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Boy, that Blu-ray.com review of SILVER BULLET is really something:

"Silver Bullet" has appeared on Blu-ray before, including last year's release from Umbrella Entertainment. Shout Factory appears to use the same master, with the AVC encoded image (2.35:1 aspect ratio) presentation delivering a satisfying look at the cinematographic particulars of the picture, which tends to favor a diffused appearance, especially around werewolf attacks. Detail comes through, presenting textured costuming and monster fur, and facial surfaces retain intended wear and tear. Colors are compelling, handling period outfits with some primary heft, and greenery is appealing, preserving the small town atmosphere. Delineation is comfortable, doing well with the feature's intense nighttime activity. Source is in decent shape, lacking any major areas of damage.

Same guy also did DOWNTON ABBEY:

The AVC encoded image (2.39:1 aspect ratio) presentation brings "Downton Abbey" to a more cinematic realm, preserving the feature's efforts to deepen screen textures. Fine detail is easily surveyed during the viewing experience, taking in the extravagance of the costuming and the weariness of close-ups, protecting subtle emotionality. Distances are dimensional, offering bigness that surrounds the titular estate. Colors retain their regality for upstairs life, with warmer hues for clothing and natural lighting, and greenery is exact. Downstairs embraces more of a black and white world, and delineation struggles at times to pick out the particulars of dense suits and dresses.

I have long been and remain flabbergasted that any website is willing to publish that person’s content. Nothing but the worst, most embarrassing florid trash. It’s like when a twelve year-old whips out a thesaurus to pad out a three-page essay.

It seems a tad over-written but it otherwise is quite technically detailed.

Can’t tell you how many times I’ve read the Beaver and been left thinking “but what about the wear and tear on faces in weary close-ups?! How can I make a confident purchase without knowledge of the wear and tear on faces in weary close-ups?!”

Also: “””bigness”””

CSM126 wrote: Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:10 pmAlso: “””bigness”””

It's a perfectly cromulent word.

I’m torn between ridiculing it and cringing at how it reminds me of my own capacity for b.s. Very sorry to hear anyone’s flabber has been gasted. Personally I was aghast at the effrontery of the verbal equipage.

Is this that Acquarello person in a new guise? It reminds me of her "reviews," which were pretentious Mad Libs that applied the same battery of 50-cent words to every film—indiscriminately and often in ways that, as with the reviews above, suggested she didn't know what the words meant. (Actually, by comparison, this stuff is Hemingway.)

Could also be someone who knows film but is a non-native English speaker

God forbid not properly offering emotionality.

Another fine one here:

It's a B-movie that looks fresh and appealing, providing textured looks at the film stars, finding the rubbery qualities of the dinosaur perfectly intact, while facial surfaces are defined on the human participants. Costuming is fibrous, and gore zone visits are appropriately goopy, with vivid clarity. Colors are distinct, enjoying period hues on clothing. Greenery is bright, preserving the California atmosphere, and skintones are natural. Bloodshed retains deep redness, adding to the macabre aspects of the story. Delineation is communicative.

I just don't get it. Why would anybody think this is an effective way of reviewing video quality?

“Delineation is communicative”. I think we found the most meaningless sentence ever written.

Can anyone here comment on the new Blu of John Boorman's Dracula? I was incredibly excited to finally own an HD presentation of
its original color grading, but there are some concerning remarks on Amazon regarding quality.

DVDBeaver did a review:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film7/blu-ray_ ... u-ray.htm

It looks okay. The grain looks a little soft to me.

whaleallright wrote: Sat Dec 14, 2019 8:46 am Is this that Acquarello person in a new guise? It reminds me of her "reviews," which were pretentious Mad Libs that applied the same battery of 50-cent words to every film—indiscriminately and often in ways that, as with the reviews above, suggested she didn't know what the words meant. (Actually, by comparison, this stuff is Hemingway.)

Wow, that seems harsh. Are you sure you mean Aquarello, the NASA scientist? It was actually reading Aquarello's reviews (posted at Strictly Film School, if I remember correctly ... or Senses of Cinema) that first lead me to an earlier incarnation of this forum twenty years ago. I was usually impressed by his/her organization of arguments, references to other films, and insight, and I wish he/she posted on the forum these days. Can you provide some examples of Aquarello's poor writing? Or maybe this portion of the discussion should be moved to the thread on film criticism...

beamish14 wrote:Can anyone here comment on the new Blu of John Boorman's Dracula? I was incredibly excited to finally own an HD presentation of
its original color grading, but there are some concerning remarks on Amazon regarding quality.

I’d love to see a John Boorman take on Dracula, but I suspect you meant to type “Badham”.

CSM126 wrote: Sun Dec 15, 2019 12:32 am “Delineation is communicative”. I think we found the most meaningless sentence ever written.

Sounds like the way people review wines..

