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.
Did you see it on VOOM in HD last night? I thought it was great!
I'll stick with my 65" 16x9 Toshiba rear-projection unit for now. It's still got several good years of hard watching left in it. :)
That movie was great eye candy.
8^>
That is very true. There's only so close you can get to the samller screens, of course, but the size of the big screen you get should be based on the size of the room it will be in. For example, the afore-mentioned 65" Toshiba looked as large as a movie theater screen from about 11 feet away, but when we re-arranged the room (new couch) to be 16 feet away, it now looks like just a huge TV (which, of course, it is).
Pairing it with a 6.1 surround system is, of course, the icing on the cake. (The TV is Mrs. kevkrom's toy... the stereo system is mine...)
I think it was HBO HD. The movie was okay, not great, IMO. Great cinematography, though. I also had a historical issue with painting the samurai as some type of noble savage good guys. The analogy to America's treatment of the Indians was kind of heavy-handed.
I thought the movie was historically based? Am I wrong.
I've heard that the intended analogy was to John Walker Lindh.
The movie isn't unhistorical, it just puts a post-modern spin on the events. Sort of like how recent movies and mini-series (including the terrible "Attila") paint the Romans as the bad guys while painting their enemies (such as the Huns) as noble.
Seriously?
That's the way some people have interpreted it. Michael Medved I think. No one can know for sure. Allegories can be tricky.
You're watching only 1/2 to 2/3rds of the film!! Do you get a discount for that? If the pic is too small, move your chair a little closer. Sheez!!
"Anybody ever see the movie where pirates find booty and it contains a bunch of laserdisks and one of the pirates says something along the lines of 'What good are these? You can't record on them.'"
"Amazon Women on the Moon", IIRC.
Thanks. I'll have to enlighten myself and learn something about the Samurai.
Problem is I wouldn't know how to set it up. With a TV, I can just plug it into the wall, stereo to the DVD output..
Like you said, allegories are tricky. I see the movie as dealing more with a rejection of modernity and a return to simpler times. A pretty common theme in literature, I guess.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE see posts 27 and 146 many regular people as in, non movie fanatics like full screen or "pan an scan." Mainly because letter box looks like crap and it's hard to watch on regular sized TVs.If I had the money to spend on a "Home Theater System" I can think of half a dozen other things I'd rather spend it on.
That was a thumbnail sketch. Japanese history, especially the period from around 1860 until 1906 (when Japan entered the world scene with a bang) is fascinating.
Good movies use the entire frame. What's missing very often alters the actual content of the scene. If a character is isloated by the director in the corner of the frame to show their alienation you will not see that if they are panned to the center of the frame. Throw on 'Rebel Without a Cause', 'Ben Hur' or 'Lawrence of Arabia'. They are literally unwatchable in 'slice and dice' (pan and scan).
You're not watching the same movie. A good director puts everything into a shot for a reason. As soon as someone messes with that, the effect of the cinematography is changed, and always for the worse.
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