BLU-RAY REVIEW

(500) Days Of Summer

Featured In Issue 147, March/April 2010

Picture3
Sound3
WSR Score4
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):
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
(Catalog Number):
2263473
(MPAA Rating):
PG-13
(Rating Reason):
Sexual material and language
(Retail Price):
$39.99
(Disc Type):
Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
(Widescreen Edition):
Yes
(Full Screen Edition):
No
(Running Time In Minutes):
95
(Color Type):
Color With B/W Sequences
(Chaptered/Scene Access):
Yes
(Closed Captioned):
Yes
(Regional Coding):
A
(Theatrical Year):
2009
(Theatrical Release):
Yes
(Direct-To-Video Release):
No
(Disc Release Date):
12/22/09
(THX® Digitally Mastered):
No
(Director):
Marc Webb
(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, DTS HD Lossless 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):

(500) Days Of Summer is an offbeat romantic comedy about love and fate. A young greeting-card writer (Gordon-Levitt) is hopelessly, helplessly searching for the girl of his dreams...and his new co-worker, Summer Finn (Deschanel), may just be "the one." But the 500 days of their quirky relationship reveals that the road to happiness can be unpredictable, uncontrollable, and awkward. (Gary Reber)

Special features include commentary by Director Marc Webb, Writer Michael Weber, Writer Scott Neustadter, and Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt; nine deleted and extended scenes with commentary (HD 14:42); a making-of featurette (HD 29:11); Summer at Sundance (SD 13:46); audition tapes with commentary, storyboards, and a "Bank Dance" short (SD 04:18); Mean's Cinemash: "Sid and Nancy/(500) Days Of Summer" (SD 03:28); the "Sweet Disposition" music video by Temper Trap (SD 04:01); conversations with Zooey and Joseph (SD 12:26); various filmmaking specials; trailers; and a digital copy of the film.

The 1080p 2.39:1 AVC picture is a bit stylized with a dimly hazy presence, yet resolution is respectful, exhibiting generally good detail in facial expressions and objects. Fleshtones exhibit a slightly yellowish hue with an undersaturated tone. Colors are also subdued, with no vibrancy or richly saturated hues. The overall appearance is slightly overcast and unremarkable visually. Blacks are deep and shadow delineation is generally descriptive, but the picture has been drained of life. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack is conventional, with production and ADR dialogue that is always intelligible but inconsistently integrated spatially. The narrative is nicely balanced and solid. Generally a monaurally focused soundstage, atmospheric sound effects and the music enhance the sense of width, but surround envelopment is limited to the music. This is a basic soundtrack with no distinguishing elements. (Gary Reber)