BLU-RAY
REVIEW: MARRIED LIFE
09/01/08
Married Life deals with
just that, the life of married people. Harry Allen (Chris
Cooper) and Pat Allen (Patricia Clarkson) seem to be a
happily married couple. However, one thing is wrong, Pat
cannot provide Harry will the level of emotional attachment
he needs. Harry is a true romantic and even though he loves
Pat, he knows something is missing. Harry finds what he is
missing in Kay Nesbitt (Rachel McAdams) and experiences the
kind of love that he wants for the rest of his life. Harry
determined to leave Pat confines his predicament in his best
friend Richard Langley (Pierce Brosnan).
Richard gives Harry friendly advice until he meets Kay and
even though he has never been the kind of guy to go with
just one girl he instantly falls in love with Kay.
Meanwhile, Harry not knowing how to break the news to his
wife, that he is leaving her, decides to poison her. While
Richard begins to romance Kay, he obtains information that
can set both Harry and Pat free, but decides that his
happiness is more important.
Everybody already knows that married life isn’t always bliss
and his movie does an amazing job depicting those
circumstances. The movie, set in the 40s is a nice depiction
of the time. Chris Cooper who usually plays the creepy
silent roles is excellent and brings some of the creepiness
to the table he too. Pierce Brosnan, who oozes charisma,
also does an excellent job. The rest of the cast, Patricia
Clarkson and Rachel McAdams, also deliver top notch
performances.
Sony Picture Classics had done an amazing job with Blu-ray
disk for Married Life. The movie had vivid colors and not
one artifact can be found. The disk also includes three
alternate endings. The only bad thing is that they didn’t
include a behind the scenes, but the alternate endings are
interesting enough. The first alternate ending is very
strange and I’m glad they didn’t go with it. In it Harry
accidentally crashes his car and his wife dies. At the
hospital Harry asks Richard to kill him with the poison, and
Richard is shown in court testifying to what he did. The
second alternate ending is almost the same as the first
except that Richard is shown narrating the story and not
testifying in court. The third alternate ending is much less
somber than the previous two. In the third alternate ending,
Harry doesn‘t crash and the movie ends with his wife‘s head
on his shoulder and Harry smiling. Of all the ending, I
prefer the one they went with.
Review By Milton Brayson
milton@smartcine.com
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VIDEO:
Widescreen Version (1:85:1)(1080P High Definition)
AUDIO:
English Dolby
TrueHD 5.1,
French Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Arabic
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Commentary with
Director Ira Sachs
Alternate Ending #1 - Harry accidentally
crashes his car and his wife dies. At the hospital Harry
asks Richard to kill him with the poison, and Richard is
shown in court testifying to what he did. (9: 52)
Alternate Ending #2
- Almost the same as the first except that Richard is
shown narrating the end of the story and not testifying in
court. (7:43)
Alternate Ending #3
- This ending is happier in that Harry doesn‘t crash and the
movie ends with his wife‘s head on this shoulder and him
smiling. (2:40)
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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