To the Wonder is the latest film from acclaimed director Terrence Malick, and it is available to rent on iTunes right now, two months before its Blu-ray release. Ben Affleck stars alongside Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem and Rachel McAdams.
Neil (Ben Affleck)
It’s hard to know exactly what to make of the film. Beautifully shot and filled with beautiful people it’s certainly pretty to look at. There are certainly plenty of ideas on show about love and faith, but they are wrapped in a somewhat downbeat package. And I found the ambiguity was ultimately frustrating.
This review is going to focus on the film purely from technical point of view.
iTunes HD Picture
In general the 1080p 2.35:1 ratio picture looks very good. The film was shot on a mixture of digital, 65mma and 35mm film formats and mastered in 4k. Some shots have a fine patter of grain while others are very clean.
Some filtering in some busy shots like this is evident.
The bitrate of the ‘To The Wonder’ hovers between five and eight megabits per second. A few shots appear to be bandwidth limited, and show signs of filtering when there is a lot of very fine detail. A few fast pans in dark shots show some minor macro-blocking, and there a few minor instances of banding.
In general the picture is excellent quality, and unless you are specifically looking for them, you are unlikely to be bothered by the artifacts.
Conclusion
Great: 5/5. Not for everyone, but an excellent presentation of the film. ‘To The Wonder’ on Blu-ray is probably going to top it, but a $6.99 rental from iTunes is pretty reasonable.
iTunes 1080p Screenshots
Marina (Olga Kurylenko) comforts her daughter.
Jane (Rachel McAdams) enjoys a Malick-eqsue sunset in Oklahoma
Marina (Olga Kurylenko) ponders the Wonder
External Links
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