Baltimore Ravens Road To XLVII (2013/NFL/Gaiam Vivendi Blu-ray)/The First 70 (2013/Cinema Libre DVD)/Nurses: If Florence Could See Us Now (2012/First Run DVD)/Save The Farm (2013/Cinema Libre DVD)

 

Picture: B-/DVDs: C+     Sound: B-/C+/C/C+     Extras: C-/C+/C/C+     Main Programs: B/B-/B-/B-

 

 

Now for a new group of documentary releases…

 

 

Though one might be tempted to write it off as only a sports or special interest release, Baltimore Ravens Road To XLVII (2013) follows the Baltimore Ravens: Super Bowl XLVII Champions Blu-ray which was a much broader look at how the winning team made it.  We covered it at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12079/Baltimore+Ravens:+Super+Bowl+XLV

 

 

This time around, we get two discs that give us terrific playback of the final four games that show how the Ravens made it, which is what I had expected from the first release.  The HD is again some of the best HD-shot video for a sports event I have seen on Blu-ray to date.  Disc One has the complete Wildcard Game where they beat the Colts and AFC Divisional game where they beat the Broncos, while Disc Two has the AFC Championship Game where they beat The Patriots and the Super Bowl itself.

 

In all four cases, you get the complete games, but non-stop and I mean non-stop.  Those used to dead time, dead space, commercial breaks or time-consuming glitches, they have all been excluded, edited out, ignored, categorized as not part of the game and the result is more like watching an intense soccer broadcast.

 

Of course, you can stop it at any time or scan back, but the games themselves are totally complete and fans will enjoy it, adjustment disorders notwithstanding.  There are no extras, but you’ll have more than enough content with this set.  I liked that approach and hope we see it in other places more often.

 

 

Jarratt Moody’s The First 70 (2013) runs a half-hour, but makes a much-needed argument that the last thing any level of government should do is close off natural park and recreational areas not under special protections just to save a few dollars, because their lack of use means they start to go bad and cost a good amount of money to restore and revive, that millions of dollars of tourism profits are lost and that the land belongs to the citizens and not to a few people with bizarre ideas about budgets and cutbacks.

 

Well argued, explained and defined, we see the various land areas being dangerously played around with and we cannot see them enough in sharp or clear enough images.  This program should have been three times as long to make further points, but does what it needs to do well enough in the time it has.  More needs to be shown, said and done, but this will do.  The locales in question are 70 out of 278 in the State Of California, with the title warning that this will only be the beginning if people do not protest or vote people in who will reverse this awful decision.

 

Extras include a Photo Gallery, PDF downloadable file on the subject, Original Theatrical Trailer Behind-The-Scenes featurette and three more featurettes that support the main piece well.

 

 

Kathy Douglas’ Nurses: If Florence Could See Us Now (2012) is an interesting 92 minutes of non-stop interviews with people in nursing, why they love doing their work, the pride in their work, its history, its legacy and more in a tribute to the job that was made legend by Florence Nightingale.  That might seem like a repetitious, odd approach that would not work, but here; it actually does and also becomes a smart crash course on the subject.

 

The persons talking are very likable and have much to say, as we see a synthesis of these workers into a group that does a priceless job that helps all of us and saves lives every day, hour, minute and second you read this.  This one is definitely worth a look.

 

Extras include four interview featurettes that update us on the subjects.

 

 

Finally we have Michael Kuehnert’s Save The Farm (2013) which tells us the disturbing tale of how a farm that was growing organic food very successfully in the middle of South Central Los Angeles from land given to the locals for that purpose was suddenly, secretly, quietly, “mysteriously” being taken away.  In 2003, the land for some “odd” reason was sold back (at a loss?) to the real estate magnate who the city got it from to begin with, so he and the city decided it was time for the farm to go.

 

This is really about someone (or a group thereof) who hated the idea that something worked in the struggling area and decided to take it away from them for no good reason, so they had to come up with a plan and this inevitably involved dozens of police, construction equipment and other unnecessary violence, but I will leave it at that.

I know I am also missing some nuances not knowing the total politics of that area, but this is a fine piece of solid journalism that is one of the great censored stories of the past few years and along with the topic of eminent domain, should make us think and rethink what property, ownership, community and a better America really means.  Go out of your way for this one.

 

Extras include Extended Interviews and five additional featurettes about the fallout from what happened, the great things that happened in its place and mire.

 

 

 

The 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on the Ravens Blu-ray actually has a disclaimer about expecting flaws and that is correct, but there are only so many of them and otherwise, is some of the best, most naturalistic HD-shot footage you will find on Blu-ray like its sister release and the best sports Blu-rays to date.  I also recommend for all die hard sports fans that they compare this to their HDTV and HDTV service when they watch live games because if your set-up does not come close to looking this good, you need to make adjustments.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on all three DVDs are about on par with each other, made of mostly newly-shot footage and looking good for it, but there are also some low def sources, analog sources, image flaws and motion blur that creep up in all three presentations.  Otherwise, they are just fine.

 

The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless mix on the Ravens Blu-ray is also the best release here sonically, though some location audio issues typical of sports broadcasts to creep up as they do with the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on the three DVDs, but Nurses has additional audio issues with talk mixed in under music to the point you cannot always hear it and in that, be careful of volume level and audio switching.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo