The film is based on the book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation, by John Carlin. Contained within, is the story of one of the many challenges Mandela faced soon after becoming president of South Africa: Keeping the troubled Springboks rugby team a viable entity that the whole country could rally behind when they host the Rugby World Cup while trying to heal and unite the nation.
Morgan Freeman had some pretty big shoes to fill for this film…even though he is a living legend, playing a living legend. In Freeman, we see Mandela the man; the father; the president and the unifier of a nation. Of course we’ve come to expect only amazing performances from Morgan Freeman. He doesn’t disappoint in this role, and neither does Matt Damon. Damon’s portrayal of the Springboks captain is that of a thoughtful man that doesn’t fear the changes that both the team and the nation must undergo to achieve success as a new, and yet still familiar, unified force in the world. The initial meeting of these two men, to discuss rugby, produces several not-at-all-veiled references to the entire country and its needs.
Within the parts of the film that address Mandela dealing with his responsibilities as president, we are able to observe the dynamics of his amalgamated personal security team. Made up of men from the previous government (white) and Mandela’s current security personnel, they are often seen huddled together in a small office, wondering if they will be able to work together. This side-story alone would have made for a very compelling story—mirroring what many South Africans must have been going through at the time. Apparently, Mandela did not make things easy for them with his many public appearances or the “pleasant” way he insisted they deal with the public.
Visually, the film receives a clean 1080p transfer, free of artifacts, that isn’t as rich in color or garish as a typical big Hollywood movie. Beautifully shot, the film maintains a look very similar to what you’d expect from documentary photography, without letting the audience forget that it is still a narrative film. The result is a sharp and detailed image that is not too contrast-y, with slightly subdued, but warm colors.
The DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround sound track is at its best during the rugby matches. Audible, are the cleats in the grass, the tackles and the expelled breaths of the players on the field. The surround channels really give you a sense of being present on the field, not to mention an abundance of bass frequencies from your woofer to deliver the crunches and thuds. Unfortunately, it can be difficult at times to make out all of the dialogue in other scenes. There is a slight drop in sound in the non-rugby scenes that may result in the raising of volume, only to rattle the glassware when a rugby scene takes place.
The Invictus Blu-ray disc sports some engaging HD special features. Along with the musical trailer and BD-Live option is the picture-in-picture commentary, “Vision, Courage and Honor”, which uses many sources for its insightful look at all things within and connected to the film. Interviews with the director, producer, and screenwriter, in addition to the actors and their real-life counterparts, combine to provide in-depth details about the making of Invitus as well as the time the story represents in South African history. Two “Behind the Story” character-research feauturettes chronicle Freeman’s meeting with Mandela in preparation for the role and a light piece on Matt Damon’s prep work for the rugby scenes. Also included is an standard definition, abridged version of a documentary look at Eastwood’s career in front of an behind the camera called “The Eastwood Factor”.
Invictus is a straightforward film that can understandably get a little speech-y at times, but is still a lovely film that serves an informative purpose while remaining entertaining.
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]]>This is an overwhelming week of Blu-ray releases if I’ve ever seen one! What’s a film fan and disc collector to do when faced with so many options? My first reaction – grab up the new Criterion discs. Second – the restored classics. After that, if I’m not in the poor house already – the best of the rest. This week is a poor-house week, if ever I’ve seen one…
1. RED DESERT
Ah, Red Desert! This was to be my first Criterion Collection review disc but alas, it hasn’t come to pass. I was hoping to give an honest assessment of this new Blu-ray release but the review copy never showed up. Sigh…we reviewers have it so hard, don’t we?
But listen, that’s not going to stop me from rushing out to grab this Blu-ray now that it’s on store shelves. Any new release of a classic Michelangelo Antonioni film in high-def is cause for celebration and I’m absolutely positive that this one won’t disappoint. This was his first colour film and what he delivers amounts to a gorgeous moving painting, with his muse Monica Vitti gliding elegantly from frame to frame, lost in a world of industrial complexes and power plants as she flirts with her husband’s co-worker, played here by the wonderful Richard Harris. This is an incredible, classic film that I’m certain will look stunning on this new Criterion Blu-ray!
Disc Features
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- Audio commentary by Italian film scholar David Forgacs
- Archival interviews with director Michelangelo Antonioni and actress Monica Vitti
- Two short documentaries by Antonioni: Gente del Po, about a barge trip down the Po River, and N.U. about urban street cleaners
- Dailies from the original production
- Theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film writer Mark Le Fanu, a reprinted interview with Antonioni conducted by Jean-Luc Godard, and writings by Antonioni on Gente del Po and N.U.
Also new from The Criterion Collection: CLOSE UP
Read more: Criterion adds Close-up and Everlasting Moments to June Blu-ray Lineup
As I said in my review of A Star is Born, I’m not a fan of musicals but there’s something very special about this classic film by director George Cukor that transcends the genre. This is not only one of the most important Blu-ray releases of the week but of the entire year and each and every film fan and home theatre enthusiast should do themselves a favour and rush out to pick it up.
Read my full review here: A Star is Born Blu-ray Disc Review
You’ve got to feel by now that you can’t go wrong with any HBO series on Blu-ray. Sure, the bonus features are generally a mixed bag, ranging from the extraordinary efforts on Rome and Band of Brothers to the unfortunate oversight of The Sopranos Season One boxed set. But the programs themselves seem to always look and sound incredible on Blu! And the same can be said for the studios new releases this week, the sixth season of the hit show Entourage and the first season of the new Thomas Jane vehicle, Hung. I’m an old fan of the former and a brand new fan of the latter and extremely pleased with the presentation of both here on Blu. I’m only sorry that Hung seems so short at a very brief 10-episodes (Entourage, and most HBO dra-medies generally clock it at around 12-eps a season!) I’m really looking forward to season two which premieres this Sunday, June 27, along with the seventh season of Entourage.
Full reviews for both titles coming shortly.
4. GREEN ZONE
I had the good fortune of being able to catch Paul Greengrass‘ Green Zone in the theatre while it was still playing. There was a lot of talk surrounding perceived similarities to his Bourne franchise work (he directed the second and third installments) but I think this film stands on its own two feet, apart from those more easily digestible popcorn fliks. I’m still not being sent any screeners from Universal so I can’t comment on the disc itself but can recommend the film wholeheartedly.
You know, I kind of/really enjoyed this film. There’s absolutely nothing of note here. Nothing that you haven’t seen a million times already. But everything at play in She’s Out of My League, all of the players in the film, the script, the direction, everything hits just the right note. It’s the perfect cookie-cutter teen/20-something romantic comedy. You won’t find any surprises here but you’ll probably have a decent time watching. The Blu-ray looks and sounds just about right for the film – reasonable transfer, reasonable soundtrack and a small but fun collection of bonus features (deleted/extended scenes, blooper reel, commentary and more.)
ANIME OF THE WEEK:
GUYVER: THE COMPLETE SERIES BOX SET
This is kind of a blast from the past for me! I used to watch the old Guyver series of OVA releases when I was much, much younger. The series was a personal favourite of mine at the time. Hell, I even enjoyed the live action film (you remember the one, co-starring Mark Hamill!!) Well, FUNimation‘s new box-set of the complete modern re-interpretation of the popular manga stories is a delight for me to watch! All the old players are back, telling the same story all over again but this time with a lot more flare! The animation is TV quality this time around, with some apparent shortcuts taken. But it never gets in the way of the action. The Blu-ray set is clearly the result of an up-res – you’ll note frequent aliasing and degradation of the line-work in the drawings. But as far as resolution enhanced animation goes, the Guyver series is far from the worst. It usually looks pretty decent. Fans of the series most certainly will not be disappointed. Special features include a handful of commentary tracks, a manga to anime comparison, clean opening and closing animation and a collection of trailers.
3D DISC OF THE WEEK:
CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 3D
I’ve got a really big, really long article on the topic of 3D Blu-ray inside me, just waiting to get out onto the blog. Sadly, now is not the time or place to tackle all of my issues with this new tech overtaking our movie-space. But I will say that I’m happy to see that the studios are no longer making their Blu-ray content exclusive to hardware packages! Until Sony‘s release of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs on 3D Blu-ray today, you had to buy a new TV and Blu-ray player just to get your hands on a 3D Blu-ray movie. Which is ridiculous. Kudos to Sony for being the first to drop this nonsensical plan and get a title out into the wild for all to consume.
Read more: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Blu-ray Disc Review
ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY THIS WEEK
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]]>This week is a no-brainer for me, as the number one pick is one of my all time favourite films! The rest of the Blu-ray discs out this week are a bit of a mixed bag, though, with some decent, new Hollywood fliks (and some truly awful ones), some catalogue titles and a couple of pretty decent anime releases.
1. WALKABOUT
My old Criterion Collection edition of Walkabout has been one of the most treasured DVDs in my vast collection for years now. It’s one of my favourite films of all time. I’m so excited to be able to retire that worn, aged non-anamorphic disc and replace it now with this new pristine Blu-ray edition of the film, hot off the printer from Criterion!
It’s always seemed to me that everything director Nicolas Roeg touches is gold. Whether focusing his lens on the steely eyes of David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth or adapting the children’s book, The Witches, Roeg’s work always seems to stand apart from the crowd as that of a true auteur. And Walkabout, to me, has always been his finest work – the story of a couple of young children lost in the outback of Australia, guided to safety by an Aboriginal boy on his “walkabout”. Stunning photography, wonderful, rich performances and a gripping yet simple tale told brilliantly. Walkabout is the Blu-ray I’ve most been looking forward to these last months. Don’t miss it!
2. INVICTUS
I really wasn’t looking forward to watching Invictus. I don’t care for sports films and I’m not very attracted to movies that portray political figures as gods or gurus. And Invictus has both sports and gods. But despite this preachy, predictable nature of this picture of a rugby team’s struggle to win the cup and unite a South Africa under newly elected President/Buddha Nelson Mandela, I actually managed to enjoy the story! What is it with these sports films winning me over lately?! Invictus shouldn’t have worked for me but the filmmaking and the performances won me over. The Blu-ray is packed with some nice features as well, including an exclusive picture-in-picture track with director Clint Eastwood and all the major players involved.
Do you, like I, have a soft spot for the often borderline exploitation films of director Brian DePalma? Yeah…his movies feature a lot of scenes and characters that are quite often in bad taste but are packed full of amazing feats of inhuman camer-work. And Carlito’s Way is no exception. While perhaps not the best DePalma film, this one does stand out for a couple of reasons – it marked DePalma’s reunion with his Scarface star, Al Pacino (again playing a latin charactrer for the director) and it features one of the most electric Sean Penn performances on celluloid! It’s just a shame that Universal didn’t hold off on issuing this Blu-ray for a couple of years in favour of giving us a fully-loaded twentieth anniversary edition in 2013! I guess I won’t be surprised if we see a double dip, when the time comes…
Are you a fan of anime? More specifically, are you a fan of the Dragonball franchise? If so, be certain not to miss out on this revolutionary, revitalizing release for the property – the first part of the Dragonball Z series revised, now with cleaned up animation, tightened plot and storytelling and an all new voice-cast recording featuring the original actors! Toei Animation are celebrating the 20th anniversary of Dragonball by taking the unwieldy 291-episode series, dragged out by numerous multi-episode battles that forgo plot progression in favour of never-ending scenes of violence, and crunching it down to a more well-paced and palatable 100 episode run. The first 13 episodes are presented in this 2-disc set, not looking as shiny-perfect as the Evangelion redux I reviewed last month, but certainly the best all-around presentation Dragonball Z has ever seen.
5. DOGORA
Dogora is no Baraka, though it tries very hard to be. But on its own, it’s a fine effort – an 80-minute Cambodian travelogue of a sort, featuring some absolutely stunning photography set to a driving musical score. There is no narrative to be found here and as such, the film is not for everyone. I haven’t had a chance to screen the Blu-ray, but if it’s up to the standards of the Baraka disc, this could be a superb showpiece for your home theatre setup!
ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY THIS WEEK
Clicking an image will take you to Amazon.com where you can learn more about and purchase the Blu-ray disc:
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]]>This might not be the biggest, most overwhelming release week of the year but there are a couple Blu-ray discs here that any serious collection simply can’t be without. And everything else this week somehow seems lesser as a result. That’s not to say the other films aren’t worth watching but when you’ve got two behemoths of cinema vying for your attention as these discs are, it’s tough to validate giving their competitors even the slightest regard. But then again, there’s Snake Plissken on Blu-ray. What’s a nerd to do?
Saving Private Ryan was sitting in my number two slot in this list for the longest time. And that’s where I would rate it in terms of necessary purchases this week. In terms of the importance of the films as cinema classics. But, I changed my mind at the last minute to better reflect the real world demand for the titles. This is the one most people want. And with good reason. This is a killer Blu-ray disc with a nearly perfect transfer. It could be the new go-to demo disc!
Read more about the Blu-ray disc here: Paramount brings Saving Private Ryan to Blu-ray
Ahhh. David Lean. This is my personal top pick for the week – the disc I’m most desperate to get my dirty little mitts on. Everything Lean touched just screams cinema and “big screen”. The perfect content to bring to Blu! If I’m going to be brutally honest here, I would, of course, rather have Lawrence of Arabia or Bridge on the River Kwai in high-def but watching Doctor Zhivago, in all its restored, 1080p splendour is like the ultimate warm up for those, arguably Lean’s finest and most epic films.
3. TETRO
You know it’s an imperfect Top 5 list when a new Coppola flik pulls in at number 3! But bear with me and with Tetro. It’s an imperfect film from a filmmaker who seems to be slowly but ever so surely crawling out of his two decade long rut. Tetro is no Godfather or The Conversation but it is a thoughtful effort full of ideas. And hey, who doesn’t love Vincent Gallo?!
4. HAMLET
This one is for all you Doctor Who and Star Trek fans out there. Oh yeah, and anyone who just can’t get enough of the old bard. This is Hamlet re-imagined as a modern psychological thriller, starring David Tennant as the tortured Danish prince and Captain Jean-Luc Picard as his treacherous uncle. The language might be old school but everything else about this production is contemporary and quite riveting! A stellar take on an old favourite with a stellar cast!
5. DIRTY DANCING: LIMITED KEEPSAKE EDITION
Word on the street is that this bulked up Dirty Dancing Blu-ray package contains an all new transfer of the film, which easily bests the garbage that Lionsgate foisted on its audience in the earlier 2007 edition of the film. I can’t speak from first-hand experience about the quality of the Blu-ray presentation (still can’t get Lionsgate to acknowledge my existence and send out some screeners!) but I can say that it comes with a 52-page book and a featurette tribute to my boy, Jerry Orbach. Nobody puts Lenny Briscoe in a corner!
ANIME OF THE WEEK: Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE: Collected Memories Box Set
Tsubasa might not be exactly to my tastes but then again, I’m a couple of decades out from the age of its target audience. This is the stuff that my nephew would totally eat up! And this amazing, comprehensive collection from FUNimation really delivers for fans. You get every single episode of the show as well as the “film”, The Princess in the Birdcage (also available this week on the Clamp Double Feature: Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE and xxxHOLiC Blu-ray disc) along with a bunch of decent extras. Be warned, however, that you won’t want to pick this up if you already own the season 1 set as you get both season 1 and 2 in this box. If that’s you then just gran the stand-alone season 2 set. Fans with a keen eye will be happy to learn that transfer quality improves slightly into the second season.
ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY THIS WEEK
Clicking an image will take you to Amazon.com where you can learn more about and purchase the Blu-ray disc:
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That exclamation mark in the title and the happy, bright orange cover of the Blu-ray tell you all you need to know going in to The Informant!. Yes, it’s based on a true story where money was lost, people were hurt and eventually went to jail. But the way that Soderbergh and Burns handle the material borders on absurdist cinema. A doughy, mustachioed Matt Damon plays Mark Whitacre, a former biochemist turned office monkey who disapproves of his companies underhanded dealings and goes to great lengths, over a 3 year period, to provide the F.B.I. with all the secret documents and tapes they need to bring those deals to light. In the process of the investigation, new facts about Whitacre himself begin to surface and the whole story takes a bizarre turn which throws his merit as an informant into question.
Damon is simply wonderful in this multi-layered, textured performance of a disturbed man who is, himself, something of a chameleon. His “unreliable” narration wanders with his train of thought and provides the perfect stylistic touchstone for us to understand that, while the story may be based in real events, the film is following a narrative track that’s at the mercy of an unstable mind. It’s visually stylish, with fantastic performances and a killer score by Marvin Hamlisch. As much as I loved Che, I have to say that I think The Informant! is Soderbergh’s strongest work yet!
Shot digitally on the HD RED camera, The Informant! looks pretty great on Blu. It’s a warm, rich image that occasionally suffers from aliasing and black crush. But don’t judge it too harshly as those and other perceptible imperfections are most likely attributable to the nature of the shots themselves and not the transfer. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track is modest and intentionally flat, outside of the crisp, dynamic score.
And speaking of modest, the special features on The Informant! Blu-ray are far from plentiful, but worth your attention! I found the Soderbergh and Burns’ commentary to be riveting, packed full of wonderful technical information about the shoot, production anecdotes and details about Kurt Eichenwald‘s original book and its subject and their adaptation to film. The disc also includes four pretty great deleted scenes.
Recommended!
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]]>Another week, another bank-breaker collection of new Blu-ray releases! Thankfully for my pocketbook, while there may be a lot of titles hitting the shops today, there isn’t a lot I feel the need to grab up. As always, we appreciate any Amazon purchase you make through our links. They help to keep this column and the site alive!
I’m not one of those crazy Steven Soderbergh fans. I’m not one of those art-jerks who’ll drool over everything the man touches (I thought Full Frontal was absolute garbage) but everything he’s touched lately seems to me to be quite brilliant. That goes for Che (which I reviewed a couple of weeks ago) and that certainly goes for his newest release, The Informant! (and yes, that exclamation mark is a part of the title.) I’ll publish a more thorough look at the disc later in the week but let me tell you right now, this is the best thing going today. It’s a cracking, fun little story, told with a ton of style, beautiful photography and the best Marvin Hamlisch score I’ve ever heard. And Matt Damon is not half bad in it either…
I can’t believe how much I really loved this movie. Like I said in my review, I loathe sports and I possess an even greater loathing for films about sports. The fact that I could enjoy it at all makesThe Damned United a pretty special movie, in my books. But ultimately, it’s less about the game than it is about the rise and fall of football club manager, Brian Clough, played brilliantly here by Michael Sheen. Watch the film for his performance, if nothing else.
Read my full review here: The Damned United Blu-ray Disc Review
3. JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON TWO EARTHS
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths is receiving a critical drubbing! I think I’m the only reviewer out there who has responded positively to the film. I’m not sure what people were expecting from it but as far as I’m concerned, it’s one of the best direct-to-video animated fliks that DC and Warner have released thus far!
Read my full review here: Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths Blu-ray Disc Review
I have no idea what this film is going to look like on Blu, but Ichi the Killer is a bat-shit crazy good time and worth the risk. I’m going to place my Amazon order tonight, when I get home from the office. For $16.99 you can’t go wrong!
Well, the title kind of speaks for itself but let me explain. Warner Home Video has packaged up a bunch of films, some never before available on Blu-ray, into double feature sets – Blu-ray releases featuring two similarly themed or sequel films now available in one affordable case. I haven’t seen them all myself but out of the three sets I’ve watched only the Dirty Harry/Magnum Force featured each film on its own disc (both previously available elsewhere) with tons of extras. Both the Funny Farm/Spies Like Us (two Chevy Chase films!) and Presumed Innocent/Frantic (two Harrison Ford films!) sets are bare-bones, movie only releases, with one BD-50 disc containing both films. Pretty decent deal here for fairly quality editions of pretty great films!
Dirty Harry/Magnum Force – $17.99
Funny Farm/Spies Like Us – $29.99
Presumed Innocent/Frantic – $17.99
Analyze This/Analyze That – $17.99
Grumpy Old Men/Grumpier Old Men – $18.99
Miss Congeniality/Miss Congeniality 2 – $18.99
ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY THIS WEEK
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]]>Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers have become a single entity in my mind. I have a hard time recalling what events, what story-points are covered in which film/show. Both the film and the series have the same creative teams at their core and feel very similar, from the way they were shot to the music behind them. That being said, I’m a big fan of both. And very excited to tell you about Paramount‘s upcoming Sapphire Series release of Saving Private Ryan, timed to be released just days before V-E day.
The timing of the release is also advantageous in that it can ride the wave of hype surrounding HBO‘s upcoming Band of Brothers “sequel”, The Pacific (premiering March 14th).
Kathryn Bigelow‘s (The Hurt Locker) K-19: The Widowmaker and John Carpenter‘s Escape From L.A. will also make their Blu-ray debut on the same day. I’ve got to say, I’m a bit sad that we’re getting the Snake Plissken sequel on Blu before a domestic release of Carpenter’s far superior Escape From New York. I’m not going to hold my breath for EFNY though, what with the rights being owned by MGM and that studio being currently mired in financial trouble. If I’m feeling desperate, I can always import Optimum‘s Blu-ray release of the film from the UK, which I understand is a mild upgrade from the DVD.
UPDATE: Saving Private Ryan details added!
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN: SAPPHIRE SERIES EDITION
(May 4, 2010 – MSRP $39.99)
Video: 1.85:1 1080p
Audio: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Special Features:
- An Introduction—Director Steven Spielberg discusses his interest in WWII and how it led him to make the film.
- Looking Into the Past—Steven Spielberg explains the research done for the film, the evolution of the screenplay and his intentions.
- Miller and his Platoon—Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and other cast members introduce the different characters and how the actors worked together.
- Boot Camp—Memories from the cast about the intense boot camp they went through with Captain Dale Dye.
- Making Saving Private Ryan—Steven Spielberg and his collaborators discuss the look of the film, the production design, the costumes and the photography.
- Re-creating Omaha Beach—A look at how the filmmakers re-created this historical event.
- Music and Sound—Discussion with the team that edited, scored and brought sound to the film.
- Parting Thoughts—Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks share their final thoughts on the experience of making the film.
- Into the Breach: Saving Private Ryan—A 25-minute documentary with the cast and crew.
- Shooting War—Tom Hanks hosts and narrates this documentary on WWII combat photographers in Europe and the Pacific theater of war.
- Theatrical Trailer (HD)
- Re-Release Trailer (HD)
K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER
(May 4, 2010 – MSRP $29.99)
Video: 2.39:1 1080p
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Special Features:
- Theatrical trailer (in HD)
ESCAPE FROM L.A.
(May 4, 2010 – MSRP $29.99)
Video: 2.39:1 1080p
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Special Features:
- Commentary by director Kathryn Bigelow and cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth
- Featurettes:
- The Making of K-19: The Widowmaker
- Exploring the Craft: Make-Up Techniques
- Breaching the Hull
- It’s in the Details
- Theatrical trailer (in HD)