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Director
Hamish Rothwell
Cast
Robbie Magasiva,
Scott Wills,
Paolo Rotondo,
Anne Nordhaus,
Lu-Anne Gordon,
Simone Kessell,
Enrico Mammarello
Music
House of Downtown |
"Playing the Shots. Covering the
Angles. Waiting for the Big Break." |
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Audio |
English
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English, Comm1 |
| Subtitle/s
|
None |
| Region Code
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4 |
| Chapters
|
32 |
| Disc Format
|
DVD9
(layer Change at 60:20) |
| Running
Time |
94 minutes |
| Extras |
- Audio
Commentary – Director/Writer
- Behind Scenes Featurette
- Photo Gallery
- Music Video
- TV & Radio Advertisements
- Cast & Crew Biographies |
| Classification
|
MA15+ (Medium Level
Sex Scenes) |
| Distributor
|
Univeral
Pictures |
| Release
date |
12th
September 2001 |
| Web
Site |
Stickmen |
| Reviewer |
Paul
James |
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Stickmen is a good film released by our nearest
International neighbour New Zealand. Thomas, Jack & Wayne are mates who team up to
play in a pub knockout pool tournament run & organised by local thug ‘Daddy"
(Enrico Mammarella). Jack (Robbie Magasiva) is the cool member of the group who takes his
pool very seriously even to the point where he knocks back sex so he won’t miss his
game at the pub (hard to believe isn’t it). Thomas (Paolo Rotondo) likes a drink or
ten and plays better when he’s smashed and Wayne (Scott Wills) is the nice guy who
tends to speak before he thinks.
Along the way the Stickmen meet Sara (Anne Nordhaus) & Karen (Simone Kessell) who
appear to have ulterior motives for trying to get the boys minds off the pool tournament.
Boosting a great soundtrack , good performances and an engrossing story Stickmen is an
enjoyable film about mateship, drinking, pool & casual sex (what more can you ask
for). |
So how does this transfer hold up?
VIDEO
The Anamorphic widescreen transfer framed at 1.85:1 is on the whole very
good. Blacks are nice and well black and shadow detail is good, as alot of the film takes
place inside pubs and around pool tables in low level light these two aspects of the
transfer are important and they are spot on. The image is also clear with little or no
film grain to speak of, film artifacts are non-existent, the only small problem is a
little too much edge enhancement here and there which gives the characters a
‘halo’ effect. However I soon found myself too engrossed in the film and forgot
all about the transfer quality which in itself means it’s very good. The disc is dual
layered with the layer change at 1hr 20secs. |
AUDIO
Bass, I love deep, clean, low, loud bass in a movie soundtrack. That’s
what home theater is all about and to me anyway the quality of a films soundtrack is more
important than the quality of the video transfer. This film has both, a thumping, engaging
soundtrack with lots of deep bass and a good video transfer. The main audio track is Dolby
Digital English 5.1, the film takes good advantage of this audio format with a
wide dynamic range, good use of the surround channels for techno music and a overwhelming
use of the .1 channel for bass. Dialogue is also clear and easy to understand (which is
important for us non-kiwis). |
EXTRAS
Considering this has been released as a non-special edition it
contains a surprisingly large amount of extra features. The main menu is pretty cool with
a still picture taken off the movie poster but with a rotating pool ball for the menu
options. First we have an audio commentary provided by the Director (Hamish Rothwell)
& writer (Nick Ward), this audio commentary is good to listen to as both of them
appear to enjoy each others company and the making of the film.
Also there is the usual behind the scenes featurette which
runs for a good length of just under 22 minutes, this is standard fare with interviews
with the stars of the film, behind the camera footage and so on. These are usually one of
my favourite extra features on DVD and this one also doesn’t disappoint.
Next we have two theatrical trailers, photo gallery (stills from the film) , the usual
cast & crew biographies (nothing we haven’t seen before but interesting as the
vast majority of the cast are pretty much unknown), Music video and TV , Radio
advertisements.
Overall a pretty decent film that I enjoyed watching, a good rental at least and if you
are a fan of the film then there’s no reason it wouldn’t make a good edition to
your DVD library. |
| PICTURE
QUALITY |
8/10 – Very good
transfer |
SOUND
Quality
5.1 WOW Factor |
8/10 – Deep Bass
8/10 - Quite Engrossing |
| EXTRAS |
7/10 – Excellent
amount for special features considering it’s not a "Special Edition" |
Review Equipment
TV: Pioneer SD-T43W1 (16:9 RPTV)
DVD: Toshiba 2109 Region Free
Receiver: Yamaha RXV995 (DD/DTS)
Speakers:-
Fronts: Polk Audio RT55
Centre: Polk Audio CS350
Rears: Polk Audio RT/fx
Sub: M&K MX125
- Review Posted 20th November 2001
* jpeg files for internet
promotion use only. Copyright© exists on all aspects of these files by Univeral Pictures |
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