- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Czech Dolby Digital 5.1, French DTS 5.1, German DTS 5.1, Hungarian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, Italian DTS 5.1, Polish Dolby Digital 5.1, Polish Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, Russian DTS 5.1, Spanish (Castilian) 5.1, Spanish (Latin American) Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
- Subtitles: English SDH, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Romanian, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin American), Swedish, Thai, Turkish
- Rating: R
- Region: A (B? C?)
- Discs: 1
- Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: February 15, 2011
- List Price: $19.99
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BestBuy.com:
Purchase Rain Man on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
The Film
[Rating:5/5]
This winner of 4 Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Actor/Dustin Hoffman, Best Original Screenplay) in 1988 finally arrives on Blu-ray from 20th Century Fox/MGM. A heartwarming film about a journey, both literally and emotionally, I challenge anyone to watch Rain Man without having a tear come to their eye.
Tom Cruise in one of his best roles of the 1980s, plays Charlie Babbitt, a man who has been estranged form his rich father for years. When his father dies, Charlie finds out that he has a brother, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), who has been hospitalized in a psychiatric institution for years. Raymond, suffering from autism, is in a world of his own, but has a penchant for numbers and a great memory.
In order to get half of the three-million dollars that his father left in trust to Raymond, Charlie takes Raymond out of the institution with plans to take him back to California, fight for his custody, and trade him for the money. But Ray won’t get on an airplane and throws a fit in the airport, so Charlie has to drive all the way from Cincinnati back to California, with his burgeoning high-end car dealership on the cusp of going under.
Thus begins a journey of discovery, for both Charlie and Raymond that draws Charlie out of his self-centered world of greed and grudges and grants Raymond experiences in the real world he never dreamed of.
Rain Man is a touching, beautiful, and poignant drama with excellent acting all around that will reach down into your chest and touch your heart and soul.
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
One wouldn’t expect a film from 1988 to look like it was made yesterday, but some restorations definitely look better than others. Rain Man doesn’t look like its restoration was a major undertaking. Its image alternates between soft and acceptably detailed. Grain structure alternates between a bit large and medium-sized, but it always maintains a film-like appearance. Flesh tones look a little too reddish at times, but overall color saturation is strong, with consistent color and dark blacks.
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
There’s not much going on with the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. It basically sounds like a reprocessed stereo mix, but there is a good amount of ambient effects in the surround channels and subtle use of the subwoofer with clean dialogue.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Although all video supplements are only in SD, which is disappointing, there are three separate audio commentaries offered, which makes this a pretty strong release for those who like lots of supplements on their discs.
The supplements provided with this release are:
- Audio Commentary by Director Barry Levinson
- Audio Commentary by Writer Barry Morrow
- Audio Commentary by Writer Ronald Bass
- The Journey of Rain Man (1.85:1; 480i/60; 0:22.07) – Barry Levinson and other producers discuss the long and arduous journey it took to bring Rain Man to the screen.
- Lifting the Fog: A Look at the Mysteries of Autism (1.85:1; 480i/60; 0:20.13)
- Deleted Scene (1.33:1; 480i/60)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:02.13)
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:4/5]
This is what classic filmmaking is all about. The 1980s are often looked upon as a decade of excess where nothing really great was created. How true that is depends on your perspective I suppose, but Rain Man is an 80s film all the way and it is one of the greats to grace the big screen.
Additional Screen Captures:
[amazon-product align=”right”]B004GGQMRY[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Rain Man on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
