Info and forum posts by 'Tony Vado'

RE: Ratatouille - very poor

Well, chewie, I like the fact you went out of your way to be reasonable at the end there(!)

But I disagree with you about Ratatouille's internal logic… As I shall explain…

David:-

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Do you believe that toys are alive and have adventures when humans aren`t around,
You're not grasping the point at all. You're being stubborn and myopic IMO.

With Toy Story, The audience are invited to buy into the premise 'Toys are alive when you're not around'… Which is fine, because everything besides that is faux-normal. I suspend my disbelief and go along for the ride.

What am I supposed to be buying into with Ratatouille exactly? That there is a normal rat who can read/understand English, and that he's aspirational and talks to a human ghost (or he imagines that he talks to a ghost, making him an insane rat). Yet the same rat can't communicate in English with humans at all… And his fellow rats probably can't read/understand human English either (or can they?)… And that humans can be controlled with pin-point accuracy by their hair? Etc etc etc

I don't even know what I'm supposed to be suspending my disbelief about exactly… It's more a case of suspending my rational thinking processes completely.

See, a human man being controlled by his hair would have been equally out of place in Toy Story. Do you not get that?

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that there are there families with superpowers or that there is a `Monstropolis` that is powered by the sound of children`s` screams or laughter?
I think you're probably referring to the Incredibles and Monsters Inc there, and I haven't seen either of those. They might have lots of similar issues to Ratatouille, I don't know, I would hate them if they do, or defend them if they don't.

Regardless though, stop trying to sweep away the whole issue with simplistic talk to the effect of 'Anything animated has a free pass to make very little sense'

There are hundreds of different examples of good/bad logic in animated films. Ratatouille suffers from having too many bad examples..

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Can you name an animated film that is completely realistic and completely plausible?
It's not about being completely realistic or plausible, it's more about being consistent and digestible.

This item was edited on Thursday, 27th December 2007, 23:30

RE: Ratatouille - very poor

^^^
Are chef hats made out of the same material as net curtains then?! I think you`re bending over backwards to defend something that doesn`t deserve to be defended.

Let`s say for argument`s sake that we can forgive that particular `issue` though... What about the aforementioned robot-like control of a human via hair then? I take it we can agree that the filmmakers deserve criticism for that? It was ludicrously daft IMO.

And I also think it`s stupid that a rat (who isn`t a magic rat or anything) can read English perfectly, yet can`t speak it. He can actually understand what`s being said on television and he converses with the `ghost` of a human aswell... It`s all very... I dunno... wrong.

There are a few other problems aswell, but you get the general idea.

This item was edited on Thursday, 27th December 2007, 20:11

RE: Ratatouille - very poor

When I saw the film, my nephew and I just ended-up nit-picking the whole thing.

We tried to watch it properly to begin with, but after 20 mins or so of nonsensical rhubarb (the film has less internal logic than an episode of rentaghost) It was time to unleash the snark.

Our favourite bits to criticise were 1) The hair-controlled man scenes, and 2) The fact that the rat could see perfectly through the hat- yet nobody could see the rat?!

But yeah, Ratatouille is a reprehensible combination of `yawn` and `WTF?`

RE: I Am Legend Trailer now online

Okay film overall, but the ending seemed like a major cop-out to me. I was disappointed.

RE: How many reviewer members do we have?

99

Come on... just one more for 100!

RE: Fate

Every choice is based on experience though- and of course, everyone was raised by someone acting on their experience aswell. So, there`s no such thing as choice, free-will, or even organic opinion. Every thought is based on a previous thought and every choice is like a reflex...

Which, actually, supports the theory that EVERYTHING is pre-determined. As, for instance, if you`re raised by hippies, you`ll either be a hippy yourself, or rebel against the hippy thing, depending on certain factors (factors which are all pre-determined, just like everything).

I don`t believe in the Hollywood interpretation of the whole thing AT ALL though- where everything is some awesome plan by a supreme deity or whatever. No, it`s far more mundane and frightening than that IMO. I mean, some people meet their partner in a fortunate way yes, but there are plenty of people who never meet anyone of the opposite sex that they connect with EVER(!) so there`s no rule to any of it.

