Imaginary Heroes Blu Ray Review (Sony)

Imaginary Heroes is a 2004 drama written and directed by Dan Harris (Speech and Debate). It was produced by Art Linson (Heat, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Dick Tracy, Yellowstone, Sons of Anarchy, The.Untouchables, Scrooged, and Fight Club). The estimated budget was $4,000,000 and it grossed $291,118 worldwide at the box office. The whole Travis family experiences a shocking tragedy which begins to unravel them in different ways. Teenaged son Tim (played by: Emile Hirsch from The Girl Next Door, Milk, Lords of Dogtown, Killer Joe, and Into the Wild) considers his existence as a bad dream that won’t stop. His older sister Penny (played by: Michelle Williams from Dawson’s Creek, Halloween H20, Blue Valentine, My Week with Marilyn, and the Venom franchise) who got away from it all in college and she just wants to party until she’s fully numb. His father Ben (played by: Jeff Daniels from Dumb and Dumber franchise, Speed, Arachnophobia, Pleasantville, and Terms of Endearment) has tuned out everything since the stunning day, he treats his wife and children like complete strangers now. His mother Sandy (played by: Sigourney Weaver from the Alien franchise, Ghostbusters franchise, Copycat, Galaxy Quest, and The Ice Storm) sharpens her tongue with witty sarcasm and she dulls her senses with drugs while struggling to conceal a huge secret that threatens to ruin them all!!!! Imaginary Heroes is a mix between Ordinary People and American Beauty. It’s a dark dysfunctional family drama with some humar and surprises thrown in. Dan Harris has one of the best directorial debuts of all time with the this and his screenplay is damn near perfect for this. It’s a real shame that he hasn’t done much behind the camera after this one. One single event and day changes the Travis family forever and Imaginary Heroes shows the aftermath of all of that. Emile Hirsch was one of the most talented young actors from around 2002 to 2013, he was on fire with every project and role at that point. After that, he stopped doing bigger productions and he mainly focused on smaller independent stuff. He’s amazing as Tim Travis here. He goes through the most after this tragedy and his life is a mess. Michelle Williams is impressive as Penny, she’s the family member that’s got away from daily memories and she’s going to college. Jeff Daniels steals the show in this as Ben. He manages to make an unlikable numb asshole to someone that you care about when it’s all over. He never hid his favorite child and he barely exists anymore after his painful grief. Sigourney Weaver is great as Sandy, she always speaks her mind now no matter what and she distracts herself with some weed to survive her struggles. The rest of the cast includes Kip Pardue (Remember the Titans), Deirdre O’Connell (The Penguin), Ari Graynor (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist), Adam LeFevre (Beautiful Girls), Ryan Donowho (The O.C.), Suzanne Santo (The Guest Book), Luke Robertson (The Americans), Jay Paulson (Mad Men), Lee Wilkof (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead), Sara Tanaka (Old School), and Larry Fessenden (Session 9). I really appreciated the development of the main characters from Imaginary Heroes. It felt like you were going through it with them for these failed connections. There’s four different sections that builds up the tension, drama, and feelings. It shows what happens with a middle class normal family suffers a life changing event and they all handle it in their own ways as time goes on. It’s a powerful, emotional, and unforgivable journey. Imaginary Heroes sprinkles in some dark comedy with all it’s sad and depressing situations. Imaginary Heroes is probably the most underrated film from it’s year especially considering how bad it flopped in theaters and it still flys under the radar to this day. Hopefully, more people will discover it with this newer home video release because it’s top notch. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Sony Pictures Classics! This 1080p (2.35:1) transfer is a nice upgrade compared to it’s previous 2005 DVD. I’m not sure when this restoration was actually done because there’s no information about it. It looks like it could be a slightly older one but it’s still the best it’s ever looked anywhere so far with this sharp improvement. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track on the disc. It’s definitely much better than the other version that was originally released. This drama doesn’t really have loud or crazy moments but the score does stand out for this. All of the dialogue is very clean, the family issues are elevated, and the music has a nice boost to it. It has English and English SDH subtitles. It has an “Audio Commentary” with lead actress Sigourney Weaver. She chats about how she got involved with this. She loved the script right away. She goes through it’s story and characters. She talks about the cast and working with Dan Harris for this production. It’s very detailed track with all kinds of information and inside stories from it. It has an additional “Audio Commentary” with director Dan Harris and lead actor Emile Hirsch. They both do their parts at separate locations and they joke about it at the beginning. They break down some of the shots. They say they don’t want to just repeat what’s on the screen. They share plenty of stories about working on Imaginary Heroes. They provide a variety of information on so many different things related to this dark drama. It’s technical and personal at the same time. Both tracks are very different so they are nice companion pieces of you want to revisit this with something else. It has little over 11 minutes of “Deleted Scenes”. It has optional commentary with director Dan Harris. It has the little over 6 minute “Behind the Scenes Featurette”. It has interviews with the main cast and crew. They chat about the script, characters, cast, and their experiences. Dan Harris breaks down how he selected the family for Imaginary Heroes. They all show their appreciation for each other while working on this. They talk about it’s different tones. It has the little over 2 minute “, Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery”. It has the “Theatrical Trailer”. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!