What are you watching on Blu-ray? (and discussion of said titles)

[NothingOriginal]

Watched the dark knight with my new Pionneer VSX-1326 K - and the sound was phenomenal. Looking forward to watching my other blu ray movies on it. I'm relatively new to the home theatre experience - didn't think it would sound this good. But I guess I'm one of those who love the sound coming out of my klipsch speakers as well.

[Nels Stewart]

Biutiful - Uxbal works in the shadows and backstreets of Barcelona, keeping a posse of illegal immigrants selling wares on the sidewalk one step ahead of the law, supplying migrant workers to factories and construction sites. But with his health declining, he also realizes he must make right, with the people he's exploited, with his ex-wife, with his children. It doesn't go well.
Javier Bardem gives a soulful, courageous performance as Uxbal in an otherwise bleak film that does tend to drag on.
PQ is quite good, holding up pretty well in the many dark scenes. Although I do have some qualms about the Maple blu-ray as the first two trailers look brutal, as if black went completely missing. Inexcusable.
AQ is excellent with some fine use of surrounds.

[eljay]

Beginners - After the death of his widowed father - who, late in life, and only after his wife's death, revealed and revelled in his true sexuality - Oliver reflects on the joy which "coming out" brought to his father, and he begins to understand that he will not realize his own happiness with Anna - the woman who wishes to share his life - until he opens himself up to love with the same abandon as his father eventually did.

This was a gentle, low-key, character-driven movie with a nice story, good pacing and solid performances by Christopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor.

PQ and AQ were very good.

[eljay]

The Ides of March - During the Ohio leg of a campaign to determine who will become the Democractic party's next presidential candidate, an adept but somewhat idealistic junior campaign manager loses his innocence - and faces tough choices - when he discovers that the men he works for are as unscrupulous and corruptible as the people in the opposition's camp.

Although it was a little light on overall plot, this was a slick and reasonably-entertaining political drama. Good performances by Gosling, Clooney and Hoffman.

PQ and AQ were very good.

[eljay]

Killer Elite - To save the life of an old friend, ex-mercenary Danny Bryce is forced out of retirement for one last job.

Terribly trite and thoroughly boring.

PQ was very good. AQ was generally good, but dialogue was a bit uneven in terms of level and clarity.

[rfielder]

Originally Posted by eljay

Terribly trite and thoroughly boring.

I won't agree with the "terribly". This movie is based on a book by Ranulph Fiennes (full name Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes), and may have been based on truth more than one might believe.

Look up Ranulph Fiennes, and if you can find it, watch his interview in season 4, eposide 9, of Top Gear. The guy is amazing.

We enjoyed this movie, but really you had to practice the "willful suspense of disbelief" to get the most out of it... Which is about what I expect from any Strathan movie!

[eljay]

The Debt - Thirty years after she and two other Mossad agents hunted down and killed the infamous "surgeon of Birkenau" in East Berlin, Rachel Singer remains haunted by two secrets from her past. While one will remain forever concealed, the other will require her to embark upon a journey to resolve some unfinished - and unpleasant - business.

Comments: Aside from a somewhat weak ending, this was a decent political thriller. Good performance by Jessica Chastain.

Blu-ray: PQ and AQ were very good.

[Nels Stewart]

Drive - Ryan Gosling is Driver, a stunt driver/mechanic and occasional wheelman for heists. He's a bit of an intense loner, until he meets his pretty hallway neighbour, whose husband is about to finish serving time. When he's beat up by thugs looking for payment on a prison debt, Driver steps in to help him clear the debt. But the rip is a set up that goes terribly wrong and now Driver must fix it while saving his own skin as well as his neighbour and her son.
This is a brooding film that burns slowly. Driver doesn't speak much, but when he does every word is alight with intensity and purpose. He's surrounded by equally intense characters, especially Albert Brooks, the West Coast gangster who's enlisted to bankroll a potential racing venture. Excellent film that pulses with menace at every turn.
I managed to get a hold of this blu-ray a little early and it is outstanding in every way. The PQ is top notch and the AQ is reference. A must addition to any blu-ray library!

[redzone]

Oh My !!! i have to completely disagree with the above poster. While the PQ and audio is decent its wasted on a TERRIBLE film.

This is a silent drama disguised as an action movie.

There are so many awkward boring moments where there is no sound track OR talking, just the 2 main characters staring at each other. While the action is half decent the main characters dialogue(or lack there of) just ruined the whole movie

[rfielder]

While not terrible, it was boring in places. Not one I would suggest to friends.

