Blu
by Brian
Where does he get all those wonderful toys!?
~ The Joker
Never mind that last post. I awoke this morning all up in my wife’s hair – literally – and waxed poetic. Pure drivel!
Anyhoo . . .
Remember that scene in Men In Black where K is giving J the tour and laments how new technology will eventually force him to buy The White Album again?
Yeah. I hear ya, K.
I too am no stranger to transition. I’ve gone from 45s to cassettes to CDs. From rotary dialing to speed dialing to Vlingo. From a diary to a journal to a blog. And with every new upgrade comes the chance to reengage with the old.
Only better.
I am now the proud owner of a PS3. And to go with it, our first new TV in over a decade. Forty two inches of 1080/120 clarity. And while it’s been fun playing new video games (when I can manage to wrestle the controller away from the youngins), the real pleasure for me is finally getting to sit down and enjoy a movie in high definition!
You know my passion for movies, right? So SQUEEE with me, won’t you? I’ll wait . . .
Didn’t that feel just groovy?!
[ahem]
And now I find myself having to buy The White Album again. So to speak. Here are the movies in my DVD collection that I’ve now upgraded to BD:
One cannot be a philosophy major and not be intimately familiar with Morpheus, Neo, Trinity & Co. In high definition, you can see Neo sweat as he shows off his mad Kung Fu skills. And the philosopher’s commentary by Cornel West and Ken Wilbur is worth every bite of the red pill. Trust me . . .
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
If it hadn’t been for that frumpy and bespectacled Peter Jackson and his hairy Hobbits, this movie would have delivered a decisive broadside at the Oscars. Paul Bettany and Russell Crowe, together again and delivering the goods. Smoke and oakum, indeed!
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Trivial question: Can you name the last movie, only one of three, to win the top five Oscar categories? And it came out in February. Yeah, it’s that good. And there’s nothing quite as delectable as Hannibal the Cannibal sucking the census taker and a nice Chianti in 1080 dpi.
The crystal clear soundtrack is what makes this a no-brainer. That, and the fact that I can now read those pesky subtitles. Add some exquisite cinematography and masterful storytelling and I’m more than willing to fork over the extra cash to upgrade this selection.
I had to get this one on blu-ray, as my DVD copy is about worn out. This movie has it all. Patrick Swayze taking swarthy to new heights. Jake Gyllenhaal, all angst-riddled and snarky. Time travel. I mean, co’mon! And don’t ever doubt my commitment to Sparkle Motion!
These are just for starters. And for starters, them ain’t bad!
So, for those of you who’ve upgraded, which movies did you simply have to repurchase? And if you have any suggestions for movies that are must-see, I’m all ears. Digitally speaking . . .
I still have VHS. But I do have a DVD player too. I have bought the White Album so many times I can’t even count. If I were going to buy a movie, at least one worth buying it would have to be Armageddon. It is that good. The story is great, the dialog is wonderful but the cinematography is amazing. The images of America (pre 9/11) are astounding. The only reason I don’t buy it is because it is on cable every day of the year.
Loved Armageddon. “Get the book! Get the book! Get the book!” And Steve Buschemi is off the hook funny . . .
I enjoyed the drivel, don’t slight it. The geek within usually dominates my psyche. It’s nice when something sparks my softer side. That said…I’m of the opinion that Blu Ray is overrated and not likely to take over the world… But tell me, tell me! What TV technology did you invest in? We recently upgraded and I could NOT believe the options in HD TV.
I got an Insignia. It was ranked rather high by Consumer Reports, and the price was right. Unbelievable brightness and clarity . . .
HD is a lot of fun. I upgraded to HD DVD before the Blu Ray/HD DVD battle had been won and I had to pick up Braveheart immediately. Interestingly enough I just ditched my DirecTV account and switched over to a Roku box to stream Netflix instead. We weren’t watching TV enough to justify the nearly $100/month expense.
We don’t have any satellite or cable. Still use rabbit ears to get the signal for the local channels. And that’s plenty good enough for us.
And the cool thing about the PS3 is that it comes with the Netflix streaming capabilities. We’ve watched several programs using it, and have not been disappointed . . .
here’s a few that I didn’t feel stupid buying again: (besides the one you already mentioned)
Kingdom of Heaven (absolutely the best blu-ray movie I’ve ever watched as far as the experience)
Unforgiven
Blade Runner
Wizard of Oz
Batman Begins
Band of Brothers
I also picked up The Dark Knight but neglected to mention it. The Joker is way cool in HD. The sound is overwhelming, so my next purchase will have to be a new sound system . . .
I’m not really into technology, but if I did want to buy HD DVDs, I would look to see if some older movies were in this format, such as Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, and other “classics” from the ’40s. By the way, I had to look up Roku box to see exactly what it is. Now that’s a great discovery because we really don’t watch enough TV to justify our cable bill.
I do believe Gone With The Wind is available in blu-ray. Just browsing the shelves at Best Buy the other day, it seems there was a nice selection of old movies. Might be worth the investment eventually . . .
I LOVE Master and Commander, and find a lot of people don’t give it enough credit. Jerks.
Exactly. Simply a stunning achievement in film . . .
Although I have an HD TV, I haven’t yet gone BluRay, but I was in Best Buy and saw one of the Star Wars sequels on a 50 inch screen and BluRay. All I can say is Wow. I sat down and was just mesmerized…and I don’t even like all the Star Wars films (the first one blew me away, but some of the others not so much). It’s the closest thing to being there that I’ve seen.
I’d love to see Master and Commander this way. I agree with thordora, it doesn’t get enough credit.
Haven’t purchased anything new…we are doing the Netflix. We absolutely LOVE the PS3. I don’t play the games, but the girl does…she is off the chain on shooting aliens and terrorist.
I have been catching up on HBO and Showtime series’. True Blood! OMG! I can’t get enough of it!
I bought a BR player not long ago, bc we thought our DVD player wasn’t working, when actually, one of the kids had just unplugged it from the power cleaner box thingy. We use if for regular DVDs right now, and it does look a bit prettier. Still don’t have any of the new Bluray discs. I’m cheap.
When and if I do start buying them, however, I’m thinking I’ll have to get Top Gun. I had it on VHS, then letterbox VHS, then DVD. It makes sense that I will buy it a 4th time.
I think i have bought at least 4 versions and differing technologies of Blade Runner.
But being able to show it to my daughter for the first time was worth them all.
We’ve had a bluray player for a while, but we’ve only replaced a few in our collection. One of them was Ghostbusters, which was a huge mistake because it seemed more to bring out the flaws in the film quality than make it look sharper. Oh well, I go to Ghostbusters for laughs and massive line quotage more than awesome effects.
My husband is the techno geek of the family. He loves the Hi-def tv. Me, I don’t really pay much attention to it. I’m not even sure I would repurchase any movies. Sorry. Not much help to you.
I have been saving up so that I can buy a new TV and a Blu Ray DVD player. Of course I own 1,987,333 movies that will require upgrading so it might be a while before I get around to it.
I’m holding off on the BluRay thing. Just for a little. I don’t think the improvement is enough to justify two machines under my TV. That said, the video games would be fun…
I don’t buy movies, but we did recently get two new tvs. Amazing how great the pictures are. As for the music evolutions…how did you manage to avoid 8 tracks?