Blu-ray you last watched...

[I Am High Definition]

Saw the following for like the 20th time. It's a personal favourite of mine.



Movie:

The movie boasts of a completely captivating and moving story, and is full of nuances. However, it does require considerable concentration; it's not one one of those films you can be casual with.

Daniel Day Lewis gives us an acting masterclass, emoting to perfection at every stage. He REALLY brings Plainview to life on screen. It's just amazing to watch. It's hardly surprising that he won his 2nd Academy Award for best actor.

One more thing. The film is just the complete opposite of positive. It's brutally honest and unforgiving.

Overall, this is one personal favourites in terms of the films released since 2007. Definitely recommended

BD:

PQ:

I'm a little disappointed as I was expecting a clean, near-perfect transfer. The PQ is still very good, don't get me wrong, but it could've looked completely awesome.

4/5

AQ:

A nice mix. Although the soundtrack isn't significant in the film overall, it still makes its presence felt. Good job.

4/5

[ravenus]

Saw Jaws on blu-ray last night. The last time I watched this movie was on VHS as a kid. As probably all of you know, the film is about a large great white shark that terrorizes a beach town and the efforts taken to hunt it down. Most of the film's second half is set on open sea in a small boat with the landlubber town Sheriff (Roy Scheider), a young and raring oceanographer (Richard Dreyfuss) and a salty shark hunter (Robert Shaw). I've also read the frankly crappy novel by Peter Benchley and I can tell you that the film is significantly better than its source for the same reason that The Godfather movie is better than Puzo's novel. It cuts out the boring side-plots (mainly the one where the Sheriff's wife has the seven-year itch and canoodles with the oceanographer) and presents a sleeker narrative.
Some of my favorite moments actually come in the first half of the film where the menace of the shark is slowly built up. Spielberg's direction and the editing are exceptional. Check out the scene which has the first major daytime attack. When the crowds enter the water, Spielberg dials down the music and goes back and forth between the swimmers and the local police watching tensely, gives us a couple of false alarms, and then BOOM! That scene is a text-book of film-making technique. The second half is somewhat hampered by the available technology of the time. Once you see more of the shark, the artifice becomes evident and therefore the scare factor goes down. Also John Williams' score often takes this jaunty Disney adventure note that damps down the tension. But it does help that Spielberg keeps the characters and their repartee interesting. They're not just disposable shark fodder.
On the whole this is an entertaining and well-made movie, unlike the preposterous sequels. I remember the third (or was it fourth) film which has an old biddy that thinks that the shark is out for revenge on her family or some such slop. That film also had Michael Caine slumming it for the paycheck like he's did for the Nolan Batman movies.
The video quality of the blu-ray is very strong. While there's no significant grain in the transfer (except for nighttime shots and a handful of other moments), fine detail is quite pleasing and the color palette of the film has thankfully not been modernized. It looks like a film of the 70's if you were actually watching it on a screen at that time. The audio is fine although with my stereo system I cannot comment on the immersion factor. There are a ton of extras, but i haven't gone through any except the short about the restoration which has everyone talking about what a wonderful job has been done on restoring this movie for the blu-ray release.

[srinivas1015]

Everything Wrong With Skyfall In 4 Minutes Or Less - YouTube

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by srinivas1015

Everything Wrong With Skyfall In 4 Minutes Or Less - YouTube

If only people could use their time with more positive creativity rather than negative breakdowns. Every film in existance can be nitpicked.

It is funny though, which I hope the video creator was getting at.

The best critical videos are still from redlettermedia:

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review (Part 1 of 7) - YouTube

[srinivas1015]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

If only people could use their time with more positive creativity rather than negative breakdowns. Every film in existance can be nitpicked.

It is funny though, which I hope the video creator was getting at.

It's not a real 'critical' breakdown, just a video for laughs.
The points in this one were somewhat nitpicks but I agree with the Shanghai shooter bit and Silva's plan .

[anibap]

Originally Posted by srinivas1015

Which are your favorite Bond movies? (If you had to pick 3 or 4 )

A few bond films I liked - Dr. No, Goldfinger, From Russia with love, Casino Royale and a few others.

While Connery is my fav Bond, my most watched film is Casino Royale and to me the most entertaining and engaging film of the franchise. Skyfall was a huge letdown for me and I don't think I'd watch it again.

