# Osage's Take On...CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (Blu-ray; Sony Home Entertainment/Columbia)



## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

[img]http://whysoblu.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/captain-phillips-blu-ray-cover-whysoblu-848x1024.jpg[/img]*Releasing/Participating Studio(s): Sony Pictures Home Entertainment/Columbia
Disc/Transfer Information: Region A; 1080p High Definition 2.39:1 (Original Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1) 
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 134 Minutes
Tested Audio Track: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Director: Paul Greengrass
Starring Cast: Tom Hanks, Catherine Keener, Max Martini, David Warshofsky, John Magaro, Chris Mulkey

PLOT ANALYSIS:*

I truly wanted to see this when it was in theaters after seeing the trailers; I can recall the real-life situation Richard Phillips and his cargo ship crew found themselves in during the 2009 hijacking of their vessel and Paul “_The Bourne Ultimatum_” Greengrass does an excellent job bringing to life the characters involved in the story, albeit with some added dramatic elements as is so often necessary when doing these “adapted from a true story” pieces. What’s even more interesting is the fact that you can totally feel Greengrass’ _United 93_ influence all over _Captain Phillips_ – well, let me put that another way: You can _feel_ Greengrass’ _United 93_-esque style throughout the tension building moments of _Captain Phillips_ from the shaky, unsteady camera movements suggesting something tension-ridden is about to happen to the buildup of dread with accompanying score towards the climactic end sequence. This _felt_ like Greengrass’ _United 93_ more so than _Bourne Ultimatum_ almost from the opening frame. 

That being said, let’s do some historical backtracking here: Based on the book _A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS and Dangerous Days at Sea_, Greengrass’ _Captain Phillips_ visualizes the ordeal one Richard Phillips from Vermont (played with conviction and heart by Tom Hanks) went through when Somali pirates raided his U.S.-flagged _MV Maersk Alabama_ in 2009 – the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in 200 years. The film takes the perspectives of both Phillips and the Somali pirates, portrayed by the likes of Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdiraham, Faysal Ahmed and Mahat M. Ali, showing – like in _United 93_ – what went down on that fateful day before the Americans and Somalis met for this now-infamous standoff. Phillips (Hanks) prepares for his job on that day in ’09 by getting his passport and documentation together before saying goodbye to his wife Andrea (_40 Year Old Virgin_’s Catherine Keener, in her only appearance in the film) at the airport and flying from his home in Vermont to a port off the coast of Africa, where his cargo ship from the company he works for lies in wait to set sail. Onboard are thousands upon thousands of pounds of raw cargo from food supplies and water to other commodities; once looking over the ship and securing the decks, Phillips and the _MV Maersk Alabama_ leaves port, while at the same time we see roughneck Somali criminals preparing for another day in their clans of stealing and pirating from passing ships that wander too closely to their coast. Greengrass dips into _Black Hawk Down_ territory here, hitting us over the head with barrages of images containing sweaty, filthy rogue renegades planning the hijacking of whatever boat they can get their hands on while we follow their African language in English subtitles on the screen. It seems all these vicious men work for, as in _Black Hawk Down_, a Somali warlord that demands they obtain a certain amount of money per raid when they go out and do some good old fashioned pirating. Yo ho, yo ho a pirate’s life for….oh, never mind…

After some skirmishing between the Somali “tribes” regarding who is going to go out on this latest raid on this fateful day in 2009, it comes down to “Muse” (Barkhad Abdi, a native Mogadishu actor who has been doing the talk show rounds since the release of this film) playing captain to a couple of boats that take to sea to rob whatever cargo they can. Back on board the _Alabama_, Phillips is warned via email that there have been several armed Somali pirate problems near the waters they’re close to, prompting him to batten down the hatches of his cargo ship and prepare makeshift “defense” mechanisms such as high-powered hoses along the sides of the massive vessel. This was something that really bothered me when watching _Captain Phillips_ – knowing that these guys are sailing in constantly hostile waters, why wouldn’t the company they work for arm them with some kind of weapons? Why should the ship be so vulnerable to attack? As you watch the film, you can’t help but constantly think this. Still, after doing a series of drills with the mostly lazy, fat crew he’s commanding to prepare for a possible pirate attack, the real thing happens when Phillips spots on radar two fast-moving vessels coming up behind them. Sensing the worst and feeling that something definitely isn’t right, he prepares the crew and begins a series of counter-techniques as the pirates get closer.

In the small fishing boats chasing the large American cargo ship, the Somali pirates target Phillips’ vessel due to the fact it’s all alone in these off-the-coast-of-African seas, with no support ships or any kind of military escorts. Phillips orders his chief engineer to increase the cargo ship’s speed to the point the engines begin to overheat hoping to outrun the pirates (this was another thing that bothered me; I know that cargo vessels aren’t built for championship races or speed, but they can’t outrun some single-engine-powered rickety fishing boats as commandeered by the pirates? Really?) and this in turn gains them a momentary advantage in that the waves created by the big ship causes one of the pirate boats to nearly topple over and capsize. But when the boats keep coming, Phillips must react quickly and take another chance – he pretends to be communicating with another ship that promises an armed response, and he puts this over his ship’s external PA system so the pirates can hear it. Fearing an ambush is coming, one of the boats veers off and breaks the intended attack on the cargo ship, while Muse pushes on with his men. 

As the pirate ship gets within vision distance of Phillips’ cargo vessel, the captain tries everything he can to keep the pirates off his boat – they fire high-powered water guns at them, they attempt to launch flares directly at their boat and Phillips even gets the crew to lock themselves in the engine room of the ship to protect them. However, the defenses don’t seem to work as the pirates end up shooting their way onboard Phillips’ cargo vessel, getting a long ladder to attach to the ship so they can climb off their wooden vessel and onto the massive American cruiser. Once onboard, the pirates shoot their way through locked gates separating the different sections of the cargo ship, looking for any crew they can take hostage for ransom. Greengrass depicts the Somalis much like Scott did in his aforementioned _Black Hawk Down_ – that is, desperate, unrelenting, rogue militants as violent as they come, determined to succeed in their mission no matter the cost or sake of their own lives. In this way, it reminded me very much of how the director portrayed the hijacking terrorists in _United 93_.

Eventually, Muse, Bilal, Najee and Elmi – the Somali pirates – get to the bridge and hold AK-47 assault weapons on Phillips and his immediate crew there. Muse takes the lead as the negotiating hostage taker, telling Phillips he in fact is the captain now and that they demand to know what the ship is carrying while demanding money for their ransom. Through Muse’s broken, garbled English, he attaches the name “Irish” to Phillips when addressing him, based on something the captain told the Somali pirate about his upbringing and heritage. Muse refers to Phillips as “Irish” for the remainder of the film, and it gets rather annoying after awhile. Still, Greengrass continues to build the tension in the film as the Somali pirates demand to see the rest of the ship and know where the rest of Phillips’ crew is. Desperate to keep them safe, the captain devises a series of diversions and stall tactics to keep the pirates away from the engine room. One crew member even throws down some broken up glass near the entranceway to the engine room when another crew member from the bridge tells him, via walkie talkie, that one of the pirates have come aboard without any shoes. The tactic works, as when the men get to the engine room the barefoot pirate steps on the glass and cuts his feet open pretty horrifically, forcing the group to go back to the bridge to look at the wound.

All the while this is happening, different agencies including an anti-pirate coalition, maritime rescue division and commerce defense group are alerted of what’s going on with the American vessel being hijacked as Phillips got a message off to them just before they were boarded. But Greengrass, much like in _United 93_, paints a picture here of sheer chaos and sheer questionability as none of these parties are quick to respond or even get any military support over to Phillips’ ship – it isn’t until the last half of the film in which the pirates accept a trade offered to them when Phillips’ crew end up getting a hold of Muse, the pirates’ leader, and demand they return their captain in exchange for Muse that the U.S. Navy and a SEAL team get involved. The pirates take Phillips, in a snide sneaky move, in the escape lifeboat vessel attached to the cargo ship, and prepare to make it to the waters off Somalia in order to negotiate ransom for the American ship captain. This sets up the final sequence of the film in which Navy SEAL operatives are deployed to rescue Phillips while Navy warships surround the lifeboat making any escape to Somalia impossible.

