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The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Disc Review

Brenden — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:52:15 +0000

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL (2011, Blu-ray released February 7, 2012 – MSRP $39.98)

THE FILM:	★★★☆☆
VIDEO:	★★★★½
AUDIO:	★★★★☆
EXTRAS:	★★☆☆☆
BLU-RAY:	★★★½☆

It’s not quite the Universal Monsters version of the story that I fell in love with as a child, but Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s musical version of the Phantom of the Opera does hold some limited appeal to monster fans like me. And this new Blu-ray presentation of the 25th Anniversary concert of the popular show is bound to please not only devout fans of the musical but also the most critical of home video fanatic.

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera”, Cameron Mackintosh produced a unique, spectacular staging of the musical on a scale which had never been seen before. Inspired by the original staging by Hal Prince and Gillian Lynne, this lavish, fully-staged production set in the sumptuous Victorian splendor of London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall features a cast and orchestra of over 200, plus some very special guest appearances.

I’ll admit that I got a little swept away by Phantom-mania back in the ’80s, when I was in high school. It’s the musical that tricked me into getting involved with “the theatre.” Those of you not old enough to have been caught up at the time (or old enough to have known better, back in the day) won’t recall the hysteria surrounding the production and the popularity of the cast recordings (that 2-disc set was one of my family’s first CD purchases.) And by that token, might not appreciate why this 25th Anniversary concert recording is rather significant.

The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray scratches that itch that many of us were hoping would be taken care of by Joel Schumacher‘s sadly-ineffective 2004 feature film adaptation. It provides a record of a landmark show, well cast this time around and exceptionally well sung, that fans can return to any time they wish to recall memories of skulking around in the shadowy catacombs under the Paris Opera House or the haunting and sometimes far-too-’80s songs from the show they love. The one caveat, I would point out with this production, is that the very talented Ramin Karimloo, who plays the part of the Phantom, isn’t able to restrain his performance in front of the unforgiving HD cameras. I imagine his take on the character must work well when you’re watching it from quite a distance away, seated up in the rafters of the Hall, but it lacks the sense of nuance or realism that would allow for suspension of disbelief in this merciless recorded medium. His twitching fingers and over-dramatic movements never allow the audience to forget they’re watching a performer putting on a show. If I’d been in the director’s chair, I would’ve sat Karimloo down with hours of Chaney on film to teach him how to gesture dramatically without screaming to the world, “I’m acting!”

The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall looks amazing on Blu-ray. And it should, as it was shot as recently as a few months ago on modern HD cameras. Detail is fantastic, colour is spot on and contrast is impressive, as you would imagine. The only drawback of the presentation is that the cameras don’t always perfectly resolve the image from the video screens that provide the backdrop set pieces of the show. It’s a minor issue and, I imagine, a rather technical one regarding the interplay of recording speeds on the cams and refresh rates on the screens not always lining up perfectly. You might not even notice it.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 on the disc is mostly fantastic, but doesn’t always use the center channel as you’d hope, sometimes dropping dialogue completely. This might be a fault of the live recording because the anomalies also seem to occur in the Dolby Digital 2.0 mix but to a lesser degree. Either way, make certain when you start playing the show that you’ve got the audio track you want to listen to, as the disc tends to default to the lossy DD track, which is mostly likely not your preference.

Special features are, unfortunately, quite limited on the The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall Blu-ray Disc. There’s only really a single bonus goodie here – the 17-minute ‘behind the scenes’ doc called Getting Past the Point of No Return. It’s actually pretty decent, if not relatively brief (watch two short snippets embedded above.) But with the show itself running over two-and-a-half hours long, I’m happy not to have too much additional video eating away at its bandwidth. The best possible scenario would’ve been the addition of a second disc featuring interviews and docs about the show, the music, this particular production and the history of the Phantom. A fan can dream. This disc is rounded out with a trailer for a Blu-ray release of Lloyd Webber’s Phantom sequel, Love Never Dies.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Getting Past the Point of No Return behind-the-scenes featurette starring the cast and crew

Conan: The Barbarian (2011) Blu-ray Disc Review

Brenden — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 15:16:19 +0000

CONAN THE BARBARIAN (2011, Blu-ray released November 22, 2011 – MSRP CDN $39.99)

THE FILM:	★★★☆☆
VIDEO:	★★★★½
AUDIO:	★★★★★
EXTRAS:	★★★½☆
BLU-RAY:	★★★½☆

I had high hopes for Macus Nispel‘s reboot of the Conan franchise. Sadly, it falls short in just about every way, save for the aesthetic. Thankfully, the Blu-ray offers a brilliant presentation that highlights the best of what the film has to offer.

A quest that begins as a personal vendetta for the fierce Cimmerian warrior soon turns into an epic battle against hulking rivals, horrific monsters, and impossible odds, as Conan realizes he is the only hope of saving the great nations of Hyboria from an encroaching reign of supernatural evil.

All right, to be fair, I’m a big fan of the original John Milius‘ Conan film. That’s an all around brilliant movie, from the screenplay to the truly inspired casting. So, perhaps I’m a bit critical of this reboot when I should just let things slide and have fun with it. But it’s just such a let down in so many ways. The most critical failing of the film is the terrible script, with it’s predictable structure, paper-thin characters and horrible dialogue. What’s that you say? It sounds like the original? Yeah, I guess you got me there. But Milius, along with a pitch-perfect strongman performance from Arnold Schwarzenegger, instilled the character with a noble stoicism and a genuine purpose in life. When Arnold speaks of his god, Crom, or the riddle of steel, there’s a weight to it. It means something. And I don’t feel that here.

Jason Momoa is all kinds of cool but his Conan seems young and petulant and disrespectful in his revenge. He’s not honouring his father or Crom (who, if I recall correctly, isn’t given a single mention in this film) when he happens upon one of the men responsible for the destruction of his village, deciding suddenly to take advantage of this happenstance with vengeance. No, he seems like a drunk, vicious thug with an ego. Arnold’s Conan escaped captivity after twenty-odd years of being a slave and, after an encounter with the tomb of his god-king and the discovery of his blade, immediately sought an encounter with the man who ruined his life, killed his family and put him in chains. Momoa’s Conan is drinking and cavorting with women when chance delivers him his man. The film is filled with these kinds of missteps that rob it of the potential for true gravitas in epic fantasy storytelling. I’m sure there’s a theme buried in there somewhere but the screenwriters clearly forgot to play on it. What Conan The Barbarian is left with is just a handsome young lead, who happens to be a damn good fighter with a broadsword, some killer production design and an appropriately heroic score. There’s fun to be had here, with all the monsters, magic and mighty battles but it’s all fairly vacuous.

Thank goodness for the immaculate, detailed transfer of the Blu-ray. Lionsgate (via Alliance on the Canadian Blu-ray I had the pleasure of reviewing) really delivers with the HD presentation of the film, despite the fact that they manage to cram two entire versions of it onto one disc – the 3D and the 2D. I can’t speak to the 3D (gotta get around to buying that 3D display one of these days, right?) but the 2D version is nearly reference quality, with spot-on colour, deep blacks and a nice an all around film-like look. I did notice some slight artifacting in moments when the screen is filled with raging fire, early on, but that’s just about the only negative I can point out here. The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track is a stunner, as immersive and dynamic as any lossless track I’ve ever heard. Great work, there.

The special features on the Conan Blu-ray are decent enough, though director Nispel’s commentary track is a tad dull. Thankfully, the second commentary from stars Momoa and Rose McGowan more than makes up for it – lighter on production details but far more fun to listen to. The four featurettes (listed below) total around 45-minutes when viewed together and form a nice, brief, high-def look at the character, its creator and the production itself. The 2-disc package is rounded out with the theatrical trailer, a DVD and Digital Copy of the film.

Special Features:

2D and 3D versions of the film
Audio Commentary with Director Marcus Nispel
Audio Commentary with Jason Momoa and Rose McGowan
The Conan Legacy
Robert E. Howard: The Man Who Would Be Conan
Battle Royale: Engineering the Action
Staging the Fights
Theatrical Trailer
DVD Copy
Digital Copy

The Devil’s Double Blu-ray Disc Review

Brenden — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:51:37 +0000

THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE (2011, Blu-ray released November 22, 2011 – MSRP CDN 30.99)

THE FILM:	★★★★☆
VIDEO:	★★★★☆
AUDIO:	★★★★★
EXTRAS:	★★★½☆
BLU-RAY:	★★★★☆

The Devil’s Double is, without a doubt, Dominic Cooper‘s movie. Though the daring script and stunning visuals will attempt to curry your favour and convince you that they are the true stars, Cooper’s portrayal of both protagonist and antagonist, hero and villain, truly steals the film. On the Blu-ray disc, however, the stunning transfer and soundtrack come a close second.

Based on a shocking true story, The Devil’s Double follows the riveting journey of Latif, a man forced to become the body double of Saddam Hussein’s ruthless son, Uday. Thrust into the debauched life of fast cars, easy women, and limitless power, Latif becomes virtually indistinguishable from the feared “Black Prince”. As war threatens Uday’s gangster regime, Latif realizes he must escape from the devil’s den – or die trying.

You’d never know The Devil’s Double was a small, low budget film. Director Lee Tamahori (Once Were Warriors) ekes every iota of value out of every single location and prop. The film might not have had the budget to shoot in Iraq (and, apparently, most Iraqis can spot that a mile away) or license the ideal music (not that we, the viewing public, think any less of Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round”) but with wonderful design, gorgeous shots, a great score and a killer cast, it gives the impression of being a sizable Hollywood production. But best of all is Dominic Cooper who simply owns the film, playing both Uday and his enslaved double, Latif. This is a star-making performance, with Cooper proving his thespian mettle by shifting effortlessly between the manic, psychotic behaviour of an over-privileged gun-toting madman and the downtrodden man he has beaten, imprisoned and threatened into becoming his double.

The Devil’s Double looks like a million bucks on Blu-ray. Lionsgate (via Alliance here in Canada) have afforded the film a high-bitrate transfer that really shines. There’s a bit of noise and some black crush every now and then but I wouldn’t be surprised if either are a result of the digital tinkering by the filmmakers themselves to achieve the look they’re after. The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track is equally as impressive, offering a demo-quality aggressive and very immersive experience.

Special features are decent here but not mind blowing. The director’s commentary track is full of compelling information but it’s far from dynamic. Tamahori is a very serious and a very dry speaker. The short docs are all presented in HD (1080i) and feature a 16-minute “making of”, 9-minute look at Cooper and his transformation into both lead characters, and an 8-minute conversation with the real Latif Yahia, on whose story the film is loosely based.

Special Features:

Audio commentary with director Lee Tamahori
“Making of” featurette on the film
Behind-the-scenes featurette on Dominic Cooper and his transformation into Latif and Uday
An interview with the real Latif Yahia

Cave of Forgotten Dreams Blu-ray Disc Review

Chris — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:41:36 +0000

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (2010, Blu-ray released November 8, 2011 – MSRP CDN$ 39.99)

THE FILM:	★★★★☆
VIDEO:	★★★½☆
AUDIO:	★★★★★
EXTRAS:	½☆☆☆☆
BLU-RAY:	★★★½☆

NOTE: THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE CANADIAN BLU-RAY RELEASE OF THE FILM FROM ALLIANCE.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams follows an exclusive expedition into the nearly inaccessible Chauvet Cave in France, home to the most ancient visual art known to have been created by man. It’s an unforgettable cinematic experience that provides a unique glimpse of the pristine artwork dating back to human hands over 30,000 years ago – almost twice as old as any previous discovery.

I like to have my mind blown. When I saw Cave of Forgotten Dreams in theatres a while back my mind got severely blown. Werner Herzog‘s 3-D journey into the Chauvet cave documents some of the most amazing art on the planet. It left me speechless. 30,000 year-old cave art rendered in amazing 3-D amplifying all the contours of the caves took my breath away. I would have been amazed had contemporary artists crafted such masterpieces. Needless to say, I was excited about the Blu-ray release.

Unfortunately, I was reminded of my initial concerns with the film. Due to technical constraints all the footage was shot on ” a tiny non professional rig” and was all lit by heatless on-camera lights and headlamps. Dark, dank caves are not ideal shooting locations. The colors are unsaturated, the blacks are weak and the shaking hand-cam on exterior shots just left me disappointed. The video was choppy at times as well, it was a bit jarring and inconsistent. The video wasn’t as sharp as it could have been and often blown-out. All this leads me to believe the problems stem from shooting originally in 3-D, the best way this film should be viewed. Its presented in 1080p, 1.78:1, widescreen here.

As for sound, Herzog’s Bavarian bizarreness is exemplified throughout most of the film as he narrates over Ernst Reijseger‘s wonderful score. It might not always look as beautiful as it should but at least the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track always sounds beautiful.

The disc has little in terms of extras: trailer, dull photo album of old men doing weird things and upcoming releases. Boring. How about some more background information on the caves, or a visit to other caves, or more interviews by Herzog asking people random questions? Herzog broaches big philosophical question in the film but I just want to know why they skimped on the extras on the Blu-ray.

So while the content alone warrants a viewing, the disc itself is a bit of a let down and not on par with the subject at hand.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The US Blu-ray edition of the film from MPI, which will be released next week, November 29th, is on 2-discs and features both 2D and 3D versions of the film, along with “Ode To The Dawn Of Man“, a 40-minute doc about the making of the score for the film.

Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume One Blu-ray Disc Review

Brenden — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:24:12 +0000

LOONEY TUNES PLATINUM COLLECTION: VOLUME ONE (1936-1966, Blu-ray released November 15, 2011 – MSRP $59.96)

SHORTS:	★★★★★
VIDEO:	★★★★½
AUDIO:	★★★☆☆
EXTRAS:	★★★★☆
BLU-RAY:	★★★★☆

I don’t know what’s more amazing about this collection of 50 Looney Tunes shorts – the fact that I’m shockingly familiar with most of them, able to recite the dialogue along with the characters despite not having seen the films for around 20 years or so, or the fact that there’s content here that I’ve never laid eyes on until now. Despite a couple of confusing and mildly frustrating points, this is one hell of a perfect boxed set of amazing cartoons, looking better than ever on Blu-ray!

50 of some of the greatest Looney Tunes cartoon are together for the first time on Blu-ray(TM). Releasing in a digibook with rare images and cartoon guide by historian Jerry Beck, this collection has been digitally restored and remastered. This 3 disc collection contains some of the franchise’s most enduring shorts featuring all your favorite Looney Tune Characters! Disc One features 25 classics from the immortals: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote and more! Disc Two includes 25 shorts featuring One-Shot Classics and the complete collection for each of the following characters: Marvin the Martian, Tasmanian Devil, Witch Hazel, Marc Anthony and Ralph Phillips. Disc Three contains over 5 hours of content saluting animator Chuck Jones, insightful documentaries and rare shorts from Jones and others.

There’s a ridiculous wealth of incredible content spread over these three Blu-ray discs. Nearly every single one of the newly transferred, re-mastered cartoon shorts featured here is a iconic classic – the films that come to mind when you think Looney Tunes. And you’re not going to believe how stunning they all look in HD. Now, I know a lot of folks feel a little burned by this set, with the studio revisiting these shorts that they’ve published several times already on DVD while the fans are desperate to get their hands on those shorts that still remain unreleased. But it’s clear that a lot of work, time and love has been put into getting them right for HD and believe me when I tell you, if this Blu-ray set doesn’t sell, the studio will be hard pressed to invest in a second one. With that in mind, you can understand why they’ve assembled the most popular shorts, yet again, for this collection, giving it the best chance of appealing to the widest possible audience. It also insures that the best shorts are afforded the high-def treatment, in the unfortunate circumstance that there won’t be any more Blu-ray sets in the future. I, for one, pray that doesn’t happen. Because what the studio has accomplished here deserves to be seen and that attention deserves to be afforded to the rest of the Looney Tunes library. Fantastic!

As mentioned above, the feature content on the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume One Blu-ray discs looks fantastic! But don’t expect any kind of uniformity in presentation. The source material these discs have culled from is all over the map, spanning a thirty year time period – the most recent short having been created 45-years ago. Grain, scratches and blemishes differ from film to film but appear often enough to note here – these aren’t perfect restorations of aged content, but beautiful, honest, new transfers which have been lovingly mastered. They all look like film and some even appear clean enough to have been produced recently. This is remarkable work. The only source of disappointment here is that Warner has once again cut corners with the audio presentation – instead of the lossless audio tracks they might’ve afforded these films, the best they’re allowed is modest high-bitrate Dolby Digital Mono tracks. Don’t get me wrong, they sound all right, and because the audio is compressed there’s an allowance for additional content to be packed onto the discs, so it’s not all bad. It’s a trade off I can live with but it’s far from a perfect solution.

A good deal of the “extra” content packed onto the discs comes in the form of featurettes and an endless stream of audio commentaries, isolated score and “in the sound booth” tracks. This is all great stuff for sure and nearly worthy of sacrificing the opportunity to have the feature soundtracks presented in lossless audio. I sampled a few commentary tracks and, let me tell you, they are total gems! Whether you’re listening to Ren & Stimpy creator/animator John Kricfalusi enthuse over early Daffy Duck offering “The Great Piggy Bank Robbery” or historian and Cartoon Brew editor/owner Jerry Beck (who also wrote the included 52-page digibook liner notes and consulted on the Blu-ray set) introducing and curating archival comments from director Chuck Jones, writer Michael Maltese, and layout artist Maurice Noble on “What’s Opera, Doc?“, you’re in for a real treat. There are 23 audio commentary tracks to be found on Disc One of the set and 14 more on Disc Two.

As if that’s not enough, each of those discs also feature a ton of featurettes, most of which are presented in SD and have appeared on previous Looney Tunes DVDs (three are presented in HD – “Mars Attacks! Life on the Red Planet with My Favorite Martian” “Razzma-Taz: Giving the Tasmanian Devil His Due” and “The Ralph Phillips Story: Living the American Daydream” – and are, as far as I can tell, more recent productions) but are totally worth checking out. These amount to about 95-minutes worth of documentary content over the first two discs. The third disc in the set is more or less all about animation director Chuck Jones, featuring three SD docs about his life and career which total over two-and-a-half hours of viewing. There’s also a collection of his shorts, presented in a mix of SD and HD. A little out of place but no less appreciated is 7-minutes of work reel footage from Jones’ classic The Grinch Who Stole Christmas production. Amazing to see this in a pencil test version! Disc three is rounded out with a 7-minute animation/live-action hybrid short called “The Door” and 9 additional Looney Tunes cartoons in SD.

Highly recommended!

Disc 1: features 25 classics from the immortals: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote and more

Disc 2: 25 shorts featuring One-Shot Classics and the complete collection for each of the following characters: Marvin the Martian, Tasmanian Devil, Witch Hazel, Marc Anthony & Ralph Phillips

Disc 3: Contains over 5 hours of content saluting animator Chuck Jones, insightful documentaries and rare shorts from Jones and others!

Disc 1 Episode Guide:

Hare Tonic
Baseball Bugs
Buccaneer Bunny
Old Grey Hare, The
Rabbit Hood
8 Ball Bunny
Rabbit Of Seville
What’s Opera, Doc?
Great Piggy Bank Robbery, The
Pest In The House, A
Scarlet Pumpernickel, The
Duck Amuck
Robin Hood Daffy
Baby Bottleneck
Kitty Kornered
Scaredy Cat
Porky Chops
Old Glory
Tale Of Two Kitties, A
Tweetie Pie
Fast And Furry-ous
Beep, Beep
Lovelorn Leghorn
For Scent-imental Reasons
Speedy Gonzales

Plus 6 Behing The Tunes (Featurettes):
Wagnerian Wabbit: The Making of What’s Opera, Doc?
Twilight in Tunes: The Music of Raymond Scott
Powerhouse in Pictures
Putty Problems and Canary Rows
A Chuck Jones Tutorial: Tricks of the Cartoon Trade
The Charm of Stink: On the Scent of Pepé le Pew

Disc 2 Episode Guide:

One Froggy Evening
Three Little Bops
I Love To Singa
Katnip Kollege
The Dover Boys at Pimento University
Chow Hound
Haredevil Hare
Hasty Hare, The
Duck Dodgers In The 24th Century
Hare-way To The Stars
Mad As A Mars Hare
Devil May Hare
Bedevilled Rabbit
Ducking The Devil
Bill Of Hare
Dr. Devil And Mr. Hare
Bewitched Bunny
Broom-stick Bunny
Witch’s Tangled Hare, A
A-haunting We Will Go
Feed The Kitty
Kiss Me Kat
Feline Frame-up
From A To Z-z-z-z
Boyhood Daze

Plus 5 Behing The Tunes (Featurettes)
It Hopped One Night: The Story Behind One Froggy Evening
Wacky Warner One-Shots
Mars Attacks! Life on the Red Planet with My Favorite Martian
Razzma-Taz: Giving the Tasmanian Devil His Due
The Ralph Phillips Story: Living the American Daydream

Disc 3 (All Special Features):

A Greeting From Chuck Jones
Chuck Amuck: The Movie
Chuck Jones: Extremes & In-Betweens, A Life In Animation
Chuck Jones: Memories Ofchildhood
The Animated World Of Chuck Jones (9 Cartoons)

– Point Rationing Of Foods
– Hell-Bent For Election
– So Much For So Little
– Orange Blossoms For Violet
– A Hitch In Time
– 90 Day Wondering
– Drafty, Isn’t It
– The Dot And The Line: A Romance In Lower Mathematics
– The Bear That Wasn’t

How The Grinch Stole Christmas! Pencil Test
The Door
Bonus Cartoons (9 Cartoons)

– Fright Before Christmas From Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales
– Spaced Out Bunny From Bugs Bunny’s Bustin’ Out All Over
– Duck Dodgers And The Return Of The 24 1/2th Century From Daffy Duck’s Thanks-For-Giving Special
– Another Froggy Evening
– Marvin The Martian In The Third Dimension
– Superior Duck
– From Hare To Eternity
– Father Of The Bird
– Museum Scream

The Criterion Collection: Island of Lost Souls Blu-ray Disc Review

Brenden — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 23:55:14 +0000

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932, Blu-ray released October 25, 2011 – MSRP $39.95)

MOVIE:	★★★★☆
VIDEO:	★★★★☆
AUDIO:	★★★★☆
EXTRAS:	★★★★½
BLU-RAY:	★★★★☆

As one of the great early monster movies yet to receive a modern home video release, Island of Lost Souls is among the more important Blu-ray releases of the year. Criterion have assembled the best transfer possible from several print sources and combined that with a host of truly great special features. If you love classic horror you owe it to yourself to get this one!

A twisted treasure from Hollywood’s pre-Code horror heyday, Island of Lost Souls is a cautionary tale of science run amok, adapted from H. G. Wells’s novel The Island of Dr. Moreau. In one of his first major movie roles, Charles Laughton is a mad doctor conducting ghastly genetic experiments on a remote island in the South Seas, much to the fear and disgust of the shipwrecked sailor (Richard Arlen) who finds himself trapped there. This touchstone of movie terror, directed by Erle C. Kenton, features expressionistic photography by Karl Struss, groundbreaking makeup effects that have inspired generations of monster-movie artists, and the legendary Bela Lugosi in one of his most gruesome roles.

I admit that I’m an unadulterated Bela Lugosi fan. I’ll watch just about anything the man is in. Even the worst of his films. And those ones are pretty bad, believe me. So, I completely understand if you find my high praise of Island of Lost Souls to be without quite as much merit as others. But this is a great little film. And, believe it or not, my perception of its greatness has little to do with Bela. I know, it’s hard to get your head around but I love this movie without or without my main man.

Island of Lost Souls is all about Charles Laughton, if you ask me. His Dr. Moreau channels Oscar Wilde, by way of a twisted, mad scientist. Every time he’s on screen, the film springs to life, transcending its origins and genre, becoming something timeless and endlessly fascinating. Bela’s performance as the hairy wolfman-like Sayer of the Law – a role he accepted to prove he would be willing to perform in makeup after turning down Frankenstein and losing a ton of work in the fallout – has much the same effect here but, sadly, he’s barely got any screen time of which to speak. That aside, this is some of his best, most electric work. The makeup, across the board, on all of the beast men (and Panther Woman!) is astounding and adds to the heightened sense of fantasy. It might not be as realistic as modern interpretations of H.G. Wells’ novel but the more imaginative, humanoid take on the creatures lends the film a genuine creepiness that has yet to be outdone.

Criterion have done a bang up job bringing Island of Lost Souls to Blu-ray, despite the many obstacles they clearly had to overcome to do so. I don’t think this 1932 film will ever look better on home video. In fact, in hasn’t had a home video release since the 1997 VHS tape from Universal (it’s hasn’t even been issued on DVD until now!) It’s far from perfect and can’t obviously compare to modern films but relative to its previous release and other home video versions of films from that era, this presentation looks great. Detail and contrast can at times be slightly uneven in this otherwise impressive and surprisingly balanced transfer but there’s a damn good reason for it. This excerpt from the included booklet explains:

Because the original negative no longer survives, this new digital transfer was created from a number of sources, including 35mm fine-grain master positive with some inherent damage; the UCLA Film & Television Archive’s 35mm nitrate positive, which also had defects but contained lines of dialogue not heard since they were censored upon the film’s theatrical release; and a private collector’s 16mm screening print, used to help repair scenes with missing frames and scratches. These elements were scanned in 2K and HD resolution on a Spirit Datacine and a SCANNITY film scanner, and then combined to create the most complete version of the film ever to appear on home video. Finally, thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS system and Pixel Farm’s PFClean system, while Digital Vision’s DVNR system was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction.

The lossless monaural audio track is typical of films of this age. Some hiss is still present but for the most part, Criterion have exacted an impressive clean up here. Audio is stable and presents clean and clear dialogue throughout.

The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the collector’s 16mm print and section of the 35mm nitrate print, the best sources available. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated workstation.

Even if you’re not sold on the film itself, the special features on the Island of Lost Souls Blu-ray disc are not to be missed. Most will find the conversation between filmmaker John Landis, makeup master RIck Baker and nerd extraordinaire Bob Burns to be the most easily accessible and fun supplement but the real meat of the extras is found in the interview with Hollywood horror expert David J. Skal (a personal hero of mine and author of one of my favourite books, ‘Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen‘) and the information-packed commentary track by film historian Gregory Mank. It’s not the most lively or off-the-cuff commentary you’ll ever hear but man, does he pack a lot of knowledge into that 70-minute run-time! I don’t know if it speaks more to the quality of the track or my nerd-dom but as soon as it wrapped up I was ready for another go at it. The Richard Stanley and Devo interviews are more directly relevant to their own work but it’s great to hear how a passion for this film has inspired other cultural touchstones.

Highest possible recommendation!

