Hi-

I know the buyer sometimes needs to beware in the DVD world. I actually would like opinions whether or not I should upgrade on the following titles. Please be honest. If it's just a lousy documentary I'm missing out on, I won't be too upset.


1) The Right Stuff- I have the old flipper. I hear there's an SE out.
2) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest- " ".
3) Ran- I have the Fox Lorber edition. Wonderin' about the Masterworks.

Thanks in advance!

I was thinking of getting Straw Dogs and Black Hawk Down upgrades.Is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest the same as the laserdisc?I was also thinking of getting-Daughters of Darkness and Vampyres(better than the AB releases).

I have the new versions of Right Stuff, Cuckoo's Nest and Black Hawk Down. Each new release is definitely worth the upgrade.

Flynn--

Can you tell us why?

Good audio and video is all I care about anymore. For me, extras ruin the movie anyways. The ONLY thing I'll do is listen to a commentary if it's by a director I admire (PTA, Scorsese, Spike Jonze, Gilliam, etc).

On the issue of 'Ran' i would certainly replace the Fox Lorber version with that of the Masterworks purely on the fact that in comparison to the initial release the video quality is vastly improved.
Having said that...it is far from being a very good presentation of such a great film but unfortunately it's the best release outside of R2 Japan and France...(both are superior from what i have come to understand in terms of PQ, however no english subtitles)

Yes, all around.

ditto!


i like some of the newer superbit titles like: XXX, Bad Boys, & maybe the next leon & lawrence of arabia...
"better pictures & sound quality makes a good movie even better"

that's why i never really care with Black hawk down 3 disc... 2 extra disc for extras & they didn't even improve the picure/sound quality? the movie got nominated for best sound effect but no DTS?
sure...

Cuckoo's Nest is a marked improvement for sure, and sports a very good, informative commentary. 2nd disc is near worthless, though. The documentary is okay, but just okay.

Wellspring's Ran sports a vastly improved transfer (though still very much inferior to what Criterion would have done, and hopefully, what they will do in the future, now that they have relationswith Wellspring), good enough audio, and a pair of very good commenary tracks. They do so well with Fassbinder films, though...

Haven't seen Right Stuff yet, but considering that its a Warner two-discer, I'd say you'd be getting a big improvement.

Criterion's Straw Dogs is a must-have if you're a fan of the movie (or have never seen the movie in the first place, for that matter). Great special features all around...the Peckinpah documentary on the 2nd disc, the commentary, and the booklet inside are treasures. Picture and sound quality are tip-top among Criterions.

If you like Black Hawk Down, get the new disc. If you don't like Black Hawk Down, it shouldn't even be a consideration. I looked through the special features at a friend's house (who doesn't like the movie either, but is an enormous DVD buff, so he bought it), and I can't say its revived any interest in the flick for me. Its still a memory of a wasted winter's day.

I have never upgraded any of my DVDs. I hate to give money to any studio that plans to send out 2 different version to get more money from us. At least TLOTR have told us in advance that a 4 Disk SE will be coming out so we can make our choice in what we want. I bought the SE of TLOTR and got the 2 disk version for free.

If I had a 36 inch or higher HDTV, then maybe I would upgrade. My 27 inch TV does not show all the imperfections an HDTV would.

But, most of the ones that might be worth upgrading would be the old DVDs from 1997-2000.

bhd is not out of the question, any and all war buffs should get this just with all of the special features.

1) Yes - If you really like the film.
2) Yes - Absolutely, 100%.
3) Yes - With the same reservations that everyone else has... It's a better presentation than the old Fox Lorber disc but it's still a mess. Search for Masterworks in the Talk forum, this was covered extensively when it was released.

I suppose I can see where you are coming from, however, I'm pretty sure most studios don't plan on releasing multiple versions of the same movie. In many cases they are upgrading/remastering the transfers with the lastest and greatest techniques. There are a few exceptions (Holy Grail anyone?) I'd hate to think that studios weren't making an effort of some kind to constantly improve the quality of their catalogs.

Terminator 2 is a great example. First release years ago was pretty bad by today's standards, poor transfer, non-anamorphic, no extras, ect. Then came the Ultimate Edition, which everyone loved, decent transfer, TONS of extras. However, in the past few years, a few things happend. HD mastering improved greatly, allowing a new master to be created, resulting in a much improved DVD PQ that was simply not possible just a few years ago. Also, Cameron has changed his policy, and has given us one of the better commentary tracks I've heard in a while. Non of the extras are duplicated, and it's been available for a very reasonable price. I will admit that I did skip right over the first two versions, and only have the EE. I'd be hard pressed to say that I would have bought it otherwise.

The first release of T2 was anamorphic and had a decent (though perhaps not reference quality) transfer. To say it was "pretty bad" is an exaggeration. The later releases are better, but for its day it was a good disc.

I stand corrected! After looking through some reviews of the UE, it's funny how raving the reviews are "The picture is faultless, the sound and the picture are all perfect....ect" but now EE reviews just point out the edge enhancement, the color saturation, blah, blah, blah on the UE. It's all in the eye of the beholder I guess!

Good news is that DVD's seem to be getting better all the time, however, no one seems to be willing to wait for them to be "perfected" before their favorites get released on DVD.