About Schmidt

[Protoclown]

Absolutely fucking brilliant. I :love this movie.

[Royal Tenenbaum]

Best film of last year, by far. Truly heartbreaking and touching, containing a satirical wit only Alexander Payne seems to possess these days. One week til the DVD comes out, I'm definitely getting it.

[Protoclown]

I'll be getting it tomorrow. I think I have to agree with you that it's the best film of 2002. I can't think of anything I liked better.

[Royal Tenenbaum]

The only ones that come close are Gangs of New York and Far From Heaven.

If you liked AB you should definitely check out Payne's other works, both hilarious, Election and Citizen Ruth.

[Rongi]

Am I the only one who didn't like it :(

I feel so alone :(

[Protoclown]

I've seen "Election", and I remember enjoying it but not being blown away by it. Perhaps I'll watch it again.

[Royal Tenenbaum]

Yeah, do so. Election is probably the best satire of the 90s; I love that film, seen it at least a dozen times.

[pjalne]

I'm not that crazy about Gangs, and I think Cameron Diaz is to blame. About Schmidt was great, though. Subtle, sweet and brutal. Plus, the son-in-law cracked me up just by standing in the background. I saw election the other day, and while I thought Witherspoon was way over the top at times, Broderick was great. It felt really akward seeing him as a teacher though.

[Royal Tenenbaum]

Well, I bought it. The film is great obviously, and the transfer and soundtracks (DTS) are excellent. Unfortunately, Payne doesn't include a commentary, despite the fact he has done them in the past, an excellent one for Election at least. The included Delete Scenes are really good; they look and sound fine, despite a warning about them being rough, and all of them could have easily been left in the film. This is probably the best collection of deleted scenes I've seen. The scenes also include text introductions by Payne, which are really good, and makes me even sadder about the lack of commentary. Everything he writes is information and interesting. The include Woodman sequences are useless after one viewing, and the trailer is included and is a great one. Good DVD, but it could have been better; the film is so good though, that I have to forgive them.

[pjalne]

In these crazy days it's easy to forget that the movie should be the top priority. I remember the days when I bought a VHS and didn't even read the back of the cover.

A little off-topic: does anyone else have trouble watching VHS these days? The picture quality is one thing, but I'm so caught up in the importance of preserving the original aspect ratio that pan & scan drives me comlpletely nuts.

Oh, and back on: gonna get Schmidt in the mail in a couple of days. Woodman?

[Royal Tenenbaum]

I can't watch VHS unless the film was actually made in the 1.33:1 aspect, which was pretty much everything pre-1950. Since I watch a lot of films from that period, I don't have that big of a problem with VHS. Everything else I try to see on DVD, but I will watch VHS if it's the only format I can find to rent or whatever.

[pjalne]

Speaking of the academy format: Does anyone else get pissed off when people who demanded pan & scan DVDs until they got a widescreen themselves start bitching about stuff being in 1.33:1? Goddamn it, if anything is worse than chopping the sides off a 1.85:1/2.35:1 production, it's cutting the top and bottom off of a 1.33:1 movie.

NO RESPECT!

Keeping it on topic: Schmidt still good.