The Invasion (Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2007)

Region 1 Warner (USA)
NTSC, 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen
99 minutes
Audio: DD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, French, Spanish
Extras: We’ve Been Snatched Before: Invasion in Media History; The Invasion: The Story; The Invasion: On the Set; The Invasion: Snatched

Released: 29 January 2008
keepcase
27 chapters

Like Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman has tried to parlay an Oscar to big paychecks and box-office stardom. Un-like Cage, Kidman has been met with box-office indifference. As bad as many of Cage’s recent movies are, he is still a box-office draw. However, Kidman is box-office poison.

2007’s The Invasion is yet another mis-fire headlined by Kidman. Kidman’s surrounded by great actors like Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam, and Jeffrey Wright. Aside from a chance to work with director Oliver Hirschbiegel (who helmed Die Untergang, aka Downfall), I don’t know what about this project could’ve attracted the cast’s attention. Rumors of creative differences, script tinkering, and extensive re-edits filtered into the public, but we’ve seen problematic shoots turn into great movies, right?

As with so many re-makes these days, The Invasion amps the action at the expense of genuine character-driven drama and believability. Kidman looks implausible as an action hero, especially when running gingerly in high heels. There are many loud noises and car crashes during the second half, but they’re not exciting even in a visceral way.

Craig and Wright are wasted as doctors standing around mumbling technobabble. Northam doesn’t do much except smile blandly. The possessed people walk/run in groups like any anonymous mass in zombie movies.

Unlike the previous film adaptations of Jack Finney’s novel The Body Snatchers, this one doesn’t attempt to generate any allegory or meaning beyond its confines. Therefore, the heroes appear to be so one-dimensional and lacking in intelligence that the infected “pod” people seem reasonable in comparison. (Global peace is indicated on the news when world leaders begin solving problems rather than continuing to fight.) Besides, for a movie about the dangers of conformity, The Invasion doesn’t make its point forcefully. Kidman and the supporting men look as conventionally fashionable as what we see in glossy magazines these days, so in its own way, the movie conforms, too.

The people who run the Hollywood major studios often claim that they’re the only ones with the resources to create movies with exceptional production values and exciting products. However, The Invasion is one of many examples of how even high-budget, high-profile flicks can be as bad as (and with none of the charm of) home videos shot by five-year-olds.

Video:
The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen is clean and smooth as one would expect of a recent movie. However, the filmmakers’ opted for a cold, flat, sterile look that is rather drab and sometimes hard on the eyes. Harsh lighting choices don’t yield compression problems, but they limit the image’s sharpness and clarity in some scenes.

Audio:
The DD 5.1 English track has a lot of discrete surround effects, though most of them are subtle during the first half. The second half is filled with deep bass and great stereo separation across the front, though the rears pale in comparison (they do mostly music lifting).

You can also watch the movie with DD 5.1 French and DD 5.1 Spanish dubs. Optional English, French, and Spanish subtitles support the audio.

Extras:
Upon loading, the disc plays previews for other movies.

“We’ve Been Snatched Before: Invasion in Media History” briefly touches upon the other movie adaptations. This is a very superficial documentary that doesn’t really show why some of the adaptations are better than the others.

“The Invasion: The Story”, “The Invasion: On the Set”, and “The Invasion: Snatched” are extremely slight puff pieces that don’t mention any of the problems that this troubled production encountered.

--Miscellaneous--
This SD DVD and its Blu-ray counterpart streeted on 29 January 2008. The HD DVD/DVD combo will street on 19 February. The Blu-ray and the HD DVD share the same tech specs (1.85:1 1080p video; Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD+ 5.1 French, DD+ 5.1 Spanish, also a DD+ 5.1 English track for the Blu-ray; English, French, & Spanish subtitles). The extras are the same as the SD DVD in high-def but minus the previews for other movies.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age HD DVD (Shekhar Kapur, 2007)

Universal (USA)
1.85:1 1080p
115 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD+ 5.1 English, DD+ 5.1 French
Subtitles: Optional English SDH, French
Extras: audio commentary by Shekhar Kapur; deleted scenes; The Reign Continues; Inside Elizabeth’s World; Commanding the Winds: Creating the Armada; Towers, Courts, and Cathedrals

Released: 5 February 2008
HD DVD case
20 chapters

Dear Shekhar,

I’ve seen three of your movies now--Elizabeth, The Four Feathers, and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Alas, I haven’t liked any of them.

