Films

Doctor Giggles is a slasher flick following one of the more ridiculous and over-the-top killers in the nineties’ repertoire of psychos and other freaks. The story tries to follow two separate paths; the killer’s origin and nature, as well as the life of his newest mark, a girl with a heart defect.

The film seems to be trying to set itself up as the beginning of a possible franchise, because they try and spend so much time setting things up that by the end of the film nothing is really accomplished. We waste so much time on trivial things such as the Doctor killing random teens in a house with various medical equipment, for the sake of allowing the writers to throw out a plethora of doctor puns and jokes that we barely get to know the main victims on the film… thus we don’t really care if they live or die.

The dark humour that surrounds Doctor Giggles is supposed to come off as eerie, we’re supposed to see this killer a pure demented terror… but rather I sat there thinking about how sad it is to see Larry Drake in this light. The actor who plays the doctor will always be the very over-the-top (in a good way this time) villain in Darkman to me, however this film simply looked like a cash grab for him.

On a different note, Otis is a film about a middle-aged serial abductor who kidnaps girls to try and live out his fantasy of taking a cheerleader to the prom; he’s apparently gone through many girls already as he tries and finds the perfect one to play along in his sick game.

The film then takes a pretty big left turn in the third act, which I won’t give away, but it definitely made the film which was starting to get dry and boring a burst of life. The film overall is a bit forced and the only decent performances are from Otis and Riley the daughter, but I was starting to get fairly annoyed by Illeana Douglas’s performance which felt incredibly stiff at the same time as it felt like she was over reaching.

Neither film is worthwhile watch if you’re not into random horror films and I’m still confused as to why these films were paired together. It would’ve made more sense, in my mind, to pair Otis with Sublime, a film also directed by Tony Krantz and written by Erik Jendresen. As an interesting tidbit, Otis has a cameo (actually simply one shot) by Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs in it representing his role from Sublime where he played a satanic orderly… There was a hospital scene where the camera pans down a hallway and we see a man in a very peculiar outfit and red bowtie… My brother, the movie buff, was able to point out this reference, which makes me believe he may be the exact person these kind of double features are aimed for.

Video

Dr. Giggle’s video is displayed in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 using the VC-1 codec and isn’t a bad transfer, the print used is pretty clean however the overall image is pretty soft, which covers up any noticeable grain and potential noise, but lacks sharpness and definition. The colours are fairly washed out at times and in darker lit scenes there’s a lack of contrast which causes some unappealing red skin tones as well as black levels to be grayer than anything else, but as the film goes on it’s revealed that there’s some inconsistencies in the tone and when it’s less appealing, the blacks are quite crushed… It’s definately a messy video presentation.

Otis on the other hand looks a lot better, its colours are cleaner and overall clearer, but it incorporates a harsh colour palette with an amber cast over everything which makes the film look grungy but not necessarily bad. However in the lower lighted scenes there’s a lot of noise and during these scenes that are quite noticeable, especially on larger screens.

Audio

Both films’ audio comes at us using the DTS-HD Master 5.1 Surround codec and both seem to encapsulate the mixes decently, however true to its times Dr. Giggles being a lower budget horror film from the early nineties has a mix that is pretty underwhelming. Otis on the other hand is a relatively newer film, but once again… nothing special.

Dr. Giggles score seems to be the main focus of the mix, it over powers most of the other audio, but dialogue is still fairly clear regardless. The dialogue is clean and noise-free throughout, but some of the sound effects have that “canned” sound to them. The mix lacks surround presence but we do get some sound bleeding from the front of the mix which helps a bit.

Otis’s sound is more dynamic, but again lacks surround presence, the score bleeds over as well, which may be one of the reasons these two films were paired together… poor technical quality is the only thing these flicks have in common.

Special Features

There are no special features.

Final Thoughts

Neither film is really a stand out in the horror genre, from an over-the-top tongue-in-cheek Dr. Giggles to the “is this supposed to be funny or scary” Otis. We’re given two very mediocre flicks and with a below average audio/video presentation. I’d only feel comfortable recommending this as a rental to horror junkies, but due to the randomness in pairing these two very different films together, I would think that even they would be disappointed.

Films

Sudden Impact & The Enforcer are two very different films, everything from their visual style to their stories’ content differ. Sudden Impact is a very dark and gritty crime story with a seedy and mature story, whereas The Enforcer follows a more average crime storyline.

Sudden Impact centers around a revenge tale of a woman who was tricked into a situation where she ends up getting gang raped, where although she survives she vows to exact revenge against all those involves. The film carries on with Harry Callahan following the murders and piecing together her story. Harry then has to decide if her actions are just. One downfall to Sudden Impact is Sondra Locke’s performance, which isn’t terrible, but it doesn’t surprise me that after her divorce with Clint Eastwood she wasn’t able to find much work.

The Enforcer follows Harry as he tries to foil a terrorist group while showing his new female partner the dangers of police work. Where Sudden Impact told a dark tale, The Enforcer is a bit easier on the audience and actually provides a politically correct tale which shows women in an equal light. In comparison to the other sequels such as Dead Pool, these films stand out as the lesser of the four sequels. Just remember however that in Dead Pool we’ve got to deal with a high speed chase with a remote control car (I think there was a reason it was the last film). So even though The Enforcer & Sudden Impact aren’t the best installments to the series they do cover some interesting subject matter.

To newcomer Eastwood fans, see the original Dirty Harry first and make the informed decision of whether or not you want to see the continuation of Harry Callahan’s story, but make sure you realize none of the sequels really live up to the original, however if you do get around to watching Sudden Impact, you get to witness the delivery of the famous line”Go ahead make my day”.

