Boogie Nights (1997) 1080p BluRay x265 HEVC EAC3-SARTRE

While set within the milieu of the Los Angeles adult film industry, Boogie Nights is less a film about pornography than the serio-comic story of a group of misfits, losers, and lost souls who are embraced by Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds), a director who makes "adult films, exotic motion pictures." In 1977, while hanging out at a disco, Jack spots Eddie (Mark Wahlberg), the new busboy at the club, and tells him he's convinced "there's something wonderful inside those jeans waiting to get out." Jack knows his business well and his expert eye has not betrayed him; Eddie is a pornographer's dream -- good looking, remarkably endowed, and willing and able to do as many takes as might be needed. The product of a woefully dysfunctional upbringing, Eddie is not terribly bright but is very ambitious and eager to prove he has a "special something" to share with the world. Eddie changes his name to Dirk Diggler and quickly becomes the biggest star in hardcore. In the brief, late-'70s moment when porn was chic and sex films seemed poised to break into the mainstream, Dirk becomes a star and Jack a respected name. But a few years later, drugs and pride have taken their toll on Dirk and many of his friends, while the advent of the VCR radically changes the adult movie business; Jack goes from being a "filmmaker" to manufacturing and wholesaling videocassettes, a wealthy but emotionally broken man. In his second film, wunderkind director Paul Thomas Anderson juggled a broad range of characters in a manner reminiscent of Robert Altman's ensemble films, making Boogie Nights a sad but funny story of a makeshift family of damaged people and what happens before and after their brief moment in the sun.

Extras

• The John C. Reilly Files - In these outtakes and longer cuts of existing scenes, everybody's favorite Step Brother gets to let loose a little and have some fun improvising. Three scenes are included: "Swim Trunks," "Waiting for Todd," and "Mixing with Nick." (SD, 15:10, ENG-GER-SPA)

• Deleted Scenes - There's a wealth of deleted material here—ten clips total—from relatively short cuts to long improvisatory scenes where director Paul Thomas Anderson simply let the camera roll. There is an optional audio commentary by Paul Thomas Anderson. (SD, 29:28, ENG-GER-SPA)

• Music Video: "Try" by Michael Penn - P.T. Anderson directed this impressive single-shot music video, which is "set in the longest hallway in North America,". There is an optional audio commentary by Paul Thomas Anderson. (SD, 3:11)

• Theatrical Trailer (SD, 2:24)

• Commentary by Director Paul Thomas Anderson - P.T. Anderson begins by admitting how indebted he is to director commentaries, which taught him a lot about how to rip off movies. And he's not ashamed to point out his influences, ranging from 1970s porno to Scorsese and Truffaut. This track is sometimes dry, and sometimes quiet, but it really is intelligent and wildly informative. A great listen.

• Commentary by P.T. Anderson and Cast Members Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, Don Cheadle, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, and Heather Graham - If P.T.'s solo track is the smart and quiet one, this one is wilder, looser, and by the sound of things, slightly booze-fueled at times. Anderson invited the actors over to his home, individually or in pairs, recorded some off-the-cuff Q&A, and then patched it together later. While I initially would've preferred a big, everyone-together-in-the-room-style commentary, this patchwork track is pretty entertaining.