HD DVD

High definition refinements

I've made some alterations to the HD Image Quality Rankings page, despite it being just over twenty-four hours old. Structurally, I've altered the HTML code to make it less of a hassle for me to update and move various titles around.

As it turns out, this was a wise move, because moving titles around is exactly what I've been doing this afternoon. There have been no jaw-dropping alterations (Ratatouille didn't suddenly become a 1/10 title or anything, and Universal remains the only studio to hold the dubious honour of having titles in both the 10/10 and 0/10 categories), but I did take the opportunity to tweak a number of titles in the 9, 8, 7 and 6 out of 10 categories. Several titles have been moved down a grade as I've built up a broader picture of the range of image quality possible in high definition (for example, I could no longer justify having Mission Impossible II remain a 7/10 transfer, so down it went to a 6). There has also been some degree or rearrangement within the various grades, particularly the 6s, done as an attempt to make the list more linear than it had become recently thanks to a steady influx of new titles, not all of which could be directly compared against each other. The crummier Universal catalogue titles have been reshuffled somewhat, to acknowledge that, for example, the soft, diffuse look of The Game is preferable to Lost in Translation and its harsh edge enhancement. One title, the remastered edition of The Fifth Element, has also received an upgrade from a high 7 to a low 8.

The biggest change, however, has been the splitting of the 10/10 ranking into two separate categories. I have always felt that, with HD, 10/10 should truly mean perfection, as good as it gets within the limitations of lossy compression. Looking at the previous list, which started with Open Season and ended with The Reaping, it was clear that there was a discrepancy in image quality between the 10s at the top and those at the bottom. That's not to say that there are any obvious problems with The Reaping's transfer - on the contrary, I think it's pretty flawless - but, if you watch it side by side with something like Silent Hill, it's pretty clear that Silent Hill leaps off the screen as the more impressive of the two. That, in all likelihood, is simply because Silent Hill is razor sharp and The Reaping less so - it's not a flaw in The Reaping, just evidence that its materials have less inherent detail. However, I wanted the 10/10 transfers to come as close as possible to using every one of the 2,073,600 pixels available in a 1080p transfer, so any transfer that wasn't cutting the mustard in that regard has been moved into the new 9.5 category. These are still, by and large, beautiful reproductions of their sources that can't be faulted, but they don't have that extra "punch".

The creation of this new category has also allowed me to recognise some titles that do have that "punch" but were let down by minor failing - such as the occasional compression artefacts in Transformers and the handful of over-sharpened shots in Spider-man 3 (watched it last night - okay film, but one which ransacks its self-dignity something rotten during its ridiculous second half). These are titles which would previously have been in the 9/10 category, but which didn't really feel like they belonged there. Mission Impossible III, for example, easily has as much detail as Casino Royale, but is let down by some mild artefacting in a handful of shots. Beautiful, stunning transfer 99% of the time, but with a few teeny niggles that prevent it from being a 10. Therefore, the 9.5 category has also gained some former 9s, which are now free to mingle with some of the former 10s which were demoted.

The case for euthanising Eddie Murphy

I thought it would be a long time before I came across a film worse than Dr. Uwe Boll's House of the Dead. Now, however, thanks to the magic of Amazon's rental service, I've found one.

As you may have noticed, my HD Image Quality Rankings list includes several films that I myself don't own. The reason for this is that I like to keep abreast of developments in HD-land by renting and checking out as many titles as possible. I don't always manage to watch them all the way through, but usually I can get a reasonably good impression of how a particular disc measures up within a few minutes. And, if the film happens to be particularly good - or bad - I'll be more inclined to stick with it for the duration. Late last year, I became aware that a particular film had been released on HD DVD (and Blu-ray). Its name was Norbit, it starred Eddie Murphy, and it brought with it a reputation so abhorrent that I just knew it and myself would cross paths one day.

No escape clause, unfortunately.

