WASTING TIME (MINE & YOURS)

Monday, June 30, 2008

My Blu Heaven

My nutty husband is so crazy and great. He brought home a Blu Ray-player. It's one of those PlayStation 3 contraptions that I know so little about. I'm not much of a gamer. My husband's not much of a gamer either but he wanted a Blu-Ray. After much research and a couple of store returns, he's settled on PlayStation 3.

In order to not upset the wife (I wouldn't have been upset, but nevertheless...) he brought home some Blu-Ray movies that I requested. I decided that I would only select visually lush films that I don't already own on DVD. He brought home the following Blu-Ray movies for our viewing pleasure:

Run Lola Run: We haven't watched but a few minutes. We used it for testing purposes and the menu sure looks nice. The main thing I noticed was how crisp the subtitles appear, so that's nice.

The Fifth Element: Hell yeah, Gary Oldman in high-definition. Yes. Jean-Paul Gaultier in high def, too. It's a crazy cute movie, and it sure does look super pretty on this Blu-Ray thingamajig.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen: Matt had never even heard of this movie. Strangely enough, thanks to its 20th anniversary, it's the only Terry Gilliam movie that is currently available on Blu-Ray. I hadn't seen this film in years and years, and I had previously only seen it on tv broadcast and once on VHS. Watching this glorious movie on Blu-Ray was like seeing an entirely different movie altogether. It was simply stunning, absolutely gorgeous. I love this movie now more than ever thanks to my new beloved Blu-Ray toy.

The Host: Okay, okay. I already have this on DVD but my copy is a shiesty Region 3 Hong Kong version and the subtitles are crummy as hell. I need the monster rampaging in high definition. I haven't watched it yet, but my hopes are high.

So I'm pretty excited about Blu-Ray now. I didn't really care much before, but the movies look all fancy and pretty and shiny. This is not useful or practical for most movies, but it does seem to enhance the quality of the picture somewhat, especially on films that utilize digital effects. I have no plans to purchase a whole bunch of Blu-Ray films, but I'm open if anyone has any recommendations or suggestions. The Kill Bill movies come out on Blu-Ray in September and I think I'll have to get those (even though I have the DVDs). I'm also considering Bram Stoker's Dracula which is completely nuts cause I already have a VHS and two DVD editions. Perhaps I need one more copy...

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