Miracle Mile coming to DVD in fullscreen only! (1 Viewer)

[Jon Martin]

It's a dilemma, isn't it? If I refuse to buy it (which I do - the format and the vast majority of its customers should be mature enough for all films to be available in their OAR), MGM will assume I'm not a fan of the film and never think to revisit or reissue it. If I broke down and bought it, MGM will assume I approve of the format provided for said film and will never think to revisit or reissue it.

But for Miracle Mile, and other MGM titles, we are talking a $10 DVD, nothing that will break you to buy or the studio if you don't buy.

And the fact that MGM normally does release OAR titles may mean that it isn't even possible for an OAR release of Miracle Mile. So, like I said, this will probably be the only release of it.

Having collected VHS and laserdisc for almost 20 years now, it sometimes gets difficult to track down titles when they go out of print. So, I'd rather get a title when it is released (no matter what version it is in) then wait for a better version and, ten years later, realize a better version isn't coming and the original release is now out of print and going for huge prices on Ebay

 

[Jon Martin]

You can excuse the P&S VHS because that was the standard in that format. With DVD OAR is the standard. If you're talking about "lines of resolution" and "5.1 digital sound" sure you can say the DVD is better than VHS - technically. But when you purposefully take two steps backwards and release a P&S only DVD, in my opinion that is worse than VHS!

I was talking about things like durability (tapes wear out and sometimes snag up on rewinding), ease of use (getting to a favorite scene is easier with DVD) and of course quality.

And as mentioned before, Miracle Mile is open matte and not pan and scan.

 

[Dave Mack]

Well, just like with my 4x3 "The shining" (and don't worry, I'm not opening THAT can of worms again!!!) I can always zoom my player to fit my 16x9 screen. If it is an open-matte transfer, then I will have in effect OAR'd it.

D

 

[Rain]

But for Miracle Mile, and other MGM titles, we are talking a $10 DVD, nothing that will break you to buy or the studio if you don't buy.

Perhaps not, but by buying it you are sending the studio a message that non-OAR DVDs are perfectly acceptable.

 

[Randy A Salas]

Perhaps not, but by buying it you are sending the studio a message that non-OAR DVDs are perfectly acceptable.

And by not buying it, you are proving the studio's assumption that it is not a popular title for release and has little interest. It's a no-win situation for fans.

 

[James Pfann]

And by not buying it, you are proving the studio's assumption that it is not a popular title for release and has little interest. It's a no-win situation for fans.

True. But if you don't buy it on principle, and send an email or snail mail to the studio explaining why, then wouldn't it prove interest but no sale?

 

[Rain]

Exactly.

Unless we are willing to stick to our guns and provide feedback on what we want, we will just see more and more shoddy DVDs and "full frame" transfers.

There are plenty of movies that I want that are not OAR on DVD and I could just "zoom," but I'm not going to buy them. No chance.

 

[Paul D G]

I received an email from MGM today:



Also, to chip in, I think some were missing the point of Jon's comment that full frame is better than nothing. It's one thing if the film is P&S (ie: it's worthless) but it's a different thing if it's full frame, or open matte. You don't lose any of the picture. It's not OAR, but I wouldn't consider it "altered" as Jesse stated. Just poorly presented.

At any rate, I encourage fans of this film to write to MGM expressing their dissapointment with this release. We may not win this battle, but we might win the war.

-paul

 

[Damin J Toell]

It's one thing if the film is P&S (ie: it's worthless) but it's a different thing if it's full frame, or open matte. You don't lose any of the picture.

So-called open-matte transfers often do lose some of the picture. Sometimes, the top of the frame was not protected well enough (or at all) during filming, and microphones and other undesirealbes appear in the frame. In these cases, the picture must be zoomed in, losing side information. Also, open-matte transfers are often zoomed in, anyway, in an attempt to cut down on excessive headroom. An open-matte transfer isn't a guarantee of no loss of picture, sadly.

DJ

 

[Jon Martin]

Unless we are willing to stick to our guns and provide feedback on what we want, we will just see more and more shoddy DVDs and "full frame" transfers

But again, this is MGM. They most often release films OAR. In the week that the full frame SUMMER LOVERS was released, just about all the other titles they released were OAR. There must have been some reason that that film was released that way, most likely because they don't own the film and weren't given the elements to release it OAR.

It isn't like they are saying "Ok, we need to get MYSTERY DATE released in OAR, but lets forget about doing that with SUMMER LOVERS. Let's spend the time getting SECRET ADMIRER OAR instead." They normally release films both ways so for them not to do it, there has to be a bigger story than just laziness or not caring about OAR. They do care, but they most likely just aren't able to.

I guess I'd rather see a full frame release than it not being released at all.

 

[Randy A Salas]

So-called open-matte transfers often do lose some of the picture.