And just remember, whatever your reaction to this post is- the reaction is based on your experience/knowledge and how it relates to what you already know (or think you know) Therefore your reaction is pre-determined...

RE: The Punisher - DVD R1 release tomorrow, any good? *poss spoilers*

Hmmm, I think my current aversion to Hollywood cliches, and implausibly sexy ladies, meant that I didn`t enjoy this as much as I perhaps should have. In fact I thought it was on the appalling side...

Here`s my hate-tainted review of it anyway:-

The Punisher- A film about murder & revenge (but mostly about sexy ladies).

SPOILER:
The plot is supposed to be about a guy driven to the edge of sanity who subsequently becomes something of a vigilante. Well, that sounds good!- shame we didn't get that…

What they threw-up instead was:- Tom Jane's sexy wife is killed. So, understandably grief-stricken, he goes into hiding. There, he inadvertently attracts the attention of another sexy lady.

So one day, when he felt a bit bored, he beats-up a guy who was hassling the sexy lady. After a time, he has dinner with the lady, and that leads to a bit of an awkward kiss and a lengthy hug in his lift.(touching stuff(!)). Hey, just because his family was completely wiped-out (aswell as his sexy wife) that doesn't mean he isn't still a hunk…

Long story short, he eventually gets revenge on the guy who killed his sexy wife, by making him kill his own sexy wife! (smart!). So, in the end, the sexy-lady ratio was in The Punisher's favour. Good on him I say!.

All in all, a bit putrid.

RE: The Rundown / Welcome to the jungle

I really enjoyed it- It`s a lot of fun and has a really well-judged mix of action, comedy and adventure. Felt a little bit like an 80`s film at times aswell (which is a good thing IMO), except with very modern ass-kicking fight-scenes...

Hope `The Rock` makes a few more films like it.
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RE: Superbit - your opinions

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The way I see it, Superbit is like THX. Both offer the best in picture and sound avaliable for their respected movies.

But that`s the thing... They DON`T offer the best sound quality at all!. As has been mentioned earlier (and in older threads in greater detail) the DTS tracks are only half-rate. So, if for example `Galaxy Quest` (which currently has a full 1509kbps DTS track) was re-released as a Superbit title- the sound quality would be INFERIOR. Yes I know, G-Quest is a Dreamworks film so it would never happen, it`s just a title picked-out for arguments sake...

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The only down side is you do need good quality equipment to get the most out of them

This is true- but only as far as the picture is concerned. The sad fact is that normal Superbit discs (i.e R1 or UK R2) are indeed nothing more than cleverly marketed bare-bones efforts. Sure, the higher bit-rate levels used are good for the general image quality, but there`s no reason why ANY disc with few extras shouldn`t be equally optimised.

As you said, I`m sure it was conceived as a way of getting people to buy new versions of films they already own, but they`ve done it the other way round aswell- Like when Panic Room was released originally... It was slated as a `Superbit` title and people were much happier to buy it as a result (based on the false-assumption that they`d be getting the mega-quality one now, whilst waiting for the extras-laden edition later). But the encoding on that disc was/is nothing special and it even has a trailer on it!. So, obviously, that DVD is barely better than your average lazy back-catalogue release, and yet with the addition of that `Superbit` name, tons of people happily bought it without complaint.

Your J-Park trilogy discs may or may not be full-rate DTS (they`re Japanese so they could be), so they might be an exception to the general rule. But the point is- The Superbit brand as most people know it is a bit of a missed opportunity- Firstly, because they include more than one 5.1 format for no good reason, and secondly because the DTS tracks are needlessly compromised...

RE: Things you just don`t understand

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Although, if you`re going to decapitate Tony Blair then good luck

Cheers ...

I`m looking to assemble an angry-mob ASAP ;) .

RE: Things you just don`t understand

I don`t understand how people can buy a widescreen TV- and then watch everything in `wide` mode. Seriously though, it drives me up the frigging wall!. How can they not see that 4:3 stuff looks horizontally stretched and generally bloody awful?!. :/ ...Hanging`s too good for them...

Also, I don`t understand why we`re expected to work 40+ hours a week (5 days (or more) out of 7), when life is so short?!. Honestly, we need a French-style revolution... and soon.

