7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
The story of the troubled life and career of the legendary Jazz singer, Billie Holiday.
Starring: Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, James T. Callahan, Paul HamptonMusic | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Biography | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English, English SDH, French
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
The musician's Biopic may be one of the hottest genres going today, but it's certainly not a new phenomenon. Quantity and quality both drive today's landscape as movies like Rocketman and Get On Up light up the charts and earn glowing critical reviews. In the 1980s it was La Bamba. In the 1970s it was Lady Sings the Blues, Director Sidney J. Furie's (The Boys in Company C, Ladybugs) telling of the Billie Holiday story, a story of humble and hopeless beginnings, the rise of a star, and the fall of an icon.
For its Blu-ray debut, Paramount releases Lady Sings the Blues with a 1080p transfer. The image is a bit rough. Grain is not overly dense but it's also inconsistent, looking relatively fine in spots and clumping up in others. Textures are not razor-sharp. There's a mild softness at play but not enough to render more than a handful of shots problematically fuzzy. General textures satisfy for essential definition, whether faces or a variety of clothes, from ragged everyday attire to more resplendent suits and dresses. Much the same holds true for environmental output. There's a broad array of location details throughout the film, each with their own layouts and opportunities for finer object definition. Nothing stands out for superiority but neither does anything appear grossly underrealized. Colors are not particularly brilliant. There's a solid foundational depth to essential tones, but the movie does favor a slightly depressed, flat color output. Still, basics like clothes and skin are largely fine and black levels are not in any way problematic, even if they're not quite perfect. The print is in rather good shape, showing only a few points of wear and anomalies. There are no obvious encode failures of note, either. This isn't the prettiest 1080p image on the market but overall it looks more or less true to the source; can't ask for much more than that.
Lady Sings the Blues includes a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. At reference volume the opening score plays rather quietly, without much vigor or confidence. The notes themselves are bold but the delivery lacks oomph and there's not a lot of front spread, either. Surrounds are rendered virtually silent here, too. That's pretty much the story for the entire soundtrack: timid, not a lot of front spread, practically no surround extension, and certainly no obvious subwoofer engagement. As a flat, straightforward, front-center experience it's fine. The music isn't quite so dynamic as it might could have been with superior sound engineering but it's OK as it is. Dialogue is perfectly clear, though, and center positioned. Some listeners might want to turn the volume up a little from calibrated reference.
Lady Sings the Blues includes an audio commentary track, a featurette, and deleted scenes. This is a standalone Blu-ray; no DVD or digital
copies are included with purchase and this release does not ship with a slipcover.
Regardless of its absolute adherence to authenticity or stray from it for dramatic purposes, there's no denying there's an engaging, powerful film in Lady Sings the Blues. Even though the central story feels cut-and-paste -- an individual rises from a seemingly inescapable bottom to reach the top, only to fall hard from grace -- there's a sincerity to its telling, a rawness to its emotions, a reality to characters. Ross is a revelation and Williams is terrific in a pre-Star Wars role while a fairly young Richard Pryor is a delight, as always. Neither the picture nor the sound are going to dazzle or delight but they're workmanlike, at least, and the picture quality is pretty solid overall. A few quality extras are included, too Recommended.
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