Video

Both films’ video is displayed using the VC-1 codec at 1080p in their original aspect ratios of 2.40:1. Both films are free of artefacts and above-average amounts of grain. The Enforcer has a slightly softer image and comes off brighter than Sudden Impacts’s contrasted lighting scheme.

Both films’ have some extended night sequences, which really showcase the limitations of the film stocks of the time. That isn’t much of an issue, considering basically every film around the time had the same issues, but Sudden Impact’s noir style cinematography is a bit hard to follow.

The motion within the video is pretty smooth and skin tones are natural, however the colours are slightly muted. Considering the age. of the material, the films look pretty good!

Audio

Both film’s audio comes at us using the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio, with a Dolby TrueHD lossless encoding as a secondary option. Both options for our listening pleasure are pretty much on even keel, if you’re an audiophile then it’s pretty much a standard to just stick with DTS-HD, however I noticed that the track had a different balance when listening to the TrueHD version.

Most notably the main difference with the TrueHD vs the DTS-HD track is the surround presence as well as the score. The DTS-HD version has been remixed to have some sound come from behind, wheras the TrueHD relies on surround bleeding for most of it’s  rear presense.   The score on the TrueHD version however pops a bit more, which may not be great for Sudden Impact due to the very dated style of score.

Special Features

Although a lot of these double feature value packs are sometimes quickly put together with little care put into the special features section. Both films have audio commentaries, The Enforcer‘s commentary is by the film’s director whereas Sudden Impact’s commentary is done by a historian/eastwood biographer.

There’s also a handful of featurettes including a career retrospective on Eastwood, which seems to be the big thing now with the Eastwood filmography catalogue getting rereleased to celebrate his body of work, however the featurette is only about twenty minutes and doesn’t cover any fresh ground.

Final Thoughts

Both films, although dated are great examples of the classic era of the action genre, if you’re a fan of the dirty harry films then these affordable double feature collections might be a good way to get your favorite films from the series. If you’re a newcomer who’s interested in seeing a couple fun action flicks from the past, then this film will make a good rental. With decent audio/video presentation and a good amount of special features makes this a worthwhile rental.

Film 

Well, not exactly. While When in Rome is far from a classic, it is a nice, cute and warm romantic comedy that is ,at best, fodder for a night at home with your significant other. In other words, the dreaded chick flick. I have seen worse and more even tedious examples of this genre but on the whole, When in Rome does have its moments, just not enough of them to give the film anything other than a tepid recommendation as a rental.

The film stars Kristen Bell as Beth, the curator of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, who shall we say, has been unlucky in love. She is shocked to learn after just coming out of a long romance that her little sister had been swept off her feet after a two week love affair and is getting married in Rome. Beth attends the wedding as the Maid of Honor and meets the groom’s Best Man Nick (Josh Duhamel), a New York reporter. They seem to form an attraction at least Beth does, who begins to think that there may be hope for love for her after all. However, her hopes are dashed when she sees Nick kiss a woman in a red dress and accompany her back into the wedding reception.

Beth confronts the sculpture in a mythical Statute of Love in the piazza outside the location of the wedding and asks her not to be so cruel with her. In the process, she removes 5 coins from the fountain. Unbeknownst to her, when she removes the coins, the men who threw them into the fountain all fell in love with her. When she returns to New York after the wedding, four of the men (played by Danny DeVito, Jon Heder, Will Arnett and Dax Shepard) began to pursue her, much to her chagrin, as does Nick.

By the time she advises her sister in Rome what she had done in the fountain and in turn is advised what effect that would have on the me who threw the coins in the fountain, Beth had already fallen in love with Nick. Beth was now certain that Nick didn’t actually love her and professed his love for her only as a result of a spell, just like the other four men. Beth has to decide whether to return the coins to each of the men, including Nick, and risk never having another man fall in love with her or live a life based on a lie with Nick.

I guess you can figure how it all works out without much trouble which is my biggest complaint with the film. While the film is pleasant enough, it is totally predictable and only mildly humorous. Like I indicated, your typical chick flick. When in Rome is accordingly rated as a rental only.

Video 

I must confess that I was a bit disappointed by the video quality here. While the film has a nice natural if a tad undersaturated color palette, it is a very soft looking film with below average levels of detail, especially facial and background details. Black levels are also less than stellar. As a result, the image on soft and flat looking, lacking the clarity, detail, depth and dimensionality of the better looking films on Blu-ray. Having not seen the film in the theater, I can’t really say for sure whether this is the result of the encoding process. I would guess that it is not the fault of the encode and just how the film was shot. While the film doesn’t look awful, it just lacks the level of detail, sharpness and clarity that I prefer and that looks best on Blu-ray.

Audio 

While I was disappointed with the picture quality on this release, I was pleasantly surprised by the audio, which had a more aggressive implementation of the surrounds than I had expected. While I wouldn’t go so far as to describe the use of the surrounds as aggressive, they were employed often enough to give just a bit of the sense of immersion that I enjoy so much at home. Most chick flicks have a very front heavy sound with most if not all of the sound coming from the front three speakers.

While When in Rome is a tad front heavy as well, the surrounds are engaged just enough to provide you with the ambiance required to make it feel as though you are in a real space with the actors, if only by a smidge. I found the overall fidelity of the recorded sound to be good as well with the musical score sounding the best, with a nice sense of transparency, imaging and depth. All in all, given that When in Rome is a chick flick, the audio was more than acceptable and even a bit of a surprise.

Special Features 

The extras included with this release are fairly predictable and not all that interesting. At least they are presented in high def. The extras include an alternate opening as well as an alternate ending for the film. It is clear that the director made the right choice in not using either of these in the film. In fact, it would have been better if neither had seen the light of day. Also included is the featurette “Crazy Casanovas: Mischief From The Set” which features the obligatory interviews with the cast and director of the film.

Also included is a set of extended scenes that didn’t (for obvious reasons) make the film involving Beth’s strange suitors entitled “Pain With the Suitors”. Also included is a gag reel entitled “Kerplunk”, and a very short untitled featurette where Jon Heder, Danny DeVito, Dax Shepard and Will Arnett are asked about the craziest things they ever did in the name of love. The extras also included two music videos, “Starstrukk” by 3OH!13 featuring Katy Perry and “Stupid Love Letter” by the Friday Night Boys. All in all, the extras are rather forgettable. The release is not BD-LIve enabled and does not include either digital copy of the film or a DVD copy of the film.

Final Thoughts 

You may find yourself looking for a romantic comedy to enjoy at home with your significant other in the not too near future. Go ahead and check out When in Rome but do so on the basis of a rental only.

After reading the books, I was excited to discover that an animated version of the book existed, and lobbied hard to get my buddies to rent it when we were having a movie night.  And after we all sat back and viewed the movie, we looked at each other with the same expression on our faces: “What in heck was that?”

So the question is, after 28 years of watching various forms of animation, have I gained a new appreciation for Ralph Bakshi’s labor of love?  Does being on Blu-ray make the movie any better?

Film

Thinking back on all the animation I’ve watched over the years, I have difficulty recalling any animated movie that is quite as intrinsically ugly as this one.  Being on Blu-ray actually exacerbates this problem.  Washed out and stylistic backgrounds, inking issues, and the horridly ugly rotoscoping (using live actors as the basis for animation) makes this a visually unappealing movie.

Moreso, I could also criticize the color palette used, the lack of quality control of the animation, the bad 1970’s era sound effects, and the poor visualization of the scenes and characters.  In glorious 1080p, all of these flaws are held up for the viewer to see, and they become so distracting that they affect one’s ability to watch and enjoy the movie.

What is most egregiously lost in this film is the beauty and emotiveness of Tolkien’s writing in the Lord of the Rings.  An attentive reader can feel tranquility, compassion, happiness, apprehension, awe, and fear through Tolkien’s beautiful narrative.  This emotional resonance is mysteriously absent from the movie; it feels rushed, grim, and unhappy.  Worst of all, this film takes characters that we love (or hate), and makes us feel apathy for them.  Then, in culmination of this, it only tells the first half of the Lord of the Rings story – this move was not successful enough for the studio to green light the second half.

Being upfront, I am not a huge fan of Ralph Bakshi’s work.  Although I do have a age-based fondness for his somewhat psychedelic Spider-Man TV series, I thought Fritz the Cat was exploitive rather than groundbreaking.

Mr. Bakshi stated that he was a fan of the books, motivating his desire to make this film.  However, there had to be some sort of external pressure (budget?  Release date?) that resulted in this movie being as poor as it was.

For someone who loves the books, this film is a bitter disappointment.  For one who has never read the books, the film is incomprehensible.

Video

This is, bar none, the worst looking Blu-ray I have seen to date.  Unfortunately, I believe this is not due to the transfer and encoding – it is mainly due to the poor quality of the masters.  Considering the limited appeal of this release, it is difficult to imagine a circumstance under which  Warner Brothers would put resources into a full restoration of this film.  And they didn’t disappoint, with the film looking like it came straight out of a 1970’s film canister.

As mentioned in the “Film” section, there are quality control issues with inking throughout the movie, there is noise and dust speckles in almost every dark area, animations lack a certain grace, and the backgrounds are washed of life and color.  Worst of all, the rotoscoping that looked horrible on VHS looks even more horrible in Blu-ray.

It has been suggested that the rotoscoping was done to save money, as it was a quicker and easier process than drawing frames from scratch.  To me, rotoscoping looks like someone solarized a real person, and inserted their image into the film; something that looks absolutely horrid, and out of sync with the rest of the movie around it.

Audio

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio presentation of this movie was actually quite good considering the age of the material.  As can be expected, the dynamic range was very limited, missing that sharp clear top end and firm rolling bottom end.  A lot of the sounds happen in the midrange section of the audio spectrum, and a lot of them happen in the front speakers.

Generally not a bad presentation.  Although the voice acting is rather tepid, it goes well with the poor quality 70’s era sound effects.  Generally, I’m not quite sure how any Hobbit wearing the ring could stealthily disappear with a giant flash of light and a magic sound straight out of Hanna-Barbera’s Shazzan.

Special Features

Not much here for special features – just a half-hour SD documentary about Ralph Bakshi’s career, his impact on Hollywood, and his making of Lord of the Rings.  Generally this is an okay piece, but nothing special.  Even though my review copy also came with a Digital Copy, I’m not sure (considering the movie) that it adds much value.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes different films we view impact us differently depending on where we are in our lives.  Moves that I found funny as a teen I now find juvenile.  As a parent, teen movies give me the shudders, as I wouldn’t want my kids engaging in the behaviours I see on screen.  And movies that I didn’t appreciate as a younger person can often resonate with me now in a way they couldn’t when I was young.

Unfortunately, some movies that disappointed me when I was younger continue to disappoint me when I am older.  Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings is one of these.  Summed up in one sentence, this film is an ugly, gloomy, emotionally flat disservice to one of the best fantasy stories ever written.  Even a $0.99 7-day rental might be a bit overpriced for this film.

Although Star Wars IV was always my favourite, one day I found Escape from New York in my favourite Selectavision player.  I was suitably impressed (as most 14-year olds are) with the post apocalyptic artwork on the cover, so on went the player, and into my memory went one of my favourite movie memories of my preteen life.

