leahcim

Does the basic 2 disk Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital come with a separate digital code from the DVD or does the DVD need to be used to acquire the digital version?

Mr. Cinema

I believe this one has a code. I think it is a UV title, but also includes a code for itunes. Someone can confirm if they've opened their copy already.

E Unit

You are almost correct Mr. Cinema. I picked mine up from Best Buy a little while ago. It has one leaflet that has ONE code for both UV as well as downloading a digital copy via paramountdigitalcopy.com. But no seperate iTunes code.

MasterofDVD

I hit up Best Buy in a hurry before work today to get my copy. I stop into their stores now and then to just look around but I rarely buy much. Their prices seem to be reasonable on some stuff now but today they had 1 checkout open and the picked the wrong employee to man the register. The guy in front of me bought 1 item and it took longer for him to checkout with that item than people with entire carts full of stuff at a Target or Wal-Mart take. It was fucking insane. I get up to the line and the guy tried to make small talk with me and I cut him off real quick and told him I was in a hurry. Normally I'm not a dick like that. I hope the extras end up being worth the hassle.

DJariya

Picked up the 3-disc set today for $14.99 with my $5 RZ coupon.

Was surprised to see some people actually take the 2-disc set over the 3-disc.

The cashier asked me if I've seen it before and I told him yeah I saw it in theatres. He seemed surprised that so many people were buying this title. He said I was the 7th or 8th straight person to buy it at his register. uhhh Duh!!

DJariya

Just watched the 48 minute Mission Accepted Documentary on Disc 2. Really good stuff. I know most of you aren't that into Behind the scenes docs and only care about the movie, but this was a pretty damn good feature. Lots of interesting material covered. I hate self congratulatory EPK fluff where everyone says how great the movie is and how awesome it was to work with the director. This one was more of a Behind the scenes diary of the production, which interests me as a film lover.

Will try to watch the Impossible Missions documentary later on.

E Unit

Yep, I really enjoyed all of the extras myself. I loved that Brad Bird used his iPhone so much when prepping scenes and just shooting behind the scenes stuff in general. Definitely the kind of behind the scenes stuff I enjoy. Deleted scenes weren't bad either, but they wouldn't have added to the movie itself, so it was a good choice to leave them out. Pisses me off though seeing the IMAX part, as brief as it is, how effective and good it overall looks compared to shooting on other stock. And of course Paramount decides to fuck us over by NOT letting us see the IMAX version on blu.

DJariya

I'm puzzled why Bird recorded a commentary track for the deleted scenes, but didn't do a track for the actual movie.

And yeah I liked how he used his iPhone camera in the documentary to give us a closer and more intimate perspective on the production.

Superdaddy

Production documentaries are actually my favorite bonus feature (when they're intelligently done; I don't care for EPKs either). For older movies, I can live with minor bonus features being deleted in the upgrade from DVD to BD but am annoyed when decent documentaries are axed. I always hang onto the DVD version in that case rather than trade it or give it away.

My copy of MI is coming in the mail from BB, so I look forward to checking these out.

fujishig

But you can still download an itunes copy with the code, right? I mean, the itunes label is right on the sticker.

I haven't opened my MI copy yet, but at least with the last Blu I bought like this, you could redeem the same code for both a UV copy and an itunes copy (though I never redeemed the UV copy).

E Unit

Yes, the code which you redeem at the Paramount site can be used on iTunes.

Solid Snake

Fincher loves his making of docs. I actually ALMOST await those more than the movie itself. Feature length beauties.

RocShemp

Yeah, that part felt like a kick to the nuts.

Josh Z

That was Brad Bird's decision, not Paramount's.

http://entertainment.ca.msn.com/movi...ts-his-mission

Bird feels that the alternating aspect ratios only serve to make the 2.35:1 footage look small on a home screen, which was never his intent. He prefers to have the entire movie run at a consistent ratio in every venue except IMAX, where the 2.35:1 scenes fill a viewer's field of vision and the IMAX scenes exceed the field of vision. On a screen where everything fills the field of vision, he finds the alternating ratios a distraction from the viewing experience.

I'm currently running a poll on this topic, if anyone feels like voting or sounding off about it.

Solid Snake

I voted and still feel that he should have kept alternating AR. I, begrudgingly, agree that it's his decision but...he made it like that. And we're losing out on the experience we were given.

applesandrice

Brad Bird is a proponent of constant image height in home theaters. I recall seeing him endorsing it in a CineWide ad for Runco several years ago.

DJariya

How big of a TV would you need to fully enjoy the IMAX scenes?

I don't own a 75-80 inch HDTV (my TV is 37 inches) So I don't see how I could have fully enjoyed those scenes at home.

E Unit

Nice write up Josh, thanks for pointing it out. I honestly don't see why it's perceived as distracting on the aspect ratio changes, but since we stilll live in an age where people wonder why there's sztill black bars, I guess I can't argue about the shift on those scenes. I'd be inclined to ask Brad then why the exercise of just doing certain scenes this way if the same thing is going to happen in an IMAX theater with shift aspect ratios? But as you said in the end, it's his movie.

I think this picture Josh put in his article sums it up well as a visual.

RocShemp

That's my feeling as well.

I also get that there are people who feel as Bird does (I've seen many people complain about the alternating ratios in TDK and TL) but all they had to do was offer an alternative, as was done with TF:ROTF.

Doctorossi

If he'd gone the other way, you could make the same argument that we 're "losing out" on the 'scope/standard-release experience we were given.

RocShemp

True. But we'd still be getting closer to an accurate experience than the folk that saw it at digital IMAX (though still not what the folks at real IMAX got to see).

In any case, I think there is no "definitve version" (which seems to be Bird's hangup). It just would have been nice had they'd given the consumers an option.

E Unit

And since we were talking about the great extras this set has, it would have been nice for Bird to simply explain his preferences, especially during the IMAX extra. But I agree, give us the option to choose.

Josh Z

The size of the IMAX screen is the difference. In a (real) IMAX theater, the 2.35:1 image alone fills the field of vision. The viewer shouldn't notice the letterbox bars. The expansion to fill the IMAX screen then exceeds that field of vision, causing the viewers to move their heads to take it all in. The picture goes from being "really big" to being "really freakin' huge!" and then back to "still really big."

That experience can't be reproduced in the home. When the entire 16:9 screen is within the field of vision, the alternating aspect ratios draw attention to the letterbox bars and make the 2.35:1 footage look small.

That's Brad Bird's reasoning, anyway. Christopher Nolan obviously feels differently.

Matthew Chmiel

Well, Nolan's reasoning isn't official.

The DVD of The Dark Knight maintains the 2.35:1 aspect ratio throughout the entire picture whereas the Blu-ray and digital copy do not. However, on the flip side, the DVD contains the IMAX footage in its OAR as a bonus feature whereas the Blu-ray does not.

I don't grasp why filmmakers and studios can't just use seamless branching for the IMAX footage. You can either choose to watch the film in its OAR/original theatrical presentation for the entire running time or view the IMAX "version" instead.

GoldenJCJ

It's possible that they didn't realize there was a difference or thought they were picking up the 3-disc version.

I originally picked up the 3-disc version but I noticed my slipcover was slightly torn so I replaced my copy at another standee in the store. I accidently picked up the 2-disc version and held it for a minute until I realized my mistake. The two covers are different but very similar!