Blu-ray Movie Reviews

When Prince passed away from an accidental overdose of fentanyl this past April, multiple generations bonded over their mutual appreciation of his one-man empire of sonic creativity, quirky yet influential style, and overall mystique. In the wake of all this new and renewed interest in the Purple One, Warner has remastered his only three starring roles for high-def Blu-ray release via the simply titled Prince Movie Collection.

Like Madonna, his counterpart in ’80s cultural impact, Prince had a gnawing hunger to translate his creative chops onto the big screen, and he came away with one big hit—1984’s mostly autobiographical Purple Rain—and two major flops, 1986’s Under the Cherry Moon and 1990’s Graffiti Bridge.

Purple Rain’s overall story holes and somewhat stilted acting (with the exception of Clarence Williams III as Prince’s conflicted, violent father) tend to get a bit of a pass since the film’s live performance sequences are five-star all the way. Director Albert Magnoli shot Prince and The Revolution onstage at the famed First Avenue nightclub in Minneapolis by setting up four separate camera angles, utilizing real stage lighting, and shooting each song all the way through twice, thus giving him eight options overall to choose from during the film editing—ultimately setting a new benchmark for relaying the intoxicating, undeniable energy of a live concert onscreen in the process.

Oddly, the surround mix is somewhat underutilized during the film itself, but luckily, the special features contain separate video clips for eight songs, all of them much more sonically vibrant than how they appear in the movie. Prince’s screaming, Hendrixian all-channel guitar solo in “Let’s Go Crazy” is absolutely riveting in surround, while the resonant cymbal crashes and ever-shifting vocal-harmony blends all throughout “When Doves Cry” add even more layers to an iconic song. Incidentally, don’t assume your subwoofer went on the fritz during “Doves”—the song quite deliberately has no bass track on it.

Under the Cherry Moon is a muddled mess, though the French Riviera looks stunningly crisp in black and white. Interestingly, Cherry Moon has the best surround mix of the three films, with the 90-plus seconds of the funky, electrifying chart-topper “Kiss” that’s on display in Chapter 22—featuring Prince’s emotively seductive falsetto fully encompassing you in all channels—being the most thrilling mix of the lot. The majestically fresh “Mountains” runs in 5.1 over the end credits in full, and it’s a portent of how truly exciting a separate, audio-only surround release of Prince music could one day be.

The less said of Graffiti Bridge’s alleged Purple Rain-sequel-of-sorts story line the better, but its rich color palette—shot mainly at Paisley Park Studio in Minneapolis—lends an almost dreamy Technicolor vibe to the proceedings. (Remember, I said “almost.”) This film’s main merits come via hitting the FF button to cue up Prince, his angular and quite perfectly shaped facial stubble, and his ofthe-moment band The New Power Generation attack B-level songs like “Thieves in the Temple” with full-bore calisthenic vigor.

Each film is also available individually, but the Prince Movie Collection is the cheaper option to view all three—and worth the investment if only to watch the evolution of the Purple One’s undeniably mesmerizing mastery of live performance. Baby, he’s a star, now and 4ever. Take him with U.

Blu-Ray
Studio: Warner Bros., 2016
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio Formats: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (English), True HD 5.1 (French, Spanish)
Length: 301 mins. (Purple Rain, 111 mins; Under the Cherry Moon, 100 mins; Graffiti Bridge, 90 mins.)
MPAA Ratings: R (Purple Rain), PG-13 (Under the Cherry Moon, Graffiti Bridge)
Directors: Albert Magnoli (Purple Rain), Prince (Under the Cherry Moon, Graffiti Bridge)
Starring: Prince, Clarence Williams III, Appolonia Kotero