Blu-ray

Get it right first time in future, Sony

Source: DVD Times

The Fifth Element, Blu-ray’s poster child disgrace, is to get a re-release this July, with the current substandard release going out of print come June 13th. Little information has been provided for the new edition, but the online buzz suggests that we’ll get an AVC encode on a dual-layer BD50 disc, as well as both PCM and Dolby TrueHD audio (either 20-bit or 24-bit). If Sony had any decency, they’d offer a free replacement to anyone who bought the initial pressing, but hey, since when did the words “Sony” and “decency” go together?

I may end up picking up this new release to replace my standard definition Superbit DVD, although part of me wants to hold out for the HD DVD release that Pathé seemingly intends to release in Europe at some point in the near future.

High definition cannibalism

Ridley Scott’s Hannibal (his best film, in my opinion, although I’m well aware that I’m distinctly in the minority in this regard) was all prepped for a Blu-ray release from MGM/Fox in the US on April 3rd, until, only a couple of weeks from the launch date, Fox yanked almost its entire high definition line-up from the schedule, postponing several titles indefinitely. There is currently no new release date for either Hannibal or the host of other titles in the same position, and, if this continues throughout the summer, then it looks like Universal may beat MGM at their own game. Universal, you see, hold the rights to Hannibal in all territories outside North America, and, as per a post at the AV Science Forum, they intend to release it (and Hannibal Rising) in France on August 1st. Provided it doesn’t have forced subtitles when English audio is selected (a possibility, I admit), I’m all over this one. As a bonus, it will almost certainly be VC1-encoded rather than using the dated MPEG2 codec favoured by MGM.

Oh yeah, and, while New Line continues to drag its feet in terms of hopping aboard the HD bandwagon, Wild Side are planning on releasing it in France on July 4th. Of course, I suspect it’s unlikely that it will include English subtitles, but hopefully, with an HD master readily available, Optimum in the UK will step up to the plate.

“Ta-ta - H.”

A buena, but empty, vista

Source: High-Def Digest

In what is rapidly becoming a predictable trend for Blu-ray, yet another batch of the many titles promises at CES earlier this year has been postponed, with no new release dates given. This time round, the victims are a raft of Disney titles originally scheduled for June 5th: Cars, The Rock, Con Air and Crimson Tide. Looks like the only thing that will be crimson next month, therefore, is my face (crimson with anger, that is): Cars (or, indeed, the promise of any Pixar film in high definition) was one of my main reasons for buying a Playstation 3 in the first place, while Criterion’s release of The Rock is one of the finest standard definition DVDs ever created, so I was understandably eager to see how it would fare in HD.

Now, obviously, Disney are claiming that these are postponements rather than outright cancellations, but that really doesn’t tell us anything. After all, we’re still waiting for all those Fox/MGM titles that were yanked from the schedule after being announced at CES, aren’t we? Come to think of it, how many of the titles announced for Blu-ray at that particular show have been released? Didn’t I predict this a few months ago?

DVDs I bought or received in the month of April

• Casino Royale (R0 Finland, Blu-ray)
• Dragon’s Lair (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• The Game (R0 USA, HD DVD)
• King Arthur (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• The Mario Bava Collection Volume 1 (R1 USA, DVD)
• A Scanner Darkly (R0 USA, HD DVD)

Somewhat slim pickings this month, and I note that the decline in my purchasing of standard definition titles continues, with only one actual DVD being bought. I wasn’t sure whether or not to include Dragon’s Lair, as it’s technically a game rather than a film, but I suppose it’s a borderline case, and, given the mechanics of how it operates and the inclusion of DVD-style bonus content, it ultimately makes the grade.

Blu-ray review: Dragon’s Lair

How much you get out of Dragon’s Lair on Blu-ray will unsurprisingly depend on how fond your memories are of the arcade original. This is undeniably the best it has ever looked (although pointless “restoration” techniques incompetently applied prevent it from reaching its full potential), and the bonus features are uniformly excellent. However, I personally struggle to find a single kind word to say about the game itself, while there is no guarantee that the disc will work correctly or at all if you do not own one of the small number of players on which it was tested prior to release, thanks to the blasé attitude of the Blu-ray Disc Association regarding the format’s interactive functionality. Caveat emptor, as the saying goes.

For DVD Times’ first ever review of interactive HD content, I dig up some 80s nostalgia for a review of the Blu-ray adaptation of the popular arcade hit Dragon’s Lair.

