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In Short:Little-seen drama from earlier this year doesn't end up with a special edition, but does get a very beautiful transfer.
The Movie:
The tale of NASA scientist Homer Hickam is brought to life in "October Sky", an adaptation of Hickam's book, "Rocket Boys", by director Joe Johnston("Jumanji"). It's hard to believe that a director like Johnston would choose to helm a picture like this, but he comes away with a successful effort detailing the lives of a group of small town boys who dare to dream.
"October Sky" could have been a terrible film, forcing down the sentiment and turning into just another TV movie-of-the-week. Instead, we get a film full of fully realized characters, well-written dialogue and honest emotions. The score, full of clean, crisp music as well as classic tunes, helps not only to create the mood of the era, but to keep things from being too syrupy and sappy.
The film proceeds to tell the story of how the boys learn about rockets and proceed with the help of their teacher(Laura Dern), all the time under the glances of Homer's dissaproving father and helpful, but staying in the background, mother. The picture is greatly supported by its cast, especially young Jake Gllyhenthal as Homer. The adults, such as Chris Cooper and Laura Dern, also take great steps in making their characters seem real. Combine this with a lack of "hollywood" manipulation for your emotions, and you're left with a strong, inspirational film.
It gets slightly off-track at times as the arguements between father and son veer into becoming a little too dramatic. Overall, though "October Sky" is an excellent feature, a honest tale of small-town dreams realized.
The DVD
VIDEO: Universal has given "October Sky" a beautiful anamorphic transfer, in it's original aspect ratio of 2.35:1(also, a full-frame version is included). Colors are beautiful, pure and clean, capturing the cold blue of the mining town to the deep greens, blues and brown colors of the forest outside the town where the boys launch their rockets. Color saturation is good and flesh tones are natural and accurate throughout.
The image is clean and smooth; a "film-like" transfer with no edge enhancement able to be seen. Detail is excellent throughout, from the indoor scenes in the classroom to the exterior shots of the forests around the town. There are no instances of artifacts such as pixelization or aliasing and there's nothing wrong with the print used, either. With the exception of a few scenes that look slightly too dark, this is a very good transfer by Universal.
SOUND: The Mark Isham score really is the highlight here, sounding very well recorded and pure throughout. The classic tunes sound excellent throughout; clean and clear. Although there isn't that much going on besides the dialogue, the rocket launches sound excellent, as if they're flying around the room. The film also makes good use of thunder, which sounds excellent. A steam engine appears a couple of times in the film, and it sounds as if it's coming straight through the room. Dialogue is consistently natural and clear. A suprisingly effective and entertaining sound mix.
MENUS: Basic, but still beautifully done film-themed main menus.
EXTRAS: A very well-made featurette with interviews from the cast as well as the real Homer Hickam. A commentary by director Joe Johnston was recorded, but strangely, it was left off of the DVD at the last moment. Some early pressings of the disc state that there is a commentary on the disc, but it is not on any of the discs. The trailer and production notes are included.
Final thoughts: A very enjoyable film gets an excellent DVD- I only wish that the commentary recorded by Johnston would have been inlcuded. It's too bad that this film was overlooked by audiences and recieved a poor marketing campaign by Universal, but hopefully it will find a new audience on DVD. Highly recommended.
1-5 SCALE(5 Is The Highest Score)
Film:3.5
Video:4
Audio:4
Extras:3
Menus:2.5
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