A FILM CRITIC who HATES widescreen? (1 Viewer)

[Brandon Conway]

Instead he said that at one point he was a film critic!

The key words are "at one point." This guy obviously sucked at the job, otherwise he'd still be doing it. You'd hope that he was at least smart enough to figure that out....

 

[MarkHastings]

You people still obsessed with this P&S vs. WS "debate"? Sheesh...

I thought this entire forum was mainly for HT Enthusiasts? Which means that they (we) all enjoy widescreen to the point that Pan and Scan is considered "evil".

Disagreeing with the pro-widescreen view isn't what I thought this forum was all about.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Mika, please take note of HTF's mission statement. Thank you.

 

[Mika-H]

Does the mission statement say that members of this forum should cram our WS preference down other people's thoats (like the original poster was doing)?
I would NEVER buy a P&S version of a film if the WS was available, but that doesn't mean that I think those who choose P&S are "idiots"! "Informing" someone as to what WS is, is one thing, but getting all "high and mighty" about it is something else entirely. Do you think this guy's boss wanted him to "push" WS onto the customers? If that was the case, they simply could have left all the P&S versions in the back room and no one would have to stand around explaining anything. While the mamager probably thought he was being helpful, I'm sure he's much more interested in happy customers and profits than pushing WS DVD's.

Disagreeing with the pro-widescreen view isn't what I thought this forum was all about.

While I may agree with someone's view, I may disagree with the way in which people conduct themselves in presenting that point of view.

 

[MarkHarrison]

Does the mission statement say that members of this forum should cram our WS preference down other people's thoats (like the original poster was doing)?

After re-reading the orignal posting, I'm not getting this impression. He tried to do his job and educate the guy and only turned nasty after the guy lost it. Obviously I wasn't there, but that's how I read things.

As for his boss, I think it's great that someone is willing to pay an employee to stand there and help people choose the version that meets their needs (even if they prefer full screen). That's way more helpful than some printed out photos. If handled properly, I think it's cool. If I was a customer, I wouldn't be offended if an employee asked me if I need help picking out a version. I'd be upset if they're tried to talk me out of my decision once it's made however.

I say let them educate, just not get preachy about it.

 

[Chet_F]

This issues is really sad when you think about it. When I first got into DVD many years ago....(4). I thought about the current HDTV push. Then the inevitable light clicked on. If all TVs are going to be 16:9 why would I want to watch the movie with black bars on the side. So for me the reasoning was forsight. Once I became more informed that reasoning obviously changed. I'd realised what I had been missing.

Well...here comes the sad part. I feel really sad for those people who have 350 full screen DVDs. Everything will get switched to 16X9...which it will, and then boom. J6P will cry a river when they soon find out their newly bought HDTV has black bars on the sides. Now of course they will probably still sell 4X3 HDTVs for qutie some time but eventually these will be phased out too. Hey!! Eurpopean friends, how many 4X3 TVs do they sell in Europe now that you have HDTV?

 

[Andrew Bunk]

As has been said before, people left with full screen DVD's will likely just stretch them in a 16:9 set. Better hardware does not necessarily mean the apathy towards OAR will be changed...

And also, I'd actually be surprised if there were over 350 full screen only DVD titles out there.

 

[MarkHastings]

"Informing" someone as to what WS is, is one thing, but getting all "high and mighty" about it is something else entirely

As someone once posted, If it is seen as "snobbery" to like WS to the point that we must ridicule the P&S lovers, then I am proud to be a "Snob"

And I don't think anyone is calling the uniformed, "idiots". But when you are talking about a guy who is supposed to have a true appreciation for a film and despizes true AOR, then what else is he besides and an ignorant idiot?

True, some of us may have harsher views toward these people than you, but this forum is pro-OAR and if you think our passion for DVD's is "over-the-top" than you are truly in the wrong place.

