DVDs I bought or received in the month of July
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The Bourne Supremacy (R0 USA, HD DVD)
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Casualty: Series 2 (R2 UK, SD DVD)
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The Collected Adventures of Asterix (R2 UK, SD DVD)
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Colt 38 Special Squad (R1 USA, SD DVD)
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Constantine (R0 USA, HD DVD)
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Final Destination 3: Thrill Ride Edition (R1 USA, SD DVD)
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Jenifer (R2 Denmark, SD DVD)
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A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (R2 Italy, SD DVD)
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Million Dollar Baby (R0 USA, HD DVD)
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Murder Rock: Special Edition (R1 USA, SD DVD)
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Puzzle (R2 Denmark, SD DVD)
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V for Vendetta: Deluxe Edition (R2 UK, SD DVD)
DVD debacle
V for Vendetta (the HMV-exclusive 2-disc R2 UK release, SD DVD) and
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (R2 Italy, SD DVD) both arrived this morning.
I spent part of the morning working my way through the first hour of
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, cataloguing all the instances in which I'll have to mix and match the audio when I come to do my composite version, which will marry the audio from the cut American print version with the video of the uncut Italian version, and I think I've got a feeling for what Federal Video have done.
Wherever possible, they seem to have used the same good quality but cut American print that Media Blasters used for their release. Now, as many people are probably aware, for one reason or another Media Blasters, in addition to this print, used another, poorer quality one which had severe discolouration and print damage. (The scene were Florinda Bolkan is chased by the hippy at the asylum is probably the worst affected.) For these scenes, and for the material that was missing from the American print, Federal Video have used
another print, which is more damaged and has a more compressed greyscale than the "main" print, but looks significantly better, in these scenes, than either Media Blasters' cut print, or (of course) their uncut, VHS-sourced, fullscreen version.
I have, however, come across one discrepancy. This takes place during the orgy/dinner crosscutting scene near the start of the film, which is differently edited depending on whether you're watching the US or Italian version. The Italian version (and this applies to both Federal Video's release and the VHS-sourced version provided by Media Blasters) is missing an extended shot of Anita Strindberg approaching and then canoodling with a comatose man. The missing material, featuring some notable buttock action courtesy of Ms. Strindberg, is included as a deleted scene on both Federal Video and Media Blasters' releases. For the latter, it is hidden as an easter egg, and is an incredibly poor quality VHS dupe, but Federal Video's version looks almost perfect, and I intend to splice this in for my composite version. This may lead to some audio issues, since I belive that inserting it would make the scene longer than either the US or Italian versions, but if need be I will steal some additional music from either an earlier scene or the score CD.
There's more missing from the American print than I'd previously realised, by the way. In addition to the world-famous "eviscerated dogs" scene (the effects of which were so convincing that they landed Lucio Fulci in court) and much of the sapphic dream sequences, various gore shots have been trimmed, and an entire sequence involving Carol realising her guilt in the Julia Durer murder before the police discover it has been sent to the scrapyard. For this scene, quite a lot of dialogue has been lost, so I'll probably have to subtitle it myself (hopefully I can get player generated subs to work; otherwise I'll have to burn them into the image itself).
See - that wasn't so hard, was it?
Update, 15:26: Well, I've now managed to successfully reintegrate the missing Anita Strindberg scene. I've no idea why Federal Video didn't do this themselves, because the requisite audio exists in the American print, so I didn't even have to do any looping or borrowing from other scenes. It took me about 10 minutes in Goldwave and then Adobe Premiere, and now I have on my hands a "perfect" Italian copy of the film running to its full length - something that, to the best of my knowledge, does not currently exist anywhere in commercial form. Up next: inserting the English dialogue, which is going to take considerably longer.
Update #2, 17:18: The first 28 minutes are now properly synchronised. I suspect I'll have to leave the subtitling till last, and then I'll be able to see whether or not creating player generated subs is a straightforward task.
Random drawings
Just a few random scribbles to prove that I'm still drawing.
Angel: Season 1, Episode 1: City of
Written Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt; Directed by Joss Whedon
And thus begins my slog through five seasons of
Buffy's more mature and meaner spin-off. This pilot episode does a good job of summing up what
Angel has to offer that its parent show doesn't. The mood is decidedly darker and more
noir-inspired, and the scale is clearly larger, incorporating the entire city of Los Angeles in comparison with
Buffy's comparatively contained Sunnydale. The violence is also considerably more aggressive, at least during the first season, which resulted in it getting an 18 certificate for its UK DVD release.
On to the show itself. First impressions: I like Doyle - it's too bad he didn't stick around longer. Cordelia is a much more rounded character here than on
Buffy, and almost immediately we get to see just how much of a front her high society girl persona is. And hey, I'm liking Angel a whole lot more already now that he's out of Sunnydale - maybe it's because he's not gasping "Buffy?" every time he opens his mouth. Did David Boreanaz take acting lessons during the summer hiatus or something?
Marks off for the crummy-looking vampire make-up (apparently they were trying out a new style, but quickly reverted back to the
Buffy look when they saw how bad it looked) and extremely clumsy manner in which Angel's back-story is conveyed. Seriously, Doyle literally shows up and tells the poor guy his own history. Yeesh! Couldn't they have just done a "previously on..." style recap?
Overall rating:
8/10.
Next time:
Lonely Hearts.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 4, Episode 1: The Freshman
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon
It's all change! Angel has skulked off into the shadows. Cordelia has disappeared without so much as a mention. Willow has short hair. Giles has turned into Hugh Heffner. Oh, and now we're in college... although, for some reason, the corridors of UC Sunnydale look an awful lot like the corridors of Sunnydale High with a brand new paint job. Can't think why
that would be!
Anyway, as season premieres go, this is a pretty decent one. It constitutes the biggest shake-up to the series' formula since it first began, so understandably a lot of time is spent establishing the new setup. Right from the bat we see a rehearsal of some of the main themes that will be played out throughout the remaining 21 episodes, namely Giles and Xander's feelings of uselessness, Willow's burgeoning self-confidence (see how she's already started talking and dressing completely differently?), and the gradual fragmentation of the old gang. We're in for some massive changes over the course of the season, so it's somewhat comforting to see that, in spite of all that's already different, some things are still the same - namely, the gang brainstorm and Buffy slays the bad vampires. And this episode's Villain of the Week, Sunday, is such a hoot that I find myself wishing she'd been kept as the Big Bad instead of... well, I won't spoil the later episodes right now.
Overall rating:
8/10.
Next time:
Living Conditions.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3 (1998-1999)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3
Season 3 reviews:
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Episode 1: Anne 8/10-
Episode 2: Dead Man's Party 6/10-
Episode 3: Faith, Hope and Trick 8/10-
Episode 4: Beauty and the Beasts 4/10-
Episode 5: Homecoming 6/10-
Episode 6: Band Candy 9/10-
Episode 7: Revelations 8/10-
Episode 8: Lover's Walk 9/10-
Episode 9: The Wish 10/10-
Episode 10: Amends 4/10-
Episode 11: Gingerbread 8/10-
Episode 12: Helpless 8/10-
Episode 13: The Zeppo 7/10-
Episode 14: Bad Girls 9/10-
Episode 15: Consequences 8/10-
Episode 16: Doppelgangland 9/10-
Episode 17: Enemies 6/10-
Episode 18: Earshot 9/10-
Episode 19: Choices 8/10-
Episode 20: The Prom 7/10-
Episodes 21 and 22: Graduation Day 8/10 and
9/10Prior to rewatching Season 3, my memory of it was that of a fun but unremarkable season. In the end, I'm surprised by how much better it was than I remembered it. Looking at the episode rankings, only two scored lower than 5/10 - a pretty impressive achievement given the number of clunkers in Season 2, which, until recently, I considered my favourite.
Season 3 gets an overall rating of 8/10, rounded up from 7.64, which averages out as the same rating Season 2 got. That's probably a bit of a mislead, though, since, looking at it now, Season 3 is definitely the better of the two. True, only one episode gets a 10/10 rating, versus four in Season 2, but, on the other hand, there are an impressive number of episodes rated 8/10 and higher. Season 3 is, simply put, more fun and more consistent, and, while it lacks the urgency and feeling of impending doom of its predecessor - the Mayor is introduced too slowly, if you ask me - it makes up for it with sharper humour and a more consistent sense of character progression. Yes, there are some real misfires - Xander's affair with Willow and the return of Angel are mid-bogglingly botched - but they can be overlooked.
As of now, we're entering into forbidden territory. If Season 3 has usurped Season 2, my original favourite of the show, it's anyone's guess how Season 5, my original second-favourite, will hold up. Season 4, as well, is going to be an interesting experience since, while its main arc is a bit of a mess, it's arguably the best season from the perspective of character development. It also contains my two favourite episodes ever -
Hush and
Restless. Also, because I'll be watching the first season of
Angel alongside it (thankfully, at this stage it's pretty straightforward: watch
Buffy 4.01, then
Angel 1.01, then
Buffy 4.02... and so on), it's going to be even more complex to keep track of the various plot developments and ongoing character arcs.
It's going to be interesting, I tells ya!
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episodes 21 and 22: Graduation Day
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon
Graduation Day is not of the same standard as Season 2's finale,
Becoming, but all the same, it's better than I remembered it. At least they've finally had the decency to split Buffy and Angel up, ending that turgid little romance, but unfortunately they spend the duration of Part 1 gazing soulfully at each other. Yawn! Oh, and that CGI snake is so awful-looking it still gives me nightmares.
On the plus side, we have Buffy quitting the Council, Wesley getting knocked out, Cordelia staking a vampire, the entire school raising weapons to face the aforementioned awful-looking CGI snake, and a genuine sense of closure. It wouldn't surprise me if, when this episode was being written, it was assumed that this was going to be the last episode... but, then again, they knew the show was getting a spin-off in the next season, so perhaps that's not an entirely likely theory. In any event, this is the end of an era, and it feels like it. After this it's on to college for Buffy and Willow, and the flawed but intermittently brilliant Season 4 for us. Hope you join me there.
Overall rating:
8/10 for Part 1,
9/10 for Part 2.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 20: The Prom
Written by Marti Noxon; Directed by David Solomon
I appreciate what they were trying to do with this episode, but a whole lot of it really didn't work for me. Part of it, I suppose, is that I find the whole prom business, and all the faux emotions surrounding it, to be hopelessly hokey. Another is that it contains the immortal line "Right now, I'm just trying to keep from dying", which, try as she might, Sarah Michelle Gellar can't manage to deliver with any sincerity. (That's not an insult to her abilities, though - I can't think of many actors that could pull off such a clunker and maintain any semblance of legitimacy.) Still, at least it has another priceless appearance by Anya, although I must confess that I prefer clueless Season 4 Anya to cranky Season 3 Anya.
