MovieChat Forums > Public Enemies (2009) Discussion > All you people whining about the horribl...

All you people whining about the horrible digital cinematography

posted 9 years ago by Manton29
8 replies | jump to latest

I feel sorry for you - you missed a beautiful film.

If to stand pat means to resist evil then, yes, neighbour, we wish to stand pat.

[–] Ceephax 8 years ago

I don't at all. Michael Mann should've done something about it to make it easier on the eye. Even YouTube videos these days are better looking.

[–] jones7418 8 years ago

I watched this again the other night and it's still a good movie. Only this time, I paid more attention to Christian Bale. Very nice. I had no idea they used digital on this but I knew something was slightly "off" about the film quality. Doesn't change the fact that it's totally watchable and well acted.

[–] Goatlips 8 years ago

Digital hysteria. Like vinyl record vs CD hysteria BS! It's simply TERRIBLE cinematography! By Dante Spinotti - it looks like it was filmed on a Nokia N70 (2005).

[–] Goatlips 8 years ago

P.S. Jones is right - the film is fabulous in every other way (apart from inaudile dialogue - but that's standard!).

[–] Manton29 8 years ago

Looked at some blu ray forums - seems some people had settings on their TVs that created problems which were resolved/greatly reduced when they adjusted them. On that subject, some TVs just make films look terrible whatever the settings.

If to stand pat means to resist evil then, yes, neighbour, we wish to stand pat.

[–] Manton29 8 years ago

I'm watching the blu ray for the first time having previously only seen the DVD (many times). I'm witnessing quite a lot of noise in darker scenes. Most of the time it's not a problem as it's absorbed in the movement and dimness and is only very noticeable if you pause. However, when Purvis is visited Baby Face alias Mr. McHenry, the noise artefacts became a bit much on my Samsung 51 inch plasma (viewing from about 8 feet distance). I was watching in Standard picture mode and I switched to Movie mode: problem solved. Not absolutely, but for me, no longer problematic. On the forum I mentioned, some had had their sharpness setting too high and reducing it had resolved the problem. The Samsung Movie mode has sharpness the at 20/100, while Standard is 50/100.

If to stand pat means to resist evil then, yes, neighbour, we wish to stand pat.

[–] Jones70 (6584) 3 years ago

I agree, I think it’s a very good movie.

[–] johnmiller (3938) a year ago

Mann liked playing with new digital technology. It didn't work for me. But, it's his film and he can do whatever he wants to do. For me, the hand-held camerawork was more distracting. We're just not used to that in gangster pictures. I think that using a Steadicam would have been a good compromise. Having it shot digitally AND shooting handheld just was too much a modernization for a lot of people.