82 replies to this topic

[oatesy]

The underwater scenes on For Your Eyes Only are bloody fantastic!

Absolutely agree. Overall, the For Your Eyes Only Blu-ray is the least impressive of the first wave of 007 Blu-ray releases. But even as the lesser of the set it far surpasses the inferior UE DVDs.

I am salivating at what new details we will discover on the Blu-rays of Goldfinger, Moonraker, The World is not Enough and Never Say Never Again. It really is like watching these movies for the first time, all over again.

You mean to sat FYEO doesn't look great on Blu ? How did TWINE look new in Blu? I would like your opinion on this. On UE DVD Dr No, FRWL and OHMSS looked fantastic to me. LTK was looking a very cheaply done movie.
So far watched DAD and TB. TB I felt looked very cool towards the end my only complaint being Connery's make up in the beginning not upto standard Hehe.

The problem with FYEO is the source rather than the transfer. On Blu-Ray FYEO looks as good as it is probably ever going to look. The aesthetic in the early 80s was for a slightly diffused look to the photography which masked detail and gave a flat image rather than one with much depth or '3-D pop', it also helped disguise some of wrinkles Roger had by then.

[dee-bee-five]

The underwater scenes on For Your Eyes Only are bloody fantastic!

Absolutely agree. Overall, the For Your Eyes Only Blu-ray is the least impressive of the first wave of 007 Blu-ray releases. But even as the lesser of the set it far surpasses the inferior UE DVDs.

I am salivating at what new details we will discover on the Blu-rays of Goldfinger, Moonraker, The World is not Enough and Never Say Never Again. It really is like watching these movies for the first time, all over again.

You mean to sat FYEO doesn't look great on Blu ? How did TWINE look new in Blu? I would like your opinion on this. On UE DVD Dr No, FRWL and OHMSS looked fantastic to me. LTK was looking a very cheaply done movie.
So far watched DAD and TB. TB I felt looked very cool towards the end my only complaint being Connery's make up in the beginning not upto standard Hehe.

The problem with FYEO is the source rather than the transfer. On Blu-Ray FYEO looks as good as it is probably ever going to look. The aesthetic in the early 80s was for a slightly diffused look to the photography which masked detail and gave a flat image rather than one with much depth or '3-D pop', it also helped disguise some of wrinkles Roger had by then.

It's odd, though, but I found the upscale on FYEO to be more impressive than LALD. There's nothing wrong at all with the LALD Blu Ray; it looks tremendous. But I think it's because I always felt that LALD looked bloody marvellous on DVD to start with that, perhaps, I don't see quite the leap in quality I do in the others.

[Turn]

I just played a few select scenes, but here's some things I noticed on the Goldfinger Blu-ray:

-The straps holding the bird decoy on Bond's head in the pre-credits
-More detail of Ramirez's lab. I had never noticed actual poppies and chemistry equipment before
-More details in the actual nightclub itself
-The beach outside the Fountainbleau Hotel at the beginning of the film
-The light above M's door coming out into Moneypenny's office turning red when Bond exits
-Just how big the room is the dinner with Col. Smithers takes place in, and that Bond declines taking a cigar when M and Smithers both take one
-In Fort Knox during the break-in, you can see the numbers of the vault's labled and a listing of the vaults on a wall, and a passed-out or dead guy at a desk just inside the door. Either he missed his cue or really is dead as he still remains slumped over still when the fighting starts

My favorite thing I noticed was during the classic laser table torture.
-You can see the white stains at various places on Bond's black clothes from where he wrecked the Aston Martin, and you can see prominent bruises and a cut on his cheek
-You can also see Mr. Ling having a conversation with one of Goldfinger's scientists and notice how the Coke bottle-thick glasses on the guy operating the laser

[Bucky]

noticed the hair on the legs of the golden girls during the main titles.

[DamnCoffee]

Moonraker:
- Just before Bond, Grey and M go into Drax's 'lab', you can see a police officer arrest the receptionist of the glass works, "Can I interest you in something?"
- When Bond is making his way through the carnival, a large drunk man grabs Bond and starts dancing with him, Bond looks quite mortified.

[Bucky]

i noticed watching quantum of solace that at the end with the gunbarrell that after it turns into the title quantum of solace you can see bond continue to walk to the left inside of the Q

[Vauxhall]

A quick query to those who have Blu-Ray. Many of the things being listed as newly noticed are things that are clearly visable on standard DVDs. Is it the case that you find yourselves watching Blu-Ray more closely than a regular DVD just because the picture quality is better, or because you're hoping to find things by being more observant? Just wondering, because I need to be convinced that it is worth me upgrading my collection.

