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