Kevin Smith and Warner Home Video have figured out a way to use Blu-ray Disc to get me to like movies that otherwise hold little appeal.
While it’s not real new, WHV’s Maximum Movie Mode feature has evolved into the most-desired feature on a Blu-ray movie and the best value-added element to the core HiDef video image.
I saw “Clash of the Titans” in the theater in 3D and 2D and did not have much interest in seeing it again on Blu-ray since I was unimpressed with the 3D in theaters and disappointed by the nearly monotone colors of either drab brown or pale blue in 2D.
Not only is the image much more colorful and bright on HiDef Blu-ray, but the use of the Maximum Movie Mode feature to automatically overlay in-production footage, interviews with star Sam Worthington and other cast and crew, and even trivia, engaged me in the movie itself far more than when I saw it in theaters. In fact, having seen it on Blu-ray, I can say I like the movie a lot more now than before.
It’s only the second time I’ve ever said that about a movie, the first being only a week earlier.
Kevin Smith took MMM to such an entirely new level with the July 20 Blu-ray release of “Cop Out,” which he directed and edited, that he even changed the name of the feature to MCM – Maximum Comedy Mode. The innovative fun starts instantly with Smith visually embedding himself in the opening WB logo so that the “Warner Bros. Pictures” ribbon wraps around him.
It would appear that the effusive Smith, who has an encyclopedic knowledge and passion for movies, is in paradise here with all the features of MMM at his disposal. It’s the perfect platform for someone known for being unable to contain himself. Here, Smith can replicate himself so that one of his incarnations can cut off his original on-screen host self from rambling and then orchestrate the image of the movie on one picture-in-picture screen to fast-forward to a scene later in the film to explain the appearance of an actress during an early scene in the movie on another part of the split screen. He also frequently freezes the movie you’re watching to play outtakes, extended scenes, and alternate cuts of those same scenes to explain his editing choices and allow us to enjoy funny stuff that didn’t make the cut for various reasons.
It’s all technically impressive, a little frantic, and all so entertaining and fascinatingly informative at the same time, that even though his infectious enthusiasm extends the running time of the movie by nearly an hour, I wound up having way more fun with this 2 ¾ hours version of “Cop Out” than simply watching the 107-minute theatrical version. And, like “Clash of the Titans,” I am now a far bigger fan of “Cop Out” than I was before seeing it on Blu-ray in Maximum Comedy Mode.
— By Scott Hettrick