As you will know if you have been reading my brother's site, he is shortly to be the proud owner of a projector. You'll probably also be aware that projector bulbs aren't cheap, which means that, every time you use it, you can almost hear the pennies dropping out of your wallet and hitting the ground. The notion of using some of the bulb's valuable power on a film like Norbit wasn't exactly what he had in mind, but we eventually reached a deal: Norbit could be viewed on the projector, but only on the condition that I wrote a full-length review of it.

However, the best-laid plans of mice and men and all that... One of the problems with online DVD rental programmes is that you often don't know which title you'll be receiving next. I had banked on Norbit not reaching me until the projector had safely arrived and been installed, so imagine my surprise (and faint feelings of nausea) when it turned up yesterday. (For some reason, this title does not appear to have been in high demand.) Realising, however, that, if I returned the disc or held on to it until the projector arrived, I would have wasted one of my precious monthly rental slots, I decided to bite the bullet and watch Norbit anyway, projector or no projector.

Fifteen minutes in, my brother turned to me and said "You know, it's okay if you want to just tear up the contract."

I persevered, however. What sort of watcher of bad movies would I be if I let a little thing like Norbit scare me away? Besides, I knew that my loyal readers would be waiting on tenterhooks for my verdict...

Norbit is yet another low-brow comedy in which Eddie Murphy dons a fat suit and plays several different characters. One of these is the titular Norbit, a weedy, pathetic little man who is married to Rasputia (also Murphy), a virtual elephant of a woman with a personality as foul as her odour. Norbit is an orphan, who was brought up by a Chinese man named Mr. Wong (Murphy, again, this time in yellowface). Mr. Wong's orphanage is up for sale, and the prospective owners include Rasputia's three vicious brothers, who plan to turn it into a titty bar and make Norbit's life hell at the same time. The other is Kate (Thandie Newton), a fellow orphan and the love of poor, browbeaten Norbit's miserable life. (Can you say "ahhhh"?) Oh, but she's engaged to Deion (Cuba Gooding Jr., who can currently be seen stepping into dear old Eddie Murphy's shoes in Daddy Day Camp, the follow-up to that masterpiece, Daddy Day Care), who is in league with the evil brothers! Will this delightful fairytale romance have a happy ending, or will Norbit have his face smashed in with a rusty hook? (I know which I'd prefer.)

Norbit's humour is best summed up as a never-ending series of fat jokes that aren't funny, with copious amounts of toilet humour and a healthy dose of racism thrown in for good measure. As an example of what passes for a gag in this supposed comedy, let's take the scene in which, having failed to carry his overweight bride over the threshold (because she's fat), Norbit stands quaking in his boots in the bedroom as the delightful Rasputia thunders towards him. She lands on top of him, the force throwing him backwards on to the bed (because she's fat), at which point the bed collapses (because she's fat). Safe in the knowledge that the audience will find this absolutely hysterical, the filmmakers then proceed to repeat the exact same gag three times, the only differences being the various costumes that the two Eddies are wearing. Oh, and, on the final occasion, the bed doesn't collapse, because it has been reinforced with concrete. You laughing yet?

Take, for another example, the film's witty wordplay. At the wedding reception, the delightful Mr. Wong, delivering the best man's speech, tells the guests that he is sad for Norbit because he is married to a gorilla. The aforementioned gorilla's family take exception to this, at which point Wong hastily reassures them that he is only kidding.

That's the joke.

No really, that's it. The entire film is one long series of build-ups without any punchlines. Each time the writers provide us with a situation, we continually assume that it's going somewhere, but it never does. At the same wedding, it is discovered that a slice is missing from the wedding cake. Cut to a shot of Rasputia with icing and sponge all over her face. You assume that the laughs will come from either her or the other characters' reactions. Instead, the film carries on to the next scene. "Norbit!" screams the cover art. "Funny!" is hollers underneath. I assure you, it is anything but.

Oh, and before I forget, I must take the time to mention that Mr. Wong is easily the single most racist creation I can remember seeing in a film in god knows how long. Why Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips continues to be suppressed while Eddie Murphy is allowed to paint himself yellow and utter all manner of inanities in a guttural voice (hilariously substituting "r" for "l", by the way - gotta love the attention to detail) is a mystery to me. You get the impression that perhaps the filmmakers were aware that this portrayal of a Chinese man might be a tad offensive, so they attempt to offset this late in the game by revealing that Wong is in fact a screaming racist himself ("Yes, Wong very racist. Don't like black. Don't like Jew either. But black and Jew love Chinese food. Go figure."), which, judging by the inverse logic to which the writers clearly ascribe (the same logic which allows them to mistake "devoid of humour" for "full of humour"), presumably means that everything's okay. I should probably point out that, if a white actor dressed up as a Chinese man and made these sort of "jokes" in this day and age, he would probably be lynched. However, Eddie Murphy, as a member of a minority group, seems to have a licence to offend every other minority group under the sun.

The rest of the film is made up of the same sort of inane gibberish and schoolyard bullshit that a kindergartener could have come up with. I could be charitable and say that Rick Baker's make-up effects are impressive (Murphy's transformation into Mr. Wong is nothing short of completely convincing), but that's like dishing out accolades for coming up with a completely authentic recreation of faecal matter which even smells like the real thing. It wasn't funny when Murphy did it in his remake of The Nutty Professor and it sure as hell isn't funny now. This is a tedious, mean-spirited, nasty, unfunny, noxious, loathsome, fucking tragic waste of celluloid. Baron Scarpia, I lay down the gauntlet.

Victoria Alexander in her review for FilmsInReview.com (one of the only positive appraisals I could find) crowed about how the film "celebrat[es] a big black woman who has not been victimized by a non-achievable, absurd standard of beauty fostered upon black and white women". Assuming she wasn't being ironic, then I can only lament for a culture that actually considers Rasputia to be a positive portrayal of a fat black woman.

1/10.

Oh, and to add insult to injury, the HD DVD transfer is flawless.

Ask and ye shall receive

Well, I've taken today as annual leave (my parents are away for the weekend, and, if I was going out to work, I would have had to get up at 6 AM to walk the dogs beforehand, so this means less hassle beforehand), so I decided to take the opportunity to answer a reader request and put together a permanent HD Image Quality rankings list.

You may be aware of my semi-infrequent postings in which I provide a breakdown of the various HD releases I've seen and how their image quality compares. When I first jumped aboard the high definition bandwagon back in the summer of 2006, I immediately began to notice major discrepancies between the ratings being awarded to the image quality of HD DVD and Blu-ray releases on major review sites, and what I was seeing with my own eyes. As with standard definition DVD, I quickly lost track of the number of times a reviewer would praise a transfer to the heavens, only for me to discover that it was in fact blurry, filtered and/or edge enhanced, or for them to utterly trash (or at the very least remain indifferent to) discs that turn out to feature smooth, natural, film-like image quality. Broadly speaking, there seems to be a lack of understanding among reviewers, even so-called professional ones, of what constitutes a filmic "look" and how to accurately describe the various strengths and weaknesses on display in a transfer. I thought, and still think, that reviews such as these can potentially cause damage to the format (a distributor, for example, might see that a filtered and/or edge enhanced title is receiving rave reviews and therefore mandate that all transfers have the same work done on them) and bring the profession into disrepute (by appearing ignorant).

Therefore, I made up my mind to add my own voice, wherever possible, and "call it as I see it". Initially, reviewing every disc that landed on my doormat wasn't too much of a tall order, but, as I ended up buying or otherwise receiving more and more discs, this became increasingly difficult until, fairly quickly, I realised that it would be impossible to write in detail about every single HD DVD and Blu-ray disc I'd seen. This is why I decided to create the rankings chart.

I was recently asked if I would consider creating a specific section on the site in which to store all this information, the contents of which would be continually updated and therefore meaning that there would be a permanent URL to which to refer, rather than having to wait for each new unscheduled update. I agreed, and the results, which I knocked together over the course of a couple of hours this morning, can be seen here.

