Blu-ray Review: Out of the Furnace (2013)

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“Let me make this right,” is more than just a line uttered by one of the main characters near the end of writer/director Scott Cooper’s feature filmmaking follow-up to Crazy Heart. When it comes to the core ensemble of individuals that populate the unforgiving terrain of a blue collar coal town in Pennsylvania, the desire to make things right is more than just something to say – in Out of the Furnace it’s a way of life.

Filled with men who long to right wrongs, regardless of the cost – what the characters onscreen realize far too late is that even if they have the best of intentions, sometimes scores simply cannot be settled since every single person has a slightly different definition of right and wrong in this gritty, existentially driven revenge picture.

Bogged down by wrongs right from the start following the film’s horrific introduction to Furnace’s embodiment of pure evil as played by Woody Harrelson as the unmercifully twisted, sadistic Harlan DeGroat, we encounter a pair of brothers whose lives will be forever changed once they cross his path.

With the deck stacked against them right from the start, it isn't too long before we realize that although they're related, we've been introduced to two very different brothers with two very different ways of coping with the hands they’ve been dealt.

The older of the two, Russell Baze (Christian Bale) keeps his head down and shovels coal in the very same factory that put their father on his death bed. Willing to risk the same fate (before he realizes, the plant is inevitably closed in favor of cheaper foreign labor) in order to put food on the table and pay his bills, Russell has unofficially taken over his father’s role as the family patriarch as the dutiful, good son.

Unwilling to do the same, his restless younger brother Rodney (scene-stealer Casey Affleck) took the first opportunity he could to get out of the dead-end town. Enlisting in the military and stop-lossed into a total of four tours before he finally returns home to stay, Rodney has tried everything to sublimate the pain and reproduce the primal adrenaline rush of battle.

But when gambling only leads to debt (which in the past Russell worked double shifts to keep at bay without informing his prideful, troubled brother), before long Rodney begins taking part in underground fights as an agreement with his money man John Petty (Willem Dafoe).

Tired of the minimal paydays, Rodney forces John to arrange a higher stakes match in order to resolve the outstanding debt once and for all that he not only owes John but John in turn owes to Harlan, which leads to a fateful meet that has a domino effect on every member of the ensemble cast in unimaginable ways. And it’s this key decision that winds up forcing Russell out of his daily grind, leaving him no choice but to put down the shovel and pick up a rifle to fight the war that has been waged in his own backyard.

Incredibly downbeat and emotionally exhausting, although Cooper’s take of brotherly vengeance was initially planned as a vehicle for actor Leonardo DiCaprio and his Body of Lies director Ridley Scott (both of whom still serve as producers), it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Bale in the role, given the way he once again manages to disappear completely into the role.

Filled with character actors as opposed to A-listers that stand out too conspicuously as DiCaprio may have done (through no fault of his own given the way it’s hard to forget who you’re watching in a number of his films), Out of the Furnace is therefore helped by the lack of obvious megawatt star quality. Likewise, since the work owes a great deal to its ambient surroundings which help convey mood and atmosphere, the Pennsylvania town becomes a character in its own right.

While the main theme of the film as well as the arc for our lead character is incredibly straightforward, Furnace makes one fatal mistake along the way by working one too many dubious contrivances into the film’s plotline that call attention to themselves amid the simplicity.

From a cell phone call that transforms into a digital recording at the exact right moment in order to capture audio of a murder and a few too many cruel twists of fate that intersect at the exact same time for Russell with regard to his brother, his girl etc. (that seem better suited to a bad country song), when Furnace tries to get too complex, it loses its way completely.

And with so much affecting Russell, you begin realizing that plot might have been strengthened considerably by sharing some of the wealth of the storyline among the rest of the cast to build up the back-stories and characters played by Zoe Saldana and Forest Whitaker in particular in order to adequately pay off on a narrative revelation that is revealed in the film’s second half.

These shortcomings aside, overall Cooper proves to have an even greater cinematic handle on filmmaking his second time around and uses the various resources at his disposal to rich effect. By calling on multiple senses at once, this technique particularly stands out via a symbolic hunting sequence that is echoed in the movie’s penultimate sequence.

From the effective use of Pearl Jam tunes and Dickon Hinchliffe’s understated score to help punctuate the mood of vital moments to a terrific visualization of the darkness of the color palette (which is virtually free of bright colors) to transport you to the setting, Cooper does an admirable job of externalizing the internal struggle of the characters through the cinematic medium. It’s these smart, subtle touches that stand out even more in Fox’s flawless Blu-ray transfer.

A deceptively simple tale of vengeance, in Out of the Furnace, Cooper weaves a multi-layered tapestry that reinforces at every turn his characters’ desire to try to make things right, even if they risk getting burned in the process.   

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Blu-ray Review: Indecent Proposal (1993)

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Much like Adrian Lyne's previous films Fatal Attraction, Jacob's Ladder, 9 1/2 Weeks and Flashdance-- Indecent Proposal was one of those movies that provided endless conversational fodder for viewers.

And without a strong visual shocker like Michael Douglas and Glenn Close's nearly violent sex scene over the kitchen sink or the boiling of the bunny rabbit in Fatal Attraction to bring it all back into my mind--when I began the Blu-ray for Proposal, I realized that although I'd seen it before roughly fifteen or sixteen years earlier, the only thing I remembered about it was just how much audiences couldn't stop talking about the "indecent proposal" posed by billionaire John Gage (Robert Redford) in the film.

In a conversation that one initially assumes is hypothetical-- like one of those casual "what would you take on a desert island" or "if you had to sleep with person a or b who would it be," games people play, Gage turns serious. In doing so, he shifts his attention from shooting pool to his real joy of playing with people instead by offering the financially desperate yet desperately in love couple Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson's Diana and David Murphy a million dollar opportunity.

Of course, instead of betting them a corner pocket shot on the billiard table-- Gage decides to use money as the pool cue to fire a ball straight at the heart of their very relationship.

You see, after Diana caught Gage's eye in Las Vegas while stuffing chocolates in her knapsack in a couture boutique in the hotel lobby, Gage became instantly smitten. And although it's hard to blame his interest in Moore's natural loveliness when she slips the hanger of a gorgeous dress over her head to explore the difference from her blue collar attire in the mirror, Gage seems especially hooked because of the events that follow. For unlike the dress-- he wasn't able to manage to discover Diana's invisible price-tag with a tired form of gold card seduction.

Making a predictably cocky and grand gesture to try and buy her the dress (a la Pretty Woman or Shopgirl), Diana sees through the gesture immediately, confidently noting that yes-- although the dress is for sale-- the woman in the dress would never be.

Of course, Gage refuses to accept defeat and won't let a small thing like a wedding ring, vows, or basic human decency get in his way by adhering to his strict belief that-- since the world has never proven this cynical belief wrong before-- every single thing on this planet and especially its inhabitants are for sale.

Therefore, he lays his plans out casually over pool before getting into specifics, offering to give the Murphy couple-- who'd foolishly journeyed to Sin City in the hopes of turning David's five thousand dollar loan into the fifty thousand dollars they need to save their home and credit rating-- one million dollars if they agree to prostitute Mrs. Murphy out for one night of "just sex." Of course, Redford being smoldering Redford-- he never says sex or even prostitute but it's all implied when he aims his checkbook at the Murphys via the line, "a million dollars for one night with your wife."

The most revealing thing about the film so far and Redford's utter conviction in his performance is in the way the three participants in the conversation react. Obviously Diana is the one who quickly raises to anger, Harrelson's David is curiously stunned but intriguingly silent, and Redford continues to ask them to seriously consider it, despite his sexist posing of the question to David's use of "his wife" and Diana's assertion that David would tell him to go to hell.

Still, having been hit hard by the recession-- the two young lovers who've been together since high school spend a sleepless night tossing and turning as they try to psychologically guess what the other one is thinking-- neither one wanting to come right out and make the proposition as coolly as Gage had. At long last, ultimately Diana--perhaps in response to her husband's quiet reply to the offer-- tells him that she would go through with it to solve their financial mess.

Although some critics once again charged this film like some of Lyne's others with anti-feminism or ill treatment of female characters (and given the fetishistic Flashdance-- to just name one-- they have a point)-- with Demi Moore's brilliant bravery and restraint against playing Diana as a victim or a temptress, unexpectedly she becomes the only logical individual in the film.

I found it utterly fascinating that she had to be the one to put the men's true thoughts and wishes into action since they were too gutless to do it themselves. For we sense right from the start that Diana is much stronger than her husband and moreover far more intelligent and clear-headed than both men put together despite some early over-the-top scenes of temper tantrums in her marriage to David the slob.

Additionally and aside from sadly putting his needs ahead of hers by taking a real estate position to support him while he finished architectural school, taking out an enormous loan so that he can build his dream place, and in fact going along with him on the mindless scheme to win back the money in Vegas-- she knows right away instinctively and intuitively that David is afraid to ask her to agree to Gage's offer but it's what he is precisely hoping she'd do.

And Moore plays these levels beautifully-- balancing the disappointment in her spineless husband with her love for him-- in one of her earliest and strongest roles. Furthermore, her performance-- along with a surprisingly poignant portrayal by Woody Harrelson who must go through the entire spectrum of emotions opposite a woman who (as we saw in Ghost) can seemingly cry in two seconds flat, keeps us engrossed even when we disagree with the characters or the contrived plot-line.

Likewise although we may have a hard time accepting the melodramatic and only-in-the-movies proposal seriously-- nonetheless, the screenplay from Mystic Pizza's Amy Holden Jones (based on Jack Engelhard's novel) ensures you're able to empathize with every main character throughout even when inevitably we realize that despite the fact the Diana and David vow never to discuss in-depth the "solution" to their financial crisis, their money problems have been replaced with far more serious ones concerning their relationship with each other.

While Lyne imbues it with a classic Douglas Sirk-like '50s style romanticism-- there's no mistaking Indecent Proposal for anything but a contemporary tale and one that makes its Blu-ray release stir conversation once again given our current economic recession, despite a few clunks in logic and an over-reliance on cutesy "Did I Ever Tell You I Love You?" dialogue repetitions among the husband and wife who keep calling each other "D."

For, in its way, Indecent Proposal is a much more honest yet deeply unsettling and cynical re-imagining of Pretty Woman blended of course with its most obvious comparison via the Nicolas Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker comedy Honeymoon in Vegas.

Obviously, Pretty Woman is definitely the more entertaining and enjoyable romantic comedy since Proposal's flaws can't be hidden and it's not exactly the ideal set-up for a romance despite a few breathtakingly gorgeous shots like the cliched auction in the rain near-finale.

However, unlike Woman which I've always found far more anti-feminist than Lyne's films despite my appreciation for its humor, Proposal actually gets bonus points for a much needed reality check in the development of a budding romantic relationship between Diana and John.

For, since it never lets you forget that although Diana and John Gage may spark just like Richard Gere's "Prince Charming" and Julia Roberts' "Cinderella," it's smart and noble enough to know that in the real world any relationship that began with the exchange of money for sex is doomed from the start and you can't hide prostitution for what it is, no matter how much you try and distract the senses with shots of Rodeo Drive and a pop music soundtrack.



The Blu-ray transfer of the film is above average with only a few slightly grainy close-ups most notably in scenes with low lighting as in the aforementioned auction in the rain and final reunion of the lovers in the fog it appears to look as beautiful as it did back in its '93 theatrical release.

Yet in the same turn, my sole technical complaint for the presentation is the sound which seems to be a continual challenge for Paramount in finding a good balance between dialogue, music, and background noise as my remote climbed anywhere from forty to seventy in numerous sequences.

With the bonus of Adrian Lyne's quiet and contemplative commentary serving as the sole extra doesn't make the expense of the Blu-ray an enticing enough proposal for buyers-- for those who haven't seen it in years or at least back since it was a hot water cooler topic of discussion, it's well worth the rental as I was surprised to discover that it was much better than I remembered.

Blu-ray Review: No Country for Old Men (2007) - Collector's Edition

I. Introduction

One of the strongest works of 2007 and quite possibly — along with Miller’s Crossing — one of the Coen Brothers undisputed masterpieces of which a frame shouldn’t be changed; the Best Picture Award Winning smash No Country for Old Men (from Paramount Vantage and Miramax Films) arrives on a 3-Disc DVD and 2-Disc Blu-ray Collector’s Edition that boasts a Digital Copy of the film as well.

Already one of the most impressive DVDs I’d owned as far as sharpness of picture and sound quality goes since you could nearly feel every audible “thwack” of Bardem’s air gun when it fired and one that towered in its digital transfer over the same two studios’ collaboration of my other favorite work of 2007 — There Will Be Blood. Blood, which was diminished on the small screen in DVD finally earned the transfer treatment and high-definition approach it deserved when I witnessed it in Blu-ray a few months back and felt like I was back in the theatre.

Similar to the mesmerizing quality of the Coen Brothers’ lackluster political comedy Burn After Reading from Universal and Focus Features that sparkled like a shiny diamond on DVD — I was curious to see if Country’s newest Blu-ray edition was going to be that much of an improvement in the higher resolution format to warrant the price-tag (especially for those who already own it on DVD or in the earlier Blu-ray version).

However, before we get into the extra features and technical aspects, first I’ll present you with a refresher of my original review published back in 2007 during its theatrical run which was not only amazingly linked to in UK’s The Guardian online (a feat of which I’m still humbly in shock) but was also easily my most read review from that entire year.

II. Theatrical Review

“Hold still.”

These words are used by two different characters in the beginning of Joel and Ethan Coen’s latest film just before a gun goes off. The first speaker is sociopath Anton Chigurh — a man for whom the term hit-man may be a gross understatement — who utilizes this request just before he dispatches his second of many victims that follow with a livestock air stun gun to the brain. The second character is cowboy Llewelyn Moss who makes the foolish mistake of greed, vanity and arrogant pride when he takes off with a satchel filled with two million dollars after he tracks an animal while hunting and stumbles upon the brutal remnants of a drug deal gone horribly wrong with most of the participants bathing in blood and west Texas sunlight.

“Hold still” may be in the script but the action that follows it is anything but still and the Brothers Coen may just as well have been talking to audience members who are now fully aware that they’ve unsuspectingly purchased tickets to one of the wildest western noirs in years and will just have to sit back for the ride.

Taking its title from W. B. Yeats’ poem “Sailing to Byzantium,” No Country for Old Men is based on Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel and although its old men whose values from the past and melancholy remembrance of a time when sheriffs didn’t need to carry a gun is put to the test at the forefront, they're just one of the victimized groups in the movie alongside the younger men, women and animals executed in the bloody two hours.

Quickly into the film, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) packs up his pretty young wife (Kelly Macdonald) and sends her off to her mother’s place when he leaves their trailer park to go on the run from not only the law and Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), along with the hired man who comes looking (Woody Harrelson) but most notably killer Anton (Javier Bardem) who walks softly but carries a big weapon.

Blood, it seems to the Coen Brothers, is no longer quite as simple as the name of their oft-praised debut film implies and the writer/directors follow in the grand tradition of western and film noir allegory to paint a bitter and dark portrait of the evil lurking in the hearts of men. As one character states, “This country’s hard on people,” and that seems to be the recurring theme throughout.

Set in 1980, we meet men who’ve served in Vietnam like Brolin, who sees his plan for the dangerous and dumb long-shot that it is and goes for it anyway, wanting to try anything to rise from his station in life as a cowboy in a land without any real need for them (except in country songs) and residence in a trailer park with a wife who works at Wal-Mart.

Relying on his natural persona, Tommy Lee Jones settles instinctively into his role and even without his folk wisdom filled voice over and Texas vernacular that opens the film, he’s a man who believably exudes the law and seems like the ideal choice. Jones’s lawman asks questions first and prefers to shoot later, letting younger officer Wendell go through the door of a trailer first with his gun drawn, and later making the impulsive decision to drink milk left by perpetrator Anton left on the coffee table instead of locking down the crime scene or dusting for prints in a theatrical Dragnet style.

But most of the talk surrounding the film is in regards to Javier Bardem’s chilling Anton who is a mostly silent villain with a cruel quirk of sometimes using a coin toss to coolly decide the fate of those standing in his path. And to this end, it’s fascinating that the one who refuses to play along with what Anton surely feels is a logical game is a woman who calls him on the fact that it’s not logical at all and just a scapegoat since he’ll do his will anyway.

Bardem, given a purposely horrid haircut discovered by the brothers in an 1890’s photo of a brothel patron (IMDb), is referred to as a ghost in the film and some of his scenes are setup painstakingly similar to the finale of Blood Simple. Although, after making films for more than two decades in a world that’s getting increasingly unpredictable, we’re never sure just what the Coens will have happen until a surprising finale left some critics angered by its anti-climactic out-of-the-blue quality that would surely have earned the screenplay an "F" in most college writing courses.

I was prepared not for the exact details of the ending but the fact that it stunned others and while admittedly I was a bit dismayed at first, later I realized that it still seems to fit with the man vs. man mentality of the piece and the unpredictability of life itself that's a recurring Coen theme. Life is a coin toss after all and the fact that there's no overt payoff corresponds to the rules of the darkly existential, old testament style game being played.

Ultimately it's quite an enviable literary achievement that's worthy of McCarthy instead of the same three act structure that's been forced down our throats again and again and boasts the same nihlistic sense of dark fate from which Anton was born in the first place on McCarthy's page.

To quote one of the more memorable titles in Elmore Leonard’s crime novel oeuvre, No Country for Old Men is “Freaky Deaky” indeed — alternatively pulsating between moody contemplation and tense action perfectly depicted by one of our most gifted cinematographers, the incomparable Roger Deakins. Nominated for the ’07 Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, not only is this vicious masterpiece sure to be one of the most discussed films when looking back at the very best of the Coen films but it’s also one of the best movies of 2007.

