The DVD boasts
a widescreen transfer which, though surprisingly not enhanced for 16x9 displays, makes the digital video footage look fine and a 5.1 track which is largely limited to the front and center speakers.
Not exact matches
The DVD scores points for its fairly strong
widescreen transfer and three bonus features,
which if not fantastic, are at least something, i.e. more than most of the studio's live action canon can boast.
Those like me accustomed to seeing the Indiana Jones films in the wonder of degraded pan-and-scan videocassettes should rejoice at the sight of these DVDs,
which offer higher resolution and preserve the considerable frame width in anamorphic
widescreen transfers nearer to 2.35:1 than the 2.20:1 aspect ratios widely cited.
But this dual - layer DVD is filled nearly to its size limit,
which means the 1.78:1 anamorphic
widescreen transfer looks superb, with striking color and contrast.
DVD Extras The real reason to get hold of Halloween - 25th Anniversary Edition is the new high definition digital
transfer,
which offers superb sound and an enhanced
widescreen image (2.35:1), but there is also an exhaustive (and at times exhausting) range of extras on this two - DVD set.
The colors in its 1.78:1
widescreen transfer and 1080p treatment are consistent, but with a flushed - out palette and more muted hues that eschew loud primary colors (a marker of later in the decade) and underscore the suburban ennui,
which in turn stands in stark contrast to the high stakes of its spy games.
The 1.66 anamorphic
widescreen transfer is, then, wholly at the service of the film,
which is as it should be, while the German DD 2.0 mono audio is similarly fulsome, replicating Popol Vuh's hallucinogenic score with fidelity.
The film over
which this is heard is exhibited in both 2.35:1 anamorphic
widescreen and fullscreen
transfers on opposite sides of the platter; although the picture was shot in Super35 (as opposed to «scope), there is more horizontal information restored and less vertical information cropped than usual for the format, making the decision to stick with letterbox a definite no - brainer.
for the picture — lovingly restored, as is the film itself (save some unchecked pinholes)-- rounds out the presentation,
which has as its central attraction the revitalization of Harry Waxman's stabbingly - bright cinematography in a 1.78:1 anamorphic
widescreen transfer.
THE DVD Fox releases Dying Young on DVD in a vanilla 1.85:1 anamorphic
widescreen presentation long on Schumacher's over-saturated colours and short on subtlety,
which is, of course, not the
transfer's fault; its softness — that impression that the lens has been smeared with Vaseline, «Glamor Shots» - style — is something you can't really win by being faithful to.
Blue Valentine looks great in the DVD's anamorphic
widescreen transfer,
which the frames the film in atypical 1.66:1.
THE DVD by Bill Chambers Paramount presents K - 19: The Widowmaker on DVD in a low - contrast 2.35:1 anamorphic
widescreen transfer that looks soft and muddy - brown throughout,
which seems to be the developed aesthetic of cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth (Fight Club, Panic Room), son of Blade Runner DP Jordan Cronenweth.
The picture remains clean on the 1.85:1 anamorphic
widescreen transfer, but very soft and with an out - of - focus look to
which you must adjust.
The video
transfer is in crisp 1.85:1 anamorphic
widescreen while audio is provided in an excellent and immersive Dolby 5.1 English dub (and here my qualification of a «general» lack of a western bias comes into play) that is, nonetheless, inferior to the Japanese - language 2.0 surround track,
which features the original vocal talent who have, not including this film, logged over twenty - six hours of finished time voicing these characters.
The anamorphic
widescreen transfer of the feature film on disc one isn't quite so lovely as the packaging; the print exhibits some scratches and the subtitles (
which, thankfully, are on the bottom black bar, so as to get a clearer view of the picture) have a strange tendency to sport quotation marks at random, but the flaws won't ruin one's enjoyment of the film.
The DVD features an anamorphic
widescreen transfer,
which has been letterboxed at 2.35:1.
So our compromised copy of Mr. & Mrs. Smith inhibits a legitimate assessment of the 2.35:1 anamorphic
widescreen transfer and fosters apathy for the remainder, though I was very impressed with the 5.1 audio, particularly the DTS option,
which had me checking for shrapnel.
Martian Child looks exquisite in this 1.85:1 anamorphic
widescreen transfer,
which boasts tremendous detail and nary a flaw.
The otherwise irreproachable and film - like 1.78:1 anamorphic
widescreen transfer of Once Upon a Time in Mexico is marred by a few motion blurs endemic to HiDef and a few compression artifacts for
which the abundance of bonus material is to blame.
THE DVD A 1.78:1 anamorphic
widescreen transfer is the flipside to a pan-and-scan DVD presentation of The Sandlot 2, both of
which exhibit almost exactly the same flat, blooming colours and, particularly in the daytime sequences, the same subtle patina of overexposure haloing and bleed.
The DVD's anamorphic
transfer,
which also presents the movie in 1.85:1
widescreen, is decent but not much better than that.
On Disc One, besides a great
transfer of the film in Anamorphic
Widescreen and Dolby Surround, there's a running commentary by Robert Wise
which I didn't really listen to.