Don't know why but RETURN TO OZ is a film I have never seen, am I missing out?

You are NOT alone !
Rumor is, the very first anamorphic Wide-Screen release on LaserDisc in Japan in mid 1980's !
Wide Screen not seen in US for another 16 years......
I believe there is a copy in my grotto, just need to find and view to confirm.

Cheers mates ....

I'd recommend it to most, with the caveat that in terms of complexity and emotional maturity it's definitely a kid's movie, just a kid's movie that was clearly made with the express purpose of scaring the s**t out of kids. Worth seeing if that sounds like something you're game for.

I didn't think it was that scary but sort of wish I had skipped it, did see it as an adult, its like a bad time bandits or such.

I love it with all its flaws. I have her (the girl who plays dorothy) other film The Worst Witch with Tim Curry and that was major cheese but a delight as well.

Jetsons Meet The Flintstones (1987) [ID6611HA]

Looks like I'm just missing Jetsons #2 (1962) [ID8381HA] to be Jetsons complete.

Last night the kid and I watched Babe (1995) [43209] (newtype training). A favorite movie of mine, the LD is basically perfect.

Viewed "Visions of Light" [5993-85] The Art of Cinematography...
Very telling tour of lighting evolution over last century (+).

Highly recommended....

Also :

Viewed "Stardust Memories" [ML102230] B&W vintage Woody Allen.
Laughed my a** off.
Thank goodness this content is preserved on LaserDisc.
Such diverse ridicule ... utterly priceless.
Choreography was a caliber easy under Allen's direction....

Cheers mates...
Daffodils are blooming this weekend at writing.
Spring is nigh..

Hats off to the membership

Holy s**t! I also watched Stardust Memories last night, the two pack version. This is one of my favorite movies of his, not that many people say that.

The snowdrops are out here, the crocuses are starting to show & the daffodils are well on their way.... love this time of year.

Sorry to go off topic but so nice to see the back of winter in sight.

I just watched Universal Soldier with the AC-3 track. Pretty good!

One of my favorite documentaries, David Macaulay's Cathedral. Tremendous architectural illustration, stirring photography, perfectly narrated and explained. The animated segments are great for holding children's attention without pandering to them or trying the patience of adult viewers (there are no animal sidekicks or superfluous child characters). What I love most about Macaulay's TV specials though is the pacing. It's conversational: neither turgid like your least favorite history lecturer nor frantic like a cable TV show that's desperate to keep you from changing the channel. Quick enough to always be interesting, slow enough to let you think and react. Also recommend the other three, Castle, Pyramid, and Roman City, but especially Cathedral.

We just watched Ai Weiwei's Coronation, very scary.

I didn't know this was on LD! Or maybe I forgot. Maybe it isn't, you didn't specifically say.

When I was a teenager they published a book about animation, I forget the exact name, that was more or less built around the production of the animated segments of Cathedral. It's a very good book for learning tradition techniques and has great stills of Cathedral. Its sort of a how-to guide for animation based on a movie that is a how-to guide for building a huge church. Both are very good.

Speaking of traditional animation, tonight we watched Fantasia: Special Edition (1940) [1236 CS]. I usually go for the CLV version because its a real flipper of a movie but tonight I decided the extra work was OK. Does this actually look better in CAV? It shouldn't, but it seems like it does, like the color is deeper, but it could just be me. The Dolby Surround is fantastic, the picture is about as good as it gets, leaning to the slightly softer side which some may prefer to later DVD-esque Disney LDs like Lion King, Snow White...

Anyway, the movie itself is just amazing. It recently occurred to me that even though Fantasia was never their most popular movie it may very well outlive the other early films just because its way way less weird since its sort of psychedelic and semi-representational on purpose. There's nothing as weird in here as kids lying and because of that turning into donkeys, for example, and the biggest liar of all time turned into an elephant in the end and was rewarded with the nation's highest honor so what ancient morality is this movie trying to push anyway? Not a valid one in my culture...

The saddest thing about being an animation fan is that it is a position of constant compromise. When you look at something from the 60s, which was hardly the high point of animation's history, you just think, "Man, you couldn't do that past the 70s...". And the stuff from the 80s, even the cheap crap like Thundercats, is considered impossible now, like moon launch impossible. Even though there are more people who want to be animators and the tools that exist make it easier and faster and cheaper every year, we still basically just have worse animation every year. I guess we're not in the b/w Astro Boy or Huckleberry Hound ghettos any more, but just barely, and its only because of sweatshop labor and Adobe Aftereffects. Japan is over and Korea has yet to take flight. Many of the actual *shows* are of course much better than the junk I grew up with, but the animation itself...there is no Call of the Primitives moment these days. No high points, only animation done perfectly to some specification chosen because it could be perfected. Every single episode of Bob's Burgers or Steven Universe has zero mistakes in it and will look identical to every other episode until someone changes the character designs on purpose as some sort of intentional refresh. You could build it in the Unreal Engine...not just the show, but the entire production!

With Fantasia being mega budget and from 1940 it is absolutely packed with those things you can't do any more. In fact, these segments have is so many techniques above and beyond the standard "draw it, trace it, back color it in blocks" style that was standard by the time of 101 Dalmatians, or really even Peter Pan. There is airbrush, there is what I think is use of oil pastels on FX layers, rotating gradients, front lighting, its honestly hard to even tell how some of this was done and I'm a pretty hardcore dork for this. The labor needed is one thing but the organization is even more impressive, especially considering everything is tight as hell. Recreating this movie today would I think require at least one trillion dollars and some actual genuine witchcraft. Nothing that produced this exists any more!

Should have clarified, I watched it on DVD (might as well have been on LD with the transfer; they didn't go back to the film for a remaster or anything). If it's on LD, it's not in the database. Missed opportunity, I'd say: put some extras with still-frames on a CAV side 2 and you've got a classroom staple.

I may have to track down that book, that's wild.

Whenever Fantasia is mentioned I cannot help thinking about the Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon A Corny Concerto
. Just under 8 minutes of genius & still very watchable.

Another later, 1957, Warner Bros. cartoon that I have a real soft spot for is What's Opera Doc? which is truly brilliant.

We love What’s Opera Doc. It’s on Looney Tunes: Curtain Calls (1992) [12586] which is all shorts even more musical than most.

Fantasia was amazing on CAV, I never had the CLV or if I did it was in a lot and I sold it off many many many years ago.

I remember I had a coach and he had a little girl who hadn't seen it so I made a VHS copy for him, he was amazed and said it was super clear
and he wasn't a picture/video buff just was amazed.
Guess its the same reason I'm getting rid of some of my disney stuff, just keeping the classic stuff that I know I'll watch again like fantasia but may not watch
snow white again.

Speaking of anime I watched Spriggan yesterday, and it just has a super strange look to it, almost rotoscoped but was never happy with the look or story of that one.

My pioneer 2950 turned up today and I watched The Jungle Book and True Lies. Hoping to watch The Bear tomorrow.

Which between Jungle Book and True Lies looked the best to your Eyeballs?
Im still yet to own let alone watch True Lies , i think its the first Home Release to have Dolby Digital AC-3?