Sorry to disappoint, but this isn’t a post about Australians discussing pornographic films. It’s a techno-blog.
In May this year, French Amazon had an interesting offer that I found too good to refuse. If you bought 10 blu-ray films from their selection, you could buy a Philips blu-ray Player for 1 euro. What better way to finally upgrade my DVD player to the latest high definition technology? I had bought a HDMI television when I arrived in France, and now I would be able to see just what all the fuss was about. I chose the films with the best reviews for their blue-rayness qualities wherever possible.
So for 117.36 euros plus 22.97 TVA (VAT) I became the proud owner of:
Les noces funebres (The corpse bride) , a Tim Burton animated film.
Vicky, Christina, Barcelona – A Woody Allen film with P Cruz, Scarlett Johannsen etc
Blade Runner – Harrison Ford
Yes man – Jim Carey
The Dark Knight (Batman filmed using IMAX cameras) / Superman Returns
Charlie and the Chocolate factory – Johnny Depp / Tim Burton
L.A. Confidential (too many stars to mention)
The strange history of Benjamin Button - Brad Pitt
Le gout de la vie – Catherine Zeta Jones – not watched yet
Le come back - Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore – not watched yet
Of course the benefit of buying the films from French Amazon is that as well as being in their original versions, they also have a French soundtrack and subtitles.
Can I tell the difference between blu-ray and ordinary DVDs?
Well, the animations like the corpse bride and scenes from Charlie are certainly very sharp, but without a DVD version of the films to compare with, I cannot say with hand on heart, that on an HDMI (high definition ) television, I would be able to tell the difference. The up-scaling capabilities of today’s DVD players is so good that I will continue to buy ordinary DVDs and only buy a Blu-ray disc if it is filmed in blu-ray and exploits the capabilities of this technology. purely for your benefit and information of course...
Blog entries coming soon include " smelly boots and Bee-boy's parents"
Showing posts with label French films. Show all posts
Showing posts with label French films. Show all posts
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Hot stuff and French films
All of a sudden on Friday someone has decided to give us a blast of summer weather. Thankfully not as hot as the Australians are experiencing at the moment. I drove to LeClerc supermarket in 21 degrees C. It was all I could do to stop myself turning on the airconditioning. It is amazing how a burst of sunshine can lift the spirits and get the old arse in gear.
I had spotted that they had bargain fluorescent jackets at 2 for half the price that I had paid for one (just before it became law to keep them in the car for occupants in case of car breakdown on the road) and I now have 5 yellow and one orange jacket. They also had a special on warning triangles (which you must also have with you to deploy in case of accident). I now have 2 triangles. Perhaps I could start my own percussion band “Rigsby and the fluorescents”?
Most French music is really dire, so I would be coming in at the top end.
I believe that 2 triangles and jackets are compulsory car luggage in Spain, which is probably an hour or less drive south.
Spurred on by the sun’s golden glow, I decided to wash the stairs and to wash my car.
Washing small cars is much more fun than washing cars with big bonnets (the bit of the metal between the windscreen and the front number plate, before JNNR asks). In fact I was going to apply car polish / wax to the car, but I could not find any in amongst my supplies.
On Saturday evening there was nothing worth watching on the TV, so I unwrapped my DVD of “Jean de Florette”. I saw this film at the Glasgow Film Theatre when it first came out and of course its sequel “Manon des Sources”.
I also taped it from the TV onto video. Time to watch it on DVD then. Thank goodness for subtitles. The language spoken is not French as most of us know it, but a regional dialect.
Merde! I can feel a list coming on J
Top French films wot I have seen. In no particular order, probably.
1) Diva
2) Les Rippoux
3) Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources
4) Pauline at the beach (Pauline à la plage)
5) One deadly summer (l’été Meutrier)
6) Les Visiteuses
7) Cop au vin
8) Death in a French garden
9) Betty Blue (37 degrees 2 in the morning)
10) Romaud et Juilliette
11) Chocolat
12) Amelie
13) The hairdresser’s husband
14) Un moment d'egarement (A Moment of Distraction) remade later in the USA as “Blame it on Rio”
15)Trois hommes et un couffin (Three Men and a Cradle). Remade in the USA as “Three men and a baby”
I have a backlog of films to watch which may add to my “favourites” list
Pot Luck (L’auberge espagnole), Russian Dolls (Les poupées russes), The road to Corinth; The Breach; Pleasure party, Innocents with Dirty hands, The flower of evil, An Autumn tale, Le rayon vert, Indochine, A very long engagement, The nest, Le Boucher, Love etc.
My favourite films in languages “other” than English
1 My life as a dog (Mitt liv som hind) by Lasse Hallstrom
2 The postman (Il Postino)
Are there any other “”must see” French films? No pretentious crap please, just good story lines that merit repeat viewings.
I had spotted that they had bargain fluorescent jackets at 2 for half the price that I had paid for one (just before it became law to keep them in the car for occupants in case of car breakdown on the road) and I now have 5 yellow and one orange jacket. They also had a special on warning triangles (which you must also have with you to deploy in case of accident). I now have 2 triangles. Perhaps I could start my own percussion band “Rigsby and the fluorescents”?
Most French music is really dire, so I would be coming in at the top end.
I believe that 2 triangles and jackets are compulsory car luggage in Spain, which is probably an hour or less drive south.
Spurred on by the sun’s golden glow, I decided to wash the stairs and to wash my car.
Washing small cars is much more fun than washing cars with big bonnets (the bit of the metal between the windscreen and the front number plate, before JNNR asks). In fact I was going to apply car polish / wax to the car, but I could not find any in amongst my supplies.
On Saturday evening there was nothing worth watching on the TV, so I unwrapped my DVD of “Jean de Florette”. I saw this film at the Glasgow Film Theatre when it first came out and of course its sequel “Manon des Sources”.
I also taped it from the TV onto video. Time to watch it on DVD then. Thank goodness for subtitles. The language spoken is not French as most of us know it, but a regional dialect.
Merde! I can feel a list coming on J
Top French films wot I have seen. In no particular order, probably.
1) Diva
2) Les Rippoux
3) Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources
4) Pauline at the beach (Pauline à la plage)
5) One deadly summer (l’été Meutrier)
6) Les Visiteuses
7) Cop au vin
8) Death in a French garden
9) Betty Blue (37 degrees 2 in the morning)
10) Romaud et Juilliette
11) Chocolat
12) Amelie
13) The hairdresser’s husband
14) Un moment d'egarement (A Moment of Distraction) remade later in the USA as “Blame it on Rio”
15)Trois hommes et un couffin (Three Men and a Cradle). Remade in the USA as “Three men and a baby”
I have a backlog of films to watch which may add to my “favourites” list
Pot Luck (L’auberge espagnole), Russian Dolls (Les poupées russes), The road to Corinth; The Breach; Pleasure party, Innocents with Dirty hands, The flower of evil, An Autumn tale, Le rayon vert, Indochine, A very long engagement, The nest, Le Boucher, Love etc.
My favourite films in languages “other” than English
1 My life as a dog (Mitt liv som hind) by Lasse Hallstrom
2 The postman (Il Postino)
Are there any other “”must see” French films? No pretentious crap please, just good story lines that merit repeat viewings.
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