Message In A Bottle
Warner Bros. / 1999 / 126 Mins / Rated PG

MOVIE
Well here we go, yet another weepie Kevin Costner movie, but this one is at least good.

Theresa Osborne (Robin Wright Penn) is a lonely divorced researcher for the Chicago Tribune. While on holiday she finds a bottle washed up on shore with a message in it. After several other messages turn up she decides she wants to meet the man who wrote them. After a long search the author is found and she decides to meet him.

Theresa goes down to North Carolina to meet Garrett (Kevin Costner) who is a lonely widowed ship builder. A connection develops between the two of them and a relationship grows. This is a great movie, wonderfully filmed and acted, look for a great performance by Paul Newman as Garrett's father.

VIDEO
This is probably the best video transfer I have seen from Warner Bros. in a long time. The colors were spot on perfect with no over saturation. The picture was incredibly sharp also, it just makes the cinematography even more spectacular.

No MPEG artifacts were present. The original print is also clean, but this would be expected for a movie made this year.

Message In A Bottle is framed at 2:35:1 and is 16:9 enhanced.

This is an RSDL disc. I couldn't find the layer change so it's a smooth change.
AUDIO

This is a lovely sounding movie. The Disc is encoded in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound in English and Italian. The movie is a dialog movie and as such is primarily staged to the frontal soundstage. When the surrounds are used they are used very effectively and discreetly to create a very soft flowing sound field that isn't in your face that really comes into life towards the end of the movie.

The dialog was always clear throughout.
EXTRAS
A disc with a moderate set of extras.

Theatrical Trailer: A very good theatrical trailer framed a 1:85:1 that is 16:9 enhanced with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Audio Commentary: Director. This is a commentary featuring Luis Mandoki. This is one of the best tracks I have heard. Other directors should take note of this guy, he really knows how to impart a huge amount of info about moviemaking

Deleted Scenes: Basically a set of deleted or extended scenes that you can select with or without director's commentary.

Subtitles Include: English, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Closed Captioned.

This disc has a good set of extras, it's good to see Warner Bros. getting there act together again.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Great movie, excellent picture and sound. Great extras. Well worth the money and great value.
16:9 ENHANCEMENT DISC RATING

VIDEO:
AUDIO:
EXTRAS:
PLOT:
OVERALL:

REVIEW EQUIPMENT
Display: 48" Sony RPTV.
DVD Player: Panasonic A350 Player using S-Video Cables.
Receiver: Pioneer VSX-D508 Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround.
Speakers: Accusound speaker system.

Copyright © 2000 by [Roger Ward].
Revised: 25 May 2000 19:02:47 +1100 .

DVD INFORMATION
Region Coding: Region 4
No of Discs: 1
OFLC Rating PG
Running Time: 126 Mins
Case Type: Snapper Case
Release Date: 18/10/1999
Catalog Number: 16989
List Price: $34.95
Distributor: Warner Bros.
DISC SPECIFICATIONS
Disc Format: PAL
Disc Type: Picture Disc
Disc Format: SS-RSDL
Chapters: 35
Macrovision: Yes
Manufacturer: WAMO
VIDEO SPECIFICATIONS
Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1
Anamorphic: Yes
Film Format: 35mm
SOUND SPECIFICATIONS
Dolby Digital:

5.1 Surround
DTS: None
PCM Stereo: None
Other: None
Languages:

 English
Italian
Subtitles: Yes
SPECIAL FEATURES
Audio Commentary: Yes
Theatrical Trailer: Yes
Teaser Trailer: None
TV Spots: None
Dolby Trailer: None
Documentary: None
Cast & Crew Bios: None
Deleted Scenes: None
Music Videos: None
DVD Rom Content: None
Collectable Booklet: None
Scene Access: Yes
Animated Menus: None
Production Notes: None
PURCHASE THIS DISC ONLINE

INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE INFO
OFFICIAL WEB SITE
NONE
VIEW TRAILER
NONE