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The HD Movie thread

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Ignatz Mouse

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We've tried this before, but without critical mass. With tons of new owners out there, and a lot more content, it's time to try again.

Like many, since getting an HD player I've been watching a lot more movies. Let's dicsuss.

My last watch was Gone is 60 Seconds, a blind buy since it was deeply on sale, from before the current flood of releases. Hadn't gotten around to it.

Well, it's underwhelming visually and perhaps the dumbest movie I've watched in a while. I fell asleep!

I also rewatched Ratatouille recently, and that's the opposite. Looks fricken amazing, and very rewatchable story.

I'm curious about:

Blade Runner... all the talk about various cuts, but how's the transfer?
Live Free or Die Hard... sounds very dumb, but is it at least fun?
 
These are my thoughts from the other thread on the new colorized release of 20 Million Miles to Earth.

I picked this up.. If you want to know IMHO the most exceptional thing about this transfer, surprisingly it's the amount of grain present and how it translates on screen. Yes it's nice in movies like Casablanca to go back and clean up the film. I mean it's one of the most important films in cinema history, it should be preserved for generations to come. But in some cases, and arguably Casablanca is still an example of such a case, it would be nice to see the movie how IT WAS FIRST PRESENTED back in it's original release. We can restore these movies all the way up to Snow White, where the movie was virtually repainted from scratch for its HD transfer. And again, the preserve the movie for future generations this is a good thing. But for film buffs.. I mean I would have loved to see 20MMtE in the theater back in the 50's, but considering I never had a chance this is the closest I will ever come. When you pick up Casablanca on HD-DVD, do you think that's what it was like to sit in a movie house back in 1942 with 1000 other people and see it on the big screen? Heck no.. that print is cleaned up well beyond what any positive print was capable of back then.

So in this respect.. the HD transfer of 20MMtE is outstanding. Preserving the grain while still giving us a pretty robust picture without the use of much edge enhancement for a movie of that age.

I also have to say that the colorization process is leaps and bounds beyond what we were exposed to. And before you cry foul about original integrity, there are a number of interviews with Ray Harryhausen on the disc talking about the fact that it was shot in B&W solely for budgetary reasons. He would have shot all three of his B&W films in color had he been approved the budget for it. His words exactly, bringing these films to color IS bringing it closest to his artistic intent. And as I said, the colorization process is really outstanding. The number of scenes that turned out rough can probably be counted on one hand, and mostly involve a very subdued colorization due to the complexity of the scene (like smoke and fog, stuff like that). Overall though it does bring you into the movie more, at the expense of eliminating just a tiny bit of that camp and cheese associated with viewing old monster movies in B&W.

As for Die Hard, I did pick up Die Hard and only Die Hard. Overall the sound is a little underwhelming (though simply because of it's age and mixing), and the video goes from gorgeous to simply ok. All to be expected on a movie almost 20 years old without any major remastering. Still, it is a solid transfer, most say it's quite a bit better than the DVD, and I never owned it on DVD so definitely a worthy purchase.
 
Oh, some ground rules:

No format talk, other than availability. There's just no need.

Tech talk and format talk can go in the other thread.
 
I thought Live Free or Die Hard was a good action flick. Sure theres better action flicks, but it was still fun despite the extreme lack of credibility with regards to computer science.

Im buying the whole set, only because i dont own the first three on DVD.


My last watch was the first Spiderman. Last time i had saw it was probably in theaters. It seemed a tad soft on the picture quality, but it still looked pretty good.
 
Yesterday I picked up Lost Season 3 (blu-ray, obviously) on a Best Buy price glitch ($49.99) and Battlestar Galactica on HD-DVD. I haven't had a chance to get into either yet as I had a pretty busy night last night, but I'll probably watch an episode or two of each tonight. I've never seen an episode of Battlestar Galactica, so I'm pretty stoked to check the show out.

Oh, and A Christmas Story showed up yesterday as well, but I'm saving that one for Christmas Eve (we don't have TBS, so I can't watch the yearly marathon).