Overall rating:
7/10.
Next time: the two-part
Graduation Day.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 19: Choices
Written by David Fury; Directed by James A. Contner
Pretty nifty. It's not as good as David Fury's other episode of the season,
Helpless, but it's a solid episode that advances the story and, for once, lets Willow be a hero. I'm very conscious that, at this stage, the cast is hopelessly bloated (in addition to the seven main stars there's also Faith, Anya, Wesley, Joyce, etc.), the result being that they're all vying for attention, and some of them pass an entire episode with just the odd token scene or line of dialogue. At this stage in the game, this is especially true of Cordelia, who seems only to be waiting for
Angel to start so she can head over to it. Nice moment for Oz, knocking over the pot, though.
Overall rating:
8/10.
Next time:
The Prom.
Superbit super-order
It recently occurred to me, when looking through my DVD collection, that I don't actually own any Superbit DVDs. Well, I own two that use the Superbit logo -
Panic Room and
Léon: The Professional, but they aren't "true" Superbits, at least by my understanding of the term. The former is simply a "normal" DVD that had the Superbit tag slapped on it when none of the extras were ready in time for its release date, while the latter comes from the same grotty old master that's been used to mint every single other release.
Superbit, as Columbia Tristar would have you believe it, is a series of DVDs that "utilize a special high bit rate digital transfer process that optimizes video quality". In reality, this is just marketing spin. There is nothing "special" about the process used to create these DVDs - it's just that, in theory, by removing all the bonus features, more space is available for the film itself, resulting in a higher possible bit rate and, theoretically, at least, better overall quality. It also means that, if those carrying out the encoding are smart enough, the higher bit rate will mean that they can get away with less filtering while avoiding compression artefacts. This is not rocket science:
anyone can create a high bit rate transfer by simply not including any (or many) extras on the first disc, and instead putting them (if there are any) on a separate disc.
Anyway, I want to see if these DVDs are all they're cracked up to be, so I've ordered
The Fifth Element (R1 USA) - apparently one of the best-looking titles - and
Hannibal (R2 UK). The latter is exclusive to PAL territories, and is now out of print because Columbia Tristar's deal to distribute select Universal titles in certain territories, including Europe and Australia, expired some time ago. As a result, it, and the Superbit releases of other Universal titles that were covered by the deal, such as
Gladiator, are now out of print, but I managed to snag myself an "as new" copy from the
Amazon.co.uk Marketplace, for only £7.72 including shipping. Because I own the standard 2-disc release (Disc 1 of which is extras-free anyway, apart from an audio commentary), I'll be able to do one of my usual DVD image comparisons so we can see whether or not the Superbit line is all just fluff.
Oh yeah, and apparently, when upscaled in the Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player,
The Fifth Element Superbit looks about the same as the Blu-ray release. Sheesh.
I also ordered Baz Luhrmann's
Strictly Ballroom (R1 USA) alongside
The Fifth Element, since it was cheap and I was under the customs limit anyway.
DVD debacle
A bunch of standard definition review DVDs popped through my letterbox this morning. From
DVD Pacific: Lucio Fulci's much-maligned
Murder Rock and
Colt 38 Special Squad, a 2-disc package featuring both that film and the never-released Luciano Ercoli film
La Bidonata (both R1 USA). From
CD-WOW:
Final Destination 3 (R1 USA).
Murder Rock first, and I must say that I am impressed... by Media Blasters, that is. Given how bad the transfers for many of the titles I've bought from them have been, they've pulled out the stops for this one and delivered an extremely watchable presentation. No, it's not perfect, but it's the best I've seen come out of that company, and it certainly shows that, while other studios now seem to be getting worse and worse at transfers, Media Blasters are committed to improving. It's too bad the same can't be said about the film, which is a laughable cross between a giallo and one of those 80s dance movies like
Flashdance or
Dirty Dancing. I swear, never before has the sight of sweaty, leotard-clad women girating and thrusting their crotches in the air proved so unappealing.
Final Destination 3 served as afternoon viewing, and, ironically, it turned out to be the exact reverse of the
Murder Rock situation: crap transfer, decent movie. It doesn't hit the heights of
Final Destination 2, which is arguably the best of the trilogy from the perspective of sheer fun, but as a black comedy it works extremely well, with some great exchanges and extremely twisted deaths. The sunbed sequence, in particular, had me cackling my head off. This is one horror movie series that doesn't take itself at all seriously - and I mean in a good way, not in a "nudge-nudge, wink-wink"
Scream way.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 18: Earshot
Written by Jane Espenson; Directed by Regis B. Kimble
Good comeback! In interviews, commentaries, etc., Jane Espenson always talks about how obsessed she is with continuity, and this episode is a great example of this. Not only does she fit in some very funny references to Giles and Joyce's car sex in
Band Candy, she also remembers about Larry's coming out to Xander in the previous season (and given how much the issue is pushed here, I get the impression that, at this stage, they were leaning towards having Xander exit the closet in Season 4 rather than Willow).
Anyway, this is a good all round fun episode that actually manages to make a decent point about internal turmoil. It's also one of the two episodes this season that were delayed because of the Columbine massacre (the other being
Graduation Day: Part 2). Apparently, Sarah Michelle Gellar pushed extremely hard for it to be aired, and as a result of this the network branded her as "difficult". There's a lot of bad press going round about her being a diva on the set (apparently the rest of the cast referred to her as "the Princess"), but, at this stage at least, you can't fault her commitment to the show.
Overall rating:
9/10.
Next time:
Choices.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 17: Enemies
Written by Douglas Petrie; Directed by David Grossman
Well, the home run couldn't last forever. After six episodes all ranking 7/10 or higher, this one feels like a big step down. It's not that it's terrible, but it's not of the same standard as the group of stellar episodes that preceded it. The problem, quite apart from the extremely lame demon mage with the most annoyingly pompous voice you ever heard, is that it's one of those "actually they were pretending all along" episodes that cheats the audience by not giving them a chance to work out that it's all a charade. Angel pretends to lose his soul and becomes the Angelus we all know and love from Season 2... but no! He just put on an act, and dear distraught Buffy was actually in on it all along! Yeesh. If my memory serves me correctly, they pulled this stunt on
Angel (the series) numerous times, and it always felt like a kick in the unmentionables.
Overall rating:
6/10.
Next time:
Earshot.
The Collected Adventures of Asterix
So, for the £29.99 asking price, what do you get? Six rather fetching coasters is the answer. Optimum have really dropped the ball with this release, which is a hodge-podge of different sources, only around half of which come even close to being watchable. By putting this release out and charging a premium price for it, they are showing utter contempt for their customers. Their thinking, I would assume, is that children will be happy enough with them, but quite honestly, when these shoddy presentations (or ones similar to them) were served up to me when I was a child, I was far from satisfied. In any event, I'd hazzard a guess that most Asterix fans these days are adults who, rightfully so, have come to expect better from Optimum.
I've
reviewed The Collected Adventures of Asterix, a 6-disc box set featuring the first six animated adventures of the wily Gaul. Optimum's R2 UK standard definition release leaves something to be desired, to say the very least...
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 16: Doppelgangland
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon
This episode is so downright enjoyable that I'm prepared to forgive Joss Whedon for the disaster that was
Amends. That's not to say it's a masterpiece, but the idea behind it - effectively getting Alyson Hannigan to play four different versions of Willow - is sheer class. So here we have normal Willow, vampire Willow, normal Willow pretending to be vampire Willow, and vampire Willow pretending to be normal Willow, and somehow all of them seem very different but still recognisably the same person. There's a heck of a lot of foreshadowing going on here, and I'm not just talking about the more obvious "I think I'm kinda gay" line. Watching it again, I'm amazed at just how much Willow's descent into darkness in Season 6 is prefigured here, which makes me wonder just how far these storylines were planned out in advance. I know that the "Willow turns gay" idea was merely one of two possible options (the other was having Xander turn out to be gay) the writers were considering, and that Seth Green's abrupt departure more or less forced their hands, but I'd have been curious to see how the "Dark Willow" storyline would have played out if Willow had remained straight (given that one of the main criticisms of that storyline was how closely it connected her sexuality with her emerging evilness).
Overall rating:
9/10.
Next time:
Enemies.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 15: Consequences
Written by Marti Noxon; Directed by Michael Gershman
This episode serves as a double bill of sorts with
Bad Girls, and it's the rare instance of Part 1 actually being better than Part 2. There's nothing particularly wrong with
Consequences, just a whole bunch of plot points that niggle me. Generally, they're issues that are not followed through properly in subsequent episodes, such as the fact that the murder of Finch is simply brushed under the carpet. I mean, I know Sunnydale's authorities are used to town's the high body count, but I find it hard to believe the police would simply drop an unsolved murder investigation. Maybe I should be blaming the later episodes for this oversight, but I feel that this one is deserving of at least some of the blame for setting up a plot twist that the writers had no intention of dealing with.
Oh - and one more thing that's bugging me: how did two puny members of the Watchers' Council, one of them the weedy Wesley, manage to overpower Faith and forcibly extract her? Okay, I know that, later on
Angel, Wesley turned into a gristled gun-slinging action hero, but I find it a bit of a stretch all the same.
Overall rating:
8/10.
Next time:
Doppelgangland.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 14: Bad Girls
Written by Douglas Petrie; Directed by Michael Lange
What strikes me as the most noticeable aspect of this episode up front is its impressive stunt work. There are some pretty nifty moves going on, even if the stunt doubles are at times a tad obvious. It also has a great, disgusting, intriguing villain, Balthazar (the great fat blob sweltering in a huge vat of water), and some of the best Buffy/Faith exchanges ever. It was at this point, I suspect, that the writers realised just what a catch Eliza Dushku was for the show, given her ability to dominate every single scene in which she appeared. (And nowhere is this more true than in the Sexy Dance, which made its way into the opening credits for the next two seasons, despite the fact that Faith was, by then, long gone.) Given this, I'm not surprised that her tenure on the show was short - it could so easily have become
Faith the Vampire Slayer. (I'm still disappointed that we didn't get that spin-off, by the way.)
On the downside, it's becoming increasingly obvious that Angel is simply treading water until he gets his own show. He appears for a perfunctory scene or two in every episode, but in reality contributes absolutely nothing. Would it have been too much to have simply kept him dead until nearer the end of the season instead of bringing him back at the start and then giving him nothing to do but mope?
Overall rating:
9/10.
