HighDefDiscNews

Sony announces plans to bring the CG animated film “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs” to Blu-ray in January 2010

Justin Sluss — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:02:43 +0000

Sony has announced plans to bring the 2009 CG animated film “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs” to Blu-ray Disc on January 5th, 2010. The tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound. The title isn’t yet available for pre-order but stay tuned and we will keep you updated. The release will be a 2-Disc set with the film on Blu-ray, the film DVD and also a Digital Copy, likely on the DVD, which is said to be transferable directly to PlayStation 3. Bonus materials are set to include the following.

Special Features:
# Directors’ Commentary with Bill Hader
# Interactive “Splat” Button (Throw Food at the Screen While You Watch the Movie!)
# A Recipe for Success: The Making of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
# Key Ingredients: The Voices of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
# Flint’s Food Fight Game – Enhanced for Blu-ray
# Extended Scenes
# Early Development Scenes
# Progression Reels with Introductions by Visual Effects Supervisor Rob Bredow
# Interactive “Raining Sunshine” Sing-A-Long
# “Raining Sunshine” Music Video by iCarly’s Miranda Cosgrove
# Behind the Scenes of Miranda Cosgrove’s “Raining Sunshine” Music Video
# Make It Rain Food

Heat – Blu-ray Disc Review

Justin Sluss — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:23:08 +0000

has an average rating of 8.3 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on a 50gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1
include DVD ports which are decent
–
– 1995
– 171 minutes
– Warner
–
This uses 34.8GB for the movie out of 38.7GB total.
Street Date: November 10th, 2009

Overall Verdict – Definitely Recommended for Fans

Buy it for $16.49 @ Amazon.com

— Review by: Justin Sluss & James Segars —

A Clip from the Film:

The Movie Itself was written and directed by Michael Mann (The Last of the Mohicans, The Insider, Collateral, Public Enemies).

A calculating, careful, professional thief (Robert De Niro) and a tireless, temperamental, high strung detective (Al Pacino) go mono-a-mono in what is arguably Michael Mann’s finest film. Sporting some of the best (realistic) gunfights/shootouts ever captured on celluloid, a hypnotically moving story, and a excellent ensemble cast, Heat is a perfect film, and I truly believe that it is destined to become a timeless classic.

Heat weaves an epic story about two men on opposite sides of the law — a cop and robber story, something that has been explored, exploited and beaten to death over the years, but here Mann manages to liven things up, bringing a staggering degree of realism and personality to the characters, their jobs, and the Los Angeles backdrop. We get the feeling that De Niro and Pacino — while they only confront one another face-to-face a few times throughout the film — have a great deal of respect (not to be confused with admiration) for one another. They are opposites, but they are the same. They are professionals. They know how to do their jobs, they do them well, and they care about little else. Between them, they have weak ties to family and friends that are consequently put under further stress due to their obsession with their respective jobs, and ultimately outfoxing one another — if only to come out alive and walk away clean.

One of my favorite aspects of the film, is that neither of the professions are glorified. You won’t see De Niro flaunting his ill-gotten gains, and you won’t see Pacino grabbing a beer after work with this fellow officers. At the same time, both men are experts at their craft — law enforcement and professional thievery — but neither seems fulfilled or entirely happy with themselves or what they do. In fact it’s as if they are being steered with no choice in the matter, whether they are succumbing to fate or simply addicted to routine and habit. Their jobs are the only thing that keep them alive and in motion, and give their lives a purpose. This is one of Heat’s strongest narrative aspects because it makes the characters flawed, and thereby more realistic, balanced and vulnerable, which only makes you root for them more. As a viewer, we become deeply involved in the lives of these two men, yearning for them to let go, to walk away, to mend their failing relationships and seek a better life. In the end, the narrative is layered and woven together so strategically and precisely that we can’t help but align with both of the men equally, wanting neither to go down, but as the film approaches its climax, their eventual clash seems all the more inevitable leaving with no choice but to hold your breath until the very last shot.

In closing, its no secret that I love this film, and if I had to rank it amongst all of my favorites, it may just be up there in the top five (alongside The Godfather and Aliens). I know that many people think the film is flawed in some ways, or that Mann’s other works — specifically The Last of the Mohicans — are superior, but I simply don’t agree. In every conceivable way, I believe that Heat is a perfect film, and with every subsequent viewing I only continue to grow more resolute in that belief. It is a spectacular film that only seems to appreciate in value with each passing year. If you haven’t seen this film yet, be sure to pick this up on Blu-ray and prepare to have your mind blown.

— Synopsis above written by James Segars —

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the VC-1 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 2.4:1 aspect ratio. First off, I want to state that this is a nice Hi-Def transfer but at the same time, it is NOT 100% perfect. It seems to me that lately Warner’s Blu-ray Disc releases that aren’t huge restorations like “The Wizard of Oz” or “Gone With the Wind” aren’t getting the best transfers to Hi-Def they could be getting. This problem, in all honesty, is likely because whoever has been in charge of the catalog titles (released this week in this batch especially) has honestly falling “asleep at the wheel” and missed some things when doing this Hi-Def transfer that even QA (Quality Assurance) has even missed out on themselves. It seems that they are now relying way too heavily on actually allowing computers to do the majority of these restorations or transfers to Hi-Def and not hiring enough “man power” to do these frame-by-frame like they used to back in “the good ‘ole days”. This could in all honesty be partly due to the decline in the American economy which has undoubtedly had an impact on Hollywood’s major motion picture studios home entertainment divisions, even the real class act folks like Warner have been hurt it seems. I’ll quit with this banter but at the same time just remind you, while this may have some really great looking shots, good amount of detail in comparison to previous DVD release, it still is not perfectly flawless.

Assessing the video quality, first you’ll notice the black level here is as solid as ink. The fleshtones are accurate with the faces of Pacino and De Niro looking just how we are accustomed them to looking, with just the right amount of hue. The color palette is vibrant despite the film being a really gritty dark (as in emotion, not lack of light) film. As mentioned above, this holds a really good amount of detail that was never present in previous DVD release(s). My real gripe here that I started on in the paragraph above has to do with the color tone of the film changing from it’s “cool” tone that it is for the majority (if not entirety) of the film at the very end of the film to a “warm” tone for a few seconds on a shot of Al Pacino’s character — examples found below as Screenshots.

Also, make no mistake, what I just told you, or shown you, about the end of the film is in no way a spoiler but the change of color tone from cool to warm back to cool is enough to really leave you with a bad taste in your mouth if you’ve “double dipped” and bought this to replace your DVD. I really wish Warner would hire some better people to work with the QA (Quality Assurance) or Quality Control, whatever they are calling it these days to have folks watch this and spot problems like this LONG before it should end up in my hands as a reviewer or your hands especially, as a paying consumer. For instance, another title that comes out the same week as this from Warner, “Logan’s Run” also has this exact same problem with the tone changing from a cool to warm tone where it was in no way intended to.

With that above I have said regarding the tiny bit upsetting flaw present, I cannot give this a perfect rating but I will give it an impressive “4.5 Star Rating” for overall video quality; as it does contain a great amount of detail and if it weren’t for the tiny flaw, I wouldn’t really have too much of anything to “gripe” about regarding the video’s transfer. Let’s hope in a year or two Warner gets their act together and decides to make us “double dip” yet again but finally reward us with a perfect video presentation like we’ve come to expect from them on films of this popularity. Also I’d like to ask Michael Mann why he didn’t notice this himself if this is “approved” by him, but I’m seriously doubting he’d take the time to answer me. Let’s hope he’s a little more involved in his other films that come to Blu-ray as this one seems to have been a tad bit neglected and it is a real shame because of how great a film this is.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround. Dolby Digital is included but only for foreign language tracks, no English Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is present, just a TrueHD mix. I don’t think this is going to cause any problems as I think that TrueHD will down-convert itself to Dolby Digital if your AVR (receiver) and/or Blu-ray Disc Player is not capable of decoding the format. Regardless, its safe to say that fans have been long anticipating this receiving a lossless 5.1 mix and it was totally worth the wait. This has some really awesome sound effects for explosions, gunshots and so forth. Dialogue is delivered distinctly, primarily from the front center channel and left and right front channels as well. I will complain that at times the dialogue feels that its been overly amplified which results in a tiny bit of hiss and/or distortion, but this only is present in the mix roughly a few minutes and keep in mind the film is 171 minutes total in length. The film’s music, sound effects, Foley and so forth make excellent use of the rear channel speakers and especially subwoofer (LFE).

One last thing, but don’t read this if you’ve never seen the film as it contains a bit of a “spoiler” of sorts, but not really, because it should come as no surprise as this is technically a “heist” type crime drama. The bank robbery scene about halfway through which includes a whole lot of gunshots is very intense here as you’d expect for it to be. I’m very happy to report that its making great use of the 5.1 and most importantly now a lossless audio codec. This easily blows away the Dolby Digital mix, as it contains a much more accurate dynamic range. The gunshots sound lifelike and almost at times can be a bit startling, especially during the bank robbery scene mentioned earlier. “Heat” is a thrill ride from start to finish as a film itself, so most importantly of all, I’m very happy to report to our readers that the audio presentation here is totally “up to par” with the film itself. “Heat” on Blu-ray Disc earns a very impressive “4.5 Star Rating” for overall audio quality. Its not quite as constantly “over the top” as the likes of the action films of today, but it is definitely an impressive sound mix for this action/drama. The mix really is loud and upfront when it needs to be but its also subtle at times.

Bonus Materials on this release are presented in Standard Definition video quality using VC-1 codec with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound 192kbps — unless otherwise noted.

Audio Commentary by Writer/Producer/Director Michael Mann
“The Making of Heat” (59:13) is very in-depth and totally worth the watch if you never saw this on the previous DVD release. It is split up into 3 sections which I’ve listed below with their individual runtimes as well, but keep in mind these runtimes are include in the 59 minutes 13 seconds above as the total runtime, these are not in addition to that runtime.
“True Crime: Recalling the Real-Life Chicago Cop and Criminal Whose Exploits Inspired the Movie” (14:45)
“Crime Stories: The Screenplay’s 20-Year History and How the Movie Finally Got Greenlit” (20:26)
“Into the Fire: Filming in L.A., Cast Training, Shooting the Climactic Downtown Heist and Post-Production” (24:01)
“Pacino and De Niro: The Conversation” (9:54)
“Return to the Scene of the Crime” (12:02) is a retrospective looking back on the locations in Los Angeles where the film was shot then and now.
“Deleted Scenes” (9:31)
Theatrical Trailers (6:44)

Overall the bonus materials are sure nothing more than just DVD ports but they are very in-depth and worth watching. Fans who didn’t previously own this on the most recent DVD release will get some enjoyment out of these supplemental materials.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

Monsters, Inc. – Blu-ray Disc Review

Justin Sluss — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:26:14 +0000

has an average rating of 8.0 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
are great with a DVD & Digital Copy
–
– 2001
– 92 minutes
– Pixar (Disney)
–
Disc 1 uses 36.4GB total.
Disc 2 uses 20.9GB total.
Street Date: November 10th, 2009

Overall Verdict – Very Highly Recommended

Buy it for $22.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review by: Justin Sluss & Danielle Byington —

The Movie Itself is directed and written by Pete Docter (Pixar’s latest feature, “UP“), with the co-director credits of David Silverman (”The Simpsons Movie“) and Lee Unkrich (”Finding Nemo“), and the additional writing credits of Jill Culton, Jeff Pidgeon, Ralph Eggleston, Andrew Stanton, Daniel Gerson, Robert L. Baird, Rhett Reese, and Jonathan Roberts.

The story takes place in fictional Monstropolis, the world on the other side of our closets, where monsters live their lives fairly similar to our own; here are introduced to the main characters, Sulley (John Goodman), and Mike (Billy Crystal). The two are close friends, and also work together at Monsters, Inc., the city’s power company basically. At Monsters Inc., the top scary monsters pop through the infinite numbers of doors, which are basically portals to world, landing inside the closets of kids’ bedrooms. Their objective is to frighten the children on the other side, and the screams and cries of the scared kids provides the city with its power source. Sulley is quite the professional at his job, more than often landing at the top of ranks of highest amount of scares completed, really only facing competition from bitter monster rival, Randall (Steve Buscemi). Mike on the other hand is more in-tune with settling his life down, as on this particular day that the story begins, he has some serious plans for an evening with his girlfriend, Celia (Jennifer Tilly).

Whilst on the verge of clocking out, Mike is spitefully reminded by one of his bosses that he has still not completed a massive stack of paperwork. Being the pal to Mike that he is, Sulley offers to stay over and complete his friend’s paperwork for him so that Mike can hurry off to his scheduled dinner plans with Celia. While wondering about the door work area, Sulley accidentally lets in every monster of Monstropolis’ worst nightmare; a child. Because of the fear and stigma that the monsters have about actual contact with the children on the other side, believing to the extent that they are lethal, Sulley himself is certainly frightened of the little girl at first. However, he begins to lend his trust to the little girl, whom he decides to affectionately refer to as Boo (Mary Gibbs).

Realizing that though he may have found it in his heart to not destroy the child, Sulley knows that the paranoia of the other monsters will never accept Boo’s presence in Monstropolis, and so he seeks Mike’s assistance to return her to the other side.

In closing, this was Pixar’s third large title original story (not counting “Toy Story 2“), and the imaginative minds behind this film proved once again in 2001 that they could top their past creations yet again. The story is strong and highly creative, lending a great amount of detail to a fictional world you may have always wondered was there beyond your closet at as a kid. The staff who contributed to this film also out-did themselves by breaking their own previous animation limits, which simply pushed further forward into what is probably now “basics” for their most recent work, and giving audiences visual expectations that are thoroughly met. The voice cast of course works perfectly, with especially the “buddy” chemistry exhibited between John Goodman and Billy Crystal. When it comes to computer animated favorites, this title surely has its fair share of popularity, in the end receiving a “5 Star Rating“.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The look of the picture bares a very solid black level against a rather vibrant color palette; the abundant use of vivid and bold shades within the fictional world of Monstropolis‘ characters and unique setting are beautiful and have that “jump off the screen” effect. Even the fleshtone of Boo is properly realistic, bringing believable human life to her cartoonish character style, especially amongst the monster characters. Speaking of the monsters within the story, their various textures offer an intense amount of detail here in High Definition, whether it’s a slick amphibian skin, reptilian-like scales, or most notably the texture of fur as each strand stands out to the eye. There is definitely a lot of visual depth through out the release’s runtime with the placement of computer animated props and such within the settings, and even in the movement of the characters. Overall, this is no doubt a “5 Star Rating for video quality.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in both DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and DTS-HD 2.0 Stereo. The presentation of dialogue on this release sounds great, perfectly conveying the voicing acting of the cast from primarily the front center channel, with the occasional background vocal pop-up in the left and/or right front and rear channels. This release also gives the subwoofer a real work-out, especially within the scenes consisting of the rotation of the doors at Monsters Inc., and moments of chaos. Every bit of foley comes across as believable, showing some intelligent placement within the 5.1 setup, often coming from an assigned channel. The film’s original music, composed by Randy Newman, has a superb presence in the soundscape as well, filling the front channels, as well as making more than decent use of the rears, and even subtle subwoofer use. This is actually one of the louder Pixar films, so it should come as no surprise that it certainly possesses that “knock your socks off” quality, as it receives a definite “5 Star Rating“.

Bonus Materials on this release are presented in High Definition, 1080i, and Standard Definition, using Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo.

“Digital Copy” is included with this release on an additional disc, and is compatible with iTunes, and Windows Media Player.

Disc 1:

BD-Live is included on this Disney release and requires the user to be on a “Profile 2.0” capable Blu-ray Disc Player with internet connectivity.
“Audio Commentary“
“‘Monsters, Inc.’ Ride and Go Seek: Building Monstropolis in Japan” (12 minutes, 1080i) involves much of the production team discussing the ideas of the film being placed in the amusement park ride in Tokyo’s Disneyland.
“Filmmakers’ Round Table” (22 minutes, HD) consists of discussion amongst Pete Docter, Darla K. Anderson, Lee Unkrich, and Bob Peterson.
“For the Birds” (3 minutes, HD) includes optional commentary with director Ralph Eggleston.
“Mike’s New Car” (4 minutes, HD) includes optional commentary with the filmmakers’ sons.

Disc 2:

“Roz’s 100 Door Challenge” is an interactive game which allows you to select a “mentor” from the characters of Sulley, Mike, Celia, or Boo. The game asks simple questions, allowing three incorrect answers through out game play, and in the end, assigns you an occupational position at Monsters, Inc. based on your game performance.

—”Humans Only” includes:—

“Pixar“

Pixar Fun Factory Tour

Jon Lasseter

“Story“

Story is King

Monsters Are Real

Original Treatment

Story Pitch: Back to Work

Bob Peterson

“Banished Concepts” (6 minutes, intro SD, scenes HD) includes an intro with Lee Unkrich, as well as 5 banished concept scene in rough sketched animation.
“Storyboard to Film Comparison” (5 minutes, HD) uses Boo’s bedtime scene to allow you to view the storyreel, final-color, or split-screen comparison.
“Art Gallery” (HD) consists of MANY art selections from characters, color script, concept art, and posters.
“Designing Monstropolis” (3 minutes, SD) involves David Silverman as well as other production members as they discuss the themes and ideas of creating the story’s fictional setting.
“Set Dressing Intro” (3 minutes, SD) takes a look a the department created upon the production of this film.
“Location Flyarounds” (7 minutes, SD) is a really neat look at the computer animated design of the settings used in the movie, absent of characters, and simply meant to be eye-candy.
“Monster File“

Cast of Characters

Pete Docter

What Makes a Great Monster?

“Animation“

Animation Process

Early Tests

Opening Title Animation

Hard Parts

Shots Department

“Production Demonstration” (intro SD 40 seconds, scenes HD 2 minutes) includes “Production Demonstration Intro“, as well as the selections of “Storyreel“, “Layout“, “Animation“, and “Final Color” of the chosen example scene from the film.
“Music & Sound“

Monster Song

Sound Design

“Release“

The Premiere

Trailer #1

Trailer #2

TV Spots

International Inserts

Multi-Language Clip Reel

Toys

Outtakes & Company Play

“Wrap Up” (42 seconds, SD) is the conclusion to the Pixar department tour.

—”Monsters Only” Includes:—

“New Monster Adventures“

Monster TV Treats

Ponkickies 21

‘If I Didn’t Have You’ Music Video

“Behind the Screams“

On the Job With Mike & Sully

“Orientation“

Welcome To Monsters Inc.

Your First Day

History of the Monster World

Disc 3:

DVD of the film is include with original DVD bonus materials.

Overall, the bonus materials are great, lengthy and in-depth. Plus you have the Digital Copy and DVD of the film included which is great to see. Fans of the film and Pixar fans especially are going to enjoy this set of supplemental materials.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

Star Trek [2009] – Blu-ray Disc Review

Justin Sluss — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:42:47 +0000

has an average rating of 8.3 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1
over 3 hours in HD with Digital Copy
–
– 2009
– 126 Minutes
– Paramount
–
Disc 1 uses 36.8GB for the movie out of 38.7GB total.
Disc 2 uses 38.6GB total.
Street Date: November 17th, 2009

Overall Verdict – Highly Recommended

Buy it for $21.49 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Justin Sluss —

Trailer:

The Movie Itself is a “reboot” of the “Star Trek” franchise which originally started with the television show “Star Trek: The Original Series“, created by Gene Roddenberry. Directing this is J.J. Abrams, the man behind such popular films as “Cloverfield” and television shows such as “Fringe” and “LOST“. Joining him as both writers and producers are Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman who are also responsible for the television shows mentioned before as well as writing the screenplay for the “Transformers” films. It at first scared most every “Trekkie” (or “Trekker) when they heard they were going to make a new film, especially when they heard it was going to start the franchise over or “reboot” as it has now become known as in the film industry. I’ll admit, even I myself, a fan of the original “Star Trek” series and films as well as fan of all the previous works mentioned done by the folks responsible for this new film had my skepticism going in to this film but I’m happy to say that it is a very good film that excites me and seems to really have other fans as well.

Taking on the roles of the crew members are the following actors and actresses. Playing “James T. Kirk” is Chris Pine. Playing “Spock” is Zachary Quinto” (of TV’s “Heroes” fame). Playing “Nyota Uhura” is the lovely Zoe Saldana. Playing “Sulu” is John Cho (of “Harold and Kumar” film fame). Playing “Montgomery Scott” (a.k.a. “Scotty“) is Simon Pegg (of “Shaun of the Dead” fame). Playing “Pavel Chekov” is Anton Yelchin. And last, but far from least, playing lead medical officer “Bones” is Karl Urban. Joining our new crew members in this supporting cast are folks such as Winona Ryder playing the mother to “Spock“, taking on the authority role of “Captain Christopher Pike” is Bruce Greenwood. The cast is rounded out with quite a sick twisted villain by the name of “Nero” played by Eric Bana of “Munich” and “HULK” fame. All of the cast do a great job and pay homage to the original “Star Trek” television series here.

