A Few Words About A few words about...™ Pleasantville -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

"We are starved for Technicolor up there..."


Gary Ross' Pleasantville is a favorite of mine, from both technological as well as entertainment perspectives.


I've always thought of it as a melange of Footloose, A Matter of Life and Death, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with a tiny bit

of To Kill a Mockingbird thrown in for good measure. That said, any film with J.T. Walsh is worth one's time.


Once again, I'll give no background on the film for those who have not experienced it.


The Blu-ray is beautifully rendered, and along with the uncompressed audio, makes a wonderful package.


Haven't seen the film?


Buy the Blu-ray and enjoy. I've been waiting for this one to arrive since Blu-ray was announced.


Highly Recommended.


RAH

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Watched it this past weekend on Blu. It looked great and the story still holds up beautifully. Especially the part in the final act about the rise of a certain crew cut-haired demagogue taking advantage of the conservative elders of Pleasantville's paranoia and fear of change.

 

[Charles Smith]

I saw the film only once, some time after it came out (VHS rental !!), and I remember hardly anything of it. Obviously there's a ton of stuff I'd appreciate a thousand times over, now. Sold.

 

[Craig Beam]

Picked it up on release date, but haven't had a chance to watch it yet. Hopefully this week sometime...

 

[Michael Reuben]

Warner didn't send a review copy until after street date, and I have several other titles to write up first, but I've watched the feature and share RAH's admiration for its technical quality.

 

[Gary Miller]

Originally Posted by Hollywoodaholic

the story still holds up beautifully. Especially the part in the final act about the rise of a certain crew cut-haired demagogue taking advantage of the conservative elders of Pleasantville's paranoia and fear of change.

Gee, our well-informed fellow citizens could never be that gullible...could they?


I'm really looking forward to grabbing this, as it's one of the most under appreciated movies from the 90's.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I ordered it from Amazon prior to seeing any reviews as it has been a favorite of mine. I haven't seen it for a while, so I am glad to hear that my next viewing will be a good one!

 

[Michel_Hafner]

That was one of the first films with that had a lot of DI work done. Mr. Harris, does the Blu Ray look to you as if the DI data was used or rather a rescan of the filmout? I guess the second is more likely.

 

[Robert Harris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michel_Hafner

That was one of the first films with that had a lot of DI work done. Mr. Harris, does the Blu Ray look to you as if the DI data was used or rather a rescan of the filmout? I guess the second is more likely.

If I were to guess, I'd suggest the final negative or an IP. As you know, while we can still print film from the 1890s, the archival value of digital media is not quite as robust. I wonder if the data files from 1998 exist or will playback. An interesting question.


RAH

 

[Michel_Hafner]

I watched it tonight and I'm not sure what was used but I would not rule out they had the data. Detail was strong and grain sharp. But there were also many shots with clipping

whites. An artifact from early DI work or an intended look?

The supplements revealed the film needed 7 TB of data and only 700 GB were in the system and accessible at any time. Well, I have now more than 7 TB accessible

from my "measly" PC and it costs a modest sum. How times change!

A timeless film because of a timeless subject open to many interpretations.

A darker cousin of this film comes soon to Blu Ray too with a new transfer: Blue Velvet.

Maybe I'm imagining things but 2 shots seemed to reference that David Lynch masterpiece: The neighbour watering the garden plus fence and one shot with a bird in front

of the window.

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by Michel_Hafner

I watched it tonight and I'm not sure what was used but I would not rule out they had the data. Detail was strong and grain sharp. But there were also many shots with clipping

whites. An artifact from early DI work or an intended look?

The supplements revealed the film needed 7 TB of data and only 700 GB were in the system and accessible at any time. Well, I have now more than 7 TB accessible

from my "measly" PC and it costs a modest sum. How times change!

A timeless film because of a timeless subject open to many interpretations.

A darker cousin of this film comes soon to Blu Ray too with a new transfer: Blue Velvet.

Maybe I'm imagining things but 2 shots seemed to reference that David Lynch masterpiece: The neighbour watering the garden plus fence and one shot with a bird in front

of the window.

Michel,


I believe I can "one up" you in terms of early computer power.


My earliest Compaq desktop was a dual - get that DUAL - 360k floppy, and as the centerpiece,

a HUGE 20MB hard card. I could have launched missiles had I so chosen, and had it been legal.

 

[Michel_Hafner]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris





Michel,


I believe I can "one up" you in terms of early computer power.


My earliest Compaq desktop was a dual - get that DUAL - 360k floppy, and as the centerpiece,

a HUGE 20MB hard card. I could have launched missiles had I so chosen, and had it been legal.

I started with a TI programmable pocket calculator reading magnetic cards. Some hundred programming steps was the maximum. It was a marvel of technology.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Mine was a Tandy TSR 80 with a cassette drive. The monitor sold with it was a modified RCA XL-100 black and white TV.


Thats 16kb of built in memory folks!!!


Doug

 

[Ransom Stoddard]

Ghastly coverart. One of the worst Blu-ray has puked so far and that's quite an achievement.


And what makes it even worse is that the film has some really lovely theatrical posters.

 

[Charles Smith]

Okay, I'll confess. I created that cover art on my Commdore 128.


(When it came time for me to jump aboard the computer bandwagon, did I settle for 64K? Hell, no.)