Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - (Page 19) www.homemediamagazine.com REVIEWS BLU-RAY SPOTLIGHT I THE GODFATHER: THE COPPOLA RESTORATION COLLECTION Paramount, Drama, $119.99 four-disc Blu-ray, $72.99 five-DVD set, ‘R.’ Stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Talia Shire. I ANOTHER LIFE Prebook 10/28; Street 11/25 BFS, Drama, $24.98 DVD, NR. Stars Natasha Little, Nick Moran, Ioan Gruffudd, Imelda Staunton, Rachael Stirling, Tom Wilkinson. C ut from the same cloth as countless British classics, Another Life will appeal to audiences looking for a hardcore drama, a lushly produced period piece and a distinctly painful examination of the human condition. Reminiscent of other powerful English films such as Dance With a Stranger and Let Him Have It, Another Life is a dramatization of an actual criminal case that rocked Great Britain in the late 1920s and still resonates. The Thompson-Bywaters case as depicted in the film concerns a crime of passion fueled not only by personal impulses but by the rigid, suffocating upper-crust social climate. Adding layers to the complexity of the plot is the fact that main character Edith Thompson (Little) is oddly sympathetic, even though she is not completely likable. Edith is a bit of a wild child, and when she eventually finds herself in a cold, boring marriage, her eye begins to wander and her uncontrollable instincts drive her to stray. A complicated, difficult story, the film employs beautiful, muted colors and scrumptious production design to underscore a situation that is as far away from black and white as possible. Director Philip Goodhew benefits from a talented, attractive cast, including the always-strong Wilkinson in a supporting role. While the events depicted in Another Life took place ages ago, the harrowing climax is likely to live on in the minds of viewers for a long time. – David Greenberg A lot has happened in Hollywood and in the technology used by Hollywood since The Godfather made its theatrical debut in March 1972. This gorgeous new Blu-ray Disc set, featuring the first two remarkable “Godfather” films and the third forgettable one, recaptures the cinema of the 1970s. This is the most beautiful restoration of these classic films ever. The movies retain the grain of the theatrical versions, as well as the extremely dark black levels, that director Francis Ford Coppola and cinematographer Gordon Willis created with this trilogy. These fully restored movies are dark, rich and true to the mood and tone of Mario Puzo’s original novel. Especially noteworthy are the light sepia film tones of the backstory sequences in The Godfather Part II. Paramount also has restored the audio and offers a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack for each movie. When listening to the film in its original incarnation and then switching to the lossless soundtrack, there’s a huge difference — even if these films did not employ the surround-sound effects modern movies utilize today. This Blu-ray collection comes with an exclusive fourth disc filled with HD bonus material, as well as some standard-definition leftovers from the 2001 DVD release. “The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn’t” is a 30-minute documentary that explores the troubled history of bringing Puzo’s novel to the big screen. Fans interested in seeing how this beautiful restoration was done should watch “Emulsional Rescue: Revealing the Godfather.” And the controversy of The Godfather is explored in the featurette “When the Shooting Stopped,” which focuses on the horse-head scene as well as the overarching themes of the three films. This is the ultimate “Godfather “collection and a musthave for any HD library. I doubt there will ever be a more comprehensive or gorgeous collection assembled for this masterpiece. – John Gaudiosi http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.whvdirect.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 Contents News TV DVD KidVid Reviews Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 (Page Cover1) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 (Page Cover2) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 (Page 1) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 (Page 2) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 (Page 3) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 (Page 4) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Contents (Page 5) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - News (Page 6) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - News (Page 7) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - News (Page 8) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - News (Page 9) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - News (Page 10) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - News (Page 11) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 12) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 13) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 14) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - KidVid (Page 15) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - KidVid (Page 16) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Reviews (Page 17) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Reviews (Page 18) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Reviews (Page 19) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 20) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 21) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 22) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 23) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 24) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover3) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover4) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page P1) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page P2) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page P3) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page P4) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page P5)
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