300 half-naked men

Last night, I finally got a chance to sit down and watch the HD DVD release of 300, which had been sitting on my shelf for nearly three months. Unfortunately, the wait was most assuredly not worth it. While the transfer itself was absolutely stellar, I found myself phenomenally bored by what turned out to be little more than a two-hour display of testosterone, CG and tedious fight scenes. It's blatantly the most homoerotic movie Hollywood has put out in the last few years, and I suppose for that alone it deserves some kudos, but unfortunately homoeroticism doesn't float my boat, and there was precious little else to entertain me. If your idea of fun is watching a gaggle of men puffing out their ludicrously overdeveloped torsos, wandering around in skimpy pants and fighting each other, then you may get a kick out of this. I personally just found it all rather boring.

300
(Warner, USA, VC-1)

High definition hootenanny

A handful of discs have landed on my doormat over the last couple of days. First up, on Tuesday, was a check disc for Optimum's UK HD DVD release of Wolf Creek, replacing the Blu-ray release which wouldn't play in my Japanese Playstation 3 thanks to a strange bug called region coding. I've taken a quick look at it in advance of putting together a full review for DVD Times, and I can report quite categorically that those who already own the Weinstein Company's US release should stick with it. Optimum have inexplicably decided to encode their version using MPEG2, and the result is a heck of a lot of artefacting. You still get a nicely detailed picture, and some shots do look flawless, but the number of shots that show excessive macro-blocking make this a less than immersive experience.

Oh, and the menus appear to be bugged, at least for Xbox 360 users: the scene selection screen won't load. The on-screen overlay disappears, leaving the background footage to play in an infinite loop, requiring the disc to be ejected and reinserted.

Then, on Wednesday, while I was out at work, the Blu-ray release of Masters of Horror: Season 1, Volume 3, containing Don Coscarelli's Incident On and Off a Mountain Road, Tobe Hooper's Dance of the Dead and Larry Cohen's Pick Me Up, arrived. Then, today, this was supplemented by the fourth and final volume of Masters of Horror's first season, containing Takeshi Miike's Imprint (the episode which so horrified the executives that they refused to air it in the US), Joe Dante's Homecoming and Mick Garris' Chocolate. Given that the only episode I've watched so far is Sick Girl in Volume 2 (having previously seen Jenifer one and a half times, which was more than enough), it looks like I've got quite a bit of viewing ahead of me.

HD DVD review: Les Triplettes de Belleville

It's great to see more traditional animation becoming available in high definition, particularly when it's a film as good as Les Triplettes de Belleville. With its solid audio-visual presentation, this release is a must-have for HD DVD-ready animation aficionados.

"Swinging Belleville rendez-vous..." I've reviewed the recent French HD DVD release of Sylvain Chomet's excellent Les Triplettes de Belleville.

DVDs I bought or received in the month of November

• 2001: A Space Odyssey (R0 USA, HD DVD)
• A Clockwork Orange (R0 USA, HD DVD)
• Eyes Wide Shut (R0 USA, HD DVD)
• The Fly (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• Full Metal Jacket [remastered edition] (R0 USA, HD DVD)
• The Mario Bava Collection Volume 2 (R1 USA, DVD)
• Pan's Labyrinth (R0 UK, HD DVD)
• Peep Show: Series 4 (R2 UK, DVD)
• Ratatouille (RA USA, Blu-ray)
• The Shining (R0 USA, HD DVD)
• Soldier of Orange (R0 UK, DVD)
• The Stendhal Syndrome: Special Edition (R0 USA, DVD)
• Tokyo Godfathers (R2 UK, DVD)
• Les Triplettes de Belleville (R0 France, HD DVD)

A good month for high definition, this, and another expensive one too.

I've run out of Pan puns

Another day, another HD gallery. This one is for Optimum's recent UK HD DVD release of Pan's Labyrinth, a film which looks decent but falls short of brilliance. As I said in my review:

It's a good transfer, but one with some noticeable flaws, most noticeably a strange "eroded" appearance that appears to be the result of attempting to suck out the film grain. As a result, textures tend to look a bit waxy and "cut-out", particularly faces, while a lot of the fine detail has been removed from the foliage in the scenes taking place in the woodland. It's a strange effect, as it means there is a superficial sense of crispness, but not the sort of detail you would expect from an image so sharp.

Pan's Labyrinth
(Optimum, UK, VC-1)

HD DVD review: Pan's Labyrinth

Optimum's HD DVD release of Pan's Labyrinth is a good one, and one which improves substantially on all current DVD releases in terms of image quality. It does have its shortcomings, however, particularly with regard to the problem of audio synchronisation, and looks set to be superseded by New Line's substantially meatier US release, due out towards the end of the year. If you want your HD fairytale fix now, however, you could do a lot worse than picking up this release.

I've reviewed the recent HD DVD of Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, released in the UK by Optimum on a feature-packed disc.

Pan's pipes

I received a couple of review copies of upcoming high definition releases from Optimum on Friday: Wolf Creek on Blu-ray and Pan's Labyrinth on HD DVD. Both titles are coming out on both formats (the Blu-ray versions were released on November 19th, whereas the HD DVD versions have been delayed a week, until November 26th), and I'm fairly sure HD DVD versions were requested for both, so I'm not sure why I got a Blu-ray Wolf Creek. In any event, I'm not able to review it, because it is coded for Region B only, and, as you may know, my Blu-ray hardware (Playstation 3) is Region A. As far as I'm concerned, Optimum is merely shooting themselves in the foot here, as they are simply denying themselves sales. It makes particularly little sense when you consider that region coding doesn't exist for HD DVD, so anyone in the world can play their HD DVD titles, whereas only the privileged few who shelled out for overpriced European Blu-ray players will be able to play their Blu-ray titles.

Anyway, I may not have been able to look at Wolf Creek, but I have given Pan's Labyrinth a cursory glance. The image quality is a bit uneven, with a strange "eroded" appearance that appears to be the result of attempting to suck out the film grain. As a result, textures tend to look a bit waxy and "cut-out", particularly faces, while a lot of the fine detail has been removed from the foliage in the scenes taking place in the woodland. It's a strange effect, as it means there is a superficial sense of crispness, but not the sort of detail you would expect from an image so sharp.

Extras, by the way, seem to mirror Optimum's UK DVD release, with only the bonus trailers for The Devil's Backbone and cover art of Cronos missing in action. Of course, the only audio option provided is a Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 track, so I suspect many people will prefer to wait until New Line release their own version in the US on December 26th, for its DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track and PiP visual commentary. More significantly, the picture on this release seems to be lagging slightly behind the audio at all times, resulting in some noticeable lip synchronisation errors (particularly apparent given the rapid-fire Spanish in which most of the characters converse).

Expect a full review at DVD Times in the not too distant future.

Eyes half shut

Below are some screen captures from Eyes Wide Shut, comparing the old fullscreen DVD release with the new widescreen HD DVD. Which framing looks more accurate to you?

Example 1:

 
Example 2:

 
Example 3:

 
Example 4:

Oh, nausea!

I got through the whole of today without feeling sick once. I put this down to my decision to stop taking the Regulan (which my GP told me was probably a wise move when I suggested it to him), which was emptying my bowels at an impressive rate but leaving me feeling like crap for several hours after each, erm, evacuation. By the way, the GP (a different one from the one who put me on the stuff in the first place) gave me a pretty thorough examination, but could find no obvious explanation as to why I have been experiencing the pains I've been feeling. He said there was a possibility that it had been brought on by a varicose vein, which would correct itself in time, but otherwise couldn't offer any definitive diagnosis, and so has referred me to the hospital for an ultrasound, x-rays and the like. I'm feeling somewhat less worried now, though, because he obviously didn't consider it to be anything life-threatening, and the pains do seem to have abated somewhat over the last 24 hours, which makes me wonder if they were partly being accentuated by anxiety. I know that, if you constantly worry about something, it's always going to seem worse. Conversely, I managed to forget my aches and pains at various points throughout the day, which I take to be a good sign.

