Deep Blue Sea (Blu-ray Review)
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Nominated for Golden Seashell Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, Terence Davies' "The Deep Blue Sea" (2011) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer; video interview with director Terence Davies; standard making of featurette; and audio commentary by director Terence Davies and Ian Haydn Smith. In English, without optional English subtitles for the main featu...
Video
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Terence Davies' The Deep Blue Sea arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye.
The film has a very unique look - the overwhelming majority of the footage looks soft and even faded, almost like a very long flashback. In the video interview included on the disc, director Terence Davies quickly explains that the look of the film imitates the look of the p
Audio
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English LPCM 2.0. For the record, Artificial Eye have not provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.
The difference between the two audio tracks is enormous. The film has an excellent classical soundtrack which sounds very different on the two lossless tracks. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track adds a great deal of depth that is simply missing on the LPCM 2.0 track. The strings
Supplements
- Trailer - the original theatrical trailer for The Deep Blue Sea. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).
- Interview - in this video interview, director Terence Davies discusses the look and themes of The Deep Blue Sea as well as the difficult dilemmas the main characters in the film face. In English, not subtitled. (10 min, PAL).
- Making of - a standard featurette with raw footage
Final Words
I know Terence Rattigan's play very well and wanted to like this film a lot, but there are large portions of it that I simply could not warm up to. The cast is excellent, but the atmosphere in the film is too sterile. There are also certain updates in Terence Davies' screenplay that I think radically change the nature of some of the key conflicts. The film is worth seeing, but I would not recommend a blind buy. If you can, RENT IT first. ...
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Deep Blue Sea (Blu-ray Review)Hell On Wheels: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray Review)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Deadwood or dead weight?
The first several years of my life were spent in Salt Lake City, and one of the big field trips public school students look
forward to in probably the third or fourth grade is a journey north from Salt Lake for about an hour and a half or so (on
slow moving school buses) to a nondescript place known as Promontory, an unassuming berg with nothing much to
recommend it other than its status as the place where the Golden Spike was pounded into steel, joining together the
Union Pacific wi...Video
Hell on Wheels: The Complete First Season is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Entertainment One with an AVC
encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a really beautifully crisp and clear high definition presentation which very
impressively captures the look and feel of the mid 19th century American Midwest. Some of the series is intentionally
desaturated, looking almost like an old Daguerreotype. Some of the establishing shots of various locales are almost gasp
inducing, withAudio
Hell on Wheels: The Complete First Season has two 5.1 mixes on tap, a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix and
an accompanying standard lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is often astoundingly effective,
with consistent attention paid to surround activity and some very nice use of discrete channelization. The first sequence in
the church confessional lets us know right off the bat that the series will not skimp on LFE, and the series is awash in a lotSupplements
- Recreating the Past: The Making of Hell on Wheels (1080i; 16:54) features quite a few behind
the scenes crew, like Director Executive Producer David Von Ancken and Production Designer John Blackie, talking about
what they wanted to achieve with this series. Theres some great footage of the sets being built as well as some of the
location shooting, some of which looks pretty muddy. Its nice to have the actual crew interviewed at length here rather
than the trFinal Words
Hell on Wheels has already been renewed for a second season, and that season is probably going to tell the tale of
whether Bohannon will be a riveting enough character to provide focal interest once the revenge scenario is played out.
The indication thus far is that he will be, and the good news is there is a veritable glut of other characters here, all of whom
will allow the writers to open up the series and explore other storylines. This is a very impressively mounted series, an...Read full review: Blu-ray.com
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Hell On Wheels: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray Review)The Secret World of Arrietty (Blu-ray Review)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Studio Ghibli's latest is a secret worth sharing...
Rich and breathtaking as its animation is, wondrous and enchanting as its all-at-once intimately familiar world may be, director Hiromasa Yonebayashi and executive producer/co-writer Hayao Miyazaki's The Secret World of Arrietty isn't a profound or complicated film by any means. It just might be Studio Ghibli's simplest; it's certainly one of the renowned Japanese animation studio's most accessible. Far from a detriment, though, the magic and mystery Miyazaki and Yonebayashi draw out of t...
