An intimate portrait of William Shatner’s personal journey across nine decades of a boldly lived and fully realized life, YOU CAN CALL ME BILL strips away all the masks he has worn during his storied career, to reveal the man behind it all.
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Video Quality
William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill comes to Blu-Ray from Decal Releasing with a fetching HD master which presents this documentary to the full extent of its limitations. This feature consists of a mixture of newer interviews with Shatner along with a plethora of older clips, archival interviews, and pictures to help round out the history of the icon. The new footage of Shatner musing on various topics is terrifically detailed with natural skin tones and some highly detailed facial features.
Clips are used effectively to underscore the content being spoken about. The glimpses at the projects are typically decent with only a small amount of variance to account for the original source. Any footage seems to be derived from the most stable origins available when the film was completed. Some footage is less than impressive due to the source, but most looks good. The colors featured in the footage have a fine amount of depth to them. The encoding does not falter with compression artifacts or digital nuisances of the sort. While not all the footage benefits from an HD presentation, this documentary holds up well on the format.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray disc comes with a consistently pleasant DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that delivers all of the sonic information quite capably. Dialogue is forefront in the center channel as you get these anecdotes relayed in a controlled environment. The surround sound presentation allows for a decent amount of immersion, mostly when it comes to the music. There is footage of Bill performing with an orchestra that comes together effectively. All cues come through with a notable fidelity that gives the material the life it deserves. No unwanted digital anomalies or other hindrances were experienced. This track is a pleasant listening experience. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided.
Special Features
- ScreenRant Presents A Live Q&A with William Shatner & Director Alexandre O. Philippe, Hosted by Tamara Krinsky: A 45-minute conversation with William Shatner and director Alexandre O. Philippe in which they discuss why this was the time to make this film, the collaboration between the filmmaker and subject, the most surprising revelations during production, and more.
Final Thoughts
William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill is a unique look at the life of one of the performers who helped shape fandom as we know it today. Rather than getting interviews from those closest to him, the film allows Bill to pontificate on a number of subjects that are given a loose structure. Not all of the insights are particularly earth-shattering, but it does give you a glimpse into his mind in a way that many similar documentaries do not. This will be a struggle for those who have no interest in the man, and fans who want a deep exploration of any one project will likewise feel underserved, but it works well as an examination of an artist and a man. Decal Releasing has released a Blu-Ray featuring a pretty strong A/V presentation and a decent supplemental Q&A. Recommended
William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD on July 30, 2024.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Decal Releasing has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
