The Cooler

"Wayne Kramer's debut feature, The Cooler, gets a strong DVD release with this disc from Lion's Gate Home Entertainment. The film is presented in a widescreen transfer that preserves the movie's original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The English soundtrack is rendered in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Surround. English and Spanish subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials include a commentary track recorded by Kramer, co-writer Frank Hannah, and cinematographer Jim Whitaker. They have an interesting discussion about the difficulties faced by any first-time director. Kramer is adamantly thankful for all of the people who made the film with him. He is full of praise particularly for composer Mark Isham, so much so that there is a second commentary track featuring Kramer and Isham. A featurette that originally appeared on the Sundance Channel and storyboards fill out this solid disc."