In closing, the film really works, thanks to an explanation of how an alternate reality of sorts exists we learn near the mid-section of the film or so. The portrayals of each character by the new actors playing the roles are very nice and pay homage to the “Star Trek: The Original Series” cast of characters. This technically the 11th “Star Trek” film definitely gets a “reboot” and it leaves you very, very, very excited as a “Trekkie” to anxiously await the obvious sequel. Major kudos here to first off J.J. Abrams for doing a great job directing, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci for writing and producing and second to the primary cast like Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. The cameo by Leonard Nimoy I feel I can discuss and it not really be a spoiler as the internet has made this information known already months ago. Its great to really see an original cast member from the original series back to sort of “pass the torch” along to a new cast (crew of the “U.S.S. Enterprise“). This is just the beginning, reintroducing us as fans or new audiences to these characters and leaving us wanting more much like the original series did as a television show and eventually series of films before it was guilty of “passing the torch” for the first time to the “Next Generation” crew for four films. Its important to see the “Star Trek” series be done justice, now 4 decades after it’s original creation by Roddenberry.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. IMDb shows that this was shot on traditional 35mm film using Panavision cameras. This makes for a really nice transfer to Hi-Def from 35mm which an obvious cool color tone being used and quite a bit of lens flare on lights being emphasized heavily throughout the film in the cinematography done by Daniel Mindel. Another film Mindel worked on as cinematographer has this type of cool tone and lens flare emphasis on lighting, the 2005 Tony Scott film “Domino” (also available on Blu-ray). This has a solid black level, which is very important when you consider its not just any Sci-Fi, its “Star Trek” where the blackness of Outer Space serves as the location most of the film is supposed to take place in. Fleshtones and the color palette both seem pretty accurate despite the cool image tone. The amount of film grain here is very minimal, no visible flaws here in terms of compression either. This really is an impressive video presentation that you’d expect, it earns a very solid “5 Star Rating” for overall video quality. Kudos to Paramount on yet another job well done in terms of 35mm to Hi-Def transfers.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround. It should come as no surprise that this is definite “demo material” in terms of audio presentation. The amount of rear channel usage and LFE presence is excellent here. Dialogue is delivered solid throughout never requiring any volume adjustment of any sort. The sound effects from the original series are back here but there are some new and amplified sound effects such as that of phasers being fired which is downright loud and monstrous enough to make your subwoofer rumble. The film’s original music done by Michael Giacchino sounds excellent, getting a great mix throughout primarily the front 3 center channels with decent rear channel presence. Giacchino’s original music which pays great homage to the music of the original series also has its own unique sound as well and its presented brilliantly here in Dolby TrueHD. There’s really a lot of excellent material here in terms of soundscape and enough to leave fans in all honesty, extremely pleased. Its really up there with the likes of “Star Wars” in terms of sound quality, especially since its actually also done by the same sound designer Ben Burtt who worked on those films. This “boldly goes” to great extremes and earns a perfect “5 Star Rating” for overall audio quality. It is definitely one of my new favorite “demo discs“, that much for sure!

Bonus Materials are presented in High Definition (HD) and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound — unless otherwise noted.

Disc 1

BD-Live is included on this release which requires the user to be on a “Profile 2.0” capable Blu-ray Disc Player to access online content from the studio, in this case Paramount. Something new and extremely innovative on this title is the inclusion of NASA News which will give users real-time updates on the latest real-life space missions. These features will not be enabled until street date and I’m writing this over a week before that date so I cannot tell you too much further regarding this aside from what is described to me on the packaging and menu.
Audio Commentary by Director J.J. Abrams, Writers & Producers Roberto Orci, Producer Damon Lindelof and Executive Producer Bryan Burk

Disc 2

Branching Pods

“To Boldly Go” (16:41) is a nice “making of” style featurette.

The Shatner Conundrum

Red Shirt Guy

The Green Girl

Trekker Alert!

“Casting” (28:53)
“A New Vision” (19:31)

Savage Pressure

“Starships” (24:33)

Warp Explained

Paint Job

Bridge Construction Accelerated

The Captain’s Chair

Button Acting 101

Shuttle Shuffle

Narada Construction Accelerated

“Aliens” (16:30)

The Alien Paradox

Big-Eyed Girl

Big Bro Quinto

Klingons

Drakoulias Anatomy 101

“Planets” (16:10)

Extra Business

Confidentiality

“Props and Costumes” (9:22)

Klingon Wardrobe

“Ben Burt and the Sounds of Star Trek” (11:45) takes a look the famed sound designer who is also responsible for the “Star Wars” films.
“Score” (6:28)
“Gene Roddenberry’s Vision” (8:47) has the director J.J. Abrams, actor Leonard Nimoy, as well as previous writers of “Star Trek” films and television shows discussing how they believe they have carried on the vision that creator Gene Roddenberry originally had four decades ago.
“Deleted Scenes” (13:30) feature Optional Audio Commentary
“Starfleet Vessel Simulator” is an interactive feature that allows the user to browse through extensive data on the “U.S.S. Enterprise” as well as the “Romulan” ship, the “Narada. You’ll get a 360 degree view of both vessels here as well as obvious technical information.
“Gag Reel” (6:22)

Disc 3

Digital Copy is included of the film on a third disc (DVD-ROM) which is compatible with both Mac and PC, iTunes and Windows Media portable devices. As always, this digital copy lasts exactly 1 year after street (release) date.
A Free Game Trial of “Star Trek: D-A-C“ for XBOX 360 is actually included on this DVD-ROM. Sadly this is not compatible with PlayStation 3 directly like it is with the XBOX 360 but it does offer a weblink to the free trial for PS3 and PC if you insert the DVD-ROM disc in a computer and follow the instructions.

Overall the bonus materials are pretty darn impressive considering they include OVER 3 HOURS of Hi-Def supplemental material alone. Plus they include audio commentary, a demo to a “Star Trek” game, a Digital Copy and the BD-Live “NASA NEWS” function is very cool. Most every “Trekkie” (or “Trekker“) should be pleased with what they get here in terms of bonus material.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

The Taking of Pelham 123 – Blu-ray Disc Review

Brendan Surpless — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:16:29 +0000

has an average rating of 6.6 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
mostly Hi-Def with Digital Copy
–
– 2009
– 106 minutes
– Sony
–
This uses 30.1GB for the movie out of 41.7GB total.

Overall Verdict – Decent Film / Great Presentation

Buy it for $19.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Brendan Surpless —

Trailer:

The Movie Itself is directed by Tony Scott (brother of Ridley Scott and known for “Man on Fire” and “Spy Game.”) The day seems like it might be like any other for Walter Garber (Denzel Washington). As a New York subway dispatcher, his job is essentially to direct the subway trains in an order that is balanced and simple. This simplicity is thrown out of loop when one of his subway trains is highjacked by a man simply known as Ryder (John Travolta). Ryder’s initial demands are unknown but it soon becomes aware that the man wants money. If the money isn’t given within one hour, Ryder and his cohorts will begin executing all of the train’s passengers. Now it’s up to Garber to use his knowledge of the subway system in hopes of defeating Ryder. What results is a well-made remake of the original film mainly because of the combination of Scott and Washington and Travolta being able to play off one another.

The first item I must address is that a vast majority of the remakes of classics are rarely, if ever, as good as the originals. The main reason behind this is that it seems that modern Hollywood directors seem too intent of bringing their “vision” to a classic in a manner that features too many explosions and loosely touches on the original product. Perhaps because of impressive resume director Tony Scott has (and more his brother as well), this revision of “The Taking Of Pelham 123” isn’t as good as the original product, but is able to stand on its own. The 1974 version was excellent simply because the movie created a true sense of tension and fear not only from the characters on screen but also the subject matter. While things like people hijacking trains, planes, etc isn’t as rare nowadays because of the world we live in, I will admit that “Pelham 123” did create a fair sense of tension and genuine scares. Also the acting helped quite a bit as well.

I’ve always been a huge, huge fan of Washington to the point where he’s one of the few rare actors that will make me watch a movie just if he’s acting in it (the only two others Edward Norton and Leonardo Dicaprio). He brings his A-game to whatever genre he acts in. Whether a villain (”Training Day“), an protector (”Man on Fire“), a soldier (”Glory“) or a simple subway operator here, Washington has that genuine ability to drawn his audiences into his roles. Travolta, while effective here at bringing a sense of fear into our minds, is more hit or miss than Washington. He has certainly made great movies in “Face/Off” and “Pulp Fiction” to name two, but he then goes and makes “Wild Hogs“, which is a simple payday. But nonetheless, the material at hand is where Travolta usually shines. As Ryder he has that ‘I mean business’ look and feel to him. In fact a certain scene truly surprised me as I didn’t think that A) the movie would go that route or B) his character would.

Overall, “The Taking of Pelham 123” works as a remake. While clearly not as good as the original, this remake is able to stand on its own mainly because of the creation team behind it. If you have seen the 1974 version, don’t go into this 2009 remake with the same hopes and intentions as you’ll definitely come out disappointed. If you go in expecting a fairly well made popcorn action movie, you’ll be pleased. This earns a good “3.5 Star Rating“.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte, dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 2.40:1 aspect ratio. The one aspect I’ve come to expect from day-and-date Sony titles is that the titles always tend to exactly mirror the theater counterpart. For example with “The Taking of Pelham 123” as with a majority of Tony Scott pictures, there is a good amount of film grain found on the print. This is done to capture not only the thematic elements of the film but also the gritty New York setting. Instead of applying any kind of DNR filters that some might want to make the picture look “clean and bright”, Sony has maintained the grain level. The film’s color palette tends to focus on low lit interiors that feature dark darks and bold colors like blues and light greens. Fleshtones are accurate while closeups of all characters show each and every hair stubble on the facial hair of Washington and Travolta. Interiors, also, boast a really solid image that looks great in hi-def. All in all this earns an impressive “4.5 Star Rating“.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. As one might expect with a high octane thriller like this, the included DTS-HD track is perfect. Dialogue, which comprises a majority of the film, is reproduced excellently. What was most impressive for myself was that the subtle little effects were brought home with a really rocking feel. Take for example some of the initial subway scenes. As the subway rolls back, not only will viewers get a solid sense of LFE, but also the rears pick up giving us an almost ‘you’re there’ sense. Also importance is the film’s sound field, which is great. Police sirens and gun shots zip around the room creating a soundstage that is the definition of what a big action Hollywood pic should be. I remember seeing this one in theaters and I left thinking this one was going to sound awesome when it arrived on Blu-ray. Such is the case as this earns a perfect “5 Star Rating“.

Bonus Materials are presented in a mix of both HD (High Definition) and SD (Standard Def) video quality with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound unless otherwise noted in the description.

BD-Live is included on this release which requires the user to be on a “Profile 2.0” capable Blu-ray Disc Player. BD-Live features on this include “movieIQ” & “cinechat” as well as access to trailers for current and upcoming Sony films.
Audio Commentary with Director Tony Scott
Audio Commentary with Writer Brian Helgeland and Producer Todd Black
“No Time to Lose: The Making of Pelham 123 (30:25 – HD) details the making of the film with a good amount of detail. Of most interest to myself was Scott and Washington pitching the film to the folks over at Sony.
“The Third Rail – The NYC Subway System” (16:15 – HD) glances into the world of the NYC Subway Rail System.
“Marketing Pelham” (7:04 – HD) features the various marketing tools the studio used (mostly trailers and tv spots).
“From The Top Down: Stylizing Character” (5:17 – SD) is certainly one of the odder features I’ve seen on a disc. Here the importance of getting the right haircut is detailed.
Digital Copy is included of the film that works on either PC or Mac, both Windows Media and iTunes portable devices.

Overall, the bonus materials we get here are enough to keep fans pleased, the majority are in Hi-Def too which is nice. The inclusion of the BD-Live feature “movieIQ” is nice to see as well as a Digital Copy of the film.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

FOX gives full details about the upcoming release of “Jennifer’s Body” on Blu-ray Disc scheduled for December

Justin Sluss — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:06:47 +0000

FOX has unveiled the cover art (pictured above) and issued a PRESS RELEASE giving full details on the upcoming Blu-ray Disc of the film “Jennifer’s Body” starring Megan Fox, scheduled to be released on December 29th. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound. The release will contain both the UNRATED and Theatrical version of the film. The title is already available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $27.99 price tag. Below you’ll find a list of bonus materials set to be included on this 2-Disc set.

Blu-ray (BD) Features:

Disc One

● Theatrical Widescreen Feature Film
○ Audio Commentary with Director Karyn Kusama and Writer Diablo Cody
● Extended Widescreen Version
○ Audio Commentary with Director Karyn Kusama
● Deleted Scenes
○ Dead Boys
○ Jennifer Check Is Gross
○ Needy Confronts Jennifer
○ Who’s Cindy Crawford?
○ Needy Faces The Band
○ Ass, Gas or Grass…
● Gag Reel
● Jennifer’s Body: The Dead Pool
● Video Diaries
○ Megan Fox and Johnny Simmons
○ Amanda Seyfried
○ Diablo Cody
○ Dan Dubiecki
● Megan Fox Is HOT
● Megan Fox “Peer Pressure” PSA
● Fox Movie Channel Presents ‘Life After Film School’ With Writer Diablo Cody

Disc Two

● Digital Copy of Jennifer’s Body (Extended Version)

Image Entertainment bringing “$5 A Day” starring Christopher Walken & Sharon Stone to Blu-ray in January 2010

Danielle Byington — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:50:35 +0000

Image Entertainment, in an early alert to retailers, has announced plans to bring the 2008 film “$5 A Day” to Blu-ray Disc on January 26th, 2010. The film was Directed by Nigel Cole and stars Christopher Walken, Sharon Stone and Alessandro Nivola to just name a few actors. Tech specs haven’t yet been officially announced but I’d say expect full 1080p Hi-Def and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound. The title is already available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $24.99 price tag. No details yet regarding bonus materials but stay tuned and we will as always, keep you updated on all things Blu-ray.

Paramount allowing fans to get their name in the credits on the upcoming Blu-ray release of “Paranormal Activity”

Justin Sluss — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:22:10 +0000

Paramount is currently thanking the fans who helped demand their extremely popular horror film “Paranormal Activity” get a nationwide theatrical release by allowing them to submit their name (HERE) to be included in the credits on the upcoming Blu-ray Disc release which is yet to receive a release date. The promotion is going until November 9th so be sure to enter your name to be included by then. Once you fill out the form you’ll be told you will be notified when the Blu-ray Disc will be available. We’ll keep you updated if we hear anything regarding a specific time frame or release date for the title. I’d say at the earliest expect it by late December or January 2010.

It’s A Wonderful Life – Blu-ray Disc Review

Justin Sluss — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:39:32 +0000

has an average rating of 8.7 on IMDb
4×3 1080p in AVC on TWO 50gb discs
Dolby Digital Mono ONLY!?
with Color version & a “making of”
–
– 1946
– 130 minutes
– Paramount
–
Disc 1 uses 36.8GB for the movie (in B&W) out of 38.7GB total.
Disc 2 uses 36.9GB for the movie (in color) out of 37.4GB total.

Overall Verdict – A Classic Somewhat Done Justice

Buy it for $21.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Justin Sluss —

The Movie Itself was co-wrote, Produced and Directed by Frank Capra. “It’s A Wonderful Life” tells the tale of a man named “George Bailey” (played by James Stewart). We are first introduced to George in a flashback of him at age twelve by two angels prepping his guardian angel for his upcoming mission to help George. As the two higher-up angels tell the guardian angel, George as an adult has currently fallen on some hard times. George is going to consider taking his own life on Christmas Eve, of all nights. George’s guardian angel, “Clarence” (played by Henry Travers), a former clock maker is about to be sent back to earth at 10:45 P.M. in his mission to save George and get his wings.

George Bailey grew up in the small town of Bedford Falls. In the town of Bedford Falls, the richest man is a mean old man by the name of “Henry Potter” (played by Lionel Barrymore). The reason that it is worth mentioning Potter is because George’s father has a competing business with the man. George’s father, “Peter Bailey” (played by Samuel S. Hinds), runs the “Bailey Bros. Building & Loan Association”; in other words a bank. Mr. Potter has wanted George’s father to sell the bank to him and has tried to buy it from him for decades, however Potter has been told by Mr. Bailey that this will never be. That is one of the major plot devices that exist in this very moving story. I won’t get into detail as to avoid spoilers for those few people who have not seen this film before.

George grew up wanting to leave Bedford Falls to go off and become an explorer; that was his childhood dream. When we flash a bit forward to him he has just become a younger man, appearing to be about age 18, just having graduated high school, and is about to be off to college, and is then off to see the world as he had originally planned. But, just as in real life, things don’t always go as planned, and sometimes things happen, that in the granular scheme of things happen for a reason. George ends up finding love in a girl he grew up with named “Mary (played by Donna Reed), starting a family and taking over the family business as he puts his own personal plans on an indefinite hold.

In closing, looking back on Frank Capra’s classic “It’s A Wonderful Life“, it is easy to understand why it is regarded such highly as it is in cinema history and rated so highly even online over at IMDB, where it’s current at an average of 8.7 (out of 10) rating. The film now roughly 63 years old, 6 decades in age, is not only one of the greatest holiday films but one of the greatest films ever made. You don’t find such amazing story, such amazing acting, such amazing directing and everything as you do here in films these days. It seems that no one could ever recreate this amazing story and let’s hope that no one ever gets the idea of attempting a remake as it would be almost heresy to fans.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a two BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) set in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio. REMINDER: Content in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio is in a 4×3 box and contains black bars on the sides, often referred to as black pillars. Disc 1 in the set contains the original Black & White version of the film and Disc 2 contains the Colorized version of the film which was originally done back in 2007 and previously available on DVD. Below you’ll find a screenshot comparison of (almost) the exact same scene in both Black & White & Color. Also, for those interested in comparison, another can be found even further down in the actual screenshots section.

Both versions are Hi-Def transfers and almost seem to be full fledged restorations in fact. That would make sense considering how highly regarded the film is, how old the film is (released in 1946, making it now 63 years old) and just because Paramount knows how to do a Hi-Def transfer; they have proved this much not only with their new releases but with catalog titles as well, this being by far the oldest. The black level on the Black & White version is perfect, the amount of dirt, film grain and such is very minimal and things really appear to have been cleaned up likely by hand. I say that because it still has a sharp rich amount of detail here in comparison to the previous DVD releases in Standard Definition. The Hi-Def transfer shows no signs of excessive use of filters like DNR (Digital Noise Reduction) or even EE (Edge Enhancement) to achieve this presentation. It seems it was actually retouched, cleaned up and such, as I said earlier, by hand. All in and all, its really a nice presentation of a film 6 decades old and regarded easily as one of the best holiday films, if not just films period, ever made. Kudos to Paramount here on a job very well done as this earns them a very impressive “4.5 Star Rating” for overall video quality for both the Black & White (original) and Color versions of the film presented in this 2-Disc set.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in Mono, using Dolby Digital 2.0 sound @224kbps. This may come as a surprise to some that this lacks a lossless audio codec track, which I’ll even admit it did to me. I’m not sure why they didn’t opt for at least a PCM track in 1.0 or 2.0 Mono configuration but they didn’t. Regardless though, this sound mix works for a film that was recorded in mono back in 1946. Dialogue sounds great here throughout. The film’s musical score sounds alright and the songs as well. There’s really not a whole lot to be said about this audio mix, it is again a shame that they didn’t opt for a lossless track. With that being said, this earns an average “2.5 Star Rating” for overall audio quality. It gets the job done but its nothing that is going to amaze you. For a Blu-ray Disc you expect a lossless sound mix, in all honestly at least I feel that way looking at things over the few years now the format has embraced by Paramount. I have no problems with it being in mono, I’d just like for it not to be in a heavily compressed AC3 container and instead in a RAW PCM container. I will admit though, this is NOT by any means demanding sound material but it does at least deserve equal treatment in terms of audio codec and such as other Paramount Blu-ray Disc releases.

Bonus Materials on this release are presented in both High Definition (HD) video using AVC MPEG-4 and Standard Definition video using MPEG-2. Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 @224kbps.

Disc 1 aside from the Black & White version includes:

“The Making Of It’s A Wonderful Life” (22:45 – SD) is a documentary style featurette hosted by Tom Bosley, who most of you will remember as the father on the television show “Happy Days“.
Original Theatrical Trailer (1:48 – HD) is nice to see included.

Disc 2 contains:

The Film Itself In Color. Here on this second BD-50 (dual-layered Blu-ray Disc), you will be treated to the Hi-Def transfer of the 2007 colorized version of the film which is really cool to see included as some of the folks out there actually prefer this version or may have never seen it. This features the exact same tech specs as the first disc, same Dolby Digital Mono sound.

Overall the bonus materials we get here are the bare minimum in terms of supplemental material but it does include the colorized version of the film on the second Blu-ray Disc in the set. So, with that really to me a bonus material, I have to say it works and fans will be happy with what they get. There’s no way you’ll ever get a commentary track by the filmmakers or actors so the only real solution maybe would have been a film historian or critic commentary but that’s nowhere to found. That aside, I cannot really complain about anything lacking here. The “making of” featurette and the original trailer, in combo with the colorized version is enough to earn this an average “2.5 Star Rating” for bonus. It is enough to keep the fans pleased.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

Warner plans to bring the 2009 New Line film “The Final Destination” to Blu-ray in 3-D come January of 2010

Justin Sluss — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:30:12 +0000

Warner (distributor for New Line) has announced plans in a trade ad (pictured above) to bring the 2009 film “The Final Destination” to Blu-ray Disc on January 5th, 2010. The film will include both the “3-D” version and a standard 2-D version as well. The 3-D version will use standard cardboard colored glasses as past 3-D releases have. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround sound. The title isn’t yet available for pre-order but stay tuned and we will keep you updated. Bonus materials (aside from the 3-D) are set to include a Digital Copy (of the film), “Alternate Endings“, a featurette entitled “Body Count: The Deaths of The Final Destination“, “Pre-Visualization / Storyboard Segments” and also exclusive content via BD-Live.

Sony has plans to bring catalog action titles “Cliffhanger” and “Last Action Hero” to Blu-ray Disc in January 2010

Justin Sluss — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:15:22 +0000

Sony has announced plans to bring two 1993 action films, “Cliffhanger” and “Last Action Hero” to Blu-ray Disc on January 12th, 2010. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video quality and a lossless (likely DTS-HD Master Audio) 5.1 Surround audio track for each film. Both are already available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon, each carrying a $17.49 price tag. Bonus materials are bare minimum with just BD-Live and “movieIQ” feature on “Last Action Hero“. Bonus materials on “Cliffhanger” are a bit more in-depth and are made of up what is listed below as well as also including BD-Live and “movieIQ“.