[DamnCoffee]

Yep. I was actually sitting a few feet away from the screen. Where as with standard DVD's I'm on my bed, at the other end of my room.

[Frimmel]

A quick query to those who have Blu-Ray. Many of the things being listed as newly noticed are things that are clearly visable on standard DVDs. Is it the case that you find yourselves watching Blu-Ray more closely than a regular DVD just because the picture quality is better, or because you're hoping to find things by being more observant? Just wondering, because I need to be convinced that it is worth me upgrading my collection.

A Blu-ray is a greater step up in resolution from DVD than DVD is from VHS. Add in viewing on a larger screen in a room I've taken more time to prepare as a screening environment and you are going to be hard pressed to convince me these details were simply 'unobserved' previously.

While some change in attitude is certainly a factor it is, in my case, a very small one. Some of the things that just seem to leap off the screen are not things I was on the watch for.

I suggest getting just your favorite film on Blu-ray (if you have a player already) and determining for yourself if the upgrade is worth it for the entire collection.

[dinovelvet]

In Moonraker, when the girl is giving the tour of the Venini Glass museum, there's a man wearing a bright yellow cap who now stands out like a sore thumb.

In NSNA, M has a photo of Margaret Thatcher on his desk. Its the bright red hair that makes her stand out!

[DamnCoffee]

God, doesn't Blu-Ray really bring out Roger Moore's wrinkles! When Bond is talking to Holly during their first meeting, he looks like a leather sofa! Gotta love old Rog though, bless him.

[Professor Pi]

Another thread talks about Roger's age showing in Moonraker's Bluray. I noticed that there aren't any pilots in the space shuttle launch and flight scenes when you can see through the front windows. Still, the effects hold up marvelously well for a movie pushing 30 years. The space shots are gorgeous. As are Lois Chiles and Corrine Clery who never looked better.

For the first time, the space shuttle theft scene actually looked like a model to me.

[DamnCoffee]

It's funny but when I watched Moonraker tonight, it was the first time i've noticed how poor Corrine Clery's acting is. I haven't really payed much attention to her scenes until tonight.

[dee-bee-five]

A quick query to those who have Blu-Ray. Many of the things being listed as newly noticed are things that are clearly visable on standard DVDs. Is it the case that you find yourselves watching Blu-Ray more closely than a regular DVD just because the picture quality is better, or because you're hoping to find things by being more observant? Just wondering, because I need to be convinced that it is worth me upgrading my collection.

My mother made an interesting comment on watching her first Blu Ray film (The Duchess as it happens). She said, "The thing I noticed most is that there are no background artists because everyone stands out." I think that sums it up; it isn't that one hasn't seen these things before, one just hasn't noticed them.

[Turn]

Some Moonraker items I've noticed:

-The navigator behind the pilot and co-pilot on the plane at the beginning
-The champagne Bond chilling next to Bond and the stewardess is Bollinger
-As Bond is hanging in mid-air, you can see the plane going off to the left of the screen
-When M answers his phone, you can see his trademark pipe on the desk, which wasn't seen much in the later years of Bernard Lee's tenure in the role
-Chang wears a Drax Industries logo pin on his kimono
-There is a pile of dead pheasants during the hunting scene
-When Jaws pulls Bond out of the water after his struggle with the Anaconda, Jaws is still wet from going over the falls

[dinovelvet]

Dusting off this old thread...

I was watching LALD in hi-def and noticed two things we obviously weren't supposed to see :

1. Bond's airline ticket that he looks at to find the taxi has obviously had the cab's number pasted onto it over the real ticket number

2. When Tee-Hee bends Bond's gun, you can see that the gun has a line/groove cut into it so it will bend easily

[hilly]

-You can also see Mr. Ling having a conversation with one of Goldfinger's scientists and notice how the Coke bottle-thick glasses on the guy operating the laser

This may be a silly question, but is that actually Martin Benson, aka Mr Solo? I've always thought it looks like him and I've often wondered whether it is or not, especially as it is him who brought it in via "a consignment labelled machine parts".... (or does this comment belong in the "things I misinterpreted when I was younger" thread????)

[Dan Gale]

Seeing GOLDFINGER on the big screen in an HD print a few years ago I suddenly noticed how many times Guy Hamilton starts the camera on something then dollies backward to reveal something else. The size of the dinner hall where Bond meets M and Colonel Smithers, the plane in the hanger in Kentucky. there are several others but I can't recall them now. But he seems to be saying "Look at this, NOW look at how big/small/insignificant it is compared to THIS!"

