I’ve been waiting for Anatomy of a Murder forever, that film was never even released in it’s proper aspect ratio on DVD. I got in from Netflix twice and sent it back both times (mise).
… People actually watch films in their incorrect aspect ratio?
@Axelumog – Worse than that, I’ve known people who will watch movies with their television set to the wrong aspect ratio setting, so that the image is stretched. It completely blows my mind to think that someone would lay down a good chunk of change on a nice TV and then not bother to change their settings to match the broadcast or DVD that their watching. Whew!
^ Sad how common that is. (in as snobby/elitist a tone as possible)
“People actually watch films in their incorrect aspect ratio?”
Ha. Back in my day there was only one aspect ratio. Can’t even describe what a revelation letterboxing when that first became common.
@ Nathan
Some people feel they’re getting cheated if their whole TV screen’s not getting filled up, regardless of what contortions they have to put the actual image throw.
Nathan: agree. whenever i’m watching movies with friends, if the aspect ratio is wrong, i get them to change it. if they don’t know how, i just take the control off them and tell them it’s for their own good :-)
After i change it, the majority of the time they are like ‘ah, i see what you mean’, but if i’m in a group, there will be several complaints before the job gets done!! i.e ‘oh stop being so petty’ etc etc.
when it comes to aspect ratios, Joks is a benevolent dictator.
Anatomy of a Murder is being released in the correct Aspect Ratio. People are going ape over it. It’s okay.
@JOKS
It’s called tough love they’ll thank you in the afterlife
OMG – Criterion mentioned Koyaanisqatsi on their Twitter… does that mean they’re getting closer to releasing it?
I can’t wait to hear all the Mubi grumbles when Fincher’s The Game is announced.
Their annoyance with Fincher is almost as exciting as the release itself.
“I can’t wait to hear all the Mubi grumbles when Fincher’s The Game is announced.”
Is that still in the works?
OT, but, I noticed today that of the first three Alien films on BD, Alien 3 is the only one on which nowhere on the outer packaging does the director’s name actually appear.Fincher disowned the film Matt. The glorious fuck-up known as Alien 3 is a result of studio interference.
Matt – Yes, The Game is happening.
And Ben is right, if you remember the Alien Quadrilogy, Fincher was the only filmmaker of the four that did not record a commentary nor participate in the documentaries. It’s ironic because of how involved he is with his DVDs. I wish he would just get over it because Alien 3 really isn’t that bad (and in my opinion isn’t even Fincher’s worst film).
^ It’s nice to know someone feels that way about Alien 3. I don’t think it’s a bad film either.
@ Santino
Yeah, ALIEN 3…
@ Ben.
I agree. Can’t tell which version I like the best. I’d stick to its director’s cut version, which I just watched last year. :) The version that could’ve been released.
I don’t really think that quality was the issue with Fincher on Alien 3, it was more to do with the fact that it essentially wasn’t his film that was released.
I sort if enjoy elements of the film, particularly the longer version, but it was clearly a film made in the board room.
“Fincher disowned the film Matt. "
Yes, he’s a notorious perfectionist, and I can understand him not doing a commentary and all on that basis, but not having his name appear on the packaging at all seems pretty radical. I’m not sure if it’s his worst film or his second worst, but I think most people now know the circumstances of its production at this point, so I’m sort of surprised that he didn’t at least allow at least the standard “directed by David Fincher.”
Fincher wasn’t so picky about putting his name on that piece of shit known as BENJAMIN BUTTON…
^ahahahahaha
Very true.
^ Knew that was coming ;)
Well, it just had to be said. The whole “perfectionist” pose just collapses when applied to the guy who made that.
he is perfectionist in a nerdy, mechanical kind of way. not in a way that is actually inspired imo.
He sees trees, but not the forest.
Alien 3 is a bad film too, and it’s not just because the studio cut the film. The performances are bad except for weaver and Dutton, and the film adds nothing to the series. it’s totally superfluous. The whole self sacrifice bit was a great idea, but the film didn’t support it emotionally.
i liked it at the time and didn’t get why it was criticised, but after revisiting it 13 years later, i finally understood
I don’t know if it’s the website or my browser, but I can’t copy the image location for some reason… anybody know what the hint is referring to?
^ Knew that was coming, too.
Yeah, Roscoe, I’m pretty much not willing to spend much time defending that one or Panic Room, as it seems that he took those two films based on a single technical challenge posed by each, both of which I can see why a filmmaker might be interested in taking them on, but neither really ended up being able to carry a whole film.
Panic Room was decent. problem is that it was kind of ‘meh’ after ‘Fight Club’ but it was well made.
i remember seeing a preview screening for it. knew nothing about the film except that it was directed by Fincher and was more of a standard thriller. it certainly wasn’t as interesting as Seven or The Game, that’s for sure.
I’ll give him credit, he did get one of Douglas’s best performances in The Game.
Yeah, technically, I think both of those films are quite good . . . but they’re both sort of dragging the narrative through tied to a rope. It would have been interesting (to me anyhow) to see Kidman do it (if she hadn’t gotten hurt doing the other film) instead. Foster’’s performance seemed recently defrosted.
“Foster’’s performance seemed recently defrosted.”
hahaha – what the hell does that even mean?
I have a lot of admiration for Fincher’s career and where he has taken it. In his earlier work, he was definitely trying to hone his technical skills and take what he already knew as a music video and commercial director and apply it to feature films. Then after a couple films he started to really focus on storytelling. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t think that’s a bad way of beginning a film career.
Even with The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, he shows how adept he is on a technical level.
^^really? Most video clip directors suck at film directing though. he is one of the few that is actually decent.
I think that just depends, Joks.
Romanek, Tarsem, Gondry, Jonze, and Corbijn have all made films that I’ve very much enjoyed (on one level or another). What they all have in common of course is a knack for the visuals, something that is severely lacking in the mublecore cinema world of today.
But sure, there are plenty of music video directors that couldn’t make the transition. Jonathan Glazer showed promise but man, Birth was an oddity. And I will agree that out of all of them, David Fincher has become the most successful at making that transition.
Joks
^^yes they do. i generally don’t, but it depends on the film. If it’s one i haven’t seen before, then yes, i’ll wait, because i know i’ll see the best transfer on the market, and to me that is worth it.
For example, if i hadn’t seen Identification Of A Woman before, i’d wait for the Criterion(which i know many have done). It certainly looks way better than the other dvd’s out there.
But it’s not just Criterion i feel this way about. Artifical Eye and Second Run is the same deal for me. Eureka and Kino too.