Anyone seen any reviews on the new Blu-Ray release? Wondering if it'll be worth upgrading on technical circumstances?

Sounds like a no brainer to me. I guess I need to leave work and pick it up.

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1100...feofbrian.html

I think this is my best BD purchase so far since it is one my favorite movies of all time.

Looks tempting, but given the still far from impressive video and audio (especially audio) I'll likely stick with the Criterion. If I only had the Anchor Bay disc this would be an easy decision.

It doesn't say so, but I suspect much of the two "different" docs contain the same behind the scenes stuff. I'm sure the interviews are new, but is there really more vintage doc footage?

My copy is going to be delivered tomorrow. Can't wait. I've been singing the theme song since Sunday.

For those one fence, I'm sure it will be in one of the next BOGO's.

It was thankfully part of the December 07 BOGO sale so I have it and 20 Million Miles to Earth on the way this week.

For some reason I thought this was advertised as a two disc set. I know the SD version is 2 disc but I thought that the BD was also two disc. To my surprise when I opened it there was only 1 disc inside. I would rather have only one disc in this case but I thought it was a bit strange. It is definitely worth the upgrade in my opinion.

Edit: Amazon is the one advertising it as a 2 disc set but unless I got ripped it is only 1 disc.

I watched BRIAN tonight and was blown away by the video transfer.

It doesn't look like an almost 30-year old movie! Most of the Monty Python features had a really grainy look.

But Brian on HD just looks stunning!

It's funny. When this whole high-def thing started I looked at my thousand plus DVD collection and said "there's no way I'm replacing these. I'll only buy new titles. How much better could they possibly make some of these older movies look." I've kind of stuck with that. If a title is re-released and it has been made better and it's out in both regular and blu-ray I'll buy the blu-ray to replace as I would have bought the regular one anyway. I've done this now with the Kubrick titles and Close Encounters. The one that I replaced and it wasn't a dual release was Blazing Saddles, and that's only because it came in that Blu-Ray boxset. I have Superman, Goodfellas, and Blade Runner on Blu-Ray, but I still have the same titles on regular DVD. With Life of Brian, I'll definitely be keeping the Criterion, so that's like those.

It'll be interesting to see this transfer as I was highly unimpressed by a newly-struck 35mm print I saw a couple years back.

Guessing they did some restoration work because both the theatrical and DVD presentation (Criterion) were as grainy as the Sahara.

Mine's on the way from Amazon. The Criterion transfer wasn't all that great and even had "cigarette burns" if I recall correctly. So I'll be glad to upgrade it. Hopefully this is a sign that Sony's willing to release more pre-1990 titles.

You will be impressed by this transfer. It has a few faults but overall it shimmers like the light of Brian.

Totally agree with you man. I was just amazed at the clarity and I think I spent more time just in awe of the transfer rather than paying attention to the movie.

Mine's on the way from Amazon. Last delivery from the BOGO's.

I didn't see it in hi-def and I just posted this in the other forum but I was also very, very happy with the transfer. I started with the cruddy Anchor Bay version that had scratch marks all over the place and kinda looked a little like it was underwater, and then there was the Criterion which was better, but it was still grainy and dark and had scratches and was fuzzy. I wasn't expecting much out of this. I thought, 'hey, how good can they make such an old low-budget movie look?' But Brian looks amazing. Colors pop, the detail is far beyond what I'd have thought one could wring from the negative and it looks like it was shot yesterday.

You guys aren't making it any easier for me to wait through my workday so I can watch it tonight...

Well...Get off the internet, get your work done, and go home early!

One hour and counting.

With my luck UPS won't deliver it until 7pm.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=32217

I, too, am amazed at the transfer. It has always looked a little "dark" to me in previous releases, but the blu-ray is simply stunning. The audio is a little "compressed" but I believe it was recorded that way.

So wtf is going on here? Is this thing OOP now or what? Was thinking about buying it but nada.

Looks like it's available on Amazon for ~$20 and Half for about the same, after shipping.

But the Amazon ones are from sellers. Target.com shows nothing for it in avaliability. Jesus. Somebody is selling BD $117 on Amazon.

Do we dare to dream Criterion has gotten the rights back?

Check your PM.