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| Reviewed by: Chris Burton 20 Aug 2007 Arlington Road
| |  A terrorism movie released before 9/11. Unfortunately, Arlington Road could not be more dated. But that is certainly not something you can fault the filmmakers with, and it definitely does not detract from what is a very captivating and surprising thriller.
Nowadays, we really don't think of the Timothy McVeighs or the Ted Kascynskis as terror threats. We've focused our attention on Muslim fundamentalists, and most anyone would agree that they are more of a threat than those homegrown bumpkins with their ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel. That is how we think of them- rednecks. Therefore, its interesting to see a skilled actor like Tim Robbins destroy your preconceived notion with his character of Oliver Lang, the homegrown terrorist.
Jeff Bridges plays Michael Faraday, a widower and college professor who teaches a class on terrorism. His wife was an FBI agent who was murdered during an anti-terror raid, so one would say he has a bit of an obsession with the subject. The arrival of two new neighbors, Oliver and Cheryl Lang (Robbins and Joan Cusack) gives him some new folks to talk to. He gets along quite well with them, and their two children get along with MIchael's son. As he gets even better, he starts dating Brooke Wolfe (Hope Davis). Things are looking up, that is until Michael begins to get suspicious about the couple. There are certain parts of their house that are off limits. There are suspicious blueprints, and Oliver has not been entirely truthful about himself. He checks their background and grows even more suspicious.
Not gonna talk any more about it. Wouldn't be fair. Just see it, you'll get what I mean.
Presented in 2.40:1 widescreen and encoded at 1080p, this Blu-ray is a nice surprise and decent catalog title, with only a few problems. The movie has an interesting visual look that is complemented by this transfer. Colors aren't incredibly rich, merely because its intentionally washed out. But black levels are impressive and detailed. There really is a very immersive and three dimensional look to this video presentation. Grain really is not that much of an issue. However, I did notice a few compression artifacts during a couple of scenes. But that aside, this really is a step up above the standard dvd.
Audio is uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround, that unfortunately doesn't wow on anywhere near the level I was hoping for. Surrounds do kick in during some of the more tense and dramatic scenes, but there's an irregularity to them that is a bit frustrating. Oftentimes, the audio seems principally front heavy, with absolutely no immersive activity to speak of. However, bass is strong most of the time, and dialogue is never garbled or drowned out. The music also kicks in pretty tough on the surrounds, and sounds darn good. |
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Copyright (c) 2007 Rock Star Media Works, Inc. All rights reserved.
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