Unfortunately, the people responsible for mangling Suspiria (see my previous post on the issue here) seem to be doing their damnedest to make me feel as ill as possible. I got home from work this evening to find screen captures of the upcoming French 3-disc collector's edition from Wild Side waiting for me, and, judging by them, the new French transfer looks just as bad, if not worse than, the Italian "definitive" DVD. I've cancelled my pre-order - if it looks this bad, then all the bonus materials in the world won't convince me that it's worth shelling out €30 for.

In more positive news, my HD DVD of Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket arrived today from Amazon.com. I haven't seen the previous 2006 HD DVD release of this film, but apparently it looked like crap, so I'm happy to report that this new remastered edition looks excellent, along the same likes as 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining rather than A Clockwork Orange and Eyes Wide Shut. Detail is excellent, and this is definitely one of the best-looking discs Warner have put out, regardless of when the film itself was made (they've put out plenty of HD releases of 2006 and 2007 films that look vastly inferior). This is another "major" film that I've yet to see, so I'm looking forward to sitting down to watch both it and The Shining at some point in the near future.

An HD DVD that shines

My copy of the recent HD DVD release of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining arrived on Saturday from Amazon.com. Now I'm only waiting on Full Metal Jacket, and so far, the Kubrick HD DVDs are basically two for two. A Clockwork Orange and Eyes Wide Shut both look reasonably good, if a little underwhelming, whereas 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining both look excellent - definitely in the top tier of Warner's catalogue releases. Now, obviously The Shining is a less visually stunning film than 2001, so it lacks the "wow" moments offered by the earlier title, but this appears to be an excellent representation of the source materials all the same. A bit of light noise reduction is visible at times, but otherwise I'd have a hard time making any specific criticisms.

Oh, and just to weigh in on the aspect ratio issue once again, having flicked my way through various scenes in The Shining (I'll watch the whole film soon, honest), I find it hard to understand why anyone would prefer the open matte version. The compositions, at 1.78:1 (close enough to the intended theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 for me not to bother splitting hairs about it), are absolutely sublime, and I can only imagine the open matte version looking decidedly wonky (which, judging by the screenshots posted at DVD Beaver, it most certainly does).

Hooray for HD DVD!

Once again, I must apologise for the sparsity of updates over the last few days. It turns out that the problems I was having didn't go away - if anything, they got worse. I took a trip to the doctor this afternoon, and, while I didn't come away with a definite diagnosis, she said that the most likely answer was that I have IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). Apparently, there's not a great deal that can be done about it, beyond establishing a diet that agrees with me and making sure I take lots of fibre and fluids, but I did get a prescription for a high fibre drink called Regulan, which, taken over the course of the next 30 days, should flush anything nasty out of my bowel and intestines (and all for under a fiver - seriously, one of the few things about this country that I'll never knock is the NHS).

Anyway, while I wait for my Regulan to take effect, I'm going to take my mind off the horrendous stabbing pains in my gut by posting about the two HD DVDs that arrived recently (Wednesday and Thursday respectively), A Clockwork Orange and Eyes Wide Shut. While 2001: A Space Odyssey featured an absolutely sumptuous transfer on HD DVD (I'll post screen captures soon, I promise), these two look fairly good but not great. Detail levels are above average, but there are some tell-tale signs of grain reduction, and overall they just don't leap of the screen in the way that 2001 does. Particularly revealing is the fact that my old standard definition DVD of Eyes Wide Shut actually shows more grain than this new HD transfer. Now, maybe it was just the naturally lower resolution of the DVD accentuating the grain, but one thing's for sure, this is the first time I've seen an HD release that is less grainy than its standard definition counterpart.

Oh, and, by the way, although the packaging claims that the both the censored American R-rated and international unedited versions are included on the same disc, in actual fact only the unedited version is there (I checked - no dodgy CGI men obscuring the rumpy-bumpy). Apparently, the Blu-ray and DVD versions released at the same time are the same. I'm personally not complaining - at least they included the right version! - but I'm slightly disappointed not to be able to see the apparently ridiculous censorship for myself, and I'm sure someone's going to take Warner to the cleaners for false advertising (the back cover clearly states that the film is rated "R").

