Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery finally in OAR!!! (1 Viewer)

[EnricoE]

while the rest of the world enjoyed the first austin powers movie on dvd in oar, the u.s. and canada only got a open matted version of the film. the blu-ray however features the film in it's oar glory

this is a good move from new line and i've no doubt many people will happy about this.

 

[Carlo_M]

Do you mean the fact that the DVD was 2:1 instead of 2.35:1 when you say "open matte"? So that means the new BD is 2.35 throughout?

That's good news...assuming of course it doesn't hide any of Liz Hurley's goodness in the process

And before I get hung as an anti-OAR hater, let me just say that sometimes open matte isn't the worst thing ever. If you're a Julie Delpy fan, the open matte 4:3 presentation of An American Werewolf in Paris (VHS) offers a lot more viewing enjoyment of Ms. Delpy than the letterbox version on DVD.

 

[EnricoE]

correct

 

[Will_B]

2:1 instead of 2.35:1 is pretty minor, but... I'll have to see screenshots to see which is better. If nothing important has been cropped off, I may get it, but, I don't like the idea that the "theater" is somehow the definitive statement about a film's aspect ratio. If it looked better at 2:1, it should have stayed 2:1. I know that is blasphemy here, but, maybe it is just easier for theaters to project at 2.35:1 or 1.85:1 than to accommodate a request for some odd ratio like 2:1. Maybe the DVD was the first time the director got to really show the film the way he wanted it.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I suppose that could be true in this instance -- I don't know myself. I certainly didn't find the open matte(?) 2:1 view to be too loose (above and below).

_Man_

 

[Joseph Bolus]

I believe this movie was filmed in "Super 35" ...
So all kind of varying ARs could be carved out of the film. The 2.00:1 AR on the DVD release *is* a valid presentation of the movie since the director stated on the commentary track that that's what he had requested. He thought that particular aspect ratio complemented the available DVD resolution.

With the extra resolution that BD affords, it's also logical that the same director would now want the theatrical AR presentation available.

So I don't really see any controversy at all with either release.

 

[Duncan Harvey]

Any idea if the Christian Slater and Death of A Henchman bits are in this version? We had them in the UK cut, but they were missing from the R1 DVD - never could figure out why?

The UK lost the line about Prince Charles due to over sensitivity after the death of Diana just before the film came out in the UK.

I truly love this film - it was seeing that it was coming out on DVD in Ovtober 97 that made me import my first player from the USA.

We seem to be having the vastly inferior sequels coming out in the UK but not the original - hence I'm importing the US set.

 

[TonyD]

I'm very happy to be getting htis set from amaozon for about $44.
The 2nd and 3rd were just as funny to me as the first.
the sequels weren't inferior for me.

Only thing i didn't lke in the sequels was the casting of Beyonce'.

she doesn't do it for me as a singer and even moreso as an actress.

 

[Felix Martinez]

But wasn't the transfer for the U.S. DVD app'd by Vittorio Storaro since Peter Deming was unavailable?

 

[Keith Paynter]

Then you must like what Warner's television division has been submitting for broadcast to HD cable channels: Treasure of The Sierra Madre and The Wizard Of Oz have been shown on TreasureHD in HD cropped to fit 1.78:1 by removing top and bottom information. That is a travesty!

 

[Brandon Conway]

Ugh.

 

[TonyD]

 

[Will_B]

I was simply saying that the director's intent may have been constrained by the conventions of theatrical projectors. That's far different than endorsing cropping. Plus, yes, Liz Hurley...must see more of! Which reminds me, Bedazzled needs to come to BluRay.

 

[Simon Young]

In the 2:1 version there's a CG shot that looks incomplete when you remove the mattes. I think it's when the Big Boy takes off from 60s London. Also the ratio changed to 2.35:1 during a split-screen sequence, so it was never very consistent. For these reasons alone, I favour the 2.35:1 version.

 

[Dave H]

I'd really like to get the first two movies, but will have to pass on the third. Unless I can buy the boxset at an amazing price, I'll have to rely on Netflix for now until they release them individually.

 

[StevenJ]

I had no idea it wasn't oar, that's good news!

 

[Duncan Harvey]

anyone help with the above please?

 

[Will_B]

If the Prince Charles line is the one where Dr Evil is suggesting evil plots, and he suggests making it look like the prince had had an affair, and then Number One says "that too has already happened," that was present on USA dvd so I expect it will be there on the USA bluray too. But the Slater material is doubtful, imo. That hasn't been seen before.

 

[Ron Reda]

Nice thread, but where are the reviews??? I haven't seen any at all & therefore won't be opening my set until I do. I mean, I can't imagine the BRs looking anything less than spectacular as the DVDs looked pretty dang good (especially the 3rd movie), but you never know with DNR and such thesedays. I checked with all of my favorite review sites and alas, nothing.

 

[Jeff Robertson]

I recall how amazed I was at how good the third movie looked on SD-DVD. A shame that it was also the worst of the three and I didn't even make it through the whole disc.

Then I thought to myself "no problem, New Line will just release an Infinifilm version of the first movie soon". That never happened. So yeah, the Blu-Ray better be really good.