Bottle Shock (2008) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Comedy Drama |
Main Menu Audio Deleted Scenes Featurette-Chateau Melamont Winery |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2008 | ||
Running Time | 107:23 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (55:13) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Randall Miller |
Studio
Distributor |
Freestyle Releasing Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Chris Pine Alan Rickman Bill Pullman Rachael Taylor Freddy Rodríguez Dennis Farina Eliza Dushku |
Case | Amaray Variant | ||
RPI | ? | Music | Mark Adler |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 2.40:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | Yes | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
The Judgement of Paris was a blind competitive tasting, held just outside of Paris in 1976, in which some of the most highly regarded French wine experts controversially ranked a series of Californian wines significantly ahead of comparable French drops. The Judgement sparked a fundamental shift in the popular thinking about wine. Seemingly overnight, there was no longer unquestioned blanket acceptance among the general public that French wines were the best and the market became much more willing to embrace wines from all over the world, particularly California.
Bottle Shock is an ensemble dramedy that loosely tells the story of the Californian wine industry in the lead up to the Judgement of Paris by presenting a heavily fictionalised tale of the then-struggling family owned Chateau Montelena winery and the efforts of Stephen Spurrier (Alan Rickman at his snootiest) to attract Californian competitors for the Judgement of Paris.
The key players in this ensemble are:
Both the script and direction of Bottle Shock are clumsy at best, and downright disjointed and illogical at worst. I'd like to put the faults in the story down to a desire to keep true to history, although this is purportedly far from the case as some of the key figures depicted in the film have gone to lengths to point out how little of the story has any basis on fact.
Further hampering enjoyment of the film is Bill Pullman's leading character, Jim Barrett. The story is constructed in such a way that the emotion of the story all hinges on his successes, but the man is so self-centred and pretentious that he is absolutely impossible to like. I would have much rather see the character die penniless in a ditch than have a mere moment of success.
Excellent performances from the cast, most notably Chris Pine, make up for these faults to a large degree and the solid ensemble carry the film to the best of their abilities. Ultimately, the film is enjoyable enough to pass an evening but could have been so much more under skilled hands.
The film is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, which appears to be an open matte of the theatrical 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.
The picture looks to have been fairly crudely telesynced from a print in good condition. The image is fairly soft and features noticeable edge enhancement throughout. The colour palette is unevenly washed out and many of the colours look a little brighter than they should be should be, with blacks looking like dark greys and whiter areas lacking contrast.
There are no obvious compression issues in the video. One or two tiny flecks of dust are noticeable, but there are no substantial film artefacts in the video.
The film features English subtitles for the hearing impaired. Based on the portion I sampled, they appear to be reasonably well timed and accurate.
This is a RSDL disc, though the layer change is not noticeable.
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Overall |
The film features English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 Kbps) and 2.0 (224 Kbps) tracks as well as an English Descriptive Audio 2.0 Dolby Digital (224 Kbps) track.
The mix is a little flat and muddy, and consequently the dialogue occasionally requires particular attention to follow, but it is well synchronised to the video.
The film features a reasonably effective, but wholly forgetable, orchestral score from composer Mark Adler.
The surrounds are put to modest use, mainly by subtle environmental effects, although the mix is fairly front-heavy. The subwoofer lies dormant for the bulk of the film, underutilised even by the standard you would generally expect from this kind of dramedy.
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Overall |
Eventually, the disc opens to a static menu featuring background audio, but only after an annoying anti-piracy clip (which can be skipped) and 7:26 minutes of trailers. Very frustrating.
A handful of deleted scenes, most of which look like they'd have been cut for timing reasons more than anything else, each with a bit of text putting them in context with where in the film they belong. Presented in a a squashed-looking aspect close to 2.40:1.
A mildly interesting infomercial for the Chateau Montelena winery in California, around whose exploits the film centers, as of the present day. The featurette tells some interesting history, but comes across as a sales pitch more than anything else.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The US Region 1 edition of the film is presented in the correct aspect ratio and features an additional making of featurette. A clear winner for Region 1.
A pretentious, clumsily made ensemble dramedy about the coming of age of the Californian wine industry, saved to an extent by some quality performances.
The film has been given a mediocre video transfer and a slightly muddy audio transfer. The disc has only a couple of forgetable extras.
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Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Sony Playstation 3, using HDMI output |
Display | Samsung 116cm LA46M81BD. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL). |
Audio Decoder | Pioneer VSX2016AVS. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Pioneer VSX2016AVS |
Speakers | 150W DTX front speakers, 100W centre and 4 surround/rear speakers, 12 inch PSB Image 6i powered sub |