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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.
Intersection (1994)

Intersection (1994)

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Released 7-Aug-2002

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Drama None
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1994
Running Time 94:28
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Language Select Then Programme
Region Coding 4 Directed By Mark Rydell
Studio
Distributor

Paramount Home Entertainment
Starring Richard Gere
Sharon Stone
Lolita Davidovich
Case ?
RPI $39.95 Music James Newton Howard


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles Greek
English
Spanish
French
Hebrew
Croatian
Italian
Portuguese
Slovenian
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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

Plot Synopsis

    Intersection is essentially the story of the lives of three people and their relationships with one another. Richard Gere is Vincent Eastman, a successful architect. He is separated from his wife Sally, played by Sharon Stone. Whilst they are separated, they are still in daily contact due to their partnership in their architectural firm and because of their daughter. The other woman in Vincent's life is Olivia Marshak, played with plenty of energy by Lolita Davidovich. The two women could not have more different personalities; Sally is cold and emotionless whereas Olivia is warm and an extrovert. Vincent is unable to make a commitment to Olivia and is uncertain of his true feelings towards his estranged wife.

    The story is played out in the present, however numerous flashbacks are used to show how the various characters have arrived at this point in their lives. To distinguish between the story elements occurring in the present and those in the past, the director has chosen to use colour to highlight the different time periods. Events occurring in the present have a slightly blue cast about them which gives the film an overall cold appearance, while those set in the past have an orange cast which provides a much warmer feel. The choice of colours is interesting and I presume the director, by choosing the bluish tones, is trying to emphasise the emotional turmoil and general dissatisfaction with their lives that is obviously felt by the various characters

    While the story is slowly paced, it does have a realistic feel to it and you are effectively drawn in to the character's lives. If you like stories that are character rather than action driven, then this is a movie for you.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    This is a very good transfer with no serious faults.

    The transfer has been presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. This aspect ratio is very close to the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1.

    There are no concerns with sharpness or shadow detail in this transfer. On two or three occasions some very minor edge enhancement was noted, however this could be easily overlooked by all but the most discerning viewers. There is no low level noise.

    The colour varies between quite a natural, if slightly warm, palette which is used for those scenes portraying past events in the lives of the main characters, and the cold, slightly blue-toned nature of the colours in those scenes set in the present. This effect was intentional on the part of the director to help distinguish between events occurring in the past and those of the present.

    No compression artefacts were evident. I don't recall seeing any film artefacts in the way of scratches or marks. A slight amount of film grain can be seen if you are looking closely although this is visible only occasionally rather than all the time. There is some obvious aliasing particularly early in the movie with a couple of very noticeable examples occurring at 5:50 and 8:20.

    I sampled about 15 minutes of the English subtitles which are displayed in large white text at the bottom of the image and are well synchronised with the dialogue. While not word perfect (there are minor word substitutions and the odd missing word), they are nevertheless sufficiently accurate.

    This is a single layered disc so there is no layer change to disrupt the movie.

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

Audio

    This is a good audio transfer which is quite adequate for telling the story but is devoid of any particularly distinguishing features.

    Whilst there are 4 audio tracks on the disc, I only listened to the English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.

    The dialogue was perfectly intelligible at all times and there were no problems with audio sync.

    The musical score by James Newton Howard is a quiet and unobtrusive piece that nicely complements the overall tone of the movie.

    For the most part, the surrounds are silent. On a few occasions they do come into play but even then their contribution to the overall soundfield is minimal. The original audio for this movie was produced in stereo and it appears only a very minor effort has been put into producing the Dolby Digital 5.1 track provided on this disc. Given the nature of the story, the lack of very active surround channels does not at all compromise the overall viewing experience.

    The audio design of this movie uses the subwoofer only subtly in support of the musical score and the car accident scene.

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

Extras

    No extras are provided.

Menu

    The menu is displayed in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced. There is neither animation nor audio.

R4 vs R1

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

     The Region 4 and Region 1 discs appear to be identical except for the inclusion of additional Dolby Digital 2.0 language tracks and subtitles on our disc. I'd personally pick the local disc for the superior PAL image.

Summary

    I enjoyed Intersection. It's a bit slow-paced, but the ending was worth waiting for in order to see the effect of the decisions made by Richard Gere's character on the two female characters.

    The video quality is very good but not quite of reference quality.

    The audio quality is good.

    They seem to have forgotten to put any extras on this DVD.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Peter Cole (Surely you've got something better to do than read my bio)
Wednesday, July 31, 2002
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-515, using S-Video output
DisplaySony VPL-VW11HT LCD Projector, ScreenTechnics 16x9 matte white screen (254cm). Calibrated with AVIA Guide To Home Theatre. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationYamaha RXV-995
SpeakersFront L&R - B&W DM603, Centre - B&W LCR6, Rear L&R - B&W DM602, Sub - Yamaha YST-SW300

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