Blu-ray Movie Reviews

There's no money in a "real job." So George Jung deals pot. Lots of it. The blue-collar kid dubbed Boston George spirals up from there, into the riches and excesses of the huge cocaine cartels. And crashes hard. Johnny Depp portrays George, the ambitious outlaw who, perhaps more than any American, transformed powder cocaine from relative obscurity in the U.S. into a 1970s/80s feeding frenzy.

With an artistic style similar to Boogie Nights, director Ted Demme brings the true life tale of George Jung, one of the key players in bringing the cocaine business to its heights in the late 70’s and early 80’s. The story follows George from his upbringing and cruises through high times as a beachfront marijuana distributor, nationwide distributor and later cocaine mogul. Shown in a flashy style with amazing performances, Blow does a compelling job in showing how even when you think you have it all in the wrong business you always end up in the same place.

New Line has been a bit hit or miss with HD presentations but this one holds up pretty nicely. At times the image flattens out and becomes a bit hard looking but this seems to be the director’s intent with the retrospective sequences. The rest of the film has a great sense of dimension with good detail and sensational colors. Fine object detail can be slightly exaggerated from time to time, but this actually works in its favor more often than not. Edginess is slightly apparent but never overly distracting. Depth of image is strong and the stylized photography lends a lot to the mood of the film.

Despite the packaging making no mention of a lossless soundtrack, the Blu-ray does feature a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix. I love the soundtrack selections throughout the film and how much they add to the mood of the film. The mix has a nice balance of dynamics and atmosphere and the sound design holds up well given the subject matter. The lossless mix has an open quality to it with nice panning and seamless transitions from front to back.

Extras are very similar to the Infinifilm release on DVD including the ability to delve into some production features while you watch the film. This sheds more light on particular sequences and the events surrounding them. A full production diary is included giving you quite the insight into the production of the film on a day to day schedule. A feature commentary, deleted scenes, interviews and a look at the real events are also included. A fact track with trivia and the trailer are also included.

Ted Demme brought some great style to this production and Depp delivers one of his best roles to date. The A/V presentation is solid and New Line brings some great supplements to the package. Definitely recommended for fans of the film.