Good Night, and Good Luck. (Icon) (2004)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio & Animation Menu Audio Audio Commentary-George Clooney (Director/Actor/Screenwriter) & Grant Heslov Featurette-Cast & Crew (15:27)
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	89:03
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	George Clooney
Studio Distributor	Icon Entertainment	Starring	George Clooney Jeff Daniels Robert Downey Jr David Strathairn Alex Borstein Rose Abdoo Peter Martin Christoph Luty Jeff Hamilton Matt Catingub Tate Donovan
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Cole Porter

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes, all the time!
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    You may or may not be aware that the Dendy films back catalogue has moved distributor in Australia from Magna Pacific to Icon. As part of this move many films are being re-released on DVD by Icon. Some of these titles are being released on Blu-ray for the first time. Some of the standard definition releases are exactly the same as their Magna Pacific forebears and others have some changes. In this case, Good Night & Good Luck, the film was originally released by Magna Pacific in 2006 and reviewed by us here . This disc is very similar to the previous Magna Pacific release although one small but important detail has been improved with English for the hearing impaired subtitles being added to the previous release. I know some of our regular readers will be happy to see this. The extras are the same (unless you count dropping the trailers for other films included on the previous release). The film has also been released locally by Icon on Blu-ray and you can find our recent review of that here .

    The previous review by Rob Giles gives a good rundown of the film's plot which does not need to be repeated here.

    I concur with the opinions expressed about the film by Rob and the more recent Blu-ray review by Ray Nyland. This is a very well made film with a great atmosphere, excellent acting (David Strathairn is superb), wonderful black & white cinematography which highlights great details and makes the show intense and personal plus some wonderful Cole Porter jazz from the marvellous Dianne Reeves.

    In my opinion, this re-release is worthwhile due to it being the first time subtitles have been available. This may not be enough to make you upgrade if you have the previous edition but is certainly worth considering if you do not.

    Those who get annoyed by such things should note that an unskippable anti-piracy message is included.

Video

    The feature is presented in 1.78:1. It is 16x9 enhanced widescreen. This is the close to the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1.

    The picture was clear and sharp throughout. Shadow detail was excellent.

    The black & white cinematography comes up trumps on the transfer with excellent contrast.

    I noticed some minor MPEG compression artefacts here and there but nothing alarming.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. They are clear and easy to read.

    The layer change was not noticeable during playback and as the test disc would not work in my DVD-ROM drive I could not pinpoint it.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio is very good.

    This DVD contains three audio track, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448Kb/s, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s plus the commentary in Dolby Digital 2.0 encoded at 192 Kb/s. I noticed that this soundtrack was generally quieter than most but once the volume was turned up it performed quite well.

    Dialogue was mostly clear and easy to understand although the subtitles were helpful. I think this is driven by the original material rather than some issue with the transfer.

    The jazz interludes by Dianne Reeves were wonderful and come across well on the soundtrack.

    The surround speakers were not used.

    The subwoofer was used for adding bass to the music only.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu includes music and motion which helps to bring you into the world of the film.

Commentary - George Clooney & Grant Heslov

    The same commentary as was on the previous release is included. Despite being  little too droll for my liking, this commentary is worth a listen for fans of the film. Technical detail is covered in addition to some anecdotes and information about the times.

Cast & Crew Featurette (15:27)

    Non 16x9 enhanced. Interviews with cast & crew along with the actual people who appear as characters in the film. They discuss the situation portrayed, the characters and their sources. George Clooney also discusses his father.

    The Region 1 version adds French & Spanish subtitles plus a Theatrical Trailer but little else. No reason to go past the new Region 4.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio is very good.

    Two quality extras are included.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall