BARFI! blu-ray review

barficover

India Region-free blu-ray

1080p Widescreen 2.35:1

Hindi DTS-HD 5.1

Subtitles: English

IMDB

MOVIE: 9.5

VIDEO QUALITY: 9

AUDIO QUALITY: 9.5

EXTRAS: 7.5

The big emotional moment in Joel Schumacher’s A Time to Kill comes in the final climactic courtroom speech when Matthew McConaughey is talking about the black girl who gets beat up and raped, “Can you see her? I want you to picture that little girl. Now imagine she’s white.” Don’t worry, this film is totally unrelated to Barfi! but I would like you all to participate in McConaughey’s lawyer approach for a moment:

Barfi! is an Italian-French dramedy set in the 1970s about three people who are seeking love and acceptance. Jumping between Verona, Italy and Brittany, France, Barfi (played by Roberto Benigni) is a deaf-mute who unintentionally gets into trouble with a chubby police inspector (played by Michel Blanc) always on his tail. Barfi falls in love with gorgeous Shruti (played by Monica Bellucci) but she’s already engaged and pressured to marry a man she doesn’t love. Even as she eventually falls in love with Barfi, Shruti gives in to pressure from her mother, chooses to live a typical life with the man she does not love, and moves away. Heart-broken and dealing with his father’s job loss and health problems, he tries to rob a bank to pay for an operation his father needs. When his bank robbery plan fails, Barfi decides to kidnap and hold for ransom the daughter of his father’s ex-boss – a sweet autistic woman named Jhilmil (played by Nicoletta Braschi). This plan fails as well, and no matter how many times Barfi tries to free Jhilmil, she becomes emotionally attached to Barfi the likable clown. He gives up trying to get rid of her and lets Jhilmil tag along with him as they both run from the law. Some years later, Barfi runs into an unhappily married Shruti and all three end up developing a unique friendship. There begins a love triangle – who ends up with who? Barfi! is a heartwarming film with Chaplin-esque comedy, tear-dripping drama, perfect direction, powerful performances, and a unique story. While the film may be too commercial to be Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign film (as it was the film that India submitted to the Oscar’s Best Foreign Film but wasn’t selected), Barfi! is my favorite foreign movie of the year.

“Now imagine all the characters are Indian and the movie takes place in India!”

I had heard many positive things about this Indian film but I was a bit cautious. After all, the title of the movie sounds like “The Man Who Liked to Vomit” to me. I am also very skeptical about any new movies that tackle the mentally handicapped genre because they end up looking like a parody. As quoted in Tropic Thunder, “You went full retard, man. Never go full retard.” Right now in India, they love making movies about mentally-challenged characters just as Hollywood did in the 1980s and 1990s but the genre was eventually killed off by the painful-to-watch Jack, Patch Adams, Radio, The Other Sister, and I Am Sam. But Anurag Basu’s Barfi! managed to pull it off as another great entry into the respectable “mentally-challenged” film list that includes Rain Man, Forrest Gump, Being There, Awakenings, and Temple Grandin. Wisely, the performance from former-Miss World Priyanka Chopra playing autistic Jhilmil goes for the “less is more” style of acting mentally-challenged. While many popular Bollywood actresses such as Aishwarya Rai and Kareena Kapoor typically act the way a glamorous star should act, Priyanka Chopra has been surprising everyone with her skillful acting chops to a point where this “Charlize Theron of India” has turned into one of the best actresses in India – she has been choosing all kinds of roles in her last bunch of films – I would have never guessed that she would become such a good character actor with diverse roles. Usually in Bollywood films, the actress is just there to support the main actor who is basically the cocky superstar athlete on a basketball team. In Barfi!, the two leads support each other equally. While we aren’t talking Daniel Day-Lewis and Meryl Streep here, it’s pretty close – Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra give outstanding performances and work together perfectly as two superstars on the same team. Ranbir Kapoor’s Barfi is pretty damn amazing. Inspired by Charlie Chaplin, his performance as a likeable baffoon is quite special to watch. When most Bollywood movies are plagued with infinite filler and awful dialogue that bloats the running time to over three hours, Barfi! has accomplished something never before in a commercial Indian film – the two main leads rarely talk. When Barfi speaks, he only says his name. When Jhilmil speaks, she only says his name. All the communication is visual as if the audience is watching a silent film starring Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard. Never did I feel bored watching this 151-minute film that featured plenty of scenes with no dialogue. The only thing that made the movie seem longer than usual are the many musical montages of the characters getting to know each other. But if there weren’t those musical montages, then Barfi! would have trouble showing time passing for the characters. So actually, I don’t even think that trimming the montages would have made the film better. Yes, the movie is long but no scene is wasted.

The most impressive aspect of Barfi! is the greatest direction I have ever seen for an Indian film. If you have ever seen films from Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie, A Very Long Engagement) and Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Miral), you will be very pleased with the direction by Anurag Basu. I’m not just talking about the beautiful cinematography of Calcutta, Darjeeling and other landscapes – the way he frames each scene is a total work of art. I’ve been intrigued with Basu’s past films as he has been one of India’s controversial directors. In 2004, he directed a remake of Adrian Lyne’s Unfaithful called Murder. I checked it out because it included infamous kissing scenes (naughty for Bollywood). In 2006, he directed a crime film called Gangster that was very popular in India. And in 2010, he directed Kites which had an interracial romance of an Indian dude falling in love with a Mexican girl, and it took place in America. All three films were worth checking out, but nothing really memorable. I thought Basu was a controversial director – nothing more. But after watching Barfi!, I would have never guessed what a talented director he is. After Barfi!, Hollywood will be contacting him!

The Region-free Blu-ray from UTV/Reliance Home Video is as good as it can get for a Blu-ray from India – excellent 2.35:1 1080p video quality, engrossing Hindi DTS-HD 5.1 that highlights the film’s catchy music and Amelie-esque accordian score. The English subtitles are perfectly translated, the Blu-ray menu is pretty to look at, and there a couple of extras such as a 50-minute making-of, a short featurette, and some deleted scenes. This is a perfect package that comes with a Blu-ray slipcover as well. I would like to note that there are just a few minor distractions with the video. First, there’s a “cigarette cancer” warning that pops up in the corner when any character smokes. Second, there are two very quick instances of macroblocking during two separate scenes. Both last a second, but they are there and should have been caught by quality control.

