Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Another box-office disappointment here, but its failure was undeserved. This is a delightful romantic comedy. While the title appears to reveal all you need to know about the subject, the R-rating here is very soft. Apart from a few minutes near the beginning, this more of a costume farce than a sex-romp. Perhaps that's why it failed in theaters; it wasn't what the audience expected.

I was disappointed in the standard definition disc when it came out last year (go here and scroll down for that review, which includes additional details on the film). It was surprisingly soft. This high definition transfer is a dramatic improvement. It's still a little short of the best high definition discs, but is as crisp as it needs to be. And the color is glorious. A period film such as this is ideal for showing off high definition, and you won't be disappointed. And the fact that the film was shot on location in Venice doesn't hurt, either.

The film's biggest audio asset is its Baroque music score, drawn from a variety of real composers of the era plus some original music by Alexandre Desplat. It's nicely recorded on the Dolby Digital track I auditioned, though a little steeliness here and there brings down the rating a bit. There's also a multichannel 48 KHz, 16-bit soundtrack.

Picture: 8.5 (out of 10)…Sound: 8.5…Film: 8.5

(Reviewed on a Pioneer BDP-HD1 Blu-ray player, JVC DLA-HD1 projector, 78" wide Stewart Studiotek 130 screen, and NAD Masters Series M15 pre-pro and M25 power amp. Speakers: Energy Veritas v2.8 L/R, Mirage OMD-C2 center, Mirage OMD-R surrounds, and Revel B15 subwoofer.)