What Blu-Ray did you watch last night?

[Douglas Meltzer]

Graham,

I saw The Lunchbox when it was in theatres and loved it. Irrfan Kahn was so good and added so much to every movie he was in.

[Graham Ritchie]

Watched this one the other night and really enjoyed it

[Ed Gordon]

The Story of Film: An Odyssey is an unprecedented cinematic event, an epic journey through the history of world cinema that is a treat for movie lovers around the globe. Guided by film historian Mark Cousins, this bold 15-part love letter to the movies begins with the invention of motion pictures at the end of the 19th century and concludes with the multi-billion dollar globalized digital industry of the 21st.

The Story of Film: An Odyssey Trailer

This 15 hour epic is available on disc for about $30 used, and also available on youtube to watch with ads. You will either love it or hate it, but you will continue to watch. It is a very personal documentary by Mark Cousins, and you may find yourself disagreeing with many of his assessments.

A “Personal” Odyssey would be a more accurate subtitle as Mr. Cousins, (who first wrote a book covering this same ground and then spent six years shooting the documentary) lets us know up front this is his personal and highly opinionated story of film. He takes us step by step through every technical innovation from the invention of the camera to the recent changeover to all digital shooting and projection. He accurately informs us that it was not the camera that made the movies, it was the editing table. The first time two or more pieces of film were spliced together to create a narrative, cinema was made. Then came color tinting, sound, wide screen systems, stereo sound, 3 Dimensions.

Source: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2015...lm-dvd-review/

[Graham Ritchie]

Last Friday night "The Eagle Huntress" this is a excellent film to watch, and very highly recommend, projected using the Panasonic VP, screen shots are taken from last Friday night

[Graham Ritchie]

Saturday night, well its time again to step back to watching JAWS' I first saw it in 1975, hard to believe its coming up to "50 years" now. JAWS was of course filmed in the summer of 1974, and released worldwide in 1975.

Even after all those years, watching it tonight, the film still looks as good tonight, as it was 50 years ago, except having the experience of 1100 people in the cinema with me at the time, and that "was" something. Sadly many of the original cast and crew and writer Peter Benchley are no longer with us, but there film will still be popular for future generations, long after we are gone.

[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.

[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.

[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]

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

[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]

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

[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]

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.

[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]

"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