What Blu-Ray did you watch last night?

[Ed Gordon]

DVD still has its place though, and I still project them but if its a movie I really like and is out on blu-ray I will buy that instead.

There are movies that I enjoy so much that even if I can't find a better copy, I still watch them. I have a few that were recorded to VHS tape from TV, then transferred to DVD when VCR's died, then transferred to a file to run from my media server. I still watch them, but not on a big screen!

Sometimes a movie transcends the media it comes on...

[Graham Ritchie]

So true Ed

[Graham Ritchie]

A couple of days ago my better half asked me if I could come across in town Marvel Studios "Doctor Strange" 2016 film release. Now to be honest I am not really into this kind of Marvel stuff, but to my surprise I did come across a second hand blu-ray of it in town. The good folk behind the counter told me that "Doctor Strange" is really good, anyway that's what they said

I arrived home with it and last night projected it using the Epson VP for Yvonne and myself, she really enjoyed it, me, well not so much, but the fast CGI was impressive, so that was us last night.

Tonight we watched the 1994 movie on blu-ray called "The Client" I thought the acting by Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Renfro and in particular Susan Sarandon was excellent. With a top notch cast and story, you can't go wrong with this one, anyway here are a couple of screen shots. I later said to Yvonne we should open a movie theatre and run some decent stuff, as these days we seldom go to the cinema, as unlike years ago we went almost every week, how times change.


Excellent picture and sound "The Client"

[Mike Newell]

Battle of the Sexes . Quaint Ealing style comedy starring early Peter Sellers. Lots of bonus material including Tony Hancock egg commercials. Source is BFI but can be bought cheaper on Amazon or EBay. Not perfect but more than acceptable comes with DVD as well as Blu Ray.

[Brian Fretwell]

Dr Who and the Daleks (1965), restored from an anamorphic interpositive, unlike the 4K disc which is from the original colour 2 perf pulldown negative.
I remember seeing this on holiday the year of release in a small cinema in Margate that is now Salvation Army centre. I didn't have time to watch "Coast of Skeletons" (which I have on DVD), the support feature that I also saw there.

[Mike Newell]

The Line Up. Early Don Siegel. Gritty violent Detective Drugs movie for 1959 similar in style to Siegel’s later film The Killers and Dirty Harry with San Francisco locations. Great print and sound and lively thriller that never slows down.

[Douglas Meltzer]

Mike,

I'm a big Don Siegel fan but somehow I've missed The Lineup. I'll have to get this one.

[Brian Fretwell]

Last nigh "Hitchcock" with Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren. Basically the story of the making of "Psycho", not his whole life.

I can't believe it was about 10 years ago I saw this at the cinema!

[Mike Newell]

Mike,

I'm a big Don Siegel fan but somehow I've missed The Lineup. I'll have to get this one.

Hi Doug

Bought it for Don Siegel connection but Eli Wallach puts in a mad 😡 cracker of a performance. Nice to see the old “Ironside” police building being used. Is it my imagination or is the theme from the later League of Gentlemen Jack Hawkins heist movie in there somewhere. Different composers but it is identical theme. Familiar actors from other Siegel movies also feature.

Mike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx7GApmhu8Y

[Graham Ritchie]

After watching the 35mm trailer of "Shiloh" the other night, I thought I should not dismiss this movie without checking it out a bit more. I read the 1997 interesting review of it by "Roger Ebert" and that got me thinking I should give it a go. Strangely enough, I came across the DVD in my favorite record and everything else shop in town, so for a couple of dollars second hand bought it, I did notice it was a 4 by 3 transfer not 16:9, but bought it anyway. Last night I did project the DVD and I must admit image wise it looked good as with the sound. Its certainly a good family film, and one I will show the grandkids the next time to come to stay, makes a change from JAWS .

So there you have it, a couple of things that did catch my eye was that Rod Steiger was in it, and the end credits music was by Scottish lass Sheena Easton, who you might remember has been the only person to not only sing "For Your Eyes Only" but to appear in the opening bond credits as well.

