Topic: Omnibus Blu-ray Thread

[Dexer]

Although this would normally be considered outside my area of interest, Warner Brothers has announced the release of a light-hearted family flick that I really enjoy. I've always liked this movie and thought it would be a good candidate for BD release:




Now here is something that I'm REALLY looking forward to. This is crazy Italian sci-fi/horror directed by the masterful Mario Bava. This is one of those filmed that I prayed to the Blu-ray gods for release on BD but I never thought it would happen. This will be a day one buy.

[mwqa]

Just spent $90 on multiple DVD copies of The Railway Man to give away to friends. DVDs?!! - what am I thinking!

(The blu-ray is not available in Canada, except as an expensive US import.)

[Dexer]

I just pre-ordered this essential piece of 1950's pop culture.




This movie is so thick with the air of the early rock era that you might think it was almost a parody of 1958.

Among the stars are Mamie Van Doren, Jerry Lee Lewis and a small time actor name John Drew Barrymore who had a rather famous daughter.

[Dexer]

Yes..we were!

http://www.macleans.ca/culture/movies/winnipeg-were-you-right-all-along-about-phantom-film/

[mwqa]

I spent a while at HMV going through their 5 for $25 bin and pulled out a bunch of interesting blu-rays, including Pleasantville, The Big Trail (a 1930 film staring John Wayne), Route Irish (an Iraqi war thriller), A Chorus Line and hmmm... what was the other one?   

At the end of the day, I put them all back, as they failed my "Do I want to watch this tonight." test. I have too much stuff backlogged already to buy more just because "it's cheap, its a good movie and I'm sure I'll watch it ... sometime".

Instead, I thought a minute and bought this one, which was $20. Saved $5 plus! 




EDIT: Maybe Phantom Of the Paradise next?   

[Dexer]

I spent a while at HMV going through their 5 for $25 bin and pulled out a bunch of interesting blu-rays...

At the end of the day, I put them all back, as they failed my "Do I want to watch this tonight." test..


EDIT: Maybe Phantom Of the Paradise next?   

Yes, it's very easy to fall into the trap of picking up movies because they are nearly irresistable bargains. I know that I was VERY guilty of that in the early days of Blu-ray when discs were expensive and ANYTHING under $20.00 was a deal. I bought some discs that I should not have bought. Today, my main test is, "Will I likely watch this more than twice?". Mind you, there really are some good deals to be had and there are some things piquing my interest in that 5 for $25 bin at HMV. I may well end up taking advantage of that offer. There are a couple that I want but I'm not yet satisfied that I can put together a good group of 5.

PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE on Blu-ray is an interesting example of the danger of centralized, corporate buying practices. I could not find ONE copy in Winnipeg...not one. HMV never showed it in stock. I still haven't seen a copy locally. I  had to order mine from amazon. I'm sure some 35 year old buyer in Toronto probably never heard of it and decided to order a half dozen copies for Toronto and Vancouver just to cover the demand .

Here's the thing...PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE sold 20,000 copies of the soundtrack just in Winnipeg. We are crazy for the film! Winnipeg invented the "Phantompalooza" festival where thousands of fans paid $20.00 each to attend panel discussions and see the stars. When we had the first Phantompalooza, we could hardly attract the attention of ANY of the stars because they thought we were completely nuts! But, when we held the second Phantompalooza, they ALL wanted to come (and ALL of them did) because the turn out for the first festival was huge.

And you can't buy PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE on Blu-ray in Winnipeg? Gimme a friggin' break!



Introduction of the stars at Phantompalooza 2. Paul Williams was in attendance and gave two concerts but he been on an earlier panel and wasn't present here:

http://youtu.be/wQF1IPZAmz0


The original "Juicey Fruits" and Gerrit Graham as "Beef" at Winnipeg's Phantompalooza 2:

http://youtu.be/wqPZWK72tjE




The beloved Jessica Harper ("Phoenix") at Phantompalooza 2:

http://youtu.be/E3E0vRGKad0




Peter Elbling (stage name: Harold Oblong in 1974) mentions Winnipeg:

http://youtu.be/Tp9VVNDbD9E

[mwqa]

Received my blu-ray copy of The Railway Man from Amazon.com today.



Says "Region A" on the back, but I'll have to test it to see if it can be played on a "Region B" machine so I can send my Mother 'the American cut'. It also has special features (director/producer commentary and a making of) not available on the barebones UK release.

PS - notice that it is getting harder and harder to reference images from amazon, etc?

[Dexer]

PS - notice that it is getting harder and harder to reference images from amazon, etc?

Yeah. I've pretty much given up using amazon as a source. Now, I do an image search and try to find a source other than amazon. For example, here's something I pre-ordered...I'm not even sure where the image comes from but I found it with a google search.




This set  includes a number of movies but I'm REALLY excited by the inclusion of THE LAST MAN ON EARTH which is a truly creepy, old school vampire/zombie movie. It's a rarity for the era in that's it truly unsettling rather than campy. It still holds up.

http://youtu.be/i4mYireNvcg

[Dexer]

I just ordered THE RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN COLLECTION . The blu-ray set is currently an amazon exclusive.

This was released months ago but I have avoided ordering it for two specific reasons: It was very expensive ($199.99 in Canada but cheaper in the U.S.) and I have two of the six movies already. So I've been waiting to buy the individual releases when they start coming out in October. It hasn't been easy holding off because I'm a big R&H fan and I'm in love with the movie OKLAHOMA!

