Star Wars DVD

[Gnarlo]

Picked up the disks today, and am about half way through ANH right now.

Couple of nits:

Does it seem to anyone that the movie is darker than it should be? I got out my old VHS tapes and they are much brighter than the DVD is. I had to turn up the brightness on my TV some to keep details from turning to black in some scenes, and even turned up it still doesn't get as distinct as the old tapes. Aging in the master copies, perhaps?

I agree with a couple of complaints I've read, Mos Eisley is unnecessarily busy at times, it's distracting. A perfect example is when the troops walk up the the land speeder in the "aren't the droids you're looking for scene". While they are first stopping it and starting to speak, stuff KEEPS WALKING BETWEEN THEM AND THE CAMERA, including one of those big fat giraffe thingies, obscuring the entire focus of the scene. I have to wonder what the hell the rationale was for that.

And the Cantina controversy. No, not that one , my own personal one: when the little bat headed alien is getting his drink at the bar, turns his head, and you can see in the eye on the left side of his head and out the eye hole on the other side of his head. It's one of those things that stick in my head, I saw it on screen back in 77 and everytime I see the Cantina scene, my mind is going "ok, wait for it, here comes the hollow headed bat monster.... NOW.... ok, back to enjoying the movie" I would have thought that with all the other changes they made in the movie, someone would surely picked up on and fixed that one; I mean they removed Wolfie for gods' sake.

That's it so far, other than those couple of things, I'm having a great time. Intermission over, back to the film.

 

[Guilt Puppy]

(I imagine this is going to be tough to understand, but...)

"I couldn't stand to watch it" and plain old "unwatchable" are completely different things.

See, you have to open the DVD player first, and then insert the disc. Only then are they watchable.

You're right! Your intentional refusal to read the obviously intended context of my freaking Star Wars rant (which is to say, opinion) really does make me an idiot! You sure are superior to me.

If you wanted to make me feel stupid, you should have just pointed out the fact that I'd posted a freaking Star Wars rant. Intentionally failing to understand a literary device so basic it barely deserves to be called a literary device... That's just begging me to give you a hard time, and I'm too unemployed and angry not to play along.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Interesting thoughts on Ms. Portman's acting ability (from both sides of the debate).

In her defense, I have only seen her in the Star Wars prequels.* And, yes, the dialogue isn't the best and the director's handling of the actors makes wet cardboard out of most performers in the prequels. Oh, I just check the IMDB. I also saw "Mars Attacks!" in which she wasn't the worst performer (which isn't saying much--that movie is horrible).

Against that, however, is that she is just so horribly bad in SW I & II that I'd rather spend my $4 rental on something that interests me, rather than an attempt to appreciate an actress whose performances so far made me cringe.

So, for Natalie Portman, her only chance at redemption (for me) is SW III. I ain't holdin' my breath, but since I'm not a famous film critic, I won't hurt her career by disparaging her lack of talent. On an rpg-message board.

Well, maybe I'll just rent '"The Professional" and revel in her professional beginning (and peak?) as an actress.





*I can't watch Woody Allen films since he started sleeping with his "step-daughter" (who now his wife). And I couldn't bring myself to see "Cold Mountain" even though I usually like all three actors who were the leads--it just looked like a boring pile of crap to me (and I didn't want to waste 2 hours watching Rene Zelwegger play the bastard love child of Popeye and Granny Clampett). And I wanted to see "Garden State"--but my movie viewing time is limited and the only current pictures I'll get to the theater to see are probably "Shaun of the Dead" and the Universal horror classics playing at my neighborhood theater for the first two weeks of October.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

A quick question on RotJ.

Is this the *third* version of the musical number in Jabba's place?

My favorite is the original. The extended version video had (I thought) a very slow, soul-ful number, which I hated.

The DVD number seems faster and more up-tempo than I remember from my old SE video.

Am I senile? Or did Lucas change the number again? No biggie; he still doesn't know what he's doing and I miss "Lapti Nek" (or whatever the original song was).

 

[Krieg]

You're right! Your intentional refusal to read the obviously intended context of my freaking Star Wars rant (which is to say, opinion) really does make me an idiot! You sure are superior to me.

Having a bad day GP?

 

[Guilt Puppy]

Bad month. I was a much better human being before I quit smoking and left CA.

Hopefully, if I'm snippy, it at least comes across as well-intentioned on some level... Parading my misdirected frustration about for the amusement of others, as it were. In the best of all possible worlds

 

[Ranger REG]

Does it seem to anyone that the movie is darker than it should be?

Not to me. Despite my old TV not being hi-def, I made adjustment to the video using the THX video test included with the DVD.

 

[Tom Cashel]

You're right! Your intentional refusal to read the obviously intended context of my freaking Star Wars rant (which is to say, opinion) really does make me an idiot! You sure are superior to me.

If you wanted to make me feel stupid, you should have just pointed out the fact that I'd posted a freaking Star Wars rant. Intentionally failing to understand a literary device so basic it barely deserves to be called a literary device... That's just begging me to give you a hard time, and I'm too unemployed and angry not to play along.

I'll guess hyperbole.

But I'm giggling too much to even bother to figure out what you're on about.

"Literary devices" in a Star Wars rant...and is it any mystery to you why you're angry and unemployed?

 

[Guilt Puppy]

Thanks for repeating me, Tom. You sure nailed me.

 

[Hypersmurf]

And that's about enough of that.

Let's cut the sniping, guys.

-Hyp.
(Moderator)