6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Fiery, eccentric Louisiana Governor Earl K. Long falls head over heels in love with dazzling Blaze Star, an innocent New Orleans stripper with a heart of gold.
Starring: Paul Newman, Lolita Davidovich, Gailard Sartain, Jeffrey DeMunn, Richard JenkinsBiography | 100% |
Comedy | 20% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Never trust a man who says, "trust me."
Sex and politics are sort of like death and taxes, peanut butter and jelly, and baseball and summertime. The combination is a grand tradition, and
it's
not even unique to the United States. What is unique, to a degree, is the intense scrutiny of sex and politics in the media and, sometimes,
the double-standard discretion the media employs to protect some politicians who find more favor with the press. Yet sex scandals remain some of
the
juiciest stories on the television and the inter-webs and the talk radio airwaves. They say any publicity is
good publicity, but when Senators allegedly engage in sex overseas with underage prostitutes, when Senators solicit sex through airport bathroom
stalls, and even when Presidents get caught with cigars and stains, even they would rather the cameras go away and their names fade from
the
forefront of their constituents, and the nation's, minds. Yet sex scandals are so popular that some people even enjoy reliving those of yore; JFK and
Marilyn are still a hot
item going on five decades after their deaths, and indeed perhaps it's the safety of reliving the past rather than trudging through the salacious
details
of the present that make for the "easiest" and "cleanest" of tales. Director Ron Shelton's (Bull Durham) Blaze is the based-on-true-events film that
depicts
the rise and fall of a Louisiana Governor harboring the worst-kept secret in the state: an affair-turned-romantic-relationship with a West Virginia
transplant-turned-stripper named, get ready, "Blaze Starr" (yes, with two "R"s).
Southern Governors approve.
Blaze's high definition transfer doesn't fare as well as its Mill Creek Blu-ray counterpart Billy Bathgate. It displays a myriad of problems, none of them a deal breaker at this price point but enough to leave fans wishing for a more accurate, blemish-free presentation. The wobbly opening credits are met with excess print wear. Noise sprinkles in throughout, and the image is often so harsh it seems to glow around the edges. Color balance isn't bad, but this isn't a deep, accurate, well-defined palette. Details range from satisfying to smudgy. Clumps of leaves in the opening West Virginia shots lack any sort of definition, but the image stabilizes enough at times to show decent wear on period structures and natural facial and clothing lines. The image does have a lightly smoothed over look to it as well. Blacks and flesh tones are satisfactory. This isn't the best Mill Creek transfer, but it's pretty representative of the studio's releases.
Blaze doesn't completely fizzle on Blu-ray, featuring a modest but basically effective DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack. There is a fair amount of activity across the front, a good bit of sonic distinction and even decent clarity. Whether the light ambience of children playing and roosters crowing in the opening West Virginia moments, the sound of a feverish crowd of drunken sailors at a strip club, or rain and lingering claps of thunder in chapter 10, the soundtrack offers a surprising bit of activity, space, and faux immersion throughout. Some of those same sounds come across as a little shallow, but what little bit of muscle that's here helps the track considerably. A couple of shotgun blasts fall short of expectations, but the resultant mayhem, such as crashing glass, does play with a good bit of clarity and focus. Dialogue and music both play with commendable clarity in an otherwise scattered sort of soundtrack. This one does a bit more well than it does poorly; like the video, this is fairly representative of average Mill Creek quality.
This Blu-ray release of Blaze contains no supplemental content.
Blaze could have been a deeper, probably darker drama if it had wanted to be, but it works quite well -- authenticity be damned -- as a fictional portrayal of a real-life political scandal and the love that developed in spite of the public attention. It's a humorous and oftentimes light picture, one that doesn't pay much mind to the nuts-and-bolts politics but leaves those dealings as pieces of the bigger puzzle that are worked in as the personal relationship between two unlikely figures develops. The movie is very well acted and smoothly directed. Mill Creek's Blu-ray release features adequate video, decent audio, and no supplements. Worth a rental or a purchase at rock-bottom prices, which is what Mill Creek specializes in, anyway.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1991
Election Year Edition
1995
2019
Limited Edition to 3000
1976
2010
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1974
2014
2023
1982
1939
2011
2014
2006
2018
2011
2008
2008
2009
2021
Warner Archive Collection
1954