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What were/will be some of your DVD or BD re-buys?

post #1 of 7
11/7/11 at 7:50pm
Thread Starter 
I was just curious what some of you have felt was worth repurchasing when either a new edition of a movie was released on either DVD or the release on BD? The first movie I ever bought a second release copy of was Princess Bride for the Dread Pirate Edition. Besides that I've bought Big for the extended version, the few extra minutes weren't critical to the movie but I really felt it added to Tom Hank's character development as he transitioned from being a kid to a grown-up. I have a couple full-frame DVDs that I didn't pay close enough attention to when buying them, I would rebuy them just to have widescreen, the same with letterboxed widescreen DVDs. I'm disappointed the only DVD release of Muppets From Space is in full-frame - the BD is widescreen but a review on Amazon says the included (2-disc/format) DVD was still full-frame. I would repurchase that after I get a BDP.

In december when Criterion releases Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill I will repurchase those, too, so I'll have non letterboxed editions of the films. I expect those will be my first BD purchases.

Some other films I would consider are Star Wars (just the films, the animated series are fine (for me) on DVD), LOTR and Back to the Future trilogies. As much as I love James Bond films there are just too many, but the 4 volume releases on DVD were quite excellent transfers. I suppose I should actually watch blu-ray on the TV before jumping to conclusions, but if they improvement in audio, alone, is as good as many have written, that may be reason enough.
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post #2 of 7
11/8/11 at 5:43am
the only movie I ever bought twice, both on dvd, was ROTK, I had the theatrical first, then the EE was on sale for only 5.99, I had to get it. Now both reside rarely watched on my shelf, that's the problem with most people with having a huge dvd/bd collection, 99.9% of the stuff goes unwatched.
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post #3 of 7
11/8/11 at 5:51am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roger Lococco View Post

Now both reside rarely watched on my shelf, that's the problem with most people with having a huge dvd/bd collection, 99.9% of the stuff goes unwatched.

No kidding. Not to mention the times we can't just pick a movie. Hahaha.
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post #4 of 7
11/8/11 at 12:46pm
For the reasons mentioned by the previous two posters my movie collection is small and limited to all-time favorites. I don't know if moving up from tape counts, but I have upgraded 2 VHS movies and 2 DVD movies. I recently purchased The Lion King Blu-ray / DVD combo pack and The Silence of the Lambs Blu-ray to replace 4:3 VHS editions. I also bought Blu-ray versions of The Fall and Reservoir Dogs, though I am keeping my DVD editions as well.

Of other DVD movies I own I would consider upgrading the following:

Natural Born Killers

American History X

Underworld

The Crow

Pan's Labyrinth
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post #5 of 7
11/8/11 at 1:01pm
I have 750+ DVDs (or had before I sold off quite a few). I currently only own one BD (Wall-E) which my wife bought.

The only movie I plan on re-purchasing on BD is Pink Floyd's The Wall, if it ever gets released. It's the only DVD I own that I've watched (and continue to watch) enough to justify the cost of owning it.

For everything else, renting is fine for me, since I tend to only watch movies once or possibly twice. Even the ones I would watch more (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Alien, LOTR etc) are ones I've already seen several times (when DVD was the "end all be all" of HT), and can't really picture myself continuing to watch them enough to justify repurchasing them.
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post #6 of 7
11/8/11 at 1:41pm
I would repurchase the BD of any of the big, roadshow event movies that I was fond of on their initial theatrical release, particularly the widescreen epics.

First day repurchases of BDs that I already own on standard DVD will be My Fair Lady and West Side Story next week. And I've already bought BD double/triple dips of Ben-Hur, How The West Was Won, GiGi, The Sound of Music, Bridge on the River Kwai, Spartacus, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Lord of the Rings, Forrest Gump.

Waiting to purchase what will probably be a quadruple or quintuple dip (counting the VHS hehe) of Lawrence of Arabia when that BD is finally released.

I'm not a streamer, but I don't think I'd get anything like the BD quality pic and sound of those big ones on a large home theater projection system by streaming them. But I can't say that for sure from first hand knowledge. So I'm still looking to buy the best I can get on a disc of some those kinds of titles. I'd purchase Around the World in 80 Days ('56) on BD on principle alone even if it wasn't more entertaining than many who haven't re-seen it recently might say.

I'd get a few more as yet unreleased Hitchcock BDs, but I wouldn't be all that crazy about double dipping on everything of his. Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much ('56), Trouble With Harry, The Birds, Marnie, Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief would all probably be worth getting on BD. But I think most of his other titles like Strangers on a Train, The Wrong Man, Notorious, Suspicion and so on are just fine on one of the better standard DVD versions already in my collection.
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post #7 of 7
2/5/12 at 6:46pm
I wouldn't mind owning many of the films on hitchfan's list above. Most of my BD purchases have been double or triple dips so far. I don't plan on replacing all my DVDs with Blu-rays, but there are certain titles I'd like to own (someday) in the best format possible, including most of these...

Live-Action:
  • The Abbott & Costello horror/SF sendups - Still get a kick out of these, and would love to see theatrical quality HD xfers of the B&W films. My guess is they'd look spectacular!
  • Alien - The premier SF thriller. There has been some add'l sprucing of color and contrast for the BD. Blacks are quite deep and the image appears very three-dimensional, and generally very detailed on my HD CRT. IMO, the BD looks for the most part outstanding, esp. the money shots of the spaceships and planets.
  • An American Werewolf in London - I don't expect the BD to look much better than the DVD, which is actually pretty good. But it's a must-have imo for any self-respecting horror collection.
  • Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast
  • Bedazzled - The original 1967 Dudley Moore/Peter Cook/Raquel Welch version.
  • Ben-Hur, The Silver Chalice, Solomon & Sheba and probably a couple other greek/roman/biblical epics - Some nice sets and cinematography on some of these old pictures.
  • The Black Hole
  • Blade Runner
  • Blazing Saddles
  • Some of the Bond films - Including the two most recent films, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, which look pretty good on BD. And probably a couple of the better Moore flicks (e.g. Live & Let Die, Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me).
  • The Bounty (1984)
  • Bram Stoker's Dracula
  • The Amicus/AI Burroughs pics - At the Earth's Core, Land That Time Forgot, People That Time Forgot.
  • Carlito's Way - One of the best looking BDs I've seen so far, especially for color.
  • Casablanca - Quintessential classic of the B&W era. This is one of the few that would not be a double-dip, because I've deliberately avoided the SD versions. Imo HD is the only way to go on a classic like this.
  • Casino Royale - Both versions.
  • Cat People - Both versions.
  • A Clockwork Orange
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind - My BD Review.
  • Corman's "Poe" pictures - Especially The Masque of the Red Death, The Haunted Palace, Tomb of Ligeia, Die Monster Die!, Premature Burial.
  • The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
  • The Deep
  • Deep Cover
  • Dragonslayer
  • Dr. Terror's House of Horrors - And possibly one or two other Amicus horror films/compilations (e.g. The House That Dripped Blood, Black Sabbath...)
  • Excalibur
  • Eyes Wide Shut - My BD review.
  • The Fearless Vampire Killers
  • Femme Fatale
  • First Spaceship on Venus (aka Silent Star)
  • Flirting (1991)
  • The Fog (1980)
  • Forbidden Planet - My BD review.
  • Frankenstein: The True Story
  • A few of the Fred Astaire musicals - Both in color and glorious B&W, assuming the xfers are decent.
  • From Dusk Til Dawn - Mainly for Salma and her boa.
  • The Ghost Breakers (1940, Bob Hope)
  • Most of the Hammer horror & SF films - Including the Quatermass and B.C. films.
  • The original Harry Palmer films.
  • Several of the Harryhausen pictures - Including Jason & the Argonauts and the Sinbad films.
  • Heat
  • Some of the old Italian Herc pictures - Including Hercules Unchained, Hercules & the Captive Women, Hercules in the Haunted World and probably a few other good examples of peplum, especially if the HD xfers are an improvement on the often quite miserable SD editions. Some of these pictures had very impressive sets, FX and cinematography (and some good Italian crumpet).
  • A couple of the Hitchcocks - Including Marnie, Vertigo, The Paradine Case, I Confess... not because I think these are necessarily his greatest works, but because I like the cinematography and actors in these films. Wouldn't mind havin some of his other classics in HD as well, but I've seen most of em so many times I can replay them in my head w/o the aid of any discs.
  • High Plains Drifter
  • Innocent Blood
  • Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1956)
  • Disney's Island at the Top of the World - Some very nice visuals in this that'll hopefully translate well to HD.
  • It! (1966, aka Curse of the Golem) - With Roddy McDowall.
  • Journey to the Center of the Earth - Original 1959 version with James Mason & Pat Boone.
  • The Keep (1983, Michael Mann)- Still no DVD or BD.
  • King Kong - The 1933 original with Fay Wray and Willis O'Brien's brilliant model work, and 1976 version with Bridges/Lange.
  • The Last Valley
  • Lawrence of Arabia
  • Legend
  • Lifeforce
  • Logan's Run - Nice sound and pretty good picture on the BD, for an older film.
  • LOTR Trilogy
  • Lost Horizon
  • The Mad Max pics.
  • The Man in the White Suit
  • Metropolis (1927)
  • The Name of the Rose
  • Nosferatu (1922) - The silent version with Max Shreck.
  • The Ninth Gate
  • The Nutty Professor (1963) - And possibly a couple other Lewis films, such as The Ladies Man, Visit to a Small Planet, It'$ Only Money.
  • The Omen trilogy
  • Phantom of the Opera (1925) - A good restoration of the original Lon Chaney, Sr. silent version.
  • Pink Floyd's The Wall
  • The Pink Panther (1963)
  • Pitch Black, Chronicles of Riddick
  • Planet of the Apes (1968) - The original with Chuck Heston.
  • Bava's Planet of the Vampires
  • The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes - This had some really nice scoped color cinematography, and the level of detail on the DVD just doesn't do it justice.
  • Reign of Fire
  • Risky Business - "Are you ready for me, Ralph?" PQ on the BD was a little disappointing (mainly due to elevated/inconsistent black levels, and somewhat weak detail), but it's still a pretty enjoyable flick after all these years.
  • Room at the Top (1959, Laurence Harvey)
  • Ryan's Daughter by David Lean
  • The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968)
  • Sleepy Hollow (1999)
  • A Sound of Thunder
  • Starcrash
  • Star Man
  • Starship Troopers
  • Star Wars Episodes 4-6 - I liked the old-school FX in the OT. Might also pick up Phantom Menace if it's released separately.
  • Surrogates (2009)
  • Blake Edwards' "10"
  • The Terminator flicks.
  • Tess (1979)
  • The Thief Who Came to Dinner - Doubt this'll ever appear on DVD or BD, but I'd buy if it did.
  • The Third Man
  • The 13th Warrior
  • The Trial (1962) - With Tony Perkins and Orson Welles.
  • Tron & Tron Legacy
  • Twister
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • Some of the B&W Universal horror and SF classics of the 1930's to 1960's - The Wolf Man, The Mummy, Creature From the Black Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature, It Came From Outer Space, and possibly a few others. A couple of these were shot in 3D, which might be a nice bonus on a BD edition.
  • The Vikings (1958) - With Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.
  • War of the Worlds - The original 1953 George Pal version.
  • What's Up Doc?
  • The Wicker Man (1973)
  • Wolf
  • Young Frankenstein

Animated:
  • The Black Cauldron
  • Cool World
  • The Corpse Bride
  • Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme - Probably the best rendered Marvel D2V feature so far.
  • Bakshi's Fire and Ice (1983)
  • Fantasia
  • Heavy Metal
  • Chuck Jones' Looney Toons
  • Disney's The Jungle Book - Detail on the most recent 16:9 DVD edition was somewhat lacking. Hopefully that can be fixed on Blu-ray. I also like the open-matte (uncropped) 4:3 TV version of this. A BD edition that contains HD versions in both the 1.75 theatrical ratio and the open matte ~1.33 TV ratio with more of the background art visible would be ideal, but I doubt that'll happen.
  • Laloux's Light Years, and Time Masters
  • Ninja Scroll
  • Quest for Camelot
  • Redline - Curious to check this out.
  • The Secret of NIMH
  • Sleeping Beauty - Outstanding BD xfer!!
  • The Snow Queen - 1957/59 Russian version, probably unlikely ever to materialize in high enough quality for BD.
  • Starchaser: The Legend of Orin - In the original 3D?
  • Titan AE
  • Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
  • Wizards - BD out now (3/12).

Some of the titles above may not be available on Blu-ray yet. But if/when they are, I'll probably try to pick em up when I can find em for a good price.

A few more titles on my "maybe" list:
  • At Close Range (1986)
  • Black Narcissus (1947)
  • Black Sunday (1960 B&W, Barbara Steele)
  • A couple of the old "brat pack" films - E.g. Class, Heaven Help Us, Oxford Blues, Some Kind of Wonderful, The Sure Thing, About Last Night.
  • Camelot
  • Dark City
  • Maybe a couple of the color Elvis's.
  • ErĂ©ndira (1983)
  • Eye of the Needle
  • The Fifth Element
  • The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
  • Maybe a couple Audrey Hepburn films, e.g. Charade, Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany's.
  • Horrors of Spider Island
  • Hulk Vs. - So I don't have to look at the combing on character's lips on the DVD.
  • Jurassic Park
  • La Femme Nikita (1990, French version)
  • Laura (1944) - Another classic of the B&W era.
  • The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
  • Moon of the Wolf - 1972 made for TV werewolf flick with David Janssen and Barbara Rush.
  • The Myth (2005, Jackie Chan)
  • Maybe a couple Marilyn pics as well, like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Some Like It Hot, Niagara and so forth.
  • Robot Jox
  • The Secret of Kells
  • Smilla's Sense of Snow
  • Soldier (1998)
  • Streets of Fire
  • The Time Machine - Both versions.
  • Treasure of the Sierra Madre
  • Your Highness
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