Around the Web DVD Reviews: Cloverfield, The Orphanage, Charlie Wilson's War, The Savages, and More

Mark Bourne,  Apr 23, 2008

Looking for the best info on new DVDs? Here's what the experts around the Web are saying about some recent releases:

Cloverfield (Paramount)

The best news about the new Cloverfield DVD is that you can pause it whenever you want in case -- ya know -- halfway through you feel a little motion sickness. It's been touted as "The Blair Witch Project meets Godzilla" or "a monster movie for the You Tube generation," but when it was all said and done Cloverfield turned out to be an original, captivating piece of filmmaking that took risks where other films of the genre would've played it safe....

... I had an absolute ball watching these special features -- the best of which are Document 1.18.08: The Making of Cloverfield and Cloverfield Visual Effects. The latter is pretty self-explanatory; basically, it's a brief documentary on how all the visual effects in the film came together. How did they make it look like all of NYC was under attack ... with military and mass evacuations ... for, like, the tiniest budget ever? The Making of Cloverfield doc takes you through the entire film -- from one location to the next -- as they show you what it took to film each scene. One of my favorite parts came in watching them during the party scene; how all that music and background noise was added in later and, while they were shooting, Hud is yelling over a crowd that isn't saying a word. Hilarious stuff. It was also kinda funny to watch them going to great lengths to hide information (specifically the title) from, well, folks like us. When they were shooting in New York City, they decided to call the film "Cheese" for those shoots and laughed as the rumor that the film was now called "Cheese" spread like wildfire across the internet....

...There's also a commentary from director Matt Reeves -- and it's funny, because part of me enjoys people talking about this film more than the film itself. Not sure if I'm alone in that camp. -- Erik Davis, Cinematical

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For obvious reasons, let's ignore the fact that such a crisp and thunderous soundstage could never be captured on a "consumer-grade" camera. This Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround mix (available in French and Spanish dubs) is dynamic and immersive, putting us smack-dab in the middle of the action. Dialogue is generally clear and easy to understand, rarely fighting for attention with background noise ... and only when appropriate, of course. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are provided during the main feature and nearly all of the extras. -- DVD Talk

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The special features are excellent. Truly excellent. Other than Zodiac and the big box sets from the holiday season, there haven't been many recent DVD releases that wowed me. This one doesn't have a lot of lengthy features (aside from the commentary, dum dum) but they're very well done and thankfully loaded with information.... I was a little worried that they'd not show their cards even on the DVD as to the monster design and the nuts and bolts of the filmmaking but thankfully they don't hold back. You find out why, where, how, and which in terms of the nitty gritty. That's important, because when you peel back the veneer of the film it has to be structurally sound and I was truly surprised about how much thought and depth went into this thing. It's quite impressive. The monster design, when looked at more closely, isn't the best thing in the world but it's interesting to see how it came into being and what they were trying to pull off. J.J. Abrams has a quote on here that pretty much makes him a legend to me, at the very least someone after my own heart. Paraphrased: "Take a genre. Add Monster. Equals my favorite movie ever." Great. -- CHUD.com

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They might look a bit standard on paper, but the included extras prove to be quite entertaining and informative. Leading things off is a feature-length Audio Commentary with director Matt Reeves, who previously worked with producer J.J. Abrams in creating the television series Felicity. Reeves delivers quite a fast-moving track, which contains only a few moments' worth of silence during the film's 84-minute lifespan. The director speaks about Cloverfield's brisk shooting schedule (which spanned just over a month), as well as the unique format and mixture of live action and green-screen backgrounds. Interestingly enough, Reeves also expresses a bit of regret about how the apartment "rescue sequence" turned out visually, which I noticed during my first viewing and completely agree with. Overall, this is a fine commentary worth listening to. -- DVD Talk

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The Orphanage (Picturehouse/New Line)

As Ghost stories go, The Orphanage is certainly among the most engaging in recent memory, enough even to supplant the disappointment of recent excursions into this terrain such as The Messengers and the unusually unscary The Return. Where others have failed, seeking to elevate style over substance and negate the characters in favor of the concept, The Orphanage could easily be considered a character study that just happens to scare your pants off.... It really is splendidly and chillingly scary -- with dramatic performances serving the story well and an ending that for me, elevated the entire experience beyond what you might be expecting....

