Separated: Errol Morris In Standard Def

Speaking of one of the world’s greatest documentary filmmaker’s latest works coming out on DVD only, today sees the release of Errol Morris’s Separated from Kino Lorber.  Now, Morris films have unfortunately been relegated to DVD only or not at all for a long time now, starting with Virgil’s last minute scrapping of their announced blu-ray of The B-Side in 2017.  Since then, we’ve also had American Dharma on DVD, and Wormwood, My Psychedelic Love Story, Pigeon Tunnel and last year’s Tune Out the Noise all go unreleased.  I don't even know how or if anyone can watch that last one, online or anywhere.  Apparently, it's about advisors?  Maybe it's more of a feature-length work-for-hire advertisement, and that's why not much has been made of it.  But it played at festivals, so who knows?  Anyway, given that environment, I guess getting this DVD at all is cause for minor celebration.

Earlier this year, I saw Morris Tweet his dissatisfaction at NBC, who co-funded and maintained the initial rights to broadcast, for not showing it before the November election.  A warning coming too late.  Though seeing how that bore out, I doubt it would have swayed the results.  And looking at it from the opposite vantage: what would a pre-election airing have done for his doc?  Well, better timing may’ve elevated its perceived relevancy and maybe netted a few more political junkies’ eyes on it.  But with the new administration, and their 2016 policies swinging back into action, the subject matter will unfortunately still probably prove highly relevant for years to come.  And this movie shouldn’t be reliant on momentary buzz; for anyone who knows and appreciates cinema, a new Errol Morris doc is a newsworthy event in its own right.

If it hasn't already been obvious from the cover image, etc, Separated is about the child separation that was being enacted at the US's Southern border, where migrants and their children were being split apart as a deterrent to illegal immigration.  Officially, it's based on the book Separated: Inside an American Tragedy by NBC News' Jacob Sobokoff, who did some crucial first-hand investigation for Dateline at the time.  "It is not a partisan movie. It's about a policy that was disgusting and should not be allowed to happen again. Make your own inferences," Morris advised.

I was initially concerned this might be a quick NBC news item expanded into feature with Morris' name on the cover.  But no, in the music, the editing, the shooting style and his interview style, this definitely feels like an Errol Morris movie, albeit more like Standard Operating Procedure than Vernon, FL.  He gets some strong responses from his interview subjects, and the photography is impressive throughout.  But what proves a little distracting is his use of recreation to dramatize the immigrants' experience.  Morris famously used recreation to great and consequential effect in A Thin Blue Line, but since Wormwood, it feels more like maybe Morris is getting bored with the constraints of traditional documentary filmmaking, and like Josh Oppenheim, is looking to push the envelope for its own sake.  Here, it's certainly effective in illustrating every step of crossing the border, being detained, divided and deported again (in this instance with a happy ending of reunion, though the doc makes clear this has still never happened for over a thousand cases).  But the fact that he never talks with a single parent, child or anyone who's attempted that journey for real is a weak spot.

2024 Kino DVD.

Kino presents Separated in 2.38:1 (the case says 2.40, but close enough), with occasional exceptions for archival footage and creative reshaping.  Yes, this is progressive and anamorphic, no unfortunate surprises here.  And it's at least a dual-layered disc, so compression is strong for standard definition.  But small detail does look fuzzy and slightly out of focus, something which would look much stronger in HD.  But c'est la vie.  We're presented with the choice of 2.0 and 5.1 audio tracks and optional English SDH subtitles, with a handful of foreign language subs burnt in (see the second comparison shot).  The only extra is the trailer and a handful of bonus trailers.

So, it's not exactly the Criterion 4k special edition I would've liked, but I'm glad to have this on my shelf.

Errol Morris's War Trilogy Finally Complete In HD

This isn't necessarily an "official trilogy" demarcated by director Errol Morris, but three of his more recent documentaries do make a pretty neat little, wartime-themed tried of films: 2003's The Fog of War, 2008's Standard Operating Procedure, and 2013's The Unknown Known.  Strictly speaking, they didn't all come out in a perfect row, with his curio Tabloid breaking up the run in 2010.  But never the less, these three films hang together pretty well, with Unknown Known playing like almost a sequel to Fog Of War and Donald Rumsfeld, the focus of Unknown Known, having cast such a looming shadow over the players of Standard Operating Procedure.  In fact, you could get even more pedantic about it if you wanted to, and instead of calling these Morris's war film trilogy, you could call them his United States Secretary of Defense trilogy.

Update 11/21/17 - 11/15/23: Sony has done it!  They've given us The Fog of War on blu-ray, making this entire trilogy now available in HD.

We begin with The Fog Of War, where we see Morris continue in the direction he'd started off with in Mr. Death and developed in First Person: basing an entire documentary around a single interview.  We see glimpses of archival footage, vintage photos and snippets of important audio recordings, but 99% of this film is just former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara talking to the camera - or, for those of us in the know, The Interrotron.  The Interrotron is Morris's unique invention that allows interviewees to look directly into the camera and look the interviewer (Morris) square in the eye at the same time.  It hides the camera directly behind and filming through a screen that projects Morris's face, who is being film by a second camera hidden behind a another screen of the interviewee's face.  I want one, and it allows for a unique style of filming interviews where the subject can feel completely natural in a fluid conversation while consistently looking into the camera.

But what's important here isn't the technology, but the humanity.  This is a fascinating look into the man who saw us through both the Cuban Missile Crisis and The Vietnam War.  McNamara is famous for having come from the world of business rather than the military, and had a bit of a reputation as being a number cruncher rather than a traditional strategist.  One thing this documentary does is use recordings that had just been released to challenge the long-standing historic theory that McNamara had pushed president Johnson to throw hard into the Vietnam conflict.  In fact, it seems he had been on the side of pulling out, but was unable to convince the administration.

