[David600]

 http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...1.MZZZZZZZ.gif

http://www.dvdfile.com/software/revi...2/lonestar.htm


I haven't seen the dvd but the reviews over the net point unanimously to a superb independant movie. too bad the disc itself is not good.


as I write this, it's on tv now here in Europe and it looks superbly!!! nothing like dvdfile says it looks on the dvd. probably another master.

the local RTB, Belgian tv here, has for some time now made a reputation of trying to use the best possible masters (they even put it on the air in french dubbed and the second channel in english).


so, i want this movie but I don't want a poorly done dvd..... what to do...

 

[Digital Howie]

Hi David!


John Sayles is such an interesting film maker. Lone Star is yet another title on my list I just haven't gotten around to yet...it's a terrific film!


I highly recommend his films to anyone who is not familiar with his work. Limbo is another Sayles film I missed in the theatre and available on dvd...have you seen it? Matewan and Brother From Another Planet are also some of my favorites. Although it's hard to believe, this is the same writer who gave us one of my favorite werewolf movies; The Howling!


I do have to admit I've always had an extra bias towards Mr. Sayles seeing as how he's from my home town.


Howie

 

[Robert George]

David:


I reviewed this disc when it was first released...

Lone Star


obviously, I felt the disc was rather better than the reviewer you linked to above. This is one of my all-time favorite films and I find nothing about the DVD that would keep me from recommending it wholeheartedly.

 

[David600]

hi guys


thanks , I will check his other works ( though I saw The Howlings but didn't make the link, amazing director indeed and versatile to say the least though The Howlings is one weird and disturbing werewolf flick )


Robert, I'll check your review, tks.


this movie is haunting. there should be more independant films like that.


Speaking of cop/city/past and present stories, though quite a bit different (not so much the racial aspect of course ), there's Cop Land which I find amazing too. the repetitive viewing is high with this flick.

 

[David600]

just read your review Robert. i'm surprised a movie shot in Panavision could have such graininess as you (on the ld) and dvdfile (on the dvd) reports. it's usually the contrary compared to super 35 but depends also on the hardware used and the transfers after. http://home.hiwaay.net/~criswell/the...35_format.html

The hiss and harshness of the audio track is problematic. I guess the reEQ is a must with this dvd to try to tame this a bit.

I'll probably get it, there's one chance in a billion Warner will revisit it... ( where's a new edition of HEAT btw ???? this movie should get a super duper edition.... )

 

[Georgeb]

I've played this disc a couple of times now and have not seen anything wrong with the transfer. The film itself is top-notch Sayles.

 

[AndyM]

PQ : it's hardly "little short of amazing", but it's no unforgiven, blade runner, born on the fourth of july etc.


i'd say average; average for a 1999 warner release that is.

 

[DFletcher]

Sorry, can't agree. Sayles is certainly a smart writer, but his films are marred by talentless execution. Any number of shots in "Lone Star" are poorly devised, and clumsily edited.


David Denby suggested that Sayles was not working in his natural medium. He should be a novelist, not a filmmaker. He is the opposite of say, Spielberg, who needs better writing for his films.

 

[Robert George]

Quote:

i'd say average; average for a 1999 warner release that is.

Well, that review was written in '99 and if you had compared the DVD to either the VHS or LD that preceded it, it is "little short of amazing" how good it looks. Or perhaps I'm just easily amazed.

 

[AndyM]

Quote:

Originally posted by Robert George Well, that review was written in '99 and if you had compared the DVD to either the VHS or LD that preceded it, it is "little short of amazing" how good it looks. Or perhaps I'm just easily amazed.

hi robert; sure, but most DVDs look like night and day compared to VHS and LD. it's just within the context of other DVDs from that time, i don't think it's so great. each to his own

 

[Jim Ferguson]

I think it looks fine (and is a favorite of mine.) The only real issue I have with it is that it is substantially windowboxed. If you have low or no overscan on your display you will probably see black bars on the sides.

 

[David600]

image, image but what about the sound ?? both Robert and dvdfile reports hiss, harshness etc. I like as much as anyone the image quality of a transfer but the sound matters a lot too ! I can't deal with hiss, harshness, distorsion. I can "better" deal however ( oops, is it me saying that ??? ) with a soundtrack that is too tame. But not distorsion.


well, on second thought, I can"t deal with a tamed audio either ( and there are legions of these ! )

 

[Shaded Dogfood]

I saw Lone Star in the theater. I don't recall its cinematography to have been anything to write home about, and I would be surprised if there was enough money in it to invest in a fancy surround sound presentation. Sayles always works on a shoestring.


I'm glad he's out there and making stuff that's not like all the other slick Hollywood stuff, and Lone Star is one of his most compelling works, but he also seems to Dogfood to make films that are too slowly paced and too long by a half hour. A really ruthless editor would have been his best friend in his career. But Matewan is quite a picture.