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Transformers Optimus Prime on David Letterman

Director Of CTU (Counter-Terrorism Unit), Los Angeles, Jack Bauer (Sutherland) sees his daughter to bed and is called in to the office when the CIA becomes aware of a threat to Presidential Candidate David Palmer (Haysbert). As Bauer investigates the threat against Palmer, he realises that there is probably someone on the inside, and that there is no one he can trust, leaving himself and his family in danger. Filmed in real time, we live with Bauer, Palmer, their families and the CTU team over 24 hours, the longest day of their lives…

I didn’t see this on TV, so I’ve watched all 24 episodes without missing one (which usually happens when I try to watch a TV series). I very nearly didn’t sleep in the two weeks it’s taken to find the time to watch and entire TV series. After the first few episodes, which introduce the characters, it becomes very hard to switch off – brilliantly acted, incredibly well directed and ending each episode with a cliffhanger, it becomes an obsession. The real-time aspect means that you find yourself wondering what is going on at that time on another sub-plot. Often you see two or three stories on-screen, and as it takes many episodes to resolve even the smallest story, you keep coming back for more, and just when you think you’ve figured it out, there’s a twist you didn’t see coming and another story starts up.

There’s so much to the story I would like to talk about but can’t simply because to say anymore will be to ruin the surprise (and excitement) of watching this without prior knowledge. But believe me when I say that this is the best TV show I have ever seen, and nothing has come close to entertaining me much as this series has. Obviously it’s tough to keep up such momentum for 24 episodes, and it does lull after the first dozen episodes, and some of the events do beggar belief, but it is still engaging throughout, supported by great performances – particularly from Sutherland and Haysbert.

The Series is presented on 6 disks, 4 episodes on each. Image is widescreen and clear, but ultimately it’s a TV presentation and so quite grainy at times. The 2.0 soundtrack is clear, but only uses the surround channel for the haunting music. You also get an alternate (and quite different ending), which is good, and a teaser for series 2, which I will be watching! I would have liked to see commentaries or a making of documentary – explaining the logistics behind making a real-time TV show, but perhaps we will see that on Season 2.

Many of you out there will have heard a lot about this but baulked at the price tag. All I can say to persuade you is that this is probably the best TV show ever to come out on DVD and worth every penny – if you only watch the series once you will get value for money.

Film:	★★★★★★★★★★
Video:	★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Audio:	★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆
Extras:	★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆
Overall:	★★★★★★★★☆☆

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24 Season 1, DVD Review (Archive)

The big difference we noticed right away with this showing was that there was no advertising or trailers. 6:30 start meant exactly that. A few minutes before the showing the usher came in and announced that the film would be Ice Age 3, much to my daughters delight. Not only that but it was the 3D showing so glasses were handed out all around.

This was an extra treat as we had never seen a cinema 3D film before this. I’ve seen the home ones of course with the red and green glasses. But I was happily surprised to see that the cinema technology has really moved on. The glasses were comfortable to wear, the colour was far richer than those home systems and the 3D was much more realistic than I was expecting.

As far the film itself, I found it to be a lot of fun. I loved the first Ice Age and while the second had its moments it was a little disappointing. This one though is a return to form, it had a lot of laugh out load moments and was funny for adults and children alike. The new character Buck (Simon Pegg) is a welcome addition and has many of the best lines.

All in all we had a great night and I thank Vue for the free tickets they were very much appreciated. I don’t know if they plan on having any more mystery showings but I can certainly recommend this one. Although next time I might ease down on the jalapenos’ on my Nachos, I certainly over indulged.

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Vue Cinemas, Mystery Showing Event

The highlight of the film by far was Brad Pitt, I think he is such an underrated actor, he has played some great roles and he really shines in here. This isn’t going to be a film for everyone, it’s very Coen, with some very dark moments mixed in with the comedy and the ending is well, I won’t say too much about it.

This really is going to be a love/hate film though, it’s not mainstream in the way that Ladykillers was, it’s riddled with the Coen’s style of comedy and can be pretty silly and random in places. Having said that it is possibly more approachable than something like Lebowski, my other half can’t really watch that but she did watch and thoroughly enjoy this.

What I love about the Coen’s is the way they bring the best out of an actor, before O Brother Where Art Thou? I had a certain opinion of George Clooney that wasn’t exactly positive, but they way he’s embraced the roles they’ve given him and been happy to play the characters, warts and all has totally changed my opinion of him and it’s the same with Pitt, they know what he does well and they’ve made the most of it.

I got to see it on Blu-Ray, but as it was a one night rental, I’m afraid I didn’t get a chance to view the extras, but on the grounds of the film alone I would recommend you give it a go, if you’re a fan you’ll love it, if not then who knows, you may still enjoy the slightly dark silliness.

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Burn After Reading, It’s Good To Have You Back Mr Coen’s

Take a trip to the school of hard knocks and see what it takes to make it in Turn It Up, available to buy and rent on DVD from 2nd March 2009, courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Kate Parker (RACHELE BROOK SMITH) wants to make it as a dancer and aims high when she auditions for one of New York’s most prestigious ballet academies. But when she misses the mark, it’s up to the dancers in a hard-bitten hip-hop club, a tough hockey player Tommy (KENNY WORMALD) and a formidable teacher (PETER GALLAGHER, TV’s The O.C.) to show her the way.

This competition closes at midnight (GMT) on the 30th March 2009

Terms and Conditions

• Only one entry per person per day.
• Only one entrant per household.
• Random winners will be chosen from the list of Entries.
• The winners will be contacted via the email address registered within the entry. In the event of no reply a new winner will be chosen.
• Automated or Bulk entries and entries from third parties will be disqualified.
• No cash alternative prize is available.
• Competition is open to UK residents only.
• The judges decision is final.

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Competition, 3 Copies Of Turn It Up On DVD To Win

Several months down the line Miles and Marylin meet again, however this time she wants to hire him to apparently create a pre-nup for her to marry new husband, oil millionaire Howard Doyle (Billy Bob Thornton). Miles finds himself wondering if she’s the money grabber he thought she was and ends up falling for her himself. He must have her himself, but ultimately can he trust her?

Review

It was only when I started this review that I realised, even though I am a huge Coen brothers fan, I’ve only ever done one very brief review of one of their films. Even though I have every film they’ve created on DVD, I’ve only ever reviewed The Big Lebowski, a situation I will do my best to resolve. In case you don’t really know who the Coen Brothers are, they are Joel and Ethen Coen, a Writer / Producer / Director team responsible for such diverse (and great) films as Raising Arizona, Millers Crossing, Fargo, Big Lebowski and O Brother Where Art Thou.

Although these films are very diverse in terms of plot, they all share a certain dark comedic style that the Coen’s bring to their filmmaking. Intolerable Cruelty does seem at first to be a change of direction for them. It’s certainly the most mainstream film they’ve ever created and could (at least on paper) be classed as a romantic comedy. It’s also as far as I’m aware the first film they’ve made from someone else’s screenplay.

All this did lead me to have some trepidation about the film before watching it; I was really concerned that the more mainstream nature of the film would remove that magic Coen’s spark. Now I’ve watched it though, I understand why it’s received such mixed opinions in both reviews and discussions with friends / cinema goers. I know of several people that went to the cinema expecting a real chick-flick with Clooney and Zeta-Jones and came away very disappointed. I’m not surprised as if anything this is an anti-chick flick.

The genius of the Coens is present throughout; they take all the elements of a romantic comedy and turn them on their head. The two lead roles by all rights should be instantly dislikeable characters. Marylin Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a heartless man-eater who uses her looks to marry and divorce her way into Riches. Miles Massey (George Clooney) is a ruthless divorce lawyer who will happily see someone out on the streets in order to win his case, he has no interest in fair, he just has to win. We have a stereotyped support character in Gus Petch (Cedric the Entertainer), who should really grate on your nerves with his continuous catch phrase of “I’m gonna nail yo ass”.

I could go on and discuss each of the over the top supporting characters, but the point I’m making is that everything here’s looks and plays like a cheesy romantic comedy but is clearly taking the mickey from beginning to end. Yes the end is suitably romantic, but the journey there is pure Coen’s through and through. After all how many romantic comedies would feature a man blowing his head off when he mistakes a gun for an asthma pump?

