Reservoir Dogs 10 Year Anniversary Special Edition
Distributed by
Artisan Home Entertainment
Cert: R
Cat.no: 12050
Running time: 100 minutes
Year: 1992
Pressing: 2002
Region(s): 1, NTSC
Chapters: 22 (WS) / 7 (4:3)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: Spanish
Widescreen: 2.35:1, Standard: 4:3
16:9-Enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: DVD 18
Price: $26.98
Extras:
Audio commentary, 5 deleted scenes, new interviews, theatrical trailer,
Tributes and Dedications, Class of '92 featurette, Small Dogs
featurette on the action figures, Noir Film Web, K-BILLY interactive
radio, Reservoir Dogs style guide, Securing the Shot Featurette, poster
gallery.
Director:
Quentin Tarantino
Screenplay:
Quentin Tarantino
Cast:
Mr. White: Harvey Keitel
Mr. Orange: Tim Roth
Mr. Pink: Steve Buscemi
Mr. Blonde: Michael Madsen
Nice Guy Eddie: Sean Penn
Joe Cabbot: Lawrence Tierney
Mr. Brown: Quentin Tarantino
Mr. Blue: Eddie Bunker
Believe it or not, I just recently saw this movie.
I saw it on a murky VHS tape last Friday, 4 days before the release of this
special edition. Immedietly upon watching it, I understood why it has such a
following. To tell you the truth, I'm ashamed for not seeing it sooner.
Reservoir Dogs starts off with a simple diner conversation between eight
gentlemen. A thoughful insight on a popular Madonna song and another
view on tipping. After that we're treated to a cool title shot of these
people. Six are dressed in suits and sunglasses. These six also gave
alias names of color. Why, you ask? Because they're professional theives
and they're just about to do a big job.
Immediately after that shot we're thrown into a gruesome scene. One of
the men is bleeding to death, Mr. Orange. Mr. White is driving the car
and keeping him from losing it. The bank heist has obviously gone
terribly wrong and we're seeing the bloody repercussions. The fallback
place for the heist is a warehouse on the edge of town. When Mr. White
lays Orange down, Mr. Pink bursts in. They tell accounts of what happened
and how they were set up.
Over the course, a few more involved show up and there is an undercover
cop in the midst. The story is told in well done flashbacks but never
show the actual heist. This is the first movie I've seen which pulls off
flashbacks well. I'd tell you more of the plot but there are alot of
cool twists and turns that are better left untold.
All you need to know is, it's full of smart dialogue and likeable/unforgettable
characters. It may seem wierd upon first viewing but everything falls into
place the second time around. A great movie that is definitely worth a view.
For some reason, Artisan has put included a full frame transfer on the
second disc. This is ridiculous because most people who will buy this are
the film buffs and could care less about a cropped, zoom in 4:3
transfer. It's laughable actually. More on this at the bottom of the
review.
Anyway, you've probably heard about this anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
transfer. Many reviews have been circulating around with comparisons to
the former non-anamorphic release. Many pics indicate how deeply colored
the former release is with this new washed out transfer. On the most
part, these reports are true. I've never seen the old release but these
pics are pretty convincing. Upon watching this transfer it looks like
Artisan threw this in the washer, dumped 4 gallons of cheap detergent on
it and left it there. The image is pretty washed out but it's not THAT
bad.
There are a few scenes which look really good and it gives the transfer a nice
clean look. However, a couple of scenes are awful. The cool title shot
now looks like somebody blocked all lighting and put a smoke screen over
the whole scene. Most exterior scenes, like Mr. Pink running from the
cops, look too gray and dull. The suits, once black look lighter. It's
watchable but a little dissapointing. On another note,
I reviewed Artisan's Van Wilder disc which streeted a week before this and the
colors were washed out on that too. Artisan better calibrate their
monitors before they mess up again. I'd give this is an average 2.5
rating but it gives it a clear look which is the only saving grace. If
you're a true purist and you don't need an anamorphic transfer, find the
old release in a bargain bin and put that disc in this case.
The sound is presented in three options. Dolby digital 5.1, 2.0 surround
and a DTS 5.1 track. All tracks are good and get loud when needed. You
can hear what happens to Mr. Pink in the end a lot clearer now. This is
great overall.
Artisan has spread the extras out among two discs. Why? Because of the
awful full frame transfer on disc two. They should have dumped the full
frame transfer and put the extras on this second disc. This would have
left some more space on disc 1 for the widescreen transfer and thus
might have looked better. I remember the same thing happening with The
Mummy: Ultimate Edition a while back. All extras are presented in
anamorphic 16:9 widescreen except the Critic's Commentary. This is how
it breaks down:
Disc 1:
Audio Commentary:
This is a wierd track since snippets from the cast
protrude in from interviews. The director of photography is the only one
watching the movie and it sounds out of place when an interview from
Tarantino pops up. They should have got everyone in one room and had an
awesome commentary track. Dissapointing.
Deleted Scenes:
12 minutes total. 3 scenes are here as well as 2
angles on the infamous ear shot. They're all presented in messy fashion
but these are pretty interesting still. The last angle actually shows
the ear being cut off instead of cutting away.
New Interviews:
Runs a total of 54 minutes. Interviews with Chris Penn
(who is interviewed in the back of a moving semi for some reason),
Michael Madsen, the producer, Tim Roth, the actor who played Marvin Nash
in the film (can't remember his name), and Quentin Tarrantino are here.
These are pretty fun and offer interesting insights onto the film.
However, these are badly cut. You know when someone is interviewed and
they start rambiling? The editor has to go in and cut certain dialouge
snippets and loop them in. This happens so much it gives you a headache.
This could have been avoided if it weren't for the full frame transfer
on disc two.
Theatrical trailer:
Exactly what is says and it's pretty cool.
Disc 2:
Tributes and Dedications:
Runs 54 minutes total and features Tarantino
talking about his favorites like Pam Grier and Roger Corman. Tributes
are also given to Lawerence Tieney and Eddy Bunker.
Class of '92:
A 29 minute long featurette on Sundance Film Festival in
1992. Features interviews with the creators of the top films of that
year and such. Mildly interesting.
Critic's Commentary:
Select critics watch certain scenes of the movie
and express why they like it so much. Runs a whopping 94 minutes total.
The scenes from the movie are presented in full frame with unremovable
Spanish subtitles.
K-BILLY Interactive Radio:
A cool and different feature. It's an
actual radio with selectable stations featuring music and interview
segments. Now many but still cool. And if you go all the way to the
right knob and click, you'll be treated to an easter egg.
Film Noir Web:
An 8 minute and 29 second featurette on the genre of
Noir. Also includes a guide to film noir.
Small Dogs:
An interesting featurette that runs about 4 minutes that
shows the maing of the action figures.
Securing the Shot with Bily A. Fox:
A 4 minute long featurette showing
certain locations and telling the stories about them. Pretty cool and
interesting.
Reservoir Dogs Style Guide:
A worthless 20 second vignette showing how
to be like the Dogs themselves. Driving with Style, Dressing with Style.
Should have been used as a TV spot if you ask me.
Poster Gallery:
A gallery which shows the three posters used for theatrical release.
So that's it. An overwhelming amount of interviews huh?
More interesting stuff. Artisan has released this movie in 5 different
covers, each with cool slipcases showcasing whichever character. Mr.
White, Blonde, Pink, Orange, and Brown cases are available. I don't why
anyone would ever buy the pink case. I chose the Mr. White cover since
it's the normal one in the bunch. The menus are animated, with cool
effects on the first disc. But pop in the second disc and you'll see a
pretty crappy menu complete with eerie music that doesn't fit the movie
well. Oh yeah and for some reason, not that I care since I hate full
frame, the full frame version only has 7 chapters. Very weird.
Overall, this is a pretty good release with a few problems. Too many
interviews and an average transfer might make owners of the old disc
think twice. Maybe for the 25th anniversary we'll get something truly
spectacular.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
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
