'Rocky' - High-Def Digest Review

[jed]

Peter's playing catch up with some of the December titles that got overlooked in the crush. In his just-posted review of 'Rocky' on Blu-ray, he praises the classic film and Fox/MGM's valient inclusion of a DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 track, but the sub-par video transfer and lack of supplements were apparently a real disappointment.

The full review:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/rocky.html

[MarkForce]

Rocky is the greatest film series of all time. Thats right...Rocky > Star Wars & LOTR...Yea, I said it! ;-) I cant tell you how many times Ive bought these films on DVD/VHS and such...and...this will definitely be picking this up on Blu Ray. Even more so than Rocky...I REALLY want Rocky IV, thats my fav of the franchise. Hope to see this released soon (didnt see it on amazon.)

[Kenshiro]

Alright Rocko!!

Too bad they didn't include the alternate ending with Sly puching Apollo Creed's head into the thrid row in the second round.

[wishman35]

what do you expect from a very old release...i wonder if the reviews are purely based on the picture...without the age of the film in mind.

it sounds like it, but still 3 stars knowing its a 30 year old film must mean it looks like utter crap. if it looks noticibly clearer than the dvd counterpart...than it should get 4 stars minimum.

oh well i wont buy it anyway...i have a hesitation with buying some of the catalog blu-rays

the reason we invested in this technology was to see it being taken advantage of

[BBHTGuy]

IMO, Peter was a little hard on the PQ. make no mistake, the disc is not the best i have ever seen, but it was a noticable upgrade over my SD version of the film.

detail was stunning, and when color was used, it was stunning. most of rocky was shot in a dingy philly neighborhood, and at night to boot. the film can be grainy, but again, it's 30 year old film that had a very low budget.

i wonder, though, why the source print of such an important film is in such poor repair.

if you're a fan of the film, by all means, grab it. sure, no features hurts a wee bit.....actually, a lot. but, i got it from amazon day and date, and i am disappointed at all.

[zzap64]

Any news of a Rocky re-release on Blu-ray? Perhaps when they release the other 4 movies on Blu-ray.

[damonous]

Originally Posted by BBHTGuy

IMO, Peter was a little hard on the PQ. make no mistake, the disc is not the best i have ever seen, but it was a noticable upgrade over my SD version of the film.

detail was stunning, and when color was used, it was stunning. most of rocky was shot in a dingy philly neighborhood, and at night to boot. the film can be grainy, but again, it's 30 year old film that had a very low budget.

i wonder, though, why the source print of such an important film is in such poor repair....

I don't know if this counts as "necro-threading", but I thought it important to post here after having seen this. I finally bought Rocky last week, since CC had it and other Fox titles for $20. Having never seen the 1st Rocky before, and previously avoiding picking-it-up because of Peter's review (which I read months back), I have to agree with you BBHTGuy ...almost entirely.

I would agree that color and video quality was outstanding (especially for the film's age and low budget). Outside of 1 or 2 night scenes that waver in quality (maybe they could've looked for an alternate print for those), this was MUCH BETTER than Peter's review would have had me believe. And, I wouldn't really say that the source print is in "poor repair".



Peter Bracke's fascination with elimination of all vestiges of grain is unrealistic, and not by any means a true 'film fan' goal. If you digitally remove all the grain, then how is the presentation anymore an accurate reflection of the source material?