Studio and Year: Paramount – 2011
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Feature running time: 111 minutes
Genre: Sci-Fi/Drama
Disc Format: BD-50
Encoding: AVC (MPEG-4)
Video Aspect: 2.40:1
Resolution: 1080p/24
Audio Format(s): English Dolby TrueHD 7.1, French/Spanish/Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Starring: Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Ryan Lee, Gabriel Basso, Kyle Chandler, Jessica Tuck, Ron Eldard, Noah Emmerich, Glynn Turman
Written & Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Music by: Michael Giacchino
Region Code: A,B,C
Blu-ray Disc release Date: November 22, 2011
Film Synopsis (courtesy of imdb):
J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg join forces in this extraordinary tale of youth, mystery and adventure. Super 8 tells the story of six friends who witness a train wreck while making a super 8 movie, only to discover that something unimaginable escaped during the crash. They soon discover that the only thing more mysterious than what it is, is what it wants.
My Take:
I grew up in the Super 8 home movie era and it was the Super 8 format and my grandfather that started my enthusiasm in home theatre. So the title alone makes me want to watch the movie, at the very least as a nostalgia of good times between my grandfather and myself. That aside, this movie is an eclectic genre piece with rich narrative and wonderfully executed to have the look/feel of imaginatively stirring films of yesteryears. The plotline revolves around a circle of middle school aged friends with an interest in making a Super 8 zombie film. It literally reminds me of my childhood. The only difference is when I was a kid, I always wanted to make vampire movies.
This is a reference quality high definition transfer that looks amazingly spectacular. Images are crisp yet filled with subtle refinement,s resolute sharpness and exquisite dimensional perspectives. Colours are natural with punchy primaries without the nasty secondary colour being pushed atypical of modern movies that tend to be nauseating and puke inducing. Grain is rendered via a light, filmic, textural presence that presides over the presentation without being intrusive. Unlike most Paramount releases of late, I found this to be an impressive and pristine quality high definition video presentation.
The soundtrack is an impressive aural experience encoded in Dolby TrueHD 7.1. The head turning soundtrack creates a huge 360-degree plane that swirls around you with perfect smoothness unlike most movies. A properly set up surround system coupled with this soundtrack will make the speakers seemingly disappear due to the highly accurate localization of each sound element spread around the listener.
Super 8 is a far cry from an action film, however, its audio presentation masterfully reproduces every aspect of its soundtrack and makes for a supremely enriching experience… at least in my theatre room.
Equipment used for this review:
Anthem MRX-700 Receiver
Grandviewscreen 96” 21:9 matte-white 1.0-gain screen
PSB Century 300i (front and surround speakers)
PSB Image C5 (centre speaker)
PSB Subseries 300 (subwoofer)
Panasonic PT-AE7000U projector
Pioneer BDP-LX55 BD player
Ultralink Ambiance MKII speaker wires
Viewing room is as per THX and SMPTE recommendation with 45-degree Field of View
Audio: 10/10
Video: 9/10
Storyline: 8/10
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