Valkyrie Blu-Ray Disc review

Posted by Martin:

Video: A-

Audio: A

Extras: A-

Valkyrie
arrived in theaters last December, I guess in hopes of an Oscar nod.  It didn’t seem to get much press, maybe Tom Cruise’s poor public image was still suffering at the time.  It received mixed reviews when it was mentioned in the press.

The Video: A-

This is a solid picture.  The contrast is excellent as it should be, in such a story line where shadows play a prominent part.

The Audio: A

The audio is presented in DTS-HD and it shows a quite impressive LFE channel in the opening scenes in North Africa.  The booming of the explosions was quite clear and very easy to hear their movement along the room.  This is a dialogue driven movie, but it is still very atmospheric.

The Extras: A-

There a several very well done featurrettes on this disc.  But the documentary The Valkyrie Legacy is a superb addition.  Done by Kevin Burns who made the steller Empire of Dreams for the Star Wars DVD set, this documentary makes this a purchase for those viewers that are really into history.  Legacy goes beyond the movie, way beyond.  Where the movie ends at the death of the Tom Cruise’s character, Legacy shows the lasting effects of Stauffenberg’s efforts.  You will feel more of a sense of awe about what these guys did when you watch the documentary as opposed to the movie.  I would even recommend renting this disc and just watching this documentary.

You find other enjoyable featurettes on this disc as well:

• The Journey to Valkyrie
• The Road to Resistance: A Visual Guide (Hosted by the grandson of Stauffenberg)
• The African Front Sequence
• Taking to the Air
• Recreating Berlin
• 92nd Street Y
• You also have two feature length commentaries the first one with Tom Cruise, Bryan Singer, and writer Christopher McQuarrie, and a second one again with Christopher McQuarrie and co-writer Nathan Alexander.

Overall:

This movie may have gotten mixed reviews, this disc itself is very informative about the subject matter.

Other Blu-Ray Disc Reviews

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Slumdog Millionaire Blu-Ray Disc Review

Posted by Martin:

Video: B

Audio: A

Extras: B+

Slumdog Millionaire
took the 2008 Oscars by storm.  It was one of the highest rated movies of 2008.

The video: B

Director Danny Boyle used a mix of film and digital technology when shooting the movie.  Consequently there is a lot of noise in shadow areas in certain scenes.  Zodiac is an example where digital can still look good in the shadows.

But the rest of the movie is done very well.  This is a faithful transfer of the film, and it is a very pretty film to see.  The bright colors of the slums in the opening scenes, to the closing dance scene few movies have a look like this.

Audio: A

Formatted in DTS-Master this is a very lively mix.  There is a lot to hear, especially in the beginning of the film when the characters are speaking Hindi, which adds life to the scene.

The Extras: B+

There are two commentary tracks on this disc.  The first one with Director Danny Boyle and with star Dev Patel, the second track is with producer Christian Colson and Writer Simon Beaufoy.  

I appreciated the track with Boyle and Patel the most, that is where you learn about the types of cameras they used to make the movie, and Patel is very relaxed and amusing making for a very informative and enjoyable track.

There are a lot of deleted scenes or extended scenes interesting by themselves, but they certainly were correct to cut these scenes.

Slumdog Dreams:Danny Boyle and the Making of Slumdog Millionaire is an excellent making of documentary.  It is not the most in depth documentary, it only runs 30 minutes, but this isn't a blatant self promotion video mascarding as a documentary.  You learn a lot about working in the slums and working with the kids in their native Hindi language.

Also included is "The Toilet Scene from Script to Screen" a quick look at a defining opening scene.  Watching the other documentary and listening to the Boyle commentary you will learn more about the scene then what is shown here.

Two music videos and a short film round out the extras.  The short film Manijha is shot in in SD and runs about 40 minutes.  It is a tough movie to see about the results of poverty in India. 

Overall:

This film deserved the praise that it received last year.  It is nothing like any other Oscar winner of recent memory.  Add this disc to your Netflix queue.

Twilight Blu-Ray Review

Posted by Martin:

Video: B+

Audio: A-

Extras: D

Twilight
hit big screen last November under some intense expectations. I was not familiar with the book series before the movie, and it apparently got a mixed review when it came out. You can see the result over at Rottentomatoes.

The Video:

The video is an excellent transfer in MPEG-4 1080P, shown in the theatrical 2:35:1 format. The video is very clear as would have been seen in the theaters, but for me this is not the most visually attractive movie to show off your theater. The colors don’t seem to pop as well as they could, but that probably has more to do with the washed out look the cinematographer was looking for.

The Audio:

The audio is DTS-HD 5.1. I’m still surprised that 7.1 is not used as often, but that is for a different discussion. This is a well done sound stage. The rear channels are used effectively, and the LFE is used as it should be, it is not overdone, but still effective.

The Extras:

The extras on this disc are mediocre, all the feature here can be found on the 2 disc DVD, nothing special for just the Blu-Ray.

There is an audio commentary with Director Katherine Hardwick, Actors Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart the two leads in the movie.

Three music videos are included. Five extended scenes with Director commentary are included, as well as five deleted scenes with director commentary.

The most interesting of the extras is the seven part PiP The Adventure Begins: The Journey from Page to Screen.

On the Blu-Ray the documentary can be seen as a Picture in Picture feature, or can be seen as one documentary on it’s own. The first parts of the documentary is about the Twilight story and phenomenon, not much interesting for those wanting to learn about how the movie was made. The later parts discuss more the day to day aspect of filming. It was interesting to learn how the beach scenes were shot on a day with huge rain, when they were expecting a sunny day.

You do learn that Hardwicke shot a lot of digital video footage in the preproduction process to give the CGI guys an idea of what to expect. I had always thought of pre-visualization as something a Pixar or Star Wars movie does, not a live action film. There was not a lot of explaining the importance of the previsualization for this movie, I’m sure it served a purpose, but we don’t learn what it is here.

Overall:

This movie is for teenage girls, that’s not a bad thing, but know the intended audience. Unfortunately so is the rest of the disc, no real meat here in the film making process.

Other Blu-Ray Reviews:

Dirty Harry

Wall-E