'Oceans 13' - High-Def Digest review

[jed]

Kenneth's review of 'Oceans 13' is up. He says fans of the film are likely to appreciate this Blu-ray release, but newcomers perhaps less so. The issue has less to do with any major technical deficiencies of this disc, and more to do with the film's aesthetics -- simply put, the material just doesn't quite shine in high-def. On the bright side, Warner has thrown in an nice extra for early adopters: an exclusive audio commentary from director Steven Soderbergh.

Full review here:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1081/oceansthirteen.html

[ben1080p]

Not a huge fan of the trilogy...
But still very dissapointing with PQ and AQ...I expect the PQ to be nice on the eye with all the lighting in LV.
It will be a rent for me.

[denti alligator]

You can't give PQ three stars if it corresponds to what the director intended! That's absurd. What are we basing our evaluations on? Our dream version of a film that doesn't exist?

[docmanjay2]

over on dvdtown.com the reviewers gives another view point on the pq in oceans 13...which proves that each reviewer judge what is a good pq or not...so thought i would attach the pq part of the review below so some can see a different side they give pq 9/10

Video:

Considering this film is less than a year old, it comes as no surprise that "Ocean´s Thirteen" looks very good on the high definition Blu-ray format. The film is given a very intentional look representative of something filmed in the Seventies, but that only adds to the visual splendor and does not detract from the vivid colors of the Las Vegas strip or the high detail available by this VC-1 encoded film. This 2.4:1 widescreen film is nicely detailed and truly brings the neon lights and extravagant casinos to life. Soderbergh´s stylistic approach works well and there is never a moment when "Ocean´s Thirteen" disappoints in the visual department. Colors are very bright and perfectly saturated. There is perhaps no more colorful place on Earth than Las Vegas and the town is as colorful as ever here. Detail is also very good and clothing threads, stone textures and facial features are all perfectly captured by the high definition transfer. Source materials were pristine and I could not recall any memorable flaws in either the print used or the digital transfer. I wouldn´t say that "Ocean´s Thirteen" is among the absolute best Blu-ray titles, but it is certainly above average.


also the link to read the rest if you want

http://www.dvdtown.com/reviews/oceans-thirteen/5355/2

[nelll]

Shit, since I am a purple adopter I have to make a post in the BD section and one in here too.

O-13 one to avoid. I will get this in SD DVD.

[Micker]

Originally Posted by denti alligator

You can't give PQ three stars if it corresponds to what the director intended! That's absurd. What are we basing our evaluations on? Our dream version of a film that doesn't exist?

He stated that there are a lot of problems with the picture that have nothing to do with what the director intended. If he intended it too look like shit, then he hit his mark!! I appreciate his review. When I buy a high def disc, I want something that is going to look amazing. If the movie doesn't look amazing, like a HD transfer of a new movie should, I want to know, because I will watch it on dvd or just pass it by. Bluray movies I want look and sound fantastic.

I also want to say that I feel WB is slapping us in the face with a DD 640 track. Come on, this new media is to push audio and video to new limits, not dvd level audio and video.

[Motorheadache]

I think people are putting too much stock on the little "star-chart" on the top of the review. Read the actual review of the picture quality and you will get in perfect detail what to expect out of it and how it stacks against other movies in HD

[kjeldsen]

Fans will likely debate at length as to whether the transfer of 'Ocean's 13' is an ugly mess or an artistic declaration of substance. It certainly seems reflective of Soderbergh's established cinematic asthetic, and I have no doubt that this is how the director wants us to see his film. Just be warned -- 'Ocean's 13' is not the sort of disc you'll want to pull out to sell your friends and neighbors on the benefits of high definition.

This is how it should be done! kudos, bows etc etc

[taygan315]

Originally Posted by ben1080p

Not a huge fan of the trilogy...
But still very dissapointing with PQ and AQ...I expect the PQ to be nice on the eye with all the lighting in LV.
It will be a rent for me.

Agreed. Wanted to see this in theaters...kind of. With this review, I think I will pass. Expected better pq for a bd 50.

[HadeZ]

I really enjoyed the first two, Not so much this one though.

[hi-def-fanboy]

Originally Posted by taygan315

Agreed. Wanted to see this in theaters...kind of. With this review, I think I will pass. Expected better pq for a bd 50.

The PQ has nothing to do with storage space if the visual is an intended look of the director.

[sage]

the crap audio (640kbps) makes this worthy of a boycott, along with all releases of it's kind.

[halokilla77]

Originally Posted by denti alligator

You can't give PQ three stars if it corresponds to what the director intended! That's absurd. What are we basing our evaluations on? Our dream version of a film that doesn't exist?

isn't this just like the 300 review? Which btw I thought was amazing.

[Micker]

Originally Posted by sage

the crap audio (640kbps) makes this worthy of a boycott, along with all releases of it's kind.

+1

Lossy DD+ 1.5 should be the absolute lowest track acceptable and that should even be rare, esp for a new movie. Maybe it wouldn't have sounded better, but at least we would know that is exactly how the movie is supposed to sound instead of guessing if it were lossless.

[gspin2k1]

The trilogy box-set is on it's way to me. I received o-13 from blockbuster the other day and watched it last night...and immediately regret my decision to buy the box set...just cus director's intent or not..the movie PQ looks like GARBAGE (at least compared to other new movies on bluray/hd dvd). I just hope O-11 and/or O-12 looks better and/or didn't have the director's same intent on PQ.

~G