What Blu-Ray did you watch last night?

[Ed Gordon]

After about 15 years of use my old Panasonic VP lamp warning lamp came on, so it was time if I was to continue to use it, replace the lamp. The lamp had clocked up 1900 and something hours and was the original lamp when we bought it new long ago. I opted to go for a cheaper replacement lamp as getting the original Panasonic is still pretty expensive. The replacement lamp ET-LAX100 is new and comes fitted in its module, so its a quick and easy swap. After I reset the hour clock, the lamp fault light went out and after a couple more adjustments we were back up and running. The Panasonic PTAX200E is a old projector now by todays standards and it wont give you the full 1080p like the Epson I have but in saying that the image is gives is still pretty good....

That is a pretty good run at nearly 2k hours. That works out to about NZ$.08 per hour! I have only replaced one lamp on the three digital projectors I have had. That was replaced because the lamp was getting too dim. The 1st projector was a Sanyo that had about 720p resolution and cost $2000 US. My next projector was an upgrade to 1080I that cost $3000. My latest projector is 4K UHD and cost $1500. I appreciate the falling prices for digital projection. The bad thing about the declining cost of digital is that it was a major factor in killing off 35mm in theaters.

[Graham Ritchie]

After about 15 years of use my old Panasonic VP lamp warning lamp came on, so it was time if I was to continue to use it, replace the lamp. The lamp had clocked up 1900 and something hours and was the original lamp when we bought it new long ago. I opted to go for a cheaper replacement lamp as getting the original Panasonic is still pretty expensive. The replacement lamp ET-LAX100 is new and comes fitted in its module, so its a quick and easy swap. After I reset the hour clock, the lamp fault light went out and after a couple more adjustments we were back up and running. The Panasonic PTAX200E is a old projector now by todays standards and it wont give you the full 1080p like the Epson I have but in saying that the image is gives is still pretty good.

The new lamp cost NZ$129 dollars plus postage of $6 from Auckland overnight.

So the last few night the blu-ray titles using the Panasonic this time were....


After a short break



Tonight it was the turn of "Empire Of The Sun" on blu-ray remember going to see this film and "The Last Emperor" that was back in the days of regular visits to the cinema

The Panasonic has now passed with flying colors

[Graham Ritchie]

Cant believe its been 17 years since I projected this film during the school holidays, it did great business, a big hit at the cinema and with me tonight though it was the blu-ray

[Graham Ritchie]

Now here is something different that I picked up on blu-ray this week and watched it last night called "X+Y" brilliant bit of acting by Asa Butterfield, good movie and well worth looking out for.

[Graham Ritchie]

Last night it was a return to this one called "About A Boy" what I remember the most when we ran the 35mm print, was how popular this film was at Movieland cinema at the time. I still remember the print arriving and thinking what is this about? Anyway what I did see of it on the screen and the fact it was a film that I did a number of sold out private fund raising with, it can't be that bad. I never thought as a actor Hugh Grant was up to much, but with this one his role was perfect.

Now jump forward 20 odd years and this time the blu-ray, This movie really does have a excellent script and very well directed. All the cast are really good, Marcus the kid has to deal with his mothers depression, and this film really does get it across how dangerous and lack of self control can be in dealing with it really is. If you have never watched "About A Boy" do take the time to watch it, and don't be put of by the title, as such I highly recommend this one on blu-ray with both picture and sound are excellent.

[Steve Klare]

I had a must-watch movie last night: one I kept hearing about, but had never seen before. It was Red River with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift.

The path I came to this one is a little unconventional. You see, one of our favorite movies is City Slickers with Billy Crystal. That one starts out almost as a parody of Westerns, but in the end the three Goofs at the center of the story get serious about the cattle drive they are almost accidentally on and they wind up being Western Heroes: real Cowboys, no less. They not only bring in the herd, but figure out what's important in life.

At the beginning of the cattle drive, one of the other tourists they are with talks about "The Yee-Hah Scene! the Big Screen: Red River with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift!" -and so they Yee-Hah out onto the trail and in the end their vacation gets a little more...challenging than was ever shown in the brochure.

-so I had to see the Original Yee-Hah! Scene and see how this one inspired that other movie 50 years later.

There is kind of a danger here: watching one movie that inspired another, especially when you know the second movie by heart. For example, my son and I know the dialog from Airplane! by heart, and found Zero Hour! much funnier than its creators ever planned! ("Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit Smokin'!")

Similarly, Red River is pretty high drama. John Wayne's character takes on Montgomery Clift's as a young boy and raises him as his son. As a young man, he betrays Dad (-as Dad sees it...) and Dad spends most of the rest of the movie hunting him down hoping to kill him!

-but there we were out in the seats: "Yeeeeeeee-HAHHHHH!!!!!".
Whenever a couple of men on horseback rode together down a grassy hill, we started to do the theme from Bonanza!

This is often considered among the greatest John Wayne Westerns, and I'll fully admit we probably approached it with the wrong attitude. My wife is different: she doesn't have an inner seven year-old like both my son and I do (We both like cartoons a lot more than she does!), so she fully appreciated the emotional dynamics among the characters: love, loyalty, betrayal, anger and forgiveness. At the start, I was a little concerned about her and a movie full of guns and horses, but she enjoyed Red River much more than I thought she would. (To each their own! -in their own way!)

