DANNY COLLINS – The Blu Review

In DANNY COLLINS, Al Pacino plays an aging rock star named Danny Collins, a mix of Neil Diamond and Rod Stewart. He’s led a life of drugs, booze, and women but has failed to produce any new music in three decades. He still plays to sold out arenas, performing the same old schlock to the young and old and spends his nights snorting cocaine, drinking anything with alcohol in it, and having sex with his much-younger live-in girlfriend. The story in DANNY COLLINS kicks in when a lost letter to Danny from John Lennon, written decades earlier, belatedly arrives, inspiring Danny to connect with a son (Bobby Canavale) he’s never met.

When Jim Batts reviewed DANNY COLLINS here at We Are Movie Geeks in April he wrote: “Al Pacino has a great rapport with the rest of the cast, particularly Plummer, as the two old pros ease into a comfortable give-and-take banter. It’s easy to imagine those two backstage all around the world……Dan Fogelman directs his own screenplay with confidence, knowing when best to cut in or away for dramatic or comedic impact. He wants us to be as charmed by Danny as most of his acquaintances, but he never backs away from the character’s indulgences, whether it’s falling back on safe standards or snorting lines backstage…..” (read all of Jim’s review HERE)

And read Melissa Howland’s round-table DANNY COLLINS interview with Al Pacino HERE

DANNY COLLINS be released on Blu-ray from Universal on June 30^th and We Are Movie Geeks has had a sneak peak.

DANNY COLLINS is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. Director Fogelman and his cinematographer Steve Yedlin give a kind of glossy look to the story with colors that are very nicely saturated throughout the film. DANNY COLLINS has a warm golden ambiance a lot of the time which intentionally contrasts with the kind of slightly smarmy characters being depicted. Quite a bit of the film takes place in darker interior and concert scenes, and while contrast remains strong here, there’s a slight loss of shadow detail at times, but the overall image is wonderfully clear, with excellent fine detail.

DANNY COLLINS’ DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track sounds terrific. Some of this sonic energy comes from the film’s smart use of concert cues and general underscore, all of which utilize the surround channels effectively. Dialogue is very cleanly presented and there’s some good immersion throughout the film courtesy of well-placed ambient concert noise.

Extras for DANNY COLLINS are minimal:

– Behind the Scenes of Danny Collins – A paltry 4-minute featurette with a few brief interview clips and scenes from the film that seems to be over as soon as it begins.

– Danny Collins — Album Covers Through the Years – A collection of fictional album covers, as briefly seen in the film, that represent Danny’s career. Whoever designed these did a great job of capturing the style of the decades from which they were supposed to represent.

– DVD copy of the film as well as a voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy.