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

[captveg]

Huh. Must have been a false rumor.

It'll be interesting to hear your take (and Penton's) on Gangs of New York. It sounds like this could be a seriously flawed transfer in terms of picture quality, and not just exaggerated rhetoric about high fidelity information lost via DNR on Patton and The Longest Day (which I acknowledge as being the case, but not to the level of paranoia occurring on the various message boards).

[BluDomain]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

....Logic does not dictate that the "clean and shiny look" sells movies, only that the clean and shiny look does not, in this case cause a movie to sell poorly

Well, we do know that Sports in HighDef does sell HD Televisions.
I suspect that large demographic of purchasers has reasonable expectations
of the same pristine quality or they will make do with upscaled DVD's.
The anti-DNR demographic of "critics" is about as noticeable as a dimple on a
pimple on a piss ant's balls as far as actual consumers are concerned.

People bought it because they liked the movie and/or Will Smith. Those are testable, repeatable factors that have proven themselves over time to drive video sales far more than any other factor by huge margins.

That goes without saying-----obviously. But it isn't enough to buy
a BD player for viewing unless the "clean and shiny look" knocks
their socks off. Or worse yet purchase blu-ray discs on a
continuing basis.

IAL is so unnaturally clean.

Haven't seen it and don't intend to see it. Which is too bad as I
like the "clean and shiny look."

[WickyWoo]

Well, we do know that Sports in HighDef does sell HD Televisions.
I suspect that large demographic of purchasers has reasonable expectations
of the same pristine quality or they will make do with upscaled DVD's.
The anti-DNR demographic of "critics" is about as noticeable as a dimple on a
pimple on a piss ant's balls as far as actual consumers are concerned.

The same kind of things were said about people who wanted widescreen

Who won that one?

[Rob Tomlin]

...

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by BluDomain

Well, we do know that Sports in HighDef does sell HD Televisions.
I suspect that large demographic of purchasers has reasonable expectations
of the same pristine quality or they will make do with upscaled DVD's.
The anti-DNR demographic of "critics" is about as noticeable as a dimple on a
pimple on a piss ant's balls as far as actual consumers are concerned.

I don't think leaving film grain intact would affect sales from the masses at all. Most people sit back too far from their display anyway to notice much grain and aren't as particular anyway.

I think the reasons studios are DNR'ing has more to do with poor practices/habits stemming from years back rather than consumer complaints about too much grain. I also think certain technicians are taking liberty and doing what they want with DNR. The same thing has been happening with edge enhancement too for years. Many BD releases still contain some EE; it's not nearly as bad or distracting as on SD DVD, but it's still there a bit in many cases.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by BluDomain

That goes without saying-----obviously. But it isn't enough to buy a BD player for viewing unless the "clean and shiny look" knocks their socks off. Or worse yet purchase blu-ray discs on a
continuing basis.

Ironically, "300" and the "POTC" movies are some of the best selling Blu-ray discs... yet grain is quite noticable on both.

The POTC movies are near the top of a lot of people's PQ lists as well...

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

Introductory remarks were given by Barry Allen, Executive Director of Film Preservation and Archival Resources at Paramount Pictures.

Was he a fast-talker? Just curious...

~Alan

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

Was he a fast-talker? Just curious...

~Alan

...

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

Yes, actually, I would say he was a fairly fast talker, especially when he was reading. Why?

I was just having a little fun...

Barry Allen was the secret identity of a comic book character. The Flash. He runs fast...

~Alan

[saprano]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

Once Upon A Time In The West

This was shown at the Samuel Goldwyn (aka Academy) theater in Beverly Hills. The print has been restored by Paramount, with the assistance of the Film Foundation, the Rome Film Festival and Sergio Leone film productions.

Excellent story seems like your really enjoyed it. question, are there any theaters around my way that would show that film?( im from new york) ever since you gave that link a couple post back i have this urge to see this movie. if not i guess I'll have to settle for the dvd.

[tvted]

Thank you for the review of Once Upon a Time in the West, Rob. It is without a doubt one of my favourite films and I collect Westerns. I remember seeing it many times in its grainy scratched glory at the local Repertories when I lived at the Cinema. I look forward to the day that I can retire my last DVD SE version of it with a (I hope) superior BD version. Long term I look forward to all of Leone's oeuvre on BD - particularly its namesake Once Upon a Time in America.

ted

[WickyWoo]

It'll be interesting to hear your take (and Penton's) on Gangs of New York. It sounds like this could be a seriously flawed transfer in terms of picture quality, and not just exaggerated rhetoric about high fidelity information lost via DNR on Patton and The Longest Day (which I acknowledge as being the case, but not to the level of paranoia occurring on the various message boards).

I honestly don't have a lot of desire to see GONY again, so unless I get a friend with a copy I'm not likely to see it.

[Robert Harris]

As the most obviously problematic disc to come along since...

probably the beginning of Blu-ray, it will be interesting to see precisely how many home video "reviewers" come out in favor of the release.

[Kris Deering]

One already has I guess. DVDReview published a positive review I guess, but I haven't read it.

[Robert Harris]

This is going to separate the wheat from the shaft.

There are always opinions, and a split is healthy, but occasionally something is bad enough to even get the really nice reviewers to take a deep breath and return to digital reality.

I believe that with GoNY, we're well past the "If you can't say something nice..." ethic.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

Once Upon A Time In The West

I am putting this review in Penton's thread because if it were not for him, I would have missed this screening altogether. Thanks again for remembering how much I love this movie and giving me the heads up Penton!

^ ^ ^
And all for the whopping sum of $5. per ticket (for non-Academy members).

Nice write-up. Very nice.
I’m hoping that Deciazulado (one of our mods here) can provide something even half as thorough, if he eventually gets clearance from a certain knowledgeable Fox representative to speak about Patton, on their behalf. I made the connection but, I can’t/will not twist any arms. I respect all the Fox folks.

P.S.
Ben - where’s the write-up on the Blade Runner charity presentation at the WB for Paul?
You really have to submit something before Wicky does his thing with Comic-Con.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

Once Upon A Time In The West
This was shown at the Samuel Goldwyn (aka Academy) theater in Beverly Hills. The print has been restored by Paramount, with the assistance of the Film Foundation, the Rome Film Festival and Sergio Leone film productions.

Just for full disclosure, the current president of the Rome Film Festival is Pasquale Squitieri (who is married to Claudia Cardinale, who plays a prominent role in this flick), however, the Rome Film Festival’s assistance in the restoration of Once Upon A Time In The West occurred under the previous President’s watch (Goffredo Bettini ) as well as the Festival’s founder namely, Walter Veltroni .

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

One already has I guess. DVDReview published a positive review I guess, but I haven't read it.

For the record, I haven’t received any PM regarding Gangs of New York from you, as yet.
Nor have I read any specifics regarding deficiencies with this Blu-ray title…….just generalities. If you wish to truly make a difference you’ve got to provide me with something to work with (pass on), as I’ve said-----I haven’t seen the Blu-ray on this.

I’ll be leaving on Monday for an industry event in Vegas.
I may not check back online with this forum until the end of next week.

P.S.
What happened to all those past posts of yours and others regarding DVDs ?
Did they get moved to some other location/thread on this forum ?

[aygie]

Penton you have just reminded me of a film which has been on countless Blu-ray demo discs, but yet to make an appearance on the format, (not as epic or grand as the above movie) Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

Robert Rodriguez is almost the adopted son of HD (from Lucas) and i'm surprised he's not more involved in contributing to his work being released in HD. Any reason why? (QT's holding him back isn't he ) (Oh and any news on the movie above is greatly appreciated)

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

This is going to separate the wheat from the shaft.

There are always opinions, and a split is healthy, but occasionally something is bad enough to even get the really nice reviewers to take a deep breath and return to digital reality.

I believe that with GoNY, we're well past the "If you can't say something nice..." ethic.

Separating the “wheat from the shaft” isn’t just how accurate or knowledgeable one reviewer is compared to another but, how professionally they express themselves online….if anyone of substantive authority is to take their concerns seriously.

[Squozen]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

I think the reasons studios are DNR'ing has more to do with poor practices/habits stemming from years back rather than consumer complaints about too much grain. I also think certain technicians are taking liberty and doing what they want with DNR. The same thing has been happening with edge enhancement too for years. Many BD releases still contain some EE; it's not nearly as bad or distracting as on SD DVD, but it's still there a bit in many cases.

That's a good point, and something that hadn't really occurred to me. It's a variance on Hanlon's razor - 'Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by Standard Operating Procedure'.

So, if this theory is correct and Penton is relaying our concerns to the studios, over-usage of DNR could disappear fairly quickly as it's not something being applied because the studios believe it's required to sell discs, but only because 'that's how we've always done it'.