Blu-ray.com - Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Intruder (Director's Cut) (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:05:43 -0500

Scott Spiegel's "Intruder" (1989) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Synapse Films. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer; making of featurette; extended scenes; outtakes; audition highlights; stills gallery; audio commentary with writer/director Scott Spiegel and producer Lawrence Bender; and more. In English, without optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free. ...

Video

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Scott Spiegel's Intruder arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Synapse Films.

Synapse Films continue to impress with the attention and care they give to various cult films. Last year they produced a marvelous Blu-ray release of Radley Matzger's The Image, which is without a doubt the most competent treatment a

Audio

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, Synapse Films have not included optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The audio appears to have been optimized very well. When the killer observes and later on approaches his victims, the sound design (music and supporting effects) has clearly benefited from the loseless treatment. Clarity, in particular, is very good. The dialog is also crisp, clean, stable, and easy to fo

Supplements

Trailer - the original theatrical trailer for Intruder. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

Slashed Prices: The Making of "Intruder" - in this wonderful featurette various cast and crew members recall their contribution to Intruder. Director Scott Spiegel and producer Lawrence Bender also discuss the film's production history. In English, not subtitled. (39 min, 1080p).

Extended "Murder" Se

Final Words
Scott Spiegel's Intruder is a groovy low-budget slasher flick which has been given the royal treatment by the folks at Synapse Films. This is the fourth Blu-ray release I have seen from them (my favorite is Radley Matzger's The Image) and at this point I have to place them amongst the very best cult labels in the U.S. Clearly, they are very passionate about their work. Let's hope that they will also be able...

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Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection (Caliber 9 / The Italian Connection / The Boss / Rulers Of The City (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:56:12 -0500
Don't Mess with Milan.

Filmmaker Fernando Di Leo was a well-regarded helmer who specialized in severe crime stories pulled from the bowels of Italy -- tales of grizzled men hunting other grizzled men, burning through numerous power plays, assassinations, and monetary disruptions. They were films of pure Italian personality, monitoring political turbulence while bashing around baddies, creating a roughhouse Euro genre with realism that would come to influence American directors looking to add some bitterness to their o...

Video
Arriving with AVC encoded image (1.84:1 aspect ratio) presentations, RaroVideo has done a remarkable job fitting Di Leo for his Blu-ray debut. These cult films look almost as fresh as the day they debuted, boasting a bright color palette with vibrant hues. The primaries are especially triumphant, punching through with bold reds, yellows, and blues, with Caliber 9 perhaps the most direct in terms of color saturation. The image is very clean, with minimal frame jumps (The Boss is the roughest

Audio
The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mixes on the Blu-ray set carry the thick aural sensation of the pictures quite well. With heavy dubbing and studio construction of environments, the discs manage the clotted force with a confident frontal push, urging dialogue exchanges out in front, sustaining the heated conflicts with intelligible interactions and clean accents. Theres some mild distortion during more furious scenes of conflict, but its rare to find anything swallowed by the mix. Scoring is bold when

Supplements
Included with the set is a 20-page booklet containing a 2001 interview with Di Leo.
Caliber 9
Caliber 9 (29:41, SD) is a 2004 documentary on the making of the picture, collecting interviews with writers and production members to discuss the nuance of the adaptation process and the filmmakers influences. Of note here Di Leo himself, who articulates his passion for the project and his work with the cast, including Bouc

Final Words
Its quite a ride through Di Leos id, with all the bullets, babes, and brawn exhausting to watch. These four pictures, while bumpy, are wonderfully unpredictable and enchantingly lurid, isolating the filmmakers tastes and gifts through revelatory Blu-ray presentations that restore Di Leos lush, bruised vision to cinematic glory. ...

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Happy, Happy (Sykt lykkelig) (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:48:24 -0500
Sad, Funny

Happy, Happy, winner of the world cinema grand jury prize at last years Sundance, opens with four extremely droll Norwegian guys in suits and ties standing in front of a blue velvet curtain, singing a gospel song in English. What the hell have I gotten myself into? you may ask, but give the film time. Eventually, we realize that this acapella quartet--which appears periodically to sing other tunes--has nothing whatsoever to do with the plot, but functions instead as a kind...

Video
Happy, Happy was a fairly low-budget production, and it was shot on 16mm instead of 35mm or digital. The smaller negative size automatically translates into a slightly softer, grainier image than most films--and theres really not much that can be done about that--but as far as 16mm movies go, this one is actually quite nicely resolved on Blu-ray, with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that looks true-to-source. Although the picture can be a bit mushy-looking during longer shots, closeup

Audio
Magnolia Home Entertainment has given Happy, Happy the usual lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, and as youd expect from this kind of small-scale family drama/comedy, the sound design is decidedly low-key. The emphasis here is strongly on the films dialogue, which is cleanly reproduced--no muffling, peaking, or crackling--and always at the forefront of the mix. The audio mainly stays hunkered down in the front channels, but the surround speakers do get occasional acti

Supplements
U.S. Trailer (1080p, 2:05)

International Trailer (1080p, 2:04)

Also from Magnolia Home Entertainment (1080p, 9:07)

Final Words
Its no mystery to see why Happy, Happy was a Sundance favorite--its a near-perfect balance of affecting and funny, awkward and weird. Its a very small film--with its limited, isolated setting, its practically a chamber drama--and this makes it all the more enjoyably intimate. Fans of Scandinavian cinema take note. Recommended....

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Malcolm X (Digibook) (Includes 1972 Documentary "Malcolm X") (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:52:57 -0500
"We didn't land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us!"

Brothers and sisters. I'm here to tell you that I charge the white man. I charge the white man with being the greatest murderer on earth. I charge the white man with being the greatest kidnapper on earth. There is no place in this world that that man can go and say he created peace and harmony. Everywhere he's gone, he's created havoc. Everywhere he's gone, he's created destruction... He can't deny the charges. You can't deny the charges. We're the living proof of those charges. You and I are...

Video
The Blu-ray edition of Malcolm X features an excellent 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer, true to director Spike Lee and cinematographer Ernest Dickerson's intentions. There are a few issues -- slight edge halos are visible from time to time, minor crush creeps in, and film grain, though intact and unobtrusive, spikes a bit on occasion -- but none of it is ever severe or troubling enough to disappoint or distract from the experience. When the film begins, though, casual viewers may pause. During

Audio
Warner's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is also faithful to the film's original sound design, even though that means the soundfield isn't as immersive or convincing as the sort that would grace Malcolm X if it were being made today. That said, very little comes up short. Dialogue is clean, clear and intelligible, with only a handful of lines being dragged beneath the more chaotic scenes and, as is more often the case, Terence Blanchard's LFE-bolstered score. Prioritization is stil

Supplements

Malcolm X, 1972 Documentary (SD, 92 minutes): Serving as a companion piece of sorts to Alex Haley and Malcolm X's "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" (published in 1965 in the months following Malcolm X's death), director Arnold Perl's 1972 documentary is a terrific addition to this release. Yes, it's presented in standard definition on its own DVD disc, and yes, an HD version would have been ideal. But that shouldn't prevent anyone from sin

Final Words
Malcolm X was a larger-than-life figure and Spike Lee's Malcolm X is a larger-than-life film. And, like the man himself, it isn't at all what you expect it to be. Even when you think you have it pegged, it shifts, adapts and evolves, becoming something richer, more rewarding and more fascinating. Washington's performance is magnificent as well, and it's almost impossible to look away every time he steps on screen. Warner's Blu-ray release is impossible to look away from too. With a terrif...

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Take Shelter (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:58:33 -0500
A captivating Drama earns a top-quality Blu-ray release from Sony.

That guy's doing something right.

Take Shelter may strike its viewers as a rather dark take on Field of Dreams, a movie featuring a man plowing under his cornfield -- much to his wife's initial disapproval -- and constructing a baseball field in response to voices telling him to do so. In Take Shelter, voices are replaced by dreams and the baseball field is replaced by a storm shelter, t...

Video
Take Shelter's 1080p transfer is everything one would expect of a Sony new release Blu-ray. The image is stunning from beginning to end, yielding remarkable clarity, exceptionally sharp details, and strong colors. Facial and clothing textures are wonderfully crisp in every scene. Definition is first-rate, and the image captures the finest textures on grasses, leaves, wood, the slightly battered metal of the shelter door and cargo container, and even the pebbles and dirt at Curtis

Audio
Take Shelter storms onto Blu-ray with a powerful and reference-grade DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Audiences will listen in awe as the Blu-ray practically creates a storm in the listening area in the movie's opening moments. Deep, booming, lingering thunder powerfully envelops the soundstage. It's the kind of true-to-life bass that gets under the skin and rattles one to his or her very core, exactly the sort this movie demands to solidify its thematic and visual elements. Si

Supplements
Take Shelter contains a fair array of extras, headlined by an audio commentary track.

Audio Commentary: Director Jeff Nichols and Actor Michael Shannon offer an evenly-paced and fairly informative commentary. They fill in some backstory that the film doesn't explicitly cover, share anecdotes from the set, and discuss special effects, stories behind various scenes, the process of the shoot, the work of the cast, and more

Final Words
Take Shelter is a challenging film on several levels. It asks its audience to engage in the story rather than sit idly and watch it pass on by like a storm in the night. It places every viewer in the shoes of its lead character, a man who must battle the outward pressures of conformity and the inward pressures to do what he feels is right, no matter the cost, both monetary and otherwise. The film is wonderfully paced and steadily mysterious; it's never clear where it's going or e...

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All Quiet on the Western Front (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:53:46 -0500
War is hell, but this new Blu-ray is heavenly.

It may as something of a surprise to younger folks who are virulently anti-war and who currently protest against conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but anti-war movements are probably as old as war itself. Many probably associate the idea of anti-war protest with the Vietnam War, since that seemed to be the movement that first raised the issue to huge, nightly news consciousness. But even that formulation seemingly forgets an earlier generations epochal conflictWorld War II...

Video
Let the Universal catalog title bashing games begin! Those who didnt like my recent review of To Kill a Mockingbird may very well be similarly outraged by this assessment, so if youre in that camp and have blood pressure problems, you may want to skip this section. (I jest, of course). All Quiet on the Western Front is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:

Audio
All Quiet on the Western Fronts original mono soundtrack is presented here in a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 format and if expectations are appropriately placed, few should have any major complaints about the results. This is one of the first talkies, obviously, and sound recording was in its infancy, and the technical limitations of the technology back then is quite evident throughout the track. Hiss is constant and consistent, burying some of the high end and the entire tra

Supplements
All Quiet on the Western Front Silent Version (SD; 2:12:54). Just as theaters nowadays are transitioning between 2D and 3D product, 1930 saw a similar technological breakthrough with the advent of sound, except not all theaters were equipped to show talkies. A silent version of All Quiet on the Western Front was therefore also released, with interstitial title cards and several different edits in various scenes. This is an archival print from the Library o

Final Words
All Quiet on the Western Front has lost little if any of its impact now some 80-plus years after its original release. Is the film dated? Inarguably, especially with regard to some of the overly indicating acting styles, but that is a fairly minor qualm when thrust up against this films towering achievement. Rarely have the horrors of war been so brutally and (as strange as this may sound) poetically rendered. When the film was released, a famous review stated that the League...

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Adventures of Milo and Otis (Koneko monogatari) (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:16:34 -0500
Family filmmaking at its simplistic finest.

Deep down inside we're all cats.

The Adventures of Milo and Otis may not be a work of art, but it is a work of the heart. Even setting aside the cute animals, easygoing adventure, and honest themes, the movie plays with an underlying tenderness and always-evident gentleness that's touching and refreshing alike. The movie's plot is simple, its characters real, and their challenges many; it's a genuine slice-of-life movie that shows that pure storytelling still lives...

Video
The Adventures of Milo and Otis debuts on Blu-ray with a steady and film-like 1080p, 1.85:1-framed transfer. Opening credits wobble slightly, darker scenes are prone to slight crush, and light blocking dots a few backgrounds, but the transfer is otherwise sound and pleasant, looking rather good in high definition. Fine detail is solid, but somewhat unremarkable. Animal fur in close-up shots appears to flow naturally, each strand generally distinct from the others. Detail is also

Audio
The Adventures of Milo and Otis features a steady DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The movie doesn't serve up any sort of significant sonic elements, but everything is in order. The track is full-bodied and yields good clarity in all elements. Music is satisfying, nicely balanced and spaced and never shallow. Light ambience helps to create a more realistic environment, even if it is limited to light rushing waters, clucking inside the henhouse, or barely-audible meows and bark

Supplements
The Adventures of Milo and Otis comes to Blu-ray without any supplements beyond a trailer. A DVD version of the film is included on a separate disc.

The Adventures of Milo and Otis Trailer (1080p, 1:24).

Previews: Additional Sony titles.

BD-Live.

Final Words
The Adventures of Milo and Otis is a superb film about life. It doesn't hide its parallels and lessons, but it shares them with such a gentle breath and reassuring touch that they just sink in whether the viewer chooses to fully embrace the important life-teaching simplicity of the story or not. It's so tenderhearted, warm, and pure that it's easy to become lost in the basic adventures of two adorable animals and the friends and enemies they meet along the way, but no matter how...

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Monkeybone (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:22:08 -0500
Sometimes "odd" is just too "odd."

You got fifteen minutes of fame and you're going to sleep right through it.

Imagine Who Framed Roger Rabbit? meets the dark and disturbed mind of Tim Burton. Imagine the creepiest Halloween and Horror movie characters meeting Saturday morning cartoons. Imagine the stuff of nightmares embodied in a "cute" little plush monkey. Imagine the blending of the real world and the dream world. Add all of that up, throw in a well-cast but unusually goofy Brendan Fraser, and...

Video
Monkeybone's 1080p Blu-ray transfer won't dazzle any audience members, but it gets the job done. No flair, no eye-popping HD visuals; this is a workmanlike effort that features everything in order but nothing to any high level of excellence. Fine detail is fair at best. The texture of artist's canvas and clumpy paints as seen over the opening credits looks good enough, but the bulk of the movie features flat details. Faces in particular lack complexity, looking smooth and undefi

Audio
Monkeybone features a stable Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The presentation, like the video, won't wow any comers, but it handles the movie's sonic elements efficiently enough. Music never really opens up; it's fairly spaced, suitably clear, and plays with both a fair low end and some surround support, but it always feels somewhat hesitant in delivery. The low end throughout is a strength; bass is strong and rather tight, whether in music or sound effects, like a revvin

Supplements
This Blu-ray release of Monkeybone contains no supplements.

Final Words
Despite good production values and a decent performance from Brendan Fraser, Monkeybone just falls on its face and never does gel into a cohesive or worthwhile picture. The jokes fall completely flat, and worse, the movie is too dark and macabre for its intended audience. It's too much of too many things and never finds its stride. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of Monkeybone delivers decent-to-good video and audio but includes no supplements. Skip it. ...

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Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom (Complete Collection) (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:17:35 -0500
Ein, zwei, drei. . .

Is there some kind of requirement in modern media that world class operatives (not to mention assassins) must suffer from amnesia? The most recent famous example of course is one Jason Bourne, who at least was able to reclaim his identity, for all the good it did him. But there are a number of anime series where the hero at the very least isnt quite sure who he is or what situation he finds himself in, and thats the case once again with Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom, a fai...

Video
Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is generally a very sharp and appealing looking high definition presentation, with nicely saturated colors and some excellently sharp line detail. What prevents this Blu-ray from receiving a higher score is the sort of slapdash look of a lot of the animation. While some of this series is impeccably drawn and designed (look at the second

Audio
Two lossless audio options are included on this new Blu-ray set of Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom, the original Japanese language track presented via a Dolby TrueHD 2.0 mix, and an English dub presented via a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix. The Japanese language track is a good deal more subtle than the English track, from a voice actor perspective, and of course the action sequences have nowhere near the same activity level as the 5.1 mix offers. The English language track sports brilli

Supplements
Picture Dramas (HD; 1:17:33) recounts some of the same material as the series covers, as well as new stories featuring the characters, in minimally animated shorts. Most of these feature still panels that the camera pans across, with occasional added elements like blinking stars and the like. There are twelve of these shorts included in this section.

Original Commercials (1080i; 4:08)

Textless Opening Song Karma (HD; 1:32)

T

Final Words
Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom is an often fascinating and even intriguing anime that manages to keep the audience guessing for large swaths of its running time. While a couple of the sudden shifts in character strain credulity to the breaking point, the slow surfacing of Zwei and Eins stories make for some compelling viewing, and the omnipresent action elements means that you never have to wait very long for a lot of shooting and fighting to break out. The only real downside ...

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Flash Point (Dou fo sin) (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:58:54 -0500
Make his day.

Is Donnie Yen Chinas answer to Clint Eastwood? Lets just put it this way: before the credits even role in Flash Point, Yen has beaten a couple of career criminals to within an inch of their lives and seems positively on the verge of staring straight into the camera and saying, Make my day. Yen has often played this kind of hard bitten police role before, but the Dirty Harry comparison is especially apt with regard to his portrayal of police Sergeant Ma Jun, a detecti...

Video
Flash Point is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This is overall an incredibly sharp and clear presentation that offers extremely strong contrast and solid black levels. The film has been manipulated somewhat at the DI stage, with the now expected filtering and color timing that gives several sequences an ice cold blue tint. This film features a number of exterior sequences that really pop magnificently in this presentation

Audio
Though this domestic release of Flash Point doesnt feature the lossless 7.1 audio that the Hong Kong edition did, the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes (in Cantonese and English) included on this release suffice quite nicely. I personally found the English track more or less unlistenable simply due to the expected bugaboo of poor dubbing choices, where lip movements dont even come close to the dub

Supplements
Deleted Scenes (SD; 3:19) has a couple of extra moments, including one with the addle-pated mother of the criminals.

Making Of (SD; 19:23) is pretty standard fare, with lots of film clips interspersed with interviews with Yen and most of the principal cast and crew, as well as several moments of scenes being shot.

The Fight Club (SD; 2:31) concentrates on the films complex fight choreography.

Shooting Diary (SD; 3:02) r

Final Words
Flash Point is one of those genre pictures that may well please fans, but which never is really as good as it ought to have been, especially considering its impressive pedigree. The film has some undeniably exciting action sequences, and Yip stages the bulk of the film very well (though his odd use of so many close-ups in fight sequences is a head-scratcher), but a lot of Flash Point just seems to coast along on its generic momentum, rather than doing or saying anything even...

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Lady and the Tramp (Diamond Edition) (3-Disc) (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:25:00 -0500
Another treasured Disney classic, another wonderful Blu-ray release...

Disney has a knack for encapsulating an animation classic in a single iconic image. A scarlet-lipped princess leans down to kiss a kindly dwarf on the forehead. A wooden puppet listens intently to the cricket perched on his foot. A flying elephant soars over the clouds with a feather clenched in his trunk. A fawn encounters a bashful skunk nestled in a flower bed. A slipper lies discarded, the only clue to the identity of a mysterious but beautiful woman. A boy sits on a bear's stomach as the tw...

Video
All bark and all bite, Disney's magnificent frame-by-frame restoration and equally magnificent 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer is, hands down, one of the finest animated classic presentations to roll out of the studio's doors. Everything, and I mean everything -- every hand-drawn line, splash of color, subtle personal touch, painted storybook background, and patch of scruffy fur -- almost looks as if it were animated yesterday, no small feat when it comes to a fifty-seven year old film.

Audio
Now this is an audiophile's classic animation dream come true. Two excellent lossless options are available: an exacting DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround track and -- yes, dear purists -- a much-appreciated DTS-HD Master Audio 3.0 presentation of the film's original mix, restored and rejuvenated but otherwise unaltered. Both tracks are excellent, and only fall short when unjustly compared to the audio featured on Disney's recent feature film releases. The 7.1 remix is a whole new experien

Supplements

Disc Introduction by Diane Disney Miller (HD, 2 minutes): Walt Disney's daughter briefly touches on her father's work, his love of animals, and his love of Lady and the Tramp; as Miller recalls, one of the legendary filmmaker's personal favorites.

Audio Commentary: Inside Walt's Story Meetings: Time travel, dear readers. Time travel. "Inside Walt's Story Meetings" is an audio t

Final Words
I find myself getting more and more excited every time one of Walt Disney's animated classics appear on the horizon. Even when the film itself isn't one of my absolute personal favorites (many of which have yet to be released on Blu-ray), I turn to mush, smitten with the studio's jaw-dropping restorations and marvelous high definition presentations. (The lone exception being The Fox and the Hound.) Lady and the Tramp still has a lot to offer modern audiences, young and old, and it'...

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World on a Wire (Welt am Draht) (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:48:54 -0500

Recently restored, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Welt am Draht" a.k.a "World on a Wire" (1973) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's theatrical trailer; new and exclusive video interview with German-film scholar Gerd Gemunden; and Juliane Lorenz's documentary film "Fassbinder's World on a Wire: Looking Ahead to Today". The disc also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by film critic Ed Halter. In German, with option...

Video
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's World on a Wire arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

Recently restored, World on a Wire looks great on Blu-ray. The high-definition transfer has that very pleasing thickness which newly restored older films have when they transition to Blu-ray without problematic post-production corrections (excessive sharpening, severe denoising, etc).

Audio
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: German LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The improved range of dynamics is very obvious if you have the R2 DVD and decide to run a few tests. The audio effects/noises that pop up with Stiller's headaches are also slightly more clear. Gottfried Hüngsberg's psychedelic music score also gets a decent boost - the sound is notably thicker and fuller. The dialog is crisp, cl

Supplements
Trailer - the original trailer for the 2010 theatrical release of World on a Wire. In German, with imposed English subtitles. (2 min, 1080p).

Interview - in this interview, German-film scholar Gerd Gemunden discusses the production history of World on a Wire, its unique structure, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's image in Germany and abroad, the common themes in his films, etc. The interview was recorded for Criterion in 2011. In

Final Words
Rainer Werner Fassbinder's World on a Wire is a glorious sci-fi mind bender that was clearly well ahead of its time. Recently restored by the Fassbinder Foundation, the film is undoubtedly a masterpiece of German cinema waiting to be discovered. If you could afford to buy only one Blu-ray this month, get this excellent Criterion release. I guarantee you won't be disappointed. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ...

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In Time (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:34:55 -0500
Tick, tock, Timberlake can't stop.

Time is money, so goes the expression, but what if the seconds, minutes, and hours in a day were actual currency? Thats the core premise of the sci-fi snoozer In Time, which over-stretches the pithy little saying into a feature-length extended metaphor about immortality, the value of life, and the injustices of capitalism. Whats next? A horror version of nothing is certain but death and taxes, featuring a knife-wielding IRS auditor? A legal thriller based on ...

Video
I know I've talked some smack about In Time, but damn is this a good-looking film on Blu-ray. It was shot by the legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins, who's best known for working on just about all of the Coen brothers' movies, including the gorgeous No Country for Old Men. Deakins simply has an uncanny understanding of how to manipulate light and shadow. I mean, look at that screenshot of Justin Timberlake looking out the window--it's practically a Vermeer painti

Audio
The film's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track might not be as immediately striking as the sumptuous high definition visuals, but this well-grounded action movie mix definitely deserves its share of praise. From the clanging factory noise we hear early on at Will's workplace, it's clear that a good deal of thought has been put into the sound design. While this isn't the most immersive or hardest hitting track, the rear channels are put to use fairly often for ambience and effec

Supplements
The Minutes (1080p, 16:35): A rather goofy faux-documentary that features all of the main actors and gives a backstory for how scientists discovered immortality.

