Another Earth (2011/Fox Blu-ray w/DVD)/Apollo
18 (2011/Anchor Bay Blu-ray w/DVD)/Contagion
(2011/Warner Blu-ray w/DVD)/Going Postal
(2010/Acorn Blu-ray)
Picture: C+
& C/B- & C/B- & C/B-
Sound: B- & C+/B- & C+/B- & C+/B- Extras: C/C-/B-/C+ Films/Episodes: C/C/B-/C+
Even
Science Fiction is suffering a glut of its own recently and the following
recent releases show the ups and downs of this, including the first two being a
sad new part of the tired “found footage” trend that has helped to kill independent
cinema.
First up
is Mike Cahill’s Another Earth (2011)
which is also yet another tired end-of-the-world piece plus another tired
alternate world in which a second planet earth suddenly appears next to the one
we live on now and the consequences of that.
Each of the characters have to deal with the possibilities and all are
too optimistic as none of them expect anything strange (too naïve to
believe). Then we have a young lady
(Brit Marling) taping events which we are subjected to and with her fate, it is
suggested this might be all that is left of her as a kind of doppelganger
effect sets in. Cahill also shot and
edited this and this had some potential, but he cannot think of anything new,
overuses digital effects and to fill out his thin script, uses too much music
(including vocal music) to pad the shortcomings of this 92 minutes exercise.
I had
hoped this might be more interesting, but Duncan Jones’ Moon and Terrence Mallick’s Tree
Of Life among others have nothing to worry about. The speculative side is limited and this is
more of a gimmick than a narrative project, though I think the makers meant to
make it into more that a cynical exercise, but it is also too predictable and
never lives up to any of the advanced hype.
Extras include Digital Copy for PC and PC portable devices, a Music
Video, two featurettes, Deleted Scenes and a Fox Movie Channel piece promoting
it.
Gonzalo
Lopez Galleco’s Apollo 18 (2011)
imagines a moon shot that was censored and we were never supposed to know about. The imitation of 16mm footage works at times
(i.e., the time lapse photography the space ships were using at the time) but
it is a one-note exercise, has too many flaws to be believable throughout and
is far from an intriguing thriller (Peter Hyams’ Capricorn One (1978) is still the champ in dark thrillers based off
of the U.S. space program) and the final result is like a student film with
some limited ambition and a curio at best.
Extras include Digital Copy for PC and PC portable devices, Alternate Endings,
Alternate & Deleted Scenes and feature length audio commentary track by
Galleco and Editor Patrick Lussier.
Steven
Soderbergh’s Contagion (2011) may
not be totally original or the best film about a viral outbreak, but it is
better than Outbreak and is smartly
done. With a look and cross-cutting
worthy of his hit Traffic, we are
given a mystery on how a worldwide viral disaster happens and the kind of
reaction that results. Gwyneth Paltrow
is a mom on a trip overseas when she becomes one of the first to be infected
with a unknown virus that kills in days, putting her in a situation that
reminded me of her mother Blythe Danner’s turn in Futureworld (1976, reviewed elsewhere on this site) and is married
to a good father and husband (Matt Damon in an interesting turn) who both have
two children. Lawrence Fishburne is the
official who is trying to coordinate a quick solution, Jude Law (his best work
in a while) as the Internet/web star journalist who is deeply suspicious and
cynical about how this is all being handled, Marion Cotillard is one
investigator trying to find where the virus started and Kate Winslet (in a
great turn of her own here) as the investigator racing against time in the
field to prevent worldwide disaster.
This is
as much about the reaction to a crisis as the virus, its progress or the
mystery of its origin, but Soderbergh and writer Scott Z. Burns also make it a
character study of the early 21st Century and despite the limited
cinematography and seeing more than a little bit of this before, I thought it
was effective and interesting enough to see and recommend. At least the makers here know what they are
doing.
Extras
include UltraViolet Digital Copy and three making-of featurettes all exclusive
to the Blu-ray.
Finally
we have the latest Terry Pratchett adaptation, Going Postal (2010), which we recently covered on DVD at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11334/Terry+Pratchett%27s+Going+Postal
That was
our third Pratchett DVD and I wondered if being on Blu-ray would make one of
these releases more enjoyable. I admit I
have not enjoyed his work that much, but it is as much Fantasy and nostalgia
for older analog technologies (think Terry Gilliam, et al) as it is Science
Fiction and though it is not for everyone, it is smart and just works better in
High Definition. Richard Coyle stars and
the cast includes turns by David Suchet and the great Charles Dance, so those
interested should catch it on Blu-ray over DVD.
The 1080p
AVC @ 30 MBPS 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on Earth is on the soft side and so much so that you would think it
could not look worse on DVD, but the anamorphically enhanced DVD included is
actually softer, so see it on Blu-ray or forget it. The low def footage, low def digital
(sometimes intentional) is only so realistic and more repetitive than anything
and the best shots are the untampered with outdoor footage. The 1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition
image transfer on Apollo is supposed
to look older, but actually looks better than Earth, but still has its own issued and its anamorphically enhanced
DVD is weaker and harder to watch.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Contagion might have been the best-looking of all the entries on
this list, but its semi-monochromatic approach can be trying, especially on the
softer, anamorphically enhanced DVD also included. All three DVDs are substandard viewing. I wish a more interesting or complex visual
approach was employed, but that is your post-modern digital cinematography for
you so only expect so much. Again, stick
with the Blu-ray in this case.
That
brings us to the 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Postal which has the best style and
approach of the four entries here with good color and depth throughout, making
it as watchable and more watchable than its DVD counterpart (which I would not
have rated as high as my colleague) and may be the most ambitious of the
Pratchett productions to date. Again,
stick with the Blu-ray over the DVD.
All the
Blu-rays have DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes save Postal with decent PCM 2.0 Stereo that
is shockingly on par with the other discs (Pro Logic surrounds work nicely
here) whose mixes are towards the front speakers, but all by design. Earth
is a mix of sound off of supposed video sources and dialogue-based acting
scenes, Apollo is supposed to be
from mono sounders off of the supposed film footage and Contagion uses its surrounds in limited, choice ways, while all
three sound lighter in their lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 DVD versions.
The genre
can do better overall, but at least these are not action or space opera pieces,
which is why they have received the unusual attention so far bestowed upon
them. Now you can see for yourself.
- Nicholas Sheffo
