New to Blu Ray - April 2009

The Fast and the Furious trilogy

These movies look great. They’re new and fresh and clear and colorful and gritty. It’s everything. The cars shine with pastel colored chrome. You still see the detail in the gravel at high speeds. Cities and suburbs shine in orange action lighting with heat waves fading in and out. Under the hoods you see the labyrinth of parts in detail, just like the detail of Paul Walkers frosty blonde hair. The CGI shots hold up. Remember what a big deal it was when they went inside the engine?

2 Fast 2 Furious also adds more hot neon in the colors of the cars and some more upscale settings. The lush druglord compound and swank trendy nightclubs provide art deco details. You can see the scars on Tyrese’s elbow, and the water dock garage is a nice hi-def sight.

Tokyo Drift might be the clearest and most detailed, and there’s the least to look at in it. By design, Tokyo is more run down than the L.A. of the original. You’re in fluorescent green garages and high school hallways. Maybe the starkness is worth noting in HD. You do see details like tracks on the ground. Some nice shots include crowded streets with choreographed drifting in the night sky.

The most noticeable change as the trilogy progresses is the hotness of the background babes. In The Fast and the Furious, it’s local skanks. Then you get to the glistening beach bodies of Miami, with the chic Tokyo babes taking the cake. I can’t wait to see what the top notch babes of Fast & Furious look like on Blu Ray.

Tales of the Black Freighter

If you’re the one that couldn’t get enough Watchmen, you’ll surely be exploring the spin-off DVD animated short. Since it’s 2-D animation, there isn’t a whole lot of Blu Ray detail but the simplicity of the format can be exemplified. Solid shapes are sharp with clear lines, and pure fills of color.

There is some shading in the background and some beautifully colored light effects. A red sky against the ocean is appropriately surreal. All the dark nighttime shots maintain subtle clarity on Blu Ray as well.

A more surreal Blu Ray experience is the Under the Hood mockumentary. It is made to look like a ‘70s TV show, so it’s not totally clear like a modern video. But it is professionally produced so any “broadcast” effect is constructed. You’d never see it this clear on an old tube set, so you get a look at the costumed characters without the sheen of film.

Slumdog Millionaire

Well, Danny Boyle’s best picture winner is a collage of great Blu Ray scenes. Combining different types of film, lighting, and all sorts of crazy aesthetics gives you a lot to look at. The shots of India are full of detail, from overhead views of the labyrinthine rooftops and alleys to the street level shots of gritty alleys and outhouses. You know the scene. Colors pop out of the laundry lines against the dirt, all with a golden hue.

The stage of the Millionaire show is lit like television, flat and boring. It makes everything from the faces to the wardrobe to the plain old set of the trivia show look soft. Jamal’s flashbacks are extra saturated so the colors are deeper. Certainly his memories of Latika showcase all of Freida Pinto’s beauty.

The scenes are packed with visual details, everything from the poorest ghettos to the lush, ornate criminal palaces. Some shots may be a tad grainy but it’s a brand new film so it looks how Boyle wants it to look. Of course it all explodes in the end with a Bollywood number and end titles packed with colors and dancing around gritty sets.

Seven Pounds

Seven Pounds is a spiritual powerhouse, but it’s not particularly visual. It’s human drama about a controversial plan and motives. It’s a lot of people sitting down and talking, so you get really intimate with their faces in clear Blu Ray detail. Ben goes to hospitals and offices to try to find people for his mission. They manage to pull some detail out of the industrial walls and hallways.

They go outside sometimes and show some expansive fields (or golf courses) or his beachfront home. The lighting keeps it real but it’s still nice scenery to look at. He gardens a little and fixes stuff up in the garage. Everything looks great so it’s just a really clear way to focus on some intense human drama.


Hellraiser

Wow, what a weird thrill to see that old New World Pictures logo from all the old VHS tapes and have it go into super hi-def quality Blu Ray. There’s a little grain but man, is there detail in the box and the sweaty Frank grabbing it. Once he takes it home, it’s clear footage of his sweaty body getting torn apart by hooks. That old school latex sure tears good.

The house it’s set in is a fixer upper, so there’s plenty of gritty detail to see. A few shots are grainy because of the film’s age but it’s a strong transfer for an old low-budget movie. The skinless Frank is quite a sight in hi-def. Then the Cenobites come. You see clear detail in their makeup, even if the smoky haze brings out grain.

The climax brings it all home. Running through the house, torn flesh dangling, hooks pulling at skin, bloody carcasses and Cenobites. And everyone looks younger than I remember from when I saw it when I was 12. Weird.


Universal Soldier: The Return

Well, there’s not much love for the bastard sequel to Universal Soldier. It’s soft and dim, like a second generation dub of a DVD at best, only slightly better than watching an old VHS tape. Every once in a while a closeup might give you as much detail as projected film would, but most master shots are just a blur.

I know this wasn’t a high demand sequel to begin with, a last hurrah comeback attempt after what was only a moderate success the first time. Don’t forget the two straight to video sequels in between. But there’s still some good action set pieces it would’ve been nice to see in hi-def. Oh well, guess there has to be a lousy transfer every once in a while to keep the rest honest.


8 Mile

The whole setting of this movie is the gritty city streets, and it all shows up in detail on Blu Ray. Rusted out warehouses, burnt down neighborhoods and trailer parks all glisten with the clear minutiae you find there. It’s definitely a window into the city, almost like the glass has even been removed it’s so clear.

There are a lot of dark scenes at night or in underlit clubs, so the Blu Ray is good for maintaining all the clarity and color in low light. It’s not the most eye popping colorful film but the Blu Ray does justice to the aesthetic the film portrayed.