 

[Stephen_Ri]

Of course, this particular guy was a little eccentric, but I agree with most of what Mika has said. Many people have much more productive things to do in life than watch movies, and they are not stupid, they are not idiots, and they are not trying to take away our precious widescreen DVD's. They just want the picture to fill their screens. Blame the people in the 40's for 4:3. Smug and snobbish are words to describe some of the posters on this topic, as with other topics before it. Certainly I'm a fan of OAR, and won't watch anything else, but not everyone has a big TV and really cares about the director's intent. Some people like the acting or the plot; photography isn't everything, and in P&S, your getting around 2/3 of the screen, and usually the part of the screen you'd be focused on anyway. Far from ideal, but let people have what they want. It was nice of the manager to appoint someone to explain letterboxing, but I think a nice big picture would be even better, and would not snap at people even if they deserved it, which this particular man probably did. As in everything, when people get together and know they are right, suddenly some of them get the idea that everybody else is not only wrong, but also a little silly, and maybe idiotic for doing things the way they do. We're all a little silly aren't we? Not all of us even know how to get the most performance out of our computer, or how to work on our cars, or how to do anything "just right," the way it was meant to be. We can all be taught, so when appropriate, teach, and when appropriate, shut up. Fortunately, this post addresses a very few on this board, some of which don't mean to be as harsh as they sound.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

I think the reason this guy was being called an IDIOT was because he claimed he was a movie critic, but made the choice of watching a butchered version.

 

[MartinTeller]

The key words are "at one point." This guy obviously sucked at the job, otherwise he'd still be doing it.

I think what Lev meant was that at one point during their argument, he said that he was a film critic. Not that he was a film critic at one point in his life.

 

[CoreyII]

I don't understand why many of you on this forum can't accept the fact that there are some people out there that just don't like the widescreen format.

It's not like any of you are forced to watch a film in pan and scan.

 

[Stephen_Ri]

Yes, certainly the guy the poster was referring to was very strange, and probably was never a real movie critic as we'd think of one, but the majority of P&S watchers are not this way at all. It hadn't been too bad on this topic, but topics like this are always popping up and there's always a few who just have to condemn the foolishness, pettyness, and idiocity of the "general population." Those are the few I get annoyed at.

 

[CoreyII]

There is no law stating that because a person is a film critic, he or she has to like widescreen verisons of a film.

And they definitely shouldn't be called an idiot because their preference for a film format is different from someone else's.

 

[Ricardo C]

A "critic", in the most widely-understood sense of the word, is a person with enough knowledge and passion for a given field of the arts that he or she is deemed an authority on it. I wouldn't refer to someone as a "critic" if they have so little regard for the art of film that they see proper composition as a secondary concern. So yes, a true film critic HAS to prefer widescreen, if that is the format in which the film was intended to be screened.

And they should most definitely be called idiots (among other, stronger, names) if they pretend to be in a position to educate audiences even though they show a blatant disregard for the art form on which they're pretending to be an authority.

 

[MarkHastings]

I don't understand why many of you on this forum can't accept the fact that there are some people out there that just don't like the widescreen format.

Just like there are people out there who don't like Chevy's, but if there was a web site that was dedicated to Chevy talk, you wouldn't DARE try to tell them that Chevy Sucks and Ford is better.

Again, This forum is dedicated to those who want OAR at any cost, so please don't be surprised when you hear Pan and Scan bashing. It comes with the territory.

 

[Wade M.]

I just noticed something quirky and funny about the acronyms for Original Aspect Ratio and Modified Aspect Ratio. You guys probably know about this already, but OAR is the device which helps us paddle upstream in the river of movie mutilation! And MAR disfigures the movies, so as to make them incomplete!

Don't mind me, I'm just weird.

 

[Lew Crippen]

[ And they definitely shouldn't be called an idiot because their preference for a film format is different from someone else's.

True, they should not be termed an idiot. The accurate term would be ‘ignorant’ or ‘ignoramus’. Meaning, roughly, ‘uninformed’ or ‘not aware’. I would suggest that in any case ‘preference’ (in this case) is not the choice of a critic, though it most certainly is for a layperson.

 

[Mika-H]

As has been said before, people left with full screen DVD's will likely just stretch them in a 16:9 set. Better hardware does not necessarily mean the apathy towards OAR will be changed...

And also, I'd actually be surprised if there were over 350 full screen only DVD titles out there.

Well, there are hundreds of films that are in 4x3 aspect ratio. Some of them, like Citizen Kane, aren't too shabby. How many people that claim to be die-hard pro-OAR, secretly stretch or zoom 4x3 films or "TV programming" to fit their 16x9 display? I'd bet many . I'm pro-OAR and I'll admit that I've played with stretching and zooming 4x3 material on my 16x9 front projection setup, my Formula 1 Season 2000 review DVD being one example

 

[Mika-H]

What this means is that a critic cannot perform their most basic function in a P&S version, as they are unable to accurately assess the film.

That's funny, as most reviewers I read (Ebert, for one) rarely mention framing, camera movement, etc. Seems they concentrate on the plot and acting.