Blue Planet (IMAX) [Blu-ray]
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Movie Reviews of Blue Planet (IMAX) [Blu-ray]
Movie Review: earth from space
Summary: 4 Stars
Filmed in IMAX by NASA astronauts 200 miles above planet earth, this 41-minute film introduces you to volcanoes and earthquakes, underwater lava chimneys and Amazon rain forests. The narration begins with an earth rise as viewed from the moon, and in a later shot we observe from space a thin blue line, above which is uninhabitable black space and below which is our cocoon-like layer of thin air that is our atmosphere. If there is a theme that integrates these remarkable images it is the delicate balance between earth, air, and water, and, especially poignant, the impact that humanity has had on our tiny blue planet. This film will seem outdated with the new Planet Earth series produced by the BBC in 2006 and shown on the Discovery Channel, but it's still well worth watching and would make for a great evening of family fun.Movie Review: Just OK
Summary: 3 Stars
Definitely some impressive shots, but it's got nothing on "Planet Earth" (maybe I shouldn't have expected a comparison considering the price discrepancy b/tw the 2).
Anyway, it is a great way to show off you HD TV as background scenery at a party.
Movie Review: Beautiful, relaxing Blu-Ray
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a very good Blu-Ray transfer and has beautiful images and commentary of the kind you'd expect from the title. At 40 or so minutes it is rather short, but the accompanying feature is also worth having, though not as good.Movie Review: IMAX Double Feature Blu-ray disc from SPACE not PLANET EARTH'S animals and computer earth views
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't believe the negative reviews for these are beautiful transfers of beautiful films. Some scenes look far deeper and sharper than the often mentioned PLANET EARTH series which is beautifully made though "only" on HD-Video. These films were filmed in space and explore the earth and Space Shuttle, PLANET EARTH is animals/nature with some computer-generated earth views!
The films presented here were made for specially made theatres with screens up to 1.000 square meters big and filmed in 70mm/15perforation, a three times larger film format than 70mm/5perf LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. All films in this format were 30 to 55 minutes long.
I always LOVED the slower pace resulting from these big images, just to get the time to take it all in. Also the earth views are so beautiful they need a slower pace. That is too much for some viewers it seems.
THE DREAM IS ALIVE (1985), 37min, features three space shuttle starts from different angles and shows training of astronauts as well as some of the first footage of the earth actually taken in orbit with the highest definition cameras on earth in the 15/70 format. Sure, there are always scenes in the shuttle where they had a lowlight situation and the image is not as sharp as others. One has to take into account the conditions under which these films were made. What counts is the overall impression and that is definitely high definition. Narrated by Walter Cronkite.
I use this disc to impress my friends and NOT my PLANET EARTH disc ;-) Both films have breathtaking sound (Dolby TrueHD + Dolby Digital + French Dolby Digital). Subtitles French + Espanol.
BLUE PLANET (1990), 44min, to me is a true IMAX classic. Stunning earth views and exploration of the ozone hole at a time when few were talking about it make it one of the most stunning and at the same time serious large format films. Aftermath of San Francisco earthquake and hurricanes in the southeast.
I hope there will be many more IMAX films coming to Blu-ray!
Movie Review: disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
Blue Planet, by its packaging and subject matter, calls for a comparison with the vastly superior Planet Earth series. This is a little unfair considering the latter is made of recent HD material thoughtfully organized and tied together with a catchy narrative throughout several episodes. By comparison, Blue Planet -and The Dream is Alive- are older material and in many ways dated (the near-future promise of microgravity for the pharmaceutical industry was a 1980s pipe dream, not a 2007 reality just yet...).
However, one could have hoped for a nice video transfer to Blu-Ray. Dated information notwithstanding, the images still have the same inherent beauty. And since the shows were made for IMAX, one believes there should be a way to make them look good.
Unfortunately, they do not. The image quality of Blue Planet (Imax) is uneven, seemingly coming from materials of different original quality (and I exclude the Moon Landing footage). At its best, it only vaguely reminds you of the stunning (and consistent) precision of Planet Earth footage. Most of the time, it seems inferior to the quality of a good, regular DVD on an up-converting player.
Since not enough work has gone into optimizing the image quality of the program -and its companion piece The Dream is Alive- one is left with an obvious realization of what it is primarily: a cheerleading piece for the space program serving mostly NASA's and Lockheed Martin's image building but rather short on content.
Buy Planet Earth in confidence. Almost any audience should be delighted and stunned by its beauty. As for Blue Planet, it should be reserved to the most dedicated -and forgiving- fans of the space program...