captainsolo

http://www.suntimes.com/17320958-761/roger-ebert-dies-at-70-after-battle-with-cancer.html

I feel rather strange writing these words.

He always downplayed himself and kept a great deal of humility which many in criticism could never hope to have. Reading Ebert's writing was not merely checking the worth of a particular film but rather like hearing the farseeing yet somehow poignant advice of a favorite uncle. Even when you absolutely disagreed.
The best in this lonely little group has now left us. Though he would be the first to deny it.

Bingowings said:

Nirvana is UNDER-rated.

FIXED.

FanFiltration said:

"Kingdom of Heaven" Director's Cut

 A perfect epic on par with LoA.

10/10

Yes. One of the best films of the past 20 years. Staggeringly good, so much so that you question just how a major studio financed it.

I need to re-watch Robin Hood, though it was flawed it had a bit of the KOH flavor and I loved it. Can't Ridley keep doing historical films from time to time? ;)

I arreust yeu in ze neume of ze leuw!

The Pink Panther

The one that started it all. A light romp of a travelogue comedy, meant as a David Niven starring vehicle. However, they cast Peter in the smaller comic role and that was it. It's a bit creaky in places but always always always charms.

4 balls out of 4.

A Shot in the Dark

The film that cemented the character. The film that gave us the mad Dreyfus and the loyal attacking manservant Kato. The one with the nudist colony. The one with endless quotable lines. The most focused of all the films and one of the great comedies.

4 balls out of 4. Masterpiece. If you have never seen this film you owe it to yourself to do so IMMEDIATELY.

Return of the Pink Panther

More of a collection of gags and scenes than a true story, but welcome just for more of the Inspector. Sometimes it plays well, other times it doesn't. Originally intended as a TV series pilot. Perhaps the budget wasn't very much then. Christopher Plummer works well, but Niv is sorely missed.

3 stars out of 4.

The Pink Panther Strikes Again

Manic, Zany, Screwball, Sheer. Total. Fun. The best of the 70's films has both the silliness and the straightforward plotting that the series usually chose one or the other of. I still don't see the reasoning for dropping the 20 minutes of material.

4 stars out of 4.

I recently acquired these four on LD, and was very curious as to how they would shape up. The first film is from a slightly worn print with cue changeovers but with good color. The mono soundtrack is very rich and the exact same one used on the DVD but uncompressed. (Has the exact same inherent hiss.) Shot fares better with a cleaner print source and similarly uncompressed mono track. (Great since the score has never been released.)

Return is the only one not controlled by MGM and had two separate LD and DVD issues. The fist LD is supposedly not very good, and the remastered version looks quite good with clear sound (with an unfortunate slight hum throughout). The initial DVD was this same LD version ported non-anamorphic and not very pretty. The Universal reissue makes a clean presentation of the original master with nice visible grain, solid color and the same mono track (with that same inherent hum!)

Strikes Again looks the best out of both formats..almost..with clear LD audio. However all the MGM DVDs feature a lack of grain that is especially obvious when seeing the Universal version of Return.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=haavrm3jUR0

This seems to be sourced from the new Japanese BD. New credits have been imposed that have both Chinese and English credits. They look quite good.

Color timing is nice, no added blue/green/pink and even the negative scratches in the opening shootout are gone!

The subtitles seem to be different than the dubtitles that are usually found, so maybe there might be a decent translation for once.

The restoration had to make some different color moves because the layers were either gone or quickly going. They had to spend enormous amounts of time to color grade and match period decor to boot.

The new BD uses the old 2005 struck master with some tweaking.

I'm still thinking HOD isn't right on either Warner DVD or the Hammer BD. The DVD was boosted and lacked color depth (one of those films I always tweaked in VLC) and the new version is too cold, especially in comparison with the other Fisher/Asher made Hammer classics of the period. It should honestly be a bit between the two I think.

Of course there’s the '04 master we all know and despise complete with it’s famed lobster men.

