Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Blu-ray film package so far?, 5 Jun 2008
I'm a recent convert to Blu-ray, but so far have been a little disapointed with the film catalogue available, as the technology has been available for a couple of years now. However, this disc is an exception to that problem.
To start with, there's not much that needs to be said about the film itself that hasn't already been said, and most people must have seen a version or two by now, so I'll concentrate on the BR release.
To start with this is better value than most BR releases to date price-wise, and the main film disc is well presented and neatly put together. The animated menus are stylish, easy to use & neat. But what is a bigger surprise is just how much you get for your money. The package includes all 3 versions of Close Encounters, and all 3 are seamlessly put together on one disc. Also, you can select a menu which highlights every minute difference between all 3 while you watch, for real Close Encounter buffs.
The biggest shock of all is the second disc though. Normaly the extras tend to be a little cut-price on Blu-Ray, with a cheaper SD DVD second disc. So I was a little shocked to find the extras disc seems to be full HD BR too, running at 1080 (for me). Not only that, but for very lucky people with a better HD television, this release is recorded at very high-def 1920*1080. I'n not even sure if my PS3 can handle that resolution, but my TV certainly can't. No matter though as picture and sound are generaly good, but to be fair the film shows it's age slightly in darker night shots, with a little graining sometimes.
But overall, even without the cheaper price, this is easily the best value BR release I have seen to date. I just hope we can get more releases of this quality, and soon.
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36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply stunning, 20 Feb 2008
I had never seen 'Close Encounters' before, so my purchase of the Blu-Ray release was something of a blind buy except, other than a positive review I glanced through on highdefdigest. I don't even know anyone that has seen it, so was getting curious because of the revenrential terms in which the film is described. Having just finished watching it about 15 minutes ago, however, let me just say wow. If you haven't seen the film it's very intense and has aged incredibly well. The special effects don't break the immersion (as happens sometimes with older effects-laden films) and the acting is great. I was totally sucked into the scenario... I read in the supplementary material included that Spielberg believed at the time that UFO contact had really happened in the 20th century, which makes sense since there is an amazing sense of realism to it. This is definitely not the recent 'War of the Worlds' film or 'Independence Day'. Basically, if you have not seen the film before you will not be disappointed by it; you can afford to blind buy this one.
For people who have already seen 'close encounters', I should mention that this includes three versions of the film, all three of which are in 1080p... the theatrical version, special edition, and director's cut. There is lots of printed material (a booklet and a small timeline poster) showing what the differences are between the various cuts. For £14, you get more than you do with a lot of Blu-Rays costing £25.
Picture quality is a huge pleasure to behold. The film is definitely nicer in high def. I was really impressed at how good it looks for its age. While not every scene is a showcase of what 'high definition' is, anyone could see the difference between this and standard def DVD. 100% recommended on picture quality.
Basically, I went from knowing almost nothing about this film to prizing this bluray as one of the best in my collection. A wholehearted recommendation which, at this low price, deserves to be on everyone's shelf.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A CLASSIC FILM GETS THE BEST RELEASE SO FAR, 29 Jun 2008
This Blu-Ray release is my 3rd owned Close Encounters to date, first I had it on video, then 2disc DVD, and now finally this 2disc Blu-Ray ultimate edition.
For this price, it is an absolute must buy, I can assure you. From when you first have the item in your hand, you can tell it has not just been cobbled together. It is the nicest Blu-Ray for the money you can purchase. Don't be fooled by amazon's picture of the standard bluray case, it is not presented in a plastic case at all, it is SO much better than that, Such a surprise to find that as soon as you open your parcel, you have got something that looks like it should be double or even treblethe money I payed for it.
The Hard cover is a thing of quality, very thick stuff which wont start to look tatty easily and should last years perhaps decades.
Slide out the inside and you will find two parts, one being the Blu-ray section and the other is a fantastic book, easily the best quality I have ever seen on any format, beautifully produced and such a departure from the usual cheap tiny leaflet type "booklet" you usually get. Not much text here just a few snippets, but a lot of great photographs of cast and crew making the movie. This release has given what I consider to be the best documentation for the money you can buy, not only do you get the lovely little book, but also a reproduction poster of the original movie poster and on the back of it a timeline showing the differences in the three versiion you get here.
I love the menu, simple and stylish featuring the theme and those little coloured rectangles that are so iconic to the film.
This release then gives you the option to watch any of the different versions of the movie from the menu.
THE ORIGINAL THEATRICAL RELEASE, THE DIRECTORS CUT & THE SPECIAL EDITION are all on the first disc, it's incredibly well put together featuring seamless branching to get them all on, amazing.
The Picture Quality of the movie is the best release yet, perhaps not as good transfer as say Blade runner, but there are details in this that I have never seen before, The redness of Richard Dreyfuss' face, The greenery of the outside,colours are a vast improvement,and although there is slight grain from the film, it never becomes distracting and the movie feels fresh and wonderfully well made. What a superb release, the sound is great, The extras are plentyful, although not in HD, they are all here, ported from the DVD release.
All in all, this is thoroughly recommended and I love the package as a hole, it is easily the nicest presented blu-ray I have and well worth the money for anyone who loves classic movies,young or old, a wonderful first Spielburg Blu-Ray, let's hope there are more relases like this one in the future, It would be particularly nice to get a lovely book like this in every Blu-Ray release instead of the cheap fliers you usually get, and I hope the studios take note and give classics like this, the ultimate bluray releases they deserve.
Verdict
JUST BUY IT - its a very high quality Blu-Ray and a timeless Spielburg masterpiece.
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