What Blu-Ray did you watch last night?

[Ed Gordon]

Tonight's projected blu-ray was "They Shall Not Grow Old"

I must say Graham, you have excellent discernment in choices of films to screen. I say this because it is true, and because I watched the same movie last night!

They Shall Not Grow Old is a 2018 documentary film directed and produced by Peter Jackson. It was created using footage of the First World War held by the British Imperial War Museum (IWM), most of which was previously unseen, and all of which was over 100 years old by the time of the film's release. Much of the footage was colourised and restored using modern production techniques for its use in the film, and sound effects and voice acting were added to the silent footage. The film's narration was edited from interviews with British WWI veterans from the collections of the BBC and the IWM.

Jackson dedicated the film—his first documentary as director—to his grandfather, who fought in WWI. He said his intention was for the film to be an immersive experience of "what it was like to be a soldier", rather than a story or recounting of events. The crew reviewed 100 hours of archival film footage and 600 hours of interviews with 200 WWI veterans to find the materials from which to construct the film. The film's title was inspired by a line ("They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old") from Laurence Binyon's 1914 poem "For the Fallen", famous for being used in the "Ode of Remembrance".

from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Shall_Not_Grow_Old

It can be easy to lose track of mammoth scope of World War I, which is why it makes sense that a New Zealander would want to make a film about the men who fought it. New Zealand’s population was just over a million people and about ten percent of that number (nurses and fighting men of myriad ethnic extractions) went to fight in the war. Roughly 17,000 men from that colossal fighting force were killed and another 41,000 wounded. The deaths tend to be harder to ignore in a smaller place and it’s quite obvious that the scars of the conflict made their way down to Jackson and Walsh.

The impetus for the project was both the anniversary of the armistice that ended the war and advancements made in digital manipulation of antique footage. Jackson and Walsh have done something special bringing all this old footage to new life, complete with newly looped voice recordings to fill in the action, booming sound effects to match cannon fire, and adding color. Once again, he’s translated something that’s growing ancient into a series of images and ideas a modern audience will be able to grasp. And if we can make sense of the image, we can hopefully make sense of the horror it portends.

from: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/t...-grow-old-2018

They Shall Not Grow Old - WW1 Over The Top

[Graham Ritchie]

Tonight's projected blu-ray was "They Shall Not Grow Old"

[Graham Ritchie]

Tonight "Is Anybody There?" on blu-ray, I do feel however, that the picture quality of the 35mm screen shots I took a while back of the 35mm trailer below, image wise are better than what I saw on the blu-ray tonight. The actual full feature on 35mm would be a nice one to come across. Oh! its a good movie, outstanding performance by Michael Caine and young Bill Milner, highly recommend it.

Screen shots from 35mm

[Ed Gordon]

I was very happy to finally see this film, and looking incredible, "Death Hunt", starring Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson. I've always loved this film and I'm always wistful about it. This was late in Marvin's career, with only a few decent films after this, and this was literally the last film Charles Bronson made that wasn't a Death Wish or Death Wish derivative, so it was his last time to really shine. Two of the greatest tough guys on film, in a pseudo western ( it takes place in 1931 in the Yukon, which was literally still stuck in the Old West, historically) for the last time.

Osi, I had forgotten about Death Hunt and managed to find a bluray of it to watch. Excellent movie!

I followed that one up with another bluray of Lee Marvin and Jack Palance in Monty Walsh. It is another movie about the vanishing old west that I enjoyed with one exception: it really did not have any plot.

When the movie was new, moviegoers looking at the poster touting Marvin and Palance probably expected a violent Western along the lines of The Wild Bunch, and were perhaps left nonplussed by the film’s unusual tone. The first half of the picture is meandering with much humor, but at about the halfway point it turns a dark corner in ways I can’t reveal here, like a line of falling dominoes and inexorably heading toward great tragedy. Somehow, I’d missed Monte Walsh all these years and for the first 40 minutes wondered where it was all heading; its second-half rather suddenly becomes most compelling and the material carefully, sometimes obviously set-up in the first part of the story begins to pay off.

Source: https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/i...h-kino-2025-bd



Another old classic I recently watched was The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart.



It was nice to see this classic from a restored print bluray. Those old movies we watched on 19 inch TV's look much better these days. The Big Sleep is good, but The Maltese Falcon was a better detective story. Another great movie based on Raymond Chandler's writing is the 1975 Robert Mitchum film, Farewell My Lovely.

[Graham Ritchie]

Last nights blu-ray was "Raiders of the Lost Ark", tonight being Saturday, and after feeding the birdies down at the Heritage park today, the blu-ray of Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film "The Birds"

[Graham Ritchie]

Watched four blu-ray movies using the Panasonic VP over the last week, first of "Billy Connolly live in London 2010", I really enjoyed watching it, it makes a change from the usual movies. Next on the list "They Who Dare" 1954 starring Dirk Bogarde in stunning Technicolor this blu-ray is from studio canal under classics remastered. Image wise its excellent, let down by the soundtrack which sounds "music wise" like the speed is up and down a bit during the transfer, however its still a very good film and is based on actual events. Last night it was the turn of "Tora Tora Tora" 1970, the are two versions, I went for the extended Japanese cut. Excellent picture and sound. Lastly, tonight I doubt anybody here would have seen it a New Zealand film, called "Boy" we ran the 35mm print back in 2010 and I always thought it was a good movie.

[Graham Ritchie]

Tonight being Saturday I thought I would re-visit this blu-ray of "Belfast". Although its not the first time I have watched it, its certainly a movie I would recommend if you have not already seen it.

[Alan Paterson]

Last night we watched 'Mr Burton', which had snuck out on Blu-ray at the weekend. The publicity must have been spoken in whispers as its release was a surprise. The film is based on the early life of Richard Burton and has excellent performances from a young Harry Lawtey (as Burton), the omnipresent Toby Jones (as his Teacher) and Lesley Manville (as their landlady). The film has the style of a BBC film and, indeed, the Beeb is mentioned in the credits. The story is handled in a tasteful manner so it avoids the subject matter descending to the level of the gutter, which in less capable hands it quite easily could have. The only thing that lets the film down are the CGI background plates of the Port Talbot steelworks, which stick out like a sore thumb. However, it's the performances that make this film worth watching. Well worth a screening.

[Graham Ritchie]

I think I have watched this movie about a million times over the years , tonight once again, with the blu-ray and the Panasonic VP doing there thing. I would really have to rate it as the best disaster film ever made, with a perfect cast and script.

Only thing though and I am being picky, is when he says hard "left" it should be hard "Port"

[Graham Ritchie]

Ah! "The Bank Job" boy that's going back a bit. I remember picking up the 35mm print from the Hollywood Cinema one night for later screening at Movieland . Good movie but we didn't keep it for long. I did a total of film prints over the 10 years I was there, it came to 746 prints that came and went. Very seldom I would watch any of them, always to busy with things to do. I guess most of those prints would have been destroyed by now

For something a bit different the blu-ray of "My Girl 2", from 1994, good all round cast, not bad, blu-ray picture and sound are both very good, projected using the Panasonic.

[Osi Osgood]

I was very happy to finally see this film, and looking incredible, "Death Hunt", starring Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson. I've always loved this film and I'm always wistful about it. This was late in Marvin's career, with only a few decent films after this, and this was literally the last film Charles Bronson made that wasn't a Death Wish or Death Wish derivative, so it was his last time to really shine. Two of the greatest tough guys on film, in a pseudo western ( it takes place in 1931 in the Yukon, which was literally still stuck in the Old West, historically) for the last time.

[Mike Newell]

The Bank Job. Great Heist movie which is based on a real life robbery in 1971. Can be picked up for a bargain price from Amazon.




7

"The Bank Job" is a 2008 film based on the true story of the 1971 Baker Street robbery, where criminals tunneled into a Lloyds Bank vault and stole from safety deposit boxes. While the film draws inspiration from this event, it also incorporates fictional elements, particularly regarding the characters involved and the alleged motive behind the heist. The movie suggests the robbery was orchestrated to retrieve compromising photographs of Princess Margaret from a deposit box owned by Michael X, a Trinidadian radical, which is a fictionalized element.

[Graham Ritchie]

Tonight it was a screening of the blu-ray "The Hunt for Red October" its not the first time I have watched it, and it wont be the last

[Graham Ritchie]

One of the new titles arriving at JB Hi Fi in town last week was this one not in blu-ray but DVD, tonight I got around to watching it. If you don't mind English sub-titles then I would highly recommend taking time out to watch it, its based on a true story.

[Ed Gordon]

Jaws is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025, with special screenings planned in theaters across the country starting on Labor Day weekend, August 29, and continuing through September 4. Additionally, the film will be available for streaming on Peacock, and NBC will air a special telecast on June 20, 2025.

I have seen Jaws many times, but never on a big screen. I have had the DVD version for many years, and it is pretty poor; fuzzy focus, poor color, et cetera. I have had the 4k version for a while but put off watching it until yesterday after seeing the announcements about it's re-release to theater this coming August.

The restored 4k version looked fantastic on my 11.5 foot home cinema scope screen. It is not the best 4k film I have watched at home, but certainly better than my old DVD copy.

Jaws begins with a night scene in which we see the first victim of the giant great white, and in terms of video quality isn’t exactly the way you want to show off the capabilities of 4k. But when the movie switches to daylight there is a noticeable improvement in sharpness, finer grain, and color depth.

The scenes in natural light are the most impressive in terms of color, with improvements in saturation and luminance not possible on traditional Blu-ray without HDR (on this 4k Blu-ray edition delivered via Dolby Vision and HDR10+)....

On 4k Blu-ray, there are details that may not have been visible before, like seagulls flying through the frame or a subtle glisten on the lips of Brody while he’s skimming through shark books. In that same interior scene, Brody’s eyelashes are backlit by the setting sun and about as sharp as this movie gets. There’s a little bit of fall-off from the lens in the top and bottom areas in some shots (notably shots from the bow of the boat where Hooper is at the helm), and in some of the wider focus shots we find less sharpness. But this is more about the original cinematic lens reaching its limits rather than the film restoration and transfer to 4k.

There is a definite improvement in the video when Hooper goes underwater in an attempt to inject the shark with Strychnine. The shots are the best we’ve seen boasting clarity in the shark’s mouth, Hooper in the cage, and color that is frighteningly realistic.

During one of the best scenes in film history, when Quint and Hooper are comparing scar stories while waiting for Jaws to resurface with a barrel attached, we find the true test of HDR. The hull of the boat is dark and not evenly lit, and much of the scene is shadow. But with High Dynamic Range some of those details in the dark areas are more evident.

The only problem with this restoration of Jaws is that it needed at least one more pass to fix all the dust spots and artifacts. The imperfections are more evident the larger the TV, but pop up throughout the film (see the examples below). With a movie of this significance, it’s hard to believe the spots were missed. That isn’t to belittle the amount of work the restoration team put into Jaws though. Watch the bonus feature about how each frame was examined and repaired, some taking up to 2-3 hours each!

By the way, it’s also interesting to note the restoration team actually created another film print of Jaws for archival reasons.

Source: https://hd-report.com/reviews/jaws-4...ray-review/