Then most everyone here knows my absolute hatred of the Lowry led transfers of the Bond canon. 😉

Now they’ve gone and done it to one of the most famously colorful of 50’s Technicolor films, Horror of Dracula. The BFI restoration used an answer print, and their new timing was tweaked by the post house for the new Hammer/Lionsgate BD release.  And it’s all dark and blue. WHY???

http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleiche/comparison.php?cID=1596#auswahl

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Does anyone even check what print sources look like? Or think to possibly do some research as to how the look was intended to be???
 

Discuss.

And yes, I still think Raiders looks off somehow. But that may be just me. 😉

Very glad to see you back in these parts DJ. Looking forward to finally relieving some GOUT!

Told you so! ;)

Possible on TND. Will probably be the same as the VHS issue. I need to check all my old tapes for this. I'm pretty sure the silver cover and later SE disc are the same. (The silver uses similar art to the limited SE VHS box set I still have. Nice fake-autographed script too.) Even some of the old menus showed up on the UE bonus disc.

Listings for 16mm TLD and LTK...mouth watering and look like the LD/SE issues:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/16mm-Film-87-LIVING-DAYLIGHTS-James-Bond-LPP-SCOPE-/380601332671?pt=US_Film&hash=item589d9b73bf

http://www.ebay.com/itm/16mm-Film-89-LICENCE-TO-KILL-James-Bond-LPP-SCOPE-/310632982249?pt=US_Film&hash=item48532b26e9

This is a brilliant simple idea that I'd be glad to chip in on.

It would be perfect for the front home page.

You know I was holding out for the finalized BD...but sense myself caving in... ;)

Harmy you are a machine. A v2.5? Wow.

Just curious, were you able to retain some of the audio tracks in lossless and still fit on the BD?

For Earthquake, the two LDs have the original Sensurround mix according to the LDDB forum. The initial pan n'scan has a stereo track that actually was the original transferred directly (so you can even hear the control tones present), and the later widescreen release simply converted the mix to Dolby Surround.

So the widescreen Superman LD has the 35mm Dolby Stereo mix without split surrounds?

As for Fox including audio, I think you're right GregK. I was recently looking into getting the corrected French Connection BD and it actually lists a mono track. (Which has never been released anywhere that I can confirm. It's always a stereo-ized version or multichannel remix.)

Another film that is never released with original audio is Bullitt. Every iteration is fake stereo or Dolby surround or 5.1. Every LD, DVD, BD and VHS that I know of. Plus the SE DVD and BD are missing a bit of leader inserted into the car chase.

Another one that I've wondered over is The Wild Bunch. The 5.1 restored mix isn't the most impressive and has always sounded somewhat tinny to my ears. I think because it was done for the early 90's restoration and was originally presented theatrically and on LD as Dolby Surround. Then it was taken to 5.1 for a later LD and the first DVD and simply ported for each new release. The BD is only at 640 kbp/s. I've thought about tracking down the mono mix on VHS and early LD.

Lastly, I'm considering tracking down the first releases of Godfather I and II with digital sound for the mono tracks in lossless. The restoration included them mercifully, but when upgrading to BD I found that they use the exact same lossy DD tracks as the DVD version!!! It's stuff like this that keeps Godfather and Taxi Driver from being definitive releases.

I jumped into my usual re-read of H.G. Wells; Time Machine, Dr. Moreau, Invisible Man...then this happened.

If you know this then you are certainly a 90's kid.

Animorphs.

I missed this.

I seriously forgot just how good these are. I managed to stumble across the last book I needed (#52-curse you and your unavailability!!) and started at no.1 for the first time in years. Not only was this pretty damn good sci-fi but it was also chock full of extremely good character development. And it was intended for kids. From Scholastic of all places. It's an absolutely hopeless premise. Dark. Grisly. Hellish. Filled with the stuff of nightmares. How in the heck these kids didn't immediately start suffering from PTSD is amazing.

Yet for most of the series they manage to somehow hold on to their sanity. This is what always really made it stand out in my mind.

Sure you can't openly read them in public because they're ostensibly kids books. But if these were made into a film you'd have an impossible time negotiating for a PG-13 rating. There's some truly silly books (#14 has to do with Area 51 essentially guarding a primitive alien toilet. Yep. Really wish I was making it up.) and #24-40 something were ghostwritten, but damn it if these weren't great reads.

They still read well today despite the now dated late 90's setting. I started a few days ago. Already downed 18 of them.

With most the trend is to go back to original channel stems and re-purpose form master sources into the standard modern day home multichannel formats. Of course then you are tweaking and shifting things to fit and all the while adding unnecessary compression that wasn't present originally. Warner projects usually do this with catalog titles. Case in point is the Batman anthology which all feature remixed audio that doesn't always impress and rarely if ever bests the original mixes.

In a Lonely Place

"I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me."

Bogart's best ever performance. It doesn't matter how many noirs you've seen in your time, this film always hits you like a load of bricks. It's quite possibly the most romantic film ever made and absolute agony to sit through. Beautiful agony. What makes it all the more interesting is that the script goes way off the source novel and becomes instead a partial criticism of the entire Hollywood/L.A. machine. Then there are numerous parallels between the volatile bitter Dixon Steele and Bogie himself. Nicholas Ray knew exactly how to make audiences squirm but in a good way. Gloria Grahame is stunning despite knowing what happened off-set during the making of the film.

A true classic, a great film for all times complete with one of those gut punching endings. Ultimate balls.

The Enforcer

An oddly constructed little movie in Bogie's later career that is little more than a B picture procedural. Bogie is the DA trying to nail a gang leader whose racket is the performance of murder by commission. The film becomes several long extended flashbacks after the opening where the sole witness is terrorized and accidentally dies. We see how the case is pieced together and that's about it. It's a surprisingly good little movie for what it is and some scenes were supposedly directed by Raoul Walsh. The current transfer is from VHS/LD with tons of video noise. Olive Films are prepping a BD for the near future.

2.5 balls out of 4.

skyjedi2005 said:

Is it true that the man with the golden gun and Live and Let die were not shot in Cinemascope because the director hated it or the cinematographer?

I mean Diamond's was shot in scope and that was Guy Hamilton.  And All three films were shot by Ted Moore.

 

SilverWook said:

For some reason I thought it was for budgetary reasons? There seem to have been fewer scope films made around that period. (There might have been an financial inclination to shoot a film more "tv friendly" as well.) When Spy was made, scope films were coming back in a big way post Jaws.

From all my Bond knowledge, this is what I always thought. LALD and TMWTGG had overall approaches of toning it down, which DAF did as well. Ted Moore never gets the credit he deserves for shooting the Bond films, and to be honest, I really really really think they work better in flat than scope. The first three and the two initial Moore films seem more natural. Of course you don't get the grandeur of scope though.

Got burned on a Bond SE DVD that wasn't original factory seal for the second time. Hope this isn't a trend, as I still need a couple for the original 5.1 mixes.

I have a few, let me know what you may need. Have you ever found any with those few errors corrected? I'm starting to think it was a myth. If not I think I'll fill in my SE collection as well. I had been holding out for cheap boxsets.

Revisited AVTAK. Like Octopussy, the picture is improved, round 7 or 8 out of 10. The sound is deep and rich with a great natural sounding bass for a 10 out of 10.

I never thought the new version was bad or anything, but seeing the 35mm printed version revealed more to my eyes that didn't seem correct. I'm happy to be proven wrong as it's merely my own personal opinion and the DVD transfer was itself flawed.

What it will take is direct comparison or better yet information on the process of the new version, one of the last projects done by Ron Smith before leaving Paramount.

As of now, I think the new color timing is closer to the original but with more modern leanings.

skyjedi2005 said:

DID those  Fleischer superman cartoons ever end up on the anthology blu ray in HD, i heard they did but since i don't own the BD i cannot say whether or not they are.

I am a huge fan of the Fleischer studios work.  I wish Betty Boop and Popeye were on BD too.

No HD. They did HD masters but no HD release was ever done. I think some of the errors may have been corrected but not all of them. The ideal thing would be to utilize the Warner restored video with the PCM track of the LD if it is indeed the same source as the uncut and correct Image/Bosko version. I personally prefer the look of the older disc despite damage, but Terror on the Midway looks horrible.

The Shade said:

captainsolo said:

I think these are original mixes, done off of master tapes. I guess just recorded straight to the video master at 16/44.1 PCM.  You hear things you wouldn't even theatrically. Like all of the background sound design.

Can you elaborate on that a little? My brain has a bit of difficulty grasping that my home setup could pick up sounds that would not have been heard in a theater.

It's very simple really. These discs were created by transferring the original magnetic tracks with the master audio untouched. Usually for film prints the mix would be tweaked, EQ'd and fit onto the format. Then each individual theater had their own standards or lack of standards for proper audio presentation. It's still this way today, in fact IMO even more so. Despite having lossless audio, I can't find a theater with decent sound anymore. There's more quality at an art house with a horribly battered print of For a Few Dollars More that had the mono track going nuts with uncontrollable volume spikes!

I'll have to dig up a VCR and look at all my tapes for the titles. IIRC for most of the series waves from the '93 set on  they were all letterboxed.

It's somewhere in the Vienna funfair. Some shots of a 16mm OP print:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/16mm-Film-83-OCTOPUSSY-James-Bond-LPP-SCOPE-/310622748901?pt=US_Film&hash=item48528f00e5

This reflects the LD exactly. Though LD can't ever get all of the natural blacks.

Mine does actually, even with an old receiver and old Klipsch bookshelf speakers on improvised speaker stands. I found it kinda funny to have OP blasting in Dolby Surround and not only hear new things but announce to the neighbors that it's an all time high.

I think these are original mixes, done off of master tapes. I guess just recorded straight to the video master at 16/44.1 PCM.  You hear things you wouldn't even theatrically. Like all of the background sound design. I realized just how detailed LD got when I heard Galaxian in TLD.

Octopussy

On letterbox LD: good to great picture, proper color timing!!, good transfer of the original soundmix.

A flawed movie yes, but still an enjoyable romp. The problem stems from the initial writing by George MacDonald Frasier, which makes portions of the film seem like an adventure novel/cheesy serial. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the problem was that the way it was done was already dated.

The other issue is that the film suffers from major Raiders-itis, as did virtually every action/adventure film of the time period. It wants to show that it can do things just as well as Indiana Jones, so all of the rough and tumble aspects in India are cranked up.

And why must there be a minimum of three plots??? Why? Why must we pay attention to the villains who are cardboard and ineffective when there's Steven Berkoff aping Buck Turgidson as the mad General Orlov?? There's a constant unbelievably hard tug back and forth between the serious and the comic, so much so that it disorients the viewer and makes the quieter passages stick out.

One of my fondest college memories is trying to explain the plot of Octopussy to my roommates. They never got it. I died laughing. I used to try and figure out all the plot holes as a 6 year old. It still doesn't all make sense.

However, when compared to the mess that is NSNA, Octopussy is Shakespeare. Even with the Tarzan yell, Bollywood cliches, clown disguise and atrocious combover mounded hairpiece thing that is considered 007's hairstyle from 1981-1985.

3.5 balls out of 4..."little Octopussies". ;)

Okay, so NSNA isn't really all that bad. But it's such a wasted opportunity and a complete mess that you can't ignore the fact that it had no real reason for ever being made. When you stack the two against each other, it's the quality craftsmanship across the board that Cubby Broccoli so vividly maintained that makes Octopussy work. NSNA was doomed from the start, and it was only because of the tireless cast/crew efforts that anything was ever salvaged. Whenever I re-watch OP, its flaws aren't enough of a problem to detract from a refined older series making a rough and tumble adventure movie.

Whenever I watch NSNA, when I'm not cringing/wincing/facepalming like a madman, I stare at the screen and desperately hope for anything to work or not fizzle out. Sean still has it, and has a fresh direction to go on (all he ever needs in a role to be honest) but otherwise THERE IS NOTHING, save for an empty void most personified by the vapid Kim Basinger. Then I finish the film and feel that I've reached a new low by wasting another two hours and seeing NSNA again for about the 50th time.