At this point, Hanks plays the desperate, beaten and fully traumatized Phillips with a realistic rendition that really pulls on the heartstrings and makes you genuinely feel for this guy and what he went through; it is in this way that _Captain Phillips_ plays like _Cast Away_ or a number of emotionally-driven stories, the final sequence of the film involving Phillips in complete shock and trembling from the trauma as he’s checked over by Navy medical staff and the way in which it really moves the viewer when watching it. Some of the elements surrounding the final standoff between the pirates and the Navy are questionable: I am not sure how much of what Greengrass depicted actually happened, such as Phillips attempting to jump off the lifeboat and swim to one of the Navy warships to safety while Muse jumps in the water and wrestles the terrified American back on to the life vessel, or the way in which the SEALS were attempting to get a shot of the pirates in their rifle scopes but were constantly unsuccessful based on their positions inside the lifeboat, up until they finally take a chance and fire at them concerned they were about to execute Phillips any second. I mean, the SEAL snipers ended up taking out the three remaining pirates on the lifeboat without hitting Phillips, but is this really how it went down? I need to do some more personal research on this because it is, like _Black Hawk Down,_ an interesting true story.

This was a good film. I can definitely recommend a rental at the very least. My wife and I are contemplating a purchase down the road when the title becomes mega-cheap, but this is definitely a good evening’s entertainment, trust me; Greengrass lays the tension and plot pacing on thickly like maple syrup and the buildup towards the end parallels, almost exactly, the way he ended his _United 93_ when the passengers aboard that doomed aircraft that now infamous September 11 gathered together to overpower the terrorists controlling the plane. 

[img]http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2013/08/captain_phillips.jpg[/img]*VIDEO QUALITY ANALYSIS: HOW DID THE DISC LOOK?*

_Captain Phillips_ comes loaded from Sony Home Entertainment on Blu-ray with a rather clean, almost blemish-free 1080p 2.39:1 widescreen encode. I say “nearly” blemish-free because many dark sequences in scenes depicting shadows were riddled with noisy, heavy film grain – to the point some of it got rather distracting. Whether this was a photographic/stylistic decision on behalf of the filmmaking team (in this particular case, not likely) or an issue with the encode and compression process, the abnormalities were there and not subtle. When the action shifts to shots deep inside the cargo ship’s engine room and inner bays where the crew is hiding, the darkness collapses into a grainy, static-ridden mess that almost looks like you’re watching this on a bad over-the-air broadcast channel. It happened on more than one occasion.

That aside, _Captain Phillips’_ 2.39:1 letterboxed (on my display) image exhibited some extreme high-def eye candy from time to time; I can’t say this was a standout, reference-grade transfer as some scenes dipped into a bit of softness especially during critical facial close-ups and such, but there were moments of supreme eye-popping detail – take, for example, the opening shots of the film depicting Hanks leaving his Vermont home to go to the airport. This sequence was ripe with a striking clarity that really drew me into the scene, combining the cool, steely grays and blues of the New England backdrop with the slightly un-saturated greens of surrounding foliage. The sequences in Somalia were especially outstanding, depicting the incredibly detailed, sweaty faces of the pirates preparing to go on their journey – you could almost feel the heat coming off the plains of the African coast during these sequences, the color palate of the disc and transfer exhibiting the correct orange/bronze tint representative of this region of the world. 

There was a good amount of black crush in the transfer, unfortunately, as I didn’t sense a good exhibition of shadow detail; the video noise and film grain inherent in the dark shots, as I mentioned, made this problem even worse, rendering the darker scenes of the film in general not that pleasant to look at. 

[img]http://cornellsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/1368195119_captain_phillips-oo8.jpg[/img]*AUDIO QUALITY ANALYSIS: HOW DID THE DISC SOUND?*

To be honest, nothing really noteworthy went on here. The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack accompanying the Region A _Captain Phillips_ Blu-ray was quiet for most of the running time, exhibiting that all-too-common-now characteristic of being “hushed” and “held back” in the extremely dynamic sonics department – the plethora of gunfire that takes place on the cargo ship didn’t resonate with any kind of impact, some of it not even finding its way to the surround channels, while I noted a distinct lack of low LFE. Further, the soundstage just wasn’t that expansive; panning across the front stage was complete and somewhat satisfying, but many of the action setpieces just disappointed with a lack of sonic energy in the surrounds or a lack of discrete wild panning to accompany the chaos onscreen. 

I may be way off on this one, like I tend to be amongst you fine Shacksters when it comes to the audio tracks, but I didn’t hear or experience anything here that was moving. Perhaps more interesting, literally, than the audio characteristics of this title was the fact that the real Richard Phillips actually returned to work in 2010 after recovering from this ordeal…I gotta tell ya, people…I don’t know if I could have after something like this. 






As always, thanks for reading, friends; please share your thoughts on _Captain Phillips_ if you’ve seen it or even if you plan to!


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

the "noisy film grain" you were seeing is actually digital noise, since CP was shot 100% digitally and not on film, and is actually a drawback of using a digital camera that's being used... digital camera's one weakness is that dark scenes with low contrast amplifies digital noise. think of "Miami Vice" and the complaints about it.

as for the lfe missing... the reason being I'm assuming is you're using that polk PSw10 and that thing only extends down to about 35-37 hz with any usuable output.. there was a LOT of REAAAAAALLLY deep LFE in the film, but a majority of it was in the 15-30 hz range. there wasn't a wild amount of midbass in the movie..it tended to swing towards a really low and deep throb rather than a pounding chest thump of midbass


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## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

The film grain/compression noise et al was very apparent in the dark sequences -- nearly all of them -- and I was merely pointing that out. 

Also, I don't own a Polk PSW10.


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

Osage_Winter said:


> The film grain/compression noise et al was very apparent in the dark sequences -- nearly all of them -- and I was merely pointing that out.
> 
> Also, I don't own a Polk PSW10.


oh yeah, I just going into OCD detail about WHAT it was actually called...lol

ahhh, I thought you had a PSw10... which one do you have now?


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## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

Mike Edwards said:


> oh yeah, I just going into OCD detail about WHAT it was actually called...lol


Oh, I'm completely aware of the fact that digital camera usage yields noise in dark areas of film encodes and such -- just look at the examples on certain Blu-ray "demo" setup discs like the Spears & Munsil Blu-ray where you can see the noise in dark shots of those demo clips and it's explained, via accompanying narration, that this is due to digital ISO camera usage, etc...

I should have explained this better in my video analysis section; I was merely exploring the possibility that it may have been a stylistic choice by Greengrass and his team (though I did note "not likely" in this situation)...

At any rate, let's just agree that there was some terrible-looking grainy noise in those dark shots! :T



> ahhh, I thought you had a PSw10... which one do you have now?


I've _always_ owned a PSW350 -- nowhere near a reference sub, but a totally different animal altogether from the PSW10 (I have demo'ed both at Polk's Baltimore headquarters side by side in a private facility and the 10 just isn't in the same league).


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

Osage_Winter said:


> Oh, I'm completely aware of the fact that digital camera usage yields noise in dark areas of film encodes and such -- just look at the examples on certain Blu-ray "demo" setup discs like the Spears & Munsil Blu-ray where you can see the noise in dark shots of those demo clips and it's explained, via accompanying narration, that this is due to digital ISO camera usage, etc...
> 
> I should have explained this better in my video analysis section; I was merely exploring the possibility that it may have been a stylistic choice by Greengrass and his team (though I did note "not likely" in this situation)...
> 
> ...


ok, the 350 it is then... I knew it was a polk I just couldn't remember...(curse of getting older  )


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## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

_Believe me_, Mike...it's on my MUST upgrade list...:sarcastic:

I really want an SVS but I gotta scrape up more cash...:spend: :spend: :R


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## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

Osage_Winter said:


> _Believe me_, Mike...it's on my MUST upgrade list...:sarcastic:
> 
> I really want an SVS but I gotta scrape up more cash...:spend: :spend: :R


what's cash??? I sometimes see it flit through my bank account and then it's gone...

I know what you mean about wanting to upgrade... but wait until you get the DIY bug... then your wife will curse the day you found a site like this (at least that's what mine was doing)

if you were anywhere near me I'd give you hand... for the price of an SVS we could make something truly terrifying  (laughs maniacally)....ok, now I have a weird urge to build more subs..need to stop before the wife notices this thread....


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## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

Mike Edwards said:


> what's cash??? I sometimes see it flit through my bank account and then it's gone...


LOL; yeah, I know EXACTLY what you mean...

But being a full-time freelancer doesn't help the bills...AT ALL...trust me; thank the Lord I have my wife and her steady income...

Even though my work is published in many online and print trade publications, the pay is ridiculously non-existent; it's true what they say about a "freelancer's life"...:coocoo:



> I know what you mean about wanting to upgrade... but wait until you get the DIY bug... then your wife will curse the day you found a site like this (at least that's what mine was doing)


I don't think I'd ever be the DIY type...:rolleyesno:


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## tripplej (Oct 23, 2011)

Thanks Osage for another fine review. I also am interested in seeing this movie. It looks very interesting from the trailer that is for sure. Will rent it later. Thanks once again for the review.


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## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

Hey, Joe, thanks for the comments and kind words! Let me know how this played back in your revamped system...:T


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## Savjac (Apr 17, 2008)

Maybe I can help you understand the situation a bit Osage, lets start here:

As a Marine Surveyor in this field, I have been on dozens of these container ships as well as most every other kind of ocean vessel and the depiction of life on board is well done in this movie. It is a hard thankless job that is dangerous and dirty beyond thought. 

_why wouldn’t the company they work for arm them with some kind of weapons? Why should the ship be so vulnerable to attack?
_

You cannot have weapons on a civilian vessel, too many risks of the crew shooting things up. Most crews in international waters are not quite as "Nice" as the ones in this movie. Many are really bad guys looking for refuge from their countries. Recently the nautical groups around the world have considered allowing armed security guards on board vessels, especially those traveling in these 2,000,000 square miles of ocean around the horn of Africa. Also remember that over 20,000 vessels traverse this area and there is really no where else to go Osage, traveling to and from the ports in this area, its land locked about the sides, and of those 20,000 vessels about 1% are affected by pirates. Oh and the vessel is a container ship that would carry tens of thousands of *Tons* of cargo, all kinds, from electronics to food worth tens of millions of dollars not to even consider the vessel and its bunker fuel and crew would be worth some 20 million or so, as such this is a big fish. 

The men and women in Somalia are poor, destitute and they have almost no way to make money. When the wealthy people wish more money they will force the farmers and fishermen to hit the small boats and try to make some large money the hard way...well maybe no harder than life itself. So yes, the people are poor, sweaty, dirty and desperate not to mention, the life boat is not exactly the Ritz and is not outfitted with bathrooms or anything of comfort. Can you imagine being in a small fiberglass boat, below deck, moving up and down some 10-20 feet at a time while sitting in excrement, vomit and blood. I hope this helps as while the Captain I am sure embellished his role, the setting in the film is actually more upbeat than reality.

No an ocean vessel of this type is not made for speed but rather for constant motivation with as little issues as possible, also the newer ones are built to use as little fuel as possible. So they will move along at less than 15 knots but can speed up to say 20 knots for a period of time. Small boats can go much faster depending on the hull length, shape etc. Not only speed is on the pirates side but maneuverability as well. You can turn a 25' speed boat on a dime but a 500' long vessel weighing some 17,000 tons carrying another 17,000 metric tons of cargo cannot possibly move quickly or turn quickly, everything is in slow motion or the vessel flips. So this part of the movie is true, it 200 rpm and you break something.

As far as the video, I think it was near perfect, nothing I saw caused me any duress or took my attention away from the film. Grain, as we discussed before is something that happens in the dark, cant really get away from it. The blood and sweat were if anything subdued, it is hot hot hot in that area and while on the ship, the A/C is operation until the power goes out, the life boat has nothing. 

Sonically, it was nothing short of spectacular buddy, I am not sure that we are listening to the same movie. I was bowled over by the soundtrack beginning to end be it the extreme quiet with the tiny little sounds surrounding us that were all to familiar to me from being on board. The helo's, the vessel engines, the gun sounds, ricochet's and breaking stuff was just spectacular. On occasion the LFE almost tore my clothes off my body it was that powerful, even the cat who usually tolerates this, took a powder right quick. But I could be wrong....:hsd: Oh and the ships horn was dead on, it makes every pour of ones body quiver with fear as it unleashes its mighty roar anywhere near where you may be standing and in my room......it did.


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## B- one (Jan 13, 2013)

I will pick this one up as usual used on blu from Family Video $9.95. Thanks for the review once again O!!!


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## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

B- one said:


> I will pick this one up as usual used on blu from Family Video $9.95. Thanks for the review once again O!!!


No worries, Bran -- thanks for reading! 

Looking forward to your thoughts when you have a chance to run the audio and video through its paces...:T


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## ericzim (Jun 24, 2012)

Hey Osage, thanks for the review. My gosh did this movie keep me and the wife on the edge of our seat. My wife pointed out the grain of the dark scenes but to tell you the truth I was so engrossed in the movie I didn't even notice it. I did notice that most of the low frequency audio was down into the 30hz range as I have digital spectrum analyzer meters on the sub amp EQ that light up and there was definitely not much in the thump of mid bass.


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## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

Hey Eric!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment; indeed, much like Greengrass' _United 93_, the tension is laid on thick here and really gets you biting your nails until the very end, where Greengrass builds the action like a proverbial avalanche leaving the viewer almost breathless. I commented about the same style in his _United 93_ when it came out and you can feel that style all over _Captain Phillips_, especially towards the end as Hanks' character is desperate to be rescued.

The digital noise in the dark sequences was indeed obvious but I can see where if one is engrossed in the film it may not be so immediately "telling;" of course, reviewing the title critically, I have to point out elements that stood out to me or weren't so easy to see without really looking hard for them, etc...

I agree this was a tension-riddled film that was pretty engaging; it may be a purchase for us down the road at some point.


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

Good review Osage. I thought the movie was excellent although it's not one that could be enjoyed with multiple viewings and as Osage said it makes a perfect rental.

I also noticed there was substantial grain in the dark scenes kind of like in Dredd (which also used a digital camera). It may have just been more noticeable on this movie because the dark scenes are really dark! 

I thought the sound was very well done and my sub was constantly active but there aren't any demo scenes per se. Another website said that the LFE track was unfiltered so it does go very low. As a side note I read somewhere that Dolby HD tracks will turn on Night Mode on some AVR's (I think specifically Onkyo's) - you might want to check that out.

Of course the movie has been nominated for Best Picture but it has also received the nod for Best Sound Editing and Mixing. While they did do a great job it still doesn't hold a candle to the sound mix on Oblivion which should have been nominated.

There is also a bit of controversy with how accurate the film was and how smart and brave the real Captain Phillips was. Spoilers galore but these sites explain some of the differences between the movie and real life events - here and here.


