"Club Penton" - Ask questions to Hollywood insider "Penton-Man"

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

You mean as per the madshi posted screenshots of Aliens?

Well, more with Alien, really- not least because that's the one I care about. And it's easier because more screens have appeared online. I wouldn't profess to remember the theatrical look- I only saw Aliens in the theatre once and, even though it was a nice, big projection of a 70mm blow-up, that was the week it was released and my aesthetic sense-memory of 1986 just ain't that good.

I'm just comparing what we've seen of the BD release to previous home video versions (which I've spent significant hours studying as, I'm sure, have most of us here), without a judgement to level about which among them may be most accurate or "correct", just an impression of the not-slight difference.

One thing I can say, though... man, that capture of the Alien opening title has my mouth watering. That's very possibly my favorite screen title sequence ever.

[pro-bassoonist]

A suggestion for our insider:

Assuming you have a Region-Free SDVD player, get yourself a copy of this film:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jack-Cardiff...=3F4GTL5GY2MHU

I finally sat down and watched it earlier tonight and immediately thought of you, Penton (true story). I have a feeling you would appreciate it a lot more than casual viewers (Or perhaps you already saw it at Cannes).

Pro-B

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Oliver, as a follow-up to cjamescook’s question to you and at the risk of providing YouTube ammunition to all those nutters who think that glasses-free 3D displays are just around the corner in terms of being available for consumers’ homes , as it’s a loooooong way from one-off prototypes displayed at shows to workable, sellable solutions in papa’s house.

I heard, in terms of content (me having the fondness of motorcycling, esp. off-road, that I do) that Germany's Fraunhofer Institute showed a 3D scene of an enduro rider in their clip demoing their glasses-free solution…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDoxqf9UPYE

Apparently, the racer wasn’t on a vintage Penton or KTM but if true, I find it gratifying that the Fraunhofer folks deemed such a sport merit-able to include it in their 3D clip, in the first place . Oliver, did you happen to see that demo?

Unfortunately I did not - I was at the IFA for about 8 hours only and barely got to see most of the projection which was my goal. The Fraunhofer institute indeed had a big exhibit but I went right through it trying to be in time for an appointment I had.

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

You mean as per the madshi posted screenshots of Aliens? Honestly, I haven’t seen Aliens in over 20 years, so I have no idea which Mise-en-scène screenshot is more accurate to the colors of the original theatrical presentation.

I think Aliens fans, or projectionist types, would be far more qualified than me to comment on the color grade of the Blu-ray edition.

However, I’m currently convinced that many videophiles don’t pay much attention to the colors of Blu-ray home video incarnations as compared to the theatrical presentations as long as three criteria are now met….
1. The color changes for home video have been *approved* by the Director.
2. The color changes now are more in line with an *eye candy* look….meaning more vivid than drab and dull.

And most importantly,

3. Pretty much all color discrepancy to theatrical is dismissed if the images are sharp as a tack with no evidence of haloing.

This is a pretty accurate observation, I would amend 3 though to include that the images should retain some kind of texture that still looks natural.

I think that the main problem with all of this is that even within the videophile community there are those that say the director can make changes and others that want something that is reasonably close to the original, so changes of the director are welcome only in very specific cases.

And even if you know which camp you are in it is often hard to know if a particular disc has the correct colors. Now I am rather certain that for Gladiator the colors were changed from the theatrical presentation I saw but I could not make such a statement for most other movies including any of the Alien movies. So in the end this is not as easy as with halos or (the lack of) film grain where we can say to a certain extant what looks plausible and what not.

[MerrickG]

I will say is that the Aliens screenshots thus far look fantastic and provide solid evidence that Aliens will have the look that James Cameron intended way back in the day.

Ya know Penton, Ive come to realize is that all of this is getting kind of nuts when it comes to trying to please the enthusiast community because they frankly don't seem to know what they want.

I'm still amazed that there were those who actually believed that Cameron didn't know what he was doing when he approved the new Alien master.

I mean watch the Titanic, T1, T2, Abyss and Aliens making of documentaries and you will see that there is NO other director more concerned with how his films are presented.

But oh well, we live in a world when (thanks to screenshot science) every little thing is going to get dissected and analyzed with a microscope and no one will be happy until they find something wrong. Once they find something wrong they will claim that it destroys the experience.

My advice is simple:

WATCH THE DAMN MOVIE. As long as it looks pleasing to the eyes in motion, dont start pressing the pause button to bring out your magnifying glass to FIND evidence of DNR. Let that stuff FIND YOU (eg. Arnold from Predator was BLATANTLY obvious)

[cjamescook]

Amen, Merrick. All of it.

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by merrick97

I will say is that the Aliens screenshots thus far look fantastic and provide solid evidence that Aliens will have the look that James Cameron intended way back in the day.

Ya know Penton, Ive come to realize is that all of this is getting kind of nuts when it comes to trying to please the enthusiast community because they frankly don't seem to know what they want.

I'm still amazed that there were those who actually believed that Cameron didn't know what he was doing when he approved the new Alien master.

I mean watch the Titanic, T1, T2, Abyss and Aliens making of documentaries and you will see that there is NO other director more concerned with how his films are presented.

But oh well, we live in a world when (thanks to screenshot science) every little thing is going to get dissected and analyzed with a microscope and no one will be happy until they find something wrong. Once they find something wrong they will claim that it destroys the experience.

My advice is simple:

WATCH THE DAMN MOVIE. As long as it looks pleasing to the eyes in motion, dont start pressing the pause button to bring out your magnifying glass to FIND evidence of DNR. Let that stuff FIND YOU (eg. Arnold from Predator was BLATANTLY obvious)

I think you are reading a bit too much into this. Cameron indeed gives the impression that he knows what he is doing and that is also the reason why many thought that indeed he had taken out all the grain in Aliens JUST LIKE HE SAID. Still most of us adopted a wait and see stance and did not even post in the numerous Alien box threads all over the internet and lo and behold it seems that all is well

Other than that I cannot see that the enthusiast community is really that demanding - most are happy with the majority of releases and when things get dissected it is often merely for fun (for example the different region releases of Gladiator and Minority Report) and sometimes unfortunately deserved (recent examples: Predator, Spartacus, Out of Africa).

You are very right about taking the stance of letting that stuff find you - I like that approach. Unfortunately there are titles where stuff finds me and I find it perfectly normal to adopt a cautious approach for example when it comes to buying classics, older catalog and in general titles from certain studios. It is much less aggravating to see what has become of Spartacus or Predator in screencaps than having paid for the disc only to find it unwatchable.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

Well, more with Alien, really- not least because that's the one I care about....

Well, that brings up another situation. If you are only interested in one of the four Alien films (which I assume many folks are of the same sentiment in that they really only care about re-watching Alien only or perhaps Alien and Aliens on Blu-ray) –

Has there been a similar online backlash to having to purchase all four Blu-rays as there has been to the poll that jw posted a little while back? -
https://forum.blu-ray.com/insider-di...ml#post3694910

Or, are people more forgiving with the marketing tactic for the Alien Anthology set? I haven’t been keeping up with that aspect of it either.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

A suggestion for our insider:

Assuming you have a Region-Free SDVD player, get yourself a copy of this film:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jack-Cardiff...=3F4GTL5GY2MHU

I finally sat down and watched it earlier tonight and immediately thought of you, Penton (true story). I have a feeling you would appreciate it a lot more than casual viewers (Or perhaps you already saw it at Cannes).

Pro-B

Hi , I haven’t seen you in awhile.
Thanks for the suggestion. If we’re talking DVDs (NTSC format though) here’s another recommendation for those who may have some interest in such things….
http://www.laszloandvilmos.com./

here’s a background article….
http://www.icgmagazine.com/wordpress...how-many-days/

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Ya know Penton, Ive come to realize is that all of this is getting kind of nuts when it comes to trying to please the enthusiast community because they frankly don't seem to know what they want.

Wait... do you mean to tell me that if you ask more than one person about a subject, you might get more than one opinion in response?!

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Has there been a similar online backlash to having to purchase all four Blu-rays

I don't see anyone putting a gun to my head...

When the "Quadrilogy" set came out, I was confident they'd be broken out into individual releases before too long, so I watched a bunch of other people FREEEEEAK OUUUUUT while I waited and that's exactly what happened. This time, I think most of the market that's eagerly anticipating these is made up of the same folks who witnessed the "Quadrilogy" release cycle and know not to hyperventilate this time.

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Or, are people more forgiving with the marketing tactic for the Alien Anthology set? I haven’t been keeping up with that aspect of it either.

Depends on what you mean by "forgiving". If they're anything like me, I suspect they're just used to it/expecting it. However, does this mean I'm any happier that I have to wait x amount longer while they pretend they have no individual release plans, even though I'm going to give them the same amount of money, regardless of when they release the one movie I want? Hell no!

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Dont bother me, I'm mourning. Two in a row. Both beautiful children.

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2010/S...izawa+tributes

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/racing...ory?id=5509590

Wow. No comment from you or Doctorossi. Two fallen brothers, in a week, both kids, and no comment?

RIP Shoya and Peter.

[Doctorossi]

I don't really have a comment of any insight to provide.

It sucks, but is not shocking, considering the activity.

The best to their families. I wasn't following either of them, so I don't have much perspective.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Hi , I haven’t seen you in awhile.
Thanks for the suggestion. If we’re talking DVDs (NTSC format though) here’s another recommendation for those who may have some interest in such things….
http://www.laszloandvilmos.com./

here’s a background article….
http://www.icgmagazine.com/wordpress...how-many-days/

I am here - and occasionally reading

Excellent recommendation. I am going to pick myself a copy.

I hope you are doing well

Pro-B

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

I don't really have a comment of any insight to provide.

It sucks, but is not shocking, considering the activity.

The best to their families. I wasn't following either of them, so I don't have much perspective.

You dont follow Moto2 or 125s?

[frank_t]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Well, that brings up another situation. If you are only interested in one of the four Alien films (which I assume many folks are of the same sentiment in that they really only care about re-watching Alien only or perhaps Alien and Aliens on Blu-ray) –

Has there been a similar online backlash to having to purchase all four Blu-rays as there has been to the poll that jw posted a little while back? -
https://forum.blu-ray.com/insider-di...ml#post3694910

Or, are people more forgiving with the marketing tactic for the Alien Anthology set? I haven’t been keeping up with that aspect of it either.

I definitely want this box set. As much as I like the 1st 3 (yeah, I'm one of the few who likes Alien 3), the 4th is abysmal. But being a completist, I want them all.

It's like the Genesis SACD collection. Sure - there are some duds in their later years, especially after Duke, but I just have to have them all

...and it's good for the economy I suppose.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

You dont follow Moto2 or 125s?

I wish I had time to, this year.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Wow. No comment from you or Doctorossi. Two fallen brothers, in a week, both kids, and no comment?

RIP Shoya and Peter.

Squid, no disrespect to your post or the feelings of those more intimately involved with those two racers but, I’ve made so many trips to the chapel at Arlington National Cemetery over the past few years for the funeral services of other fallen warriors (combat oriented, rather than professional speedsters) who were just as young, that these days I find I’m pretty much out of tears.

I’m beginning to think that, at least for me, one becomes rather numb about the whole subject of unexpected death after personally experiencing so much mourning for people that I actually know/knew….not to mention both my parents and my last two dogs.

Morale of the story, live life like every day is your last and cherish the time you have with your loved ones….be it human or canine, for that matter. Never take them for granted.

[Penton-Man]

Heads-up for sport fans (esp. soccer and American college football [Ohio State vs. Miami fans] starting tomorrow….

http://www.ce.org/Press/CurrentNews/...l.asp?id=11952

[Oliver K]

Originally Posted by cjamescook

Who was exhibiting this? (It was not clear from your summary.)

Thanks!

That was a plasma from Panasonic. They showed some stuff from NHK that was downconverted from 8k