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HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier - Page 3

post #61 of 82
8/28/06 at 10:55am

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

My copy has played flawlessly on my Pioneer and (shockingly enough) PS2, but then again I don't believe I have ever had a problem with seamless branched DVD's on any player I have owned aside from my very first Pioneer DVD/LD player.
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post #62 of 82
8/29/06 at 1:21pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman
Dude. . .DO NOT reproduce. You are describing child abuse!

Ha!

Is it abuse that I'd show my kids movies seperately to get an unbiased take on them, or abuse because one kid would have to watch the SW prequel trilogy before seeing the original trilogy?

Either way, kids are a long way off... I'm sure I'll know better by that time.

By the way, I've had absolutely no problems whatsoever with my copy of the new AN. I've watched the entire theatrical version straight-through, and watched the Redux version with the commentary on, and I didn't notice any audio glitches, skipping, freezing, anything like that. I've been very pleased with the set.
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post #63 of 82
8/29/06 at 1:27pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

with the branching issue, can someone who's experienced the pausing mention which cut they watched when the pausing happened?

thanks!
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post #64 of 82
8/29/06 at 1:35pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

I was watching the original version.

Just to mention again, my 1+ year old Malata hangs up. My 5 year old Toshiba doesn't. The Malata also doesn't seem to have a problem with the other branching discs I have.
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post #65 of 82
8/29/06 at 6:38pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

no problems here, I must say I hate the case this comes in and couldn't they have put the original on one DVD and Redux on the other?
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post #66 of 82
8/29/06 at 9:30pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

Original for me too when it comes to branching issues... and I also wouldve preferred the original poster art to this silly gimmicky looking case. Paramount shouldve also seperated the cuts by disc, as mentioned,
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post #67 of 82
8/29/06 at 9:31pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

I think putting Redux on one disc when it was first release was pushing it and adding the commentary probably made it necessary to split it up over two discs. "The Godfather Part II" is a Zoetrope/Paramount disc of comparable length and it's split up over two discs with the only major difference being the presence of a commentary track.
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post #68 of 82
8/30/06 at 2:33am

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

Quote:
Originally Posted by MarcoBiscotti
It bothers me, considering I paid top price for the best player on the market and my cheaper hacked JVC which was the first player I bought for a few hundred dollars handles layer changes and such better...
Out here where, ahem, discs about which discussion on HTF is forbidden, on our local forums it is a curiousity that cheapo players work better with these cheapo discs than high-end top-of-the-line players. My guess is because top-end players are trying to be absolutely precise in what they read off the disc -- and I wonder if they oversample as well -- any delay or problem may lead them to "choke" as they keep trying to read or re-read the disc to get the correct/complete data. Whereas cheapo players don't really care about the integrity of the data they read off the discs, if it's missing or doesn't make sense they just output some garbage (i.e. pixellated picture or outright noise) and just carry on as if nothing had happened. Hence many aficionados here still keep on hand a cheapo player, to play their pirated discs.

To the topic at hand, I've only ever watched AN once, way back in college, and this on a censored VHS tape that edited out the scene where Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Kurtz tossed the head into Willard's lap -- which I found out by asking a friend who had seen it unedited.
So I'll get this sooner or later. If Coppola's commentary is anything as good as the three he did for the Godfather box, I'm sure it's worth a listen.
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post #69 of 82
8/30/06 at 9:16am

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

Quote:
Originally Posted by MarcoBiscotti
It bothers me, considering I paid top price for the best player on the market and my cheaper hacked JVC which was the first player I bought for a few hundred dollars handles layer changes and such better...

Marco,

What player do you normally use?
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post #70 of 82
8/30/06 at 11:03am

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh Steinberg
Ha!

Is it abuse that I'd show my kids movies seperately to get an unbiased take on them, or abuse because one kid would have to watch the SW prequel trilogy before seeing the original trilogy?

The latter, of course!!!
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post #71 of 82
8/30/06 at 11:48am

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

On the subject of Coppola's commentaries have any of you folks listened to FFC's track on the new Patton disc? I really enjoyed it although his not having had anything to do with the actual production makes for a decidedly different kind of outsider track.....but even so that still doesn't stop the man from being very interesting in the track as it has quite a few interesting tid bit's about the real mans life and the differences in his original draft and the (seemingly few) changes made after his subsequent firing from the project. Very good track from the man.....all of his tracks are of the best quality of course, in fact I wish he had participated on the THX-1138 track with Lucas & Burtt, not that that track is bad by any means but his input would have raised it to "must listen" hights.
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post #72 of 82
8/30/06 at 1:05pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

Coppola's commentaries are great I love them,but he's no Ridley Scott of
Commentaries ,He could tell us more about making the films ,he seems to
not talk at all about his visuals,why or where he puts the Camera ,what
lenses does he use ect,Other Directors seem to fit this information along
with information about the script and story.
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post #73 of 82
8/30/06 at 2:14pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnRice
Oh yeah, it most definitely uses branching. I don't think that would be a bad thing

In this case it is a bad thing.

"In a note released with the film, Coppola emphasizes that this new material was not simply shoehorned into the original version of the film, but that Redux is a new rendition of the movie from scratch. He and his longtime editor Walter Murch re-edited the film from the original unedited raw footage -- the dailies, he says, and so possibly even some of the shots that look familiar to us are different takes than the ones we saw before."


