Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[captveg]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

They still need to get money to make the movies

True, but the direction they are heading in for the next one was where they had planned to go all along. I think, if anything, the camera work turned off people to QoS more than anything else (something I personally have no problem with, but I'm in the minority on being passive about the so-called "shaky cam"). After all, the villain's plot and some of the stunts/gadgetry were nearly as ridiculous as any other typical Bond film.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by captveg

True, but the direction they are heading in for the next one was where they had planned to go all along. I think, if anything, the camera work turned off people to QoS more than anything else (something I personally have no problem with, but I'm in the minority on being passive about the so-called "shaky cam"). After all, the villain's plot and some of the stunts/gadgetry were nearly as ridiculous as any other typical Bond film.

Not o much for me, but it was the friggin' cutaways every 1 1/2 seconds. I'd think even people with severe ADD would complain! Here's an idea, how about letting a shot last more than 2 seconds so the audience gets an idea what's happening! Compare the editing of that film to Casino Royale and you get the idea. QoS made me miss Martin Campbell big time and my only complaint with that film was shooting Super35 rather than 'scope Panavsion. BOND = CINEMASCOPE!

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Penton thought it was delicious, so the latter

It's a conspiracy against me!!!

Just remember, payback sucks.

[SpaceDog]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

They need to look at Bond films like "Goldeneye", "License To Kill", and "Goldfinger" (among others) on how to make a more "traditional" Bond.

Just because DAD made the most money doesn't mean the people liked it more! DAD is the only Bond movie I've seen in theaters, but it was because I had free tickets from Circuit City, and I never owned it at home until the Blu-ray came out and I got it for $9.99 at Target.

~Alan

DAD was awful. It's sad it was the last Brosnan bond. I favor Tomorrow Never Dies first and Goldeneye second with him. License to Kill surprised me. I had always sort of written off the Dalton Bonds sight unseen.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Esox50

It's a conspiracy against me!!!

Just remember, payback sucks.

Only if you’re a good amateur videographer, my friend.
Otherwise, all I’ll say is.....Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

[jaaguir]

I liked QoS more than CR. I'm not talking about the shooting and editing style, in that regard I can go with either one.
I'm talking about story construction, pacing and the plot itself. CR starts to drag in the middle, then it goes on too long, it gets embarrasingly corny in the love scenes, and I could never buy what Eva Green's character does at the end. If you're going to turn Bond towards "serious" drama, at least make good drama. They just meshed the usual "bigger than life" action (slightly toned down) scenes that are a trademark of the saga, with "deep" (must be, because the actors look so serious and frowning...) soap-opera dramatics.
QoS is much more leaner, straight to the point, completely unsentimental, much more entertaining. I loved its tone. It made the "seriousness" work for me.

DAD is my favourite Brosnan Bond, it's a lot of fun. The movie looks great and has interesting villains. It just goes for extravagant plot ideas and characters, to match the usual outlandish action scenes (which are great) of the saga. I can take soap-opera in this context. Not when I'm supposed to take the movie seriously. I think people need to have more sense of humour about this one.
Goldeneye is my least favourite Brosnan but only because of Eric Serra's godawful score, which deserved to get him banned from movie scoring forever and ever. It's mind-boggling.

Just my opinions of course.

[davcole]

Originally Posted by SpaceDog

DAD was awful. It's sad it was the last Brosnan bond. I favor Tomorrow Never Dies first and Goldeneye second with him. License to Kill surprised me. I had always sort of written off the Dalton Bonds sight unseen.

I was pissed when Pierce got let go after DAD, that certainly is no way to go out.

I can't believe i'm hearing talk of gadgets and stuff. To their producers they wanted to go in a new direction, it would be a shame to go backwards. The Craig Bond's have been some of the best of the series. I can go with lightening up, but don't re-insert the gadgets, that day is over with.

[kpkelley]

Hey Bill,

Now that Favre has signed, when is the Vikings elimination party going to be?

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by kpkelley

Hey Bill,

Now that Favre has signed, when is the Vikings elimination party going to be?

Yeah, and for those of you in fantasy football leagues that include individual defensive players, you can upgrade all of the Bears, Packers, and Lions defensive backs. There will be more INTs to go around in all of those divisional games this year with Favre chucking the ball in Minny. 20+ INTs is a lock.

[DarkDune]

Hey Digital Bits ...

What do you think of the price-drop for the PS3 to $299? Think it will be a catalyst to shoot Blu-ray into the stratosphere?

I think at that price more and more "on-the-fence" people will consider picking one up as their first Blu-ray player -- IMHO of course.

Has there been any buzz on this news in the film industry?

[Braktastic]

Originally Posted by Esox50

Yeah, and for those of you in fantasy football leagues that include individual defensive players, you can upgrade all of the Bears, Packers, and Lions defensive backs. There will be more INTs to go around in all of those divisional games this year with Favre chucking the ball in Minny. 20+ INTs is a lock.