I try to avoid generalizing, but they all share the same problems. The scripts don’t make heads or tails of the characters’ motivations. That may be okay with experimental or non-/anti-narrative movies, but you’re essentially directing classical Hollywood stories that require adherence to certain conventions. Otherwise, it just looks like the actors are wandering on and off camera as if they were lost (maybe they were?). It doesn’t help that your camerawork is over-active without any semblance of rhyme or reason. Paul Greengrass is still the only director who knows how to present jittery cameras coupled with rapid-fire editing.

Elizabeth and The Four Feathers at least benefited from semblances of intrigue and complex dealings. We got to see people trying to screw over each other or saving their friends. With Elizabeth: The Golden Age, you’ve given us nothing more than a bunch of people shouting/screaming at each other. There is little historical perspective. Okay, a movie doesn’t have to be a history lesson, but then we go back to the motivation thing--why does it matter that Phillip wants to attack England?

(Clive Owen is the movie’s best offering. He sells his dialogue and his role even though he’s mostly reduced to standing with one knee bent and one hand on his sword’s hilt.)

Perhaps the problem lies with your perspective as an outsider. A fresh take is often welcome, but with your three Occidental efforts, gorgeous costumes and imposing sets can’t overcome threadbare writing and bad acting (casting?) choices.

Shekhar, buddy, you have a great visual eye, but you haven’t made a good Western movie yet. Lemme know when one of your Indian efforts gets released in the U.S.

Eddie

Video:
The 1.85:1 1080p image is yet another shining beacon in the world of HD DVDs. The source master has a depth and clarity that rivals the best of any high-def motion picture that I’ve seen. (Oddly, the video’s high quality has the adverse effect of making the CGI sea shots look more awful than they probably are.) The colorful palette bursts with radiance. I didn’t like the movie, but I sure loved the way it looks on HD DVD.

Audio:
This is a dialogue-driven movie, so the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and DD+ 5.1 English tracks are front-center-heavy. The hyperventilating music score enjoys some stereo separation across the front and even touches the rear channels a number of times, but the audio is far from demo material. The subwoofer shows up at the party late in the game during a few battle scenes, but on the whole, what you get is a clean mix that carries voices well.

You can also watch the movie with a DD+ 5.1 French dub. Optional English SDH and French subtitles support the audio.

Extras:
First up is an audio commentary by Shekhar Kapur. In his commentary for The Four Feathers, Kapur said, “I don’t know why [Djimon Hounsou’s character] is here. I don’t even want to think about it.” That statement more or less captures what you get with this commentary, too. Kapur is great at explaining factual and technical details, but he is light on the narrative and motivational aspects.

Next up are some deleted scenes that are mostly scene extensions; they contribute little to the experience.

“The Reign Continues”, comprised mostly of interviews with members of the cast and crew, is a brief overview of the production’s origins.

“Commanding the Winds: The Creating the Armada” shows how the CGI fleets were created.

“Inside Elizabeth’s World” reveals how the production design took life.

“Towers, Courts, and Cathedrals” showcases the real-life locations that were used for the movie.

--Miscellaneous--
The DVD side of this combo disc is identical to the stand-alone widescreen DVD. The DVD specs are 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen video; DD 5.1 English, Spanish & French audio; English SDH, Spanish, & French subtitles; the extras on the HD DVD side minus Internet connectivity; and previews for other movies.

White Noise 2 HD DVD (Patrick Lussier, 2007)

Universal (USA)
2.35:1 1080p
99 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1, DD+ 5.1 English
Subtitles: Optional English SDH, French
Extras: deleted scenes; The Making of White Noise 2 (HD); Journey Into Madness (HD); Exploring Near-death Experience (HD)

Released: 8 January 2008
HD DVD case
20 chapters

After 2004’s White Noise scared up $55 million with a January release in the U.S., the folks at Universal decided to finance a sequel. However, White Noise 2 didn’t appear in wide release in North America. Instead, it made theatrical rounds in Europe and parts of Asia before hitting DVD and HD DVD on the same day as White Noise made its HD-DVD bow.

