Good things get better.
Audio:
The audio, though, appears to be the same. The engineers again use Dolby Digital 5.1 reproduction, and the soundtrack continues to do little to call attention to itself. Most of the soundtrack is dialogue, hence the center speaker gets most of the attention, and the rest of the audio is music. Director Ephron uses an abundance of pop tunes from the past few decades to set the mood for various scenes and to underscore various plot developments. We originally heard most of these songs, from artists like Harry Nilsson, Bobby Day, Louie Armstrong, Roy Orbison, Randy Newman, Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Billy Williams, Sinead O'Conner, and Bobby Darin, in two-channel stereo, and they tend to come up in different ways when played back in surround sound. Some of them fill the rear speakers with pleasantly ambient information; others remain rooted firmly in the front channels. They are an important adjunct to the film, in any case, and it's good that Warner Bros. provide an alternative music-only track for those who wish to enjoy only the tunes.
Extras:
For this new "Deluxe" edition, Warners have thrown in a pair of newly made and fairly lengthy featurettes. The first is "Delivering You've Got Mail"; it's twenty-five minutes long and includes a discussion of the movie with the writer/director, Nora Ephran, and its stars, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. The filmmakers sit around and discuss the movie and compare it to the original "Shop Around the Corner" and such. The second featurette is "You've Got Chemistry," twenty-six minutes. Here, we get to see many famous romantic cinematic pairings in clips from their pictures: Bogart and Bacall, Rooney and Garland, Powell and Loy, Flynn and de Havilland, Tracy and Hepburn, Hanks and Ryan, etc. In addition, there's a music video, "Anyone at All" with Carole King.
The other extras continue from the previous edition. There's the audio commentary by director Ephron and producer Loren Shuler Donner, only this time it has them both speaking from the center speaker rather than out of the left and right speakers respectively, which was kind of distracting. Then there's a fifteen-minute "HBO First Look: A Conversation with Nora Ephron"; and "Discover New York's Upper West Side," which takes you to and explains many of the film's locales. It must be great for NYC tourism. What you won't find on the tour is a Barnes & Noble store. The bookseller refused to have anything to do with the film. Can't blame them for not wanting to be the bad guy. Finally, there's that music-only audio track I mentioned.
The extras conclude with the same number of scene selections as before, thirty-three; the same language options: English as the only spoken language, with English and French subtitles and English captions for the hearing impaired. Lastly, for those who hated WB's old snapper case, the new Deluxe edition comes in a standard keep case, further enclosed in an attractive slipcover, which you may or may not value as much as the change to a new keep case.
Parting Thoughts:
I liked "You've Got Mail" a lot, although I found "Sleepless in Seattle" more original and more enterprising. Nevertheless, the Wife-O-Meter prefers "You've Got Mail." So, take your pick. If you like the one, you'll probably like the other. They are both tempting, harmless confections that are sure to please.
The audio, though, appears to be the same. The engineers again use Dolby Digital 5.1 reproduction, and the soundtrack continues to do little to call attention to itself. Most of the soundtrack is dialogue, hence the center speaker gets most of the attention, and the rest of the audio is music. Director Ephron uses an abundance of pop tunes from the past few decades to set the mood for various scenes and to underscore various plot developments. We originally heard most of these songs, from artists like Harry Nilsson, Bobby Day, Louie Armstrong, Roy Orbison, Randy Newman, Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Billy Williams, Sinead O'Conner, and Bobby Darin, in two-channel stereo, and they tend to come up in different ways when played back in surround sound. Some of them fill the rear speakers with pleasantly ambient information; others remain rooted firmly in the front channels. They are an important adjunct to the film, in any case, and it's good that Warner Bros. provide an alternative music-only track for those who wish to enjoy only the tunes.
Extras:
For this new "Deluxe" edition, Warners have thrown in a pair of newly made and fairly lengthy featurettes. The first is "Delivering You've Got Mail"; it's twenty-five minutes long and includes a discussion of the movie with the writer/director, Nora Ephran, and its stars, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. The filmmakers sit around and discuss the movie and compare it to the original "Shop Around the Corner" and such. The second featurette is "You've Got Chemistry," twenty-six minutes. Here, we get to see many famous romantic cinematic pairings in clips from their pictures: Bogart and Bacall, Rooney and Garland, Powell and Loy, Flynn and de Havilland, Tracy and Hepburn, Hanks and Ryan, etc. In addition, there's a music video, "Anyone at All" with Carole King.
The other extras continue from the previous edition. There's the audio commentary by director Ephron and producer Loren Shuler Donner, only this time it has them both speaking from the center speaker rather than out of the left and right speakers respectively, which was kind of distracting. Then there's a fifteen-minute "HBO First Look: A Conversation with Nora Ephron"; and "Discover New York's Upper West Side," which takes you to and explains many of the film's locales. It must be great for NYC tourism. What you won't find on the tour is a Barnes & Noble store. The bookseller refused to have anything to do with the film. Can't blame them for not wanting to be the bad guy. Finally, there's that music-only audio track I mentioned.
The extras conclude with the same number of scene selections as before, thirty-three; the same language options: English as the only spoken language, with English and French subtitles and English captions for the hearing impaired. Lastly, for those who hated WB's old snapper case, the new Deluxe edition comes in a standard keep case, further enclosed in an attractive slipcover, which you may or may not value as much as the change to a new keep case.
Parting Thoughts:
I liked "You've Got Mail" a lot, although I found "Sleepless in Seattle" more original and more enterprising. Nevertheless, the Wife-O-Meter prefers "You've Got Mail." So, take your pick. If you like the one, you'll probably like the other. They are both tempting, harmless confections that are sure to please.
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[release]22547[/release]