Requiem for the Blu-ray Dossier

It’s time to face facts.  Blu-ray discs are great but they have no future.  Yeah, that’s right, I said it – NO FUTURE.  I love to bask in the glow of 1080p as much as the next movie geek but the fact of the matter is the format’s days are numbered.  I use to write a column here on Chicken Scratch about with a two tiered rating system the first score was for the story and the second was for the quality of the Blu-ray itself.  As always, the story is what truly matters; the jaw dropping pop of crystal clear 1080p was simply icing on the cake.  Video may have killed the radio star but it was streaming content that has dealt the fatal blow to Blu-ray.  Just as Blockbuster killed the Ma & Pa video rental stores, video streaming gutted Blockbuster and there are options for streaming, Netflix, Hulu, cable, Amazon, heck – even Redbox, one of the only places left that you can rent a Blu-ray BTW, all have huge stakes in the streaming game.  Then there are all of the plug-ins for you HDTV to stream.  Companies like Apple, Google, Roku, Netgear, and even Tivo are all manufacturing High Def streaming hardware to make your Blu-ray collection obsolete.  

Hey, it happens.  It is part of the circle of life.  The writing is on the wall and not just for all those, “early innovators” out there; obsolescence approaches.  It’s event horizon dawns and change happens – both big and small; everything changes.  Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “For everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven…”  He was right.  Granted he wasn’t specifically talking about Blu-ray discs but, on the other hand, “everything” does cover, well, everything.  You get the idea – there is an expiration date on all things.  Take for example any old thing.  Now this any old thing works just fine right up to the point that doesn’t anymore and it is replaced by something that does the same job, “better” and/or faster.  The, “new thing”. 

History is chocked full of examples of this axiom.  New cells are generated and old cells fade away.  The MP3 replaced the CD which replaced the cassette tape which replaced the 8-Track which replaced the record which replaced wax cylinders.  People got tired of walking so they started riding horses.  Seeing that this horse-riding thing was a pretty good idea people hooked them up to chariots and then to horse drawn buggies.  The advent of the automobile put the horses out to pasture then came the trains and the planes which will someday be replaced by matter transporters – it’s true!  I’ve seen it on Star Trek.  

 Hey, that’s progress. 

I’ll still do the occasional review but I simply don’t watch that many Blu-rays anymore to keep the column viable so, therefore, it is time to bid it farewell.  On the right side of this particular version of Chicken Scratch I use to have, “The Blu-ray Dossier – At a Glance”.  It’s still up there but it too will be going away.  I’ll repost it here for posterity…

Blu-Ray Dossier at a Glance. Ratings? Story first Blu-Ray quality second.

"Blade Runner - The Final Cut" 5/4

"Blazing Saddles" 4/2

"Bounty Hunter" 1.5 / 2

"Bridesmaids" 4 / 3

"Captain America - The First Avenger" 4/3

"Clash of the Titans (2010)" 2 / 3

"Cowboys and Aliens" 3.5 / 4

"Despicable Me" 3 / 4

"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" 3.5 / 2

"Evil Dead 2: 25th Anniversary Edition" 4 / 3.5

"Grown Ups" 3 / 3

"Hangover" 3.5 / 4

"John Carter" 4/3

"Kick Ass" 3 / 3

"Knight & Day" 2.5 / 3

"Resident Evil: Afterlife" 2.5 / 3

"Serenity" 4 / 4

"Sherlock Holmes - Game of Shadows" 3/3

"Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back" 5/4

"Star Wars" 4.5/4

"The A-Team" 3 / 3

"The Frighteners" 4 / 4

"The Good, the Bad and the Weird" 4 / 4

"The Walking Dead: Season One" 5 / 4

"THOR" 3.8 / 4

Robin Hood (2010) 4 / 4

Superman / Batman – Apocalypse 3.5 / 3

The Untouchables – Special Collector’s Edition 3.8 / 4

“9”: 3.5 Stars / 4 Stars.

“Alice in Wonderland”: 4 Stars / 4 Stars.

“Batman/Superman, Public Enemies” Rating: 4 Stars / 4 Stars.

“Beetlejuice” 4 Stars / 3.5 Stars.

“Casino Royale” Rating: 5 Stars / 5 Stars.

“Diary of the Dead” 4 Stars / 3.5 Stars.

“District 9” 4.5 Stars / 4.5 Stars.

“Drag Me to Hell” Rating: 4 Stars / 3.5 Stars.

“G.I. Joe” 2.5 Stars / 3 Stars.

“Grindhouse – Death Proof”: 4 Stars / 4 Stars.

“Hellboy II – The Golden Army” 4 Stars / 4 Stars.

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” Rating: 4 Stars / 4.5 Stars.

“Inglorious Basterds”: 5 Stars / 4.5 Stars.

“Kill Bill Volume II”: 4.5 Stars / 4 Stars.

“Kill Bill Volume I”: 4.5 Stars / 4 Stars.

“King Kong the Extended Edition” 4.5 Stars / 5 Stars.

“Labyrinth”: 3.5 Stars / 3 Stars.

“Land of the Lost” Rating: 3 Stars / 3.5 Stars.

“Monsters Vs. Aliens” 3 Stars / 4 Stars.

“Nightmare Before Christmas” Rating 4.5 Stars / 5 Stars.

“Poltergeist” 4.5 Stars / 4 Stars.

“Ponyo”: 4 Stars / 4 Stars.

“Pride and Prejudice (A&E): 5 Stars / 3.5 Stars.

“Quantum of Solace” Rating: 4 Stars / 4.5 Stars.

“Reign of Fire”: 1 Star / 2 Stars.

“Sherlock Holmes”: 3.5 Stars / 3.5 Stars.

“Sleepy Hollow” 4 Stars / 3 Stars.

“Star Trek” 4.5 Stars / 4.5 Stars

“Star Wars the Clone Wars”: 3.5 Stars / 4 Stars.

“The Dark Knight” Rating: 5 Stars / 4.5 Stars.

“The Godfather Parts I & II” 5 Stars / 3.5 Stars.

“The Hangover”: 4 Stars / 4 Stars.

“The Hurt Locker”: 5 Stars / 4.5 Stars.

“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”: 4 Stars / 4 Stars.

“The Prestige” Rating: 4.5 Stars / 4 Stars.

“The Road Warrior”: 4.5 Stars / 3.5 Stars.

“The Road”: 4 Stars /3.5 Stars.

“The Shining”: 5 Stars / 4.5 Stars.

“The Wizard of Oz”: 5 Stars / 4 Stars.

“The Wolfman”: 1 Star / 2 Stars.

“Transformers – Rise of the Fallen” Rating: 2 Stars / 4 Stars.

“Twilight New Moon”: 2 Stars / 3 Stars.

“Up” 5 Stars / 5 Stars.

“Where the Wild Things Are”: 3 Stars / 3.5 Stars.

“Yojimbo”: 4.5 Stars / 4 Stars.

“Zombieland”: 4.5 Stars / 4 Stars.

Looking back at some of these ratings I am wondering where my head was (I’m looking at YOU, 3 stars for story, “Land of the Lost”) and then there were others I probably should have rated higher such as, “Labyrinth” (I dissed the power of the babe and only gave it a 3.5).  Other than those there are only a few more shaky ones and, for the most part, I stand by my ratings.

I may be pulling the plug on the Blu-ray Dossier but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to keep reviewing film – hey, I’m a movie geek with a fully functioning internet connection; therefore, I am duty bound to throw in my two cents when it comes to the goings on at the local multiplex.

In memory of my friend and longtime column, the Blu-ray Dossier – thank you for the memories.  “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss

Now then, what’s on Netflix?

 

Blockbuster, Ramblings and the Blu-Ray Dossier

This particular Blu-Ray Dossier marks a milestone for this ole article here at Chicken Scratch. You see, Gentle Reader, in order to write about movies on Blu-ray one must either purchase them or rent them. The lion’s share of the movies on Blu-ray here that I’ve reviewed I have rented from Blockbuster; the corporate Juggernaut that rolled over all of the “ma & pa” video rental places during the last decade and made them vanish into the sepia images of memory. The corporation grew and grew and blotted out the sun from the other small businesses that peddled the film industries wares. They’re all extinct now. They fell victim to the future; they could not compete with the idea that one store could have so many copies of the movies that people wanted to see. Our hunger for instant gratification only fueled “ma & pa’s” demise. Why should we wait to see the movie we want to see when we can just go to Blockbuster and they’ll have a copy? Hey, I want to “go home happy”.

Where was I? …Oh yes, this blog marks the end of my / our Blockbuster exclusivity. Tonight we canceled our Blockbuster plan.

During the last three years we have rented 225 movies on DVD & Blu-ray; that’s on average 75 movies a year. We had the deal where you could receive up to three movies in the mail, swap ‘em at the local Blockbuster and get two coupons for ‘free’ movies a month. All this brought our total to $21.19 a month. Now let’s see here… that comes out to a total of $762.84 that we have spent to date – that’s about $3.39 per movie. Not too shabby in the long run and we have been running with them a long while. We stayed with Blockbuster not only because they were the only game in town (‘in town’ not via Netflix or cable) but because of a handful of true & dedicated movie fans who used to work there. These guys were Great – with a capitol G. They were not just ‘managers’ they were Movie Geeks and something that Blockbuster truly needed; a human face that actually gave two shakes of a Raisinets Box about film. They cared about movies and story and they bent over backwards for their customers and for their staff. These gentlemen are no longer there and now that the human factor is gone, so am I.

Not to sound too melodramatic but now it is Blockbuster’s turn on the endangered list. You see our hunger for instant gratification is fueling Blockbuster’s demise; and make no mistake; ‘demise’ is the right word. Why should we waste all that time to go to a brick and mortar Blockbuster when we can ‘rent’ a movie cheaper from Comcast or Netflix (which is MUCH cheaper than Comcast) and not even have to be concerned about returning it in the next day or two? Come to think of it with Netflix you can watch the movies / TV shows you want to watch wherever you wish be it in your living room you’re your laptop or on your smart phone. Some TV’s come with wireless connections just for downloading movies from Netflix these days. Do you have a Nintendo Wii or a Xbox 360? Yeah, you can download Netflix movies from these game systems too. Then there is Red Box. Red Box machines have popped up everywhere. You can rent a DVD for $1.00. “What about Blu-ray?” you may ask. Well, for $1.50 you can rent a Blu-ray from a Red Box. You can also return it to ANY Red Box kiosk. Blockbuster can not compete with that; nor can they compete with the future – downloadable content. Blockbuster has been trying to rearrange the furniture on the first class deck of the Titanic but no matter how neat & orderly the deck looks the ship is still sinking. It is hard to fight an idea whose time has come.

Let’s gaze into my crystal ball… into the future. What will it look like? DLC is the future. Downloadable Content for the distribution of media (movies, music, video games, information) will be the business standard in the coming years. And no matter how much I love my Blu-ray movies they too will give way to DLC in 1080p. No matter how much I may love my Xbox 360, my Sony PSIII, or even my Nintendo Wii video games there will simply be no reason why I will have to own a physical disk anymore. Blockbuster is hemorrhaging now, when the next – next generation game consoles hit Gamestop (a store that specializes in used video games) will fall as well. It’s the way of things and it is hard to fight against the future. I’m sure that there will be some sort of occasional effort from companies to have “Special Editions” of movies and games that are packaged with cool doodads, souvenirs, toys and statues but when you sit down to watch that movie or play that game you’ll enter a code from a card or you’ll simply click a button on a remote. It will be a world without discs. Theoretically, this should drive prices down since you will no longer have a physical Blu-ray or video game to take up space on your shelf but the price of this future is something that is still cloudy from the vision from my crystal ball.

Here’s to the hunger of instant gratification; the engine of society’s progress!

Now that I’ve said that and in that vein… I can move forward to actually reviewing some Blu-rays. At the Blu-Ray Dossier I review Blu-ray movies on a 5 star (5 is the best), two tiered system; the first rating is for the story and the second is for the jaw dropping Blu-ray quality. Here’s what I’ve been watching…

Despicable Me, 3 Stars / 4 Stars. I did not go into this one with high expectations but I was pleasantly surprised. The animation glistens and gleams in 1080p. The story is about a man who happens to be an evil genius who, through a series of misadventures becomes a dad. Good for the family. Go rent if for ‘em.

Knight & Day, 2.5 Stars / 3 Stars. A romantic comedy with explosions. I liked it and it is worth the rental. Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are the couple and they are fun to watch. Pop some popcorn; you’ll have a good time and YES this can be considered a “Date Movie”.

The A-Team, 3 Stars / 3 Stars. This is another one I was pleasantly surprised by. I LOVED watching original A-Team back in the day. This oozes nostalgia and seeing these characters in action again just had me grinning the whole picture through. There’s a bit of a breakdown in act III but it still delivers. If memory serves the movie didn’t break bank at the box office; still this is one franchise that I would love to see continue. Rent it, you’ll have a good time.

Resident Evil: Afterlife, 2.5 Stars / 3 Stars. The Resident Evil movies have always been loosely based on Sony’s Resident Evil video game franchise and this one is no different. It was originally released in 3D and shot with real 3D cameras instead of that horrid 2D to 3D process that some companies strain their new releases through. One thing I’ve noticed after 4 movies thus far, Paul W. S. Anderson is having a good time playing in the playground that he has created and I’ve got to give him kudos for that. He has written and directed each of the movies and they have been successful enough for Sony to keep asking him back. What can I say, I was entertained. Lots of ‘splosions and Anderson sets it up for part 5 which I will probably rent as well.

Grown Ups, 3 Stars / 3 Stars. A lot of reviewers have given this film a lot of flack and not all of it is deserved. I’ve heard, “It’s too crude” or “It’s not good for children!” Well that may be the case and it may not be for everyone but I’ll say this, it’s one of the most accurate portrayals of a group of men of a certain age that I’ve seen in a long time. Men are boys whose toys are more expensive; you may deny it but you know deep down that it rings true. Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, Rob Schneider and David Spade play the adult versions of their younger selves and I, for one, enjoyed the heck out of it. Rent it but beware you may see yourself in this film; if you don’t or worse, you can’t; then you have my pity.

So there it is.

I wonder what I should call this article once Blu-ray discs become obsolete? I’ll have to ponder that one.

Until next time, Gentle Reader, I’ll see you at the Red Box.

Oh The Things I Could be Writing About

Please let it be known, Gentle Reader, I have never meant to abuse this blog. Hey, I love Chicken Scratch! That being said there have been some pretty cool things that have come and gone without me even typing a peep of it. That's too bad really. What can I say? Life has a way of encroaching on the things that we would really like to be doing verses the things that must take priority as a means of getting things done.

Here is a brief list of stuff that I really should be writing about but, for one reason or another, have not...

1. The Christmas play, "Glorious Impossibilities" by Kathryn Ross is coming up at my church and I'm still trying to learn my lines. It is gonna be a blast this year - seriously. I get to unleash my inner Stooge. I am really excited about this one. If you can make it come on out!

2. Work. I make a clear effort to never discuss work here on Chicken Scratch. Let's just say there's been some interesting things afoot.

3. We, the EC-5 went to Washington DC for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on 10/30/10. I have a thing for John Stewart and Steven Colbert. They did not disappoint. I will be blogging about this at some point but until such time know that we had a blast, had some interesting adventures in Social Studies and would do it all over again.

4. Netflix. Brick and mortar is quickly becoming obsolete. That being said, some of the people who work at MY local Blockbuster are simply wonderful individuals who love film and are doing their best to keep things together and going. I will continue to rent my Blu-ray discs and video games from my local Blockbuster BUT Netflix is just the shape of things to come. In an instant gratification world they deliver - instantly. No longer does one have to wait until their Blockbuster queue is depleted to see that samurai, gangster, ninja, zombie flick that they have had a hankering to see - no, that sometimes month long wait has been replaced by the press of the button on my remote, X-box, laptop, Nintendo Wii, smart TV, or even Blu-ray player. Bickety-Bam; instant gratification. I don't have time to wait on movies. Now I don't have to. My middle aged attention span is longer than some others but is not designed to handle the onslaught of all the other things screaming for my attention. This being said, I am not giving up on Blockbuster; there are some great people there and that is the only source of Blu-ray and video games in South Jersey. Netflix, however, cuts the price more than HALF ($8.99 a month VS. $20.00). That's a lot of cabbage.

5. The progress of our Turtles. We have two turtles; Van Goff and Sheldon/Bertha. I could be writing about their progress and how they came into our home but NO! I have not done so.

6. NANOWRIMO? I have no time for National Novel Writing Month this year. I'd write and tell you about it but I simply don't have the time.

7. Downed Trees. A cherry tree limb snapped off and hit a maple tree limb in my yard - both of which collapsed in my driveway. Thanks to my Ford I was able to pull them onto my front lawn. Thanks to a friend (Thanks Rich!) and his chainsaw the gravity challenged limbs are no longer an issue. I could have written about this but the time just did not materialize.

8. Weight loss. I don't want to but I must. I'm too fat but I have a taste for butter, egg yolks, red meat and salt. I would write about it but I'm just too busy. Let's just say that I'm gonna be eating a LOT of salad and veg in the future; I may even write about it.

9. The Christmas movie season. There are some decent offerings this holiday season. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I", "True Grit" and the one I'm really waiting for, "Tron Legacy" will all be hitting theaters in the next month and a half. Yeah, if I had time I'd be writing about those too.

10. Injustice and false representation. I don't like to wallow in this for too long since the stench sort of follows you around. Just like... Well ya know, Thumper's mother was right, if you don't have anything nice to say about someone it's best to not say anything at all.

Gentle Reader, please forgive me. Also let me just say that these days my life is NOT my own and I am actively looking forward the END of the holiday season when I can relax with my family, play some video games with the girls and do some geocaching with Mother Hen - oh yes, and spend some quality time right here at Chicken Scratch. I am happy to be busy and a part of things greater than myself this time of year but I'm looking forward to a time when the wheels are not spinning as fast as they are right now.

Stay tuned, Gentle Reader, the best is yet to come.