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 UMD Awards 2005
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The logo on top has a MiniDisc as it's mascot...let us hope UMDs don't suffer the same fate. But let us also hope these UMDs listed below do.  Worst Video Transfer-Terminator 2: Judgement Day Runner up: Robots Lion's Gate (now known as Lionsgate) has made some great UMDs so far, but their first releases left something to be desired. The transfer for T2 is horrible, and badly overcompressed. Many scenes look like a GIF image, making some of the actor's faces look like they're covered in makeup. In some scenes the outline of scenes are "doubled" in a way that makes it look like I'm watching it on an old Sanyo 12" TV with antenna reception. And to add insult to injury, the film is cropped to 1.78...yeesh. Robots comes in a distant second, but is still very disappointing. The whole film is tinted in blue, which restrict the colors from leaping out and prevent a really vivid image. What we're left with is a movie that just doesn't look good on the PSP, and considering the film itself is mastered digitally and looks fantastic on DVD, this is a little more than disappointing. Frustrating is more like it.  Worst Audio Experience-I, Robot Runner up: Predator Like I said before, the first wave of titles from any company is bound to not be all that great. I, Robot is so quiet, you'll have an extremely hard time listening to this movie, especially with the PSP onboard speakers. And all of the action scenes go by without delivering any bang or intense sound whatsoever. Predator has the same problem. So...quiet...must...struggle...to...listen!  Worst Presentation-Dawn of the Dead Runner up: Hellraiser Such a milestone in the history of horror movies, though you wouldn't know it with the way the UMD was done. You get a menu with play and...that's it. Heck, the picture they use for the menu isn't even good...it's a still of a zombie that looks more lost then hungry for flesh. We get absolutely nothing cool from the 4-disc DVD set...just the movie, nothing more. Hellraiser is the same, but the title acutally has the logo zooming in and out, so that's progress I guess. Woo.  Most Disappointing Studio of the Year-Paramount Studios Runner up: Sony Entertainment Paramount has one of the best library of titles in terms of movies AND TV shows, but the way they have handled their UMD releases leave much to be desired. All of their movies have zero extras, and do not even have the basic functions you would come to expect in even the most bare-bones DVD on the market (like, oh, a chapter selection). Just the movie and subtitles...nothing else. Not only that, but their TV show releases are nothing more than "samplers" that contain 5-6 shows. Now, some of these (such as the South Park: When Technology Attacks! UMD) turned out fine, but many TV samplers lack complete cohesiveness, such as the terrible Chappelle's Show UMD or the Viva La Bam UMD, which was only 2 episodes shy of a complete first season. Why does Paramount continue to shortchange the consumer? Hopefully their upcoming South Park Season 1 UMD boxset release will turn the studio around like the Family Guy UMD boxset did for Fox. Sony also crops films and continues to deliver the EXACT same menu on all their UMDs without any kind of extra features. Considering this is their format to begin with, you'd think they would be making an example for all studios to follow. And what's with the strange selection of releases? Give me the Critic or Seinfeld on UMD, not the complete first season of Good Times for heaven's sake!  WTF Award-Chain Reaction Runner up: Sanford and Son: The Complete First Season The WTF award is for the UMD releases no one asked for, that nobody really cared about on DVD and certainly didn't care about a UMD release. Therefore I have to ask WTF was Fox thinking when, in their vast library of potential movies to release on UMD, they chose Chain Reaction. Not only was it poorly recieved in the box office and DVD, but it was quickly passed over on UMD as well. Could it have been the high $30 price? The lack of any special features? Perhaps the crapola movie that was on the UMD in the first place? Yeah, that's it. Runner-up goes to the first Sony TV boxset (3 UMD discs)...Sanford and Son. Now, I can admit there is an audience for Sanford and Son. But jeez, why the hell do we get Sanford and Son before any other Sony owned TV series, like Seinfeld or even Married with Children? Bah.  Missed Opportunity Award-The 40 Year Old Virgin Runner up: Tommy Boy It seems that more and more new releases on DVD are also released on UMD the same day. That's why we ask... why Universal miss the opportunity for the 40 Year Old Virgin on UMD? It would seem like a perfect film to grace the PSP screen... but unfortunately as of now there are no plans to release it on the PSP. Phooey. 2005 also saw a DVD double dip for Tommy Boy: Holy Shnikes Edition, but no coninciding UMD release. I have no idea why the two studios didn't get these two films on UMD, but now that the DVD is released a UMD release in the future seems a bit uncertain. Here's hoping we're wrong.  Worst TV-UMD of the Year-Chappelle's Show: Season 1 Vol. 1 Runner up: Spider-Man: The New Animated Series Chappelle's Show was the funniest show around back when it was going strong, and led very strong DVD sales as it continued with season 2. There are some great season 1 moments, such as the Real World sketch and Tyrone's intervention. Then there was the History Channel's look in the inner city gang wars, Trading Spouses, etc. You'll get none of those sketches on this UMD however. Instead of going for the golden opportunity of putting all of the classic season 1 sketches on one UMD, Paramount opted instead to put the first five shows from the DVD to UMD. That's it. Oh, you'll get the fantastic blind white supremacist sketch. But 2 of the 5 shows aren't even that great. What a completely wasted opportunity. Do not buy this UMD. The Spider-Man Animated Series comes in second for the fact that it has only three episodes and no extras. That's right, 3 episodes for a grand total of 64 minutes. And that includes the credits too. I'd chalk it up to the first TV-UMD gone horribly wrong from Sony and nothing more, except another volume is planned with the same amount of "value." Yeesh.  Worst UMD of the Year-Blood: The Last Vampire Here it is folks, the worst UMD of the year. After multiple UMDs that have nothing more than the movie itself with not even any subtitles, how can this be considered THE worst out of all? Ah, there are plenty of reasons. Let's start with the video and audio. I'll let Sofdec (resident Anime expert) take over: "Blood does feature its original Audio track (Taking place during the mid-1960's in Japan, featuring American Military, the audio features both English Dialog as well as Japanese Dialog (with english subtitles) combined into one audio track, switching back and forth - no problems here)), unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the Video. While the colors look slightly better than Ghost, it has that distinct washed-out look present within this one as well - Black levels are just as bad. To top it off, the way its presented is also a complete mess. If you've ever watched a Fullscreen DVD on a Widescreen TV (or a TV-Show on UMD) you're probably familiar with the way that it will automatically place black bars on the left and right side of the picture to keep its aspect ratio - Blood the Last Vampire, a Widescreen movie, does this as well - essentially placing 1" black bars on the left and right of the picture, and 3/4" bars on the top and bottom of it." That's right folks. A non-anamorphic UMD that cannot be played on anything else other than a widescreen PSP. Where is the logic? Ah, but that's not all. Manga Entertainment, in all its wisdom, decided to copy over the DVD artwork on the front and back of the DVD to the UMD case. Now, that's not a big deal at all- in fact, nearly every single UMD movie release does this. But I bet other companies don't copy over the DVD special features as well.  There's a picture of the back of the case, clearly stating the bonus documentary on the UMD. Except it's not on there. It certainly isn't on the menu, as there's only one selection...Play. It isn't at the end of the movie. It is not on this UMD, and that's a blatent case of false advertising if I ever saw one. And the running time? 45 minutes. Yes folks, all of these reasons makes it clear why Blood: The Last Vampire is the worst UMD release this year. Shed a tear for all those who bought it unknowingly. Go back to pspmoviereviews.net>> |