Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 5, 2024

Whether or not you agree with the "greatest geek year ever" part of this mini series' title will probably depend largely upon how old you were (if you were even around yet) in 1982. While there's an appealingly wide array of ages in the talking head component of this piece (and there are a lot of talking heads in this piece), many of the most visceral "first person" memories offered by these pundits tend to be from those whom I suspect were either outright kids or maybe a bit older adolescents that particular year. This is an often engaging "clip show" in any number of ways, and while the bulk of the aggregated material is understandably cinema-centric, concentrating on the many still beloved films that came out in 1982, there's also some fun "sidebar" material in such tangentially related topics as the rise and influence of Siskel and Ebert.

Lip service is briefly given toward the beginning of the documentary as to how probably "random" choosing 1982 as any kind of "greatest year" might be, but especially within the annals of film history, as such legendary production years as 1939 can give pretty hefty "competition". The emphasis in this comment then segues to the "geek" part of the title, mentioning how it's that descriptor that really helps to define what this piece is ostensibly about. That said, do you have to be a "geek" to revel in blockbuster offerings like E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Tootsie or Blade Runner?

The "geek" appreciation probably comes into play with some of the perceived "lesser" fare on display here. I mentioned in my somewhat related The 4:30 Movie 4K Blu-ray review, a film takes place in 1986 and often plays like a kind of slightly fictionalized version of several "personal histories" offered here, that there was a brief use of music from a band based in my hometown of Portland, Oregon, namely Nu Shooz's memorable "I Can't Wait" as a source cue. 1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever actually spends some time (no morgue pun intended) dissecting Night Shift, here within the context of the nascent filmmaking career of Ron Howard. However, in the trivia department, Night Shift had an actual on screen theme by another Portland based band, Quarterflash (written in conjunction with Burt Bacharach). That may admittedly be a nonessential piece of minutiae, but even the inclusion of films like Night Shift prove that the filmmakers wanted to include a rather broad swath of films released that year.

The documentary actually does an admirable job of wending its way through a rather wide array of films and genres, but it's probably at its liveliest courtesy of those aforementioned talking heads, which include several well known personages like Leonard Maltin, but other, probably lesser known, folks in either the critical or just "basic" fan categories.

1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever! is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual's MVD Rewind Collection imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in a variety of aspect ratios, as befits a "compilation", but with all of the contemporary material in 1.90:1. One of the commentary tracks overtly mentions how the new interview material was all captured at 4K resolutions, though I suspect the DI here was 2K, and since those "new, improved" moments made some of the archival material look pretty shoddy by comparison, the choice was made to frame many of the older video elements inside a supposed television (as you can see in some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review). That may have been a wide decision, but it can't completely ameliorate some of the really pronounced video anomalies at times, including rampant macroblocking and pixellation. The actual film clips tend to fare better, even if I'd argue newer 1080 or even 4K UHD versions of the actual films obviously offer overall better image quality. With an understanding of what documentaries using such disparate source material as this one does tend to look like, I doubt the unabashedly heterogeneous quality of the visuals here will bother people very much.

1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While 1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever! does include a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 option, my hunch is many will be completely satisfied with the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track also on tap, since the bulk of the film is really talking head material. The surround track does open up some of the interstitial film clip material, but even those moments tend not to be whirlwinds of side and rear channel engagement. All of the spoken material is delivered cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director / Producer Roger Lay, Jr. and Writer / Producer Mark A. Altman


• Audio Commentary with Producers Scott Mantz, Thomas P. Vitale and Writer / Producer Mark A. Altman


• Deleted / Extended Scenes (HD; 40:49)


• The Fans Speak: Fans Favorite Films Featurette (HD; 16:51)


• 2022 San Diego Comic-Con Panel (HD; 28:19)


• Original Theatrical Trailer (HD; 00:58)

Additionally, the keepcase encloses a fold out mini poster, and packaging features a slipcover.

1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever! may well appeal greatly even to those who may not agree with the title's assertion, or who in fact may not have even been born yet in 1982. The documentary does a really good job of providing both interesting data points and an overall feel for the cultural zeitgeist of the general era. Video quality is somewhat variable, as should be expected, but audio is fine and the supplements very appealing. Recommended.