Quick look at Another Stakeout/Can't Buy Me Love/Down & Out in Beverly Hills (1 Viewer)

[MattHR]

I just spent a few minutes checking out a few new releases from Disney, and they're all disappointing. If their idea of releasing catalog titles for $20 means we get sub-standard transfers, things are not looking up. I'd rather pay a little more for better transfers and a few extras.

"Another Stakeout" (2.35:1) and "Down & Out in Beverly Hills" (1.85:1) are at least in 16X9, while "Can't Buy Me Love" (1.33:1) is in 4X3. It appears to be a full-frame transfer, but still should have been matted for 16X9.

All three are improvements over the previous laserdisc transfers, but still suffer from very poor shadow detail and black levels. The transfers are pretty washed out and lack any definition in colors or background details.
Each movie has been afforded a generous 10 chapters!

The only extras are trailers (seemingly transfered from VHS) for "Beaches" and "Spy Hard", while the featured films' trailers are not included.

"AS" has been remastered for Dolby 5.1, while "D&OIBH" is 2.0 surround and "CBML" is 2.0 mono (the cover incorrectly states surround).

Right now, I believe Disney is the worst offender when it comes to consistent quality transfers. Their recent trend of releasing catalog titles between $10 and $20 is a sign they will not be putting much, if any, effort into quality presentations of many older films we have been waiting for.

As is, they're not worthy upgrades to one's existing LD or VHS copy...maybe if they were priced at $10. I just don't like spending more money for something I already own, if it's only going to be a marginal improvement. Of course, I should have known better. Sigh...

 

[Patrick McCart]

I don't get it.

Disney is a financially sound and they can't bother with making new transfers of many of their films...

But MGM is going down the toilet, yet they can make new anamorphic transfers for their DVD's...plus do a pretty good job on them.

 

[Chuck West]

I assumed "Can't Buy Me Love" would be 16x9 since it's not a "family film". I guess I was wrong.
Thanks for saving me a trip to Best Buy, Disney!

 

[David Lambert]

I was desperately looking forward to Cant' Buy Me Love...but my decision is final:
[c]NO OAR = NO SALE![/c]
:frowning:

 

[Tomoko Noguchi]

Chuck,
You'll still be going to BestBuy. You'll just be buying something else that day!

 

[Jeff Swindoll]

But MGM is going down the toilet, yet they can make new anamorphic transfers for their DVD's...plus do a pretty good job on them.

I'm not sure that MGM is exactly going down the toilet (they might be on the rim ). Sure, they've have some big budget flops recently, but they HAVE realized that they can make it up in DVD sales to an extent. Wasn't there an article last year about them showing a profit because of DVD sales? Methinks that's why MGM does a better job on catalog titles. The new Bond will probably also add some $$ to MGM's coffers.

 

[MichaelG]

I also would have bought Can't Buy Me Love, but not NOW!

 

[Marty Christion]

Not to spew heresy, but Can't Buy Me Love looks pretty darn good on my 16x9 set, zoomed in with the "Theater 1" mode to crop the top and bottom. And it doesn't have the awful, VHS quality video of a many other Disney releases of late (Natty Gann, Blackbeard's Ghost). I found the video quality to be "as good as I can expect". Maybe I'll post some screen shots if I have the time. The sound was everything I remember.
I never had the Laserdisc, so I can't do a comparison, but I think this is an OK release that will bring back a lot of memories for a lot of people.

 

[Jodee]

So Can't Buy Me Love is open-matte, then? I couldn't find the OAR listed at IMDB. Maybe I will break down and buy it then. I refuse to buy cropped movies, but if I can zoom in and get an approximation of OAR that might be acceptable for a movie I've always wanted on DVD this bad.

It's only going to be $11.99 at Best Buy on Tuesday (as is Stakeout).

For $12 I might just get it now.

 

[John Stone]

I just reluctantly cancelled my pre-order for 'Can't Buy Me Love'. Luckily it had not shipped yet.

Damn you, Disney. I was looking forward to it.

 

[Chad Gregory]

Joseph...

Cocktail and Stakeout are both 16x9 and 5.1DD.

No fear there.

I can't speak for the quality though, maybe someone else can.

-Chad

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

I'm getting the Stakeouts myself. As long as they are OAR I can live with them. Has to be better than VHS!

 

[MattHR]

Just finished watching STAKEOUT. The transfer is on par with the others: very grainy with poor shadow detail.
Should have been better. At least it's anamorphic (1.85:1) and remastered in 5.1 Dolby.

Trailers for SPY HARD and DEUCE BIGALOW.

 

[Garry I]

Thanks for the mini review Matt. There are no reviews on any of these titles that i could find.