DVDizzy Forum

BrandonH wrote:The Chicago review is very well done, Renata! I would disagree about Richard Gere and Renee Zellweger, but that's my only quibble.

As I pretty much agree with what BrandonH said, I'm going to have to say the most fluffiest thing to use in a post:

Ditto.

Great <i>Chicago</i> review, Renata, although I'm kind of bitter because I can no longer harass you about finishing it. I don't love it as much as you, but I generally agree with your take on it, especially the part about Richard & Renee (sorry, BrandonH and Wondy).

-Aaron

Thanks for all the nice comments about my review. I'm surprised that so many people are interested enough to read it! I like the movie so much that it was rather hard for me to write about it without gushing like a fangirl, which is probably one of the (many) reasons that the review was so long to finish up in the first place. I'm glad that nobody has gotten too angry at my judgement of Richard and Renee. It's not that I didn't like their performances, they just weren't strong as I might have hoped. Plus, there's somthing about Renee that I've never much cared for, which is odd since she's in a number of my favorite movies. Go figure.

Just read the "Commander in Chief" review. I enjoyed watching this on ABC in high-definition and was sorry that it was cancelled as it was a very entertaining show. I'm surprized they squeezed 5 episodes onto each dual-layered disc. But I guess if they did a good job compressing that amount of material, then it's a good thing. At least they didn't make it a DVD-18 as a lot of people hate those!

What I read of the CinC review was great. I had to skim it because the red background really hurts my eyes. Could that possibly be changed to a soothing blue or green?

BrandonH wrote:What I read of the CinC review was great. I had to skim it because the red background really hurts my eyes. Could that possibly be changed to a soothing blue or green?

A blue background will be used for Part 2 most likely to match that box color. Try highlighting all the text, it makes it alot easier to read.

I tinkered with the background settings on "Commander" Part 1 the other day after your comment, Brandon H. Not sure if the new look is much better, but I hope so.

In the meantime, everyone go read these new reviews. You don't even need to make a reply here with feedback, just go and read 'em!

The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (DMC Exclusive)
http://www.ultimatedisney.com/storyofrobinhood.html

That's So Raven: Raven's Makeover Madness
http://www.ultimatedisney.com/thatssora ... eover.html

The Shaggy Dog (2006)
http://www.ultimatedisney.com/shaggydog.html

Yay! Made release date on that last one and got it done in less than 48 hours from receipt!

Great review of The Shaggy Dog, Luke. It's a tad bit hard to read when some of the words appear in the darker fur. Anyway, I haven't seen this film, but, I might have to give it a rental. That's crazy about how much picture you actually lose with the widescreen presentation!

Nice Review of The Shaggy Dog, The story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men and That's So Raven Makeover Madness.

The only one i would consider getting would be The Shaggy Dog even though i have never seen The Shaggy D.A. to my knowledge. Plus the fact i didn't see it in Theatres.

Also Luke did you get my Email about The PRMF: A Jetix Blockbuster "Dark Wish" slated for release September 26 i think.

MadonnasManOne wrote:Great review of The Shaggy Dog, Luke. It's a tad bit hard to read when some of the words appear in the darker fur. Anyway, I haven't seen this film, but, I might have to give it a rental. That's crazy about how much picture you actually lose with the widescreen presentation!

Well, I don't think Luke choose a good example (or alternatively he did choose a good example, because the cropped shot was poor) but if you look at his other screenshots, such as

or

its clear that the STORYTELLING is improved by the cropping.

In the first example, Tim Allen is clearly the subject of the image, with Spencer Breslin's reaction neatly framed in the background. Also, by reading left-to-right (as we tend to process visual information visually because of reading words) Breslin's reaction may be smaller than Allen's but is somewhat emphasised by its position.

In th second example, the Wife is again, the focus of the shot, and on the left, while her children and the dog are framed in the background neatly. Imagine that shot open matte, there would be far to much headroom above the children, and their presence would be reduced as the brain would spends some time deciding where to focus.

This isn't so say widescreen is the only viable storytelling format, but the film was clearly framed for widescreen presentation. (Deathie would be proud of me!)

Great review for Shaggy Dog, Lukester.

Question, though...

Why'd you referred to the fullscreen version as pan & scan if it was open-matte?

Leave the Main Menu running for a minute or so, and voilà, FastPlay kicks in and you're "treated" to the pan and scan version.



Escapay

Great job on the Shaggy Dog review Luke. This movie looks funny, but I don't know if I'll get it or not. I have a tight spending limit.

Escapay wrote:Why'd you referred to the fullscreen version as pan & scan if it was open-matte?

Leave the Main Menu running for a minute or so, and voilà, FastPlay kicks in and you're "treated" to the pan and scan version.



Escapay

If you don't mind Luke, since our dear friend deathie mouse is AWOL, I'll field this one.

A true open-matte presentation has no side-cropping. It just opens the top and bottom mattes to reveal the full 1.33:1 (or 1.37:1 whatever) on the original camera negative.

Super-35 is a slightly different entity. It actually uses the entire silent aperature, meaning that even the area on the film where the soundtrack normally goes is used for picture.

Now technically the native aspect ratio of a super-35 film is indeed 1.33:1. But almost never is it shown open-matte. Since the imagery is composed for 2.35:1, that's just too much dead space to show the entire negative. So the transfer artist who prepares the fullframe version composes a pleasing image within the super-35 frame. Most of the time more top and bottom image is revealed and less side image. Some very interesting choices of composition can be made with super-35. Sometimes for a particular shot they may indeed zoom in on the frame and match the top and bottom frame-lines of the theatrical presentation, thereby cropping out a significant amount on the sides, and other times when there are two important factors on the edges of the frame they may zoom all the way out and a particular shot will truly be open-matte.

So, all told, pan-and-scan is probably a more accurate description than open-matte.

This may be a little late, but I really enjoyed your review of Chicago, Renata Joy. It's one of my favorite movies. However, I disagree with you on your comments on Renee Zellweger. I thought she did a terrific job in the film, but I do agree with your opinions on Richard Gere.

chaychay102royal wrote:This may be a little late, but I really enjoyed your review of Chicago, Luke. It's one of my favorite movies. However, I disagree with you on your comments on Renee Zellweger. I thought she did a terrific job in the film, but I do agree with your opinions on Richard Gere.

Renata Joy wrote it, not Luke.

Great reviews! I especially enjoyed the review for Robin Hood and His Merrie Men.

Let's hope the DMC exclusive section get's fleshed out a bit more with reviews for the other exclusive titles!

ichabod wrote:Let's hope the DMC exclusive section get's fleshed out a bit more with reviews for the other exclusive titles!

I know someone who is hard at work on one of them but I guess he's too busy pal-ing around with Mickey.

-Aaron

I just got around to reading Escapay's "Power Rangers: Mystic Force" Volume 1 DVD review... great job! Funny, fresh, interesting, and very well-written. A great introductory review. I didn't really know that this PR series was so fantasy-based, which leads me to think it may be slightly more tolerable than, say, SPD (:roll:), but it still sounds like it errs on the side of lame.

-Aaron

After I left feedback for the Home Improvement review, I decided to wait for a few more reviews to be posted before leaving more feedback. I seemed to have let 16 slip by without realizing it, so I'll comment now before another review gets posted.

Good job on your "Power Rangers" review, Escapay. And good job on your "Commander in Chief" Part 1 review. I think you hit the nail on the head with the "could've, would've, should've" part.

Good job on the "Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure" review, Aaron. It kept me from wasting my money on an unnecessary upgrade. And While I'm not a fan of "Cow Belles", "That's So Raven", and Under the Umbrella Tree", I did enjoy reading your reviews of them.

Great job, Luke, on all your reviews. Before reading your "Eight Below" and "The Shaggy Dog" reviews, I had planned on avoiding them, but now I think I'll at least rent them. I did rent "Glory Road" before you posted your review, and I completely agree with your review.

I had my doubts about making a blind buy for "Leroy & Stitch", but after reading Luke's review I bought it (and I enjoyed the movie).

I'm not fond of compilation disc, but I did enjoy your "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" review, Luke.

I enjoyed reading Renata's "Chicago": The Razzle-Dazzle Edition review.

Good job on "The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men" review, Mark.

Good job on the "Kidnapped" review, Michael.

Excellent job on the Walt Disney Records - Summer 2006 CD Roundup and the Summer 2006 DVD Roundup, everyone. I always enjoy reading the roudups.

AwallaceUNC wrote:I just got around to reading Escapay's "Power Rangers: Mystic Force" Volume 1 DVD review... great job! Funny, fresh, interesting, and very well-written. A great introductory review. I didn't really know that this PR series was so fantasy-based, which leads me to think it may be slightly more tolerable than, say, SPD (:roll:), but it still sounds like it errs on the side of lame.

-Aaron

Being a PR fan obviously, Mystic Force is going the right way, and Aaron if you happen to have Toon Disney or Abc Family i just you check out Heir Apparent part 1 or Koragg's Trial the latest 2 eps. to premiere. Or maybe even Dark Wish which is coming out to DVD the last Tuesday in September the 26th.