'Slumdog Millionaire' - High-Def Digest Review

[Attebery]

David has reviewed 'Slumdog Millionaire.' You're gonna have to read the review, but this one is well worth a purchase. Recommended.

Full review here:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/2179...llionaire.html

[nmcmahan52]

now hopefully everyone can stop bitching

[bookcase]

I have hi-def audio, but I'm by no means an audiophile. That said, the SQ on this Blu-ray was truly shocking -- it is aggressive and absolutely stunning! Plus the movie is first-rate, in my eyes.

[dbacksfan]

Originally Posted by nmcmahan52

now hopefully everyone can stop bitching

Amen, brother!

[cheez avenger]

That was a wonderful review.

[typ44q]

Great review, I was also pretty surprised at how good the audio was.

[Mullicious]

I can't wait to get this.

It's fantastic, but I don't think it should have won best picture. Milk all the way.

[Attebery]

I still like Gran Torino!

[nmcmahan52]

gran torino reminded me a lot of a movie about gunny highway from heartbreak ridge in his late 70's

[HamsterDance]

Great movie. I will be picking this one up for sure.

[The_10000th_Steve]

Easy.

Skipping this one, will be getting Yes Man.

And THANK YOU for not giving this film a 5/5.

[mattmatt32]

"He also liberally employs indigenous Hindi dialogue during the early sequences, which adds further authenticity."

I feel like this statement gives credit to the director for knowing when to employ an artistic choice, when the decision was more likely imposed on him:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/mo....html?ref=asia "The decision to go with Hindi stemmed from a need to find child actors who could be true to the characters in the script. Ms. Tandan, who is Indian, said it was impossible to find English-speaking Indian children who could play hard-knuckles slum kids. Mr. Boyle immediately understood that, she said, and agreed to rewrite the script into Hindi. Ms. Tandan ended up hiring real kids, some of them from the Mumbai slums, to play the three lead child characters."

I think he (and the people financing the movie) would have felt more safe selling an all English speaking movie to the public. They even put the subtitles up in a decorated way instead of the typical type found at the bottom of the screen, to keep the stigma of foreign dialogue to a minimum.

Ironically, the use of Hindi probably ended up increasing the grosses, because it hyped an okay movie into faux art-house status. I think that people fell under the belief that they were seeing a truly foreign movie, instead of a British film production that just happens to be set in India.

When it turned out that they could not only follow it, but also enjoy the story (well look at that, a happy ending), the hype became the emperor's clothes that the movie wore all the way to the Oscars. On the IMDB message boards, people who can't see what the fuss is all about are told that they "just don't get this type of movie", when they probably get a great deal more.

The performances of the children in this movie were brilliant, and the depiction of their poverty and abuse is gripping. But the stale "separated lovers" story and dialogue as acted by the adults was very run of the mill, and the lead actor exhibited about one fourth of the charisma that his child counterpart did. It's an injustice that those kids aren't getting more in return for carrying this movie as far as they did.

[nmcmahan52]

that post is probably better for a laugh than yes man

[dbacksfan]

Boyle discusses adding the Hindi dialogue and having the script rewritten in the commentary track. True, Boyle did not come up with this idea himself, and I apologize if the line in my review makes it seem that way. But I don't think it was imposed on him either. Like a good director, he listened to the advice of those around him and made a decision based on the information he was given. Ultimately, he decided which direction to take. I'm happy he favored the integrity of the film instead worrying over the impact such a change might have on its appeal or ability to find a distributor. I'm sure it was a tough decision to make, but he made the right call.

[ben1080p]

I cant wait to watch this! Im waiting to see it with a friend over spring break.