Here is the first review of Donnie Brasco on Blu-ray:

http://hddb.net/reviews/1205

It is not an overly detailed review by DigitalAudioVideo... more detailed reviews should be added to this link shortly.

Holy short review batman.

The Blu-ray is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen and encoded at 1080p. The image is quite sharp, and surprisingly does not look dated for a film produced in 1997. It was great seeing this in my theater, because I hadn't seen it on the big screen since I saw it in the theater in '97. Colors are vibrant but not oversaturated, with smooth hues and lovely fleshtones. Sharpness is superior for a catalog title, with only a bit of softness on select shots here or there. Audio is PCM 5.1 surround. Its a great mix, that follows the subdued but often very dramatic tone of the film. Dynamics are also hefty, with discrete sounds quite realistic, and not too bright or artificial. Bass is heavy, and dialogue is crisp and clear.

There are three paragraphs on the site discussing the movie itself before this.

I already planned on picking this up, PCM? check. NEXT!

Perfect!

A to the point review...how refreshing. :)

Sounds good. Now to put my sd version on Ebay.

are all the deleted scenes from the SD-DVD in the extended edition?

5/4 title according to The Spot.
http://www.***************.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/137061/

I love this flick. This is definitely a must-buy.

Looks like i'll be picking dirty dancing and this movie as well :)

Saw all the 5/8 titles out at Circuit City now as well...damn, these stores really don't care about release dates! Of course, they never break date early when its titles I want to buy :-(

Good to here that real stores are actually selling movies around the release date. I hope Walmart is getting Donnie Brasco and Dirty Dancing, usually save a few bucks.

LOVE this movie. Pacino hasn't given many good performances since this movie. Mike Newell's commentary is NOT on the Blu-ray. Maybe his commentary on the theatrical release was screen specific.

Mine is on the way! Amazon Baby! :D

Here is my review of Donnie Brasco. It should be up on Upcoming Discs later today.

Donnie Brasco
Review By: Joshua Noyes


Film – 5/5
Video – 4.5/5
Audio – 4/5
Extras – 2.5/5

Donnie Brasco is one of my favorite Mob movies ever. It was released in 1997 (WOW 10 Years ago) and has some very special performances by both Johnny Depp and Al Pacino.

This film centers around Depp, an FBI agent, gangster, husband and father. In the 1970s, FBI undercover agent Joe Pistone (Depp) infiltrates the mob, leaving his family behind and assuming the false persona of the "jewel man" Donnie Brasco. His assignment: to become a trusted insider with the infamous Bonanno family by gaining the confidence of a low-level gangster. Lefty Ruggiero (Pacino) is an aging, two-bit hit-man who sees a new future for himself with the smart, young thief Donnie Brasco and enlists him as his protégé. Together the two men enter into a camaraderie that will not allow either one to distance himself emotionally. Meanwhile, Donnie begins to get lost in the distance between his real and undercover selves. As Donnie moves deeper and deeper into the Mafia chain of command, he realizes he is not only losing the line between federal agent and criminal, between who he pretends to be and who he actually is, he is also leading Lefty, his closest friend, to an almost certain death sentence.


Video

For this transfer Sony went with a Blu-ray 50 GB disc (BD50) and an AVC encode averaging around 28- 32 Mbps. This transfer is nothing short of great, especially for a film now 10 years old. This film exhibited little to no film grain and the transfer was absent of any type of film debris. Much of this film involves dark or night scenes, all of which look superb as well. Flesh tones were spot-on and detail was excellent. This transfer also presented no noise to my eye, a welcomed attribute for several bright scenes in the film. Colors were absolutely stunning and vibrant with this transfer. Overall this new Blu-ray transfer is a substantial upgrade over the DVD version of this film.

Audio

Audio is an additional area where this new transfer excels over its DVD counterpart. I watched this film using the PCM 5.1 sound format at a bit rate of 1.5 Mbps. The overall sound of the film is very clear, powerful and encompassing. Dialog now can be heard very well with details you may have missed on the DVD release. Also this new transfer makes excellent use of both LFE and surrounds. There is a scene around half-way through the film, when the “gang” arrives at a Japanese restaurant and beat-up the host in the men’s bathroom. This fight scene sounds fantastic, even though the scene itself is a bit graphic.

Extras/Special Features

This new release of Entrapment is quite sparse of special features. It does have a nice documentary called, “Donnie Brasco: Out From the Shadows.” It essentially tells you the real-life story, which lead to the story of Donnie Brasco. Other special features include the Original Featurette, Theatrical Trailers and a Photo Gallery/Montage.

Final Thoughts

I am very pleased and surprised with how well this release is presented. The video quality was spot on, free of any annoying weaknesses and the audio quality was in fine detail and thunderous power. This release is also listed as playable in Regions A, B and C, so it should work throughout the world. Comparing this release to its DVD counterpart, well, there really is no comparison; the new release is much much better all around. So for anyone looking to only keep their DVD version of the film, I say Fugedaboudit and get the new version on Blu-ray. It is a deal you can’t refuse.

~Josh

Thanks! I am looking forward to watching this one again! :)

Donnie brasco review is up at Hidef digest (http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/donniebrasco.html):

4.5/4.5

Sony has been consistently bringing out top notch stuff lately -- every single one in the last few months have been rather fantastic.

Donnie brasco review is up at Hidef digest (http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/donniebrasco.html):

4.5/4.5

Sony has been consistently bringing out top notch stuff lately -- every single one in the last few months have been rather fantastic.

I think "they" (sony pictures) is on a mission.

Thank you BD haters,

for lighting the fires and kicking the tires on BD. It's seemed to have produced a positive long lasting effect. Competition, is not all bad. If it weren't for that other HD optical disc format we may still be burdened with mediocre transfers such as The Fifth Element & House of Flying Daggers. Instead we get stellar releases such as Black Hawk Down, Tears of the Sun, Open Season, Donnie Brasco and more...
Hell we are even getting a remastered Fifth Element with a disc exchange program to boot!

Who said sony had poor business practices? Sounds to me like they really care about their customers....but hey, thats just my porogative.

I'm eagerly taking anticipating this and other Sony pictures titles!

Yes. Competition is good.

I just got the movie in from Amazon. I get flickering in the black bars. Does anyone else have this problem with this or is my disc defective?

Audio

Audio is an additional area where this new transfer excels over its DVD counterpart. I watched this film using the PCM 5.1 sound format at a bit rate of 1.5 Mbps. The overall sound of the film is very clear, powerful and encompassing. Dialog now can be heard very well with details you may have missed on the DVD release. Also this new transfer makes excellent use of both LFE and surrounds. There is a scene around half-way through the film, when the “gang” arrives at a Japanese restaurant and beat-up the host in the men’s bathroom. This fight scene sounds fantastic, even though the scene itself is a bit graphic.
Uh, I sure hope you know that 5.1 PCM at 48 kHz/16-bit has a bit-rate of 4.6 mbps. If you were listening to it at 1.5 mbps, then that means you were listening to the track down-sampled to two channels.

If it weren't for that other HD optical disc format we may still be burdened with mediocre transfers such as The Fifth Element & House of Flying Daggers.


Hmmmm are you sure BTBuck1 aka Brian@BBY that these titles are mediocre?

How do you explain this (http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=8176&highlight=xylon) to your fellow fanboys?

Can't handle the FUD so you post your real view here at AVS (where you people love to bash over there)?

Who said sony had poor business practices? Sounds to me like they really care about their customers....but hey, thats just my porogative.



Hehe. Good one.




Thread archived for future use.

Donnie brasco review is up at Hidef digest (http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/donniebrasco.html):

4.5/4.5

Sony has been consistently bringing out top notch stuff lately -- every single one in the last few months have been rather fantastic.

Based on the really high quality of Sony's recent releases, my current attitude is that virtually any new Sony BD release is almost an automatic buy for me.

I'm throwing this one into the cart... Thanks guys. :)

Good to here that real stores are actually selling movies around the release date. I hope Walmart is getting Donnie Brasco and Dirty Dancing, usually save a few bucks.

You have no idea how frustrating reading these Walmart posts are.
Our Walmarts down here don't even know what BD/HDDVD is.
How come you guys get so lucky?

In the North East we only have them in the higher volume stores (mostly around larger population bases).

Sony is stepping up because it's basically their's to lose. I like the fact they are going into their catalogue and pulling out titles like Donnie Brasco and delivering it in fine quality. All who love high def movies win. Hope to see more.

I always did like Donnie Brasco. This wasn't on my list, but definitely going to have to give it some consideration.

Can anyone confirm the region status for this title?

Can anyone confirm the region status for this title?

A,B & C.

~Josh

Thanks Josh!

Sony is stepping up because it's basically their's to lose. I like the fact they are going into their catalogue and pulling out titles like Donnie Brasco and delivering it in fine quality. All who love high def movies win. Hope to see more.


Watched about an hour of this last night. The PQ was very nice. Once more Sony delivers the goods on PQ.

I watched it last night. The picture quality was great. Sometimes with the pcm audio it was hard to understand what they were saying.

Finally got around to watching this after picking it up on the cheap during the Frys Electronics sale. All I can say is WOW! One great picture especially considering the age of the movie. Great picture and great movie-- all I can say is "forgetaboutit"

Yeah I also picked it up at the Frys 2 for $24 deal and was also amazed. Great movie and even better picture.

Blind bought Donnie Brasco for $14.95 in amazon. I hope that this one is on par with Departed and Goodfellas. Please advice.

I thought it was much better than The Departed and in line with Goodfellas

Blind bought Donnie Brasco for $14.95 in amazon. I hope that this one is on par with Departed and Goodfellas. Please advice.

The movie was done a bit differently than those two, but it's very good for sure. Nothing tops Goodfellas IMO, but I'd probably take Donnie Brasco over Departed. I think you'll like the picture quality too.

Blind bought Donnie Brasco for $14.95 in amazon. I hope that this one is on par with Departed and Goodfellas. Please advice.

I know I'll get slaughtered for this but I think it's better than Goodfellas and in line with Departed.

Ray Liotta just isn't charming or interesting in any capacity.

I know I'll get slaughtered for this but I think it's better than Goodfellas and in line with Departed.

Ray Liotta just isn't charming or interesting in any capacity.

I disagree. Which shouldn't be a surprise as thats what the majority would say.

Thanks to all the GoodFellas for giving your opinions.