RE: Superbit - your opinions

DTS tracks were originally conceived as an audiophile alternative, and specifically marketed as a less compressed way of experiencing `Home-Cinema`. So, obviously, the target market was expected to have an amp and speakers to decode the format (and if not, to buy them). Therefore, the ability to down-mix was never a concern, and listening to a DTS track through your TV would have completely defeated the object anyway...

Dolby Digital is the everyman format and so their 5.1 tracks will down-mix into 2.0 for conventional use. Several not-so-recent R1`s feature an extra 2.0 track, which is probably a symptom of the confusion caused by catering to different markets with the same product. To this day, I`m still not sure if regular DD 5.1 tracks are compromised by their ability to be heard in stereo, because the (now rare) addition of a separate 2.0 track certainly suggests that DD isn`t always optimised for compatibility (or at least, that some sort of policy has been changed somewhere... for some reason).

Anyway... I`m just waffling now, but Adam is completely right when he says that there is no real difference between DD & DTS- and having both on the same disc is extremely wasteful, ESPECIALLY when your product is supposed to offer the most bit-rate possible!.

One last thing- I have to (pedantically) point out that you can listen to DTS tracks through your TV though- you just need to have a DVD player with an on-board decoder (I used to have a Pioneer player that would do it).

ANY simple music software out there?

Hi,

Just lately I`ve been getting interested in making music in my spare time. I had a free copy of an E-jay dance prog ages ago, but the limitations of that format meant the novelty wore off pretty soon (the exported wav files always sounded a bit constrained). Problem is, I just can`t find any powerful apps that are user-friendly enough!. I`ve tried tons of demo progs aswell... Soundforge is good for editing bits and pieces, but you can`t construct a multitrack on it, and I found Cakewalk so maddeningly tricky that I nearly threw my laptop out the window in frustration!...

I could go on, as I`ve tried tons of cheapo efforts, which were generally naff and Fisher-Price-esque. I almost settled on N-tracker, but again, the lack of SIMPLE touches (like not being able to move blocks as you wish, without great effort) renders it a pain...

All I want is a multitracker capable of importing multiple wavs, which will let me move all the pieces around easily. Sort of like E-Jay in a way, as I like the speed of the process with their stuff, but I need more flexibility (and better quality) than they offer...

Any suggestions welcome...

RE: Basic

I agree dicanio, I was very disappointed with it because the twist-within-a-twist conceit turns the film into a pointless farce... It`s certainly slick and has some good performances (Jackson is great as usual), but the structure of the storyline is abysmal. Why should I care about what happens in the flashbacks, if I have no idea if it`s true or not? and why should I care about any of the characters, if I have no way of knowing what really happened? (or if ANYTHING happened!).

Scriptwriting school for Hollywood hacks:-

Lesson 1... A story should never have more than two big twists (and preferably just one).
Lesson 2... Contradictory flashbacks only work if there`s a definitively trustworthy viewpoint in the film.
Lesson 3... Get rid of the pony-tail, you look stupid.

This item was edited on Sunday, 7th December 2003, 22:39

RE: T3 - what does James Cameron think?

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Thoroughly disappointed with it. Imagine what it woulda been like with orig cast and cameron, so much better. And I don`t think you can criticise Furlongs acting in T2 considering his age and no acting experience, and i think he was great in American History X, much better than many other actors his age.

Amen to this!... I thought Furlong was fine in T2 and personally, I had terrible trouble adjusting to a different actor playing John Connor (and the characterisation was `off` anyway). In T2, an effort was made to highlight Connor`s skill and initiative (by showing him hacking an ATM and having him teach Arnie things about humanity). In the new movie, he just seems like a hopeless idiot who succeeds with a combination of good fortune and able assistance. As an example, why on earth does he think that Arnie is the same model? and why does he go on to speak as though the `production line` explanation is a surprise?. He`s supposed to be the future leader of the resistance for god`s sake!. Simple concepts like that shouldn`t be difficult to grasp...

In fairness to Mostow, the action IS okay and I don`t think anyone should be disappointed on that score. But, considering how he claims to be a big fan of the previous two films, it`s a shame that he completely missed the point of them!...

RE: dvd covers

dvdcoverart.com has brilliant hi-res images and a few decent `custom` efforts aswell (T3 has 4 or 5 different fan-made covers already!)...

RE: 5.1 / DTS

Whilst It`s true that the image may benefit from the additional disc-space allocated to it, the audio uses the exact same FIXED rates as conventional discs (448kbps DD & 754kbps DTS). So, assuming they use the same masters as the original releases, there`s no audio gain on Superbit versions of old discs... In fact, the best audio possible for DVD movies (1509kbps DTS) is only available on NON Superbit titles! (like Galaxy Quest, Twister and numerous Japanese discs)...

RE: `One Hour Photo` - good film, have a query re the ending (SPOILER ALERT)

It`s been a while since I watched it, but as I recall, the ending doesn`t satisfactorily convey what it was that he did (i.e the NOT taking photos of them in compromising positions) and it doesn`t resolve what actually happens to Williams character ... I`ve lent the film to a few people and it always comes back with questions about the ending, specifically "well... did he get away with it or what then?". Personally, I did realise that the fantasy parts were fantasy, but I did feel like I`d been left hanging at the end. And it was one of those occasions where I had to check the net to confirm what I thought...

I`m not saying it`s a like a David Lynch mind-trip or anything(!), just that the resolution is pretty muddled (especially considering how effective the first two thirds are)...

RE: GameCube - Which football game to get?

ISS wasn`t great eh?... I must be the only person who loves the cube version of that game. I didn`t like it at first either, because the control and `feel` was different from the N64 versions, but over time I`ve actually grown to prefer it and think it`s one of the best football games I`ve played. It just never gets old because almost every conceivable type of approach is possible (passing it around, hoofing it up, crossing it in), and you can do it however you like. The N64 version was basically all out attacking from both teams and Fifa really is a bag of ham-fisted cheesy balls (strictly for cheese dicks, as mentioned earlier). Seriously though, Fifa plays horribly!, It`s so desperate to be cool hip and groovy that someone completely forgot that we only play football on EARTH, and so took a liberal attitude with physics and gravity etc... It`s all very well having great replays and character-specific celebrations, but that sort of attention to detail doesn`t really matter if the ball moves like a shuttle-cock...

Granted, this post doesn`t help you much, but where else could I say this stuff round here?!... I`d say get Winning Eleven though, as it`s got a great reputation and it must be better than Fifa...

RE: `One Hour Photo` - good film, have a query re the ending (SPOILER ALERT)

It`s weird that you are impressed and confused at the same time though (no?)... Just tossing that thought in for a minute because it occurs to me that badly-made films with misleading endings would be (rightly) criticised for it, yet One Hour Photo gets praise from people even though they obviously didn`t `get it`!. I re-itterate that I`m just tossing a thought out here though because 1) I quite enjoyed OHP myself, and 2) I also didn`t get it!!!. My confusion extended beyond the scene you mentioned though, as I felt the entire resolution was irritatingly vague...

Obviously, an unpredictable conclusion is always welcome (as long as it`s still clear what`s going on!), but I think in this case it just adds a slightly pretentious air to the whole film, and it pushes it over the line that separates offbeat gems from meandering arthouse nonesense... Like I say, I still enjoyed it, but I`d prefer to comprehend the whole film and appreciate what I see, rather than having to guess things and just assume it`s something clever...

RE: Johnathan Creek - Honest opinions

You old sour-puss Sue!. Admittedly, it doesn`t seem quite as cutting edge as it did in the early days, but it`s FAR from rubbish...

Sure, the solutions for the two latest shows both stretch credibility to breaking point (and calling them contrived isn`t all that unfair), but they`re solutions nonetheless. Yes, they`re highly unlikely methods of commiting those particular crimes, but that doesn`t make them impossible. Plus, the fact that they`re unusual and overly complicated is the only reason Jonathan Creek is involved in the investigations at all!.

RE: Johnathan Creek - Honest opinions

It`s still a very good show IMO (certainly one of the highlights of the week), although I think Renwick has already used the best mysteries in earlier episodes.

I love the fact that I almost never work anything out!. I did guess who the killer was in last weeks episode (although I couldn`t work out how) but I was in the dark all the way through the latest one.

RE: Superbit DVDs

Half (sadly). They`re all 754kbps...

