Categories: Movie Reviews

Danny Collins – Blu-ray Movie Review

Synopsis

Al Pacino plays Danny Collins, an old rock star from the ’70’s who still tours, capitalizing on his past successes while continuing to live the hard charging lifestyle of a young, vibrant performer. This all changes the day Collins’ manager (played by Christopher Plummer) gives him a letter that John Lennon hand wrote to Danny in 1971. This was the first he ever saw of the letter. The message within resonated enough to inspire Danny to make real changes in his life – reconnecting with his family while also re-prioritizing things in an attempt to achieve greater happiness and contentment.

Specifications

Universal
2015, Color, Rated R, 1 Hr 48 mins
DTS-HD Master 5.1, 2.40:1 Aspect Ratio
Starring: Al Pacino, Annette Bening, Jennifer Garner, Bobby Cannavale and Christopher Plummer
Directed by: Dan Fogelman

Rating

Entertainment:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Violence: No
Sex: Mild
Language: Yes

Commentary

I love Al Pacino. He makes a great gangster, cop or NFL coach. He just isn’t a very good casting choice to play a rock star. He can’t sing very well and he lacks the kind of charisma you see with real famous musicians. I tried to give him a chance on this film but honestly he came across as some sort of strange three-way cross between Bob Dylan, John Denver and Kermit the Frog. So I think the movie is fundamentally flawed by an underlying decision to cast the wrong actor as the lead. The rest of the cast performs well, especially Jennifer Garner and Christopher Plummer who turn in good performances.

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The story was interesting but constrained by a middle of the road approach to this sort of cinematic genre. I frankly lost interest in the characters as the movie wore on and I was glad to see the end credits when they popped up.

Technical

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I was expecting this Blu-ray to have a colorful and punchy image similar to what you get with most romantic comedies. Besides a few brightly lit outdoor scenes, the image was unfortunately flat and soft looking for the most part. The picture did not show any issues with noise, banding or other artifacts. There were no signs of blown out whites or crushed blacks and in fact the shadow detail was fine. But I still have to deduct a star on the image quality because of the generally soft and lifeless image.

The audio was maybe a little better than the image but was also not of a reference caliber. Voices were legible and the background music sounded fine most of the time. I found the bass to be bloated sounding, especially in the live concert footage. I also wound up using the fader control on my pre-pro to boost the rear speakers which I rarely do.

Extras

This is a two-disc set with the Blu-ray, a DVD and a Digital HD Ultraviolet code. The two on-disc extras are in HD: “Behind the Scenes of Danny Collins”, a short overview of the story and the characters and “Danny Collins – Album Covers Through the Years”, a showcase of the album covers that were used in the film.

Jim Clements

Jim Clements has been an audio nut since childhood where you could find him underfoot at his local high end store on most weekends. (This particular shop was within walking distance of Jim's home, much to the chagrin of the owner and his staff.) Jim's audio journey started early because he loved great music of all kinds. And he still does. Like most audiophiles, Jim was not particularly inspired by a vast majority of the audio systems he encountered. So his quest grew through his efforts to recreate a live listening experience in the home. This has proven to be a never ending quest. One major offshoot of all this is that Jim has become something of a cinema enthusiast as well. So now he's working on the video and surround sound conundrums too. Since perfect recreation of sound and video is a goal to be pursued but never attained, Jim derives his pleasure from the journey itself. He wants to help our readers on their own personal quests by reviewing products thoroughly and objectively. On a personal note, Jim is a Professional Engineer, licensed in California and Texas. He currently has his own engineering practice in San Antonio, Texas. Jim is also part owner of a small chain of craft beer growler stations in South Texas.