Topic: The Movie Thread

@JohnnyShoulder just seen a few versions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, not exactly sure the differences, one comes out next March, but then there was a very similar collection that's out in December and actually includes the one ring collectible and has all 4k theatrical and extended editions as well, so not sure what the March one is for, just a different box and no collectible.

It's been a while since I've seen LotR and this seems rather tempting 😅

Moon is in that deal you mentioned too, if you need to add any. That would surely boost any collection's merit.

I'm thinking a couple of Bladerunners would be a good start, I noticed they had an edition that came with a whisky glass. But that is not available 😪

I think your office was a trap and I may have started down the rabbit hole 😂

@Nei Brilliant, I do love an interval. Gives it more of a stage play feel too and separates the movie into distinct acts.

@Ravix I think it more of a spider's web lol.

For LOTR triology it is the steelbook edition which is out next March. I will probably end never buying it. 😂 I did have the extended version box set on DVD which i tried to watch every chrimbo, but I've not seen them in yonks.

I'm going to check what deals they have in my local HMV store this week before taking the plunge on the Amazon sale.

@JohnnyShoulder well this one

is out just in time for Christmas, so there's really no excuse not to get the upgrade

🕸🕷 perhaps the Spider has caught itself 😉

I was shocked there is no 4K version of The Hateful Eight available anywhere. Is there any reason some movies just don't bother with 4k releases?

Mini continuation of Stephen King thought from TV thread. Why the heck is Misery only available as a 4K in the USA 😪 Misery is genuinely superb. Everyone should watch Misery this winter.

@Ravix It is this one, with all the shiny steelbooks. 😁

It is is annoying some films are only available in some regions. Hereditary and The Silence of the Lambs are ones that spring to mind that are not available in the UK. 😕 I think is is mostly down to cost and distribution. And then there is The Abyss which is cos the BBFC wanted a cut a scene involving a rat, and James Cameron's crew said 'Nope'.

Today's watch was Hell House LLC, Standard not Directors. I actually like found footage, and this is probably some of the better found footage I've seen, but it has such an anti climax of an ending it is hard not to feel really sour about it.

@Ravix @JohnnyShoulder I read from multiple places and seen a few videos that the 4K transfer of LoTR trilogy was not done well. Could either of you confirm whether or not this is true? I love the original trilogy and was bummed when I found out. Definitely want to get it but if it's not worth it, my bluray edition should be fine.

@Hogs-of-War-General I've heard similar things too. I've not seen them since the dvd days, so am unable to confirm from first hand experience.

@JohnnyShoulder @Hogs-of-War-General While not a "Terminator 2" style DNR disaster, the "LotR" 4K transfers have undergone some digital "reimaging" (colour grading, artificial sharpening etc.) to bring them more in line with the later "Hobbit" trilogy. God only knows why. The results are (to my eye) better than the weirdly green shifted extended blu-ray release but the most "authentic" looking versions are still the theatrical cuts that were initially released on blu-ray way back in the day, so pick your poison. I will add that the Atmos sound mixes on the 4K discs are incredible - demo worthy in fact - and worth the price of the upgrade if you have suitable gear.

1917 (4K UHD Blu-Ray) - It's been a few years since I last watched this (first time on 4K disc though), and it's still as fantastic as I remembered. Wonderful set design and the "single take" gimmick do an incredible job immersing you into the horrors of WWI, and it had just been long enough since my last watch that I couldn't remember if/when either of the two core characters died, so the journey was just as tense as it was the first time around.

Dune (Blu-Ray) - The 80's version. I really wasn't feeling this one. I think it certainly had big ambitions with some really memorable & trippy visual sequences, and many set pieces felt "big", but I think it's just too much book to fit into one movie (IIRC, it's not quite as long as even the first movie of the modern duology), with the last 3rd of the film really moving along at a breakneck pace (with Chani being nothing more narratively than some random Fremen girl Paul loves). There are some other oddities as well, such as the fact that they largely abandon the personal shield generators after their introduction (envisioned here as a bunch of polygons that surround the wearer, making them look like vaguely human shaped polygons, which while sort of impressive how they brought it to life, looks silly), and they spend largely the rest of the movie shooting each other (including with some sort of sound guns, which may be more accurate to the books AFAIK, but again look silly in practice). It certainly doesn't help that the Harkonnen come across as merely generally gross rather than truly intimidating, and a lot of the tech & ship designs personally didn't land with me, often times coming across as lame or plain ugly.

Jonah Hex (Blu-Ray) - More westerns need horse mounted Gatling Guns. I'm admittedly not too familiar with the comics it's based on, but on it's own it's a serviceable enough & sometimes fun post Civil War actioneer with a supernatural twist, if nothing remarkable. It feels 10-20 minutes shorter than it should though (they never explain how those special cannon balls are supposed to work, which is a pretty big deal since the bad guy's plan hinges entirely on them. That, and Jonah was clearly supposed to find himself in that fighting pit against that weird snake guy they set up, and then it just doesn't happen), which doesn't make much sense as it's pretty brisk at just under an hour and a half & it could have easily used the extra time.

Kite (Blu-Ray) - Ultraviolent & taboo 90's anime OVA that I think even surpasses Ninja Scroll & Wicked City in terms of how far it pushes the envelope. Sawa is a teen assassin who kills the absolute dregs of society, but the corruption runs deep as her handlers (a pair of police detectives) are just as twisted as those they order her to take out. The new Discotek Blu-Ray includes three different cuts (all remastered), including two different earlier western releases which cut back on the most taboo content (to various degrees) and condense it to "film" format, plus the completely uncut version (a two episode OVA) how it originally released in Japan. It's definitely not for the faint of heart or those who (understandably) shy away from some very questionable content, but it had a very grungy vibe (not unlike Perfect Blue), which I really dug.

Toy Story (Blu-Ray) - Time to wash the above away with something much more wholesome. I don't think I've actually watched this in it's entirety since I was a kid, but it's still a really fun watch that provides a good amount of laughs. Visually it's starting to look really simple, but I really dug the neon lit interiors of Pizza Planet & some of the glow in the dark elements of Sid's room. I liked noticing some things I missed out on as a kid, such as the Binford tool box (a Home Improvement reference), and the "Whack-A-Alien" game at Pizza Planet that features knock off chest bursters popping out of a bloody Astronaut corpse (this probably wouldn't pass the test in a modern Disney cartoon, lol, though I don't think they completely owned Pixar at this point).

@Hogs-of-War-General @JohnnyShoulder @LN78

Interesting. I was looking in to getting them, so had no first hand experience, although maybe I do remember it being said at some point that there were issues.

Funny you mentioned the Hobbit, as I put that on Amazon last night just to see how it was on there, and the first thing I noticed was it just looked s*** in it's production style 😅 so now I'm a little worried if they made the 4K LotR look even remotely like the Hobbit tbh.

Audio though, could still be a good reason to go for it, as I was looking at these versions for the sound quality too, tbh. But getting a £90 version for them to look a bit s*** would still sting 😪

@LN78 I can't stand when they drastically change a films color grading and overall look of a film. I'm one of the few that actually really enjoys the Hobbit trilogy however they should not change the original's overall look to match it.

Atmos makes a huge difference! I completely agree with you however I wouldn't to throwdown that much money for an audio upgrade. Maybe on a heavy discount, maybe...

@Ravix Let us know if you decide to go through with the purchase and give us your honest opinion after watching all 3 hahaha!

@Ravix @Hogs-of-War-General Make no mistake, the 4K's look better than the Extended Cut blu-rays - but they emphatically do not look like the original versions that were shown in cinemas, which (to my mind) is the benchmark that all hi-dif transfers should aspire to. I bought the "LotR' set when it came out and (complete lack of appendices aside) I was pleased with the upgrade.

@LN78 good to hear. I wouldn't know what the originals looked like anyway, it has been a long time since I've seen any version at all of the trilogy. I did think the Hobbit looked a little soft and saturated, but that is only the HD version via Amazon.

@Hogs-of-War-General I'll probably forget by then, as the version I had my eye on isn't out until December. I guess it's a reissue or restock, as I've seen threads about the same edition on reddit, though. And the standalone 4K discs are available, now, but they aren't much cheaper than the special editions so it doesn't seem worth it without at least a little nicer box and goodies.

And I'll tag in @johnnyshoulder too as I add: now there's a few 4K afficianados lurking does anyone have any thoughts on Twelve Monkeys? That's a film I've not seen in Donkey's years, so I could probably justify getting that one if it's worth it in 4k

@Ravix I do love Twelve Monkeys, and I saw the 4K not too long ago. There was a fair bit of grain when I saw it, and it is not the crispiest of 4K's that I've seen. But still a good transfer and the film still holds up imo. I love revisting films from back in the day in 4K done right, as it almost feels like watching it for the first time again.

@Hogs-of-War-General I didn't mind the Hobbit movies either, but didn't like the higher frame rate they were filmed in. Not as egregious as something like Gemini Man though.

@JohnnyShoulder yeah, as it's been so long, I thought I might as well just get it anyway as I finally made my order to start my small collection (I assume people usually imagine a small collection even if they end up with immense collections with things like this, but I doubt I'll get into it that much... 👀)

What finally convinced me was I saw True Romance listed, purely by chance, and I just couldn't resist when I saw the cover, so I bunged that and a few others together and ordered.

If I like the results I think i'll try and compile a fairly considered collection of niche, stylish or just plain good stuff.

And again I'm left rueing the fact that America seems to get the best of these things. I don't think Blood Simple is available at all for the UK region in 4K, for example.

Just seen that Blow Out is available though 🤔

Uh oh... 😂

@LN78 I’ve still not upgraded my LotR copies from the DVD extended editions. From what my mum says, they cost a fair few quid back on release but they’re seriously good packages for standard DVDs. The 4K editions will probably blow my mind in comparison but I hope the special effects aren’t slightly undercut by the resolution bump, sometimes movies can feel a little… soundstagey in 4K if that makes sense.

@nessisonett The green, red and blue gatefold editions? They were magic - really raised the bar on what a comprehensive extra features package ought to be.
@Ravix Be careful, mate. It's a slippery slope - as my wallet can attest. 😄.

@LN78 Yep, some of my favourite packaging on any disc media. Up there with the Band of Brothers tin, another one my mum bought at the time for probably a small fortune. I’ve never really thought about the fact that she essentially was an enthusiast back then, used to only buy DVD players we enter the codes into to make them region free, which I still don’t fully understand. Saw quite a lot of imported stuff growing up anyway, worth it.