| This Week's Highlights |
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analysis w/e 14.5.11 |
DVDs out 9.5.11 |
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@ DVDfever Youtube |
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May 11 2011 
DVDfever co uk
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Producer:
Screenplay:
Music:
Cast:
Karen: Mary Steenburgen (Back to the Future Part 3, The Butcher's Wife, Goin' South, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Miss Firecracker, Nixon, Philadelphia, Powder, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?) Helen: Dianne Wiest (The Associate, The Birdcage, Bright Lights Big City, Bullets Over Broadway, Cookie, Cops and Robbersons, Edward Scissorhands, Falling In Love, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Horse Whisperer, Little Man Tate, The Lost Boys, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Radio Days, September) Frank: Jason Robards (The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993), All the President's Men, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, A Big Hand for the Little Lady, Black Rainbow, Bright Lights Big City, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, Johnny Got His Gun, Little Big League, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Paper, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Philadelphia, Quick Change, Raise the Titanic, Storyville, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, A Thousand Acres, Tora! Tora! Tora!, The Trial (1993)) Nathan Merrick: Rick Moranis (Brewster's Millions, The Flintstones, Ghostbusters 1 & 2, Honey I Blew Up the Kid, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Honey We Shrunk The Kids, Honey We Shrunk Ourselves, L.A. Story, Little Giants, Little Shop of Horrors (1986), My Blue Heaven, Splitting Heirs) Larry: Tom Hulce (Amadeus, Black Rainbow, Fearless, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, National Lampoon's Animal House, Shadowman, Slamdance, Wings of Courage) Julie: Martha Plimpton (Beautiful Girls, The Goonies, I'm Not Rappaport, I Shot Andy Warhol, Josh and S.A.M., The Mosquito Coast, Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle, Running on Empty, Samantha, Stars and Bars, TV: E.R.) Tod: Keanu Reeves (Bill And Ted's Bogus Journey, Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Chain Reaction, Devil's Advocate, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, Feeling Minnesota, Freaked, I Love You To Death, Johnny Mnemonic, The Last Time I Committed Suicide, Little Buddha, The Matrix, Much Ado About Nothing, My Own Private Idaho, Point Break, Speed, Tune in Tomorrow..., A Walk in the Clouds)
Parenthood is Ron Howard's affection look a family life and how things change once children start arriving and creating havoc. It's an ensemble piece centring around Gil (Steve Martin) and Karen Buckman (Mary Steenburgen), their friends and family. It doesn't follow a plot per se, but behaves like a two-hour soap opera and has plenty to say to those of you who have children (not me yet :) and everyone who ever was a child. It also does one thing that most films can't do - it has a satisfying beginning, middle and ending, by which time there will be a further two arrivals to the cast list. One of the film's key factors is its script. It's packed full of dry humour and coming back to it eleven years on from the first time I saw it, it seems to play out a lot like an episode of The Simpsons, another series about a family and their friends plus the pitfalls and pleasures that fate deals them. There's many a hilarious scene, but anyone who hasn't seen the film may want to skip the next paragraph as it details some of these moments.
The picture quality is fine but it's one of Universal's back-catalogue releases, released through Columbia, for which only a fullscreen transfer seems to exist. The same thing happened with the Region 1 DVD too. The average bitrate is a very good and steady 7.13Mb/s. The sound comes in Dolby Surround flavour for most languages on this disc and is fine, but isn't one that's going to blow your speakers as it's no that type of film.
Extras :
Chapters :There's only 16 chapters here to cover the 118-minute film, which isn't enough, as usual.
Languages and Subtitles :Being made in the days before Dolby Digital 5.1, the best most languages can hope for is Dolby Surround (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish), while Czech citizens only get Stereo sound and the Polish and Hungarian purchasers have to suffer the film in mono. Subtitles can be seen in English, Dutch, Swedish, French and German.
Filmographies, Biographies and Production Notes:Extensive biographies with accompanying filmographies are available for all of the actors and actresses listed in the cast list at the top of this review, plus director Ron Howard. A few pages of production notes give some background info on the film.
Menu :Similar to most Universal releases, the menu is static and silent with a picture mirroring the cover on the main menu.
If you've never seen this film before then it's certainly well worth the two-hour running time for those who like their comedy like their Canada, dry. However, given that it's a fullscreen-only transfer and the price is a penny under twenty notes, then I can only recommend a rental at first and a purchase if you can buy it at a cheap price, since the film has been on TV a few times and the video has long since entered the budget range.
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.
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:
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