The Blu-ray Files #013

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – This movie was released on DVD and Bluray just before I bought my HDTV, so I actually bought the DVD version to fit the rest of my HP movie set.  But I realized that when Part 2 is released later this fall, I will want to buy the bluray, which will be quite out of place with the set.  So I decided to upgrade this one, so that the two Deathly Hallows films at least will have some consistency in my collection.

The picture and sound quality is of course very good, as expected from a newer movie like this.  There’s nothing particularly outstanding about it to mention however, other than the high def manages to provide a certain ambiance with the scenes in the woods which is rather nice.  The set also comes with some really good deleted scenes as well as the DVD version and digital copy, if your into that (I’m not, but I’m starting to wonder if they are more necessary now to compete with Netflix).

–

Casablanca –  Blu-ray is important not only fr providing excellent high def pictures, but also in preserving older classics to the way they were meant to be seen.  In this light, Casablanca is an excellent bluray transfer.  Images are sharp and detailed and provide a lot of definition.  One thing which might distract some modern viewers is the close-ups of Ilsa, in which the picture is much softer, almost blurry.  This seems to be overly distracting at this bitrate, but keep in mind that this is the original intention of the photographer.  Scenes without this sort of lighting are amazingly crisp and the grey-scale shading is excellent.

–

Forrest Gump – Two parts of Forrest Gump I was particularly looking forward to and having high expectations of were the Vietnam scenes and the running across America scenes.  Neither disappointed, especially the Vietnam scenes which looked simply amazing; rich, colourful and with full detail.  The other scenes in the movie have a hardly-noticeable, light grain structure which gives it a really authentic film feel.  I like this as it makes it actually feel like a movie as opposed to a Lifetime TV special.  Black levels are also excellent.  This is a really good blu-ray release.