 A Showcase Blu-ray Release |
| Review Date: November 26, 2008 |
| Reviewer: A. Dent, Minas Anor, GD |
Let me first state that I was completely unaware of the problems with playing these movies until I browsed through the Amazon reviews. It is disturbing to constantly hear of people who paid good money for their expensive players not being able to fully enjoy movies that are expected to play on them. However, I have not experienced any problems playing a Bluray movie ever and this review is only discussing my personal experience with this specific package.
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THE GOOD:
- Incredible video quality, better than what the audience saw on release date on some of the older movies.
- Lots of extras, most of them worth watching or listening to.
- Beautiful packaging.
THE NOT SO GOOD:
- The sound restoration not as good as the video.
- Some of the 'extras' sections would benefit from a 'play all' option.
- The box could be a bit slimmer.
- May require upgrades on certain players.
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The overall impression is of quality, inside and out. The box could be a little smaller but the packaging is exquisite. There's a transparent plastic slide cover over a solid cardboard box holding a small binder on which the 3 individual movie disks are pages. Each movie comes on one disk, holding the movie itself and in incredible amount of extras.
The menu interface is well organized and there's is even some humor in labeling. For example, the option that plays the movie is labeled 'The Mission' while the historic promotional material is found under 'The Propaganda'. Depending on which section you may be, menu options branch into further sub-menus.
The extras are numerous and, for the most part interesting. The From Russia with Love disk, for example, has 3 fascinating interviews with Ian Fleming, including one where Fleming and Chandler discuss their work and their heroes, the Propaganda sections show contemporary trailers, even radio commercials.
The sound options include the original sound which, in the older releases is 'mono' but all movies have surround 5.1 as the default. The sound wasn't upgraded and improved to the degree that the picture was but, it's understandable. Going from mono to 5.1 surround would be the equivalent of upgrading from black and white to full-color 3-D in the world of images. The area where some of the older installments show their age is the sound.
When it comes to the pictures, the best that I can say is that you've got to see it to believe it. The restoration of the older movies started with the actual original negative, which is the one copy that's almost never touched. Once the copy was digitized as a 4000 lines resolution digital copy (Bluray is 1080) every frame was reprocessed to eliminate any possible defects from 'dirty optics', such as the proverbial hair that we sometimes see on the older movies to scratches, bad exposure, color brilliance. The restorers' goal for the end result, and this concerns the video only, not the sound quality, was to deliver what would appear to be a contemporary movie with a 60's or 70's theme rather than a 60's or 70's movies. In my view, they succeeded.
My overall rating is a solid five-stars. Just about everything in this release is superlative: the physical packaging, the interface design, the extras, the video quality. The sound is not so good on the older movies but, given the state of sound restoration technologies, I did not feel compelled to remove a star because the old movies sounded more or less like they did on release date.
Please note that and I am not factoring in player issues because, sooner or later, those are going to be addressed. |
James Bond Collection
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| Review Date: November 27, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jack Chapman, St George., Utah |
| Blu-Rays In Excellent Shape. Very Fast Delivery. Awesome Seller. Will Buy From Again. |
Most incredible restoration I have ever seen!
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| Review Date: November 24, 2008 |
| Reviewer: D. Lee, Chicago, IL USA |
| I have seen a lot of great looking blu-ray disks, but never movies this old. For Your Eyes Only was the first Bond movie I saw in the theater and it did not look or sound near as good as this blu ray edition plays in my home theater. At times Thunderball looks almost 3D. This is outstanding for a movie that is 40 years old. I certainly feel for all those who are having problems with the disks. I have had several blu ray disks, including these, that would not play on my Panasonic. However, as before, I downloaded new software and they worked just fine. Hopefully the software issues for everyone else can be resolved, because these restorations are the best money I have ever spent on blu ray! |
quite pleased
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| Review Date: October 26, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Dane A. Taylor, Austin, TX USA |
| ten bucks a blu-ray is a good deal but the very sharp packaging of the product is what impressed me most |
Eye-Popping
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| Review Date: January 21, 2010 |
| Reviewer: D. Baclaski, |
I do wish they'd release these three-packs in some semblance of order. I mean, who wants to play the board like this?
But, From Russia with Love and For Your Eyes Only are two faves of mine, so whatever.
The 1080p discs ROCK! They are from a 4K Lowry restoration process. Each frame of film is 4000p. I have had Beta, VHS, and two DVD copies of the Bond flicks and I am a nerd with few social skills.
This wipes the floor with them. It is especially evident with FRWL as I believe that was from an Eastman print, which is not the same as Technicolor as it fades easily. The elements are fully restored. The color balance is beautiful. The details are eye-popping. There is no point in reviewing the movies. With For Your Eyes Only, the difference is not as evident as it is a more recent film. But for FRWL and T'ball, it is apples and oranges from previous editions.
Oh, the menu is nigh near impossible to navigate. Too many euphemisms. However, some of the documentaries on there are interesting. If only to see what a phenomena Bond was in the 1960s. |
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