My total number of HD movie purchases this holiday season is out of control. Between all the box sets (Bourne trilogy, Harry Potter 1-5, Ocean's Trilogy, Spider-Man trilogy), Disney releases, BOGO sales, and other gems, my collection has grown way too fast.
 
Jeff-DSA said:
Yesterday I picked up Lost Season 3 (blu-ray, obviously) on a Best Buy price glitch ($49.99) and Battlestar Galactica on HD-DVD. I haven't had a chance to get into either yet as I had a pretty busy night last night, but I'll probably watch an episode or two of each tonight. I've never seen an episode of Battlestar Galactica, so I'm pretty stoked to check the show out.
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I'd really love some impressions of LOST S3.

You'll be in the catbird seat for getting lots of awesome details in HD, I'd wager, especially towards the end of the season (Jacob, The Obituary).
 
Ignatz Mouse said:
No format talk, other than availability. There's just no need.
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These things can be discussed in the giant thread over there and no one will give you grief for it.
 
^
No, you really can't. Anytime I make a post about an actual disc itself, its quickly buried in a sea of format war shit. This thread is a good idea for people like me, who want to talk about the quality of the discs themselves, and not what format people support.

Someone who owns BSG HD, please chime in about the quality of the transfers.
 
Most recently watched Close Encounters. Great movie, and the first time I've watched it on a big screen (96" projector). Special effects a little soft, but I think they're supposed to be like that. No obvious matte visibility etc.

sound is great considering its not surround - I think the mix has been created as 4.0? The bass when the spaceships are flying over is immense (and in the abduction scene too)

Overall I really enjoyed it.


Took a quick look at cars too - just the opening 10 minutes or so. Amazingly sharp and detailed. Really a demo disc. Don't think its that good a movie, preferred ratatouille, but although ratatouille is a great looking disc, I think cars trumps it.



Haven't watched Blade Runner yet. Also have robocop in my 'to watch' queue, but those are in the 'watch when wife isn't around' queue so it might take a while.
 
I picked up The Bourne Ultimatum and Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix yesterday. I'll post impressions when I watch them.

The last HD movie I watched was 2001. It was stunning. I can't really believe how good it looked. I thought some the of stuff would look old or cheesy but it was like I stepped into an Apple commercial. Everything was gorgeous. It was definitely the best looking movie I've seen since Planet Earth. Oh, I also watched Close Encounters. While not nearly as pretty as 2001 it is a great disc. Having all of the different version using branching is pretty neat.
 
Ignatz Mouse said:
Live Free or Die Hard... sounds very dumb, but is it at least fun?
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I only caught the last half of it, but it gave me no urge to go back and watch the first half. Regardless of whether it's very much in the spirit of Die Hard (not really) it's just a by the numbers action flick.
 
Going to through the Harry Potter films this week.

Saw Sorcerer's Stone last night and was shocked at how bad the opening looked. The night scene with Dumbledore first walking into Potter's new muggle town, just lots of noise and grain in the image. Thankfully, the films does clean up it's act as the movie goes forward, but it's still doesn't reach 4-star transfer status past that IMO. Color tones are off and there's still a softness to the picture that I found to be a bit annoying. Most of the scenes within Hogwarts do look fantastic though, even with said gripes. I'd give the pq ***1/2 out of 5.

Checking out the Chamber of Secrets tonight, which according to hddigest is a big step up from SS.
 
I watched Closer on Bluray last night. It was a decent movie because of Clive Owen, but the picture quality was sub-dvd.

Pirates 3 had an overall better PQ than the previous two (less indoor grain), but I still think the effect shots looked better in 2.

I also got Silent Hill, Casino Royale, TMNT, and Underworld 2 from the Buy 1 Get 1 at amazon, but I haven't watched any yet.
 
I'm watching Oldboy Blu Ray tonight, so I'll post impressions here. I also have the Host HD DVD, but I'll probably watch it with a friend this weekend.