So, how is branching possible?!!
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post #74 of 82
8/30/06 at 2:22pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom_Ca
In this case it is a bad thing.

"In a note released with the film, Coppola emphasizes that this new material was not simply shoehorned into the original version of the film, but that Redux is a new rendition of the movie from scratch. He and his longtime editor Walter Murch re-edited the film from the original unedited raw footage -- the dailies, he says, and so possibly even some of the shots that look familiar to us are different takes than the ones we saw before."


So, how is branching possible?!!

That's what I've been asking.

Not to mention, Redux used a completely different type of dye prints compared to the original, which has me even more curious. I don't think that branching should have been used on this release at all, but alas, it has.
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post #75 of 82
8/30/06 at 2:34pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

I finally got this yesterday, watched a few of the extras, loved the deleted scenes. The FAQ was interesting, Coppola cropped it to 2.1 for video because the original ratio didn't suit home video and resolution was lost? Whaat? How old is that FAQ?

Skimmed thru the film, a good clear picture, I've never had problems with seamless branching before so I'm not bothered with that, I just wish they kept each version on it's own disc.
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post #76 of 82
8/30/06 at 6:15pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

Speaking with no authority whatsoever, the aspect ratios are different, the transfers/colors are different, I don't see how it could have branching.
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post #77 of 82
8/30/06 at 7:38pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

Might as well provide concrete proof on the whole branching issue.

The maximum a dual layer disc can hold is around 8.5GB.

Disc 1 contains about 8.25 GB of data, roughly the maximum. Title 2 (redux) occupies 4.8GB (raw space) and title 3 (original) occupies 3.9 GB (raw space). Adding all the extras on disc 1 in the mix, and you come out with 10.7GB, or 2.45GB greater than the capacity of the DVD.

On disc 2, title 4 (redux) occupies 4.9GB and title 5 (original) occupies 3.5GB. Add in all the extras and the total is 10.8GB.

Now, if anyone can provide a solid, scientific, provable explanation of how the capacity of these DVDs was exceeded by 2.5GB each, other than branching, please do. Otherwise, give it a rest.

That info also demonstrates that only about 40% of the data space in the original version is exactly duplicated in Redux (the truth is, I'm not entirely certain how to calculate that, but there is clearly less identical source data than not identical). The problem seems to be that some individuals are having difficulty understanding that just because branching is used does not mean the majority of the footage is the same. Just because a "scene" is in both movies does not mean it is coming from the same bit of info on the disc. The undeniable FACT, is that some of the scenes are shared, and there definitely is branching.

Case closed.
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post #78 of 82
8/31/06 at 3:38pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

Could some one please tell me what exactly is on the 3rd disc from circuit city..?

I have bought recently the two disc, and now today I have won the three disc version on eBay and will either keep it unopened,, to re flip back on eBay later,, or will give away my 2 disc version to family member., but want to know what the third disc holds.. is it just the 15 minutes of the destruction of the compound with commentary and also the theatrical shorts? Seems like all the extras mentioned are already on disc 1 and disc 2,, how many minutes does disc three hold??

Thanks
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post #79 of 82
8/31/06 at 3:53pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

Quote:
Originally Posted by PatWahlquist
By the way, I didn't mention it in the review, but there is a great thread on HTF right now discussing AN and the disc.

Couldn't find that thread can it be pointed out as a link??

Thanks
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post #80 of 82
8/31/06 at 4:11pm
Thread Starter 

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

Quote:
Originally Posted by widescreenforever
Couldn't find that thread can it be pointed out as a link??

Thanks

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...d.php?t=231117
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post #81 of 82
8/31/06 at 8:57pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave H
Marco,

What player do you normally use?

Pioneer Elite 59-Avi (chipset modded for multi-region playback).
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post #82 of 82
8/31/06 at 9:19pm

Re: HTF Review: Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

Quote:
Originally Posted by widescreenforever
Could some one please tell me what exactly is on the 3rd disc from circuit city..?

I have bought recently the two disc, and now today I have won the three disc version on eBay and will either keep it unopened,, to re flip back on eBay later,, or will give away my 2 disc version to family member., but want to know what the third disc holds.. is it just the 15 minutes of the destruction of the compound with commentary and also the theatrical shorts? Seems like all the extras mentioned are already on disc 1 and disc 2,, how many minutes does disc three hold??

Thanks
Here are the contents of the third disc:

The Added Scenes and Expanded Themes of Apocalypse Now Redux
This featurette, which lasts 7 minutes and 58 seconds, features comments from Francis Ford Coppola, Laurence Fishburne, Aurore Clement, Frederic Forrest, and Vittorio Storaro. These interviews were probably taken from 2001 when they were all promoting the new cut. They discuss the new footage, specifically Kilgore's new intro, the new Brando scenes, the French Plantation sequence (Coppola shares the same anecdote about discovering his dad's lost love theme as found in the commentary), and the tiger scene, and then share their own feelings about the new cut.

Destruction of the Kurtz Compound
The same 6 minute sequence from the original DVD release of the theatrical version. Basically just a montage of the Kurtz Compound blowing up. This features optional commentary by Coppola, also featured on the old disc.

1979 Theatrical Trailer
Lasts 3 minutes 52 seconds and is 16x9 enhanced. This was included on the old theatrical version DVD release.

2001 Theatrical Trailer
Lasts 2 minutes 31 seconds and is nonanamorphic. This was included on the old Redux DVD release.
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