One detail which might put doubters off is that the USB standard camera won’t output 720p video to your TV or media player but for me that was no issue because I can connect to my Sony HDTV or PS3 via USB (card reader) and generally have all my video on a network drive anyway.

But that’s rambled enough. You obviously want to see how the 720p recording quality is. Here’s a minute of today’s Tour de France stage, recorded live in 720p with fine settings. The TV broadcast is upscaled digital TV quality, transmitted via IP.

Needless to say that I loved the movie and knew every move of Kelly McGillis by heart. Shut it, you’ve been a stupid 11-year old kid too!
And to be honest, I still love occasionally watching this film, enough even to have gotten myself the US import on BD, just because this film is a sacrilege bring some hours of easy entertainment certainly better than 98% of the crap which is released nowadays.

Movie – Plot

If I were to review this movie today it would be pretty similar to quoted Amazon review but sadly the film makes me think back of that old dream.

This hilarious movie is based on the premise that a jingoistic Aviation Army flick does not require add-on extras like a plot, character development or good dialogue.

Well toned, well oiled tanned handsome men wander around the set in underwear (snapping each other with towels) high-fiving each other with puffed out chests.

Names like Goose, Slider, Maverick (our all American Hero), Viper,Jester, Rio and lets not forget Iceman, sum up this classic movie perfectly. The “plot” (using the term thinly) centres on a pilot (Maverick- Cruise), scarred by the shabby treatment his father received at the hands of the Aviation Military.

Maverick then becomes a Jet pilot. Before you can say the words “Take my Breath Away” Cruise, ahem, Maverick seduces Kelly McGillis, loses his tail gunner friend Goose, sings some karoke (Unchained Melody), forms a new and lasting relationship with Iceman his new lover, rides a motorbike, plays volleyball, and even experiments briefly with heterosexuality with Kelly McGillis, and finally takes out some dodgy Middle Eastern terrorist bogie MiGs fighter Jets all in the space of 90 minutes.

The dialogue is great and the screen writers won several awards : “Your ego is writing cheques your body cannot cash.”
“Strike: Ghost Rider, this is Strike. We have unknown aircraft inbound Mustang. Your vector zero-nine-zero for bogey.”
“I feel the need…the need for speed!”
“Slider: Goose who’s butt did you kiss to get in here anyway?
Goose: The list is long, but distinguished.
Slider: Yeah, well so is my Johnson.”

This is possibly the greatest movie ever made, and it knocked Ridley Scott off the top as greatest ever British director. The Top Gun director- Tony Scott (brothers) -went on to direct other great classics such as Domino (Kiera Knightly) and Days of Thunder (Tom Cruise). Top Gun is a true rarity. No joke.

Picture and Audio

With older movies there’s always the risk that the picture might not be up to BD-standards and this release suffers from a noticeable amount of grain, mainly in the flight scenes. I had hoped that a digital upscaled transfer effort would have been made by Paramount, but sadly the picture quality fails in what would have been the most astounding scenes. The rest of the BD release is of rather good quality, although it can’t compete with more modern releases.
Bigger inconvenience about BD quality is this movie is that _exactly_ Kelly McGillis suffers to so hated, but typical HD quality, skin pores. If you’re a nostalgic, still semi-pubertarian adult the risk of broken boyhood dreams is rather high and you might want to revert to that good old TV and DVD in the office. Only 2.75/5 for the picture quality, mainly because of the great colours on this disc.

Things become even more embarrassing for the BD owner when they have to admit that Top Gun a rather excellent soundtrack has and I am not even speaking about the excellent bass in flight scenes. The sound of the movie is crisp and clean, this is one of the moments you’ll love your equipment. The disc offers both Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and DTS-HD 6.1 Master Audio.

Extras

There is plenty of bonus content on this disc, but sadly only in SD. This release clearly showed that Paramount only intended to make a quick buck from Blu-ray and does not show any new content compared to the Special Edition DVD from 2004. The usual director and producer comment is rather boring too, even though it features both Jerry Bruckheimer and Tony Scot.

Bonus Content

Danger Zone: The Making of Top Gun

A 6 part documentary on the making of. Almost 2.5 hours. Problem with this documentary is that every DVD/BD fan has seen more interesting, more modern specials. Still a worthy addition to the film and great to replace whatever daytime TV judge.

Multi-Angle Storyboards

With optional commentary by Tony Scott

Best of the Best: Inside the Real Top Gun

The real thing. Sadly in SD.

Other Featurettes

The rest is the usual stuff, music videos, interviews aso. All in boring SD and as for the Tom Cruise interview… he was still young then and we hadn’t seen the Scientology video yet. Although rather extensive, only 3.5 for the bonus content because of the SD quality.

