GoodFellas

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General		Extras
Category	Gangster	Theatrical Trailer(s)	Yes, 2
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1990	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	139 minutes	Other Extras	Cast & Crew Biographies Production Notes
RSDL/Flipper	Flipper (69:39)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Movie
Region	4	Director	Martin Scorsese
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Robert De Niro Ray Liotta Joe Pesci Lorraine Bracco Paul Sorvino
Case	Snapper
RRP	$29.95	Music

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Dolby Digital	5.1
16x9 Enhancement	No	Soundtrack Languages	English (Dolby Digital 5.1) French (Dolby Digital 2.0 ) Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
Macrovision	Yes
Subtitles	English French Dutch Italian Spanish Portuguese Arabic English for the Hearing Impaired Italian for the Hearing Impaired

    I find it difficult to describe the plot for this movie in any more detail - this is a movie that needs to be experienced rather than explained. It is epic, and brutal, and it will invoke emotions in you of sadness, anger, and despair. It is told in a very narrative style, almost like a documentary at times.

Video

    The transfer was surprisingly sharp and clear, though it was quite obvious that there was significantly less resolution than a 16x9 enhanced disc. This was most obvious during vertical pans, where line structure was clearly visible. 16x9 enhanced discs do not show any line structure at any time on my display device. The overall brightness of the transfer is quite low - in fact I felt that the peak white level on this transfer was probably set a little bit too low. I would advise either turning up the contrast to watch this movie, or watching this movie in darkness. Shadow detail was a little lacking compared with contemporary transfers, but was quite satisfactory nonetheless. No low level noise was apparent.

    The colours were variable in their saturation. The darker scenes tended to be oversaturated, but in more normal lighting conditions the colour saturation was spot on. This is more a characteristic of the film stock used to shoot this movie rather than a characteristic of the transfer, but it was somewhat irritating nonetheless.

    Some slight pixelization was apparent during some of the still frames. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of moderate amounts of aliasing on the typical aliasing culprits; car chrome and venetian blinds. This was worse than would be expected from the best 16x9 enhanced transfers, but remained quite acceptable at all times. Film artefacts were quite troublesome, especially early on in the film but these settled down during the transfer. There is a large vertical scratch in the movie on Side B, from 4.01 to 4.08 which is right in the middle of the frame and extends the full height of the frame. A few minutes later, there are a number of brief large vertical scratches visible as well, but these are not particularly bothersome.

    This disc is a flipper, with the side change occurring at 69:39. This is badly placed in the midst of some very intense on-screen action, and is very disruptive to the flow of the movie. RSDL formatting would have been preferred enormously with this movie.

Audio

    Dialogue was almost always clear and easy to understand, though I missed a few words here and there. This was probably as much due to the thick New York accents being used rather than because of any dialogue level problem.

    There were no audio sync problems.

    The music is comprised of standards of the appropriate era and a symphonic score. It is frequently present and adds nicely to the ambience of the movie.

     The surround channels were reasonably frequently in use, albeit only with music, and rarely with a special effect such as a gunshot. I did not detect any split surround effects whatsoever. Overall, the soundtrack was not particularly enveloping, but neither was it all front-and-centre.

    The .1 channel was used moderately for music and occasional special effects.

Menu

Theatrical Trailer

Production Notes

Cast & Crew Biographies

    The video quality is surprisingly good for a non-16x9 transfer. There are some minor issues with the overall brightness of the movie being a little low, darkly rendered scenes being a little oversaturated with colour and with some areas where film artefacts are problematic, but there is nothing about this disc which should preclude you from purchasing it if you like the movie, unless you are a die hard hater of flippers.

    The audio quality is surprisingly good, though not at all as enveloping as current soundtracks tend to be.

    The extras are very limited.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Michael Demtschyna
10th March 1999