UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Panic Room -- in 4k UHD (1 Viewer)

[sbjork]

The things Fincher is changing aren't even mistakes. They're just details that, 23 years later, Fincher feels like changing purely for the sake of changing something.

I'm quite aware of that most of them weren't mistakes per se. I was talking about alterations in general at that point, not just Panic Room in particular. But if most of these particular alterations aren't even noticeable in the first place unless they're pointed out to people, then yes, obsessing over them is just doing a reverse David Fincher. And I can't stress enough that I'm as obsessive about many details as they come. I'm the one that held up a review of the Deaf Crocodile The Cathedral of New Emotions for over a week because I couldn't find any concrete information on how it was produced, and vaguebooking it just wasn't good enough for me. I finally had Dennis Bartok pass along my questions to Helmut Herbst's family and friends, and pieced together what I could from the contradictory replies that they gave me. And I wrote a whole paragraph to sum up all of that as best as I could, despite the fact that no one who reads it will ever give a rat's patoot. It was attention to detail that would only satisfy me.

Tl;dr: as someone who does obsess over details, I'm telling you that the only thing stopping you from letting most of these changes go is you. And, for the record, you be you, and I'm not trying to get you to change. I'm just saying that if someone like me can overlook them, then the average viewer really isn't going to give a rat's patoot.

(Also for the record, there are two specific changes that do stand out to me, with one of them really bothering me, but I'm not going to describe it here because I don't want to ruin it for anyone who doesn't catch what's wrong about it. I want people to enjoy movies, not have them spoiled.)

 

[sbjork]

Oh, and I'm also someone who just asked our editor to add one single word to one sentence in one paragraph of my Arrow Lifeforce UHD review, because it changed the whole review for me. It won't for anyone else, but it still bothered me. Like Fincher, I look at things that I've already done and see how I could have done them better. And yes, editing online reviews is hardly part and parcel to digitally tweaking 23-year-old films, but we all obsess over details in our own ways. Fans have every right to obsess over the changes in Panic Room and other David Fincher films, but I'm perfectly willing to let most of them go. The one change that I referred to aside, none of them impacted my viewing experience of the film because I didn't let them. They're just not editorial changes like the kind that Michael Mann keeps insisting on doing. I obsess over Michael Mann every bit as much as I do over David Fincher (you'll know that if you've ever read anything that I've written about him), but I can let most of the latter's tweaks go while Mann's bother me more, because they're much more significant to the viewing experience. Cutting two of my favorite lines out of The Last of the Mohicans in his first revision/second cut of the film was a bridge too far for me (thankfully, he restored at least one of them in his second revision/third cut). And I loathe every single change that he's made to Manhunter to date, including the changes that still exist in what's now called the theatrical cut but isn't. Compared to that, adding/subtracting minor background details in Panic Room is trivial.

 

[JoshZ]

Oh, and I'm also someone who just asked our editor to add one single word to one sentence in one paragraph of my Arrow Lifeforce UHD review, because it changed the whole review for me. It won't for anyone else, but it still bothered me. Like Fincher, I look at things that I've already done and see how I could have done them better. And yes, editing online reviews is hardly part and parcel to digitally tweaking 23-year-old films, but we all obsess over details in our own ways. Fans have every right to obsess over the changes in Panic Room and other David Fincher films, but I'm perfectly willing to let most of them go. The one change that I referred to aside, none of them impacted my viewing experience of the film because I didn't let them. They're just not editorial changes like the kind that Michael Mann keeps insisting on doing. I obsess over Michael Mann every bit as much as I do over David Fincher (you'll know that if you've ever read anything that I've written about him), but I can let most of the latter's tweaks go while Mann's bother me more, because they're much more significant to the viewing experience. Cutting two of my favorite lines out of The Last of the Mohicans in his first revision/second cut of the film was a bridge too far for me (thankfully, he restored at least one of them in his second revision/third cut). And I loathe every single change that he's made to Manhunter to date, including the changes that still exist in what's now called the theatrical cut but isn't. Compared to that, adding/subtracting minor background details in Panic Room is trivial.

I get what you're saying, and if I cared more about Panic Room in general, I'd still buy the 4K (just as I did True Lies, despite my dislike of the changes James Cameron made to it). However, while I enjoyed the movie well enough when I saw it in the theater back in the day, it isn't something I feel compelled to own in light of all these stupid things Fincher has done with it.

This was kind of a borderline title for me, as far as whether I want to add it to my collection or not. And this revisionism pushes me over into the "Do Not Buy" side of the equation.

Whereas, I really wanted True Lies in my collection, and despite its many problems, the 4K is still the best home video edition of that title currently available.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Only at the HTF can I come to an RAH review thread to read about the 4k release of Panic Room and learn all about Edison cylinders, IBM punch cards, pressed curtains, Coke cans, obsessive compulsive disorder, Dwight Yoakam shooting first, the intricacies of Alien 3 and the addition of Julia Butters to the cast.

It really sounds like a magnificent release!

I'm sure I'll get my copy delivered sometime before it's released in the next home video format and Godzilla is inserted in a cameo role.

 

[Robert Saccone]

I’ve only watched half so far but it looks and sounds terrific. I was completely drawn into the story. I had to stop only because my wife and daughter came home and wanted dinner.

 

[Robert Crawford]

My 4K/UHD has been stuck in USPS purgatory for over a week. Hopefully, I get it this week, but you never know when it comes to the inefficient USPS. It makes me wish for UPS and FedEx which is a shock of another matter.

My 4K/UHD finally arrived today. Just in time for my participation in our annual "Western Movies/TV Series Challenge". In short, it looks like April will be the first time I'll be able to watch the 4K/UHD in its entirety because I'll be busy with another film genre in March.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

My 4K/UHD finally arrived today. Just in time for my participation for our annual "Western Movies/TV Series Challenge". In short, it looks like April will be the first time I'll be able to watch the 4K/UHD in its entirety because I'll be busy with another film genre in March.

#1stworldproblems

 

[sbjork]

My 4K/UHD finally arrived today. Just in time for my participation for our annual "Western Movies/TV Series Challenge". In short, it looks like April will be the first time I'll be able to watch the 4K/UHD in its entirety because I'll be busy with another film genre in March.

You'll just have to pick a day in March to be unfaithful.

 

[SD_Brian]

My 4K/UHD finally arrived today. Just in time for my participation for our annual "Western Movies/TV Series Challenge". In short, it looks like April will be the first time I'll be able to watch the 4K/UHD in its entirety because I'll be busy with another film genre in March.

If you imagine the cast in cowboy costumes and forget that it takes place in NYC, Panic Room contains a lot of similar plot elements to a Western (bandits trying to break into a fort to steal some loot while the heroes fight to keep them out), so if you really broaden your definition of what constitutes a western, you could make it fit into the challenge.

 

[Robert Harris]

My 4K/UHD finally arrived today. Just in time for my participation for our annual "Western Movies/TV Series Challenge". In short, it looks like April will be the first time I'll be able to watch the 4K/UHD in its entirety because I'll be busy with another film genre in March.

According to Golden Globes, Panic Room is a western. You’re fine.

 

[JoshZ]

According to Golden Globes, Panic Room is a western. You’re fine.

Didn't it win Best Musical? I mean, the movie does have a music score in it, so therefore...