Octopussy

The LD starts off right, with the original 1983 logos of MGM and the plain white text UA logo. Oddly both shift down into framing which recalls slightly what happens intermittently throughout Sides 1 and 2. If you look very carefully, the letterbox bar edges on the top and bottom of the frame will dance up and down ever so slightly, revealing and concealing a thin sliver of picture information. It's really easy to see in still frames. It's not on the CAV Side 3.

Picture is far improved over Moonraker, though they were made around the same time. The element utilized is cleaner and has little to no damage whatsoever. The final CAV side is clearer and more stable. Color is perfect, and it's nice to see even the ending escape of Kamal form the Monsoon Palace now properly timed again for sunrise.

The sound isn't as immediately impressive as Moonraker, but you quickly hear things you haven't before. Soundstage gets the biggest improvement with improved clarity in the mid and low range. The mono surround channel is very discretely used and tastefully done. There is some slight sound and dialogue panning. This definitely would have played well in 70mm like Moonraker. Another in the bests the 5.1 remixes category.

However, like my FYEO LD there is some slight crackling distortion that arises in the higher frequencies at various points. I don't know why this happens, as I've tried both discs on two different players and amps with the same result.

Picture: 7/10

Sound: 8/10

Yep, I'm thinking Criterion got a print from MGM's loaning department, then MGM turned around and struck a new video master from their archival stored copies of the first three films and premiered them in the Connery Collection box. I don't think those are Technicolor IB. Thanks for those shots poita.

Is there any reason to collect the full frame older editions?

The full frame DAD has a sliver of extra info on top or bottom IIRC. The transfer for the WS version is better than the UE and has the theatrical 6.1 matrixed DTS track. Plus they have extras that were never duplicated.

Moonraker

I watched my newest LD purchase, and was floored at how good the sound was. Easily the best the film has ever sounded in any format. The video was merely passable but with perfect color timing.

The film's biggest flaw is the uninspired script. It's merely by the numbers doing what the public likes. It is TSWLM II in space, in other words YOLT III. All had the same director. Wood returns from Spy as the screenwriter and again shows promise with come of the basic characterizations and plotting which are of course jettisoned because in these films you can't get too detailed. The pacing is very relaxed which if off putting for many. Then add the odd feeling of having such a lavish production in France and it already sticks out from the others. Then add the silly over the top humor bits and the ludicrous space battle climax that overshadows all of the realistic majority of the film. If you could somehow excise the Bondola, pitiful Jaws humor and space laser battle the inherent realism of Moonraker could be better seen.

Bond does some actual spying for a change. Moore is in his in between period with some of his early darkness and later 80's era redundancy because of the watered down script. Lonsdale makes a great villain and needed more to do. It's a dated film that has some spark to it is properly noticed. It isn't bad by any means nor does it deserve to be hated by many who either haven't seen it in years or haven't seen it at all. It is a better film overall than FYEO. It was the last time Bond films had grand scale or any sense of the Harry Saltzman mad imagination.

Moore in space is worth a million Skyfalls.

I figured as much. I wish I had bought a bunch of LDs when I was 8 or 9 when DVD had started moving in. ;)

I do think the PCM is worth preserving and it is a goal of mine once I can get a good equipment chain together to utilize these and the necessary video to combine with SE footage. Ideally for something like a fully cleaned up DJ-U2 GOUT project. The 5.1 tracks are all from the late LD releases or the canceled ones (FYEO for example). I have no idea how the THX LDs compare to the earlier issues besides cleaner video perhaps. (Spy and Moonraker need it.)

Yes LALD has a few minutes of audio dropout but the digital track is supposedly errored and actually has the film's complete isolated score and the mono complete soundtrack switched to the analog tracks.

Golden Gun is the rarest of the series and looks quite good. TLD is the best mastered for picture and sound and AVTAK has killer audio.

I was always holding out for all three SE boxes since the few errors were supposedly fixed, but did we ever confirm that that was actually true? If not I can start getting the 18 I need. And I already have 71! different Bond video issues.

Not obsessed.