So, you know, that's interesting I guess.  But I'm no history buff or politics junkie.  What makes a great documentary is the ability to fascinate audiences regardless of whether the viewer has a preexisting interest in the subject matter.  For instance, I've very into Hip-Hop music, and I've watched and enjoyed some pretty mediocre documentaries, just because they were giving me information I wanted to know and insight into artists I was a particular fan of.  But I wouldn't recommend them to a country/ western fan; they'd be crawling up the walls twenty minutes in.  But Morris is one of the great documentary makers who will rivet anyone.  From the Phillip Glass score, to the editing and just the masterful way Morris mines his interviewees, this is just a great film.  Hell, it won the Academy Award that year.

And that's what makes it all the more disappointing that The Fog of War has never been released in HD.  Sony Pictures Classics released it as a new release DVD in 2004, and it was issued in nearly identical editions in other regions all around the same time.  But that's been it.  No updated transfers, no Criterion commentaries, no blu-rays.  We've still just got the original DVDs.  Fortunately, at least, there's nothing wrong with those.  And now in 2023, they've updated it to a sleek new, blu-ray release.  Let's have a look.

Sony's 2004 DVD top; Sony's 2023 BD bottom.

Sony's DVD presents The Fog Of War in a nice, anamorphic 1.78:1, although things get a tiny bit fuzzy in the overscan edges.  There's no interlacing or other issues.  Sony's blu is also in 1.78:1 (despite saying 1.85:1 on the back of the case) but clears up the overscan edges.  The framing and everything is basically the same, except it fixes a little horizontal inch, resulting in a sliver extra picture along the top.  But the most pertinent fact, of course, is that it's in HD.  Small detail that was once covered in fuzz is now focused and lifelike.  Embedded in this page, the differences may seem slim; but click through to the full size caps and look at, for instance, McNamara's face in the first set of shots, and it's an impressive gain.  Naturally, some of the lower quality vintage footage, like in that last set of shots, doesn't benefit as much as Morris's crisp new footage, but even the old material is a smidgen clearer, thanks to the improved compression.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is nice and clear, with additional French, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and English HoH subtitles.  The blu-ray bumps it up to lossless DTS-HD, adds a Spanish dub 2.0 mix, and drops the French, Japanese and Portuguese subtitles, but critically keeps the English ones (as well as the Spanish).

Sony's 2004 DVD top; Sony's 2023 BD bottom.

This isn't exactly a "special edition," but there is some good bonus stuff to be found on both discs, which have roughly the same extras.  Primarily, what we get are the deleted scenes.  But there's almost 40 minutes worth of deleted scenes; it's practically a sequel, though some of the additional anecdotes are a little underwhelming and you can see why they were cut.  But there's still some really good stuff there.  Unfortunately, the DVD's deleted scenes are non-anamorphic and heavily interlaced, as you can see above.  The BD's scenes are still non-anamorphic, but they fixed the interlacing (except in some of the archive footage), so that's a plus.  Also, The Fog Of War is structured in a way that break it up into 11 chapters, labeled as lessons.  Well, apparently that was all Morris's invention, and McNamara wants us to know those aren't his.  So he came up with his own ten life lessons, which is basically just a text-only extra, but McNamara does provide a very brief audio introduction.  And there's the trailer.  The DVD also threw in two TV spots, some bonus trailers and an insert advertising a companion book and teacher's guide for the film that the new blu doesn't bother with.

Next up is 2008's Standard Operating Procedure, Morris documentary on the infamous photographs of prisoner abuse from Abu Ghraib.  There were several documentaries out about the huge Abu Ghraib scandal around that time, including Alex Gibney's Taxi To the Dark Side and the HBO documentary Ghosts Of Abu Ghraib, which even interview a couple of the same people.  They're all good.  Certainly Taxi is very engaging and informative.  But none really cross the line to a higher art like SOP.  Taxi is a film you should definitely see, and Ghosts is a film worth checking out if you're interested enough in the subject matter.  But SOP is the only one that really belongs in the film lover's collection.

Now, if you've been following Morris, including his articles and books, you could probably guess that Morris is particularly interested in the photographs and what truths they show and which they obscure.  That, and it really winds up delving into the day to day reality of being in that environment and looking at the world outward from the lived experience of the "bad apples."  SOP does go there to some degree, but this isn't political expose about who knew what all the way up the chain.  That's addressed, and it's certainly shocking at the end when you see which photos were eventually deemed by the military as criminal and which were "standard operating procedure."  But SOP really seeks a deeper understanding of those moments in the photographs and to question what they tell us beyond our initial impressions.

For the record, this one isn't a single interview documentary.  It interviews many people, from the most infamous guards, their peers, those who were supposed to be in charge, and contractors who were also on-site.  Conflicting details are allowed to counterpoint each other.  The only conspicuously absent players are one of the key "bad apples" who was still in military prison, the detainees themselves (although Morris talks about how hard he tried to find them in the special features), and Donald Rumsfeld... which might hint at why we would later get The Unknown Known.  And on a more technical level, SOP features some amazing, ultra-high speed photography and an elegant score by Danny Elfman.

Like The Fog Of War, Sony Pictures Classics released Standard Operating Procedure as a new release in most regions around the world, and the film has never since been revisited on disc.  Fortunately, however, by 2009, blu-rays were a thing, so this time we got the film in HD.  In fact, this was the time when Sony was really trying to push blu-rays, so they wound up including a bunch of additional, exclusive material to the BD that they left off the DVD copies.  So if, like me, you weren't buying blu-rays yet in 2009, this is a serious one to consider going back for and double-dipping.

