Crossroads (1986) - January 12, 2021

[Bourne1886]

This is a terrific film, absolutely love it. The guitar duel at the end is amazing. I have it on dvd, so it’s gonna get replaced with the Blu-Ray now. Hope Mill creek do a decent job on this. I’ve downloaded the audio tracks of the whole guitar duel off iTunes. The album is called The elusive light and sound. Tracks 3,4,5 and 6. Fantastic stuff to listen to in the car.

Been on my wish list far too long.

[gates70]

Getting this for sure.

[Ernest Rister]

I don't know the history of the Bach piece Macchio's character uses to defeat Vai, it occurred to me there may be a spiritual angle to that music, and while man can always sink low, evil can never achieve glory, which makes the final guitar duel a spiritual duel on top of a technical duel, and that's how Macchio wins. I dunno. Like I said, don't know the history of the Bach piece.

[Galley]

"Eugene's Trick Bag" is based on the Caprice No. 5 by Niccolò Paganini. Although composed for the violin, they have been arranged for guitar, with Eliot Fisk's 1992 arrangement the most prominent.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by Galley

"Eugene's Trick Bag" is based on the Caprice No. 5 by Niccolò Paganini. Although composed for the violin, they have been arranged for guitar, with Eliot Fisk's 1992 arrangement the most prominent.

Is there a spiritual or religious angle to the piece? I know nothing about it...obviously. Just thought it would be an interesting take on the finale...

[DasRetroKid]

Down to $8.99 on Amz. Pre-ordered.

[solaris72]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Is there a spiritual or religious angle to the piece? I know nothing about it...obviously. Just thought it would be an interesting take on the finale...

The piece doesn't itself have particular meaning as far as I know, but its composer, Paganini, was a virtuoso violinist who like Robert Johnson was rumored to have sold his soul to the devil.

[WaynesterUK]

Hi guys

I’m in England and have been wanting Crossroads on Blu Ray like the rest of us for years!

if I order it from Amazon, will it work on my UK Blu Ray player?
The Amazon product shows a VHS tape lol!
I can’t find this Blu ray on Amazon.co.uk

Might have to take a chance and get it

I’m also after a Blu Ray of The Fabulous Baker Boys
Is this available anywhere?

[MazeRunner]

I've just watched Karate Kid 1 & 2 last night and loved Ralph Macchio so I might blind buy this. Nice price as well.

[DukeTogo84]

Hopefully we get a review of this soon to see how it looks. Mill Creek is pretty iffy. Seems like their recent release of the Freshman was a bust, but Blind Fury came out nicely.

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Originally Posted by MazeRunner

I've just watched Karate Kid 1 & 2 last night and loved Ralph Macchio so I might blind buy this. Nice price as well.

From a plot standpoint, it's kind of like Karate Kid, but with a guitar instead of karate. And also like Karate Kid, it's a very fun movie with a ton of heart.

[Bourne1886]

Originally Posted by WaynesterUK

Hi guys

I’m in England and have been wanting Crossroads on Blu Ray like the rest of us for years!

if I order it from Amazon, will it work on my UK Blu Ray player?
The Amazon product shows a VHS tape lol!
I can’t find this Blu ray on Amazon.co.uk

Might have to take a chance and get it

I’m also after a Blu Ray of The Fabulous Baker Boys
Is this available anywhere?

Don’t know yet. Have to wait and see. I’ve got a couple of releases from Mill Creek, such as Sheena and One Good Cop and they were Region B confirmed. But you never know with future releases.

It’s only $8.99 so worth the risk in my book. You need a multi region Blu-ray player to be able to play region coded blurays and dvd’s.

When I first started out I got one as I was then able to order dvd’s and Blu-ray from different countries if they were region locked.

The Fabulous Baker boys did get a release on Blu ray in America by Twilight Time but sold out as they only made so many.

France,Japan and Spain also released it but it’s long since sold out I believe. Check ebay.

[Ruemorgue10]

Originally Posted by Edgar_in_Indy

From a plot standpoint, it's kind of like Karate Kid, but with a guitar instead of karate. And also like Karate Kid, it's a very fun movie with a ton of heart.

Originally Posted by MazeRunner

I've just watched Karate Kid 1 & 2 last night and loved Ralph Macchio so I might blind buy this. Nice price as well.

It's worth the price for the ending alone. Ralph Macchio versus Steve Vai in a guitar standoff. It's badass!

[DMRI2006]

Not going to beat around the bush -- the compression on all of these Sony catalog Mill Creek discs coming out next week is bad. I've seen THE FRESHMAN, which is as badly authored as the site review states, plus LIKE FATHER LIKE SON, which is equally poor.

That leaves CROSSROADS. Just for fun, I did an A/B comparison with my Vudu stream and, once again, the Vudu stream has none of the macroblocking and compression issues the Mill Creek disc does. This is the same thing we've seen on SHEENA and assorted other MC titles. There's more sharpness in the MC disc, but many more artifacts that make it borderline unwatchable at times.

I have no idea why this keeps happening, because their bit-rate is more than sufficient. It's their encoder that sucks, and this is one more disc of theirs you're better off buying a digital HDX stream of than the disc itself.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

this is one more disc of theirs you're better off buying a digital HDX stream of than the disc itself.

No thanks...finally having a watchable physical copy is more than enough to make me happy

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

No thanks...finally having a watchable physical copy is more than enough to make me happy

But it's not watchable. That's my whole point. The compression on the HDX stream is far better than Mill Creek's Blu-Ray. That flat out shouldn't be happening. If you care about seeing the movie as best it can be seen, the disc is not the way to go.

This is some of the worst encoding work Mill Creek has done on these discs. I'm wondering if they have someone in particular who works on these "Retro releases" because the quality is so much worse than, say, the Hammer box set they put out a few months ago. These discs have glaring issues that box didn't.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

But it's not watchable.

Oh please

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

Oh please

OK buddy, I must be making up the 1-star reviews they received for their transfers of THE FRESHMAN and SHEENA on this site.

This disc is pretty much just as bad, but you do you.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

but you do you.

Thanks...buddy!

[slimjean]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

OK buddy, I must be making up the 1-star reviews they received for their transfers of THE FRESHMAN and SHEENA on this site.

This disc is pretty much just as bad, but you do you.

Sheena has serious compression issues but unwatchable?? I think it looks fine enough and that is blown up on 4K.

It does look better than DVD. 24fps. HD sound. There were moments it actually looked good.

As for streaming, it isn't a reliable save state and not sitting on my wall so not really in the equation for me.

Sheena on streaming may look like pumkin pie but you'll never catch me watchin the muddafudger.