The Semi Official Blu-Ray Thread - Page 72

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parker 

I've discovered a new appreciation for DePalma this year too, so this is great news.  Did you check out the Blow Out Criterion?  It's gorgeous and includes his first film, Murder a la Mod.  

Grabbed it day of release. It's amazing how the stars aligned to bring about a movie such as Blow Out (Landing Travolta and George Litto becoming the head of the studio to boost the budget). I doubt they'd get away with the Liberty Parade celebration on that scale. De Palma needs to be represented better in HD, one of the first blu's I bought was The Untouchables and I wasn't even conscious of my De Palma appreciation (I've since looked back on my moviegoing as a youth and it's miraculous how many De Palma movies I was taken to.)

I'm hoping Criterion licenses Phantom of the Paradise next, the scans of that French release are spectacular and more coverage of De Palma's career would be excellent. I like the Noah Baumbach interview but some of the questions he asked were kind of odd (Is Travolta's recording changing like the Conversation?). If they got Tarantino to sit down with him and cover the span of his carer I'd buy two and gift one.

In other news, bought the Spider-Man boxset from a clearance sale new for $25 which is a great price for 2.25 good movies. I didn't realize they took out all the bonus features from the first two. Admittedly the first one was mainly focused on the history and reverence of the character but 2 has the excellent multi-part making of.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waaaaaaaalt 

Mimic Director's cut blu-ray up at Amazon for 10 bucks.

Thanks!

Stopped by Walmart two days in a row and never saw The Blues Brothers, Red Planet, or Soldier on the shelves. No idea what's going on there.

Anyway few more titles I've seen coming out this year:

Fast Times at Ridgemont High: 8/9

Demolition Man: 8/16

Dead Alive: 10/4

Pee Wee's Big Adventure: 10/4

The Crow: 10/18

Copland 11/1

Ultimate Matrix trilogy at Amazon for 27 bucks. Im sure someone wil make a joke about how horrible the sequels are but still for anyone that wants it, there it is.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barkatthemoon 

Dead Alive: 10/4

Oh what I wouldn't give for a R1 edition of Braindead instead. My old bootleg VHS gets more work than the Dead Alive DVD sitting next to it. It's the little things that mean so much.
 

there's  difference... besides the title?  Did not know that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waaaaaaaalt 

Ultimate Matrix trilogy at Amazon for 27 bucks. Im sure someone wil make a joke about how horrible the sequels are but still for anyone that wants it, there it is.

It really is a fantastic set.  I wonder... should I?

why not?  one good film and two new coasters.

Same as the Back to the Future set.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NickP 

there's  difference... besides the title?  Did not know that.

There's ~5-7 minutes difference (counting only the unrated cut, not the 85-min R abortion), some of which is listed here. Supposedly Jackson's said he prefers the US 97-minute cut (so, yeah, doubtful I'll get my wish), but I just can't agree. Not much gore is lost, but so many character notes and simply funny lines or takes go out the window. Scenes and transitions are better set up, etc. Not to mention the subtle political and racial subtext is lost almost entirely. Then there's just fantastic gags, like Lionel saved by the baby's umbilical cord getting caught on a nail, which always gets a great reaction. I had Braindead on tape for almost a decade, and only got the unrated Dead Alive on DVD last year, and even after prepping myself I was dumbfounded by the difference 7 minutes makes. I'm sure it's a matter of being so used to one before seeing the other, but man the rhythm felt completely off.

There's a used DVD and game shop in my neck of the woods called CEX. I think it's a chain. The prices are low, but they rarely have great stuff on Blu. Mostly just tons of copies of some random titles they got at price (Redbelt, Dogma, The Day After Tomorrow, etc.), but sometimes there's a fucking deal and a half.

Today, the complete Godfather series on Blu for 15 dollars. I think someone made a mistake. I don't think I could get that on DVD for less than 40.

Barnes and Noble Criterion 50% off sale ends today.

Ended up ordering (in two separate orders) nine Blu-rays and one DVD: Beauty and the Beast, Videodrome, The Great Dictator, Diabolique, Mystery Train, Red Desert, Crumb, Walkabout, Solaris, and Burden of Dreams (the sole DVD). Almost pulled the trigger on the Mishima DVD, but then thought, Y'know, if they announce the Blu-ray on this three months from now I'm gonna feel like a berk. Burden of Dreams at least will look good next to my Anchor Bay Herzog sets. Aside from being awesome, of course.

I could only pull the trigger on Seven Samurai. My Blu Ray wallet is still aching from LOTR. I'm already kicking myself for not getting Chungking Express. Mostly just to have it on my shelf and impress people.

About damn time: The Crow. October 18th. Same day as Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown. All the 2 Disc supplements made it over. And it's budget priced ($13.99).

Miller's Crossing right now preorder on Amazon for 15.99, do it now now now!

Dunno how I feel about the packaging of the Coen box set. Nice concept, but it looks slapped together in Photoshop in five minutes, to use a cliche.

Yikes.  That is bad.  You'd think Raising Arizona and Fargo would have enough clout on their own to garner some attention on a shelf.  That packaging makes it seem as if they're almost embarrassed by the titles of the movies included in the pack.

That said...  WANT.  I'll throw the box away. 

     Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Blank 

Dunno how I feel about the packaging of the Coen box set. Nice concept, but it looks slapped together in Photoshop in five minutes, to use a cliche.

For about a half a second, I thought I was staring at the Being John Malkovich DVD insert.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Clark 

About damn time: The Crow. October 18th. Same day as Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown. All the 2 Disc supplements made it over. And it's budget priced ($13.99).

What would make that Crow release even more awesome would be if they could somehow go back in time about 10 years, and undo all the political bullshit that buried the original Alex Proyas commentary track and feature-length documentary.

Then again, if you could go back in time 10 years, there'd probably be a couple other things you'd want to undo first in the world before that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leto II 

What would make that Crow release even more awesome would be if they could somehow go back in time about 10 years, and undo all the political bullshit that buried the original Alex Proyas commentary track and feature-length documentary.

Care to enlighten those of us that aren't familiar with this? Or point us to a resource? Sounds interesting.

The nutshell version is that Proyas had not only recorded commentary, but he had a 90 minute doc commissioned with all sorts of interviews and behind the scenes footage. A lot of stuff from the deleted Skull Cowboy scenes is supposedly in there. Problem is, for some reason or another, Proyas decided not to include Jeff Most (the producer) in any of the supplements. When Most bitched to the Weinsteins, threatening to walk on what was gonna be another godawful Crow sequel, Harvey scrapped Proyas' stuff altogether. So, we're left with what's on the 2-Disc now.

There's a pretty good essay on the mess by David Schow (who was involved at the time), going into some decent detail.

It's a Mark Rance/Three-Legged Cat effort we'll never get to experience, sadly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leto II 

There's a pretty good essay on the mess by David Schow (who was involved at the time), going into some decent detail.

 

It's a Mark Rance/Three-Legged Cat effort we'll never get to experience, sadly.

Yet no director's cut. I would have liked some of those scenes to make it back in. I know they cut some violence and the whole skull cowboy part out. One of the skull cowboy scenes are on youtuve somewhere and it actually makes more sense than "we shoot his crow and take his power" thing.

I've read Demolition Man, Assassins, and The Specialist all have really excellent video and audio quality.

For a low budget movie, Super looks amazing. All the stubble on Frank's chin, and threads on his costume are crystal clear. There's also alot of little drawings throughout that really benefit from the HD.

Nice just found out Sleepers was out, I love that movie. Also getting Demolition Man and Assasins. Fuck The Specialist though.

If you can find it, there's a Braveheart/Gladiator two-pack for $18.99 out now. I don't see many stores putting in on shelves since the movies still go for $20 each, but it's out there.

A good deal, but I'm so anal retentive I wouldn't know where to alphabetize it.

They're in seperate cases, with a slip cover. ; )

So, is the new Star Wars bluray set going to contain the original theatrical cuts of IV-VI or the ridiculous 1997 re-releases?  I can't find any confirmation of the cuts but all of the comments from Amazon make it look its the crappy CGI-fests.

I'm afraid they're the new versions, which is why I won't be buying them. Pity. 

It's the CGI versions, that is the only "official" Star Wars that Lucas will release.  I'm sure there will be more fixes though. 

A little "hands on" Star Wars news: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/314096/lucasfilm-on-star-wars-the-complete-saga-blu-ray-hands-on-report  

Shit.

I was doing so well until now in showing no interest in buying that set.  And now, I'm getting tempted.  It just sounds really nice.

NO!!!!  I won't do it!

Who am I kidding. I'm buying this. Heaven help me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnooj82 

Shit.