Deleted/Extended Scenes (1080p, 12:52): Ten short excised scenes, mostly dispensble, but a few of which develop a subplot about Will's father.

Sneak Peak (1080p, 14:13): Trailers for This Means War, Immortals, Haywire, Machine Gun Preacher, Martha

Final Words
In Time could've been so much better if it were a good thirty minutes longer--the characters and sci-fi world are criminally underdeveloped--and way less obvious when it comes to the script's overarching metaphor, a simplified Marxist fable built more out of cliches than real ideas. It's not awful, and it's certainly watchable, but I just didn't find anything particularly special about it. That said, it looks fantastic on Blu-ray, so if you're the sort that's easily sw...

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Poirot: Series 2 (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:38:32 -0500
They Continue Their Work, the Little Grey Cells

Acorn Media appears to be in a hurry to please fans of Agatha Christie and her famous creation, Hercule Poirot, because they're releasing the second series of David Suchet's Poirot series on Blu-ray day and date with the first. Rather than repeat the series' history and the background of Suchet's definitive incarnation of the unconventional Belgian sleuth, I direct the reader to the review of Series 1....

Video
Poirot continued to be shot on 16mm film in these early years, but the attentive viewer will notice minute differences in the photographic technique of Series 2. I would describe the change as "naturalistic". While Agatha Christie's finicky Belgian connoisseur still inhabits a finely wrought Art Deco world (except, of course, when he ventures into criminal environs), it's no longer lit with the same degree of stylized fluorescence displayed in Series 1. The result is a somewhat mor

Audio
As with Series 1, the audio track for Series 2 is mono presented as Dolby Digital 2.0 at a bit rate of 256kbps. When played through a good set of stereo speakers in "direct" mode, the track should provide a wide soundstage, much like a typical theatrical array. When played through a matrix decoder, the two identical channels should collapse to the center speaker of a typical home theater array.

Again as with Series 1, the track sounds excellent, despite the lack of lossless e

Supplements
Other than introductory trailers on disc 1 for Acorn Media, New Tricks and Garrow's Law, no extras are included.

Final Words
It's clear in this second series of Poirot that the actors, the writers and the entire creative team have settled in with the assurance that comes of public acceptance and knowing they're on the right track. Aware that darker and more disturbing material lay ahead, they took full advantage of these glittering baubles, making light of them as only experts know how. The parrot in "The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim" is a long, precise setup to one of the greatest exchanges between P...

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Anonymous (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:15:03 -0500
'The most performed playwright of all time,' but who is he?

I mean to make you the most popular and therefore most monetarily successful playwright in all of London.

The true authorship of the works attributed to William Shakespeare and the dark, conniving, even incestuous politics of Elizabethan England seem more within the sphere and capability of someone like a Kenneth Branagh, a filmmaker and classically-trained actor best known for his Shakespearean productions and other tales hailing form classic literature or mythology, like ...

Video
Anonymous' story might leave audiences a bit baffled; not so with the accompanying 1080p transfer. Sony's done it again, providing a new release film with a nearly faultless Blu-ray presentation. The movie was shot digitally, and it does show a bit of that glossy, flat texture associated with that format. Blacks, while usually solid and deep, aren't always spot-on perfect. A minuscule amount of aliasing is visible in one scene, but that's pretty much the sum total of anything

Audio
Anonymous delivers an involved and precise DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The early scene inside the modern playhouse is a sonic marvel. Its strength stems from its simplicity; dialogue reverberates throughout the soundstage with uncanny precision, while well-placed coughs seamlessly transport the listener into the audience. As the action shifts backwards in time, the track only continues to dazzle. Anonymous plays with a very wide, immersing soundstage. Each eleme

Supplements
Anonymous contains a nice little assortment of extras, including an audio commentary, a trio of deleted scenes, and three featurettes.

Audio Commentary: Director Roland Emmerich and Writer John Orloff deliver a steady and enlightening commentary, speaking on the importance of the film's modern-day open, the necessity of fiction in the portrayal of supposed historical fact, dramatic licenses in the film, the work of the cast

Final Words
Anonymous never quite sorts itself out well enough to be of much value on a first viewing; it's complex to a fault and will leave many viewers uncertain of what they've watched or why they've watched it. On the other hand, the film is gorgeous, well made and nicely acted. It tells a story that should be riveting but that is instead lost to excess stuffiness and too much ambition. It needs more breathing room and a gentler hand to lead viewers on a journey that is worth taking, ...

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Mill and the Cross (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:57:00 -0500
Puts the "art" in art-house.

Equal parts art history lesson and CGI spectacle, political period drama and spiritual meditation, Polish director Lech Majewski's The Mill and the Cross is a film that's impossible to pigeonhole. At its simplest, it's about the Flemish renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder and the painting of his 1564 masterpiece, "The Way to Calvary," a surreal landscape dense with subversive imagery. But this is no mere biopic. While there are many films about artists and their inspiration...

Video
Since The Mill and the Cross isso dependent on its painterly visuals, it's doubly important that the film be treated with care on Blu-ray. Thankfully, Kino-Lorber's 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation is a total knock-out. I was concerned at first after seeing the film's trailer on another Kino release, as there was some severe banding present in certain fine gradients of color, but there are no substantial compression problems here whatsoever. As you can probably guess by the sh

Audio
If you're thinking a film set inside the world of a painting is bound to have lifeless, two-dimensional sound design, think again. The Mill and the Cross features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track that's more than just lively--it's engaging and immersive and sometimes even assaulting. Yes, the film has its share of quiet, meditative stretches, but these are punctuated by hefty, all-surrounding effects that make great use of the surround channels. The thunder of the I

Supplements
"The World According to Bruegel" (1080p, 44:40): A 44-minute making-of documentary that includes interviews with director Lech Majewski and actors Rutger Hauer and Michael York. There's a lot of great behind-the-scenes footage here, and the interviews are really informative-- especially when Majewski breaks down the symbolism of the painting--but caution, this doc is almost as slow as the film itself.

Lech Majewski Interview (1080p, 19:53): Majewski discusse

Final Words
There a plenty of films where paintings come to life--see Jean Cocteaus Beauty and the Beast or Julie Taymors Frida --but perhaps none so immersive and complete as The Mill and the Cross, in which director Lech Majewski takes us inside Pieter Bruegels The Way to Calvary. Its a gorgeous, contemplative film that explores the hows and whys of artistic creation...

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The Josephine Baker Story (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:53:04 -0500
"No one's ever been able to tell that girl anything..."

Singer, dancer, actress, lover, mother, inspiration, outspoken anti-segregationalist, World War II Resistance spy, Civil Rights activist, the first African American woman to star in a major motion picture, and the first person Coretta Scott King asked to lead the American Civil Rights Movement after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. If it I didn't know it were all true, I'd scarcely believe it. Josephine Baker was a lot of things to a lot of people, but only a few -- her fiercest crit...

Video
HBO's 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer may be fairly faithful to the film's original photography, but you may not think so at first. Cinematographer Elemér Ragályi blankets a number of daytime interiors and exteriors in stark, color-bleaching white light (to the point that many a shot appears overexposed), while some darker scenes, even those that take place in lavishly shadowed night clubs, theaters or concert halls, look as if someone flicked on the lights in the middle of a performance. It's

Audio
While it features aggressive rear speaker activity, Josephine Baker's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track isn't nearly as satisfying as I expected. "Unnatural" is a fitting descriptor, "stagey" even more so. Ambient effects and acoustics are merely loud, not refined or smartly prioritized, and a prevailing hiss is present through a number of scenes. There also isn't much in the way of directionality. Environments idle at the rear of the soundstage but rarely exhibit any real immersive

Supplements
The only extra included on the Blu-ray edition of The Josephine Baker Story is a newly recorded look-back commentary with actress Lynn Whitfield, writer Ron Hutchinson and associate producer Alisa Taylor. The trio slink through the film, continually noting Baker's energy and passion but showing little of their own. It's a serviceable track, but more anecdotal than anything. Without director Brian Gibson, though, or even production supervisor László Helle or costume designer Maria Hruby, t

Final Words
There's a powerful film buried in The Josephine Baker Story, one that HBO would no doubt deliver if it were being produced today. But twenty-one years ago, it was a part of a grander experiment; another step in HBO's then-cautious foray into the future. It received far more attention in 1991 than it would in 2011, not to mention a far more gracious pass from critics and viewers. Twenty-one years later it's a dated relic riddled with clunky performances and chronic overacting. It isn't a t...

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Outrage (Way of the Yakuza) (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:33:59 -0500
Beat Takeshis outrageous return to the yakuza movie.

Actor, director, comedian, and all-around entertainment badass Beat Takeshi Kitano has been gone far too long from the genre hes best known for: the yakuza film. In the late 1980s and early 90s, with Violent Cop, Boiling Point, and especially Sonatine--which gave him an international fan base--Kitano took the proverbial mantel from Seijun Suzuki and Kinji Fukasaku and became Japans premiere director of hard-hitting crime dramas. However, after the relative disappo...

Video
Theres nothing outrageous about Magnolia Home Entertainments 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer of the film, and I mean that in a good way. This is a sharp, colorful, no-frills presentation thats clean and true to source. Outrage was shot on a fairly fine-grained 35mm film stock, and the the image looks entirely natural here, with no signs of heavy-handed noise reduction, filtering, or edge enhancement. (And, as youd expect from this recent of a film, the print is in perfectly spotless

Audio
Magnolia has given Outrage a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track thats dynamically solid and decently immersive. This is the sort of audio experience where youre perpetually aware of the light ambience in the rear channels--in this case, most typically, a windy outdoor hush mixed with light traffic sounds. Of course, as a guns ablazing, fists aflying yakuza film, you can also expect some hefty effects during the fight scenes and shootouts, both from the front channel

Supplements
Cast Interview - Making Outrage (1080p, 18:52): All of the main actors in the film say a few words about their characters, the shoot, and working with Takeshi Kitano. Speaking of, look out for a quick shot of Beat wearing a total Cosby sweater on set.

Outrage Inside Out (SD, 36:59): A nearly forty-minute behind-the-scenes documentary that's composed entirely of raw, on-set footage, periodically broken up by short interviews with the cast. It's a bit slow, bu

Final Words
Beat Takeshis return to the yakuza genre doesnt quite reach the highs of his earlier crime films--its circle-of-violence plot can get a bit repetitive--but it is brutal and beautifully shot, and it will certainly appeal to all gangster movie fans. The film was decently successful in Japan and Kitano is prepping to put out Outrage 2 this year, so heres to hoping Magnolia can snag the U.S. rights for the Blu-ray version of the sequel. If its anything like part one--which feature...

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Melancholia (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:12:14 -0500

Winner of Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Danish director Lars von Trier's "Melancholia" (2011) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer; documentary film about Filmbyen, the home of the Danish New Wave directors; interviews with director Lars von Trier, Kirsten Dunst, and Charlotte Gainsbourg; making of featurette; and audio commentary by Peter Schepelern, associate...

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Lars von Trier's Melancholia arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye.

The high-definition transfer is truly outstanding. In fact, I am so impressed with the quality of the presentation that I would go on record here and say that we will be discussing Melancholia again at the end of 2012, when the year's best releases are mentioned.

Detail

Audio
There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English LPCM 2.0. For the record, Artificial Eye have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is also enormously impressive. The prelude to Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, for instance, sounds remarkably rich and full, enhancing the dreamy atmosphere in a way that really cannot be

Supplements
The Making of Melancholia - this featurette, which is broken into four chapters, focuses on the production history of the film and the various special and visual effects. Director Lars von Trier, Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and psychologist Irene Oestrich, among others, also discuss the film's characters and key points. (PAL).

-- About Melancholia (12 min).

-- Melancholia Visual Effects (7 min).

-- The Universe

Final Words
Melancholia, Danish director Lars von Trier's stunningly beautiful film about the end of the world, is a remarkable achievement. I truly cannot think of another recent film that I could compare it to - it is so incredibly pure and thought-provoking. The film's transition to Blu-ray is equally impressive. Indeed, it is only January, but as far as I am concerned Melancholia is already a prime candidate for a release of the year. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. (Note: In the United St...

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Joe Somebody (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:10:18 -0500
Better "somebody" than "nobody."

Making you better than you really are.

Rude people suck. Cocky people suck. Haughty people suck. It's time (Joe) somebody fought back. But maybe it's also time that (Joe) somebody took a long, hard look in the mirror. Director John Pasquin's (Jungle 2 Jungle) Joe Somebody looks at a life drastically altered by a confrontation with a workplace bully, a guy who is, yup, rude, cocky, and haughty. It's a story of fighting back, not necessarily against the ot...

Video
Joe Somebody's 1080p Blu-ray transfer is awfully frustrating, looking rather good here and rather bad there. The image sometimes sports good details and a grain overlay, but there are other spots where the image appears smooth while taking on a flat, plastic texture. Additionally, the image ranges from satisfactorily crisp to a touch smeary. Detail is best in close-ups of wooden accents, textured furniture, and similar items. Colors are fairly bold and bright, with the Target se

Audio
Joe Somebody's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack offers a fair listen that serves the movie well. Music is bouncy and light, enjoying fine spacing, strong clarity, and a positive low end that gives it body and flair. Additionally, music enjoys a prominent, but not overwhelming, surround sound element. Ambience is nicely immersive, though perhaps not quite seamless. The atmospherics of the company cafeteria, outdoor elements, and other, slightly more reserved sounds play with a

Supplements
Joe Somebody contains four brief supplements.

Making Joe Somebody (480p, 15:07): An all-encopasing piece that features cast and crew talking up the story, themes, characters, the work of the cast, shooting in a harsh Minnesota winter, production design, and costuming.

Scarett's Method (480p, 5:10): A closer look at Jim Belushi's part in the movie and the fi

Final Words
Joe Somebody nicely balances "sweet," "funny," and "dramatic." Its core is solid, the story worthwhile, and the movie fun to watch. It's not heavy but it will leave its audience thinking when they're done laughing, always a good sign. Fine performances round out a pretty solid little movie. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of Joe Somebody features disappointing video, fair audio, and a few supplements. Worth a rental, and maybe a buy whenever it makes its way to the bargain...

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Billy Elliot (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:11:05 -0500
"I feel a change in me whole body. Like there's fire in me body. I'm just there, flying."

If you've never had the desire to sit down and give Billy Elliot a fair shot, chances are it's because you've pegged director Stephen Daldry's Oscar-nominated drama as a feel-good tearjerker about a young boy who dreams of being a dancer. But if you've been avoiding dear Billy these past twelve years based on little more than a vague plot summary, theatrical trailer, movie poster or snap judgment, you should seriously consider jettisoning your preconceived notions and giving the 2000 Acad...

Video
I dream of a world with no edge enhancement. No DNR. A world free of edge halos and smearing. A world where a Billy Elliot release earns top marks for its video quality. Alas, that world isn't here just yet. The halos and blasé fine textures that haunt Universal's 1080p/VC-1 encoded presentation aren't among the most distracting I've seen, but they do beg the question: why did the film need tweaked at all? Are we dealing with an old DVD-era master, as I suspect? Or a heavy-handed remaster

Audio
Billy Elliot's stirring DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track steadies itself, darts across the soundstage and leaps with joyous enthusiasm... most of the time. Alas, there are a handful scenes, few and far between as they may be, that are front-heavy, thin and a wee bit stodgy, not that anyone but the most stringent audiophiles will complain. Dialogue is clean, bright and nestled snuggly within the struggling, soot-stained shanty that is Stephen Daldry's mining town. LFE output is heart

Supplements
Billy Elliot: Breaking Free (SD, 23 minutes) is the only extra of note, but it's a solid one, offering a deeper overview of the production than its chummy narrator and EPK trappings might initially suggest. Director Stephen Daldry is present and accounted for (as are other key members of the cast and crew) and little is left to the imagination. A standard definition theatrical trailer is included as well.

Perhaps of some interest is the fact that the Blu-ray edition of Bi

Final Words
Billy Elliot, God help me for saying it, danced its way into my heart. I laughed, I cried, I did all the god-awful things typically associated with generic film-critic quotes. But Stephen Daldry's R-rated, Oscar-nominated coming-of-age jig isn't at all what I expected, and I suspect it won't be what most newcomers expect either. Funnier, darker, more sobering and more poignant than your average puppet-strings tear-jerker, its portrayal of a struggling family, an out-of-work widower and a ...

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America in Primetime (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:47:38 -0500
Television history, without commercials

Television has transformed radically over the last 60 years. While most viewers remain well aware of the seismic media shift, its quite remarkable to see the winding path of storytelling recounted in America in Primetime, a documentary dissection of programming highlights. The shows discussed here are singled out for the inimitable perspective and ability to shift the cultural POV, guiding the general public to a greater consciousness with stellar achievements in characterization, tonality, a...

Video
The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation on America in Primetime pulls from multiple film and video sources, building a patchwork quilt viewing experience, displaying T.V. shows from markedly different eras. The programs look relatively good for their age and treatment, with a noticeable effort made to keep as close to a uniform look as possible. The interview segments represent the core of the series, and the stars gathered look excellent, with a crisp HD feel that brings out

Audio
The 2.0 Dolby Digital sound mix is generally kept in place by the interview audio, which carries a direct frontal presence to sustain the thoughts and memories put forth. The participants sound crystal clear, with verbal articulations easily understood. Scoring is never intrusive, carrying the program satisfactorily, hitting a few prominent moments of defined sonic movement. Low-end is nonexistent. The various television snippets remain in proper shape, with older clips revealing their age, whil

Supplements
Additional Interviews (35:55, HD) return to 20 of the interviewees, collecting further anecdotes and recollections that didnt make the final cut. The best snippet belongs to Rob Reiner, who recalls the pleasures of grabbing Mary Tyler Moores rear on the Dick Van Dyke Show set when he was 14 years old.

Final Words
America in Primetime can be repetitive and the seriousness of the discussions can be mildly overbearing. Nevertheless, the series is a potent reminder on the power of television and intimate storytelling, smoothly submitting and dissecting examples of provocative programming that reflect the growing pains of a nation....

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Grand Canyon (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:45:37 -0500
Don't let this gem fall into the chasm of forgotten movies.

The world ain't supposed to work like this.

The American West's Grand Canyon serves as a fascinating metaphor for the big importance man places on his relatively tiny and inconsequential daily existence, the everyday ins and outs and in betweens, the love, hate, violence, despair, misunderstanding, reaching, and retracting that define the daily grind of and the greater visions for life alike. In essence, the story states that there's always something more majestic, some...

Video
Grand Canyon's 1080p Blu-ray transfer certainly won't be mistaken for a top-tier, sparkling and pristine brand-new release, yet it offers an understated quality that should please all comers, those new to the film and those who have enjoyed it for over two decades. The image is certainly rather flat, serves up the random and infrequent pop, and occasionally showcases a soft center or smeary corner, but the bulk is filmic and retains a critical grain structure. Fine detail is adequ

Audio
Grand Canyon's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack proves rather active and effective for what is often little more than a talk-heavy Drama. Certainly, dialogue plays a critical role in the movie, and the spoken word is handled cleanly and clearly as it plays through the center channel. Music is fair, adequately spaced across the front and with a slight surround support element. Higher energy music works a little better than quieter elements that can, but don't always, take on a

Supplements
Grand Canyon contains no extra features.

Final Words
Grand Canyon is one of the more unheralded Dramas of recent times, a very simple movie -- simple in procedure, story, and theme -- that's nevertheless done extremely well. The picture is defined by its steady pace and structural reservedness; it's far from flashy in any part of its being, but the substance comes from the quality of the story and the slow building of its themes. It's a movie best enjoyed in the moment and contemplated later outside of the theater, allowing its simp...

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.hack//Quantum OVA (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:17:35 -0500
Virtually perfect.

A generation or so ago, virtual reality was all the rage for storyline material in such fare as Disneys Tron and the now long forgotten (and extremely short-lived) television series VR 5. What was it that led to this ideas fairly quick rise and fall? Films and shows like Tron and VR 5 came along before there was really much of a personal computer movement to speak of, and once that did arrive, early attempts at rendering environments and the like were laug...

Video
.hack//Quantum is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While the real life high school sequences of this OVA are fairly standard looking, the gameworld sequences are outstanding, with some really amazing looking CGI, especially with regard to the magnificent dragons that populate The World. Colors are bright, bold and extremely well saturated, and line detail is exceptionally strong throughout this enterprise.

Audio
Zowie! Thats about all you need to know with regard to .hack//Quantums incredible lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English dub. Purists may not like the voice actors in the English dub (several of whom are FUNimation regulars), but there is no escaping the incredible force of this track, one that is mixed much more aggressively than its Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 counterpart. Sound effects are noticeably more present in the English mix, something that may just slightly tip the scales

Supplements
Go, Our Chim Chims 1 (HD; 3:04) finds the little purple creatures talking about quantum physics. Or something like that.

Go, Our Chim Chims 2 (HD; 2:08) is about psi and phi waves.

Go, Our Chim Chims 3 (HD; 2:02) tackles the conundrum of Schrodingers Cat.

Yui Oguras Yui-Yui Cooking (1080i; 17:59) has Yui trying to make a charaben,

Yui Oguras Yui-Yui Club (1080i; 11:12) finds Yui and some friends explorin

Final Words
The .hack universe can be a confusing one, but the good news is you dont need to be a longtime fan to understand whats going on (at least for the most part) in .hack//Quantum. This is one of the strongest .hack outings in quite a while, though it still has the tendency to slow to a crawl now and again. That tendency is easily overcome by the OVAs outstanding visuals and incredible sound design. While supplements arent especially insightful or plentiful, this r...

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Doors: Mr. Mojo Risin - The Story of LA Woman (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:29 -0500
Is this the end?

When I was 15, my parents bought me a Eurrail pass, gave me a few hundred dollars, and shipped me over to the Continent for a summer, leaving me pretty much to fend for myself, which they felt would be a maturing experience for me. My eldest sister was then running a Service Club on an Army base in Heilbronn, Germany, and I was able to use her digs as a kind of home base, but for all intents and purposes, I was on my own, free to plan my own agenda and go and do what I wanted (within ...

Video
The Doors: Mr. Mojo Risin The Story of L.A. Woman is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment with an AVC encoded 720p transfer in 1.78:1. This documentary features a wide variety of archival footage interspersed with contemporary (and archival) interview footage, and as should be expected, quality varies greatly. The older concert footage which is sourced from 16mm (and perhaps even 8mm) is incredibly grainy and soft, but still looks really surprisingly

Audio
The Doors: Mr. Mojo Risin The Story of L.A. Woman features three audio options, two lossless, an LPCM 2.0 mix and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, as well as a standard Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. Both lossless mixes sound very good to excellent, though some of the source elements in terms of the archival recordings simply cant completely overcome the limitations of how they were recorded. Those wanting unedited concert footage of The Doors are going to be disappointed, as thi

Supplements
John Densmore on L.A. Woman (720p; 6:17) is an unedited segment with the drummer, where he goes into quite a bit of detail on various elements, like using brushes (a jazz staple) in rock.

Ray Manzarek Discusses Riders on the Storm (720p; 9:58) talks about the inspiration of Ghost Riders on Riders on the Storm.

The Doors Guide To L.A. (720p; 4:55) is kind of quasi-hallucinatory footage of Los Angeles set to Doors music.

Final Words
Is Jim Morrisons grave still the first thing elderly French women see when they set eyes on a young American tourist? Somehow I doubt it, and frankly it was even a bit strange back in the day. But that said, Morrisons impact, as well as The Doors generally, cant be underestimated. No other American band of that timeframe quite had The Doors counterculture cachet, and that proclivity comes through loud and clear on this really interesting and well done documentary. Filled wit...

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Sengoku Basara - Samurai Kings: Season 1 (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 22:51:03 -0500
World of the warlords.

There are those who insist that videogames based on movies are usually horrible. But is the reverse true as well? More and more weve seen these cross-platform multimedia releases that may start as a videogame but then branch out into any number of different media, including (but often not limited to) film or television. Anime hasnt had a ton of this type of situation, with source material, if there is any, quite often coming from the world of manga. But Sengoku Basara is a n...

Video
Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is one of the most sumptuously beautiful high definition presentations in recent anime memory and is certianly one of the strongest looking releases from FUNimation. Colors are incredibly vivid and well saturated, with incredibly vibrant reds, purples and greens and some actually stunning gradations of light scale. Fine detail is really

Audio
While Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings soundtrack (and particularly its English dub) could hardly be accused of being nuanced, both lossless tracks on this Blu-ray offer an abundance of pleasures. The original Japanese language track is provided via a lossless Dolby TrueHD 2.0 mix, and it also presents a perhaps slightly more taciturn, reserved take on the characters than the more boisterous English dub. The English track, delivered via a lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track, is fun,

Supplements
New Anime Sengoku Basara Chosokabe Motochika-Kun and Mori-Kun (SD; 43:02) features seven episodes of what is subtitled Mini-Sengoku Basara, featuring chibi-esque sprite versions of Motochika and Mori as the main characters. These offer pretty entry level animation, actually more like still frames a lot of the time, and are played mostly for laughs. It should be noted that the fourth through seventh episodes are exclusive to the Blu-ray release and are not included on

Final Words
Make no mistake about it, Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings isnt especially innovative, and in fact its downright predictable at least some of the time. But due to a number of elements, including some beautiful animation and nonstop action elements, the show actually manages to deliver a fair degree of excitement with surprising regularity. The slowly developing interplay between Date and Sanada also adds at least a bit of a personal touch in what is really a fairly surface only ...

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Silence de la mer (The Silence of the Sea) (Masters of Cinema) (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:25:01 -0500

Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Silence de la mer (1949) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer; introduction to the film by Prof. Ginette Vincendeau; and Gaumont's new documentary film "Melville Out of the Shadows". The Blu-ray disc also arrives with a 56-page illustrated booklet featuring an extract from an article by Prof. Ginette Vincendeau's and an archival inter...

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Silence de la mer arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment.

The licensed from Gaumont high-definition transfer is very strong. Most close-ups, for instance, convey outstanding depth and clarity that are missing from Eureka Entertainment's DVD release of the film. Contrast levels are also stabilized and macroblocking patterns

Audio
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (with portions of German). For the record, Eureka Entertainment have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

Understandably, the French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track has a rather limited dynamic amplitude. The dialog, however, is stable, crisp, and easy to follow. Background hiss is not an issue of concern here, but occasionally its presence can be felt. Edgar Bischoff's score has

Supplements
Note: All of the supplemental features included on this disc are perfectly playable on North American Blu-ray players, including the PS3.

Trailer - the original theatrical trailer for Le Silence de la Mer. In French, with optional English subtitles. (3 min, 1080p).

Ginette Vincendeau on Le Silence de la mer - in this wonderful introduction to the film, Prof. Ginette Vincendeau discusses the production histor

Final Words
Jean-Pierre Melvile's Le Silence de la mer is a thought-provoking film which offers a balanced point of view that is rarely, if ever, present in films about the Resistance. What makes the film so fascinating to behold, however, is its simplicity and style, both of which will later on have a major impact on the French New Wave directors. Eureka Entertainment's presentation of the film is very impressive. The Blu-ray disc also contains a new French- made documentary about Le Silence...

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Soldier's Story (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:46:46 -0500
Tragic Hero in a Sergeant's Uniform

A Soldier's Story is the film adaptation of Charles Fuller's drama, A Soldier's Play, which won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize, but nothing about the film feels stage-bound. Fuller adapted the play himself, and he and director/producer Norman Jewison used the resources of the big screen to accomplish what could only be suggested in the theater. They conveyed the heat, the sweat and the frustration of a 1944 U.S. Army unit forced to sit idly at a base in Tynin, Louisiana, waiting ...

Video
The cinematographer for A Soldier's Story was Australian master Russell Boyd, who has shot most of Peter Weir's films, winning an Oscar for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Boyd used a palette that heavily favored earth tones to complement the army tans and greens and the lush southern locales (Arkansas stood in for Louisiana). Even in scenes shot at night, the color scheme is warm, because it's always hot in this part of the world, and Boyd's photography m

Audio
The film's original Dolby Stereo soundtrack is presented as PCM 2.0, and Herbie Hancock's bluesy scores sounds terrific, as do Patti LaBelle's vocals when she's singing at Big Mary's. (I wouldn't have minded more of her.) If the track is played through a decoder such as DPL IIx, it provides a small degree of surround ambiance but nothing substantial. More notable are the occasional left/right pans that are obviously part of the original sound design, especially in the opening shooting seque

Supplements
If you have the 1999 Sony DVD of A Soldier's Story, hold onto it. None of the special features has been included on the Blu-ray. The DVD had a commentary by director Norman Jewison; a documentary called "March to Freedom", which was narrated by Paul Winfield and featured interviews with Charles Fuller and retired African-American military men from World War II; and the film's trailer.

Extras on the Blu-ray? None.

Final Words
One of Norman Jewison's great talents as a director was assembling stellar casts, and A Soldier's Story is no exception, but too many of its members were cursed with ill luck. The film's lead, Howard E. Rollins, Jr., had already been nominated for an Oscar for Ragtime (1981), and would go on to star for eight seasons in the TV version of In the Heat of the Night. He'd be well-known today if not for his untimely death in 1996 at the age of 46. Adolph Caesar's memor...

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Night Train Murders (Last Stop on the Night Train) (L'ultimo treno della notte) (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:45:19 -0500
This ain't the Hogwarts Express.

Hasn't there been enough violence?

Night Train Murders represents something of a minor but perceptible departure from the more traditional I Spit on Your Grave "rape and revenge" picture while also serving as a stabilizing force that's largely representative of what that sub-genre is all about. The film is on one hand awash in indecency, grotesque actions, and despicable people, and it m...

Video
Night Train Murders' 1080p Blu-ray transfer is quite the looker. The image may feature the occasional speckle, vertical line, or static piece of debris around the edges of the frame, but Blue Underground's transfer nevertheless handles aging material quite well. The image is very nicely detailed; the wool caps and scarves worn by the two leading ladies appear naturally complex and almost tactile. Additional clothing textures are strong, as are little fine details around the train

Audio
Night Train Murders features a DTS-HD MA mono soundtrack that delivers exactly the kind of sonic experience one would expect of a dubbed and aged presentation. It's quite compact and shallow at times, with music, of course, lacking range but also body. Sound effects are on the wrong side of "mushy," whether sliding doors, screams, or the din of the train station that's little more than a clouded jumble of undefined sound straight up the middle of the soundstage. Gunshots as heard

Supplements
Night Train Murders contains a featurette and various promotional materials.

Riding the Night Train -- Interview with Co-Writer/Director Aldo Lado (1080p 14:57, Italian with English subtitles): The filmmaker discusses the picture's origins, its similarities to The Last House on the Left, the picture's themes, its style, the work of the actors, music, the role of the color blue in the film, the picture's banishment

Final Words
Night Train Murders succeeds beyond the typical and lesser revenge Horror picture because its stylings and pandering to base emotions work so very well in tandem. It brings nothing new to the genre, really -- it largely copies Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left -- yet the movie's powerful photography and novel setting that truly engenders a sense of captivity and imprisonment more than mask its other shortcomings, such as midlevel acting, shaky dialogue, poor chara...

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Fairy Tail: Part 3 (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:30:00 -0500
Is happily ever after starting to slip away?

Its not that huge of a stretch to see the similarities between Fairy Tail and the Harry Potter franchise, as has been mentioned in the reviews of the two previous releases of the anime series first season, here and here. And just like Harry Potter got increasingly dark in tone and subject matter as ...

Video
Much as Ive discussed in my reviews of both Fairy Tail: Part 1 and Fairy Tail: Part 2 Blu-ray review, this latest installment, once again with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1, is among the brightest and freshest looking animes out there right now. As with the first two releases, the palette is bold and vivid, and

Audio
I have to confess my heart started sinking just a bit with this latest release in the Fairy Tail series. Too much of this show is starting to devolve into expected battle of the week moments, though thats at least partially offset by some really interesting stories starting to develop with regard to some of the supporting characters. Hopefully those elements will push more to the forefront as the first season draws to a close, though whether or not Fairy Tail can continu

Supplements
Episode 26 Commentary features ADR Director-Producer-Writer Tyler Walker, along with Andrew Tipps, Mix Engineer. As far as these FUNimation commentaries tend to go, this is quite informative, as Walker started as an ADR engineer and Walker and Tipps get into some of the more technical side of things, rather than the chatfest these FUNimation outings often provide.

Episode 32 Commentary is the other kind of commentary, with Walker, Cherami Leigh (Lucy) and

Final Words
Fairy Tail frankly lost at least a little of its luster with this set of episodes, perhaps because by this time anyone whos followed the series since its beginning is going to be expecting some of these plot points since many of them have happened several times previously. Theres still a lot to like in Fairy Tail, and the series still manages to have a lot of fun with some goofy humor and fanciful interplay between Natsu, Lucy and the many other characters in the various ...

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The Adventures of Mark Twain (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:30:45 -0500
"The man with an idea is a fool, until the idea succeeds."

Ah, nostalgia. Both binding and blinding, we're slaves to its call. If I were to watch a little known Claymation cult classic like Will Vinton's The Adventures of Mark Twain today, somehow for the first time, would it still fill me with wonder? Would its magic still sweep over me? Would it still leave my imagination buzzing? Would the scenes that gave me nightmares as a child still creep me out? Did the years I spend watching the film as a child somehow taint my ability to look at it with...

Video
I will continue on doing my duty, but when I get to the other side, I will use my considerable influence to have the human race drowned again. This time drowned good. No omissions. No ark.

The Adventures of Mark Twain has been granted a complete overhaul and restoration, and the results are spectacular. While white specks and minor print nicks pepper the film, every other aspect of Twain's high definition 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation is an immaculate sight to be

Audio
There's no sadder sight than a young pessimist. Except an old optimist.

Twain's DTS-HD Master Audio and LPCM stereo tracks are excellent, two-channel soundscape or no. Voices are warm, clean and perfectly clear, prioritization is dead on, and every last sound effect and Bill Scream music cue sounds about as good as it possibly could. Even elements that would otherwise be infused with low-end heft boast a sense of weight and notable oomph (especially when it comes

Supplements

Audio Commentary: Director Will Vinton, now more than sixty-years old, delivers a passionate overview of his 1986 labor of love, its genesis and development, the production and animation, and the many elements that make The Adventures of Mark Twain an innovative and unique rarity in animation. It doesn't get much better than this.

Crew Interviews (HD, 54 minutes): And yet, some

Final Words
Angelfish, it's just like piloting a river. You get to know the shape of it. Like following a hall at home in the dark. And even if you feel some fear, you know no harm can come to you because you've traveled that hallway a hundred times in nothing but bare feet and faith.

The Adventures of Mark Twain is an obscure Claymation classic that rarely gets the attention it deserves. I was lucky enough to discover the film at the ripe old age of eight and not a year has gone by...

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Apartment (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:26:34 -0500
One of Billy Wilder's best, and that's saying something.

Immediately after his wildly successful cross-dressing farce Some Like It Hot, there must've been great temptation--and studio pressure--for the great Billy Wilder to take a similarly slapstick route with his following film. Instead, he made a dark and controversial comedic drama, one that deals with adultery, suicide, and the chauvinistic sexual politics of the workplace. It's also a real tear-induce...

Video
Just beautiful. Shot by Joseph LaShelle, the DP best known for his work on Otto Preminger's noir films Laura and Fallen Angel, The Apartment distinguishes itself from other comedies of the day with a black and white widescreen image that's rich and shadowy. MGM has definitely done LaShelle's cinematography justice here, giving us a completely satisfying 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer. To start, the print is very nearly immaculate; you'll notice a few scattered white specks

Audio
The Apartment originally featured single-channel audio, but for this Blu-ray release, MGM has subtly expanded the mono mix into a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. Don't worry, purists; there's nothing here that now sounds jolting or out-of-place. In fact, there's hardly any rear- speaker engagement at all. The mix is still anchored firmly up front, with the surround channels really only helping to give Adolph Deutsch's romantic score some breathing room. The music sounds wonde

Supplements
Commentary with Film Historian Bruce Block: Block occasionally falls into the habit of repeating what's happening onscreen--as if we can't see it--but otherwise, this is a great commentary track, filled with informative making-of stories, cast anecdotes, and bits of trivia.

Inside The Apartment (SD, 29:36): A wonderful half-hour special that puts The Apartment in the context of history and Billy Wilder's career. Includes interviews with Shirley

Final Words
A few months ago, MGM put out Some Like It Hot on Blu-ray for the first time, and now The Apartment--Billy Wilder's equally successful followup--is getting its much-deserved high definition debut. Both films are must-haves, as far as I'm concerned--exceptionally witty, well-written, and emotionally mature. The Apartment is the more serious of the two, and it's also the more affecting; if...

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Last Lions (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:17:06 -0500
Will the call of the wild be heard by generations to come?

Are we fast approaching a time when our children or grandchildren will only have images of great beasts like lions to refer to, vestiges of wildlife that might seem to them as distant and fanciful as the ancient dinosaur? Before you rush to judgment, consider this fact: around fifty years, some 450,000 lions roamed the continent of Africa and now, barely a half century later, best estimates are that that total is down to around 20,000. For those of you not especially enamored of m...

Video
The Last Lions is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Virgil Films and National Geographic with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Due to the nature (no pun intended) of this release, where virtually everything is in motion almost all of the time, it was much more difficult to capture good looking screenshots which adequately display this releases largely impeccable sharpness and clarity, so dont be overly concerned by the somewhat soft appearance of at least some of these scr

Audio
Even better is The Last Lions lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, one which combines incredible ambient environmental sounds with an often thundering underscore. (For the record, theres also a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix on this disc.) As amazing as the photography in this piece is (and its simply mind boggling at times), the documentary also presents the perhaps subliminal question of how in the world did they ever get these sounds recorded? Despite the camera lo

Supplements
Behind the Scenes (HD; 27:10) contains some amazing footage of the Jouberts getting up close and personal with the lions.

Deleted Scenes (HD; 9:52) offers some pretty graphic footage of a baby water buffalo getting born and then meeting a fairly quick end at the hands (paws?) of a lion. Theres another graphics scene showing lions taking down an adult water buffalo.

CauseanUproar.org (HD; 00:30) is a public service announcement.

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Final Words
Is The Last Lions arranged? Probably, at least partially. Does that mean its worthless? Hardly. The Jouberts are simply among the most amazing nature documentarians other theresome would argue theyre the most amazing by farand this sterling piece is yet another testament to what incredible footage they are able to capture, seemingly effortlessly. Ma di Tau makes for an incredibly appealing and sympathetic heroine, and the documentary makes the subtle point that the...

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Poirot: Series 1 (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:29:20 -0500
Waxed Moustache, Starched Collars, Little Gray Cellsand Crime, of Course

Several notable actors have played Agatha Christie's dapper Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot, including Albert Finney in Sidney Lumet's all-star version of Murder on the Orient Express (1974), and Peter Ustinov in three theatrical films and several TV movies between 1978 and 1988. But rarely has an actor made it his life's work to embody a character the way British thespian David Suchet has immersed himself in Poirot. An accomplished stage performer with credentials from Iago to Salie...

Video
These episodes of Poirot were shot on 16mm film, which was the standard format for British TV at the time. Having recently reviewed Brideshead Revisited, which was one of the first British television productions shot on 16mm and was somewhat disappointing on Blu-ray, I didn't know what to expect, but fans of Poirot will not be disappointed. Whether because of superior film stoc

Audio
The audio track for these early episodes is mono presented as Dolby Digital 2.0 at a bit rate of 256kbps. When played through a good set of stereo speakers in "direct" mode, the track should provide a wide soundstage, much like a typical theatrical array. When played through a matrix decoder, the two identical channels should collapse to the center speaker of a typical home theater array.

Now, before anyone turns up their nose at this audio track on the basis of specification

Supplements
Other than introductory trailers on disc 1 for Acorn Media, Murder on the Orient Express and George Gently, Series 1, no extras are included.

Final Words
There is a timeless quality to period pieces, since they are already set in the past. In the case of Agatha Christie's Poirot stories, they feel classic for the additional reason that their author did so much to establish tropes and techniques of detective fiction which still remain familiar today. With the stellar presentation on these Blu-rays, it's hard to believe these episodes of Poirot were made over twenty years ago. They look and sound as fresh as if they were fil...

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A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas 3D (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:13:47 -0500
"I don't know. Hasn't the whole 3D thing jumped the shark by now?"

"No, no, no, Mr. Lee. You don't understand. This is the best 3D you've ever seen. It's gonna be amazing!" A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas is one of the very few films that really have fun with 3D; both with it and at its expense. The boys' 3D debut is a fittingly festive blast of Christmas cheer and side-splitting satire, full of hilarious in-your-face sight gags, playful jabs at 3D and the industry's infatuation with it, and the sharp stoner humor that made Harold & Kumar Go to White ...

Video
If the weather outside strikes you as delightful, just wait until you get a load of Harold & Kumar's 1080p/MVC-encoded 3D presentation. Backed by the same high quality transfer as the 2D version and armed with the extra impact of the film's reach-out-and-slap-someone 3D experience, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas is the 3D release to beat this year. And I don't say that lightly. You won't find more convincing 3D smoke than you will here (prepare to fight the primal urge to w

Audio
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas sounds even better... so long as you're watching the theatrical version of the film. Unfortunately, the 96-minute extended cut doesn't offer a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track like its 90-minute theatrical counterpart; just a decent 448kbps Dolby Digital mix. It's a bit disappointing, naturally, and audiophiles will most likely write off the extended cut as a special feature. Still, the theatrical track is toting a stuffed bag of sonic goodie

Supplements

Extended Cut: The 3D Blu-ray edition features 3D and 2D presentations of the 90-minute theatrical cut of the film and a 2D presentation of its 96-minute extended cut. The biggest downside? Not only is the extended cut not available in 3D, its 2D presentation doesn't offer a lossless audio option. Just a standard (but serviceable) 448kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track.

Through the Haze

Final Words
It may not be Christmas (yet), but don't wait until next December to spend some time with A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas. It's as hit-or-miss as every other Harold & Kumar movie, and the 2D version isn't nearly as funny as its 3D partner in crime, but with the 3D edition in your hands, there's no need to settle. You'll crack up, you'll tear up, you'll reach out and try to touch the holiday treats floating off the screen... you'll call it the best stoner comedy of the year, if not ...

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Tiny Furniture (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:44:39 -0500

Winner of Best First Screenplay Award at the Independent Spirit Awards, Lena Dunham's "Tiny Furniture" (2010) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original trailer; four short films directed by Lena Dunham; video interview with writer, director, and critic Paul Schrader; and more. The disc also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Phillip Lopate. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the ma...

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

I did not see Tiny Furniture theatrically and therefore do not know exactly how it looked projected, but its transition to Blu-ray is quite pleasing. Shot with a Canon EOS 7D camera, the film often looks notably bright and vibrant, to the point of occasionally looking sterile (see screencapture #2). Detail i

Audio
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The audio has been optimized as best as possible - the dialog is so crisp and clean that quite often it literally feels like we are in the same room with the main protagonists - but surround activity is very limited. Teddy Blanks minimalistic score also only

Supplements
Trailer - the original trailer for Tiny Furniture. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

Short Films - four short films Lena Dunham directed before Tiny Furniture:

-- Pressure (2006) - three girls meets in a library and talk about what it feels like to have an orgasm. In English, not subtitled. (4 min, 1080i).

-- Open the Door (2007) - an improvised scene meant to appear in a film. In

Final Words
Tiny Furniture is an ambitious but very difficult film to like. It seems like it was meant to be a quirky comedy, but I thought that it was incredibly sad, often to the point of being unbearably depressing. The film gets quite a few things right, but I side with those who believe that there is nothing in it that we have not seen before done a lot better. As expected, Criterion's presentation of the film is impressive. RENT IT....

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A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (Extended Cut) (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:58:08 -0500
Deck the halls with... hsssss... pahhhh. Oh yeah, that's the stuff. Hooo, hooo, hooooooo...

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas is one of the very few films that really have fun with 3D; both with it and at its expense. The boys' 3D debut is a fittingly festive blast of Christmas cheer and side-splitting satire, full of hilarious in-your-face sight gags, playful jabs at 3D and the industry's infatuation with it, and the sharp stoner humor that made Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle the unexpected cult comedy hit of 2004. Harold and Kumar's third big screen outing is also one ...

Video
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas comes wrapped in a beautiful Blu bow thanks to a terrific 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer. Colors are bright, festive and oh-so-delightful, with sizzling St. Nick reds, warm hearthside skintones, and deep, satisfying black levels. The image has a blue tint at times (when the duo venture out into the snowy morn) and an earthy green hue at others (when the two squint through a weed-induced haze), but every instance is intentional, as is almost any other strike you

Audio
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas sounds even better... so long as you're watching the theatrical version of the film. Unfortunately, the 96-minute extended cut doesn't offer a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track like its 90-minute theatrical counterpart; just a decent 448kbps Dolby Digital mix. It's a bit disappointing, naturally, and audiophiles will most likely write off the extended cut as a special feature. Still, the theatrical track is toting a stuffed bag of sonic goodie

Supplements

Extended Cut: The Blu-ray edition features a 96-minute extended cut and a 90-minute theatrical version. The only downside? The extended cut doesn't offer a lossless audio mix. Just a standard (albeit serviceable) 448kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track.

Through the Haze with Tom Lennon (HD, 9 minutes): "World Famous Actor and Comedian" Thomas Lennon hosts ... hilarious, uncensored, t

Final Words
It may not be Christmas (yet), but don't wait until next December to spend some time with A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas. It's as hit-or-miss as every other Harold & Kumar movie, and the 2D version isn't nearly as funny as the film's 3D laugh riot, but don't let any of that keep you away. You'll crack up, you'll tear up, you'll call it the best stoner comedy of the year. And you'll be right in doing so. Warner's Blu-ray release is no slouch either, arriving with a bountiful video ...

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Dead (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:47:39 -0500
Should The Living take a look at 'The Dead?'

We're all dead anyway.

