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

[DaViD Boulet]

I think that Kris Deering and darinp both know a helluva a lot about MS…..in more ways than one.
Regarding VC-1, I don’t much care whether it continues to be used or not, the point is, if it is used---- that it will no longer be bitstarved !

Disney did a high-bit-rate encode for the Santa Clause 3 Blu-ray disc and it ranks among the most finely-detailed live-action Blu-rays that I've seen. My guess is the bad-rap that VC-1 has gotten is mostly due to inferior compression to fit within HD DVD's bandwidth.

[Penton-Man]

Later folks.

[Bullseye]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

horseflesh,
The same ^ holds for There Will Be Blood.
In that regard I voted for your countryman.

Good to hear. He was robbed for the "Gangs of New York" role.

[Living Near Shamu]

Wow, this thread is up to 144K+ views.

Penton, you're our most popular insider

What do we have for the winners, Bob?

[JadedRaverLA]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

There’s already talk in the works about having a Format War Over party for all the majors to attend.
I just don’t know if it will come to fruition because the downside is that it may appear to outsiders to be gloating but, I disagree as I think it would be a great idea and I plan to attend if it happens.

P.S.
As long as it’s not this Sunday afternoon/evening.

I suggested in another thread that next CES, the "insider" Blu crew (along with some members) have a victory party -- perhaps at Ghost bar, or another bar that has truly top shelf drinks and cigars. You in? I'm sure there's enough grateful members here to cover the insiders' tabs.

EDIT: I understand, if your need for anonymity prevents you from going... though we could make it a "mask" party, if needed.

[ra1024]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Maybe when I get some time later this week or next week I’ll tell you why Michael Burns leaked to BusinessWeek that “the rumor is that Warner is coming aboard soon” …...
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...3028294846.htm

Please do. It would be great to hear a lot of stories that now can be told.

[PaulGo]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

There’s already talk in the works about having a Format War Over party for all the majors to attend.
I just don’t know if it will come to fruition because the downside is that it may appear to outsiders to be gloating but, I disagree as I think it would be a great idea and I plan to attend if it happens.

P.S.
As long as it’s not this Sunday afternoon/evening.

So will you be revealing your secret identity or will you be dressed as Clark Kent?

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

horseflesh,
The same ^ holds for There Will Be Blood.
In that regard I voted for your countryman.

That's a good vote
I loved No Country for Old Men, but I preferred There will be Blood. My only criticism of MCFOM is that it meandered a little. Great performances for the 3 main actors though.

There was a gala screening of There will be Blood on Saturday night, as part of the Dublin Film Festival. On the way in, my friend and I walked past Daniel Day-Lewis & Rebecca Miller on the red carpet, I hope we weren't breaking some sort of etiquette!!!
The film itself was magnificent, and Day-Lewis's performance mesmerising.
Afterwards there was a Q&A with Todd McCarthy from Variety (just with DDL, Paul Thomas Anderson was in Berlin picking up the Golden Bear), which was really interesting and very relaxed.
Afterwards my friend and I were walking around to where I'd parked, and at the side/back entrance to the cinema there's Daniel Day-Lewis (with his wife again) having a smoke. I've never been one to bother "celebrities", so we didn't hang around, just had a few short words with him and wished him well next Sunday. He came across as really down to earth and not at all aloof or "Hollywood" like.

By the way Penton, do you know there's an Irish nominee in another category?
"Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova from the independent Irish film "Once" is nominated for Best Original Song. I reckon it has a good chance, because 3 of the 5 songs are from Enchanted so I expect they will split the vote somewhat.

[horseflesh]

Here's a Movie Trivia question for you Penton.
From what movie did I plagarise my username?
And like you'd say......no cheating!

Everyone else, please don't jump in until Penton has had a stab at it.

[Jiffylush]

It must be a Monstrous Task to know what is coming but be being restricted/held back from saying so.

[MerrickG]

Penton,

is it reasonable to expect that Universal will have more to say in the coming days?

I was hoping for an official press release with titles listed, but nevertheless them saying they support blu is enough for now.

As for Paramount however, anything less than title announcements will be a disappointment. I really hope thats why they are taking so long.

Pretty sad how impatient we are, huh?

Once again thanks for taking time to talk to us.

[Rob Tomlin]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Penton,

is it reasonable to expect that Universal will have more to say in the coming days?

I was hoping for an official press release with titles listed, but nevertheless them saying they support blu is enough for now.

As for Paramount however, anything less than title announcements will be a disappointment. I really hope thats why they are taking so long.

Pretty sad how impatient we are, huh?

Once again thanks for taking time to talk to us.

I think anything less than a full blown apology from Paramount would be a disappointment!

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Rob Tomlin

I think anything less than a full blown apology from Paramount would be a disappointment!

Anything less than Transformers doesnt count as a full blown apology!!

[Anthony P]

Again, please everybody be kind to Ken G., as I said repeatedly in the past - he's a good guy and he was just doing his job.

no problem being kind wrt what has happened. The past is the past. But he/Universal better be pushing out the titles and they better be up to snuff (unlike some of their HD DVDs) because then the gloves are off.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

no problem being kind wrt what has happened. The past is the past. But he/Universal better be pushing out the titles and they better be up to snuff (unlike some of their HD DVDs) because then the gloves are off.

Totally agree.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

no problem being kind wrt what has happened. The past is the past. But he/Universal better be pushing out the titles and they better be up to snuff (unlike some of their HD DVDs) because then the gloves are off.

lol,
You guys are relentless.
The additional bandwith and capacity of BD50 discs should help some titles, others may need totally new HD masters………in regards to the later, that decision commonly is related to or dependent upon budgetary limitations of each particular studio.

So, in general, either buy more Uni Blu-rays or attend more Universal Pictures theatrical presentations.

Hey, doesn’t it sound good just to be able to say that………"Uni Blu-rays".

[turboedguy]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

lol,


Hey, doesn’t it sound good just to be able to say that………"Uni Blu-rays".

So, so sweet.

[WickyWoo]

Anything less than Transformers doesnt count as a full blown apology!!

How about a full blown apology for Transformers and its blasphemy on top of it?

Hey, doesn’t it sound good just to be able to say that………"Uni Blu-rays".

I've got Sony's Producers disc that was released in Japan (with FANTASTIC menu animations I might add, import it today, scrummy BD-50 and PCM audio ), and it starts with one big honking full blown HD Universal logo animation complete with music

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

How about a full blown apology for Transformers and its blasphemy on top of it?

Give me Transformers and ALL will be forgiven. I no longer like my "dead" version and I want to PROVE to all the HD-DVD elitist that a higher bitrate version of Transformers on blu will look better than that DEAD format.

Ya know, the format that everyone seems to be forgetting about.

[Slapper]

Originally Posted by horseflesh

Here's a Movie Trivia question for you Penton.
From what movie did I plagarise my username?
And like you'd say......no cheating!

Everyone else, please don't jump in until Penton has had a stab at it.