Brazil (BLU-RAY) | Shakefire.com

>> Brazil (BLU-RAY) (2011)

Submitted by AJ Garcia on Saturday, July 9, 2011 - 11:32AM

Title: Brazil

Genre: Comedy

Starring: Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins

Director: Terry Gilliam

Studio: Universal Studios

Runtime: 132 minutes

Release Date: July 12, 2011

Format: BLU-RAY

Discs: 1

MPAA Rating: R

Rating: 2.95 (out of 4.00)

Grade: B

Official Site

Factoid:

Terry Gilliam was asked to do a film class during the battle of this film at USC. Terry agreed, and took advantage of the situation by preparing to bring an "audio visual aid", which was his cut of the film, which would have been allowed. Unfortunately, two days before the event, students advertised a free screening of the film. When he arrived it was announced that Universal would not allow him to show the film. During his speech to the class, he was interrupted by studio executives' phone calls. They eventually allowed him to show a clip of the film. He showed the entire film, and repeated the screenings for over two weeks. It was during one of these screenings that Los Angeles film critics saw the film, and awarded it the Best Picture of the Year award, which was responsible for getting the film released the way Gilliam wanted it. ~ IMDB

Set in a dystopian future Brazil, now, plays more like a foreboding alarm about humanity and its tendency to get caught up in the glamour and luxury of materialistic endeavors while turning a blind eye to the bureaucracy of our central government. Sound familiar? That alone proves that despite however aged Terry Gilliam’s black humored tale of escapism through imagination versus the harsh cruel reality of despair gets, it’s point will always remain intact as, we, as humans, never learn. In any case Brazil finally gets its Blu-Ray release, but is it all we’ve been waiting for?

QUALITY:
For those of you who ever owned Brazil on DVD you already know that Brazil has always been kind of a spotty release. The Blu-Ray transfer is a definite improvement over the DVD release, including the Criterion release, and if you’re a fan for the content your going to be very happy. There are some soft shots that were unable to find the same sporty look as a majority of the office scenes but for the most part Brazil has a boost in color with a more then decent job in clarity and definition. Mind you there is room for improvement when we get a better version of the film on Blu-Ray sometime later down the line, and with the bonus content lacking here no doubt there will be one. In any case I was pleasantly surprised and think fans will be too. Audio which is also a definite boost with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is a huge improvement over the 2.0 Dolby Digital version.

BONUS FEATURES:
Sadly there are next to none and considering the amount of bonus features on the Criterion 3 disc edition one has to wonder why it was left out. Considering Brazil’s message on red tape bureaucracy and materialism you’d think its release to Blu-Ray would bypass the same and offer us up the best and most definitive version without leaving us wondering if later on down the line we’ll have to buy yet another version on Blu-Ray.
~D-Box: I don't even know what this is.
~BD Live

Pictures: