I still say it sounds too good to be true, and if it's happening, it's happening to the SEs, since those are not only easier to restore, but probably less costly. This sounds way too good to be true.
TV's Frink said:
Mike O said:
Tobar said:
I believe he wants photographic evidence of you at your keyboard whilst you were composing your review.
Nope. That could be anyone's hands.
I give up.
X-Men: Days of Future Past
"Stick with me, baby. Stick with me anyhow. Things should start to get interesting right about now."
Bob Dylan
"You'd best be careful what you wish for friend, 'cause I've been to hell and now I'm back again."
Steve Earle
"Keep what is useful, discard what is useless, and add what is uniquely your own."
Bruce Lee Sing-Lung
Buckle up fanboys. Summer is here at at last, with a blast of a blockbuster to set the bar remarkable high. It's hard to believe that it's been almost 15 years since Bryan Singer first kicked off the still-strong wave of superhero films with 2000's X-Men. With top-shelf thespians and sleek direction, Singer followed in the footsteps of Donner and Burton in developing a way to depict comic-book superheroes with seriousness and a degree of intelligence. X2 was even better, a bigger and more complex sequel that set up many possibilities with its finale which unfortunately never came to fruition. Sadly, the X-Men franchise was left floundering directionless with the director's departure, devolving in a serious increasingly poor sequels. Elsewhere, Singer's career disappointed frequently, with the misconstrued Superman Returns and the amicable but unimpressive Jack the Giant Slayer. Finally regaining a degree of sanity with the the Singer-produced First Class, the man who started it all is back in the director's chair to attempt to untangle the franchise's increasingly unwieldy mythology, massive cast, and increasingly irrelevance against Marvel Studios excellent lineup. And he succeeds wildly, with easily the best superhero outing since at least Joss Whedon's The Avengers, juggling the film's ensemble cast, pop gravitas, twisty time-travel narrative, and slick, James Cameron-style action sequences, in adapting one of the comics' most celebrated storylines. It took ten years, but this is finally the sequel X-fans deserved, and more.
The story opens in the not too distant future, when the X-Men are being hunted by massive robots known as Sentinels, designed by eugenicist Bolivar Trask in an attempt to wipe out mutant-kind. Liquid metal monsters to rival the T-1000, they're adaptable and all-but invincible, and outnumber the ragtag mutants by thousands. In a horrifying holocaust in a post-apocalyptic world, the surviving mutants, hunted to near extinction, have discovered a method to travel in time and avoid their pursuers, at least in the short term, allowing the temporary avoid the ever-more powerful hunters. The whole future was instigated my Mystique's murder of Trask in the 1970s, and the time-travel just might offer a solution.But there's a catch: going back any further than a few weeks is too rigorous for anyone to survive. Except maybe a certain iconic adamantium-clawed mutant with healing powers. Going back to 1973 to stop Mystique from assassinating Trask and starting the anti-mutant mayhem, Wolverine finds Xavier a bitter and broken man from the events of First Class, and desperately tries to convince him to and his only remaining pupil, the Beast, to try to change the course of the future with the reluctant help of Magneto, who's slippery personal agenda could prove their undoing at any moment.
Wisely discarding most of the irritating "X-kids" from Vaughn's overrated X-Men: First Class while retaining the effective cast members-Mcavoy, Fassbender, Hoult, and Lawrence-and throwing in a delightful bonanza of cameos from the original cast, giving them a proper send-off after Brett Ratner's hideous X-Men: The Last Stand, Singer swings for the fences. Though the future cast is disappointingly underused as they aren't the meat of the narrative, seeing McKellen and Stewart back is simply wonderful, their chemistry and repartee remaining as delightful as ever and adding gravity to the proceedings even when delivering occasionally clunky expositon, though the majority of the narrative takes place within the past, with Hugh Jackman returning to the role he was born to play in Wolverine. Jackman remains the most perfect bit of superhero casting since Christopher Reeve donned the Man of Tomorrow's cape, Fassbender and McAvoy, especially with Stewart and McKellen alongside them (McAvoy and Stewart meet in one of the film's most inspired passages) as counterpoints, and Lawrence continues to justify her superstar status, blending sexy femme-fatale action chops with surprising vulnerability, even under layers of makeup.
Finally free of the gaudy excesses of Ratner, Vaughn, and Hood, Singer's sleek style, reminiscent of James Cameron at his peak, lends pop-gravity to the proceedings, succeeding in precisely what Vaughn attempted in First Class-tying the films historical setting with social upheavals like the original comics did. Whereas Vaughn felt like he was simply connecting the dots though, Singer properly shakes things up as much as you can in a comic-book world where nothing ever really changes, making full use of his massive budget and getting every cent up on the screen. Though the underutilized future cast feels a bit disappointing, it allows Singer to thin the ever-growing cast to allow for stronger narrative focus. The central fulcrum-the relationship between Mystique, Xavier, and Magneto-allows for an actual character-based narrative with understandable motivations on all sides. As a result, it approaches that obvious but all-too-rare point in blockbuster FX-fests of giving actual weight to the proceedings and reasons to care among the fireworks.
Elsewhere, the jokes are all zingers, particularly some lines for the fans, without spoiling too much, the resolution is wholly satisfying both on its own and a retcon to hideous previous finale, and the set pieces are all rollicking good fun. Singer's action sequences actually make spatial sense, the Sentinels are inspired in design and execution, both as futuristic hunters and clunky 70s tech, the many set pieces executed with the clean choreography of the best pop cinema, reminiscent of James Cameron at his peak, full of clean lines and a clearly delineated sense of who's doing what to whom, ending with an action climax that's both visually spectacular and emotionally satisfying. Singer cites many of his favorites as pop cinema's very best-Nicholas Meyer's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Spielberg's Jaws-and if he's not quite in their company, he's certainly on the right track. Qucksilver is an inspired creation, his bullet-time style FX as a particular highlight. Signer's use of silence, tension, judicious slow-motion, impressive choreography (some of it courtesy of ace second-unit director Greg Smrz, a John Woo alum who's clearly learned his lessons well), and the stylish cinematography and punchy editing of his top lieutenants- superb DP Thomas Newton Seigel and and editor and composer John Ottman, who lend the film a gorgeous, slightly expressionistic color palette (shot in rich digital with some period footage shot gloriously on celluloid, and occasionally hiding some rather claustrophobic sound-stages) and strong rhythm. For once, bloat isn't a problem as the film's outward expansion actually suggests a larger universe (rumored deleted scenes hint at future treats as Blu-Ray extras) and the film's running time flies by.
Setting the bar impressively high for the rest of the summer, X-Men finally earn some of their glory back, suggesting that this franchise, once on life support, might still have some life left in it yet. Sleek, smart, stylish, funny, and thoroughly entertaining, the gang's all here, and they're better than ever. Though this proves a satisfying denouement, a post-credits stinger nonetheless hints at a new villain and future adventures. But if the world is in peril again, we needn't worry. With Singer back at the helm, we're in good hands. It's great to have him back at last. To me, my X-Men. The bar is high for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Finally, the X franchise is as good as it deserves to be again at long last.
Tobar said:
I believe he wants photographic evidence of you at your keyboard whilst you were composing your review.
Ryan McAvoy said:
Mike O said:
Ryan McAvoy said:
Mike O said:
Digital is probably the norm in every film school, and eventually, I think the simple economics will win out :(.
Yes digital is now the norm and the economics have already won out but that's not the point. This initiative is about preserving the option to shoot on film, not fighting back against the digital tide.
I think it is the point. If you're entirely trained on digital, why would you chose to shoot film?
Because they watched a film from the last century.
Mike O said:
It's only the last generation of filmmakers who're desperate to preserve it who've taken the interest.... the next generation aren't going to care.
See first answer.
Mike O said:
only directors with the box office clout to shoot film are even going to be fighting for it
See first answer.
;-)
I'd love to believe that, but even if it's true, you can emulate the aesthetic of celluloid on digital anyway, so I doubt it :(.
You want a picture of a forum post?
I think it translates roughly as "we aren't restoring those versions."
TV's Frink said:
Mike O said:
TV's Frink said:
Mike O said:
"I can see by your eyes you must be lying, when you think I don't have a clue. Baby you're crazy if you think that you can fool me, because I've seen that movie too."
Elton John
"Maybe it's time we stop deconstructing things and start putting them back together."
Alan Moore
"Wise men talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something."
Plato
And the geek shall inherit the earth. A combination of a pair the massive nerd-TV lords who've rapidly been overtaking Hollywood,Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon and Cloverfieldscribe Drew Godard from J.J. Abrams's Bad Robot school, Cabin the Woods arrives after much publicity. A film that's been sitting on a shelf for a couple of years following the fallout of MGM, Hollywood's once mighty megabucks studio, Cabin the Woods was finally picked up by Lionsgate, and is at least in a multiplex near you for horror fans ready for a blast-of-fun bloodbath. Cabin in the Woods isn't a bad film, and for a certain fanboy, there's undeniable fun to be had. But I for one can't help but feel I'm outgrowing Joss Whedon. This might've seemed brilliant when I was 16, but these days, I just don't think "clever" is enough.
"You think you know the story?" So the poster proclaims, but of course, you at least partially do. A group of teens fitting into archetypes all head out for a secluded night where there's no cell phone reception, because apparently, even at this point in the 21st century, no one seems to grasp that getting off the grid to a place where you can't call for help is never a good idea. And the jock (Chris Hemsworth), the stoner (Fran Kranz), the dumb blonde (ex-Power Ranger Anna Hutchison), the nice guy (Jesse Williams), and the bookish virgin (well, as virginal as anyone nowadays-more in a minute) (sexy former soap star Kristen Connolly). They go to the cabin, ignoring the warnings of the weird old guy at the gas station who hasn't changed since The Hills Have Eyes, but beneath it, there's a massive organization reminiscent of the one in Buffy's fourth season, led by geek goddess Amy Acker, obviously designed to represent filmmakers, who manipulate the characters to make things play out as they want. In the basement, they find a variety of things from numerous horror subgenres, read out a mystic incantation in Latin, and bo and lehold, evil comes to kill.
Presumably, the idea of seeing cliches slightly subverted while still giving the audience what they want is supposed to be clever, as things play out like Whedon's usual genre mishmashing with everyone dying until the survivors break into the compound and unleash hell in the most literal sense. The last half-hour is a gorehound's paradise, as Whedon and Godard unleash every horror fan's dream of bringing together all of the genre and monsters into an action-packed battle. It's fun, certainly. But is that enough? Film buffs and horror fans have see this all before under numerous titles: Evil Dead II, the woefully unappreciatedWes Craven's New Nightmare, Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Freddy vs. Jason, Shaun of the Dead, Kill Bill, Fright Night, Funny Games, Army of Darkness, Targets, Peeping Tom,Behind the Mask, Shadow of the Vampire, Grindhouse,Videodrome, Body Double, Piranha, and countless others.
Post-modernism has become films about films about films about films about films and culture is now eating itself. At its best, these films off some sort of commentary on the nature of storytelling or the importance of the tales (I'll plug Wes Craven's New Nightmareagain; seriously, see it, it's brilliant.), or find some sort of social commentary like Shaun of the Dead (When Dana sneered "Me? A virgin?" and the Director quipped "We work with what we have." I was hoping for some commentary on changing social mores, but alas, it's just another smart-ass remark.), or at least attempt to do something interesting. But the genre has now been played so thoroughly from every possible angle that Whedon is just adding a new coat of paint, and his brand of smart-ass glibness is less subversive than it is simply smug and annoying. Yes, Joss, I've heard that joke before. The wording is different, the coat of pain is different, but it's stil the same. Godard certainly has skill behind the camera, but he doesn't quite make it into anything more than a fanboy dream, and his hand isn't deft enough to balance his multiple tones and balls in the air and cohere completely. That's fine, certainly. Cabin in the Woods offers up plenty of fanboy fun to be had, but ultimately the film winds up a bit between the two stools, not quite smart enough to be subversive, and not straightforward enough to just be old-fashioned fun like Dog Soldiers. In the end, the movie's self-satisfied tone, affectionate and satirical, but never quite cutting, doesn't make the pieces into the whole I would have hoped for. Again, that's fine, fun is OK, butThe Cabin in the Woods isn't as clever as it thinks. To Whedon and Godard, even the end of the world is just a big cosmic joke.Couldn't you just post a link to someone else's review?
Also...really? REALLY?
What? And that isn't somebody else's. It's mine. I wrote it.
Pics or it didn't happen.
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/11449095-post268.html
I posed it on Toonzone first, but that talkback frigging disappeared for some reason.
Ryan McAvoy said:
Mike O said:
Digital is probably the norm in every film school, and eventually, I think the simple economics will win out :(.
Yes digital is now the norm and the economics have already won out but that's not the point. This initiative is about preserving the option to shoot on film, not fighting back against the digital tide.
I think it is the point. If you're entirely trained on digital, why would you chose to shoot film? It's only the last generation of filmmakers who're desperate to preserve it who've taken the interest. If it's more economical to shoot digitally than on film, then only directors with the box office clout to shoot film are even going to be fighting for it, and once they're gone, the next generation aren't going to care. I'd love to be wrong :(.
It's all over but the crying, this small handful of directors fighting for film aren't going to be able to save it. It's finished. I'd love to be wrong, but I think that after 100 years, the future is finally here and it's going to wipe them away :(. Non-Stop was shot on Fuji. It's a goddamn sad thing, but it is what it is. I wish all of these directors the best, but they're probably the last generation. Digital is probably the norm in every film school, and eventually, I think the simple economics will win out :(.
I can't give mine away ever for free. Not most of my old strategy guides. And I got slightly less than enough for a cup of cord for a ton of DVDs. It's like some Marxist nightmare of all of this useless detritus.
TV's Frink said:
Mike O said:
"I can see by your eyes you must be lying, when you think I don't have a clue. Baby you're crazy if you think that you can fool me, because I've seen that movie too."
Elton John
"Maybe it's time we stop deconstructing things and start putting them back together."
Alan Moore
"Wise men talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something."
Plato
And the geek shall inherit the earth. A combination of a pair the massive nerd-TV lords who've rapidly been overtaking Hollywood,Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon and Cloverfieldscribe Drew Godard from J.J. Abrams's Bad Robot school, Cabin the Woods arrives after much publicity. A film that's been sitting on a shelf for a couple of years following the fallout of MGM, Hollywood's once mighty megabucks studio, Cabin the Woods was finally picked up by Lionsgate, and is at least in a multiplex near you for horror fans ready for a blast-of-fun bloodbath. Cabin in the Woods isn't a bad film, and for a certain fanboy, there's undeniable fun to be had. But I for one can't help but feel I'm outgrowing Joss Whedon. This might've seemed brilliant when I was 16, but these days, I just don't think "clever" is enough.
"You think you know the story?" So the poster proclaims, but of course, you at least partially do. A group of teens fitting into archetypes all head out for a secluded night where there's no cell phone reception, because apparently, even at this point in the 21st century, no one seems to grasp that getting off the grid to a place where you can't call for help is never a good idea. And the jock (Chris Hemsworth), the stoner (Fran Kranz), the dumb blonde (ex-Power Ranger Anna Hutchison), the nice guy (Jesse Williams), and the bookish virgin (well, as virginal as anyone nowadays-more in a minute) (sexy former soap star Kristen Connolly). They go to the cabin, ignoring the warnings of the weird old guy at the gas station who hasn't changed since The Hills Have Eyes, but beneath it, there's a massive organization reminiscent of the one in Buffy's fourth season, led by geek goddess Amy Acker, obviously designed to represent filmmakers, who manipulate the characters to make things play out as they want. In the basement, they find a variety of things from numerous horror subgenres, read out a mystic incantation in Latin, and bo and lehold, evil comes to kill.
Presumably, the idea of seeing cliches slightly subverted while still giving the audience what they want is supposed to be clever, as things play out like Whedon's usual genre mishmashing with everyone dying until the survivors break into the compound and unleash hell in the most literal sense. The last half-hour is a gorehound's paradise, as Whedon and Godard unleash every horror fan's dream of bringing together all of the genre and monsters into an action-packed battle. It's fun, certainly. But is that enough? Film buffs and horror fans have see this all before under numerous titles: Evil Dead II, the woefully unappreciatedWes Craven's New Nightmare, Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Freddy vs. Jason, Shaun of the Dead, Kill Bill, Fright Night, Funny Games, Army of Darkness, Targets, Peeping Tom,Behind the Mask, Shadow of the Vampire, Grindhouse,Videodrome, Body Double, Piranha, and countless others.
Post-modernism has become films about films about films about films about films and culture is now eating itself. At its best, these films off some sort of commentary on the nature of storytelling or the importance of the tales (I'll plug Wes Craven's New Nightmareagain; seriously, see it, it's brilliant.), or find some sort of social commentary like Shaun of the Dead (When Dana sneered "Me? A virgin?" and the Director quipped "We work with what we have." I was hoping for some commentary on changing social mores, but alas, it's just another smart-ass remark.), or at least attempt to do something interesting. But the genre has now been played so thoroughly from every possible angle that Whedon is just adding a new coat of paint, and his brand of smart-ass glibness is less subversive than it is simply smug and annoying. Yes, Joss, I've heard that joke before. The wording is different, the coat of pain is different, but it's stil the same. Godard certainly has skill behind the camera, but he doesn't quite make it into anything more than a fanboy dream, and his hand isn't deft enough to balance his multiple tones and balls in the air and cohere completely. That's fine, certainly. Cabin in the Woods offers up plenty of fanboy fun to be had, but ultimately the film winds up a bit between the two stools, not quite smart enough to be subversive, and not straightforward enough to just be old-fashioned fun like Dog Soldiers. In the end, the movie's self-satisfied tone, affectionate and satirical, but never quite cutting, doesn't make the pieces into the whole I would have hoped for. Again, that's fine, fun is OK, butThe Cabin in the Woods isn't as clever as it thinks. To Whedon and Godard, even the end of the world is just a big cosmic joke.Couldn't you just post a link to someone else's review?
Also...really? REALLY?
What? And that isn't somebody else's. It's mine. I wrote it.
Figures that this thing with the Abrams movies would happen after I drove to five fucking Targets to find the exclusive disc. Maybe now Paramount will actuall remaster the first ten films properly now they they've milked he Abrams movies all they possibly can, but I doubt it.
Harmy said:
Well, that would be great, as long as it was a proper master with the original colors and a seamless branching option for all three versions (which shouldn't be that hard in the case of LOTR).
Seeing how green-tinted the Hobbit films were,even in the cinemas, I'm not holding my breath though.
At least they weren't tinted teal. There's a special teal room in hell for James Cameron. Hopefully they'd have branching, UV, and consolidate the SE material from the DVDs in SD onto single BR discs to save space like the BLADE RUNNER rerelease did.
You know, I've often watched the already-extended versions of these and thought "You know these are good, but I wish they were longer" :p. I'm holding out for the inevitable mega-Middle Earth boxed set, but the EE of BOTFA probably won't be out until NEXT December, and then the boxed set after that. Fuck, I hate waiting. The new trilogy is bloated, self-indulgent, too long, bombastic, and flawed, but Jackson's adventures remind me why I love movies in the first place, and I'll miss Middle Earth :(.
Does the more expensive version of the already psychotically expensive Bob Dylan Complete Album collection set also contain the CDs as well? When does volume two come out?
I know we've been over this ad nausem, but since the search function and forum setup here are so bad, I'll ask again anyway, didn't Lucas hack up the OOT negatives so badly that restoring them would take considerable effort? I'm seriously finally considering just getting the Despecialized Edition and making due. If Harmy could do it in the basement with rudimentary sources, multimillion dollar studios should be able to. But I defer to the above, I find the notion that the OOT will be anything more than a "bonus material" afterthough to be wishful thinking at this point.
Granting this is true, and given the alleged state of the negatives for the OOT, I'd bet this is the SEs. I've been burned too badly too many times to get my hopes up.
Is the so-called theatrical version on iTunes the real deal? It seems a little too simple.
PDB said:
Mike O said:
What about DYS?
Where the FOX releases of the other Leone films (FOD, FAFDM, DYS) downmixes too?
They are all downmixes for the mono. And the fault is with MGM, Fox just puts the discs out that MGM makes.
For anyone living in the Washington DC metro area (Northern Virginia/Southern Maryland, USA). The American Film Institute in Silver Spring is going to running a Sergio Leone retrospective:
http://www.afi.com/silver/films/2014/p67/sergioleone.aspx
Fistful, For A Few and Dynamite are all 35mm. Sadly, TGTBATU and OUATITW are DCPs. They have run the extended 35mm print of TGTBATU many times there so I'm curious to see if the DCP is the new 4K. Anyway I'm there for Fistful and For A Few.Also they are have a Bava retro also:http://www.afi.com/silver/films/2014/p67/mariobavacentennial.aspx
So what's the best bet then? The German releases of DOLLARS 1 & 2, and the Italian release of DYS, and nothing for TGTBATU :(?
It's amazing the amount of personal time and effort that fans around here are willing to put in for no personal gain, while studios with millions of dollars in resources aren't.
Harvey Weinstein has almost as much to answer for as Lucas, but he's not the only offender. The state of Hong Kong action cinema on video is fucking apalling, how many films don't have he mono track and have crappy transfers? It's extraordinary.
Or at the very least, the option to delete a post. That way I could paste the two together and not need to double or triple post.
What about DYS?
Where the FOX releases of the other Leone films (FOD, FAFDM, DYS) downmixes too?
zeropc said:
i have jaws signature collection.
jaws mono on bd is dts ;)
I went to a horror movie film club where they projected the Blu of Jaws onto a multiplex screen, it looked damn good. Whoever did that restoration did a hell of a job. I'll never get to see it in 35mm, so....
PDB said:
So over the last weeks I completed the syncing of the Temple Of Doom widescreen laserdisc to the TOD blu-ray and Hunt For the Red October's widescreen laserdisc to the HFTRO blu-ray. PM me if you want a copy.
Right now, I am working on North By Northwest. I am syncing the Criterion Mono and the MGM Stereo/Mono laserdisc to the Warner Bros Blu-ray. I should be done at the end of this week. After that it will be The Good, The Bad and The Ugly's Mono laserdisc synced to the Italian blu-ray.
How does one acquire all of this stuff you're making :D? Does it exist in some sort of legal gray area where the studios simply look the other way?