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Held Up
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
After his excellent performance in Oliver Stone's "Any Given Sunday", it's unfortunate to see Jamie Foxx star in "Held Up", a comedy that does contain a few laughs that Foxx is able to pull from the material, but the rest of it is a pretty thinly written and minor comedy. The film stars Foxx as Mike Dawson, on vacation with his wife, Rae(Nia Long), when things go wrong in the desert. She leaves him there, and things go south quickly.
He's stuck in a little local convience store, where a small group of customers, including a kid who thinks Foxx's character is Puff Daddy, are stuck there when the store is held up. The film's opening has a few good laughs, but once the robbery starts, the film stops. There aren't that many laughs in the 88 minutes, and much of the events are completely predictable - the amazing thing is, as it goes further it manages to get worse.
Foxx is the only one who comes close to making the film work; he tries to do something with the material, but there's really nothing there. The film doesn't do anything creative with the few locations, and most of the film seems like a straight-to-video production. A couple of minor laughs, but there's certainly too much time between them.
The DVD
VIDEO: Trimark offers "Held Up" in a fairly decent 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer that is, for the most part, very good. It even offers some very good looking Southwest scenery now and then. It's just that Trimark hasn't done quite as smooth a job with a recent movie as they could have.
There are a number of small flaws here and there that take away from the presentation. There are some slight scratches on the print used that pop up now and again - more than I would have expected from a movie that came out a couple of months ago. Pixelation does slightly appear once or twice, but this isn't a distracting problem. Shimmering isn't apparent throughout.
Sharpness is varied as well; while much of the presentation looks sharp and detailed, shots sometimes rather suddenly appear slightly soft. Overall, detail is pleasing, and clarity is never lacking. Colors are fairly decent, with the basic colors of the store being the most on display; other than that, the color palette is fairly basic. Flesh tones are natural, and most of the film looks fairly pleasing, if not perfect.
SOUND: "Held Up" isn't much of a sound movie; the majority of it takes place in the convienience store and don't really give the audio too many chances to be showy. The music is really the only time when "Held Up" opens up, and most of the music sounds crisp and sometimes bassy.
Surround use is pretty minimal, just offering the music and really nothing much else. Dialogue is clear and easily heard. A fairly basic soundtrack that doesn't offer a whole lot of activity.
MENUS:: Even though the menus aren't animated, the convenience store theme to all the menus are fairly amusing.
EXTRAS: A very short interview with Foxx and the film's theatrical trailer.
Final Thoughts: Skip it; too few laughs and not much to the DVD.
After his excellent performance in Oliver Stone's "Any Given Sunday", it's unfortunate to see Jamie Foxx star in "Held Up", a comedy that does contain a few laughs that Foxx is able to pull from the material, but the rest of it is a pretty thinly written and minor comedy. The film stars Foxx as Mike Dawson, on vacation with his wife, Rae(Nia Long), when things go wrong in the desert. She leaves him there, and things go south quickly.
He's stuck in a little local convience store, where a small group of customers, including a kid who thinks Foxx's character is Puff Daddy, are stuck there when the store is held up. The film's opening has a few good laughs, but once the robbery starts, the film stops. There aren't that many laughs in the 88 minutes, and much of the events are completely predictable - the amazing thing is, as it goes further it manages to get worse.
Foxx is the only one who comes close to making the film work; he tries to do something with the material, but there's really nothing there. The film doesn't do anything creative with the few locations, and most of the film seems like a straight-to-video production. A couple of minor laughs, but there's certainly too much time between them.
The DVD
VIDEO: Trimark offers "Held Up" in a fairly decent 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer that is, for the most part, very good. It even offers some very good looking Southwest scenery now and then. It's just that Trimark hasn't done quite as smooth a job with a recent movie as they could have.
There are a number of small flaws here and there that take away from the presentation. There are some slight scratches on the print used that pop up now and again - more than I would have expected from a movie that came out a couple of months ago. Pixelation does slightly appear once or twice, but this isn't a distracting problem. Shimmering isn't apparent throughout.
Sharpness is varied as well; while much of the presentation looks sharp and detailed, shots sometimes rather suddenly appear slightly soft. Overall, detail is pleasing, and clarity is never lacking. Colors are fairly decent, with the basic colors of the store being the most on display; other than that, the color palette is fairly basic. Flesh tones are natural, and most of the film looks fairly pleasing, if not perfect.
SOUND: "Held Up" isn't much of a sound movie; the majority of it takes place in the convienience store and don't really give the audio too many chances to be showy. The music is really the only time when "Held Up" opens up, and most of the music sounds crisp and sometimes bassy.
Surround use is pretty minimal, just offering the music and really nothing much else. Dialogue is clear and easily heard. A fairly basic soundtrack that doesn't offer a whole lot of activity.
MENUS:: Even though the menus aren't animated, the convenience store theme to all the menus are fairly amusing.
EXTRAS: A very short interview with Foxx and the film's theatrical trailer.
Final Thoughts: Skip it; too few laughs and not much to the DVD.
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