Chasing the dragon

I’m well aware that a deliciously derisive review of the monumental suckfest that is Dragon’s Lair on Blu-ray should have been forthcoming by now, and I really hope to get it done before the weekend, but the fact is that I’ve been feeling a little down in the dumps since Friday with a rather bad cold. The thing laid me low to the extent that I actually called in sick on Monday and Tuesday (not that I minded not having to go into that sweltering office and sit in front of a flickery monitor), and I’m still feeling a bit zapped of energy and motivation. I’ll give the thing one more try before putting pen to paper, but I have to honestly say that this is going to be one of those rare 1/10 reviews. It’s a failure as a game and an even bigger failure if you try to class it as a movie, so I’m not sure there’s anything nice I can say about it at all. Sometimes genuinely scathing reviews can be fun to write, but in this case, I suspect that it’s going to be little more than a chore.

A double dose of underwhelming HD

My copy of The Game on HD DVD arrived from Amazon.com this morning. Just yesterday, I read Peter M. “I can’t tell the difference between standard definition and high definition” Bracke’s review of it, and was a little alarmed to discover that he had awarded the transfer a 4/10 rating. Given that he gave the 480i upconverted Traffic an 8/10, I was beginning to panic. Thankfully, The Game doesn’t look that bad, which just serves to underscore the fact that these incompetent reviewers are essentially dishing out numerical ratings at random. The Game looks rather diffuse, and is certainly not what I’d call the best example of what the HD formats are capable of, but it’s watchable enough and looks largely natural, with the occasional impressive moment of detail. I’m going to have to give it a more thorough going-over before awarding a rating of my own, but so far my diagnosis would be “definitely above average”.

I also received a review copy of Dragon’s Lair on Blu-ray - something which Dave over at DVD Times asked me if I’d be interested in covering the other day. For those who don’t know, Dragon’s Lair is an arcade game released in 1983, featuring cel animation supervised by Don Bluth, whose greatest claim to fame is staging a mass walk-out of the Walt Disney studio in 1979, due to a growing belief that Disney had lost sense of its very essence. Throughout the 80s and 90s, Bluth and co produced a series of saccharine and badly-written animated talking animal movies, including The Secret of N.I.M.H., An American Tail and The Land Before Time. He hasn’t managed to get anything off the ground since 2000’s horrendous Titan A.E., and, for some reason, Dragon’s Lair remains one of his most popular efforts.

I can’t think why, though. The animation has that naff 80s look, and the whole thing is let down by rubbish game design. It’s basically built around a process of trial and error: wait for the game to become interactive, and then guess which of the five buttons you need to press in order to get to the next area; memorise and repeat ad nauseam. On the Blu-ray version, this becomes even worse as, when you fail a certain section, instead of being made to repeat it, you are simply moved on to the next area. This not only makes the game more or less pointless, it also renders it completely incomprehensible as the whole thing essentially becomes a series of brief clips of animation that fail to link together in anything approaching a coherent manner.

What’s worse, during development of the Blu-ray version, the programmers apparently didn’t have access to the BD-Java specification (see this article), meaning that compatability problems are rife. One user failed to get it to work at all on his Philips player, while it has been confirmed that the only devices on which this release was actually tested are the Samsung BD-P1000, Panasonic DMP-BD10, Sony BDP-S1 and the PlayStation 3, in addition to PowerDVD BD for Windows. If my experience with the PS3 version constitutes an accurate representation of how the game was intended to be played, then I shudder to think what it would be like when it was playing incorrectly. Small wonder the manual accompanying the disc carries the following disclaimer:

Although Digital Leisure Inc. believes this program performs the functions described in this guide, the program is provided ‘as is’ without performance warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited, [sic] the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of this program is with you.

Translation: it might not work, so don’t come crying to us if this is the case. Even the menus don’t work properly - the background artwork flashes up for a fraction of a second and then disappears - while the diamond icon that the manual claims will pop up when you are supposed to issue a command doesn’t actually appear (at least not on the Playstation 3).

Dragon’s Lair is a charmless, shambolic mess of a game. I can only hope that the arcade original was somewhat better, and that the total shoddiness of the gameplay is due to the buggy implementation of the game on Blu-ray. According to an interview with the programmer responsible for porting it over, he basically had to bend over backwards due to the rough state of the development tools and lack of access to the source code, so I suppose it’s a wonder it works at all. Regardless of whose “fault” it is, though, the fact remains that it’s a completely unplayable mess and one that I’m glad I didn’t pay for.

Oh, and if you want some thoughts on the shoddy digital “restoration” performed on it by dunderhead technicians who haven’t got a clue how to use the tools at their disposal, check out Lyris’ post on the matter.

It’s a royal flush!

Wrong game, I know, but I don’t know anything about cards. The point is, my copy of the Finnish release of Casino Royale on Blu-ray arrived today.

