OK, I have to inject my personal favorite here...

TRON! Oh yea

My wife keeps telling me I've got problems. When she does, I just put Tron in again There's nothing like the thrum of those Recognizers driving by (Thanks Jeff G. for letting me audition it in your place, while my HT materializes).

Amelie is a great movie, and I thought it was visually stunning.

hmm...what else? Did anyone mention Titan AE? That's another visually beautiful movie, with a really fun story.

-Joe

------------------
Remember the Intellivision?
http://www.gotmaille.com/nostalgia/

Unfortunately, they dumbed "Contact" down a lot from the book. While it's a good film, I was very sad at the way it chickened out.

Jeff

The Fifth Element is a great audio demo disk as well. And it's a pretty cool movie. The scene where the Diva sings is a great demo..

I'm always searching for that "perfect" scene to demo my system to friends...

Isn’t it so interesting our tastes are as varied as our personalities? In movies and music I see my list above and contemplate.
(one I like dark violent dangerous men who have some redeeming quality ) when I stop to add in some current modern favorites like "Pirates OTC" etc. and I’m prone to the tragic or very black twisted humor.
I’ll add a few. Billy Elliot, The Royal Tenebaums, and - “that your friend there in the chipper?” Fargo. Again entertainment, not reference.

I sat through Fifth Element the other day on Satelite. Just because I thought the music was fun.
Edit:Helen this thread had me searching for a trilogy I had mistyped in the past and had not found a source for.
These were highly recommended to me. Now I see I can order them at B&N.
http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?ean=786936216790
Scroll to bottom half of page, for a description. After reading it, I’m calling my local for an order in of the set. Since you mentioned a current trend towards foreign films, this might interest you.



[This message has been edited by Smart Little Lena (edited August 07, 2003).]

A list of reference quality DVDs should include the new T2 Extreme Editon DVD. It is far cleaner than the Ulimate Editon DVD which came out some time ago. Artisan retransfered the original film negative to a new 1920x1080 HD digital master. Color correction was applied and "the new master was digitally restored by removing dirt, scrathes, and chemical stains". The results are a "marked improvement over the 1997 masters". Also, the audio was recompressed to Dolby 5.1 ES from the 24-bit audio master. A complete layman's explaination of the entire process is include with the DVD.

Was going thru the closet where I keep my DVDs and found that I actually have The Fifth Element. Apparently I never got around to watching it because it is still in the shrink wrap. I don't even remember when I got it. I found The English Patient still in its shrink wrap too.

SLL, that Krzysztof Kieslowski set looks very interesting. Thanks for the tip!

Any (or I should say the few I've seen) of the "Superbit" DVDs are top notch when it comes to "reference quality" DVDs.
"The Fifth Element" Superbit DVD is really outstanding in terms of sound and picture. There are a few others.
Also, "The Rock - Criterion" DVD has one of the best transfers I have ever seen.....Criterion usually has some of the better transfers out there..........
"Fight Club" and "Se7en" - great transfers......
"Star Wars Attack of the Clones" looks and sounds pretty darn good........
Anchor Bays "Suspiria" special edition looks really good...the use of color in that movie is outstanding.
"Lawrence of Arabia" is coming out in a Superbit DVD, and so is "The Quick and the Dead"....they should be good from the advance notices I've read.
I know I'm leaving some out, but these few are a good start.....
so may DVDs, but not so many "reference quality" ones....
just my opinion concerning "reference quality" DVDs...........

Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels
Saving Grace
Snatch
Meet Joe Black
Pearl Harbor
A Beautiful Mind (and any Ron Howard flick)
Signs
Shakespeare In Love
The Burbs
Tombstone
Titanic
Aliens
Spy Games
Sneakers
The Philadelphia Story
Planes, Trains And Automobiles
Life As A House

More good sound:
U-571
Jurassic Park 1 and 2
Mummy 1 and 2
Ronin
Last Man Standing
Die Another Day
Final Fantasy
Desperado
Twister