A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Color of Money -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[WinstonCely]

It's interesting that the quality of the transfer could effect this films content so much. I've seen it a number of times on VHS and DVD, and it's always proved to be my least favorite of all of Scorsese's films. Like to the point of really, really, not liking it. Just found the story boring, the acting boring, and even the direction pretty bland for a Scorsese film. It'd be interesting to see a copy of this film the way it should be shown and see if my opinion changes at all.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Color of Money has never had a decent-looking release on home video, and I'm guessing now that it never will.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Toddwrtr /t/321398/a-few-words-about-the-color-of-money-in-blu-ray/30#post_3938126
Color of Money has never had a decent-looking release on home video, and I'm guessing now that it never will.

I think Scorcese will get involved and i think there will be a second release of this, probably next year, we already know Thelma Schoonmaker worked on a new state of the art transfer, it would make no sense to withhold that from the public thus a new release will come just as it did with Gangs Of New York.

 

[Brian Husar]

Another thing no one has brought up, a 25th anniversary release and no special features? No retrospective? No interviews with Scorsese about what it was like? No wonder the price was lowered after the pre order on Amazon.

 

[Hank E]

I'm not sure what to think about the DVD. I don't remember where or when I bought it, but is it possible they fixed the problem and reissued it? Because the copy I have is anamorphic 16x9.

 

[Brian Husar]

I'm not sure what to think about the DVD. I don't remember where or when I bought it, but is it possible they fixed the problem and reissued it? Because the copy I have is anamorphic 16x9.

That is possible, I felt the need to not re buy ot because I thought it would be the same problem.

 

[Brandon Conway]

So, I'm finally getting around to watching it on my larger projection system, and I definitely see the problem. It's far too "electronic" looking, or as Robert says "out of focus" and meandering, like a sheath of slightly-green tinted video-ness, almost as if being projected onto an 80s Apple monitor. The blacks are completely crushed - I can't see the break between Cruise or Mastrantonio's hair and the black shadows in the early dinner scene. Heck, Newman's suit and the black shadows of the bar can't be distinguished from each other.

All in, it's as disappointing as advertised for a HD image. I feel pretty confident that, on memory alone, it is a step up from the lousy DVD, but it's more by default than anything else. I never picked up the DVD for myself in the past, and I enjoy the movie too much to outright return, so here's hoping Thelma Schoonmaker and/or Martin Scorsese can get involved and get Disney to re-issue this with the Schoonmaker supervised master, hopefully via free replacement program.

I tell you what though - Paul Newman is simply the best. Five minutes in, notably poor image quality, and he has me hooked anyway. Off to finish it, warts and all...

 

[Brandon Conway]

OK, just finished the whole film.

I looked out for blue pool tables - the ones that were there because of the lighting used according to the Schoonmaker interview from a few years back - and there weren't any. I'm thinking one of two things happened:

a) Disney took an old master and tried to replicate what Schoonmaker's describes as turning the blue tables to green but with far messier, less sophisticated methods, or

b) they took the new master prepped by Schoonmaker and did unsupervised tweaking because... well, who the hell knows why.


In any case, I can't believe Scorsese and Schoonmaker would be OK with this release. I know that what happened with Gangs of New York was that Miramax took the old DVD master approved by Schoonmaker/Scorsese in 2000 and simply ported it over, which was therefore badly over sharpened and insufficient for HD, since it was prepared for a SD DVD release only. This, though, seems like something else entirely.

Just too bad, because Newman is such a joy to watch otherwise.

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by Brandon Conway /t/321398/a-few-words-about-the-color-of-money-in-blu-ray/30#post_3939108
OK, just finished the whole film.

I looked out for blue pool tables - the ones that were there because of the lighting used according to the Schoonmaker interview from a few years back - and there weren't any. I'm thinking one of two things happened:

a) Disney took an old master and tried to replicate what Schoonmaker's describes as turning the blue tables to green but with far messier, less sophisticated methods, or

b) they took the new master prepped by Schoonmaker and did unsupervised tweaking because... well, who the hell knows why.


In any case, I can't believe Scorsese and Schoonmaker would be OK with this release. I know that what happened with Gangs of New York was that Miramax took the old DVD master approved by Schoonmaker/Scorsese in 2000 and simply ported it over, which was therefore badly over sharpened and insufficient for HD, since it was prepared for a SD DVD release only. This, though, seems like something else entirely.

Just too bad, because Newman is such a joy to watch otherwise.

Only problem is that the DVD of GoNY was horrific. I cannot believe it would have been approved.

RAH

 

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris /t/321398/a-few-words-about-the-color-of-money-in-blu-ray/30#post_3939130

Only problem is that the DVD of GoNY was horrific. I cannot believe it would have been approved.

RAH

Well, just relating what I heard through certain channels.

 

[Bryan^H]

So, I'm finally getting around to watching it on my larger projection system, and I definitely see the problem. It's far too "electronic" looking, or as Robert says "out of focus" and meandering, like a sheath of slightly-green tinted video-ness, almost as if being projected onto an 80s Apple monitor. The blacks are completely crushed - I can't see the break between Cruise or Mastrantonio's hair and the black shadows in the early dinner scene. Heck, Newman's suit and the black shadows of the bar can't be distinguished from each other.

I had the same reaction(again, size doesn't matter on such a lousy transfer...I noticed all of the overtuned digitized mistakes on my 40" monitor) and many scenes looks so unnatural, I might as well be watching a cartoon. I'm just hoping for a recall, or a do over.

I tell you what though - Paul Newman is simply the best. Five minutes in, notably poor image quality, and he has me hooked anyway. Off to finish it, warts and all...

Ha, ha. Me too. I cringed at the transfer, but watched the whole thing. If there is one saving grace from not sending it back to Amazon for a refund, it's that I got to watch a great film again.

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

I just skimmed through my copy and, wow, what a crappy, dingy, contrast-free transfer. I was hoping that all the grousing was hyperbole. I was wrong. Holding onto it for the time being, but man, this is the pits.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Has anyone tried called Disney's Customer Service hotline regarding this title?

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Toddwrtr /t/321398/a-few-words-about-the-color-of-money-in-blu-ray/30#post_3939673
Has anyone tried called Disney's Customer Service hotline regarding this title?

All they got was Mickey Mouse squeaking something about quality control being on holiday with Pluto.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by FoxyMulder /t/321398/a-few-words-about-the-color-of-money-in-blu-ray/30#post_3939732

All they got was Mickey Mouse squeaking something about quality control being on holiday with Pluto.

In defense of people in QC, digital manipulation like this can be reported and ignored. I've seen it happen quite often.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Brandon Conway /t/321398/a-few-words-about-the-color-of-money-in-blu-ray/30#post_3939767

In defense of people in QC, digital manipulation like this can be reported and ignored. I've seen it happen quite often.

I was joking. ( well half joking, i just wanted to get Mickey and Pluto in a sentence. )

 

[FanboyZ]

It looks like everything in the foreground was hit with massive filtering. The background has some grain and looks better than the foreground.

 

[Brian Husar]

Thread has been dead for awhile, but any news if this will ever be corrected, and a quality release comes out?

 

[MikeTV]

Since this thread has been dead for over four years and there are no new threads, I'm going to guess there is no news.

 

[Brian Husar]

That's a shame. Watched it the other day and got through it, but it was sad.