| Reviews & Columns |
|
Reviews DVD TV on DVD Blu-ray 4K UHD International DVDs In Theaters Reviews by Studio Video Games Features Collector Series DVDs Easter Egg Database Interviews DVD Talk Radio Feature Articles Columns Anime Talk DVD Savant Horror DVDs The M.O.D. Squad Art House HD Talk Silent DVD
|
 DVD Talk Forum |
|
|
| Resources |
|
DVD Price Search Customer Service #'s RCE Info Links |
|
Columns
  
 
|
|
|
Meet Joe Black: Ultimate Ed.
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
"Meet Joe Black" may have started off sounding like a good idea for a movie, but it certainly turned into something of a headache for Universal pictures a couple of years ago. The 85 million dollar remake of "Death Takes A Holiday" ran over budget and past its production schedule, forcing the picture to jump from Summer to Winter. With its overstuffed three hour running time (director Martin Brest apparently had final cut), audiences generally stayed away. Although certainly not the worst film that I saw that year, "Meet Joe Black" simply had absolutely no reason to drag out such a relatively minor story to such a massive length.
The film starts off by introducing Bill Parish (Anthony Hopkins), a wealthy businessman who is celebrating his 65th birthday party. Unfortunately, he's also about to suffer from a fatal heart attack. Meanwhile, death decides to visit and takes the form of a young man who was recently injured in a car crash. He turns up at William's house and offers him some extension on his life in exchange for showing him what life is really like. Parish accepts and names his new friend "Joe Black"; he takes him to meetings, shows him around and then lets him manage to fall in love with his daughter Susan (Clare Forlani).
I will say that the look of the film is beautiful, with superb cinematography and exceptional production design. It's glossy and all of the sets are interesting to browse around when the actors take one of their endless pauses. For some reason, Brest felt it necessary to add in dramatic pauses every so often, which doesn't nothing for the drama but quite a lot for the running time. None of the performances will be considered the best that the respective performers have offered, either. Although I never liked Pitt in the past, his performances in the recent "Fight Club" and even "The Mexican" have shown an actor who can be far edgier and even far funnier than previously thought. Although Clare Forlani was fairly good in "Basquiat", she's still yet to really prove herself as an actress with much dramatic range - taking part in films like Kevin Smith (nothing against Kevin Smith)'s "Mallrats" have not exactly helped that fact. Hopkins does fine here, but he's been offered far better characters in other recent pictures.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Meet Joe Black" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and simply re-uses the already fine transfer that was included on the original release. Although the "Ultimate Editions" that Universal has released recently have included a pan & scan edition on the second disc of the sets, this edition actually boasts a completely different film on the second disc. "Death Takes A Holiday", the original 30's picture that was the inspiration for this movie, is presented in 1.33:1 full_screen.
The newer feature, of course, looks light years better than the older one, which is about 70 years at this point. Although hopefully Criterion will get its hands on the earlier piece at some point and provide some sort of restoration, it remained rather watchable and decent looking throughout. Sharpness and detail on the older film appeared wanting; the picture looked soft and rather hazy at times, while "Meet Joe Black" retained the sharp, "film-like" presentation that it offered on the earlier release.
Problems rarely entered the picture when it came to "Meet Joe Black" - some stray edge enhancement occasionally appeared, but that was about it. "Death Takes A Holiday", on the other hand, looked like it had gone through quite a bit of wear over the years - marks, scratches, hairs, speckles - they all were visible frequently throughout the movie.
Colors for "Meet Joe Black" looked quite well rendered on the original DVD and remain quite attractive here. A warm, rich looking film, colors appeared well-saturated and vivid, with no smearing or other such flaws. Overall, "Meet Joe Black" was a fine transfer then and it shows really no need (except for the edge enhancement, which isn't necessary) to be re-done for this edition. "Death Takes A Holiday", on the other hand, remains watchable here, but certainly looks like someone should take the time to at least attempt to restore the picture to some level of its earlier condition.
SOUND: "Meet Joe Black" is presented (as are all of the other "Ultimate Edition" re-releases so far, in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 audio. As with the other group of "Ultimate Editions" (Patch Adams, Notting Hill) that join "Joe Black" on the same week of release, none of them really provide anything more than a subtle and very mild audio experience. Rarely did the film open outwards from the front speakers; the music occasionally sneaked into the surrounds, but other than that, the surrounds stayed quiet. The presentation didn't offer much in the way of ambience, either - the two main elements were dialogue and music, with little or no other subtle touches. Although the presentation struck me as unfortunately a little bit too subdued for its own good, the audio quality seemed quite good. Music came through clearly and warmly, and dialogue sounded crisp and natural, as well.
"Death Takes A Holiday", on the other hand, suffers again from age. The mono audio track has several flaws, including some distortion and background hiss.
MENUS:: Very nicely done animated menus with pictures of Hopkins and Pitt accompanied by background music. I don't believe that the original release had an animated main menu, so this is a nice new addition.
EXTRAS:: Aside from the addition of a completely different film, there's also the extras from the original release of "Meet Joe Black", including a production photograph montage, the trailer, 10 minute "spotlight on location" featurette as well as cast/crew bios and production notes.
Final Thoughts: "Meet Joe Black" certainly isn't my least favorite movie of all time, but the film's ludicrous length covers up what could have been a fairly decent two hour film. This "Ultimate Edition" is one of the two ("The Mummy" being the other) that Universal has released that have offered something substancially different in terms of supplements (an entire other movie) that might make some fans of the movie consider picking up this new edition. A light recommendation.
