Soylent Green (1973)

[Ken Brown]

Originally Posted by Ite

The review was pretty good for it here so why did they only give it a overall 3/5?

I typically average the movie, video, audio and supplements scores to determine the overall score. (Although in some cases, I ignore the supplements score altogether or consider other unique factors when determining the average. Hate to say it, but it just depends.)

Originally Posted by Mobe1969

Yeah, I was wondering the same. And 3/5 for the film? Sigh. FFS Kenneth gave Scooby Doo! Camp Scare 3.5 stars for the movie. No accounting for taste... It puts Soylent Green on a tie with his rating of The Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience...

Different target audiences, different expectations, different standards. (For example, 'Soylent Green' is a more flawed dystopian future flick in my opinion than 'Camp Scare' is a flawed direct-to-video children's film.) While I could continue making excuses though, I definitely see your point. For what it's worth, I'd rather watch 'Soylent Green.' Cross-genre scoring oddities like these are just the nature of the review beast

To add fuel to the flame, I also gave 'Balls of Fury' a 3.5 once upon a time. Not my most popular review. Regardless, thanks as always for posting and enjoy 'Soylent Green' in high-def!

[KulasDevorn]

Love this movie. One of my fav's. It is not a "flawed dystopian future flick" in any way. I'd rather watch Soilent Green than most the drab empty hollywood trash that comes out now days.

I will wait for Zardoz on Blu now. :P

[Bishop_99]

The movie looked good for what it was, I'm happy with it. There is nothing more I can really add that wasn't already covered by the reviewer regarding the picture quality. Just that If you like this movie, it's worth purchasing since it also has a great price for a new release.

[Mobe1969]

Originally Posted by Ken Brown

I typically average the movie, video, audio and supplements scores to determine the overall score. (Although in some cases, I ignore the supplements score altogether or consider other unique factors when determining the average. Hate to say it, but it just depends.)



Different target audiences, different expectations, different standards. (For example, 'Soylent Green' is a more flawed dystopian future flick in my opinion than 'Camp Scare' is a flawed direct-to-video children's film.) While I could continue making excuses though, I definitely see your point. For what it's worth, I'd rather watch 'Soylent Green.' Cross-genre scoring oddities like these are just the nature of the review beast

To add fuel to the flame, I also gave 'Balls of Fury' a 3.5 once upon a time. Not my most popular review. Regardless, thanks as always for posting and enjoy 'Soylent Green' in high-def!

Yeah I hear you. I couldn't take being a reviewer. I did a short stint on a site and did one review and then I got the Wedding Planner and said "enough is enough". I love watching movies, but it is personal. I'd personally prefer reviews that just looked technically at a film. I generally skip the film impression section.

[Disciple of Vedder]

Looked for this at Wal-Mart tonight and came away empty-handed as predicted. My local Best Buy doesn't have it in stock, either. Just ordered from Amazon.

[blufellas]

I have yet to see this. Never had it on DVD, going to order the BD on Friday.

[Dustin Putman]

Purchased this at my Best Buy last night. Can't wait to watch it this weekend. I've never seen it, but thanks to an old SNL skit, I do know the twist at the end.

[peterraes]

this is a sci-fi classic not given the care it deserved tbh..
just a cleanup and slam it on a blu ray,the extra resolution will be the selling point?
that is how i see the company's thinking behind this release...ill vendor this one and wait for a restored 4K restoration "somewere" in the future,i'm to dissapointed by this release,one of my alltime fav sci-fi flicks hardly looking anny better then a dvd....

[Crimson King]

This is one demented sci-fi flick, ya gotta love it!

Some trivia: this was Edward G Robinson's final film, BOTH him and Charlton Heston worked together many years ago in The Ten Commandments.

[LaserD]

Originally Posted by peterraes

this is a sci-fi classic not given the care it deserved tbh..
just a cleanup and slam it on a blu ray,the extra resolution will be the selling point?
that is how i see the company's thinking behind this release...ill vendor this one and wait for a restored 4K restoration "somewere" in the future,i'm to dissapointed by this release,one of my alltime fav sci-fi flicks hardly looking anny better then a dvd....

That's what I gather from the reviews. I would have picked this up even just for new bonus features. But I already have it on DVD and LaserDisc. I wouldn't mind a slightly cleaned-up image, but this is kind of a dark, grimy film in the first place, so it's never going to be demo material. Had they taken the time to hire a film historian to sit down for a couple of hours to give an audio commentary focusing on Heston's "SF trilogy" I'd be all over this.

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by peterraes

this is a sci-fi classic not given the care it deserved tbh..
just a cleanup and slam it on a blu ray,the extra resolution will be the selling point?
that is how i see the company's thinking behind this release...ill vendor this one and wait for a restored 4K restoration "somewere" in the future,i'm to dissapointed by this release,one of my alltime fav sci-fi flicks hardly looking anny better then a dvd....

I remember watching Soylent on DVD about 8 yrs ago and I just remember how some shots looked like they were just dirt filled, it was so odd. When Omega Man got released on BLU, I kept wondering when SOYLENT would show up and I knew it would be in HD, but I also kept in mind those really murky looking shots would still survive it seems like it has more to do with the way the film element is than anything restoration can take care of to a point.

I am thrilled it finally got released on Blu though.I just wonder if they would be able to clean up the dirty looking shots? It almost looked to me like it was intentional but irreversable?

[Strevlac]

Originally Posted by peterraes

this is a sci-fi classic not given the care it deserved tbh..
just a cleanup and slam it on a blu ray,the extra resolution will be the selling point?
that is how i see the company's thinking behind this release...ill vendor this one and wait for a restored 4K restoration "somewere" in the future,i'm to dissapointed by this release,one of my alltime fav sci-fi flicks hardly looking anny better then a dvd....

I have never seen a single BD that was barely better than a DVD. Have you ever wached a DVD on a front-projection system?

Also, I'm not sure what a 4K transfer will do to improve the BD presentation, it is the same 35MM eastmancolor film element element downrezzed to 1080P. I've seen this title and it looks great with the usual caveat for Warner's low-bitrate and slight high-frequency filtering.

[HonestJohn]

Originally Posted by Dustin Putman

Purchased this at my Best Buy last night. Can't wait to watch it this weekend. I've never seen it, but thanks to an old SNL skit, I do know the twist at the end.

You're lucky, looked in all the usual places today and nobody had it. Guess online is it for me. These are the Best Buys around me ...

[Dustin Putman]

Originally Posted by HonestJohn

You're lucky, looked in all the usual places today and nobody had it. Guess online is it for me. These are the Best Buys around me ...

Wow. Guess I was lucky to have found it at Best Buy. My store in Sterling, VA had three copies on the shelf.