner or Gattaca but, instead of something imaginative and futuristic, John Woo chose to ground the story in his version of “the world we live in” (read: everyone pulls a gun on everyone else while engaging in pretentious dialogue under a cloud of slow-motion doves). He isn’t interested in science fiction (this is stated directly in the special features) but was convinced to tackle the script by altering the details and bringing the story into the Woo-niverse. I ask you, why adapt a sci-fi story if you don’t care for sci-fi? The result feels hurried and cheap, like a patchwork of styles sewn haphazardly together. It doesn’t come as much of a surprise to learn that this film ostensibly ended Woo’s career in Hollywood.

Paycheck looks like a Canadian TV show – Due South, Forever Knight or Woo’s own Once a Thief. The sets feel cheap, photography uninspired. Not really par for the Woo-course. I wouldn’t say that the disc itself looks bad, quite often it’s fantastic with the occasional handful of soft shots which, I assume are inherent in the source print. But it’s impossible to tell. There was just nothing there on my screen to excite me. What a disappointment.

Despite the mediocre nature of the film, Paramount has put some care into this catalogue release giving us great picture and sound and porting over all the bonus features from the previously released DVD. There’s a surprising wealth of bonus features on the disc including a couple of commentary tracks (one by director, Woo and the other by screenwriter, Dean Georgaris), 2 EPK style featurettes and some deleted scenes.

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