The Gangster 3-Movie Collection (American Gangster/Casino/Eastern Promises/Universal Blu-ray)

 

Picture:  B/B+/B+     Sound: B+     Extras: B-/C+/B     Films: B+/B/B+

 

 

Catching up with Blu-ray versions of their previous (and often impressive) HD-DVD releases, we have previously covered all three of these great titles in this genre from Universal:

 

American Gangster (2007)

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6673/American+Gangster+(2007;+HD-DVD

 

Casino (1995)

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4796/Casino+(1995/HD-DVD)

 

Eastern Promises (2007)

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6422/Eastern+Promises+(2007/HD-DVD

 

 

That leaves reviewing the technical playback to compare.

 

The 1080p digital High Definition image in all cases is the same as the HD-DVDs, with Gangster still looking problematic in a way that I expected was a compromise from sharing a DVD flipside from the Combo Format version on DVD.  Again, the detail is a problem, Video Black muddy and not an accurate depiction of how good this looked in 35mm film prints.  The others look better as they did before and they all have upgraded sound in their DTS HD Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1 mixes.  Gangster is enough improved in this respect and all were previously only Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, except Promises, which was Dolby True HD 5.1.  I hoped Casino would be even more dynamic, but it is a bit limited and still not 100% as good as I remember my original theatrical DTS 5.1 film screening.  Still, it is the best sound version of the film as well.  All have the same extras as before as well.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo