DVD Review HTF REVIEW: "Gangs of New York" (1 Viewer)

[Colin Jacobson]

I could point out that Barry Lyndon looks and sounds great at 183 minutes on a single side.... but then, someone would point out that BL is mostly a series of long, still shots.

Or they might point out that Barry includes only one audio option (DD 5.1) vs. the four (DD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DTS 5.1 English and commentary) on Gangs...

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

What about Spartacus: Criterion? 196 minutes long, DD5.1, DD2.0, commentary, essay, and it all looks and sounds great.

But the side-break on Gangs doesn't bother me - I've watched the DVD three times now and it doesn't bother me at all, really - why should it? The film remains intact and the transfer is stunning.


Gordy

 

[Nick Sievers]

Who is handling this title up in Canada? Can we expect the same transfer (both audio and visual) and will we be seeing a bi-lingual cover?

 

[Aaron Cohen]

I'm in the camp that's a bit annoyed by this. If the region 4 version looks great with the same stuff all on one disc, I see NO reason in splitting it over two discs! I'm going to try and track down a region 4 copy and compare the two side by side, I'm suspecting the Region 1 copy MUST look somewhat better right? What is the full file size of the Region 1 version vs. the Region 4 version? I haven't seen where the side ends as I don't have the dvd but I can recall the scene I believe it takes place during when I saw it in the theatre and just have to wonder why.... I'm sure absolutely nothing would have been different in terms of any sort of quality if they waited a few more minutes to end the first disc. They even could have ended it a few minutes earlier!

 

[Brandon_S]

Well I had a slight accident the other day with my Gangs of New York box. Some friends were over watching the movie, and one of them filled a cup of water to drink and sat it beside the box on the table. Well no biggie right? Wrong. The cup had a pretty large crack in it and leaked all into my GONY box, pretty much ruining the cover.

Could anyone do a high res scan of the cover for me? I'm so picky about my collection and hate having the cover looks all warped.

Thanks!

 

[Dave Schofield]

Has anyone else noticed an extremely abrupt sound level change right at the end of the film, as they are sliding out from the last shot into the credits? U2's song is somewhat in the background for most of the scene and then BAM!, its up to full volume in a matter of a split second. I played it 3 times to make sure it wasn't a player hiccup or something of that sort...

I have several theories on it, but my favorite is that the director hated having to put U2 into his movie, but was forced to by Miramax, so he jacked up the introduction of it so it was plainly obvious.

I have hesitated to post this since I remember the reaction to those who posted "why are there streaks on my copy of Saving Private Ryan?"...

 

[Hanson]

The actual size of the movie files on each disk are such that both parts could fit onto a single DVD-9 with menus. That's DD5.1, DTS, commentary, the whole enchilada. Then throw all the extras onto a second disc like you're supposed to.

Why this movie is split over two disks is a real head-scratcher. Someone ordered this to happen -- no one with a brain would have come up with a "solution" like this. The argument that it was to improve the picture quality is a total crock.

Hanson

 

[Michael Osadciw]

The sound, in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1, is up to modern industry standards.

Thanks for the review but this is the only statement I really disagree with. I thought the audio was very poorly recorded and poorly spread on the soundstage for a modern film. It is a very bright soundtrack that I find extremely fatiguing and lacking depth. The placements of sound effects for ambience is very unnatural compared to the visuals on screen...there are too many "holes" in the front soundstage, as there is little ambience bridging speaker to speaker...a perfect example of a 'multichannel mono' production that is less than satisfactory. Rear channel use is not as aggressive as I thought it could be to widen the soundstage behind the listener. I was very disappointed given my excitement for this disc when releases...

...also, the Canadian release does not mention a DTS 5.1 soundtrack on the back cover, but does include it on the disc. How does this compare to the US release backside?

Mike

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Ahhh...

Mike...you're a reviewer after my own heart...

A true audiophile!!!!

Just hearing someone else understand that "multi-channel mono" thing is such a joy In my Chicago review...I refer to that common (bad) mixing style as L-C-R mixing (just "dropping" sounds in each channel/speaker as though there was no space between them to fill...in my case I was excited that the Chicago 5.1 mix did NOT do this).

But I like your qualifier better! Consider it stolen! Heck...I may even update my review I like it so much

 

[Michael Osadciw]

David

I'm glad to hear you understand this too! Multi-channel mono is the best description I could think of to term sounds as other people say "ping-pong" from speaker to speaker...that, in my mind, IS NOT multichannel audio...that is just bad audio engineering. Sounds between speakers are supposed to create a sense of space and depth that ultimately becomes our soundstage...music can do this well with the best recordings (and then there are the terrible ones). I expect the same thing with film - that each speaker not only delivers a direct sound, but in the mix there should be sounds that create a bridge from one speaker to the next (phantom imaging) at all 6 speaker points. This way it doesn't sound like I'm listening to speakers and playing 'ping-pong" in a home theatre...that is not impressive to me.

I'm happy to know you share the same views and keep up the good reviews David! You can use "multi-channel mono" as much as you like [and I won't TM it ] - hopefully movie soundtracks will continue to get better and we'll never have to use the phrase anymore!

Mike

 

[steve jaros]

My 2 cents:

1) I'd rather have infistismally degraded sound/video than have to get up and switch discs.

2) Scorcese's commentary was IMO a disappointment. I like the commentator to comment directly on what is happening on-screen with the particular scene. Scorcese went off on a million tangents.

 

[Andy_MT]

1) I'd rather have infistismally degraded sound/video than have to get up and switch discs

you get the best of both worlds with this DVD. degraded sound/video (ok, maybe just video) and split over two discs. who could ask for more ? ... me!

 

[Steve Christou]

My region 2 copy has the entire film on disc one, and a DTS track, and the picture quality was superb on my 32 incher. Watched it at the weekend, no interruption, no break, as it should be.

 

[steve jaros]

Steve Christou - lucky you!

Andy_MT - I thought the video was pretty good. Not great, but pretty good.

 

[Dave Mack]

Tried watching my R1 again the other nite. Looks awful on my 55" Spot cal. Mits. The Extraneous EE maked DDLewis look like he was animated by Hanna Barbera (Thick lines...) for a "The Flintstones" guest spot. Bill Cuttingrock...

Anyone wanna buy a copy...? Only watched 1 and a 1/2 times...

 

[Bill J]

I thought the this disc was a huge disappointment. The menus were pretty odd; when you switched screens a sound would start to play and is suddenly cut off. What's that about?

I really wish it was only on one disc. :frowning:

 

[Julian Lalor]

I have both the R1 and R4 (as a gift). The R4 is on a single disc, with a DTS track, and looks noticeably better than the R1 mess. Odd, to say the least.