A League of Their Own - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

A League of Their Own



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
This is something new for Sony. Usually these 4K re-releases where Sony adds Dolby Vision to an already released 4K UHD disc gets a steelbook release, but this is one of THE rare instances where Sony has decided to give us the re-release in a standard package set. Which to be fair, is not a bad thing as Steelbooks are not always loved by anyone who is not a collector. But that minor eyebrow raise aside, I’m glad to check this out as I missed out on reviewing the 2020 4K disc for you guys a few years back.

During the heights of World War II America was severely depleted of it’s male resources, forcing women to head into male dominated jobs to take over until their husbands, brothers and sons got home to keep the wheels of commerce going. However, the civilian world needed more than just laborers to keep food on the table. They also needed entertainment to keep the spirits up, and America’s greatest sport was no longer on the table as a large majority of the players had turned in their baseball uniforms for military ones.

However, Candy mogul Walter Harvey (Garry Marshall) his brilliant compatriot Ira Lowenstein (David Strathairn) have thought of an ingenious solution. Women have stepped into many a role during the wartime effort to keep the wheels turning, why can’t an all women team step up to the plate (literally and figuratively) and keep the sports arena alive as well. At first this seems insane. While work is one thing, Baseball is almost a sacred American tradition. One that requires ages of practice to master, and requires a very unique skill set. But buck the odds they will as Ira and Walter recruit a motley crew of talented young ladies who have been over shadowed by their male peers for years in what could possibly be the biggest bomb of all times, or a surprising upset.

While a whole league has been created, the film focuses its story on a single team, the Rockford Peaches. Managed by former major league slugger Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks), the team of young women are off to a rocky start. First of the recruits is firebrand Dottie (Geena Davis) and her sassy sister Kit (Lori Petty, most notable for playing Keanu’s love interest in Point Break). Both of them form the basis for the team, and accompany headhunter Ernie Capadino) in their mission to pick out the best of the best for the league. But despite their best efforts, things are still shaky on the field. The women have to learn to play in a traditionally mens sport, for a manager who’s only job lately has been to not kill himself with the copious amount of alcohol he’s been guzzling, and also turn the very skeptical crowd of baseball fans minds around over the idea of “girls can’t play baseball”!

A League of Their Own combines a solid blending of comedy, sports drama, and social commentary about what a woman can and can not do in the world. There’s a heavy element of sports drama throughout, but the undertones really focus on kindness, changing misconceptions, and also accentuating how one must change your approach in dealing with women if you want similar results to the mens league. The story itself is sweet and kind, foregoing lots of the cloying “girl boss” tropes of today’s films, and instead focuses on what makes the women unique from the men, while still showcasing the fact that they can compete as well. Something which feels like a breathe of fresh air after having to slog through what has been what I consider to be one of the worst 4-5 years of film making in that genre.

One of the most important and defining characteristics of the film is the friendship and closeness of the girls in the team. There’s an actual sense of camaraderie and intimacy in their relationships, as the girls form some genuine bonds that makes the audience cheer nearly as loud as the ballgame fans, watching the women rise from underdogs to national champions in such a short time. I usually hate Rosie O’Donnell in her films, and Madonna has never been a fantastic actor, but both of them really shine in their supporting roles, while Hanks and Davis give incredible performances as well. Each of the women come from different areas of the country, and they give a dazzling performance in terms of replicating the different areas they come from, and mimic not only the accents and look of the period, but also the attitude as well. The end result? A film that is warm and kind, yet exhilarating and inspiring even 32 years later. I’m not a big baseball fan (sorry, Football is my love) but I was on the edge of my seat watching the Peaches battle it out for the finals.




Rating:

Rated PG for Language




4K Video: Video:

As I stated above, I wasn’t able to review the film when it came out in 2020, and that was because it was exclusive to the original Columbia Classics Collection set before it went out of print. As such I can’t exactly compare to the 2020 disc, but judging by every other Sony Re-Release with added Dolby Vision, the differences between the DV and HDR discs are likely to be minuscule. Sony does an amazing job with their encodes, and HDR or DV is never the deciding the factor for fantastic vs. “ok”.

That being said, the disc looks fantastic in 4K 2160p! The film has a unique visual aesthetic, given a heavy grain structure and a slightly diffused look that imitate the WWII era. Colors are slightly warmer with a definite red push to everything, and there’s a few soft spots that are designed to look hazy on purpose from what I remember of the original DVD extras. But those visual quirks aside, the 2160p image is utterly fantastic, with a lovely grain texture that is rich and organic, without any swarming or overly aggressive layering. Fine details are superb, with pinpoint precision and fine detailing that absolutely blows the 20th Anniversary Blu-ray I had on the shelf out of the water. The old Blu-ray looked “good”, but this thing is absolutely perfection. Faces are distinct and defined, with individual creases and dirt smears replicated in razor sharp detail. Contrast and skin tones appear to be more accurate than the aging Blu-ray, and I also noticed black levels were much deeper and richer. Plus the Dolby Vision application is AMAZING. The peach reds the girls wear really pop, as does the luscious greens of the baseball field. There’s a couple of minor soft spots in dugout, but that’s under a mixture of the weird diffused look that was applied to the film mixed with a dusky low light dugout. Overall this is one of the best looking 4K discs I’ve seen in a while.







Audio:

I haven’t seen the movie since the Blu-ray days, but the new Dolby Atmos track that Sony ensconced on the 4K UHD disc is simply superb. It’s a rich and vibrant track that utilizes every channel in your home theater with an absolute metric ton of activity. The film may not SEEM like such a highly active mix, but with all of the baseball activity it’s literally a cornucopia of ambient surround activity. Fans screaming in the background, the crack of the ball as it whistle overhead, and a spacious sense of direction that makes you shift in your chair as you hear something literally move around the room with pinpoint accuracy. There’s a crisp sense of immersion with with the musical score, and the dialog is above reproach. Bass is tight and powerful, and while it may not be that heavy rumble of an action movie, is still quite present throughout the entire mix. This is an amazingly natural and agile track, and one of the most balanced mixes I’ve heard this year alone.







Extras:

4K UHD Disc
• Domestic Theatrical Trailer
• 5 International Teasers & Trailers

Blu-ray Disc
• Feature Commentary with Director Penny Marshall and Actresses Lori Petty, Tracy Reiner and Megan Cavanagh
• Nine Memorable Innings Documentary
• Deleted Scenes
• The Enduring Legacy of A League of Their Own
• 3 Episodes from the 1993 TV series, "A League of Their Own"
• "This Used to Be My Playground" Music Video by Madonna

Final Score: ​

Sony has always been a crowd pleaser with their 4K UHD releases, and A League of Their Own is no exception to that rule. The 4K UHD disc is simply stunning on the technical front, and the movie itself is a gem that still warrants plenty of re watches in my opinion. I was extremely sad that I missed out on purchasing the Columbia Classics Collection Vol 1 back in the day, but I’m really glad that Sony is slowly trickling out the films individually for those of us who only wanted 1 or 2 films from the set. Highly recommended as a GREAT watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell, Megan Cavanagh
Directed by: Penny Marshall
Written by: Kim Wilson, Kelly Candaele, Lowell Ganz
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0, French, (Canada), French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish DD 5.1, Hungarian DD 2.0, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai DD Mono
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Thai
Studio: Sony
Rated: PG
Runtime: 128 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: September 3rd 2024

Recommendation: Great Watch