6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Robert Altman's jazz-scored film explores themes of love, crime, race, and politics in 1930's Kansas City.
Starring: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte, Michael Murphy (I), Dermot MulroneyDrama | 100% |
Music | 9% |
Crime | 6% |
Thriller | 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 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Occasionally the internet actually can provide something that turns out to be educational or at least informative. In revisiting Kansas City in preparation for writing this review, and perhaps influenced by the fact that I relatively recently reviewed The Cotton Club Encore, I began to think about the correspondences between the two projects, with two iconic directors who arguably first came to wide public consciousness in the 1970s attempting to fashion stories out of “real life” jazz haunts and some criminal intrigue, with each of their efforts at least perceived not to have completely registered favorably with either critics or audiences. In doing a bit more background research, I was kind of gobsmacked to stumble across this article from the American Film Institute which gets into the production history of The Cotton Club and which overtly mentions that Robert Altman was originally announced as that film’s director, a datapoint I must have forgotten if I ever knew it in the first place. There are undeniable connections between Altman’s Kansas City and Francis Ford Coppola’s Cotton Club (Encore or otherwise), and in a way it may be a fun “thought experiment” for some fans of either or both director(s) to imagine what might have transpired had they switched projects.
Kansas City is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Arrow's insert booklet really doesn't provide a whale of a lot of info on the transfer, stating only that:
Kansas City is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio with 2.0 and 5.1 audio. The 2K master was delivered to Arrow Films by MK2.This is generally a very nice looking transfer, one that boasts good detail and fine detail levels on everything from the smudged surfaces of saxophones to the sometimes rather "heavy" looking clothing a lot of the characters wear, some of which has ornate patterns which resolve very well. I found the palette to be just a trifle dowdy looking at times, perhaps at least partially by design, something that is perhaps exacerbated by a glut of rather dark lighting conditions that permeate the film. That said, more burnished tones in the brown and gray territory look reasonably vivid, and the latter part of the film which has some better lit, daylight, material pops considerably better than some of the dark interior or nighttime material. Grain resolves naturally throughout the presentation and aside from some recurrent crush in some of the darkest scenes I noticed no glaring compression anomalies. My score is 4.25.
Kansas City's soundtrack is one of its undeniable assets, and both the LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks on this disc offer nice support for the film's musical elements in particular. The surround track opens up not just the actual music but some of the other elements like folks talking in the background in the club scenes. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, and I noticed no problems whatsoever with regard to distortion, dropouts or other damage.
- Introduction (1080p; 3:49) is in French with English subtitles.
- Gare, Trains and Deraillements (1080i; 15:56) is a visual essay by Largier. In French with English subtitles.
- Robert Altman Goes to the Heart of America (1080i; 8:45)
- Kansas City: The Music (1080i; 9:20)
- Interviews
- Robert Altman (1080i; 2:23)
- Jennifer Jason Leigh (1080i; 2:50)
- Miranda Richardson (1080i; 2:34)
- Harry Belafonte (1080i; 3:33)
- Joshua Redman (1080i; 2:06)
- Behind the Scenes (1080i; 2:20)
- International Trailer (1080p; 2:25)
- US Trailer (1080p; 2:27)
- French Trailer (1080p; 1:38)
- German Trailer (1080p; 1:38)
- US TV Spots (1080i; 1:06)
Altman completists will certainly want to check out Kansas City, but as even Geoff Andrew gets into in his "appreciation" of the film, this is one Altman effort that just doesn't seem to hit the bullseye for a lot of viewers. Technical merits are generally solid (especially the audio), and the supplementary package has some really interesting material, as per Arrow's standard operating procedure, for those who are considering a purchase.
2002-2008
Tropa de Elite 2: O Inimigo Agora É Outro
2010
1939
2011
2014
1936
Includes Elia Kazan: Outsider 1982 Documentary
1954
2017
2014
1977
1950
1992
Losing Game
1930
1948
4K Restoration
1948
Warner Archive Collection
1970
1971
1931
2013
1990