The Departed (2006)

This week sees not only the release of The Departed on standard DVD in the UK, but also the announcement of the winner of the 'Best Picture' and 'Best Director' awards at The Oscars, for which The Departed has been nominated (along with nominations for 'Best Supporting Actor', 'Best Adapted Screenplay', and 'Best Editing'). It seems that for most observers it's a shoo-in for the Best Director award, NOT because it's the best directed picture, but because director Martin Scorsese has been robbed of an oscar so often in the past, and often for better films than this, that The Academy will want to put things right, if only because of the constant criticisms from the media.

Is that fair? No. But it's entirely typical if you look at the history of the Academy Awards. And, to be fair, the Academy could do a lot worse than give this 'Best Film'. It may not be Scorsese's best work, but it's a fine film nonetheless. For the record, my vote would be for Pan's Labyrinth but seemingly that can only compete for 'Best Film in a Foreign Language'.

Brilliantly adapted from the Hong Kong police thriller Internal Affairs, the film marks a return to his roots for Scorsese. Set in the gangster-noir world of previous films like Casino, Mean Streets, Goodfella's etc, the director has assembled a cast to die for in a good cop (Leonardo DiCaprio) vs bad crook (Matt Damon) story with lots of twists, violence, and four letter words. This is very much familiar territory for Scorsese fans, and when a film's as well executed as this one is, there really isn't much to complain about.

The violence, when it occurs, tends to be sudden and extremely bloody, which only adds to the tension cleverly built throughout the film. But there's great humour here too, albeit of the black variety. Damon and DiCaprio are well-matched as opposite numbers in a cops vs crooks film, with only Nicholson's scenery-chewing performance being perhaps a little TOO over-the-top. If you've seen any of Nicholson's films you pretty much know what to expect here!

The film runs at just over two and a half hours, but is gripping throughout, with no real flab. There are solid performances from the entire cast, even the very minor characters, and, as one might expect from Scorsese, some very nice directorial flourishes. You're never in any doubt that you're in the hands of a seasoned film-maker here, even though some of the narrative and back-story hoops the plot has to jump through can get quite convoluted.

The film feels like an 'epic', albeit perhaps a rather old-fashioned epic, and it's hard to imagine many people leaving the theatres unsatisfied after sitting through this, despite the rather down-beat ending. I don't want to give too much away here, but one views the news that Scorsese is now considering not only a sequel, but a prequel as well, with some alarm. Who would appear in it? The story told here is complete and self-contained, and while the high critical ratings and box office indicate strong support for Scorsese making a film in the genre he's famous for, there's no guarantee that good will is going to transfer to another film in the series. Obsession with establishing movie franchises, rather than just making good movies period, is killing this industry with the law of diminishing returns inevitably coming into play. Personally I'd rather see Scorsese move on to tackle some other genre.

This is another of the God-awful 'combo' releases with a Region 1 DVD (useless to Brits who don't have a multi-region player) on one side, and the HD-DVD on the other, which means the price gets pushed up to a ridiculous £18.99. Is it any wonder that both high definition formats are dying on their arses and look like being a bigger disaster than LaserDisc or SACD with pricing and formats like these? On the more positive side, the disc does show off the format well - a standard DVD is never going to look as good as this transfer does.

Alas, the usual con has been pulled on the extra's, with the most interesting featurette from the standard DVD, which concentrated on Martin Scorsese as a director, missing from the package. So much for the marketing promises about the 'extra capacity' of HD-DVD meaning we got MORE extra's, instead of less! There are two featurettes, running at 25 minutes each and annoyingly recorded in widescreen which is then presented inside standard definition 4:3 format so that there are big black bars all the way around the picture. These are very much the usual marketing fluff with the actors and crew members gushing endlessly about each other and talking up the film - not that it needs much talking up to be honest. Twenty minutes of deleted scenes, with a short filmed introduction from Scorsese, are finished to the same quality as the main feature, albeit presented in the same miniscule format as the main featurettes, and add some interesting additional notes for character motivation - not needed in the main film, but interesting enough in their own right. A theatrical trailer is also included, oddly in the correct anamorphic standard definition wide-screen format, which, if nothing else, serves as a great advert for the advantage of High Definition over Standard Definition, looking significantly less sharp and punchy in comparison with the main feature which is in high definitoon format.

I suspect the film is going to get lucky tomorrow (the day of the 79th Academy Awards), which should increase the film's caché as a purchase rather than a rental. It's a beautifully made and acted film, which will pay repeated viewings, so that even at the exorbitant 'combo' price it gets a highly recommended from me.

Hollywoodland (2006)

What is it with Hollywood? You don't get a film noir thriller set in 50's tinsel town for months and months, and then all-of-a-sudden two show up at once (I'll be reviewing The Black Dahlia on my UK DVD Review Blog later this week).