Video
It seems Disney has outdone itself again. Arrietty's 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer is perfect. It's that simple. Perfect. No compression issues, no wayward anomalies, no source flaws, no significant banding or artifacting, no aberrant noise, no problems whatsoever. Colors are lovely, with arresting reds, brilliant blues, stunning greens, gorgeous earthtones, and deep, inky blacks. Contrast, meanwhile, has been dialed in with the utmost care, clarity is impeccable, grain is intac
Audio
I spent a great deal of time alternating between Arrietty's English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround tracks and, for the life of me, I can't decide which one sounds better. I have a preference, of course -- I always gravitate to a film's original language -- but it has nothing to do with technical quality, fidelity or any objective evaluation. For the purposes of this review, I've decided to treat the two as virtually identical and worthy of the same high praise. Dialogue is
Supplements
- Original Japanese Storyboards (HD): The full film, presented with its original Studio Ghibli storyboards. Granted, it isn't a Picture-in-Picture experience, which I would've preferred, but its inclusion is appreciated.
- Music Videos (HD, 7 minutes): Cecile Corbel's "Arrietty's Song" and Bridgit Mendler's "Summertime."
- The Making
Final Words
Small and slight as it is, The Secret of Arrietty delivers big. It doesn't overreach, it doesn't cut a wide swath, it just tells a simple story as simply as Miyazaki, Niwa and Yonebayashi can afford. The animation, though simple in its own right, is worth the price of admission alone, and helps elevate the film to greatness. Disney's Blu-ray release doesn't disappoint either, thanks to a perfect video presentation and an immersive pair of DTS-HD Master Audio tracks. The lack of extras is ...
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The Secret World of Arrietty (Blu-ray Review)42nd Street Forever (Blu-ray Review)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ..."42nd Street Forever", a collection of trailers for various genre films, arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Synapse Films. The only extra on the disc is an audio commentary by Edwin Samuelson from AVManiacs, Michael Gingold from Fangoria Magazine, and Chris Poggiali from Temple of Schlock. In English, with optional English subtitles on selected trailers. Region-Free. Please be advised that some of the trailers contain graphic footage that may not be suitable for minors....
Video
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 (the majority of the trailers are in 1.78:1), encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, 42nd Street Forever arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Synapse Films.
I don't have 42nd Street Forever on DVD in my library and therefore cannot comment on the types of upgrades this Blu-ray release offers. What I could do, however, is assure you that the trailers in the collection are not upconverted replicas of the old, standard defini
Audio
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, Synapse Films have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature (but they are usable only on selected trailers).
Predictably, the quality varies again. Depending on the condition of the trailer, some of the narration/dialog sounds very good. Obviously, dynamic levels fluctuate, but there are no serious distortions. In fact, quite often the audio is surprisingly well rounded and fr
Supplements
- Commentary - an audio commentary by Edwin Samuelson from AVManiacs, Michael Gingold from Fangoria Magazine, and Chris Poggiali from Temple of Schlock. I thought that the commentary was quite good. For the films I have not seen, the factual info was very helpful. By the third hour, however (by the time the Mondo Kane content comes up), the comments loosen up quite a bit.
- Audio commentary: Director James Watkins and Screenwriter Jane Goldman speak on the process of translating script to screen, the
picture's score, the picture's physical appearance and dramatic and thematic structures, the combination of horror and emotion, working with Daniel
Radcliffe, the work of the remainder of the cast, plot specifics and the process ofFinal Words
The Woman in Black falls for genre convention hook, line, and sinker. But it maneuvers through all of those recycled areas with the
precision of a luxury automobile, purring and making its turns on a dime. But for as well as it gets there, the destination is nothing of particular interest.
The ride is fine and the scenery is pretty -- that counts for quite a bit -- but there's nothing more to the experience. But sometimes a good, fun ride is
worth the nowhere destination. If th...Read full review: Blu-ray.com
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Woman in Black (Blu-ray Review)Brother White (Blu-ray Review)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...'Brother White' needs some color.
