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    • BLU-RAY REVIEW

    Architect, The

    Featured In Issue 118, March 2007

    Picture4
    SoundNR
    WSR Score3
    Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
    (Studio/Distributor):
    Magnolia Home Entertainment
    (Catalog Number):
    10069
    (MPAA Rating):
    R
    (Rating Reason):
    (Retail Price):
    $34.99
    (Disc Type):
    Single Side, Single Layer (BD-25)
    (Widescreen Edition):
    Yes
    (Full Screen Edition):
    No
    (Running Time In Minutes):
    92
    (Color Type):
    Color
    (Chaptered/Scene Access):
    Yes
    (Closed Captioned):
    Yes
    (Regional Coding):
    Not Indicated
    (Theatrical Year):
    2006
    (Theatrical Release):
    Yes
    (Direct-To-Video Release):
    No
    (Disc Release Date):
    12/05/06
    (THX® Digitally Mastered):
    No
    (Director):
    Matt Tauber
    (Screenplay/Written By):
    (Story):
    (Music):
    (Director Of Photography):
    (Production Designer):
    (Visual Effects):
    (Costume Designer):
    (Editor):
    (Supervising Sound Editors):
    (Re-Recording Mixers):
    (Executive Producers):
    (Co-Producers):
    (Producers):
    (Academy Awards):
    (Principal Photography):
    (Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
    (Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
    (Disc Soundtrack):
    Dolby Digital 5.1
    (Theatrical Sound):
    (Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
    (DTS Bit Rate):
    (Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
    (Additional Languages):
    (French Language):
    (Spanish Language):
    (Chinese Language):
    (Subtitles):
    (Cantonese Language):
    (Mandarin Language):
    (Japanese Language):
    (Italian Language):
    (German Language):
    (Portuguese Language):

    Tonya Neely (Davis) is on a mission—to obtain petition signatures to have her unsafe, gang-infested apartment complex, Eden Court, torn down and rebuilt. And the only signature that she is missing is that of "The Architect," Leo Waters (LaPaglia). But Leo, who lives in just miles yet world's away from Eden Court, is not very receptive to Tonya's suggestion that the complex was built incorrectly, and refuses to sign the petition. But when societal lines are ignored, he find that he and Tonya share more similarities than not. Based on the play by David Greig. (Jack Kelley)

    Special features include commentary with Director Matt Tauber, nine minutes of deleted scenes with optional director commentary, and a 28-minute Higher Definition: The Architect Episode featurette. Plus up-front previews.

    The anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 DVD exhibits a bold color scheme with well-balanced contrast and deep blacks. Shadow delineation is well rendered, and details are adequately well resolved. Fleshtones are slightly too rosy, and noticeable edge enhancement can distract, especially in medium and long shots. Otherwise, this is a very good picture. The Blu-ray Disc and VC-1-encoded HD DVD versions improve upon these aspects even more, creating more dimensionality, although details are not as well resolved as the best high-definition releases. Whites can also look a little too bright, almost to the point of blooming. (Danny Richelieu)

    The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack is generally relegated to the front three screen channels, with the surrounds only used for very low-level ambiance. Fidelity is good, although not great, and dialogue is generally integrated well, although it can be difficult to make out at times in the loudest scenes. The Blu-ray Disc's lossy DTS-HD™ High Resolution Audio encoding sounds very similar to the HD DVD's Dolby Digital Plus encoding, both of which slightly improve fidelity and dynamic range, but are still limited by the soundtrack's mix. The HD DVD's lossless Dolby TrueHD encoding does improve fidelity subtly over the lossy encodings, with a more fluid sounding midrange. (Danny Richelieu)

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