Film

The finale to this trilogy does not add many new elements. Rather, this is a thorough wrap-up of all the character threads and plot lines previously laid out in the series. The story telling style comes full circle as Blomkvist returns to being the central hero he was in the first film, with Salander mostly forced to the peripheries of the main adventure, thanks to her hospitalization then incarceration during the majority of the film, but retains plenty of opportunities for action in due time.

This flipping of central roles in the action means also means a return to the slower pace of the first film. Of course, this film is not devoid of chases or action, it simply means it is more methodical in the handling of its characters. This film is for those who are invested in these rich characters and our interests lie in what happens to them, not in the intense moments they can offer.

Also like the first film is heavier significance is placed on the press, more specifically on Blomkvist’s “Millennium” magazine which published the articles that gained himself the legal trouble that brought Salander into his world. Blomkvist wishes to tell the truth about Salander, but this time it is not legal issues he might face as a consequence, but his life and the lives of his magazine coworkers could be at stake. The burden of the truth might mean sacrifices would have to be made for the greater good…for evil to be truly punished in the end. Blomkvist does not wish others to be harmed so like a true hero, places himself on the front lines to receive the brunt of the retaliations.

The performances by the actors have been solid throughout the series but once again, Noomi Rapace steals every scene she is in with her riveting embodiment of Salander. There are touches of Linda Hamilton’s incarceration scenes in Terminator 2, mixed into her persona, along with her deceptively fragile looking mien that hides a very intense person who is willing to push herself well beyond her limits to survive.

Video

Widescreen 1.78:1. Like the Girl who Played with Fire, the picture is not as crisp as one might hope for in a Blu Ray. The shades look decent enough, and there is an orange hue that masks many flaws during brighter exterior scenes, but there are still many moments where a haze is visible.

Audio

5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio is in English along with two 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks (one English the other Swedish). All of the tracks have a great delivery in all speakers. The English dubbing is not distracting while the original Swedish dialogue is perfectly mixed with the score and sound f/x.

Special Features

Trailer: Self-explanatory.

Interview with Actress Noomi Rapace: A twenty minute interview on the set while Rapace gets prepared in makeup. It is a long interview but not laborious if one wishes to delve a little bit deeper into Rapace’s method for training and preparing to perform as Salander. Very nice for fans.

Interview with Michael Nyqvist: The man who played Blomkvist touches on how he beat out several other leading men for this role. Not quite as interesting or humble as Rapace’s interview, but at least it is not some fluffy red carpet assembly of sound bites.

DVD copy of the Film

Final Thoughts

With this third film you see the trilogy as one whole. There are journeys within each film but the most important pieces are the character’s arcs that stretch the length of all three films. They seamlessly fit together and make for a thrilling adventure through each hour that passes. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is a fine film on its own, but more importantly this has been a wonderful series for fans of mysteries and thrillers.

Then there are film such as the Lord of the Rings Trilogy with extended editions that go on and on with seemingly endless battle sequences which were too long as it was in the theatrical cut and obnoxiously too long in the extended cut. Sitting there, I have to guess that they figured that since we went to the lengths to create this footage in the first place, we might as well let the world see it. Again that college essay mind set at work. You know, since I had to learn this stuff for the exam, I will at least show you that I did. I wish I could guess at what they were thinking when they put the extended cut of Hall Pass together, but I don’t think that anyone can figure that out, not even the filmmakers themselves. Not even the college essay theory can explain this mess.

Film  

Hall Pass, whether the theatrical cut or the Enlarged Edition (I can hear Bevis and Butthead laughing now in the background at that one) is an awful film. Hall Pass is a stupid and crass film, with the enlarged edition even more so.

The film stars Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis as two 30ish husbands who can seem to get sex off their minds. Their lovely wives who frankly deserve better ( played by Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate) decide to give their husbands hall passes. The halls pass is a week off from their marriage, where they can seek out sex with other women to get it out of their systems so they can return and focus their attentions on their wives. The wives leave for Cape Cod for a week of relaxation while their men go crazy. However, while on Cape Cod, the wives turn out to have better luck than the husbands in the extra curricular department.

The film is like a bad Saturday Night Live sketch extended from 5 minutes to two hours. It is devoid of anything really funny and instead is a crass and crude as you can get. Hall Pass is a bad film, embarrassingly bad, and one that you are better off skipping in its entirety.

Video  

The best thing that I can say about the video presentation here is that it is better than the film. It is a solid is unspectacular looking film with a nice natural looking color palette with nice levels of detail and decent blacks. Film grain is heavy however so if you don’t like film grain and prefer you films as clean as computer animation, Hall Pass will not be your cup of tea and really shouldn’t be anyway, grain or no grain. The film has good depth and clarity but far from reference quality. The film itself is in pristine quality and I was not able to detect any obvious errors with the encoding of the film.

Audio  

I was not expecting a reference audio presentation when I sat down to watch the film. However, even so, I was disappointed with the audio here. The film is a bit front heavy as one would expect with a comedy. While the surrounds do kick on occasion, most of the action remains centered in the front of the room. The real issues I had with the audio here is with the overall fidelity. I found the sound to be too thin and bright for my tastes, a bit on the shrill side, more like bad lossy audio rather that a DTS HD Master Audio track. The audio is just another reason to pass on this release.

Special Features  

There are two extras included with this release, consisting of an “outrageously funny” additional scene as well as a “hilarious” gag reel. I found neither to be either outrageously funny or hilarious. When you have to say you are outrageously funny or hilarious, this is usually a sure sign that you aren’t. Hall Pass is a combo pack release which contains a DVD copy of the film along with a digital copy, so you can take this mess of a film with you.

Final Thoughts  

Simply put, Hall Pass is a terrible film, one that I found to be crude and crass and at times relentlessly so. The audio is weak and the video just good with meager extras to boot. In short, there is really nothing here to recommend about this release. I suggest that you skip this one entirely.

Film  

The best way I can think to describe Battle: Los Angeles is that is a cross between Independence Day and Black Hawk Down, albeit without the humor of Independence Day. In fact, there are scenes lifted right out of both films in this film. The comparisons are obvious. Aliens invade the Earth. They position their attack ships outside of major cities all over the planet The aliens are tall with big heads and spindly legs. They have advanced weaponry that we can hardly deal with. We have a parent with a young child, wounded in the attack who dies. We have an alien with an achilles heel and a brave soldier who figures out how to breach their defenses and bring down each of the mother ships around the world which are controlling each of the attacks. Sound familiar?

On top of this is the gritty look and unrelenting action of a film like Black Hawk Down, presented in a documentary type fashion with hand held jerking cameras. In fact, it is the unrelenting action which is the saving grace of the film as it keeps you are least mildly interested in the film and helps you to overlook the plot and even the lifted dialogue and scenes from other films. It is because of this and the reference video and audio presentations as noted below, that I can give this film a recommendation.

Video  

The video presentation here is darn near perfect and is reference material all the way. The film does not exactly have a bright color palette as it is filled with browns and grays but has exquisite levels of clarity, depth and detail. Blacks are deep and inky. Shadow detail is fantastic.  Each skin pore and blemish, each hair on a soldier’s face is clearly visible as are the fine textures of the uniforms and clothing as well as the metal skin of the military equipment. If you are looking for demo reference material to show off your system and show just what the Blu-ray format is capable of delivering, Battle: Los Angeles is the release for you. The video presentation here is simple sensational. Need I say more?

Audio  

The audio here is a perfect match for the video presentation and is just as reference as the video. The sound mix is superb, with the surrounds engaged aggressively throughout the entire film, placing you smack dab in the center of the action. When the soldiers are holed up in a home in Santa Monica hiding from the advancing alines and trying to regroup, it sounds like you are in the room with them as the room ambiance is captured beautifully. You can hear things falling in the alleys around you, with gun blasts in the distance. The dialogue is beautifully recorded and well placed in the sound field and never ever gets lost in the mix. Dynamics are superb with deep and room shaking bass. The overall fidelity is simply superb, sounding smooth, rich and lifelike with transparency and imaging which is simply off the charts. The sound is just effortless, never straining  and sounds superb, regardless of the volume levels. Listen to this baby cranked up! It really doesn’t get better than this. Superb.

Special Features   

Battle: Los Angeles comes with several extras which while standard fare, are at least mildly interesting. The film comes equipment with what is described as “Command Control” which enables you, via picture-in-picture, to watch storyboard comparisons, battle points and items of interest while watching the film. Quite frankly, watching the film is enough for me. This is a feature that you will only want to access once you have watched the film one time through.

The bulk of the extras consist of featurettes about the making of the film and include “Behind the Battle”, “Aliens in LA”, “Preparing for Battle”, “Creating LA in LA”, “DIrecting the Battle”, “Boot Camp” and “The Freeway Battle”. These featurettes are rather self explanatory as they take you behind the scenes to show how the film was made and show how particular scenes were staged and filmed and feature interviews with the cast and crew.

Final Thoughts  

I found Battle: Los Angeles to be mildly entertaining due mostly to the non stop nature of the action in the film. In addition, this film features reference audio and video presentations that were simply superb. Whether that alone is enough of a reason to purchase a particular title, I will leave up to you.

Film  

For the most part, I enjoyed Unknown, at least up until the end, where the film really revealed itself for what it was, the film Total Recall, set in Berlin rather than on Mars, with Liam Neeson in the lead role rather than the former Governor of California.

Liam Neeson is Dr. Martin Harris, who travels to Berlin for a conference with his wife (January Jones). When checking into the hotel, Dr. Harris realizes that he left his briefcase at the airport and he hails a cab to take him back to the airport. On the way back, his cab is involved in an accident and flies off a bridge into the river. He is knocked unconscious in the accident and is rescued from drowning by the cab driver, played by Diane Kruger.

Dr. Harris awakens in the hospital a few days later and realizes his is missing the conference. Against the advice of his doctor, he returns to the hotel only to discover that his wife does not recognize him and that there is another man in the role of Dr. Martin Harris. He spends the rest of the film trying to prove that he is who he claims to be during which there are several attempts on his life. In the later part of the film, his true identity is revealed to him and the real purpose for his visit to Berlin.

If you haven’t already seen Total Recall, you will no doubt really enjoy this film as it does really draw you in and has some real suspense. If you have already seen Total Recall, you will really be disturbed by the last section of the film when you realize just what a remake of Total Recall Unknown really is. Are there no really new original ideas left in Hollywood? Rated as a rental only.

Video  

All in all, this is a fine encode . The film features a rather cool blueish appearance which is becoming all too common in films these days and is a trend that I can really do without. Most of the film takes place either at night or in dimly lit interiors. Nevertheless, the film maintains a excellent level of clarity, detail and depth throughout the film. Black are deep and inky with excellent shadow detail. The film features well saturated colors and is free of digital noise that can plaque dark looking films. While I could do without the overly stylized color scheme, the encode boasts excellent levels of detail and clarity and is free any obvious technical errors, including digital noise reduction or edge enhancement.

Audio  

I found the DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 audio track to be every bit as good as the video presentation. The film features active and at times very aggressive use of the surround speakers to create a nice immersive sound field during the entire film. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the sound mix. Overall fidelity is quite good as is the placement of the various sound effects within the sound field. Bass is deep and tight and dynamics are excellent as well. In short, this is a fine sounding film, whose sound design is every bit as good as the visuals, perhaps even a tad better.

Special Features  

The extras are about as sparse as they come and consist of two brief featurettes, both of which are presented in HD. The first is Liam Neeson: Known Action Hero and the second Unknown: What is Known? The first is rather self-explanatory and takes a look at Liam Neeson’s role in the film. The latter is a brief behind the scenes look at the laming of the film and both feature interviews with the cast and crew. Most of the material in both featurettes is rather duplicative, which much of the latter appearing in the former. The release also includes a second disc containing a DVD and digital copies of the film.

Final Thoughts  

While there is a lot to like about Unknown, the problem is that the film is essentially a remake of Total Recall with the same basic plot line in a very different setting. I guess there is little new original material left to make out there in Hollywood or so it would seem by the releases in the past few years. It seems that most of the new faire consist of nothing more than remakes, sequels and more comic book super heroes. Rated as a rental only.

