'Being John Malkovich' - High-Def Digest Review

[Attebery]

Nate has reviewed the Criterion Blu-ray release of 'Being John Malkovich.' He says the film is a must see. As for this review? It's a must read...

Full review here:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/4554...malkovich.html

[DestroVega]

Upon reading the disappotment of the video quality, I zipped over to BluRay.com to see their opinions.. I was shocked to read an almost totally opposite opinion.


Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85.1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:

"Supervised by director Spike Jonze and cinematographer Lance Acord, this new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on a DFT SCANITY film scanner from the original 35mm camera negative. The data was then color corrected on a DaVinci Resolve at Company 3, with colorist Stefan Sonnenfeld, who recently cut off his ponytail of twenty years.

Telecine supervisors: Lance Acord, Spike Jonze, Lee Kline.
Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld/Company 3, Santa Monica, CA."

The high-definition transfer is one of the best I've seen used for a catalog release of a contemporary film distributed by Universal Studios. This is not to imply that it is flawless, but it clearly has the organic qualities we expect to see retained when older films transition to Blu-ray.
The majority of the close-ups convey strong detail and good natural sharpness. Clarity is also pleasing. Generally speaking, they are also free of problematic denoising corrections and overzealous sharpening (see screencaptures #2 and 3). Immediately after fast cuts and zooms, however, occasionally mild softness sneaks in (see screencapture #1, which is from a series of short but fast imaginary flashbacks). Contrast levels are stable, excluding, of course, the head peeks where together with clarity they fluctuate. The color-scheme is pleasing, with the prominent grays, browns, and blues looking stable and unmanipulated. Like contrast and clarity, however, color saturation also tends to fluctuate. Lastly, there are no purely transfer-specific anomalies. There are no serious stability issues to report in this review either. All in all, the presentation should please fans of the film who have previously owned it only on DVD.

[thepartyover]

Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich?

Malkovich! Ha ha ha ha....

[project-blu]

Upon reading the disappotment of the video quality, I zipped over to BluRay.com to see their opinions.. I was shocked to read an almost totally opposite opinion.

Yeah, I'm shocked they publish such rose-tinted coverage as well. But I won't mention the fact that a reviewer IN ANOTHER CONTINENT had the review live before we even got our disc to review from the studio. I definitely won't mention that to call the credibility of a certain someone into question.

[CaptainArcher]

Is the transfer better or worse than the HD DVD? I was never pleased with that transfer either.

[project-blu]

I gave away my HD DVD player recently, so I cannot make a fair comparison between formats. It had been a good 3+ years since I saw the disc, anyways. I won't say that it's worse, even if I scored lower than the red disc, since I feel 5 years allows for tougher grading.

[Mr. Mojo]

5 stars?!?
Try 1 star. This film was overhyped and terrible.

[gravis778]

Upon reading the disappotment of the video quality, I zipped over to BluRay.com to see their opinions.. I was shocked to read an almost totally opposite opinion.

As has been discussed here before, Blu-Ray.com has different standards for how they score. They tend to take a more subjective approach, whereas HDD tends to take a more objective approach. The difference? As long as there is no compression issues, Blu-ray.com tends to give a disc a 4 or 5 on video quality, as there is nothing technically wrong with the transfer. HDD grades on the overall video presentation, and things such as hair, dirt color issues, inconsistant focus, contrast, black levels, and things like that are all taken into account.

With it being a Criterion release, there is probably noting TECHNICALLY wrong with the transfer, which is why Blu-Ray.com scored it so high.

That being said, I am not a fan of the film. I can appreciate it, I can see why so many people love it, and I think it is well deserved, and certainly deserves the 5 stars. Its just not my thing.

[DestroVega]

Robert Harris at HTF gave it a 5 for PQ...his highest rating. Now the quandry: who to believe? Robert Harris, an expert in such matters who restores minor films such as Spartacus and Lawrence of Arabia, or Nate Boss, who probably works at 7-Eleven during the day.

Tough choice.

That's not fair. No need to attack the guy.

[project-blu]

Robert Harris at HTF gave it a 5 for PQ...his highest rating. Now the quandry: who to believe? Robert Harris, an expert in such matters who restores minor films such as Spartacus and Lawrence of Arabia, or Nate Boss, who probably works at 7-Eleven during the day.

Tough choice.

Oh don't give me that shit. When Robert Harris called the Lord of the Rings extended Blu-rays PERFECT, he shit the bed and to me nothing he says after matters. Anyone who calls this disc 5 stars is doing consumers a GRAVE disservice.

But, hey, apparently I work at 7-11 now. Which is neat, because now I can get an employee discount card or something like that. The way you talk, you remind me of the people I grew up with, all born into money and prestige, who all thought that because they were born on third base that they hit a triple.

[project-blu]

That's not fair. No need to attack the guy.

Appreciated much, though when people fly off the handle on discs they probably haven't even seen (note not a single inference of such), there's no logic. When they drink the Kool-Aid, it's hard to tell them that not every Blu-ray is 30 billion star worthy. Maybe he didn't buy it because it didn't have a slipcover.

[Super-VHS]

Last night, Apple started running an iPhone commercial featuring none other than Mr. John "Horatio" Malkovich himself.



I really like to imagine this is exactly how Malkovich spends his days when not making jewel heist movies. Lazily sitting in well-appointed rooms, listening to operas, pondering the meaning of life...

[project-blu]

also:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/31...ion-in-blu-ray

NOTHING MORE NEEDS TO BE SAID ABOUT RAH. his own words (majesty. perfect in EVERY frame...) and the entire situation with that "post/pre-review" is all i ever need to point out if anyone ever uses RAH in an argument about my scoring due to his own fucked up measure. next?

[HDDVD73]

Nate Boss pwns Robert Harris.

[project-blu]

Nate Boss pwns Robert Harris.

Suddenly I want to send you a box of Oreos.