Posted on 12/06/2004 11:15:57 AM PST by ambrose
A plea: Avoid full screen DVDs
THE "Spider-Man 2" people sent me a "full screen" copy of their snazzy blockbuster. Glass half full: It's always nice to be remembered, especially with one of the year's best films and one of the all-time great comic-book adaptations.
Glass completely empty: I hate full screen. It's like watching only part of a movie. If paintings were presented in full screen, a Mona Lisa close-up would lack ears. Or she would appear with only half a smile.
I exaggerate, but that's my job, and you get the idea.
Most DVDs let you choose between full screen or widescreen. Some give you both options of the same disc, one on either side. Others, such as "Spider-Man 2," insist you purchase one or the other. Buyer's remorse gets you no sympathy in this business. Choose widescreen.
On standard TVs, compressed widescreen, aka letterbox, versions play across the middle of the screen. Horizontal black bands appear above and below the picture.
Reportedly, many people find the black bands annoying so they opt for full screen, which is also known as pan and scan. Pan and scan is a crime against nature. Carrying the warning, "Formatted to fit your TV screen," pan and scan fills the entire screen.
But to do so, it must cut out slices of the original images the filmmaker worked so hard to create. Often, so much of the picture is trimmed that the fragmented leftovers look like visual noise.
In "Spider-Man 2," for instance, rather than the Web-slinger swinging gracefully across vast cityscapes, he appears hemmed in by narrow passageways as he swings back and forth like a repressed pendulum. Oh, the inhumanity. When Spidey and evil Doc Ock face each other in the same frame, you sometimes get half of Doc Ock addressing half of Spidey.
This is not a horror film, but it could be. At times the camera pans from one character to the other instead of allowing you to see both at the same time.
That's not the worst sin in the universe but it comes close, especially if you view movies as art.
So let somebody else watch full-screen versions; you deserve better and so do the movies.
Buyer be aware ... If you are hunting for the perfect DVD for a holiday gift, take a peek at the Home Theater compilation of "The top 100 DVDs of all time, with a new attitude." The list was printed in the August 2004 edition of the glossy.
I'll give you the top choice in each category. You can chase down the rest on www.hometheatermag.com
Best music DVD was "The Beatles Anthology." Best TV on DVD, "Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Series Limited Edition."
"The Alien Quadrilogy" was No. 1 under best extras. "Finding Nemo" earned the top slot under best video, meaning clearest image. "Saving Private Ryan DTS" was picked as best audio.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Special Extended DVD Edition" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Special Extended DVD Edition" were chosen Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in best overall DVDs.
Keep in mind that the selections were made prior to the release of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Special Extended DVD Edition." The latter comes out Dec. 14.
Around the Bay ... Five films by San Francisco residents will be screened at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, which runs Jan. 20-30 in Park City, Utah.
Announced last week, the selections include three features in the documentary competition: "The Fall of Fujimori" by Ellen Perry, "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" by Henry Rosenthal and "Romantico" by Mark Becker.
"Ballets Russes," a documentary by Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine, will be shown in the noncompetitive "special screenings" division. "The Joy of Life," an experimental film by Jenni Olson, will play in the noncompetitive "frontiers" section.
Name that film ... Don V. wants to know the name of an old "farcical comedy." Here's what he remembers; The scene is a bishop's or priest's residence office. "The featured actor (Woody Allen?) is there to make some kind of request," Don writes. "The bishop's housekeeper, way up in age, is bringing them coffee(?), and it takes forever; she is a very slow walker, and she suffers from an extreme case of flatulence but doesn't know it because she is also deaf. Ring a bell?"
Maybe. Any of you know? Call or write; you know the drill.
DVD spotlight ... The December glut begins with an eclectic array.
"The Bourne Supremacy" should satisfy those in the mood for bloodletting and blurry car chases shot with hand-held cameras. The all-action, no-substance sequel to the superior "The Bourne Identity" plays better on the small screen than on the big. And Matt Damon succeeds for the a second time (eat your heart out, Ben Affleck) as troubled, amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne. Extras include a feature titled "Blowing Things Up."
Its goofiness is the raison d'etre for the Vince Vaughn-Ben Stiller comedy "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story." Any movie built around adults playing competitive dodgeball can find a spot in my house. The disc includes a blooper reel.
"Matrix" junkies will no doubt drool over the more than 35 hours of extras included in the 10-disc "The Ultimate Matrix Collection." Isolate them from the rest of the people at your party.
Out Tuesday on DVD ... "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid," "Bandit Queen," "The Bourne Supremacy," "The Complete Pluto (Volume One)," "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story," "The Girl from Paris," "Hermitage Masterpieces," "Hi, Mom!," "How to Steal a Million," "Infernal Affairs," "Julia Child! America's Favorite Chef" and "The Love Machine."
