7 | / 10 |
Users | 2.5 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
In search of a long-forgotten blues song, classical guitarist Eugene befriends legendary bluesman Willie Brown after meeting him in a Harlem nursing home. Brown convinces Eugene to break him out of the home and travel to Mississippi to meet the Devil, to whom the old bluesman sold his soul.
Starring: Ralph Macchio, Joe Morton, Joe Seneca, Jami Gertz, Jo Marie PaytonMusic | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
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 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Crossroads, the 1986 picture from Writer John Fusco (Young Guns) and Director Walter Hill (48 Hrs), offers a satisfying blend of Blues tunes and a story of burgeoning buddies brought together by a shared love of music. The film dabbles in a hodgepodge of cinematic odds and ends: character studies, road trip maneuverings, light romance, supernatural currents, and a coming-of-age story. And even through all of the seemingly disparate constructs there's a satisfying film at the center, one that ultimately plays with some familiar pieces but also builds its own identity along the way.
The opening shot showing the musician at the crossroads is supposed to look worn and weary, but it's also accompanied by digital compression artifacts that don't compliment the scene in the least. As he arrives in the hotel, the struggle with macroblocking, as well as print splotches and speckles, remain. These are defining characteristics that linger throughout the entire presentation, readily evident in every shot, scene, and sequence. But while the image suffers from technical drawbacks, it's inarguably superior to its release date brethren, The Freshman and Like Father Like Son, which are two of the worst looking Blu-rays to hit the market in some time, and the latter in particular. While the same issues plague Crossroads, the image is clearly less dramatically weakened. A fair semblance of the innate filmic roots remain visible, and textures are not totally destroyed, either. There's a decent fundamental sharpness and definition at work here, allowing for some much needed (and appreciated) textural detail in view. Faces, clothes, and perhaps most notably downtrodden hotel rooms, homes, bars, and natural exteriors at least offer a sound baseline definition, even if none of them thrive in complexity, and help carry the film's illusion forward. Colors are somewhat depressed but a core tonal fidelity and sense of basic depth remains. There's nice saturation to the yellow guitar, natural greens, and flesh tones. Black levels aren't at all poor, either, particularly in a few key nighttime exteriors. Certainly there's a vastly superior image buried under the various issues with this transfer, but it could have been a lot worse, too.
Crossroads' DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack offers enough of the essential detail and stage fluidity necessary to carry a film that is superficially about music. The track features some quality front stretch and discrete effects off to either side, evident in a number of scenes that all keep the track lively at best and capable at worst. Some of the early hospital scenes bear the fruits of a wide stage and carry some minor discrete environmental elements which present with just enough detail and spread to draw the listener towards the locale. Light din inside a bus stop in chapter four is likewise pleasing for stretch and detail. Falling rain, rolling thunder, and Blues riffs at the 36:30 mark set the scene on the next stage of the adventure, and indeed the track delivers a competent collection of sounds that are vital to bringing its listening landscape to, if not vibrant then certainly essentially satisfying, life. The climactic guitar showdown offers excellent stage engagement and riff detail, even as the scene turns from tit-for-tat exchanges to frenzied playing and raucous cheering. It's in nice balance and while modern sound engineering and multichannel audio would have made for a more dynamic moment, the sequence is quite spellbinding within its innate audio constraints. Dialogue is perfectly clear and intelligible, naturally imaging to the front-center location.
This Blu-ray release of Crossroads contains no supplemental content. The main menu screen only offers options for "Play" and toggling subtitles on and off. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release ships with a "retro VHS" slipcover which features alternate (and superior) artwork compared to the BD case proper.
Crossroads is a solid movie that flows well and plays better thanks to its human depth, solid story beats, and quality performances, particularly from a wonderful, and seamless, Joe Seneca. Mill Creek's featureless Blu-ray delivers struggling, but not entirely horrendous, video and a quality two-channel lossless soundtrack. Recommended, but Mill Creek needs to do at least a bit better in the video department; 2021 is not shaping up well so far. This is the best of the mid-January "retro VHS" releases, which is not saying much.
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