(Coincidentally, Lyris also received the free copy of the UK release which, as Playstation 3 owners, we were able to sign up for. I had a look at the torture scene on this copy, and found the manner in which it was edited quite curious. Gone is Le Chiffre placing the rope on Bond’s shoulder, and his line, “Such a waste.” Some of the sound effects and Bond’s screams also seemed to have been toned down slightly, although, without doing a side by side comparison, it was impossible to be sure, so don’t quote me on this. Either way, Bond’s balls still get a bloody good walloping, and I remain incredibly disturbed by the notion that the BBFC found elements of this scene to be sexualised.)

Anyway, on to the matter at hand - the Finnish disc. I can confirm that it is indeed region free, and that it is indeed completely uncut… although I had a rather hare-raising moment at first, because, in my eagerness to take a look-see at my new disc, I accidentally put the American disc in by mistake! Put that down to having four copies of the same film, each with almost identical covers, in the same room. Thankfully, I had enough sense to rectify this mistake before I went blustering on to the Internet to verbally abuse those who had told me the Finnish release was uncut. The disc label, incidentally, also has an Australian OLFC certificate on it, lending credence to the theory that the exact same disc was released down under, which should please those who prefer enormous ratings stickers on their front covers to non-English text. Furthermore, although I will be doing some careful inspections of the various releases before offering my final judgement, an initial glance at this disc suggests that it has identical image quality to the US/Korean version.

Now that I have a copy of Casino Royale that I’m happy with, I can finally get on with my long-delayed review.

HD DVD celebrates first birthday with 100,000 sales

HD DVD turns a year old today (the official release date for the initial line-up of titles was April 18th 2006, although a few retailers started selling them early on the 15th, hence last Sunday’s buyathon). With the format having made major gains in the charts recently, now seems like the perfect time to convey more good news: HD DVD has now passed a major milestone, having sold (not shipped, sold) 100,000 stand-alone players since launch. Note that this figure does not include the number of Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on drives sold.

In addition, Planet Earth on HD DVD became the first title on either format to reach a sales rank of 4 in the DVD sales charts (covering DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray and the, ahem, special interest formats like UMD), ousting the previous king, Casino Royale on Blu-ray, with a high of 7, from its throne. Now that the disc drought of early 2007 seems to be at an end, HD DVD seems to slowly but surely be clawing its way back to its previous position. Clearly, the gap between the two HD formats is going to be a lot narrower than it was in the glory days of mid to late 2006, and I expect that both formats will overtake each other at various points throughout the coming months, but I must say that those who poo-pooed HD DVD and predicted its demise spoke rather too hastily. One thing’s for sure, 2007 is going to continue to be very interesting.

Third time’s a charm

In what is becoming something of an obsession for me, I’ve just ordered my third copy of Casino Royale on Blu-ray, and am hoping that this will finally be one that I am satisfied with. After discovering that the supposedly uncut Korean release did in fact feature the same censored PG-13 version of the film as its US counterpart (actually, an identical disc was released in both territories, right down to the “Made in the USA” text on the disc label), I vowed to be more careful about my double-dips in future. However, several independent sources have now confirmed that the film has been released uncut on Blu-ray in both Australia and Scandinavian territories, and that, contrary to previous suspicions, it is in fact a multi-region (ABC) rather than Region B release. This makes the US/Chinese/Korean/Thai Region A release the only one to be region coded - ironic, considering that it features the most butchered of all the cuts of the film.

I was going to pick up the Australian version, simply for the convenience of having English text on the cover (silly, I know), but unfortunately it has sold out at EzyDVD, my regular port of call for Aussie discs. Instead, I headed over to Finnish site Filmifriikki and placed an order for the local disc from that country.

Once I have my hands on a copy of the film that I’m happy with, you can probably expect me to finally get round to that review I’ve been intending to provide for so long.

David Manning rides again

Source: AV Science Forum

Never ones to shy away from blowing their own trumpet (see the David Manning and PSP lie blog fiascos), Sony has launched yet another round of shameless self-promotions, this time in the guise of the obscurely-titled Phase Hydra. The aim of the game is to

seed “high profile” forums with Blu-ray advocates and target bloggers to promote Blu-ray to get the word out to the world.

This is hilarious, it really is. Many people, myself included, have long suspected that Sony was ordering employees to infiltrate forums related to the high definition video formats in order to promote Blu-ray under the guise of consumers, and it seems that we now have the closest we’re going to get to proof of this. Stories like this only serve to remind me why Sony is so hated by such a large number of people.

