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kal
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| Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 7:38 pm Post subject: "HOME" The best looking Blu-ray I've seen all year |
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I watched this last night and was blown away by the image sharpness and colours:
Links:
Amazon: Home (2009) (Fox) $16.99
View the 2 minute Trailer
HD Trailer is here
| Quote: | "Former actor Yann Arthus-Bertrand directed this visually astonishing portrait of the Earth as seen from mesmerizing aerial views. Home is not the first documentary to survey our planet from the air, but Arthus-Bertrand brilliantly and dreamily captures the miraculous linkage within delicate eco-systems. For viewers whose eyes glaze over at descriptions of the way Earth recycles energy and matter, Home underscores the beautiful and awesome reality of that complex process. Narrated by actress Glenn Close (in this English-language version), Home begins by exploring and clarifying the natural history of water, sunlight, and the role simple life-forms such as algae played (and still play) in making the planet hospitable to more evolved, living things. As the film moves along, it also has a way of rebooting one's lazy assumptions about familiar phenomena. The Grand Canyon, for example, might be a fantastic sight to behold, but it's also a collection of billions and billions of shells compressed under Earth's oceans long ago. The carbon trapped in the Grand Canyon was drained from the atmosphere, helping--once again--oxygen-dependent life to develop.
Similarly, plant life, Home tells us, broke up the water molecule and released oxygen into the atmosphere. Everything is linked, everything is part of a grand machine--the film makes this clear in scores of ways, and not just by telling us. Arthus-Bertrand reveals the intricate, breathtaking designs and patterns of glaciers feeding rivers, of animals feeding on plant life so more plant life can grow, of Australia's great Coral Reef's role in keeping the ocean in eco-balance. Of course, a big part of the story is the impact short-sighted humans have on these systems: the way we overfish, or drain deserts of scarce fossil water, or turn non-farming lands into perverse engines for agriculture. There is much to be alarmed at watching Home, but there is much to move one as well. --Tom Keogh " |
There's some really mesmerizing content here. If you're a fan of things like Planet Earth (Blu-Ray) then this one's a must-see. In fact, I think the image quality is more consistent than Planet Earth.
Kal
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Last edited by kal on Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:42 pm; edited 1 time in total
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zaphod
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
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Location: Cloverdale
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| Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 7:56 pm Post subject: |
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that trailer is really impressive, but how much of the movie is message, and how much visual splendour?
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kal
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| Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:43 pm Post subject: |
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The entire movie is both visual splendor and message. It's just a continual video of fanstastic looking images with a voiceover. It would be perfect to run in store window or something with no sound.
The message is in Glenn Close's voice over where she talks about the history of man and how we're basically destroying our home. Turn the sound down if you don't want to hear the message.  Though I didn't find it to be overly preachy or anything... most of it is certainly true.
There's no talking heads or anything that isn't visually spectacular. That's the good part. It's a complete 2 hours of "wow - that's an amazing picture". So pretty much exactly what you saw in the 2 minute trailer, but 2 hours worth. It must have taken them forever to film.
Planet Earth is great too but often there are parts that aren't that visually interesting. This one's just non-stop eye-candy.
Kal
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ecrabb
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Joined: 13 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:23 pm Post subject: |
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Sounds like a modern-day version of one of my all-time favorite films, Koyaanisqatsi, but with aerial/without timelapse, without one of the most kick-ass musical scores EVER, and with an overt documentary-style message rather than as a metaphorical visual narrative.
With all the storage capacity on BD, it's too bad they don't have an alternative mix with no voiceover.
Regardless, looks like a must-have, indeed.
SC
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WanMan
Joined: 19 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 9:19 am Post subject: |
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Movies like this remind me of pretty and b!tchy women. Yeah, they're pretty, but their b!tchiness get's old after a while.
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MikeEby
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 12:57 pm Post subject: |
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Is this film based (24fps) or Video (60Hz)? Since I run my system at 72Hz, video based stuff looks bad, the upside is Movies look great... The action is Wolverine was super smooth yet still looks like film. I've see a few of the newer LCD panels running movies with 120Hz FI, man does that look weird...I could never get used to it...Everything looks like a soap opera.
Mike
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kal
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ecrabb
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| Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:15 pm Post subject: |
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Kal, I think the Cineflex HD is actually a gyro-stabilized motion platform for aerial cinematography... I'll do a little more searching and see if I can find out exactly what camera(s) was/were used on Home.
SC
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akajester
Joined: 09 Jul 2008
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Location: Wisconsin
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| Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:19 pm Post subject: |
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Ever since Fatal Attraction I can't look at Glenn Close, it weirds me out.
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MikeEby
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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I just finished watching Knowing Bluray. According to this link it was shot on a 4K RED Camera. The transfer has no trace of film grain yet still had a film like quality that was hard to explain. I like the movie a lot, it had a decent plot, that was not predictable. I watch it right before bed and gave me a nightmare.
Mike
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kal
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CRT_Ben
Joined: 28 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 3:06 pm Post subject: |
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I have an unexplainable fondness for Nick Cage (even with his spotty track record)...perhaps tracing back to The Rock?
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kal
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zaphod
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:23 am Post subject: |
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The Rock was a good flick - an d one of Connery's better later pictures. LoEG was horrid and nothing could save The Avengers.
i didn't like Nat Treasure 2, but Nat Treasure 1 had it's moments.
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ecrabb
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| Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 5:11 am Post subject: |
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This post goes in the "way more than you wanted to know" folder... What can I say? I'm a photo/video/film dork and I'm into this stuff.
Anyway, I couldn't find any articles or videos with the director or TD that gave any hard data on the cameras used on HOME, but the Cineflex is the "system" - A gyroscopically-stabilized helicopter gimbal mount and HD camera... From what I can find, it seems like most of the cameras integrated in the mount are Sony HD cameras. For the camera geeks, it's about a $100,000 portable camera with a 2/3" sensor, 4:4:4, 1080p, and can run 50i, 60i, and 24p. This is a camera head only... You have to add a lens and VTR to that $100k price tag. So, the camera operator sits in the back seat of the helicopter with a control panel, joystick, and display (along with the VTR) and runs the Cineflex camera from there.
Given the camera, I'm not sure if Home was shot in 24p or 60i (or 50i for that matter), but considering its intended international and web distribution, I'd bet on 24p.
The killer thing is the Cineflex gimbal mount, though. From what I read, it was originally developed by the Army for assisted firing (it does look like the doodad on the belly of an Apache), but then the manufacturer put HD cameras in it... The footage I saw was amazingly stable.
AxSys page on the Cineflex:
http://www.axsys.com/index.cfm?acronym=multi-axis-stabilized-camera-systems
Here's a quick making-of vignette on YouTube HD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5a78lAezMM
Oh, and anybody who wants to check the film out before you buy can watch the whole film for free on YouTube HD... looks pretty awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU
According to the wiki, it's apparently available copyright-free as an HD mp4 file from Bit-torrent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_(2009_film)
Oh, and I'm a Nick Cage fan, too. He's done a few hackers, but I really like him as an actor. Lord of War and Matchstick Men are a couple of my favorite Nick Cage movies.
SC
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AnalogRocks
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| Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 5:20 am Post subject: |
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I'm just watching the film on my monitor at 72Hz looking for judder/hicups.
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kal
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| Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 1:37 pm Post subject: |
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| ecrabb wrote: | | The killer thing is the Cineflex gimbal mount, though. From what I read, it was originally developed by the Army for assisted firing (it does look like the doodad on the belly of an Apache), but then the manufacturer put HD cameras in it... The footage I saw was amazingly stable. |
Yes - "Home" is mostly very slow panning shots but there are some closeups with faster pans that are amazingly smooth.
| Quote: | | Oh, and I'm a Nick Cage fan, too. He's done a few hackers, but I really like him as an actor. Lord of War and Matchstick Men are a couple of my favorite Nick Cage movies. |
Definitely two of his better movies. He was also good in Leaving Last Vegas (depressing movie though).
Kal
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jask
Joined: 17 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:15 am Post subject: |
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I think his Leaving Las Vegas was brilliant, and I really enjoyed his Raising Arizona,and 8mm performances.
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zaphod
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 4:31 am Post subject: |
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yes, how could i forget that one! Leaving Las Vegas was absolutely astounding. really showed his qualities as an actor when it is pulled out of him. but then again, there is so much that is excellent about that movie, Elizabeth Shue's performance, the cinematography, the soundtrack. just a stellar stellar movie.
another NC movie that i'd forgotten about (active forgetting ) is Moonstruck. man - the only thing more wooden than his performance was his fake hand.
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Kiev Savoie
Joined: 25 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 3:26 pm Post subject: |
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| MikeEby wrote: | I've see a few of the newer LCD panels running movies with 120Hz FI, man does that look weird...I could never get used to it...Everything looks like a soap opera.
Mike |
I just recently started installing for a local AV shop and the only flat panels in the place that get my attention are those new high end LED 120hz units by Samsung and Sony. I've been staring at them for two days now. I think you summed it up with that soap opera comment. The motion of figures in the frame is so smooth and edge lines are razor sharp. It does take some getting used to though. My only complaint is that backgrounds with little or no movement look "dead" or "fake" in comparison to the figures in the foreground, It's kinda weird.
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