I started back up on Netflix this week with a couple of hi-def titles (HD-DVD and Blu-ray) on my list. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry as one on HD-DVD, and Ratatouille on Blu-ray.  Unfortunately I got 'skipped over' for Ratatouille for now, and was showing Very Long Wait for that one.  Chuck and Larry was going to be a purchase for me anyway, so as soon as I got it I wound up sending it right back.  Very funny movie (for my tastes).  Much more entertaining and funnier than Knocked Up was for my tastes, my wife's tastes, and my daughter, a friend or two, etc., but to each their own.

Some people liked Knocked Up a lot, but even watching a loaned HD-DVD of same (mostly to see deleted scenes and extras) I was left scratching my head about that movie and wondering why so many people thought it was so hilarious. I thought it was funny in spots, but not the rolling in the aisles funny that some people described it to be.

Anyway, another movie that had been on my Netflix list (que) before and which I didn't drop off the list was We Are Marshall on HD-DVD. My wife and I sat and watched it a few nights ago. Good movie, heart breaking subject matter, true-life story of the resurrection of the football program at Marshall University after a tragic plain crash took the lives of all but 4 members of their football team, along with their coaching staff, athletic director, boosters, staff, and others. 75 people total.

Current HD-DVD copies of the movie are combo disc format. DVD on one side, HD-DVD on the other. Warner title. I'm not sure that they re-released it on HD-DVD only yet, but Warner had been doing that (eliminating the combo format discs, re-releasing in HD-DVD only) to cut costs and come out with less expensive copies of most of their library that was out in HD-DVD format.

Matthew McConaughey's portrayal of the new coach (Jack Lengyel) at Marshall left me wondering just how weird and flakey that man was, and that detracted a bit from the story for me. Matthew Fox (LOST) plays the role of his assistant coach. Ian McShane, David Strathairn and others show up, including the lovely young lady that was the female lead in the movie Shooter (Kate Mara).

Transfer wise, hi-def quality wise, I'd rate as good. The movie suffers similar problems to movies like Serenity, with a purposeful grainy film style in many scenes. That style leaves viewers wondering if something is wrong with the movie, their hi-def set, or perhaps their player. Not bad, but not as impressive as you would expect. Some parts of the flick, especially scenes that are close-up on McConaughey and his hair piece might be better left grainy anyway, but it seems that the camera was more focused and more zoomed in for that then it should perhaps have been.

Football action is good, no noticable artifacting or glitches during fast action scenes. Attention to detail in putting the film together seemed to be good with vehicles of the era in place, and other little things that make the movie feel right.

Well worth a rental, available in both Blu-ray and HD-DVD since it is a Warner title and they are still releasing and have released in both formats. Not many extras on the HD-DVD side, with little more than a trailer and a 'Marshall Today' promotional piece that you might expect to see if watching a current Marshall football or basketball game on TV on say ESPN, ABC, or the like.

I'll try to put up more details on Chuck and Larry later after watching the good copy (non-scratched copy) that I got from Best Buy. I'm hopeful the HD-DVD version is a good one, with reviews I've seen so far fairly positive for it.

I gave up hoping that Ratatouille comes as a rental and instead took advantage of a $10 off combined purchase of Ratatouille and Cars in Blu-ray format offer from Amazon.com. Since I'm too cheap to pay for faster shipping, I'll be waiting for the free super saver shipping to come through for those.  I was considering purchasing Shrek the Third but I'm more hopeful of getting that as a rental first and basically have spent the Shrek money on the Ratatouille + Cars offer above.