[Ed Gordon]

Shire has a long list of credits:

Selected filmography

One More Train to Rob (1971)
Drive, He Said (1971)
Summertree (1971)
Skin Game (1971)
To Find a Man (1972)
Two People (1973)
Class of '44 (1973)
Showdown (1973)
Killer Bees (1974)
Sidekicks (1974)
The Conversation (1974)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
The Hindenburg (1975)
Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
All the President's Men (1976)
Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976)
The Big Bus (1976)
Raid on Entebbe (1977)
Something for Joey (1977)
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Straight Time (1978)
Fast Break (1979)
Norma Rae (1979)
The Promise (1979)
Old Boyfriends (1979)
Apocalypse Now (1979, rejected)
Only When I Laugh (1981)
Paternity (1981)
Max Dugan Returns (1983)
Oh, God! You Devil (1984)
2010 (1984)
The Blue Yonder (1985)
Return to Oz (1985)
Short Circuit (1986)
'night, Mother (1986)
Vice Versa (1988)
Backfire (1988)
Monkey Shines (1988)
Paris Trout (1991)
Bed & Breakfast (1992)
Four Eyes and Six Guns (1992)
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993, rejected)
The Man Who Wouldn't Die (1995)
The Streets of Laredo (1995)
Rear Window (1998)
Ash Wednesday (2002)
Zodiac (2007)
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009)
The American Side (2016)
Love After Love (2017)

My favorite Shire film score was for Farewell, My Lovely (1975 film):

He also wrote the music for a few songs

[Graham Ritchie]

Just read your comments Doug, that first opening scene of the Hindenburg and the music at the start is brilliant, it really sets the mood of the film and what you are about to watch. I picked up a second hand LP of it a while back and its great to sit back and just listen to it.

[Graham Ritchie]

Regarding "Boychoir" here is a interesting interview with actor Garrett Warein and director Francois Girard a few years ago. Some folk in the US really had it in for this film regarding the ABC choir past, nothing to do with the present structure in which the film is based in 2015. I always like to give a movie a fair go, and this one I thought was well done. I have found at times, that when critics rubbish a film I usually like it , when they say its great I find it ho hum. There are a number of good movies out there you never hear much about, they simply never get the backing they deserve on release. When I worked at the cinema we were always open to try different things, some films worked, some not, often you would hear from customers that wasn't as bad as we thought

[Douglas Meltzer]

Graham,

I picked up the soundtrack album of David Shire's music immediately after seeing The Hindenburg in 1975. It's a wonderful, compelling, nuanced score. I used a track, "The Letter", in one of my student films. A few years back, Intrada came out with a limited edition CD.











I have the Universal 2x400' and also a 16mm scope feature print. Yes, I really like this movie!

[Ed Gordon]

4....."Boychoir" What a cast with Dustin Hoffman and Kathy Bates, this film came out in 2015 and my understanding is that to date, its been blocked in the US for dvd/blu-ray/ release for years now, also unlikely to be able to see it on US television, hopefully that attitude towards it has changed since I last checked. Thankfully the Becker film group got the rights to release it in Australia and NZ.

It was released in the US, but it was a dud at the boxoffice.

Boychoir premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on September 5, 2014 before receiving a limited release in the United States on April 3, 2015.

Hallmark Cards subsequently bought the distribution rights to air the film on its Hallmark Hall of Fame program. Boychoir was retitled Hear My Song and was planned to air on CBS on April 16, 2016. However, on April 13, 2016, the premiere was cancelled at the last minute.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boychoir_(film)

It only grossed just over three million dollars worldwide. I tried to find out why it bombed, but it there is not much out there. The wiki on it states:

Boychoir received mixed reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 45% rating based on 44 reviews for an average rating of 5.22/10. The consensus states: "Boychoir rests heavily –and not always comfortably –on the shoulders of Dustin Hoffman, whose typically excellent work isn't always quite enough to compensate for an overly predictable drama." On Metacritic, the film holds a 51 out of 100 rating based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

The DVD is still out there. You can buy it new for $12.98 (US) at Amazon.

[Graham Ritchie]

The Epson has been working overtime of late, four titles I watched in the last couple of weeks were

1...."The Man Who Never Was" from 1956 I fist watched this film on 16mm Scope and was impressed with it ever since, that was over thirty years ago. Its a movie like to watch every so often. If you have never seen it then its one I highly recommend. The Man Who Never Was is based on a true story.
2....."Deepwater Horizon" also based on a true story, its another blu-ray title I would recommend.
3.....I have watched The Hindenburg a number of times now, a brilliant film, the music by David Shire adds so much to the mood of the visuals. The blu-ray quality is very good.
4....."Boychoir" What a cast with Dustin Hoffman and Kathy Bates, this film came out in 2015 and my understanding is that to date, its been blocked in the US for dvd/blu-ray/ release for years now, also unlikely to be able to see it on US television, hopefully that attitude towards it has changed since I last checked. Thankfully the Becker film group got the rights to release it in Australia and NZ.

Tonight it was not blu-ray but dvd using the Epson with one of my all time favorite films from the the 1960s. I have the 35mm of it and posted it onto you-tube a while back

[Graham Ritchie]

Back to blu-ray and the Epson VP tonight with this release from "Imprint", I bought it around the same time as there other release of "Batteries Not Included" which I should add was brilliant. Its taken me a while to get around to watching "I'm Not Scared" until tonight. The movie is in Italian with English sub-titles, the blu-ray picture quality and DTS 5:1 sound is excellent.

As for the film, well its edge of the seat stuff right to the end. I was really surprised as to how good the movie is, so if you are looking for something a bit different and don't mind sub-titles, then this one wont disappoint I certainly can recommend this one.

[Graham Ritchie]

Watched this title on blu-ray tonight, Winner of 6 Academy Awards. The last time I screened this film was on 35mm, so I think its time, to again put it together for a soon to be future screening. "The Hurt Locker" is a good film and is certainly well made

[Ed Gordon]

Here we are at Stardate -298502.73 pondering the significance of Sci-Fi with dates that have come and gone. It's been 23 years since we should have had a base on the moon, and ships capable of reaching Jupiter.