A Sendoff to a Dear Friend (My Pioneer CLD-59 Laserdisc Player)

I know its weird to write a eulogy for an electronic, but I felt such a deep connection to my first real Laserdisc player, that I thought you all should know just how empty I feel now that it's gone.

My Pioneer CLD-59 Elite Laserdisc player ended up in my possession at the end of my ninth grade year after a now legendary Craigslist deal. By legendary, I don't really mean people whisper about its mythical status, but I mean legendary in its effects on me, and my personality. After I picked up this player, and a hundred and twenty five movies or so, life was definitely never the same. The collection included a plethora of classics - the original Star Wars Trilogy, Spartacus, A Clockwork Orange, Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, and many more. Suddenly, I went from the loud kid who just talked about video games, to a kid who developed a reputation for movie watching. Like, a reputation that has followed me from that time period to now, when people who know more than one Chris often refer to me as "movie Chris," or on some occasions, "Blu Ray Chris," as it evolved in college. I love that. Movies are pretty much my life blood, the making of them, the watching of them, the presentation of them, and it all started with my Pioneer Laserdisc player.

I mean, I remember taking a class photo of my ninth grade biology classroom, and my love for laserdisc at that point was so overwhelming that I am in the picture, at the front, holding a Chemistry laserdisc in my hands, because that's ultimately how I wanted to be remembered. I have so many great memories attached to this player - spending the summer sharing the Star Wars trilogy with friends who had never seen it before between ninth and tenth grade, the really awkward text message conversation that occurred during my first screening of A Clockwork Orange on Laserdisc; acquiring a smaller laserdisc player so that I could bring laserdiscs with me to school, as the CLD-59 was far too heavy to haul in on a bus - that's right, sophomore year, I dragged a smaller V2800 player with me to my AP World Class to hold a screening of my laserdisc of Independence Day, and a year later to AP US History for a screening of Gone With the Wind, and once more in the twilight hours of my senior year to hold a screening of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves for my psychology class. None of these great memories and experiences would be possible if I hadn't gotten that Pioneer CLD-59 Laserdisc player.

About six months ago, I retired my CLD-59, with hopes to repair the issues I was having, in which it refused to read my laserdiscs, spitting them back out at me whenever I went to play one. I replaced it with a different player, which started making obnoxious noises, and spitting discs out this past Sunday evening. In a last attempt of desperation, I pulled out my CLD-59, so see if whatever issue it was having, it had gotten over. Turns out, the motor that spun the discs was failing, and on Monday night, it went out with a nasty whimper, burning smell and everything. The error code specified that it was receiving too much voltage, which ruined it. It will never spin again, as the repairs required to fix it would be far too costly to even consider. It is truly the end of an era.

That player has been by my side for over five years, and has seen me through hell and back. It saw me through the toughest years of high school, and through the brutal semesters where I suffered through organic chemistry. In the end, with all of its quirks and its issues, it had developed its own sort of personality. The kind of personality that I am going to miss having in my life. It died right when I needed it most, seeing as I just added another 30 or so discs to the collection. I figured it would happen eventually, but I never anticipated the hole in my heart that a large black box has left. The thing ran for thousands of hours under my watch, it owed me absolutely nothing. We turned twenty together, it being built a month after I was born, and when I turn twenty one this February, I do it knowing I have lost one of the most reliable friends that I have ever had. Call me overly sentimental, call me crazy, but I am going to miss that Laserdisc player.

R.I.P. Pioneer CLD-59 Elite Laserdisc Player (March 1995-December 2015)

My Beef with The Force Awakens - SPOILERS WITHIN 12/22/15

Before I make my piece, I loved Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I loved the New Hope-y ness of it all, I loved the part where the Millennium Falcon was jokingly called a piece of garbage. I loved the part where Han and Chewie showed up, moreso as goofball loser Return of the Jedi guys, rather than hardened scoundrels with hearts of gold. I got really excited when they got to the mysterious cantina planet, and whatsherface gave Rey, then Finn Luke's lightsaber, and mischief was had with it.  Kylo Ren, while he desperately needed some more screen time to explain his existence, was a great look at what became of the Jedi Order in the post-Disney canon, and what he did to Han Solo, while totally unforgivable and devastating, was the perfect way to send off post-ROTJ Han. In fact, it was the only way I could see it being done. That series of lightsaber battles on the Starkiller planet? Badass as hell. The X-Wing dogfighting? Decent, if not in about as much of a need for screen time as our boy Kylo. A lot of characters got tossed around, and used heavily in marketing; Captain Phasma, Lor San Tekka, who the hell were these guys? Why was one of them featured so prominently in the trailer and then tossed out like garbage? I'll chock that up to the fact that Abrams really didn't want to include an intermission in his 4-hour long epic, even though I imagine many of us would've sat through the whole thing three times. Obviously, the film answered about 2% of the questions it raised, but honestly, that just means that Episode 8 has some really, really big shoes to fill in 2017.

What bothered me, to the point that I think its worth talking about in detail, is the treatment of the character Luke Skywalker. You know, that guy who pulled everything together last minute to blow up the Death Star, the guy who fought Darth Vader twice, and lived. That dude that the WHOLE FIRST STORY IS ABOUT. Yeah, him.

