DVD Question

Alien

Barry,
Here’s a recommendation for something different — Indian classical music on the saxophone by Kadri Gopalnath

Gem Tones
~ Kadri Gopalnath

http://www.amazon.com/Gem-Tones-Kadri-Gopalnath/dp/B00004RIW4/ref=pd_bxgy_m_text_b/
102-8029338-2447362

(There are two works in that link)

My must have’s

-Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble Live from Austin, Texas
-Pearl Jam – Live at Madison Square
-Ben Harper – Hollywood Bowl
-Dave Matthews Band – Central Park
-Caddyshack

A Musicares Person of the Year Tribute to James Taylor

Roy Orbison: Black & White Night

Procol Harum: Live at the Union Chapel

ELO: Live at Wembley

Concert for George

extended edition of LOTR adds a lot of depth to the story. You probably have to be a fan of the books though. Not too much of a fan though considering they stray from the story somewhat

This is Spinal Tap– Sheer brilliance. Even if one doesn’t get half of the rock & roll references, it remains one of the funniest films ever made. Plus, there are a few gems in the deleted scenes (Tap at the Zoo is a personal favorite). Word of warning: Do not eat or drink anything near the Stonehenge performance. The last thing we need is another death by vomit.

If one enjoys the Guestian Weltanschaung, Waiting for Guffman, and Best in Show are also hilarious.

you like rock, right? plus a hilarious, poignant story = Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Rustler’s Rhapsody – get it for a couple of bucks. A cowboy movie along the lines of Airplane, but subtle, beautiful, dumb. Andy Griffith plays the corrupt, gay cattle baron .

One of the greats: Little Big Man.

Re format wars: who knows. Bet the hardware manufacturers sure are tired of it. I’m going to wait a bit, but I need to start burning HD in the next 6 months or so.

oh my goodness, what a difficult question.

based on your tastes that you’ve revealed, i’d say:

music: “straight, no chaser” (documentary on thelonious monk); hard day’s night (i’m assuming it’s on DVD!); “jazz on a summer’s day” (the famous ’57 newport jazz festival where paul gonsalves tore it up for ellington); “last of the blue devils” (a warm tribute to the Kansas City jazz tradition, featuring basie, mcshann, joe turner, jo jones, and many more); that pretty cool documentary that came out last year on the canadian train adventure in 1970 with janis joplin, the band, the dead, and sundry others….

tv: the recently issued first season of perry mason; the sandbaggers (fabulous ’70s brit spy); the original black-and-white roger moore saint; the complete mrs. peel avengers; larry sanders show….

movies: recent maltese falcon 3pack (including the “classic,” which was the third version made); the altman run that includes MASH, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Thieves Like Us, and California Split; a billy wilder collection (i’m sure there are several); the greatest ’50s B movie of all time “kiss me deadly;” “on the waterfront….”

and many more, but that’s top of head.

and no, i have no clue what to do about format….

As a film maker I would say you must own both

Koyaanasqatsi
and Powasgaatsi

Another more literal movie along these lines is

One Giant Leap

I am also watching the HD format wars closely. I was ready to declare Blu-Ray the winner since it is a Sony format and Sony releases the films. But the ne wild card is the porn industry has selected HD DVD because Sony doesn’t want any porn on Blu-Ray. Now, I dunno…

Western (long) – the Lonesome Dove miniseries

For an alternative angle, in my opinion, the best “Ski Movie” Video ever produced is Groove, Requiem in the Key of Ski by Greg Stump, great music, the first boardercross competition, attempted backflips on surfboards by Laird Hamilton and juxtiposed with the first Iraq war, which was happening during filming and editing…

Barry:

Happy New Year!

This is a question I know something about. (being a film and tech geek living in Los Angeles).

DVD vs. BluRay/HDDVD
——————–
Short answer: buy HD where possible or wait.
I’ve seen very, very nice home HD installations and done back-to-back DVD vs. HD tests. Although everyone talks about the high resolution of HD, one other benefit is the larger color space. Skin tones, for example, are more complex and richer on HD.

Nearly all television is now being shot on HD and downsampled. Earlier libraries are being redigitized for HD.

I can’t tell you who will win between Blu-Ray and HD, but standard definition is dead. (Early rumblings here in Hollywood is that the Blu-Ray replication houses are balking on running adult content. This potentially points to HDDVD being the eventual winner.)

11 suggestions for your library
——————————-

1. Die Hard
2. Fight Club
3. Terminator & Terminator 2
4. Cape Fear (with De Niro)
5. Bound
6. Boogie Nights
7. Magnolia
8. The Matrix
9. Fargo
10. Batman Returns

I could watch any of these movies anytime.

Go here and read about it first:

http://tinyurl.com/2l4lvy

Then go here for the cd sampler:

http://tinyurl.com/33b5ec

(the sampler may erroneously attribute every piece to Chopin)

Then go here and get the DVD:

http://tinyurl.com/2cjxye
—
I don’t have to, because I got up it seems like before the regular time slot for CBS’s “Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt” to watch (and tape) Horowitz’s triumphant return to Moscow, live as it happened, along with every little muffled cough and teardrop from the packed audience that evening in Moscow. I’ve still got the VHS tape and I wonder how it’s lasted for so many playings.

Get the DVD; the humanity is near as worthy as the magnificent music.

A personal favorite is the Criterion Collection version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The commentary with the good Dr. is amazing.

Television
Firefly (defunct TV series) (It was filmed in letterbox)
Wonderfalls (one season wonder that is really odd but really good)

Movies
Serenity (Firefly movie)
Leon, The Professional (European cut of The Professional much better)
The Thin Man movies
The Score

B-movie indulgence
Cannibal Women of the Avocado Jungle of Death (if you can stand Bill Mahr)
Welcome to Planet Earth (Hey, you can’t help laughing when a guy is beaten to death with his own leg, what’s not to like)

Nice high-quality problem you got there Barry.

I went with BluRay because my kid’s PS3 came with it. I bought two DVD movies in BluRay format. Expensive at $27.00 and $34.00. I’ll just say there is a reason DVD players can be had for under $30.00 and movies are in the bargain bin. 56K modems got pretty cheap too before the migration to broadband.

It’s hard to describe how the BluRay picture is superior to broadcast HD movies but as soon as I saw the picture I immediately realized how much it looked like a theater screen. HD broadcast is stunning in its clarity but when you get an HD format DVD you will see it. Price points are still too high and the two movies I have are going to be it until prices come down. But I did want to see a BluRay movie since I’ve been using an HD camcorder for a year. Still storing it on my hard drive in HD format (10 Gbs/hour) and waiting for affordable BluRay DVD burners to watch it in the living room and send to grandma.

I’m not too worried about the format wars. I’m hearing there are dual-format players already being demonstrated. Think DVD/VCR decks.

The oddball and eclectic are welcome!

Are you talking to me? The Taxi Driver

Oh…and ALL of the PINK Panther movies with Peter Sellers (yes I know some are better than others, but get the boxed set)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Edward Scissorhands

The In-Laws (sellers/arkin)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (I like Tim Burton’s stuff!)

I just went out to see Notes on a Scandal. Extraordinary acting. Dark, dark story line.

No Monty Python? Need the Holy Grail at least…

There’s a boxed set of anime by Hayao Miyazaki that’s just brilliant. [“At Pixar, when we have a problem and we can’t seem to solve it, we often take a laser disc of one of Mr. Miyazaki’s films and look at a scene in our screening room for a shot of inspiration. And it always works! We come away amazed and inspired.” Lasseter]
Don’t wait for the Disney releases.

