captainsolo

Ok, so I just found a great reference DVD for the difference between Dolby and DTS.

I have been watching the new remastered DVD of U2: Live at Red Rocks (BTW it is sheer magic!!). I flipped through the three audio options to compare on my Logitech 5.1 speaker sytem and here is what I came up with:

Dolby 5.1 mix is nice and defined but sounds a bit low and kinda tinny.

DTS mix is definitely more detailed and not tinny at all. It is immediately apparent when flipping between the two that the DTs is louder and better defined.

However neither come anywhere close to replicating the definition and clarity of the third option which is a stereo PCM track. On most concert DVDs I find it very hard to be adequately happy with the soundtrack. That is why I usually avoid them. I decided to grab this off the shelf at the library, and I am blown away by this simple but powerful track. I find it much more appealing than both the 5.1 remixes.

Speaking of uncut horror, does anyone know where to find the original uncut versions of some of the Hammer classics?

skyjedi2005 said:

I think the original version was on TCM in the nineties when recording equipment was not very good.  I caught only the end of the movie and did not tape it with my vcr, who cares since laserdisc is better anyways.  Also it was a letterbox version not anamorphic.  They also showed the student version as a bonus which i missed and was mad about it at the time.

This is how I first saw THX-1138. I stayed up late one school night just to see George Lucas's first movie. I think I was about 8 or 9 at the time. I have never forgotten it, and after buying and seeing the DC DVD I felt betrayed yet again. Altering THX was the final straw. It was the complete acceptance of what he had so despised in 1971.

I really want to thank you guys for doing this new transfer. I know I've watched the current LD transfer at least 4 or 5 times in the past couple of months just for the fact that it is the real THX.

Lucas is now the exec who would say: "Put the monkeys up front."

Instead of begging for the OT restoration and release; let's write Lucasfilm and request that the OT be loaned out to Criterion/Janus films. That would work for everyone-George could even get his percentage and still maintain that his SW is the 04 now on Blu-ray. If anyone wanted the original "unfinished" versions they could go get them from Criterion. (Like he said about buying old VHS tapes and LDs.)

And it would simply never happen.

Metropolis was fully restored. Still no OOT.

Apocalypse Now is released in 2.35:1 for the first time since 1979. Still no OOT.

Criterion licenses films from numerous film companies that they have never been given access to before. (Paths of Glory, Night of the Hunter, the entire collection of Chaplin's feature films) There is absolutely no reason why a deal like this cannot be made. Even the new Blu of Apocalypse is being licensed to Lionsgate instead of Paramount because of Zoetrope's new distribution deal.

In addition, the Warner Archive program should prepare and release the original version of THX-1138 to coincide with their Blu-ray release of the Director's Cut.

There has been no real way to see it theatrically since 97 unless you were at some special Lucasfilm event-and then you would see a digital version of the 04.

It is definitely a shame. And it is downright wrong. A theatrical first viewing of Star Wars is life changing.

To put it bluntly: the freedom and energy of the first film and the darkness and development of the second are simply not present in Jedi. It is not a bad film by any means, but it is flawed and does pale in comparison overall to the two previous entries.

The story really does go nowhere.

I watched the films endlessly as a kid, but ROTJ always gets meandering and uneventful-it really is too safe. Every loose end is tied up and no one major dies. Anyone could have written this end of the trilogy and it was done simply to please everyone.

C3PX said:

Kind of funny, I bought the DVD box set when it was first released, but I had never actually watched the Final Cut on it until about a month ago. When I first got it I excitedly watched the international cut and all the special features, and I guess I got Blade Runnered out and never got around to sitting down and watching the FC.

Anyway, Blade Runner is a movie I have introduced to a small handful of my braver and more versatile friends, and usually by the time the film was over, they would look at me as if to say, "Why the hell did you just make us watch that!" One of my friends who is big into artsy foreign films exclaimed, "Why did we just watch that?" as the credits were rolling (Brazil has had much the same effect on them, obviously I have some really lame friends). This has pretty much discouraged me from recommending the film to people beyond saying, "Ah yes, I really love that movie. You should see it sometime." Well, recently one of my less brave and not so versatile friends saw it in my collection and asked if we could watch it. I warned him he probably wouldn't like it, but he still really wanted to see it. So we watched the Final Cut together, and he absolutely loved it. Perhaps I had been sharing it with the wrong sort of friends all these years.

I bought the set and overloaded on Dangerous Days and the Deleted Scenes. I then found out that i could see it in 35mm so i waited to watch the DVD. I've showed it to friends and others and it always gets this blank reaction. They either don't know what to think, hate it, are indifferent-but I have yet to find someone that actually loves it.

Chewtobacca said:

I initially disliked it, but I have warmed to it.  It is better on some of the deleted scenes, especially the deleted scene where Batty dies. 

The happy ending really does not fit, so I would have to say no, but I like the "I think we were made for each other" line and Ford's reaction, as it can be read in two ways.

I hated it in Roy's death scene. It felt so intrusive and unnecessary. That is true about the ending. What really kills it is the fact that they are in a lush forest, driving off into the sunset, basically telling us that the entire plot setup doesn't matter-and that cheesy closing line. The elevator door is perfect.

ChainsawAsh said:

I agree with you about the colors in 35mm vs. DVD/Blu-Ray - I got to see the Final Cut at the Music Box in Chicago, and it was bloody amazing.  I didn't even realize that the colors had been so dramatically altered.  (Unfortunately, I didn't get to experience it with the greatest sound - I'm not even sure if it was in stereo ... )

Then I bought the 5-disc Blu-Ray, and was thoroughly disappointed at the change.  But as I said, it's only one of 3 rather little things that bug me about the Final Cut.  Overall, it's my preferred version to watch.

Maybe one of these days I'll make my own, 100% perfect-to-me version.  But that would involve me learning a LOT more about color correction than I currently do.

I saw at the Belcourt in Nashville and I think that they finally sprang for a newer sound setup around that time. Before it was good but not great. Then I saw BR, Solaris, and 2001 (only in 35mm) which all knocked my socks off. But the Final Cut has a really active LFE that really only comes to life in the theater or somewhat with a good home theater setup.

I agree completely. I usually watch the Final Cut, but I'm not too excited about the color change. At least it works and doesn't seem too invasive.

Ahh, that sounds like fun. Why not magenta? Don't forget fertilizer.

A is for Arsenic and Old Lace. (Don't ever accept elderberry wine from strangers...)

B is for Baby

C is for Cary Grant

I is for intercostical clavicle

Have you ever tried painting your grass?

These are really good. The good movie trailer really has become a lost art. Now we have to sit through TV ads in theaters-it just isn't the same. I'll never forget the experience of seeing the SE trailer for the first time and having Wedge's X-Wing just plowing through that little TV with the full surrounds kicking in..or the moment where Pierce Brosnan says: "you were expecting someone else?" and then the scored montage that follows in the Goldeneye teaser trailer (which was actually better than the film).

Bingowings said:

I've never smoked paint...or grass for that matter (does this make me boring)?

Neither have I. Don't particularly want to. Not sure if we're boring enough.

Grass is nice, unless coated in pesticides and other chemicals that give me awful headaches.

I hate the smell of paint.

Q's techs wasted their time putting a fresh coat of paint on Bond's V8 Vantage.

Yeah it's funny, but is very uninspired.

I agree about Puggo's 16mm version. It really feels right, and does have the original mono. (How much is the cropping?) I love all of the imperfections-makes me feel like I'm watching my very own well worn print. :)

For now, when I watch the OT I go for:

SW: Pwnge Edition, Puggo's 16mm, or D_J's GOUT v1

ESB: Ady's Theatrical or D_J's GOUT v1

ROTJ: D_J's GOUT v1

Wow! 16mm looks great on blu.

However nice it would be for this ESB print, it really isn't cost effective at all.

Can't believe we will actually be able to see Puggo ESB!!

SW should be like Rocky Horror in that theaters all across the country could always show prints on a regular basis.

But George isn't interested in cinema, shared experience, or escapism.

Which is exactly why they need to start from scratch and just drop this master.

It's a sequence that never really fit for me. Something just doesn't work out right. Everything about Indy, we find out in 5 minutes? I know this is a serial, but come on!

What do you guys like about KOTCS? I couldn't stand it.

I've been holding back so that I can see it all at once.

Here's my one then: making the best true adventure serial type film ever.

Happy now? ;)

Chewtobacca said:

Indeed it is good to have TheBoost back.

Very much so.

I agree that the color timing takes some getting used to on the Final Cut. It plays much better on 35mm. In fact, I loved it in the theater but nowhere near as much on the video release. God, how the LFE channel shook the walls...

Still undecided on whether I like "father" or "fucker". Father fits better in the overall context of the scene and why Roy is there, but the other is just too good.

All of the flubs etc. in my mind stem from the intensely troubled production and all of the woes that happened in post. I actually kinda like BR this way in that it is a flawed production just as flawed as the universe it presents.

Big question: Who here actually likes the narration and/or "happy ending"? (I won't ask the obvious is Deckard a replicant?)

I much prefer the 97 Jabba over the TPM one. If the first CGI one didn't fit the 77 footage-that one sure as hell didn't.

All he has to do is just license the original films out to someone else (CRITERION!!!) since he wants nothing to with them. Everybody else can, why can't Lucasfilm? Two reasons: 1. Loss of revenue. 2.It would then look like that they had caved in to demand.

In childhood nothing was better. ROTJ had it all. Once you've seen it dozens of times it begins to not hold up at all. Around 12 or 13 I really started to get bugged by all the inconsistencies and just simple lack of energy. Everyone seems to be doing this one for the numbers.

It is the lesser of the OT but still a real movie and it does tie all the necessary loose ends.