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    • BLU-RAY REVIEW

    88 Minutes

    Featured In Issue 135, October 2008

    Picture2.5
    SoundNR
    WSR Score2
    Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
    (Studio/Distributor):
    Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
    (Catalog Number):
    25615
    (MPAA Rating):
    R
    (Rating Reason):
    For disturbing violent content, brief nudity and language
    (Retail Price):
    $38.96
    (Disc Type):
    Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
    (Widescreen Edition):
    Yes
    (Full Screen Edition):
    No
    (Running Time In Minutes):
    107
    (Color Type):
    Color
    (Chaptered/Scene Access):
    Yes
    (Closed Captioned):
    Yes
    (Regional Coding):
    A
    (Theatrical Year):
    2008
    (Theatrical Release):
    Yes
    (Direct-To-Video Release):
    No
    (Disc Release Date):
    09/16/08
    (THX® Digitally Mastered):
    No
    (Director):
    Jon Avnet
    (Screenplay/Written By):
    (Story):
    (Music):
    (Director Of Photography):
    (Production Designer):
    (Visual Effects):
    (Costume Designer):
    (Editor):
    (Supervising Sound Editors):
    (Re-Recording Mixers):
    (Executive Producers):
    (Co-Producers):
    (Producers):
    (Academy Awards):
    (Principal Photography):
    (Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
    (Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
    (Disc Soundtrack):
    Dolby TrueHD 5.1
    (Theatrical Sound):
    (Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
    (DTS Bit Rate):
    (Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
    (Additional Languages):
    (French Language):
    (Spanish Language):
    (Chinese Language):
    (Subtitles):
    (Cantonese Language):
    (Mandarin Language):
    (Japanese Language):
    (Italian Language):
    (German Language):
    (Portuguese Language):

    Dr. Jack Gramm (Pacino) is a renowned psychiatrist and college professor whose expert testimony put the infamous serial killer, "The Seattle Slasher" Jon Forster (McDonough), behind bars on death row. The day before Forster is to be executed, one of Dr. Gramm's students is murdered with the identical modus-operandi of the Seattle Slasher. Gramm, who is convinced the death of his student was at the hands of a copycat killer, sets out to prove his case but receives a disturbing call that informs Gramm that he only has 88 Minutes left to live. Now Gramm must use his last remaining minutes on earth to uncover the killer before he strikes again. (Stacey Pendry)

    Special features include a commentary track by Director Jon Avnet, an alternate ending, two featurettes: Director's Point Of View (eight minutes) and The Character Within (eight minutes), and previews.

    The anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 DVD is limited by its fairly poor resolution and washed out black levels. There is some definition left in the "black" areas, but generally the image looks flat. Fleshtones look washed out but colors generally look well saturated. Minor compression artifacts are noticeable, but its edge enhancement is more distracting. The H.264 AVC-encoded Blu-ray Disc is not much of an improvement, with soft details and elevated, flat blacks. There is, of course, better resolving power in the Blu-ray™ than the DVD, but it isn't a huge difference. This is just not a very good picture. (Danny Richelieu)

    The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack features a nicely mixed front stage, but surrounds are not adequately implemented. There are nicely crafted pans across both the front and rear stages, but the two don't completely mesh. Bass is well defined, and the LFE channel is incorporated well. Dialogue sounds too forward and boxy at times, but fidelity is generally pure. Music is recorded and played back well, with good detail in the instruments. Dynamic range is acceptably good, but the noise level can be unnaturally high. The Blu-ray Disc's lossless Dolby TrueHD encoding sounds better than the DVD, with pure fidelity and natural-sounding bass. The surround channels are still used ineffectively, and there are times when dialogue sounds overly forward and boxy. Noise levels are improved. (Danny Richelieu)

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