7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The real life story of writer/director Tommy Wiseau, the man behind what is often referred to as "The Citizen Kane of Bad Movies," The Room, is brought to life, chronicling the odd film's troubled development and eventual cult success.
Starring: Dave Franco, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Ari Graynor, Alison BrieBiography | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
There were a couple of interesting if perhaps somewhat subliminal cases of “missing in action” at the most recent Academy Award ceremony, above and beyond any people not included in the annual “In Memoriam” segment, a moment in the broadcast that always seems to forget someone important. No, these were in fact absences of living people, both of them not present at least in part due to the #metoo movement. You may have noticed that the tradition of having last year’s winner of an acting award present the award to the opposite gender the following year was not followed with regard to Best Actress, which really should have been presented by Manchester by the Sea’s Casey Affleck, who withdrew from the ceremony after harassment accusations were made about the actor. The other case of “MIA” was with regard to one of those “major” acting categories, namely Best Actor, which many top prognosticators had predicted would surely include James Franco for his work in The Disaster Artist, a nomination that seemed all but secured after Franco not only won a nomination but the actual award for Best Actor - Musical or Comedy at the most recent Golden Globes. While some media analysts point to the fact that voting for the Academy Award nominees had almost closed when a sudden flurry of harassment allegations were lobbed at Franco, others insist that the sudden controversy almost certainly put the kibosh on any potential nod from Oscar for Franco. Whatever the reason for Franco joining the ranks of “Non Nom Anon” (as Debbie Reynolds famously branded herself in a bit written by her daugher Carrie Fisher), The Disaster Artist certainly offers Franco a chance to portray one of the most unique characters he’s tackled in his career.
The Disaster Artist is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1 (some of the recreations of scenes from The Room are in 1.85:1). Perhaps surprisingly for this film about lo-fi guerrilla filmmaking, the IMDb lists this as having been captured by Red Cameras at up to 6K resolution and then finished at a 4K DI (I don't foresee any 4K UHD release of this title in the offing, but I've been surprised before, especially by Lionsgate, which has one of the oddest "relationships" with its 4K UHD releases of any of the major studios and/or labels). This is an agreeably sharp and well detailed looking transfer, though a lot of the film plays out in rather dimly lit environments where detail levels can lag a little. A lot of the bright outdoor scenes in sunny Los Angeles pop with considerable vigor, and with generally excellent fine detail levels. The palette was just slightly cool looking to my eyes at times, with somewhat less saturation in terms of things like flesh tones than I might have expected.
The Disaster Artist features a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 that derives good surround activity from a number of source cues that populate the soundtrack, as well as some of the cacophony that attends life in Los Angeles. There are several scenes that feature a gaggle of people in frame simultaneously, often in somewhat chaotic circumstances as the film shoot goes to hell in a handbasket, and the track provides nice discrete channelization of both effects and dialogue. Dialogue, effects and score are all reproduced with excellent fidelity and no problems of any kind.
There are a lot of people who do in fact think The Room is the worst film ever made, and those folks will probably find The Disaster Artist more consistently engaging than those who have never seen Wiseau's stab at auteurism. However, even those who haven't seen The Room will probably be captivated by the patently bizarre character of Wiseau and James Franco's portrayal of him, as well as the unabashedly sweet friendship that develops between Wiseau and Sestero. Technical merits are first rate, and The Disaster Artist comes Recommended.
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