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Junebug [UK Release] Blu-ray Review

  • Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
  • Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
  • Resolution: 1080p/24
  • Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Dolby 2.0
  • Subtitles: N/A
  • Classification: 15
  • Region: ABC (Region-Free)
  • Discs: 1
  • Studio: Eureka Entertainment
  • Blu-ray Release Date: April 18, 2011
  • RRP: £12.99

[amazon-product align=”right” region=”uk” tracking_id=”bluraydefinit-21″]B001UNGS6G[/amazon-product]

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.co.uk

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Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:4.5/5]

Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3.5/5]

Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures

(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG  thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)

The Film

[Rating:4.5/5]

This quirky indie comedy drama won Amy Adams an Oscar nod and the Best Supporting Actress awards from the Sundance Film Festival and Screen Actors Guild. The slow-paced, slice of life story from director Phil Morrison, finds glamorous Chicago art gallery owner dealing in “outsider” art Madeline (Embeth Davidtz) and her handsome southern beau George (Alessandro Nivola) heading south to close a deal with an artist after recently getting married.

The couple decide to drop in on George’s family, who are in the area, where they meet his stern mother Peg (Celia Weston; The Village), his mousy father Eugene (Scott Wilson; The Last Samurai) George’s listless brother Johnny (Ben McKenzie; The O.C.) and Johnny’s enchanting, pregnant wife filled with childlike wonderment, Ashley (Adams; The Fighter).

Ashley quickly develops a girl-crush on her glamorous, worldly new sister-in-law Madeleine, but Madeline’s presence stirs up resentments in the middle class southern family that have been bubbling under the surface, including some unspoken bad blood between brothers George and Johnny.

Junebug is funny, charming, and delightful, held together by the sparkling performance by Amy Adams and beautiful cinematography of Peter Donahue. This is indie filmmaking at its finest.

Video Quality

[Rating:4/5]

Junebug has the look of an indie production and was in fact filmed on 16mm, so it won’t have the sharp, strong detail of a 35mm or HD captured big budget production. Backgrounds and distance shots in particularly tend to drift into softness and grain structure is a bit heavy, but overall Junebug looks pleasingly film-like without much harshness and has good color reproduction.

Audio Quality

[Rating:3/5]

The sound is offered in both DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD lossless 5.1 varieties, so take your pick. Either way, they both sound the same. There’s not much activity in the surround channels, no low frequency information to speak of and dialogue is a bit muffled, sometimes becoming a little unintelligible.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:3.5/5]

There are a good bit of supplements on here, including a nice audio commentary with the two stars of the feature, Amy Adams and Embeth Davidtz as well as a good Q&A session with Adams and some more behind the scenes, on location footage.

The supplements provided with this release are:

  • Audio Commentary by Amy Adams & Embeth Davidtz
  • Deleted Scenes (1.33:1; 480i/60) – 10 deleted scenes from Junebug
  • Behind the Scenes (1.33:1; 480i/60)
  • Amy Adams Q&A (1.78:1; 480i/60; 0:21.35) – Filmed in London at the Soho Hotel on 12 March 2006 especially for this Special Edition.
  • Casting Sessions (1.33:1; 480i/60):
    • Amy Adams
    • Ben McKenzie
  • Ann Wood (1080p/24) – The character David Wark’s paintings are the work of Ann Wood, a trained painter, who worked from the script with the director to imagine how Wark might paint. This gallery allows you to view those works featured in the film.
  • Booklet: The booklet provides a lengthy Q&A with the director Phil Morrison and writer Angus MacLachlan.

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:4/5]

Junebug is an indie well worth watching – not too pretentious and not too superficial; it’s just right. Amy Adams is a pure joy to watch and the 16mm production looks as good as it can get in this high definition transfer from Eureka.

Additional Screen Captures

[amazon-product align=”right” region=”uk” tracking_id=”bluraydefinit-21″]B001UNGS6G[/amazon-product]

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.co.uk

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:4.5/5]

Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3.5/5]

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