The all-in-one THE TROUBLE WITH AMC thread (1 Viewer)

[LarryDavenport]

Whatever happened to truth in advertising laws? Someone alert Roger Ebert!

 

[WillG]

As much as AMC has disgusted me, If "Fatal Attraction" was shot open matte (and I believe it was) then removing the mattes to show the hidden info for the full screen is very likely technically correct and isn't truly false advertising (at least for the shot they used, a pure open matte "full screen" transfer is probably rare) As for them boasting that Full Screen is a preferable way to watch a film, well that is just sad.

 

[StephenT]

I agree it's technically correct. But it was probably intentionally chosen. Those ignorant of aspect ratios will think that in all cases there's "hidden" information under the bars. Not good for the cause.

 

[Brian Lawrence]

Really sad as AMC was pretty much the first channel to start airing letterboxed films in the late 80's early 90's.

 

[Ted Lee]

ugh!

whether technically correct or not, the general populace *definitely* won't get it. they'll think the they're seeing more picture and that the black bars are no good. exactly. i so very rarely watch this channel anymore. i'm all about tcm now....

 

[WillG]

Yeah, what happened with AMC? Does anyone have a story on them, like a new CEO or something like that. Or, did they just completely sell out?



Yeah, but it is still not right to deceive people about such issues. I used to tell people that WS means more horizontal picture info, but it started to get to me because I knew this wasn't always the case. So, now when I explain to someone about OAR, I tell them, under my breath of course, that watching a film is WS doesn't always mean you're getting more horizontal image

I would like to see how AMC handles an anamorphic film for their "TV on DVD" examples

 

[Hunter P]

Don't they colorize all their movies?

As for AMC, I stopped watching because they are now a misnomer. Every time I look at their lineup, I think, "how the fuck is that an American movie classic?"

I quick perusal of this month's offerings:
Halloween sequels 3, 4 & 5 -- no comment necessary
The Money Pit -- Tom Hank's critically acclaimed classic, clearly his best work.
Madhouse -- The movie that made Kristie Alley and John Larroquette movie stars.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

Isn't it now "The American Movie Channel" ?

Guess they ran out of classics...

Yeah. The worst was when they advertised the Planet of the Apes marathon in widescreen, then show it in P&S! I couldn't watch it!

 

[Jim Dalton]

My wife and I watched Goldfinger last night and it was absolutely cut to hell! For a station that is geared towards movie classics, AMC should hang their head in shame for taking a knife to this or any movie!!

If you guys want to torment your viewers by interrupting the flow of a movie and putting in commercials, that's one thing, but when you start to cut out some very key scenes due to time constraints, that's another thing altogether.

SHAME ON YOU, AMC!!!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

AMC has not been "a station geared towards movie classics" for several years. They insert commercials, show mostly pan & scan versions of films, and include stupid "pop-up info" items in some films. They have become another USA Network.

 

[Marty M]

I haven't watched this channel since they started interrupting the movies for commercials. I understand why they did it, but I choose to show my displeasure with their decision by not watching them anymore.

 

[Michael Harris]

I've been out of the country for over six years. When did AMC change from a commecial free network showing geniuine classics in OAR to the freakshow that it has become. Is TCM next?

 

[Steve Phillips]

Are they still calling themselves American Movie Classics?

Why not just change to American Movie Channel?

I haven't watched anything on AMC for years.

 

[Rich Malloy]

Turner Classic Movies

Can you believe it, Ted Turner's station is the only one fit for movie lovers?

(AMC blows big floppy donkey dicks.)

 

[Lew Crippen]

Fox Movie Channel (FMC) also has no commercial interrupts, is almost always in OAR and does not edit.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Also the Independent Film Channel and Sundance, don’t edit, telecast in OAR and have no interruptions for commercials.

 

[DouglasRobert]

Count me as one of those who have stopped watching AMC.

I can live with commercials, but for them to now show mostly non-OAR versions, is unforgiveable.

Aren't they also the same network that advertises, "Much More TV" or something like that?

In which they advertise the same movie in either OAR with text commentary or "Full Screen".

How they show the difference between Full Screen and OAR is very misleading. First they show a widescreen version, then they have two arrows on the top and bottom of the widescreen image and the arrows move and the black bars disappear. All they did was take a full screen image and masked off the top and bottom of the image, creating a false widescreen image.

To those who don't know the differance, the full screen image would appear to show more than the widescreen version. Because what they show is wrong.

 

[WillG]

If the film was shot flat, their demonstration is most likely actually correct. Because for those films the widesceen version is matted like that. If the film was shot anamorphically and they did that, it would then be incorrect. But I have yet to see a "DVD on TV" feature of an anamorphic film on AMC.

 

[Steve Phillips]

He's right, they do lie in their ads. I've seen a couple of them that are totally misleading.

They used PLANET OF THE APES (1968) as an example, which was shot in Panavision 2:35 to 1 and looks awful panned and scanned. They showed the P/S image (already missing half the original image) with black bars at the top and bottom, saying that is what the widescreen version was. What a load!

 

[Ted Lee]

amc is horrible, horrible, horrible!

i almost never watch anything on that channel anymore. if i have something from a tivo wishlist, then i may check it out, but even then it's painful. you can forget about live tv.

i think i read/heard somewhere that their viewer membership has taken a serious nose-dive in recent times.

wonder why... :rolleyes