The average bitrate is 5.19Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 7Mb/s.
The sound quality, like the film content, is spot-on though. It's presented in
Dolby Digital 5.1 and contains one classic track after another as the film runs
from the late 70's to the early 80's including
Best of My Love (Emotions),
Brand New Key (Melanie),
Lonely Boy (Andrew Gold),
Fooled Around and Fell in Love (Elvin Bishop),
Jesse's Girl (Rick Springfield),
God Only Knows (The Beach Boys),
99 Red Balloons (Nena),
Livin' Thing (Jeff Lynne)
and my favourite from the whole film,
Mama Told Me Not To Come (Three Dog Night).
It also includes a score from Michael (brother of Sean) Penn, of whom my
only experience is his unsurpassable 1990 album, March, featuring the radio
hit, No Myth. However, Mr. Penn gets cut off his prime at the top and tail
of the movie. At the start, his opening coda has been excised altogether. In the US
release it is played while the New Line logo appears plays for nearly a minute
before the Emotions kick in, while the logo has its own music burst followed almost
instantly by the aforementioned "oogie Nigh". At the end of the closing credits,
the music cuts out moments before it's meant to, but that's not the only DVD track
which loses out as there's eight more to come.
Extras :
Chapters :
There are 26 chapters spread throughout the 148 minutes of the film, but while it
captures some of the major scenes, it's still not nearly enough. Don't go looking
for a trailer amongst the extras as you won't find one.
Languages & Subtitles :
The language and subtitles are in English only. Residents of other countries will
have to take their cues from Dirk's body-language if they can't understand the plot.
Interviews :
According to the packaging there are interviews but I couldn't find them. What I could
find though are eight brief clips lasting between 16 seconds and 1:11 composing of
random stop-start soundbites from Wahlberg, Moore, Reynolds, Reilly, Graham, Macy,
Cheadle and director Paul Thomas Anderson. However, none of these give you
any real insight to the film and every single one sees the interviewee getting cut off
in mid-flow!
Other extras :
Director's commentary with additional words from the principal characters mentioned
above? No.
Nine deleted scenes not included in the final version of the film? No.
Cast and crew biographies? No.
A music video by Michael Penn, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson? No.
Well, do these exist? Yes and they're on the American release. From this DVD,
you wouldn't even find that Anderson wrote and director the 1988 film,
The Dirk Diggler Story...
Menu :
The menu system is colourful and easy to navigate what's there, but that won't
take long. It's also static and silent.
On inserting the disc, you see the Entertainment In Video logo and the copyright info,
before the menu appears. Clicking on "Play Movie" brings up the New Line Cinema logo
with its own music, as previously mentioned, before the film starts.
Overall, while the film itself is a classy mix of top-notch script, acting and
directing, the sloppy presentation of the DVD has more bungles than an episode
of Rainbow and as such cannot be recommended when the American release
contains so much more, not to mention the film as it's meant to look.
VCI re-released Shawshank Redemption after initially leaving the public
wanting a widescreen version. Buena Vista re-released Armageddon after
trying to palm off a non-anamorphic flipper. So, Entertainment In Video,
please restore the balance and re-release Boogie Nights with the respect
it deserves.
FILM : *****
PICTURE QUALITY : **
SOUND QUALITY : *****
EXTRAS : ½
-------------------------------
OVERALL : ***
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
