Recently purchased movies / tv series

[Jurassic Shark 12,070]

The island of Scotland.

[A24 4,331]

I thought that audio of Blu-ray was supposed to be noticeably better than that of DVD?

[Jurassic Shark 12,070]

It's often lossless, but that doesn't mean the compressed audio of DVDs can't be very good.

[1977 1,743]

It is lossless but I've also never really minded DVD's lossy multi-channel sound, probably because my equipment is mid-range stuff quite a few years long in the tooth. But then I don't have a problem with lossy MP3 or AAC music files either, as long as I can pay a fraction of the price of a pressed CD for them (which is usually the case). The big attraction with Blu-ray is the hi-def PQ.

 

My blast-from-the-past Laserdisc purchases (these all have fantastic scores)

 

[bollemanneke 3,344]

Don't you only need lossless for editing? I swear I don't hear the difference.

[A24 4,331]

 

 

 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,520]

SIDEWAYS: en Français. Formidable!

[bruce marshall 1,315]

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS

blu

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

Amazon UK had some good deals. Several of these were GBP 4 or less, and even the 3D discs were cheap:

 

 

Wall-E is a replacement for my old disc which stops playing in the middle. Who else has had issues with Blu-rays that stopped working after a few years? This was my second one after The Departed (which flat out refused to even load on all of my players).

[Jurassic Shark 12,070]

Were any of them damaged in transit?

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

No. Amazon's cardboard boxes usually protect Blu-rays very well.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,520]

11 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Amazon UK had some good deals. Several of these were GBP 4 or less, and even the 3D discs were cheap:

 

 

Wall-E is a replacement for my old disc which stops playing in the middle. Who else has had issues with Blu-rays that stopped working after a few years? This was my second one after The Departed (which flat out refused to even load on all of my players).

Nice, Marian.

Can I borrow THE EXORCIST? 

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

I mostly bought that one to give it another try and confirmed that I'm still confused by the tagline. I don't find it scary in the slightest, never have. It's got some very good performances and a nice overall atmosphere that holds it together despite its utter ridiculousness, but in the end I'm still rather puzzled by it and it's general status. Oh, and the soundtrack is a mess. I wonder how Tubular Bells became famous through it; if I wasn't so familiar with it, I probably wouldn't even have noticed its brief appearances.

 

As for scary films: I've seen the first 30 minutes or so of Mulholland Drive many years ago and had to turn it off because it seriously freaked me out. Now that I have the Blu I have to gather my nerves for another attempt.

 

(Incidentally, I blind-bought most of these. The only one I've seen several times before is Wall-E. I'd seen Hateful Eight in 70mm, and the Oceans once on DVD (and perhaps the first one more than once), long ago, and Hawking once on TV, years before I heard of Cumberbatch again. And obviously The Exorcist, but also only on TV, i.e. some 20+ years ago and dubbed. Everything else was entirely unknown to me.)

[A24 4,331]

20 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Amazon UK had some good deals. Several of these were GBP 4 or less, and even the 3D discs were cheap:

 

 

 

 

If you haven't seen Dominik's Jesse James yet, you're in for a treat. 

 

Hannibal is also great but if it's the first season you have to wait several episodes before it starts getting good.

 

The VVitch has a nice & special atmosphere.

 

The first act of Wall-E is the best thing Pixar has ever done.

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

12 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

If you haven't seen Dominik's Jesse James yet, you're in for a treat.

 

As a Deakins fanboy, I've had this one my list for years.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,520]

36 minutes ago, AC1 said:

If you haven't seen Dominik's ...Jesse James... yet, you're in for a treat. 

Yes, yes! To Alex, you listen!

 

It was my equal favourite film of 2007.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

6 hours ago, AC1 said:

The VVitch has a nice & special atmosphere.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

17 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

As for scary films: I've seen the first 30 minutes or so of Mulholland Drive many years ago and had to turn it off because it seriously freaked me out. Now that I have the Blu I have to gather my nerves for another attempt.

That's not the only one that's really unnerving. The Exorcist, The VVitch, Don't Breathe and Inland Empire are all very effective and unsettling horror experiences among other qualities. The latter was labeled by my best friend as "absolutely most disturbing and gruesome film I've ever seen". I agree with him.

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

2 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

That's not the only one that's really unnerving. The Exorcist, The VVitch, Don't Breathe and Inland Empire are all very effective and unsettling horror experiences among other qualities. The latter was labeled by my best friend as "absolutely most disturbing and gruesome film I've ever seen". I agree with him.

 

As I said, I don't find The Exorcist scary, unnerving, or unsettling. It has one jump scare that works for me: A suddenly ringing telephone. But ringing telephones can do that.

 

2 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

That's not the only one that's really unnerving. The Exorcist, The VVitch, Don't Breathe and Inland Empire are all very effective and unsettling horror experiences among other qualities. The latter was labeled by my best friend as "absolutely most disturbing and gruesome film I've ever seen". I agree with him.

 

As I said, I don't find The Exorcist scary, unnerving, or unsettling. It has one jump scare that works for me: A suddenly ringing telephone. But ringing telephones can do that.

 

And re Don't Breathe: That's one I hadn't even heard of before. It simply showed up at Amazon for 4 quid, had one or two general comments that sounded promising, and a decent IMdb score to back it up, so I figured why not. Haven't watched it yet.

[A24 4,331]

3 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

As I said, I don't find The Exorcist scary, unnerving, or unsettling. 

 

 

Back in the olden days, I was very scared each time they went up the stairs to the girl's room. You never knew what to expect when they opened the door. Anything was possible. Of course, devils and exorcism are nothing new anymore but in 1973 nobody had ever seen a movie like this before. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,520]

That Lewton bus with the telephone, is a shock.

[filmmusic 1,827]

Got this UHD to see if it will play on my laptop. If it does, I'll purchase more.

 

 

Also got:

   

[A24 4,331]

The first time I watched The Heiress I thought it was brilliant. So dark I couldn't believe it's a movie from 1949.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

5 hours ago, AC1 said:

The first time I watched The Heiress I thought it was brilliant. So dark I couldn't believe it's a movie from 1949.

Wyler is a unique artist in Hollywood history.

He actually made films where adults didn't act like teenagers, but mature humans.

The H ays Code forced most directors to juvenile plots but WW stood his ground!

[A24 4,331]

They said it couldn't be done, but I'm living proof that it is possible. A Snyder and a Nolan movie in one purchase!

 

 

 

 

[1977 1,743]

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Tonight is Purge night. Not the film but the night David and I will sort through all our films and tv shows on some sort of disk. I plan to get rid of almost everything with certain exceptions probably all the 4K will "mostly" stay. Not getting rid of classic Rathbone Holmes and Univeral Monsters. I have approximately 300 black and white films I must agonize over. My little sister and nieces get first dibs, then I drop whats left in the breakroom. 

 

I have lost the collecting bug.

[Jay 37,353]

Good luck, Joe

[bruce marshall 1,315]

[Naïve Old Fart 9,520]

On 25/03/2021 at 3:49 PM, AC1 said:

The first time I watched The Heiress I thought it was brilliant. So dark I couldn't believe it's a movie from 1949.

Back when movie making had real and genuine guts.

No pre sold TV rights. No demographics. No focus groups. No previews. No audience appreciation cards. No recutting due to some minority taking offence.

Just good - fucking good - and brave filmmaking.

[A24 4,331]

41 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

No audience appreciation cards.

 

Do they still use those? I know that in 1982 it led to the recutting of Blade Runner (and adding a voiceover) because many complained they didn't understand what it was about or that nothing was happening  .

 

The power of a preview audience! Producers listening to some smucks instead of the artist.

[filmmusic 1,827]

Just purchased 10 Blurays from amazon.

 

The Piano (4K)

Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation

Microcosmos

The River

No Mercy

Easter Parade

The Prince of Egypt

National Velvet

Ivanhoe

Born on the Fourth of July

[Naïve Old Fart 9,520]

That's an eclectic mix, dude.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Only one is truly worth having imho

[A24 4,331]

Let me guess, Ivanhoe? 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,520]

It's got to be THE PIANO, in 4K.

[A24 4,331]

The Piano? Joe?

 

 

I ... don't ... think ... so ...

 

[bruce marshall 1,315]

On 01/12/2021 at 11:15 PM, Naïve Old Fart said:

Back when movie making had real and genuine guts.

No pre sold TV rights. No demographics. No focus groups. No previews. No audience appreciation cards. No recutting due to some minority taking offence.

Just good - fucking good - and brave filmmaking.

Whoa!

Only because William Wyler had clout was that film made.

99 percent of Hollywood movies of that era were tame, gutless and lacking any depth .

Studio heads frequently stepped in and recut films.

Not to mention the Hays Code.

Take off those rose colored glasses, Old Man.

😉

I

 

[filmmusic 1,827]

12 hours ago, JoeinAR said:

Only one is truly worth having imho

[A24 4,331]

33 minutes ago, bruce marshall said:

Whoa!

Only because William Wyler had clout was that film made.

99 percent of Hollywood movies of that era were tame, gutless and lacking any depth .

Studio heads frequently stepped in and recut films.

Not to mention the Hays Code.

Take off those rose colored glasses, Old Man.

😉

I

 

 

I'm glad that in the last 15 years independent film has provided an answer to the studio controlled dominance from the last 4 decades. In a way it made film more free than it ever was in any other decade. 

 

Gosh, that has to be the most positive thing I ever said about present-day moviemaking. And people say in live in the past!

[bruce marshall 1,315]

Netflix and HBO have more freedom than most studio releases.

And, there are still directors like Nolan and QT who push boundaries.

Sometimes they succeed , sometimes they fail .

DUNKIRK< TENET

HATEFUL EIGHT > OUTIH

[JoeinAR 1,949]

9 hours ago, filmmusic said:

Ha no.

 

National Velvet. 

Great film.

[filmmusic 1,827]

[Naïve Old Fart 9,520]

MAURICE is good, as is CYRANO, but...

9 hours ago, filmmusic said:

 

 

 

 

...

   

   

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[filmmusic 1,827]

1 minute ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

MAURICE is good, as is CYRANO, but...

...

   

   

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love MAURICE and CYRANO (and their scores), they are amog my favourite films, first seen in my teen years.

The others I have seen once.

I have an anxiety about DUNE because there are reports of freezing/pixelation at some points of the 4K disc with some players, and don't know if I'll be able to get a replacement in case I'm one of the unlucky ones.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,520]

Let us know how you get on.

[A24 4,331]

I stopped watching Cyrano because it looked terrible. It's possible that the TV channel that aired it had a terrible copy. I could hardly see a thing, which is a problem, because I happen to think film is a visual medium. Crazy, right?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,520]

Stop whingeing, a just turn the brightness up, on your Sony Trinitron.

[A24 4,331]

Me AC1, not Drax, or one of his clones.

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

Femme Fatale, one of Brian De Palma's best and most underrated films, has finally been released on Blu-ray by Shout Factory:

https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/femme-fatale?product_id=7806

 

I'd already pretty much given up any hopes of ever seeing a release of it. But now the question is: Does anyone know where and how to best order Shout Factory releases in Europe? They have a couple of others I've had my eyes on (e.g. Adaptation), and I do have a region 1 player, but apparently they don't have the licence to sell outside the USA and Canada, so I guess I have to depend on another company importing them. They so sometimes show up on Amazon.de, but not regularly.