After much deliberation, I settled on a PS3 a few weeks ago and began building a Blu-ray collection (finally) in earnest. But I’m curious now if anyone here has some immediate “you must buy this” disc ideas. First out of the gate was “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” followed by “Casino Royale,” “The Incredible Hulk” And “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.” I have a big wish list underway, but curious what you guys think are cream of the crop Blu-ray flicks.
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28 responses to “Blu-ray query for the readership…”
Got a Blu-ray for Christmas along with The Dark Knight. Can’t wait to watch it.
My cream of the crop: Planet Earth. Band of Brothers. 2001. Gangs of New York. Sunshine. Miami Vice! Just to name a few…
Unfortunately Out of Sight is not on Blu-ray yet.
The Dark Knight and Wall-E are technically impeccable. They sound great and look even better. Another great recent release is the Godfather trilogy. If you like music, Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds at Radio City is killer. Finally, while not necessarily a film, Planet Earth by the BBC looks gorgeous and really highlights all of the wonders of Blu-Ray.
I would say JFK and WALL-E are musts, but you don’t like WALL-E enough to buy it… I am also going to start building my Criterion Blu-ray collection from the outset and think Bottle Rocket and Third Man are musts… I have Last Emperor here, but haven’t given it a spin just yet.
I like WALL-E plenty enough to buy it, actually. I already own it on standard DVD, after all.
Such assumptions. :)
Well, I’ve had a Blu-ray player since March and I’ve only been picking my spots…
I’ve got Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Blade Runner 5-Disc (I’m not fanatical about the film — and I know you think it’s overrated — but I have to say that The Final Cut is the best version I’ve seen), Casino Royale (the earlier Blu-ray, though the later one is better), Cool Hand Luke, Goodfellas (not reference material on account of the softness/graininess of the source material, but a significant improvement over the DVD), The Godfather trilogy, Mad Men – Season 1, No Country For Old Men, Persepolis, Pan’s Labyrinth, Ratatouille, 2001: A Space Odyssey (the only Warner Kubrick title that MUST be upgraded to HD), and WALL-E. I also just ordered Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 for $10 each (who the hell knows if we’ll ever get The Whole Bloody Affair?) and the Firefly TV series (which I’d been putting off forever, but couldn’t resist at $30. Also, any Blu-ray that Criterion, with their high technical standards, puts out, is probably worth it, if you like the film…I’ll grab The Third Man at some point down the line, and bought Chungking Express last week.
Oh yeah, I forgot LA Confidential…they upgraded the DVD recently, so the Blu-ray was an obvious choice…it looks pretty good.
I also wish I’d held off on buying/upgrading the following titles on DVD: There Will Be Blood, Sweeney Todd, and Bonnie and Clyde. The first Dirty Harry is probably worth it as well.
Here’s my list of must-own Blu-ray discs
The Dark Knight
Batman Begins
There Will Be Blood
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Blade Runner
The Godfather Trilogy: The Coppola restoration
Casino Royale: Collector’s Edition
The Departed
No Country For Old Men
Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk
Pan’s Labyrinth
2001: A Space Odyssey
Wall-E
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Transformers
The Matrix: The Ultimate Collection
Casablanca: Ultimate Collector’s Edition
Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
LOST: The Complete Third Season
LOST: The Complete Fourth Season
Planet Earth: The Complete Series
The Shawshank Redemption
Hellboy II
300
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Firefly: The Complete Series
Serenity: Collector’s Edition
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
A Clockwork Orange
The Shining
FullMetal Jacket
The Prestige
The Assassination of Jesse James
Tropic Thunder
I Am Legend: Ultimate Collector’s Edition
The Day The Earth Stood Still: Special Edition
The Proposition
Memento
V for Vendetta
Troy: The Director’s Cut
Eastern Promises
Babel
The Fountain
Spider-Man: The High Definition Trilogy
From Russia With Love
Dr. No
Goldfinger
Superman: The Movie
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Big Fish
Sin City
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Goodfellas
T2: Judgement Day
Blood Diamond
The Last Samurai
Into the Wild
Hellboy: The Director’s Cut
Kingdom of Heaven: The Director’s Cut
Bonnie and Clyde: Special Edition
That’s the majority of what I can think of for now.
