Elbert Lee
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- May 24, 2000
- Messages
- 501
I'm not going to post a full comprehensive review on this title, but would like to make a few observations about it.
First of all, I'm very picky when it comes to movie soundtracks. I have to comment that the AOTC soundtrack was one of the finest examples of Dolby Digital surround sound on this format.
I'm a stickler for subtlety, layering, separation of effects, dialogue, and movei score, as well as steering and ambiance. I actually listen to these aspects as the movie plays through my surround system. LFE was ALMOST excessively heavy when speeders or starships were flying by. Still within normal listening levels, but seemed a bit disproportional compared to the rest of the LFE employed throughout the movie.
The surround back speakers were utlized in every single action sequence. Subtle surround and ambiance effects were prevalent throughout the entire movie without calling too much attention to the speakers. I was also impressed with how "uncompressed" this DD soundtrack sounded. While the dialogue didn't quite have the resolution of some of the finer DTS soundtracks out there, I appreciated how it still managed to cut through sequences where a lot of other sounds and music was also present.
VIDEO - Every bit as impressive as the theatrical Digital Theater presentation. I can't say that it is the most impressive movie (video-wise), on DVD, but it is clearly the least flawed of all of the live action movies that are already out there. I personally felt that the 100% computer generated animated titles actually looked consistently better, but that was because all of it was done on computer.
The reason why I say this is because the "filming" of live actors with the use of digital cameras may have presented a small inconsistency when it came to focus.
Case in point -In almost every scene, the focus of the lenses were clearly on foreground characters with a softer focus of background characters (appeared soft and obviously out of focus). However, it was also clear that the set and surroundings were produced entirely in the digital domain and, perhaps because they were not recorded onto the movie with lenses and camers, there were many areas where the background, computer generated scenery that were on the same plane as the "out of focus" background characters, were NOT out of focus as they should have been.
I'm not saying that this was a distraction, but a small oversite in some scenes that lent and "artificial" feel to the movie that I remember some reviewers comment about. Maybe it was just in my head, but it was something that I noticed.
Enjoy
Elbert
First of all, I'm very picky when it comes to movie soundtracks. I have to comment that the AOTC soundtrack was one of the finest examples of Dolby Digital surround sound on this format.
I'm a stickler for subtlety, layering, separation of effects, dialogue, and movei score, as well as steering and ambiance. I actually listen to these aspects as the movie plays through my surround system. LFE was ALMOST excessively heavy when speeders or starships were flying by. Still within normal listening levels, but seemed a bit disproportional compared to the rest of the LFE employed throughout the movie.
The surround back speakers were utlized in every single action sequence. Subtle surround and ambiance effects were prevalent throughout the entire movie without calling too much attention to the speakers. I was also impressed with how "uncompressed" this DD soundtrack sounded. While the dialogue didn't quite have the resolution of some of the finer DTS soundtracks out there, I appreciated how it still managed to cut through sequences where a lot of other sounds and music was also present.
VIDEO - Every bit as impressive as the theatrical Digital Theater presentation. I can't say that it is the most impressive movie (video-wise), on DVD, but it is clearly the least flawed of all of the live action movies that are already out there. I personally felt that the 100% computer generated animated titles actually looked consistently better, but that was because all of it was done on computer.
The reason why I say this is because the "filming" of live actors with the use of digital cameras may have presented a small inconsistency when it came to focus.
Case in point -In almost every scene, the focus of the lenses were clearly on foreground characters with a softer focus of background characters (appeared soft and obviously out of focus). However, it was also clear that the set and surroundings were produced entirely in the digital domain and, perhaps because they were not recorded onto the movie with lenses and camers, there were many areas where the background, computer generated scenery that were on the same plane as the "out of focus" background characters, were NOT out of focus as they should have been.
I'm not saying that this was a distraction, but a small oversite in some scenes that lent and "artificial" feel to the movie that I remember some reviewers comment about. Maybe it was just in my head, but it was something that I noticed.
Enjoy
Elbert
