Blu-ray vs HD-DVD was the last format war. And by "last" I don't mean the last one to have happened - I mean the last ever physical media format war there will be. It completely passed me by. In fact, I didn't even learn of HD-DVD's existence until a couple years ago. I never saw the point of upgrading to Blu-ray, and never will. But that's all by the by. As a consequence of studios taking sides, there were quite many movies that were HD-DVD exclusives. But this number has dwindled over the years, and only a handful remain. Excluding concert or music releases, they are: Channels (2008); Rain in the Mountains (2007); Carlito’s Way: Rise to Power (2005); and Birthrite (2008). There might possibly be more, but after all my research this was all I could find. Birthrite has been mentioned on forums like Blu-ray.com and AVSForum as a rare, collectible title, almost holy grail status. I was skeptical of its existence, seeing as the film was only a little indie production whose DVD release was just on DVD-Rs. So I reached out to producer/director Mark Maness to get to the bottom of it. He said it was a very limited run of 10 HD-DVD discs, for himself mainly. So basically, unlike the others, it wasn't a mass produced HD-DVD, and therefore I'll exclude it. So that's 3 or 4 pieces of feature-length drama that you can only get a physical hi def copy of on HD-DVD (a dead format) and not Blu-ray (a dying format). What kudos that would be, to be given that distinction, that honor. Are any of them worth watching? Let's find out! 1. Channels It's a film that at first seems unremarkable. But for a romantic comic fantasy about a soap character coming to life in the real world, it ends up being more of a "head film" than a "heart film" if that makes any sense. The protagonist spends too much time trying to rationalize the irrational. Then the romance gets rushed through - in fact the male and female lead fall in love way too easily, and quickly, to really be credible. In real life I'd expect to wait at least a week before jumping into bed with the lady that came out my TV. Coming out of left field we get some waxing philosophical over the nature of dreams vs reality, which becomes a recurring thread. It's not massively heavy, but just tonally peculiar. It is also worth noting that the film isn't as overtly comical as the premise may make it sound - though it is nonetheless amusing enough. The film has a relaxed pace to it. But the final act is the best part - it has the most drama, movement and excitement. The ending may disappoint some, those expecting a bigger climax. But I guess the writer was going for more of a thinking man's love story. The ephemeral nature of time - of television - is contemplated upon, as lost loves and passions are lamented. This might sound kind of vague, but I can't give away too much. It's an interesting piece of obscure cinematic history, and just as interesting a piece of entertainment. It feels like the kind of movie TNG's Data would make in his quest to become more human. It's fairly good in many ways, but just feels a little ... off. 11.5/20 2. Rain in the Mountains I normally wouldn't criticize a film for being badly acted, but Rain in the Mountains is so bad in so many areas, that this cherry on top makes me pained to brush it off, like I'd brush off the strawberry on top of my pancakes. Not that I think decent acting is unimportant, just I generally feel that as long as the actors are saying their lines and moving the story forward, then that's the most important thing. But here, we have a painful, tedious experience. The humor is soooo lame. And made worse by horrible amateurish delivery. There is enough of a story, and enough action. But it's made unbearable to follow by the unlikability of the lead, horrendous dialogue, jokes falling flat, and just generally being an embarrassment to Native Americans. So what it is about? Basically a Native American father is on a mission to rid his people of modern conveniences and get them back to the old ways. On the way he spends time fishing with his reluctant son, gets his family's electricity cut off, gets in trouble with the police, and continually clashes with a mischievous dead guy. I couldn't tell you how many times I kept going back to the playbar to see how much time was left. Even in the final ten minutes this was like the proverbial watched pot. Sometimes I recommend watching a film on 1.25x speed to improve the pacing. Here I'd recommend putting it on 2x speed so it'll go by quicker. Astonishingly this won a couple of film festival awards. So if you think I'm being hyperbolic about all this, about this movie's badness, then I double dare you to watch it yourself. 3/20 3. Carlito’s Way: Rise to Power I was dreading watching this, as I'm not into gangster/mob films. And I haven't seen Carlito's Way, so I had fears of not getting references, not appreciating it as much, and so on and so forth. But I was very pleasantly surprised by this film.
There's quite a bit of plot packed in ... arguably a little overstuffed, but I enjoyed the story so it didn't have a detrimental effect. The first act is banal stuff about the gangster lifestyle clashing with a romantic courtship - I found this kinda watchable still (and in any case it ties up well in the happily ever after). Then in the middle and final acts it's gang conflicts, heroin, extortion, hit contracts and double-crossings. Which ordinarily wouldn't much interest me. But the story is told well, with obstacles arising naturally and enough development and surprises to make it an entertaining ride. Sean 'Diddy' Combs is also terrific as crime boss Hollywood Nicky, nicely looking the part and carrying off a terrifying air. It's an underappreciated and underrated film, fiercely panned by reviewers always comparing it to the original and not able to judge it on its own merits. 14.5/20 Conclusion So we have a clear winner and a clear loser. Not only in the format war, but also in the remaining HD-DVD exclusives. Though I'm still intrigued about Birthrite and wanna see it. Mark Maness said he sold a few of the discs to collectors and doesn't believe he has any left. In any case, I wouldn't be able to watch it, as I don't have a HD-DVD player. So I then asked him about regular DVDs. He has yet to reply... .
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