The real appeal of the zombie genre doesn't just come from the guaranteed mutilation and gore -- audiences can find that anywhere -- but in the immediacy, the despair, the hopelessness, the constant fight for survival, the forever-altered landscape where up is down, right is wrong, wrong is right, and where ordinary people are forced to either do extraordinary things or die a miserable death via their refusal or physical or emotional failure to ada...

Video
The Dead's 1080p, 1.78:1-framed Blu-ray transfer is fair but uneven. The picture strives to deliver a gritty, sun-scorched image that reflects both the environment and the sense of death and decay within it. Director of Photography Jon Ford has succeed, but the end result is a transfer that won't spring immediately to mind as one of the format's best. The image is hot, with colors primarily of the warm earthen variety. There's very little vibrancy, though objects like a worn out

Audio
The Dead's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack fares a slight bit better than its high definition video counterpart. The track offers fair ambience. Gusty winds never sound quite precise, but screaming people, distant pops of gunfire, and natural environmental atmospherics are handled rather well and play from anywhere and everywhere around the soundstage. Music is adequately spaced and plays with admirable clarity. Bass often plays as a series of deep vibrations rather than ti

Supplements
The Dead offers three supplements.

Audio Commentary: Writer/Producer/Director Howard J. Ford and Writer/Director of Photography/Co-Director Jon Ford offer a fast-paced and enthusiastic commentary that covers the look and feel of the movie, technical aspects and challenges of the shoot, shooting locales, the work of the cast, and anecdotes from the set. This is a good track that sheds much light on the film and engenders some

Final Words
Ultimately, The Dead may be seen as a terribly frustrating Zombie picture. On the one hand, it's fairly well made, ultra-violent, and plays in a rather unique setting within the landscape of the Horror genre. It exudes a quiet confidence, foregoing excess dialogue and character development in favor of a raw tale of survival in an unimaginably brutal, inhospitable, and dangerous world. On the flip side, the movie is terribly repetitive and is harmed by fairly bad acting. Hence,...

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Yakuza Weapon (Gokudô heiki) (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:31:35 -0500
Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

As hard for it may be for some of us to realize (and/or admit), The Three Stooges are apparently an acquired taste. Some people, believe it or not, simply dont have much tolerance for the literally in your face antics of Moe, Larry and either Shemp or Curly. There are actually some who insist The Three Stooges arent funny, and those people are probably going to be similarly prone to dismiss the goofy goings on in Yakuza Weapon as similarly humor free. But Stooge lo...

Video
Yakuza Weapon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This digitally shot feature has been significantly tweaked in post and its therefore a bit difficult to assess things like accurate fleshtones and the like. As youll see in several of the screencaps, the on the fly production leads to a somewhat soft look a lot of the time, something which is further exacerbated with contrast that is pushed to blooming levels quite a b

Audio
Yakuza Weapon features an impressive lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, mostly in Japanese (both the Japanese characters, as well as a few American, do speak Englishor something close to it, anywayfrom time to time. The soundtrack is full of floorboard rattling LFE, and there are a number of fun and often funny sound effects, aural whip pans and goofy cracks, clunks and thwacks that make this mix both immersive and highly enjoyable. One thing that may grate on some peoples

Supplements
Behind the Scenes (720p; 46:22) starts with producer Yoshinori Chiba explaining what Sushi Typhoon means, which then goes into a wild series of pre-production and actual production sequences.

Deleted Scenes (720p; 12:36) has a must see amalgamation of weird little character bits, kind of like in- character costume tests, that must be seen to be believed, followed by a couple of actual deleted scenes.

Spin-off Short Takuzo Weapon (720p; 15:3

Final Words
Every so often it can be a lot of fun to just sit back and wallow (if thats the right word) in something as outright silly as Yakuza Weapon. This film makes no pretension about being great cinematic art, and its to Sakaguchis credit that everyone involved in the film seems to be in on the joke. This also doesnt really fit into Sushi Typhoons usual splatter ethos, which is not to imply it doesnt have its fair share of blood and guts. But this is much more of a parod...

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Fascination (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:49:06 -0500
There's power in the blood.

There are hundreds of films about supernatural vampires--undead seducers and seductresses who feed on the living-- but comparatively few about mere mortals with sanguinary fetishes. That is, those who seek out sexual thrills, medical cures, or perceived physical empowerment through the ritual drinking of blood. One of the better examples is Fascination, directed by French gothic horror underdog Jean Rollin and inspired by "Un Verre de Sang," a short story by the 19th century ...

Video
For a long time, Jean Rollin's films were only available in the U.S. by way of duped VHS tapes and then decent, but far from spectacular DVDs, so to see them in high definition is something of a revelation. The Blu-ray presentation is fairly consistent across all five films being released in this first batch of titles, so I'm basically reiterating what I've written in the previous reviews. Though the visual style is much in keeping with the earlier films--intentionally drab overall but pun

Audio
The Nude Vampire, Shiver of the Vampires, and The Iron Rose each included both the original French audio and an English dub, but for Fascination Kino has only supplied the French language mix, presented in uncompressed Linear PCM 2.0 mono. As with the picture quality, the audio sometimes exhibits evidence of the film's low- budget origins--dynamic tinniness, light hisses, audible pops, and crackles--but nothing you wouldn't expect and nothing outright distracti

Supplements
Deleted Sex Scenes (1080p, 7:54 and 7:32): Rollin kept raw footage of the two main sex scenes in case he needed to create a more explicit version of the film. Here you'll find about fourteen minutes of naked tussling, some of it very apparently real, though never outright obscene. The audio elements have been lost, so these scenes are presented silently.

Virgins and Vampires (SD, 24:23): The 1999 premiere episode of the British TV series "Eurotika!," which

Final Words
Unheralded horror filmmaker Jean Rollins is finally getting his high definition due, with five of his early films being released on the 24th in wonderful Blu-ray editions by Kino-Lorber and Redemption Films. Fascination is my own personal favorite-- it's surprisingly elegant and features some of Rollin's most memorable imagery--but as I've said before, any self-respecting gothic horror fan is going to want to own all of these films. Kino has done a fantastic job with these tit...

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Love Story (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:42:12 -0500
It's as simple as its title suggests. And that's a good thing.

Love means never having to say you're sorry.

The Bible teaches that "love is patient, love is kind...and always perseveres." More or less, that's reflected in the story of Love Story, the simply-titled, simply-crafted, but incredibly well-acted and conceived story of, what else, love. Director Arthur Hiller's (See No Evil, Hear No Evil) picture offers an honest look at love, a love that may b...

Video
Love Story has aged very nicely. Paramount's 1080p Blu-ray release of this catalogue title that's now over 40 years in age looks marvelous. The image is naturally filmic and very nicely detailed. Light grain remains, accentuating finer details on complex clothes -- knitted sweaters and the creases and wear in leather jackets -- and human faces alike. Clarity is very strong, too, which also enhances textures, depth, and general stability, though a few softer shots remain. Colors

Audio
Love Story's DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack is fair, at best. The majority of the film is front-heavy, though adequately spaced across that line of speakers. The ambient sounds of the coffee shop near film's start and general outdoor city ambience both play with adequate spacing but also sound clunky and indistinct. The hockey scenes enjoy a bit more vigor than do most, with perhaps a slight bit more surround presence, through again effects -- from slashing skates to a blowi

Supplements
Love Story contains three extras.

Audio Commentary: Director Arthur Hiller offers up a balanced and insightful track. He discusses generational influences, the picture's themes, shooting techniques, the work of the cast, character development, differences between novel and film, and plenty more while also sharing some anecdotes from the set and reflections on his career. This is a quality track that fans of the film will w

Final Words
Love Story is as simple as it sounds. It's a story of love, of two people who find they share something so deep that it can only really be felt and not explained. The picture is true and unassuming, evenly paced and always playing with an honest integrity as it eschews genre convention in favor of a genuine slice-of-life look at two people in love as they are, not as Hollywood dictates they should be. Excellent performances and steady direction make Love Story a movie that...

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Al Di Meola: Morocco Fantasia (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:29:00 -0500
Sounds fantastic, looks hideous.

Al Di Meola is kind of scary. Not necessarily bad scary, mind you, but definitely intense scary. There is one moment early on in this Morocco Fantasia concert Blu-ray where Di Meola, whether intentionally or unintentionally, stares directly at one of the cameras while hes coaxing one his manically convoluted lines from his acoustic guitar, and his gaze might be something out of a low rent horror movie. Head down, slightly in the shadows, eyes turned up, hes like...

Video
What a difference a few hundred pixels make! Al Di Meola Morocco Fantasia is the first in-akustik release I can recall thats not at least in 1080i, and this AVC encoded 720p transfer (mostly in 1.78:1) doesnt even have the look of decent 720p and instead more resembles a pretty poor upconversion. As you will plainly see in many of the screencaps, midrange shots are just kind of like blobs of color more than anything else, and even close-ups are fuzzy and ragged looking. Colors

Audio
Luckily, both of the lossless audio options, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, are a good sight (so to speak) better than the image quality. Fidelity is excellent throughout the concert, and dynamic range is really amazing at times, as the tunes tend to vary from hushed moments to all out assaults as Di Meola strums madly (in almost a quasi-Flamenco style, as per his work with Paco de Lucia) and the battery of drums and percussion also chimes in. The 5.1 mix is nicely

Supplements
Rehearsals (720p; 7:37) finds Di Meola offering advice to the native Moroccan musicians who join him in the concert.

Soundcheck (720p; 5:25) has Di Meola and the band setting levels and the like. Notice his advice to violinist Abdellah Meri, and how fast and loose elements of this concert must have been put together, something quite remarkable considering the complexity of the music.

Bazar 1 (720p; 4:21) has Di Meola buying various items

Final Words
Al Di Meola Morocco Fantasia leaves me in a bit of a quandary. If this had been an audio only Blu-ray release, it would have received my highest recommendation, for the music on display here is unique, colorful and really unusual. But, alas, this is not an audio only Blu-ray release, and theres the rub. What is to blame for this releases spectacularly bad image quality? Did they not have decent equipment to film the concert? Is this indeed upconverted, which it certai...

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Shameless: The Complete First Season (US Version) (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:34:09 -0500
Shameless or shameful? Word to the wise: don't pass judgment on the Gallaghers too soon...

I'll just say it: I was convinced I'd hate Shameless. Despise William H. Macy's bumbling drunk. Loathe the Gallagher family. Have to grit my teeth through what I thought would be an overly gratuitous shameless-for-shameless'-sake Showtime series. But something funny happened to me on the way to "Father Frank, Full of Grace," the last of the show's twelve first-season episodes. I grew fond of the Gallaghers. Felt something you might call empathy for showrunner John Wells' down-on-their-luc...

Video
Shot in HD video (not that you would know it at first glance), Shameless looks fantastic in high definition. Backed by a raw yet refined 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation, the series bests its HDTV counterpart, stands shoulder to shoulder with Showtime's other Blu-ray stunner (Dexter), and rarely deviates from its high-quality course. Colors are warm, natural and altogether striking, skintones are smartly saturated, and black levels are deep and dark. Depth and detail are impressive t

Audio
Shameless sounds just as good thanks to an ironically poised and proficient DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. Frank and his family are no strangers to chaos, trouble and general rabble rousing, and Warner's lossless mix captures every drunken wail, disheartened whisper, frustrated sigh, exhale of ecstasy, and bark of triumph that escapes the Gallagher clan's lips. Low-end output embraces the hits, spills, crashes and unruliness of their crazy lives, lending the full weight of the LF

Supplements

Audio Commentaries: Two civil but entertaining commentaries are available: "Pilot," which features a broad overview of the series courtesy of writer/director John Wells, executive producer Andrew Stern and actress Emmy Rossum, and "Frank Gallagher: Loving Husband, Devoted Father," a more episode-centric track with writer Etan Frankel, director David Nutter, and actors Cameron Monaghan and Jeremy Allen White. Both are worth a listen, although I p

Final Words
Sorry to repeat myself, but I thought I'd hate Shameless. Reject William H. Macy's advances, Emmy Rossum as a lead, and her young co-stars' supporting performances. I was convinced I'd loathe the Gallaghers. But something funny happened to me on the way to "Father Frank, Full of Grace." I sort of became attached to the Gallaghers, felt something for the down-on-their-luck Chicago family, and actually came to enjoy Shameless. If Season Two continues its upwards trend, this might jus...

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Adaptation (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:05:47 -0500
This Mind IS Dangerous

Through all the discussion of how Terence Malick included dinosaurs and the birth of the cosmos in The Tree of Life, I kept waiting for someone to remember that Charlie Kaufman had already made the parody. At one point in Adaptation, the hopelessly blocked screenwriter-protagonistwho happens to be named "Charlie Kaufman"decides he has to get back to basics by opening his film adaptation of The Orchid Thief just before life begins on earth, then proceeding thro...

Video
Director Spike Jonze worked with his usual cinematographer, Lance Acord, who also appears in Adaptation as himself, purportedly on the set of Being John Malkovich. Considering the digital trickery necessary to make Nicolas Cage appear as twins Charlie and Donald Kaufman, plus the elaborate cross-cutting between the screenwriting and orchid hunting storylines and the increasingly off-kilter spin of the narrative, both the production design and the cinematography make every

Audio
The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track isn't showy, but it's extremely effective at creating key environments, especially the swamps where Laroche hunts his orchids. During those scenes, the viewer feels surrounded by nature (and not always comfortably so). By comparison, the film's other environments are somewhat less assertive, but the sound mix has been carefully engineered to give them a distinct identity, whether it's the restaurant where Charlie gets the writing assignment, a party he reluctantly at

Supplements
Sony's 2002 DVD release of Adaptation was a so-called "Superbit" disc, which means it lacked extras, although it apparently included the film's trailer. (I don't have the disc to confirm this.) The trailer was clever and made effective use of the Queen/David Bowie song "Pressure". Unfortunately, it has not been included on the Blu-ray.

Behind the Scenes in the Swamp (SD; 1.33:1; 2:03): A short behind-the-scenes clip featuring Cooper, Stre

Final Words
In 2008's Synecdoche, New York, Kaufman returned to many of Adaptation's themes, but this time in a darker vein. Where Kaufman's namesake in Adaptation struggled with writer's block, the playwright Caden Cotard in Synecdoche has the opposite problem: an inability to stop writing. Both conditions spring from the same source, namely, an artist's grand but ultimately impos...

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Moon in the Gutter (La lune dans le caniveau) (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:32:44 -0500

Nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Jean-Jacques Beineix's "La lune dans le caniveau" a.k.a "The Moon in the Gutter" (1983) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinema Libre. The supplemental features on the disc include production stills, video interview with director Jean-Jacques Beineix, and the short film "Mr. Michel's Dog" (1977). In French, with imposed English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free. ...

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.28:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and grated a 1080p transfer, Jean-Jacques Beineix's The Moon in the Gutter arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinema Libre.

The high-definition transfer is extremely disappointing. In fact, it is the second worst I saw in 2011 (the other is the high-definition transfer used by Studio Canal for The Outsiders). Detail is very poor, never rea

Audio
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French Dolby Digital 2.0. For the record, Cinema Libre have provided imposed English subtitles for the main feature. They appear inside the image frame.

The French Dolby Digital 2.0 track is also disappointing. While the dialog is mostly clean and easy to follow, the stunningly beautiful soundtrack by Gabriel Yared never comes alive. In fact, most of the time it feels as if someone intentionally toned down the dynamics. The pleasin

Supplements
Interview - a very informative interview with director Jean-Jacques Beineix conducted by Tim Rhys of MovieMaker Magazine. The French director discusses the production history of The Moon in the Gutter, the Gaumont fiasco, and the effect the film's unfavorable reception at Cannes had on him. The French director also briefly comments on Betty Blue, his third film. In English, not subtitled. (17 min, 1080i).

Mr. Michel's Dog (1

Final Words
The Moon in the Gutter was one of my most anticipated releases in 2011. It is one of those legendary bad films - though the film is actually incredibly original and stunningly beautiful - that were so difficult to see for years. Until 2009, I believe the film was not even available on DVD. I certainly did not have it in my library. However, thanks to Cinema Libre, not only The Moon in the Gutter, but also Mortal Transfer, Roselyne and the Lions and IP5: The Island ...

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Phantom of the Opera at The Royal Albert Hall (25th Anniversary) (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:37:14 -0500
Like it or not, he's in your mind.

There may be a calamitous end to a long and happy marriage after I announce this, but I cant stand Phantom of the Opera. My wife, on the other hand, loves it, and has seen it numerous times through the years. (Hopefully the scores above will allay your fears that I'm unable to separate my personal preferences from my critical faculties.) Andrew Lloyd Webber is one of the most outrageously successful theater composers of his generation (perhaps the most successful), bu...

Video
The Phantom of the Opera at The Royal Albert Hall 25th Anniversary is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a spectacularly effective transfer that is sharp and appealing, with absolutely eye popping color and incredible detail apparent on the productions unbelievably opulent costumes, many of which almost pop off the screen in close-ups. The entire production features beautifully saturated colors, solid blacks and stab

Audio
Update: Several of our members have posted asking about the center channel on this release. It is not missing, though it is used differently than center channels regularly are. Once I noticed the postings, I went back and actually put my ear next to the center channel to discern what's going on. It is in fact inactive in the opening Prologue, no doubt contributing to the inadequate levels I note with regard to the Auctioneer below. But it does kick into action during the Overtu

Supplements
Love Never Dies Trailer (HD; 1:03)

Getting Past the Point of No Return: Behind the Scenes at Phantom 25th (HD; 17:40) is a fun loo at the preparations for this concert version. Fans will probably especially like the close look at the Phantom's make-up.

Final Words
Millions of people have made The Phantom of the Opera the most successful theatrical event of all time. And yet there are still some who have never seen a production of the show. For either of those groups, this Royal Albert Hall presentation should be a welcome addition to their collections, offering a really sumptuous production which features gorgeous costumes and sets and a first rate cast that is in splendid voice. Though this Blu-ray release is a little light in the suppl...

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Rum Diary (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:56:05 -0500
Captain Jack turns to Captain Morgan.

I tend to avoid alcohol...when I can.

The liquor-soaked latest from Actor Johnny Depp is The Rum Diary, a tale of justice, lust, cock fighting, binge drinking, and drugs set in mid-20th century Puerto Rico. Based on the long-unpublished novel by acclaimed Author Hunter S. Thompson -- the writer of the original story behind another of Depp's most prestigious pictures, Fear and Loathing in Las Ve...

Video
The Rum Diary's Blu-ray release is handsome. The 1080p, 1.85:-1-framed image is sourced from the native Super 16 film element, which yields steady details and a beautiful film-like texture. Moderate grain is visible throughout, which serves to enhance details in faces and clothing. The image is crisp, not razor-sharp, but consistently natural in structure. Brighter exteriors and darker interiors alike come alive with accurate, steady details and textures that suit the movie well

Audio
The Rum Diary features a polished and precise DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Music plays with superb spacing and fine body throughout, even at a club scene in chapter eleven where music spills into the listening area with a slightly muddled texture that represents the moment nicely and differs from crisper overlaying score. Ambience is a great strength; the picture naturally immerses its listener into every environment, whether it plays with the mechanical printing presses at

Supplements
The Rum Diary contains a general featurette and a quality retrospective piece that looks at the novel's development to screen.

A Voice Made of Ink and Rage: Inside The Rum Diary (1080p, 12:39): Johnny Depp discusses his friendship with and appreciation for Thompson. Additional cast and crew talk up the story, the film, and one another. Also included is a look at costuming, the challenges of shooting on location, and i

Final Words
The Rum Diary is a scattered picture with an appealing first half and a meandering, detached second. The film never really comes to cohesion, which is an asset in a movie metaphorically drenched in liquor, but when it tries to build up a rather bland story about a drunken hero versus a sober tycoon, it loses its charm but doesn't ditch its hazy, unkempt structure that only undermines, rather than supports, whatever it's trying to accomplish. It's a shame, really, because the first...

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Woman (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:34:33 -0500
This features a woman in red, but it's not the color of her dress.

What does it say about us as a species that theres such a thing as torture porn? What does it say that this unabashedly violent, usually completely disgusting genre (at least to some of us) manages to rake in sizable box office returns and seems to do especially well on home video releases? (Could it be people are actually a little ashamed to be watching this stuff, and so prefer to see it in the privacy of their own homes?) The sociological implications are troubling, to say the...

Video
The Woman is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Collective-Vivendi with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Whatever you may thing about The Woman (and its probably pretty obvious by this point that I dont think much about it), few would quibble with the image quality here, which despite the films many dimly lit sequences has a rather unexpectedly high amount of shadow detail and fine detail. The film was shot digitally and doesnt quite have the depth that

Audio
Similarly, The Womans lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix far outshines the actual content of the film, delivering a fairly raucous mix that features a wealth of immersion, especially in the up close and personal sequences with the chained feral woman, where grunts, straining chains and various other sounds of torment and violence explode across the soundfield. The film features really wide dynamic range, from some actually kind of quiet sylvan moments, both in the woods an

Supplements
The Making of The Woman (HD; 25:29). What can you say about a promotional featurette that starts off with an irate viewer screaming, This is not art, this is bulls***. This is degradation of women. This film ought to be confiscated and burned, theres no value in showing this to anyone. Well at least somebody gets it.

Deleted Scenes (HD; 5:44) unfortunately dont include the entire film.

Mi Burro Short Film (HD; 6:37) is

Final Words
As should no doubt be obvious by now, The Woman is most definitely not my cup of tea. I know this kind of out there horror flick appeals to many, but Im simply not one of them. I actually might have liked (or at least tolerated) this film if it had simply gone totally over the top and delivered some laughs along the way, as it at least tries to once or twice. All of this said, it cant be denied that McKee has a fair amount of craft, and a lot of the scenes here are...

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Lips of Blood (Lèvres de sang) (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:29:33 -0500
Jean Rollin's return to sexy vampires.

The late Jean Rollin, an unjustly unheralded French filmmaker largely unknown outside a cult circle of hardcore gothic horror fans, is set to be celebrated this week with the release of five of his early films. On January 24th, Kino Video and the U.K.'s Redemption Films are teaming up to bring The Nude Vampire, Shiver of the Vampires, The Iron Rose, Lips of Blood, and Fascination to Blu-ray for the first time, with the goal of introducing Rollin to a wide...

Video
For a long time, Jean Rollin's films were only available in the U.S. by way of duped VHS tapes and then decent, but far from spectacular DVDs, so to see them in high definition is something of a revelation. The Blu-ray presentation is fairly consistent across all five films being released in this first batch of titles, so I'm basically reiterating what I've written in the previous reviews. Lips of Blood was actually the first feature for cinematographer Jean- François Robin--who woul

Audio
The Nude Vampire, Shiver of the Vampires, and The Iron Rose each included both the original French audio and an English dub, but for Lips of Blood Kino has only supplied the French language mix, presented in uncompressed Linear PCM 2.0. As with the picture quality, the audio sometimes exhibits evidence of the film's low-budget origins--dynamic tinniness, light hisses, audible pops, and crackles--but nothing you wouldn't expect and nothing outright distracting. W

Supplements
Introduction by Jean Rollin (1080p, 2:40): Rollin calls Lips his "best script" and briefly discusses the beginnings of X-rated films in France.

