Todd VaziriAbout to watch “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991) with two (2) first-timers.
The T-1000 was making beef stew.
I appreciate a franchise Easter Egg/callback that doesn't hit you over the head with obviousness and REMEMBER THIS?! energy.
A "Terminator 2" Callback
http://fxrant.blogspot.com/2025/02/a-terminator-2-callback.html
Jens Prausnitz@tvaziri Cameron loves them big buttons.
Andrew Ortwein@tvaziri Despite having seen T2 like a million times, I admit I've only ever seen The Terminator in full maybe once. You're inspiring me to remedy that.
@andrewortwein it's a good movie andrew
beasom@andrewortwein @tvaziri Terminator was one of the movies we copied onto VHS tapes that I watched at an inappropriately young age. I watched it so young that I’d mentally edited out a couple of scenes as irrelevant and was slightly embarrassed when watching it with my son as a first-timer. I basically had the dialog memorized, still.
T2 came out when I was in high school and didn’t have hours free on weekends to just rewatch whatever. The movies you absorb really depend on timing.
Troldann Arothin
Scott Graham@tvaziri Love these snippets, but it's made me realise I'm curious how a person with your background and knowledge chooses to watch movies at home? Digital streaming, digital purchase, 4k disc, blu-ray? On a TV or projector? I grew up watching VHS recored from broadcast and now have a semi-decent home setup so have experienced a wide range of home setups. I want it to be good, but once I start watching the movie beats out everything else.
@sagraham Totally depends on the movie.
Content: something like T2 is very near and dear to my heart, so I want to make sure the version we watch is appropriate for the first-timer.
On the choice between theatrical version and director's cut, that's a no-brainer: always the theatrical version for first-timers. ALWAYS. Next is esoteric - there are dramatic differences between blu-ray releases (some have bad color grading and post-release visual effects work)…
@sagraham ... so I want to avoid those. I chose to show the 2015 Lionsgate Blu-ray, which has better color grading and none of the fixes/paintouts.
I also don’t just play blu-rays, I rip them and watch them on Plex. So that’s what we watched - theatrical, 2015 Lionsgate blu-ray rip, off my plex on an Apple TV.
Setup - up until a few months ago, I had an extremely standard 54" HD TV. No HDR, no OLED, no nothing, and I even just used the internal speakers. THIS IS FINE.
…
@sagraham Honestly, you can live a long happy cinephile life watching movies in SDR HD through the internal speakers. Don’t get me started on 4K (mostly it's unimportant). Turn the lights off, put the phones away - those are the most important things.
We had the opportunity to upgrade our setup recently, so now we have a Sony A95L with a sonos arc + sub + surrounds, so a giant upgrade.
@tvaziri Thanks for the reply & I hear you. I had an excellent Sony 55" 1080p TV from 2010 until last year. I eventually upgraded to an LG 65 OLED because I was going to be house bound for a couple of months and thought I'd treat myself. Still running an older Sonos PlayBase (which is excellent) and Play 1 surrounds. Don't need a sub with the PlayBase. Also rip my blu's to Plex.
My T2 is the UK 2008. Not sure how that compares but if I enjoy something I don't go looking for problems with it!
@tvaziri And although I now do buy new discs in 4k, I don't double dip* and continue to enjoy my hundreds of blu-rays and DVDs.
* I did double dip the Star Wars OT and Indiana Jones because Indy and Star Wars!
Casper 👻@tvaziri no notes. It’s a classic.