Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of September 21

I started writing this post on Monday. As you can clearly tell, it’s taken me a few days of work, chipping away at it whenever I’ve had a few moments to spare, to get this thing done. But I’m really happy to tell you all about the best new Blu-ray releases this week. There’s some really strong stuff here and a few discs you should be certain not to miss out on. As always, any Amazon purchases made through our links help to support this column and the site on the whole and we thank you for them!

1. CHARADE

I was all ready to give the The Secret in Their Eyes this weeks top spot until I remembered that there was a new Criterion Blu-ray disc available today! And it’s a doosey. Stanley Donen‘s Charade is the ultimate caper film, with enough style and European flair to make you pack a bag and run off to Paris as soon as humanly possible. The plot is ultimately less than completely satisfying but any deficiencies are completely made up for in the casting. Audrey Hepburn is stunning in her Givenchy wardrobe and Cary Grant has never been more suave in a leading role. This is a wonderful, colourful upgrade from the long-available Criterion DVD.

Special Features: Restored high-definition digital transfer with uncompressed monaural soundtrackAudio commentary featuring Stanley Donen and screenwriter Peter StoneOriginal theatrical trailerEnglish subtitles for the deaf and hearing impairedPLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film historian Bruce Eder

Amazon: $29.49

2. THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES

The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos) is, without question one of the finest films of the last year and long overdue for a domestic Blu-ray release. In direct competition with Michael Haneke‘s The White Ribbon (also one of our Top Picks on Blu-ray) for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film this past year, Secret edged out the popular pick to take the prize. And it deserves it.

Director Juan José Campanella brings us a mesmerizing romantic melodrama wrapped in a crime thriller. Adapted from the 2005 novel by Eduardo Sacheri (La pregunta de sus ojos), Secret follows Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin), a criminal investigator attempting to chronicle a past case of brutal rape and murder. When memory fails him, he reconnects with his former crush, Irene Menendez Hastings (Soledad Villamil), the judge from the original case. Romance blossoms as the investigation deepens, danger drawing ever near. You can cut the tension with a knife here!

Highly recommended!

Amazon: $26.99

3. AMERICAN BEAUTY

I can’t believe American Beauty is over ten years old! It seems like only a scant few months ago that I was watching it in the theatre but here we are, eleven years on and it still feels fresh! Former theatre-director Sam Mendes really had a breakout hit here, in his first feature film and has gone on to become a real Hollywood powerhouse since then (he’s even on tap to helm the next James Bond film, if MGM is ever able to sort out its financial situation). Don’t miss out on this new Sapphire Series Blu-ray of the film, featuring all the extras from the previously available DVD and a gorgeous new HD transfer.

Amazon: $19.99

4. ROBIN HOOD

Okay, I know how you all feel about Ridley Scott‘s Robin Hood film. Word on the street is that it’s not much more than a redux of sorts of Scott’s other Russel Crowe epic, 2000s Gladiator – different era, different details, same story. While I haven’t had a chance to see the film yet, I feel fairly confident in recommending even the weakest of Scott’s films. And as much as he might have missed the mark here, I’m sure it’s not half as bad as all the critics are claiming. I expect the Blu-ray to kick some serious ass too!

Amazon: $22.99

5. VIGILANTE

Robert Forster and Fred Williamson star in the 1983 film called Vigilante. That should be enough information right there to send you out to your local BD shop in search of this new Blu-ray from the B-movie geniuses at Blue Underground. It’s a slightly cheesy, slightly exploitative affair with great, understated performances and a score by Star Trek composer, Jay Chattaway. The transfer, as per BU standard, looks stunning when you consider the origin and age of the film. And there are more than enough special features to ensure you got your sixteen bucks worth. Well worth every penny for fans of low budget 80s cinema!

Amazon: $15.99

TV ON BLU

All right, I don’t have a lot of time left to write today, but I need to take this opportunity to tell you how much I enjoyed The Human Target tv show. Not that old, failed series from the 90s, but this new FOX show, that debuted earlier this year and ran a paltry 12 episodes. I don’t think an adventure serial has been more spirited, comedic and inventive on television since…well, hell, I can’t even think of a show that’s ever been this fun! There’s action, conspiracy and romance around every corner in this, one of the finest new shows of the last year. I haven’t had a chance to check out the Blu-ray box set yet but rest assured, as soon as it turns up in my greasy little clutches, I’ll let you know how it fares.

FYI – I’ve never seen a single episode from the other programs but I understand they’re all quite amazing in their own right. So, just to be clear, I’m not saying The Human Target is better than Modern Family, I’m just saying I really enjoyed the hell out of the show and I’m excited to see it on Blu.

ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY THIS WEEK
Clicking an image will take you to Amazon.com where you can learn more about and purchase the Blu-ray disc:

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006- The Blind Side

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Please Give (Blu-ray Review)

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Sony Pictures | 2010 | 91 min | Rated PG-13 | Oct 19, 2010 (2 Weeks)

Video
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (less)
Subtitles
English, English SDH, French, Spanish English, English SDH, French, Spanish (less)
Discs
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
BD-Live

 (2010)

Comedy | Drama

Married antique-dealers, Kate and Alex plan on gutting the apartment they own next door to expand their own pad once Andra, the cranky, elderly widow who lives there, finally dies. When Kate, conflicted with her own guilt, befriends Andra?s granddaughters, the results are anything but predictable.

For more details about Please Give on Blu-ray, see the Please Give Blu-ray Review

Starring: Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall, Ann Guilbert
Director: Nicole Holofcener

Reviewed by Martin Liebman, October 1, 2010

She, like, wants to save the world.

Please Give is a special little film that's all about the heart it wears on its sleeve and the sincerity it crams into every frame. Writer/Director Nicole Holofcener's picture is absolutely seamless in the way it brings to life, well, life in a way rarely captured on film. Here's a picture that's as honest as they come; it's as ugly as it is beautiful, as tender as it is rough, as sweet as it is sour, and if there's a special effects or CGI shot in the movie it completely disappears into the background. It's all about taking a long, hard, sometimes mournful, sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, sometimes surprising, but always brutally honest look at what it is that makes a human being an individual and, by extension, the dynamics that take shape when several individuals are made part of a group. The picture juxtaposes man's obsession with material goods and physical perfection against his very real needs that can't be met by money in the bank, a larger apartment, the right pair of jeans, or a clear face. Please Give balances its examination of the outer needs of man against the inner needs that may be different for some but ultimately culminate in an understanding that the world doesn't just revolve around one person or that money and prestige aren't the true keys to happiness. Please Give -- primarily in how its incredibly-drawn characters so perfectly define the picture's layered themes -- deserves a far more thorough dissection than is possible given the space and time allotted for this review; suffice it to say, however, that audiences who give the movie a chance and take the time to ponder what it says through its character's professions, dialogue, and interactions will find a movie that's one of the most thematically complex but highly rewarding and well-intentioned out there.

But does she tip well?

Kate (Catherine Keener, Into the Wild) and Alex (Oliver Platt, Flatliners) are a married New York couple who run a high-dollar antique shop that's stocked by merchandise they purchase for pennies on the dollar at estate sales after someone dies. Their daughter Abby (Sarah Steele) is struggling to find answers to her regular acne breakouts while obsessing over a pair of high-dollar jeans. Alex and Kate have purchased the apartment adjacent to their own with plans to join the two and expand their living space. There's only one catch: it's still occupied by an elderly woman named Andra (Ann Guilbert) who's a spry and opinionated 91 years young. She's cared for by her two granddaughters, the blunt cosmetologist Mary (Amanda Peet, Identity) and the kinder mammogram technician Rebecca (Rebecca Hall, The Prestige). As everyone waits for poor old Andra to die, Kate begins feeling guilt for the way she makes money and for the comfortable life she leads, all the while empathizing with those less fortunate. In an effort to sort out her personal life and bring balance to her troubled soul, she searches for various means by which she can share her time, money, and good fortune with others, but will her worldly life crumble around her as she searches for purpose in her spiritual life?

