BLU-RAY REVIEW

Reign Over Me

Featured In Issue 126, December 2007

Picture3.5
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):
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
(Catalog Number):
19060
(MPAA Rating):
R
(Rating Reason):
For language and some sexual references
(Retail Price):
$28.95
(Disc Type):
Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
(Widescreen Edition):
Yes
(Full Screen Edition):
No
(Running Time In Minutes):
125
(Color Type):
Color
(Chaptered/Scene Access):
Yes
(Closed Captioned):
Yes
(Regional Coding):
Not Indicated
(Theatrical Year):
2007
(Theatrical Release):
Yes
(Direct-To-Video Release):
No
(Disc Release Date):
10/09/07
(THX® Digitally Mastered):
No
(Director):
Mike Binder
(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
(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):

In Reign Over Me Adam Sandler stars as Charlie Fineman, a man whose life was tragically altered after the effects of 9/11. After a chance meeting with his former college roommate, Alan Johnson (Cheadle), Alan realizes just how far gone Charlie is. And as he works to help Charlie get his life back in order, Alan begins to question his own seemingly perfect existence. (Tricia Spears)

Special features include the 16-minute Behind The Reign featurette, a four-and-a-half minute Jam Session with Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle, production stills, previews, and up-front ads.

The anamorphically enhanced 2.36:1 DVD has a cool color scheme outdoors, which matches the mood and time period of the story well. Indoors, the color balance is more neutral, although contrast can be rather high, and whites can bloom. Fleshtones can occasionally look natural, but there are times when black levels are solid and shadow delineation is good, although some scenes can look relatively flat. Unfortunately, spurious noise, compression artifacts, and edge enhancement can muddy the image. The H.264 AVC-encoded Blu-ray Disc exhibits bold colors that pop from the screen and good resolution. Whites look less bloomy than on the DVD, and while shadow delineation can be good, there are still times when the image can look too flat. Black levels are deep, but noise in the darkest scenes can still be noticed. (Danny Richelieu)

The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack can sound good, with subtle, but well-mixed music and good dynamics. Dialogue sounds articulate, but also sounds too forward. While the channels are used frequently, true surround envelopment is lacking. The noise floor is also fairly high, which can be distracting in the more quiescent scenes. The Blu-ray Disc's uncompressed linear PCM 5.1-channel encoding has improved fidelity, for the most part, but occasionally clipping distortion can be heard when the levels get relatively high. Still, dialogue sounds less forward with better integration. (Danny Richelieu)