Kingdom of Heaven - Director's Cut

The original theatrical release was really poo poo'ed on. While I thought the critics were a bit harsh, I also felt the theatrical release was a bit rushed even though it clocked in at 144 minutes. I remember thinking what a loss it was as the movie was so epic in scope, was very relevant given today's geopolitical climate and had so much potential but fell a bit short on it's execution. Apparently, the Fox Studio execs had a large influence in the butchering of the film. Shame on them. Weasels. The added 45 minutes in the Director's cut really do help in letting things breath. Balian's character is more fleshed out now. The additional subplot with Sibylla's son also adds a lot to the understanding of her character and motivations. The score is just as terrific as I remembered it before. I haven't had time to finish watching the extensive documentries on Disc 3 & 4 yet. I typically try to avoid being a victim of movie studio marketing ploys and so I -usually- avoid "double dipping" on DVDs. However, I do make exceptions here and there. Ridley Scott has convinced me three times already with "Extended " version of Gladiator and "Deluxe" version of Black Hawk Down. His "Extended" versions really aren't gimmick versions. They really do give you your money's worth in terms of value added content. And yes, I will be glad to buy the HD versions when they come out as well. After watching KOH Director's Cut, I can't help but wonder that had Fox's ignorance not gotten in the way, could KOH have won more awards that it so rightfully deserves.

Gabriel & Dresden Debut Artist Album

Listen to it here.

I want my HD-DVD..sorta

I finally got my first glimpse of HD-DVD at my local Best Buy. A Toshiba HD-A1 was demoed on a 50" Pioneer Plasma. Unfortunately, the Pioneer's resolution is 1280 x 768 so it could not fully resolve the 1080 resolution coming from the Toshiba. Resolution aside, the demo was pretty impressive. Even with the downscaling, there was a noticeable difference in sharpness compared to Standard Definition material. It really did look "Hi Definition." However, the colors were over saturated, especially the reds and I could not make out a some of the shadow detail, but I suspect the settings on the Pioneer could have contributed. Looks like I'm going to have to find a more boutique vendor to get a better demo on a 1080p front projector like Sony's "Ruby" VPL-VW100. From my limited viewing experience so far, my initial impression is that an upconverted Standard Definition DVD (480i) on a decently calibrated video display can look very smooth and film-like but at the end of the day it is still Std Def being upconverted to 720p/1080i and will always appear "softer" when compared to a native Hi-Def image. I was skeptical from the pre-production reviews (again why I don't go to all the Electronic shows) but after seeing it with own eyes, HD-DVD really does take it to the next level. There is a discernable difference even on a 1280 x 720 display.

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it), the format war with Sony's Blu-Ray will keep me from buying for a while. This upgrade cycle could prove to be expensive as my wish list could end up being,

- 2nd or 3rd gen HD-DVD (with true 1080p output) or Blu-Ray (1080p output) player
- new surround processor with support for Dolby True HD & DTS-HD (more info)
- two additional Def Tech surrounds for full 7.1
- two channel amp for above Def Tech surrounds
(latter three may be low priority if HD optical disc titles continue to be released in Dolby Digital Plus 5.1)

Time to start earning extra brownie points with the wife..