Blu-ray.com - Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Damned United (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:21:53 -0500

Another damned good Blu-ray from Sony.

Football is a beautiful game.

That would be "football," a.k.a. "soccer," and not "football," a.k.a. "smash-mouth American-style shoulder pads and helmets Colts vs. Saints who-cares-about-the-game-give-me-my-goofy-commercials." Commercials? More important than a game? There's actually drama and interest other than that which plays out on the field? Sometimes, particularly if the sport is En...

Video

The Damned United kicks onto Blu-ray with a gorgeous 1080p, 1.85:1-framed transfer. Though the film delivers plenty of bleak, overcast, dulled imagery with a slightly washed-out appearance and a proliferation of grays and blues into the frame, the transfer boasts strong detailing and depth, the image basking in its intended visual tone, an image that's also free of distracting and transfer-destroying phenomena. Fine details are sharp and nicely rendered throughout, whether rai...

Audio

The Damned United serves up a healthy Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The track is fairly subdued and lacking in prodigious sonic elements, but the more nuanced feel of the track is reproduced nicely for this Blu-ray release. The track features slight atmospherics throughout, from a buzzing overhead light to distant typing within the Leeds United offices, such elements playing primarily through the front with little rear-channel activity to help create a more engrossing ...

Supplements

The Damned United arrives on Blu-ray with a fine selection of bonus content. First up is an audio commentary with Director Tom Hooper, Actor Michael Sheen, and Producer Andy Harries. The track covers a wide berth of information, all of it delivered with an honesty, sincerity, and intelligence as the comments pertain to the story and the technical aspects behind the filmmaking process, both structurally and thematically. Topics include working with and convincing former...

Final Words

The Damned United is an exceptional film that's centered on the world of sport but never really feels like a Sports movie. This is instead Drama of the highest order, the tale of a man and the perilousness of a long-standing grudge that throws a team, a sport, and a country into upheaval as, for whatever reason, Leeds United falls from grace during Brian Clough's stay, the manager unable to maintain a powerhouse franchise despite his ability both before and after his tenure wit......

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Give 'em Hell Malone (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:57:42 -0500

A shoddy transfer and few extras contrast against a solid movie and a thunderous DTS track.

Some men are harder to kill than others. Fortunately, I'm one of the harder ones.

It's been a largely successful few weeks for the direct-to-video marketplace; the release of the surprisingly excellent Universal Soldier: Regeneration renewed a modicum of faith in lower-budgeted Action fare, and the same can be said of Give 'em Hell, Malone, a fun little inter-genre picture that hearkens bac...

Video

Give 'Em Hell, Malone debuts on Blu-ray with a sloppy 1080p, 2.35:1-framed transfer that nevertheless seems at least partially reflective of the film's director-intended appearance. The image's opening shootout is particularly noisy with plenty of poorly-realized details, washed-out colors, and blocking invading most every scene. Still, it's obviously meant to be a deliberately gritty and harsh sequence, providing some leeway for a less-than-ideal presentation. Unfortunately, t...

Audio

Give 'Em Hell, Malone shoots up sound systems with a prodigious DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The film begins with an extensive shootout that's a sonic revelation and, more importantly, plenty of fun as thunderous shots ring out from every corner of the soundstage, clank off hard surfaces, burrow into flesh, and create a veritable symphony of action delight that's the single-strongest segment of the track and worthy of demo purposes. Gunfire remains a paramount aspect of ...

Supplements

Give 'Em Hell, Malone contains but a pittance of extra materials. The featured supplements include a trio of 1080p interview pieces with stars Thomas Jane (6:56), Elsa Pataky (6:08), and Doug Hutchinson (6:29). Also available is the Give 'Em Hell, Malone trailer (1080p, 2:36) and additional 1080p trailers for Baby on Board, Night Train<...

Final Words
Indeed, it's a pleasure to find two diamonds in the rough in such close proximity to one another in the wasteland that is the direct-to-video marketplace. Give 'Em Hell, Malone and Universal Soldier: Regeneration are both hardcore Action pictures with Malone tossing in a helping of subtle humor that places its excessive violence and noir appeal in context but never drowns out the picture's harder and more demanding elements. Though a film of style first and for......

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Army of Crime (L'armée du crime) (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:41:35 -0500

Screened at last year's Cannes Film Festival, Robert Guédiguian's "L'armee du crime" a.k.a "The Army of Crime" (2009) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include: an interview with director Robert Guediguian, filmed at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse during the Cambridge Film Festival on September 17, 2009; "L'armee Solaire," a documentary by Arto Pehlivanian with R. Guediguian and A. Ascaride on The Army of...

Video
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Robert Guediguian's The Army of Crime arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment.

The high-definition transfer for The Army of Crime is quite dark, boasting a slightly faded brownish look. Many of the nighttime scenes - and specifically the secret meetings - have a very subdued look, which at times makes it rather difficult to see c...

Audio
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Optimum Home Entertainment have provided optional English subtitles.

The French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is strong. The bass is potent and the high-frequencies not overdone. The surround channels are not overly active, but I found them to be effective. Furthermore, the dialog is crisp, clean and very easy to follow. There are no balance issues with Alexandre Desplat's wonderful mu...

Supplements
Interview - an interview with director Robert Guediguian, filmed at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse during the Cambridge Film Festival on September 17, 2009. The French director answers a series of questions about the message of his film, his background and memories of the Resistance, and particularly the immigrant groups in it, the complex nature of the story, whether his film is an attempt to renew interest in left-wing values, etc. In French, with optional English subtitles. (1...

Final Words
Robert Guediguian's The Army of Crime is a complex, well acted and terrifically lensed period film. It may, however, prove to be too rich for some viewers. On the other hand, if you strip its story of its period elements, and think about its message in a more contemporary context, it could be quite a fascinating experience. Think about it - Can immigrants be patriots? RECOMMENDED. ......

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Doctor Who: The Complete Specials (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:51:06 -0500
Five specials to be exact, three of which form a smart, sharply penned send-off...

Ladies and gentlemen, I am a Torchwood man. Cultivated in the mad mind of Russell T. Davies, it's that rare television spin-off that transcends its illustrious forbearer; in this case the long-running, inexplicably popular British science fiction saga, Doctor Who. Try as I might, I've had a difficult time enjoying the primordial Who mythos as much as its dark, genre-defying offsp...

Video
Of the five Doctor Who specials featured in BBC Video's 5-disc set, four arrive with able-bodied 1080i/VC-1 transfers that grant the series a polish and shine its fans will welcome with open arms. Colors -- be they searing blues, sunbeat oranges, or vivid reds -- are bold and beautiful, skintones are natural, and black levels are deep and satisfying (save a handful of poorly resolved nighttime shots, most of which appear in The End of Time). Contrast is quite strong as well, allo...

Audio
The Doctor Who box set includes five decent DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1 surround tracks (not to be confused with lossless DTS-HD Master Audio mixes); each of which delivers a very similar, very competent sonic experience. Barring a few mid-action mishaps (the worst of which occur in The End of Time, Part Two), dialogue is clean and clear throughout, prioritization is solid, and voices, whether steeped in garbled alien mishmash or Timothy Dalton's immaculately enunciated English, ho...

Supplements
Doctor Who: The Complete Specials has a fairly generous supplemental package that, limited audio commentaries notwithstanding, offers diehards and newcomers a down-to-Earth look behind the scenes. Spread across five discs, the set arrives in a standard cardboard digipak with plastic disc hubs. Unfortunately, while the digipak is housed in a heavy slipcover, the set is flimsy and prone to wear-n-tear. It certainly isn't a deal breaker -- particularly since it falls in line with the majo...

Final Words
A pack of five Doctor Who television specials isn't going to attract many newcomers to the TARDIS fold -- they'll have to wait for the series proper to finally earn a Blu-ray release -- but fans will eat it up. A solid AV presentation, elevated by decent 1080i video transfers and strong DTS-HD High Resolution audio tracks, and more than eight hours of supplemental content only sweeten the pot, making this a must-have for anyone who enjoyed David Tennant's run as the Tenth Doctor.......

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Vengeance (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:30:35 -0500

Nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or award at last year's Cannes Film Festival, Johnnie To's "Fu chou" a.k.a "Vengeance" (2009) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors MegaStar. The only supplemental feature on this disc is the film's original theatrical trailer. With optional English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese subtitles. Region-A "locked". ...

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and grated a 1080p transfer, Johnnie To's Vengeance arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors MegaStar.

This is a somewhat inconsistent high-definition transfer. Many of the nighttime scenes, for example, look soft, at times even a bit noisy. Contrast levels also fluctuate a bit, especially during the second half of the film. Clarity, however, is mostly pleasing. The film's unique color-scheme - ...

Audio
There are three audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English Dolby TrueHD 7.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1. For the record, MegaStar have provided optional English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

I expected an aggressive English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track, one that would rival the Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track found on MegaStar's Blu-ray release of Johnnie ...

Supplements
Trailer - The original theatrical trailer for Vengeance. With optional English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese subtitles. (2 min, 1080p). ...

Final Words
There is definitely more style than substance in Johnnie To's Vengeance, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. So long as you know what not to expect from this film, I believe you would enjoy it. RECOMMENDED. ......

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Godfather: Part II (Sapphire Edition) (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:44:36 -0500
The greatest film sequel in history arrives without much value-added content.

The epic tale of the Corleone family reached a temporary conclusion with Francis Ford Coppolas 1974 classic The Godfather, Part II. Nominated for eleven Academy Awards and winner of six (Best Supporting Actor for Robert De Niro, Best Art Direction, Best Director, Best Original Score, Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay), the second entry in the trilogy is just as good as the first, and in many ways better. Put together, the two films are unmatched in scope and intensity, creating...

Video
Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 26Mbps), The Godfather, Part II demonstrates the same level of excellence we witnessed with the original. Since this is the same disc found in the original four-disc collection, theres no reason to double dip, but as many of you already know, this is visual perfection at its finest. The restoration efforts by Robert Harris and the MPI group are nothing short of amazing, especially when you consider the exhaustive glob...

Audio
Delivered in TrueHD 5.1, the primary audio track is nearly as impressive as the visual presentation, though Paramounts likely faced with a small number of fans preparing to cry foul over the choice to tinker with the original mono track. Fortunately, the mono offering is still provided on the disc, but Id wager most viewers will opt for the newly remastered lossless track. As such, Ive stuck with the lossless offering for this review, and found the results immensely satisfying. Beginning w...

Supplements
This is the one area where I feel compelled to downgrade the individual Sapphire Series release of the first two films (the third entry in the trilogy was left out since it didnt win an Academy Award, despite receiving seven nominations). Given the wealth of supplements included on the bonus disc of the The Godfather Collection, I cant fathom how any fan could be satisfied with the mere inclusion of Coppolas audio commentary track on each disc. When I say mere, Im not downplaying the sig...

Final Words
If you chose not to pick up the original 4-disc collection containing The Godfather trilogy, and you despise The Godfather, Part III enough to pass on the wealth of special features included in the prior release, this is your opportunity to add a historical classic to your collection. From a personal standpoint, Id much rather own all three films and a wealth of special features, but thats coming from a guy who doesnt dislike the third entry in the series. From a technical poi......

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Godfather (Sapphire Edition) (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:14:54 -0500
The iconic classic is afforded an individual release without the wealth of bonus content included on The Godfather Collection.

Reviewing a production as profound as The Godfather is a great pleasure and also an exercise in futility. Those who havent seen the film arent likely to rush out and grab a copy based solely on my affectionate analysis, and long-time fans shouldnt need additional prodding. As such, Ill leave the rigorous debating to the film historians, and simply focus on the success of the film, as well as my personal opinion on its relevance.

Last year, I went on a 26-mile backpacking trip...

Video
Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 26Mbps), The Godfather looks better than I ever thought possible. The restoration efforts by Robert Harris and the MPI group are nothing short of amazing, especially when you consider the exhaustive effort they put into tracking down negatives with the least damage. One of the highlights on the boxed set of the complete collection is an informative documentary by Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Harris (restoration expert)...

Audio
Delivered in TrueHD 5.1, the primary audio track is nearly as impressive as the visual presentation, though Paramounts likely faced with a small number of fans prepared to cry foul over the decision to tinker with the original mono track. Fortunately, the mono offering is still provided on the disc, but Id wager most viewers will opt for the newly remastered lossless track. As such, Ive stuck with the lossless offering for this review, and found the results immensely satisfying. Beginning ...

Supplements
This is the one area where I feel compelled to downgrade the individual Sapphire Series release of the first two films (the third entry in the trilogy was left out since it didnt win an Academy Award, despite receiving seven nominations). Given the wealth of supplements included on the bonus disc of the The Godfather Collection, I cant fathom how any fan could be satisfied with the mere inclusion of Coppolas audio commentary track on each disc. When I say mere, Im not downplaying the sig...

Final Words
If you chose not to pick up the original 4-disc collection containing The Godfather trilogy, and you despise The Godfather, Part III enough to pass on the wealth of special features included in the prior release, this is your opportunity to add a historical classic to your collection. From a personal standpoint, Id much rather own all three films and a wealth of special features, but thats coming from a guy who doesnt dislike the third entry in the series. From a technical poi......

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To Live and Die in L.A. (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:19:45 -0500
Lives by its action, dies by its cop movie clichés.

To Live and Die in L.A. occupies a strange place in director William Friedkins wildly uneven canon. After back-to-back success with The French Connection and The Exorcist, two films that still feel unconfined by their respective genres, Friedkin was seen as a talented fixture in the New Hollywood establishment. But then came a string of creative, critical, and financial failuresincluding Sorcerer, a big-budget remake of French director Henri-Georges Clouzo...

Video
To Live and Die in L.A. makes its first U.S. appearance on Blu-ray with a good but never great 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that makes a modest improvement over the DVD, a copy of which is also included with this release. The 1.85:1 framed image has a softened-with-age look thats characteristic of the films time period. Even in tight close-ups most fine detail goes unresolved, leaving textures indistinct and background objects hazy around the edges, even when they are in focus. ...

Audio
My feelings are conflicted on the films DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. On one hand, the mix is much more engaging than I had expected it to be, especially for a film that was shot before multi-channel mixing was the norm. Ambience fills out the soundfield when called for, giving us crackling embers, barroom chatter, and L.A. traffic congestion, while channel movements are less than impressive but at least present, with cars, trucks, and trains all roaring through the rear spe...

Supplements
Okay, prepare to be mildly annoyed. This release of To Live and Die in L.A. recycles all of the bonus material from the 2003 DVD, but instead of being ported over to the Blu-ray discwhich includes only a Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 2:06)the material was kept right there on the included DVD, where its always been. If you want to check out any of the supplements, youve got to swap discs. And this is especially obnoxious if you want to listen to William Friedkins excellent...

Final Words
Someone broke the freshness seal on To Live and Die in L.A. and the film is way past its expiration date. There are splotches of 1980s mold all over the thing, but if youre willing to eat around the fuzzy patches, theres a decently filling cop drama to be had. Personally, I cant get into ittoo many clichés, too much forced dialoguebut I can understand why the films fans like it. If youre one of them, youll probably be satisfied but not wowed by the audio/video presentation......

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Gangs of New York (Remastered) (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:36:48 -0500
Disney goes back to the drawing board and delivers...

With the exception of Woody Allen, few filmmakers have paid as much respect or made as many cinematic pilgrimages to New York as Martin Scorsese. Born in the heart of the city and raised on its mean streets, fascinated with its violent history and intrigued by the image of a vast, grizzled kingdom atop a war-torn American hill, the Oscar-winning director has long toiled in the shadows of New York's glass towers and embraced the hopes of its denizens. Even when others were still reeling from th...

Video
The previously released, rightfully reviled Blu-ray edition of Gangs of New York was greeted with fierce criticism when it arrived in 2008. The reason? It featured one of the most disappointing high definition presentations of the year; a shoddy transfer hobbled by rampant edge enhancement, color blooming, debilitating DNR, compression artifacts, vertical striping, smearing, and black crush. Suffice to say, it was an absolute mess. Well, dear readers, welcome to 2010. Disney has quie...

Audio
Thankfully, the film's audio presentation is as strong as ever. Granted, it materializes in the form of a meaty DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track instead of the uncompressed PCM mix that graced Disney's previous release, but the two 48kHz/24-bit experiences are all but identical. Dialogue is crisp and well-prioritized, placing every pleading whisper, desperate shout, and gravely threat at the forefront of an already immersive soundfield. LFE output is hearty and able-bodied, rear speaker...

Supplements
Though presented in standard definition (sorry gents, Disney's commendable convictions apparently didn't extend to the disc's supplemental package), the special features included on the Blu-ray edition of Gangs of New York add substantial value to the release. Granted, a shiny new Picture-in-Picture track would have been a godsend, but those looking for quality over quantity will be excited to plow through everything the disc has to offer.

...

Final Words
At long last, a remastered Blu-ray Edition of Gangs of New York has arrived to wipe away the tears fans have cried since Disney's 2008 release broke their hearts. With a near-perfect video transfer (finally, finally!), a rousing DTS-HD Master Audio track, and a fairly captivating supplemental package, it's the release everyone has been waiting for since Disney's 2008 debacle left an angry mob in its wake. A few additional special features may have helped soften the blow of the ne......

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Autour du Blues meets Larry Carlton & guest Robben Ford (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:28:13 -0500
You may not recognize the name Autour du Blues, or even in fact Larry Carlton or Robben Ford, but this is a blistering blues performance by some great musicians.

Perhaps you, like I, have done some non-scientific sociological research and have come to the conclusion that there are two types of people: those who read credits and those who dont. I am one of the former. At films, I resolutely refuse to leave my seat until the credits crawl has ended, something that has been occasionally reinforced by little filmic codas like those found in Young Sherlock Holmes, for example. From my earliest days of buying music (and Im old enough to go back to...

Video
This is one of the better New Morning Blu-rays from an image quality standpoint. Like all the others in the series were offered a 1080i VC-1 encoded image. Perhaps because the bulk of the camera work is closer to the band than is some of the other in-Akustik Blus in this series, detail is better, sharpness is certainly better, and colors are nicely rendered and beautifully saturated. Carltons chartreuse shirt pops nicely throughout the concert and the rest of the band members look great as...

Audio
Again as has been standard with these in-Akustik Blu releases, two 5.1 mixes, a DTS-HD MA and an LPCM, are offered, as well as a Dolby Digital 2.0 mix. Both of the 5.1 offerings are extremely clear and robust, with a good, thumping low end and brilliant clarity in the mid and high ranges. Vocals are clear and the surround channels are utilized well, without overwheming audience ambience noises to distract from the actual performance. Separation is quite good throughout this concert and you'll...

Supplements
Two extra performances are included, "So Fine" (3:45), a nice, straight ahead blues with layered harmonies, and "Hand in Hand With the Blues" (5:11), a Carlton-Ford duet which has a proto-R&B feel that may remind some listeners of Carlton's long association with The Crusaders....

Final Words
This is a fiery evening of some great blues featuring two stellar sidemen from the United States easily communicating with their French counterparts. One of the more unusual offerings in the New Morning series should delight lovers of the blues in particular, but any pop-rock music lover generally.......

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Triangle (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:03:26 -0500
Like a nightmare with no end in sight, Triangle is a relentless exercise in cerebral entertainment.

One of the difficult aspects of writing a review is listening to that little voice in the back of your head that constantly whispers dont spoil this for the readers. We always do our best to heed the warning and provide as little detail as possible (when warranted), but sometimes we stumble across a film that almost cant be discussed without revealing too much. Such is the case with Triangle, the latest film by 40-year-old writer/director Christopher Smith (his prior directorial eff...

Video
Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 25Mbps), Triangle sails onto Blu-ray with a strong visual presentation. Fine object detail remains consistently high throughout the majority of the feature despite the use of multiple camera angles across various environments. From the intricacies of the glistening water as the crew sets out across the open sea, to the dreary interior of the Aeolus ocean liner, every texture shines through with wonderful depth and clar...

Audio
Its a good thing I didnt use my entire packet of gold stars on the visual presentation, since the audio track raised the bar even higher. If theres one key element that sets marginal suspense films apart from exceptional ones, its the clever use of sound design. Beginning with the title sequence, the film slowly builds a sense of dread through an ominous score that interplays with innocent dancing vocals of children. The effect is truly eerie, and serves as the main theme music at other k...

Supplements
The only supplement aside from a collection of standard definition trailers for other films in the First Look library is a six minute collection of standard definition interview clips with writer/director Christopher Smith, the main cast, and two producers. The discussions focus mainly on the story of Triangle, but also include several anecdotes regarding the on-set experience....

Final Words
Triangle is the type of film you cant get out of your head. The acting isnt the greatest, the plot delves into territory that requires a stretch of the imagination, and the special effects are occasionally weak, but once you find yourself thoroughly engrossed in the complex twists and turns, those minor quibbles seem unimportant. Do yourself a favor and get lost in Triangle. ......

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Mike Stern Band: Paris Concert (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:05:37 -0500
Mike Stern automatically wins the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon award: he's Kyra Sedgwick's half brother. But he also deserves accolades for his superb guitar work.

Ive had the pleasure of knowing and working with a number of very fine, highly regarded jazz guitarists through the years, including one especially stellar player who is a Downbeat poll winner and has released scads of albums with a whos who list of jazz greats over a very long career, several of which have attained near legendary status, at least in the insular world of jazz. I wont embarrass this gentleman by naming him, but I well remember hearing him call many jazz clubs for hours...

Video
Mike Stern Band's VC-1 encoded 1080i image exhibits both the pluses and minuses that have been boon and bane to previous in-Akustik New Morning concert releases. There's an unappealing softness to a lot of the midrange material, hampered by a dark stage that isn't helped by less than stellar contrast at those ranges. Conversely, close-ups can be quite amazing and full of abundant detail. A low shot up toward Stern's backlit head will offer the viewer ample opportunity to count every st...

Audio
As in the very similar Stanley Jordan Trio in-Akustik New Morning title I recently reviewed for Blu-ray.com, we're offered two excellent 5.1 mixes, a DTS-HD MA and an LPCM, as well as a compressed Dolby Digital 2.0 (why bother, I know some of you have been asking). As I mentioned in the Jordan review, I am somewhat surprised to report a subtle yet noticeable difference between the DTS and LPCM offerings. While both are excellently clear and precise, the LPCM is noticeably beefier on the low en...

Supplements
No supplements are offered on this particular New Morning Blu-ray, rather odd in that the concert itself only runs about an hour and forty minutes....

Final Words
Stern may not be a household name to the music buying public at large, but jazz lovers certainly know who he is, and for good reason. This is another solid offering in the New Morning concert series and jazzheads should enjoy not only Stern but his crackerjack band.......

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HD Moods Chihuly in Nature (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:41:28 -0500
'Chihulean Nature' might be an equally apt title for this engaging ambient television outing featuring the resplendent glasswork of Dale Chihuly.

The forms and cycles of nature have provided inspiration for countless artists in all media from time immemorial. Whether we think of relatively realistic interpretations like various painters still lifes or nature scenes to more abstract impressions such as some composers tone paintings describing the natural world, Man seems preprogrammed to try to understand the world in which he finds himself by creating something akin to nature with his own hands. That predilection comes round robin i...

Video
Despite having an interlaced source video, this VC-1 encoded offering is artifact free, and provides some of the most gorgeously saturated colors imaginable. Chihuly is not afraid to exploit the boldest of palettes, and that tendency shines through this video, with absolutely resplendent blues, reds, purples and greens. The subtle gradations of hue are ably demonstrated here, and you can see some of that aspect in the screencaptures here. Deepest cobalt blue will just slightly shift toward th...

Audio
You may want to choose your own soundtrack for the images and turn your surround system down while you watch Chihuly in Nature. An uncompressed PCM 2.0 track is offered, but it features a sort of Philip Glass- or John Adams-lite minimalist music track with annoyingly repetitive triadic structures on piano and with an unneeded and intrusive snare drum to boot. There's nothing egregiously horrible about the music, but it's bland and detrimental where the image content is strong and vibran...

