KALIFORNIA (Blu-ray)

Written by Senora Bicho

The 1993 thriller directed by Dominic Sena touts Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis as the stars; however, David Duchovny and Michelle Forbes do all of the shining.

Brian (Duchovny) is a journalist who obtains an advance to write a book about serial killers. His girlfriend, Carrie (Forbes), is an avant-garde photographer frustrated with rejections and dreams of moving to California. Brian finds a solution that will satisfy them both: a cross-country drive visiting historic murder sites. To save on gas money they advertise for road companions. Early Grayce (Pitt) is a violent, unemployed parolee looking to start a new life with his childlike girlfriend Adele (Lewis), and the road trip out west seems to be the answer he is looking for.

Carrie has apprehensions about the couple from the start, but Brian convinces her that there is nothing to worry about. The stark contrast between the couples is evident from their first meal together, and Carrie is concerned they won't pay their fair share. Brian is fascinated by Early and thinks she is being too judgmental. When it comes time for Early to pay for gas, he kills a man with ease in the service-station restroom. Things continue to intensify until it all comes to head with Brian and Carrie fearful that they will survive the journey.

Pitt is convincing as the psychopathic killer who creates the majority of the tension just watching him unravel while the trip progresses. Lewis is well cast as the doe-eyed girl that accepts and loves Early despite the abuse he inflicts on her. However, she starts to get annoying as the film progresses and is a bit one dimensional. We get a taste of the horrific background that put the character in the situation she is, although more facets and depth could have been added to the role in the hands of a different actress. I have been a fan of Forbes from her days on the television series Homicide and she is excellent as the struggling artist desperate to separate from evil when she spots it in Early. Duchovny also delivers a strong, believable performance with his naivety to what is right in front of him. In addition to the strong acting, the research of the famous serial killers creates a terrifying foundation that builds as the current killings reach their climax.

The new release includes a Blu-Ray disc featuring an unrated version of the film and a DVD flipper disc with the unrated version and the theatrical version. There are no additional bonus features. The Blu-ray video is presented with a 1080p/MPEG-4 AVC encoded transfer at a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and the audio is a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Solid, warm colors are on display, and other than occasional softness issues the picture is satisfying to watch. The dialogue is clear and well balanced in the mix. Unfortunately, the surrounds don't offer much in the way of immersive ambiance.

Although a tad lacking in high definition, Kalifornia doesn't suffer because the picture and audio aren't the focal points; it is a successful psychological thriller due to character building and strong acting while slowly building the tension. If that type of film appeals to you, it is worth watching.

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Kalifornia on Blogcritics.

THE TV SET

Written by Musgo Del Jefe

For full disclosure, I have to say that when I initially heard the title, The TV Set, I thought (and hoped) that I might be getting something along the lines of the brilliant, The Groove Tube (1974). Just as The Groove Tube used short sketches, interspersed with commercials to satirize TV and the popular culture of the day, I thought maybe I'd get a cutting edge comic piece similar to that. And then the opening credits rolled.

As the title card announced, this is "the story of a pilot." Considering that our lead character Mike (David Duchovny) has a pregnant wife (Justine Bateman), this movie could've been about the "birth" of a TV show. But that potential subplot along with many others gets held at arms length as the movie progresses. That may be part of the problem with this film. It's not the sum of its parts.

At its heart, this is the story of Mike, a writer, trying to get his dream project produced and on the network schedule. The writer and director, Jake Kasdan, was a writer on one of the more brilliant shows of the past decade, Freaks and Geeks, a show ultimately cancelled despite critical acclaim. His insider knowledge of the workings of the industry can either help the arc of the film or really bog it down. How will Mike maintain his vision? Will he have to change along the way?