The old adage says that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but what is the road to mediocrity paved
with? Brother White is an amiable enough feel good kind of comedy that thrusts a Caucasian Pastor
appropriately surnamed White into an inner city Atlanta congregation made up almost entirely of African Americans, and
while the film tries mightily to hit all the right notes (figuratively and literally, courtesy of a music subplot), it has a too
pat and too circumscrib...Video
Brother White is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Pure Flix Entertainment with an MPEG-2 1080p encoded transfer
in 1.78:1. The fact that all of Pure Flix Entertainments Blu-ray releases thus far have used the relatively outdated MPEG-2
codec is perhaps a sign that the studio hasnt yet fully embraced the high definition medium and is testing the waters with
these products (something perhaps also pointed to by the lack of a lossless audio option on this release, as with all the
oAudio
Brother White, as alluded to above, features only a standard lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, and this film certainly could
have benefited from a lossless surround track, as theres quite a bit of really good source music utilized here, including of
course by guest artist BeBe Winans. Surround activity is rather sporadic here, some of that simply due to the fact that so
much of the film takes place in small quarters and involves just a couple of characters talking. A couple of outdoorSupplements
- Audio Commentary features David A.R. White and director Brian Herzlinger talking quite a bit about everything
from pre-production to filming. The two are easily conversational with each other and this is an enjoyable if kind of
lightweight commentary. - Behind the Scenes (HD; 18:39) is a standard though surprisingly enjoyable assortment of interviews, film
clips and scenes of the shoot. - Deleted Scenes (HD; 5:26) offers
Final Words
Brother White starts off strongly, with what seems for a moment is going to be a nicely done takedown of mega-
churches, along with a goofy but quite funny sequence involving distressed kids thinking about the upshot of the Biblical
flood and Noahs Ark. But then things just get bland in a hurry. The villains here are as unmenacing as the
heroes are uninspiring. The film is congenial, but it could have been a lot more. This is a film with too much sugar (probably
bette...Read full review: Blu-ray.com
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Brother White (Blu-ray Review)Playback (Blu-ray Review)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Or, a film that will make you wish you could magnetically erase a Blu-ray like a VHS tape.
Midway through Playback, yet another tired teen horror film about a haunted videotape, I had a stabbing moment of
sad exasperation. Like a
fed-up buddy movie cop one week from retirement, it suddenly hit me: I'm too old for this s--t. Granted, I am 30 and
a few years outside of
the film's target demographic of early twenty-somethings who desperately wish they were still in high school, but here's the
thing--I think
everyone is too old for this kind of intelligenc...Video
Playback has that distinct, low-budget-horror-shot-on-mid-level-digital-video vibe, and although it was clearly made on
the cheap, it gets a solid,
1080p/AVC-encoded Blu-ray presentation courtesy of Magnolia Home Entertainment. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say the
picture looks "cinematic"--the cinematography is pretty bland--but the image is clean and fairly sharp and decently graded.
There's plenty of high
definition detail visible in close-ups, from Christian Slater'sAudio
Similarly, the film's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track falls squarely into good-but-not-great territory, with
sound design that at least makes an effort, even if it's sometimes hokey and over-the-top. Like most horror films, there's an
attempt here to craft an immersive and engaging soundscape, with robust use of the rear channels for ambience and cross-
channel effects, but Playback unfortunately relies on a stale "scary" audio gimmick that should've died out in the eSupplements
- Behind the Scenes (1080p, 7:35): Your usual behind-the-scenes piece, with some on-set footage and a few
quick interviews. - Photo Gallery (1080p): A user directed gallery with a whopping 71 stills.
