Some years the Academy Awards race for Best Picture seems to come down to a battle between the critics' choice and the popular favorite. One major example of this occurred in 1995 when critical darling Pulp Fiction lost to the mega-successful Forrest Gump.

This situation repeated itself to a degree in 1998 when the two top contenders were Titanic and LA Confidential. This battle didn't equal the Gump/Pulp feud, since Titanic received a much better critical reaction than did the saccharine Gump, but nonetheless the critical consensus backed the less crowd-pleasing LA Confidential.

I rooted for Titanic to win both because I liked it best and because I'm a big fan of James Cameron - Aliens remains possibly my all-time favorite film - so I was pleased with the result. Had the voting gone the other way, however, I would not have been terribly disappointed, for LA Confidential was an undeniably solid film as well.

Initially I didn’t really care to see LA Confidential. I've never been a big fan of the kind of stylized period piece it seemed to be, so I planned to take a pass on it. However, good reviews and a long day in a strange town with nothing else to do conspired to send me to watch it.

As you've undoubtedly already concluded, I felt pleasantly surprised. LA Confidential doesn’t present a pretentious attempt to redo Raymond Chandler after all, so instead I find it to be a compelling story of corruption and the forces that drive people to do what they do. Although it occasionally sags, it maintains a fairly consistent level of interest and entertainment over its two-plus hour running time.

Set in Southern California circa the 1950s, we follow the exploits of the LA Police Department. In particular, we follow brutish Bud White (Russell Crowe) and goody-goody “golden boy” Ed Exley (Guy Pearce), polar opposites forced to work together to pursue a case.

I've now seen LA Confidential an additional six times since 1997, and although the film essentially offers a mystery - a genre that tends to lose a lot of appeal on repeated viewings - the movie continues to intrigue and interest me. Partially this is because the plot is complicated enough that it takes a few extra sittings to truly take it all in; the film has an above-average number of characters, all of whom do a lot, so there are rarely dull moments.

As a whole, the cast is terrific, and the quality of their acting also supports repeated viewings. When I first saw Confidential, I was startled to learn that both of the then essentially unknown leads - Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce – were Australian; you'd never know from their performances. Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito live up to their reputations as well, and David Strathairn provides a typically fine supporting job.

Two performances merit special note. First, Kim Basinger's work deserves comment since she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for this role. I'm still not sure her acting was award-worthy, but I do acknowledge that she did quite well with the role.

It's a very low-key, subdued performance, during which she never displays any of the kind of movie-star glitz that I would have expected from her. Basinger truly brings out the weariness of her character.

I also wanted to note the acting of James Cromwell because I slowly realized how versatile and consistently solid he became as a character actor. Look at a cross-section of a few of his roles: kindly Farmer Hoggett in Babe, eccentric inventor in Star Trek: First Contact, and sleazy police captain in LA Confidential. In each of these roles and many more, he quietly but convincingly did his work. All that, and he played a shifty swinger in an episode of Three's Company I saw a few months back - now that’s versatility!

I still prefer Titanic and think it deserved its honors, but LA Confidential remains a solid flick. It adeptly creates a modern film noir without ever coming across as a weak imitation of a prior genre. The movie provides terrific acting and taut story telling and continues to provide a slick effort.

LA Confidential appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became an acceptable presentation.

Overall sharpness worked fairly well. At times, the movie looked a little soft and tentative, but most of the image appeared reasonably well-defined.

No shimmering or jaggies occurred, but I noticed light edge haloes at times. Source flaws were insignificant, as I detected a small speck or two but that was about it.

Confidential tended toward a sepia palette to fit its period setting. Colors were reasonably full given those constraints.

Blacks were acceptably dark, while low-light shots showed good delineation. Though not a great image, the movie usually looked pretty positive.

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack of LA Confidential worked fine, though it didn’t provide a broad enough soundfield to merit more than a “B”. The track showed good stereo spread throughout the movie, and the forward channels offered a nice sense of atmosphere.

