The Princess Bride (1987) (Blu Ray) - 9/10

This morning I watched The Princess Bride on Blu Ray with the director's commentary, a very cool experience that really complemented how great this new transfer looked, essentially killing two birds with one stone. I've seen this movie dozens of times yet for some reason, it never gets old and I have to give credit to Rob Reiner for really giving us a timeless fairy tale that's celebrated by multiple generations. For me, this commentary really opened up my appreciation for the film in how it hides the modest budget by using various tricks and real locations to give it this bigger than life feel. Scoring their ideal cast that perfectly embodied each character's traits while at the same time allowing for this unorthodox comedic structure, the whole movie is essentially being told as a bedtime story to a kid who just wants to skip to the good parts, bringing we as an audience into his outside interpretation of it. Some cool things I learned this time around was how they had to used a stunt double for Andre the giant with a hidden ramp to take off the weight on his back during the fight scenes, there were two midgets in the swamp rat suits, the water scenes were actually in a pool on a stage with 3 feet of water, and that most of the backgrounds were matte paintings, essentially using half stage and half picture to blend in this far off background. With awesome sword fights that the actors did themselves, great improv and a terrific score underlying the theme of love conquers all, this movie puts every stereotype together in a way that so many movies don't get to do nowadays. It's comedic themes of almost parodying these older robin hood stories while also bringing in a tale of revenge really crosses genres and will continue to be one of the most quoted and celebrated fantasies of our time. A truly excellent commentary and new picture quality make this a must-revisit classic for all ages.