Zatz not a great choice for first Blu-Ray movie
By Kevin C. Tofel 
posted Nov 19th 2005 12:02PM
posted Nov 19th 2005 12:02PM
Dave Zatz has the goods on the first mastered movie on the Blu-Ray disc format: it's "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle". Like
we really need to see According to Sony: "We are confident this achievement will help everyone understand that Blu-ray is real and poised to enter the marketplace." Sony dudes: it's not like we thought Blu-Ray was vaporware or anything, but the only worse flick you could have picked might be "Ishtar"!
Instead of having me (or you) bash the movie selection, why not tell us what the single-best movie would be as the first Blu-Ray movie? If you could pick just one movie to see in high-def on a disk, what would it be and why? It doesn't have to be a movie that Sony own the rights too; any movie is fine.
"Jackass" the movie
"Star Wars III: Revenge Of The Sith" is just gorgeous to watch in 480p, I can only imagine how great it would look in HD. Certainly not the greatest movie ever made, but damn, it sure looks like it!
I would have to agree with "The Matrix". All the "Long of the Rings" would look absolutely amazing.
I already have the one movie i want in HD -- terminator 2. mu ha!
Since D-VHS is the only reference material that all others will be compared to, I'd like to see the following movies, because they are simply the best in the hi-def format....
1. Ice Age
2. League of Extraordinary Gentleman
3. Bourne Identity
4. Alien
oh...and bye the way, I don't think Terminator might be the visual spectacle many might expect...for sound, yes, it'll be outrageous, but the fact remains, t-2 was not one of the better visually appealing titles available for d-vhs.
Shrek! And all those other CG movies. These would really show off HD if only because they were 'perfect' to start off with.
I'm not a Angles fan but I do like Bill Murray and I can tell you he at least had the sense to stay outa Full Throttle. I think the "Bosley" role was taken by Bernie Mac: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0305357/ for the second movie.
Anyway, what a crappy choice for HD. My vote would go to LotR or, if it has to be a Sony movie, how about Spider-Man 1/2?
i hope that a lot of TV series will be encoded for Bray... like deadwood, battlestar galactica... my 2 cents
ps: all the movies mentioned above i'd rather not buy....
Lord of the Rings Trilogy would look just gorgeous on Blu-Ray
Any Pixar film.
I don't care to see Bernie Mac or Bill Murray in HiDef, but maybe they're hoping we focus on a bikini-clad Demi Moore in all her 1080 glory.
How about Batman Begins as a Blu-ray debut? I also agree that Lord of the Rings would be a nice series to have in HD.
I wonder how much better a 480p DVD will look compared to 720p or 1080i... and at what size screen will the differences be apparent. Am I going to need to replace all my Superbit titles and get a next-gen deck or are they gogn to marketng something I might not need?
Fight Club. It made most of its money in DVD sales, and all my friends love the movie, and would do anything for a better Fight Club experience.
Star Wars!
Star Wars!
Star Wars!
or Bourne Identity
So many choices. The Lord of the Rings trilogy would be a perfect set to test out the abilities of the decoders to handle deep black levels, high contrast, and numerious other challenging visuals.
As for Sony, I agree they could have easily found a better movie in their collection. My vote might be for The Fifth Element from the Sony collection. The colors in that film are just screaming for HD as will any remastering of the sound.
There is only one to pick... Blade Runner of course. It was one of the very first DVDs so why not make it the first Blu-Ray disc.
Safe Men, because only me and my sister like it, and it was never released on DVD. Since that won't happen, what about Bottle Rocket, or Sense and Sensibility, or Kung Fu Hustle, or Kill Bill, or Team America: World Police. What about The Abyss? They never released that in anamorphic widescreen, did they? I could also go for The Incredibles. First TV series in high-def should be Freaks and Geeks, though.
I am with the rest of the majority here and would have to say LotR. I have the box set of LotR's and have not yet even watched them because I wanted an upconverter (this x-mas) or in HD style DVD. (don't care which)
Lord Of The Ring (all)
#12 "I wonder how much better a 480p DVD will look compared to 720p or 1080i... and at what size screen will the differences be apparent. Am I going to need to replace all my Superbit titles and get a next-gen deck or are they gogn to marketng something I might not need?"
I have a Canon SX50 projector (1400 x 1050 native rez) connected to the computer projecting a 10' wide image. There are a few DVDs (mostly Imax) that also include WMV-HD, 720 resolution, and there is quite a noticable improvement, but nothing that really 'jumps out' at you, but still a sight to see! I got about a dozzen DVDs from Australia (Region 4, 570 instead of 480 rez)and the percieved improvement is almost the same as 720 (I get friends stopping in all the time to 'check it out') Higher resolution is important but just as much, or even more important is the equipment that is playing/displaying the video. There's where the biggest differences are! 'Tiny little' 50-62 inch screens won't really show much of a difference.
If there is a difference it is more likely the design and make of the unit itself more than the actual resolution.
I hated Full Throttle.
Movies worth converting to HD:
The Matrix
The Abyss
Finding Nemo
The Fifth Element
Any of Star Wars movies (especially the latter 3)
The Island
Just because these are among my favorites visually
Saving Private Ryan
Akira
Appleseed
Amelie. I forgot how gorgeous that movie is.
definitely saving private Ryan. How about A.I?I know the movie sucks...but should look good on HD. and aeon flux...whenever it comes on hd..:)