By the way, the NY Times ran a recent piece, _In Raw World of Sex Movies, High Definition Could Be a View Too Real_. Some of the folks are having more cosmetic surgery and apparently razor burn is a big problem in HD. Enough said…
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/22/business/media/22porn.html?em&ex=1169874000&en=095fbc48a9e48d18&ei=5070

Many, many excellent choices from above — you can’t go wrong with any of them. To really take advantage of 5.1, Matrix is a must. Das Boot is excellent, as well.

just to jump back in with a few more (and kudos to everyone’s excellent suggestions);

more music: “gimmie shelter;” “hendrix at monterrey;” the recent documentary about new york doll arthur kane whose name is escaping me

more tv: “peter gunn;” the classic 39 honeymooners episodes; the twilight zone

more movies: in my altman list above, i missed “the long goodbye;” “breathless” (the original); “weekend;” “jules et jim;” “rashomon;” “the day the earth stood still;” “2001;” “last tango in paris” (brando is unbelievable); “the thin man;” “north by northwest”

ok, i’ll stop now!

Sopranos – that’s really nice to have on DVD, and much easier than trying to watch a whole season on HBO, even with TiVo.

And anything by Lars Von Trier, you’ll never see this stuff on TV and it’s soooo good: esp. The Kingdom (I only saw Series One), Breaking the Waves, and especially- best of the bunch- Dogville.

Things you might not buy, but should:

Meet the Feebles

Peter “LOTR” Jackson before he became directs this.. this.. thing. It has to be seen to be believed. In short, it’s the Muppets, more or less, if they were real. They have a variety show, they fall in love, they lie, cheat, and steal, they have drug addictions and ‘nam flashbacks, the works. They even shoot porn on the side to make a few bucks. And since this was the old, unreconstructed Peter Jackson (of “Dead Alive” fame, still the single goriest gore film I have ever seen), they snap and go on shooting rampages. The budget was low in the first place, the DVD transfer is not great, the sound was never good, but you simply must own it. Among my favorites, ever.

Three thumbs and a severed puppet’s head up.

Wonderfalls box (seconding suggestion above)

A directionless youth starts having inanimate objects tell her to do things. Hijinks ensue. Rather unbelievably, it absolutely works. The casting is nice, the writing tight and solid, and there is a satisfying season arc. Fox buried it after two episodes, for no good reason. The mirror image to Idiocracy, which should have been good, wasn’t, and got buried because even Fox has no business releasing a feature-length SNL skit.

Two thumbs up.

Parents

A cubicle drone at Showtime somehow got his script made, which few have seen, more’s the pity. The plot is simple: in an oddly hallucinatory setting not unlike the 1950s of television, a very odd little boy starts to notice some even odder things about his parents. “What were they before they were leftovers?” is the catchphrase, but this is more than a one-note horror gimmick about cannibalism. While not perfect, it delivers a surfeit of little delights to anyone whom the regular world and the normal people in it occasionally befuddle. I put it up with Blue Velvet and Heathers as the late-’80s triptych of critical glances askance at the dominant culture.

One thumb up.

Repo Man (1984)

