The Medal Of Honor (Blu-ray + DVD)/Up From Slavery (Blu-ray/all Mill Creek)
Picture: C+ & C/C+
Sound: B- & C+/B- Extras:
D Episodes: B-/C
And now
for two historical mini-series from Mill Creek.
The Medal Of Honor deals with the coveted honor by
those who showed exceptional valor in protecting the United
States and we get six episodes telling us tales behind
the recipients from The Civil War, WWI, WWII, WWII in Europe,
WWII in the Pacific, The Korean War and The Vietnam War. Issued on a single Blu-ray and double DVD
set, it is a solid presentation with new reenactment footage to go with telling
the tale, but it never added up to an exceptional presentation despite how well
documented it is. There are no extras,
but the series is worth a good look, especially for those interested.
Up From Slavery is the other series and we
already looked at the DVD version at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11432/All+Things+Fall+Apart+(2010/Image
I had
more troubles with this one and how it dealt with its stories as noted, but it
is more watchable on Blu-ray just the same.
Unfortunately, there are no extras.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on the Mill Creek Blu-rays have a few
good shots (though the styling of reenactments in both cases are awkward), but
more have noise and detail issues than expected, plus some shots are pale and
other have motion blur. The DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 2.0 lossless Stereo on both Blu-rays shows that the original
sound sources are limited, but they have their warmth and fullness, so they are
not sonic disasters, but we also get some compression and flaws at times.
- Nicholas Sheffo