A Few Words About A few words about... King Kong (2005) (1 Viewer)

[ZacharyTait]

I can't wait to get my hands on the 2-dsic set. Too bad I have to wait until Saturday to get it.

I only have a 27" SDTV. Wah.....

 

[Sergio A]

Dear all,

(and please pardon what appears to have been my netiquette gaffe), but what exactly is a 'thread fart' and why is it not OK to talk about KING KONG (2005) the movie experience even in passing?

Didn't mean to cause any offence, just a little confused.

Yours (trying to avoid all possible flatulence),


Sergio A

 

[Kyle_D]

From the HTF Guide to Forum Policy and Behavior that all members are supposed to read before posting:


There is a separate thread in the movie section for discussing/debating the film.

Usually people who are reading about the DVD release are interested in the film or planning on buying it. If you're only interested in trashing the film without commenting on the DVD release whatsoever, you should take your comments to the other thread.

 

[James_Kiang]

I'm no expert, but I'll take a shot at an explanation.

A "thread fart" is when someone posts something that seems to be completely unrelated to the subject being discussed. IMO, since this is a thread about King Kong, I don't find your 2nd post (the first was perhaps too unsubstantiated) to be a thread fart by that definition. However, since the original poster (OP) started this thread with the intention to praise the film/dvd release, I think that is why people are taking issue with what you said.

Now, don't take this the wrong way. HTF is full of members who will go to war to defend or lambast any given movie. All they ask is that you do it in the proper place. If you had made that same post in the discussion thread in the Movies forum there would have been no problem (aside from a large number of people disagreeing with you ).

Personally, as I said, I have no problem with what you said. I guess the argument can be made that Robert Harris' post was dealing more with the technical aspects of the film so your discussion of the subject matter was inappropriate (I don't think you would have gotten a much different response in the official dvd review thread though). Also, Robert Harris is something of a guest if you will here at HTF so some people frown upon his threads being "sidetracked". I can't speak for him, but I get the impression that - if intelligently stated - he would EDIT:NOT (whoa, otherwise that would take on a whole different meaning) have much problem with that. Correct me if I'm wrong Robert?

 

[TheLongshot]

It is a thread fart from the fact that this is a thread about the DVD release, not the movie itself. If you want to talk about the movie, and its relative merits, that's what the Movie forum is for. Here, we talk about the DVD release, suppliments, and quality of such.

Jason

 

[Jack Briggs]

Well, folks, let's move on from that topic. And, Sergio, now you know. Please reserve any negative comments you may have for the film discussion over in Movies. Thank you.

As for the disc, Mr. Harris you have made me really excited. I'm getting the disc for myself in a couple of months (long story), but I will be screening it when a friend (the much-lauded Dave) brings his copy over on Monday evening. Really looking forward to it.

 

[Mark Oates]

I thought the R2 edition of the disc was fantastic, in spite of the screener I was sent having a Property Of Universal Pictures International watermark across the top of the frame for the entirety of the movie and the extras. Needless to say with that on screen I didn't spot any anti-bootlegging ID.

I did however notice that in the foggy approach to Skull Island sequences, there was a lot of contouring. However, I'm beginning to suspect that the Sony player I use might be having trouble with rendering subtle brightness changes. I viewed the first Harry Potter movie again this evening, and there was similar bad contouring on the opening in Privet Drive - contouring which had not been visible when I originally viewed the movie on the machine I had at that time.

I'll know better when I get my own copy of Kong in a few days, as I'll check the scenes on other machines and my PC.

 

[TonyD]

what do you mean "contouring"? i havent seen this word used when discussing pq of a dvd before.

 

[Holadem]

Jack, please do post your thoughts, this should be good .

--
H

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I just want to note for the new guys that it's OK to debate a film's merits in its DVD REVIEW thread as well as its thread in the Movies forum. (Well, it's OK in my review threads, anyway! Don't wanna speak for everyone else, but of course we do review the movies, and not always positively.)

 

[DaViD Boulet]

RAH,

thanks for an oustanding recommendation. I can't wait to see this DVD projected on my screen!

Though...I confess...I may wait to *buy* the title until it emerges on 1080P media...

 

[Dave H]

I bought and watched this tonight. Beautiful transfer --- very filmlike --- just about as good as it gets on film-based DVDs.

 

[Tino]

Ran across this at www.kongisking.net from an MTV interview with Jack Black:


MTV: What addition would you have liked to have seen Peter add to the remake?

Black: There was a swamp scene with a Loch Ness Monster beast that was pretty kick-ass, but I know that scenes have to be trimmed down, and that one unfortunately had to be cut.

MTV: Were you in that?

Black: Yeah, it was part of the whole expedition, searching for [Naomi Watts' character] Ann Darrow where we're on rafts. That was a pretty cool scene that didn't make it.



Hopefully it will be on the SE

More of the interview here: http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/artic...hooNewscrawler

 

[Mark Oates]

Contouring - where a smooth and continuous change in brightness (such as fog) is rendered as a series of distinct steps reminiscent of a contour map.

 

[TonyD]

sounds like banding.

 

[Mark Oates]

I say tomahto, you say tomayto.

From what everybody else is saying about Kong being a reference disc, I can only surmise it's either my player or Universal sent out a really duff screener in R2. I'll know better on the 10th when I get my own proper copy.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Banding is a display (LCD) artifact (not to be confused by DLP's DMD temporal dithering artifacts), it isn't on the disc.

The amount of vertical banding will depend on the display, how it is calibrated, and the type of image that is being displayed.

Hazy gray panning images will usually reveal these display artifacts if a particular display is prone to them.

This is probably why some are seeing this from the King Kong DVD as it has several scenes that could cause this to happen, no fault of the disc mind you, just a weakness of the display being used.

If you want to test your display out, chapter 22 (47:45-52:15) offers several scenes that will challenge any display that is prone to vertical banding or temporal dithering.

Another good test material is chapter 3 (4:00-4:10) on either Master and Commander DVD release.

 

[Mark Oates]

I'm in the UK. I'm still using a 28" Widescreen Sony CRT. I'll have to win the lottery before I can get a plasma or LCD. :frowning:

 

[TonyD]

yeh mark i didnt see any of that when i watched it.

on banding/contouring.
i remember tis issue with the brother bear dvd when that came out.
some called that banding. either way.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Well, I screened this thing last night. My buddy Dave brought his two-disc special edition over and we looked at the movie. And, wow, I liked it -- a lot. I have criticisms, but they are minor. And I rank this version behind the original but light years ahead of the 1976 effort. It's quite clear that Peter Jackson has a reverential attitude toward the original film, and his repeated references to it in this film are often fun.

The disc looked absolutely stunning. One of the best DVDs I've ever seen. Sonically, it rocked, too. Really had a terrific time with it, and I can hardly wait until I get my own copy.