What Blu-Ray did you watch last night?

[Ed Gordon]

Ed this is worth watching

Francis would have the time of his life if he visited Seattle's local treasure, Scarecrow Video. It calls itself "the largest video store in the world" for good reason. As their website says:

Our collection continues to grow by 3,000 – 4,000 every year, and at the start of 2024, we are at 147,000+ unique titles.

I checked, and they have every movie Francis Coppola mentioned in the video. I do own the 6 disc boxed setup of Apocalypse Now - Final Cut from Coppola, but I'll have to visit Scarecrow Video the rent the other films Coppola recommended.

[Graham Ritchie]

Ed this is worth watching

[Graham Ritchie]

And for something totally different and believe me its different. Now I am not a fan of horror movies, but this blu-ray title was sitting on the second hand shelf going real cheap in a store in town a couple of weeks ago. After reading the reviews on the cover, it had me thinking that I might give this one a go. Tonight and using the Panasonic VP I got around to watching it. To start with its a Australian film and its a film that will keep your attention and not fall asleep watching it, Its certainly different and to be honest its not so yuk special effects wise as "Poltergeist" if you know what I mean. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a high rating, but will leave it up to you if you want to watch it, don't forget, I am the one that still covers his eyes at the severed head scene in JAWS and that's after almost 50 years. With "The Badadook" no problem with this one.

[Graham Ritchie]

I think we are ahead time wise of other countries as we have just had Christmas day so its now evening 9.31pm at the moment and have just finished watching the blu-ray of the colourised version of "Its a Wonderful Life", this platinum anniversary edition does include both the black and white and color versions.

Projected on the Panasonic VP the level of detail and the look of the colourised version is very impressive, it really looks great

[Ed Gordon]

Ed that clip that Scottish accent doesn't sound quite right mmmm I think its been altered or something, in saying that this one is more accurate. I still remember to this day when I worked in Paisley back in 1972-73, an apprentice said to me that quote...."me an my bud are going oot tonight"....meaning both him and his girlfriend were going out that night. Paisley incidentally is where Gerald Butler grew up. In the 50 years I have been in NZ, I have not come across many Scottish people. The last one, was when I was having an operation in the public hospital. I arrived early in the morning the surgeon came in to see us. He was from South Africa, told me he does month about with another surgeon from South Africa, a month private, one month public. I had to really listen to understand what he was taking about regarding the surgery, he did say I was first on the list, and would see me upstairs in half an hour. Before leaving he introduced to me his anaesthetist, when he starting talking, my reaction was "wow" somebody who talks just like me, had same first name and came from Glasgow and I could understand every word

Anyway later when I arrived upstairs a nurse did say to me, is there anything you don't like Mr Ritchie? before I had a chance to answer I remember the face of the anaesthetist looking down on me and said LOUDLY.... THE ENGLISH....ha ha . I then gave him the thumbs and that was me out for the count for the next few hours. The surgery I should add went really well and within a few days the hospital kicked me out. I did have to have follow up radiation a couple of years ago at the public... wiping the bench they said. To date everything is just fine, been very fortunate, the people at public hospital have been great.

Anyway this is more accurate, also see how you get on with this one from my old school great to see the teaching has changed from when I was there....

Graham, it's not that the language is unintelligible, it is the speed at which it is spoken and the slang phrases that trips up the listener. Even Siri and Alexa gets tripped up!

Then again, Siri has problem with understanding English as well.

I will study Gerard Butler's tutorial on Scottish slang to improve my listening skills

We better get back on topic or start a new one on "Unintelligible dialogue in movies I have watched"

[Ed Gordon]

Major Dundee a decent Sam Peckinpah western although flawed either by Sam falling into the bottle or the Studio hacks cutting and recutting .Least this time I chose the original soundtrack not the vomit inducing dull alternative soundtrack.

When I think back to the 400ft digest who ever did the edit did a half decent job.

I think there is an audience for digests, be they on film or digital. There are so many older movies that no longer stand on their own, but have enough material to entertain those of use who saw movie back in the day. With the tools we have today the editing is relatively easy, but selecting what to keep, and what to toss can be difficult. That is a lot of work to do, just for yourself. After all, you can fast forward past the parts you know don't hold up. If you make your own digest, you could post it online, but at what point does it become a copyright violation? Twenty minutes? Ten Minutes?

[Graham Ritchie]

My old school, how times have changed

[Graham Ritchie]

Ed that clip that Scottish accent doesn't sound quite right mmmm I think its been altered or something, in saying that this one is more accurate. I still remember to this day when I worked in Paisley back in 1972-73, an apprentice said to me that quote...."me an my bud are going oot tonight"....meaning both him and his girlfriend were going out that night. Paisley incidentally is where Gerald Butler grew up. In the 50 years I have been in NZ, I have not come across many Scottish people. The last one, was when I was having an operation in the public hospital. I arrived early in the morning the surgeon came in to see us. He was from South Africa, told me he does month about with another surgeon from South Africa, a month private, one month public. I had to really listen to understand what he was taking about regarding the surgery, he did say I was first on the list, and would see me upstairs in half an hour. Before leaving he introduced to me his anaesthetist, when he starting talking, my reaction was "wow" somebody who talks just like me, had same first name and came from Glasgow and I could understand every word

Anyway later when I arrived upstairs a nurse did say to me, is there anything you don't like Mr Ritchie? before I had a chance to answer I remember the face of the anaesthetist looking down on me and said LOUDLY.... THE ENGLISH....ha ha . I then gave him the thumbs and that was me out for the count for the next few hours. The surgery I should add went really well and within a few days the hospital kicked me out. I did have to have follow up radiation a couple of years ago at the public... wiping the bench they said. To date everything is just fine, been very fortunate, the people at public hospital have been great.