Final Thoughts

Certainly a fun title to have, but if you don’t want any imported titles you’ll have to wait until March 2009. Not the best of the best BDs, but if you have a couch and someone else… go ahead cuddle with a rather enjoyable soundtrack in the background. Points deducted on almost every level for the lack of upscaling in the digital transfer.

If you’re no fan of whatever this movie has, you might as well stick to the DVD.

But then, some day, browsing through the limited BD offer at the local HMV and saw that the UK release had a 2 discs, the second one with a black and white version of the movie. That concept intrigued me and little later the second disc was in my player.

Movie – Plot

The plot is simple, but full of Kingsian suspense:

The story mainly follows lead character David and his young son Billy as their town is overtaken my a mysterious fog after a serious storm. The man and his son are then trapped in a local supermarket when unearthly creatures begin taking over the small town and killing it’s residents. The story is lived from inside the supermarket.

Still keeping the short story, published in “The Skeleton Crew”, in mind I do not want to tell more about it, as you really should read it narrated by The Master himself.

Picture and Audio

Frank Darabont, who’s no stranger to King fans (“The Green Mile”, The Shawshank Redemption”) opted for a B-movie alike camera style. The whole movie feels as if filmed with a shoulder camera and the picture quality resembles this style. Sadly the CGI is below par as well, but in this King drama the social terror among supermarket _inhabitants_ prevails and guarantees some hours on the border of your seat.

I certainly belong to the group of Black & White fans as the B&W Disc the just creepier and more atmospherical is. Over saturated colours ion Disc 1 certainly don’t help, but even on BD the picture stays rather soft and unsharp/grainy (see shoulder camera comment).

The English Dolby TrueHD score makes up for a lot again. You can hear ‘what is inside The Mist’ all over the place in the right moments and combined with the B&W creepiness you will be in for a great time. Once more this score proves that most movies would ultimately suck without music and makes one wonder how people could appreciate cinema in the early years.

Extras

Obviously the highlight of the bonus content is the second disc with the B&W film version, but there’s a lot more, more than the compulsory director’s comment!) and all bonus content is in HD.

Bonus Content

Stephen King – Frank Darabont Interview

This interview is an absolute must for everyone who likes Stephen King.

When Darkness Came: The Making of The Mist

The making of and behind the scenes content.

Deleted Scenes

Eight in total, with commentary from Darabont. Worth watching, especially since we don’t always get director’s comments on deleted scenes.

Taming the Beast: The Making of Scene 35

It is imperative to watch this AFTER having watched the movie (in B&W).

The other extras are also worth watching, but these certainly are the most intriguing ones.

Final Thoughts

Fans of the genre, and of Stephen King, will love this release, albeit not perfect and possibly destroying own perceptions of the story. All in all a great release, especially because of the second disc and definitely worth buying.

Biased as I am I recommend everyone to first watch the B&W edition. Fans of the genre certainly will appreciate these 2 hours of creepiness and psychological terror. A solid 4/5 overall.

After Layer Cake and Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels there was no doubt and I knew Craig would become a great Bond, still I refused to watch Casino Royale, until some day I had a dire need. The neeed to get rid of my money and boy am I happy I did.

Movie – Plot

Eva Green is hot, Dame Judi Dench is brilliant as always and Daniel Craig couldn’t be more Bond than James Bond himself.
Casino Royale is exactly what the Bond series needed to revive the franchise and bring glamour, action and suspense back. From the first minute the movie catches your attention and every actor performs brilliantly. The film is filled with suspense, gadgetless suspense and lots of running. Cars, cocktails, evening dresses and poker. Boxing, running and Eva Green. I almost hate to admit that I watched Casino Royale 3 times within 2 weeks, also due to the great soundtrack by David Arnold.

Picture and Audio

Casino Royale does NOT start with the universally Bond theme. Get over it. Nor will you hear the famous The name is Bond, James Bond words after the opening scene. An animated opening scene, immediately putting you in the right atmosphere and raising the curiosity level.
Arnold David has written an amazing score for this movie, probably even better than many scores by Hans Zimmer. From the opning scene to the last tune, the Bond theme, the audio keeps the mind in the perfect ambiance and travels one round the world. If you are luckily enough to have a (semi) decent HD amplifier and a decent subwoofer, your neighbours will hate you. Especially when the palazza crumbles.

If you’re luckily enough to have a plus $10k Hi-fi system, maybe you’re one of those annoying Linear PCM vs. Dolby TrueHD fanboys. I myself only have a semi decent system and found the sound ion this disc one of the best audio tracks I’ve heard so far, up there with Apocalypto.