White Noise 2 is a conceptual sequel. That is, the story doesn’t pick up where the first one ends. Rather, we get a new set of characters who experience an expanded version of what Michael Keaton’s character heard and saw. In addition to being able to sense the dead, Abe Dale (Nathan Fillion) can see if people are in imminent danger of dying. Therefore, he finds himself caught in the dilemma of deciding to save people or to let nature run its course. Basically, White Noise 2 is White-Noise-Meets-Final-Destination.

Nathan Fillion and Katee Sackhoff have paid their dues in sci-fi programs such as Firefly, Serenity, and Battlestar Galactica. At some point, White Noise 2 probably looked like a résumé buffer; after all, a theatrical release is a theatrical release in a crowded market. However, the movie is little more than a loud barrage of screams, catapulted bodies, and crashing/flipping automobiles. There is definitely a market for this kind of fare, and you know who you are. Those of you looking to expand your horizons can look elsewhere.

Video:
As White Noise 2 was intended for theatrical release, the quality of the 2.35:1 1080p image is outstanding. The video transfer doesn’t rival the best that the format offers, but it compares favorably to marquee titles such as Universal’s The Kingdom and Eastern Promises. The movie doesn’t have a particularly distinguished look, but that’s due to the filmmakers’ level of expertise, not the people responsible for authoring the HD DVD.

Audio:
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English and DD+ 5.1 English mixes are markedly different from the ones on the White Noise HD DVD. Whereas the first movie favored a subdued sound field so that the “Gotcha!” effects are huge decibel jumps, this entry piles on the noises and pulsating music. The bass isn’t particularly low or deep, but again, the movie is fairly continuously loud.

Optional English SDH and French subtitles support the audio.

Extras:
You get about half an hour’s worth of deleted scenes. There are a number of complete scenes that aren’t just extensions of what we see with the final cut.

“The Making of White Noise 2” is basically an extended commercial, the type that you see all the time on cable TV.

“Journey Into Madness” is a tour of a mental asylum used for this production.

“Exploring Near-death Experiences” is a collection of interviews with people who’ve undergone intense near-death trauma.

Finally, as a Web-enabled release, you can log into Universal’s HD-DVD portal for a look at trailers and random updates.

--Miscellaneous--
The DVD side of this combo disc is identical to the stand-alone widescreen DVD. The DVD specs are 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen video; DD 5.1 English & Spanish audio; English SDH, Spanish, & French subtitles; the extras on the HD DVD side minus Internet connectivity; and previews for other movies.

White Noise HD DVD (Geoffrey Sax, 2004)

Universal (USA)
2.35:1 1080p
98 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD+ 5.1 English, DD+ 5.1 French
Subtitles: Optional English SDH, French
Extras: audio commentary by Geoffrey Sax and Michael Keaton; deleted scenes with optional commentary by Sax and Keaton; Making Contact: E.V.P. Experts; Recording the Afterlife at Home; Hearing Is Believing: Actual E.V.P. Sessions

Released: 8 January 2008
HD DVD case
20 chapters

Released in the early days of January 2004 to die a quick death, White Noise surprised just about everyone when it grossed around $24 million during its first weekend. While its eventual $55-million take was par-for-the-course for a studio movie headlined by a well-known actor (Michael Keaton), the movie’s opening weekend proved that theatergoers could be enticed to cinemas even during the winter doldrums if an attention-grabbing premise was hitched to clever marketing. After the giddiness of the holiday season, people wanted to get depressed and frightened, apparently.

In White Noise, the wife of architect Jonathan Rivers (Keaton) dies in what looks like an accident. A man who records electronic broadcasts of dead people contacts Jonathan and plays recordings of Jonathan’s dead wife trying to tell him something. As Jonathan delves deeper and deeper into the world of Electronic Voice Phenomena (E.V.P.), he stumbles upon a deadly trail of gruesome deaths.