# Deleted Scenes
# Commentary with Director Renny Harlin and Sylvester Stallone
# Technical Crew Commentary
# Stallone on the Edge: The Making of Cliffhanger
# Special Effects Featurettes
# Storyboard Comparisons

Warner is bringing two current retail exclusives “The Green Mile” & “Gremlins” to Blu-ray everywhere in December

Justin Sluss — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:44:12 +0000

Warner has sent out an early announcement to the press and retailers announcing that they will finally be bringing two titles that were previously exclusive at retail chains to Blu-ray Disc EVERYWHERE on December 1st. The two titles here? First, the Frank Darabont directed film “The Green Mile” which is still currently an exclusive at Best Buy. Second, the Joe Dante directed, Steven Spielberg produced film “Gremlins“, which is still currently an exclusive at Target physical retail stores. Both titles will be identical to those previously mentioned exclusive versions. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround sound. Also worth noting regarding tech specs, “The Green Mile” is on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) while “Gremlins” is on a BD-25 (25 gigabyte single layer Blu-ray Disc). Neither of the two titles are yet available for pre-order over at Amazon but stay tuned and we’ll keep you updated. Below you’ll see a list of bonus materials set to be included on each film.

“The Green Mile” bonus materials include:

* DigiBook 40-page booklet packaging
* Commentary by Writer/Director Frank Darabont
* Additional Scenes
* Walking the Mile: The Making of The Green Mile Documentary
* Miracles and Mystery: Creating The Green Mile Featurette Gallery
* Tom Hanks Makeup Tests
* Michael Clarke Duncan Screen Test
* The Teaser Trailer: A Case Study
* Theatrical Trailers

“Gremlins” bonus materials include:

* Over 10 Minutes of Additional Scenes
* Making-of Featurette
* 2 Commentaries:
* Director Joe Dante, Phoebe Cates, Zach Galligan, Dick Miller and Howie Mandel
* Director Joe Dante, Producer Michael Finnell and Special Effects Artist Chris Walas
* Photo/Storyboard Gallery
* Theatrical Trailers

Summit Entertainment bringing the critically acclaimed film “The Hurt Locker” to Blu-ray Disc in January 2010

Justin Sluss — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:57:15 +0000

According to a trade ad (pictured above) Summit Entertainment has plans to bring the critically acclaimed 2008 film “The Hurt Locker” to Blu-ray Disc on January 12th, 2010. No tech specs yet announced. Bonus materials are said to include an audio commentary with the Director Kathryn Bigelow and Writer Mark Boal, a “making of” style featurette called “The Hurt Locker: Behind the Scenes” and an “Image Gallery“. The title isn’t yet available for pre-order but stay tuned and we will keep you updated.

Warner bringing the direct-to-video release “Halo Legends” based on game franchise to Blu-ray in February 2010

Justin Sluss — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:41:01 +0000

According to an article over at Video Business (found HERE), Warner has plans to bring a direct-to-video release of “Halo Legends” to Blu-ray Disc on February 9th, 2010. The film is based on the “Halo” video game franchise which is exclusive to Microsoft’s XBOX 360 console — not a supporter of the Blu-ray format. This isn’t really a hint or anything that they plan to start supporting the format by the first quarter of 2010, in fact they don’t. It’s been widely made known by Microsoft’s “Major Nelson” that the folks behind the “360″ think that “downloads are the future”. I personally believe this to be a load a crap when even one of their video games ends up being marketed on the format as well as obviously on DVD and as no-doubt a download via “XBOX LIVE Video Marketplace” for about half the price of the physical copy and half the quality. I’ll stop my rant here and get to some details.

The release itself will be comprised of eight shorts, sort of like “The Animatrix” or “Batman: Gotham Knight” — both of which were also from Warner. Much like those other films mentioned, this will contain lots of “Anime” (Japanese animation) and CG animation as well. No tech specs yet on the release but I’d say likely expect 1080p Hi-Def and a 5.1 mix of some sort. No word on bonus materials yet, the title isn’t yet available for pre-order yet either but stay tuned and we will try to keep you updated.

Bruno – Blu-ray Disc Review

Justin Sluss — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:19:58 +0000

has an average rating of 6.7 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
includes a Video Commentary!
–
– 2009
– 81 Minutes
– Universal
–
This uses 38.7GB total.
Street Date: November 17th, 2009

Overall Verdict – ~~Greatest~~ Gayest Movie EVER!

Buy it for $20.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Justin Sluss —

Trailer:

The Movie Itself was directed by Larry Charles (known for directing another Cohen character in “Borat: Cultural Learnings for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan“). Sacha Baron Cohen, now known for his character “Borat” originally featured the character along with this character on “Da Ali G Show” which aired on HBO. This character is very different from Borat. Yes he is a foreigner (to Americans) but Bruno is from Austria and he’s a former host on a fashion show. He’s flamboyantly gay and not afraid to hide that from the world, in fact he wants the whole world’s attention. Aside from men, Bruno wants one thing, FAME. He will do anything just to achieve the status of fame.

After being fired from his former job as a fashion show host he sets out on a quest to claim fame. Joined by his former personal assistant’s assistant “Lutz” (played by Gustaf Hammarsten) Bruno leaves Austria to go to Hollywood and try his best to become famous. He makes his stab first at acting which goes absolutely nowhere, then tries creating another TV show. The TV show doesn’t end up working out either, so Bruno does everything he can do to get attention or acquire fame, even if it means trying to convince terrorists to kidnap him, get Israel and Palestine sign a peace agreement or adopt an African baby like Madonna.

All along the way, “Bruno” has a fair share of, of course gay sex and even does his best to seduce a former presidential candidate to make a sex tape with him. Why does this crazy gay Austrian man do these things? First, because he’s “Bruno“. An obviously GAY man and because he most importantly wants to acquire FAME — no matter what it takes. Does this make him any different than the contestants on shows such as “American Idol“? In my honest opinion, no. He is no different than those people, he’s just a whole hell of a lot funnier. Plus you don’t need “Idol” when you get to see Paula Abdul looking pissed here and it’s not fake and overly dramatic — it’s real.

In closing, it’s easy to see why audiences were downright offended by this film as well easy to understand that other audiences were downright rolling in laughter and totally got what Sacha Baron Cohen and Larry Charles created. The consequences that the star and filmmakers had to go through to stay in character, stay unrecognized and most most importantly stay safe are really insane. In fact, be sure to watch the Video Commentary if you want to know more about what all went down to get the movie made.

Personally, I have been a fan of Sacha Baron Cohen since I first saw him on “Da Ali G Show“. With that being said, it should come as no surprise that I absolutely LOVED this movie and regard it now as one of the funniest most offensive comedies of all-time. It’s seriously up there with the likes of great campy “over the top” comedies as “Kentucky Fried Movie” and obviously sure to please most of the “Borat” fans. The only “Borat” fans that don’t end up liking this film are likely homophobic. Sorry if that offends you but it’s the honest truth. If you don’t have a good sense of humor don’t bother trying to watch this, but if you’re an open minded person with a great sense of humor, you MUST SEE “Bruno“.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 1:85:1 aspect ratio. According to IMDb’s technical specifications for the aspect ratio on the film’s listing, this was shot mostly (if not entirely) on HD cameras. This makes for a really nice transfer at times but it does also come with some minor flaws such as interframe deformation and digital noise in dark lit scenes especially. No real signs of any compression problems here such as artifacts or blocking. The picture quality here, because it was shot digitally in HD, for the most part comes out pretty sharp.

I’ll offer a bit of a sexual content warning in regards to the video quality by just reminding you, as a potential viewer, that some of the shots early on in the film are downright disturbing to most people and do not contain any blood or gore of any sorts, just really crazy weird wild gay sex. If you are fond of seeing things like penises flopping around, champagne bottles shoved up rectums and dildos being used in unimaginable ways, you’ll just absolutely think this is eye candy. In fact, if that sort of thing “floats your boat” you’re likely to “capsize” here in sheer joy. Personally I don’t find it to be eye candy but it doesn’t look too bad (that is, despite the overly homosexual subject material at hand).

The black level is solid here, the fleshtones seem accurate, even sadly in the infamous “penis swinging” scene. The color palette is very vibrant, just as you’d expect from an overly flamboyant gay character getting his own movie. It’s a shame this does have it’s minor flaws such as the HDCAM source with it’s digital noise and interframe deformation issues but it importantly does have a good amount of detail. “Borat” on Blu-ray Disc earns a solid, still somewhat impressive “4 Star Rating” for video quality, despite it’s few minor flaws.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. It’s no lie that “Bruno” and his extremely offensive dialogue are the real highlight of the film and I’m happy to report that the dialogue is delivered perfectly — through primarily the front center channel speaker with a bit of front left and right channel speaker presence. Not a whole lot of dialogue in the rear channels but sound effects and most importantly music make use of the rear channels and especially LFE (bass) presence via the subwoofer. The loud roaring techno music that “Bruno” was known for on “Da Ali G Show” is back and as a matter of fact some of it is composed actually by Sacha Baron Cohen’s brother. The music sounds great and the whole sound mix is solid here but keep in mind this is a documentary style film (”mockumentary” of sorts) so it’s not really the world’s most demanding subject material for sound; aside from the loud techno music and one musical number which comes across well. “Bruno” on Blu-ray earns a pretty solid “4 Star Rating” for overall audio quality.

Bonus Materials are presented in High Definition (HD) and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound — unless otherwise noted.

BD-Live is included on this release which requires the user to be on a “Profile 2.0” capable Blu-ray Disc Player to access online content from the studio, in this case Universal and share “My Scenes” (bookmarks) with friends online, chat or create your own webcam video commentary tracks. Something new on this release that uses BD-Live is an iPhone & iPod Touch application called “Pocket Blu” which allows you to access some exclusive content as well as actually use it as a remote control or as a keyboard.

“Video Commentary with Sacha Baron Cohen and Director Larry Charles” is using “Bonus View” Picture-In-Picture, which requires the user to be on a “Profile 1.1” capable Blu-ray Disc Player. This is absolutely amazing. Sacha and Larry reveal tons of amazing details regarding how all of these extremely offensive and risky scenes were filmed and the consequences such as Sacha going to jail, cameramen getting hit, being recognized at a fashion show and so forth. One of my favorite things is that they actually PAUSE the movie at times and will talk for a good bit about a certain scene instead of letting the film play on. This is similar to what Zach Snyder did for “The Watchmen“. When I saw this, first thing I realized is that this is exactly what I wanted to see on “Borat” but for the past 2 years, despite me recommending them to bring it to Blu-ray each trip to the studio — it is not yet out, but wait til they see how well this does, they’ll get the GENIUS idea to ask Sacha and Larry to do another one of these.

Digital Copy is included of the film on a second disc (DVD-ROM) which is compatible with both Mac and PC, iTunes and Windows Media portable devices. As always, this digital copy lasts exactly 1 year after street (release) date.
“Alternate Scenes” (5:42) includes a cameo by baseball legend Pete Rose instead of Paula Abdul, sitting on the Mexican chair people as well as an interview with a former United Nations ambassador.
“Deleted Scenes” (40:45) include cameo by La Toya Jackson which luckily was deleted since it mentions the late Michael Jackson. It’s a somewhat funny scene but it was best deleted. The other scenes are downright hilarious.
“Extended Scenes” (22:39) give you unedited versions of some of the interviews found in the film.
“An Interview with Lloyd Robinson” (5:32) has the talent agent you see in the film explaining what he does for a living and what he thinks of Sacha Baron Cohen.

Overall the bonus materials we get here are nice. You have the Video Commentary which is downright amazing, the over hour of deleted, alternate and extended scenes you didn’t see in the theatrical cut. You have the BD-Live features and exclusive content via “Pocket Blu” as well as a Digital Copy. Fans of the film will really enjoy the supplemental material found here.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

Blu-ray Disc Releases for November 3rd, 2009

Justin Sluss — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:08:11 +0000

The following titles were released today November 3rd, 2009 on Blu-ray Disc:

Aliens in the Attic (FOX)

The Answer Man (Magnolia Home Entertainment)

Food, Inc. (Magnolia Home Entertainment)

Forrest Gump (Paramount)

Forrest Gump [Chocolate Box Giftset] (Paramount)

G.I. JOE: The Rise of the Cobra (Paramount)

Howards End (Criterion Collection)

I Love You, Beth Cooper (FOX)

It’s a Wonderful Life (Paramount)

Love Actually (Universal)

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation [20th Anniversary Collector's Edition] (Warner)

The Narrows (Image Entertainment)

North by Northwest (Warner)

Rocky: The Undisputed Collection (MGM)

Say Anything… (FOX)

The Taking of Pelham 123 (Sony)

Two Girls and A Guy (FOX)

Wings of Desire (Criterion Collection)

Orphan – Blu-ray Disc Review

Danielle Byington — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:15:58 +0000

has an average rating of 7.2 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on a 50gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1
mostly in HD & include Digital Copy
–
– 2009
– 123 minutes
– Warner
–
This uses 21.7GB for the movie out of 30.8GB total.

Overall Verdict – A Recommended Horror

Buy it for $19.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Danielle Byington —

Trailer:

The Movie Itself is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (”House of Wax“), with the writing credits of David Johnson (screenplay), and Alex Mace (story).

The story centers on the Coleman family; the mother, Kate (Vera Farmiga), the father, John (Peter Sarsgaard), and their two young children, Daniel (Jimmy Bennett), and Maxine (Aryana Engineer). Kate and John have intentions to have a third child, and the trouble they have endured in attempting to accomplish this is highlighted in the beginning of the film. The couple’s third child never is, and it is obviously something that upsets specifically Kate. Having miscarried, Kate describes to her husband her enthusiasm for adoption is to direct this affection for their lost child to a child who sincerely needs a home. The couple ventures to an orphanage in which they are allowed to mingle with the adolescent children (girls), so as to better find a chance of natural family bonding. John ventures upstairs, following the singing voice of a young girl who is not participating with the other children downstairs, but has rather isolated herself in a room where she paints. This factor does not come across as exactly unusual to John, nor Kate who later joins him upstairs, as the husband and wife converse with the charming and seemingly very bright and mature young girl. The girl, Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman), talks about her enjoyment of painting, and shows the potential parents her other works of art, which are moderately strange in many ways, such as fish with human faces, though the couple seems to simply pass it off as a fine taste of abstract and imaginative artwork.

After a discussion with the head of the orphanage, Sister Abigail (CCH Pounder), the three concur that there was a natural connection between the eligible parents and Esther, and paperwork is taken care of. Kate and John bring home Esther to their beautiful large home, which seems to put Esther in awe as she conveys an attitude of never having a home so nice. Upon getting out of the vehicle, the new daughter is excitedly greeted by Max who is especially fond of the idea of having a big sister. Max is even more taken-up with her new sister when Esther greets her with sign language, being that Max is hearing impaired. Everyone, including Esther’s new grandmother (Rosemary Dunsmore), celebrates her arrival into the family opening gifts; all except for the couple’s older son, Daniel, who does not quite exhibit jealously towards his new adopted sister, but rather deep suspicions about her. Daniel is the only one to point out Esther’s unusual taste in wardrobe, which instead of consisting of casual attire such as jeans and t-shirts the family has bought for her, she retains to wearing what is later taunted to her by new classmates as “Little Bo Peep” clothing.

This next brings us to the point of Esther’s experience with her peers in the school setting. She is immediately picked-on by a particular girl, who sort of bullies the funny-dressed new student in small typical ways that draw out a rather large explosion from Esther. However, this is not the only violent outburst displayed by Esther, as many “accidents” and manipulative accusations have occurred since her arrival. Beginning to see this not so charming side of Esther, Kate investigates her newly adopted daughter’s past, with or without the belief or support from others.

In closing, the trailer for the film states, “You’ll never guess her secret”; that is honestly the bottom line for this film, because there is just no way you will see coming what exactly makes Esther tick the way that she does. It is one of the best executed ideas in a thriller in long time, even if the scenarios before the explanation do draw quite a bit on classic cinema inspirations a lot. Also, do not be fooled by the fact that the director’s previous horror credit is a teenaged slasher flick, as this film, and primarily its story, is far from that essence. The film does not exactly rely on supernatural or demonic elements to fright its audience, but rather conveys a supremely intelligent twist; something that is nearly rare these days in horror/thriller films. There is certainly a vibe of “The Omen“, and even “The Good Son” that can be felt within a viewing of this movie, with the obvious plotline of the unusual adopted child upon whose presence has suddenly created chaos in the home, and also as defined in the dialogue regarding Esther’s personality, the “superficial charm” she displays, just as seen in Macaulay Culkin’s portrayal of a similar child, who was obviously corrupt and violent on the inside; much like Esther.

There is an abundant use of what may seem like typical thriller samples within the film (such as the sliding medicine cabinet mirror), and you will mostly find that it is only the conditioning your cinematic mind has received from numerous other cliches in dime-a-dozen flicks of the genre that creates the stereotypical expectation that is frequently taken into an unforeseen direction here. As the conclusions of each scenario often do not execute what you are forecasting, this is certainly one quality of the movie that will draw you to a favorable taste for its story, as the general public does like to see a good horror/thriller and actually be impressed.

There is certainly a “spook” element to the film that is sure to keep your mind unraveling explanations to yourself as you sit through a large portion of the two hour runtime pondering the absence of Satan’s bidding, and generically wanting to staple this aggressive character of a young girl to the typical outcome of everyone’s favorite alibi, insanity. However, once the end approaches, you will see that this movie did a well played job of perception and manipulation; the perception of the lead characters is manipulated by of course Esther , and the perception of the audience is manipulated by the filmmakers. With out a doubt, the performances of the cast here are amazing, specifically that of Isabelle Fuhrman; she was roughly eleven years old when filming the production, and it is impressive, and definitely a little creepy how well she portrays this bizarre character. Overall, this is a must-see film, earning a “4.5 Star Rating“.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the VC-1 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. With the opening of the movie, to perhaps signify the past and/or a not so pleasant dream sequence, we see an abundance of overhead lighting sources casting down upon the characters, giving an ethereal look that provides a dreamlike glow to the neutral toned palette. Moving on from this informative piece of the movie, the rest of the release’s video quality retains a very ashy to neutral toned palette, emphasized by the extensive use of the production’s dull colors present in many aspects of the set design, wardrobe, and so forth. This very gray and cold look of the picture cast the thriller’s underlying emotional tones, with even potentially vibrant shades being subdued. The black level here is very inky, and visual examples of this exist in many scenes of the release. Fleshtones reflect the ashy filter, coming across in a slightly heightened fairness at times. Detail is slightly above moderate, not quite being extensive, though enough definition exist to make the usual subjects such as strands of hair and textures of wardrobe stand out well. Overall, the video quality for this release receives a solid “4 Star Rating“.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in both Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround. The audio track accompanying this thriller flick is not over-the-top, but does just enough suitable performance to provide appropriate scares, and convey all other audible subjects with a pleasing clarity. There is of course an eerie score that carries on throughout the film’s duration, composed by John Ottman, who also provided the original music heard in the director’s other film credit, “House of Wax“, and was also the composer for movies such as “Valkyrie“, “Superman Returns“, and “Fantastic Four“. The often somber melodies and harmonies make use of the 5.1 setup, mostly from the front channels, though also presenting decent rear channel presence. There is occasionally a good amount of subwoofer use, though not to the extremes of perhaps other horror films; that is simply not this particular film’s style to present a thoroughly intense ride for your ears, as the content of the movie alone is often rattling enough for your mind.

The soundeffects of this film offer a nice touch within this audio track, with occasional assigned channel presence, such as background noises coming from the rear, as well as left or right channels conveying an on-screen action, respectively. There is also an additional unique part to the way this audio track accompanies the film’s content; as the youngest daughter Max is deaf, her character does wear a hearing enhancement piece during the day, and a few times we are audibly shown her perspective of hearing; “…just enough to read lips”, as described by her mother in the film, and it is an interesting take on a character’s perspective, especially when she is tucked into bed at night and removes it, a scene which presents a solid silence within the soundscape. Overall, the audio quality for this release does a nice job for what is more or less psychological content, receiving a “4 Star Rating“.

Bonus Materials on this release are presented in both High Definition as well as Standard Definition, using Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo.

“BD-Live” is included on this release, and is accessible at street date for users of profile 2.0 Blu-ray Disc Players.
“Digital Copy” is included with this release on a second disc, and is compatible with iTunes or Windows Media Player.
“Mama’s Little Devils: Bad Seeds and Evil Children” (HD, 15 minutes) consists of various interviews with the cast and crew as they discuss the element of the “evil” child theme in the movie.
“Deleted Scenes/Alternate Ending” (SD, 4 minutes) consists of 6 scenes, including the advertised “alternate ending”.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

UP – Blu-ray Disc Review

Justin Sluss — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:05:51 +0000

has an average rating of 8.6 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 MA & DTS-HD 2.0 MA
are great with a DVD & Digital Copy
–
– 2009
– 96 minutes
– Pixar (Disney)
–
Disc 1 uses 41.4GB total.
Disc 2 uses 17.8GB total.
Street Date: November 10th, 2009

Overall Verdict – Very Highly Recommended

Buy it for $19.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review by: Justin Sluss & Brendan Surpless —

Trailer:

The Movie Itself is directed and written by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson (Docter is known for directing “Monsters Inc” while Peterson was one of the writers on “Ratatouille“). “Carl Fredricksen” (voiced by Ed Asner), a man who has just recently lost the woman of his life “Ellie” (voiced by Elie Docter), is in the midst of flying his house to South America after making a decade long promise to his wife. Along the way Carl finds out that a young boy by the name of “Russell” (voiced by Jordan Nagai) has someone found his way onto the porch of Carl’s house. Clearly not being a cruel old man (even though he is bitter), Carl decides to bring Russell along (does he really have a choice). Without giving away any more of the plot, the rest of the film sees Carl finding out more about him, especially what made him the man his wife dearly loved. What results is a film that made me utter ‘Only Pixar could make a film about a flying house fantastic’.

It’s easy to say that “UP” is an excellent film because well it is. But “UP” is more than an excellent film simply because it shows that Pixar is growing not only as a company but as an animation leader. Before they were revolutionizing the world with “Toy Story” in 1995, Disney was the king because they were able to make films not only with impressive imagery but also they were successful in making movies that had heart and emotion. Perhaps because of the type of company Pixar has become, other animated rivals have really stopped trying in my opinion. Sure the films they create are a visual treat (especially in hi-def) but none of them really have any true quality to them. Pixar’s “UP” is the definition of a film with heart and emotion.

Choosing to not really have much dialogue in the film for the first 15 or so minutes akin to that of their last effort in “Wall-E“, these initial minutes are heartwarming, endearing and, well, sad. As we learn of the kind of relationship Carl and his wife had (through a beautiful arrangement of music courtesy of insert composer name here), the story begins to unwrap itself in front of us. And I’m not unashamed to admit that this movie had me on the brink of tears. Not because the film was sad no; rather, the movie was endearing. Items like this are why Pixar are kings at what they do. They understand the definition of what life is. Each of their films have dealt with a different aspect of the human life. “Toy Story’s” (growing up), “A Bug’s Life” (being a leader), “Monster’s Inc” (sense of what goes bump in the night), “Finding Nemo” (parents protecting their kin) “The Incredibles” (family togetherness), “Cars” (sense of competition and realizing who you are), “Ratatouille” (sense of accepting what’s different in the world as one), “Wall-E” (environmental issues humans deal with) and finally “UP” (sense of discovering oneself after loss).

The real reason why “UP” connects with audiences in the manner it does is because we all know someone who has gone through what Carl has. The sense of losing a loved one is painful and can make you bitter and cranky. But the importance of finding and realizing who you are is even more important. Pixar nailed it on the head here. There isn’t a studio out there that understands the art of the film the way Pixar does. No one studio has the rate of success in terms of box office and film quality that Pixar has and there’s a reason one. They have some of the most talented group of workers that not only understand how to make a film but they realize that animation is more that putting stupid characters doing things that make no sense on screen (*cough* other studios *cough*). Heart is key here folks.

In closing, “UP” is the definition of an animation masterpiece. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. Pixar is the best animation studio out today….period… With heart, pure emotion, an excellent story, stunning visuals and an all-around great style and range of voice actors, Pixar’s “UP” is the best animated film I’ve see yet and just may be the best film I’ve seen all year long. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, pun intended.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio. I (Brendan Surpless) commented about a year ago in my review of “Wall-E” that the transfer was absolutely breathtaking and was something we only dream about. Well this should come as no real surprise but Pixar has completely knocked it out of the park with “UP“. Entirely in digital, “UP” arrives on Blu-ray with a perfect transfer. Colors are accurate with deep, bold blacks and blues but also bright yellows and greens. In fact every aspect of the color spectrum is fantastic with no real color not looking amazing. The balloons on top of the house serve as a great example of the color spectrum; obviously. Speaking of those, one of my more favorite sequences is the initial scene where “Carl” launches his house from his property into the sky using those balloons. As the house takes off, the detail of the blue sky is simply, well… PERFECT! This is the kind of image that feels like you’re looking through a glass window. Something that we wish every animated feature today would have. Detail is utterly jaw-dropping with numerous instances throughout the film of very fine detail and textures. If you don’t believe us, be sure to take a look at some of the screenshots we captured for a small treat of what’s to come when you purchase this on Blu-ray.

We will be honest and mention that we could go on and on with examples of why this is one of the best, if not the best, transfers we’ve seen PERIOD since the launch of the format in June of 2006. It’s definite that Pixar has become known for not only their incredible film catalog but also their Hi-Def transfers of not only their current film catalog but also their older films as well. Easily continuing in this awesome tradition, “UP” easily earns a perfect “5 Star Rating” for overall video quality. There’s even some “3-D pop” in some shots without even using 3-D technology such as crappy cardboard glasses. It’s a great thing in fact that they didn’t bother trying to include a 3-D version of this and focused on the standard (2-D) presentation.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in both DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio Stereo. I’m not totally sure which they chose to include a DTS-HD MA stereo mix but it’s certainly something new on Disney’s releases and it makes sense actually. Keep in mind that a large majority of the target audience for this film might BE watching this in Hi-Def on a HDTV but they may NOT even have a AVR (stereo receiver) with 5.1 or 7.1 speakers in their living room like most of us. That’s why it makes sense to include this specific DTS-HD MA stereo mix for those using the speakers on their television (as bad as they might be). Also even those with just a 2.1 stereo configuration will enjoy (make use) out of this DTS-HD 2.0 mix but the folks like myself, they will obviously be opting for that DTS-HD 5.1 MA to hear the film in it’s true glory. Speaking of which I’ll now actually analyze a bit of the audio portion of this release. I just felt that since this included the DTS-HD 2.0 I would explain why it was likely included. I hope I didn’t ramble too much about it. Now, back to the audio.

First thing you’ll notice here is the dialogue, here the opening “MovieTown News” narration. It’s delivered very distinctly and perfectly through primarily the front center channel with a bit of presence at times in the left and right front channels. Occasionally you’ll hear a voice maybe out of the rear channels but it’s not too common. The rear channels do get a real good amount of attention here though it really is the film’s sound effects and original music that get the most of that attention. The LFE is great and sure to leave your subwoofer rattling the room a couple times in some action sequences but for the most part it’s not really going to “blow your socks off”. The mix is definitely perfect, by definition “reference material” yet it is not really “in your face” type action, explosions and such that you come to expect from that. It works with the film’s wonderful subject matter and it does it complete justice. You will definitely be drawn in as much by the sound here as you will be by the film’s amazing CG animation visually. This earns Pixar (Disney) yet another “5 Star Rating” for overall audio quality. This has really become something to expect from these films and the studio itself. Major kudos to the folks at both Disney and most importantly Pixar on a job well done here in terms of sound.

Bonus Materials on this release are presented in Hi-Def video quality using AVC MPEG-4 and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo @192kbps — unless otherwise noted in the description below.

Disc 1 includes:

BD-Live is included on this Disney release and requires the user to be on a “Profile 2.0” capable Blu-ray Disc Player with internet connectivity. This feature has not been enabled yet, at time of writing this review so I can’t really tell you what all is included aside from the usual Disney BD-Live interface and options.

“Cine-Explore” is included on this release and features Picture-In-Picture (PIP) video commentary from co-writer/director Pete Docter. This uses Bonus View to achieve the onscreen commentary as the film goes. Meaning, this requires the user to be on a “Profile 1.1” capable Blu-ray Disc Player to access this feature. This is a definite treat from start to finish, just like the one’s included on other Pixar Blu-ray releases such as “Cars“.
“Partly Cloudy” (5:46) is the original short that run with the film theatrically. This features great video quality and Dolby Digital 5.1 @640kbps sound.
“Dug’s Special Mission” (4:40) is an all-new original short done specifically for the home video release of “UP“. This ties in to the actual film itself near the end. This, just like the other short, features great video quality and Dolby Digital 5.1 @640kbps sound. Below you’ll find a clip from this short provided by Disney.

“Adventure is Out There” (22:17) takes a look at the trip the folks at Pixar who worked on the film took to South America to research the Tepui and rock formations, as well as the “Angel Falls” waterfall which served as inspiration for the “Paradise Falls” in the film. This is really interesting for those who appreciate how these animated films are made and what serves as inspiration, reference to the artists. Sadly though, most audiences, especially kids, will be bored by this lengthy featurette.
“Alternate Scene: The Many Endings of Muntz” (4:56) takes a look at some of the alternate ways they tried to kill or resolve things with the character. This is best left for after the film as it obviously contains a spoiler.
“The Egg” (1:55) is actually an “easter egg” with a very witty title. To find this, hit the left direction button on your Blu-ray Disc Player’s remote control at the menu and you’ll see the featurette come up. Hit enter to play it and enjoy!

Disc 2 includes the following bonus content:

“Geriatric Hero” (6:24)
“Canine Companions” (8:26)
“Russell: Wilderness Explorer” (9:00)
“Our Giant Flightless Friend, Kevin” (5:04)
“Homemakers of Pixar” (4:38)
“Balloons and Flight” (6:25)
“Composing for Characters” (7:37)
“Alternate Scene: Married Life” (9:13)
“UP Promo Montage” (5:52)
“Global Guardian Badge Game” is an interactive game (powered by BD-Live) in which Russell is your guide. You pick our states on the map from your location you pick or so forth. This is a pretty fun game even for adults to refresh their memories of states they might have forgotten or to teach your kids their states.
“Worldwide Trailer” features “Theatrical Trailer #2” (1:48) and “Theatrical Trailer #3” (2:29). Both are in Dolby Digital 5.1 @448kbps sound.

Disc 3 contains a DVD of the film in Standard Definition as well as the standard DVD bonus materials.

Disc 4 contains a Digital Copy of the film which is compatible with both iTunes and Windows Media — Mac and PC.

Overall, the bonus materials we get here a really in-depth to a degree but may not be as lengthy as some would expect. Plus, you have to factor in the “Cine-Explore” Picture-In-Picture video commentary which is very enjoyable and exclusive to the Blu-ray. The fact that a DVD and Digital Copy are included, in addition to the other bonus content is just icing on the cake. This earns an impressive “4.5 Star Rating” for bonus materials. Fans will definitely be happy!

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

Miramax officially bringing the 2009 Mike Judge film “Extract” starring Jason Bateman to Blu-ray Disc in December

Justin Sluss — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:03:18 +0000

Miramax (distributed by Disney) has announced plans officially (in the form of a PRESS RELEASE) to bring the 2009 Mike Judge directed comedy “Extract” to Blu-ray Disc on December 22nd. The film stars Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Kristen Wiig and David Koechner, Mila Kuni and J.K. Simmons. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound. Below you’ll find a list of bonus materials set to be included, some of which are exclusive to the BD (Blu-ray Disc) release.

BONUS FEATURES
Both Blu-ray and DVD editions include:
• Mike Judge’s Secret Recipe—What are the ingredients of a classic Mike Judge film? Go straight to the factory floor to uncover the writer and director’s secrets. From shooting in a real working factory to the unique cast of characters and situations, Mike Judge always seems to have the right recipe.

And only on Blu-ray:
• Extended Scenes—5 scenes featuring extended portions with Joel, Dean and Brad that didn’t make the final cut of the film.
• Deleted Scene—Straight from the factory floor, watch this exclusive deleted scene where Dean explains his rather abrupt departure from Willie’s party the night before and finds out Joel got punched in the face.

UPDATE: This title is now available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $25.99 price tag.

Nothing Like the Holidays – Blu-ray Disc Review

Danielle Byington — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:02:29 +0000

has an average rating of 6.2 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 & PCM 5.1
with Bonus View, Digital Copy & more
–
– 2008
– 98 minutes
– Anchor Bay / Starz
–
This uses 26.5GB for the movie out of 32.1GB total.

Overall Verdict – A Holiday Recommendation

Buy it for $24.49 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Danielle Byington & Justin Sluss —

Trailer:

The Movie Itself was directed by Alfredo De Villa, with the screenplay credits of Alison Swan and Rick Najera, and the story credits of Robert Teitel and Rene M. Rigal.

Naturally as the title suggest, the story takes place around the time of Christmas, centering on a the gathering of the Rodriguez family. The family is Puerto Rican, and resides in a part of Chicago known as Humboldt Park. The mother, Anna (Elizabeth Peña), and father, Edy (Alfred Molina), still live in the area, however, their grown children are coming in for the holidays from various destinations. We are first shown the anticipation of Jesse’s (Freddy Rodríguez) arrival, the son who has spent quite some time in the military fighting in Iraq. Also there is Mauricio (John Leguizamo), an investor visiting from New York with his wife, Sarah (Debra Messing). Finally, the family’s only daughter, Roxanna (Vanessa Ferlito), is visiting from Los Angeles, where she is striving to become a successful actress.

With the arrival of each family member, there is not necessarily a stereotypical Hallmark movie greeting, as Mauricio handles his mother’s bilingual insults to Sarah, as she also hassles the couple about having children, pressing how much she wants grandchildren. Also, as Roxanna arrives at her family’s home, everyone makes comments about “the big star” arriving, and asking “where’s the limo?”, in both mannerisms of perhaps having this large assumption that she actually is a successful actress who is not struggling, and also perhaps in an affectionate way of stroking their daughter’s dreams to reassure her.

Jesse’s return home on the other hand is a little deeper with emotions flowing from multiple directions. Obviously, his family is excited to see him, though their questions about fighting in Iraq draw out a slight bit of awkwardness from him as they seek to hear stories about the things he has seen; Jesse does not exactly want to go down that path. Also, when first arriving back in town, he takes off with his close friends Johnny (Luis Guzmán) and Ozzy (Jay Hernandez) to simply hang-out and catch-up with his pals. Upon driving out for a bit, the guys cross paths with a certain enemy, Alexis (Manny Perez), a guy that particularly Ozzy holds a grudge against for the past. As if there were not enough drama showing its face with Jesse’s visit, while mingling with his family and having a good time in their home, he answers a knock at the door, only to be face to face with his ex-girlfriend, Marissa (Melonie Diaz). This does present a little more awkwardness, as she introduces Jesse to her son, Hector (Alexander Bautista), and her current boyfriend, Fernando (Ramses Jimenez).

With all of the siblings gathered int he home, they begin to notice something that their mother has been gaining suspicion to for a while; their father frequently receives phone calls to which he gets “Dick Cheney” about, stepping aside or into another room to privately talk to the caller. This will prove to make for additional holiday drama at the Rodriguez home, though even the father makes it a point to attempt to enjoy his time with his children.

In closing, it’s very safe for me to say that “Nothing Like The Holidays” is one of the better ethnic holiday films, that much is for certain. In fact, it’s actually in my top 20 favorite holiday films now, if that says anything. I think folks, regardless of them being Hispanic or not will find the film enjoyable, especially around the holidays. For instance, I’m Caucasian and I found the film to be really good. This, unlike some of the other ethnic holiday films, really seemed to “click” (to a degree) with me really well and I think it has and will continue to on home video — despite it currently being down in popularity on IMDb. Many of the themes and situations in the story see no color, as there are many pieces of the film you will surely find yourself relating to. The film also has a nice balance between offering wit and moderately comical situations, as well as serious elements of drama. Overall, this is definitely a holiday film worth catching, receiving a “3.5 Star Rating“.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The majority of this release’s video is presented with a very warm and bronze-like filter, which really does add that state of mind family warmth to the holiday setting of the film. The look of the picture within the use of this warm palette gives a glow to the fleshtones of the ethnic cast, as well as subdues and deepens bold hues that would otherwise be vibrant. Occasionally, the intensity of this warm look does shift to a more neutral tone, such as a few exterior scenes taking place at night, which does represent the cold Chicago air well. The black level here is very inky, as it seems we do see more of it within the use of the very warm palette, and it also appears that sharpness has been heightened, giving a rather dark and strong look to the picture quality in particularly inky scenes, such as the interiors of the family’s home.

Definition tends to vary in each portion of the film. Often, when the warm filter is at its peak blaring its golden hues on-screen, the detail of the actors’ faces seems to be lost at these points, and the even the beard stubble of the male cast is not quite defined. On the other hand, there is typically a nice amount of detail visible in strands of hair, the textures of wardrobe and props, and more so in close-ups, such as the rugged facial features of Alfred Molina, and Freddy Rodriguez. Overall, the clarity and definition is more than decent, and earns the video quality for this release a deserved “4 Star Rating“.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in both Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround & Uncompressed 5.1 Linear PCM. Considering this is a Hispanic film, I find it also to point out that a Spanish audio track is included, but that it’s sadly only in Dolby Digital Mono. Regardless, the audio presentation here is very solid. The film is made up primarily with dialogue more-so than tradition holiday films even though Paul Oakenfold actually composed the original music included in the film. When the music is present, it gets a nice mix throughout the 5.1 soundscape, with decent rear channel presence and LFE (bass) presence as well. There is occasional assigned channel presence, and specific front or rear channel use unique to whatever on-screen actions are occurring, such as the intercom at the airport conveying the speaker’s voice from the rear channels. The dialogue and majority of the film’s sound is delivered primarily through the front center channel as well as left and right channel speakers. This mix is in all honesty, “front heavy” but it still manages to get the job done here, with the bright sound of brass from the score, appropriate subtle foley, and clarity within the sometimes witty dialogue, overall earning itself a “4 Star Rating“.

Bonus Materials on this release are presented in 1080i, and High Definition, using Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo.

Bonus View is used on the “Picture-In-Picture Insider Exclusive with the Cast” video commentary track. This requires the user to be on a “Profile 1.1” capable Blu-ray Disc Player to access the PIP content. It’s really awesome to see this included and a really awesome video commentary as well. Fans will be pleased this is included when they want to watch it again for the second or third time.
Digital Copy of the film is included on the 2nd disc on a DVD-ROM. This is compatible with both iTunes and Windows Media portable devices, as well as both Mac and PC computers.
“Audio Commentary With Actor/Producer Freddy Rodriguez, Director Alfredo De Villa, and Producer Robert Teitel“
“Nothing Like a Family: Cast Reunion” (1080i, 13 minutes)
“Bloopers” (15 minutes)
“Theatrical Trailer” (2 minutes)

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

HDDN Exclusive Interview: 20 Questions with Sound Designer & Effects Editor Erik Aadahl

James Segars — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:55:50 +0000

I was lucky enough to get an exclusive interview with Sound Designer & Effects Editor Erik Aadahl who has worked on such films as “Kung Fu Panda“, “Monsters vs Aliens“, “Superman Returns“, “Transformers“, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” and “Valkyrie“. All of these films are available on the Blu-ray Disc format.

Below you will find the 20 question interview in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. We would prefer you view this interview in this because we actually put a great deal of effort behind it much like we do our Hardware Reviews. Although, if you prefer simple HTML (text) based alternative, just click on the option below to continue reading and you’ll be treated to that version. Keep in mind though you will miss out on some images and such, exclusive to our PDF version of the interview. Thanks again, on behalf of myself and the entire HDDN staff go out to Erik Aadahl for being gracious enough to give us this interview. We hope you enjoy! Fans of both Bryan Singer and “Battlestar Galactica” will definitely enjoy the little hint made in reply to a question about him possibly working again with the director soon.

Read the Interview in Adobe Acrobat PDF format HERE. Text alternative is below.

“20 Questions with Erik Aadahl“

One of the world’s premiere Sound Designers/Effects Editors sheds light on his beginnings, accomplishments and the possible futures of film sound.

Interview by: James Segars

In the world of film sound, dozens upon dozens of people work tirelessly behind the scenes to bring to life some of the most fantastic and realistic soundscapes imaginable. Erik Aadahl is one such person, a magic maker that has dedicated his life to seeking out, creating and directing some of the most unbelievably cool sound effects of our time. Whether he’s recording
sound effects out in the wild, or designing and polishing them behind the mixing board, one thing is clear: he’s damn good at what he does.

Thankfully, we were able to catch up with him and ask him some questions about his past, present and future. Enjoy!

HDDN: Over the years, you’ve worked on countless demo-quality mixes (as either Sound Designer, or Sound Effects Editor) such as Superman Returns, Transformers, Fantastic Four, I, Robot, X2, Valkyrie, and most recently Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Now, with such a stunning body of work, where do you go from here? In other words, how do you continue to make perfection even more perfect, and what might we look forward to in the future?

ERIK: Hah, thanks, that’s very nice of you. I approach every movie the same way: to have fun, take the sound as far as we can, and make it as “cool” as possible. Every movie calls for something different. Working for Terrence Malick might call for more realism in the design, where Transformers is complete unrealism–where anything goes if you can imagine it. I’m not supposed to talk about the movie I’m working on right now, but it will be an insane sound design opportunity. The bottom line is to have fun and keep pushing ourselves technically and creatively.

HDDN: When did you know you wanted to be a Sound Designer/Effects Editor?

ERIK: I had been playing with digital audio since I was about 10, composing music using an Audioblaster midi hookup between my Casio keyboard and clunky old 16 megahertz PC with a 5.25 inch floppy disc drive. I loved making my own films as a kid, super 8mm and video, but always assumed I’d follow a career in the sciences, medicine I thought. But I wound up taking a scholarship to USC film school, and got involved with the sound department there, scoring student films on the Spielberg Scoring Stage, and working the sound window renting gear out to student projects. That was in the mid-nineties when the University still had 16mm magnetic dubbers–you may have seen these in vintage photos: big refrigerator-sized machines with tape-to-tape reels. Where we are now with technology is so different, but the basics are the same: storytelling. What I really love about sound editing is the storytelling part of it, how sound effects can make a scene come alive.

HDDN: How does one become a world-class Sound Designer/Effects Editor?

ERIK: Out of film school I got two job offers: one to be a “second second assistant” at a film production company, or to take a union assistant sound editor job doing TV shows like “NYPD Blue”. Getting into the Editors Guild can be hard, so I got lucky right out the gates with that, and after a year started editing. The rest was a lot of learning and experimenting. In television, I had to learn to work fast. Every show I learned something–how to make a “whoosh”, how to make a beefy explosion, and over time how to “pre-visualize” a sound and then recreate it. I did these Disney channel movies where one week I’d be making sounds for spaceships and the next monsters. It was a trial-by-fire learning experience where there was no time to fool around and doubt yourself–you just did it! I met a great mentor Jay Wilkinson on the “Dune” mini-series, and he got me started with John Larsen at Fox on Daredevil and X2. Films really can be demanding, but I’ve felt so lucky to be in the company of some really talented, generous world-class people and mentors.

HDDN: Do you choose your film jobs, or do they choose you? And if you choose them, what do you look for?

ERIK: I’ve been working freelance the past few years, and it’s been really nice working with such a variety of different filmmakers. The offers I get come from people I’ve worked with, often fellow sound people. I’ve felt super lucky to work on a bunch of movies with my heroes in sound editing like Craig Berkey, who I met on X2 and Ethan van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins, who did the Lord of the Rings Trilogy before we worked together on Transformers and Kung Fu Panda. Obviously I prefer to work on good films with good crews and good friends, so it’s nice when all the stars align and that happens.

