6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A deeply personal coming-of-age story about the strength of family and the generational pursuit of the American Dream.
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, Banks Repeta, Jaylin Webb, Anthony HopkinsComing of age | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French (Canada): DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The Jewish-American familial experience is lensed in an alternately rueful and nostalgic fashion in James Gray's most autobiographical feature to date. All
but two of the films Gray has directed are set in New York and this is possibly the most personal in his oeuvre. It recreates his suburban childhood in
Queens. Early in the picture, the Graff family gathers around the television to watch an interview with California Governor Ronald Reagan as part of the
1980 presidential campaign. Reagan mentions the phrase "Armageddon time" to refer to the nuclear option that's still on the table with the "Evil Empire"
ever lurking in the northern hemisphere. (The title also connects indirectly with the apocalyptic TV movie, The Day After, which caused Reagan to
fear nuclear weapons more than ever.) These possible doomsday implications may not be felt by 12-year-old Paul Graff (Banks Repetta), but the youngest
son of Esther (Anne Hathaway) and Irving Graff (Jeremy Strong) faces an uncertain present and future. He isn't yet as bright as his obnoxious older
brother, Ted (Ryan Sell), but he's a talented lad and aspiring artist. Paul still lacks the creativity to paint his own pictures like when he copies a Kandinsky
that he observed at the Guggenheim Museum. But Aaron (Anthony Hopkins), Paul's warm maternal grandfather, recognizes the sixth grader's potential and
buys him a set of paints, which thrills the boy.
Paul has difficulty fitting in at school as there few Jews in his class. It's there that he meets a new friend, Johnny Davis (Jaylin Webb), a Black student who
like Paul is a rebellious non-conformist. Johnny can relate to Paul's status as a minority because there are hardly any people of color in the school. Paul and
Johnny bond through arcade games while partially playing hooky on a field trip. Johnny also introduces Paul to hip-hop music which he didn't know was on
the horizon after disco.
Paul finds a new friend.
Univeral/Focus Features' "triple play" release of Armageddon Time from last month comes with a slipcover on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50
(disc size: 41.37 GB). I saw this eighth feature by Gray in a theater less than two months ago so I can comment on how the 2.39:1 image compares on
this Blu-ray and Prime's UHD stream. Production
designer Happy Massee noted in Focus Feature's press kit that he intended for all the tones "to be very earthy—greens, browns, and ochres." The
saturation on the brown tiles in the Graff's bathroom, for example, is as well-pronounced on the 1080p and 2160p transfers as it was on the DCP I saw.
All three prints have a golden-brown hue.
Cinematographer Darius Khondji shot the picture on an Arri Alexa 65, using Super Baltar lenses that he and Gray borrowed from DP Ed Lachman. Khondji
explained their choice to François Reumont of British Cinematographer Magazine: "We chose a Super Baltar series from Bausch & Lomb, adapted
to the Alexa 65; wonderful vintage fast lenses with remarkable close focus capability. With James, we shot almost the whole film with two or three focal
lengths – no need for a particularly full set of lenses. And these ones really allow me to break the ultra-high definition of the camera sensor." The lighting
and grip equipment derive from Arri
Digital. (You should pay attention to how light emanates from other rooms in the Graff household across the wide
frame in my screen captures and while you watch the film.) Compared to the Blu-ray, the 4K stream shows noticeable upticks in detail and sharpness.
Clarity is outstanding even in distantly framed background settings.
Another important variable to consider when evaluating the image is that Gray wanted Armageddon Time to appear as if you're watching a movie
printed on Kodak film from over three decades ago. But Gray couldn't find a vintage Panavision camera that could give him the desired look he sought. In
an interview on the ReelBlend Podcast, Gray stated that he applied a very old 35mm grain app to a digital file. He describes this process as "electronically
created simulacrum of 35 millimeter film from 1980." The Blu-ray does a better job of replicating the faux film grain than the UHD does. (This isn't to
imply that the Prime Video 4K stream is DNRed. I didn't see much de-noising.) I'm thinking of a medium shot of Paul in his home that really brings out
the grain.
For nighttime exteriors, both the BD and UHD do an excellent job of handling Khondji's light sources. In either another or the same interview he
conducted with François Reumont for the French Society of Cinematographers (AFC), which was translated from French by A. Baron-Raiffe, Khondhi
addressed color and light levels: "...I wanted to use tungsten a little more on night exterior scenes, to get as close as possible to the color of the streets
at that time. Here again, it was a simple lighting, with few sources and a general nocturnal brightness well below what we now know in today's cities lit by
LEDs. Also, very vertical effects, like the scene at the end of the film when the father brings his son home from the police station. I turned off most of the
streetlights, leaving only a few bright spots here and there. When you're in the car, the main effect comes from tungsten sources placed very high up, at a
height similar to real streetlamps, mixed with a few ¾ counter lights coming from the lamps on entrance porches or neighboring gardens." See especially
the scene that comprises Screenshot # 6. Universal has encoded the feature on the Blu-ray at a mean video bitrate of 34798 kbps.
Twenty chapters accompany the 114-minute feature.
Universal has supplied an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround mix (3313 kbps, 24-bit) as the default audio track. Spoken words are clear and audible
throughout the presentation (especially those by Anthony Hopkins). While much of the dialogue and some of the f/x are primarily relegated to the fronts,
there's a lot of deep bass I heard along the surrounds and subwoofer. This occurs during the screeching of train tracks and recordings of The Sugarhill
Gang's "Rapper's Delight" and The Clash's "Armageddon Time." I don't have audio specs for the Prime stream but it sounds like a very solid lossy DTS or
5.1+. It's an excellent sound track.
Christopher Spelman only wrote fifteen minutes of score but he makes each note count. When interviewed for the Focus Feature press kit, he divulged a
surprising inspiration: Rota's score for Fellini's 8½ (1963). Spelman says he played classical guitar so it sounds like it's being played on either an
unamplified archtop jazz guitar or a real archtop guitar. This part of the score works well because it's integrated nicely in the sound track's backdrop and
isn't intrusive. For the family motif, Spelman wrote in a xylophone that's bowed to other instruments. There's also some emotive strings that aren't played
too loudly with furtive guitar anchoring the background.
Optional English SDH as well as French and Spanish subtitles can be accessed for the feature.
James Gray's films are always intelligently crafted which makes them a pleasure to revisit time and again. I initially admired Armageddon Time from a distance but it's grown on me in repeat viewings. While I probably prefer Gray's crime thrillers to this one, his balance of pathos and humor here make it re-watchable. (I would rank his very best works thus far as We Own the Night [2007], Ad Astra [2019], and The Yards [2000].) The transfers on Universal's Blu-ray and the UHD stream on Prime each have their own strengths so I don't feel you can go wrong with either. I wish that Universal had put more effort into the extras aside from some omitted scenes and a Focus Features EPK. The studio likely didn't ask Gray to record a commentary track as I'm sure he would have obliged. You may want to wait till the retail price dips below $20. A VERY WARM RECOMMENDATION for Armageddon Time.
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