Sage Rosnefels would have been a better player for fantasy purposes, and would probably throw less interceptions too. And that's pretty damn hard to believe if any of you recall Rosenfels game against the Colts last year where he deftly snatched defeat from the claws of victory.

[Jeff Kleist]

What do you think of the price-drop for the PS3 to $299? Think it will be a catalyst to shoot Blu-ray into the stratosphere?

I think at that price more and more "on-the-fence" people will consider picking one up as their first Blu-ray player -- IMHO of course.

Has there been any buzz on this news in the film industry?

Not especially. Getting sub-$150 Blu-ray players is a far bigger thing right now. The people who will buy decent numbers of movies who might be interested in a PS3 already have one. As much as existing PlayStation fans want to push it, a lot more people want a player and not a game system, no matter what its multimedia capabilities. The biggest thing is bundling the players with new HDTV purchases, and offering disc bundles to encourage existing owners to do the upgrade. The price drop is far more important to SCE and keeping their third parties happy than anything else.

That's how I see it anyway.

Don't forget that over half the people playing current gen consoles are doing so on SDTVs. Those people aren't going to drop the extra cash for Blu-ray for the most part.

[Uxi]

Goldeneye remains one of my favorite Bond movies with far-fetched, yet still plausible, action and gadgetry. Only part I liked about Die Another Day was the intro, which was one of the best intros of any Bond movie with it's chase and action. The rest of the movie was pretty bad, though.

Casino Royale was pretty good, though I think a bit overrated. Definitely far too melodramatic on the romance subplot. It had some gadgetry where it needed it. Quantum was just... bad. I didn't mind the villain so much though the main villain was pretty cheesy. Shaky cam needs to go away and die. Yesterday. The focus should have been on Quantum instead with the main villain being one rung on the ladder and that little guy holding his own in a fight with Bond was absurd.

[DarkDune]

Originally Posted by Uxi

Goldeneye remains one of my favorite Bond movies with far-fetched, yet still plausible, action and gadgetry. Only part I liked about Die Another Day was the intro, which was one of the best intros of any Bond movie with it's chase and action. The rest of the movie was pretty bad, though.

Casino Royale was pretty good, though I think a bit overrated. Definitely far too melodramatic on the romance subplot. It had some gadgetry where it needed it. Quantum was just... bad. I didn't mind the villain so much though the main villain was pretty cheesy. Shaky cam needs to go away and die. Yesterday. The focus should have been on Quantum instead with the main villain being one rung on the ladder and that little guy holding his own in a fight with Bond was absurd.

Was this posted in the right place?

[kefrank]

Originally Posted by davcole

I can't believe i'm hearing talk of gadgets and stuff. To their producers they wanted to go in a new direction, it would be a shame to go backwards. The Craig Bond's have been some of the best of the series. I can go with lightening up, but don't re-insert the gadgets, that day is over with.

I don't think anyone wants a return to the outlandish gadgetry of jetpacks and cars outfitted with oh-so-convenient features that just so happen to be exactly what's needed in a later chase scene. However, Bond is still a spy and should be using unique spy technology. Gadgets can easily work with the new direction they've taken, if handled correctly, so I guess I don't really understand your strong aversion.

[BluDomain]

Originally Posted by kefrank

.Bond is still a spy and should be using unique spy technology. ....

In other words, only documentaries should be produced.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Not especially. Getting sub-$150 Blu-ray players is a far bigger thing right now. The people who will buy decent numbers of movies who might be interested in a PS3 already have one. As much as existing PlayStation fans want to push it, a lot more people want a player and not a game system, no matter what its multimedia capabilities. The biggest thing is bundling the players with new HDTV purchases, and offering disc bundles to encourage existing owners to do the upgrade. The price drop is far more important to SCE and keeping their third parties happy than anything else.

That's how I see it anyway.

Don't forget that over half the people playing current gen consoles are doing so on SDTVs. Those people aren't going to drop the extra cash for Blu-ray for the most part.

Plus, I think the PS3 is now going to be pushed harder as a gaming system for the reasons you mentioned. Sony has a lot of ground to make up in the console race, eventhough they are not doing as bad as many 360 fanboys will have you believe, they are still in 3rd.

[Batman1980]

Jeff, how long will it be till we start seeing new blu-ray releases coming out on day one for lower than DVD prices AND how long till DVDs start coming out as only bare bones releases?

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1980

Jeff, how long will it be till we start seeing new blu-ray releases coming out on day one for lower than DVD prices AND how long till DVDs start coming out as only bare bones releases?

I'm not in the industry, but I am fairly certain we will never see that.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

I'm not in the industry, but I am fairly certain we will never see that.

I dunno, I got HMTM for $15 and the DVD's going for $20-25, granted I used a coupon. I also got Race to Witch Mountain for the same price, again used a coupon.