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From a UK site, dated 16 September 2008.
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Considering this is STILL my favorite film of an exceptional strong summer, I hope it finds an audience at home
Looks a bit light on special features, but as long as the PQ is as good as possible with some uncompressed audio to back it up, this should be a reference disc for some time.
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Re: Speed Racer - Blu Ray - Sept 2008
This will be a definite Blu-ray purchase for me (it will sit nicely with the 5 DVDs of the original series on my shelf). I don't even own a BD player yet and I've already lined this one up to buy. While I wouldn't call it the best film of the year or anything, I do think too many critics lambasted it without being familiar with the originals. I've been watching the originals again with my kids and the more I watch, the clearer their influence on the film becomes.
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes time, and it annoys the pig.
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Re: Speed Racer - Blu Ray - Sept 2008
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Originally Posted by Chuck Mayer
as long as the PQ is as good as possible
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Wonder if the BD will represent the original source or the theatrical look?
Movies are: "The Greatest Artform".
HD should be for EVERYONE!
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Re: Speed Racer - Blu Ray - Sept 2008
I'm expecting a port of the original digital files and nothing less.
\"My opinion is that (a) anyone who actually works in a video store and does not understand letterboxing has given up on life, and (b) any customer who prefers to have the sides of a movie hacked off should not be licensed to operate a video player.\"-- Roger Ebert
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Re: Speed Racer - Blu Ray - Sept 2008
Luckily, the Blu-ray seems to be regularly priced. It's a three disc set, but it's unlikely that anyone will ever use the last two discs.
Disc two is a DVD game and disc three is a digital copy of the film.
To anyone who hasn't seen the film, I fully recommend it. It's probably the most entertaining film I've seen all year. Just remember to have fun.
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Re: Speed Racer - Blu Ray - Sept 2008
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Originally Posted by PaulDA
This will be a definite Blu-ray purchase for me (it will sit nicely with the 5 DVDs of the original series on my shelf). I don't even own a BD player yet and I've already lined this one up to buy. While I wouldn't call it the best film of the year or anything, I do think too many critics lambasted it without being familiar with the originals. I've been watching the originals again with my kids and the more I watch, the clearer their influence on the film becomes.
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I haven't really watched any of the original series, but I find it hard to believe that the cartoon had as many flash backs, flash forwards, and just generally too dense of a backstory as the first third of this film had. I think this was where the greatest mistakes were made if this was ever truly aimed at kids as the movie's promotion would have you believe. If it wasn't, I guess it was just simply a case of grossly over-estimating the interest in this property.
That said, I couldn't recommned this film as a blind-buy to anyone, but definitely a rental. I may pick it up for demo material/family movie night viewing (when my kids are a little older this time) if the title is deeply discounted at some point.
Universal Blu-ray Discs I will not be buying while they're offered only as Blu-ray + DVD 'flipper' discs:
The Jackal, Out of Africa, and Traffic.
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Re: Speed Racer - Blu Ray - Sept 2008
An under-rated film (coming from someone who was never a fan of the cartoon), and one that I eagerly await on blu.
The fan antipathy the Wachowskis incurred as a result of the Matrix sequels unfairly tainted this effort.
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"From the two trailers I've seen, the movie looks like AIDS."--Recent thread post on AICN
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Re: Speed Racer - Blu Ray - Sept 2008
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Paul Arnette
I haven't really watched any of the original series, but I find it hard to believe that the cartoon had as many flash backs, flash forwards, and just generally too dense of a backstory as the first third of this film had. I think this was where the greatest mistakes were made if this was ever truly aimed at kids as the movie's promotion would have you believe. If it wasn't, I guess it was just simply a case of grossly over-estimating the interest in this property.
That said, I couldn't recommned this film as a blind-buy to anyone, but definitely a rental. I may pick it up for demo material/family movie night viewing (when my kids are a little older this time) if the title is deeply discounted at some point.
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Flashbacks were not uncommon, though flashforwards were not really there. I was referring to the business rivalry plot elements that people derided as not in tune with the material--that kind of stuff is in a lot of episodes. The road race in the middle of the film is definitely inspired by the originals--probably the moment when the film most resembles the originals, actually. The ideal time for this movie would have been 20 years ago, in terms of target audience and attachment to the originals, but it was only possible in this decade (this past 24-36 months?). In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed it and it will likely be the first BD to be screened here (I've been promised a player for Christmas, but that doesn't mean I can't get a few key titles beforehand
).
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes time, and it annoys the pig.
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Re: Speed Racer - Blu Ray - Sept 2008
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Originally Posted by John Hermes
Yeah, let's keep Lawrence of Arabia on the back burner and have more Speed Racer releases. Geeze.....
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One can enjoy many types of movies--at least most people can. Lawrence of Arabia will take more time and effort to bring to BD properly (Speed Racer just needs to be ported over from a digital source--much simpler procedure). It's not a zero sum game. Both of those titles will sit on my shelf in BD.
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes time, and it annoys the pig.
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Re: Speed Racer - Blu Ray - Sept 2008
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Originally Posted by Nick Graham
I have no idea how WB has gone from being the kings of optical home video to being inferior to even a mini like Lionsgate, but it has happened.
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It certainly has. This decision is just mind-boggling. I don't flow the insider threads that closely at blu-ray.com anymore, but I seem to recall mention being made by Max Power that Warner Bros. employed some focus group consisting of their target audience, which was 'Joe Six Pack' apparently according to him, and because they either don't have the means or the 'ear' to tell the difference DD 5.1 is what we're going to get more often than not. That is, of course, all rumor; but at least that was the gist I got, and their release specs lately seem to back up the end result if not the means used to reach the decision.
Universal Blu-ray Discs I will not be buying while they're offered only as Blu-ray + DVD 'flipper' discs:
The Jackal, Out of Africa, and Traffic.
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Re: Speed Racer - Blu Ray - Sept 2008
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Bleddyn Williams
You know, I can live with titles like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" not having a lossless track - its what? An original mono soundtrack from 1975?
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Yes, even those new bare bones "action titles" have Dolby TrueHD (most of them, at least)..
Since HD DVD is out of the picture and companies doesn´t have to "encode" films with only "max 30gb" in mind (
), it´s a bit strange that this type of title is using 25gb-disc... Perhaps it can still change?
Don´t get me wrong, I love Warner, but you know...
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Re: Speed Racer - Blu Ray - Sept 2008
From Blu-ray.com, it does have a TrueHD track.
Blu-ray.com - Speed Racer (Blu-ray)
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