It was therefore surprising that when the long-awaited sequel Escape From L.A. came out in 1996, I had no real interest in seeing it.  So was it worth the 14-year wait?

Film

In a nutshell, no, this movie was not worth the wait.  Cheesy artificial looking sets, bad primitive CGI, and every action-movie cliché available including my personal favourite: everything that is shot or crashes blows up.

In many ways, this movie is not much different than its predecessor.  Stick something in Snake Plissken that will kill him, give him a count down timer, make him retrieve something from a city which is now a penitentiary (L.A.), and have everyone try to kill him except for the odd helpful criminal.

However, instead of this movie being set during World War III, it is set 16 years later during a Pax Americana where the US is the unquestioned ruler of the world.  Run by a fundamentalist Christian “President for Life”, the US possesses technology orbiting Earth that can render all electronic or mechanical devices useless. 

However, this technology has been stolen by the President’s daughter who has fled into L.A. with it.  Snake is sent in against his will to retrieve the control system for this technology, and to kill the wayward daughter.

This is a very self-aware movie.  John Carpenter revels in the idiocy he puts on screen, including a society of plastic surgery victims, surfing in an aqueduct, hang gliding through L.A., and his gleeful destruction of many recogniseable Hollywood and L.A. landmarks.  In short, this movie does not take itself too seriously.  Overall, it is fun to watch, and provides decent entertainment.

Where it does not work is that self-aware movies can’t be self-aware all the time.  Case in point – Army of Darkness has to be one of the best self-aware movies I’ve ever seen, yet it does so with humor, action, and a reasonably good storyline – it does not always rub the viewer’s nose in its cleverness or outlandishness.

Also, there was a certain dystopian creepiness to Escape From New York that is sadly absent from Escape From L.A.  Possibly, part of it is the poor sets, part of it may be the superior villan Isaac Hayes was as the Duke of New York.  Possibly part of it is that something that was a unique concept in 1982 now feels rehashed.  Regardless, this movie is like a pale imitator of its superb predecessor.  

Video

The video in the movie is not bad, considering the original year of its filming.  Unfortunately, the Blu-ray treatment makes this movie look worse, as the increased sharpness over DVD highlights all of the poor special effects and amateurish sets used by John Carpenter.

Grain is noticeable, and does effectively soften the picture at points.  This is made even more challenging by the fact the majority of the movie is shot in low light.  However, macroblocking and black crush were pleasingly absent.

Overall, a decent presentation, but one that highlights the shortcomings of the film itself.

Audio

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio presentation of this movie was fine, but sounded very “crushed” – the dynamic range was not what I would expect from an action movie.  Surround channels were used lightly, though dynamic levels were pretty good, and dialog was clear through the centre channel.

Generally, there was nothing remarkable about the audio on this disc, and was it was overall more resemblant of an average Dolby Digital track rather than a Dolby True HD one.

Special Features

Well this is pretty easy – the Blu-ray includes the original theatrical trailer.  Not much to review here.  It is what it is.

Final Thoughts

I’ve often thought that many of the things we like when we’re 14 lodge themselves in a special “fond” area of our memories, regardless of if it was even actually good or not.  Escape from New York is one of these pleasures for me, and I still found I enjoyed it when I recently saw it rerun on a movie channel.

Unfortunately, I do not believe Escape from L.A. will lodge itself in the memories in the same way.  Being over-the-top, self deprecating, and clichéd will relegate this movie to the bottomless pile of movies labeled as “mindless entertainment”.  That the Blu-ray presentation was so average further relegates this film to an afterthought.   

In many ways, I believe this is why I and many others overlooked this movie during its original release in 2002.  As a viewing audience, I believe we had hit our “Harrison Ford” and “Tom Clancy” saturation point by 2002, and a quick glace at the movie poster or DVD cover gave little indication that it was anything other than another movie of this genre.  That the movie had such a poor title likely didn’t add to its appeal, and it was ultimately a financial mess, failing to recoup its $100 million production budget.

However, with director Kathryn Bigelow winning the Best Director Academy Award for The Hurt Locker, it was inevitable that this film would receive the Blu-ray treatment. And reading the box and discovering that this movie was actually based around a true story of Soviet heroism in the 1960’s made me disappointed that I had not given this movie an opportunity in 2002.       

Film

As a film viewer, I do have a soft spot for those in the military.  Some of my family served in World War II, and I have always admired the brave souls who are willing to sacrifice their lives for a greater ideal than self.  This can also apply to those on the other side of the Cold War; those who themselves had a way of life and families that they loved and wanted to protect. 

To truly enjoy this move, this is the mindset one must adopt: these are not the evil Soviets, instead they are soldiers and seaman, doing their duty for their families and country, and acting as honorably as they can under the circumstances.  And in today’s world of uncertainty and threats from virtually anywhere, one can almost remember the Cold War fondly; although the Soviets were our enemy, they agreed to the rules of engagement, and we knew who they were.

This aside, the movie is a very (very) loose adaptation of the true history of submarine K-19, the first Soviet nuclear-powered sub which was capable of launching ICBMs to attack cities on the U.S. Eastern seaboard.  Rushed into service for political reasons, we are warned early in the movie that Soviet build quality is not very good.  Couple this with a nuclear reactor, and a nickname “The Widowmaker (earned by the untimely deaths of workers and crew during its build), and we can easily see where the plot will be going. 

Much of the movie centres on the interaction of Capt. Vostrikov (Ford) and Capt. Polenin (Liam Neeson).  Captain Polenin was the commanding officer of the boat, but was replaced before its maiden voyage by Captain Vostrikov, due to authorities stating that “Captain Polenin was putting his life and the lives of his crew before the Party.”  Whereas Captain Polenin is a kind-hearted officer who treats his crew like family, Captain Vostrikov is a hard task master who drives the crew through incessant drills, and questionable or dangerous manoeuvers.

