New to Blu Ray is our monthly look at the latest Blu Ray releases. This month we look at some new action, comedy, horror and cable TV releases.
Fight Club
Wait for it. It takes Fight Club a little while to look its best. It always looks good but the best stuff starts about halfway through the film. It’s like they could only transfer the film on one setting so they chose the one that works for the bulk of the film, but they couldn’t just do the beginning on high and then tweak it later.
You see crisp detail in sweat on the brown. There’s some grain and speckle in the early scenes but it’s a tight picture with sharp lines and crisp images. You see the wrinkles in Edward Norton’s shirts and the subliminal Brads pop in clearly. The grainiest scenes are the support groups but even in those you see the shiny gymnasium floor.
Some details you might like to notice are the penguin fur in the cave fantasy, Helena Bonham Carter’s pale makeup caked on her face, the refrigerator before it explodes, the grimy back alley, the splicer Tyler uses to cut porno into film reels, Tyler’s condemned house and Brad Pitt’s chiseled abs.
Solid scenes include the New York streets, the Laundromat, the totaled cars Norton’s persona investigates, baggage claim at the airport, the bar where Fight Club begins, the projection booth, the scenes of Fight Club homework and all the night lit Mayhem that the Project gets up to.
They really saved the best transfer for the Fight Club itself. That underground basement has pure shadows and shows everything in minimal light. Sometimes scenes will go from grainy to smooth from one cut to the next, but even the grainy scenes show they did it in HD. Maybe the brighter lit scenes have trouble holding up with the dark aesthetic of the bulk of the film, but it looks good.
Easy Rider
This film looks grainy on Blu Ray but it’s like an authentic ‘70s way. You still see all the clarity and earthy colors, there’s just film in there. You’ll tour the country vistas tinted through a ‘70s lens, but clearer, crisper than ever before. It can be so bright and shiny, or muddy with dirt and forest, so you see both extremes.
The detail is not so gritty. Maybe they’re riding too fast to see it all, but even at their stops there seems to be one level removed from minute detail. You do get to focus on the shiny chrome of the handlebars and see a little extra detail there. Likewise, a sojourn with a marching band shows all the shiny brass of their instruments and the colors of their uniform.
The scenery is still sharp, so you’ve got clarity and color that preserves the film’s aesthetic. That’s a real fete for Blu Ray, almost like HD home movies.
Rocky: The Undisputed Collection
I’m not really sure why they bothered to put the Rocky series on Blu Ray if they couldn’t make it look at least decent. The first four films are super grainy and full of white speckles. It’s not as bad out in the daylight but the gyms, boxing rings and skating rinks that are vital to the series look terrible.
The outdoor training montages are good but the main fights, ugh. To be fair, the DVD is fuzzy too. Maybe the original materials of these films can’t hold up, but you’d think by the time they did a sequel, or certainly by the glossy ‘80s they’d be using film that can transfer well.
Rocky V finally starts to look like HD. There’s still some fuzz, some grain but some shots are sharp and clear. If the last four looked like this it would be worth it but don’t get a whole set just so two out of six look good. Rocky Balboa is the Sony Blu Ray so that looks fantastic, but it’s the only one.
