Comments on: Stale Movie Reviews: Elephant

By: NFlanders

NFlanders — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 02:21:25 +0000

It is interesting that Elephant was shot in that format, GST. It doesn’t change the fact that all other HBO movies are shown in wretched “Pan ‘n Scan” format. I am surprised that they haven’t got more complaints.

By: Bret

Bret — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 11:29:04 +0000

I think both metaphors are in there strong

By: me

me — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 12:04:01 +0000

I thought the argument with Tolkien was that there were metaphores for World War I/II … Did i just have a really bad source?

By: Bret

Bret — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 09:48:13 +0000

Yeah, and Tolkien really didn’t mean to put metaphors of Christianity into his writings, either.

By: don

don — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 04:21:12 +0000

Movies are filmed either in cinemascope (scope for short) or flat. Scope is what most of the better movies are shot in. It is the wide version.

Flat is almost square and close to TV format.

When you go to the movie theater, sometimes you’ll see the side curtains (called masking) move in and the bottom and or top move from the scope setting to the flat setting or vice versa.

By: gst

gst — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 23:16:02 +0000

Ned, I discovered in my extensive research last night that the movie was shot in a format approximating the relative dimensions of a TV screen rather than normal movie screen dimensions. I’m sure there’s a good arty reason for that.

Thanks for your kind compliment.

By: NFlanders

NFlanders — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 22:48:07 +0000

By the way, gst, it’s been great reading you over here. We will miss you.

By: NFlanders

NFlanders — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 22:47:02 +0000

I also recently watched “Elephant” on HBO, but I fell asleep before it was over (in my defense it started at 3am).

I hate how HBO movies are full-screen. No one rents full-screen except for children’s movies, so why am I paying $10 a month to watch full-screen movies?

Also, I hated the improvisational dialogue. It sounded wretched and very fake. These are just kids (if I remember correctly, most weren’t even actors), they don’t have the skills to improv realistic dialogue. Van Sant didn’t want to shill out the money for a bunch of writers.

Other than that, I thought the movie was shot beautifully. One day I will rent it in letterbox and watch the whole thing.

By: gst

gst — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 19:59:02 +0000

I understand that it’s on all movies. My point is that it offers no protection from lawsuits.

By: Eric Russell

Eric Russell — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 18:04:37 +0000

Yeah, it’s on all movies and books. Even if the author publicly admits that a character was based on someone they know.