99 Homes [Blu-Ray]
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, Laura Dern
Release Date: Now Available on Blu-ray* (*A Best Buy Exclusive) & DVD (Everywhere)
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10
Synopsis:
In this timely thriller, single father Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) is evicted from his home and his only chance to win it back is to go to work for Rick Carver (Michael Shannon), the charismatic and ruthless businessman who evicted him in the first place. It’s a deal-with-the-devil that provides security for his family; but as Nash falls deeper into Carver’s web, he finds his situation grows more brutal and dangerous than he ever imagined.
’99 Homes’ follows hardworking single father Dennis Nash (Garfield) who is barely keeping his head above ground and facing eviction of his family home which he currently resides with his son and mother. After losing the decision in court and being informed by the judge that he may appeal the decision within 30 days, he intends to do whatever necessary to keep the home that’s been in his family for generations. Before Nash can fight or appeal the decision, the real estate owner representing the bank arrives accompanied with police backup to evict Nash and his family. With the house lost and barely able to afford the rent at the unsettling motel they are now forced call home, Nash is desperate to find work and through a course of events finds himself reluctantly accepting a job from the real estate mogul Rick Carver (Shannon) who evicted his family. Attempting to let his morals take the back seat in his current desperate state he begins working his way up with Carver, but accepting the job was the simple part.
Directed by Ramin Bahrani (At Any Price) from a script he also wrote along with Amir Naderi (Sound Barrier), Bahrani does a truly impressive job at the helm of ’99 Homes’ guiding the powerhouse cast with near perfection and brilliantly capturing the calm intensity. The film also owes a tremendous amount of credit to the incredibly talented individuals who comprise the cast, without whom the film would never even have begun to work, including Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man), Michael Shannon (Man Of Steel) and Laura Dern (Jurassic Park) among others, all of whom are fantastic in each of their respective roles, Shannon and Garfield both truly amazing at their very best here.
’99 Homes’ is an intelligent, powerful and relatable thriller exploring the truly terrible events many are forced to endure and the decisions and often undesirable choices which they must make in order to move beyond as well in order to protect and support their family. Beautifully guided by director Ramin Bahrani and tremendously complemented by the outstanding performances from Michael Shannon and Andrew Garfield who are both exceptional and at top form in ’99 Homes’ nor are the supporting performances lacking in the slightest. The scenery and the wonderful manner in which there consistently feels to be an almost looming presence of tension and discomfort over the surface, this is one fantastic film and certainly up there with many of the year’s best.
Overall, ’99 Homes’ is a magnificent film guided by a talented director and boosted by truly outstanding performances. This is one powerful, relatable and gorgeous film that’s easily up there with many of the year’s best films and I would highly recommend checking this one out. For anyone who appreciates quality cinema or simply a well done tense and riveting thriller that’s beautifully acted, you will definitely not want to miss out on this impressive film, it’s well worth the cost of a rental the very least.
VIDEO:
The Blu-ray release of ’99 Homes’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.40:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks pretty solid as a whole, delivering a detailed and sharp presentation throughout with little to no noticeable faults to be found within, holding up admirably in every regard. Overall, this is a more than sufficient high definition video presentation that should easily satisfy the majority of folks.
AUDIO:
The Blu-ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This lossless multichannel soundtrack sounds pretty great and while it may not be overly aggressive, it delivers the dialogue with a clean and crisp consistency and utilizes all five available channels on a number of occasions with the score and subtle ambience including crowd activity and more. Overall, this is a satisfying 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 ’99 Homes’ includes a couple of extras. Included on the release is an ‘Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Ramin Bahrani’, in addition to the option of viewing a ‘Deleted Scene’ (running approximately 90 seconds) presented after the feature which also includes optional commentary.
