Recent content by JoshZ

And how do you know these "troubles" are the fault of the bit rate, and not something baked into the master? Especially when dealing with Paramount, a studio we know takes a heavy hand with its grain management and other digital tools.

I can't believe people are still complaining about bit rates in 2024, as if we were still dealing with MPEG-2. :rolleyes:

Fair, I haven't see that one. But Mann was still very much embracing the "shot on video" aesthetic as recently as the Tokyo Vice pilot.

Once he started shooting digital, Mann fully gave up any pretense of his movies having a "filmic" appearance anymore. If he'd wanted to, there were other digital cameras he could've used with a more traditionally film-like look. The Thomson Viper cameras were known for a particularly "video"...

This reminds me that I've got a huge collection of Video Watchdog issues (including #110) that I haven't looked at in ages and could use to move out and clear some space, if anyone in the Boston area wants an instant collection. Too heavy to ship them all, unfortunately. :)

Yes, and Twister was also one of the inaugural DVD releases at the format's launch in late 1997. The industry hadn't quite gotten the hang of MPEG-2 yet. Had it been released a few years later, it might have come out better.

It has a couple good set-pieces, but overall... blech... not one I ever want to watch again.

I saw Mission to Mars in the theater. It did not go over well with anyone in the audience, myself included. Lots of exasperated grumbling as the credits rolled.

For those unfamiliar with the film and puzzled by the acronym, the CR here is Cliff Robertson. More than just considered. Hoskins was signed for the role with a big paycheck, but was then let go when De Niro (whom De Palma really wanted) became available. Even aside from the director's...

True enough, and to be honest, I generally prefer the 16:9 versions of those seasons, even with the occasional flubs. It's not like the regular 4:3 version didn't also have its share of boom microphones dipping down into the top of the frame, anyway.

Right, and shooting in 3-perf this way saved them a lot of film (and thus a lot of money) versus shooting the traditional 4-perf format that feature films used. Some of them took this more seriously than others. Famously, the 16:9 transfers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer have a number of flubs...

The 16:9 HD versions of Gilmore Girls have a significant number of scenes where the characters will be cramped together in the center of the screen with empty space around them on the sides. It get to be kind of comical when there a large group of characters in the scene. The show was definitely...

I watched the show a bit back in the day, but remember it more in concept than in detail. Is this another one of those cases where home video and streaming releases have been stymied by music licensing issues?

The previous regime at Warner Bros. went all-in on HBO Max as the future of the studio. Zaslav rejects that entirely - less because he has any great love of cinema or the theatrical experience, than simply that he wants to dismantle everything his predecessors did in his ultimate goal of...

I believe he's saying the 70mm projector is mounted too high above the screen, and as a result the image it projects onto the screen is trapezoidal in shape with incorrect picture geometry for everything in the photography.