What Blu-Ray did you watch last night?

[Graham Ritchie]

Last night I watched "The Train", this is a excellent movie, and the B/W transfer to blu-ray is excellent. I have watched this one every so often and its a must have blu-ray for any collection. The picture ratio is 1:66:1 with a running time of 133 minutes. On the DVD side of things although I have not seen it in a while, is "Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure" its a film I would highly recommend, its really well done.

Picked up another two blu-rays second hand that I have never watched this week, "The Imitation Game" and "Marathon Man" so hopefully will catch up with those two in the future

[Graham Ritchie]

Well you might remember me saying I will watch something lighter after the "Jet Boy" blu-ray last week, Saturday was "Jo Jo Rabbit", Sunday "A Man called Otto", both excellent movies I should add. The great thing about being retired is having the time, apart from Muffin Break and "Ferrymead Heritage Park" which on Sunday was busy running the Westar is watching all sorts of movies, something I never had time for in the past. Having Video Projection and blu-ray/DVD has been brilliant. Oh! and the 35mm and Super 8 I better mention those as well

[Graham Ritchie]

Well I have been busy during the school holidays down at the park. The Westar is running like a swiss watch plus giving away lots of film as well In saying that, we had our grandson visit over the weekend, soon to be the grand old age of 16, growing up quick, anyway on the Saturday night it was JAWS 2 we both watched it, he had never seen it which surprised me it went down well. Sunday night, his pick was Jurassic World in 2D by the way the 3D version is also very good. On a side note, I am more than happy with the picture quality of the Panasonic VP with the lamp I fitted to it a while back.

[Brian Fretwell]

I’ve never worn one but I’m reliably informed that if you don’t wear anything the chaffing in certain regions is agonising.

Hence the "Devils in Skirts" description of the Scotish soldiers in "Carry on up the Kyber", I imagine,

[Mike Newell]

Speaking of playlists, I like to include trailers from classic films as well as trailers for films about to be released. Here is one I ran yesterday:

If nothing else, it addresses the age-old question, "Do the men wearing Kilts wear underwear?"

I’ve never worn one but I’m reliably informed that if you don’t wear anything the chaffing in certain regions is agonising.

[Lee Mannering]

Still following in my late fathers 3D footsteps which he used to REELLY enjoy in the 50's.
Here we have another from Kino Lorber and a thing of beauty, perfect 3D. THE GLASS WEBB Edward G.Robinson and some very pretty ladies in 3D.
Included are the Digital HD 3D and also the Anaglyph version which works rather well.

1953 81 minutes of suspense. Lovely to see Edward standing in the middle of our home Cinema. Region A locked.

[Ed Gordon]

Speaking of playlists, I like to include trailers from classic films as well as trailers for films about to be released. Here is one I ran yesterday:

If nothing else, it addresses the age-old question, "Do the men wearing Kilts wear underwear?"

[Ed Gordon]

... Its called "Fateless" from 2005. I came across the DVD this week and watched it tonight. I hope this film gets the blu-ray treatment as it deserves it. Acording to the cover "Fateless" Director Lagos Koltai stunned the 2005 Berlin Film Festival with this Second World War drama based on the Nobel Prize winning novel by Imre Kertesz, a quasi-autobiographical work about his experiences as a 14-year old deported from Budapest to the Nazi labour camps during the Holocaust.

Drafted into forced labour by the German authorities, Gyuri Koves the young Jewish Hungarian, is shuttled between the death camps of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Zieitz.

I did find this trailer on Youtube for the film:

The reviews are good. It seems to have garnered the respect given to other holocaust films such as Diary of Anne Frank and Schindler's List.

[Graham Ritchie]

Ed try and track this one down for your playlist. Its called "Fateless" from 2005. I came across the DVD this week and watched it tonight. I hope this film gets the blu-ray treatment as it deserves it. Acording to the cover "Fateless" Director Lagos Koltai stunned the 2005 Berlin Film Festival with this Second World War drama based on the Nobel Prize winning novel by Imre Kertesz, a quasi-autobiographical work about his experiences as a 14-year old deported from Budapest to the Nazi labour camps during the Holocaust.

Drafted into forced labour by the German authorities, Gyuri Koves the young Jewish Hungarian, is shuttled between the death camps of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Zieitz.

The film has a running time of 2hrs and20 minutes with English sub-titles, Fateless is a remarkable film in every way, the acting, the story as it unfolds is riveting to watch and its one film I would highly recommend everyone should watch.

