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Fugly Bluray movies

post #1 of 31
10/18/08 at 9:01pm
Thread Starter 
Since most of us really only buy Blurays that would benefit from the format (does anyone really own BABY MAMA on Bluray?), I figured this thread may be helpful to point out movies that are best left on the shelf.

That 15 dollar T2 disc at Best Buy may look tempting as a cheap buy, but this may be the first Bluray I wasn't wowed at. It looks like a very good DVD transfer.

And if someone can provide the poop on why 300 should be avoided, I'm all ears.
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post #2 of 31
10/18/08 at 9:20pm
Excellent idea for a thread.

This may be common knowledge by now, but it bears repeating: Assassination of Jesse James is awful on BR, by all accounts. It's one of the few reasons I've held onto my HD-DVD player.
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post #3 of 31
10/18/08 at 11:07pm
Fucking Amish.


That being said, The Fountain has a poor transfer.
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post #4 of 31
10/18/08 at 11:58pm
Dammit, I'm always pissed when I hear that The Fountain and Robocop are crap transfers, especially the latter since I haven't seen it in a decade and wouldn't mind picking it up on blu-ray.

Of the handful of blu-ray discs I own, Predator wasn't that great. I haven't seen it since my VHS copy, and while it's a vast improvement, it's not all that special.

I'm about >< close to plcking up the first three Rambo dics for $40 (which might subside after the Jack & Coke wears off), but are those worth it? Considering that I can buy the three for ~$25 on regular DVD, I wasn't sure it was worth it.

ETA: some bold n' stuff.
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post #5 of 31
10/19/08 at 12:05am
Good idea for a thread, but did you have to use 'fugly'? Really?
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post #6 of 31
10/19/08 at 12:15am
It is a fustupid word.
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post #7 of 31
10/19/08 at 12:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott View Post
That 15 dollar T2 disc at Best Buy may look tempting as a cheap buy, but this may be the first Bluray I wasn't wowed at. It looks like a very good DVD transfer.

I'll second that, it was the first Blu-Ray movie I bought. I thought I was doing something wrong when I popped it into my PS3 for the first time.
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post #8 of 31
10/19/08 at 1:05am
Scott, 300 might be getting double dipped, that's why. Also while the quality is good, its only at HD DVD levels, so the double dip will take advantage of the full 50 gigs and take advantage of the Profile 2.0 to integrate the special features like they were on the HD DVD.

Sad to say the Ocean's Trilogy seems pretty spotty at time. I know some grain is "artist's intent" but if the DVD is $10 cheaper, no point to splurge. Also the sound is just the basic 5.1 dolby.

Speed Racer got shafted hard in sound department as well. I know the film didn't do so hot, but the film needs 50 gigs to really shine in audio as well.

edit:
Totally forgot to mention that Mission Impossible I, probably is the worst disc I've ever seen. Audio and Video were just terrible.
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post #9 of 31
10/19/08 at 1:25am
I've found The Fountain to be a pretty great looking blu ray, I think the sound could have benefited from an HD audio track but I realize it is all in all a pretty quiet film.

I know I'm alone on this but I think Iron Man is ugly on blu ray. There's a level of detail in the darker scenes that just seems missing to my eyes and it doesn't resemble what I saw in theaters, which is not to say its ugly, but I'm certain we'll see a double dip with a much nicer transfer.
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post #10 of 31
10/19/08 at 2:32am
Iron Man is excessively dark at points on the Blu-Ray transfer. But, it's not terrible.

The Fountain looks like shit on Blu-Ray, especially in dimly lit scenes. First Knight is another Blu-Ray disc that had some rough spots in the transfer and audio department.


But, if we're going to make this about audio...Warner Brothers has been dropping quite a few turds over the last few months.
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post #11 of 31
10/19/08 at 2:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bendrix View Post
Excellent idea for a thread.

This may be common knowledge by now, but it bears repeating: Assassination of Jesse James is awful on BR, by all accounts. It's one of the few reasons I've held onto my HD-DVD player.
Say it ain't so! This is one of the handful of Blu-Ray's I've thought of picking up... how bad is it? DVD-quality or what?

