Eraserhead, it should be noted is in B&W and is mostly just a big bucket of David Lynch weirdness. And I’m thinking it was Mel Brooks that directed Spaceballs, unless there is a Mel Gibson version, which would probably be worth watching for any number of reasons, if it exists.
Assuming we’re talking HD here, Ridley Scott’s Alien is great on a big screen in high def. The film is so dark that until HD you really missed 90% of it on a television…
[QUOTE=Evil Captor]
Eraserhead, it should be noted is in B&W and is mostly just a big bucket of David Lynch weirdness. And I’m thinking it was Mel Brooks that directed Spaceballs, unless there is a Mel Gibson version, which would probably be worth watching for any number of reasons, if it exists
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Oh crap, I meant Mel Brooks. I typed w/o thinking.
Eraserhead is brilliant. The film is entirely a weird nightmare…great for a big screen in a dark room.
Yes, many movies are too darn dark and in HD, they magically become comprehensible.
I have always been irritated by ‘dark’ movies.
I sit there and squint.
That isn’t fun to me.
And that is the whole point, right?
The Lord of the Rings movies.
The latest Star Trek movie.
Ummm - what?!
:eek:
*sinp and bolding mine
The others have the action flick angle pretty well covered, so I’ll take a different angle: Babies. I am not kidding - it’s a beautifully shot film, and a big high-def screen only accentuates the charm and whimsy.
Also, Ratatouille, if you can find it OnDemand - as far as I’m concerned, Pixar’s most visually beautiful film.
Thanks guys. I think I just over loaded my Netflix instant queue.
I wound up watching Sky Captian WOT last night. Not a bad flick. Last time I saw it was in the theater.
I saw Sky Captain twice when it was released. The first time was on a big screen, in Germany, dubbed, with no subtitles. I don’t speak German. The second time was on the six-inch seatback screen on the flight home, in English.
The first time was better.
Pan’s Labyrinth
Kenneth Branagh’s version of Hamlet.
What a Way to Go! starring Shirley Maclaine.
Anything you can find by Peter Greenaway: The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, Drowning By Numbers, Prospero’s Books, etc.
John Boorman’s Excalibur.
The old Technicolor epics often look better on a bigger screen: Erroll Flynn in Robin Hood, Burt Lancaster in The Crimson Pirate.
Burt Lancaster in The Leopard would probably look better. There are some exterior scenes with big landscapes in the background, and the grand ball scene would look good in hi-def.
And, for a break from the highbrow stuff, try the 1980 version of Flash Gordon. Intentionally campy, and very cheesy, but lots of visual eye-candy.
Well the story may be less than impressive for some of these, but they they all are very visually stunning. I’d suggest them on Blu-Ray if possible.
- Avatar
- 2012
- Transformers Series
- Battle: Los Angeles
- Star Trek
- Tron: Legacy
- The Matrix Series
- Inception
- Watchmen
- Pirates of the Caribbean Series
Get any Pixar blu-ray (The Incredibles would be a great one to use) and use the settings features to adjust your picture. It’s an easy and thoroughly accurate way to get the best picture settings on a new TV.
Brokeback Mountain. No effects but the cinematography is breathtaking, though it usually gets overlooked due to the movie’s themes.
The first Pirates movie
the Lord of the Rings movies
“Lawrence of Arabia”
and most importantly
“Days of Heaven”
all deserve the biggest screen possible
“The Searchers” has some stunning Western scenery.
Just a quick piece of (admittedly) unsolicited advice: How’s your internet speed/bandwidth? I have a pretty low connection, and the picture quality on Netflix and Hulu is pretty terrible sometimes. I definitely have never gotten 1080p out of it. If you really want to enjoy your new TV, I’d definitely look into getting a bluray player.
2nd! Make sure it is the Tarsem Singh movie with Lee Pace. Netflix shows that there is another movie with that name as well. Unfortunately, it is not in Netflix streaming. Beautiful movie, though. And damn that little girl can act.
Also not on Netflix Streaming, but I would recommend if you get the discs from Netflix;
Jet Li’s Hero
House of the Flying Daggers
They are the newer Chinese martial arts films along the lines of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but they are beautifully shot, full of vibrant colors and they look wonderful on big screens.
Get yourself a bluray player. You can get yourself a decent player for less than $100. Get yourself a netflix bluray subscription until you catch up on the best bluray releases.
Has reviews that has specific sections on the HD video quality, so you can get a good idea what is watching again in HD. Most stuff from Pixar and classic SF like 2001 and Bladerunner are good bets.