ncraft

Purchased. My first purchase through Walmart. Hopefully, a Steelbook won't be up for pre-order tomorrow after I already ordered this. 

The Prestige by Blufans. Thanks again to @Masterblasterand crew for this group buy! This release is a mixed bag for me. Let's start with the good: The design of the slips are phenomenal. The Single Lenti transition is seamless, with good clarity. The Double-Lenti is absolutely fantastic, and even the Fullslip is really good. Same with the Steelbook, which is excellent as well. The extras are, as always with Blufans, varied and of high quality. I've always loved that they will give you different extras for each slip.

But it's the quality control, or lack thereof that bugs me about this release. Maybe it's just my set and a run of bad luck. In my pictures, I did not focus on these issues  as I didn't want to create a gallery of closeups There were issues with the TDK Trilogy, particularly with the TDK single lenti, and with the Prestige, Blufans has produced more of the same. The one click box has glue on the outside that, so far at least, I haven't been able to get off.  the Single and Double-Lentis have multiple scratches and what can best be described as dirt swirls/patches. But unlike most dust or dirt, you can't wipe it off. That could have been avoided if Blufans put a plastic wrap on their Lentis like WeET. Or like WeET (and I've heard multiple stories of this) have someone check every slip for quality.

I open my premiums as I enjoy them more when I do. I don't expect flawlessness, as sometimes things happen, but I'm not having these issues with WeET, Manta Lab, or UHD Club. All it would take to alleviate most of these issues would be a little more care in inspecting the product. #Teamopenitup 

My concern is not only the price but also with their track record of releasing their releases. It's seems like every month or two Raro has a pre order up. Heck, I ordered Goodfellas eons ago and have not heard or seen a peep about it since.  @Gary KI'm probably wrong, but to my knowledge, was the last item they shipped the A Nightmare on Elm Street boxset? 

The Lord of the Rings trilogy by UHD Club. Thanks to @Masterblasterand the crew for the group buy of this beautiful release. The beauty of this speaks for itself. This is the best looking wood boxes that UHD Club have made, even beating out BR 2049 IMO. There are not a ton of extras in each set but the ones that are there are high quality, especially the MP exclusive card/cell(is that what they are called?). The only weakness of this set is the two posters you get for each movie (not pictured) and the lack of any Lenticulars as extra. The posters are of a random scene, but that scene has low resolution/focus. It was just a weird choice.

These are my favorite releases of 2023, narrowly beating out MAG Blade Runner 2049 and Manta Lab Inception. I am really looking forward to what they can do with the Godfather trilogy! #Teamopenitup 

2 hours ago, mr. blue said:

That’s a beautiful collection/setup @ncraft

 

If I may ask, how many years have you been collecting? 

Thanks!! 

I have been collecting 4k since day one in 2016. Before that, I had been just buying on and off since 2002. I had about 200 DVD and I have around 330 Bluray. 

2 hours ago, Anonymous said:

 

The problem the MCU faces post endgame is an unclear vision, the writers and directors don’t know where to take the overarching story.

 

also, politics. 😔

There have been too many movie and shows being put out. It's been watered down. Kevin Feige was being stretched too thin and was delegating a lot of quality control. He's back doing what he used to do now, as evidenced by delaying/rewriting Daredevil. Plus he, and Bob Iger (who publicly stated there's too much content), realized that over saturation, and have delayed/pushed back several movies and TV shows. Thats why there's only Deadpool 3 and What If Season 3 scheduled this year. 

Not going to get into politics or agendas, as John has clearly stated we shouldn't be discussing that. 

7 minutes ago, DarkCloud said:

 

David just sent PM,, demands you take A3 off the list. 

(I tried to talk him out of it, but he was in 'a mood', I heard ice rattling...) 

20 minutes ago, Anonymous said:

 

He sounds like a director dedicated to his craft. My interest is piqued, and I may have to view his filmography.

If you have never seen his movies, you're in for a treat! Here's my favorite movies of his(sans his last two: Mank & The Killer, which I haven't seen) :

1. Fight Club

2. Se7en 

3. Zodiac 

4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (don't get this one confused with the foreign version that came out before his. His stars Daniel Craig & Rooney Mara) 

5. Gone Girl 

6. The Social Network 

7. Panic Room 

8. The Game

9. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 

10. Alien 3

4 minutes ago, Anonymous said:

If I may ask, what about David Fincher as a director do you appreciate?

I appreciate the quality of the movies he makes. Also that since the studio interfered with Alien 3, he hasn't really allowed them to control his vision for his movies, which I respect. He's versatile, in that he can make different types of movies too: The Game, Se7en, Panic Room, Fight Club, Dragon Tattoo, Zodiac, Benjamin Button, Gone Girl. He's not locked into one genre. 

Just now, MikeH5856 said:

Dude, this would be a freaking dream come true. Especially a Zodiac premium! God, I would love to see that happen.

To my knowledge, there has never been a Zodiac premium from any retailer. It's about time. They've already done Fight Club and Se7en. I'll take Panic Room, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or Gone Girl also. Fincher is my absolute favorite director. 

6 minutes ago, Anonymous said:

Those are solid predictions.
I am hoping, though, Manta Lab releases the Nolan Batman films consecutively as they’ve been on their release schedule for about two years.

My hope would be that they would follow my dream order of releases:

1. Oppenheimer 

2. Reservoir Dogs 

3. Pulp Fiction 

4. Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair

5. Zodiac 

18 minutes ago, MikeH5856 said:

Man, I hope so! I'm kind of annoyed at the wait/delay, but on the other hand I'm good with not spending the extra cash for the next three months while we burn through another Nolan Batman trilogy release... 🤣

Hopefully, Manta Lab will do what they did with the Matrix trilogy and put another release in between each TDK release. They were super quick with Barbie, so I'm hoping for Oppenheimer. However, if I was a betting man, their next release will be Spider-Man Homecoming. My release order predictions are:

1.Spider-Man Homecoming 

2.The Dark Knight 

3.Aquaman: The Lost Profits

4.The Dark Knight Rises 

5.Oppenheimer 

Yes, I've come a long way. Life is all about growth!

Collection Update: Currently at 1,128 4K's.

Recent pickups. On a side note: The Raid is the last pre-order/order that I had from Best Buy, as they are no longer shipping out movies. They force you to pick up in store. End of an era, as I estimate that I've purchased 90% of my Dvd's, Blu-rays, and 4k Blu-rays from Best Buy since 2002. Mostly in store at the beginning but mostly online delivery starting in 2016.

Speaking of the Raid : It's fitting that this is my last Best Buy purchase. In my opinion, it has the best pure action in any movie, save for Part 2, which was a better movie overall and is on par with the action, if not better. Whether their creators want to admit it or not, these two movies were the action inspiration for the John Wick films. 

1 hour ago, Heywoodmoutaw said:

Great pics!  Yeah, this is the set that got me running over here to join, as quickly as possible, and I have to say that it had exceeded my enormous expectations.  Amazing.  

Yeah, it's an awesome set. I'm kind of surprised it's smaller than most one clicks. MAG is known for massive sets. 

Blade Runner 2049 from MAG. Thanks to @Masterblasterand crew for this beautiful release. Really no weakness here: The o ring case, the lentis on the box, and the acrilyc case are all great quality. The extras are also plentiful (I didn't even take a photo of another booklet that was included) and very nice (although I didn't receive the moc blocks for some reason) as you can see from the pics.

In my opinion this is a awesome set for one of my favorite movies of the last 10 years. I would put this a notch below the UHD Club set overall, but I actually prefer the extras on this one slightly more. This will probably be my last BR 2049 purchase. I don't see myself buying the HDZeta lentis or the Film Arena Maniacs box so this is probably it... unless WeET or Manta Lab come up with something special.... No, no this is it I swear!! #Teamopenitup 

Just finished this series on Netflix and it was amazing: Blue Eye Samurai. 

Also: Last month I finished this series, The Fall of the House of Usher. Excellent series. Directed by Mike Flanagan, who did Midnight Mass. 

The Marvels was the first MCU movie that I did not see in theaters. I have a 4k Steelbook for every MCU release except for Black Widow (I have the Target 4k exclusive), but this very well may be the ugliest Steelbook I've seen for an MCU movie. 