So I’m not surprised that the film alienated a lot of viewers who were expecting something very mainstream. What I didn’t expect or quite understand is the backlash it also received from many Coen’s fans, while it’s certainly not their best film, I think it definitely has a place in any fans collection.

No review of this film would be complete without mentioning the superb casting. Until “O Brother”, I’d never really rated George Clooney as an actor. The films he starred in didn’t really appeal to me and I go the impression that he was trading on looks rather than acting ability. However I have to eat some humble pie now and admit that he really is great in this film, I can’t really think of anyone else who could play the role better. Catherine Zeta-Jones, is also great here, there’s a really energy between the two characters from the moment they meet right through to the closing scenes. There’s also a great supporting cast, as well as Cedric The Entertainer whom I’ve already mentioned, there’s an almost cruelly underused Geoffrey Rush and a superbly over the top Billy Bob Thornton.

Video / Audio

The film is presented in a 1.85:1 Anamorphic widescreen print of very good quality. The colour palette is very rich and vibrant, almost overly rich at times (I think this was intentional). There were no visible film flaws and I didn’t notice any digital problems at any point. Given the slick and well polished style of filming its good to see it given such a solid DVD presentation.

Although probably overkill for this kind of film, the disc has both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS audio tracks in English. The disk is very much front focused with the rear channels barely used for anything more than ambient noise, there’s also very subtle use of the low frequency channel. The DTS tracks seemed slightly better to my ears although with the style of film there’s very little in it. There are certainly no problems with either track, with clear and sharp dialogue and no audio glitches that I noticed.

Extra Features

This section shouldn’t take too long as extras are pretty thin on the ground. A Look Inside Intolerable Cruelty is a 10 minute behind the scenes featurette, it’s not too bad it does at least feature interview clips with the Coen Brothers. It does however fall into the usual trap of everyone just saying how great everyone else was to work with. It’s also woefully short with its 10-minute run time. The Wardrobe is of a similar vein but is obviously focuses on the film wardrobe, it’s also very short at only 5 minutes long.

Finally we have a selection of completely unfunny outtakes, this section also contains a Rex Rexroth home video that is basically 3 minutes of black and white train footage. And that is it, a very light selection of extras I think you’ll agree.

One other thing I want to mention is that when you load the disk there is a short skip-able appeal at the beginning presented by Robbie Williams. The appeal is for UNICEF and it’s about child traffic-ing worldwide. While I appreciate that this is a very worthy cause, I’m not sure if the beginning of a DVD is an appropriate place to start putting charity appeals.

Overall

It’s difficult to know whether or not to recommend Intolerable Cruelty as it’s really going to be one of those love it or hate it films. If you’re looking for a mainstream romantic comedy then you’re not really going to find it here. If you’re a Coen’s fan then definitely go for it, the comedy is not as obvious as in some other Coen’s releases but it’s still there, you just need to look a little deeper.

The DVD itself while grossly short on extra features certainly looks and sounds good enough although I think the price tag of £19.99 is perhaps a little much for an almost bare bones release.

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Intolerable Cruelty, DVD Review

A group of students are going on a trip to France. While they are waiting for their plane to taxi from the gate, Alex (Devon Sawa) has a premonition that the plane will explode after take off. Alex tries to rush off the plane in a panic and six other passengers end up being thrown off with him. Just minutes later while they are being detained in the lounge they see the plane explode through the window.

Naturally everyone is very suspicious of Alex and how he knew this was going to happen. Things start to become more sinister as the surviving passengers start to get killed off. While the FBI suspects Alex is involved, he suspects that a higher force is cleaning up from a mistake.

Video / Audio

Video quality is excellent, as you might expect from such a recent film. The picture comes in a 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen format and is sharp and richly coloured. There are quite a few dark scenes in the film and they come through very well.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is very atmospheric. The film is loaded with surround effects and the whole sound stage is used effectively. One of the more impressive things though is the use of subtle sound effects like the wind breezing through the windows. The film also has an excellent and atmospheric musical score.

Extras

First up is the commentary track. This track feature James Wong (Director), Glen Morgan (Writer / Producer), James Coblentz (Editor) and Jeffrey Reddick (Screenplay). One of the problems I always have when a commentary has this many people is that I can’t keep track of who’s currently talking. It would have been nice to have a subtitle display the name of whoever’s talking during the commentary. Complaints aside, it’s a pretty good commentary with some real insights into the background of the film. For example we find out that all the character names are tributes to Horror actors and directors.

Next up is a selection of three deleted scenes. These scenes are all linked as they make up a whole subplot and alternative ending to the film. It’s worth checking them out to decide which ending you prefer. Also hats off to New Line here for taking the time to make these scenes anamorphic.

There’s a 13-Minute featurette on the process of test screening the film. The feature discusses how they changed the ending after the results of test screenings. There’s also read out some of the more humorous comments on the questionnaires. There are some major spoilers on this extra so don’t even think about watching it before you watch the film.

The other featurette is a 20-Minute feature on Pam Coronado, a Psychic or Intuitive Investigator as they call it. Whether you believe in this stuff or not, the extra is interesting enough to watch once.

The rest of the extras are a Theatrical Trailer, some extensive Cast & Crew Bios and two games. One of these games is a Psychic Eye test in which you have to guess the card from a choice of five. After playing several times I can conclude that I’m about as psychic as a dead fish. The other games is called death clock. After answering a series of questions on your general health, it tells you the date you will die on, charming.

Finally, although I don’t normally mention them as an extra, I have to say that I quite liked the animated menus. They are fairly simplistic in style but very effective.

Overall

I actually fly around Europe quite a lot with my job and no matter how many times I get on a plane I still fear flying. If you’re like me then the opening 20 minutes will utterly scare the pants off you. The way Alex checks the body of the plane over and watches the flaps / engine etc to make sure they’re working is just like when I’m on a plane. This just goes to make it all the more scary as the flight starts to go wrong. When things do start to go wrong my stomach was churning just watching it.

As I mentioned at the start of the review, I am not a big horror fan. I quite enjoyed this film though, it has more than it’s fair share of jump out of your seat moments. The violent scenes, while pretty gruesome aren’t too over the top and I’ve definitely seen a lot worse. One of the things that always puts me off these kind of films is the fact that they always have a rubbish ending. This one isn’t actually too bad though, not the best I’ve seen, but definitely not the worst either.

The acting generally was very good with notable performances from Devon Sawa as Alex and Ali Larte as Rivers. There’s also a brief but very good role played by Tony Todd as Bludworth the undertaker. He comes across as extremely sinister and puts a real chill up the spine. Generally the rest of the cast are very good with only one or two actors looking really wooden.

Although I did enjoy it, this is basically another teen horror movie and if you’ve feel that you’ve overloaded on your scream movies it might be a bit too samey for you. For me though, with the jump out of your skin moments and very scary first twenty minutes, plus a good selection of extras, I’m going to give it 4 out of 5.

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Final Destination, DVD Review

I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed watching it again and it was a different viewing experience to the last time I watched it. The last time I saw this film I was a child myself and I just saw it as a cool film about a boy that befriends an alien. As an adult though I could pick up the underlying story of the film. The loneliness a child can feel when their parents separate and the need for companionship and a soul mate. E.T. is a heart-warming story that can be enjoyed by people of any age and thankfully Spielberg hasn’t done anything in this new cut to lessen the experience.

As for the new release itself, many of the changes are very subtle. E.T. has far more facial expressions in many of the scenes and there are one or two short deleted scenes that have been added to the film. There are also the more controversial changes like the removal of the guns, to be honest I was so engrossed in the film that I didn’t even really notice these changes.

As you can probably gather, I really enjoyed watching this film again. The cast are all really strong; especially considering the age of some of them (Drew Barrymore was only six). The plot is emotional and gripping throughout and in this new print the film looks and sounds excellent.

Video/Audio

From the opening credits you can instantly see that a lot of care and attention has gone into the video quality of this DVD. There is not a scratch or defect in sight, the colours are strong and vibrant and the image is nice and sharp. Several points in this film feature very foggy or smokey scenes, which can cause a lot of problems for DVD’s. This print handles it perfectly though, without an artefact in sight.

Looking at the back of the box you would assume that there are three choices of audio track here DD 5.1 EX English, DD 5.1 EX Dutch and DTS 5.1 ES English. However if you go into the Bonus Features menu on Disk 1 you also have the option to watch the film with the John Williams score from the live 2002 premiere performance. I viewed the film with the DTS 5.1 ES soundtrack and I can say that it’s a top quality track. Very atmospheric and the dialogue is perfectly crisp and clear throughout.

Extras

Disk 1

Disk one contains a short introduction by Steven Spielberg that is really just Mr Spielberg explaining why he wanted to come back to the picture and update it with new CG and additional scenes etc. The only other extra on Disk 1 is the option to watch the film with the live John Williams score from the 2002 re-release premiere.

Disk 2

At 50 Minutes in length, Evolution and Creation of E.T. is an excellent featurette packed with all kinds of information. There’s behind the scenes sections from the 1982 original film. There are loads of interview clips with cast & crew including Spielberg, Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore etc. Spielberg talks at length about the film and the new version including his controversial removal of all the guns through CG. There’s also a look at some of the new C.G. with comparisons of original and new version scenes. This is a very interesting featurette.

The Reunion is a 17 minute long group interview with Spielberg, producer Kathleen Kennedy and the main cast. As this is a recent interview the cast are now all adults and they all speak of their experiences and feelings for the film. It’s an interesting enough feature although the sentimentality is rather laid on with a trowel. The Music of John Williams is a ten-minute feature that contains some interview clips with composer John Williams and some behind the scenes footage of the making of the score.

The 20th Anniversary Premiere is a 17 minute feature that concentrates on the live soundtrack performance that John Williams and the orchestra made for this performance. The first half of the feature gives a good insight into how incredibly difficult it is to perform a live soundtrack for a film, the second half shows many clips of the performance itself. Designs, Photographs and Marketing contains sections of concept design drawings, some on set photographs and merchandising images, including a very odd looking E.T. finger.

Space Exploration, I’m trying to think of something positive to say about this feature but I can’t, as it’s one of the most stupid extras I’ve seen in a long time. You are presented with images of all the planets in the solar system. If you select a planet E.T. gives you lots of facts about the planet except that the long drawn out drone of his voice is painful to listen to. What a waste of disk space. Finally we have a set of Trailers for E.T., Back to the Future Trilogy and E.T. the game on various computer formats.

The DVD’s are packaged in a nice cardboard box with external cardboard sleeve. It also comes with a six-page booklet containing some quite extensive production notes. The film is broken into 20 chapters and subtitles are available in English and Dutch. Most menus are animated, although to be honest they are not the best animated menus I’ve ever seen on a DVD.

Overall

I have to confess that I probably wanted to dislike this release if only for the fact that unlike the US we are not going to get the original version of the film on the standard release. Now that I’ve seen the new version though, I don’t know if I’m that bothered if I never see the original again. The picture has been lovingly cleaned up and looks as good as any new release film. E.T. has been made to look more realistic thanks to the C.G. with far more facial expression and better, more fluid movement. Finally I’m tempted to agree with Spielberg that on reflection guns don’t really belong in a film like this.

I’m sure there are many people who would disagree with me, but I personally think that this is an excellent DVD release, that is only let down by the lack of a commentary track from the man himself.

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E.T. – The Extra Terrestrial Special Edition, DVD Review

I ended up missing it at the cinema and when news of the DVD Special Edition came out, I was in two minds whether or not to get it. Eventually I decided to give it a shot. To tell the truth, I think I’m just a sucker for Collectors Editions and Box Sets. I just can’t resist those flash shiny boxes. So now that it’s here I’m actually glad that I bought it. I’ll tell you why in a moment, but first some disk details.

Plot

After a long and wonderfully animated opening scene (I won’t got into details, but if you’ve seen the trailer then you know already), an Iguanodon egg ends up on a remote island inhabited by a group of Lemurs. The lemurs take the Dinosaur in and name him Aladar; they raise it as their own. Years later a meteor storm forces them to leave the Island and escape to the mainland.

Lost in a strange new land they come across a herd of various Herbivore dinosaurs that are trying to find a green and fertile land where they can settle. They join the herd and soon find that things are quite different to life on the island. The herd needs to move as fast as it can as they are being pursued by a pair of vicious Carnotaur’s.

Audio / Video

The disk comes with a 1.85:1 Anamorphic[Widescreen format picture. If you’ve seen the Toy Story or Bugs Life DVD releases then you’ll know what to expect from a direct digital transfer. If you haven’t seen these transfers then let me promise you that they provide the best picture quality you’ve ever seen on a DVD. Dinosaur is not exception to this rule. Because this is a direct digital transfer you can forget terms like film scratches or marks on the print. You just need take a good look at one of the close ups of a lemur and see the detail level on it’s hair to see how good this picture quality is.

This review is based on the DTS 5.1 audio track on the disk. The soundtrack is excellent and utilise all the speaker channels to a great extent. All dialogue is perfectly crisp and clear and the musical score is very dramatic and effective. The LFE (Subwoofer) channel gets a good pounding in places, in particular the meteor storm sequence.

Extras

What are the extras like on this disk? Well how long have you got? Seriously this two disk set is packed with extra, I’ll try to be as brief as possible otherwise this review will just go on an on.

Disk 1

The first Audio Commentary feature is from the Directors, Visual Effects Supervisor and Digital Effects Supervisor This is a very good commentary track with loads of insight into the various methods used to film each scene and also plenty of background info on the scripting, plot development etc. One of the things that struck me was the amount of locations throughout the world that were used in this film. They explain how during the opening sequence with the eggs journey, they switch from one location to another and then another, very impressive.

The second Audio Commentary features a host of Production Team members. The commentary is host by Producer Pam Marsden who introduces each commentary member outlining their roles and responsibilities in the film. I actually enjoyed this second commentary more than the first one as it gave far more information about the processes used in the making of this film.

Film Fact Fossil Dig is a collection of behind the scenes features that you can view in several different ways. You can have a fossil icon appear on screen while you watch the film. Selecting this icon will bring up the featurette relevant to that particular scene. Alternatively you can watch all of the featurette’s separately via the extras menu. Finally you can watch the featurette’s via the chapter selections.

The remaining extras on Disk one are aimed squarely at children. They consist of games and information pages that are narrated by an extremely annoying American kid. They include Aladars Adventure a point and click adventure game set in the cave scene. Dinosearch is a basic find the pieces of the Dinosaur game. Finally Dinopedia uses the same annoying narrator to give some Palaeontological information about the Dinosaurs featured in the film.

Disk 2

Disk 2 starts up with a rather cool alternative version of the early Carnotaur chase scene. Once this has finished your presented with the main menu in the form of a PC on a desk, the options are selectable from the monitor. The main menu is split into six categories, these are:

Development
Creating the Characters
The Production Process
Music & Sound
Abandoned Scenes
Publicity

Each of these menus branches of into sub categories that contain video clips, featurettes, still photos, animations and more. There really is too much here to go into heavy detail on as the review would go on forever. Suffice to say, there is a lot of material here if you want it.

I also noticed several Easter Eggs on this second DVD that contain deleted scenes and some short extract from old Disney productions hosted by Walt Disney himself.

Overall

Having now watched it several times I think that the reviews I had read were being rather unfair. I personally enjoyed it very much, it’s not the greatest Disney ever as far as plot goes, but it certainly stands up well. The story seems to start off as your basic Tarzan type plot but soon develops into something more. It is of course your standard good against evil story, but then again so is Star Wars.

The effects have to be seen to be believed, the combination of real footage with CG Dinosaurs works faultlessly and there’s plenty of interaction between the CG and the backgrounds to make the whole thing more realistic. I have to say that I was more impressed with the animation of the Lemurs than the Dino’s. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Dino animation, but the level of detail on the small Mammals faces and the way the body hair reacts to the environment (wind, rain etc.) is incredible.

So, any complaints? Well as far as the film goes the one character that irritated me was the small Dinosaur that was styled to act like a dog would with a lapping tongue, fetching sticks etc. Considering that the rest of the characters were obviously fairly true to current Dinosaur theories (apart from talking of course) this one just didn’t seem to fit.

The other problem I had the first time I watched it was that I just couldn’t get my head around Dinosaurs talking. It wasn’t so bad on the second viewing because I’d accepted it. Luckily none of the Dinosaurs ever burst into song during the film, I think
it would have been just too much for me if they had.