Supplements
No extras are offered on this budget priced Blu-ray release....

Final Words
If you've been loathe to experience one of these "ambient television" outings, you may want to tip your toes through the glass tulips of Dale Chihuly in Chihuly in Nature. Though the soundtrack is lamentable, the images here are glorious, a wonderful mirroring of nature's wonders as seen through the eyes of one of the most visionary artists of our time.......

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Ong Bak 2: The Beginning (Director's cut) (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:56:24 -0500
Bigger budget, epic setting, still no plot.

Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior introduced the world to martial arts mastermind Tony Jaa, and what an unexpected introduction it was. In a time when wire-fu acrobatics had become the normproviding action sequences that were visually impressive but incredibly artificialJaa was the real deal, leaping over vats of boiling oil, doing double front flips, sliding under moving vehicles, and landing some bone-crushingly brutal aerial blows, all without the aid of wires or CGI. Gritty, raw, fresh, a r...

Video
Those disappointed in Foxs muddy, bleary, frankly ugly transfer of Ong Bakwhich was, admittedly, not sourced from the greatest material to begin withwill be pleased by Magnolias 1080p/VC-1 encode of Ong Bak 2. With a bigger budget comes a more luscious visual look that seems heavily inspired by modern Chinese martial arts epics like House of Flying Daggers and Hero. The worst I can say about the films aesthetic is that it looks patently artificial at times, using...

Audio
In my review for Ong Bak, I noted that the soundfield during the action scenes seemed oddly limited to punches and music, with little ambience to fill out the space. Ong Bak 2s Thai-language DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track mostly remedies that problem, and the films bigger budget equals more dynamic sound, better effects, and more vibrant clarity. The surround channels get much more action this time around, and youll hear horses galloping through the rears, arrows zipping...

Supplements
Alternate Cut (1080p, 1:28:27)
As with the first Ong Bak, Luc Besson's production company did a re-edit of Ong Bak 2, cutting out about 10 minutes of material to tighten up the already-tight pace. Not much has changedthere really are no drastic differencesso I'd probably just stick with the longer theatrical cut.

The Making of Ong Bak 2 Featurettes (SD, 21:07 total)
The Story and Characters of an Epic doesn't really tell you anythi...

Final Words
Im still waiting for Tony Jaa to 1.) get some acting lessons, and 2.) release a film with an equal measure of richly textured story and frenetic action. Ong Bak 2 is a fun diversion that will entertain would-be martial artists with its non-stop whirlwind of feet, fists, and blades, but theres much else to it. Tony Jaa fans will want this one sitting proudly on their shelves next to Ong Bak, but for everyone else, this is probably a try-before-you-buy scenario.......

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Coco Before Chanel (Coco Avant Chanel) (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:06:24 -0500
Sony delivers a fine Blu-ray presentation of a well-crafted biopic of a 20th century icon.

Love is best in fairy tales.

The aptly-titled Coco Before Chanel peeks into the life of a young nobody of a French girl before she founded a fashion empire and her name became synonymous with quality and the label that defined an industry. Starring Audrey Tautou (The Da Vinci Code) as the film's title character, Coco Before Chanel is a unique picture that emphasizes the life, thought...

Video
Coco Before Chanel weaves a generally terrific 1080p transfer housed in a 2.35:1 frame. The image is one that's incredibly film-like, striking in its rich detail and lavish depth, the picture for the most part an example of a transfer that truly defines "home theater." Fine detail throughout the film is natural and eye-catching; the loose threads and intact stitches in garments, woven hats, textured brick façades, the scratches and natural lines on an old wooden desktop, and...

Audio
Coco Before Chanel fashions an excellent DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack for this Blu-ray release. The film's score is nicely implemented, its delivery full and rich with a slight accompanying back-channel support structure. The track also features fairly good ambient effects; listeners will feel like a passenger in the old horse-drawn wooden cart that transports Gabrielle to the orphanage at the beginning of the film, while other exterior environmental effects as heard ...

Supplements
Coco Before Chanel sews together a tidy supplemental package for this Blu-ray release. First up is an audio commentary track with Writer/Director Anne Fontaine, Producer Philippe Carcassonne, and Editor Luc Barnier. Presented in French with optional English subtitles, the participants discuss a broad array of topics, including choosing an opening shot for the film, crafting a film with just the right thematic tone, artistic influences and connections throughout the film, the w...

Final Words
Coco Before Chanel is a wonderful biopic that emphasizes all the right parts of the fashion designer's early life, examining her drive, her skills, her thoughts, her loves, and the people that defined her existence, all of which together allowed for the construction of an empire that's synonymous with fashion in the same way that Henry Ford is synonymous with the automobile or Samuel Colt is synonymous with the six-shooter. A lovely film that's wonderfully acted, engaging and e......

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Stanley Jordan Trio: The Paris Concert (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:33:20 -0500
Stanley Jordan "tap dances" his way through some amazing guitar pyrotechnics.

I have always been astounded that so many beginning musicians begin their musical explorations on the guitar. Despite being an at least competent pianist, I have never been able to master the fretboard technique to really be able to eke out even the most basic chords on the guitar. I blame my somewhat stubby fingers for this inability, but of course my more musically astute colleagues point out that I have no problem voicing extremely complex chords on the piano with those same stubby fingers....

Video
Stanley Jordan Trio arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of in-Akustik, with a 1080i 1.78:1 image encoded via VC-1. While the bulk of this rather dark concert looks okay, if not spectacular, it is hampered by some unfortunate artifacting, probably due to its interlaced source material. Right off the bat youll notice some nascent moiré and shimmer in the houndstooth straps over Jordans shoulders. Its not too bad from midrange, but the close-ups are fairly bothersome and may turn off the more ...

Audio
As has been the case on almost all of these in-Akustik offerings, we're given the choice between two uncompressed 5.1 tracks, a DTS-HD MA and an LPCM, as well as (rather strangely, as some of you have pointed out in PM's to me) a compressed Dolby Digital 2.0 track. I was a bit surprised that I found the LPCM 5.1 a bit more robust than the DTS-HD MA, especially in the low end. When Jordan and Moffett really exploit their lower registers, while the DTS-HD MA is certainly fine, the LPCM really po...

Supplements
"In Conversation with Stanley Jordan" is a pretty good 12:02 interview with the guitarist, where he goes into some detail on his biographical background as well as the genesis and development of his unusual technique....

Final Words
Stanley Jordan epitomizes that kind of "quiet fire" coolness that augments the best purveyors of jazz. This is a great concert that should engage listeners right from the get go. Jordan isn't flashy, but he is a remarkably facile musician on at least two instruments, and he's supported by a fantastic bassist and drummer here.......

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Man from Earth (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:41:34 -0500
An essential Thinking Man's film arrives on Blu-ray.

Anything is possible.

Every once in a great while, good things really do come to those who wait. The story completed while its author lay on his deathbed, The Man From Earth was a film almost 20 years in the making between Jerome Bixby's death in 1989 and the completion of the film in 2007, not to mention the years the writer toyed with the idea while still churning out television scripts for two of the medium's finest Science Fiction series. Bixby, writer for ...

Video
The Man From Earth earns a high definition release that's of standard-definition quality. Though this 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer is as dismal as they come, it nevertheless seems in-line with the film's extremely low-budget nature. At best, the film takes on the look of a poorly-transfered DVD; colors are dull and flat throughout and fine object detail is limited to the most obviously-noticeable objects -- for instance a woven sweater -- but as a general rule, ...

Audio
The Man From Earth arrives on Blu-ray with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack; no lossless or uncompressed options are available. Much like the video presentation, this track is good enough to get listeners through the movie and understand the dialogue, but it does nothing to convince the listener of the environment. Still, dialogue can come across as slightly harsh and difficult to make out underneath what is a sloppily-presented score that's limited in range and absent of ev...

Supplements
Sadly, this Blu-ray release of The Man From Earth contains no special features. ...

Final Words
The Man From Earth is one of the greats of Science Fiction and, by extension, highly thought-provoking cinema, but is also an essential film for fully understanding the power of story to supersede all else. In an age where big special effects and a glossy veneer sell tickets, movies like The Man From Earth seem to be vanishing from the landscape as the importance -- not to mention the sheer power -- of story seems trivial at best and absent at worst in so many pictures ......

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He Was a Quiet Man (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:20:28 -0500
Shhhhh.

The right time will come.

He Was a Quiet Man is a quiet little film, an unassuming picture with limited appeal and an even more limited exposure, and it is now being released on Blu-ray with minimal fanfare. Everything about the film's existence has painted the picture of a movie that's been repressed, held back, and not given the opportunity to compete with the big boys of the cinematic arena. Nevertheless and in a little twist of slight irony, the film'...

Video
He Was a Quiet Man lumbers onto Blu-ray with a serviceable 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer. The sharper scenes throughout the film take on a slightly over-processed, artificial look, but the image does exhibit fairly strong detail in select scenes and a color palette that's not the most natural or vibrant but certainly acceptably reproduced. However, the image often ventures into an excessively soft and fuzzy state of existence. Various scenes even go so far to look like they w...

Audio
He Was a Quiet Man fizzles on Blu-ray with a mediocre Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack; no lossless or uncompressed options are included. This is fairly routine, dialogue-intense stuff with little in the way of punch and excitement; the opening scenes of the film do deliver a bit of low end information, and a few sound effects later in the film -- primarily that of a plane lumbering through the soundstage -- offer a fairly significant amount of bass that shakes the walls but lacks th...

Supplements
No special features are available....

Final Words
Nobody remembers the guy who singled off a hanging curve but rather the guy who hit the home run to drive him in, which is why He Was a Quiet Man is a success in and of itself but not necessarily all that memorable in the grand scheme of things. An interesting journey into a warped mind that's negated by a copout finale and made-for-TV special effects, He Was a Quiet Man nevertheless works until the end, and even then, there's enough good here -- intermixed with plenty o......

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Revanche (Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:48:13 -0500

Winner of the C.I.C.A.E, Femina-Film-Prize and Label Europa Cinemas awards at the Berlin International Film Festival and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009, Austrian director Gotz Spielmann's "Revanche" (2008) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include Gotz Spielmann's award-winning short film "Fremdland" a.k.a "Foreign Land" (1984); a making of; an interview with Gotz Spielmann; and a theatrical trailer. The Blu-...

Video
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Gotz Spielmann's Revanche arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

I have absolutely no reservations with this approved by Gotz Spielmann high-definition transfer whatsoever. Fine object detail is excellent, clarity very good and contrast levels consistent throughout the entire film. Some of the outdoor scenes during the second half of the film - from the countryside - are...

Audio
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: German/Russian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

According to the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc, the audio was mastered at 24-bit from the original digital audio master files using Pro Tools HD. Unsurprisingly, the quality of the German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is exceptionally high - the dialog is crisp, clean and very easy to follow (as noted elsewhere in the revi...

Supplements
Interview - director Gotz Spielmann talks about the message of his film, its complex characters and his career as a filmmaker in an interview recorded exclusively for the Criterion Collection in 2009. In German, with optional English subtitles. (36 min, 1080p).

The Making of "Revanche" - in this half-hour documentary, director Gotz Spielmann and his cast and crew share their experiences working on Revanche. In German, with optional English subtitles...

Final Words
Raw and thought-provoking, Gotz Spielmann's Revanche is a film that impressed me a lot. As expected, Criterion's treatment is fantastic, and I cannot wait to see what other films we would see via their partnership with IFC Films. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ......

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Girl Next Door (Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door) (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:38:51 -0500
A nerve-rattling tale of torture in middle America.

Nothing in my life has been right since the summer of 1958.

No, this isn't the spunky 2004 Elisha Cuthbert Comedy and this The Girl Next Door isn't quite as bouncy and traditional in an audience-friendly flavor as its in-name-only counterpart. No, the 2007 picture entitled The Girl Next Door, based on a novel of the same name by author Jack Ketchum (see ...

Video
The Girl Next Door moves onto Blu-ray with a decent but ultimately underwhelming 1080p, 1.85:1-framed transfer. The picture is somewhat sharp but also sometimes excessively soft. Fine detail can be sloppy as distant trees and shrubs jumble together in an undefined and unfocused green mass, though many close-up shots offer improved definition and higher levels of visible and intricate detail, whether pavement, clothing, assorted objects inside various homes, or facial features....

Audio
The Girl Next Door features no lossless or uncompressed soundtrack; only a Dolby Digital 5.1 offering is included. The track delivers a fair ambience and creates a palpable, but not altogether realistic, sense of space. Chirping birds and other small-town environmental ambience add a nice touch to the track, and this mix isn't wanting for extensively superior clarity. On the flip side, some of the 50s period music does feature a noticeable absence of space and lacks a more ag...

Supplements
This Blu-ray release of The Girl Next Door contains no special features....

Final Words
The Girl Next Door is but a means to an end, a journey that leaves audiences pondering greater questions, reflecting on the purpose of life, and contemplating the value of a world that can allow the pointless destruction of an innocent life. The Girl Next Door is a well-made picture but also one that's almost impossible to watch, every new turn only tightening the grasp around the heart and engendering anger towards both the characters in the film and wrongdoers at large, ......

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Lost (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:24:59 -0500
No, not that 'Lost,' but rather a frightening glimpse into a deranged mind.

Once upon a time, a boy named Ray Pye put crushed beer cans in his boots to make himself taller.

What a difference two hours can make. The Lost seems headed nowhere fast in spite of a rowdy and unnerving opening segment, and while that meandering feeling lingers through much of the production, its purpose is realized by picture's end when the film's derangement, wayward tone, and plethora of characters converge for a grotesque and unforgettable evening of ...

Video
The Lost arrives on Blu-ray with a messy 1080p, 2.35:1-framed transfer. The film's opening sequence -- particularly nighttime shots -- inspires little confidence in the image. Featuring banding, overwhelming blacks, and plenty of white splotches over the image, not to mention a lack of fine detail, heavy noise, and the absence of depth, The Lost sets a visual tone that's underwhelming at best and remains so throughout the picture. The image fluctuates between offering ...

Audio
The Lost features a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack with no lossless or uncompressed options available. Although there's plenty of ambient and surround sound effects throughout the film, there's never a sense of realistic space about this track; much of it sounds compressed and stuffed in the fronts, with ambient effects sometimes too loud or otherwise not naturally implemented into the mix. Additionally, the film's musical presentations lack that distinct clarity associated with t...

Supplements
This Blu-ray release of The Lost contains no extra materials. ...

Final Words
The Lost is an examination of a wayward soul and a deranged mind. The picture offers no cause but only effect and no resolution other than to say that, in extreme cases of self-aggrandizement, there's perhaps no means of escape for those unfortunate enough to fall victim to a dangerously demented individual. The Lost is a rough, confused film that doesn't make much sense until Ray's mind unravels beyond the point of no return, when the world he's bui......

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Richard Bangs' Adventures with Purpose: Switzerland, Quest for the Sublime (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:46:32 -0500
Some of the most gorgeous vistas in Europe are seen in this excellent episode of Richard Bangs' 'Adventures with Purpose.'

My parents used to joke that my ancestral genetic code was something akin to Heinz 57, a little this-a and a little that-a. My fathers side of the family is especially shrouded in mystery, as he was orphaned at an early age and was always reticent to discuss his upbringing. Only with the advent of the internet and the opening of the Mormon genealogical files on such sites as Ancestry.com were my sisters and I ever able to piece together even a semblance of our paternal background. My moth...

Video
Despite being an interlaced video encoded via MPEG-2, my hunch is most viewers will be pleasantly surprised by Switzerland: Quest for the Sublime. This is easily one of the most colorful of the Adventures with Purpose series, and the varied palette here is sumptuously robust, with especially strong reds, blues and greens. Take a gander, for example, at the crazily painted train which makes its way up an Alpine peak, and you'll be greeted by a riot of bright primary colors, all b...

Audio
The only audio option on Switzerland: Quest for the Sublime is an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 track. Some audiophiles may quibble with the lack of surround, but the fact is 99.9% of this feature, as in all the Adventures with Purpose episodes, is simply Bangs talking, either onscreen or via voiceover. While there is a clear qualitative difference between the narration done in studio and live on location (sometimes oddly done in the middle of a sentence), it's not too distracting in th...

Supplements
Once again per the previous titles in this series I've reviewed for Blu-ray.com, though the included advertisement for the SD-DVD touts bounteous extras, there are none to speak of on this Blu-ray, only trailers and a link to some websites. What's up with that?...

Final Words
There's no way you'll remain neutral (sorry, couldn't resist) when watching Switzerland: Quest for the Sublime. All of the Adventures with Purpose titles have at least something to recommend them, but this is an unusually excellent display of gorgeous imagery matched with some really interesting information.......

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Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:37:53 -0500
No wires, no CGI, no problem.

It was late 2004, and a friend called me up. Have you heard of Ong Bak? he asked. I hadnt. What are you doing tonight? He showed up with a bootlegged VCD copy of the film and we popped it into my surprisingly compatible DVD player. The image looked like it had been thrice- duped from a VHS master. It was like looking at a film that had somehow been projected onto murky water. My friend was ecstatic as he led me through the PR bullet points about the film that had been the su...

Video
"This new, digital transfer of Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior was created at Deluxe Postproduction Toronto from an original 35mm internegative of the film. Color correction, image stabilization, and digital cleaning were facilitated at Deluxe to restore the film and present it in high definition."

So says the About the Feature Film Transfer tab on the discs bonus features menu, but this doesnt exactly explain why Ong Bak looks so terrible on Blu-ray, even consider...

Audio
Ong Bak arrives on Blu-ray with two DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround tracks, the original Thai language mix and an English dub. Except for the voices, theyre nearly identical, with a surprisingly front-centric presence that leaves the rear channels in torpor for most of the film. Youll hear some occasional crowd ambience, some street sounds, and rural bird and insect noises, but thats about it in terms of immersion. Actually, if theres one thing that I noticed about the track,...

Supplements
Live Tony Jaa and Stuntmen Performance (SD, 2:34)
Here we see Jaa pull off some of his incredible acrobatic moves after the French premiere of Ong Bak.

The Movements of Muay Thai (SD, 1:43)
These brief clips illustrate some of the moves from the film, with cool names like "Elephant Pulverizing Tree" and "Knight Throwing an Ax."

French Rap Music Video with Tony Jaa (SD, 4:03)
Jaa cameos in this video by rap group Tragedie, which...

Final Words
Is Ong Bak balls-to-the-wall, edge-of-your-seat entertainment? Initially, yes. Tony Jaa is a true sight to see, leaping over gangsters in a single bound and landing devastating roundhouse kicks. After a while, though, the nonstop pummeling gets tiresomeand repetitive. The film also takes a bit of a bruising on Blu-ray, with a transfer thats not worthy of being called high definition and an audio track thats merely adequate. Martial arts fanatics will probably want Ong Bak......

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Halo Legends (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:33:05 -0500
Limited as its appeal might be, 'Legends' offers a dose of fun franchise spelunking...

If you've never taken out a shield-packing jackal with a 400-yard headshot in the middle of a Covenant-infested valley, if you've never blindly fired a shotgun at a swarming horde of pursuing Flood, if you've never felt the rush of sweet relief that comes in the wake of surviving a firefight on Legendary difficulty, Halo Legends probably isn't for you. Aimed squarely at the rabid fanboys who've eagerly sworn blood oaths to the once-burgeoning, now-prevalent Halo videogame series, ...

Video
While many a viewer and reviewer will simply slap a perfect score on Halo Legends' admittedly striking 1080p/VC-1 transfer, banding and aliasing once again hold back an at-times gorgeous presentation from such high praise. Color and contrast are a sight to behold, blacks are exceedingly inky, and primaries pop with the intensity of a plasma pistol blast. Whether it's a Covenant warrior framed by brilliant skies or a Spartan emerging from the darkest shadows, Legends revels in stu...

Audio
Let's be clear from the outset. Warner's Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track (640kbps) is not a mediocre offering. Dialogue is clear and well-prioritized, rear speakers activity is commendable from short to short (albeit overly restrained at times), LFE support is noteworthy (despite being a bit pinched in the most chaotic scenes), pans are decent, and directionality is fairly convincing. But it's clear from the earliest arrival of the Flood to an enraged Arbiter's clash with an army of Covenant...

Supplements
Halo Legends rockets onto Blu-ray with a fairly generous, four-hour supplemental package; one that should appeal to animation enthusiasts, filmfans, and Master Chief zealots alike. Better still, all of the video content (minus one of the trailers) is presented in high definition.

Audio Commentary: Franchise development director Frank O'Connor and Halo Legends producer Joseph Chou sit down for a reserved but extensive co...

Final Words
While Halo Legends will confuse and confound franchise newcomers and leave audiophiles in a foul mood -- What? Another standard Dolby Digital track? Humbug, I say! -- its highly anticipated Blu-ray release is nevertheless a strong one. The majority of its animated shorts are excellent, Warner's video transfer is impressive (barring two minor issues), and its supplemental package boasts four hours of absorbing analysis and candid behind-the-scenes information. Not every Halo<......

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Spiral (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 03:20:05 -0500
For once, unoriginality isn't a death sentence for a movie.

To accentuate some parts you have to hide others.

Not every good film sees a wide release and earns millions of hard-earned entertainment dollars for weeks on end at the local multiplex. Some of cinema's better pictures are the little independent gems that for whatever reason see only a limited release and gross but a pittance in sales. It's not always about artistic vision and capability; shiny and glossy are in and bigger and faster sell tickets, while low-key and s...

Video
Spiral twists onto Blu-ray with a presentable but rough-around-the-edges 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer. For the most part, details are sharp, whether the fine lines on Amber's denim jacket, the rough texturing of the bricks that line the interior of Mason's apartment, or even the bumpy artist's canvas that's seen in several close-up shots. However, some shots appear far too soft, while some backgrounds can run together and lack superior definition. Color reproduction fl...

Audio
Despite the absence of a lossless or uncompressed soundtrack, Spiral delivers a fairly crisp, clean soundtrack via a Dolby Digital 5.1 offering. This is a predominantly dialogue-driven film, but there's also an ample supporting structure that makes this a fairly engaging listen. Light atmospherics are found throughout. Heavily falling rain pours into the soundstage throughout the picture; gently rolling thunder sometimes echoes through the listening area; and the general di...

Supplements
Spiral contains no special features....

Final Words
Despite a generic and semi-predictable ending, Spiral maintains an aura of mystery that almost cancels out the film's series of recycled plot lines and characterizations. Directors Adam Green and Joel Moore handle the material with a reserved approach and prove themselves engaging storytellers, both factors keeping Spiral from circling the drain, the film never succumbing to its barrage of clichés that would have otherwise ruined a picture with as much unoriginality as s......

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Virgin Territory (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 03:09:50 -0500
The Black Death? A welcome reprieve from 'Virgin Territory.'

What better place to preserve a virginity than among other virgins? Or so she thought.

Note to filmmakers: starting a movie with the image of an angel urinating off the edge of a cloud somewhere up in the heavens doesn't exactly set a very good tone for a movie, but in the case of Virgin Territory, it proves to be just about the best part of the experience. An excessively dull, lumbering, nonsensical, and scatterbrained motion picture that features plenty of yo...

Video
Virgin Territory arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer. The transfer sparkles in many scenes, with a strongly-rendered color palette that allows every hue to be vibrantly reproduced. Additionally, detailing is exceptional throughout. Building façades and brick-laden streets offer a fabulous sense of texture, and the transfer yields a scrumptious level of high detail in wardrobes and other assorted objects throughout. Environmental detail also excels, pa...

Audio
This Blu-ray release of Virgin Territory features no lossless or uncompressed soundtrack; only a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is included. The track is fairly reproduced but can occasionally sound jumbled as dialogue, music and effects seem to compete with one another for listener attention, making it occasionally difficult to sort out every syllable of the spoken word from other sources of sound. The track does offer decent ambience; words echo about the soundstage when spoken from ...

Supplements
Virgin Territory offers no supplemental features....

Final Words
Suffice it to say, Virgin Territory is a miserably aimless picture with no redeeming values. Shallow characters, dimwitted dialogue, no structure, an absence of drama, and a mockery of morals serve only to repeatedly slap viewers in the face, the picture serving not as entertainment or enlightenment but instead an example of pointless filmmaking at its worst. Virgin Territory does earn a couple of halfhearted and unenthusiastic points for fair production values and decent......

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Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:59:56 -0500
Tony Stark raises the next generation of superhero elite.

Following hot on the heels of Hollywoods successful train of live-action comic book adaptations, Lionsgate and Marvel teamed up to deliver a constant stream of straight-to-DVD/Blu-ray animated epics. Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow is the fifth entry on the release slate, but delivers a much different tone and storyline than its PG-13 predecessors. It doesnt necessarily fall in the category of an all-out kids movie (after all, it still earned a PG rating), but the accessibility of ...

Video
Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 22Mbps), Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow delivers a capable visual presentation of average animated material. The Marvel films up to this point have remained a touch on the lackluster side, with artistic qualities that appear only marginally better than a typical Saturday morning television show. For this entry, the production team demonstrates a subtle step in the right direction, but there are still far too many in...

Audio
Carrying on the tradition of offering a lossless 7.1 track on their animated features, Lionsgate reached in their bag of tricks to deliver a fantastic audio experience. I still wish more studios would support 7.1 surround separation (when possible), since the improvements in the immersive design of a given track are occasionally staggering. In the case of Next Avengers, we have the perfect scenario for the extra two channels to flex their sonic muscle and plant us square in the middle o...

Supplements
Legacy: The Making of Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow (1080i, Dolby Digital 2.0, 10:49 min): The main players in the production look back on the storyline, themes, and animation style of the fifth entry in the Marvel animated series. Intercut between the interview segments, were shown storyboards, animation stills, and clips from the final product. This is an interesting extra for those that want to dig deeper into the story, but dont have the patience for an extensive analysis.

Kid...

Final Words
Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow could be a turning point in the Marvel animated film series, offering more depth and creativity than its four predecessors put together. Id still appreciate additional strength in the animation department, but it seems were finally getting more than just a recognizable hero in a routine adventure. Marvel has plenty of impressive writing talent at their disposal, and I hope their creative team shows incremental improvement as time goes on. From a tech......

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Amelia (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:46:19 -0500
Or, why did director Mira Nair's bio-pic vanish without a trace last October?

Weve probably all heard a variation of the storythe guy who gets upset when a friend tells him that the ship sinks at the end of James Camerons Titanic. Well, spoiler alert, Amelia ends with the famed aviatrix Lockheed Electra disappearing somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. We dont even see it crash. Theres a flash of white, a shot of the endless seascape, a cut to her mourning widower looking out toward the horizon. The film doesnt indulge any of the juicy speculat...

Video
While the film comes as a dull disappointment, Amelias 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is anything but, taking flight with an image thats remarkably detailed and full of color. If the film has one saving grace, its Stuart Dryburghs cinematography, which paints a warm, vivid picture using a unified palette featuring prominent reds, especially of the primary, fire-engine, freshly picked cherry variety. Whether were on the dusty plains of Gambia or in the middle of a misty Nova Scoti...

Audio
With all those whooshing, diving, stalling, rumbling, and taxiing planes, you might expect Amelia to have a beefy soundtrack, heavy on directional effects and low-end rumble. And there is a little bit of that, but the films DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is almost as uninvolving as the gripless narrative. Dont get me wrong; nothing sounds badthere really are no audio slipups to be found herebut this is one of those tracks that doesnt capitalize on the sonic possibili...

Supplements
Making Amelia (1080i, 23:06)
A fairly substantial making-of documentary, Making Amelia explores Hilary Swank's transformation, the personal life of Amelia Earhart, and the challenges of scouting locations where you can land antique airplanes. Features interviews with Mira Nair, Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, and several others.

The Power of Amelia Earhart (1080i, 10:45)
Culled from the same interview sessions in the previous documentary, the fo...

Final Words
As a long-time aviation geek, I thought that I might enjoy Amelia on the basis of its subject matter alone. While the sleek aircraft featured in the film are works of art in their own right, the film is a desiccated drama that sucks all the joy out of flying and fails to give us any new insight about the life and times of Lady Lindy. Safe, predictable, and unwilling to take any risks, Amelias tone flatly contradicts the boundary-breaking life of the actual Amelia. The film......

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Status Quo: Pictures - Live At Montreux (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:50:18 -0500

I remember I was on the road in Europe with a group of friends when I first heard Status Quos "In The Army Now". We were passing through Krakow, Poland, where a local radio station played the song twice in a row. I thought that it was very good, but certainly not a Status Quo material.

A couple of weeks later, "In The Army Now" was already a massive hit. It was quite incredible because anywhere we went - Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania we heard the song. Eventually, for a lot of y...

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080i "live" transfer, Status Quo: Pictures, Live at Montreux arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment.

It is obvious to me that a lot of work has gone into this Blu-ray release as the quality of the presentation is simply terrific. Contrast is very good, clarity consistently pleasing and detail excellent. The color-scheme is also great - the red, yellow, blue and green lights covering ...

Audio
There are three audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and LPCM 2.0. I opted for the Music DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and later on did a few random comparisons with the other two tracks for the purpose of this review.

Recorded live on July 16th, 2009 at the Stravinsky Auditorium in Montreux, Status Quo: Pictures, Live at Montreux sounds great. The vocals are clean and crisp, the guitars well defined and the bass strong. The rear channel...

Supplements
Quo in Montreux - this featurette contains two interviews that were conducted at Montreux, one with Rick Parfitt and another with Francis Rossi. The two members of Status Quo talk about the past, the music they made during the years, how they managed to stay together, etc; Live performance of "Down Down" (Rossi), "Whatever You Want" (Parfitt), "Roll Over" (Rossi) and "Rain" (Parfitt) are also included. (1080i).

Pictures Auction - footage from an auction me...

Final Words
Status Quo: Pictures, Live at Montreux is yet another wonderful addition to Eagle Rock Entertainment's already very impressive catalog of music releases. In addition to the full-length concert, the distributors have also included the wonderful documentary "Pictures: The Story of 40 Years of Hits", which I found to be as entertaining as the main feature. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.......

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Hunger (Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:45:51 -0500

Winner of the prestigious Camera d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival and the Carl Foreman Award for Most Promising Newcomer at the BAFTA Awards, Steve McQueen's "Hunger" (2008) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. Amongst the supplemental features on the disc are: an interview with Steve McQueen, which was conducted by Criterion in 2009; an interview with Michael Fassbender, which was conducted by film critic Jason Solomons in 2008; "The Provos' Last Card?" - a news program produced b...

Video
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG- AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Steve McQueen's Hunger arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

According to the booklet provided with this release, the high-definition transfer was created from the original 2-perforation 35mm negative, which was scanned on an ARRISCAN pin-registered scanner at 2K resolution, and approved by director McQueen. Unsurprisingly, Hunger looks spectacular on Blu-ray. Deta...

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 subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

There is an interview with Steve McQueen on this Blu-ray disc in which he talks about how incredibly important the sound is in Hunger, and I wholeheartedly agree. There are sighs, terrifying cries, and casual noises in the film that are of utmost importan...

Supplements
Steve McQueen - an interview with Steve McQueen, which was conducted by Criterion in 2009. Here the director of Hunger talks about the message of his film, how it was received by the critics in the UK and Northern Ireland, the events surrounding the death of Bobby Sands, etc. Not subtitled. (18 min, 1080p).

The Making of Hunger - this program includes interviews with director Steve McQueen, actors Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Stuart Graham, ...

Final Words
Hunger is a powerful, disturbing, beautiful, bold and impeccably acted film. It is perfect! Criterion's treatment is just as impressive - the film looks and sounds fantastic on Blu-ray. The supplemental features included on the disc are also very informative. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ......

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Fallen Ones (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:23:44 -0500
What's more interesting: 'The Fallen Ones' or 'who begat whom?'

This is big.

It's one thing for a movie to just be "bad." "The world needs ditch diggers, too," a wise man once said, and the world also needs its fair share of cinematic duds so as to allow the crop of superior movies to shine all the more brightly, but there's also a fine line between "bad" and "abysmal" that needn't be crossed. Most made-for-television fare falls squarely on the "bad" side of the ledger. Movies like ...

Video
The Fallen Ones is unearthed on Blu-ray with a 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer that's solid for the most part but contains a myriad of bugaboos that drag the total score down by a couple of points. As to the good, The Fallen Ones offers a clean, nicely detailed presentation in many scenes. Foregrounds and backgrounds alike sport solid detailing, textures, and sharpness, giving the film a superficially sound appearance. Various pebbles and grains of sand are nicely real...

Audio
The Fallen Ones features no lossless or uncompressed soundtrack; only a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is included. The track does offer some rather extensive surround use but of varying degrees of quality and effectiveness. There are certainly some aggressive and entertaining sound effects, but also a distinct lack of clarity to certain segments of the surround presentation. Even some more minute ambient effects -- falling pebbles in one scene or a gusty wind in another -- are suitably...

Supplements
The Fallen Ones contains no special features. ...

Final Words
The Fallen Ones is an awful movie, and not in any sort of perverse way whereby one can actually enjoy the thing for being so ridiculous. While the film doesn't take itself too seriously, the joke's only on the audience for wasting the time and effort to give this one a try. A terribly inept script, lazy acting, stilted direction, and a general lack of cohesion are but some of the more obvious flaws that make The Fallen Ones one of the worst of its kind. The accompanyin......

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Hellboy: Sword of Storms / Blood & Iron (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:21:37 -0500
A double whammy of animated mediocrity.

There are things that go bump in the night.

With live-action films adapted from comics and graphic novels all the rage these days, it's no surprise that in recent years a deluge of animated films furthering the mystique of the legends of ink and telling more -- and bigger -- tales from the exciting worlds of heroes, villains, and superpowers have cropped up on the market in support of and complimentary to their big-brother counterparts, and much like their mega-million d...

Video
Both Sword of Storms and Blood and Iron arrive on a single 25GB Blu-ray disc with a 1080p transfer housed within the confines of a 1.78:1 frame. This transfer yields a solid image considering the picture's animated origins. There's some nice detail and definition to be seen in both backgrounds and character renderings. Additionally, the image offers a fair sense of dimension, and considering its sharp, crisp lines and mostly fluid motion, the transfer looks wonderful...

Audio
Hellboy: Sword of Storms/Blood and Iron features only a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Fortunately, this offering -- while not as crisp and convincing as a top-flight lossless or uncompressed mix -- does an admirable job of drawing the listener into each film and creating a fair sense of space that opens up the worlds of both. The track does lack a bit of oomph at calibrated reference volume, but never does it sound worn-down or wimpy. The track delivers fairly strong atmo...

Supplements
No special features are included....

Final Words
Hellboy: Sword of Storms/Blood and Iron doesn't make for a potent pair of animated delight, but each offers suitable entertainment that should please Hellboy super-fans and satiate the appetite for new adventures from the character's more tepid supporters. Though neither film comes close to beating out the live-action pictures from a story perspective, there's enough here to enjoy once or twice and bask in the glory that is "Big Red" in the animated realm. This Starz/......

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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:18:26 -0500
A love-it-or-hate-it cult classic finally winds its way onto Blu-ray...

Panic. It crept up my spine like the first rising vibes of an acid frenzy. There I was. Alone in Las Vegas, completely twisted on drugs... no cash, no story for the magazine, and on top of everything else, a gigantic god damned hotel bill to deal with. How would Horatio Alger handle this situation?

A consummate marriage of manic source and surreal adaptation, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is unequivocally Hunter S. Thompson, unequivocally Terry Gilliam. While the late...

Video
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas tumbles onto the scene with the same commendable but imperfect 1080p/VC-1 transfer that appeared on Universal's 2006 HD DVD release. First, the good. Syrupy colors and bottomless blacks dominate nearly every shot, lending Gilliam's sweltering Nevada palette and trippy lithium-addled primaries legitimate power and punch. Skintones, though purposefully pushed to extremes on occasion, are warm and lifelike, and contrast, though skirting the heights of depths...

Audio
Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is as unpredictable and unwieldy as the film itself -- looping is obvious and jarring, sound effects sometimes come and go as they please, and Depp's jabbering is occasionally unintelligible -- but the majority of these weaknesses trace back to Gilliam's sound design, not the studio's technical efforts. Dialogue is generally crisp and well-prioritized, LFE support is quite satisfying, and dynamics are noteworthy. Nimble pans effectively send D...

Supplements
The Blu-ray edition of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas includes just two special features -- a batch of expendable deleted scenes (SD, 10 minutes) and a decent EPK (SD, 11 minutes) -- a far cry from the mammoth supplemental package found on the 2003 Criterion Edition DVD release (a generous 2-disc set that boasted three audio commentaries, multiple documentaries, and other absorbing bonus material). ...

Final Words
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas may not be for everyone, but Gilliam diehards and Hunter S. Thompson aficionados will eat it up. Depp and Del Toro's absurdist performances are a whirlwind of inspired insanity, Gilliam and company's screenplay is as quotable as they come, and the visuals... oh dear readers, the mad-hatter visuals are unforgettable. Alas, Universal's long-awaited Blu-ray release is a tad disappointing. It rises and falls with a hit-or-miss video transfer, a somewhat limit......

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Dare (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:34:18 -0500
An acute love triangle thats too slim for its own good.

The tendency in Hollywood is to sanitize adolescence. Lets face it, the awkward pangs of puberty dont exactly put people in theater seats. If the average coming-of-age film were a commercial for acne medication, wed only see the after photos, the clean skin and pearly smiles. But of course we all remember the often-ugly truththe confusing quest for identity, the social anxiety, the nascent sexuality. And thats what Dare is all about; it explores the seamier conflicts of b...

Video
Dare makes a relatively weak appearance on Blu-ray, though the films 1080p/AVC- encoded transfer seems to be true to its source material. Judging by the chunkiness of the grain, the noticeable softness, and the films low budget, Im assuming Dare was shot on 16mm, most likely using less-than-expensive lenses. If you open up the full-sized screenshots, youll notice that fine detail is almost entirely absent. Textures are softened, edges are blunt, and faces seem smooth a...

Audio
On the sonic side of things, Dares spartan DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track leaves little to discuss. This is a talky teen drama, and as such, the front channels dominate, leaving naught for the surround speakers to do but pump out the occasional piece of music. Theres really nothing here that you could call sound design, as even environmental ambience is kept to a minimum. (A series of wasted opportunities, it seems, as the track couldve given us water lapping during...

Supplements
Commentary by Director Adam Salky and Writer David Brind
Its clear that Salky and Brind are friendsthey finished the short film version of Dare while studying together at Columbiaand so this track is filled with the kind of insight and camaraderie that you only hear when two people have spent long hours working together on a project. Expect a commentary heavy on thematic content and less on making of aspects.

"Dare" Short (SD, 16:25)
Compris...

Final Words
Ive got conflicted feelings about Dare. It is unusual to see a film about teenagers that deals so matter-of-factly with issues of sexuality and identity, but at the same time, the production as a whole is a little rough around the edges. The script could use some polishing, the performances could be honed, and the characters would require a lengthier runtime to be developed to their full potential. The film isnt quite a sparkling high-definition experience eitherthe image is mu......

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Rainier the Mountain (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:03:13 -0500
An unusual release from Topics, an actual documentary about Washington's signature mountain.

Those of us lucky enough to live in the Pacific Northwest are graced with some of the most beautiful environments in the United States. Lush, rolling hills, formed from eons of volcanic activity, suddenly give way to usually singular thrusting peaks, the two best known of which are my home state of Oregons Mount Hood and neighboring state Washingtons Mount Rainier. Topics Entertainment is a niche Blu-ray distributor that has probably become best known for its HD Moods and Over ...

Video
The bulk of Rainier the Mountain's 1080i VC-1 encoded image is beautifully sharp. Colors are OK, if a bit skewed toward the yellow side of things, especially in flesh tones. When we do get a brightly variegated palette, as in some of the shots of the wildflowers, reds, purples and greens all pop very nicely. Unfortunately there are a few instances of artifacting, notably some distracting shimmer on such items as mountain peaks and silver fox fur. Overall, though, the interlaced source...

Audio
As seems to be Topics' wont with these bargain priced Blu's, only a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is offered. Strangely, there's little to no ambient sound on this outing, only a pleasant collection of music tracks, some of them ethnically tinged Native American pieces, with others being more grounded in the Western classical or pop traditions. On screen interview segments and the occasional narration all sound clear and crisp and are unfailingly front and center. Taken in and of itself, this ...

Supplements
No supplements are offered on this budget priced Blu-ray....

Final Words
Whether you're an armchair sightseer or looking for more historical information, Rainier the Mountain has both visual splendor and informative acuity to recommend it. This is a nice departure for Topics Entertainment, and my hope is they can release more of this kind of documentary feature in the future.......

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Mesrine Parts 1 & 2 - Killer Instinct / Public Enemy No 1 (Complete) (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:16:55 -0500

Winner of three Cesar awards, including Best Director and Best Actor, Jean-Francois Richet's "Mesrine: L'instinct de mor" a.k.a "Mesrine: Killer Instinct" (2008) and "Mesrine: L'ennemi public n.1" a.k.a "Mesrine: Public Enemy Number 1" (2008) arrive on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Momentum Pictures. Amongst the supplemental features on the disc are two making of featurettes, an interview with director Jean-Francois Richet, deleted scenes, trailer and more. With optional English su...

Video
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with VC-1 and granted a 1080p transfer, Jean-Francois Richet's Mesrine: L'instinct de mort and Mesrine: L'ennemi public n.1 arrive on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Momentum Pictures.

There is only one thing that bothers me about this Blu-ray release - the two films should have been placed on two separate BD50. When Universal-France released them last year, this is precisely what they did. It was the ri...

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

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is excellent. The bass is rich and powerful, the rear channels not overly active but very effective, and the high-frequencies not overdone. The dialog is crisp, clear and easy to follow. Additionally, I did not detect any...

Supplements
Making of Killer Instinct - a long and very informative featurette containing a variety of different comments from cast and crew members addressing Mesrine's legacy, the key characters in the film, its production history, etc. There is also an abundance of raw footage from the shooting process. In French, with optional English subtitles. (48 min).

Making of Public Enemy n.1 - a similarly long and in-depth featurette focusing on Mesrine's legacy. There is r...

Final Words
Two of the best films to be released on Blu-ray in 2009 - unfortunately, not in English-friendly territories - Jean-Francois Richet's L'instinct de mort and L'ennemi public n.1 are now available on Blu-ray in the UK through local distributors Momentum Pictures. If you can play Region-B "locked" discs, then you should most definitely consider ordering one for your library. Vincent Cassel is on fire! VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ......

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Love Happens (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:35:17 -0500
Wake me when it's over...

Romantic dramas are quickly becoming games of cinematic Mad Libs, and Love Happens, while more playful than others, doesn't do much to change that. It's simply an exercise in filling in the blanks. Male lead's aversions? Flying, elevators, and heartache. Ironic career path? Self-help author and motivational speaker. Emotional crutches? Vodka, rosy platitudes, and quotes from his own book. Dramatic gut punch? His wife died in a car accident. Convenient passage of time since trage...

Video
Despite some minor inconsistencies, Love Happens boasts an attractive 1080p/VC-1 transfer that stands shoulder to shoulder with other warmly lit, sunny-side-up romances. Look no further than Eloise's flower shop for everything that makes the presentation strong. Rich, vibrant colors, exceedingly healthy skintones, deep blacks, and crisp fine detailing abound. Errant petals have been meticulously rendered, the knickknacks that dot her work space are naturally textured, and depth is conv...

Audio
Universal's faithful DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is often as predictable as the film itself, but it manages to elevate Camp's at-times two-dimensional sound design and deliver a satisfying sonic experience. Dialogue, be it over a microphone in a large meeting hall or muttered in a cramped conference room, is fit and intelligible, prioritization never misses a step, and directional effects, limited as they may be, are polished and precise. The rear speakers are mainly tasked with sup...

Supplements
The Blu-ray edition of Love Happens includes an underwhelming batch of special features, none of which add much value to the release. Director/co-writer Brandon Camp, producer/co-writer Mike Thompson, and executive producer Richard Solomon kick off the disc's supplemental mediocrity with an unexpectedly dry group commentary; one in which the tepid trio focus on the lenses, locations, and look of the film, but rarely dig into the story, its characters, or the actors' individual contributi...

Final Words
Although I'm inclined to agree with the film's premise -- love does just happen -- Love Happens fails to make a convincing argument. With a sketchy story, contrived characters, and manufactured heartstrings, it barely brings its romantic leads together, much less resolve their personal issues. Universal's Blu-ray release is better, but doesn't grant fans much replay value. While it includes an excellent video transfer and an admirable DTS-HD Master Audio track, its supplemental package......

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Die Hard with a Vengeance (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:53:38 -0500
Third times the charm.

Die Hard With a Vengeance opens with a big bangthe front of a department store in downtown New York City explodes, sending cars flying and a massive cloud of debris rolling through the street. When the film premiered in May 1995only a month after the Oklahoma City bombingthe image touched a raw nerve and both sensitive viewers and finicky critics recoiled. Never mind that the film was shot and finished long before Timothy McVeighs act of ultra-right-wing terrorism, Die Ha...

Video
Die Hard With a Vengeance looks noticeably better on Blu-ray than both of its predecessors, and its also a vast improvement on the DVD, which was heavy with artificial edge enhancement. Theres still some awkward edginess to be found, but the image on the whole looks much more natural here. The 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer benefits from the films largely outdoors setting, which allows for a bright daytime image with tight black levels, plenty of contrast, and more high definitio...

Audio
Vengeances DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track also bests its predecessors with more ample bass, a more nuanced and immersive soundfield, and more detail and clarity in dialogue reproduction. Where Die Harder had sound effects that seemed plucked from the archives and tossed into the mix with little regard to acoustics, Die Hard With a Vengeance uses sound design much more intelligently, especially when it comes to the surround channels. Of course, you can expe...

Supplements
Commentary by Director John McTiernan, Writer Jonathan Hensleigh, and Film Executive Tom Sherak
For some reason, I can never get into these kinds of tracks, where the participants are all recorded separately and then spliced together. Theres some good stuff within, especially about how the screenplay was originally a completely separate project called Simple Simon, but the track is much too reserved for my tastes.

Alternate Ending (SD, 6:03)
Wit...

Final Words
Die Hard With a Vengeance is an absurd title for a filmseriously, try to explain it to someone learning English as a second languagebut its one of those fairly rare mid-1990s action movies that holds up surprisingly well today. Of the vintage Die Hard films, its also the best in terms of audio and video quality on Blu-ray, and while fans will already be familiar with the discs recycled supplementary materials, the shiny new high definition visuals should be enough to......

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Death in Love (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 02:33:45 -0500
You'll need a comedy to cheer you up after this one...

What do you get when self-loathing nihilism collides with blunt images of graphic sex? You end up with Boaz Yakins bleak introspective analysis of an extreme mid-life crisis called Death in Love. Seemingly constructed as a portrait of human nature at its worst, the film attempts to indulge viewers on a cerebral level through intense dialogue, disturbing images, and a fascination with emotionally torturing the audience. This is a far-cry from the directors previous work (Remember t...

Video
Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 19Mbps), Death in Love offers a visual experience thats just as self-loathing as the storyline. Grain-haters should avoid this like the plague, since nearly every scene is drenched in a thick layer of noisy randomness. Im typically not turned off by the presence of film grain (DNR is not our friend), but this is one of the few circumstances where I found it overly distracting. Adding to the deficiencies, fine-object...

