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In Darkness (Blu-ray Review)

admin — Sat, 19 May 2012 02:08:13 +0000

Sony's deliberately dark and dreary Blu-ray earns high marks.

These are my Jews.

Sometimes, there's a subject matter so completely terrible that to experience it upon multiple occasions through a medium primarily used as a form of
entertainment simply becomes too much of an emotional burden for the collective audience or individual viewer to bear. That's not to say that the
core terror and heartbreak of such a story loses any of its
power, but there's only so much audiences can do, so much grief that they can feel, until it's easi...

Video

In Darkness may offer a fairly gritty viewing experience, but Director Agnieszka Holland's film was captured digitally, and the results are always
visually beautiful. There are moments when the digital sheen gives way to a rougher appearance that suits the mood and drained color and sense of
despair, and there are moments of incredible clarity and unbeatable attention to detail. Said clarity is simply outstanding from the first shot to the last.
The transfer's ability to so easil

Audio

In Darkness features the Sony-standard DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack, and the results come as-expected. The track features a fairly
unique musical experience. Rarely is it prominent and the most intense use of it comes in a smooth orchestral scene in chapter eleven that plays with
unbeatable precision, spacing, true-to-life clarity, and a quality low end. Often, ambience is the centerpiece element. The opening moments feature fine
woodland ambience and the sound of popping g

Supplements

In Darkness contains nearly an hour's worth of conversational supplements and deleted scenes intermixed into the second piece.

An Evening with Agnieszka Holland (1080p, 29:23): The director fields questions about the project's background, its content, filming in the
sewers, shooting digitally, set construction, the work of the cast, the picture's sexual content, the contrast of life against darkness, filming the Holocaust,

Final Words

In Darkness tells a terrible true story. It's expectedly difficult to watch, even as the movie never quite develops its characters -- its secondary
characters in particular -- to satisfaction or manages to truly draw the audience into the underground hideout and have them experience as closely to
firsthand as possible the true terrors of life and death as they struggled to survive. But In Darkness is a very well made, sometimes gripping,
emotionally draining, and important ...

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In Darkness (Blu-ray Review)

Ghosts of the Abyss Blu-ray

admin — Sat, 19 May 2012 00:48:16 +0000

This fall, Walt Disney Home Entertainment will bring the Ghosts of the Abyss documentary to Blu-ray. Using state-of-the-art aquatic and cinematic technology, Academy Award-winning director James Cameron (Titanic) and actor Bill Paxton (Aliens) present an immersive tour of the Titanic's final resting place which highlights never-before-seen parts of the wreckage. Ghosts of the Abyss streets on September 11th....

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Ghosts of the Abyss Blu-ray

Summer with Monika (Sommaren med Monika) (The Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray Review)

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 23:33:28 +0000

Ingmar Bergman's "Sommaren med Monika" a.k.a "Summer with Monika" (1953) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include original theatrical trailer; short introduction to the film by director Ingmar Bergman; exclusive new interview with actress Harriet Andersson conducted by Peter Cowie; "Images From the Playground (2009), a documentary film directed by Stig Bjorkman and produced by the World Film Foundation; and a video interview with writer Eric Scha...

Video

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Ingmar Bergman's Summer with Monika arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The high-definition transfer is wonderful. Clarity is fantastic while color balance is virtually flawless; the blacks are lush and well saturated but do not look boosted and the grays and whites look notably stable (notice how tight the image looks in screencapture #9). Detail is outstanding, with

Audio

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

The lossless track is excellent. The dialog is crisp, stable, and free of problematic background hiss. Though not too prominent, Erik Nordgren's soundtrack also boasts good depth (it does not sound 'thin'). Additionally, there are no high-frequency distortions or audio dropouts to report in this review. The English translation i

Supplements

Intro - a short introduction to Summer with Monika by director Ingmar Bergman, which is in fact a small video interview, conducted by reporter Marie Nyrerod for SVT Svensk Television in 2003. The Swedish director quickly comments on the film's production history and his relationship with Harriet Andersson. In Swedish, with optional English subtitles. (5 min, 1080i).

Peter Cowie Interviews Harriet Andersson - in this long and illumi

Final Words

Arguably Ingmar Bergman's most straightforward film, Summer with Monika tells a simple story about love, dreams, and disappointment. Amongst the few films directed by the legendary Swedish director that have already appeared on Blu-ray, in my opinion Summer with Monika looks most impressive in high-definition. Viewing it again was a special experience. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ...

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Summer with Monika (Sommaren med Monika) (The Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray Review)

Official Trailer for Hyde Park on Hudson

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:46:49 +0000

Focus Features and Yahoo Movies have just released the first theatrical trailer for Hyde Park on Hudson. Director Roger Michell's dramedy examines the unusual relationship between President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Bill Murray, Lost in Translation) and Margaret Suckley (Laura Linney, John Adams), his distant cousin and closest confidante. Hyde Park on Hudson's scheduled U.S. release date is December 7th....

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Official Trailer for Hyde Park on Hudson

Exclusive Giveaway: Hell on Wheels: The Complete First Season

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:07:15 +0000

Blu-ray.com and Entertainment One are offering ten members a chance to win
a copy of Hell on Wheels: The Complete First Season. The western
series is broadcast on AMC and has just been renewed for a second season.
The boxed set of the first season streeted on May 15....

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Exclusive Giveaway: Hell on Wheels: The Complete First Season

Mutant Girls Squad (Sentô shôjo: Chi no tekkamen densetsu) (Blu-ray Review)

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:56:13 +0000

Kill Bill. Then kill everyone else.