Elements blended well and moved smoothly across the front spectrum. As for the surrounds, they contributed moderate reinforcement of the front elements and only sporadically provided unique information. The shootout at the end of the film definitely gave us the most active use of the rear speakers.

Audio quality appeared fine, though speech suffered due to all the film’s looping. Much of the dubbed dialogue seemed too obvious, and this made the track come across as more artificial than it should. The lines remained natural and distinct, though, and they showed no issues related to edginess or intelligibility.

Effects sounded clean and accurate, and they displayed no distortion. Some of the louder elements line gunfire kicked in solid bass response.

Music also seemed vibrant and robust with deep and rich low-end. In the end, the track lacked the sonic ambition to earn a high grade, but LA Confidential still provided a quality auditory experience.

How did the Blu-ray compare to the 2008 SE DVD? Audio showed a bit more range and heft, while visuals were tighter and smoother. Given they both came out the same day, I’d bet the DVD and Blu-ray share the same transfer, but the format’s superior capabilities left the BD as the superior version.

The Blu-ray reproduces the DVD’s extras, and we open with an audio commentary from critic/historian Andrew Sarris, producers Arnon Milchan and Michael Nathanson, novelist James Ellroy, costume designer Ruth Myers, screenwriter Brian Helgeland, production designer Jeannine Oppewall, editor Peter Honess, director of photography Dante Spinotti, and actors Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, David Strathairn, Kim Basinger and Danny DeVito.

This is an edited piece, not a running, screen-specific one. The track looks at the source novel and its adaptation, getting backing for the project and the filmmakers’ approach to it, cast, characters and performances, inspirations and influences, costume and production design, music and cinematography, and a few other filmmaking issues.

The absence of director Curtis Hanson disappoints, but otherwise, I find little reason to complain about this solid discussion. The track covers a good variety of subjects related to the flick, and it does so in an involving manner. Some may not care for the edited nature of the piece, but I don’t think many will feel let down by the quality of the material, as the commentary covers the movie well.

Another audio option appears as well, so we can listen to the film via a Music-Only Track. This allows fans to hear Jerry Goldsmith’s score in its full Dolby Digital 5.1 glory. While I don’t have a great fondness for movie music, I think this is a nice bonus for film score buffs.

Six featurettes fill most of the remaining space. Whatever You Desire: Making LA Confidential goes for 29 minutes, 28 seconds and mixes movie clips, archival materials, and interviews. We hear from Ellroy, Milchan, Crowe, Nathanson, Pearce, Spacey, Basinger, DeVito, Cromwell, Strathairn, Oppewall, Spinotti, Myers, and director Curtis Hanson.

“Desire” covers Hanson’s desire to make the story and his approach to the material, the script and its path to the screen, cast, characters, and performances, visual design and locations, cinematography and costumes, and the movie’s reception.

While some repetition from the commentary occurs here, the presence of Hanson adds a valuable perspective. The show also brings out some info not heard previously, such as specifics about Bud White’s costumes. Of course, the program doesn’t prove as informative as the commentary, but it becomes a useful complement.

For the next piece, we get the 21-minute, two-second Sunlight and Shadow: The Visual Style of LA Confidential. It includes notes from Hanson, Spinotti, Ellroy, Myers, Oppewall, Basinger, Crowe, Pearce, Spacey and Strathairn.

“Shadow” digs heavily into cinematography, sets, and costumes; it also discusses some cinematic influences and other visual issues. Yes, we learned a little about these in the prior pieces, but “Shadow” allows for greater depth in terms of those topics. It provides more good details and turns into another enjoyable show.

To learn more about the actors, we shift to A True Ensemble: The Cast of LA Confidential. This 24-minute, 23-second show provides statements from Hanson, Nathanson, Milchan, Crowe, Pearce, Spacey, Basinger, Strathairn, DeVito, Cromwell, Honess, Helgeland, and Ellroy. As expected, the program examines the actors, the characters, and the performances. The show expands on these topics well to turn into an involving piece.

