Movie
Features
Audio
Video
Overall
The Insider
TOUCHSTONE
DVD INFO:
  • Alpha Case
  • Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1)
  • Production Featurette
  • "Inside a Scene" Feature
  • Theatrical Trailer

Movie
This is one of the best films of the year. Even though the running time is over 2 and 1 /2 hours, the movie plays at a very nice pace. The first half is Crowe's movie and the second part belongs to Pacino. I don't think director Michael Mann (HEAT) was solely showing us the life and times of "60 Minutes". I think he was trying to show us the real power of the media, and the ugly side of Corporate America. He succeeded.

Disc
Disney is known for their packaging blunders and THE INSIDER is the newest error to add. The production featurette listed on the back also says "audio commentary with Al Pacino and Russell Crowe". Most, if not all customers, will interpret that as a running commentary. It isn't, naturally. This is a mistake in my eyes because no other dvd has had anything printed next to a Featurette option. Yet, they put that commentary line out from the Featurette, and that is very confusing. Well, about the featurette, it runs about 7 minutes and has very small clips of interviews with cast and crew. It's self-promotional, because there are clips from the movie stuck in. Like we need to see those. There's also an interesting "inside a scene" feature which let's you see Michael Mann's notes to Crowe and Pacino about a specific scene.

The audio on the disc isn't Earth shattering. This movie is an actor's movie, so all you need to hear are their voices, which are recorded nicely. Only the movie's score will your surround sound get any kind of work. The video is flawless, and is a fantastic transfer. It's dark throughout, and the blacks are very deep and crisp. No dust or pixels can be found on this print. It shows Disney can make a great anamorphic transfer when they decide to. And now that they have fully backed them, we should see more great transfers like this one.

Overall
I had this film #1 on my top 10 list of 1999, so you know how I feel about it. It's a nice little package and it's an easy recommendation. This film should have gotten at least one of it's 7 Oscar Nominations.


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