This latest video highlights the environments to be found in the alternate universe of Dark Void. Then again, the only reason you’re reading this is to get a glimpse of the areas that might make it into the Brad Pitt movie, right? Of course!

Year: 1999
Running Time: 139 Minutes
Rated: R
SRP: $34.99
Studio(s): 20th Century Fox
Release Date: November 17, 2009

Film/Feature: A+
Fight Club was heralded by modern and contemporary critics and masculine film buffs alike, as a modern American classic, ten years ago for its relevance and its harsh comment on this country’s way of life. With the 10th Anniversary blu-ray release, it was a proper time to revisit Fight Club to see whether or not that kind of immediate reaction aged well over time.

Chuck Palahniuk’s novel, Fight Club looked at how susceptible ordinary people can be while working in soul-sucking careers. Though it’s not the career paths, but rather our dependency on the consumer cycle of the world that sucked the most of us. Slaves to insurmountable debt, slaves to the things we feel the need to buy, eventually makes us slaves to our jobs; Fight Club is as timely now more than ever. As a nation, we’re worse off than in 1999: iPhones, Blackberries, hybrid cars, XBOXs or PS3s, Costco memberships, Widescreen LCD TV’s, casual Fridays, country club lifestyles and the retro fashion revival of the 80′s. Yeah, it’s that last one that puts us over the edge. Two market crashes and a shortage of jobs, those things that consumed our free time, also consumed what was left in our bank accounts. Our belongings would eventually own us, and whether you agree with that philosophy or not, there’s nothing stopping the one-direction moving walkway.

David Fincher faithfully adapted Palahniuk’s fiction novel in a way that plucked a universal chord among many film buffs widespread across the country. Though supported by the studio, Fight Club took a life of its own, mostly on DVD. Its cynical and prophetic ways were razzed nationally by critics who felt it was the shining example of the downfall of cinema. Quite the contrary, it endured and the fascination spread like a resilient epidemic popping up in art houses on an annual basis. People liked what the film said, where it went, and who drove behind the wheel. Fight Club attacked the culture that generations built their worlds around, it targeted corporate brands and put a cynical choke hold on liberal media after they tried to strike it down with conservative criticism, and therefore in some insane ironic imitation of art, gave legitimacy to Tyler Durdenisms. It’s a story of men getting back to the basics and tearing down the system, piece-by-piece, sticking it to the man, but who also lost sight of what was right in front of them.

Ten years ago we were introduced to Edward Norton’s nameless schlub, a young professional with no emotional connections. Be becoming a support group voyeur, he lived through other people’s sorrow. He was an addict and needed saving and found it in his antithesis, a part-time soap salesman/part-time anarchist, Tyler Durden. Played by Brad Pitt, Durden becomes the good Shepard, the Yoda for frat boys with too much testosterone. With his newfound friend, Norton and Pitt’s alter egos massage their masculinity by pummeling the flesh of each other and similar lost men, looking to feel something–anything. Durden dominates Norton’s character, like a boy who masters the controls of a remote controlled plane, performing stunts, assigning homework for an anarchist’s way of life, full of simple mantras and maxims. Armed with a legion of dolts, that could only be derailed by a woman.

Helena Bonham Carter played an arousing adversary named Marla, whose odd behavior and blithe disregard for others is initially met with a bad taste of cigarette butts and typhoid fever. You wanted to damn her feminine ways; rid yourself of her compassionate heart and silence her incessant moans of delight. But as Norton’s character spirals into his own darkness, the resistance towards Marla turns into sympathy; especially after a dramatic U-turn.

Fight Club is its own support group, for those who bought into its cinematic brilliance from our couches. It’s never as good as the first time you went to Fight Club–well, you know why–you had to fight. While none of us could ever truly wrap our heads around Norton’s nameless character, nor his sickness, we continue to come to the Fight Club to watch him fulfill his destiny. The Fight Club support group may have an improved new look and a brand new sound in blu-ray, but it will still surround you with its big manly bitch tits for you to cry in and give you an outlet to destroy something that’s beautiful. Besides, 10 years later, it’s still cheaper than going to a movie, and there’s still the free coffee.

Video: A
For the first time Fight Club is seen in high definition on a 1080p AVC-encoded transfer in the original 2.40:1 aspect ratio, and I do declare that this is a transfer that would make Jack proud. Fight Club has always had this designed look of a gritty, messy and imperfect look. And all of that is maintained, but detail has taken a step upward. The texture of skin and the pores are clearly visible. From well-aged leather and wool to a flannel shirt bought at the thrift store, the texture of clothes are easily distinguishable, despite all of the tunnel dark sequences. In one scene, I noticed the color of Edward Norton’s eyes have this blue-ish green color that I had never previously never saw before. Some of the other visual notes I rave about are the shine on liquid, sweat, and blood; the reflections in see-thru glass, even being able to see through Brad Pitt’s amber shades. The dark locations cast dozens of shadows on people’s skin and the delineation, and overlapping of those shadows are clearly reproduced. Blacks are intensely deep, and some look more vibrant, more colorful than when I first remembered seeing it on DVD. For example when Tyler picks up Marla from her apartment. The green glow from the hallway lights bouncing of the sickly green walls really shines. There are no obnoxious post-enhancement effects, artifacts or haloing. Grain is present but is purposely placed so to give a manly, weathered look and this transfer preserves Fincher’s vision.

Audio: A+
Okay now we’re getting to my favorite part of this release. Fight Club on blu-ray sports a 5.1 English DTS-HD Dolby TrueHD audio track; I believe I’ve died and gone to Durden Heaven. To say this audio track is explosive would be understating it. It gets in your grill, it rattled your ear drums, and it triggers your other senses. Your nose will flare, your mouth will drool, and the hair on your neck will have a collective hard-on. It’s incredibly immersive, full of subtle sounds that recreate each location on screen, inside your viewing room. From the opening title sequence to the Dust Brothers score, to the closing scene with the Pixies, your head will morph into a rattle as the music swirls around your head.

There are three scenes I want to point out. The first is the transition from Chapter 8 into 9, where Jack character is talking about his “Single Serving Life” when his plane rips in half. The winds come tearing through and roar past your head, your subwoofer sounds as if it rips a hole in your floor. Mind-blowing, I tell you. In Chapter 27, Tyler drives the stretch car into a parked car and launches off the edge of the road. You can feel the weight of both cars on the impact, all of the glass breaking and flying in every direction, a large tree scraping by and the rain dropping into puddles after the car comes to a complete stop. Finally, all of the scenes in the actual Fight Club itself, create this Colosseum environment, where the crowd noise such as the spitting, the buzz of the lights, the echo of Tyler’s voice, the sound levels distortion; all of it, add more expression to these scenes. You’ll be able to explore these scenes more in-depth in the extras. But it’s not all about the crazy sound effects. A lot of it is atmosphere. There’s a ramping up of the music in dream sequences, or internal thoughts, the sleep-inducing quiet of a desk job. Ren Klyce was nominated for an Oscar in Sound Effects Editing and it’s well-deserved. This is one of the most exciting soundtracks I’ve heard this year. Folks, this is the reason you get a blu-ray player.

Other audio selections include: 2.0 English, 5.1 DTS French, 5.1 Dolby Digital Spanish and Portuguese tracks; subtitles are available in English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Cantonese, and Mandarin.

Extras: A+
Exclusive to Blu-Ray
Since this is an anniversary disc and you’ll be trying to determine if you want this or not, I’m pushing the Blu-Ray exclusives up before the DVD extras, which have been ported over from the fine 2-disc collection. Also note that all of the extras and film fit on one disc, so when I commonly gripe about packing more on less, this is what I’m talking about folks. Also there is a big of a gag that Fincher put in that is best experienced by just loading the disc up. I’m sure by the time you read this, it will have been spoiled on the internet, but just remember back when Fight Club was first released how poorly it did and the bad reception it got from critics, as well as what was playing at that time.

A Hit in the Ear: Ren Klyce and the Sound Design of Fight Club HD is a cool interactive feature where after hearing one of Fincher’s right hand men, sound designer Ren Klyce talk about trying to find and create those perfects sounds. Klyce recalls how they created the perfect sound for that thrusting punch to match the ghastly images on the screen. In the interactive experience, you get to hear the difference in tweaking the audio in two different environments as well as being able to tinker with each channel in your home theater setup, with four scenes: Welcome to Fight Club, Angel Faces Beating, The Crash, and Tyler’s Goodbye.

