Blu-ray releases on September 1st 2009
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Aug 31st 2009 4:22PM
posted Aug 31st 2009 4:22PM
Still no new blockbusters as we creep closer to the Fall, but plenty of very solid catalogs. The top of our list is easily one of our favorite movies of all times, Bravehart. The next one, Gladiator, that might be on the top of your list is a skip though -- if you think it is a better movie than Braveheart, you're crazy -- because early reviews say it is one of the worst transfers ever and is actually barely a notch about DVD.- Braveheart (Paramount)
- Gladiator (Paramount)
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - The Ninth Season (Paramount)
- Bring It On: Fight To The Finish (Universal)
- Heroes: Season 3 (Universal)
- State Of Play (Universal)
- Monster (First Look)
- Sugar (Sony)
- Supernatural: The Complete Fourth Season (Warner)
- Earth (Disney)
- High Crimes (Fox)
- M*A*S*H (Fox)
- The Girl Next Door (Fox)
- Life After People (A&E)
- The Crusades: Crescent & The Cross (A&E)
What are you talking about now?
Yes, the Gladiator transfer is disappointing. Where are these reviews you are referring to however? I only know of one. (www.dvdbeaver.com) Can you put us to the other reviews?
Gladiator Review by Bill Hunt http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents
Gladiator's screen grabs look horrible. Strangely enough the extended scenes look fine, it's just the theatrical scenes that look bad. By contrast Braveheart looks like a superb transfer.
The extended scenes look great in Gladiator because they were remastered properly and much more recently.
The theatre cut scenes are from an older master which is why they are horrible.
This film ought to be boycotted and the studio pushed into remastering it properly.
We can wait.
If they are going to be pushed into giving us quality transfers we should not reward them for highly disappointing releases.
Braveheart shows how it should be done and an equally iconic film like Gladiator deserves to be released with the sort of care and quality the Blu-ray premium deserves.
^ What MFM said. I'm not buying Gladiator until they release a version that has been given the proper treatment that the Blu-Ray premium price demands. I already have the DVD if I want to watch the original transfer of this movie.
Seriously, I would also urge all to boycott buying this movie and send a clear message to the studios that they can't just put garbage with a BD logo and charge a $20 premium over the $5 DVD that has been out for ages.
Who cares about summer blockbusters when you have 2 of the greatest movies of all time coming out? As for the Gladiator transfer, just watch the damn movie and judge for yourself. I guarentee it will be more of an improvement over DVD than "just a notch." Even the negative reviews admit that.
This is the first time I heard about the Gladiator poor PQ, but after reading some reviews about removing grain and edge enhancement it is quite disappointing. Gladiator is in my top 5 movies (BH is a great movie, but Gladiator is better IMHO) and this was the movie I was hoping would be released during the format wars to push things towards HD DVD. But now (not the fault of Blu-ray, but the encoding process) I think I will wait for a re-re-release ala Stargate, and hopefully this will fix the problems.
This is especially disappointing given the premium associated with the disk since it was given the "Sapphire" label.
Gladiator is good, but Braveheart is epic. I still get choked up at the end.
It might be epic but its a complete crock. I wonder why studios feel the need to tamper with history so much.
I'm picking both up tomorrow. After the reviews, I was going to get Braveheart only, but Best Buy has them for 22.99 each with $10 off if you buy both. So you essentially get Gladiator for $13. If its really bad, I can sell it for about $10. Hopefully Paramount will do a new transfer and exchange program like Sony did for 5th Element.
I want Saving Private Ryan!
By the time I finally get Blu-Ray, Gladiator should be fixed. Braveheart is definately my first Blu-Ray buy, I love that movie to death!
Movies I've never seen and stuff I've never heard of. Not purchasing anything this week.
Wait wait, movies you've never seen or heard of? You've never seen or heard of Gladiator or Braveheart? Man, those were two of the best movies from the 90s that were semi-realistic historical embelishments of how great these people who did or in some cases did not exist were.
It sucks that the Gladiator transfer is poor but braveheart should be worth it!
No, I've never seen Bravehart or Gladiator. I am not into either of the main actors. Not into the epic blockbusters the studios churn out every year.
With the big blockbusters like BH and Gladiator, don't make the mistake and overlook one of the best films of the year, Sugar. It was fantastic and should not be missed.
You are right EM1, not into the epic blockbusters that studios churn out every year. Studios every year churn out epic motion pictures that win Best Picture at the academy awards and win numerous other awards, and are considered some of the greatest movies of all time. That happens often.
As for historical accuracy, thats why these are called motion pictures, real stories are told in biographies.
I have just over 50 Blu-rays and I paid $10 each for them. (Mostly used, some new on ebay)
I refuse to pay any more than that.
For all those Aussies - Universal Pictures in Australia are releasing GLADIATOR in a limited edition Metal Slipcase! - check it out: www.universalpicturesaustralia.com/gladiator