Extras

With this 2 Disc Deluxe Edition it is no surprise that there are plenty of extras, enough to almost fill a day of day time television. Most of all, they are worth it. And there’s Eva Green.
As usual, Disc One features the compulsory director’s and producer’s comment (with PIP option for Profile 1.1 enabled players) and BD live content to a promotional Sony trailer site (meh).

Bonus Content Disc 2

Deleted Scenes

There are 4 deleted scenes, all in HD, and they definitely are worth watching. I myself found “Gettler Raises Bond’s Suspicions“ great and thought the scene would perfectly have fitted in the movie.

The Road to Casino Royale

Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson on why they wanted to film the first Ian Fleming story ever. In HD.

Ian Fleming’s Incredible Creation

An intriguing look in the character Ian Fleming created. Also in HD.

James Bond in the Bahamas and Ian Fleming: The Secret Road to Paradise

For the first time I discovered the _importance_ of The Bahamas in the James Bond franchise. Interesting, historical view in the history of both Bond and Ian Fleming. Both in HD.

Death in Venice

Details on the Palazza scene. Also in HD.

Becoming Bond Documentary

Get ready for Daniel Craig as the new Bond.

More content

There is much more bonus content on Disc 2, but except for the Art of the Freerun, which features Sebastien Foucault’s performance in one of the first scenes, I could not really be bothered with the rest. Bond Girls are forever probably was one of the most boring specials on Bond Girl’s I’ve ever seen.

Final Thoughts

Eva Green is hot!

With the risk of offending old-skoolers such as my father, I am going to say that this is the best Bond all time and I am looking forward to see Craig perform the role of our beloved super agent for many years. Obviously the next movie will be a disappointment, but I’m sure we will see many more marvellous episodes in the Bond saga.

This 2 Disc Deluxe Edition of Casino Royale is a must have and so is the soundtrack by David Arnold.

PS: Could Eva Green make a comeback in a future movie? I’d rather see her than Richard Branson who had a cameo in Casino Royale.

Mel Gibson is Stanley Kubrick on steroids.

It seems though that The Passion of Christ no accident was and Mel Gibson actually _can_ direct some. Still, I refuse to acknowledge any comparison to Kubrick, the Master.

Movie

Once more our Australian drunktard has opted for a movie in a pre-civilasition, following in the steps of his freedom fighter drama, this time with some pre-civilisation Bond alike requisites, gadgets. Compare the theme to Casino Royale, the first James Bond series reboot with Daniel Craig and lots of running. End that’s where similarities end. I found it rather hard to enjoy Apocalypto with a nice dry to very dry Martini and the perfect settings to really enjoy the feature seems to be running on a treadmill, which might be difficult to read the subtitles though.
Enough about the film itself, head over to wikipedia to read more information about the movie.

Picture and Audio

The picture and scene setting in this movie are great, but in all honesty the atmosphere really is set by the sound. The audio signal features uncompressed Linear PCM 5.1 (@6.9Mbps) and at times you really think being in the tropical rainforest. The rain sounds true, better than we can imagine rain can actually be, you just want to be there. I heard many more insects (at least I think that was what those sounds were) than I ever imagined existed and the waterfall scene just must be heard in surround with a nice subwoofer. Go ahead, annoy those neighbours they will love you for the brumming bass (or the sound of the running jaguar. This movie makes you want to run faster on the treadmill!

Thanks to the amazing score from James Horner, who perfectly understands the value of a low, drumming bass, this is so far one of the best audio tracks available on Blu-ray.

Extras

The extras on this disc, although in HD (with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track), are rather poor but still worth watching. Actually I advice you to first watch the bonus content before you watch the film itself and chances are big you’ll look forward even more to seeing this movie.

Bonus content

Backstage

Consisting of the compulsory director’s comment and the featurette “Becoming Mayan: Creating ‘Apocalypto’ ” (25 minutes) these addition which can also be found on the DVD, at times feel like a TV documentary for the movie, to get more people to the cinema, but they are worth being watched.

Deleted Scenes

Only one deleted scene is found on this disc.

Other Extras

Except for the typical Buena Vista feature that is Movie Showcase there’s nothing else to be found on the disc, no easter eggs are known either.

Final Thoughts

This movie release on BD certainly is worth investing in at it guarantees you little more than 3 entertaining hours with an amazing, breathtaking score. One would have hoped for more bonus content or a second disc even. The bonus content sadly sets one back to 1999 and makes one hungry, then again question which raises is:

Do we really want to hear more Mel Gibson than the almost 40 minutes we have now?

No, but still there could have been more BD specials. Luckily the quality of the sound in this movie makes everything much more enjoyable.