Refreshing movies worth watching

[antcollinet]

Hi, if I am permitted to mention a movie best avoided?
Project Hail Mary.
The book is great.
So i thought I would catch the movie. Bad move, if you thought Jar Jar Binks was bad, the alien character gives him a run for his money. Yet in the book he is a serious character on a serious mission.
So I re read the book to flush the bad movie out of my memory.

I loved it. Each to their own.

Though often reading the book first ruins the movie.

 

[LTig]

Just seen in a small island cinema: Tuner

Tuner (film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A must see for people who love music.

 

[Timcognito]

Posted this on SciFi thread but that seems to be a bit tired

Best SciFi movies

Listing is tough, and this is a great thread to help with that! I'm going with Blade Runner at the top. Planet of the Apes, the original, and then the recent trilogy. Silent Running (My favorite Bruce Dern movie.) I admit to some recency bias, but The Martian was quirt fun, for me. Kairo...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[J. Lohmann]

Wasn't sure if I was going to cave and buy this to replace my aging (and ancient) Warner snapper cased flipper DVD, but the last time we watched that disc, the image didn't really hold up on a 65 inch 4K display being upscaled to 2160p. Though I haven't been thrilled with the releases I've seen from Arrow (I viewed Demolition Man prior to this, and I still feel as though they could have done a slightly better job on the video transfer -- and much better on the audio), I decided to give this a puchase at a decent price (the non-Limited Edition variant) and put it through its paces.

Let me get this off the chest right away: Being very familiar with this film (it was a staple going through college, which I was in at the time it came out) and having done papers on it for History of Film classes at one of the schools I attended, I knew what Schumacher was going for with regard to the color timing and "heat index" of the cinematography. The film, as we all know by now, is supposed to take place over the course of one very hot afternoon in Los Angeles, and subsequent home video formats (and the theatrical release print) showcased this rather nicely -- in other words, the print was always drenched in oranges, browns and reds to give us the feeling of oppressive heat the characters are experiencing from both the outside environment as well as their boiling internal stressors.

From what I can tell via this new 2160p 4K transfer struck by Arrow, that effect is largely gone -- now that's not to say that the image doesn't look good. Quite honestly, this is the best Falling Down has ever looked to my eyes on home video; indeed, the print is super clean with zero artifacting that I could see, and it stomps all over Warner's original flipper DVD (I never saw the Blu-ray, believe it or not, but I read that it didn't look all that great). Some problem areas from the past still remain -- the sequence when the detectives visit D-Fens' mother's house is still somewhat soft and noisy in spots, the end sequence on the pier still looks a little edgy and rough, etc. -- but the biggest issue for me was the change in the color timing and cinematography temperature.

All of a sudden, Falling Down now looks much cooler and colder, which doesn't really mesh with the story's feel and aesthetic, and that was a big letdown for me. All the colors are dialed back to sheer normalcy (so greens look perfect, browns look accurate, etc.), but this does not convey oppressive heat during summer in L.A. Sure, you can still tell that this is a hot day, what with the closeups of Douglas' nonstop sweat and such, but the look of this film is now a lot cooler...and I don't think that was for the best. Still, it definitely tramples all over the aforementioned DVD, so it was an upgrade in my eyes. I gotta take a point off, though, for that quasi-color desaturation effort...

In terms of the audio, this one was a bit of a head-scratcher -- Arrow offers two tracks here, a 2.0 stereo mix and a 4.0 surround mix, both in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio. I didn't try the 2.0 mix yet, but in running the 4.0 track the first time I watched the disc, I was reminded of just how plain boring the sound design for Falling Down always was. The DVD I am replacing boasted a Dolby Surround track that was pretty much useless save for center-anchored dialogue, and from what I understand the Blu-ray offered a Dolby TrueHD 2.0 mix that fared no better. Apparently, while strange to see on packaging, this 4.0 mix is a recreation of the original theatrical presentation, with (depending on which review site you look at) three discrete front channels and a mono matrixed surround, or four discrete surrounds and a matrix-derived center. There have been some arguments that this film never needed a dedicated subwoofer/LFE channel based on the subject material, but I have always disagreed with that given the brief moments we get some hip hop music come through (Fu-Shnickens' "La Schmoove" before the Whammy Burger scene) as well as suggested resonation from the rocket when Bill launches it towards the construction workers. With the 4.0 mix (and of course with the 2.0), we get no such LFE channel, but the aforementioned moments fare pretty well with bass from the main channels (yet that rocket scene could still use punch); outside of that, this was the same run-of-the-mill audio experience we've gotten in the past: It's basically glorified mono with some added aggressive left-and-right panning in the fronts. I detected no surround activity, matrixed or otherwise, but I'll have to watch it again at a higher volume level to confirm.