Anyone with the HD DVD version of 300 bother to edit a version of the movie without the politics part? I'd be interested in downloading that if anyone has it.

Saw Sorcerer's Stone last night and was shocked at how bad the opening looked.
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The absolute worst HD I've seen on disc is the beginning of American Werewolf in London. Grain and discoloration everywhere. Thankfully, it gets better after that.
 
Outdoor Miner said:
Going to through the Harry Potter films this week.

Saw Sorcerer's Stone last night and was shocked at how bad the opening looked. The night scene with Dumbledore first walking into Potter's new muggle town, just lots of noise and grain in the image. Thankfully, the films does clean up it's act as the movie goes forward, but it's still doesn't reach 4-star transfer status past that IMO. Color tones are off and there's still a softness to the picture that I found to be a bit annoying. Most of the scenes within Hogwarts do look fantastic though, even with said gripes. I'd give the pq ***1/2 out of 5.

Checking out the Chamber of Secrets tonight, which according to hddigest is a big step up from SS.
Click to expand...

Please chime in when you watch Azkaban. Its the only film I care to own in HD, so your opinions would be appreciated.
 
Live Free or Die Hard was a fun movie and I enjoyed it, imho. It also sports a terrific looking transfer. I've really been happy with the quality transfers Fox has been putting out lately.

Another Fox title I bought was Mr & Mrs. Smith. Another fun movie and it also looks very good and sharp.

Harry Potter: Order of the Pheonix is a very good looking disc, especially in the beginning scenes. The dark scenes can be a mixed bag though because I noticed a bit of posterization in some areas. But overall, one of Warner's best transfers (although they still come short compared to Disney and Fox).

Bourne Ultimatum...I didn't expect to look great...but it does! I was generally impressed with transfer...with lots of depth. Although there's a few soft dark scenes, but I kinda expected that.
 
Solo said:
Someone who owns BSG HD, please chime in about the quality of the transfers.
Click to expand...

I picked it up yesterday and will check it out over the weekend (hopefully at least one ep. tonight). The only problem is that I've never seen even a second of the TV show, so I don't know how to compare quality. I guess I'll just compare it to general HD benchmarks. If I can drag out my tripod I'll try to get pics as well.
 
Most recently picked up The Bourne Ultimatum. PQ is great but not perfect. The shots of the cities from the sky were a little jarring to me because they're so much better looking. This may have something to do with the style the movie is shot in anyway (shaky cam etc) but overall it's definitely worth a look see.

I've scoured my town for copies of Blade Runner and it's not out anywhere (not until next week anyway), how do you some of you guys have copies already?
 
Sallokin said:
I've scoured my town for copies of Blade Runner and it's not out anywhere (not until next week anyway), how do you folks have copies already?
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A few people have it. It's been sold out everywhere around here.

Funny thing. Wal-Mart here had a "due to high demand..." sign up apologizing for HD-DVD shortages on Planet Earth. I didn't have any idea how big that was selling. It's nice to see...maybe it will fund more incredible documentaries of that scale.
 
My wife and I rented The Santa Clause 3 and Finding Neverland on BD and they were both good lookin. I couldn't care less about Santa Clause 3 story-wise but quality-wise it was good
 
JodyAnthony said:
My wife and I rented The Santa Clause 3 and Finding Neverland on BD and they were both good lookin. I couldn't care less about Santa Clause 3 story-wise but quality-wise it was good
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Finding Neverland is a great great movie.
 
Was Die Hard 3 released on Blu-ray?

Why no Euro release? They even released the abomination that was the second film.
 
OokieSpookie said:
Finding Neverland is a great great movie.
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agreed. probably gonna be my second blu-ray purchase (after The Simpsons Movie) and that's saying something because I NEVER buy movies. Moviewise, my DVD collection consists of..

Nightmare Before Christmas
Beetlejuice
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey
 
OokieSpookie said:
Finding Neverland is a great great movie.
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I'll second that. I think that movie is the perfect family film, and the visuals are quite nice for something that's pretty much devoid of special effects. The art direction, the directing, and the acting are all top-notch.
 
I got a new 1080p TV and thought I'd watch some of the best titles in my collection. I dont know if its because of the 1080p (I had a 720p/1080i TV before) or if it's just a superior model TV, but the difference is staggering.

I watched Casino Royale, 300, Apocalypto and Kingdom of Heaven DC. Four fantastic movies imo but I was most impressed with..... Kingdom of Heaven. Not only is it a beautiful film but the transfer is near flawless, really incredible. Apocalypto is also spectacular, some of the shots of people are a little grainy, but the wide open shots of the jungle and the shots from above looks like you're looking through a window, crystal clear!

I watched Pirates of the Caribbean on DVD the day after and I was left thinking "my god this is ugly". Dont know how I survived before.
 
about time there was a thread like this.

I was going to check out BSG this weekend, I will post some impressions when I get the chance.



Just got my Harry Potter set (HD DVD). I wonder if the next two movies will fit in the box, it is a really nice box.
 
.hacked said:
Just got my Harry Potter set (HD DVD). I wonder if the next two movies will fit in the box, it is a really nice box.
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I'd be interested to know this as well.

People have said they do, but I'm not sure if there are any differences between the HD and Blu packaging. Also, is it true the first two movies come in CD size boxes? Do you have any pics of your set?

I'd also like to hear some more Battlestar Galactica impressions.

This is a great thread, lets keep it that way and just talk about the movies/tv shows we all want to see in HD, regardless of format.


The last HD movie I watched was my favorite Matrix movie, Matrix Reloaded. The fight with the Merovingian changing into the Highway scene was just breathtaking. The movement was all handled so gracefully, and you can actually see the characters BLINK behind their shades. Talk about black level details. I saw some details in the clothing I had previously never seen as well. Probably the coolest part was remembering how bad the cgi for the Agent jumping on the car looked when the trailer first hit the net, and then seeing that scene in HD on my tv. It looked incredibly integrated, special effect shots can look so real in HD it blows me away. Transformers also had a nice transition where the SE effects looked better integrated at home than they did in the theater.
 
My copy of Matrix Reloaded that came with my Ultimate Matrix box set was defective and I never got around to re-buying it. Thanks for the reminder :-). I'll probably just pick up the regular set at my local Fry's.
 
DoubleTap said:
My copy of Matrix Reloaded that came with my Ultimate Matrix box set was defective and I never got around to re-buying it. Thanks for the reminder :-). I'll probably just pick up the regular set at my local Fry's.
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It's too bad they didn't go the extra mile in that set and put the Animatrix in HD as well ;(

I'll probably have to rebuy that should it ever hit in HD, but since I didn't have a copy yet it was worth it to grab the UM set.
 
as long as we are talking about just HD movies here, "regardless of format"

HDNet Movies' airing of their Hitchcock marathon the other week was AMAZING. Caught Rear Window, Vertigo, and Psycho. While the grain was still present an it was considerably softer than a modern release, the clarity of detail and saturation of color was still much improved over the DVDs.

I really need to upgrade my DirecTV DVR so I can hang on to movies like that that aren't out on disc yet but I would lie to hold on to for viewing.
 
FFObsessed said:
I watched Casino Royale, 300, Apocalypto and Kingdom of Heaven DC. Four fantastic movies imo but I was most impressed with..... Kingdom of Heaven. Not only is it a beautiful film but the transfer is near flawless, really incredible. Apocalypto is also spectacular, some of the shots of people are a little grainy, but the wide open shots of the jungle and the shots from above looks like you're looking through a window, crystal clear!
Click to expand...


i agree kingdom of heaven is a great transfer, and the director's cut of the movie is actually a great flick

one of my top BRDs

i just got the new potter and bourne ultimatum, i'll watch em this weekend, but everything i've read these are both strong transfers
 
Can anyone chime in with an opinion on the Mission Impossible movies on Blu-Ray? I want to get the three before they disappear for however long/indefinitely but not if they're sub-par.
 
I've watched a few recently:

Ratatouille (BD) - Looked lovely, and the sound impressed me a hell of a lot too, even on the Dolby Digital track. The movie wasn't Pixar's best (my favourite is still Monsters Inc) but I liked it better than Cars and The Incredibles.

Bourne Ultimatum (HD) - By far the best looking of the Bourne films. The rooftop scene in Tangiers is a great demo because of how much you can see throughout the whole city. It's still probably my favourite movie of the year, but I'm also pissed that I went for the UK version which dropped the TrueHD track to make room for five other European languages :(

Blade Runner (HD) - I'm going to watch the final cut tonight having only had a chance to sample it last night. What I saw definitely gave me high hopes - there was a ton of detail in the opening shot and the TrueHD track was nice and aggressive when the cars flew past. I get the feeling that I'm in for a treat having only seen the movie once, about ten years ago, on a cruddy old non-anamorphic widescreen VHS. It's effectively my first time seeing it, I guess.

I still need to watch 2001. It's been sitting here for a while but since it's a film that you need to sit down and watch rather than have on as background noise I haven't gotten around to it yet. Soon.

In non-disc HD news, I just found out that the BBC is going to be showing Sin City and Kill Bill on their HD channel over Christmas. I don't have it :(
 
BotoxAgent said:
Between Casino Royale, Apocalypto, and Kingdom of Heaven, I have trouble which one is my favorite in terms of PQ.
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Casino Royale is truly great looking HD disc. It was the first BD movie I bought and one BD that I wanted the most, along with PoTC. Dead Man's Chest, regardless of what you think of the movie, is also an incredible looking disc. Right up there with the best HD DVD material I've seen like Planet Earth and Transformers.
 
Vincent D'Onofrio's commentary on the Full Metal Jacket disc is embarassing.

"Me and Matt and Arliss went to ground zero the day after 9/11. ... Even the search dogs looked upset because they weren't getting any hits. Oh, and Debra Winger was with us, too."

"I mean, Platoon is great. You can't beat Ollie's narration. He was there. But this, I mean, just look at this, it's Vietnam plus weirdness!"

Shut up, fat face. On a positve note, Jay Cocks does a great job. Not quite as good as the steadicam inventor on The Shining's track, but still pretty damn good.
 
For those of you who are thinking about Oldboy...........fuhgedaboutit. mediocre transfer, for the most part. Looks like an upscaled dvd half the time, but without the artifacts. There are some "HD moments", but I was really disappointed, since that sort of cinema usually looks great even on dvd. I'd say get it if you're a fan or you can get it cheap, otherwise it's a rental. Very disappointing.


. Even the search dogs looked upset because they weren't getting any hits.
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wha?
 
VanMardigan said:
wha?
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I guess he was referring to the fact that the dogs that were present couldn't find any signs of life? Still pretty dumb considering how off-topic it is.
 
borghe said:
as long as we are talking about just HD movies here, "regardless of format"

HDNet Movies' airing of their Hitchcock marathon the other week was AMAZING. Caught Rear Window, Vertigo, and Psycho. While the grain was still present an it was considerably softer than a modern release, the clarity of detail and saturation of color was still much improved over the DVDs.

I really need to upgrade my DirecTV DVR so I can hang on to movies like that that aren't out on disc yet but I would lie to hold on to for viewing.
Click to expand...

Yeah I DVR'd (is that a word?) all of them. Really great! HDnet movies is pretty awesome for showing older films in HD.
 
avaya said:
Was Die Hard 3 released on Blu-ray?

Why no Euro release? They even released the abomination that was the second film.
Click to expand...

Die Hard 3, in the US at least, is part of the Die Hard Blu Ray pack (contains all movies in the series, but no uncut Live Free or Die Hard version, PG-13 only) you can pick up for like $90 or so.

