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| Special Features: |
Full-screen version
2.0 Dolby Stereo Surround
Digitally Mastered
Interactive menus
Scene index
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| Video Format: |
Full Frame (1.33:1)
[SS-DL]
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| Languages: |
English (Dolby Stereo Surround 2.0)
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| Subtitles: |
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| Captions: |
Yes
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| Casing: |
1-Disc Keep Case
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On the surface, "Music Box" would seem to have everything going for it. It boasts Jessica Lange in an Academy Award-nominated performance, the always amazing Armin Mueller-Stahl, and a relatively original plot. However, don't let any of that fool you. Despite all of the good things in "Music Box," it lacks in one pretty important department: the screenplay.
Joe Eszterhas is the man responsible for the screenplay this disappointing film. It is probably not necessary that anything more be said, but more will be said anyway. Eszterhas (who wrote this film before he became the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood history with "Basic Instinct") is perhaps one of the worst screenwriters in the world. His dialogue is trite, sometimes sophomoric, and his "twists" rarely seem to be anything more than last minute ideas that he has cooked up to prevent himself from writing himself into a corner. He has always had an uncanny ability for coming up with brilliant plot ideas and then destroying those ideas utterly in the execution. "Music Box" is no different, and for that (and for the fact that this was probably Eszterhas' best idea ever), it is an utter and complete failure.
Jessica Lange plays attorney Ann Talbot, a woman of Hungarian descent, whose father (Mueller-Stahl) is accused of committing horrible atrocities during World War II. Ann decides to take on her father's case, despite warnings from her colleagues. What follows are a series of courtroom scenes and 11th hour revelations that serve to break down Ann's trust in and image of her father.
This could have been a shattering probe into ideas surrounding family, duty, honor, etc. Instead, it ended up as a courtroom "who-dunnit," a thriller more interested in itself than in the audience. The film is not helped by the fact that the music box of the title does not come into play until the last ten minutes, and that it is a literal (not metaphorical) music box. Why make this the title of the film, when there is nothing in the film to back it up? This little tidbit only serves to annoy the viewer more. This critic actually yelled, "come on!" at the screen when the revelation of the music box occurred.
"Music Box" is little more than lowest common denominator entertainment enclosed in the shell of serious drama.
Nothing much to recommend here. A mediocre movie presented in full-frame format with no extras.
Picture Quality: 6/10
Shoddy, full-frame transfer of a film that was shot in the late eighties. It looks as though little has been done to "digitally master" the image, regardless of the claim on the back of the case. Blurry, grainy, and slightly out of focus, the transfer leaves a lot to be desired.
Sound Quality: 8/10
Fine for a film that is almost completely centered around endless courtroom accounts of war crimes.
Easter Eggs:
No Easter Eggs found during review.
Extra Features: 0/10
There are no extra features on this disc.
The Final Word:
A waste of time that could have been a brilliant film. Watch it for Lange and Mueller-Stahl if for no other reason.
Michael Dziura
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