Of course, the question now is why they are so desperate as to resort to these cheap tactics. Could it have something to do with yesterday’s surge in HD DVD sales during the AVS “buy an HD DVD” celebration?

Oops!

They had edge enhancement in the Dark Ages too…

My copy of the Blu-ray release of King Arthur arrived today. Oh, what? It’s not that bad.

Unfortunately, like the film (which I find enjoyable enough to justify rebuying in high definition), the transfer is a bit of a mixed bag. Disney are pretty quickly establishing themselves as the most wildly inconsistent studio when it comes to HD image quality. King Arthur seems to vary on a shot by shot basis. Some shots are horrendously (and I mean horrendously) edge enhanced, whereas others look overly soft; others still show both detail and smoothness and look largely natural. However, there are some fairly obvious DVNR artefacts, particularly visible in the various sweeping vistas of the grey-green English countryside, where grass and other details smear as the camera pans. The usual facial suspects - beards, stubble and rough skin textures - are also affected. On the plus side, the AVC encoding is largely very good, with no obvious compression artefacts (although some minor blocking is occasionally visible when the image is paused).

Disney have also now decided to start throwing in their trademarked pre-movie advertisements, and there are some very nice-looking (and some not so nice-looking) trailers. The crispest, by far, is for everyone’s favourite homophobic racist director Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto, while the clips of Chicago look just as harsh and edge enhanced as the final product, which I saw when Lyris bought it.

The latest HD image quality rankings

It’s been well over a month since I last posted by list of image quality grades for high definition titles, so I thought it would make sense to do it just now, while there seems to be something of a lull in other news worth posting.

Note that I’ve made a slight change to the rankings. From now on, if a title is available on both HD DVD and Blu-ray, and is known to have an identical encode, it will be listed under both. Broadly speaking, the same encodes have been used in every country of release, provided the same company owns the rights, but this is not always the case (for example with Casino Royale, where different edits necessitate different masters for different territories, or Serenity, where the UK release features a slightly more detailed transfer than its US counterpart).

10/10

• Corpse Bride (Warner, USA, HD DVD/Blu-ray)
• Casino Royale (Sony Pictures, USA, Blu-ray)
• Serenity (Universal, UK, HD DVD)
• Serenity (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Warner, UK, HD DVD)
• The Descent (Lions Gate, USA, Blu-ray)

9/10

• King Kong (Universal, UK, HD DVD)
• Babel (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• Looney Tunes: Rabbit Hood (Warner, USA, HD DVD)*
• Children of Men (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• A Scanner Darkly (Universal, USA, HD DVD/Blu-ray)
• The Bourne Supremacy (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (Warner, USA)
• Miami Vice (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• Resident Evil: Apocalypse (Sony Pictures, USA, Blu-ray)
• Casablanca (Warner, USA, HD DVD)
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Warner, UK, HD DVD/Blu-ray)

8/10

• Silent Hill (Sony Pictures, USA, Blu-ray)
• Kingdom of Heaven (20th Century Fox, USA, Blu-ray)
• Constantine (Warner, USA, HD DVD)
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Paramount, USA, HD DVD)
• The Devil’s Rejects (Lions Gate, USA, Blu-ray)
• Unleashed (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• Red Dragon (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• Looney Tunes: Robin Hood Daffy (Warner, USA, HD DVD)*
• Land of the Dead (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• V for Vendetta (Warner, USA, HD DVD)
• The Machinist (Toshiba, Japan, HD DVD)
• Sleepy Hollow (Paramount, USA, HD DVD)
• Million Dollar Baby (Warner, USA, HD DVD/Blu-ray)
• Flightplan (Buena Vista, USA, Blu-ray)
• Batman Begins (Warner, UK, HD DVD)
• Van Helsing (Universal, UK, HD DVD)

7/10

• Wolf Creek (The Weinstein Company, USA, HD DVD)
• The Exorcism of Emily Rose (Sony Pictures, UK, Blu-ray)
• Tears of the Sun (Sony Pictures, UK, Blu-ray)
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• The Mummy Returns (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Warner, USA, HD DVD)

6/10

• Chicago (Buena Vista, USA, Blu-ray)
• Enemy of the State (Buena Vista, USA, Blu-ray)
• Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Constantin Film, Germany, HD DVD)
• Fantastic Four (20th Century Fox, UK, Blu-ray)
• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Paramount, USA, HD DVD)
• Hostel (Sony Pictures, UK, Blu-ray)
• An American Werewolf in London (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• Brokeback Mountain (Universal, USA, HD DVD)
• Troy (Warner, UK, HD DVD)
• Basic Instinct (Studio Canal, France, HD DVD)

5/10

• District B13 (Magnolia, USA, Blu-ray)

4/10

• American Psycho (Lions Gate, USA, Blu-ray)

* Found on the The Adventures of Robin Hood HD DVD.

