Blu-ray

Blu-ray review: Oldboy

It’s great to see more non-Hollywood content appearing on Blu-ray, particularly a solid film like Oldboy, but it’s hard not to feel somewhat shortchanged by Tartan’s failure to port over all of the bonus content from their 2-disc DVD set, while the image, despite being a definite step up from every prior release of the film, falls short of the high standard set by their Blu-ray release of Black Book.

I’ve reviewed Tartan’s recent UK Blu-ray release of Oldboy, Chan-wook Park’s critically acclaimed revenge flick. This Region 0 release features decent if not outstanding transfer and audio treatment, while some but not all of the extras from the DVD release have been ported over.

BD+ cracked

Source: Engadget

Claimed to be unbreakable by its proponents, Blu-ray’s advanced BD+ content protection system has reportedly been circumvented by our friends at SlySoft, a mere month after the first BD+ discs hit the market.

Ha ha.

DVD debacle, Blu-ray bonzana, HD DVD hullabalooza!

I’ve kind of been slacking on updates regarding new DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD releases that have been pouring on to my desk. As it happens, one of each has arrived in the last week (not counting Les Triplettes de Belleville, discussed here). What can I say? I haven’t been feeling all that great over the last week or so, and as a result I’ve been a bit distracted. I was feeling decidedly queasy on Saturday, and in addition to that I think I’ve done something to a muscle, or joint, or bone, in my hip. For over a week, I’ve been having pains of varying degrees throughout my left hand side from my waist down, and, on Saturday night, I woke up with my whole leg spasming of its own accord. I was actually contemplating going to the hospital, but things seem to be settling down somewhat now, so I’m currently assuming that whatever was damaged is sorting itself out. I have a suspicion that it has something to do with the heavy crates I was carrying about at work just under a fortnight ago. One incident report coming right up!

Anyway, in jollier news…

My review copy of Blue Underground’s US 2-disc Special Edition of Dario Argento’s The Stendhal Syndrome reached me. I’ve done little more than take a cursory glance at the transfer, which doesn’t appear to be particularly good (although not much worse than I was expecting, given Blue Underground’s track record for having an unhealthy obsession with the edge enhancement and filtering dials), and watched the Dario Argento interview on the second disc (which was very informative, even if he did gloss over the supposed conflicts he had with cinematographer Guiseppe Rotunno during the shoot). I intend to take a fuller look at it towards the end of the week, with a review (including a newly rewritten article on the film, similar to what I did for Suspiria and Inferno) coming soon.

I also picked up a copy of Fox’s recent Region A Blu-ray release of The Fly, making this my first ever high definition David Cronenberg film (with Eastern Promises to follow on HD DVD in December) and only my second Fox DVD. From what I’ve seen of it, it appears to be a pretty good representation of the source materials, although perhaps a bit softer than I would have liked. Unfortunately, the original stereo audio mix has been junked in favour of a souped up 5.1 remix. For shame, Fox, for shame.

Finally, the HD DVD release of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey arrived on Saturday. Believe it or not, I haven’t seen the film before and am decidedly curious to sit down and watch it for the first time. I have a feeling it’s going to be one of those films that takes a while to “get”, but one thing I do know for sure, at this stage, is that it features a very nice transfer. While I am a little concerned about its almost grainless look, in every other area it appears to be excellent, with a much higher level of detail than I am generally used to seeing from Warner’s HD releases. The line-up of extras looks very good, too, with the Channel 4-made documentary 2001: The Making of a Myth thrown in along with a commentary and several other documentaries and featurettes. The other four Kubrick titles released on HD DVD at the same time (A Clockwork Orange, Eyes Wide Shut, Full Metal Jacket and The Shining) are also on their way, although, due to supply issues at Amazon.com, they were all dispatched at different times.

Belleville belle vue

My copy of the French HD DVD release of Les Triplettes de Belleville arrived this morning from FNAC - a lovely surprise, as I’d completely forgotten it was being released at the end of October and had no idea it was on its way.

For me, this release is a huge deal, because it’s the first full-length traditionally animated film I’ve owned on HD DVD (the next is likely to be Asterix and the Vikings, also due out in France at the beginning of December). I’ve already seen the three Looney Tunes shorts that are included on The Adventures of Robin Hood HD DVD, which made my salivate for more, as well as Satoshi Kon’s Paprika on Blu-ray, but the latter featured a somewhat underwhelming transfer, while the visual style did absolutely nothing for me (anime generally does little for me anyway, particularly when its flat, bland, stilted, washed-out anime like the kind found in Paprika).

Many people are under the misconception that animation doesn’t benefit from HD as much as live action, but my opinion has always been that the exact opposite is true, as I hope the screenshots I’ve posted below prove. Les Triplettes de Belleville looks amazing, with the improved definition really allowing you to appreciate the line work of the pencil animation and the level of detail in the backgrounds. Oh, and as an added bonus, it’s in its intended aspect ratio of 1.66:1, unlike the DVD, which was over-matted to 1.78:1.

It’s not a completely perfect release: the low bit rate of 9.16 GB is slightly too stingy for the encoder to cope with some of the more visually complex shots. In motion, the artefacts that you might be able to see in some of the screenshots below are nothing like as noticeable - in fact, I hardly noticed any of them when I was actually watching the film - but they could probably have been avoided had an HD30 been used instead of an HD15.

Still, all in all a very nice release indeed, and one that means I can now retired my 2-disc standard definition DVD version (all of the extras have been ported over, even if they are, by necessity, PAL to NTSC standards conversions).

Les Triplettes de Belleville
(France Télévisions Éditions, France, VC-1, 9.16 GB)

DVDs I bought or received in the month of October

• Black Book (R0 USA, Blu-ray)
• Dawn of the Dead (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• Day of the Dead (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• Fallen Angel (R2 UK, DVD)
• The Fly (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• Halloween (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• Inferno (R2 Italy, DVD)
• The Jungle Book: Platinum Edition (R0 USA, DVD)
• Masters of Horror: Season 1, Volume 1 (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• Masters of Horror: Season 1, Volume 2 (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• Mission Impossible III (R0 USA, HD DVD)
• Nikita/Subway (R2 UK, DVD)
• Oldboy (R0 UK, Blu-ray)
• Seed of Chucky (R0 USA, HD DVD)
• The Stendhal Syndrome (R0 USA, DVD)
• Suspiria: Definitive Edition (R2 Italy, DVD)
• Veronica Mars: The Complete Third Season (R1 USA, DVD)

No question about it, this was a very Blu month. A very expensive one too, although at least I managed to snag three review copies.

Halloween Blu-ray review: The Descent

The Descent is one of the most impressive high definition releases I have seen so far, not only for featuring a stellar transfer and solid audio support, but also for featuring one of the best modern films released on either format thus far, and for being one of the few Blu-ray releases to not only port over all of the extras from its standard definition counterpart, but also for including an array of HD exclusive bonuses. Yes, the lack of true picture-in-picture means that the effect is not as seamless as it could have been, but this is overall a magnificent release and the best Blu-ray disc I’ve seen.

As part of DVD Times’ Halloween 2007 coverage, I’ve reviewed last year’s Blu-ray release of The Descent, and excellent presentation of Neil Marshall’s superb horror film put together by Lions Gate.

Attention spookmeisters!

Well, in just a few hours it will be All Hallows Eve, and, as promised, I have some spooktacular reviews for you. Unfortunately, the list is somewhat shorter than I would have hoped, due to my coming down with a nasty case of writer’s block, which didn’t clear up in time for me to get through my entire list of titles. Still, here’s what you can expect to see tomorrow:

• Midnight: The Descent (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• 6 AM: Suspiria: Definitive Edition (R2 Italy, DVD)
• 12 PM: Inferno (R2 Italy, DVD)
• 6 PM: Underworld: Extended Cut (R0 Germany, HD DVD)

Unfortunately, I’ll be out at work all day tomorrow, so I won’t be on hand to post links to the reviews themselves until I get home. If you just have to be at the front of the queue, I suggest you loiter around DVD Times and watch out for them as they materialise. Unless you have anything better to do, that is.

In sickness and in health…

Sometimes, it seems as if every horror fan apart from myself has seen Showtime’s Masters of Horror series in its entirety. Now with two seasons of thirteen episodes each to its name, it seems like everyone has an opinion on each and every one of them. Until recently, I’d only seen Dario Argento’s two offerings, Jenifer in Season 1 and Pelts in Season 2. My phenomenal disappointment at their lacklustre quality played no small part in my lack of interest in seeking out the rest of the series: after all, if my favourite director couldn’t manage to bring anything to the table, what hope was there for the rest of ‘em?

Recently, however, I picked up the first two volumes of Anchor Bay’s Blu-ray release of Season 1, containing episodes by John Carpenter, Stuart Gordon, William Malone, Argento, Lucky McKee and John Landis. Impressed by McKee’s theatrical debut, May, one of my favourite horror films of the last decade, I jumped straight to his tale, Sick Girl, not sure at all of what to expect.

What’s strange is that, although McKee only has two feature films under his belt (one of which hadn’t been released when Sick Girl aired, and which I’ve yet to see), it’s still clear from the outset that his “style” is all over the production in a way that it just wasn’t for Dario Argento with Jenifer. If you’ve seen May, you’ll immediately recognise this as the work of the same director. All of his obsessions are present: we’ve got quirky outcasts, we’ve got lesbians, we’ve got Angela Bettis (playing a quirky outcast lesbian - how’s that for value for money?), we’ve got gloomy old buildings, we’ve got a slow, building sense of dread, we’ve got Jaye Barnes Luckett’s off-kilter score, we’ve got a scene in which two lovers watch a movie that can only be described as the creation of a deranged mind… Essentially, Sick Girl is treading much of the same ground as May, but McKee has got this formula down pat, and I for one didn’t object to a second outing.

The plot focuses on Ida Teeter (Bettis), a throaty-voiced scientist whose speciality is bugs. So fond of her beloved insects is she that her apartment is filled with them, much to the disgust of her frosty landlady, Mrs. Beasley (Marcia Bennett), and, when an unusually large and vicious, and seemingly unknown, specimen is mysteriously delivered to her door, she can’t keep the excitement out of her voice. Things get going when Ida, egged on by her lab partner, Max (Jesse Hlubik), plucks up the courage to approach Misty Falls (Erin Brown), a shy, reclusive girl who spends each day drawing pixies in the foyer of Ida’s workplace, and ask her out. Quicker than Max can say “ladies in lust”, Ida and Misty are having hot, rambunctious sex on the sofa, and Misty is moving into the apartment. It’s all sweetness and fairycakes… until, that is, Ida’s new bug takes a liking to Misty and… well, you can probably guess what happens next.

Okay, not the most thrilling of plots, as I’m sure you’ll agree, but McKee handles it with applomb. Like May, it goes nowhere in a hurry, taking care to establish its characters and allow the audience to come to like them before the “horror” segment of this Masters of Horror episode gets going. And Ida and Misty are likeable. They’re both quirky and oddly charming, and McKee portrays them with affection rather than as grotesque parodies of social outcasts. Yes, they’re weird, but in an endearing and frequently amusing way.

Much of this is down to the performances of the two leads, with Angela Bettis, while not delivering to quite the same level as she did in May, handling the awkward and stone-faced Ida with considerable skill. Erin Brown, meanwhile, seems to be channeling Amber Benson, initially at least. Beyond the more obvious issue of her orientation, Misty is so similar to Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer in terms of shyness, clothes, hairstyle and mannerisms that it’s a wonder 20th Century Fox haven’t sued for plagiarism. She’s also very good in the role, though, and handles her character’s slow transformation effectively. I was surprised, to put it mildly, to discover that she is actually a porn actress, better known to her fans as Misty Mundae.

Once the horror elements begin to fly, they do so with abundance. The climax is a deliciously twisted piece of filmmaking, with one of the most over the top but strangely convincing transformation I’ve seen in a while, all created with practical effects (no CGI muck here). I read a review which described this as the David Cronenberg film that David Cronenberg never made, and I can definitely see the similarities between this and the likes of Naked Lunch (and, presumably, The Fly, which I should be seeing for the first time soon), in its merging of humans and prosthetic insects. And hey, just in case this sounds like a bit of a downer, McKee even throws a happy ending at us out of left field, albeit one laced with a hefty dose of black humour.

One of my main criticisms of Jenifer and Pelts was that their scenarios were too thin and inconsequential to fill an hour’s running time. With Sick Girl, conversely, I felt exactly the opposite: I wanted the episode to last longer, and I suspect that, if it had, it would have avoided the third act seeming so rushed. It might also have allowed more depth to be given to the secondary characters, Max and Mrs. Beasley, who are merely one-note stereotypes (the sex-obsessed man and the “degenerate”-hating old woman). Still, for what it was, I enjoyed Sick Girl considerably more than I was expecting to. I’m not quite sure how McKee got to be labelled as a Master of Horror on the back of two films, but this episode confirmed my belief that he is a filmmaker worth watching out for.

This is going to set you back several Disney dollars… (Part 2)

You can view Part 1 (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Alice in Wonderland) here.

Peter Pan (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1953) - The 2006 Region 1 Platinum Edition includes the most extras, as well as the original mono audio mix. Non-Region 1 releases of the Platinum Edition ditch the original mono mix. Older releases, including the now-OOP Special Edition and Limited Issue versions, also omit the mono track and most (if not all) of the extras.

Lady and the Tramp (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1955) - The best available version is the Region 1 2-disc Platinum Edition, which includes the 2.55:1 Cinemascope presentation of the film with its original 3-channel audio. A 1.33:1 version is also included, but this is just a pan and scan presentation of the Cinemascope version rather than the differently framed Academy version that was released for theatres not equipped for Cinemascope (this version has never been released on DVD). The Region 2 versions of the Platinum Edition ditch the 3-channel mix and pan and scan version. The OOP Limited Issue release features only a 5.1 remix and has much poorer image quality, slightly cropped to 2.35:1, plus a complete lack of extras. At all costs avoid the older, non-Platinum Region 2 releases, which are presented in pan and scan only.

Sleeping Beauty (Clyde Geronimi, 1959) - I don’t own this one on DVD. All editions are currently OOP, although a Platinum Edition is scheduled for release on DVD and Blu-ray in October 2008. None of the previous releases include the mono audio that accompanied Academy ratio presentations of the film, but the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix found on every DVD is presumably derived from the 6-track mix accompanying 70mm prints of the film. Avoid the older, single-disc Region 2 releases, which are presented in 1.33:1 pan and scan; the various 2-disc Collector’s Editions all include the original 2.35:1 presentation (unlike Lady and the Tramp, the 1.33:1 prints were merely cropped rather than reframed), while the UK release features a DTS 5.1 track. The US version, however, contains a commentary not found elsewhere, so it basically comes down to a choice between audio and extras.

101 Dalmatians (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wolfgang Reitherman, 1961) - I don’t own this one on DVD. All releases are currently OOP. They all present the film in the preferable 1.33:1 Academy ratio rather than the 1.75:1 theatrical ratio (see here for an explanation to this controversy), and feature 2.0 surround audio rather than the original mono mix. A 2-disc Platinum Edition is due out in March 2008, and is expected to feature the original mono audio (on the Region 1 release, at any rate), and be matted to the theatrical 1.75:1 ratio.

The Sword in the Stone (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963) - All current releases present the film in the preferable 1.33:1 Academy ratio rather than the 1.75:1 theatrical ratio (see here for an explanation to this controversy), and present the audio in a 5.1 remix rather than the original mono recording. Judging by footage shown in the documentary on Platinum Edition release of The Jungle Book, a new edition will be released in matted widescreen at some point in the future.

The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967) - The recently released 2-disc Region 1 Platinum Edition includes the best selection of extras and also includes the original mono audio mix (no word yet on whether the mono mix is included on Region 2 editions, but judging by recent trends, this is probably unlikely). Note, however, that it is presented in a matted theatrical ratio of 1.75:1 rather than the preferable 1.33:1 Academy ratio (see here for an explanation to this controversy). The various OOP single-disc releases present the film in its Academy ratio, but feature poorer image quality and remixed 2.0 surround audio.

The Aristocats (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1970) - I don’t own this one on DVD. All the current releases present the film in the preferable 1.33:1 Academy ratio rather than the 1.75:1 theatrical ratio (see here for an explanation to this controversy), and present the audio in a remix (2.0 surround in Region 1 territories, 5.1 for Region 2) rather than the original mono recording. A 2-disc Special Edition is due out at some point in the future, presumably with a matted 1.75:1 transfer and the original mono audio mix.

Robin Hood (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1973) - All pre-2006 editions present the film in the preferable 1.33:1 Academy ratio rather than the 1.75:1 theatrical ratio (see here for an explanation to this controversy). The OOP Region 1 Gold Collection release features the original mono mix, while all other versions include only a 5.1 remix. The recently released Most Wanted Edition ditches the mono track and presents the film in a matted 1.75:1 ratio. The Region 2 UK release is also confirmed to suffer from severe DVNR artefacts (evidence here), but I have no idea whether the Region 1 version is similarly affected.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lounsbery, 1977) - I don’t own this one on DVD. The OOP Region 1 25th Anniversary Edition presents the film in its intended 1.33:1 aspect ratio and features only a Dolby Digital 5.1 remix instead of the original mono track. The more recent Friendship Edition features similar specs, but boasts an improved transfer and includes some additional extras. Region 2 releases appear to correspond to the Region 1 25th Anniversary Edition in terms of specs and bonus materials.

The Rescuers (Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lounsbery, Art Stevens, 1977) - All available releases present the film in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, which appears to be an accurate reproduction of its intended framing, and feature a 5.1 remix in place of the original mono audio.

The Fox and the Hound (Art Stevens, Ted Berman, Richard Rich, 1981) - All available editions are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, which appears noticeably cropped, suggesting that this is a pan and scan job rather than an open matte affair like the 60s and 70s productions. All releases dump the original mono audio mix in favour of a remix (2.0 surround on the OOP Region 1 Gold Collection release, 5.1 for all other versions).

The Black Cauldron (Ted Berman, Richard Rich, 1985) - All releases present the film in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio of its 35mm screenings (a 2.20:1 ratio was used for the Super Technirama 70mm version); however, all but the French Region 2 release are non-anamorphic. The French release, which also includes English subtitles, seems therefore to be the preferred edition to get. All releases feature a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track, which I presume is derived from the 6-track mix that accompanied 70mm prints of the film.

Part 3 will follow in the not too distant future…

Halloween: what can you expect?

In just a few days’ time, it will be Halloween, and, naturally, I’m planning a splurge of horror-themed reviews for DVD Times. Last year, I concentrated mainly on covering HD DVD releases, but this year, things are going to be a little more balanced across the three formats I cover. So, provided I can actually churn them out within the next 8-9 days, here’s what you can expect to see:

• The Descent (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• Halloween (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• House of 1000 Corpses (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• Inferno (R2 Italy, DVD)
• Suspiria: Definitive Edition (R2 Italy, DVD)
• Underworld: Extended Cut (R0 Germany, HD DVD)

Now, I’m aware that that’s a bit of a tall order, particularly given that I also have work commitments and my PhD to think about, not to mention a review of the Blu-ray release of Oldboy, plus one of Blue Underground’s new release of The Stendhal Syndrome when it arrives, so I don’t want to promise anything. I’ll do my best to finish as many of them as possible, though.

The optimum Mother of Tears experience

Source: Dark Discussion

Dark Discussion is reporting that Optimum Releasing has picked up the UK distribution rights to Dario Argento’s Mother of Tears, with a view to releasing it on DVD in February or March 2008. A general theatrical release is, unsurprisingly, not planned, but Alan Jones is apparently trying to persuade Optimum to put together a screening of the entire trilogy in London with Argento himself in attendance.

Bear in mind that Optimum are also a supporter of high definition media, currently releasing HD DVDs and also supporting Blu-ray as of November. They haven’t released a whole lot of HD content as of yet, but in their most recent press release they stated an interest in responding to “the demand for a greater variety of product”, so it’s possibly worth contacting them and asking them to consider releasing Mother of Tears on either or both formats. I’ve sent them an email (info@optimumreleasing.com), and I would strongly encourage you to do likewise.

In related news, the soundtrack to Mother of Tears is being released in Italy by the label Edel to coincide with the film’s theatrical release at the end of the month. MovieGrooves hope to have copies in stock by early November, and I’ve already got mine pre-ordered. I’m very curious to hear the score in all its glory - I’ve heard mixed reports about it, but the Jerry Goldsmith/Omen-esque snippets that I’ve heard in various trailers and the like sound quite enticing, and, if nothing else, it suggests something of a change of pace for Argento and Claudio Simonetti.

Blu-ray bonanza

On Friday, I received a couple of packages from DVD Pacific, containing the first two instalments of Masters of Horror: Season 1 on Blu-ray. Volume 1 contains John Carpenter’s Cigarette Burns, Stuart Gordon’s Dreams in the Witch-House and William Malone’s The Fair-Haired Child, while Volume 2 contains Dario Argento’s Jenifer, Lucky McKee’s Sick Girl and John Landis’ Deer Woman. Hmm, something slightly wrong about the first Argento title I own in HD is comfortably the worst thing to which his name has ever been attached (then again, I haven’t seen all of the pre-Bird with the Crystal Plumage westerns that he wrote, so there could be some clunkers among them as well). Still, we all have to start somewhere, and I wanted to pick these discs up, given that Argento’s shameful contributions are the only episodes I have seen of either season of Masters of Horror. I just hope some of the other filmmakers were able to bring a little more of themselves to the table.

As for the treatment of the episodes on Blu-ray, you may already be aware that, barring the audio commentaries for each episode, all of the extras from the standard definition releases have been dumped. Classy, Anchor Bay, real classy. Anyone would think you didn’t care about what you were putting out. Oh, wait a minute - judging by Halloween, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and Evil Dead II, that much is pretty clear.

Anyway, unlike most Blu-ray and HD DVD releases, these discs are encoded at 1080i rather than 1080p. The reason for this seems to be that the closing credits for each episode scroll at 60 Hz, necessitating the episodes themselves to be stored as such. Personally, I’m glad Anchor Bay didn’t try to deinterlace them themselves, as such results are rarely pretty. As for the image quality, it’s reasonably good. All the episodes have a similar soft, rather diffuse look, but I suspect it may turn out that they look as good as the source materials allow.

I’ve also received a check disc for Tartan’s upcoming UK Blu-ray release of Oldboy. The image quality is… eh, passable. I’ve seen worse, but I’ve seen a lot better. Looks rather murky and edge enhanced. I’ve been tasked with reviewing the technical components of the disc for DVD Times - we already have plenty reviews of the film itself, so there’s no need to repeat what others have already said.

See you at the movies!

Blu-ray bonanza

Another Blu-ray disc reached me today, Sony Pictures’ US release of Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book. I already own a check disc version of Tartan’s UK release (review here), but I wanted to pick up the American version for its exclusive commentary by Paul Verhoeven (which, based on my brief five-minute sampling of it earlier today, seems to be a good one - there’s something very enjoyable about listening to this unrelentingly cheerful Dutchman rattling on and on without seeming to pause for breath).

In terms of the image quality, I initially assumed that the Tartan and Sony releases would both feature the same transfer. Tartan are, after all, a smallish independent distributor taking something of a gamble by dipping their toes into the HD pool, and my expectation was that Sony would do whatever they could to help them out. Surprisingly, though, the two transfers are not the same. They were clearly minted from the same master (unsurprising, in this age of digital intermediates), and the differences are miniscule, but they are there. Flicking between the same frames on both releases (I hope to put up screengrabs later) reveals minute differences in the distribution of the grain patterns, indicating that these are different encodes, even if the changes can only be seen by zooming in to around 300% of the original size. Furthermore, while the Tartan release shows some light ringing at the top and bottom of the frame, and around the on-screen location type (see Example 3 in my recent comparison between the Tartan DVD and Blu-ray releases), this is nowhere to be found in Sony’s release. It just simply isn’t there. Now, there is no appreciable difference in the detail levels of the rest of the image, so I’m not quite sure what is going on here, but ultimately, the difference is pretty much irrelevant.

Unless you really care about a tiny bit of ringing around some text (which, if memory serves me correctly, occurs at less than half a dozen points in the entire film) and a eensy bit more at the top and bottom of the frame, there really is no reason to prefer one over the other. It ultimately all comes down to which bonus features you would prefer (interviews with Verhoeven and Carice Van Houten on the Tartan disc; Verhoeven commentary and documentary on the Sony)… and, of course, the price. My understanding is that the Tartan release comes packaged with the standard definition DVD, jacking the price up somewhat unneccessarily. The Sony release (which, incidentally, is, like the Tartan, region-free) sells for a very reasonable £13.24 at DVD Pacific, whereas the cheapest I can find the Tartan release is £17.89 at Sendit, so that may tip the scales for you.

Either way, you’re getting a superb, almost completely flawless presentation of what is, in my opinion, one of the most downright entertaining thrillers I’ve seen in recent years and my favourite Verhoeven film so far.

Blurry Blu-ray

Looks like the postal system is well and truly getting back to normal. A whole slew of packages popped through my letterbox this morning, among them Anchor Bay’s Blu-ray releases of Halloween, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. Unfortunately, the news is pretty bad on every front, as all three are heavily flawed in one way or another.

We’ll start with the good (or, I should say, comparatively good) news first: Halloween is the best-looking title of the three, with acceptable (although far from outstanding) detail levels and no obvious noise reduction artefacts. On the downside, as has been extensively documented by Dave Mack at the AV Science Forum, this release, and despite (alleged) claims to the contrary from an Anchor Bay representative, the transfer provided on Blu-ray does not feature director John Carpenter and cinematographer Dean Cundey’s approved colour palette for the film. While not as mangled as the Divimax standard definition DVD, there are definite problems here, with the daytime shots alternating between looking too summery (the film is, after all, set in late Autumn) and having the proper “brown” look, while the blue tint that is supposed to be present in the night scenes seems to come and go on a shot by shot basis. In the past, I’ve come across statements suggesting (some of them rather convincingly) that the Divimax transfer showed the correct colour values, but ultimately I’m going to go with what Synapse Films’ Don May Jr., who has had first-hand experience with the original 35mm camera negative, has to say:

You can like the sharpness, detail and the way the new HALLOWEEN looks on BD. That’s fine. I have no problem with people’s opinions on what they like or dislike and I’m not going to insult someone for the way they feel about a film’s presentation. But, based on previous editions that I’ve seen and the fact that I own original OUT OF THE CAMERA 35mm camera negative (not dupe neg, not print, not IP) for HALLOWEEN shows that the blue tint SHOULD be there in a much stronger way than presented on the current BD version.

HALLOWEEN is a classic of the genre. A film like this deserves to be properly restored each and every time it comes out on a new format. On VHS, LD, DVD, BD or watching on MONSTERS HD or your favorite cable station, you can certainly love it any way you see fit. If you dig it, that’s fine. The way it looks, the way it sounds, in whatever format you decide to watch it in… But, the BD isn’t necessarily the way the filmmakers intended it to look and, as a person who does digital film transfers and has been working in the film industry for almost 15 years, I personally feel that all transfers need to be signed off on by one of the filmmakers close to the project (whether it’s the DP, the director, etc.). Almost every one of our transfers has been looked at by the filmmakers, or personally supervised at OUR expense by the filmmakers BEFORE it goes to DVD… that’s the way WE roll. It’s a courtesy and a respect that we have for the films we release and the filmmakers that spill blood, sweat and tears over their life’s work. Perhaps larger companies don’t see that as a viable expense, but we do and, in many of our fans’ minds, that what they appreciate the most about us. We just try to do it the right way, every time, so that these sort of situations don’t continue to pop up.

As for Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, to the best of my knowledge they do not exhibit any problems with the colour timing, but they have plenty of problems of their own, which have been documented, with visual evidence, by Lyris on his site. To put it bluntly, Dawn of the Dead is a mess, suffering from hideous noise reduction artefacts (particularly smearing during pans), and Day of the Dead is only slightly better. Both are also noticeably edge enhanced.

I’m sorry, but I’m not impressed at all by Anchor Bay’s initial foray into the world of high definition. These masters may have been passable in the standard definition domain, but when you move into HD, you really have to step things up a notch. People are paying a premium from what they expect will be first-rate AV presentations, and sloppiness like this is just not the way to go.

One final positive point to help take some of the sting out of all the negatives: all three titles come with their original mono mixes intact, and, in the case of Day of the Dead, the mono mix does not suffer from the censored swearwords which affect the 5.1 (Dolby and PCM) remix. Given that several high definition releases of older films have featured only remixes (Universal’s HD DVD of An American Werewolf in London being a particularly nasty offender), and also given the company’s somewhat spotty track record in this area, Anchor Bay are to be commended for their decision to cater to purists.

The more important things in life

Be afraid, be very afraid…

If you’ve been following the high definition format war at all on the web, chances are you’ve heard of Blu-ray.com, a fan site dedicated to Sony’s format which seems to be predominantly a hangout for overly confrontational teenagers who take the whole affair just a bit too seriously. So laughable is this site’s reputation that even high-ranking Blu-ray insiders are embarrassed by it.

To put things into perspective, their forum is home to a group known as the “Blu-Bloods” (who also have their own forum here). For these zealots, this truly is a war in the most literal sense of the word, with statements like “[I] personally would rather die then buy a[n HD DVD] movie” being uttered with complete sincerity. It’s a scary place, but good for a laugh.

Every now and then, just when I think they can’t sink any lower, someone manages to take things to the next level. Take this thread, for example, started by someone distraught to learn that his girlfriend’s father owns an HD DVD player:

I have been after this girl for ages. She is simply beautiful - and I think I am in love, whatever.

Now, we went on a trip to watch a concert in Hamburg, Germany - and we are taking a walk. She sees a movie (cant remember which) on a poster “Coming to Blu Ray and HD-DVD”, and stops.
While I had no idea she even knew how to turn a computer, she says: “Wow… I diddnt think this movie was coming to HD-DVD, how great.”

“I am one of those who just take it personal and simply hate HD-DVD.”

And I went like, wtf
“You… you buy movies? I mean, you support HD-DVD?”

Then I got the whole story about her dad being a HD-DVD fanatic, and how she loves the quality which is WAY superior to Blu Ray. I also got the story her father told her: Blu Ray uses the same mpeg encodes as the DVD version.
lal

anyway - wtffffff
My room is stuffed with Blu Ray and I am one of those who just take it personal and simply hate HD-DVD. I dont think I can go to another family dinner at her place again xD

this is SO messed up. I finally meet a very nice girl, and she turns out have the same interests as me … just, she joined the other faction.
Must be like meeting a girl who plays alliance on some normal server.
ouch.

(Spelling, punctuation and grammar as in original.)

Bad enough, you might think, until you read some of the advice that the other members then give the poor schmuck and begin to realise that it gets even worse:

seriously there are other fish in the pond buddy….

BROS BEFORE HOES!!!!!!!!!

I would choose blu ray…..at least you dont have to take ur blu ray out to dinner and say I love you every few days to show that yoy still care…if you get rid of her now, think about all the money you can save in which you can use to support the cause….

Dump her.

What you need to do is take your girl to your place and show her some Blu-ray movies. Pop in something with real good PQ, like Pirates2 or Casino Royale or something. Don’t make a huge deal out of it… just play it cool. Hopefully your system is somewhat comparable to her dad’s, so she’ll see with her own eyes that Blu-ray is superior. Convert her first… then let her educate her dad! Or once she’s convinced, have her parents come over for dinner and pop in a Blu-ray over dessert.

stop by some evening and help her old man boil his discs. talk to him. talk slowly and dont use big words. try to show him the error of his ways. if that dont work it probably was never ment to be. look on the bright side, in 20 years unlike her, your blu ray movies will still be lookin good.

Try something suttle, Like next time you visit her family wear a blu-ray T-shirt or somehting. I don’t own one now but if I was in you situation I probably would.

Man, it really puts Scientology to shame, doesn’t it? Seriously, this should serve as a lesson in why tying a home entertainment format so tightly to a games console is a phenomenally bad idea.

DVD image comparison: Black Book (SD vs. HD)

When I first saw the DVD release of Black Book, I thought the image quality was unremarkable but basically acceptable. Several months later, after having seen the Blu-ray version, I now consider the DVD to be barely watchable. The DVD has been heavily filtered, sucking out a massive amount of the fine detail, and yet even so still exhibits severe compression artefacts on occasions (check the mush into which the sand disintegrates in Example 8, for example).

In contrast, the Blu-ray version is a revelation, even if it still falls just shy of perfection. A small amount of filtering has been applied, removing the finest layer of detail and also resulting in some very mild ringing (look carefully at the location type in Example 3). It’s still a very beautiful-looking transfer, though, and it’s the single fault in an otherwise stellar presentation.

This film also shows up, to a far greater extent than any other that I’ve compared so far, the difference in high definition colour gamut versus that of standard definition. Look how much purer the reds are, especially in Example 5 (I’m pretty sure the swastika flag is meant to be black, white and red, not black, white and orange).

The Blu-ray release ports over all of the extras from the DVD version, although Tartan have bizarrely chosen to imbed this standard definition content in a small window on the Extras menu, rather than presenting it full-screen. If you have a relatively small TV, this will make watching them quite a chore.

Check out the comparison here!

The battle for high definition

Black Book is a solid-looking but not perfect Blu-ray release, highly impressive apart from some light filtering, removing some of the finest details and resulting in some mild ringing in places (look at the top and bottom of the frame, where the film image and the letterboxing converge).

Black Book
(Tartan, UK, AVC, 30.2 GB)

DVD image comparison: The Devil’s Rejects (SD vs. HD)

For my first ever DVD to Blu-ray comparison, I’ve decided to go with a tricky title - The Devil’s Rejects. This is an interesting comparison for many reasons, not least because, despite being a recent film, it’s not a slick, clean-looking affair from which perfection can reasonably be expected from an HD release. Shot on 16mm film with a lot of hand-held photography, it was always going to be tough to compress, and to be fair the DVD doesn’t look too bad, although it certainly plays havoc with the grain. For the Blu-ray release, meanwhile, Lions Gate used the aged MPEG2 codec (the same codec used for standard definition DVD) combined with a single layer BD25 disc, and this, unfortunately, results in some pretty severe compression artefacts. Generally, it’s watchable when in motion, but on a few occasions it slips up rather badly, as can be seen in Example 2, which is the final frame of the shot in question. As you can see, the entire frame looks like a ridiculously over-compressed JPEG, and although this is very much a worst case scenario, it does demonstrate the dangers of combining an aged codec, a lack of disc space and and problematic material.

I’m sure a handful of people will take one look at these screen captures and decide that the DVD version actually looks better due to the decreased grain, but make no mistake, the Blu-ray version shows considerably more detail and is a far more faithful to its source materials, regardless of the problems with compression.

Check out the comparison here!

Transatlantic Pan

Source: DVD Times

Not long after the specs were discovered for the upcoming UK HD DVD and Blu-ray releases of Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth from Optimum, New Line Cinema have announced their own North American high definition release of the film. Arriving on both HD DVD and Blu-ray on December 26th 2007 (just over a month after its UK counterpart), this edition seems to be the more impressive of the two, boasting a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 audio track and including an “enhanced visual commentary” that, as far as I can gather, is not being offered on Optimum’s release.

I’m glad New Line are releasing this title simultaneously on both formats, after they got pissy about HD DVD’s lack of region coding and decided to delay the HD DVD versions of Hairspray and Rush Hour 3 (not that I’m particularly mourning these titles) to give their international distribution partners a chance to release the films worldwide.

See every fleck of blood in living colour

Lions Gate’s track record for Blu-ray output has been rather spotty so far, but given the right materials, they are capable of producing some absolute gems. The best Lions Gate title that I’ve seen is The Descent, which bears the honour of being one of a small number of films available in high definition that not only looks superb but is also an excellent film. This is a very natural-looking title, pleasingly grainy and not having the extremely clean look of the likes of Black Snake Moan or King Kong. Basically, it looks rough and ready, like the caves in which the heroines find themselves trapped.

The Descent
(Lions Gate, USA, AVC, 20.1 GB)