Next time:
Consequences.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 13: The Zeppo
Written by Dan Vebber; Directed by James Whitmore Jr.
I think whether or not you like this episode depends on how seriously you take the whole mythos of the show. Personally, I'm more interested in the characters and their interactions than in the whole demonology aspect, but I know some people who get far more involved with the latter than I do, so it comes as no surprise that they tend to find this episode a bit frustrating. Myself, I don't mind the fact that it essentially makes fun of the entire ethos of the series and relegates one of its famed "end of the world" plots to mere window dressing. I do, however, find the episode a tad overrated. Not sure why, but I guess the fact that we never believe Xander is in any real danger has something to do with it. I suppose it all really comes down to the very point of the episode - that Xander is the non-essential sidekick - being the very reason that it seems so inconsequential. You could remove this episode from the line-up and no-one would be any the wiser, since Xander's right back to square one again in the very next instalment. (Barring him getting bonked by Faith, I suppose, since that does get referenced at a later date.)
Overall rating:
7/10.
Next time:
Bad Girls.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 12: Helpless
Written by David Fury; Directed by James A. Contner
A good episode, and one that, at this point in the show's life, was extremely necessary, because it shows that Buffy's strength is not merely physical but also mental. It's a cliché, admittedly, but it works. A lot of people, I've noticed, get the idea that Buffy isn't particularly bright, and the show at times plays into this, focusing on her not particularly great performance at school, among other things, but this episode shows that, even when zapped of all her fighting powers, she can still overpower an opponent considerably stronger than her.
Overall rating:
8/10.
Next time:
The Zeppo.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 11: Gingerbread
Teleplay by Jane Espenson; Story by Thania St. John & Jane Espenson; Directed by James Whitmore Jr.
Well, this one turned out to be better than I remembered. It's one of those "vigilante justice doesn't work" tales, although it's somewhat undercut when you consider what, if not a vigilante, Buffy is. I'm also slightly bothered by drastically out of character manner in which the townspeople, especially Joyce, react. I know they were under the influence of mind control by a powerful demon, but I always consider it something of a disservice to characters if they can be so easily manipulated. (And the ease with which "Hansel" and "Gretel" pull off their stunts makes the First Evil look even more pathetic than it already did.) Also, why were only select characters possessed? Giles, after all, is an adult, but was completely unaffected, while certain schoolkids were also affected, if the treatment of one-shot character Michael is anything to go by.
Still, this was a good solid episode. It really manages to sum up what it feels like to be arguing with someone who's completely blind to logic, while the portrayal of the gung-ho MOO (Mothers Opposed to the Occult) gang is positively frightening in its ferocity. This is also the one time we meet Willow's mother, and what a monumental disaster she turns out to be. I wonder whether they'd come up with the "magic spells = lesbian sex" metaphor yet. If so, the torch-bearing mob hunting out the witches gets a disturbing extra twist.
Oh yeah, interesting that they bring up the "slayers don't kill people" rule that would end up being invoked following Faith's accidental stabbing of the Mayor's assistant in just a few episodes' time.
Overall rating:
8/10.
Next time:
Helpless.
An update
Updates have been a bit sporadic lately, given that quite a few things have been going on. Top of the list, unsurprisingly, as been my dissertation. As I've mentioned before, the final draft has to be submitted by September 4th, and I've agreed on a deadline of August 15th for me to send my first draft to my supervisor, which should hopefully leave ample time for her to read it, get back to me and let me make all the millions of changes that will no doubt be required in order to prevent it from being a complete wreck. Unfortunately, the heat, while better than it was at around this time last week, hasn't exactly been ideal for writing. As a result, my
DVD Times review schedule has gone a bit belly-up - I need to do write-ups of the following:
Constantine,
The Bourne Supremacy,
Casualty: Series 2,
The Hills Have Eyes and
The Collected Adventures of Asterix... and
Lyris as the HD DVD of
Tomb Raider on its way, which I'll no doubt feel obliged to cover as the only reviewer in the UK currently covering the format.
Major Concern Number 2 is the disappearance of four DVDs I foolishly sent out via Second Class mail to lend to one of my online buddies. Seriously, I sent them out on July 4th, and some clown at Royal Mail lost them. They're gone. Unfortunately, the titles in question -
Death Laid an Egg,
What Have They Done to Your Daughters?,
Don't Torture a Duckling and
The New York Ripper - weren't exactly the cheapest of easiest to source, but the good news is that I can apply for up to £32 compensation. That, coupled with a generous donation from said buddy (despite it being my fault, not his), should go some way towards recouping the cost of replacing the DVDs. And replace them I did - three of them arrived this morning, with only
Don't Torture a Duckling still being MIA. At the moment, it's sitting in the "Pending" section at
DVD Import despite them claiming that it's in stock. Grrr.
In somewhat better news, if you live in the UK, you may be aware that
Film Four, Channel 4's dedicated film service, recently became free. Not only is it the UK's first non-subscription-based movie channel, it's also a very good one. Last night, for example, I experienced the eclectic mix of the Marx Brothers comedy
Duck Soup, Baz "
Moulin Rouge!" Luhrmann's directorial debut
Strictly Ballroom, Luc Besson's bizarre futuristic wankfest
The Fifth Element and the bitingly funny
Ghost World, featuring Thora Birch, star of such classics as
American Beauty, and Scarlett Johansson, star of such classics as
Home Alone 3. Four films, all extremely enjoyable in their own way, in the space of one evening - and I didn't have to pay a penny for them. (Although the fact that I'm going to end up buying DVDs of at least a couple of them sort of puts paid to that.)
Anyway, more posts soon, and hopefully I'll have something to show for all my toiling before too long, whether it's a chapter of my dissertation or a hastily-penned review. Adios, suckers!
Great cartoony news!
Some excellent Disney/Pixar animation news for you today:
AWN reports that John Musker and Ron Clements, the directors behind
The Little Mermaid and
Aladdin, are back at Disney and are currently helming a new
2D feature entitled
The Frog Princess, while Eric Goldberg, who animated the Genie in
Aladdin, among other characters, is in charge of a new programme at the studio dedicated to creating theatrical shorts.
Meanwhile, according to
Upcoming Pixar,
Toy Story 3 will see the light of day after all - created by the original Pixar team and directed by the man himself, John Lasseter. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen will, unsurprisingly, be reprising their roles as the voices of Woody and Buzz, and the project is apparently "progressing faster than previously expected".
It certainly sounds as if the future is bright for Disney animation. Hopefully it won't be too long before we can actually see with our own eyes the positive results of John Lasseter taking over control of Feature Animation.
Where was I?
Sorry for the lack of posts yesterday. I was at a wedding. Those of you who have been reading this site for any length of time will know how I feel about these events, so I won't bother rehashing old ground. I will, however, say that, this time, the speechifying was mercifully short - a far cry from some of the 40-minutes-plus affairs I've been to.
The Bourne Identity
I rented it. I watched it. I can't, after all, very well write a review of
The Bourne Supremacy without first seeing its predecessor. And, ultimately, I am of the opinion that
The Bourne Identity is the better film -
significantly better. Part of it, I think, is that it has a human element running throughout it, in the form of Marie, Franka Potente's character, which, beyond the first act, isn't present in
The Bourne Supremacy (I'm trying hard to avoid spoilers here).
I mean, let's face it - Jason Bourne is a blank slate played by an incredibly wooden actor. True, he's a more realistic spy than James Bond, but most Bond actors are capable of more than one facial expression and can be relied on to actually exhibit the odd human emotion. Bourne is, by the very nature of his character, pretty much a robot, and, because of the way he's played, I have trouble believing he even remotely cares about anything. As such, I don't care about him. I
do, however, find myself caring about Marie, because she's a human being rather than a superhero.
As a result,
The Bourne Identity is actually quite exciting. Yes, it has the same air of detachment to it that annoyed me about its sequel, but it's fast-paced, reasonably intelligent, and has that globe-trotting aspect that makes films of this type so appealing. The direction is also considerably better, with Doug Liman (
Go) keeping the shakyvision camera in check in a way that Paul Greengrass utterly failed to do with the sequel. There's also a really good car chase through the streets of Paris that puts to shame anything in
The Bourne Supremacy.
That said, I'm going to watch
The Bourne Supremacy again before I review it. Maybe, now that I've absorbed with relevant back-story, I'll be less critical of it.
But good god, man! After watching
The Bourne Supremacy in shiny HD, going back to standard definition was just horrible.
The Bourne Identity doesn't exactly have a particularly good transfer anyway, but even so, I was shocked by the drop in definition. I hope this comes out on HD DVD soon (it makes no sense that the sequel is available but not the original), because I'd definitely consider picking it up.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 10: Amends
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon
This has seriously got to qualify as a "what the fuck?" episode, and not in a good way. I have no idea what Whedon was aiming for here, but the end result is so hokey and so clearly designed as a stereotypical "Christmas miracle" episode that I spent most of its running time scratching my head.
It's also the episode that introduces the First Evil and the Bringers, who would turn out to be the woeful villains of the even more woeful Season 7. As such, it's hard to stay positive about it, but I'm going to refrain from marking it down just because of this. Besides, there's enough wrong with it anyway without looking to pick holes in it. It's the worst episode of the entire series to be written and/or directed by Whedon, that's for sure.
Oh yeah - in this episode, Angel apparently finds out the reason for his being "brought back". Shame he decided not to share it with us because, four more seasons of
Buffy and five of
Angel down the line, I'm still none the wiser.
Overall rating:
4/10.
Next time:
Gingerbread.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 9: The Wish
Written by Marti Noxon; Directed by David Greenwalt
Wow - a Marti Noxon episode that I wholeheartedly like. Wonders will never cease! In retrospect, I like this considerably more than
Lover's Walk, but then I've always had a thing for the "alternate reality" episodes that show up on both
Buffy and
Angel from time to time. This one is a really powerful one that functions as a macabre, vampiric form of
It's a Wonderful Life and also introduces a great character - Anya - that would serve the show well for the next few seasons. The only strange thing is that the Anya that appears here bears absolutely no resemblance to the one that shows up in Season 4 onwards. Sure, they're both played by Emma Caulfield, but this Anya, far from being a sex-obsessed capitalism enthusiast with no understanding of the finer points of human etiquette, is presented here as being quite worldly wise and a lot like Cordelia. It's okay, though - I can live with it. In any event, I don't think they'd have been able to get much mileage out of her if they'd simply used her as Cordelia II in Season 4 and beyond.
Anyway, great episode.
Doppelgangland's going to have its work cut out to beat this.
Overall rating:
10/10.
