{"id":5047,"date":"2012-12-22T08:50:17","date_gmt":"2012-12-22T16:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=5047"},"modified":"2021-05-31T23:34:53","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T06:34:53","slug":"review-liberalarts-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2012\/12\/review-liberalarts-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberal Arts Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Thanks to fantastic performances from the entire crew, Elizabeth Olsen in particular is incredible, and a limited theatrical run, Liberal Arts<\/i><\/b> is one of the best hidden gems of 2012 and is worth at least a rental.<\/p>\n

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\nLiberal Arts (2012)<\/strong><\/p>\n


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

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Genre(s): <\/b>Drama, Comedy, Romance
\nMPI Media Group | PG13 \u2013 97 min. \u2013 $29.98 | December 18, 2012<\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/span>Directed by: <\/b>Josh Radnor
\nWriter(s): <\/b>Josh Radnor (written by)
\nCast: <\/b>Josh Radnor, Elizabeth Olsen, Richard Jenkins, Allison Janney, John Magard, Elizabeth Reaser<\/p>\n

Theatrical Release Date: <\/b>September14, 2012 (limited)<\/p>\n

DISC INFO:
\n<\/span>Features: <\/b>Commentary, Featurette, Deleted Scenes, Theatrical Trailer
\nNumber of Discs: <\/b>1<\/p>\n

Audio: <\/b>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
\nVideo: <\/b>1080p\/Widescreen 2.35
\nSubtitles: <\/b>English SDH, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/b>20.2 GB
\nCodec: <\/b>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/b>A<\/p>\n

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THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 4.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Josh Radnor for many is known for his role on the long-running series \u201cHow I Met Your Mother\u201d, a show I\u2019ve never seen, but for me since the release of the 2010 ensemble comedy-drama Happythankyoumoreplease<\/i>, I\u2019ve become a fan of the actor, writer & director. His latest is Liberal Arts<\/i><\/b>, a coming-of-middle-age comedy-drama which has a few problems with the story, yet thanks to a well written screenplay and great performances from the cast, it\u2019s one of the surprise gems of 2012.<\/p>\n

The story Jesse Fisher (JOSH RADNOR), a bored individual living in bustling New York City working a tedious and unfulfilling job in college admissions, buries much of his time in books, and whose latest relationship has come to a bitter end. One morning he receives a call to attend the retirement party of Professor Peter Hoberg (RICHARD JENNINGS) at his Alma mater in Ohio, and with nothing to do, he accepts.<\/p>\n

Being afraid to fly, he rents a car and travels to Ohio, is greeted by old friends of Hoberg and together they attend a lunch including their 19-year-old daughter Zibby (ELIZABETH OLSEN) majoring in improv theater and its infatuation at first sight for Jesse. Later that night Jesse attends Hoberg\u2019s retirement \u201cparty\u201d, which is more of a dour and awkward affair, after which Jesse decides to take a stroll through campus coming across the weird\/eccentric Nat (ZAC EFRON) who provides some life nuggets and he convinces Jesse to attend a college party where, wouldn\u2019t you know it, he runs into Zibby. The two make a coffee appointment for the morning.<\/p>\n

The next day Jesse goes to the coffee joint where he meets college student Dean (JOHN MAGARO) who just so happens to be reading one of Jesse\u2019s favorite books. We learn that Dean is as smart as they come but also has some emotional issues that blew up the semester before. In any case, Jesse and Zibby eventually meet up and spend the day walking around campus together, talking about college and life in general. Before you know, their time is over and Jesse must return back to his old life in New York but not before Zibby gives him a mix CD of some classic music (one of the topics they covered earlier) and her number. The two also swap addresses and quickly become handwritten pen pals and exchange letters over the months continuing on their conversations. At this point, for a few scenes, the movie goes into You\u2019ve Got Mail<\/i> territory as we go into voice over mode where the two speak back and forth through the letters.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Jesse can\u2019t stand to stay away any longer and drives back to Ohio just to see Zibby and as one might expect, their relationship takes another step into romance but when it comes to the sex, and the fact Zibby admission that she\u2019s a virgin, he cannot go through with it. When faced with that decision, it\u2019s at this point where Jesse realizes he has to grow up while Zibby, being an old soul, needs to slow down and get back to being a 19-year-old college student.<\/p>\n

