Breakfast at Tiffany’s: Centennial Collection (Blake Edwards, 1961)

Region 1 Paramount (USA)
NTSC, 1.85:1 16x9 enhanced
114 minutes
Audio: DD 5.1 English, DD 2.0 mono English, DD 2.0 mono French, DD 2.0 mono Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, French, Spanish
Extras: audio commentary by Richard Shepherd; A Golightly Gathering; Henry Mancini: More Than Music; Mr. Yunioshi: An Asian Perspective; The Making of a Classic; It’s So Audrey: A Style Icon; Behind the Gates: The Tour; Brilliance in a Blue Box; Audrey’s Letter to Tiffany’s; stills galleries; theatrical trailer

Released: 13 January 2008
slim double keepcase

Paramount Pictures is re-releasing some of its beloved catalog titles in new Centennial Collection editions to celebrate the studio’s 100th birthday. Breakfast at Tiffany’s carries the Number 5 on its spine.

Of the five titles chosen for Paramount’s new Centennial Collection line of DVDs, four are Audrey Hepburn vehicles. I suppose this is because these movies continue to sell well on DVD, though I’m not banking on Paris When It Sizzles or War and Peace getting this deluxe treatment. As it is, this is the third DVD release of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which follows a bare-bones first edition and a 45th Anniversary edition that was released not long ago in 2006.

With the exception of my sister, just about every girl I’ve ever met who’s seen it loves Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I don’t get it. I mean, I really don’t get it. Here’s a movie about a gold-digging “socialite” and a kept man who treat everyone like crap, and it’s regarded as a classic romance. I don’t get this movie’s appeal, and I don’t get girls who love this movie.

In Breakfast at Tiffany’s (based on a novella by Truman Capote), Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) is a young woman who lives by dating rich men who give her money. Paul “Fred” Varjak (George Peppard) is a young writer who is “kept” by a rich woman. Holly and Paul live in the same building, and they go for long walks talking about ideals and dreams while clinging fiercely to leeching off of rich people. One excursion leads to a prison, where Holly meets up with a criminal who acts as her accountant.

The movie is filled with weird digressions. Holly and Paul get arrested as part of a narcotics sting. We learn about Holly’s past and her brother, but these are odd touches that are left dangling rather than explained. There’s a big party at the beginning of the movie that, while capturing the care-free nonsensical spirit of the 1950s/1960s, is too long and rather boring. Also, while calling people “baby” and “darling” may have been common during the 1950s/1960s, it is thoroughly grating in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s also has one of the most-racist caricatures ever committed to celluloid. Mickey Rooney plays a Japanese photographer who lives in the same building as Holly and Paul. Rooney looks absolutely atrocious with yellowed fake buck teeth and angry eyebrows. The movie also portrays Asian men as perverts when Holly promises her Japanese neighbor that she’ll pose in special pictures for him. The Japanese character is so iconically racist that Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story featured a clip from this movie as an example of the racism that Bruce Lee had to overcome in America before he became famous.

The title refers to Holly’s habit of going home at six in the morning after a long night of partying. She stops in front of Tiffany and Co., munching on pastries while looking at over-priced eating utensils. This is how the movie opens, and this is indicative of how corrupt and bankrupt this movie is.

The only good thing about this movie is Holly’s nameless cat. The cat is cute, sweet, and endearing.

Why Breakfast at Tiffany’s is so beloved mystifies me. This movie worships materialism, reinforces racist stereotypes, and glorifies prostitution. The ending makes a half-hearted attempt to reject the characters’ lousy attitudes, but there isn’t an ounce of honesty in Holly Golightly’s change-of-heart. Why are so many “love” stories so bad?

Video:
The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen image looks tired and soft. Edges are often blurry, and there’s a fair amount of “ghosting”/“trailing” when objects are in motion. This is a mediocre video transfer.

Audio:
The audio fares better than the video. This DVD gives you the option of watching the movie with its original mono track in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono English guise, which is in good condition. The actors’ voices are crisp and sharp without being brittle. The music score is surprisingly full and robust.

You can also watch the movie with a DD 5.1 English re-mix as well as DD 2.0 mono French and DD 2.0 mono Spanish dubs.

Optional English, French, and Spanish subtitles as well as optional English closed captions support the audio.

Extras:
--Disc 1--
I didn’t bother listening to the audio commentary by producer Richard Shepherd, but it’s there for those of you who want a new way of experiencing this movie.

--Disc 2--
“A Golightly Gathering” was recorded at an event that re-united many of the actors in the party scene.

“Henry Mancini: More Than Music” salute the composer who undoubtedly played a big part in making Breakfast at Tiffany’s a hit.

“Mr. Yunioshi: An Asian Perspective” interviews various activists about their reaction to Mickey Rooney in yellowface.

“The Making of a Classic” is a featurette about the movie’s production history. Surprisingly, it goes into substantive details and is not entirely gassy.

“It’s So Audrey: A Style Icon” is a featurette about how Audrey Hepburn became famous for her look working with Paramount’s head costume designer Edith Head and with the French clothing designer Hubert de Givenchy.

“Behind the Gates: The Tour” is a brief documentary about the Paramount lot.

“Brilliance in a Blue Box” is a featurette that celebrates the gaudy thing that is Tiffany and Co.

“Audrey’s Letter to Tiffany” is a featurette with a guy reading a letter that Audrey Hepburn wrote as a preface to a book about Tiffany and Co.

Finally, you get three stills galleries and the theatrical trailer.

--Miscellaneous--
The discs are kept in a slim double keepcase. You also get a booklet and a cardboard slipcover.

Funny Face: Centennial Collection (Stanley Donen, 1957)

Region 1 Paramount (USA)
NTSC, 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced
103 minutes
Audio: DD 5.1 English, DD 2.0 mono English, DD 2.0 mono French, DD 2.0 mono Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, French, Spanish
Extras: Kay Thompson: Think Pink!; This is VistaVision; Fashion Photographers Exposed; The Fashion Designer and His Muse; Parisian Dreams; Paramount in the ’50s; stills galleries; theatrical trailer

Released: 13 January 2008
slim double keepcase

(This review was written by Sandra Feng and Yunda Eddie Feng.)

Paramount Pictures is re-releasing some of its beloved catalog titles in new Centennial Collection editions to celebrate the studio’s 100th birthday. Funny Face carries the Number 4 on its spine.

Of the five titles chosen for Paramount’s new Centennial Collection line of DVDs, four are Audrey Hepburn vehicles. I suppose this is because these movies continue to sell well on DVD, though I’m not banking on Paris When It Sizzles or War and Peace getting this deluxe treatment. As it is, this is the third DVD release of Funny Face, which follows a bare-bones first edition and a 50th Anniversary edition that was released not long ago in 2007.

Funny Face. The title alone seems to scream the whole point of this film: Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire! Funny Face functions as an advertisement for Hepburn’s style (and Givenchy’s fashion designs). The film also proves that Astaire didn’t lose his touch as the years went by. As an Audrey Hepburn fan, I couldn’t resist the delicious eye candy and star power that Funny Face offers.

In the movie, Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson), editor of Quality magazine, always seeks trends with “bozaaz”. She grows tired of the bubbly pink trend that she once championed in the fashion world and wants to find a new look for the magazine. Prescott and her fashion photographer, Dick Avery (Astaire), attempt to re-mold a chic but empty-headed model into a woman of intelligence and sophistication by setting up a photo shoot in a Greenwich bookstore.

The store’s bookkeeper, Jo Stockton (Audrey Hepburn), trumpets her distaste for materialism and impractical fashions. Once the Quality hurricane departs, Dick stays behind to help Jo straighten up the bookstore. Jo lectures him about empathicalism and some philosophical mumbo-jumbo. This would scare any guy away, but of course as long as the girl looks like Audrey Hepburn and the guy is as charming as Fred Astaire, love is definitely in the air. Dick is convinced that Jo represents the essence of the “Quality Woman”, and with Prescott’s approval, he offers Jo a trip to Paris to model.

As soon as she lands in Paris, Jo’s icy barrier begins to melt. Everything seems to go in the right direction as modeling and falling in love with Dick becomes second nature to her, but her fascination with Flaustre strains the duo’s relationship. In the end, everything culminates in a rousing, heart-warming musical finale.

All throughout Funny Face, Fred Astaire and Kay Thompson provide witty remarks that compensate for the sappiness inherent in musicals. Thompson’s performance as Maggie Prescott sometimes actually outshines Hepburn-Astaire coupling. She’s the spice in all this cream. The romance scenes sometimes sputter, but thankfully, the film recovers with Prescott’s bam-bam-bam scenes. Initially, the “Clap Yo’ Hands’ song-and-dance sequence seems to be out of place (as if they needed another song in this musical), but it turns out to be a wise addition after all due to the excitement that Astaire and Thompson generate.

The dance sequence in a jazz bistro gives Hepburn a certain edge that we usually do not expect from her. This scene definitely established Hepburn’s ability to step out of her normal range. Hepburn basically performs a solo dance, and she doesn’t need Astaire next to her to enrapture the viewer. I remember watching a biopic about Hepburn that mentioned her desire to wear black socks rather than white ones because black socks would give her a head-to-toe uniformity while the white ones would appear to sever her legs from her feet. The filmmakers screen-tested Hepburn with black socks to humor her, and she admitted that the white socks worked better. (Alas, the footage with Hepburn in all black has not been included as an extra on any DVD release. Perhaps the footage was destroyed?)

The charm of 1950s’ musicals, Gershwin’s music, and (of course) Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire make Funny Face a film worth watching. Hepburn fans will no doubt have already seen this film and loved it. Fans of musicals may not enjoy this one as much as Singin’ in the Rain or Swing Time, but they may still find much to like in it.

Video:
The first R1 DVD left much to be desired. It had a lot of white spackles, and the colors of certain objects (such as the doors at the offices of Quality magazine) changed for no reason from shot to shot. Some objects can’t make up their minds as to whether or not they want to be pink or orange during the “Think Pink” scene. The soft-focus lenses used for outdoor scenes created gelatinous bubbles enveloping the dancing Hepburn and Astaire. I couldn’t help but laugh as the actors resemble floating Jell-O packets sometimes.

This third DVD incarnation appears to have the same video transfer given to the second DVD edition. As with To Catch a Thief, another VistaVision title from Paramount’s 1950s run, it looks like Funny Face was given some sort of clean-up work, including color correction. I don’t know if a restoration of the film elements took place, but the movie looks surprisingly clean and detailed. These new DVDs (also 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen) solve most of the color problems, though shots with extreme soft focus probably could not be saved from looking like Vaseline sculptures.

Audio:
A DD 5.1 English track is available, but purists might opt for the restored DD 2.0 English original mono track. Surround use is virtually non-existent; the audio is very front-heavy. The subwoofer makes an appearance only during some of the song-and-dance numbers, though most of the aggressive effects are flat or even muffled due to the limited dynamic range of the movie’s production period. The DD 5.1 track does open up the sound field of the film, but given the age of the original elements, Funny Face will not test your audio system’s limits.

You can also watch the movie with DD 2.0 mono French and Spanish dubs. Optional English, French, and Spanish subtitles as well as optional English closed captions support the audio.

Oddly, this new edition drops the DD 2.0 mono Portuguese dub and Portuguese subtitles found on the 50th Anniversary disc.

Extras:
--Disc 2--
All of the Extras are on Disc 2.

“Kay Thompson: Think Pink!” pays tribute to the real spark in the movie.

“This is VistaVision” explains why VistaVision was superior to normal 35mm filmmaking.

“Fashion Photographers Exposed” is a featurette about how fashion photographers work.

“The Fashion Designer and His Muse” details Audrey Hepburn’s professional collaboration with Hubert Givenchy.

“Parisian Dreams” is a sort of “making of” featurette that is fairly different from what I’m used to seeing. A couple of talking heads talk about the themes and the use of Paris as a mythical place for romance.

The “Paramount in the 1950s” featurette has little to do with Funny Face itself aside from the fact that the film was made by the studio during the stated time period.

You also get three stills galleries and the theatrical trailer.

--Miscellaneous--
The discs are kept in a slim double keepcase. You also get a booklet and a cardboard slipcover.

Towelhead (Alan Ball, 2008)

Region 1 Warner (USA)
NTSC, 2.35:1 16x9 enhanced
116 minutes
Audio: DD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French
Subtitles: Optional English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras: two group discussions

Released: 30 December 2008
keepcase

It’s okay to have humor in a drama. The funniest movie that I’ve ever seen is also one of the saddest (Edward Yang’s Yi Yi). However, humor in a drama has to be natural, an organic outgrowth of the circumstances. For example, Luis Bunuel’s movies and Vladimir Nabokov’s novels are funny because they remind us of human failings that are all too real; we see ourselves in Bunuel and Nabokov’s characters.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Alan Ball, the writer of American Beauty and the creator of Six Feet Under. Ball creates caricatures, screams at the top of his lungs that his caricatures are real and funny, and keeps poking us in the sides, asking, “See? Isn’t this funny?” What’s especially disturbing and alarming about Ball’s latest effort, Towelhead, is that the story deals with very serious issues (pedophilia, child abuse, emotional abuse, racism, puberty) but treats everything like a joke. Ball may tell you to your face that we should sympathize with and feel sorry for the young heroine, but the movie’s tone indicates that we should laugh and throw spitballs at her.

Towelhead may be based on a novel of the same title, but it’s really no more than a re-make of American Beauty (which was already re-made as The Chumscrubber), with Arab Americans replacing homosexuals and potheads.

Role/American Beauty/Towelhead
pedophile/Kevin Spacey/Aaron Eckhart
daughter/Thora Birch/Summer Bishil
young female victim/Mena Suvari/Summer Bishil
mom in hysterics/Annette Bening/Maria Bello
crazy father/Kevin Spacey/Peter Macdissi
boyfriend/Wes Bentley/Eugene Jones III
scopophilia/videos/photos

The script is what it is, but the director is the one who tells his actors how to behave in front of the camera. Therefore, I place 51% of the blame for the over-acting on Ball, though the actors still get 49% of the blame because they actually listened to their director and because they didn’t have the guts to quit the project. I know that there are obnoxious, rude, and over-the-top personalities, but these performances are outrageous.

Like many people, I enjoyed American Beauty at the time of its release. I now see that my good friend Chris Long is right--American Beauty is a terrible movie, as is Towelhead. I formally repudiate any and all positive comments I have ever made about American Beauty.

Video:
The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen image is very soft and frequently washed out due to the way that the movie was lit. Pixelation and edge enhancement are frequently noticeable. Colors and fleshtones are fine despite the movie’s generally flat appearance.

Audio:
The DD 5.1 English audio track is a glorified mono mix. Basically, all that’s important about the sound comes from the center channel as there aren’t a lot of moments that lend themselves to creative directionality effects. As there aren’t scenes with severe inclement weather, there aren’t occasions for total sonic immersion, either. The rears are almost wholly silent, as is the subwoofer.

Extras:
There are two group discussions “hosted” by Alan Ball. Apparently, “hosting” means that Ball reads a canned statement about how the very act of having a discussion about racism and racial slurs is positive. Sorry, Alan. While the two group discussions are more worth a person’s time than the movie itself, dialogue is not enough. People have to be educated and enlightened. For all you know, a dialogue could do more harm than good if you convince, intentionally or unintentially, a racist person that he’s right.

Ghost Town Blu-ray Disc (David Koepp, 2008)

Paramount (USA)
1.85:1 1080p
102 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Extras: audio commentary by David Koepp and Ricky Gervais; Making Ghost Town; Ghostly Effects; Some People Can Do It

Released: 28 December 2008
Blu-ray case

It must be at least slightly mystifying to David Koepp to have written huge blockbusters such as Spider-Man and many of Steven Spielberg’s biggest hits but wind up directing polarizing movies such as The Trigger Effect, Stir of Echoes, and Secret Window that don’t find much of an audience. On the other hand, maybe Koepp writes huge blockbusters for other people so that he can call in some favors for his own pet projects.

Koepp’s latest writing-directing effort was Ghost Town, which is quite a departure from his usual sci-fi/action/thriller/horror milieu. While this movie has supernatural elements, it’s really a romantic comedy about matchmaking. Greg Kinnear plays a man who gets hit by a bus and then tries to keep his wife from marrying a human-rights lawyer. There’s nothing wrong with the lawyer except the fact that Kinnear’s character doesn’t like him. Meanwhile, Ricky Gervais (who headlined the original British version of The Office) plays a misanthropic dentist who prefers to be left alone. The dentist loves his job because he can shove nasty objects in people’s mouths without being reproached. The dentist is so averse to human contact that he doesn’t notice a pretty blond woman who’s usually in need of help carrying heavy boxes.

It turns out that the pretty blond woman is called Gwen (Téa Leoni), is an anthropologist, and was the dead man’s wife. Thus begins an improbable courtship as the dead man pesters the dentist into interacting with Gwen. The dentist uses his professional expertise to help Gwen figure out that a mummy might’ve died from dental disease, which leads to a series of not-quite dates.

Some reviewers have described Ghost Town as a screwball comedy, though whatever screwball gags the movie does have (such as a dog yanking on his leash until Leoni flies through the air) are so infrequent that they feel forced rather than natural parts of an intended whole. Nevertheless, the movie is an effective, charming piece precisely because Gervais and Leoni are mis-matched. They don’t look like a couple, their characters are wholly dissimilar, and the neat, tidy dentist (who probably has OCD) would have to make huge adjustments to accept the chaotic, earthy Gwen into his life. Here’s what feels real, though--despite their apparent incompatibility, the dentist and Gwen reach out to the person who happens to be available and pour out their feelings. Even the lone wolves among us crave an audience from time to time.

Video:
The 1.85:1 1080p video transfer looks normal and every-day--which is a compliment because the filmmakers obviously wanted a realistic appearance. Leoni looks gorgeous because of her natural, inner beauty, not because she was costumed in gaudy colors. The picture does not have that high-def “pop” that we’re accustomed to seeing with action extravaganzas, but any “pop” would be overkill in this instance. Nevertheless, the image is clean and sharp, taking full advantage of the benefits afforded by 1080p resolution.

Audio:
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English audio track is a mostly quiet affair. Much of the heavy lifting is done by the center channel, with the front mains piping music cues from time to time. Directionality effects and the subwoofer join the party briefly when there are some big vehicles, but the characters usually stay out of the streets. Dialogue is clear and intelligible at all times, which is key for this sort of story.

Extras:
First up is a mildly amusing audio commentary by David Koepp and Ricky Gervais, who cover the usual territory in audio commentaries and have a good laugh at their memories of the production.

“Making Ghost Town” features the usual talking-heads interviews and a small selection of on-the-set footage. “Ghostly Effects” is a compilation of before-and-after clips showing how the movie’s visual effects were created. “Some People Can Do It” is a gag reel.