There are a lot of good suggestions above, but this is one you should see.

~~~
BR You’ll find one in every car . . . you’ll see . . .

In no particular order:

Chariots of Fire
Kundun
Big Trouble in Little China
Henry V (Branagh version)
Much Ado About Nothing (ditto)
Lawrence of Arabia
Master And Commander

well if you are at all into skiing…then I would have to say the greatest ski movie of all time:

The Blizzard of Ahhhs.

Scott Schmidt, Glenn Plake, Mike Hattrup, and of course, cookie the sweede.

For starting a film collection, Bop on over to the American Film Institute and browse the 100 best film lists (there are more than best ever list because of genre definitions) and pick a few dozen.

I don’t collect movies as there are virtually none I’d want to see more than once (as opposed to music which I can play until the laser eats through the plastic). The corollary to this is, only buy movies you CAN watch more than once (or twice, or n times).

If it were me, I’d buy things I would want to see that are otherwise unavailable (or may soon become permanently unavailable), for example, old 30’s/40’s movie serials, “classic” TV shows (meaning 40 years old or more — Ernie Kovaks, Monty Python…).

For music, with a windfall I’d buy a genre that I had no familiarity with, but figure I could stand (or at least appreciate, or at least potentially enjoy), say classical. Anything you know nothing about, or never had time for.

HD/BlueRay/etc.? Dunno. Have both. So far, used neither. Makes the nonsense prettier, I suppose.

Remember those clever ads sometime back by a company whose name I never even paid atention to? The ones that said, all versions of everything, delivered right to you through the net, any time you want?

If the powers that be stopped fighting long enough to implement such a thing, your question would be moot.

How about some great mysteries not of Mr. Market’s making: The Complete (1st through 6/7th Seasons) Columbo. [More enjoyable — to say nothing of efficient — without the commercials.]

Or, a couple of documentary-type DVD features that provide (could it be called contrarian?) food for thought: “The God Who Wasn’t There” and “The Corporation”.

Maybe the recent DVD feature (as differentiated from the old audio CD): “Leonard Cohen, I’m Your Man”.

“A Little Romance” from George Roy Hill with a teenage Diane Lane plus Laurence Olivier and Sally Kellerman.

And, just in case, some CD vocals/songs that might go along with your taste but were too young to catch or appreciate the first time around: Jane Olivor, Billy Vera, Jennifer Warnes, and Karla Bonoff.

chk out these two also,
Falling Down,
Romeo is Bleeding.

Most media shelves are full of entertainment, just like on cable. So, why buy more entertainment? How about some documentaries instead?

I’m not referring to edutainment like Crocodile Hunter or more remastered clips of WWII that find their way into titles like “Guns that Won WWII”, “Secrets of WWII”, “WWII in Color”, or “Hitler’s Women”. That’s available 24×7 on basic cable.

I submit these for your consideration:
Manufacturing Consent
The Corporation
Fog of War
Control Room
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
An Inconvenient Truth
Jesus Camp
Who Killed the Electric Car?
The Road to Guantanamo
Bowling for Columbine

I further submit for your consideration all B&W Twilight Zone episodes, because they are so rich in wisdom and teach the viewer much about the human animal.

Again, I suggest buying these things because:
– They’re rarely shown on TV/cable. (One of your criteria.)
– All your friends already watched Goodfellas, History of the World (Part I), The Matrix, Apocalypse Now, every Ahnuld movie, right? Now, when they come over for dinner, you have something new and different to watch, lend them, or argue about.

Lastly, I recommend watching (not necessarily owning) these recent films:

Thank You for Smoking
The Last King of Scotland

and these older ones (if u haven’t):
Monsters, Inc.
Toy Story II
Time Bandits
The Kentucky Fried Movie
Spirited Away
Howl’s Moving Castle

Oh, forgot to mention my favourite director, Terrence Malick. In order of preference:

Thin Red Line (brilliantly shot war film – it’s three hours long but I’ve seen it easily 10 times)

Days of Heaven (another brilliantly shot film, well paced)

Badlands (early Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek)

His recent, The New World is decent too – Christian Bale rescues what Colin Farrell ruins.

Another call for the Wire. Given the relatively modest viewership of this series surely notable just how evangelical Wire-heads are. It really is *that* good.

Not convinced? Head over to Metacritic and check out the reviews of what is routinely referred to as the best thing on TV.

Series one is the most gripping police procedural on TV. The later series are less structured, arguably more ambitious but utterly absorbing.

If you like British humour (note the correct spelling here), the Black Adder series is a hilarious sleeper.

You still buy DVDs? I’d skip buying them and just subscribe to Netflix or BlockBuster’s thing… that way when the new formats take over you’re ready to switch over, and you can watch whatever movies you want in the meantime.

Amazon gift certs are good for many other things — think about getting a new digital camera, or some other big ticket item.

Otherwise, the Matrix boxed collection is nice with all the making-of videos for each episode. I’d also spring for the West Wing boxed set (for me) and the Sex and the City boxed set (for the wife). I’d do a search for anything “director’s cut” and start adding things to the list…

Vera Cruz

List of Adrian Messenger

Considering your musical leanings, the Blu-ray format will likely suit you better, but then we have availability/compatibility issues, so the Phillips dual format machine would be my choice, if A/B side by side picture and sound were comparable.

You would be surprised how electronics (the quality and construction of components) makes a difference in quality of output.

Once long ago while shopping for a CD player, I did an A/B comparison between a high end Denon and a mid line Magnavox.

I was blown away when thw sales guy switched from Denon to Magnavox and the soundstage extended about four feet wider on each side of the speaker placement. Much wider soundstage. You may find similar differences between Blu-ray, HD DVD and amongst players from different manufacturers. IOW, go play!

If you like BBC comedy, you may want to check out “I’m Alan Partridge” and “Black Books” – first class comedy those

As far as the nextgen stuff is concerned – I do get a feeling that HD-DVD is a good enough solution, and does seem a more cost-effective option, whereas Blu-ray in my view is something similar to 3G a few years aback – a lot of potential but so far premature and not working horribly well – either way I will not rush in to either and stick with the DVD for the time being and eventually adopt to whatever Apple introduces in the iMac. Although that is mostly because I’m still bitter about the whole LaserDisc fiasco, being stuck with that mammoth of a player for well over a decade now (letting go is obviously not an option).

The Last Waltz – a movie of the last concert of The Band, directed by Martin Scorsese.

Outlaw Josey Wales

Chinatown (!) :)

The Apu trilogy, by director Satajayit Ray. I watch it every 2 or 3 years for what it can teach me about the world.

The 7-Up series by Michael Apted

Freaks and Geeks, the late, lamented tv series

The Wire, all seasons–needs, and stands up to, repeated viewing

Killer of Sheep–an early,haunting Charles Burnett film, tough to find.

Freeze, Die, Come to Life–a Russian film that kills me very time I see it. Someone burned me a coy…don’t know if you can find it on DVD.

Barry,

Firefly (the series) is one of the best kept secrets out there. Joss Whedon at his best. Truly a masterpiece. Treat yourself, it is an anti government polemic of sorts and is very quotable. Especialy when you learn to curse in Mandarin from watching it.

I searched through through the comments but did not see one of the greatest of all time:
The Third Man

In the comments, but excellent and very relevant:
Koyaanisqatsi
Lawrence of Arabia

Buster Keaton: one Week and The General
The Russians Are Coming
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Enjoy!

The Station Agent

Country Boys, the David Sutherland film that was shown on Frontline. Its really a great and powerful show.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/countryboys/

I’d recommend Carl Sagan’s Cosmos and Clarke’s Civilisation. Large-scale documentaries like those are perfect for DVD.

To add a few things not listed by others:

BBC series:
– I, Claudius (not the greatest production values but an engrossing storyline…)
– Reilly, Ace of Spies
– Heat of the Sun (a BBC mystery series set in Kenya)

Surely someone listed “The Office” (the British version)?

My favorite all-time movie is the Maltese Falcon. I also recommend “Soldier of Orange”, Paul Verhoeven’s first “big budget” movie that launched a lot of careers in the US (Verhoeven, Hauer, Krabbe, de Bont (camera)) Worth seeing…

The only DVD set I own is ‘Firefly’, and I highly recommend it. ‘The Sandbaggers’ was also a very good British show.

the lord of the rings series, especially the extended editions

if you like nature documentaries, “the blue planet’ seas of life is an AMAZING documentary, with a lot of never before filmed material, eeryone that has seen it loves it

Some good ones that haven’t been mentioned:

Three Days of the Condor
Fawlty Towers (hilarious 80s British comedy series with John Cleese)
All The President’s Men
Body Heat
Seven
Harold & Maude
Twelve Angry Men
Paris, Texas
Chinatown
The Prisoner (60s British drama series with Patrick McGoohan)
Double Indemnity
The Verdict
Dr. Strangelove
Lone Star
Schindler’s List
Crimes & Misdemeanors
Moonstruck
Gandhi
Malcolm X
Silence of the Lambs
Adaptation
Goldfinger
Brazil
Apollo 13
Sid & Nancy
The French Connection
The Last Seduction
Sunset Boulevard
Rain Man
Notorious, or anything by Alfred Hitchcock

Touch of Evil

Orson Welles’ dark, atmospheric story of crime and corruption. The movie begins with one of the most famous shots ever made.

The Pope of Greenwich Village

High Plains Drifter

You have to love the spaghetti westerns and this is my favorite.

I now have a great list to load up my netflix queue – thanks!