[Blackloz]

Strike Back Seasons 1 & 2: My favorite new show of 2011. Now what we actually saw last summer here in North America was actually season 2 as there was a season 1 before this shown in the UK. I was able to import this from the UK for about the same price as the north american release will be when its out, so to include the real season 1 and it was a no brainer for me. The plot is more or less the same, it revolves around an ellite group of MI6/British special forces who are on the hunt for various terrorists in an effort to stop attacks around the globe.

P/Q: Great

A/Q: Also great

Well worth the $ and is for the true action buff.

[Nels Stewart]

The Ides of March - Ryan Gosling is a manager on the campaign of Mike Morris, an idealistic governor gunning for the democratic nomination in the presidential election. Gosling's faith and belief in his candidate is steadfast, even as he's enticed by the rival's campaign manager to switch sides, until he makes a discovery that shakes his faith, challenges his idealism and tests his ability to navigate the swill that accompanies politics.
This is a taunt political thriller, tightly directed by George Clooney, with great performances by a powerhouse cast that also includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti and Evan Rachel Wood.
PQ is excellent. AQ is very good.

[Nels Stewart]

Restless - Enoch is a young loner obsessed with death. So much so that he's made it his hobby to crash funerals. He also plays Battleship with the ghost of a WWII Japanese kamikazee pilot. At one of his funerals, he's outed by Annabel, a pretty young woman with her own death obsession; she's dying from a brain tumor. Together, they're a precious, quirky, ill-fated couple who carry on their relationship as if they have all the time in the world, yet no time left at all.
I'm a fan of Gus Van Sant. Most of his films about young people negotiating the edges of life in Portland ring true with a slight bend along the way. He also has a knack for creating compelling characters. But Enoch and Annabel are almost too quirky; they make a cute couple to be sure but their affectations feel stylistic rather than rooted in who they are. And since we know Annabel's fate almost from the beginning of their relationship, it's hard to root for them to overcome the obstacles that interrupt their blossoming love.
PQ is brutal. I'm not sure if Sony screwed up this disc, or if Van Sant didn't bother hiring grips, but the whole film is dark and devoid of detail, as if shot through a haze.
AQ is equally disappointing. Danny Elfman's score is barely noticeable at times, dialogue disappears into a mumble and sometimes completely. Really disappointing.

[eljay]

Quadrophenia - Jimmy is a rebellious London youth who has embraced the "collective individualism" of the Mod lifestyle to stave off the drabness and drudgery of his working-class reality. During a wild and satisfying weekend in Brighton, Jimmy engages in mob clashes with rival Rockers, enjoys a quick fling with the highly-desirable but normally-unattainable Steph and, after being arrested, shares a day in court with Ace Face, his Mod idol; but when he finally returns to London, Jimmy quickly becomes aware that his accomplishments are ultimately fleeting and hollow. Kicked out by his frustrated family, fired from his job and desperate to recapture the magic of that weekend, Jimmy escapes back to Brighton. When he stumbles up on Ace Face at his job - scurrying about as a subservient bell-boy - the disillusionment is complete, and a shattered Jimmy steals and destroys Ace Face's scooter in a symolic gesture of surrender and closure.

Comments: This remains an enjoyable, if somewhat uncomplicated, movie about youth angst, with some decent performances (especially by Phil Daniels as Jimmy, the "Bleeding Quadrophenic" Mod) and a good dose of great music by The Who.

BD: Although the BD release is clearly hobbled by the original print's shortcomings, it is noticeably better than the 2006 DVD re-release in terms of both video and audio. Grain and some dot-crawl are still evident, but overall everything looks sharper and cleaner, and colours are crisper and brighter. The audio generally still has a "boxy" or "canned" sound to it, but dialogue is much clearer and the music and songs are both clearer and fuller-sounding. For fans of them movie, it's a worthwhile upgrade from the DVD.

[eljay]

Contagion - Fear, anger and desperation threaten to unravel the fabric of civilization when a a minor epidemic resulting from a previously-unknown virus erupts into a seemingly-unstoppable global pandemic. Will cooler heads prevail and succeed in finding a cure before the virus - or human nature - succeeds in destroying the world?

Comments: This drama - which, to the apparent disappointment of some people, is not a "28 Days Later"-style post-apocalyptic horror flick - had a simple and straightforward story, delivered at a steady and measured pace. Although it wasn't a particularly great movie - even the acting seemed uninspired at times - it was interesting and fairly well-executed nevertheless.

BD: PQ and AQ were very good.