No such thing as too much Leo.

Okay so Leonardo DiCaprio is showing up yet again here on Blu-Ray Way, this time as a rookie cop going undercover in Martin Scorsese’s 2005 award winning crime drama The Departed. Along with DiCaprio, this film stars Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg making it the most badass cast of all time. The plot of the film is simply that the Boston police want to take down the largest crime organization in the city. Because Scorsese directed it however, it means there is going to be a mind blowing cluster**** guaranteed.

I have found that the way I describe the visuals in a Blu-ray don’t really give the movies the credit they deserve so I am going to from now on quote my favorite site ever blu-ray.com’s description of how the film looks so you guys get a proper picture of what this film looks like in high-definition:

 “From the opening footage of south Boston's racial strife to the climactic rooftop scene and final moments, the color and contrast of The Departed ranks among the elite reference-quality BDs. The picture is solid and vibrant, with deep black levels and absolutely gorgeous resolution and color.

 The sound is a revelation. Listen to Jack Nicholson's voice in the opening scenes as he shakes down the owner of a local shop and hits on the young clerk who works there. The menacing timbre, vowel sounds and cadence that long ago became Nicholson's trademarks achieve a new presence and palpability, albeit with a fake Boston accent. It is not only Nicholson. All voices have a depth and detail that is stunning and, unlike most DD tracks, utterly nonfatiguing. The music, too, has qualities that exceeded what I am accustomed to on most pop CDs. The entire range, from midbass to treble delivers a realism and detail that Warner should strive for in all its Blu-ray releases.” – Greg Maltz of www.bluray.com

Someday I will be able to do that…someday. Anyway, now on to the special features. There are two documentaries included on the disc. One is a 22 minute feature about the history behind the real Boston gangster in which the movie was based off of. The second is a 24 minute feature about all of Scorsese’s work and how all of his themes in all of his movies tie together and why he loves this genre of movie. Lastly there are nine deleted scenes which introductions by Scorsese himself.

 The best part about all of this is that it was only $9.35! Even better yet, it is STILL $9.35 right now if anyone is interested in picking it up. I chose The Departed Blu-ray to be in my collection because crime dramas are my favorite genre of movie and when someone comes to my apartment and sees my collection or looks at it on this blog, I want them to be able to see my personality reflected by the types of movies that I pick. Tomorrow’s Blu-ray will be of the same genre and it is my favorite film of all time so be excited, because I sure am!

Blu-ray from down under!

Today’s Blu-ray will probably be a movie that you’ve never heard of before, but it was my favorite film from 2009. If you don’t remember 2009, it was the year that Slumdog Millionare won best picture; Heath Ledger won the award for best actor for The Dark Knight, and Wall-E won best animated film. So when I say that this movie is my favorite film from that year, it means a lot. The movie is called Mary and Max and it is the first foreign Blu-ray of my collection! Err well it was made in Australia and written and directed by Adam Elliot so it’s not that exotic, but it's foreign to me lol! It’s a clay-animated movie about the relationship between two pen pals and how they become friends. There is an eight year old girl named Mary Daisy Dinkle (voiced by Toni Collette) from Melbourne,Australia who is teased by kids at school, has an alcoholic mother, and is too poor to afford toys so she has to make her own. She decides to make a friend by picking someone randomly out of the phone book and writing a letter to them. She ends up picking the other main character of the film Max Horowitz (voiced by Philip Seymour Hoffman), who lives in a crappy apartment in New York City and suffers from Asperger syndrome. 

The film follows their lives and their friendship and it is one of the most endearing movies I have ever seen. I laughed, cried and got angry all because you become so involved with the characters. If there is one favor that you do for me ever, it is that you watch this movie.

Now on to the important stuff, the Blu-ray part. Simply put this movie looks perfect in high definition. You can see every ounce of detail in the hand crafted sets and the monochrome colors look amazing with perfect highlight and dark levels. 

 The special features are pretty standard. There is an audio commentary with writer/director Adam Elliot, there is a behind-the-scenes documentary, alternate scenes, and a short film made by Harvie Krumpet. The most interesting feature is a “making of” video which is a mockumentary that has the characters talking in a The Office style interview about the production process. It’s pretty funny actually.

This is the most expensive Blu-ray I have bought so far at $17.99 on Amazon and it still is the same price now.  I recommend that you rent it, torrent it, or stream it as long as you see it! This movie is on my top 10 list of favorite movies and it was a must have for my collection. If you made it this far, then thanks for reading!