Next time: the confusingly poor
Amends.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 8: Lover's Walk
Written by Dan Vebber; Directed by David Semel
I think that this was the episode where the writers decided on their "relationships don't work" message, which they carried all the way through to the end of the series. Certainly, Spike pretty much sums the whole thing up with his "You'll fight, and you'll shag, but you'll never be friends" speech. Odd, then, that such a crucial episode was handled by someone who'd never written for
Buffy before and would only write one other (the rather overrated
The Zeppo) - but he handles the whole thing very well. In fact, this may be my favourite episode of the season... although I'll have to watch
The Wish and
Doppelgangland again to make sure. Luckily, the former just so happens to be the very next episode.
Overall rating:
9/10.
Next time:
The Wish.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 7: Revelations
Written by Douglas Petrie; Directed by James A. Contner
Once again, enjoyable stuff. Not as good as
Band Candy, but still an impressive debut for a new writer, and one that manages to do a lot with the various character arcs while still serving pretty well as a stand-alone episode. That said, I must admit that Gwen Post has always bugged me - not only do the Watchers' Council fail to inform Giles that there is a rogue Watcher on the loose, she is also accepted by him without any evidence of her having proven her credentials. Still, the plot that develops out of it is good enough that I'm willing to let it slide. Oh, and is it just me, or were the special effects in this episode considerably better than those of the previous week?
Overall rating:
8/10.
Next time:
Lover's Walk.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 6: Band Candy
Written by Jane Espenson; Directed by Michael Lange
Ah, now this is more like it. It's the best episode of the season so far, and I can easily understand why so many people put it in their personal Top 10. I wouldn't go that far, but it
is undeniably fun, with the only real negatives being the continuation of that baffling Xander/Willow affair and a bad-looking CGI snake that, as it turns out, is merely a foretaste to the really hideous one that appears in the season finale. The main element, though - the personalities of Young Giles, Young Joyce and Young Snyder - is brilliantly executed and, between you and me, I think that Jane Espenson, whose first episode of
Buffy this was, did a far better job with the "reverting to youth" plot mechanic than Joss Whedon did with the Season 4
Angel episode
Spin the Bottle (which will be reviewed in due course, I expect).
Overall rating:
9/10.
Next time:
Revelations.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 5: Homecoming
Written and Directed by David Greenwalt
Well, it's better than
Beauty and the Beasts, that's for sure, but it's still not great. It has moments that I like, the introduction of the Mayor and Faith's ownage of Scott Hope being the high points, but the whole Homecoming plot bores me to tears with its silliness, and the affair between Willow and Xander has got to be one of the worst ideas in the history of the series. It makes no sense, and seems to have been forced in for the soul purpose of driving Xander and Cordelia apart in
Lover's Walk - which could have been achieved in countless other ways.
Overall rating:
6/10.
Next time:
Band Candy.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 4: Beauty and the Beasts
Written by Marti Noxon; Directed by James Whitmore Jr.
"All men are beasts."
Years before Marti Noxon got to swing the
Baseball Bat of Anti-Metaphor full-time in her capacity as showrunner, she took a few practice swings with this bludgeoningly clumsy parable for domestic abuse. I don't have much to say about this episode, other than that it annoyed me with its heavy-handedness and overly simplistic outlook.
On a side note, it's no wonder people consider Angel's return to be completely botched, given that it occurs during this decidedly below average outing. He somehow managed to find himself a rather fetching pair of trousers, though, despite his feral state.
Overall rating:
4/10.
Next time:
Homecoming.
The Collected Adventures of Asterix - collect this review, Optimum
This morning, I received check discs of the much-delayed UK SD DVD release of
The Collected Adventures of Asterix from
Optimum. Given the poor treatment of the
Asterix series on video in this country, I wasn't exactly expecting any great shakes from these DVDs, but I must say that they've turned out to be even worse than I'd previously imagined. Basically, it goes like this:
Asterix the GaulOriginal aspect ratio: 1.33:1. 1.33:1 master used, blown up and zoomed in to anamorphic 1.78:1. Opening credits are a combination of windowboxing and horizontal stretching. Opening credits are in English.
Asterix and CleopatraOriginal aspect ratio: 1.33:1. 1.33:1 master used, blown up and zoomed in to anamorphic 1.78:1. Opening credits are slightly windowboxed and slightly cropped. There are also numerous frame rate problems, as if the computer being used to capture the film wasn't powerful enough for the task. During the opening introduction, you can actually see the image tracking up and down in an attempt to get the relevant information (speech bubbles, character animation) in the frame. Opening credits are in English.
The Twelve Tasks of AsterixOriginal aspect ratio: 1.66:1. Slightly over-matted at 1.78:1 but still watchable. This is actually a cleaner print than the one used for the French DVD from Citel Video, but its colours seem too dark and with a noticeable yellow cast. The only transfer that is, overall, anything of an improvement on what was already available. Opening credits are in English and are extremely cheap-looking, with a granite slab motif presumably being used to cover up the original French titles. End credits are in French.
Asterix vs. CaesarOriginal aspect ratio: 1.66:1. Uses the same transfer as the French Gaumont Video DVD from 2005, and is thus presented in its correct aspect ratio but suffers from noticeable DVNR artefacts. Opening and closing credits are in French.
Asterix in BritainOriginal aspect ratio: 1.66:1. Uses the same transfer as the French Gaumont Video DVD from 2005, and is thus presented in its correct aspect ratio but suffers from noticeable DVNR artefacts. Opening and closing credits are in French.
Asterix and the Big FightOriginal aspect ratio: 1.85:1. Bafflingly, this transfer is taken from an analogue pan and scan master, and is thus cropped to 1.33:1. This is the same master that was used for the Australian Release from Video Unlimited. Opening credits are in English, closing credits are in German.
Oh, and all of the films are dubbed into English. The original French audio is nowhere to be found. There are no extras of any kind either, although, to be honest, this is the least of this set's problems.
Optimum have really dropped the ball here and have clearly invested the least possible effort. This set is a complete hodge-podge of different sources, only three of which (the three that are presented in, or reasonably close to, their original aspect ratios) can even be considered watchable. By putting this release out and charging a premium price for it, they are showing utter contempt for their customers. Their thinking, I would assume, is that the kiddies will be happy enough with them, but quite honestly, when these shoddy presentations (or ones similar to them) were served up to me when I was a kid, I was far from satisfied. In any event, I'd hazzard a guess that most
Asterix fans these days are adults who, rightfully so, have come to expect better from Optimum. Maybe, if they'd spent more time sourcing better masters instead of hacking up the ones they had, we wouldn't be in this situation now.
To make matters worse, at the end of last year, when we first became aware of the DVNR artefacts present on the French DVDs,
Lyris sent Optimum an email warning them of the problem, in the event that the French releases were used as a source. Not only was his email not replied to, his advice has clearly been ignored point-blank, and, to add insult to injury, ironically-named Optimum have committed far greater crimes against these films than the French distributors ever did. Third-rate service from a third-rate distributor.
Expect a scathing review soon.
HD DVD: 24p in Europe for Studio Canal titles
Source:
AV ForumsExcellent news in AV-land! It has been confirmed, by Microsoft, that the HD DVD titles
announced for release in Europe by Studio Canal, including heavyweights such as
Mullholland Dr. and
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, will be presented in 24p. This means that not only will we not have to put up with the dreaded 25 fps 4% PAL speed-up that has plagued video and DVD releases of films in PAL territories since the inceptions of the formats, but that we will be able to play them on our shiny American HD-A1 HD DVD players (which, annoyingly, can't output a 50 Hz signal).
Mother of Tears update
Source:
Profondo Rosso StoreThe bad news:
- Shooting has been delayed until "next November or later". I sincerely hope that "next November" is a mistranslation and that it means this November, not November 2007.
The good news:
- Asia Argento will be starring.
It's too hot, plus musings on music
Sorry for the complete lack of updates yesterday. I'd like to say I had a good excuse, but in reality it's simply because I couldn't be bothered. (I might also argue that it was because nothing particularly interesting happened in the movie/DVD/HD DVD world yesterday, but it's not as if that stopped me before.) Why couldn't I be bothered? Because, quite simply, it's too damn hot.
All around me people seem to be cheering about the sun. Well, sorry to be such a party pooper, but I hate this weather and I hate this time of year. It's odd, because summer is traditionally the time at which I have the most time to do what I want (although this year I'm working on my dissertation), and yet I always find that I can't wait for it to end. When faced with the choice of the heatwave we're currently experiencing and the sub-zero temperatures we had for months last winter, I'd pick the latter every time, the simple fact being that, if it's cold, it's easy enough to put on thicker clothes or turn on the heating, but, when it's hot, there's precious little you can do about it. This kind of weather is, to me, absolutely vile, and it constitutes a dangerous precedent: a little thing called global warming.
People are so quick to sing their hallelujahs whenever the weather gets like this, but if they had any sense at all they'd be deeply worried. I don't think anyone can deny that the world is getting hotter and hotter, and this kind of weather is simply yet another manifestation of this. Great, if you like it like this, but spare a thought for the melting glaciers in the Arctic... oh, and for the OAPs and little kids that are literally dying of the heat.
Anyway, on to some more happy posting. Two days ago, I ordered a copy of the recently released score for
Chi l'ha Vista Morire? (a.k.a.
Who Saw Her Die?), from
DigitMovies. As giallo composers go, Ennio Morricone is pretty much the undisputed champion, and as his scores go, this constitutes him at the top of his game (
What Have You Done to Solange?,
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin and
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage are other giallo high points in a career filled with high points). There's a good interview with Morricone in
the Guardian, by the way.
Which reminds me, I really need to get round to updating the
CD Collection pages on this site that are completely out of date. I'll do it this summer, yer honour, I promise.
Serenity
Shoddy cover art aside, Serenity on HD DVD is a magnificent package, and indeed is a strong contender for the best release I've seen on this format so far. Fans of the film who are capable of playing HD DVDs are well advised to throw their grotty old DVD copies on the scrap heap and invest in this absolutely magnificent presentation of a fun, highly engaging sci-fi romp.
Joss Whedon's resurrection of his short-lived sci-fi series
Firefly arrives in high definition! I've
reviewed the R0 US HD DVD release of
Serenity, which features all the bonus materials from the standard definition release in addition to an eye-popping 1080p transfer and explosive Dolby Digital-Plus audio.
Ultraviolet
Classic review.Just one more of the many great titles that you, yourself, can own on Blu-ray, today.
Don't buy Blu-ray - it's rubbish
Projector Central has posted a great article that explains, in very clear terms, why HD DVD is the only viable option for high definition home entertainment, and why Blu-ray, if not doomed to outright failure, can never hope to conquer the market.
