* James Franco, Actor, 127 Hours, 2010. Jonah Hill: Supporting Actor, The Wolf of Wall Street, 2013; Supporting Actor, Moneyball, 2011.

**Felicity Jones, Actress, The Theory of Everything, 2014.

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After being disgracefully fired from the New York Times for questionable activity in his latest publication, reporter Michael Finkel (Hill) has no choice but to start over, desperately seeking a story he can publish; a task which becomes far more difficult as he begins to discover no one in the industry dares touch his work after the public mess of his dismissal and the related implications. Beginning to run out of motivation, Finkel stumbles upon a recently arrested man named Christian Longo (Franco) accused of murdering his wife and three children, who when caught in Mexico was apparently using Finkel’s identity for reasons unbeknownst to him. Unable to resist his curiosity in the matter, Finkel begins visiting Christian repeatedly in order to hear out his story and as the facts and information begin to compile, Mike realizes he just may have enough material for a book on the subject, assuming of course that he can rely upon and confirm the information provided his possibly unreliable source. Yet as Mike gets deeper into his association with Chris, he begins to build an odd friendship with this accused murderer that could affect his judgment if he’s not careful, a grievous error that could ruin him for good.

Rupert Goold makes his feature film directorial debut with ‘True Story’ which he also co-wrote with David Kajganich, based upon the novel by Michael Finkel respectively. Goold does an impressive job at the helm of this emotionally riveting thriller, guiding this fact-based story with grace and delivering quite the notable directorial debut. The film is also tremendously benefitted by the incredibly talented individuals who comprise the cast, most notably James Franco and Jonah Hill who both deliver exceptional performances in each of their respective roles, once again reminding viewers that these are two incredibly talented actors with an impressive range that is far from limited to silly comedic roles.

‘True Story’ is an intense, powerful and emotionally gripping thriller that is boosted tremendously by impressive performances by Franco and Hill who are both on the top of their game. So much of what makes ‘True Story’ riveting and powerful is the discussions and chemistry between the characters of Michael Finkel and Christian Longo and without the proper actors cast in these roles, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say the film would surely crumble. Overall, ‘True Story’ is an intense, dialogue focused nail biter complimented by exceptional performances that is all the more chilling knowing it’s based on factual information. I would highly recommend giving this one a shot; it’s well worth a watch and at the very least the cost of a rental.

VIDEO:

The Blu-Ray release of ‘True Story’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks fantastic as a whole, delivering a rich, detailed and overall gorgeous presentation throughout, complimented by a more than sufficient bitrate. Everything looks gorgeous and spot-on from start to end, with no faults whether small nor large to be found on my end. Overall, this is a truly impressive high definition video presentation that should easily please even the most die-hard quality fanatics.

AUDIO:

The Blu-Ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This lossless multichannel soundtrack is sharp, clean and discrete, utilizing all five available channels on a number of properly fitting occasions with random natural auditory effects and most prominently to surround the viewer with the films score, while never causing any dialogue which may be occurring simultaneously to become negatively affected or rendered inaudible at any point. Overall, this is a very solid 5.1 channel DTS-HD MA soundtrack that delivers in every way required of it and shouldn’t disappoint.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-Ray release of ‘True Story’ includes a number of nice extras. Included on the release is an Audio Commentary with director Rupert Goold, in addition to a number of Deleted Scenes (just shy of 17 minutes worth altogether) with optional commentary by Rupert Goold. We are also treated to a number of ‘Promotional Featurettes’ exploring different aspects of the film and featuring interviews and comments with members of the cast and crew along with individuals involved in the real life ordeal such as the real Mike Finkel. The included Featurettes are: ‘Mike Finkel’ (running approximately 3 minutes), ‘Who is Christian Longo?’ (approximately 4 minutes), ‘The Truth behind True Story’(4 minutes), and ‘The Making of True Story’ (5 minutes). The ‘Theatrical Trailer’ and a ‘Gallery’ are also included.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

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