Sunday, March 4, 2012

Rewatching Better Off Dead

I recently picked up an external BD-rom drive (I'm not getting an HD TV until my current set bites the dust, so it's useless to get a regular blu-ray player), which means I can now take advantage of my library's blu-ray collection.  And they just happened to have Better Off Dead, which I watched a few years ago when I was going through a "watching movies with John Cusack in them" phase, and have been meaning to rewatch ever since I learned that Curtis Armstrong, the voice of Dan in Dan Vs., was in it, yet I didn't remember his character at all.  So here are just a few observations I wanted to share.
  • First off, CBS Blu Ray, I am disappoint.  Seriously, the only special feature on this disc is the theatrical trailer, when I distinctly remember the DVD I rented before having at least a director's commentary, if not a featurette or two.  They didn't even hide a commentary track under the audio options.  Would it have been that hard to copy the special features from the earlier DVD release?  I mean, the main reason I got a BD-rom is because all the good special features are on blu-ray nowadays.  Way to drop the ball, guys.
  • Any time Curtis Armstrong's character, Charles, was on screen, I was filled with the desire to make Dan Vs. dubs.  It didn't help that a lot of his lines were things that Dan would say (i.e. "I've been going to this high school for seven and a half years! I'm no dummy!")
  • I wasn't sure whether to save this for another Surprise Crochet post or not, but since I have no idea when I'll be making another of those, and since it isn't exactly flattering, I'll just post about it here.  Lane's neighbor, Ricky Smith, is twice defined as a typical loser nerd type because he crochets (among other things).  And for Christmas, he crochets a picture frame (for a picture of himself) for Monique, the foreign exchange student his mother is trying to hook him up with.
  • I don't remember whether or not I knew the first time I watched this movie that David Ogden Stiers was Lane (John Cusack)'s dad, but it surprised me this time.  Though that's because I mostly know him from his voice acting. He definitely did not look the way I pictured him.  

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