DVD Review HTF Review: Lost In Translation (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

Go figure, Landmark is pratically next door to me and I've never been there - I will definitely make sure to check it out now.

I think you're dead on about the Boston Common theater. My experience is that they tend to be better with scope films (I guess they're harder to misframe) while flat films are frequently misframed.

I remember LIT being soft and grainy at points when I saw it; I walked out of the film thinking that the style in which it was shot perfectly matched the story being told.

As for the opening shot, I did read an interview with Sofia Coppolia (I believe on the IMDB, though I can't seem to find it there now) where she said that she basically had no real idea why she opened the movie that way, other than that she just found the shot irresistable.

 

[Jason Perez]

Hello everyone!

My review was kind of ambiguous on this point, but I did see LIT in a theater, though I don't remember it appearing quite as soft as it is on this disc. As some of you have already pointed out, seeing a film twice in different theaters can yield different results. For example, I have seen Return of the King 3 times, in 3 different locations, and the third time the print looked quite poor. With that being said, I try to restrict my comments about visual quality in my reviews to what I am seeing on the disc, not what I remember a particular film looking like in the theater, sometimes after many months have elapsed.


Now, as far as LIT being more like an art-house piece than a mainstream comedy, I "kind of" agree with that statement. I think what really helped me open up to this movie is that I try to approach each new film I see without any expectations. This can be hard to do, of course, and since I am a huge Bill Murray fan, I probably would have been disappointed if I went into the theater expecting to see the return of his zany Dr. Peter Venkman or Bob Wiley characters. Like some of you, I am also interested to see what the opinion of "the masses" will be once this DVD is released on February 3rd.

Thanks for reading, and keep your comments coming!

Regards,

Jason

 

[Patrick Sun]

Just an FYI, but I've moved Shane's post over to the discussion thread for "Lost In Translation" because it dealt more with the content of the film, rather than the DVD of it. If you want to discuss the film, please use the Discussion thread. Thanks.

 

[Tom_Bechet]

Nice review Jason.
I won't comment on the film (there isn't much to say except masterpiece)

I saw the film 2 weeks ago in the cinema and I thought picture was a bit below par, but I blamed the cinema.

does anyone have any news on the Canadian R1 release??

Even though the USR1 has french DD5.1 the CanR1 may be different as it is from alliance atlantis and not universal. does the USR1 have any Alliance atlantis logos, intros and trailers on it??
It may be that Alliance are authoring/mastering their own DVD. in which case it will be hard to tell about the quality. unless some of our canadians posters get it and can comment on it.

 

[CraigF]

The Alliance Atlantis release will extremely probably be the same transfer as the U.S. release. This is usual for a film from a U.S. studio, it's only for non-U.S. films that you have to worry. Yeah, I know this isn't hard info, but it's the way things have been up to now, so you're most probably safe with the AA release if you don't mind a bilingual cover. I should mention that none of the Canadian places I order from showed that AA version of the cover, nor did they even mention AA, so I have no idea what version I'm actually going to be getting...

 

[Brad HP]

Here is another vote for Landmark theatres. I saw LIT twice at the Embassy Landmark in Waltham, MA. It is STILL playing there today and has been there since opening weekend in mid September. I am also greatly looking forward to the DVD.

 

[JayHM]

Yes, but according to another site, the Canadian DVD will only have one 5.1 track, and one 2.0 track, which should leave lots more room for the video presentation versus the US DVD, with three 5.1 tracks.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

 

[Marc Colella]

The 5.1 and 2.0 probably are English tracks.

You better believe there'll be a French track on there as well, whether that's 5.1 or 2.0 remains to be seen.

So overall, the Canadian release may have the same amount of audio tracks, but may take up less space by going from 5.1 to 2.0 in one instance.

However, that doesn't necessarily mean Alliance will take advantage of the extra space, and if they do - I'm not positive that they won't screw it up some way (this is Alliance we're talking about here).

 

[Tom_Bechet]

LOL you guys have the same problems with Alliance as the british have with EIV.

about the DVD. even if AA drop the DTS I doubt they will use more space for the video.

for anyone who has the USR1: How much space is actually taken up on the DVD in Gb?? I assume there is still some space on it (as there always is) and they never really use the whole disc, so I don't see AA doing it.

AA may just do a carbon copy of the US disc adding their logos and intros to it. That's what they did it with Rodger Dodger. But if they do their own authoring then any comments of the USR1 are irrelevent as AA can mess something up.

Or maybe I just worry too much...

 

[Rich Malloy]

Argh, just can't win? I'll take the DTS track and the crappy wrapper, I guess, but I can't stands what they done to that cover.

 

[Chad A Wright]

I never did get to see this in the theater, but I can't wait for the DVD. Feb. 3 is going to be a big day with Secondhand Lions and Planet of the Apes.

 

[ZacharyTait]

You guys think that there could be a delay of this coming, if tomorrow morning, as expected, the movie receives multiple nominations from the Academy?

 

[Rob Willey]

Doubtful. With the street date only a week away, most retailers and online sites are already getting their orders.

Rob

 

[Sam Davatchi]

I got it last week so it's out there.

 

[CraigF]

Well, they killed "Ed Wood" (due the same day) on Friday, and it had already been at some retailers for weeks, and even shipped to some customers. So they can kill stuff at the last minute if they have a "good" reason. Some speculate the Ed Wood killing is due to a tie-in (either Burton/Depp/Murray), the Murray one being relevant to this thread, but I doubt it, at least we'll know it isn't due to Murray/LIT if LIT isn't delayed too.

 

[Joe Bernardi]

I received the DVD today and watched it with my wife.

We were both terribly unimpressed by the movie (and it was not because of "mainstream tastes"). We like movies large, small, quirky and of most genres.

We were both disappointed in Murray's character making fun of Japanese speakers and characters.

I have over 500 DVDs in my collection. This is one of the very few I wish I hadn't purchased.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Joe,

I am at the oppopsite end of the spectrum.

Just watched it tonight and I loved it.

It won't be a film for everyone. It's very low-key.

There's so much I want to say about it, but I'd
rather not spoil a moment for anyone that has yet
to see it.

I'll just say that I was very saddened by the
end of the film. These are two people I will miss
seeing together.

Bill Murray gave a brilliant performance -- the
finest of his career.

Will talk about this more with all of you within
the next two weeks as more people watch this film.

WoW!

 

[Dave Mack]

transfer quality, Ron..???

D

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

And so it begins...