What Film (on DVD/BD/UHD BD) Did You Watch Last?

[J. Lohmann]

It's been more than a few years (my oPPo 205 UDP has been asking for a TV companion for a long time. I did not have one when I bought the oppo (I have used the oPPo with a 32" computer monitor but have not had a tv since my wife asked if we needed one in 2007 and I said "not really" so she made it disappear).
But I keep collecting 4K & DVD, so there is future intent.

You had an Oppo 205 connected to a 32 inch computer monitor? How did that even WORK?

 

[Steve Dallas]

 

[J. Lohmann]

I still have my Signature Selection DVD of Gladiator...will never get rid of it. Remains a kick-ass DTS-ES mix...

Named my late Black Lab/Aussie Shephard "Maximus" after Crowe's character...

 

[EJ3]

Twister!

When I saw that in the theater back in 1996 I left wanting to be reimbursed for the 2 hours of my life that had been painfully wasted.

The flying cows were the most redeeming feature (if only they landed in my yard and I gould get them to the bucther).

 

[J. Lohmann]

The flying cows were the most redeeming feature (if only they landed in my yard and I gould get them to the bucther).

Can't believe the hate this film gets; it was just a check-your-brain-at-the-door summer popcorn blockbuster. Sure, some of the acting was atrocious, but it was still good fun. The 4K disc looks AWESOME.

 

[EJ3]

4K UHD BLU-RAY ANNOUNCED...

​

Most of what I collect is concerts, unfortunately not many are 4K.

 

[J. Lohmann]

Most of what I collect is concerts, unfortunately not many are 4K.

Huh?

What did that have to do with History of Violence, which you quoted?

 

[jimmyjames8]

 

[EJ3]

You had an Oppo 205 connected to a 32 inch computer monitor? How did that even WORK?

Very well with my stereo as the audio:

 

[Apesbrain]

Very well with my stereo as the audio:View attachment 547810

Curious, why do you have two Apt/Holman pre-amps?

 

[Mr. Widget]

Curious, why do you have two Apt/Holman pre-amps?

Mono blocks silly.

 

[EJ3]

C

More inputs were needed (+ I like redundency): 2 reel to reels, 2 dual bay cassette decks, 2 turntables (the one you see in the first picture is a Technics SL-M3, the unseen one is a DUAL 1229), 3 FM tuners, 6 NAD 2200's, 2 NAD 2100's, 1 PROTON d1200, 2 pair of Dahlquist M-905's and 2 custom built (by me) subs.
And:
Quadraphonic Synthesis

With two Holman Preamplifiers, you can synthesis and control four output channels from just two input channels.

Apply all your inputs to the first Holman Preamplifier. Use it for all your tone controls, filters and source and tape selections. Leave its Stereo Mode in Stereo.

Connect the first Holman Preamplifier's MAIN 1 output to one power amplifier and your two front speakers.

Connect the first Holman Preamplifier's MAIN 2 output to any line-level input of the second Holman Preamplifier.

Connect the second Holman Preamplifier's MAIN 1 output to the power amplifier for your two rear speakers.

Rotate the second Holman Preamplifier's stereo mode control to L-R, and start by setting it to about unity gain or a bit less, and keep its tone controls flat. The tone and filter settings of the first Holman Preamplifier are fed automatically to the second Holman Preamplifier.

Set balance on the first preamp. Set front-rear balance on the Volume control of the second preamp.

Leave the power switch of the second preamp ON, and plug its power cord into a switched outlet of the first Holman Preamplifier. Now the power is controlled by the first Holman Preamplifier, too.

 

[J. Lohmann]

Very well with my stereo as the audio:View attachment 547810

I was asking because it was designed, primarily, as a UHD Blu-ray player (though with premium audio guts).

 

[EJ3]

I was asking because it was designed, primarily, as a UHD Blu-ray player (though with premium audio guts).

Yes, the oPPo 205 UDP audio is very, very good!
In fact, it is the primary reason that I bought it.

 

[J. Lohmann]

 

[J. Lohmann]

 

[J. Lohmann]

 

[J. Lohmann]

LOVE this film...

