comment #1

BurmaShave says ...

So how about a grassroots campaign to get Depp a nomination for this, arguably the best work of his career.

comment #2

NotImpressed1Yet says ...

What makes you think they would do it any other way? I'm pretty sure the approach you recommend is the standard apporach for the dvd/blu ray of any purely digital film, be it Public Enemies or the latest Pixar creation.

This is going to look and sound amazing in HD and lossless TrueHD. Can't wait to hear those nighttime shotgun blasts again!!

comment #3

Kyle_D says ...

What NotImpressed1Yet said.

Just about every DVD/Blu-ray of a new studio release nowadays is sourced from a digital intermediate, regardless of wether the film was originally shot digitally or on celluloid. The only new releases sourced from a print telecine now are those that don't employ a DI in post, which are becomingly increasingly rare.

comment #4

zyg says ...

mann may say he had an ulterior artsy motive for shooting digitally, but he probably did it to save money. film costs a lot

of course 'aliveness and immediacy' sounds better...

comment #5

btwnproductions says ...

At least Mann doesn't seem to be fiddling with this one editorially, as he has with others.

comment #6

erniesouchak says ...

A small amount of the movie (VFX shots) was shot on 35mm, so a digital intermediate was required to bring it all together.

comment #7

Kyle_D says ...

zyg - have you seen Mann's last few films? There's no way he could have achieved that aesthetic with film. Most other directors and DPs expend a lot of effort trying to get digital to look like film. Mann expends his in getting digital to do things he can't do with celluloid.

When you're talking budgets of the size Mann is working with, the cost difference between film and digital is negligible.

comment #8

M. Hulot says ...

Kyle,

Yes, that's true. In fact, the cost differential between film and video on MOST studio pictures is negligible.

There's also the widely mistaken idea that shooting digitally saves time because one can keep "rolling" and/or digital requires less lighting etc, and that is simply not true.

Sure, a low budget digital movie like one made by the mumblecore guys, costs a lot less than if they shot it on film, but that rule only applies when one barely afford to pay actors, if at all.

comment #9

sumo-pop says ...

It's my favorite movie of the year and I refuse to apologize for it.

comment #10

Colin says ...

The digital shooting makes it feel personal so Mann was right.

BTW http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/nominate-depp-for-best-actor

comment #11

reverent and free says ...

It's a little distracting how the frame speed changes, and it's not just in the action scenes that he does that. When the boys are leaving the farmhouse for example.

comment #12

Chase Kahn says ...

Second favorite of the year -- I'm with you Sumo, Burma, and inevitably...actionman.

comment #13

actionman says ...

Big time, Chase.

comment #14

Anthony Thorne says ...

I skipped this movie as the trailers made it look just too 'video' like to my eyes, which is probably an unfair dismissal of Mann's hard work, but there you go.

comment #15

Gordon27 says ...

This movie is not only another Mann disappointment, quite a drop in quality from the '90's to the 2000's, but the first Mann movie I've seen that doesn't even look good.

And I refuse to apologize for recognizing this basic truth.

comment #16

StoneFan1 says ...

I love how the DVD cover LIES and yet clearly the studio knows what most people said & thought about the film and are using the DVD cover to try to convince people otherwise...

"Explosive, thrilling, suspenseful"

The film is NONE of those things.

comment #17

NotImpressed1Yet says ...

'"Explosive, thrilling, suspenseful" -The film is NONE of those things.'

It certainly was to me and a few others. I concede a lot of smart people hated this movie. But really, I could give a fuck. Best movie of the year in my mind. I actually kind of like that so many people hate it!

comment #18

Gogocrank says ...

Yeah, I'm shocked that Mann didn't recut this for a less satisfying director's cut, like he did for "Mohicans," "Ali," and worst of all "Miami Vice," which loses the best thing it had going for it (the cold opening). At least he didn't mess with"Heat" or "Insider," but isn't the word that's he's gone back and done just that with the former?

comment #19

Gordon27 says ...

Gogo - as far as I understand, there does exist a longer cut of 'Heat' of some kind, as he prepped something for a two-day showing on NBC before they cut it back to one day and wanted the movie to be two hours long (plus commercials). Or something like that. I don't know if he's planning on releasing it.

I think 'The Keep' is the only other Mann theatrical movie he hasn't done a director's cut for yet, oddly, that's the only one he ever disowned the theatrical cut of.

comment #20

Gordon27 says ...

Stonefan - I bet the original review was "If you're hoping for a movie which is explosive or thrilling or suspenseful, you should go to a different movie."

comment #21

Irving Thalberg says ...

Hey Jeff,

I'm a little unclear with what you're saying has happened with this Blu-ray transfer. Since this movie was shot digitally, the uber-simplified workflow to theaters would've been:

1. Raw camera masters [I believe HDCam-SR, but I could be wrong]
2. Digital intermediate [The color corrected version of the assembled cut]
3. Film-out [A creation of film negative from the DI above]
4. IP/IN [Striking an interpositive and then several internegatives from the film-out]
5. Release prints

If you saw the movie projected in 35mm, you would've seen step 5. If you saw it projected digitally, you would've seen a version taken directly from step 2. I think just about all home video releases nowadays are made from feature's DIs, except for in the cases of those rare directors who still eschew the process (Paul Thomas Anderson for one) in which case the home video master can either be made by scanning the original cut camera negative (which is not color timed and requires digital color timing) or by scanning an internegative, which presumably is photochemically color timed.

Are you saying that with the PUBLIC ENEMIES Blu-ray, Mann has elected to create the home video master by scanning element #3, 4 or 5 above instead of taking it directly from the DI? If so, can you provide a link? I find it shocking he'd involve a film element in the process at all since he's such a video junkie these days.

If this isn't what you're saying, if the home video master was generated using the DI, that's as close to the camera original as a home video presentation of a digitally-shot feature is ever gonna get. You'd never want to make a Blu-ray directly from the camera masters-- They're not color timed and are generally shot very "flat" (desaturated/low-contrast) to leave as much latitude as possible in the DI process. (Here one should note that I've heard Mann fucks in-camera with his images more than most other digital practitioners; still, camera masters in video or camera negative in film do NOT represent the finished intended appearance of a feature.)

Thanks in advance for the clarification!

comment #22

ZayTonday says ...

I'm sure Mann oversaw lots of color work on the movie after its transfer to its analog intermediate (film). Going back to the digital source would probably involve a color correction do-over.

comment #23

Daniel Tayag says ...

"At least he didn't mess with"Heat" or "Insider," but isn't the word that's he's gone back and done just that with the former?" - Gogocrank

Yes, the upcoming release (11/8) of "Heat" on Blu-ray is a new director's cut with a new HD transfer.

I downloaded the Blu-ray rip of Public Enemies online and played it on the PS3 and it does look "killer-diller" as Wells says. I think it even looks better here than it did in theatres. I think the biggest difference on the Blu-ray is the soundtrack. I only could listen to the DTS 1509 kbps "lossy" stream and it sounds jaw-droppingly AWESOME. If it isn't getting a nom for sound mix/sound editing next year then goddamn.

comment #24

fortunesfool73.wordpress.com says ...

As a long tome Mann-fan (even love Miami Vice) I was really disappointed with this. I thought it looked horrible and the narrative was disjointed and flat.

comment #25

actionman says ...

why does amazon list the upcoming Heat Blu Ray as a 1.77:1 aspect ratio? it's gotta be a mistake, no?

comment #26

NotImpressed1Yet says ...

From what I've heard this new Heat edition is maybe one minute different from the theatrical. Crossing my fingers that it's no more than that.

comment #27

Markj74 says ...

Great film, i'm amazed that anybody seriously into cinema could say otherwise.

comment #28

plastiqueelephant says ...

It's an interesting idea but many directors find an alchemy in the digital to celluloid print stage which is part of the aesthetic. If Mann's mandated this process, he's probably in this boat.

comment #29

NotImpressed1Yet says ...

ZayTonday wrote: "I'm sure Mann oversaw lots of color work on the movie after its transfer to its analog intermediate (film). Going back to the digital source would probably involve a color correction do-over."

The film was digitally projected in numerous theaters across the country so presumably all the color correction work was already done for that.

comment #30

ZayTonday says ...

Well since they used film as a sort of analog intermediate, it probably went from digital, to film and then back to digital for the master.

comment #31

DavidF says ...

I think Jeff is confusing two things.
One - is a direct digital transfer which they will surely do.

Second - is that digital films typically add artificial grain so it seems filmlike. Battlestar Galactica (okay, a TV show) is a perfect example of this.

So Jeff (if I read it right) wants all that filtered out so it looks totally video. Not what I'd want, but fair enough.

comment #32

barryegan says ...

What is everyone talking about? As Irving Thalberg points out above, the final master element is the Mann-supervised color corrected DI. All the prints (both 35mm and DCP) were created were from it and all the home ent. media (BD/DVD/digital download/whatever) will be generated from it. No additional color correction necessary. (Unless Mann has second thoughts and wanted to radically redo the film's palette.)

Not to be a giant snob, but after working the Hollywood beat for as long as he has, I'm kind of amazed that Wells doesn't have a grasp on this.