What Blu-Ray did you watch last night?

[Osi Osgood]

We started watching our newest acquisition, the Indiana Jones complete series, in a steelbox. OK, it's not all five films, but they left enough room for when we get the fifth and final film to add to the collection. It is quite superior to the DVD box set, to be sure

[Graham Ritchie]

After watching "Prometheus" last week, it was time to continue with this Saturday night follow on "Alien Covenant" however another blu-ray I watched lately, and its Imprint release, and that's "Islands In The Stream" from 1976 starring George C Scott based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway projected using the Epson this time. If you like movies with a good story "Islands In The Stream" is one I would recommend. I did take a couple of screen shots and think Imprint did a good transfer job.









And lastly back to the trailer for Alien Covenant, the alien planet just happen to be filmed here in the South Island down at Milford sound

[Brian Fretwell]

Started watching the ITC series Gideon's Way from the 1960's, shot on B&W 35mm film. Much improved from the earlier DVD release.

[Ken Finch]

Just another example of the gratuitous violence that permeates the screens these days. Not the kind of film I would want to watch. I am not squeamish by any means, it just that there are far more better thought provoking films to see. The real world is violent enough as it is .

[Melvin England]

Watched this the other evening. All I can say is that for a film where two of the rules of the experiment where "No touching an inmate" and " No violence" for two weeks or the $14000 per man salary goes up the swannee, there was one hell of a lot of violence. You will need a strong stomach, even for the pre story intro which was a bit of a gut wrencher (and probably unnecessary) too.

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[Ed Gordon]

Disc Rot: How bad is it?

Film collectors have had to deal with color fade and Vinegar Syndrome for years. For digital movie collectors VS and print fade is not an issue. However, for some time now "Disc Rot" or "Laser Rot" has been a problem.

John Clancy recently shared his experience with disc rot and estimated that more than 10% of his collection had the problem:

THE 4K FAULT - There's some good news and some bad news... but mainly good!

There are also numerous reports of issue with discs distributed by Fox and Warner Brothers:

High Failure Rate of Warner Bros and Fox DVDs?

I consider all discs to be disposable. Years ago I moved my entire collection to a NAS with disc mirroring. During that move I encountered a few discs that no longer worked.

Have you had problems with Disc Rot? What do you do to deal with the problem? Are you replacing bad discs?

[Douglas Meltzer]

Graham,

I went to see Ring of Bright Water as a kid and that ditchdigger scene practically ruined my childhood!

[Graham Ritchie]

Over the last few weeks it was a return to the excellent blu-ray of "Passengers", "Prometheus", and "Raiders Of The Lost Ark". Although the first two I have watched the 3D versions, this time just the normal 2D. Apart from those, a couple of DVDs were thrown in the mix as well .

They were "Hell In The Pacific" this particular film I have always felt is one of the best WW2 films made, another DVD watched was "Ring Of Bright Water" apart from the ending which is quite sad, its a good one to watch as well, all of the above titles were projected using the Panasonic VP.






Ring Of Bright Water.

[Graham Ritchie]

"Close Encounters" tonight, there are three versions on the disc, opted for the theatrical release. looked good on the Panasonic as shown below

[Graham Ritchie]

Watched "Baraka" the other night using the Panasonic with its new lamp its a outstanding film and one I would highly recommend on blu-ray.

Screen shots are from two nights ago.

[Graham Ritchie]

The Panasonic VP is getting a bit of use lately the last week its been a combination of Blu-ray and DVD. We both watched Duma and I must say Carroll Ballard "The Black Stallion" did a great job of directing this film, it really captures the landscape of South Africa, for those folk, who like me enjoyed Born Free, this movie has plenty of African wildlife in it. The next night it was the turn of Objective Burma this is a excellent movie I would highly recommend.

Back to blu-ray with "All Is Lost" I cant think of any other film, that during the end credits under "Starring", only one name comes up, and that's Robert Redford, something else apart from the opening of the film, only one other word is spoken at that's the F word half way through the film. Its another blu-ray worth watching. Just had to finish this run with the Towering Inferno

All Is Lost





The Towering Inferno

[Ken Finch]

My last screening was “ The Colour Purple”. The latest musical version on dvd. It was for my wife’s W.I. Film group, raising funds for their charity of the year. It was not really to my tastes as I am not keen on “blues “ music, but they thoroughly enjoyed it. They discuss the films over wine and snacks afterwards which I always enjoy!

[Melvin England]

Last night was a "nothing on telly" night, so Mrs.E. and myself decided to sit down and watch a film. After years of watching the weak sloppy rubbish that is shown in an afternoon, I was quite surprised when recently, she declared that she actually liked war films and westerns! That was new to me after all this time!

So.... we sat down all night and watched this absolute corker of a film (first time for both of us) in terms of not only story, but dialogue, pace and craftsmanship. The blu ray quality was very good, too. I knew nitrate film burned..... bit not THAT quick !


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[Graham Ritchie]

We both watched "Voyage to the Edge of the World" blu-ray on the Epson VP last night It also reminded me of of John Denver hit record Calypso played on the radio a lot at work, those were the days.

[Graham Ritchie]

We went to a open air market last Sunday and came across a box full of blu-ray titles advertising three for ten dollars. Had a look through them and for the first time came across "Enemy at the Gates", so had to get that one plus a couple of others. The blu-ray discs were in excellent condition, so last night watched it using the Panasonic VP. Both picture and sound were very good, it has been a title that I have interested in for a while, but never got around to looking out for a copy. Compared to the DVD that I still have, the blu-ray is a lot better. I guess though that these days more folk are into streaming hence quite a few titles are coming up second hand for sale.

As for Enemy at the Gates, its good movie.