We start at the final casting call for the lead actor and actress of the show. Mike wants TJ Goldman (get it - Gold / Man) as his lead character Rob. TJ has a "cutting edge" beard just like Mike. Zach Harper (Fran Kranz) isn't given a chance by Mike. But Zach is given the part by the Network President (Sigourney Weaver) because of his emotion. TJ is all surface, no emotion. The scene with both actors performing the same scene is not played for the full humor - the network execs do overreact to Zach's performance but differences could've been exaggerated more and then it wouldn't have to be explained to us in the next scene.

Once Zach is cast as Rob and Laurel (Lindsay Sloane) is cast as Amanda, we have our premise set and the movie feels like it can officially begin at 16 minutes in. I like the potential of the filming of a TV show within a movie. You have so many items to play off of each other, thematically. You have the plot of the show, The Wexler Chronicles (lawyer returns home after his brother's suicide and falls in love), you have the interaction of the same actors outside of the TV show (each character playing two roles essentially), and the interactions happening around the people making the show. It's ripe for comedy and most recently it was done for a movie within a movie in For Your Consideration. Once the filming starts here, it's hard not to compare the two films. Sixteen minutes in and just as we start to shoot the show, the network wants to change the premise. They don't want the brother to commit suicide. And this starts the ultimate question of the film - where do you "hold your ground" on your dream?

Act 2 starts as the filming of the pilot episode begins. Much like For Your Consideration, the interior show (here The Wexler Chronicles and there Home For Purim) isn't very good but the actors take it seriously. That's always the key for humor and these scenes are absurd and humorous. As the actors in the pilot fall in love, it looks like we have a budding romance between the same actors outside of the show. The dichotomy of these scenes is clever but not well fleshed out. Zach is a hard character to read. This "emotional" character at the beginning seemed full of youthful pep and enthusiasm. Once the show starts filming, he seems to turn inexplicably manipulative and self obsessed.

By Act 3, we're getting closer to the "birth" of the show. Mike's back problems are getting worse from the stress and his wife is getting closer to giving birth (she's eight months pregnant as the testing process approaches). We've also got a subplot of the Head of Primetime Programming, Richard McAlister (Ioan Gruffudd aka Mr. Fantastic). He is from England and is really pushing Mike's vision of The Wexler Chronicles. He is also having marriage problems and his wife is threatening to take their child and move back to the U.K. This drama keeps popping up out of nowhere every 15 minutes and taking away from the core story. It really feels forced and like padding to the story. The drama of losing a wife and kids is too heavy on the scale next to making a TV show and really does a disservice to this film.

Ultimately, Mike realizes that this show, like life isn't always how your original vision started "but you make it work." That's a great theme. Much like Home For Purim is changed in For Your Consideration, so The Wexler Chronicles is changed to Call Me Crazy along with other changes. Call me crazy but there's a lot of potential here. If the story concentrated more on Mike and his wife and the actors in the TV show and less on Richard and the comedic subplots of Lenny (Weaver's character), that lesson, "but you make it work," would carry some weight. Richard gives an impassioned speech about returning to "scripted stories" and a "smart show." This movie, like The Wexler Chronicles has a vision. It has good writing, great acting, and some truly funny scenes. However when it's all over you don't come away from the film feeling that it worked.

The film does leave you laughing. The two funniest scenes show that Jake Kasdan should be making the next The Groove Tube and they're buried at the end of the film. The first is the Promo Reel for Call Me Crazy that combines every TV cliché that NBC has ever put into a trailer for one of their new shows (and this one includes fart jokes too!). The second is a scene from the network's other success, a reality show called Slut Wars hosted by Seth Green. Trust me, there's a movie that really satirizes TV that's ripe to be made.

DVD EXTRAS. Double commentaries highlight the DVD release. Most interesting of the two is Jake Kasdan and Freaks and Geeks executive producer, Judd Apatow, talking about the genesis of this movie and other anecdotes about the TV industry. If only this movie had tied up all it's lose themes the way an episode of Freaks and Geeks was able to in 60 minutes. I'm afraid they were taking Lenny's advice - "Original scares me a little. You don't want to be too original."