The Devil Inside [Blu-Ray]

Even though it came out early in the year, The Devil Inside is still the worst movie of 2012. It pretty much already holds the title as the worst exorcism movie of all time.

The Movie:

The Exorcist totally ruined exorcism movies for everybody. Not because it was bad, mind you, but because it was good. Too good, even. It was nominated for Best Picture in 1973, losing to The Sting. (But really, what could beat The Sting?) The main problem, though, is that no exorcism movie could ever out-scare The Exorcist, as some people call it the scariest movie of all time. Now, I wouldn?t go that far -- The Grudge and A Tale of Two Sisters shall always be my reigning champions -- but still, nothing else can touch it. That?s why exorcism movies these days have to have something unique about them to make them relevant. The Exorcism of Emily Rose had the court trial, and The Last Exorcism had that, well, that ending. But do you want to know what makes The Devil Inside different? The answer to that is that I have no idea. It doesn?t even feel like a movie, but rather like you?re watching your own brain cells dying right in front of you. It?s so bad that it?s not even mediocre. It?s god-awful and one of the worst movies I?ve ever seen in my entire life. I condemn this film to Hell!

I can?t even say that the found-footage thing is unique about it since The Last Exorcism already covered that. All this film has going for it is nuns with opaque eyes and insufferable cheek-jiggling from those who are possessed. So if you find that scary, then you might want to check this movie out. But if you do find that scary, then you?re probably only seven years old and really shouldn?t be at this site in the first place. I mean, we can drop cuss words here, son. Like shit. And damn. For example, this movie is damn shitty. And even that weird contortionist scene that you saw in the trailer isn?t worth a damn given the context of the rest of this film. It?s like watching something on TLC. ?I?m a Teenage Contortionist.? It?s really that lame. Seriously, The Devil Inside wasn?t worth watching in the movie theater and it?s not worth watching here on Blu-ray. Especially with the nonexistent special features, but I?ll get to that later.

The worst part about The Devil Inside, though, is the ending, which is a total smack in the face to anybody who expects a movie to have an ending that makes any sense and isn?t super abrupt. Throughout the film, the protagonist, who has gotten a cameraman and two rouge priests to exorcise her mother, makes dumb decision after dumb decision. But nothing is dumber than her decision at the end, which leads to the most inconclusive finale I think I?ve ever seen in all my years of watching movies. When I saw this film back in the theater, one person even threw their soda bottle at the screen in anger. I?ve never seen that before. Then again, I do go to a pretty tame movie theater. I should have seen this in the run-down theater by my house. The patrons there probably ripped out seats and raised hell. I would have liked to have seen that. At least then I would have seen something interesting.

Overall, The Devil Inside is one of the most off-the-rails train wrecks I?ve ever seen. I?ve watched a lot of horror movies, and The Devil Inside is the worst. I can?t recommend this film to anybody. The power of Christ compels you not to watch this film. And if you already bought it, then the power of Christ compels you to throw it in the garbage. God loves everybody. But He doesn?t love this film.

The Disc:

If I could give a disc zero stars, I would. This disc is fucking pathetic. The special features include?well, there are no special features. Unless you consider French or Spanish subtitles a special feature, which I don?t. I consider that to be a standard. I?m actually upset that they even put that on here. The Spanish language doesn?t deserve to be sullied by this script.

The biggest football-in-the-groin, though, is that you know they didn?t put any effort into this Blu-Ray because everybody already spread the word that this movie deserves to burn in Hell. I?m actually surprised it even got a Blu-Ray release. I mean, who the hell would actually pay money for this shit? Again, I mean. Everybody already knows it?s awful. It received an F from CinemaScore, and that?s a vote by actual audiences. If the film?s target market gave the film a unanimous thumbs down, then what makes anybody think they wouldn?t have already told people already to steer clear of this nonsense? It?s no wonder there?s no commentary, deleted scenes, or even trailers for this bomb. There are only so many ways that I can say this disc is crap so I?ll leave it at that. This disc is a piece of shit!

The Devil Inside [Blu-Ray] DetailsDistributor: Paramount Home EntertainmentStarring: Fernanda Andrade, Simon QuartermanDirected by: William Brent BellProduced by: Matthew Peterman, Morris PaulsonWritten by: William Brent Bell, Matthew Peterman

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The Grey [Blu-ray]

Aside from The Avengers, The Grey is the best movie of 2012 so far. No question.

The Movie:

There are many films about survival out there, and these movies usually leave you with a fulfilling conclusion where the hero succeeds and is happy at the end to be alive. And then there?s The Grey, which is one of the darkest, most hopeless films I?ve ever seen. I won?t spoil the ending for you, but let me tell you, you won?t turn it off and say, ?Wow, that was inspirational.? Instead, you?ll probably say, ?God, I want to go take a shower and then kill myself.?

The story takes place in Alaska after one of the worst plane crashes ever put to film. If you?re even slightly nervous about getting on a plane, never watch this film in your life. You will never get on a plane again. After said crash, Liam Neeson, who plays John Ottway, a character who has already attempted suicide (talk about an uplifting picture!), must try to keep the survivors of the plane alive as ravenous wolves pick them apart one by one. It?s a family movie! But seriously, what makes this film such a masterpiece is their discussions and interactions in the face of death. None of the survivors feel stereotypical or contrived and you really hope that at least some of them will make it to some sort of satisfying end. Again, I won?t spoil the conclusion, but, well, that hope isn?t met the way you might think.

Many of the film's detractors thought the movie itself didn?t match all the trailers that made it look like it would be an hour-and-a-half version of the Liam Neeson punching wolves to their death, a la a Chuck Norris fan?s wet dream. And those people have a point, as it?s not that kind of movie and the trailers were misleading. But now that it?s home on Blu-Ray and that knowledge is out there, I think it can fully be appreciated as the meditative film that it is, and it succeeds on every level. I absolutely adore this film.

It?s a true man vs. nature vs. faith kind of movie. Throughout, the characters, knowing that death is imminent, question their beliefs and feelings on what could be on the other side of the grey in that much deeper, more nebulous world that is the afterlife, or the lack thereof. I?ve really never seen so much atheism in a commercial film, and it?s actually pretty refreshing. Being a person of faith, it?s nice to see the other perspective in Hollywood. You don?t normally get to see that much gumption in a movie for the general public, which is why it was probably not received as well as it should have been. It was too deep for many, and not violent enough for the rest. It?s a thoroughly harrowing film that doesn?t leave much room for entertainment and fun, but if that?s your kind of movie, as it is for me, then you?ll love The Grey. Again, it?s best movie of the year. Outside of The Avengers, of course. But that movie was pretty much perfect. You can?t get any better than that.

The Disc:

Talking shit, drinking scotch, dissing Pauly Shore...this commentary has it all. And I wonder if I love the commentary so much because I love the movie so much, or because the commentary is just that good. Either way, it?s immensely entertaining, with director Joe Carnahan and editors Roger Barton and Jason Hellmann going through the movie scene-by-scene, just talking about life and the film in general, which is always my favorite kind of commentary -- a slice of life with a slice of the film. It?s so much better than overly celebratory (even though there?s plenty of celebration here, too) commentaries that don?t say anything at all. Joe Carnahan really hits the glass pretty hard during the almost two-hour running time, as by the end of it, he starts openly talking about who he disliked making the movie with. It?s enjoyable to say the least. The director doesn?t pull any punches.

The deleted scenes make up the rest of the special features, and while none of them are all that great -- they?re pretty much just a lot of more shots of how crippling the weather is?but they really don?t need to be all that great. The commentary itself is worth buying the Blu-Ray. If you like dark films, buy this flick.

Starring: Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, Dallas Roberts, Joe Anderson, Nonso Anozie, James Badge Dale, Ben Hernandez BrayProduced by: Ross Fanger, Jennifer Hilton Monroe, Bill Johnson, Adi Shankar, Spencer SilnaWritten by: Joe Carnahan & Ian Mackenzie Jeffers

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The Innkeepers [Blu-Ray]

It's the final weekend of business for the century-old Yankee Pedlar Inn. Working stiffs Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy) make up the entire staff and have decided that, between delivering their guests' requisite clean towels and sheets, they will be spending these last days trying to capture real evidence of one of the many ghosts that are said to haunt the place.

The Movie:

Like his work or not, Ti West's follow up to The House of the Devil is another fine piece of craftsmanship. The young man simply knows how to make a movie, and especially one on his own terms. Though some would complain that this is yet another West film where nothing happens, or rather more accurately where "nothing" happens until the last 20 minutes, it's hard not to admire how well it is orchestrated. This is filmmaking controlled by concept and vision. It's not some hand-held mess glued together in the cutting room with music and sound FX. Every element of cinema is judiciously employed, and the classical ghost story, with its slow and methodical build of tension, is particularly well suited to the director's talents. West even breaks his story down into a series of old-fashioned chapters, which helps to establish the "tale-told-round the-fire" mood.

You do have to wait until the film's final 20 minutes for the supernatural shoe to drop, but boy does it drop, and before then you are entertained by a pair of very charming characters well played by Paxton and Healy. Both of these actors create goofy but believably real eccentrics trapped in workaday jobs. It is their affectionate but platonic relationship that makes what seemed like "nothing" in earlier West films feel considerably more like "something." Unlike House of the Devil, which often felt as though all you were doing was waiting for a narrative sword of Damocles to fall down onto the lead character, The Innkeepers works fine on its own as a character comedy. Then the shoe drops and we get all the scares we had been expecting, only more intense since they are happening to someone we care about.

The Disc:

First, it is important to note in these do-it-all-digital days that Ti West shot The Innkeepers on film. Yes, I am talking about that slightly grainy, chemically generated product that once dominated the industry, that had Paul Simon singing its praises, and that is now just a whistle in the technological graveyard. This is an important distinction to make since its release to Blu Ray could've left that rich, filmic look in that aforementioned graveyard. But no, this is a fine-looking disc with real flesh tones and not too much of that awful smoothing that seems to go hand in hand with the format.

Basically, this disc comes with all the wonderful and much-appreciated bells and whistles that the excellent House of the Devil disc did. First up is a fine "Behind the Scenes" featurette that feels less like a standard electronic press kit and more like someone's video diary of what seems to have been a very pleasant and happy shoot. We learn that the only reason The Innkeepers even exists is that the Yankee Pedlar, an actual century-old Inn, was the lodging used by cast and crew during the filming of House of the Devil, and the ambience and stories of the place inspired West to make a film set there.

You also get two separate feature-length commentaries. The first is with Ti West, producers Peter Phok and Larry Fessenden, and second unit director and sound designer Graham Reznick. This one focuses on the technical production. The second commentary is with West again, but this time joined by stars Sara Paxton and Pat Healy, and obviously focuses on their work as actors and the overall experience of making the film. Both are very much worth the listen.

The film's theatrical trailer rounds out the extras and is another piece of finely tuned craft. The Innkeepers is an unusual film with a unique tone, and the trailer captures it very well. The only downside of the entire disc is the cover art. While not bad on its own, it looks quite sad in comparison to the Drew Struzan-inspired original artwork of Tom Hodge aka "The Dude Designs," which can be found
The Innkeepers [Blu-Ray] DetailsStarring: Sara Paxton,Pat Healy,Kelly McGillis, Lena DunhamProduced by: Peter Phok, Larry Fessenden, Derek Curl

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Jeff, Who Lives At Home [Blu-Ray]

Like Cyrus, the Duplass brothers? newest project, Jeff, Who Lives at Home, is an open and honest look at a small family unit. Unlike some of the brothers? other projects, Jeff, Who Lives at Home only looks at one day in the life of family members Jeff, Sharon, and Pat. Despite having only a 24-hour window into the lives of the family, we still get to see their shortcomings and greatest triumphs, all wrapped into an 83-minute movie that ends with a twist.

