The Last Kiss (Blu-ray) Official AVSForum Review

[Ralph Potts]

The Review at a Glance: (max score: 5 )

Film:

Extras:

Audio/Video total rating:

( Max score: 100 )

77

Studio and Year: Paramount - 2006
MPAA Rating: R
Feature running time: 103 Minutes
Genre: Dramedy

Disc Format: BD-50
Encoding: AVC (MPEG-4)
Video Aspect: 2.35:1
Resolution: 1080p/24


Audio Format(s): English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German
Starring: Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett, Casey Affleck, Rachel Bilson, Blythe Danner, Tom Wilkinson
Directed by: Tony Goldwyn
Music by: Michael Penn
Written by: Gabriele Muccino screenplay by Paul Haggis
Region Code: A

Blu-ray Disc release Date: April 14, 2009

"We all make choices. What’s yours?"

Film Synopsis:

Zach Braff (Garden State, TV's Scrubs) stars in this hilarious, irresistibly genuine comedy about love, life, temptation and other stuff that seriously messes with your head. Facing the double whammy of his 30th birthday and the prospect of marriage, Michael is at a crossroads. But just as he's about to kiss his freedom goodbye, he meets a sexy, free-spirited young woman (Rachel Bilson, TV's The O.C.) who could be his last chance at excitement...or his first step into an emotional free-fall zone.

My Take:

The last kiss is well done film that examines what can sometimes happen in relationships. It focuses on a group of friends and relationships both within and outside of the group that are at various stages. One is an couple that has been married for 30 years, another has been married for one quarter of that time, and the last couple isn’t married but has been together for three years and is expecting a child. Michael and Jenna (Braff and Barrett) are the last couple. They are living together and are the epitome of the perfect couple in the eyes of their friends. Michael is turning 30 and because of what he has seen go on around him is afraid of making the commitment of marriage. Jenna is pregnant, secure in her relationship with Michael and wants to take the next step with him. He is feeling trapped and feels like his life is planned out which scares him. Michael’s best friend Chris is involved in the second relationship of the three. He and his wife Lisa have an infant son who is a handful. He works long hours and she is stressed by the long days with the baby. Their relationship is strained and has been for a while. Chris confides to his friends that he is unhappy and can’t take it any longer. The first couple, Anna and Steven (Danner and Wilkinson) are Jenna’s parents and have been married for 30 years. They have a rocky relationship that sees Steven as cold and emotionless and Anna as unfaithful and frustrated. Their problems are unbeknownst to Jenna but are getting to the boiling point. There is a wedding that is attended by the young couples and their mutual friends. This setting ultimately becomes the catalyst for the undoing of the central characters in the story. At the wedding Michael meets a young college coed. She is free spirited and seems to enjoy taking life as it comes. She expresses an interest in him and after they talk she invites him to meet her sometime. Initially he doesn’t entertain the invitation however the pressures that he has been feeling begin to mount and he opts to take her up on the offer. Chris and Lisa continue their distant and tumultuous relationship which is demonstrated by an angry exchange of words at the wedding over the care of the baby. Their mutual friend Izzy (Michael Weston) recently broke up with his long time girlfriend Arianna and is having trouble accepting it. She shows up which sets him off in an emotional meltdown.

The story’s primary focus is on Michael and Jenna but the other relationships sort of revolve around them. After Jenna expresses an interest in buying a house together Michael decides to contact Kim (Bilson) the girl from the wedding. He goes to see her and makes plans to attend a late night party with her. He lies to Jenna and uses Chris as his alibi. Chris pleads with him not to do it or involve him and reminds him how lucky he is to have Jenna. He goes anyway and later than night Jenna tries to contact both he and Chris after she finds out that Izzy’s father just passed away. Jenna subsequently finds out what happened and the outcome isn’t good. In the meantime Anna decides to leave Steven. Chris speaks to Lisa and tells her that he thinks that a little time apart might be in order. She doesn’t take his suggestion very well to say the least. The remainder of the film plays out as Michael learns what is most important to him and its intrinsic value. Anna and Steven need to re-examine their love because 30 years together leaves a long trail of ups and downs that generally are more up than down. Chris and Lisa have to decide whether they as a couple have a future and if not how best to be good parents to their infant son Matty.

