Blu-Or-Not: Eagle Eye, Serenity, The Duchess, Ghost Town

By Peter Sciretta/Dec. 28, 2008 2:00 pm EST

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Eagle Eye

Exclusive to Blu-ray: All the content is presented in High Definition, but none of it is exclusive to the Blu-Ray release.DVD Features in HD: :Deleted Scenes: Four and a half-minutes worth of four deleted scenes that had no reason to be in the film in the first place, including a laughable alternative ending with Rachel’s son Sam playing Rock Band (Jerry’s gift) with his friends when the television goes all “Matrixy” and begins to instruct him with a mission. If they had included that ending on the theatrical cut, people would have been laughing out loud.Asymmetric Warfare: The Making of Eagle Eye: A 26-minute making of documentary which opens up with one of the screenwriters/producers talking about how Steven Spielberg came up with the idea for the story ten years ago, and that if the film had been made back then, it would have been “science fiction” and that it would have been “a movie that stretches all plausibility and credibility.” I would argue that the storyline still defies plausibility, but watching this documentary makes you want to like the film and the people involved, even though you know it’s a gigantic mess.Shall We Play a Game?: The coolest featurette on the set, a 9-minute conversation between Eagle Eye director DJ Caruso and Wargames director John Badham. I’ve always loved conversations between filmmakers, and even while this is more self-promotional than most, its still cool.Other features include: Is My Cell Phone Spying on Me?, A 9-minute featurette exploring the film’s tech-paranoia premise, Road Trip, a too short 3-minute featurette on the film’s many shooting locations, and a Gag Reel which mostly consists of Shia LaBeouf and Billy Bob Thornton flubbing their lines and Michelle Monaghan getting the giggles one too many times.Video: 4 out of 5

Sound: 4.5 out of 5

Blu-Ray Exclusives: 0 out of 5

Extra Features: 3 out of 5

Featurettes: Future History (4:31), What’s in a Firefly (6:32), Re-Lighting the Firefly (9:40), A Filmmaker’s Journey (19:53), Joss Whedon Introduction (3:41), Take a Walk on Serenity (4:06), The Green Clan (3:07) are all off of the Serenity Collector’s Edition Set. None of the features have been remastered for high definition presentation, and most even contain a letterbox within a letterbox.

Video: 4.5 out of 5

Sound: 5 out of 5

Blu-Ray Exclusives: 2 out of 5

Extra Features: 4 out of 5

More after the jump.

Ghost Town

Exclusive to Blu-ray: The Blu-ray release includes all the DVD features in High Definition, but nothing more. Actually, the menu screen was incredibly slow and sluggish on my Samsung P1500. A budget Blu-ray player, I know, but I’ve rarely seen menu issues on other discs (mostly just load time increases)DVD Features in HD: :Making Ghost Town: Your standard 22-minute behind the scenes featurette which is a little bit more bearable because of Ricky Gervais.Ghostly Effects: A 2-minute look at the way the ghost effects were created for the film. Oddly, the visual demonstration isn’t even narrated by a special effects producer, and is instead set to music from the film.Some People Can Do It: A very entertaining 6-minute blooper reel.Video: 4 out of 5

Sound: 3.5 out of 5

Extra Features: 1 out of 5

The Duchess

Exclusive to Blu-ray: The Duchess is the extract definition of what I hate: costumed period dramas with pretentious actors/actresses, but I’m not here to judge the movie, I’m here to tell you about the extra value content. As much as I hate period dramas, I love watching how Hollywood creates the elaborate sets and costumes required for such projects. Unfortunately, Paramount has decided to include a barebones set of extras. All the content is presented in High Definition, but none of it is exclusive to the Blu-Ray release.DVD Features in HD: : The barebones set of extras include a 23-minute “How Far She Went… Making The Duchess” documentary which somehow succeeds at being more dull than the movie itself. “Georgiana in Her Own Words” is a 7-minute look at the letters that inspired the film, a 5-minute Costume Diary, and the two theatrical trailers. Even those who love the film will probably find the featurettes on this set boring.Video: 4.5 out of 5 – If anything else, this film looks gorgeous in 1080p

Sound: 4 out of 5