Cinderella Man (2005)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Deleted Scenes-With Optional Commentary By Ron Howard (Director) Featurette-Ringside Seats
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	138:32
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Ron Howard
Studio Distributor	Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.	Starring	Russell Crowe Renée Zellweger Paul Giamatti Craig Bierko Paddy Considine Bruce McGill David Huband Connor Price Ariel Waller Patrick Louis Rosemarie DeWitt Linda Kash Nicholas Campbell
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	Thomas Newman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Spanish Swedish Norwegian Danish Finnish Icelandic Portuguese	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

Unfortunately in 2005 many major film premieres were overshadowed with celebrity scandal; for example War of the Worlds, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Cinderella Man. While Tom grinned and Pitt and Jolie shunned the spotlight, Russell Crowe was handcuffed in broad daylight just as Cinderella Man won favorable reviews among critics but surprisingly left theaters empty. Hopefully on DVD Cinderella Man will find the audience it deserves.

Ron Howard’s film is well crafted and intricate, and Crowe’s performance is perhaps the best he’s ever done. Paul Giamatti deserves to receive the Best Supporting Actor at this year’s Academy Awards and the rest of the cast, including Renée Zellweger,Craig Bierko and Bruce McGill, excel in the drama of their characters

Cinderella Man is unashamedly a crowd pleasing Hollywood film which is ‘inspired’ by a true story. But audiences shouldn’t be deterred by the over sentimentality or glorified story of an underdog, as Ron Howard crafts a story which is involving and driven by excellent performances.

Crowe stars as Jim Braddock, a prized boxer who is left a broken man during the Great Depression. He is a common man forced into unfortunate circumstances which leave him and his family’s existence impoverished and desperate. His inability to financially provide for his young family is both his oppressor and motive to risk all for a second chance to be a better father and husband and to be a better person.

The sport of boxing in cinema has frequently been a metaphor for the rise of the underdog as gratuitously depicted in the Rocky saga, but Howard instead chose to view boxing as both a mental and physical outlet for Braddock’s own misery. The numerous boxing matches are brilliantly conceived, notably influenced by Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980) as the camera focuses on perception, and are of an eloquent quality. Howard doesn’t hold back during the boxing scenes allowing each frame to be demonstrative of the chaos and violence of the sport.

Giamatti plays Joe Gould, Braddock’s manager, effortlessly. Gould believes in Braddock but is always genuinely surprised at both his desperation and destiny. While Braddock’s wife, Mae, (Renée Zellweger) wrestles with supporting her husband and being apprehensive towards his self-destructive profession.

Being Hollywood’s version of a biography, Braddock is an image of ‘purity’ while his ‘tormenter’ is envisaged within Craig Bierko’s Max Baer, a hefty, smug and vicious boxer. This depiction of Baer perhaps is most likely glorified as he is shown in a stereotypical antagonistic light throughout the film. Another flaw is the subplot of Braddock’s friendship with Mike Wilson (Paddy Considine), a fellow worker at the Dock. The character is not fully developed and his plight does enforce Braddock’s ‘pure’ image, but he isn’t the successful character he could have been.

Nevertheless Howard’s film is the stuff the Academy Awards love. Cinderella Man, which is also Braddock’s affectionate nickname, is very much a fairytale as the title suggests. It is an uncontroversial, somewhat old-fashioned crowd-pleaser based around the importance of morals and family, as opposed to greed and slander. The film succeeds in demonstrating and fulfilling the greatness of America and the great American Dream and the importance of hope in the most awful and strangest circumstances. Recommended.

Video

Cinderella Man is presented in 2.35:1 Widescreen and it is 16x9 enhanced.

Unfortunately the transfer of the film is fine but not of the highest-quality.

As it is set in the Depression over a number of years, Howard has chosen to use dull colours; mostly green and grey; and darkly lit sets to demonstrate the struggle. During some of the darkest scenes, both interior night scenes and exterior night scenes, MPEG compression is visible.

The good news is the picture is notably sharp, with excellent shadow detail and the colour scheme is presented well.

The average bit-rate is 4.40 Mb/s but this is not consistent.

Overall the transfer is satisfactory but is not pristine.

The subtitles are clear and true to the onscreen dialogue.

The layer change occurs at 80:17.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

The English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) audio is satisfactory but does not have the overall effect it could have had.I expected the sound during the boxing scenes to come alive but it fell flat. The crowd can be heard in the rears but it is subtle and underwhelming.

Otherwise the soundtrack is understated as most of the scenes are composed around dialogue.

Thomas Newman’s score is well suited; it is at times low key and grand towards the end of the film. It is based around traditional Irish music.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Introduction

Main Menu Audio & Animation

The Main Menu is themed well using images from the film and selective score.

Deleted Scenes

A selection of 6 deleted scenes with optional commentary by Ron Howard. The nicely produced scenes were cut down for time.

Featurette

This featurette is actual archival footage of a Jim Braddock vs. Max Baer boxing match. Howard, producer Brian Grazer and novelist Norman Mailman discuss selected moments of the match. It is a nicely produced and suited extra. Length is 9:10.

Region 1 released this title as a flipper with the following features:

SIDE A

*The Film

Audio Commentary with director Ron Howard

Audio Commentary with screenwriter Akiva Goldsman

Audio Commentary with co-screenwriter Cliff Hollingsworth

Promo spots for:"Gladiator: Extended Edition DVD", “Law & Order on NBC”, “Pride and Prejudice” and “Curious George Dolby Digital Sound”

SIDE B

6 Deleted Scenes (w/ optional commentary by director Ron Howard):

"The Fight Card: Casting 'Cinderella Man'" featurette (22:57)

"The Man, The Movie, The Legend: A Filmmaking Journey" featurette (14:01)

"For The Record: A History In Boxing" featurette (6:39)

"Ringside Seats" featurette (9:10)

"Jim Braddock: The Friends and Family Behind The Legend" featurette (11:11)

Kodak Photo Gallery (2:02)

DVD-ROM content: - Web links

Also available in a cropped 4:3 version.

Technical Specifications remain the same.

A two disc Collector's Edition was also released. The bonus disc had the following features:

Additional Deleted Scenes (15:20) (w/ optional commentary by director Ron Howard)

"Russell Crowe's Personal Journey: Becoming Jim Braddock" featurette (27:49)

"Pre-Fight Preperations" featurettes (25:05)includes:"Focus On Script", "Creating The Reality","Russell's Transformation" and "Inflatable People"

"Lights, Camera, Action: The Fight From Every Angle" multi-angle feature (21:35)

Braddock vs. Baer Fight Footage (31:58)

"The Sound Of The Bell" featurette (6:21)

"'Cinderella Man' Music" featurette (2:12)

"The Human Face Of Depression" featurette (6:00)

Photo Montage (3:11)

38-page color book

4 postcards

Packaged in a deluxe Digi-book case.

Cinderella Man is unashamedly a crowd pleasing Hollywood film, driven by excellent performances and produced and directed well.

The sound and vision is slightly underwhelming but satisfactory.

The R1 is superior to the local release.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall