The Fabelmans - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Fabelmans



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


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Movie
While Spielberg has been a major driving force behind the camera for multiple generations, this is the first time that we actually get to see him in front of the camera (in a sense) as a film’s subject matter. The Fabelmans is a sort of semi biographical film about Steven Spielberg’s early life and rise to film maker, and showcasing his life long love of moving pictures. Co written by long time collaborator Tony Kushner, The Fabelmans is basically Spielberg’s love letter to the movies, and a look back on his early life with a sort of fondness and irony.

Sammy Fabelman’s (Gabriel LaBelle and Mateo Zoryan Francis-DeFord at various times) life is forever altered when his father Burt (Paul Dano) takes him to see The Greatest Show on Earth at his local cinema. He’s fascinated by the train wreck in the film, and becomes obsessed with the idea of train wrecks and crashes. His mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams) offers a sort of compromise over continually crashing expensive model trains. She can film his models in a wreck, thus preserving the moment forever, allowing Sammy to relive the moment over and over again. At this moment young Sammy began a love affair with motion pictures and the ability to capture reality on celluloid.

Making amateur movies with his friends, he soon delights and astonishes everyone around him with his short film. The kid has obvious skills, and even learns how to make rudimentary special effects and elevate his attempts into a new Status. However, Sammy’s life changes and molds his direction around him as he has to deal with his own demons, his mother’s descent into mental illness, and a daunting task of actually entering into Hollywood and finding someone who would actually back him.

Spielberg goes all out here, assembling an absolutely stellar ensemble caste of actors, including a near unrecognizable Seth Rogen in a straight man role, Paul Dano doing an amazing job as Burt Fabelman, Judd Hirsch, and Michelle Williams to flesh out the movie. But like few of Spielberg’s films, The Fabelmans is not a huge spectacle. This is not another Polar Express or Jurassic Park in front of us. Instead it’s a densely layered narrative that is high on plot and low on flashiness. While it’s not going to be a masterpiece (I know the movie is being gushed about by professional critics, but I firmly put the movie in the “really good but not great” category), the flick is sweet and very personal. Outside of super serious stuff like Schlindler’s List I’d say it’s the most personal film the director to date.

The Fabelman’s is a full 2.5 hours long (plus a few seconds), but I really didn’t check the run time on my player except for a single moment. The slow paced character drama moves by so quickly that I couldn’t believe it had been almost 2 hours before I DID check the time. Dano and Mateo do a masterful job during Sammy’s formative years, and I really have to hand it to Seth Rogen for going serious again. It’s sweet, fun, and really a wonderful love letter to old school Hollywood without being sanctimonious (cough Babylon cough).




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for Drug Use, Brief Violence, Some Strong Language, Thematic Elements




4K Video: Video:

The 2160p presentation is a solid upgrade over the already excellent 1080p Blu-ray with sharper clarity and a more precise look to the stylized film. The yellows and ambers pop just a little more, and the added sharpness and background clarity makes the Blu-ray look almost smooth and slightly over brightened as a result. Fine details are really nice, showcasing better background textures and deeper blacks that allow more intimate details in the darker shots. The use of HDR/DV is unsurprisingly excellent, really making those shadows pop and the colors that much more saturated. The film is slightly stylized with an amber/wheat glow to make it look older, but there are still plenty of primary shots that will “pop” in bright daylight scenes. As usual, a Spielberg films gets a stunning video release by Universal, and is near perfect.







Audio:

I was actually surprised by the 7.1 Dolby TrueHD track on the disc. Not because it’s bad (in fact it’s great), it’s just that I was expecting an Atmos track or a 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix as 7.1 releases are becoming less and less common on their own (instead of just being the core track for an Atmos package). It’s still quite good though, with a ton of surround effects (such as that tornado or the trains rattling around their tracks), and bass response is impeccably decent. Solid low end with some nice ambient effects throughout, accompanied by some great dialog lodged up in the center front of the room.







Extras:

• The Fabelmans: A Personal Journey
• Family Dynamics
• Crafting the World of The Fabelmans
• Original Trailer

Final Score: ​

Spielberg movies, while not nearly as good as the younger years of the prolific director, are still nothing short of a spectacle. The Fabelmans is low on gigantic spectacle, but high on plot, and a very meaty one at that. I’m not sure it captures movie magic as much as past efforts, but it’s a fun drama that isn’t as esoteric as The Polar Express, nor as serious and amazing as Schindler’s List, but it is a gripping and engrossing drama nonetheless. The 4K UHD disc is very impressive, with a great audio and video scoring, along with some mild extras. I’d say it’s worth checking out, but be warned it’s a hefty 2.5 hour drama and not a fast moving one at that.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Michelle Williams, Judd Hirsch, Paul Dano, Seth Rogan, Keeley Karsten
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Written by: Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1, Spanish DD+ 7.1, French (Canada) DD 5.1
Subtitles; English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Universal
Rated: R
Runtime: 151 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: February 14th, 2023

Recommendation: Great Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I have heard good things about this movie. I will check it out.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I'm looking forward to seeing this one, Mike. Looks like a fun one. Solid AV scores, too!