Any Given Sunday Blu-ray

Director's Cut

Warner Bros. | 1999 | 150 mins | Rated R | Jan 27, 2009

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Video Video codec: VC-1 Video resolution: 1080p Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 Audio English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English: Dolby Digital 5.1 French: Dolby Digital 5.1 Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1... (more) English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English: Dolby Digital 5.1 French: Dolby Digital 5.1 Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 German: Dolby Digital 5.1 Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1 (less) Subtitles English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese... (more) English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish (less) Disc 50GB Blu-ray Disc Digital copy

Price List price: $28.99  Amazon: $9.99 (Save 66%) Third party: $9.99 (Save 66%) Usually ships in 24 hours Blu-ray rating Users 4.2 Reviewer 3.5 Overall 3.7 Based on 5 user ratings Playback Region A (B, C untested)

Any Given Sunday

At first glance, Any Given Sunday features a decent 1080p/VC-1 transfer that looks considerably better than its DVD counterpart. However, upon closer examination, it suffers from a few distressing issues all its own. More on that in a moment. Primaries and skintones have received a noticeable boost in stability, strength, and saturation -- the actors look a bit more lifelike than before and the palette (while still overcast with image-flattening yellows and browns) is more vibrant. Contrast has also been improved (despite some minor wavering). On-screen shadows are more natural, bright skies more comfortable to look at, and delineation is more revealing than ever before. Detail is quite inconsistent since soft shots regularly make an appearance alongside more refined scenes, but textures are generally crisper and background elements have nicely defined edges. I do wish the film's black levels were deeper, its establishing shots weren't swarming with source noise, and the entire image was more three-dimensional, but I suspect the condition of the original print and Stone's aesthetic choices made each one an impossibility.

Sadly, two unwanted, old friends -- edge enhancement and digital noise reduction (DNR) -- show up to further spoil the party. Halos and smudged textures pop up quite often, actors occasionally look as if they've been cast in wax, and skin and fabric aren't nearly as convincing as they are on the best transfers on the market. Even though grain has been reduced, the subsequent reduction in clarity and overall softness is disappointing. Nevertheless, I'm sure Any Given Sunday fans will be marginally satisfied with the high-def upgrade since this is, without a doubt, the best the film has ever looked.

Any Given Sunday Blu-ray, Audio Quality

Any Given Sunday's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track improves the film's overall AV presentation. For the most part, dialogue is crisp and clear throughout the film, allowing voices to be placed across the entire soundfield to great effect. Even so, a few muddled lines are overwhelmed by heavier effects in the soundscape. While some of these prioritization mishaps can be attributed to the director (Stone intentionally allows crowd noise and on-field chaos to drown out his actors during football sequences), there are a handful of quieter conversations that mysteriously suffer the same fate. Likewise, low-end extension is strong and aggressive during livelier shots and heated character exchanges, but all but disappears during less intense scenes. The rear speakers follow suit, providing convincing acoustics and busy environmental ambience one moment, and little to no support the next. Needless to say, the somewhat uneven results produce an inconsistent experience that bobbles between average and spectacular.

To its credit, directionality is precise (especially for a catalog title), pans are quick and smooth, tackles and shouts are weighty and resonant, and several standout scenes prove the TrueHD track at least has some serious muscle behind it. It may not deliver the most reliable sonics from beginning to end, but it still handles the film's occasionally uninspiring sound design without succumbing to any glaring technical problems.

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