Willy Wonka review at Amazon (1 Viewer)

[Jan Strnad]

I'm pulling this out of the Willy Wonka thread because I'm afraid the message is getting lost.
Friends, we need to pound Amazon.com with reviews of the Willy Wonka DVD (the DVD, not the movie).
Amazon has steadfastly refused to alter its listing, erroneously telling people that an anamorphic, widescreen version is contained on the DVD. We know that it isn't.
Our only recourse is to post reviews showing how disappointed we are that no anamorphic, widescreen version is on this DVD, and to rate the DVD accordingly.
Please take a moment to register a comment! The URL is:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005LINE/qid=997629980/sr=1-1/ref=sc_d_1/104-2845505-8427139
Jan Strnad
author of Risen and
"The AtomBrain Guide to Letterboxing"

 

[MikeSerrano]

I tried submitting a 1-star review several days ago but it did not appear. I will try again.
-Mike
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void *: Finger to spiritual emptiness underlying everything
.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o 0o.

 

[Bill Catherall]

After you submit a review it takes a couple days to show up. I think they have to make sure there's nothing inappropriate before posting.
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Bill

 

[MikeSerrano]

Thanks Bill, but when I said "several" I meant "more than four". And I tried my best to play nice...
-Mike

 

[Jan Strnad]

My review still hasn't appeared, either. I suspect subterfuge at Amazon....
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http://www.mindspring.com/~atombrain/risenintro.html
Jan Strnad
author of Risen and
"The AtomBrain Guide to Letterboxing"

 

[Mike Gariepy]

We are going to have to work out collective a**es off if we want to lower Amazon's 4 star rating. I went through and recorded each of the 131 votes (yes, I have too much spare time ) and here are the results:
1 star x 15 = 15
2 star x 05 = 10
3 star x 06 = 18
4 star x 13 = 52
5 star x 92 = 460
Total votes: 131
Total stars: 550
Avg. Stars: 4.24 (which Amazon is rounding down to 4)
Even though most of those 5 star ratings are for the movie and not the DVD, Amazon does not make the distinction when calculating the overall rating.
Hopefully Amazon is not biased towards positive reviews and actually accepts all of the outstanding ones in the queue (mine included), we might knock it down to at least a 3. I doubt we can do much better than that, since unfortunately this issue appears to be quieting down.

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"Hi I'm Reddy Killowatt reporting a dangerous overloaded octopus connection in sector five!"
My HT Equipment | My DVD List

 

[Antonio_M]

Wrote a wonderful (digusted in review with Pan and Scam) review. 1 star rating.

 

[SpenceJT]

Done!
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SpenceJT
Link Removed
"...now what's all this crud about no movie tonight!"
- Thank you Mr. Lemmon

 

[Robyn Young]

Wrote one--Took about two days to show up, so be patient.
We've managed to knock 1/2 star off of the rating!

 

[Tom Boucher]

Wrote a one star review
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[DaViD Boulet]

done.

 

[GregoryP]

The day this hubub came out I wrote a review on Amazon, but it never showed up. I'm glad other folks reviews are making it.
Gregory

 

[TonyD]

done here is what i wrote.
Here is your review the way it will appear:
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= full frame only!! how could they?????? and why would they???
Reviewer: whotony from philly
why would they? because warner apparently thinks that children are buying this movie. yes the children will ask for this dvd but the parents are buying it. and a high percentage of the parents buying it own home theater systems and want their movies available in widescreen versions so they can watch the entire image. not part of the image which is what pan and scan puts on the tv screen. i will not keep my version i bought. but, will return it untill the widescreen version is available and urge all other parents to also not buy untill the real version is released.
by the way this info posted on amazon is wrong no widesrceen anamorphic format is available.........
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (30th Anniversary Edition) (1971) List Price: $24.98 Our Price: $19.99 You Save: $4.99 (20%)
Rated: Starring: Gene Wilder, et al. Director: Mel Stuart
Edition Details: • Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only) • Color, Closed-captioned • Audio Commentary With All The Wonka Kids • Documentary, "Pure Imagination" • Sing-Along Songs • Original Theatrical Featurette • Full-screen and widescreen anamorphic formats • ASIN: B00005LINE

 

[Randall Z]

I just left my 1 star review too!

 

[Josh Dial]

Done and done!
cheers!
Josh

 

[Patrick McCart]

That's crazy to give it one star! What about the people who WANT the fullscreen version? They're going to think it's a bad disc because of the bad ratings.
I think it's wrong of you people to do this because you're overlooking the EXCELLENT picture quality, the commentary, documentary, and the other extras. The transfer is bad to people with HDTV's, but the majority of the people buying this disc probably don't have a 16x9 display.
If you're going to bash a disc just for not being matted, you might as well give every other open matte film on DVD a 1 star!
WB didn't even say it was going to be widescreen in the first place and you're trying to make them look like the villan.

I'm impressed. Warner Bros. must have used outstanding technology to release the first open matte film in pan & scan. I saw some screenshots of the DVD and the image is excellent. I don't want to argue any more, but I'm counting the days until the matted version is released and the first "HEY! WB just put black bars over the pan and scan version!" is said.
It really angers me that so many people now believe that this movie really is pan & scan just because some people were mis-informed. I dare anyone to play the "widescreen" version side by side with the "pan & scan" version.
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P.S.: There's no P.S.

 

[MikeSerrano]

Patrick, for all that is good in the world, GIVE IT A FRICKEN REST!!!!!
That is all I'm going to say for fear of being removed from this forum.
-Mike
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.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o 0o.
void *: Finger to spiritual emptiness underlying everything
.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o 0o.

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

I think it's wrong of you people to do this because you're overlooking the EXCELLENT picture quality

Patrick, who cares about excellent picture quality!?!??! It's an open matte transfer of a film shown in theaters in 1.85:1! The open matte transfer shows goofs (if you look for them correctly) that aren't spose to be there if you watch it in widescreen! This is an OAR forum, remember that. Willy Wonka's true OAR is 1.85:1!
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Link Removed - DVD Reviewer
Link Removed / AOL IM: MrMatthew / ICQ: 96444542
"I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class. Especially since I rule."

 

[cafink]

quote: What about the people who WANT the fullscreen version?[/quote]
That means they either don't understand the idea behind releasing a movie in the widescreen format, or they just don't give a damn about all the people who invested their time and effort into the movie. If it's the first, then they can be educated, and showing them that this "Wonka" disc is incorrect is a good start. If it's the second, then they really shouldn't be pandered to in the first place.

They're going to think it's a bad disc because of the bad ratings.

It IS a bad disc. Warner didn't even get the aspect ratio correct. The presentation of the movie itself is of the utmost concern — supplements and such are just lagniappe. They screwed up, big time, on the one really important aspect of this disc.
[Edited last by Carl Fink on August 14, 2001 at 01:29 AM]

 

[Henry Gale]

quote: Amazon has steadfastly refused to alter its listing, erroneously telling people that an anamorphic, widescreen version is contained on the DVD. [/quote]
The listing has been corrected.
Jim
[Edited last by Jim Armstrong on August 14, 2001 at 07:53 AM]