However, this has just shown up as a one-day deal on amazon.ca for $55.99!. Six R&H movies on eight discs for sixty bucks? SOLD! Even though I already own SOUND OF MUSIC and SOUTH PACIFIC, it's cheaper to buy the whole set than to pre-order the remaining individual movies.




http://youtu.be/Ss1CXo8QMi8

[mwqa]

^^^ deal is gone now.

Sorry I missed that, but came at the wrong time.

I'm seriously thinking of ordering Emma Peel in HD for $21 though.



http://www.amazon.com/Avengers-Season-Blu-ray-Patrick-MacNee/dp/B00MVIYKVE/ref=sr_1_11?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1408564739&sr=1-11&keywords=Avengers%3A+Season+5

[Dexer]

I had no choice.

I had to order this.

$68.99 at amazon.ca!

[mwqa]

Catching up on some recent 'blockbusters'

$15



$15



$8

[Brig]

Just got these!

[tpl]

   A special porno version of Saturday night fever?      18 ?

[tpl]

Catching up on some recent 'blockbusters'



$8

I can understand Reacher being extra discounted as Cruise is only have the size that the character is always portrayed as.

[Dexer]

   A special porno version of Saturday night fever?      18 ?

The original release of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER in 1977 was "R" rated (note that the above packaging shows European ratings). The language was extremely salty by the standards of the day and the PG13 rating didn't exist yet.

It was later released in a PG version that was 6 minutes shorter than the original R-rated cut.

The Blu-ray is, indeed, the original Restricted cut.

[mwqa]

<<JACK REACHER>>

I can understand Reacher being extra discounted as Cruise is only have the size that the character is always portrayed as.

Didn't know that size mattered that much

Incidentally, disappointed with both Ender's Game (too conventional with some nods to controversial issues) and Elysium (very well made and different, but very poor script IMO - decent ideas, but you can tell when characters are driven by plot and not the other way 'round!)

[tpl]

<<JACK REACHER>>

I can understand Reacher being extra discounted as Cruise is only have the size that the character is always portrayed as.

Didn't know that size mattered that much

Incidentally, disappointed with both Ender's Game (too conventional with some nods to controversial issues) and Elysium (very well made and different, but very poor script IMO - decent ideas, but you can tell when characters are driven by plot and not the other way 'round!)

In the novels  Jack Reacher is 6'5" and very strong and fit  and trained in fighting ( armed and unarmed).   This is reflected in the books by how he reacts to things.  A short arse like Cruise just can't pull that off imho.

[Dexer]

I want to take this opportunity to comment on a couple of the items I received this week. I don't often review my purchases. Too often, I just list them and movie on. However, both THE RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN COLLECTION and THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW deserve mention.

I wondered if there would be a time when I would get bored with Blu-ray and be won-over by the convenience and (theoretical) lower cost of other forms of delivery. But this weeks arrivals have really solidified my affection for the Blu-ray format.

I was sampling THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW which just arrived yesterday. First (and this is a minor point), I was very pleased with the strong, efficient packaging with each season in a thick, plastic case within an outer sleeve. The quality of the images, not surprisingly, is outstanding. Googling reviews shows this set getting 4.5 and 5 star reviews. But, more than anything, I'm blown away by the VALUE of the set which I purchased for $68.55. With all 158 episodes, that's little more than $0.43 (43 cents) per episode. Not only do you get all 158 episodes, you get great extras like the full pilot episode starring Carl Reiner. There's a complete episode of THE DANNY THOMAS SHOW with Morey Amsterdam. There are numberous other clips, performances and interviews. Plus, there are multiple commentaries with people involved with the show (Dick Van Dyke, Carl Reiner, Larry Mathews and more). I just don't see how it can be beat: 158 episodes restored from the original 35mm camera negatives presented in 1080p and lossless DTS HD Master Audio sound, hours of extras....for 43 frikkin' cents  an episode !?

As I have said before, when I first started this thread some years ago, I wanted to highlight that I believed Blu-ray to be a good value for people who are willing to shop carefully and appreciated high defintion. THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW is a great example of Blu-ray at it's best.

Next, I had the opportunity to watch OKLAHOMA! from the R&H COLLECTION. OKLAHOMA! is one of my all time favortie movies. Again, a quick nod to the excellent packaging with each disc on it's own plastic leaf within a thick, plastic case. The set includes 2 versions of OKLAHOMA! The movie was filmed twice: once in CinemaScope and once in large format TODD-AO. TODD-AO was filmed at 30fps as opposed to the more common 24fps. Blu-ray actually allows the TODD-AO version to be shown at 30fps because the Blu-ray spec supports that frame-rate. It is absolutely glorious...one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen on home video.

This is one of those weeks when I look at my acquistions and say, "This is what it's all about"!


Ok...some quick new business because I know people like to see pictures. For some reason, people prefer pictures to my ranting (go figure). So here's something that's going into my pre-order pile: KILLERFISH. Intereting to note that the late Margaux Hemingway is in this movie. At one time, folks thought she'd be a star but she was overshadowed by her younger sister Mariel.

[Dexer]

I ordered a couple more Blu-rays that just had a significant price drop at amazon.ca.

I've wanted THE RIGHT STUFF Blu-ray since it was released last year. The old amazon.ca price of $20.99 was quite reasonable and cheaper than other places. But I never got around to ordering it due to the press of other Blu-ray purchases. Amazon.ca just dropped the price to $14.49 and I couldn't pass that up.




THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS is a movie that I've been on the fence about. I like it but, again, there has been too many other BDs vying for my home video budget. Amazon.ca dropped the price of this down to $10.99 and that pushed me off the fence.

Bought together, the $25.48 total qualifies for free shipping so it worked out perfectly.