Anyway this is more accurate, also see how you get on with this one from my old school great to see the teaching has changed from when I was there.

PS. Watched the blu-ray of "ET" last night, this time with the Epson VP, the image did look good, but some of the special effects eg, over the moon scene did not look anywhere as good as the 35mm print. I was getting lazy hence the blu-ray instead of the film print, next time its film .

[Mike Newell]

Major Dundee a decent Sam Peckinpah western although flawed either by Sam falling into the bottle or the Studio hacks cutting and recutting .Least this time I chose the original soundtrack not the vomit inducing dull alternative soundtrack.

When I think back to the 400ft digest who ever did the edit did a half decent job.

[Ed Gordon]

Thanks Ed regarding Gerald Butler way back in 2005 not to sure exactly, but we went to a art house cinema in town they were running a 35mm print of "Dear Frankie", this is a far cry for the action packed films like Plane and another good one "Hunter Killer" plus a few more on blu-ray. Also starring is Emily Mortimer who I had watched just lately in The Ghost and the Darkness.

Back to "Dear Frankie", its a Scottish film, filmed in Greenock over looking the Clyde and also filmed in Glasgow. Its very good and did very well at Film Festivals. I have the 35mm trailer and thankfully the voice over is a Scottish youngster. The trailer on you-tube is done by a youngster trying to do a Scottish accent noooooo sorry it does not work, but I guess it was added for the American and English market, who have trouble understanding Scottish, sad eh! ....

Graham, I had never heard of this one. I looked it up on IMDB and it has a 7.7 rating there. I'll add that to my watch list. Butler is always good, even in films with mundane scripts. I first noticed Emily Mortimer in a TV series, The Newsroom (2012). She was excellent in that one. Thanks for tip!

Apparently some folks have trouble understanding anyone with a significant Scottish accent:

I was born in the US, and even I can understand him! Sure, I had to listen to him three times but...

[Graham Ritchie]

Thanks Ed regarding Gerald Butler way back in 2005 not to sure exactly, but we went to a art house cinema in town they were running a 35mm print of "Dear Frankie", this is a far cry for the action packed films like Plane and another good one "Hunter Killer" plus a few more on blu-ray. Also starring is Emily Mortimer who I had watched just lately in The Ghost and the Darkness.

Back to "Dear Frankie", its a Scottish film, filmed in Greenock over looking the Clyde and also filmed in Glasgow. Its very good and did very well at Film Festivals. I have the 35mm trailer and thankfully the voice over is a Scottish youngster. The trailer on you-tube is done by a youngster trying to do a Scottish accent noooooo sorry it does not work, but I guess it was added for the American and English market, who have trouble understanding Scottish, sad eh! .

Anyway I watched it again on DVD its not out on blu-ray, but hopefully someone will give it the blu-ray treatment it deserves one day.

A couple of past screen shots from the DVD projected with the Panasonic

[Mike Newell]

Mike, did you watch it in the Smilebox or scope format? I favor the Smilebox, but the 2.89:1 scope version is also stunning.

Hi Ed

Yes , more by accident than design. Both formats are stunning.

Mike

[Ed Gordon]

How the West was Won. Nice remastered print with dividing line digitally removed. Make a big difference

Mike, did you watch it in the Smilebox or scope format? I favor the Smilebox, but the 2.89:1 scope version is also stunning.

[Ed Gordon]

Thanks Ed, If there was one opening to a film that has always stood out in my memory, it was when I went to the cinema to watch "The Sand Pebbles" around I think 1966. Jerry Goldsmith score was brilliant. The music starts quietly then builds up as the camera moves in, what a great way to start a film. I have it on blu-ray its a long film, but a good one, thankfully like many films back then it had a Intermission.

Graham, I like the way the bluray starts with a black screen as the overture plays, and then the fox logo fades in (the clip you posted above) at about 2 minutes. Yes, it is a long movie. The bluray version runs 182 minutes. There are longer versions that were produced:

History: (pre June 5, 2007) Twentieth Century Fox began editing the 195 minute Roadshow version of the Sand Pebbles soon after its December 20, 1966 premiere at the Rivoli and eventually pared the film down to what is now referred to as the "theatrical" 182 minute version. This was accomplished without any input or consent from Robert Wise. Thanks to the contributions of fans like Jean-Maurice Tremblay (JMT)...Geoff Toole (GT) and Stuart Gray (SG) a list of missing scenes was established. Video files were contributed by Cyrille (France) and Thomas Booch (Germany) to prove that the scenes still existed in other countries.

On June 5, 2007 Fox finally released the 70mm Roadshow version of the film on DVD, however, after 40 years of neglect the Roadshow print was badly faded and perhaps beyond the point of restoration. Time will tell.

In addition, there was also a 200 minute audience test version of the film that was previewed in Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Dallas prior to the movie's official premiere in New York City. A few copies of this longer version were distributed to roadshow venues in cities like Detroit and San Francisco. Surprisingly, a fan has reported that this extended 200 minute version was shown on a New York City television station in the 1970's. Description of these audience test scenes are also included here. - CG

Source: https://www.thesandpebbles.com/roads..._audience.html

The website (www.thesandpebbles.com) is loaded with interesting information on the film.

The complete soundtrack album is available on Youtube:

[Mike Newell]

How the West was Won. Nice remastered print with dividing line digitally removed. Make a big difference