So we must ask ourselves as consumers: How big of a deal is this fuss over studio support anyway? What if I invest in HD-DVD today and Disney decides not to support it after all? Our answer is an emphatic so what? Not being able to see a Disney film in HD is not the end of the world. Disney films will always be available on regular DVD. You can pop those DVDs into your HD-DVD player anytime you want, upsample them to 1080i, and see them in very close to the same quality as Blu-ray is delivering today. Problem solved.
Brilliance. Sheer brilliance.
Puzzle
If you approach Puzzle expecting a giallo in the classical sense of the term, then you will be sorely disappointed. It lacks the body count, gore and nudity that many have come to demand, and its camerawork is functional rather than the star of the show. It is, however, a potent and involving thriller that keeps the audience guessing and boasts far stronger characterisation than most examples of the genre. There's nothing revolutionary on offer here, but this modest giallo ultimately succeeds, ironically, thanks to its less than grandiose aims. Simply put, it achieves what it sets out to do.
I've
reviewed Puzzle, a little-seen 1974 giallo from Duccio Tessari, starring Senta Berger and Luc Merenda. Another World Entertainment's R2 Danish standard definition DVD release features mediocre audio-visual quality and limited extras.
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin
Those of you who read Whiggles.com regularly will probably have noticed my numerous posts regarding an Italian standard definition DVD release of Lucio Fulci's classic giallo
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin. Information on this disc has been pretty sketchy, and for a while it looked as if
Cecchi Gori, the company responsible for putting it out, were simply going to create a standards conversion of the already available US release from
Media Blasters, which, much to fans' rage, is censored (although it does include a pan and scan, VHS-sourced copy of the uncut version as a minor consolation).
Viewers, of course, reacted with righteous ire on Cecchi Gori's
forum, and the good news is that their complaining has paid off. Cecchi Gori delayed the release and were suddenly, miraculously able to source an uncut print - which the ever-deluded John Sirabella of Media Blasters claimed did not exist when justifying his releasing of the censored version in the US. (Funny how things that were previously impossible suddenly become possible when people threaten not to buy your product, isn't it?)
Anyway, the DVD was released earlier this month, and Nick over at
DVD Trash has got the skinny on it. Good news all round: it sounds like a winner. Not only is this version apparently uncut (the cover even states that it is the
"version integrale"), its image quality is apparently better than that of Media Blasters' cut release. The bad news is that there are no English language options on this disc, but that's never stopped me before, and given how much I love this film, I think I might just try my hand at creating a composite version that marries the audio from the cut US DVD with the image from the uncut Italian DVD. (If I remember correctly, the cut scenes have little or no dialogue in them, so the end result should be perfectly watchable.) I've ordered my copy from the friendly people at
Thrauma. Apparently they're expecting stock to be delivered on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, at which point they will "ship fastly".
Head over to DVD Trash now for an
image comparison and
the full skinny on the contents of the disc.
I can hardly contain myself!
Warner's Blu-ray announcement
Source:
DVD TimesThe
rumours have turned out to be true: yesterday, Warner announced its first slate of Blu-ray titles. Their initial line-up will be comprised of
Training Day,
Good Night, and Good Luck,
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and
Rumor Has It, with future announcements to be made at a later date. Interestingly, all but
Good Night, and Good Luck are already available on HD DVD (and, in any event, it is unlikely to remain a Blu-ray exclusive for long), so proper side-by-side comparisons of the same title on HD DVD and Blu-ray should emerge before to long.
Given that these four titles have been
confirmed as MPEG2 encodes, I'm not expecting the comparisons to be particularly favourable for the boys in blue.
The Bourne Supremacy
My review copy of
The Bourne Supremacy (HD DVD, R0 USA) arrived this morning from
DVD Pacific.
I've just finished watching it, and while I'm happy to report that the transfer is excellent - another one that, at least to my eyes, seems to be perceptually flawless - I was less than enthused by the film itself. Don't get me wrong, it was okay, and I enjoyed it to an extent, but I found the whole experience a bit frustrating. The script is all over the place, substituting genuine intrigue with incomprehensibility, and the star, gorilla-faced Matt Damon, is about as expressive as a plank of wood. Worse still, the handheld camerawork is annoying in the extreme - the damn thing never stops moving, and even in the more quiet scenes is constantly swaying about as if the operator has a bladder infection.
A couple of nice stunt sequences and some globetrotting fun notwithstanding, I saw nothing remarkable about this film. Yes, the complete lack of CGI and stupid gadgets must have been a welcome change when this was released, given that the previous major spy film was the ludicrous
Die Another Day, but it has nothing on, say,
Licence to Kill or
The Living Daylights. Still, it wasn't a complete waste of two hours, and at least the first half-hour has Franka Potente (of
Run Lola Run) in it. Maybe it's just me, but I found it a bit of a treat to see an indie actor in a Hollywood blockbuster - a bit like Eva Green in
Kingdom of Heaven.
I suspect I'll track down a copy of the first film in the "Bourne" series,
The Bourne Identity, before I do my final write-up.
Casualty: Series 2
The R2 UK standard definition release of
Casualty's second series, which I ordered from
Play, arrived yesterday.
I'm not sure how many of Series 2's 15 episodes I've seen - I'm sure I must have caught some, or at least bits of them, on UKTV Drama at some point, but otherwise I suspect this will be a new experience for me. I took a gander at the first episode last night, alongside commentary by creators/writers Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, and was surprised to discover that, at least in terms of its ambitions, the look was at times quite cinematic - at least more so than the first series.
John K interview
CHUD has posted an exclusive interview with John K, in which he discusses the
Ren & Stimpy: The Lost Episodes DVD, animated music videos for Weird Al and Tenacious D, future projects and the general decline of society. Worth a read.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 3: Faith, Hope and Trick
Written by David Greenwalt; Directed by James A. Contner
This episode gets off to a bad start with one of those "remember when..." lines that I hate so much, but it quickly picks up. There is some really sharp dialogue on display, and the episode also introduces Faith, one of the richest characters in the whole Buffyverse, so it's hard not to like it. It has its faults, admittedly - the disposal of Faith's arch-nemesis Kakistos comes a little too easily and abruptly after all the time taken to build him up as unstoppable - but in most other respects, this is a good solid affair. Probably David Greenwalt's best effort on
Buffy, actually.
Oh, but Scott Hope? Drip.
Useless trivia: the band playing at the Bronze is Darling Violetta, who later provided the opening title theme for
Angel.
Overall rating:
8/10.
Next time:
Beauty and the Beasts.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 2: Dead Man's Party
Written by Marti Noxon; Directed by James Whitmore Jr.
About half of this episode is really good, but the other half is a mess. The biggest problem is that they completely botch the reunion of Buffy and her friends. Okay, so she disappeared without telling anyone where she was going, but the way most of them act towards her is not only completely unreasonable but also completely out of character. Maybe it's the demonic head that's controlling their minds, but somehow I don't think that's it. The actual drama of the whole situation would have been pretty potent if the characters didn't seem to be possessed by different personalities, Season 7 style, and if the "monster of the week" plot wasn't so patterned after
The Night of the Living Dead. Seems to me like a rather odd episode for a filler.
But I can't completely condemn it. The Buffy/Willow scene in Buffy's bedroom is wonderful, and Giles' little miniplot regarding the dead cat, and his drive to Buffy's house (including the hotwiring material that was deleted from the UK release) is good fun. The failure, I think, is not the idea itself, but the execution.
Overall rating:
6/10.
Next time:
Faith, Hope and Trick.
Peep Show Series 3 DVD in October
Source:
The DVD ForumsPlay.com has the DVD of
Peep Show: Series 3 up for pre-order, which a listed release date of October 30th. Bear in mind that such dates are generally pretty unreliable until confirmed by the distributor (after all, how many times has
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace been stalled now?), this would be in line with the release dates for Series 1 and 2 in 2004 and 2005 respectively. Hopefully this means that Series 4 will be showing up on our screens at around the same time.
Ren & Stimpy: The Lost Episodes
Ren & Stimpy: The Lost Episodes may have been gestating for a long time before it was finally released, but the wait has definitely been worth it. Featuring all six episodes in their proper, uncut form, along with excellent transfers and some killer bonus materials, everyone who calls themselves cartoon fans owe it to themselves to pick up a copy of this great set. Highly recommended.
Unceremoniously yanked from the schedules after a brief run in the summer of 2003, not many people knew that a new series of
Ren & Stimpy had been created. Now, however, it has been released on DVD in the form of
Ren & Stimpy: The Lost Episodes, featuring three hours of high quality cartoon material, over half of which never aired on TV. I've
reviewed Paramount's 2-disc R1 standard definition set.
Harry Potter, Batman Begins, The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings on HD DVD by the end of the year
Source:
High-Def DigestViewing the first few months of HD DVD availability as a "preliminary" launch window, Warner Home Video will finally begin to roll out its A-list titles ahead of the fourth quarter holiday shopping season, studio representatives announced yesterday...
The studio had indicated earlier this year at January's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that 'Potter' and 'Batman' might be among the studios initial slate of HD DVD launch titles, and they have remained some of the most eagerly-awaited HD DVD releases among early adopters...
Other A-list catalog titles Warner plans to release on HD DVD by the end of the year include the 'Matrix' trilogy, 'The Shawshank Redemption,' 'Twister' -- and through subsidiary New Line Home Entertainment, all three Oscar-winning 'Lord of the Rings' films.
Now that's what I call an impressive slate of titles! I may not be wild about them, but I know that a considerable number of people are. They should certainly help shift a few more players than
The Dukes of Hazzard and
Doom, at any rate.
Warner to start rolling out the Blu-ray titles?
Source:
High-Def DigestBack when information first started to emerge regarding the next generation video disc formats, it was widely publicised that Warner would be supporting both HD DVD and Blu-ray. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that there are currently murmurings that they are gearing up for an announcement regarding their support for the inferior format.
Upon hearing this new, my spidey senses began to tingle. How interesting that Warner, a dual-format studio, would release HD DVD titles that feature noticeable noise reduction whereas Universal, who are only supporting HD DVD, would (it would seem) release their films completely unmangled. Maybe I'm just jumping to conclusions, but wouldn't be interesting if Warner, fully aware of the encoding problems facing anyone attempting to wrangle with Blu-ray and its current 25 GB disc space and MPEG2 encoding limitations, was routinely noise reducing its masters in order to make their job a little easier?
