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Review: The Magician’s Elephant

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The Magician's Elephant (2023)

review | The Magician’s Elephant

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Aimed more at kids than adults, Netflix’ latest animated effort, while beautiful to look at, is a little too restrained

by Roger Kanno
March 26, 2023

The newest full-length animated feature available to stream on Netflix since March 17 is The Magician’s Elephant. It was produced by Animal Logic, now a Netflix subsidiary and a studio that provides visual effects services to the film industry and has produced the distinctive animation for the Lego and Peter Rabbit films. Based on the novel of the same name by Kate DiCamillo and a screenplay by Martin Hynes, who was one of the contributors to the Academy Award-winning Toy Story 4, The Magician’s Elephant tells the tale of an orphaned boy named Peter (Noah Jupe) and his search for his long-lost sister.

The talented voice cast also includes Mandy Patinkin, Bryan Tyree Henry, Benedict Wong, Sian Clifford, Miranda Richardson, and the always amusing Natasia Demetriou as the Fortune Teller who provides Peter with mysterious advice to help in his search. She also acts as the narrator and breaks the fourth wall to address the audience during her occasional monologues, which are smartly conceived and charmingly executed. Ultimately, though, the storytelling is somewhat clunky, with lessons delivered heavy-handedly and with little backstory as to why the townspeople and the entire city of Baltese where Peter lives have fallen into a state of indifference.

The three-dimensional look and overall visual style of the film along with a color palette full of soft blue, pink, and purple hues is extremely appealing even though Baltese, where Peter and his adoptive father Vilna live, is stuck under perpetual cloudiness. While the brightness of the picture is slightly muted due to the constant presence of the clouds, I was struck by the beauty of the detail in the cityscapes of the Old World buildings. As Peter walks across their rooftops, hundreds of individual tiles of different colors fill the screen, and closeup views show subtly varying shades on their uneven surfaces. The paint is realistically worn on the edges of roof flashings, and Peter’s well-worn leather shoes are wrinkled and grainy with scuffing evident on both the uppers and thick soles, with individual threads visible in the laces. The subdued but still lavishly colorful and detailed animation presented in Dolby Vision is a visual feast.

Character renderings are also exquisite, whether it is the realism of Vilnas’ long scraggly beard, with the hairs nearest his mouth moving more so than those further away as he speaks, or his bushy eyebrows moving independently, as do the many creases and wrinkles as he contorts his face in deep expression. The elephant’s deeply textured skin also moves smoothly and naturally and appears to be realistically stretched over the musculature of the animal as it expands and contracts in unison with its movements. In addition to the finely detailed main players, background characters are also rendered with great detail and clarity as each looks unique and distinct from one another with very different clothing, skin tones, and facial features. Regrettably, though, the painstakingly produced animation is limited to a resolution of 1080p. And while the picture didn’t appear particularly soft or lacking in quality, I couldn’t help but wonder if the fantastic visuals could have been further enhanced had the video been presented in 4K.

The Atmos soundtrack was also not as immersive or involving as I would have expected, especially considering the quality of the carefully crafted animation and the fanciful nature of the story. However, in certain instances, holographic spatial cues such as during a battle scene, the sound of explosions echo realistically in all directions and a baby’s cries are clearly audible off in the distance. And when Peter frolics with the elephant during a dream sequence, the wind swirls and envelops them as the majestic sweeping score exhibits excellent bass. Unfortunately, during much of the rest of the film, there is a relative lack of both discrete, directional surround effects and an enveloping surround ambience.

Animal Logic’s animation for The Magician’s Elephant is visually arresting and a real treat even though it might have benefitted from an upgrade to 4K from the 1080p standard HD video stream provided by Netflix. And the wholesome story with relatively little violence and a whimsical quality will likely appeal to children, although adults may not be as entertained by the rather simplistic plot.

Roger Kanno began his life-long interest in home cinema almost three decades ago with a collection of LaserDiscs and a Dolby Surround Pro Logic system. Since then, he has seen a lot of movies in his home theater but has an equal fascination with high-end stereo music systems. Roger writes for both Sound & Vision and the SoundStage! Network.

PICTURE | The subdued but still lavishly colorful and detailed animation presented in Dolby Vision is a visual feast

SOUND | The Atmos soundtrack isn’t as immersive or involving as you would expect given the quality of the carefully crafted animation and the fanciful nature of the story

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Review: Luther: The Fallen Sun

Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023)

review | Luther: The Fallen Sun

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This feature-length continuation of the BBC series is engrossing enough but doesn’t break any new ground

by Roger Kanno
March 19, 2023

Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) John Luther (Idris Elba) is a brilliant but disgraced ex-police officer who has been imprisoned for transgressions committed as a result of the all-consuming nature of his investigations. Often consumed by the darkness of the crimes he investigates, DCI Luther walks the line between good and evil and right and wrong that often becomes blurred and sometimes crosses that line in his quest to bring criminals to justice.

A continuation of Luther, the acclaimed BBC series created and written by Neil Cross that aired from 2010 to 2019, Luther: The Fallen Sun has been available on Netflix since March 10 after a limited theatrical run in select theaters beginning February 24. During its nine-year run, the TV series only produced 20 episodes yet resulted in many nominations for BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globe, and Primetime Emmy Awards, among others, and several wins, including acting awards for Elba from the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild.

Fallen Sun brings back Elba and Dermot Crowley as Detective Superintendent (retired) Martin Schenk, another brilliant, but more ethical, officer and Luther’s uneasy friend and ally from the original series. Taunted by a ruthless killer (Andy Serkis), Luther must solve the grisly murders even though he is behind bars by using whatever goodwill still exists for him and favors he can muster from past acquaintances and colleagues. Serkis is better known for his digital performance-capture roles such as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and for co-founding Imaginarium Studios, which is dedicated to this film-making technology. But he is both menacing and convincing in his portrayal of serial killer David Robey. If you require further evidence of the quality of his conventional acting skills, watch him in Andor, arguably the best Star Wars limited series available on Disney+. Add to this a fine performance by Cynthia Erivo as DCI Odette Raine, the lead investigator assigned to the case, and the cast is simply rock solid.

The difficulty with Fallen Sun is that the story, written by Cross, must live up to the considerable expectations created by the high caliber of the original TV series. While it does this for the most part, it is a relatively conventional, if well-made, thriller that’s not especially innovative nor shocking. There are also a few too many plot details that are simply glossed over or somehow conveniently wrapped up by the end of the film. The door is left open for the possibility of a sequel or even the beginning of a movie franchise.

As with many recent streaming releases, the quality of the visual presentation is very good. It exhibits a cool bluey-green tinge at times, especially early on, but overall the picture looks smooth and natural. It can be difficult to tell that the presentation is in HDR as the Dolby Vision picture is not exceedingly bright, but this contributes to the natural look. For instance, as Luther chases a suspect through a seedy tattoo parlor, the realistically dark lighting and shadows make it hard to make out a lot of detail, but the colored lights in a dimly lit hallway brilliantly cut through the darkness. Scenes inside a police command center show computer monitors glowing realistically in the background with colorful but not overly saturated hues, and DCI Raine’s smooth and even complexion perfectly reflecting the carefully controlled lighting. The ice fields of Norway also appear impressively austere and bleak but not excessively bright as they are shot under mostly cloudy skies, yet the minute details on Luther’s signature dark woolen overcoat and his slightly unkempt beard are sharp and easily visible.

While the picture quality is quite satisfying, the audio quality is a bit underwhelming. All of the components of an engrossing soundtrack are present—ominous music, carefully timed jarring sound effects, and more constant ambient sounds—but they’re not mixed effectively to utilize the immersive capabilities of Dolby Atmos as the sound remains mostly anchored to the front channels. Even scenes that are obvious candidates for an enveloping surround ambience, such as heavy rain during a storm or the echoey interior of a large prison, make only subtle use of the surround and height channels. More suspenseful scenes when Luther is closing in on Robey have aggressive music and sound effects mixed into a wider front stereo soundstage, but even then there is fairly limited use of the additional channels.

Fallen Sun is a capable thriller but fans of DCI Luther may be disappointed by the film’s rather conventional narrative that fails to take his story to the next level. There is always the possibility of a sequel, but so far, the film adaption of Luther is not up to the same creative standards as those set by other Netflix franchises such as Enola Holmes or Knives Out.

Roger Kanno began his life-long interest in home cinema almost three decades ago with a collection of LaserDiscs and a Dolby Surround Pro Logic system. Since then, he has seen a lot of movies in his home theater but has an equal fascination with high-end stereo music systems. Roger writes for both Sound & Vision and the SoundStage! Network.

PICTURE | The picture exhibits a cool blue-green tinge at times but overall looks smooth and natural

SOUND | All the components of an engrossing soundtrack are present but aren’t mixed effectively to utilize the immersive capabilities of Dolby Atmos since the sound remains mostly anchored to the front channels

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Review: You People

You People (2023)

review | You People

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This star-filled romantic comedy on Netflix is amusing enough but never lives up to its potential

by Roger Kanno
February 12, 2023

Ezra Cohen (Jonah Hill) is a financial professional and podcaster who falls in love with costume designer Amira Mohammed (Lauren London). However, Amira’s father Akbar (Eddie Murphy) doesn’t like or trust Ezra, and Ezra’s mother Shelley (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), is prone to saying wildly inappropriate things on a fairly regular basis. After Amira accepts Ezra’s marriage proposal, the two families come together with the predictable resulting tension as the interracial couple navigates the cultural differences between their families.

You People, which began streaming on Netflix on January 27, has a screenplay co-written by Hill and Kenya Barris, creator of the award-winning television series Black-ish, and a star-studded cast that also includes Nia Long and David Duchovny along with many celebrity cameos. Additionally, Barris directs and with such a stacked cast and established team behind the production, all of the ingredients are present for some outrageous comedy and biting social commentary. And while the dialogue is often clever and amusing, it is seldomly laugh out loud funny, and cultural themes are mostly superficially addressed.

As Ezra and his podcast partner Mo (Sam Jay) riff on his inability to maintain a healthy romantic relationship with multiple references to Drake, the resulting rapid-fire dialogue is mildly comical and charming but isn’t as funny or daring as I would have expected it to be. When Eddie Murphy first appears on screen as the serious and non-nonsense Akbar, his severe demeanor and swagger are palpable. But what seems so promising at first soon blends into the rest of the film and its predictable jokes and slightly cringey scenes that don’t quite seem to go far enough to make them uproariously funny or make any astute societal observations.

Nonetheless, Murphy is charismatic, and his intense energy is fascinating to watch even if his character doesn’t have all that much to do in the film. And yet he still manages to make Akbar both relatable and sympathetic. London and Hill are likable as the leads but they too aren’t given much to work with to develop their characters. The onscreen chemistry between them never really goes anywhere even as we watch their relationship develop and deepen. Much the same can be said of the other characters, but with such an excellent cast, the film is buoyed by their performances even if it plays it relatively safe and results in a pretty standard romantic comedy with relatively few truly funny moments.

The cast may be loaded, but so too is the highly engaging music soundtrack presented in Dolby Atmos with fantastic songs from the late Nipsey Hussle, James Brown, Ice-T, DJ Khaled, and Barry White, just to name a few. The music is marvelously integrated into the overall sound design with many scenes introduced by a fabulous flourish of hip hop jams. The songs feature a truly immersive object-based mix to provide a wonderfully wide and spacious sound with plenty of deep bass. From the opening scenes featuring “Chitty Bang” by Leikeli47, the music surrounded and enveloped me in scene after scene with an infectious beat. And when things slowed down during Amira and Ezra’s first date, Brittany Howard’s silky smooth “Stay High” was smoothly and coherently mixed into all channels to deliver a truly enveloping and dreamy effect.

