The 'Burbs [Blu-ray]

The 'Burbs has been one of my favorite movies since I was a kid. It seems to have a bit of cult classic status with many people around my age and it made me a life long fan of Bruce Dern (real talk, he is brilliant in this)..I had held off on purchasing this title on Blu Ray because the previous edition was a bare-bones situation with poor reviews on various blu-ray sites. However, when I saw Shout was releasing the title, I decided to go for it. I'm very happy I did. I am a fan of Shout/Scream Factory because they've released so many titles which wouldn't be availible otherwise. That said- the quality can vary from film to film and some transfers are much more impressive than others.The 1080p transfer of The 'Burbs is absolutely exquisite. I cannot believe this movie (which didn't look bad to begin with) has been improved to this degree. The finest of details pop like I've never seen before- In one particular scene where Ray and Art are having a conversation while standing in a garage, you can clearly read the time on Art's wristwatch. That's just one example of how much care has been put into cleaning up and remastering this print. However, the image does not look overly processed and enough grain remains to leave it still looking like a movie.This isn't a movie that demands a hi-def transfer to be enjoyable and unless you really love it, I'm sure the DVD will suffice. If, like myself, this movie holds a special place in your heart, I believe you will be highly satisfied with this release.

Oh man, I needed a good laugh, and this film delivers. Paranoia about non-conformist's strikes the burbs in this Hanks vehicle with the then very hot Carrie Fisher. This film has everything, the military neighbor, the conspiracy neighbor, the laid back cool teenage kid next door neighbor, and of course, the proverbial neighborhood psychotic.I guess from a psychological standpoint this film is designed to satiate fears, anxieties and confirm suspicions about those that live next door to us out in the sub-urban areas of cities. What does your neighbor do next door? Why do they rarely come out of their home? How come you only ever see them once in a while? What are they doing in there?!?!?!Truth be told most people don't care who lives next door, but busy bodies and nosey neighbors need their fears confirmed and vented, and that's kind of what movies are all about, sadly enough.The story is pure 80s Hollywood (maybe 90s), and stars a lot of actors notable from the 70s and 80s who give really good comedic performances. It's got that 80's Hollywood gloss to it as well, and even though it's not one of the more memorable comedies from that era, it actually does deliver the goods in terms of humor and laughs. It's not a rip-roaring wall to wall classic screwball comedy, but it's a pretty decent film.Check it out and enjoy.

The 'Burbs is a summertime gem that blends comedy and horror elements for a perfect mix of fun. It wasn't initially a movie I loved nonetheless. I saw it during its original theatrical release while on my family's annual summer vacation. One of the traditions of this particular vacation trip was going to the cinema. My entire family went to The 'Burbs and since this was a time before the internet we knew very little of what the movie was about except from what was shown during the television spots. Tom Hanks was primarily a comedic actor at that time so I'm remembering we assumed it would be funny. Well, to my embarrassment, I found the horror elements a little too overwhelming as a child so, this being before I could appreciate being terrorized by a movie, I resented The 'Burbs for giving me the "willies". Obviously a couple of years behind being mature enough to grasp the totality of this slightly odd film, I missed out on all the fun that it contains. Joe Dante had already achieved a certain success for blending comedy and horror, most notably in Gremlins. The 'Burbs is kind of complimentary to Gremlins in this way, although The 'Burbs is much more entertaining today to me as an adult. It was thanks to television airings of The 'Burbs while I was in High School that I began to completely enjoy the film and all its warped nuance. The horror elements are often the creation of delusional paranoia created by boredom and shaped by external influence. Urban legends and midnight television scary movies seep into the psyche of mild-mannered family man Ray Peterson played to perfection by Tom Hanks. He is spurred on by his neighbor Art whose wife is out of town and who takes to hanging out at his neighbors' for entertainment, working them up into hysterics with his crackpot theories. Their antics snowball to include the rest of the neighborhood including Lt. Mark Rumsfeld, a retired military commander. The source of their paranoia are the new neighbors, the Klopeks. The movie keeps you guessing to whether the Klopeks are deserving of all this suspicion or not. Are they just misunderstood weirdos or are they maniacal murdering fiends? This is what propels the movie to its climax which answers that question in a satisfying way but leaves the audience to wonder what it actually means. I've found the ending and its implications to be one of the greatest achievements of the film. Perhaps it is all very tongue-in-cheek but it nevertheless provokes consideration on the effects of boredom, paranoia, prejudice, influence of media and neighborhoods or community. But these ideas are buried and perhaps unintended. The plot is simple and the antics are fun. It just lets the characters get nuts in the confines of one location over the course of several days and doesn't overload the audience with backstories and unnecessary elements of story. It is also very much of its time so their is a nostalgia aspect that is worth mentioning. The acting is above par. In addition to the awesomeness of Tom Hanks there is also his wife played by Carrie Fisher, a sensational performance by Bruce Dern as the Lt., a charismatic smaller role for Corey Feldman and of course the Klopeks and all their wonderful creepiness played by Brother Theodore, Henry Gibson and Courtney Gains. But, for me, the real highlight, scene-stealing, stand-out performance goes to Rick Ducommun as Ray Peterson's sidekick Ray. I had not known of Rick Ducommun before I originally saw The 'Burbs in the theater but he is what I remembered most about the movie. Every time I have seen the movie since he always stands out and I like to think of this as his movie rather than Tom Hanks' all due respect. Every second of his portrayal of Art is absolutely and purely enjoyable and funny. I would see Rick Ducommun once in a while after The 'Burbs and recognize him specifically because of his work in it but I would have imagined him winding up in a lot more considering how good he is in this movie. He seemed to be a real talent that did not get the recognition he deserved while he was alive but I will always love his role in The 'Burbs. A fantastic movie for a summer night.