2009 Sony US DVD top; 2009 Sony US blu-ray bottom.

As a concurrent, dual release, naturally the DVD and blu-ray feature the same master.  The very wide 2.39:1 framing is identical, the brightness levels and colors are the same, etc.  And thankfully, neither is interlaced or otherwise troubled.  The difference between them is simply the fundamental difference between an SD and HD release.  But yes, that HD does make a difference.  Look at the full-size shots and you'll see the blu is noticeably sharper and clearer.  There's an inescapable softness when you get in close to the DVD, so you'll appreciate the blu on an large screen set.  There is so much extra footage packed onto the disc, and it's an early blu-ray release, so it was a little bit of a worry that the blu might be overly compressed and not much of an upgrade on the DVD.  But no, it's a very clean, genuine boost to high def.

Both releases feature the same audio options: a strong 5.1 mix, with French and Portuguese dubs also in 5.1.  The only difference being that the blu is able to deliver them in TrueHD.  Both discs also include a whole ton, but slightly different, subtitle options.  I'll bold the ones that are unique to each disc.  The DVD has English, English subs for the commentary, French, Portuguese, Portuguese subs for the commentary, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Thai, while the blu has English, English SDH, German, German subs for the commentary, French, Portuguese, Portuguese subs for the commentary, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Thai and Turkish.  I'm not sure if that's going to be of huge importance to anyone, but it's an interesting little detail.

The much more noteworthy distinctions lie in the special features.  The DVD isn't bad, it gives you some good stuff including another insightful commentary by Errol Morris and almost half an hour of deleted scenes.  They also throw in the trailer, a couple bonus trailers, and an annoying commercial for blu-rays on start-up.  The blu includes all of that (even the annoying commercial on start-up, unfortunately), but also has a whole lot more.  Besides the deleted scenes from the DVD, there is also almost two hours of "additional interviews," which basically just amount to a metric ton more deleted scenes.  A few scenes to repeat, but only a few minutes worth.  98% of it is all new material, including some very compelling and dramatic stuff that was surprisingly left out of the feature film itself, and even one or two interviews with people not used in the film at all!  Then you've got two festival Q&As with Errol Morris (one also with his producer), which add up to another 45 minutes.  They're pretty distinct, and only repeat a little bit, although they do cover some ground mentioned in the commentary as well.

And finally, there's a 45 minute panel discussion... If you're keeping track, that's like 4+ hours of bonus content, not counting the commentary, packed onto one disc, with a whole bunch of language options on there, too - you can see why I was concerned that it might be a compressed nightmare.  Anyway, the panel was recorded at the Berlin Film Festival, where a small, fairly random bunch of journalists and politicians discuss the politics addressed in the film.  It's a bit superfluous, and rarely reaches the level I'd genuinely consider an "important" discussion, so it's pretty skippable unless you're a die-hard fan hungry for every drop of content.  But everything else?  Including all those deleted scenes and extended interviews?  Those are essential viewing.  So, unfortunately, the DVD really isn't good enough.

And finally, we end with The Unknown Known.  It took him a while, but he finally got Rumsfeld in the hot seat.  Morris described interviewing Rumsfeld as "one of the strangest things I've ever done, certainly one of the strangest interviews I've ever done," which is really saying something when you remember films like Vernon, Florida.  Like The Fog Of War, this is a single-interview documentary, and to a limited degree, I might concede that this is a slightly misguided attempt to repeat the success of Fog.  It didn't win him his second Academy Award, even though it does feel a little like it's trying to recapture the same magic.  But it certainly stands up as its own film, more than worth watching on its own terms: a unique perspective of an outlandish series of events.

After all, even though they might've shared the same job title, Rumsfeld is a very different man than McNamara.  He's slippery, and you only have to drop by the film's Amazon page to read plenty of annoyed viewers' frustrated reactions to Morris failing to nail him down.  But if you're prepared to read just a little below the barest surface-level of the exchange, it's a fascinating portrait.  "Ask yourself, what he's saying here," Morris says in the audio commentary, "is he lying?  Confused?  Self deceived?  It's at the heart of this movie; that very question."  If you're just looking for a documentary to point a finger and nail Rumsfeld to the wall, well, you should've known by now that Morris really isn't that kind of filmmaker.  He certainly challenges Rumsfeld again and again, but he never falls for the false satisfaction of quick and easy answers.   His subjects are real people and his films are real art, which is why The Unknown Known is more than just a failed replica of Fog.

Morris was no longer making films with Sony by this point, and this one was actually produced by The Weinstein Company (whoa, I felt my traffic rise just typing that name), and surprisingly enough, the home video release wound up falling to Anchor Bay.  They gave it separate DVD and blu-ray releases in 2014.  And unlike SOP, we're back to the traditional method of having matching extras on both versions, so you only need the blu-ray instead of the DVD if you want the HD transfer.

2014 Anchor Bay US DVD top; 2014 Anchor Bay US blu-ray bottom.

Once again, the film is framed at 2.39:1.  In 2014, it would be pretty shocking (although not completely unheard of!) if the DVD was non-anamorphic or interlaced or anything, and thankfully everything's fine.  Get in close, and naturally the DVD is softer and tiny detail is smudged compared to the crisper, more satisfying HD blu-ray.  Both both are perfectly up to snuff, first class transfers for their respective formats.

And both discs feature a robust 5.1 track, in DTS-HD on the blu, plus optional English HOH and Spanish subs.

If you're still not convinced that Unknown Known is something more dramatic and compelling than a quick political puff piece, just listen to the commentary track, where Morris gets pulled right back into the arguments, becoming snarkier and more sarcastic than I've ever heard in an audio commentary.  I'm a fan of this film, so I don't appreciate people selling it short, but I'll concede that the film with the commentary on might be a more rewarding experience than the film with the commentary off.  I'm not sure I've ever felt that way about a film I've owned before.

Besides the commentary, there's a brief on-camera interview with Morris, which works as a nice introduction to the commentary, and an hour-long television piece: The Third Annual Report Of the Secretaries of Defense from 1989.  It's a great historical document, and great to finally see McNamara and Rumsfeld in the same room (as well as five others who've held that position) after this trilogy; but it's a pretty dry viewing experience if you're here as a film fan rather than a politico.  There's also a text-only article by Morris, which contains some interviews; but it's asking a lot to have viewer read pages and pages of on-screen text off the disc... this should've been a booklet, but I guess that would've been too costly.  Unfortunately, there's no trailer, except for a couple of random bonus trailers.

