Wed 12 noon – This thread has, apparently, turned into a discussion of what movie-related stuff people got for the holiday… some electronics… some DVDs… some with High School Musical stuck in the sleeve…
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
The only DVD I got this year was the 2-disc special edition of One from the Heart. I did get the Twin Peaks soundtrack volume 2. Now all I need to get is the gold edition box set of both seasons and I’ll have it all – three DVD sets, two soundtracks, the books, the board game… I even have some ‘Wrapped in Plastic’ magazines!
I got Stardust, my favorite movie from this past year, Friday Night Lights – season one, and the out-of-print Duck Soup. Not a bad haul.
Pretty good haul for me too – new Battleship Potemkin 2-disc SE, Ratatouille, Bourne Ultimatum, Barbara Stanwyck Signature Collection and the Criterion re-issue of “The Lady Vanishes” (what a great movie!). No complaints on this end.
in Home Alone, at the end of the movie, Kevin’s mother says “we can’t go grocery shopping or out to eat, it’s christmas day, everything is closed.” the movie was released in 1990, just how few years after that did it take for that to change? nowadays noone would question that grocery stores and all fast food places would be open on christmas, it would be a rarity for them to be closed.
No DVDs for the grownups here. My tween daughter got both “High School Musical — The Remix Edition” and “High School Musical 2,” though. Lucky us. I do have “I Am Cuba” and “Killer of Sheep” to cozy up to, those will kind of make up for Zac Efron and gang invading my TV.
Movielocke: Depends on what part of the country you’re in. I have to say that, while driving around Houston yesterday, I noted that none of the major supermarkets or fast-food restaurants were open for business.
Saw Sweeney Todd at the Dome in Hollywood last night. Sold out show. Hard to get the vibe of their reaction. Some immediate applause…some dazed looks.
I have written on the board about my hesitation, being a big fan of the show. Would I miss the big voices? The humor? Well, I loved the film. Dave was right, I had to put down my hold of the show and let it be something different. And what it is, is masterful. The voices work just fine for this movie (although, I do really miss what someone like Meryl Streep would have done with Worst Pies In London..). But then again, Bonham-Carter was wonderful in ‘By The Sea’. And her characterization was terrific (once I let go of Mrs Lovett as a blowsy cougar).
Charlie Wilson’s war also seemed to be selling out at the arclight…it was just packed there last night.
Thanks to Noah and ThriceDamned, all I really got was money to get a Playstation 3. I can already feel my buyers remorse and I haven’t even left the house today.
Strangely, I didn’t get ANY DVD’s! I got an indoor grill, a coffee pot and (like Kim, we have a kid…although it’s a new baby) I got a CAR SEAT! Some sleepers! Some binkies! Yay, Christmas! It was babies first and my first realizing Christmas will never ever be about me again.
Second and third seasons of The Wire (got Season 1 last year), The Kingdom, The Bourne Ultimatum, Any Given Sunday Director’s Cut, Clear and Present Danger, and The Pelican Brief.
Not bad…
The only DVD I got was the first two seasons of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but really, what more could one want?
“all I really got was money to get a Playstation 3. I can already feel my buyers remorse and I haven’t even left the house today.”
Heh, that’s what I got. Best Buy $500 giftcard. I only really want one for the blu ray movies and the off chance that the system will eventually have more than two games worth owning.
Amidst the clothes, chocolates and batteries…
My haul included the 4 disc version of Blade Runner, Live Free or Die Hard, Miami Vice Season 5, 24 Season 6 Special Edition, Daredevil Director’s Cut, The Omen (Donner version) special edition, Private Benjamin (I love me my Goldie Hawn), Hitchcock’s British film collection. I also got a book of Playboy’s interviews with major film directors through the decades.
I am happy.
Slap Shot. Priceless.
“Second and third seasons of The Wire (got Season 1 last year)” (JBM…)
You are blessed, my son.
“24 Season 6 Special Edition” (Nicol)
You are not.
Man, as someone who owns both a PS3 and XBox 360 (and a Wii) for movie and media watching as well as games,
you should buy the XBox 360 with the HD-DVD add on instead of a PS3.
So many firmware problems with Blu-Ray, that half the interactive features on the discs don’t work.
Plus XBox Live offers some 400 films for digital rental and download with at least a quarter of them available in 720p HD.
They also have a huge selection of television shows for digital purchase, many also available in 720p HD.
Not to mention the gaming library kicks the PS3’s ass.. And as of now, almost all of the games released on both platforms look and play better on XBox 360.
(This is due to the 360 having 512mb of video ram, vs. the PS3’s 256mb. Hence a game like Gears of War wont play on the PS3 & is 360 only)
Plus, the exclusive games. I leave you with one example: Bioshock.
(If you’re a fan of Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged, you should play this game. Ebert didn’t see this amazing piece of work when he said games cannot be art. Such an obtuse vision and statement)
Mass Effect is another incredible 360 game you can’t play on PS3…
And currently the HD-DVD catalogue is imho better than Blu-Ray because of the Universal and Paramount/Dreamworks exclusivity.
I only buy Blu-Ray movies that are exclusive to that format. Any movie that is available on either formats, I get the HD-DVD.
Not to mention XBox 360 has superior HDMI signal processing over the PS3 which is going to result in a better picture on any plasma or LCD.
I love my PS3, but as an all in one content machine, the 360 with the HD-DVD add on, kicks it’s ass.
Again, don’t discount the amazing selection of films and television available for digital download via XBox Live…
Can I get some affirmations from some fellow geeks that I know that read this blog? Devin, Drew?
Or, if you don’t want a gaming machine, there are good HD-DVD players for under $200, that won’t have the firmware problems of Blu-Ray players.
(but I’m a gamer at heart, so a part of me would encourage you to get a PS3 instead of that)
PS3 is getting better. Ratchet & Clank and Uncharted:Drake’s Fortune are amazing games. They brought the rumble back to the controllers, but you can’t play PS2 games on it anymore. Sony had my heart with the PS2, but they have absolutely fumbled the design and release of the PS3…
I love having all, but if you’re going to get one, the 360 is by far the superior choice…
Whatever console you buy, spend the extra $80 and get the Best Buy 2yr. replacement plan. There are a lot of moving parts and they both can get hot.
As of right now Xbox 360 is the better buy because they have the better game library. But I think in the long run PS3 will be awesome. There are no good future Xbox exclusives where the PS3 has Metal Gear Solid 4, the Final Fantasy XIII series of games. I heard Bioshock is going to go multiplatform and the Halo series is done. But what I have been playing since Christmas morning is Super Mario Galaxy, this is an amazingly fun game. The best game I have played in a long time.
I didn’t give or receive any gifts this year, but I did some holiday shopping at Amoeba so maybe it counts. All of these are laserdiscs:
I Am Cuba (Criterion)
Blow-Up (Criterion)
Ironweed (unfortunately not widescreen, but this ain’t on DVD in the U.S., and I really wanted to see the Streep and Nicholson perfs)
Carousel
Raising Arizona
Unforgiven (TWO dollars!!)
Some Came Running (another one not on DVD in the U.S., a fucking travesty)
Suture (kind of excited to see this for the first time)
…all of this for $40.
Merry Christmas, myself!
THX, they updated the firmware on the PS3s. Check your connect and see if your PS3 has updated recently. That aside; I got a haul.
Blade Runner IN A CASE!
Miami Vice Complete Series
Hot Fuzz 3 Disc
The Complete Monty Python
The Astaire and Rogers box set
Amazing Journey: The Story of the WHO
BSG Razor
and The Rogers and Hammerstein Collection.
THX
I already have a 360 and an hd-dvd player. I didn’t go with the 360 add-on player because it was almost as much as the stand-alone Toshiba I got the week before Thanksgiving, and the Toshiba came with 10 free HD-DVDs. Also the 360 add-on is supposedly almost as loud as the 360 is itself.
I wouldn’t buy the PS3 except that Sony and 20th Century Fox are blu-ray exclusive. Also, Metal Gear Solid 4.
Thanks though.
I got the update IO. But I’m having better luck streaming the Divx from my PC to my 360 better than I am with the PS3.
There is some great connectivity features between the PS3 and the PSP. I absoulutely adore my PSP, especially the redesign. It does so much more than an IPod.
Monco, I heard the same rumor about Bioshock. But it’s not happening. My sources inside tell me the PS3 doesn’t have the onboard video ram to handle the graphics.
What I think you’re referring to, is that Bioshock is going to have a sequel, and that is what’s going multi-platform.
Still, you don’t have Mass Effect for the PS3.
Games like Halo, will still have a long life due to it’s robust multiplayer component.
Games like the Orange Box and Assasin’s Creed are running great on the 360, but having major reported problems on the PS3.
Also, the MGS series almost always port to XBox after an exclusivity period with Sony. In fact, there were rumours that Kojima and Co. were going to go multiplatform for MGS4 right out of the gate, until Sony brought rumble back. But MGS4 is still probably going to come to XBox.
Bottom line, the XBox is developed on a Windows based platform with more on board video ram. This makes it much easier to develop games and make them play and look better on the XBox.
The PS3 is limited by it’s new cell architecture. It’s a bitch to program for, and it only has 256mb of onboard ram.
I’m not saying you can’t get great games on it. I work in the game industry as well as film and I own all three so I can play anything (same logic on this stupid HD format war) I own 7 great games for the PS3.
But I own about 30 AAA titles on my 360.
On a side note, for any gamers that come here, Are we not in an incredible period in gaming right now?
I have about 30 games that have come out since October that are all; to use an analogy, “Best Picture Quality” Amazing graphical and narrative accomplishments wrapped up in great gameplay.
Hence, why I haven’t gotten to Super Mario yet.
Titles I am dying to play of finish:
XBox 360:
Mass Effect
Call of Duty 4
Bioshock
Halo 3
The Orange Box
Assasins Creed
Lost Planet
Crackdown
Rainbow Six Vegas
PS3:
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
Unreal Tournament III
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
Heavenly Sword
Resistance Fall of Man
MotoStorm
Wii:
Metroid Prime 3
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Scarface: The World Is Yours
Resident Evil 4
Of course, all of them have been shoved aside for my early Christmas present..
ROCK BAND!
(seriously, this game is soooo fun. And it plays great on either platform)
I don’t want to turn this into a console flame war, because I have all and love them all.
My initial point is, if you’re going to buy a game console for a HD movie machine, it’s better to go with the 360 with the HD add on. Because:
1. Better current catalogue (subject to change)
2. Better HDMI signal processing resulting in better pic. quality (This is re: Gizmodo)
3. HD-DVD is a seperate drive bay that won’t wear out your console if you watch a lot of movies, as well as being able to hook up to your laptop or PC if you want to watch HD-DVD content there
4. Most importantly – XBox Live offers 314 feature films from all genres and many classics. about a quarter of these films are in 720p HD and all are 480p DVD quality.
4a. There are 276 television shows available for purchase on XBox live. Many series have full multiple seasons, and many are available in
720p HD (the movies are a 14 day rental)
It’s the extra available content through XBox live that pushes it past PS3 for me.
Pete –
The 10 free HD-DVD’s applies to the 360 add on as well.
I understand about the worry about the noise factor as the 360 does run louder than the other consoles.
I can assure you that is not the case with the HD-DVD add on. It runs really quiet.
Congrats anyways on buying the standalone. I think it’s the price point of those players that might tip the edge to HD-DVD
Just watched Danny Boyle’s “Sunshine” and the Cohen’s ” The Ladykillers,”… I still don’t understand why people don’t like these movies…
THX: who wants to own all three? I would never own anything that supports freakin Microsoft, and it will fail because of MICROSOFT. It’s the lesser of two evils… Sir Howard’s company or the dude who pretty much runs a HOLDING COMPANY that makes game.
Also, if you work in the gaming industry, then you should know that this year has always been the year the PS3 broke. This is it’s year coming up.
Once it succeeds, then we will be in a great time for gaming. Especially when everything else fails :D.
Oh yeah THX; who wants to download movies from XBOX LIVE? Seriously? It’s called ITUNES. That pushes it past PS3? Really? Content that you can get elsewhere? All of this seems like lazy consumerism on your part.
Why would I pay money for HD if all I’m getting is 720p? If I pay money for HD I want 1080p on a disk that can hold a large file. So, not only is the 720p lower quality to begin with, but being that the file size needs to be small enough to download it’s gotta be crappy 720p.
Blu-Ray is higher quality anyhow — I’ve seen them tested side by side.
Okay, the game forum I visit is talking obscure movies these days and now the movie forum I visit is talking games? Maybe I put my contacts in inside-out….
Anyway, I only have a Wii, so I’m missing out on this war of manly hardware, but it’s what I can afford on the “building work experience” part of my post-college career. I’ll probably bump over to the X-Box 360 when Silent Hill V comes out. Sony has done everything they could to completely bungle what should’ve been a slam dunk, and I don’t need a Blu Ray player right now until I get some kind of HD TV, which will be awhile. Everything Bioshock appears to be indicates it’s a must-play, which is one more must-play exclusive than the PS 3 has for me (Though after downloading DJ Shadow’s remix of music from Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune from iTunes, that may be one I’d like to play).
As for right now, I’ll take pleasure in the seemingly endless joy that is Super Mario Galaxy. It’s interesting to see how a Mario game will casually stroll into the market every decade or so and completely change the rules. Super Mario Bros., Mario 64, and now this. And the games that don’t change everything in the official Mario canon are still immensely entertaining. However, I’m a bigger Zelda fan, even if its evolution isn’t as profound.
Hmmmm, I wonder when LexG’s going to walk in and call us all big children for still playing video games? Oh well, while I’m indulging on my inner-child, for Christmas I got the Robocop 20th Anniversary DVD, the Face/Off 2-disc set, Season 1 of 24, Rambo First Blood Part II, Dr. Strangelove, and (As a gift to myself) the portable explosive edition of Blade Runner (At least, that’s what I call it) to feed my manly adult side. It’s the Frosted Mini-Wheats way of life.
Jeebus….exactly the kind of conversations that make me freaked out over new items.
I got the PS3 (40 gb) because I don’t play games enough to merit a 360 OR 80gb or higher…I’d rather save $100 and unhook the hdmi cable and insery the tri-colored plus when I want to play Grand Theft Auto…which isn’t often.
P3S was cheaper too.
I will say, the 5 free blu ray discs suck ass. It’s just some shitty choices. I also headed to Hollywood video to rent some bou rays and the choice was laughably bad. Like…all the Die Hard movies…Basic Instinct…..Waiting…..Balls of Fury.
Blu ray’s motto as of now should be “Bringing You the Best Visual Quality for Unwatchable Movies.” I’m obviously not dissing the Die Hards….but I don’t need to see them in frigging hi def.
Yes you do. All of the Die Hards were shot on some incredible rigs, that most standard definition does not capture. You also went to a VIDEO STORE. Dude… 21st century
get netflix or something. Come on kid. Get with the haps.
“Hmmmm, I wonder when LexG’s going to walk in and call us all big children for still playing video games? ”
Yeah, and I’m out of touch as to which young actress = BONER this week, too.
I got Superbad, Battlestar Galactica: Razor, something called Rats: Night of Terror, and David Lynch’s meditation book, plus the opportunity to visit my family plus friends in NYC who I haven’t seen in forever.
With all due respect, IO… F off 😉
I feel bad enough spending $500 ($399 for the PS3 and $99 for the fucking HDMI cord….which I may find for cheaper and return…but still) but I want to see EVERYTHING I *want* to see on Blu Ray.
I don’t want to be limited by what’s being “offered” because whats being offered is God awful. If every Tom, Dick and IO buys or rents frigging….Die Hard then the people in charge will think we want to see that crap! “Oh, wow…. ROCK BALBOA and WAITING rented so well this weekend! Lets blu ray every Tyler Perry movie!!”
For instance: My PS3 includes 5 free blu rays from these awful sources. You can “get” one from each group (** indicates my pick…cuz I have no choices really)
1. The Prestige *
2. Wild (fucking) Hogs
3. Pirates 3
Group 2
1. Swordfish
2. Superman (Donner version)*
3. Full Metal Jacket ( Kubrick didn’t want to be seen in Hi Def)
Group 3
1. Stir of Echoes
2. American Psycho* (by default…I hate you Mary Haron)
3. Devils Rejects
Group 4 (my favorite….what choices!!)
1. The Patriot
2. S.W.A.T.
3. Ultraviolet
Group 5
1. Chain Reaction
2. Omen 666 (that was the title?)
3. Flight of the Phoenix
4 Species
5. HARTS WAR
6. The Last Waltz*
So…as you can see…I have shit that won’t be opened…
jeff-
that meditation book is GREAT and the audio book is even better. I’m a Tony Robbins sized believer in Lynch’s version of that…stuff….
Petaluma,
You can get HDMI cables on the web for under $5. Cable markup is the biggest hustle in consumer electronics.
Also, your complaint with the Blu-Ray catalogue is exactly why I prefer HD-DVD right now. Better choices.
If you don’t play games, you may be happier taking that PS3 back, getting an HD-DVD player for under $200 that is quality, and use the left over cash on new discs.
There are free disc offers on both formats. The HD-DVD selection is slightly better.
Mutinyco,
Your response is pure unadulterated bullshit.
First:
For 99% of human eyes, The difference in quality between 1080p and 720p can ONLY be seen on 50″ screens or bigger. Or, unless you’re viewing distance is less than four feet from the screen. So unless you’re Haskell Wexler, I aint buying that your eyes can see the difference.
And on that note….
It’s widely reported everywhere, and commonly known in the industry that the video encoding on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD uses the same compression, the same bit-rate, the same video codec.
Blu-Ray is more capable of better sound. But as of right now, they’re both locked down into the same bit rate and encoding – by the studios….
So I guess your eyes are seeing something superior to Blu-Ray that NO OTHER EXPERT has reported?
Your head must still be delirious from that last smack down I gave you last time. Better go sit down.
In between creative gigs, when the work is slow, I pay the bills as a sales consultant for a boutique high end home theatre store in Los Angeles. I have sold and put together packages that range in the six to seven figures. Many of my clients are high end filmmakers and producers themselves.
When dealing with such high level accounts, with people familiar with the technology, you better know your shit. I am telling you. 1080p is a hustle that cannot be seen unless you’re sitting more than 10 feet back and have a 50″ or larger screen.
And if 720p is such low quality, (it is still HD after all)than why is EVERY SINGLE Playstation 3 game, save for Dragon’s Lair, only available and output at 720p? That’s right. Not one next gen game for the PS3 is 1080p. (This goes back to that onboard video ram issue. They can’t keep a framerate of even 30fps at 1080p)
So, if you’re hung up on 1080p, I would invest in a XBox 360. As that machine has the storage space to download a lot of content (if you get the elite), and the games are true 1080p .
Sorry, Mutinyco. Though I’d love to try whatever it is your smoking….
JeffMCM, curious as to what you think of Razor. Do you watch BSG?
Petaluma,
You can get HDMI cables on the web for under $5. Cable markup is the biggest hustle in consumer electronics.
Also, your complaint with the Blu-Ray catalogue is exactly why I prefer HD-DVD right now. Better choices.
If you don’t play games, you may be happier taking that PS3 back, getting an HD-DVD player for under $200 that is quality, and use the left over cash on new discs.
There are free disc offers on both formats. The HD-DVD selection is slightly better.
Mutinyco,
Your response is pure unadulterated bullshit.
First:
For 99% of human eyes, The difference in quality between 1080p and 720p can ONLY be seen on 50″ screens or bigger. Or, unless you’re viewing distance is less than four feet from the screen. So unless you’re Haskell Wexler, I aint buying that your eyes can see the difference.
And on that note….
It’s widely reported everywhere, and commonly known in the industry that the video encoding on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD uses the same compression, the same bit-rate, the same video codec.
Blu-Ray is more capable of better sound. But as of right now, they’re both locked down into the same bit rate and encoding – by the studios….
So I guess your eyes are seeing something superior to Blu-Ray that NO OTHER EXPERT has reported?
Your head must still be delirious from that previous smack down I gave you last time. Better go sit down.
In between creative gigs, when the work is slow, I pay the bills as a sales consultant for a boutique high end home theatre store in Los Angeles. I have sold and put together packages that range in the six to seven figures. Many of my clients are high end filmmakers and producers themselves.
When dealing with such high level accounts, with people familiar with the technology, you better know your shit. I am telling you. 1080p is a hustle that cannot be seen unless you’re sitting more than 10 feet back and have a 50″ or larger screen, or four feet in where no one should sit when watching HD.
And if 720p is such low quality, (it is still HD after all)than why is EVERY SINGLE Playstation 3 game, save for Dragon’s Lair, only available and output at 720p?
That’s right. Currently, not one next gen game for the PS3 is 1080p… (This goes back to that onboard video ram issue. They can’t keep a framerate of even 30fps at 1080p)
So, if you’re hung up on 1080p, I would invest in a XBox 360. As that machine has the storage space to download a lot of content (if you get the elite), and the games are true 1080p .
Sorry, Mutinyco. Though I’d love to try whatever it is your smoking….
JeffMCM, curious as to what you think of Razor. Do you watch BSG?
Sorry for the double post.
My wife got me a very beautiful DKNY watch, and a new 160gb Ipod Classic (yes, I’m that much of a music junkie). As for films, I got:
DVD:
La Mala Ordina
Il Boss
Astropia (a local film. Quite good)
Blu-Ray:
Eyes Wide Shut
Full Metal Jacket
Robocop
Rocky
Crank
HD-DVD:
Children of Men
Miami Vice
And THX, you’re quite wrong that there is no difference between 720p and 1080p, except on 50+
forgot, I also got on blu-ray the Blade Runner: Ultimate 5 disc set, which is a thing of true beauty. It felt like I was seeing the film for the first time (a claim I make for quite a few high def titles)
One more thing. It’s true Petaluma, the early days of each new format, you mostly get action films and the more brainless stuff. That’s what the early adopters want, stuff that shows off their HT equipment. As more people buy into it however, you start to get more quality films. It just takes a little while.