In a departure for Paramount and DreamWorks, you don’t get a trailer.

Ghost Town (David Koepp, 2008)

Region 1 Paramount (USA)
1.85:1 16x9 enhanced
102 minutes
Audio: DD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, French, Spanish
Extras: audio commentary by David Koepp and Ricky Gervais; Making Ghost Town; Ghostly Effects; Some People Can Do It; previews for other movies

Released: 28 December 2008
keepcase

It must be at least slightly mystifying to David Koepp to have written huge blockbusters such as Spider-Man and many of Steven Spielberg’s biggest hits but wind up directing polarizing movies such as The Trigger Effect, Stir of Echoes, and Secret Window that don’t find much of an audience. On the other hand, maybe Koepp writes huge blockbusters for other people so that he can call in some favors for his own pet projects.

Koepp’s latest writing-directing effort was Ghost Town, which is quite a departure from his usual sci-fi/action/thriller/horror milieu. While this movie has supernatural elements, it’s really a romantic comedy about matchmaking. Greg Kinnear plays a man who gets hit by a bus and then tries to keep his wife from marrying a human-rights lawyer. There’s nothing wrong with the lawyer except the fact that Kinnear’s character doesn’t like him. Meanwhile, Ricky Gervais (who headlined the original British version of The Office) plays a misanthropic dentist who prefers to be left alone. The dentist loves his job because he can shove nasty objects in people’s mouths without being reproached. The dentist is so averse to human contact that he doesn’t notice a pretty blond woman who’s usually in need of help carrying heavy boxes.

It turns out that the pretty blond woman is called Gwen (Téa Leoni), is an anthropologist, and was the dead man’s wife. Thus begins an improbable courtship as the dead man pesters the dentist into interacting with Gwen. The dentist uses his professional expertise to help Gwen figure out that a mummy might’ve died from dental disease, which leads to a series of not-quite dates.

Some reviewers have described Ghost Town as a screwball comedy, though whatever screwball gags the movie does have (such as a dog yanking on his leash until Leoni flies through the air) are so infrequent that they feel forced rather than natural parts of an intended whole. Nevertheless, the movie is an effective, charming piece precisely because Gervais and Leoni are mis-matched. They don’t look like a couple, their characters are wholly dissimilar, and the neat, tidy dentist (who probably has OCD) would have to make huge adjustments to accept the chaotic, earthy Gwen into his life. Here’s what feels real, though--despite their apparent incompatibility, the dentist and Gwen reach out to the person who happens to be available and pour out their feelings. Even the lone wolves among us crave an audience from time to time.

Video:
The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen video transfer looks normal and every-day--which is a compliment because the filmmakers obviously wanted a realistic appearance. Leoni looks gorgeous because of her natural, inner beauty, not because she was costumed in gaudy colors. In comparison to the Blu-ray, the SD DVD has noticeably less fine-object detail; this is apparent even with a low-key, low-budget movie like this one.

Audio:
The DD 5.1 English audio track is a mostly quiet affair. Much of the heavy lifting is done by the center channel, with the front mains piping music cues from time to time. Directionality effects and the subwoofer join the party briefly when there are some big vehicles, but the characters usually stay out of the streets. Dialogue is clear and intelligible at all times, which is key for this sort of story.

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

First up is a mildly amusing audio commentary by David Koepp and Ricky Gervais, who cover the usual territory in audio commentaries and have a good laugh at their memories of the production.

“Making Ghost Town” features the usual talking-heads interviews and a small selection of on-the-set footage. “Ghostly Effects” is a compilation of before-and-after clips showing how the movie’s visual effects were created. “Some People Can Do It” is a gag reel.

Superhero Movie Blu-ray Disc (Craig Mazin, 2008)

Genius Weinstein (USA)
1.85:1 1080p
82 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 German (theatrical version only)
Subtitles: Optional English SDH, Spanish, German
Extras: theatrical and extended versions; audio commentary; deleted/alternate scenes; Meet the Cast; The Art of Spoofing; theatrical trailer; BD-Live

Released: 13 January 2009
Blu-ray case

Miramax has always been presented as a “prestige” label, though the real reason why Harvey and Bob Weinstein had as much autonomy as they did while they were Disney employees was the fact that Dimension Films, Miramax’s “genre” division, minted substantial returns with teen slasher flicks like the Scream series and over-the-top spoofs like the Scary Movie series. When the Weinsteins left the Disney fold, they took the Dimension name and several projects with them. Without the safety net of corporate financing and accounting, the Weinsteins have been beating dead horses in order to stay afloat. Thus, garbage like Scary Movie 4 and Superhero Movie get theatrical releases while Jia Zhangke’s movies are lucky to get home-video distribution here in the U.S.

Superhero Movie’s $25 million take in North America may seem insignificant, but comedies tend to have extended shelf lives on DVD. At the end of long weeks, most people are desperate for a few laughs to lift their spirits, so spoofs tend to rent and sell well during the long run. Undoubtedly, Superhero Movie will pique interest as long as the current stream of comic-book superhero projects continues to flow. However, there is very little to recommend about it. Fans of comic books will want the real thing, and non-fans will be bored by all the references to Spider-man, X-Men, Batman, etc.

The movie is basically a premise-for-premise re-make of the first Spider-man, and there are some random sight gags thrown into the mix. I like watching action and attractive blondes as much as the next heterosexual male, but I was bored by this dull, lifeless flop. I did like the obviously fake sets (studio backlots rather than location shooting) and Stephen Hawking jokes, but I get more jollies from watching Yi Yi than from most comedies.

Video:
The 1.85:1 1080p image is clean and smooth, though you get the over-lit feel that seems to accompany every comedy made during the past ten years. Colors are bright but generic and unmemorable. Some shots are rather soft, though the softness can probably be attributed to the production’s minimal resources that could be devoted to computer-generated effects.

Audio:
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English track is surprisingly active. The music score during the opening credits is possibly the wittiest thing about this movie. It nimbly and ably mimics the percussive rhythms of Danny Elfman’s “heroic” themes, and you get beats that bounce back and forth between the front mains. Surround activity is fairly heavy, though bass presence is at expected levels for a comedy (loud at times but neither full nor powerful).

Extras:
Unlike the movie’s DVD releases, you get both the theatrical and the extended versions on one disc.

There’s an audio commentary by Craig Mazin and some of the producers that is unexceptional. The participants have a grand time reminiscing about their continued collaborations, though the viewer is stuck with a painfully dull amateur skit.

There are more than twenty deleted/alternate scenes, though with the exception of the “Tom Cruise” footage, none of these are particularly funny or memorable.

“Meet the Cast” introduces you to the actors, and “The Art of Spoofing” tries to place recent mis-fires such as Superhero Movie and Scary Movie 4 on par with other, better spoofs.

Finally, you get the theatrical trailer and some BD-Live extras.

Eagle Eye Blu-ray Disc (D.J. Caruso, 2008)

Paramount (USA)
2.35:1 1080p
117 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Extras: deleted scenes; Asymmetrical Warfare: The Making of Eagle Eye; Eagle Eye on Location: Washington, D.C.; Is My Cell Phone Spying on Me?; Shall We Play a Game?; Road Trip: On Location With the Cast and Crew; gag reel; photo gallery; trailer

Released: 28 December 2008
Blu-ray case

Disturbia was a surprise hit (even though it was little more than a loud update of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window), so director D.J. Caruso, executive producer Steven Spielberg, and actor Shia LaBeouf re-teamed for another Hitchcockian thriller. This one, dubbed Eagle Eye, follows the spy-thriller formula in lock-step fashion, from the “Wrong Man” (two “Wrong Men” if you count the hero’s identical twin) to the “double pursuit” (both the authorities and the villain are looking for the “Wrong Man”), from having the hero meet up with a woman while being chased to an ending shot that implies that the mis-matched pair will end up happily ever after. There’s nothing wrong with using a formula, but some attempt at introducing twists and innovations would’ve been welcome considering how familiar even casual movie viewers are with spy thrillers’ tropes.

As it is, Eagle Eye gets off to an efficient, exciting start. The hero is given instructions via mobile phones, which seem to be able to find him no matter where he is. In one effective sequence, the hero attempts to escape the villain’s grasp by jumping from one metro line to another. However, the villain simply reverses the metro’s trajectory and sends the hero where he was supposed to go in the first place. When the hero refuses to get off the metro, the villain calls all the other passengers’ mobile phones, telling them that the hero is a terrorist who needs to be apprehended.

People usually cite the movie’s preposterousness as its main weakness. I, on the other hand, accepted all of the hardware/action stuff. What really killed the movie for me were the human characters’ stupidity and the inconsistent way that the villain behaves. Once they discover who the villain is, the humans continued to discuss their plans where villain could see and hear them. Of course the villain is going to thwart them! However, there are times when the villain lets the humans carry out their plans, such as not shutting down elevators that lead to the villain’s room. These lapses ruin the movie’s credibility.

At least the movie runs for a relatively brisk 117 minutes, which is a huge relief when overblown action movies tend to stretch beyond the 2.5-hour mark these days. The cutting is also less frantic than what you get with many movies these days, so you probably won’t get a headache.

Video:
This is another strong 2.35:1 1080p video transfer from Paramount. The image exhibits a cold, blue, metallic sheen, which is evident even when there’s some blood on Billy Bob Thornton’s shirt (you get a dull rust instead of the usual bright red). The smooth, sharp picture is frequently startling due to its clarity--freckles, pores, and other skin characteristics are delineated very well, especially when compared to the SD DVD transfer. (Perhaps the transfer is too perfect as several CGI shots look too-obviously fake, ruining the illusion.)

Audio:
Here’s another Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English mix that’s pumped with excessive bass. I don’t understand why sound engineers feel the need to bury a mix with low-frequency effects, which forces viewers to fiddle constantly with volume controls or to find ways to minimize a subwoofer’s impact (such as shutting down the subwoofer or watching the movie with a TV’s speakers). The rest of the mix is very dynamic, with wide separation across all channels and plenty of directional effects. The audio pans adeptly mirror changes in object locations as the free-roaming camera shifts perspectives.

Extras:
First up are some deleted scenes, which are of passing interest.

“Asymmetrical Warfare: The Making of Eagle Eye” is the usual superficial overview of a production. “Eagle Eye on Location: Washington, D.C.” and “Road Trip: On Location With the Cast and Crew” showcase various landmarks and production locales.

“Is My Cell Phone Spying on Me?” tells viewers about how electronic networks are all connected. “Shall We Play a Game?” compares the movie to WarGames.

Finally, you also get a gag reel, a photo gallery, and a theatrical trailer.

Eagle Eye Two-Disc Special Edition (D.J. Caruso, 2008)

Region 1 Paramount (USA)
NTSC, 2.35:1 16x9 enhanced
117 minutes
Audio: DD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, French, Spanish
Extras: deleted scenes; Asymmetrical Warfare: The Making of Eagle Eye; Eagle Eye on Location: Washington, D.C.; Is My Cell Phone Spying on Me?; Shall We Play a Game?; Road Trip: On Location With the Cast and Crew; gag reel; photo gallery; trailer; previews for other movies

Released: 28 December 2008
slim double keepcase

Disturbia was a surprise hit (even though it was little more than a loud update of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window), so director D.J. Caruso, executive producer Steven Spielberg, and actor Shia LaBeouf re-teamed for another Hitchcockian thriller. This one, dubbed Eagle Eye, follows the spy-thriller formula in lock-step fashion, from the “Wrong Man” (two “Wrong Men” if you count the hero’s identical twin) to the “double pursuit” (both the authorities and the villain are looking for the “Wrong Man”), from having the hero meet up with a woman while being chased to an ending shot that implies that the mis-matched pair will end up happily ever after. There’s nothing wrong with using a formula, but some attempt at introducing twists and innovations would’ve been welcome considering how familiar even casual movie viewers are with spy thrillers’ tropes.

As it is, Eagle Eye gets off to an efficient, exciting start. The hero is given instructions via mobile phones, which seem to be able to find him no matter where he is. In one effective sequence, the hero attempts to escape the villain’s grasp by jumping from one metro line to another. However, the villain simply reverses the metro’s trajectory and sends the hero where he was supposed to go in the first place. When the hero refuses to get off the metro, the villain calls all the other passengers’ mobile phones, telling them that the hero is a terrorist who needs to be apprehended.

People usually cite the movie’s preposterousness as its main weakness. I, on the other hand, accepted all of the hardware/action stuff. What really killed the movie for me were the human characters’ stupidity and the inconsistent way that the villain behaves. Once they discover who the villain is, the humans continued to discuss their plans where villain could see and hear them. Of course the villain is going to thwart them! However, there are times when the villain lets the humans carry out their plans, such as not shutting down elevators that lead to the villain’s room. These lapses ruin the movie’s credibility.

At least the movie runs for a relatively brisk 117 minutes, which is a huge relief when overblown action movies tend to stretch beyond the 2.5-hour mark these days. The cutting is also less frantic than what you get with many movies these days, so you probably won’t get a headache.

Video:
As far as SD DVDs go, you get a fairly sharp 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen picture. The image exhibits a cold, blue, metallic sheen, which is evident even when there’s some blood on Billy Bob Thornton’s shirt (you get a dull rust instead of the usual bright red). Unfortunately, after getting used to Blu-ray and 1080p video transfers, you end up feeling that SD DVDs tend to be muddy and indistinct, even when they sport high-bitrate transfers.

Audio:
Here’s another DD 5.1 English mix that’s pumped with excessive bass. I don’t understand why sound engineers feel the need to bury a mix with low-frequency effects, which forces viewers to fiddle constantly with volume controls or to find ways to minimize a subwoofer’s impact (such as shutting down the subwoofer or watching the movie with a TV’s speakers). The rest of the mix is very dynamic, with wide separation across all channels and plenty of directional effects. The audio pans adeptly mirror changes in object locations as the free-roaming camera shifts perspectives.

Extras:
--Disc 1--
Upon loading, the disc plays previews for other movies.

There are some deleted scenes, which are of passing interest.

“Road Trip: On Location With the Cast and Crew” showcases various production locales.

--Disc 2--
“Asymmetrical Warfare: The Making of Eagle Eye” is the usual superficial overview of a production. “Eagle Eye on Location: Washington, D.C.” is self-explanatory.

“Is My Cell Phone Spying on Me?” tells viewers about how electronic networks are all connected. “Shall We Play a Game?” compares the movie to WarGames.

Finally, you also get a gag reel, a photo gallery, and a theatrical trailer.

--Miscellaneous--
You also get a cardboard slipcover.

There’s a separate single-disc widescreen edition, which is basically the same disc as Disc 1.

The Truman Show Blu-ray Disc (Peter Weir, 1998)

Paramount (USA)
1.78:1 1080p
102 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Extras: How’s It Going to End? The Making of The Truman Show Parts I and II; Faux Finishing: The Visual Effects of The Truman Show; deleted scenes; photo gallery; TV spots; trailers

Released: 30 December 2008
Blu-ray case

As with other movies written by Andrew Niccol (such as Gattaca, Lord of War, and Simone), The Truman Show is filled with intriguing ideas and reveals how forward-thinking Niccol is. A couple of years before Survivor and other “reality” shows blanketed television programming, The Truman Show envisioned that Americans would be caught up in watching the normal, everyday activities of real people. In a very odd way, we’d all become voyeurs and security personnel. What drives us to look at other ordinary lives? Are we secretly hoping that some calamity befalls the observed so that we can feel better about ourselves in comparison? Are we in so much pain that looking at ordinariness comforts us?

Unfortunately, The Truman Show doesn’t tackle moral and ethical issues with sufficient depth or ambition. Beyond the fact that the show simply would not exist due to civil-rights concerns (Truman Burbank is a prisoner, even if he doesn’t know it), it appears that none of the female actresses have qualms about pretending to fall in love with Truman. In essence, they’re prostitutes because they’re paid to have sex with Truman. This is different from usual acting, where the performers are only pretending to have sex. Also, are humans really all callous and obtuse enough to set aside any consideration of Truman’s moral stature as a human being? This is where the movie fails, big time--everyone is a villain except for Truman and a lone woman crusader, so the movie plays like a falsely romantic parable about one man’s struggle against the whole world. Nothing’s ever that simple.

By the way, I wonder if the movie’s rights owners have been paying royalties to the folks who wrote the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky”?

Video:
As with Coach Carter and Days of Thunder, The Truman Show arrives on Blu-ray with an excellent video transfer even though it’s now ten-years-old. The palette is as brightly candy-colored as I remember from my movie-theatre days (I was working in a movie theatre at the time of the movie’s release). The 1.78:1 1080p picture has the same weakness as the other Paramount catalog titles, though--without benefit of a full restoration/clean-up, you get a lot of nicks, specks, dots, etc.

Audio:
The Truman Show is mostly a dialogue-driven enterprise, though the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English provides surprising lift to the music score by Burkhard Dallwitz. The opening piano cues float gently into your viewing area and hang in the air. Stereo separation is quite wide but feels naturalistic (despite the fact that the movie takes place mostly in a huge set and TV control rooms). The sea storm towards the end of the movie provides a surprising amount of low-end kick, as does Dallwitz’s hard percussive cues during tense passages.

Extras:
“How’s It Going to End? The Making of The Truman Show Parts I and II” and “Faux Finishing: The Visual Effects of The Truman Show” are standard-issue featurettes that cover various aspects of the production and offer the usual “Everyone was great, and I had a great time!” interviews.

There are four so-so deleted scenes and a photo gallery.

Finally, there are two TV spots and two theatrical trailers.

Over the years, there’ve been reports of additional footage of the actors “in character” talking about being on the show with Truman Burbank as well as rehearsal footage of the real-life actors talking about their characters’ motivations. This material is still MIA.

Days of Thunder Blu-ray Disc (Tony Scott, 1990)

Paramount (USA)
2.35:1 1080p
107 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Extras: trailer

Released: 30 December 2008
Blu-ray case

Obviously, it’s beyond worth stating that Days of Thunder is a re-make of Top Gun, but watching the movie from beginning to end for the first time ever for this Blu-ray review (I saw snippets on TV while I was still in high school), I was surprised by how a good writer and a good cast can elevate even a derivative premise. There are numerous similarities between Days of Thunder and Top Gun, but writer Robert Towne captured the nuances of Southern “big boys”, from the sleazy charm to the aw’ shucks nobility. It helps that Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, and Michael Rooker deliver their lines with conviction. Tom Cruise is his usual intense, energetic self, though it is sometimes shocking to realize that even the biggest star of the 1990s is as susceptible to aging as the rest of us.

