Face/off * 1/2

Starring Nicolas Cage and John Travolta

Directed by John Woo

Movie Review **

No extras. No other languages. No subtitles. No sense.

If Polygram can respectably fit 2hrs 20 mins of Sleepers, with 2 5 channel Dolby Digital soundtracks on one side of a DVD, Disney should manage 2hrs 13 of this laughable drivel. If not, then why not use a dual layer disc, as the company did with the US release?

The flip from side one to two happens at around 72 minutes, just after an action sequence (when it is most incongruous). The sound too is fairly naff, with an apparent decreased dynamic range and some spurious scratchy type noises noticeable in quieter sections in the latter half of part one. Whass that all about? At least the picture is fair, and betters the US version for quality on widescreen sets, although is still not up to releases from Warner or Columbia - see the Ransom review for more on this.

As far as foreign moarkets go (us), it seems that Buena Vista are rushing out releases without a single thought put into them. Maybe they hope that buyers will share similar attributes.

Fallen DVD ****

Starring Denzel Washington, John Goodman & Donald Sutherland

Directed by Gregory Hoblit

Movie Review ***

Top notch picture (presented here in the full-on Panavision glory) and atmospheric sound are as of high a standard as we've come to expect from the all-reigning Warner Brothers. The broody dark image transfers to DVD in a way which would have VHS self-spooling back in shame.

The main extra here is a very welcome one - a fine commentary by writer Nicholas Kazan, producer Charles Roven and Director Gregory Hoblit. A good example of how the Hollywood system works, the three seem to have completely contradictory ideas of how the film came about as they banter and argue back and forth. Sadly, none of them could throw enough light on exactly what was going on in the last 10 minutes. And if they can't explain it...

The disc has all the usual welcome Warner extras, although the graphic designer seems to have got a bit carried away with the old "dark" theme, with much of the text borderline illegible. Nevertheless, this is a superb package which will delight all fans of, er, supernatural cop thrillers, I guess...

Fargo DVD ***

Starring: Frances McDormand, William H Macy and Steve Buscemi

Directed by: Joel Coen

Movie review ****

Polygram are one of the first UK studios off the block with region 2 DVD. They have chosen some excellent films to start things off, and thus Fargo is proudly presented here in all its DVD glory.

First the good news. The anamorphic widescreen picture transfer is quite superb, one of, if not the best transfer I have yet seen on DVD. For those familiar only with region 1 offerings, you're in for a treat - none of that nasty judder on pans and what-have-you, an inherent flaw in the US NTSC conversion process in any format. Aided by the cinematography of the legendary Roger Deakins, this disc looks absolutely GORGEOUS. The Coens clearly are in LOVE with film, and are always imaginative with the visuals, and sonics (from Skip Livesey). Fargo is restrained by their standards, but it is still a joy to behold - the sound is clean and unobtrusive. It's not the sort of film where 5.1 digital comes into its own, so you won't miss it too much.

Now the less good news. The menus are pretty tacky and horribly illogical - there's not much to navigate, but it's as confusing as hell doing it! Also the lack of extras will make it a hard sell when you can pick up the VHS for a fiver.

The real bugbear though (ha), is the bugs. On some machines, the picture freezes one second into the movie and won't start again! No such problems on my A100, but as the widescreen version of the film went on, a few glitches did appear - just the odd missing frame at first, where you hardly notice it. But three times near the end (to be precise, 83.58, 87.15 and 91.47 - this last one during the closing credits) the picture and sound lock up altogether for a second. This is a real pity - unless I have a very strangely scratched disc, someone from Polygram needs to keep tabs on the authoring company!

A real mixed blessing, this. On balance, if you like the movie, this is well worth getting because 99% of the time it looks and sounds absolutely wonderful. Picture wise, this is the title to beat. But let's hope these glitches are early problems, and Polygram's other titles settle down soon.

From Dusk till Dawn DVD * 1/2

Starring George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Kietel, Juliette Lewis & Cheech Marin

DIrected by Robert Rodriguez

Movie Review **

Tarantino's revered dialogue always sounds better when it appears to be coming out of the mouth of the person that speaks it. Several times here - most prominently at around the 33 minute mark - the sound slips sync badly, simulating the old "dubbed by Russians" routine. With no projectionist to abuse on DVD, you're just stuck with it.

The soundtrack itself is here only 2 channel surround, despite being made in 5 channel Dolby Digital, but is otherwise effective (the voices in the head trick is just what the format was made for). The picture seems a tad less stable that the other Disney releases - a close up look at the bunting in the opening shot reveals some very weird stuff occurring. The framing too is odd - not all the headless bodies in this movie were intentional, methinks. Presumably it was shot "open matte", with the framing we see on this transfer the same as in the cinema, but it's down to the camera operator to make sure the picture works in both versions. Not so here, and a quick scan of the credits reveals the camera and Steadicam operator to be - Robert Rodriguez.

