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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Save Your Legs! (2012)

Save Your Legs! (2012)

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Released 17-Jul-2013

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy Featurette-Save Your Legs 2005 documentary
Audio Commentary-Cast and Crew
Featurette-Bound 4 India with Ted & Col
Theatrical Trailer
Trailer-Madman Progaganda x 4
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2012
Running Time 88:08
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Boyd Hicklin
Studio
Distributor

Madman Entertainment
Starring Stephen Curry
Brendan Cowell
Damon Gameau
David Lyons
Darshan Jariwala
Pallavi Sharda
Darren Gilshenan
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI ? Music Cornel Wilczek


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English (Burned In)
English for the Hearing Impaired
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     My colleague Ray reviewed this title on Blu-ray here and included a good summary of the plot and I broadly agree with his view of the film but not with the same level of enthusiasm.

     I should have been core audience for this film; I enjoy gentle Aussie humour, I enjoy watching cricket, play in the nets with my sons and found the concept interesting. Unfortunately, I found this film much more of a chore to get through that Ray did. It was especially disappointing after I had watched the original documentary which is an extra on this disc because despite being made cheaply it is much more entertaining that the feature film. So much of the feature film feels tacked on, the romantic sub-plot, making Ted more of a loser, the feel-good victory at the end that it spoils the joy of the documentary. The documentary focuses on a group of guys who will never be great cricketers, probably have no right to tour anywhere but did it anyway for the sheer enjoyment and mateship of the experience. The feature film loses this simple joy by tacking on too many extra storylines which are hard to believe and harder to wade through. This is a short film (under 90 minutes) that feels long, which is never a good thing.

     To be fair, there are certainly amusing moments and some worthwhile scenes and dialogue but these are outweighed by the issues I mentioned above.

     It is worth noting that this disc would not play in my Sony Blu-ray player which reported that it was an unknown format. It was fine in my Pioneer Blu-ray player and a Pioneer DVD player.

     I really wanted to like this film but struggled to get through it on first viewing. Watch the documentary instead.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     The video quality is very good, but has a few strange issues.

     The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced.

     The picture was very clear and sharp throughout for DVD. Shadow detail was very good.

     The colour is excellent showing the diversity and colour of India in all its glory.

     Strangely the picture seemed to be slightly not straight showing a black and white dotted line in the top left hand corner of the screen which got smaller towards the right of the screen. This was mildly distracting..

     There are English for the hearing impaired subtitles available and also burned in subtitles for foreign languages and accents.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio quality is good without showing off your home theatre.

     This disc contains an English soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1 and an audio commentary track Dolby Digital 2.0 track.

     Dialogue was mostly clear and easy to understand throughout.

     The score was combined with some Indian music (Bollywood style) and some other songs. It added to the feel and style of the film.

     The surround speakers were used mostly for atmosphere and music.

     The subwoofer was also used supporting the music.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

     A good selection of extras are included with the documentary being the highlight. The extras are the same as the Blu-ray version.

Menu

     The menu featured music and allowed for episode selection.

Audio Commentary - Main Cast & Crew

     A group commentary which is worth a listen covering a variety of trivia, jokes, cast, locations, plot and more. Entertaining but hardly essential.

Save Your Legs - Documentary (52:01)

     The absolute highlight of the disc is this original documentary about the actual tour. It has all the joy and fun of the real tour and entertains for its 50 minute run time. It is such a shame that the feel of this was not translated to the feature film.

Bound for India with Ted & Col (5:42)

     Extra scenes of the characters preparing for the tour in a chemist. Silly but mildly amusing.

Theatrical Trailer

Reversible Cover

Trailers

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    This film is not currently available in other regions.

Summary

    A missed opportunity to create a classic Aussie comedy.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is good.

    The extras are the highlight of the disc.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel Bruce (Do you need a bio break?)
Friday, September 20, 2013
Review Equipment
DVDSONY BDP-S760 Blu-ray, using HDMI output
DisplaySharp LC52LE820X Quattron 52" Full HD LED-LCD TV . Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderBuilt into amplifier. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationMarantz SR5005
SpeakersMonitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer

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