So what are you waiting for? Check out the best “European” film of the year!

December 25, 2012
Categories: B . Tags: . Author: toddly6666 . Comments: Leave a comment

MIAMI CONNECTION blu-ray review

miami

USA Region A blu-ray

1080p Widescreen 1.85:1

English Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles: English SDH

IMDB

MOVIE: 9

VIDEO QUALITY: 8.5

AUDIO QUALITY: 8

EXTRAS: 8.5

There have been films that have been critically bashed when initially released in theaters – sometimes they need to age over time to be appreciated and even be considered masterpieces. Historically, a negative reviewed B-movie or box office failure can evolve into a respectable art-house film over time. There have been films that changed the typical pattern of what audiences expect to see when they come to the theater such as with the French New Wave style that popped up in the 1960s. They too have been labeled as art-house films. Pretentious films always have the advantage of getting graded as art-house much quicker than a B-movie that eventually gets respect. Why should a film with beautiful cinematography, pretty actors, meaningless dialogue (or even lack of dialogue), and an unconventional storyline that does not follow a traditional three-act setup get more respect than a B-movie that evolves into an art-house film over time? For example, art-house film fans love directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, and Wong Kar Wai. Their films are obviously respected and loved in the art-house world. But they are an acquired taste – try watching Pierrot le Fou, Last Year at Marienbad, and In the Mood for Love and you’ll know that they are the prototype films to be appreciated by art-house film lovers due to them being pretentious, pretty looking with polished cinematography, and/or many people just naturally connecting to these films. I really wish I could connect to these New Wave films but I can’t. I’ve tried to force myself to watch them over the years and at different ages, but I still can’t get into them and can’t connect with them to really see how special they are to others. In the opposite spectrum, I connect more to the critically-bashed B-movie that evolves into a respectable art-house film over time. These films may get their own special label such as “pulp, exploitation, cult, or camp” which still is basically another way of saying “these are special films but they are still inferior to traditional art-house films respected by most famous critics.” A pretentious art-house film loved by many should have equal respect as a campy B-movie that ages well, turns into an admirable film, and is also loved by many. Call it what you want, Y.K. Kim’s Miami Connection is actually a work of art.

After reading reviews online before watching Miami Connection, there seems to be general consensus on the internet that you can just automatically accept it as bad film or you can choose to watch it as a “so-bad-it’s-good” film – the type you watch in the theater or at home with a bunch of friends and laugh at it because everyone else is laughing – the “contagious laughter” factor. I expected Miami Connection to fall into the “so-bad-it’s-good” category, but actually I ended up watching this film quite seriously even as it had a bunch of those unintentional laugh-out-loud moments. I was mainly mesmerized by what a unique 1980s film this is, which is why I consider Y.K. Kim’s creation a very special art-house film.

If you have read up about this film, you should expect to see a wacky film about an ass-kicking rock band that beats up drug-running ninjas and gangs on the streets of Orlando, Florida. The negative characteristics in Miami Connection, such as the bad acting, cheesy dialogue, funny line delivery, and hilarious bloody action, all work just fine because the dedication that all the actors put into this film seems totally genuine. While the acting may seem amateurish at first, I quickly forgot about this negative trait once you see how all the actors have chemistry with each other. The big laughs in the movie mainly come from the token black actor who has the honor of delivering most of the unintentional funny lines.

For a film that had mainly non-actors and a crew that never wrote or directed a film before, I was surprised to think about directors Walter Hill, John Carpenter, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Robert Altman as I watched Miami Connection. Plenty of famous directors have made cult-type films as their first movies. For a person who never filmed anything before, Y.K. Kim’s direction is actually quite good. All of his shots are visually pleasing and the editing was fine too. There are some funny slo-mo shots and awkward cuts, but his direction was much more professional than I expected. The martial arts scenes are generally choreographed very nicely too especially since 1980s Hollywood is infamous for cheesy martial arts scenes. Fight scenes are exciting and usually funny due to the hilarious reactions of the non-actor goons who get their butts kicked, as well as Y.K. Kim doing a funny-as-hell impersonation of Bruce Lee during his fight scenes. How unfortunate that Kim did not make any more movies since Miami Connection is his only film.

The main attraction of Miami Connection is its generous portion of pure 1980s magic. We have actors that look 40 years old playing kids, an absolutely awesome soundtrack with catchy tunes, hairy gang members, ninjas, cheesy action, memorable dialogue, breasts, and so much more! The 1980s was a bizarre time period and has been a challenging era to copy in contemporary movies such as The Wedding Singer or American Psycho. Filmmakers try but cannot match that dreamlike weirdness of the 1980s, which is why many 1980s films are now aging well.

The Region A Blu-ray from Drafthouse/Image is quite impressive. Restored to 1080p 1.85:1, the video quality looks very good with some scratches in the beginning and grainy night scenes. Still, the video is very pleasing with crisp detail in most scenes. This Blu-ray is definitely HD-quality! I’m sure most fans used to watching the VHS will be extremely happy once they see this Blu-ray. Audio is decent. Music rocks and dialogue is clear but make sure to ignore the DTS-HD 2.0 listing on the back cover because the only audio mix offered on this Blu-ray is Dolby Digital 2.0. I would have loved to hear this movie in DTS-HD 5.1 with the plentiful action and memorable music, but the DD 2.0 is perfectly fine. After all, Drafthouse got lucky with finding a decent print to restore onto Blu-ray. English SDH subtitles are an option – especially if you want to remember the great songs in this film. Drafthouse has also provided an extremely generous amount of extras: a booklet about the film (similar to what Criterion does), an audio commentary with the director and writer, deleted scenes, making of, a reunion concert with the band, a featurette on Y.K. Kim, movie trailers (for Miami Connection and other Drafthouse film releases) and an extremely funny 30-minute infomercial. Also offered is a reversible cover as pictured to the right, but I’m perfectly happy with the regular beautiful-looking cover art by artist François Simard.

Art-house film or cult film, Miami Connection is totally entertaining and transports the viewer into the magical and dreamlike world of the 1980s. It’s too bad this film didn’t get turned into a cartoon series. The Blu-ray is a definite blind buy if you are curious to see a truly unique action film from the 1980s!

December 6, 2012
Categories: M . Tags: . Author: toddly6666 . Comments: Leave a comment

EEGA blu-ray review

India Region-free blu-ray

1080p Widescreen 2.35:1

Telugu DTS-HD 5.1, DD 5.1

Subtitles: English

IMDB

MOVIE: 9

VIDEO QUALITY: 7

AUDIO QUALITY: 9.5

ENGLISH SUBTITLES: 6.5

EXTRAS: 7

Once you get past the first thirty minutes of the Indian stalker-romance presented in Eega (which translates to “Fly” in Telugu), you will then be rewarded to an hour and half of the most creative revenge scenes put on screen that features a fly versus a man. By the time you reach the credits, you’ll forget that Eega had a cliched beginning and you’ll realize you just watched one of the most entertaining and original Indian films of 2012.

Eega’s first thirty minutes focuses on an annoying good guy who stalks a hot girl who is pretending to not like his creepy advances, but actually his buzzing blabbermouth makes her fall in love with him, even inspiring her to make micro-art necklaces shaped like vaginas. Also stalking this gorgeous girl is a psychotic criminal boss who is wooing her with his creepiness. Even if this evil Fonzie can’t seduce her with his smooth talking, Plan B is to rape her and most likely kill her, possibly not even in that order.  If the whole movie was about two creepy dudes courting this one woman, that would be your typical clichéd Indian romance film. Thankfully, director S.S. Rajamouli turns Eega into an absolutely entertaining movie with creativity that is rarely seen in Indian films. Out of jealousy, the creepy criminal kills the creepy good guy who is then reincarnated into a cute little CGI fly. While the CGI isn’t up to speed and reminds me of the Hollywood computer effects of 2004, the usage is charming and makes exciting cinema. The “birth” of the fly is one of the most beautiful, dreamlike scenes I have ever seen in an Indian film. As the fly pops out of his egg and remembers that he was once a man, we are treated to one of those Marvel superhero moments when the superhero first discovers his powers and practices using them. Instead of Spider-man, we get to watch Fly-man learn how to be a fly – practice using one’s wings, don’t get stepped on, stay away from hungry birds, and try not to fall into the criminal boss’ drink no matter how thirsty you are. I’ve seen a lot of insect documentaries over the years, but this 10-minute scene was certainly effective and I’ll think twice now about killing a poor ol’ stressed-out fly.

Once we see that the main characters are a fly and a villain, the movie instantly shifts into “Original Indian Film” mode. Remember those very satisfying revenge scenes in Jerry Zucker’s Ghost when the Patrick Swayze ghost starts scaring the shit out of Tony Goldwyn and Willie Lopez? Those were great moments in Ghost but those scenes were too short. In Eega, we get the majority of the film with those very satisfying revenge moments. While that may seem like overkill, it’s not, because this director has skills and keeps the story exciting and funny until the end. How can a fly take revenge on the criminal who killed him in his previous life? I’m not going to say – that’s the whole fun of this film.

The tone of Eega is an action comedy with some drama, which probably was a smart move for repeat viewings, but I would have been curious to see this type of film presented as an action drama. Had the first thirty minutes featured a likable leading man who had chemistry with the girl (as Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore had with each other in Ghost), the movie would have been more emotionally powerful. I couldn’t wait for the good guy to get knocked off because he was unrelatable, annoying and creepy, probably which explains why he was reincarnated as a fly. Once he is reincarnated as a fly, he becomes more human and likable. Sure, we root for the fly to cause havoc on the bad guy, but his thirst for revenge would have had a greater emotional impact if the audience actually felt sympathy for the human good guy who was murdered.

The uniqueness found in this Telugu film is not just in the beautifully-filmed action scenes starring a fly but also in the superb performance from actor Sudeep who plays the main villain (who’s also named Sudeep). Besides the rare factor of a villain getting a lot of screen time, Sudeep did some amazing work as he evolves from a cocky, sauve man into a raving lunatic. Sudeep reminded me a lot of Bruce Campbell’s comic and physical acrobatics in Army of Darkness. He had to act with nothing in front of him. The CGI fly was added in post-production. Theatrical and humorous it may be, his performance was not easy – especially since he had to convince the audience that a CGI fly was turning his life into a nightmare.

The Telugu Region-free Blu-ray from Aditya Video is a fair yet satisfying Blu-ray. The 1080p 2.35:1 image quality has quite a few issues – the contrast is quite off at times, which makes some dark scenes lose complete detail. DNR seems high as well but not to the point where faces look plastic. Day scenes and CGI fly scenes are bright and exhibit detail, but to be fair, the Aditya staff certainly needs some professionals to show them how to properly master Blu-ray video. At least this doesn’t look like an upconverted DVD – it just looks like an amateurishly-mastered Blu-ray. I’ve seen worse and I’ve seen quality that was distracting. Fortunately, the video quality did not distract me from enjoying this film. The DTS-HD 5.1 Telugu track however is awesome. Aditya got that right. Eega is action-packed with some cool sound effects since much of the movie is from the perspective of a fly. What bugged me more than the fair video quality is the watermarked company logo that pops up on and off through out the film on the bottom right side of the screen. Even worse are the sloppy English subtitles. A shmuck was hired to create them – it’s not my fault that reading the English subtitles was like listening to a narration of an Indian man negatively portrayed as a taxi driver or 7-Eleven cashier in Hollywood movies. Indian Blu-rays rarely have extras so I was quite surprised to see over two hours of extras on the DVD that comes with this Blu-ray. While not at the same level of extras found on videos from other countries, I was impressed. We get two hours of the making of the film, non-subtitled, but no subtitles are necessary. The audience gets to see how this film was made from many perspectives. Isn’t that a good extra? Also on the DVD is one of the film’s music videos and film trailers. Not bad and all Anamorphic Widescreen!

Director S.S. Rajamouli seems to excel in making movies about reincarnation. With Indian blockbuster Eega added to his resume, his other crowd-pleasing hits – Magadheera and Yamadonga – also dealt with reincarnation – a very cool niche for cinema. I hope he keeps up the good work and inspires more mainstream Indian filmmakers to put original ideas into their films. Eega is a definite must-see!

November 10, 2012
Categories: E . Tags: . Author: toddly6666 . Comments: 2 Comments

THE MONKEY KING: UPROAR IN HEAVEN blu-ray review

China Region-free blu-ray

1080p Widescreen 1.78:1

Mandarin: Dolby TrueHD 7.1

Mandarin: Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles: English, Mandarin

IMDB

MOVIE: 9.5

VIDEO QUALITY: 9.5

AUDIO QUALITY: 10

ENGLISH SUBTITLES: 10

EXTRAS: 0

America has Walt Disney. Japan has Hayao Miyazaki.  France has Michel Ocelot. Czech Republic has Jan Svankmajer. Which animator does China have? That’s an easy answer because there is only one famous animator from China and his name is Wan Laiming. Laiming made the first Chinese animated film with Princess Iron Fan in 1941. Twenty years later, he made his second and last film, The Monkey King: Uproar In Heaven, a film that is basically the Snow White or Princess Mononoke of China – in other words – an absolute Chinese animated masterpiece. How ironic that The Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven was not only his last animated film, but is still China’s last respectable animated film. I guess the Chinese film industry focused all their time making martial arts films after the early 1960s, but come on, not one high-quality animated film for the past 47 years? I have seen a few other Chinese animated films over the years such as Nezha Conquers the Dragon King, Secrets of the Heavenly book, The Golden Monkey Conquers the Evil, DragonBlade, and Storm Rider Clash of the Evils, but they are all fair and forgettable, far from the high-quality production of The Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven.

In Wu Cheng’en’s classic Chinese novel “Journey to the West”, Sun Wukong aka Monkey King is a brave yet mischievous monkey that goes on tons of adventures in all the realms – earth, heaven, and hell. Monkey King: Uproar In Heaven depicts one of the most popular Monkey King stories. We learn about the origin of the Monkey King and how he causes problems for the Jade Emperor. After obtaining the invincible staff of Yu from the Dragon King, Monkey King proclaims himself the “Great Sage Equal to Heaven.” Disturbed by Monkey King’s power and cockiness, the Emperor tries to recruit him with different jobs such as taking care of his horses and peach garden, but Monkey King doesn’t take crap from authority and ends up infuriating the Emperor even more. Since Monkey King has no desire to join him or the rest of the gods, the Emperor sends out his powerful goons and army to stop the Monkey King from causing serious stress to his heavens! Don’t expect to be blown away by the story. Just expect to be blown away by the magical quality of this film.

As popular as Mickey Mouse or Superman, the Monkey King character is one of the most iconic pop culture characters in China, with plentiful movies, tv shows, comics and video games about him. When you watch this movie, you’ll see how it has shaped so many other Chinese fantastical action movies. The animation in The Monkey King: Uproar In Heaven makes the heavens and mythological world come to life. So many other movies have tried to capture the magical essence of the book, but this animated film did it best so far and without CGI!

Let me clarify what exactly is presented on this Chinese Region-free 3D Blu-ray of The Monkey King: Uproar In Heaven. This Blu-ray allows the viewer to watch this movie in 2D or 3D. I don’t have a 3D HDTV or 3D Blu-ray player, so I am only reviewing the 2D. So yes, this Blu-ray will play in your regular Blu-ray player. The new version features a slightly longer edit that stays true to the spirit of the original film, as well as a new soundtrack that combines the original’s traditional Chinese opera arrangements with a symphonic score. Most importantly, the 3D remake introduces all new voices and an amazing cast to play them, including film stars Yao Chen and Chen Daoming. The voices of famous directors Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang also make an appearance, in homage to Sun Wukong and Wan Laiming. In other words, this 3D version is not the exact same film as it was in the early 1960s. But don’t panic! This new version is not a George Lucas tamper, but more like Apocalypse Now Redux or Blade Runner Final Cut. Besides the updated remix of the audio and dubbing, this new version is still the original animated film with some newly added “blink-and-you’ll-miss” 3D show-offy scenes for the kiddies. For example, in the original version, when Monkey King is stuck in a bad guy’s huge umbrella, he uses his staff to poke up and pop a hole through the umbrella. In the new version, the filmmakers stealthily changed some animation around to make Monkey King poke his staff towards the viewer as if we are getting poked in the face. No one will notice the difference unless you have watched the original film over and over as I did. I have the original film on English-subtitled Taiwanese DVD. As good as that original film version is, this new film version is 100 times better. Just because the info is not out there, the producers of this re-release absolutely restored this film onto Blu-ray! The video and audio are incredible! Instead of the original film split into two parts (with two sets of end credits), this new version merges the two parts together as one movie, as it should be. Instead of the original film having crummy Chinglish subtitles as on the Taiwanese DVD, this new version has perfect translated English subtitles. I have never seen perfect English subtitles on a video from China in my life until this Blu-ray (Usually, Hong Kong videos have better English subtitles than Chinese videos). Even though the original film was filmed at 1.33:1, the new version cropped to 1.78:1 looks amazing! I noticed a head getting cut off twice due to the cropping, but other than that, the 1080p video quality is a revelation!  This Monkey King Blu-ray is a beautiful work of art come to life in high definition. The colors may seem washed out, but that’s the style of the animation. The colors and detail are absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking, especially after watching the messy Taiwanese DVD for a while now. The Mandarin 7.1 Dolby TrueHD is just unbelievable. Along with the stylized animation, the drums and percussion accompaniment used in this film are heavily influenced by Beijing Opera traditions and they just rock on this Blu-ray. This audio is a new remix and the dubbing is much more intimate and better than the cold dubbing of the original film. The music just sounds totally better, and the surround sounds and subwoofer envelop the room just like a new film. I can’t believe that this Blu-ray is one of my favorite sounding Blu-rays I have heard this year, from any country! Even though the 3D producers tampered with the animation, soundtrack, and dubbing of this old movie, the changes have only left advantages for the viewer. If you really want to see the original film as was shown in the 1960s, then just check out the Taiwanese DVD with crummy English subtitles, fair video, muffled flat audio, and worse dubbing. Furthermore, the original film was censored: In the original, Monkey King finds a gourd full of magical pills (aka drugs). He licks one pill and then the scene awkwardly cuts to another scene. In this Blu-ray version, we have the uncensored version. After Monkey King licks one of the pills, he chugs down the rest of the pills and starts hallucinating. This is one of the few obvious changes I noticed between the Taiwanese DVD and the Chinese Blu-ray. So technically, the Chinese Blu-ray is more of a Director’s Cut than the censored original version shown on the Taiwanese DVD.