I have to admit that I find the script’s premise intriguing, but as with so many ghost movies, this one breaks its own rules all the time when convenient. Some ghosts can barely make themselves heard and felt, but others are nearly corporeal beings. If White Noise had stuck to showing the protagonist engaged in detective work, then it might’ve succeeded as a supernatural drama like The Others.

Video:
The 2.35:1 1080p transfer is of excellent quality. The filmmakers favored a cold, hard look, so you don’t get the warmth or “pop” associated with movies like Pride & Prejudice. However, the sharpness and level of detail are very, very high, which intensifies the movie’s jolts in the intimacy of a home theatre. There are some minor source blemishes, but they’re not serious enough to merit a complaint.

Audio:
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English and DD+ 5.1 English tracks are mostly subdued affairs. This approach heightens the shocks delivered by sudden loud noises (as opposed to most recent horror thrillers, which have wall-to-wall headache-inducing mixes). Dialogue is crisp and natural-sounding, though music cues are usually limited to the front.

You can also watch the movie with a DD+ 5.1 French dub. Optional English SDH and French subtitles support the audio.

Extras:
Director Geoffrey Sax and Michael Keaton teleconferenced their audio commentary, kind of like Cameron Crowe calling Tom Cruise for part of the audio commentary for the special edition DVD release of Jerry Maguire. The two begin in high spirits but eventually have little to say as the movie heads towards its downbeat conclusion.

There are some deleted scenes (with optional audio commentary) that are basically scene extensions that add little to the overall experience.

You also get a set of three “documentaries” that move beyond the movie. “Making Contact: E.V.P. Experts” is an assemblage of interviews with people who claim to be authorities on making contact with the dead. “Recording the Afterlife at Home” shows you how to join the fun. Finally, “Hearing Is Believing: Actual E.V.P. Sessions” shows a couple of people recording random sounds in a “haunted” house.

Suburban Girl (Marc Klein, 2007)

Region 1 Image Entertainment (USA)
NTSC, 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen
97 minutes
Audio: DD 5.1 English
Subtitles: Optional English SDH, Spanish subtitles
Extras: audio commentary by Marc Klein; trailer; previews for other movies

Released: 15 January 2008
keepcase
16 chapters

In his audio commentary for Suburban Girl, writer/director Marc Klein talks about having sold a couple of screenplays. He was responsible for the rom-com A Good Year, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe. Clearly, the material was an ill fit for the two tough guys, though the fact that A Good Year enjoyed the participation of Scott and Crowe probably gave Klein the cachet to attract financial backers as well as actors Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alec Baldwin.

Gellar and Baldwin are award-winning performers who are far from unknown quantities. Yet, after a couple of professional and personal mishaps (the Scooby-Doo movies for her, child-custody tussles for him), Gellar and Baldwin have been reduced to appearing in cliché-ridden, no-profile projects. Suburban Girl isn’t an outright stinker; it’s simply yet another bland, cute story about young women at the starts of their careers in New York City. It’s easy for something as low key and inoffensive as this movie to get lost in the shuffle without benefit of an overacting Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)--or an overacting Alec Baldwin, for that matter (see The Departed).

To be fair, Gellar and Baldwin actually look like they could be working in the publishing business, and the movie boasts decent production values. Marc Klein manages to avoid utilizing too many “zany” characters that have moments of clarity at opportune times. However, again, Suburban Girl is simply another every-day product in a long line of faux-girl-empowerment advertisements.

I suppose even Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alec Baldwin have to pay the bills.

Video:
The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen video transfer is quite good. The filmmakers emphasized the cheery aspects of New York City, so the sunny weather yields bright, naturalistic colors. Sharpness is generally high for an SD DVD. I saw some flitting instances of dye imperfections on the film print, but most people won’t notice them.

Audio:
The DD 5.1 English audio track is your usual quality, respectable mix that is front-heavy due to the movie’s reliance on dialogue. Most of the boisterous music cues emanate from the front speakers, too. The subwoofer and the rear channels have little to do.

Optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles support the audio.

