Weekly RoundUp 1/11/05 (1 Viewer)

[Ric Easton]

Thanks, Mike!

Looks like The Village and possibly Leon for me.

Ric

 

[ChrisBEA]

Fifth Element and Leon for me!
Village possibly, just for my SHyamalan collection, I was rather lukewarm to it.
Possibles:
Ghost in the Shell and Samurai Champloo

 

[Dax P]

'Pat' Wahlquist >> I have yet to be sold on The Village. I missed it in the theaters, and I have yet to hear of anyone who liked it.

I liked it. With some reservations, but in the end I'm more favorable than NOT on it... I think Shyamalan is a really talented filmmaker (and also, a schmuck) and this piece of work wasn't an exception. But to be safe, you may want to rent rather than buy. See it, though. I think it's worth that, at least, even if you hate it.

I was going to wait on Wiseguy Vol 4 (ticked off that they're holding off on the Dead Dog arc 'til Vol 6, when it SHOULD be next), but BB's price is probably too good for me to resist...

Probably getting Fifth Element. Don't 'love' the movie, but... Milla. And it all LOOKS really cool (hated Chris Tucker in it, though).

Probably double-dipping on Leon. Or maybe I'll wait awhile. Love the movie, want to see the new extras (package art is really cool, too), but might decide I don't need it NOW...

 

[Colin Davidson]

Welcome back Mike.

Fifth Element UE for me.

Also my BB ad shows double RZ points for Fifth Element and Leon.

 

[Jeff Meyers]

Fry's Ad:

The Village $14.99

AVAILABLE 1.11.05
1 DAY ONLY
Limit 1 Per Title Per Customer

 

[Chris S]

Just wanted to add my thanks to Mike and Patrick for the great work as always!

Chris S.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

**BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL! The Village AND Without A Paddle are available. Be careful not to buy either one!



Just Leon SE for me this week. Plus I think The Fifth Element is finally due for a second chance. (I'm not a big fan.)

 

[TonyD]

i was thinking the same thing.

i'll be upgrading 5th since i have some credits to use at bestbuy.

 

[Scott Leopold]

I'm also curious about this. I have all the Treasures, but wasn't sure if the new releases had anything different on them.

 

[Dave Corder]

Monk: Season 2 comes out this week? Boy, did I miss that announcement. Guess I'll be stopping by Best Buy (to PM to Circuit City and get my RZ points) on Tuesday.

Thanks Mike!

 

[David Williams]

Just from the work I did entering them into the DVD Aficionado website, it looks like all the material on Mickey & Goofy are covered in their respective Treasures sets. Donald has 2 cartoons not already available in The Chronological Donald V1, which logically would appear in a future set.

As for Chip 'N Dale, I just don't know if these cartoons will be replicated in later Treasures sets. There are 23 cartoons that feature Chip ' N Dale according to the Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts, so these 9 cartoons could represent the only ones titled under the banner of 'Chip 'N Dale' while their other 14 cartoons would be found in future sets (i.e. The Chronological Donald V2 & The Complete Pluto V2). The 2 cartoons where the Chipmunks appeared unnamed (Private Pluto, Squatters Rights) appear on The Complete Pluto V1.

From the initial press releases, it would appear that these releases are cartoon only. There was no talk of extras that I recall.

Many kudos and kind words to Mike & Patrick for the hard work.

 

[Tan Hoang]

Fifth Element and Leon 4 me.... I'm sure glad I traded in my previous Fifth Element dvd to Blockbuster when they gave you $8 per, ya know the studios are gonna SE every dvd available before the next generation dvds, I'm just glad I didn't have to wait long for the Fifth Element... I'm keeping my original Leon: uncut international edition for the isolated score track....

When will Besson direct another movie and not just produce movies... he's a way better director than producer, I'm sorry to say

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Finally, a week off! This should help me with those Christmas bills and that new alternator for my car.

Regards,

 

[MikeEckman]

The transfer on this new disc is the same as the Fifth Element Superbit, which in my opinion is a reference transfer. I honestly do not believe you can possibly do any better on SD-DVD. I assume you already have the original release and if so, there is an improvement on the new one. Dont get me wrong, the original was pretty good too (for a 1997 DVD), but the new transfer is better. What does suck though is these new two disc SEs lose the DTS track, which was stellar as well.

As far as A/V goes, the Fifth Element Superbit disc has been my demo material for several years, and I feel that until the next generation is out, it will continue to be my disc of choice for demonstrations.

I might still buy this new SE for the supplements, but I am undecided...

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Definitely interested in MI-5, but they could drop the price some. After all, their 10-episode set costs more than a lot of TV seasons with 20+ episodes.

 

[george kaplan]

Hence my confusion about whether the new transfer is the same, and if it is different whether or not it's better.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Incorrect. Both the Leon and Fifth Element Deluxe Editions have DTS tracks. In fact, the Leon DTS track blows away the Dolby track. The DD and DTS tracks on Fifth Element are fairly comparable to each other.

Check out my Leon review here on the Forum. My Fifth Element review will be up tonight. (Quick summary: Movie is fun, transfer is excellent, DTS and DD audio both rock, extras look pretty interesting. I don't have the original Superbit release, so I can't compare them directly.)

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I want to let everyone know that I will be reviewing The Fifth Element: Deluxe Edition, Silver City, and Touch Of Pink. I am still a little behind on my screeners due to the backup. Fifth Element will be up tonight, and Silver City will probably be next. (If anyone is really jonesin' for a Touch Of Pink review, let me know and I'll do it next.)

I also have the following reviews in my queue for titles that have already been released. Please let me know if you have any requests for which you'd like to see first. (As of now, Riding Giants is first in line.)

• Blind Fury
• Augustus
• Riding Giants

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Aww, Bull Puckey! I missed that "King Solomon's Mines" was on the list. Oh well, it's not too expensive and maybe I should consider telecommuting.

Regards,

 

[Grant H]

Actually, you can quite easily--by getting rid of the Edge Enhancement. The Edge Enhancement on Fifth Element is what keeps it far from reference in my book. Too bad it's not a Fox film. Lately, they've been putting out a lot of nice transfers without any EE, at least on the bigger titles.

EDIT: After reading the review, it sounds like the NEW superbit (Deluxe Edition) may be a tad closer to reference since it says the EE is reduced on the new version. It was still apparent on the old Superbit, not horrid, but there. Can't get the pics to load though. Can we really say it's the same transfer if this is true? I guess if EE was applied during the encoding process.

Maybe Sony has finally upgraded their authoring equipment, what with Blu-Ray looming in the horizon.

Having just picked up my the old SB free at BB, I think I'll hold off on the Deluxe Edtion until HD. I'd never be able to get the purchase price of the DE for my SB. My TV isn't all that huge. To really appreciate any improvement, I might as well wait to see it in HD. Looks like some nice extras, but I haven't seen anythiong mentioning deleted scenes which is what I like most. I typically only watch extras once, if that, no matter how good they are. I always feel like I'm wasting valuable movie-watching time with my DVD library staring at me all the while.

Tempted to pick up Leon, but it figures it's a dollar more! Shipped from CC.com it's 18.24. Think I'll send a price-match request to DDD. By Friday I might be able to order it for closer to $18. Save me the gas of driving to State College to pick it up. Or I could try price-matching at Wal-Mart, if they even have it. They never have SB's anymore, but maybe they'll have this DE.