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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.
Good Night, and Good Luck. (Blu-ray) (2004)

Good Night, and Good Luck. (Blu-ray) (2004)

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Released 1-Dec-2009

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Drama None
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 2004
Running Time 92:53
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By George Clooney
Studio
Distributor
Warner Vision
Icon Entertainment
Starring David Strathairn
George Clooney
Patricia Clarkson
Jeff Daniels
Robert Downey Jr
Frank Langella
Case ?
RPI $29.95 Music None Given


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080i
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired Smoking Yes, Constantly
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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

Plot Synopsis

    Good Night, and Good Luck is George Clooney's second film as director and an impressive film it is. In 1954 one courageous journalist and one television program was prepared to believe that the witch-hunt being conducted by Senator Joseph McCarthy against so-called Communist sympathisers was an abuse of power and process. But the big outside world is only shown through original news footage; instead Good Night, and Good Luck is a focussed, intimate look at the workings of a CBS television current affairs program. Good Night, and Good Luck has been released previously on DVD and reviewed on this site here so I will not go into the plot here.

     What the film does well is to show the suspicion and fear engendered by the McCarthy Senate Committee. It does this by remaining focussed, concentrating almost exclusively upon the news team in their setting at CBS. Indeed, except for a couple of scenes between husband and wife Joe and Shirley Wershba (Robert Downey Jnr and Patricia Clarkson), the location is either CBS or a local bar. This gives the film a closed in, almost claustrophobic feel, enhanced by the stunning black and white photography of Robert Elswit and the constant haze of cigarette smoke that "filters" the camera lenses. The dialogue enhances the feeling of intimacy - we are placed into the middle of meetings, half heard conversations, snatches of dialogue as team members talk around and between each other. There is also no score as such, just soulful musical interludes sung by Dianne Reeves that segregate scenes, further enhancing the intimate nature of the film. As the film's anchor, David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow is simply brilliant. He is natural and totally believable. We are given very little of his background story so it is a credit to Strathairn that we are with him all the way. He dominates the film and although George Clooney (Fred Friendly), Jeff Daniels (Sig Mickelson), Ray Wise (Don Hollenbeck) Robert Downey Jnr (Joe Wershba) and Frank Langella as CBS owner William Paley are given individuality, it is Strathairn, the stunning camerawork and the intelligent script by George Clooney and Grant Heslov that are the standouts.

     Good Night, and Good Luck is an important film that has continues to have resonance and relevance far beyond 1950s America. It reminds us that money and influence, and the impact of powerful advertisers and media manipulators, can be as readily abused now as then. We can only hope there are modern day Morrow's capable of challenging the rich and powerful on behalf of us all.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    Good Night, and Good Luck is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. The original theatrical ratio was 1.85:1. The black and white image is superb. It is sharp with crystal clarity - every wrinkle, every hair is there to see. Shadow detail, the greys, the contrasts are fine; the white on the faces in the camera is luminous in its intensity. There are no obvious artefacts or other problems. A wonderful print.

English for the Hearing Impaired are the only subtitles.

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

Audio

    English DTS HD MA 5.1 is the only audio option. It is not really tested as Good Night, and Good Luck is very much a dialogue driven film. There is only minor crowd noise in the surrounds and the sub is not used - but there is nothing to use it on anyway, so this is not a problem. Audio sync is fine although some of the dialogue can be hard to hear, especially from Patricia Clarkson and in the team scenes. The latter seems a deliberate choice with a number of voices speaking at once.

There is no score as such but a number of live numbers that segment the scenes in the newsroom and add mood effectively to the film.

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

Extras

Nothing

R4 vs R1

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

    The Region A Blu-ray seems to have the same superb video as Region B. In addition, Region A has an audio commentary by George Clooney and co-writer Grant Heslov and a Making Of Featurette. These extras were included in the previous R4 DVD release, so it is a surprise that they are not included on this Blu-ray.

Summary

    The Region A Blu-ray seems to have the same superb video as Region B. In addition, Region A has an audio commentary by George Clooney and co-writer Grant Heslov and a Making Of Featurette. These extras were included in the previous R4 DVD release, so it is a surprise that they are not included on this Blu-ray.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S350, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 42inch Hi-Def LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE