Supplements:

Disc 1

Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

Funny how picky we can get - L.A. Confidential on Blu-ray looks pretty good if showing its, over ten year, age. The transfer itself seems competent and the only flaws are probably more inherent in the original source. There is noise/grain - detail is significantly superior to SD (ditto for colors) but not up to par with many 2007-2008 HD offerings. It is consistent and the 1080P brings up a crispness that I had never noted before. Technically it is dual-layered with the feature size being a healthy 33.2 Gig. I don't see evidence of DNR used to compensate for  the existing noise. In fact I'd have to say the image is fairly flawless and I have no strong complaints. Expectations for the image should be tempered a bit with its age but overall the film, and especially Kim B., looked far better than I anticipated.  I suspect fans of L.A. Confidential, and its previous digital incarnations, will be mightily impressed with the visual appearance of this Blu-ray.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

Audio & Music:  
The TrueHD option has some life to it, but it's the subtleties that I appreciate most. I'd say the bass and midrange aren't overused by this soundtrack but tend to be there seething beneath the surface. Your center channel will the the most work. Goldsmith's excellent score comes through just that much cleaner and supports some very noir-esque moments. Many of the period songs in the film are on the CD sampler included in the package.  Obviously set for region-free sales worldwide there is a host of DUB options (in 5.1) and a multitude of subtitles (full list above).

Extras:
A scattered commentary - sliced and diced with everyone under the sun taking part - excepting, strangely enough, the director. It's quite all-over-the-place but that's okay as I did get something out of it - Ellroy being probably my favorite participant. Next we have about 3 hours worth of SD featurettes and I really did enjoy some of these. Whatever You Desire: Making LA Confidential runs about a 1/2 hour and offers clips and interviews with all the principles involved (including Hanson, Ellroy, Basinger, Pearce, Crowe, Spacey, DeVito etc.) Quite good but it seemed to only touch the surface of the creative process at work here. Some of the information in these featurettes is expectantly duplicated in the commentary. There is also a filler component but I was pretty appreciative of the effort that went into these supplements - it opened my eyes to L.A. Confidential and certainly increased my appreciation of the film. The value of Blu-ray (the space) even allowed the 45 minute TV pilot of LA Confidential with a younger Kiefer Sutherland (it's from 2000 I think). Bonus here is that you also get the CD sampler (as disc 2) and I checked it pout in the car while picking up my some from school - I kinda liked it - it gives nice reflections of the film's smokey aura. This Blu-ray is stacked to the rafters and fans will positively want to indulge in some if not all that is available.