How to Show Off HT to 80 year old in-laws?

[brown123]

Hi all,
We've put in an HT recently and now my in-laws will be visiting. I'd like a few movies that can show off the HT, but are not too violent, sexy or cursy for a pair of fairly conservative in their 80's in-laws. The other constraint is that my father-in-law doesn't like movies that are too "talky". They also will not watch sub-titles.

War movies generally get a pass on the violence, and leeway on the language to an extent.

I've pruned (ha!) the list of best dts movies in that thread to give you an idea of what I'm looking for:

1.) Master and Commander (The far side of the world 2003) DTS 5.1 -

3.)Gladiator DTS ES

15.)Saving Pvt. Ryan DTS

18.)Pearl Harbour DTS

20.)Twister DTS

24.)The Incredibles DD-EX

28.)Toy Story 10th Anniversary Edition DTS ES

30.)Jurassic Park DTS
31.)Jurassic Park III DTS

34.)The Day After Tomorrow DTS
35.)Blue Man Group DTS (96/24)

38.)U-571 DTS

Visually, I guess I could go with some of the IMAX stuff, and throw in some more kid stuff like Nemo or Bug's Life, but thought I'd see if anyone has any other favorite, "clean" demonstration dvds.

thanks,
John

 

[jaxvon]

Finding Nemo and The Incredibles actually have excellent sound and some LOOOOOW and LOOOUD bass. Those are sure to impress the both the inlaws and kids.

Sin City is great, but probably too over the top in terms of violence and sexiness.

 

[GlocksRock]

Toy Story 2 is good as well, at least the opening scene.

 

[gmichael]

Careful with the base with older folk. They tend to loose their high end hearing and the base can become overemphasized to them. My parents prefer the night listening mode. This way it doesn't need to be turned up loud for them to still hear the dialog.
But everyone is different.
I vote for Twister. This is one movie that they will understand why it needs to be so loud.

 

[DTS]

Open Range is a good western like film with some good characters, beautiful senery, and not to "talky" until the lead starts speak 'n. That shot gun blast in the bar, excellent percussion.

 

[majorloser]

I'd have to agree with Jaxvon. Finding Nemo is good for all ages. The scene where Darla pounds on the glass will shake the house.

Might even suggest "What Dreams May Come". The colors are excellent in this picture.

"Hero" has excellent colors but 80+ year olds may not like the story.

There's alway Titanic.....................

 

[Sheep]

I showed Saving Ryan's Privates to my Grandpa, and he liked it. Try to have something relevant to the times they grew up in.

SheepStar

 

[brown123]

I was going to use the "relevant to the times they grew up in" line while queuing up Gladiator. I probably will use Saving PR, since dad-in-law likes to tell people he was at Normandy. True, it was a few months later, but still. He tells the story of everyone *****ing about the climb up the sand hills until they get to the top and see the crosses, then everyone shut up.

Good point previously about the difference in frequency perception and the night mode.

I might throw Seabiscuit into the mix, since they're from Saratoga Springs. I haven't watched that one on the HT yet, I would imagine the race scenes should be good.

We do have the grandkids to justify the Disney fare, so we'll do a couple of those, and twister is probably safe.

thanks for the suggestions so far.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

They may also like The Patriot with Mel Gibson. Great surround effects. When your 80, the plot means more than the sound and pq. Are they into movies, and do they have their own HT setup?

 

[Sheep]

Careful with the base with older folk. They tend to loose their high end hearing and the base can become overemphasized to them. My parents prefer the night listening mode. This way it doesn't need to be turned up loud for them to still hear the dialog.
But everyone is different.
I vote for Twister. This is one movie that they will understand why it needs to be so loud.

Actually, you loose both ends of the spectrum, not just the highs, so there shouldn't be a "bass boost" so to say.

SheepStar

 

[gmichael]

Actually, you loose both ends of the spectrum, not just the highs, so there shouldn't be a "bass boost" so to say.

SheepStar

Must just be my parents then. Neither of them like my sub turned up.

 

[majorloser]

Must just be my parents then. Neither of them like my sub turned up.

Might be shaking something loose in the bowels

 

[Nick250]

I don't know about the violent stuff for older folks especially something like Saving PR. Of course you know your in-laws. My Mom and Dad are not around any more, but they would never be able to tolerate the violence. Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc, Bugs Life, American President come to mind. If it were me, I would need to remember that I was doing this to provide them with a pleasurable experience. Blood and guts and loud lfes might do just the opposite. All that being said, you know them and can assess all that stuff better than soneone like me on a distant computer screen.

Nick

 

[JKL1960]

How about King Kong, the new one? They might have seen the old one before.

Nice thing about a good HT is that everything is better. Any movie they like will probably impress them. I'd hand them the volume control and tell them to turn it to whatever is comfortable.

 

[Tom Andry]

Does it have to be a movie? Look at some of the DTS music reviews for some older music faithfully translated into surround.

 

[GlocksRock]

yeah, the Swedish 5.1 dts radio demo is awesome.

 

[gellor]

Hm...80 yr old in-laws, something from their time...I'm voting Jurassic Park...queue up the T-Rex foot-stomp scene, and watch the show.

(Kidding...not all in-laws are bad)

Lots of people rave about the re-mastering of Top Gun...how about that? Not a lot of talking, not a lot of excessive violence...might be an enjoyable showpiece...I'd say 5th element, but they may not be into the whole Sci-Fi thing.

From your list, my picks would be either Gladiator OR Master and Commander, Incredibles, and Blue Man Group to keep a little variety.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Hi all,
I've pruned (ha!) the list of best dts movies in that thread to give you an idea of what I'm looking for:

1.) Master and Commander (The far side of the world 2003) DTS 5.1 -

15.)Saving Pvt. Ryan DTS

18.)Pearl Harbour DTS

20.)Twister DTS

24.)The Incredibles DD-EX

28.)Toy Story 10th Anniversary Edition DTS ES

34.)The Day After Tomorrow DTS

Visually, I guess I could go with some of the IMAX stuff, and throw in some more kid stuff like Nemo or Bug's Life, but thought I'd see if anyone has any other favorite, "clean" demonstration dvds.
thanks,
John

It is hard to select what others may enjoy, especially with your qualiers.
Make sure it is not loud at all. Easy to turn it up than have them all p-oed for too loud.
You may want to have them select from some on that list, have them read the box. Do they go to movies at all? If not, show the kid stuff.

Yes, that IMAX type may be a good choice too. Unless they are into modern multi channel movies, sound may not impress them. What does your wife thinks they would like?

 

[hemiram]

My dad would be 94 if he were still alive, he would have loved to have sat in his chair and watch horror movies in surround with a big sub cranking away. We used to watch all kinds of oddball horror flicks on Ch 9 out of Windsor Canada and Ch2 in Detroit when I was a kid. He never had a problem with violence, he loved Night of the Living Dead, and The Godfather, one of the last movies he saw in the theatre. The ones he couldn't take were the "chick flick" and "Women's drama" movies.

My friend's dad, who is about to turn 78, emails me regularly to ask if had seen a particular movie, and if it's "boring or not". Boring to him is a movie that LACKS violence, and language. His favorite shows are "Deadwood", and "The Shield".

Not all older people are "Namby-pamby's" when it comes to violence or language.

 

[My Rantz]

I'd show some good sounding movies to my over 80yr old parents, but there's not much point seeing as they won't remember them the next day.

I bought them a simple to operate DVD player for Xmas and left a half dozen movies, showed them how to use it (several times over the next month or two) and I'll let you guess how many of those movies they watched to date. Sorry, but no prize for the correct answer.

So if you have elderly parents who can still watch, remember and value a good production, then you (and they) are very fortunate.