Jackie Chan's The Myth (1 Viewer)

[Ian_H]

Has anyone picked this up yet? I have the 2 disc version and I don't know if I am crazy but it seems (to me) that in every scene with Jackie as General Meng the picture looks stretched out. There will be a shot of Jackie followed by a shot of someone else that looks fine but if Jackie is in the scene it looks stretched. Anyone else notice this? I have a new Sony NS50p.


--Ian

 

[Ken Chui]

I picked up the 3-disc DTS version last year, but haven't gotten around to viewing it as yet; if I do this weekend, I'll post my impressions next week.

 

[Ian_H]

^

Did you get a chance to watch it yet? I will see if I can grab some screenshots to compare.


--Ian

 

[Christopher Jay]

Yes, I noticed that very effect and found it a bit hard to get used to. I have the 3-disc DTS version and there are certain scenes - all focusing on the General Meng character - where the film appears squeezed vertically. It's also mentioned in the DVDBeaver review of the two-disc set. It must have been a stylistic choice on Stanley Tong's part.
I would say it's an enjoyable film, or rather two very different enjoyable films crammed together.

 

[Ken Chui]

Sorry, I haven't; hopefully, sometime this weekend (work permitting).

 

[Tin-Lun Lau]

wow...i haven't been to this forum for a long time....
anyway, i am the official commentary translator for this DVD release and correct me if i am wrong but Stanley Tong stated that he did this out of artistic choice because these ancient era scenes are "fantasy" according to Jack the archeologist's dreams.

yes, i know...some will thank me for translating the commentary but to be honest, i wasn't too satisfied with the final product of the commentary. everything was done in a rush and i never had time to check and approve the translations. thankfully, "A Chinese Tall Story" provided me a much better time for this.

 

[Ian_H]

^ --- ^


Thanks for the info. I rarely listen to commentary tracks or read them in this case. It seems to be a bizarre way of differentiating the different periods. Couldn't he have used a different color scheme or anything else that didn't make the disc look defective. Maybe on the big screen it looked alright but on a 32inch screen it was distracting.


--Ian

 

[Tin-Lun Lau]

when i saw it on the big screen, i didn't seem to notice the stretching that much. i thought i was seeing things. i think it's more noticeable when u watch it on TV.

btw, "A Chinese Tall Story" is now on DVD. I also worked on that and provided translations for Jeff Lau's commentary. it's a shame that the other commentary wasn't provided with english subs. i was told that it owuld be translated but i guess my contact in Joy Sales didn't have time to do it even if I did offer to translate it.

 

[Ian_H]

I'll have to check it out!!

--Ian

 

[Cassy_w]

Wow. This film was terrible. Just horrible. What a disappointment. :frowning:

 

[Chris Roberts]

Good to know that was on purpose even though I don't agree with the artistic choice. When I was watching it I thought Jackie looked stretched vertically because of that narrow helmet he was wearing. I still enjoyed the movie though and actually think its his best since Drunken II, imho.

 

[Ray_R]

Thanks for thread crapping and not even mentioning the DVD!:rolleyes

I'm debating on buying the Limited Avant-Garde Edition for only $16.03 at DDDHouse.com. I don't need a fancy shmancy set because I don't have the free space for it.
Tin! I'm RaynMan over at the Asian DVD Guide Forums.
I'm not even going to bother making a Joy Sales/Fortune Star thread on this site since hardly anyone would care.