I liked this movie. It’s depressing, funny, poignant, and honest in its portrayal of these flawed people who for various reasons are going through difficulty in their relationships/lives. Ultimately they all come to understand that sometimes love in and of itself is just a word and that it’s the things that we do that shows others how we feel. The performances by the cast were strong and the pacing was right on target. This is a solid popcorn flick that you should check out with your significant other.

Parental Guide:

The rating is for sexuality, nudity, and language.

AUDIO/VIDEO - By The Numbers:
REFERENCE = 92-100 / EXCELLENT = 83-91 / GOOD = 74-82 / AVERAGE = 65-73 / BELOW AVERAGE = under 65

**My audio/video ratings are based upon a comparative made against other high definition media/blu-ray disc.**


(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)

Audio: 72

• Dynamics:


• Low frequency extension:


• Surround Sound presentation:


• Clarity/Detail:


• Dialogue Reproduction:
  

Video: 80

(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)

• Resolution/Clarity:


• Black level/Shadow detail:


• Color reproduction:


• Fleshtones:


• Compression:

The last kiss comes to Blu-ray Disc from Paramount featuring 1080p AVC encoded video that has an average bitrate of 37 mbps and lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 channel audio that has an average bitrate of 3.4 mbps.

This was a decent but fairly unremarkable high definition presentation that was highlighted by deep, stable blacks, punchy, well translated colors that offered a good mix of secondary hues that were equally vibrant and pleasing to the eye. Skin tones were realistically depicted with rosy complexions and supple texture. High definition resolution was good and delivered consistently sharp images with varying degrees of fine rendering that appeared scene dependent. Grain was intact and moderate in texture. I noticed a few speckles and debris on the print as well as some low level digital noise that was visible here and there but never rose to fidelity imposing levels. The Dolby TrueHD soundtrack delivered crisp, full bodied dialogue in a mostly frontal presentation that offered a few splashes of light ambience through the surround channels. There was some low frequency detail mixed to the subwoofer that provided tangible bass presence that supported the rhythm of the music during the college party sequence. This was a dialogue driven film that rarely called for total system use. I felt it reproduced the elements contained in the recording with no problem and the mix seemed appropriate for the source material.

Bonus Features:

• Commentary by Zach Braff and Director Tony Goldwyn


• Commentary by Zach Braff, Tony Goldwyn, Jacinda Barrett, Rachel Bilson, Michael Weston, and Eric Olsen


• The last kiss: Filmmaker‘s perspective - 2 minute feature


• The last kiss: Getting together - 26 minute featurette


• The last kiss: Behind our favorite scenes - 8 minute feaaturette


• The last kiss: Last thoughts - 3 minute feature


• Music video: Cary Brothers “Ride“ - Performance version with Director Zach Braff


• 5 deleted scenes and 2 alternate endings


• Gag reel - 2 minutes


• (HD Theatrical trailer

Final Thoughts:

The last kiss is a well conceived film that contains realistically drawn and genuine characters. It avoids the textbook/contrived situations that can be all to familiar in a film like this and paints an honest portrait of the problems that can sometimes arise in life between couples. Its high definition presentation from Paramount isn’t a standout but looks and sounds just fine. The bonus features contain plenty of cast/crew interviews and behind the scenes footage which should please fans. This is worth a rental and is a great way to spend an evening with your significant other.

Ralph Potts
AVS Forum Blu-ray Reviews





Reference Review System:


JVC DLA-RS20 1080p High Definition Front Projector
Carada Precision Brilliant White 96" Screen
Oppo 970HD universal disc DVD Player (480i HDMI)
Toshiba HD-XA2 HD DVD Player (HDMI Audio/Video)
Panasonic DMP-BD55K Blu-ray disc Player (HDMI Audio/Video)
Sony Playstation 3 Blu-ray disc Player (HDMI Audio/Video)
Marantz DV7001 Universal Disc Player
Denon AVR 5308CI THX Ultra 2 Preamp/Video Processor
Sherbourn Technologies - 7/200 Seven Channel Amplifier
Philips TSU9400 Pro Series Touch Panel Remote Control
Canton "Ergo" Series speakers
Axiom Audio QS8 Quadpolar speakers
SV Sound PB-13 Ultra (Rosenut finish)
APC AV S15BLK Power Conditioner/Surge Protector
Furman SPR-20i Stable Power Regulator
Wireworld, VizionWare, Audioquest, Best Deal Cables - Audio/Video/Speaker Cabling
Cool Components - CP-CP102 cooling package

[JamE55]

Thought this movie was great. It's something that happens to all of us. Although i can't believe the score is only 77? And i'm not talking about the movie itself but the quality of the pic and audio.

Was hoping to get more than a score of 80 on the video part at least. Nonetheless it's still on my queue to collect.

Thanks for the review as always Ralph.

Cheers

[Ralph Potts]

Originally Posted by JamE55

Thought this movie was great. It's something that happens to all of us. Although i can't believe the score is only 77? And i'm not talking about the movie itself but the quality of the pic and audio.

Was hoping to get more than a score of 80 on the video part at least. Nonetheless it's still on my queue to collect.

Thanks for the review as always Ralph.

Cheers

Greetings,

James, an 80 isn't a bad rating. If you're a fan you will be more than pleased with this as I am sure it looks appreciably better than the DVD.

Enjoy!


Regards,

[Summa]

Wow, I think 3.5 stars for the film is being VERY generous, but it was definitely entertaining and worth a rental for those who haven't seen it. It's nowhere near as good as Garden State, but certainly not a bad effort.

[Chamillitary]

Originally Posted by Summa

Wow, I think 3.5 stars for the film is being VERY generous, but it was definitely entertaining and worth a rental for those who haven't seen it. It's nowhere near as good as Garden State, but certainly not a bad effort.[IMG]http://www.**********************/track/img/3358/s09v0317fvxp/00.gif[/IMG]

I think the rating is pretty fair. I did enjoy this film actually.

[Stormshadow4life]

Originally Posted by Chamillitary

I think the rating is pretty fair. I did enjoy this film actually.

Definitely. This is just a great movie and nothing like the crap hollywood regularly puts out.

[JamE55]

Originally Posted by Ralph Potts

Greetings,

James, an 80 isn't a bad rating. If you're a fan you will be more than pleased with this as I am sure it looks appreciably better than the DVD.

Enjoy!


Regards,

Thanks the clarification Ralph. Just waiting for my personal copy. I'm sure the quality is up there along with the others.

Originally Posted by pbxtechguru

The movie has a great plot, I think the score is low because of the fact that it takes into account the audio/video etc...

Agree and that's what i meant.

Thanks

[hifiaudio2]

A very good movie with a TERRIFIC soundtrack. I got turned on to a few artists I had not heard before.

[humax]

If this movie is any good, it 's because it is a remake of this film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265930/ . My opinion is that the original is clearly a better movie, with none of the square, pretentious and typical nonsense found in today's hollywood products. Please, feel free to make the comparison and decide for yourselves.

[NorthernPal]

Originally Posted by humax

If this movie is any good, it 's because it is a remake of this film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265930/ . My opinion is that the original is clearly a better movie, with none of the square, pretentious and typical nonsense found in today's hollywood products. Please, feel free to make the comparison and decide for yourselves.

Agreed. I watched the Italian version first and the Last Kiss was dissapointing by comparison.