Audio Video News

DVD: Seabiscuit—Universal
VIDEO: 4
AUDIO: 4
EXTRAS: 3
An unconventional horse trainer, a disillusioned car dealer, and a jockey that's a bit too tall place their hopes on a small racehorse in Seabiscuit. Based on the true story of these three men, the film takes place during the aftermath of the 1929 stock-market crash, a time when every American needed to believe that the impossible was within reach. And when the horse that no one was betting on reached the finish line, the nation was anxiously watching.

Starring Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, and Chris Cooper, this riveting story of the little horse that could boasts a 2.35:1 anamorphic picture with crystal-clear detail and a pleasing, realistic-looking color palette. Even wide shots featuring fields and trees remain true to the film's theatrical presentation. While a story about a horse doesn't exactly make "cool sound effects" spring to mind, the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio delivers the rich, pounding sound of hooves hitting the track, easy-to-understand dialogue, and full, soaring music.

Extras include lively commentary from director Gary Ross and producer Steven Soderbergh, as well as fascinating historic footage of Seabiscuit's racing career, Bridges' photos from the set, a making-of documentary, and "Anatomy of a Movie Moment," in which Ross dissects the scene showing Bridges' character facing a terrible loss.—Christy Grosz

DVD: Freaky Friday—Buena Vista
Video: 3
Audio: 4
Extras: 2
Disney has reprised their 1976 Barbara Harris/Jodie Foster feature with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan playing the warring mother and daughter who trade bodies and learn to appreciate how life looks through each other's eyes. This movie scored big points with my daughters on a lot of levels. Who hasn't fantasized about playing guitar in a rock band or going on a shopping spree with Mom's platinum card? Yet director Mark Waters was also able to capture some genuine moments, too; any parent of a teenage girl will find Curtis and Lohan's pre-transformation bickering all too familiar.

The disc's bonuses are squarely aimed at the film's teen and 'tween audience, with music videos, a blooper reel, and a fluffy behind-the-scenes feature hosted by Lohan. Waters presents a deleted scene and alternate endings, and it was interesting that my 13-year-old daughter and I both preferred one of the passed-over alternates to the real scene. (The first-grader fell asleep before the ending, so we couldn't get her vote. However, she did like the falling-down parts earlier in the movie.)

The disc contains both a 1.33:1 and a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer of the film. Neither is great, as the colors are a bit muted and the images lacked detail. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack was nicely mixed, though, and sounded especially clean when Lohan's band was rocking.—Drew Hardin

SACD: Epics—Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Erich Kunzel (Telarc)
The low hum was so ominous that I thought it might be coming from outside the room. . .and paused the disc. No, that sound was the menacing organ pedal tone that opens Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra"—also known as the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey—tickling my subwoofers. It gets this program of movie-score favorites off to a rousing start. When the brass kicks in, reverberating in the crisp sonics of Cincinnati's Music Hall, my nerves started tingling.

A parade of great movie moments marches past. The brass fanfares of Ben Hur (Miklos Rozsa), the roiling percussion of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Tan Dun), the rumble of tympani from Lawrence of Arabia (Maurice Jarre), and the swift, sparkling celesta from Harry Potter and the Scorcerer's Stone (John Williams) are all enticing ear candy. There are also several selections of recycled 19th-century romanticism that are so conventional as to be ponderous. How I would love to trade at least one of the three Williams selections (barring Harry, of course) for the bright fandango of Bernard Herrmann's North by Northwest.

I have no qualms about the finale, though. The heart-stirring score from The Magnificent Seven might have been written by Aaron Copland but actually came from Elmer Bernstein. Here is America summed up in six minutes of glorious orchestral fare. Hearing it makes me dream about saddling up ol' Bessie and ridin' through my thousand-acre ranch in Montana, big American muscles rippling through my flannel shirt. Please don't wake me!– Mark Fleischmann