O Brother Where Art Thou? DVD Review:


The Movie

The Coen Brothers have made great movies. Their movie before this one, The Big Lebowski, was one hell of a fun ride! Their latest, O Brother Where Art Thou?, is also fun, but not as great. It does have its moments, but overall moves slower than I thought. However, one thing is for sure. The Coen Brothers know exactly what music to use in their movies.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is loosely based on Homer's 'Odyssey.' It takes place in 1930's Mississippi. Escaped from a chain gang, Everett Ulysses McGill (George Clonney) and his two companions Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson), the dimwitted one, and Pete (John Turturro), the somewhat more intellectual one, are out to recover a buried loot of a bank heist. However, right after the breakout, they meet a blind prophet who warns them that "the treasure you seek shall not be the treasure you find."

They're spending the night over at Pete's friend's barn. But, he ratted them out for the ransom money, and so they must flee from the coppers. And Everett is in a tight spot, damn it. A quite funny run-on joke, by the way. On the road with Pete's friend's car, they pick up Tommy (Chris Tommy King), an African-American guitarist. He tells them he sold his soul to the Devil. They quickly record a song at an outsider radio station and collect some dough, not aware that their song becomes a nationwide favorite soon after.

7 out of 10

The Video

This is the perfect movie to display all of its great variety of colors. It has an overall saturated feel to it and the video here is a very well done presentation and/or representation of this color-driven movie.

9 out of 10

The Audio

A lot of music here. They're all old-timey songs and ballads (what do I know about these?). They work perfect in the movie, but when it comes to the presentation here, it's not as good as it was in the theater. It doesn't quite utilize the capacity of one's surround system, but where it stands now it's acceptable, nothing to complain about, really.

8 out of 10

The Extras

Ah, I wish there was a little more, but when it comes to a Coen Bros. DVD, this is top of the line (as untrue as this sounds, it's not too bad, actually).

Exclusive behind-the-scenes featurette

Hey, this would've seemed to be the standard featurette, but it's actually more than that. The comments, sometimes voiced over some behind the scenes footage, by the Coen Bros., Clooney, Turturro and Nelson were not only informative, but also funny here and there (mainly the Coen's and Nelson).

"Painting With Pixels", the groundbreaking digital post-production process

This featurette, about 10 minutes long, details the process of how and where this movie got its spectacular colors from. I didn't know it before, but the Coen's and D.O.P. Richard Deakins took the print to a team of computer colorists who then changed the color digitally. You can see -- as this featurette compares BEFORE and AFTER the effects have been completed. It's definitely worth a look and a great addition in the extras dept.

Soggy Bottom Boys "I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow" Music Video

Hey, this is mostly footage from the film cut together with this way cool song (but, let me tell you, the song gets kind of annoying over time). Nothing great, but cool to have on this disc.

Script to storyboard to final scene comparisons

Ah, it's not the standard extra on most DVDs, but here it's interesting to see how close the Coen's went by the storyboard. There are two scenes that you can view the comparisons of. A nice touch, but no for everybody.

Menus

These are quite boring, only background pictures and whatnot. But what the hell do you expect from menus? Most are standard, while some are very creative and out of this world. These aren't. Acceptable. Mediocre. OK.

Sure, we got the trailer. That's pretty much a standard extra, well, actually you'd be surprised how some DVDs do not. The prime example would be M:I2.

6 out of 10

Movie
7

Video
9

Audio
8

Extras
6

Final (not an average)
8

Site Contents Copyright© The Z Review, unless used with permission.This site has no intention to infringe on the rights of the film owners of O Brother Where Art Thou? and intellectual copyright holders of the movies mentioned herein & hold copyright over the movie, characters, merchandise & storyline.