Time will tell, and of course I must once again point out that I've only seen a small handful of HD DVD titles so far, so no doubt I'll be able to build up a more accurate picture of the situation as my collection grows. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what Paramount, another studio expected to support both formats, comes up with.
Dissertation update
This morning, I put the finishing touches to Chapter 4 of my dissertation and mailed it off to my supervisor. I'm going to see her tomorrow to discuss both it and the structure for the rest of the project (which will be a futher two chapters, plus a conclusion), but already I can see that my trusty editing scissors are going to have to be brought out. Chapters 1 through 4 currently run to a combined 10,088 words, and the target word count for the entire project is 15,000. Can I wrap the whole thing up in only 5,000 words? I think not. Ideally, each of the three main chapters should be no more than 3,500 words, leaving me around 4,500 to 5,000 words for the introduction, Argento chapter, methodology chapter and conclusion. And, believe me, I'm really,
really bad when it comes to cutting my writing down.
I'll ask my supervisor tomorrow if there's any penalty for going over the word limit. Hopefully there won't be, but I'm not optimistic. Ah well, maybe one day I'll be able to get the full-length Director's Cut published!
Suspiria
Holy pancakes! It's yet another updated Dario Argento film DVD Image Comparison! This time round, I've gone back to my comparison from
Suspiria and added Anchor Bay's R2 UK release, which I rented from
Blockbuster.
Unfortunately, this release is a step down from its American counterpart, suffering from an inferior transfer and lacking the 25th anniversary documentary and Goblin soundtrack CD. It's funny, because back in 2002, before I owned this film, I was originally planning on picking up the UK DVD. Right now, I'm extremely glad I paid the extra cash for the American version. Anyway, enough yammering: check out the
full comparison for yourselves.
First European HD DVD titles announced
Source:
MicrosoftA list of titles coming to HD DVD in Europe has been posted on
Microsoft's HD DVD web site. Release dates and specifications have yet to be announced, but the list makes for interesting reading all the same since, due to different companies having distribution rights for certain films in Europe than in America, titles that are not currently announced for a US release on the format will be coming out on this side of the Atlantic. The key example, perhaps, is
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which, in America, is a Blu-ray release (and, by all accounts, a nastily DVNR'd one at that), but, due to European distribution rights resting with Studio Canal rather than Lions Gate, will be coming out on my format of choice in several countries in Europe.
The title that interests me, however, is
Mulholland Dr. Provided a US version is not announced for release in the near future (it's a Universal title in America, so it's always possible), and provided region coding is not an issue, I would definitely consider picking up the European release.
Paramount HD DVDs back on schedule
Source:
High-Def DVD DigestSome of us were a little concerned back in May when Paramount
announced that it was delaying its three announced HD DVD titles indefinitely. Well, worry no more, because it looks like these three titles are back on the menu, and many more besides! Currently, their release schedule looks like this:
July 25-
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider-
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow-
Sahara-
Sleepy HollowAugust 1-
Four Brothers-
The Manchurian Candidate (2004 remake)
-
We Were WarriorsAugust 8-
Aeon Flux-
The Italian Job (2003 remake)
-
U2: Rattle & HumNot exactly triple-A titles, and at the moment it hasn't been announced whether or not any of the extras from their respective standard definition DVD releases will be ported over, but, even so, there are a couple of films in that list that I'd be interested in picking up. I like
Tomb Raider, okay? So shut up.
It's Höekvision time!
What better way to begin a new week than with the delivery of a copy of
Ren & Stimpy: The Lost Episodes (R1 USA standard definition DVD), just over a week before its official July 18th release date? This is actually
Lyris' copy rather than mine (I suspect I'll be getting one at some point for review via
DVD Times). As such, I'll not go into too much detail regarding its contents with this post, but will instead just say that the transfers are very good, the extras are interesting and comprehensive, and the episodes themselves are much more fun on DVD than the low resolution downloads I've been making do with since Summer 2003.
In the meantime, feast your eyes on some of these delicious screengrabs:
Buy it, bitches!
CleanFlicks told: piss off and die
Source:
The Salt Lake TribuneRemember last November when I
told you about a Utah-based company called
CleanFlicks that was charging people money for copies of Hollywood movies edited to "remove all profanity, nudity, graphic violence and sexual content"? Last I heard, a number of big-name directors, including Michael Apted, Steven Spielberg, Mel Gibson and Martin Scorcese, were suing them for illegally tampering with their work. Well, the good news is that, as of last Thursday, they have been ordered by the courts to cease and desist.
Michael Apted puts it best:
"Directors put their skill, craft and often years of hard work into the creation of a film. These films carry our name and reflect our reputations. So we have great passion about protecting our work... against unauthorized editing."
It's so true. If I was a big-shot director, the last thing I'd want would be some grotty little gang of prudes messing up my stuff and then leaving my name on it. This is one example of Hollywood trampling all over the little people that I can support.
Mother of Tears in September
Source:
Dark DiscussionIf you've been reading this site for any length of time, you'll no doubt be aware of how much I'm looking forward to
Mother of Tears, Dario Argento's concluding part in his Three Mothers trilogy. Well, the good news is that, last night at a screening in Paris, the man himself confirmed that he will shoot the film in September this year. Can't wait!
The Card Player
My
DVD Image Comparison of Dario Argento's
The Card Player has been updated to include the R2 UK DVD from Arrow Films what I rented from
Blockbuster.
Basically, it's a serviceable but unremarkable disc with a decent transfer and audio and some basic extras. Still, if you live in the UK and happen to spot it sitting in a bargain bin somewhere, I see no reason not to pick it up. Enough prattling, though - view the
comparison for yourselves and see what you think.
Ahoy, mateys! I smell the stench of piracy off the Barbary Coast!
Today was officially the last of my birthday celebrations, as myself,
Lyris and our friend G traipsed off to the cinema to watch
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I must confess to not being much of a fan of the original
Pirates of the Caribbean, a bloated, mediocre adventure film saved only by Johnny Depp's outrageously camp portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow. And the same is true of
Dead Man's Chest. At 150 minutes it's an hour longer than it should be, and, for the most part, nothing particularly noteworthy happens - just a lot of dodgy CGI, men in wigs swordfighting and Keira Knightley in a corset. Then along comes Depp and saves the day. Whenever he's on the screen, the film comes to life. When he disappears, we're left to contend with Orlando Bloom doing absolutely nothing to convince us as an action star, while his character's supposed romance with Keira Knightley falls flat (the two share approximately five minutes of screen time together).
As a summer blockbuster and a brainless distraction, it was overall pretty good, but its writers really need to learn what it means to be concise (odd, given that they run a
web site espousing, among other things, how to keep your scripts short and snappy), and to make better use of their ace in the hole, the aforementioned Mr. Depp. Perhaps Part 3 (yes, there will be a Part 3 -
Dead Man's Chest ends with a cliffhanger) should be comprised entirely of Captain Jack swaggering about an empty stage and wiggling his hands like a true sissy. I know I'd watch it.
6/10
Adding to the HD menagerie
Two HD-DVDs popped through the letterbox this morning: for
Lyris,
Serenity; for me,
Constantine.
Serenity first, and it seems as if, after years of frustration, there is finally a home video title with which I can shower superlatives.
Serenity on HD-DVD looks fucking magnificent, the first perceptibly flawless transfer I've ever seen. It's sharp as a tack and alive with beautiful film grain, with zero compression problems and no visible filtering, noise reduction or edge enhancement. Just a two thumbs waaaay up, A+++, 10/10, 100% transfer that doesn't mangle with the director's intentions in any way. For a launch title, this is a remarkable achievement, and it only serves to make Blu-Ray look even more laughable. The film was neat too.
Constantine, alas, is not quite as good-looking. Interestingly, like
Million Dollar Baby, this is also a Warner title (
Serenity is a Universal release), and it suffers from the same issues - namely, noise reduction and a light layer of high frequency edge enhancement. This edge enhancement only affects the really highly contrasted edges, and even then it's pretty slight, but it's annoying nonetheless because it means that the transfer doesn't look as good as it could. Again, there is the distinct possibility that these problems existed at the digital intermediate stage, but the fact that two Warner titles have been affected, whereas the one Universal title I've seen wasn't, does make me very suspicious. Time will tell, of course, and at this stage, not having access to very many titles, I have no way of knowing for sure, but I'll definitely be keeping my eye on this problem and will be sure to keep you updated regarding how it develops.
Oh, and I've managed to snag a review copy of
The Bourne Supremacy via
DVD Times, courtesy of
DVD Pacific. I'm not expecting it for another week, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing it, given that (a) it's a Universal title, and (b) is said to be
very grainy. I do love me my film grain, and, based on Universal's treatment of
Serenity, it seems that, with HD-DVD, they realise that it's part of the film and not something to be eradicated.
Oh, and I received a surprise package today - a birthday gift from my good buddy and fellow Argento appreciator Thomas, who sent me a copy of the R2 Danish standard definition DVD release of
Jenifer, Dario Argento's episode in the first season of the
Masters of Horror TV show. The transfer isn't very good (and neither is the episode itself), but it's certainly a viable option for those who don't want to wait for the upcoming American DVD release. Thanks, Thomas!
The eye problem
Either it's gone, or I'm just not seeing it any more. Touch wood.
Wagon wheels
Sophie is a dog with many problems. She is overweight, has back trouble, has sensitive paws, and, to cap it all, is incredibly lazy. With her feet hurting so much, she now refuses to walk on rough ground at all, so, in order to transport her to the grass, where she can run about, we now have to pull her in a wagon.
Photo by
Lyris.
Birthday bash
As I already indicated, yesterday was my 23rd birthday. I'm in a complete muddle regarding purchased hardware and credit card bills, so I'm not actually sure whether my TFT monitor or my half of the HD-DVD player was my birthday present (it all comes down to the same thing - a cheque from my parents to cover partial costs). Regardless of which of these was my birthday present, though, I got them some time before the day I actually turned 23, so yesterday's celebrations were a tad more muted than they would otherwise have been.
Anyway, the two presents that were waiting for me when I got up were the standard definition DVD of
Puzzle (R2 Denmark), and the PC adventure game
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. I've played a bit of the latter, and have found myself getting quite sucked into the plot. Gameplay-wise, it's fairly insubstantial, but as a work of storytelling, it's excellent. The characters and events are compelling enough to keep me going despite the sometimes annoying puzzles (that lockpicking bit was cruel in the extreme), and the vocal performances are of a much higher standard than is usually the case in games.