The Movie:

We don?t know Jeff?s (Jason Segel) age, but he looks about thirty. We do know he has trouble figuring out what to do with himself, as his ruminations about the movie Signs and the concept of fate spoken aloud while plunked on the toilet suggest we should take him a little less than seriously. At the beginning of the day, his mother Sharon (Susan Sarandon) is busy at work when she remembers an errand she needs Jeff to run. She calls to tell her son to attend to the problem, probably half-knowing her pot-smoking, errant child will never get around to fixing the broken shutter.

There is plenty of wayward movement in Jeff, Who Lives at Home. Jeff is busy wandering off task to follow a man whose fate he believes is tied to the cosmos. His brother, Pat (Ed Helms), is not doing much better: Pat is busy buying flashy possessions he can?t afford and is subsequently busy losing his wife. Neither seems to see their prospective paths as routes that need work. If this were an average day, the two brothers would likely continue on their unaware-and-absurd pathways.

However, this is not an average day. After the two brothers run into one another and see Pat?s wife, Linda (Judy Greer), in the company of another man, a chain of events is set off that might very well change the way the way the two men make decisions within their lives. Whether Linda is or is not cheating on her husband is not really at the heart of the story, it is instead a catalyst for the action, for the potential the two men have to change their broken ways. Despite this side-note importance, Greer is really wonderful in Jeff, Who Lives at Home. She shows her discontent in a way that is perhaps not admirable, but is certainly more open and heartfelt than anyone else onscreen.

On the other side of town, Sharon is still eking her way through a lengthy day at the office. It is difficult to decipher what Sharon?s storyline really has to do with the boys, other than to complain a little from a mother?s perspective and to act as a catalyst to get Jeff out of the house. Regardless, it is Sharon?s storyline that is the most intriguing. Her wandering path may simply lead to the water cooler or the bathroom, but it helps that her journey is lined with wise thoughts and even a secret admirer.

The Duplass brothers love to use characters who are a little offbeat and a little mopey, but in Jeff, Who Lives at Home they are a little less self-revelatory, and it shows in the dragging structure of the plot, despite the film?s short running time. In the end, Pat and Jeff end up redeeming themselves in a twisted little ending that may endear some and throw off others, but which ties the day into a neat little package, complete with a bow. Jeff, Who Lives at Home was the Duplass brothers? first major studio release, and while I actually found it a little less meaningful than some of the other works by the writers, the film certainly finds a nice niche in their catalogue.

The Disc:

Jeff, Who Lives at Home is a very tricky disc to review. The picture quality of the film is fine for a low-budget movie, but you will have to give wobbly camera shots a break. The menu is pretty barren. A single picture is featured as the backdrop of the main screen.

The scenes section and the settings section are both easy to find and use, mostly due to the fact that the disc is entirely barren of extras. Duplass films are generally void of extras as it is, but they do usually feature an interview segment or something to keep the disc from looking completely empty. If you decide to buy Jeff, Who Lives at Home, you are absolutely doing it for the content of the film and not any other phooey.