Extras:
As already mentioned, writer/director Marc Klein contributed an audio commentary. The audio commentary is probably the best thing about this disc. Klein talks about the difficult processes involved in trying to get his own career going. Although he didn’t run into catastrophe while shooting Suburban Girl, he talks frankly about how there were a few problems and that most audio commentators avoid pointing out the mistakes that they made. Even aspiring filmmakers who hate chick flicks will have something to gain from this commentary.

Aside from the commentary, you only get the movie’s theatrical trailer and previews for other movies.

Mobsters HD DVD (Michael Karbelnikoff, 1991)

Universal (USA)
1.85:1 1080p
104 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD+ 5.1 English, DD+ 2.0 surround French
Subtitles: Optional English SDH, French
Extras: none

Released: 8 January 2008
HD DVD case
16 chapters

Regardless of whether or not you’ve seen Mobsters, you’re probably aware of its reputation as “Young Guns Meets (Insert Gangster Movie Title)”. Indeed, although the leads were in their twenties when they acted in the movie, Mobsters often feels like a teenybopper enterprise. Clearly, Christian Slater, Patrick Dempsey, Richard Grieco, and Costas Mandylor were selected for their roles in part because of their handsome visages.

Whatever you think of Mobsters, there’s no denying that the production values are exceptionally high. The sets and the costumes are exquisite and imposing. The movie respects the fact that people cared very much about appearances during the first half of the 20th Century. Although they make only brief appearances, F. Murray Abraham, Michael Gambon, and Anthony Quinn are excellent as old-timers who mentor the young hotshots. Plot-wise, the script is dense and intricate.

Mobsters stumbles on the casting and dialogue fronts. Slater, Dempsey, Grieco, and Mandylor simply lack any credibility as the legendary Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and Frank Costello. Slater in particular sounds too contemporary; his line readings take me out of the visual milieu. As Slater is the best of the four principals, you can imagine how quickly things roll downhill when the other three wiseguys open their mouths. Nicholas Sadler is annoyingly over-the-top as a villainous assassin, and Lara Flynn Boyle is as unbelievable in a period setting as Slater is.

Nevertheless, Mobsters is trashy, pulpy fun. It re-uses conventions from old gangster movies and achieves a sort of minor operatic grandeur in its baroqueness. Also, although I kinda made fun of the actors, the four stars have a chemistry that makes their characters’ friendship very believable.

Video:
The 1.85:1 1080p video transfer is a slightly mixed bag. On one hand, the level of detail is very high--everything is phenomenally sharp. Colors are richly saturated, and the sense of depth is often astonishing when the movie showcases huge sets such as a nightclub with line dancers and a dining hall with Michael Gambon presiding as the head of all gangsters. On the other hand, print damage is persistent from the first frame to the last. Not a scene goes by without scratches and dust dancing all over the place. To be fair, the print damage isn’t very intrusive, but if you’ve seen as many movies as I have, then you’ll definitely take notice of them.

Audio:
Released in 1991, Mobsters was not a beneficiary of today’s aggressive approach to sound mixing. Therefore, the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English and DD+ 5.1 English tracks are front-heavy with very, very little surround activity. Nevertheless, I was surprised by the wide stereo separation across the front three speakers. Discrete gunshots rattled from different channels, and there is impressively deep bass for a movie that was not released during the past five years. The throbbing band music in a busy nightclub is conveyed so vividly that my home theatre felt like it had been turned into the nightclub.

You can also watch the movie with a DD+ 2.0 surround French dub. Optional English SDH and French subtitles support the audio.

Extras:
Nada.

Gary Tooze, You Can't Delete the Evidence

Internet Explorer allows users to save webpages exactly as they appear "live".

Gary Tooze's latest actions involve re-writing over my review and adding to his own discussion of the Bonus Materials. Unfortunately for Mr. Tooze, I have evidence.

Ladies and gentlemen, I ask that you look at the attached pictures. My review (hddvdreviews.blogspot.com/2007/12/zodiac-directors-cut-hd-dvd-david.html) is on the top, and Tooze's "version" is on the bottom.