That said, I feel I must disagree with the reviewers who have been praising the all-round
acting. While the voices themselves are good, the animation itself leaves a little to be desired. Simply put, it's a bit lifeless. Characters don't really change their facial expressions while they're talking, and the end result is that it all feels a bit like, to quote Chuck Jones, "radio with pictures". In contrast, Michel Ancel's
Beyond Good and Evil, a game three years older than
Dreamfall, did a much better job of combining good characters and voice acting with expressive animation, which added up to far more statisfying and performances in which the characters came alive, rather than feeling like uncomfortable meeting points for voice samples and motion captured animation cycles.
I then went out to lunch at Braehead Shopping Centre with my mum and
Lyris, where we ate wholesome, nutritious pizza from Pizza Hut and did a little shopping. In addition to picking up some cleaning tissues for my monitor (which gathers dust at a rather alarming rate), I went to HMV, where I bought the Corrs' live album
Live in Dublin (which is the only one of their CDs that I didn't already have... although I believe Andrea Corr has a solo album coming out at some point this year), and
Guild Wars: Factions, a new game in the
Guild Wars universe.
"New game" is perhaps stretching it a bit. You see, while
Factions retails at the price of a new game and doesn't require the original
Guild Wars to play, it uses the same engine and mechanics and, if you have both instalments, plugs into the original front end. I believe you can also travel between the two separate continents on which the two campaigns are set. It's a pretty neat idea, but it's too bad customers who already own
Guild Wars don't get some sort of rebate. In any event, I guess it's a small price to pay for having an MMORPG that doesn't have any sort of subscription costs (and is a much better game than the overrated and overpriced
World of Warcraft, to boot).
I've created a new character and played around in the new campaign for a bit. It's different, but at the same time very familiar.
Factions has a decidedly Asian influence to it, and, in addition to the new setting and characters, the gameplay seems to have been sped up a bit - not in terms of running faster, but more in terms of overall pacing, with leveling up happening more quickly and you generally being thrown into the thick of things more early on. Expect more when I've played more.
All in all, a pleasant birthday. Not particularly raucous or anything, but that suits me just fine. My good friend from school, Graham, will be coming over on Friday and we'll be heading to the cinema, probably to see
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. It seems to be the best choice out of what's going to be on at the time.
Typical BBC journalism
Dario Argento shares a cappuccino with an ignoramus
It's no secret that I don't think much of the
BBC. A supposed "public service broadcaster", the argument for the licence fee that they charge for simply owning a TV in the UK is dodgy at best, and their supposedly impartial journalism is often anything but. Furthermore, they have a habit of, every so often, cooking up completely half-assed reports regarding the multimedia world.
Lyris recently
took them to task over the uninformed "Outrageous Fortunes" exposé into the supposedly dodgy dealings going on behind the scenes at Nintendo, and, last night, they blew yet another great big raspberry at the viewing populace.
The show in question is a BBC Four series called
Tales from Rome, in which, straight from
the horse's arse:
Kirsty Wark and simon [sic] Davis visit the Eternal City.
Kirsty looks at the new buildings that are dramatically changing the face of this most ancient of cities, and meets fashion designer Sergio Zambon and legendary horror movie director Dario Argento.
Simon samples the flavours of Sabina - the 'new Tuscany' just outside Rome - finds out about Italian scooter culture, and studies the sun at the Pope's private observatory.
I tuned in, hoping for an introspective interview with one of my favourite directors, but fearing the worst. My fears were well grounded, as it turned out, although the end result is in fact far worse than I could have ever imagined.
Very quickly, it becomes clear that Wark, the woman conducting the interview, has no interest or real understanding of Argento or his films. Standing outside is Profondo Rosso shop, she likens him to
Ed Wood, before going inside to meet him and prattling on about how the hands of the killers in his films are his own (she did a
little research there, I'll concede that much). After that, it's down into the basement as Argento gives the foolish woman a personal tour of his Chamber of Horrors, which showcases props from various films, including his own. "I had to remind myself [that] there were fans of his that would kill for this opportunity," she tells us. "And maybe already had." Oh, ha ha ha, Kirsty! You do regale us with your witty jokes!
The tour concludes abruptly as the poor woman is so horrified by the sight of a wax figurine of a torso separated from its legs that she asks to be let outside. This results in probably the only genuinely entertaining moment of the entire piece, as Argento glances at the camera and sniggers.
Afterwards, they cross the road for cappuccinos and Argento briefly talks about his upcoming episode in the second season of
Masters of Horror. He doesn't say much, really, just that's he's doing it, and, more generally, that he's "not finished" (making films) and has some new ideas for the genre. Very tantalising, but Wark doesn't press him for more information and Argento doesn't seem particularly eager to divulge anyway.
The end result? Six minutes of time wasted (plus a whole lot more, as I sat through an incredibly dry and silly documentary about various other aspects of life in modern Rome just to see a presenter making a fool of herself). The trip inside the Museum is nice enough, but it's spoiled by Wark's stupid antics and poor camerawork. Seriously, BBC, is it too much to ask, if you're sending a journalist out to cover something, that you actually pick someone who has at least a passing interest and/or awareness of the matter in hand? So-called interviews such as this are a waste of time if the interviewer doesn't have anything interesting to ask, and especially if the interviewee obviously struggles with the English language. It's a good thing the presenter and camera crew were in Rome anyway and didn't fly out just for this little charade.
You can view the horror in its entirety on
YouTube.
Happy birthday
I'm 23 today. Yay me.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 1: Anne
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon
(a.k.a.
In Which Buffy Learns... nah, sorry, I'm tired of doing these)
And so
Buffy's third and final season in high school begins. This, along with Seasons 1 and 2, is often considered to constitute the first "phase" of the show, but, personally, I see this as a transition period between the Season 1/2 style and the decidedly different Season 4. A lot has changed. The look of the show is entirely different, for a start: no longer shot on grainy 16mm film stock, it now seems clearer, brighter and more saturated - a visual style that would remain in place, more or less unchanged, until the end of Season 5. The title theme is also different (although, for some reason, the first two episodes of the US DVD sets still have the original version of the song). Most importantly, though, the core team of writers that would see the show through to its end was established during this season.
Where the new writers - Marti Noxon (who actually joined in the previous section but is being included here because she wasn't part of the original crop), Jane Espenson, Douglas Petrie, David Fury (who didn't secure a permanent job until the fourth season, but wrote two key episodes here in a freelance capacity) - have the clear advantage over their predecessors is in their ability to deliver a more consistent product. Season 3 doesn't have the extreme highs and lows of Season 2, and while that means that we don't get anything as good as
Passion, it also means that we don't have to suffer another
Inca Mummy Girl.
Anyway, on with the episode in question. It's actually a somewhat mundane affair for a season premiere, with Buffy battling a fairly generic set of monsters as she tries to "find herself" in LA. (Incidentally, am I the only one who thinks that this is a semi-pilot for the
Angel spin-off? A couple of shots from this episode even made their way into that series' opening titles.) The emphasis is definitely on the character development rather than on coming up with a cool villain, wihch I'm okay with, since I watch this show more for the characters than for the supernatural/sci-fi elements. Also nice to see Chanterelle/Lily/Anne again - at this stage in its life,
Buffy was very good with continuity - and, on a side note, I like that this character continued to show up sporadically on
Angel. I guess it's nice to see a rare example of a secondary character overcoming severe hurdles and getting her life back into gear.
In a sense, I wonder if this episode tries to do too much. By splitting its time between Buffy in LA and the rest of the gang back in Sunnydale, we don't really get enough of a chance to really delve into what the events at the end of Season 2 have done to them. The little snatches - Giles and Joyce's conversation, Buffy alone in her apartment - are great, but there could have been so much more. Still, a solid season premiere. It won't make it on to any Top 20 or even Top 40 lists, but it stands on its own feet and gets the season off to a good start.
Overall rating:
8/10.
Next time:
Dead Man's Party.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 2 (1997-1998)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 2
Season 2 reviews:
-
Episode 1: When She Was Bad 9/10-
Episode 2: Some Assembly Required 4/10-
Episode 3: School Hard 8/10-
Episode 4: Inca Mummy Girl 3/10-
Episode 5: Reptile Boy 4/10-
Episode 6: Halloween 8/10-
Episode 7: Lie to Me 9/10-
Episode 8: The Dark Age 8/10-
Episodes 9 and 10: What's My Line? 7/10 and
8/10-
Episode 11: Ted 8/10-
Episode 12: Bad Eggs 6/10-
Episodes 13 and 14: Surprise/Innocence 8/10 and
10/10-
Episode 15: Phases 7/10-
Episode 16: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered 9/10-
Episode 17: Passion 10/10-
Episode 18: Killed by Death 6/10-
Episode 19: I Only Have Eyes For You 7/10-
Episode 20: Go Fish 6/10-
Episodes 21 and 22: Becoming 10/10A brief glance at the scores for each episode should reveal that, by and large, Season 2 was a major improvement on Season 1. Season 1's combined episode scores resulted in an average rating of 6/10 (rounded up from 5.7), which, by and large, I agreed with. Adding up Season 2's score and dividing them by 22 gives an average of 8/10 (rounded up from 7.5), which I guess is fair, although the problem with this sort of formula is that it assumes that all episodes are of equal value. As I'm sure most people are agree, a handful of standout episodes can make up for a number of mediocre ones and lift the season up, making it more than the sum of its parts. I very much feel that this is true of
Buffy's second season, and, while, on reflection, I wasn't quite so wowed by it as I was when I first watched it, back in 2003, it still strikes me as a pretty decent achievement in television and one of a very small number of serial-based shows that I actually give a damn about.
I'm now looking forward to getting on with Season 3, which, if my memory serves me correctly, is a step down from Season 2, but still very good.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 2, Episodes 21 and 22: Becoming
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon
(a.k.a.
In Which Buffy Learns That The Slayer Is Always Alone)
Unlike the other two two-parters of the season, Joss Whedon wrote and directed both parts of
Becoming, and the result is that the two gel together much better, seeming like one big story rather than Part One merely being a "setup" episode. In many ways, this is probably the finest season finale in all of the show's seven seasons. Okay, so
Restless has that bizarre David Lynch-inspired dream logic, and
The Gift has its overwhelming sense of inevitability, but from a storytelling standpoint,
Becoming is about as good as it gets.
I never swooned over the Buffy/Angel relationship with girlish glee in the way that so many fans did (I think the two are more interesting when they're apart), but it's undeniable that their final scene together is powerful. I also wish, in many ways, that they'd let Angel stay dead instead of bringing him back again (with little explanation) almost as soon as the third season had begun. Of course, if that had happened, we would never have had the spin-off, but at least in the short term it hurt that particular plotline, and also made it difficult to see any of the deaths that occurred in the Buffyverse as in any way permanent. In the context of
Becoming, though, Buffy's post re-ensoulment killing of Angel works brilliantly.