Picture quality was nearly as impressive as the audio. The clothing and furnishings in the backgrounds of the many upscale shops Ezra and Amira visit look totally realistic, with each carefully crafted scene filled with a plethora of pleasing colors. Fashion lovers will appreciate the extensive use of contemporary clothing and sneakers utilized by costume designer Michelle R. Cole. The exquisitely detailed stitching and the beautiful pink, blue, and yellow pastel shades of corduroy looked absolutely perfect with a Dolby Vision color grade that brought out the subtle differences in the soft pale hues. Colors did pop when required as with a Southwest airlines plane, whose deep-blue fuselage looked absolutely gorgeous in a sharply detailed establishing shot.

The slick-looking visuals and excellent sound design of You People were a pleasant surprise from this rom-com but considering the film’s promising pedigree, I was disappointed in its formulaic plot and lack of cutting-edge comedy.

Roger Kanno began his life-long interest in home cinema almost three decades ago with a collection of LaserDiscs and a Dolby Surround Pro Logic system. Since then, he has seen a lot of movies in his home theater but has an equal fascination with high-end stereo music systems. Roger writes for both Sound & Vision and the SoundStage! Network.

PICTURE | Clothing and furnishings looked realistic, with each scene filled with a plethora of pleasing colors. The pink, blue, and yellow pastel shades of corduroy looked perfect with a Dolby Vision color grade that brought out the subtle differences in the soft hues. 

SOUND | The truly immersive object-based Atmos mix provides the film’s many songs with a wonderfully wide and spacious sound with plenty of deep bass.

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Review: RRR

RRR (2022)

review | RRR

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Chucking plausibility for almost continuous action has had a lot to do with making this the most popular Indian movie to ever hit Netflix

by Roger Kanno
January 31, 2023

Rise Roar Revolt, or simply RRR as it is more commonly known, is one of the biggest and most successful movies to ever come out of India. And while most people are aware of the Bollywood movie scene, few have ever likely seen a Hindi feature from the Bollywood film industry based in Mumbai. And while RRR is available in many languages including the language of Bollywood films, Hindi, its primary release was in the Telugu language, actually making it a Tollywood film. Whatever the origins of RRR or its box office success, which was substantial, according to Netflix it is also their most popular film to originate from India and has met with almost universal critical acclaim.

Perhaps a little surprisingly, RRR wasn’t India’s entry in the Best International Feature category at this year’s Academy Awards but it did receive a nomination for best song for the extremely catchy and infectious “Naatu Naatu,” with music by M. M. Keeravani and lyrics by Chandrabose. While it didn’t garner any other Oscar nominations, it’s still one of the most entertaining films of 2022. The screenplay by S. S. Rajamouli, who also directed, is an epic, melodramatic, action-packed, and fictionalized story of historical Indian figures Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan Teja) and Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.).

The sprawling film spans over three hours but with so much action going on, it hardly ever seems to lag and trying to describe its plot in a few sentences is difficult. But it does imagine a burgeoning friendship between Raju and Bheem before they became renowned revolutionaries and their shared loyalty, sense of duty, and heroism as they struggle against British colonialism. The totally over-the-top fight scenes are super-cool, with plenty of slo-mo to allow for the admiration of the intricate choreography interspersed with long lingering shots filled with thematic imagery. The direction and screenplay by Rajamouli and the actors’ performances aren’t exactly subtle but the sensational action and melodrama suit the film’s improbable sensibilities and are a ton of fun to watch.

RRR wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable without its fine music score to accompany the onscreen action, and in addition to “Naatu Naatu,” there are plenty of equally catchy songs and a majestic score to enrich the fantastic visuals. The music is mixed aggressively in Dolby Atmos with various instruments and vocals emanating from all around the room with great depth and width to the soundstage. There is often deep, ominous bass as sound effects swirl frantically in all directions, taking full advantage of the object-oriented mix to provide a totally holographic and immersive auditory experience. The Atmos soundtrack is only available in Hindi on Netflix (Canada), while English, Portuguese, and Spanish language soundtracks are available in Dolby 5.1. Make sure to choose the Atmos mix to fully enjoy this film if your system is equipped for it. Because this is the Hindi dub of the film, the version of the Oscar-nominated song is called “Naacho Naacho” but still sounds excellent. And if you have an Apple TV 4K connected to your system and subscribe to Apple Music, be sure to listen to the lossless Atmos version of the song available on the music streaming service for a real treat. The vocals and drums are mixed even more aggressively into all of the channels to provide an even more dizzying and intoxicating adrenaline rush even without the accompaniment of the amazing visuals of the film.

The cinematography is striking, with the many symbolic images bringing the director’s bold vision to life. However, the color grading is a bit on the faint side of things with many scenes having a slight yellowish hue. This results in many shots exhibiting a somewhat washed-out look, with bright colors and highlights not popping quite as much as I am used to with most Dolby Vision presentations. The sharpness and detail are a little variable and some of the CGI effects appear slightly soft, but I didn’t find this particularly distracting as I was constantly impressed by the wealth of daring imagery and the entertainingly fast pace of the film.

RRR may not have been India’s entry in the Academy Award International Feature category this year, but it is a hugely successful and highly accessible film that you don’t have to be a film connoisseur to enjoy. So check out this not so hidden gem of a film on Netflix if you haven’t already.

Roger Kanno began his life-long interest in home cinema almost three decades ago with a collection of LaserDiscs and a Dolby Surround Pro Logic system. Since then, he has seen a lot of movies in his home theater but has an equal fascination with high-end stereo music systems. Roger writes for both Sound & Vision and the SoundStage! Network.

PICTURE | The cinematography is striking but the color grading is a bit faint, with bright colors and highlights not popping as much as you would expect from a Dolby Vision presentation

SOUND | The music is mixed aggressively in Atmos, with instruments and vocals emanating from all around the room. There is often deep, ominous bass as sound effects swirl frantically in all directions, taking full advantage of the object-oriented mix to provide a totally holographic and immersive auditory experience.

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Review: Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical

Matilda the Musical (2022)

review | Matilda the Musical

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The award-winning musical makeover of the Roald Dahl classic vividly comes alive on Netflix 

by Roger Kanno
January 22, 2023

Netflix has been on a roll in recent months with the release of films such as All Quiet on the Western Front and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, as well as the both critically acclaimed and soon to be one of their most viewed films of all time, Glass Onion. So, you might have initially missed catching, as I did, Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical with all the other releases around last year’s holiday season.

Based on the award-winning 2010 stage musical originally produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company that was inspired by Dahl’s most successful novel, Matilda, this film enjoyed an exclusive and hugely successful theatrical release in the UK last November prior to its worldwide Netflix release on Christmas Day. I’ll admit that I am not a huge fan of musicals but it’s easy to see why this delightful adaptation of the Dahl classic has done so well at the box office and also via streaming. The production values are simply spectacular along with the many entertaining performances of the infectiously catchy songs by Tim Minchin. The opening musical number will immediately grab your attention with a large-scale production involving intricate tracking shots, loads of dancers with complex choreography, and a playful color palette filled with myriad soft pastels. We also first meet Matilda’s parents here, the Wormwoods, played hysterically by Andrea Riseborough and Steven Graham, who usually inhabit grittier, more dramatic roles, but appear totally at home in this charming musical.

Emma Thompson is also unrecognizable in her makeup as Agatha Trunchbull, the evil headmistress of Crunchem Hall, where Matilda attends school. While Thompson’s physical transformation and performance are remarkable, the story is most engaging when revolving around Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch), a teacher who develops a special bond with the delightfully precocious Matilda, played impeccably by Alisha Weir. Lynch may be better known for her action-packed roles in the Marvel universe, the latest Bond film, or The Woman King, but she portrays Miss Honey with an endearing vulnerability and humility.

Matilda the Musical is full of fantastic performances of Minchin’s songs but the production of “When I Grow Up” is especially memorable, with emotive and appealing visual imagery and touching lyrics poignantly performed by the entire cast of children that had me humming the song long after I had finished watching the film. Another highlight is the performance of “Revolting Children,” with its frenetic choreography featuring scores of children and a massive scale of production that covers the entirety of the interior and grounds of Crunchem Hall for this brilliantly energetic composition.

Video quality is exceptional. The opening scenes are eye-catching with their many pastel shades of rooms in the hospital where Matilda is born and the medical staff’s uniforms creating a fairy-tale-like atmosphere, filling the screen with a sense of whimsy. This color scheme is carried over to the décor of the Wormwood’s home, which is a deliciously tacky, memento-filled homage to the 1970s, and the carefully curated set decoration is a visual feast.

While the indoor scenes look crisp and detailed even with their pale pastel coloration creating a surreal atmosphere, when Matilda attends Crunchem, the colors and lighting of outdoor scenes appears extremely natural with a gorgeous-looking picture. The children’s uniforms are mostly drably gray, but there is an authenticity to the textures and the varying shades of the woolen garments that looks spot-on. The red detailing, such as piping, really pops but still looks organic when contrasted with the other, more somber tones. As the children walk across the school grounds, the manner in which light reflects off the many shades of green in the uneven grass mixed with a few weeds looks smooth and natural. Not only is the Dolby Vision color grade nearly perfect but the HDR highlights give the visuals a filmlike quality by providing plenty of detail to display a bright, sharp picture with just the right amount of contrast.

The actors’ complexions also look totally realistic, especially during extreme closeups. The pores and faint blood vessels and even the stray hairs on Trunchbull’s chin, though her face is enhanced with prosthetics, look completely convincing, as do her crooked and yellowing teeth. The superb video quality showcases the tremendous artistry and attention to detail in the makeup transforming Thompson into the monstrous Miss Trunchbull.

The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is very good although it is used infrequently for discrete directional effects, but when it is, it is done so effectively. For example, when Trunchbull speaks over the PA system, her voice reverberates ominously and omnipresently all around the children. The songs are well recorded with a solid presence in the front speakers, but the stereo effect is also enhanced significantly by the use of the surround and height channels. This provides additional depth and width to the presentation so that the sound filled the entire front hemisphere of my room and stretched well outside of the speakers and back behind them.

Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical has rousing musical numbers, marvelous production values, outstanding performances, and excellent picture and sound quality. There are some dark themes as with other Dahl stories, including a few intense scenes, so it might not be suitable for very young children. Nonetheless, it is a simply wonderful and immensely enjoyable film.

Roger Kanno began his life-long interest in home cinema almost three decades ago with a collection of LaserDiscs and a Dolby Surround Pro Logic system. Since then, he has seen a lot of movies in his home theater but has an equal fascination with high-end stereo music systems. Roger writes for both Sound & Vision and the SoundStage! Network.

PICTURE | Video quality is exceptional, with the indoor scenes looking crisp & detailed even with their pale pastel coloration, and with the colors & lighting of outdoor scenes appearing extremely natural

SOUND | The Atmos soundtrack is used infrequently for discrete directional effects but when it is, it is done so effectively

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Review: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022)

review | Extraordinary Attorney Woo

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This excellent South Korean series, currently on Netflix, uses a well-rounded character to shed light on some of the issues of autism 

by Frank Doris
January 18, 2023

Extraordinary Attorney Woo is a lawyer show—but it’s not a “lawyer” show. True, the main character, Woo Young-woo, is a lawyer. She works at a law firm, she handles cases, and a lot of the action takes place in a courtroom. But this is not a stereotypical “lawyer show” with the all-too-predicable clashing legal egos, soap opera, and contrived murder-mystery machinations. Rather, the series, which earned the highest ratings ever for South Korean TV network ENA, revolves around the unique and charming character of Woo Young-woo, who has autism. (The series is currently available on Netflix.)

