Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Review: THE LAST MOVIE STAR (2018): Faded Fame and a Journey Into The Past

The Last Movie Star Blu-ray Review

The Last Movie Star (2018) Blu-Ray Review, a movie directed by Adam Rifkin, starring Burt Reynolds, Ariel Winter, Clarke Duke and Chevy Chase.

Release Date: March 27, 2018

Plot

“An aging former movie star is forced to face the reality that his glory days are behind him.”

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Disc Specifications

Run Time: 94 Minutes

Format: Blu-Ray

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2:40:1

Language: English (5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio)

Subtitles: Spanish, English (SDH)

Rating: R

Video

The Last Movie Star is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate with a 1080p transfer. The image quality is fine, with sharp contrast between the scenes during the day and night.  Close-ups of the actors faces are very detailed.

Audio

The Last Movie Star is presented with only one audio track, English 5.1 DTS-HD. Optional Spanish and English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. The film does a nice job of balancing the soundtrack with the dialogue, which is crisp and clear. Environment sound effects are also captured well.

Blu-Ray Bonus Content

Deleted Scenes

“The Best Is Yet To Come: Adam Rifkin of The Last Movie Star” Featurette – Rifkin details his passion for Burt Reynolds, and when he delivered the script to Burt and told him that the only way he would make the film is if he agreed to star in it. Rifkin talks about getting the rest of the cast and how the actors were just right for all the parts. The film, as described by the director, is about growing old and faded fame.

Audio Commentary with Director Adam Rifkin

Film Review

As we begin to age, everyone starts to reaccess their lives, choices they have made/didn’t make, and opportunities lost. Starring Burt Reynolds in the lead role as Vic Edwards, the film centers around a former movie star facing the reality that his glory days are behind him. Opening in Los Angles, Reynold’s character has a lunch with a friend (Chevy Chase) in which his friend convinces him to travel to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award from a film festival in Nashville, Tennessee. However, the film festival is misleading, and it turns out to be a small gathering at a bar with a handful of movie fans. The fans that are running the festival are played by Clarke Duke and Ellar Coltrane.

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The film plays mostly as a meta nostalgia trip for Burt Reynolds, and it is definitely has an art imitating life, imitating art vibe. Reynold’s character Vic Edwards watches old films he starred in, discusses the projects he passed on, visits the childhood home he grew up in, and tries to reconnect with an old flame at a retirement home. Reynold’s is very good in the film, and you feel for the guy who was at one point the toast of the town in Hollywood, who now barely anyone recognizes in public. The line between fiction and reality is blurred in the film to the point where I didn’t know if I was feeling sympathy for Burt Reynolds the man or Vic Edwards the character.

The supporting cast does a fine job, with Ariel Winter of Modern Family getting the most screen time to develop her character. She plays Reynold’s foul-mouthed, scantly dressed chauffeur who has a lot of baggage with emotional issues. Clarke Duke (Hot Tub Time Machine, Greek) portrays a rabid cinephile with genuine giddiness. One drawback was despite receiving top billing, Chevy Chase is literally in one scene in the movie. Chase was the biggest comedy star of an era, just as Reynolds was the biggest star of an era. I wanted to see more scenes with Chevy, which could have made for a nice meta-narrative counterpart to Reynolds.

For me, the best parts of the film are when Rifkin seamlessly inserts Burt Reynolds into his old films when he is having flashback. Reynolds has “conversations” with characters HE portrayed in classic films such as Deliverance and Smokey and the Bandit, and in those scenes he comes to terms with the decisions he made and who he has become. The film may be a drawn-out swan song, and be a tad too sentimental, but it is clearly made with genuine passion for the life and career of Burt Reynolds.

Rating The Last Movie Star: 7.5/10

Disc Acquisition

You can purchase The Last Movie Star here.

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Kyle Steininger

Born and raised in Chicago, Kyle has loved movies ever since his father took him to the theater to watch Home Alone. Since then, he has developed a passion for films and everything about them from watching endless DVD extras, interviews with cast/crew, and attending screenings of older films when available. Some of his favorite directors include Kubrick, Fellini, Scorsese, Tarantino, Leone, and Nolan.
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