Audio
The lossless audio track is a lackadaisical effort that merely demonstrates fleeting moments of proficiency, but seems content to simply exist through the majority of the feature. The main element in the mix is dialogue, which remains firmly planted in the center channel on far too many occasions. Even when the exchanges between characters call for a degree of spatial separation to the right or left, the opportunity is passed over, and were left with dialogue that sounds a touch on the muffle...

Supplements
Interviews (480p, Dolby Digital 2.0, 11:33 min): Assembling a collection of interviews with the primary actors as well as director Boaz Yakin, were given various takes on the themes of the film and the nuances of each character. I can appreciate the multiple perspectives on the complexities of the film, but I clearly dont have the same level of appreciation for the end product.

2nd Unit (480p, Dolby Digital 2.0, 2:37 min): Alma Harel briefly touches on the initial concentration camp s...

Final Words
Offering a recommendation on Death in Love is similar to suggesting it can be fun to jump buck naked into an icy river in the middle of winter. There will always be a select few that find the experience satisfying on some level, but theyll likely remain the minority. Im not opposed to dark, tragic tales, but this is easily one of the most depressing films Ive seen to date, and not something Id ever consider in the future. If you ever wondered what audience alienation is referring t......

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Serious Man (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:00:07 -0500
"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you."

Three rabbis counsel a man in crisis. Sound like the setup to a really bad joke? In lesser hands it might be just that, but in the skilled embrace of master filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen (forthwith referred to as the Coen Brothers, for dramatic effect of course), it's an oversimplified synopsis of the pair's latest dark comedy, A Serious Man. Both a tale of waning faith and a profound parable of perseverance in the face of insurmountable odds, the film is anything but conventional -- ...

Video
With a striking, nearly hypnotic 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer tucked snuggly in its belt, the Blu-ray edition of A Serious Man is a seriously stunning sight to behold. Cinematographer Roger Deakins' artful palette -- whether simmering in Jefferson Airplane oranges and reds, brimming with earthy leatherbound browns, swimming in autumnal oak, or awash with clinical greens and storm-cloud grays -- is strong and stable, populating the presentation with exceedingly natural skintones, alluring p...

Audio
Be careful passing judgment on Universal's oh-so-subtle DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track during A Serious Man's opening act. Make no mistake, when it wants to be heard, it does so with poise and power. While the majority of the film is a front-heavy, conversational affair, brief but steady eruptions of madness make the whole of the track a truly satisfying experience. Title cards appear with the hearty thunder of a slamming prison cell door, a three-car accident packs notable pun...

Supplements
Aside from Universal's usual bells and whistles -- My Scenes bookmarking, BD-Live Functionality, and a studio News Ticker -- the Blu-ray release of A Serious Man includes just three featurettes. "Becoming Serious" (HD, 17 minutes), a must-see dissection aimed at those who had a difficult time understanding the film or its characters; "Creating 1967" (HD, 14 minutes), an interesting production tour that focuses on set design, costumes, and props; and "Hebrew and Yiddish for Goys" (HD, 2 m...

Final Words
A Serious Man is an unexpected delight; a disarming dark comedy about the toils of life and the mysteries of the hereafter that revels in asking big questions, withholding even the simplest of answers, and submerging its characters in the muck of their tumultuous existences. Some people will need to watch it more than once -- I have a feeling I'll grow to love it even more in subsequent viewings -- but it's yet another unforgettable film from two of the most exciting writers and director......

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Red Balloon (Le ballon rouge) (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:33:05 -0500

Winner of the prestigious Palme dOr award at the Cannes Film Festival, French director Albert Lamorisse's "Le ballon rouge" a.k.a "The Red Balloon" (1956) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Network. The disc also contains the director's "Crin blanc: Le cheval sauvage" a.k.a "White Mane" (1953), as well as two long and very informative documentary features, "Mon Pere un Ballon Rouge" and "L'enfant Qui ne Souriait Pas." With imposed English subtitles. Region-Free. ...

Video
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Albert Lamorisse's Le ballon rouge arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Network.

I've seen Le ballon rouge a number of times during the years, and I feel very comfortable stating that this is the best this wonderful French film has ever looked. Fine object detail, clarity and contrast levels are lovely. The film's color-scheme is also a lot more convinci...

Audio
There is only one audio track for each film: French LPCM 2.0. For the record, the English subtitles are imposed (but in The Red Balloon there are only a dozen or so lines in French).

Le ballon rouge - Maurice Leroux's wonderful orchestral score sounds quite good; the strings are gentle, and the woodwinds and brass crisp and clear. The wonderful clarinet solos, in particular, sound a lot better here compared to the SDVD. Understandably, the dynamic amplitude is rather li...

Supplements
Note: All of the supplemental features on this disc are in PAL. Therefore, if you reside in North America or another region where PAL is not supported, you must have a Region-Free player capable of converting PAL to NTSC, or a TV set capable of receiving native PAL data, in order to view them.

Mon Pere un Ballon Rouge - a wonderful documentary on director Albert Lamorisse and the unique spirit of his films. In French, with optional English subtitles. (52 min). ...

Final Words
This is a fantastic package by British distributors Network! It is now one of my favorite Blu-ray discs. If you have never seen these two stunningly beautiful films, please take my words for granted and consider adding them to your libraries - I guarantee you will watch them over and over again! VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ......

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Die Hard 2: Die Harder (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:10:52 -0500
Second verse? Bigger, but not better than the first.

Im not going to contest the impact that the Die Hard franchise has made on the action genre. The first movie is a bona fide macho classic that, like a Hitchcock film on steroids, took an unsuspecting everyman and thrust him into a situation that required calm under fire, ingenuity, and massive balls of steel. It employed never before seen set pieces and special effects, it gave us a wickedly memorable villain in Alan Rickmans Hans Gruber, and it launched Bruce Willis into an a...

Video
Originally released in late 2007 as part of The Die Hard Collection, Die Hard 2 shows its age in both hazy late 80s filmmaking techniques and a 1080p/AVC encode that seems like its still feeling out the boundaries of its then relatively new high definition format. The film doesnt look bad by any means, but it doesnt exactly provide the 50-foot leap in clarity and color that weve become accustomed to with Blu-ray. While close ups show a fair amount of fine detail see ...

Audio
Die Harder arrives on Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track that sounds about average for an action film of its 1990 vintage. Meaning, the effects are kind of clunky, stocky, and artificial, directionality lacks subtlety, and the tracks mid-range sounds slightly hollow. Real speaker usage is frequent but not entirely convincing. Airport ambience seems canned, movements through the surround channels are heavy handed, and machine gun blasts feel as if they were se...

Supplements
Commentary by Director Renny Harlin
He may not be the most creative or credible director, but Renny Harlin knows how to enthusiastically fill up a commentary track with anecdotes, thoughtful ruminations on shooting action sequences, and endless amounts of trivia. The pace rarely flags here, so prepare to get an earful.

Deleted Scenes (SD, 8:15)
There are four deleted scenes, including one with a horrible children's choir at the airport wearing ridiculou...

Final Words
Die Harder is definitely the black sheep of the Die Hard franchise, and I dont really mean that in a good way. Director Renny Harlin kicks the action up a notch, but the films darker tone means the first films characteristic humor is noticeably dampened. I dont think Id personally pick this one up on its own, but I definitely wouldnt mind having it as part of The Die Hard Collection, which fans should consider before buying the individual releases.......

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Over British Columbia (PBS) (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:05:10 -0500
A picturesque view of Canada's gorgeous British Columbia.

Having grown up for at least a part of my childhood and early adolescence in the Pacific Northwest, and then having returned to the region for the bulk of my adult years, Ive been lucky enough to have Canadas gorgeous British Columbia province within just a few hours drive. Some of my fondest childhood memories are trips I took with my father to Harrison Hot Springs in BC, as well as many other family vacations to such wonderful places as Vancouver and the Buchart Gardens. All of those memo...

Video
Over British Columbia arrives from Topics Entertainment with a generally excellent 1080i image encoded via VC-1, in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio (which may display on your television as 1.78:1). With so many gorgeous sights to see, its mostly good news to report on the budget priced Blu-ray. Colors are very strong, beautifully saturated and very lifelike. Contrast is also excellent so that, for example, even white-clad skiers pop out nicely against a snowy background. While being up so high...

Audio
Unfortunately there is no lossless audio option on Over British Columbia, but its also sad there isnt even a surround standard Dolby option. Weve got good old fashioned Dolby Stereo here, and its fine for what it is, but will probably leave a lot of BD audiophiles shaking their head in scorn. This is a piece comprised of nonstop music, with very occasional narration. All of the music sounds great, with no fidelity issues or anomalies to report. Dynamic range is acceptable if not s...

Supplements
No supplements on this budget priced Blu-ray are offered....

Final Words
The Over series has become a favorite on PBS stations in America. It's easy to see why when you consider the glorious sights featured throughout Over British Columbia. Though the audio is not up to high def standards, visually this is a very impressive piece and should give lots of pleasure to travel enthusiasts.......

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Law Abiding Citizen (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:01:35 -0500
This release doesn't break any rules.

You can't fight fate.

Imagine Saw meets "Prison Break," and that's a pretty solid basis for discussing Law Abiding Citizen. Though the concept appears on paper as something that's fairly far-fetched and even borderline absurd, Director F. Gary Gray's (The Negotiator...

Video
Law Abiding Citizen arrives on Blu-ray with a visually stale but technically superior 1080p, 2.39:1-framed transfer. This is a picture that features a consistently routine visual tone that doesn't exactly lend itself to a spectacular high definition release, but it's also not the sort that's constantly bathed in shadows and darkness. Fortunately, Director F. Gary Gray's film looks excellent on Blu-ray when considering the picture's uninteresting visual flair and nod towards th...

Audio
Law Abiding Citizen features a robust but not excessively aggressive Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This one comes across as spacious and precise from the get-go, and indeed, it never disappoints through the rest of the film. This is a soundtrack of jarring cues intermixed with basic dialogue, ambience, and music. All three are handled well enough, with no discernible absence of clarity to be heard. Ambience in particular is exceptional; whether street-level flowing tra...

Supplements
This Blu-ray release of Law Abiding Citizen arrives as a two-disc set, disc one featuring the 118-minute unrated cut of the film, and the second the 109-minute theatrical version. Both discs contain special features, and disc one begins with a pair of featurettes. The Justice of 'Law Abiding Citizen' (1080i, 6:15) features cast and crew and former Los Angeles Prosecutor Katie Buckland discussing the legal ramifications surrounding the initial case as depicted in the...

Final Words
Law Abiding Citizen is a smart, innovative Thriller that's wholly implausible but nevertheless a whole lot of fun. It's Saw with less violence and a bit more of a focused structure and brain power, and even though much of the film plays out with an absurdity that's hard to ignore, the picture works as sheer and imaginative entertainment that's good enough to keep the audience guessing and immersed in a topsy-turvy world of deliciously-realized improbabilities. Rounded out......

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Dante's Inferno (An Animated Epic) (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:01:34 -0500
Is this disc heavenly or hellacious?

Abandon hope all ye who enter here.

Much like Dead Space: Downfall before it, Dante's Inferno is a feature-length animated film, distributed by Starz/Anchor Bay and released in advance of an Electronic Arts video game release of the same name (scheduled for release on the Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable on February 9, 2010). Whereas Dead Space served as something of a prequel t...

Video
Dante's Inferno traverses the depths of hell in style, making the trip in a 1.78:1-framed 1080p high definition transfer. The film offers both a harsh, red-and-black dominant visual style within the hellish realm, but also features a more surreal and serene visual tone during the film's open that gives it the look and feel of a dreamy painting rather than an animated film. However, it is the drab look of the underworld that dominates the picture, where only shades of red seem th...

Audio
This Blu-ray release of Dante's Inferno features a quality Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The film's opening narration is excessively bass heavy, each syllable sending a palpable rumble through the soundstage, but dialogue is otherwise cleanly and suitably reproduced throughout the remainder of the picture, even bouncing about the soundstage in several scenes featuring the spoken word reverberating about more cavernous locales. The soundtrack delivers a full, satisfying...

Supplements
Dante's Inferno features a collection of five animatics, presented in 1080p: Beatrice Chase (3:12), Charon (2:17), Dante Stabs Farinata (1:21), Francesco Fight (2:51), and Lust Minions (1:51). Also included is a trailer for the upcoming video game (1080p, 2:15)....

Final Words
All told, Dante's Inferno is a solid but not exceptional movie, the film a bit sluggish and certainly taking liberties with Dante Alighieri's original poem but providing more of an audience-accecssible and action-oriented story that, most importantly, makes for a fine companion piece to the upcoming video game adventure. The animation is sound if not a bit repetitive, a forgivable trait considering the lack of opportunity to expand far beyond the basics of what each cir......

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Antichrist (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:09:38 -0500

Danish director Lars von Trier's controversial film "Antichrist" (2009) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye. Amongst the special features on the disc is an audio commentary in English with director Lars von Trier and Professor Murray Smith from University of Kent; an interview with Willem Dafoe; an informative conversation with French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg; footage from the Cannes Film Festival; and much more. With optional Danish and Italian subtitles. R...

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and ranted a 1080i50 transfer, Lars Von Trier's Antichrist arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye.

I had a very difficult time taking the screen captures that you are seeing in this review. For some strange reason, there was a lot of "combing" that was visible on some of them, which I don't recall seeing on the screen captures that I took to include with our review of the French release...

Audio
There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English Dolby Digital 5.1. Artificial Eye have provided optional Danish and Italian, but not English, subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

Again, I did not encounter any issues with the audio treatment. The dialog is crisp, clear and easy to follow. The surround activity on the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is limited, but there are some rather n...

Supplements
Behind the Test - a look at the pre-production work. In Danish, with optional English subtitles. (7 min).

The Evil of Woman - researcher Heidi Laura and director Lars von Trier talk about the mythological and theological context of the film. In English, with optional Italian subtitles. (8 min).

The Visual Style of Antichrist - director of photography Anthony Dod Mantle talks about the level of naturalism in Antichrist, the specific...

Final Words
Artificial Eye's Blu-ray release is practically identical to M6's release. With the exception of Charlotte etc., all of the supplemental features from the French disc also appear on this disc. So, if you have the proper equipment to playback 1080i50-encoded discs, this one could be slightly cheaper to import to the U.S. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ......

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Whip It (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:06:25 -0500
Put some skates on, be your own hero.

As a cultural phenomenon, modern roller derby is just as improbable as pole-sitting or competitive eating. Whod have thought an obscure sport that peaked in the 70s could be resurrected as a grrrl-power subculture that combines the athleticism of speed skating with the camp theatrics of The Rocky Horror Picture Show? The brilliant thing about it is that it works; its punk and burlesque, its sporty and intense, and it rolls with a particular brand of feminism thats both self- ...

Video
Whip It tears up the track on Blu-ray with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer thats as sexy and brassy as the roller girls themselves. The image is supersaturated with the bright, flashy colors of a bright, flashy subculture. See the Hurl Scouts pine green uniforms, the yellow star that adorns Babe Ruthless helmet, the pig pink aprons at the Oink Joint, deep purple bruises, Smashley Simpsons crimson nosebleed, and the red, white, and blue of Johnny Hot Tub Rockets LED-light bou...

Audio
Clean, clear, and under control, is the motto for a particular brand of acne medication, but the same could be said for Whip Its DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, which is clean (absolutely), clear (indelibly), but perhaps a bit too under control considering roller derbys brash punk aesthetic. Dont get me wrong, the mix sounds great as it is, but its not quite as potent, aggressive, or immersive as it couldve been. Before watching the film, I imagined all the sonic ...

Supplements
Im a little disappointed with Whip Its meager supplementary offerings, especially considering the possibilities. I wouldve been stoked to have a documentary on real life roller girls, a commentary track with first-time director Drew Barrymore and key members of the cast, or even a standard making-of featurette. Unfortunately, our bonus options are quite limited. Deleted Scenes (SD, 16:14) includes an alternate opening and eight other deleted or extended scenes, all of ...

Final Words
Whip It is one of those films thats easy to love despite its flawsits got infectious energy, buoyant performances, a killer soundtrack, and if that werent enough, its all about roller derby, the kookiest, kitschiest, sexiest sport to ever be ironically revived and then unironically embraced. The film looks and sounds great on Blu-ray tooIm not sure about the neon green case, thoughand despite the unfortunate lack of supplementary features, derby fans will definitely want t......

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The Time Traveler's Wife (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:33:09 -0500
A syrupy romance wrapped in a flimsy sci-fi bow...

Every time I see a phrase like "based on the bestselling novel," "from the author who brought you..." or "from the acclaimed bestseller," I cringe. Not to plant my intellectual flag in frequently trampled soil, but bestsellers are rarely the best books. Crowd pleasers with mass-market charm, they're literary popcorn; good for a quick snack, but a poor choice for a meal. Me? I can always be found rummaging the shelves at Borders, pouring through pages bound by unassuming covers; ever in searc...

Video
The Time Traveler's Wife features a sumptuous 1080p/VC-1 transfer brimming with rich colors and dramatic primaries. Despite some over-saturation, skintones are gorgeous; while sullied by crush, blacks are incredibly inky; though nearly impenetrable, delineation is faithful to cinematographer Florian Ballhaus' painterly vision. Henry's visits to Clare's childhood home are steeped in lush fields and blazing skies. His tenuous trip down a night-clad alleyway is dotted with warm golden hue...

Audio
Warner's able-bodied DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is just as impressive. The Time Traveler's Wife doesn't offer a bombastic sonic experience by any means -- whispers and sighs frequent Henry and Clare's conversations, Mychael Danna's score is one of the more engaging elements of the mix, and snazzy directional effects are few and far between -- but it does handle the film's quiet exchanges and more sobering scenes with poise and confidence. LFE support is ever-present and ever...

Supplements
The Time Traveler's Wife materializes on Blu-ray with a slim supplemental package comprised of a pair of semi-decent production documentaries: "An Unconventional Love Story" (HD, 26 minutes) and "Love Beyond Words" (HD, 21 minutes). The former gives Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams the opportunity to discuss their characters, the nuances of the tale's fractured timeline, and the relationship that unfolds on screen. The latter looks at the adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's novel and the cha...

Final Words
The Time Traveler's Wife may appeal to those longing for romance in the vein of The Notebook, but others -- particularly time-travel genre junkies -- will be left with heavy-handed melodramatics that overpower Niffenegger's intriguing ideas. Setting aside its lackluster supplemental package, the Blu-ray edition is much better. Its video transfer is quite striking (artificial sharpening notwithstanding) and its DTS-HD Master Audio track is fit and faithful. I can't guarantee you'......

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Saw VI: Unrated Director's Cut (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:59:02 -0500
The following review may contain spoilers for previous entries in the 'Saw' franchise.

You choose who lives or dies.

Death, taxes, and Saw. No doubt about it, they have plenty in common, all three capable of reliably bleeding one dry, though Saw proves a bit more punctual, predictable, and welcome in its annual October release schedule (though it would be rather ironic to see the series switch to a tax day release schedule, especially if the filmmakers decide to take on the IRS rather than insurance companies in the next installment). Th...

Video
Saw VI rips into Blu-ray with a quality 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer. The picture retains the series' rusty industrial look where greens, yellows, and browns dominate much of the film; though it lends to the picture a vomit-like consistency, it stays true to the tone of the movies and it's strongly rendered on Blu-ray. Additional scenes offer a wider array of colors -- some more balanced and natural and others taking on a cold, steely blue feel -- but the transfer handles the ...

Audio
Saw VI tears into Blu-ray with a powerful but not memorable DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless soundtrack. For a movie with plenty of screaming, grinding gears, smashing traps, blowing steam, and many other unpleasant things going on, there's just not much here that allows the track to stand out from the crowd. It's perfectly fine in every area, but hardly a mix that's going to stand apart from others. Saw VI does feature a hefty surround presentation; industrial tones and hau...

Supplements
Saw VI features a nice array of extras, the collection headlined by a pair of audio commentary tracks. The first features Producer Mark Burg and Executive Producers Peter Block and Jason Constantine. This trio discusses the work of first-time Director Kevin Greuter, who worked as the editor on the previous five entries; the contribution of VH1's "Scream Queens" winner Tanedra Howard; the process of churning out a new Saw picture every year; the film's gruesome special...

Final Words
Saw VI is a crude film, but it's true to the series' tone and appeal. Structurally, the film is barely distinguishable from the past few entries; the traps are still novel in look but not necessarily in function, while the standalone story concocted for part six fits in well with the history of the franchise as both previously established and newly minted in this picture. With a strong ending that's both satisfactory in its revelations but still leaving viewers with a juicy clif......

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That Kind of Girl (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:33:42 -0500

Gery O'Hara's first feature film "That Kind of Girl" (1963) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of the British Film Institute (BFI). The disc contains the following short films and supplemental features: "The People at No. 19" (J. B. Holmes, 1948); "No Place to Hide" (1959), a snapshot of the 'Ban the Bomb' march to Aldermaston; "A Sunday in September" (1961), a documentary about the nuclear protests in London, with Vanessa Redgrave, Doris Lessing and John Osbourne; and an interview with producer Rob...

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Gerry O'Hara's That Kind of Girl arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of the British Film Institute (BFI).

The booklet provided with this Blu-ray release contains the following text: "That King of Girl was transferred to High Definition from the original 35mm combined finegrain held at the BFI National Archive. The picture was restored using HD-DVNR, MTI and Phoenix restoration systems,...

Audio
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: English LPCM 2.0. For the record, BFI have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.

The LPCM (48k/24-bit) is very good. The dialog is crisp, clear and exceptionally easy to follow. Additionally, I did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, or hiss to report in this review. Dynamically, there is nothing here that would even partially test the muscles of audio system, but this is still a solid audio track. The op...

Supplements
The People at No. 19 - a short film by J. B. Holmes about a young family facing a difficult dilemma (1948). With optional English subtitles. (19 min, 1080p).

No Place to Hide - a short documentary film about the famous anti-war protests from the mid 50s. With optional English subtitles. (10 min, 1080p).

A Sunday in September - a documentary film about a nuclear disarmament demonstration in London, starring Vanessa Redgrave, Doris ...

Final Words
That Kind of Girl is yet another fantastic addition to BFI's Flipside series. It is raw and quite naive - but this is exactly why it is so enjoyable. The presentation is very good and the supplemental features included on the disc excellent. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ......

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Beyoncé: I Am... Yours. An Intimate Performance at Wynn Las Vegas (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:58:37 -0500
Beyoncé, not exactly intimate before a crowd of several thousand at the Wynn in Las Vegas. Kanye West thinks it's the best concert Blu-ray ever.

Any good acting teacher will tell you conviction is nine tenths of an actors struggle in reaching an audience. You can have the worst material in the world, but if you apply your craft with conviction, you have at least a chance of reaching an audience. Beyoncé, the whirlwind multimedia sensation, has conviction in perhaps unmatched doses. Perhaps from he own nascent acting career, she brings a ferocity and fervor to her show at Las Vegas tony Wynn Hotel and Casino. Though its perhaps jus...

Video
I Am...Yours arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p AVC transfer that unfortunately is hampered by some stage lighting issues. Right off the bat you will notice that the arcing red lights which illuminate the backup band are so powerful that the players' faces dissolve into a ruddy mush. When the frequent stage smoke comes into play, it makes anything much further upstage from the star unrecognizable. I can't however lay this at the feet of the Blu-ray itself, as those very reds are magnifice...

Audio
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix is generally quite excellent, wisely staying away from overwhelming ambient audience noise, and instead choosing to fill the surround channels with Beyoncé's really incredible backing band and backup singers. There are occasional reverb issues with Beyoncé's voice, which leads to some unnecessary muddiness, but these are transitory issues that don't affect the overall warmth of the soundtrack. With an small contingent of strings and a brass and wind ensemble augmenting...

