Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Halftime is party time in this high-energy comedy about a gifted street drummer who snares the top spot in a university marching band - but quickly discovers it takes more than talent to succeed.

I was pretty impressed with this one. The film takes a subject that is unlikely to gather a lot of appeal from the outside and makes a film that shines. The band performances are spectacular and reminded me of the highly charged cheer scenes in Bring It On including the intense standoff in the end. Nick Cannon gives a great performance as Miles but I thought the real star of the film was Orlando Jones as the band’s director. Jones is usually the comic relief of a film but his turn as a serious band director truly showcases his acting abilities. This Blu-ray release contains both the theatrical and extended release which has a bit more character development plus an extended drum off sequence at the end.

The HD presentation has a bit of a dated look to it. Colors are slightly muted and detail looks a bit processed resulting in a somewhat hard looking image at times. Slight ringing is noticed but it is never overly intrusive. The print shows a bit more film grain than some may prefer and there is even some wear on occasion. Depth of image is good but dimensionality is only slightly better than we see from DVD. I was hoping for a bit more from this presentation overall.

I remember being floored by the soundtrack for this movie back in the DVD days. While it still sounds quite good today, it wasn’t nearly as captivating as I was hoping for. The band sequences are by far the highlight and offer a nice sense of dynamic range and spatial cues. But the resolution seems like it could be just a bit better, especially with the percussion work. The low end boasts some nice extension, both from the band sequences and the soundtrack. Dialogue sounds natural enough and the balance within the mix is good. While a solid audio presentation overall, I was hoping for just a bit more.

Fox includes some promo style features for the film including a look at college bands, the production and some deleted scenes. There is also a feature commentary with the film’s director.

It was nice revisiting this one. The film was far more entertaining than I expected and I really enjoyed the drum off sequences. If you haven’t seen this one yet, give it a chance.