Liberal Arts<\/i><\/b> is the second film from Josh Radnor, following Happythankyoumoreplease<\/i> and another successful one. Having never seen an episode of \u201cHow I Met Your Mother\u201d, I am mostly unfamiliar with Radnor or his character on the series so while, from what I\u2019ve read, he is apparently basically playing the same sort of character, I still found him charming. What I especially enjoyed is that even when the situations can be a tad unrealistic, there is a kind of genuine nature behind him that you can\u2019t help but toss them aside.<\/p>\n

For her part, Elizabeth Olsen continues to grow tackling more rounded rolls and forming a fan base with each new independent film she puts on her resume. Although I think she was a bit more impressive in Martha Marcy May Marlene<\/i>, even when the script goes off kilter at the end (in hindsight, I did love it), Olsen has an undeniable onscreen presence, so much that I wish she were the main character and took the majority of screen time.<\/p>\n

The supporting cast, in their limited roles, is also notable. Richard Jenkins has a small part but similar to Olsen, I actually wouldn\u2019t have minded seeing more from him and his character, that\u2019s just the on-screen charisma he brings every time. Allison Janney appears for only 10-minutes but gets a great scene and interaction with Radnor and Zac Efron is nearly unrecognizable in a character who I had thought only existed in cinema but then recalled my own days in college at the University of Oregon and realized… it\u2019s completely reasonable someone like him could be real. It\u2019s a nice small part of Efron.<\/p>\n

On the whole, Liberal Arts<\/i><\/b> is hardly a perfect flick but it does hit all the right notes and the entire cast give amazing performances. When watching the interactions between Radnor and Olsen, in a way they reminded me of Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation<\/i> and in a similar way, I wouldn\u2019t have minded if this film was longer as I wanted to spend more time with both characters. Unfortunately due to an extremely limited theatrical release \u2013 31 theaters at its widest release and a mere $319k gross \u2013 this is truly one of the great gems of 2012 and well worth checking out.<\/p>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 2.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Audio Commentary<\/span><\/b> \u2013 Actor\/Writer\/Director Josh Radnor and Producer Jesse Hara join together for a light-hearted but informative commentary as they talk about different aspects from shooting locations, the story, actors, etc.<\/p>\n

Deleted Scenes (16:30; SD)<\/span><\/b> includes just some extra character moments, and a side story involving one of Jesse\u2019s friends, which serves only lengthen the movie but doesn\u2019t move the story forward.<\/p>\n

Featurette (2:06; HD)<\/span><\/b> \u2013 Not sure why this is called a \u201cfeaturette\u201d as it\u2019s an EPK item with minimal behind-the-scenes footage set in between footage from the trailer.<\/p>\n

Theatrical Trailer (2:30; HD)<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Previews<\/b> \u2013 Your Sister\u2019s Sister<\/i>, Burning Man<\/i>, Why Stop Now<\/i>, About Cherry<\/i><\/p>\n

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VIDEO \u2013 4.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

MPI releases Liberal Arts<\/i><\/b> onto Blu-ray presented in its original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio and 1080p high-definition transfer. Shot using an RED digital camera, the film is obviously clean and free of many flaws yet still maintains great levels of detail throughout. The color array also looks well balanced without being blown out or oversaturated.
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AUDIO \u2013 4.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track isn\u2019t anything special, but still effective enough. Given the entire movie is dialogue driven with some of Ben Toth\u2019s score helping round out this lossless track. Most of the audio comes out of the center and front channels with the rear speakers being used for ambient noises, though it is minimal.<\/p>\n

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OVERALL \u2013 3.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall, thanks to fantastic performances from the entire crew, Elizabeth Olsen in particular is incredible, and a limited theatrical run, Liberal Arts<\/i><\/b> is one of the best hidden gems of 2012 and is worth at least a rental. The Blu-ray has good video\/audio transfers but the features are on the disappointing side with a short EPK featurette, though the commentary is good.<\/p>\n

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The Movieman
\n<\/i>Published: <\/b>12\/22\/2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to fantastic performances from the entire crew, Elizabeth Olsen in particular is incredible, and a limited theatrical run, Liberal Arts is one of the best hidden gems of 2012 and is worth at least a rental.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1779,1607,893,1778,645],"class_list":["post-5047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","tag-allison-janney","tag-elizabeth-olsen","tag-josh-radnor","tag-liberal-arts","tag-richard-jenkins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5047","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=5047"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26368,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5047\/revisions\/26368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}