I Love Rediscovering Films on DVD (1 Viewer)

[Dave Scarpa]

Tonight I Sat down and Watched Stallone's First Blood Special Edition from Artisan. I Had'nt seen the Movie since the Glory days of VHS when I saw it on a badly cropped and Transferred Vestron VHS. I've never seen this OAR. What a difference it is to see the movie with a proper Presentation. Artisan did an excellent job on this transfer. It probably looked as good today as it did twenty years ago. The DTS was also a huge upgrade from the VHS's Dolby Stereo Surround. Seeing older movies again (For the First time on DVD) really opens your eyes.

 

[Ron Reda]

I felt the same way watching Trading Places earlier tonight! I must have seen that film a 100 times (on VHS and edited on TV), but never has it looked as good as on DVD. Heck, even the DD 5.1 track sounded good for an old comedy!

 

[oscar_merkx]

I feel the same way about First Blood SE
fabulous indeed

 

[Chad A Wright]

Add Die Hard and Jaws to that list. I had never seen either in their OAR until DVD.

 

[Paul_Scott]

absolutely.
OAR is indispensible to the experience, and it's great that i can catch up with movies from before i was born, and see them the way their contemporary audience did.
even stuff that didn't interest me, or was over my head when i was a kid, i find a kick to watch.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Seeing Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on DVD is a real treat. I used to see it only on the faded VHS copies and occasional TV airings (I never caught a showing of the remastered version). When I got the DVD (widescreen SE), I was blown away by how wonderful the movie looks! I also appreciate the performances a lot more and laugh at jokes I didn't catch when I was much younger.

Another film like this was the Beatles follow-up to A Hard Day's Night... HELP! I first saw it on a PBS station, which used a lousy print. The paint thrown on Ringo was pale ORANGE, in fact! I thought it was OK. When I got the DVD, I was stunned by how funny and inventive the film is. It was also nice to not have to wonder why they're using orange paint instead of red. (a flaw of the faded print they used, unlike the restored print which is vivid!)

IMO, movies are like fine wine and cheeses...they get better with age.

 

[Tim Ke]

Over the past year I've rediscovered The Godfather Parts 1 and 2, Alien and Chinatown. I saw these years ago on VHS when i was a kid and wasn't able to really appreciate them, but now i realise what truly great films they are.

 

[SteveK]

To me, this is one of the best things about DVD. Yes, the 5.1 audio of the latest blockbusters can be enjoyable, but there's much to be said about seeing movies the way they're supposed to be seen that makes DVD so special. I frequently rent movies I've seen before but have never seen on DVD and thus may never have seen OAR. I usually listen to the commentary tracks and watch most of the extra features offered as well. Some of them may not be all that interesting and informative, but I learn something from most of them.

When I purchased my DVD player slightly more than 3 years ago, I was somewhat concerned that I wouldn't get my money's worth, as I really didn't watch that many movies at the time. Needless to say, that concern proved to be totally unfounded, as I have rediscovered a lifelong love of movies, thanks primarily to the outstanding video (and audio) quality of most DVDs.

Steve K.

 

[Carlo_M]

I totally had this feeling when I first bought the DVD player, because all the titles I bought I already had on VHS. Hence it was like rediscovering all those films.
And as the studios have opened up the floodgates on Catalog titles, I'm constantly rediscovering films. I'm scheduled to rediscover "The Duellists" tonight!

 

[Micah Cohen]

But what about the times that DVD reveals weaknesses you didn't recall about films you thought you liked?

I watched the new VALMONT DVD couple of nights ago, and I must say it underwhelmed me. There's the bathtub scene and there's always Meg Tilly looking cute, but the film, incredibly enough, is lame compared to DANGEROUS LIAISONS, which has all the momentum and power that Forman's VALMONT lacks. (Glad I bought DL and only rented VALMONT!)

NetFlix is a huge resource for redicovering all these great and not-so-great films on DVD! And I must admit that DVD has resulted in many more "Oh wow this is GREAT" moments (TRADING PLACES!) than "Hmmm, this isn't as good as I remember it" moments (ROMANCING THE STONE).

MC

 

[Chad A Wright]

Steve,

I agree with you completely. The audio and extras are nice, but the reason I got into DVD was OAR. It's amazing the difference it makes in some of these movies. Jaws is like an entirely new film in OAR. It's amazing.

 

[Ric Easton]

Dave,

I just got a 53" widescreen set, and I too am feeling like I am seeing many movies in my collection for the first time. I was always for OAR but with the bigger picture, it is much more immersive. Ben-Hur is so wide that it used to look like a fat ribbon running across my 36 incher... Now it looks fan-freaking-tastic. Unfortunately there aren't enough free hours in my day to do all the catching up I want to do with my movie collection.

Ric

 

[Louis C]

How about some of those films often played on TV (full frame of course) - those really have a 'wow' factor to them.

Like:

A Few Good Men
Terminator 1 & 2
Coming to America
Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan
Superman
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (What a restoration!)

 

[Patrick McCart]

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (What a restoration!)

Very right! Even the older (but OAR) transfer looked ghastly dark and had enough print damage to look like it had been through a trash compactor. The new print has a few specks here and there...and built-in grain, but the color and overall quality of the picture is wonderful. Columbia seemed to do the same thing with And Now For Something Completely Different, save for the 5.1 remixing.

 

[Lanny_B]

I heartily agree. DVD has brought a whole new experience to me for movies. Some off the top my head:
Superman: the movie (one of my personal favorites)
The Goonies
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
The Natural
The Godfather I and II (holy crap was that a difference)
The Graduate
The Matrix
Die Hard
Star Wars (VHS widescreen)
I'm still waiting to rediscover Back to the Future and the Indiana Jones Trilogy.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Yes, with DVD I am enjoying older movies more. Like the other night I was just demo'ing to someone the quality of the OT discs I had. We had on ROTJ and I really started getting into it. I never realized how the poor quality of my VHS tapes, plus them being P&S, had diminished my desire to see these movies and the level of enjoyment I got from them.