Please Give opens with breasts. Lots of breasts, in fact. Breasts of all shapes, sizes, colors, and ages. If that's not an attention-grabber and a tone-setter, then nothing is. But it's more than just a 12-year-old boy's favorite scene; it's the first of what are to be 91 minutes worth of images, characters, and dialogue that strive to find the very essence of man by examining what it is he values and the way in which he prioritizes his life. The breasts serve dual purposes, it would seem, as both a way of opening the movie with imagery of something both man and woman assign a high personal value and, by framing them within the context of mammogram procedures, hinting to the notion that even those things which seem to hold such high value can ultimately cost a person everything they treasure. It's also the introduction to one of the film's pivotal characters, Rebecca, a girl who finds a value in life that others in the film struggle to see; if that she's on the front lines of saving lives in the doctor's office isn't enough, she's the character who still makes an effort to treat her aging grandmother with some level of dignity and respect as others only see her faults and wait for her to die for their own selfish reasons.

In fact, that appreciation for life gets to the very heart of what Please Give seems to be all about. The picture builds up a wonderfully complex and infinitely fascinating dynamic that shows two of the primary characters, Kate and Alex, as people who make their money -- and by every logical extension better their lives from a very generalized here-and-now perspective -- by gobbling up antiques at estate sales for pennies on the dollar and reselling them at a substantially higher cost. In essence, they prey on the dead and the mournful, though what they do seems in no way dishonest. They provide a service by relieving at least one area of stress from the mourners' lives, and in turn for their troubles make extra money on the side. The picture's fascinating dynamic, however, has them taking things one step further that turns them from entrepreneurs into some kind of morbid vultures hovering over the head of an aging woman in poor health, waiting for her to die so that they may turn her apartment into an extension of their own. They've lost sight of what really matters in the world, and it seems that that unending and perfectly-focused drive towards personal satisfaction is what has Kate worked up into a frenzy of emotions that have her torn between the pleasures of an ascendancy into a higher plane of the social hierarchy -- defined by wealth and material goods -- and what might be even more real and gratifying: putting others first. It's only through her epiphany that her spiritual life can't be satisfied by making money and expanding her apartment that she begins to realize that her priorities must change if she's to find balance, happiness, and satisfaction in all areas of her life, with emphasis on that most crucial one of all that exists separate of the material world. That begs the real question asked within the movie, though: does she truly mean to help others, or by helping others does she truly hope only to help herself?

There are several junctures throughout Please Give that attempt to answer that question. Best to leave it up to the audience to find those moments for themselves and decide where Kate's heart truly lies, but suffice it to say Please Give doesn't leave its audience wanting for something that can be interpreted as a definitive answer. Hint: think basketball. With Kate in mind, this seems as good a time as any to praise Catherine Keener's performance. She's so thoroughly convincing in her part -- as are the other primary cast -- that Please Give oftentimes feels more voyeuristic than cinematic. The picture captures reality and real emotions and seemingly perfectly-constructed characters to an extent that the movie's already challenging themes, moving plot developments, and smart ideas are only elevated to another level of excellence. The actors -- in conjunction with Holofcener's script -- manage to make the movie feel so real that it's often uncomfortable to watch, like it's in some way wrong to be this intimately involved in these people's lives. Please Give often captures an unsettling vibe not only in that regard but in the way the characters are so complexly drawn both inside and out yet are all definable in but a single sentence. That balance between single defining trait and the way each character fits into the greater scope of the story is perhaps its greatest asset. That Kate finds guilt in her profession and the pending expansion of her apartment; that Mary works as a cosmetologist who's unbearably ugly on the inside and can't even manage to make others pretty on the outside; that Alex is drawn to the one person who can't help him see the direction in which his life is headed; that Rebecca plays the part of the kinda-sorta life-saver who comes into the story already caring about the welfare of others both in her job and outside of it; and that Abby seems in search of a balance to better who she is both on the inside and on the outside, though she can't decide which is more important; all play a part in defining both the basic essence of Please Give as well as contributing to its much larger-in-scope ideas that speak in both broad generalities and nitty-gritty specifics about the very nature of man.

 

Please Give arrives on Blu-ray with what appears to be a true-to-director intent 1080p transfer. Viewers used to immaculately reproduced 35mm transfers from Sony will immediately note that something about Please Give looks to be a bit off. The film was actually shot with 16mm cameras, giving it that somewhat less defined and slightly more raw and under-detailed texture. Thew result is a sometimes soft image that's lacking in pristine definition. Faces occasionally appear pasty and flat, and fine detailing ranges from tolerable to quite strong in several spots. A handful of shots look like they were captured on low grade, standard definition video, but such exist only in one- or two-second spurts here and there. Colors are fairly accurate and pleasing; everything from nicely-realized flesh tones all the way to the colorful decorations seen on food packaging impress and lends to the transfer a steady, honest appearance. Black levels are strong, too, never appearing neither dull nor excessively dark so as to drown out fine details. Please Give features a rough-around-the-edges sort of transfer, but it seems to replicate the picture's intended appearance based on the available information (further supplementary insight would have been appreciated).  

Please Give features a run-of-the-mill DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This is a dialogue-intensive film that sees most every other element fade into the background in favor of the words and the story they tell. Dialogue is precise and center-focused, and Marcelo Zarvos' (Remember Me) wonderful score is well-spaced across the front speakers. In one scene, voices and a slamming door nicely echo through the soundstage to create a realistic sound effect, and the track also captures location-specific ambience -- such as clanking silverware and background music in a restaurant or the general din of New York City in various exterior scenes -- nicely enough across the front. The surround speakers are rarely, if ever, put to use. Put simply, this track is as basic as they get, but basic is really all this film needs.  

Please Give is a movie that absolutely begs for one or more commentary tracks, but alas, none are included. What little that's here begins with Behind the Scenes of 'Please Give' (1080p, 12:06), an all-too-brief piece that features cast and crew discussing the picture's story, themes, and characters, intercut with clips form the film. Nicole Holofcener Q&A (480p, 8:24) features the Writer/Director fielding various questions about the film. BD-Live functionality; the Please Give trailer (1080p, 2:07); a series of outtakes (480p, 3:58); and additional 1080p trailers for Mother and Child, Micmacs, Get Low, Animal Kingdom, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Eat Pray Love, and "The Pillars of the Earth" are also available.  

It's important to note with a movie such as Please Give that there are no definitive right or wrong approaches in analyzing all it has to say; that holds true for most every film, really, but it's magnified in importance here as Please Give is bound to speak to each viewer with a unique vocabulary. That said, Please Give is a film everyone should see, and it's a film no two people will see the same way. The picture is visually simple but thematically complex to the point that it stands among some of the great films that look at the human condition in the way it so effortlessly captures the essence of life and so precisely finds what it is that makes an individual tick and how the lives they lead must fulfill them not necessarily on the outside, but on the inside. In several ways the film recalls Sling Blade -- not in style, story, or tone but instead at a much more abstract level -- in the way both find the very essence of man by surrounding one troubled but seemingly well-intentioned soul with others who represent various extremes. Will Please Give one day achieve the status and recognition of Billy Bob Thornton's masterpiece? That's hard to say, but one thing's for sure: Please Give is an extraordinary film that tackles some very tough issues such as death, greed, family dynamics, and the contrast between satisfying the physical and neglecting the emotional and spiritual to a point that it's bound to serve as a springboard for some lively and complex discussions centered on several abstract and infinitely fascinating subjects. It's a film that's sometimes tough to watch but always a pleasure to behold; few films capture the essence of life as well as this, and it'll be a shame if it's not recognized in some form or fashion come awards season. Sony's Blu-ray release of Please Give sports a vanilla lossless soundtrack and a 1080p transfer that seems reflective of the film's 16mm origins. This is a movie that would greatly benefit form the inclusion of a more thorough selection of bonus content, but only a few scattered extras are included. No matter, Please Give Still comes highly recommended based on the strength of the movie.

• Please Give Announced on Blu-ray - August 23, 2010

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced Please Give for Blu-ray release on October 19. This independent comedy/drama, starring Catherine Keener, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and has received overall positive reviews. It got a very limited release ...

View the original article here

024- The Holiday

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Mahler: Symphony No.2 (Blu-ray Review)

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EUROARTS | 2003 | 86 min | Not rated | Sep 28, 2010

Video
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080i
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1

Audio
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Music: LPCM 2.0
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Music: LPCM 2.0 (less)
Subtitles
English, French, Spanish, German, Italian English, French, Spanish, German, Italian (less)
Discs
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)

 (2003)

Music

Claudio Abbado has realised a dream with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The orchestra, an exclusive ensemble of handpicked musical stars, opens up new dimensions in the interpretation of symphonic music with exceptional soloists. The line-up includes such luminaries as Ilya Gringolts and Sabine and Wolfgang Meyer, alongside members of the world's great orchestras. The cellos section alone boasts Natalia Gutman, Clemens Hagen and Valentin Erben.

For more details about Mahler: Symphony No.2 on Blu-ray, see the Mahler: Symphony No.2 Blu-ray Review

Starring: Eteri Gvazava, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Orfe?n Donostiarra, Anna Larsson

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, September 25, 2010

Did Gustav Mahler feel odd, perhaps even guilty, espousing such a Christian concept as life after death in his gargantuan Second Symphony, subtitled "Resurrection"? Mahler was after all born a Jew and converted to Christianity in order to preserve his career. Though never an overly observant Jew, Mahler's music is rife with cantorial tropes and has that peculiarly Jewish simultaneity of the comic and the tragic. Mahler's huge orchestral canvasses segue seemingly effortlessly from the grandiose to the picayune, often within the breadth of a single measure. Mahler was perhaps the most death obsessed composer of his era, if not all time, with piece after piece questioning, either figuratively or literally, the individual's demise. Though Otto Klemperer averred in his memoirs that Mahler was "irreligious," the composer's oeuvre certainly suggests otherwise. Piece after piece tackles huge philosophical, spiritual and even religious (in the most formalistic sense) questions, seeking answers where perhaps none are to be found. When Mahler converted to Catholicism in 1897, a prerequisite (as incredible as it may seem to us now) to obtain the post of Music Director of the Vienna Court Opera, it may seem in retrospect to be the crowning moment in a personal dialectic which had been brewing in Mahler's psyche for years, and which found its most eloquent voice in the Second Symphony.

Claudio Abbado

Death obsession is part and parcel of the Resurrection Symphony not just in its final form, but also in its creative genesis. The thrilling and desperate tremolo which starts the massive first movement, dissolving into a playfully minor theme (again the juxtaposition of the comic and tragic) had its compositional roots in an 1888 single movement symphonic piece Mahler titles Totenfeier (Death Celebration). As has been famously recounted, when Mahler came under the influence of Hans von B?low a few years later and played a piano reduction of Totenfeier for the man who would ultimately become his father-in-law, von B?low responded by remarking that Mahler's attempt made Tristan and Isolde sound like a Haydn symphony. In fact it was von B?low's death and funeral which got Mahler past his writer's block, introducing the composer to the text which would provide the inspiration for the choral finale of the Resurrection, the aptly named Die Auferstehung ("resurrection" in German) by the poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock.

This humongous five movement piece is a study in brilliantly conceived architecture, almost impossibly large and impossible to fully comprehend at the first (or even the tenth) listening. Conductor Claudio Abbado has long been linked to this piece, having made his debut at the Salzburg Festival with it some 40 years ago, and that long association with it means he conducts here sans score, able to devote his full attention to pacing and especially dynamics. From that tense opening, to the charming folk melody of the second movement's L?ndler, to the lightly lilting, if again minor-keyed, scherzo, Abbado brings out virtually every nuance of Mahler's iconoclastic writing. But it's in the final two sung movements that both the questioning of Mahler's intrinsic questing soul, as well as some at least seeming answers, are finally offered up to the listener in an astoundnig array of glory and poignancy.

Anna Larsson appears almost out of nowhere to sing the Symphony's achingly beautiful fourth movement, Ulricht ("Primeval Light"), a poem from Das Knaben Wunderhorn which provided Mahler with plentiful inspiration throughout his career. Here Larsson quietly seeks refuge as she sings:

O red rose!
Man lies in greatest need!
Man lies in greatest pain!
How I would rather be in heaven.
There came I upon a broad path
when came a little angel and wanted to turn me away.
Ah no! I would not let myself be turned away!
I am from God and shall return to God!
The loving God will grant me a little light,
Which will light me into that eternal blissful life!

And then almost as suddenly, the hushed tones of the full chorus invite us into one of the longest, and most spiritually astute, final movements in the entire symphonic repertoire. Maher builds his forces slowly here, like a master mason adding layer upon layer until finally the gates of heaven themselves seem to open at the slow, steady march toward the final, overwhelming cadence in Eb, replete with clanging bells and a full-stopped organ. Abbado pulls out all the stops himself, lending an absolute fury to these final few moments that is nothing less than revelatory.

The Lucerne Festival Orchestra is made up of players from the continent's finest ensembles, hand chosen by Abbado, and that level of expertise shines through in this performance. Each individual player seems invested with the importance of this score, often almost dancing in their chairs as they play through Mahler's magnificently varied movements. It's quite interesting to note the post-applause collegiality of this troupe. I don't think I've ever seen so many hugs and kisses shared between a symphony orchestra as is on display here as the audience slowly begins to file out of the impressively sleek and modern Lucerne Culture and Convention Center. That level of camaraderie is needed for a piece this gargantuan, and luckily, it's completely apparent and inherent in this impressive performance.

 

Euroarts provides a somewhat softer than usual MPEG-2 encoded 1080i image (in 1.78:1) on this concert taped in 2003. That said, colors are lifelike and well saturated and detail is very good to excellent, especially in the many close-ups. Best of all, there's little to no interlacing artifacting to disturb the image, all the more impressive in that the Lucerne Cultural and Convention Center is filled with parallel lines in the architecture which could have devolved into aliasing. Coverage of the orchestra is excellent here, with fine attention paid to various soli, and the detail in the midrange and close-up shots of the players and Abbado is often superb, to the point where fingerprints on instruments can be seen. The dresses of Larsson and soprano soloist Eteri Gvazava, one red and one peach, also pop very nicely here, as do the choir's white robes. But there isn't the overall precision that we've come to expect from these HD concert videos, perhaps due to the age of the concert (2003) and the MPEG-2 compression codec.  

I was frankly a little shocked to read one of the user reviews of this title and went back to double check my Blu-ray. I'm not sure if Euroarts went back to the drawing board for this US release, but all I can say is that the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix on my disc does indeed fill the surrounds, especially the rear channels. What I do notice is a certain lack of discrete channel separation, which perhaps argues toward the problem discussed in our user's review. I have also never heard the SD-DVD's 5.1 mix, and so obviously cannot offer thoughts on the comparison. That said, there is clear separation at times here, notably the winds versus the strings in the opening movement. Anna Larsson is also clearly only in the front and rear channels in her solo, with the side channels supporting some of the orchestral elements. I also had no issue with fidelity, at least as it was reproduced on my Onkyo 7.1 system. While dynamic range is a bit problematic, I don't think it rises to the "panic" level, at least not in my considered opinion. The quiet moments are precise and extremely spacious (especially the opening of the choral finale), while the many tuttis and huge crescendi bristle with sonic force and some excellent low end. If there is abundant limiting, it ultimately doesn't signficantly destroy the many full force moments of this symphony. There is a certain lack of hall ambience in this 5.1 mix, which again may argue toward a repurposed stereo mix. The LPCM 2.0 stereo fold down is also quite good from a fidelity standpoint, but the narrower soundfield does not do justice to the contrapuntal majesty of Mahler's writing here. I'll err on the side of caution and give this release a 3.0 rating until we hear from other US users; I'm actually very interested to see if there is perhaps a difference between the US and UK releases. My personal opinion is the excellence of the performance helps to alleviate at least some of the ostensible problems in the recording itself.  

