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Reality Bites
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
"Reality Bites" is everything to a group of people and just another film to even more people. For many twenty-somethings it certainly speaks to their situation of just going out into the world better than most films do. For those out of that general age-range, it probably seems like just another "youth-oriented" picture. The picture starts with Lelana (Winona Ryder) giving a speech at her graduation. Her mission is for this new generation to "change the world" but she's missing her final notecard, so her last words about how are "I don't know."
She's got a few friends who make up her life - Troy (Ethan Hawke), who after moving in will turn their house into a "den of slack"; Sammy (Steve Zahn); and Vickie (Jeanane Garafolo). Lelana's making a documentary about her friends and their generation, but in the meantime, she's an assistant on a corny morning show, whose host (John Mahoney of "Frasier") has a quick temper, which results in her eventually being fired.
Meanwhile, she meets Michael (Ben Stiller), an executive at a MTV-ish network and the two begin a romance, much to the annoyance of Troy, who considers him a yuppie. Michael is also interested in her documentary, but are his intentions about showing her work good?
"Bites" works best when showing the problems, worries and trials of life that people just out of college must face. New jobs, bad jobs, rent and everything else that gets thrown their way. When it concentrates too much on the romantic angle, it becomes just another romantic comedy - not that Hawke and Ryder aren't too bad together. Janeane Garofalo also turns in a fine performance and look for David Spade in a funny little cameo.
I can certainly relate to much of what's in "Reality Bites" and at its sharpest, it's a very funny film with great performances. Unfortunately, it occasionally heads off in other directions and other roads that have been travelled before.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Reality Bites" is presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer. As one of the earlier titles from Universal, the picture quality is passable and often very good, but the image still shows some flaws occasionally throughout the movie. Sharpness and detail are fine; there are some interior scenes that seemed a little murky and slightly soft, but most of the film looked well-defined and fairly crisp.
Although there were some problems throughout, they were relatively minor. Light grain occasionally appeared throughout, as well as some minor print flaws in the form of slight marks and speckles. Some hints of light edge enhancement and a couple of traces of pixelation also appeared. Although these little problems were noticable, they really didn't become distracting at all. Colors looked generally well-rendered, except for a couple of interiors where the colors looked slightly smeared. Not terrible for an early release, but a couple of bumps along the way.
SOUND: "Reality Bites" is presented here in Dolby Digital 5.1 and the sound generally is what you might expect from a comedy like this one. The majority of the movie is dialogue-driven, but there is the occasional slight surround use when the music comes on. A particularly nice moment is when the four are dancing at a gas station to "My Sharona". The music starts off in the front speakers and as the song gets turned up, gradually fills the room. Audio quality seemed very good - the music came through with a full, warm sound and dialogue was natural and crisp.
MENUS:: Menus are non-animated, with very basic images serving as backgrounds.
EXTRAS: Trailers and cast/crew bios.
Final Thoughts: "Reality Bites" is a very funny feature from Stiller, with a great cast. Universal's DVD is one of their early releases and doesn't have much in the way of features or that great of a presentation. Instead of concentrating on releasing "Ultimate" editions of titles that have already been released as "Special Editions", maybe Universal should go back and re-work titles from the begining?
"Reality Bites" is everything to a group of people and just another film to even more people. For many twenty-somethings it certainly speaks to their situation of just going out into the world better than most films do. For those out of that general age-range, it probably seems like just another "youth-oriented" picture. The picture starts with Lelana (Winona Ryder) giving a speech at her graduation. Her mission is for this new generation to "change the world" but she's missing her final notecard, so her last words about how are "I don't know."
She's got a few friends who make up her life - Troy (Ethan Hawke), who after moving in will turn their house into a "den of slack"; Sammy (Steve Zahn); and Vickie (Jeanane Garafolo). Lelana's making a documentary about her friends and their generation, but in the meantime, she's an assistant on a corny morning show, whose host (John Mahoney of "Frasier") has a quick temper, which results in her eventually being fired.
Meanwhile, she meets Michael (Ben Stiller), an executive at a MTV-ish network and the two begin a romance, much to the annoyance of Troy, who considers him a yuppie. Michael is also interested in her documentary, but are his intentions about showing her work good?
"Bites" works best when showing the problems, worries and trials of life that people just out of college must face. New jobs, bad jobs, rent and everything else that gets thrown their way. When it concentrates too much on the romantic angle, it becomes just another romantic comedy - not that Hawke and Ryder aren't too bad together. Janeane Garofalo also turns in a fine performance and look for David Spade in a funny little cameo.
I can certainly relate to much of what's in "Reality Bites" and at its sharpest, it's a very funny film with great performances. Unfortunately, it occasionally heads off in other directions and other roads that have been travelled before.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Reality Bites" is presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer. As one of the earlier titles from Universal, the picture quality is passable and often very good, but the image still shows some flaws occasionally throughout the movie. Sharpness and detail are fine; there are some interior scenes that seemed a little murky and slightly soft, but most of the film looked well-defined and fairly crisp.
Although there were some problems throughout, they were relatively minor. Light grain occasionally appeared throughout, as well as some minor print flaws in the form of slight marks and speckles. Some hints of light edge enhancement and a couple of traces of pixelation also appeared. Although these little problems were noticable, they really didn't become distracting at all. Colors looked generally well-rendered, except for a couple of interiors where the colors looked slightly smeared. Not terrible for an early release, but a couple of bumps along the way.
SOUND: "Reality Bites" is presented here in Dolby Digital 5.1 and the sound generally is what you might expect from a comedy like this one. The majority of the movie is dialogue-driven, but there is the occasional slight surround use when the music comes on. A particularly nice moment is when the four are dancing at a gas station to "My Sharona". The music starts off in the front speakers and as the song gets turned up, gradually fills the room. Audio quality seemed very good - the music came through with a full, warm sound and dialogue was natural and crisp.
MENUS:: Menus are non-animated, with very basic images serving as backgrounds.
EXTRAS: Trailers and cast/crew bios.
Final Thoughts: "Reality Bites" is a very funny feature from Stiller, with a great cast. Universal's DVD is one of their early releases and doesn't have much in the way of features or that great of a presentation. Instead of concentrating on releasing "Ultimate" editions of titles that have already been released as "Special Editions", maybe Universal should go back and re-work titles from the begining?
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