Masked and Anonymous is a movie I never had heard of before despite featuring a noteworthy cast, most of whom appeared for the opportunity to work with veteran musician Bob Dylan. For fans of Dylan, this might be a treat.
Masked and Anonymous
— Shout Select —
(2003)
Genre(s): Drama, Music
Shout Factory | PG13 – 106 min. – $22.97 | March 10, 2020
Date Published: 02/29/2020 | Author: The Movieman
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Shout Factory provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 3.0/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: A nation wracked with civil war and social unrest is looking forward to a giant charity concert, organized by deceptive concert promoter Uncle Sweetheart (JOHN GOODMAN), who plans on raking in huge sums of money for himself from the event. Headlining is Jack Fate (BOB DYLAN), a legendary musician serving time in prison, who is released with Sweetheart’s help. Meanwhile, journalist Tom Friend (JEFF BRIDGES) investigates the corrupt concert and tries to unmask the truth to the public. Quick Hit Review: Masked and Anonymous is a bit of an apt title, most the latter as it’s a movie that probably most never heard of, and was certainly a passion project for singer/songwriter Bob Dylan and, with the help of the producers and director, wrangled in a near all-star cast with Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Penelope Cruz plus Ed Harris and Val Kilmer in supporting roles, most appearing just to work with Dylan. Myself, I like Bob Dylan’s music and all, but don’t consider myself a fan, so for myself, the interest level going in and while watching was minimal. For Dylan himself, he’s not a terrible actor but does lack much depth, employing the same look with every scene. I suppose if you are a mega fan of his, this might be worth checking out if you haven’t already. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.0/5 |
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Audio Commentary — Director Larry Charles Behind the Mask (29:59) is a new interview with Larry Charles discussing his career and memories of working on the project. Masked and Anonymous Exposed: The Making of Masked and Anonymous (15:35) with behind-the-scenes footage and on-set interviews with members of the cast and crew. Deleted Scenes (13:32) — Five scenes that got the axe from the final cut Theatrical Trailer (2:25) |
VIDEO – 4.0/5 |
| Shout Factory releases Masked and Anonymous onto Blu-ray for the first time where it’s presented in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. There’s no mention that this is underwent any type of restoration, so likely this was sourced from Sony or the production company, but whatever the case this looks quite good, detail is alright albeit not extraordinarily sharp, however colors look good and no apparent bouts of dust marks, aliasing or other flaws. |
AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
| The disc includes a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 which sounds rather good, outputting clear dialogue via the center speaker with some effective depth on display for the various musical sequences with Bob Dylan and his movie band. |
OVERALL – 3.0/5 |
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Masked and Anonymous is a movie I never had heard of before despite featuring a noteworthy cast, most of whom appeared for the opportunity to work with veteran musician Bob Dylan. For fans of Dylan, this might be a treat, for others it’s a meandering movie and Dylan isn’t much of an actor. This Blu-ray from Shout Factory offers up good video and audio transfers and has some okay bonus material. |