Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Hangover (Unrated Edition)

 

The Hangover is a 2009 comedy starring Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha, and Ken Jeong. The basic story is that a group of friends go to Vegas to throw a bachelor party for Justin Bartha's character, Doug. They wake up the next day to evidence of a night of debauchery but do not remember anything and with the groom missing. The rest of the movie is about them trying to piece together what happened by retracing their steps and trying to find the missing groom. The movie also includes appearances by Heather Graham, Mike Tyson, and Jeffrey Tambor.

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is good, but not outstanding. For people who are not total A/V wonks or snobs, the transfer quality is perfectly fine. The extras are very light. The most extensive extra is a picture-in-picture commentary track on the movie by director Todd Phillips. Then there are a few short making-of featurettes, an 8-minute gag reel, a stills gallery, and an interactive map of the locations the characters went in the movie.  

Overall, the movie is very good if you enjoy a raunchier, more adult brand of humor. Of the main cast members  Zach Galifianakis playing the awkward and kind of creepy brother-in-law was the standout. Ken Jeong also was great in his crazy kind of way but his character was a little too close to his character on Community. That said, the way his character, Mr. Chow, is introduced in the movie is very funny. I also liked Justin Bartha as the missing groom, who basically plays the straight man to all of the absurd comedy. Although he ultimately was not in the movie much, his deadpan sarcastic delivery was very entertaining. There were quite a few cameos in the film but the best was by Mike Tyson. He ended up being in a couple scenes and was actually quite funny. While this was not the best comedy of all time as some have billed it, it was one of the better comedies of the late 2000s/early 2010s. Definitely one of the better ones in recent memory. The movie will not appeal to everyone, but if you enjoy adult comedies that are not family-friendly and are not easily offended, this is worth the time to watch.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Limitless

 

Limitless is a movie that starred Bradley Cooper as a down-on-his-luck writer named Eddie Mora. Eddie's ex-brother-in-law gives him a sample of a new nootropic called NZT-48 which allows Eddie to have perfect recall and the ability to analyze information almost immediately. He uses the ability to invest in the stock market and make himself rich, which puts him on the radar of multiple shady characters. He also begins to experience side effects of the drug that get worse as time goes by.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the A/V quality of the movie is very good, especially being a non-blockbuster movie. The disc has two versions of the movie, the theatrical version, and an extended version. The extended does not extend the movie by much time, it just keeps in a bit more swearing, sex, and violence that is edited out of the theatrical edition in a handful of scenes. But, it does not substantially change the movie at all. There is a commentary track with the director and a couple of short (less than five minutes) making-of featurettes.

Overall, the movie is good. Besides Cooper, the other name actor in the movie is Robert De Niro and includes Abbie Cornish and Anna Friel in supporting roles. Of course, the movie is based on the widely debunked myth that humans can only use 10-20% of their brain's ability and that a magic pill can somehow unlock more (in the case of NZT, it allows a person to access and use 100% of their brain's potential). So, while you do have to suspend your disbelief to accept the premise, Cooper does a great job both in the slacker version of Eddie and the cleaned-up, polished version. At the end of the movie, we learn that Eddie is going to run for the US Senate, which is continued in the storyline of the TV series that Cooper produced and guest-starred in as Eddie. Although, some of the rules about NZT get tweaked from the movie when it goes to the series. So, if you like the movie, the overall storyline has more to it. So, if you like suspense-dramas, this is definitely worth checking out.

DVD/TV Series Review: Limitless

 

Limitless was mostly an adaptation, but partly a continuation of the movie of the same name starring Bradley Cooper. Like the movie, the premise of the series is based on the myth that humans only access 10 percent of their brain's power which can be expanded by taking a nootropic drug called NZT-48, which unlocks the full potential of the human mind. Jake McDorman, who up to this point in his career played character parts in either guest starring or recurring roles on series like Shameless and House, had been a series lead in a few short-lived relatively unknown shows, as well as having a few movie credits under his belt, plays Brian Finch, a 28-year old musician who has to take odd jobs to keep himself afloat. He is mainly a slacker with little direction in his life. He is given NZT and for 12 hours becomes incredibly smart, with perfect recall, and is able to solve any problem. In the pilot, he becomes the suspect in a murder investigation and uses NZT to figure out who the real murderer is. Cooper reprises his role from the movie, Eddie Mora, as a recurring character, who is a senator with presidential aspirations. He provides Brian with a shot that counteracts the devastating side effects of NZT, and Brian ends up becoming a consultant for the FBI working with Special Agent Rebecca Harris (played by Dexter's Jennifer Carpenter, in her first big role after Dexter ended) and Special Agent Spelman Boyle (played by Hill Harper) who is less than enthused to have Brian as a consultant. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio plays FBI Special Agent in Charge Nasreen "Naz" Poura, who assigns missions to the team.

The series is definitely a bit uneven, and it took a while to really find its footing. Early in the season, episodes included more of Brian's family, played by Ron Rifkin (of Alias) as Brian's father, Blair Brown (from Fringe) as Brian's mother, and Megan Guinan as Brian's sister, Rachel. About halfway through the season, the series shifted to focusing a lot less on Brian's personal life (mainly because of the backlash from viewers over the recreational use of marijuana by Brian and Rachel) and focused almost exclusively on the FBI cases. Cooper made a handful of appearances throughout the season but did not have as large a role in the show as the previews for the series made it seem, I think the fact that Cooper did not have a larger part in the show ultimately hurt the show in the long run.

For those who get the DVD set (the series only got a DVD physical media release), the extras include series promos, a handful of behind-the-scenes featurettes, a commentary track on the episode Headquarters!, and a gag reel. A decent amount for a series that only lasted one season.

Overall, the series is very good, despite the rougher start when the series was trying to figure out if it wanted to be a straight drama or more of a blended drama and comedy. It was mostly a case-of-the-week procedural crime drama but also had some serial storylines. The acting was great, especially once a single tone was picked, and all of the characters (even the ancillary ones) were given good material to work with. The series, thankfully, does not end on a total cliffhanger, but it ended in a way that was definitely setting up a second season that would ultimately never come. So, if you watch it and get into it, you may be disappointed that not everything gets resolved by the end. That said, it is still a very good series that is worth watching.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: American Hustle

 

American Hustle is a 2013 movie directed by David O Russell and starring Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, and Jeremy Renner. It is loosely based on a sting operation that the FBI executed back in the late 1970s to early 1980s to take down a bunch of corrupt politicians. Bale and Adams play a pair of scam artists who get caught by an FBI agent (played by Bradley Cooper) in a loan scam. He offers to let them off the hook if they help him take down bigger targets. Jennifer Lawrence plays Bale's erratic wife, who threatens to report him to the police if he leaves her. The movie is mostly a blend of drama and dark comedy that is kind of a heist/takedown movie with some romance (basically a love rectangle) mixed in.

The Blu-Ray's A/V quality is good, but the extras are pretty sparse. Those include about 25 minutes of deleted scenes and a 16-minute making-of featurette. There are also some previews for other Sony movies. What was included was okay, but it definitely did not get a ton of extras, especially for a movie with as much Oscar buzz as it did. Overall, I would say that the movie is good, but not as good as some make it out to be. It does have a great cast and Cooper, Adams, Bale, and Lawrence all nail their roles. Bale, who can get into about any shape that is needed for a role, is nearly unrecognizable as an overweight and balding slimeball. Adams does probably her best work (at least that I have seen) in this movie, and both she and Lawrence are extremely funny. Cooper is great as a crazy FBI agent. Where the movie loses me a bit is the pacing and the plot lines that kind of jump around. It is definitely a movie that you have to pay attention to constantly to follow what is going on.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Hangover Part III

 

The first Hangover movie was a surprise hit about a bachelor party that went crazy, and its aftermath. The second movie was basically a repeat of the first, just with a different setting. In Part III, the wolfpack (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis (and kind of Justin Bartha) are back in Vegas to finish the story. Thankfully, this movie does not try to copy the first one (there are some similar elements, but it does have its own story). In this installment, the team has to track down Chow (played by Ken Jeong) and figure out where a bunch of gold bars he stole during the events of the first movie is hidden in order to get Doug (Bartha) back from the gangsters Chow stole from. The movie does bring back a bunch of the characters from the first movie, and it is most definitely a continuation of that story. But, unlike Part II, it does not feel totally derivative of Part I.

