{"id":4386,"date":"2012-06-11T07:23:53","date_gmt":"2012-06-11T14:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=4386"},"modified":"2021-05-28T17:40:46","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T00:40:46","slug":"review-meatballs-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2012\/06\/review-meatballs-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Meatballs Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Meatballs<\/em><\/strong> Blu-ray release is a mixed bag with decent audio and video transfers but disappointing in the features department especially considering the making-of featurette was not transferred over (no doubt due to the rights being with Sony).<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>
\nMeatballs (1979)<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nREVIEW NAVIGATION<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Movie<\/a> | Special Features<\/a> | Video Quality<\/a> | Audio Quality<\/a> | Overall<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Genre(s): <\/strong>Comedy
\nLionsgate | PG \u2013 94 min. \u2013 $14.99 | June 12, 2012<\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO:<\/span>
\nDirected by: <\/strong>Ivan Reitman
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Len Blum, Dan Goldberg, Janis Allen, Harold Ramis (written by)
\nCast: <\/strong>Bill Murray, Harvey Atkin, Kate Lynch, Russ Banham, Kristine DeBell<\/p>\n

Theatrical Release Date: <\/strong>June 29, 1979<\/p>\n

DISC INFO:<\/span>
\nFeatures: <\/strong>Commentary
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>1<\/p>\n

Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 2.0)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 1.78
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, English, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>22.8 GB
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A<\/p>\n

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THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Plot: <\/strong>Tripper (BILL MURRAY) is a wisecracking, rule-bending head counselor at Camp North Star. Whether playing pranks on Camp North Star\u2019s clueless director, wooing a female counselor (KATE LYNCH), or scheming against the rich brats at a rival camp, Tripper delivers fun and mayhem in a laugh-filled summer his campers will remember forever.<\/p>\n

Quick Hit Review: <\/strong>Shockingly, and despite having the DVD in my collection for many years, I had yet to watch Meatballs<\/em><\/strong>. While I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the second coming of comedy or anything, the film has a feel good vibe about it. There\u2019s a little risqu\u00e9 humor but it\u2019s quite mild, especially for the 1970s (today it would be rated a tepid PG-13) and quite funny, albeit nothing that will have you rolling in laughter…<\/p>\n

The film excels thanks to a star-making role in his first starring role (and only his fourth feature film). He\u2019s funny, energetic but unlike certain comedic actors today (*cough* Zach Galifanakis *cough*), he doesn\u2019t go overboard or overstay his welcome.<\/p>\n

Directed by Ivan Reitman, in only his third feature film \u2013 along with writers Len Blum, Dan Goldberg, Janis Allen and Harold Ramis \u2013 Meatballs <\/em><\/strong>does a great job showing that nostalgia feeling of going off to summer camp, something that is cross-generational. I don\u2019t consider this to be an amazing piece of comedy or anything but it\u2019s got a few funny lines and has plenty of replay value.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 1.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Unfortunately the only feature ported over from the Sony-released DVD is a Feature Commentary<\/span><\/strong> with Director Ivan Reitman and Co-Writer\/Producer Dan Goldberg while a 17-minute retrospective featurette was left off.<\/p>\n

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VIDEO \u2013 3.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Meatballs<\/em><\/strong> is presented in its original 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and 1080p high-definition. By no means is this an amazing transfer as it does show a fair amount of artifacts and general film grain, but at the same time, it was made over 30 years ago and probably not using the highest quality film stock so it\u2019s understandable that it won\u2019t be a pristine picture. I haven\u2019t looked at the most recent DVD but I have to think it\u2019s a slight improvement especially in the color department which has a nice pop to it. The detail levels, both up close and in the background, is decent enough though nothing incredible.
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

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AUDIO \u2013 3.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The disc comes sporting a 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio track which, like the picture, isn\u2019t overly impressive but gets the job done. Given this is a comedy all I was really looking for was clear audio which this provides especially, for the dialogue levels which sound nice and clear while other elements, idle chatter\/background noise, can be muddled but not distracting.<\/p>\n

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\n<\/a><\/p>\n

OVERALL \u2013 2.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall, the Meatballs<\/em><\/strong> Blu-ray release is a mixed bag with decent audio and video transfers but disappointing in the features department especially considering the making-of featurette was not transferred over (no doubt due to the rights being with Sony). Even so, given how cheap Lionsgate Blu-rays can get, if you can pick this up for less than $10, it\u2019s worth it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Movieman<\/em>
\nPublished: <\/strong>06\/11\/2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Meatballs Blu-ray release is a mixed bag with decent audio and video transfers but disappointing in the features department especially considering the making-of featurette was not transferred over (no doubt due to the rights being with Sony).  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,970],"tags":[1293,1560],"class_list":["post-4386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","category-quick-hit-reviews","tag-bill-murray","tag-meatballs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4386"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26151,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4386\/revisions\/26151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}