I'm thinking you mean Michael Clayton?
Indiana Jones was just so terrible... you may want to reconsider. Think about Pan's Labrynth, Narnia, The Dark Knight, Harry potter, etc.
My top pick would be Planet Earth, however. It's just stunning in HD.
Got Mrs. Df a Blu Ray player for Christmas and now looking for movies that really take advantage of the whole home theatre experience. She likes chick flicks and some action movies. She is also likes children's movies for the grandson. To date I have bought Wall E (a great movie), Sleeping Beauty and Michael Crichton (came with the Blu-Ray). Was thinking about an Indiana Jones for the visual and sound effects. Any other suggestions from our DBR videophiles.
I'm thinking you mean Michael Clayton?
Indiana Jones was just so terrible... you may want to reconsider. Think about Pan's Labrynth, Narnia, The Dark Knight, Harry potter, etc.
My top pick would be Planet Earth, however. It's just stunning in HD.
That's it, Michael Clayton.
For the first SEVERAL months of Blu-Ray, Jumper was THE most purchased Blu-Ray. I borrowed my friend's copy, and it is VERY impressive in Blu-Ray. It has Samuel L. Jackson, Hayden Christensen, Rachel Bilson, and Diane Lane, among others. Definite popcorn film, but fun. Good effects. I've heard that Borne Ultimatum is pretty good in Blu-Ray. Most special effect heavy or visual movies will be good.
The best Blu-Ray for both visual and surround sound that I have seen is The Replacement Killers (Chow Yun-Fat, Mira Sorvino). Plus, it's a great movie without Blu-Ray.
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi737739033/
~rthomas
A Blue Ray disk that is visually stunning is The Fifth Element with Bruce Willis. I'm not sure it's a great movie, but the video is terrific.
Tom Mac
I can only image that Dark Knight will be pretty impressive on Blu-Ray. That is likely going to be my first Blu-Ray purchase.
How "graphic" (kills, mating, etc) does Planet Earth get? I'm curious if my 3 year old or 9 year old would be able to watch it.
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According to some reviewers at Amazon, PE gets pretty graphic about all aspects of nature, including death. Some stated that they were so appalled that they would not let their younger children watch. But others did not make a mention. IMO, it's all in your perspective. Not sure if I would let a 3 yo watch, but I personally would not have a problem with a 9 yo. It's real world.
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I didn't think it was that much more graphic than the old Disney nature shows that showed the snakes eating the mice and stuff, but I'm older now. I wouldn't show it to the 3 y.o., but I'd think it would be okay for the 9 y.o., DEPENDING on the 9 y.o. A 9 y.o. that has no problem with the tamer PG-13 movies would probably be fine. A 9 y.o. that still cringes at the more hard-core PG movies probably should wait. IMHO.
As for Dark Knight, I can tell you after tomorrow. I'm seeing it on my friend's 120 inch 1080-P projection screen with Dolby Gold tomorrow night.
Mine are in the mail. I used the "buy 6, save $50" sale at amazon to pick up 6 of the older films for $55. They since jacked up the prices, so it would cost $70 today
The geeks at the avsforum gave them a good technical review.
I prefer Star Wars: "But with the blast shield down, I can't see anything. How am I supposed to fight?"
It is actually very awesome. Much better than going to a theater. The picture is smaller, but I'm only 20 feet away, so to your perception, it doesn't make much difference. The picture is BETTER. The sound is BETTER (he has REALLY good speakers). The popcorn is even better (his wife makes this amazing asian stuff that she cooks on the stove in olive oil). And, of course, these days, it's a HECK of a lot cheaper. You can barely get the tickets for a family of four for what the Blu-Ray costs, forget food and drink.
We have a movie night once a month or so in his windowless basement. He's got a 25' x 12' media room. It's pretty amazing. The first Blu-Ray I saw on there was Iron Man. It was unbelievable. DVDs look amazing on there too, of course, but Blu-Rays are incredible.
We also like to play Wii and PS3 on there. You wouldn't BELIEVE Madden or MGS4 on that thing.
If you're purely interested in picture quality (PQ), then I'd recommend several of the computer animated films currently available (e.g., Kung Fu Panda, Ratatouille, Cars, Wall-E, etc.). Also the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy is thought to have a very high PQ.
Several people have mentioned Planet Earth, Blue Planet, etc. While these documentaries capture amazing things on film, they don't necessarily have great or even above average PQ (i.e., they may not be the best Blu-ray demonstration material).
A Blue-ray PQ tier thread is maintained here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=858316
Lastly, Warner Brothers gets a poor grade for the PQ of their Dark Knight Blu-ray release, which is plagued with unsightly edge enhancement resulting from over-sharpening during the encode process.
That hasn't stopped me from purchasing it, though.
Whether you enjoy the film or not should always be the first consideration.
At the risk of hijacking this thread, I have a blu-ray question.
I do not own a dvd player. I own about 3 dvd's. If I want to watch, I usually grab the computer.
IF I were to buy a dvd player, is it worth it to get a blu-ray machine? The prices have really come down. I'm just not sure it's worth it for me right now.
If you do not own an HD tv, then you would be wasting your money on a blue ray player and blue ray disks. I own a 46" Sony LCD 1080p tv and sit about 14 feet away from the screen. At that distance, I really can't tell much difference between a blue ray or an upconverted DVD. There definitely is a big difference between stendard def tv broadcast and 1080i HD tv broadcast.
Tom Mac