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New in Blu: 'Easy A', 'Salt' and 'Wall Street'
There's an unusually low volume of new Blu-rays out this week, but there are two underdog titles that should command your immediate attention. The first is Devil, a wholly satisfying thriller that most people wrote off weeks before anyone had even seen the thing. The second is Easy A, a high school comedy that got a decent share of critical love upon release, but that failed to sustain much of an audience. Hopefully both films can find more adequate reception at home than they received in theaters.
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Top Shelf
Devil (Universal, $26.99)
The Movie: Devil got a raw deal. It unfortunately arrived in the aftermath of M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, so his name plastered all over the trailer and posters didn't do the film's marketing any favors. It didn't matter that he neither wrote or directed the film, the most recognizable thing about the film was his name, and his name was a laughing stock at the time.
And that's a shame, because Devil is actually a good movie. It's got a strong cast who each fit their characters to a T, but what really makes it a worthwhile film is Brian Nelson's screenplay. It embraces a campfire-style vibe that really brings out the "Devil's gonna get you" story hook, which is creepy enough to keep things on edge throughout. Sure, it's rated PG-13, but the rating really doesn't matter since Devil is more about good storytelling than it is shock and awe.
The Features: There's not a lot here, unfortunately. There are handful of featurettes, but they're incredibly short and purely promotional materials created to sell the film.
Who Should Buy It: A blind buy may be a bit too much of a leap for most people, but genre fans who appreciate a good horror yarn should consider it.
BUY 'DEVIL' HERE!
Easy A (Sony, $19.99)
The Movie: Would you believe me if I said that Easy A was one of the best films of 2010? Probably not since the trailers make it out to look like any other number of teen sex comedies, but it's so much richer than its brethren. It's this year's Mean Girls; a transcendental comedy that's part coming of age story, part sex comedy and part deconstruction of its own little genre. And while it's great to talk about a high school-set movie with a brain, the key things to know are that A) Emma Stone is brilliant in it, and B) it's hilarious.
The Features: Screen Gems have put out a fairly loaded disc for this one: a commentary from director Will Gluck and Emma Stone, a gag reel, audition footage, a trivia track, a retrospective on '80s comedies, and a few other goodies that are, almost all, in HD.
Who Should Buy It: Fans of high school comedies. It may have been largely overlooked in theaters, but if you like Mean Girls, you'll like Easy A.
BUY 'EASY A' HERE!
The Town (Warner Bros, $22.99 - out on December 17th)
The Movie: The Town is, as far as the 125 minute theatrical cut goes, a few trims away from being one of my favorite films of the year. Without getting into spoiler territory, there are a few moments where Ben Affleck (serving as both director, producer and co-screenwriter) cozy up too close to audience-pleasing territory that it ruins the otherwise sharp edge that runs throughout the entire film. Sure, it doesn't exactly brave any major new paths in the heist genre, but it's still a pretty damned good entry in the niche. And when Affleck sticks to his guns and rides that edge, The Town is on fire. It's funny (but not cheesy), smart (but still accessible), and thrilling (but not preposterous). I just wish a tiny bit of it ended up on the cutting room floor...
The Features: ... And yet the main reason anyone is going to want to check out the Blu-ray is specifically for the extended cut of the film, which reinserts over 20 minutes of footage that did end up on the cutting room floor. What's interesting, however, is that Affleck, on his solo commentary track, mentions that he doesn't consider the extended cut to be the "director's cut" and that he prefers the leaner theatrical cut. (He also references even more deleted scenes that aren't included in the extended cut and that aren't included on the Blu-ray separately.)
And while those who already love The Town will probably love the extended cut even more, it's actually more worthwhile to watch the extended cut with Affleck's commentary, which, in addition to pointing out what was cut and why, is rather candid and charming. He opens with an apology for being the only person available for the commentary before going on to deliver a perfectly affable track wherein he casually talks about what he likes, joking about what he doesn't, the motivation for what was included from the book, how it came together in the editing room and a whole lot more. It may not be a scholarly commentary track, but it's plenty informative, equally as entertaining as the movie and certainly one of the disc's greatest strengths.
The only other features on the disc are approximately a half-hour worth of mini-featurettes that spotlight Boston and The Town's production therein.
Who Should Buy It: Anyone who likes a good heist film. Even with a few nagging problems, it's still an engaging, satisfying film with a great cast and a solid story. Plus, Affleck's commentary track is worthwhile enough on its own to make the Blu-ray worth checking out.
BUY 'THE TOWN' HERE!
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Middle Shelf
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Fox, $22.99)
The Movie: Oliver Stone's original Wall Street wasn't exactly demanding of a sequel, but even though the clothes and the excess of the '80s went out of style, greed springs eternal. So here we are, 23 years later, once again peering into the lives of men who take big, big risks with other people's money. Stone's second trip to the Manhattan high life, however, isn't quite as compelling as his first.
This has nothing to do with the (mostly) new cast, all of whom are personable and engaging (including the often bemoaned Shia LaBeouf), and everything to do with timing and motivation. Had Stone made the film a few years ago, it could be seen as a prescient piece about the (d)evolution of our banking system. Had he made it a few years from now, it could have taken the form of a reflection on the mindset of the times, perhaps instead focusing on Frank Langella's character (who is by far the most interesting person in the film). But instead Stone based it loosely on events that took place less than two years ago, which, when combined with by-the-numbers character development, causes the end product to reek of a rush job to get things done while they were still topical.
The Features: Fox has included a conversational Q&A between Stone and the core cast, which is periodically amusing and informative. As is often the case with very opinionated directors, however, the best feature on the Blu-ray is Stone's solo commentary track. He does spend the initial ten or so minutes complaining about the current climate in America, but the track shapes up after he airs his political druthers. Stone's personal politics may not be everyone's bag, but he's unquestionably a talented filmmaker and appears willing to be critical of his own work.
Plus, it's just a kick to hear him talk about how much he enjoyed Shia LaBeouf's performance in Transformers, but how he had no idea what in the hell was going on in Transformers 2.
Who Should Buy It: Die hard fans of the original Wall Street. For the rest of us, however, it's a rental at best.
BUY 'WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS' HERE
Cyrus (Fox, $22.99)
The Movie: The Duplass Brothers have made a name for themselves within in the Indie community for making rough-around-the-edges comedies that are darlings at film festivals and pretty much no where else. That's not exactly a complaint, either; no-budget comedies about awkward situations and strange life choices are exactly the kind of films the directing duo excel at. So what happens when they're given a budget of close to $7 million to make a comedy? Cyrus happens.
It looks like a studio comedy. It stars John C. Reilly as an average Joe who has to deal with the insane son (Jonah Hill) of the woman he's courting (Marisa Tomei), which is certainly a premise that could easily be a studio comedy. But it's not a studio comedy. Cyrus still has all of the indie trappings the Duplass Brothers have been experimenting with for years - mainly a floating, hand-held camera style that zooms in and out without much of a care for what the coverage actually looks like - they're just in a studio shell.
Whether that shell works for you or not will be entirely up to how much you like the Duplass Bros' dry sense of humor. I normally am, but there's just something missing here that makes the whole film seem ... inorganic.
The Features: A handful of deleted scenes, a homemade Q&A video (that takes the same no-budget approach that has typically defined their careers), a behind-the-scenes look at the film's premiere at SXSW2010, a viral video music video, of sorts, and two promo profiles of Reilly and Hill. Those are pretty much the only special features and none of them are particularly impressive (and perhaps most disappointing is the fact that most of them are in standard definition only).
Who Should Buy It: Fans of the Duplass Brothers or John C. Reilly. Beyond those two groups, it's a rental-only.
BUY 'CYRUS' HERE!
True Grit '69 (Paramount, $17.99)
The Movie: When early buzz about the Coen Brother's remake of 1969's True Grit hit, the first thing I heard about it was how it had strayed farther from the original film whilst hemming closer to the novel on which it was based. Imagine my surprise then, when I popped in this Blu-ray and was treated to a version that's, beat-for-beat, line-for-line, really not all that different. I'm not sure if people who said that simply hadn't seen Henry Hathaway's version of the film lately or what, but they're both fairly close - and fairly good - adaptations of Charles Portis' novel. The key difference between the two is the Coen's emphasis on making a show of all the characters, great and small, whereas Hathaway's original focuses on the trio at its core.
If you're a fan of Westerns, though, I think you'll appreciate the vintage version more. It's setting (the Rockies as opposed to the Midwest dessert) and its score (which favors the uplifting tones of the era as opposed to the more ominous scores of today) are completely in harmony with the times, as is John Wayne's performance. If you're simply looking to see the best version of the story, however, the Coens take that edge thanks to the performances they coaxed out of all involved.
The Features: There are a trio of featurettes on the disc about various aspects of the film - one on writing, one on John Wayne and one on the location - but they're so overwhelmingly plucky that they provide no critical insight to the film, just straight praise. The commentary track, however, has a bit more to say about the film, its importance to the genre, and the intricacies of how it was made.
Who Should Buy It: Western fans, plain and simple. The HD transfer alone is crisp enough to make it worth recommending.
BUY 'TRUE GRIT' HERE
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All the Rest
Salt (Sony, $19.99)
The summer of 2010 was a rough movie season, but it did manage to deliver two exemplary entries to the arena of silly action movies. The first was The A-Team, the second is Salt. Brisk pacing, slick direction, and an Angelina Jolie that doesn't look quite as sickly as she did in Wanted all make this worth checking out.
BUY 'SALT' HERE
Step Up 3D (Touchstone Pictures, $29.99)
I haven't seen the third entry in the Step Up saga, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it involves dancing in order to save a rec center. And, though I probably shouldn't admit it, I am a stupid sucker for any movie in which a rec center needs saving.
BUY 'STEP UP 3D' HERE