American Graffiti (1973) (Special Edition)

[Bluyoda]

The site's review is up:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Ameri.../16759/#Review

3,5s throughout!?!? What the hell!?

He obviously doesn't enjoy American Graffiti much.

I am a bit disappointed that the brilliant documentary

"The Making Of American Graffiti" isn't in HD, but I'll live, and the screenshots look very promising to me.
Good thing I am not very sensitive to EE, and I didn't spot anything serious in the screenshots.
I thought it would be much grainier.

I personally can't wait to own this film on BD

My rating:

Film: 4,5
Video:
Audio:
Extras: 4,5 The documentary alone is worth 4,5, would give it 5 if it was in HD.

[octagon]

Man, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the drive-in...

I haven't seen it in a while and maybe I'll pop it in and think 'wow, this really hasn't aged well after all' but right now I'm wondering what movie he watched.

[KubrickFan]

So what if he didn't enjoy the film? A good reviewer should be able to not let that deter from giving the disc a proper review. However, I have to say that I disagree with his ratings for the audio and the bonus features. I haven't seen the disc myself, but 3.5 points for the original track in lossless, and 3.5 points for all that bonus material seems low. The video, sadly, seems right on the mark.

[John The Grudge]

I absolutely love 50s and 60s american culture. At least as I've seen it on screen. I've never seen this but it'll be a blind buy for me.

[The Duke]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

The site's review is up:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Ameri.../16759/#Review

3,5s throughout!?!? What the hell!?

He obviously doesn't enjoy American Graffiti much.

I am a bit disappointed that the brilliant documentary

"The Making Of American Graffiti" isn't in HD, but I'll live, and the screenshots look very promising to me.
Good thing I am not very sensitive to EE, and I didn't spot anything serious in the screenshots.
I thought it would be much grainier.

Did you click on the screenshots to view them in 1080p? I thought they looked like complete shite. It is very grainy, and the edge enhancement glaringly obvious. Even with Lucas supposedly overseeing this transfer I had my doubts because it's still Universal, and Universal loves EE like a pig loves mud. My Oppo BD player can output DVD in 1080/24p and some DVDs look fantastic, especially Disney & Warner. But I have to turn the feature off for any Universal DVD - the heavy EE makes it look like blotchy 3D.

So yeah, I guess I am sensitive to EE.

[frozenhamster]

I can usually spot EE pretty clearly, but I only see it in about three or four of the screencaps, and in at least one of them it looks more like a photographic artifact than a digital compression one. And in the most prominent one it's a slight halo in a situation where the characters are basically silhouetted against a bright sky, which happens on even some of the best transfers.

[Variable_Star]

Originally Posted by KubrickFan

So what if he didn't enjoy the film? A good reviewer should be able to not let that deter from giving the disc a proper review. However, I have to say that I disagree with his ratings for the audio and the bonus features.

So what if he didn't enjoy the audio and bonus features? A good reviewer should be able to not let that deter him from giving the disc a proper review.

Seriously, though, it probably helps if you grew up in that era and/or have an interest in the culture of the time. Someone who is going in just for the experience of watching a movie will probably feel the way the site reviewer did. I've never found a film that captures the spirit, look, feel, and style of the era better than American Graffiti. It's just brilliant.

[The Duke]

Originally Posted by frozenhamster

I can usually spot EE pretty clearly, but I only see it in about three or four of the screencaps, and in at least one of them it looks more like a photographic artifact than a digital compression one. And in the most prominent one it's a slight halo in a situation where the characters are basically silhouetted against a bright sky, which happens on even some of the best transfers.

There's only a total of 5 screencaps, so if you're seeing the EE in 3 or 4 of them, that's 75%. And none of the screencaps have the characters silhouetted against a bright sky, although I do agree it's very hard to not get a halo then - it's probably captured by the film. The brightest screencaps is the first one where they're silhouetted against the plate glass of the drive-in and the EE is least obvious in that one, but it does highlight the lack of detail - look at their faces & Hair, a complete lack of any detail, it looks more like upconverted DVD. The EE is most obvious in the dark scenes - look closely at the 2nd cap, at night in front of a car. Look at the edges of their clothing against the dark background, the EE is very obvious, especially the middle character with his arm around another guy. And the last cap of the cars parked in front of the diner, look at the edges of the cars.

[charlieray1]

"Just don't go into Lucas' sophomore effort expecting a timeless classic."

Geez! That's exactly what American Graffiti is. No, not much happens -- it's just a series of vignettes -- but it captures the feeling and the mood of those mythical endless summer teenage nights perfectly. It doesn't matter if it was ever actually like that for anyone or not -- if it wasn't that way, it shoulda been.

It's a great little film -- a wonderful slice of Americana that's held up for nearly 40 years now -- and it deserves far better than the (very) faint praise that it gets in this review.

Day 1.

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by The Duke

There's only a total of 5 screencaps, so if you're seeing the EE in 3 or 4 of them, that's 75%. And none of the screencaps have the characters silhouetted against a bright sky...

Um, dude, right next to the Blu-ray review tab, there's a tab that says Screenshots; click on that and you get a total of 20 screenshots. It's this way on every Blu-ray.com review, five screenshots within the review proper, 20 total on the Screenshots tab.

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by Cliff

But the documentary wasn't shot and produced in HD. It was created 13 years ago by Laurent Bouzereau for the original 1998 DVD release of American Graffiti.

This isn't a slam on you per se, but I'm always baffled that people can complain about what something ISN'T without ever going to the trouble of learning what something actually IS. More and more, I'm seeing complaints from people about SD extras being presented in SD despite the fact that they were created in SD (The Appendices from the upcoming Lord of the Rings set are another great example). Most of the extra features created before about 2005 have been produced primarily in standard definition. Hell, a lot of the stuff shot even just a few years wasn't even 16x9, much less high def.

I see what you mean. However, I honestly don't have time to do more research than absolutely necessary for each and every release I am interested in, and I am not going to trace back every single element, so that I can make a valid judgment. It's just not important enough to me, and you could tell that it's not in any way a dealbreaker for me.
Sorry for the inaccuracy.

Originally Posted by The Duke

Did you click on the screenshots to view them in 1080p? I thought they looked like complete shite. It is very grainy, and the edge enhancement glaringly obvious. Even with Lucas supposedly overseeing this transfer I had my doubts because it's still Universal, and Universal loves EE like a pig loves mud. My Oppo BD player can output DVD in 1080/24p and some DVDs look fantastic, especially Disney & Warner. But I have to turn the feature off for any Universal DVD - the heavy EE makes it look like blotchy 3D.

So yeah, I guess I am sensitive to EE.

I just looked at them in 1080p, and while I do see EE, it's not an issue that kills the transfer for me, as opposed to banding, weak black levels, excessive noise, aliasing, jaggies or even macroblocking.
EE is the most bearable to me, and as some posters above mentioned, in certain situations you get natural "EE", such as people in front of a bright background etc..
I honestly expected it to be even grainer, hence the comment that I am pleasantly surprised.
Sure it's grainy, but that's how it was shot: Poor man's anamorphic, and low lit conditions.
Can't expect Avatar here.

I'll enjoy it nevertheless, despite not being a fan of heavy film grain.
I love this film, and I was born in '81, and not in the U.S., so perhaps I was one of those kids in the 60s who died in an accident.
It feels like home to me.

[coolmilo]

American Graffiti is one of my favorite films. It is absolutely unacceptable to have excessive EE in a Blu-ray release these days. As much I enjoy the film, I am planning N O T to buy it.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by frozenhamster

I can usually spot EE pretty clearly, but I only see it in about three or four of the screencaps, and in at least one of them it looks more like a photographic artifact than a digital compression one. And in the most prominent one it's a slight halo in a situation where the characters are basically silhouetted against a bright sky, which happens on even some of the best transfers.

EE is all over this one. I see it in all the caps, as every contrasting edge is dragging with it either a black or a white halo. This is the same type of EE which blighted BTTF. Thanks again, Universal!

Still, I'm not too cut up about the lack of detail because this is a Techniscope film after all, and it was obviously shot on pretty fast stock too. DIS MEANZ GRAYNZ.

I'm sure it could look better with a bit more care and attention - Lowry did a great job cleaning up THX 1138, for example - but this movie is a bona fide American Classic™ and I'm still buying the Blu-ray. It's very pricey at the moment though, so I can wait.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by KubrickFan

So what if he didn't enjoy the film? A good reviewer should be able to not let that deter from giving the disc a proper review. However, I have to say that I disagree with his ratings for the audio and the bonus features. I haven't seen the disc myself, but 3.5 points for the original track in lossless, and 3.5 points for all that bonus material seems low. The video, sadly, seems right on the mark.

It's not so much that he didn't enjoy the film but rather that the whole review came off as somewhat...cranky.

That's not a deep analysis, just an impression.

[Truewitt]

And you have to wonder if he even watched the blu-ray as he comments that the video commentary goes for long stretches without being displayed when the longest gap in the feature is less than a minute!

[Strevlac]

This one looks awful. To the guy above who said that it looks awful because it's grainy, that's not why it looks awful. It looks awful because this is an old transfer with baked-in DNR that smears the grain and makes it look all soft and clumpy. That and the fraking terrible edge haloes.

Huge dissapointment. FU Lucasfilm.

[sxerunner]

Ooooo my friend has been waiting for this release, he's going to be pissed.

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by Strevlac

This one looks awful. To the guy above who said that it looks awful because it's grainy, that's not why it looks awful. It looks awful because this is an old transfer with baked-in DNR that smears the grain and makes it look all soft and clumpy. That and the fraking terrible edge haloes.

Huge dissapointment. FU Lucasfilm.

What on earth is wrong with you guys?

FU Lucasfilm? This is a Universal release!

None of you have even seen the whole film.

I doubt we will be seeing another release of this one, and I honestly love it too much to pass, just because of some EE.
To each his/her own, of course.

[Strevlac]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

What on earth is wrong with you guys?

FU Lucasfilm? This is a Universal release!

None of you have even seen the whole film.

I doubt we will be seeing another release of this one, and I honestly love it too much to pass, just because of some EE.
To each his/her own, of course.

Every single still presented on this site exhibits copious noise reduction that turns the grain into a smeary blobby mess. If you can't see that then either you aren't looking at the 1080p caps or you don't know what film looks like.

American Graffiti is a Lucasfilm LTD production, distributed by Universal. If you don't think Lucasfilm has final say on what goes out to the public, you are mistaken.

[Beast]

Ahh, Gotta love the Screenshot Scientists at work as usual.