She is shy and socially awkward yet brilliant, having graduated first in her class at Seoul National University. She is able to get a job as a rookie attorney at the prestigious Hanbada law firm as a result of . . . well, I don’t want to give it away as the circumstances of her employment become a key plot line throughout the season. Since she’s uncomfortable communicating with others—or even getting through a revolving door, as seen in a poignant yet hilarious opening-episode sequence—Woo is at first misunderstood, unwanted, and resented by her fellow employees. These include, among others, Kang Ki-young as Jung Myung-seok, Woo Young-woo’s boss, who at first wants nothing to do with her but gradually becomes her mentor; Baek Ji-won as Han Seon-young, the woman who heads Hanbada; and Kang Tae-oh as Jee Hun Ho, one of the first at Hanbada to befriend her.

Woo Young-woo soon proves her abilities as a lawyer, thanks to her remarkable intelligence and memory and her encyclopedic recall of laws and legal procedures. Her co-workers realize she’s a valuable asset to Hanbada—especially when her abilities start to help the firm win cases, often as a result of Woo’s unconventional approaches and flashes of insight, sometimes accompanied by visions of . . . whales. (It’s weird, and it works.) Not only is Woo masterful at recalling the most arcane aspects of law, her lack of or perhaps unwillingness to conform to the conventions of social interactions means she often speaks with blunt honesty, in direct opposition to the usual hypocrisies of people saying one thing and meaning another, or outright lying, something Woo is completely incapable of.

The plots are far from the usual conventional lawyer-show fare. In one episode, Woo and Hanbada defend a recent bride who has tripped on her wedding dress —which exposed herself and an embarrassing tattoo. Another involves a very funny rivalry between three brothers, two of whom have deceived the third into thinking he’s inherited a fortune only to find that he’s millions of won in debt. Some episode titles reflect the series’ often-unconventional flavor: “Mr. Salt, Mr. Pepper and Attorney Soy Sauce,” “Wild Card vs. Tactician,” “Holding Hands Can Wait.”

I can’t imagine anyone other than actress Park Eun-bin as Woo Young-woo. She is the character, conveying her personality with her at times puzzled, at times penetrating facial expressions, her strange and obsessive hand movements, the way she haltingly walks, and even her wardrobe of sweaters and clunky loafers with big heels. But Woo is far from one-dimensional. She dives into her new role at Hanbada at first with timidity, fear, and a lack of understanding about her role in the company and, literally, how she’s supposed to deal with her co-workers. Over the course of 16 episodes, we see her evolve, gaining confidence and understanding of how the world works. (A second season has been given the go-ahead.) At the same time, she remains stubborn in many of her character traits, especially when it comes to avoidance of eye contact, her ritual behaviors . . . and food, which is the subject of more than one very funny moment.

The rest of the supporting cast is marvelous. You feel like you’re watching a slice of real life, not an assemblage of actors. Everyone absolutely shines in their roles but I must single out Jeon Bae-soo as Woo Gwang-ho, Woo Young-woo’s single and beleaguered father; Joo Hyun-young as Dong Geu-ra-mi, Woo Young-woo’s best friend and one of the few to befriend and stand up for Woo when she was young; and Im Sung-jae as Kim Min-shik, proprietor of Woo and Mi’s favorite restaurant and meeting place.

Extraordinary Attorney Woo is filled with twists, whether it’s a case filled with unusual developments, the unfolding of Woo’s relationships with her fellow Hanbada employees as they begin to understand and respect each other, or the revelation of some quite unexpected romantic and familial relations. Again, I don’t want to give anything away other than to note that the series seamlessly combines drama with comedy and juxtaposes the undeniable charm of Woo with some very tense encounters with people who don’t understand or like her. In the end, you can’t help but feel affection for Woo Young-woo.

Extraordinary Attorney Woo is filmed with a light, sunny look, even in most of the interior shots. The sound is refreshingly clear and the dialogue easy to understand, unlike the sonic murk of so many series today. (I listened to the English soundtrack. It’s also available in the original Korean and with subtitles in various languages on Netflix.) The look, like the acting, contributes to the feel of eavesdropping on reality. The soundtrack is a combination of piano music and Asian pop, much of it composed by Noh Young Shim, and perfectly complements the show with its sometimes somber, sometimes lighthearted feel.

If the reason for this thought-provoking yet always delightful series is to break misconceptions and prejudices about people on the autism spectrum, Extraordinary Attorney Woo succeeds admirably. By making Woo Young-woo a likable and complex character, a person rather than a stereotype, the series enlightens us.

Frank Doris is the editor of Copper, an online audio and music magazine. He has more than 30 years of experience in public relations and marketing communications and has written for a number of publications including Copper, Cineluxe, Sound & Vision, CE Pro, The Absolute Sound, Home Theater Review, and others. He is also a professional guitarist and yes, played at CBGB back in the day.

PICTURE | The series is filmed with a light, sunny look, even in most of the interior shots, which contributes to the feeling of eavesdropping on reality

SOUND | The sound is refreshingly clear and the dialogue easy to understand, unlike the sonic murk of so many series today

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Review: The Pale Blue Eye

The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

review | The Pale Blue Eye

Strong performances and striking visuals make this slow-burn 1800s murder mystery worth a look on Netflix

by Roger Kanno
January 14, 2023

The Pale Blue Eye, based on the book of the same name by Louis Bayard, is the third project to star Christian Bale and be helmed by writer-director Scott Cooper, both having previously worked together on Hostiles and Out of the Furnace. This dark murder mystery unravels as Augustus Landor (Bale) investigates the death of a young cadet at West Point in 1830. He is aided by another cadet, aspiring writer Edgar Allen Poe (Harry Melling), and together they set out to conduct the investigation. As with many films from streaming services, The Pale Blue Eye received a limited release in theaters on December 23, 2022 prior to its debut on Netflix beginning January 6. 

The story unfolds in a relatively linear manner as cadet Poe and Landor, a retired detective enlisted by the senior officers at the academy, delve into the mysterious and tragic events. There are occasional flashbacks, with little dialogue, of Landor and his daughter Mattie, whom he says ran off, and is obviously haunted by her memory. And while he is tortured by her absence, the flashbacks serve mostly to demonstrate his pain, and do not explore the depth of  their relationship, making it difficult to fully empathize with Landor or feel his sense of loss.

The cast includes several veteran and emerging actors who are excellent in their supporting roles, but the talents of Gillian Anderson and Robert Duvall especially are somewhat underutilized. That said, it is the performances of Bale and Melling that elevate this film. At first, the characterization of a young, exuberant Poe seems slightly over the top and out of place next to the stoic and measured nature of Landor. But as the story progresses, we see that this mirrors Poe’s station at West Point as a sensitive and aspiring writer in a rigid military academy. And in the end, his character and Melling’s performance are the equal of Landor and of Bale’s performance. 

The visual style perfectly captures the gothic atmosphere of the story. Outdoor scenes are bathed in a soft bluish-white light, giving everything an austere appearance. Plenty of detail is captured in the texture of thick wool fabrics of the winter attire that conveys their density and heavy weight, with deep, rich blacks in the men’s overcoats and fine differentiation of the blues and grays in the cadet’s uniforms. The cinematography of Masanobu Takayanagi is striking, with overhead shots of snow-covered forests and lingering images of weathered buildings, many with light dustings of bright white snow to contrast with the somber grays of the architecture.

The relatively brighter and richer Dolby Vision color grade of wintery shots of landscapes and structures are eye-catching, but interior night scenes have an entirely different but equally impressive visual aesthetic. Many of these scenes are bathed only in faint candle light, creating flickering shadows on the actors’ faces that are surprisingly detailed yet have a smooth and organic quality. The low levels of light illuminate the backgrounds, making them appear slightly obscured as they would in reality with the dancing flames of the candles brightly popping but not excessively so. In one scene where Poe walks through the woods, the foggy backgrounds illuminated by his lantern appear eerily gray and gloomy while his absolutely jet-black silhouette is perfectly etched into the foreground. The result is a stunning visual that will look superb on displays with superb black levels. 

The Dolby Atmos audio presentation is not particularly dynamic and lacks bass energy but is successful in providing a delicate and fitting accompaniment to the onscreen action. At the beginning of the film, a bucolic scene features Landor washing his hands in a stream as the flowing currents gurgle around him, and the music swells briefly then recedes to be replaced by the far-off fanfare of a bugle in a wonderfully atmospheric manner. The sound design is subtly effective throughout the film but there are a few instances where the object-oriented capability of Atmos is utilized to provide extremely conspicuous effects within the soundfield, such as voices or wind outside of the building where the scene is set. While this sounds very realistic, it is slightly distracting as it occurs infrequently, and only during a few scenes.

The Pale Blue Eye is a bit of a slow burn but the strong performances by the film’s two leads and some truly beautiful cinematography make it worth setting aside some time to stream this brooding mystery.

Roger Kanno began his life-long interest in home cinema almost three decades ago with a collection of LaserDiscs and a Dolby Surround Pro Logic system. Since then, he has seen a lot of movies in his home theater but has an equal fascination with high-end stereo music systems. Roger writes for both Sound & Vision and the SoundStage! Network.

PICTURE | The relatively brighter and richer Dolby Vision color grade of wintery shots of landscapes and structures are eye-catching but interior night scenes have an entirely different but equally impressive visual aesthetic

SOUND | The Atmos audio presentation isn’t particularly dynamic and lacks bass energy but succeeds in providing a delicate and fitting accompaniment to the onscreen action

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Review: White Noise

White Noise (2022)

review | White Noise

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It’s nothing but a mystery why the critics are loving this irredeemable mess of a movie

by Dennis Burger
January 12, 2022

Not to go all Vanilla Ice on you here but when I see a problem, it’s my inclination to try and figure out how I would solve it. As such, when I see a truly awful film, my instinct is to brainstorm what went wrong and what could have been done to fix it. With Noah Baumbach’s White Noise¸ though, I simply have to throw my hands up and write it off as an irredeemable mess of a thing.

Some of that may be the fault of the book on which it’s based. I’m not sure, as I’ve never read it and I certainly have no reason to now. But there’s simply no denying that the bones of the story aren’t healthy. Its pace is off-putting, its structure is all out of proportion, and its ending doesn’t follow from its beginning. The fact of the matter, though, is that issues of form and narrative are just a tiny fraction of what’s wrong with this one.

A far bigger problem is that no one quite seems to know what movie they’re in. You can tell at times that actors deliver jokes they either don’t recognize as jokes or perhaps they’ve simply misunderstood (or been misinformed about) why they’re funny. Almost every single one of the adult leads delivers every line with an infuriating overwrought insincerity that holds the viewer at arm’s length for no good reason. 

There are exceptions but they end up being just as frustrating in their incongruity. The fact of the matter is that the only actors who seem to understand the material and  perform it appropriately are the children. And I spent a long time trying to decide whether to chalk this up to the fact that they’re better actors than Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, and Don Cheadle, or perhaps simply better cast in their roles. In the end, I decided I just don’t care.

Another possibility, of course, is that the young’uns are simply too unseasoned as performers to follow bad direction, which kinda makes the most sense to me, because everything else about the production points toward Baumbach having no clue what he was doing with this, reportedly one of Netflix’ most expensive original films to date. 

I’ll say this, though: Every penny of the alleged $140-million-plus budget appears onscreen. White Noise is a gorgeous film, shot on a combination of 35mm and 65mm Kodak Vision3 stock and 6.5K Arriraw, and finished in a 4K DI. The imagery has a burnt, high-contrast look with rich saturated colors, and although there’s not a lot for the Dolby Vision high dynamic range to do in terms of shadow depth (of which there is very little), some nice specular highlights add to the depth of the image without getting out of control. It’s a bit soft overall but that works to give the production an appropriately vintage look.

The Atmos sound mix, too, is seriously well done on a technical and artistic level, with good but not overwhelming use of the surround soundfield and a focus on exceptional vocal intelligibility, which would be more appreciated if the oh-so-pretentious dialogue were worth listening to.

But it’s not. None of it. White Noise is such a fascinating dumpster fire of a motion picture that I’m almost inclined to encourage you to watch it, the way someone who has tasted something truly revolting wants you to take a bite too. You shouldn’t, though. The film isn’t half as smart as Baumbach thinks it is, and you’re nowhere near as stupid as he assumes you are. 

Dennis Burger is an avid Star Wars scholar, Tolkien fanatic, and Corvette enthusiast who somehow also manages to find time for technological passions including high-end audio, home automation, and video gaming. He lives in the armpit of Alabama with his wife Bethany and their four-legged child Bruno, a 75-pound American Staffordshire Terrier who thinks he’s a Pomeranian.

PICTURE | The imagery has a burnt, high-contrast look with rich saturated colors, and although there’s not a lot for the Dolby Vision high dynamic range to do in terms of shadow depth, some nice specular highlights add to the depth of the image

SOUND | The Atmos sound mix is well done on both a technical and artistic level, with good but not overwhelming use of the surround soundfield and a focus on exceptional vocal intelligibility

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Review: Glass Onion

Glass Onion (2022)

review | Glass Onion

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The highly anticipated Knives Out sequel is lighter & breezier than the original but still a solid whodunnit, excellently presented on Netflix

by Roger Kanno
December 30, 2022

Master detective Benoit Blanc is back. But this time, he is on Netflix in Rian Johnson’s followup to 2019’s hugely successful and entertaining murder-mystery Knives Out. Netflix, who outbid the other major streaming services for the rights to two sequels, released the first of them, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, for a limited, week-long run in theaters on November 23 that grossed a reported $13.28 million. With a remarkably lucrative but very short release, some have questioned the financial strategy of such an abbreviated theatrical run and the missed opportunity for a beleaguered movie-theater industry that relies on big releases to fill seats that would otherwise remain empty.

Nevertheless, Netflix is a streaming service, and the December 23 streaming release of Glass Onion was one of the most anticipated releases of the year on any service, and it certainly does not disappoint. Knives Out is set to become a major movie franchise, but other than protagonist, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), none of the characters from the original film appear in this sequel with its completely self-contained story. 

Like its predecessor, Glass Onion does feature a packed lineup of stars including Edward Norton as tech-billionaire Miles Bron and the leader of a group of friends played by the likes of Dave Bautista, Janelle Monáe, Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr., and Kathryn Hahn. Johnson’s intelligent script gives plenty of material for the actors to sink their teeth into and they relish in their colorful roles. His direction is also adept, providing once again a snappy and compelling whodunnit in grand style. The many plot twists and turns unravel the complex mystery with flashbacks and rapid-fire edits that will keep most viewers guessing until the very end. There are also many delightful cameos to look out for from Yo-Yo Ma, Steven Sondheim, Serena Williams, and Angela Lansbury among others, including Noah Segan, who appeared in the first film but appears quite comically as a different character this time around.

Glass Onion is set on a fictitious Greek Island with many of the scenes bathed in plenty of natural sunlight. Colors are not overly saturated, and at times the bright lighting might seem to slightly wash out tones, but the Dolby Vision color grade is actually organic and realistic. The picture is also quite detailed but has a touch of pleasing softness that is carried over from the film-like quality of the original movie even though both were shot digitally by cinematographer, Steve Yedlin. The slightly ruddy complexion and many lines and pores on Blanc’s face look perfectly natural as does his blue-and-white-striped two-piece linen swimsuit with its dimpled texture and some very slight wrinkling. The blue-dyed fabric appears lighter in color when in sunlight but takes on a realistically darker hue when in the shade, as does the slightly off-white stripes of the fabric. The carefully controlled lighting of interior shots provides even more detail and exhibits fantastically deep, gorgeous blacks and richer colors than exterior shots. Inside the observatory room of Bron’s Glass Onion mansion, the nighttime sky in the background is inky black while Bron’s and Blanc’s faces are bathed in convincing shadows from the interior lighting as they move about the room. The lighting highlights really pop and the composition of the scene with its contrasting shadow and light is beautiful to behold.

As with the cinematography, the sound design is not overtly attention-grabbing but is the perfect accompaniment to the onscreen action. The Dolby Atmos mix provides a near constant sense of envelopment from the surround and height channels that effectively enhances the film’s atmosphere. When called upon, the spatial capabilities of the object-oriented mix are well utilized as when Blanc sets off the garden’s smoke alarm. As he walks along the paths, the sounds of chirping birds, gurgling water, and rustling leaves are diffuse and enveloping, but as the smoke from his cigar sets off the warning system, three different alarms and a vocal warning emanate distinctly from various locations and heights within the soundstage.

Nathan Johnson’s score also sounds excellent in Atmos and is used effectively to heighten the suspense as well as provide some more playful passages during lighter moments. The soundtrack also includes well-mixed pop songs. The Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody” is placed primarily at the front of the room but the other channels are used effectively to expand the soundfield with a sense of height and depth and to place voices and Foley from the scene coherently within the complex mix.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is lighter and breezier than the original film but with a similarly clever and intricate plot. It also features first-rate sound and picture quality, making it one of the premier streaming releases of the year.

Roger Kanno began his life-long interest in home cinema almost three decades ago with a collection of LaserDiscs and a Dolby Surround Pro Logic system. Since then, he has seen a lot of movies in his home theater but has an equal fascination with high-end stereo music systems. Roger writes for both Sound & Vision and the SoundStage! Network.

PICTURE | The Dolby Vision color grade is organic and realistic with a pleasing film-like quality, even though the movie was shot digitally. The carefully controlled lighting of interior shots provides plenty of detail and exhibits fantastically deep, gorgeous blacks.

SOUND | The sound design is the perfect accompaniment to the onscreen action, with the Atmos mix providing a nearly constant sense of envelopment from the surround and height channels that effectively enhances the film’s atmosphere

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Review: God’s Crooked Lines

God's Crooked Lines (2022)

review | God’s Crooked Lines

The English version of this Spanish psychological thriller would be far more compelling if the dubbing wasn’t so bad 

by Dennis Burger
December 28, 2022

It was my intent to begin by saying that God’s Crooked Lines (aka Los renglones torcidos de Dios) feels a bit like two separate decks of cards shuffled together by a seasoned croupier, but that doesn’t quite tell the whole story. In its original language, yes, that still feels true. Switch over to the laughably awful English dub available on Netflix, though, and it feels more like someone threw an Uno deck into a half-packed Cards Against Humanity box and gave it a perfunctory shake. So, in a sense, you have four movies in one here, although it’s really only worth watching in the original Spanish. If you’re allergic to subtitles, give this one a hard pass.

The reason that matters here even more than with most films is that God’s Crooked Lines largely lives or dies by its performances. It’s an interesting narrative, mind you, with gripping twists and turns, and one that blurs the lines between genres and serves as a textbook on the distinctions between tension and suspense—but it’s nearly impossible to invest in that narrative when the voices coming out of the characters’ mouths don’t seem like they could possibly have emanated from those characters’ bodies. 

As for what the film is about, it’s tempting to describe it in reference to other films. It comes across at times as a cross between Gaslight and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, with the subtlest hints of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari thrown in for seasoning. More plainly, it’s the story of a woman who enters a psychiatric hospital under the pretense of solving a crime and her conflicts with the asylum director, the only authority who doesn’t buy her story. 

I won’t say much more than that about the plot because it’s the sort of film that leaves the viewer guessing about what is real and what isn’t, who the reliable narrator is, if there is one, and even the order in which narrative events unfold at times. Frankly, it should be an exhausting film, especially given its 155-minute runtime. But it never crumbles under its own narrative weight and zips right by, largely due to the performances, especially those of Bárbara Lennie and Eduard Fernández, both of whom are hypnotic in every frame they occupy.  

It’s also such a visually fascinating film that the eye cannot help but remain engaged. Unfortunately, I can’t say much about the way in which it was shot given that IMDb and the film’s closing credits both lack technical specifications but it was obviously shot digitally despite a rather filmic look. It some respects, it evokes the character of a less-contrasty Kodachrome, a film stock no commercial motion picture was ever shot on to my knowledge. What’s curious, though, is that much of the tonal and chromatic character of the imagery seems to come from the lenses, not any sort of film-look post-processing. If there was much of the latter, it was done with a careful hand. But given that I don’t know what the negative format was nor what lenses might have been used (aside from the fact that they’re obviously anamorphic), I’m left with little but speculation.

We can agree on this, though: Netflix’ video presentation is flawless. The Dolby Vision grading doesn’t feature intense specular highlights and it’s never eye-reactive, but it does seem to enhance shadow detail. There were times when I was shocked the relatively high-efficiency HEVC encode was able to keep up with the combination of difficult-to-encode elements—one scene involving a raging fire at night during a thunderstorm comes to mind as particularly impressive demo material that has every right to look a mess but doesn’t. The UHD resolution is also employed to good effect to enhance the textures of the architecture and clothing and natural environments around the hospital.

The Dolby Atmos presentation is also equally engaging although perhaps not as consistent. From time to time, it does get a little too aggressive with the surround effects, and the overhead channels can, on rare occasions, distract from the onscreen drama. 

More often than not, though, the mix serves to enhance the ambiance of the environments, such as with the hum of the hospital’s fluorescent lamps, and to heighten the psychological drama, such as when Alicia/Alice enters her own mind palace to try to unravel the mysteries of her past and present circumstances. There’s a wonderful dreamlike quality to the mix in those scenes that works to their advantage.

Again, though, when it comes to the execrable English dub, take everything I said in the preceding paragraph and defenestrate it. The poorly cast and inappropriately performed voiceover work piddles all over everything good about the mix.

It’s really a shame such a worthwhile film wasn’t given a better dub for those who don’t enjoy subtitles. And that’s not to say God’s Crooked Lines is perfect or even the best mystery film of December 2022. It doesn’t quite rise to the level of Oriol Paulo’s best previous effort, 2016’s The Invisible Guest, largely as a result of the somewhat cluttered and disjointed climax and a few narrative threads that could have stood to be tightened up in one final pass at the script. If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers, though, don’t be scared off by the fact that this one doesn’t quite stick the landing. Far more about it works than doesn’t. 

Dennis Burger is an avid Star Wars scholar, Tolkien fanatic, and Corvette enthusiast who somehow also manages to find time for technological passions including high-end audio, home automation, and video gaming. He lives in the armpit of Alabama with his wife Bethany and their four-legged child Bruno, a 75-pound American Staffordshire Terrier who thinks he’s a Pomeranian.

PICTURE | The Dolby Vision grading in Netflix’ flawless video presentation doesn’t feature intense specular highlights and is never eye-reactive but does seem to enhance shadow detail, while the UHD resolution is employed to good effect to enhance textures

SOUND | The Atmos presentation is equally engaging though not as consistent, occasionally getting a little too aggressive with the surround effects, which can cause the overhead channels to distract from the onscreen drama

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