The
Armstrong Lie
(2013/Sony Blu-ray)/McConkey
(2013/MSP DVD)/History Of
The WWE: 50 Years Of Sports Entertainment
+ Straight To The Top:
Money In The Bank - Ladder Match Anthology
(WWE Blu-rays)
Picture:
B-/C+/B-/B- Sound: B-/C+/C+/C+ Extras: B/B/B/C+ Main
Programs: B/B/B-/C+
Now
for the latest sports-related titles...
Alex
Gibney's The Armstrong Lie
(2013) was originally being made before biker Lance Armstrong was
finally exposed for lying and fraud for many, many years in surviving
cancer and winning a bunch of Tour de France tournaments. Now faced
with a new open truth about his subject, the always remarkable Gibney
spends over two hours thoroughly showing how he lied, how often he
lied, how big the fraud was, how many looked the other way, how he
bullied people, how big money kept him untouched and how some who
were telling the truth early were the subject of witch-hunts.
Including
a new series of interviews with Armstrong himself, we see a man who
would win at any cost, was high on his ego and did not care
ultimately whose life he destroyed. Gibney makes it a character
study of him, sports, big money and circumstance, though even
Armstrong is still in deep denial top the full extent of his lying
and the permanent damage he has caused others. It is amazing what
Gibney is allowed to show, finds and what he gets out of those he
interviews. The stock and vintage footage goes beyond TV and into
many personal archives, making this one of the most dense
documentaries of any kind we have seen visually of late. It is also
strong and leaves hardly anything untouched in showing what really
happened.
Extras
include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes
capable devices, while the Blu-ray adds a feature length audio
commentary track by Gibney, Deleted Scenes that could not fit into
the main program and a Q&A with Gibney, Producer Frank Marshall,
Bill Strickland, Jonathan Vaughters and Betsy Andreu.
Just
as impressive, McConkey
(2013) features 5 credited directors, yet this is one of the most
coherent documentaries directed by more than one person I have ever
seen. The intense, entertaining and even poignant 109 minutes about
Shane McConkey, a young man from Canada whose father was a well-known
professional skier back in the day when that had nothing to do with
extreme sports or the like. When his parents divorced, his mom took
him to America and he became disconnected from his father, yet loved
skiing and pursued it strongly.
After
trying to get on the U.S. Olympic team, he gets cut and never tries
again. His eccentric, playful side starts turning up and he sticks
with the sport despite there being no market or money in it, but
soon, that changes and he suddenly finds himself at the cutting edge
of a rising sport that means big money and big fame for him. He is
also a risk-taker and goes all the time for all kinds of stunts
including recreating he pre-title ski jump sequence from the 1977
James Bond film The Spy
Who Loved Me to the point
of consulting stuntman Rick Sylvester, the very man who did the jump
for the film.
Unlike
the Armstrong situation, McConkey was the real thing, never cheated
at anything and changed his sport for the better in a way all can be
proud of. It is a remarkable documentary and one of the best we have
seen of late, so it is worth going out of your way for and I would if
I were you. It is that good.
Extras
include seven featurettes not listed on the DVD case for some odd,
unfortunate reason: Shane's Super Part, 30 Days To Live Essay, Scott
Gaffney: Making Pictures & Memories With Shane, J.T. Holmes:
Shane's Protege To Partner In Crime, Sherry McConkey: The Woman Who
Stole Shane's Heart, Portrait Of Saucerboy and Shane Innovating Ski
Design.
Finally
we have two WWE Blu-ray releases meant to promote and lionize the
franchise. The History Of
The WWE: 50 Years Of Sports Entertainment
shows the old days of national wrestling when you had many regional
companies doing it until the McMahon Family started to either buy up
or push out the competitors, fair and square as this program
suggests. It also shows us when it was really fun in a gritty way
with Andre The Giant and the man whose international stardom made it
into the empire and money machine it is today: Bruno Sammartino. You
get 7.5 hours over two Blu-rays with the first having the main
program. Then we have Straight
To The Top: Money In The Bank - Ladder Match Anthology
which is also a double Blu-ray set and even runs 8.5 hours, but it is
much more repetitive and run-on for what is the WWE's idea of a game
show for wrestlers. It is interesting at times, odd at others and
really for fans only, but give them points for wackiness.
Extras
on History
include several Behind The Scenes featurettes showing more of the
history of the franchise including more on Bruno Sammartino and Andre
the Giant, while Ladder
has more victory and behind-the-scenes footage, plus the paperboard
slipcase is made to look like a briefcase, but the paper is thin, so
only consider it decoration.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on the
Blu-rays mix new HD footage with older standard definition analog and
digital video, plus the occasional film clip, tying for first place
in picture performance, something McConkey
would likely join if it were a Blu-ray, but the DVD offers a decent,
anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image for the format with the same mix of footage.
Armstrong
offers a DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 5.1 lossless mix that might not always have a great
soundfield, but makes it the best sonic presentation on the list.
McConkey
has both
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 and lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mixes, but
the 5.1 is the preferred way to hear it even as it has some rough and
even monophonic audio. The WWE
Blu-rays has the same issues, but they
oddly only offer lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo unfortunately, so
don't expect much here as they tie for second/last place sonically.
-
Nicholas Sheffo