Bullets 'n' Babes

As with most of Optimum's recent Blu-ray releases, we get another DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. Again, this is ported over from the HD DVD release, but thankfully this time there is no controversy about whether the track's pitch has been altered (see my Total Recall review). The music and dialogue sound as expected.

Good shit.

Top Gun BD review

High Def Digest's resident "Gifted" reviewer, Peter M. Bracke, strikes again.
Jesus, this guy makes Bradavon seem like the infallible God of judging transfers.

I am god!

I hear Paramount improved their Face/Off BD. It's now not as bad DNR wise.

bradavon wrote:
I hear Paramount improved their Face/Off BD. It's now not as bad DNR wise.

you sure?

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/33547/face-off/

No I'm not sure. I was going by comments made over at Import Forum.

It's a pity the UK BD is essentially the same minus extras. I'll still pick up the USA BD.

The UK BD of T2 has just got a 9/10 for picture quality on DVD Times:

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=68487

I shall purchase it when I get paid at the end of the month *sigh*.

i got the T2 blu-ray on Monday.haven't looked at it yet but i'm expecting it to be similar to the hd-dvd.

It's a port

AFAIK all the Optimum BDs which were also on HD-DVD are ports. I'm very happy with my German UE.

The extras rock and are well worth the extra price. I'm keeping my R1 UE DVD though as that's too special to get rid of, just yet.

gasteropod wrote:It's a port

i realise that but as my hd-dvd is up to £6 on ebay with a day left and the BD cost me £11.64 i'm quite happy.and no way is it a 9/10 then,more a 7.5 not bothered about extras though it is criminal optimum haven't put any on the disc.

The extras are decent, including the extra Extended Special Editions deleted scenes. Normally extras are pants of watch once affairs but the T2 ones are good.

I'd say T2 is an easy 8 out of 10, any less is criminal.

bradavon wrote:
I'd say T2 is an easy 8 out of 10, any less is criminal.

my 7.5 is a transfer quality score,the film itself is easily a 9.

Black Narcissus UK BD: http://www.avforums.com/movies/index.ph ... eview=9415

It looks like it has decent PQ and no Remix mucking things up, excellent!

The Proposition USA BD: http://www.avforums.com/movies/index.ph ... eview=9419

It looks to have more extras but the Making of is only 27 minutes, whereas on the Tartan UK DVD it's 120 minutes. I'll have to check my Tartan UK BD to see if it's this truncated Making Of or the full 120 minute version. AV looks to be the same (on paper anyway).

They Live- Oh Dear

http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd/they-live2.html

My god, what a disaster. Hopefully Chris will be complaining to Optimum.

FUCK, I was look forward to that release! :x

Maximum Risk review

Basic Instinct - Optimum UK BD.
Meh, I'd get Lionsgate's RA.

The Proposition USA BD:

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1411/proposition.html

BD25
TrueHD 5.1
Extras: Director Commentary, Inside the Proposition (68 Mins), Making of. (27 Mins), Deleted Scenes (12 Mins), Photo Gallery, Trailer

By contrast I've checked my UK BD:

BD25
DD5.1, TrueHD 5.1 or DTS-HD MA 5.1
Extras: 27 Minute Making of. and Trailer

The UK BD is from Tartan so is likely to go OOP but seeing as the USA BD has lots more extras I'd guess that's the one to get anyway. Comparing the TrueHD with the DTS-HD MA on the UK BD, the DTS-HD MA just sounds minutely louder. The picture is decent though, much better than the SD DVD.

If I were to buy it now I'd get the USA BD but I'll be sticking with my UK BD. It's a pity Tartan opted to give us DTS-HD MA instead of porting over all the numerous extras from their 2 Disc SE DVD (including a 2Hr Making Of).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The UK BD is about £13-14, the USA BD is very cheap:

1. $17.43/£9.57 Delivered to The UK: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017PI4Y6
2. $17.13/£9.40 Delivered to The UK: http://www.dvdpacific.com/item.asp?ID=960571
3. £8.51 Delivered to The UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B0017PI4Y6

The Tartan disc was such a waste of money! I wish that I had known the specs of the US disc before I paid the premium.

Me too. I'm not too bothered though as it's still a decent disc. I can live with it. I didn't expect competition for it to come so soon, if I had I'd have held off getting it.

Night of the Living Dead - Optimum RB BD. Not an upscale this time.

Probably uses the same "zooming" master as the recent R1 Weinstein DVD. But I'll probably buy it anyway, as I already own its three sequels in HD.

Strictly Ballroom BD:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/34134/strictly-ballroom/
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.ph ... how=review

It's never looked great. This is probably the best we could've expected.

Black Narcissus BD:

Comparison with DVDs: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReview ... cissus.htm
http://www.avforums.com/movies/index.ph ... eview=9415
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/34144/black-narcissus/
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.ph ... how=review

This looks gorgeous.

Interview with the vampire

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.ph ... how=review

American Gangster

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1339/am ... gster.html

Thanks Salty. I'll be buying this shortly after release. I've wanted to see the Extended Cut in HD for ages. I should be able to cover most of my costs by selling my HD-DVD Combo on eBay.

People are so hard on American Gangster. It ranks well against other Crime films such as Donnie Brasco. A film which has much more fans.

Has anyone found a review of the UK Blu-ray "House of Flying Daggers"?

It's due out Monday. I plan to buy it soon after release but I want to read a review first, just in case they're re-using the lousy USA Sony BD transfer.

All I can found out is it will have DTS-HD MA. I appreciate most here won't be interested in it. It's my favourite of Zhang Yimou's loose Martial Arts trilogy.