DVDs I bought or received in the month of March

• Asterix and the Vikings (R2 UK, DVD)
• Casino Royale (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• Children of Men (R0 USA, HD DVD)
• The Devil’s Rejects (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• District B13 (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (R0 Germany, HD DVD)
• Peter Pan: Platinum Edition (R1 USA, DVD)
• Resident Evil: Apocalypse (RA USA, Blu-ray)

It occurs to me that I haven’t received a a single standard definition DVD that I’ve actually paid for in over a month - Peter Pan and Asterix and the Vikings were review copies. This is a trend that I expect will continue in the foreseeable future: broadly speaking, I feel less and less compelled to actually pay money for standard definition titles. Obviously, it’s a different story with something obscure like the Bava box set I ordered earlier this week, which I know is unlikely to come out in high definition in the near future, if at all, but by and large, I’m finding myself with increasingly little desire to buy mainstream titles on DVD.

HD happenings

This morning, I received a copy of the Korean Blu-ray release of Casino Royale from YesAsia. The Korean release, as you may be aware, is, unlike the US version, supposed to be uncensored. Warning lights should have gone off immediately when the disc booted in English and with exactly the same audio and subtitle configurations as the US disc I already own, and a brief glance at the black and white bathroom beating which opens the film confirmed my worst fears: whatever the state of the theatrical and standard definition DVD releases of the film in Korea, the Blu-ray version is the same butchered PG-13 rated cut released in America. Actually, it’s the exact same disc, right down to the “Made in the USA” text on the label. Naturally, I’ll be selling one of them as soon as possible.

Needless to say, I would still like to get my hands on an uncut copy of the film, but I won’t be doing so until I’ve had explicit confirmation that a version exists on Blu-ray that hasn’t fallen foul of the scissors of either the MPAA, the BBFC or the FSK (the body in charge of film and video ratings in Germany, who also saw fit to interfere with Casino Royale). Of course, the real culprit in all this mess is Sony for insisting on low age ratings, but, having seen the film in both its cut and uncut states, I have to say that I find the censors’ editorial decisions to be rather silly. I mean, how can a shot of a bad guy grabbing Eva Green’s leg elevate the film from PG-13 to R territory?

Je suis pissé, as the French would say.

There’s better news all round for the HD DVD camp, however. After a slow few months, sales figures are continuing to rise. Cue the Blu-ray camp once again claiming that the Amazon.com sales figures are meaningless - funny how the boot was on the other foot a couple of weeks ago when the Blu crew had a clear lead. Meanwhile, I received a review copy of the HD DVD/DVD combo release of Children of Men, and I’m pleased to report that it features an excellent transfer and a top notch audio mix (only Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1, no TrueHD, but I doubt many people will complain when they hear it). In fact, I’d go so far as to place them both in the lower 10/10 band, or at the very least upper 9/10. The film is brilliant too. I wanted to see this when it was on at the cinema, but, as is usually the case, I never got around to going. Watching it in high definition with an excellent transfer on Lyris’s brand new 5.1 setup is, I suppose, the next best thing. I highly recommend checking it out if you get the opportunity, although a glance at the DVD side of this combo release reveals that the standard definition transfer is, erm, not very good.

You take the blue pill…

Oh, wait. Sorry - the blue pill isn’t ready yet. It’s been delayed due to continued BD-Java problems. The red pill will, however, be ready for you to swallow on May 22nd, at which point you’ll be able to see just how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

What am I babbling about? Why, the announcement of The Ultimate Matrix Collection for HD DVD, of course. The Matrix was one of the most hotly anticipated high definition titles last year (and rightly so - it certainly helped sell plenty of DVD players, so chances are it will do the same for HD DVD), with many expecting it to arrive at some point in the run-up to Christmas. When it failed to materialise, customers were understandably disappointed, but it seems that Warner are intent on making up for lost time by releasing what looks set to be the single most comprehensive and all-inclusive high definition box set to date. In addition to the first film, the shoddy The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (which I haven’t actually seen - Reloaded was that bad), each film will include an In-Movie Experience feature and all of the extras from both the original and Ultimate Matrix Collection standard definition releases. (Read the full press release at the AV Science Forum. (A slightly cheaper, less extras-intensive version, The Complete Matrix Trilogy, will also be available.)

Part of me is slightly disappointed that the films are not being released separately, given that I only really want the first one. Then again, this does sound like the HD DVD box set to die for, and part of me really wants to listen to the notorious “critic commentaries”, in which an increasingly disgruntled group of film reviewers lay into the trilogy. Knowing me, I’ll end up splurging on the full package - unless, of course, I can get a review copy.

Oh yeah, and in case it wasn’t clear enough from the little reference to one of the film’s iconic scenes at the start of this post, the Blu-ray release will be arriving “later”, giving the HD DVD version free reign until it deigns to put in an appearance. Many will no doubt say “Oh, it’ll come eventually,” but how many format-neutral customers are going to wait for that? It certainly looks like Warner have delivered a Pirates of the Caribbean beater to wipe the smirks off the Blu-ray fanboys’ faces come May.

Casino Royale high-def comparisons

A nice chap has put together a comparison between the standard definition and Blu-ray releases of Casino Royale - well worth checking out if you remain unconvinced as to the benefits of high definition. I particularly recommend having a look at the third image - when watching the film, this shot was the one that leapt out at me personally as the most obvious example of the stunning amount of detail that you can get from 1080p. You can even read the lettering on the wine bottle - HD product placement!

By the way, I’ve pre-ordered the supposedly uncut Korean Blu-ray release of the film from YesAsia. It’s due for release on March 29th, at which point I’ll sell off my cut US copy.

Update, March 21st, 2007 05:43 PM: There’s a whole thread filled with comparison screengrabs, from both HD DVD and Blu-ray, at the AV Science Forum.

Is it a sign of the apocalypse when an MPEG2 encode looks this good?

My copy of the Blu-ray release of Resident Evil: Apocalypse arrived today from Amazon.com. Slowly but surely, my DVD collection is being replaced with high definition editions!

Anyway, this guilty pleasure looks very impressive indeed in high definition, especially given that it is an MPEG2 encode (although, to be fair, Sony did have 50 GB of disc space to play around with). It’s far from the best HD title I’ve ever seen, and there are a few instances of noticeable compression artefacts (Lyris has a screen grab of the most offensive one), but this is yet another smooth, crispy, grain-filled title that looks as if remarkably little, if any, digital tampering has gone on. There is a minute amount of ringing at the top and bottom of the frame, suggesting some very mild low-pass filtering, but, for the most part, I am very pleased with how this looks. A mid-range 9/10.

On a side note, as Lyris points out in his review, certain reviewers have been critical of the image quality of this release, seemingly confusing aesthetics with cold technical facts. I’ll grant you this: Resident Evil: Apocalypse is not the world’s most visually impressive film. In fact, it looks downright shoddy in some places. However, this has got nothing to do with the quality of the disc itself. Aesthetics are a matter of taste, whereas technical issues are not. No-one in their right mind would seriously say “Well, personally, if it’s all the same to you, I’m not a fan of detailed, untampered transfers that are transparent to the source - I’d prefer something edge enhanced and DVNR’d, with some compression artefacts for good measure.” We all want the best-looking discs possible, I’m sure, but certain reviewers seem to have trouble differentiating between personal preference and actual quality, and reviews criticising discs that correctly represent the source material are, in my opinion, doing damage to home cinema.

Royale cuts

Source: Mobius

Much has been made of cuts made to Casino Royale’s infamous torture sequence in the UK in order to secure a 12 rating. All well and good, but few people seem to be aware that the US release is in fact cut as well. The MPAA took the scissors to it (by proxy, at any rate), with two key action scenes being cut quite substantially. The first is the black and white bathroom beating that runs before the opening credits, and the second is the stairwell fight at Casino Royale. In both cases, several shots have been removed entirely, shortened or substituted, although, in practice, these don’t make a huge amount of difference to the way the film plays. I’ve compared my Blu-ray copy with an, erm, other version, and noted the following differences. (Obviously, spoilers abound, although none of them particularly major.)

At 00:01:50:
Dryden: “Your file shows no kills, and it takes - “
Bond: “Two.”
CUT to a flashback of Bond’s first kill. He kicks Dryden’s contact in the chest, sending him crashing backwards into a toilet cubicle.
CUT to a higher angle as the contact flies backwards.
CUT to a close-up of Bond advancing on him.
CUT to a wider shot as Bond punches the contact in the face.
CUT to a slightly different angle as Bond punches again with his other hand. This time the contact dodges. The door to the cubicle shuts in the process.
CUT to a close-up of the two men struggling.
CUT to an overhead shot as Bond barrels the contact backwards, smashing down a wall in the process.
CUT to Bond elbowing the contact in the chest. NOTE: the first and last few frames of this shot are missing in the US version.
CUT to Bond smashing the door into the contact’s face. NOTE: missing from the US version.
CUT to Bond and the contact both barrelling through the door.
CUT to a wider shot as they both land on the ground.
CUT to a different angle as Bond gets to his feet.
CUT to a different angle as Bond kicks the contact in the face NOTE: missing from US version.
CUT to Bond grabbing the contact, who in turn grabs a garbage can, which he hurls at Bond. NOTE: in the US version, we only get the last few frames of this.
CUT to Bond kicking the bin away.
CUT back to Dryden’s office, where he points his gun at Bond.

