Blu-ray News and Deals

[King Mark 3,631]

The small video store I rent DVD's for much cheaper than Blockbusters had started stocking BluRays but the guy stopped because people were returning the disks because "they wouldn't play in their DVD player"

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I haven't bought a Blu-ray in some time. I currently want/need:

Star Trek Original/Next Gen Motion Picture Collections

Saving Private Ryan

War of the Worlds

Indiana Jones IV

Poltergeist

Unfortunately, we are still without Universal's Spielberg heavy-hitters. Many of the rumored titles from that Digital Bits post have materialized. We even have Star Wars announced WITH deleted scenes. Where's Jaws? E.T.? Jurassic Park? Schindler's List? Supposedly, Spielberg is a big proponent of Blu-ray, but you'd never tell. It was heavily rumored Jurassic Park was coming this year, but that's looking unlikely. Too bad.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Calm down, Spielberg isn't the greatest director in the world. All the studios aren't just gonna stop what they're doing and work on every single Spielberg film. If you want classics pay attention to Criterion, they're on a roll and don't seem to be slowing down. It's unfortunate their Blus cost $30-$50 for a single damn film.

$45 for Seven Samurai. What the fuck is up with that?

[Charlie Brigden 7]

Calm down, Spielberg isn't the greatest director in the world. All the studios aren't just gonna stop what they're doing and work on every single Spielberg film. If you want classics pay attention to Criterion, they're on a roll and don't seem to be slowing down. It's unfortunate their Blus cost $30-$50 for a single damn film.

$45 for Seven Samurai. What the fuck is up with that?

As good as some of their movies are (although a lot of them are seriously overrated, and serious, Armageddon?), Criterion titles aren't going to sell BD players at a mass scale. Spielberg films will, so the studios should be making more effort if they want the format to make a bigger splash (although funnily enough, Criterion released CE3K on laserdisc).

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Criterion realized their mistakes with Armageddon and The Rock, considering the Blu releases for both films were not Criterion. They did add The Darjeeling Limited though, which is cool news considering it wasn't for the DVD release. Too bad it's 35 goddamn-dollars.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

Criterion realized their mistakes with Armageddon and The Rock, considering the Blu releases for both films were not Criterion. They did add The Darjeeling Limited though, which is cool news considering it wasn't for the DVD release. Too bad it's 35 goddamn-dollars.

I somehow doubt it was Criterion's decision to have them not issue the films for BD, especially with their issues with keeping rights in the past. It's a shame they rarely licence out their bonus material, though.

They do good witrh the Anderson movies, but yeah, the prices are just a bit crazy.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Whenever I see Criterion, I think of depressing European arthouse cinema and gritty documentaries like Night and Fog and Hearts and Minds or anything they'd show in a university lecture theatre, not Buena Vista/Bruckheimer blockbusters like The Rock and Armageddon.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I think of overpriced artsy fartsy pictures. Also, Koray, recall what was discussed before. I'm limiting movies I buy strictly to favorites. I have so many Blus I haven't re-watched. My only exception right now is a Blu with Spielberg credits and occasionally Williams involvement. I do want Spielberg's directorial filmography on home video. But my wish list of top favorite movies I'd make the exception for:

E.T.

Jaws

Titanic

Indiana Jones Trilogy (SO overdue)

Star Wars theatrical versions

Jurassic Park

Schindler's List

Hook

The Lion King

Aladdin

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Many of these have been broadcast on television in tantalizing HD. JP, Titanic, Schindler and Liberty Valance all resided on my DVR for extended amounts of time.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Well Titanic is coming out in 3D in 2 years, expect a Blu-ray around that time.

I recall reading somewhere that a Jurassic Park Blu was coming out, but that was like a year ago. So, don't know what happened there.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Cameron to Blu Ray will be the best. The man delivers the best presentation on dvd, and soon to Blu Ray, too bad SS and GL are just the opposite.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Cameron to Blu Ray will be the best. The man delivers the best presentation on dvd, and soon to Blu Ray, too bad SS and GL are just the opposite.

Except for The Abyss, which looked like it came from an old LD master, but the extras were second-to-none though.

I want Titanic in 2-D.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Cameron to Blu Ray will be the best. The man delivers the best presentation on dvd, and soon to Blu Ray, too bad SS and GL are just the opposite.

Except for The Abyss, which looked like it came from an old LD master, but the extras were second-to-none though.

I want Titanic in 2-D.

you don't have the 2 disc set. sadly True lies is a bare bones

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Yeah, my copy of The Abyss is the two-disc Special Edition from 2000.

[artyjeffrey 20]

I think of overpriced artsy fartsy pictures. Also, Koray, recall what was discussed before. I'm limiting movies I buy strictly to favorites. I have so many Blus I haven't re-watched. My only exception right now is a Blu with Spielberg credits and occasionally Williams involvement. I do want Spielberg's directorial filmography on home video. But my wish list of top favorite movies I'd make the exception for:

E.T.

Jaws

Titanic

Indiana Jones Trilogy (SO overdue)

Star Wars theatrical versions

Jurassic Park

Schindler's List

Hook

The Lion King

Aladdin

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Many of these have been broadcast on television in tantalizing HD. JP, Titanic, Schindler and Liberty Valance all resided on my DVR for extended amounts of time.

Anybody know why Spielberg doesn't do commentaries?

[Henry B 50]

Or deleted scenes.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

I know Jaws has deleted scenes, not sure about others. If I remember rightly, the commentary thing is something about 'not wanting to reveal the magic' or some such. Which doesn't really make a lot of sense given his penchant for feature-length documentaries.

Some of Cameron's DVDs have been very good, although funnily enough the majority were produced by Van Ling, who also produced the prequel DVDs (although by far the best was Di Laurikiza's Aliens as part of the quadrilogy box). He's made a couple of bad choices though, like Drax said with The Abyss not being available in anamorphic, but worse (and this is where he has something in common with Steve) is the new surround mix for The Terminator, featuring a lot of rerecorded sounds, with the original mix being available only in mono on the DVD (the new 5.1 mix is the only audio track on the BD). Hmm, replacing iconic elements of a film for its restoration while leaving the original version to survive on an inferior format. Where have I heard that before? Unfortunately, this was also done for Jaws. Not sure how much input Cameron and Spielberg had on these, but I hope Steve fixes Jaws when it makes its HD debut.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

I know Jaws has deleted scenes, not sure about others. If I remember rightly, the commentary thing is something about 'not wanting to reveal the magic' or some such. Which doesn't really make a lot of sense given his penchant for feature-length documentaries.

Spielberg feels like his films should speak for themselves, that's why he doesn't record any commentaries for them.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

spielberg is wrong

that's why his dvd presentations always feel like a ripoff.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Many Spielberg DVDs are loaded, but the bonus materials are a lot of talking heads. Yes, you get some admittedly good documentaries with Spielberg reflecting on how he doesn't like Temple of Doom or Close Encounters anymore, sad as they may be. Those are actually real. In fact, when it's just him reflecting, I like it. And Williams' stuff is always good to watch. But all the Dreamworks materials--a lot of manufactured infomercials. The Star Wars DVDs had this problem as well. Jurassic Park has never gotten a proper "Special Edition" release. It demands it. I want to hear Sam Neil and Jeff Goldblum talk about how much more convincing they were interacting with CGI in their day.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Many Spielberg DVDs are loaded, but the bonus materials are a lot of talking heads. Yes, you get some admittedly good documentaries with Spielberg reflecting on how he doesn't like Temple of Doom or Close Encounters anymore, sad as they may be. Those are actually real. In fact, when it's just him reflecting, I like it. And Williams' stuff is always good to watch. But all the Dreamworks materials--a lot of manufactured infomercials. The Star Wars DVDs had this problem as well. Jurassic Park has never gotten a proper "Special Edition" release. It demands it. I want to hear Sam Neil and Jeff Goldblum talk about how much more convincing they were interacting with CGI in their day.

Spielberg's lapdog Laurent Bouzereau is the master of boring EPK movie docos.

[pixie_twinkle 48]

I want Titanic in 2-D.

There's one scene I'd love to see in 3D.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I want Titanic in 2-D.

There's one scene I'd love to see in 3D.

If you want that kinda stuff, I suggest seeing Piranha 3D.

[Quintus 5,399]

There's topless sweaty men in Piranha?

[A24 4,335]

Good news for the fans of Cameron's Aliens!

Aliens finally remastered!

Alex

[Henry B 50]

The filmmaker said: "It's spectacular. We went in and completely de-noised it, de-grained it, up-rezzed, color-corrected every frame, and it looks amazing. It looks better that it looked in the theaters originally. Because it was shot on a high-speed negative that was a new negative that didn't pan out too well and got replaced the following year. So it's pretty grainy. We got rid of all the grain. It's sharper and clearer and more beautiful than it's ever looked. And we did that to the long version, to the 'director's cut' or the extended play."

[A24 4,335]

Why no party smiley?

[Charlie Brigden 7]

A: I hope some grain survived.

B: So the theatrical cut still looks shoddy and they've only restored the (inferior) special edition? The original film stock was awful.

[Quintus 5,399]

I like the grainy look of Aliens, but I can't wait to see what it looks like remastered, on Blu.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Amazon's box set deal this week is The Man With No Name Trilogy (Blu) for the nice price of $27.99

Sold.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Grain is a part of the film. Why are people so anti-grain and want lost detail?

[Charlie Brigden 7]

Grain is a part of the film. Why are people so anti-grain and want lost detail?

Because a lot of people really have no clue about film stock and the natural exhibition state of a film. They think that because BD is high-def, everything must look like it was shot two weeks ago. And idiotically, some of the studios do as well.

[Wojo 2,453]

Because some people think "real life" and "movies" ought to be interchangeable. You don't see grain in front of everything as you walk down the street unless you've got an uncorrectable eye problem. But you see everything in 3D without the use of Roy Orbison glasses, again unless you've got an uncorrectable eye problem.

So some filmmakers are taking it upon themselves to blur the two aspects together. Movies that look more like real life -- 3D and no grain.

It really, um, goes against the grain of a century of established filmmaking, which has made grain an effect of the technologies used, leading to its embrace by film fans.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Sadly some studios kill films with excessive DNR and Edge Enhancement, I don't understand the point. It's as if they're thinking like Lucas. Noise reduction is good, but not when you scrape every last bit of detail off the film.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

But you see everything in 3D without the use of Roy Orbison glasses, again unless you've got an uncorrectable eye problem.

You say this while I'm listening to the Travelling Wilburys. Weird.

[A24 4,335]

Grain is a part of the film. Why are people so anti-grain and want lost detail?

I always thought there was something wrong with the way the film looked (the quality of the image) and now Cameron says it was a bad negative. When it comes to technical things, don't you trust Cameron? If he says it looks incredible then I'm pretty sure it will look better.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

don't you trust Cameron? If he says it looks incredible then I'm pretty sure it will look better.

People said the same about George Lucas a long time ago in a fandom far, far away.

EDIT: I suppose I trust him if it's necessary for an image to look like this.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I thought it was well known Cameron is a DNR freak.

[Henry B 50]

It's not really surprising considering, um, everything about Avatar.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

T2 has always had an annoying level of DNR. It's worse now on Blu-ray. I think it has something to do with Super 35 process, where the frame is chopped and blown up so the film grain is more apparent. Just seems like a phenomenal waste to go back through the whole movie and have to smooth it out, if that's what he feels is necessary.

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

I thought it was well known Cameron is a DNR freak.

It's not really surprising considering, um, everything about Avatar.

Yes, even the script is de-noised.

[Wojo 2,453]

Avatar.

Yes, even the script is de-noised.

Not quite.

Shut your pie hole!

[Quintus 5,399]

DNR is for pussys. Real film lovers (men) like it grainy and gritty - just like 'real life'.

[A24 4,335]

Cameron is a pussy?

[Quintus 5,399]

Yeah, i was erm... taking the piss.

You should no me enough by now, Alex

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Cameron is a pussy?

[pixie_twinkle 48]

Amazon's box set deal this week is The Man With No Name Trilogy (Blu) for the nice price of $27.99

Sold.

Sold. Thanks for the heads up!

Cameron is a pussy?

Brilliant!

[ashinyobject 0]

Criterion is fantastic when it comes to film grain on Blu-ray.

Heck, they're fantastic with everything!

[Trent B 337]

Finally picked up three Blu-Ray movies today that I've been wanting to pick up for a while. Predator, The Terminator (first one) and Independence Day. I need to start really getting my Blu-Ray movies now and stop buying regular DVD's.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I still think Terminator (the original) looks fine on Blu-ray, by the way. But ID4 is a sucky Blu-ray. I still have it, but they really should have ported special features.

[Trent B 337]

I do agree they should have imported the features, they also should have included the "Director's Edition" as well. They could have fit both easily onto the Blu-Ray.