Showing posts with label Blu-ray. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blu-ray. Show all posts

7.04.2009

Red, White and Blu



In his films, Spike Lee presents the American flag as a tipping point to cultural divide. He opens Malcolm X by setting it on fire. In Do the Right Thing, released this week on Blu-ray, Lee dresses his central protagonist, a young man whose speech is framed by dollar signs not quotations, in a Dodgers jersey, its color scheme (red, white and blue) more fashion statement than pledge of allegiance. Both would make for good viewing this Fourth of July weekend.

1.11.2009

Black and Blu

Most digital enthusiasts believe Blu-ray will succeed as the market's preferred home entertainment format. Pundits say downloads. I'm not so sure. Downloading a film isn't as easy as downloading a song (larger files = longer downloads). Not to mention there is no significant difference in sound quality between a CD and iTunes. Blu-ray on the other hand makes bad movies look good and goods ones, like Wall-E, look like candy.

Holiday sales indicate a bright future too, but if Blu-ray does not become as mainstream as DVD has (which has more to do with a weak economy than technology I think), the industry may be forced to increase the quality of their film's extended content to get consumers to buy. Besides The Criterion Collection, standard release packaging and special feature content has become as streamlined as frozen pizza boxes. Studios stopped giving a shit a long time ago and took the format for granted when they realized every household in America had a player for their product.

Who am I kidding. This post is meant to justify the nearly $30 I impulsively spent on Pineapple Express yesterday at the Super Target while I was grocery shopping. I didn't have anything going on last night and really wanted to see the movie. And now that I'm a Blu-ray snob and the local video stores never have enough Blu-ray copies in stock, which always pisses me off, it seemed sensible at the time to just buy it. After watching the movie, I don't feel this anymore.