Video:
As with other Paramount catalog titles, Days of Thunder looks fantastic on Blu-ray. The 2.35:1 1080p video transfer sports realistically vivid and gaudy colors (this is NASCAR, after all). Fine object detail is also excellent; you can differentiate the separate items in Nicole Kidman’s all-white costumes, which look like full-body casts on DVD. The only downside is the obvious lack of a full restoration as there are several nicks, specks, and white dots.

Audio:
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English track compares favorably with recent multi-channel mixes, though thankfully, bass levels are not oppressive (as with The Dark Knight). Dialogue is never buried, which is key for a movie with a lot of actors using Southern accents; the accents give the movie a lot of its flavor. There are plenty of gee-whiz zooms and pans from speaker to speaker, though as with most movies made prior to 2000, Days of Thunder doesn’t utilize the rear channels to memorable extent.

Extras:
The only extra is a theatrical trailer.

The Women Blu-ray Disc (Diane English, 2008)

Warner (USA)
1.85:1 1080p
114 minutes
Audio: DD 5.1 English
Subtitles: Optional English SDH
Extras: The Women: The Legacy; The Women Behind The Women; additional scenes

Released: 21 December 2008
Blu-ray case

Diane English labored on her re-make of 1939’s The Women for several years. The project finally moved into production phases in 2007 and 2008, though Picturehouse, a now-defunct subsidiary of Warner Bros., planned on a small release. However, Sex and the City: The Movie was a monster hit this summer, so Warner went with a wide general release even as it was shutting down Picturehouse. Unfortunately for Warner, lightning didn’t strike twice. The audiences who bought out entire showings of Sex and the City didn’t do the same for The Women.

Sex and the City had the benefit of having built up a huge audience during its TV run, though honestly, neither movie is better or worse than the other. Both movies feature self-absorbed women who obsess over materialistic comforts. Everyone is snarky and filled with hate. It’s no surprise that people in these social circles have affairs; they’re desperate to find a real human connection somewhere.

There are two real moments in this movie. Candice Bergen tells Meg Ryan that she shouldn’t tell her friends about her predicament. Otherwise, your friends start feeling bad about themselves, and you have to take care of them even though you’re the one with problems. The other real moment is when a salesclerk tells Meg Ryan that a socialite’s life is filled with self-deceiving moments such as hosting charitable luncheons attended by people who don’t really care about charity.

It’s unfortunate that the best American movies about women are frequently about young girls (like this year’s excellent Kit Kittredge), but when women infantilize women and when women in influential social positions don’t do anything useful for society, I guess we get the movies that we deserve.

Video:
The 1.85:1 1080p image looks like a recent theatrical release. Colors are strong and vibrant, and detail is fairly high. However, there is some edge enhancement and haloing, which is prevalent amongst Warner titles.

Audio:
The DD 5.1 English track is competent but undistinguished. There is some attempt at stereo separation when vehicles zoom from one side to the other. The rears and the subwoofer occasionally show up to the party when music takes over the mix. Otherwise, mostly you just get center-channel dialogue.

Extras:
“The Women: The Legacy” compares the new movie to the 1939 version. Diane English also talks about why and how she made her updates while she worked on the screenplay.

“The Women Behind The Women” follows a young journalist as she observes the production.

Finally, there are two additional scenes.

--Miscellaneous--
Unlike other recent Warner Blu-rays (and the concurrent DVD release), you don’t get a Digital Copy. However, you do get a cardboard slipcover.

The Women (Diane English, 2008)

Region 1 Warner (USA)
NTSC, 1.85:1 16x9 enhanced and 1.33:1 Pan-and-Scan
114 minutes
Audio: DD 5.1 English
Subtitles: Optional English SDH, Spanish
Extras: The Women: The Legacy; The Women Behind The Women; additional scenes; Digital Copy

Released: 21 December 2008
keepcase

Diane English labored on her re-make of 1939’s The Women for several years. The project finally moved into production phases in 2007 and 2008, though Picturehouse, a now-defunct subsidiary of Warner Bros., planned on a small release. However, Sex and the City: The Movie was a monster hit this summer, so Warner went with a wide general release even as it was shutting down Picturehouse. Unfortunately for Warner, lightning didn’t strike twice. The audiences who bought out entire showings of Sex and the City didn’t do the same for The Women.

Sex and the City had the benefit of having built up a huge audience during its TV run, though honestly, neither movie is better or worse than the other. Both movies feature self-absorbed women who obsess over materialistic comforts. Everyone is snarky and filled with hate. It’s no surprise that people in these social circles have affairs; they’re desperate to find a real human connection somewhere.

There are two real moments in this movie. Candice Bergen tells Meg Ryan that she shouldn’t tell her friends about her predicament. Otherwise, your friends start feeling bad about themselves, and you have to take care of them even though you’re the one with problems. The other real moment is when a salesclerk tells Meg Ryan that a socialite’s life is filled with self-deceiving moments such as hosting charitable luncheons attended by people who don’t really care about charity.

It’s unfortunate that the best American movies about women are frequently about young girls (like this year’s excellent Kit Kittredge), but when women infantilize women and when women in influential social positions don’t do anything useful for society, I guess we get the movies that we deserve.

Video:
The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen image looks like a recent theatrical release. Colors are strong and vibrant, and detail is fairly high. However, there is some edge enhancement and haloing, which is prevalent amongst Warner titles.

You also get a 1.33:1 Pan-and-Scan transfer on the back side of the DVD.

Audio:
The DD 5.1 English track is competent but undistinguished. There is some attempt at stereo separation when vehicles zoom from one side to the other. The rears and the subwoofer occasionally show up to the party when music takes over the mix. Otherwise, mostly you just get center-channel dialogue.

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

“The Women: The Legacy” compares the new movie to the 1939 version. Diane English also talks about why and how she made her updates while she worked on the screenplay.

“The Women Behind The Women” follows a young journalist as she observes the production.

Finally, there are two additional scenes.

--Miscellaneous--
You also get a Digital Copy.

Ghost Blu-ray Disc (Jerry Zucker, 1990)

Paramount (1990)
1.85:1 1080p
126 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Extras: audio commentary by Jerry Zucker and Bruce Joel Rubin; Ghost Stories: The Making of a Classic; Inside the Paranormal; Alchemy of a Love Scene; Cinema’s Great Romances; Photo Gallery; theatrical trailer

Released: 30 December 2008
Blu-ray case

Ghost was a huge commercial success, and Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore were never more popular. Whoopi Goldberg won an Oscar for making a hysterical (as in hysterics, not laughter) display of herself. Every time that I watch this movie, I wonder why the moviemakers never showed shots of Whoopi hugging and making out with Demi. After all, that is what literally happens when the spirit of Patrick Swayze’s character inhabits Whoopi Goldberg’s character in order to interact with Demi Moore’s character. As with most crowd-pleasing love stories, Ghost is schmaltzy pap that tries to avoid offending viewers. In the process, the movie offends because it does nothing to encourage its audience to change and grow.

Video:
The 1.85:1 1080p picture exhibits a few specks and minor scratches but is otherwise clean and clear. The image exhibits a softness (perhaps “glow”) that is expected with big-studio love stories. There is some edge enhancement, and flesh tones are a bit red.

Audio:
Despite Whoopi Goldberg’s frantic flailings, the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English track is generally front-center-channel heavy, though the music sounds warm and vibrant.

Extras:
First up is an audio commentary by director Jerry Zucker and writer Bruce Joel Rubin. Ghost is a professional highpoint for both men (Rubin won an Oscar for Original Screenplay), so their comments are mostly fond recollections of a great time in their lives.

“Ghost Stories: The Making of a Classic” is a retrospective featurette with vintage on-the-set video footage of rehearsals and downtime as well as interviews that were shot recently. “Inside the Paranormal” offers interviews with psychics and “mediums”. “Alchemy of a Love Scene” focuses on Swayze and Moore fooling around with wet clay.

“Cinema’s Great Romances” uses the American Film Institute’s “100 Great Movies” promotional campaign to advertise other love stories from Paramount. Finally, you get a photo gallery and the theatrical trailer.

Last Holiday Blu-ray Disc (Wayne Wang, 2006)

Paramount (USA)
2.35:1 1080p
111 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Extras: Last Holiday: Packing Light; Last Holiday: Last Look; Last Holiday: 23 Years in the Making; deleted scenes; trailer

Released: 30 December 2008
Blu-ray case

Wayne Wang was once known as an important member of the American independent cinema movement. He began his movie career by making low-budget but perceptive motion pictures about immigrant Chinese-American life. He also developed a reputation for being adept at handling women’s stories and themes, which helped him land the director’s chair for The Joy Luck Club.

Unfortunately, Wang seems to have lost interest in examining Chinese-American concerns, though he’s still hired to make big-studio “chick flicks” like Anywhere But Here, Maid in Manhattan, and Because of Winn-Dixie. This phase of Wang’s career is particularly depressing because he also seems to have lost interest in caring at all about his legacy. Up until 1997, when Hong Kong (his birthplace) was returned by the British to China, Wang nurtured a political voice that commented on several important issues, including race, class, and identity. After 1997, he’s made safe, middle-of-the-road pap that is offensive precisely because it is inoffensive.