Flogging Fight Club HD (9:58) is brief look at Spike TV’s honoring of Fight Club’s 10th Anniversary by its acceptance into the “Guy Movie Hall of Fame.” Half of it is a five-minute clip montage of the film, but the rest of it is Fincher, Pitt and Norton writing their acceptance speech, performing their speech which included laughing at the least-flattering taglines by critics, highlighted by Pitt reading a quote from Kenneth Turan of the LA Times and saying, “He is a cock.”

Insomniac Mode: I am Jack’s Search Index is another user-friendly feature that allows a user to sift through all of the topics and then where ever these topics are discussed, you get a listing of all of them, and you can skip directly to that reference. Fox also categorized each commentary track so you can peruse and cherry pick what you want to hear in each commentary. For example if you want to jump to a story involving IKEA and the Soundtrack liner notes, you can go right to that point of the Fincher commentary instead of trying to remember what chapter that may be in.

Old Extras

There’s a ton of features I forgot about by looking through this collection of great DVD extras. After being accustomed to seeing everything in high definition though, its too bad we could get to see this stuff remastered as well. Another user detail I found sorely missing out of the DVD extras is a “Play All” feature. First, there are FOUR audio commentaries in all and all of them are well done.

Audio Commentary by:
#1 David Fincher speaks about dealing with studios, how he stumbled on the book and how Fox came into purchasing the rights to the movie, advertising, his favorite parts, and the destruction of buildings at the end was actually the first thing that was done. There are only English and French, Dannish, Finnish, Dutch, Norwegian, and Swedish subtitles for this commentary.

#2 David Fincher, Brad Pitt, Edward Norton are in the same room talking about bonding, putting Edward through the wringer, the controversy over Fight Club being labeled a violent film, the dispelling of pro-fascism, their reactions to how slow it took with the public amongst dozens of other things. They yuck it up and is one of my favorite commentaries because I think we get a true sense of working relationship but their friendship. You walk away thinking, “I want to hang out with these guys!” Helena Bonham Carter’s comments, which were recorded separately are added on scenes with Marla or anything else she wanted to chime in on like how Fight Club is as much a generational representation of women today as it is men. There are only English and French, Dannish, Finnish, Dutch, Norwegian, and Swedish subtitles for this commentary.

#3 Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club) and Jim Uls (screenplay) discuss adapting the novel to film, how Meatloaf’s fat suit violates health codes for Planet Hollywood, benefits of sitting in cancer support groups, the real people the characters are based on, research for the book, the speed at which cancer kills, and other little known facts about the film. There are a lot more moments of silence in this commentary but it’s no less interesting than the other tracks. There are only English and French subtitles for this commentary.

#4 Alex McDowel (Production Designer), Jeff Cronenweth (Director of Photography), Michael Kaplan (Costume Designer) and Kevin Haug (VisualFX Supervisor) cover everything else including five “subliminal Brads”, the look and tone, creating real support groups, Lighting, Costuming, working with Fincher, prank cigarette burns, whether or not the Paper Street house was real or fiction, and the rest of the nooks and crannies not covered in the other three tracks. There are only English and French subtitles for this commentary.

Behind-the-Scenes Vignettes with Multiple Angles and Commentary SD by Kevin Haug (VisualFX Supervisor) Cliff Wnger (Special FX Coordinator) Kevin Mack (Visual FX for Digital Domain), and Richard “Doc” Bailey (Digital Animation Supervisor/Producer). You can choose a segment (Production, Visual Effects, On Location) and then within one of these processes, you can choose various angles and commentary tracks. It’s just another example of the all-access openness that Fincher has on his films.

Seven Deleted and Alternate Scenes SD Chloe and Rupert (00:53), Marla’s Pillow Talk (00:35), Copier Abuse (3:15) Tyler Quits Smoking–with two angles (1:28) Angel face’s beating–with two angles (3:14) Walter (1:39) Tyler’s Goodbye (1:55)

Promotional Gallery
Lobby Cards/Advertising – 21 Stills (1:40) Press Kit – 35 stills (2:50) Stills – 157 Stills (13:05)

Art Galleries
Storyboards for the entire film– 267 stills (22:16), Visual Effects–18 stills (1:25), Paper Street House –37 stills (3:05), Costumes and Makeup –22 stills (1:50), Pre-Production Paintings –50 stills (4:10), Brain Ride-Map –34 stills (2:50),

Transcript of Edward Norton Interview at Yale University October 3, 1999is fine read about his character at 13 screen shots long.