Jeff, Who Lives At Home [Blu-Ray] DetailsDistributor: Paramount Home EntertainmentStarring: Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon, Judy GreerDirected by: Jay Duplass, Mark DuplassProduced by: Lianne Halfon, Jason Reitman, Russell SmithWritten by: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass

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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows [Blu-Ray]

The immediate reaction one has to this Sherlock franchise is that no one involved in the making of it could've come near to reading a single page of the Conan Doyle stories. This is not a matter of literary sour grapes as in, "Oh, but the book was better," or "How dare they turn Holmes into a James Bond action hero!" Actually, much of that action-hero stuff is fun and acceptable in a re-imagining of classic material. No, the problem lies in the fact that the stories had something else other than charm and fun. They were damn good stories. With mysteries that kept you interested right until the final page, where Holmes makes all leaps and bounds of logic to reveal that what seemed impossible was only almost impossible. As Holmes has said, "Once you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." The truth about this Game of Shadows and its predecessor is that neither has a story worthy of its hero. The story is not only often improbable, it is often simply impossible to follow.

The Movie:

Now, I must admit that A Game of Shadows does do a better job of spitting out a story. The first film may well have been in written in Pig Latin for all the sense it made moving from scene to scene. This one flows much better in its attempts to mix elements of The Final Problem with gypsies, naked Mycrofts, and political assassinations. Downey Jr. and Jude Law are both well settled in their roles and, in fact, are the primary reason to see the film. They have fun with the characters in a His Girl Friday kind of way, with Holmes acting as a Walter Burns to Watson's Hildy Johnson. Watson hesitantly looks forward to settling down with his bride-to-be (Kelly Reilly) while Holmes tries to convince him that marriage is like purgatory and the only real life is one of excitement and danger.

Somewhere between these scenes of character comedy is a plot involving Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris). It seems that the "Napoleon of Crime" has lit the fuse on a dastardly plot to start a world war by assassinating the leader of a world power at a peace conference in Switzerland. It's up to Holmes and Watson to stop him, with the aid of a gypsy fortune teller played blandly by the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Noomi Rapace. Downey Jr. and Jared Harris play well off each other, with Harris in particular giving a very strong and detailed performance as Moriarty. Rarely has this stock villain role seemed more three-dimensional. When the film was over I felt I understood Moriarty better than I ever had before.

Overall, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a major improvement over the previous entry. It's a fast-moving, confident piece of entertainment, well played by its cast and with a great, tongue -in-cheek score by Hans Zimmer.

The Disc:

The Blu-Ray of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is presented in 1080p High Definition (with a 2.4:1 aspect ratio), accompanied by English, French and Spanish audio tracks, and includes Blu-ray, DVD and Ultraviolet versions of the film, as well as a free interactive movie app. Thanks, Warners, but I don't really get excited about movie apps, Ultraviolets, or spare DVDs of the same movie. I now have a coaster I can use when watching the film on a hot summer day. The upside is that the image and sound quality is fantastic.

Warner?s Maximum Movie Mode includes the standard array of behind-the-scenes footage and "focus point" featurettes, none of which are particularly informative but have the usual self-congratulatory air that everyone involved was brilliant and nothing you could be doing in your life could be any cooler than to be working on a movie like Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. But then again, if you are like me, sitting here typing this in the dark, then that's probably true.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows [Blu-Ray] DetailsDistributor: Warner Bros. Home EntertainmentStarring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Rachel McAdams, Stephen Fry, Kelly Reilly, Eddie Marsan Produced by: Joel Silver, Lionel Wigham, Susan Downey, Dan LinWritten by: Michelle Mulrooney and Kiernan Mulrooney

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People Like Us

If the title weren?t enough of an indication, the name of the game in Alex Kurtzman?s People Like Us is familiarity and relatability. A serious drama about hidden truths and family, the film works hard to earn its emotional depth and thanks to a compelling story, well-drawn characters, and terrific performances ? particularly by leads Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks ? it succeeds.

The story follows a young man named Sam (Pine) who begrudgingly travels back home to Los Angeles with his girlfriend, Hannah (Olivia Wilde), following the death of his father. After purposefully missing the funeral - which earns him plenty of scorn from his mother, Lillian (Michelle Pfeiffer) ? Sam learns from his dad's lawyer that he has a secret sister named Frankie (Banks) and is given $150,000 to support both her and her son (Michael Hall D'Addario). Though at first he contemplates keeping the money for himself, as he has massive debts and received no inheritance, he eventually decides to check in on Frankie and learn about who she is without telling her about their shared lineage. But as Sam gets closer to his sister and the two begin to bond, he begins to question whether or not to tell her the truth.

People Like Us is based on the real experiences of the co-writer/director, and it gives the film a surprising amount of emotional authenticity that starts at the script level. Both Sam and Frankie are deep, rich characters peppered with flaws and problems that make them human and instantly relatable, from Sam?s pain and anger directed towards his absentee father to Frankie?s alcohol addiction and constant struggle as a parent of a misfit child. At no point does the story feel like it?s racing to its climax, and while this does make the film drag toward the end, it's almost worth it because of the heft and earnestness that comes as a result.

The movie also misses opportunities to better utilize both Wilde and Pfeiffer, who both have interesting dynamics with Sam?s character within the plot. The chances of seeing more of Hannah are eliminated fairly early on, as she goes back to New York while Sam is still trying to get a handle on his sister situation, ?Lillian is left to only pop up intermittently between scenes with Sam and Frankie. It?s possible some of her scenes were casualties of the editing room due to the aforementioned bloat, but I still found myself wanting to see more of her.

And yet what Pine and Banks do with their strong material is remarkable. Given such well-drawn people to play, both actors dig into their characters and proudly project. This is best exemplified when each one of them experiences a personal meltdown. Without ever feeling over-the-top or silly, both performers find their emotional extremes and express it in a deeply affecting way. What?s more, their chemistry is electric to the point that you almost could believe they share a genealogical link. It?s fun to watch their bond grow stronger even though you know that the relationship is based on a lie of omission and headed towards disaster.

The film also marks Kurtzman's directorial debut (he co-wrote the script with his frequent collaborator Roberto Orci as well as Jody Lambert) and he shows some real promise behind the camera. While he doesn?t take too many big risks with the photography ? to make the movie hyper-stylized would defeat the point ? what the filmmaker does do surprisingly well is capture the city of Los Angeles. Almost every location, from the hotel bar where Frankie works to the taco truck where the two leads first meet for dinner to the palm trees lining the roads, bleeds LA and provides an interesting background for the characters to live in. On some level it is strange for the setting to be so specific, for a film that's all about universal emotions, but it in fact adds to People Like Us? depth.

There are multiple missed opportunities and missteps in the movie, and some may find the ending to be a bit too saccharine for their taste, but the film?s positive aspects certainly outweigh the negative ones. Who knew that the writers of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen were capable of such depth?

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Rampart [Blu-ray]

Cop movies are always interesting to me. The power, how you use it, and what it does to you as a person are deep subjects. Still, it seems more interesting films are made about the other side of crime, the criminal. Cops get relegated to the role of foils, or even buffoons. Rampart, the second collaboration between actor Woody Harrelson and writer/director Oren Moverman (after The Messenger), puts a cop front and center.

The Movie:

Rampart takes place in the Los Angeles Police Department in the late '90s, around the time of the scandals that the "Rampart Division" infamous, but doesn?t actually deal with the scandals directly. ?Date Rape? Dave Brown (Harrelson), a chain-smoking, corrupt, Vietnam-vet officer cruises through the division with an ?us versus them? mentality to the nth degree. He?s always right, and the gang-bangers, criminals, bums (personified by the excellent Ben Foster), and citizens are wrong, regardless. Brown, who got the nickname for allegedly murdering a suspected date rapist, is knee deep in the ends-justify-any-and-all-means culture of the LAPD in that era.