[ravenus]

Watched the Facebook movie and it's making of on blu-ray today. When I had seen the film at the cinema I liked it but I was not sure it had any replay value for me. But when WowHD had the 2-BD set for some 6GBP, I thought it worth at least to get a look at the extras, which are generally quite exhaustive and interesting on David Fincher movies.

Well, as it turns out I could sit through the film again without any discomfort, so my concerns about replay value were unfounded. As most of you would know it deals with the character of Mark Zuckerberg and the events that led to the formation and popularity of Facebook, as well as the impact it had on the lives of Mark and the people around him. Alan Sorkin's script thankfully is not about catering to geeks, but deals with the human element. Zuckerberg as shown here is a brilliant, ruthlessly logical and reclusive individual who uses arrogance as a cover for his social awkwardness. Jesse Eisenberg in the lead role does a great job of presenting an ambivalent image of the man. The other main characters are Mark's college friend Eduardo Severin who funds the initial development of the portal (Andrew Garcia) but is later pushed out of the company, Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) the smooth-talking party-hopping ex-Napster founder who sells Mark on the gigantic potential of Facebook and the Winklevoss twins who are suing Mark for allegedly stealing their idea of a social networking platform. The bulk of the film is seen as a (brilliantly edited) series of flashbacks during the course of a court deposition over the IP and ownership fo Facebook. The script and Fincher's direction keep events moving and the drama at a high level without compromising on their characters. In the end, Zuckerberg, even as a billionaire that has founded the world's biggest online friends network is still a loner.

Onwards to the technical merits of the blu-ray. The film like many of Fincher's recent movies was shot digitally and the transfer to blu-ray is of a very high grade. It generally looks excellent, although some darker scenes have noise that may bother some people and I have a personal issue with the use of the strong urine hue in the earlier segments of the film. Detail is good most of the time. Sound is decent, but I'm sure my stereo setup is an inferior presentation of the sound mix, especially in the scenes set in the clubs and pubs.

The 90 min making of is very comprehensive (well, at that length it better be). Like with Zodiac's making of, you learn what an obsessive perfectionist Fincher is, although he seems quite good-humored with his crew (perhaps his moments of rage were edited out ). You get a glimpse at the various location shoots and the work done in the studio. You get to see the crazy manner in which the Winklevoss twins were presented in the movie - Instead of doing the obvious by taking two identical twins, they took two unrelated guys and used sophisticated CGI tech to morph the face of one of the actors onto the other to show them as twins. One irritating aspect was the bleeping out of the various expletives blurted out during the making of. Why couldn't the studio just issue a "Bonus features are not rated" disclaimer instead of tampering with it?

[Anurag1700]

^Great review. One of my all time fav films. Now that u said it, I just have to watch the extras documentary that I have ignored yet.

Originally Posted by ravenus

Sound is decent, but I'm sure my stereo setup is an inferior presentation of the sound mix, especially in the scenes set in the clubs and pubs.

I see that u mention this in most of your reviews. Now quite frankly, what is stopping you from upgrading to 5.1 ? Dont tell me this again, has to do with some 'nostalgia' as all older movies in your college days were simply stereo ...Just kidding...but seriously I am curious to know how cud a movie freak encylopedia like you could live without surround sound.

[ravenus]

^It's simply a time factor. I don't believe in just walking into a store and picking an off-the-shelf sound system. I will need a system that is also good for music and I need to spend adequate time personally checking out components that will serve my preferences. I will be finishing some major work by the end of this year and then I will be scouting for a proper 5.1 setup so don't despair

[Anurag1700]

Originally Posted by ravenus

^It's simply a time factor. I don't believe in just walking into a store and picking an off-the-shelf sound system. I will need a system that is also good for music and I need to spend adequate time personally checking out components that will serve my preferences. I will be finishing some major work by the end of this year and then I will be scouting for a proper 5.1 setup so don't despair

Thank Goodness. U saved the day by just mentioning that u have a plan in place. Looking forward to the day when u dont have to leave out the audio department of a blu ray from your already excellent reviews.

[mrbrat_Boy]

Originally Posted by ravenus

^It's simply a time factor. I don't believe in just walking into a store and picking an off-the-shelf sound system. I will need a system that is also good for music and I need to spend adequate time personally checking out components that will serve my preferences. I will be finishing some major work by the end of this year and then I will be scouting for a proper 5.1 setup so don't despair

Awesome Ravenus!!

Originally Posted by Anurag1700

Thank Goodness. U saved the day by just mentioning that u have a plan in place. Looking forward to the day when u dont have to leave out the audio department of a blu ray from your already excellent reviews.

+1, I agree

[divyansh]

Watched For the second time :-



This Undoubtedly is the best Bond movie i've watched. Bond is more realistic , more human , more believable than before.
This is the first Bond Movie that got rid of those gadgets - invisible cars,bullet firing pens etc for which bond movies were known for and instead this movie focused more on writing , the characters - Their emotions and is much more mature than previous Bond Films.

I wasn't happy with Daniel Craig playing James Bond at first , but watching this movie changed my opinion completely.

Talking of the Blu - Ray , Picture Quality is just perfect with nothing to complain about , it looks excellent throughout and there apparently is no tampering (DNR ,EE) done with the source.

Audio however is disappointing for a movie of this genre! This track just does'nt has that punch which other movies of this genre usually have , Music plays flat and lifeless with very little LFE support.Surround usage is also quite subtle throughout and sadly doesn't get any better during heavy action scenes as well! Bottom line being , this track failed to suck me into the movie , the sound just isn't crisp ,immersive or deep!
Disappointing , especially for a Bond Movie!

Movie - 4.0/5
PQ - 5.0/5
AQ - 4.0/5
Extras - Havn't watched them , however there are loads of them in a separate Blu-Ray.


Overall 4.25/5

[srinivas1015]

Originally Posted by divyansh

Watched For the second time :-



This Undoubtedly is the best Bond movie i've watched. Bond is more realistic , more human , more believable than before.
This is the first Bond Movie that got rid of those gadgets - invisible cars,bullet firing pens etc for which bond movies were known for and instead this movie focused more on writing , the characters - Their emotions and is much more mature than previous Bond Films.

I wasn't happy with Daniel Craig playing James Bond at first , but watching this movie changed my opinion completely.

Talking of the Blu - Ray , Picture Quality is just perfect with nothing to complain about , it looks excellent throughout and there apparently is no tampering (DNR ,EE) done with the source.

Audio however is disappointing for a movie of this genre! This track just does'nt has that punch which other movies of this genre usually have , Music plays flat and lifeless with very little LFE support.Surround usage is also quite subtle throughout and sadly doesn't get any better during heavy action scenes as well! Bottom line being , this track failed to suck me into the movie , the sound just isn't crisp ,immersive or deep!
Disappointing , especially for a Bond Movie!

Movie - 4.0/5
PQ - 5.0/5
AQ - 4.0/5
Extras - Havn't watched them , however there are loads of them in a separate Blu-Ray.


Overall 4.25/5

You're kidding, right? This track is the epitome of reference grade audio with LOTS of sound from the surround speakers. (And yes, my BD was bought in India, manufactured by Excel.) LFE is not an issue at all and in the very end with the house collapsing, it goes into full force, literally shaking my room.
This is the second time you've been disappointed with the AQ of a BD that actually has very good audio. (First being Tokyo Drift.)

I think you need to re-calibrate your sound system or at the very least increase the volume levels of the rear speakers in your receiver.

One more thing, one edition of Casino Royale defaults to Dolby Digital and you have to manually select Linear PCM. Another edition has Dolby TrueHD audio and with this, the receiver sometimes switches on 'Night time mode' automatically.


You know that scene in the beginning when Bond has the African suspect in the corridor and uses him as a human shield? He moves forward with glass and various debris exploding all around him. Sound literally erupts from the rear speakers. Increase the volume levels of the surround speakers in your receiver and be sure to select the lossless audio option in the BD. It's gonna make a hell of a difference, trust me.

[divyansh]

Originally Posted by srinivas1015

You're kidding, right? This track is the epitome of reference grade audio with LOTS of sound from the surround speakers. (And yes, my BD was bought in India, manufactured by Excel.) LFE is not an issue at all and in the very end with the house collapsing, it goes into full force, literally shaking my room.
This is the second time you've been disappointed with the AQ of a BD that actually has very good audio. (First being Tokyo Drift.)

I think you need to re-calibrate your sound system or at the very least increase the volume levels of the rear speakers in your receiver.

One more thing, one edition of Casino Royale defaults to Dolby Digital and you have to manually select Linear PCM. Another edition has Dolby TrueHD audio and with this, the receiver sometimes switches on 'Night time mode' automatically.


You know that scene in the beginning when Bond has the African suspect in the corridor and uses him as a human shield? He moves forward with glass and various debris exploding all around him. Sound literally erupts from the rear speakers. Increase the volume levels of the surround speakers in your receiver and be sure to select the lossless audio option in the BD. It's gonna make a hell of a difference, trust me.

The UK Deluxe edition i have has Dolby True HD as the default audio track and otherwise also , iam not this stupid not to select the lossless audio track in the BD!
Coming to this particular movie , well yes iam disappointed with the Audio track as it just doesnt pack in enough power and punch to satisfy me . Low Frequency effects are just disappointing , the sound field isn't exactly immersive . The track just failed to impress me and this does'nt mean it is BAD! and that's the reason i rated it with a very generous 4.0/5 , i just expect much more from a action movie and i can name N number of movies with better audio tracks than this one which deserve full 5/5 score , so naturally this being inferior to them gets a 4 on 5.
Now coming to calibration of my equipment , i'm using the same equipment for more than 3 years now and am pretty sure it is finely tuned.

P.S Tokio Drift is a very well mixed and powerfull audio track and i guess i rated it 4.25/5 and deducted 0.75 because the songs were mixed just in the front 2 channels instead of mixing it in proper 5.1! other than that , the track was quite aggressive with powerfull LFE and aggressive use of surrounds otherwise.

[srinivas1015]

Originally Posted by divyansh

The UK Deluxe edition i have has Dolby True HD as the default audio track and otherwise also , iam not this stupid not to select the lossless audio track in the BD!
Coming to this particular movie , well yes iam disappointed with the Audio track as it just doesnt pack in enough power and punch to satisfy me . Low Frequency effects are just disappointing , the sound field isn't exactly immersive . The track just failed to impress me and this does'nt mean it is BAD! and that's the reason i rated it with a very generous 4.0/5 , i just expect much more from a action movie and i can name N number of movies with better audio tracks than this one which deserve full 5/5 score , so naturally this being inferior to them gets a 4 on 5.
Now coming to calibration of my equipment , i'm using the same equipment for more than 3 years now and am pretty sure it is finely tuned.

P.S Tokio Drift is a very well mixed and powerfull audio track and i guess i rated it 4.25/5 and deducted 0.75 just because of the songs were mixed just in the front 2 channels and creativity was'nt shown mixing it in proper 5.1 there! other than that , the track was quite aggressive with powerfull LFE and aggressive use of surrounds otherwise.

My post was not meant to be condescending, my apologies if it came across that way.
Not noticing that a DD track was playing is a mistake I and many others have made in the past so I thought I should just snowball that possibility.

WHat has me confounded is the fact that CR has near constant use of surround activity, even in quiet scenes such as on the train with Vesper. In fact, the finale actually has too much bass for my taste.

[ravenus]

^Agree with Srinivas about mistakenly hearing lossy tracks, generally happened with me on a couple of Warner catalog releases (Batman Returns, Tango & Cash) and some Hindi BD's (Dabangg)...I'd be wondering if the audio was sounding flat, and then check the setup and d-oh, it's playing a DD track instead of the lossless. Now I generally check the setup before at the start of the movie.

So I saw The Terminator last night, and while there are limitations to how good an 80's low-budget, shot-mostly-at-night movie will look, most scenes that do not have optical FX look substantially more detailed and textured than their DVD counterparts. This is a necessary upgrade, but make sure you retain the "Other voices" documentary and the art galleries on your DVD version.

[Anurag1700]

Originally Posted by ravenus

^Agree with Srinivas about mistakenly hearing lossy tracks, generally happened with me on a couple of Warner catalog releases (Batman Returns, Tango & Cash)

Also in The Dark Knight. Default track is Dolby 5.1 and not Dolby True HD.

Likewise, in many disney titles i have seen they include a PCM track. But BDs default to Dolby which strangely also (mistakenly?)sounds better so no complaints. Just noticed.

[srinivas1015]

Homeland RPG - YouTube

[ravenus]

^I don't know why that link is in this thread but it is funny, and I haven't even seen the series as yet.

[srinivas1015]

Originally Posted by ravenus

^I don't know why that link is in this thread but it is funny, and I haven't even seen the series as yet.

I had reviewed Homeland a couple of months back and I came across that vid yesterday and thought I'd post it in this section. This seemed to be the most appropriate thread.
That is summary of the entire first season, exactly the way it happens .