{"id":3952,"date":"2012-03-02T23:57:50","date_gmt":"2012-03-03T07:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=3952"},"modified":"2021-05-28T16:34:57","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T23:34:57","slug":"review-reindeergames-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2012\/03\/review-reindeergames-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Reindeer Games-The Director’s Cut Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Reindeer Games<\/em><\/strong> isn\u2019t too bad of a movie and although it does feel too long, it\u2019s still passable entertainment headlined by a unique performance from Gary Sinise. However, I cannot say this Blu-ray release is any good.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>
\nReindeer Games: The Director’s Cut (2000)<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nREVIEW NAVIGATION<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Movie<\/a> | Special Features<\/a> | Video Quality<\/a> | Audio Quality<\/a> | Overall<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Genre(s): <\/strong>Crime, Action
\nLionsgate | R \u2013 125 min. \u2013 $14.99 | March 6, 2012<\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO:<\/span>
\nDirected by: <\/strong>John Frankenheimer
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Ehren Kruger (written by)
\nCast: <\/strong>Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, Charlize Theron, Dennis Farina, Donal Logue<\/p>\n

Theatrical Release Date: <\/strong>February 25, 2000<\/p>\n

DISC INFO:<\/span>
\nFeatures: <\/strong>Commentary, Featurette, Alternate Scenes, Theatrical Trailer
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>1<\/p>\n

Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 2.35
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>40.6 GB
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A<\/p>\n

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THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 2.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Plot Synopsis (from back cover): <\/strong>Upon release from prison, Rudy (BEN AFFLECK) poses as his old cellmate Nick in order to meet Nick\u2019s sexy pen pal Ashley (CHARLIZE THERON). But things heat up for Rudy when he\u2019s forced into an armed robbery being hatched by Ashley\u2019s evil brother (GARY SINISE).<\/p>\n

Since this is a \u201cQuick Hit Review\u201d, I\u2019ll be brief: Reindeer Games<\/em><\/strong> isn\u2019t as awful of a movie as some have portrayed it being, but it\u2019s not exactly a fantastic over-the-top thriller as others feel either. I first saw this movie back in 2001 shortly after its DVD release and I didn\u2019t think much of it then and didn\u2019t think it offered much today. The plot is overwrought, the ending inane (the finale alone dropped the rating a half star) and the acting all over the place starting with Gary Sinise and his… unusual style.<\/p>\n

In terms of the crime aspect, I give some credit that it doesn\u2019t tread too much in familiar territory but even that part gets bogged down and clocking in at over two hours, the movie does drag on especially in the middle portion.<\/p>\n

Having said that, as a thriller, Reindeer Games<\/em><\/strong> does offer up some decent suspense, Ben Affleck for his part isn\u2019t too bad (although it\u2019s hardly a memorable performance) and, oh, Charlize Theron is incredibly hot. If I were still a high school spring pup, her nude scenes (yes, plural) would easily bump this from average to being dope.<\/p>\n

All in all, Reindeer Games<\/em><\/strong> is barely a blip on Affleck\u2019s career. The story is OK but really sinks in the ridiculous finale which is beyond ridiculous and not in an over-the-top kind of way, but that it betrays logic for the sake of a lame twist.<\/p>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 1.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Audio Commentary<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 Director John Frankenheimer offers up an informative track where to gives tidbits on making the movie and comparing this Director\u2019s Cut (which is his preferred version) with the original release.<\/p>\n

Original Theatrical Cut Scenes (19:27; SD)<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 I kind of like having scenes that were ultimately cut down (or completely) on the disc as, after watching the movie, you can check out how it differs.<\/p>\n

Behind the Scenes Featurette (6:08; SD)<\/span><\/strong> is as basic as the title of this feature… Not only is it short but there\u2019s really not a whole lot to it: you\u2019ve got some behind-the-scenes footage intermixed with some on-set interviews where they basically say nothing.<\/p>\n

Theatrical Trailer (1:40; SD)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Previews<\/strong> \u2013 Pulp Fiction<\/em> (Blu-ray), Hostage<\/em>, Rounders<\/em>, Good Will Hunting<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

VIDEO \u2013 1.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

After reviewing hundreds of Blu-rays (and watching many others), I can\u2019t ever recall seeing a transfer this bad, and boy oh boy is this one awful. The movie, presented in its original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio, is supposed to be in 1080p high-def but you could\u2019ve fooled me because it looks like Miramax (I assume Lionsgate just bought the print) applied some DNR and a lot of edge enhancement resulting in what I could describe as a dirty looking transfer where in various scenes, characters have halos around them. Truly, this is one appalling transfer.
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AUDIO \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This 5.1 DTS-HD MA track isn\u2019t great but is at least serviceable. The soundtrack starts off well enough with a nice balance of depth but soon enough it gets relegated to the center and front channels and comes across as flat than well rounded. Even so, it\u2019s probably on par or ever so slightly better than the standard Dolby Digital 5.1 the DVD has to offer.<\/p>\n

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\n<\/a><\/p>\n

OVERALL \u2013 2.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall, Reindeer Games<\/em><\/strong> isn\u2019t too bad of a movie and although it does feel too long, it\u2019s still passable entertainment headlined by a unique performance from Gary Sinise. However, I cannot say this Blu-ray release is any good. While it\u2019s nice all of the features were ported over (not necessarily a given) and the audio is serviceable, the video is utter crap and easily the worst I\u2019ve encountered (and hope I never do again… though 54<\/em> has something to say about that). Unless you don\u2019t own this on DVD \u2013 and even then I wouldn\u2019t pay a penny over $5 \u2013 I would just skip this release altogether.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Movieman<\/em>
\nPublished: <\/strong>03\/02\/2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reindeer Games isn\u2019t too bad of a movie and although it does feel too long, it\u2019s still passable entertainment headlined by a unique performance from Gary Sinise. However, I cannot say this Blu-ray release is any good.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,970],"tags":[81,865,1395,1396,1168,1394,1393],"class_list":["post-3952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","category-quick-hit-reviews","tag-ben-affleck","tag-charlize-theron","tag-dennis-farina","tag-donal-logue","tag-gary-sinise","tag-john-frankenheimer","tag-reindeer-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3952","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=3952"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26122,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3952\/revisions\/26122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}