HDDN: What would you consider the three most influential and inspiring sound mixes of all time?

ERIK: 1. APOCALYPSE NOW – sound effects being treated like music; abstract, bold.
2. STAR WARS – Ben Burtt is a sound titan and a huge inspiration.
3. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN – Gary Rydstrom’s (also a hero of mine) opening 20 minutes redefined expressive realism in film sound effects.

HDDN: Thus far you’ve worked on three of Bryan Singer’s films (Valkyrie, Superman Returns and X2), do you anticipate working on more of his films in the future, and which was your favorite of the three?

ERIK: I love X2 as a movie, but it’s funny how oftentimes the best movies aren’t always the most fun to work on. I think Superman Returns was the most fun to work on, because I had lots of “playtime” where I could experiment. Our crew was really tight and would rarely miss the weekly (at least) 5:00 cocktail hour. Composer/Editor John Ottman made things very pleasant for us. And Warner Bros was awesome at setting up elaborate sound recording sessions. We dropped a 1 ton piano off a forklift to create the sound of a grand piano thrown across a room on Lex Luther’s yacht. Later, I managed to shatter my car windshield recording water splashes on glass from my 2nd floor balcony …. oops! We’ll see what’s on the horizon for Bryan Singer. I am a huge Battlestar Galactica fan.

HDDN: Which role do you prefer when it comes to Sound — Effects Editor or Designer?

ERIK: Those credits can sometimes seem a little confusing, and there’s not always a lot of difference between them. On the movies I do, I try my hardest to create every sound from scratch, so there’s always a ton to design. I spend the first few months of a movie recording all the time, making lists of more sounds I need to record. They might be cars, guns, planes, servos, bagpipes, it’s up to me. Today some construction guys were drilling down the alley from my design room, so I ran over there with a recorder and got those sounds. Over time, I’ll build up a library for the show, all recorded at 192 kHz, 24-bit. Some of the most fun I have on a movie is to build a kick-ass scene from scratch as an editor, and tear it apart as a designer. Over-editing is a problem, so it’s important that the track stays clean, defined and bold. During the final mix, I’m spending a lot of my time finding where we can find more clarity and punch up the dynamics to keep it “simple but bold”.

HDDN: Do you lose sleep at night when you think about the percentage of people out there that rely on their built-in TV speakers instead of a dedicated surround system, thus missing out on all of the effort you and your team put into the effects, design, and mix?

ERIK: When I worked on TV, I thought about that a lot more. These days, a lot of people are still going to movie theaters which have improved a lot in quality over the years. But these days home theaters account for 70% or more of movie viewing, so that’s where the work is being heard. We mixed both Transformers on the Cary Grant Stage at Sony Pictures Studios. The mix will never again sound that good anywhere, or at least not sound as “accurate”. But some theaters will get close (like the Arclight chain in Los Angeles), and some home theaters too, though not as many. It’s really expensive to get just the acoustics of a room right, let alone invest top-dollar in a calibrated, top-quality home theater. Thankfully, more and more people are realizing how big a difference just a little bit of investment can make in a home theater with surround sound and a discrete subwoofer.

HDDN: Did you enjoy your time working on the Transformers films and if so, are you eager to start work on the third film when it comes around?

ERIK: Working on the Transformers films was such a blast. We could play with such big weapons, military vehicles, robots. It’s as fun as it gets. There’s nothing like having a F22 stealth raptor fighter fly 50 feet over your head, or play matador with a stunt car recording skids. And the robots were so fun to create. We built a theremin musical instrument that could trigger weird sounds we performed in real time to make some of the new Decepticon sounds. Making the powerful sound of the Fallen was a really fun challenge. His teleporting energy sound was actually an accident. I was processing sounds, and had a bad edit that freaked out my software and made a huge ZAAANG type of sound. I went “WOAH! Cool!” and put bad edits all over the place to make more of that ZAAANG.

HDDN: Because you create many of the sound effects in-house, which sound effect is your favorite above all others?

ERIK: I think in “Transformers: ROTF” my favorite sound effect was Reedman’s ball bearings “zipping” around. I made those electric sounding “zips” using “buzzing magnets” we found on the internet. Every movie yields new varieties of material, so there’s many fun sounds that have accumulated in our treasure chest of sounds over the years.

HDDN: The Transformers films are known the world over for their spectacular sound mix/design, even garnering two Academy
Award nominations (Achievement in Sound, and Achievement in Sound Editing) back in 2008. As fate would have it, both awards went to The Bourne Ultimatum, but do you think that come the 2010 awards, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen might finally take home the Oscar(s) it deserves?

ERIK: Bourne Ultimatum sounded great. Bay may not necessarily be the Academy’s favorite filmmaker, but there’s no question the entire world has embraced the movie, so we’ll see!

HDDN: When designing the film’s soundscape what is the most difficult part of the process? And when it comes to Sound Effects editing?

ERIK: I think the biggest challenge is creating clarity in the design. For Transformers, that would be making all the different robots have their own unique “character” sonically. Typically, the most challenging stuff to design are awesome vocals. And the biggest challenge for the sound effects editors is covering all the mayhem (or Bayhem, as we call it) without it become a wall of sound. You’ve got to pick your moments: when to feature that revving car engine, and when to duck it out completely to feature a transformation followed by robot gun shots. You’ve gotta make choices, “racking focus” with the sound. Speaking of cars, we spend a lot of time recording them and even more time editing them to make them seamless and dynamic. In these movies, you might notice they’re almost always in a state of constant acceleration.

HDDN: Of all of the films you’ve worked on in the past, which is your favorite and why?

ERIK: “The New World” by Terrence Malick. That was the most challenging film I’ve worked on so far, even though it’s not as action-packed as most of the films I do. It required such attention to realism–all 170 species of bird sounds in the movie were accurate for season, time of day and habitat. There is very little music, so the sounds and atmospheres had to be so engaging, realistic and hypnotic. For Malick, the song of a hermit thrush was 10 times better than an orchestra in the background. He is one of the greatest and most under-appreciated directors at work these days.

HDDN: What is your take-out meal of choice when faced with an all-nighter at the sound board?

ERIK: Mango salmon from “Bamboo” on Venice Blvd. Mmmmm mmmmm.

HDDN: I’ve heard that a lot of sound designers/mixers like to have a signature “easter egg” that they throw into their mix as an inside joke. Do you have such a sound, and if so would you be so kind as to give us a hint where to find it?

ERIK: I try to throw my dog “Freja” in every movie I do. I rescued her when she was a puppy. She was the voice of Superman’s dog on the farm. She was a distant Nazi dog making Stauffenberg paranoid in “Valkyrie”. She was a neighbor’s dog in “Monsters vs. Aliens”. She even was the source of some of Bumblebee’s vocals in both Transformers movies. Some people may recognize the world-famous “Willhelm” scream from the Star Wars movies. Boba Fett’s scream when he falls into the Pit of Sarlac and a tie fighter’s death scream are both exactly the same, and are actually from 20th Century Fox’s sound effects library that Ben Burtt excavated. We hid the scream in Kung Fu Panda (clue: the prison) and the first Transformers (clue: the power plant).

HDDN: Where do you see the future of theatrical and home theater audio going? More channels, more clarity, more complexity — is that even possible/necessary? And could the adoption and widespread expansion of digital 3D theaters mean further innovation in the sound design/effects arena?

ERIK: I’d like to see more improvements in theatrical sound. First off, we’ve been stuck at Dolby’s 48 kHz playback standard for a while. We should see that going up soon. Last week I previewed a theater developed by “Ionosound” that gets very close to 3D placement of sound using 32 channels and enough speakers to ring the whole room. With advancements in 3D projection, this seems like the logical next step. Theaters typically play releases in Dolby 5.1. Many home theaters, though, are capable of 7.1 or more, but still only play the 5.1 for most movies. I think it’s about time we start expanding out of the 5.1 world and into even more immersive standards.

HDDN: Where do you prefer to do the bulk of your movie watching, in theaters or in the comfort of your own home theater?

ERIK: For movies that I’m really looking forward to seeing, I see them in theaters. Here in Los Angeles, we have the world-class “Arclight” chain with black-box, reference accurate theaters that can’t be beat by my home system. I can reserve seats online and show up 5 minutes before the film starts. I have a pretty good home setup, but my living room is not acoustically very good with reflective walls (making things sound slappy), a raised floor (which makes the sub go nuts) and a 52 inch screen that doesn’t compare to a 40 footer in the theater.

HDDN: Are you thrilled with the unparalleled, lossless audio quality achieved by Blu-ray disc?

ERIK: Yes, finally we’ve got lossless quality with Blu-ray. You’re hearing our work more accurately at home than ever before!

HDDN: Do you ever read the audio portions of Blu-ray/DVD reviews and think, “Wow, these guys really missed the mark”?

ERIK: I find some reviews really interesting and always a learning experience. It’s always good to see how your audience is reacting. It’s funny how a lot of reviews I read comment on the “low-end”, which is one of my favorite things to play with. I love making people’s guts rumble. So it’s fun to hear when the subwoofer is shaking people around the world.

HDDN: Lastly, do you own a Blu-ray player, and if so, what’s your favorite Blu-ray release, surround sound-wise?

ERIK: I’ve got a PS3 which I like for playing Blu-ray discs. One of my favorite sound jobs of all time is “Master and Commander: Far Side of the World” which sounds great on Blu-ray. It’s got great naturalistic use of the surrounds, thanks to the stellar work of mixer Doug Hemphill and supervisor Richard King.

HDDN: (Bonus Question) Which is you clam chowder of choice, New England or Manhattan?

ERIK: Both are amazing, but I’d have to go New England

A VERY SPECIAL THANKS GOES OUT TO ERIK AADAHL FOR PARTICIPATING IN THIS INTERVIEW, FROM EVERYONE HERE AT HIGH DEF DISC NEWS!

PBS already has plans to bring the upcoming documentary “Becoming Human” to Blu-ray Disc in February 2010

Justin Sluss — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:38:37 +0000

Even though it may not premiere until next month, PBS has already announced plans, in an early alert to retailers, to bring the upcoming documentary “Becoming Human” to Blu-ray Disc on February 9th, 2010. No tech specs or information yet are know regarding bonus materials but the title is available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $24.49 price tag. For those interested, the documentary will be airing on November 3rd, 10th & 17th on PBS. More information can be found at the official website, HERE.

Warner bringing “The Time Traveler’s Wife” starring Eric Bana & Rachel McAdams to Blu-ray Disc in February 2010

Justin Sluss — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:52:59 +0000

Warner has just announced, in a trade ad (pictured above), plans to bring the 2009 film “The Time Traveler’s Wife” starring Eric Bana & Rachel McAdams to Blu-ray Disc on February 9th, 2010. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround sound. Bonus materials are set to include two featurettes, “AN UNCONVENTIONAL LOVE STORY” (exclusive to Blu-ray) and “TIME TRAVELER’s WIFE: LOVE BEYOND WORDS” as well as a Digital Copy of the film. The title isn’t yet available for pre-order but stay tuned and we will keep you updated.

Warner announces plans to bring “Chuck: The Complete Second Season” to Blu-ray Disc in January of 2010

Justin Sluss — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:19:18 +0000

Warner has announced plans to bring “Chuck: The Complete Second Season” to Blu-ray Disc on January 5th, 2010. Physical bonus materials are first off set to include the episode that aired in 3-D along with 2 pairs of 3-D glasses included. The title is already available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $55.99 price tag. Tech specs include a 4-disc set on BD-50’s (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Discs) in full 1080p Hi-Def video with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Bonus materials aside from the 3-D are going to include the following.

* Truth, Spies and Regular Guys: Exploring the Mythology of Chuck
* Dude in Distress: Explore Some of This Season’s Best Action Sequences
* Chuck Versus the Webisodes: Web-Originated Minifeaturettes
* Chuck: A Real-Life Captain Awesome’s Tips for Being Awesome
* John Casey Presents: So You Want to Be a Deadly Spy?
* Declassified Scenes
* Gag Reel

FOX is reportedly bringing “The Simpsons: The Complete Twentieth Season” to Blu-ray Disc in January 2010

Justin Sluss — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:23:49 +0000

According to our friend Bill Hunt (over at The Digital Bits), FOX has big plans to finally bring a show to Hi-Def that has now lasted 20 years on television, a total of 20 seasons. On January 12th, 2010 “The Simpsons: The Complete Twentieth Season” will hit Blu-ray Disc. The title is already available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $41.99 price tag. No tech specs, or information regarding bonus materials yet but stay tuned and we’ll keep you updated. This has me personally very, very, very excited. The show this past season went to Hi-Def and it looked amazing, I can only imagine how good it will look with much less compression on Blu-ray.

FOX bringing the 2009 film “Jennifer’s Body” starring Megan Fox & written by Diablo Cody to Blu-ray in December

Justin Sluss — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:08:33 +0000

According to our friend Bill Hunt (over at The Digital Bits), FOX has plans to bring the 2009 film “Jennifer’s Body” starring Megan Fox to Blu-ray Disc on December 29th. The film was written by Diablo Cody (of “Juno” and “United States of Tara” fame) and directed by Karyn Kusama. No tech specs yet but you can likely expect full 1080p Hi-Def and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio — judging from FOX’s most current BD efforts. We don’t yet have any information on bonus materials set to be included but stay tuned and we will keep you updated.

UPDATE: This title is now available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $27.99 price tag.

Universal has plans to bring the 2009 Tim Burton produced CG animated film “9″ to Blu-ray Disc in December

Justin Sluss — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:55:13 +0000

Universal has announced plans to bring the 2009 CG (computer generated) animated film “9” to Blu-ray Disc on December 29th. The film was produced by Tim Burton and directed by Shane Acker. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc. Below you’ll see some details regarding the bonus materials set to be on this release.

• U Control – Picture in Picture
• 9 – The Long and the Short of It
• On Tour with Shane Acker
• The Look of 9
• Acting Out
• 9 – The Original Short
• My Scenes
• Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Shane Acker, Animation Director Joe Ksander, Head of Story Ryan O’Loughlin and Editor Nick Kenway
• Pocket Blue App

UPDATE: This title is now available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $27.99 price tag.

Universal is bringing the direct-to-video sequel “Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassin’s Ball” to Blu-ray Disc in January 2010

Justin Sluss — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:14:53 +0000

Universal has just issued a PRESS RELEASE announcing plans to bring the direct-to-video sequel “Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassin’s Ball” to Blu-ray Disc on January 19th, 2010. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc). The title is not yet available for pre-order but stay tuned and we’ll keep you updated. Below you will find a list of bonus materials set to be included.

BONUS FEATURES EXCLUSIVE TO BLU-RAY HI-DEF:

— BD-LIVE – Fans can access exclusive online and interactive features through their Internet-connected Blu-ray player, including:

— MY SCENES SHARING – Show your BD-Live friends your favorite scenes from the film.

BONUS FEATURES AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY HI-DEF AND DVD:

— Deleted Scenes
— Gag Reel
— Behind the Scenes with Joe Carnahan: Executive producer Joe Carnahan, producer Mike Elliott, writers Olatunde Osunsanmi and Olumide Odebunmi and director P.J. Pesce talk about the process of jumping back into the world of Smokin’ Aces.
— CONFESSIONS OF AN ASSASSIN: director P.J. Pesce and the stars of the movie take us through production, from the ground, amidst the mayhem, blood, guts, bullets and all.
— Ready, Aim, Fire: the weapons of smokin’ aces 2: Meet the armorer who equipped the gang with the over 20 guns in the film.
— CUE THE CLOWN: A behind the scenes look at what it took to produce one of the most explosive stunts in the movie.
— The Bunker Mentality: designing the set: Production designer Chris August, along with director P.J. Pesce and executive producer Joe Carnahan discuss the Art Deco look and feel of the sets as well as the little details that gave them the freedom them to shoot quickly and in every direction.

— Feature Commentary with executive producer Joe Carnahan and director P.J. Pesce

Blu-ray Disc Releases for October 27th, 2009

Justin Sluss — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:46:47 +0000

The following titles were released today, Tuesday October 27th, 2009 on Blu-ray Disc:

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan (Universal)

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (FOX)

The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (Blue Underground)

Monty Python: Almost the Truth (Eagle Rock Entertainment)

Night of the Creeps (Sony)

Nothing Like the Holidays (Anchor Bay/Starz)

Orphan (Warner)

The Prisoner: The Complete Series (A&E Home Video)

Stan Helsing (Anchor Bay/Starz)

Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure (Disney)

Whatever Works (Sony)

Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure – Blu-ray Disc Review

Danielle Byington — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:49:08 +0000

has an average rating of 3.9 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
are in Hi-Def & include a DVD
–
– 2009
– 76 minutes
– Disney
–
This uses 21.7GB for the movie out of 30.8GB total.

Overall Verdict – Strictly For Young Audiences

Buy it for $23.49 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Danielle Byington —

A Sneak Peek of the First 6 Minutes of the Film:

The Movie Itself is directed by Klay Hall (previous directing credits include 9 episodes of “King of the Hill“, and 1 episode of “The Simpsons“), with the writing credits of Evan Spiliotopoulos (writing credits include “Terra“, and “Pooh’s Heffalump Movie“).

The story centers on the Tinker pixies’ preparation for the coming of Autumn. As tradition is held amongst the multiple clans of pixies who revel with the coming of the season, a unique scepter is designed to hold the valuable moonstone, which will cascade the light of the blue moon that comes before the first frost, and help preserve the precious pixie dust from the Pixie Dust tree. This year, it is the Tinker pixies’ turn to offer a scepter, and as you may have guessed, Tinker Bell (Mae Whitman) has been chosen to design it. Recommended by Fairy Mary (Jane Horrocks) to the King and Queen, Tinker Bell is summoned to their court to receive the news. Upon informing her of this task, Tinker Bell is shown the collection of scepters from seasons past, further showing the significance of the responsibility she is about to take.

Immediately getting started on the work at-hand, as there are only a few weeks until the blue moon, Tinker Bell’s friend, Terence (Jesse McCartney), is right by her side attempting to be especially helpful; though he is rather annoying, and making Tinker Bell’s work environment a nerve-wrecking hassle. After bringing Tinker Bell some material he thinks she needs for the specter, she sees it only as junk, and being thoroughly aggravated by both the stress of her task, and the unasked for assistance of Terence, an accident occurs, destroying her nearly completed scepter. With this, Tinker Bell is pushed over-the-top, and kicks Terence out. Stomping about in anger and frustration, she further exacerbates the situation by accidentally breaking the precious moonstone; the one stone that must be used to preserve the very much needed pixie dust.

Hoping to relieve her worries, Tinker Bell tries to passively discover from Fairy Mary if and where other moonstones exist, only to find out that the one lying in shards at her home was the last to be found in one hundred years. Sitting through a theatre show with Fairy Mary as she contemplates what to do now, the story told on stage catches her attention. It tells the tale of a lost treasure that reserves one last wish to be made by whom ever should discover it. Confirming with Fairy Mary if the tale is true, Tinker Bell decides that finding this relic is her last hope in saving the pixie-folk from the loss of pixie dust that would occur if she fails to retrieve another moonstone. Setting out on her hand-crafted flying mobile, she begins the journey of hunting for the wish-baring relic with the help of an ancient riddle, and the new acquaintance of a firefly, Blaze.

In closing, the whole self-proclaimed “Disney Fairy Franchise” just does not seem as though it could possibly be lucrative; I know this is very redundant, but it honestly just comes across as another money generating vessel aimed at young audiences, much like “High School Musical“, “Hannah Montana“, and so forth. However, at least with the latter mentioned films you can see the things placed for marketing and advertising reasons to hypnotize kids who do not know better, such as catchy music, and attractive actors. When it comes to this film, what is the studio putting all of its money on? Pixies. Or is it Fairies? Mythologically, those are two different creatures, but the movie likes to use both words, may be just because it can. Well, aside from the fact that this is really only going to reach out to an incredibly limited audience (very young girls), the story itself in this sequel is all over the place. Young children will most likely find it confusing as it rambles on and on about how a stupid rock casts the light given off by the blue moon to do something ethereal to the Pixie Dust Tree for the survival of Pixies. Though, I’m sure the whole idea was to totally distract young minds from the woes of Pixie-extinction by throwing in Blaze to be a side-kick character whose job it is to merely be cute, and have no spoken dialogue. Ironically enough, that is exactly what Tinker Bell was in the first place to Peter Pan, and frankly, the world would be a better place had she stayed that way, rather than having been developed into a junky commodity. Overall, this movie is strictly for the small audience it was aimed at, and not for those of us who think, earning a “1 Star Rating“.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio. As these Disney films aimed at young audiences go, this computer animated movie’s Blu-ray release does bare very impressive video quality. There is a wide variety of realistic textures seen in the characters’ surroundings, and the definition of these objects is nearly comparable to that seen in larger title films from Pixar and DreamWorks. Naturally, the close-ups possess the highest amount of “wow”, whether it be one of the animated characters, or the abundant use of forest themed articles present in their landscapes, clothing, and props. Even with his consistent fluttering and movement on-screen, the insect-details of Blaze’s appendages and shelled wings stands out with a three dimensional feel; this visual depth is often presence through the release’s runtime, and even more so heightened with the wide shots of the forest setting, displaying a highly realistic presentation of the various foliage within Pixie Hollow. The computer animated designs of the pixie characters are conveyed in their own particular artistic style, with not so much attention to definition in their bodies and faces, but a notable realism and detail in their forest themed wardrobe, such as the acorn-hat sported by Terence. Overall, this release’s video quality is certainly impressive, but the efforts of extravagant details seen in other computer animated films are not totally seen here, in the end earning a “4.5 Star Rating“.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in both Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround sound. Just as foley is originally created for all animated features, this audio track’s presentation conveys all small and large sounds well, though I would not say that it is as impressive as other releases of the genre. There are no instances of panning or exceptional use of sounds being conveyed from assigned channels, and at that, sound effects seem underused and simply lacking in presence in the accompaniment of on-screen actions. Several scenes that seem they would otherwise be at least somewhat fulfilling within the soundscape, such as the rush of Tinker Bell’s Pixie Dust Express mobile through the body of water, are basically a bit two-dimensional in sound; of course it is a children’s movie, but what better audience to make say “whoa” with a nice mix of what they hear coming from around them, but it simply just is not there one hundred and ten percent. The feminine soundtrack is presented decently within the 5.1 setup, with a stronger emphasis on the vocals which are heard from the front channels, and the softer music accompanying the songs does make for noticeable rear channel presence. The music itself is really the only audible element that provides a tad of bass presence following the beat of the tunes, though is very subtle at that. The dialogue of the voice actors presents no flaws, as it is conveyed from primarily the center front channel, with the occasional left or right front channel occurrence with characters out of frame. Overall, the audio track on this release is not plagued with issues or anything of that natural, but falls a little close along the lines of being “basic” in presentation, receiving a “4 Star Rating“.