Supplements
"What Happens in Vegas" is a 24 minute HD featurette which shows the last week of preparations before the concert, proving that Beyoncé is a hands on executive as well as being the star of the show....

Final Words
It may not be quite as intimate as advertised, but I Am...Yours is one of the less pre-packaged mega-concert films in recent memory. The singer is firmly in control of the proceedings and obviously exults in the emotions her songs portray.......

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Mystic River (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:48:31 -0500
One of Eastwood's finest proves to be even more unsettling in high definition...

It's rare that a film features a defining performance from one actor, much less three. But Mystic River, director Clint Eastwood's critically acclaimed 2003 Academy darling, offers just that; a trio of stunning performances from Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon. (And that's without even dipping into the film's exceptional extended cast.) Based on Dennis Lehane's award-winning novel of the same name, it traces the intersecting lives of three childhood friends separated by ...

Video
Mystic River's 1080p/VC-1 transfer is a tricky one to evaluate. Eastwood and cinematographer Tom Stern's muted palette and filmic photography were never intended to appeal to high-def juicers, nor do the filmmakers shy away from soft focus and shallow depth of field. Even so, Warner's Blu-ray presentation represents a notable upgrade from its DVD counterpart. Colors are more stable, skintones are more consistent and lifelike, blacks are deeper and more thoroughly resolved, detail is m...

Audio
Mystic River is one of the first catalog titles Warner is releasing with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, and I'm happy to report it's an exceedingly subtle, deceptively strong offering. Built on the back of Eastwood's somber score, a haunting collection of quiet piano elegies and heart-wrenching orchestral lamentations, it swoons and relents, permeating the whole of the soundfield to create an unexpectedly immersive experience. Judicious LFE support bolsters every crescendo (n...

Supplements
Mystic River arrives on Blu-ray with the same decent supplemental content that first appeared on Warner Brothers' 3-disc Deluxe Edition DVD (minus the bonus audio CD). The special features are presented in lowly standard definition, but nearly two hours of Charlie Rose interviews more than make up for it.

Audio Commentary: Actors Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins discuss Eastwood's directorial style, the on-set atmosphere of Myst...

Final Words
Mystic River is a devastating tragedy; one that boasts a perfectly cast ensemble and masterful, Oscar-winning performances. While a last-minute tonal shift threatens to undermine Eastwood's dramatic prowess and Helgeland's potent screenplay, the film is nevertheless worthy of the praise and awards that have been showered on it since its release. The Blu-ray edition is a bit hit or miss -- its video transfer and supplemental package aren't as remarkable as its DTS-HD Master Audio track -......

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Bourne Ultimatum (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:09:13 -0500
After a holy trinity of near-perfect action films, consider me Bourne again.

Most sequels languish under the law of diminishing financial and creative returns, but the Bourne franchise seems to be a statistical anomaly, an action series where each new installment is somehow better, bolder, and more aptly realized than the last. And this really is saying something, as The Bourne Identitythe first in the trilogybasically defined action films for the new millennium with its cerebral, effortlessly exciting take on the spy-versus- spy sub-genre. When ...

Video
With a visual experience thats quite similar to The Bourne Supremacys, The Bourne Ultimatums 1080p/VC-1 transfer takes the already-polished look of its predecessor and buffs it until it positively shines. From a dark, snow-covered night in Moscow to the blazing afternoon heat of a Tangier marketplace, the films various color schemes are expertly reproduced here. The palette is appropriately muted most of the timesleek, modern grays are in abundancebut when strong co...

Audio
Likewise, if The Bourne Supremacy put your home theater system through the paces, Ultimatums DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track will have it doubled over and gasping for breath after a brutal sonic workout. The film won Oscars for Best Sound and Best Sound Editing at the 80th Academy Awards, and both the intricacy and sheer pulverizing intensity of the audio design are even better on Blu-ray. From a porcelain teacup settling gently on a saucer to the most earth-shaki...

Supplements
Commentary by Director Paul Greengrass
"I wanted to set the tempo high from the off...from the first frame I wanted the tempo to be high." Greengrass' quiet but endlessly insightful commentary is largely concerned with the film's pacing, and I'm not sure I've heard a better explanation of the importance of balancing action and character in a big budget thriller. An excellent listen all around.

Deleted Scenes (SD, 12:22)
A standard assemblage of deleted sc...

Final Words
With the reboot of the Bond franchise and the emergence of a new superspy named Jason Bourne, the 00s have been a great decade for cinematic espionage. The Bourne Ultimatum is one of my favorites among the recent crop of spy flicks, packing more thrills per minute than most other action films could hope for in an entire runtime. To put it simply: the action comes hard and fast, Paul Greengrass direction is astute and assured, and Matt Damon is better than ever. The film......

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Music Man (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:48:52 -0500
One of the best ever Broadway to Hollywood adaptations arrives on Blu-ray.

Those of us who love classic Broadway musicals also love to pore over the sometimes weird but true trivia that dots both hit and flop shows. For instance, if one were to poll most music or theater critics about scores which changed the Broadway landscape, my hunch is the Bernstein-Sondheim opus West Side Story would place at or near the top of most peoples lists. And yet it is one of the ironies of Tony lore that a musical by an untested Broadway hand, and certainly a composer nowhere ...

Video
Theres mostly good news to report with Music Mans VC-1 encoded 1080p 2.4:1 transfer. Detail is incredibly sharp and for the most part the palette is bursting with exceptional color and nuance. Theres a slight yellowish tint to the proceedings that is slightly off putting, rendering some of the flesh tones a sort of weird unnatural color. Reds and blues are especially impressive here, though those with a videophiles persnicketiness will notice that same yellow tint ever so slightly ...

Audio
While I understand the desire to upgrade classic films' soundtracks to modern day standards, sometimes I wonder if just leaving well enough alone wouldn't be better. The Music Man received a Dolby Digital 5.1 upgrade for its most recent SD-DVD release, and that in turn has been upgraded to a DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix for this Blu-ray release. While only a curmudgeon would really complain about this in any detail, there are a couple of issues. First and foremost, there really isn't a whale of a...

Supplements
Most, but not all, of the supplements from the last SD-DVD Special Edition have been ported over to this Blu-ray release (in SD). The featurette "Right Here in River City" provides some nice background information and offers several interviews. There's also a separate introduction by Shirley Jones. Only the reissue trailer is included on the BD; neither the other trailers or the Production Notes from the SD-DVD have been ported over....

Final Words
A near perfect example of transferring a Broadway hit to film, The Music Man memorializes Robert Preston's most engaging role and the wonderfully effective music and lyrics of Meredith Willson. You won't have Trouble with a capital T enjoying this splendid Blu-ray release.......

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Carlos Santana Presents Blues at Montreux (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:44:45 -0500

Blues has always been an important part of Carlos Santana's music. In fact, when he started his career in San Francisco back in the early 60s, his group was known as the Santana Blues Band. In July 2004, Santana performed with three legendary bluesmen and good friends of his at the Montreux Jazz Festival - Bobby Parker, Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown and Buddy Guy - whose individual sets are included on this Blu-ray disc.

Louisiana-native Bobby Parker's career has been fairly uneven. Dur...

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080i "live" transfer, Carlos Santana Presents Blues at Montreux arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment.

This is simply a wonderful high-definition transfer. In the three sets included on this Blu-ray disc, clarity and detail are terrific. Contrast levels are also very good, and even though the stage lighting changes quite often, there are absolutely no shadow issues to report in thi...

Audio
There are three audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and LPCM 2.0. I opted for the Music DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and later on did a few random comparisons with the other two tracks for the purpose of this review.

Out of the three sets included on this Blu-ray disc, Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown's set is the most impressive one. His raw guitar sound is so rich, I literally felt as if I was right next to the legendary bluesman. During Buddy G...

Supplements
Unfortunately, this Blu-ray disc does not contain any supplemental features....

Final Words
Words can not describe how good this disc is - all three sets are pure gold! And Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown's music impressed me so much, I am going to try to buy as many of his CDs as I could get my hands on. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ......

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Crazies (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:05:47 -0500
Would collectors be crazy not to add this classic low-budget Romero flick to their high-def collections?

'Trixie' is going to spread through this entire town.

On a budget that, in Hollywood, is about the equivalent of the loose change underneath the sofa cushions, the legendary Horror maestro George A. Romero proves yet again in his 1973 Chiller The Crazies that story and tone are more important -- and far more effective -- than even top-flight acting, seamless special effects, professional production values, and glamorous shooting locations. While sheer style can...

Video
The Crazies infests Blu-ray with a somewhat inconsistent but fairly accurate 1080p, 1.66:1-framed transfer that places small vertical black bars on either side of a 1.78:1 display. This release features a somewhat inconsistent grain pattern where it's highly evident in some scenes and practically absent in others. Additionally, the picture is littered with scratches, speckles, and other debris throughout. Flesh tones can range from natural to taking on a clay-like consisten...

Audio
The Crazies unleashes on Blu-ray with a paltry but generally true-to-the-scource DTS-HD MA 1.0 lossless soundtrack. This is truly a nuts-and-bolts offering. Sound effects, dialogue, and music are presented well enough to be heard, understood, and, processed by the brain, but nothing else. This is bargain soundtrack stuff, the entire thing playing like one might expect of a mediocre drive-in presentation. Still, it's not like this has original elements comparable to ...

Supplements
The Crazies arrives on Blu-ray with two supplements of note, the first an audio commentary with Director George A. Romero and the second an interview with Actress Lynn Lowry. The former features the famed director, alongside Blue Underground's Bill Lustig, speaking on The Crazies' place in Romero's career; shooting various scenes in and around Evans City, Pennsylvania, the same place the director shot Night of the Living Dead; casting local residents alongside pro...

Final Words
The Crazies isn't the film for which Director George A. Romero will be remembered, but it's arguably one of his best efforts all things considered, the film pertinent and poignant thanks to his vision and craftsmanship as a master filmmaker, his efforts overcoming a miniscule budget and paltry acting that would have otherwise spelled doom for a picture in lesser hands. The film is also saved by a story that plays right into a low budget, rough-and-tumble tone, but it's still Rome......

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George Michael: Live in London (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:11:14 -0500
George Michael celebrates 25 years in showbiz and proves he's learned it's at least as much about the glitz as it is about the music.

I am not a huge fan of Brian Posehn, the unkempt, often foul mouthed comedian who appears on The Sarah Silverman Program. But he gave me a huge laugh a few weeks ago doing a standup routine where he talked about throwing his I-Tunes auto recommendation feature into a permanent state of confusion. Posehn is evidently a head banger, prone to downloading nothing other than heavy metal offerings, but as a joke one day, he decided to download the worst holiday song ever, Whams Last Chr...

Video
George Michael Live in London is an extremely sharp looking concert video, arriving in 1080i (not 1080p as some people have reported) and encoded via AVC. Its rather ironic that this in an interlaced video considering the gigantic television screens which surround Michael during the concert and which due to their size might seem to be advertisements for interlacing artifacts. Surprisingly, there are no artifacts of any import to be seen. This is a remarkably sharp and well detailed p...

Audio
I was a little underwhelmed with the surround activity on the DTS HD-MA 5.1 offering. To its credit, we arent bombarded with ambient audience noise spilling into the rear channels, but similarly precious little of the music seems to seep back there either. What is offered here is a very crisp and well detailed soundtrack that ably supports both Michaels voice and the superb backup band and singers. Michael does go through some stylistic paces here, and the DTS track never falters in fidelit...

Supplements
An hour of bonus material is offered, the bulk of which is a 42 minute featurette called "I'd Know Him a Mile Off," a title culled from an obnoxious guard's refusal (documented in the concert itself) to let Michael's limo into the arena parking lot since the person in the back seat was "obviously" not the star. The same worker flips off Michael and the limo driver as they pull away, and I assume he is now happily ensconced on Britain's burgeoning unemployment lines. The rest of the piece has s...

Final Words
If video killed the radio star, it begat a whole new generation of music hitmakers who valued image as much as sound. At the head of that list is George Michael, who proves here after 25 years he's mastered the fine art of looking good while sounding fine. If there's precious little soul here, well, that may not be what the goal was to begin with.......

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Ran (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:02:53 -0500

Akira Kurosawa's legendary "Ran" (1985) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Studio Canal. Amongst the supplemental features on the disc are: "AK", a French documentary film by director Chris Marker; "Akira Kurosawa: The Epic and the Intimate", a French documentary exploring the Japanese director's rich legacy; "The Samurai", a fascinating documentary on Samurai art, Samurai rituals, and the history of Samurai culture; "Akira Kurosawa by Catherine Cadou", trailer and more. Wit...

Video
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with VC-1 and granted a 1080p transfer, Akira Kurosawa's Ran arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment. Please note that the disc's main menu can be set in one of the following languages: English (Australian territories), Danish, German, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, English (UK territories) and English (North America).

Ran is the only entry in ...

Audio
The following audio tracks are included on this Blu-ray disc: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optimum Home Entertainment have provided optional English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish subtitles for the main feature.

I opted for the Japan...

Supplements
Note: All of the supplemental features on this Blu-ray disc are encoded in 480/60i. Therefore, they are perfectly playable on Region-A PS3s and SAs.

AK - a French documentary feature by director Chris Marker focusing the production history of Ran. In French and Japanese, with imposed English subtitles. (72 min, 480/60i).

Akira Kurosawa: The Epic and the Intimate - a French documentary exploring the Japanese director's rich legacy. ...

Final Words
I believe that there are a couple of things one has to consider when one determines whether or not it is worth adding this Blu-ray release to one's collection. First, it is the fact that it is unlikely, at least in a foreseeable future, that Ran would be fully restored and rereleased on Blu-ray. Studio Canal control the rights for the film in a number of key territories, and I simply don't see it happening. Hopefully, I am proven wrong, but I have a feeling that this flawed transfer would......

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Bourne Supremacy (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:15:29 -0500
Series fans may be divided, but I couldn't be more sure...

After co-authoring an autobiography that elicited the wrath of the British government, filmmaker Paul Greengrass attracted international acclaim with Bloody Sunday, a project that began as a television movie but soon earned its way into the Berlin Film Festival and Sundance (winning a prestigious award at each stop). It wasn't long before Hollywood came calling, budding franchise in hand. He accepted, then proceeded to do the last thing fans of The Bourne Identity expected: chang...

Video
No hyperbolic bones about it: The Bourne Supremacy's 1080p/VC-1 transfer is stunning. Color and contrast are impeccable -- be it the orange flash of an explosion, the sun-seared wares of a marketplace in India, or the bleak iron hues of a snowy Moscow morn -- and skintones, regardless of Oliver Wood's interior or exterior lighting, remain exceedingly convincing throughout. Blacks are deep and inky (albeit a bit too oppressive on occasion) and shadows are natural and absorbing. Better s...

Audio
Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track hits hard and hits often, leaving its mark regardless of how quiet or chaotic a scene becomes. Bourne's questions, whether muttered or barked, dominate the center channel, Landy's orders are crisp and clear, and Cox's measured snarls are as rich as they are autocratic. Moreover, gunshots erupt from every channel, encircling the listener at every opportunity and enhancing the realism of the already immersive soundfield. The furious cries of pr...

Supplements
The individual Blu-ray release of The Bourne Supremacy boasts the same generous supplemental package as its box set counterpart, the only difference being that it's all housed on a dual-sided BD-59 "Flipper" disc (Side A is the equivalent of a traditional BD-50, Side B is a DVD layer that contains a standard definition copy of the film).

U-Control Features: Like The Bourne Identity, the Blu-ray edition of The Bourne S...

Final Words
A riveting evolution in every way, The Bourne Supremacy is a pulse-pounding actioner and a cerebral spy thriller. While it has divided franchise fans into two camps -- those who appreciate director Paul Greengrass' frenetic visual style and those who need to pop two Excedrin Migraine capsules every time they look at the screen -- those who adore everything his intensity brings to the Bourne series will find Supremacy to be nothing short of a masterstroke. It's even ......

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Universal Soldier: Regeneration (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:28:53 -0500
The best in the series earns a solid Blu-ray release.

Something so familiar, I can't explain it.

Dolph Lundgren's character Andrew Scott might be experiencing déjà vu, but viewers familiar with the Universal Soldier franchise will find something remarkably different in Director John Hyams' (son of Director Peter Hyams) ...

Video
Universal Soldier: Regeneration arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p, 2.35:1-framed transfer that's not all that pretty but seems fairly accurate to the source. The film features a predominantly cold, sterile, lifeless appearance, and as such, takes on a rather flat look throughout. Shot digitally with the RedOne camera, the image is smooth and free of heavy noise. Colors other than the abundant shades of gray, blue, and black are hard to come by, but the transfer handles its li...

Audio
Universal Soldier: Regeneration features a wake-the-neighbors DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The film's trademark sonic signature comes from the heavy doses of automatic weapons fire; strings of shots rattle and pop with an aggressive, steady, rumbling tone that shakes the soundstage and reverberates through the chest, effectively placing the listener in close proximity to the weapons. Other action-oriented sound effects -- squealing tires and revving engines as heard du...

Supplements
Universal Soldier: Regeneration arrives on Blu-ray with but a pair of extras of note. First up is an audio commentary track with Director John Hyams and Actor Dolph Lundgren. This is an excellent track; both participants acquit themselves wonderfully, speaking with an engaging tone and delivering plenty of interesting and informative stories, speaking on the film's visual style, stunt work, the difficulties of shooting action scenes, their previous work and the benefits and ch...

Final Words
Universal Soldier: Regeneration won't get much play or respect as a direct-to-video release, and that's a shame because it's far better than a lot of films that earn a wide theatrical release. Director John Hyams shows great potential, his sure hand guiding an Action film that's raw, unforgiving, exceptionally shot, and wonderfully choreographed. Universal Soldier: Regeneration is bound to surprise audiences that can look past the stigma of being released to the direct-......

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Stepfather (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:28:51 -0500
Nothing to see here, move along now.

Who am I here?

It's remake time in the land of movie magic, and the latest entrant into the annals of blah, bland, and blasphemous is the The Stepfather, a film following up on the picture of the same name released all the way back in the year of our Lord, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven (spelling it out makes it sound older and more "worthy" of a remake). Glossed up and dumbed down, this 2009 "Horror"-slash-"Thriller" is nothing but a retread of Horror-lite m...

Video
The Stepfather moves into Blu-ray and yields and incredibly film-like and altogether splendid 1080p, 2.40:1-framed transfer. This is a natural, high quality image, retaining a slight layer of film grain that allows for a nearly perfect cinematic appearance. Colors are incredibly rich and natural in tone, and the film sports a diverse and eye-popping palette that sparkles in every scene. Whether bright green grass, party adornments, or the striking blue shade of a pristine bac...

Audio
Sony sets up The Stepfather with a technically proficient but fairly routine DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Indeed, this mix is fine in almost every regard, but there's not much to speak of in terms of out-of-the-ordinary or otherwise noteworthy elements. Sound effects do pan naturally across the soundstage, and there's often a rich, fulfilling feel to the track; never does it seem cramped or in any way stuck in one speaker or portion of the soundstage. Atmospherics are n...

Supplements
The Stepfather contains several extra features. First is a commentary track with Director Nelson McCormick and Actors Penn Badgley and Dylan Walsh. They speak on the scenes that share similarities with the original The Stepfather, the film's themes and "David's" motivations, shooting with a particular rating in mind, shooting styles and equipment, how the participants came to be involved in the picture, filming locations, cuts and edits, visual effects enhancements, a...

Final Words
Another day, another terrible remake. The Stepfather is certainly far from the worst movie out there, or even the worst of 2009. Its short list of positives -- all of which are technical rather than thematic in nature -- simply cannot save an otherwise terrible movie that's full of holes, unresolved or completely superfluous character traits and developments, and a plot that proves to be one of the most predictable......

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Pontypool (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:00:50 -0500

Based on Tony Burgees' novel "Pontypool Changes Everything", Bruce McDonald's "Pontypool" (2009) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Kaleidoscope Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include: an audio commentary with director Bruce McDonald and screenwriter and actor Tony Burgees; the Blu-ray exclusive "Pontypool - the Radio Play"; two short films; stills gallery; and more. Region-Free....

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG- AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Bruce McDonald's Pontypool arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Kaleidoscope Entertainment.

The high-definition transfer is very strong. Clarity is excellent, fine object detail impressive and contrast levels consistent throughout the entire film. On the other hand, Pontypool has been drained of most of its colors, and as a result it truly looks quite cold (black ...

Audio
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Kaleidoscope Entertainment have not provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The audio treatment is very good. Even though the rear channels are not overly active, there are some terrific audio effects that really add up quite a bit of flavor to this film (particularity, after the main protagonists lock themselves up in the audio booth). On the other hand, the bass is...

Supplements
Audio commentary- a very informative and at the same time entertaining commentary with director Bruce McDonald and screenwriter and actor Tony Burgees. I listened to the entire commentary as I had a number of questions about some of the unusual themes Pontypool tackles, and suffice to say I found plenty of answers. Apparently, this is the first installment in a trilogy which, needless to say, I am now very much looking forward to.

Pontypool - the Radio Play<...

Final Words
Pontypool is a bold and remarkably original independent film, one that truly defies genre conventions. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed, courtesy of British distributors Kaleidoscope Entertainment, looks and sounds great. It also contains some terrific supplemental features. I particularly enjoyed the two short films, Eve and Dada Dum. RECOMMENDED. ......

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Bourne Identity (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 01:03:04 -0500
A captivating introduction to one of the most magnetic characters of the decade...

How is it that so many people doubted Matt Damon could play a rogue assassin on the run from his CIA handlers? Was he too passive in Ocean's Eleven? As I recall, his Linus Caldwell was a driven, quick-witted con artist who held his own against a number of seasoned criminals. Too genteel in Dogma? Not Loki, the foul-mouthed avenging angel with a penchant for hot-tempered hellfire and brimstone. Too dim-witted in Rounders? Hardly, his Mike McDermott was a street-savvy su...

Video
The Bourne Identity barrels onto Blu-ray with a solid 1080p/VC-1 transfer that, several issues notwithstanding, represents a notable upgrade from its standard DVD counterpart. Although the film's palette is largely subdued, there is strength and stability beneath every restrained primary and well-resolved black. Explosions, as uncommon as they are in the Bourne universe, boast brilliant oranges, nighttime Parisian sequences are sumptuous and rich, and reds are remarkable whenever...

Audio
Universal's video transfer may have inspired a shrug or two, but the studio's rousing DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track had me grinning from beginning to end. Dialogue is clean and intelligible, prioritization is spot on, and gunshots pack some heat of their own. Weighty LFE output lends oomph to every kick-kack, thoom, and roaring engine, and aggressive rear speaker activity encircles the listener with hurried crowds and brisk snow storms. John Powell's score has a ...

Supplements
The individual Blu-ray release of The Bourne Identity boasts the same generous supplemental package as its box set counterpart, the only difference being that it's all housed on a dual-sided BD-59 "Flipper" disc (Side A is the equivalent of a traditional BD-50, Side B is a DVD layer that contains a standard definition copy of the film).

U-Control Features: Three tracks are included. The "Treadstone Files" option allows users t...

Final Words
The Bourne Identity isn't as thrilling or mesmerizing as its shaky-cam sequels, but it's still a standout spy thriller worthy of the cinematic franchise it begat. Damon channels raw electricity as mainstay Jason Bourne, Liman's restrained action is arresting, and the story itself is compelling and masterfully constructed. Thankfully, Universal's Blu-ray release is a strong one. While some will no doubt bemoan the studio's use of a dual-sided BD-59 "Flipper Disc," the film's high defini......

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Black Dynamite (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:59:01 -0500
B.D. comes to BD.

Who the hell is interrupting my Kung Fu?