There are no supplements on the Blu-ray (aside from trailers). The insert booklet's very brief essay deals more with Abbado than with Mahler.  

This relatively early piece of Mahler's symphonic output harkens back to the playfully morose feeling of the First Symphony, while pointing all the way forward to the divine sung finale of the Ninth. This is a remarkable performance by Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra which I personally feel outweighs any recording issues. Recommended.

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Secret of Moonacre (Blu-ray Review)

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E1 Entertainment | 2008 | 103 min | Not rated | Sep 21, 2010  (2008)

Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Romance

Set in the 1840s the story follows Maria Merryweather, a 13-year-old orphan on her journey to the mysterious Moonacre Manor. There she finds herself in a crumbling house of secrets and mystery in a world caught up in time. Maria discovers that she is the last Moon Princess and she has only until the next full moon to undo the misdeeds of her ancestors and save the Moonacre estate from disappearing forever. Although she is aided by a stable of wonderful characters and magical beasts, it is only by self-sacrifice and perseverance that she will be able to reunite lost loves and warring families, and bring peace to the magical world of Moonacre.

For more details about The Secret of Moonacre on Blu-ray, see The Secret of Moonacre Blu-ray Review

Starring: Dakota Blue Richards, Ioan Gruffudd, Natascha McElhone
Director: Gabor Csupo

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, September 21, 2010

Today on Top Chef: Movie Edition, we'll be putting together a little dish we like to call Surefire Blockbuster. It's a relatively easy dish to make. Simply take one or two parts Dickens, with an adorable orphan discovering her mysterious heritage, mix in an ample supply of Chronicles of Narnia mysticism, taking care to add one low-cal Aslan substitute, beat together with a sprinkle of Inkheart, Harry Potter, and, just for a dash of spice, A Clockwork Orange, and, voil?, your masterpiece is complete! Bake well and if you're very, very lucky, you'll have a souffl? of international proportions which will make you millions. Or not. The Secret of Moonacre is, as you may have guessed from that intro, one of the most oddly derivative features to appeal to youngsters in quite a while. Some of that d?j? vu is no doubt attributable to the film's source novel, The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge, but under the mannered direction of Gabor Csupo (The Bridge to Terabithia), we're inundated with one hoary clich? after another which all but obliterates whatever charm the rather formidable cast attempts to conjure. This is a film with some sparkling whimsy, but such an unbearable heaviness of being that it's literally like watching a lead balloon plummet from lofty heights into the abyss.

Juliet Stevens as Miss Heliotrope and Dakto Blue Richards as Maria.

Winsome heroine Maria Merryweather (Dakota Blue Richards, The Golden Compass) follows behind the casket of her recently deceased father, a Colonel with a gambling addiction which has left her penniless. All Maria inherits is a dusty old book and the chance to live at the Merryweather estate of Moonacre with her none too happy about it Uncle (Ioan Gruffudd, The Fantastic Four), who chastens the girl for virtually everything she does, including breathing. Also along for the "adventure" of living with Uncle is Maria's governess, Miss Heliotrope (Juliet Stevenson), who ups the class of this enterprise by delivering a series of rambunctious belches throughout the film. As Maria and Miss Heliotrope approach Moonacre, they're set upon by some ruffians, one of whom Maria had spotted at her father's burial. Uncle isn't spilling any beans about them, and he also purloins Maria's inherited book, telling her it's his and her father had no right to bestow it upon her.

What ensues is an often confusing mishmash of ideas and characters, most of which and whom you've seen in other films. Tim Curry is on hand as the nefarious head of the Merryweathers' nemeses, the De Noir family. As becomes evident quite early in the film, the Merryweathers and De Noirs have been engaging in a multigenerational feud which began with both families lusting after all powerful "moon pearls," a treasure which mysteriously disappeared and set both families on centuries of questing and mutual hatred. Need it be spelled out that Maria is the key to not only discovering what has happened to the missing gems but also to the long delayed reconciliation between the feuding families?

Part of the problem with Moonacre is that it plays out like a paint by numbers escapade where the final picture is neither very picturesque nor frankly of much artistic value. This is a film that brandishes about its highminded but rather simplistic moralizing in much the same way as Csupo's Terabithia, but with little of that film's heart (and I'm frankly cutting more than a bit of slack to Terabithia, a film I also thought had some major issues). Some of this may be attributed to filmstock left on the cutting room floor, because this production lurches about so unevenly one has to assume some bridging segments just didn't make it to the final cut for whatever reason. But for ever purported moment of fanciful invention (and sadly there aren't even very many of those), there are two of leaden dialogue, completely inexplicable character motivations and an overall sense of drowning for no good purpose, something our heroine also gets to experience.

Dakota Blue Richards manages to escape this hodgepodge with a modicum of dignity, but she flounders more than a time or two as the film meanders along. The rest of the cast seems oddly uninspired, including Curry, who must certainly be sick by now of having to hiss and grimace his way through yet another villainous role. Stevenson is fun, if patently annoying, as Miss Heliotrope, and manages to actually invest the film with a little character. August Prew as Curry's son, Robin de Noir, has little to do, and I frankly wondered if he were cast simply due to his resemblance to Malcolm McDowell. The de Noir "ruffians" run around in little bowler hats and lots of mascara which make them dead ringers for A Clockwork Orange's Alex. That, at least, is a completely unexpected turn of events in a children's fantasy film, though of course one might be taken at least a bit aback by this supremely odd reference. In a film as hackneyed as The Secret of Moonacre, though, one appreciates something unexpected no matter how weird it may be.

 

The Secret of Moonacre is a mixed bag on Blu-ray, delivered via an AVC codec in 1080p and a 2.40:1 aspect ratio. First off, the film is deliberately blanched a great deal of the time, leaving fleshtones on the pasty white side, with deliberately low contrast and an emphasis on the black to blue end of the spectrum. This gives Moonacre a very cold and frankly uninviting appearance some of the time, perhaps redolent of the moon, but not the stuff of which classic children's fantasy films are made. Detail is exceptionally sharp at times, however, which at least partially offsets the color issues. Every weathered line on Curry's face is noticeable, perhaps to the actor's chagrin. Unfortunately, this excellent resolution also points out the film's production design shortcomings. While the costumes are quite opulent and shine through magnificently here, some of the sets just look cheaply made, and not just because the Merryweather castle is a sort of dilapidated Beauty and the Beast affair. CGI is also highly variable here. The opening fantasy sequence with the Moon Princess looks decent enough, and the ghostly white horse which haunts Maria's dreams is quite fetching, but the black lion is laughably bad, and the final moon-ridden sequence doesn't have the crispness videophiles have come to expect from fare like this.  

The Secret of Moonacre fares considerably better with a nicely immersive lossles DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. With an abundance of different environments through which Maria traipses, we're offered a neat variety of ambient sounds. Best here are several segments in the forest, where everything from fluttering leaves to "devil dog" Wrolf's howls to the pitter patter of ruffian feet enter from various surrounds to create a very evocative soundfield. Attention to detail crops up throughout this film, including one of the final sequences, when Maria and Andrew enter a hollow in a giant tree which becomes the entrance to a cave. Reverb and echo detail here are exceptional and the increasingly claustrophobic environment is recreated admirably. The best aural moment of the film is at the climax, when a towering wave of unicorns is presented with some really thundering LFE.  

Some fairly standard extras supplement the main release. These include a Behind the Scenes featurette (SD; 19:26), which shows various scene being filmed; a collection of Interviews (SD; 32:28) with all the principal cast; a Making Of featurette (SD; 23:30) which includes footage from the two previous extras, and some Deleted Scenes (SD; 11:19), which do in fact help to flesh out the story a bit more.  

Younger children may find enough here to keep them modestly entertained, if not entranced. Older kids and adults are probably going to be glancing at their watches by the half hour mark. There's simply too much here that's been seen in other, better films. But if you have some kiddies you need to keep occupied for an hour and half, this is certainly worth a rental.

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