UK Forums Blu-ray You Last Watched/Bought Thread

[Ben_C]

Watched:



Hadn’t seen this since watching the dvd when it first came out many years ago, but had been meaning to check it out again for quite a while, so stuck it on Netflix. It was actually half decent, obviously nowhere near as good as the original, but certainly a lot better than Snyder’s craptastic, turdtacular Army of the Dead.

[Aclea]

Arrived, thankfully well packed and earlier than expected from HMV:



Mostly rewatches the past few days:



Reviews:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=19429599



Review:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=19433643



I'll be upgrading to Blu when the S17 set comes out (though this looks very good on DVD), but since I happened to have a bag of jelly babies in the flat...



1929 version - Atrocious, living down to every cliche of every fault of early talkies: unimaginative direction, static camerawork, boring lighting, overacting (and not just from Bela) and that lazily filmed play look. The editing is especially bad, leaving in the 3 or 4 seconds before Tod Browning called action in many shots so you can see actors waiting for their cue or taking forever to walk four steps across a room in two cuts. Really hard slog to get through. Of historical value only as Lugosi's first US talkie and his first teaming with a lost-his-mojo Tod Browning two years before Dracula.

1937 version - This actually looks like a proper film, has better production values and performances and a better script. Nothing more than a very efficiently executed potboiler with good production values (and a different killer), but after the 1929 version that's enough to make it look like a classic.

[Modman]

Watched:



Worth a watch for the musical numbers and Edmund O'Brien's plaid jacket.

[cotts902]

Watched

[Modman]

Bought from Kino Lorber sale:

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by Modman

Bought from Kino Lorber sale:

I haven't placed my order yet - my cart was at $500, but I've managed to narrow it down to $696.. I think I'll see how I do this month on ebay first.

[Modman]

Originally Posted by Aclea

I haven't placed my order yet - my cart was at $500, but I've managed to narrow it down to $696.. I think I'll see how I do this month on ebay first.

Ha, I was at $2300, anything I was vaguely interested in went in to the cart. Got it down to $600 before it got really difficult to take titles out. I might go back, it depends what the finances look like towards the end of the month.

[Nedoflanders]

Originally Posted by Aclea

I haven't placed my order yet - my cart was at $500, but I've managed to narrow it down to $696.. I think I'll see how I do this month on ebay first.

Originally Posted by Modman

Ha, I was at $2300, anything I was vaguely interested in went in to the cart. Got it down to $600 before it got really difficult to take titles out. I might go back, it depends what the finances look like towards the end of the month.

And here's me thinking my $170 order is a bit much...

That said my wishlist totals to somewhere between $4000-5000 and I'm tempted to go back for another bite.

[Ben_C]

Arrived:


Direct from Anime Limited. The picture on here makes it look like it’s regular size, but it’s actually a rather thick, hefty set thanks to the inclusion of 2 books.

[Billz]

Watched the extended cut of:


A few days ahead of the US 27th anniversary, but that was only to check if a replacement disc from eBay worked as advertised. A few instances of freezing when transitioning to reinserted scenes, but it still played all the way through, unlike my original disc.

Brought from HMV Basingstoke:


Only 4 more flimsy chunky packs to replace now! 🙂

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Ben_C

Watched:



Hadn’t seen this since watching the dvd when it first came out many years ago, but had been meaning to check it out again for quite a while, so stuck it on Netflix. It was actually half decent, obviously nowhere near as good as the original, but certainly a lot better than Snyder’s craptastic, turdtacular Army of the Dead.

Some of his newer films have some nice stuff due to their higher production values, but I put Dawn of the Dead as one of his best. Kind of ironic that his best film is a remake that's not as good as the film it's remaking!

[DaveSimonH]

Originally Posted by Ben_C

Watched:



Hadn’t seen this since watching the dvd when it first came out many years ago, but had been meaning to check it out again for quite a while, so stuck it on Netflix. It was actually half decent, obviously nowhere near as good as the original, but certainly a lot better than Snyder’s craptastic, turdtacular Army of the Dead.

Originally Posted by chip75

Some of his newer films have some nice stuff due to their higher production values, but I put Dawn of the Dead as one of his best. Kind of ironic that his best film is a remake that's not as good as the film it's remaking!

I like the 'Dawn of the Dead', it may not be as good as the Romero film, but I'll give Snyder credit that it was at least an entertaining remake.
Its interesting to compare the Dead trilogy remakes and their differing styles. I like the 1990 'Night of the Living Dead', but it's essentially shot for shot. 'Dawn of the Dead' took the premise/location, but put their own spin on it. Whereas with 'Day of the Dead', it seems like they took the name & one character idea and slapped that on a rather mediocre film.

[chip75]

There's an animated version of Night too.

[Magyalmar]

Watched

1/2

[CouncilSpectre]

Watched:



I can see why some folks aren’t exactly happy about it, but I enjoyed it myself.

[Gizz]

Watched



THE SONTARAN EXPERIMENT
GENESIS OF THE DALEKS
REVENGE OF THE CYBERMEN

Not a bad way to spend the afternoon.

[Magyalmar]

Watched

[HotRats]

Watched:
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. One of the greatest westerns. Decent picture quality but in dire need of a reissue with some extras. Apparently Ford was an absolute bastard to Wayne on this film.

Dog Eat Dog. A good book by Edward Bunker ruined by Paul Schrader who makes a confused mess. Willem Dafoe gets his character absolutely right and the highlight is the opening scene where he goes from needy whiner to savage killer. The only other good scene is Cage's Bogart fantasy at the end.

Overdrive. Horrendous Eurocrime rubbish. If you were a Eurotrash crime boss who'd just paid around $60million for an old car, would you have it transported by two idiots in a truck? That's the most sensible part of the film as Scott Eastwood and Freddie Thorp (one of the worst actors I've ever seen) steal it in a way that defies logic and physics. Then the film gets really silly. Humour level is laugh at a fat man who can't get into an AC Cobra

It Stains The Sands Red. A coke addict stripper is pursued across the desert by a single zombie. the leads do very well and the desert scenery looks beautiful on the US disc.

[CouncilSpectre]

Watched:

[Modman]

Originally Posted by HotRats

Watched:
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. One of the greatest westerns. Decent picture quality but in dire need of a reissue with some extras. Apparently Ford was an absolute bastard to Wayne on this film.

Most of the time but not always it was Wayne who was "bottom of the barrel".

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s5mcU74rHGM