Looking back, it's striking to think that Bale starved himself down to 120 lbs. for The Machinist just before bulking up for Batman Begins. It began the current phase of his career spanning the Begins, The New World, Rescue Dawn, The Prestige, 3:10 to Yuma, The Dark Knight, and now Terminator: Salvage Heap and the highly-anticipated Public Enemies.
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The Machinist Blu-ray features the same edge enhancement issues as the import discs did (obviously the same transfer), but overall it looks fine, with great black levels. I don't expect a double-dip on PQ or extras. Paramount put two new-to-disc, HD-enhanced extras on this release. Manifesting the Machinist [HD ~23:00], which I liked better than the original featurette (listed below), even though it covered much of the same ground. Also included is The Machinist: Hiding in Plain Sight [HD ~14:00], which will be of more interest to creative writing majors than anyone else. It discusses imagery and symbolism in the story.
Extras carried over are a Feature Commentary with the director (which I remember being good); The Machinist: Breaking the Rules [SD ~25:00], which is not EPK-level, but not nearly as engrossing as an hourlong making-of would have been; and some Deleted Scenes with Commentary [SD ~12:00]. Trailer included in HD 1080p.
This disc is a component in #15 of the soon to be two-part, 28-item-long Better Things to Do This Memorial Day Weekend list. If you're saying "I might as well go see Terminator 4 to see how bad it is," invest intelligently and buy/rent this instead.
Enemy at the Gates came out in the fall of 2001 to little acclaim and not as much box office as $70 million-budgeted war movies usually attract, but it's really quite good. It's a cat and mouse sniper movie that features one of the more intimate and tasteful sex scenes I've ever seen. It tells the story of legendary Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev, whose name you will know and remember long after seeing the movie. It co-stars Jude Law, Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Wiesz, and Ed Harris (as a Nazi).
All the extras are MPEG-2 SD ports of the DVD features, with no Blu-ray exclusive content. Through the Crosshairs [19:36] is a making-of, Inside Enemy at the Gates [15:01] is an actor interview-focused elaboration of the prior, and there are also some Deleted Scenes [10:13]. Trailer included in HD 1080p.
Changing Lanes is under-appreciated. It's often blown off by people who give in to knee-jerk hatred toward anything that involves Ben Affleck. He turns in one of his best performances here alongside a scene partner anyone would kill for in Samuel L. Jackson. William Hurt has one of the movie's most unintentionally hilarious line readings with, "Doyle, you're addicted to chaos!!!"
The extras are all SD ports from the DVD. The Making Of, A Writer's Perspective, and Deleted/Extended Scenes total about a half hour, and are more worth your time than the very quiet Director's Commentary. There are big gaps during which you forget you have it on until he talks again. Trailer included in HD 1080p.
"Think of the Paycheck, not the movie, but the money..."
Paycheck, on the other hand, is not much liked by anyone. It's rightfully considered one of John Woo's biggest misfires, but at the end of the day it's just a cheap pseudo-scifi B thriller. However, if this movie's failure drove him to go back to China for Red Cliff, consider me the biggest fan of Paycheck in the world. The movie looks and sounds great, thanks to it only being 6 years old, appropriate grain and picture clarity couldn't have been hard to retain. Regardless of where you judge the content, it looks wonderful. It could be an in-store demo disc.
Extras are again 480p SD ports from the DVD. They include: two Feature Commentaries (one with Woo and one with the screenwriter); Paycheck: Designing the Future covering production design; Tempting Fate: The Stunts of Paycheck, which combined with the previous featurette totals about 30 minutes; and finally 6 Deleted and Extended Scenes, none of which make the movie any better. As flawed as the movie is, the Woo track is worth listening to for his candor on his process. Trailer included in HD 1080p.