Bonus Materials on this release are presented in High Definition, using Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (with the exception of the music video with uses Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround).

“Disney’s BD-Live” is included on this release and will be available upon street date; requires the user to be on a “Profile 2.0” capable Blu-ray Disc Player to access online content.
“Bonus Short” (4 minutes) consists of the “Magical Guide to Pixie Hollow“, which gives you a tour of the fictional animated setting led by Tinker Bell and Terence, as they also discuss pixie duties and activities.
“Outtakes & Blooper” includes “Scenes You Never Saw” (4 minutes), and “Deleted Scenes” (16 minutes), which also includes introductions by filmmakers Klay Hall and Sean Lurie.
“Backstage Disney” (8 minutes) consists of “Pixie Hollow Comes to Walt Disney World“, showcasing the ideas and efforts of bringing the “Disney Fairy Franchise” to the theme park.
“Music & More” (3 minutes) includes the music video for “The Gift of a Friend” by Demi Lovato.

DVD of the film is included as a bonus disc.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

First Look plans to bring the 2009 film “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” to Blu-ray Disc in February of 2010

Justin Sluss — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:04:28 +0000

According to an early alert to retailers, First Look has plans to bring their 2009 Werner Herzog directed film “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” starring Nicolas Cage to Blu-ray Disc on February 23rd, 2010. The tech specs and bonus materials remain unannounced yet but stay tuned and we’ll keep you updated if we hear any information. A PRE-ORDER listing is already available over at Amazon with a $20.99 price tag. The film co-stars Val Kilmer and Eva Mendes as well as received a limited theatrical release and from that has received a pretty decent 7.8 (out of 10) rating over at IMDb, so I’ll be curious to see this film myself.

Lionsgate is bringing the 2009 Sci-Fi Thriller “Gamer” starring Gerard Butler to Blu-ray Disc in January of 2010

Justin Sluss — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:34:53 +0000

Lionsgate has announced plans to bring the 2009 film “Gamer” starring Gerard Butler (of “300” fame) to Blu-ray Disc on January 19th, 2010. The title is already available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $27.99 price tag. Tech specs so far include full 1080p Hi-Def and DTS-HD Master Audio sound, likely in 5.1 or 7.1 configuration — although not yet specified. Bonus materials are set to include the following listed below:

Audio commentary with the filmmakers and cast, a “making-of” documentary, plus a featurette looking at the groundbreaking camera work completed on the film. In addition, the Blu-ray Disc features I-Con Mode with expanded visual commentary, interactive scene-specific crew commentaries accessible throughout the film and a never-before seen theatrical trailer that was deemed too radical for audiences. The Blu-ray disc is also BD-Touch enabled and Metamenu Remote enabled as well as enhanced for D-Box Motion Control Systems.

HDDN’s Top 10 Halloween Flick List – Fall 2009

James Segars — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:10:54 +0000

With less than a week to go before Halloween night, we thought it might be nice to suggest a list of thrilling/horrific/hilarious films to watch and enjoy throughout the holiday season. Below you will find a select few of our favorite blu-ray releases that will help make this Halloween extra special. Rent ‘em, buy ‘em, it doesn’t make a difference how you get them, just watch ‘em and be sure to let us know what you think. Of course, feel free to suggest some of your favorites in the comment section below.

The titles are not listed in any particular order. However, they are all — what we believe to be — fantastic horror/thrillers with a few comedic gems littered throughout. This way, should you desire to make a movie marathon out of the list you won’t be seeing the same type of horror flick over and over again.

#1 – “The Thing” – Universal

Buy it for $14.99 @ Amazon.com

has an average rating of 8.1 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on a 25gb discs
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
only include Commentary & “U-Control” PIP
–
– 1982
– 109 minutes
– Universal
–

#2 – “The Mist” – The Weinstein Company

Buy it for $17.49 @ Amazon.com

has an average rating of 7.4 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 & Dolby Digital 5.1
are ALL in Hi-Def with a Black & White version!
–
– 2007
– 126 minutes
– The Weinstein Company
–

#3 – “Shaun of the Dead” – Universal

Buy it for $17.99 @ Amazon.com

has an average rating of 8.0 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
new content like commentaries & more
–
– 2004
– 99 minutes
– Universal
–

#4 – “Black Christmas [1974]” – Critical Mass (Somerville House)

Buy it for $10.99 @ Amazon.com

has an average rating of 7.3 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 25gb disc
Dolby Digital 5.1 @448kbps
are pretty darn nice & ALL in HD!
–
– 1974
– 98 minutes
– Critical Mass (Somerville House)
–

#5 – “Halloween [1978]” – Starz (Anchor Bay)

Buy it for $9.99 @ Amazon.com

– The Movie Itself (has an average rating of 7.9 on IMDb)
– Video Quality (1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc)
– Audio Quality (PCM 5.1 @4.6Mbps & Dolby Digital 5.1)
– Bonus Materials (include 2 interesting features)
–
– 1978
– 91 minutes
– Starz (Anchor Bay)
–

#6 – “Planet Terror” – The Weinstein Company

Buy it for $18.49 @ Amazon.com

has an average rating of 7.7 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 & Dolby Digital 5.1
include DVD ports & BD-Live
–
– 2007
– 105 minutes
– The Weinstein Company
–

#7 – “Ghostbusters” – Sony

Buy it for $12.49 @ Amazon.com

has an average rating of 7.7 on IMDb
1080p in MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1
with Blu-ray Exclusives & DVD ports
–
– 1984
– 105 Minutes
– Sony
–

#8 – “Let The Right One In” – Magnolia

Buy it for $17.99 @ Amazon.com

has an average rating of 8.2 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on a 25gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
are a tad short but still sweet
–
– 2008
– 115 minutes
– Magnolia
–

#9 – “Cloverfield” – Paramount

Buy it for $17.49 @ Amazon.com

has an average rating of 7.5 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on a 50gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1
include 2 Exclusives and are in HD
–
– 2008
– 85 minutes
– Paramount
–

#10 – “Drag Me To Hell” – Universal

Buy it for $24.99 @ Amazon.com

has an average rating of 7.5 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
are short with Digital Copy & D-Box
– &
– 2009
– 99 minutes (both Theatrical & UNRATED)
– Universal
–

RUMOR ALERT! Blu-ray Disc Players prices as low as $49 likely by Black Friday according to analyst from The NPD Group

Justin Sluss — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:23:05 +0000

Home video trade magazine Video Business is reporting in a recent story that a majority of analysts (namely one from The NPD Group) are indicating they believe that we may see a Blu-ray Disc Player priced as low as $49 by “Black Friday” later next month. This is based on the current prices and their decline. For instance, retailer Best Buy’s in-house brand Insignia now has an entry level Blu-ray Disc Player priced at just $99 — their lowest advertised price to-date. It’s easy to see that rival retail giant Wal-Mart or even Target may break that price roughly a month from now on what is easily regarded as the biggest shopping day of the year here in the United States. For more information on the actual tracking that The NPD Group did on the price of BD (Blu-ray Disc) Players (pictured above) be sure to visit the full article found HERE. Below are a couple of quotes from that article I found interesting, all from an analyst at The NPD Group named Ross Rubin.

With mass pricing already dipping to below $200 on brand-name models, Rubin doesn’t think it is out of the question to see $49 Blu-ray player offers around Black Friday.

“It’s conceivable we could see a $49 Blu-ray player on Black Friday, but I think we’ll see more $99 deals,” said Rubin. “Anything is possible.”

“I think Blu-ray players have gotten more mainstream acceptance,” said Doug Bravin, Bjorn’s chief operating officer. “People know this is the future.”

We’ll keep you updated if we hear anything regarding a price drop below $99 for an entry level BD Player. If you have heard rumors or have seen some advertised lower, feel free to sound off in our comments section below.

Island Records is bringing “The Killers: Live from The Royal Albert Hall” concert to Blu-ray Disc in November

Justin Sluss — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:56:57 +0000

Island Records has plans to bring a live concert performance, “The Killers: Live from The Royal Albert Hall” to Blu-ray Disc on November 10th. The title is available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $16.99 price tag. A bit of details are listed on Amazon’s product description which reveal the tech specs include 5.1 sound and the concert was shot in Hi-Def. Also mentioned, bonus materials will include a CD of the concert and even extra performances of songs as content on the Blu-ray itself. Below you’ll find a copied bit of that product description which reveals that I discussed before as well as the track list (song titles) for the concert itself.

Now The Killers know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall. On July 5-6th, during their 8-country European festival tour, the multi-platinum VMA Award-winning, Grammy-nominated band performed two historic nights at the legendary Kensington venue. LIVE FROM THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL, The Killers’ first official DVD release, is a spectacular 22-song live concert experience – filmed in HD (with `Fan’s Eye View’ alternative camera angle) and full 5.1 sound. The package, with live performances on the DVD plus a 17-song live CD from the shows (unavailable elsewhere), will be released November 10th in regular and Blu-Ray editions on Island Records. Killers fans will appreciate how faithful LIVE FROM THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL is to the band’s sight and sound onstage. Moreover, the songs cut across all four of the Killers’ album releases, from their debut Hot Fuss (”Somebody Told Me,” “Smile Like You Mean It,” “Mr. Brightside,” “All These Things That I’ve Done,” “Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine”); to Sam’s Town (”For Reasons Unknown,” “Bling (Confessions Of A King),” “Sam’s Town (acoustic),” “Read My Mind,” “The River Is Wild,” “Bones,” “When You Were Young”); to Sawdust (”Shadowplay,” “Sweet Talk”); and Day & Age (”Human,” “This Is Your Life,” “The World We Live In,” “Joy Ride,” “I Can’t Stay,” “Losing Touch,” “Spaceman,” “A Dustland Fairytale”). The DVD, who’s running time is over 2 hours, is packed with bonus extras – starting with an additional five songs from the festival tour: “Tranquilize” (live at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland, July 12th); “Human” and “Mr. Brightside” (from Hyde Park in London on June 26th); and “Smile Like You Mean It” and “When We Were Young” (from the V Festival in August). A behind-the-scenes documentary, including interviews with crew and fans, rounds out the bonus content on the DVD. LIVE FROM THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL was produced by Jim Parsons and directed by Dick Carruthers, whose credits include The Who Live at the Royal Albert Hall (2000), and long-form live performance DVDs with Oasis, Noel Gallagher, Keane, Van Morrison, Kaiser Chiefs, Bryan Adams, Aerosmith, White Stripes, and many others. SET LIST 1. Human 2. This Is Your Life 3. Somebody Told Me 4. For Reasons Unknown 5. The World We Live In 6. Joy Ride 7. I Can’t Stay 8. Bling (Confession Of A King) 9. Shadowplay 10. Smile Like You Mean It 11. Losing Touch 12. Spaceman 13. A Dustland Fairytale 14. Sam’s Town (Acoustic) 15. Read My Mind 16. Mr. Brightside 17. All These Things That I’ve Done 18. Sweet Talk 19. This River Is Wild 20. Bones 21. Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine 22. When You Were Young EXTRAS Behind-the-scenes documentary including interviews with crew and fans.

BONUS FESTIVAL PERFORMANCES

Tranquilize – Oxegen Festival Human – Hyde Park Mr. Brightside – Hyde Park Smile Like You Mean It – V Festival When You Were Young – V Festival

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Blu-ray Disc Review

Justin Sluss — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:22:29 +0000

has an average rating of 6.2 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
are still “more than meets the eye“
–
– 2009
– 149 minutes
– DreamWorks (Paramount)
–
Disc 1 uses 41.5GB for the movie out of 41.9GB total.
Disc 2 uses 38.7GB total.

Overall Verdict – The DEFINITIVE Demo Disc!

Buy it for $21.99 at Amazon.com

— Review by: Justin Sluss & James Segars —

Trailer:

The Movie Itself is directed by Michael Bay (Transformers, The Rock, Bad Boys and Bad Boys II).

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen picks up a couple years after the first film left off. Sam (Shia LaBeouf) and Mikaela (Megan Fox) are enjoying the limited time they have together prior to Sam’s cross-country move to the East coast for college. He and his family are still under protection of Bumblebee, while the remaining Autobots fight alongside the military, sniffing out the remaining Decepticons on Earth. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the somewhat peaceful equilibrium is disrupted when Megatron is reanimated by a remaining shard of the Allspark. This sets into motion a series of events that will put the entire world in jeopardy as the ancient leader of the Deceptions, “The Fallen” plots his return to earth, and his ultimate revenge.

— Everyone’s a Critic —

Irrespective of their achievements, artistic merit, or aesthetics every film is, at the very basic core, a labor of love for better or worse. Anyone who has ever made a film, or attempted to make a film will be quick to stand behind that statement. It is no easy task. One does not simply pick up a camera and shoot. The end result is never guaranteed, and the “vision” is easily corrupted, compromised by outside forces, creative input, acting shortcomings, or anything that might stand between the film and its eventual release.

For people to discount a film based on a single flaw or shortcoming is not only shortsighted, but downright wrong. To criticize a film for being what it was destined/designed to be, is asinine. To lambaste a creative effort, no matter how failed is inconsiderate. To make myself abundantly clear, through this somewhat tangential tirade, I am not saying that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen deserves more praise than its received, nor am I saying that its a monumental achievement in cinematic expression. I am, however, saying that Revenge of the Fallen is precisely what I was expecting, and then some.

It is an explosive, high-octane sequel that raises the already spectacular spectacle to new heights. I was enthralled, engrossed, entertained, and amused — what more could a summer blockbuster do to satisfy that annual craving? The answer is nothing.

In the grand scheme of things, Revenge of the Fallen was the perfect summertime action flick. It may be far from the best action sequels ever made (Terminator 2, Aliens) but that’s an entirely different argument. This film delivers the goods that fans and critics demanded of the first installment — more fights, more robots, less humans, more action. So why then are people hating on a film that does precisely what they asked it to do, a film that performs perfectly in line with its predecessor?

In short, I don’t know. It baffles my mind. I not only find it absurd that fans and critics are hating on such a orgasmic opulent presentation, but that they also somehow failed to see what the first film was all about in the first place. How else would you explain the critical backlash that this sequel has been wrought with, while the first film was generally well received?

In the end, I can only speak from personal experience but I’ve never expected anything from Transformers beyond what should be considered the properly framed expectations for a summer blockbuster. They are, and always will be comprised of expertly crafted action, glossily photographed, frenetically framed, and mind-blowingly detailed (CGI). If you go into the film expecting Apocalypse Now or some other contemplative, introspective fare, you’ve not only got the wrong idea, but you’ll be in for a rude awakening.

If you’re like me and you genuinely like the Transformers movies, you’ve no doubt been verbally assaulted by friends, family members, and/or critics who either mock your cinematic taste, or question your intelligence and knowledge of film, all because you happen to love of these movies. It sucks, I know, but rest assured that the last laugh is on them because anyone who claims there are absolutes regarding a film’s value are not only wrong, but their opinions are fundamentally flawed. This is because film is, and always has been, a perspective art, based upon rudimentary action and directed points of view. And because film itself is subjective, so too is the perceived value of the film. In other words, there is no “best film” and no “worst film” despite what some “critics” may say. Most importantly, anyone who thinks that being a “critic” means that you can’t enjoy popcorn flicks such as these, isn’t a true critic.

Instead, I would argue that critics should be able to look for and highlight the positive aspects of all films, rather than focusing almost exclusively on the negatives — wouldn’t that be something?

The truth is that the title “Critic” is thrown around so loosely today that it means virtually nothing, and this has had an adverse effect on the way the audiences view critical opinions in general. Now, I don’t claim to be a critic, but I do consider myself a filmmaker, and an avid film watcher. And while I’m far from an authority of film theory and history, I’d like to think I know a thing or two about the craft, and when I see something that is genuinely exciting, entertaining, and worthwhile I recommend it. Its as simple as that. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is one such movie. It might not be for everyone, and its certainly not destined to be a timeless classic, but I enjoyed it thoroughly all the same, and I am most definitely looking forward to whatever comes next.

— Synopsis and thoughts (above) written by James Segars —

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The film was shot on both digitally and traditional super 35mm film (using Panavision and Arriflex cameras) as well as on 65mm film using IMAX cameras. This makes for a very, very interesting blend, much like last year’s blockbuster “The Dark Knight” did but here, it doesn’t switch aspect ratios. I’ll explain now up front a bit more about that below.

This version (the retail version) contains one aspect ratio, 2.39:1, unlike the “Big Screen Edition” Wal-Mart exclusive version — reviewed by my co-writer HERE. Keep in mind, the film itself was shot in two different aspect ratios as mentioned earlier. Now this version does not switch aspect ratios, meaning it will have black bars at the top and bottom on a Widescreen display. This may be a whole lot less distracting to some in comparison to the “Big Screen Edition” which switches aspect ratios back and forth during 2 big action sequences in the film — namely around 59 minutes in. When it does switch aspect ratios from the IMAX footage and traditional super 35mm footage here it is seamless, unlike on the “Big Screen Edition“. Now with that being said, having seen the film originally with the IMAX footage switching aspect ratios, I did find it to be like I described before, a bit less distracting here on the retail version. Although it did not contain as much “in-your-face” detail as the marvelous IMAX footage did in the proper aspect ratio, it does look amazing and stands out over the other footage shot on traditional super 35mm film with Panavision and Arriflex cameras. The stuff shot on the IMAX cameras holds a huge amount of detail, even presented in another aspect ratio, that’s my real point here that I’m trying to make.

Is actually it worth owning both this (the retail) version and the “Big Screen Edition” version? My answer to that would be NO, not really, unless you’re a huge fan of the film with a fat wallet, I’d suggest you just pick one version. That’s why I felt I had to really explain the details regarding this version in comparison to the other available. Regardless though, this earns itself a very, very impressive “5 Star Rating” for overall video quality. Fans will be more than pleased with the Hi-Def visual presentation here. Now for some actual assessment here of the video quality now since we got all those things out of the way. Time to actually explain why this earns that perfect rating.

The black level here is solid, the color palette is extremely vibrant, especially on the CG (computer generated) robots and thanks to the film’s colorful filming locations and such. Fleshtones are accurate with the lovely Megan Fox back again to serve as “eye candy” of a different sort but its worth noting that more focus is put on where her true beauty lies, her face. The CG animated robots that make up the “Autobots” and “Decepticons” look downright utterly amazing, its safe to say that the folks at ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) have truly outdone themselves here. The computer animated characters hold so much depth and realism in almost lifelike their movement that at times its about scary, especially during the IMAX filmed sequences — the first at 1 hour in. The amount of detail and just the pristine clarity here is uncanny and its at times jaw dropping. Fans of the first film who didn’t see this in its theatrical run are in for an absolute treat here on home video with the beauty of Blu-ray Disc Hi-Def. Kudos to the folks at obviously DreamWorks, Paramount and also to ILM as well. Job well done.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. First off let me state two things. One, my co-writer James Segars was absolutely right about the volume level being perfect on the retail version and requiring more amplification on the Wal-Mart exclusive “Big Screen Edition“. For more information on that, view James‘ review of it HERE. Now, two, this is definitely a piece of “reference material” in terms of audio presentation as it contains one of the more intense DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mixes I have heard (to-date). From the beginning of the film when the DreamWorks logo comes up you’ll hear this roaring rattle of bass coming from your subwoofer along with mechanical sounds coming from all the other speakers in the 5.1 soundfield. Just this opening sequence almost feels like its completely engulfing you in surround. That is just a taste of things to come.

It doesn’t take long at all for the action to start here, in fact right after “Optimus Prime” (voiced by Peter Cullen) is done with his opening narration its only within moments that we’re right in the heat of the action. The first 15 minutes of the film alone contain some really nice “demo material” sequences but the real highlights come more later in the film. Its the sound that accompanies the amazing IMAX filmed fight sequence around the 1 hour mark that is sure to leave you on the edge of your seat. This sounds absolutely amazing and has some really awesome rear channel presence that leaves you feeling all 360 degrees of the action as its unfolding before you eyes. Never once will you find yourself having to adjust the volume to be able to understand dialogue. In fact, it’ll likely just be the fact that you want to “crank it up” that you end up adjusting the volume here.

Overall, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” on Blu-ray Disc is definitely one of my new favorite “demo discs” in terms of reference quality audio. The action in some of the sequences here is absolutely stunning and leaves you feeling like you’re right in the middle of it thanks to the wonderful use of the 5.1 soundscape here by the sound design folks. Major kudos to the folks at DreamWorks & Paramount here on another job extremely well done. Also, I’ll end by saying that for those of you who believe that this sequel doesn’t sound as good as the original film, you should seriously reconsider that statement as it was in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and this is DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio which isn’t perfect comparison. Plus, I really find this contains just as much action and that, in turn, translates to just as much of an excellent audio presentation as the first film had — regardless what you think of the film itself. I think by now it should be no surprise, this earns a perfect “5 Star Rating” for overall audio quality.

Bonus Materials are presented predominantly in High Definition (HD) except where noted otherwise.

