DVD Talk review of 'Sideways' (Blu-ray)
02-14-09 | 02:34 PM
#1
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DVD Talk Special Edition
DVD Talk review of 'Sideways' (Blu-ray)
I read Stuart Galbraith IV's DVD review of Sideways at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=36255 and...
3 stars for video and 2.5 for extras gets the highest possible rating?
3 stars for video and 2.5 for extras gets the highest possible rating?
02-14-09 | 04:03 PM
#2
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From: Greenville, South Cackalack
Re: DVD Talk review of 'Sideways' (Blu-ray)
No offense, but did you read the review or just count the stars?
You're obviously welcome to disagree, but to my eyes, Stuart justified the rating in the text of his review. It's not all about extras and demo-quality video.
Though it's not a giant leap from standard-def DVD to Blu-ray and the lack of new supplements is disappointing, Sideways itself is one of the best films of the last decade, and a DVD Talk Collector Series title.
02-14-09 | 04:13 PM
#3
Thread Starter
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: DVD Talk review of 'Sideways' (Blu-ray)
I read the review. I thought the DVD Talk Collector Series was for the best of the best - not for okay video quality and disappointing supplements.
From reading the review it sounds like the criteria for being selected as a DVD Talk Collector Series title is to be one of the reviewers favorite films.
From reading the review it sounds like the criteria for being selected as a DVD Talk Collector Series title is to be one of the reviewers favorite films.
02-14-09 | 04:39 PM
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From: Greenville, South Cackalack
Re: DVD Talk review of 'Sideways' (Blu-ray)
There have been a lot of debates back and forth about this, but really, the use of that label is up to each individual reviewer's discretion.
02-14-09 | 06:16 PM
#5
DVD Talk Reviewer
Re: DVD Talk review of 'Sideways' (Blu-ray)
Chiming in:
A DVD Talk Collector Series Title is a Blu-ray or DVD (or HD DVD) release any serious collector will want to have in their home theater library. For me, mediocre/poor transfers of great movies don't qualify, and neither to awesome transfers of bad movies.
In the case of SIDEWAYS, what you have (in my opinion) is a superb movie adequately transfered. It's a recent film, so it should be and is free of the kind of problems older catalog titles have to contend with. The Blu-ray is also an accurate representation of the film as it looked and sounded in theaters when it was new. (I know - I saw it in a theater in 2005.) Could the transfer be improved upon? Perhaps slightly, but to the naked eye, not particularly.
There are no new extras - but the extras carried over from the SD DVD are way above average: an exceptional commentary track, and deleted scenes selected and annotated with above-average care. It might have been nice to have included, for example, a feature about the wine country locations, or maybe a pop-up feature with wine notes written by an expert, but I didn't at all feel like I was missing out, either.
In short, the video/audio is up to contemporary standards; this just isn't the film you want to use to show off your home theater system with. The extras aren't new but what's there is quite good.
And the reason to buy/rent the damn thing in the first place is the movie - and in my opinion it's great.
I can't speak for the other reviewers, but the quality of the movie carries the greatest weight in my review.
A DVD Talk Collector Series Title is a Blu-ray or DVD (or HD DVD) release any serious collector will want to have in their home theater library. For me, mediocre/poor transfers of great movies don't qualify, and neither to awesome transfers of bad movies.
In the case of SIDEWAYS, what you have (in my opinion) is a superb movie adequately transfered. It's a recent film, so it should be and is free of the kind of problems older catalog titles have to contend with. The Blu-ray is also an accurate representation of the film as it looked and sounded in theaters when it was new. (I know - I saw it in a theater in 2005.) Could the transfer be improved upon? Perhaps slightly, but to the naked eye, not particularly.
There are no new extras - but the extras carried over from the SD DVD are way above average: an exceptional commentary track, and deleted scenes selected and annotated with above-average care. It might have been nice to have included, for example, a feature about the wine country locations, or maybe a pop-up feature with wine notes written by an expert, but I didn't at all feel like I was missing out, either.
In short, the video/audio is up to contemporary standards; this just isn't the film you want to use to show off your home theater system with. The extras aren't new but what's there is quite good.
And the reason to buy/rent the damn thing in the first place is the movie - and in my opinion it's great.
I can't speak for the other reviewers, but the quality of the movie carries the greatest weight in my review.