III. The Blu-ray

While there is a slightly noticeable difference in depth perception between the DVD and Blu-ray in a back and forth comparison, honestly the dark-tinged work of cinematographic genius Roger Deakins isn’t overly enhanced by the full 1080 pixel experience, at least in the night scenes or ones set when there is little light.

Although you can hear every whisper of the wind in the Texas desert and Brolin’s introduction to audiences as he soldiers out into the desert, armed and ready makes you feel as though you’re in West Texas as well, you’ll definitely need to adjust your color settings and possibly move to “vivid” (which still is even a bit muddied) in some of the film’s most intense chase scenes.

This is especially necessary during the film’s nail-biters as we take in the titular men’s version of cat and mouse as Brolin hides under the truck before he eventually must jump into a stream with a dog only seconds behind him before it turns to daylight (fortunately) and later when Bardem unscrews the light-bulb in the hotel hallway and the two men have a showdown that goes on for blocks in one of the film’s greatest sequences.

Additionally, it would have been beneficial for the manufacturers to insert more chapter stops so you could jump directly to some of the film’s most iconic scenes either as a fan or a film geek and while a few of the familiar features had appeared on the film’s initial release on DVD, it’s a treat to take in all of the extras.

Described as a movie about “a good guy, a bad guy, and a guy in between” by Joel Coen, a cross between a “comedy,” “horror” and “chase” movie by the good-humored and baffled Tommy Lee Jones, a “very emotional, very primitive” work by Josh Brolin, and a “very powerful” tale about violence and the many paths that can be taken by Javier Bardem—perhaps the most astute observation in the making-of-featurette comes from sweet, Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald who rightly calls it “a Coen Brothers movie; they’re their own genre.”

It continues to fascinate as the mini-documentary breaks down everything from the challenges of developing Anton Chigurh who was only referenced as being a person “without a sense of humor” in Cormac McCarthy’s book in both the Coen Brothers and Javier Bardem’s assessment that the audience doesn’t need to know everything or have everything explained about the man Brolin’s character calls “the ultimate badass.”

Additionally, discussing the potentially lethal dangers of some of the film’s most violent scenes including the opening handcuffed strangulation as well as an insight into the way all of the elements including costume designed subtly helped to the story by making Anton’s boots look like a weapon — the “making-of” extra segues nicely into a short piece entitled “Working With the Coens.”

Intriguingly revealing that Bardem’s first confession upon his arrival in the United States from his native Spain was a desire to work with the Coen Brothers—the rest of the cast and crew members (several of whom have collaborated with them for countless pictures) further explain their reputation as a two-headed director who never argue, know exactly what the want, and can finish each other’s sentences.

Also including a piece about Jones’ character—the two standout extras that truly make this a collectible edition include Josh Brolin’s hilarious short “Unauthorized Documentary,” wherein he, Bardem, Woody Harrelson, the producers and others take on roles as though they had been chronicling a horrific Apocalypse Now/Hearts of Darkness experience as they reveal the “dark side” of the Coens, rambling on strangely to great effect but the ultimate film buff achievement of the Blu-ray is serving up an in-depth "Press Timeline."

Including podcasts, interviews, Q&A’s and major coverage from the film that would go onto win several Academy Awards—the intellectual celebration of the modern classic continues on the back of the Blu-ray box (inside the outer protective cardboard holder) as mini-paragraphs and extended quotes from some of the nation’s top critics fill the desert landscape design of the front and back wraparound cover.

TV on DVD: Cheers -- The Final Season (4-DVD Set)

Cheers Returns on DVD for its Last Call

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One of the most iconic American sitcoms of all time — inspired by the same “workplace as a secondary family”-style series such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi — television’s genius creators James Burrows, Les Charles, and Glen Charles struck comedy gold with Cheers. Although, as the press release notes, it was ranked dead last during its initial season as its parent network NBC felt that the bottle was decidedly half empty in nearly canceling it, the show grew a loyal and steady following as it continued on.

Ultimately the show became part of the quintessential “Must See Thursday” lineup titles that the Peacock network boasted throughout the '80s and ‘90s, with Cheers sandwiched alongside Family Ties and The Cosby Show. Once actor Woody Harrelson became a regular cast-mate as the sweet but dim bartender Woody Boyd, “ratings increased dramatically” as the show picked up momentum throughout the course of eleven seasons.

Perpetually ranked in the Nielsen’s Top Ten for eight consecutive seasons once its final season started in 1992, the show — which had raked in the Emmys and Golden Globes — utilized a cinematic approach to each individual episode involving roughly 100 crew members all working with film in lieu of videotape and an emphasis on motion over static master shots by seasoned director James Burrows. Groundbreaking from the start with plotlines involving addiction, adultery, homosexuality, feminism, and with an underlying emphasis on the blue verses white collar subconscious battle lurking right below the surface during the Reagan and Bush administrations, there’s much more to the folks at Cheers than one may remember, which is immediately evident in its ultimate season.

Deeply respecting its audiences — who much like the characters had essentially become participants in a codependent relationship filled with ups and downs with the characters on the series — Cheers ended on a classy and nostalgic note without wrapping things up too neatly (a la Friends) nor taking a mean-spirited approach at a final goodbye as evidenced in the backhanded finale of Seinfeld or Will and Grace (incidentally all other successful series on NBC).

Recently released from CBS DVD and Paramount Home Entertainment, the season comes in a slim-packaged, space-saving, four-disc set that’s conveniently the width of a standard DVD. Released in its original 4:3 aspect ratio, the show, which Wikipedia notes was restored once it went into highly successful syndication, still looks and sounds great throughout its twenty-eight episode finale, including the memorable 90-minute conclusion that found the original series heroine, Shelley Long’s Diane Chambers, returning for a terrific twist.

While usually final seasons are filled with the climax of the incessant and oft utilized “will they or won’t they” romantic complications or the ultimate surprises of births, marriages, or deaths, Cheers defied expectations right off the bat following up its prior season which found Woody Boyd marrying his wealthy love Kelly Gaines with one of Kirstie Alley’s great monologues regarding a new life plan for her character Rebecca. Vowing that she’s going to become an entirely new woman and one who no longer whines or complains or screws up pretty much everything that comes her way — once she takes a long drag on what she calls her final cigarette — unfortunately Rebecca can’t change her accident prone nature when what’s left of her cigarette burns down most of Sam Malone’s bar.

Unable to face Sam (Ted Danson), she confides in Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) until finally the guilt gets the better of her as Sam faces near financial ruin. Starting with a surprising obstacle Cheers went against the grain during each episode that followed. However, it’s a sitcom first and foremost and there are still some memorable classic bits of hilarity throughout, most notably when Norm (George Wendt) is hired as a beer sampler at a local brewery (in an episode directed by John Ratzenberger), Sam battles a Frenchman over who can score the most phone numbers in an America verses France competition as Carla (Rhea Perlman) brings out his trusty “babe kit,” and we learn that Carla’s secretly dating the seafood restaurant-owning upstairs snob when he has a heart attack following her confession that she loves him.

One of the strongest arcs during its final season and the best set-up for the superior spin-off that followed — Frasier — finds Cheers’ resident psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane experiencing more heartache and anxiety than his patients when he learns that Lillith (Bebe Neuwirth) has fallen in love with another man and has decided to leave both Frasier and their son Frederick to journey with her new beau to live in an eco-pod. Threatening to jump from Cheers and finding himself so mixed up he nearly winds up sleeping with Rebecca (again playing against our preconceived ideas of what will happen to the bar’s resident cast), Frasier becomes the ideal anchor of the final season.



Moreover by growing and changing into something new, he seems to provide the ultimate therapy for the audience that will have to bid farewell to the place “where everybody knows your name” as the show realized it was time to close its doors. Thus, Frasier’s shocking plot made the perfect segue for a series that was ready to move onto to something more socially relevant since the Clinton era made the ideal setting for Frasier’s Seattle based, upper-crust sitcom that again managed to work in some of the classic blue-collar elements of its previous series with actors Peri Gilpin and John Mahoney (both of whom appear in tiny unrelated roles during this final season).



And I definitely do grant that the final episode does find a few things wrapped up nicely for certain characters as Rebecca marries someone you’d never expect and Woody is elected as a city official. Yet despite that there’s a wonderful twist involving Ted Danson’s character that will no doubt cause one to get a little teary-eyed when he realizes that, in a sense, the ultimate love of his life was none other than Cheers. For in the end it was more than just a bar but rather a show that transcended the art of the sitcom and gave everybody a nice, safe place to escape… at least for thirty minutes every Thursday night.

New on DVD for the Week of 11/2/08

DVD Pick of the Week:
Transsiberian

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Get Smart

The Good Life

Kung Fu Panda

Transsiberian

What We Do Is Secret

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New Releases Below:
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Transsiberian (2008)

When we are young, one of the earliest pieces of advice we’re most often given is, “don’t talk to strangers.” Of course, an optimistic response could be that everyone is a stranger until they become your friend but obviously this would most likely be offered by folks who haven’t spent a whole lot of time in the company of Alfred Hitchcock movies. No, as those of us —such as Transsiberian director and master-of-suspense fan Brad Anderson would tell you — beware the lure of a beguiling stranger whose smile and ease seems a bit too rehearsed, especially when you’re traveling abroad.
Whether it’s when we’re away at college and trying to avoid the dreaded freshman ten or traveling on our own, the tendency is to gravitate towards others to feel less alone. Of course, when doing so, we seldom realize that we’re not being quite as choosy as we may be in familiar surroundings, instead becoming fast acquaintances with others that we may have avoided in "real life."
This is especially the case for the cheerfully and aggressively friendly American hardware-store owner and train-enthusiast Roy, played by Woody Harrelson in Anderson’s brilliant new film. Returning from a church mission trip from Beijing, China to Moscow by way of the Trans-Siberian Express train, Roy and his quieter, more streetwise photographer wife Jessie (Emily Mortimer) find themselves startled into the forced, awkward intimacy of sharing a jam-packed compartment with two total strangers.

The handsome Latin American Carolos (Eduardo Noriega) and his much younger girlfriend Abby (Kate Mara) seem on surface level to be the polar opposite of our Iowan, straight-laced leads until secrets come tumbling out, revealing that Jessie has quite a checkered past. Yet as she warns her husband in a brilliant Tennessee Williams quote, if “you kill off all my demons, Roy... my angels might die too,” and the group becomes an unlikely foursome in as Roy describes “the wild, wild east.”

However, they’re not quite sure just how wild it is until the film takes its first of several unexpected turns right around the thirty-minute mark and while the film’s trailer and numerous spoiler-filled reviews (avoid Roger Ebert’s and Stephen Holden’s until after you finish the film) have you expecting things will turn out one way, Anderson fools you again and again. Setting itself up to be a film about two Americans who mistakenly become the tourists who knew too much, to misquote a Hitchcock title, in trusting the wrong people, soon a major character is killed off in a brilliantly vicious and surprising twist of fate, another goes missing, and we’re reacquainted midway through with the man whom we see in the film’s beginning. Sir Ben Kingsley—that unrivaled master of accents and intimidation-- shows up for a mysterious turn as a Russian inspector whose alliances and true character we’re unable to predict until the film careens towards a suspenseful conclusion.

Director Brad Anderson, who co-wrote the film with Will Conroy, reveals all of the Hitchcock cards in his hand from the start — especially as he sets the unbelievably tense character-driven mystery in a film that demands they share such close proximity aboard a train. Yet I defy anyone to guess where the ultimate journey will lead them both figuratively and literally. While one can no doubt accuse me of being awfully vague, you’ll definitely thank me after viewing the film as the less one knows about its plot, the better.

Transsiberian arrives on time at your local DVD and Blu-ray retailer on November 4 from First Look Studios. While the only complaint would be that in the Russian dialogue-based scenes, the yellow subtitles are far too small, otherwise the stellar picture quality and 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound was top-notch on the DVD. Featuring previews but zero extra features save for Spanish subtitles and English ones for the deaf or hearing-impaired, the film itself is the main draw.

