25 REASONS TO 1080 IT: THE CATCH-ALL THREAD - Page 2

My god... I haven't been fucked like that since betamax...

Last one, I promise.

I'm pretty sure the only new feature with all-new content on the Fight Club blu is the audio doc. And the new HD audio track is a huge boost from the DVD to be sure. Right before I sold back my DVD copy I took the Pepsi Challenge and came away impressed.

ETA: Duh, there's the roast.

While there aren't a whole lot of new features on the blu-ray, it was pretty funny to watch Fincher/Pitt/Norton make fun of Mel Gibson by announcing him as "Sugar Tits" at the recent Spike Award Ceremony (included as a pseudo-reunion featurette). It seems like the three of them still get along pretty good.

"The only hint of boob in this sausage fest of a movie."

What? I call NSFW bullshit. I <3 you, NSFW Lena.

My problem with 300 was never its politics. For all its macho verve, I felt oddly unmoved by most of it. The cool parts were awesome. The stuff back in Sparta was so... ugh. Sometimes unintentionally humorous, but mostly interminable. A movie I've definitely never had any interest in revisiting in full.

But as a blu-ray? Solid choice. I watched some of the Maximum Movie mode when a friend had the HD-DVD.

Great piece, Justin. I can't believe how many people insist on playing the "Snyder is dehumanizing the Persians" card, ignoring the fact that the movie clearly has an unreliable narrator. And yeah, the Blu-ray looks phenomenal.

I would pick Gladiator over this, but this is still an awesome blu ray.

"Newly-MILF-y Lena," you mean.

Hear she used a pregnancy bush-double during the Game of Thrones pilot's sex scenes, though.

Shouldn't the most recent version of a given disc supersede any previous version on lists like this, though?

These lists are not only a listing of good films, but also consumers need to be brought information on why they should get the disc. You guys are doing that, but then why is something like the politics of release influencing the list?

I'm not arguing why 300 was picked over Gladiator, the opinions of the site make it what it is. That said, depriving people a good movie on a good disc that does exist doesn't make sense.

If I want to play devils advocate here. Listing a new version of a disc and telling people not to fall into pitfalls of buying a bad disc might not be a bad thing. I'm sure someone will buy it through the link on the site, or be eternally happy towards this site.

I know this because I've posted sales and notifications that some people have noticed. It shows that not everyone visits the sites I do, but they visit CHUD. I'm just helping them be smart consumers just like you Mr Anderson every week.

So the list should put great movies first and foremost, but not eliminate something just because of a shady past. If something is shady now, consumers shouldn't bother.

Edit: god I hate typing long posts on the iPhone.

A blu ray to me is an opportunity to further bring the theatrical experience home. Yeah I got more equipment than most people, so I do tend to notice subtle things. Enhanced picture and sound on a big screen at home is a lot better than the theater these days. I can pause, use my own clean toilet, and not worry about public nudity law-eeer I mean I got nothing.

That said, I'm curious on the equipment being used to test these discs. Not as a criticism, but just as a fellow home theater enthusiast.

I get the impression that Gladiator isn't there for reasons that will become clear later on in the list. (I don't care, Gladiator is crap anyway.)

Since you asked: PS3 and a Philips 42" 1080p (42PFL3603D/F7). Nothing terribly fancy.

I have seen 300 on HD DVD, and own it. It came free with my HD DVD player. Frankly I thought it made the film look kind of ugly. Some things would be in super high def, and others would look blurry because of the CGI. It called attention to the airless, artificial quality of the film

Without getting into a big diatribe, I just also want to add:
They may be meant to do that, but what they actually do is tarnish the legacy of Leonidas and the 300 Spartans. Their story did not need orcs or monsters to be compelling, and by sticking them in a fantasy setting it detracts from their very real accomplishments. 300 people fighting orcs? What's so special about that? LORT has plenty of that kind of action and you expect people who fight monsters to be capable of miraculous feats. 300 Spartans and 7000 Thracians fighting a million people in the real world and holding them off for three days? Now that's special

Too bad Snyder, like always, didn't seem to understand what made the story he was telling special

Well, if you're going to criticize the fantastical approach to the story, you should probably criticize Frank Miller.

I wrote about this in great detail on some other thread a few months back, but long story short, there were no orcs or monsters in Miller's book. I actually enjoy the comic, and own it. The fantastical elements are purely an invention of Snyder's

(EDIT Also, the combat in the book keeps with how a phalanx actually fought. In Snyder's film he has them out there fighting one on one chopping at people with swords)

Kate. Still taking me to school, I see. Apologies. I hadn't read the comic. Based on how people often criticize Snyder for sticking too closely to the material, I assumed all that stuff was in the source material as well.

Can you answer this?

Haha, no worries. You'll turn it around and school me on something else soon enough I'm sure!

The rankings are chosen not for the film itself but for the overall package. Is 300 a better film than Psycho? Not in a millenia. Did we feel the overall package offered should be placed beforehand as a Blu-Ray? Yes.

It seemed to be a list based on bang for the buck. Thanks!

Arguing that the movie adds some minor fantasy elements to a story that's already incredibly fantastical and heavily fictionalized is ridiculous. If you took out just the 10 minutes of deformed freaks and rhinos and Linda Heady's bit you'd pretty much have an extraordinarily faithful Frank Miller's 300.

And what of lumpy hunchback Ephialtes? The giant wolf? The monsterous inbred Ephors? The 8 and a half foot African-looking bedazzled Xerxes? The enormous stampeding elephants? All of that is in the comic. You didn't have any issue with those, but you're saying that since Snyder added a single giant and a fatass freak with blade hands it somehow 'tarnishes the legacy of Leonidas' (lol)

Give me a break.

Is it just me or does that first screencap look incredibly DNR'd? It almost looks as bad as that plastic Arnold Predator screen-cap from a while back. I could be completely off, though, I don't know a lot about this sort of thing.

I think the TDK blu-ray looks amazing when I have it playing on my HDTV. But I have heard that some people have criticized the transfer for boosting the contrast too much as well as applying edge-enhancement. So, if anything, it could be the opposite of DNR.

Patrick, what you might be reading as DNR in that screenshot might actually be the super-shallow depth of field that comes from using IMAX lenses. Maybe this will give you a better look?

Much better.

The Dark Knight transfer is only off during the non-IMAX scenes. When they did the transfer, they should of done 2 separate encodes, 1 for the IMAX footage and another for the 35mm film. They probably only did the former encode on both and it hurt the 35mm film parts.

The Prestige on the other hand maintains a crispness throughout the film, both films using similar crew and studio.

That said, TDK is still an awesome blu with decent plethora* of special features and a great soundtrack that is so expansive that the normal volume has to be set higher than usual (thanks dialnorm) but really replicates the experience from the theater.

*even El Guapo agrees with his sweater.

A lot of what makes these releases "essential" is that the blu-ray release is far and away the best version to watch the given film. The DVD copies often pale in comparison. TDK is a perfect example of this. Even though the blu-ray is lacking super special features, the DVD release is a compressed, artifacted mess of a transfer. So if you want a home video version that in any way duplicates the theatrical experience, you don't have much of a choice but to get the HD version. The change in aspect ratiofor the IMAX scenes is just icing on the cakes.

Btw, I am psyched to see WALL-E on the list. I just scored a copy used at Reckless Records and its a must-have fo sho. PRESTO alone is enough, but the gorgeous transfer and numerous extras make it the first (I think although RATATOUILLE might've come before) in what is growing to be a solid library of must-have blu-rays.

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, but this list is making me wanna go buy some Blu's!! Great job, guys.

A wonderful film. Wayne has what might be the best intro ever, in a shot that I'd love to see in hi-def. The Bogdanovich extra sounds interesting, as it's clear with that shot that Ford thinks Wayne will be a superstar.

Only quibble: I find Claire Trevor's voice unbelievably irritating. She sounds like she's on the verge of a nervous breakdown the entire film.

"Fleet Street Fail." Hahahahahahaha.

I have a minor in "Music History and Literature". I would have majored in it, but I wanted to be employable after college. Needless to say, I curse one of my professors for ruining this highly enjoyable movie for me, in that is stuck in his craw that it is very historically inaccurate. Mostly in Salieri's relationship to Mozart, and that Mozart (if you read his letters) was definitely a self-important ass (deservedly?), but not a buffoon. His letters ripping on the French music of the time are quite hilarious.

Still, maybe it's been enough time that I can approach this movie again...

Lady Vengeance may indeed be the gentler of these films but it also contains one of the most devastating sequences I've ever watched. Hint: It's about some people watching some tapes. I literally cannot watch that scene sitting down. I have to get up and walk around a bit.

So yeah, great choice.

The Fade To White version makes Lady Vengeance so much stronger a film it's insane. It's the first time I've seen black and white used to indicate the world getting bleaker and better all at once. And I'm with you, stelios, on the video tapes. Shit, the entire stretch of film from the abandoned school onward is just heartwrenching material.

Lady Vengeance is my #1 film of the 00's. That last scene of the main character, her co-worker, and her daughter in the snow...(chills, choked up...)

Lady Vengeance is my favorite of the bunch too. I really wish I had the chance to see the Fade to White version in theaters. It's such a heartbreaking movie.

So are there two versions of Lady Vengeance on the set? And if so, should I watch this Fade to White version first? Still haven't seen the film at all.

Just got home from a long overnight of work, read this, got all misty remembering, and now I need to whip out the Blu-ray and revisit. Thanks for keeping me up another 90 minutes!

I would watch the Fade to White version first, it's the same except for the color change. And it's all the better for it.

Ah, Wall•E. I loved the first half, but once he got on the ship, it was as if Dreamworks took it over. As great as the setup was, this takes place over CARS as my least favorite Pixar movie because they blew it so badly.

I don't get why moving the action to the ship is such a big roadblock for everyone. Is it the crossover from live action to animated humans? Is it the introduction of the island of misfit robots?
Because in rewatching the movie for this article, any reservations I had about the later acts faded away, seeing the new characters as natural extensions of Wall-E and EVE, and I really like the way the action picks up to a Raiders-style momentum for a good while.