[Ed Gordon]

Graham, your comments about having to change your career path in your 40's surprised me. It the US, the 50's seems to be the point where folks need to be concerned about ageism. Of course it depends on the type of work you are doing.

When I was younger, I hated watching movies with subtitles. With the poor quality of sound mixes today (and my aging ears) I now find subtitles help, especially if the characters are speaking with a heavy Gaelic accent! I was putting together a playlist for a show in my home cinema yesterday which included policy trailers, previews, et cetera. My projector is connected to a computer so I can automate many functions as they do in commercial digital cinemas. I had a playlist of less than six videos which I ran to check audio levels. The volume levels varied from too low to painfully loud.

[Graham Ritchie]

Comments about being retired Ed are so true, its been great to watch films that I never had time in the past. I was in my element when I got the job as a projectionist, truth was I needed a job as the airlines I once worked in closed there engineering down making everyone redundant not a nice feeling. The thing is out here, is that once you get into your 40s age it can then become an issue to continue when job hunting in aviation. I know of people that had wide experience being turned down because of it, in my view it stinks, but that's life, and having some sort of plan B to carry on is a must these days. In saying that the retirement age here is 65 I am 73 so once you get there and providing you have lived in New Zealand for at least 10 years and become a citizen you are then entitled to the Government Super, everyone can get it plus your gold card even James Cameron mentioned lately he was expecting his in the post, so things are pretty good providing you don't have a mortgage by the time you retire. The big thing is the public health system, even though you pay into it all your working life and might never use it, its always there if and when you might need it and that once you retire is a big plus.

Back to movies, its been great to have the time these days to watch such a range of films, lately I have been veering of more to watch European films with sub-titles which I really don't mind. I had never really bothered with them before, but having the time now to look at what other countries other than what Hollywood can offer has been interesting.

One 35mm print we ran at the cinema which was our manager choice I did take the time to watch, although it did not do well at our place. I did tell her that the film itself was very good, nothing wrong with it, but public wise were not that interested in it was "La Vie En Rose" its the story of Edith Piaf is one I will have to watch again.

[Ed Gordon]

Full marks to there selection, I notice Flow is one of them. I will have to keep an eye out for that one. One film you recommend Ed a while back I had never heard of and glad you did mention it, was "Hearts In Atlantis" I managed to get a DVD of it a while back and since then we have all watched it. its really good.

This is two of my latest finds at Pennylane records second hand dvd's, one I had never heard of and that's Robin Williams in "The Big White" I found it really good and certainly recommend it. Excellent all round cast in particular Holly Hunter.

Flow is one you can watch many times. The animation is beautiful! Hearts in Atlantis is another one that can be watched many times. David Morse plays the adult Bobby Garfield. I was accustomed to seeing him play "bad guy #3" in so many productions that I did not expect much from him, so I was pleasantly surprised with his performance in that film.

I found the trailer for your recommendation, The Big White:

It looks pretty good and I miss Robin Williams. I will watch that one for sure. The full movie is available on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaOWCb-ltt8

The nice thing about being retired and a movie collector, is that so many movies you missed when you were working are now available to watch online.

[Graham Ritchie]

Full marks to there selection, I notice Flow is one of them. I will have to keep an eye out for that one. One film you recommend Ed a while back I had never heard of and glad you did mention it, was "Hearts In Atlantis" I managed to get a DVD of it a while back and since then we have all watched it. its really good.

This is two of my latest finds at Pennylane records second hand dvd's, one I had never heard of and that's Robin Williams in "The Big White" I found it really good and certainly recommend it. Excellent all round cast in particular Holly Hunter.



A couple of past screen shots using the Panasonic

[Ed Gordon]

Graham Ritchie;n115197...Now this is even more strange, that after watching the blu-ray just the other night, the town in Scotland "Dunoon" where I spent my secondary school years, that on there Facebook page they are screening "The Straight Story", its sure is a small world at times

It nice to see the film get attention again. I think the discussions about which David Lynch movies were your favorites has many of us re-watching old favorites.

[Graham Ritchie]

I agree Ed its a bit of a strange one its a movie that I had put of watching for a long time, its a blu-ray that will make its way back to Pennylane records and other stuff I got my $5 out of it

Now this is even more strange, that after watching the blu-ray just the other night, the town in Scotland "Dunoon" where I spent my secondary school years, that on there Facebook page they are screening "The Straight Story", its sure is a small world at times