Blu-ray Review: Shall We Dance?

THE MOVIE: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
Shall We Dance stars Richard Gere as John Clark, a middle aged workaholic lawyer whose life has become mundane, from his relationship with his wife played by Susan Sarandon, to his work and the long commute home on the EL from Downtown Chicago to the burbs. On his way home from work one evening, he spots a dancer played by Jennifer Lopez in the window of a dance studio and he gets off the train and walks up to a rather shabby dance studio and enters a ballroom dancing class. As it turns out, John Clark becomes passionate about his dancing yet keeps it a secret from his wife and daughter. In fact, his wife becomes suspicious that he is having an affair when he is actually at the dance lessons. While he is not having an affair, the thought did cross his mind upon working with Jennifer Lopez who does look very alluring in a pair of dance tights. John Clark’s wife hires a private detective who informs her where her husband is going, leading to the climatic scene at a dance contest.

While I did find this film to be enjoyable, it is best described as a chick flick. Shall We Dance? is a perfect film to rent to sit down with your lady and watch on a quiet Saturday night at home. Who knows, it may even get you a little sumthin sumthin after the movie, if you know what I mean. Recommended as a rental.

THE VIDEO: 4 1/3 stars out of 5
Shall We Dance? is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1. On the whole, this is a average looking transfer, good but not great. I found the colors to be a bit too oversaturated with flesh tomes being a bit too red. Black level was good although far from exceptional. Nonetheless, the image did have good depth and detail. Where the transfer comes up a tad short is in the clarity of the image as there is a slight general fuzziness to the image which I found to be a bit distracting. With a sharper clearer image, this would have been at least a 4 1/2 star transfer. As it is, I enjoyed the image. I just wish it would have been a bit better.

THE AUDIO: 4 1/2 stars out of 5
Shall We Dance? is encoded with Uncompressed PCM at 48 kHz/24 bit and is a fine sounding film. As one would expect from a romantic comedy, the film’s sound field is rather front heavy with most of the sound emanating from the front three speakers. As expected, this film does not have bombastic sounding score, not that you would want it to anyway. However, the audio presentation here has excellent fidelity with the music sounding full and rich and open with a wide and deep soundstage which really adds to your listening experience. Dialogue reproduction is excellent as well being clear, distinct and natural sounding and well placed in the mix. Natural room acoustics is well captured as well with the subtleties of the individual voices in the different acoustical environments captured quite well. On the whole, Shall We Dance is a fine sounding film.

IN CONCLUSION
Shall We Dance? is a good choice for a quiet Saturday night at home with a loved one. Recommended as a rental.

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Blu-ray Review: Mrs. Doubtfire

THE MOVIE: 4 1/2 stars out of 5
Mrs. Doubtfire is a wonderful, original and engaging film and presents Robin Williams at his best, doing what he does better than anyone. Robin Williams stars as Daniel Hilliard a voice over actor who has trouble keeping a job and being a responsible parent. His wife, played by Sally Field, gets tired of his antics and seeks a divorce. As an extremely hard working professional woman, she finds that she requires the assistance of a housekeeper to be at home when the three children arrive home from school, cook dinners and clean the house. Daniel volunteers for the job but is turned down. He then decides to seek the job in drag and seeks the assistance of his brother played by Harvey Fierstein who helps turn him into Mrs. Doubtfire, a sweet old English housekeeper and Nanny who sweeps the children and his ex-wife off their feet with her wit and charm, creating a whole new life with his family. Mrs. Doubtfire boasts a wonderful performance by Robin Williams and is a treat for the entire family. Highly recommended.

THE VIDEO: 4 2/5 stars out of 5
Mrs. Doubtfire is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1 on a dual layer 50GB disc. I must say that I was somewhat disappointed with the video presentation here. I found the colors to be a bit muted and washed out with skin tones looking rather pale. Not surprisingly, I found the black level here to be a bit lacking. Overall detail was just average, giving the film a rater soft look which does vary from scene to scene. Some scenes are noticeably softer than others with some looking quite good. However, the issues I had with the color reproduction was consistent throughout the film. Is this is bad looking film? Far from it. It just did not have the vibrant color, clarity and depth that I had been expecting and what one comes to expect from high definition in general.