13 minutes ago, extantsrevenge said:

A bit depressing how little new art was used

 

Boxset Front = Blufans Box Front / HDZeta Steelbook Front / UHD Club Back

Boxset Back = HDZeta Steelbook Back

FS Front = Blufans DL Front / HDZeta Special Pack

FS Back = Blufans DL Back

DL A Front = Blufans SL Front (1 Effect) / HDZeta Boxset Front / UHD Club Front

DL A Back = Blufans SL Front (1 Effect) / HDZeta Special Pack Back / UHD Club used inside

DL B Front = Blufans FS Front / HDZeta DL Front / UHD Club used inside

DL B Back = Not yet used on Package, Bonus Item Blufans & Fantatic The Dark Knight Trilogy Set & UK CE

SB Front = Not yet used

SB Back = Not yet used

Thanks for the breakdown. I know there's only so much art available, but Manta did little to differentiate itself from the other releases. But this is great for those who never had a chance to purchase the other sets at a decent price. However, if you own the old sets, particularly the Blufans, and you buy this, you're basically buying the same thing twice. 

6 hours ago, extantsrevenge said:

Wonderful @ncraft, I see you could escape your wife again 😜

 

Congratulations

 

New updated ranking is:

 

USA 87 Points (41 Stage 1 / 23 Stage 2)

Germany 67 Points (31 Stage 1 / 18 Stage 2)

Team International 20 Points (Australia 1 (Stage 1 & 2), Austria 1 (Stage 1 & 2), Canada 1 (Stage 1 & 2), Japan 1, Russia 1 (Stage 1 and 2), Slovakia 1 (Stage 1 and 2), Spain 1 (Stage 1 and 2), Switzerland 1)

France 16 Points (10 Stage 1 / 3 Stage 2)

UK 13 Points (7 Stage 1 / 3 Stage 2)

 

The ranking is not getting better for the other regions...

Yes, I just started watching the NFL games and she decided to let me be last night 👍🏼

Here is my submission for Challenge #37. It is going to come with an asterisk, as several releases for 2023 that might have contended for the crown are stuck in limbo(my UHD Club Lord of the Rings Trilogy is in transit, Blufans The Prestige just got shipped from China, Manta Lab's Spider-Man No Way Home is stuck in customs somewhere, probably in Chicago, and MAG Blade Runner 2049... well who knows where that is). 

Anyway, I couldn't just pick 3,so here is THE DEFINITIVE, UNDISPUTABLE, list of my top 5 releases of the year.  #Teamopenitup #dontbescaredtoopenyourstuff

5: The Shawshank Redemption from UHD Club. Fantastic release for an all-time classic movie. 

#4: The Star Wars Trilogy from Creator Era. A beautiful release. The back covers making one big cover was a great touch. 

#3: The Green Mile from UHD Club. I liked this edition better than Shawshank. UHD Club Wooden Box sets are the pinnacle of premium in my opinion. 

2. 2001 : A Space Odyssey from Manta Lab. This was a tough choice as everything about this release was nearly perfect. However, the reason I couldn't put it at #1 was the lack of a third slip, and the Steelbook from my #1 release being superior, in my opinion. 

#1: Inception by Manta Lab. Everything is stellar with this release, other than the Single Lenti. The one-click box was great, the Double-Lenti and Fullslip are fantastic. The Steelbook is my favorite of the year, WWA or WEA. 

@extantsrevenge Here is my submission for the Fullslip Treasure Hunter Award! 

3 hours ago, Reagh said:

I could have sworn this was the blowing off steam thread. 
 

 

You would be correct sir. And what was being talked about was not that bad or controversial compared to some of the other threads I see in the blowing off steam section, IMHO.

24 minutes ago, vinny91 said:

@ncraft your edition from "OldBoy" 4K looks so great , good reception 👍

I also bought it and waiting for my copy.

Got so many editions for this movie, but each one is beautiful with many special features. Of course, got Plain Archive editions & steelbooks UK + DE. 

 

There is a very nice UK box but no 4K 

 

 

The two others movie from "The Vengeance Trilogy" would deserve also a good treatment with nice packaging.

Great looking set! I do have these Digibook from a few years ago. Please excuse the picture quality as I was using a different phone. The one drawback, for me at least, is that these discs do not have English subtitles or an English language track. But they are beautiful. I'm hoping Arrow or Plain Archive make some premium sets.