Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Drama |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Director And Cinematographer Deleted Scenes-11, With Optional Commentary Featurette-Behind The Scenes Featurette-Sam Rockwell Screen Test Featurette-Gong Show Acts Featurette-The Real Chuck Barris Gallery-Stills |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2002 | ||
Running Time | 108:48 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (81:53) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Language Select Then Menu | ||
Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | George Clooney |
Studio
Distributor |
Walt Disney Studios Home Ent. |
Starring |
Drew Barrymore George Clooney Julia Roberts Sam Rockwell Rutger Hauer |
Case | Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip | ||
RPI | ? | Music | Alex Wurman |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English English for the Hearing Impaired German German Titling German Audio Commentary |
Smoking | Yes, lots, and lots, and lots of smoking. |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Confessions tells the story of Chuck Barris from his own perspective. Starting from his early years pre-success, it goes through to his marriage, and self-imposed exile. All that sounds rather straightforward - the story of a TV producer. What gives it a very unique twist is Barris' claim that during his time in TV he lead a double life - TV producer by day, and CIA hitman by night. Barris' supposed missions are included in this story as if they are true, and it is left up to the audience to decide for themselves if Barris really did kill 33 people as he claimed, or if he is just pulling one last joke on the public. Either way, it makes for an interesting story, and a very different type of entertainment.
In directing his first feature, George Clooney has adopted the attitude of "take what has worked elsewhere and use it here". In that sense, he was obviously paying attention when working with close friend, and Section Eight partner Steven Soderburgh, because the look of Confessions very closely resembles Soderburgh's work. Not that copying the style of one of the most successful directors in film today is a bad thing - far from it, as Clooney has crafted a very stylish and visually impressive film. The performances are all excellent, with Sam Rockwell being a standout - he imbues the rather despicable character of Barris with enough reality that the audience respects him, even if they don't exactly like him. Drew Barrymore is perfect as Barris' long suffering partner Penny, while Clooney and Roberts make the most of their small roles, hamming it up and loving it all the way. The other thing to look out for here are the well known actors in smaller roles. Keep an eye out for brief glimpses of Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, and for Rutger Hauer and Maggie Gyllenhaal with minor speaking parts (as a fellow assassin, and Penny's housemate respectively).
Confessions is not a perfect movie - for one it tries a little too hard to be off-beat and quirky, and does not always pull it off. This is a very dark movie, but the subject matter is played a little too straight. Another problem is the pacing. Languid probably suggests that it is too fast - this movie is slow with a capital S. Certainly that leaves plenty of room for character development, and for the performance of Sam Rockwell, but too much time is spent dwelling on Barris' eccentricities, and simply setting up the fact that he is a bit of a loose cannon. With some trimming, this film would be even better.
Given both the subject nature, and the rather off-beat style of this film, it is never going to appeal to a wide audience. Fans of Charlie Kaufman will really get into it while those who are following George Clooney and Steven Soderburgh's Section Eight films will have no trouble adding this to their collection. Those looking for a "comedy thriller" however are best advised to look elsewhere. This is a film for when you want to engage your mind as well as your senses, and enjoy a fascinating story well told with great visual flair.
Presented in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1, this transfer is 16x9 enhanced.
Sharpness is quite good, with plenty of fine detail apparent. There is quite a bit of background grain, with some very heavy grain periods, such as from 41:21 to 41:45. The grain is usually due to the film stock used, and as such is less a problem with the transfer than an artistic choice. Shadow detail ranges from excellent to poor, although again this is entirely by choice, as portions of the movie were shot on infra-red film, and it is these that contain no shadow detail at all. There is no low level noise.
Colours are excellent, and a very important part of the transfer. Colour is used in many different ways in this film (washed out in the desert, the infra-red sequences, pastel tones, etc), and the colour representation is spot on. This looks as good as it did in the cinema.
There are a few compression artefacts present in this transfer, which is a little disappointing. The harsh use of colour from time to time causes posterization artefacts, such as on Sam Rockwell's face at 14:36, and there is also some slight motion trailing at around 52:53. The problems are minor, but the fact is they should not be present at all. There is only a relatively small amount of aliasing, but when it does appear, it is with a vengeance, such as at 55:50 where the whole screen shimmers. On the upside there are no film artefacts present in this transfer.
The subtitles are generally accurate, although not every word is reproduced. They are well paced and easy to read.
This is an RSDL formatted disc with the layer change taking place at 81:53. The change is well placed and difficult to detect.
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There are three soundtracks present on this disc. The first two are the original English dialogue, and a German dub, both in Dolby Digital 5.1 (at 448Kbps for the English and 384Kbps for the German). The third is the English audio commentary track, in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (at 192Kbps).
Dialog is clear at all times. There are a number of low level dialogue exchanges in this movie, and some may find them difficult to hear - but that is the way it was shown theatrically, so this is a good representation rather than a transfer problem.
Audio sync is spot on throughout the movie and never causes a problem
The score is credited to Alex Wurman, and a very good one it is. For the noir moments it is dark, foreboding, and full of brass. For the dramatic moments it is pared down to the basics. There is also a smattering of period pieces thrown in for good measure, but it is the score that dominates.
Surround use is quite good where necessary - that is, keeping in mind that probably 85% of this film is dialogue-driven drama, they get some rather impressive use in the other 15%. The sound design is quite impressive, and makes use of the surrounds for more than just carrying score.
Subwoofer activity is also rather limited, but when it comes in, it can be quite devastating. Bass rumbles are used to underline some key dramatic moments - and some of those are loud enough to knock down a wall if the sub is turned up too far - beware those that turn the volume up to hear the dialogue better.
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Overall |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The video quality is very good, with only some unfortunate compression artefacts really marring it.
The audio is also very good, and perfectly serves the movie.
The extras are extensive and quite in depth. This is about as good as they get for a single-disc release. Great stuff.
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Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-555K, using Component output |
Display | Loewe Xelos 5381ZW. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Onkyo TX-DS787, THX Select |
Speakers | Rochester Audio Animato Series (2xSAF-02, SAC-02, 3xSAB-01) + 12" Sub (150WRMS) |