I sit here and sort of watch Batman Begins on DVD...

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

You guys are too MTV-influenced. You want your food pre-cut up before it's served to you as well? Pre-chewed too maybe? If the director is interesting to listen to, such as Robert Zemeckis, Paul Verhoeven, Ridley Scott, Rob Reiner etc, there will be interesting stuff coming all through the length of the movie.

But most of them arn't like that at all. Most of them are just the commentator watching the film through and talking off the top of their head about whatever comes into their minds as they watch. That's often pretty dull stuff, especially when it's for two hours.

In fact I'm pretty sure that's just a "value add" that most people will never watch, but it's there so the movie companies can try and justify the high prices of their DVDs. "Gee, we have to charge you more because we put in all these scenes that we threw away and got the director to talk through the movie". I think most people would rather have the movie alone for half price, rather than all the additional extras of rambling commentary they are never going to watch anyway.

 

[_xxx_]

I can agree with that, more or less anyway. Except Keaton was miscast, and so was Nicholson to some extent. His big-star status sort of competed out the lead character of the movie.

Kim was the actual star of the first movie IMHO. The movie itself would have been MUCH better if someone else played the leading role instead of Keaton, who looks like a wimp and not like someone you can imagine being a superhero.

 

[jvd]

Batman begins wasn't good .


I like continuity and it just goes against much of it .


Of course dc and marvel don't really care about continuity in the movies see the new superman movie for just how bad they mess up thier characters

 

[PC-Engine]

Kim was the actual star of the first movie IMHO. The movie itself would have been MUCH better if someone else played the leading role instead of Keaton, who looks like a wimp and not like someone you can imagine being a superhero.

Keaton didn't look like a wimp. When he becomes Batman, he goes kinda berzerk a scary kind of berzerk. Superman and Spiderman are kinda the same, when they're not in their superhero mode they're kinda wimpy.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

I liked Keaton. He does "crazy schizophrenic" really well. When it came to being Batman, anyone in the muscle suit would have worked fine - there's not exactly a whole lot of acting methodology involved there. He was better than everyone bar Bale, and Keaton had to deal with Burton's quirky Batman vision, which seemed to concentrate more on Joker than Batman.

 

[_xxx_]

Keaton didn't look like a wimp. When he becomes Batman, he goes kinda berzerk a scary kind of berzerk. Superman and Spiderman are kinda the same, when they're not in their superhero mode they're kinda wimpy.

Yes, but they are like that in the comics as well, while Bruce Wayne is a cool, goodlooking guy in the comic. Keaton != cool, good looking guy (in this context). Nothing against keaton, he's a very good actor.

 

[tahrikmili]

I was always torn up between Batman and Batman Returns and now I'm torn three ways.. Batman Begins, Batman and Batman Returns are all excellent movies. It's incredible how nobody mentioned Returns yet - DeVito was excellent in it. It was a BATMAN movie, dark, gothic, desperate. Burton should definitely direct more Batman movies..

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

I was always torn up between Batman and Batman Returns and now I'm torn three ways.. Batman Begins, Batman and Batman Returns are all excellent movies. It's incredible how nobody mentioned Returns yet - DeVito was excellent in it. It was a BATMAN movie, dark, gothic, desperate. Burton should definitely direct more Batman movies..

Michelle Pfeiffer is also excellent, even though they mangled the Catwoman character. A much better female lead than Bassinger was, both in acting and character.

 

[Sazar]

the first one with keaton was the best.....this one comes in second in my opinion

I would agree.

Thing with Begins is, since it didn't suck, by default it doubles the quality of the movie in the mind of a lot of people. It was a good movie no doubt, but not THAT good.

Same seems to apply to SW:EP III. Since it didn't suck, by default it was AWESOME. In actuality, it did actually SUCK as a movie. The worst of the lot by far, but I guess flashy things make people happy

 

[Guden Oden]

But most of them arn't like that at all. Most of them are just the commentator watching the film through and talking off the top of their head about whatever comes into their minds as they watch.

Dunno what "most" you're talking about. I have 160+ movies in my collection and while not all of them have commentaries on them (far too few), a good deal of them do. And I don't think I've ever listened to a commentaries track where the director rambled.

The track for Resident Evil - which I made the mistake of buying because of the shiny disc cover, idiot that I am - I couldn't listen to because Milla Jovovich and that other Vasquez ripoff female character actress whatshername giggled and laughed like they were drunk AND high on pot, it was impossible to listen to. The director did actually try to talk about the movie, but he kept getting drowned out by vacuous and inane noise coming out of the mouths of the two women. Obviously, neither of them are in possession of a brain, judging from the way they behaved. I don't think Milla works much these days... No coincidence, I would think.

I think most people would rather have the movie alone for half price, rather than all the additional extras of rambling commentary they are never going to watch anyway.

Chopping the commentary and other extras wouldn't halve the price. If it did, studios would do it (and then most likely still charge the same price they do now to maximize their profits.)

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Chopping the commentary and other extras wouldn't halve the price. If it did, studios would do it (and then most likely still charge the same price they do now to maximize their profits.)

You've got it the wrong way around. Commentaries cost the studios almost nothing, so they use them and the other "extras" such as scenes they picked up off the cutting room floor to justify their high prices. You pay lots for the two disc-special collectors edition where the second disc is junk they threw away, commentaries that cost nothing, or "making of" documentaries they made anyway to promote the movie on the TV networks.

There are a few films that actually have worthy director's cuts, but only after the studios have double-dipped by selling you the theatrical version first.

 

[Guden Oden]

You've got it the wrong way around.

No I don't. I'm aware of what you say, I just don't care all that much because there's no point. Movie companies charge whatever the hell they want anyway, and I can either choose to buy, or not buy. Those are the two only options.

There are a few films that actually have worthy director's cuts, but only after the studios have double-dipped by selling you the theatrical version first.

Can't say I see that as a common occurrence. Barring the Lord of the Ring movies, I can't think of any recent movie off-hand where first a theatrical version was released, and then (much) later, a special edition. If the movie is re-cut at all for DVD, then that is the version that is released. There might be an extras disc in the special edition, but that too comes out at the same time as the movie-only version.

This is how it works in Europe anyway. States might be different, but that's not my concern.

 

[_xxx_]

I can't remember when I bought my last movie DVD, I think it was Spiderman1. If I really _must_ see the movie, I'll go to the cinema, otherwise I wait for the movie to land in the bargain bin. I'd NEVER shell out 25-30€ for a movie, that's just so ridiculous. Same goes for CD's, although these are (still) easy to get for half the price abroad.

(no, I don't dl them either, can't take the crappy quality of a movie pressed into 1-2 CD's low-bitrate DivX)

 

[Moloch]

I remember downloading a spiderman pre dvd rip either while it playing in theateres or before

 

[KimB]

Same seems to apply to SW:EP III. Since it didn't suck, by default it was AWESOME. In actuality, it did actually SUCK as a movie. The worst of the lot by far, but I guess flashy things make people happy

I would tend to disagree. Except for the horribly unbelievable microwave part of the plotline (side note: metal blocks microwaves, so how would the generator have operated through the floor of the train? It'd just heat up the car.....), I thought Batman Begins was a great movie.

Now, EP III, that was a mediocre movie, in my opinion. It was, by far, the best of the three new ones, and on par with the original three. Its saving grace is the excellent Star Wars universe in which it resides. But my God, couldn't they have invested in some decent computer graphics? The fight with Grievous was horrible (especially if you've seen the Clone Wars cartoon). And the storm troopers just looked unbelievably fake at times.

 

[_xxx_]

I remember downloading a spiderman pre dvd rip either while it playing in theateres or before

I prefer to have the originals of the stuff that's worth it. Shiny covers and extras and all that.

 

[_xxx_]

I missed a really interesting bad guy and a MUCH more epic and intereesting final battle. But I like it better than all the previous movies together, frankly.

 

[Moloch]

I prefer to have the originals of the stuff that's worth it. Shiny covers and extras and all that.

meh..
With dvd9 rips being posted with nothing touched it's a good time to have dual layer dvd burners.. and the means to get said dvd9s
Too bad dual layer media is still expensive.. wtf..
Thats why I dont have one
I'm happy with just 5.1 and a movie.
Although theres more and more movies with DC being erm.. released..

 

[PC-Engine]

Yes, but they are like that in the comics as well, while Bruce Wayne is a cool, goodlooking guy in the comic. Keaton != cool, good looking guy (in this context). Nothing against keaton, he's a very good actor.

Well George Clooney who is cool and goodlooking didn't make for a very good Batman.

 

[Sazar]

Well George Clooney who is cool and goodlooking didn't make for a very good Batman.

Well, the script and director hardly helped