Murder of Crows [P&S]

Sterling's addition in the Millennium Series, A Murder of Crows, has its highs and lows. The picture quality is good but quite grainy. That, with looking a bit soft, often makes watching this film rather distracting. There's rarely a moment where lines seem truly defined. It's not unwatchable by any means, just not up to higher standards and expectations. At times, there's also a fair amount of aliasing that might have been improved with an anamorphic transfer. Bright colors often seem muted due to the grain. The image is framed at 1.85:1. This disc has a four-channel surround soundtrack. Viewers of this disc, if using Dolby Digital, need to turn off the digital tuner and change it to Dolby Pro-Logic to get anything beyond a two-channel track. There is some surround material, but it's very minimal. It's a good soundtrack with the dialogue square in the middle, but it lacks imagination. The extra materials on Millennium titles are a good reason by themselves for watching the disc, and here they are plentiful. There are two commentaries, one from the director and producer and one from stars Tom Berenger and Mark Pellegrino. The first commentary is interesting, with anecdotal information on making the film. The second isn't as interesting. The two stars don't seem very sure what to talk about and there is a little too much time with nothing going on. There is also a brief documentary on the makeup used in the film, some trivia dealing with the legal profession and other, more standard extras, including trailers.