General Evans Above Archive for Jun 15, 2022
George Clooney Double Feature: The American / Leatherheads Blu-ray review
Jun 15, 2022 – permalink
Mill Creek Entertainment has released the George Clooney Double Feature: The American / Leatherheads Blu-ray combining two of George’s films at a reasonable price point. Let’s take a look…
In 2010’s The American, Clooney plays an assassin and gunsmith who hides out in Castel del Monte, an Italian commune, after a near-death experience has him questioning everyone’s intentions, even that of his handler, Pavel (Johan Leysen). He keeps company with two locals: Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli), a priest, and Clara (Violante Placido), a prostitute. When he accepts one last job from Pavel – making a custom sniper rifle for a fellow killer named Mathilde (Thekla Reuten) – he finds himself questioning everything and everyone. It’s not a fast-paced action flick, but rather a tense, methodical examination of a hitman facing the perils of his chosen profession.
On a lighter note, 2008’s Leatherheads is a sports-themed romantic comedy set in the 1920s. Clooney plays Jimmy “Dodge” Connelly, the captain of the Duluth Bulldogs, a struggling pro football team. Looking to turn around the financial fortunes of the team, he convinces Carter “The Bullet” Rutherford (John Krasinski) to join the team. Rutherford is not only Princeton University’s star player, he’s also a decorated WWI hero. His appearance on the team draws the interest of a Chicago Tribune newspaper reporter, Lexie Littleton (Renée Zellwegger), who’s investigating claims that Rutherford’s heroics may not be all they’re cracked up to be. A love triangle and the machinations of pro sports carry the film to the end zone.
Both movies appear on one Blu-ray disc. The 1080p AVC encoded transfers are presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio for The American and a 1.85:1 aspect ratio for Leatherheads. Both films had previous Universal Blu-rays using the older VC-1 encoding. The newer AVC MPEG-4 encoding does this release some favours. Both films do well for clarity and detail in the usual suspects (facial features, hair, textiles, and environments) and the colour palettes for the most part are quite pleasing and realistic. Black levels are pretty deep. The only issue here is the compression Mill Creek uses to get the two films on one disc, which lends to some abundant macroblocking in some lower light scenes.
On the audio side both films come with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack and English SDH subtitles. Any slight concerns for the video quality do not translate to the audio. These are very nice tracks, with good use of the surrounds, bright dynamic music and clear, centred and well prioritized dialogue.
The disc does not come with a digital code for the movies, nor does it come with any supplemental materials.
The George Clooney Double Feature: The American / Leatherheads Blu-ray is an economical way to add two Clooney films to your library if you’re more of a casual physical media consumer. With good video and excellent sound, I’d recommend it at this price point.
Boomerang Blu-ray review
Jun 15, 2022 – permalink
It’s been thirty years since Eddie Murphy jumped into the rom-com genre with Boomerang. To mark that anniversary, Paramount Home Entertainment has released a Blu-ray of the film and I had a chance to take an early look. In Boomerang, Murphy plays an ad exec who has a reputation of being a ladies man, notching conquests on his belt and enjoying a life without commitment. When he falls for his new boss (Robin Givens) after a merger, he discovers she’s the female version of him. Suddenly on the receiving end of the treatment he has dished out for years, he discovers how bad he’s made others feel. Could his thoughtful co-worker (Halle Berry) be what he was really looking for? The cast also includes David Alan Grier, Martin Lawrence, Grace Jones, Eartha Kitt and Chris Rock.
The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, cropped slightly from the original release’s 1.85:1 aspect ratio. It’s a good transfer with good detail on the usual suspects (facial textures, textiles and environments) but I think a better transfer could have been done with a better master scan. Colour levels are accurate and though it’s a predominantly natural palette, some primaries do have a nice pop to them. Black levels are deep and there’s fairly good detail in shadows, while grain is slightly more noticeable in darker scenes.
On the audio side, Boomerang features an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack as well as German, French and Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks. Subtitles are available in English, English SDH, German, French and Japanese. It’s a mostly front-heavy track with the surrounds used sparingly for some effects. The soundtrack is heavy on the bass, so your subwoofer does a bit of work there. Dialogue is clear, centred and well-prioritized.
The Blu-ray disc comes with a digital copy code. In terms of extras, there’s a commentary track by director Reginald Hudlin and a few minutes of deleted and extended scenes.
Boomerang has a good transfer and audio presentation. I might have expected a bit more on the extras side. It’s the 30th anniversary after all and Murphy has made a boatload of money for the studio over the years. Still, it’s priced well and a good outing by Murphy, so you should consider adding it to your collection.