Gary Tooze = Caught With Pants Down

Gary Tooze's reaction to my blog post consisted of the following:

1) deleting my review of the Zodiac two-disc SD DVD (although there are at least two places at DVDBeaver.com that refer to its existence)

2) haphazardly editing the Extras section in his review of the HD DVD so that it now makes no grammatical sense whatsoever.

He has not apologized to his readers or to me.

Don't worry, Gary--I saved a copy of your review before you modified it.

DVDBeaver.com's Gary Tooze = Plagiarist

I resigned from DVDBeaver.com on 21 December 2007. I won't show the dirty laundry regarding how the site is run. However, I won't let a violation of one of journalism's cardinal taboos remain un-challenged.

On 17 December, my review of the Region 1 two-disc DVD release of Zodiac: Director's Cut was posted at www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews34/zodiac_directors_cut.htm .

Sometime after 1 January, DVDBeaver.com's editor Gary Tooze posted his review of the U.S. two-disc HD DVD release of Zodiac: Director's Cut at www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews34/zodiac_HD.htm . In his review, Tooze basically re-used three of my paragraphs about the Bonus Materials without crediting any of my writings to me. This is plagiarism, plain and simple.

I e-mailed Tooze as soon as I saw this. However, not only has he ignored me, he has also left his review un-changed.

Gary Tooze has forever betrayed the principles of his profession.

The Pianist HD DVD (Roman Polanski, 2002)

Universal (USA)
1.85:1 1080p
150 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD+ 5.1 English, DD+ 5.1 French
Subtitles: Optional English SDH, French
Extras: A Story of Survival

Released: 8 January 2008
HD DVD case
18 chapters

Although it contains many horrific passages, Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List is perhaps the most-accessible--and by extension, most-obvious--of serious Holocaust movies. (Let’s set aside comedies and exploitation flicks like the Ilsa series.) The central character is a gregarious, good-humored man who’s filled with confidence, charm, and bluster. In other words, Oskar Schindler is simply fun to watch. The average viewer readily identifies with Schindler precisely because, even though he was a real-life figure, he’s a fantasy hero in an incomprehensible nightmare. The fact that the main character is never in any real danger reduces the movie’s impact somewhat. Ironically, Schindler’s actions deflate the sense of desperation of the time period.

Roman Polanski’s The Pianist is not a remedy for Schindler’s List’s shortcomings. The Pianist focuses on one man’s survival, from literally the first day of Germany’s occupation of Poland to a short while after the end of WWII. Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) is a bit aloof, though as he’s often the only character on the screen, again, the viewer finds himself tunnel-visioned through one man’s perception of an event.

The movie’s first third is its best part. With stunning abruptness, Polish Jews are forced into third-class status overnight. The casual cruelty of Nazi occupiers is astonishingly shocking even though we’ve seen and read about their behavior in other media. As the Jews enter the Warsaw ghetto, the sights of people lying dead in streets is heart-rending.

The movie begins to falter during a prolonged stay in the ghetto. The situations depicted in The Pianist have been shown in other movies, so there’s nothing revelatory or superlative about the second third. In fact, the movie presents the Jewish collaborating policemen as one-dimensional thugs, just like most other movies. Yet, we know that Jewish collaborators, such as those who were forced to operate the gas chambers in death camps, made difficult decisions to ensure their own survival. They were wracked with guilt for helping the Nazis kill their own people, but they were among the survivors who re-built Jewish communities in Europe after the end of the war.

The final third recovers the movie to firm ground, though like the second third, it could benefit from some judicial trimming. Szpilman manages to hide in Warsaw even though his entire family was taken to a death camp, and the movie follows him from hiding place to hiding place. As he peers through windows, we see what he sees--Nazis killing Poles and Jews at random intervals. It may seem weird for me to make this claim, but after a while, the continued violence becomes a bit de-sensitizing, partly because we get accustomed to the repetition of Germans shooting people in the head.

The Pianist has many strengths, and it’s certainly much better than the silly (and stupid) Chicago that won the Best Picture Oscar for 2002. Brody will probably never top his performance in this movie. However, The Pianist isn’t Polanski’s best film (try Chinatown), and it isn’t anywhere as all-encompassing or powerful as Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah.