In the next couple of months for instance, on blu-ray, already announced are:
Pan’s Labyrinth
Life of Brian
3:10 to Yuma
Gone Baby Gone
Run Lola Run
Seventh Seal
HD-DVD has:
Into the Wild
Zodiac
Eastern Promises
Pan’s Labyrinth as well.
So there are a lot of cool titles coming out in high definition. It’s a good time to be a movie fan.
I need a new iPod, so much so that I was actually disappointed when the iPod I thought I had lost showed up a day later. I had psyched myself up to getting a 80gig iPod (just for music, I don’t watch crap on those things) but then I found it and realised I had no logical reason to spend so much money.
I’m down to half a gig left on my current iPod. My 750+ cds take up a lot room.
THX,
As somebody who SHOOTS 720p on a regular basis, I can tell you with a great degree of experience that it doesn’t compare to 1080p. It just doesn’t. The difference between the two is nearly as great as the difference between standard 640×480 NTSC and 720.
Secondly, I’m not the only person who’s claimed Blu-Ray looks better. That’s hardly a radical observation. The fact is, even if they’re both using VC-1 or AVC or even mpeg2, the disks are still translating the files through different technologies. If they were exactly the same there wouldn’t be a format war. And certain studios wouldn’t have gone Blu-Ray off the bat, since the HD-DVD transition truly is more pragmatic, as it’s built on an already standard system.
The fact is, you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. So stop talking.
I rented the “Eastern Promises” dvd yesterday. Viggo deserves whatever nominations he receives. Very impressive performance.
The bonus material has some stuff about the tattoos all over his body and what they mean. At one point they are painting the tattoos on him and he says something that the subtitle gives as “not staggering,” but I heard it as “Rod Steigering” in reference to Steiger’s full-body tattoos in “The Illustrated Man.” Have any of you watched this yet, and what do you think?
Adorian, I rented EP, too, but only thought it was okay. The gangster/twist didn’t do much for me, as it seems like a plot I’ve seen in plenty of other gangster movies. However all the details of the Russian mob and the tattoos were really cool, and elevated it above your average gangster movie. And the one knife fight was downright vicious (in a good way). I enjoyed it for those aspects more than anything else, but I’m glad I waited to rent it and din’t pay full theater price for it.
“As somebody who SHOOTS 720p on a regular basis, I can tell you with a great degree of experience that it doesn’t compare to 1080p. It just doesn’t.”
Actually, the sense in which THX is comparing 720p and 1080p (that is, the disctinction seen with the eyeballs of the average joe), the two modes do compare. They just do. 😉 I’ve read research to this affect. The difference the average person sees up to a certain viewing distance is negligible.
Comparing 720 to 1080 is like comparing super-16 to 35mm. There is a very obvious difference.
If it didn’t make a difference Hollywood would’ve adopted 720 over 1080 — it would keep storage costs down. As it is, a lot of people aren’t even happy with 1080 and won’t shoot digital until 4k becomes standardized. Why? Because there’s a difference.
The only people who would support a 720 platform are people like Microsoft who want to own the download business. And they know 1080 would result in negligible file sizes, so it makes sense to confuse people by telling them 720 is no different than 1080.
Just as a very basic example, going over to Apple trailers and clicking on the Wall-E HD trailer…
480p = 42 MB
720p = 99 MB
1080p = 179 MB
As you can see, at each level the file size nearly doubles. The videos are exactly the same content, just different resolutions.
To say any difference is negligible is negligent.
I think bragging about gifts one has received is unseemly.
Okay Mutinyco,
First: I’m not impressed with your brag that you shoot on 720p on a regular basis.
Anyone can easily purchase one of these new mini HD cams at Best Buy and now saying their shooting at 720p; so until I see some credits, consider me not thinking you an authority on the matter.
(Now, if you do have some credits, then we can put away our knives and talk about a paying a gig. I need a good DP that knows how to light for digital)
And your analogy between 16mm and 35mm is a poor one.
I didn’t state there wasn’t a difference between 1080p and 720p…
What I said was, most consumer eyes cannot see the difference between 720p and 1080p on a screen 50″ or smaller. Or unless they sit four feet in from the screen (not an optimal viewing area)
The pixels can only fit so tightly into a screen space until the difference is negligible.
Dude, you’re just still pissed because you douched Batman as being a one dimensional character, and I dutifully smacked you on it.
Get over it.
THX, speaking of douches, it’s you right now. Because you don’t know who you’re talking to.
This chart is quite useful:
http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.html
You can see from this that my assertion bears out. You would clearly be able to see the benefit of 1080p on a 42
Really?
Do you know who you’re talking to?
God, it is so easy to play that game.
Since you’re implying that you’re someone of importance while playing in this thead:
If you’re someone important, than get on the striking lines with the writers, and along with every other real talent that fights for fair compensation for artistry and creativity and then kindly STFU.
If you play for the other team, than cut the writers a fair deal so we can all go back to work and then kindly STFU.
And finally, if you’re trying to imply that you being of importance because I don’t know who you are, could affect or damage my career here in “Hollywoodland”
Um, the Canadian dollar and the Euro are both eclipsing the US dollar right now, and there is tons of foreign capital out there willing to invest and let the filmmaker compose the piece as they see fit. I know because I’m in the middle of closing such a deal.
And if the piece is good enough and marketable enough it will sell for distribution. And I make movies that target that coveted 18-34yr old demographic, so again, not worried.
So, I really don’t have to sweat you either way.
Now, if you happen to be someone of creative respect and stature and a real talent, I’m sure I’m a fan of you in real life and will happily send you an email kissing your ass to your appeasement, for so emotionally taxing you in this thread.
A nice holiday thread, where I was just trying to help some fellow souls understand all the differences before making a huge investment in a gaming console for a HD movie player.
But I don’t know who you are, so I can’t do that.
Bottom line, you still douched Batman. 😉
Wow. That was a fun read.
Best strategy for dealing with blowhards: Silence.
Enjoy Hollywoodland.
Blowhard?
I’m not the one going around saying
“Do you know who I am?”
Which is essentially what you just did.
Buddy, in this moment you are like school on Sunday…No class.
The loser in this “debate”: humanity.
Thank you, Wrecktum.
THX. Stop talking now. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re talking to somebody who does.
And by asking if you knew who I was, it was not a display of ego. It was because you were saying things to me that made me curious as to whether you knew. Because there are people here, including the blog’s owner, who know me.
Just quit.
I think mutiny has a fair point. He didn’t say “do you know who I am”, but rather “you don’t know who you’re talking to”. The guy has his clips regularly posted on Movie City News, and regardless of whether or not you’re impressed by his work, he’s not just some guy who picked up a camera at Best Buy.
That being said, I’m not sure that 90% of us here want to talk about HD in that kind of detail, not to mention games.
I finally saw Juno today and was only impressed by the actors (esp. Ellen Page) and Reitman’s ability to pull everything together and make it work. The script’s barrage of too-cutesy witticisms were so cringe-worthy and unnatural I can’t believe Diablo Cody is winning awards over Judd Apatow’s much more intelligent, insightful, and human script for Knocked Up.
Anyone wanna talk about that?
Wrec; it’s sharing not bragging. The loser of this debate is not humanity. It’s Laurie Pepridge of 19884 Monscosci Ln in Hovan, Minnesota. She had THX placing, and lost out to Mutiny’s declarations of anti-haterratization.
lazarus,
Well, I’ve seen and enjoyed both films, but only one is on my top ten. I saw Juno at Telluride, and the audience reaction was pretty astounding — so much laughter that we almost missed some of the lines because of it. It was the one film being buzzed about above all the other excellent films there, and that speaks to the fact that the film just works. Juno’s personality — and much of how she talks — is just Diablo Cody channeling her own manner of thinking and speaking into her script.
I get that some folks don’t like the style or find the dialog unnatural, but you know, when my oldest daughter and her friends were teens, their banter was not much different than the verbal thrust-and-parry of the characters in Juno. I liked Knocked Up just fine, but it didn’t really stick with me all that much, and I probably won’t watch it again. Juno, I’ve seen four times and will probably watch again.
Lazarus, I agree with you. The movie has that hipster indie thing going for it, that just calls attention to how quirky and clever it is. Juno just didn’t seem like a real person to me– just a quip dispenser.
I thought the movie improved quite a bit when Garner and Bateman showed up. A movie about those two might have been more interesting.
I agree that Knocked Up was better. It had some shortcomings, too, but it seemed to have been written by somebody with a little more perspective on the world.
And then again, there are those of us who will put both films — Juno and Knocked Up — on a Top Ten of 2007 list.
Any movie that marries J.K. Simmons to Allison Janney is fine in my book. So much so that I wish they’d do it in real life and produce a race of highly entertaining character actors.
I enjoyed the film. The lingto chafed a few times, but I enjoyed a great deal of it. And at its heart it’s a terribly sweet film. (I’m surprised Nicol isn’t championing this film considering it allows a pro-lifer to have a little credence. And the parents are well rounded and not just dolts. And it actually makes a rather endearing case for parenthood. Ah, well.)
I wouldn’t pull an Ebert and call it the best film of the year, but it was a good time at the movies.
And Christmas treated me very well in the film and travel department with no presents that would ignite output arguments here. Peace on Earth all the way.
Yes, L.B., it had a heart, and I thought there were some great human moments mixed in with all the too-clever stuff. But who really says things like “Honest to blog”? It just came off as way too forced; luckily Ellen Page is good enough of an actress to surpass the material she’s been given and flesh it out into something heartbreaking. By comparison, the roommates in Knocked Up were just as gabby, but they felt a lot more natural, and you weren’t picturing the screenwriter winking behind them with each line. I found Diablo Cody charming as a guest on Letterman but her writing is annoying as fuck.
Another thing that really irked me was the indie-rock soundtrack. What the fuck was that? Juno and Jason Bateman’s characters are totally into music, but the bands they talk about are classic rock/80’s pre-alternative, etc, and yet we get this lightweight folky crap running through the film, culminated in that awful meta-ending with Cera and Page duetting on the song we’ve already heard like 3 times. It made me want to gag.
Juno does not have the cathartic or looney qualities of Little Miss Sunshine, the natural wit and maturity of Knocked Up, or the imagination and poetry of Ghost World. It’s not a bad film, but this shouldn’t be in the running for any kind of awards, with the exception of Page and Garner.
Only DVD set I got was the only I asked for: Blade Runner ultimate collection. Nice little set for a great flick. 5 discs worth to go through, and for once I may actually take the time to do so.
And to anyone who got The Wire, enjoy. I’m waiting until the series is done, and then that’s a set I’ll definitely purchase. Love that show.
You bring up good points, lazarus. The cutesy dialogue bugged me now and then, but the cast made it work I thought. And I didn’t buy that Juno was such a 70s punk fan. It didn’t jibe with other details. The writing in KU was definitely a lot smoother and more natural (and funnier). Still and so, I enjoyed it. Though I think after reading a lot of “Diablo Cody is the devil” posts lately, I may have just been more surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did. But I like it a lot more than LMS.
Also, like I said, Simmons and Janney buy a lot of indulgence from me. I’m a sucker for them, I tell you. Overall, for me, it was a decent script, good movie, and a great cast. I’d much rather see an Oscar go to Apatow (or Pegg and Wright, but that’s a hopeless dream as much as it pains me to say it).
Juno is nothing more than a Gilmore Girls fan fic written by a woman copying another woman’s style. How Hollywood could blow so much smoke up Cody’s ass, when they already have the two much more talented Palladinos — remains a freakin mystery to me.
I haven’t seen Juno – not out here yet – but some of the best dialogue ever written (and spoken) wasn’t exactly “realistic”. While I’m not comparing the two (lord no), but can you ever imagine someone saying “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night” in real life (outside of actually quoting the movie) and so on.
And, just for the record, young people can be just as quick-witted as adults ya know.
Thing is, I can believe a diva actress like Margo Channing would say something like that. Juno, which on the surface appears going
for indie realism, rings more false. All I offer in evidence is the first time Juno and her best friend talk on the phone. You tell me if anyone talks in puns like that, every exchange a punch-line. I know witty kids, I was also one of them, and I just don’t buy it. It’s blog-speak, and Cody should stick to writing columns.
Juno was way better than Gilmore Girls, in that its aim was at everyone and not solely at teenage girls. The lingo was annoying for the first 20 minutes or so, but I loved it from that point on. And as I enjoyed the Camera Obscurra and Belle & Sebastian of the soundtrack, I didn’t really mind that it didn’t go with what the characters were talking about. It more went with the tone of the film rather than the interests of these two characters. And as Juno says about Sonic Youth at one point: It’s just noise.
I’d put it on the same level as Little Miss Sunshine, which was a movie I enjoyed and will watch again and again, though I didn’t really care whether it won Best Picture or not. I liked Juno more than Knocked Up in that I found it funny and endearing, two qualities I couldn’t find with a flashlight in Knocked Up. I’d want to spend time with the people in Juno, which I can’t say the same for KU.
There are two Palladinos?
I liked Juno marginally better than Knocked Up primarily because it was breezier and didn’t feel as weighed down by ‘meaning of life’ pretensions, I enjoyed them both but neither will be on my top ten list.
Juno is like this year’s Little Miss Sunshine to me. Overwhelmingly positive early praise will lead to a very polarized opinion in forums like this one. But while I didn’t like either film, I didn’t find anything to strongly dislike in them, either. They were just… middling.
Oddly, the hardest thing in the midst of a discussion like this is to refrain from developing a strong opinion in retrospect. It’s kind of a challenge to stand by one’s middle-of-the-road opinion.
I’ve been surprised by all the Little Miss Sunshine/Juno comparisons, particularly because, to my eyes, LMS suffers greatly in comparison.
I found that film cutesy and synthetic (it totally lost me when they stole the corpse), whereas Juno feels fresh, immediate and real, and genuinely considers the inner lives of each of its core characters (unlike LMS, which mostly used Alan Arkin as a joke and ignored Toni Collette).
As for the argument that “no one talks like that”: Have you heard the way most teenagers really talk? If you want to listen to that for two hours, rent a Larry Clark movie.
…or I can rent a film that’s not verite yet manages to not be phoney. A lot of grey area there, Rob. Forget Knocked Up or LMS, even Superbad was better written than Juno. How about Ghost World, Thumbsucker, The Squid and the Whale, Rocket Science, etc. All these films had a better ear for the way kids speak and were still clever.
Look, I thought all the Bateman/Garner/Simmons/Janney stuff was great. I just thought most of the main character’s dialogue was a little too precious. Apparently a lot of people have fallen for the hype and P.R. and think it’s really funny and creative, but to me Cody wants Juno to talk like Cody blogs, and to me it’s sloppy.
Not a bad film, just not Oscar-worthy, especially when compared with these other youth-oriented films. That’s all.
I sort of like the comparisons between Cody and Kevin Smith better than the comparisons to a lot of the films Lazarus mentioned. Both write dialog that sounds distinct and is clever, but not very realistic, and you either buy into that as an artistic conceit or you don’t.
The only thing is that Cody (right now) is writing about genuine characters and issues and Kevin Smith hasn’t done that for years. That’s why Juno is getting the attention that Chasing Amy did years ago.
Me; Gilmore Girls wasnt geared at girls. It was geared at everybody. Ponderous, man. Freakin ponderous.
IO, I actually agree with you. Gilmore Girls is a fantastic show and the reason it works better than Juno is because we understand why the characters act the way they do. Rory Gilmore is familiar with Soupy Sales because she was raised by an eccentric mother, who was in turn shunning a moneyed lifestyle. Juno, on the other hand, why would she know who Soupy Sales is?
I liked Juno, but I thought the dialogue was way too precious and I don’t understand why it’s been so lauded. It’s basically Saved, but with way less Jesus and if all the characters acted like Macauley Culkin and Eva Amurri.
Noah… HIGH FIVE!
Noah, I agree also re: Gilmore Girls. Granted they had the luxury of developing those character over a long time, but you never feel they’re pulling those references out of thin air. Also, when they make jokes, it doesn’t seem too clever for spur of the moment, over and over again.
Me: I agree that we’re better comparing Cody with Kevin Smith, but Clerks and Mallrats didn’t receive awards attention. Chasing Amy is where Smith’s writing evolved and wasn’t so contrived anymore. The film was just as moving as Juno, but there was no awards talk for that film. If Cody gets the cutesy-clever out of her system, mabye she has a Chasing Amy in her, but with all this positive reinforcement why would she bother. Suckers are lapping it up, and all that remains is for AMPAS or the Writer’s Guild to crown her Prom Queen. Hopefully someone will put a stop to the madness–if Michael Clayton is indeed a major contender than maybe Gilroy will at least get the booby prize.
I’m gonna pull a Lex here and say…you Gilmore Girls loving dudes should have your man card revoked. That show is soooo innane and irritating and cloying and lame….ugh! Just thinking about it makes my face hurt. When my wife puts it on, I leave the house. Granted, I’m usually looking for any excuse to leave the house, but when it’s G Girls related, I mean it.
I tried watching GGs after hearing all the excitement, and made it about halfway through the first season. The dialog is good and funny, but the values, themes, stories and tone were all aimed as wish fulfillment for teenage girls. I have no problem with anyone of any age or gender who enjoyed the show, but please don’t say that the show was aimed at everyone – it clearly wasn’t.
As for Chasing Amy, it was up for at least one Golden Globe and there was Oscar buzz about it, but it never materialized, for whatever reason. I hope Cody develops and doesn’t turn into current Kevin Smith, but that’s still up in the air.
ME, I don’t think there’s a single article of media that is aimed at everyone. I appreciate your reasons for not enjoying it, but I get awful sick of people saying that it would be odd for men to enjoy a show based around two women. As if I couldn’t possibly glean any insight from or enjoy watching the travails of two modern women without there being scenes of explosions or lesbian action.
Noah, I think every show and movie is aimed at a specific demographic, and if it hits beyond that mark, it does all the better (see Spider-Man’s appeal beyond comicbook fans). I never said you anyone shouldn’t enjoy it. I can see why people who aren’t girls could like it (especially with some of the wittiest dialog this side of Aaron Sorkin). I couldn’t enjoy it, because I ultimately found that it was all geared around themes, tones and wish fulfilment that I wasn’t that interested in experiencing.
The only reason I’m making the argument is that someone said Juno was like GGs, and I wanted to point out that Juno clearly wasn’t aimed at teenage girls the way GGs was, and shot for a different audience, using different tones, themes, etc.
You’re right in that it was aimed at younger women, but the success of the show is partly due to the fact that it transcended that audience over the course of its airing. Of course Juno is going to have a wider demographic because people are a lot less discerning about the films they’ll go to see than they are about which TV shows they watch. If there was a show about a pregnant high school girl and her quirky friends and family it wouldn’t be hitting all those same marks.
Juno ISN’T like GG at all, for the record. The Palladinos write rapid-fire dialogue with a lot of pop culture references, whereas Cody, again, is trying to make young people talk like her blog posts. Stylistically they’re pretty far apart.
Peta; you try to revoke my man card, and I beat you upside the head with my COMPLETE SERIES boxset of GG. Come on. I’LL PAY YOU TO DO IT! (Only Noah will get that joke… hopefully).
Me; you are so full of shit that’s not even funny. There’s no need to share niceties with you because GG had nothing to do with teenage girl wish fulfilment. Apparently in your world… folks do not want to achieve more in life.
Finally Peta; you summed up your own posts pretty damn well. Too bad it never had anything in common with Gilmore Girls.
Gilmore Girls?
yeah…Gilmore…Gimmie More…David Gilmoure
David Gilmore?
What, hit a wall?
Jeff Gilmore?
Sundance Kid
Settle down Butch Cassidey
Oh, o.k. lover of all things David Cassidy.
Whatever.
Hah.
Whee.
Thus, I now end my interpretation of every episode of the Gilmore Girls. Thank you.
Wow, I thought David Rosenthal was bad.
Mutinyco,
Until you show some credits, you’re just another anonymous poster who is full of shit.
Lots of people know Dave, that doesn’t mean anything, After working here for awhile you realize it comes to be a very small town.
You have not shown in any way to be correct in this issue or any other.
What you did show was poor display of social skills and emotional intelligence.
By trying to claim that if I knew your identity, I would no doubt bow to your superiority on “HD resolution” does reek of playing the “Do you know who I am card.”
Again, $400 is a lot of money. I was just trying to help those maximize their purchase that were just going to blindly buy a PS3 cause of it’s brand name.
You jumped in and picked a bone cause your feelings were still smarting over our last encounter in another thread. You used this as way just to get at me, and I called you on it.
If I really cared, I would link all the articles from the professionals that say you’re full of shit, but I don’t. I have real work to do.
Now, let’s just agree to disagree and ignore each other.
God, I can only wonder if these are your social skills and how you respond to discourse, what you must be like to work with on set….
“Hey, mutinyco, can we try this lens for this shot?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, so just shut the fuck up”
“Right. Thanks! This is gonna be a geat movie!”
Good riddance.
Laz; WORD.
“Juno, on the other hand, why would she know who Soupy Sales is?”
…perhaps she watches Gilmore Girls.
And that is how you wrap up a conversation. Thanks folks. Have a good evening.