What Blu-Ray did you watch last night?

[Ed Gordon]

I watched The Movie Man (2024). It is the most entertaining film about movie lovers I have seen. It is more about how far a film fanatic will go than it is a documentary about movies.

It is available in the US on the PBS streaming site (subscription required).

Trailer - The Movie Man

[Ed Gordon]

I have watched All Is Lost a couple of times and enjoyed it. It got good reviews on IMDB. There is one review by an experienced sailor who titled his review "Disappointing for sailors - but still a great performance". I have done a bit of sailing, but still a rank amateur. You can read the expert's opinion here: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw289094..._=tturv_perm_4

[Graham Ritchie]

Last week I watched this blu-ray "All Is Lost" once again its a really good movie and well worth searching out, again I used the Panasonic VP, image wise it looks great, an excellent story and acting by Robert Redford.

[Graham Ritchie]

"Central Station" a Golden Globe award winner for Best Foreign Language film, 1998 Academy Award nominated Best Actress Fernanda Montenegro. Central Station is a excellent film, and well worth watching. Watched the other night using the Panasonic VP screen shots below are taken from that night.

[Steve Carter]

Joker sorry not a Blu-Ray streamed 1080p Xgimi Horizon Ultra 4k projector 120 inch screen.Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Nero.
The dark story of Arthur Fleck, mental illness, lost his favourite job as a clown, failed stand up comedian, looking after his ill Mother, rejected by his Father, who happens to be Thomas Wayne father of Bruce Wayne. An outstanding performance by Joaquin Phoenix as he spirals ever downward and out of control.

[Ed Gordon]

Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes is equivalent to Sean Connery as James Bond. He performance as Sherlock remains the best in my opinion.

Brett's portrayal remains very popular and is accepted by many as definitive.

- Wikipedia

When I first watched the series, I had no idea that Jeremy Brett had played Freddy in My Fair Lady twenty years earlier.

Singing was not Brett's strong point; that was dubbed by Bill Shirley.

[Osi Osgood]

We have started going thru our newly acquired Blu-ray collection of the complete Granada Series of Sherlock Holmes. With all due respect to the Basil Rathbone features ( Scarlet Claw is one of my favorites, also gave NG that one on super 8!), I feel that these Granada Series really were the best ever representation of Sherlock Holmes. Except for a few of the longer episodes, shot on 35mm, the rest were shot on, I believe, "super 16", and the restoration of these 16mm look absolutely great, and personally, I like seeing that grain!

[Graham Ritchie]

I forgot to add a couple of screen shots taken from "Outland", the projector used that night was the Panasonic.

[Graham Ritchie]

Sat back and watched this one again the other night

[Steve Klare]

We went Mozart a couple of weeks ago with Amadeus, so tonight was Beethoven.

Multiformat Show:

1) Trailer Reel Number 2 (16mm) Even though I didn't shoot an inch of it, this is as close as I will ever come to making a 16mm film: I edited it! It is several trailers including Knute Rockne, All American, He's a Cockeyed Wonder (Mickey Rooney) and Citizen Kane, with a sprinkling of drive-in day-sets for atmosphere. All are black and white. (Trailer Reel Number 1 is Super-8)

2) Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony (Derann, Super-8) Parts I and II united on a 600 Foot Reel. This is a beautiful film: I relearn this every time I see it!

3) Feature: Immortal Beloved (Projected DVD) It's natural to compare this to Amadeus, but this is an entirely different kind of story. Amadeus is comedy plus tragedy but this one is tragedy plus mystery, as Beethoven's executor tries to find "the immortal Beloved" who is to inherit his fortune.

(Beethoven just isn't funny!)

It's a strange movie, because only after the mystery is solved does the story fully come together and become satisfying. The answer at least begins to explain some of the events in the film, although it does not come close to justifying some of the character's actions. They only rise to the level of "nasty with a background story".

What's strange is I've had this disk easily a year and tonight was the first time I ever watched it.

-and now all those YouTube clips will finally make sense!

[Graham Ritchie]

Change of tack last night with these two blu-ray titles. First up "Close" second was "Bully" this particular blu-ray came from a $1 pile, from a video store when it was closing. "Bully" is certainly a disturbing documentary, that shows how downright nasty kids can be to others. Although this type of thing can happen in any school in any country this one shown here in particular is bad, not just the kids, but the attitude of the school and parents of others who seem to turn a blind eye to what is going on. I do hope things have improved since this film was made.

[Ed Gordon]

Dante's Peak was filmed where is really happened back in 1980.


Mount Saint Helens, Washington state, US, May 1980


The ash shutdown traffic in areas east of the mountain, but only lightly dusted the Seattle area (I still have a small bottle of the ash I scraped off my car the day after). As I recall there were less than 100 casualties.

When Mount Rainier erupts it will be a major disaster:

The most recent recorded volcanic activity was between 1820 and 1854, but many eyewitnesses reported eruptive activity in 1858, 1870, 1879, 1882, and 1894 as well. Additionally, the Smithsonian Institution's volcanism project records the last volcanic eruption as 1450 CE.

Seismic monitors have been placed in Mount Rainier National Park and on the mountain itself to monitor activity. An eruption could be deadly for all living in areas within the immediate vicinity of the volcano and effects from an eruption could be noticed from Vancouver, British Columbia to San Francisco, California because of the massive amounts of ash blasting out of the volcano into the atmosphere.

Due to its high probability of an eruption in the near future and proximity to a major urban area, Mount Rainier is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, and it is on the Decade Volcano list.[14] The large amount of glacial ice means that Mount Rainier could produce massive lahars that could threaten the entire Puyallup River valley and other river valleys draining Mount Rainier, including the Carbon, White, Nisqually, and Cowlitz (above Riffe Lake). According to the United States Geological Survey's 2008 report, "about 80,000 people and their homes are at risk in Mount Rainier's lahar-hazard zones."

Source: Wikipedia

The ash eventually circled the globe. Back then a popular quip was, "Don't bother to visit Washington State, we will visit you."

[Graham Ritchie]

Double feature two nights ago, I have to add that the new lamp I fitted to the Panasonic VP has been preforming well of late, in saying that I will have to get back to the Epson and film projectors real soon I have had the "Fantasia 2000" blu-ray for a while now, to be honest I was never in a hurry to watch it. I was surprised how much I did like watching the blu-ray. The color and image quality was really good, all up I enjoyed it. After a break it was time for "Dante's Peak" directed by New Zealander Roger Donaldson, who later went on to do "The Worlds Fastest Indian" starring Anthony Hopkins a film that was a big hit out here in New Zealand and certainly worth watching, we ran that 35mm print for a very long time. Regarding Dante's Peak its brilliant, its one of those movies I can watch every so often, a couple of quick screen shots taken two nights ago

[Ed Gordon]

The French Connection is on my list of Hackmen films to re-watch. Another one worth a re-visit is Enemy of the State.

[Graham Ritchie]

Looks good Ed hopefully Flow will be one to look out for on disc, in the near future.

Last night I thought I would watch the blu-ray of "The French Connection" both picture and sound were very good, the train chase was certainly action packed.