Before the expanded universe even exploded in the early 90s, we already knew Luke was the best of us. He joined up with Red Squadron in a last ditch effort to stop a giant planet mauling device, essentially a suicide effort. He flew with Rogue Squadron and helped save hundreds of lives in the Battle of Hoth. Hell, the guy gave up his future as a Jedi to save those who were closest to him when he sensed that they were in danger. Luke Skywalker nearly fell to the dark side in the process of trying to stop the emperor during a duel to the death with Darth Vader. He was ultimately successful in turning Darth Vader back to the light side, he had done the impossible.

As the expanded universe erupted, he continued to be this amazing leader figure. He worked nearly to death to build and establish the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. He sought out and trained a whole new generation of Jedi to help bring peace and order to the galaxy. Hell, the guy honed in the skills of great but reckless Jedi such as Kyle Katarn and Corrin Horn. He trained the Solo twins, Jacen and Jaina, as well as Princess Leia herself.

When the Yuuzhan Vong showed up during the New Jedi Order series, and killed trillions in their attempt to exterminate the Jedi, who they saw as their only threat, Luke stood his ground, and upheld the ideals of the Jedi Order to help bring the Vong to justice. When Jacen Solo rose to power as the evil Darth Caedus in the Legacy of the Force series of books, and murdered his wife, Mara Jade Skywalker, he stayed the course. He transitioned from battle hardened hero, to wise, patient master with ease. Where we left him, as Disney nuked the EU canon, he was still out there, fighting for justice and training the next generation of Jedi, his resolve unwavering.

There are a million ways in which EU Luke upheld everything he represented in the original trilogy of Star Wars films.

The Force Awakens, while an appropriate subtitle for the film, would have been better titled as The Search for Luke Skywalker, as that's pretty much what the entire movie boiled down to, all ties to A New Hope tossed aside. The story begins with a large massacre carried out by the First Order to find a piece of a map to help track down Skywalker. Death and destruction is rained down on Cantina-land in order to find the map. Rey is kidnapped by Kylo Ren, and brutally tortured in order to obtain this damn map piece, unsuccessfully.

Why is Luke missing?

No really, I get it. Kylo Ren went nutso dark side and murdered the next generation of Jedi, forcing Luke to flee into hiding, but why?

Why did the man who flew blindly into the trenches of the Death Star with little hope of success, or who fought off Vader's attempts not once, but twice, disappear without a trace? I'm sure we'll find out the answer in 2017, but that's two years from now. So, being that it's 2015, what the fuck is going on?

How could they screw up Luke Skywalker so badly?

In the Legacy of the Force series, Jacen Solo becomes the evil dictator of the Galactic Alliance, and falls to the dark side, killing countless Jedi and civilians, including Luke Skywalker's wife, and Luke didn't immediately go into hiding. The Yuuzhan Vong destroyed entire worlds that sympathized with the Jedi cause, and yet Luke didn't run off to some obscure planet to be left alone. I get it, in this new movie, he kind of dropped the ball with Kylo Ren, but why didn't he stick around? He helped the worst of them all, Darth Vader, realize the light within him, even if it took three movies. Why couldn't Luke be bothered to stick around and see to it that Kylo saw the same love that Luke's father eventually did?

I guess maybe they're doing the whole Ben Kenobi on Tatooine route, but that was never Luke' style. Both Obi Wan and Yoda taught him to confront his fears head on, not to run from them and become a recluse.

I'm a little distraught, and tired, so I'm going to call it a night. But think about it, would you? Is this the Luke we know and love? Would he have ran into hiding to hone his skill on some isolated planet? Or would be pull a Return of the Jedi, and immediately kick back into action when he worked to rescue Han Solo on Tatooine following the conclusion of Empire Strikes Back. It just doesn't sit right with me.

- Chris

Crimson Peak - 10/16/15

It's......spooky time.

Or is it?

I ran out to the local Imax theater last night to catch a screening of Guillermo Del Toro's newest movie, Crimson Peak. A recent convert to the man's work by means of his absolutely fantastic Pacific Rim, I ran into Crimson Peak without much context. I don't really do scary movies, and generally keep my distance from anything that might remotely resemble horror; half the time its just blood and gore, and the other half of the time its jump scares and girls running around terrified, in a modern context. I have well over a thousand movies in my large home video collection, and I have maybe 3 horror films?

So, when I sat down for Crimson Peak, I didn't really have much of a foundation to go off of. I don't have any expectations for creepy movies.

Crimson Peak is a good, old fashioned haunted house movie, so I've been told. It's all about Edith Cushing, a naive young woman who falls in love with a man who has come to entice money out of her father to build some sort of clay extraction device. She runs away with him to his home in England, where things generally tend to go bump in the night. The house is in tatters, and creeks and groans with every step. Spirits walk the halls at night, haunting Edith as she attempts to fit in with her new husband. Its up to her to figure out the mystery behind the house and her new husband's family, and shadowy past.

Crimson Peak tries to play itself off in the trailers as a horror movie of sorts, but in the end, it feels more like a period piece with some body horror thrown into the mix. The principal trio of Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, and Jessica Chastain play well enough off of one another to create an effectively eerie atmosphere. Chastain especially tends to steal the scene, playing one of my favorite characters of the year. She brings so much energy to the role. She's like an avalanche, starting off slow, and then getting bigger and more destructive as the movie reaches its conclusion. Hiddleston finally plays a character that leaves behind his Loki persona; we exchange deranged confidence for a more quiet, reserved intensity, a side of Hiddleston that I hope we get to see a bit more of. Wasikowska kind of plays the same character she always plays: quiet, naive, and generally sad. It almost seems as if she's been typecast in these types of roles, which at present doesn't necessarily seem to be a bad thing.

Several actors from his last picture, the aforementioned Pacific Rim  make appearances in supporting roles; Charlie Hunnam plays a pivotal role of sorts in the film's third act, a significant downgrade from being the lead Jaeger pilot in Pacific Rim, but fitting nonetheless. Burn Gorman makes a minor appearance as a shady detective as well in a small, but entertaining part.

As is the case with most modern period pieces, the cinematography and color palettes are really the star of the show. The film is full of intense colors, gorgeous wide shots, and tons of expert camera movements. The haunted house that the film is mostly set around is full of cool, dark colors that give the film a relentlessly hopeless feeling. Scenes set in Buffalo, NY are overwhelmingly warm, full of oranges and yellows. These scenes are absolutely filled with people and buildings, and feel wonderfully alive, a contrast to the meat and potatoes of the film.

Overall, without spoiling too much of the plot, I had a ton of fun watching Crimson Peak. The cinematography and effects were excellent, and the film shined on the digital Imax screen. The movie feels fresh in its execution, and borrows ideas from the likes of Alfred Hitchock and Robert Wise only briefly, refreshing some of their best ideas in a modern context. My final thoughts: I had a ton of fun with Crimson Peak, the same kind of fun that I had screening Pacific Rim in Imax two years ago. It was an extremely satisfying film to watch unfold before me in every way.

Go see this movie!


Tech talk:

IMDB lists this movie as being shot using an Arri Alexa XT digital camera. Beyond that, not a whole lot of information regarding the resolution at which the visual effects were generated, and the film was color graded exists. Regardless, the film was presented at an aspect ratio of 1.91:1, a slight crop from the film's true aspect ratio of 1.85:1 to fit the digital Imax's 2K projection format. Screening everywhere in 2D across the board, the film shines on the Imax screen for the most part. Close ups and medium shots were fantastic, and absolutely deserved the large size of the Imax's screen, although I did view this on a purpose built Imax screen here in Rochester, NY. Wide shots and anything that tried to show the size and scale of the sets however, suffered due to the limitations of screening a 2K picture at that magnification to fit the large Imax screen. I would argue however, that the benefits outweigh the problems, and therefore can heartily recommend screening this film in Imax!

Criterion Collection Classics: Se7en (#298)

Before Criterion was blowing us away with groundbreaking restorations of classics, art films, and foreign treasures on Blu Ray and DVD, they had humble beginnings with the Laserdisc format. Their library spanned over three hundred releases, and they paved the foundation for ideas such as special features, and widescreen letterboxing to preserve the original intent of the filmmakers. They pushed for preservation and celebration in a time when most studios were fine throwing out a movie on VHS or Laserdisc with mono sound, and pan and scan picture to make a quick buck off of the unsuspecting masses with little fan fare. As a result, their reputation among filmmakers was incredible, and because of that they were able to license not only forgotten classics and whatnot, but also major studio films from the likes of Stephen Spielberg, and David Lean. They covered everything from 8 1/2, to Armageddon over the course of fifteen years. This series looks at the Criterion Collection through its origin: the Laserdisc releases.

This week we take a look at one of David Fincher's earliest and most popular works, Se7en, spine #298 in the Laserdisc collection.

The Movie:
I may not be a huge Fincher fan, as I usually find his movies to be very cold and uninviting in terms of their visual style and storytelling techniques, but I'll be damned if I don't find Se7en to be a thrilling, and incredibly satisfying movie. 

The story, as many of you know, follows two detecives, Sommerset and Mills, as they attempt to find a man who is enacting murders based off of the seven deadly sins of the bible. Throughout the film they encounter various interpretations of all seven sins, most of which tend to be incredibly brutal and sadistic in nature. The hunt for the serial killer leads into a devastatingly personal conclusion that can only be described as an explosion of sorts.

It doesn't really do anything new though, and in that there is a sense of comfort. The depicted killings are brutal, but rather than inspire disgust, the care and artistry put into each one inspires you to want to know more, as a good detective story should. They lightly, and by lightly, I mean like one scene, touch on the idea that cops aren't entirely ethical when they do their business, keeping politics to a minimum to allow the story to move on. They even threw an intense and exciting SWAT team-esque scene in which police charge into an apartment in full armor with live weapons. Nothing entirely new, but done with such a finesse that makes it tough to criticize it for retreading old ideas out.  

A lot of the movie's success can be derived from Fincher and Darius Khondji's aggressive visual style. The movie's cinematography is incredibly sharp, yet cold and dark, giving way to a moody, tense design for the film. It's a style that Fincher brought to the table when he directed Alien 3, and a style that he's brought back again and again in later movies such a Fight Club, Panic Room, and The Girl with the Dragoon Tattoo. Its a style that seems to work for him and the material he brings to the table. The style is dark and dreary, yet not so oppressive as to inspire hopelessness, as I've seen in other movies. 

Overall, the movie is excellent. Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman are wonderful as screen partners, as they dive deeper and deeper into the dark depths of the crime they're investigating. The movie is well paced, and a good piece of satisfying, dark, moody cinema from the hands of one of the more famous modern directors. 

Packaging:

The Criterion Packaging for Se7en of course, is a standard size Laserdisc box set, pitch black with a rather minimal design for a front cover. The back of the box features credits as you would see them on a theatrical poster, a short description of the movie, and a list of the features included in the box set. The box itself holds 4 discs, all 4 presented in full frame CAV format, minus side 7, which is CLV extended play format.

A thick card stock fold out book style pamphlet inspired by the writings of the serial killer. The pamphlet contains a description of the process used to transfer the movie to standard definition home video, as well as extensive information about the audio and video transfers of the film, the chapters for all seven sides of the film, and cast credits for both the movie and the Laserdisc production. A complete album of the pamphlet can be found here: http://imgur.com/a/iN4WY

Features:
Criterion's Laserdisc release of Se7en comes with two sides, one CAV and one CLV of extras. 
Side six of disc three features an extensive amount of behind the scenes stills, story boards, trailers and TV spots, and a deleted scene from the finished film.
The side begins with the theatrical trailer for the film. followed by several TV spots that were apparently made for broadcast in Canada. These are nothing too special, but unlike modern trailers, there is an extreme amount of restraint shown here. Many clips from the film are shown in brief flashes, and the trailers give you just enough of a taste of the world of the film that make you want to fill in the blanks. The TV spots do the same with much less footage, although there are a few shots scattered throughout the TV spots that look like they were shot on 30fps video, which is really strange. I'm talking like 3 or 4 shots from all 6 or so TV spots that look like this. Its really off-putting, honestly.

The trailers are followed with a wealth of publicity and production stills, starting with a crazy amount of promotional material designs. There's posters of all shapes and sizes, featuring floating heads of our two main leads, weird distortion effects to make them look strange, and even a few posters that look like someone took major inspiration from Saul Bass. Following the promotional material, we get some promotional shots of the main cast and crew, nothing too glamorous or exciting, mostly portrait shots of their faces.

Once this is through, you get a huge gallery of production stills from the movie. This is by far the most interesting part of the first side of extras. You get to see tons of shots that feature camera setups, and the crew at work designing the the different make up effects that eventually become the murders in the film. There is a wealth of shots of all different sizes, really giving you a good idea of the atmosphere on the set during production.

Also featured is an alternate opening to the film, in which Detective Sommerset is shown purchasing a house in the country, and talking with a realtor, as well as an alternate opening title sequence, that frankly, isn't anything too special. No wonder they decided not to use it.

To round out side six of the set, there is a comprehensive collection of all of the polaroids and photographs that were taken to represent John Doe's photography of his victims. You see all sorts of pictures from various angles and stages of the murder, a very gruesome way to spend your afternoon. Finally, there is a storyboard for an unshot alternate ending, in which Detective Sommerset kills John Doe instead of Mills, allowing Mills to go on and replace Sommerset after he retires.

Side seven on disc 4 is mostly dailies from the film, in an attempt to show a contrast between the Silver-retention print used to make the film's video transfer and the original look of the film dailies. Honestly, other than a warmer color timing for the brighter scenes in the movies. Maybe its just my display, a 24 inch Sony WEGA TV, but I found minor, if inconsequential differences between the look of the finished film and the dailies for the most part. Maybe I just don't have an eye for these things. 

The other half of side 7 is large selection of scenes from the film, mostly murder sequences and the an autopsy, with full commentary from Rob Bottin, the guy in charge of the make up effects for the entire film. Very insightful, and very entertaining. The guy is very enthusiastic about his work, and it makes for a very engaging bit to round out the set's special features.

Also included in a scene specific commentary for the feature film, but due to some technical limitations in terms of not having enough RCA cables, I was not able to listen to any portion of the commentary, as it is contained in the analog left soundtrack. My player is only currently rigged to handle digital via Coax and AC-3 via Coax. I'll have the analog situation worked out by next week's feature.
The Video:
Fincher's style generally leans towards somethning dark, cold, and sharp in terms of set design, lighting, and and framing. Unfortunately, a dark style such as that of Se7en is the kind of style that Laserdisc suffers the most from. With most Laserdiscs that take place primarily at night, most, if not all detail gets lost in the shadows, and for the most part, image quality is unbearably bad. Studios like Warner are by far the worst when it comes to dark and murky Laserdisc transfers, luckily New Line Cinema at the time wasn't a part of Warner Bros. as they are now.

The video transfer of Se7en is rock solid, featuring an average amount of detail, and good looking color throughout the film. The film takes place in dark, rainy, mostly night time sequences, and it never really feels like detail gets lost into the shadows. Instead of a murky mess, we get a rather sharp, and good looking transfer without any major signs of damage whatsoever. 