Since we're on the subject, does anybody have any idea how the Sunshine and PotC transfers came out?
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post #12 of 31
10/19/08 at 3:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Nunziata View Post
Good idea for a thread, but did you have to use 'fugly'? Really?
Yeah, I was a little unsure about that one. I'm just a sucker for slang from 1998.
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post #13 of 31
10/19/08 at 3:47pm
The original BD Fifth Element release is a no-brainer, right?
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post #14 of 31
10/19/08 at 4:09pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTSMGL View Post
Say it ain't so! This is one of the handful of Blu-Ray's I've thought of picking up... how bad is it? DVD-quality or what?

Since we're on the subject, does anybody have any idea how the Sunshine and PotC transfers came out?
Sunshine is really purdy. I almost regret watching it on DVD for the first time. POTC is reference-quality stuff. However, it may be a misprint, but AT WORLD'S END is in 1080i. It still looks great, but it's a shame since the third movie offers some of the best visuals in the trilogy. Not sure if this problem was fixed in the recently-released box set.
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post #15 of 31
10/19/08 at 4:17pm
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh..._Blu-ray_/1226

I think it's just the packaging misprint.
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post #16 of 31
10/19/08 at 4:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTSMGL View Post
Say it ain't so! This is one of the handful of Blu-Ray's I've thought of picking up... how bad is it? DVD-quality or what?
The review I read wasn't as damning as I remembered.

Quote:
Even so, I would have given the video a much higher score based on its faithfulness to the filmmakers' intentions if the transfer wasn't hindered by several technical issues. First off, Warner has bizarrely crammed the 160-minute film onto a 25GB single-layer disc that simply leaves the transfer out in the cold. Compression issues continually creep into the image and I found myself confused by the lazy presentation. It doesn't help that the transfer's contrast levels are fairly average, leaving the film's beautiful cinematography looking like a flat, uninspiring series of still photographs. To top it all off, blacks sometimes crushed, whites randomly bloomed, and noise intruded on more than one occasion.

Worst of all, I couldn't take my eyes of a single flaw that evolved into a constant distraction -- the picture is plagued by some of the most obvious edge enhancement I've seen on a new release. Actors occasionally look superimposed onto the screen, dark hats appear disjointed from the rest of the image, and buildings on the horizon look as if they've been etched in against the bright skies. As an experiment, I ejected the disc and trotted to our guest bedroom to see how apparent the EE would be on a small, 27" LCD screen. Sure enough, the transfer's gangly halos still stuck out like a sore thumb -- as such, it's easy to imagine how ugly the edge enhancement is on a larger screen. This is a high definition release... does it really need such an artificial boost to its clarity?

All things considered, 'The Assassination of Jesse James' looks fairly good in high definition, but its flat dimensionality and offensive edge enhancement really spoil the party.
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1306...essejames.html
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post #17 of 31
10/19/08 at 6:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bees?! View Post
The original BD Fifth Element release is a no-brainer, right?
No don't get it, they did an update to the disc. You can check some serial # on the back to see if its the updated disc which looks a lot better.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott View Post
Sunshine is really purdy. I almost regret watching it on DVD for the first time. POTC is reference-quality stuff. However, it may be a misprint, but AT WORLD'S END is in 1080i. It still looks great, but it's a shame since the third movie offers some of the best visuals in the trilogy. Not sure if this problem was fixed in the recently-released box set.
Yeah its a misprint. I have the disc and the display on screen said 1080p. I'd say Dead Man's Chest narrowly beats At World's End just because some of the rain scenes near the get get a little microblocky. Its a minor nitpick, and I just happened to see it when I paused the screen.

Scott get your hands on Planet Earth. I know everyone says to see it, but its probably the best blu ray out there in terms of visuals. It was the film that converted my baby boomer dad that blu ray was worth the investment. I mention this disc to others so you know what the opposite of "fugly" is so you know what to compare against.
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post #18 of 31
10/21/08 at 6:50pm
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/17/terminator2.html

I have this disc but have yet to watch it. Review says the video is pretty good.

As for The Fountain, I haven't watched the BR; however, the HD-DVD looked terrific!
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post #19 of 31
10/21/08 at 6:58pm
Goodfellas looks better, but I think it's the one Blu I own that in hindsight, should've skipped.

Yeah: The Fountain, Jesse James, T2 and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - not worth re-up'ing if you got the SD-DVDs. KKBB actually looked better on HD-DVD.

Good to hear the Pirates transfers are good though. I got those from a friend who didn't want them but haven't made time to sit down to watch.

Anybody know how The Proposition fairs?
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post #20 of 31
10/21/08 at 7:28pm
The Fountain is astonishingly ugly. I'm not a nitpicker, but the gradation is startling.
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post #21 of 31
10/21/08 at 7:58pm
Hmmm.. I fear the 14.99 BR's I picked up at Best Buy may fall into this thread.
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post #22 of 31
10/21/08 at 7:58pm
War, Inc. looks pretty bad. The Visitor, while not really needing the HD treatment, looks great. And Stuck looks surprisingly good for as small a movie as it is.
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post #23 of 31
10/21/08 at 10:27pm
If i'm going to buy a blu ray i usually hit up blu-ray.com and take a look at the user ratings. Just makes sense to know what you're buying. Even a blind buy isn't usually a blind buy totally because I'll go on faith that the company who makes the disc is usually good at making them (I'm looking at you Sony/Columbia and Disney).
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post #24 of 31
10/21/08 at 10:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bendrix View Post
Excellent idea for a thread.

This may be common knowledge by now, but it bears repeating: Assassination of Jesse James is awful on BR, by all accounts. It's one of the few reasons I've held onto my HD-DVD player.
I own both the standard edition and the Blu-Ray. The blu-ray copy was the first disc I bought after picking up a PS3. I have to say, while some of the interior light scenes are fairly similar in quality to the standard definition edition, the train robbery scene and the outdoor scenes look amazing. If anyone is looking to pick up either the standard or Blu-ray additions of Jesse James, I'd recommend picking up the Blu-Ray edition for an extra $5.00 or $10.00.
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post #25 of 31
10/30/08 at 10:03pm
The Blu Ray of Jesse James looks fantastic, it may not look as good as the HDDVD version - but since i'll never compare them side by side, it looks astonishingly good. Especially the initial snow scenes.
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post #26 of 31
11/7/08 at 10:05am
Jesse James looks abysmal. A BD-25 disc for a 160 minute film is unnacceptable. There are artifacts all over that disc. Tragic.
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post #27 of 31
11/7/08 at 2:50pm
I still don't get the bashing of Jesse James on Blu-Ray. Sure it could've used a 50 gig disc, but it's not horrible.

Fuckers need to see some BCI titles before you start shitting on that one.
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post #28 of 31
11/7/08 at 4:36pm
Given the pedigree of the film, the length, and the fact that it was lensed by Roger Deakins, a BD-50 should have been a no-brainer. Disney didn't have a problem outputing a BD-50 for No Country for Old Men (which is still the best looking Blu-ray in my collection of late), and that had an hour less running time than Jesse James.

Either they cut a serious corner to save time, or an intern was doing the encode. On a smaller monitor, the compression artifacts may not be that noticeable, but they scream on my 52 inch.

Guess it's a matter of taste, but when I buy a Blu-ray disc, it should be reference across the board.
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post #29 of 31
11/7/08 at 4:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott View Post
Sunshine is really purdy. I almost regret watching it on DVD for the first time. POTC is reference-quality stuff. However, it may be a misprint, but AT WORLD'S END is in 1080i. It still looks great, but it's a shame since the third movie offers some of the best visuals in the trilogy. Not sure if this problem was fixed in the recently-released box set.
Sunshine looks amazing on Blu-Ray, actually the first Blu-Ray I ever bought. Now if I could only find a way to get a picture from the movie as my avatar....
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post #30 of 31
11/7/08 at 5:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RCA View Post
Sunshine looks amazing on Blu-Ray, actually the first Blu-Ray I ever bought. Now if I could only find a way to get a picture from the movie as my avatar....
It was my first too! Great looking disk, and the DTS-MA track sounds great.
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post #31 of 31
11/7/08 at 5:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RCA View Post
Sunshine looks amazing on Blu-Ray, actually the first Blu-Ray I ever bought. Now if I could only find a way to get a picture from the movie as my avatar....
Not only does Sunshine look amazing on Blu-Ray, but the DTS-MA track kicks my ass all over the place.


*damimegood beat me bythismuch.
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