Overall, this Blu-ray is the only way to watch this film! A+ for the video, audio, and English subtitles! This Blu-ray also comes in a metal case for people who love fancy packaging. The Blu-ray for The Monkey King: Uproar In Heaven is one of the most impressive Chinese Blu-rays I have seen yet. What an amazing restoration! Buy this Blu-ray before it becomes out of print!

August 25, 2012
Categories: M . Tags: . Author: toddly6666 . Comments: 3 Comments

RIGHTING WRONGS blu-ray review

Hong Kong Region A blu-ray

1080p Widescreen 1.85:1

Cantonese: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (original)

Mandarin: Dolby Digital 6.1 EX (dub)

Subtitles: English, Mandarin

IMDB

 

MOVIE: 9

VIDEO QUALITY: 8.5

AUDIO QUALITY: 8.5

ENGLISH SUBTITLES: 8

EXTRAS: 1

Has anyone seen this movie? I never even heard of Righting Wrongs until I saw the Blu-ray release news. How is Righting Wrongs aka Above the Law not considered a classic Hong Kong action film? After watching a lot of Hong Kong action film classics from the 1980s-1990s, I have noticed that most are missing one important aspect – an equal balance of action, screenplay, and character development.  After watching all these early action movies starring Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, I don’t remember too much about the stories or about all the characters because the screenplay and depth of characters are just filler for the main attraction – the amazing action. The stories are usually just background to set up the action. The characters are usually just there to be beat up or to be laughed at. Righting Wrongs is probably the first 1980s Hong Kong action film that had a complete balance of action, story, and character depth – with all three working together in harmony to make it an absolute complete film. I have never seen a Hong Kong action film from this time period that totally had an interesting story with characters we care about from beginning to end until watching Righting Wrongs. A classic Hong Kong action film like Rumble in the Bronx isn’t a complete film – I love the movie but the movie is just a showcase for Jackie Chan’s talent. The story and characters are totally pointless, but this film is considered a Hong Kong action film classic. When one watches a Jackie Chan movie, usually you watch the movie because you are in the mood for a Jackie Chan movie.  Righting Wrongs is the type of film you can watch and not be in the mood to watch a “Hong Kong action movie” – this film is just a good movie that does not need to be categorized as just another martial arts film. But I would definitely classify Righting Wrongs now as a Hong Kong action movie classic from the 1980s.

Righting Wrongs is like a blend of Marvel’s Daredevil and L.A. Confidential. In her greatest role, the amazing Cynthia Rothrock stars as a police officer investigating the corruption in Hong Kong. As a police officer who goes by the book sort of like Guy Pierce’s character from L.A. Confidential, she is faced with issues from all sides – her partner is a slobby, sexist goof, her captain (Melvin Wong) is a corrupt cop working for Hong Kong mafia, and she has to deal with a lawyer (Yuen Biao) who brings justice to freed criminals with his fists a la Daredevil.

From the trailer, Righting Wrongs may seem like a typical Hong Kong action movie, but the story is surprisingly interesting from beginning to end. The amazing action scenes with Rothrock, Biao, and Wong are just icing on the cake. The martial arts in this film, directed and choreographed by the great Corey Yeun and Tsui Hark, are astounding. One of the greatest cat fights between Cynthia Rothrock and Karen Sheperd is one surreal experience. With the mixture of their 1980s fashion style and unathletic-looking bodies, watching Rothrock and Sheperd fight is like watching characters from Sex and the City or Real Housewives of New Jersey duke it out kung-fu style. Righting Wrongs may be my favorite Yuen Biao film as well because he gets to showcase decent acting chops as a public prosecutor when he’s not secretly bashing criminal heads.

One surprise in the film is that I can’t believe the scrawny little teenager was played by Siu-Wong Fan, who later starred as Ricky in Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky and the intimidating Jin Shan Zhao in Ip Man. There’s no way that one would think this kid would become such a tough and intimidating actor and impressive martial artist.

The CMS Media Limited Blu-ray is better than I expected. The 1080p Widescreen 1.85:1 is clean and is a totally pleasant viewing experience. Those expecting a huge restoration will be disappointed and may feel like they are watching an upconverted DVD, but the picture looks good since most Hong Kong 1980s films don’t look fabulous on Blu-ray. I never watched the many other DVD versions, but I’m assuming the Blu-ray transfer here is a slight upgrade from the best DVD version. As typical of Blu-rays of old Hong Kong films from CMS Media Limited or K & R, the audio sounds like a mono track with subwoofer action. With that in mind, the Cantonese Dolby TrueHD 7.1 is a very satisfying 1.1 audio experience. All the thumps, smacks, screeching cars, explosions, and other loud sounds make the subwoofer pretty active. The English subtitles are quite good with smooth translation with some spelling mistakes and missing words here and there, but definitely not Chinglish as on other Hong Kong Blu-rays. The only extra is the original trailer.

Fans of engaging police corruption stories, Cynthia Rothrock, Yuen Biao, and Corey Yuen/Tsui Hark action choreography are going to love this film. I absolutely recommend this Hong Kong action classic and this Blu-ray is one of my best blind-buys I’ve had in a long time!

July 4, 2012
Categories: R . . Author: toddly6666 . Comments: Leave a comment

TAMPOPO blu-ray review

Germany Region B blu-ray

1080p Widescreen 1.85:1

Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 (original)

German Dolby Digital 2.0 (dub)

Subtitles: English, German

IMDB

 

MOVIE: 10

VIDEO QUALITY: 8.5

AUDIO QUALITY: 8

ENGLISH SUBTITLES: 9.5

EXTRAS: 2

 

The perfect movie aka Tampopo has finally been released on English-subtitled Blu-ray! If you have a Blu-ray player that can play Region B Blu-rays, I recommend buying this cult classic from Germany right away before it becomes out of print. If I had to list my top favorite five movies of all time, Tampopo certainly makes the cut. Not only extremely rewatchable, Tampopo is the best Japanese film ever made.  Many people may think that Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is the best Japanese movie ever? I don’t know about that. I think those are the same people who say that Citizen Kane is the best American film ever made. Both films are great but just a bit overrated. Tampopo is on the opposite spectrum of being the most underrated Japanese masterpiece ever made. Either way, do not miss out on Juzo Itami’s Tampopo!

Tampopo is a film about people who love food. The main story follows two truck drivers, Goro (Tsutomu Yamazaki) and Gun (Ken Watanabe) who come across an unpopular ramen noodle shop in the outskirts of Tokyo. The shop is run by Tampopo, a sweet 40-year old widowed mother who doesn’t realize that her business has been failing because she has been serving poor-quality ramen to her customers this whole time. After the two truck drivers save Tampopo’s teenage son from bullies, they are rewarded with a bowl of crummy noodle soup. Feeling pity for Tampopo, Goro tells Tampopo the awful truth about her cooking and takes it upon himself to improve Tampopo’s cooking skills. As Goro and Tampopo team up and figure out methods to create the perfect ramen noodle soup, the couple falls in love. This touching story is also sprinkled with hilarious vignettes of people’s interaction with food: a yakuza and his mistress perform erotic acts with food, a homeless man turns out to be master chef, an old lady sneaks around in a supermarket just to feel the food, a class learns the proper way to eat spaghetti in a restaurant, and many more. Scenes suddenly shift to these vignettes and back to the main story with perfect editing and transitions.

The German Region B Blu-ray is a huge upgrade from any of the previous English-subtitled videos. You can throw out the awful-quality letterboxed USA DVD version. The only other good English-subtitled DVD was the Japanese anamorphic version which you can throw away as well. While this German Blu-ray did not receive a massive restoration, the 1080p 1.85:1 video quality is a revelation. The video has its problems but this is not an upscaled DVD – this movie has finally received the HD treatment and looks beautiful. With increased resolution, there is detail in almost every shot and brings real depth to the image. Flesh tones sometimes lean to the red but look good enough. The image is also very clean and crisp. Bright or day shots look the most amazing. The main negative with the video quality are the blacks – night shots or dark scenes tend to sacrifice shadow detail – there are a few scenes where you will be practically watching a black screen. All things considered this is a pretty great presentation of a catalog film that will most likely not get released on Blu-ray outside of Japan and Germany. The Japanese 2.0 does the job and is totally serviceable. While the audio didn’t get spiffed up, the dialogue is clear and isn’t problematic whatsoever. The English subtitles are excellent. Please note that English subtitles are not advertised on the back cover or in the Blu-ray menu. The English subtitles option only appears when you press the subtitles button during the movie which gives you options of German subs, English subs, or no subs. The only extras are an hour and a half “making of” (in Japanese only with no English subtitles or German subtitles for some strange reason) and trailer. The German Blu-ray comes with a reversible Blu-ray cover with better artwork as shown above.

I really don’t have too many favorite films that I could watch once a week, but Juzo Itami’s Tampopo is one of those rare films that I could watch all the time. I guarantee that you will be hungry while watching this food porn film.

May 21, 2012
Categories: T . . Author: toddly6666 . Comments: 2 Comments

MARTHA blu-ray review

Denmark Region B blu-ray

1080p Widescreen 1.66:1

Danish: DTS-HD 2.0, Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles: English, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian

IMDB

MOVIE: 9

VIDEO QUALITY: 9.5

AUDIO QUALITY: 9.5

ENGLISH SUBTITLES: 10

EXTRAS: 0

 

Depressing, gloomy, serious, dark, and disturbing are the usual words that cross my mind when I think of movies from Denmark. Thanks to filmmakers such as Lars Von Trier (The Kingdom, The Idiots), Nicolas Winding Refn (Valhalla Rising, Pusher), Susanne Bier (In a Better World, Brothers), and Christoffer Boe (Reconstruction, Allegro), I have had this stereotype about Danish films for many years now. Even my memories of Babette’s Feast – the first Danish movie that I saw when I was eleven years old – remind me more of repulsive and dismal scenes rather than scenes of delicious-looking food.

There has to be some uplifting Danish films that have existed over the years, but for now, I was fortunate to find Erik Balling’s Martha – a 45-year old film that is the most cheerful and funny Danish film that I have ever seen.

Martha is considered to be one of Denmark’s most popular cult-comedy films, especially popular among Danish sailors.  The movie is about a very old freight steamer named “Martha” that is practically falling apart and barely floating on water. Forgotten by the Danish shipping companies and laughed at by competing Norwegian ships, the lazy crew takes advantage of their ship’s weakness. They sit around all day drinking alcohol, spend most of their budget on extravagant fancy meals on board, make stops on shore to drink and party at local pubs, and even try to hook up the youngest crew member with a prostitute. Old habits change when the ship’s strict owner, his wife, and their beautiful daughter surprise the crew with intentions of spending some time on board.

I was skeptical about being entertained by a bunch of drunk slobs for 93 minutes, but the characters in Martha are so funny and entertaining, I was hooked immediately. I was also skeptical that the movie wouldn’t be funny for non-Danes, but I was also wrong since Martha is an example of a perfect old school European comedy that anyone can enjoy, and the characters and storyline are universally understood. The cinematography is also wonderful – with great shots of the sea, the ship, and port towns. The whole movie felt like it was filmed out at sea. I don’t know if they filmed any scenes on a set because even the indoor shots felt like they were at sea. Martha’s impressive direction by Erik Balling makes me want to seek out more movies from this director.

The Danish Region B Blu-ray from Nordisk Film Distribution is nearly reference quality for a film from 1967. Martha was my first Danish Blu-ray so I really didn’t know what to expect, but after viewing this Blu-ray, I reminded myself that Scandinavia is, after all, known for producing quality products! I’m happy to report that this cult-comedy classic has received full respect regarding the Blu-ray video and audio quality. The 1080p 1.66:1 image looks amazing! With a slight touch of grain, the print is spotlessly clean and its sun-baked scenes of the ship out to sea excel with an impressive level of crisp detail. Color saturation and blacks look great too. The Danish DTS-HD 2.0 sounds as wonderful as this type of mix can sound. Dialogue is absolutely clear and the realistic ship sounds and catchy music never overwhelm the dialogue. Even with a front-heavy 2.0 mix, the audio still felt immersive and I felt like a passenger on the ship. The English subtitles were perfectly translated and a Danish DD 2.0 audio choice, as well as Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian subtitles are also included. No extras are on this Blu-ray.

Martha is a great Danish comedy and makes one want to go sailing on any kind of ship – a cruise ship or even a beat-up rusty one. Even though this film would make a nice double feature with The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Martha feels so much more special than Wes Anderson’s film. Released on an impressive quality Blu-ray, I highly recommend you all to check out Denmark’s Martha!

