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It's a Lot (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (1st February 2014). |
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The Film
 ***This is an A/V and extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** Shaun's a lucky boy - growing up he's had the right education, parents that loved him and he's never been short of cash. But as he gets older, he finds he doesn't fit into this world, especially with the self-righteous kids at his posh private school. Deliberately deceiving his family, he enrols at his cousin's college where he discovers an untouched world of girls, parties and excitement. Desperate to make a name for himself, he tries to impress the top girl, Chrissy, by holding a party for her at his mansion. But all he manages to do is trash the place and even destroy his Dad's prized Lotus! He s left with two weeks to find £20,000 before his parents get back from holiday and his dad goes tribal... So he devises a plan to make some quick money, but he's going to have to risk everything and tell a whole lot of lies to the people he loves most. Will he try and get away with it and be the top boy he always wanted to be, or will he come clean and face the music? When things get out of hand....It's A Lot!
Video
Independent British distributor, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment, release the low budget British film "It's a Lot" onto Blu-ray in the United Kingdom using the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The transfer is 1080p, and uses an AVC MPEG-4 codec. Unfortunately, it is not without problems. At first glance, this high definition transfer looks absolutely superb, but it doesn't take too long before some of the noticeable issues arise. The biggest for me, was the aliasing, which at times is truly horrific, especially on clothing towards the start of the film. It's a known fact that you should never wear particular designs for TV or film, but nobody appeared to inform costume designer Janine Jauvel. Another issue, was there were some instances of jagged edges, and this is also rather noticeable. Apart from these issues, the transfer is certainly passable. Details are good, sometimes stunning, and colours are generally vivid. Blacks are lacking in depth at times, but are okay for the majority. As to be expected for such a new feature, there are no blemishes or scratches present on the transfer. The disc is a BD25, and the feature runs 96:35.
Audio
There are two audio tracks available on this release: - English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 - English LPCM 2.0 Stereo For my viewing, I opted for the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 which was quite strong. The feature focuses quite heavily at times on the score, which consists of hip hop tracks and what I guess is British grime. The score makes full use of the surrounds and the LFE without overpowering the dialogue. The surrounds could've been used a little better for the environmental sounds, but what we have is certainly good. We hear general crowd noise, and when the students are surrounding the Lotus outside of the college, we even hear what sounds like the brakes of a bus. There are no dropouts or scratches, and no signs of background hiss. Unfortunately, there are no subtitles included, which is a shame as they would've been handy for some of the teenage lingo. I've realised, at 30, I'm no longer 'down with the kids'.
Extras
The first extra is a selection of deleted scenes running 8:49. There's quite a good mix here, with additional dialogue between Michael and the lawyer as Michael washes his Lotus, an attempt to recruit additional fundraisers outside a barbershop, an extended version of the police stopping the house party, and much more. These scenes were obviously removed for pacing, though one or two would have made the film a little better had they been kept in. The next extra is a "Making Of" documentary which runs 32:50. Made by Dragon Lair Films, it features a mix of behind the scenes footage, and interviews with various cast and crew members. It's fairly basic in structure, and the interviews are as formulaic as you get. The various cast members discuss their characters, their thoughts on working on the film, etc etc. The usual really. The rest of the extras are self-explanatory. Start-up Trailers (3:41): - "Victim" - "The Man Inside" Theatrical Trailer (1:59)
Overall
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