Notes
WSR Narrative Review
Story Synopsis:
Yeah Baby! Austin Powers (Myers) returns in The Spy Who Shagged Me with a groovy new story and a shagadelic new bird (Graham). This time, diabolical genius Dr. Evil (Myers) travels back in time to 1969 and steals Austin’s “mojo.” Now Austin must return to the Swinging Sixties to recover his groove and stop Dr. Evil-along with his newly cloned assistant, Mini-Me (Verne Troyer) - from destroying the world. Myers also stars in an unrecognizable role as a hefty Scotsman-a cohort of Dr. Evil-with a politically incorrect name.
DVD Picture:
Once again, Austin Powers brings exceptional color fidelity to home theatre. Hues are eye-popping and vibrant, with rich and warm colors, accurate fleshtones and deep, deep blacks. Images are sharp and detailed, with fine detail and definition. The anamorphically enhanced DVD viewed in component video exhibits exceptional clarity and an almost three-dimensional image with detail into deep backgrounds. Contrast and shadow delineation are superb, with exceptional gradation between the darkest scenes and the deepest blacks. The picture really pops with brilliance. [I was mesmerized by the unbelievably likeness the DVD picture exhibited compared to the high-definition lay down that I viewed during the Philips Spirit Datacine film-to-video transfer at Laser Pacific. While the HD 1080i master had the slightest resolution edge, the richness of the color as well as contrast are faithfully rendered on this DVD release. When viewed through a progressive scan DVD player at greater than 480p, for example 768p, the picture quality is awesome-certainly one of the very best DVD releases ever.-Editor Gary] There is no compression pixelization or artifacts for a picture that is by far one of the best reviewed DVDs at our facility. The DVD measures 2.35:1, anamorphic and letterbox.
Soundtrack:
The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack is the first to use the Dolby Digital Surround EX™ enhancement (on DVD) which adds new dimension to the surround soundfield. Overall, the sound is excellent, projecting energy and excitement within the listening space that serves as a critical element of the experience of the film. If you were ever questioning the effectiveness of Dolby Surround EX when experienced in a cinema, the home theatre experience will be much different and sure to please. We were thrilled with the Lexicon MC-1 Digital Controller equipped with THX Surround EX. The use of the back surround channel is basically to impart a greater sense of ambient depth, as well as to really give you the sense of things happening over your head and behind you. You’ll find a really good example of screen-to-back surround panning in Chapter 11, “Prepare To Die, Powers!” Many other instances of steered sound effects to the back surround channel occur throughout the soundtrack. There were a few neat instances of screen center-to-back surround panning, as well as some unexpected content in the back surround channels, such as the sounds of the production booth during The Jerry Springer Show! In that sequence, the sound designers were able to create an atmosphere in the back with beeps and police radios and scanners, and other things that never intruded but had their own left-center-right surround ambience. With The Spy Who Shagged Me, the extent of back surround utilization was surprisingly extensive, and while generally subtle throughout the film, nonetheless demonstrated the potential of what can be possible from a Dolby Digital Surround EX soundtrack. Our SMART Circle Surround EX™ decoder/adapter produced much of the benefit that the expensive Lexicon MC-1 processor delivered with the holosonic soundfields in The Spy Who Shagged Me. The dialogue sounds natural, having fairly good integration with the on-screen environments. Bass extension is deep and effective, sounding well-defined, and the .1 LFE is utilized fairly aggressively, but the sound is constantly varied to create a rich low-end response. The music is very well-recorded, and has a dynamic, expansive presence. Particularly enjoyable is the update Quincy Jones’ classic “Soul Bossa Nova” heard during the synchronized-swimming opener. The score by George Clinton is a homage to ’60s spy thrillers and spoofs. The sound is brassy and percussive and effectively reuses thematic material from the original Austin Powers. Sound effects are always multidimensional, and span the entire soundfield. The fidelity of the audio is on par with some of the best sounding films. One important note: the soundtrack has already been re-equalized for playback in a home environment, so you will want to turn off your surround processor’s Re-EQ feature. No doubt that the success of this film is in no small measure due to the intricacies and feel of the soundtrack, along with the subtle timing cues, such as the time-portal transitions, nuances and various ambiences, that add yet another comedic flavor to the film. This is a fabulous soundtrack that is not only a necessary component of experiencing the movie, but is also wonderfully entertaining.
This Disc Contains The Following WSR-Rated Superb Qualities:
Superb Music Score Recording Quality
Superb Color Fidelity
Reference Quality
Collector Edition
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