This is quite possibly Tom Hanks's finest movie. Completely under rated, but so hilarious. Great one liners, epic cast, perfectly written characters... I can't say enough good things about this movie. I'm not a huge "Star Wars" fan, so this was my way of paying tribute to Carrie Fisher when she passed away this week.

I gave it 20 minutes--it was slowwwww, uneventful, the characters were cartoonish, and the dialogue was so poorly written. It was hard watching Tom Hanks being subjected to an awful script and storyline. This is one of those forgettable, regrettable movies from the 1980's.

Really pleased when the Arrow Blu-Ray appeared, and the extras made this an essential purchase. How wrong could I be?Putting aside the extras, which we all love, the packaging and new artwork also looks great, let's concentrate on the quality of the movie..... it's a whole different game.The picture is very disappointing. Grainy, overly pink skin tones and colours that look a little muddy throughout. I actually checked my settings thinking I'd hit a button by mistake and wiped out some of the quality. But No! To my mind this looks horrible, and in a direct comparison with the old dvd up-scaled on the player, the dvd wins hands down. Far superior picture, no grain just crisp, clean and smooth colours.If you're able, compare the main titles. The dvd is more sharply focused, as is the opening scene with the paper boy. The blu-ray looked decidedly 'woolly' with again grainy colours.I was actually surprised at how good the dvd looked on playback after being upscaled. Quite frankly, there is no need for the BD apart from viewing the aforementioned extras. Don't be too quick to ditch your old discs, folks.I for one will be selling my Blu-Ray, the quality just doesn't cut it.The 3 stars are for the extras.

I have loved the movie The 'Burbs for as long as I can remember, and already owned it on DVD. However when I discovered this Arrow Films version on Blu-ray with a boat load of additional features, behind the scenes documentary, commentary track, and more - I had to buy it again!Picture quality:There is a couple of screens of information text when you start the movie telling you about how they have restored it from the original film and audio. It's a good job, and does benefit greatly from the cleaned up print, gorgeous saturated colours, and soundtrack. Joe Dante, the director, personally approved the final product. However whether just due to the fact this is a full HD blu-ray, film grain is very obvious the whole way through, and I am surprised they did not do anything about this (maybe there is some reason they couldn't .... film restoration is not my forte!).Features:I really thoroughly enjoyed watching some of the extras. The documentary included is worth the price of the blu-ray alone. Also something interesting that I haven't yet watched but will do is Joe Dante's personal cut of the movie, which until this blu-ray only existed on VHS in Dante's personal collection. It does say the transfer is only as good as the VHS, so will be interesting (!) but I understand the edit is really quite different with totally different opening and endings.Overall:Film grain aside, this really is a top top top notch version of the movie. You can tell from the work done on the movie itself, the curation of all the extras, and even the reversible blu-ray case sleeve with special artwork on one side, that this has been a labour of love.If you love this movie, even if you already own it -- buy this version again. You won't be disappointed.

