Blu-ray Movie Reviews

It's a big credit to this film that its subject matter is something that has not only been done, but been done very well many, many times. In fact, the film it reminded me the most of, in many ways, is the excellent if not great Truman Show. Yes, like that movie this one highlights the dramatic skills of a genius-level sketch comedy actor, only this time around it's Ricky Bubb-eee himself Will Ferrell. Instead of the being the unwitting subject of a reality TV show, Ferrell's Harold Crick finds that he's the subject of a novel being written by a self-and death-obsessed writer played wonderfully and obsessively by Emmma Thompson.

While aspects of this movie are familiar, it never goes in exactly the direction you expect and features a finely nuanced and restrained performance by Ferrell, who's something of a revelation here. And the supporting cast is off the hook- especially Maggie Gyllenhaal and Dustin Hoffman, who frankly always works more convincingly for me as a supporting actor.

Stranger Than Fiction was directed by Marc Forster whose credits include Monster's Ball and a movie I really love, Finding Neverland. The latter worked for me as a quietly compelling film with splashes of fun and humor, which is how I'd describe Stranger. Smart, funny, and irresistably cute without being cheesy.

This is getting old as boiler plate, but this movie is presented on Blu-ray in 1080p/24, which is how I watched it from Pioneer Elite's BDP-HD1 on my Marantz VP-11S1 1080p front projector. The video codec is good, old-fashioned MPEG-2 and the results are simply tremendous. The film is a touch on the antiseptic side, which could be an artisitic choice inherent in the original photography. In nearly every scene in this movie there are small details that are so vividly real and dimensional that you feel like you can touch them and feel the textures. As is typical, the overall level of detail and depth and the complete freedom from noise, compression artifacts and the like is simply far beyond anything we've experienced prior to HD on a disc. For those that hate on MPEG-2 here's a tough pill to swallow! This transfer is beyond criticism in every respect.

The audio is uncompressed PCM, and while this isn't the next Stargate of surround demos the presentation is well done and effective. The biggest benefit of the PCM track can be heard primarily in the open and airy sound with the music tracks and in the palpably real feel to the dialog (which is always crystal clear and well integrated as well). Even in a quiet film like this PCM's advantages are apparent in a high-res system. There's a single sequence in which some dynamics and bass are called for and they're delivered in a way that knocked me back in my chair, even if only for a sec. PCM rocks, even in quiet movies like this.

As for the extras there are exactly two "Deleted and Extended Scenes," which are truly awful, and several featurettes and a bunch of movie trailers. The box touts a feature of "Funny On-Set Moments," which sounds like hilarious outtakes with Will Ferrell and the actors. But the couple of minutes I suffered through were mostly the crew hamming it up on a video camera like bunch of high-schoolers who think they're funnier than they are. I tried one other featurette and was bored within seconds.

The best extra on this entire disc is actually the "Coming to Blu-ray" trailer that opens the disc with clips from movies as diverse as Spider-Man 2 and Lawrence of Arabia. Man, did Peter O'Toole's eyes look blue! While I can live without The Patriot, I can't wait for Lawrence!

Stranger Than Fiction is something of a lost gem from 2006, and while the extras don't add a lot of value the picture and sound on Blu-ray borders on sensational. Don't let this one slip past you twice- it's a fun litttle trip that's well worth taking.

Picture: 10 out of 10

Sound: 6 out of 10

Video reviewed on Marantz VP-11S1 1080p DLP projector, 80" wide Stewart Filmscreen Studiotek 130 screen. Toshiba HD-XA2 HD DVD player and Pioneer Elite BDP-HD1 Blu-ray Disc player via HDMI to Anthem AVM 50. Audio sent as PCM over HDMI to Anthem AVM 50. Ayre MX-R monoblocks and Theta Dreadnaught power amps, and Vandersteen loudspeakers. All video cables by Bettercables, all audio cables by AudioQuest