Well, after collecting dvds since day one I finally went over to the dark side...A friend of the family loaned me Blood Diamond....FULL SCREEN!!! How can people live on the dark side?? This is horrible, I need help!

tape black bars on the top and bottom of the screen and just pretend it was filmed extremely close up

I would have just handed it back to him and said no thanks, i want to watch the whole movie.

Agreed, I have actually done that before. Sometimes it is a little tough, for example my brother in law brought over Borat and it was FS and I tried to be polite and watch it with him and my wife and I just kept thinking how there was more to see that I was missing. I excused myself and went to bed s little ways into the movie (I had to go to work early the next morning so it was a real excuse, but I might have stayed up for a WS version). Imagine how I would have felt if it was a movie where it might actually matter. If someone offers to let me borrow a FS movie I just decline it though.

The Departed was shot on Super-35, so it's not conventional pan and scan.

Really, pan and scan is a thing of the past and pretty much every movie is shot with both theatrical and 4:3 presentations in mind.

This happened to me with a neighbor. I spit in his face, shat in his living room and left. The next day I torched his freakin' car too. That will show him.

I prefer fullscreen. On my regular TV you actually get more picture with those dvds, I even measured just to makes sure, it was definately a taller image.

Widescreen is much more pleasing to the eyes. Draw a box around your eyes, the shape is more like a widescreen tv than a normal one.

Dammit Kaze0, why didn't you mention not to use a sharpie marker?!!

You know, I really can't believe they even make these any more. I mean, Blockbuster and Netflix don't stock them, you'd think by now people would know better.

I remember the days of going into the store and checking carefully to make sure I bought the correct version. I've become lax, just assuming it's all Widescreen nowadays...but I was in some store t'other day looking at some new DVDs, and there it was: "FULLSCREEN VERSION" !!!

I though whoooooah! and put it back quickly......The Horror......The Horror.....

It really bugs me that Blockbuster doesn't carry the FS version of "Cars". We have a standard TV and I know my 4-year olds would enjoy it more if it were FS. I've been holding off on buying it (waiting for Blu-Ray), but I may actually purchase it in FS.

That's nice, but we're talking about Blood Diamond, which was shot with "scope" anamorphic lenses.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450259/technical

Not at all true.

Hmm, this is one of those cases where even I'm not sure if Groucho was joking.

Much in the way Banksy lost his audience when he painted that poor innocent elephant, Groucho has now lost his with his tacit approval of full-frame DVDs.

That movie is all digital, and visually striking. Why deprive yourself (or the young 'uns) of the full picture?

I pray that with their new push to spread HDTV to the masses, Wal-Mart will stop pushing P&S/Full screen for all of the cheaper catalogue titles in their stores.

Why?

how is that

I also pray that they'll start carrying Rubbermaid products. In fact I burn a candle in my home altar to the Virgin of Guadalupe for this. I'll start praying for them to stop this nonsense. Oh, and no abortion either.

My guess is because they're kids and are annoyed by the black bars, have no concept about how widescreen works, and haven't become hyper anal about this. Peep, am I right?

Doubtful. Kids are usually much more flexible and open-minded about these things than adults. If they grow up always seeing letterboxing, they don't question it at all. That's just the way "movies" look, as opposed to "TV shows".

It's only when someone is raised to adulthood watching pan-and-scan movies that they become rigid and inflexible, believing a filled TV screen is their god given right.

I'm not approving full-frame DVDs, I'm just pointing out that just because you're watching the full-frame version doesn't mean you're only getting part of the picture. I'm all for OAR presentation, but I'm not going to mislead people in order to get them to "convert".

Of course, I wouldn't have posted at all if I hadn't gotten my Leo movies mixed up.

They are 4 years old. Why would they notice and/or care? Well, I'll see in 4 years.

I've noticed before that gamestop used FS costs alittle more than the WS counterpart on certain dvds. My guess is that you don't see the FS version of some movies as often Used. I asked why FS costs more and my answer was "It's more of a luxury." I laughed all the way home.

My friend came up with a theory that anyone that wants to buy Full Screen, has to sit and watch that little documentary piece with Martin Scorsece where he shows clips from Ben-Hur and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Then, if they still want the Full Sceen, they have to sign a wavier of stupidity.

Also, once I put Spaceballs in the wrong way, and couldn't figure out why the movie looked so messed up, it took me 30 minuted to realize it's on full. I felt dumb.

Well, you sound like a Major Asshole!