THE AUDIO: 4 stars out of 5
As is the case with all Fox releases, the high rez audio track here is presented with DTS HD Master Audio. Unfortunately, the audio presentation here is a real mixed bag. On the plus side, the dialogue is clear and distinct and well placed in the mix. Fortunately, all the witty dialogue is easily followed. As one would expect from a comedy, the sound emanates mostly from the front three speakers with spare use of the surrounds. My main complaint with this sound mix is what I would describe as thin sounding audio. The sound here lacks the rich, smooth and full sounding audio found on the better sounding releases. This symptom is really most prominent on the music which sounds rather hard and shrill at times with poor bass response. As a result, I was left cringing during the periods of the film when music was a prominent part of the sound mix. Considering how wonderful the film is, this is a rather minor complaint overall but one I found rather surprising nonetheless.

IN CONCLUSION
While I was a bit disappointed with the video and audio quality of this release, it is nonetheless superior in all respects to the prior release of this film on DVD and well worth a hearty recommendation as a very enjoyable film.

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Blu-ray Review: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the title roles as two outlaws who are always on the outlook for some quick cash, either by robbing trains and banks or some crooked card playing. The film was nominated for 7 Academy Awards in 1969, winning 4, including cinematography, best original song and best screenplay. Recommended as a film but as noted below, I can’t really recommend this release unless you are a real diehard fan of the film, I mean a real diehard.

THE VIDEO: 2 stars out of 5
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is presented here encoded with Mpeg2 in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1. Unfortunately, this release is a real mess. Clearly, the original print used for this release is in need of a major restoration. The print itself appears to be in dubious shape which I am sure leads to the overall poor quality of the image. The release falls way short in just about every factor important in producing a fine high def film image. Black level is poor giving the film a flat and lifeless looking image. The image itself is rather fuzzy looking with poor detail. Colors are washed out and vary from scene to scene and even within a scene. The fact that the video quality can vary so much during a scene is clear evidence to me that the fault here lies with the print. It is hard to believe that a release of this significance would go ahead with a print in so poor a condition. I look forward to the day when the film can be restored and re-released so we can see it how it was intended to be seen in all of its glory.

THE AUDIO: 2 1/2 stars out of 5
Not surprising for a film of its vintage, the audio here is nothing to write home about. The film appears to have been originally released i mono and it shows here even with the DTS HD Master Audio encode. New audio encoding tools can only do so much with dated material. On the positive side, the dialogue is clear and distinct and easy to follow. The rest of the audio lacks any dynamics with the exception of some explosions which show some degree of life. The rest of the audio is rather flat and un-involving. I could live with the audio provided the video was of top notch quality. Unfortunately, it isn’t. far from it.

IN CONCLUSION
Unfortunately, this release of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a real disappointment in terms of audio and video. If you have this film already on DVD, I would pass on this release and wait until the film is remastered and reissued.

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Blu-ray Review: First Sunday

THE MOVIE: 1 1/2 stars out of 5
First Sunday stars Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan as two thieves who can’t seem to keep out of trouble. Despite many second chances from a very forgiving court system, these two guys just can’t seem to get it right. Sentenced to 5,000 hours of community service, they scheme to rob a church to pay off their various debts. Billed as a comedy, First Sunday in this reviewers opinion, violates the first rule of comedy, namely it isn’t funny. I didn’t find it funny or even amusing, not even a little bit. If I were you, I would skip this one.

THE VIDEO: 4 3/4 stars out of 5
While I didn’t like this film at all, it looks wonderful on this Blu-Ray release. Encode with AVC and presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1, First Sunday has excellent color reproduction with a vibrant, clear and very detailed image. Black level is excellent as well, giving the film an nice three dimensional image. Frankly, this film looks way better than it deserves given the quality of the script and acting.