One other thing to watch out for is player compatibility problems. I know that there have been several reports of this special edition not working on certain DVD players. I watched it on a Pioneer 525, and I had some issues with it. Although the film played fine, I couldn’t pause it or skip chapters while it was playing. It also took me several attempts to remove the captions when playing in DTS mode.

I would recommend this disk set to anyone, especially if you have young children. The effects are gobsmackingly awesome and the Digital Transfer more than does this justice. The audio quality is exceptional and the disks are packed with features for both adults and children alike.

The only things to be concerned about are any compatibility problems you may have with your player and suitability for very young children. The film is actually rated PG and there are some scenes of mild violence, but hey it’s a Dinosaur movie after all.

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Dinosaur, DVD Review

Review

Ever since watching the wonderful Amelie I have had an interest in checking out more of Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s work, so when the opportunity to review Delicatessen came along I was more than happy to take it. Delicatessen was filmed backed in 1991 and was also co-directed by Marc Caro, it also features a completely different (much darker) story than Amelie so I think it is a little unfair to compare the two films. However much of Jeunet’s visionary style that was used so effectively in Amelie is present in Delicatessen and this is most definitely no bad thing.

The whole thing takes place in a rather strange post-apocalyptic world where food (particularly meat) is extremely hard to come by and the Butcher Jean-Claude Dreyfus and his tenants have a very sinister way of getting food. The thing I really liked about the film was the ingenious way that the comedy manages to just keep it above becoming far too dark and sinister.

I guess it’s a tribute to the directors that I so quickly found myself getting absorbed in such a strange world, full of very eccentric characters. Louison (Dominique Pinon) and Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac) are such innocent people that they are a stark almost uncomfortable contrast to the other characters within the apartments. Then there are the troglodytes, an underground (literally) group of anti-cannibalistic fighters, who have an almost cartoon-like style to them.

I also liked the way that the film doesn’t rely on excessive or graphic violence in order to portray it’s vision, the violent scenes are either left off screen or to the viewers imagination which for this kind of film, is the way it should be. In fact Jeunet even comments on the fact in his commentary track.

While the whole 90 minutes of the film are highly entertaining there are a few “magic” scenes for me that make it something special. Strangely enough these are the more light-hearted scenes. For example without wishing to spoil the film for you there is a scene where Lousion is trying to find a squeaky spring on the bed of Mademoiselle Plusse (Karin Viard). The two of them starting springing up and down and side-to-side on the bed, in tune with music on the TV. Trust me when I say that it looks better on screen than it does when I write about it.

Video/Audio

As far as the video quality goes, this is a difficult one for me to quantify. It is presented in a 1.85:1 Anamorphic widescreen format, which I’m assuming is the original cinematic format. The reason it is difficult to assess is the fact that film is presented with a very bleak almost monochrome colouring, which I guess is used to portray the starkness of the world they live in. There is some evidence of print damage and occasional digital problems, especially with some of the foggier scenes.

The French Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track (no English I’m afraid) is good enough but nothing exceptional. If you can speak French you will find the dialogue clear, for the rest of us English subtitles are available.

Extras

There’s a commentary track by Jeunet in French, subtitles for the track are also available in English. Jeunet start the commentary by explaining that Caro does not like commentaries and therefore turned down the offer to do this one. As in Amelie this is another good commentary from Jeunet, he is often quite honest and critical about his own work. He also occasionally says some less than complimentary things about the American style of film making.

From The Archives Of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, is a selection of screen tests and behind the scenes footage and runs at around 7-minutes long. ‘Fine Slices By Diane Bertrand’, is a 13-minute behind the scenes feature, again in French with English subtitles. Finally there is a collection of one trailer and six teaser trailers.

Overall

If you want to look for something a bit different to the usual Hollywood offerings and don’t mind your comedy being rather dark, then I can highly recommend this DVD. From the opening scene with the current tenant dressing up as garbage and hiding in the dustbin you know you’re in for something a bit different and this is certainly what you’ll get.

It is presented on a more than adequate DVD with a reasonable if not exceptional selection of Extras. Video and Audio quality are again acceptable if not reference quality. All in all this gets a well deserved 4 out of 5 from me, although this mark reflects the quality of the film more than the DVD.

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