What's new

A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Crossing Guard & The Human Stain -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

Archivist
Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 8, 1999
Messages
18,316
Real Name
Robert Harris
Another Miramax double bill from Echo Bridge is only successful because of its $13 price tag on line, as only one of the film is viewable with any quality.

Let's make believe that The Human Stain isn't involved, as it's far below standards on this Blu-ray.

The Crossing Guard, directed by Sean Penn, is fortunately a viable viewing experience. The film is a quality exercise in what on the surface may seem to be something in the "revenge" genre. But it isn't. There's more to it than that, and Mr. Penn does a interesting job at the helm.

Image is fine, with good data throughput, fine color and densities. The images appears to be derived from an IP, which is a budget saver, without losing much in terms of quality.

Image - 3.5

Audio - 4

Recommended, but only for those who have no interest in The Human Stain, which is a worthy film.

This is a pity, as it seems to knock the bottom out of the double bill concept. I also wonder how Echo Bridge might account to participants, especially if an A picture is double-billed with a B picture owned by different entities.

RAH
 

Mark-P

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2005
Messages
6,487
Location
Camas, WA
Real Name
Mark Probst
I'm just now watching "The Crossing Guard" on Blu-ray. For those who care, Echo Bridge has downmixed the sound to MONO! The movie was released theatrically in Dolby Digital 5.1 as was the Miramax DVD. Stereo 2.0 I could have lived with, but mono? That's inexcusable.
 

Jari K

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 16, 2007
Messages
3,288
Why these older films directed by Penn are treated this way? The Indian Runner is a masterpiece, The Crossing Guard is a solid drama (same thing with The Pledge). And with those films you could still see "the old Jack Nicholson", not the comedy-drama-over-the-top-Jack that he's today.Criterion could do these films justice. I can dream, can I?
 

JoshZ

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 26, 2012
Messages
2,243
Location
Boston
Real Name
Joshua Zyber
Robert Harris said:
Recommended, but only for those who have no interest in The Human Stain, which is a worthy film.
You think a lot more highly of The Human Stain than I do. Much like The Bonfire of the Vanities, it's a movie that, through absurdly wrong-headed casting, seems to completely miss the point of the book it's based on.

The DVD looked like garbage back in the day, smothered in heavy DNR and edge enhancement. From your cursory dismissal, I assume that the Blu-ray is sourced from the same old master.
 

ajabrams

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 15, 2009
Messages
455
Location
NYC
Real Name
Alan Abrams
Though I haven't watched this disc yet, I really can't complain because I picked it up at BestBuy on Tuesday for $3.99.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,815
Messages
5,123,851
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top