THE
DISH ($20) is a sweetly comic film
that takes a lighthearted approach in its depiction of a little known
aspect of a very well known historic event. Man's first landing on the
moon is shown from the perspective of a group of faraway participants
in this monumental achievement. Set in Australia, THE DISH tells
the story of the team manning a radio telescope in the middle of a sheep
paddock in the land down under. As it turns out, the radio telescope is
the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and is chosen by NASA to carry
the broadcast of man's first walk on the moon to the rest of the world.
Unfortunately,
in the middle of the space flight, the radio telescope breaks down, leaving
the Australian team scrambling to come up with a solution to the problem
before the people at NASA become aware of the situation. Heading up the
delightful cast of THE DISH is Sam Neal, who portrays the laid
back scientist in charge of the Australian team. Patrick Warburton turns
in a fun performance as a somewhat stiff and by the book of NASA engineer
that find himself in the middle of a potentially disastrous situation,
one which could prevent the people of Earth from witnessing the first
moon walk. The cast of THE DISH also includes Kevin Harrington,
Tom Long, Genevieve Mooy, Tayler Kane, Bille Brown and Roy Billing.
Warner
Home Video has made THE DISH available on DVD in a 1.78:1 wide
screen presentation that features the anamorphic enhancement for 16:9
displays. Warner has provided THE DISH with a very nice transfer.
In general, the image on the DVD is sharp and well defined, especially
during daylight scenes. However, darker sequences and dimly lit interiors
tend to be a bit softer and less detailed. Colors are nicely saturated,
plus the flesh tones are reproduced quite naturally. Neither chrome noise,
nor smearing caused any concern in the rendering of the most intense hues.
Blacks are accurately rendered and the level of shadow detail is quite
respectable. The film element used to transfer does displays some blemishes,
however, none of them are particularly distracting. This cleanly authored
DVD doesn't exhibit any overt signs of digital compression artifacts.
The
Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack is pleasant sounding, but won't tax
anyone's home theater set up. Owing to the fact that THE DISH is
a dialogue driven film, there are few opportunities for overt sound effect
placement. However, there is one key sequence in the film where the effects
are rather well deployed. Surround usage is kind of limited during the
course of the film, except for that one sequence. For the most part, the
track has a clean open quality that gives the film's dialogue and music
an effortless quality. Voices are well recorded and the film's dialogue
is always completely understandable. The bass channel is given relatively
little to do, except for a reinforcing some of the film’s sound effects.
There are no other language tracks on the DVD, however subtitles are provided
in English French and Spanish. Music underscores the basic interactive
menus, which provide one with access to the standard scene selection and
set up features, as well as a theatrical trailer and cast filmographies.
THE
DISH is a highly enjoyable little film, which many folks may have
overlooked or didn't have the chance to see during its limited theatrical
run. Warner’s disc release looks and sounds quite good, so if you missed
the film in the theater, you will definitely want to check THE DISH
on DVD.
THE
DISH ($20) is a sweetly comic film
that takes a lighthearted approach in its depiction of a little known
aspect of a very well known historic event. Man's first landing on the
moon is shown from the perspective of a group of faraway participants
in this monumental achievement. Set in Australia, THE DISH tells
the story of the team manning a radio telescope in the middle of a sheep
paddock in the land down under. As it turns out, the radio telescope is
the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and is chosen by NASA to carry
the broadcast of man's first walk on the moon to the rest of the world.
Unfortunately,
in the middle of the space flight, the radio telescope breaks down, leaving
the Australian team scrambling to come up with a solution to the problem
before the people at NASA become aware of the situation. Heading up the
delightful cast of THE DISH is Sam Neal, who portrays the laid
back scientist in charge of the Australian team. Patrick Warburton turns
in a fun performance as a somewhat stiff and by the book of NASA engineer
that find himself in the middle of a potentially disastrous situation,
one which could prevent the people of Earth from witnessing the first
moon walk. The cast of THE DISH also includes Kevin Harrington,
Tom Long, Genevieve Mooy, Tayler Kane, Bille Brown and Roy Billing.
Warner
Home Video has made THE DISH available on DVD in a 1.78:1 wide
screen presentation that features the anamorphic enhancement for 16:9
displays. Warner has provided THE DISH with a very nice transfer.
In general, the image on the DVD is sharp and well defined, especially
during daylight scenes. However, darker sequences and dimly lit interiors
tend to be a bit softer and less detailed. Colors are nicely saturated,
plus the flesh tones are reproduced quite naturally. Neither chrome noise,
nor smearing caused any concern in the rendering of the most intense hues.
Blacks are accurately rendered and the level of shadow detail is quite
respectable. The film element used to transfer does displays some blemishes,
however, none of them are particularly distracting. This cleanly authored
DVD doesn't exhibit any overt signs of digital compression artifacts.
The
Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack is pleasant sounding, but won't tax
anyone's home theater set up. Owing to the fact that THE DISH is
a dialogue driven film, there are few opportunities for overt sound effect
placement. However, there is one key sequence in the film where the effects
are rather well deployed. Surround usage is kind of limited during the
course of the film, except for that one sequence. For the most part, the
track has a clean open quality that gives the film's dialogue and music
an effortless quality. Voices are well recorded and the film's dialogue
is always completely understandable. The bass channel is given relatively
little to do, except for a reinforcing some of the film’s sound effects.
There are no other language tracks on the DVD, however subtitles are provided
in English French and Spanish. Music underscores the basic interactive
menus, which provide one with access to the standard scene selection and
set up features, as well as a theatrical trailer and cast filmographies.
THE
DISH is a highly enjoyable little film, which many folks may have
overlooked or didn't have the chance to see during its limited theatrical
run. Warner’s disc release looks and sounds quite good, so if you missed
the film in the theater, you will definitely want to check THE DISH
on DVD.
