Space Chimps (Blu-ray Review)

December 1st, 2008 Blu-ray-au

Space Chimps (Blu-ray Review)

‘Space Chimps’ Blasts off on Blu-ray with excellent sound and picture quality.

Technically there is no such thing as nerds in the simian world.

Films like Space Chimps require reviewers to walk a tightrope when it comes to just how
much criticism will be leveled on a movie with the solitary goal of entertaining the youngest of
movie audiences. It’s easy to pick apart a film like this one, but does such harsh criticism really
do any good? The bottom line is that many young viewers will at least like this movie;
many will find copie…

Video

Space Chimps swings onto Blu-ray with a fine looking 2.35:1-framed, 1080p transfer.
Colors are fabulous, rich and bold, the all-digital transfer never failing to render each one with
precision. The digital artists did a great job of making the movie look nice and detailed without
becoming too overdone or busy. There is a simplicity to the animation when compared to the
complexities of something like the richly detailed and lifelike realism of href="http://www.blu-ray.com/m…

Audio

Space Chimps blasts onto Blu-ray with a surprisingly robust DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless
soundtrack. This soundtrack features a fantastic sense of spacing and depth; an announcer at a
circus introduces Ham at the beginning of the movie, and his voice reverberates throughout the
rear channels, as does ambient crowd noise and the film’s pleasing, exciting music. The soundtrack
is incredibly active and virtually every scene features a loud, discernible rear channel presence. Bass
is a…

Supplements

Space Chimps lands on Blu-ray with only a handful of extra materials. Fox Movie
Channel Presents Casting Session (480p, 8:55) features cast and crew discussing the plot of
the movie and the voice work behind the characters, discussing the strengths each actor brought to
the characters. Five TV spots are next, all presented in a windowboxed 480p image —
Adventure (0:16), Countdown (0:32), Meet (0:31), Right Stuff
(0:30), and Spacier (0…

Final Words

Its characters aren’t all that deep, its story line isn’t all that polished, and the film isn’t all that
memorable, but Space Chimps succeeds as a simple entertainment, an animated adventure
that features plenty of laughs, a series of funny and likable characters, and certainly no
lack of singing and dancing chimps amidst a watchable animated Sci-Fi Adventure film. If nothing
else, Space Chimps has its heart in the right place, the film seemingly setting
out to do little……

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Hellboy II LE (Blu-ray Review)

December 1st, 2008 Blu-ray-au

Hellboy II LE (Blu-ray Review)

This Limited Edition of ‘The Golden Army’ doesn’t provide enough bang for the buck.

All that power…

Few directors can match, let alone best, the unique vision of Mexican-born director Guillermo del
Toro. His films amaze audiences with wondrous creatures and exotic locales, tied in seamlessly
to
a style of filmmaking that is both passionate and efficient. His camera captures the essence of
each
and every moment with unparalleled beauty, every frame awash in spectacle. His latest
outings, the critically-acclaimed href="http://www.blu-ray.co…

Video

Hellboy II: The Golden Army comes to Blu-ray with a reference-quality 1080p,
1.85:1-framed transfer that retains the film’s original theatrical aspect ratio. Detail is impeccable,
even in the film’s darkest scenes, of which there are many. This disc offers up one of the finest
film-like qualities yet on Blu-ray; the exterior, nighttime, rainy scenes represent a remarkable
home video achievement in recreating a high quality cinematic look. Take a look in chapter six as
…

Audio

Hellboy II: The Golden Army bursts onto Blu-ray with an incredibly loud and engrossing
DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless soundtrack. Another masterful effort from Universal, they don’t
come much more active as this one. This is a completely immersive mix that never fails to engulf
the listener thanks to the track’s breathtaking use of the entire
soundstage. Practically every scene, whether the robust and hard-hitting action sequences, or
the more mundane and every day sequences — such …

Supplements

Hellboy II: The Golden Army arrives on Blu-ray as a solid-gold special edition. A
feature
commentary track with director Guillermo del Toro is first. The director offers up a video-based
introduction (480p, 0:22) before diving into the track. Del Toro discusses the series’ historical
lack of performance at the box office, but his nevertheless receiving the green-light to helm a
sequel, this time from a different studio. He goes on to discuss artistic decisions that were made…

Final Words

Hellboy II: The Golden Army is an entertaining film that accomplishes everything a good
sequel requires. It enhances the characters on a psychological level, introduces one or two new
primaries, features bigger and bolder sets, more intense action, and introduces a formidable
opponent
for the heroes to battle. Most importantly, the film sees the return of director Guillermo del Toro,
whose impressive vision and eye-catching directorial style once again lend vigor, vitality, be……

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Body Heat (Blu-ray Review)

December 1st, 2008 Blu-ray-au

Body Heat (Blu-ray Review)

“You shouldn’t wear a body like that”

Lawrence Kasdan?s Body Heat is a neo-noir masterpiece in my opinion. It is not a film the MTV crowd will love, as much like Mirrormask, its story is told in a slow, sensuous way, where layers and layers of plot are revealed and twisted in a slow purposeful way. This movie is a fallback to the days of the 40?s and 50?s when film noir use to fill the screens at the local cinema, and is favorably compared to Billy Wilders 1944 classic ?Double Indemnity?. It actually transcends it by adding…

Video

Body Heat brings its highly stylish appearance to the Bluray format in the form of a 1080p/VC-1 encode framed at a 1:85:1 aspect ratio. One must understand the film noir style of filmmaking to honestly evaluate the picture quality of this film, as I have mentioned it is highly stylized and designed to create a certain mood. First, the print master looks in great condition, as I only saw one instance of a pop during the entire film. There were no speckles, spurious image noise, dirt or scratch…

Audio

Body Heat comes in two audio flavors, a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD encode, and a lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital encoded at a constant bit rate of 640kbps. Once again, this movie is about the dialog and images, so there is no directional panning of effects to speak of. However, I found dialog always clean, clear, and easy to understand. John Barry?s jazzy sax laced film score is very well recorded, and fits the mood of the film exceptionally well. While there is no panning of effects, some effects are expertl…

Supplements

The same extras you find on the 2006 Collectors Edition DVD are found on this disc as well. All extras are presented in standard definition video.


Lifted Scenes (9 minutes) are scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor to help maintain the pacing of the film. They are titled as “In the Backseat,” “Stewardess,” “Practice Run,” “First Murder Attempt” and “After the Attempt.”


Body Heat: The Plan (17 minutes) This featurette covers the casting of the fi…

Final Words

As a lover of film classics and very good film noir, this movie is a fine example of both. While more contemporary flavored than previous film noir productions of the 40?s and 50?s (hence the neo-noir distinction), Body Heat is more accessible and fresh, if not more in your face than previous offerings of this genre. This movie is powerful, well written, full of twists and turns, and has a surprising ending to boot. It features outstanding performances from its lead characters, which is essent……

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The Third Man (Blu-ray Review)

December 1st, 2008 Blu-ray-au

The Third Man (Blu-ray Review)

One of the greatest film-noir movies ever made, Carol Reed?s ?The Third Man? (1949) follows the deeds of an American writer who arrives in post-war Vienna looking for his friend. Beautifully-lensed and filled with suspense, the picture offers a disturbing portrait of a world ruled by injustice, rotten political ideologies, and nihilism. Courtesy of Criterion.

A young American novelist, Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton) arrives in Vienna looking for his friend Harry Lime (Orson Well…

Video

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC, and granted a 1080p transfer Carol Reed?s The Third Man arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

I could not wait to get my hands on this disc. I was excited to see Wong Kar-Wai?s Chungking Express in 1080p but, for a number of reasons, I was waiting to see how Criterion will treat their B&W films. Suffice to say, I have some terrific news that will surely warm plenty of hearts.

First …

Audio

On this Blu-ray disc you will find exactly what the majority of us were hoping to hear ? an uncompressed English mono track. I really do not have any critical thoughts pertaining to this audio track. The dialog is crystal clear and very easy to follow, there aren?t any inconsistencies that I could detect, and overall it really shows that serious restoration efforts have gone into securing a deserving audio presentation. Of course, I am certain, the big question many of you are pondering is: Is t…

Supplements

Before we get to the disc extras let?s take a look at Criterion?s booklet. In it you will find an informative essay titled ?The One and Only?? by Luc Santie (the author teaches at Bard College and has writings include Low Life, The Factory of Facts, and Kill All Your Darlings). The actual essay focuses on the history of The Third Man as well as the effect it had on world cinema as a whole. There is also a short note about the transfer, in addition to production credit…

Final Words

Wow, what a package! Carol Reed’s The Third Man, courtesy of Criterion, has received what is surely going to become the definitive release of this classic piece of British cinema. I really cannot see what could have been improved here. The entire package is absolutely superb. This really is what Blu-ray is all about, and in the hands of competent distributors the format is capable of delivering miracles. Very Highly Recommended. ……

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The Man Who Fell To Earth (Blu-ray Review)

December 1st, 2008 Blu-ray-au

The Man Who Fell To Earth (Blu-ray Review)

A complex, stylish, and uncharacteristically beautiful film about a lonely alien roaming the Earth Nicolas Roeg?s ?The Man Who Fell To Earth? launched David Bowie?s acting career. In 1976 it was also nominated for Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Courtesy of Criterion.

Thomas Newton (David Bowie), an alien from another dimension, has arrived on Earth to seek water supply for his dying planet. Looking and talking like a normal human being, he quickly amasse…

Video

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC, and granted a 1080p transfer Nicolas Roeg?s The Man Who Fell to Earth arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

If you love this film, I am certain you must have gone through a fair share of different SDVD editions. The old Anchor Bay disc, the initial Criterion release, the rerelease, perhaps even the UK disc, all of these were considered a good buy at a certain point during DVD?s boom. As one of …

Audio

The Man Who Fell To Earth arrives on Blu-ray with an English uncompressed stereo track. The clarity of sound here is exceptional. The dialog in particular is crystal clear and very easy to follow. One could easily tell that serious restoration work has been done as the audio quality is hardly something I would describe as ?typical? for a 32-year old film. This being said, the lovely music score is also very strong and perfectly blended with the dialog. Those of you who have seen The Ma…

Supplements

Before we get to the extras on the Blu-ray disc, I would like to point your attention to the lovely booklet Criterion have provided for this release. In it you will find an informative essay by Graham Fuller (a New York-based film critic who contributes to Film Comment, Sight & Sound, and Vanity Fair) titled ?Loving The Alien?. The essay offers a lovely analysis of The Man Who Fell To Earth and explains some of the challenges Nicolas Roeg?s work might present to viewe…

Final Words

The Man Who Fell To Earth is another definitive presentation of a cult classic that will surely impress plenty of serious film aficionados. What else could I say, Criterion deliver yet again! At this point, I believe, the only dilemma with the US-based distribs is how often and what titles we will be seeing on Blu-ray. I personally cannot wait to see Antonioni, Fellini, Truffaut, Godard, and Tarkovsky given the type of attention I?ve witnessed with Criterion?s first batch of Blu-ray discs……

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