We Were Soldiers

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • David Meek
    Moderator Emeritus
    • Aug 2000
    • 8938

    We Were Soldiers

    Got my E-mail notice that We Were Soldiers shipped out on the 15th - woohoo! Hopefully, it'll be in the mailbox when I get home. If it is, I know what I'm doing tonight. Has anyone else's shown up already?




    David - HTGuide flunky
    Our "Theater"
    Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

    .

    David - Trigger-happy HTGuide Admin
  • David Meek
    Moderator Emeritus
    • Aug 2000
    • 8938

    #2
    Nope. No DVD-sized package in the mail at home last night. Maybe tonight?!?! ;h




    David - HTGuide flunky
    Our "Theater"
    Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

    .

    David - Trigger-happy HTGuide Admin

    Comment

    • George Bellefontaine
      Moderator Emeritus
      • Jan 2001
      • 7637

      #3
      Shoot. I was hoping you'd have yours now, Tex, and post your thoughts on the transfer. There has been so much crap written about the transfer, I don't know what to believe. Won't have mine until Saturday and will watch it sometime over t5he weekend.




      My Homepage!
      My Homepage!

      Comment

      • David Meek
        Moderator Emeritus
        • Aug 2000
        • 8938

        #4
        We Were Soldiers was waiting when I got home last night.

        Reports of the "terrible" picture quality of this DVD were greatly exaggerated. That's not to say it was a reference quality picture - it wasn't, but it wasn't unwatchable either. Overall I'd describe the image as soft. There were some scenes - closeups especially - that showed a lot of detail, but it's not the quality we've come to expect for our DVD's. The colors were rendered very well, at least as I remember them from the theater version I saw. One shot in particular of a stained glass window in a chapel had absolutely brilliant colors in it. I saw no artifacting on my 58" Pioneer Elite 610 and no EE (but I'm not sensitive to EE to begin with). If Superbit DVD's are a 5, I'd give the PQ on this disc a 3.5.

        Audio? That's another story entirely. This is a full-blown, immersive, 360 degree soundfield that will have your subwoofer "a humpin"! Dialog is clearly understandable even in the most hectic combat scenes and the LFE track is basically non-stop once the fighting begins. Between artillery, helicopters, gunfire, RPG's, napalm strikes and close air support runs, you'll be spinning in your chair. I think I finally heard my Velodyne FSR-15 bottom-out in one scene after two years and 350+ movies worth of trying!

        Having read the book by (then) Lt. Col Hal Moore and correspondent Joe Galloway since seeing the movie in the theater, it made a LOT of the actions and comments more understandable and easier to follow. It also made it a more emotional experience to watch this time as the book goes into great detail on many of the personnel and their lives. It also pointed out how true to the book this movie is. Okay, the big finale didn't happen in real life but otherwise you could point to scene after scene and go "Oh yeah, that was this part of the book". Watching the Special Features after the movie was over, it turns out that the real Hal Moore, Julie Moore, Joe Galloway, Bruce Crandall and Barbara Geoghegan were all on hand for the making of the film. This in itself kept the cast and crew honest and true to the events.

        There are 9 or 10 deleted scenes, several of which SHOULD have been left in as they complemented and expanded on points left in the film.

        Be warned, there are many, many scenes of combat violence and a couple of scenes of gruesome injuries to soldiers. THIS MOVIE IS NOT FOR KIDS OR THE SQUEAMISH.

        Having said all that, after about 10 minutes, I got past the soft image and was transported to the Ia Drang valley at the foot of the Chu Pong massif with the 7th Cavalry where I dodged bullets and prayed for survival. Overall, this DVD gets a :45: (the missing half star is PQ). Don't miss it!




        David - HTGuide flunky
        Our "Theater"
        Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

        .

        David - Trigger-happy HTGuide Admin

        Comment

        • George Bellefontaine
          Moderator Emeritus
          • Jan 2001
          • 7637

          #5
          Well that looks and sounds good to me, Tex. EE is much more noticable on an 8 foot image, but if I'm immersed in the story I don't notice such things. Now, I better get my sub primed for action.

          Good review, Tex.




          My Homepage!
          My Homepage!

          Comment

          • Eduardo
            Moderator emeritus
            • Jun 2002
            • 1258

            #6
            David you beat me to the review. I also read that the picture quality was unsatisfactory but I didn't notice.

            Disregaurding the technical aspects of the movie, in simple terms the movie was amazing.




            http://home.nc.rr.com/ejimenez

            Comment

            • George Bellefontaine
              Moderator Emeritus
              • Jan 2001
              • 7637

              #7
              Okay, I watched this last night. It wasn't reference quality, but the picture was fine in my book. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, I was so lost in the film.

              This is classic stuff and definitely OSCAR material. Mel didn't overpower the film. He just did an excellent potrayal of the real Lt. Col. Hal Moore. And wasn't Sam Elliott terrific ?

              Randal Wallace used some very haunting Scottish music in just the right places. It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

              I have a soft spot in my heart for all those men who fought and/or died in Vietnam and this film is a fitting tribute.

              Very few films do this to me, but this one left me with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.




              My Homepage!
              My Homepage!

              Comment

              • David Meek
                Moderator Emeritus
                • Aug 2000
                • 8938

                #8
                wasn't Sam Elliott terrific


                Absolutely! And his comment about "grandfather" was priceless! :B




                David - HTGuide flunky
                Our "Theater"
                Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

                .

                David - Trigger-happy HTGuide Admin

                Comment

                • Eduardo
                  Moderator emeritus
                  • Jun 2002
                  • 1258

                  #9
                  The 'Grandpa' line reminded me of stripes:

                  Francis - If any of you Fa**ots call me Francis - I'll kill ya.

                  Sergeant - Sit down Francis




                  http://home.nc.rr.com/ejimenez

                  Comment

                  • P-Dub
                    Office Moderator
                    • Aug 2000
                    • 6766

                    #10
                    I got a chance to watch this the other day and I was literaly blown away. This is an excellent movie. I rank it better than Black Hawk Down. Mel does an excellent job and Sam Elliot was just increadible. "Custer was a pussy"




                    Paul

                    There are three kinds of people in this world; those that can count, and those that can't.
                    Paul

                    There are three kinds of people in this world; those that can count, and those that can't.

                    Comment

                    • John Holmes
                      Moderator Emeritus
                      • Aug 2000
                      • 2703

                      #11
                      I just watched this film last night. What can I add, that has not been said...nothing. Fantastic film, period!




                      "I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's
                      "I have come here, to chew bubblegum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubblegum!!!"

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      😀
                      😂
                      🥰
                      😘
                      🤢
                      😎
                      😞
                      😡
                      👍
                      👎
                      Searching...Please wait.
                      An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because you have logged in since the previous page was loaded.

                      Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
                      An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because the token has expired.

                      Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
                      An internal error has occurred and the module cannot be displayed.
                      There are no results that meet this criteria.
                      Search Result for "|||"