[Kreivi von Glödä]

Slightly off-topic I haven't updated to blu-ray yet but when I watched Thunderball from the UE DVD I noticed that the SPECTRE operative who was electrocuted was number 9 and not case-representing number 11 like I always thought. I had only seen TB on VHS is crappy panned and cut version before getting the Connery UE box.

[Vauxhall]

Moonraker:
- Just before Bond, Grey and M go into Drax's 'lab', you can see a police officer arrest the receptionist of the glass works, "Can I interest you in something?"

I don't ever remember seeing that on either VHS widescreen, pan & scan, or the Special Edition DVDs that came out from 1999 to 2000. Is it only because of BluRay that we can see that scene more clearly, or that they were able to put more of that in the wide screen edition?

I've only ever seen MOONRAKER on DVD and I seem to remember seeing the receptionist being arrested. Having said that, based on the reviews, MOONRAKER will certainly be my first Blu-ray Bond purchase.

[dinovelvet]

Moonraker:
- Just before Bond, Grey and M go into Drax's 'lab', you can see a police officer arrest the receptionist of the glass works, "Can I interest you in something?"

I don't ever remember seeing that on either VHS widescreen, pan & scan, or the Special Edition DVDs that came out from 1999 to 2000. Is it only because of BluRay that we can see that scene more clearly, or that they were able to put more of that in the wide screen edition?

I watched Moonraker on BluRay again, and noticed many new things never seen before on VHS or even standard dvd: multi-colored lights on the wings of the 747...there was actually a lot more color buttons and knobs on the space station control panels, even though the predominant colors in that scene are orange, silver, black, grey, and white....picked up a major new set of sound effects when that last globe is shot down by Bond and Holly (never heard that sound effect before).

Roger Moore looked much, much older and wrinkled in his introduction to Holly than he did throughout the rest of the movie. Face lift during production?

Saw a string or two pulling the model shuttles out from Brazilian jungles that I could never see in the previous editions of the movie.

On a side note...I never thought about it before, or noticed it, but the space station technicians were an entirely different group of people than the young, beautiful, sexy people brought on board to repopulate the earth. Since the technicians jobs were never going to be to provide offspring, it's conceivable that Drax was never intending to kill Jaws or Dolly, but would have allowed them to live out their remaining years on the space station like the rest of the technicians.

Moonraker on Blu-ray is perhaps TOO polished for it's own good. One thing jumped out at me that I'd never been aware of before - it is now glaringly obvious that Bond and Corinne's helicopter ride at the beginning is done with rear-projection. Every single time I'd previously watched it, I'd never even thought about the possibility that they weren't actually going on a helicopter ride instead of sitting in a faux helicopter shell somewhere at Pinewood (despite the logical part of my brain deep down being aware that the actress probably isn't able to fly it herself, and there's no room in the cockpit for a camera man).
It's this kind of undoing-the-magic that's the drawback of Blu-ray. It is still the absolute best way to watch any movie, but it comes with a price.

[Vauxhall]

Resurrecting an old thread here, I'm afraid.

Watching DIE ANOTHER DAY on Blu-ray for the first time (I'm guessing it will heighten my enjoyment of SKYFALL tomorrow even further...) and noticed that the byline for the article about Graves in the British Airways magazine details the writer as Gregg Wilson. Not one I'd spotted before.

[AMC Hornet]

A Blu-ray is a greater step up in resolution from DVD than DVD is from VHS.

I have to disagree.

 

Things I noticed while watching my UE DVDs:

 

-Diners at umbrella tables in the background while the Bridge four play at the beginning of Dr. No;

-Another yacht standing in for the Disco Volante in Thunderball;

-The clarity/contrast in the cockpit of the lead helicopter approaching Piz Gloria in OHMSS;

-The 'Colibri' logo on Scaramanga's lighter when he assembles his gun to shoot Hai Fat, and the wall of living rock behind Nick Nack - which looks like a brown-and-green mural on VHS - when he hands "half" the money to Rodney, .

 

On BluRay:

 

-Connery's pores while Helga interrogates him in YOLT;

-The column of living rock behind Nick Nack has three busts of Buddha worked into it...

-I saw FYEO - broadcast in hi-def - on a friend's 50" Plasma TV, and it was like being in the studio, watching the movie being filmed through a 50" window.

 

That's all so far. We'll see what Skyfall looks like, now that I have it...