BLU RAY: Notorious (Collector's Edition)

I'm a stupid white guy from the suburbs. I don't know rap unless it starts with Saran. But the rap movement in music occurred in my generation, and has completely overtaken the scene since. I have my favorites among the greats; Notorious B.I.G. wasn't at the top of my list. While I think the guy had tremendous talent, I don't consider most of his output to be at the same mental and philosophical level as someone like Tupac Shakur. Sadly, the guy was shot down just as he was making a record that actually began to show the man underneath the posturing and the bluster. Who knows what he might have done had he lived. It's this promise that drives the new biopic NOTORIOUS, now out on BLU-RAY and DVD after a successful run last January. THE FILM I won't say much more about the film itself, since I covered that review here or here. However, I would like to add that rewatching the film through the extended cut offered here (you get both the theatrical and director's cut in this collection) made me like the film a bit more a second time. Jamal Woolard truly does a great job selling the man behind the legend, and his rapping is impressive as well. It's a shame that the movie around him is such standard-issue biopic material. EXTRAS Wow ... now THIS is how to do BLU-RAY properly! Besides a second digital copy disc, the main disc itself contains a massive amount of extra material. Besides the theatrical and extended versions of the film, you get all of these amazing extras: - Commentary track with director George Tillman, the screenwriters, and the editor. It's obvious from this track that all of the men truly loved Biggie's work, and were deeply affected by his death. Very insightful commentary! - ANOTHER commentary track featuring Biggie's mom, and a couple of Biggie's producers. WOW. Stunning track with lots of personal information that help flesh out the scenes in the movie. Amazing. - Life After Death: Making Notorious - Truly in-depth look behind the scenes. - Behind The Scenes Making Notorious - Another great look at the making of the film. I was amazed at the amount of work required to capture that time period and the mood. - Notorious Thugs: Casting The Film - The cast is a strong point of this film. The casting directors made some key discoveries, particularly with Faith Evans and Biggie himself. It also show the preparation involved in getting these actors ready to play real-life heroes. - Biggie Boot Camp - This shows the months-long effort to train Jamal and the rest of the cast and get them ready to do live shows and successfully impersonate these icons. - I Got A Story To Tell - This one I loved. As a non-fan, I really appreciated the information that went into detail about why Biggie's music and abilities resonated so strongly with audiences. Very insightful stuff. - Anatomy of a B.I.G. Performance - Goes behind the scenes to show, side-by-side, how the producers and director tried to recreate actual concert moments from Biggie's career. - The B.I.G. 360 - This is a neat feature. It contains a 360 degree view of the place where Biggie was shot. At each intersection, you can click on various points, which reveal short documentaries about the making of the film at that location and how it was accomplished. Very very cool. - Actual concert footage of Biggie in action. This is an unedited videotaped performance from Biggie doing "Party and Bullshit." You can actually hear the crowd gasp at one point when a fight breaks out onstage ... or does it? OVERALL While the movie might lack a bit of the power it should, it's still a decent night's rental. But if you're a Biggie fan, or a serious rap fan in general, go out and buy this damn BLU-RAY right now. This is a serious package that covers an important period of time in the rap revolution, and this BLU-RAY collection is just about as good as it gets. I wish every BLU-RAY collection had this much love, heart, and knowledge put into it. It's truly a beautiful testament to Biggie's legacy, and everyone involved should be very proud of themselves.