Question about Blu-Ray (And HD movies in general I suppose), I don't have a 1080P set and don't really have any duplicate Blu-Ray/DVD copies so I can compare, but I own Ratatouille on DVD and was thinking of getting it on Blu-Ray. At 720P, is the difference phenomenal between DVD and Blu-Ray or should I wait till I have a 1080P set before bothering with duplicates? (Sony Bravia 32" LCD 720P HDTV)
 
Ryu said:
Die Hard 3, in the US at least, is part of the Die Hard Blu Ray pack (contains all movies in the series, but no uncut Live Free or Die Hard version, PG-13 only) you can pick up for like $90 or so.

Question about Blu-Ray (And HD movies in general I suppose), I don't have a 1080P set and don't really have any duplicate Blu-Ray/DVD copies so I can compare, but I own Ratatouille on DVD and was thinking of getting it on Blu-Ray. At 720P, is the difference phenomenal between DVD and Blu-Ray or should I wait till I have a 1080P set before bothering with duplicates? (Sony Bravia 32" LCD 720P HDTV)
Click to expand...

It really is quite a huge difference.
My last tv was a Phillips 37" 720p/1080i and it is night and day.
With my new tv it is tear inducing ( in a good way ).
Most people seem to agree that 1080p does not become a factor until 40" plus.
 
Ryu said:
Question about Blu-Ray (And HD movies in general I suppose), I don't have a 1080P set and don't really have any duplicate Blu-Ray/DVD copies so I can compare, but I own Ratatouille on DVD and was thinking of getting it on Blu-Ray. At 720P, is the difference phenomenal between DVD and Blu-Ray or should I wait till I have a 1080P set before bothering with duplicates? (Sony Bravia 32" LCD 720P HDTV)
Click to expand...

Unless the transfer is really, really bad, or your HDTV is utterly terrible, there will always be a huge difference between DVD and Blu-ray on a 720p TV. 1080p is not at all a requirement to see the stunning difference in quality / resolution. The only time you aren't going to notice the difference would be if you're running Blu-ray (or HD-DVD) on an SDTV.

I have a 32" Sony Bravia 720p HDTV, and I hate watching DVDs on it after watching the few Blu-ray titles that I own.
 
so a question about box-set packaging: what do you like better, box sets like Spider-Man or box sets like Die Hard?

I like what Fox did with the Die Hard box by making it one case isntead of a box with four cases in it. It just looks sleeker and you have something that's different than if you just bought all the movies separately. Much better than the Spider-Man set, that's for sure.
 
OokieSpookie said:
It really is quite a huge difference.
My last tv was a Phillips 37" 720p/1080i and it is night and day.
With my new tv it is tear inducing ( in a good way ).
Most people seem to agree that 1080p does not become a factor until 40" plus.
Click to expand...

Shidoshi said:
Unless the transfer is really, really bad, or your HDTV is utterly terrible, there will always be a huge difference between DVD and Blu-ray on a 720p TV. 1080p is not at all a requirement to see the stunning difference in quality / resolution. The only time you aren't going to notice the difference would be if you're running Blu-ray (or HD-DVD) on an SDTV.

I have a 32" Sony Bravia 720p HDTV, and I hate watching DVDs on it after watching the few Blu-ray titles that I own.
Click to expand...

That's such GREAT news. I'll pick it up on Blu-Ray tomorrow. Movie on DVD was wonderful and now I can't wait to see it on Blu-Ray. :)

Also, though I know it's more or less a controversial film in terms of quality, The Fountain in HD is really beautiful.
 
Solo said:
Someone who owns BSG HD, please chime in about the quality of the transfers.
Click to expand...

High-Def Digest gives it mostly a thumbs down:

...the overall video quality doesn't look much better than it does on standard DVD. From the very first episode, I was shocked to find the image cluttered with light source noise, minor to moderate artifacting, and obvious color banding.

To make matters worse, the transfer also fumbles some key fundamentals. The darkest areas of the screen aren't always pitch black (resulting in space scenes that lack depth), contrast is unreliable, and fine detail isn't sufficiently improved when compared to the HD broadcast and the standard DVDs.
Click to expand...
 
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