13 Going On 30

 

THE MOVIE-                            2 1/2 stars out of 5

 

13 Going On 30 stars Jennifer Garner and involves a tale that is a twist on the Tom Hanks film Big. Here, the story centers around a pre-teen named Jenna Rick who is unhappy about her popularity at school. She schedules a party to celebrate her 13th birthday and invites all the popular kids at school as well as her best friend, a nerdy 13 year boy living next door. Unfortunately, the party does not go well and while in the closet playing a game, she closes her eyes and wishes that she was 30 years old. When she opens her eyes and falls out of bed, she finds herself in the future, a 13 year old mind in a 30 year old body. She learns that she did in fact become one of the most popular kids at school and a successful career professional but also finds that her success came at a cost, namely the loss of her friends and family. She tracks down her childhood best friend Matt (Mark Ruffalo) to find out where things went wrong in her life and why she became a person she didn’t like. She sets out to change things and wishes to return to her life as a 13 year old so she can set things right. 13 Going On 30 is a cute film and can best be described as a classic chick flick. While not exactly a deep and probing film, it is a nice film and a good way to spend a couple hours on a Saturday night at home with your significant other and family. While I wouldn’t recommend that you add this film to your collection, it is worth a look as a rental.

 

THE VIDEO-                    4  stars out of 5

 

13 Going on 30 is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1 and represents a good but unspectacular transfer. The film has a very natural and well saturated color palette with very nice skin tones. However, the black level and detail is rather mediocre resulting in a image that is rather flat and lacking the clarity and detail of the best looking Blu-Ray encodes. Overall, the look of the film is a bit of a disappointment falling a few levels short of the better looking films on Blu-Ray.

 

THE AUDIO-                    3 3/4 stars out of 5

 

13 Going on 30 comes with a lossless 5.1 track encoded with Dolby True HD. While it is a 5.1 mix, one barely notices it as most of the audio comes from the front 3 channels with little if any sound from the surrounds. As a result, there is no immersive effect at all. While the overall quality of the sound is good with a nice smooth and open sound, the overall fidelity falls well short of the some more recent Blu-ray releases with a similar sound design such as the Universal release of Burn After Reading which has exceptional fidelity albeit encoded with DTS HD Master Audio rather than Dolby True HD. Particularly disappointing here is the fidelity of the musical score which lacks the imaging and transparency that one has come to expect from lossless audio encodes. The best thing I can say about the audio quality here is that it lacks the harder edge characteristic of standard Dolby DIgital. I know, faint praise indeed.

 

EXTRAS

 

This release has several extras including three featurettes including Making a Teen Dream, I Was a Teenage Geek and exclusive to Blu-Ray The Making of Teen Dream: Another Take. Also included is a commentary with the director and producer, an alternate beginning and ending, a short film: Fashion Flashback: Into the ‘80’s, photo montage with video still gallery, blooper reel, 18 deleted scenes and two music videos: Pat Benatar’s “ Love is a Battlefield” and Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl”.

 

IN CONCLUSION

 

While this release features a rather lackluster audio and video track, the film itself is enjoyable enough to rate a look but as a rental only.

_______________________________________________

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist

 

THE MOVIE-                    3 1/2 stars out of 5

 

While I have not been a fan of many teen films, I have to say that I really enjoyed this film. The film stars Michael Cera (can he do any other kind of film?) as Nick, a senior in high school who is having a difficult time getting over his girlfriend of 6 months. He is also the bass player in an otherwise gay band called the jerkoffs who are fans of another New York City indie band Fluffy, who has their fans guess where they are playing. While playing with his band on a Friday night in New York, Nick stumbles over Norah (Kat Dennings), a friend of his former girlfriend. While they have nothing in common other than their love for the same music as well as Fluffy, they connect while dealing with their own lost loves and their efforts to track down the location of Fluffy’s show that night. This is a witty and well written film that explores the angst of lost love and the unexpected path that love often takes us. This is one teen film that I can recommend without reservation.

 

THE VIDEO-                4 1/4 stars out of 5

 

Encoded with AVC and presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist shares many of the same visual characteristics and shortcomings as 13 Going on 30 reviewed above. However, the encode of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist is a bit sharper and detailed than 13 Going on 30 hence the higher score. Nick and Norah is mostly filmed at night and in rather dark interiors which adds to the rather drab look of the film. Despite the darkened interior shots, the film manages to maintain a consistent level of sharpness throughout the film. However, I can’t help but think that with better black level, this would have been a much more engaging visual presentation with better detail, clarity and three dimensionality. As it is, this encode and presentation on Blu-ray will have to do.

 

THE AUDIO-                4 1/4 stars out of 5

 

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist comes equipped with a lossless audio track encoded with Dolby True HD. While a tad better than the track on 13 Going on 30, I still found this encode a bit disappointing given the musical nature of the film. I found the overall sound of the film to be a bit harsher than what I would expect from a lossless track, lacking the smoothness and openness of the better sounding encodes. Playing this track at reference levels can result in a bit of listener fatigue. Bass response is good but not great. The dialogue track was fairly well recorded and placed in the mix although some of the live band vocals were kind of lost in the mix, not that this detracted from my overall enjoyment of the film. For the most part, the sound here is rather front heavy although the surround speakers do kick in during the live musical numbers, giving you the sense of what it is like inside a small club with pulsing music. Otherwise, the surrounds only provide a bit of overall ambiance lacking the sense of immersion that is the hallmark of the best sound designs.

 

EXTRAS

 

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist is packed with many extras including a digital copy compatible with Macs and PCs, deleted scenes, an outtake reel, a music video: Middle Management by Bishop Allen, storyboard animations with optional commentaries, a Nick & Norah puppet show by Kat Dennings, a Behind the Scenes Video Diary by co-star Ari Graynor, Faux interviews with Michael Cera, Kat Dennings and Eddie Kaye Thomas, a photo gallery and commentaries featuring the director, writers and cast. Also included are several BD Live enabled features such as Cinechat which enables you to send on screen messages to friends around the world while you watch the film together, an interactive playlist and telestrator commentary with the director Peter Sollett and Michel Cera, Kat Dennings and Ari Graynor where you can watch the director and cast point to items of interest in the film during the audio commentary.

 

IN CONCLUSION

 

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist is an engaging and well written film that is well worth a look. Recommended.