Which movies of mine are best to show off my Theater (2 Viewers)

[Matt*B]

Hey all,

I was wondering which of my movies would be best to use to show off my theater. For picture I usually use one of the newest Pixar films, but in this case I am mostly worried about Sound -- although DTS is my fave, DD suggestions are welcome. I have a 5.1 setup.

So, which movies, which scenes, and for what?

Here's my collection: My Collection


Thanks guys -- your suggestions will be put into immediate use.

Thanks again ,

Matt

 

[Mike Wladyka]

Finding Nemo is a good one.

Inside the whale scene, Sub falling scene, darla tapping on the glass scene

Lord of the Rings -- lots of good scenes in all of the movies.

FOTR -- cave troll and balrog

Matrix movies -- again lots of good parts in all the movies

Helicopter gun in first movie along with the lobby shoot out. APU scene in the last one.


What kind of equipment do you have?

 

[RyanJE]

Rent the incredibles if you have a good sub. Its good picture and sound.

 

[RobertSiegel]

I always use TWISTER, as the soundtrack is one of the best, especially the DTS track. The sound of the tornado whirling around the room were expertly recorded, and show off a home theatre beautifully.

 

[Charlie Campisi]

I echo the above, except Twister, which I don't own so don't have an opinion. I'd add

Blade - opening night club scene
Blade II - throughout
Monsters, Inc. - walk to work, Boo laughing in Sully's apartment and causing power outage
X-Men 2 - I know you don't have it, but if you like X-Men, X2 has some good sound - voices during Dr. Xavier's time in the fake cerebro
ROTK-(another buy recommendation)-the battle scenes with the oliphaunts, battering ram and catapaults are really good

 

[MikeNg]

The Fifth Element. It's an older film, but the images are quite nice.

 

[John Garcia]

Blade II DTS-ES rocks.

Monsters INC, Toy Story 2, and Finding Nemo have a LOT of great scenes, and the Incredibles is a must have just for sound too.

SE7EN: SE doesn't have a lot of obvious stuff, but it has a GREAT DTS-ES track; especially the NIN title sequence.

T2:UE

Twister used to be good back in the day, but there are a lot of newer flics that are better. Other suggestions might be Gladiator DTS-ES, Titan AE DTS, SW episode 1 & 2.

I don't know if you like Asian Cinema, but I just watched House of Flying Daggers this weekend and there were a few awsome scenes at the beginning, most notably "Echo Game". Rent this one...

 

[Phil Iturralde]

1) Star Wars Ep. 1 & 2 - Pod Race Ep. 1; Rescue the Jedi Ep. 2 (LFE demo!)

2) "U571" - I hear splashes ... (LFE demo!)

3) "Dragonheart" - Draco circling Dennis Quaid while discussing the Old Knights Code (provides a unique 360 degree sound demonstration starting from the left front channel going clockwise, . . .that's most glorious! LFE demo!)

4) "Tomorrow Never Dies - SE" - Opening scenes, song & credits (LFE demo); many times we just ended up watching the whole movie

5) "Star Trek - Fist Contact" - "Borg attack" scenes & destruction (another LFE demo)

6) "Armageddon" - Opening scenes, asteroid landing (LFE demo!)

7) "Iron Giant" - Iron Giant following Hogart then sit's down; Giant's banzai jump into lake!! (LFE demo!)

8) "The Mask of Zorro" - Superbit - Opening scene's; swordfight after stealing the map; gold mine explosion (LFE demo)

9) "Spiderman 1 & 2" - Spiderman! (LFE demo!)

10) "Pearl Harbor" - Battle of Britain, ... Ben Affleck shot down; Dec. 7th attack

Phil

 

[AlanZ]

'Unbreakable' is an amazing DVD for both audio and video quality.

 

[SteveCallas]

Titan AE DTS and Saving Private Ryan DTS are the demos I use.

 

[John Menoni]

My first is always Star Wars EP ll. The beginning when Princess admidala's ship is landing in coruscant will definately show off your sub. The dogfight between Jango Fett and Obi Wan is great for the bass and the use of the surrounds is amazing. The sound of the seismic charges is awesome. It sounds great when the ships are coming out of lightspeed and you have that sonic boom. Jurassic Park is also great to show off great bass when the T-Rex comes walking in.

 

[Steve*_P]

The Icredibles is an execellent one also Fast and Furious in DTS and any Star Wars, best sounding on that is episode 4 when Luke blows up the Death Star.

 

[Dick Boneske]

You have a very large DVD collection! I have a Laserdisc collection about that size and many boxes full of VHS and Beta movies that no longer ever get played. Paying $1,500 for that first Sony Beta Hi-Fi VCR seemed right at the time (1987), but it was sure depressing to donate it to the repair shop when it was no longer repairable. I can't even describe my vinyl record collection without drifting into depressing thoughts about what to do with it.

What will you do when the HD DVD's arrive on the scene? Your post indicates that you are very aware and interested in the technical aspects--good sound and video, which makes it likely that you will suffer a similar future as I as you see technology improve and obsolete the old stuff. Isn't it great!!!

Of the DVD's you have, "Monsters, Inc." the walk to work and "Finding Nemo" when Darla taps on the aquarium glass are both startlingly realistic and good demos if you have a good sub. The underwater scene in "Pearl Harbor" where Ben Afflack is shot down seems very realistic.

If you have really good sub, "Incredibles" has more extremely low frequecy bass than any DVD I've heard-some of it below 10 Hz. as various posters have pointed out.

 

[GregBe]

All of the above are awesome choices. Here is one that many people don't know about. Try the trailer for the recent remake ot The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It is very cool. If you don't own the movie (which isn't worth owning), the trailer is also on The Butterfly Effect (It is located on the side of the disc with the fullscreen edition).

Greg

 

[John Garcia]

Change is inevitable, it will ALL become obsolete eventually, but that's a GOOD thing isn't it? DVD is still slowly growing in the home market, so don't expect it to become obsolete in the near future. Some day, yes; tomorrow, no.

Vinyl is DEFINITELY not dead...it just costs more now

A trailer that I really liked was Hellboy on the Big Fish disc - it lit up as EX for some reason (not sure if it is or not, but the one on the Hellboy disc does not). It's a good one.

 

[MikeDuke]

I would also use The Bourne Identity: Extended Edition.
I have the regular version. It has a great soundtrack. Motion from speaker to speaker is very good. And it has some high impact parts. Irobot has some nice bass filled parts as well as just sounding clean. And of course any of the LOTR movies.

 

[Ole]

The wormhole scene in Contact. At about 105 db. When nobody is around to yell at you to TURN IT DOWN, IT HURTS MY EARS.

 

[John Garcia]

I like the opening sequence in Contact - good use of all the surrounds as you slip through time. At times, there are different things playing in each speaker.

 

[Mike_J_Potter]

I like We Were Soliders, the Broken Arrow chapter has lots of low bass and pleanty of activity coming from the surrounds.

 

[AngeloEug]

Man oh Man!!!! House of Flying Daggers was awesome! I just watched it last night, what a treat!

The Echo Game scene was incredible. The drums and the surround is amazing. What was so cool to me was that you're able to track the effects visually as well as audibly due to the "slo-mo" and the focus on the beans.

If you haven't watched this JUMP ON IT! It's a keeper for me...some may just want to rent it but just that scene alone was worth the price of admission!!!