'Fantastic Four' -- High-Def Digest review

[PeterB]

Just reviewed 'Fantastic Four'

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/fantasticfour.html

Liked the transfer and soundtrack, but the extras are lacking. And for $39.95, it is really overpriced for what you get. At least Fox is delivering good video and audio, but I hope they bump up the features and lower the list price on future catalog titles. Barely a thumbs up on this one.

[MovieMinded]

It seems like all of Fox's Blu-Ray reviews are getting the same comment "Nice transfer and audio, but not worth the $39.99 price." I don't get why Disney and Fox only have 1 price point for their titles, if a movie isn't a new release why should it be priced like one, especially when Warner, Paramount, LionsGate and even Sony have cheaper pricing structures for catalog titles?

[MrChaos]

Another poor move by Fox. Charging outrageous prices for mediocre, feature-less films shouldn't be allowed!

I'm just so terrified for Kingdom of Heaven. I have such high hopes for this release that I know Fox will screw it up!

[MovieMinded]

In Fox's defense they have produced some of the best special editions for standard DVD once they got "into" the format. Unfortunately it took them over a year of supporting DVD before they actually made decent titles, and that was a year or two after every other studio was supporting DVD. Remember Fox being the last studio to support Anamorphic Transfers? And yet even with those lacking first releases they charged $35 for most titles. I have no doubt Fox will do the same with the new format(s) as well. They will charge a premium $40 price for a title that has few features and an alright transfer. So far Fox still has not received a 5 star picture or audio rating from any review site for any release despite their $40 asking price.

It's more profitable for Fox to release a near bare-bones release for $40 than to release a huge feature-laden release which would cost them more to produce. They'll produce titles with lots of features once it's cheaper for them to do so.

I tell you that as far as Disney and Fox are concerned if they continue this trend of near featureless discs with just alright transfers for $35 - $40 they are deciding the format war. People are just going to feel taken advantage of after awhile. Especially when games for the most popular Blu-Ray player are also being sold at a premium $60 a pop.

[marzetta7]

Why is it when a transfer is pretty solid there must be something negative to harp on in terms of Blu-ray? List price? C'mon guys, get real here. We all know there is a huge difference in "List price" or "MSRP" and what you can buy the movie at online and at retailers. Heck, even on the review page, you see the movie, X-Men, selling at $27 on Blu-ray at Amazon. All Blu-ray movies and HD DVD movies have high list prices, but yet they sell at a much lower price, and a lot of times, the Blu-ray price will be cheaper--around $19.99-$25.00.

So please, stop it with the list price gripe for Fox and Disney or Blu-ray in general, as I find the complaint a hollow one--and one just said for the sake of being negative.

Just enjoy the freakin movie, will ya.

P.S. I just notice there are no GLARING gripes over HD DVD's King Kong's price...hmmm, why is that when they have pretty much the same list price?

[JamesS]

I watched it last night...and admit freely beforehand that I'm a completel geek and have read the FF comics for virtually my whole life.

The BD just absolutely blows the DVD away....and the DVD looked pretty good for the most part. The audio seemed to have much more depth, which surprised me considering that it didn't have a lossless track that my Sammy could support. Truth be told, I upgraded to HD DVD and Blu-ray for the video, the audio wasn't a major concern...now I find myself more (or at least equally) intrigued by the audio.

One interesting thing, there was a little note included in the box that said older machines might have a hard time playing it without a firmware update. I wonder what's different about this disc? It played flawlessly...but my machine does have the current firmware.

[Mark_H]

Was the fine detail on this film deliberately smoothed out to give a comic-book appearence? The film has that typical overly noise reduced look we are used to seeing on DVD - everything looks nice and smooth but when you look closely you realise there is no fine detail in the image.

A mediocre looking HD disc.

Mark

[MARLOWE]

[quote=Mark_H;114779]Was the fine detail on this film deliberately smoothed out to give a comic-book appearence? The film has that typical overly noise reduced look we are used to seeing on DVD - everything looks nice and smooth but when you look closely you realise there is no fine detail in the image.

A mediocre looking HD disc.

Mark[/QUOTE

I have both the standard DVD & the Blu Ray DVD & the Blu Ray looks no better than the standard issue. There is an unacceptable grainy quality to the film.
So far, the best looking DVD I have personally viewed is The Fifth Element.

[Favelle]

Has anyone compared the UK version? Is it the same as the N.A. verion because my UK disc is a paltry 16.3GB!! Can you believe that??? That could almost fit on a single layer HD DVD!!

Yikes. And its MPEG-2 to boot. Gonna fire up this Sunday and I'm preparing to be disappointed.

[ClinicaTerra LTD]

Why are we discussing a reviewed disc of such an old title at this point? I got this disc...what...in the box with my Panny '10A? Is this really relevant right now?

Did anyone else think both Rise of the Silver Surfer and the original were both...umm...less than stellar for Fox?

[Favelle]

Originally Posted by ClinicaTerra LTD

Why are we discussing a reviewed disc of such an old title at this point? I got this disc...what...in the box with my Panny '10A? Is this really relevant right now?

Did anyone else think both Rise of the Silver Surfer and the original were both...umm...less than stellar for Fox?

???? Since when is a catalog title irrelevant? Not everyone rushes down to the local box store to pick up B-grade titles on release day.

Thanks for nothing.

[ClinicaTerra LTD]

Originally Posted by Favelle

???? Since when is a catalog title irrelevant? Not everyone rushes down to the local box store to pick up B-grade titles on release day.

Thanks for nothing.

I suppose you're welcome....never said everyone does run down to the local store and buy discs on release day; but why was this disc reviewed just now? Sure, it's a catalog title, but it's been out...let's see...a long time now?

We're not talking about a catalog title like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest that was just released and now reviewed, are we?

[Favelle]

Originally Posted by ClinicaTerra LTD

I suppose you're welcome....never said everyone does run down to the local store and buy discs on release day; but why was this disc reviewed just now? Sure, it's a catalog title, but it's been out...let's see...a long time now?

We're not talking about a catalog title like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest that was just released and now reviewed, are we?

Its an old review......I bumped it instead of creating a new thread to see if the UK disc was the same as the N.A. disc.

[ClinicaTerra LTD]

Originally Posted by Favelle

Its an old review......I bumped it instead of creating a new thread to see if the UK disc was the same as the N.A. disc.

OK; gotcha.

[Favelle]

Originally Posted by ClinicaTerra LTD

OK; gotcha.

Ha ha my fault, didn't mean to mislead anyone.