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Traveta reviews

Reservoir Dogs
10 Year Anniversary Special Edition

Distributed by
Artisan Home Entertainment


Believe it or not, I just recently saw this movie. I saw it on a murky VHS tape last Friday, 4 days before the release of this special edition. Immedietly upon watching it, I understood why it has such a following. To tell you the truth, I'm ashamed for not seeing it sooner.

Reservoir Dogs starts off with a simple diner conversation between eight gentlemen. A thoughful insight on a popular Madonna song and another view on tipping. After that we're treated to a cool title shot of these people. Six are dressed in suits and sunglasses. These six also gave alias names of color. Why, you ask? Because they're professional theives and they're just about to do a big job.

Immediately after that shot we're thrown into a gruesome scene. One of the men is bleeding to death, Mr. Orange. Mr. White is driving the car and keeping him from losing it. The bank heist has obviously gone terribly wrong and we're seeing the bloody repercussions. The fallback place for the heist is a warehouse on the edge of town. When Mr. White lays Orange down, Mr. Pink bursts in. They tell accounts of what happened and how they were set up.

Over the course, a few more involved show up and there is an undercover cop in the midst. The story is told in well done flashbacks but never show the actual heist. This is the first movie I've seen which pulls off flashbacks well. I'd tell you more of the plot but there are alot of cool twists and turns that are better left untold.

All you need to know is, it's full of smart dialogue and likeable/unforgettable characters. It may seem wierd upon first viewing but everything falls into place the second time around. A great movie that is definitely worth a view.


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For some reason, Artisan has put included a full frame transfer on the second disc. This is ridiculous because most people who will buy this are the film buffs and could care less about a cropped, zoom in 4:3 transfer. It's laughable actually. More on this at the bottom of the review.

Anyway, you've probably heard about this anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen transfer. Many reviews have been circulating around with comparisons to the former non-anamorphic release. Many pics indicate how deeply colored the former release is with this new washed out transfer. On the most part, these reports are true. I've never seen the old release but these pics are pretty convincing. Upon watching this transfer it looks like Artisan threw this in the washer, dumped 4 gallons of cheap detergent on it and left it there. The image is pretty washed out but it's not THAT bad.

There are a few scenes which look really good and it gives the transfer a nice clean look. However, a couple of scenes are awful. The cool title shot now looks like somebody blocked all lighting and put a smoke screen over the whole scene. Most exterior scenes, like Mr. Pink running from the cops, look too gray and dull. The suits, once black look lighter. It's watchable but a little dissapointing. On another note,

I reviewed Artisan's Van Wilder disc which streeted a week before this and the colors were washed out on that too. Artisan better calibrate their monitors before they mess up again. I'd give this is an average 2.5 rating but it gives it a clear look which is the only saving grace. If you're a true purist and you don't need an anamorphic transfer, find the old release in a bargain bin and put that disc in this case.

The sound is presented in three options. Dolby digital 5.1, 2.0 surround and a DTS 5.1 track. All tracks are good and get loud when needed. You can hear what happens to Mr. Pink in the end a lot clearer now. This is great overall.


Cover Cover


Artisan has spread the extras out among two discs. Why? Because of the awful full frame transfer on disc two. They should have dumped the full frame transfer and put the extras on this second disc. This would have left some more space on disc 1 for the widescreen transfer and thus might have looked better. I remember the same thing happening with The Mummy: Ultimate Edition a while back. All extras are presented in anamorphic 16:9 widescreen except the Critic's Commentary. This is how it breaks down:

Disc 1:

  • Audio Commentary: This is a wierd track since snippets from the cast protrude in from interviews. The director of photography is the only one watching the movie and it sounds out of place when an interview from Tarantino pops up. They should have got everyone in one room and had an awesome commentary track. Dissapointing.

  • Deleted Scenes: 12 minutes total. 3 scenes are here as well as 2 angles on the infamous ear shot. They're all presented in messy fashion but these are pretty interesting still. The last angle actually shows the ear being cut off instead of cutting away.

  • New Interviews: Runs a total of 54 minutes. Interviews with Chris Penn (who is interviewed in the back of a moving semi for some reason), Michael Madsen, the producer, Tim Roth, the actor who played Marvin Nash in the film (can't remember his name), and Quentin Tarrantino are here. These are pretty fun and offer interesting insights onto the film. However, these are badly cut. You know when someone is interviewed and they start rambiling? The editor has to go in and cut certain dialouge snippets and loop them in. This happens so much it gives you a headache. This could have been avoided if it weren't for the full frame transfer on disc two.

  • Theatrical trailer: Exactly what is says and it's pretty cool.

    Disc 2:

  • Tributes and Dedications: Runs 54 minutes total and features Tarantino talking about his favorites like Pam Grier and Roger Corman. Tributes are also given to Lawerence Tieney and Eddy Bunker.

  • Class of '92: A 29 minute long featurette on Sundance Film Festival in 1992. Features interviews with the creators of the top films of that year and such. Mildly interesting.

  • Critic's Commentary: Select critics watch certain scenes of the movie and express why they like it so much. Runs a whopping 94 minutes total. The scenes from the movie are presented in full frame with unremovable Spanish subtitles.

  • K-BILLY Interactive Radio: A cool and different feature. It's an actual radio with selectable stations featuring music and interview segments. Now many but still cool. And if you go all the way to the right knob and click, you'll be treated to an easter egg.

  • Film Noir Web: An 8 minute and 29 second featurette on the genre of Noir. Also includes a guide to film noir.

  • Small Dogs: An interesting featurette that runs about 4 minutes that shows the maing of the action figures.

  • Securing the Shot with Bily A. Fox: A 4 minute long featurette showing certain locations and telling the stories about them. Pretty cool and interesting.

  • Reservoir Dogs Style Guide: A worthless 20 second vignette showing how to be like the Dogs themselves. Driving with Style, Dressing with Style. Should have been used as a TV spot if you ask me.

  • Poster Gallery: A gallery which shows the three posters used for theatrical release.

    So that's it. An overwhelming amount of interviews huh?

    More interesting stuff. Artisan has released this movie in 5 different covers, each with cool slipcases showcasing whichever character. Mr. White, Blonde, Pink, Orange, and Brown cases are available. I don't why anyone would ever buy the pink case. I chose the Mr. White cover since it's the normal one in the bunch. The menus are animated, with cool effects on the first disc. But pop in the second disc and you'll see a pretty crappy menu complete with eerie music that doesn't fit the movie well. Oh yeah and for some reason, not that I care since I hate full frame, the full frame version only has 7 chapters. Very weird.

    Overall, this is a pretty good release with a few problems. Too many interviews and an average transfer might make owners of the old disc think twice. Maybe for the 25th anniversary we'll get something truly spectacular.


    FILM CONTENT
    PICTURE QUALITY
    SOUND QUALITY
    EXTRAS



    OVERALL

    Review copyright © Traveta, 2002.

    Email Traveta

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