Columbus Circle (Blu-ray) [Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - United Kingdom - Universal Pictures
Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (1st February 2014).
The Film

***This is an A/V and extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.***

Abigail Clayton (Selma Blair), an attractive heiress, has spent the last 20 years isolated in her Manhattan loft appartment. But when the death of her elderly neighbour prompts a police investigation, Abigail's carefully constructed world begins to fall apart.

Soon, a mysterious couple, Charlie (Jason Lee) and Lillian (Amy Smart), move in to the empty appartment causing Abigail to confront both her fears and her past in unexpected ans terrifying ways...

Stylish, riveting and packed full of suspense, Columbus Circle is a claustrophobic thriller that will leave you breathless!

Video

Universal Pictures have released thriller "Columbus Circle" onto Blu-ray in the United Kingdom in the original aspect ratio of 2.40:1. The transfer is 1080p and uses an AVC MPEG-4 codec, unlike Universal's American release which uses a VC-1 encode. Overall, it's good, but disappointing.

"Columbus Circle" is a film that uses a lot of dark colours. The palette is full of browns and blacks, but unfortunately, the blacks suffer from quite a lot of light crushing throughout, which also results in a lack of shadow detail. Also surprisingly, is the amount of artefacting in such a new release, with light blemishes throughout, especially in scenes which take place inside Selma Blair's apartment. The lighter colours consist wholly of skin tones, and outdoor scenes towards the end, and these look considerably sharper. Shot on 35mm, using a Panasonic camera and Fuji Eterna stock, the transfer does have a consistent thin layer of filmic grain running throughout, which looks natural at all times. Although the transfer is flawed, there's nothing too major to cause any concern, and I doubt we will see it looking any better in the immediate future.

The disc is region free, and the feature clocks in at 85:57.

Audio

The following audio tracks are available:
- English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Polish DTS 5.1 (voiceover)
- Portuguese (Brazilian) DTS 5.1
- Spanish (Latin American) DTS 5.1

For my viewing, I obviously opted for the original language track in DTS-HD Master Audio, which had a few rather enthusiastic moments in the score, which results in a little bit of imbalance with the dialogue during one or two instances. Sometimes a character will be saying something rather quietly, and in an effort to build tension, we suddenly get increased use of the surrounds and blasts of the LFE which can overpower the speech. Effects wise, the surrounds are used to reasonable effect with plenty of subtle noises when the occasion calls. There is no damage to the audio track such as drop outs or scratches, and no background hiss present.

Optional subtitles are available in Danish, Dutch, English HoH, Finnish, French, Icelandic, Norwegian Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese, Spanish (Latin American) and Swedish.

Extras

Just a theatrical trailer (2:29).

Overall

The Film: C+ Video: B- Audio: B- Extras: E Overall: C+

 


Rewind DVDCompare is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and the Amazon Europe S.a.r.l. Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, amazon.ca, amazon.fr, amazon.de, amazon.it and amazon.es . As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.