Best (and Worst) High-Def Discs of 2006

An anonymous reader writes "High-Def Digest has released their first annual 'Best (and Worst) of the Year' list of movies released on HD DVD and/or Blu-ray. Not surprisingly, the 'best' list is heavy on superheroes. Superman, Batman, and the Hulk all made the list. Not a bad cheat sheet for those of us with a Blu-ray capable PS3 or an XBox 360 HD DVD add-on on our Christmas lists."

Comments

I know this'll burn karma...

[DarkHelmet]

But what would be even nicer than having a list of nice HD movies, how about a nice guide of HD sets that accept 1080p via composite input or VGA input?

After all, what good is having a 360 HD drive when you're only going to be watching the stuff at 720p or 1080i anyhow?

Anyone?

Never overestimate the loser potential of Anoracks

[BristolCream]

This list seems to miss one crucial point: people watch movies for entertaiment. For the vast majority it's all about being told a good story, not studying the quality of the latest movig image to be projected onto a wall/into a box/whatever.

Imagine having a collection that included films like hulk, mission: impossible iii and superman returns (I refuse to capitalise the titles - they're that bad). i'd rather spend the time beatig myself about the head with a dead salmon.

The majority of films in this list are appalling.

Which I suppose at least tells us the sort of people that are driving this insane rush to upgrade formats that simply don't need upgrading. If anyone for Sony is reading this, there's a lesson hidden in my title.

Re:Never overestimate the loser potential of Anora

[Duds]

Oh I think they know, but it's not hard to find reviews of these movies on an entertainment basis. It's surprisingly difficult to find reviews of "Let's assume you like this movie, here's how pretty this version is".

How could they screw up 'Fifth Element'?

[MisterSquiddy]

It is utterly bewildering that 'Fifth Element' could end up looking so poor. I have the Superbits version on DVD and through an average CRT telly and Toshiba DVD player this looks absolutely fantastic. But then this happened with a lot of early DVDs. The early transfer of 'Blade Runner' is truly shocking, looking little better than those bootleg made by people in cinemas with camcorders. I can't wait for the remastered version, even at SD.

Re:They might be good HD

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Sorry, but I'd rather watch a good film with a good plot and good acting on VHS any day over a whizz-bang technical film with crappy pretty-boy/barbie-girl actors and a script written by a committee...

Spoken like someone without an HDTV.

When most people first get an HDTV set, they will watch anything in HD, no matter how inane, just for the visual quality. The wow-factor tends to wear off after 6-9 months, but just about everyone with an HDTV set still remembers those first few months where the only thing that mattered was picture quality.

Re:HD had better be more than just Cinerama.

[iainl]

Bogart's performance doesn't change, but Casablanca is stunning on HD-DVD because it looks so much more like film; the detail of the lighting, set design and indeed subtle details of the performances show up with a stunning clarity that does the film justice.

And yes, the way the light catches Ilsa's hair is pretty damn lovely, since you ask.