Forces of Nature (1999) |
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Forces of Nature (1999) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Comedy |
Main Menu Audio Featurette-Behind-The-Scenes Deleted Scenes Theatrical Trailer |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 1999 | ||
| Running Time | 101:34 (Case: 106) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (57:00) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Language Select Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Bronwen Hughes |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Universal Pictures Home Video |
Starring |
Sandra Bullock Ben Affleck Maura Tierney Steve Zahn Blythe Danner Ronny Cox |
| Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
| RPI | $36.95 | Music | John Powell |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
 |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English for the Hearing Impaired Dutch Swedish Norwegian Danish Finnish |
Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
As he waits for the plane to take off he meets Sarah (Sandra Bullock) a free-spirited woman who challenges his safe, conservative ways. Now fate really begins to take over, as during take off, one of the plane's engines digests a seagull with dramatic effect. The plane fails to take off and instead runs off the end of the runway and into a large billboard. Luckily no one is seriously hurt but Sarah is knocked unconscious and is carried by Ben to the terminal for treatment. She is, of course, very grateful for Ben's help and while they are talking it is revealed that she too is heading to Savannah. The incident has so shaken Ben that he will not even entertain the thought of catching another plane and instead decides to hire a car and drive. Due to the crash, no aircraft can leave the airport and so everyone has the same idea which leaves Ben and Sarah without any chance of getting a car. Sarah finds a man who has managed to get a vehicle and who is willing to take them with him to Savannah. So begins Ben's turbulent but life-changing journey to the altar.
This film is a light-hearted romantic comedy that is solid, unchallenging viewing. This is the sort of film you watch on a lazy day when all you want to do is relax. It managed to raise a few hearty laughs from me and I didn't once check to see how much time remained.
The sharpness of this transfer is good but is a little less impressive than some of the other Dreamworks discs released recently, particularly The Haunting. Nevertheless, there is a pleasing level of detail revealed throughout the film. Edge enhancement has been used and examples of this can be seen at 13:05-13:10 and 13:31-13:38.
This is a high contrast film and while the black level is excellent the amount of shadow detail is reduced because of this. I didn't however find this annoying as the the actors never refer to anything that could not be resolved nor was there a scene in which an object in shadow was the main focus of attention.
The colour saturation of this film is very high but this is not a problem with the transfer - rather, it is a deliberate choice on the part of the filmmakers. Skin tones are slightly variable with them having an orange look for a lot of the film. See 10:56-12:46, 13:05-13:17 and 40:23-40:36 for good examples of this. This transfer also has sections which are dull and lifeless. An example of this can be found at 8:45-9:54 which is a scene that takes part outside the airport.
MPEG artefacts are a minor problem at times and take the form of pixelization. I've noted three examples of pixelization all of which are minor but noticeable nonetheless. See 18:14-18:27, 18:50-18:54 and 19:06-19:40. Film grain is generally fine, see 17:58-18:27 for an example, but during 19:53-19:55 the grain is very pronounced. The good news is that this example is only visible for approximately 2 seconds.
I found several occurrences of film-to-video artefacts but none were obvious enough to annoy me. There are two film-to-video artefacts; aliasing and moiré effects. Examples of aliasing are located at 4:26-6:08, 13:17-13:19, 26:26-26:35 and 80:42-80:46. Examples of moiré effects can be found at 30:38-31:06 and 32:52-33:04.
Film artefacts are present throughout but are generally small and unobtrusive.
This is an RSDL disc with the layer change occurring at 57:00. Eek! This layer change is placed right in the middle of a scene when Bridget stands up while talking with her parents.
| Sharpness |  |
| Shadow Detail |  |
| Colour | |
| Grain/Pixelization | |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall | |
There are no problems with this soundtrack but nothing to get excited about either.
All dialogue is clear and easy to understand with no sign of sync problems.
The score on this film is by John Powell, who has crafted an appropriate and sometimes quirky score which is well featured by this transfer. It always has a presence in the surrounds which helps keep you involved in the movie. A good example of this can be found at 9:49-10:55.
The surround channels also carry ambient sounds with examples of this available at 15:53-16:27, 22:45-23:39, 34:06-34:12 and 34:14-35:10. Split channel effects are present but are subtle and infrequent. I've noted three examples for you to sample. Go to 14:17-15:26, 25:44-25:46 and 82:27-82:37.
The subwoofer is used effectively to support the score and in a lesser role to support some of the ambient sounds such as the storm. I've noted a number of examples of its use supporting the score. These examples can be heard at 8:32-08:47, 17:25-17:33, 19:42-20:00 and 34:27-34:50.
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
| Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
| Surround Channel Use | |
| Subwoofer | |
| Overall | |
The video quality of this featurette is good although some pixelization is evident.
The audio appears to have the surround flag set although in this mode, my receiver only passed information to the centre channel. In stereo mode a fuller sound was revealed but no stereo effects were noted.
This section contains scenes that are essentially slight re-works of scenes that appear in the film. Four scenes are featured:
The audio quality is acceptable although the fidelity of the sound is lacking and some minor hiss is evident.
The video quality is very good and is almost on par with the film itself.
The sound quality is also good with no distortion or other problems noted.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on:
The video transfer is good although some may find the higher than normal contrast and exaggerated colours off-putting.
The audio transfer is also good if unremarkable.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Loewe Xemix 5006DD, using RGB output |
| Display | Grundig MW82-50/8. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Denon AVR-2801 |
| Speakers | Mains and Rears: Tannoy Mercury M1. Centre: Tannoy Mercury MC. Subwoofer: Aaton SUB-120. |