Wayne Wang’s Great First Phase:
Chan Is Missing (1982)
Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart (1985)
Slam Dance (1987)
Eat a Bowl of Tea (1989)
Life is Cheap...But Toilet Paper Is Expensive (1989)
The Joy Luck Club (1993)
Smoke (1995)
Blue in the Face (1995)
Chinese Box (1997)

Wayne Wang’s Not-So-Great Second Phase:
Anywhere But Here (1999)
The Center of the World (2001)
Maid in Manhattan (2002)
Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)
Last Holiday (2006)

I’m open to the idea that Wang is now directing commercial projects in order to provide for his family as well as to secure comfort during his later years in life. However, his contemporary Ang Lee has continued to make interesting and relevant movies even when working on high-profile projects. Moreover, Wang’s about-face is all the more dispiriting because he once made movies that are edgier and more daring than Lee’s.

Last Holiday is a re-make of a 1950 movie with the same title. In the 1950 version, a man finds out that he has a few weeks to live, so he takes all of a his money and goes on a wild vacation. He finds out that he’s not going to die, but the movie ends with the guy getting hit and killed by a bus. The 2006 version ends with the main character getting married and living happily ever after. This change de-fangs the original’s edge. Ironically, the 2006 version, which was made in a time filled with cynicism, goes easy on the audience and does little to challenge our conceptions about how to live life.

Queen Latifah plays Georgia Byrd, a salesclerk in a department store. She and a salesclerk played by LL Cool J are too shy to express their mutual attraction, so their relationship consists of awkward conversations. A CAT scan reveals that Georgia will die in three or four weeks. Therefore, she decides to blow all of her money on a vacation to the Czech Republic. While there, she teaches politicians, a hyper-competitive entrepreneur, a young mistress, and an old maid the real meaning of life. Gerard Depardieu is wasted in a cameo as a French cook.

Queen Latifah is an enjoyable screen presence. Her joy is infectious. Unfortunately, this movie is a wash-out. The “funny” scenes are not funny, and every time there was a didactic lesson, I wanted to barf. This is exactly the kind of mainstream, obvious story that Wayne Wang successfully avoided making prior to The Joy Luck Club, his first studio production. The Joy Luck Club was an excellent movie, but something gives me the feeling that that effort gave Wang a taste of what it’s like to operate with the safety net of a big studio watching your back all the time. However, safe is safe, and when a big studio spends a lot of money on a movie, it neuters a script in order to make it safe for as many money-paying people as possible.

I dunno about you, but I want to be challenged, not coddled.

Video:
The 2.35:1 1080p transfer is a smooth, clean affair. On the other hand, some shots are rather soft. The movie also has several effects shots that look terrible.

Audio:
With the exception of two scenes with a church choir, the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English track is a front-heavy affair. The dialogue comes through well without being drowned out by music or effects. In general, the sound design is not a flashy or noteworthy affair.

Extras:
“Last Holiday: Packing Light” is a general overview of the production. There are a lot of enthusiastic comments about working with Wayne Wang, which is curious for a movie that has very little of Wang’s imprint on it.

“Last Holiday: Last Look” covers the production design, the costume design, and the cinematography.

“Last Holiday: 23 Years in the Making” discusses the movie’s development process beginning in the 1980s.

Finally, you get two deleted scenes and the theatrical trailer.

--Miscellaneous--
The DVD versions also had two recipes, which aren’t on the Blu-ray edition as far as I could tell.

Event Horizon Blu-ray Disc (Paul W.S. Anderson, 1997)

Paramount (USA)
2.35:1 1080p
95 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Extras: audio commentary by Paul W.S. Anderson and Jeremy Bolt; The Making of Event Horizon; The Point of No Return; Secrets; The Unseen Event Horizon; trailers

Released: 30 December 2008
Blu-ray case

Paul W.S. Anderson used to be known simply as Paul Anderson. However, Paul Thomas Anderson, the director of Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love, became (in)famous around the same time as Paul Anderson did. Therefore, Paul Anderson added the W.S. to his name to distinguish himself from the other guy. Both Paul Andersons make bad movies. P.T.A. creates a pretentious dreck. P.W.S.A. makes dreck, period.

Before there was Uwe Boll, there was P.W.S.A. Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, and AVP were all based on videogames. P.W.S.A. wrote and produced Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which was also based on videogames. Soldier is basically a videogame in and of itself. I actually have nothing against basing movies on videogames. The problem is that movies that are videogame adaptations tend to be bad, which gives the genre a bad reputation. Before 2000’s Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, P.W.S.A. made the best movie based on a videogame--Mortal Kombat, which had a decent story and well-shot fights.

The other significant entry in P.W.S.A.’s oeuvre is Event Horizon, which is basically his “art-house” movie. Using a simple story, the movie is basically a series of vignettes with characters experiencing terror, melancholy, anxiety, and frustration before dying. Unfortunately, despite the fact that P.W.S.A. seems to be well-versed in the history of disturbing imagery, there’s little that is artful in his movie.

In Event Horizon, a space crew is sent to retrieve the Event Horizon, a huge deep-space vessel that was missing for seven years. The Event Horizon literally opened a portal to Hell and was there for seven years. Now that the Event Horizon is back in our reality, Hell has come to our universe. Apparently, Hell is filled with burning people, people wrapped in wires, and people covered in blood and maggots.

Usually, in horror movies, dumb people split up and get killed off one by one. Event Horizon offers a twist. The characters are rational military and scientific types. Therefore, they split up because they’re smart. This doesn’t change things much, though--everyone still sees bloody, gruesome sights, and everyone still dies bloody, gruesome deaths.

The dialogue is comprised of characters stating the obvious and yelling profanity at each other. There’s also an inappropriate crowd-pleasing moment. One of the characters is blown into space by an explosion. In order to get back to the Event Horizon, he blows his air tanks and screams, “Here I come, motherfuckers!” I’m sure that this elicits cheers, laughs, and applause from viewers. Unfortunately, when you purge your oxygen in space, you basically commit suicide. Therefore, people are cheering, laughing at, and applauding suicide when they enjoy this crowd-pleasing gesture.

Event Horizon is nothing more than a splatter fest. On the other hand, it’s not a wipe-out like Soldier, Resident Evil, and AVP: Alien Vs. Predator. I guess when you start your career Mortal Kombat, you have nowhere to go but downhill.

Video:
The 2.35:1 1080p image is a very sharp transfer that nicely exhibits the strong, dark tones of the visual scheme. However, there are some white specks, there are some Vaseline blobs, and some of the CGI looks terrible.

Audio:
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English track is boomy, moody, and atmospheric, appropriately reflecting the movie’s overall grimness. The surrounds and the subwoofer channel are very active, though dialogue remains understandable throughout the entire running time.

Extras:
There’s an audio commentary by director Paul W.S. Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt. This is an “important” movie for P.W.S.A. and Jeremy Bolt’s careers. Therefore, they share a lot of fond memories as well as details about the production. However, the commentators talk as if they made a good movie, which reduces the value of the audio commentary since the speakers don’t realize what they’re saying.

In “The Making of Event Horizon, you’ll find five featurettes that cover the production. These featurettes are “Into the Jaws of Darkness”, “The Body of the Best”, “Liberate Tutume Ex Infernis”, “The Scale to Hell”, and “The Womb of Fear”. P.W.S.A. and Jeremy Bolt are the primary participants and speak frankly about their production woes, especially in “The Womb of Fear”. P.W.S.A.’s comments reveal a lot about why Event Horizon wound up being a shade over ninety minutes instead of being a two-hour work. “The Womb of Fear” includes clips from incomplete deleted scenes.

In “The Point of No Return”, you’ll find four featurettes that offer behind-the-scenes video footage of the actors and the crew shooting the movie. These are narrated by P.W.S.A.

In “Secrets”, you’ll find three deleted scenes with optional audio commentary by P.W.S.A.

In “The Unseen Event Horizon, you’ll find a deleted scene in storyboard form as well as conceptual artwork. P.W.S.A. also narrates these two featurettes.

Finally, you get the movie’s theatrical trailer as well as a video trailer.

Coach Carter Blu-ray Disc (Thomas Carter, 2005)

Paramount (USA)
2.40:1 1080p
136 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Extras: Coach Carter: The Man Behind the Movie; Fast Break at Richmond High; six deleted scenes; “Hope” music Video; Writing Coach Carter: The Two Man Game; Coach Carter: Making the Cut; theatrical trailer

Released: 16 December 2008
Blu-ray case

I popped Coach Carter into my Blu-ray player expecting “same ol’, same ol’”. After Remember the Titans and Glory Road, I haven’t felt the need to watch yet another American sports drama about improbable winners. I respect the arduous journeys undertaken by athletes, especially those with hard-life backgrounds. I’m lucky that I haven’t had to face live-or-die situations on a daily basis, and I count my blessings. However, down-on-their-luck sports dramas tend to follow the same trajectories, with young men consumed by infighting, self-doubt, and social loathing turned into grit and determination by a father-figure coach who provides the parenting that his kids never got at home. These stories mostly end with Cinderella moments. After all, as Roger Ebert once observed, not many people would go see a movie about a team that lost.

Coach Carter is headlined by an in-control Samuel L. Jackson, who is very authoritative when he isn’t bug-eyed, loud, or just plain awful (see Die Hard With a Vengeance and the Star Wars prequels). Jackson plays Ken Carter, a man who sells sports equipment in Richmond, California. Richmond is in one of the state’s worst school districts, but since Carter attended Richmond High and wants to help his neighborhood, he takes a job as the basketball coach. He signs a contract with the players, which states that they must attend all of their classes, sit in the front rows of their classes, obtain 2.3 GPAs, wear ties and sports coats on game days, and improve their conditioning instead of focusing on being ball hogs.

When some of the players see their GPAs dip below 2.3, Coach Carter locks the gym and benches his entire team. The players’ parents are upset, and the teachers are surprisingly unhelpful because they resent having to write progress reports for a basketball coach. Coach Carter, knowing the odds that young black men are more likely to go to prison or be killed than to lead long, productive lives, resigns in despair. However, the players, having learned a measure of self-respect, decide to finish what they and their coach started. They raise their grades to Coach Carter’s satisfaction, and some of them attend college. Oh, yeah--they’re invited to the state finals, but they lose in the first round to a tough opponent.

I think that the story in Coach Carter is different from many other sports dramas due to the fact that, in some ways, crushing poverty is even more of an oppressive weight than racial tensions. Remember the Titans and Glory Road focused on racial tensions, which can be buried through strength of will for pragmatic reasons (you gotta get over your prejudices in order to win). Also, you can legislate behavior, such as enforcing integration and making hate speech illegal. On the other hand, with crushing poverty, sometimes, no amount of will can get you out of your misery. Even though you can give financial handouts, there is only a limited amount of money to be disbursed. The characters in Coach Carter are all looking at dead ends, which makes Ken Carter’s leadership very inspiring (and relevant to today’s problems).

The movie is a tad long due to similar situations being repeated over and over again, but the compelling performances will maintain your interest.

Video:
Usually, catalog titles don’t look as good as recent theatrical releases, but Coach Carter boasts an impressive 2.40:1 1080p video transfer. The picture is very clear and sharp. Although there is some grain during expected moments (due to tricky lighting conditions and the film stocks that were used), grain and noise are not distracting. The rich yellows and oranges of the movie’s California locales are the primary beneficiaries of the video technicians’ care. The only downside I noticed was sporadic speckling (white dots on the source print from time to time). Given this movie and Brian DePalma’s The Untouchables, it’s apparent that Paramount knows how to present its catalog titles in HD.

Audio:
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English track efficiently and competently performs front-loaded duties. The center channel dominates due to the talk-heavy nature of the story, leaving the front mains and surround speakers to provide lift during the rowdy basketball games. The subwoofer thumps its way into the room for some passages (such as a school dance and a house party) with hip-hop music.

Extras:
“Coach Carter: The Man Behind the Movie” is a tribute to the reach Ken Carter, and you get interviews with the eponymous hero as well as his friends, relatives, and students.

“Fast Break at Richmond High” examines the basketball choreography, which was based on Coach Carter’s game plans.

There are six deleted scenes, which were trimmed for the right reasons. However, one deleted, which takes place at a rich kid’s party, does a good job of highlighting the discrepancies between the “haves” (who can go to good colleges with poor grades but influential connections) and the “have nots” (who might even go to college even with brains and good grades).

There’s the “Hope” music video by Twista featuring Faith Evans.

“Writing Coach Carter: The Two Man Game” focuses on the script-development process, and “Coach Carter: Making the Cut” is a general overview of the production.

Finally, you get the theatrical trailer.

Into the Wild Blu-ray Disc (Sean Penn, 2007)

Paramount (USA)
2.40:1 1080p
148 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Extras: The Story, The Characters; The Experience; trailer

Released: 16 December 2008
Blu-ray case
17 chapters

Sean Penn takes things--life in general and himself--quite seriously. After Chris Rock poked fun at Jude Law’s not-quite-superstar status at the Oscars one year, Penn took the stage to present an award. He began by talking about how great Jude Law is, and he actually looked and sounded indignant.

It’s no surprise, then, that Penn has carved out a second career as a director of movies filled with emotional trauma. There’s nothing wrong with dramatic material, but Penn’s approach is so self-serious, ponderous, and occasionally over-blown that whatever genuine pain a scene may have is almost lost due to Penn veering into parody territory. He doesn’t mean for his movies to be parodies, of course, but when a storyteller insists that every development is a VERY IMPORTANT MOMENT, there is no sense of the relative that one feels when assessing differing situations.

Penn’s latest VERY IMPORTANT MOVIE is Into the Wild, an adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s book about a man who abandons civilization after he graduates from college. Christopher McCandless is a bright youth who seems to have a promising future, but he reacts in an extreme manner against familial dysfunctionalism and materialistic capitalism. He treks into the Alaskan wilderness, where he spends many months by himself before dying of starvation. His body was found by hunters.

McCandless was neither the first nor the last person to be hurt by family arguments, and he was neither the first nor the last person to be disgusted by the American economic culture. Yet, he chose to behave in a way that seems aggressively anti-social and unproductive. While the movie doesn’t shy away from showing the failure of McCandless’s life choice, it doesn’t make enough of an effort to show how much of a tragedy his death was for his family and friends. As Into the Wild focuses narrowly on the protagonist’s travails, the movie ultimately romanticizes someone who really didn’t have a point to make.

Video:
The movie boasts frequently breathtaking outdoors cinematography, and as the movie doesn’t have to share disc space with a lot of other programs, the 2.40:1 1080p video image is frequently eye-opening. It appears that Paramount has created large video file with extremely high bit-rates, and these choices give the image a stability that isn’t seen with Warner’s low-bitrate VC-1 encodes (particularly with long movies encoded on BD-25 discs, such as the three-hour The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford). You don’t see any shimmering, moiré effects, edge-enhancement halos, etc. The golden hues of sunrises/sunsets and massive wheat fields are intensely luminous, and the wilderness photography is as sharp and detailed as what we’re used to seeing with documentaries from National Geographic and the BBC.

Audio:
The soundtrack is driven primarily by dialogue and monologues, though the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English mix also devotes quite a bit of energy to Eddie Vedder’s singing. Stereo separation is very wide across the front, and the rears as well as the subwoofer spring to fierce action during scenes with rapid-flowing rivers.

You can also watch the movie with a deflated DD 5.1 English track as well as DD 5.1 French and DD 5.1 Spanish dubs. Optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, and Portuguese subtitles support the audio.

Extras:
You get two glossy, superficial featurettes, “The Story, the Characters” and “The Experience”, that are mainly comprised of talking-heads interviews and lots of film clips.

You also get the movie’s theatrical trailer.

The Heartbreak Kid Blu-ray Disc (Peter & Bobby Farrelly, 2007)

Paramount (USA)
2.35:1 1080p
115 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Extras: audio commentary by the Farrelly Brothers; deleted scenes; gag reel; The Farrelly Brothers in The French Tradition; Ben & Jerry; Heartbreak Halloween; The Egg Toss; theatrical trailer; Easter Egg

Released: 16 December 2008
Blu-ray case
16 chapters

The Heartbreak Kid was directed by brothers Peter and Bobby Farrelly, re-united with Ben Stiller from the trio’s There’s Something About Mary. Magic did not strike twice. Released in October 2007, The Heartbreak Kid grossed a miserable $36 million and was out on DVD and HD DVD just two months later. The movie mines the same R-rated territory as the Farrelly’s early efforts, but the potty language sounds stale. There’s a visual gag involving pubic hair that is so similar to a gag in Scary Movie that I wonder why the brothers even bothered using it.

The movie is a re-make of 1972’s The Heartbreak Kid, directed by Elaine May and written by playwright Neil Simon. I haven’t seen the original, but every movie deserves a chance to be judged on its own merits.

The good:
1) Ben Stiller is usually a likable guy, and he’s better than any other American comic at playing a person whose pent-up frustrations lead to volcanic eruptions.
2) Michelle Monaghan is a wonderful presence as a sweet girl.

The bad:
1) The dialogue is stunningly un-funny. The two or three times that I laughed took place during the first five minutes of the movie, but even Jerry Stiller (Ben’s real-life dad) isn’t funny using the same epithets for female genitalia over and over and over again.
2) This is supposed to be a comedy, right? Well, how come the best bits involve Ben Stiller and Michelle Monaghan talking and falling in love without any bits of humor?

The ugly:
1) The movie’s misogynistic attitude towards women in general is a major turn-off. Misogyny is neither funny nor acceptable, period, no matter how many tickets the Austin Powers series or Judd Apatow’s screenplays sell.

To be fair, The Heartbreak Kid is about as good/bad as similar movies, but maybe after Knocked Up and Superbad, this movie was simply too much and too late.

Video:
Most of the movie is set in sunny Mexican locales, so the best thing about this movie--indeed, the best thing about this disc--is the 2.35:1 1080p video transfer. Flawless, razor sharp, and crystal clear, the picture made watching this movie feel like being there on vacation with the characters. Dark color hues are deep and rich, which is not always the case with movies that use bright palettes.

Audio:
This disc sports a lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English track. As this is a dialogue-driven movie, the audio is front-loaded and is basically a mono mix with some stereo separation for music. All of the scenes take place during pleasant weather days, so the subwoofer doesn’t even get a chance to boom thunder. There are some surround effects during a wedding and when the main characters tour a Mexican town, but the rear channels are mostly quiet.

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

Extras:
There is a straightforward audio commentary by the Farrelly Brothers. Most of their comments are direct reports are the production history and returning to R-rated material after a couple of PG-13 movies.

The deleted scenes don’t add anything to the movie, and the gag reel is comprised of minor flubs that aren’t funny.

“The Farrelly Brothers in The French Tradition” is basically an interview with the Farrellys (shot separately) about how they got started in movies, their approach to filmmaking, and their (joking) comparison of the movie’s sex jokes to sophisticated French sex humor.

“Ben & Jerry” is a brief tribute to the two Stillers working together.

