* Did you watch a film last night (on Blu or DVD), and what was it? *

[NorthStar]

I watched Count Dracula last night (new 4K restored BR picture, with new audio mix...Dolby Atmos; but I listened to the audio core only: D THD 7.1) ::

I did not compare with my previous (less than stellar picture) BR version.
I like this film very much; it has a formidable cast including Sir Anthony Hopkins, Gary Oldman, Tom Waits, Monica Bellucci, Winona Ryder, Keenu Reeves and few more. And directed by the maestro filmmaker...Francis Ford Coppola ('The Godfather' trilogy, 'The Conversation', 'Apocalypse Now', 'The Cotton Club', 'Tucker: The Man and His Dream').

There is a certain special atmosphere in this film that is unsettling, like if vampires were there in the dark with you watching.
It's totally different than James Bond movies. It's more...in the flesh...in the neck...it has teeth.

Overall (film value and technical aspects too): 83.5

 

[NorthStar]

Revisited last night (in 2D this time around)::

Overall (2D version): 87

 

[NorthStar]

Last night I revisited this (2010) ::

I like that flick, the actors. Couple scenes I could live without. The opening is cool.
There are three serious jolts in that flick; the three of them are gunshots, and a fourth one a crash (car versus person). If you are listening @ THX master reference level, or near (I was @ 6dB below it), then you'll jump out of your seat with almost a heart attack...I guaranty it. ...Three times!

Very watchable, the actor's performance, the dialog, the script, the plot, the locales, the overall impact including the grand finale.
...And all on Blu-ray of course.

Overall (everything; film and technicalities): 83 (Film alone: 77%)

 

[NorthStar]

I watched this last night, in 3D :::

It was emotionally painful, and disturbing; the state of the affairs in Hollywood.
My only emotional distress was with the no connection whatsoever with the actors and the storyline.
Sure it has machine guns, big guns, bullets of all sizes, mayhem, noises, robots, destruction, explosions, fires, ...and bad karma.

I missed the nice vistas from 'Lawrence of Arabia', and the sun. ;-) ...This flick was 'tenebrae' dark. ...Like the perfect settings for vampires, Dracula, werewolves, and hell.
But instead they put Arnold with few other actors and some robots that we are just too familiar by now with this pentalogy (#5).

My compulsory deviation couldn't handle the mediocre complexity of this unsatisfactory total chaos/fiasco. ...I constantly fell asleep and had to woke up few times and rewind.

Overall: 8%

Last word: You did not read this post.

_________

 

[NorthStar]

Last night I was testing the opening scene (the 2D version) for specific "sound effects": The voice of a little girl which resonated in few different directions (speakers) with echoes (triple). I was going to only test that; a less than five minutes affair, @ most. @ first she said: "Hello?"
...Then she said: "Where are you?" ...I ended up watching the entire film, again.

? One thing that jumped out @ me again, intensively; the amount of bass impact. ...Just incredible. This is dangerous territory here if you have a serious surround sound system with few subwoofers and that you are listening @ THX Reference Master level (Main Volume control @ 0dB). It will not only blow your socks off but it will also lift you up from your couch by approximately four inches in the air, without touching any surface...not the floor...not the couch, totally up in the air like in that first scene from that movie; 'Birdman' with Michael Keaton.

I don't recommend that you do that if you have a serious setup for films. But I do recommend that you listen to no less than 10dB below THX Master Reference level. If your sound system setup is up to it; well calibrated and well equalized, I guaranty you a near out-of-body experience, short of a close encounter of the third kind. ...A verisimilitude to the full lift up enchilada and real sense of flying up above your home with out-of-space unknown origins of the celestial/intergalactic sky from the universe

If you are fully committed, and physically perform this act; please don't come back here in this thread and say that I didn't warn you first.

? Overall (Audio only): 99

 

[BlueFox]

Revisited last night (in 2D this time around)::

Overall (2D version): 87

I watched this over the weekend, and while I liked it, I was disappointed they came up with a spare dinosaur to fight the other dinosaur. WTF? They didn't even take the time to try and explain why this guy even existed. Let alone why it didn't attack everyone after the other dinosaur was terminated.

 

[NorthStar]

I watched this over the weekend, and while I liked it, I was disappointed they came up with a spare dinosaur to fight the other dinosaur. WTF? They didn't even take the time to try and explain why this guy even existed. Let alone why it didn't attack everyone after the other dinosaur was terminated.

They always have a "double", spare one in those type of 'dino' flicks. ...Another Indominus-Rex (or was it a T-Rex?) ... just in case; and here that was the only way to get rid of the clever/nasty one; to have a spare one who can take the job. ...And he was well fed (steak and eggs) and well looked after (emotional love), so that he was more friendly, more peaceful, more apprivoise, more pet like.

I just don't know Bud; I didn't write the script, someone else did. :b

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Not great, but quite enjoyable.

 

[RBFC]

Meru : the documentary showing the attempts by Conrad Anker and Jimmy Chin to climb the "Shark's Fin" on Meru in the Himalayas. This climb had defeated numerous other attempts, and actually defeated these guys on their first attempt when they got within 100m of the summit & had to retreat. Their climbing partner on the first attempt, a novice to high-altitude aid climbing, broke a few vertebrae and fractured his skull while filming extreme snowboarding, then rehabbed himself to join them fir the second attempt. As a climber of over 25 years, I was on the edge of my seat as the severity of the challenge was revealed. Many other climbs, Everest included, are far easier than Shark's Fin.

There is also a short section detailing the partnership between Anker and Alex Lowe, the famous climber who was killed in an avalanche on Shishapangma.

Lee

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

I also watched Life of a King with Cuba Gooding Jr. I didn't know anything about this movie, but decided to take a chance when I read a brief outline on Netflix. I really, really enjoyed it! I'll definitely pick up the Blu-ray release of it.



Here's the Blu-ray review:
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Life-of-a-King-Blu-ray/91876/#Review

 

[NorthStar]

Did you watch a film last night? Of course I did, and I've seen things that only on this planet can happen...

* Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen (2001). ...Black & white.

Overall (film, plus technical Blu-ray aspects): 76.5 (not bad, but not UHD).

 

[audioguy]

Last night I watched a PIXAR animated feature film, in 3D :::

It's a gamut of emotional control folks who follow a little girl's journey. They live in a machine (brain) and have access to a control mixing board like a recording studio.
It has parallels with real life human's intersected social influences; family, friends...all that jazz.
It's not brain washing, it's life.
I cannot spoil the storyline in case kids, and adults, are reading this.

Overall (abundance): 91 ... Deserves to be introspected, definitely. It's about emotions, real life, and us all.

__________

And before last night ::

This is a new 4K scan (1080p) remastering and with upgrade audio (Dolby Atmos with the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 core).

There are 7.35 billion living on our planet but only one supreme human being with a dallas multipass card to travel the universe and maintain the peace.

Overall: 91 ... If you have seen it before, it's fun to revisit, except for Chris Tucker. If you haven't, go for it; it's worth it.

P.S. I have written two very extensive reviews about the two films just above, but I accidentally deleted them (pushed the wrong key).
It wasn't exactly long like a book, but close. Hopefully you still get the main tag lines. :b

LOVED Inside/Out! I will buy the new Fifth Element since it has been remastered from the version I have and has added Atmos

 

[NorthStar]

Both of those above films, 'Inside Out' and 'The fifth Element', if UHD becomes the new "rage/sensation", will be reissued again...eventually.

 

[audioguy]

Both of those above films, 'Inside Out' and 'The fifth Element', if UHD becomes the new "rage/sensation", will be reissued again...eventually.

That's probably true of a whole bunch of movies. I won't be buying either of these again in any format. I bought Inside Out for me and the grandkids (I like to have movies on hand fo when they come visit) and this is, I think, the 3rd or 4th version of The Fifth Element, this being purchased for Atmos. The film isn't THAT good to want yet another one, and by the time the studios get around to releasing in UHD, I may be long out of here.

I have only re-purchased a very few of my movies that I had on DVD to the Bluray replacement. And most of those replacements were more for the audio than the video (I think). The exception to that is when they have Blurays at really low low prices. For example, they had Mission Impossible 1,2, and 3 in a package, all for $24. I could not control myself. I think I have discovered that if I can control by buying addiction, many of the movies I might want to repurchase drop to really low prices after a long enough period of time.

Bob: Based upon a response to a question I asked you many years ago, I think you said you have a movie collection into the many, many thousands. What, if any, approach or system do you use to have backups of all of those movies in case of fire or any other kind of disaster? You probably have more money tied up in you movies than most on this forum do in their entire systems. It's one thing to have insurance on an audio video system that might be comprised of, for example, 50 different components [speakers, wire and interconnect, amps, etc] but quite another to try and replace, for example, 10,000 movies. Just curious!

On more question. What is your time frame for purchasing a new SSP that supports 3D audio? You are missing a lot (even just utiilzing DSU). As much as you like 3D video, adding the 3D audio would really enhance your viewing experience.

Last comment: thanks for starting this thread. I only look at it rarely but often pick up new ideas for films I have not seen or have never heard of.

OK, this is REALLY the last comment. I use a program called DVD Profiler for keeping track of my movies, letting guests use it to select movies to watch, etc. I just looked at it and realized how skewed my collection was to just a few generes [see below]. I tend to rent movies of a genre of what we label "relationship films" and purchase those that fall into the categories of action, suspense, sci-fi and equivalent. Curious as to what the distribution of genres others have.

 

[NorthStar]

Chuck, I do my best to live in the moment. We all have our soul's investment first. Material stuff; audio/video gear, music, movies are hobbies, for some a living. I don't think about tomorrow's lost; I think about today's gain...and with people first before any material.

Do you guys with multi-thousand systems think about your investment? I didn't think so, so am I.
What's more important is who we are, not what we have.

We all have something in common here; music and films. Those are our hobbies and that's why we're here.
It don't matter the financial value of our hobby; it's the "soul" value.

When we are truly inspired that's when we live, and that's all it truly counts.

2016 is the year to upgrade my SSP. I have the Integra DHC-80.3 right now, and that is old. I have been following Dolby Atmos since Summer 2014, intensively.
I almost jumped in this year, but I'm glad that I did not yet. It's all good to me because I do re-watch movies, and those BRs with Atmos I am going to revisit eventually with the proper 3D gear. Before I first jumped into dts I was building my dts software; that's me, the way I usually proceed.

* Years ago I started to load films in my DVD Profiler, to only abandon it real quick. Just takes too much time and it's no real use to me.
Today we live in a different world; movie libraries are in computers...mine is still in cases, like LPs in their cardboard holders, like CDs in their jewel cases.

This thread is for kids, like me, not for WBF members who are audiophiles with ultra hi-end gear.
But music, that I have, like anyone else here...and more.

If I wasn't interested by music and films we wouldn't be talking right now.
And I don't watch TV, never. No news either; the only news I saw recently (internet) were the ones from Paris, France. It was very troubling, and still is.

How we feel inside emotionally affects our music listening and movie watching. Here we do those activities in grandeur, I mean with serious sound & picture.
We are the minority, a very small minority. Everyone loves music and films, but most don't go to the extent that some of us we go to.

I like classical music, and jazz and blues.
I like all genre of films, from Lawrence of Arabia to Citizen Kane to Once Upon a Time in the West to Mad Max Fury Road.
...And to documentaries to music video concerts. ...Sci-fi, action, fantasy, adventure, animation, drama, ...all the gamut.

Right now I am on a new track in my life, making new contacts. Stepping out, and seeing new avenues...

 

[NorthStar]

Chuck, are you a Steven Spielberg's fan? ...You like films based on real events?

I watched this last night, on Blu-ray ::

* Overall (everything): 94.5

Not much to say; everyone know this excellent flick already.

 

[audioguy]

Bob:

I am going to go off topic here.

I actually applaud your approach. Most of us [at least on this forum] get so caught up in the stuff and the hardware and the placement and the room and the cables and the .... we forget about our alledged objective which is either the music and/or the film. You, on the other hand, seem to have the "more reasonable" priority. I won't and can't speak for anyone else on this forum, but when i was in the high end hardware audio business, with maybe a few exceptions (out of the hundreds of homes I visited), the amount of software was pretty pathetic given the huge amount of money tied up in the hardware. MAYBE a couple of hundred CD's and/or LP's and the typical system value in the homes I visited was well in excess of $40,000 and this was 20 years ago!!

There is nothing wrong with putting priority or equal importance on the delivery side but what cracks me up is virtually everyone saying "it's ALL about the music". Nonsense.

I'm not one of those. I do love music (maybe 1200 CD's) and movies (700 movies) but I confess I love the shinny metal and the lights and the technology and the setup and the tweeking, and the experimentation and the ....

Anyway, good for you and good for you that have decided to make new contacts and are stepping out.

 

[audioguy]

Chuck, are you a Steven Spielberg's fan? ...You like films based on real events?

I watched this last night, on Blu-ray ::

* Overall (everything): 94.5

Not much to say; everyone know this excellent flick already.

I am a huge Spielberg fan and I have not seen this movie but just ordered it. I have his first movie (Duel) sitting on the shelf as I would like to see it with someone else and noone seems particularly interestd. I remember seeing it on TV in 1971 and how frightening and suspenseful it was. It was never released in theaters but the Bluray was released some time ago.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Bob:

I am going to go off topic here.

I actually applaud your approach. Most of us [at least on this forum] get so caught up in the stuff and the hardware and the placement and the room and the cables and the .... we forget about our alledged objective which is either the music and/or the film. You, on the other hand, seem to have the "more reasonable" priority. I won't and can't speak for anyone else on this forum, but when i was in the high end hardware audio business, with maybe a few exceptions (out of the hundreds of homes I visited), the amount of software was pretty pathetic given the huge amount of money tied up in the hardware. MAYBE a couple of hundred CD's and/or LP's and the typical system value in the homes I visited was well in excess of $40,000 and this was 20 years ago!!

There is nothing wrong with putting priority or equal importance on the delivery side but what cracks me up is virtually everyone saying "it's ALL about the music". Nonsense.

I'm not one of those. I do love music (maybe 1200 CD's) and movies (700 movies) but I confess I love the shinny metal and the lights and the technology and the setup and the tweeking, and the experimentation and the ....

Anyway, good for you and good for you that have decided to make new contacts and are stepping out.

Excellent post Chuck!

Despite the fact I have a fairly decent system by most people's standards, although perhaps not here, I can definitely claim that it has always been about the music first and will continue to be. It's the same with movies. I don't even have a proper HT system any longer, but I keep buying movies and enjoying them. I know I'm missing out on the audio side of movies, but since my taste in movies runs more along dialogue-driven stories I'm not overly bothered by this lack of presentation.

FYI :
3,000 LP
150 CD (remaining after a purge last year)
1 TB of flac files.
205 Blu-rays
800-1,000 - DVD

 

[NorthStar]

I am a huge Spielberg fan and I have not seen this movie but just ordered it. I have his first movie (Duel) sitting on the shelf as I would like to see it with someone else and noone seems particularly interestd. I remember seeing it on TV in 1971 and how frightening and suspenseful it was. It was never released in theaters but the Bluray was released some time ago.

I think that you're going to like 'Munich' Chuck. It's...powerful; keeps you riveted.

* 'Duel' reminds me of Mad Max a bit; for the road, for the old truck, for the atmosphere. :b ...And with Spielberg's touch, it is tense @ times.

_________

Some members here not only have the gear but also the software...eg.; Mike Lavigne (music), and other folks are very movie oriented (Criterion Collection Blu-rays and DVDs). There is that guy on another audio site who collects them. And another different guy, Theo (the pro home theater designer from New York); his movie collection is over 25,000 titles! DVDs and Blu-rays (HD DVDs probably too). And his own personal home theater is modest @ about $50,000 or so. For me he is a real movie lover @ home. ...And others are @ the theater (Steve for example).

Amir is on a bending spree right now, with music. :b ...That's cool because that experience will develop his musical taste even more.

In the music threads, some members here are truly hi-end musically. Andre was one of them...RIP.
Some of my best friends are....the ECM music record label lovers and Channel Classic, and the Criterion Collection movie lovers, ...PIXAR too, in 3D. :b