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HBO

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Various
Cast:
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Anna Chlumsky, Timothy Simons
Writing Credits:
Various

Synopsis:
Selina Meyer runs for POTUS.

MPAA:
Not Rated

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Spanish DTS 2.0
French DTS 5.1
Subtitles:
English
Spanish
French
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
English
Spanish
French

Runtime: 226 min.
Price: $29.98
Release Date: 1/14/20

Bonus:
• Audio Commentaries for All 7 Episodes
• “Inside the Final Season” Featurette
• Character Retrospectives


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

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RELATED REVIEWS

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Veep: The Complete Final Season [Blu-Ray] (2019)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (March 2, 2020)

All good things come to an end, and that leads us to the seventh – and final – season of HBO’s acclaimed political comedy Veep. This set includes all 7 of Season Seven’s episodes on Blu-ray. The plot synopses come from the series’ website.

Iowa: “Selina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) evaluates her campaign. Jonah's (Timothy Simons) personal life causes a stir. Amy (Anna Chlumsky) makes an important decision.”

After almost two years away, Veep returns with a bang via the dynamic “Iowa”. If you thought the time away might tame the series, you thought wrong, as “Iowa” improbably generates laughs from abortion and mass shootings. We get a good start to the final season here.

Discovery Weekend: “At an Aspen retreat for rich donors, Selina deals with potential adversaries and allies. Amy’s behavior raises Gary’s (Tony Hale) suspicions.”

“Weekend” covers the ridiculous ways candidates need to kiss up to wealthy donors, and it gets into some character arcs as well. While not quite as wild as “Iowa”, the show offers a good mix of comedy and narrative progression.

Pledge: “In the run-up to the first debate, Selina makes a novel campaign proposal. Comments by Jonah create blowback. Dan (Reid Scott) and Amy take a road trip.”

As the campaign heats up, Veep goes into overdrive. Not all the bits hit, but more than enough connect to make this another solid show.

South Carolina: “Selina seeks an endorsement in South Carolina. Gary gets a promotion, while Marjorie (Clea DuVall) excels in her new role.”

Inevitably, Veep needed to embrace the insanity of the Trump era, and “Carolina” spreads its Trumpisms across Selina and Jonah. What used to seem absurd now comes across as believable, but “Carolina” still delivers good laughs.

Super Tuesday: “Selina faces increased scrutiny leading into Super Tuesday, while Amy and Jonah ramp up their anti-Selina rhetoric.”

At times, “Tuesday” goes darker than usual, and those moments feel a little too extreme even for Veep. Nonetheless, the episode boasts the standard allotment of laughs and pushes forward the narrative.

Oslo: “Selina attempts to broker a meeting through Minna (Sally Phillips). Gary plans a big event.”

The need to out-Trump Trump comes even more evident here, as “Oslo” continues the more vicious path of the prior episode. Though we find funny moments, the nastier tone makes this show a bit of a disappointment.

Veep: “The nominating fight between Selina and her rivals comes to a historic finish.”

The series concludes on a note that continues the dark ways of the last few, and I admit this doesn’t work for me. As horrible as the characters could seem, they never went this far, and it feels like too much.

All of this makes “Veep” a less than pleasing finale. While it gives us laughs, it creates a somewhat unsatisfying finish to a season that cranks things to “11” too often.


The Blu-ray Grades: Picture A-/ Audio B-/ Bonus C+

Veep appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this Blu-ray Discs. I found visuals typical for Veep here.

Overall definition remained positive. This left us with shows that appeared accurate and well-defined. No issues with jaggies or moiré effects appeared, and the shows lacked source flaws or edge haloes.

Expect low-key colors here, with a push toward amber. The hues lacked much verve but they came across as desired.

Blacks were dark and tight, while shadows offered nice smoothness. The episodes consistently provided appealing visuals.

A chatty series, the DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio of Veep seemed fine for its ambitions. The shows focused on dialogue and didn’t use the soundscape to a vivid degree, as the spectrum added general atmosphere and not much else.

That was fine, though, and audio quality seemed good. Speech became natural and concise, while occasional snatches of music were full and clear.

Effects lacked much to do but they appeared accurate enough. As usual, the series boasted adequate but unmemorable audio.

Season Seven offers the usual array of audio commentaries. We get eight chats from the following array of participants:

“Iowa”: Director David Mandel, Writer Lew Morton, and Actors Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale.

“Discovery Weekend”: Mandel, Louis-Dreyfus, writer Erik Kenward and actor Timothy Simons.

“Pledge”: Mandel, Louis-Dreyfus, director Morgan Sackett and actor Anna Chlumsky.

“South Carolina”: Mandel, Louis-Dreyfus, Hale, writer Peter Huyck and actor Clea DuVall.

“Super Tuesday”: Mandel, Louis-Dreyfus, Hale, writers Jennifer Crittenden and Gabrielle Allen and actors Sam Richardson, Matt Walsh and Andy Daly.

“Oslo”: Mandel, Louis-Dreyfus, DuVall, Richardson, Hale, director Brad Hall, writers Ian Maxtone-Graham, Dan O’Keefe, Dan Mintz and Steve Hely and actor Peter MacNicol.

“Veep”: Mandel, Louis-Dreyfus, Walsh, Hale.

“Veep”: Mandel, Sackett, and director of photography David Miller.

Across these tracks, we learn about story/characters, real-life influences, cast and performances, sets and locations, and related topics. As usual, these tracks offer a mixed bag.

That means a lot of happy talk – lots and lots. We get praise for cast, crew, and the series in general.

However, we still find some good information as well, so we learn a reasonable amount about the episodes in between all the self-plaudits. The latter trend makes the commentaries frustrating, but they still deserve a listen.

By the way, the name “Trump” rarely appears during these commentaries, even though his influence stomps all over this season. I get the impression the participants were told to avoid mention of Trump, perhaps to avoid a constant series of complaints.

Seven Character Retrospectives fill a total of seven minutes, 21 seconds, and involve Louis-Dreyfus, Hale, Simons, Walsh, Chlumsky, Richardson and actor Reid Scott. The performers offer brief thoughts about their roles and evolution over the years. Don’t expect substance in these fluffy clips.

Inside the Final Season runs a whopping one minute, 36 seconds and offers notes from Louis-Dreyfus, as she gives us a rough overview of the year’s arc. It’s promo material and nothing more.

At its best, the seventh and final season of Veep offers clever, insightful material. However, it doesn’t work as well as the best Veep, and the concluding episode leaves me cold. The Blu-rays offer very good picture along with acceptable audio and some supplements. The series’ final season continues to entertain, but it leaves me a little disappointed.

Viewer Film Ratings: 3 Stars Number of Votes: 3
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