Topic: The Movie Thread

Just finished off my home setup last night.
Finally put my projector screen on the wall.

Needed lots of help doing that. The job required at least two of us to lift it and hold into place. Whilst a third person did all of the drilling.I have now spent the last few nights sorting it out properly, and rebalancing my speakers.

I have so far only watched clips, favourite scenes from movies on 4k. I need to try and relax, and enjoy a film without worrying about how it looks, and tweaking the details in the setup. That’s the problem that comes from having worked in a cinema!

Anyone have any recommendations for a good test disc? What is the first thing I ought to fully watch on my new “big screen”?

Congrats! Hope you enjoy your new setup!

Although I don't have a projector, I too spent a time tweaking features when I got my TV and then when I got my Sonos setup, I can kinda feel your pain.

As for movies for test discs, the ones that came to mind are Blade Runner 2049, Dune (Part One & Two), Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, Top Gun: Maverick, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and nature documentaries like Planet Earth II. If you don't have any nature docs on disc, they are some really good ones on the BBC iplayer. I know some people turn their nose up at streaming, but honestly some of the docs one there that are in UHD are absolutely stunning!

@Matthewnh Ready Player One, Dredd, Sin City, Inception, Sleepy Hollow, The Fifth Element, Interstellar.

I'm basing (base -ing?) those off of visuals and cinematography, in unison. Plenty of movies are visually stunning but lack real depth and thought, especially now with everything being so CGI heavy. I don't watch a lot of 4K, more-so VHS but the ones I listed above standout for the right reasons.

@Matthewnh This Lord of the Rings set. The guys over at The Digital Bits, who've been reviewing discs since DVDs first appeared and know a thing or two about these things, call them "reference quality".
From the review linked above:

At the risk of beating a dead Warg, no matter how much of a fan you are of these films, you have never seen them looking or sounding this good before. These are near reference quality 4K image presentations, and they are absolutely reference quality Dolby Atmos mixes. I’m really blown away by the work Peter Jackson and his Park Road Post have done here to rebuild these films from the ground up in 4K.

My own setup is a humble, but good, 4K Samsung screen and a Denon 5.1 amp and I recently watched those discs and were quite simply blown away by them. Highly recommended, unless you don't like the films, of course.

@JohnnyShoulder I realise you didn't think of me specifically, but I have been known to unfavourably compare streaming to discs, so I thought I'd pop my head in and do it again . I wouldn't say I turn my nose up at streaming, there are a lot of good looking streaming content out there, but when compared to discs it does take a significant hit in the data that is being processed and shown (heavy compression, lower bitrate) How noticeable it is depends on many factors, most notably is that some providers are "cheap" and go for extreme compression and when that file is shown on a massive screen, the loss of data will be quite visible.
I linked to an article a while back, in this very forum, that explains it a lot better than I just did, but the main takeaway is "streaming = not necessarily bad, disc = always better" (OK, let's add "professionally mastered" to the disc side of that statement to be safe).
EDIT: Found it!
The Lie of 4K Streaming (nowplayingpodcast.com)

@Matthewnh nice! If I ever commit to doing a set up like that I'd be getting Richer Sounds to install everything for me 😂 I would not even dare.

I'll try and add some recommendations (anything shot on 65mm, naturally)

Joker has surprisingly awesome depth in the city scenes that really made me sit up and take notice more than normal. I was there in Gotham in those moments, so I'd call that reference quality. I wasn't expecting it to look so good, either.

Dune is one of the most banded about titles, and it ticks a lot of boxes. The audio nearly destroyed me when I loaded the disc as I mentioned on here, too 😅

Blade Runner because it's Blade Runner and very good. 2049 because Deakins, and he oversaw post production too. It really would have been extra nice to have the taller 'imax' aspect ratio version on disc.

1917 is great, too.

I watched The Revenant this week, but I wasn't in the mood for it as much as I thought, but it is still great.

I can't personally recommend these yet, but I really want to get some Laika animated movies. They are perhaps known as the best examples of animation on 4k disc.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a really good disc, if an out-there suggestion. I thought the film was actually quite a bit better than others seem to think, too. But with a 100gb disc that averages an 80mbps bitrate, native 4k, dolby vision, etc etc. It has it all, and isn't a taxing movie to watch either.

Kingdom of Heaven is a great choice too, the full roadshow directors cut (and all the extras) would be a good home cinema experience for a real epic experience.

(Did you get Larry Arabia, I can't remember?)

Myself, I can't wait to watch Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, (Jackie Brown - holding out for the steelbook coming back) The Batman, The Shining, 2001, The Fifth Element, all of my Nolan movies, more Deakins-shot movies, and that's just the surface. It's tough to choose what to watch next at the best of times 😅

MI: Final Reckoning might be next. But I have Jarhead and Fury as potential next watches too. Tombstone, too!

@FuriousMachine it is funny, people like to take a big dump on those LotR 4ks, but I felt I could literally comb Gandalf's Beard if I wanted to, maybe put the ring that is laying on the wooden table on my own finger, partake in a second breakfast or two, and generally just see so much more detail. Yes, sometimes it goes slightly smooth, but it is mostly when it is in a heavy cgi lit scene that will always look altered, and there is no way any other version is legitimately more detailed. I have a love hate relationship with grain at best of times, but I don't think the DNR is as egregious as some will claim.

Also, I will have to re-enlist you as my movie chooser, it seems.

@FuriousMachine Yeah i'm aware of that. I wasn't saying one is better than the other, just that streaming should not be disregarded when it comes to showing off 4K content. And no I wasn't referring to anyone in particular.

Thanks, everyone.

Some good suggestions. I need to watch something and relax, without stressing over every little detail. The screen and the projector are lined up perfectly, and the sound is all balanced, and clear. It does not even need to be very loud at all. The picture is bright, and clear. The dialogue is in sync.

It’s a 4K HDR projector, a 115 inch electric screen, and a Marantz AVR with 7.1.2 Atmos. Proper home theatre, and well worth the effort. Honestly, I just needed help drilling holes in my ceiling.

So far I have seen bits, clips of films, favourite scenes. But nothing all of the way through.
On Fellowship, the Moria scenes are immersive for the surround sound, and the reveal of the Argonath is just visually stunning.

Dredd is a good idea, but it will really annoy my neighbours. Ninety minutes of constant explosions and machine gun fire.

I think I will go for the Revenant, just for the sheer beauty of it.

And @Ravix, no, Lawrence never showed up. Beginning to think it’s a myth.