“Heartbreak Halloween” shows the production team having fun with Halloween costumers. “The Egg Toss” looks at the production team playing a game throughout shooting.

You also get the theatrical trailer.

Finally, there’s an Easter Egg. In the Deleted Scenes menu, highlight the words “Play All”, and press the right-arrow button. This highlights a hidden jellyfish icon that leads to a featurette about Peter Farrelly’s practical jokes.

--Miscellaneous--
It appears that the Blu-ray offers the same modified version as the HD DVD and DVD versions that were released a year ago in December 2007.

Death Proof Blu-ray Disc (Quentin Tarantino, 2007)

Genius Products (USA)
2.35:1 1080p
113 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Italian
Subtitles: Optional English SDH, Spanish
Extras: music selections; Stunts on Wheels: The Legendary Drivers of Death Proof; Introducing Zoe Bell; Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike; Finding Quentin’s Gals; The Uncut Version of “Baby, It’s You” Performed by Mary Elizabeth Winstead; The Guys of Death Proof; Quentin’s Greatest Collaborator: Editor Sally Menke; international trailer; poster gallery; Double Dare trailer; BD-Live

Released: 16 December 2008
Blu-ray case
21 chapters

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez enjoy wallowing in low-brow fare. Watching their movies is like chomping into a Philly cheesesteak with medium rare meat--juicy, tasty, and nasty. That is, of course, the appeal of a Tarantino or Rodriguez flick (and a medium rare cheesesteak). The Terrible Two of American indie cinema teamed up for Grindhouse, a tribute to double bills shown in exploitation houses.

Although Rodriguez’s Planet Terror was shown before Tarantino’s Death Proof, I suggest watching Tarantino’s effort first. It is the better of the pair, and the events in Death Proof “take place before” the events in Planet Terror even though one is a realistic action drama and the other is an outrageous sci-fi extravaganza. If you hate Death Proof, then you’ll abhor Planet Terror. Even if you like Death Proof, you might still abhor Planet Terror, but at least Planet Terror didn’t make you skip out on Death Proof, which has delicious dialogue, a sense of fun, and a palpable feeling of joy in filmmaking.

Video:
The 2.35:1 1080p image varies wildly in quality. The first half of the movie has been beat up and degraded to resemble badly-handled grindhouse film prints. Expect to see a lot of lines, scratches, dirt, and other blemishes. There are a lot of jittery moments and minute jump cuts to simulate bad splices. At 56:10, the film transitions from damaged color to black-and-white. This is when the movie drops the grindhouse look in favor of pristine quality. The black-and-white looks fantastically cool and stylish. At 1:02:34, the film transitions from black-and-white to un-damaged color. I suppose this is because Tarantino wanted to showcase the extended road chase that dominates the second half of the movie.

Audio:
Even though Death Proof was meant to re-create the grindhouse experience, the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English track is very much a contemporary interpretation of grindhouse happenings. As with the video, there are hiccups, drop-outs, hisses, scratches, and plenty of general wear-and-tear during the first half of the movie. However, this is an action movie made in the 21st Century, so expect plenty of zooms and pounding noises assaulting you from every direction. The subwoofer gives a throaty roar whenever a character puts pedal to the metal. This is an aggressive, dynamic mix that doesn’t suffer from the same technological limitations that 1970s’-era grindhouse features did.

You can also watch the movie with a deflated DD 5.1 English track as well as DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish, and DD 5.1 Italian dubs. (Presumably, the Italian dub pays tribute to the director’s love of Italian genre flicks and the zany, hilarious dubbing that was used in spaghetti westerns.) Optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles support the audio.

Extras:
In addition to the usual Scene Selections, this Blu-ray Disc has Music Selections that lets you jump to specific music cues. You can also listen to extended cues for three songs.

“Stunts on Wheels: The Legendary Drivers of Death Proof” shines the light on the people who made the second half of the movie an exciting set piece. “Introducing Zoe Bell” familiarizes viewers with stuntwoman Zoe Bell. In “Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike”, the lead actor enthuses about how much he enjoyed working with Tarantino. “Finding Quentin’s Gals” details Tarantino’s work with the ladies in the cast.

“The Uncut Version of ‘Baby, It’s You’ Performed by Mary Elizabeth Winstead” is exactly what it sounds like. “The Guys of Death Proof” celebrates the character actors whom Tarantino favors when casting for his movies. In “Quentin’s Greatest Collaborator: Editor Sally Menke”, Tarantino talks about how great his editor is. Oddly, Menke doesn’t appear in the featurette. Half of this featurette is an assemblage of bloopers with people saying hello to Menke.

As Death Proof was released as a stand-alone entity outside of the U.S., you get the movie’s international trailer and a gallery of international posters.

There’s also a trailer for Double Dare, which is a documentary about stuntwomen (including Zoe Bell).

Finally, it looks like Genius Products is setting up a BD-Live server for online extras.

--Miscellaneous--
I don’t know who authors software for Genius Products, but the label’s Blu-ray Discs are probably the least user-friendly I’ve encountered. They all have long start-up loading times, the main menu takes forever to load if you’re in the middle of the movie or a featurette, and the font size used for descriptive text is so small that you sometimes have to walk up to your TV to see what the selections are.

Planet Terror Blu-ray Disc (Robert Rodriguez, 2007)

Genius Products (USA)
1.85:1 1080p
105 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 Spanish, DD 5.1 French
Subtitles: Optional English SDH, Spanish
Extras: “Scratch Free” version; audio commentary by director Robert Rodriguez; audience reaction track; 10-Minute Film School; The Badass Babes of Planet Terror; The Guys of Planet Terror; Casting Rebel; Sickos, Bullets, and Explosions: The Stunts of Planet Terror; The Friend, The Doctor, and the Real Estate Agent; international poster gallery; international trailer; BD Live

Released: 16 December 2008
slim double Blu-ray case
30 chapters

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez enjoy wallowing in low-brow fare. Watching their movies is like chomping into a Philly cheesesteak with medium rare meat--juicy, tasty, and nasty. That is, of course, the appeal of a Tarantino or Rodriguez flick (and a medium rare cheesesteak). The Terrible Two of American indie cinema teamed up for Grindhouse, a tribute to double bills shown in exploitation houses.

Although Rodriguez’s Planet Terror was shown before Tarantino’s Death Proof, I suggest watching Tarantino’s effort first. It is the better of the pair, and the events in Death Proof “take place before” the events in Planet Terror even though one is a realistic action drama and the other is an outrageous sci-fi extravaganza. If you hate Death Proof, then you’ll abhor Planet Terror. Even if you like Death Proof, you might still abhor Planet Terror, but at least Planet Terror didn’t make you skip out on Death Proof, which has delicious dialogue, a sense of fun, and a palpable feeling of joy in filmmaking.

Video:
The 1.85:1 1080p image has been beat up and degraded to resemble badly-handled grindhouse film prints. Expect to see a lot of lines, scratches, dirt, and other blemishes. There are a lot of jittery moments and minute jump cuts to simulate bad splices.

Note: The movie was exhibited in 2.35:1 during its theatrical run, but Rodriguez opted for 1.85:1 framing for the movie’s home-video releases.

Audio:
Even though Planet Terror was meant to re-create the grindhouse experience, the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English track is very much a contemporary interpretation of grindhouse happenings. As with the video, there are hiccups, drop-outs, hisses, scratches, and plenty of general wear-and-tear during the first half of the movie. However, this is an action movie made in the 21st Century, so expect plenty of zooms and pounding noises assaulting you from every direction. The subwoofer roars during the numerous explosions. This is an aggressive, dynamic mix that doesn’t suffer from the same technological limitations that 1970s’-era grindhouse features did.

You can also watch the movie with a deflated DD 5.1 English track as well as DD 5.1 Spanish and DD 5.1 French dubs. Optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles support the audio.

Extras:
--Disc 1--
Director Robert Rodriguez contributed an audio commentary. He explains his and Quentin Tarantino’s motivations for making Planet Terror and Death Proof. The best utility of this commentary is Rodriguez pointing out various connections to other movies.

Next up is probably one of the best extras that I’ve experienced in a long while--the audience reaction track. This is an audio recording of an audience watching the movie, and the viewers’ enthusiasm makes for a fun, fun time.

This Blu-ray release has a big treat for fans. You can watch a “Scratch Free” version of the movie. While not entirely free from defacing, the “Scratch Free” version does not have as extensive faux grain and print damage as the “real” version. Alas, the “Scratch Free” version doesn’t have any subtitle options, and the only audio track available is DD 5.1 English (not even the TrueHD track).

--Disc 2--
“10-Minute Film School” shows how the computer effects and film “deterioration” were achieved.

“The Badass Babes of Planet Terror” and “The Guys of Planet Terror” celebrate the main actors. “Casting Rebel” details Rodriguez working with his son Rebel. “Sickos, Bullets, and Explosions: The Stunts of Planet Terror” explores the stunt work. “The Friend, The Doctor, and the Real Estate Agent” is a featurette about Rodriguez casting his real-life associates in the movie.

You also get an international poster gallery and the international trailer.

Finally, it looks like Genius Products is setting up a BD-Live server for online extras.

--Miscellaneous--
I don’t know who authors software for Genius Products, but the label’s Blu-ray Discs are probably the least user-friendly I’ve encountered. They all have long start-up loading times, the main menu takes forever to load if you’re in the middle of the movie or a featurette, and the font size used for descriptive text is so small that you sometimes have to walk up to your TV to see what the selections are.