Roger Moore Movie:

		List Price: $89.98		Label: MGM Salesrank: 2267 Released: October 21, 2008
		Our Price: $45.49
		Used Price: $39.99
		MPAA Rating: Unrated Media: Blu-ray

Editorial Review:
Disc 1: Die Another Day Ultimate Edition Blu-ray WS Disc 2: Live And Let Die Ultimate Edition Blu-ray WS Disc 3: Dr. No Ultimate Edition Blu-ray WS

James Bond Blu-ray Collection Three-Pack, Vol.2 (For Your Eyes Only / From Russia with Love / Thunderball) [Blu-ray] Reviews:
A Showcase Blu-ray Release, may get 2 movie tickets
2008-11-26 - [I do not know if everyone is going to get this promotion but my 6-pack which included Vol. 1 came with a 'free tickets' promo through Dec. 31. As you remove the wrapper, you will notice a sticker that announces the promotion. Do NOT trash the wrapper because the web site and the code you need are actually on the back of that sticker. Once you get to the site and enter the code, you will be asked for a name and email address and some other items. Then, you are presented with a page that you must print and take it to the movie theater and it is good for two free Quantum of Solace tickets. On the Six-pack I got two of these, or 4 tickets and I took the whole family to the movies and 4 of the tickets were free.]

Let me first state that I was completely unaware of the problems with playing these movies until I browsed through the Amazon reviews. It is disturbing to constantly hear of people who paid good money for their expensive players not being able to fully enjoy movies that are expected to play on them. However, I have not experienced any problems playing a Bluray movie ever and this review is only discussing my personal experience with this specific package.

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THE GOOD:
- Incredible video quality, better than what the audience saw on release date on some of the older movies.
- Lots of extras, most of them worth watching or listening to.
- Beautiful packaging.

THE NOT SO GOOD:
- The sound restoration not as good as the video.
- Some of the 'extras' sections would benefit from a 'play all' option.
- The box could be a bit slimmer.
- May require upgrades on certain players.
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The overall impression is of quality, inside and out. The box could be a little smaller but the packaging is exquisite. There's a transparent plastic slide cover over a solid cardboard box holding a small binder on which the 3 individual movie disks are pages. Each movie comes on one disk, holding the movie itself and in incredible amount of extras.

The menu interface is well organized and there's is even some humor in labeling. For example, the option that plays the movie is labeled 'The Mission' while the historic promotional material is found under 'The Propaganda'. Depending on which section you may be, menu options branch into further sub-menus.

The extras are numerous and, for the most part interesting. The From Russia with Love disk, for example, has 3 fascinating interviews with Ian Fleming, including one where Fleming and Chandler discuss their work and their heroes, the Propaganda sections show contemporary trailers, even radio commercials.

The sound options include the original sound which, in the older releases is 'mono' but all movies have surround 5.1 as the default. The sound wasn't upgraded and improved to the degree that the picture was but, it's understandable. Going from mono to 5.1 surround would be the equivalent of upgrading from black and white to full-color 3-D in the world of images. The area where some of the older installments show their age is the sound.

When it comes to the pictures, the best that I can say is that you've got to see it to believe it. The restoration of the older movies started with the actual original negative, which is the one copy that's almost never touched. Once the copy was digitized as a 4000 lines resolution digital copy (Bluray is 1080) every frame was reprocessed to eliminate any possible defects from 'dirty optics', such as the proverbial hair that we sometimes see on the older movies to scratches, bad exposure, color brilliance. The restorers' goal for the end result, and this concerns the video only, not the sound quality, was to deliver what would appear to be a contemporary movie with a 60's or 70's theme rather than a 60's or 70's movies. In my view, they succeeded.

My overall rating is a solid five-stars. Just about everything in this release is superlative: the physical packaging, the interface design, the extras, the video quality. The sound is not so good on the older movies but, given the state of sound restoration technologies, I did not feel compelled to remove a star because the old movies sounded more or less like they did on release date.

Please note that and I am not factoring in player issues because, sooner or later, those are going to be addressed.

Most incredible restoration I have ever seen!
2008-11-24 - I have seen a lot of great looking blu-ray disks, but never movies this old. For Your Eyes Only was the first Bond movie I saw in the theater and it did not look or sound near as good as this blu ray edition plays in my home theater. At times Thunderball looks almost 3D. This is outstanding for a movie that is 40 years old. I certainly feel for all those who are having problems with the disks. I have had several blu ray disks, including these, that would not play on my Panasonic. However, as before, I downloaded new software and they worked just fine. Hopefully the software issues for everyone else can be resolved, because these restorations are the best money I have ever spent on blu ray!

BE AWARE OF THE PACKAGING!
2008-11-14 - These compatability issues, though iritating, are a format liability issue that will hopefully end soon. I am not sure why continuing to update would be necessary indefinitely. What I really don't like about this set is that the packaging itself presents problems if you someday hope to have a nice, clean, uniform Bond set someday. There are no hardcases for individual disks like the old DVD Bond collections. The outer case is kinda cool with slipcase, sorta fake leather texture and a nice multi-layer look into a pipe with a bond figure. However, once you open up the booklets, the holder for the discs is very cheap with just a foam knob pasted to the cardboard itself which will undoubtedly fall off over time. What one also must understand is that there are at least one or two bond films not licenced through the same studio so you are guaranteed that you will not be able to collect all the films in a similar set. The packaging will be simple blu cases on those most likely. Depending on your preferences, you should just go with the single cases to start with. For a short time after the release, you are going to get those free movie tickets(QOS)on each box anyway as long as you buy from a reputable dealer.

Nothing but problems
2008-11-11 - Like other reviewers I too bought this item expecting to relive some great Bond moments in high-def. The unfortunate fact is they are poorly packaged - in a small leather book style binder that doesn't secure the discs very well. I also had poor compatibility issue with my Dell Studio Hybrid. Only 1 of the 3 discs played. I went to Fox's support website, emailed their customer support and got a lackluster response: Send us back all your discs and receipt (at your cost) and we'll send them back (hopefully fixed). If you're going to bound this item I would advise buying it locally so you'll know immediately if you need to return it. I did, and fortunately I'm not going to have to deal with Fox. I'll either buy them individually or wait until they've worked out the issues with these discs.

Poor packaging
2008-11-06 - This review is not based on the movie itself or the quality of the Blu Ray disk. Rather it is a warning to those considering buying this multipack of the absolutely horrible packaging of this expensive set. My three pack arrived today and I just open the box and was horrified at the package. I have purchased many multi packs of movies/TV shows and every other time the disks were held on a separate page in a plastic reinforced page with a plastic spindle in the middle. This set came in a "book style "package with a foam rubber type spindle to hold the disk in place. Well on disk two "From Russia With love" the foam spindle was missing!! The disk had bounced around so much it was scratched and looked like an old scratched disk !!!! Regarding disks one and three the foam spindles were half torn off and surely after one play the foam spindle will certainly fall off. Disgraceful - A pox on MGM.