PEARL HARBOR now to be a 4-disc set...???? (1 Viewer)

[Dick]

Well, I'll tell ya. This must make the already bloated ego of Michael Bay so large it will cause an eclipse of the sun. The first 4-disc set of a single movie...and a mediocre one to boot! DVD File announced this blockbuster today (release date still unknown), but it will be the director's cut plus scads of extras. A MICHAEL BAY FILM. God's gift to Hollywood, that boy (A legend in his own mind, etc.) If only studios were this extravagant with really GOOD movies. This guy hasn't earned the sort of treatment he is receiving, box office clout or not. Artistically he is a neophyte, A prima donna and a spectacularly shallow wanna-be. Let's give 4-disc treatment to the films of actually talented people like Soderberg and Jackson and Spielberg and even Frank Oz before expending such effort on this hack. IMO. Flame shields up.

 

[Dan Brecher]

David Prior confirmed to many of the members here a few months back now that it will be four discs and it's frankly been welcomed with open arms.

Don't like it, heck don't buy it! I'm not a big fan of the movie, didn't hate it by any means, but I think the release will hopefully prove to be a fascinating in depth insight for those with an interest in filmmaking to see just what the hell it takes to get such a massive film into production and released. For those that liked the movie (and a lot of people did) it's going to be that and then some!

Sure there are perhaps more deserving pictures out there, but Bay wants this version out there, Disney are going to lengths to make sure it sells, and by god based on the sales of the theatrical cut they're going to have a winner!

I'm not going to start trashing Michael Bay or David Prior for their want to cram as much important information about the production onto the discs as possible. It's never a case of "oh this movie sucked, how come it got a better SE then that movie."

Simply put, Pearl Harbour has a director dedicated to getting a more complete version of his vision out into the open, a studio backing such a release and damn fine DVD Producer working hard to give something more in making it worth owning. Granted this is Disney, but you can look at a vast number of 20th Century Fox SE DVD releases and note these three factors into what makes such releases work (Fight Club, Moulin Rouge, Planet of the Apes....etc).

It's a sad truth but not all DVDs have such a luxury in having those elements making them what they are, and having a pop at the releases that do wont get us anywhere.

Dan (UK)

 

[GregBarron]

I couldn't have said it better myself...thanks Dan

 

[Tim Glover]

Amen Dan! Just finished watching all the goodies from the Gift set dvd and I WANT MORE!!! Can't wait for whenever this date becomes a reality to buy this 4 disc set of my favorite movie of the year.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Cool, bring on that 4 disc set! I for one am damn grateful to Michael Bay, he pushed to get this film available only in it's OAR, even thought the vhs goes from wide to wider and back again, but still, this act shows that he cares about his films so I am not going to bash him.
I guess it's PC to bash Michael Bay these days.:rolleyes
I refuse to subscribe to that, I like him.

 

[Luis Cruz]

Michael Bay is cool, I hope the director's cut of Pearl Harbor is better than the mediocre version I saw in theaters. But, the thing that bothers me about Michael Bay is that he can never keep a shot for more than 4 or 5 seconds...it gets kinda annoying at times. But other than that he's cool.

 

[Iain Lambert]

Say what you like about Michael Bay, but as anyone with either of the two Criterion releases of his films will confirm, he does have an enthusiasm for explaining his work that generally makes supplements really worthwhile. You can wish for 'more worthy' films to get similiar treatment all you want, but the fact is that David Prior has already commented here about struggling to keep it down to those four discs - Spielberg on the other hand doesn't like doing commentaries and doesn't appear to want to prepare that much material. Jackson, though, gave us the legendary Frighteners box, so you can hardly complain there (except for the part where Universal realise that its not as popular a film as Pearl Harbor and so don't release that stuff to DVD as well). For what its worth, New Line seem pretty keen on building a fairly impressive package for the eventual Lord Of The Rings release anyway.

 

[David Lambert]

In fact, this news of yet another delay has had the opposite effect on me. Rather than waiting for the uber set in what is now later-than-May, I might just get the existing 2-disc set and be done with it. Having borrowed the movie, I'm not as hot for it as I was before.

The DC cut still intrigues me; I'd wonder what was different. But having seen PH finally, and only feeling lukewarm about it (mock me if you will, but I loved The Rock and Armageddon, so I thought I'd be all over this one), I'm not so sure anymore...

