I didn’t like the Gatsby remake. But then again the original has nothing on the novel, even if it has Redford.
I haven’t seen Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet in so long i forget it beyond Leo being in it.
I never finished Moulin Rouge and i like Kidman and McGregor. It was just so bizarre and the opening was too confusing.
Release the OOT. Its the one thing they haven’t done that could get me to spend money. I’m pretty much done with Disney Star Wars since they don’t support physical media. Not a plus subscriber and don’t intend to be.
Gemini Man was shot digitally. There never was any film grain to begin with. It always looked fake. It looks flat because it was shot on the Arri Alexa. Its a not a movie filmed on movie film and released in 4K, its not a good comparison.
It looks clean because that is the style the director was going for. Almost dreamlike. With Will Smith versus his cgi double, De-aged. For me the story worked, i really liked the movie, but zero verisimilitude because of the way it was shot. Also being shot at high frame rate might have killed it like the Hobbit making it look like video.
I don’t know there are different Star Wars universes for me at least. There is the 77 film, radio play, Daley and Foster novels and original marvel comics and newspaper strips from Manning. Pre Empire. A vast universe which could unfold and be anything of serialized adventure. And there is the OT universe pre prequel and EU.
Then there is the Lucas Saga verse where the originals never happened, and only 1-6 and Filoni Clone Wars is valid. The EU is fanfiction and only exists to be a part of the licensing arm of Lucasfilm. Purely for profit. None of it is canon.
Then there is the Disney Star Wars universe which includes the Rey Palpatine Saga, and everything else that has happened under their banner. Which includes the revisioned Lucas Saga + Filoni/Favreau, but not George Lucas sequels which never got beyond a treatment and which they didn’t waste further time or money developing.
Where resolution is concerned i think 2K is the sweet spot they’ve decided on for Star Trek television and 4K for the films. Although only the Kelvin films and The Wrath of Khan have 4k masters, and Deep Space Nine And Voyager haven’t been scanned in 2k yet. Enterprise is close enough with 1080P filmout tapes.
I cannot see them going back and doing TOS again in 4K.
Has anyone listened to the analog audio off the US discs yet, analog audio can be quite good.
I’m tempted to get some of the episodes on Laserdisc just to listen to them.
The recent 4K and BD releases of the remastered The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, and The Voyage Home all appear to be stellar. Future sets along with The Motion Picture - The Director’s Edition remastered in 4K are more than eventual and the latter is currently being worked upon.
The Roddenberry Vault BD release uses AVC instead of VC-1 which was used on the TOS BD Season sets. The former only has episodes culled from Seasons 1 and 2, none from 3. Would have been nice to see further volumes but perhaps Paramount nixed the idea. The aforementioned Roddenberry Vault has far better compression for the episodes included compared to the Season sets. All of the episodes in both the Season Sets on BD and The Roddenberry Vault are the original broadcast versions and not syndicated as many prior releases were. Of course it has the revised/“updated” effects via seamless branching.
The Dolby Digital Mono tracks on both BD releases are unfortunately low bitrate instead of PCM, which is most likely on Laserdisc. The Season Sets on BD are unfortunately presented in broadcast order instead of production order.
I wasn’t aware that they were going to remaster films 1, 3-6. The TNG films etc. Or that Strange New Worlds would be shot in 4K and have a 4K DI. Even though there are no plans for an HDR UHD release at this point. So the TV shows are now being produced in 4K or one is. They still have no plans for Discovery or Picard 4K disc releases. Which mostly would be upscaled. Also Tos and TNG are never going to be 4K remastered, and Voyager and Deep Space Nine will remain in sub DVD quality. There is never going to be a 2k remastering. As for the films 1-6 stellar releases. But no original stereo audio. Two steps forward and one back. At least they got rid of the revisionist lowry color timing, most of the DVNR. and the fake sharpening which was applied to the 2009 blu releases. I mean on the theatrical only. The directors is a different story. They redid the color cast and dvnr’ed the crap out of it. Its a Lucasized version. But at least you can get the original which is great.
Elvis 2022. Austin Butler is brilliant. The movie is rambling and incoherent and Tom Hanks honestly seems miscast. Poorly edited in places. It rushes through Elvis life way too fast. Its a good movie in places. Maybe. Not sure if i liked it all that much. 2 and a half stars, maybe 3. Way overhyped.
Top Gun Maverick. I liked it. Its not a great movie though its severely overhyped. Its a B effort. Very competent. But the least impressive of all the films of Kosinski. Yet its his one hit of his career. I thought Oblivion and Tron Legacy where much more visually impressive. Of course they were science fiction, Top Gun is boilerplate by the numbers action movie. It was fun in places. But it never really goes anywhere beyond a nostalgic trip for old school 80s action movies.
JJ remade Star Wars Twice. Once as Star Trek 2009 and again as 2015 Force Awakens. Do we really want someone to remake it again?
I actually prefer the Old EU to be separate as the Disneyfied aka canon variants aren’t at all the same. Like Thrawn for example i don’t care for Disney Thrawn.
Mara could show up as an inquisitor or something but she wouldn’t be Mara. Only by name.
Pre-ordered Star Trek TMP Directors Edition Blu-Ray.
Star Trek V 4K/Blu Combo
Star Trek VI 4K/Blu Combo
Took like another year for the other half of the 1-6 to be released. I hope i don’t have to wait the same for the TNG movie box.
Even though it was retconned. I still think Sifo Dyas was Palpatine. Sido Dyas. Sidious. Posing as a Jedi. It makes far more sense than what the Clone Wars story came up with. The Jedi never authorized a Clone Army. The Kaminoans never verified the Jedi contacts story. Only waited for someone to eventually show up for their delivery to the Republic.
Jango must know Dooku is Tyrannus but its never specified he does. He could have been lying to OBI-Wan.
To me the most interesting part was Lucas needing a whole new team for the prequels he brought over from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. I would love to read a book on the making of Young Indy, or even watch a documentary.
So little is known of Rick McCallum as well. He is kind of an enigma. It was nice to hear of Marcia’s contributions and Howard Kazanjian’s. I didn’t like how they barely mentioned Kurtz and only in a negative light. I had no idea Marquand’s cut of ROTJ was so bad it was unreleasable and had to be reshot in places and reedited.
I watched Terminator 2. Its better than i remember it being. Also watched the original i didn’t like it as much this time. Its kind of not enough action by modern standards. Very Pedestrian and the robot Terminator at the end looks fake. Hated the redone audio on T1 and the teal in the remaster. Hated the redone mix on T2 as well, but liked the picture. The version i watched isn’t the one with the DVNR or the cgi done for the 3D version.
Arnold is scary in the original and moves like a robot. The makeup is well done. In the sequel he acts kind of goofy like he is having too much fun. Overall i liked both of the movies. But the action in the second one is way better than the original. Both have cool future war scenes. I always wanted a whole movie like that but not like Salvation. I hated that movie. Sarah’s evolution from T1 to T2 is well done. Especially if you watched the deleted scenes. Its the same character. Unlike some sequels that rewrite the character completely and pretend its a logical continuation.
Which OT? in the George Canon the original versions of the OT aren’t canon. Yet to me the most valid version is Star Wars, not Episode IV, the original Empire and original Jedi. The prequels the elements which aren’t discordant with the original SAGA or break canon i can view as a expanded universe material. The sequels are Disney’s replacement for the EU. But somehow to me even less canon, almost infinities.
Added Kiki’s Delivery Service. Japanese Laserdisc. OBI.
Added Connery Collection Volume II US Laserdisc.
Added Forbidden Planet Criterion Collection Laserdisc CAV. Sealed but has a hole punch/remaindered.
I think James Cameron is an overrated director. I think he is a talented guy. But i think Aliens is vastly overrated as a movie. I think Terminator the original is probably his best film. This is not an i hate Aliens screed. Its a fun actioner, its nowhere the masterpiece the original Alien is not even close.
Other than wanting a good new Superman movie, or X-men movie i kind of am sick of comic book movies in general. Though i will probably see The Flash just to see Keaton as Batman. The MCU has moved beyond manageable for me too many shows and movies. DC is far too uneven in quality so many bad films. I haven’t given 2 seconds of thought to the MCU since seeing Endgame. Sure i saw Black Widow, but i forgot about it already pretty much. I have owned the digital of the second Doctor Strange for weeks and i have no real desire to watch it. I like Sam Raimi and Danny Elfman i’ve watched like the first ten minutes with the bad cgi and turned it off.
The whole point of Solo a Star Wars story was, it was before he became the Han we know. He hasn’t been betrayed and sufficiently broken yet to become cynical. It was an origin film. One of more than one, eventually they would have shown him become the Han in Star Wars. In Solo he was a goodie. As far as a criminal goes. He helped the rebellion. He stabbed Lando in the back by helping Enfys Nest. We haven’t seen him become a smooth operator yet, he isn’t cool with the ladies, he isn’t a great pilot or smuggler. He is a bs artist. He is a kid kind of not that different than Luke except he had to survive on the streets of Corellia.
Added From Russia with Love Criterion CAV. Laserdisc.
Added Dr No Criterion CAV. Laserdisc.
Added Goldfinger Criterion CAV. Laserdisc.
Added Bubblegum Crisis Region 2 Japan DVD 1-3 in CD Jewel Cases. With OBI and inserts. Late 90s/early 2000s DVD release at the very end of the laserdisc era.
Added Lupin III Miyazaki Special Laserdisc. Albatross Wings of Death and Aloha Lupin. CAV. No English options. No OBI.
Added Thunderball THX AC3 Laserdisc. Sealed. It was dirt cheap at 40 dollars. This usually goes for a bit more than that.
R.I.P. Nichelle Nichols, the incomparable Uhura of Star Trek.
R.I.P. Bill Russell the greatest Boston Celtic of all time.
I only liked John Williams scores. For Harry Potter. Never was a fan of the books. Watched like 3 of the movies on cable.
They were about average. They made tons of money though, that is all they care about not film quality.
I couldn’t be bothered to watch the newest one even for free, in the fantastic beasts franchise. I think i wasted time watching one of the others, it was just okay, i think it was the first one.
I sort of despise cash grab sequels. And remake sequels. All of the ones being made now. The Jurassic World, the Disney Star Wars Trilogy etc. Even though i think Last Jedi has some brilliant points in it, and some beautiful scenes. I don’t think i will ever be able to watch the JJ films again with any level of enjoyment.
The 4K of Phantom Menace, And Revenge of the Sith are the best that they have ever looked on home video. I haven’t watched the second one in 4K yet only the 1080P that wasn’t revelatory i didn’t notice a difference from the original blu.
https://theasc.com/magazine/starwars/articles/sped/ssws/pg1.htm
It would have been a destruction of the character. But what if we didn’t know who the new Vader was, Luke is missing. at the end of Force Awakens the New Vader removed his mask and its Luke Skywalker. Not Ben Solo.
Master of Disguise. Truly awful movie. I don’t think a single part was funny.
Star Wars story was complete in 1977. There was no A New Hope, Leia wasn’t Luke’s sister, Vader wasn’t Luke’s father and Obi-Wan didn’t lie.