It's a goodfilm to begin with, and the high-def experience only makes it better.
The introduction of the local mobsters hanging out in a night club is precious and worth the whole film. Cherish this scene as Scorsese's camera moves in and about the characters, pausing only momentarily to hear their greetings. To Henry, this was the life; civilians were suckers.
No, "Goodfellas" is not "The Godfather." Nor is it "The Godfather II," although it flashes back and moves through a good deal of time as "Godfather II" also does. "Goodfellas" hasn't the epic sweep of either of the Coppola "Godfather" films, and it wasn't meant to. Rather, "Goodfellas" takes a look at the life of gangsters at the ground level, and as such, it has never been surpassed. Remember, though, that the movie is rated R for extreme violence and profanity, much more so than any of Coppola's films. But as filmmaking, Scorsese's and Coppola's films stand shoulder-to-shoulder, bookends on the same sordid subject.
Video:
The SD-DVD sported an "all-new digital transfer," which had some small advantage over its predecessor. Likewise, this new HD-DVD transfer is even better, although it still suffers from conditions arising from the original print. Namely, the image is slightly soft and dark, sometimes more than a bit murky, especially in shadows and nighttime scenes. Colors are deeper and more solid than before (I know because I kept switching back and forth enough times between the HD and SD DVDs playing simultaneously in separate players), but the overall picture retains its somewhat gritty look, no doubt intentional since it works well to convey the flavor of the story. Faces are a shade too dusky for my taste as well, but any moiré effects I noticed in the SD edition are eliminated almost entirely in HD.
The widescreen image ratio again measures about 1.77:1 across the television, and while the picture is still not perfect, it's probably about good as it's going to get. The HD image is smoother than the SD, grain is less visible (but present), black levels are more intense, and colors are stronger. By comparison, the SD picture looks a tad soft and pale. Interestingly, the mysterious line that appears down the middle of screen for a couple of seconds in the SD edition makes its appearance on the HD disc as well, so it is doubtless inherent to the original print.
Audio:
One of the minor qualms I had with Warners' first three HD-DVDs was that the sound level was mastered at a fairly low level compared to their SD DVD counterparts, about 10-12 db lower. On "Goodfellas," though, the sound level is fine. Using a sound-level meter, I noted it was only about 2-3 db lower than the SD edition. But I still like using the Toshiba A1 player's "Dialog Enhancement" function (which increases the gain to all five-point-one speakers), after trying it both on and off with this disc. For "Goodfellas," the dialog enhancement boosts the sound level about 2-3 db louder than the SD DVD, and I prefer it that way. Moreover, the Dolby Digital Plus audio track through the Toshiba's analogue outs seemed more dynamic and more extended to me in the upper frequencies than the SD's regular Dolby Digital 5.1, but, then, shouldn't something called "Plus" have some advantages?
Still and all, a lot of the audio on "Goodfellas" sounds like good monaural, curious for a big movie made in 1990, so don't expect any surprises here, even in DD Plus. The impression one gets of the sound is that of strong, well-defined sonics, but to a small degree hard and metallic. Perhaps this, too, was intentional, because the sound provides the film with an appropriately edgy feeling. The rear channels continue to do very little business, while the front channels display only a moderate stereo spread. The original fifties, sixties, and seventies musical recordings on the soundtrack naturally vary in audio quality, the early music in monaural, switching to stereo in the later tracks. Nevertheless, all of it adds a touch of realism to the proceedings.
Extras:
The HD-DVD contains the widescreen presentation of the film; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles. The movie also comes with two audio commentaries. The first is specific only to selected scenes and includes comments by director Scorsese; stars Ray Liotta, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino, and Frank Vincent; co-screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi; producers Irwin Winkler and Barbara De Fina; cinematographer Michael Ballhaus; and editor Thelma Schoomaker. The second audio commentary is with former mobster Henry Hill and former FBI agent Edward McDonald.
In addition, the disc contains several informative documentaries on the subject of the film and gangsterism in general, presented, as I said earlier, in standard definition, 480i. The first documentary is "Getting Made," a twenty-nine minute program of interviews and comments by the actors and filmmakers, then and now, including comments from the real Henry Hill. The second documentary is "The Workaday Gangster," eight minutes of reminiscences. In it, Hill calls "Goodfellas" 99% accurate, not the American Dream but the "American Nightmare." The third documentary is "Made Men: The Goodfellas Legacy," thirteen minutes of continued memoirs and observations. According to director Joe Carnahan ("Narc"), the film is "American pop cinema at its most powerful." Finally, there is a four-minute storyboard-to-film comparison, "Paper Is Cheaper Than Film," showing us some of Scorsese's notes and sketches compared to several completed scenes; plus a widescreen theatrical trailer.
Like the SD edition, the HD-DVD includes a generous forty-seven scene selections, and it is packaged in WB's small, slim Elite Red HD case; but like most of WB's recent products, it does not include a chapter insert. Also, a minor quirk: After passing the midway point in the film, I could no longer access the pop-up menu. Restarting the disc and returning to the same spot and beyond solved the problem, and the menu worked well thereafter. Beyond that little glitch, probably with the machine and not the disc, the movie itself flowed perfectly for its entire playing time, with nary a snag, lag, or hesitation.
Parting Thoughts:
Thanks to Scorsese's visceral cinematic style, what could have been a run-of-the-mill gangster story becomes one of legend. The director captures the base nature of the human product, a portrait of the good life in America gone completely awry. With the help of a literate script, superb acting, and a realistic sense of time and place, Scorsese's account of the rise and fall of a single gangster is a masterwork of crime and corruption in microcosm. The movie is to "The Godfather" what Cagney's "Public Enemy" was to Robinson's "Little Caesar," flip sides of the same dirty coin. Only this time, in HD, the coin's dirt shows up a little clearer.
No, "Goodfellas" is not "The Godfather." Nor is it "The Godfather II," although it flashes back and moves through a good deal of time as "Godfather II" also does. "Goodfellas" hasn't the epic sweep of either of the Coppola "Godfather" films, and it wasn't meant to. Rather, "Goodfellas" takes a look at the life of gangsters at the ground level, and as such, it has never been surpassed. Remember, though, that the movie is rated R for extreme violence and profanity, much more so than any of Coppola's films. But as filmmaking, Scorsese's and Coppola's films stand shoulder-to-shoulder, bookends on the same sordid subject.
Video:
The SD-DVD sported an "all-new digital transfer," which had some small advantage over its predecessor. Likewise, this new HD-DVD transfer is even better, although it still suffers from conditions arising from the original print. Namely, the image is slightly soft and dark, sometimes more than a bit murky, especially in shadows and nighttime scenes. Colors are deeper and more solid than before (I know because I kept switching back and forth enough times between the HD and SD DVDs playing simultaneously in separate players), but the overall picture retains its somewhat gritty look, no doubt intentional since it works well to convey the flavor of the story. Faces are a shade too dusky for my taste as well, but any moiré effects I noticed in the SD edition are eliminated almost entirely in HD.
The widescreen image ratio again measures about 1.77:1 across the television, and while the picture is still not perfect, it's probably about good as it's going to get. The HD image is smoother than the SD, grain is less visible (but present), black levels are more intense, and colors are stronger. By comparison, the SD picture looks a tad soft and pale. Interestingly, the mysterious line that appears down the middle of screen for a couple of seconds in the SD edition makes its appearance on the HD disc as well, so it is doubtless inherent to the original print.
Audio:
One of the minor qualms I had with Warners' first three HD-DVDs was that the sound level was mastered at a fairly low level compared to their SD DVD counterparts, about 10-12 db lower. On "Goodfellas," though, the sound level is fine. Using a sound-level meter, I noted it was only about 2-3 db lower than the SD edition. But I still like using the Toshiba A1 player's "Dialog Enhancement" function (which increases the gain to all five-point-one speakers), after trying it both on and off with this disc. For "Goodfellas," the dialog enhancement boosts the sound level about 2-3 db louder than the SD DVD, and I prefer it that way. Moreover, the Dolby Digital Plus audio track through the Toshiba's analogue outs seemed more dynamic and more extended to me in the upper frequencies than the SD's regular Dolby Digital 5.1, but, then, shouldn't something called "Plus" have some advantages?
Still and all, a lot of the audio on "Goodfellas" sounds like good monaural, curious for a big movie made in 1990, so don't expect any surprises here, even in DD Plus. The impression one gets of the sound is that of strong, well-defined sonics, but to a small degree hard and metallic. Perhaps this, too, was intentional, because the sound provides the film with an appropriately edgy feeling. The rear channels continue to do very little business, while the front channels display only a moderate stereo spread. The original fifties, sixties, and seventies musical recordings on the soundtrack naturally vary in audio quality, the early music in monaural, switching to stereo in the later tracks. Nevertheless, all of it adds a touch of realism to the proceedings.
Extras:
The HD-DVD contains the widescreen presentation of the film; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles. The movie also comes with two audio commentaries. The first is specific only to selected scenes and includes comments by director Scorsese; stars Ray Liotta, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino, and Frank Vincent; co-screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi; producers Irwin Winkler and Barbara De Fina; cinematographer Michael Ballhaus; and editor Thelma Schoomaker. The second audio commentary is with former mobster Henry Hill and former FBI agent Edward McDonald.
In addition, the disc contains several informative documentaries on the subject of the film and gangsterism in general, presented, as I said earlier, in standard definition, 480i. The first documentary is "Getting Made," a twenty-nine minute program of interviews and comments by the actors and filmmakers, then and now, including comments from the real Henry Hill. The second documentary is "The Workaday Gangster," eight minutes of reminiscences. In it, Hill calls "Goodfellas" 99% accurate, not the American Dream but the "American Nightmare." The third documentary is "Made Men: The Goodfellas Legacy," thirteen minutes of continued memoirs and observations. According to director Joe Carnahan ("Narc"), the film is "American pop cinema at its most powerful." Finally, there is a four-minute storyboard-to-film comparison, "Paper Is Cheaper Than Film," showing us some of Scorsese's notes and sketches compared to several completed scenes; plus a widescreen theatrical trailer.
Like the SD edition, the HD-DVD includes a generous forty-seven scene selections, and it is packaged in WB's small, slim Elite Red HD case; but like most of WB's recent products, it does not include a chapter insert. Also, a minor quirk: After passing the midway point in the film, I could no longer access the pop-up menu. Restarting the disc and returning to the same spot and beyond solved the problem, and the menu worked well thereafter. Beyond that little glitch, probably with the machine and not the disc, the movie itself flowed perfectly for its entire playing time, with nary a snag, lag, or hesitation.
Parting Thoughts:
Thanks to Scorsese's visceral cinematic style, what could have been a run-of-the-mill gangster story becomes one of legend. The director captures the base nature of the human product, a portrait of the good life in America gone completely awry. With the help of a literate script, superb acting, and a realistic sense of time and place, Scorsese's account of the rise and fall of a single gangster is a masterwork of crime and corruption in microcosm. The movie is to "The Godfather" what Cagney's "Public Enemy" was to Robinson's "Little Caesar," flip sides of the same dirty coin. Only this time, in HD, the coin's dirt shows up a little clearer.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]18890[/release]