silverwheel

Shepard & Dark

Highly recommended.  On the surface, it's about longtime friends Sam Shepard and Johnny Dark sorting through their many letters to each other for a book.  Underneath, it's about a close friendship that blossomed despite and because of their many differences; it's also about a close friendship that's drifted apart, probably permanently.  Johnny Dark, pothead and hermit, is very much an archivist, keeping all of the letters and photographs the two have shared over their adult lives (they were related by marriage for several years).  Sam Shepard, drinker and wanderer, is going through the material for the first time.  Though they share a deep history, they struggle to properly reconnect as they work on this project, particularly Shepard, who does not like sifting through the past nearly as much as Dark.  It's a very low-key, conversational documentary, basically hanging out with the two of them as they sort through their letters and reminisce about the years when they were very close.  It's also quite sad in a way that only non-fiction can be, capturing how age and experience can cause people to drift away from each other; they will always share a deep affection for the other, but also seem aware that they can probably never regain the closeness of their peak years.  

RIP Aubrey Morris

Yeah, the first French Connection release was stupefyingly bad, and in some really bizarre ways, too.  The noisy pastel look was just...strange.  The Filmmakers Signature Series release isn't perfect, but it's a massive improvement.  

I have a particular distaste for how the early James Bond films look on Blu-ray.  There are many releases that are objectively worse, but Lowry just can't seem to help themselves.  

Oh, and Robocop looks like shit.  The earlier Blu-ray had a nasty teal shift to it.  The most recent one fixes that...but still looks like shit.  Why bother with a 4K master and corrected color timing only to muck it up with a bunch of nasty processing?  Everything in motion strobes so much that it's still unwatchable.  It's sad that the best quality release of Robocop is still the Criterion DVD from the late 90's.  

Had he not passed away when he did, River Phoenix could have made for a great Anakin.  

Signups looks like they're closed again.  

Anyone have an invite available?

I had never really thought about it before, but I can definitely hear how R2's speech in Jedi is more comic.  This is something that was greatly exaggerated in the prequels (especially in Sith, when R2 just wouldn't stop screaming during the crash landing).

It's really weird because R2 isn't a normal robot by any means.  During the Dagobah scenes in Empire, R2 sometimes comes across like more of a pet than an ordinary robot (especially when it's peeking in the windows of Yoda's hut).  But I must admit that it is a little strange that R2 displays much more fear at Jabba's, when it knew that Luke wasn't really donating them and that Luke had a plan, than on Dagobah, when R2 really had no idea what to expect.

Here's a visual question:  how's the lighting in the Emperor's throne room?  I'm particularly curious how the Emperor's face looks in terms of brightness.  Does the white of his face really pop or is it more subtle?  

It's scenes like Lapti Nek that help to kill the pacing of Jedi, but I still love the hell out of it.  I've always felt sad that Max Rebo and his bandmates had to bite it so that Luke and company could escape.  Being the house band for a disgusting slug/despot and his executions/parties is a pretty cold way to make a living, but they are working musicians, after all, and probably don't have many places to play in Tatooine.  Especially since the Modal Nodes locked up the lucrative Mos Eisley gig.  

God I love the how the color scheme looks in these clips.

So excited for this, not because it's my favorite of the series, but because it was the most hacked apart by special edition changes.  Lapti Nek, the Sarlacc, the triumphant ending song... I'm really looking forward to seeing all these again.  

Is there a free program that can convert MKV over to an AVCHD?  I can't watch that great-looking Back to the Future DCP because the bitrate is too high for my computer to play smoothly.  I know I'd be sacrificing some quality, but I'm sure it will still look amazing as an AVCHD.

russs15 said:

Try this for starters...

http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=541751

it might be some of what you are looking for

 As best as I can tell, this covers all of them.  I might add that part of the reason why the accusation scene at 0:20:14-0:20:46 is 2,2 seconds shorter is that the pan around the room is sped up in the DC to leave room for the new inserts.  All the footage is there, the pan just goes around the faces more quickly. 

I'm curious - is the Universal DVD open matte?  I have that one, and there are plenty of shark mechanics that are plainly visible.  Is this the same open matte version that the BBC aired, or does that version feature even *more* exposed shark mechanics?

So the Clone troopers in Ep 3 are amazingly accurate shooters even with tank weaponry, but by the time of Ep 4 they can barely aim.  I guess once Jango died they had to start cloning off of clones, and eventually they all became retarded.  

team_negative1 said:

Here is a preview showing the raw comparison of the intro, ALTA, and crawl, and parts of the flyover.

Note, this is the unprocessed, uncorrected version.

We've posted the cleaned up intro and crawl before. (See previous links).

This compares a few of the laserdisc versions, and the SE.

You can see the different changes in the different films, and types as the changes occur.

================================================

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k4IZNPn2x3F5R55yZfp

Team Negative1

So much depends

on team negative1

glazed with rain water

beside the white chickens

 - William Carlos Williams - 

hairy_hen said:

If you read the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn, you can see that his idea of what the Clone Wars were about was very, very different than it ended up being in the prequels, and far more interesting as well.  He wasn't allowed by Lucasfilm to include many direct details, but it is clear that his scenario involved an evil army of clones trying to take over the galaxy, and that the Old Republic fleet had fought long and hard against them to prevent it.  Many of the clones suffered from mental instability, even outright insanity, due to having been grown too quickly, making them spectacularly dangerous.

Exactly who the unnamed 'clonemasters' were, and why they embarked on this destructive course, is unknown.  But due to Palpatine's possession of a complete cloning complex, it may be inferred that he was involved in the events somehow—probably manipulating everything for his own benefit.  The Clone Wars did not lead directly into the formation of the Empire, having ended some fifteen years prior, but the chaos they left in their wake contributed greatly to this eventual outcome.

To me the true backstory of the original trilogy lies largely within this untold framework established by Zahn, as well as the hints of Vader's downfall from the drafts and novelization of RotJ, and nothing is ever going to convince me otherwise.

 All of this is right on.  Hairy, I'm gonna buy you a beer (don't know where, don't know when).

TV's Frink said:

Darth Kaos said:

Why is this thread even exist still? We all know Steelers are the best and their BOSS.

 Please tell me you like football even though English is not your first language.

Ha!  I'm sure plenty of 'Merican football fans talk that good.

I was pretty disappointed by this.  Most of the redesigned logos just aren't very interesting.  An Ewok slapped onto a Chiefs helmet?  Yawn.  And I really hope Washington fans don't get too offended by getting stuck with the Gungans.  

Maybe I just got spoiled by this

The PT Jedi all seem like idiots, but the biggest sin is how clumsy all their fights are staged.  Seriously, the Palpatine arrest scene is a joke.  Two of them go down without even readying themselves for an attack.  Please.

Oh goodness.  This could very well be the death of you, just because of how badly this film is fucked.  

As per #3 - what kind of footage are you working with?  Tinto Brass claimed that Guccione used "test footage" in the final edit, and given how out-of-focus /bizarrely framed many shots are, I believe him.  

Another vote for the MPEG2 BD.  I've been very happy with how it looks, and I wish more releases were treated this way (that is, not being screwed up).

Perhaps the film was just so bad that nobody could look upon it anymore.

^This!

I think this was the moment I started to wonder if George had lost his mind.  The change was so bizarrely trivial, and hacked up the music score in such an ugly way, that I was simply dumbfounded.

"Jedi Rocks" (and the new celebration music) confirmed to me that George had lost his mind.