Special Features:

New high-definition digital restoration of the uncut theatrical version with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Audio commentary by film historian Gregory Mank, author of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff and Hollywood’s Maddest Doctors
New video conversation among filmmaker John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), Oscar-winning makeup artist Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London, Videodrome), and genre expert Bob Burns
New interviews with horror film historian David J. Skal (The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror); filmmaker Richard Stanley (Hardware, original director of the ill-fated 1996 remake of The Island of Dr. Moreau)
New interviews with Devo founding members Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh, whose manifesto is rooted in themes from Island of Lost Souls
Theatrical trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Christine Smallwood

Green Lantern Blu-ray Disc Review

Brenden — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:57:13 +0000

GREEN LANTERN (2011, Blu-ray released October 14, 2011 – MSRP $35.99)

MOVIE:	★★☆☆☆
VIDEO:	★★★½☆
AUDIO:	★★★★½
EXTRAS:	★★★★☆
BLU-RAY:	★★★★☆

Green Lantern is a whole mess of missed opportunity. What could have been a killer first salvo in Warner‘s next franchise attack on the hearts, minds and wallets of the movie-going public has turned out to be a dud, due to some tragic missteps in craft and casting. And while the Blu-ray offers a lot of value and a powerful lossless soundtrack, the transfer on this bad boy just doesn’t cut the mustard.

In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, an elite force of protectors for peace and justice has existed for centuries. They are the Green Lantern Corps. When a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of the Corps’ newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds). Bringing the popular superhero to the big screen for the first time, “Green Lantern” also stars Blake Lively (“Gossip Girl”), Peter Sarsgaard (“Orphan”), Mark Strong (“Sherlock Holmes”), Academy Award(R) nominee Angela Bassett and Academy Award(R) winner Tim Robbins.

I was rooting for Green Lantern from the moment it was announced until I finally sat through it in the theatres. At that point, I just gave up, not willing to waste any more good will and enthusiasm on such a failure of artistic and corporate momentum. Green Lantern has everything going for it – a great concept, fun designs and years of story backlogged in thousands of comics and cartoons. It also has the fabled and exhaustive Green Lantern Bible written by sci-fi great Larry Niven for DC comics in its corner, but that’s another story all together. Since GL’s willpower-and-imagination based energy constructs were really the only genuine obstacles in the path of bringing this story to screen for years – a hurdle now easily cleared through the magic and ubiquity of CGI – making a decent film should have been child’s play for the studio. Sadly, the script suffers from problems a first-year screenwriting student could spot and likely fix (a shallow and unlikable protagonist who never has to struggle to be the best pilot, a chick magnet or the recipient of magic powers and who suffers no ill effect for his petulant and privileged shortcomings, for starters) and the tone of the work is all over the map. Worst of all is Ryan Reynolds in the title role.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I dig Reynolds. And he does his level best here. But no matter how much CGI is slathered over him, no matter how he desperately tries to slip seamlessly into the material, he’s always just Ryan Reynolds up there on the screen, looking green and like he’s hard at work trying to be the right guy for the role. And he’s not. He never was. Never mind the rest of the film’s problems. This is the biggee. You know how Superman 3 and 4 are real stinkers but every time Christopher Reeve steps on screen as Superman you totally forget that the movie sucks because… well, damn, that’s Superman up there on screen? That never happens in Green Lantern. It’s always, always Reynolds on screen. And that’s why this movie fails. The audience wants to see Green Lantern, not an actor dressed up as Green Lantern. And the film just doesn’t deliver the goods.

Speaking of not delivering the goods, what’s up with this Blu-ray transfer?! When I look at the muddy, dark presentation of Green Lantern I can’t help but recall the studio head’s quote about making the sequel more like Nolan‘s The Dark Knight and that maybe, someone got the idea that cranking down the brightness on this bad boy might be a great first step at righting the wrongs of the film. If that’s the case, it’s an extremely dumb idea. The one thing the movie had going for it in the theatre was it’s look – bright green and alien when at its best. Now, most of the film is cast in shadow, which in turn throws off colours resulting in some pretty funky skin tones. What a shame. This could have at least been a fantastic Blu-ray disc instead of another case of the studio not having a clue how to tackle this character. The good news here is that the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track kicks all kinds of ass, delivering booming lows through your sub and tons of spacial effects through the surround channels. Finally, something to get excited about!

Aside from a kicking, lossless audio track, the other reason for fans to be excited about the Green Lantern Blu-ray is the reasonable bounty of special features included on the disc, best of which is Warner’s famous Maximum Movie Mode, in this case, featuring DCE Chief Creative Officer and Green Lantern comic scribe Geoff Johns in the host’s chair. This isn’t the MMM at its best though, the sort where directors like Zack Snyder step into frame, the film receding onto screens behind them as they fast forward, rewind and zoom in on small moments to blow out and examine the details of their movie making process. This is more like a run of the mill picture-in-picture track, with pop-up info, behind the scenes clips and nuggets of interviews. It’s still good stuff, just not quite as cool as what Warner has done in the past. The 47-minutes of ‘Focus Points‘ featurettes are also available to be watched outside of the MMM.

The other significant feature of note is the inclusion of the Extended Cut of the film, which adds back the prologue scenes that set up critical character relationships and detail the moments where Hal lost his father. In my opinion, it was a big mistake to cut this sequence. The final, theatrical cut of the film uses scenes from it in flashback when Hal is in jeopardy early on in the film (the Extended version of the film foolishly leaves them cut in at full length and would have been better served simply flashing images of Hal and his dad, since we’ve now watched the entire scene play out.)

NOTE: The US version of the Blu-ray disc includes a digital copy of the film via the brand new (and apparently hinky) Ultra Violet streaming service. The Canadian disc that I reviewed, which is otherwise identical in every way, was intended to include a standard digital copy of the theatrical cut of the film but due to a manufacturing error was left out. I haven’t heard about a fix for this yet but I’ll let you know as soon as Warner announces one.

Special Features:

Theatrical Film
Extended Cut
Maximum Movie
Mode with Picture in Picture Pods
The Universe According to Green Lantern
Ryan Reynolds Becomes Green Lantern
Justice League #1 Digital Comic
Additional Scenes
Preview of Green Lantern: The Animated Series
BD-Live
Access code for Sinestro Corp Batman Skin on the Warner Bros. Interactive video game Batman: Arkham City

Hesher Blu-ray Disc Review

Brenden — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:15:19 +0000

HESHER (2011, Blu-ray released October 18, 2011 – MSRP CDN$ 39.99)

MOVIE:	★★★☆☆
VIDEO:	★★★★☆
AUDIO:	★★★★½
EXTRAS:	★★★½☆
BLU-RAY:	★★★★☆

I was disappointed in Hesher not because of the kind of a film it is but because of the film I thought it would be. Kind of ridiculous, I know. The merits of the film itself itself might be arguable but the quality of the Blu-ray disc is beyond reproach.

Loud music. Pornography. Burning things to the ground. These are a few of Hesher’s favourite things. And they are what Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) brings into the lives of TJ (Devin Brochu) and his father Paul (Rainn Wilson) when he takes up residence in their garage uninvited. Grief-stricken by the loss of TJ’s mother in a car accident, Paul can’t muster the strength to evict the strange squatter, and soon the long-haired, tattooed Hesher becomes a fixture in the household. Like a force of nature, Hesher’s anarchy shakes the family out of their grief and helps them embrace life once more.

I think Hesher is a decent little movie but the marketing of the film, the packaging of the disc, its menus and everything about it set me up for some kind of “Hilarious” “aggro comedy” (both quotes from the cover of the Blu-ray) not the sullen family drama that it actually is. I get it, though. I get how Hesher breathes new life into the family with his thrashing guitar solos, foul language and penchant for setting things ablaze. And I get how that might seem audacious and, possibly even hilarious to some. But taken as part of the narrative – a slow moving, depressing examination of a family caught in a rut – Hesher’s antics simply provide balance. Without him, the film would be a quiet two hours of mumbling depression and death. So a burning car here and some sophomoric graffiti there just keeps things moving toward the very inevitable conclusion. Like I said, it’s a decent film but it doesn’t offer too many surprises. Just a nice family drama with character and a handful of exceptional performances.

Hesher looks pretty great on Blu-ray, given its low budget origins. There are a couple of moments of noticeable artifacting but outside of that, this is a very detailed and source-accurate tranfer that’s very pleasing to watch. The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 is surprisingly robust for a film of this nature. Hesher’s loud metal music is given an exceptional amount of dynamic range and though surrounds aren’t overly active here, dialogue is always clean and clear up the middle.

The Blu-ray disc from Alliance (the Canadian release I had the opportunity to review – the US version from Lionsgate was released on September 13th and is virtually identical in every way) sports a pretty nice selection of special features including almost half an hour of outtakes that I found every bit as enjoyable as the film itself. Possibly even more enjoyable. This is “behind-the-scenes” stuff here – flubbed lines, improvisation, jokes and gags. Watching it will give you a much deeper appreciation for the film. There’s also around 7-minutes of deleted scenes and a proper ‘behind the scenes’ EPK style featurette that’s just a little longer and features a few decent little interviews with cast and crew. The disc is rounded out with a quick look at the “Air Traffic” that made some scenes tough to shoot, a sketch gallery and some trailers.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Deleted Scenes
Outtakes
Behind the Scenes
Trailer
Sketch Gallery
Air Traffic
Teaser Channels

Straw Dogs Blu-ray Disc Review

Brenden — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:34:36 +0000

STRAW DOGS (1971, Blu-ray released September 6, 2011 – MSRP $24.99)

MOVIE:	★★★★★
VIDEO:	★★★★½
AUDIO:	★★★★☆
EXTRAS:	½☆☆☆☆
BLU-RAY:	★★★★☆

The original Straw Dogs is one of a handful of true masterpieces of the cinema to come out of the seventies and it’s never looked or sounded better than on this new bare-bones Blu-ray from MGM/Fox.

Brace yourself for the extended version of this daring and provocative drama from the director of “The Wild Bunch”. Starring Dustin Hoffman in a “superbly realized” (Time) performance, this “brilliant” (Cue), disturbing film charts one man’s brutally violent journey from cowardice to courage and “delivers one helluva jolt” (Playboy). To escape the Vietnam-era chaos in the U.S., American mathematician David Sumner (Hoffman) moves with his British wife Amy (Susan George) to an isolated English village. Their presence provokes antagonism among the village’s men. Escalating from routine bullying to the gang rape of his wife, David finds his pacifist self being backed into a corner and responds in the violent and gruesome manner he abhors.

When most film nuts are asked to name their favourite Sam Peckinpah film, dollars to donuts the answer will be The Wild Bunch. But I’ve always been more of a Straw Dogs kind of guy, myself (with a healthy amount of love and fascination with the amazing Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, added in for good measure.) There’s something about the quiet build of the film, the menace that’s lurking right under their noses, as Hoffman and his wife (Susan George) move to their new home in rural England. It might not be the most action packed Peckinpah film but I think it’s the most nuanced and well balanced of his oevre. I didn’t get a chance to see the recent remake (this Blu-ray disc was released just in time to promote the film) but I find it tough to believe that it could possibly be superior to this classic in any way.

Straw Dogs makes its Blu-ray debut in a very handsome, rich transfer from MGM. The 1080p/AVC encode is thick with grain and colour, sporting deep blacks and tons of detail. This is an entirely film-like and shockingly stable presentation that I’m proud to shelve alongside my Criterion Collection 2-DVD set. I’m sorry to report, however, that the original mono soundtrack has not been included on the disc – a critical strike against the Blu-ray for purists. The included DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is, thankfully, quite respectful and eschews unnecessary bombast and effect for clean and clear audio, mostly centered around the front of the soundstage.

As I said above, I’ll be shelving this new Blu-ray disc alongside my old 2-disc DVD set from Criterion. I’ll be holding onto to that one because it contains a ton of bonus content, almost all of which has been left off of the MGM Blu. The only extras provided on the disc are a bunch of TV spots and a trailer for the film – a far cry from the commentary track, isolated score, documentaries, behind the scenes footage and interviews available on the DVD. That said, the Blu-ray provides a big enough leap forward in presentation that any fan of the film would do well to upgrade from their old standard-def DVD. And, despite the lack of extras, you can’t go wrong picking up Straw Dogs on Blu at current Amazon prices (only $10.99 at the moment!)

Recommended!

Special Features:

Original Theatrical Trailer
Three Original Television Spots

Dressed to Kill Blu-ray Disc Review

Brenden — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 21:00:33 +0000

DRESSED TO KILL (1980, Blu-ray released September 6, 2011 – MSRP $24.99)

MOVIE:	★★★½☆
VIDEO:	★★★★☆
AUDIO:	★★★★☆
EXTRAS:	★★★½☆
BLU-RAY:	★★★★☆

Brian De Palma‘s twisty noir Dressed to Kill is the furthest thing from a perfect film. But what it lacks in solid story it makes up for in style and technical prowess. The new MGM/Fox Blu-ray edition of the film highlights it’s strengths with a strong presentation and decent collection of special features.

Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson, “Police Woman”) is a sexually-repressed housewife who seeks treatment from Dr. Robert Elliott (two-time Academy Award®-winner Michael Caine, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Cider House Rules). While secretly leaving a hotel after a one-night affair, Kate is mysteriously murdered by a tall blonde woman wearing sunglasses. The only witness is a high-priced call girl, Liz (Nancy Allen in a Golden Globe®-nominated performance), who becomes the killer’s next target. With the help of Kate’s grown son, Peter (Keith Gordon, A Midnight Clear), Liz discovers that the murderer is connected to Dr. Elliott, and the pair come face-to-face with a shocking surprise.

Dressed to Kill is a strange duck. On one hand, it’s a thrill to see a director craft work that so celebrates his medium as De Palma does here. Every shot, every camera movement is electric – a perfectly lit and choreographed ballet of elated cinematography. It’s a wonder to watch. On the other hand, the story doesn’t work as well as it should. De Palma’s structure and pacing are off through most of the picture – more concerned with a brilliantly staged sequence than the effect that chunk of narrative has on the movement of the entire piece. He might be trying to pull off his best Hitchcock here but he lacks the Master’s ability to perfectly balance the medium and the narrative. It’s tough to be critical of a film that’s such a classic, though. Dressed to Kill could be a much better movie but at thirty years old, most fans are pretty comfortable with it’s many idiosyncrasies. I don’t think we’d have it any other way.

Fans will be over the moon with the Blu-ray presentation of Dressed to Kill, as it makes its high-def debut in a detailed, completely film-like transfer. We’re not talking about Criterion-level clean up here, like their pristine, gorgeous edition of De Palma’s Blow Up released earlier in the year. But this colour accurate, very stable transfer sure does hold its own. Blacks are deep, there’s plenty of film grain on display (never too much for me!) and no untoward signs of digital manipulation appear, as far as I could tell. Really nice work from MGM. The original audio tracks have been expanded to a very pleasing DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, that’s far more active than you’d expect. I don’t know what state the original stems are in but, as nice as this new surround track is, it would have been even better to have those included. That said, I’m pretty ecstatic about the dynamic, clean and clear track provided.

There are a number of special features included on the new Dressed to Kill Blu, all carried over from the 2001 DVD, and, sadly, all still in standard definition. But let’s not gripe about the small things. The 45-minute ‘The Making of a Thriller‘ doc is great stuff, interviewing most of the principal cast and crew from the film and filled with info and anecdotes. If you check out any extra on the disc, make sure it’s this one! ‘Slashing Dressed to Kill‘ is nearly 10-minutes of discussion on the edits necessary to bring the film to theatres and TV. A comparison of all three versions of the film is also included and runs around 5-minutes. ‘Dressed to Kill: An Appreciation by Keith Gordon‘ is a little 6-minute chat with one of the stars of the film. The disc is rounded out with a photo gallery and the original theatrical trailer.

Special Features:

“The Making of a Thriller” Full-Length Documentary including interviews with Brian De Palma, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen and Dennis Franz
“Slashing Dressed to Kill” Featurette
“Dressed to Kill: An Appreciation by Keith Gordon” Featurette
“Comparison of the Unrated, R-rated, and Network Versions” Featurette
Animated Photo Gallery

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