Folks are complaining about the packaging, that it wasn't really given any love with any sort of special casing or alternate art, but I think it works as is -- the original theatrical poster art, used on every home video format and used here, is iconic IMO (like The Exorcist, which should have never been messed with) what with Douglas standing on the cement block where he has his run-in with the gang members.

My recommendation: If you already own the remastered Deluxe Edition two-disc DVD or any of the Blu-rays (including the digibook version, long out of print if I am not mistaken), you could probably skip this unless you need everything in Ultra HD. If you're jumping from the original ****ty-looking flipper DVD or have never bought this before on home video, it could be a worthwhile investment.

All, of course, in my humble opinion.

 

[J. Lohmann]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WESLEY SNIPES!

U.S. VERSION (i.e. everything refers to TACO BELL, not PIZZA HUT)

​

 

[J. Lohmann]

 

[JeffS7444]

How could I have neglected to mention 2012's John Dies at the End?

 

[mrbungle]

Wasn't sure if I was going to cave and buy this to replace my aging (and ancient) Warner snapper cased flipper DVD, but the last time we watched that disc, the image didn't really hold up on a 65 inch 4K display being upscaled to 2160p. Though I haven't been thrilled with the releases I've seen from Arrow (I viewed Demolition Man prior to this, and I still feel as though they could have done a slightly better job on the video transfer -- and much better on the audio), I decided to give this a puchase at a decent price (the non-Limited Edition variant) and put it through its paces.

Let me get this off the chest right away: Being very familiar with this film (it was a staple going through college, which I was in at the time it came out) and having done papers on it for History of Film classes at one of the schools I attended, I knew what Schumacher was going for with regard to the color timing and "heat index" of the cinematography. The film, as we all know by now, is supposed to take place over the course of one very hot afternoon in Los Angeles, and subsequent home video formats (and the theatrical release print) showcased this rather nicely -- in other words, the print was always drenched in oranges, browns and reds to give us the feeling of oppressive heat the characters are experiencing from both the outside environment as well as their boiling internal stressors.

From what I can tell via this new 2160p 4K transfer struck by Arrow, that effect is largely gone -- now that's not to say that the image doesn't look good. Quite honestly, this is the best Falling Down has ever looked to my eyes on home video; indeed, the print is super clean with zero artifacting that I could see, and it stomps all over Warner's original flipper DVD (I never saw the Blu-ray, believe it or not, but I read that it didn't look all that great). Some problem areas from the past still remain -- the sequence when the detectives visit D-Fens' mother's house is still somewhat soft and noisy in spots, the end sequence on the pier still looks a little edgy and rough, etc. -- but the biggest issue for me was the change in the color timing and cinematography temperature.

All of a sudden, Falling Down now looks much cooler and colder, which doesn't really mesh with the story's feel and aesthetic, and that was a big letdown for me. All the colors are dialed back to sheer normalcy (so greens look perfect, browns look accurate, etc.), but this does not convey oppressive heat during summer in L.A. Sure, you can still tell that this is a hot day, what with the closeups of Douglas' nonstop sweat and such, but the look of this film is now a lot cooler...and I don't think that was for the best. Still, it definitely tramples all over the aforementioned DVD, so it was an upgrade in my eyes. I gotta take a point off, though, for that quasi-color desaturation effort...

In terms of the audio, this one was a bit of a head-scratcher -- Arrow offers two tracks here, a 2.0 stereo mix and a 4.0 surround mix, both in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio. I didn't try the 2.0 mix yet, but in running the 4.0 track the first time I watched the disc, I was reminded of just how plain boring the sound design for Falling Down always was. The DVD I am replacing boasted a Dolby Surround track that was pretty much useless save for center-anchored dialogue, and from what I understand the Blu-ray offered a Dolby TrueHD 2.0 mix that fared no better. Apparently, while strange to see on packaging, this 4.0 mix is a recreation of the original theatrical presentation, with (depending on which review site you look at) three discrete front channels and a mono matrixed surround, or four discrete surrounds and a matrix-derived center. There have been some arguments that this film never needed a dedicated subwoofer/LFE channel based on the subject material, but I have always disagreed with that given the brief moments we get some hip hop music come through (Fu-Shnickens' "La Schmoove" before the Whammy Burger scene) as well as suggested resonation from the rocket when Bill launches it towards the construction workers. With the 4.0 mix (and of course with the 2.0), we get no such LFE channel, but the aforementioned moments fare pretty well with bass from the main channels (yet that rocket scene could still use punch); outside of that, this was the same run-of-the-mill audio experience we've gotten in the past: It's basically glorified mono with some added aggressive left-and-right panning in the fronts. I detected no surround activity, matrixed or otherwise, but I'll have to watch it again at a higher volume level to confirm.

Folks are complaining about the packaging, that it wasn't really given any love with any sort of special casing or alternate art, but I think it works as is -- the original theatrical poster art, used on every home video format and used here, is iconic IMO (like The Exorcist, which should have never been messed with) what with Douglas standing on the cement block where he has his run-in with the gang members.

My recommendation: If you already own the remastered Deluxe Edition two-disc DVD or any of the Blu-rays (including the digibook version, long out of print if I am not mistaken), you could probably skip this unless you need everything in Ultra HD. If you're jumping from the original ****ty-looking flipper DVD or have never bought this before on home video, it could be a worthwhile investment.

All, of course, in my humble opinion.

Appreciate your posts, but might be better to start a new thread for new boutique blu-ray releases? I say this as a fellow collector with way too many discs… I might post highlights I discover there too.

 

[J. Lohmann]

Appreciate your posts, but might be better to start a new thread for new boutique blu-ray releases? I say this as a fellow collector with way too many discs… I might post highlights I discover there too.

So what's supposed to go HERE exactly?

 

[mrbungle]

Can’t describe it better than Amir did in the first post. I guess people in this thread care more about movies than details about new Blu-ray releases. But that’s just me, you can do whatever you think makes most sense.

 

[J. Lohmann]

Can’t describe it better than Amir did in the first post. I guess people in this thread care more about movies than details about new Blu-ray releases. But that’s just me, you can do whatever you think makes most sense.

But the content ON the discs themselves ARE films. I don't get it.

First, people tell me I need to do more than just post images of the artwork of the films I'm watching, then when I add "reviews" they tell me the content needs to go elsewhere. Then, when I start my own thread about PHYSICAL MEDIA, someone tells me he's ignoring me because of the artwork posted and no one replies in there.

Then, I'm told the films I'm watching aren't "refreshing" in a sense.

This forum is just plain insane. I'm out.

 

[krumpol]

Then, when I start my own thread about PHYSICAL MEDIA, someone tells me he's ignoring me because of the artwork posted and no one replies in there..

I'm not the one ignoring you, but consider this: do not post tens of megabytes in *.gif animations per page if you're expecting reactions.
This is the last page (n.24) of this thread summarized: 68.7 MB in your gifs, hotlinked from various sites, downloaded in ~4.56 minutes with my 400 Mbps FTTH connection in Slovakia:

https://imgur.com/cYa8Ylc

 

[JeffS7444]

"Refreshing" can be interpreted in different ways, and while audio and video quality matter, I think we're more concerned whether there's a well-presented and compelling story to be had.

 

[Axo1989]

I'm not the one ignoring you, but consider this: do not post tens of megabytes in *.gif animations per page if you're expecting reactions.
This is the last page (n.24) of this thread summarized: 68.7 MB in your gifs, hotlinked from various sites, downloaded in ~4.56 minutes with my 400 Mbps FTTH connection in Slovakia:

https://imgur.com/cYa8Ylc

That may have been me (ignoring). It was the use of animated gifs to insult other posters that got to me. But I’m glad I’m not downloading MB gratuitously. For the purpose of this thread, why not just say what the film is, and why you like it … would be my question. Which will likely remain unanswered.

 

[antcollinet]

Can’t describe it better than Amir did in the first post. I guess people in this thread care more about movies than details about new Blu-ray releases. But that’s just me, you can do whatever you think makes most sense.

In what way are Blu Rays not also movies?

But @J. Lohmann I do agree with comments upthread about obnoxious animated GIFs. Wish I could have the person who invented them locked up somewhere dark for eternity.

 

[Timcognito]

That may have been me (ignoring). It was the use of animated gifs to insult other posters that got to me. But I’m glad I’m not downloading MB gratuitously. For the purpose of this thread, why not just say what the film is, and why you like it … would be my question. Which will likely remain unanswered.

Agree and if you are going to post something animated, post the films trailer that's it, along with comments about genre, length, acting, gratuitous violence, etc.

 

[rgpit]

Just rewatched "12 Angry Men". Made in 1957, no color, no great scenery but in my opinion it is the best movie ever made. Incredible acting and cast.

 

[AlexanderM]

Just watched "Streets of Fire" again the other day. Young Dianne Lane, young William Dafoe, young Bill Paxton. Also saw "Legend" again, Tim Curry is amazing as Darkness and Mia Sarah is the star of the show. I PVR'd the 1950's "War of the Worlds" which I love. Also love "Big Trouble in Little China". Have seen them all in the last few weeks.

 

[EJ3]

How could I have neglected to mention 2012's John Dies at the End?

It looks appealing!