... New Line Home Video brings us The Orphanage in its original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1. The image is very sharp, clean, and even vibrant in its darker tones. The quality of the image is really quite superb; a great film is given the proper treatment with this release. The film exists in grey and blue tones, similar in many ways to the color palette found in Pan's Labyrinth. The film looks great, you won't be disappointed. -- Home Theater Forum

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For now, revel in the delights of The Orphanage. A great story, great scares and the most devastatingly affecting climax this side of Frank Darabont's The Mist. Very highly recommended indeed. -- AV Forums

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Well, folks, I'd prayed for a high-definition transfer to honour the picture that I loved on the big screen -- and New Line have certainly delivered one that more than does it justice.... I raved about the sound-mix that the film presented during its theatrical run and prayed that this would be captured by Blu-ray. And, boy, does it ever! Superlative-overload forthcoming, folks, because the Spanish DTS-MA 7.1 track supplied here is one of the very best that I have ever heard -- even surpassing the effect that the cinema print had, as far as I'm concerned. -- AV Forums (Blu-ray review)

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The primary extras are quite welcome, consisting of four excellent featurettes on the making of the film. The first is "When Laura Grew Up: Constructing The Orphanage," seventeen minutes and especially enlightening insofar as these things go. The second is "Tomas' Secret Room," ten minutes specifically on sets, special effects, art direction, and the like. The third is "Horror in the Unknown: Makeup Effects," nine minutes, self-explanatory. And the fourth is "Rehearsal Studio: Cast Auditions and Table Read," about three-and-a-half minutes. -- DVD Town

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Uno, dos, tres, throw this shamelessly derivative and inhumane freak show in the trash -- no matter how intensely its image and sound may deceive. -- Slant's Ed Gonzalez in a dissenting view.

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Charlie Wilson's War (Universal)

If you think it was Rambo who led the American support of rebels against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the early '80s, here's a hilarious reality check: the story of an otherwise minor Texas congressman who worked behind the scenes to create a coalition of Arab states, secretly working with Israel, to arm and support the mujahideen, all without oversight from the administration....

... The disc comes with a pair of lively featurettes. "The Making of Charlie Wilson's War" packs a lot of information into a breezy and entertaining 17 minutes, featuring interviews not merely with the stars, writer and director, but also with the real Charlie Wilson and Joanne Herring (played in the movie by Roberts). "Who Is Charlie Wilson?" is a 12-minute profile of the man and his accomplishments. "I plead guilty to all my sins," says Wilson, who never balked at any of his excesses being shown on-screen. Also note the DVD tie-in this week with the made-for-cable documentary "The True Story of Charlie Wilson," coming out separately from The History Channel. -- Sean Axmaker

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Tom Hanks and his Play-Tone production company assemble an A+ ensemble of talent for this clever and entertaining look at recent, almost forgotten history. Charlie Wilson's War is the story of a covert effort in the 1980s to wage a secret war. A congressman, a CIA operative and an ultra-conservative Texan join forces to do what America hasn't the will or the brains to do: help the Afghan Moujahedin fight back against brutal Russian invaders. In this case, the 'conspiracy' turns out to have entirely positive ends....

... Universal's disc of the sophisticated Charlie Wilson's War packages a good quality enhanced widescreen transfer of this slickly photographed true story. The extras are two interesting featurettes. The Making of Charlie Wilson's War shows the three stars discussing the challenge of portraying real-life people, and includes plenty of footage of fun activity on the set, sometimes with the real Charlie Wilson and Joanne Herring looking on. Who is Charlie Wilson? is a spirited bio on the Representative who went from an unknown quantity to playing a major role in the ending of the Cold War. Wilson himself goes on camera to comment on his wild lifestyle. -- Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant

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Audio quality was positive. Speech always came across as natural and concise, with no edginess or other problems. Music seemed rich and full, again within the movie's subdued parameters. Effects followed suit and seemed both clear and accurate. At no point did the audio become dazzling, but it fit well with the movie. -- DVD Movie Guide

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This is one of those DVD releases that would, in a sense, be better off by either blowing out its extras into a fully-formed history lesson, or having no extras at all. The former would provide an excellent opportunity to give some real history and geography to the Afghan conflict and its ties to present-day events, while the latter would simply place the entire focus of the DVD on a fairly high-quality film. But the middle-ground approach of including two very quick, very low-end extras implies a lack of willingness on the part of the filmmakers to do these features right. Instead, we get a making-of featurette alongside "Who is Charlie Wilson," totaling a scant 25 minutes of bonus material -- much of which is culled from footage aired earlier on TV programs. It's nice to put a real face to Charlie Wilson, and the man certainly offers plenty in the way of personality, but it ultimately all comes off as a quick "look at this guy"-style tribute without much substance. While we can acknowledge that box-office performance too often determines a film's treatment on DVD, that doesn't excuse this release from being so incredibly middle-tier. -- IGN DVD

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The Savages (Fox)

A terrifically talented trio of lead actors find every last complexity in a mordantly funny and true screenplay, making for a keenly observed film about growing old, and caring for those you're related to, whether you like them or not, as time brutally marches on. -- Digitally Obsessed

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Sent to us on another one of Fox's crap-tastic DVD-R screeners (also known as "white coasters"), The Savages comes home in a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that's hopefully a lot less unmolested by compression artifacts in its retail version. The DD 5.1 audio is subdued and hemispheric -- and I would expect nothing more from this genre. Extras include a pleasant but disposable 20-minute making-of-cum-mutual appreciation society ("About The Savages"), though I was grateful for any excuse to continue ogling Laura Linney. Also on board are unabridged outtakes of the Sun City West Rhythm Tappers and "Two of a Kind" performances, an interactive portfolio of "Director's Snapshots" (all taken during post-production), and previews for The Family Stone, Music Within, The Onion Movie, "Bones", and Bonneville. Trailers for Juno, 27 Dresses, and The Darjeeling Limited cue up on startup. -- Bill Chambers, Film Freak Central

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The main extra here is "About The Savages" (20:17), a group of interviews with the cast and filmmakers. The three leads offer their thoughts on the movie, while Jenkins shares her inspiration for the piece, her writing process and casting. Her shunning of force-fed comedy ("comedy with a capital 'C'") is refreshing, and she points out that she goes for more observational humor, or as producer Ted Hope notes, she's great at finding "funny sadness" and "sad funnyness," and finding the humor in things that aren't obvious. Executive producer (and Jenkins' husband) Jim Taylor also contributes. It's a short but sweet piece, and Jenkins provides some great insights.... Highly Recommended. -- DVD Talk

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Juno (Fox)

The writer and director provide a jovial commentary track, much of which is about recalling memories from the set -- Reitman can get all techie from time to time, and Cody is happy to deflate him. It's a bit too much of a mutual admiration society, but it's a good amiable listen. The pair also provides optional commentary for a package (22m:21s) of eleven deleted scenes -- most of them are from early on in the story and a good many feel overly expository, but the cutting may explain why Bleeker isn't as strong a character as he might be. The comments are generally about why each bit here was deemed extraneous. A gag reel (5m:11s) features many takes of actors flubbing lines, and a gag take (1m:56s) is of Reitman and one of his cast in a mock onset blowup. Air guitars are out in force for a cast and crew jam (3m:12s) -- Bateman's character favors vintage guitars, and everyone takes a turn at the axe. And a collection (22m:32s) of screen tests shows the lead performances in their infancy—politely if somewhat disappointingly, there's no footage of anyone who didn't make the cast. -- Digitally Obsessed

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For some reason, I went in expecting this Blu-ray disc to sport more of a rough-hewn indie look, but Juno turned out pretty slick in high-def. This 1.85:1 AVC encode is colorful, smooth, and sharp, and the faint trace of film grain lurking in the background thankfully hasn't been smeared away. Juno's fresh out of theaters, so it kinda goes without saying that there aren't any specks or gashes anywhere on this transfer, and I couldn't spot any compression hiccups either. Fine detail and black levels are both rock solid as well. We're not talking about something as dazzling as Live Free or Die Hard or some other glossy flick with oodles of zeroes on the balance sheet, no, but I'm happy as a clam (or a scallop or an oyster or a...) with the way Juno turned out on Blu-ray. -- DVD Talk (Blu-ray review)

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One Missed Call (Warner Home Video)

"The Ring" has a lot to answer for. -- DVD Town

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Although One Missed Call never generated any scares, I couldn't blame the designers of the flick's Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, for they worked hard to mine any potential chills. The film came with an aggressive mix at times, as it occasionally used all five speakers to blast us with potential chills and scares. (None of these succeeded, but I couldn't blame the sound guys for that). -- DVD Movie Guide

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EXTRAS: Nothing at all. -- Current Film