QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

I like Tom Tykwer.

This movie was GOOD!

Good picture.
Good sound.
Great subtle score. Where is it iTunes???

Recommended!

Now to continue with True Blood...

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

I'd put it more like this: This movie is good, with until it gets to the Guggenheim museum, at which point it becomes incredible. Then the shootout finishes and it's merely good again. But, man, does it have one heck of a showcase/centerpiece action scene!

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

As I previously commented, one of the real pleasures of this film was its cinematography. The presentation of the various buildings as a dominant visual theme (towering over the individuals in the frame) throughout the film served to reinforce the film's central message of the power of the conglomerate / corporation over the individual.

- Walter.

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

Grin,

I forgot to mention the architecture.

BEST shot was when Clive Owen was walking up the IBBC steps.
AMAZING!

And the pull back shot of the follow the car pan along the cliff coast tunnel road, and then STOP.

Best movie by Tykwer!

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

Who need iTunes?

Varese Sarabande Product Details

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

Those who prefer it.
$9.99, immediate access.

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

But a lot worse quality!

The CD is terrific - as are all CDs when compared to iTunes!

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

Not to me (and a few others).

Choice is good.

I pay $9.99 for iTunes.
I pay $39.99 to import the CD.

What would you do?

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

I'd go for the best possible recording - every time! And that would be the CD!

It puzzles me that while the world is slowly moving into better PQ/AQ for their movies, they're downgrading to lower-rez audio on their music. Bizarre really.

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

Old argument.

If price was the same, I'd go for the CD.
iTunes suits a lot of people.

A lot of albums are now download only as well.

I'm sure a lot of people aren't paying $40 for BRDs, vs $10 DVDs.

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

Indeed they are. And I, for one, am not going to encourage that by using the download service.

Unfortunately it appears Disney has now abandoned CD altogether so they won't be getting any more of my $.

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

But obviously people ARE paying a lot more to get Blu-rays of movies they could get on DVD for much cheaper.

If I want something, I'd like to have it in the best quality. Would I pay $40 for a good-sounding CD instead of paying $10 for a crummy-sounding MP3? Yup...

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

Grin, it is a good movie.

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

Wow, you guys were right. Just got done watching this one and that Guggenheim sequence was fantastic. I read somewhere that it seemed Hitchcockian and I must agree. Okay movie overall however.

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

I found this film to be engrossing start to finish. It's a throwback to the great paranoia films of the 1970's. What struck me was that, considering the amount of action in the film, there is minimal underscoring. These days, most studios/directors/composers force-feed audiences deafening, telegraphic music scores that seem to play beneath about 90% of a film's running time (especially in horror or action thrillers), which is a pity - most filmmakers seem to have forgotten that silence, quiet, or ambient sound without music can often be way-y-y more effective in creating suspense and atmosphere (remember Harry Dean Stanton's almost unbearably scary search for Jones the cat in ALIEN?). It's like a great painter's use of negative space to emphasize the detail on the rest of the canvass. The Guggenheim sequence, which is probably the best shoot-out I've seen since THE WILD BUNCH, has very little underscore, and what there is is almost subliminal. The natural sounds are allowed to build the tension without a lot of phony emotional pushes from the composer. Cudos to the people who put this very fine thriller together, and thank you for a subtle and intelligent soundtrack!

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

I really wanted to love it, because I really loved Run, Lola, Run. But after an engrossing first half, it just gets too stupid for me (bad, bad script - but excellent direction all the way through). Naomi Watts just disappears from the film, the ending is perfunctory, and ultimately I cared about no one in the film, which, for me, is what undoes a picture like this and why it's NOT like the great paranoia films of the 1970s.

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

I rented the Blu ray and I loved how great the transfer was, there was grain and it looked great and all the location shots were nice to see. I can't say the stoyline was brilliant or anything but I was never bored by the film and I couldn't take my eyes of it.

Also with the soundtrack for those who were discussing it etc

you can also pick up the CD version from ScreenArchives.com THE INTERNATIONAL -- SCREEN ARCHIVES ENTERTAINMENT amazon.com has it listed for 14.99 also.

for those who collect CD scores etc you know who they are.

Most people from the FilmScoreMonthly.com site and message boards would prob hang those who purchase iTunes score files instead of CD copies haha. We are a really tough crowd though. We believe in owning a booket etc. then again we are hard core score collector's I guess for the causal buyer it is ok.
FILM SCORE MONTHLY

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

I enjoyed the film; great looking/sounding Blu-ray. I agree re: Naomi Watts disappearing, but this was clearly Clive's picture. I really dug it.

But my vote for best Tykwer film is The Princess and the Warrior. Love that one.

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

I liked it well enough but for me it was ultimately a fairly forgetful film. The quality of the BD is outstanding however and this is one of those discs in which I kept getting pulled out of the movie as I marveled at the image quality. So good it's distracting!

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

Yup! I thought it was a pretty mediocre movie, but this was the best-looking live action Blu-ray I've yet seen...

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

I collect scores period (800+).
I prefer downloads (as they are practical for MY requirements), and shouldn't be chastised for it (1,000 CDs gethering dust with NO resale value isn't a preference).

Music is music. If one has to use the CD as a must rationale, then I'd say choose DVD-A or SACD over CD. It gets pointless. Been there, done that.

Enjoy the music, which is all I was saying (to start with).

Peace.

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

I'm one of the FSM crowd - and yes we would! Well not so much the purchasers, but certainly iTunes itself! :-)

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

Got no time to hang around the FSM boards anymore.
Still listen to THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (produced by Lukas/Thaxton) on the iPod in the car, transferred from the CD (purchased on release from Ryko) at 128k AAC (when the 1st iPod came out).

Does that make you cringe or appreciate people do like score music (for a long time and will still do)?

iTunes ain't perfect, but "it'll do" babe.

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

But take a step back and consider this. You're in a forum on a home theatre website talking about high definition, a medium that promotes the best quality picture and sound.

And yet you advocate the DOWN-REZZING of music. Ironically film music. The very same music that you presumably want in HIGH-REZ on the movie disc.

I have about 5600 soundtrack albums. And one - I repeat ONE - of those was downloaded from iTunes.

I just don't accept any standard below CD. No way, no how.

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

That's cool.
Then deprive yourself of the iTunes only albums as well.
5600 is plenty enough on CD.

I'll pass on The International until iTunes has it.
To each their own deprivation.

Happy listening...

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

Oh if they're iTunes only then I grudgingly have to accept the possibility of MAYBE downloading them. I'm totally p'd off that Giacchino's "Up" is download only but am still holding out hope that there's a physical (i.e. proper!) release in Europe when the movie is released over here.

But if there's a choice between the two (as with The International) the CD always has the edge. I would no more want to download a compromised version of the music than I would a compromised version of the movie!

Besides I thought one of the reasons you gave for preferring iTunes was that you get everything quicker ("immediate access")? Getting The International on CD sure seems quicker to me if iTunes doesn't have it yet!

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

My thoughts exactly.

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

I watched a very compromised theatrical screening of THE PROPOSAL - out of focus and wobbly sound.

I could have waited for the Blu-ray.

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

I don't see how that is in any way a sensible comparison to the iTunes/CD thing since a theatre is a completely different medium and experience to home video, whatever the quality. iTunes and CD both provide exactly the same experience, but one provides it a heck of a lot better than the other!

Re: QUICK/VIEW: The International (BRD)

IF I buy a CD, it simply gets transferred to iTunes, and gathers dust on a shelf. NO thanks.

To each their own. NO iTunes, NO sale. NO ala carte purchases = $0.

I respect your preferences; give it a rest.