Video:
Although HD DVD and Blu-ray offer six times the resolution of DVDs, there’ve been some high-def releases from both formats that look as poor as--or even worse than--their 480p cousins. Therefore, I was not expecting much from the 1.85:1 1080p video transfer of The Pianist due to its relative age compared to recent theatrical releases. Yet, I was astonished by the sharpness, the extremely high level of detail, the clarity, and the impression of depth. There is a high-angle shot of a devastated street as Szpilman escapes into the open, and while the shot looks like some sort of matte (digital or hand-painted) was used, it still looks like a plausible stretch into the distance. Some film grain is visible during shots with low light levels, but the grain is obviously a natural part of the film stock and not intrusive in any way.

Audio:
Like the video, the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio is quite a surprise, too. Although much of the movie is quiet and subdued to reflect Szpilman’s furtive existence, the opening explosions and street fights between Nazis and Polish resistance members are filled with omni-directional effects and deep, resonant bass. There are a number of street scenes with wide stereo and surround dispersion of ambient effects, such as wind and animal noises. Music cues, both diegetic and non-diegetic, are crisp and precise, rivaling many music CDs in their clarity.

You can also watch the movie with a DD+ 5.1 English track and a DD+ 5.1 French dub. Optional English SDH and French subtitles support the audio.

Extras:
The HD DVD’s sole extra is a forty-minute featurette entitled “A Story of Survival”. There are interviews with various members of the cast and crew, behind-the-scenes footage, documentary footage of Warsaw that was shot during WWII, and information about the real Wladyslaw Szpilman. The behind-the-scenes footage is interesting and sometimes surprisingly intense, though Adrien Brody and Thomas Kretschmann’s grandiloquent comments about the movie’s themes are a bit clichéd.

The HD DVD drops the DVD’s trailer, soundtrack promo, and text-based extras.

Golden Door (Nuovomundo) (Emanuele Crialese, 2006)

Region 1 Buena Vista (USA)
NTSC, 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen
118 minutes
Audio: DD 5.1 Italian (mostly Sicilian Italian), DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras: Introduction by Martin Scorsese; Nuovomundo Making of; previews for other movies

Released: 8 January 2008
keepcase
17 chapters

Golden Door, originally known as Nuovomundo, is the story of a Sicilian family migrating to the United States. The best parts of the movie show the rough-and-tumble nature of rustic life during the early 20th Century as well as the various processes that immigrants navigated during their stay on Ellis Island. In particular, I was surprised by the mercenary and impersonal nature of courtship immigration. Single women were taken into a room with single men. If the single men, who had already immigrated to the U.S., claimed fiancées whom they “met” via letters, then the single women could basically marry into America. Single men and women could also exchange notes during these sessions to see if couples liked each other at least on a superficial level. If the single women were unclaimed, then they had to return to their countries of origin.

The movie has two major weaknesses. I felt that the Sicilian family had a very easy going. They weren’t robbed or scammed in Sicily, and American immigration officials seem rather helpful rather than rough and abusive as we know they often were according to first-hand accounts. Also, what happens with the youngest male, Prieto, is ludicrous. He’s called a deaf-mute by other villagers, but when we first see him, he’s making animal noises. Thus, he’s not a mute. Later, he seems to understand oral instructions even though the official talking to Prieto isn’t always facing him. Therefore, the boy’s not deaf, either. Maybe he’s just too simple-minded to speak normally? Nope. During a key moment, he suddenly starts talking like everyone else. The script’s handling of the character creates problems that don’t even exist--an unnecessary dishonesty.

Video:
Even though budgets for non-mainstream Hollywood movies are miniscule in comparison to what gets spent on a leading American star’s salary alone, production and post-production standards are generally very high for Europe and East Asia. Therefore, the image quality of this 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is excellent. Colors are rich and natural, though the clothes are understandably faded and grimy due to the characters’ general economic condition. The picture is a tad soft in some places, and some edge enhancement is apparent. However, for an SD DVD of a non-English-language production, one doesn’t have many complaints.

Audio:
This is a dialogue-driven drama, so the DD 5.1 Italian mix is heavily reliant on the front center channel for most of its activity. Subtle music cues are frequently the only indicators of stereo separation. However, there are some immersive moments during boisterous crowd scenes in Sicily and during a turbulent portion of the immigrants’ ship journey.

You can also watch the movie with an optional DD 5.1 Spanish dub. Optional English, English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles support the audio.

Extras:
Martin Scorsese didn’t really have anything to do with the movie, but he’s associated with this title for its North-American release for personal reasons. As he explains in an introduction to the movie, the characters represent many of the types of people associated with Scorsese’s immigrant ancestors.

A half-hour “Nuovomundo Making Of” presents a bunch of interviews and press-conference appearances. The participants’ comments aren’t very illuminating, though it’s fascinating watching and hearing them using a variety of European languages when communication with different media personnel.

Finally, there are previews for other movies.

--Miscellaneous--
An insert provides chapter listings.

The Tudors: The Complete First Season (Created by Michael Hirst, 2007)

Region 1 Paramount (USA)
NTSC, 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen
556 minutes
Audio: DD 5.1 English, DD 2.0 surround English, DD 2.0 mono Spanish
Subtitles: none
Extras: featurettes about the sets, costumes, and London; cast bios; photo gallery; contest for trip to Ireland; previews for other shows; sampler episodes of other shows

Released: 1 January 2008
ultra-slim keepcases in cardboard slipcase
100 chapters

The Tudors is a sexed-up, amped-up portrayal of a young Henry VIII, the English king who broke with the Catholic Church and wound up marrying six women in the hopes of producing a son. (The marketers have even taken the lamentable step of dropping the monarch’s Roman numerals in favor of the Arabic numeral “8”.) While this approach--also used by Shekhar Kapur for Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age--makes historical figures seem like real human beings instead of mere facts and figures, it also causes me to wonder how these leaders managed to survive and do anything notable. The Tudors and Kapur’s movies show how dangerous it was to be Numero Uno, with usurpers and foreign leaders constantly plotting assassinations, but we also see Henry VIII and Elizabeth I behaving like heedless sex fiends who clearly don’t know much about managing a country’s affairs. The Tudors imparts no sense whatsoever of how Henry VIII’s stewardship created an environment for his daughter to lead England to its first taste of international power.

During the opening credits, a voiceover tells viewers that we only know the end of Henry VIII’s story, that we need to go to the beginning to get to the heart of the matter. Well, the first season starts with Henry and Katherine’s marriage falling apart, so we’re already at the beginning of the end, aren’t we?

The Tudors: The Complete First Season has ten episodes. Discs 1, 2, and 3 have three episodes each. Disc 4 has one episode and bonus features.

Video:
The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen image is of excellent quality. Colors are bold and vivid, and detail is quite high. However, there are several instances of mosquito noise and background blobbing. The good thing is that the show doesn’t look dull and dim like other HD video productions (such as Zodiac), but I doubt that a full-blown HD transfer could get rid of the mosquito noise and blobbing.

Audio:
The show arrives on home video with robust DD 5.1 English audio. The surrounds are mainly used for music cues, but they are frequently loud and lively. Dialogue is intelligible and crisply clear, even when the characters are whispering. Impressive bass response is present during inclement weather and when horses thunder across the English countryside.

You can also watch the show with DD 2.0 surround English tracks and DD 2.0 mono Spanish dubs. There aren’t any subtitles, but if you switch to 480i video on your TV, then you can access optional English closed captions.

Extras:
All of the extras are on Disc 4.

There are brief featurettes about the sets, costume design, and London. You can read mini-bios of the actors and browse through a photo gallery. There’s also a contest for a free trip to Ireland, where The Tudors is being shot.

Un-related extras include previews for other shows and sampler episodes of Californication, This American Life, and Penn & Teller BS!. You can also watch other Showtime samples if you access Disc 4 with a computer DVD-ROM drive.

Note: Paramount is starting the New Year on the wrong foot. The packaging mistakenly indicates that Disc 2 has four episodes and that Disc 3 has only two episodes. Also, the credits list actress Gabrielle Anwar as “Gabriel Anwar” for several episodes.