DePalma - widescreen posterboy! (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Mirza]

My wife and I have been having a DePalma mini-marathon for a couple of weeks now... You can say what you will about his films - some people love them and some people think he's the luckiest hack in the world (I love his films).

But one thing's for damn sure: here is a filmmaker that has fully embraced the anamorphic film frame and used every friggin inch to clever use! He is truly a "film" maker who doesn't care about the safe zones for the eventual 4x3 transfers. That's why his films look consistently like crap when butchered for P&S. I can take any DePalma film and make a stunning case for OAR with a J6P.

If watching a side-by-side comparison of Carrie's splitscreens or the Untouchables' split diopter shots doesn't convince someone of OAR, then they are truly hopeless.

DePalma should be given a HTF award for a lifetime of widescreen excellence.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Agreed, and another director I love for all the same reasons is John Carpenter, he has never shot a movie in Super 35 or 1.85:1 soft matte in his entire carreer so far, and from what i've heard about him, he never will. Love those two guy's!

 

[Michael Reuben]

If watching a side-by-side comparison of Carrie's splitscreens or the Untouchables' split diopter shots doesn't convince someone of OAR, then they are truly hopeless.

Another classic example is the conversation in the restaurant between Nancy Allen and Keith Gordon at the end of Dressed to Kill. The scene is largely pointless unless you can see the increasingly horrified look on the face of the woman at the next table who tunes into their discussion and ultimately has to be comforted by her companions. But on P&S versions, she disappears from the frame entirely.

M.

 

[Christina_V]

I was about to say Dressed To Kill as well!
I bought the dvd when it came out & was amazed at how great it looked in WS.
I tryed watching it on tv before...but it was havily editied + looked horrible in P&S,that i said forget it & would wait for a WS release,if ever(thank god for dvd!). I did see that scene with Nancy & Keith near the end in P&S & then seeing it in WS for the first time is amazing.....since as you said....you can't see that lady & her reactions to there conversation in P&S.
Great movie btw!!

 

[Brad_W]

I know that a TON if not everone HATES Mission to Mars, but I LOVE (emphasis on... love?) that film and saw a pan and scan trailer for it. Butchered is a light term to describe it.
The only film of his that I've seen and don't like is Snake Eyes

 

[mark_d]

I just watched pan'n'scan Mission to Mars (so shoot me) this past weekend. I actually quite enjoyed it - despite some excruciating scenes that had my wife groaning. It often helps, I find, if you go into a movie with a forgiving attitude wanting to have a good time.

Back to the point...

I was getting dizzy with the amount of scanning going on. It was hard not getting frustrated with it, but I knew this was the only way I'd get to see the flick without having to spend money. And there's no way The Boss would allow me to spend cash on something as infamous as M2M.

I'm guessing that it was fairly spectacular in it's OAR.

Mark

 

[Seth Paxton]

Well, he is clearly on Hitch's jock along with Toland's with that deep focus effect, but I still love his style. Borrowed or not his films do have a "DePalma" look that is more than just ripoff.

And his use of the entire frame does make him a widescreen "hero" of sorts. In fact, that might be the number 1 aspect of his style, the constant use of the whole frame including "gimmick" shots like deep focus or split frame shots. At times it almost feels like he is really going out of his way to fill the frame.

That and his love of the long take (which I think he does great). While Mission to Mars and Snake Eyes ended with story problems, they both had terrific long take moments (opening of Snake and the Van Halen walk around the spaceship in Mars).

You start panning a long take which already has it's own frame sliding effect due to the nature of the moving camera and it becomes one nasty looking mess. It's enough to make you seriously dizzy or seasick.

 

[Patrick Mirza]

Carlito's Way is definitely one of his all-time best and is a criminally underrated film!

Except for the decision to open the film the way it does, it's a flawless film.

 

[Brad_W]

On some of the Mission To Mars documentaries they comment on how he used some sweeping space shots like Kubrick. I definately could see that influence. And what better director to imitate than Kubrick!?!

 

[Seth Paxton]

And what better director to imitate than Kubrick!?!

Um, Hitchcock...but he already did that.