Rounding out the extras are Three Trailers, Two movie theater PSAs, 12 TV Spots SD, Five Internet Spots SD, Dust Brothers Music Video SD (3:32)

Overall Shock Value: A+
After 10 years since the first punch was thrown, I’m still spitting up blood. With big corporate buyouts, massive debt across the country, and the desire to buy-buy-buy, we move closer to a homogenized and mass consumer-centric generation. And of course, buying this blu-ray plays right into that ploy of consumerism. Don’t cha just love irony? This continues to be an American classic, of a cynical breed of filmmaking that speaks to many generations, man and woman, young and old. The blu-ray interactive extras are fun little adventures, but I am always going to lean towards superior sound and picture as the biggest reason to upgrade when it’s deserving. The new DTS-HD soundtrack is as perfect as it gets, and the transfer projects Fight Club as we’ve never seen before. So for that alone, I highly recommend upgrading to blu-ray.

FILM: A+
What defines our legacy? The way we lived, the way we die? The people we leave behind, the people we’ve touched, or those who we’ve hurt? Will our accomplishments be the best of us, or the failures? Success or scandal? Perhaps it’s the material belongings, art with our name on it, a simple photograph.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button follows the life from birth to death of one man who didn’t live an extraordinary life outside of one difference. He was born old physically, not mentally. He lives by growing younger, and when he dies, physically it will be as an infant. That monumental difference makes him a unique man, one which many of us envy. After age 40, most yearn to be much younger. But living is what you do between birth and death and Button (Brad Pitt) adapted to his peculiar circumstance. His mother died from his birth, his father rejected him and left him at the steps of a retirement home. One of the workers, Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) found him on the steps and was accepted in open arms, old age and all. In fact, by cheating death, he fit right in.

But the people he grew up with him in the Nolan House passed, a theme throughout the film, and it’s not until the granddaughter of one of the residents frequently visited that he found a reason to start living. Daisy (Cate Blanchett) found Benjamin fascinating, sensing something different about him, and with each visit she grew up. Benjamin was getting younger and began to experience the world outside. His story was just beginning.

We learn about the chapters of Button’s life as an 85-year old Daisy lies on her deathbed, her daughter (Julia Ormond) reading Button’s Diary aloud. His first job, his experience with the war, his first affair, and his unconditional love for Daisy and those who loved him the same way. And while comparing it to Forrest Gump might be easy to do Button’s life is one that a small circle of people get to really feel the impact. His legacy is a membership of ten to twelve people and he’s not responsible for any landmark moments in life, but he experienced them just the same as many of us, as witnesses.

With the help of Peter Badalamenti, Robert Towers, and Tom Everett (who play the “earlier years” of Button) Pitt is able to emote the thoughts and attitude of life’s different stages through his face no matter how old the viewer is. He tells us when he’s bewildered by something new, solemn, or let down through his eyes or the way he tilts in his head. He is to David Fincher as what James Stewart was to Hitchcock, or Leo DiCaprio is to Scorsese. Fincher takes arguably the biggest male celebrity of our days and brings him to our level, ordinary and an innocent bystander is this crazy thing we call life.

This is Fincher’s seventh feature film and is the most least likely of projects he’d be interested in. His body of work has always carried the weight of skepticism, cynicism and grim outlook of the world. This though, was something unexpected. Benjamin Button on paper felt like a Ron Howard film, but the guy who made Se7en? No. From the guy who made Zodiac? Most definitely. Zodiac gave Fincher the confidence to believe he could direct anything from nothing. If you saw how he created much of that film in special effects, you’d know that solving the problem of aging a man backwards was nothing but a technicality that he would figure out with his team of visual technicians. But Fincher recreates these time periods to fabricate a very real moment in time, real places to which we can relate to when all we had was the people in our lives and not just the off/on switch of a computer. The eras portrayed in the film warp us to much more contemplative days, when reflection was important and when life was so precious. So what brought Fincher to this sappy life of Benjamin Button?

It was a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby), from a collection of works called Tales of the Jazz Age. It’s no doubt a love story, but the comparisons between young and old were intangibles, but not just in the physical sense. I believe it’s the way Benjamin and Daisy view the world at various phases of their lives, their melancholic stroll through life, harmonic one moment, tragic the next. Youth services itself, and as one gets older, life is servicing others. How these divergent paths at life repeatedly cross paths at different moments and how the bond between them survives is a strong testament to the human condition and of love no matter what. But Fincher was ultimately drawn to the one thing that takes it away.

