I watched some fun things this evening. I began with the Blu-ray of OUT OF AFRICA. First, my Blu-ray player (Samsung) exhibited no grinding noises or problems loading and playing the disc.
Next, while it's true that Universal has artificially sharpened the image and completely scrubbed it of grain giving peopole waxy expressions (very much like the first issue of GANGS OF NEW YORK) and making it look more like high definition videotape rather than film, I have to say that after I looked at the DVD side of the disc once the Blu-ray had finished, I can see what was in their minds. That version is UNWATCHABLE - so soft and smeared that it looks simply horrible so they went mcuh too far in the other direction.
Would I like a more film-like image? Of course. Could I do without those edge haloes around figures in the foreground in many shots? You bet! But I can stand this; it doesn't destroy the film's quality or effectiveness for me.
They also bumped up the volume level of the sound. Now John Barry's music literally bursts out of the speakers (I had to knock the volume down a couple of clicks). I still adore this score.
