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Jack Goes Boating [Blu-ray]
(Philip Seymour Hoffman, 2010)
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: Olfactory Productions Video: Overture Films/Anchor Bay Entertainment
Disc: Region: 'A' (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player) Runtime: 1:30:49.444 Disc Size: 24,976,153,640 bytes Feature Size: 20,457,744,384 bytes Video Bitrate: 23.92 Mbps Chapters: 12 Case: Standard Blu-ray case Release date: January 18th, 2011
Video: Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: Dolby TrueHD Audio English 3194 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3194 kbps / 24-bit (AC3 Embedded: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps)
Subtitles: English (SDH), Spanish, none
Extras:
• Jack’s New York (3:51)
Bitrate:
Description: "Jack Goes Boating" is the story of four New Yorkers. Jack and Connie are two single people who on their own might continue... to recede into the anonymous background of the city, but in each other they begin to find the courage and desire to pursue their budding relationship. In contrast, the couple that introduced them, Clyde and Lucy, have been together a long time and are confronting unresolved issues in their marriage. ***
Jack (Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, making
his directorial debut) and Connie (Amy Ryan) are two single
people who on their own might continue to recede into the
anonymous background of New York City, but in each other
begin to find the courage and desire to pursue a budding
relationship. As Jack and Connie cautiously circle
commitment, the couple that introduced them, Clyde (John
Ortiz) and Lucy (Daphne Rubin-Vega), confront their own
unresolved issues, and each couple comes face to face with
the inevitable path of their relationship.
The Film: By Hollywood's staunchly risk-averse standards, the film adaptation of Bob Glaudini's 2007 stage play "Jack Goes Boating" is an exceedingly brave venture. It's an intimate, slice-of-life story in which things move deliberately, character goals are modest, and emotions — both of the internal and external kind — take center stage. The movie, adapted by Glaudini and starring Philip Seymour Hoffman in his feature directing debut, is a vanishing — one could say vanished — breed, harking back to such small, sensitive dramas as Paddy Chayefsky's 1950s classic "Marty," to which "Jack" owes a distinct shout-out. Excerpt from Gary Goldstein of the L.A. Times located HERE
It's expected in a four-character play that all four characters will
come into play, and they do, in an unexpected way. The interplay between
Clyde and Connie is awkward and initially promising, but it's clear they
have a lot of shyness to overcome in catching up to Jack and Lucy.
Still, even happy marriages have their secrets. Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. Jack Goes Boating appears quite modest on Blu-ray from Anchor Bay. The image quality has an intentional less-polished look. The film itself is not very demanding in terms of appearance. Jack Goes Boating avoids a glossy, pristine expression. This is only single-layered and aside from some limited noise seems to give an authentic presentation. I expect that the film looked quite similar theatrically in terms of color and detail. Contrast is adept - the transfer appears heavy and thick - a pleasing film-like look. Daylight scenes or in the pool are more impressive but nothing is stagnantly dark. This Blu-ray, like the film, has a nice realistic feel with no strong deterrents or flaws to the visuals. This is not a film filled with explosive eye-candy to make you sit-up and stare, but the transfer doesn't expose any limitations and represents the film experience as well as one could anticipate. Aside from the small amount of digital noise - I have no complaints.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio :A generous track offered for the mostly dialogue-driven film. We get a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 at a healthy 3194 kbps. There aren't a ton of effects or separations - it's not that type of movie experience - but there are some which respond well when called-upon. There are only a couple of instances of more intense bass. So while it is not a track that you would use for 'demo' purposes it does its job via the lossless rendering. Dialogue is delivered in a vérité style and the scattered-ness is intentional. There is some Bill Evans, Mel Tormé and The Melodians and a variety of artists in the score and they all sound clean and crisp. There are optional English and Spanish subtitles and m y Momitsu has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked disc.
Extras : The supplements are kind of lame. I've enjoyed Hoffman in other commentaries and am surprised one wasn't offered here - for his very own film. I can promise you that I would have indulged. What we do get are some brief snippets - Jack’s New York is less than 4-minutes of exactly what the title suggests, the piece From the Stage to the Big Screen gives us less than 5-minutes with Hoffman, some of the cast and producer giving sound bytes on production and what there involvement was, the play etc. . I had an issue with the 2-minute 'deleted scene' as it showed as a tiny square in the upper left of the screen (both on computer and home theater system). Lastly, there is a theatrical trailer and some previews. I think the film deserved more and some form of more extensive interview with Hoffman would have been something to talk about.
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze January 12th, 2011
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About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500 DVDs and have reviewed over 3500 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.
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