Blu-Review of the Week - 7/10/09 - Ghostbusters
Blu-Review of the
Week – July 10th, 2009
Ghostbusters
The year was 1984, and I was only 8 years old. I’ll never forget going to the theater
to watch what would become one of my favorite films of all
time…Ghostbusters. Sure, there
were other solid films that came out that year that I love to this day; The
Terminator, Beverly Hills Cop, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Amadeus…hell…even
Purple Rain. To me though, I easily put Ghostbusters as my favorite film from
that year. I’ve seen the movie way
more times than I can count (I’ve only seen Friday and Texas Chainsaw Massacre
more) and can pretty much recite the entire thing start to finish (it’s got to
be one of the most quotable movies of all time).
FILM – 9.5/10
I’m pretty sure everyone has seen the film at least once in
their life, so I certainly don’t need to go into the details of the plot. It’s a perfect blend of comedy, horror,
action, and romance. This film has
got everything, and it still holds up incredibly well today (a lot better than
Terminator, that’s for sure).
With Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis, Sigourney
Weaver, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and Rick Moranis, you have arguably the best
cast ever in a comedy. Director
Ivan Reitman (Stripes, Animal House) put it all together perfectly. I could go
on and on about how much I love the film, but I’m guessing most of you are
right along with me, so no need to preach to the choir.
You can imagine how excited I was when I heard the news that
Ghostbusters was getting the Blu-ray treatment with a 25th
Anniversary edition. I literally
counted down the days to its’ release. On Tuesday, June 16th, 2009,
I finally had it in my hands. Now,
I expected a lot from this one. I
wanted pristine video and audio, and fresh new extras to teach me even more about
the film I loved so dearly. Was it
everything I had hoped for???? Well….YES….and no. L
VIDEO – 6.5/10
First, let’s start with the video. Down I go. Man,
I have to admit that I was extremely disappointed with the transfer. From the opening scene, the grain was
very apparent and there was very little detail. It didn’t have that HD sharpness and definition that I’ve
seen in spades from films released much earlier than 1984. Sure, the transfer is free from dirt,
scratches and compression artifacts, but there are very few scenes that you can
ever really tell that you are watching a high definition presentation. There’s also quite a bit of flutter in
certain scenes (usually outdoors) where the film shimmers rapidly from light to
dark in the brightest areas of the video.
Not good. Now, overall is
it the best video presentation of Ghostbusters that I have ever seen on video?
Sure. But am I impressed. No. Hell no in fact. I hate to say it, but it’s one of the
worst transfers I have seen in quite some time.
AUDIO – 7/10
The audio is better than the video…but not by much. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack is
good, but not great. To me,
everything seemed to sound a little muddy and underwhelming. The rear speakers are not used
extensively, and the overall spatial dynamic is mostly kept to the front and
center speakers. It’s not that it
sounds all that bad, but again, I was just expecting more.
EXTRAS – 9/10
The extras are really where this Blu-ray shines. Let’s get right into it. There is a
good amount of brand new content made just for this edition.
¨ BD-Live
Some people really like BD-Live, and other pretty much
despise it. I myself am a big fan,
if only because I can see the potential of turning it into something
great. Right now though, it needs
some work for sure. What you do
get on this disc are 2 Ghostbusters ringtones which I thought was a nice
touch. You can also check out some
of the features on the new “Glory” Blu-ray, as well as being able to download
multiple previews, many of which are in HD. There’s also a “My Downloads” section which stores all of
the content you have downloaded from all of the Sony Pictures discs…pretty
cool. You can also register your
disc to earn points towards Sony Rewards from the Sony Pictures Blu-ray
Club. Finally there is a BD-Live
survey that you can take to help Sony shape the future of this platform.
¨ Cinechat
This is where you can connect with other folks and chat on
screen while you watch the film.
Not a big fan, but it’s awesome when they set up director chats. Don’t think there will be one for GB
though.
¨ Blu-Wizard
This let’s you customize the way you watch the special
features to provide a unique viewing experience. You’re in control to create a playlist and select which
features you want and how you choose to watch them. It brings up a list of all of the extras that you place a
checkmark by if you want to include it.
