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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.
Blue Sky (1992)

Blue Sky (1992)

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Released 13-Jun-2001

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Drama Theatrical Trailer
Trailer-My Best Friend's Wedding, Kramer vs. Kramer
Trailer-Men In Black, China Moon
TV Spots
Filmographies-Cast
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1992
Running Time 96:55
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Tony Richardson
Studio
Distributor

Sony Pictures Home Entertain
Starring Jessica Lange
Tommy Lee Jones
Powers Boothe
Carrie Snodgress
Amy Locane
Chris O'Donnell
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $36.95 Music Jack Nitzsche


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
French
German
Italian
Spanish
Dutch
Arabic
Bulgarian
Czech
Danish
Finnish
Greek
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Icelandic
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Swedish
Turkish
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes, end titles over car heading towards California

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

Plot Synopsis

    Blue Sky is about the love between two opposites being tested: straight-laced Army radiation expert Major Henry 'Hank' G. Marshall (Tommy Lee Jones) and his flirtatious, volatile wife Carly Marshall (Jessica Lange).

    Hank works for Project Blue Sky, a euphemistically-named atomic bomb research programme carried out by the US Army in sparsely inhabited areas in the 1950s.

    Carly is the sort of woman that's "... the reason men like women in the first place" - so says one of the characters later on in the film. She sunbathes topless on a beach knowing that Army helicopters will be flying overhead, she flirts outrageously with Army officers, uses Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe as role models, and has one mean temper when she doesn't get her way. You kind of get the feeling that she has caused Hank no end of trouble from her antics, has probably irretrievably damaged his career, and is probably the reason why he keeps getting transferred from base to base. Even her two daughters do not think highly of her.

    Despite all that, Hank still loves her and tolerates her wild ways. Their relationship in many ways is more like that of a father and his spoilt favourite daughter rather than that between a man and a woman.

    The latest transfer (resulting from the sunbathing incident) sees the Marshall family stationed in Alabama. Hank is under the command of Vince Johnson (Powers Boothe) who seems more interested in Carly than listening to Hank's growing concern about the dangers of above-ground nuclear testing. Vince's wife, Vera Johnson (Carrie Snodgress), befriends Carly and gets her to participate in an amateur stage production.

    One day an atomic blast accidentally irradiates two cowboys who have strayed into the testing ground. Hank's effort to stop the detonation when he spots the cowboys, and his subsequent attempts to get the Army to help the two cowboys, or even inform them what has happened, falls on deaf ears. In the meantime, Vince and Carly begins an adulterous affair.

    When Hank threatens to publicise the cover-up regarding the accidental exposure of the two cowboys, Vince manages to trick Carly into allowing Hank to be locked up and sedated under the guise of a mental breakdown. When Carly finally realises the truth, she tries to rescue Hank ...

    Despite its short length (96:55), this is a very slow-moving film and for the first 60 minutes nothing much happens. What happens in the last 30 minutes of the film is not really worth the wait. Despite being filmed in 1991, this film was not released until 1994 because of the bankruptcy of Orion Pictures. Jessica Lange picked up an Oscar for her performance in this film. It also features a very young Chris O'Donnell as Glenn Johnson.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

    This is a pretty much run-of-the-mill transfer, presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with 16x9 enhancement.

    Sharpness, shadow detail and colour balance are about average and in line with other films of the period. Minor Gibb's effect ringing permeates through the entire transfer and unfortunately has a habit of highlighting the moderate amount of grain present in the film stock.

    Other than the presence of grain, the film source is relatively clean.

    There are a fair number of subtitle tracks present on this disc, but I did not engage any of them.

    This is a single sided single layer disc.

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

Audio

    There are five audio tracks on this disc (English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish), all in Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded at 192 Kb/s. I listened to the English audio track.

    The audio track is fairly mediocre, with rolled-off high and low frequencies and comes across as somewhat tinny. Despite that, the dialogue quality is quite acceptable as I was able to decipher every line of dialogue, even during the scenes where Hank and Carly are barely whispering to one another. There are no audio synchronisation issues with this disc.

    The original music score by Jack Nitzsche is fairly unremarkable as I can't recall any particularly interesting bits of it.

    There are a number of scenes where the rear surround speakers are engaged (such as right at the beginning of the film which features a rear to centre speaker pan of the helicopter engines) but in general this is pretty much a dialogue-focused movie centred at the front of the screen. The subwoofer is never engaged.

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

Extras

    The extras on this disc are pretty basic, but at least are better than on the Region 1 version which only features a trailer.

Menu

    These are pretty boring and static, but are at least 16x9 enhanced.

Theatrical Trailer (2:02)

    This is presented in 1.33:1 (pan & scan?) with Dolby Digital 2.0

Trailer-My Best Friend's Wedding, Kramer vs. Kramer, Men In Black, China Moon

    This is a fairly mediocre selection of trailers:

Film Length (minutes) Aspect Ratio Audio Track
My Best Friend's Wedding 2:19 1.78:1 (with 16x9 enhancement) Dolby Digital 5.0
Kramer vs. Kramer 1:34 1.33:1 (pan & scan?) Dolby Digital 2.0
Men In Black 2:25 1.78:1 (with 16x9 enhancement) Dolby Digital 5.1
China Moon 1:30 2.35:1 (no 16x9 enhancement) Dolby Digital 2.0

TV Spots (2:13)

    This is a set of four TV spots presented one after another as separate chapters within a DVD title. All the trailers are presented in full frame format with Dolby Digital 2.0

Filmographies-Cast

    These are a set of stills detailing the filmographies for Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Lange.

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 version of this disc misses out on;

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

    The extras present on Region 4 are not that spectacular, but then I don't think a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track would have offered much more than a 2.0 surround track so I would rate neither version as superior, though if given a push I would be inclined to go for Region 4.

Summary

    Blue Sky is a boring film that somehow managed to win Jessica Lange an Oscar for Best Actress even though the film was released a number of years after it was completed. It is presented on a DVD with a so-so audio and video transfer and an unexciting collection of extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Christine Tham (read my biography)
Tuesday, July 17, 2001
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-626D, using Component output
DisplaySony VPL-VW10HT LCD Projector, ScreenTechnics 16x9 matte white screen (254cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationDenon AVR-3300
SpeakersFront and rears: B&W CDM7NT; centre: B&W CDMCNT; subwoofer: B&W ASW2500

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