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Despite a few foibles this inspirational tale is excellent.
Video:
"Cinderella Man" is represented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio with an Anamorphic transfer… looks pretty good. There is a little grain that pops up, particularly during the film´s darker sequences, but it´s not horrible. The picture looks a little washed out and black crush obscures the details. The electronic noise I noticed early in the film disappears quickly enough.
Audio:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 transfer makes good use of the surround channels but lacks a punch in the audio department. It enveloped me, but didn´t completely pull me in. The musical score, one of the most important pieces of this little flick, sounds nice. It´s clean and there isn´t any hiss or distortion. Not exceptional but not bad.
Extras:
Fans of this movie will definitely want to pick up the gift set: it´s absolutely packed with extra features that goes into incredible depth about the making of the feature film. The regular set isn´t a slouch, however, with a good selection of deleted scenes complete with commentary by director Ron Howard. The quality of the scenes aren´t the greatest, but it´s nice to see some more of the life of Braddock. The commentary from Howard sheds good light on why they were filmed to begin with, and why the ultimate decision was made to give these scenes the axe.
There are three commentaries available to viewers on this disc. One with director Ron Howard, one with writer Cliff Hollingsworth and the final with writer Akiva Goldsmith. Why they couldn´t have collaborated and sat down together, I don´t know. As it is, there are three commentaries that talk about everything and anything you want to know about the film that´s on the screen. A TON of that is repeated in the following extras, which seem to have put together autonomously of the commentaries. I just toggled between each during blank spaces. It´s like entering into an unending conversation at your leisure.
"The Fight Card: Casting Cinderella Man" is a feature that looks at how simple it was to get the people Ron Howard wanted in front of the camera. Intercut with interviews with Howard, casting director Jane Jenkins, Crowe, and Zellwegger is bits of behind-the-scenes information, character motivations, and explorations of the story.
"The Man, The Movie, The Legend: A Filmmaking Journey" is a discussion of where the project came from, where it´s been languishing, and how Crowe and Howard re-teamed for this movie. I don´t feel like I learned much by watching this piece, but the documentarians manage to fit more information about the real James Braddock in.
"For The Record: The History of Boxing" is a six-minute talk with boxing coordinator Angelo Dundee who talks about putting the sweet science on screen, how Crowe adapted to Braddock´s style, and contrasting historical boxing with its modern equivalent.
"Ringside Seats" mixes historical footage of Braddock-era boxing with talks from boxing expert Norman Mailer. It´s like listening to a lecture about the sweet science alongside the filmmakers, and will give you some things to look for, minutia in Crowe´s performance, that will open your eyes. I´d like to see some direct comparisons, to get a sense of the styles, but this is a nice start.
"Jim Braddock: The Friends and Family Behind the Legend" is an eleven minute exploration of the real-life Jim Braddock and the family that he left behind. They got involved with the filmmaking process and they are given a chance to reminisce about their lost loved one and the film.
The last bit on the regular DVD edition is a two-minute trailer/commercial for Kodak. While a cute commercial… it´s still a two-minute commercial.
The give set bonus disc starts with another fifteen minutes of deleted scenes. I shudder to think how long this movie could have been, considering Howard´s historical problems with pacing and making the tough cuts.
Russell Crowe looked emaciated at many points of "Cinderella Man," and a thirty-minute documentary on "Russell Crowe´s Personal Journey: Becoming Jim Braddock" explains why. Howard talks about the guidance he gave Crowe and the amount of space Crowe was given to create his own character, including the mental and physical training, which was intense, to the point of injury. The creation of the character is, in a word, amazing.
Good fight scenes are hard to choreograph, and a lot of their success comes from collaboration between the DP, director, choreographer and actors. The research process is detailed along with the process of creating the neat, in-period fights presented in the film. Howard explains that the fights aren´t just interludes in the story, but supporting materials that were complete narratives in themselves. The extra "Lights, Camera, Action: The Fight from Every Angle" details this process.
There is a neat photo montage that combines the film´s score and audio clips with behind-the-scenes and production photos. It runs a couple minutes.
"The Sound of the Bell" takes us through a recording session and discussion of the intentions of Tom Newman´s score. The music in this film plays a crucial role in accentuating the fights and I´m glad it gets some time in center ring, as it were. There is also a two-minute music featurette that opines about the nature of music in films in general.
The entire process, from script to screen, is broken down during the "Pre-Fight Preparations" segments. The writers chat about the script and how an amazing story and life was streamlined into a film, plus the progressions that have been made since 1997. "Creating the Reality" looks at the underappreciated art of set design and what was done to create the Depression-era lifestyle. Good set design should go unnoticed, so I´m glad that the designers get a chance to shine. "Russell´s Transformation" talks more generally about Crowe´s work in shaping himself into Braddock. I prefer the more in-depth feature presented earlier on this disc. The final piece, "Inflatable People," talks about how the designers fixed the problems with creating crowds for the audience. You´ll be surprised how it was pulled off, to be sure!
The coolest extra on this gift set a thirty minute copy of the fight between Braddock and Baer from Madison Square Garden.
If I do my math right, there is over three hours worth of extra features contained within this two-disc set. That´s not including the movie, which runs nearly two and a half hours. Between the two, I can´t say setting aside some time to go through everything would be a bad way to spend a day. Some of the extras do get redundant, but there is a lot of good information for film fans as well as boxing enthusiasts to get excited about.
Film Value:
"Cinderella Man" has its problems, to be sure. It is routine, it is cliché, and it is familiar. But I´m a sucker for sports movies and I sure do like a good story: "Cinderella Man" is both."
"Cinderella Man" is represented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio with an Anamorphic transfer… looks pretty good. There is a little grain that pops up, particularly during the film´s darker sequences, but it´s not horrible. The picture looks a little washed out and black crush obscures the details. The electronic noise I noticed early in the film disappears quickly enough.
Audio:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 transfer makes good use of the surround channels but lacks a punch in the audio department. It enveloped me, but didn´t completely pull me in. The musical score, one of the most important pieces of this little flick, sounds nice. It´s clean and there isn´t any hiss or distortion. Not exceptional but not bad.
Extras:
Fans of this movie will definitely want to pick up the gift set: it´s absolutely packed with extra features that goes into incredible depth about the making of the feature film. The regular set isn´t a slouch, however, with a good selection of deleted scenes complete with commentary by director Ron Howard. The quality of the scenes aren´t the greatest, but it´s nice to see some more of the life of Braddock. The commentary from Howard sheds good light on why they were filmed to begin with, and why the ultimate decision was made to give these scenes the axe.
There are three commentaries available to viewers on this disc. One with director Ron Howard, one with writer Cliff Hollingsworth and the final with writer Akiva Goldsmith. Why they couldn´t have collaborated and sat down together, I don´t know. As it is, there are three commentaries that talk about everything and anything you want to know about the film that´s on the screen. A TON of that is repeated in the following extras, which seem to have put together autonomously of the commentaries. I just toggled between each during blank spaces. It´s like entering into an unending conversation at your leisure.
"The Fight Card: Casting Cinderella Man" is a feature that looks at how simple it was to get the people Ron Howard wanted in front of the camera. Intercut with interviews with Howard, casting director Jane Jenkins, Crowe, and Zellwegger is bits of behind-the-scenes information, character motivations, and explorations of the story.
"The Man, The Movie, The Legend: A Filmmaking Journey" is a discussion of where the project came from, where it´s been languishing, and how Crowe and Howard re-teamed for this movie. I don´t feel like I learned much by watching this piece, but the documentarians manage to fit more information about the real James Braddock in.
"For The Record: The History of Boxing" is a six-minute talk with boxing coordinator Angelo Dundee who talks about putting the sweet science on screen, how Crowe adapted to Braddock´s style, and contrasting historical boxing with its modern equivalent.
"Ringside Seats" mixes historical footage of Braddock-era boxing with talks from boxing expert Norman Mailer. It´s like listening to a lecture about the sweet science alongside the filmmakers, and will give you some things to look for, minutia in Crowe´s performance, that will open your eyes. I´d like to see some direct comparisons, to get a sense of the styles, but this is a nice start.
"Jim Braddock: The Friends and Family Behind the Legend" is an eleven minute exploration of the real-life Jim Braddock and the family that he left behind. They got involved with the filmmaking process and they are given a chance to reminisce about their lost loved one and the film.
The last bit on the regular DVD edition is a two-minute trailer/commercial for Kodak. While a cute commercial… it´s still a two-minute commercial.
The give set bonus disc starts with another fifteen minutes of deleted scenes. I shudder to think how long this movie could have been, considering Howard´s historical problems with pacing and making the tough cuts.
Russell Crowe looked emaciated at many points of "Cinderella Man," and a thirty-minute documentary on "Russell Crowe´s Personal Journey: Becoming Jim Braddock" explains why. Howard talks about the guidance he gave Crowe and the amount of space Crowe was given to create his own character, including the mental and physical training, which was intense, to the point of injury. The creation of the character is, in a word, amazing.
Good fight scenes are hard to choreograph, and a lot of their success comes from collaboration between the DP, director, choreographer and actors. The research process is detailed along with the process of creating the neat, in-period fights presented in the film. Howard explains that the fights aren´t just interludes in the story, but supporting materials that were complete narratives in themselves. The extra "Lights, Camera, Action: The Fight from Every Angle" details this process.
There is a neat photo montage that combines the film´s score and audio clips with behind-the-scenes and production photos. It runs a couple minutes.
"The Sound of the Bell" takes us through a recording session and discussion of the intentions of Tom Newman´s score. The music in this film plays a crucial role in accentuating the fights and I´m glad it gets some time in center ring, as it were. There is also a two-minute music featurette that opines about the nature of music in films in general.
The entire process, from script to screen, is broken down during the "Pre-Fight Preparations" segments. The writers chat about the script and how an amazing story and life was streamlined into a film, plus the progressions that have been made since 1997. "Creating the Reality" looks at the underappreciated art of set design and what was done to create the Depression-era lifestyle. Good set design should go unnoticed, so I´m glad that the designers get a chance to shine. "Russell´s Transformation" talks more generally about Crowe´s work in shaping himself into Braddock. I prefer the more in-depth feature presented earlier on this disc. The final piece, "Inflatable People," talks about how the designers fixed the problems with creating crowds for the audience. You´ll be surprised how it was pulled off, to be sure!
The coolest extra on this gift set a thirty minute copy of the fight between Braddock and Baer from Madison Square Garden.
If I do my math right, there is over three hours worth of extra features contained within this two-disc set. That´s not including the movie, which runs nearly two and a half hours. Between the two, I can´t say setting aside some time to go through everything would be a bad way to spend a day. Some of the extras do get redundant, but there is a lot of good information for film fans as well as boxing enthusiasts to get excited about.
Film Value:
"Cinderella Man" has its problems, to be sure. It is routine, it is cliché, and it is familiar. But I´m a sucker for sports movies and I sure do like a good story: "Cinderella Man" is both."
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Average user rating (1-5):
[release]16712[/release]