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directed by Patty Jenkins
USA 2003
The true-life story of Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute executed in 2002 in Florida after being convicted of murdering six men. While Wuornos confessed to the six murders, including a policeman, she claimed to have killed only in self-defense, resisting violent assaults while working as a prostitute. In 1989-90, a love story unfolds in the midst of the horrors and pathologies of two misfits: Wuornos (Charlize Theron), a drifter prostitute and Selby Wall (Christina Ricci), sent by her parents to live with an aunt in Florida in order to "cure her homosexuality". Nearing suicidal despair, Aileen wanders into a bar, where she meets Selby and falls in love. To keep her and Selby's relationship alive, she continues hooking, only to fuel an increasingly escalating deadly rage, a fury vented with a lurid string of killings and the media's sordid designation of her as the first female serial killer--a monster. ***
I confess that I walked into the screening not knowing who the star
was, and that I did not recognize Charlize Theron until I read her name in
the closing credits. Not many others will have that surprise; she was just
honored as best actress of the year by the National Society of Film
Critics. I didn't recognize her -- but more to the point, I hardly tried,
because the performance is so focused and intense that it becomes a fact
of life. Observe the way Theron controls her eyes in the film; there is
not a flicker of inattention, as she urgently communicates what she is
feeling and thinking. There's the uncanny sensation that Theron has
forgotten the camera and the script and is directly channeling her ideas
about Aileen Wuornos. She has made herself the instrument of this
character. Excerpt from Roger Ebert's review at the Chicago Sun Times located HERE |
Posters
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Theatrical Release: November 16, 2003 - AFI Film Festival
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Comparison:
Metrodome (Two-Disc Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL vs. First Look Pictures - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
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Distribution |
Metrodrome Region 2 - PAL |
First Look Pictures Region 'A' - Blu-ray |
Runtime | 1:44:16 (4% PAL speedup) | 1:48:49.523 |
Video |
1.85:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 24,029,180,772 bytes Feature: 22,005,626,880 bytesVideo Bitrate: 22.784 MbpsCodec: MPEG-2 Video |
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Audio | English (Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, 2.0 Stereo) |
Dolby TrueHD Audio English 1488 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz /
1488 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps) Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / Dolby Surround |
Subtitles | English, none | English, Spanish, none |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Metrodrome Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 16 |
Release Information: Studio: First Look Pictures
1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 24,029,180,772 bytes Feature: 22,005,626,880 bytesVideo Bitrate: 22.784 MbpsCodec: MPEG-2 Video
Edition Details:
• Previews Chapters 1 |
Comments |
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NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. ADDITION: First Look - Region 'A' Blu-ray - August 09': The image improvement is definitely there but being an MPEG-2 encode (same as the DVD - as opposed to, standard for hi-def, MPEG-4 AVC or VC-1) it is no where near the strength that the format can go to. Detail is better, colors tighten up and the 1080P visuals even show a shade of depth. The DVD looks to have a shade of green beside the single-layered Blu-ray. The First Look disc runs in the theatrical running time (as opposed to the 4% PAL speed-up of the Metrodome). The Blu-ray offers TrueHD audio but it's not a barn-burner at less than 1500 Kbps. The film has a few aggressive moments and some, disheartening, gunplay and the track supports it with some lean separations. The US disc offers optional English or Spanish subtitles and my Momitsu tells me this Blu-ray is Region 'A'-locked. we seem to get the same supplements, that Stan discusses below) minus the commentary, one of the featurettes and the deleted /extended scenes. Kind of funny about the package - you know a digital production is stretching things when it advertises 'Scene Selection' as a bonus feature - but there is actually only one chapter stop - so they can't even toot their horn over that! First Look have created some decent-to-strong Blu-ray offerings in the past - but I don't feel this is one of them. This may be the best Monster looks for your home theater so far - but it's a far cry from the definitive package. First Look seem to know this as the best thing about it is the price - less than $13 at the writing of this review. If you haven't seen it - go for it... but it's not worthy of a double dip in my opinion. Gary W. Tooze ****
ON THE METRODOME DVD: The DVD's picture is mostly sharp and with
good contrast. Because the film has a raw, gritty look, the picture
seems a little hazy, but I think that's a creative choice by director
Patty Jenkins (that works in my opinion). The audio quality is very
good as well. The rear speakers are mostly occupied by the soundtrack,
and sometimes by background details. The dialogue is clear and
perfectly understandable. Disc 2 presents the documentary "Monster: The Vision and Journey" and offers interesting insights into the film by its participants. Jenkins, Theron and Ricci talk about the feeling of the film and of course about Aileen Wuornos. There's another similar feature named "The Making of a Monster" which contains material from Nick Broomfield's documentary "Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer" and the press conference for "Monster" in London. "Deleted & Extended Scenes" features an interesting dream sequence, an extended monologue by Aileen sitting on the couch talking to Selby, a scene in which Aileen witnesses a newsflash about one of her murders, a few very funny outtakes at the job interview and an extended performance at the bus station (which is one of the most dramatic and perfectly acted scenes in the film). Every sequence can be viewed with additional commentary by Patty Jenkins. Then there's another interview feature with Jenkins and composer BT
providing information about the music score of the film and a film
making demo which may be inventive but isn't really useful. Trailers
and filmographies can be found as well. |
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CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Screen Captures
Metrodome (Two-Disc Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL TOP vs. First Look Pictures - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
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Metrodome (Two-Disc Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL TOP vs. First Look Pictures - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
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Metrodome (Two-Disc Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL TOP vs. First Look Pictures - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
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Metrodome (Two-Disc Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL TOP vs. First Look Pictures - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
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Metrodome (Two-Disc Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL TOP vs. First Look Pictures - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
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Metrodome (Two-Disc Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL TOP vs. First Look Pictures - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
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Metrodrome (Two-Disc Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL TOP vs. First Look Pictures - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
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More Blu-ray captures
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Box Covers |
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Distribution |
Metrodrome Region 2 - PAL |
First Look Pictures Region 'A' - Blu-ray |