Paramount Adds UMDs To Its Line-Up

---

Tools:
Send to a friend »

---

A quick survey of an online retailer reveals a whopping 129 UMD (Universal Media Disc) movie titles that have either been released or have been announced for a future release. It has been only five months since the launch of Sony's Playstation Portable (PSP) system and already this brand new format is getting plenty of support from many studios, both big and small. So far, the only major studio holdout is Warner Bros. Although no official sales figures are available at this time, the total number of units sold so far must have been impressive enough to be able to garner such widespread support from the movie industry. According to a June press release by Sony, two specific UMD titles, "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" and "House of Flying Daggers" accounted for sales that exceeded 100,000 units, with overall total sales fore all UMD movies in excess of 200,000 in America alone. This number excludes the "Spider-Man 2" movie UMD that was included with the first million PSPs sold in the U.S.

When I first bought my PSP, I must admit that I too was a bit skeptical about the viability of this new UMD format but Sony seems to have proven me wrong. Obviously, the smart inclusion of the "Spider-Man 2" UMD in the PSP bundle pack probably had something to do with launching the format forward. The stunning clarity of the Spidey movie, projected so beautifully on the PSP's impressive LCD screen must have piqued the interest of new PSP owners. At first glance, I imagined the UMD as sort of a DVD replacement for people who like to take their movies on the road and crave the compactness and the mobility that the PSP offers. But the more I think about it, the use of the PSP for watching movies is not just about replacing the old portable DVD player with another much smaller gadget. The real allure of watching movies on the PSP goes much further, offering proud PSP owners a chance to show off an admittedly cool new feature with their new "toy".

And who, in particular, is your typical PSP owner? To get a better idea of who they are, just take a look at most of the UMD movies released thus far. To take full advantage of their audience, the studios are releasing movies that are targeted towards this specific demographic of PSP owners--one that is predominantly male, much older than your usual teenage gamer, with more disposable income (at $250, the PSP is not a gadget that parents would buy their children on a whim) and a self-confessed technophile. This is why you tend to see more youth-targeted, action-oriented UMD movies on the shelves, instead of the more subdued dramas that would appeal to an older crowd, that chances are, would not own a PSP.

Recently, Paramount Studios became the latest studio to jump onto the UMD bandwagon, offering a total of six titles in the month of August, plus a slew of interesting TV and movie releases set to debut in the next couple months. I will first present a short review of each of the movies below and then offer my opinions on the video and audio quality at the end. Here is my review of five of the recently released Paramount UMD titles:

Sahara
This UMD version of "Sahara" was released on the same day as the DVD version, which is slowly becoming a growing trend with some of the newer movie releases. Featuring a familiar Indiana Jones-like theme of treasure hunting in exotic locations, "Sahara" tries to differentiate itself by adding a little more depth to the premise, offering a humanitarian rescue storyline to go along with the explosive action-adventure sequences. Matthew McConaughey stars as the ruggedly handsome Dirk Pitt, an underwater explorer, who believes the unlikely theory that an old Civil War-era ironclad battleship called the "Ship of Death" carrying rare gold coins is buried somewhere deep in the hot desert sands of the Sahara. With his wisecracking sidekick Al (Steven Zahn) by his side, Pitt sets off for dangerous West Africa on a time-limited 3-day search to prove his theory. The duo's path crosses with that of a beautiful doctor, Dr. Eva Rojas (Penelope Cruz), a relief worker for the World Health Organization (WHO), who is in Africa to investigate a mysterious illness that is not only sweeping across the region but is threatening to spread worldwide.

"Sahara"'s plot may not be the most original or the most interesting and going into a movie like this, you don't really expect it to be. Following a set formula, expect the hero and the girl to eventually fall in love even though they may hate each other at first, expect the sidekick to offer some comic relief and definitely expect the bad guys to fumble their way through some ridiculous situations. Whatever your tastes in movies are, "Sahara" actually offers some good, clean fun to the least discerning moviegoers. The ending may already be a forgone conclusion but how the show's protagonists get there is what most of the audience for this movie would be looking at. To that end, expect plenty of fun and explosive action sequences plus dollops of humor thrown in for good measure. Overall, "Sahara" is a formulaic movie that does a good job of entertaining its audience and when it finally comes down to it, that is all that really matters.

For this UMD version of "Sahara", Paramount has reframed the movie from its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 to 1.78:1, in order to take full advantage of the entire LCD screen of the PSP. Audio is presented in 2-channel stereo and there is an option for English subtitles. No bonus features are included on this UMD.

UMD Value: 7

Coach Carter
Another familiar take on a well-worn genre is our next UMD, "Coach Carter". Even though this movie is based on a true story, it is still a highly recognizable concept that has played out in many other inspirational-type sports movies like "Remember the Titans", "Hoosiers" and "Friday Night Lights". Put simply, you have probably seen it all before. Isn't it amazing how so many similar "true stories" get recycled in movies? Change the setting and the period, change the players and sometimes, the sport, add water and voila! New movie, same old theme. The problem is, somehow, we just never get tired of them. We still lap it up like it was the new "Rocky".

"Coach Carter" tells the story of local entrepreneur and former All-American basketball player Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson), who has just agreed to take over the job of basketball coach at troubled Richmond High School. The school is situated in a bad inner city neighborhood where gang violence is common, the dropout rate is high and the only future that these students can ever hope for is to try to stay out of prison. Carter came to national prominence in 1999 when he benched the entire basketball team in the midst of an undefeated 13-0 season and even threatened to cancel the rest of the season because 15 of his 45 players were not meeting their agreed upon commitments to maintain a reasonable grade in their classes. It is a stunning and unexpected move that shines the spotlight on the importance of putting education above sports, something that many schools tend to overlook, especially when a sports team is doing well.

The story of "Coach Carter" is, as I said, formulaic at best but it is still an enjoyable and inspirational piece, beefed up by another great performance from the always-dependable Samuel L. Jackson. The on-court basketball action is mostly exciting to watch and offers some great highlights reels. The film's original widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 has, like "Sahara", been reframed to 1.78:1, a perfect fit for the PSP's screen ratio. The audio presentation is great as the mainly hip-hop tunes and the dialogue are reproduced quite efficiently in Dolby Stereo 2.0 format. This UMD offers optional English subtitles and sadly, no bonus features.

UMD Value: 6

The Italian Job
What is it about heist movies and their affinity to assembling an ensemble cast? Based loosely on the 1969 Michael Caine caper movie of the same name, this 2003 version offers some eye-opening stunts, a well-paced and interesting plot and of course, the ravishing Charlize Theron. About the only noticeable thing held over from the original film is the use of a fleet of souped up Mini Coopers in the famous car chase scene.

"The Italian Job" is both a caper movie and also a revenge movie, all rolled into one neat and compact package. A team of sophisticated thieves, headed by John Bridger (Donald Sutherland) and Charlie Crocker (Mark Wahlberg), is betrayed by one of its own and left for dead. Somehow, the team survives and now they begin plotting ways on how to exact revenge on the traitor, Steve (Edward Norton). Recruiting Bridger's daughter, Stella (Theron), they plan out an elaborate scheme that would both net themselves a handsome loot plus take care of the loathsome rat, Steve. There is certainly no honor among thieves. Also starring Jason Statham ("The Transporter"), funnyman Seth Green and rapper-actor Mos Def, "The Italian Job" is an enjoyable romp from start to finish.

Again, for this UMD, the film's original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is reframed to fit the PSP's screen size. Audio is presented in English 2-channel Dolby Stereo, with optional English subtitles and no special features to speak of.

UMD Value: 8

Team America: World Police (R-rated)
As fellow DVDTown reviewer, Justin Cleveland so clearly observed in his review of the DVD version of "Team America: World Police", either you get it or you don't. There is just no middle ground when it comes to the creative works of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the two guys behind the irresistibly funny animated TV show, "South Park". With "Team America", the duo has literally created one of the most scathing satire that pulls no punches and most certainly hits well below the belt as well. Even the exclusive use of marionettes is a hilarious yet fitting commentary on how "wooden" the well-known public characters that appear in the movie appear to the rest of us.

"Team America" focuses on a very current theme that has only become publicly relevant in the past couple of years: the hunt for terrorists who threaten the rest of the world with WMDs. To that end, this team of self-proclaimed saviors, American cowboys if you will, would stop at nothing to annihilate these terrorists, even if it means blowing up half of Paris in the process. The core of this film really boils down to the ongoing ideological struggle between warmongers and peaceniks, unfortunately a very familiar subject to many, which proves too juicy a topic for Parker and Stone to pass up. This is one of those rare films where the more highly exaggerated and absurd the plot becomes, the funnier it gets.

Note that "Team America: World Police" is only available in the R-rated theatrical version on UMD. Therefore do not expect to see any of the infamous puppet-on-puppet sex scenes here. OK, this is getting old but again, Paramount has messed around with the OAR and reframed this film from its original 2.35:1 ratio to 1.78:1 to fit the PSP screen entirely. Like the previous films that I've reviewed here, this UMD offers only English 2-channel audio, English subtitles and no bonus features.

UMD Value: 8

Viva La Bam: Volume 1
"Viva La Bam" is possibly one of the very first TV shows to be ported over to UMD (Paramount has a few more planned, most notably "Chappelle's Show", for release in the very near future). From the ashes of the now-cancelled MTV show "Jackass", a new, more sophisticated show has emerged to take its place. Continuing the "Jackass" style of "extreme" pranks and pointless destruction performed by a bunch of devil-may-care, self-confessed idiots, we now have "Viva La Bam", another MTV reality show. "Viva La Bam" stars pro skater and former "Jackass" member Bam Margera. This TV show centers around Bam and his family: suburban mother April, somewhat obese father Phil and equally large uncle Vincent, also fondly known as Don Vito. Among Bam's cohorts in his quest for coming up with more and more outrageous pranks are Ryan Dunn, Rake Yohn, Raab Himself and Brandon DiCamillo.

The first season of "Viva La Bam" originally consists of eight episodes but this UMD version contains only six of those episodes: "Phil's Hell Day/Bam's Skate Park", "Don't Feed Phil", "Family Reunion", "Viva La Vegas", "April's Revenge" and "Scavenger Hunt" (missing are "Paint Phil Blue and Other Stories" and "Very Merry Margera Christmas"). The omission of two of the show's episodes is probably due to the UMD's limited disc space. "Viva La Bam" is displayed in its original fullscreen mode measuring 1.33:1 and the audio is presented in 2-channel stereo. There are also two previews: "Viva La Bam Seasons 2 and 3" DVD and "Jackass" DVD set.

UMD Value: 5

Video:
Well, at least Paramount is consistent when it comes to reframing the aspect ratio of its films for the UMD. For those of us who are always pointing out the supreme importance of watching a certain film in its original aspect ratio (OAR), Paramount's decision to reframe all the UMD films here to 1.78:1 would seem like a major faux pas. However, I could possibly understand why this was done. The PSP's 4.3-inch screen is already small enough without having the film look much smaller with the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. Giving the viewer the most real estate possible to watch the movie on the PSP is perhaps the more important consideration. Yes, it is imperative to always keep the OAR but at least the films' were not presented in ugly pan and scan.

Apart from the issue with the OAR, the video presentation for all the UMDs that I am reviewing here is outstanding, thanks largely to the PSP's exceptional LCD screen that offers great resolution and color.

Audio:
For a portable system, the PSP's two small speakers are easy on the ears but lack the punch and the deep bass required for action films. In this case, the use of headphones is definitely recommended. The quality of the 2-channel stereo audio tracks on all the UMDs here is great, offering clear dialogue and some enjoyable stereo effects.

Extras:
Except for "Viva La Bam", which offers a couple of previews, none of the other UMDs here contain anything else but the feature presentation.

UMD Values:
The release of these five UMDs signals Paramount's first foray into this new format. While the overall video and audio quality of these releases is pretty good, they are still somewhat lacking in the bonus features department. The limited space on the UMD should not be used as a convenient excuse to skimp on extras. In fact, as the market for UMDs continue to mature, the time has come for studios to invest a little more time and effort and add a more value for those who buy the UMD instead of the DVD version by providing UMD-only extras.

---