Also: "Maria Full of Grace" (with best-actress possibility Catalina Sandino Moreno), "The Mickey Mouse Club (Week One)," "Mickey Mouse in Black and White (Volume Two)," "The Phantom of the Opera" (with Robert Englund), "Smooth Talk," "Species III," "Transfixed," "The Ultimate Matrix Collection," "Wild at Heart Special Edition" (Nicolas Cage meet David Lynch) and "Young Doctors in Love."
Mail your movie-related questions, answers or insights to The Movie Guy, c/o Bay Area Living, 4770 Willow Road, Pleasanton, CA 94588. Faxes can be sent to (925) 416-4874. E-mail The Movie Guy at bcaine@angnewspapers.com or call him at (925) 416-4806.
If you're trying to make safe copies of your movies (e.g., for young kids to use while you keep the original in a safe place), another problem is that without a dual-layer DVD burner, you may have movies that are too long to fit onto a single-layer disc without additional compression (yuck!) -- many movies will fit on a single layer, though, if you remove the audio and subtitle tracks you don't want.
Heh, heh. I never said I LIKED the movie. My kids did though... And comparing of that one scene is cinenegraphically (is there such a word?) dramatic.
I choose to buy my DVDs from dvdempire.com or amazon.com on preorder and save some $$$. I can't say that I've ever been in a pawn shop or even know where one is located.
And its L"D" not L"V".
"You have a garage?"
Yes, I do... even in Phoenix, AZ... no less...
The classic example for me was on the Siskel & Ebert show where they were doing a segment on P&S vs. LB -- they showed "the" scene from The Graduate -- the P&S version completely cropped Mrs. Robinson from the shot.
I already have and guess what if you don't know what you're missing You don't miss it Try watching Lord of the Rings in letter box on a 27" TV it sucks.I don't mind watching letterbox on some of my friends gigantic Home Theater systems but TV is just not a big enough part of my life to spend that much money on it.I resent the fact that many of these DVDs are almost unwatchable without a big screen and surround sound.
Does the ultimate Matrix set include the white rabbit feature? That was truly visionary at the time...
??????????
I thought it was just a string of unordinary good luck that every movie I rented was formatted to fit MY television.
On another note, I'm nearly half way done with the jig-saw puzzle with all the little brown pieces that form a picture of a rooster.
"I resent the fact that many of these DVDs are almost unwatchable without a big screen and surround sound."
But hey its like you stated earlier... that's what full frame VHS is for...
You're right. It IS LD. My bad.
And the pawn shop thing only works if you are in a metropolis I think. I have seven or eight of them that I drive by from time to time.
Picked up The Fifth Element last week for five bucks but it was not as good as I remember it.
Some pawn shops are going for over ten bucks per disc. I'm not interested if they want more than a dollar.
I still want to buy a used copy of The Committments but still looking. I figure it will eventually show up.
I'd pay 5 bucks for the last Matrix movie - but thats the most I would pay.
Ebert was a great proponent of LD (NOT LV). It just proves the axiom that even a stopped clock can be right twice a day - once if it's military time...
I own a couple of widescreen VHS tapes.
A word comes to mind ---- Blury.
speaking of, anyone else notice you can get a 27" TV for less than a 20" monitor? What's up with that?!? It's got me thinking of running the TV out jack on my video card to a 20" TV just for fun anyone ever try something like that?
You have nailed my one complaint about letterboxing, and why it was not very big until the 90's. It looks terrible on a small screen.
Remember, until the Mitsubishi 30" tube that came out in the early eighties (I think) at a cost of over $3,500 when $7 an hour was pretty good money, 25" was "big." Not much letterbox back then.
Hey, maybe the paint job on your car will actually last! 8^>
A used bookstore near my place of work was selling old VHS tapes for a buck a piece. Picked up Moving Violations, Steel Dawn, and The Hidden...
>>I'm not a child and don't buy "Citizen Kane" so that I can play games.<<
Hey, you haven't lived until you've sledded down a pine tree studded hill on Rosebud. 8^>
I can explain it:
A porsche Boxter costs less than a Chevy Impala. Stupid thing only seats two. 8^>
(Warning- male gloating ahead)
Why not just go out and buy a 60" lcd widescreen TV so that you can stick it to your friend who now has the second-best tv of the group and is, therefore, no longer the alpha male?
"And the pawn shop thing only works if you are in a metropolis I think."
I may live in a desert but did you realize that Phoenix AZ is the fifth largest populated city in the US?
Oh and not to dissapoint you but they rereleasing The Fifth Element soon on DVD... guess that means another trip to the pawn shop.
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