3D Thomas Jane's "Dark Country" (2009) (1 Viewer)

[StephenDH]

It's a pity that in the crowd of 3D elves, superheroes, cartoon animals and gladiators, Thomas Jane's elliptical 3D thriller "Dark Country" was totally overlooked.The native 3D photography is exceptionally good and, apart from some variable green screen bits, gets a lot of depth into each shot and occasionally sticks something out of the screen.It's all the more impressive for largely being set inside a car, in which TJ and Lauren German are heading off on their honeymoon. Their journey across the Nevada desert, needless to say, doesn't go quite as planned after they pick up a badly injured man from the roadside.Little seen in 2D and hardly at all in 3D, it's an effective, creepy little movie which has more in common with 50s 3D movies than today's and is all the better for it.

 

[SFMike]

Missed this when it was shown in 3D at the Castro threater in San Francisco. Always wanted to see this film and Joe Dante's "The Hole" on blu-ray 3D. Maybe if we were european we would get these.

 

[FoxyMulder]

It's available in 3D from France. ( probably region coded but you can't rely on Amazon to be correct )

http://www.amazon.fr/Dark-Country-Blu-ray-Thomas-Jane/dp/B004K46QWI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338427976&sr=8-1

As is The Hole.

http://www.amazon.fr/The-Hole-Blu-ray-Chris-Massoglia/dp/B008K71QXU/ref=pd_sim_d_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=1NHM38SKSP3B1PF9B6VW

 

[RolandL]

It's available in 3D from France. ( probably region coded but you can't rely on Amazon to be correct )

http://www.amazon.fr/Dark-Country-Blu-ray-Thomas-Jane/dp/B004K46QWI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338427976&sr=8-1

As is The Hole.

http://www.amazon.fr/The-Hole-Blu-ray-Chris-Massoglia/dp/B008K71QXU/ref=pd_sim_d_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=1NHM38SKSP3B1PF9B6VW

I watched The Hole in 3D on Netflix months ago. I don't know if its still available.

 

[StephenDH]

Lenny Lipton interviewed Thomas Jane about "Dark Country" and it's obvious that he gave the 3D aspect a great deal of thought.
The full interview is on Lenny Lipton's website. TJ was annoyed that the powers that be placed certain restrictions on what he could do with the 3D window and then compounded the felony by only giving the finished movie a minimal 3D release.

 

[FoxyMulder]

TJ was annoyed that the powers that be placed certain restrictions on what he could do with the 3D window and then compounded the felony by only giving the finished movie a minimal 3D release.

I wonder if they do the same for other Hollywood movies, it might explain the lacklustre 3D seen in so many of them.

 

[StephenDH]

I think the unseen types exercise a lot more control than we're led to believe. The last director to have a completely free rein with studio money was probably Orson Welles.
Modern 3D tends towards the anodyne at best, but this could be more to do with modern editing trends than anything else. Old 3D movies tended to have longer shots whereby the audience had time to adjust and actually look around and into the image but today everything is so fast that, with some honourable exceptions, the movie might as well be in 2D.
For me there are too many shots of landscapes, cityscapes etc. where depth wouldn't be seen naturally beyond a certain point so it has to be ignored or artificially created.
Old 3D movies seemed determined to get as much depth, both fore and aft, from every single shot but today's 3D seems like just another process which is applied by rote, regardless of suitability. This probably explains the craze for conversions. I still can't believe that this is an economically viable technique but clearly it must be or no one would do it.
I can see the point of converting a movie when it's full of CGI: there wouldn't be much for a 3D cameraman to do, which makes Avatar even more of an achievement.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Very curious to check this movie out, but not sure if I want to pay the price Amazon.fr is asking on a blind buy. But I'm gonna keep an eye on it, and maybe I'll break down and get it. I hadn't heard of this prior to the forum so thanks for the recommendation!

 

[StephenDH]

Very curious to check this movie out, but not sure if I want to pay the price Amazon.fr is asking on a blind buy. But I'm gonna keep an eye on it, and maybe I'll break down and get it. I hadn't heard of this prior to the forum so thanks for the recommendation!

You're welcome. You're far from being the only person who's never heard of it. I only came across it by sheer chance.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I saw the other movie that Malcolm mentioned in this thread, "The Hole", on Netflix streaming last night in 3D. It's not really my kind of film, but I thought it was a really effective b-movie, the first half especially did a great job of building tension. And I really liked the use of 3D in the movie too.

Is "Dark Country" available in 3D on any of the streaming services like Vudu, or is importing from overseas the only way to get it?

 

[phillyrobt]

Only on the Playstation Network now,,,Vudu is only the 2d

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Only on the Playstation Network now,,,Vudu is only the 2d

I've never used that before, but thanks to my girlfriend having a PS3, I think I have access to it.. is it a rental or purchase? Would you rate the quality as similar to Vudu/Netflix/etc?

 

[phillyrobt]

Oh..purchase only. As I undertsand it, it was for rental once (as was the Mad Magician and the entirely gone Stooges shorts). I believe the resolution is 720 and the Vudu was 1020. I haven't downloaded or purchased unfortunately so can't attest to quality.
http://us.playstation.com/ps3/movies/dark-country-3d-2009.html