 

[Tom Brennan]

4 Discs? What could they possibly put on 4 discs? Seems like a waste to me.

 

[Scott-C]

I'm thrilled they're putting together a 4-disc set for this movie. I saw it in the theater, and didn't think it was the greatest movie ever, but very enjoyable nonetheless. I think the DC will be a very impressive set to own however, for the reasons Dan pointed out in his post. If you're at all interested in how Hollywood puts a movie together, this should be a groundbreaking DVD in terms of the quantity (and hopefully quality) of the extras. I look forward to getting it. I am frustrated by the delays, however, and now find myself wondering if I should also pick up the 60th Anniv. edition now to hold me over for what could be a whole year.

 

[Iain Lambert]

Thats the wonder of historically set dramas - you can do the usual massive documentaries about the making of it, how the special effects are done etc, but you can also supply the reams of historical source material that explain what really happened.

At least thats what I think (and hope) is going on here - by far my favorite part of the U-571 disc (more than the film even) was the interview with the guy that really took part in the stealing of the code books and device.

 

[Robert_eb]

I don't paticulary like Michael Bays films but I think that if he wants a 4 disc set than more power to him. It's his movie. Personaly, I think his films scripts are a bit on the hokey side. But hey, there's always the explosions to keep ya happy.

 

[Dick]

Edward D. Wood Jr. cared about his films, too. Spielberg and many other talented directors don't have to add a trillion supplements and commentaries to their DVD releases because their movies are (usually) so well made that they speak quite well for themselves. (But I have to admit that the History Channel documentary on disc two of PEARL HARBOR was pretty decent. Now that I've seen it, I'm all done with this set. My sentiments fall very close to those of Savant on the DVD Talk site. I don't rant about Michael Bay because it's P.C. I do so because I'm old enough (unfortunately, in terms of age) to remember days when blockbuster movies were made by people who truly understood cinema, its history, and its emotional impact on an audience. They were craftsmen and artists in the finest sense. Bay, IMO, is a perpetual debutante. He wants to be Spielberg hasn't anything approaching the sensibility of a genuine creative filmmaker. I can't find anything in PEARL HARBOR's insufferable three hours that is original, enlightening or even very entertaining. Damn, I'm just inviting myself to be burned at the stake, huh? But, hey, one of the things that asshole Bin Ladden hasn't taken from us is our freedom to speak out minds. I can't stand Michael Bay movies, but I watch each one as it is released, hoping he'll begin exhibiting some true talent. Jim Carrey did.

 

[Dan Brecher]

Spielberg and many other talented directors don't have to add a trillion supplements and commentaries to their DVD releases because their movies are (usually) so well made that they speak quite well for themselves.

Absolutely, but every filmmaker is different. What can you do? One can certainly try to get other studios to open their eyes, look at what Disney is doing for Pearl Harbour iin the hope more rewarding pictures get a similar treatment, but to rant at this Vista Release is pointless.

Dan (UK)

 

[Henry Colonna]

I agree, I wish all DVDs were this elaborate. A 4 disk Edward Scissorhands? Blue Velvet? Unbearable Meaning of Life? Star Trek First Contact? ohh....

If someone handed me this particular title, though, I would head straight to EBay without even opening it.

I can watch cool graphics demos on my PC far more briefly and for free...

Heck, the Amiga Boing ball from the 80s had more character than any of the characters in this movie (no Doldby Digital sound effects though...)

 

[David Lambert]

Heck, the Amiga Boing ball from the 80s had more character than any of the characters in this movie

ROFL!!

Ah, that brings back memories...
http://www.jimbrooks.org/web/opengl/boing/boing.html
Click on that link to get an OpenGL version of the classic demo!
Ah, I wish I'd kept my Amiga 500...

 

[Mitty]

I'm old enough...to remember days when blockbuster movies were made by people who truly understood cinema, its history, and its emotional impact on an audience. They were craftsmen and artists in the finest sense.

Hmmmm. Michael Bay may be a complete hack and Pearl Harbor may be one of the biggest disappointments of the year, but that statement is at best an incredible oversimplification, and it ignores the fact that some real intelligence-insulting dogs came out of the past as well. The film industry has always been about money first. Don't kid yourself for a second that the studios, in the "glory days," were high minded about the art and the craft of making films. Studios handed the reins to the likes of David Lean and William Wyler because their films made money. In that sense, little has changed.

 

[Jeff]

Dick, if it makes you feel any better, I agree with you 100%!

 

[Patrick McCart]

Why are 4 discs needed?

 

[Dan Brecher]

Why are 4 discs needed?

Movie spans two discs for one thing, and the bulk of the supplements they want on the release are demanding of additional disc space hence 2 additional discs of extras.

Dan (UK)