DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Mallrats: 10th Anniversary Extended Edition (1 Viewer)

[Steve Tannehill]

Mallrats: 10th Anniversary Extended Edition Studio: Universal Studios Home Video Year: 1995 (2005 Release) Rated: R Aspect Ratio: 1.85x1, enhanced for 16x9 displays Audio: English DD 5.1; Spanish, French DD 2.0*; Commentary Captions/Subtitles: English SDH; French and Spanish Subtitles Time: 1:36 (Original Version); 2:03 (Extended Edition) Disc Format: DS/DL (DVD-18) Case Style: Keep Case *Audio for Extended Edition is only DD 5.1 The Feature: In Mallrats, Jason Lee and Jeremy London are twentysomething friends who share something in common: they are dumped by their respective girlfriends on the same day. So they go to the mall. They cross paths with ex-girlfriends (including the most recent ones). They encounter Jay and Silent Bob. Jay and Silent Bob go on missions, including sabotage, and beating up the Easter Bunny. Hilarity ensues. I'm not a fan of Kevin Smith, and I watched Mallrats as far as I could without losing interest. That's about 51 minutes through the shortened original edition. I can only imagine what the extended edition is going to be like. Sorry. I would love to hear your thoughts about it... please forgive me if I stop here. The Feature: 1 / 5 Video: The video quality of Mallrats is actually pretty good, although the lettering in the main title sequence appeared to suffer from edge enhancement. Colors were rich, contrast was spot-on. Video: 4 / 5 Sound: The sound was nothing special, but not bad. Dialogue was front and center. Music was across the front. There was at least one surround effect with split surrounds, but this is not the kind of movie that seems to require that kind of soundtrack. Sound: 3 / 5 Extras: Smith basically calls people who look at DVD extras losers, so I am almost inclined to not promote them here. But since this may weigh in the difference of your choosing to purchase this disc when you already have the 1999 Collector's Edition... The DVD includes extras on Side A:

Cast Interviews from the Original Set (8:44)

A Brief Q&A With Kevin Smith

Outtakes (8:13) - presumably left over after the additional footage was added to the extended cut

View Askew's Look Back at Mallrats - same video as the 1999 release, but missing the subtitles (21:06)

The Erection of an Epic: The Making of Mallrats (22:10) - a current-day documentary

An Easter Egg - Nothing to see here, move along. Get a life, we're told.

Audio Commentary with Kevin Smith, Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Scott Mosier, and Vincent Pereira

Production Photographs - same as 1999 release

Music Video: The Gooks, "Build Me Up, Butter Cup" - same music video as 1999 release, but no MCA Music ad in front

Theatrical Trailer - same as 1999 release Missing from the disc is the multi-angle video commentary from the original 1999 release. There were also over an hour of deleted scenes on the original release, not all of which are represented here. The 1999 release also included production notes, and a nice printed insert. They are missing here. Extras from Side B are thin, we're told, due to space restrictions:

Mallrats: The Tenth Anniversary Q&A (50:11) - held live after a screening of the original movie Side B also includes the extended edition of the film. If I had to rate the extras on attitude, it would be a zero. But based on quantity, I'll bump the rating up. There is also actually some insight about how the movie bombed. That in itself is interesting. Extras: 4 / 5 In Conclusion: A lot went into the making of Mallrats (and the DVD) and I respect that. I know there are also a lot of fans of the movie. I suspect you will enjoy the extended version of the movie and the smattering of new supplements. Overall Rating: 3 / 5 Release Date: September 20, 2005 Display calibrated by Steve Martin at http://www.lionav.com/

 

[Brian Little]

You know instead of complaining I decided to write my own review for the forum on this release of "Mallrats." So here we go...

The Film:

After Brodie (Jason Lee) and T.S. (Jeremy London) are dumped by their girlfriends they decide to go and hang out at the mall. Little by little strange things come together, including running into ex-girlfriends, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith), and then there is this dating gameshow that is happening later on in the day with the Rene (Shannon Doherty), the girl who just dumped Brodie.

"Mallrats" for all intent purposes is a 90 minute/2 hour (depending on which version you watch) teen angst sex shopping film that runs on all engines from start to the film's credits. While its not a highly intelligent film - if you are looking for smart witty dialog, top level acting, and high level comedy then I'd suggest you turn away. However if you enjoy low level comedy that smells of cheap budget then this film is for you.

Did I enjoy it? Yes I did. While its not a A-rate film by any means, "Mallrats" has a certain charm to it that grows on you after a few viewings. Just pop it in, turn off your brain, and enjoy yourself.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Video: On Side A of the disc contains the Theatrical edition of the film. Colors and clarity are very nice on this version. I compared the Theatrical edition on the new Anniversary edition to the original 1999 release and Universal indeed has improved what was already a good transfer back from 1999 on this release. The biggest thing I noticed right away is the contrast itself being a bit higher, and finer details being a bit more noticeable on this release. Its not a huge improvement but even on my meagar 26 inch Samsung HDTV it is certainly a nice improvement.

On the downside however I will admit to a few times during the film noticing some slight edge enhancement. This especially comes into play during the opening credits. Its not very distracting but it is there if you do pay attention.

On Side B we are given a new Extended Edition of the film. The original DVD had deleted scenes seperately which are now edited back into the film itself. The picture quality during the original Theatrical parts remain the same as on Side A, but anytime the added scenes come into play there is a slight noticeable drop in contrast. Its not a big issue, as its still very watchable but anyone with a hawkeye (like myself) for issues like this will notice.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars for Side A (Theatrical Edition)
3.5 out of 5 stars for Side B (Extended Edition)

Sound: Both editions have a fairly decent English Dolby 5.1 Surround mix on them. Side A also has Spanish, French, and English Dolby 2.0 Stereo tracks. Side B only contains the said English 5.1 track. Both sides has subtitles in English, Spanish, and French. The English subtitles are done for the deaf and hard of hearing according to the technical details on the back of the DVD.

In terms of the English 5.1 mix like most comedy centric films most of the time the main focal point is on dialog which is very front in the mix. Everything is very easy to understand in the mix in terms of dialog. For the most part any music that is played is also mixed in the front with some bleeding in the rears. Occasional sound effects are panned off into the rears along with some mall ambiance but otherwise this is for the most part a very front centric mix but it does the job it needs to do.

Sadly I haven't had much of a chance to go through all the extras as of yet. I can confirm that nearly all the extras from the original 1999 release are here outside of the live video from the audio commentary recording session so for the most part unless you badly want to keep that extra you can ditch the 1999 release. Once I get to watch the extras then I'll update my review to reflect upon everything.

I hope my review is useful to everyone around here. I might not have $100,000 worth of equipment to give a review that all of the great reviewers do around here but at least I can try and contribute as best as I can. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to help out the Home Theater Forum review, and thanks to everyone who contributes with many of the great posts on the forum, the great reviews on the website... and of course to the folks who are running the website itself especially a BIG thank you.

(And thanks for running that ad for Nicheflix awhile ago... I signed up after seeing that ad)

 

[Cees Alons]

OK. This is pretty clear. Most previous posts removed.

Why?

Let's see:

Steve didn't like the movie, told us so candidly, but many members feel it shows in the review.

So, now many members don't like the review.

Fair enough. But I really hope you don't stop liking Steve Tannehill and given these facts: perhaps we can also continue the thread without making it a flame-feast.

I removed the first "round".
(Steve lost 1 to 15 or so).

Perhaps he shouldn't have tried to review a movie he didn't like, even after giving it another sincere spin. And then again: why not?
But let's make this a thread about the new DVD of Mallrats, not about a review of Steve's review!

I hope that will appear to be possible.

Thanks, Steve, for doing what you felt you had to.
And, thanks, Brian.