For the most part though, the West Texas desert looks great and the nightclub suitably seedy. Even with this disc's great many faults (and the sync problem is common to the US version, I understand), it still tops VHS.

 

Good Morning Vietnam DVD **

Starring Robin Williams, Forrest Whittaker, Bruno Kirby & JT Walsh

Directed by Barry Levinson

Movie Review ****

This has the unenviable distinction of being possibly the first UK DVD to be both widescreen and not anamorphic. Framed very slightly narrower than the 16:9 shape on a widescreen set, owners will have to zoom the picture out to fill the screen rather than stretching the image, resulting in a loss of quality.

That said, Disney/Buena Vista's European titles are not exactly known for their quality anyway, and the overall effect here is actually not bad. In fact, once the picture settles down (the rhythmically shaking microphone in the opening shot is almost hypnotic), this is one of the company's better looking discs - the colours of Vietnam are beautifully rendered, and the documentary-style direction from Levinson looks refreshingly immediate. As usual, the Disney effect means the image doesn't bear too close scrutiny however.

The film predates 5.1 surround sound, and the 2 channel surround mix here is a little lacklustre, even allowing for the older technology. This is, more than likely, less a problem with the disc than an unimaginative mix of the original film itself. And the whole soundtrack - although one feels only just at times - actually manages to stay more or less in sync, unlike some other recent Disney titles.

Who knows why the powers that be have not knocked us up an anamorphic version like their other releases, yet I'm in two minds as to whether it's a good thing. This looks pretty respectable overall and, despite a subjective loss of resolution, is minus a few artifacts featured on the other titles (such as visual smearing). It still has to be said though, a real opportunity has been thrown away on this fine and unusual film - even some decent humble production notes would have greatly enhanced the package. All things being relative, an overall two stars for this lazy studio is as good as we can hope for in the short term.

 

Jerry Maguire DVD ***

Starring Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger & Cuba Gooding Jr

Directed by Cameron Crowe

Movie Review *****

This, one of the four very first titles available on region 2 DVD, is a respectable effort. One quirk about these first releases from Columbia is that they contain both Dolby Digital and the rival MPEG 5 channel surround sound, which is almost obsolete by now anyway. Since very few people have, or will have, MPEG decoding equipment however, it does seem a bit of a waste of valuable space. And since I don't own an MPEG 5.1 decoder either, I won't bother mentioning it again.

The film is long for a single sider - at the quoted maximum length of 2hrs 13 mins. Considering the disc also includes the promotional trailer (which, incidentally, teasingly promises Close Encounters Of The Third Kind) and the bit-hungry MPEG 5.1 (which I won't mention again), the average bit-rate for the movie is quite low. In other words - they have to cram a lot on the disc.

Maybe so, but it still looks pretty damn good. The film is shot partially open matte - compared to the fullscreen VHS, a smidgeon less top and bottom is evident, and a bit extra at either side. A very close up peer reveals quite a bit of blocking and other compression artifacts visible, but a more sensible viewing position leaves only the pin-sharp wrinkles on dear Tom's face. The sound, meanwhile, really comes into its own for the game scenes near the end, with wince-inducing crunches as bodies hurl into each other, and the crowd roaring around you in DD, or MPEG 5.1. Which I won't mention again.

Although lacking any unique features to get excited about, it does beautifully showcase one of the great and more thoughtful movies to emerge from the Hollywood studio system in recent years. Crowe's distinctive camera direction has never looked so good.

 

Jumanji DVD **

Starring Robin Williams and Bonnie Hunt

Directed by Joe Johnston

Movie Review ***

Another of Columbia's first discs, this arrives courtesy of a "look ma, I'm stupid" bug. As you wow your mates with your latest hi-tech toy, the last thing you want is double captioning. Yup - when any writing appears on the screen, this disc helpfully duplicates it. Gasp - whatever will the neighbours think?

The good news is that the 16:9 shaped picture is otherwise very good indeed. Apparently, some of the other European versions are less impressive, by virtue of too many soundtracks eating up bit-space, but this is fine. The film was shot "hard matte", which means you really do get extra left and right picture information in this widescreen version.

The even better news is that the Dolby Digital sound is awesome - the sub bass and dynamics are just extraordinary. If this doesn't break stuff in your house, then you must be listening on headphones. Annoyingly, the disc defaults to the anachronistic MPEG 5.1 soundtrack, which sounds dreadful in normal stereo - all hissy and compressed. There is also an option to listen to a regular "Dolby Surround" version, but this sounded flatter and with less use of surrounds than the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, even when downmixed to Prologic. No problem - just don't use it.

The combination of great picture and superlative sound would normally be enough to overlook the bug, getting the disc a "no features" three stars. But this is finally marked down because, not only does it have a bug, it costs £24. For that price - around $36 for comparison - you'd expect them to get it right and remaster it. Nope. Unless you have a real thing for dodgy computer graphics, I'd take the advice given those in the film who have the board game. Just don't play it.

Back to DVD Reviews

Home

All reviews / articles copyright Guy Rowland (1998).