Because only then do any of us begin to look at a legacy, what we may leave behind, what we’ll be remembered for. The fear of not being able to add to it, to prolong it, to understand it, or even to remember it, sets in. By then it’s too late. Too late to regret, to be angry or change. You just have to let it go.

VIDEO: A+
Benjamin Button was captured on 1080p AVC-encoded high definition transfer that preserves the 2.40:1 aspect ratio, and what a fine transfer it is. Cinematography was just beautiful at times, scenes like the brothel, the Russian hotel, and the church tent were lit with low lit lamps and bulbs dripping in golden ambers and browns. Contrast ratio is set at the perfect level as shadow delineation was clear, and reflected off a polished surfaces. It just all looked so remarkable despite not trying to be overly showy. I want to add, as explained in the insert, that the film was shot almost exclusively in digital using a Viper FilmStream and Sony F23 cameras and then color corrected with FilmLight’s Baselight system. The exception to this was a few scenes shot in 35mm and then all of it was transferred to blu-ray.

The few bright colors that show themselves in either a painted wall, any one of Daisy’s dresses or on a shiny taxi cab look brilliant, but the real colors of the dark and muted world are on display most of the time. Blacks are rich and deep but without any loss of detail. Textures like the costumes accurately show the leather, wool, tweed and fabrics of their respected time periods. Skin tones not only look good but show a broad spectrum of work done by the aging teams. The prosthetic work to show old age, or digital work to take years away really wasn’t distracting. Perhaps the first time you see Benjamin in a different age, especially when appearing much older but otherwise the make-up work was seamless. Fincher’s crew have become masters at blending the effects so that they don’t look unnatural; an amazing effort that made it difficult to distinguish a practical shot from a digitally altered one. All under a soft and slightly grainy and diffused filter, Benjamin Button is just a gorgeous film and reference material for those who are aware of the subtle details of filmmaking.

AUDIO: A+
Flaunting a full-bodied 5.1 DTS-HD lossless audio track that’s filled with a variety of sounds but what stood out to me were the environment elements like the outdoor noises of morning, the chugging engine of a Model-T car, or the surrounding chatter in an old folks home really make this a fine audio mix. Of course there are moments that remind you it’s a big movie. Armistice Day fireworks appropriately burst and crackle the subwoofer in Benjamin’s introduction and the attack from the submarine makes you feel like you’re on the deck of the ship as bullets spray all around you-a definite demo chapter. Dynamic range is good whether it’s big moments like these or it’s Daisy on her deathbed whispering her last thoughts. Last but not forgotten is the music of Alexandre Desplat’s score, a lacy detail that shouldn’t go unnoticed in this complex mix. Also included are a 5.1 DD French and Spanish tracks with subtitles in English, English SDH, French and Spanish.

EXTRAS: A+
The Criterion Collection always puts forth the maximum effort with their editions of movies and their slow entrance into blu-ray thus far has been exceptional, continuing with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. First I need to glow on about the supplements and menu designer, David Prior which continued the look of an old 8 mm camera, complete with scratches and specks all on the screen with artsy stills consisted of empty set locations and black and white photography. In all of the interviews with cast and crew, a classic serif font is imposed on top a large script font running backward and just fits the film. The insert is the essay, The Man Who Watched The Hours Go By by Film Comment’s critic and editor-at-large, Kent Jones who always knows how to put a film into words. All of the supplements are in high definition, widescreen, and in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo.

Disc One
Audio Commentary by Director, David Fincher is a great primer for the rest of the extras. He talks at a comfortable, relaxed rate about regrets, crucial technical decisions, death, misconceptions and incorrect public assumptions, and an ongoing theme of changing relationships. After turning the commentary on, there’s a Commentary Index that categorizes what Fincher talks about. There’s also a Timeline which you can start at different stages of Benjamin’s aging and bookmark it. Just more details by Criterion and Prior to show that this disc really cares about the film student.

Disc Two
The second disc which holds the bulk of the extra material is broken down into four categories: First Trimester, Second Trimester, Third Trimester, and Birth where each section explains which part of the filmmaking process of Benjamin Button. There is a play all option which plays most of the featurettes but if you play each section separately, then there are some vignettes and galleries that can be accessed that can’t be in the ?play all? option. Subtitles are available in English, French and Spanish.

