Recently in Blu-Ray Category

For the last twelve months or so, I feel as though I've gone back in time twenty five years. You see, twenty five years ago, I bought a Commodore 128 computer, and it was twelve months ago that I bought my first Blu-Ray player. The Commodore 128 was the follow-up to the hugely successful Commodore 64, and Blu-Ray is the new high-definition video disc format which is replacing the DVD format

How are these two ownership experiences related? Through disappointment.

The Commodore 128 was going to be the next big thing because it had better graphics, better sound, twice the memory, and double the CPU power of the Commodore 64. It also had a Commodore 64 emulation mode that would run nearly all of the available Commodore 64 software titles. Sounds like a great thing, right? Perhaps, except for the fact that because of that, many software companies never wrote dedicated C-128 titles, since they could write a C-64 version, and it would run on the C-128, in C-64 emulation mode. While the C-128 was a successful machine for Commodore, I think it would have been more successful if more companies had written dedicated C-128 programs.

I bet you're still wondering what this has to do with the new Blu-Ray format.

Well, I'll tell you.

I am a big fan of independent films, and independent film companies often don't have huge budgets. When it comes time to do a disc-based release of a film, often, Indie film companies will only do a DVD release of the titles that I really want to buy. You see, all Blu-Ray players have a feature called Upconverting. Upconversion is a process that takes a standard DVD, and through some mathematical algorithmic magic, takes the low-resolution of the DVD, and converts it to a decent looking 1080p, high-resolution output, so that DVDs look acceptable on your fancy, high-resolution flat-panel TV. Yes, it looks acceptable, but it's fake. You're not really getting the same picture that you would get if you were looking at an actual 1080p master of the same film. It seems as if these Indie film companies believe that a DVD release is good enough, even though Blu-Ray is the new format, and there are millions of us out there, who prefer, and want the higher resolution releases.

Two recent films that did not have a U.S. Blu-Ray release, that I wanted to purchase, were Man On Wire, and Anvil! The Story Of Anvil. I would already own them, if they were available on Blu-Ray, and I will not buy them, on general principle, until they are available on Blu-Ray. I do not want to encourage this bad habit that the software companies had twenty five years ago, who believed that a backwardly-compatible version was good enough, despite the fact that the new hardware was superior, and capable of so much more.

So to all film companies, I encourage you to embrace the Blu-Ray format, else you won't see any of my dollars.

I finally rented Gran Torino and watched it last night.  When I plan not to see a film in the theatre, and eventually watch it in my modest home theatre, I make a point to avoid learning anything about the film in question.

My first surprise about this film was that I had no idea that so much of the film would relate to the lead character's Asian neighbors, who belonged to a group of Asians called the Hmong.  I had never heard of the Hmong and it was fascinating to learn about their culture, their history, and their plight.

The main character in this film is a guy named Walt Kowalski, who is a retired auto-worker, recently a widower.  He is estranged from his children, and is basically a curmudgeon who wants to be left alone.  He very much reminded me of a combination of Archie Bunker, Hank Hill, Andy Sipowicz, and Paul Kersey.  Like all of these characters, we like them despite their many faults, and in time, we learn that they are sophisticated people with many layers.  Walt is no exception.

For many people in the world today, things are changing faster than they can keep up with, and they are incapable, or unwilling to change with them.  I saw something like this in the very neighborhood in which I grew up.  When I was young it was entirely made up of Polish people, most of whom were retired, and took little interest in their neighbors.  In time, as people moved away, or passed away, the neighborhood became more multi-cultural and economically depressed, not unlike Walt's neighborhood. 

Much like the aloof neighboars that I had as a child, Walt is similar, but having said that, we get the feeling that Walt Kowalski cares about his neighborhood deeply, and despite the changes going on around him, wants it to be a safe place where a family can raise their children with no worries.  The difference between Walt and most people, however, is that Walt is a man of action, and is willing to put himself out there when he sees an injustice.

Walt eventually befriends his Hmong neighbors, and despite all their differences, they learn to tolerate each other's differences, and in time, enjoy their differences.

Walt becomes good friends with his two adolescent neighbors, Thao, and Sue, and they develop a close relationship.  Our first impressions of Walt tell us this would be impossible, but it happens.  Walt ends up caring so deeply for these young adults, that he is willing to put it all on the line for them.

As in my film reviews on the BV Podcast, I didn't usually give away any spoilers, and I am not going to do it here.  But what I am going to tell you is that I found this film to be powerful and moving.  Powerful and moving because we ALL know or knew a guy like Walt Kowalski at one time in our lives, and indeed, are probably related to someone like that.  While I am not of Walt's generation, I found myself relating to him in many ways, and what more could we ask of a film, a story, and a character, than that.

Was Gran Torino a perfect film?  No.  It had its faults, but they are far outweighed by the pluses.

Check it out.