Concert  

If you are a fan of Sheryl Crow, you will love this release. The band that she has performing with her on this tour is superb and really drives the music and worth the price of admission. However, as much as she tries, Sheryl Crow’s voice is just not strong enough to get out in front of the music and drive it forward. Nor is her stage presence all that strong. I found her to be just too laid back, despite the excellent work of the band, which is the real star of this performance.

The concert was filmed in November 2010 at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. While I have never been there, it sure looks like a real gem of a theater and a real art deco treasure dating back to 1930. Next time I am in LA, I will have to check it out. The Blu-ray release features 18 total tracks in order of appearance: Our Love is Fading, A Change Would Do You Good, 100 MIles From Memphis, Can’t Cry Anymore, Strong Enough, Summer Day, My Favorite Mistake, Redemption Day, Long Road Home, Every Day Is A Winding Road, Sideways, Roses And Moonlight, If It Makes You Happy, Soak Up The Sun, Peaceful Feeling, All I Wanna Do/Got To Give It Up, I Want You Back and I Shall Believe. The set is heavy on an R & B flavor that I had not associated with her music before and which I found to be really infectious, especially given how well the material was performed by this nine piece band.

If you are a fan, you will really enjoy this release. I know that I did,even with my misgivings noted above as well as below.

Video  

The video on this release is superb and some of the best I have yet seen on a Blu-ray concert release. The image is at all times razor sharp and loaded with fine details, from skin textures, the tassels on Sheryl Crow’s shirt, to the smudges on the face of the guitars, it is all visible on this release. I have seen other releases that are just as sharp at times as this release is, but with camera shots that can get a bit soft at times, especially crowd shots and distant shots. Not here. The image throughout the entire release is razor sharp. Colors are very natural looking as well and nicely saturated. All in all, this is a great looking release and one that should be a thrill for her fans.

Audio  

With one misgiving, I found the audio on this release to be superb. The audio was well mixed with deep bass and pin point imaging. Instrument placement across the front soundstage was superb. Imaging and transparency were both excellent with the result being a sound field of excellent depth, both from front to back and side to side. Overall fidelity was very good as well. The surrounds were used often and aggressively to create a nice immersive sound field, placing you in the Pantages Theater during the concert, although I did feel that a bit too much of the music was bleeding its way into the surrounds for my taste.

The main issue I had with the release and the reason I had to knock the overall score down a peg, was the mixing of Sheryl Crow’s vocal, which was too buried in the mix for my taste, so much so that it was almost lost in the mix at times. I know that this is not the result of the recording as the vocal in the two channel LCPM track included with the release had a much more pronounced vocal smack dab in the center of the mix and more out in front of the music. But for a better job mixing the center channel, the audio on this release, at least the 5.1 mix, would have garnered a higher score. While I greatly preferred the DTS HD Master Audio track, I also switched to the 2 channel mix, which I found to be a bit too bright and lacking the soundstaging, dynamics and bass response of the lossless multichannel mix, which is the real winner here and how this concert recording should be experienced in my opinion.

Special Features 

The only extra included with this release is a behind the scenes look at the filming of the concert and features rehearsal versions of two songs, Eye To Eye and Stop which were not included in the concert tracks. The behind the scenes featurette is presented in high definition.

Final Thoughts  

While not a huge fan of Sheryl Crow, I nonetheless enjoyed this concert release due in large measure to her wonderful supporting cast and feel that fans will be more than pleased with this release. Recommended for fans only.

Film

The editing style of the opening has shots and scenes crashing against each other with non-diegetic sound f/x of metal and explosions, attempting to make the proceeding life story all the more intense to witness. What follows that is not so much an explosive tale, but more a cavalcade of weak pop songs that do not have the strength to carry the film alone so they are separated by Bieber being smug as a young celebrity, him being a brat in his pre-fame days, and far too many shirtless shots for my comfort.

There are two stories being told in this film. The first being the biography of Bieber, the other a day by day countdown to his sold out show at Madison Square Garden. I can forgive much of Bieber’s aforementioned smugness and brattiness to him being an adolescent who has been launched into super stardom. I even managed to alter my opinion of him slightly when I saw that he is actually capable behind a drum kit. Beyond that, this is a film solely for one of his squealing fans and I am not a part of that flock.

Video

Widescreen 1.78:1. Despite having to fight against aged home videos and a fleet of stage lights, the picture quality comes off very well. The only traces of fuzziness are backgrounds during the concert scenes or the expected haze of showing a cheaply shot youtube video on an HD screen. Beyond that, Justin’s heavily tailored image is clear.

Audio

English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio as well as 5.1 Dolby Surround in French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Oh my, how I am forcibly immersed into the constant screams of his fans. Being a concert film, the sound is always crucial and all of Bieber’s mediocre pop tunes come through with plenty of clarity, as well as the similar mediocrity of guests Usher, Miley Cyrus and the like.

Subtitles available in English,French, Spanish and Portuguese

Special Features

Concert Sance off: Essentially an extended scene. A full look at Beiber’s dance crew getting a chance to demonstrate their dance moves. Entertaining enough, and it is one of the few tings on this disc that doesn’t not incessantly praise Bieber.

Favorite Girl: The complete ballad where Bieber starts off suspending over the crowd in a giant metal heart.

R.I.P Hair Flip: Bieber’s haircut was just about as famous as himself. This documents said haircut being removed, filmed on what might have been a phone camera.

Giving Back: Another extended scene from when two of his handlers hand out tickets to random fans. A very nice gesture and great way to get screaming/crying girls on camera, and from the point of view of the filmmakers, it pays for itself as far as that is concerned since they want to display as much Bieber hysteria as possible.

DVD copy of the film.

Digital Copy of the film.

BD-Live

Final Thoughts

Young people have been pre-sold on this formula for a long time. This film is more polished than his image, and said image is manufactrued to the point that it is hardly decipherable from the previous pop sensation, nor the one that will follow in the next two years or less.

Film

The film begins by following an assassin played by Bill Nighy who is lethally efficient at what he does but in contrast to his cold icy profession he still tries to please his overbearing mother. However when hired to kill a woman (Emily Blunt) who’s involved in a counterfeit Rembrandt painting sale, he decides to help her and turns the tables on his client.

The film definitely has a lot going on, trying to juggle character development amongst the many characters however it fails to really do so. Victor Maynard (Nighy) being the main character gets the best coverage and in the end the film really doesn’t seem to have too much thought put into it. The cliché momma’s boy jokes that are involved when Nighy visits his soul crushing mother a bit lame and honestly feel like they were simply added for cheap laughs.

The cast is definitely filled with talent such as the great Rupert Everet, but the film just isn’t memorable. The story straddles comedy and action quite well however the story’s lack of depth keeps it in the realm of fun popcorn film from being anything more. However popcorn films aren’t bad so give it a shot if you’re a fan of the actors involved.

Video

Wild Target’s video is displayed using the AVC codec. The video quality is pretty run of the mill, with little to no noise or artefacting. The film stock has a bit of grain during the interior scenes with lower amounts of light, but it’s not prominent enough to come across as a distraction.

The color palette is a bit dull with a lack of contrast that makes the black levels suffer, but the skin tones are natural and there really isn’t a need for a strong color grade. The sharpness of the transfer shine when we see the textures of the actor’s skin and the detail in the background elements such as the strokes of paint on the close-up shots of the Rembrandt painting at the beginning.

Audio

Wild Target’s audio comes at us using the 5.1 DTS-HD master audio codec. The film is a well-balanced audio mix that manages to handle the dialogue heavy scenes with the same grace as the shootouts. The dialogue is clean and centered while the surrounds get some good use of audio panning which give the mix a good atmospheric quality.

The subwoofer gets some nice LFE fodder with the shootouts and explosions that ensue, but the mix never really goes over-the-top which helps the audience stay leveled headed so the scenes with a lot of dialogue don’t feel so empty.

Special Features

There is only one special feature which is a 3 minutes EPK style interview with Emily Blunt called “On Target with Emily Blunt” which goes over her character and herself. The extra barely counts but at least it’s in HD.

