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

[Jeff Kleist]

Would they dare make a Bond film without Connery? Uni sees this as their Bond They're already talking prequel/origin movie

Me I think that Damon is likely to go one more, but only after Greengrass gives the blessing

[kpkelley]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

They're already talking prequel/origin movie.

That kind of defies the point of the films/books, doesn't it?

[PaulGo]

NBC gives thumbs down to Apple 99-cent show rentals

http://broadcastengineering.com/RF/n...tals-20101005/

Gee I wonder why they did that? You don't suppose it has anything to do with Comcast's acquisition of NBCU.

[Jeff Kleist]

Cause they already cut a deal with GoogleTV

[Objectivity]

I just wanted to take a moment to express my outrage regarding today's release of Last of the Mohicans. Daniel Day-Lewis is so heavily DNR'd on the cover you'd think he was a Ken doll. I am so frustrated I may not even unwrap the disk and play it.

[Jeff Kleist]

Well, how else are you going to achieve your nap?

[Objectivity]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Well, how else are you going to achieve your nap?

Not a fan of the movie?

Seriously though. I'm excited to watch it when my schedule calms down. I don't think the original version was ever released on DVD and while this is still altered, it seems like this revised director's cut restored a lot of the material that fans wanted back in.

[MerrickG]

The Exorcist is one awesome bluray.

I am also enjoying the Robocop trilogy.

Jeff,

When is the embargo on the Alien ANthology bluray going to be lifted? I am VERY curious, although I pretty much know that its going to get tons of well deserved praise.

[Jeff Kleist]

Not a fan of the movie?

Michael Mann is a high concept director whose movies look good in the trailer and are then exceedingly boring in actual practice. The Insider is the only movie of his I ever genuinely liked. I have finally broken myself from seeing his stuff in the theater because that way I can piece it out over several days. He has so much good stuff, he really needs to learn to tighten up his pictures. I mean, he's the creator of Miami Vice, how the hell did he manage to make that movie boring? Ali, loved bits and pieces of it, and suffered through the rest. Heat-awful film built entirely on getting Pacino and DeNiro together and a pretty cool gunfight (other 2 hours deathly dull). Manhunter, I've seen most of the movies he's ever done praying he finds an editor. He can be good, but he needs someone to sit next to him and make sure he stops drinking decaf

[Deadset]

Originally Posted by aygie

Just saw this post, any updates would be really appreciated as Cowboy Bebop is one of my all time favourite anime series.

I'll second that. Anything on Cowboy Bebop is welcome news

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Michael Mann is a high concept director whose movies look good in the trailer and are then exceedingly boring in actual practice. The Insider is the only movie of his I ever genuinely liked. I have finally broken myself from seeing his stuff in the theater because that way I can piece it out over several days. He has so much good stuff, he really needs to learn to tighten up his pictures. I mean, he's the creator of Miami Vice, how the hell did he manage to make that movie boring? Ali, loved bits and pieces of it, and suffered through the rest. Heat-awful film built entirely on getting Pacino and DeNiro together and a pretty cool gunfight (other 2 hours deathly dull). Manhunter, I've seen most of the movies he's ever done praying he finds an editor. He can be good, but he needs someone to sit next to him and make sure he stops drinking decaf

I actually like Heat but I can agree that Mann doesn't make the most exciting movies, Red Dragon is infinitely better than Manhunter, if only because Anthony Hopkins was way ahead of Brian Cox in the lead role and Ed Norton was much better than Petersen as well.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Michael Mann is a high concept director whose movies look good in the trailer and are then exceedingly boring in actual practice. The Insider is the only movie of his I ever genuinely liked. I have finally broken myself from seeing his stuff in the theater because that way I can piece it out over several days. He has so much good stuff, he really needs to learn to tighten up his pictures. I mean, he's the creator of Miami Vice, how the hell did he manage to make that movie boring? Ali, loved bits and pieces of it, and suffered through the rest. Heat-awful film built entirely on getting Pacino and DeNiro together and a pretty cool gunfight (other 2 hours deathly dull). Manhunter, I've seen most of the movies he's ever done praying he finds an editor. He can be good, but he needs someone to sit next to him and make sure he stops drinking decaf

Have to disagree with the comments about Heat. I loved every minute of it. Same with Collateral.

Miami Vice was pretty good but like you said it needed to be paced much better. Public Enemies is not very good as far as I'm concerned. It was one of the few blindbuy blurays I wish I hadn't bought.

[Vincent Pereira]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Stormcrow

I actually like Heat but I can agree that Mann doesn't make the most exciting movies, Red Dragon is infinitely better than Manhunter, if only because Anthony Hopkins was way ahead of Brian Cox in the lead role and Ed Norton was much better than Petersen as well.

Disagree vehemently. Norton is very miscast in RED DRAGON and IMO Hopkins has degraded to doing a parody of Lecter by that film. It's also very flatly directed(but then again, what Brett Hackner film isn't). The only parts of RED DRAGON I like are the scenes with Fiennes and Watson, who are both terrific and bring something new to the adaptation compared to Mann's version.

I think Cox is a terrific Lecter- a different take on the character than Hopkins but terrific in his own right. I also think Peterson's distanced performance perfectly fits the character of Will Graham. I'm a big fan of MANHUNTER and will take it any day of the week ahead of the flat and mostly uninteresting RED DRAGON.

Vincent

[Doctorossi]

Anybody playing Halo: Reach? I'm avoiding spoilers, as I'm not quite through the campaign yet, but yeesh... Who's responsible (or, rather, irresponsible) for the friendly AI in this game? My god is it terrible! I mean, C title circa 1992 terrible. In all the previous Halo games, I quickly got used to my teammates being useless and learned immediately not to rely on them for anything. This time, they're actively (hyperactively!) an impediment and in the way.

Last night, I played through an area that had me *this* close to popping about 8 soldiers with a sniper rifle because I knew the level would be much easier to complete with them out of the way. When they're not picking their nose while an enemy sets up camp literally two feet from them, or shouting "Area secure!" while standing next to a live enemy tank, they're waiting 'til I pull the trigger and running in front of my bullets. These clowns haven't been this terrible since Halo 2, when they loved to snag the nearest abandoned Ghost and hastily ram it into your thighs or the neighboring Warthog.

/rant

[Uxi]

Noone does realistic gunfights like Mann. Heat is his masterpiece of course, with Collateral and Miami Vice behind them. Miami Vice had a bunch of problems. The romance subplot was unnecessary and felt tacked on and a bit absurd to me, for example, but I like most of the plot.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

Anybody playing Halo: Reach? I'm avoiding spoilers, as I'm not quite through the campaign yet, but yeesh... Who's responsible (or, rather, irresponsible) for the friendly AI in this game? My god is it terrible! I mean, C title circa 1992 terrible. In all the previous Halo games, I quickly got used to my teammates being useless and learned immediately not to rely on them for anything. This time, they're actively (hyperactively!) an impediment and in the way.

Last night, I played through an area that had me *this* close to popping about 8 soldiers with a sniper rifle because I knew the level would be much easier to complete with them out of the way. When they're not picking their nose while an enemy sets up camp literally two feet from them, or shouting "Area secure!" while standing next to a live enemy tank, they're waiting 'til I pull the trigger and running in front of my bullets. These clowns haven't been this terrible since Halo 2, when they loved to snag the nearest abandoned Ghost and hastily ram it into your thighs or the neighboring Warthog.

/rant

Finished the game. It was fun and I enjoyed it, but if you take the name "Halo" off of it, it becomes a "good" game that would get a score in the high 7s to mid 8s.

Before people start calling me a PS3 fanboy, I will say that Killzone, Resistance and God of War fall into this category for the PS3. Very good games on their own merits, but not quite as good as the godlike fanboy status they are given. Uncharted slightly falls into this category, but those games would still score very high for me because of their immersion and production values.

There are VERY few series that are truly worth the great reviews and hype they get.

The Mass Effect and Fallout series are such examples, but even those aren't perfect.

I don't demand that all games be elite, but they be entertaining. The Halos and the Killzones both succeed at doing that.

[Doctorossi]

I'm generally with you on scoring for Reach, but I must say I do still enjoy it a hell of a lot more than Mass Effect 1. The level design in Reach is a fantastic return to the feel of Halo 1, but the game just feels unfinished in certain areas. A/V polish is there and nothing seems glitchy, but all the behaviors just don't cut it. Not an area I ever expected to see Bungie fall behind their own standard. Maybe all the good AI programmers have left or been diverted to the next project.

[ack_bak]

Jeff or Bill,

It seems that catalog releases from certain studios (Sony, Paramount, Disney mainly) are pretty few and far between on Blu-Ray as of late. Do you have any insight as to why? Do you know if the studios are expected to pick up the pace and what they are waiting on? It seems that Warner and Universal seem pretty committed, but wondering why the other studios are so slow...

We are going to see tons of cheap BD players this holiday season, and we are seeing Iron Man 2 sell more copies on BD than DVD. I am just wondering where the commitment is for catalog titles from some of the majors.

[Jeff Kleist]

Search back in the thread, there was a big thing on it a few weeks back

[ack_bak]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Search back in the thread, there was a big thing on it a few weeks back

Thanks Jeff. I did search, but must have missed it.