The Dish [DVD]

This is a gift for someone's birthday. Arrived with plenty of time to spare .No faults

This is one of my all-time favourite films; slow moving with a real feel of the time, but gripping in places as well as very funny. The opening sequence, with Sam Neil in old age, standing in front of a the 'Dish' that was once at the centre of one of the most meaningful moments of his life, is both moving and beautiful to see. Sam Neil perfectly recreates the old-style head of operations, from a time when life was slower, engineers smoked pipes (sadly), and bosses had time to care for those they worked with.Based on the true story of the moon landing, which was indeed received from the Parkes Dish in Australia because of the timing of the moon walk, the reality has no doubt been added to somewhat here, but to great effect. We see a clash of personalities with the American sent to watch over things - which develops into mutual friendship and respect; a bit of risk-taking that pays off, and a lovely story of first love in the face of excruciating shyness involving the rather geeky lad who also happens to be the clever one who can save the day!I discovered and interesting fact while researching the story behind my local Bawdsey Radar museum, home of the first 'Chain Home radar pioneered by the famous Watson-Watt. 'Taffy' Bowen, one of the key engineers with Watt, interestingly went on, after the war, to a career in radio-astronomy and was responsible for the building of the huge 200 foot Parkes Radio-telescope that we see in this film. He can be seen, along with key aerial man Arnold 'Skip' Wilkins, in the BBC film, 'Castles in the Sky', which I recommend (available on BD) though I have criticised it for being too far from the truth in my review on Amazon.I've had the DVD for years, but am very disappointed with the quality of the Blu Ray. I've just done critical comparisons between DVD and BD and can see no perceptible difference in picture quality on a 65" 4k LG OLED from the OPPO BD-103. The latter is renowned for it's excellent up-scaling, and it looks very much as though I have just paid heavily for a disk that was made by simply upscaling from the DVD rather than going back to the film copy. The sound quality is also the same - and not great, lacking stereo separation. I had hoped that the music at least would have been remixed in better stereo, and with more surround, but no such luck - the surround track is just a low level version of the stereo and contributes little. Still, the quality is tolerable, even on a big screen, and should not put anyone off watching this great film.

the video resolution and audio were not good qualityno subtitles eitherpity because a good film lost impact and clarityI would suggest Amazon check it for quality control

a nostalgia trip .......the holden cars........ the golden pyrex mugs....... just new tech at the time....colonial tin roofs ...wide main street so you could turn a bullock cart within the town limits......might be better with a few drops of eucalyptus oil ....and the aroma of a sheep paddock ....brill...BTW did anyone count the number of clouds ? if they wearing cardigans it must have been winter ,,,,

One of my favourite films. Based on actual events (with a little artistic licence) this is a true "feel good" film that's great for all the family, especially at Christmas.

As other reviewers have stated, this film is a real gem and one that should have had greater exposure on television. The plot simmers away beautifully and the dialogue is packed with that unique, self deprecating Aussie humour. We all know the outcome of the 1969 mission to land on the moon, but that does not detract from the impact that this film has on the viewer as we are drawn into both the main drama and the sub plots that stop the film being one dimensional . A film that concentrated purely on the science of the role that the dish played in relaying the live pictures of the Apollo mission would feel like a documentary, yet here we have characters that we empathise with and feel drawn to.The cast are all superb and there is a real warmth to their portrayal of the characters in this film. If you are looking for a high octane, nerve jangling space film then this one is not for you, but if you want to spend a very pleasant 90 minutes in the company of some great Aussie characters and to learn about a little known side of the moon landings then this film is definitely for you.

I rented The Dish on DVD recently, and now I'm about to buy a copy. I watched it last night with the family who kept asking me before it started "Well, what's it about?" They treated my half-baked descriptions, based on reading the blurb on the cover, with some disbelief, and at least half the family wasn't keen on watching it at all. "A whole film about a satellite dish - are you crazy?"But I forced them to watch it anyway. Result: absolute delight.We hooted out loud with laughter on many occasions ("and I must remind you that this astronaut and this spacecraft are NOT to scale" - the astronaut in question was about three times bigger than the ship!) and the rest of the time we were smiling broadly. Ealing comedy comes to Australia, with a cast of endearing characters, beautiful and detailed writing, and a simple story told with great craft and skill. You'll love it.Not a world-shattering film, but a near-perfect little jewel of a movie. Why does something as good as this not get the marketing push of, say, Men in Black.By the way, the DVD special features are good, and the inclusion of a large amount of NASA film footage is superb, including Apollo 11 launch images that I'd never seen before, such as the sequence shot from the ground of Saturn 5 first stage being jettisoned, followed by the second stage firing, and the release of the giant O-ring adapter and escape rocket, all at 40 miles up. Absolutely riveting for all us baby boomers who were around in 69, and their space obsessed kids.