More info about the source novel comes via the 21-minute, seven-second LA Confidential: From Book to Screen. It features Hanson, Ellroy, Helgeland, Nathanson, Pearce, Crowe, Spacey and Milchan. We learn more about the source novel’s adaptation and the script.

I expected “Screen” to follow in the footsteps of its predecessors, and it does so. It throws out plenty of nice notes about the text, with particularly intriguing comments about changes from the novel.

An 18-minute, 46-second featurette called Off the Record includes notes from Hanson, Helgeland, Ellroy, Basinger, Pearce, Crowe, Spacey, DeVito, Milchan, and executive producer David L. Wolper. “Record” provides a good general overview of the film.

It emphasizes the novel’s adaptation, getting the project off the ground, and casting. While somewhat redundant after the prior programs, it turns into an enjoyable piece.

Photo Pitch goes for eight minutes, 21 seconds. In it, Hanson leads us through his use of the “photo pitch” he gave to cast and producers. This was part of the way he managed to get involvement in the project. It offers a neat look at this process.

Next we find The LA of LA Confidential. This program provides brief snippets of real-life details for the locations used in the film. It seems interesting but the awkward interface mars the piece.

Although it features 15 locations, you can only access one clip at a time. Due to the brevity of the clips – they last about 20 to 30 seconds each – it can become a tedious exercise to watch all of them. The disc should have provided a “Play All” option to make access easier.

For something quite intriguing, we go to the LA Confidential TV Pilot. Shot in 2000, the 46-minute and 27-second program stars a pre-24 Kiefer Sutherland in the Spacey role. Josh Hopkins and David Conrad play the Crowe and Pearce parts, respectively; no one from the movie appears in the show.

The program demonstrates general similarities with the movie in terms of characters and setting, but it makes quite a few changes as well. It takes place a few years prior to the events in the film, so Exley is a sergeant with Internal Affairs, Vincennes doesn’t yet work on TV, White is a patrolman, and Lynn just arrived off the bus from Arizona.

Given that Sutherland is the only “name” in the cast, it comes as no surprise that he gets the most screen time. Sutherland doesn’t totally dominate, though, so expect a lot of the others as well; in particular, we see a good deal of Exley. White and Lynn receive attention, but not to the same degree, though they become more prominent as the show progresses.

As far as I know, the Confidential series never made it past the pilot stage. Indeed, this program was shot in 2000 but it didn’t even air until 2003. That’s too bad, as I think the series had potential. The pilot doesn’t dazzle, but it intrigues. Granted, most of the actors seem lackluster. Sutherland lacks Spacey’s glib charm, and both Conrad and Hopkins seem awfully anonymous. Taylor Pruitt Vince does the best job of capturing his character, as his Sid Hudgens matches well with DeVito’s.

Some lackluster performances aside, the pilot does provide an interesting start to matters. It’s fun to get a bit of an “origin story” for the film’s characters. The show doesn’t always fit neatly into the flick’s chronology, and it takes some liberties.

For instance, it keeps Exley’s father alive and puts him in the public sector, where the movie makes him a dead law enforcement role model. The series does this for plot choices to create some tension between Exley and his dad’s expectations/pressures.

Whether or not these decisions were good remains to be seen. Since the series never went anywhere, it’s impossible to say if the plot threads would’ve paid off or not. In any case, the pilot presents an intriguing start to a series that never made it anywhere.

The disc comes to a close with a *trailer gallery. Here we find three TV spots for Confidential along with its theatrical trailer and an ad for its soundtrack CD.

One of the better modern film noirs, LA Confidential holds up well after more than a decade. It definitely stands as one of the best Oscar runner-ups in history, as it offers an involving, dynamic tale. The Blu-ray offers generally acceptable picture along with reasonably good audio and a terrific roster of supplements. This turns into an appealing set.

To rate this film visit the DVD review of LA CONFIDENTIAL