Universal announces 5 more HD DVD titles
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Aug 15th 2006 5:33PM
posted Aug 15th 2006 5:33PM
You might be asking yourself, are they really going to write a post every time a HD DVD or Blu-ray title is announced? The answer would of course be yes. At least for now anyways or until there are so many that it will warrant a daily post like our HDTV TV listings post. Universal isn't pulling out many stops this time and continue to disapoint with their selection of titles. Sure 12 Monkeys was a good movie, but no where near a recent title. With the excpetion of Spartacus, they will all have TrueHD tracks and the same special features as their DVD.
HD DVDs for October 24th 2006
12 Monkeys
The Thing
Out of Sight
The Interpreter (rescheduled was originally August 22)
Spartacus
While 12 monkeys is not a brand new movie, it is my all time favorite movie. I have the DVD and have watched it countless times.
It's good that companies renew their old movies. But what about really old movies. Like "Superman"? Or their is low quality?
Universal is THE champion of HD-DVD!! They are being so aggressive in their support. Not only do they provide great transfer of their discs but they communicate release dates months in advance. Something that Warner could be better at. They are pretty quiet with their announcements and seem to spring it about 2-3 weeks before street date. Cant wait to own all 5!! Go HD!!
"The Thing" is my favorite movie. I had told my wife I would not buy a HD-DVD player until "The Thing" was released. I hope the Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on is out before or soon after this release.
"Universal isn't pulling out many stops this time and continue to disapoint with their selection of titles" - it seems like the proverbial Bluray fanboy strikes again. Last I checked, 12 Monkeys is a classic and warrants some congrats for Universal. Honestly speaking, I would rather have great movies (past/current) released, instead of junk like XXX, Hitch, Species, Ultraviolet come out.
Disclaimer: I'm not an HD-DVD fanboy and I definately appreciate the fact that BluRay has 'a' technical advantage. Come to think of it the only one that comes to mind is disk space, and when it comes to movies and video games, how much does that really help? Does advanced codecs and procedural synthesis ring a bell? Of course, unless you're SP and are using MPEG-2 to try and squeeze a few more dollars out of an archaic codec.
This site's Blu-ray bias is hilarious. There is *nothing* disappointing about The Thing or Out of Sight or 12 Monkeys or Spartacus. The only title in that batch I won't be picking up is The Interpreter. I think Universal's choice of catalog titles has been pretty inspired thus far. And unlike Blu-ray, they're carrying over all the extras from the standard versions.
Seriously...Out of Sight, 12 Monkeys, Spartacus and The Thing are all films any movie lover has to have in their collection. Soderbergh? Gilliam? Kubrick? Carpenter? This is exactly why I bought an HD-DVD player: to watch great, classic movies in beautiful high def. Not pulling out all the stops? Maybe not, but I'm personally more excited for these releases any news of a day and date release of whatever trashy blockbuster came out this summer.
I agree!! Blu-Ray has some of the worst movies ever as of today! It's so funny to see some of their message boards and people are getting excited cause "RV" got a decent review. "RV"???, gimme a break...but I guess if your in that camp you take whatever measley scraps you can get. HD-DVD has the best and most varied selection of the 2 formats. Everything from summer popcorn flicks to comedies to dramas to Academy Award winning pictures. I would be P.O.ed too if I owned a Blu Ray machine and all the titles keep getting pushed back. The comparison is not even CLOSE!!! These are great movies from Universal and are way better than any of the "new" Blu-ray flicks that have hit the shelf. Disapointing my _ss!!
I wasn't too impressed with the slate personally, though I might check out 12 Monkeys and Spartacus through Netflix.
I'm waiting for some Superman Returns or Batman Begins action myself. And personal tastes aside, you gotta agree that Warner and Universal are at least pumping out enough content to justify the cost of the player.
you clowns can take any good news about HD DVD and turn it negative. You guys are losing credibility fast.
LOL "continue to disappoint" that's a blu-ray trademark you better watch it!
Very happy here to see 12 Monkeys, Spartacus and The Thing on HD DVD. I don't care what "some" may say but those titles are all time favorites, period. And having them finally on HD DVD is just another excuse to watch them again for another 100 times more! I love HD DVD! Thank you Toshiba.
You HD-DVD fanboys really need to relax a little more. Why do you care if Ben doesnt think much of these titles being released?
And as for the Blu-ray bias, get over it...there are probably more posts by Matt that are biased towards HD-DVD than Ben posts with a bias towards Blu-Ray.
Again, why do you lot get so worked up about someone's individual opinions? The rest of the blogs out there on the internet must really p*ss you guys off.
*preying for goblet of fire...*
Oh my - 12 MONKEYS!! Awesome! I've own the SpEd LaserDisc Box Set for a several years now [$15 sealed/new off eBay] and the movie + extras are tops!
NOW WE JUST NEED UNIVERSAL TO ALSO RELEASE *BRAZIL* !!
And I also loved SPARTACUS and THE THING. OUT OF SIGHT is OK [but just a rental for me]. Since I don't own any of these on standard DVD [but do own the Lasers], I'll also be picking up most of them on HD DVD.
Man, I'm so glad I didn't fall for the false *hype* of Blu-ray!
I like the movie "The Interpreter".
IF they released ALL the Harry Potters on HD-DVD...before Christmas....that would be awesome.
I have to admit, I didn't think much of any of these movies when I wrote the post, but it appears I may be the one who is missing out. After reading these comments I searched for all of them on IMDB and 3 out of 5 of them are on the top 250 which is pretty impressive.
I admit that many would be impressed with at least 3 of these titles, even though I have never seen them.
Instead of arguing, I would like some info on Spartacus.
The Criterion DVD is absolutely astounding, but I'm doubtful on those bonus materials making it here. The comment mentions that "All but Spartacus" will get high quality sound treatment. What, then will Spartacus have in terms of sound (DD?) and features?
Thanks!
-Pie