THE AUDIO: 4 1/4 stars out of 5
Encoded with Dolby True HD, the audio here is rather lackluster . On the plus side, the dialogue track is well recorded, clear and distinct and well placed in the mix. This is a double edged sword however. On the positive side, you can hear the dialogue very clearly. On the negative side, you can hear the dialogue very clearly. I guess by now you can tell I didn’t like this film! For the most part, the audio presentation here is generated by the front three channels with spare use of the surrounds. While the overall sound of the film is smooth and open, the bass is not what I would have imagined given the nature of the film and its musical score. The bass simply lacked the weight and heft and thump that I would have expected given the musical score. In fact, I had to check the setting on my processor and sub to see if my kids had been messing with them. Imagine a hip hop track without enough bass. Quite an oversight.

IN CONCLUSION
I am sure that First Sunday will find its audience. However, it was not my cup of tea. It would be my recommendation that you skip this one as there are many more worthy films being released on Blu-Ray for you to spend your hard earned money on.

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Blu-ray Review: A Passage to India

THE MOVIE: 3 stars out of 5
I must confess, I came to view this film with a totally open mind, having never seen it before, either on the big screen or on any home video format. A Passage to India stars many award winning actors, including Peggy Ashcroft who won the Best Actress in a Supporting Role for this film, Judy Davis, Victor Banerjee, James Fox and Sir Alex Guinness. Briefly, Adela Quested (Davis) journeys from England to India with Mrs. Moore (Ashcroft) to see her prospective husband who is the son of Mrs. Moore and a magistrate in a small town. The English in India that they visit are quite rude to the local population and warn both of them not mingle with the local population. However, both wish to meet the locals and venture out and meet a local doctor, Dr. Aziz, who invites them to visit some mysterious caves. It is on a visit to these caves that Ms. Quested has some sort of mysterious experience that lads her to falsely accuse Dr. Aziz of attempting to rape her, resulting is a show trial where Dr. Aziz is the cause celeb and which threatens to unwind the fabric of English rule in India.

Frankly, while A Passage to India was nominated for best picture in 1984, I found it to be a tedious film and very slow to unfold. At 163 minutes, this is one long film, way too long in this reviewers opinion. The film does boast some excellent acting from the entire cast (with the exception of the religious character played by Sir Alex Guinness who I felt was totally miscast in this role), excellent cinematography and a wonderful musical score. However, in the end, the film just didn’t do it for me and is not one that I can recommend that you purchase. I would rate this one as a rental only.

THE VIDEO: 4 1/4 stars out of 5
Encoded with AVC, A Passage to India is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:66:1, meaning that this film should have rather thin black bars on the sides rather than on the top and bottom. Overall, the color on this release is quite good although at times, a bit inconsistent with various colors, including skin tones varying from scene to scene. For the most part, detail is quite good, especially closeups, where the fine textures of the actors’ skin is clearly visible. On the down side, I felt that the black level of the film was below average, robbing the film of the three dimensional image that we have come to expect from high definition transfers. Overall clarity suffered a bit as well as a result of the mediocre black level. On the whole, I would rate the look of this film as mediocre and a bit of a disappointment.

THE AUDIO: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
The audio on this release is presented in Dolby True HD and is nothing to wrote home about. I am sure that, given the sound design of the film that it would have sounded just as good without a lossless track. As one would expect from a film of this type and vintage, the sound field comes mainly from the front three speakers with little use of the surrounds. The surrounds are mainly engaged during the various scenes that occur on trains where the clickitty clack of the trains on the track fill the room and have the appropriate heft that one would expect. On the whole, the dialogue is clear and distinct and well presented in the mix. I must say that I was a bit disappointed with the fidelity of the musical score which lacked the fullness of modern mixes although the imaging and sound staging was quite good. I am sure that this was not the result of the encode but of the sound design itself. The best we can expect from lossless tracks is that they faithfully reproduce the original master, which I am sure was the case here.

IN CONCLUSION
While A Passage to India has some wonderful qualities, it does not have enough of them for me to recommend this release for a purchase. I would rate this release as a rental only.

