GODDAMN ELECTRIC!

It is nice to see The Weinstein Company aggressively releasing the good stuff on HD DVD this early in the game. Lucky # Slevin was marketed as a Tarantino-esque bullet-fest with brains. Though it does stumble at times, this movie was pretty good, thanks mostly to performances from heavy-hitters Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman.

While the movie was entertaining, I found that the overall quality was dragged down to some extent by certain conveniences and coincidences in the plot. With the kind of twisty plot and witty dialogue Slevin brings to the table, I demand nothing less than an airtight story. Despite this drawback, the benefits clearly outweigh these minor quibbles. Slevin is a movie worth checking out.

There is nothing striking about the picture quality of this HD DVD, other than the fact that it is an accurate reproduction of the film's look. There was a specific palette of colors used throughout the film, and these colors were faithfully reproduced on this disc, to a greater extent than the standard definition transfer. Detail is good, particularly on close-ups and certain wide-angle shots of the antagonists' exquisite apartments. Many shots exhibited a very slight haze, most probably post processing by the director to provide a certain look. There are no compression artifacts or edge enhancement to be seen.

Kudos to Weinstein for another very solid HD DVD release.

Since I missed out on this one in the theater, I was very psyched to catch it on HD DVD.

My love affair with Broken Lizard began with the legendary Super Troopers, what I feel (with only a dollop of facetiousness) is the greatest comedy of our time. Unfortunately, this love affair also ended with Super Troopers. I fell asleep during the bore-fest that was Club Dredd, and I was only mildly amused by their big budget release Dukes of Hazzard.

However, the buzz with Beerfest was strong, and I had not given up hope that those Broken Lizard guys would get it together.

I am glad to say that the final result was satisfactory. Super Troopers this was not, but it beats anything else they've put out by a mile. There is some shit in here that is just too funny. My favourite has to be the constant Bloodsport references, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Also present are heavy doses of bare-breasted hotties to provide us with cheap thrills between laughs.

Picture wise, this was a bit of a mixed bag. My initial reaction was that this was a great looking film, with some of the cleanest, most detailed shots I have seen recently on this format. It has a kind of artificial, digital look, but not necessarily in a bad way. However, there are some specific instances of digital noise in dark scenes, similar to the effect that occurs when using an extremely high ISO sensitivity on a digital camera. There are many scenes in the film that there is a lot going on, and the added resolution of HD helps to bring out all those rich details. Generally I am quite pleased with the looks of this release. While I am a fan of the "perfect", artificial look, I could do without the scars ... if you know what I mean.

There's a point in time when you could have called me a bona fide View Askew fanatic. However, I didn't warm up to Clerks 2 when I first saw it in the theater. Watching Clerks 2, initially, I didn't know if I simply grew out of Kevin Smith's usual bag of tricks, or if he lost his touch and was simply trying too hard this time. Maybe, I thought to myself, the answer lies somewhere in between.

It was with a measure of indifference, then, that I picked up the Clerks 2 HD DVD. I didn't hate the movie, and I was curious how it would look in high definition.

Boy am I glad I did!

First of all, Clerks 2 is a better movie than my initial impression of it. I would disagree with Kevin Smith's constant assertions that this is the best movie he's ever made, but it does hold its own. The jokes get very sketchy, but this is a View Askew flick, and this is why we keep visiting our portly New Jersey-an, cash in hand.
The picture quality on this one really made me smile. Most people seem to enjoy high definition to experience explosive action scenes. I'm more into it for texture, and this title delivers texture in spades. It just provides that extra level of detail and color separation that sucks you in to the picture. I am not talking about realism, because the picture is clearly overblown, often oversaturated and overexposed. This is simply exactly how I remember seeing it in the theater, and this is something I had never experienced with SD DVD.