Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Highly Recommended) (1 Viewer)

[Gary Murrell]

for a youngun' like me that has never seen this film (please forgive me) which version would people suggest watching first ?
for some reason this never made it to my SD-DVD collection
-Gary

 

[Sam Davatchi]

The last version of course! .... There is a reason Spielberg made a third version!

 

[Richard Gallagher]

While technically you are correct, I personally haven't considered it to be a big deal. If you want to buy a Blu-ray disc from Amazon, where do you have to go to find it? To Amazon's DVD section, that's where. You click on "DVD deals" and that is where you find the Blu-ray sales. I generically consider my Blu-ray discs to be part of my DVD collection, but I can see where others might differ.
I'd be interested to hear what others think about this.

 

[Robert Crawford]

While technically you are correct, I personally haven't considered it to be a big deal. If you want to buy a Blu-ray disc from Amazon, where do you have to go to find it? To Amazon's DVD section, that's where. You click on "DVD deals" and that is where you find the Blu-ray sales. I generically consider my Blu-ray discs to be part of my DVD collection, but I can see where others might differ.
I'd be interested to hear what others think about this.

Furthermore, we've had this discussion beforehand and if we're going to discuss it again, let's do so in another thread. This is a review thread for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and it should remain so as a discussion about this BR release. Now, if anybody wants to discuss the DVD versus BRD naming issues, feel free to start another thread on that subject matter. Thank you.
Crawdaddy

 

[norrisMc]

Thanks for the review. I agree with you totally. I thought the Video was amazing, especially for the age of the film. I thought the audio was a bit harsh though. I had to keep turning the volume up and down. Some parts were too low and some were too loud. And yes, my sub did get a work out.

Totally agree. I thought the dialogue in particular was harsh and low in the mix. Probably an age problem though.

 

[Sam Posten]

What an awesome review! Guess I'm heading to Walmart!

 

[Felix Martinez]

Yes, it's loseless, but it still sounded a tad harsh to me. That's why I'd like to compare it to an LP of the original soundtrack to see if there is any difference.

Not a big deal, though.

I'm a big fan of this film, and I'm simply over the moon about this release. I have the Criterion CAV LD, the DVD, the original LP, the original CD, the remastered CD, and the CE3K experience on Blu-ray wipes the floor with everything that has preceded it.

The sound quality of this film has always been on the strident side, but the Blu-ray audio quality is just a quantum leap over every prior version (including the 16-bit 44.1kHz CDs IMHO). The dynamic range between dialogue and music/FX is a very good thing, although it may be inconvenient for some viewing environments. I'm glad it doesn't sound like Sony compressed it further than the limitations inherent in the 30 year-old recording.

The image is so transparent that one can now easily see that Zsigmond filmed many scenes with vignette filters on the lens.

Truly an outstanding release, and has my vote for best catalog reissue in quite some time.

 

[Ron Reda]

I finally checked this out in full after many years of seeing bits and pieces here and there and I have to agree with every rave here...what a wonderful film with a solid A/V presentation to boot. A top notch set in my book.
PS - I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the audio whenever the alien ships were around. I have a 3.0 secondary system and it rocked my two large front speakers w/o a sub. Not too shabby for a 30 year old movie!

 

[Jim_K]

Close Encounters easily gets my vote for the best HDM release of 07. Hopefully Blade Runner gives it a run for it's money but so far this one is it.
Top of the line A/V presentation, all 3 cuts of the film (just being able to watch the original cut after all these years was worth it), the extras, the packaging and of course a genuine great film.
Makes we wish Sony controlled Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, etc.

 

[TonyD]

crap i wish i knew about the walmart thing.
btw, why would anyone have the imptession that we can't mention walmart here.
anyway the sound seemd fine to me except for the dialog
most of the movie it sounded off, echo-y and off center, sounds like recorded in a tube?
a lot of bleeding from center channel to the left front.
dialog sound was not good at all.
very distracting, i feel like i need to pop my ears.

 

[NY2LA]

Can anyone advise if the Blu Ray is missing any supplements that were on the 2DVD set that preceded it? PS it's running on Amazon for 14.99.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

At that price, and considering that it is all three versions of the movie with seamless branching, I would't even care about the supplements.

 

[Doctorossi]

It picked it up for $10 at Best Buy a few months ago.

 

[Charles Smith]

I think Costco's price is $10 now, when they have it displayed, which they did not long ago. It comes and goes a lot there.

 

[TravisR]

Can anyone advise if the Blu Ray is missing any supplements that were on the 2DVD set that preceded it? PS it's running on Amazon for 14.99.

It's been years so I can't remember exactly. However, I sold my DVD off and I wouldn't have done that unless everything or very nearly everything was ported over. Like Steve said though, that's such a great price that it's a no brainer whether everything or nothing is ported over.

 

[NY2LA]

It's been years so I can't remember exactly. However, I sold my DVD off and I wouldn't have done that unless everything or very nearly everything was ported over. Like Steve said though, that's such a great price that it's a no brainer whether everything or nothing is ported over.

I have to disagree there. I do like supplements, and, like someone I agree with who misses original material on a LaserDisc that never appeared on a DVD, i don't want to sell off the DVD I have without making sure I'm not losing anything I'd eventually miss. Sometimes the money you get from selling off a previous edition ends up being not worth what you might miss.
As for cost, well, I have an occasion coming up and figure the extra $4.99 I spent with Amazon (actually less so when you factor the CA tax) gets it delivered to my door rather than having to go out and get it, and I have an occasion coming up for which I've splurged on some entertainment media. So I'm okay.

 

[TonyD]

Can anyone advise if the Blu Ray is missing any supplements that were on the 2DVD set that preceded it? PS it's running on Amazon for 14.99.

It's missing all the previous appearances of walkie talkies. No No, I'm kidding just joking.

I really don't know if anything is missing but the set is definitely worth it even if it is missing a thing or two.

 

[Lord Dalek]

The blu ray is missing nothing from the previous set outside of the unrestored SD versions of the omitted Theatrical and SE material in the Deleted Scenes section. In some cases, it improves on them (All the trailers and Watch the Skies are now in HD).

...it does however lose an SFX documentary from the Criterion CAV laserdisc but that really isn't necessary anymore.

 

[bryan4999]

Does anyone know if the 1-disc "blu-ray essentials" disc contains all 3 versions of the film? Is it just the supplements that would be missing? Thanks so much.

 

[NY2LA]

The blu ray is missing nothing from the previous set outside of the unrestored SD versions of the omitted Theatrical and SE material in the Deleted Scenes section. In some cases, it improves on them (All the trailers and Watch the Skies are now in HD).
...it does however lose an SFX documentary from the Criterion CAV laserdisc but that really isn't necessary anymore.

Thank you. Sounds like I can sell off my 2 Disc CE3K DVD set as soon as I can find the slipcase for it. Of course I'll wait until the BD arrives, but I'm pretty sure now there's nothing I'll miss.
I remember seeing CE3K for the first time at the Ziegfeld in Manhattan, shortly after the premiere. That first startling jab on the soundtrack came with such clear intensity that it jolted us all out of our seats... later the spaceship hovering over Neary's truck made the whole theatre shudder even more than Sensurround did with Earthquake... and there was not one visible speaker anywhere in that theatre. has anyone read Bob Balaban's account of the filming? Very interesting companion to the film.