Cleopatra was shot on 70mm film and it's fabulous music score is by Alex North, it's already had a blu ray release in the United Kingdom late last year, reviews for that blu ray release were generally positive but some people felt there were a few minor issues with the transfer, being a 70mm production it has the potential to look stunning, North American viewers will get the chance to see for themselves when it is released onto the blu ray format on the 28th May 2013.  You can buy a book version or the standard case edition.

Some disc details below and various links to where you can buy each edition of Cleopatra.

Cleopatra: 251 minutes long: Video Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Resolution: 1080p: Original aspect ratio: 2.20:1: Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 French: DTS 5.1 Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1: Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Hebrew, Icelandic and more: Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc Two-disc set.

To buy the book edition of Cleopatra click the highlighted text - Cleopatra (50th Anniversary Limited Edition 2-Disc + Book) [Blu-ray]

To buy the standard case edition click the highlighted text - Cleopatra (50th Anniversary 2-Disc Edition) [Blu-ray]

If you are in the UK and want to buy that edition then click the highlighted text - Cleopatra [Blu-ray] [1963] [Region Free]

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My Neighbor Totoro: 86 minutes long: Video Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Resolution: 1080p Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 Original aspect ratio: Audio: Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0: Subtitles: English, English SDH, French: Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc.

Howl's Moving Castle: 119 minutes long: Video Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Resolution: 1080p Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 Original aspect ratio: Audio English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 French: Dolby Digital 5.1: Subtitles: English, English SDH, French: Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc Single disc. 

A slipcover is supplied with the first pressing only of both releases.  A DVD may be supplied with both, check Amazon below for details.

You can buy My Neighbor Totoro by clicking the highlighted text - My Neighbor Totoro (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Buy Howl's Moving Castle by clicking the highlighted text - Howl's Moving Castle (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Not only is a remote control but it's a learning remote control, it can learn over 39 infrared commands from all the other remote controls in your house, the geeky part is that the device plays 13 different sounds from the Doctor Who universe, put it in FX mode and the tip flashes every 2 seconds, now the really cool thing for me is that if you leave it for a long period, don't touch it at all, maybe just leave it sitting on a table, well after 1963 tip flashes, the screwdriver comes to life and will flash and beep one of it's 11 secret morse code messages, why i find that interesting is the attention to detail because Doctor Who started in 1963, the makers of the sonic screwdriver obviously did their homework.

If there is a Doctor Who fan in your household, if you are married to him or her and they are over the age of 30 ( okay i'm stereotyping and some younger fans might love this gadget too ) anyways if they control the remote for the telly in your house then this would probably make a special gift for their birthday, it's a collectible too so if you keep the packaging and look after the gadget it might even be worth money sometime in the future

To buy from Amazon UK click the highlighted text - Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver – Universal Remote Control

To buy from Amazon USA click the highlighted text - Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver – Programmable Universal Remote Control

The speakers have 4 jets of water illuminated by red, blue, green and yellow LED's and they change in tune with the music you play, the height of the water depends on the volume of sound, quite a unique idea and it works best when viewed in a darker environment, it does work during the day but obviously a light show will look its best in the evening.

Contents you will find in the box when you buy these water speakers.

2 x Music speakers.
1 x USB power cable.
1 x mains power cable.
1 x 3.5mm audio cable.

You can buy these water speakers from Amazon.

Click the highlighted text to buy from Amazon USA - Leading Edge Water Dancing Speakers

Click the highlighted text to buy from Amazon UK - White dancing water mini speaker for tablet pc, personal pc, desktop

You can buy Total Recall by clicking the highlighted text - Total Recall – Triple Play (DVD + Blu-ray + Digital Copy) [1990]

Forget the lacklustre remake and it's PG-13 violence, this is the original and best version of the film, made in 1990 and starring Arnold Schwarzennegger in one of his best film roles, it was directed by Paul Verhoeven, the supporting cast includes some well known faces, among these are Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Rachel Ticotin and Ronny Cox, the film is based on the short story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick, a sci-fi writer who has contributed so much not only to the literary world but to the world of cinema with so many of his short stories adapted for film.

The transfer itself is superb, forget the previous releases of this film, all of them were de-grained and colour timed wrongly, they lost sharpness due to the grain removal and did not look like they should, the USA Lionsgate release is/was especially bad, don't listen to those people saying it's too grainy, the film grain needs to be preserved to keep the detail intact and provide a film like experience in the home, on LCD/Plasma televisions the film grain may indeed be more prominent looking but it is a healthy part of a great movie transfer, projector owners in particular will love this blu ray release, it's highly detailed and looks as it should.

Total Recall was made the same year CDS came out, CDS was a digital surround sound system, its downfall was that you could not utilize the space on the 35mm film for optical sound thus if the CDS track failed cinemagoers would be left with absolutely no sound, the format died because of this, it would be two years later before Dolby Digital and Batman Returns was released and three years before Jurassic Park and the DTS format, unfortunately Total Recall was not one of the early CDS encoded releases and the soundtrack pre-dates digital by a few years, don't expect lots of split surround activity, this is a front heavy soundtrack and the subwoofer channel does not get the type of deep bass typically found in modern films, it's good, it's just not great, all the sound channels are used but not to the same degree as a modern mixed action film, i did enjoy the movie score, it's atmospheric, fits the film perfectly, and the score sounds very good on this blu ray edition.

The film is very enjoyable, this was made in the days of the R rated action flick, more violence, more profanity and more gore, just how i like my action flicks, it's such a shame that most big budget action flicks from the last decade went the PG-13 route, some have been enjoyable but have most certainly had their power reduced by the decision to go PG-13, even some of the so called R rated flicks have been soft rather than pushing the boundaries of the certificate, buy this release and go back in time and re-visit a sci-fi action classic, static grain may look very bad to you on these BD screencaps but when the image is moving you will see fabulous detail, remember that the sharpness control needs to be low on your television/projector or you will get edge enhancement halo's and boost the grain and it will look ugly. 

Take note that this release is encoded for Region B only and has a DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. View some blu ray screencaps from Total Recall below.

You can buy Lawrence Of Arabia by clicking the highlighted text - Lawrence of Arabia (Restored Version) [Blu-ray]

Lawrence of Arabia is a classic feature film from 1962, directed by David Lean and starring Peter O'Toole in the title role, it also features a well known supporting cast of actors, among which you will recognize Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn and Omar Shariff, the music score by Maurice Jarre is instantly memorable, this blu ray features the restored cut as undertaken by Robert A Harris and Jim Painten and supervised by David Lean, the film received an 8K film scan from which a 4K digital intermediate was made and this digital intermediate was what you would have seen at cinema's in 2012.

This is a fine reference quality blu ray transfer, you will note some issues which are inherent to the source, these are fine concentric lines in a pattern which at times resemble a fingerprint near the top of the frame, this is due to the extreme conditions of filming in the desert heat, the film emulsion literally got so hot it was melting and cracking, the rippling artifacts have been minimised in this new high definition version.

Lawrence Of Arabia has never looked or sounded as good as it does here, those with large screen projection systems will be over the moon, a classic film that has been treated with love and respect, enjoy the screencaps below and bear in mind that in motion the film looks fantastic, until they release a 4K version this is the best way to enjoy the movie in the home. View some blu ray screencaps of Lawrence Of Arabia below.

You can buy Anastasia by clicking the highlighted link - Anastasia [Blu-ray]

You can read what i thought about the sound and image quality and indeed the full review of Anastasia by clicking here.  

A brief summary of that review. The early parts of this film have some really good animation and songs that helped pull me into the film, the latter parts of the film have some exciting action scenes and also the song, Once Upon A December, that's a fabulous musical number, if only the middle part of the film didn't drag so much.

Animated films tend to simplify stories and keep away from controversy, considering that this is based on a true story, i would have enjoyed a harder hitting animated film but at the same time i do recognize that they are aiming these films at a younger audience and the film cannot get too dark as it would alienate the core viewers they are marketing the movie at.

View some blu ray screencaps of Anastasia below.

You can buy The Invasion by clicking the highlighted link - The Invasion [Blu-ray]

The Invasion is more or less a remake of Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers but not quite as enthralling as i had hoped, i still enjoyed it but it's obvious that it had production difficulties and the ending was completely reshot by another director and feels tacked on.  I tend to enjoy Nicole Kidman films and she was good in this film.

I think that the transfer is typical Warner, they have tried to keep the bitrate too low and i suspect some minor filtering of the grain structure to achieve this, of course this will have an impact on the finest detail, you can view the movie screencaps and make your own mind up on image quality.

View blu ray screencaps of The Invasion below.

You can buy Jurassic Park Trilogy by clicking the highlighted text - Jurassic Park (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)

I am disappointed with this release of Jurassic Park, you can usually rely on Steven Spielberg movies to look film like and natural on the blu ray format but Jurassic Park has had some mild edge enhancement sharpening applied to some of the daytime scenes, i also believe some digital noise reduction has been applied during those scenes and i am just surprised to find a Steven Spielberg release that has edge enhancement added to it, while this can be considered a minor issue, its still there and really it should not be there.

You can read my blu ray film review of Jurassic Park here.  View blu ray screencaps from Jurassic Park below.

You can buy the Jurassic Park film trilogy by clicking the highlighted text - Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy (Blu-ray + Digital Copy)

William Hurt was offered the role of Dr Grant but turned the role down without even reading the script, another actor to turn the role down was Harrison Ford.

The agents for the author of the book (Michael Crichton) circulated it to six major studio's, Warner Bros wanted Tim Burton to direct while Columbia had plans for Richard Donner to direct, Twentieth Century Fox intended it as a project for Joe Dante while Universal wanted Steven Spielberg to direct.  Crichton did not want a bidding war and instructed his agents to set a price on the film rights and allow him to decide on the director, after he interviewed everyone he agreed to sell the rights to Universal for $2 million dollars (before it was even published) and Spielberg was his first choice as director.  This was Richard Attenborough's first acting role in fifteen years.

The glass of water sitting on the dashboard of the car just before the T-Rex appears was made to ripple using a guitar string that was attached to the underside of the dash beneath the glass.  Sean Connery was wanted for the part of John Hammond but he too turned it down.

Any shot of a full dinosaur in the film is usually CGI, any scene where you see a part of a dinosaur is usually an animatronic model.  There was originally a baby triceratops scene where the kids ride it, they worked on this scene for an entire year but Spielberg cut it from the film as he thought it ruined the pacing of the movie.

Hurricane Iniki hit the island of Kauai during production and Fred Sorenson was one of the pilots who flew some of the crew away, he played the part of Jock in Raiders Of The Lost Ark, he flies Indiana Jones away from the natives at the start of the film.

Jurassic Park was the first film released to cinemas to use DTS digital sound.  A scene cut before filming began was to have featured Dr Grant and the children riding down a river and through a waterfall and having the T-Rex attack them. 

Juliette Binoche and Robin Wright were both offered the role of Dr Ellie Sattler but both turned it down.  Other actresses offered the role of Ellie Sattler are Jodie Foster, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ally Sheedy, Geena Davis, Daryl Hannah, Jennifer Grey, Kelly McGillis, Jamie Lee Curtis, Julia Roberts, Linda Hamilton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Joan Cusack, and Debra Winger. 

Filming finished tweleve days ahead of schedule and on budget.  Velociraptors were much smaller than seen in the film, indeed they are considered to be more the size of a turkey but paleontologists have uncovered a 10 foot tall offshoot of the species called Utahraptors.

Film Plot

Scientists use the latest development in DNA technology to clone dinosaurs for a spectacular new theme park, but owner, John Hammond, needs Dr Alant Grant, Dr Ellie Sattler and Dr Ian Malcolm to sign off on the idea or his insurers will shut the park down, unbeknown to Hammond, one of his employees, seeking finanical gain from a rival company, has tampered with the park's security system and the dinosaurs escape forcing the visitors to fight for their lives.

Who will survive against the might of the T-Rex or the cunning intelligence of the Velociraptor, will anyone escape Jurassic Park alive!

Positives

Jurassic Park takes its story from a very good book, it alters things but always to good effect, the storyline builds up slowly and we get to know the characters and when the dinosaurs break loose we are able to identify with the protagonists as they attempt to keep from being the dinosaurs next meal, if we disliked the characters then the film would fail, now that doesn't mean that everyone will like the children in the film, they do scream a lot, but i'm sure you will at least like one or two of the characters, if you don't like them then maybe you will like the actors who play the characters, my point is that the film succeeds on a basic level because the script gives us normal people who we can root for, i have seen far too many films featuring obnoxious characters that are dispatched by some unknown "killer" and you end up not caring, think about how many horror films feature poorly written characters who listen to heavy metal and have a screw the world attitude, stereotypical they may be but too many films feature such people, thats why i enjoy films like this which feature likeable people who have strong personalities.

I think Jeff Goldblum is much better in this film than in the sequel, he plays the oddball better than the hero and is more likeable here with much better dialogue, his explanation of the chaos theory where he flirts with Miss Dern is fun, the speech where he talks about always being on the lookout for a future ex Mrs Malcolm is amusing when you consider he has been married twice and also dated ( after this film ) Laura Dern for two years, you can see the sly glint in his eye and he is relishing those lines of dialogue.

Sam Neill brings a lot to this film, from subtle mannerisms seen in his eyes and face to the way he voices his dialogue, i find he brings much to the role of Dr Grant, his chemistry with Laura Dern is good and Spielberg gets a great performance from him, he had made some big movies prior to this but starring in a huge summer blockbuster like Jurassic Park can only be good for your career, and bank balance.

John Williams composed an iconic piece of music for Jurassic Park, as soon as you hear it you recognize it, it is sorely missed from the sequel but returns for the third movie, it can be quite subtle at times, the closing moments when the helicopter leaves the island and we see the birds flying is an example of that, a beautiful scene to end a film and the music really enhances the mood and atmosphere of that scene.

John Hammond, as played by Richard Attenborough, says in the film that he is a perfectionist, his character is often likened to Spielberg, who is also a perfectionist, i think his direction on this film is flawless, you can see he wanted to bring something unique to the screen, stop motion dinosaurs were not good enough, he wanted realism that only CGI could provide, without that level of realism, Spielberg would have passed on the film, i can think of very few directors who can entertain and make great movies the way that Steven Spielberg can, he will go down in history as one of the greatest film directors of all time and i think he made Jurassic Park into a very good film, it would have been a poorer film in less capable hands.

There isn't much CGI in this film but it blends well with the animatronic models, i think the CGI is more effective in this film than some of the movies made today, which, in my opinion, overuse it.

 Negatives

Some people may find the children a little annoying as they tend to shriek and scream during some of the more frenetic dinosaur attack scenes, personally i thought they were ok and did a good job with the material given to them but its worth mentioning as not everyone will share my opinion.  The main theme may be a little overused, though i still enjoyed it.

I did not like the packaging for the Jurassic Park trilogy, i think it will damage easily, its already showing signs of wear and tear, and i would prefer individual cases for each movie.

Image Quality

Transfer quality is good in some scenes but drops to just average in other scenes, i saw mild halos in some scenes which are visible around high contrast areas of the image, sometimes it's subtle and at other times it stands out more, the most detailed moments of the film are scenes where film grain is prominent.  Universal have applied digital noise reduction to some scenes and fine detail drops during those moments, some of these scenes contain halo's and i think this is due to edge sharpening being applied in order to compensate for grain reduction.

Long distance and medium camera setups exhibit some degree of edge sharpening to varying levels and show grain reduction also to varying levels, closeups seem much better although i still noticed the odd halo, there is also a little gate weave during the opening credits, thats not really an issue, the halos visible on some scenes are an issue.

I do wonder if the first dinosaur scene and some of the edge halos is due to how it was put together, actors were shot against a green screen, and the Brachiosaurus, trees and scenery were composited in separately, maybe this early CGI was soft and they felt they needed the scene to be sharpened up for its cinema release, well if that is the case then why does the next scene with Jeff Goldblum in the car contain an edge halo around his shoulder, that is not a scene containing CGI or green screen work, this all points to Universal applying edge sharpening to some parts of the transfer.  I have written to Universal asking for more information and enquired whether edge sharpening is standard practice for Universal releases.

As i say above, i felt the scenes which had the most film grain, were the scenes which also looked the most detailed, these scenes are also the moments which other sites have criticized as being "too grainy" and i should say that just because you see a little film grain does not mean its actually all there and intact, i felt that some scenes in the film had mild grain reduction applied and these moments also contain edge enhancement, it should be noted that its normal for scenes shot at night to contain more film grain than scenes which were shot during the day.

Steven Spielberg is seen discussing the film in extra content which is new to this particular release, the latest information points to this being a new transfer from a brand new film scan, why then is there no mention of this on the box artwork and why would Mr Spielberg approve a transfer with edge halos, a few questions to ponder but so far no answers.

Below i include two images featuring edge halos where i thought grain reduction had taken place and where i considered the detail levels to be poor, i also include two screencaps with film grain where i thought detail levels were good, view the screencaps below and judge for yourself, bear in mind that film grain in motion looks far more natural than as seen in these pictures.

View some additional blu ray screencaps from Jurassic Park by clicking here.

Sound Quality

Jurassic Park was a reference soundtrack back in 1993, i have always considered it to be excellent, i don't know if the mix was altered when they made it 7.1 but it is every bit as powerful and as richly dynamic as i remember it, I expected to feel the bass and i did, if you have a capable subwoofer and a calibrated audio system then this soundtrack will seriously rock your house and probably your neighbours too if you have any.

I do like many elements of the sound mix, take a listen to the scene at the beginning of the film when the velociraptor is transported to the island, it grabs a guard and you hear some nice sound effects from your rear, front and center speakers and the subwoofer kicks in for some additional bass weight, during the Gallimimus stampede you hear individual sounds on your rear and front speakers and the bass is deep and powerful.

The Velociraptors feeding on the cow, is a frenzy of sound design, with all your speakers getting a good workout, the first appearance of the T-Rex is one to test your bass, if your subwoofer isn't doesn't go low enough then it will struggle with this scene, i also felt that the attack on the car that follows this scene sound very good, all the speakers got a good workout.

Jurassic Park sounds phenomenal on blu ray, the music score, richness of the soundtrack, and the dynamic range of that film sounds absolutely fantastic, i was very impressed by Jurassic Park, i feel the sound mix lived up to it's full potential on blu ray, i enjoy 7.1 mixes which are as involving as this one.

Final Thoughts

It has been a long wait for Jurassic Park on blu ray, and i'm a little disappointed in the image quality because there is some digital noise reduction applied, and edge sharpening to compensate, luckily the sound mix makes up for that, it's a reference mix with excellent dynamics and fabulous sound separation, just a shame they felt the need to use DNR and edge enhancement on this release. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) says he spared no expense while talking about his theme park, unfortunately, i think Universal all too often go cheap with their releases and think a small application of DNR or EE can make something look better, my opinion on this release is that i think its just average, although its better than most Universal back catalog releases, so that is something to cherish.  This is actually the first Steven Spielberg film on blu ray that has disappointed me, i hope its the last to disappoint me.

This blu ray is by no means a disaster, but in my opinion it's less than it could be, if all you want is picture quality that is better than the DVD, then this release will satisfy you, if you crave a release that looks like film from beginning to end, then you will be disappointed.  Universal should not be adding edge enhancement or DNR on their blu ray films, their new releases look very good, this only happens with their back catalog titles, i wish it would stop, most people don't notice edge enhancement, if they did spot it, it would drive them crazy.

Jurassic Park 4 is in the pipeline, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill may be reprising their roles, as Dr Ian Malcolm and Dr Alan Grant, its rumoured that Laura Dern may also come back as Dr Ellie Sattler, i'm not sure if i like that idea, maybe they should start afresh with a new script, have Lex or Tim Murphy, now all grown up, appearing in the new film, still, its early days and not much is known, other than the fact that Spielberg seems to think the script is very good, mind you, didn't he tell the press that the script for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was great too, but his true feelings were shared by Shia Lebouf and Harrison Ford, and that is, they thought the script was crap, hopefully it really is a good script, and i look forward to seeing it sometime in 2014, maybe Universal will revisit these films in 2013, it will be the 20th anniversary and i expect the movies to get individual releases outside of a boxset.