|
|
|
||
Category | Coming-Of-Age | Theatrical Trailer(s) | None |
Rating | Other Trailer(s) | Yes, 2
About Last Night... (1.85:1 4x3 Dolby Digital 2.0 mono) Mortal Thoughts (1.33:1 4x3 Dolby Digital 2.0 mono) |
|
Year Released | 1985 | Commentary Tracks | Yes, 1 - Joel Schumacher (Director) |
Running Time | 103:48 minutes | Other Extras | Cast & Crew Filmographies |
RSDL/Flipper | No/No |
|
|
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region | 2,4 | Director | Joel Schumacher |
Distributor |
Columbia Tristar |
Starring | Emilio Estevez
Rob Lowe Andrew McCarthy Demi Moore Judd Nelson Ally Sheedy Mare Winningham Martin Balsam Andie MacDowell |
Case | Brackley | ||
RRP | $39.95 | Music | David Foster |
|
|
||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | MPEG | None |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Dolby Digital | 4.0 |
16x9 Enhancement |
|
Soundtrack Languages | English (Dolby Digital 4.0 L-C-R-S, 448Kb/s)
French (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, 192Kb/s) German (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192Kb/s) Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, 192Kb/s) Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, 192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary (Dolby Digital 2.0) |
Theatrical Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 |
|
|
Macrovision | Yes | Smoking | Yes, very much so |
Subtitles | English
French German Italian Spanish Dutch Arabic Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Portuguese Swedish Turkish French Audio Commentary German Audio Commentary Italian Audio Commentary Spanish Audio Commentary Dutch Audio Commentary |
Annoying Product Placement | Yes, mildly |
Action In or After Credits | Yes |
Leslie (Ally Sheedy) and Alec (Judd Nelson) are the central golden couple. Having been together seemingly forever, it would seem that marriage is a fait accomplis. Alec, however, is the philandering type. Kevin (Andrew McCarthy) is a cynical, journalistic type, carrying a hidden torch for Leslie. Wendy (Mare Winningham) is frumpy and shy, but infatuated with Billy (Rob Lowe), who is totally lacking in direction having left the relatively safe and cloistered college environment, where he was the typical party animal. Kirbo (Emilio Estevez) becomes obsessed with an older woman (Andie MacDowell) and rounding off the cast is the seemingly suave and sophisticated Jules (Demi Moore).
To tell you any more about the movie would be to give too much away, as this movie's journey is one that you must experience for yourself, and I suspect that the majority of you reading this review will have already experienced the movie anyway. Suffice it to say that anyone who has felt lost at the start of life's big journey should be able to relate to at least one character in the movie, and subsequently enjoy it.
This transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. It is 16x9 enhanced. Other than theatrically, I have only previously experienced this movie in Pan & Scan, and was thrilled to experience the stunning cinematography in its original widescreen glory again. This movie really brings home just how much you miss out on with Pan & Scan transfers.
The transfer is nicely sharp and clear, with an amazing amount of detail revealed that I had never seen before in this movie. It well-and-truly belies its 15 years of age. Shadow detail is the only give-away to the age of this movie, with the darker scenes having only limited or no shadow detail. Having said that, the absence of low level noise made even these scenes look by far the best that I have ever seen them. The most obvious example of improvement in this area was the scenes involving Naomi, the prostitute. Whilst there is not a lot of detail to be seen in these scenes, there is no low level noise marring the blackness, either.
The colours of this movie are stupendously rendered in this transfer. They are fully saturated and vibrant in a way that I have never seen before. The biggest positive aspect of this transfer is the complete lack of chroma noise in the vibrant, fully saturated splashes of colour. The next most impressive aspect of this transfer is the complete lack of colour bleed at any point in time. Jules' apartment is particularly notable for these characteristics, with the heavily saturated and vibrant pinks and reds of her apartment being perfectly rendered - no noise and no colour bleed mars the image at any time. It is remarkable to see the way in which these colours simply stop where they are supposed to stop instead of bleeding over the image boundaries. Another specific example of this is during the opening credits which are razor sharp and clear instead of smeared and blurry.
There were no MPEG artefacts seen at any time during
this transfer, which was pleasing considering that the movie has been compressed
onto a single layer. There was a small amount of image wobble from time-to-time
(probably inherent in the movie), but this was so slight that it was no
bother whatsoever, and there were a few film artefacts here and there,
but again these were so rare and infrequent that they were hardly noticed.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/MPEG Artefacts | |
Film-to-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
There are six audio tracks on this DVD, in a series of formats. The first (and default) audio track is English, in Dolby Digital 4.0 (Left-Centre-Right-Surround configuration). Next, there is a French Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track, a German Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded track, an Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track, a Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track and finally an English Audio Commentary Track in Dolby Digital 2.0. I listened to the English Dolby Digital 4.0 soundtrack and to the Audio Commentary track.
There is an audio drop-out in the left channel between 47:50 and 47:56.
The dialogue was mostly clear and fairly easy to understand, within the limitations of the original score recording. However, the dialogue was generally placed in the center speaker only, and encoded a little on the low side, so music and foley effects had a habit of drowning out the dialogue at times. You could certainly make out everything that was said, but there were times when you needed to listen very carefully in order to do so. An example of where this was a problem was during the Billy Hixx band sequence, where Billy's center channel saxophone solo is somewhat drowned out by the music in the left and right channels. Audio sync was not a problem at any stage.
The score by David Foster is a classic score, featuring a series of enduring hits including the almost timeless Man In Motion. The music is an integral part of the movie's experience, providing the appropriate emotional bias and support to the on-screen action.
The left and right front speakers were frequently utilized for music and special effects. There is, however, quite a harsh and dramatic separation between the left, center and right front channels which makes for a poorly integrated listening experience. Sound effects in particular seemed to come from extremes in the front sound hemisphere, and did not integrate with the dialogue all that well. As mentioned previously, the sound effects and the music had a habit of drowning out the dialogue, and it may pay you to crank up the center channel volume slightly when listening to this DVD. The rear surround channel got essentially no use, with this mix being predominantly front hemispheric, though a very small amount of ambient music was noted in the rear.
The .1 channel was not specifically encoded, and
the overall soundtrack came across as somewhat bass-light. The soundtrack
really could have done with some more bottom end, particularly from the
music.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
The video quality is stunning. Fans of this movie are in for a visual treat.
The audio quality is acceptable, but it could have been better.
The extras are limited but acceptable.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
© Michael Demtschyna
(read my bio)
19th June 2000
|
|
DVD | Sony DVP-S336/Loewe Xemix 5006 DD, using S-Video/RGB outputs |
Display | Loewe Art-95 95cm direct view CRT in 16:9 mode, via the S-Video/RGB inputs. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
Audio Decoder | Denon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital AddOn Decoder, used as a standalone processor. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
Amplification | 2 x EA Playmaster 100W per channel stereo amplifiers for Left, Right, Left Rear and Right Rear; Philips 360 50W per channel stereo amplifier for Centre and Subwoofer |
Speakers | Philips S2000 speakers for Left, Right; Polk Audio CS-100 Centre Speaker; Apex AS-123 speakers for Left Rear and Right Rear; Hsu Research TN-1220HO subwoofer |