It is interesting to note that this video master was prepared using an approximation of a silver retention print, a process that adds previous leeched out silver onto theatrical prints to give better luminosity, and increased print density in the dark scenes. Fincher talks about this process more in the commentary, which I, at this time, cannot listen to.  They seem to make a big deal out of the fact that Criterion worked specifically with Fincher for weeks to recreate the look of the retention process. As a reference, I dropped in the last side of the two disc standard edition of the film from New Line Home Video as a comparison, 

The standard home video Laserdisc release.

What I found after watching the desert sequence of the film in both versions is that they look pretty much the same in terms of color, but the detail is a little more crushed even though it is presented in CAV, the same as the Criterion release. The noise level in the standard transfer is higher, and overall the Criterion presentation is more desirable, but I get the feeling that they both use the same "silver retention emulation" that Criterion prepared for home video. Rumor is that the same transfer was used for the first generation DVD as well, which was non-anamorphic.

This is the only home video master that attempted to approximate the theatrical screening qualities that theater goers saw in 1995, as Fincher retransfered the film in 1080i in 2000 to prepare a new DVD for New Line. He color graded the film drastically, and made it look less like it did in 95, and more like an early 2000s green and grey sort of movie. Therefore the Criterion/New Line release retains its relevance as a standard of what the film originally looked like.

Audio: 
Criterion's release of the Se7en features both the film's sound in 4 track matrixed Dolby Surround, and 5.1 Dolby Digital on the right analog track. For reference, I viewed the film using the 5.1 Dolby Digital track processed through my Marantz DP-870 AC-3 Demodulator at reference levels that I've watched every film at since 2011.

The track is standard, with good directionality, and solid separation of the channels. The score bounces between the left and rights, filling in the spaces that aren't consumed by what's on screen. The bass however, was a tad bit aggressive, and I found myself turning down the bass knob on my DP-870 to compensate.

Overall, this film sounds pretty good on Laserdisc, but it isn't anything groundbreaking. Nothing gets lost in the mix, and I enjoyed listening to the AC-3 5.1 surround track. Take that as you will.

Overall:
Se7en is a pretty solid, fast paced, engaging crime thriller. Bolstered by Fincher's aggressive visual style, the film looks great, and sounds pretty good as well on Laserdisc. The box set overall is comprehensive, with a large amount of special features that give a detailed insight into how the film was made, and how much effort was put into making the film feel authentic. Criterion has treated the film with respect, and has crafted a definitive box set that presents the films as it was shown in theaters in 1995. For $124.99 in 1996, I'm not sure I would've been willing to pick up the set, but in 2015, for like 20-30 bucks, I wouldn't hesitate in the slightest if you have a chance. This is a great set that matches a great movie.

Criterion Collection Classics: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (#125)

Before Criterion was blowing us away with groundbreaking restorations of classics, art films, and foreign treasures on Blu Ray and DVD, they had humble beginnings with the Laserdisc format. Their library spanned over three hundred releases, and they paved the foundation for ideas such as special features, and widescreen letterboxing to preserve the original intent of the filmmakers. They pushed for preservation and celebration in a time when most studios were fine throwing out a movie on VHS or Laserdisc with mono sound, and pan and scan picture to make a quick buck off of the unsuspecting masses with little fan fare. As a result, their reputation among filmmakers was incredible, and because of that they were able to license not only forgotten classics and whatnot, but also major studio films from the likes of Stephen Spielberg, and David Lean. They covered everything from 8 1/2, to Armageddon over the course of fifteen years. This series looks at the Criterion Collection through its origin: the Laserdisc releases.

To start off this series, we're going to take a look at one of their more exciting early-ish releases, Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, spine #125.

The movie:

Hot off the trails of Jaws, Spielberg took to Colombia Pictures with the idea to make a movie about aliens, inspired by his childhood experiences with meteor showers and various recounts of alien encounters from various sources over the years. The results is, of course, an incredibly intimate movie ultimately about two people from separate paths colliding to help each other solve a problem. One hopes to recover a lost child, and the other wishes to fulfill an urge that something more exciting is out there, lusting for it with a child-like hunger. Their respective quests lead them to the southwest desert, where they hope to seek out help from extra terrestrials in solving their problems.

Chances are, you've already seen CE3K, and if you haven't, stop what you're doing and seek it out. The film has some absolutely wonderful special effects, and a classic John Williams score. The acting is quite good, and the story inspires a sort of wonder that few filmmakers can inspire in me. I don't have much to say other than that I love this movie. A lot.

On to the good stuff:

Packaging:

There are two different pressings of the Criteron CE3K release, one in a tri-fold sleeve, and one in a box set. For all purposes, I only have the box set release, and it seems to be, well, a large box. The cover art, designed by Beth Dorfman, features a a shot of a long, empty desert road with a bright, almost sun-like light at the edge of the horizon. I guess that its supposed to represent the flashy lights of the alien vessels in the movie, but I don't really recall any of them flying around, beaming like a star as it does on the cover of this set.

The back cover of the boxset features a detailed essay written by Don Shay, in which he talks about Spielberg's process that led to the making of the film, a little bit of praise for Douglas Trumbull's special effects, and why they chose to make the special edition of the film in 1980. Also featured are technical bits about the presentation of the film, special features chapter listings, and credits for the cast and crew of the film, as well as production credits for the Laserdisc release itself.

Once the box is opened, and a layer of protective foam is pulled away, you are greeted to three Laserdiscs, held in flimsy plastic sleeves, a standard practice. Also included is a single sided sheet printed on card stock that details the chapter selection for the entire film, as well as the chapter selection for scenes exclusive to the special edition while highlighting all of the different UFOs from the film.

Finally, there is a sheet of paper titled, "Some important notes about The Criterion Collection edition of CE3K." This paper how you would go about programming your Laserdisc player to show you the special edition of the film, as well as a description of what elements were used to create the video and audio for this set. Incredibly helpful stuff, if you ask me.

Features:

This Laserdisc release of CE3K was the first release of this film to include both the 1980 special edition of the film, as well as an approximation of the original theatrical cut showing in theaters in the late 70s. As the note sheet explains, all of the special edition scenes from the 1980 cut are included at the end of each of the five CAV(30 minute long, standard play) sides. In order to access them, you have to program using your remote the a different order in which to play the chapters on the disc. This is, as far as I know, the first mainstream example of branching used to present alternate cuts of the movie.

The entire second side of the third disc is dedicated to a special feature program titled, "Making Close Encounters." The program is incredibly dense, offering large archives of stills, and interviews with all of the major players behind the movie: Spielberg, Douglas Trumbull, Dennis Muren, and John Williams. They like to utilize at any given point 3 different audio tracks present on the disc; digital stereo, analog left, and analog right to present three different parallel conversations about the topics at hand. As a result, what's presented on screen is also broken into three distinct windows for each of the three audio tracks. Overall, the features for this release of CE3K are absolutely engaging, and incredibly informative. There are 30 different chapters of interviews, and galleries of stills from the making of the film. This release is incredibly comprehensive, especially for 1990.

The Video:

According to the note sheet included, the film was transferred from a 35mm interpositive for the 1980 special edition, as well as trims made from the original theatrical edition in order to present both cuts of the movie. These elements were then transferred for D-1 component video under Spielberg's supervision, and presented in 2.35:1 widescreen video. As per the standard on Laserdisc, the video is non-anamorphic 4x3 widescreen, and is analog.

That being said, viewing this box set on my 24 inch Sony WEGA television yielded wonderful results. Under a rather non-intrusive layer of video noise inherent to analog video of the time, there is an alight amount of detail preserved for the time period. Colors are vibrant, and appear to match newer, more accurate presentations of the film on DVD and Blu Ray. The film's special effects were shot on 65mm negative, and as a result, they come out very clean, without any signs of optical artifacts present in so many other films of time period. There is a little bit of wear and tear present here and there, but this film was not aggressively restored, unlike the Criterion releases of today. They were limited in both money, and the means to do so in 1990 when the film's video masters were made.

Overall though, the film looks great, and the look of the film is faithfully preserved with this release. I have a soft spot for the look of 60s and 70s films shot using Panavision C-series anamorphic lenses, so I absolutely adore the look of the film, even in standard def on Laserdisc.

The Sound:

According to the notes. a matrixed stereo surround track was prepared from the original 35mm magnetic 4-channel mix using a Dolby DS-4 Surround Sound Processor, whatever that means!

Listening to the film through my Sony receiver from the late 90s, the film carries a decent stereo surround track. I played the film through my Dolby Surround processor, with creates a 3 speaker front, and a mono surround spread to both of my back speakers, as my bedroom is designed for 5.1 discrete surround sound. Dialogue comes out nice and clear through the center channel, with the score tending to occupy the rest of the soundscape when necessary, effectively sharing that space with the sound effects and whatnot. The film doesn't really have a ton of intense action pieces, or explosive battles, and as a result, low frequency really doesn't have many opportunities to shine. When it does however, it is deep, and satisfying, however limited its application is.

I didn't really notice any crazy directionality to the soundtrack though, and I'd chalk that up to the limitations of the original sound design in conjunction with Dolby Surround processing. I've heard some really wonderful 4-track Dolby Surround tracks that have really wowed me, but I've also heard loads more average ones that don't really do a whole lot for me. Unfortunately, I wasn't all that impressed with the sound on this one, it was merely average to me.

Overall:

This film was treated with the utmost respect by those who were part of Criteron in 1990. The film is presented beautifully, and there is an incredibly large helping of special features that cover almost every aspect of how the film was made. The film itself is an incredibly personal feature, and one of the very few films out there that presents the idea of extra-terrestrial life as a peaceful entity. That alone makes it worth checking out. The movie is well paced, well acted, and has some absolutely groundbreaking special effects. The film was only licensed once for release by Criterion, and as a result, the film is no longer part of the collection moving into the DVD and Blu Ray era. The film was later released under the guise of "The Collector's Edition," by its original studio, Columbia Tri-Star on Laserdisc, with a brand new cut of the film, and a new 5.1 discrete Dolby Digital audio transfer. I do not have this release, so I can't comment on the nature of its special features or its video and audio transfer.

Regardless, this Laserdisc release by Criterion feels comprehensive, and includes two wonderful cuts of the movie via branching, something I don't think I've seen again with any of my 500+ Laserdiscs. Its some good stuff, and if you have the chance and the appropriate equipment, I would definitely track this release down.

Jurassic World - Review/Thoughts

SPOILERS AHEAD

I'll be the first to admit that I am not a huge Jurassic Park fan. I like the first movie, and the other two are okay. But that's it, I'm not a crazy fan. I wasn't there in 93 when the film came out, and was too young to see the 2nd in theaters. My parents decided Jurassic Park 3 wasn't worth seeing in theaters, so whatever.
But man oh man do I enjoy Chris Pratt, and I love Ron Howard, so I figured his daughter can't be that bad either. And after seeing a few trailers, I was pretty hyped. The movie looked entertaining, and the stars looked like they had some decent chemistry going on. And then the movie made 500 million dollars. I was like, "damn, I gotta get up there and see this. It's gotta be good."

And then I saw it.

Why didn't anyone tell the people who built Jurassic World that it was a stupid idea. Why didn't anyone tell them that dinosaurs are giant monster like animals that for the most part, will tear us all to pieces? WHY DIDN'T ANYONE LISTEN TO THE GUYS WHO GOT CHASED BY A T-REX IN 1993.

Seriously. It's so frustrating to watch a movie where you already know the outcome. If you've seen any of the other three movies, you know everything that's going to happen in Jurassic World.

It's actually mostly the same exact movie.
- someone's relatives, two kids, come to visit the park and see their family member
- someone is brought on board from the outside who understands dinosaurs and animals, and gets ignored when he presents cold hard facts
- someone who is out to grab as much money via dinosaurs as possible is sent to the park
- dinosaurs get loose
- movie features spectacular scenes featuring T-Rex and Velociraptors
- many expendable characters die, and a few that were sorta established characters, but the good guys survive an absurd amount of destruction and death

All of these things happen in both movies.  It just happens a whole last faster in Jurassic World. Seriously, this movie is really, really fast paced. You get like twenty minutes with the park, and the exhibits, and then BAM. Big scary dinosaur is loose, and a manhunt begins to chase the dinosaur and kill it. The guys who have all the money invested in the place decide to try and save the dinosaur, and end up looking really stupid when a bunch of guys die. Then they decide to kill the dinosaur, and people still die a bunch. Then they use raptors to fight the dinosaur, it doesn't work, then it does, and then a T-Rex shows up to help raptors fight the big scary dinosaur. The end. There's not a whole lot more to this movie, and it happens in a rather brisk 2 hours.

It feels like deja vu, just with more on screen deaths. The only reason there's more is because the park is actually open and full of people and staff. As a result, they pretty much become cannon fodder, a bunch of nameless, easily replaceable people who don't really matter. The original Jurassic Park worked well because there was like ten of them in the entire park, or at least that we got to saw, and every character was given enough screen time so that we actually had time to grow attached to them. When the lawyer died on the toilet at the hands of the T-Rex, we felt pity, but also terror because it was the first real example of the power of this massive creature. That man died, and there was like 20% less people on that island to help them survive the dinosaur catastrophe set off by Newman from Seinfeld. In this movie, there's an army of staff to pick from and replace on command, and huge crowds of expendables.

Another thing that made the original Jurassic Park so great is that we didn't just sit there and watch a dinosaur tear the place up for two hours. Or dinosaurs, for that matter. The dinosaurs were used in selective quantities in order to build tension and deliver on a promise of terror.  Jurassic World tossed all of that out the door, and just filled the movie with dinosaurs. Suddenly, dinosaurs become just as expendable as the humans in the story, and its no longer exciting. I don't feel anything when a raptor gets mowed down by the big scary dinosaur, because I'm sure there's a hundred being breeded somewhere else on the island. There was a responsible amount of restraint exercised in Jurassic Park, mostly because Spielberg worked with a guy who knew how to write scary, yet ruthlessly entertaining stuff - my man Michael Crichton, may he rest in peace.

This movie wasn't like, the worst movie ever. And it had a ton to live up to. I mean, the original was directed by goddamn Steven Spielberg, American cinematic legend. Some new kid on the block was never going to measure up fairly against that standard. And in that regard, it is a pretty fun movie. There's some witty banter that I, and the whole theater laughed at, and the writing isn't all that cringeworthy. I just feel like they forgot that they were making a Jurassic Park movie, and instead injected the formula with a little bit of the Transformers juice to make it more enticing to audiences.

Its like the filmmakers were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.

So, if you can ignore the few gaping flaws, Jurassic World is a pretty fun ride, but that's all it is. Its a rollercoaster - you get on, get thrown about and have fun for like 2 minutes, and then get off and forget the entire experience.



  

Inherent Vice - 1/13/15

I make a big deal out of things on a regular basis when it comes to movies. I took everyone I knew to see Interstellar in Imax 70mm because I knew it would be the last time I could do a thing like that. I regularly subject my friends to artsy movies because I know how important they can be to understanding the parts of life we'll never get to experience as people. I make big deals out of all sorts of movies, but above all, I revere Paul Thomas Anderson's work. I have found so much to love in each and every single one of his movies from Hard Eight to The Master. I have forced so many of those that are close to me to experience his films because I feel they are so important, and that he's doing what no one else does with movies these days. I hyped up his latest film, Inherent Vice, so much to so many people, that when I come out and say what I have to say, I don't want anyone to take it lightly. At all.

Inherent Vice is a bad movie.

Inherent Vice tells the story of Doc Sporello, played by Joaquin Phoenix, a private investigator who works out of the sunny beaches of California in the late 70s who is dragged into a kidnapping mystery by his ex-girlfriend Shasta. Throughout the 2 hour plus runtime we run into a hardass cop who has his own agenda on the case, a drug ring that launders dangerous amounts of cocaine into Los Angelos, a series of confusing flashbacks into Doc Sporello's past relations with Shasta, several encounters with an undercover agent, the undercover agent's wife who only shows up for like 3 minutes, some weird girl who never really identifies herself but sometimes narrates the story, some pothead friend of Doc's who ends up helping him during his investigation, his secretary who is played by a moderately famous actress but only gets like three lines, Reese Witherspoon who doesn't really seem that important but shows up for a while and just causes trouble for Doc, some guy who works for a Black Pantherish group who was in prison with some aryan brotherhood guy, some asian girl who works at a massage joint, a weird dentist who likes cocaine, some girl who visits that dentist parallel to Doc who also likes drugs, her dad, that guy who gets kidnapped, the FBI, a weird collection of erotic ties, the kidnapped guy's wife and her lover, a hitman, some skinheads, and a bunch of other stuff. Notice how I didn't really describe how any of these guys fit together? Keep with me for a moment.

All this stuff happens, all these characters get introduced and tossed aside over the course of 148 minutes, and yet, sitting here, I couldn't think of an easy way to summarize Inherent Vice in a neat paragraph.

I'm sure if you'd read the novel, you could piece everything together and match A1 to A2 and get a story out of it, but as a guy without that knowledge, I couldn't help but feel hopefully lost. From the moment Doc's ex girlfriend shows up, the movie sort of becomes a mess. Characters get tossed into the mess, and then quickly get tossed aside and forgotten as the movie lumbers along. So much so, that on the car ride back from the theater, my group and I tried to pull out a coherent story from the mess we saw on screen. My one friend chimed in and said the movie ought to be called "Incoherent Vice."I couldn't have agreed more.

Even the soundtrack and the cinematography seemed rather....pedestrian. There were a few times where I wowed at the scene in front of me, but a few times in a 2+ hour movie is rather pitiful considering that I believe Robert Elswit to be one of the best cinematographers in the business these days. I can't even tell you if the soundtrack was any good, because I just can't remember it at all. None of the songs have stuck with me, and that's never a good thing. Often times the score is the foundation of the scene for me, and without a foundation, the mess just became far messier.

There isn't much to pull out of Inherent Vice, except that the whole ordeal feels as if the movie is a massive headspin drug trip from start to finish. I enjoyed Joaquin Phoenix's performance, if only because he was the only guy who was in every scene. His performance was the glue that held this mess together - its as if the movie is a bin of dismantled lego kits, a bunch of pieces of different colors and shapes and sizes, none of which fit together without some extreme force, and Joaquin is the the bin in which the legoes are kept. Sure, they don't fall all over the place, but they all sit in the bin, disconnected and unorganized, and generally useless.

Double Feature - The Imitation Game & Foxcatcher 1/4/15

First off, happy new year everyone! Here's to ingesting an even larger amount of movies this year!

So, because I went off on my own to see two movies today, and because I can tell you right now that I absolutely do not have the attention span to write two whole separate reviews for each, so I'm going to do a condensed review of each, and do them both in two paragraphs. This should be quite the adventure!

The Imitation Game:
The Imitation Game is a movie about a dude who is really solid at math, and likes to solve puzzles. Conveniently, he was alive during the time of the second World War, where there was a ton of puzzling to do, so the British military hired him to do mathy puzzles with a bunch of other dudes. Somehow, even though he's socially inept and kind of crazy, he gets put in charge of doing said puzzles, and brings on Keira Knightly to help do puzzles as well. Parallel to this, the dude struggles with his homosexuality, and espionage, while also trying to end World War 2.

The main role was brilliantly acted out by British heartthrob Benedict Cucumberbundlebingbong, with strong supporting roles played out adequately by a bunch of British guys, and the one major female part played by Keira Knightly was fantastic too, but she's generally always really good. The movie was shot well, with what I can assume is a camera, and the score was incredibly moving and rather memorable. Overall, this was a fantastic movie about a rather fascinating story. You should go see this movie if you want to.

Foxcatcher:
Foxcatcher is a movie where the title is a metaphor for the main portion of the story. You see, I had no idea that there was a competitive sport in which people compelled their horses to catch up with a fox, now I do. It applies to this movie, in that Steve Carell is trying to motivate Channing Tatum to do the same, only with wrestling. He's trying to build an empire of world class American wrestlers in order to fulfill a personal conquest, and he tries to rope Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo into his fantasy as well.

There's a lot to this movie, with a number of complex motives and character interactions that are nearly impossible to summarize in a two paragraph review. I'm starting to think this format was kind of a bad idea, as I reeeeeeaaaaallllly like to write in depth about movies. I guess all you need to know about this one is that there's tons of competitive wrestling, and great acting, and its kind of slow paced, yet in the end entirely satisfying, if not a bid sad. Go see this movie, if not for the love of this kind of story, but so you can say you saw it before Steve Carell gets nominated for an Academy Award.

Next time I see a movie, I promise it will be more than two paragraphs. This was an awful experiment.