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[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=13924[/img]
Title: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy: The Rich Mahogany Edition
Movie: :4.5stars:
Video: :4stars:
Audio: :3.5stars:
Extras: :5stars:
HTS Overall Score:81
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=13925[/img]
SummaryAh yes, Will Ferrell, the man has put out many a funny movie (and just as many unfunny ones), but very few of his movies is as highly regarded as “Anchorman”. The rowdy group of mischief and mayhem are back at it again with Will Ferrell in perfect form here. I’ve always said that the true test of a comedy is not how much it makes you laugh, but how well it holds up over time. A lot of humor is situational and dated to that particular time period, but a movie that can be funny no matter what generation is watching it, is deemed a success in my book. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve quoted “It works 60% of the time, all the time!”, or “Did you just throw a burrito at me?” (Don’t ask about that one) over the years. Ron Burgandy left such an impact on me that I use it as the baseline for “was it as funny as….?” Comments regarding comedies to this day.
Ron Burgandy (Will Ferrell), is living the high life. As a news Anchor for the channel 4 news team he’s living the wild life of fame. He’s known and loved by everyone (well except for the other news teams) and has lavish parties where he’s got women swooning over him and men wanting to be him. Only problem is that he’s a wildly mysgonistic and sexist pig of a man. News anchoring is the man’s world and he knows it! All of his misconceptions are thrown on the line when Channel 4 team hires on Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) to be the new anchor along with Ron and his cadre of miscreants. This throws the men into a wild fit, shocked and outraged that a WOMAN, of all things, is being allowed into their male dominated world. This sends Ron and his crew into the throws jealousy and they heap prank after prank on Veronica’s head in hopes that she’ll quit and run away, leaving them to gloat over their conquest. Only problem is that Veronica is just a tad more strong willed than they originally anticipated. Add Ron falling for Veronica and we have ourselves a bit of a pickle.
Oh Ron, there are literally thousands of other men that I should be with instead, but I am 72 percent sure that I love you.
Now Ron can be one charming fella when he wants to be and Veronica (against her better judgment) falls for Ron just as hard. The problem is that Ron is still an egotistical maniac and no romance with that kind of a guy is going to go well. Soon enough Ron has alienated Veronica and gotten himself fired from the news Station. Roaming around San Diego, he’s a man without a home, a man without a calling. However, as fate would have it, there is an emergency in town that only Ron Burgandy can solve and it’s time for the famous four to come to the rescue and save the news once more.
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=13926[/img]
Brick, where did you get a hand grenade?
“Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy” is a hodgepodge of some of the great comedians in our time. There is just LUDICRIOUS amounts of cameos and guest stars throughout the whole film. We’ve got Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, Fred Willard, Vince Vaughn, John C. Reilly and even cameos from Ben Stiller, Judd Apatow, Luke Wilson and many more to boot. Will Ferrell lights up the screen with his irreverent take on machismo and sexism, reveling in the ludicrous and absurd all the while teasing us with grains of reality and mocking the social norms we’ve come to accept. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen the movie over the years, but each and every time it makes me lose myself laughing on the floor.
With a rock solid cast, each of the characters fall into their clichés with gusto and carry the movie with their zany acting. Will Ferrell is the perfect person to play an offensive character, and Steve Carell, as much as I don’t like him as a front man, is hysterical as the mentally challenged Brink Tamland. The sheer irreverence and skirting the lines of political correctness allows the film to both mock and strengthen the social norms that the film is about. Christina Applegate oozes into her role with the perfection of an artist, playing her character off as stunning to the eyes and at the same times playing a sassy girl with just enough fight in her to make it interesting. All in all the actors have the characters down pat and they’ve become some of the most memorable and most quoted characters in comedy history
What? You ate the whole... wheel of cheese? How'd you do that? Hey, I'm not even mad; that's amazing. How 'bout we get you in your p.j.'s and we hit the hay.
Rating:
Rated PG-13 for sexual humor, language and comic violence
Video :4stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=13927[/img]
This is the same transfer as the original 1 disc version of the film back in the early days of the format. As early of a transfer as it was, it still is very solid encode. The colors are bright and cheerful and there’s a pretty solid level of detail throughout the film there’s some soft shots out in the open, but there’s also a lot of makeup covering Will Ferrell’s aging face so it’s rather understandable. Black levels are deep and inky, for the most part, with only minor black crush in a few scenes. The only real problems is that there is some pretty decent haloing going on around the characters as well as whites being pushed a bit too hard in some scenes. Other that those issues there’s very little digital artifacting going on. Just a few speckles and dirt on the film source.Audio :3.5stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=13928[/img]
Now the audio is decent, but unfortunately not stellar. As with most comedies the soundtrack is a bit front heavy with most of the weight going into the center and mains rather than give an encompassing feel to the film. Surrounds are used for some decent ambience, but there’s not a lot to work with. The occasional sound of traffic coming through the rears or the thud of a door, but the majority of the noise is all coming front and center. Now, with that being said, there is still a great deal of good to be said about the soundtrack. The vocals are locked firmly in the center channel and have some great directionality to them. Dynamic range is very smooth, giving us some decent levels to compare against and the sub adds some nice low end to the movie. Nothing wild, per se, but just a decent low end rumble for things such as a car crash, the thud of books landing on the floor and a door slamming shut. A serviceable track that gets the job done well, but doesn’t have much more to itself being the type of movie it is.[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=13929[/img]
Extras: :5stars:• 12 Playing Cards
• 32 Page Diary of Ron Burgandy
• Commentary by Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, Lour Rawls, Andy Richter, Kyle Glass, Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Christina Applegate
• Bloopers
• 36 Deleted and Extended Scenes
• "Afternoon Delight" Music Video
• ESPN SportsCenter Audition - Ron Burgandy
• "Wake up Ron Burgandy: The Lost Movie"
• Intro-Commentary with Will Ferrell and Aaron Zimmerman
• Raw Footage :Good Takers"
• Cast Auditions
• Comedy Central - Reel Comedy: "Anchorman"
• Table Read 6/20/03
• TV Spots
• 2 Versions of the Film
Overall: :4stars:
I have to say that “Anchorman” is one of the better comedies in the last decade, and one of Will Ferrell’s last funny movies. I’m hoping beyond hope that “Anchorman 2” can rise to the greatness that the original is hailed as, but only time will tell if the team can come back after 10 years and still have that charisma. The audio and video are good on this release, but what really shines through is just the copious amount of extras that are on the disc. This edition was previously a Best Buy exclusive edition that was going for some serious coin up until now on Ebay or half.com. We get the nice fancy box packaging not only the physical swag, such as the playing cards or Ron’s journal, but a second disc full of TONS of special features, and one exceptional treat. The lost movie, a movie made completely out of the extras and deleted footage that never made itself into the film. With a slightly different plotline and some great lost gags it makes for an incredible special feature that is worth the price of a double dip for this edition. I can only say one thing. BUY IT!!!!
Additional Information:
Starring: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell
Directed by: Adam McKay
Written by: Adam McKay, Will Ferrell
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Spanish DD 5.1
Studio: Paramount
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 97 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: Dec 3rd, 2013
Buy Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy (Unrated Rich Mahogany Edition) Blu-ray on Amazon
Recommendation: Get It!
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