Blu-Ray Best Of The Best - for discussing releases only

[CMcK]

Not a lot of details but at least it's on the way.

Result. Metropolis is a bona fide classic. I hope the Blu-ray has the original version as well as the coloured version.

[JP]

Anyway, got Happy Feet on Bluray today, looks fantastic BUT it's in one of those crappy older Bluray cases.

Watched Happy Feet again earlier and really enjoyed it.

Far too much much chart R&B type singing for my liking though but by god those feet sure were some damn happy feet!!!

EDIT:
No The Matrix hasn't had a release on BD yet but is believed to be getting one this year sometime. I've read that a few people thought that the picture quality was far from ideal on HD-DVD so hopefully the BD release will have that sorted out.

[Number45]

It's been talked about for seemingly ages now and Warner have finally announced a release for 300: Limited Collector's Edition along with some other catalogue titles.

Saw that announcement. Please tell me it's just new content rather than new transfer/audio?

[ne0star]

EDIT:
No The Matrix hasn't had a release on BD yet but is believed to be getting one this year sometime. I've read that a few people thought that the picture quality was far from ideal on HD-DVD so hopefully the BD release will have that sorted out.

Yeah it was pretty naff. It had this really soft look to it. There was something not quite right about having to use MI3 as demo material over transformers and The Matrix

[Rossco]

Was Transformers not good either on HD-DVD, god hope they sort that and The Matrix out then for BD. Should be two definite buys from me if they do get it right.

[Lyris]

Transformers on HD DVD looked fantastic. A bit of horizontal prefilter I think (emphasis on THINK), but fantastic nonetheless.

I really hope they redo The Matrix.

[NekoFever]

Warner Readying 'Goonies' for Blu-ray?

If that's true, YES!

[teddymeow]

Was Transformers not good either on HD-DVD, god hope they sort that and The Matrix out then for BD. Should be two definite buys from me if they do get it right.

I thought Transformers looked pretty stunning on HD-DVD. The only issue I have with the film is that sometimes it moves so fast you can't keep track of what's going on (it was even harder in the cinema on a massive screen).

[SuperBeatBoy]

I think Transformers is one of the best discs on HD-DVD. Nothing wrong with the picture quality.

[JP]

A few more releases:

• Sweeney Todd (21/10/08) I wonder how it will compare to the Warner release?
• American Werewolf (2009?) According to John Landis it won't be the same as the HD-DVD release.
• The Mist (?/08/08) The first blu-ray release from the only remaining major studio not to have released anything (Weinstein Co) and it comes with 2 versions of the film.
• Prison Break - Season 3 (12/08/08) Not seen the show yet but it's apparently very good?
• Smart People (12/08/08) Something to do with Disney apparently?

[Matt]

• Prison Break - Season 3 (12/08/08) Not seen the show yet but it's apparently very good?

That really depends if your definition of "very good" is actually, "Retarded beyond belief with incomprehensible twists." Saying that, it is like a drug and you can't stop watching it for long - just when you say, "That's it ENOUGH!" you get drawn back to it a week later.

If you've not watched it, save yourself the indignation. For the rest of us, it's too late

[dvdmike]

Looking at what HDD said about the Warner releases there is no mention of what cut of JFK we are getting, I live in hope there will be both on it but i doubt it.
I am more worried the DNR machine will come out to play again as I swear NBK has be DNR'd you can see it most in the color sections, mostly the 35mm footage.

Warner need to re-do the matrix, 300, and batman begins for me.

Just read all the great extras that Optimum were promising for T2, the Fog, and Total Recall are now gone and the discs will all be barebones !

[JP]

Still not seeing any DNR on those scenes but Stone did add blurring to some scenes himself for the theatrical release which I seem to remember were not actually in the home editions that I used to own.

There is an abundance of EE, mainly on the sitcom scenes which should be there and a few touches of it close to the end of the film but they were also there in the theatrical release of the film. It was added in the sitcom scenes to make them look more like TV pictures but I'm not really convinced that there is any guarantee that the latter additions are anything to do with Stone as they seem to achieve nothing.

Reviews I've read by the better reviewers have also been fairly positive about the authenticity of the blu-ray version of the film in comparison with the cinematic release and what Stone has said about his treatments of this work.

It's always going to be difficult to judge a film like this on picture quality but if it's released looking like the director wanted it to look then there's not a lot we can do really.

[ne0star]

Recieved the Spiderwick Chronicles yesterday from movietyme. Not bad considering I only ordered it on Friday. Means I got it two days after the official US release date.

Haven't watched it yet. It was the missus who 'requested' it. I think it will suit the format well, and the reviews have been alright.

In response to the Transformers picture quality replies. I think I will hold my hands up and say its the line between good quality video being blurred by rubbish film making. I think I spent most of that film wondering if the missus had put the backtv up side down while dusting.

[NekoFever]

I think the problem with a lot of the Warner releases that are being complained about (The Matrix, Batman Begins, etc) is just Warner itself. Most of its films are VC-1 - which seems to have a slightly soft look anyway, although that could be poor implementation - at relatively low bitrates. I know VC-1 is the one of the codecs that performs best at low bitrates anyway, but most of the best-looking HD transfers have been AVC in the 30Mbps range. I assumed it was using VC-1 because Microsoft created the codec and was providing support for HD DVD, but it seems to have persisted since then.

Even so, I can remember being impressed with certain scenes in The Matrix, the lobby scene in particular. Plus I only paid ?23.99 for it and sold it off for a profit when Warner jumped ship

And most of the issues with Transformers that I can remember were as much the fault of the film-making as anything. Quite grainy, high contrast, blown out lighting... like every Michael Bay film!