Silent Hill (2006)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 3.5/5

Silent Hill - Needs New Transfer!

I luckily picked this up after Christmas for $15. This film, for me, was one of the reasons why I wanted a Blu-ray player. I love this movie; Silent Hill is my number 1 of all time for me. I've been a big fan of the video game since it's release in 1999 for the Playstation and I was hooked. I do feel that the changes in the film were not needed, like turning our protagonist into the opposite gender. The film really only seems to follow the first half of the video game but I do feel it is probably one of the best videogame to film adaptions of all time.

The Video, I give it a 3 out of 5. Given this title was released a few months after Blu-ray's release into society, I'm sure back in 2006, it was top notch, not so much now when I had purchased it back in 2009. It's just not that sharp if you ask me. But, oddly, when I watched the movie that night I had got it, it almost gave me that feeling like I was back in the movie theater watching it.

The audio, two English tracks, the Dolby and LCPM. The LCPM sounded amazing. My audio set up is a 2 ch. set up and I played it back with headphones and it sounds nice and clear in the LCPM. The Dolby sounds weak in comparison to it. I give it a 5 out of 5 for the audio, LCPM kills it.

The EXTRA'S? Nowhere to be found. There's a 1 hour documentary on the DVD release which I still have two copies of it. That brings it down significantly in the overall rating of this release. I remember back in Summer of 2008 when I got my player and I remember hunting down a copy of this and as soon as I found it, it went back on the shelf. The places near me that was selling it was charging $40 a copy; NO WAY IN HELL! I wait a year and a half later and I get it for $15.

Overall rating is 3.5 out of 5. If this was 2006, I'd probably would have given it a 5 out of 5, but I've been into the format for some time now and this release is not like something like The Fifth Element in terms of PQ. For the fact it is missing the making of documentary is another thing that brings this release down. 5 out of 5 for the film; 3 out of 5 for the video; 5 out of 5 for the audio; 0 out of 5 for Extras; 3.5 out of 5 total.

Ponyo (2008)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

Ponyo, One of Miyazaki's Best!

I saw the film almost a year ago before it's U.S. theatrical by importing the DVD. Needless to say, it's a great movie. I picked up the Blu-ray for about $17 and it is stunning. The colors are very vibrant. Video gets a solid 5. Now, a lot of people are bashing this release because of the Japanese audio only being Dolby Digital 5.1. I have an old 2 channel sound system and it sounds great to listen too. The extras aren't much, but also adding in the fact there's a DVD copy of the film added with it, good for iPod converting.

I give this a solid 5/5 for everything. It is an amazing Blu-ray. I should note though, that I have an Insignia NS-BRDVD3 player and it needs a firmware upgrade for this Blu-ray. When you press "Play Movie" on the main menu, you get the Disney Blu-ray screen and then it just goes to a black screen. I ejected the disc and decided to play the film through the Scene Selection at Chapter 2 and it works fine.