A Few Words About A few words about...™ Gangs of New York -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

Only speaking for myself, I know that I can trust RAH's review based upon his years of posting here and his work in the industry. If I had never heard of him or had never read his reviews, I wouldn't be as trusting.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Thanks for the heads-up Robert, I was glad to hear that this movie was going to be in Blu-ray soon. But if it looks the way you say it does then I have no interest in purchasing it. I will be putting it on my wait list and see if they correct it or not?

 

[Paul Crow]

It’s not lost on people at the studios that Mr. Harris’ appraisals are many times motivated by something entirely different than the product he is reviewing.

Look at “Patton” and “The Longest Day”

Why didn't Mr. Harris pick up the phone and call directly to the head of mastering / restoration of 20th Century Fox to report the problems on those films directly than coming to the internet first? I'm sure he is not a “highly respected professional” in Century City at the moment. ?

 

[Robert Harris]

Deleted

 

[Rachael B]

I'm glad I took a gander at this thread. I preordered Gangs about 6 weeks ago because I like the movie. I think I'll cancel and play wait and see. In Robert I trust....who was 1 million percent correct about Patton and The Longest Movie. I get nauseous just recalling the dull sheen of the Patton BD.

I should have to write on the blackboard 100 times, "I will not preorder movies way in advance anymore".

 

[Douglas Monce]

In the 2 years that I've been reading this board, Mr. Harris' only apparent motive has been to give his opinion of selected DVD and High Def releases. He has done so about Gangs of New York.

I'm baffled as to why you are taking this so personally.

Doug

 

[Cees Alons]

Attacks of a purely personal nature are not allowed on this forum. No exceptions. Please read our rules in case of doubt.

Furthermore, to other members: please do not elaborate on this matter any further: Mr. Crow will not reply here. (He can answer Mr. Harris' questions through personal communication.)


Cees

 

[Cassy_w]

I'm glad to see the forum took care of a certain somebody. Thank you.

Back to GANGS, you wonder if Martin Scorsese has any idea his film looks the way it does or that a Blu-Ray has even been released.

 

[Bleddyn Williams]

Thank you, Cees.

 

[Tim Glover]

Cees always does what's best for the forum & always seems to keep things tidy in a professional manner.

 

[Rachael B]

What's a silly wabbit to do? Isn't there an international BD or HD of this 'un out there? Trix aren't for studios, Trix are for kids....like me. I could'a swore I saw one somewhere..... It was hard to find a BD title I really wanted most weeks this summer. There goes a purr-fectly good week. Damn, I'll have to do without or watch Laserdiscs....!

 

[Dave Mack]

by most accounts the uk version is just as bad and region locked

 

[Robert Harris]

Apparently high hopes were held for Gangs, at least by the copywriter responsible for the back cover notes:

"Surrender to the tumultuous atmosphere of 1860s New York as phenomenal sound and stunning visual clarity transport you back in time. Prepare to experience Scorsese's masterpiece as never before on Blu-ray High Definition."

I agree with all comments as written except for the presentation on Blu-ray.

This is a phenomenal motion picture, with wonderful sound and stunning imagery -- on film.

Again, this should be a simple fix for Disney.

 

[fernby]

one day the film will truly be given the attention on DVD that it deserves. Here in Australia, our regular DVD version of this film was appalling, sad to see that it's still the case across the world.

You'd think Scorsese would have something to say about all this.

 

[Dave Mack]

I think Disney also released Scary Movie...?
An absolutely dreadful looking disc IMHO.

 

[Edwin-S]

I hope we don't get a repeat performance if or when Disney gets around to releasing Tombstone on BD. The Tombstone SE looked nice colourwise but it was infested with massive EE. It should have been called Tombstone: The EE Edition.

I hope Disney does a better job on that one than they, apparently, have done on Gangs of New York.

 

[Robert Harris]

I posted this to another site within the past day, and realized that it belongs as an attachment here.

It is a direct link to Patton, but attempts to explain my general position at this point in time.

***************************

Blu-ray was, from the outset, designed to be a multi-functional system capable of serving many masters.

Combined with the PS3, it becomes a superlative gaming system.

Played back on that same PS3, or any Blu players, it can offer a totally immersive and perfectly honed rendition of film (cinema) as a digital video product.

Because of its huge data handling capabilities, compression becomes much less of a problem, and along with that the need to reduce, no less remove, the original grain structure of a motion picture.

If the consumer, as a matter of personal preference, determines that they like to view some or all older motion pictures encoded to Blu with a slightly softer appearance, the system can handle that request with the simple turn of a digital dial.

The Blu-ray system stands as a consummate achievement of modern technology in its ability to do many things, and to do them very, very well.

As I see it, the only thing that can damage or destroy its commercial image is a run of software that prohibits the system from doing the job that it was designed to do -- that being the replication of the theater experience in a home setting at the highest level of reproduction and purity.

And this is where some of the most current releases fail the system as well as the consumer.

Blu-ray discs are too expensive to allow the public to be complacent about quality, when quality is all to easy to achieve.

I believe that we've reached a plateau in development cycle, where transfers that are "good enough" or films that have been heavily digitized are no longer viable.

RAH

 

[Peter Neski]

what does the director say about this Blue Ray? was he even in the Mix?
I don't recall the film looking anywhere "a Ten" in the theatre(Like" La Luna")The Dvd looked like what I saw in the theatre,maybe you saw a better print.

 

[Michel_Hafner]

You saw a print where people were walking around with force fields?

 

[Kris Z.]

Wasn't it Scorsese who initiated the new restoration of Once Upon a Time in the West because he thought the Lowry restoration that was on DVD looked wrong? You'd think he would care how his own films were presented.