Final Thoughts

The movie itself is decent but falls into the category of being a good popcorn flick that combines some slapstick action with dry black comedy. With some pretty solid technical presentation, the film makes up for the fact it only has one extra feature. However it may be a better rental than purchase unless you find it for a good price or you’re a big of fan of one of the many talented cast members.

Film

A Scooby-Doo prequel seemed like a simple concept… Take the characters kids love and go back to when they were closer in age to the actual core audience and have them go on a fun adventure. However when you have a lackluster attempt with a lame script, then it’s a little less simple.

The film takes us to when the gang is just finishing high school and is going to spend the summer at a lake house party, however upon arrival there are some spookier guests who want to crash the party. The film builds most of its premise on relationships between Fred and Daphne as well as Shaggy and Velma only to completely scrap the idea at the end as if the entire film wasn’t about these two couples… It felt really forced and just completely disenfranchises the whole movie.

The other thorn in my side was the lack of Scooby-Doo in the film. There seemed to be extended scenes that simply excluded Scooby with the only reason that I could think of was that it would cost less to not have to pay animators to keep having Scooby pop up, which leads to the next thorn in my side… Why does Scooby’s 3d model look like a creepy skeleton? It felt very low budget however when you look at the quality of the monsters there’s a definite difference.

Overall the film just lacks any entertaining moments… it’s predictable on the level that even kids are going to think it’s one dimensional. In comparison to the older live action Scooby-Doo movies this film comes off as a cheap cash-in attempt that fails on many levels. Skip it.

Video

Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster’s video quality is definitely clean and sharp. There’s little to no noticeable noise or grain and details are nice and sharp. Unfortunately the crisp image only makes the horrendous CGI Scooby-Doo stick out even more. It’s actually odd that the Scooby model sucks so much considering the Lake Monster has a decent texture and shading pass… I’m assuming they either ran out of money or wanted to recreate the cartoony Scooby by creating a creepy skeletal rendition without eyelids…

The colors of the film are pretty natural if not a bit flat, with pale skin tones and unimpressive black levels, the general palette of the film leaves much to be desired. The footage also manages to stay very sharp and shows off with skin textures and fine hairs, which also wreaks havoc on the Scooby-Doo model due to the fact that the 3d model has a very smooth surface texture where there should be detailed fur… No matter how you slice it, the video looks good and that makes the 3D elements look shoddy.

Audio

Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster’s audio is on the same level of the video. Albeit there’s nothing wrong with the quality, there just isn’t anything special. I would hope for a bit of a lively mix that really enthralls and pumps up the audience would be great for the silly and over-the-top subject matter but instead we’re given a pretty by-the-numbers mix.

The dialogue is clean and centered and most of the mix is played through the front. Some of the sounds of the lake and woods come through the surrounds but overall the front speakers get most of the work. As far as the foley goes, we’re given some blended sound effects that don’t stick out.

The low frequencies fall a bit flat as well, with only a few moments to shine, the sound design doesn’t really play up the bassy notes in the score or thuds of the monsters thrashing around. It brings the motif of “good not great” full circle.

Special Features

Besides some trailers there are three actual extras. Two behind-the-scenes featurettes which look at the musical sequences from the movies as well as the gags from the film, both are filled with EPK style interviews with some glimpses of behind-the-scenes footage. Also there is a gag reel to round out the trio, but even with all of this there’s nothing that really caters to the target audience of this release… Are kids really going to want to watch some interviews about how the filming went?

Final Thoughts

Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster’s is a lame story backed up with average video and audio specs as well as a lack of kid friendly bonus features. There just isn’t a good enough reason to ever put this Blu-ray back into your player after the first go around so if you’re interested than a rental is all I can suggest, but I’d say stick to the original live action films and leave this one on the store shelf.

Film  

The Way Back is a film from Peter Weir, that tells the tale of a group or men that escape a Soviet prison camp in Siberia circa 1941 and have to walk over the harsh Siberian landscape to freedom. The film has a quite a cast with Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess and Saoirse Ronan in the lead roles along with Colin Farrell. The film is very authentic looking and captures the pure squalor of life (or is it really near death) in a Soviet Gulag in the frozen environs of Siberia.

