A Few Words About A few words about... King Kong (2005) (1 Viewer)

The beautiful quality of the Academy screener sent out last winter by Universal showed up short-comings in my home theatre, and changes were made in all departments to be able to properly play back that image and audio.

I've been hopeful, in the intervening months that Universal would be able to better that representation of the film.

And they have.

In spades!

From the proper viewing distance... David Boulet continues to mention that..

This downconversion from 2k to standard resolution DVD, is amazingly filmlike.

Color, densities, shadow detail, and resolution are perfect.

Even when viewing on a 2k projector and a large screen there are no nits to pick.

A huge thank you and Hat's off! to the entire technical staff at Universal Home Video for what I perceive to be a new reference standard in DVDs.

I can't wait to see this in high definition.

I seldom get to say this.

Undeniably, absolutely Perfect.

and Hugely Recommended.

RAH

And probably even less seldom about a Universal release.

I'm so glad they spent the effort to do this release right! With Universals quality control issues the past few years I was very hesitant to pick this up without reading some reviews first. Glad to know they've done they're homework and I'll now be picking this title up without hesitation. Thanks Robert!

Chris S.

Ah, but the trailers...the trailers...these days, even the best DVDs seem to take two steps forward, then one step back...

Just in the last few months alone, TITANIC: SCE, WAR OF THE WORLDS [2005], SKY HIGH, CINDERELLA MAN, THE ISLAND, FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF re-release, KING KONG, DUNE: Extended Edition, FLIGHTPLAN, and the forthcoming CHRONICLES OF NARNIA have all dropped the trailers (well, technically, the last two can be found on the DVD for ALIENS OF THE DEEP, but that's beside the point)...I'm dying here, guys! What gives with these studios?! Trailers used to be the "original bonus feature"...now they're like finding an Olive Garden in Ethiopia!

Good to hear there is no "dumbing down" picture quality wise of this title in order to make HD look even better.

I don't know if this is the case in the US, but the Canadian release of the "single" disc actually ships with 2 discs - one in English audio/menus w/French subtitles, the other with French audio/menus and English subtitles.

Universal appears to be concerned with the visual aspect, allocating as much room as possible for the visuals, since the film is so heavily reliant on CGI, the exception being the Volkswagon featurette and the trailer for some other film (was that really necessary?).

Robert,

Happy to hear that you thought so highly of the new disc. I have not spun my disc yet. I really went back and forth on should I purchase this or not with the HD formats getting ready to roll. But I am huge fan of the original and recent remake so I gave in, but it is getting tougher for the studios to get me to purchase SD discs.

Like you, I can't wait to see this HD.

Craig

Too bad the print was defaced with a watermark, like Harry Potter.

Once I finally move to HD or Blu-Ray, this will probably be my first disc....

"Good to hear there is no "dumbing down" picture quality..."

Wish you could say the say the same about the movie

???

Care to elaborate?

Apparently, there's a water mark for two frames at about 30 minutes in. I don't think it quite ruined the movie but there's a pic here.
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...75#post2972475

Thread meet fart, fart meet thread....

I loved the movie in the theater, so I'll be picking up the 2-discer. I don't know why so many people have problems with King Kong. It's a fantastic remake of an already great film.

I'm sick of movies being too brisk when they can actually be "experiences" like Kong. Not that brevity is a bad thing, but the wonderful pace is one reason why the film is fun.

I think alot of movies today need to shorten their running times. It seems to me that alot of movies that could/should be 90 minutes run two hours. Not because it helps the movie but because they think that people want a longer movie because they paid $9 to get into the theater. (C'mon, did Wedding Crashers really need to be two hours?)

All that being said, I thought King Kong worked great at three hours. It wasn't padded to three hours but it was actually three hour story. I'm sure the extended version will also add (not pad) the story too.

Travis hit the nail on the head. Too many good 90 minute movies are being stretched to 2 hours or more.

King Kong was like Titanic for me in that the 3 hours flew by because the film was so immersive.

I was also very happy with the pq--very noticeably better than average even on my humble 57" Sony crt rptv. Immaculate print, gorgeous color, detail sharp as a tack.

I hate to say this but as much as I loved King Kong I'll be renting it until the HD comes along as well. The film looked beautiful on the big screen so I can afford to be patient.

My full review will be up in just a little bit, but I must say its going to be VERY hard for the HD versions of this picture to look better than this DVD does. I am sure we will be amazed at that time, but this is an absolutely stunning looking and sounding disk.

Sam

"Good to hear there is no "dumbing down" picture quality..."

Wish you could say the say the same about the movie


Thread meet fart, fart meet thread....


===

I'm guessing this is not good?

All I meant to say was that I found it to be one of the most tonally mis-judged, boring and supremely stupid films ever made, the extended stampede sequence in particular being quite laughable in its ineptness - I actually prefer the 1976 version to this, which was a shock I have to tell you, but was at least consistent and coherent within its own chosen diegetic and generic space.

Think I'll stop right there though and exit (doubtless pursued by digital fur...)

Good Idea!

I don't disagree that this is a great looking disc, but it is still standard definition, and there is still edge enhancement (look at the final credits for an example).

The King Kong trailer is part of the Toshiba HD-DVD demo that has been touring the country. Granted, this is a mere 1/60 of the entire movie, but the PQ was spectacular. The DVD looks good. The HD-DVD should be a sight to behold. I'm with RAH on this... I can't wait to see the movie in HD.

But the DVD will do for now!

- Steve