Apocalypse Now, anyone?

It would be better to keep BluRay framed at 2.20:1 since they did prepare for the eventual 70mm release. The 2:1 cropping on this film and The Last Emperor doesn't bother me. In essence, it's a pointless move, but it does increase resolution a bit and it's all supervised by the DP. I think a lot of people are being melodramatic about the whole issue. Watching epics like Apocalypse Now in 1080p at any aspect ratio is a compromise as it is. No amount of complaining is going to result in a 2.35:1 edition unless Storaro and Coppola want it. I'm looking forward to an eventual BluRay.

(But it would be nice to reconsider for the slightly wider 2.20:1, however unlikely that is)

A big amount of non buying customers can change things very quickly. The question is how many Blu-Rays will be sold despite the 2.0 aspect ratio and how many people will let it be known that they did not buy because of the cropping.

the 2.0:1 ratio change is lamentable and the motivations moronic, but I would probably swallow the irritation and pick it up.
If all I am offered is the Redux version though, I will absolutely be passing and not waste another thought on it.

And Storaro has clearly stated his reasons for cropping these films.  A change is a change is a change.  Why do you think it was okay for Fincher to do this, but not okay for Storaro?  Oh, and what about the alterations to the framing of SEVEN?  Are they okay just because the black bars are the same size?

Vincent

Depends on why one believes OAR (or any such thing) is important.  If one believes that they should be treated as historical documents, then Fincher should at least allow both the original and his new version to be made available (as should Storaro).

However, in terms of the "art" itself, Storaro's change is different from Fincher's because Storaro's appear to be motivated by something other than the specific piece of "art" itself while Fincher is apparently doing it for the sake of that specific piece of "art", which is actually far more in line w/ what's been historically done and generally *accepted* in the art world.

I haven't heard of too many artists going back to apply a set AR crop (or whatever alterations) at a wholesale level to their previous works seemingly in order to promote some other agenda for the future and then have the art world accept that as legitimate.  Touching up, refining, etc. some specific piece of art (or music) over the years is OTOH far less controversial than that and has been regularly done for centuries, if not millenia.

And when one considers the *actual* results of Storaro's choices, there is IMHO absolutely no reason to believe he has been applying them for the good of those films.  Sometimes, you just canNOT trust the artist and must judge the art (and its alterations) itself -- and this seems to be one such instance.

Of course, these are all just opinions, so you may continue to disagree w/ them...

_Man_

"So, in this case I'd rather have a copy of Apocalypse Now that's perhaps not the way it was released in theaters but approved by the director"
not me,and untill I hear Coppola say he prefers it and theres video of him saying this,Its funny Storaro says he dosn't
like the the term "Director of Photography" and would prefer to be called "Director of lighting"  feels its his job to
do a very "Photographer" thing like cropping the frame

The quote said "approved", not "prefers". While I've never seen Coppola specifically say that he approves the cropping, it's pretty safe to assume that he either defers to Storraro's POV on the topic or he approves it or Apocalypse Now wouldn't have been presented that way on DVD.

Like TravisR said, I said 'preferred'. And I also said, directly after that, that if he gives the DP his blessings the DP can do what he wants. And Storaro did exactly that. I doubt it he would let the movie released on Blu if he didn't like it, let alone record an audio commentary for it.

This title is postponed indefinedly. There seems to be problems with the license.


The original theatrical version was available in Germany on a DVD from Paramount. The "Redux" version came from Universum. This April Kinowelt announced, that they want to release three Coppola films on DVD: The Outsiders, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now. A few weeks later these titles were removed from their release schedule because of problems with licenses, too. Seems that there's a bit of confusion about the German rights of these films.

The same with Michael Mann's "Heat". Warner planned to release the Blu-ray on the German market in November. Now this titles is postponed. Rumors says that Kinowelt has the rights to it. Maybe this can lead to a reissue of the American Blu-ray containing the German dub track.

Christian, as in the German Apocalypse Now blu listed as coming in Jan 2010 has been postponed? The one I was really looking forward to?

While I am very much looking forward to Apocalypse Now on Blu-ray, I have no desire to purchase it if it only includes the Redux version.  So... pass.

Quote:
German news site Bluray-Disc.de mentioned this last week.