Blu-ray Round-up

With hockey season winding down, we found time to squeeze in a few movies over the past couple of weeks.

There Will Be Blood

This one has sat on the shelf for far too long waiting for the right opportunity to watch it. A big fan of the rest of P.T. Anderson’s work I was anxious to finally check out TWBB. I’m pretty patient when it comes to film, and like to be challenged (hey, I loved Magnolia and am a big fan of David Lynch), but I never did fully come to grips with the pedantic pace of Anderson’s latest. I kept waiting for something, anything to happen that would energize the story. It never came, in spite of the inevitable, darkly comedic finale. Daniel Day Lewis, in a fine performance, may have walked away with the Oscar, but it was Paul Dano’s turn as the obsessive preacher with an ulterior motive, Eli Sunday, that brought much needed energy to every scene he was in. Lovely cinematography too, but I’d rather revisit Days of Heaven than watch TWBB again. There Will be Blood isn’t a bad film by any estimation, but it’s not worthy of a place in my permanent collection either.

My feelings about the Blu-ray presentation mirror that of the film itself. In a word, lacklustre. As always, bright scenes look best with decent detail, but shadow detail is lacking in the numerous dark scenes that populate the film. And while the film is obviously no audio showcase, the track included here is simply missing the dynamics and fidelity that you’d expect of a current release. Disappointing.

Ratatouille

From one end of the spectrum to the other, next up is Ratatouille. If you’re a fan of Pixar and/or have any of their other Blu-ray releases in your library, you know exactly what to expect here. Ratatouille may not resonate with very young children to the same degree that many other Pixar films do (A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, Toy Story 1&2, Cars), but it's a hoot and a half for we adults in the crowd, chock full of the clever wit and charm that we've come to expect from Pixar.

The transfer is top-notch with incredible detail, vividly saturated colours and an overall look that's almost film-like (which seems strange to say about an animated film). The lively soundtrack is punchy and dynamic with a very active surround mix and surprisingly forceful .1 track. Very highly recommended on all levels.

Boogie Nights

The disappointment of There Will Be Blood provided the urge to revisit Boogie Nights. Joyce had never seen it and was surprisingly game, and I was due for a repeat viewing. Perhaps not P.T. Anderson's most creative endeavour (that would be Magnolia, IMHO), but easily his most entertaining and the film that put him on the map as one of the hottest up and coming young directors in the business (along with the likes of David Fincher, and that other Anderson kid, Wes). Populated by a great ensemble cast, fantastic soundtrack and plenty of P.T.'s trademark long tracking shots, it's clear that this style of film is his comfort zone and where he operates best. Boogie Nights is a tour de force and absolute delight from beginning to end.

I had very high expectations for this Blu-ray release and have to admit that I came away somewhat disappointed. I'm willing to cut it some slack due to the film's age, but it's not that old and I've seen films older than BN look better than this. That being said, it's still a pretty good looking picture overall. The Audio track is more of the same, good but not great. We found that we needed to crank the volume much higher than normal to catch all of the dialogue, and the cool tunes don't pump out with quite as much authority as you'd wish they did. Even though it doesn't have quite the wow factor I'd hoped for, the Blu-ray is an easy recommendation for fans of the film. I'd just be inclined to wait out a price drop before shelling out.