| 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
  
 
|
|
|
Mask: Platinum Series, The
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
In 1994, Jim Carrey stumbled into a role that seemed perfectly suited for the actor: a mild-mannered bank teller who finds a mask that turns him into a cartoon-ish super hero. Although Carrey played the role wonderfully, the movie also has a impressive first performance from Cameron Diaz.
Carrey plays Stanley Ipkiss, a bank worker who finds everything going wrong during his day. He's a little too mild mannered - he frequently finds himself stepped on or ignored by others. Until one night, when his car dies out on a bridge, he looks down to find a mask floating by. Taking it home, he finds out that when he puts the mask on, he turns into a cartoon hero who can move like lightning. He goes after the local nightclub singer, Tina Carlyle(Cameron Diaz), but finds himself in trouble with the local gangster(played by the always almost too menacing Peter Greene).
Diaz and Carrey work wonderful together, and the special effects by Industrial Light and Magic are quite excellent. It's a little too dark and some younger children might not like it, but I think that most will find Carrey's performance enjoyable.
The DVD
VIDEO: "The Mask" is one of the early titles that New Line brought to DVD and although it's a non-anamorphic release, it's still very impressive work. Although images are pleasingly sharp, they're not quite as sharp as they possibly could be, and detail is very good. Colors are still excellent though - this is definitely a picture with a lot of stunning, electric colors and they look fantastic here, well-saturated and without any bleeding. Strong black level and accurate fleshtones round off the list of positives...
There really aren't any distracting flaws at all: no pixelation, shimmering or marks on the print used. Although since it's one of New Line's first titles it's not anamorphic, it's still very good. There's also a full-frame edition on the flip side, although it's definitely not recommended.
SOUND: While it's not among the best I've ever heard, "The Mask" does provide some excellent moments of audio, especially during the moments when Carrey becomes "The Mask". There's a number of great moments where the film uses music, and all of the film's tunes come through loud and clear, especially the numbers that starts off chapter 13 and 20("Cuban Pete"). Surrounds are used effectively, but not quite as much as they possibly could have been. Dialogue is fine, though.
MENUS:: The menus offer a simple photo from the movie as the main menu. If New Line ever goes back to re-release this film again on DVD, hopefully they will make a more "animated" menu. The scene selection menu also only lets the viewer choose from 9 chapters, rather than all of them.
EXTRAS:
Commentary: This is a commentary track from director Charles Russell - after listening to this track, I wish that Russell would have been able to contribute a commentary for his 1996 thriller "Eraser", as well. As an "effects" film, a lot of the commentary is directed towards how many of the film's illusions were created.
The other major aspect of the commentary is Jim Carrey, who wasn't really that well-known when the production started, and then with this picture and "Ace Ventura" he became a major star. Cameron Diaz was discovered with this picture as well, and Russell discusses her first major performance as well.
The commentary offers tons of great information - righ off the top, Russell says that the film cost 18 million dollars, which suprised me since I'd guessed the picture's budget more at the 35-40 million range. He also gives great details into the history of the production, where he talks about New Line's original thoughts about where they wanted to take the picture, more as a horror film than a comedy.
It's really one of the most entertaining commentaries I've listened to - Russell is very funny and fascinating to listen to. Like any great commentary, by the time it ended, I'd learned everything I'd ever wanted to know about the movie. Another note is that this is a commentary taken from the laserdisc edition.
Deleted Scenes: 2 Deleted Scenes: The original opening of the film and another scene that was taken out due to it being a little too violent. The original opening is neat, but a bit too long.
Also: The trailer (in 5.1) and cast/crew bios.
In 1994, Jim Carrey stumbled into a role that seemed perfectly suited for the actor: a mild-mannered bank teller who finds a mask that turns him into a cartoon-ish super hero. Although Carrey played the role wonderfully, the movie also has a impressive first performance from Cameron Diaz.
Carrey plays Stanley Ipkiss, a bank worker who finds everything going wrong during his day. He's a little too mild mannered - he frequently finds himself stepped on or ignored by others. Until one night, when his car dies out on a bridge, he looks down to find a mask floating by. Taking it home, he finds out that when he puts the mask on, he turns into a cartoon hero who can move like lightning. He goes after the local nightclub singer, Tina Carlyle(Cameron Diaz), but finds himself in trouble with the local gangster(played by the always almost too menacing Peter Greene).
Diaz and Carrey work wonderful together, and the special effects by Industrial Light and Magic are quite excellent. It's a little too dark and some younger children might not like it, but I think that most will find Carrey's performance enjoyable.
The DVD
VIDEO: "The Mask" is one of the early titles that New Line brought to DVD and although it's a non-anamorphic release, it's still very impressive work. Although images are pleasingly sharp, they're not quite as sharp as they possibly could be, and detail is very good. Colors are still excellent though - this is definitely a picture with a lot of stunning, electric colors and they look fantastic here, well-saturated and without any bleeding. Strong black level and accurate fleshtones round off the list of positives...
There really aren't any distracting flaws at all: no pixelation, shimmering or marks on the print used. Although since it's one of New Line's first titles it's not anamorphic, it's still very good. There's also a full-frame edition on the flip side, although it's definitely not recommended.
SOUND: While it's not among the best I've ever heard, "The Mask" does provide some excellent moments of audio, especially during the moments when Carrey becomes "The Mask". There's a number of great moments where the film uses music, and all of the film's tunes come through loud and clear, especially the numbers that starts off chapter 13 and 20("Cuban Pete"). Surrounds are used effectively, but not quite as much as they possibly could have been. Dialogue is fine, though.
MENUS:: The menus offer a simple photo from the movie as the main menu. If New Line ever goes back to re-release this film again on DVD, hopefully they will make a more "animated" menu. The scene selection menu also only lets the viewer choose from 9 chapters, rather than all of them.
EXTRAS:
Commentary: This is a commentary track from director Charles Russell - after listening to this track, I wish that Russell would have been able to contribute a commentary for his 1996 thriller "Eraser", as well. As an "effects" film, a lot of the commentary is directed towards how many of the film's illusions were created.
The other major aspect of the commentary is Jim Carrey, who wasn't really that well-known when the production started, and then with this picture and "Ace Ventura" he became a major star. Cameron Diaz was discovered with this picture as well, and Russell discusses her first major performance as well.
The commentary offers tons of great information - righ off the top, Russell says that the film cost 18 million dollars, which suprised me since I'd guessed the picture's budget more at the 35-40 million range. He also gives great details into the history of the production, where he talks about New Line's original thoughts about where they wanted to take the picture, more as a horror film than a comedy.
It's really one of the most entertaining commentaries I've listened to - Russell is very funny and fascinating to listen to. Like any great commentary, by the time it ended, I'd learned everything I'd ever wanted to know about the movie. Another note is that this is a commentary taken from the laserdisc edition.
Deleted Scenes: 2 Deleted Scenes: The original opening of the film and another scene that was taken out due to it being a little too violent. The original opening is neat, but a bit too long.
Also: The trailer (in 5.1) and cast/crew bios.
|
| 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 
| |||||||