6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Two friends, Ralph and Scott live in a small minded town at the onset of wide public dissatisfaction with the Vietnam war.
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Kiefer Sutherland, Bruce Dern, Mariette Hartley, Winona RyderWar | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
They say that if you remember the sixties, you weren’t really there, but credit writer-director Ernest Thompson with at least attempting to craft a heartfelt examination of how the Vietnam conflict spills into the lives (and deaths) of several teenagers. Thompson made his name with On Golden Pond, and he brings the same homiletic quality to this tale, not to mention at least some of the same glinting light on water visual style that director Mark Rydell brought to the film version of On Golden Pond.
1969 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The opening credits sequence is intentionally distressed, perhaps having been shot on 16mm to mimic home movies of the day, and there are some issues with splotchy yellow grain for the opening few minutes, but after that, things improve markedly. Despite the somewhat dour countenance of the film, the palette is quite lively, with a lot of bright primaries and psychedelic patterns of the day, all of which pop surprisingly well. Grain remains quite thick throughout the presentation, but resolves naturally after the opening credits sequence. Clarity is very good to excellent and there are no issues with image instability.
1969 is stuffed to the gills with source cues and the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track really springs to life most forcefully when the underscore is thumping along. Otherwise, dialogue is very cleanly presented with no issues whatsoever.
Perhaps appropriately, 1969 turns into something of an over talky quagmire after a while. There's a lot to admire here if not ultimately to be moved by, though interestingly some of the parental reactions are at least as compelling as those of the focal trio of youngsters. Fans of the film should be generally well pleased with its presentation on this new Blu-ray.
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