At 00:02:27:
Dryden: “How did he die?”
Bond: “Your contact? Not well.”
CUT to Bond hurling the contact into a row of sinks, one of which smashes as he hits the floor. Bond hauls him to his feet and manouevres him towards another sink.
CUT to a low angle shot showing the contact’s face as he struggles. NOTE: the US version loses many frames at the start of this shot.
CUT to a wider shot as Bond tries to force the contact’s head into the sink.
CUT to a close-up a gun on the floor, which the contact picks up.
CUT to a wider shot, as the contact tries to aim the gun at Bond. Bond deflects it, causing the bullet to hit another sink.
CUT to a higher angle shot as Bond smashes the contact’s hand into a mirror, causing him to drop the gun.
CUT to a close-up of Bond’s face as he pushes the contact’s head underwater.
CUT to a close-up of the contact as he is held under. NOTE: in the US version, much of this shot is replaced with a shot of the contact’s legs kicking.
CUT back to a close-up of Bond’s face. NOTE: missing in US version.
CUT back to the contact as his struggles weaken. NOTE: missing in US version.
CUT back to a close-up of Bond’s face.
CUT back to a close-up of the now-lifeless contact as he falls.
CUT to a wider shot as the contact hits the ground.

At 01:19:52:
Bad Guy 1 enters the stairwell. Bond grabs him.
CUT to Bond kicking him over the bannisters.
CUT to a low angle shot of him falling. Bad Guy 2 comes in, swinging his sword and knocking the gun out of Bond’s hand. Bond and Vesper retreat down the stairs and BG2 continues swinging, hitting the bannister and causing sparks to fly.
CUT to a high shot showing BG1 hitting the ground below. NOTE: missing in US version.
CUT back to BG2 continuing to swing his sword. NOTE: in the US Version, this is a continuous shot with the shot immediately before the previous one.
CUT to a tight shot as BG2 kicks Bond.
CUT to a higher shot from behind as BG2 swings and Vesper runs away.
CUT to a close-up of Bond’s face as he throws BG2 past him.
CUT to a close-up of BG2 as Bond smashes his head into a window, shattering it. NOTE: missing from US version.
CUT to a wider shot as BG2 recovers and swings again. NOTE: missing from US version.
CUT to Bond throwing him against a wall. NOTE: the first few frames are missing in the US version.
CUT to a wider shot as BG2 swings again. Bond dodges under him.
CUT to a low wide shot showing Bond, Vesper and BG2.
CUT to a close-up as Bond grabs BG2’s arm.
CUT to a wider shot as Bond tosses him down the stairs, flipping him over.
CUT to BG2 landing on his back, narrowly missing Vesper.
CUT to Vesper running.
CUT to BG2 grabbing Vesper’s leg. NOTE: missing from US version.
CUT to Vesper falling but stopping herself in time. NOTE: missing from US version.
CUT to Bond getting up.
CUT to an overhead shot as Vesper runs away and Bond leaps down a few steps.
CUT to Vesper running as Bond and BG2 struggle.
CUT to a behind overhead shot as Bond and BG2 fight.
CUT to a close-up of BG2 swinging at Bond.
CUT to Bond aiming at BG2 with his elbow.
CUT to a wider shot of Bond elbowing BG2 in the face.
CUT to BG2 grabbing Bond from behind and hurling both of them down the stairs.
CUT to an overhead shot as they fall.
CUT to them falling behind Vesper.
CUT to an overhead shot as they hit the floor.
CUT to BG2 getting up and lunging.
CUT to Bond jumping out the way as BG2 swings his sword.
CUT to the opposite angle as Bond falls down the stairs backwards.
CUT to a close-up of Vesper looking up.
CUT to BG2 swinging and Bond dodging.
CUT to a close-up of Bond as BG2 swings again.
CUT to a high wide angle as Vesper runs down another flight of stairs.
CUT to Bond blocking the sword with his jacket.
CUT to BG2 kicking Bond down the stairs.
CUT to Bond hitting his head on the wall.
CUT to a low shot as BG2 jumps down the stairs, waving his sword.
CUT to a wide shot as Bond rolls backwards and gets to his feet. BG2 swings again.
CUT to a lower shot as BG2 drops his sword.
CUT to Vesper running to the emergency exit and trying to open it.
CUT to a wide shot as BG2 shoves Bond pulls back in anticipation of headbutting him. NOTE: missing from US version.
CUT to a wide shot of BG2 falling back. NOTE: missing from US version.
CUT to BG2 reacting as Bond kicks him. NOTE: missing from US version.
CUT to a wide shot as BG2 rams Bond against the wall. NOTE: missing from US version.
CUT to a close-up of Bond hitting BG2 and then dodging another blow.
CUT to a wide shot as Bond smashes BG2’s head into the wall, then throws them both over the bannister.
CUT to a different shot as they fall.
CUT to an overhead shot as they both hit the ground.
CUT to Vesper reacting to the sound of them falling.
CUT to a close-up of Bond and BG2 struggling on the floor, Bond choking BG2.
CUT to BG2’s legs kicking.
CUT to a different shot of his legs kicking. NOTE: missing from US version.
CUT to a close-up of BG2’s face as he chokes.
CUT to him reaching for the gun on the ground. NOTE: missing from US version.
CUT to a wider shot of them struggling. NOTE: missing from US version.
CUT to him reaching for the gun again. NOTE: missing from US version.
CUT to Bond’s face.
CUT to BG2 grabbing at the gun.
CUT to Vesper rushing forward.
CUT to a high wide angle as Vesper grab’s BG2’s gun hand.
CUT to a close-up as Vesper smashes his hand against the floor.
CUT to a close-up of BG2’s face.
CUT to a wider shot of Vesper smashing his hand on the floor.
CUT to the gun flying out of BG2’s hand.
CUT to a close-up of Vesper as the gun fires.
CUT to Bond’s face.
CUT to BG2’s face.
CUT to BG2’s legs kicking, slowly.
CUT to Vesper watching.
CUT to BG’s legs slowing. NOTE: only in US version.
CUT to BG2’s face as it goes lifeless and Bond lets him fall.