Feature Commentary with Michael Bay, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman – This commentary is reminiscent of the commentaries found on a few of the Bond Blu-ray Catalog titles (aka. MI6 Commentary) that are composed of separate recorded sources. Here we have Bay talking by his lonesome while Kurtzman and Orci fill in the gaps. Strangely enough, in the beginning of the commentary Kurtzman and Orci mention that Ehren Kruger might be with them, but he’s nowhere to be found. I would have liked to hear his thoughts on joining the original writing duo, and how his experience was overall. As it stands though, this commentary is quite informative and worthwhile. All three of the guys bring a lot to the table, and perhaps more importantly they don’t rehash everything that’s been presented/said in the rest of the bonus material.

Augmented Reality – Access this feature online — www.transformersmovie.com/optimus — and through the use of a webcam and your transformers blu-ray case, you will be able to partake in a brief online puzzle/shooting game. I thought this was neat, but not entirely fun, also I had some difficulty in keeping the case in sync with the webcam. You can see a picture of this feature in action on our “Hands On” feature article.

“The Human Factor: Exacting Revenge of the Fallen” – (2 hours, 14 minutes) I’m a huge fan of making-of documentaries, and I thoroughly enjoyed the making of features that were released with the Blu-ray release of Transformers, so my expectations for special features on this particular release were very high. As it turns out, Paramount/Dreamworks/Bay and Co. have churned out one of the better making of documentaries I’ve ever seen. It is extremely well organized, edited, entertaining, and informative — in a word, its perfect. I honestly don’t know how you could ask for more. In my opinion, it ranks up there with the finest making-of documentaries I’ve ever seen. The film might not be iconic (yet) like some of the great classics that “deserve” this treatment, but personally I would love to see every film get this type of treatment. Sure it might be overkill, but for fans of the film, there’s simply no substitute for a feature-length documentary. This is a must see feature that covers every possible base, and leaves all but a few stones unturned, if only because there needs to be material left for the other features on the disc.

“A Day With Bay” – (13 minutes) Here we’re given an extended look at Michael Bay’s time spent before and after the world premiere in Tokyo. This is more or less an expansion of the final chapter in the previous Making-Of documentary, “Release”. It has some good stuff in it to be sure, but I’m thinking that it could have just as easily been edited into the main documentary, no?

“25 Years of Transformers” – (10 minutes) This is a short video that briefly goes into Hasbro’s history with the Transformer brand, and the history of the toy designs. Not my favorite featurette on the disc, but I imagine that it might be so for some of the more die-hard fans of the action figures. I like toys, sure, but they’re predominantly of the Home Theater flavor.

“NEST: Transformer Data Hub” – (HD/SD) Precisely what it sounds like, a data hub that contains all sorts of vital stats and information, graphics, comic cells, action figure renditions and more on six autobot and six decepticon characters from the film.

“The Allspark Experiment” – (HD) A relatively simple, and uneventful character generator that sounded far better on paper. It only takes but a minute to do, and in the end, while we’re told on the case that we “might unlock a secret about the future of Transformers” I was unable to do so after trying four different robot types. Perhaps there is an easter egg to be found there, but I don’t think I have the patience to try all of the possible combinations to do so.

“Deconstructing Visual Bayhem” – (22 minutes) Certainly one of the best features present on the disc. Narrated by Steve Yamamoto, we’re given the option to select one, or two angles that will show either the pre-vis material alone, or just above the finished product. Typically the pre-vis material in general tends to be boring or lackluster but here, with the narration, it flows much better and in the end it makes for a worthwhile and informative experience.

Deleted/Alternate Scenes – (6 minutes) Evidently, not a whole lot of material made it on the cutting room floor, which speaks volumes about Bay’s efficiency and clear vision. Most of what we’re given should look familiar to viewers, but one deleted scene in particular caught my ear, and that’s “The Witwicky’s in Paris” scene. You’ll recognize this no doubt, but the real easter egg/gem is the music that can be heard in the background… that’s right, its very faint but if you listen closely its a violin solo rendition of the Aerosmith single “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” featured in Bay’s earlier film, Armaggedon. Pretty neat, huh?

“Giant Effing Movie” – (24 minutes) A shorter, smaller scope making-of feature that recycles a little bit of the main documentary footage, but still manages to present plenty of new informative/hilarious segments, and thanks to some very clever and effective editing, it has a very unique and lively feel. If you liked the documentary and you’re hungry for more, or perhaps you just don’t think you can burn another two hours, you should sit down and give this feature a go. Its quite good.

“Linkin Park – New Divide” – (5 minutes) The music video to the song featured in the end credits.

“The Matrix of Marketing” – (7 minutes, combined) A collection of theatrical trailers, TV Spots and posters/promotional material await you. Even now, watching the trailers for this film, despite the fact that I know everything that happens, I continue to get goosebumps. The theatrical trailers are phenomenally edited, designed to elicit all of the right responses from the viewer, compelling them to see the film in theaters. Its spooky really, almost hypnotic.

Subtitles – Lastly, users are given the option to enable a handful of subtitle options for the special feature material.

Overall, the bonus materials are pretty stellar. Not every feature is a “MUST SEE” but the ones that are easily make this release a “MUST OWN” for fans of the film. The feature-length making-of documentary is superb, and so are many of the supporting featurettes. And while there is much to chew through, I found it interesting that Paramount opted not to include either BD-Live functionality or Digital Copy on this heavy-hitting release. If ever there were a time for them to use those bonus features/incentives, I thought now would surely be the time, but it would seem as though Paramount couldn’t care less about connectivity or portable copies of the film. As for me, I’m as snug as a bug with my feature-length documentary and for the record, I’d take long making-of material over BD-Live/Digital Copy any day. There is simply far more to be gained from watching a feature length movie than there is by transferring a lower-res version of the movie to my iPod, or playing a clunky trivia game. This is somewhat of a tangent, I am aware, but I just felt that it needed to be addressed. I do think that BD-Live has potential, and the live director chats are proof of that, but the trivial features that are otherwise included aren’t exactly worthwhile or eye-opening. Nonetheless, after all is said and done, I feel that this disc easily earns itself a “4-Star Rating” for bonus material.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

Amazon getting an exclusive release of MTV’s “Aeon Flux: The Complete Animated Collection” on Blu-ray in November

Justin Sluss — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:01:51 +0000

Paramount is giving Amazon an online EXCLUSIVE release of MTV’s “Aeon Flux: The Complete Animated Collection” to Blu-ray Disc on November 23rd. The title is available for PRE-ORDER with a $29.99 price tag. No tech specs or bonus materials details yet but stay tuned and we will keep you updated if we hear anything further.

North by Northwest – Blu-ray Disc Review

Justin Sluss — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:53:08 +0000

has an average rating of 8.6 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on a 50gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 & Dolby Digital 5.1
with a “DigiBook“, DVD ports & more!
–
– 1959
– 136 minutes
– Warner (originally MGM)
–
Street Date: November 3rd, 2009

Overall Verdict – Excellent Restoration of a Classic

Buy it for $19.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Justin Sluss —

A Clip from the Film:

The Movie Itself was Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, best known for directing films such as “Psycho“, “Vertigo” and his television series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” — which ran from 1955-1962, a total of 7 seasons. The film follows the main character of “Roger Thornhill” played brilliantly by screen legend Cary Grant. For those of you who don’t know, Grant had by this time (1959) become a regular in Hitchcock films having done such others as “Suspicion” in 1941, “Notorious” in 1946 and “To Catch a Thief” in 1955. This would be the final time that Grant would act in a Hitchcock film and is actually one of the last (7th to last to be exact) films Cary Grant acted in. Now with those facts out of the way, I’ll give you the real plot to the film in a short little summary as I don’t believe in “spoilers” and just really cannot begin to try to describe the story as well as it is on film by Hitchcock.

The plot revolves around a man named Roger Thornhill as mentioned earlier (played by Cary Grant) who is a rather “well off” Manhattan resident working in the advertising business. One day Roger gets caught up in a horrendous case of mistaken identity. He is mistaken for a man who is supposed to be a government spy. This causes the henchmen of a foreign spy by the name of “Phillip Vandamm” (played brilliantly by James Mason) to be sent to “take out” our leading man. They take him to a mansion, they introduce him to our villain (Mason) and then proceed to (as Thornhill later describes to his mother) make him drink almost a full bottle of bourbon and don’t give him a “chaser”. They take him, highly intoxicated, and put him behind the wheel of a car and try to make him drive off a cliff. The plan goes wrong as Thornhill awakens from his drunkenness and manages to steer the car and accelerate enough to get out of being killed. He then proceeds to drive drunk for a good few miles or so before finally being spotted by police. The police end up taking Thornhill in and this has totally left our hired goons sent by the foreign spy Vandamm not accomplishing their mission. Although he spends the night in jail, Thornhill manages to escape the police and is now a “man-on-the-run” and that’s the real plot here.

While on-the-run, George encounters a woman named “Eve” (played by Eva Marie Saint). George and Eve have a definite spark of chemistry and immediately “hit it off” romantically. This though we find is a problem, as she has a boyfriend and it just-so-happens her boyfriend is just the man trying to kill George. With that being said, I really have to end my synopsis as I feel I’m revealing too much. I’ll leave it to you to just enjoy the film.

In closing, it’s a definite fact that “North by Northwest” is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best films. The film was also a vessel for an extraordinary performance from star Cary Grant. To those of you who have never seen the film, let me offer this to you as maybe some idea of what to expect. The film can be summed up in a lot of different type of plot lines that all intersect much like the title suggests. You have the suspense of a man-on-the-run, the mystery elements, the murder, the horrendous case of mistaken identity, the government spy and of course a tad bit of romance, which for 1959 was the closest you would get to sex (in a major motion picture). All of these type of genres or plot lines are present in Hitchcock directed films but this one has them all in one film. Now, with that being said, it may leave some just as confused as Cary Grant’s character in the film but that’s the beauty of home video — you can watch it time and time again and slowly piece together the “puzzle” (of sorts). Just as I told one of my co-writers who hasn’t seen the film, if you like the mystery of the “Bourne” films of recent years or especially spy espionage and romance of the older “Bond” films made shortly after this, you will absolutely end up loving this film. I can bet you that you will be slapping yourself for never having taken the time to seen such a cinema classic. Now 50 years old, “North by Northwest” holds up extremely well, especially to audiences experiencing it for the first time.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the VC-1 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. I have to begin this review with letting you read some exact words that Warner public relations has passed along to me regarding this restoration of this 50-year-old classic. These are not my words, they are the words of Warner representatives.

“The arrival of North by Northwest on Blu-ray is a landmark event in home video history, as it marks the very first of the famed director’s films to become available on this state-of-the-art format. Accordingly, the film has received a meticulous restoration and remastering especially for this occasion with Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging scanning the original VistaVision production elements in 8K resolution. The resulting presentation reveals a depth of field and clarity never before possible, only serving to heighten every thrill-packed moment of this beloved classic.“

I have to wholeheartedly agree with every bit of what the studio themselves have stated. This looks amazing in comparison to the latest DVD release. The 8K transfer from those original VistaVision film negatives translates to an absolutely flawless Hi-Def transfer. From the very beginning of the film’s unique, innovative opening title sequence (done by Saul Bass) you’ll notice the sharp detail (without the use of filters like edge enhancement) and solid black level in the outlines. Once the video starts after the opening credits you’ll be reassured the solidity of the black level, and you’ll be in amazement of how accurate now the color palette is, via TechniColor. Fleshtones are accurate and the colors look brilliant, but not at all too bright in any way.

Now finally, the film’s wonderful cinematography is done complete justice from start to finish and the amount of detail here is astounding by all means. You have never seen “North by Northwest” in this flawless quality, even in its theatrical run it had cigarette burns, dirt on the film prints running in theaters, and so forth. This is really a much more clean, pleasant visual presentation, not that the most recent DVD release (previous restoration) wasn’t clean, it just wasn’t this clean. I mean it does of course contain the expected amount of film grain but nothing excessive; as it shows very little if any use of Digital Noise Reduction, because of the sheer amount of detail found here. For instance, take a look at the gray hairs on the side of star Cary Grant’s head or the loose hairs on his head that you’ve never before seen on the DVD release. These little things were mostly blocked up into pixilation due to compression limitations of the SD (Standard Def) DVD format and the previous restoration. This 50th Anniversary restoration is flawless in all ways, as I mentioned earlier. With that being said, this earns itself a perfect, reference material (in terms of restoration) “5 Star Rating” and is most definitely some of the best restoration work done to date, only second to “The Wizard of Oz” (also on Blu-ray Disc from Warner).

In closing, regarding the video quality, I have to honestly say the folks at Motion Picture Imaging labs there on the Warner Brothers studio lot do amazing work and I consider myself fortunate enough to have toured the facility when they were actually working on this very transfer. I seriously saw the film canisters sitting there waiting to be transferred in 8K and now I get to see the final product and I’m amazed. Major kudos to the MPI folks and obviously Warner as a studio, keep up the amazing work!

Audio Quality on this release is presented in both Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround & Dolby Digital 5.1 @640kbps. This 5.1 mix is likely a new remastered sound mix but it’s not the first time that “North by Northwest” has received a 5.1 surround sound mix. Back in 2000 the DVD release received a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix but this mix holds much more “oomph” to it that was not found there. The major source of this extra “oomph” is the film’s marvelous original music done by Bernard Herrmann being done the justice it deserves, getting a new hi-res lossless mix. From the opening of the film, when the credits start you’ll be treated to the music which gets excellent rear channel and bass use; as well as obviously the front left and right channels which receive the majority of the music.

Although the music may be one of my more favorite aspects to this film, it’s really the dialogue that is the most important here, as it makes up the largest majority of the film. Because you have such unforgettable lines from star Cary Grant like when he calls his mother from jail and tells her the men who forced him to drink a whole bottle of bourbon didn’t offer him a chaser. I’m very happy to report that dialogue is delivered perfectly here through primarily the center channel with a slight bit of presence in the front left and right channels. Though, it’s not just the music here that sounds great in this new audio presentation. Once the action begins, which doesn’t really take too long, you’ll notice that even the sound effects (Foley) and all have much more life to them now via this Dolby TrueHD lossless hi-res audio presentation. While it’s nothing to compete with the action found in films today, for it’s time (1959), this sounds great and earns itself a solid “4 Star Rating” for overall audio quality.

In closing, I feel I have to say this. Fans will be pleased. Yet some will complain though that there are such long awkward pauses with almost complete silence such as when Grant’s character is dropped off by a bus in the middle of nowhere and is waiting. These awkward pauses were just staples of the sound design to Hitchcock films, you have to understand that and learn to appreciate it. I just felt this needed to be discussed here in closing for the audio because some folks who have never seen this film will, as I said, likely complain about this. It’s not something wrong with the audio mix, it’s how the film is and was supposed to be. It plays off of the silence at times.

Bonus Materials on this release are presented in Standard Definition video quality with only a few exceptions, which are noted below; all of which using the VC-1 codec for video. The sound quality varies between Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, 2.0 Stereo and Mono; So I’ll be noting what each feature or featurette has for sound quality in the beginning of their descriptions below as well as what aspect ratio the video is in.

“DigiBook” packaging is included which is 44 pages in length for the booklet. The booklet contains tons of facts about the film itself, poster art, biographies of the cast members, a short biography on the Director Alfred Hitchcock and even Ernest Lehman who served as Screenwriter. This is a delight of a read from start to finish and also features some great studio stills of classic (iconic) scenes from the film.

NEW

“The Master’s Touch: Hitchcock’s Signature Style” (57:32) takes a look at the filmmaker and his formula of filmmaking. This includes interviews with such legendary directors of our time as Martin Scorsese, John Carpenter, Guillermo del Toro and various others. This features Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound @192kbps and is presented in 16×9 (Widescreen) video.
“North by Northwest: One for the Ages” (25:29) features interviews with most of the same screenwriters and directors from the previously mentioned documentary. This features Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound @192kbps and is presented in 16×9 (Widescreen) video.

Original DVD (ports) bonus content are included:

Screenwriter Audio Commentary features Ernest Lehman.
Music Only Track showcases the film’s wonderful Score done by Bernard Herrmann. This is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound @640kbps.
“Cary Grant: A Class Apart” (87:12) is a 2003 TCM documentary in it’s entirety. This is very much worth watching, especially for fans of the screen legend. This runs almost an hour and a half in length so you probably best have some interest in our leading man to watch it all the way through though. This features Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound @192kbps and features 4×3 video, meaning it has pillar bars on the sides.
“Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest hosted by Eva Marie Saint” (39:27) is a great retrospective featurette. It’s really awesome to see Eva Marie Saint who co-starred hosting this too, I figure it should be mentioned. This features Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound @192kbps and features 4×3 video, meaning it has pillar bars on the sides.
“Stills Gallery” (5:52) is actually in Hi-Def video quality. This contains a great deal of still photos featuring behind-the-scenes glimpses at the making of the film and such as well as some iconic productions stills.
“Trailers” is in 4×3 video with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound @192kbps and features the following:

TV Spot

A Guided Tour with Alfred Hitchcock

Theatrical Trailer

Overall the bonus materials are definitely a treat, especially the two NEW documentaries which run rather lengthy, almost an hour and a half in length themselves (combined). Plus, the DVD ported bonus materials are included as well as the “DigiBook” booklet packaging with 44 pages that are an honest treat of a read from start to finish, just like the film.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

Monsters vs Aliens – Blu-ray Disc Review

Danielle Byington — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:11:16 +0000

has an average rating of 6.9 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1
are pretty cool & mostly in Hi-Def
–
– 2009
– 94 minutes
– DreamWorks (Paramount)
–

Overall Verdict – Recommended for All Ages

Buy it for $19.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Danielle Byington —

Trailer:

The Movie Itself is a computer animated film from DreamWorks, directed and written by Rob Letterman (”Shark Tale“) & Conrad Vernon (”Shrek 2“), with the additional writing credits of Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky, Jonathan Aibel, and Glenn Berger.

The story revolves around Susan (voiced by Reese Witherspoon), who is your average young woman excited about her wedding day, as the film begins just a few hours before her marriage to local news weatherman Derek (voiced by Paul Rudd). Things are flowing well and going according to plan, until, while stepping out to have a brief conversation with her career-obssessed soon-to-be husband, Susan witnesses a meteorite randomly strike the exact plot of lawn she is standing upon; it is implied that this is no typical piece of space debris, as it emits a green glow that passes onto Susan

Hassled to hurry inside for her own ceremony, despite just being violated by a meteorite, Susan makes it to the altar. However, before the couple can complete their vows, Derek makes a comment to Susan stating that she is “glowing”. Susan first takes it as a wedding day compliment from her fiance, but Derek is quick to correct her, informing her that she is literally glowing. Susan’s “glow” is not that of marital bliss, but a radiant green that is a precursor of what happens next.

Susan’s “glow” leads to her hair becoming a stark white as her body transforms into a larger physical being of herself. With her body towering at a height of which she must crouch to fit under the roof of the chapel, the wedding guests of course flee in panic at the site of the out of this world happening. As special intelligence forces have also coincided with the event of the meteorite’s strike, now outside in the lawn of the chapel, military forces restrain the non-threatening giant version of Susan as a precaution to the harm a creature of her size could do.

After the shock of the situation, and a few military-issued tranquilizers, Susan awakes in a prison cell styled setting. She is opened into a larger quarter of the holding are, where she meets other’s not so much like herself, but others who have been dubbed as “monsters” by the government intelligence. There’s Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. (voiced by Hugh Laurie), a highly intelligent critter, B.O.B. (voiced by Seth Rogan), a not so intelligent unusual blob of matter, and The Missing Link (voiced by Will Arnett), a rather vain reptilian creature, whose abilities are not exactly sure. It is depressing for Susan to even attempt to accept that she must be quarantined in this facility for the remainder of her life, having lost her wedding day, and never seeing her family again. However, soon after being told how she must remain here for the rest of her lifespan, a command for the need of these monsters is issued, and they are immediately deployed to fight against an attacking alien.

After surprising herself in a battle against an alien with the mentioned monsters she now considers to be her friends, Susan has gained freedom, and she visits her dearly missed family; though, when visiting Derek, his arrogance to her transformation is rather heartbreaking for her, though she turns the situation into confidence that she will need to withstand a confrontation with the alien behind the Earth attacks, Gallaxhar (voiced by Rainn Wilson).

I have to admit, “Monsters vs Aliens” really exceeded my expectations in both terms of comedy and in it’s excellent visual presentation that shows DreamWorks is definitely getting close to being “up to par” with competitor Pixar. The story may seem a little far fetched at first, though it is generally just a nice spawn of a animated science fiction story, the situation of Susan sort of coming into that whole loving herself for who she is theme is really a good one for a family oriented film. The message is not overly serious by any means, with the comic relief elements, seen in the interactions between new-comer monster Ginormica, and the three primary monsters living in military captivity. The voice cast of this film offers much diversity to the story’s presentation, with the ideal “nice girl” voice of Reese Witherspoon as Susan, the goofy comic relief of Seth Rogan as B.O.B., the even more ideal casting of Stephen Colbert as the president, the surprising voice Keifer Sutherland has given to General W.R. Monger, and the finishing touch of Rainn Wilson who is natural as an alien who wants to take over our planet. Overall, aside from a slight bit of iffiness in the general sci-fi storyline, the movie itself holds decent grounds, receiving a “3.5 Star Rating“.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Just like other computer animated films from DreamWorks, this one is definitely visually impressive as well. This film was actually produced straight to its stereoscopic 3D format, then having taken the non-three-dimensional version of the film from that original source; regarding the latter format, there is still an abundance of 3D visual “pop” offered through out the release’s runtime. Within nearly every scene, there is a pleasingly large depth of field to the eye without the assistance of color anaglyphs (3D glasses), giving the audience at home a spectacular picture of copious detail in the subject of the scene, as well as the computer animated setting and props surrounding it. These computer generated details are highly impressive, as seen in the textures of some of the characters’ flesh, including that of the monsters, like the amphibian-esque skin of The Missing Link, the swirling aquamarine hues of B.O.B.’s consistency, as well as the clothing adorned by other characters, such as the military-addressed canvas jumpsuit of Ginormica.

The computer animated design of the human characters offers a great amount of attention to detail, with a unique play of cartoon-ish approach applied to their physical structure, such as the very round wholesome shape of Susan’s face, and the mile-long jawline of masculine figures such as General W.R. Monger, and President Hathaway. Referring to the realism aspects of the character designs that are really highlighted on the Blu-ray release of this film, the skintones of the characters and their movements are appropriate to the linear perception, flowing incredibly well with scenes that imply the movement of a camera as though filmed in real life. Of course the black level is solid, and it does certainly enhance a bright and clear palette, especially regarding the definition and clarity of the film; overall, this release’s presentation earns an impressive “5 Star Rating” for video quality with its fantastic depth and efforts put forth visually.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in both Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround sound. The audio track featured on this release certainly represents the film’s audible efforts well. There is depth to the large and small subjects that fill the soundscape through out, as originally created by the foley artists for this film, all bumps, thuds, clicks, clanks, and so forth are nicely arranged within the 5.1 setup, occasionally presented in an assigned channel presence, giving a smart audible flare to the visual on-screen actions, and even a few moments of panning within the soundscape.

More than adequate examples on this release that exhibit these fundamentals of the audio track are the scenes of the striking of the meteorite and Susan’s transformation into Ginormica, which showcases a high use of the panning elements in the 5.1 setup, with the heavy use of the subwoofer, passing of the military aircrafts in the rear and front channels, and other extravagant channel use. Also, the scene of the Monsters defeating our planet’s innocent passerby’s on the Golden Gate Bridge gives a nice performance, with the deep swaying and stretching sounds of the bridge’s structure under the pressure of the battle, and the panic of the civilians trapped in their vehicles.

The dialogue is presented well, portraying the voiced animated characters well through out the movie, always being presented with an appreciated balance amongst the other audible going-on’s of the film. With a nice touch of the foley representing the scenes, both galactic and earthbound, and the climatic audio conveyed during action sequences, this release earns a “4.5 Star Rating” for its audio quality.

Bonus Materials on this release are presented in High Definition (HD), and 1080i (which will be noted) video, using Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo.

“Filmmakers’ Commentary” is an audio track included on the release.
“The Animators’ Corner” is a Picture-In-Picture feature that uses Bonus View, requiring a “Profile 1.1” capable Blu-ray Disc Player.
“Trivia Track” is exactly what the title suggests.
“Monstrous 3D & More” requires that you wear the included color anaglyph 3D glasses, and gives you the option of viewing the computer animated short, “B.O.B.’s Big Break” (13 minutes), or playing the 3D game of “Paddle Ball“. This is actually a waste of space on the disc, as it takes our human eyes about ten minutes to properly adjust to view 3D video, which leaves you with about three minutes of the animated short to view the way it was intended to be seen, and you are probably not going to play the 3D Paddle Ball game for this long.
“Out-of-This-World 2D Fun” includes the 2D version of “B.O.B.’s Big Break“, as well as “Karaoke Music Party” (6 minutes), which includes three 70’s songs performed by your favorite Monsters.
“Deleted Scenes” (1080i, 5 minutes) includes 3 scenes presented as rough sketched frames.
“Modern Monster Movie-Making” (1080i, 17 minutes) discusses many of the aspects behind the production of the computer animated film.
“Tech of MVA” (1080i, 6 minutes) aside from coming across as giant product placement plug for Hewlett-Packard and Intel, there is a brief discussion regarding the new technology used regarding the film’s 3D presentation.
“DreamWorks Animation Video Jukebox” includes several music videos of songs from previous DreamWorks films.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen [Wal-Mart Exclusive "Big Screen Edition"] – Blu-ray Disc Review

James Segars — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:51:58 +0000

has an average rating of 6.2 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
are still “more than meets the eye“
–
– 2009
– 150 minutes
– DreamWorks (Paramount)
–
This uses 45.4GB total.

Overall Verdict – The DEFINITIVE Demo Disc!

Buy it for $18.86 @ Walmart.com

— Review written by: James Segars —

Trailer:

The Movie Itself is directed by Michael Bay (Transformers, The Rock, Bad Boys and Bad Boys II).

— Everyone’s a Critic —

For people to discount a film based on a single flaw or shortcoming is not only shortsighted, but downright wrong. To criticize a film for being what it was destined/designed to be, is asinine. To lambaste a creative effort, no matter how failed is inconsiderate. To make myself abundantly clear, through this somewhat tangential tirade, I am not saying that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen deserves more praise than it’s received, nor am I saying that it’s a monumental achievement in cinematic expression. I am, however, saying that Revenge of the Fallen is precisely what I was expecting, and then some.

The truth is that the title “Critic” is thrown around so loosely today that it means virtually nothing, and this has had an adverse effect on the way the audiences view critical opinions in general. Now, I don’t claim to be a critic, but I do consider myself a filmmaker, and an avid film watcher. And while I’m far from an authority of film theory and history, I’d like to think I know a thing or two about the craft, and when I see something that is genuinely exciting, entertaining, and worthwhile I recommend it. It’s as simple as that. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is one such movie. It might not be for everyone, and it’s certainly not destined to be a timeless classic, but I enjoyed it thoroughly all the same, and I am most definitely looking forward to whatever comes next.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) presented in two different aspect ratios because of the camera sources: Panavision Panaflex cameras on traditional Super 35mm film and IMAX MKIII and MSM series cameras on 65mm film.

This Wal-Mart exclusive “Big Screen Edition” is without question, the must-own version of the film for collectors, fans and cinema purists alike. It is so because it retains as much as possible of the director’s original vision by maintaining the shifting aspect ratios between the 2.35:1 material and the full frame IMAX film cells. Now, it should be noted that the film does not show the entire IMAX frame, but mimics the presentation done unto The Dark Knight, wherein the IMAX material is cropped slightly to fit a 1.78:1 ratio — in other words, it will fill your entire HDTV/Projector screen where the 2.35:1 (the majority of the film footage) will be appropriately letterboxed.

Now, I realize I might be in the minority here, but I don’t happen to think The Dark Knight is a flawless video presentation, which is not to say that I think the IMAX scenes were sub par, quite the opposite. The IMAX scenes ARE flawless, but the rest of the film (the 2.35:1 material) appears to be sharpened, with halos and edginess littered throughout the presentation. I’m not going to point fingers, nor am I going to speculate how that happened, but I’m happy to report that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is not plagued by this anomaly. In other words, in comparing the video quality of both the BSE version and the standard retail version from Amazon.com both showcased the 2.35:1 material flawlessly, with zero signs of post-processing enhancements. This is something that I was absolutely thrilled to find because it means that no matter your preference, whether you want the shifting aspect ratios or not, you’re going to get a flawless image. Major thanks go out to the folks at Dreamworks/Paramount for their expert handling of this.

Now, getting back the the overall video quality. Having seen this film twice in IMAX theaters (the very same Air and Space Museum they filmed at, to be exact) I had my expectations set very high for this blu-ray release, and they were completely fulfilled by the presentation we’re given here. Fine object detail is outstanding, black levels are rock solid, film grain is retained, saturation and color are perfectly rendered in line with the theatrical presentation, and the previous film. Skin tones aren’t “accurate” but they are no less consistent with Bay’s coloration preferences. Certainly, the main event (this being the BSE version) is the IMAX material, and it boasts some of the best HD material I’ve ever bared witness to. Fine object detail is completely redefined by the amount clarity and definition that is afforded the CGI modeled robots through their 4k rendering. Take a look at some of the included screenshots, or skip to either of the IMAX scenes to soak it all in. It’s absolutely breathtaking. The fine detail in the IMAX shots is so good in fact that you can actually make out a newspaper-print easter egg. Skip down to Screenshot #7 to see the article headline “…erious Robot Spotted” which we can only assume reads “Mysterious Robot Spotted”. Surely a testament to the ultra-fine resolution and detail, no?

Sadly, the combined running time of the IMAX scenes are but a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the film’s epic running time, but they’re worth every penny, and I can foresee people running the IMAX scenes over, and over again. Either way, what we have is more than enough to whet our appetites until someone takes it upon themselves to shoot an entire action packed feature film in the IMAX format and release it on Blu-ray. Until then we’ll just have to placate our eyes and minds with films like Baraka, The Dark Knight and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen which is hardly a terrible fate.

In the end, the sequel to one of the most phenomenal demo discs on the market proves to be a worthy successor, delivering all of the visual goods, and then some. Whether you opt for the “Big Screen Edition” or any of the other standard/gift set releases, you can rest easy knowing that you have in your possession one of the finest Blu-ray video presentations to date. As such, this disc deserves nothing less than a perfect “5-Star Rating” for overall video quality. It’s that good.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio.

It should come as no surprise to the fans — or owners of the BD/HD-DVD copies of the previous film — that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen boasts a first-rate, reference quality audio presentation here on Blu-ray. Speaking from personal experience, the HD-DVD copy of Transformers was my greatest weapon in promoting the ill-fated format, not only because it was proof that the picture quality was top-notch but also that Dolby Digital Plus was capable of delivering impeccable sound quality despite being a lossy codec. Naturally, when Transformers was released on Blu-ray last year, I ran out and eagerly repurchased the film for the now-lossless (Dolby TrueHD) track. Again, the bar was raised. And now, a year later, with the release of the sequel on Blu-ray, I’m left wondering, does it get any better than this? How can it? How much more perfect can an audio presentation get?

Every single detail is rendered perfectly across the soundstage and every nuance is given a chance to shine. Nothing is buried or lost in this mix, and the razor sharp focus and panning of discrete effects is flawless, never allowing the soundscape to go completely silent. From beginning to end, the mix fires on all cylinders — whether its the opening Paramount Logo, the forest fight scene, the epic conclusion or nearly any scene in between, there is plenty of lossless audio goodness to go around and predictably, more than an enough low frequency effects abound to displace any number of loose objects you may have strewn about your home theater setup. To be fair, the entire movie isn’t an assault on your hearing. There are some slow-down moments where the dialog takes center stage, but even here the music, and atmospheric effects keep the surround channels active.

With that said, it’s time to address a potential issue that users/viewers might have with this disc. On my first time through watching the film on Blu-ray this past tuesday, I noticed that I had to crank the dial on my AVR a little higher than normal in order to get the track to sound “loud”. Immediately after the film was over, I hit the forums and did a little digging in an attempt to see if anyone else noticed the same thing with the BSE version. As it turns out, there were a number of people who had the same issue, although very few people had different copies to compare and cross check the levels. And so, that’s exactly what I decided to do, knowing that my original Amazon.com copy would arrive within two days (gotta love Amazon Prime, right?).

Well, after a lot of cross comparison and level matching, I can most definitely confirm that there is a difference between the two releases I have (the BSE, and the Amazon release).

What I’ve found is that the BSE (big screen edition) has a -4dB drop on the dialog (as you can see below). With the Amazon release, there is no change: 0dB. Beyond that though, there is a very noticeable volume difference overall, which varies from 8-10dB depending on the scene (while the SPL meter could also be accountable for some variations).

What this means (for those of you whose heads I’m speaking over) is that you will likely have to crank your Walmart BSE blu-ray disc anywhere from 5-10 decibels higher on your AVR (receiver) in order to get similar loudness performance to the other Transformer 2 discs, or any other Blu-ray for that matter. This of course depends on your listening preferences. I don’t listen to my discs at reference level, but I do like to keep a standard playback level at roughly -10dB on my AVR.

In other words, on my receiver (which works on a relative scale from -80dB up to 0dB, as opposed to an absolute scale 0 to 85) when watching the BSE disc I have to turn my AVR up to -2dB (approaching reference level) in order to get an average SPL output of ~96dB. On the other hand, I only need to run the AVR at -10dB when watching the Amazon copy to achieve similar output levels (again ~96dB average).

Let me be perfectly clear, this does not mean that there is any loss of quality. This is merely a question of overall loudness output, something that can be corrected by a mere turn of the AVR dial. When both discs were volume matched using my SPL meter, the two tracks were transparent to one another. This should help to put some of the rumors and unease to rest.

Simply put, if you’ve got the Walmart BSE disc, give it a little more juice from your AVR and you’ll be getting the same exact experience that others are getting from the non-BSE discs.

When all is said and done, after all of the tests and cross checks, both the standard retail version and the “Big Screen Edition” are deserving of the highest praise we can give them, that being a “5-Star Rating” for overall audio quality. Fans and newcomers alike will be thrilled by what they hear on this disc, and collectors will most definitely have to add this disc to their collection whether they like the film itself or not. This is reference material.

Bonus Materials are presented predominantly in High Definition (HD) except where noted otherwise.

Feature Commentary with Michael Bay, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman – This commentary is reminiscent of the commentaries found on a few of the Bond Blu-ray Catalog titles (aka. MI6 Commentary) that are composed of separate recorded sources. Here we have Bay talking by his lonesome while Kurtzman and Orci fill in the gaps. Strangely enough, in the beginning of the commentary Kurtzman and Orci mention that Ehren Kruger might be with them, but he’s nowhere to be found. I would have liked to hear his thoughts on joining the original writing duo, and how his experience was overall. As it stands though, this commentary is quite informative and worthwhile. All three of the guys bring a lot to the table, and perhaps more importantly they don’t rehash everything that’s been presented/said in the rest of the bonus material.

Augmented Reality – Access this feature online — www.transformersmovie.com/optimus — and through the use of a webcam and your transformers blu-ray case, you will be able to partake in a brief online puzzle/shooting game. I thought this was neat, but not entirely fun, also I had some difficulty in keeping the case in sync with the webcam. You can see a picture of this feature in action on our “Hands On” feature article.

“The Human Factor: Exacting Revenge of the Fallen” – (2 hours, 14 minutes) I’m a huge fan of making-of documentaries, and I thoroughly enjoyed the making of features that were released with the Blu-ray release of Transformers, so my expectations for special features on this particular release were very high. As it turns out, Paramount/Dreamworks/Bay and Co. have churned out one of the better making of documentaries I’ve ever seen. It is extremely well organized, edited, entertaining, and informative — in a word, it’s perfect. I honestly don’t know how you could ask for more. In my opinion, it ranks up there with the finest making-of documentaries I’ve ever seen. The film might not be iconic (yet) like some of the great classics that “deserve” this treatment, but personally I would love to see every film get this type of treatment. Sure it might be overkill, but for fans of the film, there’s simply no substitute for a feature-length documentary. This is a must see feature that covers every possible base, and leaves all but a few stones unturned, if only because there needs to be material left for the other features on the disc.

“A Day With Bay” – (13 minutes) Here we’re given an extended look at Michael Bay’s time spent before and after the world premiere in Tokyo. This is more or less an expansion of the final chapter in the previous Making-Of documentary, “Release”. It has some good stuff in it to be sure, but I’m thinking that it could have just as easily been edited into the main documentary, no?

“25 Years of Transformers” – (10 minutes) This is a short video that briefly goes into Hasbro’s history with the Transformer brand, and the history of the toy designs. Not my favorite featurette on the disc, but I imagine that it might be so for some of the more die-hard fans of the action figures. I like toys, sure, but they’re predominantly of the Home Theater flavor.

“NEST: Transformer Data Hub” – (HD/SD) Precisely what it sounds like, a data hub that contains all sorts of vital stats and information, graphics, comic cells, action figure renditions and more on six autobot and six decepticon characters from the film.

“The Allspark Experiment” – (HD) A relatively simple, and uneventful character generator that sounded far better on paper. It only takes but a minute to do, and in the end, while we’re told on the case that we “might unlock a secret about the future of Transformers” I was unable to do so after trying four different robot types. Perhaps there is an easter egg to be found there, but I don’t think I have the patience to try all of the possible combinations to do so.

“Deconstructing Visual Bayhem” – (22 minutes) Certainly one of the best features present on the disc. Narrated by Steve Yamamoto, we’re given the option to select one, or two angles that will show either the pre-vis material alone, or just above the finished product. Typically the pre-vis material in general tends to be boring or lackluster but here, with the narration, it flows much better and in the end it makes for a worthwhile and informative experience.

Deleted/Alternate Scenes – (6 minutes) Evidently, not a whole lot of material made it on the cutting room floor, which speaks volumes about Bay’s efficiency and clear vision. Most of what we’re given should look familiar to viewers, but one deleted scene in particular caught my ear, and that’s “The Witwicky’s in Paris” scene. You’ll recognize this no doubt, but the real easter egg/gem is the music that can be heard in the background… that’s right, it’s very faint but if you listen closely it’s a violin solo rendition of the Aerosmith single “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” featured in Bay’s earlier film, Armaggedon. Pretty neat, huh?

“Giant Effing Movie” – (24 minutes) A shorter, smaller scope making-of feature that recycles a little bit of the main documentary footage, but still manages to present plenty of new informative/hilarious segments, and thanks to some very clever and effective editing, it has a very unique and lively feel. If you liked the documentary and you’re hungry for more, or perhaps you just don’t think you can burn another two hours, you should sit down and give this feature a go. It’s quite good.

“Linkin Park – New Divide” – (5 minutes) The music video to the song featured in the end credits.

“The Matrix of Marketing” – (7 minutes, combined) A collection of theatrical trailers, TV Spots and posters/promotional material await you. Even now, watching the trailers for this film, despite the fact that I know everything that happens, I continue to get goosebumps. The theatrical trailers are phenomenally edited, designed to elicit all of the right responses from the viewer, compelling them to see the film in theaters. It’s spooky really, almost hypnotic.

Subtitles – Lastly, users are given the option to enable a handful of subtitle options for the special feature material.

Overall, the bonus materials are pretty stellar. Not every feature is a “MUST SEE” but the ones that are easily make this release a “MUST OWN” for fans of the film. The feature-length making-of documentary is superb, and so are many of the supporting featurettes. And while there is much to chew through, I found it interesting that Paramount opted not to include either BD-Live functionality or Digital Copy on this heavy-hitting release. If ever there were a time for them to use those bonus features/incentives, I thought now would surely be the time, but it would seem as though Paramount couldn’t care less about connectivity or portable copies of the film. As for me, I’m as snug as a bug with my feature-length documentary and for the record, I’d take long making-of material over BD-Live/Digital Copy any day. There is simply far more to be gained from watching a feature length movie than there is by transferring a lower-res version of the movie to my ipod, or playing a clunky trivia game. This is somewhat of a tangent, I am aware, but I just felt that it needed to be addressed. I do think that BD-Live has potential, and the live director chats are proof of that, but the trivial features that are otherwise included aren’t exactly worthwhile or eye-opening. Nonetheless, after all is said and done, I feel that this disc easily earns itself a “4-Star Rating” for bonus material.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

Universal issues press release with full details on the upcoming November Blu-ray release of “Funny People”

Justin Sluss — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:33:36 +0000

Universal has issued a PRESS RELEASE for the upcoming (November 24th) Blu-ray Disc release of Judd Apatow’s 2009 film “Funny People” which reveals details regarding the bonus materials set to be included. Tech specs include full 1080p Hi-Def video in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte) disc with DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound. Just a reminder too, the title is already available for PRE-ORDER over at Amazon with a $29.99 price tag. The film will be presented in both the theatrical and UNRATED versions. F.Y.I. The unrated version contains 7 extra minutes over the theatrical version. Below you will find a list of the bonus content set to be included on this release (taken from the aforementioned press release).

BONUS FEATURES

Throughout the production of the film, Judd Apatow and his entire production team were mindful of home entertainment audiences, gathering exclusive footage of the filmmaking process and creating special features that they knew fans would love. Accordingly, both the two-disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray and DVD come loaded with exclusive bonus features, including:

— Hilarious gag reels
— Deleted & Extended / Alternate Scenes
— Line-O-Rama: Re-watch some of the movie’s funniest scenes, but this time with alternate punch lines
— Feature Commentary with director Judd Apatow and stars Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen
— Documentaries:
— Funny People Diaries: A documentary in four parts which takes audiences inside all aspects of the filmmaking process from early cast table reads and joke brainstorming sessions, to the various filmmaking techniques employed throughout the production.
— Judd’s High School Radio Show
— Raaaaaaaandy!: This mockumentary takes fans on the road with Aziz
Ansari’s Randy character from the film.
— Music from Funny People: Listen to music from and inspired by the film from James Taylor, Adam Sandler, Jon Brion and RZA
— From the Archives: Watch Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow on a 1990 episode of The Midnight Hour with Bill Maher; Sandler’s first appearance on David Letterman; and Seth Rogen doing stand up at 13!
— The Films of George Simmons: Watch footage from George Simmons’ greatest films including Sayonara Davey and Merman
— Prank Call 1990: Watch Sandler as he performs an actual prank phone call, in this archival footage from Judd Apatow’s personal video library

— “Yo Teach…!”: Go “behind-the-scenes” of “Yo Teach…!”, the television show featured in the film Funny People

Funny People on Blu-ray Hi-Def includes everything on the two-disc Collector’s Edition DVD, plus more exclusive content and interactive features, including:

— Enjoy more hilarious laughs with two more Line-O-Rama’s
— Watch additional Deleted, Extended and Alternate Scenes
— Additional music and an extensive look at James Taylor on the set
— Over an hour of stand up performances by the film’s cast
— Additional archival material including Sandler’s second Letterman appearance, Sandler at Los Angeles’ famed Comedy & Magic Club and Judd Apatow performing on The Dennis Miller Show
— Hilarious prank calls from Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow
— Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow’s appearance on “Charlie Rose”
— U-Control: Funny People music: Universal’s exclusive signature feature puts the viewer just a click away from additional insights into the music in the film without ever leaving the movie.
— BD-Live: Access the BD-Live Center through any Internet-connected player to download more exclusive content, the latest trailers and more!
— My Chat: Using any Internet-connected player, host a text chat with friends while watching the movie in synchronization
— My Funny People Commentary: Create play-by-play video, audio or text movie commentary and share it with friends through UniversalHiDef.com and the BD-Live Center

— My Scenes Sharing: Bookmark favorite scenes from the movie to share with BD-Live buddies!