Let it never be said, etc. The Foreign Region mess, at The Daily Notebook, as usual, for your delectation and toughness.
Asking the tough questions
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That “shimmer” is in the sound presentation (generally), too, right? I don’t know if one would hear detail (as you would see in the image) in Blu Ray that couldn’t otherwise be heard in a standard DVD, but to my ear the sound is amazing. And, apparently, Neil Young would agree.
Again, generally speaking.
Wells most egregious piece, and the living proof of his total irrelevance to any discussion aboiut films, let alone BluRay renditions of them, is his blind contempt for the Criterion Stagecoach. Enough said about him, I never want to mention his name again.
Glenn I think Richard Brody and anyone else while they’re are right to say it’s always about the film, really have to respect the millions of people on the planet who don’t live in NYC, Paris, Berlin, Los Angeles or London,and who have been collecting home video libraries nor for three decades as the core of their own cinephilia. It’s us this is all about – quite bluntly. And It’s for me and people like me who want the Blu of Tokyo Story, despite it coming from a second gen pos, or the staggeringly beautiful new Gaumont French Cancan (which got the three strip rescan, realign, recolor and re chromatize treatment from the team at Gaumont.) Because I can remember how wonderful the IBs were of this, and I’m entitled to say I believe this is better.
There, nice to get that off my chest.
Glad I could be of help, David.
I think it’s obvious that Richard and I are not on the same page on this issue. It’s kind of a funny thing—I like Richard, personally, much better than anybody else with whom I disagree so frequently! (He really is a very good-humored, kind, and considerate person.) And that said, I don’t think his idiosyncratic position in this area necessarily means he’s against high-quality home versions of cinema. He HAS been known to express enthusiasm for a Criterion release every now and again!
I understand that you’ve had a bellyful of Wells but I just want to say that I do get a kick out of him at those times when he’ll bitch at length about a Criterion release and then top it off by complaining that the company doesn’t service him with product. What incredible irony!
Of course, the eventual 4K (‘Quad-HD’?) discs, when (not “if”) they arrive, are going to make Blu-ray look like you smeared Vaseline over your screen then stuck a sheet of tracing paper on top.
If you can forgive the shameless self-promotion, I reviewed the Ozu blu-rays on my own blog and also used it as an opportunity to discuss why blu-ray is a crucial format for cinephiles (the short version is that you’re simply seeing MORE of the original image):
http://michaelgloversmith.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/ozu-on-blu/