What Blu-Ray did you watch last night?

[Ed Gordon]

Living is a great film. There is another film from Japan that looks a lot like Living is Perfect Days (2023).



I have not watched it yet, but the reviews are good. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27503384/?ref_=tt_mv_close

[Graham Ritchie]

Well folks if you have the DVD title of this film get rid of it, and replace it with the Classics Remastered blu-ray of "Gift Horse" 1952, starring Trevor Howard. I had watched the DVD a while back, but this new blu-ray of "Gift Horse" is light years ahead regarding picture quality. Based on the real life St Nazaire Raid of 1942 AKA Operation Chariot in 1942. If you like old war movies like I do, then add this one to your collection, projected using the Panasonic VP on Saturday night at the movies

[Graham Ritchie]

Tonight on the big screen it was "The High and the Mighty" from 1954. I only have the DVD but the image and sound were both very good. Long before any the Airport disaster films of the 1970s, there was this one. I can see now where they got the idea from. To be honest I found it a struggle to stay interested and was pleased to see the end. I might suggest though, that anyone who has a sleeping disorder, watching "The High and the Mighty" might do the trick. zzzzzzzzzz. In saying all that you might enjoy it

[Graham Ritchie]

I have always liked Bruce Willis as a actor tonight and not for the first time I again watched the blu-ray of "Tears Of The Sun" its really good and would highly recommend it. Both picture and sound are excellent projected using the Panasonic VP. One thing that got my attention written at the start of the end credits was this....quote "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing".... by Edmund Burke.... how true.

[Graham Ritchie]

"Das Boot" was another blu-ray I watched last week, but I did it over two nights as its a long one. Now if you are interested like me in the Diesel Engine, one of two that were fitted into U boats, this video I found very interesting. One thing for sure it must have been hard going running them regarding the noise and fumes in a enclosed space.

[Graham Ritchie]

"Black Sunday" 1977 is a movie I have never seen, but tonight and after picking up the Imprint blu-ray of it today and watching it tonight I was really impressed with it. Both picture and sound are very good. One thing that stands out is John Williams outstanding score, it adds so much to the pace and mood of the film. The extras were also interesting, one being that in the Super Bowl Stadium, they used film camera's disguised as TV camera's at the game, what a neat idea All up its a good movie, with a running time of 2hr 23min, well done Imprint

[Ed Gordon]

I have always liked Bruce Willis as a actor tonight and not for the first time I again watched the blu-ray of "Tears Of The Sun" its really good and would highly recommend it. Both picture and sound are excellent projected using the Panasonic VP. One thing that got my attention written at the start of the end credits was this....quote "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing".... by Edmund Burke.... how true.

Bruce Willis performance was unlike anything else I seen him in. As one IMDB reviewer said:

Most importantly Bruce Willis managed to avoid being Bruce Willis for 80% of the time.

The nearest thing I would compare this movie to is Black Hawk Down. However, BHD is wedged firmly in the action genre and this really isn't. Yup, there is shooting and violence in it but it manages to not be about that, which I think is a great thing.

If you watch the trailer you might think this is just another action hero movie, which it is not. It is about the genocidal wars in Africa, and resulting horror the victims experienced. When someone asks how anyone could such horrible things, a local simply says, "This is what these men do". Edmund Burke's quote about the triumph of evil says it all.

On the technical side, the 6 channel sound was used very effectively. The long treks through the jungle used all the audio channels to envelope you.

[Graham Ritchie]

Came across this blu-ray on the shelf while out and about a couple of weeks ago, to be honest I had no idea what its about, but thought why not give it a go. Well tonight I got around to watching it using the Panasonic VP, both picture and sound is excellent. Now when it comes to strange films this is one I would say is definitely on that list, all up though I thought it was very well done, it might not be everyone cup of tea, but I thought it was OK.

[Alan Paterson]

Last night I watched an old favourite 'The Wild Geese' Blu-ray from Arrow Films via EBay. Nice transfer with good sound. I always thought it had a great cast and a good storyline. A real 'Boy's Own' adventure with a bit of heart thrown in. I had a 16mm print of this film back in the early 80's and there were different versions released. I had the 'hard' version which had Roger Moore effing and blinding in a most unsaintly manner. The Blu-ray is a slightly softer version but still involving. Nice to see it in good colour as the Super 8 prints (3x400ft) are red by now. For this blu-ray release they apparently commissioned new cover artwork, which I hate, but the original artwork from the movie poster is on the reverse.

[Graham Ritchie]

I have been going through the list of movies I have watched of late. One Blu-ray was "Windtalkers" starring Nicolas Cage, its very good, I remember running the 35mm print at the cinema. Next blu-ray and its "Ice Cold In Alex" from 1958, this is another one I watch every so often, The B/W picture and sound in this blu-ray release from Studiocanal is excellent. A couple of night ago I did screen the DVD of "Another Mother's Son" 2017, this a excellent film and is based on a true story during the Nazi occupation of the British Channel Islands. I would highly recommend watching it.

Lastly and its not something I do very often, and that is to replace a DVD of a particular film with a blu-ray. I am glad I did in this case as the picture quality is light years ahead of the earlier DVD. The blu-ray is the French blu-ray release, but with English sub-titles. I ordered it through Amazon Australia and watched it tonight. I did have a look at the extras that came with it but sadly no English sub-titles with the extras, but one person's name in the documentary caught my attention and that's "Candice Bergen" I always remember her in "The Sand Pebbles" 1966 remember that one?. I am not sure of her involvement in ""Au Revoir Les Enfants" as she spoke in French, but its been a very long time since I have heard her name.

If you want to know more then check out the "Mark Kermode" review link below

[Douglas Meltzer]

Graham,

Au Revoir les Enfants is a wonderful film. As for Ms. Bergen, she was married to the film's director, Louis Malle.

[Graham Ritchie]

Thanks Doug I was wondering about her connection with the film.

[Ed Gordon]

Apparently Edgar Bergen loved his wooden dummy a bit more than he cared for Candice...

Candice shared in her book that she felt Edgar had a stronger relationship with Charlie than he did with her, and that he was treated like her sibling when she was growing up. Candice does have a real brother, Kris Edgar Bergen, but he was not born until she was 15 years old.

The actor wrote that when she was little, she pretended to be a dummy along with Charlie to please her father.

"A gentle squeeze on the back of my neck was my cue to open and shut my mouth so he could ventriloquize me," she wrote of her father (via the Daily Mail). "Charlie and I would chatter together silently, while behind us Dad would supply the snappy repartee for both of us."

She even said that "Charlie had his own bedroom next to [hers]—and his was bigger."

The Book Club star explained of her childhood, "Those were unique circumstances to grow up in. Sometimes I have to give myself credit for being a functional human being. I knew my father loved me, but with his Swedish reserve, it wasn’t his nature to tell me."

A family estrangement leading to a child being left out of a will or one being favored over another is a fairly common occurrence. Actor Candice Bergen discovered that something much more unusual happened to her inheritance after father died. The Murphy Brown star is the daughter of professional ventriloquist and comedian Edgar Bergen, who did not bequeath her any money in his will. He did, however, order that $10,000 of his estate be passed to his ventriloquist dummy, Charlie McCarthy. Candice wrote about the hurt this caused in her 2015 memoir, A Fine Romance.

In her 2015 memoir, Candice wrote about not being included in her father's final wishes.

"I’d chased my father’s approval all my life and here was proof I’d never get it," she wrote (via Closer). "I was hurt, shocked when I discovered he had left me out of his will."

If you're wondering what a ventriloquist dummy would do with $10,000, Candice explained that it was meant to be reinvested to support future ventriloquist performances.

"I make this provision for sentimental reasons which to me are vital due to the association with Charlie McCarthy who has been my constant companion and who has taken on the character of a real person and from whom I have never been separated even for a day," Edgar's will read, according to Candice's book.

[Graham Ritchie]

Last night it was the blu-ray of "Sarah's Key" projected using the Panasonic VP. The last time I had watched it was on 35mm, which I still have stored on 6000 foot reels, usually I prefer to watch a film print over a DVD/Blu-ray but made an exception this time, its a excellent film and well worth watching.

[Alan Paterson]

Last night it was the turn of the Cagney classic 'Angels with Dirty Faces' on Blu-ray. A firm favourite since I first saw it as a kid and possibly the most moving ending since 'Lassie Come Home'. It has a nice transfer with flawless picture and sound. A very powerful film that leaves the question in the viewer's mind. Was he or wasn't he, did he or didn't he? If you don't have a lump in your throat at the end of this one, you're not human. I have the Derann 2 x 400ft Super 8 cutdowns, but some thoughtless person at UA cut the most dramatic scene out near the end where Rocky 'turns coward', so I haven't bothered to splice the two parts together in the correct running order. I'll leave that to the Blu-ray from now on.