After a break from watching "Shiloh" I thought I would watch Rod Steiger in another film from 30 years before he did "Shiloh", and that is "In The Heat Of The Night" 1967. The blu-ray quality is really outstanding, as with everything else with this movie.

So that was my double feature night, one being a DVD, the other a blu-ray, both projected using the Epson VP.

I did read that Rod Steiger and Blake Heron "Shiloh" are no longer with us, a couple of screen photos of them are below, plus a few from "In The Heat Of The Night".

[Graham Ritchie]

As we all get older and "change" it does seem like time is flying fast, we tend to look back more and wonder what happened to those years?

Well we watched the blu-ray of this one tonight, it was filmed over a period of "12 years" with the original cast as they "all" get older and to capture on film that change. I think its quite a remarkable bit of film making. It might not be for everyone, but I thought it was very well done.

[Mike Newell]

The Quiet Man 70 years young. Classic John Ford romantic comedy. Superb print from Masters of Cinema. The back projection scenes do show up from the rest but not enough to annoy the viewer.

[Ed Gordon]

Sometimes when you're young, you have moments of such happiness, you think you're living in someplace magical, like Atlantis must have been. Then we grow up and our hearts break into two.

― Stephen King, Hearts in Atlantis

Stephen King has a reputation for the macabre. The first movie made based on his work was Carrie (1976) after all. We forget that he also wrote Stand by Me (1986), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), The Green Mile (1999), and Hearts in Atlantis (2001).

Last night I re-watched Hearts in Atlantis. I first saw it when it was released on DVD, and when I found it on bluray I set it aside to re-visit another day. I waited too long! As in Stand by Me, King explores the world through the eyes of children "living in someplace magical, like Atlantis".

"Hearts in Atlantis" weaves a strange spell, made of nostalgia and fear. Rarely does a movie make you feel so warm and so uneasy at the same time, as Stephen King's story evokes the mystery of adolescence, when everything seems to be happening for the very first time.

Set in 1960, the movie tells the story of an 11-year-old named Bobby (Anton Yelchin) whose father died when he was 5, whose mother (Hope Davis) seems too distracted to love him, whose life centers on his best friend Sully (Will Rothhaar), and Carol Gerber (Mika Boorem), with whom he will share a first kiss by which he will judge all the others. As is often the case in King stories, the period is recreated through an intense memory of cars, radio shows, clothes, baseball mitts--material treasures in an uncertain world.

Then a man comes as a boarder in the upstairs apartment at Bobby's house. This is Ted Brautigan (Anthony Hopkins). "I never trust a man who carries his possessions in grocery bags," says Bobby's mother, as Ted stands on the curb without much in the way of possessions. Bobby is often home alone (his mother is much distracted by her office job), and Ted offers root beer, conversation, and even a dollar a week to read him the paper. Then he reveals a more shadowy assignment for Bobby: Keeping a lookout for Low Men, who are seeking Ted because they want to use his gift.

By now Bobby does not have to be told that Ted can sometimes foresee the future; Bobby has the same ability, but muted. "One feels them first at the back of one's eyes," Ted tells Bobby, and we note how Hopkins takes this line, which could come from a cheap horror film, and invests it with nuance.

- Roger Ebert
Full review at: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/h...-atlantis-2001

Preview

If you enjoyed Stand by Me, you will probably also like Hearts in Atlantis. It is available on DVD/Bluray and streaming. Or you can watch it right now at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSwn2OJq7F8 free of charge. It was posted there two years ago.

[Graham Ritchie]

Thanks Ed the trailer looks good, will look out for this one

[Graham Ritchie]

Tonight it was the blu-ray of "Hope and Glory" 1987, an excellent film, brilliant cast, both picture and sound are also excellent, here is a link to the "New York Times" review, which I think pretty much sums it up.