Monday, January 07, 2008

Signs you're reading a bad movie review, vol. 3

#3: DVD Details

Anybody who mentions the transfer quality almost certainly will not tell you anything about the film, because they think in the mindset of film lovers who've seen it 88 times and are just looking for a new latest and greatest version. They're speaking (as geeks so often do) only to people exactly like them who don't need to be told if Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up is a good film (it is) they just need to know are there any scratches on the print?

Also included in this group are anybody who mentions the DVD extras. I've enjoyed the commentary tracks on a number of DVDs, notably Joss Whedon pointing out continuity errors in his own work then sheepishly apologizing for ruining the movie, and if you love a movie, it is interesting to see more about how it was made. However, anybody reviewing the DVD extras, or pretty much even watching any of them, is usually unable to give a neutral review, and even if they could they won't... like the DVD transfer guy, they're a geek who thinks only in terms of people like themselves to even be bringing up the DVD extras on a rental website.

Sample review:

I was excited to finally get a definitive release of The Third Man on DVD, only to have it ruined by a harmonic reverberation in my home theater from the twang of the zither music, an issue that frankly should have been fixed by sound engineers for a 50th anniversary release, as well as cleaning up some of the numerous scratches and pops in the soundtrack for a modern audience with 7.1 channel audio systems. Don't waste your time.

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