- HDNet: A Look at Playback (1080i, 4:43): A typical HDNet promo, featuring clips from the film and an interview
with the director. - Trailer (1080p, 2:14)
- Also from Magnolia Home Entertainment Blu-ray (1080p, 9:29)
Final Words
An early contender for worst horror film of 2012, Playback plods and grates and annoys in equal measure. It's not
scary. Its story doesn't make
any sense. It features Christian Slater as a perv with an eye for underaged girls. Do I need to go on? The film looks and sounds
decent on Blu-ray, but
there's no redeeming this mess. Avoid at all costs....Read full review: Blu-ray.com
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Playback (Blu-ray Review)Man From Snowy River (Blu-ray Review)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...A Different Wild Frontier
In a long and varied career, the great Kirk Douglas has taken on just about every genre
imaginable from the sword-and-sandal classic Spartacus to paranoid political drama with Seven
Days in May to old-school science fiction in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He certainlyknows his way around the American western, including his memorable turn as Doc Holliday in John
Sturges' Gunfight at th...Video
Fox's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray of The Man from Snowy River provides a fine, film-like
presentation of this widescreen 1982 classic, which means that grainophobes may not like it. The
film's natural texture has been faithfully preserved, and grain is visible in almost every shot,
sometimes quite obviously so. No apparent attempt has been made to flatten, freeze, de-noise or
"degrain" the image, and the result preserves both the integrity of the image and the look of
filmbut the lAudio
The film's original stereo soundtrack is presented as DTS-HD MA 2.0. Dialogue and sound
effects are clearly rendered (unless, of course, your ear is unaccustomed to Australian
pronunciation, and then there are English SDH subtitles), and the mix makes good use of the left
and right channels to separate individual effects according to the action on screen. The rear
channels provide primarily atmosphere, although an advanced decoder such as DPL IIx should be
able to extend some of the left anSupplements
- Trailer (SD; 1.85:1; 2:29): The trailer starts out by trying to make the film
sound like an Aussie version of Romeo and Juliet. While the two stories share a few
overlapping elements, the trailer pushes too hard on them.
Final Words
For anyone used to American westerns, especially those made in the same period as The Man
from Snowy River (what might be called "the post-Wild Bunch era"), the film's story may seem to
unfold in an odd, even unfocused manner. A large part of the reason, I think, is that American
films typically focus on the gunfighters who are either exploiting or protecting townspeople,
ranchers, farms or miners, wi...Read full review: Blu-ray.com
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Man From Snowy River (Blu-ray Review)Thumbelina (Blu-ray Review)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Hans Christian Andersen Did It Better
In 1979, it was big news when animators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman defected from Disney to
go their own way. In those days, the Mouse House still reigned supreme in feature-length
animation, and challenging them was considered a fool's errand. If one looks only at the
subsequent careers of Bluth and Goldman (plus co-defector John Pomeroy), the folly of defying
Disney seems self-evident. Their first new venture, Don Bluth Productions, produced the
moderately successful The Secret of NIMH...Video
The good news is that Fox's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray of Thumbelina won't spark any
outcries of "revisionism", as has occurred with the Disney restorations of its classic animated
features. That's also the bad news. I didn't see the film during its theatrical run; so I can't say
whether the soft, slightly faded image is the look intended by Bluth and Goldman or results from
source materials several steps removed from an interpositive or OCN. In motion and at a
reasonable viewing dAudio
It's possible that Thumbelina was released with a 5.1 soundtrack, but these formats were still
relatively new in 1994, and it's more likely the film was released in stereo surround. This would
account for the presence of a separate DD 2.0 surround track on the Blu-ray. Certainly the DTS-HD MA
5.1 track does not attempt to add any rear-channel gimmickry to a mix that is essentially
front-oriented. Where the DTS lossless track excels, however, is in the delivery of a full and
enveloSupplements
- TV Spots (SD; 1.33:1): Both bear the Warner logo and prominently mention Warner
Bros. in the voiceover. - Storybook (0:34)
- Once Upon a Time (0:34)
Final Words
While Sullivan Bluth Studios was struggling under the weight of failures like Thumbelina, Fox
offered Bluth a leading role in the newly created Fox Animation Studios. It was the Nineties, and
after The Lion King, everyone was trying to emulate Jeffrey Katzenberg's success at the newly
revived Disney animation department (except, of course, Disney itself, with which Katzenberg
had a famously acrimonious parting that resulted in a bitter arbitration, a lot of juicy gossip and...Read full review: Blu-ray.com
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Thumbelina (Blu-ray Review)WWE WrestleMania XXVI (Blu-ray Review)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Will fans be heartbroken if HBK ends the streak?
Relentless pursuit of perfection.
