Any reviews for The Host? [Text View]

fistofsouth

07-16-07, 01:00 AM

This was one of my absolute favourite films of last year, and the HD DVD can't come soon enough. Anyone had it shipped to them or actually received it yet?

I have not read any HD DVD review for this film yet, but I had not read any reviews of this film until my wife and I saw in an advertisement the other day. I looked it up on RT for her benefit and was surprised at what I found:

Linkage (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/host/)

I have not seen a monster movie rated this high on RT (92/94) in I don't know how long. So long as the HD DVD is done well I will probably blind buy The Host.

mlankton

07-16-07, 09:18 AM

Rusty James

07-16-07, 10:13 AM

MSmith83

07-16-07, 10:19 AM

I never had the pleasure of seeing this movie, but I did put a pre-order in for the HD DVD a while ago. After reading the synopsis and reviews for this movie, I highly doubt that I will be disappointed.

Big J

07-16-07, 10:19 AM

The Host is definitely worth a blind buy, but instead of approaching it as a monster movie, it's better to think of it as a comedy-drama about a dysfunctional family whose plot happens to have a giant monster in it.

Trust me, you'll enjoy the movie a LOT more if you know this going in. :)
Yes, that's a better description, though I didn't find the comedy particularly funny.

I never had the pleasure of seeing this movie, but I did put a pre-order in for the HD DVD a while ago. Reading the synopsis and reviews for this movie, I highly doubt that I will be disappointed.

I was. The movie is way over hyped.

J

rover2002

07-16-07, 12:18 PM

His first movie, Memories of Murder, is a much better film. That said, The Host will probably look great, and the effects are first rate. I just feel that he stumbled in the story telling of The Host. It could have been a much better movie. Memories of Murder is highly recommended.
It did start out well but then yes, it dragged on for what seemed like an eternitity.
Worth a rental but i would'ent buy it.

cybereality

07-16-07, 12:30 PM

After reading the synopsis and reviews for this movie, I highly doubt that I will be disappointed.I've seen this film on DVD and it is top-notch. The PQ was great, even on the import DVD, so I'm confident the HD-DVD version will deliver. I rarely pre-order movies (I made an exception for 300), but I've got this HD-DVD in my wish-list. The visual effects are stunning, the story is original, and the characters are great. The box art makes it look like a horror movie, but its more like a comedy-drama with a big monster. Weird, I know, you just have to see it. Highly recommended.

Hyp Toad

07-16-07, 05:29 PM

I haven't been able to find a copy of Memories of Murder in my are, but I'm excited to see that as well.

I think the reason I enjoyed The Host so much had to do with the fact it had some heart to it. Hopefully the director will go on to even bigger and better things.

Hyp Toad

07-17-07, 02:04 PM

Seriously, did NO ONE here order this title? ;)

bboisvert

07-17-07, 02:10 PM

^
It's at the very top of my Netflix queue. Does that count? ;)

Big J

07-17-07, 02:15 PM

Seriously, did NO ONE here order this title? ;)
I didn't. not worth a double dip for me.
J

MSmith83

07-17-07, 02:18 PM

My copies of The Host, The Bourne Identity, Hot Fuzz, and Shaun of the Dead just shipped via 2nd day air. I'm in for some good HD DVD viewing. :D

Hyp Toad

07-17-07, 03:22 PM

Msmith83, what company did you order them from?

MSmith83

07-17-07, 03:35 PM

Msmith83, what company did you order them from?
I ordered from DVD Pacific.

MSmith83

07-19-07, 01:25 PM

I received The Host on HD DVD, and there have been a couple of big disappointments thus far.

First, the disc hub in the case was damaged, resulting in the disc to move around. As expected, the disc had lots of smudges and scratches on it. Consequently, my HD-A2 was hiccupping in various spots. I will obviously have to get a replacement disc. This is one of those times where I wish HD DVDs had the scratch-resistant coating that BDs have.

Second, the HD DVD does not have a master quality audio track. The Korean and English dub tracks are only encoded in DTS-HD HR. This is a disappointment considering that the BD version has PCM tracks.

The picture quality is spectacular, however. The clarity is quite amazing, blacks look inky, and the fine grain structure remains intact.

Well, at least my copies of Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, and The Bourne Identity arrived unscathed. All three of these transfers look exquisite. Kudos to Universal for delivering excellent transfers all-around.

Bleddyn H Williams

07-19-07, 01:25 PM

I've yet to find any online reviews for this disc. People who get their copies please post in with impressions of PQ, etc...

cybereality

07-19-07, 01:47 PM

My copies of The Host, The Bourne Identity, Hot Fuzz, and Shaun of the Dead just shipped via 2nd day air.How exactly are you getting these discs before their release dates?

Tried to purchase on Amazon, but they were all on pre-order.

MSmith83

07-19-07, 01:53 PM

How exactly are you getting these discs before their release dates?

Tried to purchase on Amazon, but they were all on pre-order.
As I mentioned earlier, I ordered from DVD Pacific. They are the only site around that ship HD DVDs and BDs well before street date.

Hyp Toad

07-19-07, 03:19 PM

I wonder if DVD Pacific has decent shipping rates to Canada...? Any fellow Canadians use them?

Damed

07-19-07, 03:34 PM

I wonder if DVD Pacific has decent shipping rates to Canada...? Any fellow Canadians use them?

I've used them, and their shipping rates are not that bad. I just can't justify the extra $$ in the purchase price vs amazon, just to have it a week earlier.

MSmith83

07-19-07, 04:05 PM

I've yet to find any online reviews for this disc. People who get their copies please post in with impressions of PQ, etc...
I said the following in another thread.

"I haven't seen this movie before checking out the HD DVD, so I have no frame of reference in how it is supposed to look. Furthermore, I only checked out a few scenes. The image is extremely crisp with a rather significant grain structure. Blacks are very deep and the colors have a "pumped-up" look to them. It looks as if edge enhancement was used a bit, as I noticed some edge halos and the overall image appeared a bit over-sharpened.

If there was one movie that I would liken this transfer's picture quality to, it would probably have to be Crank."

Remember that I only scanned a few scenes. I can conclude that this is very good HD material.

Drandonuts

07-20-07, 12:15 AM

Oh yeah, what are the extras on Hot Fuzz? I've seen different specs from different site and want to know exactly what's on it.

koreanfilmfan

07-22-07, 09:40 AM

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/1449/14110004bv3.th.jpg (http://img187.imageshack.us/my.php?image=14110004bv3.jpg)
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/7274/79350588nw7.th.jpg (http://img168.imageshack.us/my.php?image=79350588nw7.jpg)
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/3553/34024461vf6.th.jpg (http://img141.imageshack.us/my.php?image=34024461vf6.jpg)
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/9103/84439480mv3.th.jpg (http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=84439480mv3.jpg)
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/5826/16043433bd7.th.jpg (http://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=16043433bd7.jpg)
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/1706/42385068zt9.th.jpg (http://img441.imageshack.us/my.php?image=42385068zt9.jpg)

Sd release was upscaled to 1080p, the hd version was the blu-ray disc running on a PS3 but i'm sure the hd dvd is the same transfer.

Damnationdoormat

07-22-07, 10:34 AM

Second, the HD DVD does not have a master quality audio track. The Korean and English dub tracks are only encoded in DTS-HD HR. This is a disappointment considering that the BD version has PCM tracks.
Probably getting the BD instead then. :(

xradman

07-22-07, 12:05 PM

Probably getting the BD instead then. :(
I am disappointed as well with the studio's decision to unfairly handicap the HD DVD version. I am, for the very first time, getting a Blu-ray version of a release over HD DVD.

Damnationdoormat

07-22-07, 12:27 PM

I am disappointed as well with the studio's decision to unfairly handicap the HD DVD version. I am, for the very first time, getting a Blu-ray version of a release over HD DVD.
Magnolia are certainly getting strange, I was very happy The World's Fastest Indian and The Lost City got Dolby TrueHD tracks, semi-diappointed that the TrueHD on District B13 was the English Dub (at least they kinda tried), but now I'm downright disappointed with The Host. Though, I must admit it would be less of a letdown if HD DVD players had DTS-HD decoding ability. Still, I never imagined this film getting any HD release, especially in the U.S. and I want the best edition.

Dan Hitchman

07-22-07, 08:42 PM

The Blu-ray version, from what I gather, is a BD-50 so it had room to do two PCM tracks.

Sometimes it has to do with video and audio streaming bandwidth (just as R&B Films found in their separate encodings for Blu and HD-DVD). HD-DVD is crippled in that department and perhaps DTS HD was the best they could shoe horn in on that version.

Dan

DM2006RI

07-22-07, 11:13 PM

First, the disc hub in the case was damaged, resulting in the disc to move around. As expected, the disc had lots of smudges and scratches on it. Consequently, my HD-A2 was hiccupping in various spots. I will obviously have to get a replacement disc. This is one of those times where I wish HD DVDs had the scratch-resistant coating that BDs have.

I'm not so sure it was the scratches on your disc, because my disc was pristine but exhibited the exact same behavior in my A2. First it wouldn't really load properly -- black screens and such -- then it froze a couple of times during the movie itself.

I found that cleaning the disc off at least enabled it to start up properly...almost like there's a film or something on the disc itself, exactly what we saw with the Universal HD-DVDs that had the very same problem (and could be solved by cleaning or, indeed, "boiling" the disc).

BTW I'm running the most recent firmware on the A2 as well, so I wouldn't be surprised if we see some similar comments once folks get their discs this week.

PS I thought the HD quality was sensational at least :)

Blasst

07-23-07, 12:21 AM