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Blu-ray Review: The 6th Day

THE MOVIE: 4 stars out of 5
In The 6th Day, Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Adam Gibson, the co-owner of what can best be described as an air limo company that ferries skiers and snow boarders to the local mountain ski areas. The film is set in the near future where cloning of humans has been outlawed. However, unbeknownest to all, a corporation has been set up that actually clones humans and is used to clone Arnold’s character. When Mr. Gibson returns home, he finds that he is already there and he flees a group of assassins who are sent there to kill him. Mr. Gibson races against time to not only save himself, but to save his family who have been kidnapped to draw Adam Gibson into a trap where he can be killed to protect the corporation’s dirty little secret. Filled with numerous little twists, I found The 6th Day to be an excellent sci-fi thriller filled with social commentary concerning genetic engineering and well worth a look. Recommended.

THE VIDEO: 4 3/4 stars out of 5
The 6th Day is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:40:1. How does it look? In a word, excellent. I really enjoyed this transfer which is graced with excellent and very natural color reproduction. The colors are bold and vibrant and perfectly saturated. Skin tones are spot as well. Detail and shadow detail is excellent and is the black level which really gives the image on the screen excellent depth of field resulting in a totally three dimensional image. Clarity is excellent as well although the clarity does suffer just a tad in the night scenes which are just a wee bit softer than the day time and interior shots. All in all, this is an excellent encode which will no doubt thrill fans of the film. I know I sure enjoyed it.

THE AUDIO: 4 3/4 stars out of 5
Encoded with Dolby True HD 5.1, the audio reproduction here is as good as the video. The 6th Day boasts and nice immersive sound field with the surrounds actively engaged throughout the film, placing the viewer right in the middle of the action. Dialogue is crisp, clear and distinct and never gets lost in the mix, even during the action sequences. Bass is deep and tight with gunshots, in this case suped up up tasers, and explosions having the appropriate amount of heft to give your sub and room a nice workout. The overall sound is smooth and open with excellent separation and depth. Crank this one up and enjoy the ride. I sure did.

IN CONCLUSION
The 6th Day is a very original and thought provoking film about science, cloning and genetic engineering with some great action sequences thrown in to boot. The audio and video presentation on this release are both excellent and well worth a look. Recommended.

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Blu-ray Review: Master and Commander

THE MOVIE: 4 1/2 stars out of 5
Set in 1805, Master and Commander stars Russell Crowe as Captain Jack Aubrey, the commander of a warship in the British Royal Navy on the hunt for a French war ship that poses a threat to the Royal Navy. However, the French ship sneaks up on the British ship in a fog bank and causes extensive damage to the ship. The Brits are able to escape and retool and Captain Lucky Jack Aubrey chases the French ship over two oceans to sink her, finally catching up to her in the Galapagos Islands where the climatic battle takes place. Master and Commander is filled with some incredible battle sequences and some very fine acting by the entire cast. Recommended.

THE VIDEO: 4 1/2 stars out of 5
Master and Commander is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:40:1. I have no doubt that this encode will disappoint some fans of the film. The reason for any such disappointment lies not with the encode but with the cinematography of the film. For those of you out there who want their high def films to “pop”, this is not the disc for you as the film has a rather dark and subdued look that is deliberate, to match the mood of the film. The color palette here is very muted and drab and gray. This is especially clear when the ship arrives at the Galapagos. As one who has been lucky enough to have been there recently, I can assure you that the film does not faithfully capture the experience. Again, this is deliberate on the pat of the director and not the fault of the encode. Make no mistake, this encode faithfully reproduces how this film looked in the theater and is heads and tails above the DVD in terms of color accuracy, detail, shadow detail and clarity. While the difference is not as dramatic, this encode is also superior to that on the D-Theater release which I whipped out for a comparison. This is without doubt the best looking release of the film to date and is well worth a purchase by fans of the film.

