In regard to the use of multiple security stickers still in use on Lionsgate releases, to make the point, and to show that I'm with the program, I have copied and pasted the heading from my commentary on The Mill & the Cross, and re-used the C and o from the word Cross, in the heading above, and used it in the word Cold.
Everyone should be doing their utmost not to be wasteful, and toward preserving our planet.
I originally saw Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain at a screening at the Director's Guild in L.A. I recall it as a problematic screening, not of the film, but of the atmosphere, as security people were stationed at the sides of the screen, and were using night vision equipment to view the audience, toward attempting to keep them from recording the film from their seats.
And the hardware used for the sighting of the audience was lit, and distracting during the entire 154 minutes of the film.
Somehow, I've a feeling that invitational industry screenings at the Director's Guild are not those that will be hit by those attempting to record the backs of an audience's heads and later sell their recordings at parking structures in lower Manhattan.
Aside from the distraction, the film was a beautiful achievement.
It was less of a beautiful achievement when it was released on DVD, with a transfer performed by the same post facility responsible for the original Gangs of New York DVD, as well as the very special encoding of the initial Blu-ray release, which I perceived as some sort of modern art in the way that it handled image.
All is now forgiven, as the new Lionsgate / Miramax release looks as the film should. No alien-like halos around the actors, impeding their performances.
The new Cold Mountain is a gorgeous Blu-ray, with no problems that I noted. A beautiful image combined with uncompressed audio.
Great film.
Great Blu-ray.
And like Shakespeare in Love, only $7.99 at the moment at Amazon. Actually a dollar less than the DVD.
From a technologically important perspective, I believe that this was the first studio feature to be entirely edited via Apple's Final Cut, as perfected with the help of editor extraordinaire Walter Murch.
You can read about it here:
Highly Recommended.
RAH
