captainsolo

I'm pretty sure someone did Batman and perhaps Returns as well.

A great warrior, but certainly not "the chosen one".

I will say that after finally getting to read the Jedi Quest books, I feel that Anakin was just a big douchebag. Seriously, you go through the entire book run realizing that he is an arrogant Sith waiting to happen...and no one notices no matter how blatant it is.

I liked the idea of Anakin before he was explained in the PT. At least in book form it is shown just how far he goes from the open-hearted young slave boy and becomes truly disagreeable.

While I don't disagree with Anakin being Vader, the way it has been handled certainly removes all of Vader's menacing power. There is a huge difference between Vader now and the Vader of say for example Splinter of the Mind's Eye where he seemed like an unstoppable demon.

Thanks, I'll give em a shot.

BTW, I forgot to mention the absolute stupidity of the man vs. fighter jet bit. Ugh, how ridiculuous can you get.

Oh and it cracks me up every time how pitiful the CGI bits in DH3 are. just laughable.

DuracellEnergizer said:

Mondess122 said:

Mulholland Drive (2001) - ?. ?, ? ? ? ?. ?: ? ?. ? ?! ? ? ? ? ?? ?, ?. ? out of ?.

I agree. Mulholland Drive's pretty conventional compared to some of Lynch's earlier, better work, so this is a pretty fair rating. 

 One of the worst pictures I've ever seen. I still don't get it, nor do I really want to. Never will I understand people's admiration for it.

I loathe his films but Lynch himself always seems like a really nice and interesting person. Go figure.

The Avengers

Preface: I'm not a Marvel guy.

It may be just me, but the whole Marvel universe has just left me cold so far. I appreciate the efforts put in to appease fans and audiences alike, but to me these films never really convalesce into anything truly cohesive. There is a continual feeling of "made by committee" that has been stuck there since the dull Iron Man 2. I think that the first Iron Man holds up better because it was their first effort and thus was allowed to take many more chances.

(How else could a Shane Black superhero film be so dull?)

This one is perhaps the most disengaging for me. Far too long, and ultimately exists to setup the final battle. The individual threads are eventually tied up together, but by that point one starts to lose focus. And the characterizations suffer due to the overloading of elements. This makes the film feel a touch empty which is a shame.

(I HATE the modern trend of making character origins etc. all interconnected to onscreen characters. It is not only beyond coincidental; it breaks the believability and is truly lazy writing. EX: Beast's origins in the newer X-Men films, and Hulk's origin in this.)

All in all, not a bad movie, and certainly watchable-but never does this feel truly inspired. And I'm the guy who sticks up for plenty of typically disregarded superhero pictures like The Phantom, The Shadow, The Rocketeer, and Batman Forever.

2.5 balls out of 4.

*I still think the single best thing in the Marvel films is the shot of the hungover Stark in the Doughnut shop sign sans helmet in IM2.

Do you guys think I should try the Captain America films?

Die Hard Quadrlogy

DH-The first, the now-classic, and unequaled. Not perfect admittedly, but in this day an age completely wonderful in its maverick sense of risking it all. They flew by the seat of their pants and turned a dull B-picture premise into a truly human-driven work that spawned a thousand imitators.

When Fox will deliver the 4K restoration is unknown. The BD isn't bad and the soundmix is the same as the THX LD. Hopefully I can get the older Laser and try out the 35mm original mix.

4 balls out of 4.

DH2-Fox need to put out the unrated cut some day. I really like this picture, and it was the first DH I ever saw. Despite the rehashing, and over-coincidental bits, it is the only sequel that plays in the same universe. Dark, more violent than the first, heavy snow, what's not to love?

Best line in the series: "How can the same s*** happen to the same guy twice?

4 balls out of 4. The BD changes the color a bit, but sounds the same as the THX LD.

DH with a Vengeance

Where it really starts to go downhill for me. While not bad, the film is very disjointed as they began with a spec script and then began trying to cram in a Die Hard film. Despite McTiernan returning, it doesn't really have the same spark, and only the three principals light up the screen. Jeremy Irons is so woefully underused that you beg for him to come back onscreen. The ending is really tacked on and the originally shot version is wonderfully brutal.

A bit messy but it still gets the job done. Very 90's action thriller oriented, and less Die Hard feeling.

3.5 balls out of 4. BD vastly improves on the worst case of Edge Enahncement in DVD history. That disc was a travesty. Soundmix is similar to THX LD.

Live Free or Die Hard

Shocking how well this worked. It didn't need the huge teal boost, nor the overplaying of McClane is an old guy not good with technology, and certainly not Kevin Smith, but somehow it just worked. Bits of fun and energy throughout though the R rating is sorely missed. The unrated version has hit BD in a few territories and on DVD adds back some cursing and blood terribly needed. Problem is it was a rush job and very sloppy in places. Additionally it drops at least two of the theatrical's best lines.

Hmm...I think a fan cut is needed!

3.5 balls out of 4-especially when thinking of a hybrid rated and unrated edit.

That supposed "fifth film" was such a crock of straight to video nonsense that it should have gone straight to Redbox under a different generic name.

Hmm..I didn't realize the new 4K transfer was so different in color. My two cents: This film has long been stuck in an old video era master dating back to the LD. This is why even the BD had some video NSTC-era problems. WB kept polishing up an old circa 1991 era transfer which had been contrast boosted etc. to better match CRTs of the era (much like what they did on the Burton Batman films). Like those they did a new video job for the SE DVD but even that was essentially the same as the older one.

But I don't think a print would be that strikingly different. The contrast looks fixed but I think trying to get back to 1990 coloring workflows in the modern digital domain doesn't always quite sync up. Add in the fact that Marty is much older and has favored heightened color and contrasts in his films since, and I can kind of see why this happened. I think the positives far outweigh the negatives, and likely a print would fall somewhere between the two in color.

Just wish the new BD had the original mix in PCM 2.0 or 4.0. Now I have to still keep my LD. It far outdid all the DVD 5.1 remixes.

Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter was pretty good. Though it never could get over the fact that anyone reading it obviously knew the outcome due to TPM.

Doing a similar thing. But mine involves finally completing the set...i.e. physically finding a copy of every EU novel...because I'm crazy at times. ;)

Recommend:

Daley Han Solo Adventures, Lando Calrissian trilogy, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, Thrawn trilogy, Han Solo trilogy, the "Tales from" books, Jedi Apprentice, Courtship of Princess Leia. Shatterpoint too.

Avoid: nothing really. Even the drier or sillier Batam books are good at passing the time.

I have a feeling we need someone to convince the Mouse to do this at some point, much like it took the influence of Spielberg to get Coppola's proposition to restore The Godfather films at Paramount.

Perhaps if some of the current production could voice some thoughts...?

As we know, Vidiot over on the SHTV forums had done some work on the 2004 trilogy ans has given some insight in the past as to how things were done. Recently, he's mentioned a few things which make perfect sense: That it was a bit rushed, understaffed for the scope of the project and continually tweaked and re-tweaked. This would account for many of the issue we have bemoaned for years and years.

But he did say that both the claims of no negatives existing, or that they were conformed to the SE were pretty much bogus.

Nice to have some confirmation for a change isn't it? ;)

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/star-wars-the-digital-movie-collection.427154/page-8#post-12232532

Plenty of head scratching bits for me with this new trailer. Plenty still looks off and fake-ish- especially in she ship design and the glaring weirdness of the X-Wing cockpit moments. The new actors and stormtroopers are pretty jarring to see in this context. But Harrison's bit was both weird and uncanny for me. I'm also surprised they showed any of the returning principals this early.

The burned Vader helmet means Luke isn't very good at cremation.

Anakin/Luke's saber being handed over made me question: Okay who went to Cloud City to retrieve it and does this mean Luuke will pop up anywhere?

Chewie's grooming is really good. Seriously, what happened with the mask there?

I know nothing can be perfect, and it will be extremely weird to see new stories in the original universe, but I can't help but agree with HairyHen that something is missing that lacks the Star Wars feeling. To me it not only doesn't quite feel Star Wars, but it certainly doesn't look it. This puts me off more than anything in the trailers.

So I'm still hiding under the "Kasdan helped write it..." stay positive rock.

FanFiltration said:

I'm still very fond of the 90's computer edited MGM VHS covers. They may not be perfect but they usually reflect the spirit of the film extremely well. In most the composition is very well done and the usual MGM/UA fake actor publicity still applied to random scene isn't very noticeable.
http://www.007homevideo.com/vt_vhsbeta_usa_hands_index.html

But for some unknown reason in 2000 they decided to VERY quickly and hastily redo cover for OP and TMWTGG. The latter I guess because Bond looked slightly frightened. But the OP redo shown above has always been an abomination. Still is.

They at least go into far more detail and flesh the characters out much better. I enjoy a lot of novelizations simply for the added scenes so I might be a bit biased.

TPM works better but is only a decent read. AOTC is pretty much the same. Both are well written books but share the limitations of the films.

But ROTS...that's a winner. Not only does it wipe the floor with the film, it makes many Prequel-isms palatable. This is due to the writer, Matthew Stover, who also wrote the phenomenally dark Apocalypse Now-esque Shatterpoint.

I haven't dug into EU material for some time. I think now may be the time to finally re-read my shelves and finish all the other stuff I never completed like the NJO.

But 100% agree on the best material being anything with the original mystique, imagination, danger and adventure of the original film. This is why the stuff that really works is typically towards the earlier vintages pre-Heir.

The new false logo is not just losing a part of history but part of the film itself. It's like removing United Artists from the Bond films--but even moreso Fox made the Cinemascope expansion music standard for all their films afterwards all largely due to Star Wars needing it for the Lucasfilm credit. Thus you always think of SW instead of Fox Cinemascope.

Painful to see.

And this release is ridiculous in that it is significantly more than the blasted Blu-ray set. Who do they think they are kidding???

stretch009 said:

captainsolo said:

Life of Brian

 Sony let the BD go OOP which is damn frustrating.

Doesn't appear that way to me:

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Monty-Pythons-Life-of-Brian-Blu-ray/568/

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Monty-Pythons-Life-of-Brian-Blu-ray/12206/

 I need to get the UK one as it's the same disc region free. Before I could get the regular US release it went OOP and is now only sold by third party sellers. Yet Sony still sells the DVD version. They did the same thing with Dr. Strangelove and the CE set for CEot3K.

Adventures of Baron Munchausen

Whimsical for the sake of being whimsical. This picture works in sputters, gasps and brief passages. As a whole it is overlong and as typical with Gilliam, not fully developed in the narrative. It should be a wonderful throwback to adventure fantasies of old but instead never quite manages to spark. However, the design is phenomenal as is the juxtaposition of both classical and modernized special effects. It did not deserve to be buried by Columbia.

The Criterion CAV release is quite good and displays a deep level of care.

3.25 balls out of 4.

Also if you could, can you check the under the truck sequence to see if any feature the "think I'm dumb?" line when Indy inserts the whip handle? That very rarely pops up, and is also on the same DVD interview clips.

I agree litemakr that the WOWOW appears to be the basis for the re-timed and remixed "restored version". To be honest I've been afraid to fully dig into the new Ben Burtt mix.

The first time I saw it was as a kid on cable in parts, and it ruined MM for me for quite some time. Years later in college I finally gave it another go and saw what Miller was trying to get at and realized that he kind of gave up after the death of his creative partner. This combined with a bigger scale weakens the film and it never quite gets off the ground. That said there is some good stuff in there, and it remains watchable every so often.

This ties in partially to some of what I've been watching.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Indescribably, gleefully obliterating the fourth and all other walls. The fresh energy displayed here is the troupe at their finest, and I've always felt the low budget only increases the realism of the locale. The Criterion LD is a joy, though Sony's BD is a revelation.

Ultimate balls.

Life of Brian

The greatest "comedy" ever mounted, next to Dr. Strangelove. It is equally funny for the mind, and makes you laugh so hard your brain hurts. Intertwined is true societal criticism that is both applicable and pointed. It is a shame that this picture had such a terrible time getting released and distributed, as the point is to ridicule and make fun of the idiotic ways people can take religion--and never ever attacking Christ, his teachings or the Bible itself. Additionally the barbs at the terrible Biblical epic style are hysterical. Criterion's LD and DVD port have color not in the Sony remaster, which despite having more detail is DNR'd a bit and washed out looking. Best audio is the Dolby Stereo on the LD. Sony let the BD go OOP which is damn frustrating.

Masterpiece. Brilliant in every way. Hysterical. Magical. If only everybody here could agree with the UK that it is the Python's finest achievement.

Meaning of Life

Beyond frustrating, rushed, slipshod, annoying at many times, terribly unfunny in many places. This is a mess of a picture that ultimately NEVER works because they rushed into production without a break, creative recharge, or even decent material. The sketches never flow, they merely bang into one another, and what should be hysterical (Sex education etc) fails to spark. Other bits are painfully unfunny ("Every sperm"), pointless (all the couple on vacation bits), and downright disgusting (Creosote. Good grief.). It drags on so badly that one wishes the "Get on with it!" extras could have been reassembled to yell for the remainder of the feature. A criminal waste, made only worse by a mindbogglingly long Gilliam "short" that precedes the film for almost 20 minutes!

An extremely over-generous 2 balls out of 4. Primarily for the liver donor sketch. Uni's BD is at least cheap enough and the new hour long discussion with the five remaining Pythons is better than the film itself.