So the good news is two all three of these three films already have pretty ideal releases.  And the Standard Operating Procedure blu was released in the early days when pictures like this were over-produced, so you can get a copy super cheap if you don't already have it.  It was a very painless double-dip for me.  Not that that wraps up Errol's catalog on blu.  We're still in desperate need of Mr. Death, Fast, Cheap and Out of Control, American Dharma, The B-side, Wormwood, My Psychedelic Love Story and his latest, The Pigeon Tunnel.  I'd also love a collection of his short films that he's made for The New Yorker, etc.  Some of those are seriously calling out for a Criterion re-visitation, with upgraded transfers and some retrospective insight from Morris all these years later.  I love it that totally bonkers, under the radar craziness like Demon Wind is getting glorious 4k restorations; but at the same time, it's crazy how the major studio catalog and even some of our most important films are getting ignored, by the labels and fans alike.  Come on, guys, it can't all be cult horror and tent-poles 24/7.

A Not Quite Definitive Brief History Of Time

For several years, A Brief History of Time was available on DVD exclusively from Discovery as part of their Science Channel line.  I would read people opining for this film's availability on disc on various forums feeling like one of a very few who had any idea it existed.  The generic cover doesn't even demarcate it as an Errol Morris film.  It's honestly one of the discs I was most eager to alert the world to when I started DVDExotica.  But by the time I did, Criterion had rendered it obsolete, releasing it as a DVD/ BD combo pack (or stand-alone DVD) in 2014.  Oh well, it's still a title I'm keen to cover here, so let's get into it.

I used to own a copy but never quite got around to reading Stephen Hawking's 1988 best seller, A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang To Black Holes.  When this supposed adaptation came out in 1991, I was surprised to find that the film is a unique, and to some disappointing, blend of your standard biography about the world's most famous theoretical physicist along with the expected exploration of his scientific work.  The book, after all, was intended to be an overview of cosmology and the nature of our world for layman readers.  And Hawking himself apparently battled Morris quite extensively on the inclusion of all his personal history, which make up way more than half of this picture.  But according to Morris, it's all there in the book, if between the lines.  In an interview included on Criterion's release, Morris explains, "I'm not the person comparing the scientific ideas to biography.  It's Stephen Hawking who's doing it... So when Hawking writes about black holes - these regions of space/ time from which nothing can escape - he is making the comparison with himself.  That is what's so fascinating." 

Well, it's certainly eminently watchable, like all of Morris's work.  Hawking is obviously a singularly unique man, but his story can feel rather bog standard: overcoming the adversity of his crippling disease to develop a unique ability with which to distinguish himself.  Far be it for me to dismiss a film for being too personal, but the world could do with far fewer quasi-inspirational Murderball-style docs.*  But Morris makes it all sing.  The interviews are all great, as his always are, and Phillip Glass's lush score makes the film glide over the film's distinguished imagery (every interview location is actually a carefully art-designed set).  It's full of the director's usual eccentricities, intercutting clips from 1979's The Black Hole, early implementation of CGI imagery, or just the decision to open this film with a close-up of a confused chicken floating through outer space.  And you will still come out of the experience having learned something about the leading theories of the origins of the universe and the nature of time.

1) 2009 Discovery DVD; 2) 2014 Criterion DVD; 3) 2014 Criterion BD.

The first thing you've probably noticed is that Discovery's disc looks way over-saturated compared to Criterion's far more authentic and attractive colors.  Also, four out of every nine frames are interlaced.  So it was a nice little stop-gap release, but it's all about the Criterion now.  They've restored the film in 4k from the original camera negative, supervised by DoP John Bailey and approved by Morris.  It's surprisingly gorgeous for a 2014 blu.  They've also properly matted the film, so we technically lose a little picture (mostly along the bottom), it's now properly re-framed from 1.78:1 to 1.85.  There is a tiny bit of film damage (look at the white curtains on the far right in the second set of images) added to the mix that wasn't on the Discovery, but Criterion is still so superior.  I had been fairly happy with my Discovery DVD; and while I was looking forward to the jump to HD, I was not expecting such a decisive upgrade.

Discovery has a basic but perfectly respectable Dolby Digital stereo track.  For whatever reason, Criterion has spread it out to 5.1, but also bumped it up to DTS-HD and included English subtitles.

The Discovery DVD, as you might expect, is completely barebones apart from a couple of Discovery commercials that play on start-up.  Criterion, on the other hand, came up with a couple strong extras, including the excellent Morris interview quoted earlier.  There's also an on-camera interview with Bailey, and a booklet with notes by David Sterritt of the National Society of Film Critics and excerpts from some of Hawking's books.  Good stuff, but not exactly a packed special edition.  It's made all the more frustrating by the fact that when this film was first released on VHS, there was a second tape with an excellent, half-hour documentary called The Making Of a Brief History of Time?  How did that get decoupled from this?  I was also sort of hoping for the excellent, 46 minute IFC documentary, A Brief History Of Errol Morris, but I could see that might be trickier to license.  And despite the titular reference, it's more of an overview on the career of Morris than A Brief History in particular, so it's not as essential as The Making Of, whose absence is felt quite strongly.

A UHD would render the film grain a little more precisely, but I don't see a 4k disc in the cards for a smaller title like this.  Sure, I'd upgrade if it came out, but we really don't need it; this is an exceptional BD.  Well, unless another region could get The Making Of someday.  But this was probably our only shot.  Fortunately they got everything else right.


*SHOTS FIRED!!