Dreaming of Blu-rays

Hello guys and gals, I got some great news! Yesterday I got a pretty little package at my doorstep with a box full of Blu-rays. So now I got almost a week’s worth of content for you all and I am really excited about it. Today I am going to slam you with my second Christopher Nolan film of my collection: Inception. Now many people, I would even say a solid majority of Americans that saw Inception, thought it was the best thing in the world. I was not among them. I actually liked Shutter Island more than Inception. I thought there was a bigger mind blower, I thought the plot and setting were more interesting, and I think Leonardo DiCaprio had to put more effort into the role. Not to say I didn’t hate the movie though or that I’m  bashing it in anyway, I just thought Shutter Island was an overall better film. What do you guys think about Inception? 

There is no doubt however, that its visuals are beautiful on Blu-ray. They are probably the best that I have seen so far in my collection. The film’s city streets, flourishing green parks, narrow yet warm hotel hallways, dark, cloudy beaches and snowy, ice cold military bunkers are overflowing with bold, beautiful colors, and amazing contrasts.

The Blu-Ray comes with a DVD and Digital Copy of the film (My only other combo like that has been Fantastic Mr. Fox) and comes with another disc filled with about two hours of special features. There is no audio commentary which is a huge bummer for me, but I’ll live. The special feature disc comes with a thing called Extraction Mode which is more or less a behind the scenes type deal with Nolan himself talking about the film and explaining certain scenes. If you loved the whole dreaming concept of the movie, Nolan goes into great depth about it which is pretty cool. It also comes with a soundtrack that is presented in 5.1 surround sound. A little odd because the screen is just black while the 10 tracks play but it is pretty cool. There is a 15 minute Inception prequel that explains how the characters Cobb, Arthur and Nash were hired by Cobol Engineering. Hardcore fans of the movie will jizz over this one. Lastly there is a documentary included called “Dreams: Cinema of the Subconscious.” (Which I think my blogger friend LadyS would like =D) It gathers a group of doctors, psychologists, theorists, authors, professors and other experts to dissect the science of sleep.

So I bought this Blu-ray on Amazon for $14.99 which is pretty great seeing as it comes with 3 versions of the movie and over 2 hours of special features. It is now $18.99 and I would still recommend getting it for that price. This is the perfect Blu-ray to show off to your friends.

Playing the waiting game.

Sorry everyone, but my Blu-rays that I ordered haven't arrived yet so I don't have one to talk about for today or probably the next couple of days. That's okay though because if I had enough money to buy a bunch of Blu-rays everyday then it wouldn't be much of a hobby would it? What makes this hobby fun and exciting is mostly the hunt for great deals. For example, one of my personal rules is that I will never buy a Blu-ray over 20 dollars unless it is a box set or a special edition. This is tricky because most Blu-rays MSRP for about $40-$60! So I am checking websites and reading store ads daily for good deals. Usually I go for movies that are 50% off or more.

Another one of my other personal rules when looking for Blu-rays to add to my collection is that I have to actually like the movie or if I haven't seen it, I have to have heard good things about it. I don't want to buy a bunch of unknown 5 dollar Blu-rays just to make my collection bigger.

Here are some Blu-rays that I have my eye on but am too broke to get:
- Office Space $8.49 on Amazon
-  The Book of Eli $10.99 on Amazon
- SWAT  $6.99 on Amazon

Well that's my post! I thought in addition to this I would answer some of the questions I have gotten over my past couple of posts.

Aggeron asks: So what do you think about those moviestreamers?
Movie streaming is great when you are strapped for cash, it's what I used to do before I got a job. I still do it now sometimes. But since you are streaming from the Internet the quality is going to be terrible unless you have an awesome connection and even then it wouldn't match the quality that a Blu-ray player gives.

Screaming Hawk asks: How long have you been in film?? Show us some of the things you've made. 
 I've only been a film student for a year now. I am actually majoring in Film Studies and not Film Production which means I don't make the movies, I more or less write about them. My dream is to be a film critic or a member of film or gaming media like writing for blogs like this one!


Psychologypost asks: nice, did you get a blu-ray player or using a ps3? 
I use a PS3. It pushes out the best quality, it has built in wi-fi, and you can play games! WiFi is important for Blu-ray players because there are firmware updates that get released when Blu-rays are updating in format and stuff. Too bad PSN is down hahaha.


Well that's all, if you made it this far then thanks for reading!

Name: Austin Danger Powers. Sex: Yes, please!

Got a big one here today you guys and girls. Just go ahead and play the music in order to get yourself in the mood.