"Meet Joe Black" may have started off sounding like a good idea for a movie, but it certainly turned into something of a headache for Universal pictures a couple of years ago. The 85 million dollar remake of "Death Takes A Holiday" ran over budget and past its production schedule, forcing the picture to jump from Summer to Winter. With its overstuffed three hour running time (director Martin Brest apparently had final cut), audiences generally stayed away. Although certainly not the worst film that I saw that year, "Meet Joe Black" simply had absolutely no reason to drag out such a relatively minor story to such a massive length.
The film starts off by introducing Bill Parish (Anthony Hopkins), a wealthy businessman who is celebrating his 65th birthday party. Unfortunately, he's also about to suffer from a fatal heart attack. Meanwhile, death decides to visit and takes the form of a young man who was recently injured in a car crash. He turns up at William's house and offers him some extension on his life in exchange for showing him what life is really like. Parish accepts and names his new friend "Joe Black"; he takes him to meetings, shows him around and then lets him manage to fall in love with his daughter Susan (Clare Forlani).
I will say that the look of the film is beautiful, with superb cinematography and exceptional production design. It's glossy and all of the sets are interesting to browse around when the actors take one of their endless pauses. For some reason, Brest felt it necessary to add in dramatic pauses every so often, which doesn't nothing for the drama but quite a lot for the running time. None of the performances will be considered the best that the respective performers have offered, either. Although I never liked Pitt in the past, his performances in the recent "Fight Club" and even "The Mexican" have shown an actor who can be far edgier and even far funnier than previously thought. Although Clare Forlani was fairly good in "Basquiat", she's still yet to really prove herself as an actress with much dramatic range - taking part in films like Kevin Smith (nothing against Kevin Smith)'s "Mallrats" have not exactly helped that fact. Hopkins does fine here, but he's been offered far better characters in other recent pictures.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Meet Joe Black" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and simply re-uses the already fine transfer that was included on the original release. Although the "Ultimate Editions" that Universal has released recently have included a pan & scan edition on the second disc of the sets, this edition actually boasts a completely different film on the second disc. "Death Takes A Holiday", the original 30's picture that was the inspiration for this movie, is presented in 1.33:1 full_screen.
The newer feature, of course, looks light years better than the older one, which is about 70 years at this point. Although hopefully Criterion will get its hands on the earlier piece at some point and provide some sort of restoration, it remained rather watchable and decent looking throughout. Sharpness and detail on the older film appeared wanting; the picture looked soft and rather hazy at times, while "Meet Joe Black" retained the sharp, "film-like" presentation that it offered on the earlier release.
Problems rarely entered the picture when it came to "Meet Joe Black" - some stray edge enhancement occasionally appeared, but that was about it. "Death Takes A Holiday", on the other hand, looked like it had gone through quite a bit of wear over the years - marks, scratches, hairs, speckles - they all were visible frequently throughout the movie.
Colors for "Meet Joe Black" looked quite well rendered on the original DVD and remain quite attractive here. A warm, rich looking film, colors appeared well-saturated and vivid, with no smearing or other such flaws. Overall, "Meet Joe Black" was a fine transfer then and it shows really no need (except for the edge enhancement, which isn't necessary) to be re-done for this edition. "Death Takes A Holiday", on the other hand, remains watchable here, but certainly looks like someone should take the time to at least attempt to restore the picture to some level of its earlier condition.
SOUND: "Meet Joe Black" is presented (as are all of the other "Ultimate Edition" re-releases so far, in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 audio. As with the other group of "Ultimate Editions" (Patch Adams, Notting Hill) that join "Joe Black" on the same week of release, none of them really provide anything more than a subtle and very mild audio experience. Rarely did the film open outwards from the front speakers; the music occasionally sneaked into the surrounds, but other than that, the surrounds stayed quiet. The presentation didn't offer much in the way of ambience, either - the two main elements were dialogue and music, with little or no other subtle touches. Although the presentation struck me as unfortunately a little bit too subdued for its own good, the audio quality seemed quite good. Music came through clearly and warmly, and dialogue sounded crisp and natural, as well.
"Death Takes A Holiday", on the other hand, suffers again from age. The mono audio track has several flaws, including some distortion and background hiss.
MENUS:: Very nicely done animated menus with pictures of Hopkins and Pitt accompanied by background music. I don't believe that the original release had an animated main menu, so this is a nice new addition.
EXTRAS:: Aside from the addition of a completely different film, there's also the extras from the original release of "Meet Joe Black", including a production photograph montage, the trailer, 10 minute "spotlight on location" featurette as well as cast/crew bios and production notes.
Final Thoughts: "Meet Joe Black" certainly isn't my least favorite movie of all time, but the film's ludicrous length covers up what could have been a fairly decent two hour film. This "Ultimate Edition" is one of the two ("The Mummy" being the other) that Universal has released that have offered something substancially different in terms of supplements (an entire other movie) that might make some fans of the movie consider picking up this new edition. A light recommendation.
|
| Popular Reviews |
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Release List | Reviews | Shop | Newsletter | Forum | DVD Giveaways | Blu-Ray | Advertise |
|
Copyright 2024 DVDTalk.com All Rights Reserved. Legal Info, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use,
Manage Preferences,
Your Privacy Choices 
| |||||||