While mood-wise it's a far cry from my favorite Anderson film—the underrated critically lauded science fiction tinged romantic comedy Happy Accidents starring Marisa Tomei and Vincent D’Onofrio—Transsiberian is much more accessible than his unflinchingly dark Christian Bale vehicle The Machinist. And moreover, Transsiberian is Anderson's best crafted work so far and one that no doubt you’ll find yourself wanting to watch more than once, if only to try and discover what clue you missed the first time around.

Definitely a train worth catching and one that—similar to Roy and Jessie—you’ll want to stay pretty much in the dark until after you take it in but it’s one of 2008’s biggest sleepers and one you’ll instantly want to recommend to others. However, it may be best if you avoid approaching strangers in the process, especially ones with way too many stamps in their passport and strange advice on not standing out in customs.

Luckily, Anderson failed to listen to his own advice—making a film that intellectually stands out head and shoulders above a large percentage of Hollywood factory-made thrillers by serving up a work so deliciously gripping and sinister that even Hitchcock would probably muster up the faintest trace of that subtle smile in appreciation.

The Grand

Director:
Zak Penn

In The Grand, Woody Harrelson’s character Jack Faro is proof that for addicts, sometimes admitting you have a problem is not the first step. In fact, in his case, it seems to have been the gateway that perhaps just having only one, two, or eight addictions weren’t enough as—cheaper by the dozen—it’s Jack’s policy to “bring ‘em on” becoming addicted to every possible drug known to man. And while we’re at it, he threw marriage into the mix, making Elizabeth Taylor look like a blushing amateur, having walked down the aisle exactly 74 times and although he tells the camera in Zak Penn’s hilarious Christopher Guest-like mockumentary that he loved each and every one of his wives, within minutes we realize that he can’t exactly place them all.

Soon, true to form, Jack completely forgets the fact that he’d once wed the lovely, Shannon Elizabeth who works as an employee of the casino he’d inherited from his grandfather. Incidentally, it's the same place he’s darn near run into the ground with disastrous theme choices for its reconstruction including renovating the classic old school Rabbit’s Foot Casino so that it resembles a nuclear reactor or pays homage to the great Chicago Fire. Obviously, the drugs have affected his mental state and rock bottom for Jack came when he was kicked out of his own casino and-- although he can’t honestly remember-- he believes he’d given the order himself.

Needless to say he’s got a lot of work to do and fittingly we first encounter Jack where he’s resided for two years at rehab where he’s up to his Casanova like old ways, wooing his doctor with a song about the twelve steps, although he’s only on the first one. Promising his lovesick doctor that he’ll write, he’s convinced to leave rehab to try and save his family’s Rabbit’s Foot Casino by playing for a place in the final round of the six person North American Indoor Poker League winner take all tournament, complete with a ten million dollar prize.

Harrelson’s hilarious performance serves as the film’s anchor and coming off the heels of his impressive work in the somber No Country for Old Men and The Walker, it's a nice stepping stone to an even funnier ensemble piece than his work alongside Will Ferrell in Semi-Pro. In order to give Harrelson more to work with, Zak Penn invites numerous veteran comedians to the cinematic party as well. Although IMDb reports the script was a mere twenty-nine pages, in the hands of improvisational pros and versatile entertainers like Cheryl Hines, David Cross, Ray Romano, Jason Alexander, Richard Kind, Judy Greer, and countless others, they elevate what should have been a lackluster forgettable rental into one of the most surprisingly entertaining DVD sleepers of 2008.

One of the first and incidentally least likable competitors we meet is Chris Parnell’s angry, anal-retentive, mathematically obsessed Harold who not only lives with his mother but makes her life a living hell ensuring she’s always preparing his nutritious brain food, complete with supplements. Moving the action to Massapequa, we meet one of the competition’s likeliest frontrunners, Lainie (Cheryl Hines), who given the rarity of her gender in the finals is merely dubbed “The Woman” instead of being served up one of the memorable, alternately cheesy, and hip nicknames. Having been raised by a hyper masculine, challenge hungry, dysfunctional father (Gabe Kaplan) alongside her fellow aggressive and obnoxious player and brother Larry (David Cross), Lainie is used to dealing with difficult men. However, her main preoccupation away from cards seems to be tirelessly supporting her husband Ray Romano who hasn’t been the same since he survived a lightning strike. Now filling his time by inventing new ideas such as “the round beach towel,” nonsensical sayings, and odd handshakes, Romano’s biggest concern seems to be in negotiating with his wife over who has to look after their children if her shot at the championship conflicts with his Yahoo Fantasy Football draft time slot.

Of course, Vegas isn’t Vegas without veteran old-timers and they arrive in the form of an odd turn from legendary director Werner Herzog as a surprisingly hilarious and frightening man simply dubbed “The German” who shares that he feels most alive and ensures maximum human energy by killing an animal everyday. We also meet Dennis Farina’s cowboy-hat-and-boot-wearing Deuce Fairbanks who, when he isn’t threatening to whack those who annoy him, bemoans the downfall of Sin City when they began letting people wearing culottes into the casinos.

Ordinarily with that many players, one would think they’d have their work cut out for them already, but the biggest question mark arrives later on. The players don't know exactly what to think when the laughably amateurish and earnestly friendly, successful online party poker winner Andy Andrews (Richard Kind) abandons the icy temperatures of Wisconsin, complete with his supportive wife (Judy Greer) in tow, hoping they’ll be the ones to capture the ten million dollar booty in order to flee the cold weather and Greer’s self-owned Ribbon Store to move somewhere warm.

One of the perils of releasing a mockumentary after Spinal Tap performer turned director Christopher Guest has basically perfected the art and turned it into a science with his brilliant classics Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show, is that one will never be able to reach the astronomically high bar set by those films. However, as mock-docs go, I’ve seen far worse, and I was quite surprised by the freewheeling, rapid-fire humor of The Grand which seemed to belong to the vintage Woody Allen and Steve Martin school of a gag-a-minute approach (with only half being successful). I’d even go as far as to say I’d watch this one again in a heartbeat before I popped Guest’s sharp but largely melancholy A Mighty Wind back into my disc player.

Predictably most critics employed a “party” analogy to utilize in their critiques in describing The Grand’s overwhelmingly large cast that’s nearly bursting at the seams, thus pointing out that with that many “attendees” it’s hard for viewers to become attentive hosts, giving each an adequate amount of attention. This being said, Penn knows which individuals are worth spending more time with and which cameos are best left trimmed for by the editors (for example: only a few moments of Brett Ratner and much more Jason Alexander). And with the one exception of wanting to see more of the scene stealing Herzog as we’ve never seen him before—amazed that this tyrannical, mad Dr. Strangelove like character is embodied by the same person who brought us the masterful Rescue Dawn-- when our attention is largely directed at veteran performers like Harrelson and Hines, we know we’re in good hands.

So when Incredible Hulk writer Zak Penn is the one holding The Grand’s deck of cards, the audience can lean back and say, as Shirley MacLaine famously quipped at the end of The Apartment, “shut up and deal.”

Semi-Pro

Director:
Kent Alterman

What they lack in free corndogs, the Flint Michigan Tropics make up for in ridiculous stunts whether it’s dancing in family friendly costumes when serving as their own halftime show entertainment or watching the death-defying antics of their player, owner, announcer and coach Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell) as he roller skates over several bikini clad ball-girls or wrestles a bear. Aside from forbidding homemade nachos at the game, Jackie seems to only have one rule when it comes to running his fictitious ABA 1976 ball club and that is “E.L.E.” or “Everybody Love Everybody.” It’s these words he’s tried to personally take to heart with his one-hit wonder “Love Me Sexy,” that he never fails to mention or play with zero to minimal prompting, especially when celebrating with his teammates and their comely groupies at his own private club, decked out like a stereotypical 70’s era pimp, sporting a wild Caucasian version of the Afro.

When Jackie learns that at the end of the season the ABA will merge with the NBA with only four teams absorbed before the rest dissolve, he ignores the rumors that it will most likely be the Nets, Spurs, Pacers and Nuggets and decides to fight for professional glory by trading in the team’s washing machine for Monix (Woody Harrelson), a once-great NBA point guard whose reputation for having at one time either broken the collarbone or punched everyone else in the face makes Jackie’s wish for a Flint Tropics version of a love-in seem far more unlikely. Yet when Monix puts equal dedication into making plays as he is in trying to make a play for former flame Lynn (Maura Tierney), some of team’s most promising players, including Coffee Black (Andre Benjamin) decide that Mr. White Men Can’t Jump should be the one calling the shots in lieu of Elf.

While frankly not nearly as hilarious as some of Ferrell’s alternate frat-pack comedies like the outstanding Anchorman as well as his other sports films (Ricky Bobby) and I know I’ll lose some film snob “cred” for admitting this, I found myself laughing more often than not throughout Semi-Pro. And this was far easier to concede given all of the surprisingly unique gags such as Jackie’s unfortunate choice to overlook the perils of sweat and makeup, insisting the entire team don eyeliner for their televised game, a constantly smoking and drinking Will Arnett who’s so erroneously convinced he was in Vietnam that he’s willing to play Russian Roulette at a spirited poker game, and their constant arguments with the priest-- Father Pat-- who also serves as the referee.

Even though a few of the jokes fall flat and it never quite scores on some of its creatively off-the-wall potential especially when considering the characters played by Tierney as well as smaller, muddled and vaguely written turns by Rob Corrdry, Andy Richter, and Andrew Daly, it’s great to see Harrelson tackling a movie in the same vein as Kingpin, especially coming off of the heels of impressive work in the Oscar winning No Country for Old Men. Still, it’s a Will Ferrell movie first and foremost and his loyal fan base won’t want to miss the chance to see the funnyman trying to encourage everyone to love him sexy while getting tropical in Flint, Michigan.

The Walker

Director: Paul Schrader

Whether they’re shopping with Alicia Silverstone in Clueless, dancing with Julia Roberts in My Best Friend’s Wedding, impregnating Madonna in The Next Best Thing, or serving as Jennifer Aniston’s shoulder to cry on in The Object of My Affection, in the late 1990’s with Will & Grace's Debra Messing and Eric McCormack making their debut as television’s perfect couple combination, American straight women learned that while our heterosexual male counterparts are always unpredictable, a good loyal and loving gay best friend never goes out of style. However, leave it to Taxi Driver scribe Paul Schrader to find a new noir inspired approach to the cliché with the final installment of his “lonely man” trilogy, The Walker, which followed American Gigolo and the underrated, sharply executed Light Sleeper.

Instead of simply being utilized to button hard to reach buttons, dish about Dior, or serve as a handsome stand-in when their husbands are out of town, the wealthy and witty Carter Page III (Woody Harrelson) who specializes in gossip but dabbles in real estate one day per week to have a day job finds his primary role as a “walker” (escorting the wealthy political wives from place to place in Washington D.C.) threatened after he helps his closest friend Lynn Lockner (Kristin Scott Thomas) escape the scene of a murder when she finds her lover stabbed. Fearing that the crime and evidence of her extramarital affair will destroy everything important to both herself and her husband, the Senate Minority Leader Larry Lockner (Willem Dafoe), Lynn and Carter flee. But when Carter returns to the apartment to look over everything himself and is spotted by a neighbor, he finds himself implicated in the crime as the top suspect in the ongoing investigation by power hungry Attorney General Mungo Tennant (William Hope) and Washington D.C. Detective Dixon (Geoff Francis), both of whom suspect that Lynn is somehow involved with the killing.

Featuring superb, subtly drawn portrayals of neglected yet deceptively innocent Washington wives by veteran performers including Lily Tomlin and the legendary Lauren Bacall who gets the chance to say some of the film’s best lines, The Walker begins very strongly. However, it seems to grow increasingly muddled as the film nears a conclusion and Schrader abandons his film noir roots and the lonely overtone that began the film in favor of attempting to make it a shrewd Washington D.C. scandalous political piece that never seems to come together in a way that pays off believably for the viewer.

Despite this, it’s of particular interest not only to Schrader’s fans but especially those who are eager to explore Harrelson’s range as he begins the film in a slightly hammy Truman Capote styled manner that makes the overtly gay Carter seem a bit like a caricature before getting a unique and compelling handle on the man. Although ultimately there’s so much more to Carter than Schrader can incorporate into a regular feature length work as there’s some intriguing back story involving his father that was begging to be explored, Schrader really commands our interest in Harrelson’s scenes with the terrifically gifted supporting star Moritz Bleibtreu who plays Carter’s longsuffering Middle Eastern paparazzi photographer on-again/off-again boyfriend Emek Yoglu.

While Light Sleeper still feels like the most successful work, minus that film’s obvious shortcomings, Schrader’s sophisticated if admittedly flawed Walker still feels far more intelligent and contemplative than other films in both the political and noir genres and reminds us once again of his outstanding flair for mature, nuanced, and complicated dialogue.

The Thin Red Line

Director: Terrence Malick To this day, I’m still shocked when people say the dislike The Thin Red Line. Having had the misfortune of being released the same year as Steven Spielberg’s critically lauded yet (aside from the brilliant and unrelentingly brutal opening) highly formulaic Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line seemed to be the antidote to the Hollywood gloss of most WWII films as it is poetic, passionate, frustrating, hypnotic, tender, breathtaking and unspeakably tragic. While it’s said in some circles that having both Spielberg’s Ryan and Malick’s Line up for the Best Picture Oscar may have helped split the vote and led to the Shakespeare in Love upset, to me, it was again proof that the Academy Awards, while important and historical, are subjective and it’s a shame that several films and performances can’t be recognized as they’re overlooked in the definitive quest of simplifying things down to a single “best” choice. In comparing the works, Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that “Steven Spielberg’s film was about character and Malick’s is about spirit,” although I’d argue that spirit by its very definition is embodied in a fully realized and fleshed out character and in Malick’s film (which is based on the autobiographical novel by James Jones) is filled with a wide range of characters and their unforgettable spirits. As IMDb reported Malick had longed to adapt the book by the author of From Here to Eternity since the late 1980’s yet it wasn’t until ’98 when his meandering opus about the first major offensive by America’s Army Rifle Company C (for Charlie) on the South Pacific island of Guadalcanal in 1943 was released. While fighting for an overwhelmingly long time over the “key-positioned airfled that allows control over a 1,000 mile radius,” (IMDb) we get an intimate view of both the army and inner lives of several of the soldiers including our heroic Pvt. Witt (Jim Caviezel) and Pvt. Bell (Ben Chaplin) along with countless others that are played by the likes of Adrien Brody, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Thomas Jane, George Clooney, Elias Koteas, Jared Leto, Tim Blake Nelson, John C. Reilly, John Travolta, Nick Stahl, Nick Nolte and Sean Penn. With so many actors, it does at times become hard to tell them apart since (much like myself) the casting director must have had a thing for sensitive looking dark haired men. Viewers do at times feel a bit lost in the shuffle and may benefit from a second viewing yet contrary to critic Roger Ebert’s statement that “the actors… are making one movie, and the director is making another,” I thought they all added to Malick’s vision and their willingness to leave their egos aside for sometimes only moments of screen time owes much to the admiration for the legendary director of Days of Heaven and Badlands. The underrated Elias Koteas is especially good as Capt. Staros who fights hard to stick up for the men under his command and defy the orders of egomaniacal Lt. Col Tall (Nolte) to protect the others and save lives much to the detriment of his own career. With an average reported shot length of 7.9 seconds (IMDb) and a running time of roughly three hours, the daunting film which was nominated for seven Academy Awards alienated some with its artistic and cerebral approach but for those with the patience who appreciate a different take on a traditional war film (and one in the tradition of Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now), you will be extremely glad you invested the time.

Sleepwalking

Director: William Maher

Returning to the same bleak and gritty territory she explored in works such as In the Valley of Elah, North Country and Monster, Charlize Theron proves her devotion to indie sleepers with her involvement as both a supporting actress and producer on Sleepwalking. An Official Selection at the Sundance Film Festival and a feature debut for former assistant director William Maher and his former Chumscrubber colleague (writer Zac Stanford), Theron stars as Joleen, an irresponsible, unlucky, self-involved and promiscuous mother who, after her live-in boyfriend is arrested for growing marijuana, packs up her belongings and brings her eleven year old daughter Tara (AnnaSophia Robb) to stay with her younger brother James (Nick Stahl).

After a one-night stand with a trucker, Joleen impulsively leaves, abandoning her daughter with her clueless brother and a vague letter explaining that she’ll be back in a month in time for Tara’s birthday. Barely able to take care of himself and without a driver’s license, James struggles with his newfound responsibility and it isn’t long before he loses his job, apartment and social services starts calling until he and Tara ultimately decide to go off on their own. While my summary ends there, the film’s marketing campaign wasn’t quite that tactful, saddling Sleepwalking with one of the most wholly revealing film trailers in recent memory. From only one viewing, I’d venture to guess that 99.9% of the viewers will be able to predict the entire plot in detail so this being said, if you have any desire to see Sleepwalking, avoid the preview like the plague.

With fine support from character actors Woody Harrelson (the film’s sole comic relief) and a chilling, one-note Dennis Hopper who seems to be, at this point, playing a Dennis Hopper stereotypical baddie, the film is filled with the typical depression and purposely dirty, ugly and gray cinematography to superfluously establish the tone. In a sea of endlessly depressing indie works, Sleepwalking rates about average and the film's simplistic feel makes one realize that it may have been more successful as a work of fiction. While not as good as the aforementioned Theron films or nearly as brilliant as Nick Stahl’s similarly themed picture In the Bedroom, it provides Stahl with an even greater opportunity than his brief role in Bedroom to show his impressive range and although it’s hard to relate to any of the characters in the film, the viewers (just like the characters of Joleen and Tara) tend to put their trust in him and are lucky that their belief is largely justified… even if I can’t say the same for the film.