March 20, 2012
Categories: M . Tags: , . Author: toddly6666 . Comments: Leave a comment

99 FRANCS dvd review

Canada NTSC Region 1 dvd

Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1

French: Dolby Digital 5.1, DD 2.0 Stereo

Subtitles: English

IMDB

MOVIE: 9

VIDEO QUALITY: 7.5

AUDIO QUALITY: 8.5

ENGLISH SUBTITLES: 10

EXTRAS: 6

 

For anyone that wants to see if Jean Dujardin is the real deal after winning the Best Actor award for The Artist, check out Jan Kounen’s 99 Francs – one of the best French films from 2007. Based on the cult-classic French book by Frederic Beigbeder, 99 Francs is the perfect film to be double-featured with David Fincher’s Fight Club. The coincidences between the two movies are absolutely eerie. Both novels by Beigbeder and Chuck Palahniuk are cult classics that criticize society’s obsession with consumerism and advertising. Jan Kounen is the French version of David Fincher – their creative style of filmmaking is basically the same. And both films star leading men – Pitt, Norton, and Dujardin – who create extraordinary performances that most leading men actors could not pull off so well.

99 Francs is about Octave (Jean Dujardin), an obnoxious advertising executive who works for a famous advertising company. Octave is so successful at his job that he’s the type of person that could create advertisements for plain pieces of paper and make millions. He is rich, successful, loves cocaine, and loves his job. But once he finds out that his girlfriend Sophie (Vahina Giocante) is pregnant, his lifestyle and perception of the world around him changes. Unable to deal with the reality of pregnancy, his life goes from one extreme to another. His job becomes a joke to him, realizing that advertising just seems totally ridiculous, especially challenged when he’s in charge of creating an advertising campaign for a new yogurt called “Madone” (which is obviously parodying “Danone”). Just like in Fight Club, 99 Francs is a visually creative and intense movie filled with unique special effects and camera tricks that builds up to an unpredictable explosive climax.

I’m very thankful for Canadian DVDs to consistently release French movies with English subtitles when their French DVD counterparts do not have English subs. This Canadian DVD of 99 Francs is currently the only English-subtitled version of 99 Francs out there. I wish I could say that the DVD has awesome quality for such a visually spectacular film, but it’s not so. The video quality does suffer more than the audio. The anamorphic 2.35:1 image is not going to be impressive on big HDTVs. While the rich colors are reproduced perfectly, the image is plagued by a somewhat blurry transfer. While not at as distracting or annoying as an interlaced DVD, the video quality should have been much better, especially for this type of film. The good news is that we are not alone – I thought that non-French speakers were being screwed, but actually, everyone got screwed – I read online that the non-subtitled DVD/Blu-ray versions from France also have poor video quality. With that in mind, the DVD is totally acceptable. Even if Dujardin’s Oscar win improves the chance of an English-subtitled Blu-ray from North America, UK, or Australia, I won’t be surprised if the transfer will be pulled from the French Blu-ray master. Instead of waiting ages for a better hypothetical Blu-ray version of this film, this Canadian DVD is worth the money. 99 Francs is such a good film, you’ll forget about the faults of the video quality as you watch this film.

The French Dolby Digital 5.1 is fortunately better than the video quality. The audio is a perfect mix, mainly focusing on front speakers with absolute clarity and depth. Surround speakers are mainly used for atmosphere. Subwoofer is generously used throughout the film as well. 99 Francs is the type of film that would have benefited from a DTS track, but overall, the DD 5.1 is quite good.

English subtitles are perfectly translated.

Non-French speakers will unfortunately miss out on the two commentaries and documentary because they don’t have English subtitles.

For anyone that is disgusted with advertising nowadays, 99 Francs is the movie that breaks down the absurdity of it all. Fans of Jean Dujardin and Fight Club must check out this movie, but I recommend 99 Francs to everyone!

March 13, 2012
Categories: 0-9 . Tags: , , . Author: toddly6666 . Comments: 10 Comments

VIVA MARIA! blu-ray review

Australia Region B blu-ray

1080p Widescreen 2:35.1

French: Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles: English (non-removable)

IMDB

MOVIE: 8

VIDEO QUALITY: 8

AUDIO QUALITY: 7.5

ENGLISH SUBTITLES: 10

EXTRAS: 1

 

Viva Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau – two of the hottest French actresses of the 1960s! Viva Maria! is an underrated film that I had only heard of after I watched Louis Malle’s wacky Zazie Dans Le Metro a couple of months ago. After watching Zazie, I was impressed with Malle’s successful style of pulling off a fun and crazy film.  I have always associated Louis Malle as being a serious director – known for dramas such as Au Revoir Les Enfants, My Dinner With Andre, Elevator to the Gallows, Vanya on 42nd Street, The Lovers, and Atlantic City. With the experimental Zazie fresh in my mind, I learned that Malle had made another exciting and zany film, but this time it was more of a mainstream popcorn film – Viva Maria! I read some mixed reviews and watched a trailer. I don’t know about others, but the following keywords add up to my kind of movie: Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau in Bandidas mode (the movie starring Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek), striptease, IRA, western, traveling circus, slapstick, sex, explosions, action, musical, Mexican revolution, crazy Mexican dictators, Gatlin gun, and a custom-made curved gun. I’m sold! After watching the trailer a couple of months ago, I thought to myself that this movie was made for Blu-ray, but there was only a DVD available. To my surprise, I just discovered last week that an Australian Blu-ray of Viva Maria! was released last week!

Viva Maria! is proof that Louis Malle could make a mainstream action film. Don’t look for depth and an amazing story in this film, which can be found in Malle’s other films. Viva Maria! is just an entertaining adventure of two sexy French ladies. Maria 1 (Bardot) grows up tough with an IRA extremist father blowing up British places as often as possible. By the time she’s a teenager, the British govt. has wanted posters of both her and her father posted all around England. With her weaponry and bomb-making skills, Maria 1 escapes England and hides with a traveling circus in Mexico. Maria 1 meets striptease performer Maria 2 (Moreau) and instantly become friends. Moreau teaches Bardot how to act, sing, dance, and love. Bardot teaches Moreau how to fight. Maria & Maria become a striptease duo sensation as they travel around Mexico. They only take a break from super stardom to help a village fight off some Mexican dictators. As silly as it sounds to see Bardot, Moreau, and their circus troupe fight a whole army with magic tricks, bombs and a Gatling gun, the movie’s wackiness works. With the right mixture of drama and humor, Viva Maria! comes across as a black comedy which could be remade by someone like Emir Kusturica (a director who loves to mix misfits and comedy into war situations).