Finally, a quick note on Eyes Wide Shut's aspect ratio. As you probably know by now, the previous DVD release was presented in a 1.33:1 open matte aspect ratio, supposedly reflecting Stanley Kubrick's preferences (although, of course, he isn't about any more to ask). The new HD DVD, Blu-ray and DVD versions, meanwhile, are presented in a matted 1.78:1 ratio (as per all Warner releases with an intended 1.85:1 ratio). Now, I'm aware that the issue of how these films should be presented has been argued about since time immemorial, with passionate and convincing arguments coming from both sides of the fence, but ultimately I trust my eyes more than any theorising, and, having watched the 1.33:1 and 1.78:1 versions side by side, I am in no doubt that the 1.78:1 looks more "right". Again, screenshots will follow when I get the chance to do them.

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 HD DVD review: Underworld: Extended Cut

In terms of bonus content, Sony Pictures' recent US Blu-ray release of Underworld, which ports over most of the extras from the standard definition release of the extended cut, is definitely preferable. For those who are restricted to HD DVD only, however, this release provides a magnificent audio-visual presentation of the film that I struggle to imagine being bettered.

Concluding this year's Halloween special, I've reviewed Concorde Home Entertainment's HD DVD release of Underworld, a film which may not offer much in the way of seasonal cheer, but at least has vampires and werewolves in it.

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.

Movie madness

Yesterday was quite a delay for deliveries for me, starting with the arrival of the third and final season of Veronica Mars from DVD Pacific. Veronica Mars is not a show that I wholeheartedly adore, but I did enjoy the previous two seasons on DVD to varying degrees, and I found myself with a definite desire to hear how the story ends (although, by all accounts, there is little sense of closure in the final episode due to the amount of confusion as to whether the show would be picked up for a fourth season). If nothing else, the move out of the high school environment which dominated Seasons 1 and 2 should provide a much-needed change of pace, while I understand that, mindful of how difficult it was for viewers to get into the previous seasons midway, the producers broke Season 3 into several "mini-arcs" rather than going for one continuous year-long mystery.

Up next: the 2-disc Collector's Edition of Mission Impossible 3 on HD DVD, also from DVD Pacific (dang, those guys should be paying me royalties!). From the brief glance that I took at it when it arrived, the transfer is every bit as good as I remembered - a virtually flawless presentation and one of the few times I can remember seeing a film photographed in anamorphic Panavision looking this good in high definition I suspect this is due to the fact that Panavision has lost a considerable amount of popularity with filmmakers in recent years, with Super35 tending to be the preferred process for shooting 2.39:1 titles these days. As a result, most Panavision titles released in HD are older, catalogue titles, many of which come from weaker masters. Not so with Mission Impossible 3, which is crisp and clear throughout, with nary an edge halo or soft shot to be found, and only a couple of compression issues preventing it from receiving full marks (we're talking 9.9/10 stuff here).

The third and final delivery yesterday was the R2 Italian release of Inferno, from DVD.it. This particular release, which is very interesting, will be the subject of a dedicated post that I hope to upload at some point tonight.

Finally, today, the HD DVD release of Seed of Chucky arrived from, you guessed it, DVD Pacific. (Oh, shut up - I like this film, even if it's in a "so bad it's good" way.) I really wasn't sure what to expect in terms of image quality for this one, but I'm pleased to report that it looks very fine indeed. It comes from a film element rather than a digital intermediate, but it's one of the best film-sourced HD transfers I've seen recently, especially from Universal, who have churned out some decidedly underwhelming-looking catalogue titles this year. A handful of shots, and even a couple of entire scenes, look noticeably softer than the rest of the film, but at its best, it has a nicely crisp appearance without looking processed in any way. A very high 8/10, and it would have been a 9 if not for the softer scenes.