IGN reviews Van Helsing Blu-Ray (how?)

[Moonraker]

http://dvd.ign.com/articles/887/887785p1.html

Van Helsing is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen at 1080p resolution. The black and white opening kicks things off nicely with a silky smooth picture that's high in contrast and free of imperfections. The quality dips a bit once the film goes into color, but it remains at an above-average level.


I know this title was never announced by Universal. I think this throws a lot of their other reviews into question.

[IG.88]

We should all sign up for IGN.com and spread some hate on the comments section, telling her to remove the Blu-ray from her title!!!

[JadedRaverLA]

Are there not enough REAL Blu-ray movies to review that they've taken to reviewing Chinese rips of HD DVDs?

The audio portion mentions that the audio is the same DD+ 5.1 track from the HD DVD... which is especially convincing given that DD+ is only used on Blu-ray for 7.1 tracks, and because Universal is using DTS HD MA for their Blu-ray releases.

With so many great movies actually being released on Blu-ray, what's the point of "reviewing" terrible movies that aren't actually released?

[ClaytonMG]

Originally Posted by JadedRaverLA

Are there not enough REAL Blu-ray movies to review that they've taken to reviewing Chinese rips of HD DVDs?

The audio portion mentions that the audio is the same DD+ 5.1 track from the HD DVD... which is especially convincing given that DD+ is only used on Blu-ray for 7.1 tracks, and because Universal is using DTS HD MA for their Blu-ray releases.

With so many great movies actually being released on Blu-ray, what's the point of "reviewing" terrible movies that aren't actually released?

It's not a terrible movie IMO. It's just a dumb fun one with a really good score IMO.

But that's all beside the point. People are saying if she removes Blu-Ray from the title, it'll be alright... no, no it wont. As you pointed out she mentioned Dolby Digital Plus which isn't used at all on Blu-Ray (except on the Dolby Demo) and she also mentions the 1080p picture which you can't get on DVD. So either she is upconverting a DVD to 1080p and magically confusing Dolby Digital with Dolby Digital Plus, or she's just completely dumb and no one should ever read her reviews again (except for their entertainment value). I am going with the latter. It's even possible she got a bootleg DVD...

[bases1616]

Why she reviewed this movie as a BD I have no idea. It is not a Blu-ray it is a DVD. Here is the link from Amazon. It is so old that Amazon is not even selling it anymore just outside sellers.

http://www.amazon.com/Van-Helsing-Ul.../dp/B0002KVUL6

[MasterXeus]

Originally Posted by bases1616

Why she reviewed this movie 4 years after it came out I have no idea. It is not a Blu-ray it is a DVD. Here is the link from Amazon. It is so old that Amazon is not even selling it anymore just outside sellers.

http://www.amazon.com/Van-Helsing-Ul.../dp/B0002KVUL6

I believe they are reviewing this

Van Helsing Release Date: July 8, 2008

I'm not sure why IGN is saying it's on Blu-ray with 1080P though.

[redlikefire02]

i emailed her. IGN has gone down the tubes. its been like that for years now. shame really.

[OokieSpookie]

Originally Posted by IG.88

We should all sign up for IGN.com and spread some hate on the comments section, telling her to remove the Blu-ray from her title!!!

That is asinine.
Do not give them the attention and to not click on the link since it gives them hits and ad revenue.

[bases1616]

Originally Posted by OokieSpookie

That is asinine.
Do not give them the attention and to not click on the link since it gives them hits and ad revenue.

Easy there hero. IGN for games is still the best site out there. I agree there movie reviews sometimes are way off like this VH thing and The Bank Job DVD review which the author gave the movie a 4 out of 10. All the sites I have been to have been positive for that movie. Here, AVS, High Def Digiest, and Rotten Tomatoes. Some of there reviews have been right on, but yes there supervisor needs to straighten out the DVD department.

[bases1616]

Originally Posted by MasterXeus

I believe they are reviewing this

Van Helsing Release Date: July 8, 2008

I'm not sure why IGN is saying it's on Blu-ray with 1080P though.

Even if it was this movie she is talking about it as a HD movie. 1080p and DD+. I would say she was reviewing the HD DVD not a DVD. I already emailed her and told her to fix the problem before the HD gods come after her.

[JadedRaverLA]

Originally Posted by MasterXeus

I believe they are reviewing this

Van Helsing Release Date: July 8, 2008

I'm not sure why IGN is saying it's on Blu-ray with 1080P though.

I'm sure that's the release they are intending to review, but since the review is claiming it's a non-existant Blu-ray title, obviously they wrote a review without actually playing the disc. All "observations" are clearly made up. I never read their site/mag... is it their common practice to review games without playing them, too, or is that special treatment reserved for DVDs and Blu-rays?

Originally Posted by bases1616

Even if it was this movie she is talking about it as a HD movie. 1080p and DD+. I would say she was reviewing the HD DVD not a DVD. I already emailed her and told her to fix the problem before the HD gods come after her.

She compared the release TO the earlier HD DVD release. Clearly she was just making $h1t up as she went along.

Originally Posted by redlikefire02

i emailed her. IGN has gone down the tubes. its been like that for years now. shame really.

Forget emailing her, if I cared at all about the mag, I would be emailing the editor and informing him/her that one of their "reviewers" is reviewing non-existant material and clearly just making up reviews without watching or playing the actual material. If anyone cares, you can send a letter to the movie editor at http://movies.ign.com/email.html .

Again, I don't care about IGN, but this is certainly an indication of the bigger problems in journalism (especially online) at the moment. If movie reviewers don't actually bother watching movies, who's to say that the investigative reporters are actually bothering to "investigate" anything? If this alone doesn't cause you to lose faith in our media, check out Season 5 of "The Wire." Or... on second thought... don't watch it, but feel free to write and publish a review of it anyway. Apparently, that's the way to do things now.

[ryoohki]

Ign is the worst place for DVD review imho. Games review are nice, but Media review.. Lame!

[OokieSpookie]

The main problem with IGN is that they try to do too much.
Games, movies, comics, anime... who knows what else.

[thefutureofhollywood]

Originally Posted by OokieSpookie

The main problem with IGN is that they try to do too much.
Games, movies, comics, anime... who knows what else.

i agree with you, man. IGN should just tone it down to games and movies.

[Cyorg]

I went to the review, but it doesn't say blu ray anywhere on it.

[JadedRaverLA]

Originally Posted by Cyorg

I went to the review, but it doesn't say blu ray anywhere on it.

They've changed the review (though they didn't actually take it down given that it's clear that the reviewer didn't watch it). I've posted the original text here.

[kowhite]

Originally Posted by Cyorg

I went to the review, but it doesn't say blu ray anywhere on it.

They changed the title and a couple of references.

You can still see the old title here on the main page.

http://dvd.ign.com/objects/860/860104.html#reviews