The Blu-Ray extras are pretty sparse this time around. There are five making-of featurettes, some extended scenes, and a gag reel. All in all, about forty minutes worth of extras, give or take. What is there is fine, but it is not nearly as much as the releases for the first two movies received.

Overall, the movie is good, but not great. It has the same raunchy comedy that the first two movies had, and Ken Jeong basically steals every scene he is in. It is a bit predictable, but most movies of its ilk tend to be. I cannot say that even fans of the first movie will love this one, but I do think it is an enjoyable ending to the franchise.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Hangover Part II

 

The Hangover Part II is the 2011 follow-up to the massively popular 2009 movie, The Hangover. It again stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, and Justin Bartha, and Ken Jeong. This installment also includes Jeffrey Tambor and brings in Paul Giamatti. The movie definitely has its funny moments, but it feels like a very recycled version of the first money with a plot line that is very similar, just doing things like swapping out the baby for a monkey and changing the setting. So basically, if you have seen the first movie, you have seen many of the jokes in this one. Again, most of the plot involves the characters of Stu (Helms), Phil (Cooper), and Alan (Galifianakis), while keeping Bartha's character, Doug, away from all the shenanigans and avoiding the blackout. Ken Jeong continues to be the scene-stealer that he was in the first movie, and is for me, the highlight of the movie.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the movie looks and sounds very good in the HD format. The film is not really effects-laden but the scenery and cinematography look very good in HD. The extras include an "Unauthorized Documentary" which is basically a making-of documentary, 13-minutes of additional making-of material, a short gag reel, and an action montage. What was included was good, but it is not very extensive.

The movie ends up being a decent comedy and does have funny moments. But, it is way too derivative of the first movie and would have been better (in my opinion) if it did something to change up the plot a bit, such as having Doug being one of the people with his memory of the prior night erased and Alan being the one to have to try and help the group. So, I'd say if you liked the first movie you probably will not hate this one, but you may not like it as much as you did the first one.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Silver Linings Playbook

 

Silver Linings Playbook is a combination of a romantic comedy and a drama. It stars Bradley Cooper as Pat Solitano, a bipolar man who has spent eight months in a psychiatric hospital after beating up the man with whom his wife was having an affair. He moves back in with his parents (played wonderfully by Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver) and makes it his mission (against the advice of everyone) to win his wife back. Pat is invited to dinner by his best friend Ronnie, played by John Ortiz, and meets Ronnie's widowed sister-in-law with mental issues of her own, Tiffany, played by Jennifer Lawrence. Tiffany agrees to help Pat win his ex-wife back on the condition that he enter a dance competition with her as her partner. From there, the typical will-they, won't-they get-together storyline plays out.

The Blu-Ray extras are okay, but not extensive. There are deleted scenes, a relatively short making-of-featurette, a Q&A session featuring the director and some of the cast members after a screening of the movie, and a couple of featurettes on the dance numbers.

Overall, the movie is very good. Cooper does a great job alternating between depressed and manic, basically acting like he is on speed. He has great chemistry with Lawrence (who is a large source of the film's humor, although De Niro and Copper have some very funny moments too) as well as with De Niro. De Niro himself is great as Pat's football-obsessed father who is trying to help his son but really does not know how to do so. The biggest scene-stealer of the movie is Chris Tucker (of Rush Hour fame). He is only in a handful of scenes as Danny, another patient at the hospital who is embroiled in a fight with the hospital about whether they can keep him committed. He keeps managing to get out only to be hauled back by the cops. It's a small role that is not integral to the rest of the movie, but funny nonetheless. Personally, I like that the comedy in the movie is a bit darker than it is in most romantic comedies. It is a movie that is very well-written and acted and is definitely worth checking out.