Black Dynamite. The name says it all. He's black, and he's dynamite. A bad man who's explosive with the ladies, a master of deadly weapons, a smooth operator, and sportin' a freshly-picked 'fro, Black Dynamite got a harsh background but a tender soul that both have allowed him to make it in the world, and he don't take no you-know-what from no fool, neither, whether on the streets, the jungles of ...

Video
Black Dynamite takes his fight to The Man in high definition, Sony's 1080p, 1.85:1-framed transfer a glorious rendition of the film that's faithful to its gritty source. Black Dynamite looks like a product of its era, with contrast and color reproduction that are all over the map, sometimes lending to the picture a yellow tint, and at other times a decidedly green tint, with flesh tones often following suit, ranging from pasty and light to decidedly red and ever...

Audio
Black Dynamite revs up on Blu-ray with a powerhouse DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The film's extensive use of 70s-style beats are splendidly reproduced with each note, the music and the pulsating low end in particular penetrating the soundstage with a richness and abundance of clarity that's probably about the best this style of music has ever sounded for home consumption. Indeed, the track enjoys a natural flow that allows it to spread out nicely about the soundstage; a...

Supplements
Black Dynamite rolls onto Blu-ray with a few assorted extras. First up is a commentary track with Director/Co-Writer Scott Sanders and Actors/Co-Writers Michael Jai White and Byron Minns. The track is delivered firmly and positively, the participants sharing an array of information on the sorts of actors that were cast in classic Blaxploitation pictures, the use of stock footage in the film, the film's many nods and homage to genre pictures past, shooting locations, the perf...

Final Words
Black Dynamite is an awful movie taken at face value, but as a Parody of and Homage to Blaxploitation cinema, it's a work of art. Its story line is fun and gradually degrades into absolute mayhem; its characters are stereotypes in every way imaginable; its soundtrack, set design, and costuming represent seamless recreations of 70s style; and its technical qualities never show even a hint that the movie isn't a product of its era. As such, Black Dynamite is a quintesse......

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Contract (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:25:20 -0500
A direct-to-video bomb with some surprisingly high profile stars.

Ive got a bad feeling about this, said Han Solo, and I imagine thats what director Bruce Beresford was thinking while filming The Contract, a convoluted thriller that eventually skipped theaters altogether and made its way unceremoniously straight to video. Beresford has made a number of good filmshe did Tender Mercies, Driving Miss Daisy, and Black Robe, among othersbut something went drastically wrong with The Contract. In his humorously titled 2007 mem...

Video
If theres one plus to the mess that is The Contract, its that the film looks excellent on Blu-ray, featuring a 1080p/VC-1 transfer thats crisp, colorful, and free of any technical troubles. Youll notice straight away that theres a great sense of overall clarity. All of those moles, freckles, and lines on Morgan Freemans iconic face are reproduced with fine detail, tree trunks are composed of sharp lineswithout any trace of edge enhancementand even the toppings of cops donuts pop ...

Audio
On the audio side of things, The Contracts Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track could stand to be a little beefier, but its still a more than adequate affair. And the film does have a couple of what you might call showpiece audio moments during a few of the bigger action sequences. During an early car accident, metal smashes against metal, twisting and screeching, while glass shatters and sprays all over the pavement. Later, when a helicopter crashes into the forest, its rotor blades shoot...

Supplements
Inside The Contract (SD, 21:28)
This is a fairly typical behind-the-scenes documentary that features lots of on-set footage and interviews with everyone involved. It's quite telling, though, that while the producers are trying much too hard to seem extremely enthused about the project here, Morgan Freeman, John Cusack, and director Bruce Beresford are much more reserved in expressing their satisfaction. I'd be trying to save face too, I guess.

Trailers
I...

Final Words
Someone should do a TV series called When Good Films Go Bad, a reality show that follows directors and cast and crew members on the troubled sets of failing films. The Contract wouldve made a perfect pilot episodeits got big stars, a reputable director, and it tanks miserably. On the upside, the very small upside, The Contract looks and sounds pretty good on Blu-ray. Is it worth a rental? That depends on how much you like Freeman and Cusack, but Id say no. ......

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Dark City (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:02:23 -0500
One of the greatest science fiction films of all time earns a controversial Blu-ray release.

Every sci-fi generation has a gold-standard that deserves recognition for its dense layering and memorable impact on movie-going audiences. Depending on your age, that film could be 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blade Runner, or any other visionary masterpiece that moved you in some way. In my case, that experience arrived in the form of a film Id heard little about, but managed to garner a double-feature engagement with The Devils Advocat...

Video
Presented in 1080p utilizing the VC-1 codec (at an average bitrate of 23Mbps), Dark City is destined to remain one of the most controversial Blu-ray transfers on the market. Given the number of times I revisited the film on DVD, this newly-minted high-definition offering delivers a tremendous upgrade in coloring, black levels, and contrast, but the most profound improvement arrives in the form of increased clarity. I know Im facing a hoard of videophiles preparing to decry any mention ...

Audio
Regardless of your opinion regarding New Lines remastering of the transfer, theres little reason to complain when given a lossless 7.1 audio mix. The primary strength of the track lies in the musical score by composer Trevor Jones, who effectively builds a subtle base of tension, before beating us down with thunderous overtones. As the film initially opens, viewers are intimately aware of Johns Murdocks state of despair and confusion, but those emotions are twice as powerful with the dicho...

Supplements
Considering the primary supplement on the disc is the inclusion of the directors cut of the film (while still incorporating the original theatrical edition), I cant complain extensively about New Lines decision to provide the special features in 480p. Having said that, the main reason Ive graded the supplement section a 4/5 is due to the lack of high definition content.

Commentary Tracks:

Directors Cut: There are three full-length commentary tracks on the directors cut alone...

Final Words
Like Blade Runner before it, Dark City is a film that many dismissed during the original theatrical run, but earned tremendous respect in the years to follow. The science fiction community needed a breakout production to renew the faith of genre fans everywhere, and thats exactly what Alex Proyas set out to do. If you havent seen Dark City, theres never been a better time than the present, especially in light of the superior directors cut offering on this release. For......

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Chihuly in the Hotshop (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:46:41 -0500
A fascinating look inside the creative process of one of the most distinctive artists of our time.

Ive been a longtime fan of Dale Chihuly, the visionary glass artist whose works are mesmerizingly beautiful. I knew I respected and admired his work as an artist, but I didnt know how much Id like the man, even vicariously, until a traveling exhibition of his often ornate and incredibly complex glass pieces came to the Portland Art Museum. During the exhibition, an elderly lady attending the show lost her balance and fell right into one of Chihulys huge pieces, smashing it to smithe...

Video
Despite being 1080i and encoded via MPEG-2, Chihuly in the Hotshop has a brilliantly sharp and unbelievably well saturated image. Watching these diverse creations melt into life is really wonderful, and the Blu-ray's superior resolution shows every spark and filament firing each glassy masterpiece. Colors are exceptionally vivid throughout the 90 minute documentary, with some of the deepest blues, reds and greens I've experienced lately. Despite being an interlaced video, I'm pleased t...

Audio
By everyday SD-DVD standards, the Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is fine. By Blu-ray standards, it's pretty lackluster. Then again, there's really not much here other than the nonstop Tom Tom Club music, which I guess they could have repurposed for 5.1, and the occasional commentary of Chihuly himself as well as his cohorts. What is here is clear as a bell, with good fidelity and no audio issues or anomalies of any kind to report. Documentaries typically get the short shrift audio wise, and ...

Supplements
No supplements are offered....

Final Words
People in glass houses probably already know who Chihuly is. For the rest of you, I highly recommend this fascinating and visually astounding look at one of the most unique artists of our time.......

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House of the Devil (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:26:29 -0500
Its happening. No matter what you do it wont stop. It cant be stopped.

Some things were better in the 80s. Very few things, mind you, but biggies: Saturday morning cartoons, for instance. Or how about our national nemesis? Id take a Cold War with the Red Menace over an actual war with terrorists any day, threat of nuclear annihilation or not. Best of all, though, were the horror movies. Fright films in the 90s, like the Scream series, grew increasingly detached, satirical even, winking at the audience to call attention to their ironic use of by ...

Video
It should tell you something that The House of the Devil is being simultaneously released on Blu-ray, DVD, and VHS (via an Amazon-exclusive DVD/VHS combo pack). This is one film that definitely wont be up for any end-of-the-year awards for stunning picture quality. But thats precisely the point. The film aspires to emulate 80s horror completely, down to the murky, often over-dark visuals. So, in one sense, Im tempted to give the film a 5 out of 5 video rating simply ...

Audio
Similarly, the films DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track isnt going to impress golden-eared audiophiles, but it absolutely nails the sound of 80s horror. The song that plays during the opening creditswith noodling keyboard lines, digital drums, and riff-y guitarcould have easily come from Zombi 2 or some synth-soaked Italian giallo. Later, when we get to the titular house, we get two note cues straight out of an early John Carpenter film. And the main piano theme is as c...

Supplements
Audio Commentaries
The disc includes two commentary tracks, both of which are worth a listen if you want to know more about the film. In the first, director Ti West and Jocelyn Donahue have a subdued but informative conversation that addresses all the usual topics, from the story and hectic 18-day shooting schedule, to the audio and set design. The second, featuring Ti West, sound designer Graham Resnik, and producers Larry Fessenden and Peter Phok, is a much wilder, laugh-fi...

Final Words
The House of the Devil is a delicious horror throwback that establishes writer/director/editor Ti West as a genre talent to watch. The slower-than-molasses pacing will probably turn off more mainstream horror-hounds, but fans of the classics will be glued to the screen by the syrupy suspense. West proves quite strikingly that you can still make em like they used to. Recommended.......

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Weeds: Season 5 (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:42:51 -0500
Now more daytime TV than original adult-oriented entertainment.

I'm a Botwin. We're not responsible for anything we do.

What was once a novel concept and a fairly-executed television show has become but a shell of itself. Five seasons in, and "Weeds" has lost its allure. The characters are running thin, the clever plot lines have been all but discarded in favor of ridiculous Soap Opera plot lines and revelations, and the drug business seems more a tacked-on afterthought rather than the centerpiece of the show. It's an admitt...

Video
"Weeds: Season Five" blows onto Blu-ray with a technically suitable but hardly noteworthy 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer. In general, this rendition of "Weeds" appears pasty, artificial, and flat. Skin tones in particular often take on a ghastly, unnatural tint, though they do occasionally veer towards an orange shade. Despite the flat appearance, finer detail is suitably presented; shirts reveal fine stitching and tree bark is roughly and naturally textured, as are more complex ...

Audio
"Weeds: Season Five" sprouts a serviceable but hardly invigorating DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless soundtrack. Frankly, the track rarely delves into information that goes beyond basic dialogue and musical reproduction, both of which are delivered smoothly and distortion-free. Nevertheless, a few scattered scenes through each episode offer a more expansive listen that adds a bit of aural flair to a soundtrack that's technically sound but otherwise painfully boring. Surrounds occasionally chim...

Supplements
"Weeds: Season Five" arrives on Blu-ray with a fair assortment of extras spread across both discs. Disc one features the following commentary tracks: Episode One, "Wonderful, Wonderful," with Series Creator Jenji Kohan; Episode Three, "Su-Su-Sucio," with Writers Roberto Benabib and Matthew Salsberg; Episode Five, "Van Nuys," with Actors Hunter Parrish and Kevin Nealon; and Episode Seven, "Where the Sidewalk Ends," with Writers Roberto Benabib and Matthew Salsberg and Actor Kevin Nealo...

Final Words
At best, "Weeds: Season Five" is a mixed-bag that features a few passable and plausible story extensions that recall and build upon the show's original themes and feel, but for the most part, it's a show that's lost touch with its roots, delving into territory that feels out of place for a show of meager but exciting origins. While viewers can connect the dots throughout the series' entire run and see how the story has progressed from season to season, season five nevertheless seems far......

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D. Gray-Man: Season One, Part One (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:12:43 -0500
An interesting kick-off to the long-running anime series is muddled by a weak transfer.

With the recent release of D. Gray-man on Blu-ray, Funimation switched gears by delivering bite-sized portions of the lengthy first season, rather than offering a colossal 51-episode box set. While I cant say Im all that excited about playing the waiting game for subsequent episodes, it appears the next 13-episode bundle is set for release only four months after this collection (not that bad considering the typical release schedule during the DVD days). For those unfamiliar with the a...

Video
Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 21Mbps), D. Gray-man offers one of the sloppiest visual presentations Ive seen from Funimation. In recent months thereve been growing concerns over the use of digital noise reduction on anime productions from Funimation (Samurai Champloo and Basilisk to be exact), but the newly released 2-disc set of D. Gray-man is easily the weakest entry out of the three. The most egregious offense is the prese...

Audio
Mirroring Funimations DVD release from a year ago, The Blu-ray contains the original Japanese language track in Dolby Digital 2.0 (not Dolby TrueHD 2.0 as the back cover indicates), but offers a lossless upgrade for the 5.1 English dubbed track. In a perfect world, Id hope for a lossless surround option in the native language of the series, but considering the limitations of the original recording, my only disappointment with this effort lies in the decision to stick with a lossy 2.0 track, r...

Supplements
The supplements on this release are limited to a commentary track on episode two, a collection of trailers for other Funimation releases, and textless opening and closing songs. The English commentary features Todd Haberkorn (voice of Allen Walker and director of the English voice cast) and Luci Christian (voice of Lenalee Lee and contributing writer on the English version). Rather than focusing on the action in the episode, the pair discuss the casting decisions for the series and the difficu...

Final Words
The first 13 episodes of D. Gray-man build a good base for the rest of the series to build on. By the end of this initial collection, we know Allen is expected to play a large role in a terrible prophecy, and the Earl of Millenium has enlisted the aid of a group known as Noah. Both revelations look to play a role in the direction of the series, and should make for a high level of entertainment in the episodes to come. Although Ive expressed my overall enjoyment of the series from a co......

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Way of War (Blu-ray Review)

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:37:13 -0500
"The Way of Confusion" would be a better title.

Do you think the Academy ever considered the idea of asking for an Oscar back if an actor is proven unworthy in the years to follow? Time and time again we witness the self-destructive tendency of post-award failure. From Halle Berry to Nicholas Cage, some actors and actresses seem to view the winning of a golden statue as a vehicle for a higher paycheck rather than an honorable distinction worthy of preservation (Catwoman anyone?). In the case of Cuba Gooding Jr., we run into the same...

Video
Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 24Mbps), The Way of War looks to be an accurate representation of the source material, which isnt always a good thing. During the initial ten minutes of the film, I was blown away by the presence of crisp fine object detail, which clearly establishes false hope. Before long, detail began showing traces of crumbling proficiency, as one scene after another seemed increasingly marginal. Along with the inconsistency in d...

Audio
Considering The Way of War relies heavily on dialog to further the story (what little there may be), the lossless audio track should strive to deliver those elements with abundant clarity. Instead, most listeners will struggle to decide which was worse; the absurdity of the script, or the lack of clear dialogue. To give you an idea of what Im referring to, theres a scene toward the end of the film when Wolfe faces a government official, who spouts off a nonsensical quote as he stands ...

Supplements
There are no supplements included on the disc....

Final Words
Have you ever unknowingly ventured into your local cinema and watched an awful film? As you sit there hoping the film will improve, you witness a gradual flow of people leaving the theater as they reach their breaking point, yet you remain firmly planted in your seat, unwilling to cut your losses and run with the other cowards. Time marches on, and you soon find yourself sitting alone with a tub of popcorn as your only friend, waiting for the epic conclusion thats sure to make the entire expe......

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Damages: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:26:33 -0500
A staggering cast delivers the goods in yet another acclaimed FX series...

With a highly anticipated third season prepped for launch and a mesmerizing second season arriving on DVD this week -- come on Sony, why no high definition love? -- it seems only fitting to finally review, and subsequently recommend, the first thrilling season of Damages, Todd Kessler, Daniel Zelman, and Glen Kessler's startlingly inventive, wholly unpredictable FX television series. That's not to say it's without its flaws, just that it succeeds where a wide variety of legal dramas have...

Video
Have no fear Hewes & Associates inductees, the garish noise and searing contrast that greets viewers at the outset of Damages' first episode is merely a visual cue Zelman and the Kessler brothers reserve for flash-forward sequences. The moment the series' main timeline takes the reigns, Sony's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer proves its real worth, doling out rich colors, nicely resolved blacks, lifelike skintones, and far more alluring photography. Object definition is sharp and satisfying (...

Audio
Though it seemed more remarkable when I first heard it two years ago, Sony's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track nevertheless remains an impressive, notably able-bodied lossless offering. Dialogue, whether whispered or spouted, is hearty, nimble, and perfectly prioritized throughout the first season's twelve episodes, thwarting the clamor of heavy traffic, bustling city streets, and wintry winds with ease. James Levine's riveting score is just as impressive, drawing upon the track's LFE prowess an...

Supplements
The 3-disc Blu-ray edition of Damages: The Complete First Season features a small assortment of high-quality supplements, the majority of which are presented in high definition. Additional audio commentaries or Picture-in-Picture content would have made the set irresistible, but as it stands, it feels a bit slim compared to other television releases on the market.

Audio Commentaries: Two commentaries are included. Up first is...

Final Words
Before its third season gets underway next week, take this reasonably priced opportunity to introduce yourself to one of FX's more intriguing series, as well as one of the more captivating legal dramas on television. With an unforgettable cast, gripping performances, and a sharply written, unpredictable multi-tiered story, each twist and turn will leave viewers with the overwhelming desire to jump into the next episode posthaste. Sony's 3-disc Blu-ray edition is just as strong as The Comple......

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Rockers (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:57:18 -0500
If you thought 'The Harder They Come' was the be-all end-all of Reggae films, you haven't seen 'Rockers.'

Most people talking about 1978s Rockers, the quasi-documentary about Jamaican Reggae culture, tend to begin their comments by drawing a straight line from 1972s The Harder They Come, the Jimmy Cliff opus which introduced a lot of people to the propulsively rhythmic music of the island nation. As perhaps non-intuitive as it may seem, Id like to begin my comparative analysis with a much older film, the gorgeous 1959 masterpiece Black Orpheus. As I watched Rockers, ...

Video
When assessing Rockers 1080p VC-1 encoded image, the viewer must separate the Blu-rays quality from the source elements themselves. Most, if not all, of Rockers is shot verité style, with natural lighting. What that means is many scenes appear too dark and underdeveloped. When mixed with the black faces of many of the participants, that can lead to indistinguishable features, for example in the opening alleyway scene of the brass players, where at least one or two of the faces...

Audio
Theres no lossless audio on this Blu-ray, which may turn some audiophiles off considering the films emphasis on music. That said, the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is quite robust in and of itself, offering good fidelity and a surprising amount of low end most of the time. I wasnt overwhelmed with surround effects, though they creep into the soundfield in the many street scenes, and are much more noticeable in the many musical segments. The film defaults to English Jamaican Patois subtitles in ord...

Supplements
Probably the biggest overall disappointment for fans of the film is the fact that this Blu-ray offers no supplements. It's especially odd when you consider the 25th anniversary SD-DVD release had several excellent bonuses....

Final Words
Still largely a cult title thirty-odd years since its release, Rockers is a charming and affecting piece of filmmaking, ably blending real life characters and the burgeoning Reggae movement in Jamaica of the late 1970s. This Blu-ray has its pluses and minuses, but the film itself is a treasure and deserves to be more widely known and seen than it has been.......

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2009 World Series Champions: Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Yankees (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:59:55 -0500

"2009 World Series Champions: Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Yankees" arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Factory. The supplemental features on the disc are comprised of short clips highlighting some of the most memorable moments from the 2009 World Series. Not subtitled in English. Region-Free....

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080i transfer, 2009 World Series Champions: Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Yankees arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Factory.

I don't have any major reservations with the high-definition transfer. Detail is pleasing, clarity adequate and contrast levels surprisingly consistent. Obviously, there is plenty of footage here from a number of different games, but it appears that the producers of th...

Audio
There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and English LPCM 2.0. For the record, Shout Factory have not provided optional English subtitles.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is not overly aggressive, but it certainly allows one to fully immerse into the amazing atmosphere that always follows the World Series. The bass is heavy and strong. The surround channels see a limited amount of activity, but during a few of the World Series games, th...

Supplements
In the bonus section of the disc, you will find the following clips:

1. ALDS Game 2: Alex Rodriguez HR
2. ALDS Game 2: Mark Teixeira Walk-Off HR
3. ALCS Game 2: Alex Rodriguez HR
4. ALCS Game 2: Yankees Walk-Off Win
5. ALCS Game 6: Last Out
6. WS Game 3: Alex Rodriguez HR
7. WS Game 4: Johnny Damon 9th Inning At-Bat
8. WS Game 4: Johnny Damon Stealing Second and Third Base
9. WS Game 6: Alex Rodriguez 9th Inning Double
10. WS Game 6: Hid...

Final Words
2009 World Series Champions: Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Yankees is for Yankees fans only! If you are a casual baseball fan, then there isn't much here that you would appreciate. Shout Factory have put together an attractive package - the video and audio treatments are solid. Unfortunately, they have not included optional English subtitles for the main feature, which is quite surprising given that Yankees fans live all over the world. Fortunately, the Blu-ray disc is Region-Free. R......

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Highlander: Season One (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:37:48 -0500
A decent but dated series is hobbled by a shabby transfer...

Here we are, born to be kings, we're the princes of the universe. Here we belong, fighting to survive in a world with the darkest powers. And here we are, we're the princes of the universe. Here we belong, fighting for survival. We've come to be the rulers of you all! I am immortal, I have inside me blood of kings, yeah! Yeah! I have no rival, no man can be my equal. Take me to the future of you all!

Ah, the sweet, sweet song of nostalgia; the bewitching hymn of home vide...

Video
The Blu-ray release of Highlander: Season One has been riddled with controversy. Presented with a less-than-spectacular (to put it mildly) 720p/AVC-encoded transfer, it has drawn harsh criticism from the series' eager, outspoken fanbase. In an official statement released late last year, post-production producer Donald Paonessa had this to say about all the hubbub: In response to the postings regarding the 'Highlander Season 1' Blu-ray release, we would like to say (as the people who ...

Audio
While the previously released DVD set saddled fans with an impaired Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track -- one that set off a firestorm of complaints -- the Blu-ray edition offers a more palatable Dolby Digital 2.1 stereo track (at 224kbps). Voices are clean and intelligible in all but a few muddled cases, the frequent cling clang of swords is sharp and clear, and the Quickenings flex some notable sonic muscle. LFE response is little more than a blunt force instrument, but its support of t...

Supplements
The 4-disc Blu-ray release of Highlander: Season One comes packed with more than three hours of special features, the majority of which are presented in low-quality standard definition. It's a decent assortment, to be sure, but audio commentaries with the cast and crew would have given fans a real reason to pick up the set.

Immortal Memories (SD, 32 minutes): Highlander star Christopher Lambert and series lead Adrian Pa...

Final Words
Highlander: Season One hasn't aged very well over the last seventeen years, but it still offers fans the silky stab of early '90s nostalgia they so crave. That being said, Legendary Studios' 4-disc Blu-ray edition leaves a lot to be desired. Its controversial video transfer left me wondering why a high definition release was even considered, its Dolby Digital 2.1 stereo mix is merely adequate, and its supplemental package, though beefy, lacks the sort of material (audio commentaries, Pi......

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Pride & Prejudice (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:26:50 -0500
We fully expect a most advantageous marriage!

In college, I was one of three guys in my Victorian Womens Lit class. We huddled together for safety in one corner of the room, surrounded by a specific breed of mousy female English majors that we referred to, in our particularly callous vernacular, as Plain Janes and Brontë-sauruses. Which may sound cruel, but we were just trying to hold our own in a mock-serious, semester- long battle of the sexes in which we were vastly outnumbered. Actually, all three of us were relatively feminis...

Video
Pride & Prejudice comes the debutante ball on Blu-ray with a beautifully warm and cinematic 1080p/VC-1 transfer in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. If youve seen the film before, youll know the color palette is both subtle and extremely rich, with utmost attention paid to harmony in both costumes and set design. Thankfully, this carefulness caries over into the Blu-ray release. See the frilly pastel dresses of the Bennet daughters, the primary red of British infantry coats, gathering st...

Audio
You might not be expecting a period drama like Pride & Prejudice to feature bold and immersive sound designJane Austen often seems fit for a fusty monaural mixbut the film comes to Blu- ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track thats surprisingly potent. From the opening pianoforte tones of the films main theme, the music establishes itself as lush and detailed. At the community dance, string arrangements ache with resonate bass and the startlingly clear timbre of...

Supplements
Commentary by Director Joe Wright
Owners of the Pride Prejudice DVD will be familiar with all of the features included here, starting with this rather unenthusiastic commentary track by director Joe Wright, who spends an inordinate amount of time talking about shots he wished he had gotten, lighting he wished he had had, and weather that simply didnt cooperate. Not exactly essential listening.

Conversations with the Cast (SD, 6:17)
This is one ...

Final Words
The best romantic films, I think, are those where you fall in love with the lovers themselves, where their sorrows make the bottom of your heart drop out and their joys echo some intense emotion from your own life. Its a completely personal experienceand I apologize if this review has seemed too subjectivebut thats basically what Pride & Prejudice does for me. Its one of those the films that I enjoy almost irrationally. Not in a guilty pleasure waythe film is much too......

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Talento de barrio (Neighborhood Talent) (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:20:32 -0500
The Latino offspring of Menace to Society and 8 Mile...

If youre like me, you probably took one look at the cover of Talento de Barrio and assumed the title of the film is Daddy Yankee. After all, they plastered the name of the lead actor in bold lettering across the top, leaving only a slim section of the bottom corner for the true title. For all intents and purposes, the film probably should have been called Daddy Yankees Talento de Barrio, given his immense popularity as a reggaeton artist in Latin America. Considering Im no...

Video
Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 23Mbps), Talento de Barrio suffers from limitations in the source material and some disappointing stylistic choices on the part of the cinematography. When I refer to the style of the film, Im mainly decrying the intentional yellowing of the entire image, to give the film a dingy attribute. I can understand the desire to paint the slums in a negative light, but for anyone whos visited Puerto Rico this simply ...

Audio
As with any non-English language release, I prefer to listen to the audio track that contains the original dialog. In the case of Talento de Barrio, this meant my only option is a lossy 2.0 mix with marginal proficiency. Listening to nuances of the track, theres a certain muffled quality to the dialog or environmental effects, which became all the more apparent during moments when the soundtrack comes thundering to the forefront. As expected from a 2-channel mix, every eleme...

Supplements
Interviews (480p, Dolby Digital 2.0): If youre fortunate enough to speak Spanish, theres a lengthy collection of cast interviews included on the disc. Considering I dont speak Spanish and there are no subtitles available, I have no idea whether this is a worthwhile supplement....

Final Words
Offering a recommendation on Talento de Barrio is a sticky situation that will largely hinge on the taste of each individual viewer. If youre able to appreciate a foreign production without comparing it to superior Hollywood offerings in the same genre, Id assume youll find enough entertainment value to warrant at least a rental. However, if you have a natural tendency to watch every film with a critical attention to detail, and look for originality as partial criteria for yo......

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Equator: Power of an Ocean (Blu-ray Review)

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:52:25 -0500
The first misfire from the "Equator" series...

Power of an Ocean is another entry in the Equator documentary series that originally aired on Animal Planet and Discovery HD. Each 53 minute episode focuses on a different region of the equatorial line, introducing viewers to various ecosystems that support an abundant variety of life....

Video
It should be noted that the outer case incorrectly labels this disc as 1080P FULL HD.

Presented in 1080i utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 32Mbps) Power of an Ocean offers an inconsistent visual experience that falls short of the proficiency shown on other episodes of the series. Detail is the primary culprit in my lack of enthusiasm, with at least 20 percent of the underwater footage appearing a touch on the hazy side. Id fully attribute the lack of clarity to th...

Audio
The two audio offerings on the disc are both presented in English, but one is a Dolby Digital 2.0 track and the other is a LPCM 2.0 track. Considering both options lack the incorporation of significant surround activity, I settled for the lossless mix, which offered a higher degree of clarity in comparison with the lossy track. Every element is afforded appropriate weight from a volume standpoint, and although theres no surround use for environmental noises, I was pleased with the subtle effect...

Supplements
There are no supplements included on the disc....

Final Words
Just when I thought the Equator series was shaping up to be the best thing since Planet Earth, I found an episode that can best be described as a road-bump in an otherwise smooth ride. As a result, Im reserving further judgment until I can assess additional episodes and provide an accurate conclusion regarding the series as a whole.......

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Ministers (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:14:37 -0500
Does anyone remember the good old days when Leguizamo was a comedian?

Given the recent success of Taken, revenge films seem to be the latest craze in Hollywood. All it takes is a single night of television, and youll likely find trailers for two upcoming films with revenge at the core. When you consider most budding filmmakers keep their finger on the pulse of whats hot, it comes as no surprise that director Franc. Reyes picked 2009 as the year when hed finally turn his first screenplay into a cinematic masterpiece. After all, hed already earned at l...

Video
Presented in 1080p utilizing the VC-1 codec (at an average bitrate of 25Mbps), The Ministers delivers an average visual experience that ultimately fails to impress on any level. Fine object detail offers reasonable clarity in approximately 75% of the film, but the other 25% appears far too hazy for a high definition offering. I dont mind a smooth, film-like transfer (not every film is meant to be razor sharp), but the lack of well-delineated textures became troublesome. Beyond the lac...

Audio
As with prior releases from Maya Home Entertainment (a relatively new studio with a focus on Latin productions), all were given is a Dolby Digital 5.1 track in the native language of English. Sadly, as with most other lossy tracks, the mix lacks the clarity and punch weve come to expect from a lossless mix. The film itself is a dialogue driven affair with punctuated moments of intense action, so theres rarely much expectation for the track to do anything more than simply deliver clear lines...

Supplements
Interviews (480p, Dolby Digital 2.0, 9:31 min): Beginning with an interview between John Leguizamo and an unnamed female reporter, this supplement focuses largely on a discussion of Latino filmmaking (which grows tiresome extremely fast). Eventually, the featurette switches to a brief interview with Wanda De Jesus, who offers praise for director Franc. Reyes and compares him to Martin Scorsese (are you kidding me???). The final 90 seconds features Franc. Reyes, who offers a topical analysis of...

Final Words
When I originally looked at the cover for The Ministers and read the brief synopsis of the plot, I assumed this was a production with potential. After all, the key to a successful revenge story is quite simple. Make an emotional appeal to the audience, create a character we can sympathize with, and let the mayhem ensue. Unfortunately, The Ministers never generates an ounce of sympathy for its victims, and fails to present a single worthwhile twist. Add in shoddy acting on top o......

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Michael Jackson's This is It (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:37:02 -0500
"This is It,' a celebration of life rather than a remembrance after death, is a must-own Blu-ray for both Michael Jackson fans and connoisseurs of exceptional filmmaking.

This is the final curtain call.

On June 25th, 2009, the world lost one of its preeminent entertainers, a musical sensation whose career spanned decades, topped charts, and touched the lives of millions upon millions of fans around the world. One of the most recognizable names and faces of the 20th century and dubbed "The King of Pop," entertainer Michael Jackson was on the cusp of an ambitious and large-scale London comeback tour. Entitled "This is It," his series o...

Video
Michael Jackson's This is It features a 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer that's a mixture of high definition and standard definition video footage, but the end result is nevertheless an overall strong visual presentation when taken in the proper context and allowing for the flaws inherent to the source. As one might expect, the high definition material proves the visual star of the show and, generally, looks exceptional. It's rather crisp, clean, and nicely detailed; viewers will ...

Audio
Michael Jackson's This is It features a mesmerizing DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Nothing but the best would do, and Sony's latest lossless endeavor ranks among the best the format has to offer. For as good as the film looks, this soundtrack tops it, and from the opening beats onward, it dazzles with every musical number but also solidifies itself as an exceptional track even in quieter scenes with a more nuanced audio presentation. The beats of the uptempo songs penetra...

Supplements
Michael Jackson's This is It arrives on Blu-ray with a solid assortment of extra content. First up is Staging the Return (1080p, 40:46), a two-part Documentary that examines the "This is It" tour. Beginning with The Adventure Begins (1080p, 28:13), the piece features various people from within Jackson's circle looking back on the artist's career and the formation of what would become the comeback tour and final series of performances that never was. It focuses o...

Final Words
Michael Jackson's This is It is a career-defining Documentary, a fitting final tribute to an icon of entertainment, and an exceptional film from both thematic and entertainment perspectives. Surprisingly deep and moving but also tremendously fun if only for the enjoyment of the music and performances, This is It is an excellent piece that's sure to please longtime Michael Jackson fans but also serves as a wonderful, no-bias, nuts-and-bolts introduction to the man's music......

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Zombieland (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:56:43 -0500
"This land is my land, this land is Zombie land."

This is now the United States of Zombieland.

Poor zombies. All they want to do is eat, and they're slaughtered for it. The living dead crave a liver, the dying living crave a Twinkie. Is there no justice? Is there any difference? Dead is dead is dead is dead. Livers, Twinkies, at the end of the day, it's all about clogged arteries, rotting flesh, and decay. So Zombies might not want to live off of Twinkies and Cokes. To them, it's all about the protein. Goo...

Video
Zombieland dazzles with a consistently excellent 1080p, 2.39:1-framed transfer that's borderline visual perfection. Shot digitally, the image is smooth and lacking in background noise, lending to the picture a clean and exceptionally clear glossy exterior that houses plenty of intricately-rendered detail throughout. The film features several slow-motion shots that showcase breathtaking levels of fine detail, whether shattered glass or globs of blood, bile, and general carnage....

Audio
Zombieland arrives on Blu-ray with a nicely-balanced DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack that's of high quality across the entire spectrum. The film boasts exceptionally-realized power during action scenes, a reserved atmosphere that's nevertheless wholly engulfing and aurally satisfying, and handles all the material in between with ease. Music enjoys exceptional clarity throughout, with a hard rock number as heard over the title sequence blaring from the speakers with pinpoint ...

Supplements
This Blu-ray release of Zombieland comes with a meaty supplemental package that's fit for consumption. First up is the Beyond the Graveyard Picture-in-Picture Track, a nicely produced secondary video track that features a myriad of topics and participants. The track showcases the construction of various scenes both with and without cast and crew commentary, showing scenes in various stages of filmed and digital production, raw behind-the-scenes footage, storyboards, c...

Final Words
Zombieland is a genre lover's dream come true, a movie that's put it all together, realized what the genre is all about, and what it needs to continue on, at least with a fresh and novel approach to keep things cinematically interesting until the real Zombies start poking their (literally) rotten noses into everything, and then movies won't matter, anyway. Indeed, Zombieland is the Star Trek of its gen......

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Thirst (Bakjwi) (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:45:46 -0500

Winner of the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Korean director Park Chan-wook's dark and deliciously perverse "Bakjwi" a.k.a "Thirst" (2009) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Palisades Tartan. The only supplemental features on the disc are: trailer; a UK exclusive interview with director Park Chan-wook, conducted by Jessica Mellor; and UK exclusive edited highlights of director masterclass at NFTS. With optional English subtitles. Region-B "locked". ...

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Park Chan-wook's Thirst arrives on Blu-tay courtesy of British distributors Palisades Tartan.

This is an excellent transfer! Fine object detail is terrific, clarity very good and contrast levels consistent throughout the entire film. However, what really stands out here is the color-scheme. Blues, greens, browns, grays, blacks and whites are incredibly rich, giving the film a unique l...

Audio
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: Korean DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Palisades Tartan have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

The audio treatment is every bit as impressive as the video treatment. Though not too active, the bass is strong and powerful. The rear channels are used intelligently - there are more than a few very unique ambient effects that I notice...

Supplements
Interview - a UK exclusive interview with director Park Chan-wook, conducted by Jessica Mellor (Daily Mirror). The Korean director discusses the strange journey the two main characters embark upon, their character transformations, the unique qualities of Thirst, the shooting process, etc. In Korean, with optional English subtitles. (14 min).

Masterclass Highlights - UK exclusive edited highlights of director masterclass at NFTS. Here the Kore...

Final Words
British distributors Palisades Tartan deserve a lot of credit for bringing Park Chan-wook's dark and deliciously perverse Thirst to Blu-ray. This really is a fantastic package whose only downside is the fact that it does not offer a better selection of supplemental features. I am now very excited to see where Palisades Tartan go from here. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ......

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Rising Sun (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:15:44 -0500
When Photoshop Was Young or, 'Rising Sun.'

You don't think video can be altered?

The late novelist Michael Crichton was renowned for his implementation of advanced technology amidst a world of danger, intrigue, and action. Though not one of the author's more noted works of fiction-turned-motion picture -- thanks in large part to one Mr. Steven Spielberg -- 1993's Rising Sun is nevertheless vintage Crichton, the story incorporating a deadly game of murder, mystery, and sleight-of-hand thanks not only to c...

Video
Rising Sun comes up on Blu-ray with an inconsistent 1080p, 1.85:1-framed transfer. The film's open -- and indeed much of the picture -- appears sloppy and poorly resolved. Soft, fuzzy, and populated by sporadic dirt and debris, the picture certainly doesn't inspire confidence from the get-go. Rising Sun is a particularly dark picture -- especially in its opening act -- and in conjunction with an already sloppy appearance, it's no surprise that fine detail, while ...

Audio
Rising Sun debuts on Blu-ray with a passable but otherwise underwhelming DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The film begins with, and features several times throughout, a thunderous drum presentation that's the highlight of the track despite the absence of exceptional clarity but not lacking in sufficiently loud volume. Nevertheless, many sound effects throughout Rising Sun seem dated and muffled. Elevator doors slide open and across the front half of the soundstage bu...

Supplements
This Blu-ray release of Rising Sun contains only 1080p trailers for Rising Sun (2:29), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Kiss of the Dragon....

Final Words
Rising Sun is a solid all-around Thriller that features minimalist direction that smartly allows for the film's tightly-woven mystery and solid performances to dominate every frame. Though parts of the film feel dated, the story nevertheless remains sufficiently intriguing so as to mask any shortcomings that seem evident only years after the picture's initial release. Still, Rising Sun is a good picture that's aimed at mature audiences and requires some effort to fully ......

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Atonement (Blu-ray Review)

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:43:09 -0500
Wright's gorgeous film may suffer from a bum ending, but its AV presentation soars....

Seamus McGarvey's sumptuous cinematography, Dario Marianelli's unforgettable score, director Joe Wright's highly anticipated followup to Pride & Prejudice, Christopher Hampton's sharp adaptation of Ian McEwan's celebrated novel, a haunting tale of love and woe, an exceptionally talented young cast, critical acclaim, rampant hype, countless nominations, a heap of awards, a coveted Oscar, golden statue after golden statue... how could a film like Atonement possibly disappoint? Havin...

Video
Both achingly filmic and incredibly faithful to its source, Atonement's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is nothing short of beautiful. Every texture, every detail has been preserved, and edge enhancement and ringing are nowhere to be found. Everything from the second act's blood-stained uniforms, tattered bandages, and plumes of smoke to the first act's fire-lit chambers, fog-swept gardens, and sun-bathed fields are dazzling. Yes, visibility is a bit low in McGarvey's darkest shots, and yes...

Audio
Dat... dat... dat... dat... dat... dat-dat-dat-dat. So thunders Briony's typewriter as Atonement's hushed but arresting DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track first makes itself known. While it isn't the most aggressive mix I've had the opportunity to review of late, it's nevertheless an exceedingly effective one, freeing the nimble piano runs and tepid string strums of Dario Marianelli's masterful, Oscar-winning score in every channel. Wright's period piece is largely a front-h...

Supplements
Sadly, the Blu-ray edition of Atonement offers the same supplemental package as its DVD counterpart, standard definition video and all. New content, particularly of the Picture-in-Picture variety, would have certainly helped, but there isn't any to be found. As it stands, Director Joe Wright's audio commentary is the only feature that adds substantial value to the release.

Audio Commentary: A notably humble Joe Wright deliver...

Final Words
Atonement is a resonant period romance, a powerful study of longing and regret, and a startling tale of misperception and misunderstanding... at least for 106 minutes. The eight minutes that follow will either hold your attention or leave you enraged. Three guesses as to how well its ending sat with me. Luckily, Universal's Blu-ray release isn't as divisive. Even though its supplemental package desperately needs more content and punch, its video transfer is nearly impeccable and its D......

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Ninja (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:30:27 -0500
Look out Jason Statham, there's a new kid in town.

Does anyone recall a stretch of the mid-1990s when our television sets were overrun by a startling phenomenon known as the Mighty Morphin Power Ranger? Fascinated by the violent encounters that dominated each episode, children everywhere picked their favorite Ranger and donned their spandex Halloween costume hoping they could someday take on evil costumed villains and Godzilla-sized robots. Naturally, I was too old to fully understand the Power Ranger craze, but I wasnt too old to notice...

Video
Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 28Mbps), Ninja looks outstanding with the exception of one key deficiency (which Ill address later). Beginning with the positives, fine object detail is amazingly clear, revealing every texture with profound clarity. Look for the fine hairs on the back of Caseys neck or the individual seams on his leather jacket to gain a better understanding of the precise attention to detail Im referring to. In addition to the ex...

Audio
For a low-budget action flick, this is one aggressive track. From the opening swordfight to the numerous brawls, every bone-crushing hit registers high on the testosterone meter, adding fuel to adrenaline-packed experience. Im compelled to give the sound crew credit for turning in an audio experience that nearly rivals the best action recordings in Hollywood, since B-grade action flicks usually come with a standard set of pops and pows that sound like a 5-year-old tapping pre-recorded keys on...

Supplements
The only extras included on the disc are standard definition trailers for Ninja and five other films in the First Look catalog....

Final Words
In order to ensure I havent set your expectations to high, Ill simply offer my humble opinion that Ninja is an entertaining entry in a genre thats been avoided for far too long. If youre a fan of B-grade martial arts films of the 80s and 90s, I have no doubt youll find enough value to make it a worthwhile addition to your collection. All others should approach the film with a bit more hesitation and consider a rental prior to taking the financial leap of faith.......

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Adam: Giselle (Dutch National Ballet) (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:28:50 -0500
Adolphe Adam's classic 'Giselle' has its third Blu-ray release, this time a Dutch production starring Anna Tsygankova.

Is it sad for a composer to only be remembered for one or two items out of a lifetime of accomplishment? Or is it better to be remembered for at least something than to be consigned to the dustbin of forgotten artists, some of whom at least are worthy of at least a little recognition. Adolphe Adam will probably never make it into any classical aficionados Top Five Composers list, but he does have at least two claims to lasting fame, the gorgeous Christmas carol O, Holy Night and, on a much ...

Video
Kultur is relatively new to the Blu-ray game, but they have been doing an overall exceptional job with their 1080i releases of classical titles filmed for television. Giselle is encoded via VC-1 and has excellent detail and some wonderful depth of field. As mentioned above, there's not a whale of a lot of color here, especially in the first act, where the costumes are almost all brown and beige, with the exception of Giselle's blue vest. Nonetheless, the backdrop is beautifully saturat...

Audio
Unfortunately Kultur hasn't quite stepped up to the plate yet in terms of lossless audio on any of its Blu-ray releases. This seems patently strange given the music-centric emphasis of the three Blu-rays released by the label thus far. The two Dolby Digital offerings here are OK, I guess, but I kept wondering what a nice lossless track would have offered. I opted for the 5.1 mix here, and it provides an agreeable enough sonic experience, but perhaps because I'm spoiled by lossless tracks on ...

Supplements
Interviews totalling 43 minutes are included, split into individual segments featuring the principals, all of whom talk about the characters they're portraying, as well as their personal histories with Giselle, and then a nice, longer segment with choreographers Rachel Beaujean and Ricardo Bustamante, both well known dancers themselves, who adapted the Petipa version for this production....

Final Words
Unapologetically old fashioned as it may be, Giselle remains one of the paradigmatic roles for prima ballerinas, and Anna Tsygankova acquits herself quite admirably here. If there's little to get really excited about, there's also very little to quibble about in this elegant and perfectly apt production.......

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Fame (Music Edition) (Blu-ray Review)

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:51:19 -0500
Im gonna live forever, Im gonna learn how to fly.

If you think of Fame as a cheery, bubblegum tale of teenage talent and aspiration, youre probably thinking of the Fame TV series spin-offa pop trifle if there ever was onewhich dropped the grim predicaments and dashed hopes of the original 1980 film, leaving only fun dance numbers and a You can do it! attitude. The franchises legacy has been further sullied by a sanitary 2009 remake, a glossy 107-minute music video that seems more like a commercial for itself than a...

Video
The original Fame pirouettes onto Blu-ray with a decent but never outright impressive 1080p/VC-1 encoded transfer that looks about average for a film from the early 1980s. The films color palette is nicely reproduced here, characterized by bright, often pastel clothing set against the neutral backdrops of the schools classrooms and practice spaces. Red and pink tones seem especially vibrant, like Ralphs bandana, a dance instructors borderline neon sweater, and an actual neon...

Audio
In my review of the 2009 Fame remake, I noted how the films powerful and immersive audio experience was the highlight of its Blu-ray release. While the original doesnt nearly come close to matching the remakes intricate sound design and stunning clarity, Fames Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track sounds pretty good considering the films more dated audio elements. As you would hope, the music is clean, bold, and detailed. Brunos synthesizers squeal and bleep in an electronic orc...

Supplements
Commentary by Director Alan Parker
Alan Parker delivers a dry but insightful commentary track that will be appreciated by fans of the director and fans of Fame alike. He does go quite in depth about the process of prepping, auditioning, and shooting the film, and his memory for small details and anecdotes is impressive. Well worth a listen.

Interviews with Cast and Crew (SD, approx. 23 min.)
If you turn this feature on while watching the film, and ...

Final Words
If you bought the remake of Fame for your ten year old last week, its probably not a smart move to pick up director Alan Parkers original version, which is fully loaded with cursing, nudity, sexual situations and the possibility of failure. That is, very real things that often dont sit well with parents of the Hannah Montana audience. If you remember watching the film in the 80s, though, and youre in the mood for a time machine experience that seems realer than todays......

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Rebellion (Tung moon) (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:59:12 -0500

Chaotic and violent, Chinese director Herman Yaus "Rebellion" (2009) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Tai Seng Entertainment. The only supplemental features on the disc are: making of, the original theatrical trailer for the film, and a gallery of stills. With optional English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese subtitles. Region-Free. ...

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Herman Yau's Rebellion arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Tai Seng Entertainment.

Though there are no serious technical flaws with this high definition transfer, I am not impressed with it. Mild-edge enhancement is practically everywhere. Digital noise is also quite easy to spot. Many of the nighttime scenes appear somewhat soft; elsewhere, fine textures are problematic. On the positive s...

Audio
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, the disc contains optional English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese subtitles for the main feature.

The back cover of this Blu-ray indicates that there should be three audio tracks on it - Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Cantonese Dolby TrueHD 7.1 and Mandarin Dolby TrueHD 7.1. There are also three audio tracks listed under the audio menu. However, only the Cantonese D...

Supplements
Making of - raw footage from the shooting of the film. In Cantonese, with optional Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese subtitles. (7 min, 480/60i).

Trailer - the original theatrical trailer for the film. With optional English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese subtitles. (3 min, 480/60i).

Photo Gallery - ...

Final Words
I wanted to like Herman Yau's Rebellion because I felt that it had all the right ingredients to be a terrific crime drama. Unfortunately, they are simply not mixed properly, which is why I thought that the film was too chaotic. It is probably best that you RENT IT first. ......

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Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth (Live Recording from the Teatro Comunale Firenze) (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:46:45 -0500
There's verismo and then there's verismo. Shostakovich's shocking and violent opera gets its second Blu-ray release with this new Italian production.

Why couldnt Uncle Joe have gone to the Eisenstein festival at the Moscow Pantages? You can almost imagine poor Dmitri Shostakovich asking himself that plaintive question after the disastrous results the composer experienced when Joseph Stalin decided to attend a 1936 performance of Shostakovichs lascivious opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. Once the golden boy of Soviet composers, a man whose bracing harmonies and often pungent, even bitterly satiric, melodies were hailed ...

Video
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of ArtHaus Musik, with an excellent 1080i AVC encode. The best part of the image is the really luscious lighting design, which varies from rather harsh, realistic browns to the incredibly gorgeous golden hues mentioned above. The final, blue-laden prisoner scene is also incredibly well saturated and very effective. Detail is sharp throughout this Blu-ray. You'll be able to see the errant hair on Charbonnet's wig, and the fine detail ...

Audio
The DTS-HD MA 7.1 mix is simply astounding, and I was repeatedly impressed with the conducting of James Conlon and playing of the Orchestra of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Shostakovich, to borrow a phrase from Hollywood, isn't above "Mickey Mousing" his underscore in this piece (to the point where one wag termed it "Pornophony"), and that descriptive element is fully alive throughout this wonderful sounding recording. Brass is especially robust throughout the opera's four acts, with a bracing a...

Supplements
No extras other than trailers and an insert booklet essay are offered....

Final Words
This largely successful production would make a great double feature with the Shostakovich Keeping Score I recently reviewed for Blu-ray.com. This piece holds a very important place in Shostakovich's oeuvre. If it's disturbing and frankly more than a bit smarmy at times, it gives the composer ample opportunity to exploit the brilliantly acerbic vocabulary he developed for voice and orchestra. Katerina may not exactly be a heroine you root for (she in fact is sort of a distaff ......

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Smokin' Aces (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:47:25 -0500
A devilishly divisive shoot-em-up reaps an impressive Blu-ray release...

Cards on the table: despite its tonal inconsistencies and brash cast of crass, oft-times off-putting characters, I've grown rather fond of Smokin' Aces. It wasn't love at first sight, mind you, but a torrid affair that took me by complete surprise. A cinematic it just happened, baby moment if there ever was one. After falling for writer/director Joe Carnahan in the wake of Narc -- a critically acclaimed, slowburn stunner starring Ray Liotta and Jason Patrick -- I approach...

Video
Though brimming with gorgeous shots and memorable photography, Smokin' Aces is not a pretty film. Aggressive greens and oranges negate primary punches, skintones flare and fade as rapidly as Carnahan's edits, bottomless shadows swallow anything that approaches them, whites bloom and colors burst. However, Universal's 1080p/VC-1 encoded transfer is incredibly true to its source, deftly handling Carnahan's most sordid intentions with confidence and poise. Mauro Fiore's stark palette look...

Audio
Between Clint Mansell's score, Carnahan's thundering edits, and the Tremor Brothers' patented arsenal of death and dismemberment, Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track has a lot on its plate; a teetering plate it balances without incident. Dialogue is crisp, clean, and naturally grounded in the center channel, dancing a perfectly prioritized dervish with the chaos and insanity that tends to ensue the moment a gun is drawn. LFE output is weighty and persistent, infusing every bo...

Supplements
The Blu-ray edition of Smokin' Aces is loaded with special features and exclusives including two audio commentaries, a U-Control Picture-in-Picture track, deleted scenes and other traditional featurettes. The only downside? The majority of the video content is presented in standard definition.

U-Control Features: Two U-Control features are available. Skip past the "Assassin Tracker," a sparse waste of space that merely dots ...

Final Words
Just to beat a dead horse further, Joe Carnahan's Smokin' Aces isn't for everyone. In his quest to shatter expectations, he broke his audience's back. Still, after repeat viewings, the method to his madness becomes more apparent, transforming what could have been a career-ending misfire into an ultraviolent cult favorite. Thankfully, it's easier to digest thanks to Universal's Blu-ray release. With a striking video transfer, a powerful DTS-HD Master Audio track, and a generous supplem......

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Post Grad (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:20:44 -0500
I wouldnt have let this one graduate.

Ah, I pity the poor, penniless souls who graduated from college during the height of last years recession. For recent grads, its hard enough finding employment during economically stable times youre young, inexperienced, and woefully under-qualified for your dream job. Even worse, youve been groomed from childhood to believe youre a special snowflake, a one-of-a-kind talent, and suddenly youre competing against drones with identical skill sets for a low-paying job on the bottom r...

Video
Post Grad graduates cum laude on Blu-ray with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that, like a successful interviewee, has more strengths than weaknesses. Clarity is about average throughout; there are a few soft shots that seem to be the result of focus thats slightly off, but most of the time fine detail is easily apparent in the wizened wrinkles on Michael Keatons face, the mesh of a trucker cap, the gauzy texture of one of Alexis Bledels many blouses, and Rodridgo Santoros two-da...

Audio
Post Grads DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is one of those adequate but wholly unmemorable mixes that get the point across, so to speak, albeit without much gusto or flourish. Aside from a few pop songs and Christopher Becks rather dippy score, the rear channels get very little engagement. Youll hear a minimum of office ambience, some ocean roar at the beach, and a few scattered environmental sounds, but its all kept at a fairly low volume and does little to really se...

Supplements
Deleted and Alternate Scenes (SD, 13:41)
Includes nine scenes that you couldn't pay me to watch again, plus a music video for "Over and Over."

"One Day" Music Video by Jack Savoretti (SD, 3:35)
You know those movie tie-in music videos where they awkwardly cut in clips from the film? This is probably the worst one I've ever seen.

Real Life Advice with Alexis Bledel and Zach Gilford (SD, 4:20)
Bledel and Gilford sit on some comfy lookin...

Final Words
I like to imagine that the actors in this screenshot are looking down at a Blu-ray copy of Post Grad that they're about to bury in the ground, so as to save at least one person from having to sit through 88-minutes of torture so effective that it should be used instead of waterboarding to pry information out of terrorist detainees. Except, I'm sure there's some clause in the Geneva Conventions solely about the misuse of Post Grad. Stay away if at all possible.......

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50 Dead Men Walking (Fifty Dead Men Walking) (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:06:11 -0500
An above average entry in the espionage genre.

Looking back through the history of Northern Ireland and the conflict that ravaged a large portion of the nation for nearly a century, its difficult not to feel deeply saddened. Much like the great civil war of our nations history, the conflict in Ireland divided families and neighbors, resulting in ongoing bloodshed that often led to immense civilian casualties. From an outsiders perspective, this ongoing violence between the occupying British and the Irish Republican Army seems like a tre...

Video
Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 20Mbps), 50 Dead Men Walking offers a largely proficient visual experience. Filmed entirely on location in Northern Ireland, the cinematography truly captures the feel of the war-torn environment, with bricks littering sidewalks, barbed-wire fencing around every corner, and the oppressively drab exteriors of the poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Studying distant or close-up shots, youll find an excellent level of fine-o...

Audio
The lossless audio mix is reasonably strong thanks to a wonderful soundtrack and excellent use of the surround field, but the lack of consistent dialogue levels diminishes the overall score. Similar to films such as Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels or Bloody Sunday, youll immediately find yourself straining to make out the differences in annunciation and tonal quality between the American-English dialect, and the accents used within the film. As your ears begin to adjust to ...

Supplements
Deleted Scenes (1080i, DTS 2.0, 8:41 min): Most of the clips shown here are either extensions or alternate takes on scenes from the film. Regarding the presentation of the collection, the footage is window-boxed into a small central portion of your screen, and appears a bit rough.

Behind the Scenes (1080i, DTS 2.0, 32:47 min): In true behind the scenes fashion, this half-hour supplement is simply a collection of clips showing the actors and crew members on various sets. There are no n...

Final Words
If you enjoy edge-of-your-seat entertainment, Id highly recommend 50 Dead Men Walking. I cant account for the historical accuracy of the conflict portrayed in the film, and Id imagine this is a sensationalized portrayal of real life events, but if youre merely approaching the production with a desire to be entertained for two hours, you wont be disappointed. Purely from a technical standpoint, the disc offers a fantastic visual experience, and an audio mix that grows troublesome fr......

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Equator: Challenge of Change (Blu-ray Review)

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:28:29 -0500
Welcome to the scorched plains of Eastern Africa.

Challenge of Change is the latest release from the Equator documentary series that originally aired on Animal Planet and Discovery HD. Each 52 minute episode focuses on a different region of the equatorial line, introducing viewers to various ecosystems that support an abundant variety of life....

Video
It should be noted that the outer case incorrectly labels this disc as 1080P FULL HD.

Presented in 1080i utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 24Mbps) Challenge of Change possesses a jaw-dropping level of clarity, but ultimately falls victim to several of the same problems Ive noticed time and time again on Razor Digital productions. The problems Im referring to are a degree of motion blur during panning shots, several instances of artifacting, and a general visual q...

Audio
In an extremely encouraging change of events, Razor Digital has finally stepped up to the plate to deliver a lossless surround track on one of their releases. It always boggled my mind when Id toss in one of their documentaries and find a lossless 2.0 option accompanied by a lossy 5.1 track. Abandoning the use of LPCM, they are now using DTS-HD MA, and the improvements are quite profound. Aside from the typical boost in volume, the environmental effects can now be heard throughout the surrou...

Supplements
The main feature is the only inclusion on the disc....

Final Words
Challenge of Change is another excellent entry in a series thats quickly growing on me. Ill still reserve final judgment on the entire series until I have more episodes under my belt, but if the two entries Ive watched thus far are a good representation of what I can expect, this will be a worthwhile addition to my collection of nature documentaries. However, I still cant bring myself to recommend the purchase of a single hour-long episode at a MSRP of $24.99. If Razor Digital even......

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Surrogates (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:34:52 -0500
A somewhat hit-or-miss cautionary tale secures a solid Blu-ray release...

I've always had a difficult time understanding why older generations readily reject the latest-n-greatest technologies; why my grandmother can't wrap her head around a VCR, why my father is terrified of a DVR, why my mother insists that hackers are, at this very moment, intent on cracking her home computer and swiping her recipes. But then, dear readers, I turned thirty. Texting teens frequently frustrate me. Watching their parents do the same, oftentimes while sitting across from their child...

Video
Surrogates may not be the most attractive dystopian cautionary tale on the market, but its strong 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is faithful to Mostow's vision, basking in director of photography Oliver Wood's neon-infused cerulean blues, jarring reds and golden delicious yellows. But even beyond raw primary power, the filmmakers' oft-times steely, at-times earthy palette also features searing skies and inky shadows, lending the image a fair amount of depth. While fleshtones are all over th...

Audio
Disney's hefty DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is bold and bombastic, dishing out hearty explosions, disruptor pulses, crashing helicopters, and shotgun blasts with the best of them. Dialogue is crisp and well-prioritized, surging and relenting as naturally as the film's quieter scenes and action sequences require. Voices never disappear beneath the chaos, joining the fight with ease. Speaking of the battlefront, LFE output is both weighty and rewarding, rear speaker activity is aggres...

Supplements
While it doesn't include a Bonus View video commentary or a much-needed comic-to-screen Picture-in-Picture track, the Blu-ray edition of Surrogates nevertheless serves up a solid selection of more traditional special features, all of which are presented in high definition.

Audio Commentary: Terminator 3 director Jonathan Mostow delivers a thoughtful and informative commentary that covers the differences between Top She...

Final Words
Surrogates is an entertaining, occasionally mindless exercise in fulfilled potential and missed opportunities; an action-oriented procedural that cashes in on a handful of intriguing questions, but sometimes fails to pair them with equally intriguing answers. That being said, Disney capitalizes on the film's flashy aesthetics and pulse-pounding sequences to produce a high-quality Blu-ray release. It features a faithful, technically proficient video transfer, a full-throttle DTS-HD Maste......

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100 Feet (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:34:41 -0500
It's not terrifying, but it isn't terrible either...

Oh direct-to-video horror, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Despite your pervasive sugarcane gore, shoddy effects, and mediocre performances, you continue to press on, filling my Netflix queue with promising films I know next to nothing about. In spite of your shaky scripts and rampant plot holes, you make me appreciate sharp screenwriting and nuanced direction that much more. Above all, I love you for your many, many misfires, mistakes, and missteps, all of which make that rare ge...

Video
The Blu-ray edition of 100 Feet obliterates its murky DVD counterpart with an unexpectedly capable, notably filmic 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer. Colors are warm and natural, skintones are exceedingly lifelike, and blacks, though poorly resolved on three thankfully brief occasions, are rich and inky. Contrast remains strong and stable throughout, and delineation is decent (particularly considering how ominous the darkest corners of Marnie's house tend to be). Detail is impressive as well....

Audio
While it boasts a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, 100 Feet doesn't have the sonic wherewithal to measure up to its macabre potential. Dialogue is crisp and intelligible, but sometimes gets lost beneath the surge of more chaotic sequences. Voices also take a slight hit anytime John Frizzell's music takes center stage. Similarly, LFE output is weighty when called upon but restrained overall, and rear speaker activity is sufficient but unreliable, serving up immersive sequences fo...

Supplements
Sorry direct-to-video junkies, the Blu-ray edition of 100 Feet doesn't include any significant special features....

Final Words
With more bark than bite, 100 Feet is merely an above average direct-to-video release; a predictable horror outing that lacks an edge. Its AV presentation is more rewarding, granting ghost story diehards a surprisingly adept video transfer and an adequate DTS-HD Master Audio track. I just wish it brought more special features to the table; a commentary or a behind-the-scenes documentary would have been a welcome addition to Reid's low-budget film. Still, while renting is the wisest cou......

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Soul Power (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:03:17 -0500
Another exceptional music Documentary from Sony.

I need to do my thing.

One of boxing's most anticipated fights paired with a concert featuring some of history's most talented Soul artists from the 1970s? Even the Super Bowl and its pomp and circumstance couldn't match that. Unless, of course, something were to go wrong. In September 1974, Kinshasa, Zaire was to be the host one of the most important fights of the century, dubbed "The Rumble in the Jungle," and accentuated by a concert for the ages, but a last-min...

Video
Soul Power arrives on Blu-ray with a faithful-to-the-source 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer. Most immediately of note is the film's excessively -- but naturally -- grainy appearance that reinforces the film's classic appearance and assembled vintage footage. Colors are nevertheless fairly rich -- particularly the brightly-colored local garb -- but they do look a bit faded and otherwise not quite as aggressively rendered as they might have been on footage of a more recent vintage...

Audio
Soul Power features a sturdy DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack that's exceptional where it counts. The film opens with a James Brown performance that's sonically mesmerizing, each note and the entire cacophony of sound an exercise in audible perfection that's robust, exciting, and highly satisfying both aurally and emotionally. Bass penetrates the listening area with ease and superb clarity, the low end pleasantly but not abundantly heavy. Indeed, all of the musical presentat...

Supplements
Soul Power's main attraction under the supplemental tab is a commentary track with Director Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Music/Festival Producer Stewart Levine. Even before beginning the track, listeners will note and anticipate Levine's participation, the presence of one of the festival's coordinators in addition to Soul Power's director proves a formidable on-paper tag team, and indeed, the track doesn't disappoint. Though Levy-Hinte speaks with something of a tired, monoto...

Final Words
Like It Might Get Loud, Soul Power is an exceptional Music Documentary that's sure to please both longtime fans of the talent involved and newcomers eager and willing to embark on a fascinating journey through the world of 1970s Soul and, additionally, the ebb-and-flow of the oftentimes contentious behind-the-scenes goings-on that almost wiped out one of history's most important music festivals before it even began. Director Jeffrey Levy-Hinte has done an exceptiona......

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Assembly (Ji jie hao) (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 16:28:10 -0500

Winner of the Best Actor Award at the Golden Horse Film Festival, Feng Xiaogang's powerful war drama "Ji jie hao" a.k.a "Assembly" (2007) arrives on Bu-ray courtesy of Tai Seng Entertainment. The only supplemental features on the disc are trailers and raw footage from the shooting of the film. With optional English subtitles. Region-Free. ...

Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted 1080p, Feng Xiaogangs Assembly arrives on Bu-ray courtesy of Tai Seng Entertainment

This transfer is quite similar to the one found on the HK release by Mega Star. Mild-edge enhancement is again noticeable throughout the entire film, clarity and contrast are pleasing but not consistent - especially during the battle scenes in the snow fields, but probably as intended by the director - and fine object d...

Audio
There are three audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1, Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 EX. For the record, Tai Seng Entertainment have provided optional English, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 track is very intense. As I noted in my review for the HK release, when I watched the film it truly f...

Supplements
Trailers - trailers for the following films: Assembly, Perhaps Love, Infernal Affairs, Initial D and The Warlords. Not subtitled in English. (1080p).

B-Rolls - three episodes with raw footage from the shooting of the film. Not subtitled in English. (480/60i). ...

Final Words
If you like powerful war dramas, do not miss Feng Xiaogangs Assembly. It is incredibly well acted and free of the cliches that typically plague these types of films. Tai Seng Entertainment's Blu-ray disc is practically identical to the one released by Mega Star in Hong Kong. RECOMMENDED. ......

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I Can Do Bad All by Myself (Blu-ray Review)

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:58:42 -0500
This film can do bad all by itself...

Tyler Perry is one busy guy. In the past ten years, hes written and developed 12 stage productions, adapted and produced 8 films, directed seven films, and produced two successful television series (including one that recently passed the 100-episode mark). In fact, one could easily argue that Tyler Perry has accomplished something most would deem impossible in the tough-shelled exterior of Hollywood. Hes turned his name into a brand that sells. Time and time again, his films grab hold of t...

Video
Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 25Mbps), I Can Do Bad All by Myself offers an average visual experience on Blu-ray. The primary reason for my lack of enthusiasm is the marginal rendering of fine object detail which plagues most scenes. The usual suspects are in place to blame the lack of precise textures on an overabundance of digital noise reduction, resulting in a loss of facial textures and the trademark wax museum look to most scenes. Even the...

Audio
Lionsgate is rapidly becoming one of the better studios when it comes to the performance of their audio presentations. I Can Do Bad All by Myself is no exception, delivering a lossless mix that performs well within a limited range. What Im referring to when I say limited range is the predominance of dialogue and quiet moments that never call for much surround activity, but require exceptional clarity and spacing. In that regard, the mix rarely fails to perform at a high standard, al...

Supplements
A Soulful Ensemble (1080p, Dolby Digital 2.0, 10:05 min): As the title implies, this featurette focuses on the main actors in the film, with everyone singing the praises of their fellow performers. If you absolutely love the film this might be a worthwhile supplement, but I found it a bit superficial.

The Power of Music (1080p, Dolby Digital 2.0, 5:51 min): Touching on the influence of music in the film, this sequence includes interviews with various members of the cast and crew as they ...

Final Words
Im hopeful I Can Do Bad All by Myself isnt the pinnacle of Tyler Perrys film career, and more of a misstep in his growing filmography. Im guessing a production focused more on Madea would bring out the talent in Perrys writing style, but given my underwhelming impression of this first experience, I cant see the point in going back through his catalog to find something worth watching. As far as a recommendation goes, the choice is simple. If you already know youre a Tyler Perry f......

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WWII in HD (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:00:37 -0500
Rare archival color footage is combined with moving and often horrifying first person accounts in the riveting 'WWII in HD.'

It's almost alarming to hear one of the elderly vets whose reminiscences make up the often gut wrenching first-person accounts which are at the heart of WWII in HD say quite nonchalantly while discussing a buddy of his who was killed early in the war, "He wasn't 'great.' He was just an everyday, normal guy who didn't know what he was getting into." That somewhat amazing revisionism vis a vis "The Greatest Generation" may strike some as cold hearted, but it in fact helps to pinpoint one ...

Video
WWII in HD arrives on Blu-ray with a good 1080i VC-1 encoded transfer that is of course sharpest and cleanest in its contemporary interview segments, as well as the interstitials which feature photographs of our twelve subjects as well as maps and, occasionally, CGI illustrated moments with a visual tip of the hat toward global positioning technology. The archival source material is an extremely varied lot, as you may imagine, mostly culled from what looks to be 8mm or 16mm handheld shot...

Audio
What WWII in HD may at least partially lack in image quality, due to its variegated source material, it at least partially compensates for by an incredibly bombastic DTS HD-MA 5.1 mix. This is one of the most literally assaultive sound mixes in recent memory, with shots zinging to and fro between surrounds, and at times an almost overwhelming amount of LFE in terms of explosions and other thundering noises. As off putting as that may sound, it in fact only helps to make the battle foota...

Supplements
The second disc of this two Blu-ray set contains a few interesting HD supplements:

Character Profiles (14:56) offers extended interviews with six of the vets who are part of the dozen utilized throughout the documentary.
Finding the Footage (2:28) documents the two year journey to locate the rare archival footage used in WWII in HD.
Preserving the Footage (1:58) gives a brief look at the efforts to preserve and restore footage which in s...

Final Words
I've mentioned in some other review that I'm the son of one of "The Greatest Generation," and in fact WWII in HD spends quite a bit of time on various campaigns where my father fought as a battalion commander. My interest, therefore, may have been a bit more personal than the casual viewer. Even with that caveat, I can't imagine many people not being moved and, yes, even occasionally mortified by the stories and footage provided in WWII in HD. This is one of the most outstanding......

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Fame (Blu-ray Review)

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:43:46 -0500
Unfortunately, this remake doesnt have what it takes.

Im generally opposed to remakes, not just on the grounds that theyre usually redundant, take- the-money-and-run cash-grabs, but also because there are countless new stories waiting to be told, and new filmmakers with an itch to tell them. There are very few instances where Ill nod my head and admit that, yeah, a remake totally makes sense. This 2009 reboot of 1980s Fame is one of them. Lets face it, the originalwhich spawned the popular 1982-1987 TV seriesisnt exactly a c...

Video
Fame may not have what it takes as a film, but this Blu-ray releases technical presentation brings its A-game. First up is a strong but not quite perfect 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer. Really, my sole complaint about the look of the film is that the handheld camerawork frequently results in a soft image, as the focus isnt always exact. For example, theres a scene where we see Kelsey Grammer sitting at his desk; the mug full of pencils in front of him is in crisp focus, but his fac...

Audio
Even better is the films DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, which supplies a level of immersion and a dynamic breadth thats usually reserved for sound effect-heavy action films. Youll notice from the very first song that the music sounds excellent. Bass is extremely potent, with the LFE channel pumping out thick, room-filling tones. This is never to the detriment of high and mid- range fidelity, though, as each dulcet piano note, dishy hi-hat strike, and quivering cello string is ...

Supplements
Theatrical Cut and Extended Edition
In the Extended Dance Edition, expect just that, 15 minutes of additional dance footage inserted into the film.

Deleted Scenes (1080p, 18:11)
Fifteen scenes are included here, most of which contain sad interactions with parents or the aftermath of dejection. Don't expect any big dance numbers or anything.

Fame Music Video (1080p, 3:29)
A typical tie-in music video, featuring lots of clips f...

Final Words
Fame is certainly an appropriate film to remakethe original would probably seem pretty goofy to todays tweensbut the result here is an overly-polished, soulless product that seems like a 107 minute commercial for itself. Im sure the film will find fans among the huddled masses of junior high band nerds, dramaturges, and thespians-to-be, but even high school-aged kids will likely scoff at how hard the film tries and how little it actually accomplishes. Despite a fantastic aud......

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