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

[Penton-Man]

Whooooa Nellie, I just read Ken Brown’s updated review on FOTR with the latest news about the color controversy and this comes to mind –

YouTube - ‪Marvin Gaye - Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology) (With Lyrics!)‬‏

as I think some avid fans will be none too happy with the official response. I guess fans will just have to realize that not only is the Extended Edition considered a “novelty” in terms of content as compared to the Theatrical Edition (see bottom of this page) -

http://movies.ign.com/articles/445/445262p4.html

that description also apparently is applicable to the coloring. Oh well, glad I don’t have to deal with the fallout. So, FOTR aficionados, please eat your asparagus, broccolis and other green vegetables and please don’t PM me (Ken B. aside ) anymore about the situation/controversy…..contact those who are campaigning the product.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by fitprod

The answer would only be a surprise if more than 50% of the film is actually native 3D.

fitprod

Then you won’t be surprised.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by doctorossi

who cares, man? It's about the envelope and how far it's being pushed!


this movie isn't just 3d. It's more 3der.

:d

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by ole geezer

I just hope I get my monies worth.

Well, as an assurance to that, I guess you can always do what some unscrupulous younger folks do.

By that I mean, there have been some reports from theater owners claiming that the young whipper-snappers save money by bringing their own
Real-D glasses with ‘em, in their pockets and such…..and then proceed to buy a 2D ticket, and subsequently somehow later on find their way (mistakenly, of course ) into the 3D showing.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by ole geezer

Well...you could be right; but, I'm going anyway just in case we're wrong. I'm willing to give the guy a lotta slack on the story line but on the 3D side of it...it better blow my socks off.

Well, I think you can rest assured that the vfx and animation will knock your socks off because I think that Michael is still co-chairman and co-owner of Digital Domain ......or at least, still on the Board.

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Well, I think you can rest assured that the vfx and animation will knock your socks off because I think that Michael is still co-chairman and co-owner of Digital Domain ......or at least, still on the Board.

...and yet ILM's doing much of the heavy lifting again, no?

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Well, I think you can rest assured that the vfx and animation will knock your socks off because I think that Michael is still co-chairman and co-owner of Digital Domain ......or at least, still on the Board.

A co-worker of mine's son works for Digital Domain...

In fact, she even carries some snacks, books, etc. in a Digital Domain bag she got from her son. I was going to take a photo of it for this post, BUT she has a different bag today...

~Alan

[ole geezer]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Well, as an assurance to that, I guess you can always do what some unscrupulous younger folks do.

By that I mean, there have been some reports from theater owners claiming that the young whipper-snappers save money by bringing their own
Real-D glasses with ‘em, in their pockets and such…..and then proceed to buy a 2D ticket, and subsequently somehow later on find their way (mistakenly, of course ) into the 3D showing.

While my wife and I are not above sneaking a sandwich or two into the theater occasionally, we do qualify for the cheaper senior rate so it's not necessary to bring our own 3D glasses.........YET. Also our local theater charges even less for admission to the first matinee showing of the day.

About those whipper-snappers though, I never thought I'd see the day that parents would allow theater owners to get away with charging as much as $11 for a child to see a 3D movie without complaining like crazy. In my day 25 cents would get you 5 cartoons and two features.

[Penton-Man]

^ Well, beware of some of those projectionists that theater owners hire, as they can be a rather salty lot. Read the response to Michael Bay from one of them…

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayli...tm_medium=feed

So, I wish you and yours good luck at your local cinema.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

...and yet ILM's doing much of the heavy lifting again, no?

DD did about ¼ of the work but, don’t discount the contribution on a percentage basis.

Are you back from NYC?

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

A co-worker of mine's son works for Digital Domain...

In fact, she even carries some snacks, books, etc. in a Digital Domain bag she got from her son. I was going to take a photo of it for this post, BUT she has a different bag today...

~Alan

I believe they fairly recently filed for IPO….should be good in the long run for her son. Hey, did all fires in south Georgia affect you, or are you further west?

[Penton-Man]

Jim SD,
We finally got the Peruvian Tigerwood flooring installed and I meant to ask is that Steve ‘Pre’ Prefontaine on your new avatar and why so? Are you coaching track now?

Gotta run....and I mean literally as I'm on a bowel prep for a screening colonoscopy tomorrow.

[MerrickG]

Penton,

Ok, I saw the first half of FotR and just skimmed through the 2nd and it should surprise no one that I could not in ANY WAY be more happier with the video quality than what I saw.

I honestly tried my absolute hardest to see if the green tint would become a distraction and it NEVER did.

Not in the snow. Not in 2nd breakfast. The fight scene that was posted on youtube. It just NEVER got in the way. The screenshot that showed the 2nd breakfast scene could not have been more off. I can't explain it, but that scene looked SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better in motion.

Maybe the way I have my TV calibrated just happened to create the perfect conditions to watch this film, but I seriously could not see the issues and I am willing to bet that anyone who is being completely honest with themselves will not have a problem either.

I have a Sony KDL-55EX710 and with an Oppo BDP-83 and I will be more than happy to share my calibration settings with anyone who is interested, but I just could not see it the way the screenshots were presenting it.

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

DD did about ¼ of the work but, don’t discount the contribution on a percentage basis.

Are you back from NYC?

Nopers. Just ate here:

http://www.frankspm.com/

Fantabulous. Another suggestion for next time you're in BKLYN:

http://www.vinegarhillhouse.com/

Mmmm. Meat...

[DenonCI]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Penton,

Ok, I saw the first half of FotR and just skimmed through the 2nd and it should surprise no one that I could not in ANY WAY be more happier with the video quality than what I saw.

I honestly tried my absolute hardest to see if the green tint would become a distraction and it NEVER did.

Not in the snow. Not in 2nd breakfast. The fight scene that was posted on youtube. It just NEVER got in the way. The screenshot that showed the 2nd breakfast scene could not have been more off. I can't explain it, but that scene looked SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better in motion.

Maybe the way I have my TV calibrated just happened to create the perfect conditions to watch this film, but I seriously could not see the issues and I am willing to bet that anyone who is being completely honest with themselves will not have a problem either.

I have a Sony KDL-55EX710 and with an Oppo BDP-83 and I will be more than happy to share my calibration settings with anyone who is interested, but I just could not see it the way the screenshots were presenting it.

Agree 100%. Once again the lunatic fringe is wrong. The funny thing is most of these people never even saw the movie in motion and were making judgements off of a screen capture (1/24 of a second).

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I believe they fairly recently filed for IPO….should be good in the long run for her son.

Thanks for the info... I told her a few minutes ago.

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Hey, did all fires in south Georgia affect you, or are you further west?

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

The biggest concern here is drought... we haven't had any rain in weeks, all the grass is brown and dead, and I've heard that the local county fire department is staying busy keeping wildfires under control... including stopping one that started right next door (at my uncle and aunt's house) due to a spark from a vehicle. Add in triple digit temperatures, failing air conditioners, etc., and it's been miserable...

You're correct in that I'm to the West of the fires that got the media attention, but the weather has made it a dangerous situation locally that has only been kept contained through luck and the skill of the local fire departments.

The fire I mentioned above was one that I slept () through, but could have been a lot more serious if it wasn't for a concerned motorist, two passing motorists who knew my uncle and aunt (and called them on the telephone), a passing Sheriff's deputy, and the fast response of the local fire department. As it was, all that got damaged was some dead grass, and a few fence boards got singed. If the fence had caught fire, it would have been a lot worse.

Thankfully... we've started getting some rain again... not enough to pull us out of the drought, but enough to get the grass growing again... which makes things a LOT less dangerous.

~Alan

[Alan Gordon]

Since there's been talk here about "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon" and 3D, I just have to post this:

'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' review roundup: So bad it's good?

I've stated that I'm a 3D "fan," and I like Shia LaBeouf, but I'm not sure I want to be "LaBeouffed."

"Whitelyed" perhaps...

~Alan

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Penton,

Ok, I saw the first half of FotR and just skimmed through the 2nd and it should surprise no one that I could not in ANY WAY be more happier with the video quality than what I saw.

I honestly tried my absolute hardest to see if the green tint would become a distraction and it NEVER did.....

Merr-man, I’m happy for you. I truly am.

Given what I’ve read of the discussion on that thread by the more unhappy (or, at least, discerningly concerned) viewers, if their complaints are valid, I think it’s safe to say that you have zero or low tolerance to the intensity setting with some tint filters and you probably don’t want to hear anything anyway about more selective solutions like color keying, power windows, vignettes or how to gradient colorize.

Let me just say that when I tried to keep up with that LOTR thread on the forum, I noticed that you were one of thee more prolific posters. Given that fact, I surely hope that when you pulled the trigger, you decided to *give back* to Blu-ray.com in a meaningful way (rather than just ‘opinion’) for the privilege of such an extended period on the ‘soap box” , so-to-speak, and thusly purchased the set through the link we have here to Amazon.

I think that would have been the fair thing to do.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by DenonCI

Agree 100%. Once again the lunatic fringe is wrong. The funny thing is most of these people never even saw the movie in motion and were making judgements off of a screen capture (1/24 of a second).

At the risk of opening up a can of worms……the ‘original’ screenshot folks, I assume, first watched the FOTR Blu-ray in motion (by whatever method they procured their early Blu-ray copies) and earnestly noticed something being *off*…….and in this case, it was the coloring.

Then after real-time viewing, they posted their stationary screenshots as evidence or illustration of their disillusionment with the prior real-time viewing. Wasn’t that the scenario? So, if the screenshots presented were indeed accurate, and those folks could indeed be taken at their word and are viewing on presumably calibrated displays, I think it shows that some people are just more sensitive to a certain color presence than others.

It’s all rather confusing at this point.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

Thankfully... we've started getting some rain again... ~Alan