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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.
Blast from the Past (1998)
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Blast from the Past (1998)
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Released 13-Jun-2001
This review is sponsored by
Details At A Glance
| General |
Extras |
| Category |
Comedy |
Main Menu Audio & Animation
Dolby Digital Trailer-Aurora
Scene Selection Anim & Audio
Theatrical Trailer-2
Biographies-Cast & Crew
Interviews-Cast & Crew
Deleted Scenes
Featurette-B-Roll
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| Rating |
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Year Of Production
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1998
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| Running Time |
98:31
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RSDL
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Flipper
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RSDL (68:54)
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Cast & Crew |
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Start Up
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Menu |
| Region Coding |
4
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Directed By |
Hugh Wilson
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Studio
Distributor |
Roadshow Home Entertainment
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Starring |
Brendan Fraser
Alicia Silverstone
Christopher Walken
Sissy Spacek
Dave Foley
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| Case |
C-Button-Version 2 |
| RPI |
$34.95
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Music |
Steve Dorff
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NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.
Plot Synopsis
At the height of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, highly eccentric scientist/inventor Calvin Webber (Christopher Walken), believing that the Soviets were about to launch an attack, herds his pregnant wife Helen (Sissy Spacek) into his specially-built fallout shelter. But, this is no ordinary fallout shelter (it's not a bomb shelter - there is a difference). Built over the course of several years, it is a proverbial home-away-from-home and will allow them to be fully self-sufficient for many years. When a wayward jet fighter crashes into their backyard, Calvin believes that the nuclear holocaust has come. The shelter door is closed and the time-delay locks are set, meaning they will be unable to resurface for at least 35 years. With all the excitement too much to bear, Helen goes into labour and subsequently gives birth to a bouncing baby boy who they name Adam (what else?). Adam (Brendan Fraser) grows up in the confines of the shelter, being tutored in the ways of the world by his parents and learning all the homely sixties values, including formal dancing to the crooning sounds of Perry Como. The 35 years pass quickly and Calvin decides to venture above ground to see what became of humanity. He does not like what he sees and decides the family should stay underground, but they need to replenish their supplies in order to survive. Calvin is physically unable to make it, so Adam volunteers to go. Armed with a massive shopping list, the boy from the sixties boldly ventures into the nineties. He soon realizes that the world is a very different place from that which his parents told him about. He befriends Eve (obviously), a cynical but beautiful young lady played by Alicia Silverstone. She helps him purchase his many supplies and even agrees to help Adam with the final item on his list - to find himself a wife.
Director Hugh Wilson (Police Academy, The First Wives Club) has incorporated some extremely high production values into this film. Couple this with some casting against type with Christopher Walken and Sissy Spacek playing comedy roles, and Blast From The Past makes a refreshing change to a genre not noted for its originality. The script, however, does not reach such lofty heights, with many forced jokes and some banal dialogue present. Sure, the story has been done many times before (think Back To the Future in reverse), but the manner in which it has been tackled at least makes for a moderately enjoyable story. The first half is better when the characters are being developed and the obvious contrasts between the sixties and the nineties are the focus of the story. Once Adam leaves the shelter and meets up with Eve and her gay housemate Troy (a great supporting effort by Dave Foley), the story drops into the standard boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl type of plot which we've all seen before, although having said that, it will still manage to generate several laughs.
Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.
Transfer Quality
Video
Now this is why we collect these shiny little discs. This transfer is rich, vibrant, sharp, and very very impressive. Reference quality without a doubt. Blast From The Past is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. Quite a revelation to see this in its original aspect after recently viewing the Pan & Scan rental VHS tape.
The sharpness level is superb with no hint of edge enhancement. Shadow detail is never lacking even in the dim interiors or the night-time street scenes once the action moves above ground. The only negative in the transfer is the presence of some very minor grain in some backgrounds, which is most notable on scene changes during the early part of the movie in the fallout shelter. There is no low level noise evident.
The colours in this transfer are another strong point. Capturing many of those pale lemons, and light blue/greens that were so common in the sixties, the early part of the movie is a virtual rainbow of those kitsch colours. It become much more standard in its palette once the action moves above ground, but is nonetheless impressive with no hint of oversaturation or bleeding.
There were no apparent MPEG artefacts. Film-to-video artefacts were restricted to some non-disruptive minor shimmering on the backs of the outdoor patio furniture. Film artefacts were limited to some very, very minor flecks and spots. Not even worth mentioning really.
There are only one set of subtitles present - English for the Hearing Impaired. I did not notice any problems with these.
This is an RSDL formatted disc with the layer change occurring at 68:54. Certainly noticeable, but placed on a scene change so it is not at all disruptive even though it is slightly longer in duration than what I am used to.
Video Ratings Summary
| Sharpness |  |
| Shadow Detail | |
| Colour | |
| Grain/Pixelization |  |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall | |
Audio
The audio transfer offers superb quality and range, somewhat surprising given that this movie is a romantic comedy. There are two English audio tracks presented here; a full bitrate Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. I listened to the 5.1 track and briefly sampled the 2.0 track.
There are no apparent dialogue problems. It is crisp and clear at all times with no audio sync issues. Dialogue in the fallout shelter scenes is the best, with less background noise to fight for attention.
The music is quite a diverse mix. What other sort of soundtrack can accommodate REM, The Beach Boys, Everclear, and The Village People with sixties crooners Perry Como and Dean Martin? The chosen music is designed to encapsulate the period from 1962 to 1999 and the songs used are an excellent means to do this. The score itself is composed by Stephen Dorff and provides a reasonably quirky eccentric 60s feel to much of the fallout shelter action.
