Brainstorm 1983: Which Release Is Better?
 

Curious if there is any difference in the 2 dvd
releases of Brainstorm, starring Chris Walken?
I know the original 1998 mgm release had
a 8 page booklet. And the 2001 re-release thru
Warner(who aquired many mgm titles) seems
to have omitted this.

Anyways...I appreciate any info as I am going
to purchase this title.

I believe that this is another instance of same content & transfer with different labeling & packaging.

Thanks Marty888 4 your input.

I ended up purchasing the 1st release.
Could have sworn there was a 5.1 soundtrack
out there....But I guess 2.0 is all one gets.

Anyways. Its fun to view the 1:85 & 2:35
aspects of the film. Very creative for its time.

I've read that the Laserdisc has a 5.1 track. I'm not sure if that's for the entire film though since apparently theatrical showings used mono sound for the reality scenes before switching to surround for the Brainstorm scenes, enhancing the effect.

This is a film I'm hoping will get revisited for a Special Edition some time soon. I'd love to hear a Douglas Trumbull commentary and see some type of feature on the making of the film, its production problems and completion.

The laserdisc had a Dolby Digital track, but I have a vague recollection that it was DD 4.0.

I searched the net the other day for about an
hour. I was surprised on the lack of reviews for
this title. The movie isn't that bad.....
Also the reviews were condracting each other.
One said that there was a scene missing
and another said it was only fullscreen
on the 2nd release.

Mainly I was shocked that with 2 releases it
has never been reviewed here.

I don't know the movie well enough to tell if a scene is missing.

As far as technical DVD presentation, the disc is a recycled non-anamorphic letterbox laserdisc transfer. The movie's aspect ratio varies from 1.66:1 to 2.35:1. In the theater, the 1.66:1 portions were pillarboxed in the center of the frame, and then the picture would expand outwards during the "brainstorm" sequences. The DVD and Dolby Digital laserdisc, on the other hand, have a constant width and variable height. This means that the "real world" scenes take up a larger field of view than the "brainstorm" scenes, which is exactly the opposite of the intended effect.

There was an older laserdisc release that preserved the movie's original aspect ratio design. It looks pretty strange watching on a television, because the majority of the movie appears in a postage-stamp sized picture windowboxed on all four sides.

I remember seeing this movie years ago, quite enjoyed it. Does it still hold the same appeal after all these years?

For me it does. I'm a big Walken though.
Though some of the computer tech is outdated.

Transfer has lots of artifacts at times.
And some of the brighter images are a bit
washed out . Also a section of close-up
shots of Natalie at the home observatory
seemed very out of focus. Though they may
have used early film stock and spliced it in
after her drowning???

Its worth a rental at least for Walken fans.
I am keeping my copy. As I doubt I will
ever see a Criterion Version of it.