[Pecker]

A bit of background.

- I loved 'L.A. Confiential' by James Ellroy;
- I loved the book 'The Black Dahlia';
- I'm a big fan of Scarlett Johansson
- I knew the film version had been pencilled in for a high def release;
- I knew the film had been panned.

So, when the film turned up on my Sky Anytime planner in HD, it was a no-brainer. Watch the film in high def from Sky, rather thasn risk buying the film.

What a good idea. What an abysmal film.

If you're in the same boat as me, please, please think twice about buying this whem it comes out. Indeed, think twice about wasting 10 minutes of your life even checking this out.

The look was actually quite suited to high def, and whilst not being reference material, it did look nice.

But just about everything else was bad, bad, bad.

Some of the most complex parts of the book's plot were left in, which needed to be cut out - some of the most important (and relatively simple) parts of the book were either ditched or changed - the acting was woeful.

Scarlett Johansson as Kay Lake was bottom drawer, 0/10. I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt, and say shewas told to act at odds with the character in the book, but that leaves the blame with the usually sound Brian de Palma.

This film has really made me sit up and think about high def purchases. I am really going to need to be convinced about a disc before I buy it.



Steve W

[irascian]

I quite enjoyed it on standard DVD. Enough that I'd probably buy it on HD-DVD, if not Blu-Ray (I'm pickier about Blu-Ray because of the region encoding and the fatter cases which waste room I haven't got).

Sorry!

[bosque]

I agree with Pecker, this had so much going for it and it was a huge let-down. Most of the acting was very poor, with acclaimed actress Fiona Shaw as the crazed mother being car-crash bad. I did like the black and white sequences, some of the best cinematography I've seen in years in a modern movie.

[Pecker]

It's interesting to read other people's views of the film (whether they agree with me or not - no need to say sorry, irascian ).

But I also wanted to point out how I feel this might further influence my future buying habits.

Over the past decade I've become used to not bothering about being worried when buying new discs. I'm starting to become a bit more stingy.

Steve W

[iainoco]

I'm a huge De Palma fan but the film was dire!!!!!

Probably looks nice in hi def tho

[the_pauley]

Yes - I'm a big Ellroy fan too and thought this movie was a total dog! A real let down, especially after LA Confidential.

[irascian]

Well I went in knowing it wasn't going to be another "LA Confidential" (how could it be?!) and expecting little since the reviews had all been less than enthusiastic.

Not a fantastic movie, but not a terrible one (in my view). As already pointed out I thought some of the cinematography was fantastic.

As for buying decisions - I've sort of gone the other way. It's a bit like the first days of DVD. When a new HD-DVD is released I buy it because there are so few titles, even if I'm not THAT interested in the film. There's definitely a bad addictive streak in me somewhere because what I'm doing doesn't make any real sense at all

[MJeeves]

I too LOVE DePalma films but this was TERRIBLE.

Get "HOLLYWOODLAND" instead... MUCH better film!