I never had the DVD version of Viva Maria! but after looking at DVD screencaps online, this Australian Blu-ray is a big upgrade regarding video quality. This doesn’t mean that the video quality has no faults: the 1080p 2.35:1 image has scratches and dirt that show up here and there, the colors are a bit inconsistent at times, blacks aren’t handled that great (literally – in a quick scene with African soldiers, the detail of their faces are lost under the shadows of their hats and their faces become blurry shadows. This wouldn’t be a big deal if it was a night scene, but this was during a bright day scene), and long shots look sometimes like an upconverted DVD. With the negative out of the way, the majority of this Blu-ray still feels like a Blu-ray. Medium shots and close-ups look impressive with detail, clarity and sharpness. I don’t remember any shot of Bardot and Moreau being ruined by poor Blu-ray remastering. George Hamilton’s face looked plastic, but I’m not sure if that’s because he is plastic man or if there is a hint of DNR on this Blu-ray. The beginning of the movie has questionable video quality, but as the movie progresses, video quality improves. I was afraid that I had wasted money on an upconverted DVD as I watched the first scenes, but as the film ended, I was pretty satisfied with this Blu-ray. The disc has all the benefits of being a high-definition Blu-ray – sharp, crisp, and clear characteristics – but no one bothered to do a better job of cleaning up the dirt, scratches, and colors.

The French DD 2.0 is nothing special – just expect a decent old school audio track found on a DVD. Although the track isn’t some spiffed-up lossless audio track, the dialogue is pretty clear with no distortion, musical scenes sound very nice, and subwoofer and speakers fortunately show a little power during gunfire and explosions. The majority of the film is in French. When English is spoken, the English subtitles don’t pop up. And when Spanish is spoken, English subtitles pop up.

The only extra is a trailer and the non-removable English subtitles for the film are excellent. I only noticed one spelling mistake.

Louis Malle’s Viva Maria! is a highly rewatchable action film with funny and sexy performances by Bardot and Moreau. Although Bardot is known as the more traditional beauty, I think that Moreau is much more attractive with a similar face and body language to Italy’s Monica Bellucci. As beat-up as this Blu-ray may seem, watch the Blu-ray and then look at DVD screencaps online to see what a big difference this Blu-ray makes. I can’t imagine the UK or USA releasing this on Blu-ray anytime soon, so I definitely recommend this Blu-ray!

March 12, 2012
Categories: V . Tags: , , , . Author: toddly6666 . Comments: Leave a comment

DIK TROM blu-ray review

Holland Region-free blu-ray

1080p Widescreen 2.35:1

Dutch: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Subtitles: English

IMDB

 

MOVIE: 8

VIDEO QUALITY: 10

AUDIO QUALITY: 9

ENGLISH SUBTITLES: 10

EXTRAS: 0

 

Dik Trom is not about dicks or anything sexual, which is unexpected for a Dutch film. Quite the opposite, Dik Trom is a charming PG-rated family film that is entertaining for children as well as adults. Based on children’s books by Cornelis Johannes Kieviet released in the early 1900s, this 2010 movie marks the eighth movie adaptation of Dik Trom. The director tries to get the message across that it’s okay to be fat if you are physically active and it’s okay to be a thin health-obsessed person if you eat junky food once in a while. The message is nothing new, but the movie is delivered in quite an entertaining visual spectacle! Imagine a mish-mash of George Miller’s Babe movies, Lass Hallstrom’s Chocolat, Tim Burton and Dr. Seuss – that’s Dik Trom!

Dik Trom, translated to Chubby Drums, is the name of the cherubic boy who’s the star of the movie. Dik is a pretty happy kid with two plump parents who love him dearly and feed him tasty food nonstop. Dik’s father is a very popular street food vendor (famous for selling hot dogs) in the town of Fatville. At a local sports competition, restaurant bigwigs offer Dik’s father a chance to show off his talent in an empty restaurant in the town of Thinville. The only catch is that if his restaurant doesn’t succeed after a month, he’ll have to close shop and go back to being a street food vendor. The Trom family packs their bags and head to Thinville which is like a town populated with families straight out of Michael Bay’s The Island. All dressed in very light shades, the townsfolk of Thinville constantly exercise to an extreme. Everyone is jogging in the street, using their treadmills on their porches, elementary school students sit at stationary bike desks, etc. At this point, we have entered Dr. Seuss land! The Trom family thinks that they can run a successful restaurant with ease until they realize that townsfolk are not only exercise fanatics but they are also health food freaks. Supermarkets are carb-free and meatless with aisles and aisles of fruit, vegetables, and water! The Trom family not only have a hard time figuring out how to get people into their restaurant, but they also have to deal with the town’s workout guru Sonja Slager who inspired the whole town to follow this health-obsessed madness as well as personal trainer Dolf who runs a popular gym next to the restaurant. Both Sonja and Dolf want the Trom’s restaurant to fail but they have a tougher time than they thought to rid the town of the Troms!

The Dutch Region-free Blu-ray is quite impressive. The 2.35:1 1080p is reference quality. The video is absolutely spotless. Colors are vivid and bright with no smearing whatsoever. The video is totally sharp and well contrasted. This is one of those movies where you feel like you have to wear sunglasses because the video is so three-dimensional and bright (but bright as in the director’s style of filming, not as a fault of the Blu-ray). The Dutch DTS-HD 5.1 is also excellent. Not quite reference quality as the video, but still very impressive. Dialogue is mixed slightly lower than sound effects and music, so there were times where I had to reach for the remote to monitor the volume. This mix makes pretty good use of all speakers and subwoofer. The English subtitles are perfect and the non-subtitled extras are a Making of, Casting of the child actors, a Flash mob dance promoting the film in a Holland mall, and a trailer to the movie.

Dik Trom is a visually spectacular family film worth seeing. I’ve been pretty disappointed with recent European films that are marketed only for their native country, but Dik Trom is the type of film that could be successful if it was marketed outside of the Netherlands. If you check out this excellent Blu-ray, I guarantee that you will be hungry while watching this cute film!

March 2, 2012
Categories: D . Tags: . Author: toddly6666 . Comments: Leave a comment

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