Some upcoming releases to look into are
King Kong (2005)
The Bourne Trilogy
A History of Violence
Batman (1989)
Batman Returns
Taxi Driver
Raging Bull
Quantum of Solace
How come no Barry Lyndon on Blu-Ray? Boo.
DVDTalk.com is probably your most useful source on this issue. Their reviews of each disc is second to none.
That being said, you should probably pick up 2001.
Uh, what about DVDBeaver.com? They seem to be a bit more perceptive with regards to technical issues.
Wall-e and Ratatouille. All the Pixars look wonderful.
Hey Kris,
If you like them, the Kill Bill series looks and sounds glorious on Blu-ray. I, Robot looks absolutely amazing (possibly the best Blu transfer of an actually shot film). The best I’ve ever seen Blu-ray look was with Ratatouille or Kung Fu Panda.
‘There Will Be Blood’ and ‘No Country for Old Men’ are spotless, terrific BD’s — plus the uncompressed audio on ‘No Country’ is great.
Recently picked up ‘The Fall’ and ‘The Proposition’ — plus if you’re a Kubrick fan, you have to pick up ‘2001’, it’s got to be the best catalog title released for the format.
I can’t wait to add ‘Zodiac’ in January — I hope Paramount treats it right.
I’ve only got a few but 2001 is amongst the finest remastered films I’ve ever seen on any medium. Brilliant image and a film truly deserving of a Hi-Def release.
2001 is at the top of my list, I just hate that I bought the Kubrick Collection only a year ago. Ah well.
Yeah, I am debating on what to do about the Kubrick collection… I have the DVD and HD DVD versions from reviewing them, but now want the Blu-ray versions since HD DVD is worthless.
I bought ‘The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford’ as my first Bluray disc. The problem is, I don’t have a Bluray player yet.
Blu ray discs are deceivingly expensive. The get you in the door with $25 for The Dark Knight and then charge 30 or 35 for other stuff like “So I married an axe murderer.” I can’t believe they put that on blu ray!
was the “Jesse James” blu-ray THAT better looking?
I saw it in HD on demand these days and I didn’t think it looked as good as I thought it should…
If you’ve got a great home theatre setup and want to show it off, there’s no better demo disc than BARAKA. Even though it’s nearly 17 years old, it looks better than just about any other Blu-Ray movie you’ll because it was shot in Todd-AO 65 mm. Beautiful movie, but it’s a bit unconventional and not really something you can curl up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and watch anytime.
Aside from that, you can’t go wrong with any of the Pixar movies. The most noticeable difference you’ll see between DVD and Blu-Ray is with these movies. They also have the benefit of all being pretty good movies.
Maybe the best sound I’ve heard on Blu-Ray is the 3:10 TO YUMA remake. But you’re really going to want to make sure you have a receiver that does TrueHD sound for this one.
But don’t fall into the trap that Blu-Ray is only designed for new movies. THE GODFATHER trilogy and CASABLANCA restorations are amazing and is the best you’ll see these movies look since their original theatrical runs.
Black Narcissus looks absolutely amazing on Blu-Ray
Is there anything known on when Gone With the Wind will be out on BD? That dvd-transfer was amongst the greatest ever I’ve seen of an 70 year old movie remastered. Imagine it can evenbecome better.
Baraka
Dave matthews and tim reynolds – live at radio city music hall (one of the best music dvds and amazing quality especially since it was made so early on)
Hellboy 2 (great transfer great bonus stuff)
Godfather remastered trilogy
There will be blood
Sleeping Beauty
3:10 to Yuma (2007)
Sunshine
There are some more good ones I recommend but I have to look through my collection a again and am not home right now.
Too bad the Jesse James disc was so poorly done by WB. They should have made a good transfer but didn’t. The Bluray version isn’t actually that great.
2001 looks like how it must’ve looked in ’68. the cornerstone of a good blu’s.
The Third Man from Criterion. One of the most beautiful black and white films ever made.
Superman Returns. So So So Beautiful, regardless of what some people think of the story and acting, if nothing else get it for its beauty. when Krypton explodes, power ups in front of the sun, Catching the plane. Lifting a Kryptonite Continent, Red Blue and Yellow. So Beautiful.
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. The wish list is bursting at the seams now.