Duran Duran: A Hollywood High Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Duran Duran: A Hollywood High Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 15, 2023

There may just a bit of a bait and switch with regard to Duran Duran: A Hollywood High, but my hunch is I doubt very few fans of the band are going to mind at all. Billed as a "feature length docu-concert" on the back cover, descriptive verbiage goes on to talk about how this piece "brings to life Duran Duran's deep and lasting relationship with Los Angeles", in what certainly sounds more like the docu side of things. And in fact the first section of this piece is a kind of sweet and drama free version of Behind the Music featuring various band members discussing their first visit to Los Angeles, and later visits which included them getting their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But what initially seems to be some comments about the iconic Capitol Records building in Los Angeles then suddenly just kind of takes a veritable left turn and suddenly the rest of the piece is a live concert by the boys, delivered on the rooftop across the street from the round skyscraper so that it's omnipresent in the background. Kind of interestingly in terms of marketing and/or cover verbiage, the disc sent to me has a cover that does not have "Live in Los Angeles" under the band's name as is displayed above, which perhaps only further subliminally emphasizes the documentary aspect over the concert element.

At that point, the piece becomes a quasi-promotional effort for Future Past, their release from 2021, though the set list is actually culled from their entire catalog, with an understanding that this being a "docu-concert" that has already spent around a third of its running time on that "docu" aspect, the actual "concert" is not the two hour extravaganza some might have hoped for. The songs performed are:

1. A View to a Kill
2. Invisible
3. All of You
4. Notorious
5. Come Undone
6. Give It All Up
7. Pressure Off
8. White Lines
9. Anniversary
10. Ordinary World
11. Tonight United
12. Hungry Like the Wolf

Duran Duran: A Hollywood High Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Duran Duran: A Hollywood High is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Last Man Media and Cherry Red Records (distributed by MVD Visual) with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a generally sharp and well detailed looking presentation, though detail levels can certainly ebb and flow between the talking head sequences and the live performance section. There is some archival video as well as older stills where quality can also understandably vary. The concert is rather well covered by a coterie of cameras, though detail levels are occasionally masked by some effulgent lighting (often in the purple or violet range) which kind of spills out over the image and becomes almost like a scrim. Blacks can occasionally be slightly milky as a result.

Duran Duran: A Hollywood High Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

When I was still laboring under the delusion that this was more of a documentary, I kept wondering why this disc had DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Atmos audio options in addition to the LPCM 2.0 track the disc defaults to, but once the actual concert started, I obviously understood that decision. Both of the surround tracks offer some really beautifully spacious accounts of the band's frequently rather layered accompaniments, and vocals are mixed nicely forward and are mostly easy to hear (some of the backups seem to be buried, perhaps intentionally). Fidelity is fine throughout. All of the talking head segments sound fine as well. Optional subtitles in several languages are available.

Duran Duran: A Hollywood High Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus Features (HD; 13:05) are listed separately, but authored as one unit, hence the sole timing. Kind of like the way Well Go USA authors its supplements, clicking on Fall Premier Band Q&A Highlights is essentially a Play All (and/or Play Both) option, and choosing Additional Documentary Footage simply starts the chapter about halfway through the timing, where that part begins.

  Fall Premier Band Q&A Highlights features Allison Hagendorf moderating at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on October 28, 2022.

  
  

  Additional Documentary Footage

Additionally the DigiPack encloses a trifold leaflet with pictures and credits.

Duran Duran: A Hollywood High Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I frankly wouldn't have minded a bit more in both the "docu" and "concert" sides of this offering. I'm especially curious about what seems to be an invited audience of relatively few people, all of whom I think are credited at the close as VIPs (did they win some kind of contest?). That niggling qualm aside, though, this has some fun interview segments and the concert finds the band in fine form. Technical merits are solid and Duran Duran: A Hollywood High comes Recommended.