Irrational Man

     Woody Allen's Irrational Man is a film that my wife joked was going to be more then likely a film about philosophy, having endured my love for Allen films and never quite learning to love them. So when the film begins and we learn that Joaquin  Phoenix (Her) is a Philosophy teacher we had a laugh. Unfortunately it was the last laugh for a bit.
     Allen sets up the film with a good twenty minute seizure of scenes in which Phoenix says something philosophical, we get a rushed surge of emotion from Emma Stone (Easy A), and then more rushed attempts at setting up the dynamics between Stone, Phoenix, Stone's boyfriend, and the distress and desperate Parker Posey.
     When the movie actually kicks off I found myself intrigued. It had the romantic preludes of Lost In Translation, the smart and witty intellectualism of a Coen Brothers film, and the charm of an episode of Murder She Wrote all wrapped into one. Once the substance of the film started I was drawn in. Can't say I really loved the end of the film. It goes back to the philosophical aspects of the underlying theme, but it was an interesting watch.

PICTURE QUALITY:
     The film is heavy with grain hiding out in the nooks and crannies of the picture. Sometimes it's hardly noticeable and other times it was intolerable, sometimes causing color to run together a bit (IMO). No banding or aliasing qualities that I took note of and when the picture was good it was great.
     Color seemed like it was in a tug-of-war a bit, but when it was right everything seemed to fall into place. The colorful clothing, the greenery of the campus, the skin tones of characters all popped more times then not.
     Detail suffered a bit as well from grain. The opening of the film follows Phoenix as he's driving himself to the college and the detail on his sunglasses and face were pretty good. Imperfections stood out on facial profiles. Phoenix's pocked face, his stubble, Stone's freckles and natural laugh lines. It's just a shame the entire film wasn't fluid in picture quality.

AUDIO QUALITY:
     Irrational Man comes with the usual seemingly standard DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 that a lot of BD's present sound with. Not much immersion or ambience here. The film is mostly front heavy if not completely front heavy. Occasionally you might get a subtle peep out of a side channel, but for the most part it's a dialog driven film that doesn't offer up much more then crystal clear dialog and some ambient sound.

BONUS FEATURES:
~On The Red Carpet
~Los Angeles Film Premiere
~Photo Gallery