You are ignoring the link I posted above in which a big fan of the movie noted that the VHS and LD were "entirely open matte"--no zooming.

 

[Paul W]

"entirely open matte"--no zooming.

Are there any effects shots (sorry - never watched it)?

If so, those are generally zoomed because it is rare to compose effects shots for the entire frame; only the masked frame is composed in the effect shot.

As a result, those shots must be pan/scanned.

 

[WillG]

"Caveat Emptor" When it comes to "open matte" I think that you probably are never going to find an presentation that is entirely open matte even when there are little visual effects. If anyone has the "UHF" DVD, do an A-B comparison with the WS/FS version. I did once. I sampled the beginning of a few chaper stops and actually saw more Pan and Scan that Open Matte (and there were very few visual effects in that movie). I know that this was not an extensive survey of this picture, but you get the idea

 

[Damin J Toell]

You are ignoring the link I posted above in which a big fan of the movie noted that the VHS and LD were "entirely open matte"--no zooming.

I'm not ignoring anything. I responded to what I took to be a general assessment of the quality of open matte transfers with a general correction. And, anyway, even that "big fan" only posted what amounted to a guess: he said that it "appears" to be the correct framing. He even acknowledges that it still looks cramped when matted by him, although he chalks it up to his set's overscan. Without a properly framed version of the film to compare it to, this assessment may or may not actually be correct. Further, whether the upcoming DVD will contain the exact same transfer as the VHS & LD is also unknown.

DJ

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I haven't seen any true 'open-matte' transfers, with boom mikes and frame lines visible, since the 80s. For a good example of what open-matte really looks like, check out Embassy's release of another Tangerine Dream scored movie "Wavelength", which has boom mikes in almost every scene.
I just checked my Miracle Mile laserdisc and verified that the sign behind the band concert says "elp Restore The Pan Pacifi". I'm 99% sure it wasn't cut off in the theater.
BTW is that building the same one that was in Xanadu? And has anyone else noticed that a serious flaw with this movie is it starts out with narration from the main character, which just all of a sudden stops when the big moment in the film happens?

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Okay. You're not going to like this. I've done some reseach here, at Mobius Home Video Forum (www.mhvf.net) and DVDTalk and consulted a trusted source, who I know has contacts over at MGM/UA Home Video.

Here's his reply to my query about why "Miracle Mile" is full-screen:

>>
"It looks like it's just a whim of the Marketing Department. They did a new letterbox transfer in 2000 (no 16 x 9 though), so there is a widescreen transfer available."
>>

So here's a chance to try and make a difference. I recommend sending a snail-mail letter to MGM/UA's Home Video Marketing division at this address:

MGM Home Entertainment
2500 Broadway
Santa Monica, CA 90404-3061
(310) 449-3000

It's going to have more weight than an email, though you can do that here (thanks to the link from the Digital Bits):

Web site: http://www.mgm.com/video.do
E-mail (form on site): http://www.mgm.com/dvd_faqs.do

As a letterbox transfer apparently exists, it's ridiculous and arbitrary that it's not included here. This is one of my favorite films of all time and I want to see it OAR.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's months before this is to be released and perhaps the damage can be rectified or stopped before it's too late.

PS: A good example of a bad open matte transfer is the Rhino DVD of "Walking Tall," which looks absolutely horrible. There are boom mikes occasionally visible on the top edge of the frame.

 

[paul_v]

And has anyone else noticed that a serious flaw with this movie is ...

Jesse,

The narration represents things that happened past. Once the main action starts it's the present so therefore no narration. That's the way I took it.

And I love this film. Everytime I see Anthony Edwards I always remember Miracle Mile. I'll be buying this film OAR or not because I agree that this may be the only DVD version of the film unless it sells like hotcakes.

 

[Greg_D_R]

Even though this is dire news, I am glad to see so much appreciation for Miracle Mile in the HTF community. It really is an overlooked gem. Hey, didn't I read somewhere that MM was actually the original script for The Twilight Zone movie?

 

[Jesse Skeen]

>>
"It looks like it's just a whim of the Marketing Department. They did a new letterbox transfer in 2000 (no 16 x 9 though), so there is a widescreen transfer available."
>>

That's ridiculous. This movie's only 89 minutes long so there's no reason not to include both versions. What sort of people do they think are going to buy this anyway? When I went to see this movie there were only 5 other people in the theater (they wisely decided to release it the same day as Batman!)

 

[Alex Spindler]

The above title will be released in Full Frame only, per our Marketing department. I will pass your suggestions on to them.

Based on Paul's MGM response, I think it is clear that the option was available.

I can't get this in good conscience. It pains me to not purchase a movie I enjoy so much, but better to have it properly or not at all.

My belief is this: As soon as widescreen sets are present in a greater percentage of households, studios will be mining their vaults for widescreen releases of all of their P&S DVD releases.