Powder Blue on Blu-ray Disc Review
By Rachel Cericola
The Film
Powder Blue is very reminiscent of
Crash, with tons of sadness and various characters intertwining. This is super, except for the fact that it really worked for
Crash -- so much that
Crash scored the Oscar for Best Picture.
Powder Blue, on the other hand, didn't even score a theatrical release.
Others have compared this film with
Magnolia. Not that there's anything wrong with either (
Crash and
Magnolia, that is). Both are good movies.
Powder Blue, however, is not.
The main character is Rose Johnny (Jessica Biel), a super-hot stripper with a super-sad existence. If working for a very sleazy Patrick Swayze isn't bad enough, she also has a kid in a coma. She even loses her dog. That four-legged friend is found by Qwerty Doolittle (Eddie Redmayne), a shy guy cursed with a bad name, a bad family business (anyone want to buy a failing funeral home?), and a penchant for
puppets.
Jack Doheny (Ray Liotta) spent 25 years in jail to get out and borderline stalk Rose Johnny, although it quickly becomes evident as to why.
Then we have poor Charlie (Forest Whitaker). He's a suicidal ex-priest that doesn't seem to connect to anyone in the movie except when he happens upon Qwerty's funeral home to buy a quickie coffin. Why else is the Oscar winner in this movie? Well, he co-produced it. Guess he wanted to make sure there were butts in the seats.
That didn't exactly pan out, though, because
Powder Blue is a direct-to-video release. Despite great casting, Whitaker's part barely works its way into the web, and bit parts from Lisa Kudrow and Kris Kristofferson are gone in the blink of an eye. The only big deal about this movie is that Biel wriggles, writhes, and eventually whips off her top. Unfortunately, that is the only redeeming part of this movie -- assuming that would be worth the 105
other minutes in this painfest.
The Picture
The image on-screen is so dark, it's almost hard to watch. There's tons of grain in the 2.40:1 transfer, and very few colors pop. Sometimes this adds to the drama, but here it just made the movie a bit more of a downer and even more annoying to sit through. Occasionally, we see a glimpse of color, but those fleeting moments don't add anything to the viewing experience. Either way, keep your eyes out for Liotta's face, which looks whiter than it did after a coke binge in
Goodfellas. Other standout moments are Redmayne's freckles and Swayze's awesomely bad '80s hair.
The Sound
Like club music? Hopefully that answer to that question is a Red Bull-fueled "yes," since this DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack pumps out a ton of it. Charlie hits a club, Rose Johnny works in a club, and you can't escape it. Other notable sounds include a vicious thunderstorm, which sounded very cool as it rumbled through all of our surrounds.
The Extras
It's about love, loneliness -- and lameness? All kidding aside, the 17-minute making-of featurette provides a few tidbits on the inner-workings of the story and production (they used "mall snow?"). That and a commentary are the big highlights here, which is not surprising for this direct-to-video release.
Final Thoughts
Does Jessica Biel getting naked make a movie worth watching? If the answer to that is yes, then you've got yourself a winner. Otherwise, you might want to steer clear.
Where to Buy:
Product Details
- Actors: Jessica Biel, Ray Liotta, Eddie Redmayne, Forest Whitaker, Kris Kristofferson, Lisa Kudrow, Patrick Swayze
- Director: Timothy Linh Bui
- Audio/Languages: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (English)
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
- Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
- Region: A
- Number of Discs: 1
- Rating: R
- Studio: Image Entertainment
- Blu-ray Disc Release Date: May 26, 2009
- Run Time: 106 minutes
- List Price: $35.98
- Extras:
- Commentary with Director Timothy Linh Bui and Producer Tracee Stanley
- Shooting Blue: The Making of Powder Blue
- Still Gallery
- Trailer