Hollywoodland had its theatrical release just a few short months ago, when it was flagged by many critics as a potential oscar winner, if not for the film but for the career-turnaround performance of Ben Affleck in the leading role of TV's Superman, George Reeves. It's a sad coda to those reviews, and an indictment of the whole farcical Oscar nomination process, that a performance like Affleck's has been completely ignored while a 'no acting required' performance from Mark Wahlberg in The Departed does earn a nomination. I can't work out whether it's a case of being in with the in-crowd, or just the dollars made at the box office by the film you appear in, which determines an oscar nomination these days, but whatever the reasons behind Wahlberg's nomination and Affleck's non-nomination, they are manifestly unfair.

Hollywoodland tells two parallel stories of men who can't accept what life's given them, even when it's been rather kind. The film opens with the discover of Reeves' 'suicide' and then switches alternately between flashbacks of the actor's life as he struggles to get a leading man role, and the (fictional) life of 'private detective' (more a wannabe than a real detective) Louis Simo. Simo is a man with a good wife and family that have left him through his refusal to grow up, and he latches onto the Reeves suicide as his big chance to make a name for himself. In the process he appears to stumble on evidence that suggests a lot of skeletons in Reeves' closet with the implication that this may not have been suicide after all but murder.

Were Affleck not in the picture, Brody would undoubtedly be receiving all the plaudits for his role as the immature detective who is forced to grow up during the running time of the film. He is never less than convincing in a role that requires his character to 'act' the part of detective, complete with cliché gum chewing, obligatory 50's stylised accent, and the proverbial attitude to boot.

But this is Affleck's moment in the spotlight, giving a beautifully subtle and nuanced career-best performance as a man who desperately believes he can be a Hollywood leading man, only to be given a starring role in a children's TV series that he feels is beneath him and typecasts him to the point that he can never appear in movies again.

There's a wonderful scene where an early screen test of From Here To Eternity causes giggles from the audience members who recognise him as 'Superman', resulting in most of his scene being cut. As the camera moves in on his reaction to the laughter around him there's real pain and humiliation conveyed in his face, such that as an audience we know that this is the end of his Hollywood career. Not many actors could have pulled off such a scene, and there are many others here that show Affleck has made good use of his time away from the gossip columns. It's a brave move, particularly with the actor having to put on significant weight for the role and perform scenes that are flattering for someone whose reputation until now has been built around that of a matinee idol.

Unfortunately the film itself falls down on two fronts. Firstly a thriller with no resolution is no kind of thriller at all, and so the ending which gives us three possible explanations for how/why Reeves ends up dead can never be anything less than something of an anti-climax. Worse than that, the parallel story telling device becomes irritating in the extreme. The real life Reeves story is by far the more interesting one, and the constant, much too frequent switches between the two stories is not just confusing, but repeatedly throws away the tension and interest that's been built up in the main plot. The whole thing feels much too slow as a result and it's not hard to see why the box office was so disappointing, given the lack of pacing and bite.

The transfer is excellent, but the affected bleached out faded Kodachrome effect used here, and in far too many recent Hollywood films, is one I find irritating beyond belief. We live life in colour, not as some sort of throw-back to the way films were made back in the 50's. Brady's story in particular is shown almost completely as a sepia-retouched black and white movie, the desaturation process has been so intense. Follow this 'design' to its logical conclusion and we'd have period films that had to be made as silent movies! Very annoying!

The extra's are more than passable, particularly given the paucity of extra's on too many HD-DVD releases, and go some way to justifying the high price tag, which Universal have imposed because of the nasty combo-format of the release (there is a Region 1 DVD on the other side of the HD-DVD disc. The Region 2 DVD version is officially released here on the 19th March).

The Commentary by director Allen Coulter is particularly strong, and one of the best director commentaries I've heard in a long time. Coulter explains throughout the film, with no awkward silences, the reasons behind the decisions he made, the cuts and performances he sought. Admittedly it's a bit po-faced, but there's a lot of interesting stuff for film students here, with some neat subliminal directorial tricks used that you probably wouldn't pick up on until they're pointed out on the commentary.

Instead of a single 25 minute 'Making of' we get three 7-10 minute featurettes: Recreating Old Hollywood, Hollywood Then and Now and Behind the Headlines. None are much more than marketing fluff, although they give some interesting background to the making of the film, and show the exquisite attention to detail that the film-makers insisted upon. Five minutes of deleted scenes, finished to the same standard as the main film, complete the extra's, and give more background information than was able to be given in the theatrical cut.

I suspect that for most viewers, the film will be too slow-moving, with not enough action to sustain interest throughout. However for this viewer the film was a gentle, subtle pleasure, and one that improves with repeated viewings. As such it's a recommended purchase, rather than a rental.

Miami Vice (2006)

The very first thing that needs to be said about this British HD-DVD version of 2006's Miami Vice is DO NOT BUY THIS HD-DVD!

We've had ten years of being ripped off by incompetent, lazy British distributors who think that releasing inferior versions of American DVDs, stripped of extra's but sold at double the price is acceptable. This disc shows them doing the same thing with the HD-DVD format. The excuse used to justify this on standard DVDs is that there wasn't room to include the extra languages 'needed' to support Europe and the PAL picture format. Proof that it WAS just a pathetic excuse is now here with the much higher capacity of HD-DVD being issued minus a whole bunch of extra's that are on the US version. Given the region-free nature of HD-DVD there is no reason on earth to give British companies who treat us so cavalierly your money! Excuses that the space was needed for the extremely irritating menu option offering Cantonese, various Arabic dialects and minor European languages just does not wash. The profit margins on HD-DVDs is huge - they are as easy to produce as standard DVDs and sub-standard releases like this to cover hundreds of different territories of no interest to the British purchaser are totally unjustified. Avoid!

The problem with this title of course is that the US has decided to release this disk as a vile, 'combo' disc, with the 'standard' DVD release on one side (Region 1 only, so pointless for most Brits unless they have multi-region players) which helps nobody, not least when it is an excuse to charge more money for the supposed benefit of having to squint at a tiny inner ring to work out which side needs to be played. So you either pay more for a 'combo' import, or put up with a sub-standard British HD-DVD shorn of extra features.

Miami Vice's story is very familiar one: Two cops go undercover with a drugs cartel. One seduces a high-up female of the bad guys to get inside information, ends up falling in love with her, finds out she isn't so bad after all and is being held pretty much against her will, and then has to make sure the bad guys get theirs and that he gets to keep the girl. It's a familiar, some might say 'tired', story and one has to wonder why director Michael Mann felt it needed more than two hours to tell. Some might find the film stylish and cutting edge - I just found it ponderous, overlong, humourless and frankly rather dull.

It's also not very well shot! Too many scenes, particularly those shot 'hand held' documentary style, are not just soft, they're very much out of focus. The noise on the print is unbelievable, so that at times it feels like watching a bad VHS tape not a high definition release. The film was shot on high-definition cameras and there has been much debate on the DVD forums about whether this is a good transfer or not. Those arguing against point out the poor quality of the video in far too many scenes (the opening night club scenes are particularly bad).

Those arguing FOR the release insist this was the director's 'vision' and that it is represented authentically on the HD-DVD, truly representing the original cinematic experience. All I can say is that if all the scenes that are too dark and muddy to be seen, feature frequent multi-coloured noise artefacts, or contain out-of-focus shots with poor framing are the director's 'vision' then he needs to get himself back to film school to learn the basics about using a camera!

The shoot for Miami Vice is rumoured to have been a troubled one, with Jamie Foxx, by all accounts, proving something of a primadonna on set that caused serious friction. That might explain why he has so little to do in the film other than explain minor plot points on the end of a phone. The film is very much Colin Farrell's and he turns in an excellent performance, despite the lack of real narrative he is presented with - no mean achievement given the 80's mullet he is forced to wear throughout.

But Farrell's acting really isn't enough to rescue the piece or levitate it above being a 'poor man's Scorsese'. The story is too familiar, and Mann has nothing new to say or add to what has been done by other film-makers before. Ultimately it proves to be a huge disappointment.

Two featurettes have been rescued from the US release. Miami and Beyond: Shooting on Location and Miami Vice Undercover are really just two episodes from a much longer 'Making of' documentary. They're not badly done, and help show what life was like on set, but they don't really add a lot of value either.

We've had very few British HD-DVD releases and a movie as recent as this should have received much better treatment. If you want something to show off your High Definition set-up this release isn't it. Despite the relatively low asking price online this has to be a rental rather than a purchase, and even then only if you really are a big Michael Mann fan. For this viewer, Miami Vice just didn't live up to the hype.

The Wicker Man (2006)

On paper, this must have looked like a good idea. Take a parochially British, low-budget British cult 'horror' classic from 1977 that has dated rather badly, and remake it for a modern American audience.

Alas, in practice, the remake of The Wicker Man has turned into something of a disaster, at least so far as the reviews (from both critics and the general public) are concerned. I don't think I've ever seen an imdb score below 40%!

In fairness this isn't a calamity of Batman and Robin or The Avengers proportions, but if you're familiar with the original then you're best advised to steer clear. This 2006 remake has none of the charm, terror, scripting skill or acting virtuosity of the original.