Now I've begun watching Gilliam pictures, something which I haven't done very much of due to his trademark lack of narrative focus.

Jabberwocky

Something of a favorite of mine, as it was my mother's who first showed it to me many years ago. The style, period setting, and diseased Middle Ages on a low budget is done to perfection! This is almost like Grail II but much more serious and with a very dark bent throughout. Michael Palin is wonderful in the lead, but other than the atmosphere and funny bits here and there the film begins to drag because the narrative never really develops.

3 balls out of 4, and I like the movie far more than I should. Needs a BD with the original mono.

Time Bandits

Lovely, wonderful fantasy that works only if you can subdue any desire for narrative focus. This are never quite explained, they just seem to happen. Since I'm seeing this for the first time I equated it more with the way a child would react to things that they may not understand. This childlike reasoning worked for me until the ending which I felt was not only inadequate, abrupt and to be honest rather pissed me off.

Not to mention that the Harry Potter parallels that keep popping up make me again lament that WB didn't embrace Gilliam's madness as JK Rowling wanted. They would have at least been interesting and dangerous films then.

The Criterion LD is one of the finest CLV titles I've ever seen. The new restored transfers seem to lose a lot of the old colors.

3.5 balls out of 4, I guess...it's rather hard to say.

Brazil

If ever there was a picture that needed to be seen multiple times. The impact only dawns on you through multiple viewings. The societal commentary is spot-on, I enjoy the Orwellian tones, the performances are spot-on..but yet it just never seems to work as fully as it should. To me the comedic and almost cartoon-ish elements continually threaten to overwhelm the inherent evil of the totalitarian government and prevent the haunting climax from reaching its full potential. It's a great experience in its uncut form, a good movie that sadly influenced far too many people into making their films look cartoony, but again Gilliam's secondary narrative harms the picture immeasurably.

4 balls out of 4. The Criterion LD box is one of the great video releases of all time in terms of its massive scope. The presentation is also outstanding for the format.

You guys know I can't do this right? ;) My theory has always been that with the back to back production of Man Who Knew Too Much and 39 Steps, Hitch entered the realm of the otherworldly in the medium and never looked back. I have yet to see all the silents and their alternates in both sound/silent and foreign language iterations, so here I will stick with the '34-'76 main period.

Pinnacles of the art form; in that they fully represent the term "magic of the movies": The 39 Steps (1935) Foreign Correspondent (1940) Notorious (1946) Rope (1948) Rear Window (1954)  Vertigo (1958) North by Northwest (1959) Psycho (1960) Frenzy (1972)

Masterpieces: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) Sabotage (1936) Young and Innocent (1937) The Lady Vanishes (1938) Rebecca (1940) Saboteur (1942) Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Lifeboat (1944) Spellbound (1945) Strangers on a Train (1951) Dial M for Murder (1954) To Catch a Thief (1955) The Trouble with Harry (1955) The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) The Wrong Man (1956)

A beautiful and delicate picture that was mangled by outside forces and can never quite recover: Marnie (1964)

Pictures that don't quite work, yet still somehow attain a level of craftsmanship and storytelling that make them great: Secret Agent (1936), The Paradine Case (1947) Stage Fright (1950) I Confess (1953) The Birds (1963) Topaz (1969)

   
The admitted few which simply don't work due to outside pressures etc. : Jamaica Inn (1939) Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941) Suspicion (1941) Torn Curtain (1966)
   
A terrible disaster that you cannot tear your eyes away from and has some sort of haunting quality to it: Under Capricorn (1949)
   
And the touching goodbye of sorts: Family Plot (1976)

To me they are all great, despite the weaknesses of some. I only get frustrated with the constant interference that occurred on Suspicion, Torn Curtain and Topaz. My biggest criticism has always been about the narrative of The Birds which frankly is terrible.

A personal list of only 10 would probably resemble this, a very loose list of favorites.

Vertigo

Notorious

Rope

Rear Window

The 39 Steps

Foreign Correspondent

North by Northwest

Psycho

Frenzy

Saboteur

The absolutes are Vertigo and Notorious, which are his best pictures beyond any doubt.

Jaws: I have the 30th anniv DVD, BD and 1992 "rescored music" credit WS LD. Someone once said in a review that they thought the climactic line may have been remixed on the LD along with the different music additions. I've personally checked and the music is different, but haven't checked the final line before.

As I understood it, Uni was too cheap to pay music licensing and would re-score source cues and potentially remix the audio. The 1995 signature LD restored the original music and should be the original mono in PCM. I figured the DVD was a lossy port of this, and the BD a slightly higher res copy.

IIRC it's in the truck chase as Indy approaches on horseback. I'll have to re-watch and take notes.

PDB does your analog track match the DVD or the WS LD on the staff drop? I've long been curious about that. Of course I just now went back and re-compared the two. The DVD has one sound of the stick hitting, and the LD has it roll around slightly.

The rest sounds the same but the WS LD mix has a potency that isn't in the 5.1. I don't know how to explain it exactly but it packs a lot more punch overall. Additionally the score has some directionality that isn't in the discrete version.

PDB, the big difference in the DC on the big screen is how many fluctuations and levels of color there are. For instance the journey to Tyrell corp. begins to lighten and only reaches the brighter state upon arrival. It appears much like the IC BD in your comparison which ties into my belief that the archival versions source was the new scan of the DC originally done for the 2006 limited DVD reissue.

I don't recall Sebastian's apartment being pink-ish at all in that shot, but I could be mistaken. There were a number of color differences I noticed but it felt more like they were due to NTSC limitations and mastering for older video standards. Both Embassy and Criterion used a similar element and seem to have higher contrast as well as the boosted colors. I think the DC LD comes a lot closer in accurately replicating the source.

Those stills show some of the more vivid colors of the older transfers, some of which are in the DC print-some not. Again it comes down to what timing was applied in 1982 and how each print was produced. I do think that direct comparison will help, but for all intents and purposes the DC print results in not only what was shot being faithfully reproduced but also the film that should have reached audiences in 1982.

skoal said:

Do you have a source for this bit of information? I ask because I've never seen anyone else say or reference this and I would like you to provide a reference.

captainsolo said:

...

... the Workprint that surfaced in 1990/1991 (supposedly due to Steve Hoffman ...

...

Don't get me wrong or mad, I really like this site, however it seems this thread is trying to hit a target that doesn't exist.

 

 http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/70-mm-festival-around-the-world-in-80-days-30-frame-version-comments-and-questions.76808/

Not to pointlessly brag again but it was Jeff Joseph and I (nosing around the Todd-AO vaults) who stumbled upon the "Director's Cut" of BLADE RUNNER; unprojected since the day the print was struck. We got the word out and the next thing we knew, bingo, the print was being used to make a new home video version.... Where is my finders fee!

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/around-the-world-in-80-days-won-best-pic-oscar-in-56-still-unrestored-now-truly-a-lost-film.306139/#post-8412263

An interesting thing happened at Todd-AO, we found the "DIRECTOR'S CUT" of Blade Runner and notified Mike Arick over at WB. That started the entire "Director's Cut" rush that we still have today. Our fault!

Okay, retyping this to make it shorter.

The DC is touring arthouses as part of the science on screen series. FC bookings are digital but DC ones are 35mm.

Do yourself a favor if you're nearby. GO!

-----

I saw a packed midnight show resulting in the best version I've ever seen. Besting even the 35mm FC in 2008. Gorgeous, organic and natural with perfect grain and fine detail which revealed an even more delicate color palette with some of the more vivid look found in the old IC transfers.

I could easily pick out things like the wires or Rachael's fluctuating back in the office. Blacks were pitch and deep, for example after Deck wakes up from his dream you cannot see anything besides the vague shapes of the piano.

Remember that the DC was hastily made from a dupe of the US theatrical neg after having to abandon the more grand vision of Ridley making a new cut. Thus the violent bits are gone. But since the film hadn't been reprinted and was only 10 years old at the time the elements were near pristine and the printing process had only gotten better.

I don't think there is a better element around. Who knows how the original was timed or printed and if it was even accurate. Comparison would help, but I can sincerely say I have never felt the film more accurately presented. Sound was optical Dolby surround, very clean and I even picked out backing score in the mono surround.

Funnily enough the hasty process is revealed in the ending. Once the doors close there is a moment of black screen and silence before the end credits come up with music. And the alignment is slightly off kilter. ;)

My two cents:

Re-transfer the DC @ 4K.

Incorporate the violent shots from the IC and color time to match.

Additionally the original narrated audio and happy ending could be seamlessly branched for those who prefer them.

The only fixes from the FC I really find desirable are the continuity ones, i.e. the end dove shot, spinner wires, lip dialogue in Abdul's shop etc. If desired these could be implemented into a sort of Purist Director's Final Cut, because we are literally that nuts for BR.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare6/rearwindow.htm

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcompare/vertigo.htm

None are quite right. At least with these BDs they somewhat tried to fix errors.