Enemy Mine
This is over a week old, but on 11.10 Digital Bits columnist "Two Cents Worth" wrote the following about a Martin Scorsese remark heard via satellite at the recent Blu-Con 2.0 conference, to wit: Scorsese "spoke very positively about the Blu-ray format:, saying it has 'the potential to replicate the original theatrical experience" and "is the best I've seen in forty years of [movie] collecting. Blu-ray offers the ability to see the film as it was intended.'
And then comes a passage straight out of the grainstorm monk's handbook. "The most interesting quote [Scorsese] offered, however, was something I hope was not lost on the audience of studio executives and mastering engineers on hand. He noted that Blu-ray is capable of displaying 'a film grain texture which I think is very important in recreating the film experience.' Can I get an AMEN on that?"
Good God. A breakthrough of sorts has just happened with Warner Home Video releasing an almost entirely grain-free Gone With the Wind Bluray -- a revelation! -- and here's this guy apparently pining for more grainstorm transfers in the vein of Criterion's The Third Man. This shows how fanatical grain monks can be. They're the Islamic fundamentalists of the Blu-ray fanboy world.
There's no talking them out of their views, I know, and I'm saying this as one who fully understands and respects the concept of proper grain levels -- who understands the difference between appropriate grain and digital wipeouts in the unfortunate tradition of the Patton Blu-ray. The only thing to do with these guys, I suppose, is to hang tough and...I don't know, wait for them to die out or whatever.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 17, 2009 at 5:41 PM
comment #1
Irving Thalberg
says ...
Props for being, as far as I know, the first film blog to end a post rallying the troops to "hang tough" and wait for know-nothings like this Scorsese fellow to "die out."
Clearly, when it comes to aesthetic matters, Wells' visionary stance (yellow shoes anyone?) carries far more weight than the guy who founded the Film Foundation and directed RAGING BULL.
Posted by Irving Thalberg
at November 18, 2009 9:13 AM
comment #2
Deathtongue_Groupie
says ...
Irving beat me to it.
I'm sure future Blu-Ray devices will have some sort of feature that will blur out the grain so that latter-day colorizers like Jeff will be happy.
In fact, new technology means that realistic conversion of all those musty B & W films to brilliant Technicolor is surely just around the corner and Jeff will be decrying MGM's decision not to release that version.
Until then, he will have to settle for this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2d/Casablanca_%28colorized%29.jpg
Posted by Deathtongue_Groupie
at November 18, 2009 9:51 AM
comment #3
jmevans
says ...
consumers are not drooling for an upgrade to their dvd's. instead they want a better and easier way of purchasing/renting them. give me the ability to watch a better picture (blu-ray) but without needing to own the physical disc.
i believe i fall in the catagory of many other consumers who absolutely will not upgrade their current dvd collection to reflect the same library in blu-ray format. no matter how cheap those discs may eventually become.
instead the future of home media film is a technology that allows us to purchase and view as many films as we desire from our living room couch. and it has to be something more advanced then what is currently available. (apple tv for example).
i sold over 500 cd's last month on craigslist. all my music is now on my laptop and backed up on an external drive. i look forward to the day when my entire film collection will be accessed using a remote and some of device connected to my hdtv.
Posted by jmevans
at November 18, 2009 10:06 AM
comment #4
Glenn Kenny
says ...
1) There are very specific technological reasons that the "GWTW" Blu-ray is grain-free, largely having to do with Technicolor and dye-transfer processes. Meaning you didn't really have much grain in the materials to get rid of.
2) Agreeing to disagree is one thing, but wishing for Scorsese's death, even in a kinda/sorta way, is really pretty beyond the pale.
3) "I look forward to the day when my entire film collection will be accessed using a remote and some sort of device..." Yes, it all sounds great, except for, you know, stray magnetic fields that can wipe out all your data in the blink of an eye, that sort of thing.
Posted by Glenn Kenny
at November 18, 2009 10:18 AM
comment #5
John Cocktosten
says ...
The problem with selling your CDs, jmevans, is that your backups are probably mp3s, which are inferior to your CD versions. In other words, you downgraded, rather than upgraded. Hopefully, you ripped them to flacs or some other such lossless compression before you sold them.
Blu-rays, however, are a big upgrade. But you are right, it seems pointless to have the physical copies, so any purchasing should be highly selective, as the future is on-demand ordering once the pipeline is ready.
Posted by John Cocktosten
at November 18, 2009 10:23 AM
comment #6
Jeffrey Wells
says ...
I didn't wish for Scorsese's death, for God's sake! What's wrong with some of you? I said the only way to deal with the grain monks is not to convert them, for they are uncovertable, but to simply wait for them to push on and...you know, become Grain Monks in the Sky. That's not urging anyone's death. That's just saying that time will take of things. That's a very laid-back and philosophical response or approach, no? The distinction seems glaringly obvious to me.
As Jane Greer said about Kirk Douglas's character in "Out of the Past," "I wish he were dead." To which Robert Mitchum replied, "Give him time." Mitchum didn't say, "You're right, let's drive up to his house right now and kill him together!" He said, "Trust in nature and the natural passage of things."
God, the way I have to spell things out in Jack-and-Jill terms in these reader-response debates...
Posted by Jeffrey Wells
at November 18, 2009 10:52 AM
comment #7
jmevans
says ...
@Glenn Kenny,
Obviously when referring to a future technology, it would require a fool proof way of retaining one's collection given stray magnetic fields or anything else. This is all speculation for now of course, but it's not as if physical discs will remain forever regarding films just because it's the only way to not lose all your movies.
@John Cocktosten,
Ripped my entire collection with Itunes. Perhaps the quality is technically worse vs. my previous CD's, but I don't hear the difference. I play my music out of my laptop connected to a set of JBL speakers and a subwoofer. It's fantastic.
As you said, the future of home films is on-demand ordering and a system of some sort where everything is purchased/rented from your home.
Posted by jmevans
at November 18, 2009 10:55 AM
comment #8
Glenn Kenny
says ...
@jmevans: Yeah, I understand that. Sorry that my irritation with our host got me a little too in your face. Nevertheless, the point that storage mediums are still prone to catastrophe is not...invalid.
@ Jeff: You specifically called out a particular "grain monk." By the name of Martin Scorsese. Stop playing innocent. You wrote what you wrote, in the word order that you wrote it. You headed the post "Enemy Mine." Don't try and get cute now.
And the fact is, neither you, nor I, for that matter, are likely to outlive such cinephiles by more than a few years in any event. Your paradise of a grain-free classics catalog is likely to be...well, dismissed by the movie Eloi who will come after us. Such fellows hate "old" movies and always will, grain or no grin. Movie Godz be damned; they won't have any say in the matter. As they don't actually exist anyway.
Posted by Glenn Kenny
at November 18, 2009 12:39 PM
comment #9
mattn
says ...
For an alternative perspective:
In science, where different researchers can get fairly dug into their views over the course of their careers, we have a saying: "Science advances one death at a time." I don't think it means anyone is *wishing* for scientist's deaths; it's just a recognition of the obvious.
Posted by mattn
at November 18, 2009 1:10 PM
comment #10
Krazy Eyes
says ...
I'm 100% behind Jeff on this one because I have it on good authority that all that pesky grain will totally ruin the eventual 3D conversions.
Posted by Krazy Eyes
at November 18, 2009 1:15 PM
comment #11
Bob Violence
says ...
Can't wait for Scorsese to finally die so Raging Bull can at last look the way it should've looked all along: like something shot last week, on HD video, as an ESPN interstitial
Posted by Bob Violence
at November 20, 2009 2:31 AM
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