The surround channels are well-used, especially during the early stages with the first use of the fallout shelter and jet fighter crash. Above ground scenes see mostly streetscape fill-in sounds used, but certainly not in an obtrusive way.
The subwoofer is used extensively in the early part of the movie, and provides some excellent low bass response during the intro credits where nuclear bombs are detonating and rockets are launching. Some excellent use is at 20:25 when the elevator from the fallout shelter is used for the first time. The above ground action sees minimal use.
Audio Ratings Summary
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
| Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
| Surround Channel Use | |
| Subwoofer | |
| Overall | |
Extras
Main Menu Audio & Animation
The main menu features small video snippets from the movie and a nice retro-sounding soundtrack. It is 16x9 enhanced and the background colours also have a retro feel about them (60s style green and yellow combinations). Dolby Digital Trailer - Aurora
Scene Selection Animation & Audio
Similarly themed to the main menu. Shows small snippets from the start of each of the scenes as selectors for that scene, albeit very small. Theatrical Trailer x 2
Identified as the Domestic (US) and International trailers. Both are presented in 1.85:1 and are 16x9 enhanced. They also both have a full Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. The US trailer run 2:17 minutes and the International trailer run 1:55 minutes. Interestingly, they both focus almost entirely on the movie from the moment that Adam comes out of the fallout shelter, whereas the movie takes the better part of half an hour to get to this point. Biographies-Cast & Crew
The standard details and filmographies of the principal cast and crew. The usual small text leaves a lot to be desired as does the use of a very hazy red font highlighting the movies that the actors have appeared in. Cast & Crew Interviews
These are almost hidden as they are not selectable from the main or special features menu. You need to access the Cast and Crew Biographies and select them from there. There are interviews with Alicia Silverstone (2:00 mins), Brendan Fraser (2:58 mins), Dave Foley (1:40 mins), Christopher Walken (2:02 mins), and Director Hugh Wilson (3:26 mins). All are presented in 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. Not essentially an interview as you don't hear any questions being asked, though it is obvious they are responding to the same tired set of questions that regularly get trotted out during the promotional tours for movie releases. Questions like - "What attracted you to the script?" and "What's it like working with the Director". In a word - promotional fluff! Deleted Scenes (4:43 mins)
There were two versions of this movie made by New Line Cinema, one for the US domestic market and the other for the international market. These six deleted scenes are the bits that were removed from the International version. All are set in the fallout shelter, showing various interactions between Adam and his family with one scene featuring Eve in the shelter. They run for a total of 4:43 minutes. They are not separately selectable, but are chapter-marked for navigation. All are presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and are 16x9 enhanced. They all have a Dolby 2.0 soundtrack. They are probably the best quality deleted scenes you are likely to see, which is no surprise since they are actually included in the R1 release as part of the feature. Featurette - B Roll (4:51 mins)
An interesting featurette showing behind-the-scenes footage taken from alternative angles. Total running time is 4:51 minutes and it is presented in 1.33:1 with Dolby 2.0 sound. It starts off quite boring and uninterestingly repeats the same scene several times. The latter half is much more interesting and shows just how much of the movie-making process is contrived and made much more interesting in post production.
R4 vs R1
NOTE: To view
non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually
also NTSC compatible.
As stated previously under Deleted Scenes, there were two versions of this film released. The US version contains the 6 deleted scenes as part of the feature, hence the reason the R1 DVD misses out on the 'deleted' scenes. The International version does not contain the deleted scenes in the feature. Hence, they are presented separately as an extra. The R4 disc misses out on;
- US release version with the deleted scenes included in the feature.
- "The Love Meter Game" - asks you to place your thumb on the screen (I kid you not)
- DVD ROM Content - Script to Screen, Weblinks, and three Bomb Shelter Games.
The R1 disc misses out on; - Deleted Scenes - as an extra
- Featurette - B-Roll
A tough call here owing to the extra scenes in the R1 cut of the movie, which are present on the R4 as deleted scenes. I'd still favour the local product over the R1 as I don't feel the extra scenes added anything in the way of plot development and it's not like we miss out on them altogether. I'm also not a big fan of DVD-ROM content and we get an additional extra in the form of B-roll footage. I can't imagine I'd be sitting in front of my screen with my thumb pressed against it trying to determine my love rating!
Summary
I worked out while watching this disc that Blast From The Past was the last Very Horrid System rental tape that I watched before I became suitably enlightened (and financially able) to enjoy the benefits of a full 5.1 home theatre setup. To say that there is a difference is to preach to the converted, but I have found this to be the most notable example I have so far watched of this. Maybe it's due to how recently I had watched this movie, or it could also be how dramatically different this DVD presentation is to the VHS Pan & Scan version. Presented in its original aspect of 2.35:1, which is more common in mega-action blockbusters or sweeping dramas and not romantic comedies, it is certainly worthwhile getting hold of just to see and hear the difference. If you needed a reason to spend all those mega-bucks on expensive AV gear (reason - who needs a reason?), then seeing movies presented like this is certainly one very good and compelling one. Overall, this is a reasonably enjoyable movie that has some extremely high production values lifting it above the pack of run-of-the-mill romantic comedies. Despite the lack of originality in the script and the occasional forced joke it provides for some decent laughs throughout.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
© Darren Walters (It's . . . just the vibe . . . of my bio)
Saturday, June 09, 2001
| Review Equipment |
| DVD | Toshiba 1200, using S-Video output |
| Display | Loewe Calida (84cm).
Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
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| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver.
Calibrated with Video Essentials.
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| Amplification | Harmon/Kardon AVR7000. |
| Speakers | Front - B&W 602S2, Centre - B&W CC6S2, Rear - B&W 601S2, Sub - Energy E:xl S10 |
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