WrestleMania time means brighter lights, larger venues, more sweat, harder work, fancier wrestling, heavier hits, and bigger stakes. As in the Super
Bowl or the World Series, the athletes of the World Wrestling Federation push their bodies into overdrive, past the red line and into territory otherwise
uncharted save for that one spring day when the best in the world gather under one roof -- or under the sky or a mixture of the two, as is t...Video
WrestleMania XXVI's 1080i, 1.78:1-framed transfer arrives on Blu-ray looking rather rough. The image seems always ready to break apart at
the seams, held together by the thinnest of margins and defined by a host of issues that severely hamper the experience. Of immediate note is that this
image seems always soft, hazy, and not particularly well defined. Detailing sort of rolls in and out of acceptable quality, ranging from very good texturing
on skin and facial hair and great claAudio
WrestleMania XXVI arrives on Blu-ray with the WWE-standard Dolby Digital 5.1 audio presentation. The show begins with fighter jets screaming
across the stage, the effect playing with a slightly disappointing range but quite good authenticity. Crowd ambience is wonderful, full and inviting
throughout the program. The in-ring announcements play with accurate stadium spacing and reverberations. Ringside play-by-play and color comments
are delivered naturally and clearly through theSupplements
WrestleMania XXVI contains a bonus XXVI "pre-game" match, the 2010 Hall-of-Fame induction ceremony and classic moments from the
careers of the
inductees, as well as the RAW and Smackdown episodes preceding XXVI.Disc One:
- WrestleMania 26-Man Battle Royal (1080i, 11:48): Participants include familiar names such as Mark Henry, The Great Khali, Santino,
Primo, William Regal, Finlay,
Zack Ryder, Tyson Kidd, and GoFinal Words
Yup, this was a pretty fine WrestleMania. It's first-class all the way, right down to all the window dressing and pomp and circumstance that make this
more special than any other WWE event, Pay-Per-View or otherwise. A fantastic roster, unbeatable match-ups, and classic story lines mean this will be
one fans will want to revisit time and again. And by all means, snap into a Slim Jim. WWE's Blu-ray release of WrestleMania XXVI features
troublesome video, adequate lossy audio, and...Read full review: Blu-ray.com
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WWE WrestleMania XXVI (Blu-ray Review)
- Trailer (SD; 1.85:1; 2:29): The trailer starts out by trying to make the film
- Behind the Scenes (1080p, 7:35): Your usual behind-the-scenes piece, with some on-set footage and a few
- Audio Commentary features David A.R. White and director Brian Herzlinger talking quite a bit about everything
Final Words
I am told that the DVD release of 42nd Street Forever apparently contains a few trailers that are not on the Blu-ray. I am going to speculate that most likely they were excluded because their quality was not good enough. Regardless, I can't see how anyone interested in genre films could be in any way disappointed with the amount of material on the Blu-ray. The collection truly is an outstanding introduction to the "other cinema", the too risky, too bizarre, too explicit, too everything fi...
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42nd Street Forever (Blu-ray Review)Woman in Black (Blu-ray Review)
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Nothing new, nothing great, nothing bad.
Superstitious rubbish.
The Woman in Black may not be "rubbish," but neither is the film a priceless jewel. Nice-looking CZ probably best describes it. Here's a movie
with the spit and polish and sheen of a top cinematic venture. The movie looks undeniably great, flows well, enjoys fine acting, and tells a passably
interesting story. But glance beyond the surface, take a closer look, and discover a phony, a movie with little substance and comparatively minuscule
...Video
The Woman in Black shines on Blu-ray. This is another top-tier Sony transfer, and viewers are in for a wonderful treat of well-defined shadows
and visual gloom. The image impresses from the first shot of a child's tea set. The intricate definition dazzles. The transfer captures consistently high
quality film-like textures throughout. Facial and clothing details are above reproach. Worn wooden accents, well-used objects, chipped paint, and all of
the shadowy background objectsAudio
The Woman in Black's DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack fares as well as its stunning video companion. This is a smooth, clear, accurate
presentation. It offers good, deep, precision bass that remains tight at the bottom and both aurally and physically effective, for instance when Kipps
searches out the source of a heavy, repeating thud in the house. The track yields precise booming thunder and a realistic, heavy, and encircling
sensation of a raging inferno, frighteningly placingSupplements
The Woman in Black contains a commentary track and two featurettes.
- Recreating the Past: The Making of Hell on Wheels (1080i; 16:54) features quite a few behind
(4.67 out of 5)