{"id":23615,"date":"2020-07-29T05:00:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T12:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=23615"},"modified":"2020-12-18T16:54:15","modified_gmt":"2020-12-19T00:54:15","slug":"review-even-money-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2020\/07\/review-even-money-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Even Money Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I usually enjoy these interconnected ensemble movies but Even Money<\/em><\/strong> never quite gelled though the performances from Danny DeVito, Tim Roth were rather good, but not enough to make this a must rental or purchase.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Even Money<\/span>
\n(2006)<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Genre(s): <\/strong>Drama, Crime<\/span>
\nMVD Visual | R \u2013 113 min. \u2013 $19.95 | April 14, 2020<\/span><\/p>\n

Date Published:<\/strong> 07\/29\/2020 | Author:<\/strong> The Movieman<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/td>\n\"\"<\/td>\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Director: <\/strong>Mark Rydell
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Robert Tannen (written by)
\nCast: <\/strong>Kim Basinger, Nick Cannon, Danny DeVito, Kelsey Grammer, Carla Gugino, Ray Liotta, Jay
\n<\/span>Mohr, Tim Roth, Forest Whitaker, Charles Robinson<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DISC INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Features: <\/strong>Trailer
\nSlip Cover: <\/strong>No
\nDigital Copy: <\/strong>No
\nFormats Included: <\/strong>Blu-ray
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>1<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), English (PCM 2.0)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 1.85
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>24.71 GB
\nTotal Bitrate: <\/strong>28.27 Mbps
\nCodecs: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A, B, C<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

MVD Visual provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
\nThe opinions I share are my own.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

THE MOVIE \u2014 2.75\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Plot Synopsis: <\/strong>Struggling writer Carol (KIM BASINGER) loses her family\u2019s savings at a casino; a washed-up magician (DANNY DEVITO) tries to help Carol regain her money; Clyde (FOREST WHITAKER) owes so much money to his dangerous bookies (JAY MOHR, GRANT SULLIVAN) that he asks his NBA-destined brother (NICK CANNON) to throw the game. Entering the mix is a dogged detective (KELSEY GRAMMER), a crime boss (TIM ROTH) and Carol\u2019s concerned husband (RAY LIOTTA).<\/p>\n

Quick Hit Review: <\/strong>Despite apparently previously seeing Even Money<\/em><\/strong> (based on ratings on both Letterboxd and IMDb), I really remember nothing about this ensemble crime-drama, which probably says quite a bit about this movie. Watching again many years later, I found this only mildly engaging but only just. The performances were all fine with Danny DeVito, who also served as executive producer, probably being the stand-out. Everyone else were fine, Kim Basinger trying to play a gambling addict came across a bit much, almost over-acting; Jay Mohr as a bookie wasn\u2019t half-bad I suppose; Kelsey Grammer could\u2019ve had a more significant role only popping in a few times; and Tim Roth doesn\u2019t get a whole lot to work with but plays a mob boss well enough.<\/p>\n

The movie falters with a script and dialogue that doesn\u2019t quite land or as sharp as I suspect the scriptwriter, Robert Tannen (making his feature debut and only has Seeking Justice<\/em> as his only other credit) or producers thought it was. In the director\u2019s chair is Mark Rydell, who has worked on a variety of TV series in the 60s (like Gunsmoke<\/em>), having helmed a few films including 1981\u2019s On Golden Pond<\/em>, though Even Money<\/em><\/strong> was his last feature.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 0.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

The only feature included is the Trailer (2:34)<\/u><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

VIDEO \u2013 3.75\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Even Money<\/em><\/strong> debuts on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual as, best I can tell, this has not been released elsewhere in high-def. The video, presented in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio, has been given a nice looking if not also unremarkable 1080p HD resolution. Still, I suppose detail on close-ups were alright and colors do appear to be well balanced with modest tamping down due to this being a film nourish style flick. On the plus side, there weren\u2019t any apparent instances of artifacting or aliasing with maybe some natural film grain present.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

AUDIO \u2013 2.75\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

The disc includes a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track but boy is it on the lighter side. Dialogue in most scenes were really tough to understand to the point I had to crank up the volume levels from the default settings I use on all reviews (-27 db). However, others scenes, while still a bit weak, came across well enough. I assume this is what the studio received from (I guess) Yari Film Group but this is one of the weaker lossless tracks I\u2019ve come across, particularly for not a terribly old film.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

OVERALL \u2013 2.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Overall, I usually enjoy these interconnected ensemble movies but Even Money<\/em><\/strong> never quite gelled though the performances from Danny DeVito, Tim Roth and even to some level Jay Mohr were rather good, but not enough to make this a must rental or purchase.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I usually enjoy these interconnected ensemble movies but Even Money never quite gelled though the performances from Danny DeVito, Tim Roth were rather good, but not enough to make this a must rental or purchase.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,970],"tags":[190,957,194,736,1132,1504,6744,395,1104],"class_list":["post-23615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","category-quick-hit-reviews","tag-carla-gugino","tag-danny-devito","tag-forest-whitaker","tag-jay-mohr","tag-kelsey-grammer","tag-kim-basinger","tag-nick-cannon","tag-ray-liotta","tag-tim-roth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23615"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25041,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23615\/revisions\/25041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}