FIRST TRIMESTER
Preface HD (3:08) – Fincher talks about his experience saying goodbye to his father and offers us a sampling of what he personally drew from for this story. Development and Pre-Production HD (28:56) – discusses how F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story in his anthology, Tales of the Jazz Age became a film project. Originally it began as a Steven Spielberg film with Tom Cruise, then a Ron Howard production then a David Fincher film. The big hurdle was how to execute the aging, and the location switch from Baltimore to New Orleans. Techical Scouts HD (12:23) – is one of the best extras I’ve seen in some time showing the footage of scouting locations for individual scenes to be shot where and how. It’s pretty amazing to see Fincher illustrate what each scene will and should look like, what needs to be changed, how the camera will shoot each scene, out of seemingly nothing when they’re ready to shoot. The true visionary foresight of a master. Storyboard Gallery (3:39) - 220 snapshots of digital and hand drawn storyboards. Production Gallery (00:49) – is a mixture of beautiful 49 diffused photos in black and white photos and color, paintings, of the shoot.

SECOND TRIMESTER
Production Part I HD (26:15) – starts off with the World War I Sequences with the stunts and saving money by being creative instead of being cheap, being historically accurate, casting Jason Flemyng and Taraji P. Henson, making animatronic babies and cinematographer Claudio Miranda talking about working with the Viper digital camera vs. the Dalsa. Production Part II HD (29:03) – picks up with the The Nolan House, Putting the Tugboat together on the Sony Lot, Make-up and prosthetics, the meticulous David Fincher, shooting Paris in Montreal, and working with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. Costume Design HD (7:38) – costume designer, Jacqueline West is interviewed about her preparation, and fittings with Brad and Cate and being in charge of creating 5000 costumes. Costume Gallery (00:24) – 24 pics of different costumes showcasing West’s work.

THIRD TRIMESTER HD
Nearly every corner is left uncovered in this Visual Effects and post-production exploration. Performance Capture (7:43) – shows how technology was used throughout the film. Benjamin (16:56) – takes a deeper look into Pitt’s face acting, animating hair, skin, and eyes. Youthenization (6:21) – shows how digital effects made brad and cate younger. The Chelsea (8:48) – While the tugboat was made from scratch and shot on the Sony lot, the water and the surroundings were all digital effects, even the submarine. The Simulated World (12:52) – One can believe a fabricated world if the details are done well. Paris, train stations, environments and even the clocks were all fabricated in some way shape or form. Sound Design (16:06) – capturing background noise, sound effects, and voicing Brad and Cate for each age. Alexandre Desplat’s Instrumentartion (14:53) – interviews the composer and takes a look at him creating the score as well as some of the musicians in his ensemble.

BIRTH
Premiere (4:20) The ceremony in New Orleans some parting words from the filmmakers and cast, and those involved with the featurettes. Production Stills (2:01) – 121 More production shots of principal shooting and behind the camera footage. Closing out the extras are two HD Trailers, a teaser (1:49) and a much longer theatrical one (2:42).

Overall Shock Value: A+
Fincher does it again. It’s a phrase I never get tired of saying because he continues to impress me as a filmmaker and a storyteller. After exhausting every second of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and its extras, this Criterion Collection blu-ray is a must-buy. Fincher always opens his movie-making process to the public and with each film he does we learn so much more than the last. Who’d have thought, Fincher would have put out this film, a film about unconditional love, life and death; yet his cynicism and pessimistic stamp is clearly there in its digital filmmaking glory. With a superb transfer, a smart and balanced audio mix, and supplements to keep you busy imagining endlessly, this is the essential way to watch this film. Go out and own it!

Ernie Estrella

Feature: C

Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) is a miserable man who is introduced as he is being fired by the CIA. His wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton) has tired of him and his antics, but mostly because he’s home now and she has to try a little harder to maintain the secrecy of her affair with Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney). Pfarrer seems to be haunted by his own personal demons as the average slime bucket, and suspects someone is following him. He lies, he cheats and preys on insecure women on the internet. Which brings us to Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), a struggling personal trainer with no money, no man and is obsessed with keeping a youthful appearance. Litzke’s boss Ted (Richard Jenkins) discourages these ideas of hers because he holds a deep affection for her. Litzke’s sidekick, Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) encourages her ploys but both of them are like bumbling clowns, unable to get out of each other’s way. What do these two groups of people have in common? Absolutely nothing but their paths converge in a silly but genuinely entertaining way concerning a compact disc of information.