Natalie Perrey Interview (1080p, 9:45): Rollin's frequent assistant Natalie Perrey talks about her role in the film, the "utter hell" of shooting with a crew that just wanted to "fool around with the girls," and how Jean Rollin's son--who played the young Frederic--would recite his lines in his sleep. I don'

Final Words
Unheralded horror filmmaker Jean Rollins is finally getting his high definition due, with five of his early films being released on the 24th in wonderful Blu- ray editions by Kino-Lorber and Redemption Films. Lips of Blood is one of Rollin's most heavily plotted movies--it's a gradually unfolding mystery about repressed childhood memories--while also keeping much of the director's characteristically dreamy tone. It's not my favorite of the five--that would be Fascination, whic...

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WWII in 3D (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:58:06 -0500
Even if you don't have a 3D setup, you might find this intriguing documentary worth watching...

If WWII in 3D initially strikes you as a yet another 3D gimmick or cash-in, you may want to take a moment and brush up on the history of stereoscopic 3-D. Far from the relatively recent innovation many assume it to be, the origins of 3D trace back to Charles Wheatstone, a Victorian scientist who invented the first stereoscope in 1838. That's right: 1838. By the time Hitler's armies were marching across Europe, stereoscopic 3-D was more than a hundred years old. WWII in 3D is...

Video
A&E's 1080p/MVC-encoded 3D presentation is an excellent one, with only a few mishaps and oddities to endure. But more on that in a bit. The array of archive photographs deliver again and again, even if viewing the images in 3D isn't quite the revelation Wilkinson and the on-screen historians insist it is. The clarity of the photos varies -- taking a small toll on the consistency of the quote-unquote 3D effect -- but nothing emerges as a distraction. The picture isn't prone to ghosting (which is

Audio
A&E's proficient DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track isn't exactly extraordinary, but it's more than serviceable. Tom Wilkinson's narration is clear, grounded and perfectly intelligible, as are the voices of the various experts, historians and witnesses featured in the film. Sound effects are almost ambient in nature, but considering they aren't native to the images and footage on display, it's more than appropriate. Likewise, the ever-present score is restrained but respectful, knowing (and

Supplements
WWII in 3D doesn't include any special features.

Final Words
WWII in 3D. It sounds like a gimmick. It sounds like a 3D cash-in. But that couldn't be farther from the truth. An overview of the use of stereoscopic 3D in World War II and its place in both the Axis and Allies' strategies, WWII in 3D is actually a captivating glimpse into a little-known aspect of the war. And considering how many documentaries have been made about WWII, that's saying a lot. A&E's Blu-ray release makes it even more fascinating thanks to a solid video transfer, a g...

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Piano (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:07:39 -0500
The sound of silence.

Did writer-director Jane Campion have seventeenth century British poet and playwright William Congreve in mind when she made The Piano? Congreve isnt widely remembered nowadays other than by English majors, but he gave the world one of its most iconic (if quite often misquoted) phrases of all time: Music has charms to soothe a savage breast. (Breast is quite frequently misquoted as beast.) While that quote in and of itself might be enough to draw a parallel between Congreve...

Video
The Piano is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate-Miramax with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1 (youll note in the first two screencaps below that the opening sequence, which includes the credits, is just slightly windowboxed). This is another really solid release of a Miramax catalog title, one which, like Cold Mountain and The English Patient, Id place at just a slightly inferior level to Frida and Shakespeare in Love. Grain is once a

Audio
The Piano is the first in this wave of Lionsgate-Miramax catalog release not to feature a 5.1 mix, but the good news is the films DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix boasts really surprisingly good fidelity and some decent separation. The film has some unexpected LFE, including some great roar from the water in the opening sequence when Ada and Flora make the long trip to New Zealand. The film also has a wealth of great ambient environmental sounds, including the omnipresent rain which

Supplements
Theatrical Trailer (SD; 1:46)

Final Words
The Piano is certainly unusual on any number of levels. Campion creates several unforgettable characters in this film, and the setting is both evocative and provocative. Hunter and Paquin both earned well deserved Oscars here, but Neill and especially Keitel are no less remarkable, and Campion wisely utilizes New Zealand as basically another character. The film does have a couple of odd elements which are slightly off putting, but the overall effect here is so strange and almos...

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English Patient (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:17:47 -0500
Unadaptable? Hardly.

Theres a famous Seinfeld episode where Elaine, the snarky, boorish, politically incorrect character portrayed with such relish by Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, finds herself increasingly at odds with seemingly everyone around her when she professes her dislikewell, lets be honest, her outright hatredof the film The English Patient. Elaines seething disregard for the titular characters horrible fate in life, culminating in her angry catcall of hurry up and die already...

Video
The English Patient is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate-Miramax with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is a largely trouble free presentation, with an overall great looking print, though I would rate the results to be just slightly less formidable than others in this recent wave of Miramax catalog releases, more in tune with the image quality I described in Minghellas other big epic out this week, Blu-ray.com

National Parks Exploration Series: The Everglades - A Sub-Tropical Paradise (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:54:16 -0500
Back 2 school.

A fountain of renewal, a refuge, a place to rekindle our most basic instincts as part of the world and the sphere of biology.

The mouthful that is National Parks Exploration Series: The Everglades - A Sub-Tropical Paradise is almost completely structurally identical to National Parks Exploration Series: The Black Hills and The Badlands - Gateway to the West, another mouthful of a nature document...

Video
National Parks Exploration Series: The Everglades - A Sub-Tropical Paradise features a borderline dismal 1080i, 1.78:1-framed transfer that is saved from disaster only with its inclusion of infrequent highly-detailed close-ups and adequate colors. The video image is glossy, flat, lifeless. Fine detail rages from acceptable to disastrous. Close-ups of insects, alligators, and leaves do reveal appreciable, tactile textures, but soft, mushy, and undefined is the order of the day.

Audio
National Parks Exploration Series: The Everglades - A Sub-Tropical Paradise features a bland but baseline effective Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. Narration is piercing and boomy. Ranger dialogue is a bit more steady, clear, and balanced. Natural ambience -- chirping birds, falling rain, distant thunder -- sound fine, but at the same time canned, like they're not a natural part of whatever environment at which the camera is pointed. However, they do spread out nicely enough acros

Supplements
National Parks Exploration Series: The Everglades - A Sub-Tropical Paradise contains no supplemental content.

Final Words
National Parks Exploration Series: The Everglades - A Sub-Tropical Paradise is a bland nature video that will serve classroom duty admirably enough. It's not nearly engaging enough to serve any other purpose, really, though anyone who's just a diehard naturalist at heart may find in it some bottom-line value. Even then, chances are this video won't accomplish much more than reinforcing the basics. Worse, the video and audio quality are subpar, and no extras are included. As with...

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Cold Mountain (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:45:29 -0500
War is hell. So is getting home afterwards.

In this isolated world of locked doors and pulled shades, its not unusual for people to not really know who their neighbors are. Imagine my eldest sisters surprise, then, when she discovered that novelist Charles Frazier was one of her neighbors in North Carolina, something she evidently found out quite by accident simply because a Frazier groupie, eager to track down the Cold Mountain author, was asking everyone she could find in the neighborhood if they knew exactly where F...

Video
Cold Mountain is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate-Miramax with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This is for the most part a solid and substantial high definition upgrade, one which presents the films beautiful locations in appreciably increased detail, but one which perhaps doesnt quite rise to the level of some other recent Lionsgate-Miramax catalog releases like Frida an

Audio
Cold Mountain is presented with a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that is quite remarkable on several levels. The film alternates between bombastic battle sequences and quieter, country-set moments with Ada (at least for the first part of the film), and the track captures the vast differences in these soundworlds effortlessly. The opening battle sequence with Inman features some devastating explosions that are delivered with some awesome LFE. But what really struck me

Supplements
Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Anthony Minghella and Editor Walter Murch. This is a really fascinating commentary track, as much for Murch's input as for Minghella's. The two discuss their attempts, quite similar to how they approached The English Patient, in unfolding various timelines as simultaneously as possible (obviously things have to happen sequentially in a film, but the film ping pongs back and forth between various timeframes to establish who

Final Words
Cold Mountain takes a special kind of emotional fortitude to make it through unscathed, much like the characters in the film themselves. Minghella crafts and exceptionally handsome production here, one which is, yes, gritty, but also refined. The three leads are exceptional, with Zellweger a real standout, and the film features superb cinematography, editing and sound design (including a gorgeous score). But this is a relentlessly depressing film which only is partially amelior...

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Hell and Back Again (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:24:08 -0500
The best years of his life.

Update: Hell and Back Again has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.

Little boys love to play war, and older boys love to play videogames glorifying battle, and even older boys traipse off to foreign lands where they serve in our armed forces and find out that reality isnt always as painless as gameplay. That, in a nutshell, is part of the subtext of the riveting new documentary Hell and Back Again, a piece that kind of plays like...

Video
Hell and Back Again is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Docurama and New Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Director (and actual camera operator) Danfung Dennis cobbled together his own camera and sound recording system for the embedded portions of this piece, which Dennis describes in some considerable technical detail in one of the supplements. The film was shot digitally, but incredibly the war sequences were done on a modified camera that was initially meant

Audio
The opening menu for Hell and Back Again features a blistering DTS-HD Master 2.0 soundtrack which assaults the listener with massed drums and gunfire, but even that opening gives little indication of the force of the actual feature, which is presented with a full DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. When you take into consideration the cobbled together camera and sound recording units director Danfung Dennis had to make himself in order to get the Afghanistan sequences (where the most b

Supplements

Audio Commentary features director Danfung Dennis and Fiona Otway, editor. Dennis talks about his photojournalism background, as well as what being embedded with this Marine battalion was like. Dennis and Otway also get into some interesting dialogue about how the editing tended to blend the boundaries between Afghanistan and Hunters stateside experiences.

Technical Gear Demo (SD; 5:46) is a really interesting featurette narrated by director Danfung Den

Final Words
Some of the critics lavishing praise on Hell and Back Again seem to think there has never been a previous film experience showing the emotional turbulence of returning vets. Anyone hear of a little film called The Best Years of Our Lives, folks? Of course Hell and Back Again is a documentary, and it does in fact present some extremely emotional footage of Sergeant Harris and his wife trying to come to grips with Harris physical and emotional needs. My only...

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Heart: Live (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:43:37 -0500
Make Way for Bad Animals

No roster of durable rock veterans would be complete without Ann and Nancy Wilson, the sisters who have fronted the band Heart for nearly forty years. The sisters may not have founded the band, but they quickly became its public face, and Ann's smoking vocals defined its sound, even as its musical format shifted with changing times. Their performing style and their song-writing talents provided definitive proof, as Janis Joplin had before them and Chrissie Hynde would shortly join them in d...

Video
I was initially concerned when I saw that Image had chosen to depart from their usual practice with Soundstage concert programs by issuing this nearly two-hour concert on a BD-25. However, except for an unusual amount of aliasing and video noise in the opening pans over the audience members as they cheer the Wilson sisters' initial appearance, the image on the 1080i, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is entirely consistent with the discs I've previously reviewed in this series. The picture is generally

Audio
The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is up to the usual standards met by director Joe Thomas and the technical crew at HD Ready. As per the typical mixing approach for Soundstage concerts, the viewer is placed in the position of an audience member with the sounds of cheering and applause directed to the surrounds, while the band and vocalists remain spread across the front soundstage, with some degree of presence in the surrounds to create a sense of space and depth. Just how loud that applause can be w

Supplements
No extras have been included, although the Koch Vision DVD is listed as including an interview with the Wilson sisters.

Final Words
Many of the Wilson sisters' songs were written and released when both they and I were much younger. Perhaps it's just my own awareness spilling over into the experience, but watching and hearing these songs performed by the same women at much later stages of their lives seemed to lend the songs additional depth and substanceone might even say "gravitas"in ways that are almost indefinable. Rock music used to be considered strictly a young person's game, but performers like the Wilson siste...

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Manhattan (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:13:27 -0500
Woody Allen's ode to New York and complicated love.

In an interview with Time Magazine shortly after the semi-scandalous news broke that he was having a relationship with his former lover Mia Farrow's 21-year-old adopted daughter, Soon-Yi, Woody Allen famously replied, "The heart wants what it wants. There's no logic to those things. You meet someone and you fall in love and that's that." The quote is a good entry point into Allen's 1979 film, Manhattan, which is very much about the irrationality of love, broadly, and more specifical...

Video
Manhattan looks gorgeous on Blu-ray, even more so than Annie Hall. With its stark black and white cinematography it's obviously the more stylized of the two, and MGM's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer more than does it justice. To start, the print is in nearly immaculate condition. I don't know if it was extremely clean to begin with, or if MGM spent the time and effort to do a frame-by-frame restoration, but either way the results are fantastic. There are very few white specks to

Audio
As with Annie Hall, MGM has wisely avoided trying to wrangle a 5.1 surround sound presentation out of the film's original single-channel soundtrack, opting instead for a faithful DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mix. And it sounds great. Of course, this being a Woody Allen film, where characters do nothing but talk, a good 80% of the aural activity is dialogue. Thankfully, then, the vocals are always clean and easily understood. There are a few spots where the volume of the voice

Supplements
Woody Allen just doesn't do bonus features--he never has--so the only extra you'll find on the disc is the film's theatrical trailer, in high definition.

Final Words
The jury is still out on whether or not Manhattan is Woody Allen's masterpiece--personally, I'm more fond of Annie Hall--but there's no doubt that this is a great film and, more specifically, a great film about New York. As far as I'm concerned, it belong in every Blu-ray collection, and MGM's fantastic 1080p transfer should easily convince you to add it to yours. There are no extras to speak of--Woody Allen is notoriously against bonus features--but the bump in pictur...

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Rolling Stones: Some Girls Live in Texas 1978 (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:10:16 -0500

I always thought that the Rolling Stones were a much better band live than they were in the studio. This isnt to say that their studio work was disappointing, rather that their live shows, and especially their early live shows, had a type of energy that elevated their music to an entirely different level. The band simply knew how to connect with their fans. A lot of other big rock bands did not.

Some Girls Live in Texas 1978 was filmed at the Will Rogers Memorial Center...

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080i transfer, The Rolling Stones: Some Girls Live in Texas 1978 arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment.

Recently remastered at Pinewood Studios, this legendary concert film looks good in high-definition. The screencaptures we have posted with our review, however, are quite misleading, as they do not convey how pleasing image depth and clarity are. Despite the not so impressiv

Audio
There are three audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English LPCM 2.0, and English Dolby Digital 5.1. For the record, Eagle Rock Entertainment have provided optional English, German, Spanish, and French subtitles for the interviews offered in supplemental features section of the disc.

I think that quite a few people will be surprised with the wide range of nuanced dynamics the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track boasts. This is not to imply that there i

Supplements
Interview - in this interview, Mick Jagger discusses the show in Texas, the controversial shirt he wore at the end of the show, the music scene in America at the time, rap and disco music, etc. The interview was conducted in 2011. In English, with optional English, Spanish, French, and German subtitles. (15 min, 1080i).

Saturday Night Live - four archival clips from four a Saturday Night Live show the Rolling Stones were a part of i

Final Words
Fans of the Rolling Stones should not miss Some Girls Live in Texas 1978. With the concert footage recently restored and the audio remixed, this legendary show looks the best it ever has. The Blu-ray disc also contains some very interesting supplemental features. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ...

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Restless (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:49:17 -0500
This is the day.

In death, as in life, I will remain forever yours.

Death is the natural and unalterable destination of life and the only certain thing in this world (even taxes aren't quite up there). It's also the one debate, the single scientific curiosity, that will never be settled or resolved, though it's certainly the one thing that personally effects every living being on the planet, and the one thing that every sentient being contemplates. With so much activity surroundi...

Video
Restless isn't a traditionally "pretty" movie by any stretch of the imagination, but Sony's 1080p, 1.85:1-framed transfer appears to handle the film's darker, softer stylings well enough. Indeed, this is a fairly soft, muted, sometimes murky-looking movie. It occasionally favors a slightly warm palette, even through a general dimness that never really showcases any vibrance. Flesh tones are a hair warm and pale, but blacks are fair, if not a touch murky here and a bit washed out

Audio
Restless features a fair DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. One can probably surmise that this will be a track of the reserved variety; there's no action or dynamic sound elements, but Sony's presentation suits the material nicely. The opening title music plays as expected, nicely spaced and with good clarity, a balanced low end, and a bit of surround support. Light ambience is strong; the opening funeral features words that echo about the listening area noticeably well, while ge

Supplements
Restless contains several short featurettes and a silent version of the film.

Gus Van Sant's Silent Version of Restless (1080p, DD 2.0, 1:16:25): Sony describes this version of the movie thusly: "After he had filmed the scripted scene, Gus Van Sant directed his actors to do a completely silent take of the same scene. He did this for every scene of the film. The following film has been edited together using only the s

Final Words
Restless is a strong film of understanding and acceptance. It's about love, a love of life, a love of time, a love of the good rather than the embracing of the bad. It's subtle but very effective, exceptionally crafted, and very well acted. It's unusual, perhaps not for all audiences. It's not a traditional tearjerker, in large part because it's so very effective in its message on celebrating life rather than mourning death. Sony's Blu-ray release of Restless features go...

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Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin) (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:40:20 -0500

Winner of Golden Bear Award for Best Film and Silver Bear Award for Best Actor at the Berlin International Film Festival, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's "Jodaeiye Nader az Simin" a.k.a "A Separation" (2011) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer, two interviews with director Asghar Farhadi, and an interview with actress Leila Hatami. In Persian, with optional English subtitles ...

Video
Presented in its original apsect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Asghar Farhadi's A Separation arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye.

Detail is pleasing throughout the entire film. Where there is plenty of natural light, for instance, most close-ups look excellent. The outdoor scenes also convey pleasing fluidity. Contrast levels are stable and clarity very good. Color reproduction is also convincing - there i

Audio
There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: Persian LPCM 2.0 and Persian DTS-HD Master Audio 3.0. For the record, Artificial Eye have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

I opted to view the film with the Persian LPCM 2.0 track and was very pleased with it. Though the range of nuanced dynamics is extremely limited - the only decent dynamic movement is when Sattar Oraki's score comes alive - the audio has good depth and fluidity. Obviously, the intent was to

Supplements
Interview - in this video interview, director Asghar Farhadi discusses his career as a director and writer and talks about the complex dilemmas the characters in his films face. In French and Persian, with optional English subtitles

Asghar Farhadi Talks About A Separation - in this video interview, director Asghar Farhadi discusses discusses A Separation and its conflicts, the main characters, how specific sequences were shot, etc.

Final Words
Asghar Farhadi's A Separation is one of the most illuminating films about life in urban Iran that I have ever seen. It is wonderfully directed and terrifically acted. British distributors Artificial Eye's presentation of the film is very good. If you reside in a Region-A territory, however, and wish to add the Blu-ray disc to your library, please keep in mind that it is Region-B "locked". VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ...

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Dream House (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:52:32 -0500
A rundown shack haunted by the ghosts of two better films...

Dream House came within a hair's breadth of being an Alan Smithee production. That's how horrified six-time Oscar-nominated director Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, In America) was with the film producer James G. Robinson reportedly wrestled from his grasp and had recut, retooled and reassembled. Without final cut, though, Sheridan's only real course of action was to petition the Director's Guild to remove his name from the final product. When t...

Video
Dream House creeps onto Blu-ray with an at-times soft but always exacting 1080p/VC-1 encoded transfer that, through sickness and in health, till death do us part, stays true to Sheridan and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel's intentions. Craig and company look a little worse for the wear -- a bit pudgy and a bit smudgy, thanks to Deschanel's dreamscape photography, a variety of filters and, yes, some minor filmmaker-initiated DNR -- but skintones are beautifully saturated, primaries pop, bl

Audio
Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track isn't as absorbing as horror fans might expect. But, then again, Dream House isn't the terrifying frightfest or intense psychological thriller its trailer suggests. Like Craig's performance, the film is a quiet, almost somber affair; heavy on hushed conversation and light on sudden outbursts. The very beginning and very end stand out -- when Will first realizes someone is watching his family from the darkness and when he finally pulls bac

Supplements

Burning Down the House (HD, 4 minutes): Forget House's spoilerific trailer. Just reading the title of this behind-the-scenes practical effects featurette will spoil part of the ending for anyone who has yet to brave the film.

Building the Dream House (HD, 5 minutes): An overview of the house as a character and the thought and design that went into creating multiple versions of

Final Words
It's easy to see why director Jim Sheridan wanted his name removed from the version of Dream House that landed in theaters. It's easy to see why Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz distanced themselves from the final product as well. What isn't so easy to see is what Sheridan's film might have been. Dream House is a mess, from top to bottom, and I can't imagine how it could have been much better, especially with that ending. Ugh. Still, there are fragments of a more fascinating character...

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Iron Rose (Rose of Iron) (La rose de fer) (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:01:55 -0500
Jean Rollin's take on the Orpheus tale.

If you've just joined us on this Jean Rollin kick, here's the deal: On January 24th, Kino Video and the U.K.'s Redemption Films are teaming up to release five of the late director's early quasi-erotic horror movies on Blu-ray--The Nude Vampire, Shiver of the Vampires, The Iron Rose, Lips of Blood, and Fascination--with several more to come later in the year. We've already got reviews up for the first two-- which you can find ...

Video
For a long time, Jean Rollin's films were only available in the U.S. by way of duped VHS tapes and then decent, but far from spectacular DVDs, so to see them in high definition is something of a revelation. The Blu-ray presentation is fairly consistent across all five films being released in this first batch of titles, but The Iron Rose has some visual charms that are all its own. Cinematographer Jean-Jacques Renon does some of his best work for Rollin here, creating a moody atmosph

Audio
Just like the other titles, Kino has given audiences two audio options for The Iron Rose, the original French mix and an English dub, both presented in uncompressed Linear PCM 2.0. As with the picture quality, the audio sometimes exhibits evidence of the film's low-budget origins--dynamic tinniness, light hiss, audible pops and crackles--but nothing you wouldn't expect and nothing outright distracting. Piere Raph's forlorn score isn't quite as memorable as the prog-rock soundtrack f

Supplements
Introduction by Jean Rollin (1080p, 1:16): Rollin, reclining somewhat awkwardly on a couch, next to a motionless guy wearing a creepy white Eyes Wide Shut mask, says a few words about one of his most personal films.

Francoise Pascal (1080p, 22:01): Pascal gave up a role in Kirk Douglas' Scalawag--a Treasure Island/Western hybrid--to appear in The Iron Rose, and she doesn't seem to ever doubt her decision. In this fairly recent in

Final Words
Unheralded horror filmmaker Jean Rollins is finally getting his high definition due, with five of his early films being released on the 24th in wonderful Blu- ray editions by Kino-Lorber and Redemption Films. The Iron Rose is one of Rollin's most atypical films--it's not about vampires and it features very little nudity--but it's also one of his best, a waking nightmare about the thin veil between life and death. This one comes especially recommended, but as I've said before, any sel...

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Nature: The Animal House (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:19:01 -0500
On the bright side, spit doesn't require rent

In these modern times, the prospect of home ownership is akin to a cancer scare. Its a promise of oncoming misery, containing such anxiety and dread that fewer folks are taking the plunge, unwilling or unable to endure the financial commitment and extended period of responsibility. Who needs the headache? Life would be far simpler if we all could secrete a milky fluid from our hindquarters, using the goo to manufacture a temporary living space free from predators. With that evolutionary process...

Video
The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation is largely average for a nature documentary. The source material provides a few less savory digitally photographed tangents, but the program is chiefly captured with satisfactory camera equipment, supplying a comfortably crisp image with limited softness. The tight frame reveals plenty of fine hairs and insect textures, offering an agreeable amount of detail to fully comprehend the sophistication of neighborhood assembly. Environmental cha

Audio
The 5.1 Dolby Digital sound mix isnt extraordinarily active for a program of multiple perspectives and feral instinct, maintaining only a mild rear presence, used to maintain distances, echo, and a few sequences of insect scurrying. The action is adequately held up front, with cleanly delivered narration carrying dramatic fullness, separated well from the amplified animal events. Atmospheric changes are recognized, carrying from the deep jungle to squishy wetlands. Scoring is mild, pushed down

Supplements
There is no supplementary material on this disc.

Final Words
Interestingly, The Animal House points out a little environmental damage from the stars of the show, who often steamroll through an area, only to abandon their residence when time comes for change. Its a provocative idea of behavior not explored in full by the documentary, yet adds a curious parallel to man, adding some tangy punctuation to a composed, yet satisfying and educational visit to this parade of homes. ...

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See No Evil, Hear No Evil (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 02:29:46 -0500
If You Can't Make a Sequel, At Least Do a Rematch

After the success of Stir Crazy, Columbia/TriStar urgently wanted to reteam Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder in another comedy, but a host of personal factors got in the way. Even a partial list reads like a soap opera. There was Pryor's 1980 self-immolation while freebasing cocaine; his subsequent recovery from drug addiction, only to be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis; Wilder's marriage to Gilda Radner, with wh...

Video
Image completes its recent trilogy of Richard Pryor releases (the other two being The Toy and Stir Crazy) with a respectable 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray that brings out all the detail in cinematographer Victor Kemper's imagery. Kemper, whose credits include Dog D

Audio
The film's original stereo soundtrack is presented as PCM 2.0. The left and right separations are distinct from the opening bars of the lively score by Stewart Copeland, but there is no surround activity to speak of, even when the track is played through a decoding system such as DPL IIx. Voices sound natural, and the dialogue is always clear.

Supplements
I don't have Sony's 2001 DVD release of See No Evil, Hear No Evil for comparison, but informed sources report that the disc included the film's theatrical trailer, along with trailers for Money Train, Bad Boys and Blue Streak. The Blu-ray, however, contains no extras.

Final Words
The film in which Pryor and Wilder first teamed, Silver Streak, is probably the one that fans most want to see on Blu-ray, but it's a Fox property, and who knows when it'll see the light of day? Meanwhile, Sony controls the rights to two of Pryor's peerless standup films, Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip and Richard Pryor . . . Here and Now, which would make a terrific double-feature Blu-ray. Pryor was a brilliant and subtle actor, but no film role ever ful...

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National Parks Exploration Series: The Black Hills and The Badlands - Gateway to the West (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:48:53 -0500
Back to school.

Far out beyond the last frontier.

Flash backwards to ninth grade (or, perhaps for a few, flash-forward or, well, some can just go to school on Monday) and imagine the most generic Geography video of all time, yes, that one that put darn near everyone -- including the teacher -- to sleep. Wait, huh? Is that the bell? Wipe up that drool and get to Algebra! Many may have never before seen National Parks Exploration Series: The Black Hills and The Badlands - Gateway t...

Video
National Parks Exploration Series: The Black Hills and The Badlands - Gateway to the West showcases a bland 1080i, 1.78:1-framed transfer. This is a lower-grade image that's sometimes blocky and very lifeless. The glossy video sheen harms the natural beauty of the area. Skies tend to wash out and are sometimes littered with massive blocking. General images range from rugged to ragged. Close-up shots of rocks reveal decent textures, ditto some similarly up-tight shots of animal

Audio
National Parks Exploration Series: The Black Hills and The Badlands - Gateway to the West features a workmanlike Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. Narration is sharp and piercing, quite loud at reference volume. General clarity is adequate, and the narration remains grounded in the center channel. Ambience, too, is rather harsh. Chirping birds sound canned rather than natural. Gusty winds are crunchy and undefined. Music lacks crispness, though it is adequately spaced across the

Supplements
National Parks Exploration Series: The Black Hills and The Badlands - Gateway to the West contains no supplemental features.

Final Words
National Parks Exploration Series: The Black Hills and The Badlands - Gateway to the West is a straightforward educational video that will remind all viewers over the age of 13 of those days back in school when the order of the day was dimming the lights and rolling the TV cart in front of the class for an easy afternoon of learning. Or sleeping. National Parks Exploration Series: The Black Hills and The Badlands - Gateway to the West epitomizes the generic educational vide...

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Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:31:02 -0500
The most action-packed Blu-ray 3D release to date.

In the name of freedom, we take the battle to them.

Fans figuratively declared war on Director Michael Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for its excess bad humor, loose plot, and general mindlessness. That picture got everything buts its special effects and action-as-spectacle wrong, unlike its predecessor which emphasized not onl...

Video
It took several months, but Paramount has finally re-released Transformers: Dark of the Moon as a full-fledged, feature-packed Blu-ray 3D presentation that's pretty much everything fans could have ever wanted. The film's previous Blu-ray release remains a standard for video and audio excellence, so the question is whether the 3D presentation can improve on perfection? The answer is, not surprisingly, "no," but the a

Audio
No surprise here. Transformers: Dark of the Moon delivers one of the finest lossless soundtracks ever to grace a Blu-ray disc. Paramount's Dolby TrueHD 7.1 presentation is a true champion. Every musical note, every sound effect, every line of dialogue is so pristine, so natural, that there's never a moment where the audience isn't completely immersed in Michael Bay's chaotic world. The movie begins with a heavy pulsating electronic sensation as the Paramount stars fly on by and

Supplements
Transformers: Dark of the Moon offers some pretty amazing supplements, including an enthralling and honest Documentary that explores much of the filmmaking process.

Above and Beyond: Exploring Dark of the Moon (1080p, 1:50:46): This five-part documentary examines some of the more critical making-of elements surrounding the film. First is Rising from the Fallen: Development and Design (22:24), a surprisingly

Final Words
Transformers: Dark of the Moon bests Revenge of the Fallen in every way imaginable. The movie's first half threatens to bore the audience to death -- there's just too much filler -- but it's nothing but pure adrenaline the rest of the way. Bay responds to his critics with a movie that's more in-line with what the series promised to deliver in the first place: giant special effects robots doing battle, causing ungodly amounts of damage, and devastating theaters with some of ...

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U2: From The Sky Down (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:01:59 -0500
This band moves in mysterious ways.

Note: this review is based on a check disc, which may or may not reflect the final retail version of this title.

Has it really been twenty years (give or take) since U2 rose from the critical ashes of Rattle and Hum to release Achtung Baby? Bono makes the case that arriving at these patently artificial marking points like a twentieth anniversary arent real barometers of anything other than that they provide a fitting reason (and/or excuse) ...

Video
U2 From the Sky Down is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Mercury Records and Universal Music Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in both 1.78:1 and 1.33:1. On the whole, this is a sparklingly clear transfer, at least with regard to the contemporary segments, which offer Bono and The Edge (for the most part) waxing philosophical about their history together, as well as some really fun sequences where they listen to old DAT tapes from the Achtung Baby sessions. Colors

Audio
U2 From the Sky Down features three audio options, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, LPCM 2.0 and Dolby Digital 5.1. (As is often the case with these Universal Music Group releases, the disc defaults to the LPCM 2.0 mix, and the next option if you toggle is oddly the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, with the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 the third choice). The two lossless tracks are boisterous, full blooded affairs, but fans need to understand going in that From the Sky Down is in no real

Supplements
So Cruel (HD; 2:42)

Love is Blindness (HD; 3:02)

The Fly (HD; 2:31)

Toronto International Film Festival Press Conference (720p; 44:45) has The Edge and Bono, along with Davis Guggenheim, doing a sit down and Q&A session at TIFF after the film screened there.

Photo Gallery (720p; 1:59)

Final Words
U2 From the Sky Down has many of the same pluses and minuses as last years Foo Fighters: Back and Forth. The pluses include up close and personal interviews with the band, as well as copious archival footage which helps to elucidate the bands history. The main minus is the relative dearth of actual unedited performance footage. Those wanting a concert video would do best to co...

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Senna (Single Disc) (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:01:16 -0500

Winner of Best Documentary Award at the British Independent Film Awards, Asif Kapadia's "Senna" (2010) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal Studios-UK. The supplemental features on the disc include an interview with the Brazilian legend; additional interviews with Formula One experts and pundits; Brazilian promo piece for Senna and his philanthropic work; and an audio commentary by producer James Gay-Rees, writer and executive producer Manish Pandey, and director Asif Kapadia. In...

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with VC-1 and granted a 1080p transfer, Asif Kapadia's Senna arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal Studios-UK.

Senna is comprised entirely of archival news reports, interviews, and raw footage from various races. Naturally, the quality of the material varies greatly - sometimes detail is acceptable, sometimes it is poor; clarity and contrast also fluctuate. However, there have been no attempts to introduce post-pro

Audio
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (with portions of Portuguese and French). For the record, Universal Studios-UK have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature (on-screen English subtitles, as introduced in the Theatrical Version of the film, are also available).

Antonio Pinto's wonderful music score benefits the most from the loseless treatment, and because of it the film often feels like dream. Some of the r

Supplements
Note: All of the supplemental features are perfectly playable on North American Blu-ray machines, including the PS3.

Interviews - a collection of long and very informative interviews with some of the talking heads heard in the film (Richard Williams, John Bisignano, Pierre van Vliet, Reginaldo Leme, Wagner Gonzalez), who discuss Senna's legacy and the glorious times of Formula One, when the driver, not a sophisticated computer, made the difference

Final Words
Asif Kapadia's award-winning documentary film offers a fascinating look at the hyper-competitive world of Formula One racing and the legacy of arguably its greatest star, the late Ayrton Senna. The film contains an enormous amount of outstanding racing footage, very informative interviews, news reports, etc. Fans of the sport and the Brazilian racer cannot afford to miss this one. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ...

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NEDS (Non Educated Delinquents) (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:00:57 -0500

Winner of Golden Seashell Award for Best Film at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, Scottish director Peter Mullan's "NEDS" (2010) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Entertainment One. The supplemental features on the disc include a gallery of deleted scenes and Q&A session. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked". ...

Video
Presented in am aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Peter Mullan's NEDS arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Entertainment One.

The high-definition transfer supports the film's gritty look. Detail is excellent from start to finish, with many of the close-ups conveying that 'thick' look which some of Ken Loach's latest films have. Clarity is also pleasing, but it has to be said that it fluctuates depending on whethe

Audio
There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English LPCM 2.0. For the record, Entertainment One have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track has a good range of nuanced dynamics, but the film's sound design is fairly modest. Bass and surround activity, in particular, are limited. Acclaimed Scottish compos

Supplements
Deleted Scenes - a gallery of deleted scenes. In English, not subtitled. (18 min, PAL).

Peter Mullan Masterclass - a truly hilarious Q&A session with director Peter Mullan, who discusses his recent collaboration with director Steven Spielberg, the production history of NEDS and its characters, its success, etc. Courtesy of the British Film Institute. In English, not subtitled. (23 min, PAL).

Final Words
Scottish director Peter Mullan's NEDS is not easy to like but it is impossible not to be impressed with. It may well be the most authentic film ever made about life on the streets of Glasgow. It is superbly directed, terrifically acted, and complimented by yet another brilliant score courtesy of the great Craig Armstrong. The film looks and sounds terrific. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ...

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Annie Hall (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:39:26 -0500
Woody Allen at his schlemiel best.

To a large extent, American humor is Jewish humor--even when we don't always realize it--and Woody Allen, who comes out of a comedy tradition that stretches back to the days of vaudeville and beyond, is still arguably its prime practitioner. In interviews, he consistently downplays his own influence on film and television, but that has to be his characteristic self-deprecation talking. Can you imagine Seinfeld without Woody Allen? What about Curb Your Enthusiasm or Jon...

Video
Don't be fooled when you boot up this disc and see the horribly muddled and ridiculously grainy image on the title screen. It's far from representative. MGM has given Annie Hall a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that makes for a satisfying upgrade over previous standard definition releases. This isn't one of those transfers that makes you gasp at how good the film now looks, but it does seem faithful to source and free from unnecessary digital meddling. I didn't spot any signs of

Audio
Instead of trying to wrangle some kind of half-assed 5.1 surround mix out of the film's original single-channel soundtrack, MGM has wisely stuck with a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono presentation. And it simply does what it needs to do. If you've seen the film before, you know it's all dialogue. Almost every scene consists of the characters talking. Talking while driving. While walking. While lying in bed. While having dinner. Always talking. Fortunately, this track br

Supplements
Woody Allen is notoriously anti-bonus features--he's especially against audio commentaries--so it's no surprise that you'll find nothing here but a high definition theatrical trailer.

Final Words
Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Annie Hall is one of the great American comedies--a masterpiece of neurosis, existential absurdity, and relationships gone wrong--and as far as I'm concerned, it belongs in every Blu-ray collection. MGM has made this easy with a new high definition transfer that makes for a satisfying upgrade over earlier DVD releases. There aren't any special features--Woody has never been fond of them-- but if you're a fan you'll certainly want...

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Nova: Finding Life Beyond Earth (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:09:14 -0500
Earth, Too

The mysteries of the Earth are enormous, even after centuries of study and theory, yet questions about life cannot be answered on this planet. With an entire universe begging for exploration, the quest for knowledge has reached for the stars, with science making great strides in meticulous space inspection, opening up fresh realms of opportunity when it comes to locating signs of life and hospitable environments. The two-part Nova program, Finding Life Beyond Earth, looks to uncover the pote...

Video
The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation on Finding Life Beyond Earth is a mixed affair, blending file footage and newly photographed interview segments together to form only a reasonably successful HD release. The discussions and field trips with the experts offer an acceptable clarity, with a good sense of detail emerging from environmental extremes and the personal grooming habits of the interviewees (nose hairs!). Color is also in healthy shape, feeling out the universe wit

Audio
The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix carries a hearty, balanced weight that sustains a comfortable frontal force to make up for any lack of dimensionality. Narration leads the listening experience, providing a heavy sense of pronunciation and agreeable clarity, slowly working through the complex concepts of the program. Music successfully supports the educational mood, supplying strong accompaniment without stepping on the verbal information. CGI interludes maintain a pronounced and communicative range o

Supplements
There is no supplementary material on this disc.

Final Words
Tearing off into space, Finding Life Beyond Earth captures the excitement of scientific potential and interstellar travel, always speeding along with graphics and interviews to help grease the education. There are moments of repetition and the final act, slipping into a chemistry lesson, is a bit of a drag, yet the topic remains engorged and supported throughout, providing viewers with a greater command of planetary nuance and the various opportunities awaiting humans as they study the potenti...

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Nothing in Common (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:58:58 -0500
Not Far from the Tree

Nothing in Common should be better known than it is. Among other things, it was Jackie Gleason's last film, and the Great One (as he was nicknamed, supposedly by Orson Welles) ended his career with a flourish. Best remembered for the comedic gifts that blazed in The Honeymooners and various incarnations of The Jackie Gleason Show, the Brooklyn native was also a superb dramatic actor, as anyone who's ever seen his Minnesota Fats in The Hustler can attest. ...

Video
The late John A. Alonzo (Chinatown and Scarface) shot Nothing in Common, which made extensive use of locations in and around downtown Chicago and Northwestern University, and Alonzo successfully captured a realistic sense of these locations (many of which I know) without making them look like they were shot for a documentary. He also did full justice to the atrocious clothing worn by the ad and clothing industry people, who are walking cautionary tales for the

Audio
The original mono soundtrack is presented as PCM 2.0. When played through a good set of stereo speakers in "direct" mode, the track should provide a wide soundstage, much like a typical theatrical array. When played through a matrix decoder, the two identical channels should collapse to the center speaker of a typical home theater array. Either way, the dialogue is very clear, and the musical track has surprisingly broad dynamic range and fidelity, though one might have wished for somewhat

Supplements
Sony's 2002 DVD release of Nothing in Common contained the film's trailer and no other extras. In what is becoming an unfortunate trend for Image's Sony catalog releases, the Blu-ray omits that scant supplement.

Final Words
After Nothing in Common, Marshall's films took a distinct turn toward fairy tales and sentimentality. The results were sometimes phenomenally successful (not just Pretty Woman, but also The Princess Diaries and Beaches) and even entertaining, but the escapist element took over, eventually crowding out all semblance of recognizable humanity. The Marshall who made Nothing in Common is nowhere to be found in the holiday anthologies being cranked out...

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Drive (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:15:12 -0500
Style to spare.

I drive.

Any guy-oriented movie that that emblazons pink titles across its opening shots must be fairly confident in itself. Drive oozes confidence in every fiber of its being. Hello, and welcome, pink titles. The latest from Director Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson) is Drive, a superbly assembled picture that's one of the year's most enthralling, a movie that, yes, is evidently confid...

Video
Drive features a rich and satisfying 1080p Blu-ray transfer. The digital photography translates wonderfully here. There's very light banding and noise to be seen in one or two shots, but the transfer is otherwise extraordinarily pristine. The movie opens in relative darkness, lit sparsely but effectively. Blacks are superb here and elsewhere; shadow detail is strong, and overhead nighttime shots of a city lit only by street lights and the glow of high-rise office building window

Audio
Drive speeds onto Blu-ray with a sonically intense and pure DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Music styles range from soft to raucous, yet the track handles all with precision and clarity. Music accompanying a montage in chapter five plays remarkably smooth and airy, while heavier beats energize the soundstage but remain accurate and true to style. All is spacious and enveloping, which carries over to every other sonic element that shapes the movie. Whether a steady undercurren

Supplements
Drive contains five film-specific supplements. Unfortunately, an audio commentary track is not amongst them.

I Drive (1080p, 5:26): A short piece that looks at the story, character qualities, and the work of the writer and director.

Under the Hood (1080p 11:50): This piece looks in-depth at the characters and the cast.

Final Words
Drive is a fine little movie that's quite unlike most pictures dotting the cinematic landscape these days. It's more style than substance, more confident than profit-driven, but this is a rare case where style is so good -- because it's so reserved and so engaging simultaneously -- that it dwarfs substance, which is fairly shallow but that does become more meaningful the further viewers want to dig. Everything in the movie plays in absolute perfect harmony, the entire thing defi...

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Roots of Heaven (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:31:35 -0500
The African King.

When is a star not really a star? Well, there can be several overriding circumstances: he or she might be a bit past their prime, no longer considered truly A-list, or they might be shoved into a cameo despite receiving star billing for whatever putative marquee value they are deemed to have. Both of those situations probably apply to Errol Flynn in his ostensible starring role in John Hustons rather odd 1958 film The Roots of Heaven. William Holden was evidently signed to ...

Video
The Roots of Heaven is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Twilight Time with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This gorgeous CinemaScope feature sports the luminous cinematography of the legendary Oswald Morris, and Huston utilizes Morris mastery to brilliantly fill the huge frame. For the most part this is a problem free transfer, with bright, bold and often beautiful colors and some amazing fine detail (some of the close-ups of the elephants may provide more information

Audio
The Roots of Heavens stereo soundtrack is delivered via a very nice sounding lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix. The film really isnt as much of an action-adventure outing as some might expect going in, and so the lack of a surround mix isnt missed in any large degree. Fidelity here is top notch, if obviously fairly narrow, and Malcolm Arnolds boisterous score sounds fantastic (its also available via an isolated score track). While theres no real LFE per se, there

Supplements
Isolated Score. As is standard on Twilight Time releases, the score (with minimal effects) is presented via an isolated track on a very nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix. Malcolm Arnold may not be that well known to younger audiences, but he was one of the most iconic British composers of his era, one known as much for his classical pieces as for his film scores. The Roots of Heaven finds Arnold working a symphonic canvas with martial overtones that might remind

Final Words
The Roots of Heaven is an interesting misfire from director John Huston. Unusually philosophical and undeniably prescient in its exploration of environmental concerns which wouldnt really erupt into the mainstream for at least a few more years, the film is weighed down by too many characters and its own talkiness. The film is still gorgeous to behold, and the CinemaScope image here is presented with often breathtaking results on this Blu-ray. While the film may have issues, th...

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To Kill a Mockingbird (Commemorative Limited Edition Collector's Series) (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:24:50 -0500
One of the glories of American cinema debuts on Blu-ray.

1962 was a rather remarkable year for films featuring stellar performances by young actors. Patty Duke took home a well deserved Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her iconic work in The Miracle Worker, but Pattys was hardly the only notable performance that year. Duke was joined in the Best Supporting Actress category by another young girl whose performance has entered the annals of the near legendary, namely Mary Badhams beautifully rendered work as Scout in To Kil...

Video
Scuttlebutt has it the world may be ending in 2012, and there may be further signs of an impending apocalypse, at least for some ardent film fans, with the news that Universal, long the bane of catalog title collectors, seems to have finally woken up and realized how to treat its asset treasures. Now, I have never believed that at least some of Universals catalog Blu- ray releases were as outright terrible as some claimed, but I seem to have a much higher tolerance for DNR than s

Audio
To Kill a Mockingbird offers both a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix as well as a standard DTS 2.0 mix. This would not seem to be a film especially suited to a surround track, and the good news is the track hasnt been overly tarted up to provide a false sense of immersion. The best part of the 5.1 track is the fuller representation of Elmer Bernsteins glorious score, one of the finest scores of the composers long and legendary career. (Im on record as having

Supplements
All of the supplements from the Legacy Edition 2 DVD set have been ported over to this release, with the exception of the cardstock reproductions of the international lobby cards (some of which are reproduced in this Blu-ray's accompanying Digibook text):
Fearful Symmetry (SD; 1:30:13). This feature length documentary is by Charles Kiselyak, and is a loving if unshrinking look back on the cultural milieu from which To Kill a Mockingbird sprang. There are c

Final Words
Im not ashamed to admit I was once again a puddle of tears as To Kill a Mockingbird drew to a close as I watched it to prepare for this review. Ive seen the film countless times, and it has the same effect on me, certainly a good indication of just how emotionally powerful the film is. How many films can you think of that lose little if any of their emotional resonance upon repeated viewings? To Kill a Mockingbird is one of that rare breed of films which seems timeless ...

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Thing (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:29:58 -0500
A frost-bitten remake... reboot... um, reimagining... no wait, reverential prequel to 'The Thing.'

"You're not here to think. You're here to get this thing safely out of the ice." It's a line the inexplicably careless Dr. Sander Halvorson (Ulrich Thomsen) spits at paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) early in director Matthijs van Heijningen's critically panned prequel to John Carpenter's 1982 horror classic. But you can almost hear producers Marc Abraham and Eric Newman spitting the same line at van Heijningen early in the film's development. The Thing, circa 2011, is u...

