Avatar
Maybe I’m biased because I saw this on James Camerons’ 103” screen, but I bet it’ll look good on all of our TVs. Even though this release of Avatar is the bare bones edition, it’s still Blu Ray.
It’s the full frame Imax version, so it’s full screen like the scenes of The Dark Knight. I may never see what the letterboxed version of Avatar looks like. Of course the color and detail is as awesome as you expect from Avatar.
In the military base and equipment, you see all the detail of the battle worn metal. In the forests of Pandora the bioluminescent plants glow all their pastel colors. You are on Pandora with no grain or haze, and can see all the detail of its lands and creatures: All the ridges of spiral collapsing flowers, blue Na’Vi faces with furrowed brows, the Hammerheads’ bumpy wrinkled hide and chipped hammerhead horns, the shiny scaly Thanator with its purple reflection.
Night lights glow like no other night scene in another movie. Evening on Pandora holds up all clarity and detail, because it’s James Cameron. He’s not going to let this slide due to low light. You still see all Neytiri’s stripes, and everyone’s Na’Vi spots glow in the dark. Those glowing lavender plants look awesome shining out of the night jungle. The texture of Zoe Saldana’s cheeks are in there still under the digital Na’Vi.
Flying down the craggly cliffs, you’ll admire the multicolored scales of the banshee and notice Jake glistening in a waterfall spray mist. It may not be 3-D, but you can tell all the distances of the chasms, other nearby floating rocks, the whole space he’s flying in. With all the different colored banshees flying in formation, your whole screen will glow.
The final battle brings it all together. The smoky factory sky of base the base looks real. Live action shots of Giovanni Ribisi with all the CG stuff behind him sell it. He stands out even sharper as the real element grounding the set. With Quarritch and other pilots in their cockpits looking out at Pandora, it looks like they’re just on location. Likewise, guys in the walker suits totally blend into the chaotic extra-terrestrial scene they’re navigating.
Banshee colors and the armies of blue Na’Vi shine even more above the gray military machines. Explosions, crashes, machine guns fire are just part of an epic scene and all looks real. The seamless world Cameron created not only holds up in HD, but it looks even cooler.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The hand crafted stop motion of Fantastic Mr. Fox looks awesome on Blu Ray. You can see every subtle articulation of puppets in crisp detail. The camera is close up on the characters themselves, so you see every little fur. Human characters are a little smoother but their movements are still articulated and you can see any subtle divot.
You can also admire all the patterns carved into the sets. The first Fox home has carvings on the floor and ceiling. Once they move into the tree, it looks more like a suburban home, but you see the texture then in the carpeting, a little bit in walls and wallpaper chips. When they dig underground you see all the texture and crags of dirt.
The whole movie has a golden hue which is gorgeous. When it takes a few sojourns into a blue night, that new look is a beautiful change of pace, but the return to gold is always welcome. Just like Blu Ray brings new life to Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox is packed with details to show off in HD.
Apollo 13
They made an Imax version of this movie a few years ago. Not only isn’t the Blu Ray of the Imax version, it’s not even a very good transfer of the theatrical version. It’s been one of Universal’s signature movies for 15 years. I would have thought they’d give it more attention.
The main thing you’ll notice is that it’s so grainy. I mean, the grains are huge. I thought maybe that would just be for earthbound scenes, but it doesn’t get any better on the shuttle. The shots of open space are clear, but there aren’t as many as you may remember. It’s all really in that cramped cockpit or in mission control.
As the movie goes, it still looks convincing. You see the moon or earth out the cockpit window and you believe they’re in space. You just believe it’s a grainy old transfer of that space movie, rather than a really proper Blu Ray.