Incidentally, I thought the narration was by Seth Green at first, but now I realise that it's guest star Max Perlich, in the role of Angel's sort-of mentor, Whistler (who, incidentally, would have appeared in the
Angel series in the role that eventually went to Glenn Quinn, had the actor not been unavailable).
Oh yeah, and if vampires don't breathe, how can Spike knock Drusilla out by choking her?
Overall rating:
10/10 for both parts.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 2, Episode 20: Go Fish
Written by David Fury & Elin Hampton; Directed by David Semel
(a.k.a.
In Which Buffy Learns About Team Spirit)
David Fury later became one of the key writers on
Buffy, serving as deputy showrunner on Season 6 and joint showrunner of
Angel's final season. On this episode, and the two episodes he wrote for the third season, he was a freelance writer. Based on the episodes he wrote for Season 3, I can see why he was offered a full-time position, but this Season 2 episode isn't really up to scratch. It's odd to have such an inconsequential episode so close to the big season finale, and had I been planning the season I would have placed it much earlier.
Ignoring its placement, however, and simply viewing it as a stand-alone episode, it's still not that great. It has a lot more in common with the Season 1 and earlier Season 2 "monster of the week" episodes, and there's nothing in it that particularly engages me. I guess, at this point in the show's life, I'm expecting a bit more, having seen what the regular writers were, by now, capable of.
Pretty decent monster make-up, though.
Overall rating:
6/10.
Next time: it all comes to a head with
Becoming Parts 1 and 2.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 2, Episode 19: I Only Have Eyes For You
Written by Marti Noxon; Directed by James Whitmore Jr.
(a.k.a.
In Which Buffy Learns That Love Is Forever)
One thing that never fails to get on my nerves in television is when an episode starts with one character saying to another "Remember when..." I'm not sure whether or not the show was using Giles' "Previously on
Buffy the Vampire Slayer" recaps at this stage (I have the US DVDs of Seasons 1-3, which routinely removed these), but if they were, that would have been a far better way to remind audiences (as if they needed it) that Angel had lost his soul.
I Only Have Eyes For You contains a major example of this, and that's just one of the many problems with the script for this episode. Another is that Willow, who is now taking the computing class, tells Giles that "Ms. Calendar had good lesson plans... on her computer". Given that we saw Angel trashing the machine in
Passion, I'm not sure how this can be.
Maybe I'm nitpicking, but I don't think this episode is as good as many people seem to think. The actual plot itself is rather a good one, and I like the way in which the relationship of the 60s couple parallels that of Buffy and Angel, but it seems designed simply to get various characters to externalise their internal feelings. As such, it's all a bit heavy-handed (not that that's necessarily anything new) and the constant repetition, while sort of the whole point of the episode, gets a bit tiresome. I appreciate the overall intention of the episode, but it just doesn't wow me. I did appreciate the foreshadowing for Season 3 with the mention of the Mayor, though... although Principal Snyder's awareness of the Hellmouth's existence is never, to the best of my recollection, brought up again. And it occurred to me, watching it again, that this is the episode that started Willow's interest in magic.
Overall rating:
7/10.
Next time:
Go Fish.
Million Dollar Baby
Million Dollar Baby may seem like an unusual choice for a launch title for HD-DVD, but despite its rather low-key audio-visual attributes, it gets the format off to a good start with a transfer that, simply put, blows away anything ever available in standard definition. Although the film is a rather clichéd affair, it is nonetheless a compelling and at times emotionally affecting story, making this more than just a disc to bring out to impress friends who want to see if high definition is really all that. It's a shame the HD-DVD release doesn't include any bonus materials not already featured on the standard definition release, but it's the film itself, and the quality of its presentation, that count.
I kick off DVD Times' high definition coverage with
the site's first ever HD-DVD review.
Million Dollar Baby bagged four Oscars at the 2004 Academy Awards, but is the film itself worthy of the praise and - the question on everyone's lips - does Warner's R0 US release deliver the improved video and audio quality we've all been waiting for?
Constantine
I ordered my second ever HD-DVD tonight:
Constantine (well, actually,
Serenity will arrive before it, but that particular film will be ending up in
Lyris' collection rather than mine). This is a film that I rented on DVD from
Blockbuster earlier this year and found quite enjoyable, despite the less than stellar reviews it's been receiving. Anyway, I was half-considering getting it on DVD, but why would I do that when I can get the HD-DVD release?
Currently, this is one of the few HD-DVD titles to offer a Dolby TrueHD audio track (I'm not even sure that I'll be able to play that - my audio decoder converts Dolby Digital Plus tracks to DTS, so I'll be curious to see what, if anything, it does with TrueHD). It also features the "In-Movie Experience" trumpeted by Warner but, so far, not included on many titles. According to the review at
High-Def DVD Digest, this is essentially like a "visual commentary" that pops up in windowbox form as the film plays. I'll be curious to see how this is implemented.
Blu-Ray taking a beating
Source:
AV Science ForumAccording to
Amazon's sales rankings, the current round of the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray format war is going very much in HD-DVD's favour. Here is the store's Top 10 chart for hi-def software sales for July 1st:
1. Syriana HD-DVD #949
2. Serenity HD-DVD #974
3. The Bourne Supremacy HD-DVD #1242
4. The Last Samurai HD-DVD #1610
5. Apollo 13 HD-DVD #2021
6. Swordfish HD-DVD #2130
7. Pitch Black (Unrated) HD-DVD #2347
8. Ultraviolet Blu-Ray #2644
9. Unforgiven HD-DVD #2862
10. Firewall HD-DVD #2921
And, if that wasn't proof enough that HD-DVD is selling much better than its rival, here are the hardware player sales rankings:
1. Toshiba HD-A1 #398
2. Samsung BD-P1000 #3233
3. Toshiba HD-XA1 #7418
4. Sony BDP-S1 #7723
Personally, I would like nothing better than for one format (HD-DVD, naturally, given that it's in much better shape at the moment,
and of course given that I own a player!) to claim a quick victory over the other, but I wonder how feasible that is. Certainly, it suggests that, for the time being, customers (who, to be fair, are predominantly AV aficionados and therefore more knowledgeable than your average man on the street) are going for the superior option rather than being suckered in by Sony's
bullshit.
At last, the HMS Whimsy goes hi-def
What better way to start the month in style than with the arrival of my first ever HD-DVD title?
Million Dollar Baby (R0 USA) popped through the letterbox this morning, and, naturally, I couldn't wait to peel off the shrink wrap and pop it into the player.
So, the question you're all wanting an answer to, no doubt, is whether or not the leap from standard definition to high definition is as great as people have been saying. I'll answer that in a moment, but first of all I'll describe the experience of playing an HD-DVD.
The first thing you see (after waiting 60 seconds for the disc to begin playing, that is) is, naturally, the FBI warning. Already, the increase in resolution is obvious, in that you can actually read the "Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity" insignia on the FBI badge, which, in standard definition, was pretty much just a smudge. After that, the Warner Home Video logo plays, followed by a trailer for Warner's all-new HD-DVD "experience", featuring clips from films like
Batman Begins,
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,
The Dukes of Hazzard and
The Matrix, in which the announcer trumpets some of the revolutionary new features of the format, such as good picture quality. (Other less important features include menus that don't interrupt your viewing of the film and special "in-movie experience" bonus features that, so far, have only been announced for a handful of titles.) The trailer is a great showcase for what the format is capable of, given that, unsurprisingly, the emphasis is on fast-moving, detailed material. This trailer can, by the way, be skipped.
After that, the MPAA card appears (in upscaled standard definition - boo), then the film starts. That's right, no waiting through pointless menu transitions and all that crap, the film just starts. This player was worth the price already!
Now, the nitty-gritting: image quality. How is it? The short answer: brilliant. The long answer: read on.
I will say this once and once only: anyone who tells you they've viewed high definition material but didn't see the big deal is either vision impaired or a liar. Even with the native 1920x1080 image being rescaled to 1366x768 (the maximum resolution
Lyris' panel allows), the difference is easily as big as the leap from VHS to SD-DVD, perhaps even more. I knew roughly what to expect, having already seen plenty of downloaded Windows Media HD trailers, but even so, I was surprised by just how much visible detail there was in
Million Dollar Baby's transfer. I've no idea how much truth there is in the horror stories of Blu-Ray tech demos comparing SD and HD transfers of the same film and the demonstrators having to point out the subtle differences to their audiences, but believe me, even your myopic grandmother could see the improvements that have been made to this particular film. Close-ups look incredible, skin glistens, and even wide shots show a phenomenal amount of detail. I know it's relative to the size of the display, and that it's unfair to compare a 32" screen to a 10-foot cinema projection, but, to tell you the truth, the level of detail on display is
perceptually greater than anything I've seen theatrically.
Any caveats? Well, there are two, but the identity of the culprit is questionable. They are the usual bugbears: edge enhancement and noise reduction. Let me stress that both are very slight and didn't bother me unduly, but they were definitely there. In the case of the edge enhancement, we know that Lyris' TV is slightly augmenting this (Lyris is pushing for a fix, which is looking increasingly likely), and there is also the distinct possiblity that the player is also responsible for some of it, but I suspect that a bit of it is also present on the disc itself. Now, one thing to bear in mind is that, as a film that was colour corrected using a digital intermediate, it is entirely possible that some edge enhancement existed in the final master itself and can never be got rid of. (I've seen films projected theatrically that exhibit edge enhancement, including
The Machinist.)
Ditto with the noise reduction (Lyris says that
Flightplan exhibited noise reduction artefacts theatrically). In a couple of instances, you can see the texture of walls in tracking shots getting a bit smeared, and there is a distinct lack of grain throughout. This, again, could have been caused during the DI process (the SD-DVD looks similar, if my memory serves me correctly), so I don't want to point any fingers at this stage and blame the encoders. The bottom line is that, by my criteria, this is a solid 9/10 transfer (where a 10/10 is one with no perceptual flaws that interrupt my enjoyment of the film). There are problems, yes, but they are slight and in no way detract from the gigantic improvement that this represents over SD. Flicking back to SD material, such as the film's theatrical trailer (included on the disc), was a horrifying experience.
As far as I'm concerned, this was worth both the wait and the money. Once you've tried it, you won't be able to go back. I know I can't.
Argento on UK TV
Source:
Dark DiscussionDario Argento will be interviewed by Kirsty Wark in the BBC Four series
Tales from Rome. The episode in question airs at 21:00 on Tuesday July 4th.
See the relevant schedule
here.