One of Joe Dante's funniest films with some suspense thrown into the mixTHE BURB'S, excellent writing from Dana olsenvery Funny acting from all the cast, Tom Hanks, Rick Docummon, Corey Feldman, the whole cast is Greatwith of course Great Directing from Joe Dantei used to watch this film lots of times when it was released on DVD years & years agonever ever thought this film would get a blu-ray release until i saw the listing on amazon ukwhat i surprise i Got, this blu-ray special edition by Arrowfilms is incredibleArrow films went the Whole nine yards with this filmThe Theatrical release has been given an excellent blu-ray Transfer in 2K resolutioni only watched some scenes from the Theatrical version to check the picture quality outconsidering i've seen the film so many times on DVDArrowfilms have done a Great Job cleaning up the picture quality from dvd to High Definition 1080the Audio mix is only Master audio stereo, not 5.1 surround sound unfortunatelynow to the special features, man am i excited about the extrasArrow films have produced a brand new 1 hour long Documentary on the making of the filmnew interviews with Joe Dante, D.O.P Robert stevens, Production design James spencerplus actors Core feldman, Wendy Schaal and Courtney Gains who played HansMr Klopek played by Brian Gibson passed away years agounfortunately for some reason Bruce Dern, Tom Hanks, Rick Docummon or Carrie fisher were not interviewedmaybe they weren't available.this Doco is Great, Detailed interviews with Joe Dante is most of the cast and crewhe talks about the Workprint version and other things about the filmthere's an Audio commentary by writer Dana olsen on the Theatrical cutthere is also the UNCUT Workprint version on this blu-ray Disc aswelli never knew there was a workprint version so instead of watching the typical Theatrical cuti watched the Workprint version first, very very enjoyable watching it.a massive difference between this workprint and the Theatricalthe workprint goes for at least 105mins and is Fullscreen only 1:33:1 ratiothe Theatrical cut is only under 90mins with credits includedthe workprint has no credits before and after the film, there is no Burbs title at the beginningthe Workprint has both some scenes from the Theatrical cut mixed with Deleted scenes & extended scenesthere are some scenes that look the same as the Theatrical scenes but Different Dialoguethe Dream sequence where Tom Hanks is Dreaming is also extendedmore footage of the Pagan followers, i prefer this extended Dream scene than the Theatrical cutthe Music score is also different, it does not sound like the Jerry Goldsmith score for the dvd releasethe Heavy metal songs from the dvd release are different on this workprinteg when Corey feldman's Guitar mock scene is on he's playing to a song from THE CULT.there is also a Different ending where you see the Klopek's Get arrested and put in Handcuffsi Could talk about this workprint all day and how Different it is to the DVD releasethe workprint is a completely Different film version that's for sure.this workprint has been transferred Directly from Joe Dante's personal VHS copyso it's a master copy transfer in Fullscreen format 1:33:1, so the picture quality is VHS quality with Mono sound mixbut Arrow films have done a Great Job cleaning up the picture quality little bit to make surethe whole 105mins is watchablei like both versions of the film actuallybut very very interesting Workprint i'll definitely watch it againthere is also a 30page booklet by Kenneth Souza writing about the film, an interesting read.like all Arrow films blu-ray's this is region B locked so any U.S. fans reading this reviewyou'll need a region free blu-ray playerArrow films have gone the whole nine yards with this blu-ray releasethe 2 versions of this film plus 1 hour long Doco on 1 Discit Deserves 5 stars for sure, Definitely worth the cash

This is the film kids looked forward to being on tv and wouldn't shut up about the next day.I think in those days it was a last minute rush rummaging through VHS Tapes looking for a tape to tape a film like the Burbs on that you weren't that botherred about....Only to end up being hollerred at by your Dad when the tape turns out to be a rare concert or an old war film.This film is so bizzare it's hilarious.Bruce Dern's charachter Mr.Rumsfield is the most memorable,but the whole cast worked hard to make one hell of a film.I just don't tire of watching it.5 stars.

How long is it since my last visit? 15 years? Aged well, even more hillarious this time around, with Desperate Housewives etc more or less giving homeage to it. Hanks, Fisher and specially Bruce Dern is excellent, and the BD from Arrow is so damn good you would think it was made yesterday except from Corey Feldmans incredible Bon Jovi hair. Damn good documentary, too