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## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

Infrasonic said:


> Good review Osage. I thought the movie was excellent although it's not one that could be enjoyed with multiple viewings and as Osage said it makes a perfect rental.
> 
> I also noticed there was substantial grain in the dark scenes kind of like in Dredd (which also used a digital camera). It may have just been more noticeable on this movie because the dark scenes are really dark!
> 
> I thought the sound was very well done and my sub was constantly active but there aren't any demo scenes per se. Another website said that the LFE track was unfiltered so it does go very low. As a side note I read somewhere that Dolby HD tracks will turn on Night Mode on some AVR's (I think specifically Onkyo's) - you might want to check that out.


Thanks for your feedback and input, Infra! However, this disc didn't have a TrueHD track, it had a DTS-HD Master Audio mix...

But you're right about the Late Night mode being automatically activated on some AVRs with Dolby only material -- the first runs of the Iron Man Blu-ray is a good example of this wherein the disc will activate the receiver's Late Night algorithm and therefore compress the sound...it happens on my copy, which makes it a pain because you have to then go in and switch that off...:R


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

Oops! I mixed up the two, I guess the solution isn't going to be that easy!

P.S. I just finished watching The Family, it's a good movie and I think you'd enjoy it.


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## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

Infrasonic said:


> Oops! I mixed up the two, I guess the solution isn't going to be that easy!


Indeed, DTS algorithms don't employ Late Night functions -- it's only a Dolby "thing," as is "Dialnorm." There wasn't really a "problem" with this soundtrack, per se, though that needed a "solution." The main thing was I was watching this under reference level and it's probably why I found the track to be a bit "quiet." :T



> P.S. I just finished watching The Family, it's a good movie and I think you'd enjoy it.


I saw it theatrically and reviewed it here. :T


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

I watched it around -19MV and there was a good amount of LFE. I threw out the Onkyo setting as hopefully a solution to the lack of bass that you felt but who knows what's causing that.



Osage_Winter said:


> I saw it theatrically and reviewed it here. :T


That's funny because I could've sworn I saw a review of The Family on here somewhere but when I searched for it last night I couldn't find it! I just read through your review of it and you didn't like it very much, it almost seems like a case of going into it with too high of expectations. I went into it thinking it was going to be pretty dumb but I enjoyed it, it only has a 6.4 on IMDB but I'd give it a solid 7 and recommend a rental.

Back on track to this thread there is another Somali pirate movie called A Hijacking from Denmark which is supposed to be very good, I will probably watch it very soon if Netflix cooperates


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## Osage_Winter (Apr 8, 2010)

Infrasonic said:


> I watched it around -19MV and there was a good amount of LFE. I threw out the Onkyo setting as hopefully a solution to the lack of bass that you felt but who knows what's causing that.


Perhaps it's the fact that I'm in desperate need of a much better sub? :sarcastic: 

Indeed...gotta start savin' up the pennies now...:spend:



> That's funny because I could've sworn I saw a review of The Family on here somewhere but when I searched for it last night I couldn't find it! I just read through your review of it and you didn't like it very much, it almost seems like a case of going into it with too high of expectations. I went into it thinking it was going to be pretty dumb but I enjoyed it, it only has a 6.4 on IMDB but I'd give it a solid 7 and recommend a rental.
> 
> Back on track to this thread there is another Somali pirate movie called A Hijacking from Denmark which is supposed to be very good, I will probably watch it very soon if Netflix cooperates


Yeah, I didn't really care for _The Family_; probably did go into it with too high of expectations. To me, this was another attempt for the likes of De Niro to test the waters of the "funny gangster" genre a la _Analyze This_ but he works much better in these roles when they're serious (though at this point he needs to just hang up the whole gangster characterization thing and go back to being a grandfather as in _Meet the Parents/Fockers/Little Fockers_ and that other stupid film in which he plays the father to the bunch of kids portrayed by Kate Beckinsale, Drew Barrymore et al; the name of the film escapes me right now...


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