6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A young woman longing to start a family (Greta Gerwig) becomes involved in a complicated love triangle with a professor (Ethan Hawke) and his theorist wife (Julianne Moore).
Starring: Greta Gerwig, Travis Fimmel, Julianne Moore, Ethan Hawke, Bill HaderComedy | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.84:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Russian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1
English, English SDH, French, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Russian, Thai
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Tradition? Toss it out the window. This is 2016. Modern science and contemporary societal norms have all but eliminated the requirement and made it perfectly acceptable, respectively, for a woman to bear a child through means other than traditional birds-and-bees maneuvers. No longer are women like Maggie, who seeks artificial insemination and, later, a nontraditional path out of her marriage, social pariahs, outcasts forced to live lies or hide in shadows. Maggie's Plan, from Writer/Director Rebecca Miller (The Private Lives of Pippa Lee; Miller is also the daughter of the acclaimed, late playwright Arthur Miller, best known for his seminal work Death of a Salesman), takes a decidedly modern look at love and life and how the two have become more amorphous in recent years, meaning different things to different people beyond traditional definitions and structures. The film follows an open life, an occasionally confused life, and all of the different emotional stages that are a result of living in the new normal. The picture efforts to blend easy come humor with more pronounced psychological and sociological underpinnings, and largely to good effect.
Planning.
Maggie's Plan enjoys a fine, richly film-like 1080p picture. It's a little warm and a mite soft, but there's little room for complaint. Detailing is excellent. Rough city exterior details present with lifelike definition and tactile realism. Attire is superb, particularly heavy-knit winter sweaters and scarfs and hats that can be seen throughout the film. Facial definition is fair, revealing many of the finer details to be found on all of the actors. Colors are just a hair desaturated and warm, but never to any serious, or even more than lightly noticeable, level. Saturation is fine and vibrance is there when brighter colors appear on the screen. A yellow hat seen midway through the movie is probably the single-best color splash in the film. Flesh tones capture that mild warmth. Black levels are fine. No compression artifacts or source issues are readily apparent. This is another first-class new release Blu-ray from Sony.
Maggie's Plan features a very basic nuts-and-bolts dialogue-heavy Romantic Dramedy soundtrack. The presentation offers little beyond the spoken word and music. Light ambience helps better define some city exteriors, a cafeteria, and a few other places where there's opportunity for gentle environmental immersion, but don't expect much in the way of seriously detailed and intensive surround activity. Music is largely gentle, but clearly defined. Spread out to the ends of the stage comes naturally, and very mild back channel envelopment is also present. Dialogue commands the movie. Prioritization is fine (particularly with nothing else of note around, for the most part). Clarity is excellent and placement remains firm in the front center channel.
Maggie's Plan contains several extras, including an audio commentary track. A UV digital copy code is included with purchase.
Maggie's Plan looks and feel like Allen, but it can't quite capture that same effortless magic and charm. It's an interesting look at life in the modern big city and how the best laid plans of life and love sometimes work, and sometimes don't. The film features well-written and expertly performed characters along with a commendably solid and simple, but very complimentary, filmmaking approach. Sony's Blu-ray release of Maggie's Plan features high quality video, good lossless audio, and a fair compliment of bonus material. Recommended.
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