Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Taking place in Indiana in the 1940s, the story centers on Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) and his one wish for Christmas—a genuine Red Ryder 200-Shot Carbine Action Air Rifle. Unfortunately, whenever he expresses this wish, he's greeted with, "You'll shoot your eye out!" Will Ralphie get his wish? If so, is his vision safe?

There are many memorable scenes in A Christmas Story with laugh-out-loud moments—the pink bunny suit, the double-dog dare and the metal pole, and the classic leg lamp. In fact, the Holiday Collectible edition includes a string of leg-lamp holiday lights—oh, where to hang them this year?

The VC-1 encode is a decent effort for a low-budget film from 1983, but unfortunately, it's far from perfect. Resolution is on the soft side, and the colors lack the usual punch associated with HD. Video noise is quite prevalent in the transfer, especially in solid colors and objects. A great example is when Ralphie is holding his air rifle at the end of the movie—look at the hilt of the gun, which is crawling with noise. Regardless of the shortcomings, this blows away the SD presentation shown repeatedly on TBS during the holiday season.

The Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtrack doesn't have any surprises up its sleeve. Collapsed toward the center speaker but with decent fidelity and intelligible dialog, the front soundstage rarely impresses. The musical score is flat and lacks dynamics, but given the low budget, this is to be expected.

Ported over from the previous HD DVD and Blu-ray releases, the bonus features offer nothing new in the collector's edition—except for the string of leg-lamp lights. Supplements consist of an audio commentary, a 30-minute SD feature titled "Another Christmas Story" that features interviews with the cast and crew, Red Ryder Rifle and Leg-Lamp featurettes, script pages, and the theatrical trailer.

A Christmas Story is far from a perfect film, but it's a holiday classic in my home. Between the gun, the leg lamp, the snowsuit paralysis, and the triple-dog dare, how can you not watch it every holiday season?

Release Date: November 4, 2008

Movie: 8/10

Picture: 6/10

Sound: 5/10

Review System

Source

Panasonic DMP-BD30

Display

JVC DLA-RS1 projector

Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics

Pioneer Elite SC-05 AVR

Belkin PF60 power conditioner

Speakers

M&K S-150s (L, C, R)

M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)

SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables

Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)

Best Deal analog-audio cables

PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector