About the site
DVD Breakdown was launched on October 9, 2000,
with the aim of establishing a well-designed platform
for reliable reviews, rumors and opinions on matters
directly or indirectly related to movies on DVD. The
site aims to grow into a rich and varied resource
for reviews and opinions based on a single point of
reference. This entails that all reviews and articles
published on the site should emanate a similar view,
rather than a collection of varied voices and opinions.
About the reviews
The reviews all employ the same format: first
there is a Movie Breakdown, followed by a DVD Breakdown.
The bottom of the review provides a link to the movie
entry in the Internet
Movie Database, followed by a link to the movie
entry on DVD
Pricesearch for finding the best online price
on any particular title.
Why a breakdown?
The concept behind the reviews is breaking the items
down into their individual components. The aim is
to make reviews brief, to-the-point and especially
easy to access. If a reader just wants to know what
DVD Breakdown thinks of a movie, he can easily find
the review, and the same goes for any other part of
the breakdown.
Movie Breakdown
The first critical item on the page is the Movie Breakdown.
Some DVD reviewers appear to be so in love with the
medium, that they are sometimes blinded to the fact
that although a 2-disc Special Edition may come loaded
to the hilt with special features, the movie may still
be awful. DVD Breakdown aims to provide reviews that
illustrate how mediocre or bad movies may become more
interesting through the addition of extra features,
but that the movie itself must still be able to stand
on its own legs and be judged by its own merits. The
Movie Breakdown consists of the following items:
A memorable quote is chosen by the reviewer that
is either one of the best, the worst or the most
typical lines from the movie in question. Some quotes
incorporate an entire sequence of dialogue, but
most are no more than a single line.
The Plot Summary is the shortest possible description
of what the movie is about. It is usually limited
to a single, short sentence.
The Review consists of two paragraphs in which one
angle is chosen to discuss some points of the film.
Reviews attempt to find an angle that hasn't yet
been discussed to death but that still yield some
interesting perspectives on the movie.
DVD Breakdown
The DVD Breakdown provides an overview of what is
available on the DVD, from sound and image quality
to menu design and version information. This section
illustrates what the DVD format adds to the movie
experience, and what items and versions of a title
are available in Region 1 and Region 2. The DVD Breakdown
consists of the following items:
Version Control lists the available versions of
a title for Region 1 and Region 2. Releases can
sometimes be confusing, and different versions often
have different features and image quality. This
section aims to elucidate these matters.
This section offers a critical discussion of the
picture and sound quality on a particular release.
This section doesn't list all available sound formats
and language options - these are easily found on
other resources available on the Web. DVD Breakdown
only reviews releases that are presented in their
original aspect ratio, unless no other release is
available. If a disc includes a pan-and-scan fullscreen
version besides the widescreen version, the review
will deal only with the widescreen version. The
best available sound option is discussed, with the
exception of DTS releases. A review of a release
that includes both a Dolby 2.0 'Surround' and a
Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack for instance will only
discuss the 5.1 mix unless there is a clear reason
that would suggest otherwise.
This section critically discusses the menu screen
design and navigational issues (if any). Most reviews
also feature screenshots of the main menu screen.
Added Value discusses what extra features are available
on a release, and how these features enrich the
viewing experience. Again, the review does not aim
to provide the most complete list of available features,
these are easily found in other online resources.
Instead, this section aims to illustrate clearly
what extra value is available from the features
that are included on the disc (if any), and sometimes
what features are clearly missing from a release.
The Ratings Game
All movies reviewed receive a DVD Breakdown rating.
Similar to the reviews themselves, the ratings are
broken down into a few separate items:
- Movie - rates the movie itself
- Image -rates the picture quality
of the DVD
- Sound - rates the sound quality
- Extras - rates the extra features
available on the DVD
- Total - the total rating
for the DVD release in question. The total rating
is DVD Breakdown's final judgment of the whole DVD
package. Individual category ratings are for reference
only and are not necessarily calculated into the
final rating.
Credits and Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Alysa Habraken and Dimitri van Oijen,
who designed and implemented the site's search function.
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