157 The Royal Tenenbaums

[med]

Earlier this year, I watched it for the first time since going HD and was taken aback by how lousy it looked. Many of the people onscreen appeared to have a reddish hue to their faces, as if they spent too much time in the sun.

[Brian C]

I remember back in 2006, when I first bought an HDTV, being surprised at how bad Tenenbaums looked. I got rid of it a long time ago, but I can't imagine how bad it looks now compared to Blu-ray when it looked so bad compared to other DVDs even then.

[mfunk9786]

The Life Aquatic doesn't look too much better. I hope it gets an upgrade within the next few months, though I haven't heard anything about a new transfer being worked on.

[tachyonEvan]

Some discussion of the transfer issues here

If you think those screengrabs look good, well... god bless, but you might need to make an appointment for an eye exam.

Wow. Like I said, it's been a while since I've watched the DVD, but those do look terrible by comparison. Definitely requires an upgrade.

Unfortunate that the Blu-Ray doesn't seem to add any remarkable bonus features, though.

[mfunk9786]

It's an upgrade, not a re-release.

[mfunk9786]

Lest anyone still think this isn't a worthwhile investment, a comparison from the Beav

[tachyonEvan]

When it's been 8 years since they last released it, I don't see why it would be such a big deal to add something new to the blu-ray, be it commentary track, video essay, whatever.

[mfunk9786]

It has a commentary track already, though, amongst a ton of other features.

[tachyonEvan]

I know, I know. I'm not actually complaining - the upgrade looks stellar by comparison. I've just owned the DVD for a number of years and don't anticipate I'll be too eager to revisit many of those bonus features.

[Matt]

You're getting a brand-new HD transfer of the film. That is the new bonus feature. Now zip it.

[ryannichols7]

the DVD is pretty awful. as is the Life Aquatic one, and I can't wait for that to be upgraded as well. they really knocked it out with the Rushmore upgrade, so we'll see.

[Graham]

With one day to go until release, the blu has dropped to $19.99 on Amazon.com.

[cdnchris]

I'm assuming they're price matching Best Buy, who has it in their weekly ad for the same price.

[movielocke]

I wasn't planning on upgrading, but now I'm tempted to get this, just to gain shelf space from replacing the double wide dvd case...

[mfunk9786]

That is the strangest reasoning for spending $20 that I've ever heard in my life. But I suppose I find not planning to upgrade this even stranger.

[cdnchris]

For some reason I'm actually surprised how much this one is being pushed advertising wise. I've seen it advertised on plenty of sites and even stores like Best Buy are advertising it in their weekly ads (and all of the stores around me actually have them in stock, almost unheard of for a Criterion title.) Was this one particularly popular on DVD? I'm just surprised the same effort wasn't put into Rushmore, which I always thought was more popular.

[domino harvey]

Was this one particularly popular on DVD?

I worked at a grocery store when the first edition came out and we stocked it next to other popular titles for impulse sale in the checkout aisles (with the original double-wide slipcover over the "Criterion" art, which I still prefer to the weak EC Anderson coverart)

[mfunk9786]

That slipcover is somewhere in my early '2000s garbage.

This movie actually made some pretty good coin ($75 mil, give or take?) at the box office and had an Oscar nomination, so it is definitely the more popular film than Rushmore. This was also the only release, and was printed and packaged by Touchstone, which means that it had further retail reach than the Criterion-packaged Rushmore re-release.

[Niale]

Saw this movie as a little tike. BIG print ad in the paper caught my eye. The BOLD R rating promised graphic nudity... I of course HAD to see it for that reason alone. So I begged my mom to take me, Who I recall HATED the film. I was blown away... I had never noticed "style" before. The Library book... The track suits... in your face mise en scène and GOOD music, Which I think at that age I had never really heard before. A week later comedy central was playing Rushmore, and knowing NOTHING about who made the film, I KNEW who the filmaker was, not by name... but by style. Im almost afraid to watch it now for fear of being let down. No movie has so radically altered my way of SEEING films.

[mfunk9786]

It gets BETTER every TIME you WATCH it.

[CSM126]

NO post has ever so RADICALLY changed my way of seeing FORUMS.

This might actually annoy me than those idiotic signatures people sometimes add to their posts.

Ta,

Name you can obviously see right next to this post but I think you're stupid so I'm gonna remind you.

[onedimension]

Niale likes the appropriate things, but not in the appropriate ways! I only invited him to my birthday party because my mom made me!

[Niale]

I think I liked TOP GUN when I was ELEVEN years old too. Which is how old I was when I saw THIS picture.

-Niale
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"I know the most about film movies"

[Mike_S]

I received the Blu-Ray yesterday and was delighted by the quality of the transfer. A huge step-up from the original DVD. The film gets better every time I see it - although I'm aware it has its detractors - and it's particularly notable for containing Gene Hackman's last great performance to date.

[cdnchris]

Everytime I watch it I'm always irked by the fact he didn't get nominated for it. Especially when I'm reminded of the other nominees (Sean Penn in I Am Sam, wtf!?)