Video
Universal's 1080p/VC-1 encoded transfer may look like a striking high definition survivor, but look closer and you'll spot the flaws in its disguise. Mild noise reduction is apparent throughout, clarity takes a few small hits, and slightly smeared facial textures -- not soft, although there's a bit of that as well -- put a damper on the image and its otherwise decent detail. The DNR, though, was visible in the theater, meaning it was applied in post by the filmmakers, not as a last-minute touch-

Audio
Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track revels in eerie silence and sudden fury, introducing scares where few exist, ratcheting up the tension when there's little to be had, and adding some surprise where there's none to be found. LFE output lunges, strikes and retreats with disarming ease, infusing roaring flames and ground-shaking explosions with power, granting beastly bellows and heavy footfalls convincing weight, and giving van Heijningen's creature some much-needed presence. The

Supplements

U-Control Picture-in-Picture: Producers Marc Abraham and Eric Newman introduce a decent, slightly deluded, yet somewhat apologetic Picture-in-Picture track that dissects the genesis, development, direction and filming of Universal's second stab at The Thing. Unlike some lesser U-Control tracks, this one offers PiP material during 15 of the disc's 20 chapters. Like most U-Control tracks, though, it doesn't amount to much thanks to short, d

Final Words
Is The Thing an abomination? Not quite. If it weren't for Carpenter's 1982 classic, van Heijningen's prequel would have been a decidedly decent diamond in the direct-to-video rough. But that isn't the case. Carpenter's Thing does exist and continues to withstand the test of time, even some thirty years after its initial release. Van Heijningen's revision, or addition as it were, is wholly unnecessary, terribly underwhelming, and a disappointment on all fronts. Thankfully, Universal...

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Rolling Thunder (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:06:47 -0500

John Flynn's "Rolling Thunder" (1977) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Studio Canal. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer; TV spot; interview with actress Linda Haynes; audio commentary with co- screenwriter Heywood Gould, moderated by Roy Frumkes; and more. In English, without optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked". ...

Video
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, John Flynn'a Rolling Thunder arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Studio Canal.

Even though there are various limitations, I like the high-definition transfer a lot. Here's why:

The presentation is raw and the film looks like film. I would speculate that the high-definition transfer was struck from the best current master, which was most likely prepared some time ag

Audio
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray: English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0. For the record, Studio Canal have not provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 track lacks great depth and intensity, but this should not be surprising. There are selected scenes, however, where Barry De Vorzon's score comes alive, though admittedly it never really enhances the atmosphere in the film; it has a secondary role. The dialog is crisp,

Supplements
Trailer - the original theatrical trailer for Rolling Thunder. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, PAL).

TV spot - original TV spot for Rolling Thunder. In English, not subtitled. (1 min, PAL).

Original Theatrical Trailer with Audio Commentary - filmmaker Eli Roth quickly comments on the film, its narrative, and characters. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, PAL).

Final Words
John Flynn's Rolling Thunder tells a familiar story - sometimes it is easier to die in battle than return as a hero and realize that the hell you left behind has come home with you. But the film seems to be liked for all the wrong reasons, and most likely because it was endorsed by Quentin Tarantino. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed, courtesy of Studio Canal, looks and sounds good. However, it is Region-B "locked". RECOMMENDED. ...

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Star Trek: The Next Generation (The Next Level) (Sampler) (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:35:20 -0500
Beam aboard a promising sample of things to come.

To boldly go where no one has gone before.

This will a different sort of review than the usual, for this release is itself a little out of the ordinary. Normally, television shows simply appear on Blu-ray with minimal-to-moderate fanfare, but this is no ordinary television show; just ask any Trekkie. Fans have long requested high definition presentations of Star Trek: The Next Generation as a followup to the hugely successful remastered Blu-ray releases of ...

Video
This Blu-ray sampler of Star Trek: The Next Generation offers three episodes that nicely display the sort of quality fans can expect from future, full season releases. The opening double bill episode "Encounter at Farpoint" is certainly the weakest of the bunch, as great as it may look. Blacks tend to be a bit murky and yield rather poor shadow detail. Generally, however, colors are stable and handsome; the three-color spectrum of uniforms -- red, light blue, and mustard --

Audio
The good news is that all three episodes sound great. The "bad" news is that these DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless soundtrack won't blow anyone away. Still, fans will appreciate the vast boost in clarity, spacing, and general immersion Paramount's DTS track provides. The title theme offers up superb clarity that allows listeners to pinpoint some of the finer little details within. It's a borderline revelation, featuring superb crispness and definition, even in the highest of notes. It also hea

Supplements
Only three brief "teaser" supplements are included. More will come with season sets.

"Star Trek: The Next Generation:" Season One Blu-ray Trailer (1080p, 1:38).

Star Trek PADD -- iPad App Promo Spot (1080p, 0:32).

A Hint of HD "Star Trek: The Next Generation" HD Teaser Promo (1080p, 1:12).

Final Words
The wait is mercifully over. For many, anything and everything "Star Trek" will always be the holy grail of home video. It took some doing to get Star Trek: The Next Generation ready for primetime on Blu-ray, but the end results are simply spectacular. The refurbished special effects look great, and are seamless to boot. The picture quality ranges from "very good" to "outstanding," and the 7.1-channel lossless soundtrack is consistently strong. This specific release is, truth...

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Real Steel (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:28:42 -0500
A Real good movie.

Youve been working with those robots for so long youve become one.

Real Steel is a movie about souls. It's about losing the soul, finding it again, lending one to a lifeless entity that shows a need for one, and ultimately reinforcing the soul's purpose in life. Real Steel is also about bonds, friendship, grit, and determination, all things inherent to man but that are here shared between man and machine with the end result being a stronger bond between ...

Video
Real Steel's 1080p transfer is as strong as the movie's robotic fighters. The image features unimaginably strong clarity which aids greatly in fine detail presentation. Real Steal is razor-sharp and very natural; the digital photography rarely captures that glossy sheen and never does the transfer appear flat or lifeless. Instead, this one is pristine from the top down. The detail on the robotic combatants is amazing; Disney's Blu-ray is impeccable, evident with every den

Audio
Real Steel's DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless soundtrack is just as dazzling as its accompanying 1080p transfer. Music plays with very good body and a natural presence, whether lighter score or raucous beats. Spacing is natural in every instance, whether the slight surround support structure for music or in the delivery of a wide array of critical ambience, both mood-setting and high energy alike. Arenas big and small -- from the small-time Texas rodeo ring to the packed sporting complex s

Supplements
Real Steel contains several quality supplements. Unfortunately, the audio commentary with Director Shawn Levy appears only on the included DVD disc.

Real Steel Second Screen: Ringside with Director Shawn Levy: Disney describes this feature thusly: "interact with the movie on your iPad or computer while you watch the movie on your Blu-ray player!" Unfortunately, the app was not yet available at time of publication.

Final Words
Real Steel is an exceptional movie that offers good, positive messages on trust, faith, family, and friendship, wrapped up in the guise of a quasi-Science Fiction film set in the near future where man has given way to machines in one little corner of the sporting world. But it's about rediscovering the role of man in any activity, of the importance of a heart and soul and belief in the rise to the top, something that cold, hard steel just cannot and likely will never possess,...

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Gantz II: Perfect Answer (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:41:55 -0500
Game on.

Virtually every culture known to Man has some sort of idea about an Afterlife, whether its a paradisiacal sylvan grove full of angels strumming harps or conversely a fire and brimstone pit filled with those were a bit too naughty in their lives. The advent of the videogame era and the internet seem to have opened up a portal for writers imaginations, one perhaps hinted at a generation (or two) ago by authors like Arthur C. Clarke, whose 2001: A Space Odyssey posited a high-tec...

Video
Gantz II: Perfect Answer is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Viz Media with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This presentation almost has the look of having been digitally shot, though some online information seems to suggest it was actually traditionally filmed. It must have been tweaked one way or the other during the DI stage, for the end result features noticeably reduced grain, and is smooth and rather flat looking (I should state the screencaps actually show more gr

Audio
The first Gantz film was roundly criticized for its ostensibly incompetent English dub, and some may find they cant stand this outings English dub as well, which, like the original Japanese language track, is delivered on this Blu-ray courtesy of a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. Both of the DTS tracks feature virtually identical mixes in terms of music and effects, as well as dialogue levels. I have to say that I personally didnt find the English dub that horrible

Supplements
No supplements are included on the Blu-ray disc. There is an accompanying Supplements DVD (along with a DVD copy of the film itself) which includes:
Gantz Japanese Original Trailers (4:04)

Directors Interview (22:01) offers quite a bit of behind the scenes footage as well as an interesting sit down with director Shinsuke Sato. In the kind of funny department, the featurette has the interview segments feature Sato in black and white inside the Gantz

Final Words
Gantz II: Perfect Answer may not completely live up to its title, in terms of offering perfection, but it is a very stylish and enjoyable actioner that has a couple of wonderfully over the top set pieces that should give any adrenaline junkie a run for their money. The film has a sort of Grade Z acting style, which will either contribute to its allure or turn off viewers, depending on their own particular viewpoint, and it also cant be denied that the film is confusing at times, ...

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Shiver of the Vampires (Strange Things Happen at Night) (Le frisson des vampires) (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:22:58 -0500
Hippies and dandies and lesbian vampires, oh my!

Like George A. Romero with zombie movies, the late French filmmaker Jean Rollin was a godfather of the low-budget vampire erotica genre. But where Romero took horror in a more realistic, violent and socially-pointed direction in the 1970s, his across-the-Atlantic contemporary specialized in le fantastique, making sensual, surrealism-influenced nightmares filled with indelibly weird imagery and--for the time--envelope-pushing nudity. And Rollin is even more of a cult figure than Rome...

Video
For a long time, Jean Rollin's films were only available in the U.S. by way of duped VHS tapes and then decent, but far from spectacular DVDs, so to see them in high definition is something of a revelation. The Blu-ray presentation is fairly consistent across all five films being released in this first batch of titles, but you can definitely tell when Rollin was working with a slightly larger budget. Compared to the relatively amateurish The Nude Vampire, Shiver of the Vampires
Audio
Kino has given audiences two audio options for Shiver of the Vampires, the original French mix and an English dub, both presented in uncompressed Linear PCM 2.0. As with the picture quality, the audio sometimes exhibits evidence of the film's low-budget origins--dynamic tinniness, light hiss, audible pops and crackles--but Shiver sounds leagues above the comparatively muffled and poorly recorded Nude Vampire. Dialogue is brighter and cleaner, and the effects and music

Supplements
Introduction by Jean Rollin (1080p, 2:35): Rollin briefly discusses how this film stands out from his others by being more intentionally comic.

Jean Rollin Interview (SD, 41:02): An extensive and unedited career-spanning interview conducted by Dr. Patricia MacCormack in 2004, interspersed with film clips. MacCormack occasionally tosses out a real over-obvious clunker of a question, and sometimes tries to read too much into Rollin's films, but if you're a f

Final Words
Unheralded horror filmmaker Jean Rollin is finally getting his high definition due, with five of his early films being released in wonderful Blu-ray editions by Kino-Lorber and Redemption Films. The Shiver of the Vampires is one of the best of the batch--its fun and surprisingly funny and sexy in a laughable kind of way--but gothic horror fan are definitely going to want to own all of these films. Over the next few days we'll have reviews up for the rest of the series, so co...

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Toy (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:28:31 -0500
Caution: Choking Hazard

Although I haven't seen the 1976 French film Le jouet on which The Toy is based, consensus holds it to be superior to the American remake. I don't doubt it, because the remake is a mess. It features the bizarre pairing of Jackie Gleason and Richard Pryor, neither of whom is used to good advantage. It's directed by the usually reliable Richard Donner, who's so off his game that he can't even maintain continuity over the beard sported by Pryor's character, a plot point th...

Video
Whatever the shortcomings of the film itself, there is nothing to fault in Image's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, which is yet another impressive presentation of a Sony catalog title. Either the source material is in excellent shape, or it has been expertly restored, but in any case the late László Kovács' colorful cinematography is beautifully reproduced, starting with what is possibly the film's best sequence: the opening titles with the credits engraved on oversized children's wooden bloc

Audio
The original mono soundtrack is presented as PCM 2.0. When played through a good set of stereo speakers in "direct" mode, the track should provide a wide soundstage, much like a typical theatrical array. When played through a matrix decoder, the two identical channels should collapse to the center speaker of a typical home theater array. Either way, the dialogue is clear, and the serviceable score by Patrick Williams (like director Donner, a TV veteran) is reproduced with pleasant musicalit

Supplements
I don't have Sony's 2001 DVD release of The Toy for comparison, but I have been advised by a reader who does that it contained only bonus trailers and not the films trailer. In any case, the Blu-ray contains no extras.

Final Words
If you're already a fan of The Toy, or you're a Richard Pryor or Jackie Gleason completist, then you won't be disappointed by Image/Sony's presentation of the film on Blu-ray. If you want to see either of these great talents doing the kind of comic work that made them icons, look elsewhere. This is a film that is most definitely not recommended....

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Dutch (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:12:09 -0500
'Dutch' isn't much.

Youre like a great big demented child!

It's hard to imagine that John Hughes had a hand in something as bland as Dutch, a 1991 Comedy that's so devoid of both humor and heart -- quite the opposite of the typical Hughes film -- that one can only surmise that some other "John Hughes" penned this one, and not that John Hughes. At best, Dutch plays like a rejected and very early first draft of Hughes' vastly superior classic ...

Video
Dutch features a serviceable 1080p transfer. Flesh tones can be a touch warm and blacks a hair too overwhelming. The color palette is certainly never vibrant, but it's also never too dim. There's a fair balance throughout, whether seen in the warm boarding school interiors or a few snowy exteriors. Fine detail is fair, but never striking. Human faces sometimes look a bit soft, the same of which may be said for clothes, building façades, and the like. The transfer retains a

Audio
Dutch arrives on Blu-ray with a fair but sonically uninteresting Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This presentation yields fair clarity and moderate energy, though keep in mind that Dutch isn't a rock 'em, sock 'em sonic extravaganza to begin with. Music is adequately spaced and plays with evident, but not breathtaking, clarity. Some of the music is smooth and some plays with a slight artificial tinge, the latter particularly evident anytime it tends to get louder.

Supplements
All that's included is the Dutch trailer (480p, 1:58).

Final Words
Movies simply don't come any more routine than Dutch. Sadly, it's a mess from top to bottom. There's no spirit, no energy, no reason to care, particularly considering it follows convention so precisely that the outcome is obvious from the moment the conflict is put into motion in the film's first minutes. That's certainly true even of many of Hughes' other films, but Dutch is absent the tenderness, characterization, and rhythm that make the others so successful. Better ...

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Courageous (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:43:51 -0500
Work up the courage to watch this potentially life-altering film.

I will.

Stephen and Alex Kendrick have done something that today's world says should be darn near impossible to do. Not only are they living the American dream, but they're doing work of an even higher calling. They've gone from mere churchgoers to power players on the Hollywood scene, filmmakers who have taken faith-based cinema beyond a small niche market and made it into a lucrative business on a national level. But more than that, their message is now reaching ...

Video
Courageous debuts on Blu-ray with a sparkling 1080p Blu-ray transfer, no surprise coming from Sony. The movie was shot digitally, but this isn't an average digital presentation. The image nearly passes for film considering its liveliness, steadiness, complexity, and natural sheen that's more organic than it is glossy and flat. Colors sparkle in most every scene; daytime shots in particular yield some amazingly bright shades, whether the earthen colors of the officers' uniforms, n

Audio
Courageous features a balanced and accurate DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. While it enjoys great clarity and presence, the film is naturally and largely absent of any material that would drive a soundtrack to sonically intense or interesting heights. Nevertheless, what's here is handled with great care and efficiency. The film is primarily a dialogue-intensive experience. The spoken word remains planted in the center channel and never competes with or becomes lost under surr

Supplements
Courageous features a strong array of extras. It's not the meatiest supplemental package ever, but fans should be pleased with what's been included.

Audio Commentary: The Kendrick Brothers provide a balanced track that covers shooting locales, the order of the shoot and the advantages of shooting out of order, the film's story and themes, shooting the action scenes, the work of both the cast and crew, plot development, th

Final Words
Courageous is a spectacular film of family and faith. Its centerpiece revolves around the role of Christian fatherhood in the home, of the man's place as the spiritual leader of his household. It's a picture of discovery, of tragedy, of faith in something greater for the betterment of oneself, one's family, and one's community. The picture espouses positive, uplifting messages that will speak to all comers, Christians or non-Christians, those seeking to reaffirm their own faith ...

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Picnic (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:35:50 -0500
And the best part is, there aren't any ants.

American theater was alive with new voices throughout the early to middle years of the twentieth century. Eugene ONeill was one of the first American writers to prove that outstanding drama wasnt simply the province of the Europeans or in fact the Russians. ONeill helped import Chekhovian models onto the American stage, and he forever changed the landscape of that stage as a result. Playwrights like Clifford Odets and Arthur Miller who followed in ONeills footsteps might have dia...

Video
Picnic is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Twilight Time with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.55:1. Twilight Time may be at the mercy of whatever studio is licensing its pre-existing HD assets, but so far, at least, the niche label is pretty much batting a thousand with regard to the quality of these transfers, and Picnic is certainly no exception. This is a gorgeously beautiful looking transfer, one which carefully and precisely renders the Scope image and reproduces th

Audio
Picnic offers three stellar audio options, all lossless. The full soundtrack is available in either a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix or a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix, and an isolated score track (a Twlight Time hallmark) is available on a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix. The surround mix here is really rather surprisingly immersive, starting with the huge pans of the train pulling into the station, and continuing with a perhaps more subtle, but no less involving, sonic palette that inclu

Supplements
Theatrical Trailer (HD; 3:22)

Isolated Score. In the Twilight Time tradition, the beautiful score by George Duning (with a little help from Morris Stoloff and a few others) is presented on a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. While Dunings score is remembered mostly for its soaring love theme, which the composer brilliantly blended with the standard Moonglow, listen to how Duning also pushes the dissonant envelope quite a bit of the time in this sc

Final Words
Picnic is no doubt going to strike some younger viewers as more than a bit clunky, and I cant say I disagree too forcefully. But the film is still a marvel of Cinemascope framing and features a one two punch from DP James Wong Howe and composer George Duning. If the lead roles are perhaps not cast as well as they could have been (more so with regard to Holden than Novak, who at least had inexperience to blame), the supporting cast is by and large marvelous. Inge loved to poke at...

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Stir Crazy (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:19:44 -0500
That's Right. They Still Ba-a-d.

Stir Crazy was a huge hit for stars Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder and an even bigger hit for director Sidney Poitier, who became the first African-American filmmaker to gross over $100 million (and in 1980 that meant something). But I have to confess that, as big a fan as I am of Pyror and Wilder (in the right vehicle), the film has never made me laugh. This may have something to do with the fact that, when Stir Crazy first appeared, I had just finished studying...

Video
Image's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray offers an impressive presentation of this Sony catalog title from 1980. The source material is in surprisingly good shape. Even the beginning and end titles, which, as is typical for the era before titles were added digitally, are somewhat dirtier and grainier than the rest of the film, look remarkably good. The film's image is generally sharp and detailed, with grain that is visible but natural and never intrusive. Early scenes set in New York City, wheth

Audio
The original mono soundtrack is presented as PCM 2.0. When played through a good set of stereo speakers in "direct" mode, the track should provide a wide soundstage, much like a typical theatrical array. When played through a matrix decoder, the two identical channels should collapse to the center speaker of a typical home theater array. Either way, the dialogue is very clear, and the lively film score by Tom Scott has good fidelity and dynamic range with surprisingly strong bass extension

Supplements
I don't have Sony's 1999 DVD release of Stir Crazy for comparison, but research indicates that it contained the film's trailer. (If any reader has the disc and can confirm this, please contact me.) In any case, the Blu-ray contains no extras.

Final Words
Appropriately enough, it was Richard Pryor himself who restored a sense of reality to the imaginary world of Stir Crazy. In his brilliant standup film, Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip (1982), which is best known for its frank description of his near-fatal drug addiction, Pryor also riffed on the experience of filming at Arizona State Prison. He began by describing his anticipation of meeting his "brothers" in the prison population, who he imagined would include man...

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Kill List (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:40:48 -0500

Winner of Best Supporting Actor Award at the British Independent Film Awards, Ben Wheatley's "Kill List" (2011) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Studio Canal. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer; making of featurette; interviews; and two audio commentaries, one with director Ben Wheatley and writer Amy Jump and another with actors Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring and Michael Smiley. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature....

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Ben Wheatley's Kill List arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Studio Canal.

Kill List is one of the most impressive Blu-ray releases to come out with the Studio Canal logo in quite some time. Despite the fact that very large portions of the film take place at night, or in places with restricted light, detail and clarity are consistently outstanding. Contrast levels are also convincin

Audio
There are three audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English LPCM 2.0, and an Audio Description track. For the record, Studio Canal have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

Jim Williams' score has a very important role in Kill List. Some of the creepiest sequences have all sorts of ambient sounds that profoundly change their character. The final third

Supplements
Trailer - the original UK theatrical trailer for Kill List. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080i).

Making of - a short featurette with various camera tests and raw footage from the shooting of selected scenes. In English, not subtitled. (8 min, 1080i).

Interviews -

-- Ben Wheatley - director Ben Wheatley discusses the origin of the film, the complicated narrative, the shock

Final Words
Wild, at times hilarious but shockingly brutal, Ben Wheatley's Kill List is an excellent thriller that is destined to become a classic. It literally kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time as I had no idea what would happen next. Well done. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed, courtesy of Studio Canal, looks and sounds terrific. If you could play Region-B "locked" discs, consider adding Kill List to your collections. It is one of the best independent British films I've seen in y...

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Double (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:56:04 -0500
Spy versus Spy versus Spy versus . . .

Viewers today are so accustomed to "twists", "reveals" and "spoilers" that everyone assumes it's supposed to be a Big Secret that the retired CIA man played by Richard Gere in The Double is really . . . a Soviet assassin. (Oops!) But the trailer discloses it, hints are dropped early in the film, and Gere's character confesses his identity less than half an hour in. And did I mention that the title of the film is The Do...

Video
The Double was shot by top cinematographer Jeffrey Kimball, whose work extends from an impressive set of films for Tony Scott (Top Gun, True Romance and Beverly Hills Cop II) to a trio for John Woo (Mission Impossible 2, Windtalkers and Paycheck) to Stallone's The Expendables. On their commentary track, Brandt and Haas note that having Kimble as their DP allowed them to attract a first-rate crew, even though their fil

Audio
The DTS lossless presentation of The Double's 5.1 track is extremely impressive. Listen, for example, to the scene where Martin Sheen's CIA chief and Richard Gere's retired operative enter CIA headquarters, walk through a corridor and enter a briefing room. The sounds of the environments they pass through envelop you and move with the briskly pacing pair. Throughout the film, small sounds appropriate to the scene are placed off-camera (a door closing, creaks, river flow, traffic, e

Supplements

Commentary with Writer-Director Michael Brandt and Writer-Producer Derek Haas: Brandt and Haas provide a wealth of information about the background of the script and especially the changes it underwent during production and editing. Brandt is particularly interesting in detailing the contributions of cinematographer Jeffrey Kimball and pointing out numerous shots that were enhanced by visual effects in ways that aren't obvious (e.g., allowing locations in Detroi

Final Words
To return to my colleague's review, yes, The Double is "convoluted", but audiences expect that from their espionage stories, especially after 24 (for which The Double's plot line would have supplied material for maybe four episodes, at most) and slickly assembled potboilers like Salt or even a cerebrally classy one like Blu-ray.com

Primeval: Volume 3, The Complete Series 4 and 5 (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:47:07 -0500
Oh, yeah. "Oooh, ahhh." That's how it always starts. Then later there's running and screaming...