The two officers are played nicely against each other, all against the backdrop of an increasingly tense crew in a very claustrophobic setting.  And we know that it is only a matter of time before the third main character (the nuclear reactor) rears its head and impresses its will upon the crew.

For a war-type movie, this film is surprising devoid of action.  Only emergency measures being taken on the submarine have a kinetic pace – this is much more of a verbally-driven suspense film.  The enemy itself is also invisible as radiation does not possess guns, subs, or tanks; instead we only see its effect on the crew.

Director Bigelow does an excellent job conveying the feel of being on a submarine, through the darkness that tinges the edges of every indoor shot and the cramped and claustrophobic set design.  The lead actors are also superb in their interplay with each other, and each effectively represents one side of the duality that exists in every commanding officer.

Where the film falls short is in its pacing.  At 138 minutes it is far too overlong, and does tend to drag in the middle.  Time could have saved in the development of the secondary characters; this is illustrated by the sympathy we feel for Chief (an heroic but undeveloped tertiary character) compared to what we feel for the developed character of Vadim (Peter Sarsgaard).

Overall, this is quite a substantial movie, well-acted, and authentically filmed.  Is it a great movie?  No, but it is much better than a lot of movies I’ve seen recently (yes, I’m looking at you, Paul Blart).  In hidsight, one has to wonder if something as simple as a different title (and a poster with a sub, radiation symbol and a hammer and sickle) could have improved this film’s fortunes.   Oddly enough, the nickname “The Widowmaker” was never applied to the real K-19; its actual nickname was “Hiroshima”, applied after its nuclear accident.     

Video

In watching the film, I am forced to wonder if Paramount rushed out this release to take advantage of Ms. Bigelow’s current ascendancy.  The video quality is surprisingly soft for a movie released in the 2000’s, with excessive grain appearing in many of the submarine’s indoor shots.

On outdoor shots, black tones have little detail, with an excessive level of contrast.  Indoor shots have a soft, almost yellowish tone, with excessive contrast again reducing the black detail.  In one scene of Harrison Ford on the bridge, there is actually very noticeable and distracting noise speckling on his cheeks.

Although this movie offers decent visuals, it appears to have not had any additional clean up for its Blu-ray release.  Overall, it falls short of my expectations for a Blu-ray from this era.

Audio

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio presentation of this movie was much better than the visuals.  Like most “talky” thrillers, it was quite front loaded, though a close listen showed excellent use of ambient sounds to replicate the submarine’s environment.  In fact, I believe that these sounds subconsciously add to the feeling of claustrophobia experienced by the viewer.

When the LFE channel kicks in, it is rather startling, as it is used very judiciously throughout the movie.  However, the dynamic range was well mixed, and its use should not have you reaching for the remote.  Speech levels through the centre channel were also mixed well.

Special Features

As a military buff, I can honestly acknowledge that I have likely over-rated the special features on this disc.  Despite being in SD, I loved the featurette “The Making of K-19: The Widowmaker” which was 20 minutes of the true story behind the movie, the logistics of the filming, the refurbishment of an actual decrepit Soviet sub for the filming, and bits of information from the cast.

Other extras are not quite so grand, including a middle-of-the-road commentary track, a short featurette on makeup used (including the radiation burns, something that gives me the heebie-jeebies), a short featurette on the K-19 breaking through ice (which was a poor effect, by the way), the trailer, and an eleven minute feature on attempts to make the move as authentic as possible.  The latter three featurettes and the commentary appear to be hold overs from the 2002 DVD release.

Final Thoughts

As a fan of military-themed movies, I am comfortable in stating that K-19: The Widowmaker is still an enjoyable movie.  Tense, claustrophobic, well acted, and compelling, it is both entertaining, and a reminder of a Cold War that has disappeared surprisingly quickly in our rearview mirrors.

Unfortunately, the movie could have been served better in its Blu-ray release with a cleaner video transfer and a few new bonus features.  For owners of the DVD, there is not a great incentive to upgrade to the Blu-ray.  For others, this movie is at least worth a rent.

Film 

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans has a rather interesting subject matter, namely a rogue New Orleans Lieutenant Terence McDonagh (Nicholas Cage) who has a drug and gambling addiction. While he is able to perform his function as a lieutenant quite well assigned to the homicide beat, he spends just as much time stealing drugs from suspects as he does solving the crimes. He knows what the right thing is to do and at times, does it but far too often throws caution to the wind, risking his life and those of her loved ones and cohorts and at times, is a truly despicable character to be sure.

Nicholas Cage turns in a fine performance and plays Terence with an edge and a sense of utter despair and desperation looking at every arrest, search and investigation as an opportunity to score or steal some drugs, with cocaine his drug of choice. He even goes so far as corrupting other cops by asking them to steal drugs from the evidence locker to keep him going in exchange for some sort of favor.

My problem with the film is the overall pacing of the narrative. It is just too slow and tedious. As I sat there viewing the film, I kept hoping that it would move quicker, looking at my watch and wondering when the film would pick up. The action is just too slow and plodding. With a tighter script and better pacing, we really would have had a fine film here.. While I can recommend the film, I can do so only on the basis of a rental.

Video 

Overall, I was quite happy with the video presentation on this release. I was not able to detect any encoding issues such as the application of digital noise reduction or edge enhancement or any issues wit the condition of the print itself. While I didn’t see this release in the theater so I have no point of reference to compare the encode to, it would appear that the encode here is faithful to the original print.

