983 War and Peace

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Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: 983 War and Peace

#126 Post by Ribs » Sat Mar 16, 2019 4:12 pm

The length of the four parts in Janus' restoration are:

1: 147 m
2: 98 m
3: 82 m
4: 96 m

I *think* the best way to divide that up would be part 1 + extras on disc 1 and parts 2-4 on their own as disc 2.

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tenia
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#127 Post by tenia » Sat Mar 16, 2019 7:10 pm

Thanks for these, I indeed just read Janus PR and saw those runtimes split.

It seems to me having Pts 1 + 2 on Disc 1 and Pts 3 + 4 + the extras on Disc 2 is a more balanced solution. Following yours would lead to the 2nd disc not even hitting the 20 Mbps AVB mark, while allowing Pt 1 to have tons of space and/or allocating too much space for the extras (considering how tight 2 discs seems to be here).
If splitting Pts 1+2 on D1 and 3+4 + extras on D2, Pts 1+2 would have an AVB hovering around 21 Mbps, and Pts 3+4 around 25 Mbps with 20% of the disc left for the extras.

In the present case, I'd also suggest encoding the DTS HD MA 5.1 track as a 48/16 track instead of a 48/24 ans save a couple of Mbps.

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andyli
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#128 Post by andyli » Mon Mar 18, 2019 12:45 am

The first few posts of this thread from more than ten years ago suggested that the OCN of WaP existed and was held in Ukraine. But the press book from Janus suggested that "[a]n extensive search in the archives of the former Soviet republics also failed to yield a complete 70 mm negative". So I wonder what the actual situation is over there? Did the OCN from Ukraine not exist at all or turn out to be incomplete, or the Russians did not bother to ask because of the current political hostility. The thing is, no matter how good a 35mm restoration is, the clarity and color will not match a scan of original 70mm elements, and there is also the aspect ratio difference to consider.

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OldBobbyPeru
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#129 Post by OldBobbyPeru » Sun Apr 28, 2019 1:02 pm

I went to the showing yesterday at the Egyptian Theater in LA, and I was completely floored. Absolutely amazing film--my jaw was scraping the floor over and over again. I'm never left a film of any length like that thinking, "I can't wait to see that again," but that's what happened. The blu-ray of this is going to be amazing--I don't imagine it's going to look much different from the DCP they showed.

I wasn't prepared for how offbeat and philosophical the film is: multiple narrators, tons of subjective camera shots, dreams and hallucinations, the details and Sternberg-like mis-en-scene. I guess I thought it was going to be an epic melodrama with a war background ala Gone With The Wind. It is that, but much more. Ebert was right: I have never, ever seen anything like it. I'm so glad I made the effort to see it on the big screen. It was worth the hundred mile drive and the overnight hotel. If it comes to a town near you, don't pass up this chance.

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bearcuborg
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#130 Post by bearcuborg » Sun Apr 28, 2019 3:12 pm

Great post OldBobbyPeru, sounds like a great trip.

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FrauBlucher
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#131 Post by FrauBlucher » Tue Apr 30, 2019 3:54 pm


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senseabove
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#132 Post by senseabove » Wed May 08, 2019 8:12 pm

For those of you who have seen this, I've got the option to see this all in one day, or over the course of about a week (likely 1 and 2 back-to-back, then 3 a few days later and 4 a few days after that). I have no personal problems with (even probably a mild predilection for) the all-in-one-go format, but not everything benefits from it. Does anyone have a strong recommendation either way for this one? Does it benefit more from the build up, or does a little room to breath and digest suit it more?

Other variables, if they matter, are that it's the Castro theater (grand movie palace with giant screen and acceptable sound) for all-at-once vs the Pacific Film Archive (modern black box with state of the art sound and a smaller screen) for the split up option.

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MichaelB
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#133 Post by MichaelB » Wed May 08, 2019 8:46 pm

I'd pick the grand movie palace with the giant screen. I don't imagine state-of-the-art sound is that big a deal for a film that's over half a century old.

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domino harvey
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#134 Post by domino harvey » Wed May 08, 2019 9:12 pm

I saw it all in one day and the way it’s structured lends itself to viewing it like this in that the last part is already very fever dream-ish, so your fatigue actually ends up positively playing into how you process the movie at that point!

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bearcuborg
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#135 Post by bearcuborg » Thu May 09, 2019 1:11 am

Definitely in one sitting, especially for that theater. Which movie did you not like all at once?

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senseabove
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#136 Post by senseabove » Thu May 09, 2019 3:21 am

Based on the trailer, I also suspect the giant screen palace experience to be a little more powerful, though i don't think either theater would leave me feeling like I missed anything... But I'm more particularly interested in folks' thoughts on whether the movie benefits from one sitting or over-saturates, so an observation like domino's is helpful.