That's right, Blu-Rays number 3, 4, and 5 are from the Mike Myers Austin Powers Collection: Shagadelic Edition (Loaded with Extra Mojo!) As you can imagine this box set comes with all three Austin Powers movies: International Man of Mystery, The Spy Who Shagged Me, and Goldmember. The last time I saw these movies was when I was just a young lad and let me tell you, they are just as funny now as they were back then! I've only watched the first movie on Blu-ray and I already catch myself quoting it all the time. I'm excited to watch the other two today and tomorrow. 

The Blu-rays come in a cardboard sleeve case with Austin Powers on one side and Dr. Evil on the other with the British flag in the background. The movies are in thin Blu-ray cases which is kind of lame, but they need to do it in order to keep the sleeve from being too big.

The first movie was probably the least impressive Blu-ray I have seen so far, but I'm guessing that's because it is because it is the oldest movie in Blu-ray that I have seen so far being made in 1997. (I was only 5 years old!) The movie still looks way better than it did for the VHS and DVD releases. In fact what separates the first film from it's DVD and VHS releases is that for the first time, we are able to watch the movie in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. I was worried that Mike Myer's costumes might look fake in HD but thankfully that isn't a problem. The extra mojo that the box refers to are the special features which include commentaries tracks by Myers and the director Jay Roach and each film contains deleted scenes and alternate endings which are always awesome.
  
Amazon had this set on sale for $17.00 for the last three weeks which I couldn't pass up. They have since bumped it up to $30.00 to which I would recommend that you pass on it unless you are a big fan of the movies. I am really proud of this purchase and welcome it with open arms into my infant collection of Blu-rays.


Last, but not least I wanted to thank all of my followers. Didn't expect to get 10 followers let alone 60+! I am enjoying the hell out of posting these as well as keeping up with my followers' posts. This community is full of amazing and interesting people.

Hating Pixar with a Passion!

Shazam! Blu number two and it is Fantastic Mr. Fox from 2009 starring George Clooney and Meryl Streep. Bet you never saw this one in theaters. It's an adaptation from children's book legend Roald Dahl's book of the same name. It has a very distinct, charming visual style that when seen on Blu-ray, makes everything seem real to the touch. Another thing I found interesting about this movie is that actors Clooney and Streep didn't just say their lines in a studio, they actually went to locations that matched the environment of the movie so the sounds and the ambiance would feel real even though they are not actually acting.

See this movie!! Note how real the fur looks. I love this visual style

 It is sad to me that most people didn't catch this film because nobody will watch anything without the Pixar name stamped all around it. There is nothing special about a Pixar movie okay? It's the same predictable childish plot and characters over and over again that children, parents, and hipster emo teens that shop at Hot Topic adore. My challenge to all of you guys is to watch an animated film that is not made by Disney or Pixar this month and see how you like it. Anybody with me?

Anyways the movie looks amazing on Blu-ray. As of today it is still on sale for only $9.99 on Amazon. It's visuals received and 4.5/5 and the audio received a 4/5 from bluray.com and I think they totally deserve it. The film was shot with Nikon D3 digital still cameras and the lenses really make the film look beautiful. You will marvel at how pristine the film looks and how you can see every individual strand of fur on the characters. If you are a fan of stop-motion animation then you will shit your pants at how amazing this film looks.

It contains a six part documentary series on how the movie was made and how director Wes Anderson took inspiration from Dahl's book. It also has a fun video on how to play one of the made up games in the movie called Whack-Bat.

So my collection so far is The Dark Knight and Fantastic Mr. Fox no sort of pattern here so far, let's see what I get next! Thanks for reading.

My First Blu-ray!

All right Blu-ray numero uno and it is........Christopher Nolan's masterpiece The Dark Knight! Now this movie is so popular that I don't need to go into any plot detail but if you haven't seen the film yet, please please do so. Ugh there are some students in my film classes that refuse to see this movie solely because it was hyped so much. Well I chose The Dark Knight as the first in my collection because I hear its one of the greatest looking Blu-rays on the market today. Blu-ray.com gave it a 5/5 in the visuals department and 4.5/5 for the special features and the audio.
There is actually 3 (and I think more in the EU) box arts for this Blu-ray. Here they are:

I actually went out of my way to get the Joker one because it was so awesome. The Blu-ray itself was on sale for 10.99 on amazon (and still is!) and it comes packed with special features like mini documentaries about the weapons and the vehicles, the making of the movie, and more. There are also of course audio commentaries from the makers of the movie which I am always a fan of.

I think this was definitely a good choice as the first Blu-ray in my collection.