The Deer Hunter - Excellent PQ

Anyone know what the conversion rate to U.S. dollars is currently?

The bd is region coded for A&B: plays fine on my region A BD player.

Image is a quantum leap over the existing Universal region 1 SE anamorphic dvd, with terrific colour detail and preserved natural looking grain. Some scenes in the mountains are just stunning. However, lots of edge enhancement which gives the picture a slightly digital look that surely can be bettered.
The problem with the audio pitch is present on the 5.1 track, but not on the 2.0 track.

Ah, crap...

I never understand how reviews and comments fail to mention the currently available HD DVD version.

I stopped reading the review when it didn't mention it.

The question that needs to be asked, is this a different transfer then the 2 year old HD DVD version?

Shouldn't be. I compared the Universal US HD DVD to the previous Studio Canal Euro BD (same as the Aussie BD) and the HD DVD looked a tiny bit better because of it's slightly higher bitrate rate, but they used the same master transfer. Studio Canal reuses video encodes like Warner, so it's likely the encode here is the same as their last release.

Probably because it is a dead format.

Lol, I got warned for mentioning the HD-DVD version (I also would like to know how it compares to this version), I thought this disc was region locked though, but it's good that it's not. Who would of thought I was flamming Blu-Ray... what the hell should I do with the 200 discs I own since I obviously hate the format. Woe is me.

You are probably right and I should start to let it go but it was a HiDef format that many here owns or owned and it would only be for movies released on both systems.

Like Army of Darkness and Werewolf, knowing if it is using the same transfer/encode helps make the purchase decision.

Also knowing if the extras are the same is important.

If they were just releasing U-571 on Blu-Ray I am sure there would be a crowd that would want to know how it compared to the HD-VHS version.

Yep!
I'd like too know how the BD stacks up against LD, DVD, __ ___, & "D-VHS".
I guess that just me.
(it has however proved useful in the past)

I'm fine with my HD DVD of this film.

This is so silly considering the 'format war' has been over for almost two years. You'd think mentioning HD DVD as a reference point would be alright. I love reading comparisons between the two so I know whether to double dip or not!

I saw the film when it origionally came out and again when it was released on the not to be talked about format.

It is one of the most overrated films that I can recall. The film does look good and it is fun to see some influential actors in their early work, but that's about it.

Perhaps that's because you weren't eligible for the draft during the Vietnam war or "missed out" on the fun that was the draft lottery (low number you go, high enough number - you get to get on with your life)??

Or haven't seen the impact on people's lives exemplified by the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC?

I was in both cases

When DH came out, I asked my manager who had been a field medic in the war if it was realistic. His answer was simple - in the theater you could hear a pin drop at the end...the war was like that. Many people like him were impacted by the war and the film depicts that on everyday normal people.

BTW - Deerhunter is still on the American Film Institute's Top 100 American movies of all time, #53 to be exact. I guess they've been duped, too.

Sorry you didn't "get it". Maybe war has been reduced to too many video games for you.

ss9001

I would also have liked to read some comparisons with the HD-DVD (dead format or not). As it is, I'll stay with the HD-DVD in my collection.

Deer Hunter does a fine job depicting how war impacts people's lives, however its portrayal of the Vietnam War is no more accurate than Apocalypse Now, in other words not accurate at all. Both films are considered classics for the stories they tell. If you want the realism and horror of the Vietnam War then watch Hamburger Hill (1987).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger_Hill

^^
Seen that one too & don't forget Platoon

I think I've seen most if not all of these post-Vietnam movies. Ones I can recall are

Apocalypse Now - true classic and also on the AFI best films list (I love the smell of napalm in the morning, smells like......victory) - but I agree not realistic, more like surrealistic

Deerhunter
Hamburger Hill
Platoon
Coming Home
Born on the 4th of July
Casualties of War
Gardens of Stone

And for one about Afghanistan, I'd suggest The Beast, about a Russian tank crew. Shows how the Russians got their asses kicked there....and food for thought for today

Anyway you cut it, Deerhunter on BD (or HD-DVD) is a good addition to a collection of Vietnam movies

There are many ways to take this movie. To me, it's mainly about the effect of stress and how it impacts the characters and the people around them. In the beginning, the friends are testing each other, pushing each other around physically and emotionally. Almost to prove they're alive and/or superior, to win points. To hunt, hunt the prey and come out on top. Then when real serious external stress bears down on them, does each character fail or pass the test?

