H D - S E N S E I

A view on Hi-def DVDs by Gary W. Tooze

 

Introduction: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 5600 DVDs and have reviewed over 3000 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.

Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction. So be it, but film will always be my first love and I list my favorites on the old YMdb site now accessible HERE.  

Gary's Home Theatre:
Samsung HPR4272 42" Plasma HDTV
Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player (firmware upgraded)

Sony BDP-S300 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player (firmware upgraded)
Sony DVP NS5ODH SD-DVD player (region-free and HDMI)
Harmon Cardon DD/DTS receiver
Ascent (main) + Boston Acoustics (centre, rear, subwoofer) speakers (5.1)

Gary W. Tooze

 

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Across the Universe [Blu-ray DVD]

 
(Julie Taymor, 2007)

 

Production: Sony Pictures
 

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1

Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1, DUBs: Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles: English SDH, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, none

Disc: Dual-Layered Blu-Ray (50GBs)
Runtime: 2:11:34

Extras:

• Audio Commentary with Julie Taymor and composer Elliot Goldenthal
• Featurette: "Creating the Universe " (1080, 30 minutes)
• Featurette: "Stars of Tomorrow" (1080, 30 minutes)
• Featurette: "All About the Music" (1080, 15 minutes)
• Featurette: "Moving Across the Universe" (1080, 15 minutes)
• Featurette: "FX of the Universe " (1080, 10 minutes)
• Extended Musical Performances (1080, 30 minutes)

• Still Gallery (HD) (over 100 images)
• Bookmarks ability

Disc: 50GB Blu-ray Disc
Release Date: February 5th, 2008
Standard Blu-Ray case

Synopsis: Across the Universe, from director Julie Taymor, is a revolutionary rock musical that re-imagines America in the turbulent late-1960s, a time when battle lines were being drawn at home and abroad. When young dockworker Jude (Jim Sturgess) leaves Liverpool to find his estranged father in America, he is swept up by the waves of change that are re-shaping the nation. Jude falls in love with Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), a rich but sheltered American girl who joins the growing anti-war movement in New York's Greenwich Village. As the body count in Vietnam rises, political tensions at home spiral out of control and the star-crossed lovers find themselves in a psychedelic world gone mad. With a cameo by Bono, Across the Universe is "the kind of movie you watch again, like listening to a favorite album." (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) on Amazon HERE 

 

 

The Film:

Julie Taymor's highly ambitious musical received reactions across the board from ecstatic joy to finger-pointing disapproval. I am definitely in the former camp and the DVD has become my favorite so far this year - in fact it took me 5 hours to complete my viewing as I was continually repeating/replaying chapters (songs). Taymor seems to revel in her own fearlessness as evidenced by taking on Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus in her 1999's Titus (to the chagrin of Bard purists). It is also there that she showed her ability to infuse the frame with an incredibly ravishing color palette. I watched this with pretty much no idea what to expect and was initially overwhelmed by the visual and aural candy on display. After the first 25 minutes into the SD, I hit the pause button, and ordered the Blu-ray online. Sure, I grew up with The Beatles - owning every vinyl, then CD. But beyond the nostalgic pleasure and brilliance of the music and lyrics - Taymor does a reasonable job binding the narrative as well - although this is understandably the weak point of the film. It would also seem an impossible task to covey with total accuracy. This film has some real depth far beyond most musicals and could have been 6 hours long if character development was part of the main intention, but it wasn't... and isn't in musicals. Musicals are fantasy and this is the best of its kind I have seen in years. The constant hinting at Beatle-isms beyond the lyrics with the cut apple logo creation and character names such as Lucy, Prudence ('How did she get here?' - "She came in through the bathroom window"), Rita, JoJo etc. Finally this is not a perfect film, but I think I'd recommend it to you if only to own Martin Luther McCoy's performance of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". In all honestly, I LOVED every minute of this film.      

Gary Tooze

 

 

The Video:

I won't mince words here - this may very well be the best image quality Blu-ray DVD I own (for a feature film) - out of about 100 of the new format discs in my possession. Whether it be the dual layering or the Art direction - this looks absolutely magnificent - very tight, bright, brilliant colors, pristinely sharp etc. etc.  I have no complaints at all excepting black levels looked almost too rich and deep (approaching moiring levels) - if you can consider that an flaw. Otherwise, a perfect score.

 

Screen Captures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio:

The Dolby True HD 5.1 is almost equal to the image in terms of reference quality. The material is all over the board and the track responds with real strength beautifully clean and tight (guitar cords sound like they are in the room at times). There are two 5.1 DUBs (Spanish and Portuguese) and a host of subtitle options including English SDH, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai. Again, top marks to Sony.

 


Extras:
Stacked supplements. An interesting audio commentary with Julie Taymor and composer Elliot Goldenthal and they seem to focus mostly on the music of the film - how it tended to drive the storyline etc. Then there are 5 featurettes - all in HD! "Creating the Universe", "Stars of Tomorrow", "All About the Music", "Moving Across the Universe" and "FX of the Universe". Plus a half hours worth of extended musical performances, and a stills gallery (also in HD) with over 100 images. Finally we have the ability to bookmark certain scenes. Extremely complete and another reason for a strong recommendation.     

Menus

 

BOTTOM LINE: I can only speak as a Beatle fan but suggest that this must to appeal to far beyond that huge community. Their lyrics are, obviously, universal and although no film version could adequately convey the enormity of the sound - this is as good as anything I might see in my lifetime in that regard. If you can't guess - this is a HUGE endorsement of this film and magnificent Blu-ray DVD. Buy now.

Gary Tooze

 

 

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