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

[Kotatsu Neko]

Look what Germany is getting...

http://www.anixehd.tv/shop/product_info.php?info=p273_Pans-Labyrinth--Blu-ray-.html

It includes Spanish and German PCM, and some extras including a commentary from Del Toro. HOWEVER, it is marred by the same snag as the forthcoming French HD DVD version in that it has no English subtitles. One can at least swoon at the cover art I suppose.

Momentum have the UK rights to this, and they do plan on releasing an HD DVD version... but not until next year.

There may be hope in the US as New Line (Warner) have the rights, they just haven't announced anything yet.

[Strider]

Isn't it a kiddie film in the style of the lion the witch and the wardrobe?

Not really. It's a heartwarming tale of two outsiders who became firm friends and invent their own made-up world called Terabithia that they can escape to. The majority of the film is set in the real world and you occasionally get to see what they are imagining around them, so it's vastly different from the likes of Narnia.

It's a truly excellent movie that deals with some surprisingly adult issues, looks fantastic and has two really charasmatic young leads. It's based on a popular American novel, and while I can't say how authentic to the book it is, it's such a heart-warming tale that it had me and my wife bawling like a couple of three year olds.

[Lyris]

It drops the commentary tracks though, no? As far as I know those were the only original elements Criterion owned, whereas Disney sourced everything else for the Criterion DVD, leaving them to re-use that content as and when they pleased elsewhere in the world for non Criterion versions.

Yep, you're right - looks like it's everything except for the commentary tracks.

[MoFo2]

Where was that link where you could see what BD movies have the best transfer? I thought it was this: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=753726 but I get a message that I need to register and I'm sure I saw it without having to register..?

[Lyris]

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 on BD is even better than the first (which was fan-bloody-tastic but bizarrely had some edge ringing). This one doesn't and is, asides from a weird 3 second shot where there's a weird drop in resolution (it's at 1:50:22 but as I said only lasts for 3 seconds or so) it looks perfect to me. And you know when I say the "P-word" I mean it.

[JP]

I've been very tempted to buy the 2 Pirates of the Caribbean Blu-rays but I was holding off until Christmas for the almost inevitable 3 film box set.

Damn you Lyris...you've got me wanting to buy them separately now!!!

[Lyris]

Box set, I never thought of that. D'oh.

Fortunately enough, high def discs seem to hold onto their resale value.

[JP]

Lol well it's not guaranteed but it wouldn't be a complete surprise to see these and Spiderman 1/2/3 getting the box set treatment this winter.

Hmm...I wonder if George Lucas is already re-working the Star Wars set into 1080p?

[RLench]

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 on BD is even better than the first (which was fan-bloody-tastic but bizarrely had some edge ringing). This one doesn't and is, asides from a weird 3 second shot where there's a weird drop in resolution (it's at 1:50:22 but as I said only lasts for 3 seconds or so) it looks perfect to me. And you know when I say the "P-word" I mean it.

Weird but I thought the opposite - POTC2 looked really good in places, but I thought POTC looked so much better. POTC2 looked like any other HD movie at some points, whereas the original looked like reference-quality in every single scene. Maybe it's because that film has scenes that would naturally look better in HD but it looked much more impressive

I've just watched Phone Booth and it looked very good. It's not POTC-quality but it's a solid 8/10 through most of the movie

[Lyris]

That's strange, what looked wrong with POTC2 to you?

[RLench]

Nothing really. I wouldn't say it looked wrong but I just thought the original had a superior transfer. It looked very good, but just didn't seem to live up to its hype. Some scenes didn't really have much detail but others looked a million times better (the bits on that island at the end). When I saw POTC, from the very first daylight scene at the harbour, I thought it looked absolutely fantastic. Colours looked so natural, every little portion of the screen was just oozing with fine detail, skin tones were perfect...basically I couldn't see a single problem with it

[Bleeders]

I watched Apocalypto on BD at the weekend; excellent quality that.

Got Black Snake Moan as well, heard it's as good as POTC, not yet watched tho'

[Oh_Mutants]

Just finished watching The Rock, one of the top action films of the 90's imo. Picture quality is a strange one on this disc for me, i'm no expert but while most of the film's PQ was excellent some scenes don't seem to live up to the rest of it, as mentioned before, the intro sequence being one

[Lyris]

Nothing really. I wouldn't say it looked wrong but I just thought the original had a superior transfer. It looked very good, but just didn't seem to live up to its hype. Some scenes didn't really have much detail but others looked a million times better (the bits on that island at the end). When I saw POTC, from the very first daylight scene at the harbour, I thought it looked absolutely fantastic. Colours looked so natural, every little portion of the screen was just oozing with fine detail, skin tones were perfect...basically I couldn't see a single problem with it

I still think the second looks better because it's just as detailed without the annoying edge ringing, but I agree about light scenes always being much more fun to look at in 1080p

[Hartley Hare]

Started to watch planet earth lastnight on my new BDP-S1 and my jaw is still on the floor

40bar yes but worth every penny, simply stunning box set.