Rounders
Miramax / 1998 / 120 Mins / Rated MA15+


MOVIE
Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) is a card shark or "Rounder" as they prefer to be called. He has won lots of money and can read the cards and his opponents like a book. After being cleaned out in a poker match he decides to quit.

6 months pass and Mike's best friend Worm (Edward Norton) is getting out of prison. Worm begins his life of rounding again taking the money of unsuspecting card players and generally giving himself a very bad name.

Over time Worm gets himself into trouble and ends up owing money to various types and poor old Mike has to cover all of Worm's losses.

This was a very good character movie which was well acted, well filmed and certainly one of the better films I have seen of late.

VIDEO
The transfer was very sharp throughout. Colors were well rendered and shadow detail was also very good.

There were no MPEG artifacts present and the original film looked pristine.

Rounders is framed at 2:35:1 and is 16:9 enhanced.

This is a Single Sided, Single Layer Disc.

AUDIO

Rounders is encoded in Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround. I listened to the 5.1 soundtrack. It seems to be the norm for Miramax movies to not have a huge surround presence, Rounders is no different. The soundtrack is based towards to front soundstage with minimal surround usage. The .1 channel was not used.

The dialog was clear.

EXTRAS
More quantity than quality here.

Extras Include:
Theatrical Trailer:
Poor quality trailer. Does not sell the movie well.

Cast Notes: There are bios on the main cast. Not very informative.

Interviews: Again snippet interviews from the main cast and director.

Featurette: A 5 minute on the set featurette. It sucks!

Dolby Digital Trailer: The Dolby Canyon Trailer. Excellent.

Subtitles Include:
None

FINAL THOUGHTS
Good movie, good disc.

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 21:17:41 +1100 .

DVD INFORMATION
Region Coding: Region 4
No of Discs: 1
OFLC Rating MA15+
Running Time: 120 Mins
Case Type: Clip Case
Release Date: 21/7/1999
Catalog Number: 1018539
List Price: $34.95
Distributor: Village Roadshow
DISC SPECIFICATIONS
Disc Format: PAL
Disc Type: Picture Disc
Disc Format: SS-SL
Chapters: 28
Macrovision: Yes
Manufacturer: DVM
VIDEO SPECIFICATIONS
Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1
Anamorphic: Yes
Film Format: 35mm
SOUND SPECIFICATIONS
Dolby Digital:

5.1 Surround
2.0 Surround

DTS: None
PCM Stereo: None
Other: None
Languages: English
Subtitles: None
SPECIAL FEATURES
Audio Commentary: None
Theatrical Trailer: Yes
Teaser Trailer: None
TV Spots: None
Dolby Trailer: Canyon
Documentary: Yes
Cast & Crew Bios: Yes
Deleted Scenes: None
Music Videos: None
DVD Rom Content: None
Collectable Booklet: None
Scene Access: Yes
Animated Menus: None
Production Notes: None
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INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE INFO
OFFICIAL WEB SITE
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VIEW TRAILER
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