Note that I’m not aware of the status of the UK release. It may be that the only cuts are to the torture sequence, or it may be instead that it also includes these MPAA cuts. Either way, the Region 3 release is currently considered to be director Martin Campbell’s approved cut.

Royale with cheese

My copy of the Blu-ray release of Casino Royale arrived this morning from Deep Discount (formerly Deep Discount DVD). Given that this looks set to be the fastest-selling high definition title so far (as of writing, it’s number 9 on the DVD chart at Amazon.com - an incredible number for a niche product), it’s the sort of release that can, in many ways, make or break a format’s reputation (I’m sure it will be many customers’ first ever Blu-ray title, with a number of people even buying into the format especially to see it).

Luckily (or unluckily, if you have a vested interest in Blu-ray’s failure), it has been granted a stunning-looking transfer. Actually, I’m tempted to call it the best I’ve ever seen. Some rather puzzling reviews have predictably materialised, criticising the picture for a handful of supposed defects, ranging from a lack of “realistic skin textures”, to “motion-drag and aliasing” to, “too much digital noise reduction” being applied, to, in the most general case, a statement by one reviewer that he “was expecting just a bit more”. These reviews are wrong. Casino Royale is astounding more or less from start to finish. It’s highly detailed, contrasty and film-like, with no visible compression artefacts: Sony have finally ditched the aged MPEG2 codec in favour of AVC, and the result is their first 10/10 title that I’ve seen. Sony’s European division have made a wise choice in dishing out copies of this title to early Playstation 3 adopters.

Lyris has written some more pleasing words about this disc, and highlighted some of the film’s most hilarious examples of product placement.

I also received a copy of The Devil’s Rejects - a gift from Gary Tooze of the excellent comparison site DVD Beaver for some HD DVD screen captures I supplied for him from Casablanca and The Adventures of Robin Hood. It’s not as good-looking as Casino Royale, but it put a smile on my face all the same. It’s interesting, given the false belief, held by certain individuals, that a film has to actually be shot in HD to look good on an HD disc (a perfect example of the sort of misinformation that is likely to be putting a lot of people off adopting either format), that 16mm material seems to shine so much in high definition, with both this and the Moroccan segments of Babel looking particularly luscious. (Now I really hope Universal UK gives Thirteen a whirl on HD DVD - or Fox on Blu-ray if they promise to tame the rampant DVNR plaguing the DVD release.) Unfortunately, The Devil’s Rejects is an MPEG2 title on a single layer BD25 disc, so there are some noticeable compression artefacts (and a dearth of extras in comparison with the 2-disc DVD), but it’s an impressive presentation all the same - a high 8/10 on my scale.