pleasehello

RU.08 said:

Yes that’s right, it was censored in Germany on the original release. I guess that proves that Poita’s print really is in German! For anyone interested, here’s a short clip showing the censored cut from the 1984 German CBS Fox VHS: https://mega.nz/#!PxJGQBBI!dhpfWgr2GE_73jj5KY7OOe2AUK6DpMVNaKYk_Scr3ZA

Ha! The way that it quick-cuts to that closeup of Lando and Boba Fett looking at each other almost creates a comical effect.

All you need is soft elevator music playing outside the torture room.

Alderaan said:

There’s a moment in the battle at Maz’s Castle where an X-wing swoops in and fires at some bad guys on the ground to save Finn or someone at the last second, and the camera cuts to the pilot smiling like it’s another day at the Disney office.

You mean like this?

Also:

Empire
Star Wars
The Force Awakens
Return of the Jedi

The prequels I only ever watch to laugh at their terribleness when inebriated, hence the following ranking:

Attack of the Clones
The Phantom Menace
Revenge of the Sith

My wife and I forced ourselves to watch it recently. Took five sittings for us to get through the whole thing.

Double post.

Tobar said:

We have our very first anthology film and people are already complaining about fatigue.

I’m not quite there yet. I’m just saying that with the almost limitless possibilities that this “anthology” format offers, it would be a waste to make them all in the sci-fi/action vein.

JEDIT: Hang on to that “eyeroll” gif. You may need it after the Young Han Solo anthology film.

Anchorhead said:

Two of the stories were really interesting, some were ok, several were forgettable, and two were terrible. The Evazon and Ponda story was one of them. Giving them names was silly. Creating a 1950s-style horror film backstory was even more so.

I dunno. A 1950s style sci-fi/horror/monster B-movie starring Dr. Evazon sounds kind of amazing. Really dial up the camp.

I’m only half joking, but Disney really needs to start expanding in terms of genre with these SW Anthology movies or they’re going to get real old, real fast. Not every film needs to end with a giant space battle.

This may come off as rather provocative, but Return of the Jedi is a very mediocre film with a fantastic soundtrack that never really gets its chance to shine.

Luke and Leia’s theme is such a wonderfully emotional piece of music and it’s not even featured in the film. Instead we get to hear it play over the ending titles. I’ve always lamented that.

cybr1d said:

-The music as the Star Destroyer blocks the rebel escape - Man, that hits hard. Perfect, perfect, score.

For me, the score was one of the weakest elements of the whole movie. A melodic motif that I thought I recognized from Star Wars would crop up, but then deviate. The result sounds like a cheap Star Wars imitation to my ears. Also I suspect the score is not fully orchestrated and uses some digital technology to create certain tracks.

Michael Giacchino is an accomplished film composer whose work I generally respect, but I think he just didn’t have enough time to create the score that this film deserved. Disney is really at fault here for rushing these movies into theaters when they’re not ready.

ATMachine said:

So completely unnecessary, in fact, that they inserted a CGI Peter Cushing Tarkin over Guy Henry playing Tarkin on set. They did simply recast the role – and then decided the film needed a blemish or two.

I didn’t know they actually had Guy Henry on set!

That’s a real shame they painted over his face. I thought his vocal performance was good and his countenance very much suggests the late Peter Cushing.

Alderaan said:
Difference of opinion I guess. You said it jarred you because the resemblance was uncanny? I thought she was fine precisely because it was only one shot, and there was no acting (which the CGI can’t emulate). She looked fine and not distracting. Tarkin on the other hand was in many scenes that required acting and besides, the computer was not as good at rendering Peter Cushing’s angular and gaunt facial features as it was Leia’s rounder and softer features. But maybe I just didn’t have time to pay close enough attention because it was just one scene.

Just my opinion.

Yeah. I can see where you’re coming from.

Perhaps it was that the Leia reveal was the last thing in the movie. For me it kind of undermined what would have otherwise been a very emotionally satisfying ending.

Alderaan said:

Tarkin was completely unnecessary and a real blemish on the film. Leia could have been done with a hologram, but honestly I didn’t mind her at all.

It’s so curious that you didn’t like Tarkin but didn’t mind Leia. It was kind of the opposite for me. I minded Tarkin less and less as the film went on.

DominicCobb said:

The last shot is actually the Tantive going to hyperspace which has end of SW movie precedent with ESB. . . .
but it shouldn’t matter either way because this is not a traditional SW film.

Thank you, I stand corrected. At least it’s not the final shot of the film. Though I still think it was in very poor taste.

