Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: Focus Features & Big
Beach/Edward Saxon
Blu-ray: Universal Studios Home
Entertainment
Disc:
Region: FREE!
(as verified by the
Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)
Runtime: 1:37:45.234
Disc Size: 27,763,097,617 bytes
Feature Size: 21,211,699,200 bytes
Video Bitrate: 21.63 Mbps
Chapters: 20
Case: Standard Blu-ray case
Release date: September 29th, 2009
Video:
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps
Video codec: VC-1 Video
Bitrate:
Audio:
DTS-HD Master Audio English 3777 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3777
kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS Audio French 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit
DTS Audio Spanish 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
/ Dolby Surround
Subtitles:
English (SDH), English,
French, Spanish,
none
Extras:
• Commentary with Director Sam Mendes &
Writers Dave Eggers & Vendela Vida
• The Making of Away We Go - in HD
• Green Filmmaking - in HD
• BD-Live 2.0
The Film:
Directed by Sam Mendes (an Oscar winner for
"American Beauty") from an original script
by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, "Away We
Go" is graced with an endearing central
couple, apprehensive about their impending
parenthood. Unfortunately, most of the other
people in the film add to that anxiety by
being smugly self-involved and a trial to
endure.
Counterculture types Burt ("The Office's"
John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph of
"Saturday Night Live") are a longtime
unmarried couple who are charmed to be in
each other's company even if mundane things
like replacing broken windows in their
Colorado home with glass instead of
cardboard seem to be beyond them.
But with a child on the way, Burt and Verona
worry that they haven't figured out how to
care for themselves, believing that at age
34 they are screw-ups (the R-rated film uses
a much more graphic term). So when they end
up taking a rambling trip across the country
to visit old friends and family, it's not
just to decide where to live, it's also to
help figure out how to live.
There's nothing wrong with this as a
concept, but the way it plays out is
problematic. Accompanied by a melodic score
by singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch, Burt and
Verona are so immediately appealing and
good-hearted, so obviously right for each
other, that the whole notion that they worry
about being feckless losers comes off as the
rank contrivance it very much is. - Kenneth
Turan
Excerpt of Kenneth Turan'sreview from LA
Times located HERE
Image:
8/8
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were ripped directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
The first number indicates a relative level
of excellence compared to other Blu-ray
video discs on a ten-point scale. The second
number places this image along the full
range of DVD and Blu-ray discs.
As Burt & Verona crisscross the country, we
wonder if we're meant to be in a kind of
travelogue, with each area they visit –
Phoenix, Montreal, Miami – given an artful
cinematographic presentation with its own
color palette, each faithfully rendered in
Blu-ray. The image tended to soften at
times, though I felt this was not a fault of
the transfer. I was aware of no artifacts,
enhancements blemishes or other fringe
benefits.
CLICK EACH
BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio & Music:
7/8
Alexi Murdoch's occasional bursts of song
and guitar are so crispy and richly rendered
that the dialogue track sounds muted by
comparison; though in absolute terms,
dialogue is clear and focused. Each time
Murdoch returned I couldn't shale the
impression: one sounds live, the other
recorded. On the other hand, the music
doesn't come riding in with six guns
blazing, nor, for that matter, do the
surround effects, which are, make no
mistake, appropriate and naturally
convincing. Once into a scene we soon fall
into the new reality – until the next time
Alexi Murdoch takes center stage as a
familiar distraction. On yet another hand,
the audio mix at the nightclub is most
realistically conveyed in all its dynamism
and ambient subtlety. This really did sound
live.
Operations:
7
The feature film is divided into sensibly
organized chapters in an easy to manage
menu, as are Universal Bu-rays in general.
No U-Control or PIP on this one.
Extras:
3
The extra features are the same as on the
DVD, except that they are upscaled to high
def. Then there's BD-Live, for those who
enjoy that community. I checked out the
commentary from time to time, which,
possibly due to the absence of the principal
actors, was merely informative and routine.
Just as routine is the quarter-hour
Making-of featurette. In "Green Filmmaking"
the filmmakers show us how they made a movie
that left no trash on the grass.
Bottom line:
6
Away We Go is another one of those movies
that pleases audiences more than critics.
Alas, I fear that, in this case, I find
myself among the latter. Writers Eggers &
Vida seem to be trying so hard to make the
main couple so charming and everyone else
around them so unpleasantly kinky the deck
is stacked from the start. In any case, the
picture and sound are good, though the
extras might have been more.
Leonard Norwitz
October 7th, 2009