 

I was doing so well until now in showing no interest in buying that set.  And now, I'm getting tempted.  It just sounds really nice.

 

NO!!!!  I won't do it!

Your fate was sealed once you looked upon that set. It is unavoidable.

I have no itch for Star Wars movies anymore. It's over for me.

I did just pick up a magically inexpensive Alien Box Set, and I think the original Alien is the best looking Blu Ray I've ever seen. That is a stunning piece of tech, and certainly my go to demo disc at this point (although really, I don't think I've been called on to demo anything in a long ass time). It looks like it was shot this year, which is so disconcerting with super young Sigourney Weaver in it. By contrast, Aliens looks all right, but it didn't blow my mind or anything.

I'm not sure it was related to this, but I also discovered that Alien is far and away the better movie. Like, not even close. That's a big change from when I was a teenager.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd 

 

I'm not sure it was related to this, but I also discovered that Alien is far and away the better movie. Like, not even close.

You may also notice other changes, like a deeper voice, and fur where there was no fur before.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd 

I have no itch for Star Wars movies anymore. It's over for me.

 

I did just pick up a magically inexpensive Alien Box Set, and I think the original Alien is the best looking Blu Ray I've ever seen. That is a stunning piece of tech, and certainly my go to demo disc at this point (although really, I don't think I've been called on to demo anything in a long ass time). It looks like it was shot this year, which is so disconcerting with super young Sigourney Weaver in it. By contrast, Aliens looks all right, but it didn't blow my mind or anything.

 

I don't know I felt like the Aliens was a pretty impressive remaster especially when you consider what they were working with. The fact that he was able to take that much grain out of that crappy film stock but still not make it look like shitty and glossy full of smoothed out details is pretty great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd 

I have no itch for Star Wars movies anymore. It's over for me.

 

That's why it's so maddening.  I have no real itch for them anymore either.  I love what the original films represent, but I haven't really watched any of them in years.

It's just such a nice sounding PRODUCT.

Urg.

I sense the conflict within you. Let go of your hate!

Okay, I'll stop but why are you (and others) beating yourself up about this? This is going to be a pretty sweet set and it'll look great on whatever HDTV you own.  The 40 hours of extras alone have me salivating along with the thought of seeing six of my favorite movies in HD!

September 16th can't come soon enough.

It's because I honestly wouldn't watch it.  It would just sit pretty on my shelf.

I don't feel that there is more about Star Wars I want to know (aside from reading the Making of The Empire Strikes Back book!)

From blu-ray.com, January 2009:

Sigh. What year would that be?

On that tip, is there a thread on here devoted to films we wish were on Blu-ray? Because this'd be #1 for me.

Yeah, those will be day one purchases for me. I'll even be able to treat Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as an extra.

Special Features, especially commentary tracks, are becoming less and less viable for me. 40 hours of Star Wars making of videos feels like the biggest homework assignment ever. There's so many other movies I've never seen before that I could spend my increasingly limited free time on.

Continuing to watch the Alien Box, and goddamn if Alien3 doesn't just stop this series dead. I've almost never pushed through it to Resurrection. The directors cut solved nothing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Blank 

 

On that tip, is there a thread on here devoted to films we wish were on Blu-ray? Because this'd be #1 for me.

I need The Insider to come out in a stacked blu-ray.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd 

 

 

I'm not sure it was related to this, but I also discovered that Alien is far and away the better movie. Like, not even close. That's a big change from when I was a teenager.

They are two completely different films.  Two completely different genres, and IMO, it's stupid to compare them. Some cunt on another website wrote an Alien vs Aliens article that was laughably bad.  I love both films, and love the fact that Cameron decided to do something "different".  Look at the sequels produced in the 80s, everything was a carbon copy of the original.  

I will admit though, growing up, I never really liked Alien.  I appreciated the film, but I found it boring.  Now that I'm not 12 anymore, I can see it for the masterpiece it really is.  It had no business being as good as it turned out.  But somehow, Fox and Ridley were able to take a script, that had elements of sexuality, and mix it with a designer (Giger), who's work is completely sexual.  It was a perfect marriage.  That, IMO, made the film.

when you look at some of the original designs of the best

It makes you feel extremely lucky for what we got.  

Guess whats getting a double dip? Evil Dead 2. Actually im happy about this one to be honest. The current edition has a shit transfer and word is this one is going to be fixed. If that turns out to be true im in.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7208