Category Archives: Blu-ray

Spirited Away - Blu-ray

Spirited Away – Japanese Blu-ray Review

Spirited Away, in my opinion at least, is Hayao Miyazaki’s magnum opus, and having only been released on Japanese Blu-ray a few months back, I decided to give it a quick review. ‘Spirited Away’ (千と千尋の神隠し ‘Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi’) was released in 2001 to universal critical and commercial success. A heroes-journey tale of a timid girl whose family is sucked into a magical world, where she must struggle to save both herself and her parents. The original Japanese (and other Asian-region) DVD releases had several issues most noticeably a strong red/pink tint, as well as window-boxing the image substantially on all four sides. The US DVD release largely addressed these issues, although the image was a little red.

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Witness 1985 title

Witness – Japanese/Italian Blu-ray vs iTunes HD

Witness - watch your back - Bluray top itunes middile dvd bottom

Witness is a 1985 Amishsploitation-thriller staring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis and directed by Peter Weir. Three writers share credit: William Kelley, Pamela Wallace and Earl W. Wallace. Winning Oscars for its screenplay and editing as well as opening the Cannes film-festival, and being the eighth highest grossing film in the US in 1985, the film was a commercial and critical success. It is not yet available on Blu-Ray in the US, though international editions (which are basically the same disc) are available. I thought I’d compare the Blu-Ray with the iTunes 1080p edition to see which is worth your time.

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