The Abyss

[Ensign9]

Just got out of a screening of the new 4K remaster. Great movie with some flaws that are more glaring than I remember.

The bad:
*The quality of the score varies wildly— impactful, stirring music in some sequences and then made-for-TV quality schlock in others.
*This is not a George Lucas-style special edition. None of the effects shots appear to have been touched at all. That’s not a bad thing necessarily but there are a couple shots at the end that look quite bad (blurriness and transparency).
*The last 15 minutes after the dive (inclusive of the special edition sequences) are heavy handed and jarringly mediocre.

The good:
*Everything up to the end is pretty damn great.
*The water tentacle effects work still holds up. Amazing.
*That CPR scene is as good as anything you’ll ever see in a movie. You could hear a pin drop in the theater. Master filmmaking.

So glad I got to see it in a theater. It mostly looked great. But I’ll also say I’m no longer in a rush to buy the 4K disc when it comes out. There’s nothing here, other than nostalgia, that makes me feel this is a must buy. If I do, it’ll be for the special features—I remember the documentary being outstanding.

Here’s hoping they rerelease the Aliens 4K remaster in theaters as well.

[Ensign9]

The background from Big Jim, for those unaware:

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Ensign9]

And, Jim, PLEASE stop wasting your time on Avatar!!!