 

[J. Lohmann]

Never caught this campy horror flick from the year I started college, but ironically, when my old college roommate was in town on a work project and I got together with him recently, he recommended I check this out; it didn't resonate with me as strongly as it did him, I can say that. The premise reminded me a lot of Argento's Demons, what with the old theater setting, but I don't think it was quite as effective as that camp classic. The premise here is that a group of misfit film class students, taught by Tony Roberts (of Amityville 3D and Taking of Pelham One Two Three fame), get together to host an all-night "fright-a-thon" after they rent out and quasi-renovate an old balcony-lined theater called Dreamland -- this is intended to raise money for the film department of the school, as they seem to be dwindling in that regard, and after Roberts' character promises leftover funds to fuel the students' projects, the kids agree. Before all this, however, we're treated to an opening sequence that plays like a hazy dream, one in which a woman is tied to some kind of sacrificial structure while a man who looks like Jesus attempts to stab her with all sorts of strange imagery in the background; meanwhile, a young girl is chased in her nightgown during this sequence, leading to the realization that this was, indeed, a dream by a college student part of the film class.

Roberts' character advises the students that they will be showing three old flicks during the horror marathon they're putting on, all to be accompanied by William Castle-esque "props" and gimmicks that will supposedly coincide with the subject matter of the flicks -- Mosquito!, The Stench and something about an "Electrified Man." The action for these three films were captured separately from the main action in Popcorn, giving it a sort of Scream-like feel (i.e. "a film within a film"); into this mix comes an old man hired by Toby, one of the top students in the film class, who provides all the gags and hardware necessary to get the film marathon started (it's all weird and far-fetched). Anyway, the kids begin to clean up the theater to the backdrop of some really cheesy quasi-Reggae music, eventually stumbling upon a reel-to-reel film buried in a box at the back of the theater. Upon viewing it, Roberts' character deduces that the film is called Possessor (which they should have called THIS film instead of Popcorn, but I digress) and was made by some lunatic who did some kind of sacrificial killing of his family on celluloid. As the theater-goers arrive at the Dreamland to watch the marathon -- complete with 3D glasses for Mosquito!, nose pinchers for The Stench and shock devices for the "Electrified Man" interlude -- we begin to learn of a connection between the girl who had the nightmare in the beginning and the killer who made Possessor. As the marathon goes on, several key members of the film class get murdered by a mysterious disfigured individual who manipulates the gimmicks -- including a giant flying mosquito prop, under-seat shock kits and more -- to coincide with the students' (and one unfortunate professor's) deaths. Could it be the director of Possessor who wasn't really burned alive when the Dreamland theater was set ablaze during his attempt to finish the film? Or is it someone else taking cues from this madman, a la Ghostface in the Scream franchise? Was there really a connection between the girl having the dreams and her supposed mother, who was supposedly there the night the lunatic was making Possessor, and who has been getting threatening phone calls from a mysterious individual throughout the film? Do you care?

The film is a whacky, goofy way to spend an hour and a half, but doesn't offer much more; still, I had fun with films of its kind myself years ago, including Waxwork, Ninja III: The Domination and crap like that, so I guess I can understand my roommate's penchant for Popcorn when HE was young. I still think the name of the film was stupid, as it simply refers to the old popcorn machines they brought in during the film festival; it should have been named after the film idolized from the beginning, Possessor. It had a very "Little Shop of Horrors" feel to the proceedings, what with the odd music, strange costumes worn by both the students and theater-goers and the stage play vibe surrounding the whole thing. Interestingly, I watched some of the "making of" special features on Synapse's Blu-ray, and it seems the whole thing was filmed in Jamaica, including the abandoned theater, the crew going to some lengths to mix in non-Jamaican extras for the theater-goers and such; was kind of an eye-opener.

As for the disc itself, Synapse brings Popcorn to Blu-ray in a mostly decent-looking 1.85:1 1080p transfer that I suppose is appropriate for the vintage and ultra-low budget of this flick; some sequences were riddled with noise and grain, notably in the black levels, while the opening dream sequence looked soft, out of focus and just rough. Outside shots of the Dreamland theater fared the best, but this is no way reference quality.

Audio was presented in two flavors: A DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround mix and a 2.0 track; I sampled the surround mix, but there was nothing to talk about here. All audio was through the front three channels, essentially.

