Apocalypse Now on DVD and Blu-ray

[flyonthewall2983]

I can't say there's a deleted scene more atrocious than the one where Dennis Hopper and Scott Glenn's characters are killed off.

Why is that?

I haven't seen it in awhile, but after watching it again, I'm going to do an about face on my earlier stance. It's not as bad as I remembered it, but the main thing I didn't like about it was seeing the photographer shot. There was part of me thinking a character like that would still be in the jungle, the first time I watched it. Also, I think the Colby character was much more effective just being the guy Willard recognizes from the dossier when they are face-to-face once they arrive at Kurtz's compound.

[Alphonse Doinel]

Would anyone seriously want the workprint? Other than hipsters looking for something to project on their wall during their house parties.

[HerrSchreck]

My god, just watching REDUX is agonizing enough, I have no interest in watching the workprint (other than maybe some extra Brando footage, simply for the sake of itself, not via what it may or may not add to the narrative. The original release cut of the film was perfect, reflecting the judgement of a master at the peak of his powers.)

[aox]

Would anyone seriously want the workprint? Other than hipsters looking for something to project on their wall during their house parties.

Sounds like one hell of a party.

[HerrSchreck]

Would anyone seriously want the workprint? Other than hipsters looking for something to project on their wall during their house parties.

Sounds like one hell of a party.

One with lots of downers I'd imagine-- a sleep-in.

[MyNameCriterionForum]

Would anyone seriously want the workprint? Other than hipsters looking for something to project on their wall during their house parties.

"Calling PBR street gang. PBR street gang, this is Almighty..."

[aox]

They should include this SNL skit with Sheen and Bill Murray. I had never seen it.

[Roger Ryan]

They should include this SNL skit with Sheen and Bill Murray. I had never seen it.

That's a great example of how sharp and accurate the writing could be on SNL. Thanks for the link - I hadn't seen the skit since the live performance in '79 (there was a switching error during the original broadcast where Sheen and Garrett Morris were shown prematurely sitting on the paddle boat waiting for their cue - I see that mistake was corrected through editing).

Was Bill Murray's "Coppola" rambling during the Oscar telecast based on the real director's comments? His vision of the future of filmmaking turned out to be mostly true!

[Alphonse Doinel]

Very fascinating interview about the upcoming Blu. With stills!

[aox]

Bill Hunt: It's fascinating to me that there's a completely valid artistic argument to be made for both aspect ratios. It wasn't just some arbitrary decision to go 2:1 originally.

haha...no there isn't.

[willoneill]

You think you're smarter than Leonardo Da Vinci?

[zedz]

Bill Hunt: It's fascinating to me that there's a completely valid artistic argument to be made for both aspect ratios. It wasn't just some arbitrary decision to go 2:1 originally.

haha...no there isn't.

This just proves that if you say something enough times, people start believing it, however crackpot.

Reading between the lines, however, it seems pretty clear they're trying to distance themselves from Storaro's crackpottery and are leaving him holding a baby with the top its head and its toes cut off. Italics mine:

Francis very much supported – and still supports – Vittorio's vision of 2:1. It's not just a widescreen issue. It's well publicized on Vittorio's website how he thinks film should be presented. It goes back to Leonardo da Vinci, and he has a whole philosophy about looking at artwork in 2:1. [. . .] Of course, people have wanted the 2.35:1, so we wanted to include that, but we don't discount what Vittorio did either.

[. . .] Vittorio would still argue that 2:1 is a valid thing to do for widescreen presentation. He has a whole philosophy about how people view films, and he feels that 2:1 gives them the best presentation of a film.

I hope none of the other people in the room got injured by that bargepole.

[Roger Ryan]

Does anyone else find the Blu-ray still chosen from the HEARTS OF DARKNESS documentary to be a strange choice, inasmuch as the lens flare kind of washes the image out and it has an odd greenish tint? To my eye, the DVD comparison still looks a bit better even with less detail.

I'm not sure I understand the justification for including some of the promotional material as an iPhone download only; "a TV screen just isn't meant to really display images like that. It's such a 5-foot experience" - therefore, viewing the material on your phone is going to be better?

I assume the remainder of the comparison stills are the correct 2.35:1 ratio image (for both the 2001 interpositive and the Blu-ray)? I'll look forward to seeing a comparison of the Blu-ray to the "Complete Dossier" DVD release to see what we were missing on the sides of the image (provided they're not simply cutting the top and bottom off of the compromised 2.00:1 version )

[richast2]

Very fascinating interview about the upcoming Blu. With stills!

Interesting article.

Bill Hunt: And there's a new casting featurette...

James Mockoski: Which has Fred Roos talking about his experiences with Francis to cast the film back in 1976, so we have a lot of rehearsal footage from a month before they go on to film.

What are the chances this will include footage of Harvey Keitel?

[aox]

Blu-Ray.com

perfect

[manicsounds]

The only thing is the extravagant $60 retail price tag...
That's whats not making me get it immediately.

Then again, I still haven't watched the DVD version yet.... and I've had that for years.

[aox]

$40 on Amazon for the 3 disc.

[mfunk9786]

Still waaaay too much for two cuts of the same film and a documentary (albeit a feature length one).

[Roger Ryan]

I must have missed it before, but I didn't realize the three new interviews (Sheen, Milius, Roos) total two hours of running time - that's a significant add-on for Blu-ray!

[aox]

Still waaaay too much for two cuts of the same film and a documentary (albeit a feature length one).

Nah.

$25 for one film with two cuts, and $15 for one of the best full length documentaries about the filming of a movie? All in Hi-Def!

Then, the extras?

Best deal.

[hearthesilence]

L.A. Times has an article on this:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/ ... um=twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"The new edition also delivers a widescreen version of the film on home video that Coppola says should quiet the howls of protest from 'the aficionados and the purists' about the screen aspect ratio of past releases."

[swo17]

Me, I'm just happy watching it on whatever aspect ratio my iPhone is.

[oldsheperd]

Got my copy in the mail yesterday. I've watched most of the original and it looks pretty good. A lot of stuff in the film I hadn't noticed before. Comes in a digipack that's the same size as a normal dvd.

[Roger Ryan]

...A lot of stuff in the film I hadn't noticed before...

That "stuff" doesn't happen to be near the left-and-right edges of the frame, does it?

[oldsheperd]

Not really. It's just that the image is much crisper so you get to see the image overlaps more clearly. I didn't make a conscious effort to check out the edges under the 2:35/1 format but it does look like there is more information. The film actually benefits from the 2:35/1 since Coppola is pretty competent at being able to weight the frame at that aspect ratio.