captainsolo

internet smiling facepalm.

Ziggy Stardust said:

How old are you?

I'm 20.

You Only Live Twice 1989 LD.

Absolute ridiculous classic. Roald Dahl's idea of a Bond film. 5 Connery balls to the Japanese paper wall.

Geeking out on these. I've always had a thing for big and bulky analog equipment.

Currently I'm rocking these Klipsches all around an old 4:3 Sanyo with really good color. You Only Live Twice never sounded this good.

I did see the others. I enjoyed the books for the most part, but I've never liked the films. They have always seemed a bit dull and lifeless IMO.

HP 7 pt. 2:

Why was I watching this? I don't know. The people chatting away behind me about a charlie horse was more entertaining.

2.5 balls out of 4 charlie horses.

Thunderball 1989 LD with alternate British mono track.

Brilliant to see the old Technicolor look back again. Extra balls for the different dialogue. 5 Connery balls.

Well...what else was I going to call them? 5 bad makeup jobs on Bond's arm to cover Sean's tattoo? 5 continuity error balls? Scope balls?

FanFiltration said:

The 1989 (2 disk gatefold) and 1993 (Connery Collection Vol. II 3-film box set) laserdisk versions are the same print with the alternate mono soundtrack featuring the rare instrumental "Thunderball" end title theme.  The secondary mono audio track on the Blu-ray has all these alternate audio variations except the "Thunderball" end theme. In it's place, the Ultimate edition and Blu-ray 5.1, and also the secondary mono audio track on the Blu-ray use the James Bond Theme for the end titles.  It is also important to note the the color on the 1993 (Connery Collection Vol. II)is a bit better then the 1989 (2 disk gatefold) version.

I just watched the 89 disc. I think I've finally figured out the reason why there are such distinct differences in the mixes. The print used for the 89 and 93 Connery Collection disc must have been from a British source. It has long been said that the film was completed right before the premiere and work was hastily done. This mono mix has these differences:

1. The line "Now you can tell about the one that got away" is included.

2. The line about manta rays is included and is voiced by the character Pinder.

3.When torturing Domino, Largo says the words "what Bond knew" in the other sound mix the line is heard as "what Bond knows".

4. There is no music in the underwater bomb cave when Bond is discovered.

5. The end title music is indeed the British closing Thunderball theme.

I think all of these indicate that this is a British print. What did strike me on this disc was the color timing. While FF has said that it doesn't match up to the later 93 pressing it is likely the same source material. And from my experience with CC Vol. 1, the few years make a big difference in image quality. Still, the image has all of the warm Technicolor hues that I remembered, specifically reds, oranges and blues. Almost a sense of the film being cooked a few levels.

As far as the sound goes, I think all of these differences can be attributed to further work in and around the different world premieres. Much like Star Wars, further work could have been needed and so a few lines were changed around and music was added in #4. In fact, the music placed there is a repeat of "Chateau Flight" and sounds as if it was hastily added from a portable tape machine.

The THX (30th Anniversary) Edition is important for a few reasons.

It has THX Laserdisk mastering, and is presented in Standard Play format and uses 5 sides for the film (sides 6 and 7 are the extras, and are in CLV Extended play). The 1989 and 1993 are only CLV Extended play, and use 3 sides.

This is the same restored print that was used for the S.E. DVD. It has  lossless PCM audio.   That version of the soundtrack is only available in remixed 5.1 Dolby Digital on the S.E. DVD, or remixed with additional sound enhancements in 5.1 DTS on the Blu-Ray.

Was there ever an actual restoration of TB and Goldfinger at this time? And is there a mono track on this pressing? Or is it only stereo?

I think Peter Hunt had to spend many long hours to get this film out of the water.

The more you do to a LD cap, honestly the worse off the image will be. I did some similar things on some basic LD conversions and the end result looked horrible, especially when scaled to 16x9. I don't really think there's much you can do with filters applied to the source without compromising the image.

From what I've seen of the angrysun LD cap, this transfer is pretty good as far as dirt goes. I was able to watch through it without any real gripes. That white line on the left side at first looks a hair in the gate that was captured in the source transfer. On DVD it will clearly look like a hair, but on LD it gets very digitized and pixelated. Why it's white I don't know, but in the scene where it first appears you can see it fly up into the frame and get stuck there. Later on it shifts slightly in the frame. But then again, it doesn't move all that much so it could be print damage. It does stay for about 11-12 minutes so that could suggest that a reel was somehow damaged.

As for the light source, it doesn't even have to be damage. It can just be the actual filmstrip weaving around in the gate. At school the Steenbeck I had to use wasn't in the best of shape and this would happen to me all the time whenever I ran anything back. It needed some kind of repair or cleaning so the image on the viewer would kinda bounce around to every side while running. Then the corners of the frame would occasionally have flashes of brightness or light-this can mean heads need to be cleaned or wheels replaced or a bunch of other things.

This I'm fine with. The white mark now looks like print damage but I really didn't notice it before. It would be nice to see it fixed, but I don't think there's really a feasible way to do so.

not taking the left turn at Albuquerque.

The 93 piece of crap master is still used for the unaltered trilogy. The 04 even more piece of crap master will be used for at least the same amount of time and be re-released as often. At Lucasfilm you create a video master for the long haul, so laden with glitches and errors that people will be forced to upgrade for years.

Great. (hit with Ewok stuffed plush toy) "Just what I've always wanted."

No one making Blu-rays, save for Criterion, Kino and the Eureka Masters of Cinema series in the UK, actually cares about the films they are representing. It is merely a source of revenue. The only cases where mistakes have been acknowledged are where mass amounts of people  complain to the studio and enough bad press is generated about the disc so that revenue is threatened. Otherwise, the studio will not strike a new transfer. (Gladiator, Predator, Gangs of New York etc.) Spartacus is an extremely crappy port of the HD master that has been further screwed with. Even Robert Harris can't believe some of the crap they did to it. The Criterion DVD and LD blow it away as far as color and detail are concerned. And don't even get me started on how badly William Friedkin destroyed The French Connection. It's so bad that the cinematographer disowned the film entirely.

Did any of the people who worked on these new Blus ever see Star Wars theatrically? Do they even know what dye transfer means? Or anything about all the various different sound mixes, edits, versions, cuts, tweaks or fixes? Nope. Does George? No not really.

Me too? That sounds great. I don't even think I've ever seen the whole film in any variation other than clips here and there.

I think we were lucky to even get THX on Laserdisc. I don't think they would have had a video master, so they probably made one from their archived print of the director's re-release. I agree with SilverWook's thought about it possibly being light coming in from the telecine. With it being in the corner I'd say maybe even leaking in from sprocket holes that were damaged. That used to happen on some of my 16mm student projects.

And the white fiend is...?

Yes. Do companies producing media really care? No. As long as it fits on the disc, looks okay to them and fits the profit margin-it's out the door and on the shelves.

Well there have been those times when 3P0 and R2 were off together...alone...getting oil baths...and...going down to maintenance...

Seriously I never pictured R2 as a female robot. I can't say I've ever really thought about robot sexes until now. 3P0 does always say he, but we tend to not personalize machines all that much.

Then again HAL did have a sister unit in the book...

see you auntie said:

American Hominid said:

Jesus. They didn't miss a beat.

They never do. Especially at around $10 a pop. Freaking ridiculous. You have to pay $10 for a over-detailed tiny action figure that isn't even of a character you would want to play with.

PRUNEFACE!

Baronlando said:

I'm waiting for the LOBOT CHRONICLES tv show, which will show how he flew Luke's X-Wing out of there, looking for a job as one of those reverse-lobot guys in Flash Gordon.

Oh, you mean the new George Lucas Saga "The Lando's Aide"? It's going to be 12 parts.

I think all they got were complaints from most people about the OT being too dark. It is exceptionally dark on old CRT TVs and this was my first thought when first seeing the 04s this way.

Now it looks like they have only intensified the problem by increasing other levels!!!

Can we seriously get a hold of some of these people at LFL and Lowry and show them how wrong they are? Good grief, it's like they know nothing about proper treatment or !gasp! image composition and fidelity.

AOTS and ROTS looked like crap because of their 1080p native format. They're never going to look better. And now they've tinkered with the Prequels? (in TPM's case-again) Can it ever stop?

The Bonds are what did it. The Lowry "restorations" scrubbed the life out of the films. I love my LDs. Plus it satisfies my audiophileness to have lossless 16bit PCM instead of the crappy Dolby 128 and 192 kbp/s I was used to. It sounds phenomenal on this old mid 90's Klipsch surround rig I got from an old school closet.

And did I mention the full frame control!?!?!?!!!! Ultimate movie nerdiness!!!! No more player lockup when you try to go super advance frame by frame!!

That would have really helped with Lawrence.

I think I need Raiders next to enjoy the good old plexiglass reflection in the Well of the Souls. Or Jaws to really rock out in mono. The latest DVD was disappointing because they compressed the track so low to fit those awful 5.1 remixes.

Sad to see yet another troubled person go too early.

Why is it always at 27?

Weee!

SilverWook said:

Are we supposed to believe Leia rode in the cargo hold of the X-Wing, or that they abandoned a perfectly good Y-Wing on Tattooine in the middle of a war? ;)

Well...Luke did abandon his X-wing on Cloud City. It magically reappears. Unless the Alliance just gave him another expensive ship to simply replace the one he left sitting around.

Hah! I saw that scene in the youtube preview and wondered if the glitched frame was visible somewhere.

Also thought that the vaporator scene looked a little different from what I remembered. Nice to know.

Big, bulky, side changes, CAV, CLV, PCM on the digital tracks-just look at what  trying to watch Star Wars has done to me.

Maybe I just like the physical connection with older technologies. Laserdisc has brought back many childhood memories and actually made me feel the psychical experience of a film at home. I know a home theater can do this and I've experienced some great ones.

But there's just something about LD that feels right. Usually the films went untinkered and vary in quality. This and the laser rot issue make finding a good LD a crapshoot, and honestly I enjoy the bit of a challenge. My player is a good Pioneer that usually will get stuck on the autoflipping mechanism between sides came with no remote. I love it.

I don't know. Maybe I'm crazy. I like my Criterion CAV 2001 box set better than the DVD. I have a wishlist on the LDDB. I would rather watch these than lifeless pristine digital blu-ray restorations. It's like the video grindhouse.

The video quality may not be the greatest but it brings back some of that childhood VHS nostalgia and meshes with a cinephile's enthusiasm for quality and control.

Thoughts? If you say I'm crazy it might save some analyst fees...;)

FanFiltration said:

 

"Superman Returns" 

 

This was a mixed bag for me. I like the Donner connection, but did not like the look of The Daily Planet. Brandon Routh was not bad, and I think Spacey was good too. The rest of the cast was forgettable.  I disliked the casting of Lois most of all. Sure, It was a better film then Superman 3 & 4, but still missed the mark in my opinion.  It did not have the charm, rhythm or comic timing of Donner's Superman work.  Also, I think cutting the return to Krypton scene was a huge mistake. 

If seeing it at Grauman's Chinese Theater can't make it good-nothing can.

Ziggy Stardust said:

captainsolo said:

I always like what Malick tries to do, but his films always leave me cold.

Did you see Days of Heaven?

A long time ago. I need to revisit it on Criterion's new edition.

Seriously? They went to that much trouble for the preview? Ridiculous.

I guess the missing Force fanfare has now become no music for the entire Battle of Yavin.

and I just got a PS3. :(

;) or 007: Racing. or The World Is Not Enough. (I mean the PSX version. The N64 title pushed that system to the brink. Good game modes, great controls and graphics that used the expansion pack.)