This is why the whole discussion/criticism of the point and "reality" of the Russian Roulette sequences, Vietnam, etc. is fairly irrelevant to me. While one can read further into this - i.e. how as nations we sometimes like to test our mettle - it's really a personal story in my eyes.

P.S. my take on the cryptic "this is this" line is to take what's in front of you seriously.

I saw the movie as a commentary about the changes in America's values.

The scenes leading up to the wedding served to highlight the current generation's abandonment of traditional/cultural values of the prior generations. Robert De Niro and his gang adopted a macho/"John Wayne" attitude towards life which is reflected by the importance of killing with "one shot" during hunts. There is a scene in which a group of younger women in the wedding party walk past older women carrying a wedding cake. The younger women are focused on themselves and pay no attention to the older woman.

The Russian roulette scenes in Viet Nam showed the macho/"John Wayne" attitude leads to death and destruction. Robert De Niro's character begins to question and ultimately abandons this attitude after the Vietnamese soldiers force him to participate in Russian roulette scenes. In contrast, the Christopher Walken character continues to embrace the macho/"John Wayne" attitude when he continues to risk his life by participating in Russian roulette over and over again.

The death of Walken's character forces the others to question and abandon the macho/"John Wayne" attitude. They adopt a value system based on patriotism as reflected by the signing "God Bless America" at the close of the movie.

That's my take on the movie.

other than the ending (please, Walken has been competing in the russian roulette contest all that time and is still unbeaten an untied) I've always loved the film. Loved the irony of John Wayne having to present the Best Picture oscar to the producers of it. The one thing I did want to mention was that I've been a photojournalist for 33 years and one of the jobs was at the Painesville Telegraph in Ohio and one day I got sent on an assignment to shoot pictures for a story on a film they were shooting in Cleveland, which just happened to be the Deer Hunter. I actually got to meet Vilmos Zigmund and got to watch them shoot a bunch of early wedding scenes since they were working in a Byzantine church on the west side of the city. I always remember that when I watch the film. Still, may wait until they release a blu-ray with lossless audio. We'll see.

hamburger hill is a terribly boring movie. platoon is nams best film of all time

And when exactly did the review "not mention it" thus making you stop reading it?

Don’t forget “We Were Soldiers” with Mel Gibson.

Ummm, if you look at the review, the "Picture" section is the first section.
I knew by the end of that first section that the reviewer hadn't seen the HD DVD version so my only real question, did they use a different transfer?, would go unanswered.
Therefore it saved me time by not having to read the rest of the review.
Are we clear now?

Something tells me that when this gets released domestically, HiDef Digest will compare it to the HD DVD version. Call it a hunch.

BTW, I just ordered the HD DVD version for like $5 at Amazon since this is obviously the same transfer.

To my eyes the HD DVD version is still the superior release of this title, by far.

My draft lottery # was 124. I get it and experienced the times first hand. I just didn't think it was a great movie, politics aside.

When it comes to recognized films, I remember when "The English Patient" won best picture and how many people were bored to tears with it. Even Seinfield had a show about the different reactions to the picture.

P.S. Never owned or played a video game since "Pong" - now that was a game!

Peace brother. May you grow past insulting people as a way of making your point.

Great recommendations for Nam movies.

Only one I would give a pass to: Hamburger Hill.
Watching it now, the crude stereotyping of some of ther characters kinda blows it.

Although Mash was set in 1950s "Korea" everybody knew that it was really 1960s Vietnam.

Spot on.