....

It was andy warhol who coined the often used (and now slightly modified) phrase "in the future, everyone will have 15 minutes of fame". So of course a movie was made and called such a thing (though many years later),that film being 15 minutes :)

As often as many joke about the sensationalism of the Media in general (just look how stories involving sex drugs and murder get the front page) and with a film like 15 minutes it really is quite frightening to think something like it could actually happen (which brings another often used phrase to light.... "only in america" :)

Emil (Karel Roden) and Oleg(Oleg Taktarov) have come to america to seek their share of riches, having recently been released from prison. Upon their arrival they are most displeased to find out that their "partner" and his girlfriend has spent ALL the dosh. So of course as one does, Karel brutely murders them both, while Oleg gets off on video taping the event (Oleg is obsessed with movies and sees himself as a film-maker :)

In an attempt to cover up the murders Emil torches the apartment, HOWEVER (isn’t there always :) the boys miss the fact that there was another person in the apartment, a girl-friend of the girlfriend!

Arriving hot on the scene (no pun intended) is arson investigator Jordy Warshaw (Edward Burns) and homicide detective Eddie Fleming (Robert DeNiro).

When it’s soon discovered that it wasn’t death by fire the two team up to track down the one’s responsible.

....

VIDEO
This Anamorphic Widscreen transfer is nothing short of Reference quality. WOW. It’s truly is a cracker transfer. The picture is spotless from start to finish and shows no signs of grain. Sharpness is pushed as far as it can go, without resulting in over sharp alaised imagery. Colours are strong and vibrant, and still leave fleshtones looking very natural. Blacklevel is dead on with excellent shadow detail on offer.
Several key sequences have been intentionally shot using a handy-cam and while they of course aren’t even close to the stunning quality of the footage shot in 35mm, are still very good for video footage and in no way impact on the picture.

Spread over 2 layers of an RSDL DVD, the layer change occurs at. 24:44, which is the end of the "rosanne" tv segment.  nicely placed I might add :)

...

AUDIO
We may have missed out on an "infinifilm" version of 15 minutes, but Roadshow have more than made up for it, with the inclusion a DTS 5.1 audio track! (Which the USA Infinifilm version does not have :)
As per the norm, there's also a Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio track. 
Both sound tracks are first rate with crystal clear detail. As a result dialogue is highly intellegeble and also sounds very natural with exellent integration into the overall sound mix. Music and FX are also first rate within the soundtrack that offers a very wide and very deep scope.

Surround usage isn’t what you’d call overly noticable or contstant, but when they kick in you certainly know about it..

The DTS edges out the Dolby track, with added bottom end and a slightly smoothing sounding top end. Either way, you won’t be disapppointed which format you listen to..

...

EXTRAS
Though 15 minutes was released in the USA under "infinifilm" by New Line Home’s Home Video unit, our PAL version is not (but as i said above, WE GOT a DTS TRACK !! :).
However, nearly all extras have been included via menu access, rather than via pop-up options during the movie.

• Fact Track - This is one very cool feature we’ve been able to hang onto. It’s actually a subtitle stream which can be played through the whole film and offers very interesting tid-bits not only about the film, but about well all sorts of things really that can relate to events in the film and "real life" happens (things about new york firefighters, statistics, all sorts of goodies)
• Audio Commentary - Director John Herzfeld lends his voice and offers quite a good little comm track.
• Oleg’s Video – now is it me or does this seem rather voyeristic, as a DVD extra.. On show here is 2 murder sequences as shot on the video tape by "oleg". Both are uncut and uninteruptted (in the editing sense). I have to say with the video footage in it’s simplest form i found this piece quite disturbing, and quite realistic, the live audio emphasises this fact. 1.33 windowed boxed (Anamorphic Widescreen)
• Doco – True Tabloid Stars
• Doco – Does Crime Pay
• Music Video - "god lives everywhere"
• Deleted Scenes – included is 6 scenes, all with director’s commentary on the 2^nd audio track.
  Unlike some deleted scenes these are of quite good quality.
• Rehersal - ooh, i like this extra. What you get here is video taped rehersal footage of scenes from teh movie. the best bit about this is that the FINAL filmed footage is "picture-in-pictured" over the top of the Video footage, (as the smaller picture). nice
• Theatrical Trailer.- Anamaorphic Widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound
• Biographies – you know the drill with these :)
• Sound trailers – Dolby digital Train & DTS Piano

All in all Roadshow have really delivered the goods with this DVD. The icture is sensational, the sound is excellent (in either format) and the extras actually do this film justice. (and if you’ve every seen an INFINIFILM DVD you might, like me, find it to be a bit of a pain in the butt with so much "additional" text info, etc covering the screen :)