THE AUDIO: 49/10 stars out of 5
Encoded with DTS HD Master Audio, the audio on this release is reference in every way. The sound field here is totally immersive, bathing the entire room in sound. The sense of space is palpable with every creak and twisting of the wooden ship audible. It really gives you the sense of being in the ship with the crew. The actual battle sequences have to be heard to be believed, from the deep bass of the cannon shots to the sense of projectiles of all kinds whizzing past you, this is as good as it gets. The music reproduction is also top notch, especially the violin and cello pieces which have excellent fidelity with a very open sound with an excellent sound stage that is wide and deep and three dimensional. I am sure that you are beginning to wonder if the sound is so good, why not a perfect score? The reason is that the dialogue during one of the battle sequences is drowned out by the action to the point of inaudibility. But for that very minor and brief instance of inaudibility, the audio on this release deserves a perfect rating.

IN CONCLUSION
Master and Commander is an excellent film and looks its best ever on this Blu-Ray release. This release faithfully reproduces how this film looked in the theater which is all that us home theater enthusiasts can really ask for. Recommended.

Note: Master and Commander will be released on Blu-ray disc on May 13.

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Blu-ray Review: The Chronicles of Narnia

THE MOVIE: 3 stars out of 5
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is based on C.S. Lewis’ literary classic of the same name published in 1950. C.S. Lewis was a close friend of J.R.R. Tolkein and created a series of 7 books from 1950 to 1956 that have themes, settings and characters similar to those found in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In the first book and film, the initial setting is England in World War II. Due to the extensive bombings in and around London, children were relocated to the countryside out of harm’s war. Here, the four Pevensie children, Lucy , Edmond, Susan and Peter, are relocated to a mansion in the English countryside where they come across a magical wardrobe chest which is a portal to the kingdom of Narnia which is inhabited by elves, fauns, giants and talking animals of all sorts and which is controlled by the evil white witch (Tilda Swinton) who has ruled over a winter of 100 years. As foretold by prophecy, The Pevensie siblings join forces with the side of good lead by a former king of Narnia, the lion Aslan, to defeat the White Witch and restore goodness to the kingdom.

I will say that I was somewhat disappointed by the quality of this film. I guess you can say that I have been spoiled by the Lord of the Rings trilogy which tells the tale of good vs. evil in a much more compelling manner. I would describe this film as Lord of the Rings lite. While it is enjoyable in its own right, it simply does not compare in terms of dramatic effect, character development and dialogue with the film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkein’s work. Therefore, I can rate this one as a rental only.

THE VIDEO: 4 7/8 stars out of 5
Encoded with AVC and presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:40:1, this is a wonderful looking film. Don’t judge this encode by the opening few minutes before the discovery of the portal to the kingdom of Narnia which I felt to be rather drab looking, flat and lifeless. Once the action starts in Narnia, the picture becomes much brighter, with bold colors and a beautiful three dimensional image. The color here are incredible although a bit skewed to the color blue giving the parts of the film set in snow a very steely look. Flesh tones are excellent as is the rendition of detail including shadow detail which is excellent. Black level is deep and solid giving the film a very three dimensional look. Once we enter Narnia, this is a five star encode all the way. However, due to the rather lackluster opening 10 minutes of so of the film, I had to drop the overall rating down just a tad. Other than the opening sequences of the film, this is a reference encode.

THE AUDIO: 4 3/4 stars out of 5
Presented in an uncompressed PCM track at 48 kHz/16 bit, this is a wonderful sounding film. The audio fidelity here across the board is excellent with a smooth, open and airy sound with excellent bass response that is deep and tight. Dialogue is clear and distinct and well placed in the mix with the exception of a very brief sequence in the dramatic battle scene near the end of the film where it become difficult to understand the White Witch. There are scenes here which are of reference quality as in the scene with the sled pulled by the reindeer which really thunders though the room. Other than the brief dialogue scene noted above, the only issue I had with the audio was the lack of immersion in parts of the film. In those scenes, the sound field did not completely capture the total acoustical environment in the way I would expect for a perfect 5 star score. Most of those scenes occur in the parts of the film set in the English countryside. Other than those two very minor items, this is a reference audio encode.

IN CONCLUSION
While I was not impressed by the film in general, this release on Blu-Ray boasts wonderful video and audio and is an excellent effort by the folks at Disney/Walden Media and is well worth checking out, albeit as a rental only.

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