Desperate Times Call For Your Consideration Discs

You know times are getting grim for home video collectors when even brand new, high profile films are getting any kind of retail release anywhere in the world.  I specify "retail," though, because in some cases, there's one last, narrow option for the desperate: FYC discs.  For Your Consideration discs, or Emmy discs, are screener releases of films and TV shows sent out for free to industry people.  Not necessarily just for the Emmys, though those seem to be the most common, but the Academy Awards and others.  Usually, you don't particularly want 'em.  They tend to be barebones, SD DVDs, and when it comes to television seasons, only select episodes.  The retail release is almost certainly bound to be better... except when there isn't one.

Those are a couple of HBO Studio Production tapes of Larry Sanders I scored on the internet in the 90s up top, many years before the series was officially released on DVD.  Now they've been invalidated and are essentially worthless, but at the time I was excited to get my hands on them.  The story's the same in 2020.  FYC DVD's of I Love You Daddy go for big bucks in the unlikely event you can even spot one in the wild ever since Louie CK's film and career got pulled in 2018.  Meanwhile people can't give away This Is Us screeners.

Is this even legal?  There was a time when studios pressured sites (mostly EBay) not to allow sales of FYC discs, and for a little while they complied.  But that hasn't been the case in a long time.  Look, I'm no lawyer and I'm definitely not claiming to offer proper legal advice, but I'm pretty sure First Sale laws protect us in passing old screener discs around.  The people who originally received them from the studios are probably breaking an agreement when they sell them, and risk getting taken off the lists for upcoming years.  But it's all pretty academic now in 2020 anyway, as a handful of rare physical media releases is not the kind of piracy that's shaking the industry; they've all moved to streaming, the same thing which is even strangling this last ditch option... FYC discs are being replaced by Screener Links.  Plus, anyone who would pay for a screener disc of Movie X would happily forgo it in favor of a proper release if we could.  I'm begging for the studios to sell us official discs of the films I'm about to cover.  I hope this post doesn't tick anybody off, but I don't think my obligation is to sit on the information I've been discovering.

Update 9/17/21, 10/5/21: Having nothing but Netflix screeners isn't the most informative. So here are two more FYC discs, this time from Apple Films/ A24 and Amazon.

Update 11/10/22: This is gonna be a big one. How about some actual FYC DVD/ BD comparisons?  Also, let's get some more non-Netflix discs in here, including a Showtime and a very disappointing Apple.  And since there's a big question of whether FYC screeners will continue to be produced as physical discs, I'm adding one from 2022.  So specifically, I'm adding 7 new discs today: The Meyerowitz Stories BD, The Land of Steady Habits BD, Buster Scruggs DVD and BD, The Lost Daughter DVD, Fireball DVD and My Psychedelic Love Story DVD.

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) is the first film to really make me shit a brick and realize, oh no!  After a year or two of being a streaming exclusive, this movie still wasn't getting any kind of release in any region, and I was going to have to start looking further outside the box.  I didn't even really know what a modern FYC disc was like... do they have "PROPERTY OF NETFLIX" banners running across the screen the whole time, or weird watermarks?  Were they pressed or burned?  Would they signal my player to self destruct?  I had no idea, which is why I'm making this post now, to let people know.  Because this was a film I just had to have.  In fact, I even wound up double-dipping.

If you haven't noticed, I tend to swear by the work of Noah Baumbach, and this is right up there with his best.  It's one of those rare projects Adam Sandler takes to prove he can actually act, but it's a lot more than that.  It's some of Noah's best character writing, again exploring the relationship of siblings dealing with their divorced haut monde parents.  And with Netflix bucks behind him, he's flexing possibly his best cast yet, including Dustin Hoffman (right before he followed Louis CK into the bin), Ben Stiller, Emma Thompson, Adam Driver, Candice Bergen, Judd Hirsch, Sigourney Weaver, Josh Hamilton and even a cameo by old Baumbach favorite Carlos Jacott.  But then lesser known Elizabeth Marvel comes along and just about steals the show from all of them.

2017 Netflix DVD top; 2017 Netflix BD bottom.

So let me answer the critical questions first.  There are no banners, watermarks or other funny business; the whole movie plays perfectly just like any commercial DVD.  It's a pressed disc, not a DV-R, and no, it doesn't self-destruct.  It starts with a pre-menu screen asking you to accept their terms.  Clicking "Yes" takes you to the proper menu and clicking "No" takes you back to your player's menu.  The film itself is presented in 1.83:1 on the DVD, and more accurately in 1.85:1 on the BD.  In terms of color timing, brightness levels, etc, they look just like the Netflix stream.  The DVD quite fine by SD standards; it's not interlaced or anything.  But the BD is sharper and cleaner, as you'd expect.  Audio is a strong 5.1 mix, though it is lossy even on the blu.  I was pleasantly surprised to find most of these FYC discs, including these two, have optional English subtitles as well.

One curiosity to note: I've come across both DVDs and BDs in the yellow case, above, and DVDs in the photo cover case.  There are no markings on the back or inside indicating whether the disc included is a DVD or blu, only on the disc itself.  And I've found this with Netflix's other screeners as well: the covers do not consistently match up with a DVD or BD.  Either can be in either.  So be careful what you're buying; check the actual disc label to be sure of the format.  The good news, though: it seems like, at least with Netflix, there are BD options available for every title.  They're just harder to find, especially for a reasonable price.

Anyway, once my Meyerowitz experiment paid off, and I knew these discs were definitely worth pursuing, it was time to see what other streaming exclusives were sorely absent.  Not that I didn't immediately know off the top of my head.  There were two more I just had to have right away, the first of which was Errol Morris's Wormwood.  This has been touted as a drama/ documentary hybrid.  What that ultimately winds up meaning is that it's a traditional documentary, but the typical recreation scenes go further, with proper dialogue and high quality actors, including Peter Sarsgaard, Tim Blake Nelson and Bob Balaban.

Wormwood is the strange story of Frank Olson, an army scientist from the 1950s who was involved in mysterious experiments with LSD.  He died under dubious circumstances - he "fell" out of a hotel window - and now his son is obsessed with the notion that the CIA actually had him killed as a cover-up.  So this film, really a six-episode miniseries, cuts back and forth between first-person interviews with the real people telling their story, and Sarsgaard playing his father in dramatizations of how everything may've gone down.  You'll probably recognize son Eric Olson and this whole crazy tale from the infamous 2004 British television documentary, Crazy Rulers Of the World.  Well, thirteen years later, the Olson's are still demanding answers.

2017 Netflix DVD.

Wormwood is mix of new documentary footage, the stylized dramatizations and vintage footage, the last of which, naturally, is often of dodgier quality than the rest.  That's the nature of the film, though, not an issue with the DVD, which presents it all in very wide 2.37:1.  It's clean, clear and as good as a DVD could look.  All six episodes are included over 2-discs.  Each episode has a 5.1 mix, though this time there are no subtitles.  Based on all the Netflix screeners I've seen, it looks like they put them on movies, but not series?  Anyway, they're not here.

The third title I absolutely had to have was Nicole Holofcener's The Land of Steady Habits.  It's the only film of hers I haven't already covered on this site, and the first time she's filmed a script not based on her original writing.  The Land of Steady Habits is an adaptation of the Ted Thompson novel of the same name, about an older man who drops out of comfortable society in search of a more substantive meaning.  It stars Ben Mendelsohn, Edie Falco and hey, Elizabeth Marvel's back!  There's definitely a bleaker side to the material than you'd typically come across in a Holofcener original; but it's still a smart, funny and touching look at the isolation and disappointment that can develop even when you seem to be achieving the American dream.

2018 Netflix DVD top; 2018 Netflix BD bottom.

So, as you can see, I was in for a disappointment with this DVD.  Every two frames out of four are interlaced!  A 2018 disc interlaced?  Why?  Not all of Netflix's screeners are (as we've just seen with Meyerowitz), and the movie isn't interlaced on their site.  I guess it's just a mistake?  QC on screeners may not be as tight as they are on commercial releases.  Well, so naturally, I was even more compelled to double-dip on this one.  And happily, despite the DVD being interlaced, the blu is not.  So, despite it being obviously taken from the same master, this HD version is an even bigger update on the DVD.  It also again, tweaks the AR, in this case from 2.01:1 to a perfect 2.00:1. 

It's another lossy 5.1 mix, and the optional subtitles are back.  Again, it doesn't seem to matter which case you get; the DVD or blu could be in either one.

Feeling empowered, now I'm on a hunt for any other FYC titles that have been neglected on video.  And what could be more fun than Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp?  In some ways, this prequel is more fun than the original film (the subsequent Last Day of Camp not so much), though of course it wouldn't work at all without the movie to build it all from.  The entire cast is back, which is saying something considering how many comics and stars were in it; and it's packed with more big names, too, including Jason Schwartzman, Kristin Wiig, Chris Pine, Jordan Peele, Bruce Greenwood and so many more.  It's an eight-episode series, which gives it more room to go to even more crazy places, but it's so grounded, managing to perfectly land every single character into the places we find in them in the film.

2015 Netflix DVD.

All eight episodes are spread across two discs and look great, slightly matted to 1.88:1.  It does feel like Netflix just makes up their ARs by throwing darts at a board, but that's how it airs online too.  Meanwhile, colors and details look great; no more interlacing.  The audio is in 5.1 again, and no subtitles, which again makes me think that, for whatever reason, they save the subs for the films.  Actually, there are a few hard subs for a handful of scenes, which you can remove if you really want to, but they don't subtitle the show as a whole.  It's also worth pointing out that this one came in fancier packaging, like a hardcover mediabook, which is fun.

But maybe you're just done with DVDs in 2020.  It is especially frustrating to be eyeing SD discs when the same films are streaming in HD; some of you guys probably think it's a joke to even want a DVD of these.  It's too bad they don't make FYC blu-rays, right?  Oh, but they do!  They tend to be even harder to find, especially for the exclusive titles, but they're out there.

I bought Marriage Story right away.  Possibly the year's greatest film (nominated for six academy awards and won one... not that I put too much credibility in their collective judgement) on blu when I was sure it would never get a retail release?  How could I not?  Well, who could anticipate Netflix would make a deal with Criterion?  But that just goes to show you how the value can rise and fall like the Dow Jones with these discs, because I immediately sold it off and replaced it with Criterion's special edition.  In the meantime, though, I had this to tide me over.

We're back with Noah Baumbach in his latest story, where this time we're dealing with the younger generation's failing marriage.  I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone that Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as our avatars in this devastatingly authentic look at an embattled relationship.  They're amazing, but the supporting cast is the icing on the cake, making their heavy drama so much more charming and entertaining.  I mean, Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Julie Haggerty and Wallace Shawn?  We don't deserve that much talent!  Plus there are fun cameos by Robert Smigel and Carlos Jacott again.  Baumbach may've even topped The Squid and the Whale with this one.

2019 Netflix BD.

Yes, this is a genuine HD image; the blu is even a dual-layered disc.  It looks fabulous.  It's pillar-boxed to 1.67:1.  Grain is very fine... I suppose it could be a little less blocky, but hey, this isn't a UHD.  I'm assuming this is the exact same image we'll see on the Criterion, though we'll see for sure soon enough.  Unfortunately, the 5.1 mix is lossy, which is something - besides the obvious complete lack of special features - Criterion took care of.  Optional English subtitles are on hand, though.  Honestly, if there never was a Criterion or other retail option, I'd be pretty satisfied with this in my bunker.

But if you want a blu-ray that hasn't been scooped by a legit release, despite having several more years of opportunity to do so (I really thought a DVD would pop up in Germany, at least... but nope), let me show you the crown jewel of my FYC collection: Werner Herzog's Into the Inferno.  It took me a long time to find a copy of this one.  And I didn't even know blu-ray was an option with this one; I was just trying to find the DVD.  So boy, oh boy, am I happy to have this on my shelf.

Into the Inferno is Herzog's second volcano documentary, following La Soufrière, but this is really more of a sequel to Encounters At the End of the World.  He hooks back up with Clive Oppenheimer, the scientist he stood atop a volcanic ridge in the South Pole, to take a fuller, global look at volcanoes in general.  But if reading this has you expecting some kind of dry National Geographic geological TV special, you've forgotten who directed this.  Into the Inferno is a wild, globe-trotting ride that explores as much about religions and myths that have developed around volcanoes as much as the science itself (though there's plenty of nerdy gadgetry and dusty fossils, too).  They travel from Ethiopia to Iceland, including a particularly fascinating visit behind the curtain of North Korea.

2016 Netflix BD.

Into the Inferno was shot digitally, so we don't really have film grain to judge with.  In fact, this was shot with different cameras in different countries by different people - not even including the vintage documentary footage, which includes clips from some of Herzog's past works.  But this is a bright and sharp HD image.  It's a single-layer disc, unlike Marriage Story, but for a 107 minute film with exactly zero additional features, I don't think space is an issue.  Especially if they're not going to use the space for lossless audio, anyway.  Once again, this is a lossy 5.1 mix with optional English subtitles, including one track for just the foreign language, and another that subtitles both the foreign and English audio.

Another film that really, really feels like it should've been released on disc but hasn't is The Coen Brothers' 2018 western anthology The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs.  I mean, come on, this feels like Criterion bait of anything does.  But four years down the line, it doesn't look like anything's coming.  So I tracked down the FYC DVD... and then replaced that with the FYC BD.

The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs is comprised of six rather bleak existentialist tales set in the old west.  The first is the most humorous and the last is the most somber, but they all have a grim outlook on life tempered with a touch of satisfying irony.  The titular segment is the silliest, starring Tim Blake Nelson as a white hat wearing cowboy who sings and sharp-shoots his way through life completely detached from reality, but somehow able to make it work... until he can't.  The longest segment stars Zoe Kazan on a tragic wagon train journey to Oregon.  In fact, this entire collection is rather star-studded, including strong performances from big names like Liam Neeson, James Franco, Tom Waits and Tyne Daly.  Production values are high, the writing's smart.  It's like Creepshow for the western set.  Every time I revisit it, Buster Scruggs ranks higher on my Coen Brothers' ranking ladder.  And dang, that "Surly Joe" song sure is catchy.

2019 Netflix DVD top; 2019 Netflix BD bottom.

You can probably predict a lot of this by now.  The DVD is just a smidgen off at 1.86:1, which the BD corrects to 1.85.  The BD is substantially clearer than the DVD, which is riddled with compression artifacting around areas of small detail.  The 5.1 audio is still lossy on both discs.  Both discs have optional subtitles tracks.  About the only question I had at this point was: is the DVD interlaced?  This time, yes it is.  But thankfully, the BD corrects that.

And they might be going extinct, but the reports of FYC discs' death appear to be rather exaggerated.  Because I went looking for a disc of The Lost Daughter, which I personally consider to be Netflix's best original film of last year, and yeah, they're out there.  My expectations weren't super high of Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut.  Nothing against her, but I've seen enough celebrity vanity projects.  But no, this adaptation of the Elena Ferrante novel is brilliant, powerful stuff.  The dual performances by Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley (they play the same character at different stages in her life) are amazing, and should have won their Oscars nominations.  Dakota Johnson is surprisingly good (I almost didn't recognize her), and Ed Harris and Peter Sarsgaard prove perpetually reliable.  This film came and went too quickly without getting half the attention it deserves.

2022 Netflix DVD.

So we're back to being interlaced again.  I really wonder if there's a conscious decision behind when Netflix does that or not, or if it's just a case of nobody caring enough to even check.  Apart from that, it's a bit soft even for SD (though I wonder how much of that is the casually handheld style of filmmaking), but otherwise respectable.  The 1.66:1 aspect ratio is maintained, the audio is 5.1 and there's optional English subtitles again.  It comes in a CD-sized gatefold sleeve, and apparently a card was also included with links to some streaming featurettes, but I didn't get one of those.  That's as close to extras as we'll come anywhere on this page.

Update 12/28/22: Happily, however, the is an actual retail alternative option.  It's a proper HD blu-ray from Spain, which you can learn all about here!

The screeners we've just examined are all, of course, Netflix discs.  That's a coincidence; all the films I was most interested in just happened to be Netflix flicks.  But there are screeners to be had from Amazon, Hulu, Warner Bros, ABC, NBC, A&E, Starz, Focus Features, Lifetime, FX, TBS... pretty much all of the major networks, film studios and streaming services.  So, before I go, let's take a look at a couple from other studios and see how they hold up.

This is Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks, an A24 film and screener, released exclusively as a streamer on Apple TV.  At least at first.  Lions Gate wound up releasing this on DVD and blu a year later, which I've since covered here, including comparisons across all three discs.  But I couldn't wait.  In fact, I bought this before the BD was announced, and I was rather skeptical of Apple releasing their films to physical media at any point in my lifetime, so I cracked.  Then the Lions Gate was announced shortly after.  D'oh!  But at least this was a learning experience: my first Apple FYC disc.

On the Rocks plays a little more like a traditional romantic comedy piece than your usual Coppola fare. It still reflects all of her sensibilities - and Bill Murray's back! - but it still adheres to genre conventions in its plotting much more than something like Somewhere or Lost In Translation.  Lots of comic misunderstandings and contrived plot twists.  An affair is suspected, so spying, sneaking and hi-jinks abound.  But it still has an earnest, relatable woman (this time played by Rashida Jones) at its heart.  Murray heightens the comedy right to the edge of too far without crossing over, and Marlon Wayans is surprisingly subdued and sweet.

2020 Apple/ A24 DVD.

A24 presents the film in a warm 1.83:1.  The picture's a bit soft.  This is DVD, after all, but even for SD, it feels like it could be a bit sharper.  But it's overall a very pleasing, satisfying image.  No interlacing or anything like that.  For a DVD, there's really nothing to complain about except, wait, what's that in the second shot?  Yes, a giant watermark floats across the top of the screen at random points.  It only pops up three or four times and lasts less than ten seconds.  It's slightly transparent and doesn't move or blink, so it's not too distracting.  But it's big and it's in your face.  So Apple screeners just got a little less collectible.

There's not really a menu, just an opening screen warning us that this disc "traceable to you" (yeah, right).  The audio's in 5.1 and we're given offered optional English or Spanish subtitles.  I was briefly disappointed, but the proper blu was right around the corner, so who really cares?  It's all academic now.

But here's one to care more about: Werner Herzog's Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds.  Why?  Because despite being released the same year, there hasn't been any commercial release anywhere in the world, and there's no sign of one pending.  Just like Into the Inferno, which it happens this is actually a sort of sequel to.  It's another documentary Herzog's making with Clive Oppenheimer, however this time their journey has them on the trail of meteors and comets rather than volcanoes.  There's lots of interesting chats with scientists in their labs, but they also go out on the field for some more engrossing first-hand exploration.  Then going even further than that, and Herzog being Herzog, they travel around the world to talk to members of religious folk who have their own unique relationships with these astral "visitors."

2021 Apple DVD.

The whole story here is that damned watermark in the center of the screen.  Unlike On the Rocks, it's onscreen for the entire run of the film, and more conspicuously placed at that.  So that's probably going to be a reason to avoid this disc for most of us.  And that's frustrating, because otherwise it's a pretty sweet DVD.  It's not interlaced, presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and looks about as good as SD can.  It also has 5.1 audio and optional subtitles and comes in a CD-sized slipsleeve with a little flap at the top.  But yeah, "PROPERTY OF APPLE."  It's even worse.

So, I guess Apple discs are watermarked.  How about Showtime?  I'm interested, because they've got a Errol Morris doc that's never been released outside of their streaming channel.  2020's My Psychedelic Love Story focuses on Joanna Harcourt-Smith, Timothy Leary's one-time lover who's come to believe she may have been an inadvertent CIA plant used to bring him down.  I'd say even if you don't harbor much interest in Leary, Joanna's story is wild and fascinating, which Morris knows how to tell at a riveting pace.  Interestingly, this was originally intended to be Wormwood style documentary/ drama hybrid, made in collaboration with Morris' son, who hosts a show about LSD on Vice.  But because of Covid, it had to be scrapped, and Errol was left to craft the entire film out of the one interview he'd already filmed.  Fortunately, Morris is the master of the single interview documentary, and at the end of the day, this may well be the preferable outcome.

2020 Showtime DVD.

The news here is much happier than with Apple.  No watermarks, no interlacing, no self destruct signals.  The DVD is presented in 2.34:1, and looks great for DVD.  An HD transfer would be preferable, sure, and it would probably tweak the AR to 2.35.  But really, for an FYC DVD, this is top shelf.  The audio is in stereo and there's an optional English subtitles track and comes in a traditional CD-sized slipsleeve.  I'm very glad I picked this one up.

Before we cut out, let's look at an Amazon disc, too, because they've got a serious streaming exclusive in their Woody Allen miniseries Crisis In Six Scenes, which thanks to the Farrows, Amazon will probably never see fit to spotlight with any further release.  ...And, to be clear, god bless 'em.  Separating the art from the artist doesn't mean giving said artist a free pass to roll over the rest of society unchallenged.  But it does mean dedicated connoisseurs may have to surmount additional obstacles if they feel the need to preserve all the important works on physical media.  Hence this FYC DVD having become quite the collector's item.

Critics have said that Crisis is essentially just another film, arbitrarily broken up into six sections, rather than Allen making any kind of experimental venture into modern television.  And sure, I guess so.  Even shaving off the repetitious closing credits of the first five episodes, the series clocks in at over two hours, which is long for Allen, but not outside the bounds of common feature length.  The episodes end at what feel like natural chapter points, so there's intentional six episode structure here, but this is definitely not far removed from his usual work.  Nor do I think fans wanted it to be.

In fact, I'd say this was made to be a real fan pleaser.  First of all, this is clearly ear-marked as one of his "funny ones."  The first question you ask of any new Allen film is "is he starring in this one?"  And yes, and this time he's reunited with the always wonderful Elaine May to form a classic comic duo along the lines of Manhattan Murder Mystery or Love & Death.  They're a retired couple in the 1960s who wind up taking in a radical activist on the run from the law, played by Miley Cyrus, who yes, is blatant stunt casting, but she manages well enough.  It's a bit of a thankless task, acting as sort of the romantic straight man surrounded by an overwhelming ensemble of comedians that also includes Joy Behar, Michael Rappaport, Bobby Slayton, Lewis Black and Judy Gold.  This one got pretty well thrashed by critics, and no, I wouldn't chalk it all up to his tarnished reputation.  The pacing's a little clunky, and the romantic subplot's a bit of a drag.  But it's not as bad as they say either.  If you can still find Woody Allen funny in general, you'll find this one funny.

2016 Amazon DVD.

Framed in 1.78, just as it was made to stream (I just popped over to Amazon and checked), this disc looks A-OK.  It's standard def, so it's inherently a little disappointing in its resolution, but looks just fine for a DVD. And thankfully, no, there are no watermarks or other flaws.  It's not interlaced, and all six episodes are complete and flawless.  The Dolby stereo mix is clean, and though they're not accessible by menu, there are encoded captions on the disc if you need subtitles.  As you can see, it comes in one of those recycled-looking cardboard sleeve, CD jewelcase sized, with a fold up flap that includes a description and episode list.