The film features a color palette that can change a bit from scene to scene depending on the surrounding locale. However, most of the film has a rather cool bluish look. Black levels are good but not of reference quality. For the most part, detail and shadow detail are good with good overall clarity, the only exception being some general softness in some dimly lit interior scenes, which is hardly surprising. Overall, this is a solid transfer and is one that appears to be faithful to the print from which the encode was made.

Audio 

As anyone who has read my reviews will know, I am a stickler for overall fidelity, even more so than sound design. I will give a release a high audio score if the fidelity of the sound is top notch, even if I had wished the audio design to more immersive. Such is the case with Bad Lieutenant. The overall fidelity is simply amazing, with a smooth and open sound with excellent transparency and imaging. The audio score on this release is as fine sounding as I have yet heard on Blu-ray, with spaciousness and dynamics to die for. The dialogue track is beautifully recorded and well placed in the mix which is a good thing as Nicholas Cage mumbles through too much of the dialogue.

The only downside to the audio is the sound design, which is way too front heavy for my tastes. The surrounds, when engaged, are engaged very effectively. The problem is that they aren’t engaged all that often and far too subtly, lacking the sense of immersion that can make home theater such a wonderful experience. However, the fidelity of the audio is so good, that it overcomes the shortcomings of the sound design.

Special Features 

To say that I was unimpressed with the extras on this release would be an understatement. The extras include a set of on set photographs by Lena Herzog who I can only presume is the wife(?) of director Werner Herzog. The extras include a very unusual behind the scenes featurette which is nothing more than a film crew shooting segments behind the action. I am not sure I have ever seen a behind the scenes featurette that was presented like this before. Most are filled with interviews and narration. Not this one. If you ever wanted to see what it would be like to walk around a set with a camcorder at a film location, I guess you would enjoy this featurette. I didn’t. The featurette is not presented in HD. The only other extra is a trailer for the film. That’s it. The release is not BD-LIve enabled and does not include a digital copy.

Final Thoughts 

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is far from a bad film. It is simply not the type of film that you will want to see more than once. It features a few interesting performances and some unusual subject matter and is worth a look, but as a rental only.

Film

Michael Corleone’s rise to power and plunge into darkness is on the verge of completion within the sequel to Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. We see the Corleone family as their empire expands to Nevada and begins to thrive off of the casinos they own.

The film also takes us back prior to the first film and shows us the rise to power of the young Vito Corleone (played by Robert De Niro), which was part of the storyline cut out of the first Godfather script. Both tales are weaved together to form the continuation of the Corleone saga.

The sequel is often considered to be more of an extension of the first film, whereas The Godfather III is considered to be an epilogue. The film is sometimes edited with the timelines of Godfather I & II in chronological order, showing the strong relationship these films have.

The Sapphire Series version of The Godfather II, however is the original theatrical cut and does not contain some of the deleted scenes that appeared on previous releases of the film. We get to enjoy the film as the original audiences enjoyed it. If you’re disappointed by the fact that there are missing scenes of the film, please note that sometimes the edited down version of Francis Ford Coppola is the better version… Case-in-point: Apocalypse Now Redux!

The Godfather II is one of the few sequels that is as beloved as the original film and considering the fact that The Godfather is one of the most beloved films of all time… That says a lot! The film’s dark and noir tones really suit the content and with Paino giving a great performance once again as Michael Corleone, we get to truly see how the rise to power has so many consequences.

De Niro’s performance as the young Vito Corleone is definitely my favourite part as he captures the spirit that filled Marlon Brando’s iconic performance and gives us some backstory about what it takes to become the Don.

The film contains just as many thrills as the first and has just as many, if not more, emotional moments that make you both loathe and somewhat respect the characters you watch. Without giving anything away to those who may not have had the opportunity to see this great film, it’s an essential watch.

Video

Godfather II ‘s video is in 1080p and uses the AVC MPEG-4 codec to display the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The film overall is very clean considering the age and the concern surrounding whether or not the original prints would last. There are a few shots that are subject to noise and grain overloads, but they’re few and far between… The transfer is definitely well done.

The film’s dark and moody lighting definitely give the film a signature look; from the chiaroscuro style lighting that was a marquee of noir filmmaking and German expressionism within art, to the candlelit scenes where our characters spend more time dwelling on their thoughts than expressing them through dialogue. It definitely says a lot about a movie when characters spend a lot of time in silence and yet the way the actor is displayed speaks louder than words could… A scene that comes to mind is the great two-face moment where Al Pacino’s face is lit from one side leaving the other side of his face in darkness, representing that great battle of duality within. It brought back to memory a similar shot from Citizen Kane.

It was definitely a treat watching this film with my projector and it definitely stood up to being projected to 100” so it will look even more remarkable on an HDTV!

Audio 

The Godfather II’s sound comes at us in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Dolby Digital Mono in English only, there are also English and Portuguese subtitles.

It never comes as a shock to me that when I’m faced with a great transfer of an older film, that the time was really spent cranking out a stunning image while the audio is lower on the priorities. The sound lacks dynamic fidelity and really doesn’t take advantage of the surround presence that makes TrueHD one of my favourite audio codecs. I’d imagine that a new mix wouldn’t be too hard to get a go ahead for considering the importance of these films, but nonetheless we are presented with a less than great audio source to go along with The Godfather II. The sound definitely isn’t bad, it carries over that great seventies tone that came with the equipment and although the overall mix is a little quieter it definitely stpood up to being cranked through my speakers.

The dialogue is handled very well and comes through crisp and clear while maintaining the warmth in the vocals. The foley was done quite well, some of the gunshots and fireworks (Vito timeline scene) were mixed a little louder, making me want to reach for the remote after turning up the volume to hear the dialogue, but it wasn’t that bad at all.

The epic and famous score comes at us beautifully, giving you goosebumps when you first hear it as it recalls all the memories from the first Godfather.
Although I wasn’t as impressed with the sound as much as the video, it’s definitely not a deal breaker.

Special Features

To hear that there is only one special feature within Paramount’s Sapphire Series, which Paramount considers their version of the Criterion Collection, is a bit of a disappointment. However the commentary by Francis Ford Coppola is definitely one of the best I’ve heard and considering the length of the film, is an achievement in itself… Can you imagine going on about a film for three and half hours while trying to be insightful and keeping the audience interested? Considering this is Francid ford Coppola, let’s just say he did it.

Final Thoughts 

The film is a classic and I believe the whole trilogy is a must-have… yes, even the third one. These films are some of the most important pieces of cinematic history and having them on Blu-ray is simply allowing you the ability to watch them in the best possible way. Although the Sapphire Series version of The Godfather II is practically barebones, whereas the Coppola Restoration Trilogy set has an entire disc dedicated to special features, most of the features are regarding the first Godfather film.

To lovers of the original saga, The Sapphire Series release of the first two Godfather films is probably the most essential Blu-ray purchase out there.

As an aside, isn’t the concept of relegation a wonderful thing? I would love to see that in the US. One would think that with this rich history there would be a great movie in there somewhere. I am pleased to report that there is and it is the subject of today’s review, The Damned United. The great thing about this film is the you don’t need to be a fan of English football or a sports fan at all to enjoy it.

Film 

Simply put, this is a great film, even if it has been somewhat overlooked by the general public, which is a shame. The Damned United has everything that you could want in a film. It is well written and directed, full of drama and incredible performances by the entire cast, which features some great English character actors such as Jim Broadbent and Timothy Spall and another memorable performance by Michael Sheen in the lead role of Brian Clough.

At this point in time, Michael Sheen has to be recognized as one of the world’s great actors. As is the case with one of my all time favorite actors, Gary Oldman, Michael Sheen has the rather unique ability to totally become the character that he is playing, to that point that you totally forget that it is an actor playing that role. This is a gift that is shared by a precious few.

The film centers on the early years in the career of Brian Clough, universally regarded as the greatest manager in the history of English Football. Brian Clough was a man before his time in terms of the way he thought the game should be played as well as his ability to use the media, especially television. He sure had the gift of gab, to the point that he even came to the attention of one of the most gifted communicative athletes of all time, Mohammed Ali.

The film jumps back and forth between time periods, mainly 1968-69 and 1974. showing him taking over the reigns of the dominant football club of the era, Division 1 champion Leeds United and back to 1968 when he along with his trusted assistant and sounding board, Peter Taylor, took a perennial small town second division club, Derby County, to the championship of the first division and the top spot in all of English football.

While Brain Clough was a very gifted man, he let his ego get the better of him, which is where his friend and advisor, Peter Taylor was his greatest asset. Brian Clough’s desire to be the best manager in England was driven not only by his ego, by his hatred of Don Rivie, the manager of Leeds United, who is played beautifully here by Colm Meaney (talk about look a likes!). After letting his ego get in the way of his management of Reading County, he and Peter Taylor were as the English say, sacked. They were then hired by a small town club, Briton. However, days later, Brian Clough was asked to assume the reigns of the hated Leeds United after Don Revie resigned to take over the management of England’s national a team.

This was a doomed marriage from the start as Peter Taylor refused to renegue on his commitment to Briton and refused to join Clough at Leeds. Clough’s management style was rejected by the Leeds players resulting in the worst start in many years, resulting in his dismissal as manager in only 44 days.

The Damned United is a compelling story of the power of the ego, for good as well as bad, and the value of true friendship. This is a great little film and one that shouldn’t be overlooked. The film should appeal to fans and non fans of football, i.e. soccer, and is very highly recommended.

Video 

The Damned United is a highly stylized looking film and looks great its its debut on Blu-ray. The film’s color palette various continuously throughout the film. At times, the film features a fairly natural looking palette. At time, the film has a washed out look and at other times, a purplish, bluish gray look. However, this is how the film is intended to look and the encode reproduces it perfectly. Blacks are deep throughout most of the film but at times, during the more washed out portions of the film are more milky than inky. However, that is just how the film is supposed to look. What is uniform throughout the entire film is a high level of detail, clarity and depth.

Background details are excellent, with each and every skin pore and blemish clearly visible as is each and every blade of grass and divot on the pitch. In addition to the color palette changing throughout the film the same can be said for the film grain, which is heavy at times and at times barely noticeable, depending on the type of film stock used. I couldn’t detect any obvious evidence of digital noise reduction or edge enhancement being applied during the encode. Visible video noise also is kept to a minimum in the darker lit scenes. In short, this is a great looking encode and is one which is totally faithful to the look of the actual film and was a thrill to experience for the first time on Blu-ray.

Audio 

In terms of overall fidelity, the audio presentation on the Blu-ray is very good, with a smooth and rich sound. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix. The dialogue is always intelligible which is important given that The Damned United is a dialogue driven film. Where the audio fails a bit for me is in the sound design, which is very front heavy. The surrounds are used very infrequently, and come to life mostly during the football action and crowd shots, where a bit of an immersive effect is created.

I would have preferred a more aggressive use of the surrounds in the interior scenes, especially during locker room sequences, where the reflective surfaces naturally create an active acoustic environment, but which sound rather dry here. All in all, the audio on The Damned United is fine. I just would have preferred a more immersive experience. As far as this writer is concerned, the more immersive the better.