Of course, the times, they are a? changin?, and when Brown is caught on videotape beating and kicking a ?motorist? who slammed into Brown?s police cruiser and tried to run away, he ends up becoming a problem for the already scandal-plagued division. The D.A. (Steve Buscemi), his assistant (Sigourney Weaver), and the LAPD brass would like him to go the hell away. Dave, however, isn?t a quitter. He isn?t racist, he ?hates everyone equally,? and he is well spoken and unapologetic on whatever he does to get the job done. He needs money, though, to pay his lawyers, and his old mentor (Ned Beatty) suggests knocking over a card game. Clearly something they?ve both been involved with before, Brown gives it a go and that results in more bad press and sharp, persistent investigation by an internal affairs officer played by Ice Cube.

Dave?s years of bad behavior are coming back to get him. Professionally, of course, but also personally. He was two ex-wives (Anne Heche and Cynthia Nixon) who live next door to each other, and are sisters to boot! Each has one of Dave?s daughters, with the older (Brie Larson) pissed at him for how his professional life has wreaked havoc with her mom, aunt, and cousin/sister, and the other (Sammy Boyarsky) still idolizing him but soon to be disabused of that feeling. Dave?s life is crashing down and his family is trying to push him out so he doesn?t pull them down too.

Brown?s descent is not an easy thing to watch, and Harrelson goes all out in the role. That?s amplified by the saturated, hand-held, documentary feel that director/co-writer Oren Moverman adopts. Not just jittery camera work, but a real gritty feel that seems to echo the chaos inside Dave?s soul. The script, co-written by novelist James Ellroy, is harsh and realistic, but there appear to be slices missing. Dave?s problems unleash a paranoia about being set up, and that is teased at, but there are so many things about that not resolved or even brought up that you aren?t sure if Dave has reason to be paranoid or he?s just going nuts. This comes out mostly in Dave?s relationships with Beatty?s character and an attorney he meets in a bar (Robin Wright).

Despite the excellent performance by Harrelson, who is in every single scene, Rampart seems to be missing a couple of parts and is a little too hard to watch at times to be a fully satisfying film. Also, a lot of threads are moving and they don?t all tie up very nicely at the end. ?Date Rape? Dave Brown is a great character and Harrelson plays him perfectly and that?s enough of a reason to see the film, but it isn?t the great cop film it aspires to be.

The Disc:

Rampart is a good film to see on Blu-ray. It has an intriguing look, shot with the ?Alexa? camera, which uses light, contrast, and position to the fullest. This all looks stunning in HD, and missing it by getting the DVD is a real mistake. The sound is also excellent, although I finally had to use the subtitles, since there is a lot of mumbly dialogue that is hard to catch. This is a very realistic-looking and sounding movie, not so much from Hollywood lighting tricks, but rather unusual lights and sounds that benefit from the Blu-ray presentation.

Another benefit of the Blu-ray is the great commentary by co-writer/director Oren Moverman and cinematographer Bobby Bukowski...although those both sound like fake names to me. They provide an informative if low-key commentary dealing both with plot points and technical details. It?s not too technical, which is good, but Bukowski gives background on some of the more stimulating shots, while Moverman provides all sorts of insights.

It?s a good thing that the commentary is worthwhile, since the rest of the ?extras? are pretty limited. In fact, they consist one 30-minute featurette titled ?Featurette.? I like the minimalist approach in the name. The featurette itself is pretty standard, with interviews and comments about the movie, characters, script, locations, etc. Can?t say it provides any real insight but it?s not any better or worse than any other of its ilk.

A pretty good movie with a pretty good HD presentation will have to be enough for this disc. Since the movie itself is good but not great, Rampart is an iffy recommendation overall. Make sure you want to see a man bringing about his own overdue downfall before you wade into this one.

Distributor: Millennium EntertainmentStarring: Woody Harrelson, Ned Beatty, Ben Foster, Ice Cube, Anne Heche, Cynthia Nixon, Sigourney Weaver, Robin Wright, Steve BuscemiProduced by: Lawrence Inglee, Clark Peterson, Ben Foster, Ken KaoWritten by: James Ellroy and Oren Moverman

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