There's no particular "endurance" movie that I've disliked seeing all at once, but some benefit from the breathing room and others don't. Out 1 last played here in one day, and while I can understand the choice, I can't imagine it did the movie or anyone in the audience any favors beyond bragging rights. But if a theater were showing, say, Satantango on two consecutive weekends, and someone wanted to split the experience across them, I'd say that was a terrible idea.

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MichaelB
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#137 Post by MichaelB » Thu May 09, 2019 3:24 am

I saw Hitler: A Film from Germany in one go, but I doubt it would have made much difference if spread across two or even four days.

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Lost Highway
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#138 Post by Lost Highway » Thu May 09, 2019 7:53 am

Not sure this will get a screening in Berlin at all, so it’s very likely that I’ll watch this at home when I get the Criterion and I will do so over four evenings. Very excited about seeing it though.

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jsteffe
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#139 Post by jsteffe » Thu May 09, 2019 10:10 am

bearcuborg wrote:
Thu May 09, 2019 1:11 am
Definitely in one sitting, especially for that theater.
Yes - I've found the film very absorbing, even eye-popping. I'm pretty sure I watched it at home over the course of one day, and it was a unique experience. At the same time, I think you could watch it over two days. I may be wrong, but I think the parts were not even released all at the same time during its initial run in the Soviet Union. I'll have to look into that...

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yoloswegmaster
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#140 Post by yoloswegmaster » Thu May 09, 2019 10:16 am

jsteffe wrote:
Thu May 09, 2019 10:10 am
bearcuborg wrote:
Thu May 09, 2019 1:11 am
Definitely in one sitting, especially for that theater.
Yes - I've found the film very absorbing, even eye-popping. I'm pretty sure I watched it at home over the course of one day, and it was a unique experience. At the same time, I think you could watch it over two days. I may be wrong, but I think the parts were not even released all at the same time during its initial run in the Soviet Union. I'll have to look into that...
You're correct. First 2 parts were released in 1966 and the last 2 parts in 1967.

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OldBobbyPeru
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#141 Post by OldBobbyPeru » Thu May 09, 2019 1:43 pm

I think it works fine either way--all in one go, or as a mini-series.

Having said that, I like to treat Godfather and Godfather Part Two as a single movie, with a break to cook some Clemenza spaghetti in between.

mteller
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#142 Post by mteller » Thu May 16, 2019 4:45 pm

War and Beave

Looks pretty damn good to me.

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jsteffe
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#143 Post by jsteffe » Thu May 16, 2019 5:39 pm

mteller wrote:
Thu May 16, 2019 4:45 pm
War and Beave

Looks pretty damn good to me.
It certainly does!

BTW, with regard to Gary's comments in his review: the overall color palette is not dissimilar to what I have seen from other Soviet films from that period, except in this case it looks spectacular.

phoenix474
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#144 Post by phoenix474 » Thu May 16, 2019 10:53 pm

The region B edition getting cancelled is so unfortunate but goddamn, that looks incredible. Can’t wait to get my hands on it, the extras sound great too

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TMDaines
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#145 Post by TMDaines » Fri May 17, 2019 6:58 am

Yeah, I'll be importing this one. Some are reporting macroblocking in scenes though.

Is it a keep case or digipak?

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aox
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#146 Post by aox » Sun Jul 21, 2019 6:34 pm

This is going to be an odd question, and it really is irrelevant, but I managed to get through high school and college without reading this tome. How accurate is the film to the book? Were any major liberties taken in the narrative? How about the dialogue? I'm just curious.

I have been wanting to see this for ten years, and I hopefully will get my chance this week.

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dda1996a
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#147 Post by dda1996a » Mon Jul 22, 2019 1:10 am

Watching this wouldn't count as also reading the book I'm afraid

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aox
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#148 Post by aox » Mon Jul 22, 2019 7:44 am

dda1996a wrote:
Mon Jul 22, 2019 1:10 am
Watching this wouldn't count as also reading the book I'm afraid
It never does.

My question is about the adaptation.

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Roscoe
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#149 Post by Roscoe » Mon Jul 22, 2019 8:59 am

I've never gotten far in WAR AND PEACE -- but what I have read (I've gotten about a quarter of the way through a couple of times) is more brimming with life and humanity than Bondarchuk's film, which is more interested in Big Sets and Big Action Scenes and Big Bigness than in giving its characters even a second dimension.

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domino harvey
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Re: 983 War and Peace

#150 Post by domino harvey » Mon Jul 22, 2019 9:04 am

Read that post in Tarzan voice

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