Dinosaurs are awesome. I knew it when I was five, I knew it every time I curled up on the couch for an episode of Land of the Lost, I knew it the first time I watched Jurassic Park, I knew it when two fiesty V-Rexes attacked Peter Jackson's King Kong, and I still knew it when my son turned five, visited the Natural History Museum and screamed, what else, "dinosaurs are awesome!" Kids know it. Adults know it. We all know it. So how is it that Hollywood and its film and television br...

Video
Don't let the first minute of Primeval's 1080i/AVC-encoded video presentation scare you. While the brief series-thus-far summation that introduces the first episode looks as if it's been ripped straight off a poorly produced DVD, the series itself looks much, much better. Like Doctor Who and Torchwood's Blu-ray releases, some viewers will take issue with Primeval's interlaced presentation, the noise that occasionally creeps into the image, and the shoddier visual effe

Audio
On the opposite end of the spectrum is BBC's 448kbps Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track. To be clear, there isn't anything particularly amiss. Voices are clear and intelligible, the soundscape has plenty of room to breathe (even with just two channels), and the mix boasts an unexpected sense of weight, LFE support or no. But little else impresses. From episode to episode, Primeval is a series that deserves... that needs a full-fledged 5.1 lossless audio track. I can only imagine how mu

Supplements

New Dawn: Making the New Primeval, Part 1 (Disc 2, HD, 21 minutes): The first of Volume Three's "New Dawn" documentaries picks up at the end of Series Three and crawls along for three minutes as the cast and crew fill in new viewers on where the characters and story were when the show ended its initial run. Thankfully, it picks up at the three-minute mark, digging into the development of the Primeval revival, the changes mad

Final Words
Terra Nova struggled early and often. Primeval, though, hits the ground running, pausing only to look over its shoulder at the hungry beasties closing in on its position. It has its quirks and flaws, sure, but it accomplishes more than Terra Nova did, and with less support, on a much smaller network, with a comparatively minuscule budget, and without the name Steven Spielberg attached to its production. No small feat, mind you. Unfortunately, BBC Video's Blu-ray release isn'...

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License To Drive (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:29:06 -0500
The pinnacle of "guilty pleasure" cinema.

God giveth, and the DMV taketh away!

Ah, "The Coreys," -- Corey Haim and Corey Feldman -- the late 1980s performers who were two of their era's most popular stars and, together, formed a Midas-like dynamic duo that could collectively touch anything and turn it into gold, their chemistry knowing know genre or stylistic bounds, their films some of the more cherished that decade has to offer. They're certainly best know for their buddy-up work in the fabulous Vampire flick <...

Video
License To Drive pulls onto Blu-ray with a steady and nice looking 1080p image, particularly considering it's an aging catalogue title being released through a secondary distributor and arriving with little fanfare. The image is perhaps a touch soft in places, but it's predominately crisp, delivering steady details amidst strong clarity and a slight grain structure. Faces tend to favor a slightly soft edge, but general elements -- clothes, the car, odds and ends around the Anderso

Audio
License To Drive zooms onto Blu-ray with a good, but occasionally underwhelming, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Music delivery is a strength; the track yields fair clarity but solid spacing -- including a noticeable surround element -- throughout, whether the opening title tune, the background beats of a club scene in chapter nine, the rousing Sinatra, or the famed Billy Ocean track that plays over the end credits. The action scenes late in the movie feature the screechy, c

Supplements
Unfortunately, License To Drive contains only two supplements. The Making of 'License to Drive' (480p, 7:03) is a vintage piece that features cast and crew interview snippets surrounded by numerous clips from the film. Also included is the film's theatrical trailer (480p, 2:26).

Final Words
License To Drive is a contagiously fun little Comedy that features everything in perfect, working order. The script is great, the direction is smooth, the acting is strong, the characters are memorable, the laughs come nonstop, and the action is entertaining. It's the very definition of a "fun" movie. It tells a very simple story to which any teenager or parent of a teenager may relate, let alone anyone who's ever been in love or loved to drive. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release ...

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Abduction (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:23:24 -0500
You may want to stage your own abduction to stay away from this mess.

Most kids fantasize now and then about having different parents than they actually have. Orphans and adopted kids of course are in a completely different category, since they know they have mysterious parents out there somewhere, about whom they may know absolutely nothing. That probably doesnt help stop the fantasizing and may in fact only exacerbate it. Abduction has the barest kernel of a really intriguing idea going for itnamely that a kid with a supposedly idyllic...

Video
As turgid as Abduction undeniably is, few will probably have any major complaints about this Blu-rays AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. The Blu-ray offers a sharp, well detailed image that is very impressive in the films many location shots, many of which arent traditionally lit. Colors are often bold and extremely well saturated, and close-ups reveal a wealth of fine detail, including (teenybopper heartthrob alaert) Lautners beard stubble and bulging biceps. The film has

Audio
Abduction may have missed the summer blockbuster sweepstakes in its original theatrical exhibition, but this Blu-ray offers a state of the art lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 audio mix that has Summer Blockbuster written all over it (sonically speaking). This track is both incredibly boisterous and bombastic as well as exhibiting a really surprising amount of finesse. Immersion is virtually nonstop throughout the film, from the first moments of the truck careening down the highwa

Supplements
Abduction Application: Customizable In Film Experience is sort of like Lionsgates version of Universals U-Control, with three options: The Abduction Chronicle, The Initiation of an Action and The Fight for the Truth. The interface allows for any combination of the three to be selected, and then various PiP snippets play. The three options can also be selected to play separately outside of the film:

Abduction Chronicle (HD; 18:17) i

Final Words
Abduction starts out promisingly enough, and its central premiseup to a pointis a solid, intriguing one. Unfortunately, the film crosses over that point almost immediately into one ludicrous coincidence after another. The film then just settles down into a trite cat and mouse game with absolutely no surprises whatsoever. Lautner is going to need something more weighty to ever escape his Twilight typecasting, and this attempt to remold him as an action adventure star is l...

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Archer: The Complete Season One (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:54:19 -0500
The spy who'll shag anyone.

If you're an animated comedy fan and you're not watching Archer, the spy satire sitcom currently in its third season on FX, well, shame on you. Big shame. On you. Funnier than Family Guy or The Simpsons have been in years, every bit as smart as Futurama, and as charmingly dirty as an R. Crumb cartoon, Archer is most definitely for adults who love sharp writing and bawdy, wink-wink innuendo. Series creator Adam Reed describes his show as "James Bond...

Video
I'll reiterate exactly what I said in my review of Archer: The Complete Season Two, as both seasons featuring practically identical picture quality. And that's a very good thing. For any of you out there who still think that a high definition presentation doesn't really benefit simple digital animation, I challenge you--compare the DVD and Blu-ray editions of Archer: Season One side by side and tell me there's no difference. The show simply looks fantastic on Blu- ray, with a

Audio
Audio is also similar to season two. For what's essentially an animated workplace sitcom, Archer features some rather punchy, dynamic sound design, brought to life here via DTS- HD Master Audio 5.1 surround tracks for each episode. Of course, it helps that Archer's workplace is an international spy agency--so you'll hear plenty of explosions, gunshots, and roaring automobiles-- but still, you don't really expect animated shows to have live-action quality soundtracks. The mixes here are very

Supplements
I would love to have a few hilarious audio commentaries with the cast and showrunner Adam Reed, but alas, the only substantive bonus feature on the disc is a twenty-minute making-of documentary. Oh, and a version of the pilot where Archer is played by a six-foot-tall velociraptor. No joke.
Original Unaired Pilot (SD, 21:49): Yes, the "original" pilot where Archer is portrayed by a screeching dinosaur.

Unaired Network Promo (SD, 00:27): A guick pr

Final Words
Smart, irreverent, and loveably filthy, Archer has quickly become my favorite new animated sit-com. I think I laughed more during this 10-episode collection than I did during the latest seasons of Futurama, The Simpsons, and Family Guy combined. If you're into vintage James Bond and double entendre-laced humor, Arrested Development and Jonny Quest, Archer's definitely worth checking out. The show also looks fantastic on Blu-ray, with a dis...

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Shakespeare in Love (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:45:39 -0500
Love and a bit with a dogthats what they want.

Every so often, a major awards season decision will send the general public, or at least those keyed into whatever artistic pursuit is being feted, into a frenzy of reactionary disbelief. In 1971, Broadway cognoscenti were atwitter (this was obviously long before there was the real Twitter) when the critics darling, seemingly overnight-legendary Stephen Sondheim-James Goldman musical Follies cleaned up in most of the major Tony Award categories, but ended up losing the big...

Video
Shakespeare in Love is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate-Miramax with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1. The film boasts an incredibly sumptuous production and costume design which both pop magnificently throughout this high definition presentation. Fine detail is really exceptional, to the point where individual pill can be made out quite clearly on Nurses cowl, to give just one example. Colors are very vibrant, again especially noticeable in the films gorgeous

Audio
Shakespeare in Loves lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio track is rather surprisingly immersive, considering the films romantic comedy ambience. The bustling streets of London are awash in crowd sounds and fun (if perhaps a bit disturbing) ambient sounds like people regularly dumping their badpans out in the streets. The film also benefits immensely from the evocative underscore, which regularly utilizes actual songs of the period. A dance scene at Violas house is a perfe

Supplements
Audio Commentary with Director John Madden. Madden is a very engaging commentator, sometimes a bit wryly humorous, but full of wonderful anecdotes about the shoot and the incredible cast in the film.

Audio Commentary with Cast and Crew features producer Donna Gigliotti, screenwriters Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, producer David Parfitt, production designer Martin Childs, actor Geoffrey Rush, actress Dame Judi Dench, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, actor Ben Affle

Final Words
I frankly wasnt quite sure how I was going to feel about Shakespeare in Love after not having seen it since it first came out. While I certainly enjoyed the film when it premiered, I may not have fully appreciated the wit and flash of its incredible screenplay, or at the very least I didnt remember how brilliantly smart the writing was. The good news is this film has aged remarkably well and while some might argue its slight, a cursory review of the films many sleights of hand...

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Nude Vampire (La vampire nue) (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:31:39 -0500
Kino and Redemption Films team up for the Cinema of Jean Rollin series.

From Bram Stoker on, vampirism and eroticism have gone hand in hand, with the blood-sucking, hypnotizing undead serving as apt symbols of the the power of lust and seduction and the metaphysical connection between sex and death. The French have had a special fascination with this linking of sensuality and the grave--they gave us grand guignol and le petite mort, after all--and it was something of a directorial calling card for the late Jean Rollin, a gallic filmmaker known ...

Video
For a long time, Jean Rollin's films were only available in the U.S. by way of duped VHS tapes and then decent, but far from spectacular DVDs, so to see them in high definition is something of a revelation. (And a redemption, har har.) As the first film chronologically of the five being released on the 24th--and the one with the smallest budget--The Nude Vampire doesn't quite look as good as the later movies, but it's reproduced almost perfectly on Blu-ray, with a 1080p/AVC-encoded

Audio
Kino has given audiences two audio options for The Nude Vampire, the original French mix and an English dub, both presented in uncompressed Linear PCM 2.0. As with the picture quality, the audio often exhibits evidence of the film's low- budget origins. Overall, the sound is fairly tinny--though it stops short of being outright brash, thankfully--and dialogue, while still understandable, is frequently muddy or muffled. You'll also hear a light hiss running through many scenes, along

Supplements
Introduction by Jean Rollin (1080p, 2:04): Rollin, accompanied by a strange dude holding a white mask to his face, talks about how his goal for The Nude Vampire was to "make something mysterious."

Jean Rollin Interview (1080p, 19:06): Daniel Gouyette, Jean Rollin's assistant between 1998 and 2003, videotaped many of their conversations over the years and edited them together into this 20-minute piece, which covers several topics, from Rollin's intro

Final Words
Unheralded horror filmmaker Jean Rollin is finally getting his high definition due, with five of his early films being released in wonderful Blu-ray editions by Kino-Lorber and Redemption Films. The Nude Vampire isn't my favorite of the five--it's the most amateurish and clunky--but you do see Rollin's fetishes and fascinations starting to congeal here, from the "sister" characters and wacko nipple jewelry to the varied takes on the vampire mythos. And let's be honest; any self-resp...

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Orphans (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:53:29 -0500

Screened at the Venice Film Festival, Scottish director Peter Mullan's "Orphans" (1998) arrive son Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Park Circus. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer; photo gallery; and three short films directed by Peter Mullan - "Close" (1993), "Good Day for the Bad Guys" (1995), and "Fridge" (1995). The disc also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an interview with director Peter Mullan conducted by film cri...

Video
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Peter Mullan's Orphans arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Park Circus.

Recently restored, Orphans looks pretty good on Blu-ray. Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of the film is quite dark - I have not seen the film theatrically, but it appears that the tendency to favor very strong grays and blacks, some of which are borderline crushed,

Audio
There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English LPCM 2.0. For the record, Park Circus have not provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track has a very good dynamic amplitude. Unsurprisingly, Craig Armstrong's melancholic soundtrack gets a tremendous boost and adds plenty of color to the film (the piano theme is beautiful). Surround and bass activity, however, are rather limited. This is not

Supplements
Trailer - the original UK theatrical trailer for Orphans. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

Photo Gallery - a gallery of stills from the film. (3 min, 1080p).

Short Films - three short films directed by Peter Mullan.

-- Close (1993). A man living in a Glasgow close goes berserk after one of his neighbors insults his daughter. In English, not subtitled. B&W. (17 min,

Final Words
Peter Mullan's Orphans is a perfect film. I really cannot recall the last time a film moved me so much. The characters, the story, the direction and music are brilliant. I cannot wait to see NEDS now. While Park Circus deserve a lot of credit for bringing the film to Blu-ray, they should have done a little more to promote it. I hope Criterion, or another label, would consider bringing Orphans to the U.S. ...

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B Gata H Kei: Yamada's First Time (Complete Series - Limited Edition) (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:59:42 -0500
Like a virgin.

There was a funny moment on this years Golden Globes Awards telecast where Ricky Gervais, ever the provocateur, introduced Madonna by stating she was still just like a virgin. Madonna, never one to shrink from a challenge (or a slight, even a joking one) responded, Ricky, if Im still just like a virgin, why dont you come over here and do something about it? Pause. I havent kissed a girl lately. Pause. On television. Of course no one really seriously consid...

Video
Yamadas First Time is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This isnt an expecially innovative looking anime, with fairly traditional characters, including chibi as well as some sprites that pop up to make piquant commentary. Colors are bright and varied, though the series perhaps has more of a pastel palette than other recent animes. The Blu-ray offers really quite excellent line detail and nicely satur

Audio
Yamadas First Time offers two lossless audio options, the original Japanese language track delivered courtesy of a Dolby TrueHD 2.0 track, and an English dub featuring a lot of the usual FUNimation suspects delivered via a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix. Its interesting to hear the differences in the voice actors in both of these tracks, as the quieter, less bombastic Japanese track might strike some as being more ostensibly childlike, although a lot of the female voices in the English

Supplements
Episode 1 Commentary features ADR Director Zach Bolton hosting Brittney Karbowski (Yamada) and Scott Freeman (Takashi). Highlight of this typically raucous FUNimation commentary: Karbowski sharing with us thats she not a skank like Yamada. Delightful.

Episode 11 Commentary features Jamie Marchi and Leah Clark, two of the series' writers. This one at least has virtually no mentions about whether the commentators are skanks or not.

Outtakes

Final Words
Adolescent to somewhat older males are no doubt the target audience for Yamadas First Time. Guys would love to meet a girl as sexually preoccupied as most males are at this age, and thats the chief selling pointat least to this demographicthat the series offers. For older audiences, the fact that we have pretty young kids, and girls at that, out to have serial sex may be unsettling at best, downright disturbing at worst. The show tries to overcome this salacious subject m...

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Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:48:02 -0500
Born to be a dud.

Youre destined for greatness.

A hayseed hillbilly goes to Hollywood hoping to hop some honeys and hang his hat in the adult hall of fame. Or something along those lines. Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star is drivel of the worst kind, Comedy that's so unfunny that the audience didn't forget to laugh; they're too busy crying over the money they spent and the time they wasted on the movie. It's one thing to make a bad movie -- it happens all the time -- it's another ...

Video
Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star may be a truly awful picture, but its 1080p Blu-ray transfer is anything but. This is another first-rate transfer from Sony, and despite the film's poor reception and small box office returns, the studio has taken the time to produce a handsome Blu-ray. The image is extraordinarily bright and vibrant. Colors leap off the screen and appear nicely balanced and natural. Flesh tones only waver under various light sources, and black levels are spot-on a

Audio
Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star features a solid DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. It offers all of the basics in fine order. Music is punchy and nicely spaced, both across the front and into the surrounds. A good, hefty low end gives it the body necessary to fill out and solidify both score and popular music. The track offers up some stable, but minimal, atmospherics, whether light background sounds in an early scene at Bucky's grocery store, the din of porn star parties, or n

Supplements
Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star contains four featurettes.

Laughter is Contagious (1080p, 5:16): A gag reel that manages to be even less funny than the movie.

Behind the Teeth (1080p, 11:22): Cast and crew discuss the movie, its cast, and characters.

Gary: Tough Customer (1080p, 4:19): A look at the comi

Final Words
Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star is a truly awful movie that almost makes The Love Guru look good in comparison. End of story. Sony's Blu-ray release of Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star does feature spectacular video and strong audio to go along with a few supplements. Unfortunately, a good A/V quality is no longer enough reason to give a Blu-ray a spin. Skip it....

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Rebecca (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:09:21 -0500
Hitch hits Hollywood.

Was it fate or uncharacteristic bad judgment which led Alfred Hitchcock to accept David O. Selznicks entreaties to Hitch to leave his native England and come to the Promised Land of Hollywood? Hitch had been approached beforeseveral times in factbut had managed to resist the lure of untold riches and easy access to the worlds biggest stars. What changed? Was it the considerable dough Selznick promised to throw at the director to make his move palatable? The fact that Selznick was...

Video
Rebecca is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Fox-MGM with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Of the three Hitchcock films being released simultaneously by Fox-MGM, Rebecca boasts the strongest overall transfer, probably due in no small part to the esteem in which the film has been held for so many years, leading to generally better preservation through the intervening decades since its original release. The source elements here are in fairly fine shape, though as with

Audio
Rebeccas original mono soundtrack is delivered via a lossless DTS-HD Master 2.0 track that bears little signs of age, other than a bit of expected boxiness in overall tonal quality. This is one of the best, if not the best, sounding Blu-rays in this current slate of Hitch releases, with nice detail shining through, including lots of great effects like the surging sea water in the first scene and then of course the crackling flames in the final sequence. Dialogue and Franz

Supplements
Commentary by Richard Schickel. Schickel is an extremely affable, but unerringly informative, commentator, one who manages to couch his comments in anecdotes that bring several of these larger than life characters involved in the film fully alive.

Isolated Music and Effects Track

The Making of Rebecca (SD; 28:08) talks about the conflicts between Hitchcock and Selznick, as well Hitchs entrée into the Hollywood machine and the strugg

Final Words
Those expecting a bristling, thrilling experience in Rebecca may find themselves perplexed, at least on first viewing. This is one of the slowest of Hitchs films, suitably novelistic considering its source elements, but also a film that seems tonally at odds with itself. This is certainly an odd Best Picture contender, let alone winner, and Hitch fans can probably provide a laundry list of other films by the Master which might be better thought of both as films and as representat...

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Lonely Place To Die (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:06:23 -0500

Winner of Best Action Film Award at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, Julian Gilbey's "A Lonely Place To Die" (2011) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Kaleidoscope Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer; making of featurette; audio commentary by director Julian Gilbey and writer Will Gilbey; and more. In English, optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked". ...

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Julian Gilbey's A Lonely Place To Die arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Kaleidoscope Entertainment.

Aside from some extremely mild shimmer - a byproduct of the downsampling - that pops up for less than a second very early on, the high-definition transfer is mighty impressive. Actually, this could be the most impressive film that has been shot with the Red One Camera

Audio
There are three audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English LPCM 2.0, and an audio descriptive track. For the record, Kaleidoscope Entertainment have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is unlikely to test the muscles of your audio system, but if you appreciate authentic, pure and exceptionally detailed sound you will be impressed with it.

Supplements
Trailer - the original UK theatrical trailer for A Lonely Place To Die. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

Making of - a very long and very informative documentary with an abundance of information about the production history of the film. The documentary also contains a lot of raw footage from the various locations director Julian Gilbey and his men scouted before shooting began. In English, not subtitled. (70 min, PAL).
Final Words
I enjoyed Julian Gilbey's A Lonely Place To Die quite a lot. It is not a film that breaks new boundaries, but it is very atmospheric and unusually beautiful. It also looks very impressive on Blu-ray, which certainly helped a lot. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed, courtesy of British distributors Kaleidoscope Entertainment, is Region-Free, but its menu is encoded in 1080/50i, which makes it unplayable on the vast majority of U.S. Blu-ray players, including the PS3. The U.S. Blu-ray.com

Whistleblower (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 01:59:59 -0500
A message movie that airs some dirty UN laundry.

Considering its title, you'd be forgiven for thinking The Whistleblower is simply another little man versus The Man tale of white collar corporate corruption, like The Insider or Silkwood or the fantastic documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Actually, the based-on-a-true-story film--starring Rachel Weisz as a contracted peacekeeper in Bosnia--is darker and more visceral than that, a consciousness-raising trek through the horrific underground ...

Video
Shooting on grainy 35mm, director of photography Kieren McGuigan has given The Whistleblower a moody, intentionally gritty look, and 20th Century Fox has replicated it wonderfully on Blu-ray, with a strong 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer. The chunky grain structure hasn't been touched by digital noise reduction and there are no signs of edge enhancement or overt compression problems, making this a faithful port to home video. There are, however, a few traits inherent to the cinematograph

Audio
The Whistleblower sounds off on Blu-ray with 20th Century Fox's usual lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound presentation. Like the picture quality, there's nothing here that will outright amaze you--no real ear candy--but the mix is clear and dynamically weighty, and features some decently immersive sound design. Although the experience is anchored up front, the rear channels are used fairly often for environmental ambience--like rain or wind or whore-house clamor--and occ

Supplements
The lone bonus feature on the disc is Kathy Bolkovac: The Real Whistleblower (1080p, 5:31), a short featurette that includes interviews with Bolkovac, Weisz, and the film's writers and director.

Final Words
The Whistleblower will make you angry--at institutional hypocrisy, at bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo, at the kind of men who would buy and sell women as sex slaves--and that's precisely the point. This film wants you to know that sex trafficking exists, and that something needs to be done about it. It wants you to be morally outraged, and you will be. Of course, Big Issue movies like this always run into the danger of prioritizing the social message over the storytelling, and yes, The ...

Read full review: Blu-ray.com