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    • BLU-RAY REVIEW

    Vicky Cristina Barcelona

    Featured In Issue 139, March/April 2009

    Picture4
    SoundNR
    WSR Score3.5
    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):
    Genius Products
    (Catalog Number):
    81674
    (MPAA Rating):
    PG-13
    (Rating Reason):
    Mature thematic material involving sexuality and smoking
    (Retail Price):
    $34.99
    (Disc Type):
    Single Side, Single Layer (BD-25)
    (Widescreen Edition):
    Yes
    (Full Screen Edition):
    No
    (Running Time In Minutes):
    97
    (Color Type):
    Color
    (Chaptered/Scene Access):
    Yes
    (Closed Captioned):
    Yes
    (Regional Coding):
    Not Indicated
    (Theatrical Year):
    2008
    (Theatrical Release):
    Yes
    (Direct-To-Video Release):
    No
    (Disc Release Date):
    01/27/09
    (THX® Digitally Mastered):
    No
    (Director):
    Woody Allen
    (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 Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 3.0
    (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):

    Two girlfriends, Vicky (Hall) and Cristina (Johansson) are young Americans spending a summer in Barcelona, Spain who meet Juan Antonio (Bardem), a charming artist. Both women become enamored with the painter, unaware that his beautiful but volatile ex-wife Maria Elena (Cruz), with whom he has a tempestuous relationship, is about to re-enter the picture. After they all become romantically entangled, Christina moves in with Juan and Maria, but the sexual freedom becomes too much and the two girlfriends end up where they began, one choosing to live her planned, perceived ideal life and the other to live with no plans for life. Penelope Cruz won an Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actress in this picture. (Gay Reber)

    There are no special features.

    The Dolby® Digital-encoded soundtrack is typical Woody Allen, lacking technical sophistication with a mostly monaural presence. In fact, during dialogue scenes, even in the outdoors, there is no stereo or surround support to create the sense of spatial integration with the on-screen visual environment. That said, dialogue is nicely recorded and sounds perfectly natural. There is no surround signal at all throughout the feature. The music score is strictly limited to stereo, with phantom center imaging, and is a compilation of songs. (Gary Reber)

    The Dolby Digital-encoded soundtrack is typical Woody Allen, lacking technical sophiscation with a mostly monaural presence. In fact, during dialogue scenes, even in the outdoors, there is no stereo or surround support to create the sense of spatial integration with the on-screen visual environment. That said, dialogue is nicely recorded and sounds perfectly natural. There is no surround signal at all throughout the feature. The music score is strictly limited to stereo witih phantom center imaging and is a compilation of songs. (Gary Reber)

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