American
Sniper
(2014/Warner Blu-ray w/DVD)/A
Man For All Seasons
(1966/Columbia/Sony/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)
Picture:
B & C/B Sound: B+ & C+/B- Extras: C/B Films: B/B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The A
Man For All Seasons
Limited Edition Blu-ray is sold out and going high prices when you
can find it, but Sniper
has been issued on 4K disc and you can read more about at the link
after the extras on that set below.
One
way biopics tend to avoid some of the formula of such films is by
being connected to events as great and/or people as key as the main
protagonist, as these two films show...
Clint
Eastwood's American
Sniper
(2014) tells the story of expert soldier and sniper Chris Kyle (a
stunning performance by Bradley Cooper) that gives us some of his
background, but (based on part on a book he wrote before his untimely
death at home) how he was so incensed by the events of 9/11 that he
joined the military and eventually became one of its elite. Thus,
the post 9/11 world becomes as relevant as anything, but he
screenplay sticks with Kyle's like more than enough to show his
transformation into a grown adult who happens to land up with a
record number of assassinations.
Instead
of overplaying that aspect of the story and life, which is treated
like a myth that happens to be true in the best tradition of the
Western genre. Sienna Miller is a plus as his wife,very convincing
in her role without letting it become lame or cliche. The rest of
the cast is fine and Eastwood does some of his best directing in
years, even loosing control of the film on some level, which actually
helps by letting take on a life of its own.
There
are issues here including predictability finally setting in towards
the latter half of the film, a one-sided portrayal of the Iraq people
that could rightly be considered at least as semi-racist, though
fitting in a PC 'good Iraq person' would have been condescending. It
has a personal realism like parts of Cimino's The
Deer Hunter
(1978) where we follow a working-class man though the hell of war
from beginning to end and with not always good consequences, but
Eastwood, Cooper and company strongly invest and successfully stick
with that angle and that is why the film was such a huge hit.
Controversial, yes, but purely cinematic in character and the main
character. Even the ending seems too pat, well handled as it is, but
this one is when it works and that is often. Everyone should give
this one a look.
Extras
include Digital HD for PC, PC-like, and portable computer-based
devices, while the Blu-ray disc adds a Making Of featurette and
One
Soldier's Story
documentary. You can read more about the newer 4K version at this
link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16438/American+Sniper+4K+(2014/Warner+4K+Ultra+H
Fred
Zinnemann's A
Man For All Seasons
(1966) has Sir Thomas More taking on the Catholic Church and its
English interests in a film, even more relevant that when I last
looked at it a few years ago on DVD at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5027/A+Man+For+All+Sea
It
still has its issues, but also has some great acting, interesting
locales, a unique sense of claustrophobia and tells its story without
compromise. If you have never seen it, you should put it on your
must-see list just to see how well much of this works. Glad to see
it arrive on Blu-ray, even if only limited to 3,000 copies.
Extras
include the featurette on More and two trailers from the previous
DVD, but Twilight Time adds an illustrated booklet on the film with
Julie Kirgo essay, new
feature length audio commentary track by Kirgo, Nick Redmond &
Lem Dobbs (three big film fans and scholars in top form yet again)
and an Isolated Music Score featuring Georges Delerue's music.
That's more like it!
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image in Sniper
is an all-digital shoot that has its moments, but is not wide-ranging
in its look, holding the film back a bit, though the
anamorphically enhanced DVD is much softer and hard to watch. As a
War film, it I able to get away with that flatness, but it is not the
best-looking of its kind.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Man
can sometimes show the age of the film and materials used, but this
is far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film as it
is from a new 4K HD master looking better than the DVD we covered
before. Still, some shots look grainier than expected and others
darker than I would have liked, but this was originally a
dye-transfer,
three-strip Technicolor film, which you can see in many places how it
could have been despite not always have color that deep and wide
ranging. That is enough for it to be a dead tie with Sniper
for playback performance.
As
for sound, the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless mix on Sniper
is impressive throughout, well mixed, presented and a mixdown from
its original Auro/Dolby Atmos theatrical release where available.
This means this could even sound better.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes on Man
is a further advance over the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on its DVD
version and like the image, outdoes all previous sonic presentations,
but in this case, I cannot imagine it is ever going to sound better
than it does here, so fans should get it immediately. Add the
isolated music track and it is a must-own for them and all serious
libraries.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
