MLB Bloopers Doubleheader + Prime 9
MLB Heroics (A&E DVDs) + Sons Of
The City – New York (NBA/Image Blu-ray) + UFC – Best Of 2010 (Anchor Bay DVD) + UFC – Ultimate Royce Gracie (Anchor Bay
Blu-ray + DVD) + Ultimate Death Match II
(IMD/MVD DVD)
Picture: C+/C+/B-/C+/B-
& C+/C- Sound: C+ (Sons: B-/Match II: C-) Extras: D/D/C+/C+/B/D Main Programs: B- (Gracie: B/Match II: C-)
And now
for another cycle of sports titles…
If you
like baseball, A&E has issued MLB
Bloopers Doubleheader and Prime 9 MLB
Heroics on DVD. The Bloopers Doubleheader includes a
program we reviewed when it was issued separately, Baseball’s Best Blunders:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9972/MLB+Bloopers:+Baseball%E2%80%99s
The Funny Side Of Baseball is added, which may offer some
overlap ideas and a little actual overlap, but they are separate enough
programs that sharing the same disc is not a problem in this case. Prime
9 is a best of list show that tries to feature the best of: Greatest Home
Runs, Unbreakable Feats, Hitting Sessions, Best World Series, All-Star Moments,
Comebacks, Pitching Seasons, Regular Season Catches and Plays At The Plate. This will eventually date and only diehard
fans will know for sure how accurate it is, but it is interesting just the
same.
Sons Of The City – New York sort of does the same for
basketball, but this NBA Blu-ray release focuses on those stars who came from
New York, making a solid argument that the city is a place for finding and honing
talent in the game and spends entire chapters on successes like Bernard King,
Connie Hawkins, Chris Mullin, Tiny Archibald, Bob Cousy, Dolph Schayes and many
more, though the city becomes a star of its own in this 54 minutes long
program. For fans and those interested
in basketball, this is a solid program.
It would
seem like a rematch of more mixed martial arts titles from UFC and the Ultimate
Death Match series, but we have a third disc that tops them all. More on that in a minute.
This time
we get UFC – Best Of 2010 on DVD and
Ultimate Death Match II only on
DVD. As you can see from this coverage
of the UFC Ultimate Knockouts 8
Blu-ray and Ultimate Death Match I
DVD, it is more of the same:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10704/UFC+Ultimate+Knockouts+8+(2010/A
Best Of 2010 is a double disc set with 13
fights, 9 bonus fights and a few featurettes over its space, while Death is just more of the same and no
real stretch or improvement over the last collection down to the same picture
and sound. The anamorphically enhanced
1.78 X 1 image and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on Best Of 2010 is as good as it can get on DVD, though Blu-ray would
likely look and sound better like Ultimate
Knockouts 8 was.
That
brings us to UFC – Ultimate Royce Gracie,
which is easily one of the most important releases in the field and on the
subject and has been issued in both Blu-ray and DVD. Royce (pronounced hoyce) Gracie is the most successful of the legendary Brazilian
family whose new version of jiu-jitsu changed unarmed combat forever and became
the foundation for all mixed martial arts.
This
great program tells us of how the family become involved in martial arts, how
they perfected their cutting edge version and how it slowly became a worldwide
standard, even chopping its way into other professional fighting, though it
also serves as history of the sport and biography of the Gracie family. This is as strong as any UFC title to date
and is highly recommended.
The 1080i
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on the Blu-rays are the best performers
here with some motion blur and slight detail errors, as well as older analog footage
and various film sources that show their age.
The anamorphically enhanced Royce
DVD is not quite as good in the color range, but is good for the format. The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 on the Blunders part of the Bloopers program repeats the quality of
the individual release, while the companion show is letterboxed 1.78 X 1. The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 on the UFC Best DVD is as good. That leaves the awful presentation on Match that is the same and as bad as
the last volume. Both Blu-rays also
sport solid PCM 2.0 Stereo soundtracks that are rich, while the rest of the
DVDs are Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo that are not as good and Match is especially awful.
Only half
the titles have extras, with Sons
adding a vintage interviews section and two extra featurettes on Schayes and
King, while UFC Best adds more
matches. Gracie has the most extras of
all with four bonus fights and UFC Hall Of Fame Induction featurette.
- Nicholas Sheffo