Nicolas Cage, who also produced the picture, plays the policeman at the heart of the story, but alas his performance holds none of the self-righteous anger and outright fear that made the original so memorable. He mumbles his way through the hammiest of lines, with a rewrite that turns the original Christianity vs paganism story of the original into a silly tale of Men vs Women in a matriarchal society.

The film opens with Cage being traumatised after a car accident where he is unable to save either of the two female passengers, which include a sullen little girl who appears to think she's been hired to play Damien in The Omen. The director believes this introduction helps set Cage up as a broken man, something the plot needs given the throwing away of the original film's strong Christian morality of the main hero that helped explain his actions. But this set-up is presented in such a confusing way that one is never sure if one is watching a tale of the supernatural or a more straightforward thriller. The frequent use of the opening scene, in flashbacks and dream sequences, where new details that give clues as to what is to come only confuse such that one is never sure is we are meant to see Cage as some sort of clairvoyant, or just someone strung out on medication who has dreams that happen to come true.

After the set-up we find Cage's character on on home leave, recovering from the trauma of what he has witnessed, when he receives a letter from an old flame who ran out on him just after they got engaged. She writes to say that she is worried that her young daughter has gone missing and asks Cage's character to help. He flies out to the obscure island of Summersisle (the extra 's' in the title is apparently because the Summerisle of the original was too difficult to say!) and encounters an odd island where the main export is rare honey. It soon becomes obvious that rather odd women rule the roost on the island, with what few men are in evidence playing very subservient roles, and that something is very remiss with something dark and mysterious being covered up by all the islanders.

The error of the poor script is only compounded by the leaden direction and slow unwinding of the plot. There's no real suspense, and the low-budget charm of the original is completely lost. Admittedly those unfamiliar with the original may get taken along for the curious ride, but it's a very bumpy, very confusing one that lacks the genuine unease and horror of the original. Part of the problem is Cage himself - his shouty, mumbling speech is too familiar to movie goers who've seen him playing Nicolas Cage one time too often. But the real problem is down to the dreadful script, where the introduction of a very silly bee-obsessed society, and the misogynistic portrayal of women by writer/director Neil La Bute, who has something of a track-record here, make what should be horrifying simply laughable.

The direction is competent, without being exciting, and unfortunately the music score by Angelo Badalamenti only accentuates this - it's predictable and dull, sounding like something you've heard a gazillion times before. The cast don't look like they have any confidence in the script either, with Ellen Burstyn playing the whole Lady Summersisle character as if she were appearing in a particularly bad, low-budget Star Trek episode, simply to earn enough to pay the bills. Christopher Lee in drag would have been more convincing!

The film is presented here in a different form from its British theatrical release. Some extra scenes that originally featured in the trailer but then went AWOL are apparently included, but a 'twist' coda ending from the British theatrical release that jumps forward 3 months in time has been removed, presumably because early reviewers were so appalled by it.

On a happier note the picture transfer is nothing short of stunning. Wide-angle, deep-focus shots of some beautiful country gardens and wooded backdrops really highlight the difference between standard definition and high definition, and there isn't a fleck or speckle to be seen anywhere.

The sound is less impressive, and I felt that more could have been made of the surround-sound, particularly to help elevate the uneasy, horrifying aspects of the story. As it is there's a bit of surround-sound bird whittering, and the occasional loud bang to make the audience jump in clichéd style, but not much else.

Extra's wise, the disc is disappointing, with just a commentary track and a trailer. The trailer only really serves to show how much worse a film can look in rather bleached out standard definition format when compared to the high definition presentation of the main feature that's available on the same disk. This lack of extra's seems extremely lame as, yet again, the lie is given to the claim that the HD-DVD format will allow more, and better presented, features to be included. At the very least some sort of 'Making of' featurette could have been included, and given that even the original theatrical ending is missing it's obvious that little effort has been made in putting together this high definitoon release.

The commentary features the director, who pretty much monopolises the whole thing, together with his dour editor (clearly wishing he was elsewhere and contributing little other than the odd monosyllabic reply) and two of the actresses who are reduced to vague anecdotes about how nice their costumes were and how much they liked the island they filmed on. La Bute himself has little to reveal, with a po-faced, humourless presentation that makes the commentary track almost as much hard work as the film itself. As the credits roll the writer/director tells his audience how proud he is of the film, at which point the only possible reaction can be one of much rolling of eyes.

The film really isn't quite as terrible as most have made out, but unfortunately there is very little to recommend it, other than the fact it can be used as a showcase for the picture quality of the HD-DVD format. As such, this is definitely a rental, rather than a purchase, and even then only if you haven't seen the original and find there's little else available on the HD-DVD format.