Have you ever wondered what might happen if Quentin Tarantino decided to make something along the lines of an
X-Men movie, only with women and transformed through the blood soaked lens of a Japanese splatter film?
Well, wonder no more. Mutant Girls Squad is here in all its gory glory, reveling in the sort of ridiculously
hyperbolic action that has made this genre a solid favorite amongst those who cant help but laugh at the sight of
severed limbs, bifurcated skulls and l...

Video

Mutant Girls Squad is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1.
Though the credits dont provide any technical information and online data is pretty sketchy on this release, this certainly
has the look of having been shot digitally on HD video (if any of our extremely knowledgeable readers knows, please pass
the info on to me and I can update the review). As a result, this has the shiny smooth surface look of digital video, without

Audio

Mutant Girls Squads lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix (in the original Japanese) is about as over the top as the
film itself. Immersion is consistent and overwhelming at times, with huge bursts of LFE and blasts of crazy sound effects
erupting from the surround channels. The overall mix here is very busy at times and is further bolstered by a
thumping J-pop score that is very impressive on the low end. Dialogue is cleanly and clearly presented, and is occasionally
ni

Supplements

Opening Day (1080i 28:25) captures the festivities at the films premiere at the Theater N in Shibuya,
Tokyo on May 22, 2010, as well as a same day gala held at the Cinema Rosa in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Theres also a small
segment from May 25, 2010 at the Theater N in Shibuya, Tokyo as well.

Interviews include Yumi Sumigoto (1080i; 4:06), Yuko Takayama (1080i; 2:49), Suzuka Morita (1080i; 2:50) and
Directors Tak Sakaguchi (1080i; 3:14), Noburo Iguchi (

Final Words

Im not a particularly rabid fan of this genre, but I have to admit I laughed myself silly throughout Mutant Girls
Squad. How can you not love the sight of a bad guys head being split in half, revealing the two hemispheres of his
brain pulsating slightly in the twilight, as huge amounts of blood spurt everywhere? Well, okay, some of you probably will
be quite capable of not loving sights like that, but for those with perhaps slightly skewed senses of humor, this film (yep, Ill
...

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Mutant Girls Squad (Sentô shôjo: Chi no tekkamen densetsu) (Blu-ray Review)

Fear City Blu-ray

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:10:29 +0000

Shout Factory have announced that they will release on Blu-ray director Abel Ferrara's Fear City (1984), starring Tom Berenger, Billy Dee Williams, Melanie Griffith and Jack Scalia. The Blu-ray, which will feature the film's uncut version, will be available for purchase exclusively at the ShoutFactoryStore.com on July 17th....

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Fear City Blu-ray

Pentathlon Blu-ray

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:00:50 +0000

Anchor Bay-UK have revealed that they will release on Blu-ray director Bruce Malmuth's Pentathlon (1994), starring action star Dolph Lundgren, David Soul and Renée Coleman. The preliminary release date set by the distributors is July 30th....

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Things To Come UK Blu-ray Detailed

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:44:04 +0000

British distributors NetworkDVD have detailed their upcoming Blu-ray release of William Cameron Menzies' Things to Come (1936), starring Raymond Massey, Edward Chapman and Ralph Richardson. The film will be available for purchase online and in shops across the United Kingdom on June 18th....

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Things To Come UK Blu-ray Detailed

Red Tails (Blu-ray Review)

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:09:22 +0000

A dramatic clunker with jet-propelled visuals.

As an aviation history nerd, I always geek out at the possibilities of another big-budget dogfighting film. But since I've been burned recently
Flyboys, I'm looking at youI approached Red Tails with cautious expectations. Now, I had no doubts that executive producer George
Lucaswho worked on this project for 20-odd years before getting it off the ground, so to speakcould impressively recreate WWII-era air battles. I
wasn't worried about that in the slightest. After all, th...

Video

As you'd expect from a top-tier, Lucas-approved release, Red Tails looks fantastic on Blu-ray, with a 1080p/AVC-encoded digital-to-digital transfer
framed in a 2:40:1 aspect ratio. The film was shot with Sony's CineAlta F35 high definition cameras, and the resulting image has a crisp,
vibrant, nearly noiseless look thatfor better or worsesets Red Tails apart from the grungier, desaturated aesthetic of most recent war
movies. You almost get the sense that Lucas and Co. were

Audio

No surprise here, either. We're talking LucasFilms and THX, so you know the audio's going to rock you like the proverbial hurricane. If you're an
audiophile, you already know that the film was the first to theatrically feature Barco's Auro-3D 11.1 sound format, which is capable of creating the aural
illusion of depth and height. While the full experience sadly can't be ported over to Blu-ray, Red Tails features a lossless DTS-HD Master
Audio 5.1 surround track that delivers a

Supplements

Double Victory: The Tuskegee Airmen at War (1080p, 1:05:07): Narrated by Cuba Gooding, Jr., this hour-long documentary traces
the history of the Tuskegee airmen from their training days until after the war, featuring interviews with several of the surviving pilots. A must-watch
thats frankly better than the film itself.

George Lucas: Executive Producer (1080p, 3:26): Lucas briefly explains the history of the project.

Anthony Hemingway: Direct

Final Words

I've been obsessed with the Tuskegee Airmen ever since I was a kid building balsa-wood model airplanes in his bedroom, so I really wanted to
like
Red Tails. Unfortunately, the film stalls and plummets, weighed down by some of the same narrative mistakes that have wrecked other George
Lucas productions--stilted dialogue, one-note characters, and artificially forced emotion. Still, I managed to set aside my critical faculties for a bit and at
least enjoy some of the movie's k...

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Red Tails (Blu-ray Review)