 

[J. Lohmann]

The defacto standard for D-Day retellings in film will always be Saving Private Ryan (at least in the contemporary sense), and in that context, Pressure is very different -- you have to go into it knowing and accepting that. The entire film isn't really ABOUT D-Day per se, or the storming of the Normandy coast that fateful day during World War II -- in fact, only the last moments of the film touch on the allied troops running up the beach from those carriers as most were shot into Swiss cheese. No, Pressure is actually a telling of how Eisenhower, Churchill and other leaders at the time needed a concise, clear roadmap in terms of weather conditions leading up to the planned invasion, and how an incorrect prediction could cost the allies the war. I never knew about this aspect of so-called D-Day, so it was an eye-opening experience. The film opens and just throws you into the situation at hand: It's a few days before the planned takeover of a French shoreline that is being protected by Nazi soldiers of the most brutal kind. "Ike" Eisenhower (played somewhat genuinely, if a bit brooding) by Brendan Fraser has assigned a Scottish weather expert to analyzing the atmospheric conditions on the day of the planned invasion, but he is immediately met by hostility by the American and British operatives working at the famous UK mansion where the allied principals of WWII have met. He specifically butts heads with an American weather analyst who has made a name for himself by successfully predicting atmospheric patterns that helped Eisenhower (and others) win certain battles in the past. As these two men let their egos and resumes get the best of them, locking them into vicious arguments and threats towards one another, Eisenhower (Fraser) begins to lose his cool, demanding the two come to some kind of agreement regarding the weather on the day of the planned mission.

We are alerted, onscreen, to the days as they count down and pass, all leading up to the moments right before the actual famous invasion, all while the pressure (given to the name of the film based on not only the heated conflict the characters are embroiled in but also in reference to weather systems) mounts between all the men as they are desperate to provide the answers the higher-ups running the war for the allies are looking for. In the middle of all this, the Scottish atmospheric analyst receives word that his pregnant wife's hospital has been bombed, and he has no way of knowing if she's alive or not; after Eisenhower refuses to let his British assistant check on her status, the analyst really begins to unravel and come apart (and who wouldn't under all that "pressure"?).

The premise becomes clear: The American weather expert SWEARS the weather will be clear, sunny and absolutely perfect for the Normandy invasion based on prior historical analog charts, while the Scottish analyst claims there is a system of storms coming together that will threaten the mission. Eisenhower becomes enraged that these two can't agree on an answer, and it comes down to just mere moments before the scheduled attack that Ike must make a decision; initially, he decides to postpone D-Day, but after rain and storms seem to move into the British atmosphere, things change. It seems the Scottish analyst may have been right about storm systems on the day the invasion was supposed to go forward, and as such, he and his American counterpart begin looking for gaps in the weather forecasts in which Eisenhower and the allies can perhaps launch their Normandy beach mission -- it won't be perfect, as there is still rain, winds and high waves, but they deduce that the troops will be able to be sent in relatively safely.

Of course, we all know what happens from there; D-Day goes off amidst a myriad of problems -- namely in the form of German gunners waiting to shred the allied soldiers coming off the ships one by one with tons of gunfire -- but the beach ends up being taken due to the determination of the men and commanding forces. Into this foray comes genuine color-corrected footage from the invasion, interwoven between filmed content, making for an emotional effect.

On the video side of things, Universal/Focus Pictures gives Pressure a nice 4K/2160p transfer that reflects the WWII feel of the film well; to be sure, this isn't a flashy cornucopia of color (I viewed it with HDR10 because my display doesn't support Dolby Vision) and the hues lean towards browns and earth tones given the subject matter. While at first some viewers may call this "flat," it's somewhat appropriate for the time period. Everything else looked okay -- costumes, skies, skin tones, etc. -- if a bit reserved and pulled back (again, to convey the atmosphere of World War II Britain in the main scenes).

The Atmos mix (played back as Dolby TrueHD in my setup) was decent, as well, though the film didn't allow the elements to really show themselves off until the end war sequence; there were lots of radio chatter, voices, typewriters and the like which found their way into the surrounds, and that was somewhat charming.

I'm sticking with Saving Private Ryan when I'm in the mood for D-Day films.