4k-UHD/Movie Review: Erin Brockovich

 

Erin Brockovich is a 2000 fictionalized biographical film about the legal assistant who helped build the toxic-tort case against Pacific Gas and Electric for groundwater contamination in Hinkley, California. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart, and Marg Helgenberger in the main roles, and includes Cherry Jones, T.J. Thyne, and Tracey Walter in supporting roles. Brockovich and the attorney she worked for, Ed Masry, also have cameo appearances in the film.

In it, Roberts plays Erin Brockovich, an unemployed single mother who is injured in a car accident. She is referred to attorney Ed Masry (played by Finney), who assures her that he expects to win her case at trial. After a loss at trial, Erin shows up at his law firm and talks him into giving her a job. She begins working on a real estate case in which the owners of a power plant are offering to purchase a family's house in Hinkley, California. Brockovich discovers that the city's water is contaminated with toxic Chromium being used at the plant.

The 4k set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a standard blu-ray disc. Both discs contain the same content. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is very good. I would not call either the audio or video transfer reference-quality, but for a film that is dialogue-heavy and does not use computer-generated effects, it looks and sounds great, especially on a large screen with a good sound system. All bonus content is included on the UHD disc and carries over from the original Blu-Ray release. That includes deleted scenes that can be played with or without Soderbergh's commentary, a short interview with the real Erin Brockovich, a making-of featurette featuring interviews with cast members, as well as Brockovich and Ed Masry, the theatrical trailer, and two featurettes centered on the 100th anniversary of Universal Studios.

The film is well-written and very well-acted. It is arguably Roberts' best movie and role, and she absolutely deserved the Academy Award for best actress. It mixed humor and drama very effectively and balanced showing Erin Brockovich's complicated personal life with her devotion to the people she was trying to help. There is a lot of swearing, including a lot of sexual humor, but no nudity. The film is a fictionalized docu-drama. The film mostly stayed true to actual events, but some things were changed or added to the story for dramatic effect. Ultimately, it is a great film that is absolutely worth watching and adding to a physical media collection. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Collection Review: The Oceans Trilogy

 

The Ocean's trilogy is a collection of three movies, starting with the 2001 remake of Ocean's 11 (which originally starred The Rat Pack), followed by the 2004 and 2007 sequels, Ocean's 12 and Ocean's 13. The core cast members of the updated version and the sequels included George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, and Andy Garcia. The supporting cast included Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner, Elliot Gould, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, and Shaobo Qin. The rest of the cast changed from film to film, but included Vincent Cassel, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Robbie Coltrane, Eddie Izzard, Albert Finney, Cherry Jones, Ellen Barkin, Al Pacino, and David Paymer. 

The basic storyline of the first movie is that a group of thieves led by George Clooney and Brad Pitt put together and execute a plan to steal 160 million dollars from a Vegas casino owner (played by Andy Garcia). The sequels stood mostly on their own, essentially as revenge stories. Ocean's 12 and 13 were very different, with Ocean's 12 essentially being an extension of the storyline from the first film, and Ocean's 13 having a more stand-alone story. They are all directed by Steven Soderbergh and maintained the same production team, which I think allowed the films to be cohesive, keeping a similar tone and feel, without being carbon copies of each other. 

The blu-ray set is a four-disc set. The A/V quality of the blu-rays is good, but is probably not what A/V enthusiasts would consider reference quality. Ocean's 13 definitely looks the best of the three. Each movie is on its own disc and includes at least one commentary track, deleted/extended scenes, and some behind-the-scenes material (such as the HBO first looks), specific to the particular movie. The Ocean's 13 disc also includes a feature on real-life heists (such as the MIT card-counting group). Then there is a separate blu-ray with more bonus material around two hours worth of extras that spanned all three movies. 

The movies were well-written and acted. Each film had a mix of comedy and drama, with some action included here and there. Ultimately, if you are a fan of the movies and like watching the bonus material, this is definitely a good pickup.