Special Features 

If you are a fan of English football, you will no doubt appreciate the extras on this release. They include a commentary with director Tom Hooper, Michael Sheen and producer Andy Harries. Also included is a featurette “Cloughisms” with some memorable Clough dialogue, a making of featurette “Perfect Pitch” featuring interviews with Tom Hooper, Michael Sheen and the writer of the book, upon which the film is based, David Peace.

Also included is a featurette “Creating Clough: Michael Sheen takes on ‘Old Big ‘Ead’, where Michael Sheen discusses how he went about creating his character and features archival footage of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor. The real gem of the extras, at least for me, is the featurette “The Changing Game: Football in the Seventies” where actual players from Leeds United and other clubs during the time period of the film, discuss what football in the 1970′s was like and how it differs from today, as well as their recollections of Brian Clough and Don Rivie.

What I found particularly interesting about this featurette is how English football had a very violent edge to it, just like ice hockey in the US and Canada during that same time period. It is interesting to note how similar two very different sports were to each other at the same time, despite the great expanse of the Atlantic Ocean and the lack of television coverage that we have today.

I also found interesting how the old players lament how they miss the good old days, where the players would ride the same bus with the fans to the game, drink in the same pubs after the game and have a more intimate connection with the fans than exists today. The same is true today in the US, where fans mention how before so much TV money was pumped into sports in the 1980′s, how the players used to live in the same community as the team, hold off season jobs in the community and interact with the fans on a more one to one basis, something that has been lost ever since. The Damned United is also BD-Live enabled.

Final Thoughts 

The Damned United is an overlooked gem of a film that deserves a more wider audience than it has received to date. It may be hard to find but is well worth a look and is highly recommended.

Film 

The Informant stars Matt Damon as Mark Whitacre, an executive at the largest agriculture products company in the US, Archer Daniels Midlands (ADM) who decides to come clean and become a whistleblower, informing on his companies’ price fixing activities and in doing so, becoming the center of attention in one of the largest price fixing cases ever prosecuted in the US. As a result of the case, Mark becomes something of a celebrity and a darling of the news media. The only problem is that he failed to mention to the FBI and the Justice Department that he was bipolar, and that while he was wearing a wire of the FBI and secretly and covertly recording conversations he was having with his superiors to document the price fixing activities of ADM’s management.

Mark Whitacre was also engaged in a rather complicated and totally secret embezzlement scheme where he was able to pocket untold millions, the exact amount of which is probably still not fully known. Needless to say, the exposure of Mark’s embezzlement scheme complicated the FBI’s case against ADM but the wiretap evidence was so strong, that the company’s top executives still went to jail with the company paying record fines.

The film weaves quite a tale, following Mark’s every move, as he enlists the help of the FBI, imagining himself to be a secret agent, Agent 0015 (as he is twice as good as 007) and a hero to the common man, until his criminal secrets are revealed resulting in him doing more jail time than his superiors.

The film features a strong performance by Matt Damon, who plays Mark Whitacre with a comic edge, along with Scott Bakula as FBI agent Brian Shepard, who is in charge of the FBI’s investigation into ADM and who has to deal with a man who is quite crazy and delusional, a fact that was not fully appreciated by him until the very end. The allegations of price fixing brought against ADM is a very serious matter, And yet, the film itself, in focusing so heavily on Mark Whitacre and his delusions of being a secret agent, turns the film into something of a straight comedy, more in keeping with an Ocean’s 11 type film as opposed to one of Soderbergh’s more serious films like Erin Brockovich or Traffic. This is unfortunate in my opinion as I think the film would have been better had it explored more deeply and prominently the darker aspects of Mark Whitacre’s character rather than springing them on the viewer near the end of the film.

While the film does have its moments, it didn’t have enough of them to keep my mind from wandering a bit while watching the film. As such, I really can’t recommend this film for a purchase but can certainly recommend that you see the film on the basis of a rental. If you loved the Oceans films, you will no doubt love The Informant. On the other hand, if you didn’t particularly like the Ocean‘s films or got bored with them after Ocean’s 11, you will definitely only want to rent The Informant.

Video 

While I had some quibbles with the film itself, I was downright disappointed with the quality of the video image on this release. The words drab, flat, boring, dreary, lifeless and limp come to mind in describing the look of the film. The color palette is drab and boring. Blacks are mediocre at best. Overall detail and background detail, including facial pores, blemishes and the like are almost non-existent. As a result, the image presented here is flat and lifeless and frankly, borderline DVD quality.

I didn’t see the film in the theater so I can’t really say that the look of the film here is due to the artistic intent of Mr. Soderbergh or the result of the encode. if I had to guess, I would say it was the former rather than the latter. Either way, the video quality here is many notches below what we have come to expect with the Blu-ray format.

Audio 

As disappointed I was with the video, I was equally as disappointed with the audio, or should I say the audio design. While the audio is encoded with the lossless Dolby True HD codec, they really shouldn’t have bothered, as the film’s audio design is basically stereo, with dialogue in the center. The surround speakers are used rarely if at all, with the subwoofer totally MIA. While this is a totally dialogue driven film, I would have thought that there would have been some use of the surrounds, at the very least to provide for some room ambiance. The quality of the sound itself if good although hardly of reference fidelity levels. All in all, the audio has a bit of a mail it in quality, which I found to be quite surprising.

Special Features  

The only extras included here are some deleted scenes and an audio commentary with director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Burns. That’s it, not even the standard “making of” featurette is included. On the pus side, a digital copy of the film is included as well as a DVD copy of the film, both included on the second disc in this two disc combo pack release. That’s it folks.

Final Thoughts 

All-in-all, with the totally lackluster video and audio presentations included with this release, I guess it is clear that I am not in love with the release of The Informant on Blu-ray. Rated as a rental only.