I voted H6. There are definitely better movies on this list. But if anything cries out for a special edition, this has to be it. The Producer's Cut is long overdue for an official release and they could use seemless branching technology to give us both versions on one disk. I enjoy a lot of the others listed as well. But it would be a real pleasure to see a 16:9 release of the alternate cut. I would love to be able to toss my crappy bootleg versions.
Escape From L.A., preferably with Carpenter/Russell commentary as well. Underrated film. I love it just as much as Escape From New York, perhaps even more. The social commentary is spot-on.
Hmmm...let's see, tons of MGM DVDs are still non-anamorphic. New York, New York (MGM re-released this last year as a SE with the same non-anamorphic transfer) Kiss Me Deadly The Fugitive Kind The Misfits Birdman of Alcatraz Exodus And from Warner Bros: Giant Barry Lyndon Lolita These are three films that really deserve an anamorphic transfer. But I'm really getting sick of MGM's bullshit. Seriously, they are the fucking stupidest company when it comes to releasing DVDs. They STILL release non-anamorphic widescreen and pan and scan flipper discs. It's 2008, get with it you fucking morons. It's like they hate their own films. Ever since I got a widescreen TV, honestly, nothing annoys me more than a non-anamorphic disc. ~Matt
Add Lions Gate to that list. They still release non-16x9 discs, and even falsely label discs as anamorphic upgrades when they're not, i.e. the Freeway reissue.
Yes. Psycho has had a 16x9 enhanced transfer since 2005 when the Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection Box Set was released. However, that was only available in the Box Set. It took an additional three years to get an individual release of Psycho with an anamorphic transfer, but that finally happened this week (Oct. 7) with the release of the 2-Disc Legacy Series Special Edition. (It shouldn't have taken three years to get this released individually.) And I agree with the votes for Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers, Halloween 7, and Scream. I thought for sure Dimension was going to rerelease Halloween 6 and 7 on DVD with anamorphic transfers when Rob Zombie's remake hit theaters last year. What a wasted opportunity. At this point I don't expect it to ever happen. And it doesn't make any sense, especially when you consider how big of a movie H20 was at the time. I think the only hope we have for these films is a Blu-ray release. And Scream really is a puzzler. As popular as it was, Dimension is letting it rot on DVD with a 4x3 letterbox transfer of the R-rated theatrical cut. I finally broke down about a year ago and bought a bootleg which contains the unrated director's cut with a 16x9 enhanced transfer. And it looks outstanding - like an official release.
Most of these releases are the controversial 1.66:1 aspect ratio. While I'd rather see them 16x9 with black bars on the sides, that can make for an especially tiny image for the joe blow with the standard def. television (which is still the vast majority). I'm still crying inside because of Warner's neglect of LYNDON on their updated Kubrick set. It's pretty lame to just skip over that film while the rest get pristine transfers. The fact that it's the only film of the bunch to get the Oscar for cinematography makes it an even more laughable oversight.
I have the region 2 of Dusk till Dawn, it's 16:9 and the quality's pretty good. I would love for an official release of Halloween 6 the producer's cut.
Yeah, really eh? Barry Lyndon's release pissed me off. It was a shame they did the same with Lolita, too. But I dunno, even if the original ratio was 1.66:1, it should still be presented anamorphically, since technically it still is widescreen. And if you use the zoom function on your TV for a non-anamorphic disc, it zooms it too much, to about 1.85:1 and parts get cut off. Lolita actually looks okay when you do this, but New York, New York looks horrendous. But even still, some 1.85:1 anamorphic DVDs still have thin lines on the top and bottom, which is kindof weird. (Maybe it's a result of some of the transfers.) But, isn't a widescreen TV designed to perfectly display 1.85:1? (1.78:1 seems to be a bit more "snug".) I thought that 1.85:1 was its native ratio, and it scales anamorphic DVDs according to their relation to the 1.85 ratio. Like, 2.35:1's bars basically get cut in half when compared to a 4:3 TV, where the bars are really thick, etc etc. But right now I'm at a debate over whether to get the R2 DVD of The Misfits, which is 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, or settle with the non-anamorphic R1, which is in its correct ratio of 1.66:1. I don't know how cropped 1.78:1 will look. ~Matt
Some titles on the list, like The Abyss, Scream, and FDTD, seem like they should be a "just a matter of time" thing. But with Blu-ray on the scene, the studios probably won't bother re-releasing SD DVDs in favor of concentrating on the growing HD market. Anyways, I voted "Other" for the kaiju classics Destroy All Monsters and Gamera: Guardian of the Universe. Not that I'm really hopeful; both were recently re-released, in a 2-pack, but still non-anamorphic.
Voted for "From Dusk...", but others I'd really like to see: A Boy and His Dog Chopping Mall Miami Blues and a few more I can't think of right now.
If you plug 16/9 into your calculator, a rounded 1.78 is what you get. 1.85:1 is the most common film aspect ratio, which results in small black bars on the top and bottom of the frame. In regards to 1.66 still being widescreen...so is 4x3
I find 1.78:1 to be kind of a "happy medium". With the exception of perhaps a few shots here and there my eye doesn't really detect a difference between 1.66 and 1.78. Likewise 1.78 and 1.85. I can't think of a single movie in my collection where the viewing experience has been hampered by being in that ratio. I'd like all of the early AB Hammer discs re-released in anamorphic. I'd get the R2 Ultimate Hammer Collection but the few reviews I've found insinuate that they're possibly sourced from an NTSC master. If that's true then I'd rather have a straight NTSC DVD than a NTSC to PAL conversion reconverted back into NTSC.