The men that escape are from all walks of life and nationality. One is an American ex-pat, the other a Polish man who was sent in on trumped up charges of spying, based on a forced “confession” of his wife. Another is a hardened Russian criminal who really should have been sent to a prison. The rest were mostly innocents, those the Stalin regime felt were “undesirables”.

We follow these men on their perilous journey of 4,500 miles through a Siberian winter and into the deserts of Mongolia and then China to their arrival in India and freedom. Needless to say, most of the men and one women they picked up along the way didn’t make it. The film is based on actual events, namely the lives of three actual men who arrived in India in 1941 after trekking over the Himalayas, after escaping from a Gulag. The group had no reason to trust each other but learned over time to do so as it was required for them all to survive.

The film is beautifully written and filmed and features top notch performances of the entire cast. The film can be intense, moving and at all times, very compelling. The Way Back gives us a glimpse of what it was like for these brave individuals to try to persevere over such daunting terrain on foot and with precious little food or water and shows the triumph of the human spirit. The Way Back is one fine film and clearly a labor of love for the entire cast and crew and is well worth a look. The Way back is highly recommended.

Video  

All in all I was quite impressed with the video presentation on this release. The film features excellent blacks and very nice detail. The film’s color palette is a bit skewed to the color cyan, with the film having a cool blue look about it and is most noticeable in the scenes set in Siberia due to the snow. Overall, the film has a very nice look and has a nice sense of depth and clarity, despite the often dark and gloomy conditions is depicts. Depth, clarity and detail are all very good, even during the dark and night time scenes that maintain their sharpness, detail and depth, and rarely look a tad soft as one sees far too often with these types of scenes.

The film is remarkably free of digital noises that can often plague films as dark as this one often is. As one would expect for a new film, the print used in this release is in pristine condition with no evidence of dirt or scratches visible. All in all, this is a fine encode and is one that should thrill fans of the film.

Audio  

All in all, I found the audio here to be every bit as good as the video. The audio features excellent overall fidelity and sounds full and smooth with near reference levels of transparency and imaging. The dialogue track is beautifully recorded and is always very clear and distinct, even during the scenes that were set in blizzard conditions.

The film is very dialogue driven and while the surrounds are not used very aggressively throughout the entire film, they are used very effectively during the entire film to provide a great sense of room ambiance. However, when the surrounds are used very aggressively, such as during the blizzard sequences, they are employed beautifully, with the sound of the wind and snow whipping around the room sounding very realistic.

Another example of when the surrounds are used very well is during the scenes set in the mine, which provide a realistic sense of what is would be like to be in one of those mines, at least in terms of sound The overall dynamics are near reference quality as well which is most apparent during the blizzard sequences. I found the musical score to sound exceptional as well. All in all, this is a great sounding release as well and is a perfect compliment to the top notch video presentation.

Special Features  

The only extra included here besides a trailer for the film is a 30 minute featurette about the making of the film featuring interviews with director Peter Weir as well as the cast. The featurette is presented in widescreen standard definition and does provide a nice glimpse behind the scenes into how and where the film was shot, although I would have preferred had the piece tells us more about the actual real life story upon which the film is based. I guess that is what the internet is for.

Final Thoughts  

The Way Back is a beautifully made and totally compelling film that is fully worthy of a much wider audience than it has received to date and is highly recommended.

Film  

I Am Number Four is produced by the aforementioned Michael Bay and is directed by D.J. Caruso. It is based on the young adult novel of the same name by Pittacus Lore. The crux of the story is interstellar in nature. It seems that race of bad guys, The Mogadorians, hop from planet to planet, taking them over, exploiting their resources and in the process, wiping out the inhabitants (wasn’t that the plot of Independence Day?). In this case, they have already ravaged the planet Lorien. We don’t really know much about that planet other than the nine special ones who were helped to flee the plant along with their individual protectors, who have all made their way to Earth.

It seems that these nine special ones have incredible supernatural powers, even if they have yet to discover them. Bad news for the Earth though, as the Mogadorians have discovered that they are hiding out on the Earth. However, given the Lorien’s special powers, the Mogodorians have to eliminate all of the Loriens on Earth before colonizing the planet as the Loriens have the power to not only protect the Earth but destroy the Mogadorians. The Mogadorians need to strike quickly before the Loriens discover and develop their special powers, and band together to challenge them. This is where we find things when the film begins.

The Mogadorians have killed the first three of the Loriens and are stalking number 4. His protector, Henri (Timothy Oliphant), moves Number 4, John (Alex Pettyfer), who the Mogadorians have tracked to Florida. They move to Paradise, Ohio, where John enrolls in high school, and meets the alluring Sarah (Dianna Agron). However, the Mogadorians, discover his location and move in for the kill, endangering not only John’s life, but that of Henri, Sarah and the residents of Paradise. Will he survive? Will they all survive? Will someone come in at the end to help rescue them all? Will there be a sequel? I will let you watch the film for yourself to decide.

While D.J. Caruso of Disturbia fame is at the helm here, the film has all of the typical earmarks of a Michael Bay production, all action , little plot or meaningful dialogue and plenty of explosions and destruction. It would be nice to know more about the planet Lorien, why its residents look fully human and just how they made their way to the Earth, rather than take the easy way out with nothing but action with some puppy love thrown in. While there is plenty of potential here in this material, it was not explored very well here at all. Perhaps it will be in the sequel, although I am not holding my breath. If you are looking for a rather simple, fast paced, no brainer action film, give I Am Number Four a look. If you are looking for something with a great script and incredible, check out The King’s Speech instead. You will be glad you did. Rated as a rental only.

Video  

There is certainly a lot to love about the video quality on this release. The film certainly features a bright, bold and well saturated color palette although the skin tones are a bit too orange or gold for my tastes. For the most part black levels are outstanding. The level of detail here is exceptional and is about as good as it gets on Blu-ray. Clarity and depth are outstanding as well.

The only real issues I have with the video here is a bit of black crush and some lighter blacks near the very end of the film during, especially during the battle sequence in the interior of the high school. During most of the film, there is little in the way of shadow detail, which is most notable during the dimly lit interior sequences during the basement sequence where Henri is held captiveheld and during the haunted house sequence at the Paradise Halloween Scare festival.

While there is some video noise present during the most dimly lit scenes, it is kept to a minimum and is not much of a distraction. Other than this noise and the issue of black crush and some minor black level issues at the end of the film, this is a fine looking film and is an encode that should more than please fans of the film.

Audio  

Even without much in the way of subtly, this is one fine sounding film. It features a shall we say “robust” audio presentation with balls to the wall bass and dynamics that is of reference quality. While it can be a bit overwhelming at times, especially during the final battle sequence, the audio here is superb and will given your home theater rig, regardless of its cost or complexity, quite a workout. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the sound mix. Despite the cacophony, the dialogue track never gets lost in the mix. The surrounds are engaged very aggressively during the entire film, providing a totally immersive sound experience. All of the various sound and panning effects were placed perfectly in the sound field and they move seamlessly from speaker to speaker, from side to side and from front to back.

The overall fidelity of the sound is superb, sounding smooth and warm, even at rather high volume levels. If you want to listen at high volumes levels, be forewarned that your sub may be blown into the next room during the fight sequence at the high school football field. The audio track is certainly more than up to the task of providing a robust and dynamic home theater experience that will simply thrill fans of the film and of home theater in general, even if the plot. lacks the same degree of robustness, if you get my drift.

Special Features  

I Am Number Four is available in a three disc combo pack, which includes, in addition to the Blu-ray copy of the film, separate DVD and digital copies of the film. I will say that the extras included here are rather sparse, consisting of a blooper reel, 6 deleted scenes with introductions by D.J. Caruso as well as a featurette focusing on the character of Number Six, played in the film by Teresa Palmer. While the film focus on Teresa Palmer, her training for the role and how her scenes were filmed, the featurette does also feature interviews with D.J. Caruso and members of the cast. The blooper reel is rather pedestrian and nothing more than a bit of filler, given how sparse the extras are here. There is one other deleted scene entitled “Power Prank” that is included with the digital download of the film.

Final Thoughts  

While long on quality audio and video presentations, I Am Number Four is short on just about everything else and most importantly plot, dialogue and character development. In short, a typical Michael Bay film. Rated as a rental only, if just for the sensational audio presentation.