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Author Topic: Lord of the Rings John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 08-16-2002 04:12 PM                        Josh said: "this same print has been running here for 7 months now! I really hate bitching, but it has to be said. The print was scratched from begining to end, at any give time there were atleast 6 thick black scrathces on screen. Ocasionally one would catch a dirty emulsion scratch. Focus was soft, even after I asked them to fix it. uneven focus and a flickering lamp." Even though the print was on Fuji print film, you know the fault for this "film done wrong" experience really lies in the theatre. ------------------ John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243 e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion  |  IP: Logged Josh Jones Redhat Posts: 1207 From: Plano, TX Registered: Apr 2000 posted 08-16-2002 04:56 PM                        last two times I've been to that theater, I had to ask to run up to the booth and fix problems. The last two were shutter timing probs. "So thats ummm what that round thingy does". how pathetic. <end of rant> also because the same chain owns all the theaters in town but us, the prints get circuited. usually something catastrophic will happen in first run and they are stuck with the fukt print I do believe this had nothing to do with the film stock and I know you are a wee bit biased John Josh  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 08-16-2002 06:03 PM                        LotR is still playing here in Cinemark's $1.50 theater, 4 shows a day. It's probably one of their original first-run prints. I'm tempted to pay the $1.50 just out of curiosity to see what condition it's in. Not playing in digital though, only bad analog (the analog is bad in ALL 12 of those houses). They are also all under-lit and fuzzy.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 01-02-2003 11:20 AM                        RE: The 4-disc special-edition DVD release. The film is spread across 2 discs. Both are dual-layer, Dolby-EX and DTS-ES sound, with multiple commentaries from cast, crew, etc. From watching the bitrate on the player, it appears that by splitting it up onto 2 dual-layer discs, they were able to maintain a higher than normal average bitrate. The picture is gorgeous -- I noticed virtually no MPEG-related flaws. Sound is excellent too (I ran Disc 1 in Dolby, and Disc 2 in DTS). The "intermission" comes at the conclusion of the sequence at Rivendell (?), right after Frodo declares that he will be the ringbearer and the fellowship is created. I watched the entire 3.5 hours last night. There are several new scenes as well as many extended scenes on this version. Most of the added stuff does help round out the overall story. For example, at the beginning of the film a lot more time is spent establishing the lifestyle & character of the Hobbits in general. Also, there is a little more character-devlopment for Gandalf in particular, who comes off looking a little less sure of himself in this version. The liner notes say that new dialog & effects were created for the extended material, and sometimes the character of the recorded dialog changes noticeably in mid-scene. But this is a very minor distraction. This is a complicated story, and it helps to be able to stop and replay a scene when someone says or does something that you miss. Also nice to be able to pause it when needed to take care of refreshments and personal hygiene. I also listened to about 30 mins. of the cast commentary. Almost all the major cast members are there. I got the sense that they are very proud of this work. They mentioned that Peter Jackson was very open to their input on character behavior and you get the feeling this was a real ensemble effort where everyone was busting ass to make this as good as it could possibly be and treat Tolkien's work with great respect. At one point Ian McKellan says something like "I was honored to be allowed to impersonate Gandalf in this film". With a 3.5 hour running time, if you were to watch the film with the regular soundtrack, then with each of the 3 or 4 commentaries, you've got at least 12 hours of entertainment right there. Plus there are 2 additional "making of" type discs with hours more. At a street price of $30, this is quite an entertainment bargain for what you get. If I were giving this stars, on a 5-star scale, "Fellowship Of The Ring" gets 5 out of 5 as a film, and the DVD gets 5 out of 5 for delivering so much extra stuff.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 01-02-2003 12:30 PM                        The way the movie industry has evolved can be a movie-lover's dream. You can share the audience experience of seeing a movie presented on a big screen with great sound (at least in theatres that have "Film Done Right"), and then a few months later, see it again on DVD at home, with all the "extra" features. Today's (January 2, 2003) Hollywood Reporter (THReast) has an interesting article on the changes in release patterns since 1996. The average number of screens opening weekend has grown from 1,857 to 2,445. The number of "ultrawide" releases (over 3,000 prints) has grown from only 1 in 1996 to 32 in 2002.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 01-07-2003 08:15 AM                        quote: The way the movie industry has evolved can be a movie-lover's dream. That is certainly true in many respects. I love DVDs as a medium because of all the extras and the language choices (in Germany all movies are dubbed and there are few theatres which play orignal versions, and of those few only some are technically acceptable), especially the director`s commentary. I remember when I was a kid in the 70s, you could watch highlights of some movies at home on 8mm. Then video came, and it was so fascinating to be able to watch movies whenever you wanted. On the other hand, I think it is not entirely good how the cinema business has evolved with thousands of small-screen plexes everywhere with mediocre equipment and movies playing themselves out in no time. It would be much nicer if we still had the big first-run theatres which ran big releases exclusively. In a way, it was a much cooler experience to watch a big movie in a packed house after having to cue for 2 hours even 1 month after the release.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 01-07-2003 09:46 AM                        Michael Schaffer wrote: "On the other hand, I think it is not entirely good how the cinema business has evolved with thousands of small-screen plexes everywhere with mediocre equipment and movies playing themselves out in no time." IMHO, for theatres to compete against the ever-improving "home theatre" experience, they WILL have to offer presentation quality and a viewing experience that is SUPERIOR to home theatre. That is why Kodak continues to "raise the bar" on film quality, work with labs to improve print quality, help theatres get the best quality out of film, and "raise the bar" on Digital Cinema quality: KODAK VISION2 Films Future of Imaging Kodak Digital Cinema System Kodak ScreenCheck  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 01-07-2003 06:53 PM                        True, but I think the reality is that most movie theatres have given up on quality (if they ever intended to improve it). Those few people who want to raise standards face enormous obstacles and on top of all that, there isn`t enough money to implement improvements and raise the standard of the impression. After all, well trained operators are more expensive... It would seem that the sheer number of cinemas should raise the standards because of the competition. But since there are lots of bad theatres everywhere, the general audience seems to accept those standards as what cinema is. So many people are "waiting for the video" instead of seeing the movie at the theatre. As the cycles get faster and faster, they don`t have to wait for too long either. Still, there is no point in complaining. I think that there will always be some who cherish the moviegoing experience for its social and quality aspects and those who will work hard to offer that quality.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 01-08-2003 04:24 AM                     Let's please take the DVD discussion into a new thread in Yak so we can keep this one dedicated to reviews of the movie (and of this DVD if anyone feels inclined to comment on the "LOTR" DVD specifically.)  |  IP: Logged

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