The movie then launches, and the extras will play according to point of
the film that they make the most sense to be shown. You can also choose to just watch your play list separate
from the film, which is nice.
There’s definitely some good behind the scenes material to be seen
here.
¨ Ecto-1:
Resurrecting the classic car (15:37) HD
This is a great extra, especially if you have an interest in
cars like I do. You get to see how
the folks from Cinema Vehicle Services refurbished the original Ecto-1 from the
film for the promotion of the 25th anniversary. They did an amazing job, and this
featurette shows you almost step by step how it was done. The best part is when Dan Akroyd (who
obviously loves cars) visits the shop to see their final product. I actually watched this twice because I
enjoyed it so much.
¨ Ghostbusters
Garage – Ecto-1 Gallery (5:27) HD
Shows photos and short videos from when they originally
received the car (it was in pretty bad shape) through its’ restoration, all to
music from the film.
¨ Making
of Ghostbusters The Video Game (11:18) HD
This is another entertaining extra. Let me preface this by saying that I
own the game on the Xbox360, and absolutely love it. If you are a fan of the film, this is a no brainer buy. This feature shows how the project came
about, and you really get to see how much love and care they put into the
game. Dan Akroyd and Ramis
actually wrote the script for the game, making it pretty much Ghostbusters 2.5
(there’s a 3rd film that is currently in pre-production). Pretty much everyone from the film
except for Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis do voice talent in the game,
really giving it the authentic Ghostbusters feel.
¨ Ghostbusters
Game Preview (1:43) HD
A trailer for the game.
¨ Slimer
Mode – HD
This was easily my favorite extra of the lot, and easily
makes this disc worth the price of admission. Basically, you watch the film with picture in picture behind
the scenes on the right side of the screen that popup throughout the program
(there’s a ton of them, and most are very insightful) as well as facts and
trivia on the left side of the screen. The slick looking Ghostbusters HQ
borders the entire screen, and the border for the PIP looks like the front end
of the Ecto-1. Very cool looking,
entertaining and informative. I
usually don’t enjoy watching the film in the background with the extras, but I
thought this one was awesome.
Don’t pass this extra up.
¨ Commentary
w/ Ivan Reitman, Harold Ramis and Joe Medjuck (Ass. Producer)
I’m not going to lie…I’m not a fan of commentaries. It drives me nuts to be watching the
film but only listening to people talk.
No matter how good they are, I find my mind wandering after 2 ½
minutes. Sorry. I skipped this
one.
¨ Scene
Cemetery (9:00) SD
This Blu-ray also includes the SD extras that were on the
last release in 2006. It starts
with 9 minutes of deleted scenes.
Nothing great here, but still cool to see some stuff they cut from the
film.
¨ 1984
Featurette (9:45) SD
This is pretty standard fare. A nice little marketing piece that sums up the film.
¨ Cast
and Crew Featurette (10:53) SD
A featurette from 1999 that takes a closer look at the cast
and Ivan Reitman talking about the film and the impact that it had up to that
point.
¨ SFX
Team Featurette (15:22) SD
This is a pretty interesting and insightful look at the
special effects from the film which were pretty top notch and inventive when
the film was released.
¨ Multi-Angle
Featurettes (4:00) SD
This is three scenes from the film that you can watch twice
from two different angles. The
first is a pre-treated version with rough and sometimes no effects, and the
second is the final version from the remastered SD version.
¨ Storyboard
Comparisons (6:30) SD
3 scenes with the storyboards at the top half of the screen
and the finished film at the bottom.
¨ HD
Previews
8 previews from other Sony films.
FINAL VERDICT
I had very high hopes for this Blu-ray release, and
unfortunately I was let down quite a bit due to a very mediocre video transfer
and average audio. Fortunately,
the extras raised my mood a bit, and made me a happy customer. This is the best version of
Ghostbusters on the market, no question, so I still have to give it my seal of
approval if only because it’s one of my favorites. If you are thrifty and only upgrading to the Blu-ray’s that
really show off your system, you may want to skip this one. It’s not demo material by any
means. But, if you love the film
like I do, and want to own the best version available, it’s really a no brainer
(especially with the nice price on Amazon).
Who you gonna call????
Ohhhh…..sorry.
FINAL SCORE – 7.5/10 – BUY!
