re: Widescreen vs. Pan & Scan
Those of you who purchase pan-and-scan versions not only are allowing studio executives to justify this practice, you are are basically second-guessing the director. “You filmed it the wrong way because I don’t like it!”
This is a quote from John Carpenter in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
It’s good to see someone defending his art/craft.
re: Widescreen vs. Pan & Scan
Those of you who purchase pan-and-scan versions not only are allowing studio executives to justify this practice, you are are basically second-guessing the director. “You filmed it the wrong way because I don’t like it!”
This is a quote from John Carpenter in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
It’s good to see someone defending his art/craft.
It was mentioned before, but I will defend New Line re: LOTR.
When they anounced the DVDs (In April!), they mentioned both versions. They mentioned how much longer you had to wait for the SE, how much more it would cost*, and (in general) what you got for waiting/spending more. So everyone had plenty of time to think it over.
http://www.lordoftherings.net/film/news/ne_art2002_04_00.html
If they had released both versions at the same time, fans would have to wait for November to get anything (it took time to add effects for the new shots, plus the music). And a normal/extended version would be pricey.
Brian
Just wanted to chime in to say I LOVE the extra features on DVDs. The making of, director’s commentary, actor’s commentary, interview with the guy who brought coffee for the star’s stand-in? Yep, I wanna see it. I love behind-the-scenes stuff, and the fact that a great deal of it is pretty pointless doesn’t bother me one whit.
I have 2 DVDs that are double sided, Goodfellas and The Right Stuff. I assume that compression techniques were not what they are today. That’s almost worse than VHS because I have to get up.
Another easter egg hater here.
And another vote against “full screen only” releases. I’ve got nothing against other people’s preferences (and I’m out numbered in my household, but I’m converting them), but I’ve seen way too many bad pan-n-scans. The ones that bug me the most are when two people are talking, both facing the camera (often through the windshield of a car when they’re both in the front seat), and you get a lovely view of half of each of their heads on the edges of the screen, and the remainder of the screen is filled with whatever background was used.
I haven’t seen any pan-n-scan DVDs so I won’t get into that debate, but the following thingsFREAK me out:
“Shite releases”. I can at present buy Terminator 2 on DVD. The special features are “Animated menus” and “Theatrical Trailer”. You are kidding me? Counting the menu and the trailer as special features is like advertising a VHS tape as having rewind capability.
CRAP! Why not just do one release, or at the max two, one with nothing but the film for a cheaper price and one with every damned thing at a more expensive price. Hate you.
I also have issues with the whole subtitling thang. Why in the name of holy hell not just put all subtitles on all DVDs? They take up next to no space, release the same damned disk all over the world. Don’t even get me started on the dipshits who make it so you can’t choose to see the movie without subtitles, I will smack them with hardwood branches. I want all my movies with a minimum of English and Swedish subtitles, a minimum! I have friends you know!
Fades out, ranting all the while…
My take on the FOTR DVDs is this: I liked the movie, so I preordered the barebones edition that came out in August. I figure when the Extra-Nifty Feature-Packed Tartar Control Fresh Mint edition comes out in November, I’ll rent it to watch all the new nifty stuff. I mean, how often do I really need to watch the extras?
I nearly always turn subtitles on when I watch my DVDs. If I’m in luck, there’ll be French subtitles, which help me with my French studies (likewise for French audio tracks, if it’s a movie I know well, though these are of widely varying quality). Elsewise, I like having English subtitles on because I don’t always hear so well. (I use the closed captioning on my TV too)
I don’t like lengthy movie intros or stupid DVD games, though, nor “DVD-ROM” stuff that tries to install when I put the disc in my DVD drive. It’s just as annoying as “Enhanced CD” or whatever they’re calling it these days, where I put a CD in my computer to listen to it and it wants to install whiz-bang “special features”.
Ever watch a Rhino DVD? They play the warning and display a picture of some gruff-looking old guy. While the background music is playing, someone draws a funny face on the old guy.
A pox on the moron who decided that the Digipack was was good idea (this applies to CDs as well).
Is there a bonus to anyone who comes up with even more hub designs? I have some that hold the disc in place with two little nubs, one on top and bottom. I have nearly snapped discs in half because of these. Why not use the classic 12-tooth style used in most CDs? Or, at least, the two-part soft push type?
Inconsistant packaging in different countries. This may just be limited to Star Trek: The Next Generation with its cheapo cardboard style in the US versus the cool hard shell plastic type sold in Europe.
I wish that more language tracks were available on DVDs. I like hearing other languages, and I was really hoping that I could hear a lot of different languages in movies I like. But usually they only have two (three at the most) different languages available.
Oh, and in that vein: why are most region 1 DVDs (that I get, anyway) available in English and French? I don’t mind (since I semi-know French), but why isn’t there usually Spanish right alongside it? Why can’t we have at least five languages? I don’t know how much space a language track takes up, though.
And why do my Jackie Chan DVDs have English and French, but not Chinese?! God, I would love to watch a Jackie Chan movie and actually have the lips in synch with the dialogue! 
I love my DVDs, but I hate it when there’s no option for subtitles.
I’m not talking about foreign films here, and I don’t really care if foreign films are subbed or dubbed. I mean any English film that does not have the option for “subtitles for the hearing impaired”. Because I’m hearing impaired, and I like having the words on the screen anyway.
John Q doesn’t have this. Neither does another DVD I’ve seen, but it was a while ago so I can’t remember the name. I think the makers of JQ and the others who don’t include any subtitles, for the benefit of the deaf & people who just like having them there, are really letting the public down. And losing a lot of their audience.
I know I never bothered to watch JQ.
That is J. Edgar Hoover. If ever anybody deserved to be so disrespected long after their death, it’s him…
ElwoodCuse- yes, I bought the Fight Club SE DVD- it should be used as an example to other studios on how to do a special edition DVD right. The fake movie theater announcements are a neat little bonus too. Can’t say I’ve seen a Rhino DVD but it sounds like a warning screen I could live with.
Has anyone here tried watching the Simpsons DVD in french? The voices for the characters are absolutely terrible. I could understand why it wouldn’t be popular in frankyphonic countries.
The “two little nubs” you describe is the Alpha case, which seems to be one of the more popular ones at the moment. The two-part soft push one is the Amaray Keepcase (look on the inside of the spine of the case, you’ll see “Amaray”). The problem is, neither one of those cases is a perfect design; the Amaray case makes it easy to remove your DVD, but it doesn’t hold onto the disc very tightly, so the disc rattles around a lot. The Alpha case holds onto the disc nice and tight, but it’s a pain in the ass to get your disc out of the case. Somewhere, surely, there is a balance.
There are, of course, dozens of case variations now. My least favorite is one I’ve dubbed “the Finger-Eater”, featuring six stiff, inward-jutting plastic spikes that take your fingerprint off when you press on it. The very worst I’ve encountered was probably the one in the Bad Taste case, which is clearly some sort of highly-experimental practical joke. Since I’ve not seen that kind of bizarre clasp before or since, hopefully they’ve abandoned it.
Re the audio commentary for the alternate endings on the <i>Suicide Kings</i> DVD. There is no option to turn the commentary off, but once the alternate endings start playing you can manually switch to audio channel 2 and get the plain audio. The commentary is on audio channel 1.
I just tested this on my copy, so I know it to be correct.
Well, it’s nice to see that, at least in one instance, Region 2 got the shaft instead of Region 1. You Europeans always get the snazzy features and the Futurama box sets and the advanced Buffy Season 5 set while we here in the US are stuck with Season 2 and zero Futurama.
Our T2 DVD is a 2-disc set crammed with special features, including 3 separate edits of the movie.
FBI titles are fun, no question. Can you say “self-important lawyers on a power trip”? Let’s stick something in everyone’s face when they’re trying to relax to remind them how important we are?
If they were really trying to scare anyone off, they’d try a few variations. Was it Rhino that used to lead off VHS tapes with a little comic scene with the guy next door being hauled off to jail? I mean – if they’re serious about stopping the problem … duh … why not explain why they think it’s wrong?
Even more annoying are the leaders before being able to press “play” that can’t be forwarded through. Like I REALLY want to see the latest variation on the WB’s logo. And I really enjoy seeing 3D crud floating around the screen to make oh-so-clever titles with the names of “production companies” that will be gone in two years. I’m SOOOO impressed.
A pretty good primer on the Wide vs. Full presentation format was just posted on the Star Wars Site: Widescreen vs. Full Screen. They show several good examples of how crops were made in Episode II and give example of the strengths and weaknesses of each.
Even some big time aficionados may like the full screen presentation of Episode II since Jar Jar gets cropped out in places. 
I can name a couple of exceptions (Tron where the discussion of the technical aspects of the movie was fascinating, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks where there was a recap of how the movie was butchered (20 minutes, two dance numbers and some crucial information about the kid’s parents were removed because Radio City Music Hall wanted to get one extra showing a day),The Fantasticks which had several deleted scenes from the butchered release version (they cut “Try to Remember” from the movie!!!) but other than that, I tend to agree. In descending order the important stuff on DVDs are:
The Movie
Deleted Scenes
Trailers (which give a neat historical context to the film)
Commentary/Interviews/etc
And a disincentive is games/Easter Eggs. I’d pay an extra $5 to never have to find a hidden menu or play a f*&%ing game to get to the movie again.
In one case-in-point, I got the Disney “Silly Symphony” boxed set. A wonderful package, but I had to spend 20-some minutes f*&king around to try to find two of the cartoons I wanted to view. As far as I’m concerned, content should NEVER be an “easter egg”
Fenris
And where the hell is the Letterbox edition of **Singing In The Rain"???