I actually agree with RLM on several counts:

-Jyn’s characterization was lacking. I wanted so badly to feel a deeper connection with her, but it just wasn’t there.
-The inclusion of Tarkin, Leia and Vader was distracting and I thought detracted from the main focus of the film. Especially concerning the somewhat shameful use of CG to recreate the former two characters.
-All the unnecessary “Easter eggs” and ancillary character cameos again drew attention away from our main characters

But despite half-a-dozen eye rolls, I actually enjoyed the film very much. This movie is fun (if unremarkable) and one I would like to see again.

Though I have to take one last parting shot at CG Leia. Her face ruined the ending for me. The computer generated countenance of a young Carrie Fisher is so uncanny and jarring that it made me cringe. And it’s the last shot of the picture. A much more tasteful option would have been to hold the previous wide shot from behind when the trooper hands her the floppy disk. That also would have been more in keeping with the Star Wars tradition of ending on wide shots of our characters.

OK. I’m done now. It feels good to get that off my chest 😉

SilverWook said:
Episode III Tarkin looked somewhat ghastly though.

Yeah, I agree that looks terrible. I meant just a different actor without any prosthetics.

For instance when Richard Harris died, WB didn’t get a guy that looked like Richard Harris to play Dumbledore. They just cast a different actor who brought his own interpretation to the role. Incidentally I intensely disliked Michael Gambon’s portrayal of Dumbledore, but that’s not the point.

Whatever happened to re-casting characters for whom the original actor has died or is no longer able to film? I feel like having a different actor portraying Tarkin would be far less distracting than a CGI Tarkin.

When it comes to creating a convincing human character using CGI, the technology is just not there yet. I dunno, maybe it’s just me.

I read that article earlier this year. It’s pretty disturbing.

He describes Lucas’ scripts for Attack of the Clones and Return of the Sith as “Shakespearean”.

poita said:

It is the red flashes in the 2nd half of reel2

Whoops, sorry. I forgot that you had uploaded Reel 2 in full.

poita said:

Unfortunately it turns out that Reel2 (at least) of the UK print has mould damage, which isn’t clear until you get it cleaned, and unfortunately there is no way to remove all the mould safely, (it is showing up as red flashes on some frames) so we will need to replace some of those scenes with ones from the DE print.

Curious to see what this mold damage looks like. Any chance you could post a couple frames with the damage or a short clip?
Thanks.

You can see some transparency in those light spots in some of the shots that weren’t blacked out with sharpie. Guessing those spots in the cockpit may have been slightly blue when photographed.

The irony is that the marker probably ends up being more noticeable than a small area of transparency. Also, there are transparency issues all over this movie. Not sure why they picked out this particular one to “fix”.

poita said:

I got a preview of Reel1 of the English print done, here is a link https://infinit.io/_/3pQJnw6

Argh! Says “missing file” when I click the link. Any chance you could fix? :\

poita said:
Boosting the image of the German scan to Hoth take a look…

I’d say yes, there is a lot more shadow detail in this scan than in the grindhouse releas.

However, that scene should be dark with Leia’s face being the focal point, lit against the shadow, but yes, there is more detail in the print if you dig it out.
Remember the reel I posted has not been corrected.

Thanks for posting that image. I’m always amazed at how much dynamic range there is in film sources like this. I never imagined how much detail was in there.

I agree with you though that this shot should be dark. All I meant was that with all that detail lurking in the shadows, it would just be a shame if none of it showed through.

But as you say, you haven’t corrected the reel yet, so I’m sure you’ll strike a good balance when you do.
Don’t mean to be a nuisance. Thanks again.

I did a little compare with the TN1 Grindhouse and while this is not true across the board, in select shots it seems as though there is some more detail to be had in the dark areas. Take princess Leia’s hair below for example:

Is there any more range in the German scan to pull out some of those details?

Dreamaster said:

So… I basically “color corrected by eye” near the end… the first photos with Leia and Chewbacca. Then I rendered it out to see how the rest would look. I like most everything except the Luke in the cave. It’s almost like the sequence that takes place around the interior snowspeeder landing bay and luke getting bashed in the face need a separate correction? I’ll let the pros take it from here. 😃

Did you do any DNR on these? Your color-corrected frames appear much less noisy for some reason.
Really like the colors as well by the way.

TylerDurden389 said:

I love when theaters not only play old movies, but they show them on 35mm. Helps give us a better idea of what the proper colors are supposed to be.

I was lucky enough to see The King and I in 35 mm last year, which was a great experience.

I also own the blu ray which is something of a mess where color timing is concerned, with many shots cast heavily in blue. I can’t help but think of Willy Wonka when I look at this shot of Deborah Kerr:
http://images2.static-bluray.com/reviews/9923_12_large.jpg

The Seven-Per-cent Solution (1976)
Based on the novel by Nicholas Meyer, who more famously wrote and directed Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan. Pretty interesting, fresh take on Sherlock Holmes. Star studded cast. Can get a little slow at times, but overall very enjoyable. Alan Arkin plays Sigmund Freud. Enough said.