Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Blu-Ray Christmas List

Alrighty all your Blu-Ray owners out there. I am making a "wish list" of Blu-Ray movies that I need to look into putting on my wish list for Christmas.

It all started when I kept hearing about some movie called Baraka that so many people talk about on other forums.
What is so enticing about that movie? I really had never heard of it before about 3 weeks ago.

A few movies on my wish list are:
* Iron Man
* Dark Knight
* I, Robot
* I Am Legend (Not totally sold on this one)
* Gone in 60 Seconds (Yeah, it's corny, but for some reason I like it).

What else should I be looking at that are really great Blu-Ray movies?

One idea is that you could go to highdefdigest.com and click on the blu-ray reviews, then sort by rating based on the movie, video, audio, overall, etc. I enjoy their reviews for the most part, the most informative part being the actual review of the disc and how it performs.

i would add to that:
Wall-e
Transformers (great demo disc, and like you with 60 Seconds, while not the best movie i just enjoy it)
Harry Potter 1-5 are all very impressive
Ratatouille
Batman Begins ( may as well have both )

It all depends on your tastes of course, but all those are great DISCS.

Thanks Steve. I've been out at hidefdigest.com off and on all day...

I have Transformers, the first 5 Harry Potter movies, and Batman Begins all on HD-DVD, so I should be set there.

I had forgotten about Ratatouille. That was a cute movie. Wall-e I saw at a drive-in (yup, we still have them in Iowa) last summer with the kids. They weren't sold on it as there wasn't a lot of dialog, but maybe I should revisit that idea too.

Keep the ideas and suggestions coming, and if anyone knows the "secret" around the popularity of Baraka, let me know...

The Nightmare Before XMas is pretty well done, especially the audio.

Nick, the movie on Blu-ray is visually stunning, it's the first of its kind 8K scan from a fully restored 70MM film.

Sleeping Beauty and Kung Fu Panda are a couple other movies that I feel are excellent in Blu-ray and great for the kids. I have the Dark Knight, Wall-E, as well as the second Narnia on pre-order from Amazon.

Hitman is one of my favorite Blu-ray demo disks, and also a movie I really enjoy (and did not expect to).

The Dave Matthews Radio City concert Blu-ray is also fantastic.

I'd pass on I Am Legend... I own it and wish I hadn't bought it, though I'm not much into the horror flicks, so I should have known better.

Jason

My favorite Blu-rays so far (as far as both liking the movies as well as the presentation):

Apocalypto
Cars
Iron Man
Juno
Kill Bill: Volume 1
Kill Bill: Volume 2
Kung Fu Hustle
No Country For Old Men
Run Lola Run
Sunshine

Obviously some of those have more over-the-top audio, but I thought they were all fun.

The James Bond set, if you like 007.

Thanks guys. Our stupid internet was down so I couldn't comment sooner. Actually, it was down for a huge chunk of central Iowa as someone cut through 2 fiber pipes. One had 96 fiber strands and the other had 126 fiber strands. What a mess. Anyway, it gave me time to re-wire my equipment rack and move some gear around to get ready for when I can put the Blu-Ray player in (Christmas). All cables are in place and labeled.

Now to keep the movie suggestions coming so I can pick out a top few and get them ordered.

re: Baraka...it's beautiful lush photography shot in 70mm. It's certainly worth seeing, but you may want to rent it before dropping $20 on it. It's not a "movie" in the traditional sense of the word. There's really no plot, or narrative.

Would it be worth the cost to get the Blu-Ray versions of Batman Begins and Transformers (which I already own on HD-DVD) to be able to hear the HD-Audio?

Since my receiver doesn't have HDMI audio, and my HD-DVD player doesn't have analog outputs, I only hear the "regular" DD5.1 audio (which is still good) with my HD-DVD versions of these movies.

With my Blu-Ray set up, I will be able to tap into the HD-audio via analog and I am wondering if they are worth buying again (only for better sound potentially, since I already have the HD picture)???

I really liked the sound on Transformers, but I don't know that it's worth buying again. I think the only way I'd buy it again is if I really liked the movie and I was getting rid of the HD DVD version. Batman Begins I bought on Blu-ray after already having given the HD DVD away, but I'm still second-guessing that choice. I definitely want to own The Dark Knight, so I figured I may as well own the previous installment, but subsequent viewings of Batman Begins don't really do a lot for me, and from an audio standpoint, I can't even really remember any scenes that stood out for me.

Sounds good. Just that much less to worry about buying to get a library started.

I picked up Amazon's gold box deal yesterday, 7 James Bond Blu-Rays for $65. Then I have the Bill Me Later a shot for another $10 off. Not bad for $55 shipped free, no tax.

Gotta get that no tax now, I can't imagine that'll exist for too much longer.

I don't have many, but I'd recommend:

1) Fifth Element
2) Casino Royale
3) David Attenborough Planet Earth series
4) Master and Commander

Regards,
David

Dang, I'm sorry I missed that deal, I would have been all over it!

Jason

I picked up Iron Man ($26 at Amazon) and Kung Fu Panda ($20 at Amazon) on sale for $19 each at Target today. I will just keep my eyes open for other deals between now and Christmas, and worst case, I'll get others from Amazon or some other e-tailer....