The more I re-read, partly out of contrarianism and anti-snobbery, the more I think the style is interesting - it conjures a kind of universe of subjects, where every thing and quality has agency and can be described in more than the usual ways - costuming is fibrous, delineation struggles, downstairs embraces, and there are "gore zone visits"

I sort of agree

Godot wrote: Sun Dec 15, 2019 4:22 am

whaleallright wrote: Sat Dec 14, 2019 8:46 am Is this that Acquarello person in a new guise? It reminds me of her "reviews," which were pretentious Mad Libs that applied the same battery of 50-cent words to every film—indiscriminately and often in ways that, as with the reviews above, suggested she didn't know what the words meant. (Actually, by comparison, this stuff is Hemingway.)

Wow, that seems harsh. Are you sure you mean Aquarello, the NASA scientist? It was actually reading Aquarello's reviews (posted at Strictly Film School, if I remember correctly ... or Senses of Cinema) that first lead me to an earlier incarnation of this forum twenty years ago. I was usually impressed by his/her organization of arguments, references to other films, and insight, and I wish he/she posted on the forum these days. Can you provide some examples of Aquarello's poor writing? Or maybe this portion of the discussion should be moved to the thread on film criticism...

Aquarello (the NASA scientist who once moonlit as a film critic) is one of the absolute worst, if not the worst, critics to gain any sort of attention from online "film culture." Appallingly turgid writing that subjected every film, regardless of genre, era, etc., to the same litany of fancy words and phrases that were either completely misused or just dire cliché. Her writing makes me long for the honest clunkiness of "gore zone visits"! (I remember the phrase "celebratory nihilism" or something like that coming up a few dozen times. Please don't make me copy/paste 100 nearly identically-phrased capstone sentences from her "reviews" to illustrate this sort of thing. I have work to do.) The idea behind it seemed to be if she copied some of the argot and cadences of (bad) academic writing on film, surely her reviews would be taken seriously, despite often being literally meaningless. And lo and behold! she was sort of right.

They are indeed word salad. I once did a search of Acquarello's reviews and found the use of the phrase "deceptively lyrical" 145 times and "sentimental inertia" 68 times.

On the Badham Dracula here's the Mondo Digital review.

By the way whilst here I want to point out that Scream Factory released the fantastic 1988 remake of The Blob recently. I've always associated it with Christmas since seeing it at that time in the middle of the night at around 13 years old screened on TV and being traumatised to this day (in a good way) by it! Its much nastier than the 50s original (very much making it a trinity along with the other viscerally gooey 'body horror' updates of 1950s original films The Fly and The Thing), but blackly comically so, nicely handled to create that deceptively lyrical feeling that anyone can be killed off at any minute, which coupled with that sense of celebratory nihilism in the climax makes it feel really bleak! There are some never topped since special effects in this one, and a fantastic cast: Candy Clark is in there, though does not seem to get too much to do until we reach her big phone box scene. But what an exit! David Lynch regular Jack Nance briefly appears as a completely ineffectual doctor! And of course Shawnee Smith makes for a great heroine, and this is the key Kevin Dillon role (this was his big lead actor push period with Remote Control, The Rescue and War Party all being released in the same year too).

This was Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont's second collaboration as director and writer respectively following the previous year's Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. And the other really interesting anecdote about this film is that this is the film that David Cronenberg's regular cinematographer from Fast Company on, Mark Irwin, was working on and did not want to drop his commitment to when Cronenberg called him to work on Dead Ringers. So Cronenberg brought in Peter Suschitzky instead and has worked with him on every film since instead.

And there is that extended early scene of buying condoms at the local drugstore that I think a later Levis advert (directed by Michel Gondry! And perhaps his best work!) took inspiration from in the way that it pays off! There's a lot of sentimental inertia to it!

Special features for The Wizard:


DISC ONE
NEW 4K REMASTER OF THE FILM
Audio Commentary with Director Todd Holland
Never-Before-Released Deleted Scenes
Trailers

DISC TWO
"The Road to Cali-forn-ia" – A Look Back At The Wizard Including Brand-New Interviews With Todd Holland, Stars Fred Savage And Luke Edwards, Writer/Producer David Chisholm; Producer Ken Topolsky; And More!
"How Can I Help You? Confessions of a Game Play Counselor"
"A Clinical Analysis of The Wizard"
Post Screening Q&A From Let's Play Gaming Expo 2019 With Luke Edwards, David Chisholm And Ken Topolsky
Photo Gallery

Shout! are planning to use a fresh scan for an Escape from LA reissue. I will definitely buy if they are successful.

Hope their Curse of the Werewolf turns out very good.

May Scream Factory titlea:
Danger: Diabolik
The Evil of Frankenstein
Idle Hands

Horror of Frankenstein was released last year. This is Evil of Frankenstein, and will use an all new transfer.