The plot shifts into overdrive once Pfarrer and Feldheimer do meet briefly and at that point the story is driving without brakes. Cox inner and outer alcoholic shows up as he begins to catch on, Litzke becomes a reckless wreck and yes, the CIA is still involved. I know not what inspired Ethan and Joel Coen to come up with this film. It’s an odd, yet comedic effort on par with earlier collaboration on Intolerable Cruelty or the Ladykillers.

Is there a point to the Coen’s latest film? Are they trying to say something about the CIA or personal trainers specifically? I doubt it. I think they just tried to take two different worlds and put them in a very bizarre situations. The two groups of people would never come up in a conversation otherwise. It does show how desperation and a lack of money can drive someone to cast aside logic and act stupidly. But are you really acting stupidly if you are inherently stupid, or are you just acting within the limits of your capacity? And is this what we have to look forward to in our forties?

Still, I enjoyed the what Jenkins, Swinton, and Pitt brought to the film. McDormand, Clooney, and Malkovich do not disappoint, but do they really ever? The story however may not be enough to satisfy film buffs. It’s like biting into a gorgeous apple turnover covered in powdered sugar and tasting only a few chunks of fruit. The right taste is there but it just needs more, a lot more.

Presentation C+

First thing I do now every time I watch a Universal blu-ray is go to the set-up screen and turn OFF the button sounds. Packaging is basic and so is the menu as far as Subtitles are available in English SDH (Subtitled for the Dead and Hard-of-Hearing, Spanish, and French.

Video: B+

Burn After Reading exhibits more bright scenes than dark ones. The 1080P/AVC-MPEG 4 transfer has lots of detail to view and some scenes are set up with lots of depth to them. Nothing particular is distracting or artificial to complain as far as the transfer goes. But I’ll add that there’s nothing to marvel at either. I will say that this is the first film that shows Pitt has significantly aged since his more notable landmark roles, and high definition does nothing to hide that. It does play nicely into portraying a middle-aged physical trainer who is aware of how to keep young but really has only succeeded in keeping his mind young at heart.

Audio: B-

The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio is a bit wasted here since there’s no showcase scene to speak of where all that juice could be put to use. All is quiet on Subwoofer Lane, as is Surrounds Street. It’s almost all dialogue and music from the center and fronts with some panning effects as cars drive by. Normally I expect most Universal DTS-HD tracks to have a much deft and weight and this plays like a small film on all levels but that was the original design of the film itself. It doesn’t aspire to be much more than a chatty film and it accomplishes that with no technical deficiencies.

Extras: D

Either the Coen Brothers just despise the home format of films or they or the studio just does not want to put any money or effort in doing real extras. Not that this is a film that you’d expect to have 9 hours of footage, but something that resembles a sincere embrace of the blu-ray or DVD would be nice or perhaps yet another deluxe release of the Big Lebowski.

What we do find on Burn After Reading are three extras sliced from a single EPK (for some cable movie promotion channel I’m sure). Why all three clips were not just condensed into on 20 minute clip is beyond me. Anyway, Finding the Burn (5:31) is mostly the Coen Brothers finding a way to describe what the films is about. DC Insiders Run Amuch (12:24) speaks briefly about casting Pitt, McDormand, Malkovich, and the set design. I don’t understand why they isolated Welcome Back George (2:51) when it’s clear it belongs in with the previous feature because the only people who contribute to it are the Coen Brothers and the costume designer. It’s about trying to dork Clooney up in normal clothes and the Coens repeatedly writing idiot roles for him.

BD-Live features

The only thing offered as far as high def exclusives are is the insignificant My Scenes features where you can clip out your favorite scenes and post them in your BD-Live network to your friends. Even the patented Universal U-Control is even absent on this disc. Sorry folks, there’s just not much here to speak of.

Overall Shock Value: C+

Burn After Reading is a simple film about middle-aged simpletons in two completely unrelated professions acting very unprofessional. After the cerebral cat and mouse chase of No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers take a bizarre trip with this dark and twisted comedy that’s a little light on calories compared to what’s on the rest of their menu; but it definitely belongs there because I don’t? believe it belongs anywhere else. While it doesn’t make an overwhelming impression. It’s the type of Coen Brother film that will probably get a nice following on cable television and be one of those movies you can’t help but watch over and over again whenever it’s on. The short running time could make it easily into many half or full-day blu-ray Coen marathons for completists but a sparse selection of extras, it’s a rental recommendation for everyone else.