Good Will Hunting:Collector's Series
Miramax Home Video
1.85:1/Dolby Digital 5.1/Dual Layer
Reviewed On Panasonic A-110; I don't usually note the player I use, but there have been reports of problems with the layer change on this disc, but I had no problem with it on my player.
Miramax had another giant hit on their hands with this tale written by actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The story revolves around a rebelious math genius, Will Hunting, played by Damon. After a brush with the law, Will is forced to meet with a psychologist who sees similarities in his own self, played outstandingly by Robin Williams, in an Oscar-winning performance. He also must meet with a math Professor, played by the outstanding actor Stellan Skarsgard("Breaking The Waves"), and finally, a wonderful young girl enters his life, Skylar, played in a role that deserved an Oscar win by Minnie Driver.
Hunting wants nothing to do with any of this life; he hides the trauma of his past in the safety of his friends(played by brothers Casey and Ben Affleck); he has troubles as well getting to feel safe with Skylar, who has no similarities to him, but wants to try desperately to make a connection into his world. As he works with Williams's character, borders begin to break down and old wounds are opened.
Performances are outstanding, especially Damon, Williams and Driver. I would like to especially note Driver's role, as she keeps bringing such a solid character and soul and humor to her roles; she's definitely one of the best actresses in film today and it's nice to see that she doesn't have the "secondary" role and although she is "the girlfriend", she plays the role strongly. Williams is of course outstanding in the role of the therapist and thankfully he continues a very strong dramatic string of roles in this Winter's "What Dreams May Come". There isn't even an "average" performance in the film; everyone across the board is outstanding, even the characters on the edge of the story such as Professor Lambeau(Skarsgard).
DVD:
Picture: An outstanding digital transfer, although it's unfortunately not 16x9 enhanced, it's still a fabulous job. The color scheme of browns and reds and the whole fall color scheme is radiant on the disc. There are no traces of digital artifacts throughout the disc either. Color saturation is perfect and wonderfully warm. The picture is letterboxed at 1.85:1. There are also no flaws on the original negative, which helps, of course. It's a crystal clear and absolutely perfect picture; it is very film like, and actually, even better looking on this disc than I remember seeing it in one of the area's better theaters. This transfer seems a little brighter than in the theater, and that helps a lot with to bring the colors of the film out; contrast and detail are also outstandingly rendered here.
Audio:A wonderfully subtle and expressive transfer of both the dialogue and Danny Elfman's excellent, lovely and dramatic score. The score as well as the dialogue are crystal clear and recorded outstandingly to bring the dialogue that is so important in the film to the forefront of the sound mix. And strangely, the annoying "Paramount Virus"(a problem on Paramount Pictures DVDs) is also here on this disc, where you can not change the audio from the remote control. The commentary, though, is well recorded and easily heard.
Extras: Now here's where I would like to spend a little time talking. The retail price here is $39.99 and I really don't think it's worth that much. Don't get me wrong, it's a very good disc, and I'll go into some of the extras in a moment, but I just feel that there is something lacking in the presentation(like the lack of 16x9 or animated scene selection); the menus in terms of design are handsome(yet very plain), but I don't feel that they are as easily able to be navigated as they possibly could be. There are some very good features on this disc, but I think there are some Warner Brothers and New Line titles that have brought about as much as this for a similar price. I'd possibly pay the $34.95 price point for this that Universal charges for their Collector's Editions, but I think Disney has gone too far in their charging $39.99 for this disc.
Let's go into the extras:
*A fun commentary by director Gus Van Sant and actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck; I think there are some bits of very good and very interesting information here, but I think that the trio explains way too much of what's happening on screen for us, as if we don't understand the film enough already to choose to listen to their explaining them. I didn't say that as well as I possibly could, but to sum it up: they just sit there and talk about what's happening on screen a little too much for my taste, rather than talking about what went on behind the scenes, which is why commentaries are usually so interesting. Still, it's a good commentary, but not one of the best. Unfortunately, you can't turn off the commentary with the remote control and it's somewhat awkward to go into the Bonus menus to find the area to turn off the commentary. There is also a choice of commentary or no commentary with the deleted scenes. So, if you turn on the commentary during the movie and then look at the deleted scenes, you have to turn the commentary off if you don't want to have commentary during the deleted scenes and.....it becomes very confusing, for me at least.
*16 TV Spots. Some are revised versions of each other, but still, there are a whole lot of ads to look at. I think that this area could have been built into a nice area of its own on the disc, and titled as something like "How to Market A Film" or "Birth Of A Marketing Campaign" or something like that.
*The trailer, unfortunately it's full-frame.
*11 Deleted Scenes: Again, you have the choice of commentary or no commentary while you're watching the scenes, but make sure you choose wisely because you can't switch from commentary to dialogue in the middle of a scene.
*A somewhat short Production Featurette that is basically just interviews and a couple of scenes.
*The montage clip that was broadcast as the Academy Awards clip.
*Elliot Smith's music video for "Mrs. Misery"
*About a 5 minute series of "behind-the-scenes" clips that are unfortunately, too short since they are a lot of fun to watch.
Note:Although there has been reports of a problem with the layer change, I still haven't had a problem with it. I can't even find it. The reports are that the disc pixelates and freezes as the layer change occurs.
Overview:It's good, and I'm not denying that it's a great film, but the fact is, I just think it's somewhat lacking when it comes to value. I would definitely not pay $39.99 for this disc when Warner and New Line have put together special editions that are just about as packed for $24.95. If you are a fan of the film, it's definitely worth picking up, but definitely try to pick it up on sale. I am taking off some points for the fact that you can not change the audio from the remote, especially on a disc that contains a commentary track, but the audio itself is quite outstandingly done. Again, from now on, I am basically taking points off for discs that do not allow audio to be changed from the remote, no matter how good the audio itself is.
Region:1
Running time:123 Min.
Rated:R
Dual Layer:Yes.
Chapers:21
Grades:
Picture:A
Audio:A
Menus:C-
Extras:A
Value:C+
Film:A
Grade(If you can get it on sale)A-
Grade(If you have to pay retail)B
Get This Disc At Amazon.Com: Good Will Hunting:Collector's Edition(DVD)