Which makes a mockery of the whole `optimum quality` argument really. It would be a much better idea to have just one multi-channel soundtrack (DTS encoded at 1509kbps) accompanied only by a lower-rate 2-channel Dolby effort. I`d certainly be eager to buy them if they did it that way because full-rate DTS is demonstrably clearer/dynamic than the weedy tracks we`re normally given. Plus, the comparitively shorter films Columbia have released (like Resident Evil and Snatch) wouldn`t suffer visually in any perceptible way so they`d be A+ demo discs.

RE: Stop DVD playing intro.

I recently changed from a Tosh 200E to a 510E for the sake of DVD-Audio capability. It also has component outputs (which output in prog-scan for NTSC!), so it`s probably the most affordable `future-proof` player Toshiba make. Having said that though, I don`t have anything against the other decks they produce (I originally owned a 2109 before getting a 200E). I`ve tried other makes, but for me, the Tosh`s are the best at providing a razor-sharp image with minimal artifacts.

RE: Stop DVD playing intro.

Toshiba decks can do it too, as you can use the `memory` function to jump straight to the start of the DVD`s video content. So you basically insert a disc and then press `memory` followed by the first title N.O (usually 1). As the memory feature is designed to allow automatic playback of specific titles, overriding UOP`s is part of the procedure. You can use the same method to jump straight to the menu (as you can simply press `Menu` immediately afterwards)...

RE: New Line Cinema not conforming to DVD rules anymore??

Yes, I remember the Matrix `issue` quite fondly as a former friend of mine had to arrange to have his prized Samsung 709 upgraded (something which jarred badly with his boastful attitude). I recall the Austin Powers re-pressing aswell as I had already bought (and still own) one of the original copies. I have to say that it`s always played with some sort of audio problem (usually sync) even on my newest deck, so I think that disc probably does breach some sort of advised-tolerance level. Another time I remember DVD`s being reportedly out-of-spec was when Pearl Harbor and Jurassic Park 3 (R1) had 5.1 tracks that some Amps couldn`t read. Not sure if anyone ever took the blame on that one, although the respective amp makers (despite offering fixes) swore blind it was the discs.

RE: Misframing on other DVDs

For me, any Super 35 transfer framed at 2.35:1 is something of a rip-off anyway (BTTF was 1.85:1 on video). I`m well aware that the majority of films are MUCH improved by using a 2.35:1 ratio on the DVD (Ghostbusters and Die Hard for example), but IMO any film shot open-matte would actually look better at 1.85:1. That way you get all the necessary image area from all sides without chopping off feet/heads and without the need for panning or scanning. You can forget all that crap about boom-mikes etc, as a re-framed 1.85:1 could be specifically tailored to avoid that kind of thing, while still retaining a `wider` aesthetic..

RE: Alba DVD114

Yes, any Alba deck using the older firmware will have the same fault. Did you buy it from Tesco? I was told all the Argos ones are okay so I`d be interested to hear where you got it from. Sadly though, there isn`t a fix or a workaround for the mute sound (well, I`ve not read of one anyway), so it`s a case of either upgrading the firmware or exchanging the deck for a newer version. If anyone does know of some sort of handset-hack or other trickery then I`d also be grateful for that information as I have a friend who has an older 114 too.

RE: Living Daylights

Hmmm, that`s an interesting point actually Mike as obviously the screen-tests will be on the disc in the box-set aswell. I guess you could stretch the credibility of the claim a little and say that recalling all the box-sets would simply be too much of an undertaking and so they`re unaffected by way of compromise. MGM tendering that Memo about legal issues is the only reason the rumour seemed plausible to me in the first place...

I have to say though, it`s a pretty disgraceful ploy by MGM if that`s what it actually is (surely they make enough money out of Bond already?!).

RE: Which DVD Player for backing up DVD`s from DVDR880

I think there is a way to test the player, but you have to use the right discs.... I found that a couple of R2 discs wouldn`t play until I re-entered the hack and selected `2` as the region (normally it plays either type automatically with the deck set-up as R1). I don`t recall which discs exactly, although I think it did it when I rented `The Gift` a few months back. Basically though, if you can`t back-up DVD`s then it plainly hasn`t worked!. Have you definitely entered the hack properly (with the 3,1,4,1,5,9 code) and chosen region 1?. I`ve not had any problems recording DVD`s on my 980. Hope you get it sorted out...